USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 46
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Chas wkind
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
office of Mitchel & Palmer, and in October, 1868, was admitted to practice as a member of the Alle- gheny County bar. From the very commencement of his career as a lawyer he was very successful in acquiring a large practice. He numbers among his clients for years, the present and former Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, and the numer- ous organizations of that denomination in Western Pennsylvania, besides other profitable corporation elientage. Mr. McKenna adheres very closely to his chosen profession. He served as a Delegate to the National Democratic Convention of 1880, at Cincinnati, which nominated Gen. Hancock for the Presideney, and actively supported that candidate throughout the campaign. In response to requests of National and State Committees for his services as a speaker, in 1884, Mr. McKenna spent the last month of the campaign delivering speeches for Cleveland and Hendricks in West Virginia and Indiana. He has also for years served his veteran comrades in Western Pennsylvania, by participation as orator in "Memorial Day " exercises, and at re- unions and camp-fires. In the year 1872, Mr. Mc- Kenna was married in the city of Baltimore, to Miss Virginia White, youngest daughter of the late Dr. Norval White, of Virginia. In her joyful com- panionship he has for some years lived at the Central Hotel in the city of Pittsburgh. His brother, Hon. B. MeKenna, is Police Judge of the 2d Distriet of the city of Pittsburglı.
HORATIO SHERMAN PIERCE.
HORATIO SHERMAN PIERCE, a prominent banker and capitalist of Seranton, was born in Cooperstown, New York, February 8, 1816. His father, Levi H. Pierce, was engaged during his active career in the distilling business in Coopers- town, and at one time was a man of means and in- fluence ; he married Miss Electa Ingalls, daughter of Stephen Ingalls, of Otsego County, New York, and, like himself, a native of the State of New York. Horatio's boyhood fell in the period of his father's prosperity, and as a natural consequence he had all the home, social and educational advantages that could be desired. By the time he was seventeen years of age all the fortunate conditions were sud- denly reversed by his father's failure in business, which was so complete that the family was left with- out a dollar. This unexpected and abrupt fall from affluence to poverty, which would have demoralized an ordinary character, served only to develop the innate self-rcliance of the heretofore thoughtless and
happy lad, and without delay he obtained a situa- tion as clerk in a store in his native village and set about earning his own living. This situation did not prove all that he expected it would, and so in the hope of bettering his condition he gave it up to travel southward to Carbondale, Pa., where the out- look seemed to him more promising. He set out on his journey with but a few cents in his pocket. Nevertheless his heart was full of hope and courage, and he relied on chance jobs along the way to pay his expenses. His difficulties began early. Before he had proceeded very far he found himself seriously embarrassed through lack of ready money, owing to his failure to obtain, by manual labor, sufficient for his purposes. Determined not to turn back nor to abandon his project of getting work in or near Carbondale, he requested a loan of two dollars and a half from a lady at whose house he had spent the night. This kind hearted person saw at a glance that the work he had attempted was far beyond his years, and altogether too harsh for one apparently so delicately reared. Her sympathies went out to the young lad, and by the aid of her loan he was enabled to reach his destination, not, however, without a serious struggle. Carbondale was one of the first places in the northeastern seetion of Penn- sylvania to send coal to the outside market, having superior advantages in this respect, owing to the availability for the purpose of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. This trade gave a decided impetus to the general business of the town, which steadily increased in volume. Young Pierce was not long in the place before he found employment in a general store, but after a few months he gave up his clerk- ship in order to test his fortunes still further west. In 1834, after a short absence, which was almost. wholly devoid of incident, he returned to Carbon- dale, and, although but eighteen years of age at the time, engaged in a transaction which proved to be the basis of his subsequent fortune. This transac- tion was nothing less than the purchase of an inter- est in the store in which he had so recently been employed as a elerk. In conjunction with Mr. Gil- lispie of the firm, he assumed a note of one thou- sand dollars in purchase of another partner's inter- est, and thus re-entered the store as one of its pro- prietors. The business world was then on the eve of a great financial panic and business already be- gan to show signs of being disturbed. Except to a sanguine young heart the outlook was anything but satisfactory. But as the stock needed replenishing, Mr. Pierce was sent to New York to make the neces- sary purchases. Wholesale merchants and jobbers in general hesitated at this time to add to their out- standing claims, anticipating losses or great delay
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in payment. After sustaining many disappoint- ments Mr. Pierce at last obtaincd a bill of goods on credit from the firm of Phelps & Eno, a mercantilc house of great stability. His success in this nego- tiation was due in large part to the excellent im- pression he made upon Mr. Eno, who, relying upon his well-trained judgment, did not hesitate to trust the ambitious young merchant from Pennsylvania, since he saw in him the elements of success and felt sure he was incurring the minimum of risk Fifty years later both merchants met again in the streets of New York, and Mr. Eno spoke of the incident. The extent to which Mr. Eno's confidence was jus- tified was shown by the steady progress of the firm, which, at the end of fifteen years from the date of its organization, was worth. $80,000. Mr. Pierce was disposed to be satisfied with this result, and proposed a division, but his partner was disinclined to make it. A compromise was agreed upon by which mercantile business was given up and bank- ing entered upon instead, and for an additional period of fifteen years the two partners continued together as members of the banking house of Gillis- pie, Pierce & Co., one of the strongest and most re- liable private institutions of its kind in the whole State. At the close of the period named Mr. Gillis- pie died. By his will his property was left to his relatives, and Mr. Pierce was appointed executor. Within the two years allowed by law to settle the estate, the surviving partner paid over to the lega- tees of Mr. Gillispie the gross sum of $287,000, which represented his interest in the firm. Having freed his mind from this heavy responsibility, Mr. Pierce organized the First National Bank of Carbon- dale, of which he took the greater portion of the stock. The "First National " opened for business in 1864. Since then Mr. Pierce has been its Presi- dent, and under his wise administration the institu- tion has prospered in no common degree. Mr. Pierce organized the Scranton Trust and Savings Bank, of which also he became President. This in- stitution recently discontinued business, honorably paying all its depositors in full. For several years Mr. Pierce has been interested extensively in iron mines at Crown Point. He was engaged for some time in the manufacture of stoves and built at Scranton stove works of large capacity, which he sold several years ago. This important industry, placed upon a paying basis by his management and judgment, is now enjoying high prosperity. The Moosic Powder Company of Scranton, of which he is a director, is to-day another striking evidence of the keenness of his judgment in business affairs. One of the most important corporations with which he is identified is the Lackawanna Coal Company,
of which he has been President from its organiza- tion in 1883. The collieries of this company, at Olyphant, produce two hundred thousand tons of coal per annum. Mr. Pierce is an extensive land owner at Archbold, Pa., and as such is heavily in- terested in the Pierce Coal Company at that place. He owns extensive coal lands in Lackawanna County, and in Orange County he is developing promising iron mines at Warwick. Notwithstand- ing that he has passed the age when many men are incapable of further activity, Mr. Pierce is in no way incommoded by the numerous and extensive duties which devolve upon him in connection with his valuable interests and properties. His mind is as clear and his judgment as excellent as at any period in his life. He takes a particularly deep in- terest in all that concerns the business welfare of the community in which he resides, and is likewise active in works of religion and charity, although in an unostentatious way. His career affords a strik- ing exemplification of what may be accomplished by courageous perseverance in an honest course, even though starting under heavy disadvantages; and is fraught with instruction and encouragement to those who are cast upon their own resources early in life. Mr. Pierce married, on December 5, 1838, Miss Sophronia Rexford, daughter of Enos Rexford, of Windsor, N. Y. To this estimable Christian lady, her husband's faithful companion and counsellor for fully half a century, no small share of his success may be ascribed. Horatio Rex- ford Pierce, the first-born child and only son of this marriage, lost his life while gallantly battling to preserve the Union during the late Civil War. The surviving child, a daughter named Sophronia, is the wife of Mr. J. A. Wisner, of Brooklyn, a New York merchant.
ALFRED HAND.
HON. ALFRED HAND, Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was born at Honesdale, Wayne County, Pa., on the 26th of March, 1835. He is the second son of Ezra Hand and Catharine Chapman. The former was descended from John Hand, of Southampton, Long Island, who emigrated from Stanstede, England, prior to the year 1644; the latter was a descendant of Robert Chapman, who emi- grated from Hull, England, in 1635, with the colony which settled first at the mouth of the Connecticut River. The subject of this sketch fitted for college in his native place, and grew up in the region full of activity in the development of the anthracite indus-
alfred Hand
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try in Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen he en- tered Yale College, where he completed the full academic course with success and honor, graduat- ing with the class of 1857. In the same class were Moses Coit Tyler, of Cornell University, Pres. Cyrus Northrup, of Minnesota State University, Pres. Au- gustus H. Strong, of Rochester Theological Semin- ary, Prof. Arthur M. Wheeler, and Daniel C. Eaton, of Yale University, Gen. Joseph C. Jackson and David Stuart Dodge of New York. In the fall of 1857 he entered the law office of Hons. William and William H. Jessup, leading lawyers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, at Montrose, Pa. Mr. Hand was ad- mitted to the bar at Montrose, November 21, 1859. In May, 1860, he opened an office in Scranton in connection with the Jessups, the firm being known as Jessups and Hand, and at once acquired a busy and lucrative practice. On September 11th, 1861, he mar- ried Anna, youngest daughter of Hon. Wm. Jessup. The fruit of this marriage was six children, all of whom are now living. In 1866 Mr. Hand formed a partnership in the practice of the law with Isaac J. Post. Mr. Post had read law in the same office, and was graduated from the same college. On April 25, 1872, Mr. Hand's wife died. On the 26th of Novem- ber, 1873, he married Helen E. Sanderson, of Beloit, Wis., by whom he has had three children, two of whom are living. The partnership with Mr. Post continued until Mr. Hand was called to the bench in March, 1879. He was then appointed by Gov. Hoyt to be Judge in the Eleventh Judicial District, comprising the counties of Luzerne and Lackawan- na. When Lackawanna County was formed into a separate judicial district under an Act of Assembly, he was transferred to that district, and was subse- quently elected Judge for the term of ten years from January, 1880. On the 31st of July, 1888, while holding the office of President-Judge of the Com- mon Pleas, Governor Beaver appointed him to the office of Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania, for the unexpired term of Justice Trunkey, deceased. In his professional life Mr. Hand has had a large and strongly attached clientage. His pro- fessional work was thorough, and his abilities were recognized by his fellow members of the bar. The many important cases entrusted to his care, many of which are reported in the State Reports, are evi- dence of the extent of his practice. As a judge, Mr. Hand is known as quick of apprehension, clear in his views, independent and impartial in his action, methodical and industrious in his labors. His ap- pointment to the Supreme Bench was a just recog- uition of his ability and judicial qualifications. In politics Judge Hand has been a Republican from the organization of the party, beginning his open
maintenance of its principles while in college. He has held these principles free from bigotry or parti- zanship, and was supported in his first candidacy for office by men of all parties. He has never been a candidate for any other than the judicial office. With the local business, industrial and charitable organizations of Scranton he has been closely iden- tified, and in the foundation of many of them his assistance and counsel have been souglit as that of a careful and successful business man. He was President of the Third National Bank from its forma- tion in 1872, until he was called to the Bench. He has been for a number of years connected with the Lackawanna Hospital, a recognized beneficiary of the State, both as President and director. He has been from its foundation the President of the Pennsylvania Oral School for Dcaf Mutes, located at Scranton-the only institution of its kind in the State-and under his direction a handsome and com- modious building for the accommodation of the school is now in process of erection. He has been for several years a member of the Board of Trustees of Lafayette College. To the organized charities of Scranton he has always been a liberal contributor, but his benefactions have not been confined to local objects and purposes. In his religious views Judge Hand is a Presbyterian. He has been an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Scranton since 1866. He has represented the Presbytery of Lack- awanna several times in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and has served on impor- tant committees in connection with that body. In the foundation and early history of Lackawanna County he took a prominent part, and in the erec- tion of the county buildings which took place dur- ing his judicial term, he was of great service. As a public speaker, Judge Hand has had considerable reputation. He has been called upon numerous times in local history to deliver important addresses, and is recognized to be a forcible, polished, and elo- quent speaker. At the date of this sketch, (October, 1888,) Judge Hand enters upon his duties as Jus- tice of the Supreme Court, and, at the expiration of his term, on January 1, 1889, it is understood he will return to the labors of his taste in his chosen profession.
JAMES BLAIR.
JAMES BLAIR, President of the Scranton Sav- ings Bank and for nearly half a century an active promoter of railroad building both in Pennsylvania and " the West," was born in Sussex County (now Warren County), New Jersey, May 10, 1807. His
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father, James Blair, also a native of New Jersey, was the son of a Scotchman who came to America in the latter part of the last century and settled in Warren County. This Scotch emigrant married a native of the United States whose parents were En- glish. His son James, who was a farmer by occu- pation, married Rachel Insley, a native of New Jer- sey, whose parents were yoemen. James, the sub- ject of this sketch, attended the common schools of his district until fifteen years of age, when he took employment as a clerk in a county store at Gravel Hill, N. J., a place more recently named Blairs- town, after his elder brother, John I. Blair, a prom- inent citizen of the town, and quite widely known in connection with important railroad enterprises. At the age of seventeen, after a little over two years' experience as a subordinate, James embarked in business on his own account, opening a store at Marksboro, N. J., where he remained continuously engaged in mercantile transactions for a period of forty years. His success was marked from the start, a fact due wholly to his great enterprise. In 1831, after he had been in the town of Marksboro but a little over five years, he joined with his brother in founding the Belvidere Bank, which is still flour- ishing as the Belvidere National Bank, and in which, in 1888, he was elected a director for the fifty- seventh consecutive term. His brother, John I. Blair, who was the first President of this institution, is still its honored head. As early as 1838, Mr. Blair became interested in the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company of Scranton, Pa., and a few years later in the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, as one of its first stockholders. This rail- road, which was the inception of the present system bearing the same name, then ran between Scranton and Binghamton, and later was extended to Dela- ware Water Gap. Mr. Blair was for many years one of its directors, and still retains a large interest in its properties. The extent and growing impor- tance of his interests in Pennsylvania induced him in 1865 to settle at Scranton, where he has since re- sided. Shortly afterwards he took a leading part in founding the Peoples' Street Railroad, the first built in Scranton, and completed in 1868. He was President of this road for many years, and from its incorporation until recently one of its directors. In 1867 he was active in incorporating the Scranton Savings Bank, which has become one of the most prosperous in the State. Mr. Blair was elected its President at the first meeting of the board of di- rectors, and has been annually re-elected to the office. Possessed of large means and having a thorough knowledge of railroad matters, derived from his long and prominent connection with eastern
roads, Mr. Blair did not hesitate to invest largely in railroads in the Western States and Territories. His ventures were made with judgment and discrimin- ation, and resulted in a considerable augmentation of liis fortune. Among the roads which he was prominent in organizing, building and developing, and to which he gave long and able service as a di- rector, may be named the Iowa, Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad; Iowa Falls and Sioux City Rail- road; Sioux City and Pacific Railroad; Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad of Nebraska, all now leased to the Northwestern Railroad sys- tem. Mr. Blair is also a large stockholder in the Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton, and in the First National Bank of that City, of which last corporation he is a director. Comprehensive and numerous as have been his activities they have invariably been characterized by the most scrupu- lous integrity, and have been not only honorable and profitable, but in an eminent degree useful to the city and State of his residence and to the Nation at large. Mr. Blair's standing among his fellow- citizens is of the highest. His great age in itself would entail respect, but his long and unsullied record of honesty and usefulness render him an ob- ject of honor and admiration. In early manhood Mr. Blair was an old line Whig, and an admirer and supporter of Henry Clay. He joined the Republi- can party upon its organization and has since acted witlı it, although he has never held or sought public office. He has been thrice married. The wife of his youth, and the mother of his children, whom he married December 17, 1834, was Miss Elizabeth Lock, of Blairstown, N. J., a grand-daughter of Captain Lock, who was killed at the battle of Eliza- beth, bravely fighting for American independence. Of the six children born to this marriage, five are now living, all being residents of Scranton ; the eld- est son, A. B. Blair, holding the position of teller in the Scranton Savings Bank. Mrs. Blair died in 1858. Six years later Mr. Blair married Mrs. Margaret Mc- Kinney, (daughter of the Rev. John F. Clark), who died in 1872. In 1875 Mr. Blair married Mrs. Alice Rogers (daughter of Judge Green of Sussex County, N. J.) who died in 1886. The two last marriages were without issue.
WILLIAM CONNELL.
WILLIAM CONNELL, President of the Third National Bank of Scranton, and an extensive coal operator near that city, was born at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, September 10, 1827. His father, James Connell, was a native of Scotland, and his
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
mother, whose maiden name was Susan Melville, was a native of Nova Scotia, and was of Irish and American descent. William Connell did not have many advantages in his boyhood, for his parents, though industrious and worthy, were not possessed of means beyond their ordinary wants. Neverthe- less he made good use of his meagre opportunities, and acquired a sufficient knowledge of the usual English branches of education to form a reliable foundation upon which to build in later years. In 1844 his parents removed from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, settling in Luzerne County. Here William, who accompanied them, found employ- ment as driver boy in the coal mines, for mining was then as now the chief industry of that dis- trict, and colliery work presented almost the sole opening for persons without capital settling therein. The outlook was not at all a promising one, and would have discouraged a lad of ordinary stamina. But young Connell was not one to remain idle. He gladly embraced the opportunity to earn his living and help his parents, and did what came to his hands with zeal and intelligence. In time he be- came a workman in the mines and remained thus occupied nearly ten years, during which he saga- ciously mastered all the intricacies of the employ- ment, and thus prepared himself for the "opportu- nity " which eventually came to him, as it is pretty sure to come to every earnest, energetic man who, while toiling, studies to know and embrace it when it arrives. The " opportunity " in his case arrived in 1856, when he was called to Scranton and placed in charge of mines near there, operated by a com- pany of New York capitalists known as the Susque- hanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad and Coal Company. In 1870 the charter of this corporation expired, and Mr. Connell, who had judiciously man- aged the trust during the preceding fourteen years, and who had carefully husbanded his means so as to become himself a capitalist, actually purchased the property with his savings, and on his own account entered upon the business of mining. Eighteen years have passed since he made this venture, and during this period the business has steadily increased in importance. Additional capital has been called in to meet its growing demands, but in the firm of William Connell & Co., which owns and works the property, Mr. Connell, as founder, head and front of the enterprise, retains the controlling interest. The property originally comprised a single colliery, but for some years past the firm has operated two. For eighteen years Mr. Connell has personally supervised and managed this important interest, the extent of which may be judged when it is known that the total salable output from the mines, during this
period, has reached the imposing aggregate of four and a half millions of tons of coal. Mr. Connell engaged in the business of banking in 1872, when, in conjunction with others, he founded the Third National Bank of Scranton, which was incorporated the same year with a capital of $200,000. Having served in the meantime as a director of this institu- tion, he became its President in 1879. Under his wisc care and guidance, the "Third National " of Scranton has reached the foremost place among the banks of that enterprising and flourishing busi- ness center. In 1887 Mr. Connell took a leading part in organizing the Scranton Safe Deposit and Trust Company, which was incorporated with a capital of a quarter of a million dollars, and of which he be- came a director. Entertaining progressive views, he has lent his services and wealth to the founding and development of several important industries in and near the city of Scranton, and as an officer or director still gives them the benefit of his sagacious counsel and the use of a liberal portion of his am- ple capital. He is a director in the Dickson Manu- facturing Company ; President of the Hunt & Con- nell Company, Limited, which is extensively engaged in the hardware trade; President of the Scranton Button Manufacturing Company, Limited; President of the Lackawanna Knitting Mills Com- pany, and Vice-President of the Scranton Forging Company. He is also a large stockholder in the First National Bank, the Scranton Packing Com- pany, the Weston Mill Company, and many other flourishing business institutions. Many undertak- ings in Scranton and vicinity of recent years have been efficiently aided by his capital, for he is one of the most public-spirited and enterprising of men, and in no way timid in the matter of backing up his judgment in his business affairs. Both in public and private he is widely known for his liberality and charity. Thousands of dollars have quietly passed from him to the aid of worthy causes ; and for nearly every progressive and charitable purpose he is one who may be relied upon for prompt and generous assistance as occasion requires. His ben- efactions extend to the worthy poor, to the church, to the unfortunate, and to the struggling. Those leading a life of honest and useful toil have an es- pecially warm place in his large and generous heart; for unlike many who have been favored by fortune, he does not forget his own humble beginnings, nor turn coldly from those who labor for their daily bread. Mr. Connell is noted for his independence of character and also for his sympathetic nature. But these qualities, so largely developed as to be remarkable, are equalled by his untiring industry. When interested in any undertaking, whether it be
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