USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 21
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Throughout his life Mr. Bigham de- voted much time to scientific and his- torical studies, his favorite historical re- searches being connected with the annals city.
of the State of Pennsylvania, and especi- ally of its western settlements. He was a clear and forceful writer, the author of many valuable articles on these subjects. Of fine personal presence, his face and figure suggested that reserve strength and power which his whole career showed that he possessed. His manner was frank and dignified-that of a man with little regard for appearances, but possessed of a generons nature and a kindly disposition. He was a brilliant and witty conversationalist, and in all companies formed the centre of an inter- ested group.
Mr. Bigham married, December 30, 1846, Maria Louisa Lewis, whose family record is appended to this sketch, and their children were : Joel L., born Novem- ber 6, 1847; Kirk Q., March 17, 1851; Mary A., March 29, 1854, married, April 7, 1885, Melville L. Stout; and Eliza A., born January 31, 1857, died June 23, 1902. Joel L. Bigham was a lawyer of recogniz- ed ability. He married, November 14, 1872, Sarah Davis, and they were the parents of two sons: Thomas J., born March 23, 1875, now in the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church ; and Joel Lewis, born February 28, 1877, now of the United States Navy. Kirk Q. Bigham is a retired member of the Alleghany county bar, and has always taken a leading part in municipal affairs. For many years he represented the thirty-second ward in the city councils, and was prominently in- strumental in the development of Mount Washington and Duquesne Heights, hav- ing organized the Duquesne Inclined Plane Company in 1876 and having been its secretary and financial manager ever since, and being vice-president of the South Hills Trust Company, of which he was chief promoter. Of genial nature and attractive personality, Mr. Bigham is a man of many friends and is conspicuous- ly identified with the social life of the
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In his marriage Mr. Bigham was pe- culiarly happy. His wife was one of those rare women who combine with per- fect womanliness and domesticity, an un- erring judgment, traits of the greatest value to her husband, to whom she was not alone a charming companion but also a trusted confidante. Mrs. Bigham was one of the city's favorite hostesses, and withal a woman of deep religious con- victions and the most charitable disposi- tion. Never to be forgotten is her work in Grace Church and Sunday school, in the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, and in the establishment and management of the Mount Washington Free Library and Reading Room Asso- ciation. This institution has since been replaced by a Branch Carnegie Library, as the result of Mrs. Bigham's efforts and influence. Mr. Bigham was a man of do- mestic nature and strong family affec- tions, and delighted in the exercise of hospitality. No one who was ever priv- ileged to be his guest failed to bear wit- ness to his incomparable gifts as a host.
Mr. Bigham died November 9, 1884, in the home which he had built at Mount Washington in 1849, and where his de- scendants still reside. His widow passed away October 14, 1888. Honored by all classes of the community for his character and work, loved by many for his endear- ing personal qualities, few men have been more deeply and sincerely mourned.
Mr Bigham added to the prestige of the Pennsylvania bar, and served his State as a wise legislator, but neither as advocate nor senator did he gather his most unfading laurels. As one of that noble body of men who, in the decades immediately preceding the Civil War, fearlessly championed the cause of the slave, and in doing so risked the loss of friends and fortune, and sometimes of life itself, his name will be inscribed with un- dying honor in the annals of that Heroic Age.
(The Lewis Line).
Mr. Joel Lewis, father of Mrs. Maria Louisa (Lewis) Bigham, was a represent- ative of one of the oldest and most prom- inent families of Pennsylvania. July 8, 1814 he married Mary Ann, daughter of Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, of the Vir- ginia Army of the Revolution, who as paymaster at Fort Pitt settled here per- manently. At the close of the war and in association with General John Neville, his brother-in-law, he was conspicuous in up- holding Federal authority during the "Whiskey Insurrection" of 1794. In March of that year Major Kirkpatrick purchased from John Penn, Jr., and John Penn, heirs of William Penn, farms 10 and II in the Manor of Pittsburgh, south of the Monongahela river, containing seven hundred and fourteen acres, and comprising the territory known locally as Mount Washington and Duquesne Heights. After the death of Major Kirk- patrick this property was divided among his three daughters, Eliza M., wife of Christopher Cowan, taking the eastern part; Amelia L., wife of Judge Charles Shaler, the western portion; and Mary Ann, wife of Dr. Joel Lewis, the middle part.
Dr. and Mrs. Lewis were the parents of a son and a daughter: Abraham Kirk- . patrick, commonly called Kirk Lewis, born Aug. 24, 1815, the most prominent of the early coal operators, who died No- vember 10, 1860; and Maria Louisa, born June 8, 1819, who became the wife of Thomas James Bigham, as mentioned above. Between this son and daughter the Kirkpatrick property was divided, and it was on the portion inherited by Mrs. Bigham that the Bigham residence was subsequently erected.
RITER, Thomas B., Manufacturer, Financier.
The supremacy of Pittsburgh among the industrial cities of the world is the
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supremacy of superior brain-power, and describing a man as a leading Pittsburgh manufacturer is equivalent to saying that he possessed intelligence of a high order and touchied life at many points. A man of this type was the late Thomas B. Riter, for many years head of the widely known Riter-Conley Manufacturing Com- pany, and identified for nearly half a century with the most vital interests of the Iron City.
Thomas B. Riter was born in Blair county, Pennsylvania, in 1840, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wagonseller) Riter. He was a descendant of Michael Riter, who, with his brother, George Riter, emigrated from Saxony to Penn- sylvania in 1752, settling in Germantown. Michael, the colonist, served in the Revo- lutionary war under Colonel Evans and Captain Brock, and while on a scouting expedition in 1777 was captured by the British and thrown into prison in Phila- delphia, where he died in 1778. Joseph Riter was born in Chester county, Penn- sylvania, in 1788, and removed to Pitts- burgh in 1845.
Thomas B. Riter attended the public schools of Pittsburgh, and at seventeen began his business career as a clerk in the hat store of Samuel McMasters. Twoyears later he entered the employ of Lippincott & Company, manufacturers of shovels and axes, and remained with that firm till 1860, when he entered the employ of his brother, James Riter, who was en- gaged in the sheet iron business. During the Civil War their work consisted chiefly in repairing river boats and this led to the establishment of a general boiler shop and tank manufacturing busi- ness, large orders being received from the ore companies in Pennsylvania. In 1873, James M. Riter died, and Thomas B. then formed a partnership with William H. Conley, bookkeeper of the old firm, under the firm name of Riter & Conley. In 1897 Mr. Conley died, and Mr. Riter be-
came the sole owner of the works, which had been greatly enlarged, an engineer- ing department forming an important part of the plant. In no small measure was the rapid growth of this firm due to Mr. Riter's tireless industry and inex- haustible energy. Born to command, wise to plan, he was quick in action, and capable of prolonged labor, with the power of close concentration, and the ele- vation of his character was equal to his executive ability. Legitimately ambi- tious, he scorned all success which had not for its basis truth and honor, and no amount of gain could lure him from the undeviating line of rectitude. While he would not tolerate false representations either among his associates and subordi- nates or in his customers, the justice and kindliness with which he treated his em- ployes were beyond all praise, and he re- ceived from them in return a service and co-operation which enabled him to ad- vance his firm to the position of the larg- est and best known concern of its kind in the world. A new corporation, the Riter- Conley Manufacturing Company, was formed in 1898, with a capital of one mil- lion dollars. Mr. Riter became president, and the plant was enlarged until it was the largest of the kind in the world de- voted to the manufacture of structural and plate steel, with both domestic and foreign clientele.
One of Mr. Riter's most marked char- acteristics was the ability to acquire com- plete mastery of any subject to which he directed his attention. He possessed no inconsiderable amount of mechanical genius, and in his habits was very meth- odical, being no doubt one of the principal reasons of his ability to despatch a phe- nomenal amount of business within a short time. He was president of the Ohio Valley Bank of Allegheny, which he helped organize in 1890; member of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsyl- vania; the Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Union
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and University clubs, the Pittsburgh Country Club, the Engineers' Club of New York City, and was a member of Dallas Lodge No. 508, F. and A. M. In politics Mr. Riter was a Republican, and, while taking no active part in public af- fairs, was known as a citizen with exalted ideas of good government and civic virtue. Every project for the betterment of the community received his hearty co- operation, his faith in the city's future greatness was deep and abiding, and to the accomplishment of that end his time, money and influence were unstintedly devoted. He was widely but unostenta- tiously charitable, actively aiding a num- ber of philanthropic associations, and never neglecting an opportunity to assist those less fortunate than himself. To his associates he showed a genial, kindly, hu- morous side of his nature which made their business relations most enjoyable, and he had the faculty of inspiring in all who were brought into contact with him, feelings of sincere and lasting friendship. A man of fine appearance, his counten- ance and bearing were an index to his character.
Mr. Riter married, April 14, 1875, in Pittsburgh, Sophie A., daughter of James and Sophie McCallin. By this marriage Mr. Riter gained the life companionship of a charmning and congenial woman, fitted in all ways to be his help-mate. One son survives Mr. Riter: Joseph Riter, now head of the great business founded by his father.
The death of Mr. Riter, which occurred April 23, 1907, was deeply and sincerely mourned by all classes of the community. As a business man he might truly be called a model and in all the relations of life he was thoroughly admirable. His record, both as a manufacturer and a cit- izen, is without a blemish. Throughout his career, he was conspicuously and in- separably identified with Pittsburgh. The promotion of her prosperity and
power was his ultimate object in all his enterprises, and with prophetic instinct he realized her pre-eminence in the years to come. Pittsburgh, sitting to-day most royally on her seventeen hills, has more than justified his belief, and among the names which she holds in grateful re- membrance is that of Thomas B. Riter.
SLEETH, Robert,
Manufacturer, Inventor.
The cornerstone of Pittsburgh's pres- tige was laid in the character of its first workers, many of whom were of that in- domitable, progressive race-the Scotch- Irish-which infused its thrift, acumen and tireless energy into the very fiber of the place. Among these masterful and impressive figures of the old time none looms larger or more commandingly through the gathering mists of the fast receding years than does that of the late Robert Sleeth, vice-president of the Sea- man-Sleeth Company, and one of the pioneer founders of the Iron City.
Robert Sleeth was born June 15, 1827, in Ireland, and when a child was brought to the United States by his parents, who settled in Pittsburgh. The boy learned his trade as a moulder in Mitchell's Foundry, then situated in Pike street, near Eleventh, and was employed for many years in the Fort Pitt Foundry. He showed marked ability in the execution of every detail, and his aggressive in- dustry, together with his quiet and de- cisive judgment, gained for him an un- usual measure of success. During his service at the Fort Pitt Foundry, Mr. Steeth enjoyed the distinction of mould- ing the first cannon used in the Civil War. Among the other works which he ex- ecuted at this time-of local celebrity though of less historical importance- were the ornamental iron work on the steeple of St. Philomena's Roman Catho- lic Church at Fourteenth and Liberty
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streets, and the ornamental plates over the footpaths of the first Sixth street suspension bridge, which was torn down to be replaced by the present structure.
Mr. Sleeth was for a time superinten- dent at the old Smith Foundry at Twen- ty-third and Smallman streets, resigning this position in order to accept that of foreman of the foundry of Bollman, Boyd & Baggaley, at Twenty-fifth and Liberty streets, remaining there until about 1870. At that period the firm of James B. Young & Company, as the Phoenix Roll Works, was organized, with Mr. Sleeth as one of the partners. The works of the company were removed to their pres- ent site at Forty-first street and the Alle- gheny Valley railroad, their former situa- tion having been purchased by the West- inghouse Air Brake Company. After a number of changes in the personnel of the firm, it was in 1896 incorporated as the Seaman-Sleeth Company, Mr. Sleeth becoming vice-president. Always pos- sessed of a singularly strong personality, he exerted a wonderful influence on his business associates and subordinates, set- ting them an example of fidelity to every trust, and at the same time endearing himself to them by his splendid personal qualities. He was one of those men who seem to find the happiness of life in the success of their work, and in the great business which for many years he con- ducted with such consummate ability he reared to himself a magnificent testimon- ial-an unanswerable proof of his in- domitable enterprise and unfaltering de- termination. Mr. Sleeth's work and suc- cess lay in his genius and skill in mixing metals. While not a metallurgist in the modern sense of the word, hie succeeded in getting results equal to the results of to-day with all the modern laboratory equipment. He had the reputation of being the best man in Pittsburgh in the mixing of metals. During his lifetime he was the inventor of the mixture which
revolutionized the iron business in cer- tain lines. He was the first to produce the metal known as semi-steel in the early 70's, produced from mixing iron and . steel.
Mr. Sleeth had a wonderfully keen sense of humor which was so natural it was a part of his personality, which tem- pered the difficulties that he met with in his business dealings with others and en- abled him to accomplish his end without friction. As a true citizen, Mr. Sleeth was interested in every project having for its end the moral improvement and social culture of the community, and ac- tively aided a number of institutions by his influence and means. A vigilant and attentive observer of men and measures, his opinions were recognized as sound and his views broad, and his ideas there- fore carried weight among those with whom he discussed public problems. He was a member of the United Presbyter- ian church, and for years a trustee of the Sixth Church of Pittsburgh. Those who were familiar with the personal appear- ance of Mr. Sleeth, his erect bearing, commanding air, and open manly face, clear-cut and resolute, yet gentle and genial in expression, cannot fail to recall how well his character was illustrated by his exterior. No man in this world was kinder-hearted, more affable in manners, quicker in financial sagacity or more con- servative of all good influences. Full of sympathy for the unfortunate, of unfail- ing fidelity in friendship, always looking to the interest of others rather than to his own, he was admired and respected by the entire community and warmly loved by an unusually large circle of friends.
Mr. Sleeth married (first) Agnes Boyd, of Pittsburgh, and they became the par- ents of the following children: William J. and Robert L., both of Pittsurgh ; and George C., of Belleville, New Jersey. Mrs. Sleeth died, and Mr. Sleeth married
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(second) Margaret A., daughter of Wil- origin, and was founded in the North of liam Stratton, of Pittsburgh. Child by this marriage: Margaret A. Sleeth.
Mr. Sleeth was a man to whom the ties of home and friendship were sacred and he took genuine delight in rendering ser- vice to those who were near and dear to him. During the latter years of his life, failing health prevented MIr. Sleeth from taking an active part in the affairs of his company, and he spent his winters in San Diego, California. It was there that he expired January 24, 1913, "full of years and of honors." The news was received in Pittsburgh with demonstrations of sorrow by all classes of citizens. Honor- able in purpose, fearless in conduct, he stood for many years as one of the most eminent and valued citizens of Pitts- burgh, and the memory of his life re- mains as an inspiration to those who come after him. For three quarters of a century Mr. Sleeth was a resident of the Iron City, and during that period he wit- nessed each successive step of her ad- vancement to her present proud position as the Capital of the Industrial World. His fortunes were inseparably identified with hers, and never had Pittsburgh a more loyal son. Honored in life, he is revered in death. No name in the annals of Old Pittsburgh is more venerated than that of Robert Sleeth.
MELLON, Thomas, Lawyer, Jurist, Financier.
Mellon is the greatest name in the fi- nancial annals of Pittsburgh. To the late Thomas Mellon, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and founder of the world-famous private banking house of T. Mellon & Sons, the Iron City owes her position of proud pre-eminence in the monetary world. The descendants of Judge Mellon now constitute the ruling dynasty of Pittsburgh banking.
The Mellon family was of Scottish
Ireland at the time of the Norman Con- quest. For many generations they were farmers, living on and cultivating their own land. Archibald Mellon, grand- father of Thomas Mellon, in consequence of the oppressive taxation necessary to defray the expenses of the Napoleonic wars, determined to emigrate to the United States, and came in 1816 to Penn- sylvania, settling in Westmoreland county.
Andrew, son of Archibald Mellon, fol- lowed his father's example, and in Octo- ber, 1818, embarked for the New World, landing in Baltimore. In the autumn of the same year he crossed the mountains into Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, and invested his money in a farm near New Salem, where he passed the re- mainder of his life. He married in Ire- land, Rebecca Wauchob, whose ances- tors came from Holland when William, Prince of Orange, left his native land to become King of England. In their Irish home the Wauchobs were prominently identified with local affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Mellon were the parents of the fol- lowing children : Thomas, mentioned be- low; Eleanor, married David Stotter, of Allegheny county ; Eliza, married George Bowman, of the same county ; Margaret, became the wife of James Shields, of Cal- ifornia ; and Samuel, who made his home in the South. Mr. Mellon died at the age of seventy, and his widow, at the time of her death, was nine years older. Both were members of the Presbyterian church.
Thomas, son of Andrew and Rebecca (Wauchob) Mellon, was born February 3, 1813, at Camp Hill Cottage, on his father's farm, in lower Castleton, parish of Cappaigh, county Tyrone, Ireland. The estate had been in the possession of the family for many generations. When brought by his parents to the United States, Thomas Mellon was less than six
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years old, and from that time until at- taining his twentieth year spent his sum- mers chiefly in assisting his father in the labors of the farm, and his winters in attending the log cabin school estab- lished in the neighborhood. He mani- fested even then signs of a remarkable intellect, and, aided by his mother, passed many hours of the night in study. It was decided in 1833 that he was better adapted for a profession than for the call- ing of a farmer, and he was accordingly sent to the classical school at Monroe- ville, Allegheny county, conducted by Rev. Jonathan Gill. After completing the course at this institution he matricu- lated at the Western University of Penn- sylvania (now University of Pittsburgh), then situated on Third street, and pre- sided over by Rev. Dr. Robert Bruce, graduating in the class of 1837. Two years previous to this Mr. Mellon had begun to read law with Judge Shaler, senior partner of the firm of Shaler & Simpson, leading attorneys of that day, and in December, 1838, was admitted to the bar. With rare wisdom for so young a man, Mr. Mellon, instead of immedi- ately entering upon the independent practice of his profession, accepted the position of managing clerk in the office of Prothonotary Thomas Liggett, founder of the well known Liggett family of East End, Pittsburgh, his object being to gain acquaintance with the members of the bar and to gain experience in the work of his profession. How well he profited by the opportunities thus afforded, is related in the legal annals of the State of Penn- sylvania.
In June, 1839, Mr. Mellon opened an office on Fifth avenue, near Market street, Pittsburgh, and from the outset obained a lucrative practice, owing to his success in bringing cases to a prompt settlement. He showed, even at this early period of his career, remarkable business sagacity, his investments prov-
ing so successful as to cause him, in com- bination with failing health (the result of close attention to his largely increased clientele), to seriously consider retirement from active law practice. In 1858 his friends of both the bench and bar pre- vailed upon him to become a candidate for a judgeship that had been recently created in the Court of Common Pleas, No. 1. He was elected, taking his seat December 29, 1858, and serving the full term of ten years, at the expiration of that time declining a renomination.
As a legal practitioner Judge Mellon's specialty was as a commercial lawyer, and he was also largely engaged in practice in the Orphans' Court, where he repre- sented many extensive estates. He was regarded as one of the most careful and reliable lawyers of his day, and many in- teresting anecdotes illustrative of his sagacity, watchfulness and sense of hu- mor, have been preserved, and are of special value, inasmuch as they reveal, as by a flash-light, many of the most vivid traits in the character of this remarkable man. The qualifications of a good judge are many and rare, chief among them be- ing character, ability, training and tem- perament, and all these were embodied to an unusual degree in Judge Mellon. His wonderful capacity for quickly dis- cerning and perfectly retaining the prin- cipal and vital points of a case was well illustrated while he was on the bench. He was then a busy man, and often, dur- ing the trial of a case, would be occupied in attending to some private business, ap- parently paying no attention to the pro- ceedings. When the time came, however, for him to deliver his charge, it was soon seen that he had fully and accurately possessed himself of the entire case, and his charges were considered models of conciseness, fairness, good law and com- mon sense. Never making any preten- sions to oratory, he used only short, crisp sentences, couched in the plainest lan-
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guage, this being his custom both on the bench and at the bar. His practice was almost exclusively in an advisory capac- ity, and he was consulted in a majority of the most important cases.
After his retirement from the bench, Judge Mellon entered the banking busi- ness, founding, in 1869, the house of T. Mellon & Sons. Associated with him were his sons, Andrew W. and Richard B. Mellon. For almost a quarter of a century this celebrated banking house conducted a large and successful busi- ness, the steady growth of many years marking it as one of the strong banks of Pittsburgh. Throughout this period, Judge Mellon was the controlling spirit, carrying in his own head the ramified de- tails of the immense enterprise,-strong and sagacious, in business procedure a predecessor of Russell Sage, inasmuch as he kept on hand huge sums of ready cash which, during periods of panic and disas- ter, were valuable profit-makers. His strong judgment and ripe experience caused him to be much sought as an as- tute and capable adviser. In the financial world his influence was strong and salu- tary, his conservatism making for safety in business interests, and he often took occasion to warm his friends of various dangerous speculations. Judge Mellon was accustomed to say that the secret of his success lay in the fact that he had never involved himself in debt, and one of his favorite maxims was, "Attending to other people's business is a waste of time when we have profitable business of our own to attend to." The story of his life furnishes conclusive evidence of the value of this precept, inasmuch as by its use he accumulated a fortune and rose to a position of prominence.
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