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de tc Public_ Dra & Eraraving Co.NY.
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Trustees and Faculty of the Medico-Chirurgical Col- lege of Philadelphia unanimously elected Dr. Shoc- maker to a second chair in the institution, that of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Clinical Medicine. At this time of writing he con- tinues in active practice, edits the Medical Bulletin, lectures regularly in two departments of the Medico- Chirurgical College, visits as physician patients in thic hospital of the same name as above, and contrib- utes largely to the various medical journals.
WILLIAM T. SMITH.
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WILLIAM TALLMAN SMITH, a prominent busi- ness man of Scranton, President of the Board of Trade and also of the Board of Health of that city, President of the Lackawanna Trust and Safe De- posit Company, and proprietor of the Mount Pleas- ant Colliery, was born in Middlebury, Vermont, November 30, 1834. His father and mother, both natives of Massachusetts, belonged to the old fami- lies of that commonwealth and traced their descent from the early English settlers, who came over in 1632. The former, Reuel Smith, removed in early life to Vermont, where he engaged in business. In 1840 he removed to Rhode Island, where he died in 1860. His widow, a woman of remarkable strength of mind and character, whose maiden name was Judith N. Haskell, died in 1865. The subject of this sketch, after receiving his education, entered upon his business career as a clerk in the general store kept by his brother, at Woonsocket, Rhode Island. In 1857 he married Annie E., daughter of George W. C. Jenckes, Esq., of Woon- socket, Rhode Island, and removed to Providence, Rhode Island, where he was in business for three years. By this union he had two children, both of whom died young, and the mother died in 1861. On leaving Providence he entered the service of the Harris Limerock Company, and took charge of the large limestone quarries in Rhode Island owned by that company. In 1862 he obtained a temporary release from his engagement, and, enlisting in the Ninth Regiment of Rhode Island Infantry, served with it during its three months campaign in the dc- fense of Washington. Returning to Rhode Island at the expiration of his term of service, he resumed charge of the quarries and continued thus engaged until the latter part of 1865, when he went to Texas on a prospecting tour, remaining there several months. Again he returned to Rhode Island, but in a short time was appointed Secretary and Treas- urer of two silver mining companies in Nevada, and
spent three years in that State looking after their interests. When this connection was sevcred, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, remaining nearly a year, but not engaging permanently in business. In the fall of 1870 he was offered the Superinten- dency of the Mount Pleasant Coal Company, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, a corporation organized in Boston, Massachusetts, and holding their mines under a lease. He at once removed to Scranton and assumed full charge. In 1871 he married Miss Abby H. Richmond, daughter of Lorenzo Rich- mond, Esq., of Woodstock, Vermont. In 1877 the company failed and forfeited their lease. Mr. Smith secured a lease of the mine, and has operated it since 1877, and now has a perpetual lease of this valuable property. The Mount Pleasant Colliery (as it has since been called) has been in operation since 1860, and to-day ranks among the largest pro- ducing coal mines in the anthracite region, yielding annually about two hundred thousand tons of clean anthracite coal. In 1872 Mr. Smith became inter- ested as a stockholder in the Third National Bank, which was incorporated in April of that year, with a capital of $200,000. In 1883 he was elected a Director of this flourishing institution ; an office he still holds. In May, 1887, he with others organized the Lackawanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company. This institution was the successor of the old Lacka- wanna Valley Bank, the business of which was passed over to it. It has a capital of $250,000, all paid in, and is doing a safe and conservative busi- ness. Mr. Smith was chosen the first President of this company and is still the incumbent of that of- fice. The premises at No. 404 Lackawanna Avenue are eligibly situated and contain one of the finest safe deposit vaults in the State. Other corporations in which Mr. Smith is interested as stoekholder and Director are the Lackawanna Mills, for the manu- facture of underwear; the Scranton Packing Com- pany; the Lackawanna Lumber Company ; the Scranton Forging Company ; the Meredith Run Coal Company (bituminous) of which he is the President ; also several of lesser note. In 1888 he was chosen President of the Scranton Board of Trade, and again in 1889 and 1890. The board has been an important factor in the progress and pros- perity of Scranton, and has made great strides in solving the problem of the utilization of the waste of the anthracite coal, recognizing the fact that this is the cheapest steam-producing fuel in the world. Possessed of sufficient means to enable him to grat- ify his æsthetic and philanthropic tastes, Mr. Smith has always been a helpful patron of art and a gen- erous contributor to worthy charities. In his offi- cial capacity as President of the Scranton Board of
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Health, to which office he was elected in 1886, lic | and his colleagues have been instrumental in rem- cdying many evils and in preventing many viola- tions of sanitary laws, and he has carned by his constant vigilance the reputation of being a zealous and sincere friend of the people. His high stand- ing in business and financial circles in Scranton is evidenced by the number and importance of the corporate offices to which he has been chosen by the concurrence of the leading citizens of that flourishing city-his colleagues in various enter- prises and achievements. His own success has been due to a combination of energy, courage and foresight, aided materially by great resolution and pertinacity of purpose. IIe is a Director of the Oral School for the Deaf, the Art Society, and also of the Lackawanna Hospital. Mr. Smith has always been a Republican and in his earlier life took an active part in politics. In 1865 he was elected a member of the State Legislature of Rhode Island and served one term. He is thoroughly identified with the interests of Scranton, has labored earnestly for its development and progress and has abundant faith in its future.
THOMAS W. PHILLIPS.
THOMAS W. PHILLIPS, a prominent citizen and business man of Western Pennsylvania, and widely known in commercial circles as the largest individual producer of petroleum in America, is a resident of New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsyl- vania, and was born in that county, then a part of Beaver County, on February 23, 1835. His parents were Ephraim and Ann Phillips, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of the city of Phila- delphia. In 1818, five or six years after their mar- riage, which took place in Philadelphia, they emi- grated to Western Pennsylvania, locating in Enon Valley, then in Beaver County, but now in Lawrence County, and purchasing a farm there, built thereon a fulling mill and a saw mill. They were, in a sense, pioneers of this region, which was but sparsely set- tled and primitive in nearly every respect. The task that fell to the head of the family was a hard one, but he prosecuted it with energy and fortitude, providing well for his growing family. At the end of ten years he removed with his family to a farm near the village of Mt. Jackson in the same county, and where, at the close of 1835, he died suddenly of fever, being then but forty years of age. His farm had become burdened with debt. This encumbered farm of one hundred acres was the only legacy ex-
cept his good name, which he was able to leave his wife and eight children, the youngest of whom, Thomas, the subject of this sketch, was but ten months old at the time of his father's death. Not only the labor of extinguishing this debt, but also the support and care of her family now fell entirely upon Mrs. Phillips. To this complex and heavy task the devoted mother consecrated her whole en- ergies for a number of years, receiving ample reward in the splendid success which crowned her efforts. Her youngest son, Thomas, had only the educa- tional advantages of the district or common schools, supplemented by private instructors and his indi- vidual efforts. Having a natural taste for reading, he indulged it without restraint, and early passed from his text books to works on history, biography and scientific subjects, which he pursued with avidity and with the happiest results. His mind cultivated and his views broadened by this admir- able discipline, he became a thinker of originality and a debater of unusual power, and at the village lyceum won and held a place of distinction. In later years he has frequently written articles for the press on religious, business and political sub- jects which have always commanded attention. He was in earnest in whatever he undertook, and he accomplished much through his steadiness of pur- pose. Being the youngest, he remained at home when his elder brothers left to study and to earn their living, and he faithfully repaid his mother's fond devotion to his interests as a child, by ten- derly caring for her in her advancing years. He early in life became a member of the religious peo- ple known as Disciples of Christ. As he neared the age of manhood he designed entering the minis- try. He even went so far as to prepare himself in some degree for its duties, a task in which he was winning distinction, but his intentions in this re- gard were defeated by an accident. Thrown from his carriage while driving in the neighborhood of his home, he sustained an injury of the lungs which made it imperative for him to abandon his purpose and turn his attention to some out-door pursuit, with a view to the restoration of his health. At the time he decided upon taking this step, the produc- tion of petroleum, then in its infancy, was awaken- ing general interest. This field of enterprise met all the conditions demanded by the precarious state of his health, and he engaged in it, investing there- in the small sum of money at his command. He was successful. He founded the business which has since claimed and absorbed his constant and best efforts, and has brought him fortune and dis- tinction. His early successes warranting the ven- ture, his three brothers, Isaac, John and Charles
J. M. Phillips
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Phillips, became associated with him under the firm of Phillips Brothers, the business of which firm in the course of years attained almost unparalleled magnitude, and extended the name and reputation throughout this country and Europe. Later opera- tions of the firm comprised large investments in coal property and other land, and extensive real es- tate transactions. Phillips Brothers were distin- guished for their generosity, public spirit and patri- otism. During the War of the Rebellion they werc liberal and frequent contributors to the Sanitary and Christiau Commissions. When patriotic de- mands had been satisfied, the firm continued in good deeds, giving liberally to aid educational and religious work, including large donations for the purposes of building churches, colleges and chari- table institutions. Of Mr. Phillips' labors in the in- terests of the important business with which he has been so long, so successfully and so prominently identified, a writer in the Philadelphia Times, in an article published recently, (1889), referring to Mr. Phillips as a prospective candidate for the office of Governor of the State of Pennsylvania uses this language :
"In every movement for the protection or im- provement of the important industry of producing petroleum, Mr. Phillips has taken an active and leading part. In 1866 he was largely instrumental in securing the removal of the direct internal reve- nue tax on oil of one dollar per barrel. In 1879 he was placed at the head of a committee to oppose a direct tax upon oil well rigs of one thousand dollars, or the alternative tax upon oil of ten cents per bar- rel, proposed by bill in the Pennsylvania Legislature. By his thorough knowledge of the business, his perseverance and well applied energy, he was of great assistance to the members of the Legislature from the western part of the State in securing the defeat of these anomalous taxes."
In the recent movement undertaken by producers of petroleum to limit production, to enable the ex- cessive stock of oil in tanks to be reduced, by being refined instead of wasted, and to put the industry upon a permanently better footing, he was the ac- knowledged and chosen leader. The uudertaking was eminently successful. He (Mr. Phillips) re- fnsed to go into this movement to curtail operations unless some provision was made to compensate aud protect the labor engaged in the industry, and for this purpose the profit which would accrue during the year npon two million barrels of oil was set apart. From this oil a larger sum was realized aud distributed to the labor engaged in the oil business than went to the producers themselves. This is the first time iu the history of any business that the cessation of operations was accompanied with such just and ample provision for the labor employed.
On account of the facts narrated above there is no man-and this can be said without disparagement of others-who has so large a following in all the connties where oil is produced. Mr. Phillips' busi- ness career, looked upon as a whole, has been one of the most remarkable in the annals of the oil re- gions, if not of the State, remarkable both for its success and for the tenacity of purpose displayed. It was, however, attended with one great reverse which would have appalled a less able and a less courageous man, but only served to bring ont his strong character. Just prior to the unforseen panic of 1873 the firm had bought large tracts of oil lands with deferred payments upon the basis of prices paid for oil, which at the time was over three dol- lars per barrel. The panic, and the discovery abont the same time of prolific producing oil fields, de- preciated the price of oil to forty-six cents per barrel, and correspondingly all the property they owned and the land they had purchased, and in- volved the firm in a debt of over half a million of dollars. They were repeatedly urged by friends, and even by some of their creditors, to obtain a legal discharge of their indebtedness by proceedings in bankruptcy. Public opinion under the circum- stances would have justified them in taking this course, and the specious plea was urged upon them, that this would not prevent them paying their creditors if they subsequently became able. But Mr. Phillips and his associates refused to accept this connsel, saying they would pay their indebtedness with interest; and with indomitable energy renewed the business of producing oil upon a vast scale and a plan exclusively their own. The energy, brain and ability of the subject of this sketch, who was the active member of the firm, made it possible to perform this herculean debt-paying task. It is but just to say that in the earlier years of this under- taking, his brother, Isaac N. Phillips, was his able and faithful coadjutor, but he did not live to see it fully accomplished, dying in 1883, when the debt was about half paid. Shortly after this date the subject of this sketch became the sole proprietor of all the oil property, by contract agreeing to pay the remaining indebtedness and a sum of money to the others, which he fulfilled. Iu the short space of fifteen years over eight hundred thonsand dollars, which was the original debt with the interest added, was paid to Phillips Brothers' creditors, and a for- tune which may be safely estimated at over a million dollars was accumulated. It was the payment of this indebtedness which was the iuspiring motive of all Mr. Phillips' energy aud plans. The business he or- gauized aud couducted on a basis commensurate with their debt. A fortuue followed its paymeut.
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In all business with which he is connected he dis- plays rare executive ability. He wins and holds the esteem of men by this and other qualities which invariably command respect and admiration. In the gigantic transactions in which he figures he shows himself the possessor of a masterful mind, logical in its operations and capable of rapid gen- eralization. Other characteristics are an integrity which cannot be shakeu and an industry which never flags. When the history of the oil region of Pennsylvania is written, the name of Thomas W. Phillips will staud out, to say the least, pre-eminent- ly as one of the great central figures, and his re- markable will power, energy aud enterprise will be looked upou with wonder and admiration. Under all circumstances of adversity he has proven liim- self to be one who never admitted failure in any- thiug he undertook. While at times he may have been overtaken and thwartcd by adverse circum- stances, yet he felt himself equal to the occasion, and never rested until he brought order out of chaos. Mr. Phillips exemplified the strength of his friend- ship and the power of his influence as a party work- er in the Garfield campaign. He was a warm per- sonal friend of General Garfield, and when the latter received the Presidential nomination at Chi- cago, he went into the canvass in his behalf, witlı a vigor which would have astonished many an old party leader. The task of supporting the Re- publican nominee, a welcome task to him at any time, as lie is an enthusiastic Republican, was made doubly so by the fact that the nominee was an inti- mate friend. To do entire justice to the work, he laid aside his own business and devoted his entire time until election day to the support of his party and his friend. His efforts took a wide range, and were marked by rare results. First, he conceived and planned the Republican text-book for the eam- paign of 1880, written by B. A. Hinsdale, assisting in compiling it, and becoming its financial backer. It was admiringly said of it that "it covered the whole field of information necessary to the coutest, more comprehensively, thoroughly and concisely than any book before produced in any political cam- paign." Mr. Phillips' efforts in the State of Indiana were prolific of good results and of the highest value to the party's success. It is admitted that his personal labors were productive of as high results as were attained by any other single person. His unselfish labors in this campaign brought him into close and friendly intercourse with many of the lead- ing politicians and statesmen of the day, who gladly welcomed him as a powerful coadjutor. In his own State, during the Senatorial contest which followed the campaign alluded to, he was frequently men-
tioned for the office of United States Senator, and while the Legislature was in session balloting, he received a number of votes cast, and was likely at one time to have been accepted as a compromise candidate. Those entirely familiar with the politi- cal situation at that epoch have asserted as their belief, that his choice would have materially aided in effecting a reconciliation of the warring factions. It can truthfully be said of Mr. Phillips that he cares nothing for political honors, if such honors are to be sought by him. Men of prominence in his section, in casting about for men to fill high posi- tions in the State, have often turned to him as one in every respect fitted to occupy any positiou of honor and trust in the State; but he has always been found reluctant to permit his name to be men- tioned in connection with any office. His business qualifications, strict integrity and far seeing judg- ment would be of great value to Pennsylvania were he called upon to fill any of her high positions. His efforts and labors in the great fields of industry do not detract from the comforts of his home life. This is singularly free from ostentation, and there is an air of quiet ease and elegance surrounding his handsome residence, which is one of the finest in Western Pennsylvania, occupying a commanding position on a hill of much prominence, overlooking the beautiful valley in which New Castle lies. Mr. Phillips married, in 1862, Miss Clarinda Hardman, daughter of D. W. Hardman of Lowellville, Ohio, who prior to her lamented death in November, 1866, achieved quite a reputation as a writer of poetry. Her productions have since been printed by her hus- band for private distribution, and make a neat vol- ume of one hundred and forty pages. Four years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Phillips mar- ried Miss Pamphila Hardman, her younger sister, who since that time has been the unwearied assist- ant and adviser of Mr. Phillips in his many humane and Christian deeds. She is a lady of culture and refinement, and a prominent worker in her commu- nity in literary and religious circles. The result of the first union was two sons ; and of the last, three sons and one daughter, all living. In his personal relations Mr. Phillips is one of the most charitable of men. Whenever aid of a financial character is needed, and the object is a worthy one and is to benefit his fellow-men, he is always found ready and willing to assist, both with his means and en- couragement. He is a Christian man whose life bears out his profession. He is a supporter of the Young Men's Christian Association and member of its State Executive Board. At the annual meeting of the General Christian Missionary Convention which convened in Louisville in October, 1889, he
Charles 2. Strapless
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was unanimously chosen to preside at its next an- nual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, October, 1890, and deliver an address to the convention.
CHARLES L. SHARPLESS.
CHARLES LEEDS SHARPLESS, a leading mer- chant and representative citizen of Philadelphia, was born in that city March 18, 1821, and died at "The Oaks," his country residence, near Melrose Station on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, on July 2, 1882. In England the Sharpless family is of great antiquity, being descended from the Lords of Sharpless, of Lancashire, in the time of Edward I. (1239-1307). The subject of this sketch was a descendant in the sixth generation of John and Jane Sharpless, natives of England, wlio, with their five sons and two daughters, came over from that country among the two thousand persons who arrived with William Penn, in 1682, the year in which the latter founded "the City of Brotherly Love." From the great proprietor and founder of the new Colony -- which the illustrious grantee declar- ed was established " to afford an asylum to the good and oppressed of all nations, to frame a government which might be an example, to show men as free and as happy as they could be"-John Sharpless, himself a member of the Society of Friends, obtain- ed a grant of one thousand acres of land on Ridley Creek, near Chester, in what is now Delaware Coun- . ty. A large portion of this property is still in posses- sion of the Sharpless family, and the stone house built by Joseph, the son of John, in the year 1725, is still standing, and, what is even more remark- able, is occupied by descendants of the founder of the American branch of the family, of the sixth generation. The first habitation of Johu and Jane Sharpless was a log cabin which was built up against a large rock, the latter forming the back of the fire-place. This rock has for several genera- tions been known as the " Sharpless Rock" and bears the following inscription: "J. S. 1682." * Three years after settling in his uew home John Sharpless died ; and within a few years his wife, two daughters and two sons died, leaving three sons, John, James and Joseph, from whom arc descended all of Colonial origin who bear the name in America. For three generations the aucestors of the subject of this sketch resided in Philadelphia. Townsend Sharpless, father of Charles Leeds, was born in
Philadelphia in 1793. In 1815, being then of age, he laid the foundation of the great dry goods house with which the family name has since been connected, and its members identified, by opening an establishment at No. 32 South Second Street. Townsend Sharpless married, in 1815, Miss Mary B., daughter of Samuel Jones, of Birming- ham, Chester County, Pennsylvania. By this mar- riage there were eight children. Three of his sons, Samuel J., Charles L. and Henry H. G., after becom- ing of age, and serving an apprenticeship in the store, were taken into partnership by their father. Charles Leeds, the second son, and subject of this sketch, received his early training in the elementary schools of the Society of Friends, and when prop- erly prepared, was admitted to Haverford College, where he completed the course and graduated. At college Charles was " distinguished by his attain- ments in mathematics, sometimes puzzling his pro- fessors and tutors by original methods of solving problems." He was intensely practical in his views, and while he couformed to the requirements of college life in the matter of studying Latin and Greek, he "always doubted the wisdom of devoting so much time to this branch of knowledge unless there was a peculiar aptness for it," holding, as his life-long friend, Mr. Thomas Baldwin, informs us, "that it was a waste of time while there is so much to be learned, to devote so large a portion 'to the classics, which would be but imperfectly acquired and soon forgotten by those whose patlı in life would not lead in an exclusively scholarly direc- tion." When Mr. Sharpless left college he turned his attention to business, and with his younger brother, Henry H. G. Sharpless, was given a place in the firm of Townsend Sharpless and Son (composed of his father and elder brother Samuel) which theu changed its style to Townsend Sharp- less and Sons. The firm continued unchanged until 1864, when Samuel J. Sharpless and Henry H. G. Sharpless retired, and the business remained in the hauds of Charles L. Sharpless, under whose name it was conducted until 1868, when Mr. Sharpless admitted his son Henry W. to partuer- ship, changing the style of the firm back to Sharp- less and Son. In 1870, Mr. Sharpless admitted his second son, Charles Williams Sharpless, and the firm name then became Sharpless aud Sons. After the death of Mr. Charles L. Sharpless the surviving members continued the business uuder the old firm name until 1885, when the third and youugest brother was admitted, aud the style of the firm was changed to that under which it is uow known, viz. : Sharpless Brothers. It was once before Sharpless Brothers. It was the coustant aim and desire of
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