USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
352
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
it came into use here, Mr. Kelley was paid a royalty of one dollar and fifty cents per ton. Had Mr. Kelley only poured the molten metal into a receiver and then blown the cold air into it, his process would have been a success, and his name, instead of Bessemer's, would have been forever associated with the manu- facture of steel. Mr. Kelley, however, made a fortune from his patent. The furnace prov- ing a failure, its owners went to Connellsville and engaged in the manufacture of coke, by the use of which they were also able to make cast iron of a satisfactory quality. This was what opened up the Connellsville coke region, now one of the largest industrial centres in Western Pennsylvania.
When the Clinton Furnace was shut down, Mr. McCormick went as engineer on river boats, plying on the Ohio and Mississippi, and was employed in that way until March, 1862. He then made application to Chief Engineer Beckerstaff of the United States Navy, in charge of the Mississippi Squadron, and ob- tained an appointment as third assistant en- gineer, and was assigned to the United States gunboat "Naumkeag." Before his commis- sion had been forwarded from Washington, he was promoted to the post of second engineer. In 1864 he was made first assistant in charge of United States steamer "Abona," in which capacity he served until the fall of Richmond, when he resigned. His boats were in active fights in an engagement on White River, at Clarion, with the rebel General Shelby, who had captured the gunboat "Queen City." The "Naumkeag" succeeded in recapturing one of the guns, though the boat had been destroyed. In the summer of 1863 Mr. Mc- Cormick was sent in charge of an expedition up the Kanawah River to destroy all the salt works. He was also at the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, took part in an engagement on
the Tennessee River, and was on the first ex- pedition up the Arkansas River in 1864. In 1863 his boat followed General Morgan from Evansville to Parkersburg, in order to prevent him from crossing the river. After resigning, Mr. McCormick came home, having won an honorable record, and being senior engineer of the squadron. Subsequently his resignation was revoked, and a three months' leave of absence was granted him, he being notified that the department desired him to continue in the service. However, after the expiration of his leave of absence, he asked for and ob- tained an honorable discharge. Thereafter he was engaged in engineering until 1869. From 1869 to 1873 Mr. McCormick was with Phillips & Cluley, engaged in the manufact- ure of steam-pumps. At the end of that time he became a partner in the firm of H. D. Hub- bard & Co., for the purpose of manufacturing steam-pumps in all forms. As this was when the steam-pump business was new and there was an enormous demand, the business was very successful. The firm sold out to H. D. Mc- Knight & Co. in 1883. Since that time Mr. McCormick has been very successful in busi- ness alone, handling general machinery, in- cluding engines, pumps, and boilers. At first his stand was on Market Street. Since 1886 he has been at 318 First Avenue. His larg- est sales have been made in Western Pennsyl- vania, Eastern Ohio, and Virginia. It is claimed that Mr. McCormick has been longer in this particular line of business than any one in Pittsburg.
Mr. McCormick is also interested in the Pittsburg & Mexican Tin Mining Company, of which he is the president, and in the Pittsburg Gold Mining Company, of which he is the vice-president. He has four times visited Mexico, and is well acquainted in that coun- try. In politics Mr. McCormick has always
353
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
been a zealous Republican, and his first Presi- dential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln; but he is a party man in the extreme sense. He is a member of Veteran Legion L, the first one ever started.
In 1868 Mr. McCormick married Miss Mary Pope, daughter of James Pope, an old resident of Allegheny. His children are: Ella, now a Sister of Mercy; Laura, the wife of Wilbur Bain, of Pittsburg; Adelaide, also a Sister of Mercy; Pollard, who is mining in Mexico; Junius A., Jr., who is with his brother Pol- lard; Grace and Ruth, who are attending school ; and Eleanor Veronica and Esther. The family are members of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of Mount Washington. Mr. McCormick is one of the original members of Columbus Club, and was for years a director of that organization.
OHN SANKEY, who for many years was a member of the well-known firm San - key Brothers, brick manufacturers of Pittsburg, was born in 1837, near Pottsville, Schuylkill County, son of Francis and Mary (Jackson) Sankey. The father was born in Shropshire, England, the home of his ances- tors, and where he learned the coal mining business. He married Mary Jackson, of Lancashire, and came to the United States in June of the year 1836. They went to Potts- ville by the canals, and there he followed coal mining until the fall of 1847. Then, packing his household effects in a country wagon, he came by way of Halifax, Hollidaysburg, and Johnstown to Pittsburg, part of the journey being made by canal. Here Mr. Sankey es- tablished himself as a coal miner on the South Side. Later in life, in association with his sons on contract, be opened the coal shaft on Hillside for Messrs. Jones & Laughlin, who
started their works on the South Side in 1858. He managed the shaft for fifteen years, until within two years of his death, which occurred in 1870. They had six sons and six daugh- ters, of whom five sons and four daughters reached maturity. These were : Hannah, now Mrs. Turner; Mary, the wife of George D. Siebert ; Sarah, the wife of William Vogel, of Pittsburg; William, Thomas, and John, the three original members of the firm .of Sankey Brothers; Francis, who served in the Civil War with the Sixty-sixth Regiment of Penn- sylvania Volunteers, and was killed in 1862 at Gaines's Mill, while under command of Gen- eral McClellan; Matthew, who belonged to the same regiment, who died in the service in 1861; and Martha, who married Thomas Davidson, and died thirty-nine years ago. The mother died in August, 1895, aged eighty-four years. She was a member of the Bingham Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
John Sankey's educational . opportunities were meagre. While mining with his father, and when engaged in other employments, he found it possible to attend evening school, and in this way picked up a knowledge of book- keeping and some other subjects. On April 1, 1860, John and William Sankey opened a small hand brick-yard on the McClurg prop- erty. Later, upon coming of age, Thomas was taken into the firm. Their factory at first turned out from nine hundred thousand to one million bricks yearly, with what was called a two-gang yard, this being all hand-work. In February, 1877, a machine was put into the works that made good brick and gave practical results. Owing to a prejudice created by the failure of other machines to do what was prom- ised on their behalf about ten years before, the Sankey Brothers were left the sole manufact- urers of machine-made brick for several years. They employed two machines, each of which
354
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
turned out five million bricks yearly. They have since added a press machine for pressed brick, making high-grade and fancy-shaped brick. It is claimed that the firm has made more brick than any other firm in the Alle- gheny County, controlling the best trade and producing the finest article made. Mr. San- key remained in partnership with his brothers throughout the remainder of his life, introduc- ing new features and enlarging the business in different ways. In 1882 he bought a large tract of ground on the corner of Thirty-third and Carson Streets, and here erected a beauti- ful house surrounded by a fine lawn and splen- did trees. Just prior to his death he was school director in the Twenty-fifth Ward, and he held the office of treasurer at the time the Twenty-fifth Ward School was built. He served during the last ten months of the Civil War in Company L, Fifth Heavy Artillery, his brother William conducting the business during his absence.
On November 1.0, 1861, Mr. Sankey mar- ried Miss Fannie L. Dick, of Pittsburg. Her father, who was born in Ireland, and brought here while young, married Miss Rebecca Bar- rett, of Pittsburg. He was a fine pattern- maker, working in the old Faber's shop, which used to stand in the vicinity of the present Union Depot. . Mr. Dick died at the age of twenty-eight, leaving two other children, namely : Frank Dick, who now lives at Taren- tum; and Rebecca, now Mrs. George Gibson, of Braddock. The mother died three years after her husband. Mr. Sankey died Decem- ber 28, 1884, leaving seven children -- Francis M., Mary J., Martha R., Edwin W., Jessie B., Olive A., and John I. Francis M., now a member of the firm Sankey Brothers, mar- ried Emma Girard. Mary J. is now Mrs. Kurtz. Martha R. married Mr. Porter. The Porters have three children, named Byron
S., Mildred M., and Jean Luella. John I. was about six months old at the death of his father. Mr. and Mrs. Sankey were early members of the Eighteenth Street Methodist Protestant Church. He often served the so- ciety as steward and in other responsible ca- pacities. His children were brought up in the Sunday-school where he was a teacher and for many years the assistant superintendent.
APTAIN ALFRED EPHRAIM HUNT, a distinguished civil and
metallurgical engineer, the presi- dent of the Pittsburg Reduction Company and the vice-chairman and treasurer of the Pitts- burg Testing Laboratory Company, Limited, was born in East Douglass, Mass., March 31, 1855, son of Leander Batchelor and Mary E. Hunt. On his father's side he belongs to the eighth generation descended from William Hunt. .This ancestor in 1635 came from Salisbury, England, and became one of the original settlers of the town of Concord, Mass. Another ancestor served with distinction as an officer in Jackson's Additional Continental Regulars during the American Revolution. Captain Hunt's paternal grandfather was the founder of the works in Douglass, Mass., where were manufactured the celebrated Hunt's axes and other edged tools for many years. On the mother's side the Captain traces his descent directly from the Rev. Peter Thacher, at one time the rector of St. Ed- mund's Church, Salisbury, England. The Rev. Mr. Thacher, who came over from Eng- land in 1635, settling in Massachusetts, joined the Nonconformists, and became first pastor of the Old South Meeting-house in Boston. His son, Colonel John Thacher, married Re- becca, a daughter of Governor Winslow, and was Captain Hunt's lineal ancestor in the
355
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
eighth generation back. The Thacher family has always been noted for the number of clergymen it has produced, and for its promi- nent connection with the public interests of the country since Colonial times.
Mrs. Mary E. Hunt, the mother of Captain Hunt, has long been identified with and was the originator of the scientific temperance education laws. In both the national and international temperance organizations of women she is at the head of the department for the promotion of scientific temperance instruction in the schools. Mrs. Hunt's work is too well known to need eulogy here. It will be interesting, however, to cite the tes- timony of her son to the fact that, notwith- standing her active participation in outside affairs, her home duties have in no degree suffered neglect thereby. She has been, first of all, a devoted mother to her children; and her work, great as it is, has not been carried on at the expense of the claims made upon her as either wife or mother.
Captain Hunt was educated at the Roxbury High School, now a part of the Boston public- school system, and at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. He graduated from the latter in 1876, receiving the degree of Bache- lor of Science from the department of metal- lurgy and mining engineering. During his student days and for some time after gradua- tion he was connected with the United States Geological Survey and with a number of pri- vate surveying parties engaged in topographi- cal and railroad work in the West. Later he became connected with the Bay State Iron Works of South Boston, Mass., where was manufactured the second open-hearth steel fur- nace made in America. At the suggestion of Ralph Crooker, Sr., the general manager of the concern, who is one of the best known of the old iron masters of the country, young i among the precious metals. As now produced
Hunt went to Michigan to explore for iron ores. Bringing specimens of the ore to Bos- ton, he subjected them to a series of analyses, and on these as a basis made the first report on the ore of the Michigamme mines, one of the first and finest finds developed in the wonderful iron region of Northern Michigan and Wiscon- sin. From 1877 to 1879 Captain Hunt was manager and chemist of the Nashua (N. H.) open hearth steel works. Then he came to Pittsburg as superintendent with Park, Brother & Co., Limited. Resigning this position in :882, he forthwith joined Mr. Clapp, of the frm Park, Brother & Co., and, forming the firm of Hunt & Clapp, established the Pitts- burg Testing Laboratory for the physical and chemical testing of materials and the in- spection of iron and steel structures, now a well-recognized and important branch of engi- neering work. Messrs. Hunt & Clapp have since inspected the greater number of the im- portant metal structures built during the last fifteen years, including a considerable number of bridges on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and the bridge over the Hudson at Poughkeepsie. At the end of ten years the business had increased to such proportions that in 1893 a stock company, called the Pittsburg Testing Laboratory Company, Limited, with a capital of seventy-five thousand dollars, was organized to purchase it from the firm of Hunt & Clapp. Captain Hunt has gained a high reputation as an authority on engineering, metallurgy, and chemical analysis; and he is frequently summoned to the courts as an ex- pert in these sciences. In 1888 he organized the Pittsburg Reduction Company for the man- ufacture of aluminum according to the proc- ess discovered by Charles M. Hall. For- merly this metal sold for at least fifteen dollars per pound, a price that practically placed it
356
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
by the Pittsburg Reduction Company, it can be made to sell for thirty or forty cents a pound. The successful completion and prac- tical development of the Niagara Falls Works of the company give promise of a still lower price in the near future. Since the organiza- tion of the company its president and general manager has been Captain Hunt, to whose energy, judgment, skill, and enterprise the rapid growth of its business must be largely credited. There can be no doubt that his name will be associated for all time with the artificial production of this metal, which, according to some scientists, is destined to play so large and important a part in com- merce as to give the world an aluminum age.
The manufacture of aluminum may be con- sidered the fourth epoch-making enterprise in which the Captain has been a prime mover. The others were the opening of the iron mines in Michigan, the adoption of the open- hearth process in the manufacture of steel, and the establishment of a commercial testing lab- oratory. His services to the industrial sci- ences have been recognized by many scientific and engineering societies of this country and of Great Britain, several of which have con- ferred on him official positions in their re- spective organizations. He is connected with the American Institute of Mining Engineers, is a fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Norman gold medal of the latter was awarded him in 1894, for the best paper on engineer- ing at the famous competition of the Chicago Exhibition. Captain Hunt is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engi- neers, the American Chemical Society, the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and the Institute of Engineers of Great Britain; and he is the author of many valuable papers
on scientific subjects. Captain Hunt derives his title from the fact that for over ten years he commanded a battery of light artillery of the National Guard of Pennsylvania. In Oc- tober, 1878, he married Miss Maria T. Mc- Questen, of Nashua, N.H. ; and he has one child, Roy Arthur Hunt.
AMES C. KENNEDY, M.D., a prom- inent physician of Pittsburg, was born in Beaver County, October 4, 1833, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Clowes) Ken- nedy. The paternal grandfather came from Ireland with his family.
Thomas Kennedy, who was born in this country, followed the callings of blacksmith and stone-cutter, and during the latter part of his life that of teacher. His death occurred at the age of forty-two. His wife bore him the following children: Eleanor, the wife of john Hurrell, a coal merchant of Mckeesport ; Mary Ann, the wife of George Taxford, of Springdale, who works in the glue factory ; Thomas Wesley, a retired blacksmith of McKeesport; Dr. Kennedy, the subject of this sketch; Alexander Mabury, a collector for Gately & Co. in Pittsburg; and John, who died fourteen days after his birth. The mother died in 1883, aged eighty-three years.
James C. Kennedy resided successively until 1851 in Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, and Allegheny Counties, and subsequent to that date in Pittsburg and the vicinity. On Au- gust 6, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Sixty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Alexander Hays. He was detailed as regimental hospital ward master, and after- ward ward master in the General Hospital. He received an honorable discharge in the latter part of the year 1862, when he returned to Pittsburg and became Postmaster at Sharps-
-------
-
WILLIAM A. SCOTT, JR.
ـبيجد خليفة عد قشة
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
64 359
burg, Allegheny County. Afterward he be- came the agent for the Hahnemann Life Insur- ance Company in Pittsburg, continuing with this company until he entered college. After graduating from the Hahnemann Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia in 1871, he established himself on the South Side in Pittsburg. He had been in practice here for several years when he removed to New Albany, Ind. At the end of four years he returned to Pittsburg, and opened his present office in March, 1889.
November 22, 1854, Dr. Kennedy first mar- ried Miss Alice Clowes. They had four chil- dren, all of whom died in early life. The mother died in January, 1865. The Doctor contracted a second marriage July 1, 1867, with Miss Elizabeth McCoy, a daughter of Thomas McCoy. Of the eight children born of this union three are now living: Howard Orlanda Melancthon Kennedy, of the carbon steel works, Pittsburg; Anna Adaline Ger- trude; and Grace Evelina. Adaline is at present attending the high school. Dr. Kennedy is a comrade of the G. A. R. A member of the First Brethren Church, he is an earnest worker in the Sunday-school, ex- celling as a teacher; and his Bible class for teachers is very popular. The Doctor has al- ways been a Republican until recent years. He is now a pronounced Prohibitionist, and fights liquor with the same spirit that he fought slavery in the old days. He is a man of strong character, of pleasing personal ap- pearance, and worthy in all relations of life.
ILLIAM A. SCOTT, the well-known brick manufacturer, born in Pitts- burg, September 17, 18Go, son of William A. and Elizabeth (Morris) Scott, descends from the same ancestry that gave Sir Walter Scott to the world. John and Mary
(Innes) Scott, his paternal great-grandparents, were Presbyterians of the strictest sort. John Scott was a music teacher, a man of culture and agreeable manners.
John's son, Walter, the grandfather of Will- iam A., was born in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, October 31, 1796. Of Walter, who gave evidence of a decided musical talent when a youth, it is related that, having no money at the time, when solicited for alms by a blind beggar, he sang in the public place where he was, quickly attracting a crowd by his fine voice and Scotch song, and when done he passed his hat among his audience, ob- tained a good collection, and gave it to the poor man. After receiving his education in the University of Edinburgh, he came to America, arriving in New York City in July, 1818. He obtained the position of Latin tutor in a classical academy. After a short time he made his way on foot to West- ern Pennsylvania; and in 1819 he became an assistant in a Pittsburg academy, where he was associated with George Forrester. Here it was that he first became convinced that re- ligionists were not following Bible lines in their lives, and he decided to do what he could to restore primitive Christianity .. To this work he gave the rest of his life, accomplish- ing a great deal. He became intimately asso- ciated with Thomas and Alexander Campbell. As a preacher Walter Scott had few equals, and he planted many churches on Bible grounds. Ilis life was a veritable benediction to thousands, his example a rare one. Among his children was William A., who engaged in the manufacture of brick in Pittsburg. Will- iam was a man of. sterling integrity and an ardent Christian. He married Elizabeth Morris.
William A. Scott, Jr., obtained a good business education in the Western University
360
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
of Pennsylvania. He became associated with his father in the manufacture of fire brick, and has now an interest in the Iron City Fire Brick Company (Incorporated) and in the Canons- burg Iron and Steel Company. Mr. Scott is an energetic business man and a member of the Christian church, in which he is most active. For his worth of character he is held in high esteem by all who know him. On June 28, 1883, he married Miss Emma, daughter of Charles Meyran. They had three daughters : Helen Meyran, now deceased; Ruth Fulton; and Elizabeth Harden.
OHN F. COOPER, M.D., one of the oldest and most highly esteemed physi- cians of Allegheny City, having his office at his home, 105 Arch Street, has been prominently identified with the medical fra- ternity of Allegheny County for twoscore and five years. In this time he has built up a large practice, and in some of the leading families of this locality he has been a friend, confidant, and counsellor, as well as medical adviser, to two, three, and even to four gener- ations. He was born September 25, 1822, in East Liverpool, Ohio, son of Philip and Eliz- abeth (Hamilton) Cooper, the former of whom was a native of New Jersey, and the latter of Virginia. His paternal grandfather, Philip Cooper, who was a native of Germany, came with his parents to America when but four years old. Philip was afterward reared in New Jersey, within a short distance of the battle-ground of Monmouth. He followed farming as an occupation, brought up a large family of children, and continued his resi- dence on his homestead until his death in 1796, at the venerable age of ninety-four years.
Philip Cooper learned the carpenter's trade
in his youth. In 1796 he came West, locat- ing at first in Williamsport, now Mononga- hela City. Two years later he removed to Darlington, Pa., going thence to Ashtabula, Ohio, which was his home for nine years. In 1815 he returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Pittsburg, where he worked at his trade until 1819, when he transferred his residence to East Liverpool, Ohio, continuing there until 1840. Again returning to this State, he set- tled in Beaver County, near Philipsburg, where he lived until his death in 1879, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. His wife, Elizabeth, who was of English descent on the father's side, survived him, living until 1884, when she passed away at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Her father, Joseph Ham- ilton, born in Pennsylvania, was a farmer for many years in Columbiana County, Ohio, near East Liverpool, where his death occurred when he was fifty-six years old. Of her eight children John F., Joseph, Martha, and Har- riet are living. Martha is the wife of John Zimmerly, of Beaver County; and Harriet is the wife of Morris Kinsey, of Denver, Col. The father was an influential man in Beaver County, took an active part in local affairs, and served the community for a while in the capacities of County Commissioner and Jus- tice of the Peace. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
John F. Cooper lived in Columbiana County, Ohio, the first eighteen years of his life. He attended the district schools for the usual period. After coming to Pennsylvania with his parents, he was a student at Beaver Academy, which he entered soon after moving to the county, April 1, 1841. On leaving school he was engaged in teaching for two years. Within this period, in April, 1844. he began reading medicine with Dr. William Smith, of Hookstown. He subsequently pur-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.