USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Governor Pennypacker is an antiqua- rian of no mean order, and owns a collec- tion of Pennsylvania manuscripts, publi- cations and curios which is extremely valuable. Franklin and Marshall Col- lege, Muhlenberg College, and the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, have conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
He married, October 20, 1870, Virginia Earl, daughter of Nathan B. Broomall, of Phoenixville, a descendant of one of the oldest and most important Quaker families of Delaware county. The fol- lowing children were born to them: Dirck Koster Pennypacker, born August 4, 1871, died January 18, 1872; Josephine Whitaker Pennypacker, born November 14, 1872; Eliza Broomall Pennypacker,
born October 18, 1874, graduate of Bryn Mawr College, 1897; Anna Maria Whit- aker Pennypacker, born November 22, 1876, graduate of Bryn Mawr College, 1897; Samuel Richardson Pennypacker, born December 3, 1878, died November 2, 1880; Bevan Aubrey Pennypacker, born July 29, 1881, graduated from the Law School of the University of Penn- sylvania, and was admitted to the Phila- delphia bar, where he has since practiced his profession.
PENNYPACKER, James Lane, Book Publisher, Litterateur.
James Lane Pennypacker, son of Dr. Isaac Pennypacker (q. v.), and Anna Maria (Whitaker) Pennypacker, was born December 11, 1855, in Philadelphia, in the house now numbered 1803 Chest- nut street. As a boy he went to the Friends' Central School, from which he was graduated in 1874, going later to Harvard University. From this institu- tion he was graduated in 1880, with the degree of A.B., magna cum laude. In 1881 he entered the Old Corner Book Store, Boston, Massachusetts, doing the editorial work for that well-known book publishing establishment until 1883, when he returned to Philadelphia and there continued the publishing business. In 1892 he became connected with the Christopher Sower Company, of which house he is now vice-president and gen- eral manager. The Christopher Sower Company was founded in 1738, and has been in continuous existence from that date to the present time, and is the old- est and historically the most famous pub- lishing house in America. It is a mem- ber of the Association of Centenary Firms and Corporations of the United States.
Mr. Pennypacker is a member of the Harvard Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa; Harvard Club of Philadelphia ; Academy
8
-
FFAG
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ; American Association for the Advance- ment of Science; Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Sons of the Revolution; and the Netherlands Society of Phila- delphia. He is an advisory manager of the Free Museum of Science and Art, of the University of Pennsylvania, and president of the Delaware Valley Natu- ralists' Union, located in or near Phila- delphia, on both sides of the Delaware river.
James Lane Pennypacker married, June 17, 1884, Grace Fisher Coolidge, born October 3, 1858, daughter of George and Hepsy A. (Seaver) Coolidge, of Dedham, Massachusetts, and ninth in descent from John Coolidge, who came from Cambridgeshire, England, in 1630, and settled in Watertown, Massachu- setts. Mr. Pennypacker and his family reside at Haddonfield, New Jersey. They have had five children: I. Grace Coolidge, born January 24, 1886; grad- uated from Friends' Central School, 1905; died February 1, 1906. 2. Joseph Whit- aker, born October 2, 1887; graduated from Haverford College, A.B. degree, 1909, A.M. degree, Harvard, 1910. 3. Edward Lane, born September 12, 1889; died May 25, 1899. 4. James Anderson (twin), born June 11, 1899. 5. Anna Margaret (twin), born June 11, 1899.
WEIGHTMAN, William, Scientist, Manufacturer.
Few men are permitted to travel so long upon life's pathway as William Weightman, and fewer still are those who attain in equal measure "the blest ac- companiments of age, honor, riches, troops of friends." His years, ninety- one, were worthily spent and of distinct value to the world's progress. The firm of Powers & Weightman, with which he was associated for over half a century,
stood as a leader in chemical manufac- turing, and its products were accepted as the standard which all others strove to follow or to imitate. His spirit of in- vestigation and experiment led him as a chemist into fields hitherto unexplored, and resulted in valuable discoveries of new chemicals and processes of manu- facture. His large fortune was accumu- lated as the legitimate upbuilding of an immense business, guided with a wisdom unequalled, and the judicious investment of surplus profits in Philadelphia real estate. His remarkable executive abil- ity and sound judgment will be shown as the results of his life work are more fully described.
William Weightman was born in Walt- ham, Lincolnshire, England, September 30, 1813, son of William and Anne (Farr) Weightman. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1904. Of his early life in England little can be told, further than that he obtained a good common school education. At the age of sixteen years he came to the United States at the suggestion of an uncle, John Farr, a chemist, who was the founder of the firm of Farr & Kunzi, in 1818. John Farr was the first to manu- facture sulphate of quinine, and was devoting himself to an investigation of the quinine alkaloids at the time Palla- tier and Gaventon announced the dis- covery of quinine in 1820.
Mr. Weightman was in the employ of Farr & Kunzi until 1836, when the junior member retired, and Mr. Farr admitted Thomas H. Powers and William Weight- man to partnership under the firm name of Farr, Powers & Weightman, and after the death of Mr. Farr in 1847, continued as Powers & Weightman, a name that won international distinction among manufacturing chemists. This firm con- tinued in most successful operation un- til 1878, when Mr. Powers died. Mr. Weightman then, in addition to his du-
9
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
ties as chemist, took full charge of the commercial interests and management of the firm. In 1883 he admitted his two sons, Dr. Farr Weightman and Dr. William Weightman, to partnership, both remaining in active connection with the business until removed by death. In 1893, Robert J. C. Walker, an ex-mem- ber of Congress and Mr. Weightman's son-in-law, was admitted to the firm and so continued until his death in 1903. In the January following, his widow, An- nie M. (Weightman) Walker, was ad- mitted a partner, and bore with her aged father the tremendous responsibility of their immense business.
Mr. Weightman continued in active connection with the business until his last illness, which occurred when he was ninety-one years of age. He survived four sets of partners (1836-1904), and in turn was survived by his most capable daughter, Mrs. Walker (now Mrs. Fred- erick C. Penfield), who continued in charge of Powers & Weightman until December, 1904, when the business was consolidated with that of a former com- petitor, Rosengarten & Sons, under the firm style of the Powers-Weightman- Rosengarten Company. She was the only woman in the United States to hold such a position of responsible trust, and proved herself worthy of the confidence reposed in her by her father. She is known as one of the wealthiest women in the United States, but is even more widely known because of her charity and benevolence, manifested by generous con- tributions to worthy institutions and so- cieties of her choice.
Mr. Weightman for a half a century was a central figure in the chemical world. To enumerate his discoveries and inventions would be to write a vol- ume, but his connection with the intro- duction of quinine into the United States must be noted. He was the first man to introduce this drug to the trade in this
country, and transacted an enormous business therein. The duty levied by the government was very high and the price charged was necessarily so, which gave rise to the untruthful report that Mr. Weightman charged an excessive price. But, on the contrary, it was entirely due to his efforts that sulphate of Cinchona became so favorably known and so wide- ly used as the efficient substitute for qui- nine at the time the high price of the lat- ter drug restricted its use. In 1875 the Eliott Cresson gold medal was awarded the firm by the Franklin Institute, "for the introduction of an industry new in the United States and perfection of the result in the product obtained in the manufacture of Citric Acid." The same medal, though rarely conferred, was also awarded "for the ingenuity and skill shown in the manufacture and for the perfection of workmanship displayed in the perfection of the cheaper alkaloids of the Cinchona bark." An indication of the "skill and ingenuity" for which the medal was awarded is to be found in their statements made in connection with an exhibit made at the World's Fair, held in Chicago in 1893, that : "The exhibit made at the Columbian Exposi- tion is not entered for competition, but is simply a transfer from its store rooms of some of the leading productions of the house, without special selection and just as they are being shipped daily."
The house for many years held first rank among the chemical manufacturing enterprises of the country. Their meth- ods were such that success came as the merited, logical and legitimate result of business methods, which neither sought nor required disguise. Quality was never sacrificed for quantity, the high- est standards in both quality and serv- ice being maintained. In his treatment of employees, Mr. Weightman was emi- nently fair and generous. Many of them remained with him through life, and all
10
٠,١٠
H
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
showed for him a strong, deep love and devotion. He was quick to recognize efficiency and faithfulness and to reward ability and fidelity by promotion as op- portunity offered.
He was not a man of one idea or of one talent, but was interested in other business activities in Philadelphia, a di- rector of the Philadelphia Trust Com- pany, of the Northern Trust Company, the Commercial Bank, and the larg- est owner of real estate in the city. He was deeply interested in the work of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, of which he was a member from 1856 un- til his death. He took no part in society functions or public affairs, his chief source of recreation being at his beau- tiful country home at Raven Hill, in Germantown, in the cultivation of rare plants and flowers. Here ended his long and useful life.
He married, March 17, 1841, Louisa, daughter of Joseph Stewagon. His two sons, John Farr and William, both phy- sicians, passed away before their father, his only daughter, Annie M., previously mentioned, being the sole survivor. But his name lives in the great commercial house he founded, in the great estate he left, and in the hearts of old friends and employees, whose regard for their friend and benefactor only death will extin- guish.
MEIRS, Richard WaIn,
Manufacturer, Financier.
county, New Jersey, where they inter- married with the Stocktons and other noted families of that state. His Waln ancestors intermarried with the Ridg- way, Morris and Vaux families of Phila- delphia. His mother, Elizabeth Waln, was a descendant of Nicholas Waln, the founder of the family in America, and son of Richard and Jane (Rudd) Waln, of Burham, in Bolland, Yorkshire, Eng- land. Nicholas Waln, at the time of his marriage, October 1, 1673, to Jane, daughter of William Turner, of Wind- yeats, Yorkshire, was living at Chapel Croft, Yorkshire. He crossed the At- lantic with William Penn on the "Wel- come," which dropped anchor nine miles below Philadelphia, October 22, 1682. In England he had purchased of Penn one thousand acres of land on the Nesh- aminy, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and thereon he built a home in which was held the first Quaker meeting in that locality, January 1, 1683. He was a member of the first assembly that met at Philadelphia, March 12, 1682-83, and again represented Bucks county in that body 1687-88-89-92-95. He was a mem- ber of the first grand jury empaneled, October 25, 1685, sheriff of Bucks county, 1685; and a justice, 1689. In 1696 he moved to Philadelphia county, where he served in the Assembly, 1696- 97, 1700-01-13-14-15-17. In 1711 he be- came one of the public school directors. He was equally prominent in the Society of Friends, and was practically the founder of the Middletown Monthly Meeting. He was one of the committee authorized to purchase land and estab- lish the Fair Hill burying ground, on the Germantown road, while about 1706 the Fair Hill meeting house was erected. He continued active in the Society until his death. Three of his eleven children were born in England.
The ancestry of Mr. Meirs, of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, includes the dis- tinguished families of Gaskill, Stockton, Waln, Ridgway and Armitt. He traces to the earliest pioneer days in New Eng- land, and to the coming of William Penn in Pennsylvania. His Gaskill lineage is the English family of that name, who, persecuted as Quakers in Richard Waln, the eldest son, was New England, moved to Burlington born June 16, 1678. While not yet at-
II
-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
taining the prominence of his father, yet he took active part in the development of the Northern Liberties and the large estate there. On September 25, 1734, he was appointed a member to rearrange the line of the Germantown road from the boundary of the city to Cohocksing creek. He married, 1706, Anne, daugh- ter of Robert Heath.
Of their ten children, the eldest of three sons was Nicholas, born January 19, 1709-10, passing his life on the old Waln estate, in the Northern Liberties, where he died comparatively young, in 1744. He married, March 23, 1734, Mary, daughter of George and Rebecca Dill- worth.
Their son, Richard Waln, born about 1737, engaged in mercantile life and ac- quired considerable wealth. About 1770 he moved to Monmouth county, New Jersey, where he purchased a large tract, naming his estate Walnford, by which name it is yet designated. Being a Friend, he was a non-combatant during the Revolution, but was arrested and given the choice of three things-"go to jail, take the test, or go within the Eng- lish lines." After the Revolution he again made his home in Philadelphia, but making Walnford his summer home until his death, May 23, 1809. He mar- ried, December 4, 1760, Elizabeth, dangh- ter of Joseph Armitt, a Philadelphia merchant ; she died February 20, 1790.
Their oldest son, Nicholas Waln, suc- ceeded his father in the ownership of Walnford, where his entire life was passed. He married Sarah, born Novem- ber 8, 1779, daughter of John and Eliza- beth (Wright) Ridgway. Their eldest son, Richard, married (first) Mary Ann, daughter of Riley and Sarah (Warren) Allen. Elizabeth, eldest of the two daughters of Richard and Mary Ann (Allen) Waln, married John Gaskill Meirs.
From this honorable ancestry springs
Richard Waln Meirs. He was born at Walnford, Monmouth county, New Jer- sey, July 26, 1866, son of John Gaskill and Elizabeth (Waln) Meirs. His early education was obtained at Eastburn Academy, Philadelphia, and Freehold Institute (New Jersey). He then en- tered Princeton University, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, class of 1888. He entered business life as clerk in the Fourth Street National Bank, continuing with that institution until 1895, when he formed a connection with the New York house of Harvey Fisk & Son, remaining with them ten years. In 1905 he was appointed to the manage- ment of the Weightman and Walker estates, becoming confidential secretary of the personal estate of Mr. Weight- man, for his daughter, Mrs. Annie M. Walker Penfield. His years of training in financial methods eminently fitted him for the great task he assumed, and have enabled him to administer the varied in- terests of this great estate, and so con- trol its different features that he has won an honored position in the financial circles of Philadelphia and New York. He is president and director of the Com- mercial Truck Company of America, the Penn Central Light and Power Com- pany, and the Utilities Corporation. He is a director of the Winifrede Coal Com- pany, the Winifrede Railroad Company, and the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Company.
Not entirely is Mr. Meirs immersed in business, but avails himself of all means of recreation, mental and social enjoy- ment, possible. He is a member of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry ; life member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Academy of Fine Arts, and a manager of Franklin Institute. His clubs are the University, Racquet, Princeton, Huntington Valley, Country and Corinthian Yacht of Philadelphia ; the Metropolitan and Princeton of New
12
Ancien limegia
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
York. He is a member of Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, and in po- litical preference is a Republican.
He married, October 31, 1894, in Ger- mantown, Annie Walker Weightman, daughter of Dr. William (deceased), and Sabine d'Invilliers Weightman, and a granddaughter of William Weightman, the distinguished chemist, manufacturer and business man of Philadelphia. (See Weightman.) Children: William Weightman, born September 18, 1895; Anne Walker, August 25, 1898; Jarvis, June 12, 1901.
When leisure allows, Mr. Meirs finds rest and recreation in travel, while his every day delight is in art and literature. The family home is at No. 1724 Walnut street, Philadelphia.
CARNEGIE, Andrew,
Manufacturer, Financier, Philanthropist.
Lives of great men possess fascinating interest to the student of human nature, and one naturally seeks to discover the secret source of their power to rise su- perior to every circumstance; or to find the impelling force that drives them ever onward and upward until they scale the dizziest heights, passing all competitors, and standing alone before the entire world, unequalled in the greatness of their achievements. Often it is the in- fluence of heredity, family and fortune, that furnishes the impulse; oftener still, ambition that drives men forward. Love of humanity and a sincere desire to be of benefit to their race is the motive, but none of these satisfactorily explain Mr. Carnegie's source of strength up to the culminating point of his business ca- reer. For one must not confound Mr. Carnegie, the business man, with Mr. Carnegie, the humanitarian. He was first of all the resistless money maker, and later the philanthropist, whose princely benefactions are the wonder of two con-
tinents. But consider him as you will, the source of his power has not yet been revealed. Ask him the secret of his suc- cess as a steel master, and his reply is al- ready recorded : "Write as my epitaph : He knew how to surround himself with abler men than himself." Yet that is not a reason; that is but an example of his greatness in executive management. The world has had its great iron masters, but none greater than he. Great philanthro- pists are not rare in either Europe or America, but none so princely in either the scope or magnitude of their benefac- tions. In every land, in every clime, the name Carnegie is a familiar one, and is synonomous with generosity. While we cannot fathom the source of his great- ness, an approving world acknowledges the fact and holds him in honor and respect.
Andrew Carnegie was born at Dumfer- line, Fife, near Edinburgh, Scotland, No- vember 25, 1835, son of William and Mar- garet Morrison Carnegie. His father was a weaver of linen goods, in fairly comfortable circumstances, who gave the lad such advantages as the Dumferline schools afforded. In 1848, finding his oc- cupation gone, Mr. and Mrs. Carnegie decided, for the sake of their two boys, to emigrate to the United States, be- lieving the opportunities here more plen- tiful for their advancement. "They builded better than they knew," but the father did not live to see the prosperity of his son ; his mother, however, did. The family settled in Pittsburgh (North Side) where the lad Andrew obtained work in a cotton mill as bobbin boy at a salary of one dollar and twenty cents per week, which amount was added to the general family fund. Through the kindness of a Colonel Anderson, who made a practice of loaning books to boys and working men, he was able to supplement the edu- cation received at Dumferline with a course of good reading. Colonel Ander-
13
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
son also "builded better than he knew," for there was born in the lad's brain, as he realized the good he derived from the Colonel's kindness, a resolve that has re- sulted in the thousands of "Carnegie Libraries" all over the United States, Canada and Great Britain.
At the age of thirteen years young Car- negie obtained a position in a factory, making bobbins, his duty being to attend the engine that furnished power to the mill. The work was too hard for a boy, but his efforts had pleased his employer, who gave him a place in his office. At the age of fourteen years he secured a posi- tion as messenger boy in the office of the Ohio Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, at a salary of two dollars and fifty cents weekly. Here he quickly saw an oppor- tunity, and this has ever been one of the secrets of his success. When opportunity knocked, he always "rose and followed." He began learning telegraphy, and never gave up until he was an expert operator, able to receive messages by sound, an art then exceedingly rare. As an opera- tor hie received twenty-five dollars a month. He attracted the attention of Thomas A. Scott, then superintendent and manager of the Pennsylvania railroad telegraph system, who made him his clerk at a salary of thirty-five dollars monthly. He remained with the Pennsylvania thirteen years, and after the election of Mr. Scott to the vice-presidency was ap- pointed superintendent of the Western, or Pittsburgh Division. In that position he introduced many improvements, in- cluding the block system of operating trains by telegraphic signals. During the war between the States, when Colonel Scott was appointed Assistant Secretary of War, he placed Mr. Carnegie in charge of military railroads and govern- ment telegraph lines. One of his first duties was to reopen telegraph commu- nications between Annapolis and Wash- ington, and after the battle of Bull Run
he was the last official to board the train for Alexandria. He was equal to all de- mands made upon him during this period, and who shall say that the inspiration for the Great Peace Building at The Hague did not come to him as a result of his war experiences.
It seems to have been Colonel Scott, later president of the Pennsylvania Rail- road, that first gave the lad his first lesson in finance. While still a clerk, an opportunity presented itself to purchase ten shares of Adams Express Company stock, this corporation not then having reached great proportions. Colonel Scott strongly advised the purchase, and the stock was bought, although it compelled the mother to mortgage her home to raise the necessary funds. This was his first investment. Later, he met in a business way, Mr. Woodruff, the inventor of the sleeping car bearing his name. Quick as ever to see an opportunity, he arranged a meeting between the inventor and Colonel Scott, which resulted in mutual profit, Mr. Carnegie securing money from the local bank to finance his share in the company. This was the first note he ever signed, and, like his venture in Adams Express stock, the investment was a profitable one. He was at this period in receipt of a good salary from the Penn- sylvania, and had acquired some capital, for the money earned was husbanded with true Scotch thrift, but held in constant readiness for the next turn of the wheel. This came during the oil excitement in Pennsylvania. In 1884 he interested Mr. William Coleman in the project of pur- chasing the Storey farm on Oil Creek, Venango county. They purchased the farm for $40,000, and formed a stock com- pany whose shares represented at one time a value of $5,000,000 and paid an annual dividend of one million. He was now a capitalist, and had made influential friends.
While with the Pennsylvania, that road
14
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
contemplated the erection of an iron Pittsburgh, a great railroad was being bridge, and here Mr. Carnegie first be- came interested in iron manufacture, in connection with the Keystone Bridge Company. He was farsighted enough (though unfamiliar with the business) to see the great possibilities of iron manu- facture, and associated himself with others in various mills, foundries and furnaces in the Pittsburgh district. After a visit to Europe, he saw that steel would surely supplant iron, and on his return introduced the Bessemer process of mak- ing steel. While not an inventor of any of the numerous processes, he gave every man with an idea every encouragement, furnishing plant and money, and for this the steel world owes him a debt of grati- tude. As he grew in power he sur- rounded himself with young men who had proven their worth in the various plants of the Carnegie Steel Company, until he was surrounded by thirty of the most capable and enthusiastic men in the iron, steel, coke, mining or transportation world. But among the "thirty" his was the master mind by common consent. At the zenith of his power he was in control of great mills and furnaces, turning out millions of pounds of manufactured steel daily; great coke fields and miles of ovens; vast ore beds in the Lake Su- perior region; steamers on the Great Lakes, carrying ore which they delivered to his double tracked railroad that carried it to the Pittsburgh plants, four hundred twenty-five miles away ; great mines of bituminous coal in the Pittsburgh dis- trict were drawn upon for daily supply ; while the men employed in the allied companies formed an army thoroughly drilled, well officered, and moved at the will of a master mind whom we know as Andrew Carnegie. Conditions in the industrial world had reached a crisis; a break had come with the Pennsylvania railroad, and through the southern tier of Pennsylvania counties eastward from
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.