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 II > Part 6
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tion. He has an exquisite taste in literary matters, and among those acquainted with his attainments is regarded as a just and discriminat- ing critic.
FRANK GUNNISON.
The subject of this biography is known as a man of high attain- ments and practical ability as a lawyer, and as one who has achieved success in his profession. He was born in Erie. Pennsylvania. on the 2d of February, 1848, and is descended from Hugh Gunnison, a native of Sweden, but who for many years was a resident of England. In 1640 he came to America, and thereafter until his death was a resident of Massachusetts The parents of Frank Gunnison were Jonas and Charlotte E. ( Spafford) Gunnison, the former of whom died on the 2ist of July, 1871. Jonas Gunnison received his literary education in Erie Academy. after which he studied law under the preceptorship of John Galbraith, and rose to a position of prominence in his chosen profession. He was associated in practice with General D. B. McCreary. The Republican party received his active support and co-operation, and on its ticket he was elected to many positions of honor and trust, having served many years in the select council of Erie and in other municipal bodies, and in 1800 was elected to represent his district in the legis- lature. For many years he also served as a trustee of the Erie Academy.
Frank Gunnison, his parents' eldest child, obtained his elementary education in the public schools and in the Erie Academy, thus con- tinuing until his eighteenth year, and for one year thereafter was a student in the University of Michigan. In 1868 he was enrolled as a student in the Harvard Law School. from which institution he was graduated in 1870, and on the 5th of February of that year was ad-
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mitted to the bar. During all the subsequent years he has continued in the active practice of law, with the exception of the ten years which he spent on the bench. By reason of his strong intellectuality he has risen above the ranks of the many to become a leader in thought and action, his influence extending net only into the professional but the political and social circles as well. In 1886 Mr. Gunnison was elected presiding judge of the sixth judicial district of Pennsylvania, in which important position he served from the ist of January, 1887. until January 1. 1897. and on the expiration of this term the members of the Erie bar, with the exception of three, signed a special call for him to retain the judicial honor for another term, but he declined to again become a candidate. He gives his political support to the Republican party, and is an active worker in its ranks, but has never sought public office outside of the judgeship.
On the 5th of September. 1872. Judge Gunnison was united in marriage to Miss Lila L., a daughter of M. B. Lowry, who was promi- nent in Pennsylvania politics for many years, was made a member of the state senate, and whose death occurred in 1885. To Mr. and Mrs. Gunnison have been born two children, but only one is now living. Morrow B., who was named in honor of his grandfather.
HON. MYRON MATSON.
Hon. Myron Matson, one of the prominent oil producers and busi- ness men of western Pennsylvania, who has been called to the halls of legislation of the state, has achieved his present position in the business and social world almost entirely through his own efforts, and is a self- made man in the best sense of the term. The paternal ancestry of Mr. Matson is traced to Ireland, and on the maternal side is German, and
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in the maternal line his great-grandfather participated in the Revolu- tionary war.
Myron Matson was born September 13. 1850, in Rushford, Alle- gany county, New York, and at the age of four years his parents re- moved to Franklinville, Cattaraugus county, New York. He was edu- ยท cated in the common schools of the county and at the Tenbrook Academy at Franklinville, gaining an education that served him well in the later battle of life. He began his active career by working on his father's farm, then worked out at farm work by the month and at the customary small wage. This was a rather humble beginning. but he was full of energy and perseverance, and these qualities won out in the end. In 1870 he left home and went to Tidioute, Warren county, Pennsylvania. and there entered upon his career in the oil business. This has been the vocation in which he has gained special prominence, and at present he holds interests in oil fields throughout Pennsylvania and West Vir- ginia. He is president of the Victor Oil Company and the Matson Oil Company, and is interested in the Devonian Oil Company. Oil is not the only product that he has sought from subterranean sources, and he is a member of the Inca Mining Company, which operates in Peru. South America, and in the Bradford Alaska Mining Company of Alaska. and owns valuable gold mines in Arizona and Alaska. He is also connected in a financial way with several manufacturing plants here and elsewhere.
Mr. Matson has been devoted to Republican principles since he was old enough to vote, and is an active worker. He has often been a delegate to county and state conventions, and in 1898 was chairman of the county committee of MeKean county. In November, 1900, he was elected to the state senate, and he has proved one of the most valuable men in the lawmaking body of Pennsylvania, for he not only
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thoroughly understands the local needs and conditions from a business point of view, but is thoroughly interested in the welfare of the com- monwealth.
Mr. Matson has attained to the thirty-third degree in the Masonic order, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks: he is a member of the Young Men's Republican Club of Phila- delphia, of the Harrisburg Club and the Bradford Commercial Club. He was married on May 16, 1881. to Miss Bertha .A. Scott, a daughter of Calvin Scott. of Cuba. Mlegany county, New York. Mr. Matson fully deserves the success which has come to him. for it was carned by a life of steady and purposeful activity, with constant progress from the time when he had only youth and determination until he is now reckoned with the substantial men of western Pennsylvania.
CHARLES WILLIAM MACKEY.
No lengthy exordium is needed to introduce to the reader the lawyer and prominent business man above named, and his influential position will be understood by a perusal of the following brief biography. Charles William Mackey was born at Franklin, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 19, 1842. a son of Charles Washington and Julia Anne ( Fagundus ) Mackey. He had a good academic education, and learned the trade of printer, but at the age of eighteen began the study of law in the office of his brother-in-law. Charles E. Taylor, late president judge of Ve- mango county.
Mr. Mackey was just at the patriotic and vigorous age of young manhood when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted in Company C. Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves, popularly known as the "Ve- nango Grays," and the first organization recruited in this county. Be-
Char. AmaKey
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fore the end of his service he was made first lieutenant of this company, and served with it, except when on detached duty, until July 11. 1863. when he was honorably discharged. During this period he had served as ordnance officer for a time on the staff of General McCall, and also in the same capacity on the staff of General E. O. C. Ord. In August following his discharge he was appointed special agent of the United States treasury by Secretary Chase, for the district composed of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina, and it was through his office that the coastwise commerce between the latter places and the northern states was conducted, and he received and disbursed large sums of money for the government. He resigned this position on August 1. 1865. and shortly afterward returned to Franklin.
On August 28, 1865. Mr. Mackey was admitted to the bar of Ve- mango county, and was soon taken as a partner into the law firm of Taylor and Gilfillan. He was admitted to practice in the United States supreme court, December 5. 1875. on the motion of the late Jeremiah S. Black, ex-attorney general of the United States. He has also been admitted to practice in the supreme courts of Pennsylvania and of other states. Much of the legal business of this section of the state has been transacted through the office of Mr. Mackey, but of late years his many other interests have kept him from continuous practice, and the legal affairs of the flourishing firm of Mackey and Hughes, formerly Mackey. Forbes and Hughes, are mainly conducted by the junior member.
Mr. Mackey has been identified with many important manufactur- ing and railroad enterprises. For several years he was attorney for the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company : vice-president and general solici- tor of the Olean, Bradford and Warren Railroad Company ( now a part of the Pennsylvania system) : president of the Pittsburg. Bradford and
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Buffalo Railroad Company (since merged into the Pittsburg and West- ern system) : vice-president and general solicitor of the Cincinnati and Southeastern Railroad Company ( afterward consolidated with the Ches- apeake and Ohio) ; general solicitor and a director of the Pittsburg and Western Railroad Company: president of Columbia Gas Light and Fuel Company, and of the Franklin Gas Company. He occupies or has occupied the following positions : President of the Norfolk, Albemarle and Atlantic Railroad Company : a director of the American Oxide Com- pany of Franklin; vice-president and director of the Shenango Coal and Mining Company : and a director of the Savings Bank of Franklin, the Exchange Bank at Franklin, the Emlenton Bank and the Edenburg Bank of Pennsylvania, and is connected with various other financial and industrial institutions, being now president of the Franklin Steel Casting Company, the Franklin Rolling Mill and Foundry Company. vice-president of the Almada Sugar Refineries Company of Mexico, di- rector of the American Axe and Tool Company. His business engage- ments for some time past have been of such a nature that he finds it necessary to maintain an office in New York city, where he remains the greater portion of his time. These extensive connections in the business world indicate the energetic and sagacious man of affairs which Mr. Mackey is, but in other departments of life he has shown himself to be enterprising, broad-minded, generous and public-spirited-an honor to his native county.
Mr. Mackey is an ardent Republican and cast his first vote. for Lincoln, in 1864. and since 1866 has taken an active part in every campaign. He was a candidate for Congress from the twenty-seventh (listrict in 1884 and 1886, and, although defeated each time, his majority in the districts outside of the city of Erie, the home of his opponent, was much larger than that given any other Republican candidate for
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years. In his own county he ran far ahead of Blaine in 1884. and had three times the majority of General Beaver in 1886. In the presidential campaign of 1888 he was on the stump in New York and New Jersey for several weeks, and his speeches were very favorably commented upon by the metropolitan press. He is a logical and entertaining speaker. and has frequently delivered addresses on various subjects.
Mr. Mackey is a past commander of the Grand Army of the Re- public, and in the Masonic order has been commander of Knights Templar, district deputy grand master of Pennsylvania for many years. and district grand high priest of Royal Arch Masons of Pennsylvania. lle is a member of the New York Club, the Lawyers' Club of New York, the Nursery Club of Franklin, the Hardware Club. the Army and Navy Club. the Manhattan Club, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and the Geographical Society: the Grosvenor Club of London. and the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg. In 1872-73 he was a captain in the National Guard of Pennsylvania. In his native city he has been elected to the office of mayor, was city solicitor three terms and a member of the council for several years He has traveled extensively, and visited Europe six times.
On May 9. 1867, Mr. Mackey married Miss Lauretta Barnes Fay. of Columbus, Ohio. She is a granddaughter of Daniel Fay, of Hardwick. Massachusetts, hern December 14. 1752, and who served in Colonel Larned's regiment in the Revolution. ller maternal great-grand- father. Timothy Paige, was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts. May 24. 1727, and died April 26, 1796; he held various offices of a civil nature. and served in the Revolutionary war with the rank of colonel. The late Right Reverend Philander Chase, bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church in Ohio and founder of Kenyon College, was the uncle of Mrs. Mackey, and accompanied her father to Ohio, from Vermont, in 1812.
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Mrs. Mackey's father was Cyrus Paige Fay, and was for many years a prominent merchant of Columbus, and at the time of his death, October 2. 1872, was treasurer of the Columbus and Xenia Railroad Company. He was a man of high character and standing in the community. His wife was Myra ( Barnes) Fay, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Barnes, a surgeon in the Revolutionary army.
Mr. and Mrs. Mackey have six children: Susan Taylor, wife of E. E. Hughes, attorney-at-law of Franklin: Myra Fay, wife of C. C. Osborne, of Yokohama, Japan, one of the representatives of the Stand- ard Oil Company in the Orient : Cyrus Fay : William Chase : Julia Anne. wife of Dr. Karl Emmerling, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Marion Paige.
ELIAS DEEMER.
One of the most prominent and distinguished citizens of Williams- port is the Ilon. Elias Deemer, who is now serving as congressman from the fifteenth, formerly the sixteenth district of Pennsylvania. com- posed of the counties of Clinton, Potter, Tioga and Lycoming. Ilis record as a soklier, as an official and a business man has been so honorable that he has gained the confidence and good will of all with whom he has been brought in contact. His unbending integrity of character, his fearlessness in the discharge of his duties and his appreciation of the responsibilities that have rested upon him have been such as to make him a most acceptable incumbent in the office he now fills.
Mr. Deemer is a native of Bucks county, this state, and was reared upon his father's farm in much the usual manner of farmer boys of his day. At the age of fifteen years he began clerking in a country - store, where he was employed until 1859, when he went to Philadelphia
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and entered a wholesale notion house. In the spring of 1861 he returned to his home in Bucks county, and in July of that year offered his services to his country, which was then engaged in civil war, enlisting as a private of Company E. One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry. Early in the fall of 1861 the regiment went to Wash- ington. D. C., and encamped on Kalorama Heights, where they re- mained until December, and then moved into barracks on Fourteenth street. In March, 1862. the regiment marched to Alexandria, thence by transports to Norfolk. Virginia, and then marched ten or fifteen miles on the peninsula. remaining there until about the middle of May. At that place Mr. Deemer was discharged for disability on account of injuries sustained in the line of duty and from which he has never wholly recovered.
In the spring of 1868 he came to Lycoming county and took up his residence in Williamsport, where he has since made his home. During the intervening years he has advanced as the city has grown and now occupies a foremost place in business circles, being one of the largest employers of labor in this section of the state. On his arrival here he embarked in the lumber business, to which he has since given close at- tention, and he is now interested in four sawmills, all located in Will- iamsport. and is part owner and treasurer of the Williamsport Wood Company, all employing in full operation between five and six hundred persons, besides giving work to hundreds of men in Lycoming. Clinton. Potter, Tioga, Clearfield. Cambria, Indiana and other counties along the Susquehanna river in the stocking and floating of logs. It has been said that Mr. Deemer has contracted for. bought and stocked into the Susquehanna boom, for himself and the firms with which he has been and is associated, more logs than any other man who has lum- bered on the West Branch. He is also identified with several other
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enterprises allied with the Inmber industry. He is the active manager of Strong. Deemer & Company. limited: president of the Williamsport Land and Lumber Company, and of the firm of E. Deemer & Com- pany ; and has also been president of the Williamsport National Bank since 1894.
In politics Mr. Deemer has always been an ardent Republican, and has done all in his power to advance his party's interests. In the spring of 1888 he was elected to the common council of Williamsport, and as soon as he had taken the oath of office he was elected president. The following year he was re-elected to the council and was again chosen to preside over that body. In the spring of 1896 he was a candidate for delegate to the Republican national convention, and was one of the first to announce himself openly in favor of William Mckinley for the presidency and upon that issue carried the county overwhelmingly. In 1000 he became the candidate of his party for congressman from the sixteenth district and was triumphantly elected in the fall of that year and re-elected in 1902. National progress and local advancement are canses dear to his heart, and, being public-spirited in an eminent degree. he has made a most efficient. faithful and trustworthy official. . MI- though losing heavily in the floods of 1889 and 1894, he it was who stimulated the courage of his brother lumbermen by being the first to enter into new contracts for logs to keep alive Williamsport's largest industry. In many other ways he has yielded valuable service to the city and the surrounding country.
Socially Mr. Deemer is a very agreeable gentleman, and his rela- tions with his employes have been pleasant. many having been with him for many years. He contributes liberally to churches and charitable institutions, and has done much for the benefit of the oldl soldiers, being an honored member of Reno Post. G. A. R .. since 1889.
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THOMAS ROBB.
Thomas Robb. deceased, was born in the city of Philadelphia, March 30, 1841, and was the son of Charles and Rebecca Robb: he attended private school and was married to Delia Nash Cozens on June 8. 1871. Three children were born to them. Thomas Robb .. Jr .. Eagleson Robb and Henrietta Robb Gregg.
Mr. Robb showed an early aptitude and liking for real estate, to which he gave his time and energy. He built up the section now known as the Forty-ninth street operation, and gave the Pennsylvania Railroad the ground on which they built the present Forty-ninth street station. lle was also interested in real estate investments in all sections of the city, and his judgment as regards the valuations of properties was most largely sought after. He was one of the promoters of, and afterwards president of the Atlantic City division of the Reading Railroad, run- ning to Cape May, and it was largely due to his influence and finan- cial assistance that the road was built, believing a competing road to Cape May would add prosperity to the place and increase the value of real estate hellings. . In Mr. Robb's domestic and private life he showed the true Christian spirit. hating sham and pomp, and caring for simplicity and sincerity. Ile was for twenty-three years a member of the Church of the Ascension, and for seventeen years a vestryman of the church. It was due to him that the present edifice at the corner of Broad and South streets was built. He was always connected with the charitable work of the city, was once vice president of the Society to Protect Children from Cruelty, for many years on the executive com- mittee of the Charity Ball. and its treasurer; a member of the Seventh Ward Charity and the City Institute, and his pocket was always open as a contributor towards a good and worthy cause.
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lle wis a member of the Rittenhouse Club, Art Club. Penn Club. Historical Society, and Archaeological Society of the University of Pennsylvania, and, while entering but little into club life, he always kept himself abreast of the times, taking a broad view of life. Mr. Robb was a sincere American gentleman, and his loss will be felt by those who knew him, for many years to come.
C. E. STAFFORD.
This is an age when energies are directed in a special line of in- vestigation. The man in professional or industrial life, after gaining a varied knowledge of the basic principles of the calling to which he has consecrated his time, afterward gives his thought and effort to per- fecting himself in his chosen department, thereby gaining a proficiency and prominence which he could otherwise not attain if his labors were spread over a wider field. It is in this way that C. E. Stafford. president of the Tidewater Steel Company of Chester, Pennsylvania, is prominent in the development of the open-hearth process in the United States.
C. E. Stafford was born in Plymouth. New Hampshire, January 31. 1854. a descendant of an old and honored English family, one of the members having served as a general during the Revolutionary war. Mr. Stafford acquired a thorough education in the Boston Latin School, after which he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he was graduated in 1873 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, in the department of mining and metallurgy. The year following his gradua- tion he was engaged as instructor in the metallurgical laboratories of the same institute : later he acted as chemist for several mining companies at Wyandotte. Michigan, and during the year 1875 acted in the ca-
C. Edward Stafford
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pacity of chemist for the Pennsylvania Steel Works, and subsequently was placed in charge of the open-hearth department. He improved the design of the open-hearth furnaces which soon became a universal feat- ure in American open-hearth furnaces. In 1880 he designed and placed in operation two thirty-ton furnaces, which were at that time the largest in the world: the removable or portable parts were originated by Mr. Stafford. and they were remarkable for extremely low oxidation of the charge. In 1880 Mr. Stafford was appointed superintendent of the Bessemer converting department, and to him is due the honor of making the first basic or Thomas Bessemer steel ingots in this country. Ile retained this position until the year 1885. when he resigned in order to accept a position with the Shoenberger Steel Company of Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, where he remained until May, 1896. He designed and built the Bessemer converting plant of that company. In 1896 he removed to the South Chicago plant of the Ilinois Steel Company (now owned by the United States Steel Corporation), where he was placed in complete charge of the open-hearth and plate and slabbing departments, which under his competent management developed in a most wonderful manner. In July. 1901. Mr. Stafford was chosen to act in the capacity of president of the Tidewater Steel Company. of Chester, Pennsylvania, which has become a strong factor in the plate trade of the castern coast.
He is a prominent member of the American Institute of Mining and Engineering, having joined in 1873: and a member of the college Chi Phi Society: he is also a member of the Chicago Club, the Manu- facturers' Club of Philadelphia. the Harrisburg Chib, the Pittsburg Club. and Penn Club of Chester. Pennsylvania.
On April 27. 1877. Mr. Stafford married Miss Mary Louise Ham- mill. daughter of Caleb Hammill. of Chicago, Illinois, and grand-
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daughter of Judge Robert Hammill, one of the earliest settlers of Chi- cago. Their children are Franklin Hammill and Elizabeth Hammill Stafford. Both Mr. Stafford and his wife are active and consistent members of the Episcopal church of Chester, Pennsylvania.
S. A. DAVENPORT.
S. A. Davenport, of Erie, was born January 15. 1834. in Schuyler county, near Watkins, New York, but since 1839 he has lived in Erie. Erie county, Pennsylvania. He received his education in the Erie Acad- emy, read law and was graduated at the Harvard Law University in 1855. In 1860 he was elected district attorney for the county of Eric. and is now a practicing attorney. In 1888 he was elected district dele- gate to the Republican national convention at Chicago, in 1892 was elected one of the delegates at large to the national Republican conven- tion at Minneapolis, and was elected to the fifty-fifth Congress from the state at large by a majority of two hundred and ninety-three thon- sand four hundred and forty-five votes.
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