Adam Gruver, blacksmith of Miamisburg, Ohio, was born in Stouchburg, Berks county, Pa., February 12, 1843. He is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Groby) Gruver, and his father having died and his mother married again, he removed with her, then Mrs. William Stupp, to Miamisburg in 1853, and here he grew to manhood, receiving a good education in the public schools. Afterward he served an apprenticeship of two and a half years in the blacksmith shop of Daniel Bookwalter, a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Having completed his trade he was engaged in general blacksmithing in various parts of the country up to 1865. He then returned to Miami township and engaged in farming for two years, at the end of which time he entered the employ of Hoover & Gamble, in January, 1869, and remained with this firm until September, 1879, during the last five years of which period he was foreman of the blacksmithing department. In 1879 he established himself in business on his own account as a general blacksmith, and has thus been engaged ever since, meeting with well deserved success, and now conducting the busiest shop of its kind in Miamisburg.
Mr. Gruver was married October 19, 1865, to Sarah Gebhart, daughter of Andrew and Eliza (Eagle) Gebhart, of Miami township, and by this marriage he has seven children, viz: Sarah J., wife of Frank Hart; Anna E., wife of Charles M. Lambert; Charlie E., who married Anna Kimmerling; Edith M., wife of Howard Brehm; Henry, Mary E., and Lester.
Mr. Gruver has been a member of the Lutheran church since his boyhood days, is a royal arch Mason, a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow (encampment and canton), and a Knight of Honor. In politics he is a republican, and as such he has served as a member of the city council of Miamisburg, meeting the general approbation of the people, and reflecting on himself the utmost credit for the ability he manifested in the transaction of the public business and the readiness with which he divested himself of all traces of partisanship while in his office. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gruver are people of excellent character and honorable impulses, and have many friends around them; they are ever ready to lend a helping hand to the needy, and equally ready to aid in any project to advance the public welfare.
Source: Centennial Portrait and Biographical Record of the City of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens Together with the Biographies and Portraits of the Presidents of the United States and Biographies of the Governors of Ohio, ed. by Frank Conover, A.W. Bowen & Co., 1897, pp. 978-979.