George W. Scranton

Scranton was born in Madison, Connecticut. Among his siblings was his brother Selden T. Scranton. He attended Lee’s Academy. He moved to Belvidere, New Jersey, in 1828 and became a teamster. He and his brother both worked at Oxford Furnace, an iron manufacturing factory. ==Career==

, named for George W. Scranton and his family Learning of extensive iron and coal deposits in Northeast Pennsylvania, the two Scranton brothers became interested in potential for new industry and moved to this area of mining "hard" or anthracite coal. Together with Sanford Grant and Philip H. Mattes, they formed the firm of Scrantons, Grant & Company. Mattes was head of a branch of a bank in Easton, Pennsylvania, and helped gain financing. In 1839 Scranton started to manufacture iron, and began experimenting with the practicability of smelting ore by means of "hard" or anthracite coal in Slocum Hollow (now Scranton, Pennsylvania). This area was developing as the center of extensive mining of anthracite coal. Scranton was the founder of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, named after the river. He and his brother Selden, together with Grant and Mattes, are considered founders of the city of Scranton, named after the Scranton family. He also constructed the Northumberland division of the Lackawanna Railroad, helping to create the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. He was the president of two railroad companies. In 1858 Selden Scranton returned to Oxford Furnace in New Jersey. Politics Scranton was elected to Congress from Pennsylvania as a Republican in 1858 to the 36th Congress and served from March 4, 1859, until his death in Scranton on March 24, 1861. ==Personal life==

In 1847, his cousin Joseph A. Scranton moved with his second wife and young family to this corner of Pennsylvania. One of his sons, William Walker Scranton, went to Yale in the family tradition, later becoming general manager of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal company. He led the company during the extensive protests and action in the city in 1877 during the Scranton General Strike. ==See also==