USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 60
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
قطعة ب
يملك
287
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
nence is chiefly due to his success as a business man, he is also entitled to high recognition for the development of a new industry and for his broad public spirit. Mr. Heft married, February 22, 1870, Miss Frances Helen Cease, daughter of Mr. Peter M. Cease, of Mason City, Ill. He has one son living, G. Stanley Heft, who is now studying me- chanical engineering at Lafayette College, Easton.
THOMAS DICKSON.
THOMAS DICKSON, of Scranton, one of Penn- sylvania's most distinguished business men, founder of the Dickson Manufacturing Company, late Presi- dent of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and prominent for over a quarter of a century in the industrial development of the Lackawanna Valley, was born of Scotch parentage, in the town of Leeds, England, March 26, 1824, and died at Morristown, N. J., July 31, 1884. At the time of his birth his parents were merely sojourning in England, their home being at Lauder, Berwickshire, Scotland, whither they returned shortly after the birth of this their first-born child. Hence Thomas Dickson must be regarded as, he always considered himself, a Scotchman. "He was a scion of one of those Pres- byterian families which laid the broad foundations of the Scottish civilization and greatness. He in- herited a name and a blood which is traceable back- ward through many generations, and which comes to the surface with conspicuous distinctness in the special times of exigency and of heroic sacrifice for the right in Scottish history." His grandfather, Thomas Dickson, after whom he was named, was a brave soldier, who for twenty years marched, fought and suffered for the honor and glory of his country, during the stormy epoch when the genius and ambition of Napoleon convulsed Europe. He went through the Peninsula campaign, which ter- minated in the expulsion of Jerome Bonaparte from Spain, and stood immovable at Waterloo, being one of the three men of his company who were found in line, fully armed, when the famous charge of the French ended and Napoleon's sun set forever. This gallant soldier received from the British govern- ment conspicuous medals and military decorations for his valor, upon which were inscribed the names of fifty-two battles in which he had bravely fought. These inestimable rewards of valor descended to the father of the subject of this sketch and are still prized heirlooms in the family. Thomas Dickson, the soldier, was a husband at fifteen and a father at sixteen. His son, James Dickson, a millwright at
Lauder, and a man of very decided religious con- victions, married Elizabeth Linen, who was a native of the same shire. Both became early identified with the Presbyterian church, of which, in his later years, James Dickson was a ruling elder. In 1832 James Dickson determined to try his fortunes in America, and emigrated thither with his wife and six children, of whom Thomas, the eldest, was then in his ninth year. The little party was accompanied by Mrs. Dickson's brother, John Linen, a success- ful artist, and his family. Embarking at Glasgow in a sailing vessel, they reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence after a tempestuous ocean voyage of nine weeks. On the way up the St. Lawrence to Toronto the subject of this sketch was attacked by cholera, which first appeared in America in that summer. After two years of discouraging struggles to effect a business foothold in Toronto, James Dickson concluded to try his fortune in " the States"; and following the example of his kinsman, George Linen (brother of John), he penetrated to Dundaff, a new settlement, at the foot of the Elk Mountain, in northeastern Pennsylvania, where he settled on a farm. His training had not fitted him for success as a farmer and, in 1835, he took advantage of the great demand for skilled mechanics occasioned by the disastrous fire of that year in New York, and found employment in that city, which occupied him two winters and the intervening summer. With the intention of bringing his family to New York he re- turned to Dundaff, but while visiting old friends at Carbondale, on his way with his wife and children to the metropolis, he made the acquaintance of the President and other officers of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and was induced to accept a position as mechanic "among the water-wheels and in the rude shops of the company." In the spring of 1836 he settled at Carbondale and entered upon his new employment. By his skill and excel- lent judgment he rose to the position of master- mechanic of the company, and was retained in that honorable and responsible employment until his death in 1880. Thomas Dickson, the subject of this sketch, was fortunate in the possession of a mother whose womanly virtues were in themselves an edu- cation for her children. The privations of those early years at Dundaff, especially during the ab- sence in New York of the head of the family, were shared by mother and son with courage and hope, the boy, though young, striving to perform a man's part in supplying the rude habitation with fuel and in other necessary employments. His education was not neglected at home, for both father and mother were persons of high intelligence and the best moral character, and the Bible was at their
288
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
tongue's end and became early a familiar book to the little ones of the family. Away from home "little Tom Dickson," as he was affectionately styled when a boy, got an introduction to such train- ing as the rude village school of the period afforded, but it was a brief one, terminating abruptly after a few weeks by a disagreement between master and pupil which gave " Tom " the alternative of return- ing to school and making an apology or going to work. As he was not in the wrong he would not make the apology and accordingly looked around him for employment. It came in the very humble position of "mule driver" in the coal works of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, the duties of which he cheerfully undertook, although the good-natured superintendent who assigned him his task gave him a large headstrong beast to ride, probably hoping in this way to dissuade him from making the attempt. If such were his intention he counted without his host, for the young lad was not made of stuff which could endure failure. First conquering the ungainly and stubborn animal, which began by running away with him, he exe- cuted his duties with courage and fidelity, and with no thought that his labor was any less honorable than that of the superintendent who employed him. But the neighbors, when they saw that he was really in earnest in accepting employment, would not permit him to waste his time and strength in such an unprofitable way, and one of them, a mer- chant in the town, named Pierson, offered the lad a place as junior clerk. "Tom " informed the super- intendent of this offer and then resigned his position. He was congratulated on his prospects, and the kind-hearted paymaster took the liberty of adding a dollar to his wages for the good care he had taken of the mule. This paymaster was Roswell E. Mar- vine, whose pretty daughter afterwards became the boy's wife. Thomas made his mark in Mr. Pierson's employ and then took a position in the store of Mr. Joseph Benjamin, one of the chief merchants of the village. Attention to his work, devotion to his em- ployer's interests, kindly ways and charming man- ners, all helped his progress and gave him great popularity in the community. When the business passed into the hands of Mr. Frederick P. Grow, young Dickson was persuaded to retain his connec- tion with it. Throughout his life his relations with these early employers remained most intimate and cordial. Some two or three years after engaging with Mr. Grow, he found an opportunity to enter business as junior partner of his former employer, Mr. Benjamin, who was making a new venture on a much larger scale, and in a short time he was head manager of the store and aided in looking after the
foundry, which was attached thereto. Finding it a source of great profit the two partners gave their principal attention to the iron foundry, and eventu- ally the store was left to the management of reliable clerks, among whom were John A. Dickson and George L. Dickson (brothers of the junior partner), who became partners later on and conducted a most prosperous business for themselves. In the spring of 1856, after many years of successful effort, Mr. Dickson terminated his partnership with Mr. Ben- jamin. It should be mentioned here that Mr. Dick- son's education was not ended when he left school ; as a member of reading, debating and literary clubs he broadened his knowledge and became a proficient in all the ordinary branches of learning. His fond- ness for books was remarkable, and besides being a persistent student he was a steady reader. He was especially fond of poetry and early memorized a number of the masterpieces of the Scottish bards, which were greatly to his taste. He also familiar- ized himself with Shakespeare, Addison and Lamb. He became a fluent speaker, was able to make a stirring address, and on several important occasions was called to address the people, always acquitting himself of these tasks with considerable success. During his whole life he manifested the greatest in- terest in books and libraries. By his own efforts he formed a circulating library in his store at Carbon- dale, the benefits of which were extended to all the inhabitants on payment of a small fee. His passion for books increased with his years and means, and in his later life he accumulated a library of six thou- sand volumes, which was generally believed to be the best private collection in Pennsylvania. The Lackawanna Valley, with its dense forests of pine and hemlock, was still a wilderness. The iron- work established by "The Scranton and Platt," in Slocum Hollow, was at work developing its prop- crty, and although encountering many difficulties was progressing slowly on the highway to wealth. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, organ- ized in 1824, with its management in New York and its field of operations at Honesdale, Pa., was win- ning moderate success in the face of great obstacles. Mr. James Dickson, the master-mechanic of this coal company-the greatest at that day-was " puz- zling himself alternately in a wilderness of imper- fect or untried machinery, and of unknown wants and indefinite necessities." The pulley and sweep, operated along slopes by mule and horse power, was the chief means of lifting the buried treasures from the bowels of the earth, and as no adequate machinery for pumping water from the mines had been invented, only such as were above water level could be worked. Steam machinery was then in its
289
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
infancy. Capital was both scarce and timid. When he became interested in business with Mr. Benja- min, and identificd with the iron foundry "his thoughts began to turn toward the necessitics and uses of machinery for the development of the coal enterprise, which his foresight told him must be immense in the near future." The Benjamin foun- dry was a success, and he resolved upon a larger enterprise, one which might in time provide the machinery already needed, and which he foresaw must be needed throughout the valley. At this time a week was consumed in the journey from the coal-fields to New York or Philadelphia. Through much of the intervening distance supplies and ma- chinery had to be transported by mule tcams over almost impassable roads. The transit was slow, laborious and costly ; and, as often happened, ma- chinery constructed at a distance from the place it was to be employed proved unsuitable. Mr. Dick- son was a young man, but these facts made a decp impression on his mind, and he resolved to attempt the organization of a manufacturing company under his own control. In this work was first noticeably exhibited his peculiar talent for utilizing the powers of others which was so strikingly exemplified in all his subsequent efforts. Into this project he drew his father, Jantes Dickson, his two brothers, John A. and George L., and Messrs. Charles P. and Mor- ris Wurts, Joseph Benjamin, Peter J. DuBois, Charles T. Pierson and John Dorrance, all of whom joined the enterprise as silent partners, placing a limited amount of their money in the firm, which was established under the style of "Dickson & Company." Thus was a great and permanent in- dustry of the Lackawanna Valley started. Its founder was still a young man when in the early spring of 1856 the enterprise took practical shape and he became its active manager. Scranton had already begun to grow and thrive under the wise management of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, and the prospect of railway connections between that point and the outer world seemed most promising. These advantages were not lost upon Thomas Dickson. He decided to establish his plant at Scranton, and shrewdly interested the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, by purchas- ing from them a site for his works, at the point where Pine Brook emptied into the Lackawanna. In the spring of 1856 the foundations for the new shop were dug. The success of the enterprise was immediate and gratifying. In May, 1862, the com- pany was reorganized, enlarged and chartered as a stock company, under the law of Pennsylvania, taking the title of "The Dickson Manufacturing Company." Mr. Thomas Dickson, its founder, was
chosen President and Acting Manager. The enter- prise was now pushed on broader lines and met with rapid success. For years the controlling stock remained in the Dickson family. The com- pany built locomotives for the railways and engines for the inills and mines; and constructed all kinds of machinery for the manufacturing industries of the rapidly forming companies and developing busi- ncss enterprises all over the country, east and west. Their facilities were being constantly increased and their shops enlarged, until in the locomotive depart- ment alone, they were capable of completing two locomotives every week. Their stationary engines and machinery found ultimately a world-wide mar- ket. Very early in the career of this company the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company became a large purchaser of its products. The relations be- tween the two companies were founded in mutual respect and confidence and they proved helpful to each other in many ways. In 1859 Mr. Dickson was offered the position of Coal Superintendent by the President of the sister company and promised that of General Superintendent when arrangements could be completed. The post involved great extra work and responsibility, but Mr. Dickson accepted it, making the proviso that he was to be permitted to remain at the head of his own company, and to hold the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, as heretofore, a regular purchaser of its products. The situation appeared somewhat involved but the management of the Canal Company accepted it, having the most implicit confidence in Mr. Dick- son's honesty and manliness. During the ensuing ten years Mr. Dickson held this double position. His work and responsibilities increased yearly, for the enlarged schemes of both companies called for the most skillful financiering. The Civil War greatly increased the demand for anthracite coal and ma- chinery of all sorts, and the work of the mines and shops was doubled in a short time. The load upon Mr. Dickson during this period was something enormous. "There was not only the work of the day to be done, but foundations wiscly to be laid for future enterprise. There were coal lands to be dis- covered, the various strata developed and tested, and leased and purchased. There were breakers to be located and built, and these to be furnished with the best machinery. There were immense transac- tions in real estate, in which titles were to be traced through tortuous lines of early history and made secure. There were homes to provide for under officials and laborers. There was live stock, in the way of hundreds of horses and mules, with all the supplies and equipments necessary to their efficient use; and with these the immense care included in
290
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
the active superintendencc and control of miners and other employees of all sorts. Then along with this multiplied trust was the operation and care of fif- teen miles of gravity railway, with its lifting-engines and the supply and protection of the company's canal from Honesdale to tide-water. The care and management of all this work Mr. Dickson undertook and was successful in it, while he still held his respon- sible relation as President of the Dickson Manufac- turing Company, which he had already led to what he felt to be an assured success." In 1867, becoming satisfied that the business interests of the two great corporations had become too extensive for a single administration, he resigned the Presidency of the Dickson Manufacturing Company in favor of his brother, George L. Dickson, but still retained his interests in the company and his seat in the Board of Directors. He now threw his whole ability into the work of carrying forward the development of the Delaware and Hudson Company, and having es- tablished its offices in Scranton, removed his home to that place and proceeded to identify himself with the young city, both in a social and business way. His seven years' faithful service as General Superin- tendent had earned him, in 1867, promotion to the Vice-Presidency of the company, and in the summer of 1869 he was chosen its President. For fifteen years he held this last position, the duties of which he discharged until his death. Thus, nearly a quar- ter of a century of his manhood was devoted to the company's service. "His advancement was in its prosperity, and its reverses came home to him with more of nearness than any personal loss. * * * In
the discharge of his official duties he showed a calm reserve and a clearly-defined high purpose of well- doing, which betokened the real greatness of his character ; while in his personal relations, as their chief, with his fellow-servants of the company of 'every grade, he won their admiration by the quiet amenity and noble consistency of his life." In September, 1863, Mr. Dickson united with several leading citizens of Scranton in organizing the First National Bank of Scranton, which became one of the most successful institutions of its kind in the country, and of which he remained a leading direc- tor until his death. In the spring of 1865 he was prominent in organizing the Moosic Powder Com- pany, of which, also, he remained a director until his death. Chief among the other business interests with which he was conspicuously identified until his death, were the Crown Point Iron Company, of which he was a corporator and director; and the Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New York, of which he was a trustee. During the Civil War, Mr. Dickson bore his full share of the duties of citizen-
ship, and never declined any services which the ex- igencies of the State or Nation seemed to require of him. One of his first serious illnesses-and doubt- less the ultimate cause of his death-resulted from exposure while journeying from his home to New York to attend a mecting of patriots called for the purpose of further supporting the National Govern- ment, just after the battle of Fredericksburg. While on the train thither he caught the small-pox from some Confederate prisoners among whom he thoughtlessly sat for a while; and although he sur- vived the attack it left him " with a grasp of dis- ease about the valves of the heart from which he was never afterwards entirely free." In 1871 he was compelled to desist from his labors; and with a view to the restoration of his health he set out on September 1st of that year to make a tour of the world. Accompanied by his devoted wife he crossed the Continent, sailed from San Francisco to Japan, visited China and the chief countries of Asia, the Holy Land, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Ger- many, France, Great Britain and Ireland. A year of travel sufficed to complete the circuit of the globe, and in September, 1872, he returned to his business, greatly improved in health. His duties during the ensuing years of financial panic, labor troubles and general business depression, made heavy draughts upon his physical strength, but he met them all without faltering, and carried his com- pany safely through every crisis. The sacrifice was his own life, which closed, after several short periods of illness, on July 31, 1884, at his country- seat at Morristown, N. J. As a business man Mr. Dickson was remarkable for his clear judgment, un- fiagging energy and great tenacity of purpose. His technical knowledge of business was marvelous and extended even into the realm of law, as is attested by the clear and binding character of the many legal instruments which came from his hand, so perfect as seldom to need the least revision. His success in life was phenomenal and was attributed by himself to his "ability to control men without requiring them to fecl it." It was his habit to treat his subordinates as friends, and it is said of him by those who watched his career that he tried his best at all times to deal justly with men in every condi- tion in life. A marked characteristic was his keen sense of humor and ever-present love of fun, of which many happy anecdotes are told. From the age of sixteen he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and during his whole life he recognized to the fullest degree his obligations to the Christian religion. If he had a single aim in life beyond his duty to his family and to the great business trusts committed to his care, that aim was to promote the
MGorally
291
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
welfare and happiness of his fellow-men. He was a man of the strictest integrity, and knew no fear in carrying out his convictions of duty. Mr. Dickson married, August 31, 1846, Miss Mary Augusta Mar- vine, eldest daughter of Roswell E. and Sophia Marvine, natives of New York State. By this mar- riage there were five children, four of whom are now living : James P., Joseph B., Sophia R. (wife of Thomas F. Torrey), and Elizabeth L. (wife of Henry M. Boies.)
JAMES P. DICKSON.
JAMES PRINGLE DICKSON, son of the fore- going and President of the Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton, was born at Carbondale, Pa., July 24, 1852. At the age of twelve years he quitted the Scranton schools, where his education had been pursued till that time, and entered Lafayette Col- lege at Easton, Pa., intending to complete the regu- lar classical course. Poor health obliged him to discontinue his studies a year later, and in the hope of improving his physical condition his parents per- mitted him to enter an engineering corps engaged in railroad construction. With this corps, which operated with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co., he remained until 1869, when he went to China, where for a little over two years he filled a minor but responsible position in the extensive commission house of Olyphant & Co., at Hong Kong. Towards the close of 1872 he gave up this position and re- turned to America, passing through Europe on his homeward journey. With his faculties thus sharp- ened by a voyage around the world, his health greatly improved and a business experience of exceptional value, he entered the Dickson Manufac- turing Company upon his return, taking a subor- dinate position as clerk. In 1875 he was sent to Wilkes-Barre, as the agent of the corporation. Seven years later he was elected Vice-President, with head-quarters at Scranton, and in June, 1886, became its President. Although a young man, Mr. Dickson has proved himself the possessor of execu- tive ability of a high order, and as a manufacturer and business man he ranks with the most active and progressive of his compeers. He is a director in the Moosic Powder Co., in the Scranton Electric Heat and Power Co., in the Crown Point Iron Co., and is interested to a considerable extent in coal and iron production in the neighborhood of Scran- ton. On October 19, 1876, he married Miss Laura H., daughter of J. Fuller Reynolds, of Wilkes- Barre, and has three children. His home is in
Scranton, but his summers are spent chiefly at his beautiful country place at Dalton.
DANIEL W. CONNOLLY.
HON. DANIEL WARD CONNOLLY, cx-member of Congress and now Postmaster at Scranton, was born at Cochecton, Sullivan County, N. Y., April 24, 1847. His father, John Connolly, a well known railroad contractor, was born at Londonderry, Ire- land, in 1818, and emigrated to America in 1825, where he afterwards aided in the building of the Boston and Albany Railroad, and took contracts on most of the important railroads in the Eastern States and Pennsylvania. His mother, whose maiden name was Ann Adelia Allyn, was born at Montgomery, Mass., in 1823. Her grandfather, one of the soldiers of the Revolutionary War, was a descendant of David Allyn, who emigrated from England to America with his family prior to the Revolution, and settled at a place in Connecticut now called Allyn's Point, thus founding one of the oldest fam- ilies in New England. Mr. Connolly came to the Lackawanna valley with his parents in 1849, and has resided there ever since. He was educated in the public schools, studied law in Scranton, and was admitted to the bar in the Mayor's Court of Scranton, and the several courts of Luzerne County, in 1870, in which year he also entered actively into politics and was made Chairman of the City Demo- cratic Committee. In 1871 he was the candidate for the office of District Attorney on the Citizens' ticket. The aptitude for study shown in his early years, characterized him during his legal practice, and he was soon recognized as a lawyer of marked ability and the strictest integrity. In 1874 his prac- tice had grown so large as to necessitate additional force, and he formed a partnership with Hon. John F. Connolly, now Additional Law Judge, which lasted six years. On the formation of Lackawanna County, in 1878, Mr. Connolly was made the candidate of the Democratic and Labor parties for Law Judge, Hon. B. S. Bentley being his opponent. Mr. Con- nolly was elected, but the Supreme Court decided the election premature. In 1880 he was nominated by the Democratic and Greenback-Labor parties of Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties, then constitu- ting the Twelfth Congressional District, for Con- gress, defeating in the nominating conventions, Hon. Hendrick B. Wright and Ex-Judge Stanton. In the canvass succeeding, Mr. Wright entered the field as an independent candidate, secured 4,000 votes, and the Republican nominee, the Hon. J. A.
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.