USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
In Irwin, which is his place of resi- dence, Mr. Flowers has held various local offices. He has always been active in initiating and promoting measures for the improvement of the town and the advancement of the community. He was for some years solicitor of the borough and served several terms as a member of its Board of Education. In 1895 he gave to Irwin its public school library, now an important adjunct of its educational system. Later he did much efficient work in the establishment of the new Union High School for the town and vicinity, one of the very few Union High Schools in the State. As early as 18,8 Mr. Flowers began publicly to advocate the compulsory education of all children
of school age, and is, therefore, believed to be the first person in the State to take a stand for this principle, then very un- popular, but now universally conceded to be a proper exercise of the function of government. He also assisted in the drafting of the first bill presented to the Legislature of Pennsylvania for furnish- ing free text-books to all pupils in the public schools.
He has written "A History of Irwin and Vicinity," which bears evidence of much thorough and careful investigation. It is the last authority on the subject, and an excellent example of the clear, forceful and illuminating style of its author. Mr. Flowers is a member of Westmoreland Lodge No. 518, Free and Accepted Masons; and a member of the West- moreland Historical Society and of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Soci- ety. He belongs to the Press and Union clubs of Pittsburgh, and to the Century Club of Irwin, in which he has for many years taken an active part. He is presi- dent of the Irwin Chamber of Commerce. His religious membership is in the Re- formed Church of the United States. A glance at Mr. Flowers' countenance reveals him as a man of intellectual force and versatility combined with a vivacious and genial disposition. Dark hair and moustache accentuate features which bear the imprint of his dominant char- acteristics.
Mr. Flowers married, June 14, 1894, Mrs. Sara E. Gregg, daughter of Henry G. and Lucy A. (Lenhart) Cole, of Irwin, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Flowers, who is a charming and cultured woman, is a mem- ber of the Century Club and of the Federation of Women's Clubs. The career of George W. Flowers represents a two-fold success-that of the able lawyer and the capable man of affairs.
2520
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
McKEE, Hugh W. and Roy B., Representative Business Men.
Hugh Walkinshaw McKee, of Pitts- burgh, at one time a member of the well known firm of J. A. McKee & Sons, is a man who has been, for the last half- century, identified with the commercial interests of the metropolis. Mr. McKee, who is now prominent in real estate circles, has always been known as a public-spirited citizen no less than as an able, energetic business man.
Hugh Walkinshaw McKee was born August 28, 1843, in Pittsburgh, and is a son of the late John Allen and Eleanor (Anderson) McKee. A biography of Mr. McKee appears on another page of this work. Hugh Walkinshaw McKee was educated in the schools of his native city and afterward learned the cooper's trade.
In the course of time Mr. McKee was associated by his father in the latter's extensive oil business under the firm name of J. A. McKee & Sons and there developed the executive qualifications by which he has ever since been distin- guished. Later he was associated with his father in the iron business at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. The attention of Mr. McKee was next directed to the oil brokerage business in Pittsburgh, and after a period of activity in that sphere of endeavor he entered the glassware and queensware jobbing business, the firm name being Lyons, McKee & Company. He has now been for some time a repre- sentative of real estate interests. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Stock Ex- change, and the Pittsburgh Board of Trade.
Politically Mr. McKee has always been identified with the Republicans and has taken that earnest and helpful interest in public affairs, both national and local, which is characteristic of his family.
The only club to which he now belongs is the Stanton Heights Golf Club. He is an elder in the United Presbyterian church. Of his personality it is unneces- sary to speak. It has won for him the sincere respect and cordial liking of two generations of Pittsburghers. The years of Mr. McKee's greatest activity were the four decades following the Civil War, and his record is that of a sagacious and honorable business man of that decisive period.
Mr. McKee married, December 29, 1864, in Pittsburgh, Margaret, daughter of William Morrow, of that city, and their children are: Eleanor T., married Percy L. Craig, of Newcastle, Pennsyl- vania, and has two children, Earle McKee and Margaret Louise; Anna Valeria, married William Campbell, of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, and has one daughter, Esther; Norwel M., married Kydie Coward, of Beaumont, Texas; and Roy Brocton, mentioned below. Mrs. McKee is an attractive woman, sharing her hus- band's capacity for making and holding friends. For the last few years they have spent much of their time in California, Mr. McKee intrusting the conduct of his business to his son, Roy Brocton McKee.
The commission and brokerage busi- ness of Pittsburgh numbers among its representatives many able and aggressive men of the younger generation and among the most active of these is Roy Brocton McKee, who has been for nearly a dozen years identified with its interests. In his association with the political, social and religious elements of the life of his city Mr. McKee has always evinced a hearty readiness to help in the further- ance of all measures pertaining to progress and reform.
Roy Brocton McKee, son of Hugh Walkinshaw and Margaret (Morrow) McKee, was born October 2, 1878, in
2521
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Pittsburgh, and received his education in schools of his native city and at the East Liberty Academy. His entrance into business was made in the service of the Mellon interests and he was afterward connected for four years with the Amer- ican Sheet Steel Company. In 1904 Mr. McKee turned his attention to the com- mission and brokerage business and, finding it well suited to his tastes and abilities, has ever since maintained his connection with it. He has met with a gratifying measure of success and has established the reputation of a man of sound judgment and wisely aggressive methods. His looks and manner show him for what he is-an able and energetic Pittsburgher of the twentieth century. In politics Mr. McKee upholds the tradi- tions of his family in adhering to the Re- publican party. He belongs to the Stan- ton Heights Golf Club, and is a member of the United Presbyterian church.
Mr. McKee married, October 7, 1902, Florence Kirk, daughter of Finley K. and Emma (Ing) Ong, of Pittsburgh. A biography of Mr. Ong, with ancestral record, appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. McKee are the parents of one child, Florence Elizabeth. Mrs. Mc- Kee, a woman of culture and charm, is a social favorite and withal thoroughly domestic.
Mr. McKee is a representative of the third generation of a family largely in- strumental in the upbuilding and mainte- nance of the business interests of Pitts- burgh, and his own career thus far is evidence that he worthily holds his place in the line.
WOLCOTT, Darwin Stanton, Patent Lawyer.
Darwin Stanton Wolcott, long a leader among the patent law attorneys of Pitts- burgh. can look back upon more than
thirty years of successful practice in the metropolis. Mr. Wolcott is a man of varied experience and capabilities, the years of his early manhood having been spent in the service of the United States Coast Survey.
Christopher Parsens Wolcott, father of Darwin Stanton Wolcott, was a distin- guished member of the bar. For a time he filled the office of Attorney-General of Ohio, and during the Civil War served as Assistant Secretary of War under Edwin M. Stanton, in the cabinet of President Lincoln. Mr. Wolcott mar- ried Pamphila Stanton, sister of the re- nowned Secretary of War.
Darwin Stanton Wolcott, son of Chris- topher Parsens and Pamphila (Stanton) Wolcott, was born July 21, 1852, at Akron, Ohio, and received his preparatory education in public and private schools, afterward entering Kenyon College. His first employment was as engineer in the United States Coast Survey, this initial period of activity being filled with experience which proved valuable to him in later life. At the end of five or six years Mr. Wolcott resigned his position and for the next five years was employed in the United States Patent Office. In September, 1883, he came to Pittsburgh and in association with George H. Christy entered upon the practice of patent law. Since 1910 Mr. Wolcott has practiced alone. He devotes himself exclusively to patent law and was not long in laying the foundation of the repu- tation which has since steadily increased and has long been absolutely assured.
In politics Mr. Wolcott is a Republican with progressive tendencies, in this as in everything else being singularly fair- minded and open to conviction. Ever alive to the best interests of his city and State as well as to those of the nation he aids in the promotion of those interests
2522
Sag IN E & Williams : Ere
win 8 . Wolcott G
Lewis Histerca! Fyb
7 H ٠
36369
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
untrammelled by partisan considerations. His countenance gives evidence of the liberality of sentiment and breadth of view by which he is always character- ized and his personality and manner are those of the astute lawyer and the true gentleman. He belongs to the Pittsburgh Press Club and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association and is a member of the Sewickley Protestant Episcopal Church.
Mr. Wolcott married, in July, 1876, Evelyn Brent, daughter of James Reilly, of Winchester, Virginia, and the follow- ing children were born to them: Darwin Stanton, Christopher P., Robert W., Wil- helmina, wife of Robert H. Wright, of San Francisco, California ; Katherine L., Mary L. H., and Evelyn M. Mrs. Wol- cott, a most lovely and estimable woman and a member of the Women's Club of Sewickley, passed away in June, 1902.
Mr. Wolcott is the son of a man who made the family name honorable through- out the length and breadth of the land and he himself has maintained its repu- tation for ability and fair-dealing by his record as a member of the Pittsburgh bar.
CHANDLER, Percy M., Banker and Broker.
Educated for the law and regularly admitted to the Philadelphia bar, Mr. Chandler before beginning practice aban- doned the idea of a professional career and instead has devoted himself to finan- cial concerns. What the professional world lost has been the gain of the busi- ness world, and while Mr. Chandler's position as a financier is an honored one, it would be interesting to know whether had he followed the profession for which he prepared a similar result would not have been attained. He is of honored Pennsylvania lineage, his ancestors mem- bers of the Society of Friends.
Percy M. Chandler was born in Phil- adelphia, February 6, 1873, the son of John W. and Almira (Taylor) Chandler He was educated at Friends High School, and when first entering business life be- came an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Later deciding upon the profession of law he prepared and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. He did not, however, practice, but in partnership with his brother organized in 1899 the firm of Chandler Brothers & Company, bankers and brokers. He con- tinued a member of that firm until Janu- ary I, 1914, and during that period became connected with varied activities in differ- ent localities, mainly public utilities. On January 1, 1914, he incorporated the bond investment business of Chandler & Com- pany, Incorporated, and of the latter company he is president.
As a financier and business man Mr. Chandler has proved that he found his true sphere, and in the various corpora- tions which he serves as chief executive or director his abilities have been fully demonstrated. He is president and director of the Securities Corporation General, the Kentucky Securities Cor- poration, the Kentucky Traction & Ter- minal Company, the Pennsylvania Light- ing Company, and Chandler & Company, Incorporated. In addition to the execu- tive management of the foregoing cor- porations he is a director of the J. G. White Management Company, the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction Company, the United Fireman's Insur- ance Company, the Virginia Railway & Power Company, Chandler, Wilbor & Company, Incorporated, and of the St. Lawrence Pulp & Lumber Corporation.
While keenly alive to the importance of the business responsibilities he has as- sumed in the management of the cor- porations named Mr. Chandler is inter-
PEN-Vol VII-19
2523
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
ested as well in the social obligations of life, and is a well known popular clubman, belonging to the Philadelphia clubs, Union League, Racquet, Art, Philadelphia Coun- try, Whitemarsh Valley Country ; Hunt- ington Valley Country, Pickering Hunt, and to the New York City clubs, Bankers, Railroad and Recess. He is also a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and other organizations varied in char- acter. He is a Republican in politics, and in religious faith a Friend.
GRAY, Charles Windrim, Representative Citizen.
Among aggressive young business men of Pittsburgh is Charles W. Gray, secre- tary, treasurer and director of the Graham Nut Company, and active in all that tends toward the improvement of his home city.
Charles Windrim Gray was born on Ninth street, Pittsburgh, September 4, 1874. He received his education in public and private schools of Pittsburgh, and later attended Park Institute. At sixteen years of age he began his business career, as an employee of Captain William B. Rodgers, and later with Park Brother & Company, then in the coal business, and remained in this position for nine years, rising to be manager of one of the firm's branch coal yards. He then accepted the position of secretary and treasurer with the Pearson Manufacturing Company, which he held until 1906, when he with- drew to become assistant secretary and director of the Graham Nut Company. In 1914 Mr. Gray was made secretary, treasurer and director of this latter com- pany, which he holds to the present time. Biographies and portraits of Albert Gra- ham and his sons appear elsewhere in this work.
In politics Mr. Gray affiliates with the Republican party, but has never held office. Fraternally he is a member of all
Masonic orders, Knights Templar, Shriner, etc. Of social nature he is a member of the Pittsburgh Athletic Asso- ciation and the Fellows Club. He is also a member of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Gray married, June 24, 1914, in Pittsburgh, Edith C. Milligan, of Car- negie. Mr. and Mrs. Gray are socially popular, and reside in the East End, Pittsburgh.
DUFF, Thomas Chalmers,
Member of Legal Fraternity.
During the opening years of the present century the bar of Pittsburgh has been largely and advantageously recruited, and among those members who, though comparatively recent, have already begun to establish a reputation, is Thomas Chalmers Duff, the greater portion of whose life has been passed in the metro- polis. In addition to being well known as a civil practitioner Mr. Duff is actively identified with a number of the other interests which enter into the life of the municipality. The Duff family of Penn- sylvania was planted there by three brothers who emigrated from the North of Ireland, one settling in Westmoreland county, another in Lawrence county and the third in the Cumberland valley.
David Alexander Duff, father of Thomas Chalmers Duff, was a minister of the United Presbyterian church. He married Annie L. Espy. Their children were: William Espy, born January 9, 1877, now living in Chicago; Thomas Chalmers, mentioned below ; Mary Olive, wife of James Smith Christy, a Pitts- burgh lawyer; Ethel, deceased; and David Alexander, also deceased. Mr. Duff died September 12, 1887, in Galt, Ontario, Canada, where he spent his latter years as pastor of a church.
Thomas Chalmers Duff, son of David
2524
Man Tray
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Alexander and Annie L. (Espy) Duff, was born August 28, 1878, in Trafford City, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. He received his earliest education in schools of Galt, Ontario, Canada, after- ward attending the public and high schools of Allegheny City. He then entered Washington and Jefferson Col- lege, graduating in 1901 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His legal studies were pursued under the guidance of George P. Murray, of Pittsburgh, and on January 7, 1906, he was admitted to the Allegheny county bar. For a time Mr. Duff was associated with his preceptor, Mr. Murray, in general civil practice, but now practices alone. He has proved that he possesses qualities essential to the making of a successful lawyer and has acquired a large and steadily increasing clientele. The political affiliations of Mr. Duff are with the Republicans, but he takes no active part in the affairs of the organization. He belongs to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and is a member of the First United Presbyterian Church of North Side. In appearance and per- sonality Mr. Duff is a representative of a type now coming into prominence-that of the progressive, thoroughly informed and skillful lawyer of the early twentieth century.
HIRSCH, Isaac E., Journalist, Poet, Musician.
The journalists of Western Pennsyl- vania constitute a powerful fraternity and among its leading members is Isaac E. Hirsch, vice-president of the Pitts- burgh "Volksblatt und Freiheits-Freund," the German daily newspaper most widely circulated in this part of the Keystone State. Mr. Hirsch has been an almost lifelong resident of the metropolis and is identified with her most essential inter- ests, being especially active in literary
and musical circles and responsive to everything relating to the realms of science and art.
Isaac E. Hirsch was born in 1859, in Carver county, Minnesota, and is a son of Max and Helene (Einstein) Hirsch, both of whom were natives of Germany. At that time the Indians were somewhat turbulent in the Northwest and appre- hensions of trouble were not infrequently experienced. In consequence of this Mr. and Mrs. Hirsch, with their infant son, came in 1860 to Pittsburgh, and there in 1862 the father died, leaving a widow and two sons.
The education of Isaac E. Hirsch was obtained in the public schools of the Third Ward of Pittsburgh and at the Central High School, from the commer- cial department of which he graduated. While yet attending school and when but eleven years old the boy was employed by Max Schamberg, Austria-Hungarian Consul, then proprietor of the city's lead- ing steamship agency, and foreign bank- ing business. The connection thus early formed was maintained for more than thirty years and it was during its con- tinuance that Mr. Hirsch developed those business abilities which may be said to have constituted the groundwork of his prosperity and the foundation of his career. Advancing from office boy to general manager, ultimately we find him the proprietor of the business which sub- sequently passed into the possession of the First-Second National Bank. But it was in the sphere of journalism that Mr. Hirsch was destined to find the most con- genial atmosphere for the exercise of his talents and to win the distinction which has now for many years been associated with his name. For twenty-seven years he was managing editor of the Pittsburgh "Volksblatt und Freiheits-Freund," and he is now vice-president of the company. With his abilities as a business man
2525
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Mr. Hirsch combines the nature of the poet, the musician and the man of letters. He is the author of a collection of essays written in a facetious vein and in the German language and regarded by many as a counterpart of Holmes' "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." He has written several songs which have been set to music by Pittsburgh composers and his mastery of languages is something excep- tional. He is at home in German, French and Italian and his command of several other tongues is sufficient to enable him to make use of them in business trans- actions. This proficiency as a linguist has rendered it difficult for him, in his numerous trips to Europe, to convince his Continental friends of his American birth.
First, last and always Mr. Hirsch is a citizen, disinterested, public-spirited and ever on the alert to seize an opportunity of serving his community by promoting whatever, in his judgment, makes for betterment of conditions. He is vice- president of the Academy of Science and Art, a director of the Art Society and a life member of the Americus and Tariff clubs. He is president of the German- American Newspaper Publishers' Asso- ciation of Pennsylvania, and eleven years ago assisted in founding the German Club of Pittsburgh of which he is now presi- dent.
The face of Mr. Hirsch is that of a man who combines all the attributes which go to the making of an extremely 'complex personality. His features bear the impress of strength and refinement, his dark eyes speak at once of deep thought and accurate observation and the gravity of his expression is enlivened by the glint of humor and the play of fancy. Prob- ably no man in Pittsburgh enjoys greater personal popularity, and this popularity has two sources, one being his intense and
broad-minded public spirit and the other his rare magnetism and exceptional capacity for ardent and loyal friendship. Able, brave and lovable, he has that about him which draws men to him.
Mr. Hirsch married, in 1885, Margaret E. Bradley. Mrs. Hirsch is a woman admirably fitted in all respects to be the helpmate of a man like her husband, widely versatile, incessantly active, above all devoted to home and family and find- ing in his home the repose so necessary to a man leading the strenuous life which has for years been his.
True to his German traditions Mr. Hirsch has identified himself with the interests of those of his fellow-citizens who, by birth or parentage, are linked with the Fatherland. But sympathizing as he does with their feeling for the old land, his influence has always been exerted to implant and strengthen in them the principles of American citizen- ship, to make them loyal sons of the country of their own or their parents' adoption. In his endeavor example has gone hand in hand with precept and he has presented to them in his own life an illustration of the public virtue and fidelity with which he has so earnestly and consistently striven to inspire them.
AMBLER, Charles A.,
Contracting Builder, Legislator.
Mr. Ambler's business and political ac- tivities have gone hand in hand from the time he came to man's estate in 1895. In that year he began mercantile life in Ab- ington, Pennsylvania, and at about same time was appointed postmaster. From that time until the present he has forged steadily upward as a business man, and in public life has reached the high posi- tion of speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Not yet even in his
2526
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
prime, he has tasted deeply of life's suc- cess and has won for himself a reputation for ability, progressiveness, fairness and honorable dealing that has never been sacrified for business gain or political pre- ferment. He has prospered in business through strict adherence to business prin- ciples, energy in prosecuting that busi- ness, and an unfailing practice of living up to the spirit as well as the letter of every obligation. His rise in public life has not been by favor of the "powers that rule," but in spite of them. Since he first entered upon public life, he has been actu- ated by an honest desire to faithfully serve those who placed him in positions of honor and trust, and that spirit of fidelity to those who trusted him has never been violated. He has lived his life in the clear open light of the day, his record is open to all men, and whatever the future may have in store for him in the way of political honor, it will come as all others have come, because he will have deserved it.
The name of Ambler was brought to Montgomery county prior to the year 1700, and has been worthily borne by a race of God-fearing men, members of the Society of Friends, mostly agriculturists and skilled mechanics. The early place of settlement was at Lansdale. Mr. Ambler inherits the exemplary traits of his Quaker forbears, but has thoroughly imbibed the modern progressive spirit that so admirably blends with the sturdy virtues, his by inheritance.
Charles A. Ambler was born at the homestead near Lansdale, Jenkintown, January 5, 1874, son of Henry S. and Mary (Slugg) Ambler. His youth was spent in attendance at public school and in farm labor, his majority finding him with a vigorous, well developed mind and body. On coming of age he at once put into operation longformed plans, and in
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.