USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 3
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Jaw is Historical Fab Je
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sel was sought by those many years his superior in point of age. He was de- scended from one of the oldest families in Pittsburgh, his grandfather, Thomas McKee, who was born September 13, 1800, and died June 2, 1864, was in the glass manufacturing business, and his father, also named Frederick, who was born August 2, 1827, and died March 21, 1865, was one of the founders of the firm of McKee & Brothers-one of the pioneer glass manufacturing firms of Pittsburgh. He married Melissa Patterson Stewart, daughter of William Stewart, who was born July 2, 1837, and died July 5, 1905. William Stewart, grandfather of Fred- erick W. McKee, was one of the first manufacturers of charcoal iron in that section of the country, and in the furnaces on the Winfield estate manufactured pig iron for some of the cannon used by the government during the Civil War.
Frederick W. McKee was born in Pitts- burgh, in 1858, and died in the same city, March 22, 1912. Educated in the public schools of his native city, he was graduated from them and then became a student at the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh, being graduated a member of the class of 1878. The study of law had always had a cer- tain fascination for him, and he com- menced reading for admission to the bar in the office of George Shiras, Jr., and followed up this study at the Law School of Harvard University, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bache- lor of Laws. For some years he was en- gaged in legal practice in the courts of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and had obtained a reasonably large clientele and a profitable one, but other business in- terests demanded more and more of his time, and he gradually dropped his legal work. Before his marriage in 1890 he was a member of the Select Council of Pittsburgh, and was interested in politi-
cal reforms. For a number of years prior to his death he spent a large portion of his time in developing the large estate he owned in Winfield township, Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he founded the town of West Winfield, Butler county, Pennsylvania. In addition to this he or- ganized a number of business enterprises, in all of which his energy and progressive and original ideas were of incalculable benefit. Among these ventures may be mentioned : The Winfield Mineral Com- pany ; the Winfield Sand Company; the Winfield Railroad Company; and the Pennsylvania Clay Products Company. He was a devout member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, being for many years trustee of the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church, and later connected with Christ Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. McKee married, in 1890, Bertha F. Chadwick, daughter of Samuel Chadwick, one of the pioneers of the East End. She is a woman of character, and was a fitting helpmate to her talented husband in every phase of life. Their children are: Frederick C., formerly a student at Prince- ton University, and now at the head of his father's enterprises; Herbert W .; Wallace B .; and Mary S., the only daugh- ter. Mrs. William E. Carnahan is a sister. The family have for many years occupied a position of prominence in the social life of Pittsburgh, to which their many ad- mirable traits very justly entitled them. The strong personality of Mr. McKee was an important factor in the influence which he exerted in all matters with which he was connected. While he was quiet and unostentatious in public as in private life, his mind was ever at work with some plan for the betterment of social conditions, or advancement of the financial or industrial interests of his sec- tion. In addition to devoting himself to the proper conduct of the weighty affairs with which he was personally connected,
PA-Vol VII-2
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he was frequently called upon to counsel those engaged in other undertakings, and who had strong reason to have faith in the wisdom of his judgment. He had a large circle of friends and his death left a void not easily filled.
KENNEDY, Julian,
Steel and Iron Master, Inventor.
The brain-power of Pittsburgh is the primary source of her material magnifi- cence, and, as has been aptly said, "The typical Pittsburgh brain is at its best in Julian Kennedy," the world-famous me- chanical engineer and metallurgical ex- pert. Mr. Kennedy has been for a third of a century a resident of the Iron City, and, despite his international reputation, she proudly claims him as her own.
Julian Kennedy was born March 15. 1852, in Poland township, Mahoning county, Ohio, and is the eldest of the seven sons of Thomas Walker and Mar- garet (Tuesdale) Kennedy. The mechan- ical genius of Julian Kennedy was inherit- ed from his father, who was a construc- tive engineer of the very first rank. He was the greatest designer and builder of blast furnaces of his day, and many of his inventions and improvements are now in general use and have been of incalcul- able benefit to the manufacturing world. His death occurred July 4, 1896.
The preparatory education of Julian Kennedy was received in the common schools of his native county, and at the age of seventeen he graduated from Union Seminary, Poland, Ohio. For a few years thereafter he was employed by the Stru- thers Iron Company, on the Mahoning river, a short distance below Youngstown, Ohio, filling successively the positions of draftsman, engineer for blowing engines and other steam machinery and shipping clerk. At the age of twenty, having gain- ed considerable experience in applied me-
chanics, he entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, graduating in 1875. In 1900 this school conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. At Yale Mr. Kennedy studied civil engineer- ing and chemistry, in the latter branch completing the two years' course in one year. During 1875 and 1876 he was an instructor in physics, and while teaching pursued a post-graduate course in chem- istry of iron and steel, and a special course in higher mathematics and as- tronomy. He had charge of the Physical Laboratory, and delivered a course of il- lustrated lectures on physics and me- chanics before the students of the several schools in New Haven.
During his career at Yale, busy as he was both as student and instructor, Mr. Kennedy was an enthusiast in athletics. His specialty was rowing, and he was a member of the university crews from 1873, when Yale won over thirteen col- lege crews at Springfield, Massachusetts, to 1876, when he rowed in the first eight- oared race against Harvard. In 1875 he won the inter-collegiate championship for single sculls at Saratoga Lake, and was a winner in fourteen of the eighteen im- portant races. He was stroke of the Yale four-oared crew at the Centennial Regatta in 1876, when his university won the in- ter-collegiate championship. The same year Mr. Kennedy and James Riley, of Saratoga, won the pair-oared raced at Greenwood Lake, over Eustis and Downs, of the Atlantic Rowing Club of New York, and Smith and Eldred of the Argo- naut Club of New York. He also at that time won the amateur single-scull race.
After leaving Yale, Mr. Kennedy was for one year superintendent of the blast furnaces of the Briar Hill Iron Company at Youngstown, Ohio. During the fol- lowing year he held the same position with the Struthers Iron Company, and during a third was superintendent of the
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Julian Sternedy
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Morse Bridge Works at Youngstown. In 1879 he entered the service of Carnegie Brothers & Company, becoming superin- tendent of the blast furnaces of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works at Braddock, Pennsylvania. He filled this position until 1883, and was then for two years in the service of the allied firm of Car- negie, Phipps & Company, as superin- tendent of the Lucy furnaces in Pitts- burgh. From 1885 to 1888 he was general superintendent of Carnegie, Phipps & Company, with headquarters at Home- stead. In all these positions Mr. Ken- ney's services were of the greatest value, not only by reason of his skillful manage- ment, but because he continually gave his attention to the making of improvements tending to greater ease and economy of production and to the increase of quality and volume of output. He had charge of both operation and construction, and dur- ing his connection with the Edgar Thom- son and Lucy furnaces they held the world's record for output of pig iron.
In 1888 Mr. Kennedy became chief en- gineer and constructor of works of the Latrobe Steel Company at Latrobe, Penn- sylvania. In 1890 he ceased to maintain exclusive connection with manufacturing concerns, and opened an office in Pitts- burgh as a general consulting and con- tracting engineer. He has since had charge of the construction and equipment of steel works for nearly all the large companies of the United States, and has done much engineering work in England, Germany, Austria and Russia. In this special branch, in connection with great manufacturing plants, Mr. Kennedy stands easily at the head of his profession in the United States. As an inventor of improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel he has taken out a large number of patents, all of which are in successful use. He has been employed in various consulting capacities in connection with
large municipal works, and has frequently acted as expert in important patent litiga- tion. Prominent among his inventions are improvements on hot-blast stoves, blast- furnace filling devices, improvements in blowing engines, blooming mills and special machinery for hammering and rolling locomotive tires and an improved process of making rails-all valuable in- ventions which are now very largely in use in many works.
Intensely public-spirited, Mr. Kennedy is prominently identified with the indus- trial, financial, civic and religious in- terests of Pittsburgh. He is widely but unostentatiously charitable, and his in- fluence is always given to everything that makes for culture and for improvement along lines of art. He is a member of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Kennedy is president and director of the American Casting Machine Com- pany, the Emerald Coal and Coke Com- pany, the Orient Coal and Coke Company, the Polant Coal Company, and is a mem- ber of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Com- merce. He is a member of the American Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the British Iron and Steel Institute, the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsyl- vania, the Pittsburgh Academy of Science and Art, the Pittsburgh Athletic Associa- tion, the Automobile, Country, Univer- sity and Golf clubs of Pittsburgh, and the University and Engineers' clubs of New York City.
Mr. Kennedy married, in 1878, Jennie E., daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Lynn) Brenneman, of Poland township. Mahoning county, Ohio, and they are the parents of the following children: Lucy B., graduate of Vassar, wife of John O. Miller; Joseph W., who graduated from Yale, Ph.B., and is associated in business with his father; Eliza Jane, graduate of Vassar, wife of R. Templeton Smith, and
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popular in Pittsburgh social circles; Juli- an, graduated from Yale, Ph.B., connect- ed with the Coal & Coke Company ; and Thomas W., student of Cornell. By his marriage, Mr. Kennedy gained the life companionship of a charming and con- genial woman. Mrs. Kennedy is a mem- ber of the Civic Club of Allegheny County, the Tuesday Musical Club and the Twentieth Century Club, and, as one of the city's leading Suffragists, was one of the founders of the Equal Franchise Federation of Pittsburgh. Mr. Kennedy is devoted to the ties of family and friend- ship and his beautiful residence in the East End is a centre of hospitality and a scene of much entertaining as is also the lovely summer home of the family, "Crusoe Island," Muskoka Lake, Canada.
Julian Kennedy is one of the men who do the large things of life. He has always been too busy to talk about what he was doing, but his results speak for him with an eloquence to which the world listens.
REA, Henry R.,
Man of Large Affairs.
Among those Pittsburgh business men who are still actively influential in the community is Henry Robinson Rea, for the space of a quarter of a century offici- ally associated with various industrial or- ganizations of the metropolis. Mr. Rea is descended from ancestors distinguished in the Colonial and Revolutionary periods of our history and conspicuously identi- fied with the development of the most vital interests of Pennsylvania.
Henry Robinson Rea was born May 29, 1863, in Pittsburgh, and is a son of the late William and Matilda Anne (Robin- son) Rea. A biography and portrait of Mr. Rea, with ancestral record, appear elsewhere in this work. Henry Robinson Rea received his preparatory education in private schools of his native city, and in
the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh. He graduated in the class of 1884 at thẻ Stevens Institute of Technology, taking the degree of Mechanical Engineer, and then completed his education at the Uni- versity of Göttingen, Germany.
On returning home, Mr. Rea associated himself with the engineering department of the Robinson-Rea Manufacturing Com- pany, and in the course of time became vice-president, an office which he retained until the concern was merged in the Mesta Machine Company. Mr. Rea's time and attention is now given to the corporations in which he is largely in- terested, and to the estate of his father- in-law, the late Henry W. Oliver, of which he is trustee.
The organizations with which Mr. Rea is connected as director, are the Mellon National Bank, the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company, the Oliver Iron and Steel Com- pany, the Oliver and Snyder Steel Com- pany, the Pittsburgh Coal Comany, the Safe Deposit and Trust Company, the Union Savings Bank, the Union Trust Company, the Calumet and Arizona Min- ing Company, the Superior Pitts Mining Company and the New Cornelia Mining Company. He is trustee of the People's Savings Bank, and president of The Mor- ris County Traction Company and Morris Railroad Company, both of New Jersey.
In all that concerns the welfare of Pittsburgh he ever manifests a ready and helpful interest. He belongs to the board of directors of the Allegheny General Hospital. His clubs include the Pitts- burgh, of which he is president; the Alle- gheny Country, of which he is vice-presi- dent; the Pittsburgh Golf, the Duquesne and Oakmont Country. He is a life mem- ber of the Pittsburgh Athletic Associa- tion, and belongs to the University, the
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Henry M Palmer
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Racquet and Tennis and the Brook Clubs, all of New York.
Mr. Rea married, April 23, 1889, Edith, daughter of the late Henry W. and Edith (Cassidy) Oliver. A biography and pro- trait of Mr. Oliver appear elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Rea are the par- ents of two children: Edith Ann; and Henry Oliver, who is now taking an aca- demic course at Yale University.
PALMER, Henry W.,
Lawyer, Legislator, Humanitarian.
The death of Henry W. Palmer, famili- arly known as General Palmer, deprived Wilkes-Barre of one of its most distin- guished citizens. For over half a century he rendered note-worthy service in of- ficial, professional, and private life, and although his years were far beyond man's allotted span his taking away was severe- ly felt, causing poignant grief among those who were intimately associated with him and who had learned to appreci- ate his worth and to know his power for good in the community that delighted to honor him. He was a man of brains, great natural ability, keen insight, and sound judgment, possessed strong con- victions and the courage always to up- hold them, and never sacrificed principle for expediency, a rare trait that explains the high service he was able to render his clients and his State. For fifty-two years he continued his law practice in Wilkes- Barre, the eighteen months he spent in army service only preventing his service from being continuous He was Wilkes- Barre's foremost lawyer, and was with- out a peer in valuable service in north- eastern Pennsylvania. He early won leadership at the bar, and held it until health and strength failed him, recog- nized as a leader at home, and frequently consulted by leading professional lights of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh when im-
portant issues were at stake. Said one of the greatest of his legal State contempo- raries : "General Palmer is a great lawyer, and those in his class can be counted upon the fingers of one hand."
It was as Attorney-General under Governor Hoyt that he first came into the public eye of the State, but his service in that high place was not more valuable than that in the Constitutional Conven- tion, where he was a leader among the eminently talented men of Pennsylvania comprising that body, of which his honor- ed father was also a member. As citizen and congressman he was always the champion of every worthy cause needing an advocate. He knew no middle ground, never hesitating to denounce that which he deemed wrong, nor to support that which he considered right. He would not compromise with wrong, let the result affect his political or professional career as it might. He had the distinction of representing Luzerne county in Congress longer than any other man elected from the district, serving through four terms, 1900 to 1908. Although advanced in years upon taking his seat among the. great men of the nation, he so impressed himself upon the leaders that high honors and responsibilities were accorded him greater than many men receive in a much longer term of service. President Roose- velt appointed him a delegate to the Con- gress of Lawyers and Jurists in 1904, and in 1905 he was a delegate to the Inter- Parliamentary Union held at Brussels. During the Fifty-eighth Congress he was a member of the sub-committee appointed by the chairman of the committee on judiciary to take testimony in the im- peachment proceedings begun against Charles Swayne, United States Judge for the Northern District of Florida. After the conclusion of the trial, in which Gen- eral Palmer took a leading part in favor of impeachment, the following resolution
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was agreed to by the House of Represen- tatives: "Resolved, that the thanks of the House be and hereby are extended to the managers on behalf of the House in the impeachment proceedings of Judge Charles Swayne before the Senate of the United States, to wit: Henry W. Palmer, Samuel L. Powers, Marlin E. Olmstead, James B. Perkins, David A. De Ormond, Henry D. Clayton, and David H. Smith, for the able and efficient manner in which they discharged the onerous and respon- sible duties imposed upon them."
The confidence reposed in General Pal- mer was fully merited, for his integrity of purpose was never questioned. He faithfully and conscientiously served his clients, his city, his State, and his country, no personal ambition ever marring his record. By his splendid ability and force of character he won distinction as a lawyer, statesman, and citizen. His knowledge of the law was broad and · deep, and he was in the forefront of all important litigation coming before the Luzerne courts. He had the great gift of attracting close attention to his every word while in argument. He clothed and clearly expressed his ideas in the fewest possible words, developing the legal ques- tion involved and the facts of a case in the briefest manner and following with argument lucid, incisive, and persuasive. He cast aside all side issues, made straight for the important principles in- volved, and then fought his case out along that line with all his tremendous vigor and intellect. As Attorney-General of the State of Pennsylvania he rendered valuable service to the State, displaying a courage in pressing suits against great corporations supposed to have a strangle hold upon the political righteousness of the State that brought victory to the people and fame to the Attorney-General. As congressman he reached a high plane of usefulness to the country at large. No
man could have been better equipped for forensic strife than General Palmer. He possessed great good humor, wit in abundance, and learning gained from col- lege course, wide comprehensive reading, and large experience, all graced with elo- quence, the offspring of a glowing mind, always at his command when needed, and powers of sarcasm unsurpassed. Physi- cally, nature was equally lavish with her gifts. Of fine physical proportions, erect in stature, with well-set head, his manly beauty bespoke the spirit within him. His good humor, ready wit, and extensive information concerning men and affairs made him at all time a delightful com- panion. He never courted intimacy, but those who were admitted behind his rather rugged exterior found a nature which bound them to him with affection and admiration. He was kindness and gentleness itself to the lowly and unfortu- nate, and his own personal influence, added to the unselfish labor of his wife, made the Boys' Industrial Associa- tion of Wilkes-Barre one of the great forces for good among the thousands of youths in that city, the great center of the anthracite coal mining industry. He was the sworn, unrelenting foe of the un- checked abuse of intoxicating liquor, holding the absolute prohibition of the traffic to be the only safeguard against it. When first a candidate for Congress, he addressed letters to the Prohibitionists of Luzerne county, asking their support on the ground of his action as chairman of the State committee in attempting to carry the prohibitory amendment of 1889. This letter nearly prostrated the chair- man of his party committee, inasmuch as it lined the liquor interests solidly against him. But that was characteristic of the man-he hated sham or false pretense, and would not even seem to be "sailing under false colors." He was of that unique type of politician who make no
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rash promises, and refused to go out into the highways and byways in personal solicitation of votes. He declared his principles and left the choice to the people. His own eulogy of President McKinley, delivered at the memorial service, may justly be applied to himself : "His life may be taken as a model for those who would rise to distinction in the public service. He was from start to finish distinguished for devotion to duty, untiring industry in the labors of his different positions, unbounded faith in the strength and permanence of our in- stitutions and the integrity of the Ameri- can people." From "L'Envoi," closing his own book, "Fifty Years at the Bar and in Politics," which he never saw in print, the following extract is taken :
A long life protracted beyond the "allotted age" of man, full of varied experience, acquaint- ance and friendship with some of the best men who ever lived in this or any other country, honor beyond my deserts, fortune sufficient for my needs, a wife gifted beyond her sex. faithful as the sun, a family of whom any man may be proud,-this is the final summing up. And I am content to obey the injunction of the poet :-
So live that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death.
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams!
These words were written February 7, 1913, and eight days later, February 15, his "summons came to join the innumer- able caravan" and he fell asleep as he had wished, "like one that wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams."
The American ancestor of General Henry W. Palmer came from England to America in the ship "Fortune," in 1621, the "Fortune" being the first vessel to
arrive after the "Mayflower." He brought with him a son, William, a lad of eight years, settling in Plymouth, where he was joined the next year by his wife. Frances, who came in the ship "Anne," known as the "Brides' Ship." The line is traced in direct male descent to Henry W. Palmer, son of Major Gideon Wilbur Palmer, and grandson of Gideon and Cla- rissa (Walkins) Palmer. Gideon Palmer was born in 1784, and died August 28, 1868. Major Gideon Wilbur Palmer was born April 18, 1818, and died March 27, 1881. He came to Pennsylvania when nineteen years of age, engaging in farm- ing, and saw mill operating. He was a man of ability and held many public posi- tions, serving as constable, justice of the peace, sheriff of Luzerne county, member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, pay- master in the United States army, and sat as a delegate in the Constitutional Con- vention of 1872-73, in which body his son bore so conspicuous a part. He held the rank of major in the United States army, and died beloved and respected by all who knew him. He married Elizabeth Burdick, daughter of Billings and Hannah (Babcock) Burdick, of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, her father an officer of the War of 1812, her mother a daughter of General Babcock, of Hopkinton. She was con- nected with the Tift family and was a Huguenot descendant. Mrs. Palmer was a woman of great industry, never happy unless busy. Her good sense and sturdy honesty were proverbial, and to her son she transmitted those strong traits of character that until her death marked her as a consistent, hardworking Christian woman. Major Palmer died in Glenburn in 1881, his widow surviving him until 1895. From such an ancestry and from such noble parentage sprang Henry W. Palmer.
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