USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 34
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care. Returning to anticipated pleasures, the old coach, with the rather irregularly made up team of mustangs, " geared up" in harness chiefly composed of raw hide, and a wild Irishman for a coachman, a most laughable scene was about to be enacted. The old tug, sometimes called a " Dug Out," named in honor of the Indian "Log Canoe," by the early Texans, arrived on time. But the President did not appear on deck. IIe was found below, sound asleep, and was not fully awakened until safely car- ried in the old stage coach to his quarters. A few of his faithful friends attended him on the way, among them "Boots Taylor." The latter was a plucky little Kentuckian who had been with Gener- al Houston in most of his military campaigns. He was about five feet high in his stockings, and wore a pair of military boots reaching nearly half way up his body. Hence the General named him " Col. Boots Taylor," and it was said that this little Colonel did a large share of the General's fighting. Kinney and Williams, with whom I transacted business as Government Agents of the Republic, Hurd, the Purser of the Navy, Burnett, the Vice-President, the Collector of the Port, Commodore Moore of the Navy, with many of his subordinates, Captain Jona- than Burr, of the brig Galveston, and Henry Hub- bell, from Bridgeport, Conn., (then one of the first merchants of Texas) and myself were all on hand to welcome the President. A fandango was given at the old hotel the following evening. At about ten o'clock P. M., the General made his appearance, as sober and serious as a judge, and with all his accustomed gallantry. He was at that time a man of fine physique, tall and erect, with a most excel- lent constitution, speedily recovering from tempor- ary illness. My last interview with this noted man was in Philadelphia during the funeral occasion of the lamented Henry Clay. He was one of the U. S. Senators who accompanied the remains of that eloquent statesman to his old home in Kentucky. I was invited to dine with General Houston and his brother Senators at the American Hotel the evening that Clay's remains lay in state at old In- dependence Hall, just opposite my own quarters. Notwithstanding the sadness of this memorable eveut, I found time to inquire after his old friend " Col. Boots Taylor." The General responded by saying that " Boots " was really dead, and that his death was probably hastened by the immoderate use of whiskey during the Texas War."
After a short period Mr. Gillett returned to Georgia, and engaged in business on his own account near his former location. Charles C. Wickliffe, who was then Postmaster General of the United States, appointed him Postmaster of the district in which he dwelt. For awhile his business was prosperous, but the discontent and animosity which finally culminated in the War of the Rebellion, made it uncomfortable for a man of his temperament and determination, familiar with both North and South touching the great questions at issue. Hence he again sought the region of his nativity, to once more engage in business among a people with whom at least he was in patriotic accord. It was also near the birth- place of the wife of his youth. She was the eldest
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
daughter of General Asa Fuller, of Somers, Conn. They married soon after his return from Texas, and a son and daughter were their only offspring. They arc now all deceased, and no father ever suffered greater grief in parting from all he loved most in life. Nor was he alone in his sorrow, for all who knew them also loved and adored their characters. He located in Chicopee, then a part of what is now the city of Springfield, Mass., and after spending some time in the law office with the Hon. Chas. R. Ladd, now Auditor of the Commonwealth, he en- tered in 1847 upon the vocation to which the greater part of his life had been devoted, that of insurance. He was among the earliest, if not the actual pioneer, in the starting of a " General Insurance Agency system." He was successful from the start, and soon had the agency of half a dozen companies, fire and life, among them the Connecticut Mutual Life, of which he was one of the first agents. His business assumed large proportions, and he soon found it necessary to make liberal use of printer's ink. In this direction he conceived the idea of es- tablishing a journal on his own account, devoted to the interests of the insurance business. Accord- ingly he issued, on March 6, 1850, the initial number of the Insurance Advocate and Journal, the first insurance publication issued in the United States, and so far as is known, in the world. The paper was readable and instructive, useful and prosperous, soon achieving a large circulation. In the same year that he started this pioneer publi- cation of its class, Mr. Gillett yielded to advantages offered for its disposal, and, desiring to enlarge the field of his activity, came to Philadelphia, and be- gan the business of underwriting, for which he was well fitted by his previous experience, by his mer- cantile life, his knowledge of the different parts of the Union, and by his energy and industry. He drew around him such strong Philadelphians as Hon. Joel Jones, first President of Girard College, Chief-Justice George W. Woodward, Judges Loring and Strong, Hon. Judge Cunningham, Hon. Furman Sheppard, Messrs. Swain, Abel and Simmons, of the Philadelphia Ledger, and many others of similar worth and reputation. Under these auspices he or- ganized the Girard Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany, now an institution with nearly $1,500,000, of capital and assets. He wrote and obtained the charter of the company in 1853. Its original capi- tal was $200,000. Hon. Joel Jones, who had been the first President of Girard College, was afterwards made the first President of the Girard Fire Insur- ance Company ; Hon. George W. Woodward, Vice- President, and Alfred S. Gillett, Secretary and Treasurer. The stock holders included several
other men of the same high standard, among them being Thomas Craven, Hon. Chambers Mckibben, Hon. Furman Sheppard, General Reuben C. Hale, Hon. Sylvester Dana, Hon. S. D. Shoemaker and Hon. John M. Conyngham, of Wilkes-Barre, also Messrs. M. C. & C. I. DuPont, the well-known pow- der manufacturers upon the Brandywine, near Wil- mington, Delawarc. From 1853 to the present time Mr. Gillett's history has been largely that of the Girard, and a part of the insurance history of Phila- delphia. Mr. Gillett is an earnest and whole-souled American citizen, with the livliest interest in and enthusiasm for all that is great and noble in the Re- public. He is a Republican in politics, but not an active worker in the cause, and in no sense a poli- tician. His love of country has been fully attested by his study of its governmental principles, its his- tory, social condition, resources and natural char- acteristics, its financial and industrial institutions, its scenery and famous places. A favorite method of this study, which has given him a familiarity with the country which not one man in ten thou- sand possesses, has been travel. Many of his trips have been undertaken primarily on business, but not a few in this country and in Europe have been made purely for his own mental profit and pleas- ure. One of his long and greatest journeyings af- forded a well-known writer with the inspiration for a pleasing sketch in "The Californian " (for April, 1881). It was a trip to the Pacific Coast, during which he went to Oregon and Washington Territory, and returned overland by way of South- ern California and through Arizona and New Mex- ico. The journey, which amounting to eleven thousand five hundred miles, was regarded as a big one even in this age of great traveling. It was an especially hazardous trip, too, for the reason that long distances were made through a rough country in trying weather, and at the risk of losing his life at the hands of Indians and equally lawless whites. A New York journal, in the course of an article on this long jaunt, says :
"The journey through New Mexico and Arizona was more perilous than interesting, and was calcu- culated to deter one from selecting that route for a pleasure excursion. A special escort was provided by Gen. Hatch, and ready to accompany Mr. Gillett on his way through the Territory, but owing to tel- egraphic interruption, was not furnished, and the journey was made alone and unattended, through the most dangerous part of the route, by stage. Ön arriving at Santa Fe he was met by General Hatch of the regular army, who rendered courteous atten- tion and afforded valuable aid for the rest of the journey to Topeka. The General declared Mr. Gil- lett the only person who had dared to make the trip unattended. The Santa Fe New Mexican in noting his arrival at that point said : 'His trip is one
. (m 19. Benny
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
that is rarely undertaken by Americans for any pur- pose, and Mr. Gillett is probably the only man who has ever made it in the winter for pleasure, and we will add either in summer or winter, or for cither business or pleasure."
This love of travel, so thoroughly indulged, has doubtless done much to counteract the wear and tear of business responsibility, and has preserved for Mr. Gillett a condition of physical vigor, and the appearance of almost youthful force, while it has given him a marvelous amount of accurate in- formation, and a clear insight into American affairs, American actualities and possibilities which it would be well for the Nation if all our business men had the inclination to study as he has done, through a love and a desire to know all about this great country of ours. Domestic in his tastes and habits, despite his love of travel, soon after his long Pacific journey he married his second wife, Miss Effie Gratz, daughter of the late Edward Gratz, of Phil- adelphia. Belonging to this well known family of the " Quaker City," enjoying the highest social re- lations, she now presides over her beautiful and hospitable home at Wallingford, made more attract- ive by her Christian character and the happiness afforded her husband.
WILLIAM B. BEMENT.
WILLIAM BARNES BEMENT, of Philadelphia, the founder and, until very recently, the head of the large industrial house bearing his name, was born May 10, 1817, in Bradford, Merrimac County, N. H., and was the son of Samuel Bement, a native of Con- necticut, who went early in life to Tunbridge, Vt., as a maker of wrought nails (cut nails being then unknown), and about a year before his son's birth removed to Bradford, N. H., where he united the vocations of a farmer and of a blacksmith. Young Bement had only the most limited of educational advantages-such as were common to the majority of the boys of his generation-and usually attended school only during the winter terms, assisting his father upon the farm and at the forge during the seasons of greater activity. But the bent of his mind soon displayed itself in the employment of his leisure hours in making a variety of rudimentary machines, which apparently were to him all and more than the customary toys and games are to most boys. These diversions continued, with prac- tical experience in the working of iron in his father's little shop, prepared his way for the trade which he subsequently entered in, and in which he became a leader. In the fall of 1834 he left his home and
went to Peterboro, N. H., where he apprenticed himself for three years to Messrs. Moore & Colby, manufacturers of cotton and woolen machinery. His natural talent for the work on which he had entered quickly became apparent; he was placed at the head of the shop in less than two years, and be- fore he was twenty years of age, soon after, on the withdrawal of one of the partners, he was made a member of the firm, which then became Moore & Bement, retained the position for about three years, and gave it up only to seek a broader field. The period from 1837 to 1839 was a depressed one in machine manufacturing, and the business of the firm being small, at best, he removed in 1840 to Manchester, N. H., where he remained until 1842 with the Amoskeag Machine Company, and then went to Mishawaka, Ind., to superintend a woolen machine shop. This shop, however, was burned just before his arrival to take his position, and with his family-for he had, in 1840, married Miss Emily Russell, of Royalton, Vermont,- he was thrown upon his own resources, which consisted of a few dollars, but much of pluck, experience, mechanical genius and industry. He proved equal to the emergency thrust upon him, and made a living for himself and those dependent upon him in the humble but honorable calling of a blacksmith and gunsmith. In the latter branch of industry his skill became especially manifest, and it became necessary to have an engine lathe to keep up with the demand for his work. There were none to be procured in that region, and at a dis- tance only at a very heavy expense, but he designed one himself, and the various parts having been made in accordance with his designs, it was put to- gether in the machine shops of the St. Joseph Iron Company, the use of which was granted as a return for permission to the company to build a similar lathe for its own use. The ability which he exhib- ited under great disadvantages in accomplishing this feat, led to his being given charge of the Iron Company's shop, which by his suggestion was enlarged and supplied with new tools and mechani- cal appliances. But scarcely had this been done when the flames came again and laid this establish- ment in ruins. The company, however, was able to rebuild, and Mr. Bement had the plans for a new shop ready within twenty-four hours. He remained there for about three years, and performed much valuable work-among other machine tools, de- signing and constructing a gear-cutting engine, the first ever built in the West or used beyond Cleve- land, which attracted marked attention from ma- chinists and added greatly to the reputation of Mr. Bement. Returning to New England in 1847, he
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
again engaged as a contractor for building cotton and woolen machinery under his old friend, W. A. Burke, who had become superintendent of the Lowell ma- chine shop, and here he found the largest oppor- tunities that had so far awaited him. He introduced many new fixtures and tools of great utility, and his readiness in resources, to meet every emer- gency that came, so pleased Mr. Burke that he induced the subject of our sketch to devote him- self to designing machinery, and this he performed for three years, also having in charge the pattern shop. Such ability as he displayed, naturally, must soon advance its possessor to something above a subordinate position, even so good a one as he held, and thus to Mr. Bement came the great opportunity of his life, when, in 1851, E. D. Marshall, of Philadel- phia, then carrying on a machine shop of moderate capacity at Twentieth and Callowhill streets, around which have since been built the immense works which have made the name of Bement famous, secured him as a partner. He accepted the new opening much in opposition to the desires of his former employer, and also against the advice of his friends, but with a wisdom which was justified in the end, and came to Philadelphia in September of the year mentioned. In his new location there was an opening for ability which he had very pardonably felt to be his, and the wide range of his accomplish- ments and ingenuity after a time demonstrated the right of his self-confidence, and of that which Mr. Marshall accorded him. Success did not come with a single stride, but it came, nevertheless, with sure- ness and with a measure of fullness not made any the less by the deliberation of its movements. Mr. Bement encountered numerous obstacles here, as he had elsewhere in his career, but he overcame them, and he and his partners finally made their way to the front rauk of artisans, or in fact of artists, in their line, in spite of well organized and finely equipped opposition, and notwithstanding many financial dif- ficulties. It was here, as it had been everywhere then, his object to send from his shops, without re- gard to any merely temporary advantages in the way of gains, only the best of work-that which would stand the severest tests which his most critical patrons could put to it-and therein lay the secret of that final victory which was far larger than it could have been if not attained by meritorious means. To this laudable and practical end, towards which he resolutely set his face and progressed with the con- stantly exercised might and main of a genuinely earnest and conscientious manufacturer and man, Mr. Bement was assisted by his partners, who shared his resolute and steadfast faith in the success of real merit as contra-distinguished from that of its
mere semblance. It was this that made the "Indus- trial Works," of Philadelphia, one of the most nota- ble of its kind-standing second to none in this country, and only to "Whitworth's," in Manchester, England, and, perhaps, not now even second to that establishment. In fact, some of the best author- ities have been known to say, in effect: "That while the resources of the house enable it to meet demands in any branch of machinery, it must be asserted that in its specialty, the production of tools and outfits for railroad locomotive shops, the 'Industrial Works' unquestionably sends out the best things in the world "-and, it may be added, that it furnishes everything in this line, from the most massive tools and machines down. Many of these are of Mr. Bement's own invention, and they are commonly accredited with embodying the most valuable practical principles known in the peculiar branch of mechanics. For about three years subsequent to 1851 the house was known as Marshall, Bement & Colby, the last named partner being G. A. Colby, a nephew of Mr. Bement's whom he brought from New England. In 1854 Mr. James Dougherty became a partner, and the firm was then termed Bement, Colby, Dougherty & Co., subsequently changed to Bement, Dougherty & Thomas, then becoming Bement & Dougherty, as it remained until 1870, when Mr. Dougherty retired and was succeeded by Wm. B. Bement & Son, Clar- ence S. Bement becoming a partner. In July, 1874, John M. Shrigley entered the firm, and in July, 1879, William P. Bement, another son of the senior part- ner, was admitted. In 1885 a consolidation of this firm with the Machine Tool Works, conducted by Frederick B. Miles, was effected, and thenceforward it was known as Bement, Miles & Co. On the open- ing of 1888 Mr. Wm. B. Bement's interest was trans- ferred to his sons, and he withdrew from the busi- ness, since which time he has enjoyed a little of that absolute rest and recreation which certainly belong by right to a man of his years and long active ser- vice, but which too few seem willing to take. Wil- liam B. Bement, like the majority of men having mind enough to accomplish the highest results in business or commercial life, has-more than that- for many years been a director of the Academy of Fine Arts, is known as the possessor of one of the largest and finest collections of pictures from the studios of American and foreign artists, and as a gentleman in a broad and general way devoted to the encouragement of genius, talent, true education and that which is the best worth attaining in life. He is still blessed with a vigorous mind and body, and with increasing years gives abundant promise of increasing honor and usefulness.
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John 3. Stetson
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
JOHN B. STETSON.
BOTH the character and career of John B. Stetson, the great Philadelphia manufacturer, are interesting for various reasons. One is almost always curious to know something of the history of a successful man, especially onc who has built up or rather cre- ated a vast industry ; but in the case of our present subject, such a desire on the part of the reader may have a double reason and fourfold strength from the fact of Mr. Stetson's peculiar business methods, his successful opposition of powerful labor organiza- tions, the curious and extensive institutions for the moral and material improvement of his employees, which he has made auxiliaries of his mammoth es- tablishment, and his large miscellancous charities. Mr. Stetson, who to-day is certainly the largest manufacturer of hats in this country, and probably upon the globe, employing nearly nine hundred operatives, whose fame in the trade is world wide, was of comparatively humble origin-at least so far as value of worldly surroundings and advantages go-and his business beginning was made upon a scale so small that not even in his most buoyant
moments could he have anticipated the large expan- sion that in less than a score of years was to be realized. He was born in Orange, Essex County, N. J., only a few miles from New York city, on May 5, 1830, and was the son of Stephen and Susan (Ballerson) Stetson. His ancestry might be traced back to distinguished personages in England, but there is no particular necessity for that work when the life of the subject himself contains so much of high accomplishment and worthy notice. His father was a hatter in the days when little hat mak- ing shops were as plentiful as those of smiths and cobblers, and the boy was brought up to his father's trade. In the closing year of the Civil War, 1865, young Stetson came to Philadelphia almost penni- less, but determined to make his way in the world. He had mastered his trade and was proud of it. He
regarded labor as honorable, and it probably never
of doing anything he knew how to do except doing entered his head that there was any way whatever
it to the best of his knowledge and ability. To thoroughness, born of honesty and pride, was added industry and something of that self-confidence with-
out which a man can have little courage to fight the
battles of life alone and unaided by money. He commenced business on January 17, 1865, in one small room at the northeast corner of Seventh and
Callowhill streets, doing the greater portion of the
labor with his own hands, and delivering his own work. He began with repairing, but soon gaining a reputation for taste in trimming and for general
trustworthiness in the execution of the little orders given him by the people of the neighborhood, he began tlic manufacture of new work, rigidly adher- ing to the policy of turning out none but sterling work. In the spring of 1866 he moved to Fourth street above Chestnut, and progressed so well that his goods were on sale in nearly every retail store in the city. Every year the business grew, and various improvements had to be made to accommodate it, and among others a story added to the build- ing at Fourth and Chestnut streets. In 1869 his business, which so far had been purely local, was augmented and made more general by the employ- ment of traveling salesmen. About the same time he started a "plank " shop for the making of hat " bodies " at Marshall and Poplar streets, but after- wards moved to the site of the present extensive works. By 1872, such was the increase in trade, that a bold "new departure" was decided upon, viz: the removal of the office and salesroom, witlı the other departments, from the business centre of the city to the location in the block bounded by North Fourth and Cadwalader streets and Mont- gomery avenue. The whole of this keystone-shaped plot of ground, including twelve city lots, has since, by various stages, been covered by the buildings of the large plant, which are five and six stories high, substantially built of brick, thoroughly fire-proof, and forming probably the best equipped hat factory in the world. Notwithstanding the fire-proof char- acter of the building, automatic sprinklers, consist- ing of iron pipes with perforations closed by an easily melted substance, extend along the ceilings of each story, while Babcock Extinguishers, roof- tanks and other safety apparatus give an additional sense of security to life and property. The machin- ery of the several departments-all of the best im- proved character-is run by an engine of one hun- dred and twenty-five horse power, and six boilers (one of sixty, one of eighty and four of one hundred horse power) supply the requisite force, and heat the water for manufacturing purposes. The eleva- tors, two in number, are operated by special ma- chinery located in the basement. All of the manu- facturing departments are lighted by electricity. The number of employees, as heretofore stated, is about eight hundred and fifty, of whom about one hundred and fifty are females. Owing largely to the staple character of a great part of the output, and to the resolutely retained policy of Mr. Stetson to make none but the very best goods in their sev- eral lincs, these cmployces have work, not alone during the "busy season," but every day in the year, excepting Sundays and holidays, or when in- capacitated by sickuess. The factory has a capacity
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