USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 2
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ment of the Atlantic & Ohio Railroad here in the same capacity. When in the service of the Atlantic & Ohio line, much railroad business passed through Mr. Pitcairn's hands, and he became desirous of engaging in rail- roading more intimately. In 1853 he suc- ceeded in entering the service of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company as telegraph operator and assistant ticket agent at the Mountain House, near Hollidaysburg, Blair County. In February, 1854, when the com- pany had completed their track over the Alle- ghanies, he was transferred to the general superintendent's office at Altoona, there to " wait an appointment to one of the moun- tain way stations then about to be opened.
About this period Mr. Pitcairn conceived the idea of becoming the superintendent of the Pittsburg Division of the road. Fortu- nately for this object, he was found so useful in Altoona that he was not sent to a mountain station, as was contemplated, where, there being no field for his abilities, he would very soon be forgotten. Excepting a period last- ing about a year, spent upon the Western Division of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, while the road between Plymouth and Chicago was in course of con- struction, he was retained in the superintend- ent's office at Altoona, filling different po- sitions until 1861. In this year he was appointed superintendent of the Middle Divi- sion, which is the section of road lying be- tween Conemaugh and Mifflin. Soon after, the four divisions into which the road had been divided were reduced to three, leaving Mr. Pitcairn without a division. But it was far from the company's intention to dispense with his services. At the same time a new department was created, that of transporta- tion, and he was appointed its superintend- ent. In this capacity he organized the car
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record system and the system of car mile- age, besides conceiving and carrying into effect other of the methods with which the business of this department is conducted at present. During the Civil War his skill and energy were severely taxed by the large bodies of troops and immense stores of supplies for which he had to provide transportation. In 1862, after the battle of Antietam, in addi- tion to the transportation of troops, he had charge of the general traffic between Harris- burg and. Hagarstown, and at the same time was superintendent of the division between Harrisburg and Altoona, and of the Pittsburg Division, between Altoona and Pittsburg, and in charge at Harrisburg and divisions west during the battle of Gettysburg, 1863.
Although by 1865 his services and standing in the company's employment entitled him to aspire to a higher post, Mr. Pitcairn was content to seek and obtain that of superin- tendent of the Pittsburg Division, thereby realizing his long cherished ambition of re- turning, as the highest local official of the great corporation he served, to the city in which he had broken ground as a humble messenger boy. Ten years later his duties and responsibilities were largely augmented by his appointment as general agent at Pitts- burg. He has filled these offices. since greatly to the satisfaction and advantage of both his employers and the public. Mr. Pitcairn is also largely interested in other than railroad enterprises. He is the resident vice-president and a director of the American Surety Company of Pittsburg, and the second vice-president and a. director of the Fidelity Title and Trust Company. He was one of the first directors of the Masonic Bank; is now a director of the Citizens' National Bank of Pitts- burg, and of the First National Bank of Green- burg, and also of the Western Pennsylvania
Exposition. Mr. Pitcairn assisted George Westinghouse, Jr., in introducing his cele- brated air-brake, was one of those who organ- ized the company engaged in its manufacture, and is now the vice-president of that company. He also assisted in the organization of the Philadelphia Natural Gas Company and of many of the corporations known as the West - inghouse plants, and is a director in each.
On July 26, 1856, Mr. Pitcairn was mar- ried to Miss Elizabeth E. Rigg. Mrs. Pit- cairn is a daughter of John Rigg, who was a respected resident of Altoona, having pre- viously come from Lewistown, Pa. By the marriage Mr. Pitcairn became the father of four children. These are: Mrs. Omar S. Decker, Mrs. Charles L. Taylor, Miss Susan Blanche Pitcairn, and Mr. Robert Pitcairn, Jr., all residents of Pittsburg. An earnest Presbyterian, the father takes a lively inter- est in the project of establishing a church and Sabbath-school in the vicinity of his home. While not in any sense a politician, he has been an unwavering Republican since the creation of the party. He was the secretary of the first Republican convention held in Blair County. His connection with fraternal societies includes a membership of long stand- ing in the Masonic order, in which he once held the rank of Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of Pennsylvania. Now com- paratively wealthy without having desired more than a competency, Mr. Pitcairn feels a justifiable pride in having been the architect and builder of his own fortunes. He is satis- fied in having reached the goal he set for his career forty-five years ago in Altoona, and in having seen railroad construction conducted on scientific principles and develop to the vast dimensions it has now attained. Mr. Pitcairn is one of the leading authorities on railroading in this country to-day.
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HOMAS WHEELER GALLEHER, the general freight agent for the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad, has been con- nected with this road since he was a boy of fourteen years. He was born near Frederick- town, Knox County, Ohio, April 7, 1858, a son of Ludwell Leith Galleher. His paternal grandfather, Thomas H. Galleher, born July II, 1792, died February 26, 1859. He re- sided in Virginia, and followed the occupa- tion of farmer.
Ludwell Leith Galleher was reared and ed- ucated in Fauquier County, Virginia, where his birth occurred July 27, 1831. While yet young and single, he went to Ohio, locating in Knox County, where he was engaged in general farming for many years. In 1869 he removed to De Kalb County, Missouri, where he resided on a farm until 1870. Then, being unfavorably impressed with that section of the country, he returned to Ohio, settling in Fredericktown, where he lived retired until his death on November 30, 1888. He mar- ried Mary Jane Love, who was born June 21, 1840, in Knox County, daughter of Thomas Love, a prosperous farmer. Pleasant and charitable, and a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which her husband was for a long time class leader and steward, she resides in Mount Vernon, Ohio. She has six children living, namely : Thomas W., the subject of this sketch; Boman Aker, the agent for the B. & O. Railroad at San- dusky, Ohio; Mattie V., the wife of J. F. Hess, who is engaged in mercantile pursuits in Chicago, Ill .; Cora Belle, living with her mother at Mount Vernon; Rolla Leroy, of Pittsburg, travelling freight agent for the B. & O. Railroad; and Howard Leith, of this city, stenographer for the B. & O. Railroad.
Thomas Wheeler Galleher attended a coun- try school near Fredericktown until his re-
moval to Missouri with his parents in 1869. On his return to that village in 1870 he com- pleted his education. At the age of fourteen he obtained a position as telegraph messenger at the Baltimore & Ohio station in his native town, and being a bright, intelligent boy, soon mastered the mysteries of telegraphy, at which he spent all his leisure moments. On November 18, 1872, he became the night operator in the same station, and since that time he has been deservedly promoted to vari- ous offices of responsibility until reaching his present position, the duties of which he dis- charges with thorough efficiency and in a way that gives satisfaction to all concerned. His railroad service, entirely with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, has been as follows: No- vember 18, 1872, to December 31, 1877, tele- graph operator at Fredericktown, Monroeville, Chicago Junction, Butier, Utica, Newark, Lewis Mill, Bellaire, and Columbus, Ohio; January 1, 1878, to July 6, 1880, chief clerk to division freight agent at Columbus, Ohio; July 7, 1880, to January 4, 1882, agent for Baltimore & Ohio Express at Columbus; Jan- uary 5, 1882, to February 1, 1882, travelling freight agent at Columbus; February 1, 1882, to April 30, 1882, acting division freight agent at Columbus; May 1, 1882, to May 22, 1885, chief clerk to assistant general freight agent at Columbus; May 23, 1885, to Decem- ber 31, 1886, chief clerk to assistant general freight agent at Pittsburg, Pa. ; January I, 1887, to March 15, 1896, division freight agent at Pittsburg; March 16, 1896, to Feb- ruary 28, 1897, general freight agent at Pitts- burg; March 1, 1897, he was appointed gen- eral freight agent at Baltimore, Md., and has since resided with his family in that city.
On September 8, 1886, Mr. Gallcher was united in marriage with Miss Anna Hazeltine Potter, daughter of Dr. Samuel B. Potter, of
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Fredericktown, Ohio. They have one child, Earl Potter Galleher, whose birth occurred May 30, 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Galleher are members of the Oakland Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is an officer. Mr. Gal- leher was made a Mason many years ago in Magnolia Lodge, No. 20, of Columbus, Ohio. He dimitted, and is now a member of Cres- cent Lodge, No. 576, of Pittsburg; likewise of Ohio Chapter, No. 12, of Columbus; and is a life member of Columbus Council. He also joined Capital Lodge, No. 334, I. O. O. F., of Columbus, in which he passed all the chairs. He is likewise a member of Pittsburg Conclave, No. 89, Improved Order of Heptasophs, of this city. In politics he votes the Republican ticket, but he takes no active part in local affairs.
ILLIAM B. BRICKELL, for many years an esteemed citizen of Pitts- burg, was born here, February 28, 1830, son of Captain John Brickell, who was one of the pioneer steamboat men of the Ohio. Mr. Brickell was educated in the schools of Pittsburg. He began to earn his living in the employ of William Baum, well known to old- time residents of the city. At a later date he joined the Robertson Glass Company, and subsequently travelled as the agent of the firm for a number of years. Toward the close of the Civil War he started the Kittanning Rolling Mill in company with Harry Oliver and Captain William Martin and D. Z. Brickell, forming the firm Martin, Oliver & Brickell, which did business for some years. Mr. Brickell was one of the organizers and a director of the Mercantile Trust, a director of the Mercantile Bank, and one of the founders and the president of Bethesda Home.
Especially active in church and charitable
work, Mr. Brickell was president of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church Union; trustee, steward, and treasurer of Smithfield Street Methodist Episcopal Church; and for thirty years the superintendent of the Sunday-school connected with the church. In these ways he became known to thousands of Pittsburg people, all of whom honored and loved him for his high character. It is impossible to estimate the good he accomplished in his un- ostentatious way. Many young men owe to him their start in life, and the wise and loving words of advice or warning given by him will never be forgotten. He was a friend to the widow and orphan, and many homes were saddened at the tidings of his death. His record as a business man was spotless, and he carried into all business rela- tions the same kind consideration for others that characterized his social intercourse. He was a member of St. John's Lodge, Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, but in recent years was not active in the organization: In politics he was a Democrat until the forma- tion of the Prohibition party, which he there- after supported. He died December 23, 1894. Mrs. Brickell, whose maiden name was Miss Anna Myers, survives him. She has two children - Edwin M. Brickell and a daugh- ter, Mrs. R. M. Repp.
A LEXANDER W. ROOK, for many years a leading business man of Pitts- burg, and widely known through his connection with the Pittsburg Dispatch, was born in this city in 1826, his parents hav- ing come to Western Pennsylvania from New York State some years before. He was given the best education obtainable in Pittsburg. When quite young, with the consent of his parents, he entered the job printing office of
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Johnson & Stockson as roller boy and type- setter. While here he attended an evening school, thereby obtaining an unusually thor- ough education. From the first he showed a decided preference and aptitude for the print- ing trade. An apprenticeship for six years, soon after entered into with the Pittsburg Post, was completed in the Chronicle office, when he was counted among the foremost typographical experts in the city £ Subse- quently he worked in the composing-rooms of the Philadelphia Ledger and New York Herald. About 1850 he returned to Pitts- burg, where he was the first local representa- tive of the Typographical Union, then just formed. Two years later he went to Green- burr, and bought an interest in the Pennsyl- vania Argus.
In 1854 Mr. Rook returned to Pittsburg, and took the position of foreman in the com- posing-room of the Evening Chronicle. Here, having his first favorable opportunity to show his executive ability, his success was remark- able. It was acknowledged that from 1854 to 1864 the typographical department of the Chronicle in his hands was the best managed in this part of the country. During the half- dozen years succeeding his marriage his rise was remarkably rapid. In 1865 Mr. Rook and Daniel O'Neill became partners in the firm of J. H. Foster & Co., publishers of the Dispatch, and put all their brains and energy into its publication. On the death of Colo- nel J. H. Foster, April 21, 1868, Messrs. Rook and O'Neill became sole proprietors of the paper. Dividing the work, Mr. Rook took entire charge of the mechanical part, and Mr. O'Neill assumed the business and editorial management. This was a strong combination of diverse talents, and the result was brilliant. The Dispatch in a short time advanced to the first rank among Pennsylvania
newspapers, and easily became the first of those of Pittsburg. Its reputation for typo- graphical excellence was due to the genius of Mr. Rook. After the death of Mr. O'Neill, in 1877, the pressure of his duties began to tell on him, and his health began to fail. How- ever, he continued in active co-operation with Eugene M. O'Neill in the publishing of the Dispatch until early in the summer of 1880. The end came swiftly after this, his death oc- curring August 14, 1880, from a complication of organic diseases.
Mr. Rook was not only respected for his rare qualities as a business man, but also for the excellent traits of character as revealed in his family and social relations. He was al- ways interested in charitable enterprises, and gave money and labor to sundry benevolent enterprises, including that of sending poor children on excursions to the country. Promi- nent in the Masonic order, he held high office in lodge, chapter, council, and commandery, and was a director of the Masonic Bank, now the Lincoln National Bank. Mrs. Rook, whose maiden name was Harriett L. Beck, sur- vives him. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rook were members of the Third Presbyterian Church. Their children are: Charles A. Rook, the treasurer of the Dispatch Publishing Com- pany; Helen E., now Mrs. C. A. Carroll ; Edwin M. ; and Harry C.
T IMON WILSON JONES, of the firm Householder & Jones, stair-builders, wood-turners, and hand carvers of Pittsburg was born in Washington, Pa., May 4, 1853, son of Thomas and Mary (Lacock) Jones. The father, who was a native of Washington, learned the marble-cutter's trade when a young man. After following it for some time as a journeyman, he engaged in
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business for himself, and was thus employed until his death, which occurred in 1867.
After acquiring a common-school education in his native town, Timon Wilson Jones was employed as a book-keeper until reaching the age of eighteen. Then, under the conditions of an apprenticeship, he learned the stair- builder's trade. Afterward he worked as a journeyman for four years, and for seven years was foreman successively for Joseph Welch & Co. and James Davison & Co. In 1884 he and Fred Householder formed the firm of Householder & Jones. In the line of stair-building and other kinds of wood work this concern does the largest business in Pittsburg, and is widely and favorably known. Mr. Jones is also interested in the oil busi- ness. He is a member of the Enterprise Oil and Gas Company. Politically, he supports the Republican party, and he is a firm advo- cate of the gold standard for currency.
EV. EDWARD P. COWAN, D.D., the corresponding secretary of the Board of Missions for the Freed- men of the United States of America, was born at Potosi, Mo., March 31, 1840, son of the Rev. John F. and Mary (English) Cowan. Dr. Cowan's family is of Scotch-Irish ances- try, and all its members have been Presby- terians. The great-grandfather was Hugh Cowan, of Chester County, Pennsylvania, who lived to be eighty years of age. His son, Adam Cowan, who died at the age of forty years, was a soldier in the Revolution.
The Rev. John F. Cowan, who was born in Chester County in 1801, graduated from Jefferson College, Washington County, and subsequently, in 1828, from Princeton (N. J.) Theological Seminary. In 1829 he was or- dained to the Presbyterian ministry, and went
as home missionary to Missouri, where he spent the rest of his life engaged in his sacred calling, a period of thirty-three years. In connection with his last pastorate, which was at Carondelet. St. Louis, he was commis- sioned by President Lincoln as Post Chaplain to the House of Refuge Hospital; and he was Army Chaplain at the time of his death in 1862. He was own cousin of Senator Edgar Cowan. His wife, Mary, was a daughter of James R. and Alice (Conover) English, and a descendant of the family that settled in Eng- lishtown, N.J. Mr. English was a stanch Presbyterian and an Elder in the old Tenant Church. When a boy he was captured by the British, and was threatened with hanging if he would not tell where the Americans were keeping their powder. Though but sixteen years old at the time, he allowed his captors to string him up without flinching. He was afterward set free, and the British were no wiser for having met him. Of his family of nine children Mary was next to the youngest. Having survived her husband twenty-five years, she died in 1887 at Pittsburg, being then eighty-one years old. She had five chil- dren, namely: James, who is in business in St. Louis; John F. Cowan, D.D., who is the Professor of Modern Languages in Westmin- ster College, Missouri; Alice, the eldest, who died in St. Louis in 1849; William, who died at the age of fourteen; and Edward P., the subject of this sketch.
Edward P. Cowan, the youngest of his par- ents' children, attended Westminster College in Missouri, and graduated there with honors in 1860, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After teaching school for a year he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1864. He was shortly afterward ordained by the Presbytery of St. Louis, and began his first pastorate at Wash-
EDWARD P. COWAN.
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ington, Pa., in one of the churches which his father had formerly served. He remained at Washington for three years, and subsequently preached for a year at St. Joseph, Mo., and for a year and a half in St. Louis. He was then called to the pastorate of Market Square Presbyterian Church at Germantown, Pa., and remained there for more than twelve years. In 1882 he was invited to preach in the Third Church in Pittsburg, with the prospect of a call to a probable vacancy in its pulpit; and on September 13, 1882, the night on which the previous pastoral relations were dissolved, he was unanimously called to that church. He remained pastor of the Third Church for ten years. . He is a trustee of the West- ern University of Pennsylvania, of Penn- sylvania College for Women, a trustee and the secretary of the directors of the Western Theological Seminary, and a trustee of the Pittsburg Presbytery, an incorporated body. He is also a member of the Board of Colportage and of the Executive Committee. While Dr. Cowan was pastor of the Third Church, an average of ten members were added to the church at each communion, giv- ing a total of over four hundred, and the an- nual amount of contributions increased from twenty-three thousand, six hundred and twenty-five dollars in 1882-83 to fifty-four thousand, three hundred and eighty-three dol- lars in 1891-92. During this time Dr. Cowan had become a member of the Freed- men's Board, and had been for four years its president.
On the death of Dr. Allen, the former corresponding secretary, Dr. Cowan was elected to that position. Thereupon he re- signed his pastorate, in order to devote him- self to his new duties. At the next annual meeting of the Third Church congregation the following resolutions were adopted :
"Whereas the Rev. E. P. Cowan, D.D., our beloved pastor, has tendered his resignation, and has asked the congregation to join with him in consenting that the Presbytery shall dissolve the pastoral relations now existing, and, having heard and considered his reasons for this request, and believing that our Lord is leading the way, therefore resolved, That, expressing our affection for and confi- dence in our pastor, and in gratitude for his faithful labors in the congregation and his tender pastoral care for us individually, we consent to his request that the pastoral rela- tions may be dissolved by the Presbytery, to take effect January 1, 1893." Commendatory resolutions were also passed by the Presbytery. Since ceasing his official relations with the Third Church, Dr. Cowan has given his whole time to his work for the Freedmen. He has the oversight of three hundred churches, one hundred and eighty ministers, and from fifty to sixty schools, twenty of which are board- ing-schools, including Biddle University at Charlotte, N.C.
On August 7, 1872, Dr. Cowan was united in marriage with Miss Anna M., daughter of George D. and Emmeline (Fisher) Baldwin, of New York City. Mrs. Cowan's family set- tled originally in Milford, Conn., in 1639, and all its descendants have been stanch Presbyterians. Her great-grandfather was a prominent member of the church at Connecti- cut Farms, N.J. Her grandfather was a member of the First Church at Newark, and her father, George D., was a Presbyterian Elder for forty years in New York City. George D. Baldwin had one other child, Jo- seph T., who is now cashier of Manhattan Bank in Wall Street, New York. Mrs. Cowan's maternal great-grandfather was Colo- nel David Chambers, who served throughout the whole of the Revolutionary War, and
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who fought with Washington at Trenton and Monmouth. Mrs. Cowan was educated by the best instructors and in the best schools that New York City afforded. She was a lady of unusual refinement and of noble character. She died July 24, 1896. Her three children were: Emelie, Elaine, and Irene, the last two being twins.
HARLES LOCKHART, who has been for a number of years president of the Standard Oil Company and of the Pittsburg Bank of Commerce, is one of the oil kings of Pennsylvania. Among the first to buy the crude product of petroleum, he was the first to introduce the oil into England, carrying it himself in cans. He was born at Cairn Heads, Wigtonshire, Scotland, Au- gust 2, 1818. His parents, John and Sarah (Walker) Lockhart, were natives of the same shire, the home of both families for many gen- erations. John Lockhart, son of Charles Lockhart, a farmer living near Cairn Heads, was the eldest of his father's family. When he grew up, a farm was taken for him. He married a daughter of James Walker, who was a damask manufacturer of Wigton. In 1836, with his wife and six children, he emigrated to America, was in the grocery business in Allegheny for a number of years, and died in that city in 1861. His wife survived him about ten years. They were members of the Second United Presbyterian Church of Alle- gheny.
Charles Lockhart was educated in Scot- land. There also he obtained his first ideas of business from an uncle with whom he lived for a while. For nineteen years after his ar- rival in Pittsburg he worked as clerk for James McCully, a wholesale grocer and a dealer in produce and flour on Wood Street. In 1855 he and William Frew, who also had
been clerk in this establishment for a number of years. were taken into partnership by the proprietor, and the firm name was changed to James McCully & Co. This firm, which was in existence until 1865, had an extensive busi- ness, the trade in the war time being espe- cially profitable. In December, 1852, Isaac Huff brought down the river in a skiff three barrels of oil that were taken out of a salt well. After several ineffectual attempts to sell the commodity he found Mr. Lockhart at the warehouse of the grocery company, and disposed of it to him for thirty-one and one- fourth cents per gallon, agreeing at the same time to let him have all the well produced for five years at the same price. It seemed a doubtful speculation, for the purchaser did not know how or where it would sell; but he eventually made a bargain with Samuel M. Kier, the partner of the Hon. B. F. Jones, who agreed to purchase all the oil he would bring him in five years at sixty-two and one- half cents per gallon. Mr. Lockhart was the first to buy and sell oil ahead of its produc- tion. The oil well which yielded him such profit was one mile below Tarentum, on the south side. It was one of the first in the State. In 1853, with Mr. Kipp, who was his partner until September, 1896, he bought the well, Mr. Kipp paying for one quarter only ; and until 1865 they continued to manufacture salt, selling the oil as fast as produced. In 1859, the year oil was discovered at Titus- ville, Messrs. Lockhart, Kipp, William Frew, John Vanausdall, and William Phillips joined interests under the firm name of Phillips, Frew & Co., and, leasing land on Oil Creek, set up machinery, and soon. had a thriving plant in operation, their first well yielding forty-five barrels a day. The oil was distilled, not refined; and crude oil brought thirty-four cents a gallon. Samuel M. Kier
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