USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 44
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happy in his home life. He has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united December 29, 1853, was Miss Henrietta Virginia Morrow. The following children were born to this marriage : Kate Virginia, now Mrs. Bingham of New York city ; Benjamin Wallace, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pa., Rebecca Blanche, who died in childhood; Jacob Jay, who died in 1887; Daniel Bushnell, who died in childhood ; Henrietta Virginia, now Mrs. Johnston of West Point, N. Y .; Margaret Frances, now Mrs. T. E. Murphy ; Samuel Henry and Joseph Bushnell, both residents of Pittsburgh, Pa. Mrs. Vandergrift was a lady of most exemplary life and conversation. A sincere Christian, she delighted in doing good, both "in season and out of season," and in reflecting upon others who stood in need of a generous share of the prosperity she enjoyed, and which she administered with a full consciousness of the responsibility its possession entailed. Her inter- est in the young was marked. At Oil City, the many young men who had left their homes for employ- ment, and who were exposed there to the excite- ments and temptations which beset life in all newly opened fields of enterprise, were objects of the deepest solicitude to her. A profound believer in the saving influence of home life, she unhesitatingly opened her home to them, and gave them at all times a kindly and maternal welcome. Her moral influence over them was very great and the effect still remains. Mrs. Vandergrift died at Pitts- burgh, December 25, 1881. She was profoundly es- teemed during life, and sincerely mourned at death. On December 4, 1883, Captain Vandergrift married Mrs. Frances G. Hartley, née Anshutz, who is now the sharer of his busy career, and in every sense of the term a worthy help-meet.
JAMES M. VANCE.
THE career of the late James M. Vance, in his day and generation one of the leading merchants and substantial citizens of Philadelphia, affords a typi- cal illustration of the manner in which success may be achieved almost purely by individual exertion, and its brief story is worthy the thoughtful attention of aspiring youth. Coming to the city when a boy, he worked his way gradually and patiently up from the humblest position until, at the close of more than fifty years of mercantile life, he stood in the front rank of business men and left a name and record emboding all that is synonymous of what is good, true, and honorable in manhood. James M. Vance was born January 1, 1819, in Buckingham township,
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Bucks County, Penn., and was the son of James and Jane (Simpson) Vance. As before mentioned, he cast his lot in the Quaker City when a mere lad, first finding employment in the store of E. S. Archer, on Second street, near Market, but in 1834 entering the service of William Dilworth, hardware mer- chant, on Market street below Second, which having been established in 1783, was the oldest house in that line of business in the city. In 1847, so useful and trustworthy had hc become that he was taken into the firm, which after various changes adopted the name of Vance & Landis, the erstwhile Bucks County boy becoming the senior partner after a lapse of twenty-four years from the beginning of his clerkship and only eleven from the time he was first given an interest. In 1870 the firm style was changed to James M. Vance & Co. At this time the busines had, largely through the personal influence and ability of our subject, assumed huge proportions and the properties at 211 Market street and 202 Church street were occupied to their fullest capacities by the importing, manufacturing, wholesale and retail departments of a general hardware and cutlery trade. It was about this time, too, that Mr. Vance became interested in the organization of the Tren- ton Lock and Hardware Company, which inaugu- rated a large manufacturing business and of which he was elected President, an office which he retained until his death. The business built up by him is still prosperously carried on. Mr. Vance was gen- erally recognized as one of the most prosperous, progressive, honorable and intelligent merchants of the city and was one of those always to be relicd upon to enter into any legitimate project for the ad- vancement of Philadelphia's business interests. His example was a good one and his influence felt. His kindliness and charitableness were well known and his friendliness towards his large force of em- ployees was particularly noteworthy. Outside of his particular line of business his ability and careful judgment were appreciated by his contemporaries, as is attested by the fact that he was for years a di- rector of the Union National Bank, and of the Fire Association of Philadelphia, one of the staunchest of insurance companies. The social element of his nature found gratification in the Masonic Order and the Odd Fellows, as also in the exercise of a gener- ous but quiet home hospitality. He was a life mem- ber of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Mr. Vance was particularly happy in his domestic life, and it has been said of him that his wife and his home were to him at all times "a haven of rest.", His wife, who survives him, was Miss Sarah Almira Chandler, daughter of Rev. George and Catherine Chandler, of Kensington, and they were married
March 11, 1845, thus passing together upwards of two score years. Mr. Vance died on July 22, 1887, after an illness of four months, and his remains rest in the beautiful Laurel Hill Cemetery, in the sub- urbs of Philadelphia.
ROBERT EMMETT WRIGHT.
ROBERT EMMETT WRIGHT, an eminent law- yer of Allentown, who died in that city January 10, 1886, was born at Carlisle, Penn., November 30, 1810. At that time as now, Carlisle was an educa- tional center, and the youth of Mr. Wright was spent under influences elevating and inspiring. He received from Mr. Charles Wales, an excellent teacher famous in his day, instruction exact and ad- vanced. The foundation for the future was well laid and the desire for higher culture was early im- bibed. His tastes led him toward the legal profes- sion but his necessities placed him in the office of an apothecary, John Baehr, where he entered in 1826. He however made it a rule to do thoroughly all that he took in hand, and, when two years later he went to Allentown, in the drug store of John B. Moser, he was a most efficient assistant to that well known and skillful chemist. By the time he reached his majority he was in business for himself. He had not surrendered his hopes of becoming a lawyer nor his intention to fit himself for it, and so the young druggist became a student at law. He read law under the direction of Charles Davis, Esq., but while pursuing his studies he conducted his business as a druggist carefully and successfully. He was twenty- eiglit years old before he was admitted to practice, and when he was admitted he had so evidenced his capacity to do the work he proposed to do that he succeeded from the very beginning. His business training-the energy and persistence he had shown in securing his place-all gave him good vantage ground which he held to the end. He was bright, genial, attractive, and friends gathered around him, but he was compelled to do something for support while waiting for the time to come when large fees would render extra exertion needless. He was twice Postmaster at Allentown before he had won a prominent position at the bar. He was also twice elected by his fellow citizens a Burgess of the bor- ough, and then, twice he was appointed by Attorney General Kane to the position of District Attorney. This position gave him the opportunity to show how thoroughly'he was the master of his profession, and he soon was called into service on many of the im- portant cases tried in his circuit. The more he was
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
known, the better he was loved. He was so bright, so sunshiny, so generous, that all were instinctively drawn to him. He rose in his profession and was especially relied upon for the accuracy of his knowl- edge. He was appointed Supreme Court Reporter by Gov. William Packer, in 1860, and "Wright's Reports " remain to attest tlie clearness and careful- ness of his literary work and the wisdom of that ap- pointment. His practice grew to be large and lucra- tive and the labor and responsibility involved were severe and serious. Nevertheless, he found time to take an active interest in local affairs and to contrib- ute to magazines and periodicals, historical sketches and writings in poetry and prose, many of which, from the gracefulness of their style and the beauty of their sentiment, attracted wide attention. In the course of his professional duties he became im- pressed with the necessity for an index to the re- ports of cases adjudicated in the Supreme Courts, which would aid the members of the legal profes- sion in the tedious work of compiling authorities, and he determined to undertake the arduous task of preparing one. His son, Robert E. Wright, Jr., having been admitted to the bar and taking an active part in the business of " R. E. Wright & Son," he was enabled to set about this work, and in 1875 Wright's Index was given to the profession, and shortly afterwards a supplement thereto covering the reports to 29 P. F. Smith. The numerous changes in the law and the multiplicity of decisions in the next ten years, and his own conviction of the advis- ability of some improvement to this admirable work, induced him to commence the Alphabetical and Analytical Index, which was completed and given to the profession in the summer of 1885. It is a most valuable book-at once an index and a digest. Its references are to no less than 173 volumes, and they are arranged chronologically. The amount of arduous painstaking labor involved in the prepar- ation of such work can only be measured by those who find their labors abridged and their way made easy in the preparation of cases thereby. He said in the preface of his last work " And now, having paid the last installment of the debt wliich every man owes to his profession, I submit the result to those who will properly appreciate its value and will not look unkindly on that which may seem to them somewhat defective." On one or two occasions dur- ing the preparation of this last work, he was ill, and his fear was that he might not live to finish it. Happily he was spared to accomplish this important labor, to see it received with appreciative gratitude by those whom it was designed to benefit, and to feel that he had done something that would perpet- uate his memory among members of his profession
whom he had never seen. He was on two occasions nominated for the office of Judge, when Northamp- ton and Lehigh formed one judicial district, and a few years ago he was again urged to be a candidate for the Judgeship in Lehigh. It was then that he made the following admirable and characteristic re- sponse to a published request :
" I am no candidate for this or any other office, having long since outlived the very faint ambition which I had for public position as a gift of the peo- ple. I am too old now to be thought of in connec- tion with this position. No true man of my age will ever wish to consent to fill a place the duties of which require so great an amount of physical endu- rance and mental vigor. I do not need the 'salary' that is by law attached to this office. Having thus far measured my wants by my income, I have no desire to enlarge either, when the time is, probably, so near in which I must abandon both. Nor do I desire or require the honor which is properly con- nected with this office. Twice unanimously nom- inated for it by the people of Lehigh, where my life has been spent (but whose wishes in this regard were not responded to by those in the adjoining county, who, in the exercise of an unquestioned right, preferred other men, and whose choice has been so eminently justified by the result), I have had all the honor that the office can confer. To be nominated for such a position by those who know the candidate is surely as high an honor as it is to be elected by those who do not. For these reasons I hope it will now be distinctly understood that I am entirely out of the way of all those whose faces are set in this direction."
It is a fact worth remembering to-day, that some of those who opposed his nomination on the occa- sions above referred to, did so on the ground that he was "entirely too sympathetic a man to be Judge." There were many convinced of his ability and sure of the dignity with which he would uphold the purity of the judicial office, who yet feared tliat in the criminal courts his gentle nature would im- pel him to let Mercy take the place of Justice. To- day his dearest friends will gladly recall the fact that he was thought too merciful and sympathetic a man to perform the sterner duties of a Judge. Mr. Wright was, while a busy lawyer, not too busy to devote much time to those public affairs which con- cerned the people of his community and he was closely identified with all the movements for educa- tion. He was a school director for twenty-three years, a trustee of the Academy of Allentown and of Muhlenberg College, and of the Allentown Female College. In every good work he was ready to take part. Kind to the poor, thoughtful of their wants, generously relieving, he is sadly missed by the widow and the orphan. When a young man of twenty- six, before he was admitted to the bar, he married Maria, daughter of Charles Hutter. The marriage was a happy one and his home was all one could
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have desired. Iudeed, he often said, earnestly and gratefully, that it was the crowning blessing of his life. His wife, sympathizing, affectionate, helpful, and he tender, considerate, provident. They had ten children. Of these cight grew to manhood and womanhood. He made them his companions, and to his home their young friends were always wel- come. Few pictures were brighter than that present- ed when this busy lawyer, laying aside all the burdens of business, became a boy again with his children and their young friends. He laughed and sported with them, but, ever and anon, threw in some of those wise counsels which he was so well able to give. The little children loved him, as he loved them. He had the spirit of Him who sat one in the midst and took others in his arms and blessed them. For years he had heart disease, and was impressed with the thought that he should die suddenly, and expressed his feelings in the following beautiful lines contrib- uted to a Swendenborgian magazine. These verses give expression to the faith which characterized him. He lived as seeing things invisible. His whole life was a beautiful exposition of that charity he ex- tolled and that submission of which he so touch- ingly speaks :
["Teach me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is."]
Where shall I die ? Shall dear friends gather round me, To wipe the "death sweat" from my throbbing brow? Shall those I love, in sadness then surround me, As true, as kind, as loving then as now ? Or shall some stranger hand, when all is ended, With careless touch close up my fading eye, Far from my home, unwept and unattended ? Father of Life, oh, say, where shall I die ?
How shall I die ? Shall pain and anguish smite me, And rack my frame with sharp, relentless hand? Shall slow disease, with gentle force, invite me To leave this world and join the spirit band? Or shall I fall, as fell the star of morning, Sudden and swift from out the calm, clear sky, Without one hint-one gentle, timely warning? Father of Life, oh, say, how shall I die ?
When shall I die? Shall age and honors crown me Before the summons issue from Thy throne ? Or shall I fall with midday's sun around me, When life is sweetest and its use best known ? Or shall my youth, with all its warm affections, Sink in the grave, in darkness there to lie, Blighted in bud and flower-before fruition ? Father of Life, oh, say, when shall I die ?
Some time afterwards he added the following stanza, which we believe has never been published :
1 Hush, Oh my soul, away with this repining, This anxious fear about thy stay on earth ;
Pause, and with heart in calm, meek love reclining, Submit thy death to Him who gave thee birth.
He who first called thee to immortal being,
Child of the earth to rear thee for the sky,
Walks by thy side. thy every footstep seeing,
Knows when and where and how 'tis best to die.
He was not only a man of warm, affectionate na- ture, but he was incapable of resentment. He had been often, in the conflict of public life, brought in- to opposition to those who had misrepresented him, slandered him, and endeavored to do him injury, and, while he felt the wrong and was indignant at it, he bore no malice, but stood ready to help those who had smitten him as soon as they needed his help. He combined in a very remarkable taste for the poetic, the literary, with taste for the dry de- tails of his profession. He was ready to make an index or write a poem, to write a report or a maga- zine article, and he did each well. He had a happy home at Clover Nook, and, although he looked for death at any day, it came not till he had passed his three score years and ten. Full of years and honors he waited for the end. In the latter part of Decem- ber he caught cold. It became very violent and settled on his lungs in an attack of pneumonia. His constitution was naturally strong, but he was an old man and his strength gave way. All that attention and skill could do was done but in vain. He sank into a state of almost unconsciousness for several days before he died, but never became, till the last hour, too unconscious to recognize those he loved. He calmly fell asleep on the 10th of January, 1886, soon after the dawning of the Sabbath morn. "The snow lay deep upon the ground and no sound was borne upon the frosty air to break the solemn still- ness. The hush and quiet and sacred calm, after the fever of anxiety and hope and fear, breathed of peace. And to him had come the peace which passeth understanding."
ROBERT E. WRIGHT, JR.
ROBERT E. WRIGHT, JR., son of the foregoing, a prominent citizen and leading lawyer of Allen- town and President of the Allentown National Bank, was born in the city named, February 15, 1847. It was the desire of his parents that he should become a civil engineer, and at the age of fifteen, after hav- ing passed through the local public schools and the Allentown Academy, he entered the office of Mr. G. A. Aschbach where, as a student and employe, he remained until 1864, receiving a very thorough training in the profession. He then went to Schuyl- kill County where, during the ensuing four years, he held a responsible position in the service of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, under
1
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Chief Engineer Charles E. Byers. Notwithstanding [ that he was now actually launched in the profession of civil engineering and seemingly provided with a life calling, he found himself unable to stifle his boy- ish ambition of becoming a lawyer, an ambition which had its origin, in part doubtless, in inherited tastes, but which had grown with his growth, stim- ulated by the inspiring and illustrious example fur- nished in the personality of his distinguished father ; and, now that he was free to act without running directly counter to parental views, culminated in a resolve to qualify himself for the vocation in life for which he felt himself best adapted by natural incli- nation and tastes. Procuring the needed text books
he devoted himself to the study of law in the even- ings and at other periods of leisure, and by the winter of 1868 had so far advanced in its mastery that he returned to Allentown, boldly declaring his intentions and was permitted to enter his father's office, where, under the most encouraging auspices,
he applied himself wtih diligence to perfecting his training and to acquiring the necessary knowledge of the routine work of the profession. In the fol- lowing September he presented himself before the proper authorities, passed a most creditable exami- nation, and was duly admitted to the bar. He entered professional life at once as the business associate of his father, and for nearly a year had the invaluable aid of his direction and advice. At the close of that period the elder Wright retired from active duties and the whole weight and responsibility of the extensive practice fell upon his son and namesake, then but twenty-three years of age. It was a severe test of capability, but the
young man proved fully equal to the constant and varied demands made upon him, and surprised his father by the relish he displayed for legal work and the assiduity with which he devoted himself to its intricate and perplexing details. With skill and
ability, rare even in much older and more experi- enced members of the legal fraternity, he tried all pending cases and with such success as not only to retain the large clientage left him by his father, but also to win the confidence and respect of the com-
munity. His brilliant success at the bar led to his
being retained as Attorney for the Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, the East Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Central Railroad Company of New
Jersey, the Ironton Railroad Company and the Per- kiomen Railroad Company, which, one after the
other, placed their legal affairs in his hands. A number of other large corporations followed suit, including the Thomas Iron Company of Catasauqua, the Crane Iron Company and Bethlehem Iron Com-
pany of Bethlehem, the Allentown Rolling Mills Company, the Allentown Iron Company, and a few others scarcely less important, and also several of the principal banks. In 1886, upon the death of Mr. Charles W. Cooper, President of the Allentown National Bank, Mr. Wright, who had been the bank's attorney for a number of years, was chosen his successor. The choice proved a wise onc in every respect. Mr. Wright came to his duties with a thorough knowledge of the bank's affairs, and he has since conducted them with marked ability, and in such a manner as to measureably increase the institution's prosperity. The Allentown National Bank ranks among the principal banks in the State of Pennsylvania, having a capital of $500,000, and
large surplus. Its deposits already exceed a $1,000,000. Mr. Wright is financially interested in a number of wealthy corporations in and near the city of his residence. He is President of the Lehigh Valley Car Company, and is a director in the Allentown Electric Light and Power Company, the Allentown Passenger Railroad Company and the Elleger Real Estate Company, the latter named being an investment company owning large tracts of land in and near Allentown, and of which he was
one of the organizers. He is also a member of the
Board of Water Commissioners of Allentown, and had personal charge of the construction of the recently completed water works, of which he was the chief projector, and the leading spirit in secur- ing popular support and needed municipal legisla- tion. He is interested warmly in the cause of
education, has served a number of terms in the
local school board, and is seldom too deeply engrossed by his business affairs to give earnest attention to his duties as a trustee of Muhlenburg College and of the Allentown Female Seminary. Believing it to be a citizen's duty to bear his full share of the burden of municipal management when called upon, he has consented to serve several terms in the City Council, in which he distinguished him- self by his scrupulous honesty and by his liberal and progressive spirit. Mr. Wright is a Democrat from conviction, and is well known in party councils in local, State and National affairs. For some years he has been very conspicuous as a Democratic leader in Lehigh County, has been Chairman of the County Committee several times and also an influ- ential delegate to nearly every State Convention held during the last decade, being Chairman of that held at Harrisburg in 1883. In 1888 he was an Alternate to the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis which re-nominated Grover Cleveland for President of the United States. Mr. Wright is extremely popular with the masses of the people,
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
whose confidence he has won by a life of energy largely devoted to developing and building up local industries and advancing general prosperity, and by an unstained record in the public service. His prominent connection in so many important corpor- ations in Pennsylvania has extended his acquain- tance to all parts of the State, securing for him, as a thorough and honorable business man, general respect and regard. His name has been mentioned frequently in connection with the Congressional nomination from his district, and also in connection with the nomination for County Judge. In 1880 he was almost unanimously nominated for the State Senate, but not desiring office he went before the nomina- ting convention and declined the honor, although the nomination was equivalent to an election. In the Democratic State Convention of 1886 his name came prominently before the delegates in connec- tion with the nomination for Governor of Pennsyl- vania; and for both that and the nomination for Licutenant-Governor he received several votes. He has been for years a very active member of the Order of Odd Fellows, and has filled all the posi- tions in the Order up to and including that of Grand Master of the State of Pennsylvania. Since 1884 he has ably represented the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States. He is a highly educated, keen- witted, many-sided man of affairs, able, energetic and reliable in whatever he undertakes, and is actu- ated at all times by the most honorable motives. In an active life covering fully a quarter of a century he has gained a varied and valuable experience which, in combination with the vigor of ripe man- hood, makes him a power in any field of effort.
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