USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume II > Part 34
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Charles T. Schoen is a son of Henry Casper and Emmeline ( Robinson) Schoen, of the State of Delaware, who had other sons, William, Henry H., and James Allen. He was born in the state of Delaware, December 9, 1844, and at the present date is in his sixty-ninth year. When he was four years of age his parents moved to Wilmington, Delaware, which was his home until 1878. There he obtained his education and there learned, under his father's instruction, the trade of cooper. At the age of eighteen years he had saved enough money to attend Taylors Academy, at the same time working four hours daily in the shop. He read, studied, and worked in Wilmington in 1865, a key to his suc- cess being found in such mental and physical activity as the story of his youth indicates. In 1865, being then married and ambitious, he sought a wider field than Wilmington furnished, going to Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade. This brought him into relation with Taylor and Gillespie, sugar re- finers, the latter lecoming his especial friend. Desirous of establishing in bus - ness for himself he entered into a contract with Mr. Gillespie to supply his firm with molasses barrels. Thus at the age of twenty-one years he was mar- ried and owned a business employing twelve men. He continued in successful business for a time, but through a bad debt failed. Not discouraged, in com- pany with a friend he went West, arriving in Chicago early in the morning, their combined cash capital amounting to seventy nine cents. Before night he had secured work at his trade, but after two months returned to Philadelphia. Soon after his return he secured a position with Charles Scott as manager of his car spring works, at a salary of twelve dollars per week. He took a great interest in his new work, determining to become, sooner or later, a partner in the business. He lived on five dollars a week, sending the balance to his wife in Wilmington. Soon he was receiving fifteen. then eighteen dollars weekly, and at the end of a year demanded an interest in the business. Mr. Scott flatly refused, but later changed his decision by giving Mr. Schoen fifteen hundred dollars a year salary and a one-fifth interest. This amounted at the end of the first year to about seventeen thousand dollars. The second year Mr. Schoen made several improvements and took out some patents for the firm that netted a profit of thirty-five thousand dollars. He then demanded and received a one-third interest in the firm.
Being in Washington one day with several hours to spare he visited the railroad yards and while looking over the construction of the freight cars was impressed with the feasibility of using pressed steel for the different parts, then made of cast iron. He studied out the problem and soon took out his first patent on a pressed steel stake pocket. This he followed with others, all in his own name, considering properly that as they did not affect the car spring busi- ness of his own firm. that the patents were his individual property. This caused a rupture that led to Mr. Schoen's withdrawal from the firm. Speaking of this period in 1900, he said : "I had saved sixty thousand dollars, so in 1888. after 1 had withdrawn from the spring business, I started in the manufacture of pressed steel. My shop was only fifty by one hundred feet and there were only four of us to work in it, my nephew, who is vice-president of the present
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company, my son, who is a director, another man, and myself. I drew the hot plates from the furnace and handed them to my nephew and my son, who at that time were mere lads. I could do the same to-day. We kept right at work, the business grew, and in a short time we were making many parts of pressed steel for wooden cars. I paid strict attention to business, as a man must do to succeed, and in a short time we enlarged the plant and employed a number of men. Then I engaged my brother, who has since died, as sales- man.
He had organized as the Schoen Pressed Steel Company, and manufac- tured only under his own patents. In 1889 he moved his business to Pitts- burgh, establishing his plant at Schoenville, near that city. At this time, 1890, his payroll consisted of but fourteen names, men and boys. He had been constantly at work perfecting his designs for an entire pressed steel car and after going to Pittsburgh continued in this work until he had it completed and entirely covered with patents. The entire number of patents issued to Mr. Schoen on cars and car parts is about one hundred and twenty-five, this number including a graduated car spring, invented while connected with the Scott Car Spring firm. He continued manufacturing steel parts for some time, in the meantime seeking to interest railroad officials in an entire pressed steel car for freight service. In 1897 there was a rumor afloat that the Pittsburgh, Besse- mer & Lake Erie Railroad was to change hands. Mr. Schoen saw in this an opportunity and asked for an order for the pressed steel cars. He thus tells the story :
"I immediately set at work on a drawing and worked like a beaver. When the new interest gained control I was persistent in my efforts to get the order." A part of the work may be inferred from the following letter.
SKIBO CASTLE, July 5. 1898.
DEAR MR. SCHOEN-Many thanks for the beautiful illustrations of your great work. I am watching the steel car question with deep interest and just because I am so anxious that it should prove a success, I am not without any anxiety.
If your steel cars are to displace wooden cars you take your place with the few great benefactors. We now boast of Pittsburgh's Westinghouse and Brashear, and I hope we are to add a third name ere long.
Wishing you deserved success and with renewed thanks,
Always very truly yours,
(Signed ) ANDREW CARNEGIE.
To Charles T. Schoen, Esq., President Schoen Pressed Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
"Finally I got the order, not for twenty but two hundred cars. Then the railroad people thought that if they were to order any they might as well plunge, so the order was increased to six hundred cars. The problem that then confronted me was how to fill the order. I had not the facilities for building even one car, and the money involved was six hundred thousand dollars, but I had the pressed steel works for making parts and I had plenty of energy. We started in the old shop and kept enlarging. At length we aver- aged one car a day, then two, three, four, and finally, eight. At the end of nine months the order was filled and a five hundred thousand dollar plant had been erected over the heads of the workmen.
"Where is the next order to come from? I asked myself. If the railroads don't take hold of this I shall be ruined. I hardly slept until after arguments and exemplifications I had secured an order from the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, an order for one hundred and fifty cars. Then came one from the Pennsylvania Railroad for two hundred, closely followed by one from the
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Pitsburgh & Western Railroad for five hundred cars. I had saved the day. Then I broke down in health and was wafted away to Bermuda for six weeks' rest."
The capital required to finance these large operations was secured by the organization of the Pressed Steel Car Company, which took over the property of the Schoen Pressed Steel Company and the one hundred and twenty-five patents issued to Mr. Schoen. The capital of the new company was twenty- five million dollars, Mr. Schoen retaining a very large interest and becoming president of the company, his nephew vice-president, his son a director.
Orders flowed in and within one year the company had four million dol- lars worth of untouched orders upon its books. In 1898 the Fox Pressed Steel Company was absorbed. A plant was erected in Allegheny which in 1900 was turning out forty cars daily : the Pittsburgh plant was building sixty cars daily ; and thirty thousand tons of steel was being used monthly. This large business naturally attracted the attention of the Carnegie interests, who were only prevented from building a rival plant by a contract for steel for a period of ten years, involving a sum of one hundred million dollars. The value of the steel car for all forms of heavy freight service was soon demonstrated and in the year 1900 the company had not only these works at Pittsburgh in full oper- ation, but also one at Joliet, Illinois. They employed nearly ten thousand men and were doing an annual business of thirty millions of dollars, with Mr. Schoen constantly at work in the direction of a still more general application of the all steel pressed system to special cars of passenger type. In 1902 he resigned from the presidency of the company, also from the board of directors and sold practically all his stock in the company. At that time, the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, his first customer, had bought four thousand, three hundred all steel cars of the "hopper" and "gondola" types, the Penn- sylvania, nine thousand, while every leading railway of the country was rap- idly adding all steel freight cars to their equipment. Sales had also been made abroad and in 1900 Henrik von Z. Loss, a noted engineer, presented the claims of the Schoen Pressed Steel system on car construction to the International Railway Congress in Paris. Mr. Schoen's connection with the company ceased in 1902, but he had seen the fruition of his hopes in the adoption of the "all steel" car to every branch of the railway service.
For four years he had devoted himself to experiments in solid forged and rolled steel wheels for railroad cars, both passenger and freight, expending in experimenting, patents. etc., one and a half million dollars of his own money. He finally perfected his invention and erected a large plant for the manufac- ture of solid forged and rolled steel wheels, under his own patents. The value of the all steel car to the railroads had so impressed the railroad officials that when he announced a new wheel superior to the ones they were using they immediately responded with orders. The value of the wheel is so great that it is to-day in use on steam and electric roads everywhere in the United States, Europe and Africa. The Schoen Steel Wheel Company, Ltd., have a plant in Leeds, England, in which Mr. Schoen is largely interested, and which manu- factures wheels under his patents. The following relating to steel wheels is from his old friend of early pressed steel car days :
SKIBO CASTLE, July 11, 1908. MY DEAR MR. SCHOEN-I have faith in your prediction. You have proved a true prophet before. Nothing like steel. Very truly yours, (Signed ) ANDREW CARNEGIE.
Charles T. Schoen, 101 Arcade Building. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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In 1907 he sold his plant and patents to the United States Steel Corpora- tion and retired to his estate in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, leaving upon the annals of steel manufacturing and railroading a name and a record that even time cannot efface. Without a falter he placed reputation and wealth upon a conviction that could only be the fruit of a master mind. He con- quered obstacles that would have appalled many, and mankind is his debtor. Certain it is that but few men have lived to see the results of their ambitions, perseverance and brains, as plainly and to as great an extent as has been the lot of Mr. Schoen.
After his retirement from the steel wheel manufacturing business, Mr. Schoen retired to his estate in the beautiful Rose Valley of Delaware county, where in 1903 he had purchased the Osborne farm of seventy-five acres, on which was water power and the ruins of an old woolen mill. He tore down the old farm house and on its site erected "Schön Haus," a beautiful modern country gentleman's mansion. With the instinct of a true husbandman he planted extensive orchards and otherwise improved on a liberal basis. In 1908 he bought Todmorden farm of two hundred and ten acres, the Levis farm of forty-four acres, later purchasing fifty-one acres from the Rose Val- ley Association, combining all under the name "Rose Valley Farms." He has either built or repaired all the buildings thereon, and otherwise added to the beauty and attractiveness of this most charming rural locality.
The term "retired" in Mr. Schoen's case only means that he has turned to other forms of activity. In 1909 he built on the old waterpower on his es- tate a mill for the manufacture of that "giant in power" but "miser in fuel," the Feps carburetor, and of flexible metallic hose for conveying under high pressure and heat, steam, water, oil, air, etc., made in brass, bronze, or steel. These articles are manufactured by the Schoen-Jackson Company, Mr. Jack- son being his son-in-law. The name Feps is coined from the first letters of the four cardinal features of the new carburetor, F for flexibility, E for economy, P for power, and S for speed. The plant is equipped with the most modern machinery and has a capacity of ninety thousand carburetors yearly as well as a testing laboratory for motors and carburetors, probably the most perfectly equipped in the United States. Mr. Schoen has built for his private use, as well as that of the Schoen-Jackson Company, a stone office building of quaint and beautiful design. This is ostensibly his working place, but the cares of business have long ago been laid aside or placed on younger shoulders, and the office is rather his resting place than his place of business, although the af- fairs of Schoen-Jackson are vigorously prosecuted by the junior partner, who profits by the experience and advice of his senior. An item of interest in Mr. Schoen's life is the fact that he was one of the first men in this county to carry a large amount of life insurance.
Mr. Schoen and his wife are members of the Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church of Philadelphia. He is a Republican in politics, and in 1912, was prominently mentioned as a candidate for Congress. He is a member of the Union League and the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia, the Lawyers' Club of New York, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, and many railroad and manufacturing associations.
Mr. Schoen married, in 1864, Lavinia J., daughter of James and Mary North, of Wilmington, Delaware. Children: 1. Edwin A., who died at the age of thirty-seven years ; he was associated in business with his father from his boyhood to his death, being the son alluded to as receiving the hot plates from the father in the little shop in Philadelphia; he married Mary Louise, daughter of Senator Charles A. Porter, and he left a son, Edwin (2). 2. Elsie, married Martin Hawley McLanahan, of Philadelphia, and resides in
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Rose Valley ; they have a son, Alexander. now in college. 3. Emeline, married Dr. Reuben Held, of New York City: they have a son, Charles Johnson. 4. Lenore, married MI. R. Jackson, junior partner in the Schoen-Jackson Com- pany ; their residence is a handsome country mansion at the upper end of Rose Valley ; their children are Lenore and Janc.
The foregoing record of the principal events in the life of one of Ameri- ca's great business men, may properly close with his own words, uttered to a friend in 1900 :
You ask me if I had any inspiration? I think Smiles' little book, "Self-Help," which I read when a boy, sowed within me the germ of ambition. I am a great believer in a young man having self-confidence. fle will then undertake almost anything, and will grasp opportunities which he would otherwise be too fainthearted to undertake. Modesty in a young man is becoming, and a modest young man may have energetic powers in a high degree. Of course to a great extent we are creatures of circumstance even after we have done the best we can. t never had a day of despair in my life, and I think that what you are pleased to call my success has been entirely due to my innate determination and pluck.
Resting in a thicket of old pine and spruce trees, on a knoll in the beauti- ful Rose Valley below Moylan. "Schon Haus," the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Schoen, could have no more appropriate title than that which has been given it from the quaint tongue of the Nord Deutsche. "Schon Haus" and "Rose Valley Farm" on which it stands, form a combination of mansion and country gentleman's estate that is distinctive and delightful. The house, a gem of architecture, was originally built in 1862, and remodeled in 1904 for Mr. Schoen by his son-in-law. Martin Hawley McLanahan, who also designed and built many of the houses in Rose Valley. The house belongs to no single one of the old schools of architecture, but the best of many schools has gone to make the "House Beautiful." Built of stone and plaster and topped by a red tiled roof with far-projecting eaves, its air of substantiality impresses one as it is seen from the drive through the stately evergreens which surround it. No detail of the landscape gardener's art that could add to the general attrac- tiveness has been overlooked in laying out the grounds. One most interesting and beautiful feature is the pergola leading from the quaint water tower to the main house, which, in the varying seasons, is covered by the clustering blooms from which the valley derives its name. Another is the old-fashioned flower garden, a riot of color, reached through a rose arbor. The orchards, al- ready in bountiful bearing, contain four thousand trees, planted ten years ago, classed as among the best apple orchards in the state. There is an orchard on each of the three original farms comprising Rose Valley, covering in all about one hundred acres. "Schon Haus" is never closed and within is a perfect ex- ample of the exquisite taste that makes for home comfort, with its massive furniture, unique wood carving, sculpture, and many works of art.
No visitor ever leaves "Schon Haus" without first looking over the "farm," of which the owner is justly proud. Over four hundred acres are in a perfect state of cultivation, well stocked with valuable farm animals. As one listens to the various bits of history connected with his live stock, it is hard to realize that this gentleman farmer is the man who was decorated with the Le- gion of Honor by the French government for having by his inventions "re- duced the cost of railroad transportation" for the entire world.
In one corner of the garden is a sun dial made from a huge steel car wheel, bearing the number one hundred and two, one of the first two hundred wheels manufactured by Mr. Schoen under his own patents. "It represents to me some of my early struggles" says this quiet, unassuming owner of the "House Beautiful."
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Son of a native born manufacturer of Delaware county, Mr. RHODES Harry W. Rhodes has also spent his entire life within the con- fines of that county, beginning business life as clerk and rising to his present position at the head of Media's only Title and Trust Company. Harry W. Rhodes was born in Chester. Pennsylvania, March 15, 1865, son of William K. and Lydia (Cummins) Rhodes, both born in Delaware county of old and prominent families. William K. Rhodes was for many years a contractor and brick manufacturer, later in life joining with his brothers, John B. and Samuel Rhodes, in manufacturing enterprises. He was a Dem- ocrat in politics, but although influential in party and business, never accepted public office. He died in October, 1887, his wife in 1893-both buried in the cemetery of Calvary Church, at Rockdale.
Harry W. Rhodes was educated in the public schools and Gilbert Acad- emy, finishing his studies in Chester high school. He began his business career as clerk in the office of the Robert Wetherill Company, at Chester, remaining with that company three years. He then entered the clerical service of the First National Bank, of Chester, continuing three years, then accepted a posi- tion with the newly organized Chester County National Bank, at Media. After four years with that, now well known institution, he assisted in the organiza- tion of the Media Title and Trust Company and was elected in 1892 its secre- tary and treasurer. The trust company began business in 1891, Mr. Rhodes continuing as its secretary and treasurer until May 14, 1908, when he was chosen president to succeed George Drayton, deceased. Mr. Rhodes brought to his high position a valuable banking experience of nearly twenty-five years, seventeen of which had been as a high official of the institution, of which he is now the honored head. The trust company maintains a general banking and savings department as well as title, trust, real estate and safe deposit depart- ment. The company has been a very successful one and shows by its annual report a most flattering condition, surplus and individual profits exceeding its capital stock of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The officers and directors of the company are men of high standing and in his official ca- pacity, Mr. Rhodes shows ability as a wise conservative financier. His is the wisdom born of experience and knowledge of true banking and trust company operations, as well as of the general laws governing all financial transactions. The condition of this company but reflects the wisdom of its management. He has also other business interests that show a like prosperity.
Mr. Rhodes is a Democrat in politics, and as an active interested citizen, not as a politician, has served his borough as school director and in other pub- lic capacities. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, and one of the organizers and a charter member of the Spring Haven Country Club. He is a member of the Episcopal church, of Rockdale.
Mr. Rhodes married, June 5, 1902, Anna L., daughter of John B. and Ann ( Warren) Rhodes, of Delaware county. The family home is at Moylan. Delaware county, where they are prominent in social life.
The Tylers of the United States are descended from an ancient TYLER English family, the ancestor coming to England in the train of William the Conqueror and fighting at the battle of Hastings in 1066. For six hundred years thereafter the family throve and spread to other parts of England. About 1685 three brothers Tyler came to America, one set- tling in New England. one in Virginia-the ancestor of President John Tyler, and William, who came to West Jersey about 1688, and purchased a large tract of land on the north side of Monmouth river, of John Champney, said tract
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being a part of the two thousand acres that John Fenwick deeded in 1676 to James and Priscilla (Fenwick) Champney. Mr. Tyler had married in Eng- land, about 1676, Johanna Parson. They had four children born in England and the following certificate given by his friends in England, shows conclusive- ly his place of residence and standing :
"Whereas William Tyler of Walton in Somerset, yeoman, intends to transport him- self and family into the province of Pennsylvania in America if the Lord will, and has desired a certificate on his behalf. We, therefore, whose names are subscribed, do hereby certify that the said William Tyler hath professed the truth for several years past and that we do not know but that his conversation hath been answerable to his profession and that we do know that he hath been ready and willing to contribute to the service of truth, as opportunity hath offered and occasion required, and that as to his dealings with the world, he has been punctual and of good report as far as any of us know or have heard, and we know nothing of debts or other entanglements on his part, but that he may with clearness, prosecute his intended voyage. In testimony whereof we have here- unto subscribed our hands." Dated the "eleventh day of seventh month called September in the year 1685," (signed by fourteen men).
It is evident that Johanna died a short time after their arrival in the Fen- wick colony. His second wife was named Elizabeth. William Tyler was a farmer and also operated a tannery. He made his will in second month, 1700, in which he bequeathed a large landed estate to his sons. There appears no reliable record of his death, but family belief is that it occurred in 1701. Chil- dren of first wife, all born in England: 1. Mary, at Welton, in the county of Somerset, 11th month, 1677 ; married Abel, son of Samuel Nicholson ; children : Sarah, Rachel, Joseph, William T., Ann, John, Ruth and Samuel. 2. William (2), of further mention. 3. John, born 5th month, 1682, inherited from his father, eight hundred acres in the lower part of Alloways Creek township. Salem county, New Jersey, together with other lands in the same township. He married Hannah, daughter of Samuel Wade, and had a son, Benjamin, whose son, Job, was a noted stock raiser. He exhibited a prize ox in Philadel- phia, weighing two thousand one hundred and sixty-five pounds. This fact so filled the Salem folks with local pride that for many years the bank of Salem carried the impress of the Tyler ox on their one dollar bank notes. 4. Johan- na, born 1684, married Jonathan Waddington. Children of William ( 1) Ty- ler by his second wife. Elizabeth: 5. Catherine, born 13th of 5th month, 1690. 6. Philip, 6 mo., 1692, married Elizabeth Denn. 7. Elizabeth, 1694, married William Murdock.
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