USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 43
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In 1882 Mr. Keim was elected sheriff of Philadelphia county, and in 1883 he first assumed the duties of the sheriff's office. The jurisdiction of the office em- braces Philadelphia city and county, then containing a population in excess of one million, and the greatest manufacturing centre in the United States. These facts render the office of sheriff one of great
and unusual importance, but Sheriff Keim measured up to the fullest expecta- tions of even his most enthusiastic ad- mirers. He won the respect of all who had business with the sheriff's office, and was one of the most popular men who ever held that office in Philadelphia, poli- tical friends and foes all uniting to do him honor. Had not the constitution of Philadelphia forbade a sheriff succeeding himself, he could have been reelected without opposition, so completely had his frank, genial nature and admirable busi- ness administration won the people.
Mr. Keim maintained a handsome city residence at No. 1122 Spruce street. He had been sent abroad as United States Commissioner to the World's Fair held in Vienna, and after the close of the ex- position he spent a year in European travel. During this period he purchased numerous works of art, including valu- able paintings and statues by the masters. These he brought to the Spruce street home as the nucleus of a collection which in time became one of the finest of pri- vate art galleries in the city.
Mr. Keim's summer residence was a beautiful estate at Edgewater Park, New Jersey, bordering on the Delaware river, , where he kept for his private enjoyment a handsome steam yacht. He also owned a farm and shooting box in Maryland. While there on a shooting trip in 1893 he caught a severe cold which developed into pneumonia, and after a short illness he died, on March 10, 1893.
Thus passed the life of a man whose name shines with lustre, even amid the great professional men of his family, and there have been many Keims whose achievements have been most worthy. But, in the Philadelphia business world, no man stood higher in ability or accom- plishment, no man was held in higher esteem, nor had Philadelphia ever a more
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faithful, devoted official. He was the soul of honor and probity, his private life pure, his aims lofty, and in all things he was manly and selfrespecting. He bore an honored name, and left it to his son unsullied by unworthy deeds.
Mr. Keim was twice married, his first wife being Sarah Childs; and on January 30, 1883, he married Elizabeth Archer Thomas, daughter of Joseph Tuley Thom- as and Belinda Jane Mitchell.
KEIM, George de Benneville (4), Man of Affairs, Financier.
Perhaps "there is nothing in a name," but it will be difficult to convince George de Benneville Keim (4) that he has not drawn an inspiration from the fact that behind him there have been generations of ancestors who handed down to him an untarnished name, and from that fact he has felt a responsibility devolving on him to worthily bear it. Although a young man, he has already attained honorable position in the city where family tra- ditions are strong, and exceptional as have been the lives of his sires, none more creditably passed their first thirty years. He is proud of the traditions of his race, proud that he bears a name so honored in Philadelphia's history, and those who know him best are strongest in their faith that in his keeping there will be no lowering of the standards set by the de Bennevilles and Keims of the past.
Years ago a Philadelphia merchant called at the Pierce Business College and stated that he had a good position for a young man of ability, provided he was morally upright and free from the usual habits of young men. The manager con- fessed he could not fill the order, but said, "A young man will graduate this year whom I can recommend as being all which you desire." "Send him to me as
soon as he graduates," said the merchant, and added, after being told his name, "Never mind any other recommendation ; I knew his father, and George de Benne- ville Keim's son must be all right." With such an endorsement the young man en- tered business life, and is already a potent force in Philadelphia's financial world.
George de Benneville Keim, son of George de Benneville and Elizabeth Archer (Thomas) Keim (see preceding narrative), was born at 1122 Spruce street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 27, 1884, and at the age of eight years was deprived of a father's care. After completing courses of classical study, on September 1, 1902, he entered the Pierce Business College, Philadelphia, whence he was graduated February 26, 1904. He at once entered the employ of E. K. Janu- ary & Son, leather merchants, where he quickly demonstrated his quality and ad- vanced to a position of trust. He spent four years with his first employer, who regarded him so highly that in the fourth year he called him into the office and said, "George, you have advanced just as far with me as it is possible to go. I am going to pay you three months' salary and want you to at once begin looking for a position which has a greater future for you." Taking his friend's advice, Mr. Keim left the store and began his search for the right business opening. He had always been impressed with the banking business, and within a week obtained a position with the banking house of Chandler Brothers & Company, situated at that time at Third and Walnut streets, one of Philadelphia's stable financial in- stitutions. From that time forward his rise has been continuous, his present rating been unusually high for a young man to attain in solid conservative Phil- adelphia banking circles. On January I, 1914, he was elected vice-president of Chandler & Company, Inc., bankers; is
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a director of the Quaker City National Bank, the United Fireman's Insurance Company, the Pennsylvania Lighting Company, the Independent Fire Insur- ance Security Company, the Flexitallic Casket Company, the St. Lawrence Se- curities Company, and of Chandler Wil- bor & Company, Inc., of Boston, Massa- chusetts. He is highly regarded by his business associates, and has fairly won the position he holds as a safe, sound, clear-headed, resourceful man of affairs.
Mr. Keim is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, Sons of the Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars, the Colonial Society, Society of the War of 1812, Ba- ronial Order of Runnymede, Huguenot Society of America, Welcome Society, Transatlantic Society, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, German-American So- ciety, and the Historical Society of Bur- lington County, New Jersey. His clubs are the Union League, Racquet and Phil- adelphia Country, all of Philadelphia ; the Recess and National Arts, of New York City; the Maryland, of Baltimore, Mary- land; the Detroit Athletic, of Detroit, Michigan ; Pendennis, of Louisville, Ken- tucky; Westmoreland, of Richmond, Virginia ; and the Metropolitan, of Wash- ington, District of Columbia. In the year 1911 Mr. Keim left home for a trip around the world.
RICHARDSON, Oliver S., Lawyer, Philanthropist.
Oliver Sterling Richardson, of the old firm of Cassidy & Richardson, has been for many years numbered among the best known representatives of the Pittsburgh bar. During the long period of his pro- fessional career the various leading in- terests of his native city have received from Mr. Richardson active and influ- ential encouragement and support.
James Richardson, grandfather of Oliver Sterling Richardson, was a native of Ireland, and a representative of a family which can be traced from one of the retainers of William the Conqueror. Wiry and well-knit frames have always been a characteristic of the men of this race. In 1832 James Richardson emi- grated to the United States, and became a farmer in the Pittsburgh district. He served as justice of the peace, and was one of the prominent men of his time and neighborhood. The name of his wife, whom he married in Ireland, was Mar- garet, and they were the parents of four sons, the eldest of whom was John, men- tioned below. Another was James F. Richardson, who held the office of register of wills of Allegheny county.
(II) John, son of James and Margaret Richardson, was born in 1827, in County Down, Ireland, and was about five years old when brought by his parents to the United States. He received his educa- tion in Pittsburgh and passed his entire after-life in that city. For many years he was engaged in the dry goods business under the firm name of D. Gregg & Com- pany, but retired in the seventies, then becoming connected with the manufac- ture of fire-brick. With this line of in- dustry he was associated to the close of his life, and during that time had a large trade with the many manufacturing com- panies of Pittsburgh who needed his product. Mr. Richardson was a Repub- lican, and served as councilman of Se- wickley. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church, in which for forty years he held the office of elder. He mar- ried Mary, born in Steubenville, Ohio, daughter of Hugh Sterling, a merchant of that town, and a member of one of its old families. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson were the parents of the following chil- dren : Oliver Sterling, mentioned below;
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Harry M., connected with the A. M. Byers Company, Pittsburgh, died in Au- gust, 1912; Frank E., president of the Pittsburgh Forge and Iron Company; and Charles, also connected with the Pittsburgh Forge and Iron Company. John Richardson died in Pittsburgh, Feb- ruary 6, 1912, leaving a most honorable record, and his widow passed away on October 12, 1914. Like her husband, Mrs. Richardson was a member of the United Presbyterian church, and took an active part in its benevolences.
(III) Oliver Sterling, son of John and Mary (Sterling) Richardson, was born March 24, 1855, in Allegheny City, now North Side, Pittsburgh, and received his preparatory education in the public schools of his native place. Subse- quently he entered the Western Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh, and in 1872 graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For two years thereafter he was engaged in busi- ness, but at the end of that time took up the study of law under the preceptorship of C. W. Robb and S. A. McClung, and in 1879, on motion of the latter, was ad- mitted to the. bar of Allegheny county. At the outset of his practice, Mr. Rich- ardson formed a partnership with the late Edward T. Cassidy, under the firm name of Cassidy & Richardson. In 1901 the connection was dissolved by the death of Mr. Cassidy, and since that time Mr. Richardson has practiced alone, using the old firm name. His work is in the field of general civil practice and includes all courts. His standing, both with the members of the profession and the gen- eral public, is deservedly high, and he ranks among the prominent attorneys of his native city.
While taking no specially active part in politics, Mr. Richardson is a steadfast advocate of Republican principles, and
has served as burgess of Sewickley, the suburb where he resides. He is a direc- tor of the Sewickley National Bank, and in former years held directorships in vari- ous concerns. His clubs are the Du- quesne and Allegheny Country. Taking an active interest in philanthropic work, he serves as vice-president of the Hos- pital Cot Club of Sewickley Valley. He is an adherent of the United Presbyterian church.
In the leisure intervals of his busy life, Mr. Richardson has sought rest and re- cuperation in travel, visiting the greater part of the United States and most of the countries of Europe, and extending his wanderings to Alaska, Mexico and Yuca- tan. Some of his impressions of travel he has recorded in a number of very in- teresting articles which have appeared from time to time in various periodicals. He is a man of dignified appearance and courteous manners, firm and inflexible whenever a principle is involved-the typical lawyer and gentleman.
Mr. Richardson has been true to his profession and his city. As a member of the bar he has helped to uphold its stand- ards and its dignity, and as a Pitts- burgher by birth and life-long residence he has loyally labored for the strengthen- ing and advancement of the best and most vital interests of the metropolis of Pennsylvania.
GROVE, Henry S.,
Head of Great Shipbuilding Industry.
From the age of seventeen years, Henry S. Grove, now executive head of the greatest of shipbuilding plants on the Dela- ware, the William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, has been actively engaged in mercantile and manu- facturing life. After four years initial ex- perience with his honored father as a
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manufacturer of linseed oil and foreign shipping merchant, he became a member of the firm, succeeding at his father's death to the sole ownership. From that time forward he has been one of the busi- ness men of the United States who have won honorable title as "Captains of In- dustry," not through manipulation of cor- porations to their detriment, but as an upbuilding and constructive captain in whose wake prosperity has followed. The crowning act of his career has been the rehabilitation of "Cramps" by moderniz- ing the ship yard, the principal factor in the company's business, and placing it in a position stronger than ever in its his- tory, glorious as was its past. The truest estimate of Mr. Grove's executive ability can be gained from his remarkable suc- cess at "Cramps," as shipbuilding is an extremely difficult field, even under the most favorable conditions. He assumed control, saddled with an enormous debt, the confidence of investors largely lost, and the prestige of the great plant sadly impaired. But in ten years, against al- most insuperable odds, he placed it in its present strong position, an achievement in which he may take just pride. "Cramps" is peculiarly a Philadelphia enterprise, but in a sense the whole nation feels an in- terest and a pride in its greatness, for per- haps one-half of the vessels constituting the American navy first glided from the ways to their first dip in their native element from Cramps' ship yards on the Delaware in Philadelphia. He comes from a family of strong, upright, honor- able business men, and it is his pride that none of the Grove name, even during the panics of the nineteenth century, allowed an obligation to go unpaid.
Henry S. Grove is a son of Conrad S. Grove, whose father entered mercantile business in 1790, and among other in- terests had linseed oil mills on Perki-
omen and Cobb creeks. Conrad S. Grove continued the manufacture of linseed oil, and in addition engaged in the East India trade. It was to that business that Henry S. Grove was introduced at the age of seventeen years.
Henry S. Grove, son of Conrad S. and Clara (Styer) Grove, was born in Phila- delphia, September 4, 1848. He completed his studies at the age of seventeen, and at once engaged in his father's business. At the age of twenty-one he was ad- mitted a partner, an association that con- tinued until the death of Conrad S. Grove, when the son succeeded to the sole own- ership and management. Soon after be- coming sole head he found that his busi- ness was being seriously interfered with by the competition of western linseed oil makers, who from the location of their mills near the flax raisers of the west were severely injuring the eastern mills. In 1875 there were seventeen mills manu- facturing linseed oil in the Eastern States, in 1885 there were but four, one of these the Grove mill at Philadelphia, being one of the most important. Mr. Grove saw but one way to save his business from extermination, and he began his work of defence by forming an alliance with seven other manufacturers, all located in the west. Out of this combination of interest grew the Linseed Oil Trust, the second so-called "Trust" to be formed in the United States. Mr. Grove was elected president of the resulting corporation in 1887, the combination expanding from the original eight mills until it included thirty- four mills in the district, all, with the exception of the Grove mill in Philadel- phia, located in the territory bounded by Sioux City, Iowa ; Kansas City, Missouri ; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Piqua, Ohio. This placed control so overwhelm- ingly in western hands that in 1888 Mr. Grove, after finding the differences be-
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tween himself and the other officials could not be adjusted, resigned his office of president and withdrew.
He was practically out of business for a year, then reentered the western field in connection with the Colorado Coal and Iron Company. He had friends with large interests in that company, and it was at their solicitation that he consented to represent them in an investigation of the various coal mines, iron furnaces, rail mills, merchant bar mills, town sites, water works and coke ovens, owned by the company. The company was an im- portant one, being the means employed by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company to develop the commercial in- terests of Colorado. Mr. Grove himself became financially interested in the com- pany, was elected its president, and suc- cessfully managed its affairs until the summer of 1892, when the company sold out to the Colorado Fuel Company.
After the sale was consummated, Mr. Grove returned to Philadelphia, soon afterwards sailing for Europe, where he spent several months in much needed rest from business cares. On his return to the United States he was engaged by the creditors of the Washington Mills Com- pany of Gloucester, New Jersey, to take charge of their interests and represent them in the management. Here Mr. Grove again demonstrated his quality as a constructive captain of industry, and the restoration of the fortunes of the company was accomplished. A new cotton yarn mill was erected on the prop- erty and incorporated as the Argo Mills Company, of which company Mr. Grove was elected president.
In 1903 the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, which at one time employed between eight thousand and nine thou- sand men, became financially involved, having a floating debt of four and one PA-Vol VII-20
quarter millions. This plant, which had built so many of the United States war vessels and great vessels employed in the arts of peace, could not be allowed to perish, and public-spirited financiers of New York and Philadelphia came to the rescue, and the great plant founded in 1830 was enabled to continue its useful- ness to the country and to the world. This was done by the formation of a syndicate which raised money to pay off the floating debt by the issuance of twenty-year serial notes. A reorganiza- tion was effected, Henry S. Grove being elected a director of the company, the other members of the board all being strangers to him. But shortly afterward, on October 1, 1903, he was elected presi- dent of the company, a position he yet fills. With the assumption of the presi- dency, Mr. Grove began the great work of restoring the plant to its previous popu- larity and usefulness. He developed a profitable line of hydraulic engine build- ing, creating practically a new industry at the plant, which has been developed until "Cramps" leads the whole country in hydraulic work. The Kensington Ship- yard and Brass Foundry business was de- veloped, and in 1910 the Federal Steel Company, a steel casting plant at Ches- ter, Pennsylvania, with a capacity of seven hundred and fifty tons of steel castings monthly, was purchased. But the great factor in the company's busi- ness had ever been the ship yard, and this Mr. Grove thoroughly modernized and brought to a height of greatest efficiency. The glory of the plant has been fully restored, and has for a long time been operated at its full capacity. The financial equilibrium has been completely restored and suitable returns made to in- vestors in the company's securities.
Soon after becoming president, the Sultan of Turkey. Abdul Hamed, con- ferred upon Mr. Grove the Order of the
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Medjidia, for services rendered in build- ing the Turkish cruiser "Medjidia." A year later, in 1905, Mr. Grove spent several months in Russia, negotiating for the building and sale of several war vessels. He was successful, but financial difficul- ties arose, causing the Russian Govern- ment to postpone. He also visited Great Britain and other countries in connection with foreign shipbuilding contracts, and became widely known in maritime coun- tries as a builder of ships. But "Cramps" largest customers are in the United States, and a constant procession of ships have passed from their yard down the Delaware, flying the American flag. That so high a degree of success has been re- stored to the plant, and for the great advance made in the past thirteen years, greatest credit is due the untiring, en- ergetic, capable, chief executive, Henry S. Grove, who has faced severe odds, but with splendid courage has won a great success.
Mr. Grove has assumed other impor- tant executive responsibilities, and in all has proven the same wise capable head. Until 1907 he was vice-president of the Continental Cotton Oil Company, and is the present executive head of the William H. Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, the Argo Mills Com- pany, the American Laurenti Company, the I. P. Morris Company Iron Works, and is a director of the Kensington Ship- yard Company.
While he had wide business experience prior to his election to the presidency of "Cramps," and had won the high reputa- tion which caused him to be chosen to lead the work of rehabilitation, Mr. Grove was entirely without knowledge of ship or engine building. But, as he announced on taking charge, "concentration and economy of effort" has been the guiding principle of his policy, and that policy is the one adopted in the management of
the varied companies of which he is presi- dent. He is intensely practical, thor- oughly in earnest, and "does with his might whatsoever his hands find to do." He is typical of all that is best in Ameri- can business life, and has a record of use- fulness as a citizen most creditable. His favorite recreation is golf, but the joys of yachting are well-known to him. His clubs are the Union of New York City, the Metropolitan of Washington, D. C., the Racquet, Union League, Corinthian Yacht and Country of Philadelphia.
Mr. Grove married, in 1875, Miss Helen Peterson. Children: Henry S. (2), born December 21, 1876, who died March 22, 1906, holding a responsible position with the Philadelphia banking house, Drexel & Company; and Walter Howard, born June II, 1888.
BELL, William Wallace,
Financier.
William Wallace Bell, assistant cashier of the Union National Bank of Pitts- burgh, is a financier who can look back upon more than forty years' continuous connection with the banking system of the Iron City. Mr. Bell is a representa- tive of a family 'which has been for a century and a half resident in Pennsyl- vania, and the members of which in the successive generations have done much for the development of the resources and industries of the Keystone State.
(I) Robert Bell, great-great-grand- father of William Wallace Bell, emigrated from England to the province of Vir- ginia, settling on Patterson creek, on the south branch of the Potomac river, and engaging in farming and stock-raising near the present site of the town of Rom- ney. In 1765 he travelled on horseback to Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, for purposes of exploration, and returned to Virginia with the intention of removing
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Ж. . Bell
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his family to Pennsylvania and there making his home. Mr. Bell married, be- fore coming to the colonies, Agnes Flem- ing, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and they were the parents of eight sons: John, James, mentioned below; Charles, Wil- liam, David, Robert, Samuel and Joseph. Soon after his return from Pennsylvania, Robert Bell, the father, was killed by a fall from his horse.
(II) James Bell, son of Robert and Agnes (Fleming) Bell, when a boy of ten years was captured by the Indians, and held until he was returned in consequence of a treaty with the whites. He married Mary Newkirk, who was of Dutch de- scent, and among their nine children was James, mentioned below. James Bell, the father, died at the age of eighty-five on the farm he purchased in Allegheny county, and the house which he erected and in which he breathed his last is still standing.
(III) James (2) Bell, son of James (1) and Mary (Newkirk) Bell, was born in 1787, and was all his life engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. He married, December 10, 1812, Elizabeth, daughter of John and Grizzy (MacGee) Fairley, and eleven children were born to them, among whom was James W., mentioned below. James Bell, the elder, died October 27, 1847, his wife having passed away November 10, 1843.
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