USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 8
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Pennsylvania militia. He became a mem- ber of Lodge No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons, Wilkes-Barre, August 2, 1819, and was senior warden of the lodge in 1822, and worshipful master in 1825, suc- ceeding in the latter office the Hon. Gar- rick Mallery, and being followed in 1826 by the Hon. Andrew Beaumont, of Wilkes-Barre.
Colonel Harris Jenkins was married, January 5, 1808, to Mary Booth (born February 14, 1790), and they became the parents of the following named children : I. Harriet Lucinda. 2. John K. 3. Jane E. 4. William. 5. Jabez Hyde. 6. Stephen B. 7. Annette. 8. Mary B.
Jabez Hyde Jenkins (born November 6, 1815; died January II, 1850) was married in 1835 to Mary (born December 22, 1816), second child of Theophilus and Betsey (Smith) Larned, of Wyoming. Theophilus Larned was born at Killingly, Connecticut, December 26, 1791, the son of Theophilus and the grandson of Eben- ezer Larned. The last named was one of the original proprietors of the Susque- hanna Company, and his name appears as one of the grantees in the Indian deed of 1754 for the conveyance of the Wyoming lands. At the time of the Lexington alarm in April, 1775, Ebenezer Larned served as a private in Captain Joseph Cady's company of the Eleventh Regi- ment, Connecticut Militia. He died at Killingsly, December 6, 1779. Theophi- lus Larned, Jr., was married, October 23, 1814, to Betsey Smith (daughter of David Smith and Lucy (Gore) Smith, a daugh- ter of Obadiah Gore) and they resided at Wyoming until April, 1840, when they removed with their eleven children to Huntington township, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. August 9, 1821, Mr. Larned became a member of Lodge No. 61, Free and Accepted Masons, Wilkes-Barre. He died at Huntington, March 2, 1873, and his widow died there November 17, 1877.
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Jabez Hyde and Mary (Larned) Jen- kins were the parents of the following- named children : I. John Kirby. 2. Charles W. 3. Helen D. 4. Evelyn M., who, as previously noted, became the wife of Joseph J. Schooley. The children of Joseph J. and Evelyn M. (Jenkins) Schooley are: I. Fannie, who is the wife of John B. Russell, formerly of Wilkes- Barre, and now of New York City. 2. Harry Barnum Schooley, who, as pre- viously noted, was born at Wyoming, October 5, 1869. When quite young his parents removed to West Pittston, Penn- sylvania, where he attended the public schools until he entered Wyoming Semi- nary at Kingston. Upon completing his course of studies there he began his busi- ness life as a bookkeeper in the general store of Simpson & Watkins, at Duryea, Pennsylvania, where he continued until October, 1891. Then he was a book- keeper in the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre until 1897, when he began business for himself as a dealer in invest- ment securities. He is still extensively engaged in this business, and is also the owner of valuable and remunerative real- estate holdings in Wilkes-Barre and else- where.
Mr. Schooley is secretary and treasurer of the Adder Machine Company of King- ston, Pennsylvania; a director (since 1906) of the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre; one of the corporators of the Wilkes-Barre Railway Company in 1909, and since then a director of the com- pany ; a director of the Raub Coal Com- pany. He is a member of the Pennsyl- vania Society of Sons of the Revolution; the Pennsylvania Society (New York City) ; the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre; the Westmoreland Club, Franklin Club, Wyoming Valley Country Club, and St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Church, Wilkes-Barre.
LATHROP, William Arthur,
Leader in Anthracite Coal Industry.
William Arthur Lathrop was born in Springville, Susquehanna county, Penn- sylvania, August 4, 1854. He descended on both paternal and maternal sides from old New England families, his paternal ancestor being the Rev. John Lothrop, the noted divine of Scituate and Barn- stable, Massachusetts. The English home of his family was Cherry Burton, a parish four miles from Lowthorpe, East Riding of Yorkshire. The family line is traced back to John Lowthroppe, a gentleman of extensive landed estate, great-grandfather of the Rev. John Loth- rop, who was baptized December 20, 1584, and died November 8, 1653. New Eng- land continued the family home for four generations-Samuel, son of Rev. John Lothrop; Izrael, son of Samuel Lothrop; Benjamin, son of Izrael Lathrop; and Benjamin (2), son of Benjamin Lathrop. In the fifth American generation, Asa, son of Benjamin (2) and Martha (Adgate) Lathrop, located in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, September 22, 1803. He married Alice Fox, who bore him seven children, of whom James was the eldest son. James Lathrop, born in New London county, Connecticut, June 17, 1785, died in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1854. He married Lydia E. Burchard, also of New England parentage. His son, Dr. Israel Burchard Lathrop, was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1821, died in Springville, February 19, 1900. He was a graduate of the Albany (New York) Medical College, and for fifty years was the leading physician of Susquehanna county, a high type of man- hood. He married Mary Elizabeth Bolles.
William Arthur Lathrop was the sec- ond son of Dr. Israel Lathrop. He studied in the Springville schools, then entered Lehigh University, where he graduated
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NA Lathrop
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with the degree of Civil Engineer in 1875. During his professional work on leaving the university he continued his studies, and was later given the degree of Engi- neer of Mines by the university.
After graduation he entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company as civil engineer under the late Robert H. Sayre, then chief engineer of that road, continuing in this work until 1879, when he became associated with Major Irving A. Stearns, at Wilkes-Barre, in general mining and civil engineering work. They remained in business together until 1881, when Mr. Lathrop assumed the manage- ment of the late Joseph Wharton's iron mines in northern New Jersey. A few years later he was sent by several Phil- adelphia capitalists into the then virgin Pocahontas coal field in Tazewell county, West Virginia. He made a thorough in- spection of the property, then a wilder- ness, and planned and opened up the coal mines and built the town of Pocahontas. This is today one of the leading bitumi- nous fields in the United States. Mr. Lathrop remained in West Virginia until 1885, when he became superintendent of the bituminous operations of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company at Snowshoe, Center county, Pennsylvania. In Febru- ary, 1888, he returned to Wilkes-Barre as general superintendent of all the coal producing properties of the Lehigh Val- ley Coal Company. He was then thirty- four years of age. He continued with this company until 1902, when he was elected president of the Webster Coal and Coke Company and the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Company. These companies have one of the largest reserves of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania. In 1907, Mr. Lath- rop was elected president of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company and its subsidiary companies-the Lehigh & New England Railroad Company and the Alliance Coal Mining Company. This
parent company is the oldest of the an- thracite producing companies, and he re- mained as its head up to his death in 1912. Mr. Lathrop was heavily interested in bituminous operations in West Vir- ginia, being president of the Lathrop Coal Company, the Jed Coal and Coke Com- pany, and the Columbia Collieries Com- pany in that region. He was also presi- dent of the Lehigh Navigation Electric Company, the Allentown Terminal Com- pany, the Delaware Division Canal Com- pany, and the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton Railroad Company. He was a director of the Lehigh & Hudson Railroad Company, Tresckow Railroad Company, Old Ban- gor Slate Company, the Allentown Slate Company and the Vulcan Iron Works. He was a director of the Peoples' Bank of Wilkes-Barre and the Fourth Street Na- tional Bank of Philadelphia and the Guar- antee Title & Trust Company of Phila- delphia. He was a member of the Insti- tute of Mining and Metallurgy, and was a vice-president of the American Insti- tute of Mining Engineers.
Mr. Lathrop was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Penn- sylvania Society of New York, the Engi- neers' Club and the Railroad Club of New York; the Union League, University and Art clubs in Philadelphia; and West- moreland Club, Wyoming Valley Coun- try Club and Wyoming Valley Historical Society of Wilkes-Barre.
Mr. Lathrop married (first) in 1875, Lois J. Nace, who died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the same year. He mar- ried (second) March 21, 1881, Harriet Eliza Williams, born July 26, 1856, daughter of Charles Freeman and Eliza (Campbell) Williams, of New York City. Mrs. Lathrop survives her husband, residing at the beautiful family home in Dorranceton. She is a descendant of Richard Williams, of Taunton, Massa- chusetts, and of John Howland, a "May-
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flower" passenger, and of William Camp- bell, of Glasgow, Scotland, who with his daughter Eliza came to the United States about 1794. Children of William A. and Harriet E. Lathrop: Helen, born March .12, 1887, died in infancy; Helen, born April 24, 1889, married Dr. L. M. Thomp- son, and resides in Dorranceton, Pennsyl- vania.
No sketch of Mr. Lathrop's career can be complete without mentioning his many achievements in the coal mining industry, his life long connection with and service for his alma mater and his widespread reputation as a maker of mine managers. The major portion of Mr. Lathrop's busi- ness life was spent in the operating and executive branches of the anthracite coal producing companies. In an address be- fore the American Institute of Mining Engineers by Mr. E. W. Parker, Chief Statistician of the United States Geo- logical Survey, Mr. Lathrop was coupled with the late Eckley Brinton Coxe, of Drifton, as the two greatest figures in the anthracite mining industry. Mr. Lath- rop laid the basic foundation for the present organization of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, which today ranks first in both efficiency and production of all the anthracite companies. He built the Pros- pect breaker of the above company, which was the first of the modern large opera- tions and still holds the high record for the largest annual production of any col- liery in the anthracite region. Mr. Lath- rop took charge of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company in 1906, when the equipment and organization were anti- quated and inefficient, and in four years he completely remodeled and equipped the operations so that the production of coal was increased one hundred per cent. and the value per mine car of coal mined and prepared, was increased about forty per cent. He financed, built, and com- pleted a thirty-seven mile extension to
the Lehigh & New England railroad, join- ing the main line to the mines of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and directly originating an enormous tonnage of coal for the railroad company. He brought the canal operation of the company from a regular annual loss to a small annual profit. He built a beautiful clubhouse at the mines for the housing and comfort of the young engineers, and built comfortable and pleasant homes for his department heads, superintendents, and foremen. He conceived, financed, and built a modern central electric power station, equipped with the largest hori- zontal turbines and electric generators then built-together with a high tension tower transmission line from the mines down through the cement, slate, and in- dustrial regions of the Lehigh and Dela- ware river valleys, extending over fifty miles in length. This enormous under- taking was only partially complete at the time of his death, but has since been put into successful operation and is today transmitting electric energy, produced at low cost at the mines with small sized coal a few years ago considered worth- less, over the entire region between Mauch Chunk and Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Mr. Lathrop's plan, already worked out at the time of his death, to finally transmit this cheap power to Phil- adelphia and New York, will in all likeli- hood be realized, as the project so far has proven fully as successful as his esti- mates.
A mine fire of small proportions had started in 1859 in the Summit Hill basin of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany, and during the whole period from 1859 to 1910 the company had fought this fire without controlling its progress towards their main Panther Valley basin, containing their great coal reserve of four hundred million tons. The proximity of this fire to the main basin became so
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alarming in 1910 that, during the illness of his general superintendent at the mines, Mr. Lathrop came from Philadelphia and assumed personal charge of this work. After careful study of the situation he conceived the idea of excavating a twelve- foot ditch in front of the advancing fire from the surface down through the coal vein and directly across the basin. The work, encompassed with the greatest difficulties and dangers due to the prox- imity of the advancing fire, was accom- plished in four months time, nearly five hundred men being employed, and the work progressing night and day. After the excavation was completed, the ditch was flushed full with clay and concrete cross walls constructed. The progress of the fire was successfully checked, and the danger to the great reserve of coal in the main basin eliminated. Mr. Lathrop read a paper on this work before the American Institute of Mining Engineers at their Wilkes-Barre meeting in 191I.
As a devoted and active alumnus of the university, Mr. Lathrop served Lehigh's interests faithfully and ably throughout his whole professional life. He served as alumni trustee for many years, and was vice-president of the Alumni Association for one term. In 1904 he was elected a trustee of the university, and on the death of Robert H. Sayre he succeeded him as president of the board of trustees of the university. Mr. Lathrop quietly helped many young men financially, so that they were able to gain an education at Lehigh, and he associated with himself many Lehigh men in his professional enter- prises.
Perhaps no one in the anthracite coal business had a broader knowledge of men and affairs than Mr. Lathrop. He has been called "A Maker of Mine Man- agers." He associated with himself many young engineers, and it was his policy to watch them carefully, and when he saw
willingness, talent, ability, and character, he proceeded to develop the man into one of his operating heads. There are today very many men at the executive or oper- ating helms of the anthracite and bitumi- nous companies who are proud of the fact that they are "Boss Lathrop's Boys." Mr. Lathrop combined the faculty of instilling into his subordinates not only the idea that they must serve faithfully and work hard to succeed from a busi- ness standpoint, but also, and most essen- tial of all, that they must do it to justify his trust in them. He gained his results from his men, more from the fact of their personal affection for him than from material gains or advancement to be expected. He insisted on going into the minutest details of the varied mining problems of his companies, and in this way he became known to all the foremen and assistants as well as department heads, and there is no name more looked up to and respected in the mining regions of Pennsylvania than that of Mr. Lathrop.
BRUNDAGE, Asa,
Lawyer, Man of Sterling Character.
There are businesses and there are professions in which the measure of a man's success may be determined by the amount and the value of material goods he has gathered to himself, but con- spicuous among those callings in which such a standard would be basely false and utterly misleading, is the law. True, great fortunes have been amassed from legal activity, but in the law a man might strive with diligence, might reap honor and glory from high intellectual endow- ments, might rise to prominence among his fellow practitioners, and still neglect entirely that financial watchfulness that brings material independence. Such a lawyer was Asa Brundage, who for sixty
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years followed the legal profession with tended the public schools in the vicinity brilliant success, and who at his death . of his birthplace, when, with Dr. J. B. was the oldest member of the Luzerne county bar. For him the upholding of right, the establishing of justice and the punishment of legal offenders were the paramount objects in all litigation, and. careless of his reward, he labored to these ends throughout the long years of his professional activity. The esteem and respect of his legal brethren was ever his ; by bench and bar and the public he was recognized by his stern integrity, his unswerving loyalty to the good and the just, and he was known as a man who, in all relations of life, great or small, con- sequential or unimportant, walked nobly erect. Thornton and forty slaves, he departed for Jackson, Mississippi. At Centenary College, near Jackson, at Brandon, he continued his studies, graduating after five years with valedictorian's honors in a class of two hundred. He returned to the State of his birth after completing his classical education, and in the law office of Colonel Henry B. Wright began his preparation for a legal career, gaining admission to the bar in 1849. Within the six years following his beginning legal practice, he had gained such a strong position in the county and had acquired such worthy legal reputation that, when becoming the Democratic candidate for Asa Brundage was a descendant of Revolutionary ancestry, his grandfather, Captain Israel Brundage, coming from his English home prior to the Revolution in company with his two brothers, Cap- tain Israel gaining his commission in that conflict through his services to the colo- nial cause. Israel Brundage settled in New Jersey, and at Bloomfield, in that State, Moses S. Brundage, father of Asa Brundage, was born. Moses S. Brun- dage fought with New Jersey troops in the second war with Great Britain, and after its close moved to Conyngham, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. Here he engaged in mercantile operations, pros- pering in business and becoming one of the leading citizens of his community. His wife, Jane Broadhead, was a daugh- ter of Judge Richard Broadhead, of Dutch ancestry, and a sister of Hon. Richard Broadhead, Jr., United States Senator from Pennsylvania. district attorney of Luzerne county in 1855, he was elected, defeating Judge W. W. Ketchum. Still further public honor came to him in his nomination on the Democratic ticket for Congressman in 1880, but, finding that he could not con- scientiously and honorably lend his sup- port to certain issues with which his party was then indissolubly identified, he withdrew from the congressional race, his manly action adding to, rather than de- tracting from, his reputation. To the public service he brought those fine quali- ties of mind and ability that had distin- guished him in private practice, and as a servant of the people he compromised not one whit more with the forces of wrong than when his personal honor alone was at stake. He stood the tests of years with noteworthy success, and in mind and body remained vigorous and alert until approaching death's door, when bodily ills were less easily resisted. Luzerne county had in him a loyal son, one whose fibre made strong the fabric of citizen- ship, and who was worthy of the honor that so lovingly surrounds his memory.
Asa, son of Moses S. and Jane (Broad- head) Brundage, was born at Conyngham, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, March 22, 1827, died at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- vania, December 7, 1911, aged eighty-four years. Until his fourteenth year he at-
Asa Brundage married, in 1853. Frances Bulkley, daughter of Jonathan
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Frederick J. Hugmaier
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and Elizabeth (Simmons) Bulkley, her father coming to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- vania, from Colchester, Connecticut, in 1808, and becoming a large landowner of the Wyoming Valley. Asa and Frances (Bulkley) Brundage were the parents of two children: Richard B., who died in 1910; and Mary, a resident of Wilkes- Barre.
STEGMAIER, Frederick J., Prominent Business Man.
The esteem in which Frederick J. Steg- maier, of Wilkes-Barre, was held was lovingly expressed at his funeral by hun- dreds of employees, intimate friends, and acquaintances. Lodges, clubs, boards of the various enterprises with which he was connected, sent delegates to pay their tributes of love and honor to the memory of a man whose life was rich in acts of charity and kindness. During his lifetime one of the freest of givers to charity, his good deeds did not end with his death, but by his will churches, hos- pitals, homes, and retreats were fur- nished with means to carry on and to extend their beneficences.
Frederick J. was a son of Charles Steg- maier, who was born in Gmund, Würt- temberg, Germany, October 7, 1821, died in Los Angeles, California, August II, 1906. At the age of fifteen years Charles Stegmaier was apprenticed to a brewer, became an expert, and until 1849 fol- lowed his calling in his native land. In the latter year he came to the United States, where he found employment with the brewing firm of Engle & Wolf, of Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania. He remained in Philadelphia until 1851, when he engaged with John Reichard, who sent him to Wilkes-Barre, where he superintended the brewing of the first German lager made in the Wyoming Valley. Later he was in the employ of George Lauer in
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, but in 1857 he returned to Wilkes-Barre, where he began business for himself in a small brewing plant on Hazel street. He was successful, and later formed a partner- ship with George C. Baer under the firm name of Baer & Stegmaier. The panic of 1873 brought about the financial down- fall of the firm, but soon afterward Mr. Stegmaier resumed business with his son, Christian C., as partner, under the firm name of Stegmaier & Son. The former prosperity of the firm was soon regained, and the business was so largely increased that in 1895 the Stegmaier Brewing Com- pany was incorporated with Charles Stegmaier as its first president, an office he held until his death. He was most progressive in his methods, and was not only a successful business man but was kindly hearted, charitable, and public- spirited. He loved the Fatherland, but he fully imbibed the spirit and principles of his adopted land and was an American to the core. He had many business inter- ests of importance, and at his death was a director of the First National Bank of Wilkes-Barre. He married, February 4, 1852, at St. Mary's parsonage, Wilkes- Barre, Rev. E. A. Shaughnessey officiat- ing, Kathleen Baer, who bore him five children : Charles J., Christian E., George J., Frederick J., and Louise. Two of the sons, Charles J. and Christian E., survive, residents of Wilkes-Barre. The daughter, Louise, married Philip Forve, of Los Angeles, California.
Frederick J., son of Charles and Kath- leen (Baer) Stegmaier, was born in Wilkes-Barre, July 27, 1861, and died at his home on South Franklin street, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1915. He was educated in the public schools, St. Nicholas Parochial School, and Wyoming Seminary, being a gradu- ate of the last named institution. He then became actively associated with his
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father in business, and at the death of Charles Stegmaier, the father, Frederick J. Stegmaier succeeded him as president of the Stegmaier Brewing Company. It was through the foresighted planning and energy of the sons of Charles Stegmaier that the business founded by the father was developed until it became one of the largest and best equipped plants of its kind in the country. In addition to his responsibilities as head of the company, Frederick J. Stegmaier had other large and important interests. He was for many years president of the South Side Bank, a position ill health caused him to relinquish. He was a director of the First National Bank, director of the Fen- wick Lumber Company, director of the Stegmaier Realty Company, and largely interested with his brothers and Abram Nesbitt in the Wales Adding Machine Company. When the last company was threatened with absorption by rivals, these men fought for a number of years to retain the company as a separate plant manufacturing an independent machine, and finally succeeded. Mr. Stegmaier was interested in many other projects, but failing health during his latter years com- pelled him to withdraw from active par- ticipation in many. For four years he lived under the constant care of his phy- sician and knew that his days were numbered, but he neither lost courage nor became despondent. He passed the last winter of his life in the south, but after his return spent nearly every day in his office, literally "dying in the harness."
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