USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 31
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tcrian Church, in which he has been since 1865 a ruling elder. In politics Mr. Dickey is a natura- Republican by descent from the Old Line Whigs ; his only defection having been to vote for Horace Grecley in 1872, a change of front which he shared with many thousands of honest Republicans. His first vote was for John Quincy Adams, his latest for James G. Blaine. Always a consistent party man- with the exception mentioned-he has never solicited appointment, or held State, county or city clective office, except on onc occasion, when he served as a school director after an election which occurred during his absence from the district. He once re- ceived between one and two bundred dollars as payment for services in assessing damages for the right of way of the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Rail- road, and he was paid seventy-five dollars conpen- sation for acting as Secretary to the School Board of Directors. And this is all the money Mr. Dickey has ever received for public services. A sturdy, solid merchant, of good New England stock, God- fearing and law-abiding, father of a family of good citizens and good mothers, and perhaps best re- garded of all for the rare and beautiful domestic virtues, which go so far towards the real making of a man.
CHARLES MEYRAN.
CHARLES MEYRAN, President of the Germania Savings Bank of Pittsburgh, was born October 12, 1833, at Bramsche, a small manufacturing town in the province of Hanover, in the northern part of the German Empire. His great great grandfather, John Charles Meyer-Arend-later called Meyran, born in the year 1697, entered the military service in his youth, and under Frederick the Great, fought through the Seven Years War-1756-1763. After this war he was promoted to be Adjutant to the King at the Court, and lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and thirteen years. The change of name from Meyer-Arend to Meyran, effected on his appointment to the post at Court, was made at the instance of the King himself, who, in a pleasant way, complained on one occasion of the long name of his Adjutant, and suggested that it be altered to Meyran, which was at once done. Since then all the descendants of Adjutant Meyran have borne no other surname than the one thus conferred. The family of Arends to which this ancestor of the Meyrans belonged, was located in Westphalia near Herfort, where large estates entitled them to the German distinction of Meyerhof (Metairie ferme-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
tenement farm-) whence Meyer Estate and the name Meycr-Arend. The father of the subject of this sketch, by name C. Ludwig Meyran, was a prosper- ous tanner at Bramsche, and his mother, born Minna Meyer Wolterman, was likewise a descendant of a Meyerhof. Both died before he had completed his tenth year. Nevertheless, his education being pro- vided for, he kept on with his studies and in, 1848, at the age of fourtcen years, he was graduated at the high school of his native place. Immediately following this event he emigrated to America, ac- companied by a schoolmate of the same age named Henry A. D. Brink, afterwards of the firm of Alber- ti, Brink & Co., of Baltimore. The adventurous pair arrived in New York in September, 1848. Young Brink went at once to Baltimore, and Master Meyran procceded to Pittsburgh, where he joined his uncle, Mr. G. H. Meyer, a jeweler of repute, who had established himself in that place some years previously. Under this uncle's supervision he devoted himself for two years to acquiring the trade of jeweler and silversmith. He then served an apprenticeship of four years to the trade of watch- making with Mr. Louis Reinemann of 54 Fifth ave- nue, and made such a favorable impression upon his employer that he was offered a partnership in the business. In 1854, having faithfully terminated his apprenticeship, he left the work bench and took charge of the commercial department of the house, and entered the firm as a partner, which then became Reinemann & Meyran. In 1862 Mr. Meyran joined with others in the purchase of the Oakland & East Liberty & Pittsburgh & Minersville Pass Railroad. He became President of this corporation and held that office during the years 1864 and '65, but finding after this experience that the position was not suitable to his taste, he sold his interest in the road and resigned. The business of Reinemann & Mey- ran, with a few changes, continued successfully for twenty years, at the expiration of which time both partners retired from active connection with it. Mr. Reinemann removed with his family to Europe, from whence he returned in 1877, and died in the following ycar. In 1873 Mr. Adam Reinemann, a brother of Mr. Meyran's partner, joincd with other well known business men of Pittsburgh, (among whom was Mr. Charles Meyran) mostly Germans, and organized the Germania Savings Bank, now oc- cupying the site, corner of Wood and Diamond streets in Pittsburgh. Mr. Meyran was immediately chosen President of this new institution-one of the most notable among the prosperous banks of Pitts- burgh-and has remained at the head of its affairs ever since. In 1876 Mr. Meyran became interested in a new enterprise at Delphos, Ohio, on the line of
the Fort Wayne Railroad, for the manufacture of material for sugar and flour barrels and nail kegs. A company was formed, known as the Pittsburgh" Hoop and Stave Co., of which he became President, and a large business was built up, employing stead- ily from eighty to one hundred workmen. In 1883 the buildings of the works, which then covered near- ly two acres of ground, were totally destroyed by fire. The property and material left from the con- flagration were then sold to the manager and book- keeper of the concern, who have since rebuilt the works and are now running them on their own ac- count. Shortly after disposing of his interest in this enterprise, Mr. Meyran joined with his son, Louis A. Meyran, Col. John Ewing, H. S. Duncan and other well known men, in founding the Canons- burg Iron and Steel Company, at Canonsburg, Pa., putting a limited amount of capital into the venture at first, but afterwards increasing it by degrees, until at present (1888) the works represent an invest- ment of a quarter of a million dollars, a large part of it being owned by Mr. Meyran and his son. Up- wards of two hundred men are employed in the mill run by this company, which is widely known as the best in the State of Pennsylvania for the manufacture of fine sheet iron and steel for galvan- izing and stamping purposes, etc. Mr. Charles Meyran is President of this flourishing corporation, and his son is the Treasurer. In 1885, (soon after the first discovery of natural gas in Washington County, Pa .. ) Mr. Meyran and his associates con- ceived the idea of drilling for gas on the ground of this mill. The only gas-well then known in Wash- ington County was the McGuigan well, situated some five miles northwest of Canonsburg, and naturally the experiment was watched with the greatest inter- est by the people of the whole surrounding country. It proved a wonderful success, and even at the present day, fully three years later, this well is recognized as one of the largest and most powerful gas wells ever sunk. During all this time it has been the sole source of fuel for all the works and furnaces of the iron and steel works, stamping works, machine shops, as well as the town of Canonsburg and the great number of buildings and grounds known as the Pennsylvania Reform School, at Morganza. In this respect the Canonsburg Iron and Steel Co. is specially favored, it being the only corporation in the United States at this date that derives from its own grounds an ample and sufficient supply of natural gas for its own manufacturing purposes, with plenty to spare. The instant and pronounced success of this pioneer natural gas-well in the Canonsburg district had the effect of render- ing the farmers in the vicinity wild with excitement,
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and as a result every one of them became desirous of leasing his farm in order to get a gas well on his property. Mr. Meyran, whose judgment in invest- ments was always sound, took up about ten thous- and acres of land in Washington County, which has since proved to be the best natural gas field in that section of the State. Associating with himself a number of the leading iron and steel manufacturers in the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, hc organ- ized the Manufacturers' Natural Gas Co. of Pitts- burgh, which speedily built a system of pipe lines from these farms to the city of Pittsburgh, entering it via the Brownsville Road, through Birmingham, (now south side Pittsburgh) with three lincs across the Monongahela River to Second avenue, where the iron and steam mills are located, making in all nearly one hundred miles of pipe line, and has been supplying them continuously upwards of a year. This enterprise in which, as may be inferred, Mr. Meyran became a large stockholder, involved an expense of nearly a million dollars. As its leading spirit and promoter Mr. Meyran was chosen Presi- dent of the company, a position he still holds. It should be noted that fifteen hundred acres of this tract of ten thousand have recently been developed as a good oil producing territory, from which it is confidently expected the company will be able to realize a profit sufficient to pay the entire cost of its plant. Although arriving in this country at an early age, and growing up under its institutions so as to be thoroughly American in speech, spirit and principle, Mr. Meyran retains his natural affection for his countrymen and a perfect command of the language of his fatherland. Among the numerous honors conferred upon him by his fellow citizens of Pittsburgh may be mentioned the Presidency of the German Library Association, of the Froh- sinn Singing Society, and of the Immigrants' Aid Society, Chairman of the German-Franco Peace Jubilee, also the Chairmanship of the Humboldt Monument Festival, at which Gen. Grant, President of the United States, was presented, together with Generals Sherman and Sheridan, Mr. Meyran introdu- cing the President of the United States in Friend- ship Grove to the vast populace. In the business world of Pittsburgh he is a most important factor, holding many positions of trust and responsibility, notably in banking and insurance corporations. He has been Treasurer of nearly all the chiaritable asso- ciations formed for the relief of sufferers from various epidemics and disasters, such as yellow fever, the floods of the Mississippi Valley, fires and other calamities in different parts of the Union. He is, and has been for the last twelve years, Treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburghi, and
has recently been chosen Treasurer of the County Centennial Festival held in the current year, (1888.) Mr. Meyran marricd, in 1858, Miss Sophia Flowers, of Baldwin Township, a descendant of onc of the carliest pioneers of Western Pennsylvania. He has two children, onc son, Mr. Louis A. Meyran, (who finished and spent the last three years of his education and graduated at Hanover, Germany,) now married to Miss Marie Herrosee, daughter of Charles F. Herrosce, Esq., Secretary of the Allemania Insurance Company ; and onc daughter, Emma, who is the wife of Mr. W. A. Scott, Jr., fire brick man- ufacturer. Both are finely educated children. The son is already well known as an able business man, and is prominently connected with a number of the most flourishing industries of his native city. Mr. Meyran has added very much to the beauty and value of city property in Pittsburgh. His real estate, largely situated in the heart of the city, is estimated at being worth a quarter of a million dol- lars. He has built many houses and stores in the city proper, and from time to time has made exten- sive purchases of property in the suburbs of the city, worth in the aggregate several hundred thou- sand dollars, which he has improved and disposed of as occasion offered, at good pecuniary advantage. In Oakland, one of the most beautiful suburbs of the city, there is a street which has been named in his honor. Mr. Meyran has travelcd extensively, having crossed the Atlantic a dozen of times or more, on several trips being accompanied by his family. He is possessed of a cheerful and amiable disposition, is a quiet but liberal friend of the poor and suffering, and has been a generous benefactor of many charitable institutions. He is gifted with a rare talent for the mechanical arts, and is skillful in almost any kind of handiwork in metal or wood. His home, a handsome mansion, beautifully situated in the East End, is noted for its quiet refinement and generous hospitality. Mr. Meyran has never been ambitious of political honors, but he lias worthily served the city of Pittsburgh as a member of the Councils and School Director, and also, in a semi- official way, in many capacities.
WILLIAM MCCREERY.
WILLIAM MoCREERY, projector and builder of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, and for many years prominent in railroad and business affairs in the city of Pittsburgh, was born in Washington County, Pa., August 14, 1828. He obtained his education in the local schools and then
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
turned his attention to business pursuits. In 1851, at the age of twenty-three years, he removed from his native place to Pittsburgh, having obtained a clerical position there with the commission house of Springer, Harbaugh & Co. Two years later he resigned his clerkship to eugage in the dry goods business with the wholesale jobbing house of Wood & Oliver of Philadelphia. In 1856 he returned to Pittsburgh, and associating himself with his brother, John H. McCreery, and L. P. Hitchcock, he organ- ized the firm of Hitchcock, McCreery & Co., " the first exclusively wholesale grain commission house established in Western Pennsylvania." Owing to the large operations in grain conducted by this firm, a grain elevator became a necessity, and Mr. Mc- Creery, who, though young, was the active member of the firm, set to work in due time to secure the necessary funds to build one. With a clear con- ception of the project in hand and the spirit of de- termination for which he was even then quite noted, he applied to the interested, and, in 1860, a compauy was organized with a capital of $200,000, for the purpose of erecting a grain elevator. Of this company Mr. McCreery was elected President. When completed this elevator was one of the larg- est in the country, having a capacity of nearly one million bushels. Its total cost was about a quarter of a million dollars. In 1877, during the railroad riots, this hugh structure, which stood near the depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was burned to the ground. The incessant contact into which he was brought with banking interests awakened Mr. McCreery's desire to hold a personal relationship to some important financial institution, and, in 1858, having become a stockholder in the Citizens Bank of Pittsburgh, he was chosen a member of its board of direction, where he still remains a director. When the business house of which he was a founder was organized, he was elected a member of the Board of Trade of Pittsburgh, and from that date participated actively in its affairs, becoming, later on, one of its Vice-Presidents and serving also as chairman of several of its most important commit- tees. The frequent discussion in this Board of the question of transportation centered his attention upon that and cognate subjects, more especially the problems of freight discrimination and the economic necessity of competing railways lines. His primary connection with railroading grew out of his connec- tion with the iron industry and was brought about in the following manner: In 1864 the Mahoning Iron Works, then idle, were purchased as an invest- ment by the firm of Hitchcock, McCreery & Co., John S. Dilworth and James M. Bailey. In a short time they were put in operation under the newly
organized firm of McCreery, Bailey & Co., Mr. McCreery becoming the managing partner and remaining such for a period of seven years. Dis- satisfied with the slow-going and unreliable trans- portation facilities afforded by wagons, and by the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal, which from natural
causes was useless nearly six out of the twelve
months, and readily comprehending that the solu- tion of the problem was of vital importance to the success of the Mahoning Works, Mr. McCreery took upon himself to raise the necessary money to com- plete the Lawrence Railroad, projected to connect Pittsburgh with Youngstown. Recognized as a man of affairs he had little difficulty in doing this, and when the new corporation was called into exis- such for seven years. Under his management the tence he was chosen its President and served it as
road became "one of the most successful in the
land." Like all men of action and daring, Mr. Mc- Creery found the appetite for work grow upon him ; the more he accomplished the greater seemed his
additional projects. He had scarcely engaged in ability to undertake new enterprises and carry out
Of this corporation also he became President. Under his direction the road was built, and he remained in office until it was leased to the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company. From an early period in his railroad activity Mr. McCreery had been im-
peting railroad to its greatest market and chief pressed by the importance to Pittsburg of a com-
source of food supply, the West. The absorbing nature of his occupations had prevented him from giving direct personal attention to this project, although he had advocated it by word and pen on
many occasions. About the year 1874 he had some
controversy with the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany "in association with which corporation to some extent his previous railroad enterprises had been carried to completion." It resulted in his severing his connection with this road. Immedi- ately the old project returned to his mind and being now independent to act, aud having additional incentive to do so, he took it in hand, and, in 1874, openly proposed the construction of the Pittsburgh aud Lake Erie Railaoad. He came to the task well equipped by observation and experience. Long previously he had decided in his owu mind, after close investigation, that the route as subsequently adopted was the most available. The monetary condition of the country was not favorable to enter-
the last mentioned work when the project of a rail- road counecting Pittsburgh with Ashtabula Harbor or Lake Erie attracted his attentiou. Accustomed to act quickly, he soon organized the Ashtabula,
Youngstown and Pittsburgh Railroad Company.
Magazine ofW. er Fwtoy
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
prise-capital having been made extremely conser- vative by the panic of the preceding year. But Mr. McCreery had already proved himself a master in the business of railroad construction, and was more thoroughly in earnest now than ever before. The time was ripe for success and his energy brought forth the capital. A company was formed and the building of the road was determined upon. Not to embarrass the project at its inception, Mr. Mc- Creery decided to act cautiously so as not to arouse the suspicions of the Peunsylvania Company. He personally knew every foot of the route, having walked over it purposely several times. But it had to be surveyed. Mr. McCreery knew that a corps of engineers at work might lead to the forestalling of the enterprise by its powerful rival, and to pre- vent such a calamity he equipped a competent engineer with dog and gun aud sent him over the route. Although success attended this reconnois- sance, numberless other difficulties and obstructions arose and had to be overcome. The labor proved a gigantic one and occupied its promoter day and night for many months. Despite every opposition he never lost faith in ultimate success, and the result proved that he was not too sanguine. It is not, therefore, surprising that Mr. McCreery regards this road as his best public work, for there is no gainsaying the fact that it has not only uushackled the western transportation of Pittsburgh, but also added greatly to the material prosperity of the city. Other euterprises in which this wonderfully active and successful man has been engaged can merely be named in a biographical sketch. They are the building and equipping, in 1884, of the Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, now operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company ; the building, in 1878, of the Monture Run Railroad, and the organization of the Imperial Coal Company ; also the organization and construction of two street railway lines-the "Federal Street and Pleasant Valley " and the "People's Park" passenger rail- ways. Mr. McCreery's course during the dark days of the Rebellion was constantly actuated by patriot- ism and humanity. When the terrible exigencies arising as a consequence of the battle of Shiloh aroused the people of the North to the nature and extent of the demand upon their sympathies and resources, this active man of affairs took his place humbly in the ranks of those who were willing to do all that lay in their power for the brave ones stricken down battling at the front. But even here his talent for organization found a field, and he became one of the most active in equipping and dispatching the steamboats that were sent from Pittsburgh for the relief of the wounded of that
battle and to bring back the injured. Not content with this, he volunteered to accompany the expedi- tion, aud on it both he and his young and estimable wife-the latter a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Rodgers of Allegheny City, whom he married in 1861-served as uurses. In 1862 Mr. McCreery took a very
prominent part in organizing, at Pittsburgh, a
branch of the National Sanitary Commission, and being made Chairman of its purchasing committee, held that position until the close of the war. No man could have performed this duty with greater spirit, efficiency and success. When it was pro- posed to hold a sanitary fair at Pittsburgh, to obtain
additional funds for the Commission's work, he entered into the project heartily, and to his untiring efforts its unexampled success was largely due. The money-four hundred thousand dollars-gained by it had only been half expended when the cessa- tion of hostilities rendered unnecessary further out-
ated from its purpose, for it was donated by the lay for supplies. But the remainder was not devi-
authorities of the fair to the Western Pennsylvania Hospital at Pittsburgh for the relief and care of dis- abled soldiers of Western Pennsylvania, and Mr.
board of managers of the fair, as their representa- McCreery was designated by his associates in the
tive to direct the use of the fund in the board of the Hospital. The acceptance of this duty involved the
the death of Gen. J. K. Morehead, Chairman of the in which he has served from that date, being, since acceptance of a directorship in the hospital board,
executive committee. In the course of his thirty- five or six years of active business life in Pittsburgh, Mr. McCreery has held many positions of honor and
trust. Of eight important corporations which he
was largely, if not principally, instrumental in
building, he has been President, and in four or five of them he is yet the chief. In 1883 the firm of
Hitchcock, McCreery & Co. was dissolved. Mr. McCreery's connection with it had lasted without break or change for over a quarter of a century. In
every public movemeut he voluntarily takes a good citizen's part, and iu the end is almost sure to assume a leader's duties. His fortune, it is almost needless to say, is ample, and though generously drawn upon for every worthy charity, appears to suffer no diminution. Emphatically a worker, and apparently finding greater zest in labors full of diffi- culties and in surmounting obstacles which would dismay a less sanguiue person, Mr. McCreery has carved his own way to wealth and eminence, con- queriug every step in the journey and withal com- ing out of the conflict with both character and reputation unsullied. One of the first affiliations he made in Pittsburgh was that with the Second Pres-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
byterian Church, and this he has steadily maintained. His personal habits are simple, his temperament equable and genial, and his generosity to others persistent and disinterested. His success, like that of many another American " king of business," has becn won by purely open and legitimate means and its mainsprings may be found in "unsparing labor aided by unflinching determination." He is essen- tially a man of action, broad in his views, and look- ing rather to the future than the immediate present for the reward of his enterprise. As a sincere Christian he has not sought to reap any advantages from his numberless good decds, looking in this respect also rather to the future for any reward they may entail.
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