Alfred G. Stanley, druggist, Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was born in Salisbury, England, 24 January 1845.
His father, Robert Stanley, was born in Nottingham, England, in 1805. In his younger days he was a lace manufacturer, and later in life was a professor of music. He was a distinguished alto singer and was leader of the choir in the Salisbury Cathedral. On 14 December 1843 he married Annie Allwood, born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, who died 17 August 1874. They had nine children:
Frederick A. Stanley, deceased;
Alfred G. Stanley;
Georgiana Stanley, wife of Charles Stroud, lawyer in England;
Thomas A. Stanley;
Robert Stanley, died aged twenty-five years;
Maud Stanley, wife of Harry Worth of Nottingham;
Sidney J. Stanley, also a lawyer;
Katie Stanley, deceased;
Lucy Stanley, deceased.
The father, Robert Stanley, still resides in England, at the age of eighty-one.
Alfred G. Stanley attended the parochial schools of his naative place and the Cathedral College of Salisbury. He learned the drug business with Roberts and Son with whom he spent four and a half years, after which he went to London and graduated with the well known firm of Peter Boully, retail druggist, of London. Having worked for some time at the profession in London, he found a change necessary to his health. He came to this country in 1869 and was for a short time in New York, then Philadelphia with Ellis Sons and Company. In 1871 he came to Lykens, Pennsylvania, and established a first-class drug business with a general supply of all kinds of drugs. He has acquired the reputation of being one of the most reliable druggists of the country.
Mr. Alfred G. Stanley was married at Lykens, in December 1873, to Mary Spoerl, daughter of G. Spoerl, born in Lykens. They have seven children:
Walter Stanley, deceased;
Frederick Stanley, druggist with his father;
Charles Stanley, also with his father;
Wallington Smith Stanley;
Katie A. M. Stanley;
Ray Stanley; and
Mabel Stanley.
In politics, Mr. Alfred G. Stanley is a liberal. He is a member of the Episcopal church.
For sixteen years, Mr. Alfred G. Stanley was a member of the Gratz Agricultural Society. He has been the president of the Lykens Agricultural Society for three years. He is a lover of horses and has some very fine ones. He has in his possession some rare stuffed birds from various parts of the world, some of which he brought from England on his return from a visit to that country in 1886. His visit was made for the purpose of seeing his father, now eighty-one years of age.
Mr. Stanley is a genial gentleman and a live business man. He is the proprietor of the celebrated Stanley Bitters. He is well-known and popular.
______________________________
The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
The advertisement is from Polk’s Directory of Greater Harrisburg, 1902.
According to an obituary which appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph, 7 February 1917, Alfred G. Stanley died at his home in Lykens on 6 February 1917 “from a general breakdown and old age.” As of the writing of this blog post, his place of interment has not been located.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.