Samuel Justus (1836 - 1920)
Samuel Justus
Because Samuel Justus was such a private man, no known photographs exist and not much is written about him. The little information we do know indicates that he was born in January, 1836, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Justus moved to Oil City, served for nine months as an Union soldier during the Civil War and after the war, managed an iron furnace and a grocery.
It appears that Justus made his money on the Oil City Oil Exchange, and in 1866 co-founded the Penn-Refming Company with Louis Walz and Henry Suhr. Many years later, this company along with many other small ones managed to become Pennzoil.
Apparently Samuel Justus was a colorful character and known as quite a ladies' man. Reportedly, a certain young woman. Miss Pew, served Justus with breach of promise papers, because she said they were engaged and never married. Samuel finally did decide to settle down, and he married Mary Morgan and they had one child. Flora. Mary died three years later, and Samuel married Edith Culbertson in 1888. At that time, she was 25, and he was 52.
Justus is probably best known for establishing a trust fund in his will intended to build a home to care for orphans and widows. Social service agencies developed later to handle these problems so Justus' trust fund was changed to benefit disadvantaged youth in Venango County through services and projects. Even though Samuel Justus died in January, 1920, his fund continues to help children in the area now and will continue to do so in the future as well.
Note: Assets of the Samuel Justus Trust Fund were valued at well over 12 million dollars in 1993.
Source:
Paper written by Stephen P. Kosak, Consultant for the Samuel Justus Trust Fund, 1993
Reprinted Courtesy of the Venango Museum of Art, Science and Industry