USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 3
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DAVID CLARK.
HON. A. G. BRODHEAD, JR.
JOHN SMYLIE, JR.
R. A. PACKER.
H. S. GOODWIN.
WM. H. SAYRE, JR.
GEN. WM. LILLY.
JOHN TAYLOR.
WM. C. MORRIS, JR.
JAMES DONNELLY.
THOMAS S. MONAIR.
JOHN I. KINSEY. Committee."
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, December 24, 1868.
In the fall of 1872 Mr. Sayre commenced the con- struction of the Easton & Amboy Railroad, which was an extension of the Lehigh Valley road from the Delaware river at Easton to the sea at Perth Amboy, where very extensive docks, piers and shipping facilities were erected for the transfer of coal and other commodities from cars to vessels. More than 2,500,000 tons of freight are handled here annually. In 1883, the Vanderbilts, with other cap- italists of New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, determined to build the South Pennsylvania Rail- road between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Mr. Sayre was offered the position of President and Chief Engineer ; he accepted, and commenced the work of construction during the following year. This line embraced some unusually heavy work, but it was attacked and prosecuted with vigor; the ma- sonry for the bridge across the Susquehanna at Harrisburg,more than four thousand feet in length, was erected in one season. Seven principal moun- tain ranges were to be penetrated with tunnels averaging one mile in length. This work, with many of the heavy sections between the tunnels, was well advanced, when, after an expenditure of about $5,000,000, the whole work was suspended and has so remained to this time. Mr. Sayre, while in the active prosecution of construction of the South Pennsylvania Railroad, remained a Di- rector of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and upon the suspension of work on the former road he was elected Second Vice-President of the Lehigh Valley Company, and charged specially with the oversight of all of their traffic by rail and water lines, and of the engineering department. During these busy years Mr. Sayre has found time to devote to the im- portant subjects of good, permanent way and roll- ing stock. He was an early advocate of iron bridges and commenced replacing the wooden structures on the road in 1857. He commenced the use of steel rails in 1864, and was among the first to use steel-tired driving wheels and fire boxes of steel in the construction of locomotives. He caused to be built in 1867, for use on the mountain grade, two loco- motives of the Decapod type with five pairs of drivers and truck. The "Consolidation " type, now the favor- ite heavy engine, originated on the Lehigh Valley
Railroad. It was designed by Division Superintend- ent, A. Mitchell. Mr. Sayre, in conjunction with John Fritz, Esq., Superintendent of the Bethlehem Iron Company, designed and introduced the angle fish bar now in general use; he also designed cutting the rail endsat an angle so as to form, when laid, a con- tinuous bearing for the wheels. He appreciated early the importance of a heavier section of rail to meet the rapidly increasing weight of engines and cars, and designed the seventy-six-pound section now in use on the Lehigh Valley and other roads. Mr. Sayre was one of the promoters and first stockholders of the Bethlehem Iron Company, of which corporation he has been a Director for twenty-five years, and for the past three years General Manager. He was one of the originators of the Pioneer Mining & Manu- facturing Company, of Alabama, and a Director from its organization; also of the Nescopec and Upper Lehigh Coal Companies in Pennsylvania, of the Bethlehem South Gas and Water Company, of the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, of South Bethle- hem, and various other minor corporations. Mr. Sayre is one of the five persons named by Judge Packer in his will as trustees of his estate. He is a charter member of the Board of Trustees of Lehigh University, and Chairman of the Executive Commit- tee. Referring to the value of his services to Lehigh University, Bishop Stephens, on University Day, June 24, 1869, made this emphatic and graceful tes- timony :
" I must mention one name deserving on this oc- casion special commemoration. I mean Robert H. Sayre. Next to Judge Packer the University is in- debted to him, not only for his deep and thoughtful interest in the institution, but for the giftto it of one of the essential elements of its instruction and suc- cess-the Astronomical Observatory. This building was erected at the sole expense of Mr. Sayre, and contains an equatorial, a zenith sector, an astrono- mical clock, a meridian circle, a prismatic sextant, and other needed instruments, constituting an im- portant addition to the practical teaching of as- tronomy and geodesy. The gift reflects special credit upon the large minded and liberal donor, whose name it will bear as the 'Sayre Observatory' as long as the University itself shall stand, and of that we say Esto Perpetua."
Mr. Sayre is also a charter member of the Board of Trustees of St. Luke's Hospital, South Bethle- hem, and a member of the Executive Committee ; a member of the Executive Committee of Bishop Thorpe School for Young Ladies, South Bethle- hem, and has been Treasurer of the Board of Dioce- san Missions of Central Pennsylvania since the or- ganization of the Diocese. Mr. Sayre belongs to the Protestant Episcopal Church, was one of the founders of the parish of " The Church of the Na- tivity, Bethlehem-South," and has been a vestry-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
man since its organization. His aid lias been frecly She has borne him three sons, two of whom are living. The close of this year (1890) will complete Mr. Sayre's fiftieth ycar of continuous active scr- vice. given in many and substantial ways to religious, ed- ucational and other beneficent enterprises, while his private charities have been as bounteous and help- ful as they have been manifold and unostentatious. Mr. Sayre's reputation is closely connected with the history of the improvement and development of the Lehigh Valley, with which he has had the closest re- GEORGE W. DELAMATER. lations since 1853. Working in concert with the late Judge Packer, modern inventions and the last HON. GEORGE W. DELAMATER, State Sen- ator from Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and prominent Republican candidate for the Governor- ship of the State, was born in Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, March 31, 1849. After receiving preliminary tuition in the common schools in that city, he took a course in Allegheny College, where he graduated with honor, after which he entered the Harvard Law School and there acquitted himself with great credit. Mr. Delamater came of the De La Maitres, being the eighth generation of the family in this country, Claude De La Maitre and his wife Hester, daughter of Pierre Du Bois, from whom Mr. Dela- mater is descended, having been married in Holland, whither they had fled in 1652 in order to escape re- ligious persecution, emigrating in the same year to New Amsterdam, now New York. On his mother's side Mr. Delamater traces his ancestry for nine gen- erations to William Towne, who settled in Massa- chusetts in 1640. From this branch of the family descended the well known educator, Salcm Towne, while the late Schuyler Colfax was descended from the Delamaters. A family which on both sides has thus, as one may say, been contemporary with the entire history of the country, will necessarily have been largely connected with its public affairs, and this has been the case, as in all its struggles for free institutions and their perpetuation, the rolls of the army, in every contest in which the country has been engaged, have borne the name of Delamater. Mr. Delamater's father, Hon. George B. Delamater, has been well known throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, having represented the Crawford and Erie District in the State Senate, and proved him- self one of the ablest and most successful business men in the country. He is a man to whom the largest interests have been intrusted with implicit confidence, a trust which has never been abused. George W. Delamater passed one year at the law school when he began the required period of prepara- tion for the bar, and, that completed, was admitted to practice in the courts of his native county. He was fortunate in the possession of a library which, not only in law but in science and polite literature, was one of the largest and most valuable in his practical discoveries in science have been employed, and so sagaciously employed as to advance the coal and iron interests of that rich section beyond the dreams of the most sanguine. The pioneers Hauto, White and Hazard had no visions when they opened the valley in 1822, of any such accomplishment as is now made annually, nor could this have been reached had Mr. Sayre not enjoyed a long and special training, been endowed with a peculiar com- bination of qualities needed, and aided by men of equal knowledge, energy and wealth. He has al- ways been fortunate in the assistance rendered by those whom he employed, on account of his genial manners and care for their success. His great skill as an engineer is shown in his works. His govern- ment of men is evidenced in the sympathy and achievements of those whom he employs, and in their great interest in tlie works on which they are engaged as well as in their personal attachment to their chief. His own conscientious devotion to duty and determination to succeed infuse all com- ing within his magnetic range, and they have main- tained him, not only in the confidence of great cor- porations, but as well in that of the greater public who make and unmake corporations. Mr. Sayre's manners and character have endeared him among those who cannot appreciate his technical abilities, and the whole have, in a brief period, placed him in the front rank of those who have made and are making eastern Pennsylvania, a great fact in all the greatness to which it belongs. Still in the prime of life, universally trusted as much for capacity as for conduct, the community and his friends have a right to expect still greater performances from Mr. Sayre, and they are not likely to be disappointed. Mr. Sayre was married in April, 1846, to Miss Mary Evelyn Smith of Montrosc, Pennsylvania, by whom he had nine children, five of whom, one son and four daughters, are living. The son, Robert H. S., Jr., is in the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Com- pany. . His second wife was Mrs. Mary Bradford Brodhead. His third wife was Mrs. Helena Au- gusta Rathbun, neither of whom bore him any chil- dren. His present wife was Martha Finley Nevin, daughter of the late Rev. John W. Nevin, LL.D. | State. He thus entered upon the practice of his
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
profession amply supplied with tools and under the very best auspices. He was possessed of profes- sional tastes, and he had gone through a thorough and severe training. And yet, after devoting three years to the practice of the law, his mind became turned in the direction of commercial business. Several enterprises presented themselves before him, with the result that he changed his course in life and became a business man. In this direction he has been successful beyond his most generous an- ticipations. He is at the head of the banking house of Delamater & Co., and Director of the Merchants National Bank of Meadville, Pennsylvania, Presi- dent of and owner of a controlling interest in, the Meadville and Linesville Railroad, President of the Meadville Fuel Gas Company, besides being con- nected with other local enterprises. All this shows the possession of varied and remarkable talents and ability of a high order. And it is extraordinary that in company with these qualities, Mr. Delama- ter should also be possessed of other characteristics qualifying him for eminence in still other and more important directions. Entering into political life and possessing political ambition while still a young man, he became Mayor of Meadville in 1876, two years later Senatorial Delegate to the State Convention, and the following winter Chairman of the Republi- can County Committee. In 1880 he was chosen a Republican Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania. In 1886 he was elected to the State Senate. In all these positions he has proven himself to be a safe and sagacious and judicious leader, understanding politics, perfectly qualified to harmonize conflicting interests, and moving steadily along toward success without producing antagonisms, and with the im- portant result of keeping his party in his own lo- cality in a perfectly united and healthy condition. Mr. Delamater was just entering into young man- hood when the Republican party was born, and its youth and vigor appealed strongly to his imagina- tion, with the result of naturally making him a strong Republican. The Kansas and Nebraska struggle excited him to the utmost, while the fact that the famous "Ossawattomie " Brown was a neighbor of the Delamaters, carrying on the busi- ness of tanning in Richmond Township, Crawford County, near the old Delamater homestead, may have had something to do with it. Long before the troubles in Kansas, Brown was accustomed to dis- cuss the rights of the slave, and the powers and prerogatives of the General Government as against State rights, and as these things were argued with Mr. Delamater's father, and often in his own pres- ence, it happened that not only he, but all the mcm- bers of his family, sympathized with the old man,
and lamented his final rash act and tragic end. All of this shows that Mr. Delamater came honestly by his Republican principles, and from these principles he has never deviated. He is a thor- ough protectionist, believing that this policy secures for the laboring man higher wages than he otherwise would obtain. During his term in the Senate he showed marked ability and hon- esty, and achieved the position of a leader in that body, although surrounded by men much older and more experienced than himself. He was made Chair- man of the Committee on Banks and Banking, and a member of the Committees on Finance, Judi- ciary and Railroads. Meanwhile in State politics he has been an efficient party leader, and has incurred a debt on the part of the Republican party, includ- ing very powerful and very effective work for Gen- eral Harrison during the Presidential campaign of 1888. Having proved himself a wise counsellor and an able lieutenant in the most important party con- flicts, the fact of his being a prominent candidate for the gubernatorial nomination in 1890 is not sur- prising. Mr. Delamater was made permanent Chair- man of the Republican State Convention which met at Harrisburg, August 7, 1889. Illustrative of the esteem in which Mr. Delamater is held in his own locality, may properly be given the preamble and resolutions offered by Hon. Stewart H. Wilson, of Linesville, at the meeting of the Republican County Committee, on March 4, 1890, at Meadville :
" Whereas, Crawford County's representative in the State Senate, the Hon. G. W. Delamater, is the leading candidate for nomination for Governor at the approaching Republican State Convention ; and " Whereas, Because of his sterling qualities and long valuable party service, we deem him eminently fitted and deserving such recognition ; therefore
" Resolved, That it is due him that the Republican party of Crawford County take early action for the promotion of his nomination, and to that end we hereby order a special primary for the election of three delegates to the State Convention, said pri- mary to be held March 25, 1890 ;
" Resolved, That we urge upon the Republicans of Crawford County to unite as one man in the support of the candidacy of our fellow citizen, and suggest that the following threc representative citizens be presented under the rules for the suffrage of the people as candidates for delegates, viz .: Col. John J. Carter, of Titusville, Hon. J. C. Sturtevant, of Conneautville, and Oliver Saeger, Esq., of Saeger- town, it being understood that they will support and use every honorable means to secure the nomination of Senator Delamater for Governor."
Charles J. Andrews, of Titusville, seconded the resolutions, and the vote on their adoption was unanimous. The response of Mr. Delamater to the introductory speech of the Chairman of this meet- ing, though brief, was eloquent and effective. A
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Mcadville daily paper, commenting at this time up- on the Senator, uses the following language:
"As he is to-day, so he will prove to be in what- ever station he may be called, a warm-hearted friend, a faithful servitor of the people; in short, a man whom the people can implicitly trust at all times and on all occasions to do that which seems to him to be right, cost what it may. It is too early to speak of him as Chief Executive of this great Com- monwealth, but those who have carefully noted the beats of the pulse of public opinion are free to ad- mit that he is far in the lead, and his success appears to be fully assured."
On assuming the Chairmanship of the Republican State Convention, Mr. Delamater made a speech of some length, in which occurs the following :
" The moment the solid South ceases to be the ruling faction in national elections, it will disinte- grate, and Republiean control of the four new States will virtually decide this. The degree of prosper- ity of any Government depends upon the intelli- gence of its citizens. For a time other and incident- al causes may produce thrift, but permanence and stability can only be assured by education. The great and diverse business enterprises which will be encouraged to start in the South by the protective tariff, will themselves tend to educate the people, but in addition there must be some system of edu- cation which, under the supervision of proper au- thorities, will educate the masses. This is not only a measure of safety, but an act of simple justice. We can never hope to repay our colored wards for the injury resulting from slavery. We can only hope to put them in the way of a gradual growth to a higher manhood. Thus supplementing the effects of protection and the admission of the four new States with education, sectionalism, as exemplified in the solid South, will cease to threaten us."
The New York Tablet, a Roman Catholic weekly publication, in its issue of February 1, 1890, had the following editorial reference to Mr. Delamater :
" Senator Delamater has won a high reputation as a statesman, and certainly no more fitting candi- date can be selected to fill the gubernatorial chair. His unblemished record is known to every citizen of the Keystone State. A Pennsylvanian himself by birth, he has ever closely identified himself with the interests of his native State. To the energy of youthful manhood he adds the calm judicial tem- perament and the administrative capacity of the experienced man of affairs. He has been loyal to every trust, both public and private, while his many admirable qualities of head and heart have won for him hosts of friends, not alone throughout his own State, but far beyond its confines. Pennsylvania will make no mistake when she confers upon such a man the highest honor in her gift."
Secretary Leach, of the Republicau State Com- mittee, being asked his opinion of the contest for Governor in the State of Pennsylvania, said : "I see that Senator Delamater has anuounced himself as a candidate for the gubernatorial nomi- nation. I hope he will be successful. I look upon Delamater as one of the brainiest men in the Repub-
lican party of Pennsylvania. IIe is a modest and unassuming man in his manners, but he is character- ized by a reserve force of great power, which mani- fests itself upon closer acquaintance. The powerful factors in politics now-a-days are those who are wise and influential in the councils of the party. It is here that Senator Delamater's strength of character manifests itself." Deputy Attorney-General Snod- grass said of Senator Delamater that he had "worked his way to the front in party affairs by sheer force of character, and not through any dis- criminating favoritism. He not only represents the young element in the Republican party, but he also represents the business element. He is a level- headed business man and a thoroughly representa- tive citizen. I do not know anybody who so com- pletely fills the bill as an ideal candidate as Delama- ter. He has no false pride about him. I consider that his success in pushing himself to the front and becoming one of the safe advisers in the councils of the party is an encouragement to every young man who has any aspirations in politics. He did not come knocking at the doors of the State leaders as a suppliant for favors-he came with a good sized constituency behind him, with a party following which could not be ignored, and asked for a voice in party management, not as a favor, but as a right. Seven or eight years ago it would not have been so easy for a man like Senator Delamater to get to the front in the party organization, but, as I say, his success in getting a hand in the management of party affairs is encouraging to every young man ambitious for a place and a voice in his party or- ganization." On Mr. Delamater's advent into the realm of State politics, he at once manifested qual- ities of leadership which attracted the attention of the older politicians, and it was this fact which brought him into the party conferences at the capi- tal, and rendered that easy for him which would have been difficult for almost any other man. More- over he very soon established claims upon the party which it was and is necessary to recognize. In 1888 Senator Delamater's friend, Hon. W. H. Andrews, became a candidate for the important position of Chairman of the Republican State Committee. State Senator Thomas V. Cooper, who had filled the office with ability for several years, was an aspirant for re-election, and had the earnest support of Hon. J. Donald Cameron, and Christopher L. Magee of Pittsburgh. Senator M. S. Quay declined to take an active part in the contest. The odds seemed to be very overwhelmingly against Mr. Andrews, but, undismayed by appearauces, Senator Delamater be- came his champion and entered the field in his be- half. The press of the State with surprising unau-
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Charles I.Sont
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
imity supported Mr. Cooper. Nevertheless Messrs. Delamater and Andrews proceeded with the work, and, when the convention met, achieved a triumph that was the more gratifying because it was accom- plished by intelligent effort and fair means. A notable service was performed during the Presi- dential campaign of 1888. It is well known that when General Harrison was nominated for the Presidency, there were grave doubts felt of the pos- sibility of electing him, and when the National Com- mittee of that party established their headquarters in New York and commenced work, the outlook was gloomy. Among the trusted men who were called to do work at this headquarters was Mr. Del- amater, and all through that trying campaign, by night and by day, he was at his post doing most thorough and effective work for his party. Mr. Del- amater was married, November 23, 1871, to Miss Mary McFarland, daughter of James E. McFarland, of Meadville, Penn., and has two children : a daughter, Susie Louise, and a son, James Scott Delamater.
CHARLES W. STONE.
HON. CHARLES WARREN STONE, a distin- guished citizen of Pennsylvania, now Secretary of State of that Commonwealthi and formerly Lieutenant-Governor, State Senator, and Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, was born at Groton, Massachusetts, on June 29, 1843. He is the eldest of the three sons of Warren Fay Stone and Mary Williams Stone. His ancestors on the male side were English and settled in this coun- try some time prior to the Revolution. Among his kindred was General Nathaniel Greene, whose re- markable military genins played so important a part in that momentous struggle. His father, War- ren F. Stone, was a carpenter by trade, and though of feeble health was possessed of a strong, clear and active mind. In 1856 he was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature. He died in 1857, aged forty-two years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Williams, was of Welsh extraction. Charles was not a very robust boy, and after his father's death continued to live with his grandfa- ther, at Groton ; and there, joining in the every day work upon the farm, he gained greatly in strength and vigor. He inherited a taste for learning and his desire for knowledge had been stimulated by his father, who had a keen appreciation of culture. Had his father lived, his highest ambition would have been to give his sons every educational advan- tage. His death when Charles was but fourteen years of age left the boy without resources. Never-
theless, fired by an eager ambition to obtain a lib- eral education, hie resolutely applied himself to the task and successfully accomplished it despite many privations. In 1860, after a course of instruction at Lawrence Academy, to which he applied himself with rare assiduity, he was admitted to the sopho- more class at Williams College. While at college he managed to support himself by teaching and by doing such manual labor as presented. When his class graduated, in 1863, he stood among the highest. Soon after his graduation he removed to Warren, Pennsylvania, and accepted the position of Principal of the Union School, at that place. In 1865 he gave up this position to become Superin- tendent of the public schools of Warren County. In the year last given he was chosen Principal of the Academy at Erie, Pennsylvania, but resigned this position in the ensuing November and went to Mis- sissippi, where he acquired an interest in a cotton plantation. He was accompanied by F. M. Abbott and Colonel A. P. Shattuck, both of whom after- ward became prominent cotton planters in the State named. After sojourning about a year in tlie South he returned to Warren County and, passing the required examinations, for which he had been studying diligently and was well prepared, was admitted to the bar. With the beginning of 1867 he formed a partnership with Judge Rasselas Brown. This partnership has continued longer without interruption than any other similar part- nership now existing in the county. The firm has had a large share of practice and has been promi- nently connected with most of the important litiga- tion in that section of the State. Mr. Stone's abili- ties were early perceived by his fellow-citizens, and in 1869 he was elected to the House of Representa- tives of Pennsylvania as a Republican from the district comprising Warren and Venango Counties. Attorney-General W. S. Kirkpatrick, referring to this period in Mr. Stone's career, says :
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