What drives someone to be successful?

While there are many answers to that question, in the case of Lebanon County native James Lick, the answer was simple.

“His initial ambition was to show up the father of his girlfriend, and he definitely did that,” says local historian Kathy Bicksler Stouffer. “He had goals and he was driven to reach those goals and he had all the tools that were necessary: the intelligence, the drive, to get to what he wanted to accomplish.”

Lick, who was born in Fredericksburg on Aug. 25, 1796, contributed greatly to the benefit of society during his lifetime. Because of his wealth and as a man who never married, he was a philanthropist who donated his vast wealth to various causes.

“And I think that not only did he succeed in accomplishing his initial goal, but

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