USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 29
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GRAHAM, Harry C.,
Head of Important Manufactory.
Prominent among the younger gener- ation of manufacturers who are infusing into the Pittsburgh district the element of youthful vigor and enthusiasm is Harry C. Graham, president and director of the Graham Nut Company. Mr. Graham has thoroughly identified himself with a num- ber of Pittsburgh's leading interests, entering into their promotion with the same aggressiveness which characterizes him in all that he undertakes.
Harry C. Graham was born in Pitts- burgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1874, son of Albert and Anna Belle (Colling) Graham. He received his education in the schools of Pittsburgh, and at nineteen entered the employ of Wil- liam Charles & Company, manufacturers of nuts, serving in various capacities until he became a salesman for the com- pany, with a territory that comprised the States east of the Mississippi river. This position he held for five years. During this time Mr. Graham, and his father had become heavily interested in this concern, and when it was incorporated, in 1903, as the Graham Nut Company, Harry C. Graham was made vice-president and treasurer of the new company. The plant on Neville Island was erected in 1904, and a great deal of his time has been spent in the active management of the produc- ing department of the business.
In May, 1914, Albert Graham, the father of Harry C. Graham retired from the presidency of the concern, and Harry C. Graham was elevated to the presi- dency, which office, with that of director, he holds at the present time. Mr. Graham is a director of the Coraopolis Savings & Trust Company, and interested in various other enterprises. He is a Republican in politics, but has never allowed his name to be put forward for office, preferring to concentrate his energy on his business. A man of philanthropic nature, he has been active in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, and at the present time is chairman of its board of directors, in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Pittsburgh), where he resides. A member of the Masonic order, he be- longs to Coraopolis Lodge, No. 674, Free and Accepted Masons ; Zerubabel Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Commandery No. I, Knights Templar; and Syria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the
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John C. Graham
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Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Americus, Union and Sunset Country clubs. Mr. Graham is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Graham married, September 19, 1899, Miss Jessie G., daughter of Harry W. and Amanda H. (Hill) Holmes, of Pittsburgh, and they are the parents of a son, Charles Holmes, born March 15, 1909.
Mr. Graham is the son of a man emi- nent in his line, and inherits traditions of honorable achievement and disinterested devotion. To these traditions he has been faithful, and the present gives assurance that the future holds much in store for him.
GRAHAM, Charles J., Corporation Official.
Among the aggressive young business men of Pittsburgh is Charles J. Graham. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1878, son of Albert and Anna Belle (Colling) Graham, and received his education in the schools of his native city, and at the Pittsburgh Academy. Mr. Graham's first employment was with the Tide Coal Company in 1894, then with Wil- liam Charles & Company, which later be- came the Graham Nut Company, in 1896, and in 1903 he was made secretary and director ; still later, in 1914, he became vice-president and director, which offices he holds at the present time. He is also officially connected with other con- cerns, among them being secretary, treas- urer and director of the Atlas Automatic Jack Corporation, of New York City; vice-president and director of the Davis Brake Beam Company, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania ; director of the Illinois Car & Manufacturing Company, of Chicago, Illinois ; president of the American Hard- ware Manufacturers' Association; mem- ber executive committee of the American
Supply & Machinery Manufacturers' As- sociation. He is a trustee and member of the executive committee of the Pittsburgh Homœopathic Hospital; a trustee of the Pittsburgh Newsboys Home; a director of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce ; member and director of the Pittsburgh Country Club; member and director of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association; member of the Duquesne, Pittsburgh Field, Pittsburgh Traffic, Pittsburgh Railway, Automobile and Fellows clubs, of Pittsburgh; member of the Oakmont . Country Club, Chicago Athletic Associ- ation, Missouri Athletic Association, Lambs Club of New York, and Hermit Club of Cleveland. He is a Republican in politics, and affiliates with the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Graham married, June 12, 1900, Miss Josephine Harlin, daughter of James and Annie J. (Kennedy) Gray, of Pitts- burgh, and they are the parents of chil- dren : William Kennedy, born July 31, 1902; Frances Kilbourne; Albert Hooker, born October 24, 1908; and Thomas Har- lin, born March 5, 1915.
Happily gifted in manner, disposition and taste, enterprising and original in business ideas, personally liked most by those who know him best, and as frank in declaring his principles as he is sincere in maintaining them, Charles J. Graham's career has been rounded with success and marked by the appreciation of men whose good opinion is best worth having.
GRAHAM, John C., Manufacturer.
John C. Graham, son of Albert and Annie L. (Hooker) Graham, was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (now North- side, Pittsburgh), May 14, 1890. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of Crafton, Pennsylvania, and then at- tended Kiskiminetas Springs School,
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from which he graduated in 1911. Mr. Graham then entered the employ of the Graham Nut Company, of which his father is the head, and is learning the business from the ground up. In politics he is a Republican, and is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Crafton. Mr. Graham is unmarried.
WOODS, George, Distinguished Educator.
The late George Woods, LL. D., for twenty-two years chancellor of the West- . phere favorable to mental development, ern University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh), was a man to whom might be truthfully applied the memorable words: "He has done things worthy to be written and has written things worthy to be read and by his life has contributed to the welfare of the republic." The record of Dr. Woods as an educator forms part of the scholastic annals not of Pennsylvania alone but also of New England and the Southwest, but it is with the Keystone State and the city of Pittsburgh that his name is most largely and brilliantly associated.
Joseph Woods, father of George Woods, was a representative of an American branch of a family of English origin. The progenitor of the New England clan landed in 1630 at Dorchester, Massachu- setts, and his numerous descendants have for nearly three centuries been numbered among the able, worthy and useful citi- zens instrumental in the making of our colonial, revolutionary and national his- tory. Joseph Woods was an industrious and pious carpenter, of Yarmouth, on Casco Bay, eleven miles from Portland, Maine. He was the possessor of a large library, a lover of literature and warmly interested in educational matters, being one of the first contributors to the endow- ment of the well-known North Yarmouth
Academy. He married Elizabeth Boston, who was of English extraction, a woman of great beauty and marked and inestim- able characteristics, sharing his tastes and sympathizing with his hopes and aspira- tions.
George Woods, son of Joseph and Eliz- abeth (Boston) Woods, was born January 24, 1813, at Yarmouth, the town being then under the jurisdiction of Massachu- setts by reason of the fact that Maine did not become a State until about the year 1820. The boy was reared in an atmos-
his father stimulating him to improve his literary taste by well-directed studies and reading, and his mother aiding and en- couraging him in his efforts to obtain a thorough education. The public schools of that day, with their limited advantages, were in session for but two months in the year, the majority of the pupils being occupied for the remainder of the period in farm labor. At one time, while attend- ing a private school, the lad was advised, probably by some one who discerned his unusual promise, to pursue a collegiate course, and accordingly in his seventeenth year he became a pupil at the academy near his home, meanwhile applying him- self to work in order to defray the expenses of his tuition. In 1833 he enter- ed Bowdoin College, with only twenty dollars to call his own, but by labor and teaching succeeded in paying all his expenses with the single exception of one hundred dollars, a debt with which he was encumbered at the time of his gradu- ation. A number of gentlemen whose attention had been attracted by the young man's extraordinary efforts, learning of that debt, voluntarily offered him aid, which he, with characteristic independ- ence, uniformly and courteously declined.
Having graduated among the first of the large class of 1837, Mr. Woods sought
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to turn to account the reputation he had already acquired as a teacher, and from the many positions tendered him selected one in the Gorham Seminary, at that time the most flourishing institution of its grade in the State. In 1839 he left Gor- ham, bearing high testimonials from the board, to accept the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Jackson Col- lege, at Columbia, Tennessee, under the president of which he had fitted himself for college. Seventy-five years ago a journey from Maine to Tennessee was fraught with an interest which does not now attach to it, part of the trip, in the absence of railroads, being made by canal. The entire time consumed was twenty- three days, two weeks of which were re- quired to traverse the distance between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In 1841, in consequence of the financial distress under which Jackson College was then laboring, Mr. Woods resigned his profes- sorship and spent the following year at Andover Seminary and in attendance on lectures in Boston, at the same time seek- ing to recuperate his health which had suffered from too close application to study. From the date of his graduation he had received repeated invitations to assume the principalship of the academy in his native town, and in 1842 was in- duced by liberal offers, being also influenced by his interest in his birth- place, to accept the position.
Though still suffering from impaired health, Mr. Woods entered with great zeal and earnestness upon the discharge of his duties, and in consequence the academy speedily rose to a high rank among its kindred institutions. Students were at- tracted from the various States and also from Cuba and San Domingo, Garcia and Gomez, the celebrated Cuban leaders and President Dole of Hawaii being numbered among those who were educated at the
institution while Mr. Woods was at its head.
Resigning in 1854, he received invita- tions from various educational institu- tions, including one under the control of a sect differing widely from him in religious belief, but offering him absolute control for ten years of property, income and a large endowment to be increased by many thousands of dollars. He taught for two years at Auburn, Maine, after which one year was spent in business in Portland. Becoming interested in ship- ping, he purchased several ships and car- ried on a large trading business with China and the Asiatic seas, and it is worthy of note that while he never per- sonally followed the sea, he was success- ful in the conduct of this enterprise.
In 1859, without his solicitation, Mr. Woods was unanimously elected principal of the Western University of Pennsyl- vania, that being then the title of the chief executive. The institution had suffered from two disastrous fires and also from mismanagement, having been suspended from 1849 to 1856. When Mr. Woods went to Pittsburgh and entered upon the discharge of his duties, the sentiment of the community was strongly antagonistic to the work he had undertaken. The university had but thirty-five pupils, two full teachers, and two instructors in the modern languages; its whole property was not worth over fifty thousand dollars, and it had no classes in the collegiate course. It was in the face of all these discouragements that the new principal most strikingly displayed his great organ- izing and executive ability, showing him- self to be a man of tremendous force endowed with the faculty of communicat- ing to others a portion of his own energy and enthusiasm. Under his able adminis- tration the university steadily expanded in the preparatory, collegiate, engineering
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and scientific departments and he laid the foundation for the present system of its work. Several new buildings were erect- ed, a large endowment fund was raised, and many new chairs added. He was the institution's first chancellor. The endow- ment fund, which amounted to two hun- dred thousand dollars, was to the amount of one hundred thousand the gift of the late capitalist and philanthropist, William Thaw, who was a warm personal friend of Mr. Woods-Dr. Woods, as he became early in the period of his connection with the university, receiving in 1863 from Jefferson College the degree of Doctor of Laws. A few years later Bowdoin, his alma mater, conferred upon him the same honor.
In combination with rare executive ability, Dr. Woods possessed exceptional qualifications as an instructor-originality of thought, force of character, and clear- ness of expression. Moreover, he was endowed with that mysterious and potent charm known as personal magnetism. By his students he was both loved and vener- ated, and his influence was felt in all their after lives. The university of which he was first chancellor is now the pride of the city of Pittsburgh and of Western Pennsylvania. A stranger seeking a memorial of the man who very largely made it what it is, might be told, "If you seek his monument, look around."
In 1880 Dr. Woods resigned the chan- cellorship and became connected with the Equitable Life Assurance Society, organ- izing the Pittsburgh branch, and, with the assistance of his son, Edward A. Woods, establishing a large and successful busi- ness which has now, under the guidance of his sons, grown to huge proportions. In 1889, in consequence of advancing years, Dr. Woods retired, still, however, retaining an interest in the concern.
The prominence of Dr. Woods as an educator was not confined to his connec-
tion with university and school life, for he was the author of several works on technical education which made his name familiar to instructors in the colleges and universities not of the United States alone, but also of foreign lands. His writings, which evince deep and earnest thought, were eagerly received and are still widely read. He was a frequent contributor to various periodicals. Dr. Woods always strongly favored technical training in college and it was his constant aim to establish a training school in con- nection with the university of which he was chancellor. One of his addresses on this subject was published and widely cir- culated. He possessed notable gifts as a public speaker and as a lecturer his powers were frequently called into requi- sition.
As a true citizen Dr. Woods was earn- estly interested in the welfare of Pitts- burgh, and was ever ready to lend his hearty cooperation to any project which, in his judgment, tended to further that end. A liberal giver to charity, so quietly were his benefactions bestowed that their full number will, in all probability, never be known to the world. His political affiliations were with the Republicans. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Woods married (first) August 29, 1843, Caroline Haynes, and of the five children born to them only one survives: Helen A., widow of Enoch T. Roberts, of Philadelphia. Dr. Woods married (sec- ond) March 8, 1864, Ellen C., daughter of Joseph A. and Esther M. (Goodrich) Crane, of Fall River, Massachusetts, and they became the parents of three sons: Edward A., president and manager and director of the Edward A. Woods Agency Inc., general agents of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States ; Charles A., attorney ; and Lawrence C., vice-president, assistant manager and
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director of the Edward A. Woods Agency Inc. The death of Dr. Woods occurred on June 7, 1899, in Sewickley, Pennsyl- vania, where he had resided since 1877.
The history of every community is in a fundamental sense the work of its edu- cators, inasmuch as it is they who mould and develop the characters of those who create conditions and direct the course of events. In a special manner was this true of Dr. Woods. From the great centre of learning of which he was for many years the head, men went forth, inspired by his teaching and example, to bless, by worthy and fruitful endeavor, not only their own State, but far distant portions of our land. To George Woods -scholar, educator, author and gentle- man-Pittsburgh and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania owe a debt of gratitude for influences which will go to the making of future generations of wise and noble citizens.
WOODS, Edward A.,
Leading Insurance Authority.
Prominent among the business men of Pittsburgh is Edward A. Woods, presi- dent of the Edward A. Woods Agency, Incorporated, general agents of the Equit- able Life Assurance Society of the United States.
Edward Augustus, son of George and Ellen (Crane) Woods, was born January I, 1865, in Pittsburgh, a biography of his father appears on a preceding page of this work. He attended the Western Univer- sity of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) and entered the insurance business as an office boy, November I, 1880, with the Equitable Life Assurance Society, thus acquiring a thorough ac- quaintance with every detail and every department. Ten years later he was ap- pointed manager for the district of Pitts- burgh. January I, 1911, he incorporated
the Edward A. Woods Agency of that company, of which he is president, man- ager and director. He is also vice-presi- dent and director of the Tuberculosis League, and director of the National Union Fire Insurance Company, the Union Savings Bank, and the Western National Bank of Pittsburgh. He be- longs to the Duquesne, Union, and Pitts- burgh Country clubs, the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the Edgeworth Club of Sewickley and the Lawyers' Club of New York. Mr. Woods is of a most aggressive nature and has built up a large business in his line. He is an international authority on insurance and a prolific writer on academic as well as practical issues. In politics he is a Republican, and is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Woods married, May 28, 1891, Gertrude, daughter of the late James M. and Hepzibah (Wallis) Macrum. James M. Macrum's death occurred March, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Woods are the parents of two children : Marjory, and Edward Wallis.
O'HARA, General James,
Quartermaster-General, U. S. A.
I. Teige Oge O'Hara Buidhe, 1560. II. Cormac. III. Charles, whose second son was Sir Charles, Lord Tyrawly, born 1640, died 1724. Son of Sir Charles, Lord Tyrawly, was Sir James, Lord Tyrawly, born 1690, died 1774. IV. Dermod, eld- est son of Charles (III). V. Felix. VI. John. 3 VII. James O'Hara, subject, Quartermaster-General of the United States Army, 1792.
Coat-of-arms of the O'Hara family of County Mayo, Ireland: Vert on a pale radiant or, a lion rampant sable. Motto: "Try." (General James O'Hara had al- ways this coat-of-arms hanging in his house in Pittsburgh).
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James O'Hara was born in Ireland. His father and grandfather, political exiles, were officers in the Irish brigade in the service of France. He was educat- ed at the College of St. Sulpice, in Paris. His relative, Lord Tyrawly, gave him a commission as ensign in the Coldstream Guards, but he preferred a different kind of life, and entered a ship-broker's office in Liverpool to learn business methods before going to America. He had received a legacy of money from his cousin, Lady Mary O'Hara, so, soon after his arrival in Pennsylvania, about 1772, he was able to join with Devereux Smith and Ephraim Douglas of Pittsburgh in trading with the Indians. After March, 1774, James O'Hara was government agent among the Indians until the commencement of the Revolution. He raised and equipped a company of volunteers and was elected captain. This company saw much service on the frontiers at Kanawha, and joined the forces of Major George Rogers Clark on the expedition to Vincennes against the British and Indians. In 1779 Captain O'Hara's company was reduced to twen- ty-nine men, the others having been killed by the Indians, and the company was annexed to the Ninth Virginia Regiment by General Brodhead. Captain O'Hara was sent with a letter from Brodhead to General Washington, asking for supplies for the soldiers. He was then made com- missary of the General Hospital and stationed at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1781 he received the appointment of As- sistant-Quartermaster, and went with the army of General Greene through the southern campaign against the British, furnishing provisions and transportation. He rented warehouses in Philadelphia to In 1797, General O'Hara, in partner- ship with Major Isaac Craig, erected the first glassworks in Pittsburgh. It was a stone building on the south side of the Monongahela river, nearly opposite the store supplies until they could be sent to the army. He continued with the army until 1783. After the Revolution he was actively engaged in business, among other things filling large contracts with the Point. Peter William Eichbaum came
government for supplying the army in the west.
When the town of Pittsburgh was laid out, and afterwards the reserve tract opposite Pittsburgh, on the north bank of the Allegheny river, he made large pur- chases of property at the low prices offered by the Penns and the State of Penn- sylvania. He also acquired large landed property in Ohio and Illinois. He was foremost and led the way in every enter- prise calculated to promote the business and growth of Pittsburgh. In his various active movements his life was constantly exposed and in danger. The Indians in the interest of the British had planned to murder him at Schoenbrun, one of the Moravian towns. The Moravians discov- ered the plot, and sent one of their most trusty Indians, called Anthony, to guide him by night through the woods, avoiding the trail to Fort Pitt, which place he safe- ly reached, although hotly pursued by eleven Hurons. In 1788 James O'Hara was a presidential elector, and cast his vote for George Washington, at the first. presidential election. In 1792 he received his commission as Quartermaster-General in the United States army, and his serv- ices were so successful during the cam- paign of General Anthony Wayne in 1795 (which put an end to Indian hos- tilities at the battle of Fallen Timbers and the treaty of Greenville), that it was said that the army had been saved by the Quartermaster-General. He was with the army throughout the campaign. In May, 1796, his resignation was reluctantly accepted by the government. He con- tinued to act as army contractor until 1802.
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from Germany to superintend the works. Green glass bottles were made. In a note of General O'Hara, found among his papers after his death, he says: "To-day we made the first bottle, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars." Though the transportation was most difficult, he made successful arrangements for bringing salt to Pittsburgh from the Onondago works in New York State, by means of boats and teams to the Allegheny river. It formerly had been carried on pack-horses across the mountains. Ships were built by him in 1805. The "General Butler," commanded by Captain Samuel Lake, with William Carson O'Hara as super- cargo, went down the rivers with a cargo of glass for intermediate ports, and was to take a cargo of cotton at Natchez for Liverpool and return with goods for Phil- adelphia or New Orleans. General John Wilkins was owner of one-fourth of the ship and cargo. Great surprise was caused by the arrival of this ship in Europe, as until then Pittsburgh was not known as a seaport. On a second voyage the "General Butler" was in 1807 captured by a Spanish schooner and taken into Vera Cruz. Other vessels were built by O'Hara and Wilkins for the river trade. In 1804 General O'Hara was appointed director of the branch bank of Pennsyl- vania, established that year at Pittsburgh. This was the first bank west of the Alle- gheny mountains. General John Wilkins, Jr., was the first president, and he was succeeded by General O'Hara. On the first board of this bank were also these officers of the Revolutionary army : General Presley Neville, Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, Major Ebenezer Denny, Gen- eral Adamson Tannehill, Surgeon George Stevenson. A large proportion of the prominent citizens of Pittsburgh at this early period having been officers of the army, they necessarily constituted a ma-
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