USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 13
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the following year, and the Lehigh Zinc Works were erected at South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, known for many years after that time as Wetherill, in honor of Samuel Wetherill. His newly patented process was registered as the Wetherill Furnace, and Mr. Wetherill was the first American manu- facturer to produce metallic zinc of any commercial value, the ingot from which was rolled the first sheet of metallic zinc being produced in 1857, marking a new epoch in the history of American industries, a his- tory that has since become so wealthy in innovations.
His new business thus fairly launched upon what proved to be a successful career, Mr. Wetherill was not long permitted to foster its growth and development before the outbreak of the war between the states called him to duty at the front. Soon after the beginning of hostilities he recruited two companies of cavalry in Bethlehem, was commissioned captain of one in August, 1861, and was assigned to Harlan's Light Cavalry, afterwards the Eleventh Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, serving in the Army of the Potomac and later in the Army of the James. On October 1, 1861, he was pro- moted to the rank of major, was at times in command of the regiment, his battalion fre- quently being detailed for detached duty, and in the end of his service was chief of staff to General Kautz, cavalry commander of the Army of the James. Under all con- ditions of warfare, from weary periods of encampment to the hardest fighting, Major Wetherill was ever the true soldier, never presuming upon his rank to secure exemp- tion from the hardships and discomforts endured by his men, always considerate of their comfort, in battle careful of their lives. Strict obedience and discipline was accorded him more because of the respect he engen- dered as a brave and fearless gentleman than because of the authority signified by his sword, and his conduct on the field of battle was recognized by his being brevetted lieutenant-colonel, United States Volun-
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teers, March 13, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services throughout the cam- paign of 1864, against Richmond, Virginia." He received his honorable discharge from the military service of the United States on September 30, 1864, returning to his manu- facturing interests, from which he retired in later life.
Colonel Samuel Wetherill married (first) January 1, 1844, Sarah Maria Chattin, born July 3, 1821, died July 3, 1869; (second) October 14, 1870, Thyrza A., daughter of John and Martha T. (Wilson) James. By his first marriage he was the father of seven children ; by his second, three.
John Price, eldest son of Colonel Samuel and Sarah Maria (Chattin) Wetherill, was born in Belleville, New York, November 13, 1844, and after studying in private schools preparatory to college entrance matriculated at the Polytechnic College of Philadelphia. In this institution he took civil and mining engineering courses and was graduated therefrom with degrees in both, until 1881, being connected with the mining and engineering department of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company and the Philadelphia & Reading Iron and Coal Company, located at and working from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. In this year he, his brother, Samuel Price Wetherill, and Richard and August Heckscher, jointly pur- chased the Lehigh Zinc Works, at South Bethlehem, the concern founded by his father, and was manager of the works until the original company was absorbed by the New Jersey Zinc Company, becoming direc- tor and consulting engineer of the latter company, offices that he relinquished upon his retirement from business. Among the new processes put into operation at the Le- high Zinc Works, including the Wetherill furnace, was the Wetherill magnetic con- centrating process for the treatment of re- fractory ores, a process invented and patented by John Price Wetherill, who in- herited a large portion of the mechanical genius that characterized his distinguished
father. Valuable not only because of its extreme practicality, but marking an epoch in metallurgical science, Mr. Wetherill's in- vention attracted wide notice and lauda- tory comment in scientific circles, and is minutely described in a paper by Professor H. B. C. Nitze, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting of the American Institute of Min- ing Engineers, in February, 1896. Besides being published in the "Transactions" of the Society, it appeared in the "Journal of the Franklin Institute" for April, 1897, ap- preciations of rare distinction.
Social, athletic, and patriotic societies claimed him as a member, and he belonged to the Union League, Rittenhouse, Phila- delphia Country, Merion Cricket, Radnor Hunt, Corinthian Yacht, New York Yacht, Bicayne Bay Yacht, and Manufacturers' Clubs; was the organizer of the Poho- qualine Fishing Association, of Monroe county, Pennsylvania, of which he was for ten years president ; a member of the Soci- ety of the Cincinnati, and of the Pennsyl- vania Society, Sons of the Revolution. Mr. Wetherill was a member of the Philadel- phia Art Club, and it was his love of out- door life that furnished him with the sub- jects upon which he performed some of the best of his work, his rural scenes and land- scapes showing an exceptional talent and a faithtul, sympathetic reproduction of local». ties in which he passed many pleasant hours.
John Price Wetherill's life of activity and accomplishment ended at his residence, No. 2014 Walnut street, Philadelphia, Novem- ber 9, 1906, after an illness lasting a year. Many circles, during the sixty-two years of his life, had enjoyed his companionship, nearly all had benefitted therefrom, and when the object of the association or insti- tution was the pursuit of pleasure he had lent life and spirit to the party. All re- memberances of him by his countless friends are of a true gentleman, contact with whom brought realization of his strong virility and upright straightforwardness.
He married, January 20, 1869, Alice D.,
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born at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, Janu- ary I, 1847, daughter of Ira Cortright, a prominent coal operator of that section, by his wife, Margaret Sherry, and a descend- ant of Sebastian Van Kortright, of an an- cient family of Flanders, who came to New Amsterdam in the ship "Brindle Cow," April 16, 1665, with his two sons, Michael and Jan, settling at Harlem. Children of John Price and Alice D. (Cortright) Wetherill: 1. Margaret, born February 8, 1870, died October 21, 1870. 2. Samuel, born May 10, 1871, died April 24, 1872. 3. Ira Cortright, born October 17, 1873, married Elizabeth Josephine Campbell, and has issue. 4. Anna, born February 13, 1876; married (first) William H. Addicks; (second) George C. Stout, M. D., having issue by her second marriage. 5. Alice, born March 20, 1878, died August 20, 1878. 6. Florence, born August 11, 1881, married Graham Wood, and had issue. 7. John Price (4th), born April 18, 1883; president of the Wetherill Pneumatic Casting Com- pany ; married Catharine Hall. 8. William Chattin, born August 16, 1886. 9. Carl Au- gustus Heckscher, born October 15, 1889.
Samuel Price, second son of Colonel Sam- uel and Sarah Maria (Chattin) Wetherill, was born at Saugerties, New York, May 17, 1846. As a youth he attended Nazareth Hall Military Academy, Pennsylvania, and the Model School at Trenton, New Jersey, starting business life in the employ of Wetherill & Brother, white lead manufac- turers and wholesale druggists, in Philadel- phia, in 1868 severing his connection with the ancestral house and establishing in busi- ness as a commission merchant, dealing in paints and drugs. This business he later organized as the S. P. Wetherill Company, paint manufacturers, locating the company's factory at Twenty-second street and Alle- gheny avenue, its present site, the office being at No. 925 Chestnut street. Mr. Wetherill has been president of the com- pany that bears his name since its forma- tion, and through the pursuance of a vigor-
ous and modern business policy is now the head of a concern that in stability and excel- lence of reputation is second to none in its field. In 1880 John Price Wetherill, Rich- ard and August Heckscher, and Mr. Weth- erill purchased the Lehigh Zinc Works at South Bethlehem, founded by his father, and upon its consolidation with the New Jersey Zinc Company became a director of the latter concern, a position he holds to the present time. Mr. Wetherill's clubs are the Rittenhouse, Racquet, and Philadelphia Gun, and he holds membership in the Union League. His position in the life of the city in which he is interested is a worthy one, and in him the family characteristics of honor, integrity, and purity of principle are well preserved.
He married, February 6, 1872, Christine, born February 21, 1852, daughter of George Northrop, junior, by his wife, Sarah, daugh- ter of George Deacon Wetherill, a descend- ant of an ancient English family, her father for half a century a conspicuous figure in the legal profession of Philadelphia. Chil- dren of Samuel Price and Christine (North- rop) Wetherill : 1. Georgine Northrop, born March 4, 1873; married, April 18, 1893, Charles Sillard Smith, becoming his second wife, and resides in Bala, Pennsylvania. 2. Sarah, born October II, 1874; married, June 6, 1898, Robert R. Logan, and had issue. 3. Northrop, born May 3, 1876, died August 18, 1876. 4. Christine, born April 10, 1878; married, June 9, 1908, William Gordon Stevenson, of Philadelphia. 5. Samuel Price, Jr., born May 12, 1880; mar- ried, June 7, 1902, Edith Bucknell, and had issue. 6. Isabella, born December 6, 1881.
HEINZ, Henry J.,
Founder of H. J. Heinz Company.
Emerson says, "Every institution is the lengthened shadow of a man." These are words which might be truthfully uttered of Henry J. Heinz, of Pittsburgh, founder and president of the H. J. Heinz Company, for,
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albeit he has had able associates, his will and genius have been the originating and sustaining forces of this great enterprise. In less than fifty years it has attained dimen- sions which many businesses, counted very successful, do not reach in a century.
The family record has been traced back by Mr. Heinz to 1599, that date being in- scribed upon a stone garden seat which lie brought from the ancestral home in Ger- many to his residence in Pittsburgh, where it is often pointed out to visitors. The family name appears in the church records of Kallstadt first in 1608, in the person of Lorenz Heinz, who was born in the latter part of the sixteenth century, in Kallstadt, province of Rheinfalz, Bavaria, Germany, and was a prosperous vineyard owner, a state official and a church trustee.
Henry Heinz, founder of the family in the United States, was born in Kallstadt, Germany, and in 1840 emigrated to this country, settling at what was then Birming- ham, now South Side, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. In 1850 he moved to Sharpsburg, a suburb of that city, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick. Henry Heinz mar- ried, December 4, 1843, Anna Margarethe Schmidt, who was born in Cruspis, Ger- many, and came to Pittsburgh the year of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Heinz were the parents of nine children, the eldest of whom was Henry J., the subject of this sketch. The father and mother of the fam- ily, devout members of the Lutheran church, were respected by all for their strict integ- rity and exemplary lives.
Henry J. Heinz, son of Henry and Anna Margarethe (Schmidt) Heinz, was born October II, 1844, in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, where he received his education in the Church School, the public schools and at Duff's Commercial College. It was the intention of his parents to fit him for the ministry, but he early developed inclina- tions and talents for commercial pursuits, and, with the exception of a few years, his career has been exclusively concerned in
its business side with the manufacture of pure food products. As a boy, he gave evi- dence of business ability in the cultivation and sale of the vegetables which he raised in his parents' garden plot of four acres. Tradition says that the first money Mr. Heinz ever earned for himself was in com- pany with twenty other boys who, at twen- ty-five cents a day, picked up potatoes for a neighboring farmer, on a tract of land which later was embraced in the holdings of the Aspinwall Land Company, of which Mr. Heinz was one of the organizers and later president. The precepts and example of his Christian parents afforded him the best religious training, a fact to which, in after years, he largely attributed his suc- cess. Especially was he influenced by his mother, who impressed upon him those principles which have been the rule of his life, and between whom and himself there ever existed a steadfast and beautiful devo- tion. At the age of sixteen, Mr. Heinz be- came bookkeeper and practical assistant in his father's business, and about this time he also commenced to grow, and during the winter months to bottle, horseradish, which he disposed of to the city grocers. In cal- culating the profits for the sales of the year, when he reached the age of nineteen -1863-he discovered that he had sold twenty-four hundred dollars worth of pro- duce from the four-acre lot. These results were obtained in a day before it became the practice to ship vegetables from the South. By starting his plants early in liot beds, and transplanting them into the garden at about the time gardeners were just beginning to plant the seed, the young gardener not only came into the market first with his vege- tables, receiving a high price, but was able to obtain two or three crops a year, instead of one. The book in which the record of this profitable gardening appears, the en- tries being in Mr. Heinz's handwriting, is now in the cherished possession of his sons.
When he reached his majority in 1865, his father took him into partnership, and he
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speedily gave evidence of his ability to initiate by introducing methods whereby brickyards could be successfully operated in winter as well as summer. It was the practice in large city brickyards to operate all year. The young partner visited a city brickyard, observed the methods followed and adapted the idea to the little yard at home. As a result the business was in- creased threefold in two years.
Sharpsburg in 1869 was a town of but 3,000 population, and the demand for the output of the brickyard was restricted. For this reason Mr. Heinz's parents encouraged him in his ambition to engage in a business of his own. He formed a partnership to manufacture brick at Beaver Falls, Penn- sylvania, but soon withdrew from this ven- ture, and in the same year, 1869, returned. to Sharpsburg and commenced to pack food products, beginning with the bottling of horseradish. His father's family had moved into a new residence, and a portion of the former family home was utilized as the factory for the new business. The basement and one room on the first floor constituted the factory; another room served as shipping department and office.
In 1872 the business was removed to Pittsburgh, where it was first conducted under the firm name of Heinz, Noble & Company, the style becoming later F. & J. Heinz, and in 1888 it assumed its present name of H. J. Heinz Company. The legal status of this business was that of a part- nership until 1905, when it was converted into a corporation.
Through all changes of name and form, Mr. Heinz has remained the head of the house, and to his management and enter- prise is to be largely attributed its phenom- enal success. He has worked, not for money, but for success, realizing that suc- cess would mean not less money, and this love for success has been communicated to his responsible associates, arousing uncon- sciously an energy and enthusiasm that permeates the entire establishment, creating
a "spirit" of mutual cooperation and con- fidence that may not improperly be termed the "Heinz Spirit." Never has he regarded his employes as parts of a great machine, but has recognized their individuality and has made it a rule that faithful and efficient service should be promptly rewarded. Con- vincing proof of his attitude as an employer is to be found in the fact that never, in his establishment in its more than forty-five years history, has the course of business been interrupted by dissensions or strikes. His employes know that he has always sought in all ways to show his interest in them and they have responded to this treat- ment by trusting him to see to it that any grievances they may have are promptly and satisfactorily adjusted. They have learned to know too, that the members of his family interested in the business are actuated by the same feeling, so if the father is absent, they go just as readily and confidently to the sons and partners.
Mr. Heinz's regard for the comfort of his employes and his friendly attitude toward them have had their influence, among other factors, in making the busi- ness the greatest of its kind in the world. Besides the main plant in Pittsburgh, the Company has sixteen branch factories, three of these being in England, Canada and Spain, seventy-eight salting houses, twenty branch houses, including one in London, and agencies in the commercial centers of the world. The home factory in Pittsburgh, occupies a floor space of over thirty acres, which is increased to over eighty acres when all branch houses are counted in. The Company uses the annual product of more than 100,000 acres of vege- table and fruit lands, employs continually six thousand persons, including over seven hundred traveling salesmen, and has re- ceived medals and highest awards from the greatest expositions of the world.
Mr. Heinz is one who builds on firm foundations. He is, moreover, one who be- lieves in judicious advertising and, by the
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extensive and intelligent use of appropriate media of publicity, the name of Heinz has become widely known. His Company has rendered valuable assistance in the passage of pure food laws, and every department of the business has striven to keep the products of the House in purity and wholesomeness in advance of all legal requirements.
Among the business organizations which Mr. Heinz serves as director may be men- tioned the Union National Bank and West- ern Insurance Company, both of Pittsburgh. He belongs to that class of distinctively representative American men who promote public progress in advancing individual prosperity, and whose private interests never preclude active participation in move- ments and measures which concern the public good. He is an enthusiastic worker for civil reform, and no project for fur- thering the welfare or adding to the beauty of his home city ever lacks his hearty co- operation and support. When the Flood Commission of Pittsburgh, made up of prominent business and professional men and eminent engineers, was appointed to devise means of protecting Pittsburgh from floods, a local question of paramount im- portance, Mr. Heinz was chosen president of the organization. Among other civic organizations with which he is identified are the following: The Pittsburgh Civic Commission, of which he is vice-president ; the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a director. He is also vice- president of the Western Pennsylvania Ex- position Society, having been one of its promoters, and is a director in the Tuber- culosis Sanitarium and the Western Penn- sylvania Hospital. He is widely but un- ostentatiously charitable and is in sympathy with the work of higher education and has contributed to its support in various ways. His most direct connection with educational work found expression in the aid he ren- dered in the establishment of the Kansas City University, and for a number of years he was president of its board of trustees.
His interest in the welfare of the com- munity in which he lives led him in 1914 to make a gift to the University of Pitts- burgh. In his letter announcing the gift he wrote: "This sum is to be used in the erection of a suitable building on the Uni- versity campus as a memorial to my mother, Anna Margarethe Heinz. This gift is made with the Understanding that the building shall be exclusively used for the religious and social activities of the student body of the University."
In national politics Mr. Heinz has been an advocate of the principles of the Re- publican party. In municipal affairs, how- ever, he has given his support to any man, who by reason of character and experience seemed to him best qualified to serve the public welfare. His interest in education led to his election for two terms to the Board of Public Education. He is recog- nized as a vigilant and attentive observer of men and measures.
There are few sections of the world which he has not visited in quest of infor- mation and recreation and he has found much pleasure in the so-called fad of "col- lecting." He has gathered a large and interesting collection of antique and modern ivory carvings, watches miniatures, fans, firearms, and historic canes, books on cos- tumes and old Bibles. It is one of the larg- est private collections in the United States. Every age of the world and every habitable portion of the globe are represented. His pursuit of collecting is not solely a response to a love of rare and unique things, but it springs in part from a desire to provide something for the enjoyment of the public, as many of his artistic antiques have been placed on public exhibition. He also takes a delight in surprising his friends with the gift of some unusual antique from some faraway corner of the world.
It is not an overstatement to say that Mr. Heinz has reserved for religion the largest place in his program of life. He is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church and for
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over twenty of the busiest years of his life, he was a Sunday school superintendent, with which work he has been intimately connected since his twenty-sixth year. He has been president of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Association for the past seven years, and served as president of the Allegheny County Association for four years preceding his promotion to the head of the State work. For several years he has been a member of the executive com- mittees of the International and Worlds Associations, and in 1913 was chairman of a party of twenty-nine business men of large affairs, and Sunday school specialists, that made a four months' tour of the Ori- ent, including China, Japan, and Korea, in the interest of the Sunday school. At the convention of the World's Sunday School Association in Zurich in July, 1913, to which convention the Oriental Commission reported, Mr. Heinz was chosen chairman of the executive committee, thus placing upon him the responsibility of directing the Sunday school work of the world for a term of three years.
The Young Men's Christian Association has naturally appealed to Mr. Heinz and he has been active in promoting its interests.
Mr. Heinz married, September 23, 1869, Sarah Sloan, daughter of Robert and Mary (Sloan) Young, of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. The Youngs were a highly esteemed family of county Down, Ireland, and were of the Presbyterian faith. Mr. and Mrs. Heinz were the parents of the following children: Irene Edwilda, mar- ried to John L. Given, of New York City; Clarence Noble, connected with the adver- tising department of the H. J. Heinz Com- pany ; Howard, vice-president of the Com- pany, married, October, 1906, Elizabeth Rust, of Saginaw, Michigan; Robert Eu- gene, died in infancy; and Clifford Stan- ton, who is identified with the manufactur- ing department of the Company. The be- loved mother of these children died No- vember 29, 1894.
Henry J. Heinz is a man who conducts his business on terms alike to employer and employed. He finds his remuneration, not in the acquisition of dollars and cents, but in the satisfaction of seeing those who cooperate loyally and enthusiastically in producing a business success enjoying the fruits of that success. Mr. Heinz has never taken unto himself the credit for the accom- plishments of his business. He has always given large credit to liis associates, train- ing them to believe in and rely upon two principles of business, which he has ex- pressed in these words: "To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success" and "It is neither capital nor labor but manage- ment that brings success, since management will attract capital, and capital can employ labor."
The business which Mr. Heinz founded, and of which he has always been the head, has brought to its founder wealth and influ- ence, and it has brought also much of far greater value-gratitude and heartfelt affec- tion, for in advancing to the position which has been his for more than a quarter of a century, never has he neglected an oppor- tunity to extend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself nor to make his prosperity a blessing to his fellowmen.
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