USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
During his connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company Mr. Wilson effected many important changes, bringing the freight business from a condition of more or less chaos to one of such efficiency as won for him the admiration of railroad officials and business men generally, and the reputation of being the ablest traffic manager in the country. Very few persons, probably, have an adequate conception of the freight business of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the qualifications required of the men who have to manage it. When it is known that two-thirds of its entire earnings are from freight, and that its gross earnings are one-seventh of the total railroad earnings of the country, it may convey some idea of the importance of the position held by the officer upon whom lies the responsibility of arranging the transportation charges. The two items of coal and coke carried over the road in 1886 amounted to between nineteen and twenty millions of tons, sufficient to make a train of cars which, if started west
III
JOHN S. WILSON.
from Philadelphia, would pass through San Francisco and have its engine in New York city, while the caboose, still west bound, would be passing through Columbus, Ohio-5,000 miles of coal! How important then the position, and how necessary that the man who fixes the charges upon this tonnage, whose single error in judgment might cost the road thousands of dollars, should possess extraordinary executive ability, rare judgment and great decision of character ! All these qualifications Mr. Wilson has fully demonstrated he possesses.
No road in the country has such a local tonnage as the Pennsylvania, with the vast lumber interests, iron and steel mills and varied manufactories, and the thousands of thriving towns upon its line whose interests are identical with the line, and who are dependent upon it as their only avenue of transportation. All the more important, therefore, it is that the management of its traffic should be in the hands of a man of ability, and one who could understand the requirements of the patrons of the road. The rapid increase in the number of such industries, and the growth and extension of those already upon its lines during the years he was in charge of the department, prove how well their wants were looked after, and how carefully their interests were guarded by Traffic Manager Wilson.
The position of general traffic manager of a great railroad like the Pennsyl- vania requires also a man, apart from his technical knowledge of railroad matters, to be familiar with the methods and needs of every branch of business with which he is thrown into contact. This knowledge and familiarity Mr. Wilson possessed to a remarkable degree. Very little of the actual detail reached him during the last two or three years of his incumbency, the excellent organization perfected by him shortly after entering upon his duties making it unnecessary for him to do more than exercise a controlling supervision. His service and judgment were required in other and more important matters, and he was in almost daily consultation with the president and vice-president upon questions not properly within his department, but upon which his advice was required. He was thus one of the hardest-worked officials in the service of the company. His day began early in the morning, and continued without interruption until long after most men had left their places of business, and it is remarkable, therefore, that his health and strength endured so well the strain that he must have undergone.
As already indicated, Mr. Wilson's decision of character, perfect clearness of judgment and extraordinary grasp of the details of general railway and freight traffic received signal recognition from the Inter-State Commerce Commission. More than once his opinion and deductions were sought by that body, and his testimony, given in the summer of 1888 upon the subject of through export freight rates, was considered by all parties concerned one of the most able state- ments of an exceedingly difficult subject which had ever been made.
Mr. Wilson's resignation as General Traffic Manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which had been tendered some weeks previously, was accepted on October 10, 1888, when the following minute was adopted by the Board of Directors of the Company :
112
JOHN S. WILSON.
"Resolved, That, in accepting the resignation of Mr. John S. Wilson as General Freight Traffic Agent, the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company desire to express their sincere regret at the termination of his connection with the service of the company, and their high appreciation of the ability and fidelity with which he has performed the important duties entrusted to him."
Upon his resignation the title of the position was changed back to General Freight Agent, the same as it was previous to his incumbency.
Almost immediately after he had severed his connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company he was tendered the Presidency of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company and affiliated roads, and in December, 1888, was formally elected to the office. This corporation, which was subsequently consolidated as the Central New England and Western Railroad, and which controls the Bridge Railroad and its immediate approaches, is destined to largely affect the transportation interests of the country, and greatly benefit all points east of the Hudson river ; and his connection with it, universally hailed as a guarantee of success, commands the respect and confidence of the business public.
Mr. Wilson married Miss Hemphill, a niece of Judge Hemphill, whose former country-seat near Strawberry Mansion in East Fairmount Park, renowned in days gone by for its hospitalities, remains one of the landmarks of the earlier social life of the city.
J. A. J.
.
WILLIAM B. WILSON.
WILLIAM BENDER WILSON.
W ILLIAM BENDER WILSON is a representative American railroad man. His present position as Freight Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany for the Kensington District of Philadelphia practically places him in charge of the interests of that corporation in a large and very important territory, im- portant because its manufacturers in number and variety are unequalled in any other section of the same size and population in the United States. By entering heart and soul into the spirit of his surroundings, Mr. Wilson has been enabled to render peculiar service to his company. Although a long and arduous worker in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, he regards his career as only bud- ding. The time to write his biography has therefore not yet come. His pros- pects are widening daily, and his energies were never more active than they are to-day [1887]. He has a quarter of a century of probable active business life before him.
Mr. Wilson's progress furnishes an interesting study of American possibilities. He is thoroughly American. He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1839, the son of Thomas Low Wilson and Julianna Margaretta Wilson. His father, who died in 1861, was a Philadelphian, born in that city in 1800, the son of Thomas Wilson. The latter was of Scotch-Irish descent, and first saw the light in Philadelphia about the year 1768. The mother of Thomas Low Wilson was of English parentage, her maiden name being Lydia Oakford. Thomas Wilson was a printer, author and journalist. "A History of the War between the United States of America and Great Britain " was published in New York by John Low in 1816. Other works of this early American writer were "A Picture of Philadelphia in 1824," and a biography of American Military and Naval Heroes whose title-page bore the motto: "Speak of Man as he is, in the lan- guage of truth and not of adulation." This sentiment descending two genera- tions has come to be the favorite maxim of the subject of this sketch in directing his conduct. Thomas Low Wilson followed in his father's journalistic footsteps, successively working on the " Philadelphia Aurora " and " National Intelligencer," and publishing the Petersburg, Va., " Intelligencer," the " Lynchburg Democrat," and editing the " Reporter " at Harrisburg. He held various State offices and filled other newspaper positions. He was a friend of Simon Cameron, and the warm relations between the Cameron and Wilson families continue. William B. Wilson's mother was Julianna Margaretta Bender, daughter of John and Mar- garetta Bender, and born in Philadelphia, April 22, 1801. She still lives, in full possession of all her bright mental faculties, at Harrisburg. She was of German extraction, her ancestor, Jacob Bender, having been one of Philadelphia's earliest settlers, arriving on the shores of the Delaware in 1693, and settling on a farm on a site which is now a part of Germantown. John Bender, of Philadelphia,
(113)
8
114
WILLIAM B. WILSON.
the father of Julianna, was a patriot in the Revolution. He served with honor from May 1, 1778, to 1781 in the 3d Pennsylvania Continental line.
It was staunch American blood, therefore, that flowed in the infant veins of William B. Wilson. He passed his early life in the city of his birth, Harrisburg. He still entertains a devoted affection for that city in spite of the fact that he has become a permanent Philadelphian, having purchased a site for the erection of a home in the suburb of Holmesburg, on the main street of which he now resides. Until eleven years of age he went to the common schools of Harrisburg. A year's subsequent study in the Harrisburg Academy completed such of his edu- cation as was imparted by schoolmasters. The vast fund of information on all subjects which is now shown in his conversation was picked up in the great school of life and experience, in books and newspapers. After his graduation he became chore boy in a " general " store. The tyranny of a provincial merchant led to rebellion on the part of the errand boy, who, as an upward step, became a messenger for the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Company. His promotion to an operator's desk soon came.
October 8, 1855, must be regarded perhaps the most important date in Mr. Wilson's life. On that date he entered on his long service in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He began as a telegraph operator at Harrisburg. Sub- sequent transfers and promotions gave him his remarkable acquaintance with every curve and station of the great line which he represents. Thus on January 15, 1856, he was placed at Huntingdon ; March 18, at Columbia; August I, 1857, again moved to Harrisburg ; and in the meantime being called on to per- form " emergency " work at Pittsburg, Wilmore, Irwins, Lewistown, Harrisburg, Gap, West Philadelphia, and the Thirteenth and Market Street Station, Philadel- phia. During the rest of 1857, and until August 1, 1858, his services were divided between the Railroad office and the National Telegraph Line office in Harrisburg. On the date last named he left Harrisburg for Philadelphia, with David Brooks, the world-wide known electrician. In Philadelphia his duties called him vari- ously into the offices of the president of the road, the general freight agent, the superintendent and the National Telegraph Line. This service, varied at intervals by duties performed for the road at Harrisburg, Lancaster and Cresson, continued until May 20, 1860. In these five years of shifting about, young Wilson had gained a keen insight into the resources of the commonwealth and into its possi- bilities of development which has served him and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company well in later years. May 20, 1860, he suddenly took a tangent's course, and made a tour of the South, studying its social and political features, and using liis railroad and telegraphic knowledge as the price of his trip. He served as an operator in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. He was an interested spec- tator of the stirring Southern scenes of those days in which events were rushing with cumulative energy to the crisis-the first shot on Sumter. Returning to Harrisburg he entered the office of S. D. Young, Superintendent of the Penn- sylvania Railroad. It was destined that he should share in the momentous deeds
115
WILLIAM B. WILSON.
of those times. On April 21, 1861, Thomas A. Scott took him from the super- intendent's office to that of Governor Curtin to assist in the organization of the troops sent in response to the President's call. When Mr. Scott was called to Washington, May 7, 1861, to assume charge of railroads and telegraphs, he sent for young Wilson to attend him in Washington.
Mr. Wilson was made Manager of the Military Telegraph office in the War Department. In that capacity he came in close contact with President Lincoln many times a day, often at night, and on several important occasions. His rec- ollections of Mr. Lincoln are of the most pleasant kind. He speaks tenderly of him as the most evenly balanced man he ever encountered.
This Military Telegraph Corps, of which Mr. Wilson was now a prominent member, became " the most wonderfully accurate, reliable and intelligent army telegraph corps ever known to the world." Compelled by health to leave the regular corps Mr. Wilson, during the raids, invasions, and alarms on the Upper Potomac and on and over the southern border of Pennsylvania, acted under Col- onel Thomas A. Scott and Governor Curtin as a telegraph scout, armed only with a pocket instrument, a coil of fine helix wire and a key to the cipher in which he made his communications. It was an exciting and interesting life. He composed his long despatches to various officers at the key, dating them " in the woods near -," or wherever the place might be where he had rigged up his temporary head-quarters.
That his military services were admirably performed is a matter of public record, and was testified to by Abraham Lincoln, who wrote the words "and I" under a letter signed by E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General of the United States Army, and saying of Mr. Wilson's Washington service : " It has been my fortune to be thrown in contact with Mr. Wilson at all times of night and day, and I could not fail to remark upon the efficiency and fidelity, as well as upon the great kindness and courtesy with which he has uniformly conducted the military telegraph under his charge." It is a matter of record that not an error could be recalled as being made by any operator under Mr. Wilson's direction.
Early in 1862 Mr. Wilson returned to Harrisburg to receive the appointment as Lost Car Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. While keeping track of car movements from and between New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Alexandria, he exceeded the duties indicated in his title by rendering assistance in every department of the road in all military matters that were connected with railroad transportation. It was also his duty to watch Confederate movements on the line from Wheeling to Alexandria. How well his work was performed during the raids and invasions of Pennsylvania during 1862 and 1863, we have the evidence of Governor Curtin, who, December 12, 1863, took " great pleasure in bearing testimony to his courage, discretion and fidelity in important and deli- cate services."
The war over, Mr. Wilson's attention was given to putting in order the tele- graph line from Baltimore to Canandaigua, and in effecting a sound organization
-
116
WILLIAM B. WILSON.
of the telegraph corps of his road. He also superintended the construction of the line from Irvineton to Oil City.
In 1866 Mr. Wilson decided to enter the freight department of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, resolving at the same time to devote his life to the study and development of his chosen field. He became chief clerk in the freight office at Harrisburg, and so remained until 1882, exercising an influence far beyond his position, and making himself felt in every department of the road's organization, refusing many opportunities of promotion to places of higher-sound- ing titles. He participated, during his Harrisburg life, in every public move- ment and took a lively interest in every important enterprise, devoting special study to manufactures and their advancement, and to the development of the resources of Pennsylvania. The influence of his tongue and pen in these and other directions was effectively felt. He had at heart the interests and progress of his city, and Harrisburg's municipality yet bears the impress of his active, improving and guiding hand. He was a member of councils from 1868 to 1871, and had much to do in bringing about the opening and grading of new streets and the construction of the present magnificent water works. In 1873 he was nominated by the Democrats of Dauphin and Perry counties for the Legislature. The battle-cry of his campaign was, " Business advancement and liberal laws." While he carried every town in the district by large majorities, he was defeated by a few hundred votes, which was flattering in view of the fact that the district was overwhelmingly Republican. His vote exceeded the party vote by over 1700. Always a Democrat, he was extremely liberal in his political views. The newspaper accounts and comments on that campaign show the esteem in which he was held by those in and out of his party. In 1876, as a delegate to the Democratic State Convention, he placed himself in opposition to what he termed the " greenback craze," and advocated a "hard money " basis. In the autumn of the same year he was nominated for member of Congress for the 14th dis- trict, comprising Dauphin, Lebanon and Northumberland counties. While he regarded the nomination as only a compliment, in view of the hopeless opposition majority, he did not hesitate to make a fight, taking the opportunities offered in the canvass to urge everywhere the development of the material resources of those counties. He was of course defeated, but the result was a complimentary one and another evidence of the high favor in which he was held by people of all parties.
In 1882 it was found necessary by the authorities of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to reorganize the condition of the road's affairs at Lancaster. Mr. Wilson was chosen for the task, and he became Freight Agent at that point. His ability and energy soon stemmed the tide of languishing business, and turned that business into a growing one. He secured increased facilities, and by actively circulating in manufacturing circles secured all the business that his facilities could accommodate. He laid the permanent foundation for prosperity that now exists. He stirred up the community to an appreciation of its own possibilities, and was a prominent factor in the city's subsequent progress.
117
WILLIAM B. WILSON.
Mr. Wilson's pre-eminent abilities as a reorganizer were quickly recognized by his superior officers and were soon utilized in a larger. field. The important Kensington District of Philadelphia, embracing all that territory from Vine street to Frankford and from the Delaware to Broad street, was not adequately covered by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was seen that a broad and comprehensive man, a man of executive ability, intelligence and tact, was needed to infuse life and motion into the turgid condition in that vast section. Mr. Wilson was the man.
In 1884, as Pennsylvania Railroad Agent for the Kensington District, embracing Kensington Station, Shackamaxon Station, the River Front Railroad, and the whole great network of sidings, branches, yards and sub-stations depending on the Kensington Branch of the New York Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Mr. Wilson's advent, to use the briefest expression, set things going. In the short time covering his administration a wonderful transformation has been effected. He has made himself thoroughly acquainted with the whole manu- facturing world of Kensington, with the lives of the people, with the wants, pos- sibilities and capacities of the section. Untiring zeal, keen perception, deft diplo- macy, large experience, kindliness of manner and motive, all have contributed to the rapid and still growing increase of business of his road in Mr. Wilson's district. He has created the demand for more facilities, and has promptly se- cured those facilities through the hearty co-operation of his superiors. He is one of the most popular men in Kensington and in the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Mr. Wilson's home life is as happy as his business life is active. He was mar- ried in 1865 to Sarah A. Urich, of Keokuk, Iowa, and their union has been a happy one. Mrs. Wilson is a handsome woman, of a pleasant manner and agreeable and domestic disposition. She is a watchful and indulgent mother, presiding gracefully over their pretty household in Holmesburg, Philadelphia. Their children are five in number. The eldest, Thomas Wallace Wilson, is a bright and modest boy of sixteen, who has already shown an aptitude for the service of the corporation for which his father has labored so long. Two active and handsome boys, Francis and Donald, and two exceedingly lively little girls, Margaretta and Florence, complete a very happy family.
Personally Mr. Wilson is a man of literary tastes and liberal views. He has done journalistic work all his life, partly as a recreation, and writes in a remarkably pointed yet dignified and often picturesque style. He is loved by his employés, to whom he is uniformly considerate and gentle. Times out of number he has rendered personal assistance to, or taken personal interest in, particular members of his large force. The writer, who has seen much of Mr. Wilson in business and in private life, can bear abundant testimony to his kind- ness and often positive indulgence. He is just in his prime, and he feels that the best work of his life is yet to be done, and the best rewards yet to be received.
R. N. STEPHENS.
F. GUTEKUNST.
CHILA
WILLIAM H ANDREWS.
WILLIAM HENRY ANDREWS.
T 'HERE has been a strong disposition manifested on the part of the people of this State for the past few years to induce the younger men of the Commonwealth to take a more prominent part in political and public affairs than they had been wont to do, thereby infusing new blood into the party management, and encouraging a feeling of laudable ambition among the younger elements of the two great parties to strive for honorable place in the councils of the State and in those of the political bodies of which they may be members. That good results have arisen from this change is shown in the excellent work accomplished for the Republican party under the Chairmanship of WILLIAM H. ANDREWS, who so ably and effectually marshalled the forces of that organization during the campaign of 1889, when H. K. Boyer, another representative of the younger element of the party, was elected State Treasurer by the phenomenal majority of over sixty thousand, notwithstanding it was " an off-year in politics."
Hon. W. H. Andrews, of Titusville, Crawford county, member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania and Chairman of the Republican State Com- mittee, was born in Youngsville, Warren county, Pa., January 14, 1842. His paternal ancestor fought under the banner of William the Conqueror, and was knighted for gallantry and meritorious services at the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066. In after years his descendants maintained the reputation of their pro- genitor, and the family name will be found among England's truest patriots and bravest defenders for many centuries. On his mother's side Mr. Andrews is of Puritan descent, the first of his maternal ancestors in this country dating his ad- vent to America back to the earliest settlement made by the Pilgrims in Mas- sachusetts. A great-grandfather on his mother's side of the family served in the Continental army during the revolution, under Montgomery at the storming of Quebec; was with General Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, and with Washington at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Another ancestor served under Washington throughout the struggle for Independence. In the war of the rebellion also the family name was well represented among the defenders of the Union. His father, Dr. Jeremiah Andrews, was born in Mitchellstown, Ireland, educated in Dublin, and emigrated to this country when twenty-five years of age. He was recognized as a skilful practitioner, and possessed to a remarkable degree the esteem and confidence of the community in which he lived. Dr. Andrews' wife, the mother of W. H. Andrews, was a daughter of Dr. Noah Weld, a member of one of the oldest families, and one of the best known and most respected citizens of Warren county.
After obtaining such rudimentary education as the public schools of his time and section afforded, W. H. Andrews early in life entered upon a mercantile career, and up to the year 1880 was largely engaged in mercantile pursuits, part of the time at Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently at Meadville and Titusville, Pa. There his
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.