USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Biographical review : v. 24, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Pittsburgh and the vicinity, Pennsylvania > Part 45
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AMES CRERAR DUNN, M.D., a noted physician and specialist of Pitts- burg, and the professor of dermatology, materia medica, and therapeutics in the Uni- versity of this city, was born in Merigo- mish, Pictou County, N. S., December 9, 1847, son of William and Catherine Crerar (McIntosh) Dunn. His grandfather, John Dunn, a Scotchman, who was with the British army in America during the Revolutionary War, received for his services to the Crown a tract of land in Nova Scotia, and there resided for the rest of his life. John Dunn's wife lived to be ninety years old. The father was | a native and a lifelong resident of Nova
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Scotia. He followed the occupation of a mill- wright during his active period, and died in 1886. His wife, Catherine, who was also a native of Nova Scotia, died in 1872. She was the mother of eight children, of whom one died in infancy. Those residing in this coun- try are : Robert D., a carriage manufacturer in California; Alexander McIntosh, engineer for the Fort Pitt Glass Company in Jeannette, Pa. ; and James Crerar, M. D., the subject of this sketch. John W. resides at the old home- stead, and three sisters are living in that vi- cinity.
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James Crerar Dunn acquired his early educa- tion in Nova Scotia. In 1869 he entered Jef- ferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with the class of 1871. Later in the same year he located for prac- tice in Pittsburg. Here his success as a gen- eral physician was all that could be desired, but as a specialist in skin diseases he has gained a reputation that extends far beyond the limits of the State. He has occupied the chair of dermatology since the organization of the medical department of the University here, and has been professor of materia med- ica and therapeutics since 1894. He organ- ized the dermatological clinics of the Free Dispensary in 1886, and his clinics rank among the best in this county. For ten years he was physician and surgeon to St. Francis Hospital, and assistant physician to the West- ern Pennsylvania Hospital for eight years. In 1895 he was elected dermatologist to the latter institution. He is a member and the secre- tary of the board controlling the Reineman Maternity Hospital, and is consulting obstetri- cian of the hospital staff. Also, he is a mem- ber of the county, State, and American Medi- cal Societies and of the American Public Health Association. He was a member of the Board of Health, of which he was president for
several years. In politics he is an earnest supporter of the Republican party.
On October 4, 1877, Dr. Dunn was united in marriage with Juliette Thalia Du Barry, a daughter of Edward and Wilhelmina (Smith) Du Barry. Her paternal ancestry were French ; and her grandfather, who was a silk importer in Philadelphia, subsequently followed the same business in Pittsburg. Mrs. Dunn's maternal ancestors, the Smiths, were mostly members of the Economists' Society, but sub- sequently withdrew from that organization. Dr. and Mrs. Dunn have had six children, two of whom, John Sidney and George Du Barry, are living. The deceased children comprised two who died in infancy and two who died in childhood. Dr. Dunn is regarded by his asso- ciates in the medical profession as one of the leading physicians of the State. Although his private practice is large, he devotes a great deal of his valuable time to the Univer- sity, the hospitals, and the Free Dispensary. To young practitioners he has been very help- ful. He is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and other fraternal orders, and attends the Presbyterian church.
EORGE GREENFIELD GRAHAM, M. D.,* a prominent and skilful phy- sician of Allegheny, Pa., is a native of this city, the date of his birth being March 29, 1856. The Graham family is of Scotch origin. The Doctor's father and grandfather, John Graham, Sr., and John, Jr., were born in Pennsylvania. John Graham, Sr., was a hatter in Pittsburg during his early manhood ; but during the last twenty-five years of his life he was president of the Bank of Pittsburg, and died in that city when about seventy years old.
John Graham, Jr., accumulated a large prop- erty, being engaged in various kinds of busi-
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ness, as his inclinations dictated. He was for a few years a resident of Missouri. While there he enlisted in the Union army, in which he served four years, having command of a company of scouts. Returning to his native State, he spent the remainder of his life within its borders, making his home in dif- ferent localities, and dying in Washington, Washington County, in 1891, at the age of sixty-four years. His wife, Martha Green- field, was born in New York, a daughter of George M. Greenfield, a native of County Down, Ireland. Mr. Greenfield immigrated to America in 1808, settling first in the State of New York, but later removing to Alle- gheny, where his declining years were spent. His wife was also a native of Ireland. Of the children born to them one became noted as a teacher, and for many years was assistant prin- cipal in the grammar school of which Mr. Covel, the author of Covel's Grammar, had the charge. To John Graham, Jr., and his wife seven children were born, five of whom are now living, namely: Dr. George G. ; Annie; Elizabeth; William Howard; and May, who married George, the son of Judge Atchison. The mother died in 1886. She was a faithful member of the First Presbyterian Church in Washington, Pa., to which her husband also belonged.
George G. Graham was but a year old when his parents removed to Missouri. After the war he came with them to Pennsylvania, and lived at first in Indiana County and later in Philadelphia. He was successively a student at Newell's Institute, at Duff's College, Pitts- burg, and at the University of Pennsylvania. In early manhood Mr. Graham settled in Mer- cer County, and for three years was engaged in a good mercantile business. Going then to Baltimore, he entered the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons; and, having pursued the
prescribed course of study, he was graduated in the spring of 1882. The succeeding four- teen months Dr. Graham was resident physi- cian at the West Penn Hospital, and after that he served as senior assistant physician in the Dixmont Hospital for the Insane ten years, the last six years being acting assistant super- intendent. In May, 1893, he opened his pres- ent office, 51 Fremont Street, in Allegheny, where he has an extensive practice, his patron- age including some of the leading people of the city.
Dr. Graham married April 23, 1893, Miss Jennie, daughter of John and Mary (Hamilton) Beers; and they are now the parents of two children - Mary and Martha. The Doctor is prominently identified with many social organizations, belonging to the Allegheny County Medical Society; the State Medical Society; the Society of American Medical Superintendents of Asylums; to the Junior Order of American Mechanics; to Davidge Lodge, A. F. & A. M. ; and to Allegheny Chapter, R. A. M. Dr. and Mrs. Graham are both members of the Second United Pres- byterian Church of Allegheny.
ENRY B. ORR, D.D.S., M.D.,* of Pittsburg, where he has a large gen- eral practice, was born in Steuben- ville, Ohio, July 4, 1857, son of Thomas J. and Mary E. (Bristor) Orr.
His paternal grandfather, Johnson Orr, a resident of Jefferson County, Ohio, was of Scotch-Irish stock, although born in this coun- try. He dealt quite extensively in cattle and land. He was a man of unusual strength of character and an ardent abolitionist. Always ready to lend a hand when an opportunity offered, it was his privilege to help many a fugitive from the South to escape over the un-
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derground railway, but not always without danger to himself. Upon one occasion he had secreted a mulatto girl, who was pursued by her master, and during the search the master got into an altercation with Mr. Orr, compell- ing the latter to a forcible defence. The wife of Johnson Orr was a daughter of Judge An- derson, quite a celebrated man in early Ohio days. Five children, two sons and three daughters, were born to them, namely: Eu- genia, wife of Congressman Clark, of Iowa; Eliza J., wife of Captain Sherman; Viola, who married a Mr. Lawson, an Iowa farmer; An- derson, a lawyer and dealer in stocks, who was killed by a moving train near New York City ; and Thomas J., father of Dr. Orr.
Thomas J. Orr was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1835. He went from his Ohio home to Little Rock, Ark., as a con- tractor, and in 1858 came to Pittsburg. As an accountant he has here been identified with many large business houses. Mary E. Bris- tor, his wife, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Her family lineage is traced back to England, the birthplace of two brothers who came to this country and bought large tracts of land in Virginia. One of them subsequently returned to England; but the other remained and became the progenitor of those in this country who bear his name, which has undergone changes in spelling, being now both Bristor and Bristow.
Henry B. Orr is an only child. His pre- liminary education was supplemented by a course at Franklin and Marshall Colleges, Lancaster, Pa. In 1873 he began the study of dentistry in Mansfield, Ohio, and later on entered the dental department of the Univer- sity of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1879 with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Shortly after he opened an office at Scottdale. In 1883 he was graduated at the
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and during the succeeding two years was surgeon to the Pennsylvania Railroad. On leaving that position, he settled in this city. Devot- ing himself assiduously to the duties of his profession, he has acquired a large and desir- able practice.
Dr. Orr was married February 29, 1888, to Miss Anna L. Fortney, daughter of Dr. C. D. Fortney, of Scottdale. She died January 3, 1895, leaving one daughter, Mary E. Orr. Dr. Orr is a member of various organizations, and is medical examiner for several. In poli- tics he usually votes the Republican ticket.
J. ASDALE, M.D.,* a success- ful hospital surgeon of Pittsburg, was born in Allegheny County, August 25, 1842, son of Alexander and Nancy (Connell) Asdale. The father, a native of Ireland, who came to America in the early thirties, located in Pittsburg, and in company with the Gettys was engaged for some time in the grocery and provision business. He mar- ried in 1841 Nancy Connell. In 1850 he went on the ship "Serampore " to California by the Cape route, starting from New York and reaching San Francisco after a voyage lasting six months. After spending three years in the mines, he returned to the East via the Isthmus of Panama. In 1860 he went again to Cali- fornia, with the purpose of preparing a home for his family on the Pacific Coast; but, before he could carry his plans into execution, he died, in February, 1861. He was the father of five children, two of whom -- namely, Alexander Connell Asdale, of Beaver, Pa., and the Doctor - are now living. The mother, who married a second husband, Be- noni Anderson, now deceased, resides with her son Alexander in Beaver.
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W. J. Asdale was educated in the common schools of Allegheny County and at Mansfield Academy, near Pittsburg. After graduating from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1864 and from the Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1866, he began practice in Pittsburg. Dr. Asdale has spent much time in hospital work. He was a resident student and apothecary in the Mercy Hospital in 1863-64; during the year 1864-65 he was in the Army General Hospital in Pittsburg; for fifteen years he was a member of the staff of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital; and he is now surgeon in charge in the Passavants Hospital, formerly called the Pittsburg Infirm- ary, which was the pioneer hospital of the city. He was mainly instrumental in organ- izing the medical school, now the medical department of the Western University of Pennsylvania, wherein until 1895. he was the professor of the diseases of women as well as the secretary of the board of trustees.
Dr. Asdale first married Rachel Wallace, daughter of Joseph and Rachel Wallace, of Bethlehem, Beaver County. She died in 1887, having been the mother of one child. Two years later the Doctor married Miss Jessie B. Reeves, daughter of John Reeves, of Beaver Falls, Pa. W. J., the only child of this marriage, died in early infancy.
In religious faith Dr. Asdale is a Presby- terian. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. He has served the public on the Central Board of Education of Pittsburg, on the School Board of the O'Hara subdistrict, in the Select Council of Pittsburg for several years, and in the Board of Health, both as member and secretary, for twelve years. He is a mem- ber of the Allegheny County Medical Asso- ciation, the Pennsylvania State Association, and the American Medical Association, and an honorary member of the California State Med-
ical Association, the American Public Health Association, the Iron City Microscopical So- ciety, and of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynæcologists.
A NDREW CARNEGIE, the foremost man in the iron and steel industry of which the city of Pittsburg, Pa., is the great centre, a man who is rapidly acquir- ing a world-wide reputation as a discreet and cheerful giver of munificent gifts, a moneyed philanthropist of the first water, is a native of Scotland. He was born in Dunfermline, an- cient capital of the land of Burns and Scott, on November 25, 1835, three years after the passing of the Great Wizard of the North.
His father was a weaver, a man of intelli- gence and progressive ideas, blessed with a congenial and worthy helpmate, the home circle one of affection, industry, and aspira- tion. Andrew inherited a love of reading, was sent to school, and proved himself apt to learn. When he was about twelve years old and his brother Thomas was five, the parents came to this country, and settled in Alle- gheny, Pa., the father finding employment in a factory. Here, too, shortly the elder lad joined the army of productive workers, becom- ing a bobbin-bearer, and earning with exqui- site satisfaction the sum of one dollar and twenty cents a week. His next experience was in taking charge of a small stationary en- gine in the basement, a responsibility that weighed on his mind, and troubled his sleep at night. Always busy and yet always look- ing about for chances of advancement, he soon secured a position as messenger boy in a tele- graph office, weekly wages two and a half dollars. Keeping his eyes open, his mind continually active, ever learning something new, his willing hands always ready for more
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work, like Jack of the Beanstalk he was ever going up, up; and the higher he got, the more he knew.
He was but fourteen when his father died, and he must be man of the house, but only as his mother's right-hand helper; for she, too, was capable and self-reliant, skilled and dili- gent in household ways, and contributing to the family finances by deftly binding shoes. From a speedy foot-carrier of messages young Carnegie advanced to be a telegraph operator, at fifteen was a train despatcher, and at six. teen he showed his cleverness by originating a plan for running railway trains by a thorough system of telegraphing. While still a clerk in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, he ventured some borrowed capital in the introduction of the newly invented Woodruff sleeping-car, and thus scored his first financial success. For some years, as superintendent of the Pittsburg division of the Pennsylvania Railway, he was intimately associated with Colonel Scott; and during that time he was one of a company that bought oil lands in Pennsylvania, which yielded immense profits. Mr. Carnegie's great wealth, however, the substantial structure of his colossal fortune, has been built up of iron and steel. Twelve hundred and fifty dollars borrowed from a bank was his share of a cash capital of six thousand dollars, with which the Keystone Bridge Works of Pittsburg were started. The com- pany has done an extensive and successful business, its capital in latter years being one million dollars. Of the Union Iron Works, the E. Thomson Steel Works, the Homestead Steel Works, not to mention others, Mr. Carnegie is chief owner.
In recent years Mr. Carnegie has distin- guished himself as a writer on economic sub- jects and on his travels, and also as a public benefactor, his bounty being well planned to
be of lasting good to large communities. A canny Scotsman, alert and practical in affairs, also keenly delighting in the world of books, believing in the stimulating, sustaining, and broadening influence of good literature, desir- ous of promoting the advancement of learning among the people, remembering the precious loaned volumes which gratified his own love of reading in his youth, he has devoted large sums to the establishment of public libraries. Among those founded or endowed by his lib- erality may be named the Johnstown (Pa.) Free Library, the Braddock Free Library, the Carnegie Free Library, Allegheny City, and the Pittsburg Library, free to the people, the amount of his benefactions to the city and vicinity figuring already up to five million dollars, it is said, and more libraries contem- plated. Two hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars to the Free Library in Edinburgh, Scot- land, fifty thousand dollars for a free library, forty thousand dollars for swimming-baths in Dunfermline, and the fifty-thousand-dollar laboratory of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, are other examples of his judicious giving.
In the summer of 1881 Mr. Carnegie took a party of friends, who had accompanied him as his guests across the Atlantic, the party in- cluding his mother, under the name of the Queen Dowager, on a coaching trip from Brighton to Inverness. The book describing the journey, written by Mr. Carnegie, pub- lished in 1883, entitled " An American Four- in-hand in Great Britain," is brim full of the effervescent joy which a genial, generous nature finds in "giving happiness," "far sweeter," he says, "than the pleasure direct." The dedication reads: "To my favorite hero- ine, my mother." A second book from his pen, "Round the World," containing the rec- ords of a previous journey made in 1878-79,
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was issued in 1884. In 1886 appeared his "Triumphant Democracy," an exalting set- ting forth of the exuberant resources, the splendid achievements and glowing prospects of the greatest nation ever existing under a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Optimistic and brac- ing as if written with an eagle's quill, it is well worth reading, and may be especially commended to over-anxious, foreboding souls among us, who need to cultivate the habit of looking on the bright side of things. Here is a good word from its pages: "The free com- mon-school system of the land is probably, after all, the greatest single power in the uniting process which is producing the new American race." In the North American Re- view for December, 1889, is an article from the pen of Mr. Carnegie, on "The Best Fields for Philanthropy." In a previous paper he had maintained that surplus wealth should be considered as a sacred trust, to be administered during the lives of the owners, by them as trustees, for the good of the com- munity in which and from which it had been acquired, and especially so as not to have a pauperizing effect upon its recipients. After speaking of the founding of a university as about the greatest thing to be done if one had the riches of a Croesus to disburse, he accords the first place in importance among the prac- · ticabilities to what appears to be his own favorite form of benefaction - the founding of free libraries - always provided in each case that "the community will accept and maintain it as a public institution," art museums being suggested as valuable accompaniments. Hos- pitals, medical colleges, and their adjuncts for the relief of human suffering, public parks, swimming-baths, churches - durable struct- ures of stone or brick - and halls for meet- ings and concerts are mentioned as objects
eminently worthy the attention of those in- clined to give of their abundance to help their fellow-men. It is but simple justice to say that Mr. Carnegie seems to have gone a good way in following his own teaching.
In the New York Tribune for April 13, 1890, Mr. Carnegie treats, with the assurance of one who has succeeded, the question, "How to win Fortune." "Experience," he thinks, "proves that a man cannot work more soil profitably than he can till for himself with the aid of his own family"; and he consequently rejoices that, as he conceives, "land is becom- ing more and more divided among the masses of the people." Outside the realm of agri- cultural labors, however, he finds the law of concentration prevailing, manufactures and trade being carried on in vast establishments requiring very large capital. In the indus- trial world he notes that it is not the college graduate, but the scientifically trained youth, the working mechanic with natural aptitude, and the poor office boy, who attains high posi- tion. Practical skill, genuine interest in one's work, and close application are requi- sites for the promotion of employees. The alert-minded, absorbent young man, eager for advancement, may gain the first step forward by doing something above and beyond the pre- scribed task, and thus winning the attention and good will of the one next over him. Saloon frequenting, speculation, and indors- ing are rocks to be shunned.
To those who complain of lack of opportu- nity for advancement he says an encouraging word: "Through corporations whose shares are sold daily upon the market, through part- nerships that find it necessary to interest their ablest workers, through merchants who can manage their vast enterprises successfully only by interesting exceptional ability-in every quarter of the business world avenues
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greater in number, wider in extent, easier of access, than ever before existed, stand open to the sober, frugal, energetic, and able me- chanic, to the scientifically educated youth, to the office boy, and to the clerk - avenues through which they can reap greater successes than were ever before within reach of these classes in the history of the world."
Mr. Carnegie's paper in the North American Review for June, 1891, is a strong plea for the gold standard and the honest dollar. "Nothing," he says, "places the farmer, the wage-earner, and all those not closely con- nected with financial affairs at so great a disadvantage in disposing of their labor or products as changeable 'money.'" The prac- tice of debasing coin "always cheats the masses."
Mr. Andrew Carnegie remained single until after the deaths of his mother and his brother, both of whom passed to the life immortal in 1886. He was fifty-two years of age when he was united in marriage with Miss Louise Whitfield, of New York City.
IDWARD AUGUSTUS SCHMERTZ, a member of the widely known and enter- prising firm of the R. C. Schmertz Glass Company of Pittsburg, Pa., was born in this city, June 13, 1867 .. He is a son of the late Robert Charles Schmertz, and on the pa- ternal side is of substantial German ancestry, his grandfather and grandmother Schmertz having spent their earlier days in Germany, whence in 1832 they emigrated to this coun- try, locating in Pittsburg, Pa., where they afterward made their permanent home.
Robert Charles Schmertz was born Novem- ber 7, 1829, in Wiesbaden, Germany; and, being but three years of age when his parents came to Pittsburg, he was here reared and
educated. On leaving school he learned the trade of a file cutter, but was subsequently connected with several banks of the city, be- coming clerk of the banking-house of A. Wil- kins & Co. in 1855, later a teller in the Exchange National Bank, and afterward a cashier of the Iron City Trust Company, which was reorganized as the Second National Bank. He then established an oil refinery, and became the pioneer of that business in Pittsburg, but was unfortunately burned out, and lost considerable money. In 1865 he embarked in another enterprise, buying the window-glass works of George A. Berry & Co., whose plants were established at Belle Vernon and Columbus, Ohio, and from that time he was one of the most prominent window-glass makers in the United States. He was likewise an important factor in organ- izing other manufacturing and financial insti- tutions, including the Standard Plate Glass Company of Butler, of which he was president at the time of his death; the Third National Bank of this city, of which he and his brother William, with other financiers, were the founders; the Pittsburg Bank for Savings, of which he was vice-president and one of the ac- tive managers; and the Allemania Insurance Company, of which he was president from its incorporation until his death. He was also a promoter of the Mckeesport & Belle Vernon Railroad. He was noted for his business ability and sound judgment among his brother glass manufacturers, who frequently sought his counsels ; and he always took a prominent part in the proceedings at the meetings of the trade associations and in the shaping of legis- lation regulating glass tariff.
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