USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 19
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Louis Rott was of the finest type of Ger- man-American citizen, true to his native land and loyal to his adopted country. Homestead remembers him with gratitude, and his name will live in the annals of Penn- sylvania as that of one of the representative men of the grand old Commonwealth.
EDMONDS, Walter G., Real Estate and Insurance.
In a growing community, the field which is often most alluring to business, is real estate investment, and it is in this channel that the efforts of Walter G. Edmonds have been directed, and, happily, with no small success.
He was born in Bellaire, Ohio, May 1, 1882, son of Charles N. and Laura May (Alflick) Edmonds. His education was ob- tained in the public schools of Bellaire and Fostoria, and he was graduated from the high school of Muncie, Indiana, in 1899. His father's business was glass manufactur- ing, the pursuit of which took him to Muncie, Indiana, and later tu Washington, Pennsylvania. Here both father and son were connected with the Perfection Glass Company, the former as sketch holder and superintendent, the latter as designer.
Abandoning the glass business, Mr. Ed- monds was employed by the A. B. Caldwell Company Department Store for three years. At the end of that time, in 1907, he estab- lished a real estate and insurance office, conducting all branches of each, including buying, selling and renting real estate both in and outside of Washington, and the writ- ing of all kinds of insurance policies-life, fire and accident. His business has grown rapidly and is conducted with the best class of people. His private interests are as owner of Washington county and Ohio coal lands and Washington real estate, and as treasurer of the Washington Drug Com- pany. He is an energetic young business man.
He is a Republican in politics, well in- formed on all political questions, but never an office seeker or holder. He and his wife are members of the Second United Presby- terian Church, and are both active in church and Sunday school work.
He married, July 6, 1905, Anna E. Dougherty, daughter of Dr. George Alex-
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ander and Rebecca M. (Colkey) Dougherty. Dr. George Dougherty was a native of Ire- land, and emigrated to America in 1840 with luis parents, crossing the sea again in 1859 to obtain his medical education in Glasgow, Scotland. He was a prominent physician of Washington county for many years. His widow still survives him. Children of Wal- ter G. Edmonds: Clarence George Dough- erty, Margaret Rebecca, Walter Roy, Ray- mond Charles, Harold Franklin, and Doro- thy Mae.
LYNE, Wickliffe Campbell, Prominent Life Underwriter.
Wickliffe Campbell Lyne, Pittsburgh manager of the Union Central and senior ex-president of the Pittsburgh Life Under- writers' Association, is a Virginian by birth, a Pennsylvanian by residence and business interests for more than forty years.
He belongs to one of the oldest and best families of Virginia, represented with dis- tinction by Colonial and Revolutionary of- ficers and by members of the House of Vir- ginia Burgesses, Congress and President's Cabinet. The family came originally from Bristol, England-the resident town of Wil- liam Penn-and brought with them the family's coat-of-arms, honored by the character and achievement of ancient Scotch and English ancestry.
William Lyne, his great-grandfather, was an ardent patriot of the American Revolu- tion, serving on the Committee of Safety, 1775, and colonel of minute-men, 1776, and before and during the Revolution as a prominent member of the House of Bur- gesses, George Washington, Thomas Jef- ferson, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph and Edmund Pendleton being actively asso- ciated with him as fellow members. Prom- inent also in family connection were Colonel George Baylor, of Washington's staff ; Gen- eral Thomas Dunbar (descendant of Earl of Dunbar), of the French and Indian War, the commander-in-chief of the British
forces in North America after Braddock's defeat; Sir Richard Waller, "the Hero of Agincourt," whose capture of the French Prince of Orleans added the ducal crest to his arms, is in the direct line of descent on Mr. Lyne's mother's side-Mary Dunbar Edwards. The congressional tariff leader, William Lyne Wilson, author of the "Wil- son Bill" and Postmaster General in Cleve- land's Cabinet, was nephew of Dr. Robert Baylor Lyne, father of Wickliffe C. Lyne.
W. C. Lyne, after graduating in 1870 with honor in classics and sciences at Bethany College, West Virginia, engaged in educational work for fifteen years, serving with marked efficiency and success as principal of the Classical Academy at Bur- gettstown, Pennsylvania; Normal School, Claysville, Pennsylvania; principal of the Washington, Pennsylvania, high school, and for five years as principal of Park School in Pittsburgh; and lecturer for several years on literature and history in a normal college. His reputation for scholarly work brought him the offer of the chair of Latin and Greek at Bethany College, the chair of belles letters from another honored insti- tution of learning, the presidency of a nor- mal college in Ohio, and of a State normal college in Pennsylvania. Declining these, he accepted the position of manager for Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia of National Life of Vermont, in which field his executive ability, unswerving integrity and business initiative made him con- spicuously successful. He was recognized by the Governor of the State as one of the foremost underwriters of Pennsylvania. His services were sought by other larger corporations, and he accepted the general management in Pittsburgh and adjoining territory of the Union Central-the largest financial institution in Ohio, and one of the leading great life insurance companies. He was one of the organizers of the Pittsburgh Life Underwriters, served twice as chair- man of the executive committee and once as president. His writings and discussions of
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life insurance attracted wide attention and were favorably noticed by the European press ; and his addresses before Alumni Col- lege Associations and State conventions were scholarly and forcible. He was one of the three Pennsylvania underwriters appointed to secure anti-rebate legislation at Harris- burg, and the successful passage of this bill was followed by similar statutes in over forty States.
Mr. Lyne has been identified with civic and public interests, serving on the director- ate of a national bank, trust company, and insurance company, and as trustee of the Pittsburgh Art Society, the Mozart Musical Society, board of directors of Bethany Col- lege, Sons of American Revolution, and as a member of the Academy of Science and Art, Historical Society, the American Academy of Political and Social Science of Philadelphia. He is a member of the Pitts- burgh Chamber of Commerce and the Duquesne Club.
Mr. Lyne's children are: Wickliffe Bull, of Princeton, 1901; Robert Addison, Sarah Harman and Virginia Brown. His wife, Mary Winters, deceased, was a Colonial Dame by direct descent of Gover- nors Henry Bull, William Hutchison and John Coggeshall, Colonial executives of Rhode Island and founders of Portsmouth and Newport.
BOOTH, James J., Large Contractor, Financier.
Few men in Pittsburgh are better known and none are more highly respected than is James J. Booth, for many years head of the famous contracting firm of Booth & Flinn, but now withdrawn from the arena of business. Mr. Booth has been for more than half a century a resident of the Iron City and is officially connected with a num- ber of her leading financial institutions, be- ing also closely associated with her political, fraternal and social life.
James J. Booth was born June 13, 1836,
in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, son of Jonathan and Ellen (Hines) Booth, both of whom were bred in that neighborhood. In early life he was placed at work in a cotton mill, but ambition was a marked feature in his character and he was not satisfied to face a future circumscribed by the walls of a factory. Being denied his wish to learn the bricklayer's trade, he ran away from home in 1854 and came to the United States, settling in Pittsburgh, where he found employment on the river, but soon secured an opportunity to gratify his long- cherished desire. After learning the trade and for a time working both independently and as a journeyman, he began in 1869 to take contracts for street construction and buildings. In 1878 the firm of Booth & Flinn was established, and five years later began to manufacture brick. The work of the firm was for some years limited chiefly to street paving and they constructed many of the finest streets in Pittsburgh, including Winebiddle, Linden and Simon avenues and McPherson and Barton streets. They also paved Penn, Liberty and Second avenues with Belgian blocks. Gradually enlarging the original scope of their undertakings, they built in 1888 the Citizens' Traction rail- way and the following year the Central, soon becoming the leading contractors of Pittsburgh. At the present day this great concern builds railways and bores tunnels through mountains as easily as in earlier days it paved an ordinary street. This phe- nomenal success is mainly due to the sys- tematic management, resolute courage and great tenacity of purpose of Mr. Booth. Fertile in resources and alert to seize op- portunity, of kindly disposition and invari- ably just, he endeared himself to his asso- ciates and subordinates, winning their most loyal co-operation.
Mr. Booth has retired from the firm in order to devote more time to his extensive private interests. He is a director of the Commercial National Bank, the Common- wealth Trust Company and the Oakland
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Savings and Trust Company, holding the office of vice-president in the last-named in- stitution. He is also a director in the National Fire-Proofing Company. Al- though no longer engaged in business he is the custodian of numerous interests none of which he allows to suffer for lack of close and able attention and industry.
Seldom, indeed, is it that a man as suc- cessful in business as is Mr. Booth takes the keen and helpful interest in civic affairs which he has ever manifested. Affiliating with the Republicans and always fully posted on the subject of politics, he is fre- quently consulted in regard to matters of municipal importance. As the owner of considerable real estate he has done much for the development of certain sections of the city, possessing as he does clear and sound judgment in regard to the dormant possibilities of landed property. No good work done in the name of charity or religion seeks his co-operation in vain and his bene- factions are bestowed with rare discrimina- tion and thoroughness. He is president and director of St. Francis' Hospital, contribut- ing liberally to the aid and support of other benevolent institutions. He belongs to the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania and is a past master in the Masonic fra- ternity, also affiliating with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights Templar. He is a member of Trinity Prot- estant Episcopal Church, aiding generously in its work and support.
The career of Mr. Booth demonstrates the possibilities for successful accomplish- ment in the business world-possibilities that exist only for the man able to avail himself of them, and this Mr. Booth has abundantly proved himself to be. Through energy, perseverance and honorable dealing he has acquired not only a handsome com- petence but the respect of the entire com- munity and a position of merited prom- inence. His skill as an organizer and his in- sight into character which enabled him to put the right man in the right place were
important factors in his prosperity. His face is that of the ideal self-made man, the man whose sources of success are in his own nature and not in outward circumstances. It is the face of one who has prospered not only by reason of strong will and ex- ceptional ability, but by sterling integrity, a genial, kindly disposition and an unaffected liking for his fellow beings,-the face of a man who has smiled on the world and the world has smiled on him.
Mr. Booth married, March 4, 1861, Pris- cilla Jane, daughter of Samuel and Drucilla Turbot, of Irish extraction, and they are the parents of the following children : Ellen, widow of Harry E. Bray; Ulrich Dahlgren ; Carrie; Ethel May; and Blanche Olive.
A man of domestic tastes, Mr. Booth has always been devoted to his home and family and it has ever been one of his greatest pleasures to gather his friends about him at his own fireside. He is one of the few now living who can remember the Pittsburgh of "sixty years since." Through a period of three score years he has watched the marvel- ous growth of the now world-famed city and nobly has he contributed to its promo- tion. May the Pittsburgh of the future be able to boast of many citizens of the type of James J. Booth !
MEILY, John Jr.,
Iron Manufacturer.
The lineal descent of John Meily (de- ceased) is from John Meily, born in 1776, died 1844, and his wife, who was a daugh- ter of Martin Oberholzer, born 1733, died 1815. These are two ancient and well known Lebanon county families, and John Meily, for many years one of the leading manufacturers of Lebanon, was well known and highly esteemed in commercial and private circles over the State of Pennsyl- vania. He was a grandson of John Meily and son of Martin Meily, a well known character in Lebanon county history.
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Martin Meily was born. in 1801, and furnished a striking example of the self- made, self-reliant man, who rose in life by sheer power of will and energy. Reared upon the farm, he had none of the advant- ages of early education, but soon realized that this was too serious a handicap to carry through life. He learned the potter's trade, and also began a course of home study and reading that in a few years placed him intellectually far above his as- sociates and prominently before the pub- lic. His fitness was recognized, and after reaching man's estate he was elected justice of the peace, re-elected, serving in all ten years, and for three years was a commis- sioned notary public. Being quick to see and avail himself of an opportunity for ad- vancement, he seized such time as could be spared from his public duties and devoted himself to the study of law, particularly the law of real estate, affecting titles to prop- erty. He became an expert authority on this subject and was elected surveyor of Lebanon county. So highly was he re- garded in this office that he was several times re-elected. His home was in Bethel township (now Lebanon), then Dauphin county, but prior to the birth of his son John, he moved to Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county. Martin Meily married, in 1823, Magdalene Groh, born in 1798, daughter of John Groh, of Bethel township. Children: Benjamin ; John (2), and Jacob.
John Meily, son of Martin and Magda- lene (Groh) Meily, was born at Mechanics- burg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. and died April 3, 1902. He was educated in the public schools and began business life as clerk in a Mechanics- burg store. Later he returned to the old home in Lebanon county, where he estab- lished a transportation business, both freight and passenger on the old Union Canal, with offices at Jonestown and Mid- dletown, Pennsylvania. Later he was con- nected with a mercantile house in Philadel- phia and resided in that city. About 1860
he engaged in the iron business, with which he was familiar, in partnership with his cousin, Henry Meily, at Middletown. In 1867, in association with Richard Meily and Lyman Nutting (now deceased), he built the Lebanon Valley Furnace, which in partnership with Richard Meily, he con- tinued to operate until his death. This became one of the leading industries of Le- banon and its success was largely due to his thorough knowledge of every detail of the business, his wise executive ability, tact and high sense of honor, which guar- anteed absolutely fair treatment to cus- tomers and employee alike. In addition to his iron interests he was president of the Lebanon County Insurance Company. He became well known throughout the State as an iron manufacturer and a public spirited influential citizen. In early life a Whig, he transferred his allegiance to the Re- publican party and was closely identified with its interests in Lebanon county, although never desiring office for himself.
Notwithstanding his preference for pri- vate life, he was once induced, while living at Jonestown, to accept a nomination on the Whig ticket for the State Legislature. Although elected by a large majority, he ever afterward declined all offers of public office. He used his personal popularity solely for the advancement of his political friends, and through them serving the coun- ty's best interests. For many years he was a member of St. John's Reformed Church, of Lebanon, a consistent Christian, and prominently identified with that congrega- tion until his death. Few men enjoyed in higher degree, than John Meily, the respect and esteem of their fellowmen and his death was most sincerely mourned.
He married (first) Helen Halter of Washington, D. C., who was connected with leading Lebanon families. She died Feb- ruary 25, 1873. He married (second) Katherine De Huff, member of the old Le- banon family of that name, so well known in this portion of the state. Children of
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John and Helen (Halter) Meily: James, of Philadelphia, deceased; John, of Le- banon; Mary, of Lebanon ; Helen, wife of Edward M. Taylor, of Wilmington, Dela- ware.
WALLACE, John Clarke, Manufacturer, Financier.
To her citizens of Irish birth, Pittsburgh owes an incalculable debt of gratitude, in- asmuch as her world-fame as the industrial centre of civilization is largely the result of the versatile genius and indefatigable in- dustry of these representatives of an ag- gressive and indomitable race. In the front rank of those Irish-born citizens who, dur- ing the closing decades of the nineteenth century, helped to make Pittsburgh great, was the late John C. Wallace, for many years president of the Wallace & Banfield Company, and for a quarter of a century known as one of the iron and steel magnates of his adopted city. It was, however, not alone with the manufacturing interests of Pittsburgh that Mr. Wallace was identified. In all the essential elements of the life of his community he exerted a strong and benefi- cent influence.
John Clarke Wallace was born July 21, 1844, in Londonderry, Ireland, and was a son of John and Jane (Wallace) Wallace. The boy was educated in his native country, and at the age of seventeen emigrated to the United States. His brother Thomas, now of New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, and a sister who became the wife of John C. Kirkpatrick, of Pittsburgh, also came to seek their fortunes in the New World, another brother and sister, Moses and Sarah, remaining in Ireland.
For two years after his arrival in this country Mr. Wallace was engaged in the dry goods business, and in 1865 he opened a large shoe store at Liberty avenue and Market street. The remarkable success of the venture demonstrated both his innate ability and the extent to which he had prof-
ited by his brief experience. In 1878, in association with the late John C. Kirk- patrick, he engaged in the iron business, and the partners established a mill at Leech- burg where they manufactured steel and iron by a process of their own. In 1882 Mr. Wallace, as president of the Wallace & Banfield Company, erected a tin plant at Irondale, Ohio, in which he retained his in- terest until it was absorbed in 1900 by the United States Steel Corporation. He showed marked ability in the execution of every detail of the important business with which he was connected, being not only a strong and capable officer, true to every trust, but a man who by his splendid per- sonal qualities endeared himself to his brother officers and to all who came into close relations with him. His conduct to- ward his employes was marked by the ut- most justice and kindliness and in return he received from them such loyal service and enthusiastic attachment as are rarely accorded by subordinates to a man in his position.
In all concerns relative to the city's wel- fare Mr. Wallace's interest was deep and sincere, and wherever substantial aid would further public progress it was freely given. Politically he was a Republican, and as a vigilant 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 pub- lic problems. He was interested in many charitable and benevolent enterprises and was liberal in his gifts along the lines of religious and philanthropic effort. Posses- sing a remarkable faculty of discerning the dormant possibilities of real estate, he was the owner of much landed property and built the Wallace Block in Wilkinsburg. For nine years he was a director in the National Bank of Western Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Third Presby- terian Church, with the work of which he was prominently identified. Among the leading characteristics of Mr. Wallace were
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indomitable perseverance, boldness of operation, unusual capacity for judging the motives and merits of men, unimpeachable integrity and unfailing loyalty to friends. These traits were stamped upon his resolute countenance and revealed in the searching glance of his clear eye. Genial and court- eous on all occasions, he possessed a most attractive personality, and this, in combina- tion with his sterling qualities of manhood, gained for him public confidence and esteem and the warm affection of a host of friends.
Mr. Wallace married, in Leechburg, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1878, Anna M., daughter of William W. and Hannah (Everson) Foale, and they became the parents of two children: Lillian Wallace, who is of charming personality and ex- tremely popular in Pittsburgh society, and John Foale, who died February 8, 1904. Mrs. Wallace, a woman of rare wifely qualities and admirably fitted by her excellent practical mind to be a helpmate to her husband in his aspirations and am- bitions, is prominent in the social and charitable circles of the city, continuing in her widowhood the benevolent labors in which she and her husband were so long united. Mr. Wallace was a man of strong domestic affections and the happiest hours of his busy life were those passed at his own fireside. The city residence of the family was a centre of hospitality as was their beautiful summer home at Somerset, Pennsylvania.
The death of Mr. Wallace, which oc- curred December 23, 1906, deprived Pitts- burgh of one of her foremost citizens and most respected, able and high-minded busi- ness men, one whose every action was governed by the loftiest principles, who fulfilled to the letter every trust committed to him and was generous in his feelings and conduct toward all. John Clarke Wallace was a leader in the development of a colos- sal industry, a citizen earnest, upright and progressive, and a man irreproachable in every relation of life. Could there be a higher eulogy?
MILLER, Robert H.,
Physician.
While the general trend of migration in all ages of the world has been constantly westward, and the whole history of the United States, whether general or local or biographical, shows that this tendency has strongly operated in this country and pro- foundly affected the course of its affairs, exceptions are noted from time to time in the persons of individuals who have come from the more vigorous west to the older and more settled communities of the east, finding their best opportunity in a reversal of the general drift. Among these is Dr. Robert Horace Miller, the osteopathist, of Washington, Pennsylvania, who is a native of College Springs, Iowa. He was brought up in the west, received his whole technical education in the west, entered first into busi- ness in the west, and his parents are both still living in Iowa; yet his professional career has been wholly spent in the State to which his parents belong by birth, and to which he has in a later generation returned.
John H. and Elizabeth Taylor (Elgin) Miller were both born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, but had never met until they were settled in the trans-Mississippi region. Before removing to Iowa, John H. Miller had served in the Civil War. He enlisted three times, and his total service amounted to more than three years, in the 135th, 206th and 200th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiments. Entering as a private, he was mustered out as a second lieutenant. In 1866 he removed to Iowa and settled near College Springs. About the same time the Elgin family removed and lived in the same neighborhood. Here Mr. and Mrs. Miller met and were married, and in Iowa their son was born, April 23, 1869. His father is still a farmer in Iowa.
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