USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. X > Part 3
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J. a. Morrison!
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, 1848, died at Friendship, New York.
Thomas Anderson Morrison was born in Pleasantville, Venango county, Penn- sylvania, May 4, 1840. In the public schools and the Pleasantville Academy, he obtained the preliminary portion of his education. From very early child- hood he exhibited a marked taste and ability as a scholar and left behind him in both of these institutions a fine record for scholarship. At the age of eighteen he was teaching in the winter and in the summer working on the homestead farm. Across the quiet tenor of his life, as across that of the entire country, there broke in 1861 the calamity of civil strife, and in July, 1862, when twenty-two years old, he enlisted as a private in Com- pany A, One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer In- fantry. Pennsylvania came very near losing one of its leading attorneys and judges when at the battle of Fredericks- burg, December 13, 1862, this young man was carried off the field with one arm shot away and a bullet in his knee. For a long time it was supposed that his injuries were fatal, but his splendid health, which was a heritage of his farm- ing life and a naturally strong constitu- tion, brought him through and he was honorably discharged from the army in April, 1863. He returned at once to Pleasantville, and desiring to continue his studies entered the Edenboro Normal College. He acquired during his school- ing a habit of study which never left him during his entire life, and he became a most eminent scholar and a recognized authority on more than one subject. His natural capabilities and his experiences in the war brought him considerably into public notice, and in 1864 he was elected a justice of the peace, holding that office during that and the following year. His
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next office was that of treasurer of Ven- ango county, to which he was elected in 1867, and which he held with a marked degree of efficiency for two years. He was appointed United States deputy col- lector of internal revenue in 1871, where- upon he removed to Oil City, Pennsyl- vania.
Previously, during his residence in Pleasantville, he took up the study of law in the office of the Hon. M. C. Beebe, and under the preceptorship of that able attor- ney pursued his studies to such good pur- pose that he was admitted to the bar of Venango county in 1875, and at once began practice there. Four years later he removed to Smethport, Mckean county, Pennsylvania, which from that time until the close of his life was his permanent home. Here he built up a most success- ful practice, and very soon became recog- nized as one of the leaders of the bar in that section of the State. In the year 1887 he was appointed additional law judge of the judicial district, then com- posed of the counties of Mckean and Potter. His appointment was made to fill a vacancy on the bench in that dis- trict, but it was confirmed on November 30, 1887, when he was elected to that responsible office for a ten-year term. In 1897, after the division of the counties, he was reelected for a second term of ten years, but never completed it, as in the year 1903 he was appointed by Gov- ernor William H. Stone, of Pennsylvania, to fill a vacancy in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Once more his appoint- ment was confirmed at the following elec- tion, when he began the duties of this high office, the term of service being for ten years, and he retired from the bench of the Superior Court in 1914. In addi- tion to his noteworthy services on the bench and before the bar of Pennsyl- vania, Judge Morrison was also an active
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
member of the various legal societies of county, State and country, and was always a conspicuous figure in all move- ments undertaken to advance the inter- est and establish the ideals of the legal profession. Judge Morrison was through- out his life a staunch member of the Re- publican party, and although by no means a politician in the modern sense of the word, was regarded as one of its leaders in the State. He never severed the associations formed by him during the Civil War, and was for many years prominent in Grand Army circles in Pennsylvania.
Judge Morrison married, March 31, 1870, Helen S. Gardner, a native of North Wethersfield, New York, born July 7, 1850, a daughter of John and Hannah Elizabeth (Stevens) Gardner, old and honored residents of that place. Mrs. Morrison is a member of a very old fam- ily which came from the North of Ire- land in the person of Nelson Gardner and settled in the Rhode Island district some time about the period of the Revolution. He later removed to North Wethersfield, New York, where he died. Mrs. Mor- rison was thirteen years of age when she accompanied her parents from her home at North Wethersfield to Warsaw, New York, where she resided until her mar- riage with Judge Morrison. Through her distinguished ancestry, which dated back to Colonial times, she is a member of the Colonial Dames of America, and she is also a member of the Patriotic Daugh- ters of the American Revolution by the right of several of her forebears who fought in that momentous struggle. To Judge and Mrs. Morrison the following children were born: 1. Mary Elizabeth, born October 8, 1874, in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania; educated in the high school of Smethport; married, April 18, 1894, Samuel E. Bell, and they are the
parents of two children: Morrison Don- ovan and Mortimer Elliott. 2. Thomas H., born March II, 1877, in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania; a graduate of Williams College, and now a practicing attorney of Smethport, where he married, June 18, 1904, Maud Davis, of Bradford, and they have one child, Thomas F. Judge Thomas A. Morrison died August 26, 1916, at Kane Hospital, after undergoing a surgical operation.
At Smethport, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1917, in special term of Common Pleas Court, the time was devoted to memorial exercises for the late Hon. Thomas A. Morrison. Hon. R. B. Stone, chairman on behalf of the committee, presented the following memorial which was unani- mously adopted :
WHEREAS, Hon. Thomas A. Morrison, à dis- tinguished member of this bar, on the 26th of August, 1916, in the borough of Kane, at the age of seventy-six years, following a critical surgical operation, surrounded by the members of his family, reached the close of his life.
Be it Resolved, That the members of the bar of Mckean county, prompted by their personal regard for Judge Morrison, begotten through long professional association, and by their recog- nition, in common with their brethren through- out the Commonwealth, of his public services on the bench and at the bar, place with sorrow this tribute upon the minutes of the Court at which he one time practiced, and over which he so long presided. * * * The life of Judge Morrison exemplified the ideals designed to be attained under our system . of government. To have earned his way to manhood without the aids of wealth and influence, to have shed his blood in defense of his country; to have won, step by step, the confidence of his fellow citizens in the administration of civil offices; to have chosen a profession which, for distinction, without institu- tional aid required close mental application, reën- forced by an unflinching will; to have achieved success in it; to have met the discharge of judi- cial functions in both lower and higher courts, demanding not only a ready knowledge of prece- dents, but a comprehensive grasp of ruling prin- ciples and a keen power of analysis, with such high credit as to have merited unreserved recog-
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nition from his learned associates, and wide appreciation from members of the legal profes- sion; this record is so clear and complete that it may well stand for an example, not only to students in the profession to which we belong, but to the youth of the Commonwealth at large, whatever the pursuit they may have chosen to follow.
Now at this hour, we recall with fraternal ten- derness the personality of him whom we have met to honor, his courtesy, his good cheer, his sense of honor, his civic spirit, and as we record this testimonial, we resolve to cherish long his memory and his example.
Hon. R. B. Stone, of Bradford, chair- man of the memorial committee, is one of the few surviving practitioners at the McKean county bar who occupied that relation on the advent of Judge Mor- rison as a member. Following the read- ing of the committee report and the read- ing of letters of regret, Mr. Stone spoke as follows, disclosing the remarkably fine elements of the deceased jurist's char- acter :
In moving the adoption of the resolutions, my memory goes back to the time when Judge Mor- rison came to the bar here. Our calendars were crowded with questions of title and tenure and various important controversies arising out of the oil and lumber industries. Many lawyers of distinguished ability from term to term were in attendance. It is not improbable that there were gathered here at a single term more law- yers of note than were ever at one time before any other court in this Commonwealth. It was in such a field of professional distinction that Judge Morrison won a recognized position at the bar.
His predominant trait as indicated by the let- ters which I have read, was his courage of con- viction. I would add to that a native instinct manifested in his intercourse with his profes- sional brethren and generally with his fellow- men, to stand in the open. I have chosen this particular place in the court room from which to present the report of the committee because it was his habit to stand here when submitting a motion or petition. He said to the lawyers about him: "I intend that every member of the bar as well as the Court, shall hear distinctly what- ever I have to present." Do you remember how
one day he brought to the bench a batch of let- ters written to him for or against an applicant for license and with what scathing reproof he directed them to be filed?
There was no back door to his judicial cham- bers. He took no dark lantern for any object that he sought. If he desired the support of an influ- ential friend he wrote a letter. But in all his correspondence, published or unpublished, there was not a single assurance, expressed or implied, of any official favor. No judge was ever freer than he from such an imputation.
In political life he was outspoken. He regarded certain cardinal policies as essential to the wel- fare of the country and he believed in the autoc- racy of the organization formed for their sup- port. To many of us the political machine has seemed in its operation like that act of the Brit- ish Parliament of the seventeenth century enti- tled "An Act to abolish differences of opinion." No man, however, could say that he ever lost the personal friendship of Judge Morrison through an honest disagreement.
I called upon him at the hospital a few days before his death. I had learned that his condi- tion was critical. The skill of the distinguished surgeon could do no more. But I had heard of marvelous recoveries through some miracle of the human will. And upon leaving I said to him : "You must be heroic, Judge, as you were upon the battlefield." He smiled in response and in his smile was a promise but the miracle was not to be wrought.
In what little Judge Morrison may have ever said or written in his own behalf, by no word or letter did he ever use as an argument his empty sleeve. It was a dumb witness to his love of country, his devotion to the flag of the Union, his sacrifice for the freedom of the slave.
HAMMOND, James H., Manufacturer.
Pittsburgh's supremacy is the result of various causes, chief among which is the unsurpassed quality of her business men of the younger generation. Among this class is James H. Hammond, chairman and director of the Superior Steel Corpor- ation. Mr. Hammond is closely identi- fied not only with the manufacturing, but also with the financial, philanthropic and social interests of Pittsburgh.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
William John Hammond, father of James H. Hammond, was born at Grove manufacturers, is represented on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Ham- mond are the parents of the following children : Alice Riddle and James Sid- ney.
Hill, Moira, County Down, Ireland, June 26, 1832, son of John Hammond. Mr. Hammond came to Pittsburgh in 1858, and married Mary A. Riddle. Mrs. Ham- mond's death occurred on December 25, 1905, and Mr. Hammond died December 6, 1917.
James H. Hammond, son of William John and Mary A. (Riddle) Hammond, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1868. His education was received in public schools. After its completion he entered business life, and after being variously engaged in manu- facturing lines, in 1892, became president and director of the Superior Steel Com- pany, one of the largest steel manufac- turing concerns of the Pittsburgh Dis- trict. In 1917 this company became the Superior Steel Corporation, and Mr. Hammond was elected chairman and director of the new company. The suc- cess of the company has been due, in part, to the aggressiveness of its presi- dent.
In politics, Mr. Hammond is identified with the Republicans, and while concen- trating his attention on the business interests directly under his control, he has been loyal in his support of all meas- ures calculated to benefit the city and pro- mote its rapid and substantial develop- ment. He is actively interested in many forms of philanthropic and charitable work, and is a member of the Shadyside Presbyterian Church. Of social nature, Mr. Hammond holds membership in many clubs, among them the Duquesne, Pittsburgh Country and University, and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association.
On March 31, 1891, Mr. Hammond married Alice Grace, daughter of Joseph Sidney and Hannah Alice (Slater) Sea- man, of Pittsburgh. Mr. Seaman, who is
one of the best known of the Pittsburgh
Men of the type of James H. Hammond seem like incarnations of the spirit of the twentieth century, and especially of the city of Pittsburgh-high-minded and honorable, and ever in the van of pro- gress. It is these men who are laying the foundations of the city of the future.
PRICE, William Sampson,
Lawyer, Esteemed Citizen.
Conspicuous among the brightest and best of the members of the Philadelphia bar was the late William S. Price, who for almost three-quarters of a century was in active practice in the Quaker City.
William Sampson Price was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 19, 1817, son of William H. and Margaret (Palmer) Price. William H. Price and Margaret Palmer, his wife, were from Birmingham, England. His education was received in the private schools of his city, and he then entered the newspaper business, in which he achieved fame as a writer of editorials which left no doubt whatever of the writer's intent and pur- poses. He was variously associated with James G. Bennett in Philadelphia news- papers, and was before this editor of the "Daily Chronicle," and "Scott's Weekly." Deciding to make law his profession, he studied with Edward & Ingraham, was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia, in the early "forties," and opened offices at No. 3 Mercantile Library building. Li- brary street (now Sansom street), where he was associated with Morton McMich- ael, who was afterwards mayor of Phil- adelphia. Later Mr. Price had offices on
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Mr.S. Pio
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Walnut street, near Seventh, which he maintained for nearly fifty years. He then moved a few squares away, where he was in active practice until the time of his death. During his many years as a lawyer, Mr. Price was engaged in many famous law cases, and the prominent law- yers of his day were among his friends and associates. The first case to bring him into prominence shortly after his admission to the bar was the famous "Singleton-Mercer" murder trial, in which he was associated with Robert Brown, one of the legal luminaries of the day, and his securing the acquittal of the accused in this case brought him much prominence in legal circles. His man- ner of conducting a case was character- istic. He studied and understood it, formulated his theory of it with great accuracy, developed it quietly and thor- oughly and submitted it in simple, lucid terms. Power of application and concen- tration, lucidity of thought and expres- sion, were his best intellectual assets, and brought him into prominence among the foremost men in his profession, not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the State, as well as New York. In later years Mr. Price was known as a consulting attor- ney, and also had charge of a large num- ber of estates.
In politics, William S. Price was first a Whig and later a Democrat. In 1855 he declined nomination for Congress on the Republican ticket, and in 1870 was elected associate judge of the District Court on the Democratic ticket, but by political trickery was counted out. To every measure which he felt conserved the interest of good government he gave loyal support, and his charities were numerous but unostentatious. He was one of the founders of the old Common- wealth Club, and was a member of the Penn Club, Young Men's Democratic Association, and many other organiza-
tions. For many years he was chancel- lor of the Episcopal diocese of Pennsyl- vania.
With a luminous and vigorous intel- lect, William S. Price combined a most winning personality. His friendships were not confined to men of his profes- sion alone, and among others he was a close friend of the famous Edgar Allen Poe, and other leading minds of the day. He also cherished the close friendship of Charles Dickens, whom he met upon the first visit to America of that novelist. It was said of him that "he was as true as steel and as pure as gold," and one glance at his countenance would confirm the statement. It was a face of mingled strength and refinement, a face radiant with kindness and good will.
On May 19, 1846, Mr. Price married Sarah A. Jones, and they were the par- ents of the following children: William Henry, attorney, whose death occurred in 1894; and Mary E., who became the wife of Mortimer H. Brown. Mrs. Brown is active in philanthropic work in Phila- delphia, and was for a number of years president of the Charlotte Cushman Club. The death of Mrs. William S. Price occurred October 31, 1900.
The years of William Sampson Price were prolonged far beyond the traditional limit of human life. When past the ninety-fifth anniversary of his birth he closed his career of usefulness and honor, breathing his last, December 17, 1912, at his home in Philadelphia. The record of his work forms part of the history of the bar of the Keystone State, and in it his name stands as that of a patriotic citizen and a learned counsellor.
SIEBERT, William,
Business Man, Public Official.
The commercial prosperity of Pitts- burgh, like that of every other great city,
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
has always depended upon the ability and integrity of her business men, and both the past and the present abundantly prove that the metropolis of Pennsyl- vania has been richly blessed in this class of her citizens. In their foremost ranks for over a quarter of a century stood the late William Siebert, of the widely known firm of W. & P. Siebert, one of the large grocery houses of Pittsburgh.
John Siebert, son of William Siebert, and founder of the American branch of the family, was born in Sieberthausen of Rodenburgh, near Hesse Cassel city, Ger- many, and on June 4, 1836, embarked in a sailing vessel for the United States, landing in Baltimore, Maryland, Septem- ber 3, same year, whence he made his way with his sons, Christian and Wil- liam, to Pittsburgh. They made their way in Conestoga wagons and arrived in Pittsburgh, October 3, 1836. John Sie- bert was twice married. His first wife bore him one child, Barthel, who was born in 1811, and became a resident of Allegheny county. The second wife of John Siebert was Annie Kunigunde, born in Bebra, Germany, daughter of George Krapp. Children of John and Annie Kunigunde (Krapp) Siebert: William; George; Christian; William, see below; Susan, wife of Adam Brown; Paul; Elizabeth; Barbara, wife of John Devitt; Barnard; Sarah, wife of William Pfusch ; and John.
William Siebert, son of John and Annie Kunigunde (Krapp) Siebert, was born June 21, 1822, in Germany, and was but fourteen years old when he came with his parents from his native land. He was variously employed in Pittsburgh, and for a time worked on the canal express line running from Pittsburgh to Johns- town. In the autumn of 1846 he estab- lished himself in the retail grocery busi- ness, being the first to open what was
called a family grocery store in Pittsburgh, and one wherein no liquors were allowed to be sold. His store was situated in the old Fifth (later the Ninth and now the Sixth) Ward, and after a time he took as a part- ner his brother, Paul Siebert, when the firm became known as W. & P. Siebert. The connection was maintained until 1863, when Paul Siebert retired and set- tled in Ross township, and William con- tinued the business until 1872, when he retired also, spending the remainder of his life mainly in looking after his own interests, although for some years he was in the livery business, having as his part- ner a Mr. Joseph Mitchell. The record of William Siebert as a business man is free from the slightest blemish. His integrity was never questioned, and he was a just and kind employer. In all con- cerns relative to the city's welfare, Mr. Siebert took a deep interest. He served as councilman for two or three terms. In politics he was a Republican. Mr. Sie- bert at the time of his death was the old- est member of the Canal Boatman's Asso- ciation. He was a member of the Grant Street Lutheran Church, and no good work done in the name of charity or relig- ion sought his aid in vain. Few men enjoyed to a greater degree the warm effection and high regard of their fellow- citizens.
William Siebert married, October 17, 1844, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mary, daughter of Joseph and Anna (Gesch- windt) Zimmerman, and their children were: Albert, a Lutheran minister, of Germantown, Ohio; Francis Virginia, widow of W. W. Wattles, of Pittsburgh ; Catharine, widow of Joseph G. Lambie, of Glen Osborne, a suburb of Pittsburgh ; Elizabeth R., of Pittsburgh; and William P., whose biography and portrait are elsewhere in this work. The death of Mrs. William Siebert occurred March 10,
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Lewis Mistral Publishing
DmBouman
Eng by EG Muligvis & BraW
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1912. William Siebert was a man to whom the ties of family and friendship were sacred, and never was he so content as when surrounded by the members of his household.
The death of William Siebert, which occurred August 18, 1908, deprived Pitts- burgh of one of her most influential citi- zens, one who had ever studied her wel- fare and labored for her prosperity. He left a record of a life singularly complete and a name that had ever stood as a synonym for all that is enterprising in business and progressive in citizenship. The old-time business men of Pittsburgh are still warmly cherished in the memor- ies of many, and none is more vividly recalled than William Siebert. His rec- ord forms part of the annals of his city.
BOWMAN, Franklin Meyer, Manufacturer.
Franklin Meyer Bowman, vice-presi- dent and director of the Blaw-Knox Com- pany, steel manufacturers, is numbered among that group of aggressive young business men who are to-day maintaining the prestige of Pittsburgh as an industrial centre.
Franklin Meyer Bowman was born in Freeport, Waterloo county, Canada, Sep- tember 2, 1870, son of Isaac L. and Eliz- abeth (Meyer) Bowman. Isaac L. Bow- man, who was a student of Oberlin Col- lege from 1851 to 1856, was for some years engaged in academic work in Can- ada, and later a surveyor and engineer. Franklin M. Bowman was educated in the schools of his section and at Berlin High School (now Kitchener Collegiate Institute) Waterloo county Canada. He later attended the School of Practical Sciences, Toronto University, graduating in 1890, with degree of Civil Engineer, and being first scholarship man. He then spent one year in Government land sur-
veying, and one year with the Pennsyl- vania Steel Company. In 1891 he became connected with the Riter-Conley Manu- facturing Company, of Pittsburgh, as structural engineer, later becoming direc- tor and secretary, and remained with them until 1912. He had charge of all the structural work of this immense con- cern, known throughout the world, and was located at their Allegheny plant. In 1912 Mr. Bowman came to the Blaw Steel Construction Company of Pitts- burgh as vice-president and director, which offices he held until this concern was merged with the Knox Pressed & Welded Steel Company, the new com- pany being known as the Blaw-Knox Company. Of this company Mr. Bow- man is vice-president and director. He was for many years before its merger officially connected with the Knox Pressed & Welded Steel Company.
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