USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 43
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this way he walked from Pittsburg to Phila- delphia, returning by stage and canal boat, and crossing the mountains on the old Portage Railroad and the inclined plane. After his graduation from college Mr. Jamison was em- ployed as a clerk in a Philadelphia dry-goods house, where he remained a year, receiving a salary of fifty dollars. Indoor life not agree- ing with him, he returned to Indiana County, and in the spring of 1860 went to Nemaha, Neb., with the intention of settling there; but, finding the Indians too numerous along the river, he returned East some two hundred miles to Des Moines, where, until the break- ing out of the Rebellion, he was engaged in teaching school.
On July 4, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and went to Council Bluffs, where the regiment was organized. Soon afterward it was ordered to St. Louis, where its appearance at that time, August 1, 1861, contributed toward saving Missouri for the Union, when Price and Jack- son, with large armies, were threatening the city with the purpose of carrying the State for the Confederacy. It next went to the support of Lyons's army, immediately after the battle of Wilson's Creek, and fortified Rolla, Mo .; and afterward it participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, and marched through Arkansas to the Mississippi River at Helena, joining the flotilla to operate against . Vicksburg. The regiment led the assault of Sherman's attack at Chickasaw Bayou, where it lost one hundred and twelve men in twenty minutes. It was engaged about ten days later in the capture of Arkansas Post on the Arkansas River, Jan- uary 10, 1863. Returning to Vicksburg, it went into camp in the swamps of Louisiana, behind the levees, ten feet below the surface of the river. Here it wasted away under the ravages of fever, small-pox, and scurvy for
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three months, until the time came to move to the rear of Vicksburg. The narrative is best continued in Mr. Jamison's own words: "Cutting loose from our base of supplies, we started on that campaign of sixteen days' march on quarter rations, carrying this and eighty rounds of ammunition, with Grant at the head of fifty-five thousand men; and with an army of seventy thousand well fortified, better armed, and better equipped men than we were to confront us. The world knows the result : Pemberton's army was cut up and captured, the great Mississippi was reopened to the commerce of the world, and the back- bone of the Rebellion was completely broken. I had the proud distinction of serving in the ranks of that victorious army, was always in the front, and participated in all the battles which the Fifteenth Corps was engaged in, marching the entire circuit, being on duty every day during the siege of forty-eight days, and witnessing the surrender of over thirty thousand prisoners, the largest capture during the war. The Fourth Iowa at the battle of Lookout Mountain was in Austerhouse's di- vision, and was the first to scale the heights and drive the rebels out of their entrench- ments on the dizzy heights above the clouds. The graves of Fourth Iowa men are strewn also along Sherman's march to the sea; and the voices of the survivors of that heroic band were heard in the capital of the nation at the Grand Review, cheering for a redeemed Union and an unsullied flag. Thirty years after the close of the war I was summoned to go to Iowa and join in the ceremony of consigning to the care of the State our old battle-flags. A remnant of the Fourth Iowas was there with the old flag, tattered and torn with shot and shell. Grizzly old Tom Price, who had carried it from Iowa down the Mississippi, and borne it again with Sherman to the sea,
was there to carry it again ; and it was a proud day for old Tom as he marched to. the capi- tal, and with tender and loving hands laid that old flag away forever. On my return to Iowa to be mustered out of service in 1864, my companion and I became separated at St. Louis through my failure to join him at the train. He had in his possession my valise, containing my discharge papers, clothing, and other articles. " After a long and tedious week's search I found him laid up sick in Quincy, Ill. As I entered the room, he arose and introduced me to a pretty, brown- eyed girl of sixteen. This was the first lady of the North I had met since my enlistment. I soon found her in favor of the Union, for she afterward became my wife. There and then I settled the question in my own mind, but it took nearly three years to capture the citadel, and I had to locate in Quincy in 1866 to make sure of the prize. In that city, in 1867, I joined Post No. 31, G. A. R., of Illinois, which makes me the oldest Grand Army man in Pittsburg. I now belong to McPherson Post, No. 117, of Pittsburg; and to Encampment No. 1, U. V. L.
"After my marriage I returned to my native State, and in 1869 took up my residence in Pittsburg, being engaged in the real estate business here until 1876, when I moved to New York, where I engaged in the shipping and commission business, taking out a cargo of goods on a trading expedition to the West Indies, and spending the winter of 1878 and 1879 on the island of San Domingo. During my stay on the island I chanced to be present and participate in the identification of the re- mains of Christopher Columbus, which were discovered there at the time, and about which so much has been written. I believe I am the only man living in America who has handled the remains of the discoverer of this country.
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I was also called on while there to resent an insult offered our flag by the Spaniards. The matter was reported to our government on my return home, and a war vessel sent down to investigate, which resulted in a humble apol- ogy being made. I would say in this connec- tion that, as Cuba is an adjoining island, and the people much the same in character and disposition, unruly, unstable, revolutionary in their ideas, indolent, and lacking in thrift, they would not, were the island annexed by this country, prove a very desirable addition to our citizenship and enterprise. While, therefore, I would advocate self-government and independence for Cuba, I would not favor its annexation to the United States. It would cost us more to govern the island than it is worth.
"Returning to Pittsburg in 1882, I again entered the real estate business, in which I continued till 1893, when my attention was called to a new and valuable discovery for making tool steel. I at once became inter- ested in it to such an extent that I purchased the rolling-mill at Greensburg, and organized a company with one hundred thousand dollars capital; but I had no sooner got the enter- prise fairly under way when the panic set in, and it soon became clear to me that the young company would have a tough time weathering the storm, so we took in a reef or two in our sails, and awaited further developments. The young 'Enterprise,' freighted with our hopes, has sailed safely through the tempest, and reached the dead calm that has now settled down on the entire country ; but we are spread- ing our sails again, and awaiting the first favoring breeze to carry us forward to better days. We are now putting our rolls in order, ready to obey Mckinley's injunction, and , start the mills which have remained silent for three years. When the wheels move, which
will be before this month is out, the first order to be filled will be some steel for an Eastern cutlery concern, from which a piece will be selected for the manufacture of a pair of fine razors, to be presented to the Presi- dent. Our steel for such purposes cannot be excelled. Good orders have been booked from Eastern factories, prominent among them being the principal electric companies, by whom our Damascus brand is preferred to all other makes of steel for dies and milling cutters. Our steel is also a favorite with oil men for bits and jars for drilling tools, one firm in the oil regions having used over one hundred thousand pounds for that purpose. Our Damascus steel has also found its way into the shops of the government. The United States Mint in Philadelphia uses it exclusively for minting the coin. Steel for this purpose was formerly purchased in Europe, but now every piece of coin is cut with steel made in Pittsburg, under the Damascus process, by the Pittsburg Tool Steel Company. In competing with foreign steel we have boldly bearded the lion in his den, and during the past few months have been making shipments to Southampton and London; and we are now in correspondence with parties in Belgium and Austria for the introduction of our steel into those countries. Physical tests made of our best grade of tool steel show the elastic limit to be one hundred and nineteen thousand, six hundred and fifty, and the tensile strength one hundred and seventy-nine thousand, six hundred pounds to the square inch. These tests prove the supe- riority of our product over any other now man- ufactured. During the past three years our efforts have been experimental and introduc- tory to a large extent, but the general stagna- tion of business has given us opportunity to have tests made in places we could not go to
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in a busy season; and the result has been that our trade has gradually increased, and ship- ments have been made to nearly every State in the Union. Up to this time our steel has been worked under the hammer, but now our rolls are to be started, which will largely in- crease our output in tonnage. The Damascus process is a new discovery, and has been patented, and is bound to work a revolution in tool steel in both price and quality. But it has really required as much fortitude to meet competitors and business depression in the work of building up a trade for our company as it did to capture that rebel stronghold in Mississippi. I feel now as I did when I en- tered Vicksburg after the surrender: the bat- tle is ours, and we have won the fight."
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Mr. Jamison was first married December 6, 1867, Miss Mary C., daughter of Charles H. Houghton, of Greenfield, Mass., and the adopted daughter of Myron Gould, of Quincy, Ill., becoming his wife. They became the parents of seven children, five of whom grew to maturity; namely, Hattie Coburn, Sarah B., Mary C., Wilson B., and Edgar E. In 1881 the mother passed to the higher life. On March 13, 1882, Mr. Jamison married for his second wife Miss Sarah Ida Allen, daugh- ter of Alexander Allen, of Rochester, N. Y. Of this union two children have been born; namely, Pauline and Olive Elizabeth. Polit- ically, Mr. Jamison is a stanch Republican. He and his present wife (as was his first wife) are members of the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, to which his five eldest children also belong, and of which he is a trustee.
ILL BURGWIN, EsQ., attorney-at- law of Pittsburg, was born at the Hermitage, near Wilmington, N. C., on February 21, 1825, the youngest son of
George William Bush Burgwin and his wife, Maria (Nash) Burgwin. As a lad he was ex- tremely precocious. At the age of eight years he entered the celebrated school of William J. Bingham in Hillsboro, N.C., in order to pre- pare for college, and began at that time the study of Latin grammar. When only thirteen he was fit to enter the University of North Carolina; but on account of his youth he was kept back until 1840, when he joined the Sophomore class. Although he received first honors in his college class, he was unable to complete the course because of ill health. At the age of seventeen he began the study of law, first with his brother-in-law, the Hon. Thomas S. Ashe, of the North Carolina Su- preme Court, and later with his uncle, the Hon. Frederick Nash, afterward Chief Justice of the State. Mr. Burgwin passed his exami- nations for the bar, but could not obtain a license to practise until he came of age. IIc was admitted to full practice in the Superior and Supreme Courts in 1847. In January of that year he opened an office in Elizabeth City, where he remained until 1851. Then he came to Pittsburg, where he had been married some time previously, and was in practice here until 1890, when he retired, leaving his business to his sons, George and Augustus.
Among the important suits in which Mr. Burgwin has acted as counsel, the following have become ruling cases: County of Alle- gheny . Pittsburg & Connellsville R. R. Co., and Linton and wife v. James B. Neal et al. The former of these was a suit brought on an agreement by the railroad company to pay interest on stock subscribed for and held by the county in the defendant company. It was a test suit, involving in itself only about one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), but de- termining liabilities of more than one mil- lion dollars for the defendant company. Mr.
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Burgwin represented the defendant, and set up as a defence that such an agreement was null and void at common law as being without con- sideration and as being simply an agreement to pay back to stockholders the money paid for stock. This defence was sustained by the court.
In the Linton case, a suit in equity brought by Mr. Burgwin in the United States Circuit Court, the jurisdiction of that court was sus- tained as against the Orphans' Court of the State in settling all the accounts of executors, guardians, and trustees under the will of James Brown, of Kittanning, and finally dis- tributing his very large estate, both personal and real, the latter lying in many different States of the Union.
Mr. Burgwin was formerly attorney for the Mechanics' National Bank of Pittsburg, which, together with the Pittsburg Marine National Bank, is now represented by his sons. He was for many years solicitor for the Dollar Sav- ings Bank, and is now the oldest vice-presi- dent and the oldest member of its board of thirty-nine trustees. Also, for a number of years he was a director of the Pittsburg & Connellsville Railroad Company.
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In his earlier years an old-line Whig, Mr. Burgwin has been independent in politics since Henry Clay's time. From 1869 to 1875, elected on the Citizens' ticket, he rep- resented Ward Twenty-three in the Select Council of Pittsburg. While a member of the Councils, he was chairman of the commit- tee appointed to select the site for a city park. After the committee had selected the present site of Schenley Park as the most desirable, reported to the Councils and entered into negotiations with the owners for its purchase, the project was given up for a time, as the terms could not be agreed upon.
A descendant of churchmen for many gen-
erations by both his parents, Mr. Burgwin always took great interest in church work. He is a communicant of the Episcopal church. In 1865 he was instrumental in securing the division of the Diocese of Pennsylvania and the creation of the Pittsburg Diocese. This initiative was at once followed elsewhere; and since then from twenty-five to thirty new dioceses have been set apart from the larger and older ones, an average of about three to each session of the General Convention. Mr. Burgwin was elected a deputy to the General Convention of the church held at Baltimore in 1871, and has been elected to represent his diocese in each succeeding General Convention from that time to the present. He has been a tireless worker at these meetings, always taking an active part in the debates, and serv- ing on the Committee on Canons continuously from 1871. In 1880 he was a member of the joint commission of twenty-one bishops, priests, and laymen, created to revise the Book of Common Prayer, and at present is a member of the committee of twelve appointed to revise the constitution of the General Con- vention. A clear, logical, and convincing speaker, and unusually well read in ecclesias- tical history and law, he has been largely in- fluential in shaping church legislation. Well versed in canon law, he has been consulted for many years by clergymen and laymen throughout the country on questions connected therewith. For a number of years he has been chancellor of the Diocese of Pittsburg and an active member of its annual conventions.
On November 29, 1849, Mr. Burgwin was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Major Asher Phillips, of the United States Army. By her he became the father of six children; namely, George Collinson, Henry Phillips, John Henry King, Sara Ormsby, Augustus Phillips, and Mary. The mother
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died January 1, 1882. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Church Home of Pittsburg and a much valued worker in the parish. A second marriage, performed October 1, 1888, united Mr. Burgwin with Susan Read, daughter of the Hon. Henry K. Nash, of Hillsboro, N.C., grand-daughter of Chief Justice Frederick Nash, and a great- grand-daughter of Governor Abner Nash. One child has blessed this union - Kenneth Ogden, born March 23, 1890.
Mr. Burgwin's ancestry by both father and 'mother is traced back to early Colonial days and to old families in England. His great- grandfather was John Burgwin, of Merioneth- shire, Wales, who was born in 1682 and died in 1731. This ancestor's son, also named John, was born in Hereford, England, in 1731, and died in 1803 at the Hermitage, which he had built. The second John Burg- win owned a large rice plantation in North Carolina, and was Treasurer of the Southern District of the Province of North Carolina just previous to the Revolutionary War. His plantation, covering three thousand acres, granted by George II. in 1728, has been kept in the family, and is now owned by Mr. Hill .Burgwin. George W. B. Burgwin, the next in line, was the father of Mr. Hill Burgwin. Like his father, he was an extensive rice planter. Born at the Hermitage, he died there February 4, 1854. He married Maria, daughter of Governor Abner Nash, of North Carolina; and a family of eight children grew up around them. These were: Eliza, who married William E. Anderson; John Henry King Burgwin, who was Captain in the First United States Dragoons, and fell in his coun- try's service, while leading a forlorn hope in the battle of Puebla de Taos in the Mexican War; Margaret, who became the wife of the Rev. Samuel Iredell Johnston, D.D .; Caro-
line, who married the Hon. Thomas S. Ashe, Justice of the Supreme Court of North Caro- lina; Hasell, now deceased; Maria, who is the widow of Parker Quince, late of Wil- mington, N.C .; Sally, of whom there is no special record; and Hill Burgwin, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Hill Burgwin's maternal great-grandfather, Colonel John Nash, of Templeton Manor, Va., was Presiding Judge of Prince Edward County, an officer in the Colonial army, a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and a son of Abner Nash, of Tenby, South Wales. Governor Abner Nash, son of Colonel Nash, was a lawyer of great ability and great political influence. His brother Francis, who served in the Revolutionary War as Brigadier-gen- eral, was killed in the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, while leading the North Carolina troops. Abner Nash was a member of the committee that prepared the constitution and the Bill of Rights of North Carolina, the first Speaker of the House of Commons of North Carolina, and the second Governor of the State. He died at New York, December 2, 1786, a member of the Federal Congress. His wife, Mary Whiting Jones Nash, was a society leader of Newbern, N.C., and a very beautiful and accomplished woman. She was a linca! descendant of Governor Bradford, the famous Governor of the Pilgrim Colony of Plymouth, who came to this country in 1620 in the "Mayflower."
Mr. Hill Burgwin's first wife was a descend- ant of Sir Nicholas Malby, the chief com- mander of the English forces in Connaught, Ireland, during the reign of Elizabeth, and of Sir Richard Ormsby, Kt., who held estates in Lincolnshire, England. Iler great-grand- father, Jobn Ormsby, who, born in Ireland in 1720, was educated at Trinity College, Dub- lin, became paymaster in the Provincial and
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Colonial armies, and held that position at the time of the capture of Fort Duquesne. Mrs. Burgwin's grandfather, Oliver Ormsby, a large land-owner, furnished supplies from his fur- naces and forge for fitting out Perry's squad- ron for the Lake Erie expedition.
Mr. Burgwin now spends his summers at his residence, Hasell Hill, Pittsburg, and his winters at Pembroke Cottage, Orange County, Florida.
J JOHN HUTCHINSON HAMILTON, one of the most influential residents of Neville Island, formerly called Mon- tour Island, was born here, August 10, 1819, son of David and Mary (Gibbs) Hamilton. His great-grandfather was a Scotchman, who settled in Ireland. His grandfather, Archi- bald, came to America, settling first in East- ern Pennsylvania and then in Pittsburg. Archibald was one of the earliest residents of Neville Island, and a prominent man in his time.
David Hamilton, son of Archibald, was a young child when he was brought to the United States by his parents. He grew up on the island, and in 1782 came to Pittsburg. He served with the rank of Captain in the War of 1812. He was a member of the First Church, Pittsburg. His wife's father, Will- iam Gibbs, who came of Scotch descent, was a soldier in the Revolution, and lived for some time at Pittsburg. David and Mary Hamilton had ten children, of whom one died in infancy. The others attained maturity; namely, Isabelle, Archibald, William, David, James, Sarah, Elizabeth, John, and Mary.
John Hutchinson Hamilton received his education in the common schools. He worked on the farm from his boyhood, owning about sixty acres, on which he raised fruits and gar- den vegetables. Before the introduction of
the railroad he raised thousands of bushels of sweet potatoes and water-melons. He remem- bers that, when he first visited the city, he was pushed up to it. in a canoe, and that it then extended to Union Depot and to Grant Street on the hill. It is now over twenty. years since he retired from business. Only one other farm on the island is as large as his, and it has not been out of the family's posses- sion since it was cleared of the original timber that covered it. Mr. Hamilton has been closely identified with the development and history of Neville Island, and has been influ- ential in forwarding its interests. He was one of the promoters of the plan that brought forth the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railroad, being associated with William McCreary when the idea originated. For nearly sixty years Mr. Hamilton has taken an active part in poli- tics, casting his first Presidential vote in 1840 for William H. Harrison, and voting at every national election since. He was originally a Whig. In 1856 he was in Pittsburg when the Republican party was being formed, and dis- cussed the subject many times with Thomas Marshall. He was a delegate to different conventions in that year, and has been promi- nent in many conventions since, having helped to nominate Judge White, Judge Stowe, Judge Ewing, and Judge Kennedy. He was an en- thusiastic worker for Lincoln on his first nom- ination, and during the war was an active sup- porter of war measures. He was present at a mass meeting held directly after Fort Sumter was fired upon. While he did not go to the front, he gave liberally of his means to sup- port the government and to uphold the Union. Upon the departure of a company of volunteers that had been enlisted on the island, Mr. Hamilton gave the men a farewell dinner. In the State legislature he was influential in de- feating or passing various bills affecting the
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general welfare. He once killed a harbor bill, the passing of which would have resulted in the damming up of the river, by presenting his objections at a meeting of the legislature called to consider the opposition. He was Supervisor and Assessor; and he is one of the original trustees of the school on the island, for which he secured an allowance as one of his first public duties.
On April 24, 1845, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage with Eliza, daughter of Joseph Major, a business man of Pittsburg. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ham- ilton. Their son, Joseph, a most promising young man, died in his twenty-first year, while a law student in the University. Four daugh- ters are now living, namely: Caroline, the wife of the Rev. D. R. Emory, of Mount Nebo; Sadie, now Mrs. Petrie, and living on the island; and Mary E. and Amelia C., who reside with their father. All his lifetime Mr. Hamilton has been a member of the Pres- byterian church, first in the society at Sharon and then in that of Neville Island, which he helped to organize. He was elected secretary and treasurer of the Neville Island church ; and he was offered the Eldership, which he declined. A Sunday-school, started in 1828 by his mother, was the nucleus of the organ- ization. Archibald Hamilton and William Dickson constituted the Building Committee, and the church was organized in 1843 with Moses Blasier as Elder and David Hamilton, Jr., as Deacon. Of the original members only Mr. and Mrs. James Dickson, Mrs. James Hamilton, Miss Amelia Hamilton, and Mr. John Hamilton are now living on the island. Mr. Hamilton was for many years a Deacon of the church, and for some time the superintend- ent and a teacher of the Sunday-school. Out- side of his business affairs the most of Mr. Hamilton's time and thought has been given
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