USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 3
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JOHN J. GILROY.
few months, and the details of the transaction were conducted by the same official with complete success.
Mr. Gilroy, since his selection to the Secretaryship of the Guarantee Trust in 1876, has, by his thorough business qualifications, earned for himself and the institution an enviable reputation. His quiet and gentlemanly bearing and urbanity of manner, and his way of looking you squarely in the eyes, inspires you at once with confidence that whatever business is intrusted to his care will receive prompt and thorough attention.
Mr. Gilroy is in the vestry of St. Matthew's P. E. Church and is a teacher in the Sunday-school connected therewith, having a class of young men who are devotedly attached to him. He is also Secretary of St. Matthew's Beneficial Association, a position he has held since it was founded thirteen years ago, when he was mainly instrumental in organizing it, with only eleven members, of whom he was one. The membership is limited to four hundred, and this limit has been filled for a number of years. The offshoots from this association have now about two thousand members. He is also Treasurer of St. Matthew's Coal Club and a delegate to the Congress of Workingmen's Clubs of the United States, of which body he was President in 1886.
Mr. Gilroy has been interested in building associations for a number of years, and as President of the Good Hope Building Association has, by his conserva- tive and careful management, made it one of the most prosperous organizations of the kind in the city. It is now running its nineteenth annual series. He is also a Director in the Philadelphia Home Purchasing and Investment Com- pany, organized in 1885, for the purpose of enabling persons of limited means to become owners of homes by the payment of a monthly sum slightly in excess of ordinary rental. This organization has had a phenomenal success, and bids fair to become a large financial institution.
Mr. Gilroy is also a prominent and influential member of the Masonic frater- nity, having reached nearly to the highest degree attainable. He is one of the organizers of the Masonic Art Association recently started for the purpose of decorating the Masonic Temple of Philadelphia, and has been made Treasurer of the fund.
In 1870 he was united in marriage to Florence, third daughter of the late William H. Williams, formerly a banker of Pittsburgh, but at that time President of the Bullock Printing Press Company. Four children have been born to them, two boys and two girls; but one of the boys died in infancy.
C. R. D.
F. GUTEKUNST.
PHILA
BENTON K. JAMISON.
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BENTON KNOTT JAMISON.
B' ENTON K. JAMISON, one of the best known and most successful private bank- ers in the city of Philadelphia, comes of a long line of strong ancestors. His lineage can be traced back to a mixture of the Scotch-Irish and a delicate strain of German blood. On the mother's side it runs to the pure Scotch-Irish ; while the paternal branch adds the strong, conservative and economical charac- teristics that make up the rather interesting combination of Scotch-Irish and German lineage which one finds in the Jamison family in this country. His grandfather came to America before the Revolutionary War, and took part in that struggle. He found a home at Hagerstown, Md., at a point where the rich Cumberland Valley begins its approach to the Potomac river, to be separated by that stream from the Shenandoah Valley, and there he married a German lady named Shryock, a family prominent in Maryland annals. Hovering along the border, sometimes living in Virginia and again in Maryland, the Jamison family grew to be a part of that interesting life in the valley of Virginia, where the principles of freedom and slavery were for so many years in constant conflict with one another. At Martinsburg, the western outpost of that " granary of the Old Dominion," B. K. Jamison's father was born. When he was but two years old the family left that region and crossed the Allegheny mountains to Greens- burgh, Pa., and went thence to Indiana county, in this State. Here they made a permanent home, after their years of shifting and striving to find a place where, by industry, they could make a start unhampered by the prejudices which the institution of slavery bred against the performance of manual labor by the white race; and there the father of B. K. Jamison, when grown to manhood, found a partner in a daughter of John Bell, who came from the north of Ireland, and was one of the earliest settlers in Indiana county. This was a most happy union, and the fruit born of it proves its quality. Rarely have man and woman been wed who so joined an earnestness of purpose with perfect unison of effort for good-good in a moral as well as a material way. They had ten children, seven girls and three boys. Their first son, Benton Knott, was born in March, 1837. His father was a great admirer of the Hon. Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, which accounts for Mr. Jamison's first name. Knott was the name of a village postmaster near by whom the elder Jamison very much admired, and the father, to show his regard for his friend, gave his surname to his son.
Young Jamison's schooling was rather limited. He attended the district school in the winter during his earlier years, and did his share of the labors on the farm in the summer until his age and strength admitted of his being sent to the academy at Saltsburg. The latter institution would be considered to-day rather a primitive affair, but for those times it was a pretentious temple of learn- ing. Here he finished the ground-work of a good English education, which he
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BENTON K. JAMISON.
afterwards built upon with a multitude of peculiar and practical experiences. Indeed, the fortunes and vicissitudes that came to him after his school-days were over really constituted his education, and it was not until he came to Philadelphia that opportunity and inclination combined to enable him to more fully develop his mental capacity.
Of all the important public improvements that attracted attention at the time of its construction the Pennsylvania Canal was perhaps the greatest. The western part of this artificial waterway Mr. Jamison's father helped to build. He was afterwards, for nine years, superintendent of the division that ran from Tarr's lock westward towards Pittsburgh. This occupation brought his son into employment on the canal. Young Jamison was also with his father during the time that the latter, as a contractor, was building a section of the Erie Canal in New York State. Whether as time-keeper, water-carrier for the workmen, driver on the canal or steerer on the boats, the youth early displayed the saving and industrious qualities which have made him eminent in financial circles. During all his boyhood he was popular with the men with whom he worked and came in contact, and every one along the line knew Benton K. Jamison.
In 1852, when he was a little more than fifteen years of age, his father obtained a contract to build a portion of the Northwestern Railroad, running from Blairs- ville to Indiana county. During the continuance of this work young Jamison attended the country store and warehouse located at Saltsburg, besides keeping the time of the six hundred laborers who were employed on the work. Long before this he had shown his inclination for finance, and, as money was scarce when he was very young, he would cut up pieces of pasteboard, pretend they were bank-notes, and in his play carry on a regular system of banking.
The Northwestern Railroad failed and was absorbed by the Pennsylvania, and is now known as the West Penn Railroad. This circumstance sent young Jamison out on the road as a live-stock drover. In 1853, while he was thus engaged, his father, who had grown into prominence in public affairs in Indiana county, became an independent candidate for the State Senate, and was elected. He was a Democrat, but his popularity carried him through, notwithstanding he was in a Whig district.
For several years before his election to the Senate he had been brigade inspector, with the rank of major, of the militia of the four or five counties sur- rounding his home. In the annual musters of those days, which were great events to the country people, Major Jamison was a conspicuous figure. No man was better known or more highly respected than this pioneer in a rapidly advancing civilization.
Successful men's lives are brimful of accidents. A contest in the Legislature for the election of State Treasurer was the means of giving young Jamison his opportunity to win fame and fortune in the occupation in which he is now engaged. Robert J. Ross was then head of the successful banking-house of Robert J. Ross & Co., of Philadelphia. He was a personal friend of Henry S.
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BENTON K. JAMISON.
Magraw, the candidate for State Treasurer, whom the elder Mr. Jamison favored. The canvass was a spirited one, and Magraw was elected. Mr. Ross, appreci- ating the value of Mr. Jamison's aid in the crisis, offered to take his son Benton in his banking-house. The proposition was eagerly accepted by the boy, though the salary was small and the work hard. His first position was that of a mes- senger or sort of errand boy, and it was only by the strictest economy that he was able to save enough from his earnings, after paying his board, to keep sup- plied with a fair suit of clothes. He got along with the firm as he had done in everything else, and was well thought of by all its members. When he had worked there a year or more he was advanced to a clerkship, but soon thereafter he left the establishment through some misunderstanding on the part of the partners. He was not long away, however, when he was sent for and asked to return. He refused to go back in his old position, asking advancement to a confidential place in the front office, with power to do business in the name of the firm. The demand was at first scouted, but he had shown such ability and aptness that it was finally agreed to; and he took his place as one of the impor- tant men in a large banking-house, and remained in its employ as one of the most trusted employés, until admitted as a partner, of the firm of P. F. Kelley & Co., which had succeeded Robert J. Ross & Co., in 1859. His mother, who had great hopes for her boy, had frequently encouraged him with the prophecy that he would in time be one of the firm. The good fortune came to him sooner than he expected. Early in 1862, when the necessity of a war condition began taxing all the financial institutions, he was admitted into partnership. On the day of his good fortune he telegraphed to his mother: "Your prophecy has come true. To-day I am a member of the firm."
While clerking in the banking-house young Jamison availed himself of every opportunity to improve himself mentally and to gain useful information. His evenings were spent in the Mercantile Library and at other places where good books could be obtained, and, by associating with his elders and those of more learning and greater experience than himself, he added to the education which had only been begun at his boyhood home. Thus it comes that he is largely self-educated as well as self-made. His knowledge and means grew together, and both are the results of character inherited from good stock.
The three years following the close of the war were busy and profitable ones for Mr. Jamison. He grew rapidly in financial knowledge, and his advice regard- ing investments was sought by many of the strongest men in the city and State. Both business men and speculators daily counselled with him, and he was the active man of a solid and growing financial concern. His friendships were strong with several of the leaders of material affairs both in Philadelphia and New York. Col. Thomas A. Scott, the alert and eminent railroad magnate, reposed great faith in his judgment and business tact, and for years, up to the time of his death, intrusted nearly all of his private business, involving millions of dollars, to Mr. Jamison's care ; and often, as Mr. Jamison takes pride in
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BENTON K. JAMISON.
averring, "without the scratch of a pen." He rendered valuable aid to Mr. Scott in gaining control of the Cleveland, Fort Wayne and Pittsburgh Railroad, and other lines forming the western connection of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Other men of prominence also evinced their perfect confidence in his prudence, sagacity and integrity. Each succeeding year found him stronger with the public, and of more influence in the house to the head of which he was rapidly approaching. In 1868 he had advanced to the point where the firm which he had entered as a messenger boy twelve years before ceased to exist, and Colonel Jamison assumed the grave responsibilities of the head of a great banking-house which he had largely helped to build. The name of P. F. Kelley & Co. changed, and that of B. K. Jamison & Co. took its place.
For nearly twenty years this house has been one of the best known and most successful among the banking firms in Philadelphia. In fact, since the organiza- tion of the original house in 1856, it has enjoyed a remarkable credit, and in all the panics and failures that have played havoc with private banks and bankers this house has never been in the slightest degree affected. Mr. P. F. Kelley, Jr., son of Mr. Jamison's former employer and subsequent partner, is to-day one of the members of the firm, and Mr. J. H. Kershaw and Mr. William M. Stewart are the others. Display is not one of the features of the partnership. The little banking-house at the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, where the firm remained until October, 1889, and where so many large transactions were con- summated, might easily have been taken for the abode of some struggling firm hardly able to keep its head above the waters of the stormy financial sea. The westward movement of the "street " consequent upon the removal of the Stock Exchange to the Drexel Building necessitated a change of location on the part of the firm, however, and they have secured a lease on the property at the north- east corner of Fifth and Chestnut streets, which they now occupy.
The record of the work accomplished by Mr. Jamison is a long one, and shows large investments outside his banking business. He is at present a Director of five railroads, President of the Saltsburg Coal Company, Trustee of the Penn- sylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children at Media, Trustee of the Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia, President of the West Philadelphia Institute, Trustee and member of the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church, and was one of the organizers and for five years a Trustee of the State Insane Asylum at Norristown. Add these occupations to the time devoted to his banking busi- ness, and every working hour of the day is filled with important matters. A careful consideration is given to every subject which appeals to his practical mind, and he is wary in all his dealings, whether directing the use of money in his own bank, purchasing property of any description on others' account, or managing the affairs of charitable or educational institutions. He has also taken considerable interest in politics, and has been urged at various times for different State offices of importance, especially that of State Treasurer. His party solicited him to become a candidate for the Mayoralty of Philadelphia. He is a Demo-
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BENTON K. JAMISON.
crat of the old school; but has declined all political honors, owing to the pressing demands of his business, and other claims upon his time. Mr. Jamison has also taken considerable interest in military affairs, and has served successively on the staffs of Generals Bankson, Brinton and Thomas L. Young. The title of "Col- onel," by which he is so well known, resulted from his service on the staff of General Young.
His principal relaxation from the mental strain imposed upon him by his large business and many public duties consists in driving, four-in-hand, about the country during the summer months on a coach containing his family or friends. His tally-ho coach, "The Rambler," built especially for him after his own ideas, with "four bays and one in reserve," is well known in this and parts of many other States. On these trips he has met with many adventures and humorous incidents that he delights to tell in social circles, even though not always com- plimentary to himself. On one occasion while driving over a mountain road in Lancaster county, in this State, near the haunts of the Abe Buzzard gang of outlaws, and stopping to admire the beautiful scenery, an old farmer in an empty wagon drove up and began inspecting the novel coach leisurely. After he had looked it all over from single-tree to boot, he exclaimed :
" What kind of a waggin' is this, anyhow?"
" It's a pleasure vehicle," responded the Colonel, affably.
"What do you do with it?" was the countryman's next question.
"I carry gentlemen around in it from place to place to see the country and admire the beautiful scenery such as you have about here."
" Do it pay ?" was the next query.
"Oh, yes," said Colonel Jamison, "it pays me very handsomely."
The countryman gathered his reins a little tighter, took another look at Jamison, and, as he touched his off-horse with the whip, ejaculated :
" You just look like a feller that could make a livin' that-a-way !"
Kindness to his friends and relatives is one of his crowning characteristics, and he has never forgotten the home of his childhood, nor the associates of his youth. The memory of his father and mother is the dearest of all earthly. recol- lections to his heart, and his reverence for them is sincere, boundless and credit- able. Both gave him the best of their many good qualities, and taught him lessons of fidelity, industry and honor that have neither been forgotten nor neg- lected. These elements of honorable manhood seem to have been the corner- stone of his success, and now, when he is independent, he does not forget those who bore and reared him, and is true to their memory and himself in recalling their teachings. An elderly lady, who has known him from youth, remarks : " I think one of his best traits has been his devotion to his parents. Faithfully did he supply their wants ever since he came to Philadelphia."
"I remember him from boyhood. I never saw him rude or ungentlemanly to the poor or infirm, the old or the young. His behavior is always above reproach." So writes an old-time friend of Colonel Jamison, and this is the
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BENTON K. JAMISON.
record of his life among all those who know him. Amidst all his cares he never neglected writing frequent letters to his father and mother, and almost every one carried some substantial token of his love. During their later years they were not overburdened with this world's goods, but their every want was provided for by their prosperous son. Now that they are dead he has built a substantial and practical monument to their memory: A few years ago he purchased the old homestead, near Saltsburg, and endowed it with a handsome sum. This is the Jamison Home, and is to be maintained for all time for any of his kindred who may desire to accept a shelter beneath its roof. It now consists of about two hundred acres of ground, and more will be added. At present only industrial features of the home have been agreed upon ; but educational facilities will some day be included. "Woodland," as it is called, is a beautiful place, and it is fit- ting that the old home should be endowed, and the homestead kept intact, as a mor ument attesting the affection of a son for the memory of his revered and honored parents.
Colonel Janiison is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being Past-Master of Lodge 51, A. Y. M., and is a Thirty-second Degree member of Philadelphia Consistory. He was a member of the Board of Managers of the Common- wealth Club during its existence, and is a member of the noted Clover Club ; and while abroad, in the early part of 1889, received much attention on that account from the distinguished Europeans, who, while visiting this country, had been the guests of that organization.
On September 19, 1865, Colonel Jamison was married to Miss Hattie A. Holmes, who died April 30, 1887. She was a woman of superior character and most lovable disposition. The loss was deeply felt by the poor of the section of the city in which she resided, for she was active in all charitable works. Two children survive her-Benton K. Jamison, Jr., now a clerk in his father's banking-house, and William S. Jamison, a student in the University of Pennsyl- vania.
Colonel Jamison visited Europe for the first time in December, 1888, and remained abroad about six months. On May 23, 1889, he was married in Lon- don, England, at the Royal Chapel, Savoy, to Miss Jean Willard, a member of a distinguished Washington family. The wedding was a notable affair, and was attended by nearly all the Americans of note then sojourning in the British metropolis.
F. A. B.
F. IL TERUNST.
PHIL-
ANDREW J. KAUFFMAN.
1424860
ANDREW JOHN KAUFFMAN.
A NDREW J. KAUFFMAN, now President of the Central National Bank of Colum- bia, Penna., is a name well and favorably known to the leading lawyers, Free Masons and politicians of the State. He was born near Washington borough, in Manor township, Lancaster county, Penna., in 1840, and is the son of Andrew I. Kauffman, who, in 1825, married Catharine, only daughter of Christian Shuman, of Manor township. The progenitor of the family in America was Christian Kauffman, who emigrated from Germany and settled in Lancaster county in 17.17.
After spending some years in the schools of his neighborhood, Mr. Kauffman at the age of fourteen entered the drug-store of his brother in Mechanicsburg as a clerk, and remained in that position for about four years, when he left to resume his studies in the Pennsylvania State College. Subsequently he pur- chased the drug establishment of his brother, but the business not proving con- genial to his tastes he disposed of it in 1862 and began the study of law in the office of Hon. Hugh M. North, a leading member of the Lancaster county bar. On December 3, 1864, he was admitted to the bar of Lancaster, and possessing a fine presence, frank and popular manners, he soon secured a large and remu- nerative clientage. Five years subsequently he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court.
Within a few years after his admission to the bar he was appointed Solicitor for the borough of Columbia, a position that he has held with but little interruption to the present time, and about the same period he became Solicitor for the Colum- bia Building Association. This association has been a most potent factor in the growth and development of Columbia, enabling hundreds of workingmen to become owners of homes, and so great was the interest Mr. Kauffman manifested in its establishment that he canvassed the town from door to door to make its objects known to the people, and solicit them to partake of the benefits that it would confer.
He was one of the organizers of the Reading and Columbia Railroad, now having a trackage of more than one hundred miles, and from 1862 to 1866 served as its Secretary. Later he became interested in the Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad, and served as its Treasurer until the accounts of the company were removed to Philadelphia.
In 1887 he was elected to the Presidency of the Columbia Iron Company, an establishment that employs two hundred and fifty hands. This company was organized with a capital of $50,000, operates sixteen puddling and two heating furnaces and three trains of rolls, and has a capacity of producing ten thousand tons of finished merchant bar iron annually. Its operations have been very suc- cessful, and its stock commands a premium of fifty to sixty per cent. The com- pany has lately acquired a valuable wharf property, which makes it one of the most complete and conveniently arranged plants in the State.
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ANDREW J. KAUFFMAN.
In March, 1888, he organized The Central National Bank of Columbia with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, and was subsequently called to serve as its first President. This institution commenced business May 7, 1888, and has proved exceptionally successful. Although only a year old the last statement shows a surplus and undivided profit of about thirteen thousand dollars, with deposits amounting to over one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The stock, which is owned by prominent merchants of the town and leading farmers of the vicinity, already commands a fair premium, and with Mr. Kauffman as the guiding spirit a bright future is predicted for the bank in financial circles.
Mr. Kauffman is a member of Columbia Lodge, No. 286, F. and A. M., Corin- thian Chapter, No. 224, Royal Arch Masons, and Cyrene Commandery, No. 34, Knights Templar, and has filled all the chairs in each of these bodies. He was Right Eminent Grand Commander of Knights Templar of the State of Pennsyl- vania for the term of 1876-77, and at present is District Deputy Grand Master of Free Masons for Lancaster county.
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