In the waning moments of World War II, the Lewis Historical Publishing Company commissioned former Pennsylvania State Librarian Frederick Godcharles to prepare a history of central Pennsylvania. In the tradition of Lewis Historical Publishing, the fourth and final volume of that work was devoted to biographical sketches of the central Pennsylvania luminaries (mostly businessmen from towns like Harrisburg, Hershey, Williamsport, and Gettysburg, or counties like Lancaster, Union, Sullivan, and Dauphin). The work at hand is a reprint of the final, "Personal and Family History" volume of Godcharles' massive effort.