USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 27
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
362
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
Mr. Burleigh is a director in the City National Bank, and is also a director in the City Trust Company. He has been a member of the Masonic order for twenty years and has taken nearly all the high degrees. and belongs to the Duquesne Club and the Americus and Tariff clubs of Pittsburg. Ile was married April 11, 1878, to Miss Ida M. Weir, a daughter of William G. Weir, and they have one son.
LEANDER RANEY.
Leander Raney, now one of the retired citizens and business men of Newcastle, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, has had a career of great usefulness and profit in this his native county, where he has lived and enjoyed the respect of neighbors and friends for over sixty-five years. His principal business ventures have been in flour milling and in the iron manufacture, and his success in both enterprises is the result of his ceaseless diligence and astute business management. Besides hav- ing won prosperity in material affairs, he has done his part as a public- spirited citizen and has also been devoted to those nearest and dearest to him. In other words, while he has been aggressive and enterprising. he has never gouged others in order to gain wealth, and in his later years enjoys honor and peace of conscience as well as the comforts that come from a life of worthy endeavor.
Mr. Raney was born in Edinburg. Lawrence county, Pennsyl- vania, March 11. 1837. a son of James and Sarah Raney, the former of whom operated for many years flouring mills at Edinburg and Mahon- ingtown, and died December 27. 1888, at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and the latter of whom died in 1873. at Newcastle.
Mr. Raney was educated in the common schools at Edinburg.
363
OF THIE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Mahoningtown and Newcastle. Ile learned the milling business of his father, and before coming of age became owner of his father's mill at Mahoningtown. In 1862 he disposed of the mill at Mahoningtown, and then bought the large flouring mill of Joseph Kissick at Newcastle. He conducted this with much success for many years, and the mill became one of the best known in western Pennsylvania. At the same time he gained some interests in the iron business in Newcastle, and was en- gaged in iron manufacture until 1900, in which year the United States Steel Corporation swept into its net all the iron interests of western Pennsylvania, and Mr. Raney then retired from active business.
Mr. Raney is a Republican in politics, and for several years was a member of the city council at Newcastle. He affiliates with the Ma- sonic order, and is popular in both social and business relations. Oc- tober 30, 1872, he was married to Miss Hannah I. Mahon, of Steuben- ville, Ohio. Two children were born of this union, a son in 1873, and a daughter in 1875, and they are both living and married.
CHRISTOPHER ZUG.
Christopher Zug, one of the pioneer iron manufacturers of west- ern Pennsylvania, and at the time of his death one of the oldest resi- dents of Pittsburg, was a descendant of people who emigrated from Switzerland to America about 1727. His grandfather, Christian Zug, settled in Pennsylvania near the site of Lititz, upon land which was granted him by the Penns, and which is still held by the Zug family. Here Jacob Zug was born in 1767, and in 1793 he married, his wife's first name being Margaret, and she was born ten years later than her husband. After their marriage they located upon a farm in Cumber-
364
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
land county. When they were over sixty years of age they were bap- tized in the church of German Brethren known as Dunkards, and they lived in accordance with that simple faith until they died. Jacob at the age of ninety-eight, and Margaret when ninety years old. Both were noted for their piety, and always enjoyed the respect and esteem of their community.
As his parents were in comfortable circumstances, Christopher Zug. who was born July 19. 1807. in Allen township, near Carlisle, Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania, received good educational advantages, be- ginning in a schoolhouse which stood on his father's farm in South Middleton. His mercantile career began as a dry-goods merchant at Carlisle, but he sold out after two years, and in 1835 started for Pitts- burg, traveling by the canal route from Harrisburg. He obtained a position with S. Fahnestock & Company, wholesale hardware merchants. as bookkeeper, but after he had been there two years the firm failed. and Mr. Zug went to work for Hoge & Hartmans, iron manufacturers. and here he obtained his first ideas of the line of business to which he devoted most of his subsequent years. He was next employed by James Anderson, who sold out in 1846 to Graff, Lindsay & Company, and later he became a member of the firm, there being about three hundred men in the mills at that time and the business consisting chiefly of the manufacture of iron and nails. In 1854 Henry Graff withdrew from the company, which then became known as Zug. Lindsay & Company: in 1856 John Lindsay died, leaving the business to Mr. Zug and Jacob Painter, under the name of Zug & Painter. In 1865 Charles H. Zug. a son, was taken in as a partner, and the concern was afterwards known as Zug & Company. The mills are situated at Thirteenth and Etna streets; since Mr. Zug took charge in 1856, several new buildings have been added. and about seven hundred and fifty men are now employed.
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 365
Mr. Zug was interested in the Pittsburg Bank for Savings, and was one of its first directors. He was widely known for his philanthropic work, and did much for the hospitals in the neighborhood; he was senior member of the boards of the Dixmont and West Penn institutions. and was one of the first directors of the Passavant and Mercy hospitals.
On May 17, 1831, Mr. Zug was married to Miss Eliza Bair, a daughter of Henry Bair, of Hanover. York county ; she was born April 12. 1812. The children of this union were Charles H. Zug : Mrs. James H. Parker, of Chicago: Emma, who died at the age of twelve; Mrs. Thomas C. Clarkson. of Pittsburg : Mrs. Edward Burdett. of New York : and Mary, deceased, who was the wife of Harvey Childs, of Pittsburg.
About eight years ago a cataract formed on the right eye of Mr. Zug, which, although successfully removed, affected the organ, and a little later the sight went out. Four years later the other eye was sim- ilarly blinded, and for almost the last four years of his life he suffered from total blindness. But he visited his office almost daily until two weeks before his death, and continued to take the same keen interest in its affairs, and his mind comprehended the passing events in social. civil and business life as quickly as in his earlier years. The end came peacefully on January 13. 1902. and with him passed out of the world one of the monumental characters of the state of Pennsylvania. He was a great lover of music. especially of vocal music. When Moody and Sankey were in Pittsburg he often attended the meetings to hear the large chorus. Often, when hearing of the death of some young per- son, Mr. Zug would remark that he wondered why the young should die, while he, who was past his days of usefulness, should stay. How- ever. he was never melancholy.
-
366
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
JOHN CHRISTIAN BULLITT.
This name recalls Kentucky, where it includes a large and brilliant family, many representatives of which have risen to eminence at the bar, in politics, in business and in every other department of human endeavor. When the children of this favored family wandered off into other states, we find the same talents and brilliant social qualities bringing them success in the new localities just as they did in their Kentucky home. Those intimately connected with this wide connection declare they never knew one of the members to be amenable to the charge of being dull or commonplace. The particular scion of this interesting family whose career furnishes the subject-matter of these memoirs found the scene of his activities at Philadelphia.
John Christian Bullitt was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky. February 10, 1824, at Oxmoor .- the homestead of the Bullitts. There Alexander Scott Bullitt, the grandfather of John C. Bullitt, died in 1816. He was the president of the convention of Kentucky which framed the constitution of that state of 1799. He had married the daughter of Colonel William Christian, and her mother was a sister of Patrick Henry. Her father was a lineal descendant of lliam Dhone, the William Christian of Scott's "Peverill of the Peak." The father of Alexander Scott Bullitt was Cuthbert Bullitt, of Prince William county, Virginia,-one of the judges of the supreme court of that state. The uncle of Alexander Scott Bullitt, Captain Thomas Bullitt, distinguished for his services in the French and Revolutionary wars, laid out the city of Louisville in 1773. Benjamin Bullitt. the first Bullitt of this family in this country .- the great-grandfather of Alexander Scott Bul- litt,-was a French Huguenot, who early in life left the Province of
Sobre to Bullett
369
OF. TIIE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Languedoc to escape the persecution consequent upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
William C. Bullitt, the father of John C. Bullitt, was born and died at Oxmoor. He was a member of the constitutional convention of Kentucky of 1850. William C. Bullitt married Mildred Ann Fry, the daughter of Joshua Fry, a son of Colonel Joshua Fry, the colonel and commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces raised in colonial days to re- sist the French aggressions in the Ohio valley. Washington was his lieutenant-colonel. Colonel Fry died in 1754 in the service and was buried near Fort Cumberland.
John C. Bullitt was sent to Center College at Danville, where, at the age of eighteen years, he carried off the class honors. Entering Lexington University, he took a three years' course in law under the able preceptors then controlling that institution, and was admitted to the bar at Louisville soon after becoming of age. In September of the same year he removed to Clarksville, Tennessee, where he entered ac- tively upon the practice of his profession. Not long afterward he re- turned to Louisville, and in 1849 finally abandoned his native state for a permanent residence in Philadelphia. He soon made his mark at Philadelphia, and in a year or two was in the front rank of the able lawyers of that city. In those days it was almost impossible for an ambitious young lawyer to avoid participation in politics, and so we find Mr. Bullitt taking an active part therein. John Price Wetherill, at that time a leader of the Whigs in Pennsylvania, finding that the new arrival from Kentucky was in sympathy with his political prin- ciples, was anxious to secure the aid of such a champion in advocacy of his cause. He therefore prevailed upon Mr. Bullitt to become one of a committee appointed to procure speakers for a political demonstra- tion, and it was at this meeting that the young Kentuckian first showed
370
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
in Philadelphia his ability as a public speaker. Like most of the ardent Kentuckians of that period, he was a follower of Clay.
But John C. Bullitt's chief glory was obtained not in politics, but along the line of his profession, for which he had a natural aptitude and in which he achieved both success and renown. He was connected with some very important cases, notable among them being his man- agement of the affairs of the banking house of Jay Cooke & Company after its disastrous failure, which brought on the panic of 1873. This case and his control of the legal affairs of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company brought him prominently into public notice. He was leading counsel for General Fitz-John Porter before the celebrated court martial which tried that veteran soldier on serious charges, and the se- curing of his acquittal was one of Mr. Bullitt's most noted triumphs. .As a lawyer he was energetic, painstaking, careful in the preparation of his papers, indefatigable in obtaining and skilful in the use of neces- sary evidence, but with it all highly conscientious in his views as to the obligations due from one in his position to the general public.
The civic activities of Mr. Bullitt were such as to reflect much credit upon himself. besides bringing benefits to his adopted city and state. He served with distinction as a member of the constitutional convention of Pennsylvania of 1873, and was author of the amendment which provides that owners shall be compensated for damages to prop- erty as well as for property taken in the construction of public works. The well known Bullitt Building was erected by him, and he was among the organizers of the Fourth Street National Bank, in the management of which he took an active part as a director. He was an effective advocate for the establishment of the Philadelphia Bourse, the move- ment for the construction of a boulevard from the City Hall to Fair- mount Park also had his support, and he was a leader in the organiza-
371
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
tion of the Philadelphia Country Club. Perhaps, however, Mr. Bullitt would himself rest his chief claim to remembrance on the fact that he was the framer of the new charter for the city of Philadelphia, known as the Bullitt Bill, which became a law April 1, 1887. On his last ap- pearance in public life, January 25, 1902, in Witherspoon Hall, he made a speech defending the charter against assertions that it had not fulfilled the expectations of the people. Exactly seven months after this earnest address was delivered the voice of the eloquent speaker, the great lawyer and patriotic citizen, was hushed in death.
His last visit to his office was in company with his brother, Thomas W. Bullitt, of Louisville, Kentucky, and shortly afterward he returned to his country home at Paoli, near Philadelphia, feeling so ill that it was necessary to summon a physician. His condition steadily grew worse, until ten o'clock in the morning of August 25, 1902, when the eminent publicist and distinguished jurist breathed his last in the presence of his sorrowing family.
Mr. Bullitt married Miss Therese Langhorne, who died in 1881. and their seven surviving children are: Therese L., widow of Dr. Coles, of the United States navy: William C. Bullitt, a member of the firm of Castner, Curran & Bullitt, shippers of coal: Logan McKnight Bullitt, formerly vice-president of the Northern Pacific Coal Company : Mrs. A. Haller Gross; Mrs. Walter Rogers Furness; Rev. James F. Bullitt ; and Dr. John C. Bullitt, Jr.
HENRY M. BRACKENRIDGE.
To Henry M. Brackenridge has come the attainment of a distin- guished position in connection with the great material industries of the commonwealth, and his is truly a successful life. He was born on the
372
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
old Brackenridge homestead near Tarentum, on the 17th of July, 1856, and is a son of Benjamin M. and Phillipine S. Brackenridge, the former being a native of the Keystone state.
Henry M., the only survivor of his parents' three children, received his educational training under a governess until his twelfth year, after which he entered the Western University in Pennsylvania, there re- maining for two years. His studies were finally completed in Europe, where he attended the Polytechnic Institute of Dresden. Returning to Pittsburg, he resumed study in the chemical laboratory of the Western University, with a view to becoming proficient as an analytical chemist. which profession he had designed to follow, but subsequent circum- stances changed his plans. It became necessary for him to give attention to the management of the extensive Brackenridge estate, thus diverting the plans laid out in early life, and in the successful management of this vast estate he acquired extensive experience, which subsequently made his busy life somewhat eventful in bringing to a successful termination the great business enterprises of which he was a prime factor in pro- jecting.
Mr. Brackenridge became actively engaged in the manufacturing business and as the organizer of several extensive manufacturing enter- prises in Tarentum and elsewhere. He is president of the Tarentum Glass Company, vice president of the Allegheny Plate Glass Company at Hite's Station, Pennsylvania, treasurer of the Allegheny Steel & Iron Company at Tarentum and Pittsburg, treasurer of the James H. Baker Manufacturing Company, vice president of the Equitable Trust Com- pany of Pittsburg, a director of the Merchants & Manufacturers' Bank. of Pittsburg, of the National Bank of Tarentum, of the First National Bank of Natrona, and is largely interested in various other enterprises in Pittsburg and vicinity. The Republican party receives his support
373
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and co-operation, and although not an aspirant for official honors he has taken an active interest in political matters. During the past twenty years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he is also a member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg and the chamber of com- merce.
On the 7th of October, 1888, Mr. Brackenridge was united in marriage to Miss Madge Richards, a daughter of W. H. Richards, of Philadelphia, and two children have graced this union, Helen and Cornelia.
ROBERT PITCAIRN.
Robert Pitcairn, one of the foremost citizens of Pittsburg and a zealous promoter of the city's interests, and general agent of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company here, is the son of Scottish parents, John and Agnes Pitcairn, and he was himself born in Johnstone, near Pais- ley, Scotland, May 6, 1836. In 1846, when he was ten years old, he ac- companied his parents on their permanent removal to America, they having visited the United States previously.
Robert had received some education in the schools of his native land but did not long remain the care-free schoolboy after coming to this country. Through his youthful companion, Andrew Carnegie, who remained his life-long friend, he obtained, when he had been in this country but two years, a position as messenger in the Pittsburg office of the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company. There was no in- dolence about this messenger, and besides his regular duties he was persistent in learning the art of telegraphy and in studying in the even- ings to make up deficiencies in his general education. He was soon made an operator, was then rapidly promoted to be assistant operator
374 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
and repairman at Steubenville, Ohio, operator at the Pittsburg offices, and then in 1853 as operator and assistant ticket agent at Mountain House, Duncanville, Pennsylvania, thus entering the employ of the Penn- sylvania Railroad. It was not long before he was promoted from this rather unimportant post : when the line was completed over the Alle- gheny Mountains in February, 1854. he was transferred to the office of the general superintendent at Altoona.
The man of determination and energy usually carried out his plans, and it is interesting to know that about this time Mr. Pitcairn formed the purpose at some future date to return to Pittsburg as super- intendent of the Pittsburg division, and it was not many years before his ambition was realized. as we shall see. He was made train dis- patcher and general superintendent's clerk. and rapidly acquainted him- self with the details of the railroad business. In 1859 he was sent to Fort Wayne to complete the organization of the Fort Wayne road. and in the following year returned to AAltoona, and was soon afterward ap- pointed superintendent of the middle division, from Conemaugh to Mif- flin. Just at this time the Civil war broke out and increased the bur- dens of railroad operators enormously. The Pennsylvania system was then reorganized and the superintendent's divisions reduced from four to three, and he was appointed superintendent of transportation, and at the same time was assistant to the general superintendent. In addition to these duties, he was placed in charge of the Pittsburg division during the temporary absence of the superintendent for six months in the year 1862, and also in 1863. During the war he was burdened with a great amount of work in the transportation of troops and supplies, and it was largely owing to his excellent judgment in times of danger that trains were able to keep their schedules and the business of the company and
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 375
the government to be transacted punctually. He also had charge for a time of the Cumberland Valley line from Harrisburg to Hagerstown.
In April. 1865, Mr. Pitcairn was made superintendent of the Pitts- burg division of the great Pennsylvania system, with home and office in this city, which had been his first American home. In 1875 the position of general agent at Pittsburg was added to his other duties, and he has continued, with marked success, to hold these offices down to the present time. With the exception of two years he has been continuously in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad since 1853, and he has just pride in reviewing this half century of service, so important to the company, and so fruitful of honor to himself.
Mr. Pitcairn has been identified with most of the public, business and social interests of Pittsburg during his long residence there, and he did much to secure the handsome new depot which will always re- main one of the ornaments of the city. He is interested in many of the most solid and reliable business corporations in western Pennsylvania, and at one time was a promoter of the petroleum enterprises of the state, although never as a speculator. Mr. Pitcairn is a Republican, and, as far as is consistent with his busy life, takes an active part in politics, having served as secretary of the first convention of that party ever held in Blair county. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and a past grand commander of the order : is a director of the Carnegie library and of a number of benevolent institutions about Pittsburg. He married Miss Elizabeth E. Rigg, a daughter of John Rigg. of Altoona. They have had four children, Mrs. Omar S. Decker, Mrs. Charles S. Taylor, Miss Susan Blanche Pitcairn and Robem Pitcairn, Jr.
24
376
COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
JAMES MADISON BAILEY.
The career of James Madison Bailey, whose death occurred May 6. 1903. presents an example of the complexity of interests of the modern business man. After he had finished a good educational training he started to carry out the program of life which he had already mapped out for himself. One of his carliest ventures was a trip to California in the exciting Eldorado days, and he had his share of experiences in that country. He began to engage in business when still a youth ; was a coal dealer: a clerk in a commission house ; built and operated the Pittsburg & Castle Shannon Railroad, which was a profitable invest- ment under his management : purchased the old Sligo rolling mill, which has been in operation since 1824; and was interested in many forms of financial and business activity.
Mr. Bailey is the son of Francis and Mary A. (Beltzhoover) Bailey. Francis was a member of a family which held a hundred-year lease on an estate on the Baun Waters near Coleraine, Ireland, and his mother belonged to the old Livingston family of Scotland. He came to Phila- delphia in 1814 and to Pittsburg about six years later. He was a mer- chant most of his life. He was prominent in Freemasonry, was the first commander of the Knight Templar Commandery of Pittsburg, and was instrumental in reviving Masonry here. He was an alderman under government appointment. He died in 1849. at the age of sixty- two years, with an honorable career behind him.
Of the six children of Francis Bailey, James Madison was the last one surviving. He was born in Pittsburg, August 23, 1833, and ac- quired his early education at the Western University of Pittsburg, which he attended six years. He was seventeen years old when he began deal- ing in coal, which he continued for some years, and he was then a clerk
James J. Bailey
379
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
in a commission firm for four years, and had steady advancement in different enterprises throughout his career. At the time of his death he was a director in the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railroad, in the Ashland Coal & Iron Railroad Company, the Norton Iron Works at Ashland, Kentucky, and the Pittsburg Clay Pot Works, was president of Monon- galiela Inclined Railroad, and was identified with other enterprises in Pittsburg. He was president and a director of the Fourth National Bank of Pittsburg, owning much of the stock of that institution. Hc was an incorporator and director of the Fort Pitt National Bank. As a financier his judgment was respected by the stanchest business men of the city, and he also had a reputation for conservative management and tact in the manufacturing field, to which he devoted so many years of his life. He had a thorough knowledge of details, not only in his own business, but in many others-a rare and valuable gift. Mr. Bailey experienced many of the ups and downs of the world, and among the pleasant youthful recollections he enjoyed few more than the time when he "roughed it" for eighteen months among the mines of California after his overland trip of 1852.
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.