USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 4
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
To do justice to all of Mr. Shaw's in- ventions would require volumes, but we mention a few more that show particu- larly the originality of the man. His Hy- draulic Pipe Machine, with a capacity of 60 tons in 24 hours, was said to be the
largest clay pipe-making machinery in the world. In 1865 he invented a machine for grinding faucets, the first of its kind in the world. He was the first man to do away with slotting in semi-elliptic car springs, which are used throughout the world to-day. His mode of shotting met- als, applicable to molten iron for the pur- pose of sub-division to enable proper mix- tures of steel, was of such importance that it was kept as far as possible a se- cret. Mr. Shaw perfected this mode while superintendent of the Butcher Steel Works, and it was this invention that furnished the Messrs. Tilghman with the first iron shot used for cutting stone. His cast chain of 1867 was the first of this class of inventions. Mr. Shaw stands alone as being the first man in the world who harnessed gunpowder to machinery for other than warlike pur- suits. He was regarded as a great authority on patent law and was a mem- ber of the United States Congress of In- ventors and Manufacturers.
The city of Philadelphia honored Mr. Shaw by naming one of its suburbs, Shawmont, after him, and one of its large avenues running from the Schuylkill river to Wissahickon creek.
Mr. Shaw married Matilda Miller Gar- ber, a descendant of Benedict Garber, one of the earliest settlers of Collegeville, Pennsylvania. They had three daugh- ters, one of whom is still living, Mrs. Joseph R. Wilson, 6015 Overbrook avenue, Overbrook, Philadelphia. This daughter was selected by Mr. Shaw to be his son, as he stated that all his boys were girls. The confidential nature of his business required that he turn one of his girls into a boy, and he undertook personally the special training of this daughter to intrust her with the confi- dential work relating to his inventions, and it is largely due to Mrs. Wilson's intimate knowledge of Mr. Shaw's pri- vate life that this sketch is written.
22
Seo. A. Macbeth
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Joseph R. Wilson, the son-in-law of Mr. Shaw, and now a prominent member of the Philadelphia bar, was closely asso- ciated with him in his scientific work during the last ten years of his life. Ill health and disease so preyed upon Mr. Shaw's mind and body that he was un- able to attend properly to his affairs. One of Mr. Shaw's most valuable inventions, intended to warn ships at sea of the ap- proach of other vessels within all points of the compass, was never perfected ow- ing to his physical inability to stand the mental strain of inventing and creating new work. Mrs. Wilson recalls with sor- row the day when her father confessed to her in trembling voice and with tears run- ning down his cheeks that his strength had left him forever and that he never again expected to create a new work.
Mr. Shaw was distinctly proud of the fact that he was an American by right of birth, and his patriotism and devotion to his country made him refuse all offers to accept government positions abroad. One came in 1870 from France, during the time of Napoleon III., offering him high office in connection with government en- gineering work. Later in life, through Captain Schymetzkin of the Russian Navy, he was offered the position of Min- ister of Railways to the Russian govern- ment, if he would leave America and be- come a citizen of Russia. Similar offers came from Japan and England, where his engineering skill and inventive genius were held in high esteem. Through a representative of the King of Sweden an official offer was made by that govern- ment to secure his services. He was of- fered a handsome fee by a committee duly appointed if he would solve the problem of the black fogs of London and abate the nuisance. Mr. Shaw never felt that he could deny himself the joy of be- ing an American, and nothing could tempt him to leave his native land. He was proud to be known as a citizen of
the United States, and no man ever loved his country with more patriotism or de- votion than Mr. Shaw.
Mr. Shaw died January 19, 1901, in his sixty-third year.
MACBETH, George Alexander, Manufacturer, Scientist.
Not to every pioneer is it given to obtain in his chosen field of endeavor the rewards of wealth and honor, but to George Alexander Macbeth, of Pitts- burgh, first manufacturer of optical glass in the United States, has been vouch- safed this rare good fortune and peculiar distinction. On his father's side Mr. Macbeth is a representative of one of the most renowned of the old Scottish fam- ilies, while through his mother he is of French lineage, his ancestors having been of the number of those heroic Hu- guenots who preferred exile to apostasy.
The ancient name of Macbeth is also spelled Mackbeathe, MacBeth and Mc- Beth. Some of the family who embraced the doctrines of John Knox were driven by religious persecution from their own country and fled, as did so many of their compatriots, to the north of Ireland. Alexander Macbeth, a descendant of one of these refugees, was born in county Antrim, Ireland, and married Mrs. Nancy Hambleton, whose first husband had been accidentally drowned. Subsequently Alexander Macbeth emigrated to the province of Pennsylvania, prior to the French and Indian war. He was accom- panied by his two brothers, Andrew and John. Andrew Macbeth, who was great- grandfather of George Alexander Mac- beth, of Pittsburgh, married Mrs. Ann Fleming, by whom he became the father of one son, Alexander, mentioned below.
Alexander, only child of Andrew and Ann (Fleming) Macbeth, was born in 1762, in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, and was in his early manhood
23
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
colonel of a body of Pennsylvania troops. In 1806 he visited Ohio, purchasing prop- erty in Champaign county, where he was one of the pioneers. He built the first brick house in the county, and took across the mountains the first carriage with springs. That he occupied a high place in the esteem and confidence of his neigh- bors is proved by the fact that he was twice elected to represent them in the Ohio legislature, serving his first term when that body convened at Chillicothe, and his second when it met at Zanesville. Mr. Macbeth married, July 8, 1790, Rachel Whitehill, whose ancestral record is appended to this sketch, and their chil- dren were: Andrew, born April 18, 1791, died in June, 1863; Mary, born October II, 1792, died July 11, 1871; Elizabeth, born February 14, 1794, died February 14, 1852; Robert W., born September 21, 1795, died February 4, 1857; Eleanor, born June 19, 1797, died in January, 1865; Rachel, born July 15, 1799, died in early life; Alexander, born April 17, 1801 ; Ann Maria, born January 22, 1803, died May 30, 1869; and James Reed, mentioned be- low.
The manner of Mr. Macbeth's death was singularly in keeping with the tenor of his whole life. Beginning as a soldier and in early middle age becoming a pioneer, his last action of importance was one in which he took the initiative. He was the first man to take a large cargo of grain and whiskey down the Auglaize and Maumee rivers to Black Rock, near Buffalo, where he disposed of it, reload- ing his boat with salt. On the return trip he contracted a disease that proved fatal, and the salt did not reach its des- tination until the following winter, when its sale brought from seventeen to eigh- teen dollars a barrel. Mrs. Macbeth sur- vived her husband a number of years, her death occurring February 13, 1846.
James Reed, youngest child of Alexan- der and Rachel (Whitehill) Macbeth,
was born March 6, 1805, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he grew to man- hood. He studied law under the precep- torship of his uncle, James Whitehill, but afterward became a merchant in Ohio. He married, November 15, 1832, Rev. Leroy Woods officiating, Frances A. Bay- ard, whose ancestral record is appended to this sketch, and they became the par- ents of the following children: Charles Edgar, Helen, Anna Rachel, James Bay- ard; George Alexander, mentioned below ; and Sarah Frances. James Reed Macbeth died August 29, 1882.
George Alexander, son of James Reed and Frances A. (Bayard) Macbeth, was born October 29, 1845, in Urbana, Ohio, where he received his education and passed his childhood and early youth. His business career began in 1862, when he went to Springfield, Ohio, where for the following six years he was employed as clerk in a retail drug store. In 1868 he came to Pittsburgh, and for the next three years was engaged in the wholesale drug business in this city. It was in 1872 that Mr. Macbeth first associated himself with the glass business, becoming in that year a travelling salesman. It was not long before his enterprising spirit inspired him to independent effort, and he en- gaged in the manufacture of glass, under- taking in 1877 that branch of the indus- try with which his name will ever be inseparably associated-the making of optical glass. Into this venture he threw his whole soul, devoting himself to it with all the intense application and con- centrated energy of which he was cap- able, which, as all who know Mr. Mac- beth are aware, is saying a great deal. The success which rewarded his efforts was exceptional in that it was immediate, his early achievements meeting with as much favor from the public as his later. In 1893 he exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago the first specimens of Ameri- can-made optical glass, receiving a prize,
24
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
a medal and a diploma. At this fair he was alternate commissioner, receiving his appointment from Governor Patterson. Mr. Macbeth's large plant is justly re- garded as one of the industrial glories of Pittsburgh. Extensive in proportions and perfect in equipment, its products have a world-wide reputation for unsurpassed excellence, and since 1880 have manu- factured more lamp chimneys than any other manufactory in the world, and their finest grades are sold all over he world.
Mr. Macbeth was the first American manufacturer to undertake the manufac- ture of lighthouse lenses and illuminating apparatus for lighthouses and for coast service, and his firm has successfully competed with foreign manufacturers and secured many government contracts. They are the first American manufac- turers to light the Ambrose channel at New York harbor, one of the greatest harbors of the world. In the realm of illumination they are experts, and are pre- pared to handle any contract for illumina- tion scientifically and expertly-from illu- minating a house to seaport harbor work. Their factory at Charleroi, Penn- sylvania, is devoted to the manufacture of illuminating glass entirely, the factory having twelve acres under roof and em- ploying 1400 people. Other factories are at Toledo, Ohio; Elwood and Marion, Indiana, altogether employing 4000 peo- ple in their factories.
In politics Mr. Macbeth is an indepen- dent, and although he has been all his life too busy a man to take any active (The Whitehill Line). part in public affairs, no one takes a more earnest interest in everything pertaining James Whitehill, grandfather of Mrs. Rachel (Whitehill) Macbeth, was born in 1700, and was twice married. His first wife died young, leaving a son James, who was born January 1, 1725, married, in June, 1751, and died December 25, to the welfare of the great city in the business world of which he wields so commanding an influence. He has in all his endeavors for progress and improve- ment stood forth as an able exponent of the spirit of the age, making wise use 1757. The second wife of James White- of his opportunities and wealth, and con- hill was Rachel Craswell, of Lancaster
forming his life to a high standard. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Club; Rowfant Club of Cleveland, Ohio; Gro- lier Club of New York, National Arts Club of New York, Transportation Club of New York, Reform Club of New York ; and of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania. Mr. Macbeth is a director of the Carnegie Institute, being a life member in the original board of trustees. He has been chairman of the library com- mittee of the Carnegie Institute since its foundation. In religious belief Mr. Mac- beth is a Swedenborgian.
June 1, 1880, Mr. Macbeth married Miss Kate Vodges Duff, daughter of George Duff, of Pittsburgh, of the old Pittsburgh family of this name, and a prominent dealer in wholesale hardware. Children : Anna Vodges Macbeth, married, June, 1912, Judge Robert von Moschzisker, Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania; Helen Whitehill Macbeth, mar- ried W. B. Boggess, M. D., of Pittsburgh ; George Duff Macbeth, student at Yale (Sheffield Scientific, class '13).
A man of action rather than words, Mr. Macbeth has demonstrated his public spirit by actual achievement which has advanced incalculably the pros- perity of the community. To the tra- ditions of good citizenship and hon- orable public service which have for gen- erations been associated with the name of Macbeth he has added the record of a manufacturer who has acquired an in- ternational reputation by causing indus- try to go hand in hand with science.
25
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
county, by whom he became the father of the following children: John, born December 1, 1729, married, August 13, 1755, Nancy Sanderson; Jane, born June 25, 1731, died in March, 1740; Elizabeth, born July 1, 1733, married, April 1, 1752, Colonel James Moore; Robert, mentioned below; Sarah, born January 19, 1737, married, March 15, 1760, George Stewart, and died May 12, 1778; Rachel, born June 15, 1739, married, June 15, 1772, Thomas Irwin, and died May 5, 1812; Margaret, born July 1, 1741, married, January I, 1765, Robert Craig, and died February 14, 1777; David, born May 24, 1743, mar- ried, April 8, 1770, Rachel Clemson ; and Joseph, mentioned below. James White- hill, the father of these sons and daugh- ters, died February 2, 1766, at Pequea, Lancaster county.
Robert, fourth child and second son of James and Rachel (Craswell) Whitehill, was born July 24, 1735, and married, Feb- ruary 1, 1759, Eleanor, daughter of Adam and Mary Reed. Their children were: Adam, born February 27, 1760, died April 25, 1780; Mary, born February I, 1762, died in September, 1778; Rachel, mentioned below; James, born in 1766, died May 12, 1832; Robert, mentioned below; Elizabeth, born March 6, 1770, married Richard M. Crain ; Eleanor, born February 9, 1773, died November 28, 1818; and John, born April 10, 1775, died November 30, 1816. Robert Whitehill, the father, died April 8, 1813, in Cumber- land county.
married Dr. Morris, of Lebanon, Ohio, and died April 27, 1856; Joseph, born December 30, 1786, died November 4, 1861; Mary, born October 19, 1788, mar- ried, February 6, 1817, Thomas Smith, and died August 28, 1849; Hannah, born November 28, 1790, successively married Freeman and Judge Thomas Smith, and died November 25, 1866; Su- sannalı, born October 25, 1792, married, December 25, 1817, M. Tate, and died January 15, 1873; Thomas, born Novem- ber 2, 1794, died July 18, 1816; Rebecca, born October 21, 1796, married succes- sively - - Cowan and Nathan Fiske, and died April 13, 1838; and Julia Ann, born June 25, 1801, died in January, 1813. Joseph Whitehill, the father of this fam- ily, died March 25, 1808.
Rachel, daughter of Robert and Elea- nor (Reed) Whitehill, was born May 6, 1764, and became the wife of Alexander Macbeth, as mentioned above.
Robert, son of Robert and Eleanor (Reed) Whitehill, was born September 13, 1768, and studied law with Edmund Ran- dolph, of Philadelphia. A highly cul- tured man, he enjoyed the close friend- ship of many distinguished people, not- ably that of General Lafayette, with whom he travelled during his tour of the United States; and he was groomsman at the wedding of two of the daughters of Thomas Jefferson. Robert Whitehill died August 27, 1829.
(The Bayard Line).
The original patronymic of this ancient and noble family was du Terrall, a name rendered illustrious by the celebrated knight Pierre du Terrall, Seigneur de Bayard. He died unmarried, April 30, 1524, aged forty-eight. Subsequently the family took the name of Bayard, derived from their chateau in Dauphiny, about six miles from Grenoble. The province was largely Huguenot, and among those Joseph, youngest child of James and Rachel (Craswell) Whitehill, was born August 2, 1746, and settled near Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, becoming conspic- nous as a politician and for some years serving as treasurer of Ohio. He mar- ried, May 20, 1780, Mary Kennedy, and their children were: James, born April 21, 1781, died January 18, 1810; Jane, born June 11, 1783, died February 15, 1865; Rachel, born February 15, 1785, who embraced "the religion" were the
26
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Bayards. During the persecutions of the sixteenth century some members of the family fled to Holland, where one of them married Anna Stuyvesant, a sister of Peter Stuyvesant, the first Dutch gov- ernor of New York, then New Amster- dam. When he came to take possession of his province, in 1647, his sister, then a widow, accompanied him with her chil- dren. Thus was planted on the shores of the New World a race in whose veins flowed the blood of the du Terralls and Stuyvesants, of the good knight "with- out fear and without reproach," and of the valiant soldier-governor of the prov- ince of New Netherlands. Petrus, son of -- and Anna (Stuyvesant) Bayard be- came the possessor of property on Bohe- mia Manor. Samuel, son of Petrus Bay- ard, inherited the property and married Susanna Bouchelle. Samuel, son of Sam- uel and Susanna (Bouchelle) Bayard, married Francina Mauldan, and they be- came the parents of a large family. Peter, son of Samuel and Francina (Mauldan) Bayard, was born June 16, 1732, married, and became the father of several children. Samuel, son of Peter Bayard, was born February 20, 1763, married Elizabeth Woods, and died May 8, 1814. Frances A., daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Woods) Bayard, became the wife of James Reed Macbeth, as mentioned above.
COTTINGHAM, William White, Distinguished Educator.
Professor William White Cottingham, whose death occurred March 1, 1913, was for sixty years superintendent of the pub- lie schools of Easton, a record unparal- leled by that of any other public school superintendent of the country. He was the author and founder of the present school system of his city, and in the 89th year of his age was still at the head of the institution. It is interesting to note
that from the beginning of this long and useful service, to the time of his death, he never asked nor sought for the posi- tion to which he was called.
He was born in Easton, December 6, 1824. He was a descendant of Jonathan and Margaret Cottingham, whose son Daniel, born December 5, 1724, was mar- ried, January 24, 1753, to Ann Cooper ; he died January 27, 1778, and his wife Sep- tember 29, 1789. They had a son John, born June 14, 1754, died January 6, 1829, married Priscilla Fleming, April 15, 1787 ; she was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, July 29, 1760, and died May 16, 1827, a daughter of William and Sarah (Cox) Fleming. Her father was a descendant of Colonel John Fleming.
Robert Cottingham, father of Professor Cottingham, was born in Maryland, Sep- tember 10, 1799, and died June 28, 1880. About 1820 he arrived in Easton, Penn- sylvania, where he became a drygoods merchant, continuing in that business until his death. He married Miss Sophia White, a daughter of William and Susan (Everhart) White. The White family is of English lineage. The grandfather of Mrs. Cottingham bore the name of Wil- liam White, and married Martha Matilda Mason, of Oxford, New Jersey. Their son, Wilham White Jr., wedded Susan Everhart, a daughter of John Arnold Everhart, who in 1757 married Anna Margaret Weaver, born in 1740, and died in 1824. Her parents were Frederick and Catherine Weaver.
Professor William W. Cottingham was the second in a family of nine children. His boyhood days were spent in his na- tive city, and he began his education in a private school conducted by Miss Ger- trude Kemper, on Northampton street, Easton. He afterward attended a school conducted by Mrs. Prior, in a frame building nearly opposite the present loca- tion of the high school of Easton, on Second street. In 1834, the law regarding
27
.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
public schools went into effect, and Mr. Cottingham became one of the first pupils in the first public school of Easton, con- ducted by Josiah Davis. He afterward also attended a select school taught by Mr. Davis, and later became a student under Dr. Vanderveer, prior to entering upon business life. On putting aside his textbooks he became an able assistant to his father in the store, but two years' experience in that direction convinced him that his talent did not lie along that line. Leaving the store, he entered the Model School of Lafayette College, then under the direction of Professor D. P. Yeomans, there preparing for college. Matriculating in Lafayette College, he pursued a four years' course, and was graduated in 1848 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. The board of trustees of Lafay- ette College elected him a tutor in that institution immediately after his gradua- tion, and he served in that capacity for a year, but, anxious to prepare himself for still more advanced labor in the educa- tional field, he entered Princeton Semin- ary. After two years spent as a student there, he was invited to take charge of the academy at Haddonfield, New Jersey, in which the classics and higher mathe- matics were taught. While he was serv- ing there, the board of trustees of Lafay- ette College recalled him to a tutorship in that institution, when he returned to his former field of labor. The financial standing of Lafayette College was not then very good, and the salaries were accordingly small, and Professor Cotting- ham, feeling that he might have better opportunities elsewhere, resigned his position. He was instrumental in pro- curing the union of Lafayette College and the high school. Several months later he was requested to take charge of a school in South Easton until a perma- nent teacher could be secured. Mr. Cot-
tingham complied, and no other teacher was employed before the end of the term. During his residence there he became in- terested in the work of teaching the canal boys, and he resolved to devote his time to that service. For sixty years he has been continuously connected with Easton schools. In August, 1853, he was elected to the office of principal of the High School of Easton, and in August of the same year he became the successor of Mr. St. John as superintendent of the public schools of the city. His efforts have since been untiring and unremitting in behalf of the educational development of Easton.
At the time of his election to the super- intendency, the free school project was comparatively new-still an experiment. In 1843, Rev. John P. Hecht was ap- pointed superintendent, who devoted his time and talents to the work most faitli- fully. He was followed in 1849 by Rev. Oliver St. John, who for the first time received a fixed salary, still having, how- ever, the South Easton schools under his administration. He labored hard and in- cessantly until 1853. While the schools were then far in advance of anything yet expected in the district, says the report of the State Superintendent of Public Schools, "They failed to secure either sympathy or encouragement from the many prominent and influential citizens of the town. This was owing partly to the fact that private schools furnished a more thorough and elevated course of instruction than the limited provisions of the public schools would admit." Much trouble was caused by the clamor and opposition excited in the town against the then existing school management; ca- price, rather than settled principle, guided it. Want of harmony in the board, dis- putes and quarrels, resulted, and the in- terests of the schools were neglected. The classification of pupils was imperfect, and gave much dissatisfaction. The
28
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
board and the public soon learned that a regular and competent superintendent was needed, whose business it should be to devote his time to the management of the school department exclusively. In August, 1853, the office was vacated by Mr. St. John.
In January, 1854, Professor Cotting- ham suggested a plan which still governs the management of the schools-a plan for the high school, the systematic ar- rangement of the subordinate school, and a thorough regular course for each. This plan, on presentation to the board, was adopted, and Professor Cottingham at once began the thorough organization of the schools, drawing up a draft of gradua- tion for all, and this, too, was endorsed by the board. His plan of work has been enlarged, improved and extended, but the basic element still remains. He received the active cooperation and assistance of Judge McCartney, who at once accepted Professor Cottingham's system as the most complete presented to the board. Mr. Cottingham prepared a catalogue of the high schools, to which Judge Mc- Cartney made some additions, and E. F. Stewart wrote an address to the citizens setting forth the advantages of the high school system, and this address was printed and widely circulated through the town. The poorer classes of the city heartily endorsed the plan and encour- aged Mr. Cottingham, and as time passed he received the active cooperation of many of the leading residents of Easton.
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.