William Alexander Himes

William Alexander Himes was born in New Oxford, Pennsylvania on November 27, 1851 the son of William and Magdalen Lanius Himes and the younger brother of Charles Francis Himes. He went to local schools first and then to Nazareth Hall in Nazareth, Pennsylvania from where be began his undergraduate education at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After two years at Moravian, he entered the junior class at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where his older brother was teaching science. He was elected to the Belles Lettres Society and followed family tradition in joining the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity before graduating in 1871. Also, like his brother, he went west after graduation to make his fortune in real estate, this time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He soon returned and entered his father's business in New Oxford.

Himes opened a retail lumber and coal business in New Oxford in 1878 and took up the management of several farms in the area. He also involved himself in other civic and commercial roles in the town, becoming a director of the York Trust Company and the Adams County Telephone Company. He served as a city council member and oversaw the construction of the New Oxford water works. He worked on the borough school board and was active in local Republican politics.

In April 1877, Himes married Katherine W. Gitt of New Oxford and the couple had three girls and one boy. William Alexander Himes died on August 28, 1907 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He was fifty-six years old.