USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 15
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charter member and for several years cor- responding secretary of the United Sports- men of Pennsylvania, active member and for one term president of the North Amer- ican Fish and Game Protective Associa- tion, an organization of sportsmen and fish- ermen of the United States and Canada, a member of the Pennsylvania State Game and Fish Protective Association, and honor- ary member of local fishing protective asso- ciations throughout the State. He likewise holds membership in various civic and social societies-the City Park Association, and was for one year a member of the board of directors of the Children's Protective League. In 1902 he was elected to mem- bership on the school board of Germantown, succeeding a man elected to fill the place left vacant by the death of Thomas Meehan, his father, and with the exception of one year served continuously until 1914. As a member of this body he ably championed the cause of colored pupils in the German- town schools, a subject upon which Thomas Meehan held the most progressive and prac- tical views.
Natatorial sports were a favorite form of recreation in his youth, and he became an adept and powerful swimmer, and it has been his good fortune in young manhood to have saved the lives of five people, another instance in which he has emulated the ex- ample of his parent. Walking is another form of exercise in which he takes great pleasure, and while a member of the editor- ial staff of "The Ledger" he was one of the members of a walking club composed of noted newspaper men, among whom were Hon. Joel Cook and Addison B. Burk. This club was formed under the name of the Monks of the Meerschaum, and its expedi- tions were indeed merry occasions. A de- scription of each outing was written and the whole afterward published in book form, entitled "Saturday Jaunts," about one-third of the articles being of Mr. Mee- han's authorship under the name "Boni- facians." He recently (1913) published a
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work under the title "Fish Culture in Ponds and Other Inland Waters," and at the pres- ent time is preparing a work on sea fish and fishing. Those interested in angling and fish life and acquainted with his intention, eagerly await its appearance, confident that in it they will find a work of as high a standard as that which he has taught them to expect from his previous publications.
Mr. Meehan married, June 3, 1876, Linda Augusta Graham, of Philadelphia, and has two daughters: 1. Catherine Louise, mar- ried A. Harris Insinger, of Philadelphia ; children : Ada Meehan, Elizabeth Anna, Anna Shingle, William Meehan, and A. Harris, junior. 2. Ida Graham, married Warren A. Chandler, of Philadelphia, and has: Linda Meehan, Catherine Louise, and Frank A.
PITCAIRN, John,
Chairman of Board of Directors of Pitts- burgh Plate Glass Company.
Who has not heard of the business that is the greatest of its kind in the world, and of the man whose far-sighted sagacity and administrative ability were the most in- fluential of the forces that called it into be- ing and made it what it is today? A resi- dent of Philadelphia and one of the fore -. most business men of Pittsburgh, Mr. Pit- cairn is prominently identified with lead- ing interests of both cities, but neither may claim him exclusively, as the story of his activities is incorporated In the annals of Pennsylvania.
John Pitcairn, Senior, father of John Pit- cairn, of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, was born in Scotland, a son of Alexander and Janet (Currie) Pitcairn, who passed their entire lives in their native land. John Pit- cairn, Senior, was an inventor and a noted mechanical expert, of Johnstone, near Pais- ley, Scotland. In 1845 or 1846 he emigrated to the United States and settled in Pitts- burgh, having married in Scotland, Agnes,
daughter of Neil and Catherine (Campbell) McEwen.
John (2), son of John (1) and Agnes (McEwen) Pitcairn, was born January 10, 1841, in Johnstone, near Paisley, Scotland, and at five years of age was brought by his parents to the United States. He was edu- cated in the public schools of the First Ward of Allegheny City. John Kelly was his teacher and principal, and among his schoolmates were Henry W. Oliver and Henry Phipps. On his fourteenth birth- day John Pitcairn left school and began his business career in the office of the superin- tendent of the Pennsylvania railroad, at Al- toona, where he remained between two and three years. He then returned to Pitts- burgh and attended school for six months, after which he went to Fort Wayne, In- diana, where his brother Robert was assist- ant to the superintendent of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad. John was employed in the office, and when Robert went to Altoona as superintendent of the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania rail- road. the younger brother succeeded to the position of assistant to the superintendent at Fort Wayne, acting also in the capacity of train despatcher. He left Fort Wayne to go to Philadelphia, as assistant to the superintendent of the Philadelphia Division of the Pennsylvania railroad, and remained there until the close of the Civil War. While he held this position, he became one of the actors in an event of national im- portance.
The patriotism displayed throughout the Civil War by the management and employes of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Balti- more Railroad Company (now a part of the great Pennsylvania railroad system) and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, is known to everyone familiar with the history of that momentous period. Confronted by aggressive disloyalty throughout the south- ern part of their territory, the officials of these railroads stood firm in behalf of the
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Union and rendered invaluable assistance. Perhaps the first occasion on which their re- sources and loyalty were put to the test was when they conveyed President-elect Lincoln in his special car from Harrisburg to Philadelphia, on his way to Washington. To be selected to take part in this service was the greatest honor the company could bestow, and among those chosen was the young assistant to the superintendent, John Pitcairn, to whom was given the great re- sponsibility of taking charge of the train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. Several of the States already had seceded and ru- mors were rife, not only that a conspiracy to destroy the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore railroad was on foot, but that there was a plot for the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. The services of Allan Pinkerton, the famous detective, were engaged, and every arrangement was made to insure a safe journey for the illustrious passenger. About six o'clock on the evening of Feb- ruary 22, 1861, Mr. Lincoln left the Jones House, Harrisburg, with Colonel Lamon, Enoch Lewis and G. C. Franciscus, and was driven down Second street, past the executive mansion, which then was on the north side of that street, immediately south of Chestnut, to where the Pennsylvania railroad crossed the street. There an engine and car, in charge of John Pitcairn, were waiting. Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Lamon boarded the car and the train started. On the train were Enoch Lewis, G. C. Francis- cus, T. E. Garrett, general baggage agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and John Pitcairn, then a youth of twenty, on whom rested for the time being the heaviest responsibility. A clear track had been ar- ranged for, and shortly after ten o'clock the train arrived at West Philadelphia, where it was met by Allan Pinkerton and H. F. Kenney. Mr. Lincoln's party of four was driven to the Philadelphia, Wil- mington & Baltimore station, and the re- mainder of the journey was made without mishap. The "Great Emancipator" reached
Washington about six o'clock the next morning, and one of those who had insured hiis safe arrival was the young train de- spatcher, John Pitcairn.
When the Confederates invaded Pennsyl- vania, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, then As- sistant Secretary of War, sent Robert and John Pitcairn to Chambersburg to take charge of the train service, which at that time had been taken over by the govern- ment. After the battle of Antietam, John returned to Philadelphia. His appointment to this second signal act of loyal service proved the high estimation in which he was held by his superiors,-additionally proved it, we should say, as nothing could exceed the confidence shown by his appointment of two years before.
After the close of the Civil War, Mr. Pit- cairn went to Harrisburg, as assistant super- intendent of the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania railroad, and a year later he was transferred to Renovo, as superintend- ent of the Middle Division of the Philadel- phia & Erie railroad. On July 1, 1869, he went to Corey, as general manager of the Oil Creek & Allegheny River railroad, re- maining until September 15, 1872, when he resigned, after an eventful and honorable career.
While still in the railroad service, Mr. Pitcairn had given evidence of the versatil- ity of his talents by successfully engaging in business. In 1871 he constructed the Imperial Refinery, at Oil City, Pennsyl- vania, and he was at one time a member of the firm of Vandergrift, Forman & Com- pany, which afterward became Vandergrift, Pitcairn & Company. While associated with the firm of H. L. Taylor & Company, then the largest producers of oil in America, he engaged in the three branches of oil pro- ducing, oil refining and pipe line transpor- tation of oil. Mr. Pitcairn, with Mr. Van- dergrift, built and controlled the first nat- ural gas pipe line for the utilization of natural gas for factory and manufacturing purposes. This line was built at the lower
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end of Butler county, and carried gas to Pittsburgh, supplying the steel firms of Spang, Chalfant & Company, and Graff, Bennett & Company, with the first natural gas used in manufacturing. Both of these firms had an interest with Mr. Pitcairn and his partner in this pipe line. The Natural Gas Company, Limited, was controlled by Mr. Pitcairn and Mr. Vandergrift.
In 1882 or 1883, Mr. Pitcairn was con- sulted in regard to piping gas to a glass fact- ory to be built at Creighton, Pennsylvania, and it was he who first discerned the possi- bilities of plate glass manufacture. In as- sociation with Captain John B. Ford and his two sons, Edward and Emory L. Ford, Mr. Pitcairn organized the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, in 1883, with a capital of $600,000. The first organization was as follows: Edward Ford, president; Albert E. Hughes, vice-president ; James H. Shields, secretary ; and John F. Scott, treas- urer. The directors were: John Pitcairn, Edward Ford, Albert E. Hughes, John F. Scott and Emory L. Ford. Since 1895, Mr. Pitcairn has been chairman of the board of directors of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.
The company's first factory was built at Creighton, and not long after its comple- tion another factory was erected at Taren- tum, Pennsylvania. Five years later two factories were built at Ford City, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. Pitcairn was represented at Creighton by his cousin, Artemas Pitcairn, who had been associated with him in the United Pipe Line Company. The capital stock was increased at various times, until it reached $2,750,000. In 1895, the com- pany bought five more factories-one in Missouri, two in Indiana, and two in Penn- sylvania, and increased its capital to $10,- 000,000. The board of directors at that time was composed of John Pitcairn, chair- man ; Edward Ford, Emory L. Ford, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, A. U. Howard, A. L. Conger and George W. Crouse. In 1897, Mr. Pitcairn purchased the interests of the
Fords and was elected president of the corporation. He resigned that office in 1905, and was succeeded by W. L. Clause. The board then was as follows: John Pit- cairn, chairman; Ethan Allen Hitchcock, WV. L. Clause, Charles W. Brown, W. W. Heroy, W. D. Hartupee and Clarence M. Brown. The present board of directors consists of John Pitcairn, chairman; W. L. Clause, Charles W. Brown, W. W. Heroy, E. B. Raymond, Clarence M. Brown and Edward Pitcairn.
The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company has twenty-eight warehouses, located in various . cities of the United States. Every ware- house carries stocks of rough and polished plate glass, plain and beveled mirrors, and bent glass, also a full line of paints, varn- ishes, brushes and painters' supplies. In all of these lines the company is the largest jobber in the world. The warehouses also maintain retail stores for the sale of glass and paints, and many of the branches oper- ate plants for the manufacture of mirrors, thus offering an advantage to the furniture manufacturer. A number of the ware- houses maintain plants for the manufacture of art glass. The company employs com- petent artists for this purpose, and furnishes special designs for churches, auditoriums and residences. When its first plant was in full operation, the company employed about five hundred men; it now employs about seven thousand. The present capital- ization is $22,750,000.
The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company is not confined to the United States. About 1902 it purchased the Courcelles plate glass factory, in Belgium, made extensive addi- tions to the building and equipment, and reorganized the Courcelles Plate Glass Company. The product of this factory is sold in all parts of the world.
This colossal concern has completely rev- olutionized the method of manufacturing plate glass, and other manufacturers throughout the world have followed and profited by its example. Between 1900 and
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1904, after spending over a million dollars in experimenting, the company developed the lehr annealing process, which more than any other factor has helped to revolutionize the manufacture of plate glass, and this process since has been adopted by all other manufacturers engaged in this industry. In all its transactions the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company always has been above suspicion. The voice of criticism never has been lifted against it. The capital stock has represented real values, and the watch- word of the company has been "Success with Honor." This magnificent organiza- tion is indeed a monument to the genius of John Pitcairn.
Seldom does a man so active and suc- cessful as Mr. Pitcairn take the keen and helpful interest in civic affairs which he always has manifested. A Republican in politics, he has been too busy to take an active part in public affairs or to become a candidate for office, but he frequently is consulted in regard to matters of municipal importance and his penetrating thought often has been of benefit to public move- ments.
The interests which claim Mr. Pitcairn's attention are many and varied, and to each he gives careful consideration, allowing none to suffer for want of close and able thought and unwearied assiduity. He is president and director of the C. H. Wheeler Manufacturing Company, the Loyal Hanna Coal and Coke Company, and the Pitts- burgh Valve and Fittings Company, and a director of the Central National Bank of Philadelphia, the Columbia Chemical Com- pany, the Michigan Chemical Company, the Natural Gas Company of West Virginia and the Owosso Sugar Company. While not a club man as that term generally is understood, he holds membership in a num- ber of social organizations, including the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, the Union League and the Art Club of Philadelphia.
A profound thinker and deeply interested in religious subjects, Mr. Pitcairn is a be-
liever in the doctrines of Emmanuel Sweenborg. He is a member of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and chair- man of the corporation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem of the United States, an organization having complete jurisdiction over the civil affairs of the Church, as distinguished from matters ec- clesiastical. The Academy of the New Church, at Bryn Athyn, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, was endowed by Mr. Pitcairn, who was one of the founders of the institution and always has been identi- fied with its progress. Mr. Pitcairn is earnestly and actively interested in the work and well-being of the Swedenborgian church and, as one of its foremost laymen, has ac- complished more in its behalf than perhaps any other man in the United States.
As president of the Anti-Vaccination League of America, Mr. Pitcairn is prom- inently identified with that cause. He wrote an article on "The Fallacy of Vaccination," which appeared in "The Ladies' Home Journal" for May, 1910, and later was pub- lished in pamphlet form.
The personality of Mr. Pitcairn is that of a man fully equal to the discharge of the strenuous duties devolving upon him and to the fulfillment of the grave responsibili- ties connected with the positions he holds. Those who are familiar with his fine ap- pearance cannot have failed to observe how well it illustrates his character. The high- bred face, with sensitive, patrician features, accentuated by white hair, moustache and goatee, the keen, kindly eyes that look one straight in the face, the square jaw and firm chin, so indicative of decision,-all bespeak a nature of quiet intensity, a born leader of men. He has the indefinable. unmistakable gift of "presence," conveying the impression of a dominating magnetic personality. His manner is at once dignified and gracious, and his countenance, though resolute, indi- cates a genial disposition. In listening to the deep, flexible tones of his well mod- ulated voice, one instantly becomes aware
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Cems Historical Fus Ce
HB Chess.
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that the speaker is a man of purpose. His capacity for friendship is in proportion to his other capabilities and explains the loyalty and affection which he inspires in both associates and subordinates.
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On January 8, 1884, Mr. Pitcairn mar- ried Gertrude Starkey, a daughter of Dr. George R. and Caira (Skelton) Starkey. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pit- cairn, two died in infancy, and a daughter, Vera, died in 1910. The surviving children are: Raymond, a lawyer of Philadelphia ; Theodore, a student at the University of Pennsylvania ; and Harold F., a pupil at the Academy of the New Church. Mrs. Pitcairn, who died in 1898, was a woman of fine fibre and delicate culture, full of grace and self-possession, to which was added the charm of domesticity. She was in all re- spects fitted to be the helpmate of her gifted husband.
Combined with a social temperament, Mr. Pitcairn possesses domestic affections of un- common strength, and always after an ab- sence rejoices to find himself once more at home. He has traveled extensively and has a wide acquaintance among the promi- nent men of the last half century.
Mr. Pitcairn is a native of a land whose sons have been leaders in the creation of the greatness of Pittsburgh and the develop- ment of Western Pennsylvania, and among them he occupies a foremost place. By the exercise of the qualities which made his race dominant in the Old World, he has carved out his fortune in the New, which he has made his debtor. As railroad official, manufacturer and man of affairs, his record is that of a patriot and a public-spirited cit- izen, and the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania holds his name in gratitude and honor.
CHESS, Harvey B., Prominent Manufacturer.
Masterful and impressive figures were the oldtime manufacturers of the Iron City. Practical thinkers were they, winning their
supremacy by superior brain-power-men of the type of the late Harvey B. Chess, vice-president of the Consolidated Ex- panded Metal Company, and at the time of his death the oldest manufacturer of nails and tacks in Western Pennsylvania. Mr. Chess was a life-long resident of Pitts- burgh, and was closely identified with every movement and interest essential to the wel- fare of his native city. Harvey B. Chess was born July 10th, 1843, in the South Side, Pittsburgh, and was a son of David and Dorothea (McGeary) Chess, the former, in his day, a well known nail and tack maker. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, Harvey B. Chess was a student at the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh, but, like so many patriotic youths of that heroic gen- eration, he abandoned the class-room for the camp and relinquished his books in order that he might do his part on the battlefield. Enlisting in Young's Battery, he served until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge.
On his return to his native city, Mr. Chess became associated in business with his father, and speedily developed rare if not distinctive executive ability, becoming noted for his aptitude in grappling with details and for his accurate and keen perception and judgment. Upon the death of his father, in 1877, Mr. Chess became a partner in the business with his brothers, Henry and Walter Chess. In addition to the qualifica- tions of a successful business man, Harvey B. Chess possessed inventive genius, devot- ing more than forty years to the study and designing of special machinery for his own lines of manufacture, thus becoming a machine designer and engineer of national reputation. It was mainly owing to his exceptional abilities that the scope of the business so greatly enlarged that the con- cern became in the course of time the Con- solidated Expanded Metal Company, with its plant in Braddock. Until his retirement in 1907, Mr. Chess filled most ably the
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office of vice-president of this widely known and prosperous organization.
Throughout the business career of this gifted man, capable management, unfalter- ing enterprise and a spirit of justice were well balanced factors, and while every de- partment was carefully systematized in order to avoid all needless expenditure of time, material and labor, never did he fall into the grave error of regarding his em- ployes merely as parts of a great machine. On the contrary he recognized their in- dividuality, making it a rule that faithful and efficient service should be promptly re- warded with promotion as opportunity of- fered.
In all concerns relative to the welfare of Pittsburgh Mr. Chess constantly manifested a deep and sincere interest, and wherever substantial aid would further public pro- gress it was freely given. No good work done in the name of charity or religion appealed to him in vain, and in his work of this character he brought to bear the same discrimination and thoroughness that were manifest in his business life. A vigi- lant and attentive observer of men and measures, holding sound opinions and tak- ing liberal views, his ideas carried weight among those with whom he discussed public problems. He was an honorary member of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsyl- vania, and an active member of the Third Presbyterian Church in the work of which he took a keen and generous interest.
No one could meet Mr. Chess without having the highest appreciation for his sterl- ing qualities of manhood or without being attracted by his genial nature which rec- ognized most heartily the good in others. His countenance was an index to his char- acter, showing him to be pre-eminently a man to lean upon-a man upon whom men leaned. Rugged honesty and rock-ribbed integrity were structural qualities which constituted the cornerstone of the fabric of his fortune. Self-reliant, buoyant in dis-
position, strictly upright in all his transac- tions, he compelled the unquestioning con- fidence of men of affairs and won and held the devoted attachment of a large circle of friends.
Mr. Chess married, April 27th, 1882, Annie, daughter of James and Carolina (Stowe) Boles. They had two sons, Har- vey B. and Phillip Sheridan Chess. Mr. Harvey B. Chess (2d) is president and treasurer of the Consolidated Expanded Metal Companies ; he married December 27, 1907, Blanche E., daughter of William E. and Mary (Spencer) Leard, of New Brigh- ton, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Leard was of Birmingham, England. They have one child, Harvey B. Chess (3d). Phillip Sheri- dan Chess is associated with his brother in business.
Mrs. Chess, a woman of rare wifely qual- ities and admirably fitted by her excellent practical mind to be a helpmate to her hus- band in his aspirations and ambitions, was withal an accomplished home-maker, ever causing him to find, at his own fireside, a refuge from the storm and stress of the business arena. Mr. Chess was devoted to the ties of family and friendship, regarding them as sacred obligations, and his beauti- ful home in the East End was a centre of gracious and refined hospitality.
The death of Mr. Chess, which occurred August 10, 1913, removed from Pittsburgh a manufacturer of the highest qualities, and a citizen who throughout a long and useful life had labored unceasingly for the ad- vancement of her best interests. A man of valiant fidelity, he fulfilled to the letter every trust committed to him and was generous in his feelings and conduct toward all.
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