Calvin was born in McAlisterville, Juniata County, on March 28, 1824. He became a clerk in nearby Thompsontown at the age of 16. In the mid-nineteenth century, bank clerks did it all. They worked with deposits and withdrawals and were responsible for cleaning and maintaining the bank, on top of their clerical duties. He was there for five years and then accepted a position as a commercial traveler. He traveled around the country, learned a lot about salesmanship, returned to his native town in 1846, and joined the general merchandising business with his father. He worked with his father for eight years and then traveled throughout the southern and western states for a year. He was a wandering spirit. He traveled all around, learning all that he could before returning to his hometown to learn from his father. After learning all that his father had to offer him, he returned to the roads, traveling to learn more and refine his skills. His talents did not go unnoticed. He was appointed to a clerkship in the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., in 1857, under the Buchanan administration. His skills and work ethic had gotten him noticed.

He stayed in that position into the Lincoln administration, until November 1861. He caught the attention of some men organizing a bank in Selinsgrove. He probably got their attention by working with the Department of the Interior for four years. He gave valued assistance in the forming of the institution and was chosen as its first cashier/clerk in March 1864. He married his wife, Annie Richter, on January 5, 1865, and they had a son named Roscoe. Calvin served as the cashier of the First National Bank of Selinsgrove for forty-six years. The Snyder County Tribune said that he was regarded as one of Selinsgrove’s most estimable and highly respected citizens on his eighty-fifth birthday. He earned national distinction in May of 1910 for being older, in term of service and years, than any other bank cashier in the United States. He retired from being the clerk of the First Nation Bank of Selinsgrove at the age of eighty-six years old and he was succeeded by his son, when he retired.

 

Calvin lived his entire life serving others in the realm of banking. He served as a bank clerk at all levels, from his humble beginnings at Thompsontown to the Department of the Interior to Selinsgrove. He worked as a bank clerk, not for the money that it provided, but for helping others. Clerks do not get national distinction for doing their work for the money. Most clerks are not devoted to their service enough to stay working in the same position for forty-six years. But most clerks are not Calvin, who worked for his service, not the money.