USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 30
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the 125th Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry, and major of the 13th Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry; the latter as lieutenant in the 6th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, and as aide on the staff of his brother, General Gregg. In February, 1874, President Grant appointed General Gregg United States Consul at Prague, Bohemia, which position he resigned the following August and re- turned to Reading, which has since been liis home. In 1891 he was the nominee of the Republican party for auditor-general, was elected, and served in that office three years, leaving a record of splendidly efficient service.
General Gregg is president of the board of directors of the Charles Evans Ceme- tery Company, of Reading, and a member of the board of trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum at Harrisburg. He holds the friendship and regard of his brethren in arms as priceless, and from 1886 until 1904 was commander of the Pennsylvania Com- mandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, a society composed only of officers of the Union army, 1861-65, and their lineal successors. In 1904 he was elected com- mander-in-chief of the order, a very high honor. Pennsylvania Military College con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D., an honor appreciated, but a title he does not use.
General Gregg married, October 6, 1862, Ellen F. Sheaff, a great-granddaughter of Governor Joseph Hiester. He has two sons, George Sheaff and David McMurtrie.
This review of the life of General Gregg necessarily omits many interesting events of his life, but enough is shown to justify the encomiums one hears on every side. He has fully paid the debt he owed the govern- ment for his West Point education, by ten years of devoted military service on the frontier, and on the great battlefields of the Civil War, and when the historian of the future writes the real history of Gettysburg, the work of the cavalry division commanded
by General Gregg will be proven to have been heavy contributors to the Federal suc- cess.
Modest and unassuming, no word of his ever indicates that he accomplished aught but his duty, and perhaps among all the sur- vivors of the Civil War is there none who claims less merit for himself. He is Read- ing's "Grand Old Man," and secure in the love and affection of his townspeople he passes a serene life, and reviews in his thoughts the stirring scenes through which he passed and the many great men he has known in civil and military life, with a satis- faction that outweighs all earthly honors.
RODGERS, William Berlean,
Prominent Business Man.
The sand industry has been part of Pitts- burgh as far back as the oldest inhabitant can remember, and it is one which has in- deed grown mightily. This is shown by the immense progress in the means of trans- portation. Nowadays, giant scoops lift three yards of sand at one time out of a barge and drop it in repositories on shore, beneath which stand wagons or cars ready to be loaded and deliver the cargo. Sand is entering into commercial use more than ever before, and the necessity everywhere felt for products into which sand enters has caused the demand to assume proportions of constantly increasing magnitude. The men who most completely have met this de- mand and have thus been conspicuous in bringing about a high state of development of the sand industry are William Berlean Rodgers and his sons. The subject of this sketch is president of the famous Rodgers Sand Company, and is officially connected with a number of the leading financial insti- tutions of the Iron City.
William Berlean Rodgers was born Feb- ruary 27, 1851, at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Joseph and Charlotte (Craw- ford) Rodgers. In the fall of 1850 his parents left Cooperstown, Venango county,
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Pennsylvania, in a flatboat, seeking a home in the west, and having no particular desti- nation in view except the idealistic home that might be found and procured within the means of a young married couple start- ing in life. The boat became frozen in at Franklin, Pennsylvania, where French creek empties into the Allegheny river, and his father, a blacksmith by trade, secured employment, and the family remained here several months, and it was at this place that William B. Rodgers was born, while the boat was lying in the lock. Later on they drifted down the river until they came to Clarington, Monroe county, Ohio, this being the county in which his mother was born, and she, having become tired of their boat life, seriously objected to going any further, so a landing was made, and it was in this town that William B. Rodgers' father spent the remainder of his life. Since his death, in 1885, his wife has resided in Pitts- burgh, and is now nearing her eighty-seventh birthday.
William B. Rodgers received a common school education, and at an early age began life on the river in the humble capacity of cabin boy. His was, however, a nature in which enterprise was inherent, and it was not long before he ceased to be a river hand, having served successively as engineer, pilot and captain, and while filling the last named position he became so well known that his title has always clung to him, and he is gen- erally known to this day as "Captain" Rodgers.
He then associated himself with the coal business, and as a coal operator he was preëminently successful. His success was such that in 1881 he felt justified in build- ing boats for himself, and accordingly con- structed and owned the "Tide," "Time," "Little Bill," "Cyclone," "Iron Age," "Iron- sides," "Tilly," "Governor Francis T. Nichols" and "Troubadour." In 1899 his extensive coal interests were merged in the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company. During this portion of his
career Captain Rodgers proved himself to be a man of strong will, inflexible purpose and sound judgment, who is recognized the world over as the truest type of Pitts- burgher.
His enterprise next took the form of associating himself with the sand industry, and in doing this he achieved signal triumph. In 1900 the Rodgers Sand Company was organized with Captain Rodgers as presi- dent and his two eldest sons leading in the management, the other boys employed in the production, sales and deliveries. This company is the largest concern of its kind in Greater Pittsburgh, carrying on a very extensive general business as dealers and shippers of all kinds of sand and gravel for contractors, builders and others, and deals largely in builders' supplies ; also doing ex- tensive dredging, employing many men, teams, boats and machinery, and introducing on a large scale modern and systematic methods in the handling of sand and gravel. In addition to its steamers and dredges the company owns landings, floats and yards for the proper handling of material. The steamers and dredges are the "Margaret," "Charlotte," "Rebecca," "Harriet," "Alice," "Flora," "Twilight," "John Mackey" and "Bettie." As head of this immense concern Captain Rodgers has given abundant proof that he possesses the power of handling large bodies of men and of coordinating their energies with skill and efficiency. In doing so he wins, by his strict justice and unvarying kindliness, their loyal devotion to his interests, and this has been no incon- siderable factor in his phenomenal success.
A man of action rather than words Cap- tain Rodgers demonstrates his public spirit by actual achievements that advance the prosperity and wealth of the community and by his acceptance of trusts which bear testimony to the confidence reposed in him. In addition to the presidency and director- ship of the Rodgers Sand Company he holds the same offices in the Allegheny Trust Company, having been one of its organizers
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and its first president, to which position he was recently reelected for the fourteenth time. He is also a director in the Bellevue Realty Savings and Trust Company, which he helped to organize, and was a director in the Mechanics' National Bank, having been connected with the last named institution for many years. He is president of the Coal Exchange, and now holds the position of chairman of the rivers and harbors com- mittee of the Chamber of Commerce, in which he is a director and has always been a moving spirit. He is also a member of Harbor No. 25, Masters and Pilots. Cap- tain Rodgers helped organize the National Rivers and Harbors Congress of the United States and is one of its directors. He also helped organize the Ohio Valley Improve- ment Association and is a director in same. His energies have been largely directed in these lines for the past forty years. To whatever he undertakes he gives his whole soul, allowing none of the many interests intrusted to his care to suffer for want of close and able attention and industry.
As a citizen with exalted ideas of good government and civic virtue Captain Rodgers stands in the front rank. In poli- tics he is a Democrat and is actively asso- ciated with the affairs of the organization. Ever ready to respond to any deserving call made upon him the full number of his benefactions will, in all probability, never be known to the world, for his charity is of the kind that shuns publicity. For nine years he served as member of the Bellevue Borough Council and was president several terms, the only office he could ever be per- suaded to accept. He belongs to the Engi- neers' Society, the Duquesne Club and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association.
Of broad and liberal views, sterling in- tegrity and large nature Captain Rodgers is a conspicuous representative of a class of citizens which is doing much to advance the real interests of Pittsburgh. One of his salient characteristics is the ability to recog- nize opportunity and take advantage of it,
and to this is to be traced no small measure of the success which has uniformly attended all his enterprises. Of pleasing address and genial disposition he wins friends easily and holds them long. His countenance and bear- ing are eminently characteristic. He looks what he is-a true and kindly gentleman and a courageous man.
Captain Rodgers married, January 7, 1873, Alice Ophelia, daughter of John W. and Sarah M. Jackson, and they have had seven children: Herman; Norwood, de- ceased; Isla, wife of Dr. John B. Donald- son, of Bellevue, Pennsylvania; Alice Ophelia, wife of Herbert Hamilton; Wil- liam Berlean Jr .; Philander Knox; Henry Clay Frick Rodgers. Mrs. Rodgers is one of those rare women who combine with perfect womanliness and domesticity an un- erring judgment, traits of the greatest value to her husband, to whom she is not only a charming companion but a trusted con- fidente. Captain Rodgers is essentially a home-lover, loving no place so well as his own fireside, where he delights to gather his friends about him. His beautiful home is presided over by one of the most gracious and tactful of hostesses and the whole family command the highest respect from all who know them.
Albeit not born within the limits of the Iron City, Captain Rodgers is a typical Pittsburgher, having spent his life since boyhood in the city or vicinity, a doer, seem- ing like radium, to possess the secret of perpetual energy which science cannot ex- plain. Moreover-and this is another mark of the true Pittsburgher-he is always too busy to talk about what he is doing. This, however, matters little. His deeds speak for him with an eloquence surpassing that of words.
GRISCOM, Clement A.,
Prominent in Ocean Transportation.
There have been comparatively few move- ments of construction or of organization in this or any other country that have not
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brought conspicuously to the fore the intel- lectual capacity, the directing genius, the powerful personality of some one man who may be publicly recognized as the pivotal point upon which rested the weight of the entire enterprise and to whom all looked for success or for failure. This has been the role of Carnegie in the development of the steel industry of this country; of Goethals in the construction of the Panama Canal; and this was the part played by Clement Acton Griscom in organizing trans- Atlantic transportation and in perfecting systems of general intercontinental com- munication between America and Europe. The recital follows of his life and a brief incursion into the spheres in which he moved.
One of the seventh generation of his family in America he is a descendant of Andrew Griscom, who in 1680 came to America from England, purchasing land across the river from Philadelphia, now the site of South Camden. He married Sarah Dole, and had one son and one daughter- Tobias and Sarah. Tobias, the son, in- herited extensive lands from his father at Newton, Gloucester county, New Jersey, now a part of the city of Camden, and there died about 1720. He married Deborah Gobitas, and was the father of five children, one of them Andrew, of whom further.
Andrew, son of Tobias and Sarah (Gobitas) Griscom, resided on lands near Tuckahoe, New Jersey, purchased many years previously by his grandfather, the founder of the American line. He married Susanna, daughter of John and Mary (Chambless) Hancock, of Salem county, New Jersey, her father of English birth, having settled in New Jersey in 1679, his descendants holders of important position in the affairs of that State. Hancock's Bridge, New Jersey, near the Hancock family homestead, was the scene of one of the most shameful incidents of the War for Independence-that of the British troops, commanded by Colonel Mawhood, shooting
down unarmed non-combatants in 1778. Andrew Griscom's second wife was Mary, his son William, of whom further, being a child of his first marriage.
William, son of Andrew and Susanna (Hancock) Griscom, was born in Salem county, New Jersey, passing his entire life in that locality. He married, in 1773, Rachel, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bacon) Denn, granddaughter of John and Elizabeth (Oakford) Denn, and great- granddaughter of James and Elizabeth (Maddox) Denn. There were six children of the marriage of William and Rachel (Denn) Griscom, one of the sons being William, of whom further.
William, son of William and Rachel (Denn) Griscom, was born in New Jersey, there residing for a time, later in life making his home with his sons, William and Samuel, near Frankford, Philadelphia, as did likewise his wife. He married Ann Stewart, of Salem, New Jersey, and was the father of six children, one of them John Denn, of whom further.
John Denn, son of William and Ann (Stewart) Griscom, was born in Salem, New Jersey, March 25, 1809, died July 23, 1890. Completing in 1838 the medical course in the University of Pennsylvania he received his M. D. from that institution and immediately assumed a position in his pro- fession. This place he constantly bettered, practicing continuously in Philadelphia, and became prominent among the leading ex- ponents of the medical profession of that city, being compelled during the latter years of his life to spend much time in European climes in order to strengthen his declining health. He married, November 6, 1839, Margaret W., born in Salem, New Jersey, November 23, 1819, died December 5, 1896, daughter of Clement and Hannah (Wood- nutt) Acton. Hannah Woodnutt was a daughter of James Mason Woodnutt by his wife Margaret, daughter of Preston and Hannah (Smith) Carpenter, a descendant of Governor Thomas Lloyd and of Samuel
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Carpenter and Samuel Preston, provincial councillors of Pennsylvania. Margaret Acton was a descendant in the fifth genera- tion from Benjamin Acton, first recorder of the town of Salem, New Jersey, one of the passengers of the "Kent," which landed in 1677, a member of the Society of Friends of high standing. Dr. John Denn and Mar- garet W. (Acton) Griscom were the parents of : Clement Acton, of whom further ; Han- nah Woodnutt, married Frank Lesley Neall, of Philadelphia, who succeeded his brother- in-law, Clement A. Griscom, as head of the mercantile house of Peter Wright & Sons ; William Woodnutt, born July 6, 1851, died September 24, 1897, a scientist and electrical engineer of prominence, president of the Electro-Dynamic Company of Philadelphia, married Dora Ingham, daughter of Rev. George Hale, D. D.
Clement Acton, eldest son of Dr. John Denn and Margaret Woodnutt (Acton) Griscom, was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, March 15, 1841, died November 10, 1912. Beginning his studies in the public grammar schools of his native city he continued them in the Central High School, finishing his education in the Friends' Academy. He took his place among wage-earners when sixteen years of age, obtaining a position as clerk in the long established shipping house of Peter Wright & Sons. Commissions of increasingly great importance were entrusted to him, and his devoted service led to his being admitted as a member of the firm at the youthful age of twenty-two years. Although but six years had elapsed since his entry into the service of the firm of which he was now a member they had been well and profitably spent by him in familiarizing himself beyond con- fusion with all of the firm's interests and connections. Consequently his advice for a policy of expansion was firmly founded on knowledge, and the gratifying increase in revenue from the purchase of sailing vessels for the company's trade, a step taken under his recommendation, showed the
value of his counsel. The dimensions of the business steadily widened, Peter Wright & Sons becoming agents of the old Amer- ican Line, a steamship line well known at that time. The organization of the Inter- national Navigation Company followed soon afterward, operating the Red Star Line of steamships, its formation the result of negotiations conducted with King Leopold of Belgium by Mr. Griscom, the American Line being absorbed by the new company. On May 13, 1871, Mr. Griscom became vice-president of the International Naviga- tion Company, succeeding to the presidency January 4, 1888. During his incumbency of the former office, in 1886, the old Inman Line became the property of the company. The "New York" and the "Paris"-the first passenger steamers using twin screws in the North Atlantic trade, at that time fine speci- mens of the ship builder's art as regarded comfort, convenience and safety-entered the company's fleet at this time, Mr. Griscom securing Congressional legislation permit- ting them to come under American registry. The next contract awarded by the Inter- national Navigation Company was given to William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, the "St. Louis" and the "St. Paul" being in every way the equal of foreign made vessels, while their building in American yards was a needed aid to that industry in this country. The "St. Louis," the "St. Paul," the "New York" and the "Philadelphia" were vessels of the Inter- national Navigation Company that were placed at the disposal of the United States Government during the war with Spain, the two last entering the naval service of the United States, rechristened as the "Har- vard" and the "Yale," respectively. In 1902 the International Navigation Company be- came the International Mercantile Marine Company, and under its enlarged scope and capital absorbed the White Star Line, the Atlantic Transport Line, the Dominion Line and the Leyland Line, Mr. Griscom being placed at the head of the newly organized
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company on October 1, 1902, resigning the presidency in February, two years later, in order to accept the chairmanship of the board of directors.
Mr. Griscom, during his busy lifetime, was not only interested in the finances of the great company of which he was so long a leading member. He required no legal advisor upon marine law and was as familiar with the rules of sea conduct as any master that ever took a vessel from harbor, in 1889 being a delegate to the International Marine Conference, in which representatives from twenty-eight nations met, their object being the revision of the "Rules of the Road at Sea." From 1893 until 1903 he filled the president's chair of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, upon his resignation in the latter year being made an honorary member of the society, and, with the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Lord Kelvin of England and DeLome of France, was given honorary membership in the British Institute of Naval Architects, both the highest honors within the bestowal of the societies. Mr. Griscom received public recognition from the Queen of Hol- land, who conferred upon him, as the man responsible for the perfect order and dis- cipline prevailing upon the ships of the International Navigation Company, the decoration signifying membership in the "Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau." The incident prompting the awarding of this decoration was the rescue of the crew and passengers of a disabled Dutch trans- Atlantic liner by the crew of the American Line steamship "St. Louis," two hundred and twelve being saved, the abandoned vessel sinking as the last boatload left her side. From the French Government Mr. Griscom received the decoration of the Legion of Honor, and until his death prized these testimonials of foreign esteem.
The foregoing narrative has shown how important his part has been in the upbuild- ing of the present ample system of trans- Atlantic transportation; how vital his
services to the International Navigation and the International Mercantile Marine Com- pany ; let the following list of his affiliations convey the correct impression of his en- grossing duties. He was a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and a member of the road committee; a director of the Bank of North America, the Fourth Street National Bank, the Fidelity Trust Company, the United Gas Improvement Company, the United States Steel Corpora- tion, the Mercantile Trust Company of New York; a trustee of the Atlantic Mutual In- surance Company, and a manager of the Western Savings Fund Society.
Social life held many charms for his genial, cordial nature, his Philadelphia asso- ciations of that nature being with the Union League, the Philadelphia, the Rittenhouse, Merion Cricket, the Rabbit, Philadelphia Country, Corinthian Yacht and the Farmers' clubs ; in New York-the Union, Metropoli- tan, City Midday and the New York Yacht clubs; in Washington-the Metropolitan ; in London, England-the Marlborough and the St. James' clubs.
Ranking with the decorations of societies and monarchs is the tribute that is made to Clement A. Griscom by the enduring quality of his work and the permanence of the re- forms that he instituted. Strongly and well did he build, great the honors that came to him living, honorable the homage paid to him dead as a man noble in mind, lofty in conception. successful in execution, lasting in influence.
He married, June 18, 1862, Frances Canby, born August II, 1840, eldest daugh- ter of William Canby and Rachel ( Miller) Biddle, a descendant of the famous patriot- scientist, Owen Biddle, a member of the English family founded by William Biddle, a Quaker who suffered persecution in Eng- land, who settled in New Jersey in 1681, the family home having been "Mount Hope," on the Delaware river. Clement Acton and Frances Canby (Biddle) Griscom had: John Acton, born March 31, 1863, died in
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1865; Helen Biddle, born October 9, 1866, married Samuel Bettle, and has issue ; Clement Acton Jr., merchant and financier, born June 20, 1868, married Genevieve, daughter of General William Ludlow, United States Army, and is the father of children ; Rodman Ellison, born October 21, 1870, banker, married Anna Starr, and has children ; Lloyd Carpenter, born November 4, 1872, retired diplomat, married Elizabeth Duer Bronson, and has children; Frances Canby, born April 19, 1879.
At Mr. Griscom's death the family home was a beautiful estate on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, named "Dolo- bran," whither they moved after residence for several years in the city of Philadelphia and a short period in Riverton, New Jersey. Mr. Griscom's pleasure in his magnificent home and unexcelled surroundings was un- bounded, his stable of finely groomed thor- oughbred horses being for him one of its greatest attractions. "Dolobran," where his widow now resides, is one of the most at- tractive estates in that region of palatial homes and fastidiously kept parks, and there the friends of Mr. and Mrs. Griscom have met with hospitality as sincere as it is charm- ing
WALTER, Robert, M. D., Founder of Walter Sanatorium.
There is no department of human en- deavor that has attracted to it such a vast army of investigators as the curing of dis- ease. These investigators are not always doctors, far from it, but in laboratory and study, in forest and dell, from one extremity of the earth to the other are earnest men seeking from plant, root or mineral to ex- tract that which gives "healing to the nations." Notwithstanding all the knowl- edge and skill possessed by man to-day he is baffled often in the treatment of disease ; hence his constant and ever increasing de- mand for more knowledge. Along with the progress of medical knowledge has grown
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