BIOGRAPHY: Edgar O. FISHER, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 205-6
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EDGAR O. FISHER, alderman of the First ward of the city of Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania, is a son of John and Margaret (Osborn) Fisher, and was born in New 
Florence, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1863.
     His father, John H. Fisher, was a native of Somerset county, this State, 
born at Stoyestown, March 3, 1834. He was reared there until the age of sixteen, 
when, in 1850, he came to Johnstown, where he resided until after his marriage, 
in 1862, when he removed to Westmoreland county. Two years later he returned to 
Johnstown and resided there until May 31, 1889, where, along with his wife, six 
children, and some five thousand unfortunates, was drowned in the memorable 
Johnstown flood.
     In early life he was employed as a bookkeeper, but in the sixties he began 
the study of law under the preceptorship of Judge Cyrus L. Pershing, an able 
jurist, who is now president judge of Schuykill county, Pennsylvania. He was 
admitted to the Cambria county bar in 1869, and practiced at that bar for some 
years. In 1871 he was elected justice of the peace in Johnstown, and held that 
office until death. He also served as treasurer of the Johnstown School district 
about nineteen years, and as borough clerk for twenty-two years.
     He was a republican, loyal and true, favored James G. Blaine's protective 
tariff, and was a strong advocate of the National Banking system of which Salmon 
P. Chase was the author. He was public-spirited and took an active interest in 
the improvement of his city and county.
     He married Margaret Osborn, a daughter of George W. Osborn, who was born 
near New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, and who, in about 1840, removed to 
Johnstown, where he died in May, 1886. Mr. Osborn was engaged in mercantile 
pursuits most of his life, and was a prominent and influential business man, 
whose history appears elsewhere in this work under the heading of George W. 
Osborn. He took a deep interest in politics, belonging to the party of which 
Jefferson was the father.
     Mr. and Mrs. Fisher were the parents of ten children, two of them now 
living, Edgar O. and Luella; of those deceased six were lost in the flood, and 
two died prior to that event.
     Edgar O. Fisher obtained his education in the city schools of Johnstown, 
and at the age of sixteen left school to accept a clerkship in the store of his 
grandfather, Geo. W. Osborn, who was a grocer of Johnstown. In January, 1882, he 
entered the general office of the Cambria Iron company in the capacity of a 
clerk, and remained there four and one-half years. He then spent one year in the 
West, and returning home he took charge of the books of a lumber company for six 
months. He then accepted a position as bookkeeper for the Johnson company in 
April, 1888, and was soon promoted to the office of paymaster, with full charge 
of that office until September, 1889, when he resigned to engage in business on 
his own account. He was appointed notary public on September 1, 1889, and at the 
same time embarked in the real-estate business, continuing until May 6, 1895, 
when he was elected alderman, which office he has since ably filled.
     In May, 1890, he was elected city assessor by the councils of Johnstown, 
being the first republican to secure a position under the city administration, 
which was then Democratic. He is prominently identified with a number of secret 
and fraternal organizations, among which are: Johnstown Lodge, No. 157, K. of 
P.; Conemaugh Lodge, No. 191, I. O. O. F., and Johnstown Lodge, No. 175, B. P. 
O. E., of which he was secretary two years; and Mountain Castle, No. 77, A. O. 
K. M. C., for fourteen years.