USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 23
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greatest success at Karns City, where he had the good fortune to obtain a number of very large wells. When the Bradford field was discovered in 1877 Mr. Emerson became largely interested in lands and leases in that section and met with almost unvarying success. In the year 1880, while drill- ing for oil, being then associated in the enterprise with Mr. J. N. Pew, a large gas well was devel- oped. Natural gas was then comparatively a new discovery, the extraordinary utility of which was scarcely dreamed of. Mr. Emerson and his partner were, for a time, quite at a loss what to do with their "find." But at length they began to utilize it as fuel, supplying the needs of well-drivers in the vicinity, and, realizing that this employment of it was profitable, continued in the business with ex- cellent results. Soon afterwards they broadened the field of its employment by laying a main line of pipe to Olean, New York, through which they have ever since supplied that town with natural gas for all purposes to which it is applicable. In Decem- ber, 1881, while engaged in prospecting and drilling for gas, Mr. Emerson and his associate learned of a well sixteen miles east of Pittsburgh, in the famous Murraysville field, the largest gas well in the world, which had been burning for more than three years, wasting in that time, according to the estimates of experts, gas worth fully two millions of dollars. They attempted to purchase this well, but aban- doned the idea of doing so for the time, at least, as the title to it was not perfect. Nevertheless they imme- diately leased a large amount of land around it and proceeded to drill a well which, when completed, proved to be a large one. The gas from it pos- sessed two remarkable peculiarities, since it was destitute of odor and could not be seen. It came from the earth like a blast of wind. Experiments, instituted to determine whether it was subterranean air or gas, proved its combustibility and its capabili- ties as an illuminating body, and its fortunate dis- coverers immediately took steps to supply Pitts- burgh, and are thus entitled to the honorable distinction of being the first to introduce natural gas for general purposes to that flourishing city. Not long after this grand achievement they became the owners of the old well, the title to which had, in the meantime, been perfected. It was over the disputed ownership of this well that the unfortu- nate contest occurred in which the lamented Oba- diah Haymaker lost his life. The incidents of this contest are related in the pages of history and need not be reliearsed in this place. Suffice it to say that the Emerson party held possession of the well by law and by right. The leaders of the attack,-Mil- ton Weston of Chicago, and others-were appre-
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hended and after proper trial were duly convicted and condemned to State Prison for a term of years. The wells referred to are still producing gas in large quantity, but with diminution in the supply. Their lines furnish nearly five thousand dwellings with gas for illuminating aud heating purposes, and also supply many mills, factories, and foun- dries. Mr. Emerson's latest enterprises are in the Ohio oil and gas fields, where he is engaged in pipiug, tanking and shipping. He is also interested to some extent in the oil business in California, and is besides the owner of oil lands in Kansas and of mining interests in Montana. In Titusville, where his headquarters are aud where he has lived so many years, he is held in high esteem as a thorough mas- ter of his business, a pushing, enterprising man who dreads no obstacles and has the kind of energy and persistence which seldom fail of success. He is interested in a number of_ promising enterprises in Titusville and has done a great deal by his personal efforts towards advancing the interests of the place. He is a Director in the Commercial Bank of Titusville, and also President of the Board of Trade of the city,-the latter a position which is not only one of high distinction but of a character to enable its incumbent to exercise a powerful influence upon commercial affairs. Mr. Emerson is warmly inter- ested in the cause of education and for several years has served as a School Director. He is a man of true Christian character, and for the lengthy period of twenty-five years has held the office of elder in the Presbyterian Church. He is a helpful man in everything he touches; possesses an unsullied reputation and holds the respect of his fellow-citizens in every relation of life. He mar- ried, in 1860, Miss Lucy H. Johnson, daughter of John A. Johnson, Esq., attorney at law, of Por- tage, Wisconsin. Four children have blessed this union, viz : Charles Francis, born in 1864; John Leonard, born in 1868; Constance Lucy, born in 1873; and Edward Octavius, Jr., born in 1878. The two eldest were graduated at Phillips Academy, the second taking the valedictorian honors in the elass of '89, numbering fifty-three.
CALEB N. TAYLOR.
HON. CALEB NEWBOLD TAYLOR was born at Sunbury Farm, in Bristol Township, Bucks Coun- ty, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1814. He died in the same house where he was born and where he had always lived, on November 15, 1887. He was the seventh ehild of the late Anthony and Mary Tay-
lor, of pure English ancestry, his line being traced to Samuel Taylor of Derbyshire, England, who landed in 1677 on the site of Burlington, New Jer- sey. His father was an East Indian trader, who retired in 1810 to the farm, to which he gave the uame of "Sunbury," and which after his death de- scended to his son Caleb. Samuel Taylor was one of the proprietors of West New Jersey, and owned one-thirty-second of seven undivided one-nine- teenthis parts of that province. In the spring of 1678 he located his homestead farm in Chesterfield Town- ship, Burlington County, New Jersey-not far from where Bordentown now stands. It contained about 1,500 aeres, and it is a remarkable fact that of this estate, not one acre has passed out of the hands of his lineal descendants during a period of more than two hundred years. To his son Robert he left five hundred acres of the traet, now known as Brook- dale ; and from him it came to his son Anthony, an ardent patriot in the Revolution, and the graud- father of the subject of this sketch. Anthony Tay- lor, the father of Caleb, was born at Brookdale farm in the year 1772. While he was still quite young he was sent to Philadelphia, and placed in the care of John Thompson, an extensive merchant of that city, that he might be educated to a com- mercial life. On attaining his majority he formed a partnership with his wife's brother, Thomas New- bold, and engaged very extensively in East India trade under the firm name of Taylor & Newbold. Toward the close of his business career he purchased Sunbury farm for a country-seat. He took great interest in agricultural pursuits, and at the time of his death was the largest land owner in Bucks Coun- ty. Caleb Newbold Taylor inherited a taste for agriculture from his father and earlier ancestors, and at the time of his death owned three thousand acres of improved farm lands in Bucks County. From the age of eighteen he was always active in politics, and always opposed to the Democratic party. At that age, in 1832, he was elected to rep- resent the county at the Whig Convention at Har- risburg. During the next ten years he repeatedly refused political office ; but in 1848 he so far re- laxed this determination as to consent to become the nominee of his party for Member of Congress,- the Congressional District then being composed of the counties of Lehigh and Bucks, both of which were largely Democratic. He was defeated by a small majority; but his personal popularity was shown by the fact that he ran more than a thousand votes ahead of the general ticket. Two years later he was again placed in nomination for the same po- sition, and again in 1852, but on both occasions he was defeated. From this time until 1866 Mr. Tay-
6. 12 Saylor
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for, while still ardently interested in politics, was not a candidate for any office; but in that year he was nominated by the Republican party for Member of Congress to represent the Fifth District, com- posed of Bucks County and three wards of Phila- delphia, and was elected. In 1868 he was re-elected and served a second term, the seat being awarded to him by Congress on the last occasion after a con- tested election, in which Dr. Redding (now de- ceased) was his Democratic competitor. Mr. Tay- lor represented Bucks County in nearly every Na- tional Republican Convention from the time when he became of age until his death ; more frequently, in fact, than any man of either party who has been prominent in local politics during the last fifty years. His determination and relentlessness in opposition to his political adversaries were marked features in his political life ; while his friendliness for a candi- date of his party was for many years a sure guar- antee of that candidate's success. A man of re- markable force of character, of recognized integrity, and possessing a shrewd insight into human nature, he ruled and directed those with whom he was thrown into contact politically, with extraordinary success. He was a natural orator, and possessed an omnivorous memory for political facts and data, a special power which he used to advantage in de- bate. His delivery was impassioned, and few men ever succeeded in swaying Bucks County against him. Familiarly known among his friends and as- sociates as "Cale Taylor," no Whig or Republican meeting was deemed a success unless he was pres- ent to address the assembly. Socially he was a most agreeable and companionable gentleman ; a brilliant conversationalist, one who never lacked for interested listeners when he chose to exert him- self. A project which found almost a life-long champion in Mr. Taylor was the division of Bucks County. The movement started iu 1822 and was revived in 1854. Public interest was stimulated by numerous meetings at which the subject was de- bated-Mr. Taylor always speaking in favor of the scheme-but all these attempts to change the boun- dary of the county proved unavailing. Mr. Taylor was one of the founders of the Republican party in Bucks County, when in 1856 the largest political meeting which ever assembled in the county was held in favor of the candidacy of John C. Fremont -he was, in fact, one of the earliest pioneers of the Republican party, having taken a stand on the free soil platform as early as 1848. A peculiar and very unusual characteristic of Mr. Taylor was his hos- tility to the influence of lawyers in public affairs. When it is remembered that not only the United States Senate and the House of Representatives,
but the Legislatures of all the States are made up mainly from the legal profession, the obstinate opposition to this practice on the part of a rising politician is as extraordinary as it is unusual. A characteristic utterance in the direction of his well- known antipathy to the legal fraternity appeared in a local newspaper during the canvass of 1852, when Mr. Taylor was on the Whig ticket for Congress against Samuel A. Bridges, an Allentown lawyer, and was in these words : " Farmers of Bucks Coun- ty : Do you want a lawyer sent to Congress to mis- represent you ?- a man who has no sympathy with you, no care for your interests ? If so, vote for Bridges !" Mr. Taylor was pre-eminently a temper- ance man. It is told of him that before he arrived at his majority he was put in charge of a large farm in Penn's Mauor. It was the universal custom in those days to furnish whiskey, New England rum or other strong drink to those employed in gather- ing in thic harvest. Young Taylor was thoroughly opposed to the use of strong drink, and gave the men employed by him to understand from the first that he would not furnish liquor. The news of this refusal spread throughout the county. The labor- ing people were excited and indiguant, and the farmers considered it an audacious attempt to inter- fere with old-fashioned customs ; but young Taylor persisted in his determination, and though his men refused to work and said "his wheat would rot in the field " if they did not get liquor, he held to his determination and with eventual success; in fact, he lived to see the time when it was a rare thing to give men even a drink of liquor during the whole harvest time. Mr. Taylor was a member of the famous Republican Convention at Chicago, June 16, 1860; and at a time when the vote stood Seward, 173}, Lincoln 102, the Lincoln delegates began to waver. Mr. Taylor visited the headquarters of the Illinois delegates late at night and spoke with such energy in favor of Lincoln, that he infused new life and energy into the wavering delegation, the result be- ing a break for Lincoln. To a very great extent, therefore, Mr. Taylor's influence may be said to have been instrumental in causing the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, with all the fateful results of that important political act. At the time of his death, Mr. Taylor was President of The Farmers' National Bank of Bucks County, at Bristol, of which he had for many years been a Di- rector, and of which bank his father, Anthony Tay- lor, was President at the time of his death in 1837. The funeral of Mr. Taylor was attended by a large concourse of the relatives and life-long friends of the deceased. The ceremonies were simple but im- pressive. Mr. Samuel Swain, of Bristol, delivered
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an oration, in the course of which he said :
"A strong man has departed; a man of unques- tioned integrity, of carnestness of purpose, and sturdy in the defense of his convictions; no hypo- crisics, no fallacies ever crept into his record. However criticism may have done its best (or its worst) no one can doubt that that sincerity which has been described as an essential element of great- ness was a marked element of his character."
ANTHONY TAYLOR.
CAPTAIN ANTHONY TAYLOR was born in Burlington County, New Jersey, October 11, 1837, the son of Elizabeth Ash (Jones) Taylor. His father Robert Taylor, M.D., was born in Philadelphia, in 1803, and his mother in the same place in 1813. On his mother's side he is a descendant of John Jones, who came to this country from the Island of Barba- does in the early days of the Colonies, and who was a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia at the time of his death, leaving large possessions in Philadelphia, and in lands and slaves in Bucks County. Anthony Taylor, on his father's side, is a grandson of Anthony and Mary Newbold Taylor, his father, Robert Tay- lor, M.D., being a brother of Caleb Newbold Taylor. His grandfather on his mother's side, Benjamin Jones, Jr., was a shipping merchant in Philadelphia, largely engaged in the West India trade. The sub- ject of this sketch was educated at the "Protestant Episcopal Academy" in Philadelphia, and was after- wards placed in the large dry goods commission house of John Farnum & Co., to receive a business education, and where he remained, according to un- derstanding, until he reached his majority. Soon after the breaking out of the Rebellion, he enlisted from Bucks County, in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, as a private, the men composing the regi- ment being selected from different parts of the State, and in which no officers were permitted to be elected. After successively passing through the various grades of non-commissioned officers, he was, in the spring of 1863, commissioned as First Lieutenant of Company " A," and took command of the company, being the only commissioned officer in it during mueh of its term of service. After the battle of Stone River, this company was assigned to the Headquarters of the Army of the Cumberland, Major-General Wm. S. Rosecrans commanding, to do special courier dnty, and during the battle of Chickamauga was engaged much of the time in carrying orders, under fire, to various commands. In the spring of 1865 Capt. Taylor was appointed an Aide-de-Camp on the staff of General William J.
Palmer, then in command of a large force of cavalry, operating against the enemy in East Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, and was soon afterwards commissioned Captain for services in the field. He remained in the position of Aide-de-Camp until he was mustered out of ser- vice at the close of the war at Nashville, Tennessee. During the whole time of his service he was on active duty in the field, and participated in many engagements, and took part in the battles of Antie- tam, Stone River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Mossy Creek, &c. In February, 1871, he married Caroline Fletcher, daughter of Lawrence Johnson, by whom he has two children, Mary Lawrence, and Elizabeth Elmslie Taylor. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Loyal Legion of the United States, and of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland.
JAMES H. HEVERIN.
JAMES HENRY HEVERIN, a distinguished lawyer of the Philadelphia bar, was born at Dover, the capital of Delaware, April 21, 1844. To his parents, James L. and Priscilla Heverin, both per- sons of superior mental endowments, he is undoubt- edly indebted for his early thirst for knowledge and other qualities, which, from the beginning of his career stamped him as the fortunate possessor of faculties needing only a proper field of exercise to insnre success in life. His youthful education was prosecuted under the most favorable auspices, and by his rapid advance in every branch of study to which he gave his attention, he repaid worthily the sympathetic interest in his progress which both his father and mother never wearied in manifesting. Having exhausted the educational facilities of the place of his birth, he entered Princeton College, New Jersey, where " he impressed all by his genius for debate and his talents as a student." In Jnly, 1864, he graduated at Princeton, and then betook himself to the famous Law School of Harvard Col- lege, where he pursued with marked diligence the required course of study, and, in 1866, received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Returning to his na- tive place, he continued his legal studies in the of- fice of the Hon. Joseph P. Comegys, and in the fall of 1866 was admitted to the Delaware bar. Al- though but just entering manhood, he applied him- self to his professional work with enthusiastic ar- dor. From his earliest appearances in the courts of law he was recognized as a fluent and able speaker. His cases were prepared with the greatest
James H. Hoverio
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care, and being presented and argued with force, were nearly always hrought to a successful termi- nation. Professional business flowed in upon him, and he reversed the usual order of events by win- ning distinction and honor "in his own country." His field of operations was in many respects an excellent one, hut he felt constrained to abandon it for one of hroader opportunity and more exacting requirements. The city of Philadelphia, renowned for the numher and skill of its lawyers, seemed, to the young aspirant, to present the very arena for which he was in search, and thither he removed and engaged in practice. He entered the "City of Brotherly Love " as a total stranger, and began his labors without the assistance of friends, influence or money. In two years he had achieved excep- tional success. The public soon perceived and properly appreciated his ahilities, and clients crowded the modest offices of "the young orator from Delaware." In 1869 Mr. Heverin was ap- pointed Assistant District Attorney, under District Attorney Furman Sheppard, and was active in the duties of his office during that and the following year. His private practice steadily increased, and in obedience to its demands he resigned his official position and gave his whole attention to it. It was said of him that "he absorbed the experience of the District Attorney's office, rather than learned its ropes, and, having gained all that seemed worth knowing, he resigned and entered at once into a large private practice." Mr. Heverin early con- nected himself with the Democratic party. Its leaders were quick to perceive his worth, and, in 1872, they acknowledged it hy nominating him a Delegate-at-Large to the Convention for amending the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania. This was a great and much-coveted honor. The nomi- nation was made in a convention composed of the leading men of his party in the city, over a large number of competitors, among whom were some of Philadelphia's most distinguished lawyers. At this convention he received the second highest vote cast. On purely partisan grounds Mr. Heverin was bit- terly opposed at the polls, hut he won the election by a large majority, heing one of the three Demo- cratic delegates chosen from Philadelphia, and the recipient of the second highest vote cast. Although with one exception the youngest member of the convention, (being then hut twenty-eight years old), he took high rank among its leaders, and his speeches evoked hearty enthusiasm and produced a marked effect in shaping the policy adopted. His record in this representative assembly won him golden opinions throughout the State. In 1883 Mr. Heverin was appointed Assistant Attorney-General
on behalf of the United States in the Court of Ala- hama Claims, " and occupied this position during the existence of that court, hearing and represent- ing the Government in all the cases that came he- fore him within the provisions of said position." Since concluding his lahors in this court, Mr. Heve- rin has heen often urged to accept nomination to office, hut has steadfastly declined. His profes- sional duties are of the most comprehensive de- scription. He is counsel for most of the leading newspapers of Philadelphia, and has fought to a successful issue no less than forty lihel suits for one journal of prominence. In lihel cases he is a recog- nized authority. He has a monopoly of the theat- rical cases at the bar of Philadelphia, and has made a great reputation in them. One of the important corporations for which he is counsel is the Adams Express Company. He has for some time been counsel for the Liquor League. Many of his cases were peculiarly noteworthy. Among these were his prosecution of Botts, for adultery ; of Bliss, the Spiritualist, for conspiracy; the notorious Huher case, and the famous divorce suit of Bartol vs. Bar- tol. He represented Brown, who cut his wife's throat in Fairmount Park, and in spite of the atro- cious character of the murder, succeeded in obtain- ing a verdict of manslaughter. He defended the priest Gerdemann, who was charged with embez- zling $150,000 of church funds, and secured his acquittal. In the case of Waldo Messaros, a clergy- man, accused of criminal assault, his skill and elo- quence won a decisive victory in spite of the dam- aging nature of the testimony. He has figured in nearly one hundred homicide cases. Perhaps his greatest fame has been won in criminal cases, in which field other well-known members of the Phila- delphia bar, notahly the late Hon. Lewis C. Cassidy, William H. Ruddeman and Richard P. White, made great reputations. In the civil courts, practicing contemporaneously with such distinguished advo- cates as John G. Johnson, ex-Attorney-General Ben- jamin H. Brewster, aud ex-Attorney-General Wayne Mac Veagh, he has proved his abilities in many ways. He practices often in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and is not infrequently called to the city of New York. An observing writer for the Philadelphia newspapers refers to his patience and skill in preparing his cases as " without a parallel at this day." "He is just as quick," says this writer, " to take advantage of the least blunder of opposing counsel, as he is sure to make none him- self, and his wonderful memory allows him to bring up in his speeches to the jury, all the weak points of the opposite side. His skill in twisting facts from unwilling witnesses is a legal proverb here,
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and he impresses judges and jurics alike with his persuasive and logical expositions." Another writer, referring to Mr. Ileverin's skill in conducting eascs, says : "He never loses the thread of a ease from the moment it is put on trial, until it is given to the jury. He feels every point made on either side, but does not show it, and is the most ready man in the world to help his opponeuts into difficulties after they make one false step. * *
* To hear lıim drag the facts he wants-and no others-from the reluctant lips of dogged witnesses is a comedy and a constant surprise, and in handling his own wit- nesses he seems to imbue them with something of his own keenness of intellect. No matter how bad a ease Mr. Heverin has in haud, the opposing eoun- sel, though of the highest rank, never feels safe, and they would be unwise if they did." While skilled in all the intricacies of the law, he is specially foree- ful in oratory. He has an easy flow of language, which elothes his thoughts in expressions that hold the rapt attention of judges, juries and auditors. He has the faculty of becoming intensely absorbed in his subjeet when speaking, and "pours out the most bitter inveetive with all the passion of a great aetor." He is a master of irony and sareasm, and it is rare that the most skilled opposing counsel ean endure his cuttingly polite words. It has been said of him that " to the beauty of the Italian he unites the subtilty of the Greek, the intuitiveness of the Frenchman, the intelleet of the German, the eour- age of the Scandinavian, and the cool-headed equa- nimity of the best type of Englishmen." When addressing a jury his presence is commanding and graceful. His gestures are sweeping, perfeetly in- telligible, quiek, and add great force to his oratory. The way in which he wins verdiets in terribly weak eases proves beyond all question the power and in- fluenee of his eloquenee. Mr. Heverin is a many- sided man. From his earliest youth he has ranged in the field of books to good purpose. Whatever he reads he seems to remember thoroughly, and there are few men in any profession or ealling who can converse with him without being impressed by his marked attainments. "Sueeess seems to attend him uneompelled and fortune to follow him like a well-trained servant." At the early age of forty-six, he stands a unique figure in his profession, ranking high at the bar. Merchants, finaneiers and eorpo- rations value his eounsel, and in consequence his professional ineome is very large. To the student of human nature not the least remarkable feature of Mr. Heverin's career is that his head has not been turned. The possessor of physical and mental at- tributes above the highly favored in these respeets, conspicuous in his profession, with wealth and rep-
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