USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. II > Part 4
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JACOB D. SCHINDEL, D. D.
DAVID THOMAS, who was often called the father of the anthracite iron manufacture of America, was born in South Wales, November 3, 1794, and entered the field of iron industry in 1812. After learning his trade at the Neath Abbey Iron Works, he went in 1817 to the Yniscedwyn Works in Brecknockshire, then owned by Richard Parsons; some three years later these works came under the control of George Crane : these furnaces were located on the south edge of an anthracite coal basin-the only one on the island of Great Britain. The Ynis- cedwyn Works were the only blast furnaces erected on that bed of coal at that time, the others being located where the coal was either bitumin- ous or semi-bituminous. The works in which Mr. Thomas was employed were therefore more in- terested in the use of anthracite as fuel than those in other parts of the country, inasmuch as it was necessary otherwise to bring coke to be used in smelting iron from ten to fourteen miles by canal. As early as 1820 Mr. Thomas, in connection with George Crane, who was one-third owner of the Yniscedwyn Works, began experimenting with anthracite, burning it in small proportions with coke, but this was not a practical success, and in 1825 Mr. Thomas had a small furnace built, twenty-five feet high with nine feet bosh, which was put in blast with coke and increased amounts of anthracite, but the experiments were not prom-
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Dariathomas 1
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS,
ising and were abandoned. In 1830 the same fur- nace was made forty feet high with eleven feet bosh, and attempts were again made to discover the secret of success, and with better results than formerly, but still this undertaking was so un- profitable that the work was again abandoned.
During the time that Messrs. Thomas and Crane were experimenting in Wales, similar at- tempts were being made in Pennsylvania, but these were also attended by failure. In 1825 Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, both of Phil- adelphia, were largely interested in the mining of anthracite coal in the then recently opened Le- high basin, having successfully used this coal in the manufacture of iron wire at their mill near the falls of the Schuylkill, and they erected a small furnace at Mauch Chunk for the purpose of ex- perimenting as to the practicability of smelting iron with this coal. Among other methods tried was that of passing the blast through a room heated as hot as possible with common iron stoves. They soon abandoned this furnace and erected a new one in which they used charcoal exclusively, thus acknowledging their efforts to have been a failure, though it contained the un- recognized suggestion of the true and afterward successful method.
In Wales, David Thomas was still toiling on persistently and patiently to discover the mystery. A key to unlock it was furnished in 1834 by Neil- son, of Glasgow, who was the inventor of the hot blast, but its value was not immediately fully ap- preciated. The pamphlet on the hot blast issued by Mr. Neilson was read by David Thomas, who had been on the alert and had pursued all of the treatises on iron manufacture and the combustion of anthracite which he could find. One evening while studying with Mr. Crane in his library, talk- ing the matter over, he picked up the bellows and began to blow the anthracite fire in the grate. "You had better not, David," said Mr. Crane, "you will blow it out," and Mr. Thomas replied, "If we only had Neilson's hot-blast here, the an- thracite would burn like pine." Mr. Crane re- sponded, "David, that is an idea," and, in fact, it was the origin of the application of the hot- blast in making iron with anthracite.
Mr. Thomas at once went to Scotland, visit- ing the Clyde Iron Works, seeing the hot-blast ovens in operation, procured a license from Mr. Neilson, returned to Yniscedwyn, and at once entered upon the erection of hot-blast ovens at what was known as the Cupola Furnace, eleven feet bosh, forty-five feet high. On the 5th of February, 1837, the new process was applied, and the result was a success to a far greater degree than the two men had dared anticipate after their many disappointments in experimenting with the use of anthracite in the manufacture of iron. From that time on there was no difficulty in mak- ing iron with anthracite as fuel. The news of the success was spread over Great Britain, the London Mining Journal giving it much prom- inence, and an account of this appeared in the press of the United States.
On the strength of this report the Crane Iron Company, consisting of members of the Coal and Navigation Company, was organized in the same year, and the next autumn Erskine Hazard, one of the leading spirits of the company, went to Wales to engage some competent person to come to this country in the interest of the new company and to superintend the erection of its furnaces. He applied to Mr. Crane, who recommended David Thomas as the only suitable person for the purpose, and together they went to see him. At first Mr. Thomas was reluctant to leave his na- tive land, chiefly on account of his aged mother, but at the persuasion of his energetic and am- bitious wife, who felt that the new world held larger opportunities for her three sons, he en- tered into the following agreement, which was executed the last day of the year 1838. The orig- inal is in possession of his son, Samuel Thomas, of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania :
Memorandum of agreement made the thirty- first day of December, 1838, between Erskine Hazard, for the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, of the one part, and David Thomas, of Castle Dhu, of the other part.
I. The said Thomas agrees to remove with his family to the works to be established by the said company on or near the river Lehigh, and there to undertake the erection of a blast-furnace for the smelting of iron with anthracite coal, and
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
the working of the said furnace as furnace-man- ager ; also to give his assistance in finding mines of iron ore, fire-clay, and other materials suitable for carrying on iron-works, and generally to give his best knowledge and services to the said com- pany, in the prosecution of the iron business, in stich a manner as will best promote their interests for the term of five years from the time of his arrival in America, provided the experiment of smelting iron with anthracite coal should be suc- cessful there.
2. The said Hazard, for the said company, agrees to pay the expenses of the said Thomas and his family from his present residence to the works above mentioned on the Lehigh, and there to furnish him with a house and coal for fuel- also to pay him a salary at the rate of two hun- dred pounds sterling a year from the time of his stipend ceasing in his present employment until the first furnace on the Lehigh is got into blast with anthracite coal and making good iron, and after that, at the rate of two hundred and fifty pounds sterling a year until the second furnace is put into operation successfully, when fifty pounds sterling shall be added to his annual sal- ary, and so fifty pounds sterling per annum addi- tional for each additional furnace which may be put into operation under his management.
3. It is mutually agreed between the parties that should the said Thomas fail of putting a furnace into successful operation with anthracite coal, that in that case the present agreement shall be void, and the said company shall pay the said Thomas a sum equivalent to the expense of re- moving himself and family from the Lehigh to their present residence.
4. In settling the salary, four shillings and sixpence sterling are to be estimated as equal to pany shall be Lehigh Crane Iron Company. one dollar. In witness whereof the said parties have interchangeably set their hands and seals the date above given.
ERSKINE HAZARD, (seal)
for Lehigh Crane Iron Company DAVID THOMAS. (seal) Witness-ALEXANDER F. HAZARD.
It is further mutually agreed between the Le- high Crane Iron Company and David Thomas, the parties to the above written agreement, that the amount of the D. Thomas salary per annum shall be ascertained by taking the United States, mint price, or value of the English sovereign, as the value of the pound sterling. instead of esti- mating it by the value of the dollar as mentioned in the fourth article, and that the other remain- ing articles in the above-written memorandum of agreement executed by Erskine Hazard for the
Lehigh Crane Iron Company and David Thomas be hereby ratified and confirmed as they now stand written.
The organization of the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, prior to Mr. Hazard's going abroad, had been only an informal one, and on the 10th of January, 1839, it was perfected. The first meeting of the board of directors was held at that time, the board consisting of Robert Earp, Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, Thomas Earp, ,George Earp, John McAllister, and Nathan Trotter. They organized by electing Robert Earp as pres- ident and treasurer, and John McAllister as sec- retary. In April they entered into articles of as- sociation, which are here appended as affording some idea of the foundation on which the stanch old company has arisen and flourished :
Articles of Association of the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, made and entered into pursuant to an act to encourage the manufacture of iron with coke, or mineral coal, and for other pruposes, passed June 16, 1836.
Witness that the subscribers, citizens of Penn- sylvania, whose names are hereto affixed, have associated themselves, under and pursuant to the act aforesaid, for the purpose of making and manufacturing iron from the raw material with coke or mineral coal, and do certify and declare the articles and conditions of their association to be as follows :
Article I. The name, style, or title of the com-
Article 2. The lands to be purchased by the company shall be in Northampton or Lehigh county, or both.
Article 3. The capital stock of the company shall consist of one hundred thousand dollars, divided into two thousand shares of fifty dollars each, the whole of which has been subscribed for by the subscribers hereto, in the numbers of shares set opposite to their respective names.
Article 4. The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, being the one-fourth of the whole capital stock subscribed for, has been actually paid in.
Article 5. The remaining installments on the stock, already subscribed for, shall be called in such sums, and at such times and with such for- feiture for non-payment thereof, as the Board of Directors may prescribe.
Article 6. The Board of Directors shall con-
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
sist of such a number of persons as the stock- holders may from time to time prescribe.
Article 7. This company shall in all things be subject to and governed by the provisions of the Act of Assembly under which it is created, and shall have the same and no other or greater powers, privileges and franchises than are con- ferred upon it by virtue of the said act.
Philadelphia, April 23, 1839.
Signed
JOSIAH WHITE, ERSKINE HAZARD,
THOMAS EARP, GEORGE EARP,
JOHN MCALLISTER,
ROBERT EARP,
THEODORE MITCHELL,
NATHAN TROTTER.
In the meantime David Thomas had sailed for America, taking passage at Liverpool in May, 1839, on the clipper "Roscius," which made, up to then, an unprecedented run of twenty-three days, reaching New York on the 5th of June. Mr. Thomas was accompanied by his family, consist- ing of wife and five children. Before leaving England he had had the blowing machinery and castings for the hot-blast made, and all were shipped except the two cylinders, which were too large for the hatches of the ship, so that the other machinery arrived, but the projectors of the works were as badly off as if none had been sent. There was not at that time in the United States a machine-shop containing a boring-mill large enough to bore a cylinder of five feet in diameter. The company applied to the Allaire Works of New York and the Alger Works of Boston, but neither of them could bore a five foot cylinder without enlarging their plant, which they were unwilling to do. Mr. Thomas then went to Phil- adelphia to the Southwark Foundry of S. V. Mer- rick and J. H. Towne, who enlarged their boring machinery and made the five foot cylinders re- quired. Fire brick were imported from Stour- bridge, England, being the proper shapes and sizes for the blast-furnaces. In August, 1839, ground was broken at Craneville, (now Cata- sauqua) for the first furnace. After many dif- ficulties and discouragements the furnace was finally blown in at five o'clock, July 3, 1840. The ore was three-fourths hematite to one-fourth New Jersey magnetic. It was blown with two and a half inch nozzle, and the blast heat was six hun-
dred degrees. The first run of iron was made the fourth of July, and proved a great success. From this time on the manufacture of iron by anthra- cite was successfully conducted at the Crane Works, and also continuously, except for the slight cessations common to all manufacturing establishments. Furnace No. I, in which the suc- cess of the new discovery was first fully demon- strated in this country, was forty-two feet in height, with twelve foot bosh. It was operated by a breast-wheel twelve feet in diameter and twenty-four feet long, the fall of eight feet be- tween the canal levels at Lock 36 furnishing the power ; in each end of the wheel were segments on its circumference of ten inch face, geared into pinions on double cranks, these driving two blow- ing cylinders of five feet diameter and six feet stroke, and worked by beams on gallows frames. The furnace remained in blast until its fires were quenched by the rising waters of the great flood of January, 1841. During this first blast, from July 4, 1840, to January 6, 1841, when the fur- nace ceased operations on account of the flood, the amount of iron produced was 1080 tons, the largest production for one week being fifty-two tons. The furnace was again blown May 18, 184I, remaining in blast until August 6, 1842, producing 3316 tons of iron.
Concerning the flood above mentioned, one of the company's old books contains the follow- ing in David Thomas's handwriting :
On Thursday, January 7 (1841), at nine o'clock in the evening, the river rose so that the back-water prevented the wheel from turning; at half after ten covering the tow-path of the level above Lock 36. At twelve it was two feet over the banks and one foot over the bottom of the hearth of the furnaces. At one twenty the water was at its height, and thirty-four inches in the furnace. It was at this height until three thirty o'clock, when the river began to fall. The water- wheel was muddied all over, and the water lay nine inches over its top. The dam and canal- bank were broken, so that when the water fell in the river it was too low to turn the wheel, though every effort was made to fill up the banks, with no good result, and we were obliged to throw out (shovel) the furnace on Monday, the IIth of January.
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
clining on principle to take part in the canvass, was not successful. Catasauqua is largely in- debted to him for its growth and progress, for with nearly every industry in the town he was directly or indirectly connected, and in recogni- tion of his determination and energy in the incor- poration of the borough in 1853 he was chosen its first burgess, and continued to hold that position for years. The kindly interest he manifested in all measures for the public good, and his activity in advancing all works of moral or material im- provement in the community in which he dwelt, led to his being called by popular impulse and consent "Father Thomas." He did much to en- courage sobriety and thrift among the workmen who came under his superintendence, and many of them are indebted to him for wise counsel, and often for more substantial assistance. In his religious convictions he was a Presbyterian, and he had no sooner became settled in his new home in 1839 than he erected a small chapel, which was followed by the organization of the Presbyterian church. He was made a ruling elder, and held that office continuously up to the time of his death. Mr. Thomas was as patriotic an Ameri- can citizen as if a native born son of the United States, and his intense love of his adopted coun- try was oftentimes manifested in tangible form. During the Civil war his means and his influence were freely devoted to the upholding of the Union cause, and it was largely through his in- strumentality that a company of volunteers was recruited at Catasauqua.
Mr. Thomas was married in Wales to Miss Elizabeth Hopkins, a daughter of John Hopkins. Their children were: Jane; Gwenny, the deceased wife of Joshua Hunt ; Samuel, John, and David; they, with the exception of Samuel, have all passed away. The death of Mr. Thomas oc- curred June 20, 1882. He was a man of deter- mined purpose, unflagging industry, unfaltering fidelity and thoroughness. He possessed great vitality and activity, and although nearly eighty- eight years of age at the time of his demise took an active interest in the management of his prop- erties almost up to the time of his death. When he passed away he was the oldest ironmaster in
length of service in America, having been contin- uously associated with the iron industry of Wales and Pennsylvania from 1812, and through all the years of his active connection with the busi- ness in this country he was regarded as authority in every subject pertaining to the trade. By his skill and industry he contributed largely to the building up of the great iron industries of Amer- ica, and will therefore ever be held in grateful re- membrance by American iron manufacturers. Among the people of the Lehigh Valley he left a notable reputation, and of him it may be truly said that he went down to the grave "full of honors and full of years."
SAMUEL THOMAS, of Catasauqua, Penn- sylvania, inspired by the example of his illus- trious father, the successful founder of the an- thracite iron industry in America, has continued throughout his entire business career in this field of activity, successfully controlling, as manager or president, for nearly a third of a century, the interest of the Thomas Iron Company, which after fifty years is still one of the most prosperous iron companies in Pennsylvania.
Samuel Thomas, son of David and Elizabeth Thomas, was born in Yniscedwyn, Brecknock- shire, South Wales, March 13, 1827, and on at- taining his thirteenth year emigrated with his parents to America. In the land of his nativity he had mastered the elementary branches of an English education, and following his arrival in the New World he became a pupil of Nazareth Hall, in Northampton county, where he spent two years in study. His choice of an occupation was that to which his father had directed his en- ergies, and for three years he remained in the blacksmith and machine shops of the Crane Iron Works, during which time he gained a thorough mastery of the mechanical part of the business both in principle and detail, and this practical knowledge has been of inestimable value to him in later years in the control of the important in- dustries of which he has been the superintendent. He was but nineteen years of age when he took an active part in the management of the Crane Iron Works. When but twenty-one years old,
Samuel Thomas
The Lewis Publishing Co
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
in 1848, Mr. Thomas was engaged in the erec- tion of a furnace for the Boonton Iron Com- pany, in Morris county, New Jersey ; in October of the same years he put the furnace in successful operation, remaining in charge until the end of the year, when the Crane Iron Company deciding to erect two additional furnaces Nos. four and five, Mr. Thomas returned home to assist his father, taking an active part in this new work and developing the mining interests for the supply of the material for these furnaces, remaining an ac- tive participant in the management of the works until the spring of 1854. During the winter of 1853 and 1854 a charter was obtained, and the Thomas Iron Company was organized, about two hundred acres of land being purchased in what is known today as Hokendauqua. Mr. Thomas was appointed superintendent, and on March I, 1854, he entered upon his duties and commenced the erection of two furnaces, of which he had the entire supervision. He acted as general superin- tendent for ten years with marked ability, plac- ing the new industry upon a profitable basis and greatly extending the scope of its activity. He was next appointed director of the company, and elected its president August 31, 1864. In 1867 he organized the Lock Ridge Iron Company at Alburtis, on the East Pennsylvania railroad, and built the first furnace ; the company being after- wards absorbed in the Thomas Iron Company, the second one of the furnaces located there was. erected. Having long known of the mineral re- sources of Alabama, Mr. Thomas, accompanied by his father and his son, visited that section in May, 1868, to investigate. In August of this year he again visited Alabama and made exten- sive purchases of iron and coal lands, and from time to time, with others interested, added largely to the mineral property. Mr. Thomas resigned the presidency of the Thomas Iron Company on September 22, 1887, in order to carry out a long cherished desire of erecting an iron plant and utilizing the purchases made. This was success- fully carried out under the management of his son Edwin as vice-president; the first furnace was built in 1886, and the works were located at Thomas, near Birmingham, Alabama, under the
name of Pioneer Mining and Manufacturing Company. They consisted of two furnaces, coke ovens and coal and iron mines ; this property was sold in 1899 to the Republic Iron and Steel Com- pany, Mr. Thomas retaining a large interest in the concern.
Owing to Mr. Thomas's long experience both as mining and furnace expert, his advice was often sought and was freely given, with the de- sire to aid wherever and whenever it would bene- fit others. One of the ablest articles upon the subject of the inauguration of the anthracite iron industry in this country, as it is known today, came from his pen and was told by him in an address delivered before the American Institute of Mining Engineers at the California meeting in September, 1899.
It was entitled "Rem- iniscences of the Early Anthracite Iron Industry," and gave a detailed account of the methods of constructing the machinery and the plants, the progress through successive stages as the busi- ness developed, and also told of the labors of his honored father from the time of his inception of the idea of the use of anthracite until its practi- cability was demonstrated through the success- ful operation of furnaces through methods which he had conceived and put into execution. This address is a valuable contribution to the history of the iron industry.
Throughout the years of his manhood Mr. Thomas has manifested a deep and helpful inter- est in community affairs, and the demands of an active business life have not been allowed to so monopolize his time as to leave him no oppor- tunity for cooperation in progressive public measures. Catasauqua and Hokendauqua have both benefited by his labors in their behalf, and he was one of the liberal contributors towards the erection of a monument, made from designs ap- proved by him, in memory of the brave soldiers from Catasauqua and vicinity who fought for the preservation of the Union, and this was the first erected soldiers' monument of the Civil war. First a Whig and later a Republican, the political situation and issues of the country have ever been matters of interest to him, yet he has never had political ambitions. Long a member and elder of
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
the Presbyterian church, Mr. Thomas has been a liberal contributor to all church work, aiding not only his own but other churches of the neigh- borhood, and has given of his time, means and energies for the furtherance of a high religious and moral standard in his community. As relax- ation from the strain of his active life, Mr. Thomas's favorite pastime was travel, viewing things with an intelligent eye both at home and abroad. He revisited several times, and always with pleasure, the home of his boyhood days, and in the course of years his journeys embraced much of the space between the North Cape and the Red Sea, the Atlantic and the Pacific; and the architectural ruins and evidences of engineer- ing skill through Syria and Egypt were of special interest to him.
In March, 1848, Samuel Thomas was married to Miss Rebecca Mickley, daughter of Jacob Mickley, of South Whitehall, Lehigh county, and their children are Gertrude, wife of Dr. Joseph C. Guernsey, of Philadelphia, and Edwin, of Catasauqua. Mrs. Thomas having passed away in the autumn of 1891, Mr. Thomas married, in the spring of 1894, Miss Julia M. Beerstecher, a native of Neuveville, Switzerland.
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