USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
S. G. Hewson.
25
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CURTIS G. HUSSEY.
DR. CURTIS G. HUSSEY, of Pittsburgh, was born on a farm near York, Pennsylvania, August, 1802. The Hussey family were carly settlers in Massachusetts and distinguished for qualities of mind and heart. Christopher, from whom the Doctor is descended, was born in Dorking County, Surrey, England, about 1597, and emigrated to America in 1632, having married in England a daughter of Rev. Stephen Batcheller, who also came to America and left many descendants of great respectability and repute. Christopher Hussey was a resident of Hampton, Mass., which town he represented in the General Assembly for the years 1658, 1659 and 1660. He was likewise Counsellor of the Province and was active in the settlement of Haverhill. He was possessed of strong, vigorous mind, and a brave but tender nature. He was one of an association of ten persons, all Quakers, who purchased from the Indians the island of Nantucket in 1658. This step was taken not from voluntary choice, but as the choice between being disfran- chised and fined and otherwise humiliated because they, liberal and charitable in their religious views and ideas, had opposed and denounced an act of the General Court of Massachusetts which made it a " misdemeanor for anyone to preach to the people on Sabbath, who was not a regularly ordained min- ister of the church." A large number of persons from many towns joined in a request to the Court that it repeal the order. The Court looked upon the action as a very grave and deep insult to itself, and when severe measures were threatened by that body, there were many who made open apology, but not so brave Christopher Hussey and his compan- ions. They were contending for a principle of vital importance to their individual well-being and hap- piness, as well as those who should come after them. These same characteristics have been strik- ingly prominent all through the long, active, useful life of Dr. C. G. Hussey. In 1658 Christopher Hussey, for the reason stated, took up his abode among the savages of New England, and about a century and three-quarters later, a descendant, the father of the subject of this sketch, settled in the free new " West " at Little Miami, Ohio, soon after removing to Mount Pleasant, that State, where they continued to reside for many years, and where a large family was raised. The parents of Dr. Hussey were Christopher and Lydia (Grubb) Hussey. The mother was a very exemplary woman and was of a conspicuous Quaker family, her father, John Grubb, having been a member of the Society of Friends in England. The early years of Dr. Hussey were
spent on the farm in Ohio, going to school as hc could be spared to do so, and making the most of the somewhat incagre educational advantages af- forded. He had a taste for the medical profession, and was fortunate in being able to study with a phy- sician of much prominence then located at Mount Pleasant. On completing his course he located in Morgan County, Indiana, where he at once entered upon a successful and lucrative practicc. Here he remained for a number of years, giving close atten- tion to all the duties of his calling and receiving the respect, confidence and esteem of the general public. So large and remunerative had his practice become that in a few ycars he was able to accumu- late sufficient funds for engaging in mercantile pur- suits, which he did in establishing several stores in adjoining counties, over all of which he had a gen- eral supervision as he travelled the country follow- ing his professional calling. With kcen insight and business ability of the highest order, his ventures became large and his enterprises extended, and he engaged quite extensively in shipping the products of the country to remote points. He was a heavy dealer in pork, which he shipped to New Orleans, receiving good returns. He had a warm feeling for the welfare and prosperity of his adopted State, and, in 1829, when twenty-seven years old, was elected to the Legislature, serving one term but declining a re-election on account of large business interests which required his attention. Possessing great na- tive intelligence, a strong and well-balanced mind, it seems hardly possible for him to have made a failure of any undertaking or in any calling. As a professional and business man he was eminently successful, but it is as a miner and manufacturer that he stands pre-eminent, his reputation as such being well known throughout this country. In 1839 he married Rebecca, daughter of James and Susana Jackson Updegraff, of the well-known Ohio family of that name. James Updegraff, a man of enterprise and perseverance, was one of the pioneers of Jefferson County, settling at Mount Pleasant and making for himself a home in what was at that time almost a forest wilderness, and contributed greatly by his energy and influence, particularly in the educational line, towards the growth and pros- perity of that flourishing town. About this time Dr. Hussey settled in Pittsburgh, and soon after en- gaged in those copper and steel enterprises which have not only contributed much to the prosperity of that city, but have given him almost a National rep- utation. From various sources came rumors of the existence of copper in the Lake Superior regions, but no effort to explore or develop was made until Dr. Hussey took steps in this direction. In 1843 he
26
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
sent Mr. John Hays, of Pittsburgh, to prospect and explore. During his trip he purchased for Dr. Hussey a one-sixth interest in the first three permits for mining in that region ever granted by the United States. These permits were three miles square. One was located at Copper Harbor, one at Eagle River and the other about three miles west of the latter. Based upon this and subsequent purchases, the Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company was organized in the winter of 1843-44. In September of 1844, Dr. Hussey made a visit to these wild and unexplored regions and joincd at Copper Harbor, Mr. Hays, Alfred Rudolph (a geologist), and the party of eight miners, all of whom he had sent out in the spring of 1844. Their discoveries were of such a character that, upon consultation with the geologist, he promptly stopped operations at that place. The following year, 1845, he transferred operations to Eagle River, where was soon discov- ered a wonderfully rich vein of mass copper which soon became known as the " Cliff Mine." This was the first mine opened in the Lake Superior country, and the first to yield pure or metallic copper, not only in this country, but probably in the world. Masses weighing from one to eighty tons were found. This mine, the famous "Cliff," cost its owners in assessments $110,000.00, and paid them in dividends $2,280,000.00, truly a valuable as well as wonderful discovery. In this connection we quote from a publication of some years back :
"The 'Old Cliff' is truly a historical mine. Dur- ing the dark days that followed the excitement of 1846, and during other dark days which from time to time fell upon the copper regions, the 'Cliff ' was a sure and steadfast reminder that copper min- ing could be made profitable in the upper peninsula. It was always a strong moral force, encouraging new hopes and enterprises. In the dark days it stood as a beacon light to the despondent operators throughout the district ; its failure would have been followed by general collapse, and the mineral wealth of Lake Superior would have been everywhere re- garded as a punctured bubble." .
As before-mentioned, the product was found in huge masses, and the problem was how to smelt such masses. To cut them up would not pay. The furnaces of Boston, Baltimore and Pittsburgh all failed and gave it up. It looked dark for Lake Su- perior copper. At this juncture Dr. Hussey solved the problem. It occurred to him to build a furnace with a movable top, and in spite of the incredulity of those around him he had such a furnace built. The cover was lifted to one side, the masses of cop- per hoisted by a crane and let down into their bed upon the bottom. It was a success and the first ingots cast were as good as those now made. This same principle is in use at the present day. In
1849-50 he induced Mr. Howe to join him in the erection of a mill for the manufacture of copper, and thus started the Pittsburgh Copper and Brass Works, (C. G. Hussey & Co.,) the first west of the Allegheny Mountains. In a work entitled " A His- tory of American Manufacturers " published in 1867, the following relating to this company and Dr. Hussey will be found :
"As the Pittsburgh Copper and Brass Works was the first establishment projected for working exclu- sively American copper, and as the senior partner was one of the first successful explorers and adven- turers in the copper regions of Lake Superior, his history is that of a pioneer in the development of what has become an important element of National wealth. The attention of Dr. C. G. Hussey was at- tracted to the Lake Superior region in the summer of 1843, immediately following the consummation of the Chippewa treaty, which extinguished the possessory claims of the numerous tribes of Indians known by that name, and he dispatched thereto during the same season a small party to make the necessary examinations preliminary to the organi- zation of a regular mining force, if their report should prove favorable. In the summer of 1844 he visited the region himself and under his direction was commenced the first mining shaft which was sunk in the vicinity of what is now known as "Cop- per Harbor " on a tract selected in pursuance of the first permit to locate lands issued by the United States Government. In the following summer reg- ular mining operations were commenced by the company originated by Dr. Hussey, and known as the 'Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company,' of which he is now (1867) the President, on the second tract selected in that region and upon which is located the celebrated "Cliff Mine." This mine was the first to give character to the section as a re- liable and remunerative copper- producing district, and up to this time it has produced more than seven millions of dollars' worth of copper, and paid its stockholders a sum exceeding two millions of dol- lars. The Pittsburgh Copper Works, it will be thus seen, are the legitimate outgrowth of the extensive and profitable mining enterprises with which its proprietors have been long and intimately asso- ciated."
Dr. Hussey was the first man in this country to successfully make crucible cast steel in large quan- tities, and of the best quality. Many attempts had been made, but all resulted in failures. The Doctor studied out and perfected what is known as "the direct process," totally different from the English and all other known methods. Steel manufacturers and workers everywhere ridiculed the idea of his being able to make good steel by his "direct pro- cess." Nevertheless, he had faith and perseverance, and in the face of all opposition succeeded, and built up a large business ; and his process has been universally adopted in this country and to a large extent in England. In this connection another has said :
27
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
"The outcome of a small beginning and that to which it has led, is best shown by a visit to the great steel works founded by Dr. Hussey, which cover over five acres of Pittsburgh's most valuable land, which is filled with massive and costly machinery, which employs a large number of men, which sends its products throughout all the country, and which has a name for good work and honorable dealing that is excelled by none."
In all of the extensive and successful mining and manufacturing enterprises with which his name has been associated, Dr. Hussey was the originator, and has permanently controlled and sustained them throughout their continuance; and while most of those connected with him have done well their part and been useful in their spheres, yet there has been one source, one head from which the force and power have come. Associated and deeply interested with Dr. Hussey for a number of years, up to 1884, when his honorable and useful life was ended by death, was his son C. Curtis Hussey, who possessed great business ability, and the chief management of the steel business finally fell to him. He was held in great respect and affection by all who knew him, and his loss was looked upon as a calamity to the manufacturing enterprises of Pittsburgh. One who knew him well in business and social life pays to his worth and memory the following touching tribute :
PITTSBURGH, March 2, 1884.
DEAR SIR :- There are times when grief is so sacred, and the stricken household such holy ground, that even the voice of sympathy should be hushed, its footfalls unheard, and its tears unseen, and when all it would say or do should be entrusted to the silent messenger who asks no audience, wearies no time, nor taxes the heavy laden for an answering word. Through him I send all my sym- pathy. Words of comfort, philosophy and religion are vain, for the hours of suffering have come. Nevertheless, God and his great high priest, Time, ever live and reign, and as the days softly step upon the troubled mind, they say, " peace, bc still " and lo, in a little while a great calm shall come. I shall miss Curtis a great deal, for we have worked to- gether for over a score of years, beginning with our young manhood. If "labor is worship," in all re- ligion he set us an example. Industry and duty praise him, while gentleness, kindness and charity, which is forgiveness, claim him as their boy. And if I miss him, how can I estimate your loss without the infinite factor of a father's love for an only son, with which to make the multiplication ? God knows the answer, but he will soon begin to rub away the long line of figures with his own kind hand.
Yours with great respect and regard,
JAMES ADAIR.
To DR. C. G. HUSSEY.
It is thus plainly seen that Dr. Hussey was the pioneer of the copper and steel industries in Pitts- burgh-industries for which the city has a world- wide reputation. Through many dark and depress- . ing times, his good judgment, tact and business
ability served to stimulate and encourage those around him. The history of the majority of similar successful undertakings always has been, and always will be the history of one man, or of a limited number of men possessing mental abilities and endowments far above the general inheritance of their fellow creatures. Dr. Hussey's efforts and in- terests have not been confined to the concerns with which he originally became identified, but he became a leading factor in the development of the Aztec, Adventure, North American, Medora, Mass. North- western, National and other copper mines. His ex- plorations were among the first, in 1849, in Califor- nia. His knowledge of mines and mining had be- come so well known, and his opinions so valuable that his advice was constantly sought and his active co-operation in various schemes often solicited. Of course every man's scheme was a " bonanza, " but " old birds are not to be caught with chaff" and to all these his reply was : "What are the facts?" If any mine was worth attention, the Doctor was ready to take hold, his object being not alone pecu- niary benefit, but to assist in developing the wealth and resources of the country. Here it is worthy of remark and well to say, that no man is of a more patriotic nature, or appreciates and enjoys the in- stitutions of his country and its innumerable bene- fits more than does he. He has always been zealous and active in whatever may have been conducive to its prosperity. Dr. Hussey's business policy since coming to Pittsburgh has been somewhat unusual in one respect, which is: That in his mining and manufacturing enterprises and investments in prop- erty, he has never borrowed any money, and it has always been his custom to keep large cash re- serves in his different concerns. If all business men would follow the same policy, we should have no money inflations, depression panics, 'or wide- spread insolvency, and business friction would be greatly reduced. Not alone in business and manu- factures is Dr. Hussey known in Pittsburgh and vicinity. He has been foremost and prominent in charitable, benevolent and educational enterprises and undertakings. In Allegheny he, in 1860, took active part in founding an observatory, purchasing a tract of land now very valuable, and contributing liberally of his time and personal attention, and be- came its first President. It was erected and equipped with a fine telescope and a good assortment of appurtenant instruments. For seven years he re- tained this official relation, when the entire property was consolidated with the Western University, of which latter he is one of the trustees. The obser- vatory has a world-wide reputation, being head- quarters of the well known astronomer, Prof. S. P.
28
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Langley. Another noted Pittsburgh institution claims him among its founders: the School of Design for Women. The position and needs of women have engaged his profound sympathies, and he has ever been on the alert to give such sympathies prac- tical cxpression. In 1864 Mr. Thomas W. Braid- wood, principal of the School of Design at Philadel- phia, came to Pittsburgh for the purpose of establishing a similar institution in that city. He at once sought out Dr. Hussey, and soon enlisted his sympathies and co-operation. Their plans were made and presented to others, and they were after- wards joined by William Thaw, Charles J. Clarke and a number of other liberal minded gentlemen. In January, 1865, the organization was effected and work begun. Dr. Hussey was the first President, and Miss Mary J. Greig, who had been Mr. Braid- wood's first assistant in Philadelphia, was the first principal, and remained such until her marriage to Mr. Nicholas Veeder in 1866. After Miss Greig's resignation, Dr. Hussey went to Philadelphia to secure her successor and made arrangements for the coming of Miss Esther K. Hayhurst, a lady of rare qualifications, who occupied the position until her death about four years later. Dr. Hussey, as previ- ously stated, is of Quaker descent, and, in religion, politics and social matters, his views agrec in the main with those of the Society of Friends. In re- gard to temperance, he was a strong advocate of total abstinence, and has done much to promote that cause, and his good health and the perfect preservation of his mental faculties at an advanced age attest the practical benefits arising from tem- perance in all things. An intelligent gentleman who has had a long intimate personal acquaintance with him says: "In person, Dr. Hussey is tall and of fine appearance, and would be marked in any assembly as a distinguished looking man; in dispo- sition he is quiet and retiring, and although so widely known through his enterprises, he is seen and known but little in a social way. This seclu- sion is more of a loss to others than to himself, as the few who meet him socially are well aware. Many of his quiet home hours have been given to the shaping of his enterprises, also many to the dili- gent perusal of the best authors, of whose choicest treasures his retentive memory has secured a rich supply. With such stores of ripe thought within himself, he is never less alone than when alone. His very modesty and diffidence sometimes give an impression of austerity which a more intimate acquaintance would remove, for he is affable, con- siderate, and easily approached. Though a good talker, and having an abundance of valuable infor- mation and sound views to impart, he is neverthe-
| less a good listener, and will hear with attention and just appreciation what the humblest individual may have to say. One might think that a man who has achieved such success and enjoyed for so long a time the consideration and respect arising from it, would have become somewhat affected by such in- fluences, but, though dignified in his demeanor, there is no trace of hauteur in his personal inter- course with people of any class. His sympathies are on the side of the humble, the poor and the op- pressed, and by those with whom he is in daily and familiar intercourse, his acquaintances, business as- sociates and employecs, he is regarded with venera- tion and affection. And well may this be, for now in the evening of life, upon looking back over a long and laborious business career of more than sixty years, he can safely say that while he has bencfitted many he has injured none." Although advanced in years, and now at a period where most men who brave the storms and rigors of life feel the need of perfect rest and abstinence from business cares, he still fills a busy place in the world, giving daily at- tention to his immense interests, watching the progress of events with keen vision, giving aid and encouragement to those about him, and looking over a long life that, although full of labor, has been crowned with splendid returns. He is held in the highest respect and esteem by the community in which he has produced such ample results, and his name will always hold a high place in the list of the pionecr manufacturers of the West.
WILLIAM THAW.
WHILE iron and steel are among the chief lines by which Pittsburgh joins herself to the outside world, there are many other great interests of which she is the fountain or in which she has a part. As a point of distribution to the West and South the city has made for herself a history, and the canals of the older days and the railroads of to-day have proved them- selves mighty arms by which she has reached out, and with which wonderful things have been ac- complished. While no attempt is made herein to give even an outline of the history of Pittsburgh as a shipping and forwarding point, some things of in- terest thereon have been noted and briefly set down. When the history of the growth of transportation in America comes to be written, the theory of evolution as applied to one great line of commerce will be proved beyond all cavil. And that history, if put on record with reference to the philosophy underlying it, will be of absorbing interest. No chapter in it can
W.Shaw
29
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
contain more in illustration of man's venturesome energy than that relating to the passage of the Alleg- heny mountains and the connection of the great mart of Philadelphia with Pittsburgh, the early point of distribution for the West and Southwest. When the pioneer adventurers during the last century sought out paths over these mountains, they did a daring thing. When the heavy wagons cut their way through the woods and bridged the mountain tor- rents, they added toil and patience to that daring When the canals were dug to the foot of the range on each side, and the portage created between the ter- mini of the waterways, people said that science and skill bad exhausted their resources and that man must be content with what he had. Some of these definite prophets have ridden many times across thesc mountains and over thesc chasms in the palace cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and looked anxiously at their watches and grumbled lest a minute should be anywhere lost in the long and rapid run from Pittsburgh or the West to Washington or New York. In their minds the stage coach and the canal boat are dim and grotesque events under the dust of the middle ages, and lost forever out of the memory of man. And yet there are men to-day only in the prime of their years and usefulness, who have in their labors bridged over the chasm of development and invention that lies between the stage coach and the palace car. We say there are men, and yet they are very few. The work of one of them, William Thaw, Second Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Company and manager of one of the great lines that belong to that powerful organization, touches on many points of interest, and in telling it one records much that the general reader of to-day has never heard of or has forgotten. Mr. Thaw has been a spectator of many interesting changes in the space of fifty years. His connection with transportation is remarkable, as illustrating the rapidity with which its methods were adapted to the advancing tide of population and traffic that rolled through the gateway of Pittsburgh and on for a thousand miles into the West. Hc saw the original old Portage road of the Pennsylvania State works staked out, in 1830, with the connecting canals, in 1832, with daily lines of steamboats on the Ohio River, carrying the whole passenger traffic onward to its destination He has seen the road wagon supplanted by the canal, the canal and steamboat by the railroad. He has, in the early days, scen traffic that was handled and paid for at every change of carrier-from railroad to canal, from canal back to railroad, again to canal, and then on to the steamboat-and also seen it in these later days moved between all points, however remote, without a change of vehicle, and billed from
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.