USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 58
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mense dining-hall in an hotel. The second-class saloon will also be on the upper deck, but towards the after end, and will be fitted up in about the or- dinary style of a first-class saloon in an Atlantic steamer. The first-class smoking room will be ou the upper deck, but at the after end of the first-class accommodation. These will be the three largest rooms in the ship, and will in themselves be as big as a good sized ship. There will also be a large smoking room on the promenade deck for second- class passengers. In addition to the saloon and smoking rooms, which are the striking features of the accommodation, the sitting and sleeping apart- ments have received the same careful and ingenious treatment, and it will be found that many novelties have been introduced into these vessels, which will place them in the matter of convenience and com- fort ahead of anything which has been done before.
"The vessels have been specially arranged as armed cruisers, and with their good subdivision, their anticipated high speed, and their very much improved turning power, they will be much more formidable armed cruisers than any of the present Atlantic steamers. One main feature in which a war ship essentially differs from a merchant ship in her fighting capabilities is in her manœuvring pow- ers and the protection which is given to the steering apparatus. In a war ship it is invariably under water, while in a merchant ship the rudder-head is always carried to the upper deck, and consequently exposed to damage from gun fire. In these new ships the whole of the steering arrangements will be kept safe, being underneath the water, so that in this respect they are equal to the best war ship. The actual running of these vessels upon the Atlan- tic will be looked forward to with the keenest inter- est, and as the White Star, the Norddeutscher Lloyd, aud the Hamburg-American have built, or 80 60 1 are building, fast vessels, some very close running may be anticipated, and the old boats now running will have to look well to their laurels or they may be beaten. In these Inman boats the owners have evidently laid themselves out to make their ships as safe as human foresight can make them, and as comfortable and convenient as human ingenuity can devise."
Mr. Griscom, as the head and directing power of the International Navigation Company, has had full charge of the design and construction of these mar- vellously perfect vessels, and in them feels that he has approximated very closely to his grand ideal of a practically unsinkable steamship, combining the requirements of the greatest speed and comfort. Although the work he has performed in originating and developing these steamship enterprises has been colossal in its extent and importance, it by no means comprises his business activity. He is a director in the Pennsylvania Railroad Company- probably the greatest railroad corporation in the world-and holds the same office in the Bank of North America, and in the Fidelity Trust and Safe Deposit Company, and Western Saving Fund Socie- ty, (these being among the most prominent financial institutions of Philadelphia;) also of the Insurance
Company of North America, the oldest insurance company in the United States, and one of the strongest. He was also one of the organizers of the National Transit Company, and has been the Presi- dent of that company since its inception. He was for a long time connected with public affairs in Philadelphia as a Trustee of the City Ice Boats, and, during several years was President of the Board. His home in Spruce street, Philadelphia, is noted for its refined elegance; and his well-appointed country seat, near Haverford College, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he devotes himself to raising stock and to other agricultural pursuits, affords him dur- ing a portion of the year much needed rest from his extensive and burdensome business cares, which, while engaged in them, he pursues with a degree of "energy, constancy and enthusiasm," rarely equalled. Still young in years, and endowed with a magnificent physique, he is at all times a notable figure in business and social life. He is a member of the Philadelphia, Rittenhouse, Union League and Farmers' Clubs of Philadelphia, and also of the Union Club of New York, of the New York Yacht Club, and in both cities is widely known and es- teemed. He married Frances Canby Biddle of Philadelphia, daughter of William C. and Rachel M. Biddle, and has five children: Helen Biddle Griscom, Clement A. Griscom, Jr., Rodman E. Griscom, Lloyd Carpenter Griscom and Frances C. Griscom, Jr.
THOMAS DOLAN.
THOMAS DOLAN, a distinguished citizen of Philadelphia, prominent for many years in business circles as an organizer, creator and developer of leading industries, and widely known as one of the most extensive manufacturers of textile fabrics in the United States, if not in the world, was born in Montgomery County, Pa., October 27, 1834. His first important position involving individual re- sponsibility, was that of clerk in a commission house in Philadelphia, the chief business of which was in fancy knit goods and hosiery. Here his nat- ural business tastes were given full and congenial scope for development. With an aptitude which from the very start augured most happily for his future success, he mastered, one after the other, every detail of the business and rose by degrees from a subordinate post to one which, in point of salary and nature of duties, might be considered the chief under the management. After having served his employers faithfully for a period of ten years he relinquished the position and in a small
Things Dylan
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way started in business for himself, making his be- ginning in 1861, in a building situate at Oxford and Hancock streets, on ground now covered by his ex- tensive factories. The ensuing five years of civil war, fraught with such momentous results to the country, and its business interests, brought marked prosperity to the manufacturing industry in which Mr. Dolan had embarked, and placed the enterprise upon a substantial footing. A keen observer of the market for his wares, Mr. Dolan detected that it was glutted at the end of the war, and by a master- ly business stroke he at once abandoned in great part the manufacture of knit goods and turned his attention to the production of the finest grades of worsted yarns, which he manufactured into what were then known as "Berlin Shawls" for which there sprang up by degrees au extensive demand. These shawls eventually took the popular fancy to such an extent that in the following five years-'66- '71-their production in Mr. Dolan's factory alone reached au enormous amount. As in the former instance, Mr. Dolan watched the market for these goods with the closest attention, realizing as before that to be found heavily stocked with any article for which the demand had ceased was to invite ab- solute financial ruin. Perceiving that a rapid de- cline in this specialty was imminent, he began, in 1871, the manufacture of worsted material for meu's wear. To this was added, in 1875, the manufacture of men's fancy cassimeres and ladies' cloaking. The hosiery and knit goods production was carried on with the others until 1878, when the former was dropped, to be followed in 1882 by the latter, since which date the entire resources of the factory have been devoted exclusively to the manufacture of mate- ials for men's wear. To meet the growing require- ments of his business Mr. Dolan has from time to time increased the area and capacity of his factories, until they have attained to monstrous proportions, and a leading place among the industrial establishmeuts of one of the chief mauufacturing cities of the world. All the latest resources of art and science applicable to this branch of manufacturing have been called into play by the shrewd and enterprising manager, with the result of greatly increasing the output of the establishment and enhancing its value as well as enlarging its market. In competition with the best similar products, domestic or foreigu, the goods manufactured by Mr. Dolan more than hold their own in the most fastidious marts, and are rapidly conquering a leading place among thie same class of productions all over the world. The geu- eral superintendence of this now vast business de- volves upon its esteemed and sagacious founder, Mr. Dolan, whose untiring energy and wise fore-
thought have developed it to such wonderful pro- portions. His associates in the firm of Thomas Dolan & Co. are Messrs. Rynear Williams, Jr., Charles H. Salmon and Joseph P. Truitt, all gentle- men of superior skill and large experience, and each charged with the supervision of a special de- partment. Mr. Dolan's activities have not been con- fined to one branch of business, although the indus- try just mentioned naturally absorbs his chief attentiou. He has long been interested in the Quak- er City Dye Works Company, of which he is Presi- ident. He has also been President of the Philadel- phia Association of Textile Manufacturers and of the Textile Dyers' Association, and Vice-President of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. In nearly every movemeut originating during the last twenty-five years, having for object the intro- duction of improved appliances and methods for the comfort and couvenience of the people of Philadel- phia, he lias taken an active and leading part. He has thus been prominently identified with the United Gas Improvement Company, the Brush Electric Lighting Company, the Philadelphia Traction Company, the Merchants' National Bank of Philadelphia, and in several other wealthy and influential corporations, in all of which he is a di- rector aud respected adviser. Of the School of De- sign for Women, in Philadelphia, he has been an active and generous promoter, and since its organi- zation a member of its Board of Trustees. He is besides, a trustee of the Pennsylvania Museum of Industrial Art, and of the University Hospital, aud takes a warm personal interest in both of these in- stitutions. His high standing among his brother manufacturers has been amply attested by his re- cent election to the Presidency of the Manufacturers' Club, an organization representing in its member- ship millions of capital, and of which he was one of the chief founders. In social life Mr. Dolan is a prominent and much respected figure, although personally he is of a retiring disposition and disin- clined to take any conspicuous position. For many years he has filled the Vice-Presidency of the Union League Club, one of the strongest and most influen- tial social and political organizations in the United States. The extent and importance of Mr. Dolan's
manufacturing interests alone would suffice to give him a distinguished prominence in a city which legitimately boasts of its industrial development. But in this instance it is the qualities of the man even more than the extent of the business which he founded and controls-vast as it was-that have made him a conspicuous personage in the affairs of the city of Philadelphia and scarcely second to any of its citizens in point of influence. To a progres-
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sive spirit he unites great sagacity and indomitable energy-the latter of body as well as character. With him to undertake is to accomplish, but before the first step is taken or risk incurred the ground is quietly, rapidly and shrewdly surveyed. A distin- guished editor and publicist, whose varied experi- ence and rare opportunities give exceptional weight to his estimate of men and measures that come un- der the scope of his observation, thus summarizes the characteristics of Mr. Dolan: "Mr. Dolan's chief life-work has been that of a remarkably successful manufacturer, but the scope of his influence and the range of his activity have reached far beyond this special field. His power is felt in many differ- ent directions where it does not publicly appear. Few broad municipal or commercial movements of progress are made in which he is not a factor. In the political management which moulds adminis- tration and shapes the course of public affairs, he is often an unseen but potential force. He has none of the spirit of self-seeking and prefers the retire- ment of the background to the glamour of the fore- ground on the public stage; but his rare aptitude and ability to do things make him constantly sought and bring him into much of public activity from which he would naturally shrink. The same recog- nition of his primacy which placed him at the head of the Manufacturers' Club in the greatest of manu- facturing cities, and which makes him the foremost representative of his class in the country, when it comes to broad National action, appears equally in many moving currents of the community. His keen eyc, his finely chiselled face and shapely dome stamp him as all intellect. His mind is as broad in its grasp as it is quick and penetrating in its percep- tion. His faculties are not limited in their range to the work which has chiefly engaged his life, and he would have achieved success in almost any field of action he might have chosen. He has rare power in impressing himself upon others, and presents a sub- ject in the same clear, incisive and decisive form in which it has shaped itself in his own mind. As Emerson said of Napoleon, he would shorten a straight line to come at his object. His dircctness of action is united with the largest comprehension. He is endowed in a high degree with saving sense, and his combination of intellectual insight and force of character would make a man of real mark among any people."
REUBEN NELSON.
REV. REUBEN NELSON, D.D., an eminent Methodist divine and teacher, Founder and for thirty years Principal of the Wyoming Seminary at Kings-
ton, near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and at a later period Treasurer of the Missionary Society of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and also Agent and Senior Publisher of the Methodist Book Concern in New York city, was born at Andes, Delaware Co., N. Y., December 13, 1818, and died at his residence in New York city, February 20, 1879. It may be said that Dr. Nelson's whole life was devoted to the service of the church of which he was so honored a mem- ber. At the age of fifteen years he was converted to God and immediately joined the Methodist Epis- copal Church, of which thenceforth he remained a sincere, devout, earnest and active member. Al- most from the very day he entered the Methodist fold his career as a public teacher of the Christian faith seems to have been foreshadowed. He had barely completed his seventeenth year when he was licensed as an exhorter and began under this author- ity to hold meetings for prayer and exhortation. His efforts were so acceptable and were crowned with such success that in the following year a license was granted him to preach the Gospel. The position he now held was one seldom attained by so young a person. He felt its responsibility in the fullest degree and to remedy any educational short- comings he applied himself faithfully to the mas- tery of the academic studies, and on entering man- hood found himself well-equipped mentally to begin his life work. His studies, however, were never completely relaxed, for even to the closing years of his life he remained a student, believing that it would be impossible to qualify himself too fully for the work of the Master. In 1840, being then in his twenty-second year, he was appointed Acting Prin- cipal of the Otsego Academy at Cooperstown, N. Y. In August of the same year he was admitted on trial into the Oneida Annual Conference, and was appointed the third preacher on Otsego Circuit, his colleagues being Martin Marvin and William Bixby. In 1841 he was appointed the third preacher on the Westford Circuit, in association with Martin Marvin and Augustus Brown. These clerical duties, cover- ing two years, were faithfully attended to without interfering with the discharge of those resting upon him as Principal of the Academy. In 1842 the Con- ference admitted him to full membership, and he was ordained to the order of deacon. He was also at this time appointed to the position of Principal of the Otsego Academy. This place he was forced to resign shortly afterwards, by reason of a partial paralysis of the vocal organs, which rendered it impossible for him to speak aloud. This condition remaining unaltered, in 1843 his name was placed by the Conference in the list of superannuated preachers, and for a year or so his clerical labors
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R. Nelson
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ccased. But he was of too active a mental temper- ament to remain idle, and for a portion of this period he taught Latin and Greek to some young men who were preparing for college, and with whom he was obliged to communicate in a whisper. Rest and proper treatment restored his voice in the course of a twelvemonth. In 1844, when the Oneida Conference founded the Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pa., just across the Susquehanna River from Wilkcs-Barre, Reuben Nelson was chosen to fill the responsible position of Principal. It was one in all respects most congenial to his scholarly tastes, and he entered upon its duties with the highest degree of satisfaction. For the long period of twenty-eight years he continued at the head of this institution, the affairs of which he conducted with distinguished success. Under his able man- agement it grew from an experiment into a ripe certainty and "came to be the chief educational centre in the Wyoming Valley." This high posi- tion was won only as the result of years of patient toil and unceasing energy. "The institution ranks to-day," said Bishop Harris, one of its warmest friends, " as one of the best institutions of its grade in the land," and is probably Dr. Nelson's best monument. His labors in connection with its development and conduct were but twice inter- rupted and then only for brief periods, during which he was fortunately able to exert a guiding influence upon its management. These two inter- vals were occasioned by his being chosen as Presid- ing Elder of the Wyoming District of the Confer- ence in 1862-3 and 1863-4. In 1868-9 he was again ehosen as Presiding Elder of the same district, but during this term he did double duty in order not to sever himself, even temporarily, from the charge so dear to him. Dr. Nelson remained a member of the Oneida Conference until 1852, when it was divided and he was transferred to the Wyoming Conference, thus created, within the jurisdiction of which his Seminary also now came. Of the Wyoming Confer- ence he was chosen Secretary in 1858, and held this office by annual re-election until 1870, when he declined to serve longer owing to his inability, from other demands upon his time, to give the duties of the position proper attention. In 1860 he was sent as a delegate from the Wyoming Conference to the General Conference, held at Buffalo, and from that year up to the year of his death was regularly chosen a delegate to each General Conference, receiving, each time he was chosen, a larger num- ber of votes than was cast for any other delegate from the Conference, and he was thus placed each time at the head of his delegation. His labors in connection with this, the highest council of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, were prosecuted with great activity and zeal. As a member of this body he served on a number of important committees and exerted a powerful influence in directing its action. In the General Conference of 1876 he was Chairman of the Committee on Episcopacy and pre- sided over its deliberations with ability and dignity, and with general acceptance to his colleagues. In 1872 Dr. Nelson was the choice of the General Con- ference for the responsible position of Agent of the Methodist Book Concern in the City of New York, and also Treasurer of the Missionary Society. His predecessor in both these positions, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Carlton, had filled them with distinction and without interruption for twenty years; and the choice of Dr. Nelson to take the retiring officer's place was, in every sense of the word, a high com- pliment, not only to his acknowledged zeal in the interests of the church, but also to his exact and systematic business habits. Dr. Nelson assumed his duties in this new and untried sphere of labor at a time when the financial affairs of the country were disturbed to such an extent that business became not only difficult but hazardous. He brought to his work the very qualities demanded
in these emergencies, and with the co-operation of his associate agent, John M. Phillips, carried for- ward the interests committed to him in such a wise and satisfactory manner as to earn the fullest con- fidence of the Church. In 1876 he was re-elected to both offices by the General Conference of that year, which took occasion to express its high sense of the able manner in which he had discharged the duties of his double position. His task, more than ordi- narily heavy from the beginning, and increasing in extent and importance from year to year, was pros-
ecuted by him as a genuine labor of love. His heart was in his work, and he was unsparing of himself in his devotion to it. "He studied, planned and toiled," says Bishop Harris, "when he should have rested." An affection of a typhoid-malarial type at last prostrated him; and although medical aid seemed to give an assurance of recovery, and even brought him to a condition permitting him to receive the congratulations of his friends, his health was so completely undermined that within a week afterwards he laid down his burden forever. Dr. Nelson's death created a profound impression throughout the entire Methodist Episcopal Church, and special marks of respect were paid to his mem- ory in many different parts of the country. On the day of his death the employees of the Methodist Book Concern in New York city, to whom he stood in an almost paternal relation, assembled to the number of about three hundred and passed the
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following preamble and resolutions :
Whereas, In the mysterious though all-wise Prov- idence of God, the Methodist Book Concern has been deprived by death of the services and counsels of one of its Agents, the Rev. Reuben Nelson, D.D., therefore,
Resolved, 1. That we, the employees of the Metho- dist Book Concern in its various departments, do hereby express our sense of the loss we have sus- tained by this deplorable event.
2. That we cherish in our memory a lively sense of the Christian dignity, uprightness, and urbanity which ever marked the spirit and conduct of the Rev. Dr. Nelson in all his intercourse with us.
3. That we desire to express our sense of per- sonal loss by this bereavement, in having thereby been suddenly deprived of association with us, not only of a thoughtful, kind and urbane employer, but also of the dearer ministries of a personal friend.
4. That we hereby express our sympathy with the bereaved widow, daughter and other friends of the family, in the irreparable loss they have sus- tained.
On the evening of the same day the Missionary Convention, representing the Methodist Churches of Brooklyn, held in First Place Church, adopted the following :
This meeting having heard with grief of the sud- den death this morning at his residence in New York, of Rev. Reuben Nelson, D.D., the Treasurer of the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church, and also the senior agent in the publishing work of the church in New York city, desires to express its sense of the bereavement to which the Church is so unexpectedly called, and particularly that the Mis- sionary and Publishing departments of the Church are truly and greatly afflicted by the death of one eminently fitted by his wisdom, integrity and untir- ing devotion for the duties and responsibilities of the offices held by Dr. Nelson.
This Missionary Convention, representing the Methodist Churches of this city of Brooklyn, would also express its sympathy for the afflicted family by the sudden removal of such a noble and loving hus- band and father.
At a special meeting of the Board of Managers of the Missionary Society, held in New York city, Saturday, February 22, the following memorial paper, reported by the Rev. Drs. J. P. Newman and J. Miley, was unanimously adopted :
Whereas, It has pleased our Heavenly Father to take to Himself our friend and brother, Rev. Reu- ben Nelson, D.D., Treasurer of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church; there- fore, we, the managers of said society,
Resolve, 1. That with gratitude to Almighty God, we recall the character, the life and the usefulness of our departed associate, who, through a long and eventful life, filled with honor to himself and credit to the Church of his choice the many high positions to which he had been called; and that, with grate- ful satisfaction, we now record our high estimate of him as the successful pastor and presiding elder,
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