USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 3 > Part 30
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Mr. Jordan is the eldest son of Francis and Louisa Jordan, and was born at Bedford, Bedford county, Pa., June 26, 1848. His father is now at Harrisburg ; the mother died in 1862. His father has for many years occupied a conspicuous place in the official and professional history of the State. He served with dis- tinction in the State Senate, and subsequently in the office of Secretary of the Commonwealth under two executives, and participated in the war of the rebellion, and rendered valuable service to his country. He is of Scotch-Irish and Eng- lish descent, and inherits the virtues of both races.
William F. Jordan's early boyhood was spent in his native town, and his preliminary education obtained at the public and private schools of the neighbor- hood. His boyhood was in a period of exciting events, and naturally they exercised an important influence upon him. He was only thirteen years old when the war broke out, and, when his father entered the military service of the country, the family moved to Washington.
Amid the din of preparation for the conflict the boy soon entered into the active life of the capital, and, when his father and another relative, Major-General Tom Jordan, were dispatched to the front, he began to sell newspapers, in which employment, it may be said, he imbibed that fondness for journalism-an incli- nation, fed by the events of the most exciting period of the country's history, which all through his active life has been a ruling characteristic. But this con- genial employment was of brief duration. His father, Colonel Jordan, was ordered to the Army of the South-west during the early operations of the war, and he placed his son, who had made several ineffectual attempts to get into the army, in Colonel Hyatt's Military Academy, then located at West Chester, where he remained with two brief interruptions until 1865. The interruption was for the purpose of taking a course at Edge Hill, N. J., an institution devoted to the preparation of students for Princeton College. It was the intention of his father to give him a course in that celebrated institution of learning; but the boy soon tired of the preliminary work, and resumed his studies at the old place.
In 1863 the Confederate forces under General Lee had invaded the State, and young Jordan enlisted in the artillery force, and ran away from school to carry out his patriotic impulses. When the term of enlistment expired the young man returned to his studies, and was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in the institution. He served with credit until the expiration of the term, when he was discharged with honorable mention.
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Young Jordan determined to turn his attention to mercantile pursuits, and to that end went to St. Louis, Mo., and engaged in business. Subsequently, having been tendered a position in the office of the Northern Central Railroad by the then president of that corporation, Senator J. Donald Cameron, he relinquished his position in St. Louis and returned to Pennsylvania.
In 1868, when the oil excitement was at its highest and ex-State Senator George K. Anderson was the acknowledged oil king of Pennsylvania, Mr. Jordan was offered by that gentleman superior inducements to turn his attention and devote his talents to the oil business, and he removed to Titusville. After one year in the service of Mr. Anderson he determined to embark in operations on his own account, and combined the functions of oil operator, journalist and politician. He located in Petrolia, one of the wonderful towns of the region, and was soon after elected Burgess of the place, in which capacity he served the people to their entire satisfaction. In 1876 he was nominated by the Republicans of Butler county over four competitors for State Senator, but was defeated by manipulations in counting the returns. Subsequently the matter was adjusted by a compromise, by which John M. Greer, whose name had not been mentioned in the primaries, was nominated, to which Mr. Jordan assented.
In his business operations in the oil regions Mr. Jordan covered a vast amount of territory. He had interests in Pleasantville, Parker's Landing, Butler, Clarion, Bullion and Bradford, and at times owned interests in the Oil City Daily Der- rick, the Bradford Era, Star, Sunday News, Sunday Echo, and latterly has been concerned with James M. Place in the ownership of the Sunday Telegram, of Harrisburg.
At the time that the producers were making their strenuous fight against the Standard Oil Company, Mr. Jordan entered into partnership with that corpora- tion, purchased most of the leading newspapers in the oil region, and managed them for the partnership. He took charge of the editorial and business affairs of the Bradford Era, and made it one of the ablest and most influential periodi- cals in the oil country. In 1887 the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Jordan withdrew from his connection with oil country journalism and his association with the Standard Oil Company.
During his residence in Bradford he has always been recognized as one of its most progressive and valuable citizens. He has served a term as Mayor with marked distinction. He was for many years an active worker in the interests of the party, and has participated in State and National Conventions, but of late years his absorbing business and his dislike of modern political methods have combined to distract his mind from party operations.
Mr. Jordan has been twice married, and resides with his wife at Bradford, where he enjoys the respect and esteem of the entire community.
G. D. H.
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F. GUTEMUAST
PHILA,
JAMES H. LAMBERT.
JAMES HENRY LAMBERT.
W HILE Pennsylvania has every reason to feel a sense of pride in the high standard and character of many of her native sons, it is no less a source of satisfaction that among those who have contributed most liberally to her wealth, material and mental, are citizens by adoption. In the colonial history of the State no page is more radiant than that which records the achievements of Benjamin Franklin, who came a printer boy with pluck and brains as his only capital, and by industry and effort made himself not only the sage and philoso- pher of the State, but made his adopted home illustrious on account of his learning and virtues. Among the adopted citizens of Pennsylvania there are a number who have correspondingly enriched the annals of their times, and of this number none are more deserving of praise than JAMES H. LAMBERT, editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Colonel Lambert was born in Syracuse, N. Y., May 22d, 1847, so that he is yet on the sunny side of life. His parents were of English birth, but married in this country. His father was a shoemaker by trade, and like most mechanics of his time was poor in purse, though industrious, intelligent and persevering. At the time of the birth of James H. he was pursuing his occupation at Syracuse, and continued there for eleven years after that event, when he became inoculated with the Western fever, and removed with his family to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, and located in the town of Ripon. With a numerous family the costly life of a pioneer settlement taxed his resources, and the boys were early put to earning their own living. Each of his older boys having been put to trades, the father concluded to teach his youngest to follow in his own footsteps, and put him to the bench. He worked assiduously and with marked success for some months at the business, and, finding it uncongenial to his tastes, concluded to abandon it.
While residing at Syracuse the lad, with a desire to earn something for him- self, began work as a newsboy on the Syracuse Journal, the leading paper in that section of the Empire State. The removal of the family westward broke up this connection, but the fondness which the boy had formed for the newspaper business never left him. When he determined to abandon the occupation to which his father had committed him, he turned his thoughts to the art of printing and apprenticed himself to that trade in the office of the weekly paper, known as the Ripon Spur. Young, for such an undertaking and small for his age, he was obliged to stand on a chair to reach the case. But he was persevering as well as patient, and overcame all the trials and conquered all the privations of an apprenticeship of three years-the usual period-at a compensation of fifty dol- lars for the first year, one hundred dollars for the second, and one hundred and fifty dollars for the third, to be paid in trade. Among the things which he
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learned during the period of apprenticeship was the value of education, and at the expiration of his time he determined to go to school. This wise resolution was soon abandoned, however. The schooling of a printing-office was practical and useful ; but, when he returned to the school-room and found himself behind all the others of his own age in theoretical or book-learning, his pride asserted itself and shame drove him from his plans.
Trifling incidents exert powerful influences on the lives of men, as is shown by an event which occurred to Colonel Lambert. During his apprenticeship one . of the perquisites of his position was the privilege of earning fees when oppor- tunity offered by doing odd jobs, running errands and posting bills, outside of the hours of labor. One day a circus agent gave him fifty cents for distributing bills. It was a liberal fee, and made him feel rich. While deliberating as to how he should invest the capital a tramp printer came along and told a sad story of distress. The result was that young Lambert gave him the fifty cents to pay his way to the next town. The tramp printer was Brick Pomeroy, and the fifty cents proved a talisman. Pomeroy struck luck. He went to Horicon, Wis., and obtained control of the Argus of that town, and prospered both in purse and reputation. When Lambert left school he began work as a journeyman printer in Milwaukee. Soon he drifted into the customs of the craft and became a regular "jour," as they were known at that time. Finally, after a considerable journey, he drifted home and found work at Fond du Lac. While employed at the case he wrote some volunteer articles for the Milwaukee News, which led to the tender of the city editorship to him. He accepted the appointment, and worked diligently a year at a salary of fourteen dollars a week. Meantime he was arranging to get married. With this end in view he asked for an increase in compensation. The request was acquiesced in apparently, but when the next pay-day arrived he found that the increase was only one dollar a week; so he resigned, returned to Fond du Lac, and became editor of the Fond du Lac Daily Press. While thus employed, in 1866, he was married to Miss Georgine Mapes, whose grandfather founded the town of Ripon. She died two years later at La Crosse.
In the summer of 1867 Colonel Lambert was invited to go with a party of railroad officials and capitalists to the Northern Peninsula to inspect the copper fields. Among those present were Governor Fairchild and others, including Brick Pomeroy, who had grown rich and famous. The brief acquaintance of boyhood was renewed, and Pomeroy tendered to Mr. Lambert the position of Cashier on the La Crosse Democrat. The office was accepted, and soon he became Manager of the vast business of the concern. In August, 1868, Pomeroy started the New York Democrat, a two-cent afternoon paper. He invested large sums of money in the enterprise, but it did not prosper. Finally Colonel Lam- bert, who had been left in charge of the La Crosse paper, was transferred to New York and given the management of the struggling journal there, in the hope that it might be lifted out of the distress in which it had fallen. After thoroughly
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investigating the matter he concluded that the undertaking could not be made successful, and informed Mr. Pomeroy of his conviction. Soon afterward, in 1870, the paper was discontinued, and Colonel Lambert accepted a place on the New York Sun, on which journal he served in various capacities.
Stilson Hutchins, then editor and proprietor of the St. Louis Times, and since founder and for many years editor of the Washington Post, came to New York in the winter of 1871-72, and during his visit employed Colonel Lambert to work on his paper. His first assignment was to report the proceedings of the Missouri Legislature. B. Gratz Brown was Governor at the time, and Joseph Pulitzer, now proprietor of the New York World, was a member of the House of Representatives. At the expiration of the session Colonel Lambert was sent to Washington to represent the paper at the capital, and his work was so satisfac- tory that, when the Democratic National Convention nominated Horace Greeley for President and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for Vice-President, he was sent to New York to represent the Times at Democratic head-quarters. While thus employed he resumed his connection with the New York Sun as a space writer. After the defeat of the Democratic ticket in November, 1872, Colonel Lambert severed his connection with the St. Louis newspaper and remained in New York until 1874, when he came to Pennsylvania.
The failure of Brick Pomeroy's New York enterprise bankrupted his La Crosse establishment, and Charles F. Fritcher, who had been employed in it, came to Williamsport, in this State. That city was developing with great rapidity, and he conceived the idea that it afforded an excellent opportunity for business. He wrote to Colonel Lambert his impressions on the subject, and the result was that together they purchased the Williamsport Gazette and Bulletin in 1874. Colonel Lambert assumed the editorship of the paper, and to that end removed to Williamsport, where he remained two years. That the time was well spent is a matter of history. The paper was built up, strengthened and made one of the most enterprising, able and interesting dailies in the State; and when the Philadelphia Times was started Colonel Lambert was offered a position on the staff of that journal. He declined the offer at the time, however, but in 1877, when it became apparent that the prosperity of Williamsport was uncertain and unsubstantial, an urgent request to reconsider his determination led him to accept the offer. Entering the office as Editor of State politics he filled various chairs, until in 1881 he became the Managing Editor and filled that important position until June, 1886, when he resigned to accept a chair on the staff of the Press. During the period Colonel Lambert was on the Times he attended all the State and National Conventions of both parties, and acquired a reputation for journalistic sagacity and political knowledge that extended all over the country and added largely to the influence of the paper he represented. His forecasts of the Presidential election of 1884 for the Times, and that of 1888 for the Press, were recognized as the most accurate of any published in the country. He served the Press faithfully and with characteristic ability from June, 1886, until
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the middle of February, 1889, when he resigned to enter upon his present posi- tion as Editor-in-Chief of the Inquirer. His excellent journalistic talent and method have already manifested themselves on that paper, and it is fully recog- nized as one of the neatest, most closely edited, progressive and able papers in the city. That its circulation is increasing, and its influence widening in pro- portion, is creditable alike to the community and the management of the paper.
The only political office that Mr. Lambert ever held was that of member of the Legislature of Wisconsin. Just before he had attained the age of majority a vacancy occurred in the Legislature for the district in which he resided. He was nominated and elected, but had to wait ten days before he could qualify and enter upon the duties of his office, owing to the fact that he lacked that much of being of age. When James A. Beaver was elected to the office of Governor
of Pennsylvania he tendered the office of Private Secretary to Colonel Lambert. The question of acceptance was one that gave him considerable anxiety. If the party had been confronted by any serious danger or crisis, he would have felt it his duty to accept, though it would have been at a very considerable pecuniary sacrifice. But there was no such necessity, and, after discussing the subject fully with the Governor and some of his friends, it was agreed that Colonel Lambert might decline, which he did. Subsequently, as an evidence of the high appre- ciation in which the Governor held him, he was appointed aide-de-camp on the staff, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
In 1871, during the Christmas holidays, Colonel Lambert was married in New York to Mary E. Tucker, an accomplished lady from the South, whose family had been impoverished by the rebellion. They have three interesting children.
G. D. H.
W GAUNET.
BENJAMIN F. MEYERS.
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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MEYERS.
H ON. BENJAMIN F. MEYERS, lawyer and journalist, is among the notable figures in the political world of Pennsylvania, having for a quarter of a century occupied a conspicuous position in the councils of the Democratic party, of which he is an earnest member. He was born July 6, 1833, near New Centreville, Somerset county, Pa., and was educated at the Somerset Academy and Jefferson College, Canonsburg. Early in life he evinced a taste for literary pursuits, and became Principal of a select school at Somerset when he was but twenty years old. While pursuing his academic studies he wrote considerably for the Phila- delphia literary weeklies, which at that time held the same relation to the litera- ture of the country as is now sustained by Harpers' Weekly and similar journals.
In April, 1854, Mr. Meyers was married to Miss Susan C. Koontz, of Somerset, and the same year removed to Bloomington, Ill., where he engaged in journalism. While residing there he became acquainted with some of the eminent men of the time who were residents of that locality, among them Stephen A. Douglas, whose political disciple he became, Abraham Lincoln, who was a frequent prac- titioner at the Bloomington bar and was just then beginning to acquire fame and laying the foundation for his remarkable political career, and the late Justice David Davis, at that time the presiding judge of the courts of his district. One of Mr. Meyers' first experiences in journalism was in reporting a great speech delivered at Bloomington by Senator Douglas on the Kansas-Nebraska bill. But the climate of his new Western home did not agree with him, and hav- ing been prostrated by severe illness he was obliged to return to his native State in 1855, and after studying law was admitted to the bar in Somerset in November of that year. He at once entered upon the practice of the profession, and continued to pursue it for a number of years.
When Mr. Meyers returned to Pennsylvania in 1855 he found the political situation in the State entirely different from what it was when he went away the year before. Relatives, friends and associates were no longer Whigs and Demo- crats, but Know-Nothings and Anti-Know-Nothings. His father and grandfather, who had been Jefferson and Jackson men in their time, but who had followed the famous Charles Ogle in his anti-Masonic crusade, and had supported Harrison, Clay, Taylor and Scott for the Presidency, had allied themselves with the Anti- Know-Nothing organization. In the State canvass of 1855 Mr. Meyers took no part, finding it necessary to devote his time to his legal studies. When the Presidential canvass of 1856 was opened he determined to oppose the sectional candidate, General Fremont, and while at first inclined towards Millard Fillmore as a true representative of the National idea, upon mature reflection and with the political teachings of Stephen A. Douglas fresh in his mind he declared himself for James Buchanan, took the stump for that candidate, and cast his first vote for
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the Democratic Electors. In 1857 he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Anti-Know-Nothing Committee of Somerset county, under whose auspices the Democratic and other opponents of Know-Nothingism in that county were organized. This organization was so effective that the plurality of one thousand one hundred which had been given for Fremont in the county the year before was cut down about one-half at the election in 1857.
On the Ist of August of that year Mr. Meyers became one of the proprietors of the Bedford, Pa., Gasette, and in the following autumn removed with his family to the town of Bedford. From that time until 1873 he was the editor of that journal. In June, 1868, he purchased an interest in the Harrisburg Patriot (daily and weekly), and was made its editor-in-chief, in which capacity he has acted ever since, except from October 1, 1885, to December 1, 1886.
In 1863 Mr. Meyers was elected to the lower house of the Legislature for Bedford county. While a member of that body he made a reputation as a debater and speaker, and his services were so satisfactory to his constituents that while absent from home he was unanimously nominated for re-election. But the State had been reapportioned by the Republicans, and the district then consisted of Bedford, Fulton and Somerset counties. He was thus obliged to face an adverse political majority of at least one thousand. Nevertheless the returns of the election held within the district showed a majority for him of upwards of four hundred votes. But the returns of the "army vote" finally were made to over- come his majority of the " home vote," and a Republican party caucus seated his opponent.
In 1870 he was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the district com- posed of the counties of Adams, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin and Somerset. To be elected he had to overcome a Republican majority of at least fifteen hundred. His opponent was that skilful politician and able lawyer, Hon. John Cessna, who had carried the district at the previous Congressional election, and who had now the additional advantage of the enfranchisement of over one thousand colored citizens who had not voted before. After a heated, not to say desperate, struggle between the two candidates, in which Mr. Meyers boldly espoused the cause of tariff reform, the election resulted in his success by a majority of fifteen votes. His opponent, not satisfied with the result, contested the election. The case was tried before a Republican Committee and a Republican House. Nearly two thousand witnesses were examined, and it was fifteen months after the inception of the contest when the committee of elections made its report confirming Mr. Meyers' title to the seat. In 1872 he was unanimously renominated by his party, but owing to Democratic demoralization on account of the nomination of Mr. Greeley for the Presidency he was defeated, though he ran considerably ahead of his ticket. Mr. Meyers has been a pronounced tariff reformer for many years, and when in Congress voted in favor of the repeal of the duties on salt and coal, and supported all other practicable and reasonable measures for tax reduction.
Though for many years a recognized leader in the councils of the Democratic
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party of the State, Mr. Meyers has not held many of the offices, honorary or otherwise, which the party had the power to bestow. This fact is accounted for, no doubt, in an unobtrusive disposition which is a prominent characteristic of the man. As the active leader of the Bedford county Democracy he attracted atten- tion to his perfect methods and efficient measures as an organizer, and in 1869, when Chairman Mutchler divided the State into seven districts for purposes of organization, he confided the central and southern counties to the direction of Mr. Meyers, and the change in those counties of a majority of nearly five thou- sand for General Grant in 1868 to a Democratic majority of about two thousand five hundred in those counties, which was the result of the canvass, is sufficient evidence that the work was well done. He was a District Delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1864 and 1880, and was elected Delegate- at-Large to the convention which nominated Grover Cleveland in 1884. In 1875 he was elected President of the Pennsylvania Editorial Association, and was re- elected in 1876.
Mr. Meyers is essentially a student. Though for many years involved in business connections of very considerable proportions, the details of which absorbed most of his time, he has, nevertheless, managed to keep completely up in his classics, and is to-day as well versed in the Latin and Greek texts as when he finished his college course. This fact has made him of great assistance to his children in their classical studies, and those who know him intimately will recall the fact that he would often lay aside the work he had in hand to aid them in the translation of some difficult passage in one of the classics. In leisure moments, and it is strange that so busy a man can have time to spare, he is wont to indulge in a taste for rhyme, romance and even music. In fact it may be said that he has quite a passion for the last. He is a most companionable man in a social sense. Familiar with the best literature of the age, he talks freely and intelligently upon such matters, and exhibits the same culture and method in dealing with that subject which made him conspicuous in political life. He is rather fond of controversy, and when it takes a political turn shows remarkable acumen as well as versitility. On the stump he is argumentative rather than pyrotechnic, but turns his periods neatly and even becomes eloquent in the force with which he clinches an argument. During the Cleveland-Harrison campaign of 1888 he was designated by his party to represent it in several joint discussions, and always emerged from such contests with the respect of his adversaries and the plaudits of his auditors.
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