USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 24
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As a striking example of his honesty, uprightness and sterling integrity, on one occasion a dealer called and told him if he would give an order for coal there would be a liberal commission paid him. Immediately the trusted manager reached for the would-be briber and ejected him from the premises. At another · time, when in Philadelphia purchasing articles for the estate, some one noted his efforts to beat the seller down to the last cent, when a few moments later, purchasing for his own interest similar goods, the price asked was paid without parleying or a single word of dissent. He believed in paying as he went. This was characteristic even in his youth. When a poor boy, going barefooted around the streets of Shrewsbury, storekeepers would offer to sell him shoes on credit ; but he would reply that he would not wear anything till it was paid for. It was a rule of his life never to run an account with a storekeeper or butcher. When in Philadelphia, and a purchase had been made, he would demand a bill immediately. If not forthcoming, or if the goods had to be sent by freight or express to destination, if the bill arrived first, the check would be made out ready to mail upon receipt of the goods. At Cornwall sometimes he was called "red- tape," because he would insist upon always having all accounts relative to that vast possession properly kept, and vouchers rendered in every instance. He even would not take for his own personal use a postage stamp belonging to the estate, but kept his own postage matters rigidly separate. At one time while at
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the dining-table an account was presented, and in order to make it exact Miss Weber, the old family nurse, handed Mr. Wilhelm one cent. She soon after- wards went to Europe. Four years had elapsed, when one day meeting Miss Weber the little loan was repaid to her astonishment; she having forgotten all about the lending, and to the great gratification of Mr. Wilhelm. Several times during the latter part of his life he said to his only surviving son : "If I have ever done any person an injustice or wrong, I don't know it. I have never done anything that I could not go and look the man in the face at any time after- wards."
Referring again to his multifarious duties after 1856, in 1860.he was elected a Director in the Cornwall Railroad, which connected Cornwall with Lebanon. During his administration on this road the dividends declared were larger than before his connection with it, or since his resignation. In 1861 he purchased what was called the Cornwall "Turnpike," but at that time a worn-out plank road, and became its President. Under his management it was thoroughly changed, and made one of the best macadamized roads in the country. In 1863 he recommended the remodelling of the Cornwall mansions, which was done under the joint supervision of himself and John McArthur, Jr., an eminent archi- tect of Philadelphia. Later he built and superintended alterations to Robert H. Coleman's and R. Percy Alden's residences at Cornwall. In 1864-65 he was prominent in the projection and completion of the Spiral Railroad, which runs from the base to the top of "Big Hill." This hill is three hundred feet in height, and the road in its construction makes the entire circuit of the hill, and on an ascending grade of two hundred feet to the mile-its length being one and a half miles. Locomotives and trains frequently ascend and descend, transporting thence the ores which are mined from its gradually lowering summit. After the death of Robert W. Coleman, in 1864, Mr. Wilhelm succeeded him as President of the Cornwall Railroad, and, in connection with William G. Freeman and Jacob Weidel, became the administrator of Mr. Coleman's estate, with general power of attorney from the heirs of Robert W. Coleman. In 1882, on the termination of one of the equity suits, he then made up his final administration account, and was relieved as administrator.
In 1870 he purchased the farm and adjoining property at North Cornwall, and designed and erected a furnace there. In 1875 he was elected President of the Lebanon Rolling Mill.' He owned also large interests in different companies outside of the estate of which he had charge, including the Central Iron Works and the Chesapeake Nail Works at Harrisburg. He originally acquired this interest by means of a loan of $25,000 obtained from Mr. Samuel Small, of York, giving security therefor. This particular investment proved peculiarly remu- nerative, and to it can be ascribed whatever estate he left his family.
Upon the Cornwall estate there were erected from time to time nine furnaces, besides others operated in connection with it. The capacity of these various furnaces is now over eight hundred tons of pig-iron per day.
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On account of his impaired health he tendered his resignation as general manager of the Cornwall estate in 1872, but it was not accepted; and the tender of the resignation was made from time to time, without acceptance, until July I, 1881, to take effect January 1, 1882. For a number of years during his manage- ment some of the furnaces had been making from one hundred and sixty to two hundred tons of iron per week, and this output was thought to be large and satisfactory. But shortly before his resignation was accepted he had completed the alterations of these furnaces ; so that when they were blown in, in 1882, there was an immense increase in iron, which has been maintained by the subsequent management. This increase, for which during his lifetime he had little or no credit, was due solely to himself. The Burd-Coleman furnaces, which to-day stand unrivalled for completeness of design and architectural beauty, were the work of Mr. Wilhelm in 1873. In 1880 he introduced ore-roasters after remod- elling those furnaces, completing them in 1882. In 1880 he also built the ore- roasters at the Cornwall furnaces, and to him the construction and perfection of both of those immense furnace-plants are due, each now producing more than one thousand tons per week. In 1880 he also projected and carried into effect the construction of the Colebrook Valley Railroad, now known as the Cornwall and Lebanon, connecting the Reading and Pennsylvania Railroad systems. It seems that a party of capitalists at Lancaster were much impressed with the feasibility and importance of such a scheme, and had partly arranged to carry it out. Mr. Wilhelm went to Philadelphia, and had an interview with Mr. J. N. DuBarry, one of the higher officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who told him that it would never do to have this railroad constructed independent of that company or any of the Cornwall people; but that it was absolutely necessary to have an outlet there. Mr. Wilhelm thereupon said he would undertake it himself as general manager of the estate, and started in; the arrangements for its construction being made while Mr. Robert H. Coleman was in Europe. When Mr. Coleman returned he wanted it to be a narrow-gauge, and the west- ern terminus to be at Colebrook; but other counsels prevailed, and it was built, and has become one of the finest railroads in America. Mr. Wilhelm also pur- chased the land for the Colebrook furnaces at Lebanon, now the property of Robert H. Coleman ; personally made the ground plan, and staked it off for the immense plant, which now yields as high as one thousand four hundred tons of pig-iron per week.
When it was ascertained that Mr. Wilhelm's resignation as general manager of the Cornwall estate was final, a partition of the great property was agreed upon by the heirs, and, notwithstanding many difficulties, satisfactorily arranged.
Upon retiring from the management of the Cornwall estate he removed to his farm at Paxtang, Dauphin county, which he had purchased from the Dougherty heirs in 1879. In 1883 he selected York, the native home of his devoted wife, for a winter residence, and purchased the handsome mansion of Dr. Charles M. Nes. The following year he became active in the affairs of
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the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, and was elected Chairman of the Committee on Arrangements, which erected the commodious buildings of the Society at Philadelphia. The next year he was elected President of the Society, which position he held until the time of his death, exercising a powerful influence in the affairs of that organization. In addition to other positions he was Director of the Commonwealth Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of Harris- burg, and also of the Valley National Bank, of Lebanon.
Reverting to the Paxtang farm, after the family removed there in 1882 the whole place was remodelled and greatly improved; the aggregate cost of the improvements reaching nearly eighty thousand dollars. In 1883, after he had purchased the York mansion, he made very extensive improvements, furnishing it anew throughout. These marked changes at both places were made entirely from his share of the revenue-that at York in a single year, including the purchase of the building-of the Chesapeake Nail Works and Central Iron Works, which establishments in the past few years of their operation, under the wise management of Hon. Charles L. Baily, had grown to immense proportions, employing hundreds of men.
No man in Pennsylvania had a more cheerful, pleasant and hospitable home than Mr. Wilhelm during his lifetime. Every member of the family seemed to vie with its head in making welcome and happy the temporary stay of the stranger, or the more extended visit of the guest. He was truly benevolent, giving liberally in the most unostentatious manner for charitable and religious purposes. Many of his benefactions had been so quietly bestowed as to be unknown to members of his own family until after his decease, which occurred on the 19th of September, 1887, the consequence of impaired health from years of arduous work, loss of sleep, and trouble necessitated by the faithfulness to his employer's interests so characteristic of the man.
In church work he frequently volunteered as one of the "Deficiency Com- mittee," as he would sometimes jocularly term it, and put forth strenuous efforts to bring the financial department to a satisfactory status. Then he served twice as Chairman of the Committee to remodel the present magnificent Methodist Episcopal Church building at Cornwall, and a second time as Treasurer. He was one of the Building Committee to remodel the ancient edifice of the Presby- terian Church at Paxtang. One of his numerous donations for religious pur- poses at York was a large and rich-toned bell to the Reformed Church. He also gave a handsome organ to each church at Shrewsbury, without regard to denominational lines; and more than one of these present almost indispensable adjuncts to church services went to little struggling congregations at other places.
In educational work he was often active. A gentleman high in the public school department of Pennsylvania voluntarily remarked since Mr. Wilhelm's decease, that he had done more to develop the public school system in Lebanon county than any other man.
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In the leading fraternities of the day Mr. Wilhelm took a lively interest, being a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows organizations, and for some dis- tinguished services in the latter organization had been exonerated from payment of all dues.
He left surviving him a widow, Elizabeth B .; a son, John Schall Wilhelm ; and two daughters, Miss Isabel Small Wilhelm and Miss Sarah Hand Coleman Wilhelm.
As a proper closing tribute to his memory, it may truthfully be said that he was not only respected and honored by the eminent and wealthy, but esteemed and beloved by the humble and poor. The news of his decease had a marked effect wherever his face was familiar. Even on the busy railway, where accident and death to employés and others inure the men to stand unmoved in the presence of the grim monster, conductors, enginemen and brakemen stood aside after the sad announcement of his death to drop a silent tear to his memory.
W. H. D.
CHILA
F. GLTEMUNST.
ZACCUR P. BOYER.
ŻACCUR PRALL BOYER.
A MONG the notably successful business men of this State, and one who has, by his sturdy, energetic character, his comprehensive grasp of events, foresight and sagacity in matters of business, more than fulfilled the prom- ise of his early manhood, and whose determined will and persevering in- dustry marked him from the commencement of his career as a man destined to succeed, is COLONEL ZACCUR P. BOYER, inventor and manufacturer, who was born in Schuylkill county, Pa., October 28, 1832. The family is of French extraction. His grandfather, Valentine Boyer, was a prominent citizen of the 'county, and his father, Samuel Boyer, who married Elizabeth Read, was an early operator in various lines of business in that section, who died when the lad was but ten years of age, and left his family with but limited means. The boy, however, obtained a fair education, commencing in the public schools and ending in a private academy. His natural industry and perseverance mani- fested themselves at an early age, for while still a small boy he worked hard, and, with the aid of his brothers, managed to support the family, and, by the proceeds of their joint labor, educate the younger children. He afterwards went to Patterson, where he was employed by Charles Silliman at his colliery, who, taking a great liking to him, helped him up the ladder which he had already begun to climb. From these duties he was promoted to the position of clerk and bookkeeper, at the same time devoting much of his leisure to the improve- ment of his mind and increasing his knowledge of books, of which he was very fond. In 1854 he married, and having accumulated a few hundred dollars' cap- ital, he started in the mining business on his own account, and though at first quite successful, after working for three years he failed, owing to adverse cir- cumstances which in no way reflected on his business ability or honor. Not disheartened by this check, he again commenced without any means, just man- aging to make a living until, at the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861, he en- tered the Ninety-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, as a lieutenant, and left Pottsville on November 8th of that year for the front to join the Army of the Potomac. For eleven months he saw active service with his command, par- ticipating in the seven days' fight and all the preliminary engagements of that campaign, during which time he was appointed to the post of adjutant of the regiment, and while at Harrison's Landing he was ordered to Harrisburg, where he was appointed Post-Adjutant of the United States Recruiting Service, with headquarters at Camp Curtin, and filled that office for three months, sending forth to the different army corps all troops which arrived at Camp Curtin after enlistment. He was then appointed by the Governor of the State of Pennsylva- nia Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Seventy-third Regiment, Penn- sylvania Volunteers, and about the same time was elected Major of his original
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regiment, the Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers. He went, however, with his new command to Norfolk, Va., and while there was appointed President of the Military Commission and Assistant Military Governor of that portion of Virginia, and Commanding Officer of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and later on Inspector-General of the Department of Virginia. He held these positions until the time of the threatened and actually prosecuted invasion of his native State by the Confederates, when he requested to be relieved of his different positions in Virginia and to be ordered to the Army of the Potomac, then moving towards Pennsylvania. Having received orders in accordance with the request to report to General Howard, Eleventh Corps, then en route for Pennsylvania, he joined that corps at Frederick City, Md., then went through the Gettysburg campaign with General Howard's command, participating in all the engagements, and re- turning with the Army of the Potomac to Virginia. At Warrenton Junction he was ordered to protect the line of railroad leading out from Alexandria to Orange Court-House. He remained in the army engaged in various capacities until August, 1864, when he was mustered out by reason of the expiration of his term of service.
After his return he entered into the coal business, which he carried on suc- cessfully until 1870. Having accumulated a considerable amount of money, he purchased, in 1866, from an eastern company, the Port Carbon Iron Works for the sum of $85,000. Colonel Boyer's practical knowledge was soon made man- ifest in the management of these works. In a short time they became noted as models for good management, and were almost independent of outside interest or help. He provided his own railroad cars for transporting material to and the product from the works, and secured possession of lime quarries for supplying their wants, and mined the coal and most of the ore needed to carry on the con- cern. Everything was systematized, and economy in the employment of the most improved labor-saving machinery was always his rule. The value of the annual production of his establishment at the time of its purchase was $50,000; but by the additions and improvements which he rapidly effected by the erec- tion of a rolling-mill and a spike factory, the latter shortly afterwards enlarged, it soon reached the capacity of turning out thirty-five tons a day, requiring the employment of one hundred and thirty additional hands, and increasing the pro- duction to $300,000 a year. These additions cost $125,000. In 1870 he dis- posed of his interests in the coal business, and relinquished all other pursuits to devote his time and attention exclusively to the development of the iron works, which, in 1872, he further enlarged by adding a blast furnace capable of produc- ing two hundred tons of pig-iron per week. This cost $156,000, and required the increase of fifty men to the force employed. In 1873 he put up an addi- tional rolling-mill for making street-car and "T" rails, the manufacture of the former increasing the business $250,000 per annum, and adding seventy-five hands to those already employed. The mill, one of the best constructed and most perfect in the country, and the blast furnaces attached thereto, generally
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admitted by experts to be almost unequalled, were erected under his immediate superintendence. The superior construction of the blast furnaces is attested by the fact that there never was a single interruption in the casting. The articles manufactured at the works, viz., bars, squares, flats, mock-bars, railroad iron and spikes, were sold in the neighborhood, and to Pittsburgh, as well as to rail- roads generally, the production of the last-named article alone amounting to four tons in every ten hours. The total returns of the business then reached nearly a million of dollars. This enormous and almost unprecedented increase of twenty-fold the original production of the plant in 1866 sufficiently attests the business capacity of the proprietor. Besides having the burden and responsibil- ity of the Port Carbon Iron Works on his mind, Colonel Boyer in 1874 became one of the proprietors and active managers of the Ringgold Iron and Coal Com- pany, and erected those works and a blast furnace at Ringgold, Schuylkill county, Pa., under his own supervision, all the machinery and iron having been furnished from his own plant at Port Carbon. While prosecuting his Port Car- bon enterprise he engaged in other large undertakings, building and operating the immense United States colliery at Williamstown, where, in order to reach the great coal bed, he drove a tunnel eight hundred yards in length through the solid rock. Besides this he built and operated the collieries at Phoenix Park, two in number-one at Mount Carmel, which he erected in the marvellously short time of sixty days, and one at Trevorton, Northumberland county, Pa., which, under his direction, produced the largest output of coal of any colliery in that region. While here he constructed the railroad from Trevorton to South- ampton, thus accomplishing the connection of his works with the vast Reading railroad system. He also built two collieries in the Mahanoy Valley. He also constructed the immense winding and operating machinery at the noted Wadesville shaft in Schuylkill county. He built the Swede Furnace at Swede- land, Pa., the large Hackettstown furnace in New Jersey, and a large portion of the machinery at the Lochiel Iron Mills at Harrisburg, Pa.
In the year 1877 Colonel Boyer built the gas works in the city of San José, Cal., under the Lowe patents, for the introduction of carburetted hydrogen gas manufactured from anthracite coal, with superheated steam, and carburetted by the use of petroleum. Realizing the necessity of being able to procure the oil needed within a reasonable distance, he made an examination of the Santa Cruz mountains, which led him to believe that oil existed in sufficient quantities in that section to supply him with all that he required. Knowing that unless it could be obtained there the oil necessary to carburet the gas in the works be- ing constructed would have to be transported from Pennsylvania, and with faith in the success of the venture, he sunk two wells in that territory, and the result was that he struck high grade gravity oil equal to any which is found in Penn- sylvania, the wells producing jointly about fifty barrels a day. The oil was used at those works, and they still get their supply from that section. This was the first high grade gravity oil discovered on the Pacific slope, and the region is
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still producing the quantity obtained from the original wells. Colonel Boyer also built a flume for the purpose of conveying the water from the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the gravel mines of the Cosumines river, in Placer county, Cal. This flume conveys the water nine miles, and carries four thousand miner's inches of water. It is one of the grandest achievements of mechanical and engineering science of that character, owing to the condition of the country through which the flume had to be built, that has ever been con- summated. He also built the powder works which are now in successful opera- tion in Utah Territory.
In 1881 he returned to the Eastern States, and went into the cable railroad business, since which time he has built several cable railroads, the most impor- tant being one in St. Louis, Mo., and one in St. Paul, Minn., under patents and inventions of his own, which roads have been entirely successful, and are to-day profitably operated. Among his other chief inventions may be mentioned the endless rope pump for deep colliery workings, which increases the capacity over all others one hundred-fold, and at the same time decreases the cost of erection ; a gigantic water filter for cities, with the capacity of thoroughly filtering one hundred millions or more gallons of water per day; a steam heat system to supply steam from a central point to any given number of houses for the pur- pose of using said steam for heating purposes; also a steam heating system for each particular house which requires but one fire in the entire house-that in the range-where cooking processes can go on uninterruptedly, and which, as it acts automatically, requires no particular attention.
He has invented various and numerous other appliances, all of which are in more or less successful operation in the United States. He is at present en- gaged in the construction of a large steam heating plant in the city of Philadel- phia, and also in the construction of cable railroads.
Colonel Boyer has always been a consistent and ardent Republican, but has taken no active part in politics. He is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Veteran Legion, and of the Grand Army of the Republic, all of which are military organizations growing out of the war of the rebellion. He is Presbyterian in his religious belief, and is a warm sup- porter of the church, contributing liberally to its needs.
Colonel Boyer was married on September 28, 1854, to Miss Catharine C. Williams, daughter of William Williams, of Schuylkill county. They have five children.
C. R. D.
F. GUTERUNST.
PHILA.
DAVID BROOKS.
DAVID BROOKS.
D AVID BROOKS, the eminent Philadelphia electrician, who is one of the earliest telegraphists living and inventor of the underground conduit system largely adopted by the Western Union Telegraph Company, was born at Brooks- vale, Conn., January 26, 1820. He is a descendant of Henry Brooks, of Che- shire, England, who immigrated to America in 1640, on the restoration of Charles II., on account of the fact of his having fought under Cromwell rendering his presence in England offensive. The settlement to which he removed was named Cheshire by his children after the place of his nativity.
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