USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. X > Part 20
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James Fairman, a lineal descendant of Thomas Fairman, was born February IO, 1808, in Pittsburgh, of which city his father had become a resident about 1800. James Fairman conducted a harness shop for many years, afterward engaging in the furniture and undertaking business. He was a Republican, and a man whose word carried weight. Mr. Fairman mar- ried Julia Keller and their children were: Jane, died in infancy; Emeline, married John R. Richardson; Jane (2), married John White, and is now deceased; Kin- ley, deceased; Henry, deceased; Joseph W., deceased; John, deceased; Julia A., mentioned below; Elizabeth, married Henry Rhoads; Edwin F., deceased ; Ella M., married H. M. Brandon; and Samuel Reed.
Julia A. Fairman, daughter of James and Julia (Keller) Fairman, was born June 5, 1841, in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, and became the wife of John K. Blair, as stated above.
BLAIR, Reed Fairman, Business Man.
The Pittsburgh of to-day has no more aggressive business man than Reed Fair- man Blair, head of the firm of Reed F. Blair & Company, iron and steel brok-
ers. Mr. Blair's career has been an ex- tremely active one, inasmuch as he was associated at different times with both the Carnegie interests and his present department of activity, having been iden- tified with the latter for upward of twenty years.
Reed Fairman Blair was born October 10, 1868, in Allegheny City, and is a son of John K. and Julia A. (Fairman) Blair. Reed Fairman Blair was educated in the public schools of his native city and after- ward studied telegraphy. In this art he attained a degree of proficiency which qualified him, at the age of seventeen, to become private telegraph operator for Thomas M. Carnegie, then chairman of Carnegie Brothers & Company, Limited. His next position was that of assistant cashier with the same company, being then but nineteen years of age, after which he was employed in the auditing and cost department. At the end of two years he became private secretary to William L. Abbott, chairman of Carnegie Phipps & Company, Limited. This very responsi- ble position was retained by Mr. Blair for five years, during which time he proved himself admirably adapted to its important and exacting requirements.
In 1894, when the Carnegie Steel Com- pany was organized, Mr. Blair resigned his position and engaged in the iron and steel brokerage business under the firm name of Reed F. Blair & Company. From the beginning the concern has been iden- tified with the ingot mold and iron casting industry, and for a number of years has looked after the sale of almost all the ingot molds in the United States. The firm also represents the Black Lake Chrome and Asbestos Company, the Do- minion Chrome Company of Canada, and the Brier Hill Coke Company, as well as blast furnaces turning out all grades of pig iron and all the better known alloys
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used in steel manufacture. The fact that Mr. Blair has been for twenty years head of such a firm as this, and that during that time its affiliations and transactions have steadily strengthened and enlarged, is amply sufficient evidence of his admin- istrative and executive ability.
Beyond the duty of voting Mr. Blair has not, thus far, identified himself with politics, though always taking an active and helpful interest in public affairs and doing all in his power to further pro- gress and improvement in his own com- munity. He is a director of the Marshall Foundry Company, for which his firm acts as sales agent. In the Masonic order he has attained to the thirty-second degree, and is a noble of the Mystic Shrine.
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Often is it said that a man looks what he is. Most emphatically could this be said of Reed Fairman Blair. Every line in his face denotes the administrator and the executant, the man of thought and of action. The expression is that of quiet force, of a nature undemonstrative, per- haps, but capable of sincere and strong attachments, of making friends and also of holding them.
Mr. Blair married, April 7, 1891, Jane Brackenridge Adams, of Franklin, Penn- sylvania, daughter of Thomas Daft and Annie (Gazzam) Brackenridge, and granddaughter of Hugh Henry Bracken- ridge, and this union with a charming and congenial woman has brought him the happiness to be found only under such conditions. Children: Raymond Adams, born January 8, 1892; John K., born March 16, 1895; James Fairman, born February 6, 1897; Jane Bracken- ridge, died in infancy.
The record of this able and astute man of affairs has added to the reputation which his father, in his short life, won for the family name in the business
world. The son, to whom has been granted greater length of days, has caused the honorable history of the two generations to extend over a period of fifty years.
REES, Caradoc, Well-Known Contractor.
This ancient Welsh family name was brought to the Wyoming Valley of Penn- sylvania by Morgan Rees, born in Gla- morganshire, Wales, who came to the United States in 1869, and settled at Frostburg, Maryland. He was then a single man, and after spending two years in the mines at Frostburg, returned to Wales, and married a daughter of that land, Anna Rees. With his bride he came again to Frostburg, which was his home until 1882, then came his removal to Jeanesville, Luzerne county, Pennsyl- vania, where four years were spent in the coal mines, followed by his removal to Nanticoke in 1886. There he continued a coal miner until an injury in the mines compelled him to seek lighter employ- ment. This he found in the grocery bus- iness, and until his death in September, 1915, he was the proprietor of a store in Nanticoke.
This hardy Welsh pioneer was a man of strong character and upright life, a deacon of Bethel Congregational Church in Nanticoke, and for many years a mem- ber of the board of trustees. In Frost- burg he became a charter member of the local Knights of Pythias. He was a man of industry and devoted to his family, taking little part in borough life outside his church. Morgan and Anna Rees were the parents of John, James, Eliza- beth, Idris, Caradoc, of further mention, and William Rees.
Caradoc Rees, son of Morgan and Anna Rees, was born at Frostburg, Mary-
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Ganador Rees
LA IS FratoPical Fad e's
John H. Ricketson
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land, February 27, 1879, but when three years of age was brought to Jeanesville, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and four years later to Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, where his life has since been spent. He attended the public school of both towns, and began his wage-earning activities as a newsboy for the "Nanticoke News." He began mine work as a door tender, and from that most lowly but important duty advanced through the various de- grees of mine promotion until he was rated a capable miner and given an assignment. He continued a miner until 1907, then entered the employ of the E. H. Post Construction Company as fore- man, but a year later returned to mining, and was continuously engaged in that business until 1909. He then became a contractor under his own name, and has since been engaged in the construction of roads, streets, sewers and strippings, in fact general contracting of a similar nature. Since beginning business eleven years ago, in 1907, Mr. Rees has built all the roads in Newport township, and practically all streets and sewers in Nanticoke. He is remarkable for his energy and industry, no contract com- mitted to him ever failing of comple- tion at or before the specified time. He values his reputation as an honorable, reliable contractor, and although a young man is one of the most prominent of the street paving and sewer contractors of the Wyoming Valley. He is a director of the First National Bank of Nanticoke, owns a quarter interest in the famous Tilberry Farm, is an ex-president of the local union, No. 838, of the United Mine Workers of America, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He is very popular with his fellow-men and has a wealth of friends. Mr. Rees is
prominent in the local affairs of the Re- publican party in Nanticoke and Luzerne county in general; has often been sought for office, but never accepted.
Mr. Rees married, April 15, 1903, Olwen Howells, born August 30, 1878, daughter of David and Jane (Jones) Howells, of Welsh descent. Mr. and Mrs. Rees are the parents of Jane, born July 17, 1905; Caradoc (2), February 9, 1907; Ann, Au- gust 29, 1914; Ralph, August 8, 1917.
RICKETSON, John Howland, Attorney, Business Man.
Much as there is of striking and excep- tional interest in the narrative of the life of the late John Howland Ricketson, of Pittsburgh, the feature which, perhaps, impresses most strongly both the biog- rapher and the reader is the fact of what may be styled his dual personality. In early manhood he was a successful law- yer, and during the many years of his maturer life a distinguished representative of the business interests of his home city. With the distinctive qualities of attor- ney and executant, Mr. Ricketson com- bined the attributes of a man of race, a descendant of an ancient and honorable ancestry.
The Ricketson family is one of the old- est in New England and has formed ma- trimonial alliances with the Slocums, Russells and Howlands, all of whom are numbered among the armigerous families of the United States.
John Howland Ricketson was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was a son of Benjamin Tucker and Elizabeth Cowdrey (Warnick) Ricketson. The boy received his earliest education at the Friends' Academy in his native city, sub- sequently attending Mr. Pierce's school at West Newton, Massachusetts. Next he entered Harvard University, graduating
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in 1859 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His room-mates at the university were William Everett, son of Edward Everett, and James Shouler, the historian.
Having chosen as his life-work (so he thought) the profession of the law, Mr. Ricketson pursued his studies in the office of Governor Clifford, at New Bedford, and was admitted to the bar in that city. About 1861 he came to Pittsburgh and practised his profession in association with - Loomis and John Shiras, who later became judge in the Supreme Court. There were not wanting those who pre- dicted for Mr. Ricketson a career having its culmination on the bench, for every- thing seemed to indicate that his chosen profession would bestow on him some of its greatest honors. The future, however, had other things in store for him. After about two years' constantly increasing practice and augmenting reputation, his plan of life was changed, not by any dis- aster or misfortune, but as the result of an exceptionally happy marriage. His father-in-law, Abraham Garrison, head of the famous old house of A. Garrison & Company, had no son to assist and even- tually to succeed him in the business and it was his wish that his son-in-law should act as his co-adjutor. His experienced eye had, no doubt, discerned Mr. Ricket- son's yet undeveloped talents for busi- ness, and it is possible that the young man himself was conscious of powers which had never, so far, been called into action. Be that as it may, he abandoned the law, turning his back upon the bril- liant prospects which seemed to await him, and associated himself with the great concern which had then nearly completed its first quarter of a century.
The firm of A. Garrison & Company, owners of the historic old Pittsburgh foundry, had already led the way in aggressive pioneer work, rendering the
United States independent in the matter of the chilled roll industry by bringing domestic manufacturers to the level of those of foreign lands. After Mr. Ricket- son became connected with the business in the capacity of vice-president, its foun- dations were strengthened and its scope enlarged by the impetus imparted to it by his vitalizing energy and by the wis- dom and perspicacity of his methods. To the amazement of those who believed that his talents lay exclusively in the line of the bench and bar, John Howland Ricket- son, ere many years had elapsed, occu- pied an undisputed place among the most influential leaders of the industrial world of the Metropolis. In 1894, upon the death of his father-in-law, he became president of the company.
Public spirit was always a dominant trait in the character of Mr. Ricketson and this, in conjunction with his admin- istrative ability, was the cause of his being frequently urged to become a can- didate for office. This he steadily refused to do, but in every movement having for its object the advancement of the best interests of his home city he was a leader, and the notable talent as a public speaker which had been part of his equipment for success as a member of the bar was often called into requisition when the Metropo- lis was visited by personages of import- ance. In welcoming and entertaining these guests it was usually Mr. Ricket- son who acted as speaker in representing the city. The most memorable of these occasions occurred in 1872, when Pitts- burgh was visited by President Grant and a number of government officials.
The Bank of Pittsburgh numbered Mr. Ricketson among its directors, and he was one of the founders of the Chamber of Commerce. In the founding of the Duquesne Club he was one of the prime movers, becoming its first president, and
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Toland & Taylor
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he was also one of the founders of the Harvard Club of Pittsburgh, filling the office of president to the close of his life. In the University Club of Pittsburgh and the University Club of New York he was also enrolled. Mr. Ricketson was reared in the Unitarian belief, and was the founder of the first Unitarian church in Pittsburgh. The membership, however, did not increase very rapidly and it was Mr. Ricketson's custom to attend the Protestant Episcopal church with his wife.
The personality of Mr. Ricketson as a man of action is presented more force- fully in the record of his activities than it could be in any description in words. There was, however, another side of his character which was not so conspicuous or so well understood by the general pub- lic as the one to which we have alluded. It was that of the scholar and the man of culture. His naturally superior mind had been enlarged by a liberal education and enriched by the cultivation of refined tastes and broad sympathies in literature and the arts. With those endearing per- sonal qualities which win and hold friends he was richly endowed, and in face and manner he was unmistakably the man of ancient lineage and noble traditions.
Mr. Ricketson married, May 8, 1862, Clementine, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Clement) Garrison, and they became the parents of two sons and two daughters: Oliver G., married Retta, daughter of the late Thomas Carnegie; John Howland, married Anna, daughter of the late C. C. Scaife; Sarah G .; and Mary R., wife of Colonel Herbert J. Slo- cum, United States Army. By his union with a woman of fine mind and rare per- sonal charm, Mr. Ricketson secured for himself nearly forty years of the happi- ness possible only in such companion- ship. His family relations were ideal,
and of his gifts as a host only those privi- leged to enjoy his hospitality can ade- quately speak. In addition to their town residence the family possessed a summer home on Ricketson's Point, Massachu- hetts, the place having been named in honor of the immigrant ancestors who were the first of the white race to settle in that region.
It was at Nonquit, this summer home, that Mr. Ricketson passed away on July 20, 1900, having accomplished more than is usually achieved even in the space of three score and ten years to the limit of which he did not fully attain. As man of affairs, citizen and friend he was mourned even as he deserved.
Among the many tributes offered to Mr. Ricketson's character and work was one from his fellow-directors of the Bank of Pittsburgh which concluded with these words: "In a rare degree he personified the graces of a thorough gentleman 'without fear and without reproach.'"
To the last words of this sentence noth- ing can be added, because the phrase applied to the "very perfect noble knight" furnishes the most life-like description of John Howland Ricketson, true type of the ideal American gentleman.
TAYLOR, Roland Leslie, Financier.
Prominent among the younger genera- tion of business men who are infusing into Philadelphia the element of vigor and enthusiasm is Roland L. Taylor, member of the well-known banking firm of Wil- liam A. Read & Company.
Roland Leslie Taylor was born in Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1868, son of I. J. and Elizabeth Ann (Alkins) Tay- lor. He received his education in the schools of his city, finishing with the class of 1888 of the Philadelphia High School.
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He then spent five years with a large banking and brokerage house, gaining a thorough foundation in securities and financial customs. In 1891 Mr. Taylor went into the trust department of the Real Estate Trust Company, was elected assistant secretary, February 7, 1901 ; was elected vice-president of The Phila- delphia Trust, Safe Deposit and Insur- ance Company, June 13, 1906, which he held until elected president, June 12, 1910, which latter office he held until he retired, December, 1911. In the spring of 1912 Mr. Taylor entered the banking house of William A. Read & Company, with offices in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Bos- ton, and London, England. His thorough business qualifications have always been in demand on directorates of different organizations, and he has accepted of many such trusts. He is a director and chairman of the finance committee of Young, Smyth, Field Company; director of Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Com- pany, S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, American Manganese Manu- facturing Company, Independence Insur- ance Company, and Pennsylvania Fire In- surance Company. He is one of the governors of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. It was through Mr. Taylor's active and persistent work that the sale and recapitalization of the Baldwin Loco- motive Works was effected after the death of John H. Converse, in 1911, and just four years later he engineered the purchase of the Midvale Steel Works which had previously refused all war work. By this deal the plant was imme- diately put to work for the "Allies" and so expanded that it was able to take its place as one of the largest and most effi- cient producers of materials needed by our Government upon entry of this coun- try into the World War.
Mr. Taylor served eleven years with
the Pennsylvania State Naval Militia, first as a seaman, then through the successive grades of petty officers and warrant offi- cers and for the later years as a lieuten- ant, senior grade. In politics he is a Re- publican, but has never held office, and has always been independent in local elections. He is an Episcopalian in relig- ion, and a member of some of the boards of its institutions. His clubs are the Rac- quet, Germantown Cricket, Huntingdon Valley Country and City Club of Phila- delphia.
On January 27, 1897, Mr. Taylor mar- ried Anita May, daughter of John and Frances Morris (Janney) Steinmetz, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and they have had children: Anita Marjory, Elizabeth Ann, and Roland Leslie, Jr.
WOLF, Augustus F., Coal Operator.
The story of the life of Augustus F. Wolf, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, is one of deep interest, and in its telling a man of extraordinary strength of char- acter and purpose is revealed. While now president of Wolf Colleries Company, In- corporated, his coal operations began at comparatively a recent date (1907) his years prior to that year having been given to the service of others, the Young Men's Christian Association physical department being the medium through which he led young men to a better physical manner of living. His connection with the Wilkes-Barre Young Men's Christian As- sociation did not begin until 1893, then was soon broken not to be again revived until 1907, when he returned, but in a different role, one in which he has won a success equal to that attained as a phy- sical director. He is a native son of New York State, but as an adopted son Penn- sylvania knows no more loyal citizen.
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Augustus F. Wolf, son of John Erd- man and Mary (Bilger) Wolf, was born in Rochester, New York, February 14, 1868. He was educated in common schools, in a private seminary in Rochester, in Springfield (Massachusetts) Training School, and also pursued a Chautauqua Collegiate course ; his special preparation was in physical culture. In this line of work he became so deeply interested that when his own training was finished he accepted an offer from the Newburg (New York) Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, to become physical director to that institution. There he continued until 1893, when the Wilkes-Barre (Pennsyl- vania) Young Men's Christian Associa- tion secured his services as physical direc- tor and retained them for five years. These two engagements firmly estab- lished his reputation as an instructor and director of physical culture departments, and other institutions sought to secure his services. In 1898 he accepted an offer from the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion of Fall River, Massachusetts, and there continued as physical director until 1903, when he was elected general sec- retary and physical director of the Wil- liamsport (Pennsylvania) Young Men's Christian Association. That post he most satisfactorily filled until 1907, in which year he withdrew from the Young Men's Christian Association work and entered the coal operating field in the anthracite region, a business in which his success has been conspicuous.
He obtained a lease in 1909 from the Beisel estate, near Lattimer, Pennsyl- vania, and on that tract drove a slope which he has since continuously and suc- cessfully operated. In 1913 he leased a four hundred acre tract of coal land ad- joining the Beisel lease, securing this sec- ond lease from the Cox Brothers' estate. He then incorporated both his properties
under the title, Wolf Colleries Company, Incorporated. Previously he had leased two hundred acres of coal land in Hud- son, Pennsylvania, and this he operates under the name, Central Coal Company. The combined output of the Wolf Coller- ies and the Central Coal Company is about eight hundred tons of merchantable coal daily. The Central Coal Company is his own private property, and he is the principal owner of the Wolf Colleries Company, Incorporated, and its president. He has developed an acute business mind, and conducts his coal enterprise with rare skill and good judgment. He has ever retained his interest in Young Men's Christian Association work, and holds membership with the Wilkes-Barre branch. He is a director of the Wilkes- Barre Institute, member of the Wyoming Country Club, and the First Presbyterian Church, taking active part in the special line of work to which each organization is devoted. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Wolf married, August 7, 1895, Frances Melanie Nicely, daughter of Al- phonso and Elizabeth (Search) Nicely, of Shickshinny, Luzerne county, Pennsyl- vania. Mrs. Wolf is a granddaughter of John Nicely, who married Polly Stuckey, and they came from Northampton county and settled in Mocanaqua, Pennsylvania. John Nicely died on what was known as the "Nicely farm" in Conyngham town- ship, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. His son, Alphonso Nicely, was one of the early settlers of Shickshinny, Luzerne county, and was engaged in the grocery business, also in the quarrying of stone, owning quarries and being prominent in borough affairs, having served as school director, poor director and councilman of the borough. He married Elizabeth Search, of a pioneer Luzerne county family, coming originally from Scotland, the founders, William Search and son
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James. William Search was a private in a company of minute-men serving from Morris county, New Jersey, while his son, James Search, was a member of Captain Daniel Bray's company, Second Regi- ment, Hunterdon county militia, and also served as a private in the New Jersey Continental lines during the Revolution, fighting with New Jersey troops at the battle of Monmouth.
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are the parents of a son and three daughters: I. John Fred- erick, born August 24, 1896; educated in Harry Hillman Academy at Wilkes- Barre, the Lawrenceville (New Jersey) School, and the Tome School of Port De- posit, Maryland; enlisted, June 15, 1917, at New Haven, with the American Am- bulance Field Service with the French army, served six months at the front with the Ambulance, Section 8, after which he graduated from L'Ecole de Militaire de Artillerie at Fontainebleau, and is now a lieutenant in the 507th Regiment, 79th Battalion, 355th Companie, Par les Aydes Loriet. 2. Ellen Elizabeth, a graduate of Wilkes-Barre Institute and Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Virginia. 3. Ruth Frances, educated in Wilkes-Barre Insti- tute, and the Misses Low and Haywood School of Stamford, Connecticut. 4. Louise Search, now a student at Wilkes- Barre Institute.
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