History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1887



Sprout Family - MORTON I. SPROUT Biography

Morton I. Sprout, of the Handle and Excelsior Company, at Picture Rocks, Pennsylvania, is a member of the Sprout family whose ancestry is the subject of a preceding narrative. He was born in the village which is now the field of his busy effort, November 17, 1862.

His father, Amos B. Sprout, was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he married Catherine Hinds, daughter of Conrad Hinds, of Scotch-English extraction, and whose ancestors settled in Connecticut on their arrival in America. Amos B. Sprout came to Picture Rocks about 1848, being one of the early settlers here. He engaged in the saw mill and planing mill business, and developed into a manufacture of sash, doors, blinds, and wooden measures for grain, etc., and continued so engaged until shortly before his death, which occurred in Picture Rocks, August 31, 1904, about two years after the death of his wife. He was a man of industrious habits, excellent character, and wide influence in the community. He occupied various positions of honor and trust, was a justice of the peace during nearly his entire active career, and occupied several borough offices. He was a Baptist in religion, a deacon in his church during all his mature years, and assisted in its organization, and was also a lifelong teacher in the Sunday school. He was a man of remarkable cleanliness of life, a strict abstainer from all intoxicants, an ardent temperance worker, and was averse to tobacco in all its forms. He was a Republican in politics. He was a man of pronounced intellectuality, a deep and thoughtful reader, and was the writer of much meritorious verse, principally in advocacy of temperance and in opposition to the use of narcotics.

To Amos B. and Catherine (Hinds) Sprout were born four children: Judson H., Gordon D., Morton I. and Orpha D.; the daughter is now the wife of Ellis M. Cruse, of Picture Rocks.

Morton I. Sprout was reared in his native place, and was educated in the local schools and in the Muncy Normal School, graduating from that institution with the first class. On leaving school he entered upon an active career in association with his brother, Gordon D. Sprout, in 1887, and has contributed a full share to the development of the present large business of the Handle and Excelsior Company, one of the principal manufacturing enterprises of the Lycoming Valley. Mr. Sprout is otherwise active in the affairs of the community, and exerts himself usefully in the furtherance of its interests, whether in material or moral lines. He is a member of the school board, and treasurer of that body, and secretary of the town council. He is a member of the Baptist church, in which he is a deacon and one of the trustees, as well as superintendent of the Sunday school. He is also president of the Northumberland Baptist Sunday School Convention, and treasurer of the Northumberland Baptist Association. Like his father, he is an earnest supporter of temperance principles. In politics he is a Republican.

Mr. Sprout married, September 23, 1885, Miss Lucinda Little, a daughter of John P. Little, sketch of whom appears in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Sprout were born six children: Will Carleton, Wesley Lee, Donald A., Martha C. (deceased), Clinton I. and Marjorie E. The eldest son, Will Carleton, is attending Bucknell College; Wesley Lee is a graduate of the Muncy Normal School; and the other children are attending the Picture Rocks high school.


Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Lycoming County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1906.










Sprout Genealogy Resources



Sprout Ancestry Resources