Ivan Dalton Doverspike
IVAN DALTON DOVERSPIKE, youngest son of the late Isaac D. Doverspike, has inherited and acquired interests in western Pennsylvania which place him, though still a young man, among the important business factors in his section. He is regarded as one of the future leaders in his special field of operation, for though it is recognized that he has had exceptional opportunities it is equally apparent that he has taken advantage of them in a masterly manner. His association with his father, many of whose most forcible traits he seems to possess, was an invaluable experience, and he has shown remarkable aptitude for the management of large undertakings, with which he has been connected practically from youth.Mr. Doverspike was born May 13, 1887, at Eddyville, Armstrong county, and attended common school there until fourteen years old. Then he came with his parents to Kittanning, where he completed his grammar school course, graduating, and afterward attending high school one year. His studies were continued in the Sayer business college, at Kittanning, from which he was also graduated, next entering Bucknell College, at Lewisburg, Pa., where he remained for a short time, changing to the university at Ann Arbor, Mich. Returning to Kittanning he became engaged in business with his father, who employed him as foreman in his lumbering operations, and he "flatboated" lumber down the river to Pittsburgh. He took charge of the boatbuilding, having a crew of thirty-five men working under him when he was but twenty-one years old, and he was a pilot on the river, from Oil City to Pittsburgh, for two summers. Thus he was actively engaged until his father's death, which occurred Sept. 16, 1911, gaining a practical knowledge of affairs acquired by few men. Since his father's death he has continued alone in the same lines, having purchased most of his father's interests with which he had become familiar. He is engaged in the manufacture of lumber, for the trade, and principally for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He is interested in twenty-seven oil wells above Oil City, owns eighty acres of coal land in Bethel township, Armstrong county, lying along the river, eight acres of fire clay land near Templeton, and other property in Oil City and Ford City, besides a one-fifth interest in the lands of his father's large estate. Few men of his age are directly connected with such large and varied enterprises, and he is showing ability in their management which has gained him the respect of his business associates without regard for his youth.
On July 1, 1911, Mr. Doverspike married Edna C. Ashe, who is a daughter of E. J. and Mattie E. (Ross) Ashe, her parents being members of old families of Armstrong and Jefferson counties, respectively. Mr. Ashe has been prominent in politics and public life in Armstrong county, having served two terms as chairman of the Republican county committee. He was elected county treasurer and held that office one term, his daughter, Mrs. Doverspike, acting as his clerk, and during her father's illness of six weeks she discharged all the duties of the office. It is a fact worthy of record that her brother, Fred R. Ashe, was the youngest prothonotary in the State of Pennsylvania up to the time of his service.
Mr. and Mrs. Doverspike are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Kittanning. In political sentiment he favors the Republican party.
Source: Pages 448, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 2001 by Mickey Cendrowski for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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