USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 16
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Hemphill, October 7, 1806, and where he died July 7, 1860. He was engaged in farming operations in what is now Franklin township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. His son, John H., was born May 22, 1822, and March 8, 1849, married Mary Elizabeth Mehard. They became the parents of four sons and two daughters-1. Nancy Jane, married Dr. J. M. Withrow, who died in 1870; she afterwards married James A. Jackson, and resides at North Sewickley, Penn- sylvania. 2. Christiana, married John G. McAulis, who died in 19to; she now re- sides in New Castle, Pennsylvania. 3. William L., died March 1, 1906. 4. Omar T., lives in Denver, Colorado. 5. James Sharp, the immediate subject of this review. 6. Dr. Loyal W., a prominent surgeon, a resident of New Castle, Pennsylvania. John H. Wilson was a farmer in Franklin township dur- ing his active career and figured promi- nently in public affairs in his home com- munity during his life time. Ile was justice of the peace for many years, and at the time of his demise, June 16, 1892, was incumbent of the office of county commissioner. His wife passed to the life eternal in April, 1889.
To the district schools of Franklin township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, Judge Wilson is indebted for his rudi- mentary educational training, which was later supplemented by courses in several local academies. In 1891 he was matric- ulated as a student in Geneva College, at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in which in- stitution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1885, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the years 1879-80-81 he taught school in Beaver county, and in 1883 he was a popular and successful teacher in Harmony Academy. After graduating from Gen- eva College he was engaged to teach the Slipperyrock school in Lawrence county, a school noted for the insubordination of
the pupils. He had charge of that school for one year, and during that time had absolutely no trouble with any of the pupils under his supervision.
In 1885 Judge Wilson registered as a law student in the office of Judge Henry Ilice, at Beaver. Ile made rapid prog- ress in his legal studies and was admit- ted to the Pennsylvania bar June 4, 1888, at which time he opened an office and in- itiated the active practice of his profes- sion at Beaver, where he has since re- sided permanently. During the inter- vening years to the present time he has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative clientage, and he has figured in some of the most important litigations in the State and Federal courts in this section. In November, 1895, he was hon- ored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of Presiding Judge of the Common Pleas Court of the Thirty-sixth Judicial District, and he was the popular and efficient incumbent of that office for a period of ten years, at the end of which he refused to become a candidate for re- election. After leaving the bench in January, 1906, Judge Wilson resumed the active practice of his profession at Beaver, where he is widely renowned for his skill as legist and jurist.
Judge Wilson is financially interested in a number of business enterprises in Beaver, and is president of the Fort Mc- Intosh National Bank, which he helped organize in July, 1906, and is a director and solicitor for the Crescent Portland Cement Company of Lawrence county. In connection with his legal work he is a valued and appreciated member of the Beaver County Bar Association, and in politics he is a Republican. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is a member of the board of trustees. He is a man of great force of character, broad intelligence and wide influence.
December 25, 1888, was solemnized the
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marriage of Judge Wilson to Miss Sarah Ida Hazen, daughter of Nathan and Ju- dith (Zeigler) Hazen, of North Sewick- ley, Beaver county. Judge and Mrs. Wil- son have four children-John Howard, who was graduated in Washington-Jeffer- son College in 1911, and is now a student in the law department of the University of Pittsburgh ; James Sharp Jr., who is at- tending Geneva College, at Beaver Falls; and Hugh Hazen and Mary Elizabeth, who are pupils in the public school at Beaver.
LEONARD, Jesse Rose,
Leader in Petroleum Industry.
Certain events in the early career of Jesse Rose Leonard, one of the best known representatives of the State's great petroleum industry, when he left his home and struck out for the "oil country," will help us to an estimate of his character upon which is based his success. He was born in Erie, Pennsyl- vania, son of William and Nancy (Prin- dle) Leonard, September 10, 1848. His father had come from Troy, New York, in 1840, and his mother's people at an earlier date from Connecticut. William Leonard was a carpenter and contractor ; at his death, in 1855, the family, consist- ing of the mother and five children, made their home with relatives in the county. A little later, the boy found himself obliged to make his own way, without so much even as an ordinary country school education.
It was then the time of the earliest oil strikes in Venango county, and the ex- citement ran high on Oil creek. Quick to see the opportunity, he saved what money he could earn at saw mill and farm labor, and then, at the age of sev- enteen, set out afoot for the newly dis- covered fields. He took the first work which offered, that of hauling oil, but, as soon as the chance came, entered into
the drilling and producing end of the petroleum business. This marked the beginning of his career. "Jim" Leonard, as he is generally called, passed through all phases of the practical part of the industry from driller and pumper to con- tractor and producer, gaining a reputa- tion for paying attention to busi- ness which has brought him success in many lines of affairs. While the "oil ex- citements" swept back and forth through Western Pennsylvania, whether it was Pithole or Petrolia, Cherry Grove or Bradford, J. R. Leonard, with his part- ners, the Hardisons and C. P. Collins, followed developments. He was married in Clarion county in 1873, to Mary Mc- Gee, daughter of William McGee, a lum- berman, of Tionesta, and Sarah (Dun- kle) McGee, descendant of the Dunkles of eastern Pennsylvania. To them were born five children :- Archie W., married, and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he is engaged in the oil and gas business; Burt H., married, and living in Pitts- burgh; Eda A., married to Don A. Bax- ter of Lima, Ohio; Edna R., living with her father; and Mary Myrtle, married to William S. Paterson, of Flint, Michigan. Mrs. Leonard passed away in 1884, dur- ing the short time they lived in the state of Kansas. Thereafter the family re- turned east and, on the opening of the oil fields in northwestern Ohio, moved to Lima.
In 1894 they took up their permanent residence in Beaver, Pennsylvania. Mr. Leonard had remarried (1886), his sec- ond wife being Bertha Ault, of Clarion county ; they have two children, Lois and Lenore, both at school in New York State. The family attends the Presby- terian church, and is prominent socially in the Beaver Valley.
At present Mr. Leonard is heavily in- terested in the production of oil and natural gas in this and many other States; he is president of the Devonian
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Oil Company, and vice-president of the Stamm's education was obtained in the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company. At the same time he has large interests in the financial affairs of Beaver and Pitts- burgh; he is president of the Beaver Trust Company, which is one of Beaver county's strongest institutions, and a di- rector in the Columbia National Bank, also in the Colonial Trust Company of Pittsburgh. Ile is active in all these cor- porations, attending to their business with that same fidelity and executive ability which carly brought him success.
It should be added that Mr. Leonard is interested in all that makes for the gen- eral progress, giving his support to churches and other institutions and good causes. He is a member of various Ma- sonic bodies in order through to the thirty-second degree; a member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh; in poli- tics, a Republican. Ilis associations and interests mark, however, the man of broadmindedness. Simple in tastes, with a keen sense of honor, sympathetic, ap- proachable, Mr. Leonard is a man of great self-respect, who is liked by all those who know him.
STAMM, Alexander Carson,
Lawyer, Leader in Public Improvements.
Alexander Carson Stamm, of Harris- burg, a member of the law firm of Olm- sted & Stamm which, for nearly twenty years, has occupied its present high po- sition at the Pennsylvania bar, is a rep- resentative of that sturdy Pennsylvania- German stock which more perhaps than any other element has contributed to the upbuilding and development of the Key- stone State and has left upon it an en- during racial stamp.
public schools of Mount Joy and Har- risburg and under private instruction, and when, after completing his course of study, he decided to devote himself to the legal profession, he pursued the cus- tomary line of reading in the office and under the guidance of M. E. Olmsted. The ability of the student did not escape the penetration of the preceptor, and when Mr. Stamm was admitted to the bar, he became the professional associ- ate of Mr. Olmsted. Mr. Stamm has been admitted to practice in both the State and United States courts.
Mr. Stamm, without neglecting his professional duties, has found time to enter into projects for the wellbeing and advancement of Harrisburg. He served as a member of the Common Council for four terms, during the last of which he was president of that body. He also served for six years as a member of the Board of Public Works of Harrisburg, and during that time over a million dol- lars was spent by the board in public improvements, including the water fil- tration plant, the intercepting sewer in the Paxton Creek Valley and the rein- forced concrete Mulberry street viaduct. Mr. Stamm is one of the directors of the First National Bank.
Mr. Stamm is a member of the State and County Bar Associations, the Har- risburg and Harrisburg Country Clubs and the Harrisburg Republican Club. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason.
Mr. Stamm married, May 17, 1904, Mary Maude, daughter of Charles and Juliet (Terrill) Owen, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
REYNDERS, John Van Wicheren,
Alexander Carson Stamm was born October 22, 1863, in Elizabethtown, Lan- Leader in Steel Construction Work. caster county, Pennsylvania, son of Rev. John Van Wicheren Reynders, vice- John S. and Elizabeth (Brady) Stamm, president of the Pennsylvania Steel Com- and grandson of Rev. John Stamm. Mr. pany, and one of the distinguished con-
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structive engineers of the United States, was born in Iloboken, New Jersey, De- cember 17, 1800, son of John and Louise (Sellers) Reynders. Now in his forty- sixth year, he has attained eminence in his profession and high position in the world of business. His early and pre- paratory education was obtained in the Hoboken Academy. He then went to Germany, continuing his studies in one of the famous gymnasiums. On his re- turn he became a student at the Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, whence he was graduated, class of 1886, with the degree of civil engineer. He had specialized in constructive en- gineering, and after graduation spent four years in the service of steel bridge building concerns, gaining practical ex- perience in actual construction, under varying conditions. In the latter part of the year 1800 he came to the Penn- sylvania Steel Company, assisting in the organization of the bridge building de- partment that corporation was then add- ing to their plant at Steelton, Pennsyl- vania. In 1892 he was appointed super- intendent of that department, filling that important position with rare ability until 1906, when he was elected vice-president of the corporation, with full control of the Steelton works. During his connec- tion with that plant he has erected some notable structures that stand pre-emi- nent in constructive achievement, in- cluding the steel arch bridge across the Niagara chasm, over which pass the trains of several railroad systems; the Gokteik Viaduct in Burmah, India, at the time of its construction the longest in the entire world; a large part of the suspension bridge across the East River, known as the Williamsburg bridge; also the Blackwell's Island bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company under the administration and under the direction of Mr. Reynders. These are Hle is a trustee of the Harrisburg llos- but a few of the great works planned and pital and an attendant of the Episcopal
erected under his supervision. Contracts are taken for difficult or unusual steel construction in all parts of the world, the parts cast and fitted at the Steelton plant, shipped to destination, and there erected by the company's own engineering ex- perts. The story of the erection of the Burmah Viaduct is more interesting and exciting than the story of the most fa- mous military campaigns. The difficulties there encountered, however, were finally overcome, and the name of Mr. Reyn- ders' company forever linked with a most wonderful engineering achievement car- ried to successful completion under most difficult conditions. He is compelled in all his operations to meet not only his American competitors but the best con- structive companies of England and Germany. Success does not always at- tend his operations in meeting these com- mercial foes, but in many instances he has won important victories over world wide competition. It is not meant to im- ply that Mr. Reynders accomplishes the results named personally,-neither does the engineer pull the train,-but he is the guiding force that plans, inspires and directs. Ile selects his subordinates with care, and is an unerring master of the art of selecting his chiefs of con- struction. Ile has attained distinction in the engineering world, and in that world nothing counts but unusual en- gineering achievement. By that stan- dard he has won his own standing and a place for the Pennsylvania Steel Com- pany among the great constructive com- panies of the world. Ile is a director of the Pennsylvania Steel Company and of the Steelton National Bank ; member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mining Engi- neers, the American Society for Testing Materials, and the Engineers' Society of Pennsylvania.
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church. In politics he is a Republican, and an actively interested participant in National, State and local affairs. He has served as president of the town coun- cil of the borough of Steelton, and in 1908 was alternate delegate to the Na- tional Republican Convention at Chi- cago that nominated President Taft. His clubs are the Engineers' and Univer- sity of New York City; the Harrisburg, and the Harrisburg Country. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Mining Engineers, and other scientific bodies.
Hle married, October 6, 1894, Clare, daughter of Dr. Charlton of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Children : John Van Wich- eren (2), Charlton, and Clare Charlton.
DUNLAP, William B.,
Lawyer, Legislator.
Hon. William Boyd Dunlap, now liv- ing retired at West Bridgewater, Penn- sylvania, was for fully twenty years a leading and influential citizen of Beaver, and his activity in business affairs, his co-operation in public interests and his zealous support of all objects that he believes will contribute to the material, social or moral improvement of the com- munity, keep him in the foremost rank of those to whom the city owes its de- velopment and present position as one of the leading business centers of the State. His life has been characterized by upright, honorable principles, and it also exemplifies the truth of the Emer- sonian philosophy that "the way to win a friend is to be one." His genial, kindly manner wins him the high regard and good will of all with whom he comes in contact, and he commands the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow citi- zens.
At Darlington, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1836, occurred the birth of William Boyd Dunlap, who is a son of Samuel Ruther-
ford and Nancy (Hemphill) Dunlap, the former of whom was summoned to the life eternal in October, 1890, and the lat- ter passed away in 1885. The father was a grandson of Walter Clarke, who was a member of the first Constitutional Con- vention of Pennsylvania which was held in Philadelphia in 1776, and over which Dr. Franklin presided. Walter Clarke was buried in 1802, in the Westfield cem- etery, then in Beaver county, now in Lawrence county. Mrs. Dunlap was the third daughter of Joseph Hemphill, one of the three commissioners named in the Act of the General Assembly for the erection of the county of Beaver. The Dunlap home was at Darlington, Bea- ver county, and there Samuel R. Dunlap figured as a man of affairs.
After completing the curriculum of the public schools of Darlington, William Boyd Dunlap attended the Darlington and Beaver academies, and subsequently was matriculated as a student in Jeffer- son College, at Canonsburg, Pennsyl- vania, in which institution he was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1858. After leaving college he began the study of law in Beaver, but his health failed and he was obliged to turn his attention to other channels. From 1861 to 1864 he was principal of the Scott school in Covington, Kentucky, and while teaching in that city the late General Fred. D. Grant was one of his pupils. Several of the other Grant children were pupils in different grades of the school at the same time. In 1864 Mr. Dunlap became asso- ciated with his brother, Joseph H. Dun- lap, in the Ohio river transportation business, operating between Pittsburgh, St. Louis and New Orleans. From 1878 to 1889 he was assistant superintendent of Gray's Iron Line of Boats, his brother being superintendent of the line during that period. This line was exclusively a heavy freight line, with several steamers and model barges for transporting rail-
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road iron to down-river points and for bringing back iron ore from the Missouri Iron Mountain Company for Pittsburgh furnaces. Mr. Dunlap was in the employ of this transportation company for eleven years, and at the end of that time, in 1889, he came to Beaver, where he formed a connection with the Beaver "Daily Star" as its business manager. He retained the latter position until 1909, when the plant of that paper was destroyed by fire and the publication dis- continued. Since 1909 Mr. Dunlap has been living a retired life in his fine sub- urban home at West Bridgewater, where he gives a general supervision to his ex- tensive real estate interests, the same in- cluding both farm and town property. He has holdings in various business cor- porations and banks and is a member of the board of directors of the Beaver Cemetery Association.
Mr. Dunlap has always owned alle- giance to the principles and policies promulgated by the Democratic party, and he has been an active participant in public affairs at Beaver during the entire period of his residence in this section of the county. He was delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876 that nominated Samuel J. Tilden for president. In 1890 he was honored by his fellow citizens with election to the State Senate, from the Forty-sixth Sen- atorial district, the same including Wash- ington and Beaver counties, and he was the efficient incumbent of that office for one term. The district was largely Re- publican at the time, but Mr. Dunlap overcame all opposition and was elected by a good majority. He is affiliated with the Masonic order, and in religious mat- ters is a Presbyterian, in which faith he was reared. Mr. Dunlap has always been a liberal and active supporter of all movements calculated to advance the best interests of his home community, and he is a man of mark in all the rela- This firm makes a specialty of iron, ores,
tions of life. Although he has reached the venerable age of seventy-six years, he is hale and hearty, and retains in much of their pristine vigor the splendid mental and physical qualities of his prime. Mr. Dunlap has never married.
McCREATH, Andrew S.,
Analytical Chemist.
Andrew S. McCreath was born March 8, 1849, at Ayr, Scotland, son of Wil- liam and Margaret (Crichton) McCreath. The former died in 1878, at the age of seventy-five, and the latter passed away in 1870, aged sixty-three.
Their son received his preparatory ed- ucation at Ayr Academy and at Glasgow University. He also took special chem- ical courses at the Andersonian Univer- sity, Glasgow, under Professor Penny and Dr. Clark, and subsequently at the University of Göttingen, Germany, un- der Professors Wöhler and Fittig. In 1870 Mr. McCreath received an offer from the Pennsylvania Steel Company at Baldwin, Pennsylvania (now Steel- ton), which he accepted, and since that year has made his home in the United States. He was the first chemist exclu- sively employed by a steel company in this country. In August, 1874, he was appointed by the State Geologist chemist to the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, retaining the position throughout the entire existence of that body, a period of more than ten years. He prepared three reports for the State Geologist, and is the author of special re- ports on the mineral resources along the lines of the Shenandoah Valley, Norfolk & Western, and Louisville & Nashville Railroads. Mr. McCreath is still actively engaged in his profession as an analytical chemist. In 1901 he associated with him his son Lesley, practicing under the firm name of Andrew S. McCreath & Son.
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steel and coal, and samples and analyzes practically all the foreign ores imported into this country.
Mr. McCreath is a member of the American Philosophical Society of Phila- delphia, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, and the British Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Contour-Topographic and Geological Survey Commission of Penn- sylvania. Mr. McCreath is a director of the Harrisburg National Bank and the Harrisburg Hospital. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church.
Mr. McCreath married, February 4, 1875, Eliza, daughter of Charles L. and Mary (Hummel) Berghaus. Six chil- dren have been born to them, four of whom are still living-Andrew S. Jr., Lesley, Robert and William. Mrs. Mc- Creath died in 1909.
HENDERSON, William M., Man of Affairs.
William M. Henderson, a well known citizen and man of affairs of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is a representative of a family of Scotch-Irish origin which for nearly two centuries has been resident in the Keystone State. On the maternal side Mr. Henderson is a scion of another pioneer family of Pennsylvania, distin- guished in both colonial and national an- nals.
lisle, afterward studying at Dickinson College. Until his marriage he assisted his father in the management of the lat- ter's farm, and shortly before the out- break of the Civil War organized the firm of Henderson & Reed, which for a number of years carried on a flourishing warehouse and forwarding business. Mr. Henderson eventually retired, and during the remainder of his life gave his whole attention to the management of his estate and the cultivation of his farm. Mr. Henderson married, June 26, 1856, Jane Byers, daughter of Samuel and Anne S. (Blaine) Alexander. Samuel Alexander was one of the most promi- nent attorneys in Southern Pennsyl- vania, and commanded the home militia, being known as General Alexander. His wife was an aunt of James G. Blaine. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were the pa- rents of two sons-Samuel, who died in 1886; and William Miller, mentioned be- low. The death of Mr. Henderson oc- curred March 25, 1880.
William Miller, son of James Wilson and Jane Byers (Alexander) Henderson, was born January 21, 1864, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and was educated at the Pennsylvania Military College, Chester, Pennsylvania. For twelve years Mr. Henderson was identified with the Na- tional Guard, but his time is now wholly occupied in the management of the fam- ily estate and in attention to his numer- ous business interests. He is director in the Carlisle Deposit Company and a trustee of the Carlisle Hospital. Despite his many and engrossing duties, Mr. Henderson finds time for the amenities of social life and enjoys a high degree of personal popularity. He affiliates with the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Carlisle Club. He also belongs to the Cumberland County Historical So- ciety.
James Wilson Henderson, father of William M. Henderson, was born Oc- tober 19, 1824, and was a son of William M. and Elizabeth (Parker) Henderson. The Henderson and Parker families emi- grated from the province of Ulster, Ire- land, and many of those bearing these names rose to distinction in the county and State. James Wilson Henderson was Actively interested in all that concerns educated in the district schools of Car- the welfare and advancement of his na-
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