History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men, Part 74

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company
Number of Pages: 1102


USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 74


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"In the marts of commerce, their word was a bond from New York to the Pacific Coast. Their fortune was not hoarded, but has been invested in scores of great enterprises which have developed the West and helped to make Colorado a happy and prosperous home for a million people.


"All in all, Thatcher Brothers were ideal bankers-ideal husbands and fathers, and valued citizens.


"Not in the history of the Commerce Club has it been called upon to mourn the death of two members who have been so potential in the af- fairs of Pueblo and Colorado."


JOHN A. THATCHER, PIONEER, MERCHANT, AND BANKER.


The oldest member of the famous Thatcher family, John A. Thatcher, was born in New Buffalo, Perry County, Pennsylvania, on August 25, 1836, the son of Henry and Lydia Ann (Albert) Thatcher. The other children were Elvina, Mahlon D., Mrs. Frank G. Bloom, now of Trinidad, Colorado; Mrs. M. H. Everhart, now of Martinsburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania : Henry Calvin, who was the first chief justice of Colorado, and Dora. John A. attended school in New Buffalo until 1847, when his father, who was a merchant, moved to Newport, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, as a better business location and, later, April 1, 1855, moved to


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Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. He then attended the Newport schools and the Tuscarora Academy; later, also, attending Prof. Wilson's Airy View Academy. All three of the brothers took an academic course, and all could have had a college course, as well, but the two elder ones chose not to take the latter.


JOHN A. THATCHER,


Pioneer Merchant and Banker. One of three brothers to attain fame in the Great West.


In the spring of 1854, at Newport, his father arranged for John A. Thatcher to learn the tanning trade with William Brown. Mr. Brown, at the end of the first year, sold out or discontinued his business, and John A. Thatcher spent another year, from March, 1855, to March, 1856, at Fahs' tannery, at Blain, Perry County. In the fall and winter of 1856-57, he taught school in Schuylkill


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County, and in 1857, went to Holt County, Missouri, where he clerked for five years, becoming more familiar with the details of mercantile life.


Oregon, the county seat of Holt County, and Forest City, on the Missouri River, were flourishing places, during the opening up and settlement of Kansas, and did a big business. The outbreak- ing of the Sectional War brought troublesome times, on the bor- der, and Holt County became subject to raids from organized bands of thieves and desperadoes who infested the Missouri River territory. In 1862 conditions became so bad that Mr. Thatcher decided to make a change, and follow the advice of some friends who had preceded him. He and another acquaintance bought a team, and loading the wagon with merchandise, set out across the plains for Colorado. Starting from Nebraska City, Nebraska, they arrived at Denver, September 15, 1862, where he remained until December. At this time, James H. Voorhees, who had a partner with him in business in Denver, proposed to John A. Thatcher, that he would furnish a load of goods, share the profits with him, if he would take them to Pueblo and open a store there. As he was anxious to be at work the proposal was accepted.


They loaded a wagon with an assortment of goods, reaching Pueblo (120 miles distant) in eight days. The driver, a French- man, was kept on the road to and from Denver all winter. In the spring, Mr. Voorhees wrote John A. Thatcher to bring back to Denver the remainder of goods on hand. At this point, the Den- ver partnership was dissolved; and later, Mr. Voorhees asked Mr. Thatcher to join him in business in Denver. After considering the matter a short time, he decided to join him, with the under- standing that he could withdraw at any time, by taking his share of goods. In a month or two he withdrew, taking his share of goods which he took with an ox team to Pueblo, August 14, 1863. About this time he received savings which he had loaned ( when clerking in Missouri) to an uncle named Snyder, who lived across the river, in Doniphan County, Kansas. This was the beginning of his own business, and the establishing of the first general store at Pueblo, located at Second Street and Santa Fe Avenue. His first counter consisted of two barrels with several boards or planks laid from one to the other. Later, the store was moved farther north on the corner of Fourth Street and Santa Fe Avenue, into a two-story adobe building. During the spring and summer of 1864 he kept writing to his brother, Mahlon D., who had joined his father in business, on Jan. 1, 1864, for a period of five years, to come West. By September of that year, Mahlon D. Thatcher decided to withdraw from his father's business and terminate the partnership, in Martinsburg, December 31st. The father released the son, and receiving $2,900 for his interest in the business,


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Mahlon D. Thatcher went to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, to purchase goods for the store at Pueblo, and from that time on, the brothers were inseparable.


On April 17, 1866, John A. Thatcher was united in marriage with Miss Margaret A. Henry, second daughter of Judge John W. Henry, elected circuit judge in 1872, district judge in Pueblo County, in 1876, and who was on the bench until 1882. They had five children : Lenore, John Henry, Lillian ( Mrs. Forest Ruther- ford, of New York City), Albert R., and Raymond Calvin. Of these, Lenore and Albert R. are deceased. Mrs. Thatcher died early in 1922.


Pueblo, oft termed the "Pittsburgh of the West," and the Arkansas Valley, bear the marks of the genius of these men, fur- nishing the capital to start factories and foundries and to develop agriculture and stock raising. The Thatcher Brothers' store be- came a convenient and safe place to deposit money-the only safe in Pueblo-for stock and mining men. As these conditions grew and developed and, doubtless, as a result of these develop- ments, they then conceived the thought of going into the bank- ing business. A building was planned and erected in the fall of 1870, and finished by February 1, 1871, on the southwest corner of Santa Fe Avenue and Fourth Street, which housed the first business of the firm of "Thatcher Brothers, Bankers." Very soon after this, when matters could be arranged with the govern- ment at Washington, which required M. D. to make several trips East, Thatcher Brothers, Bankers, became The First National Bank of Pueblo, starting with a capital of $50,000, which was increased to $100,000 in 1874. The original char- THE THATCHER BUILDING AT PUEBLO, ter was renewed after COLORADO. twenty years, in 1891, and again in 1911, and the bank is now in its third twenty-year period. This bank is to this day one of the strongest banks in the country, and is still owned by the Thatcher interests and managed by them.


In addition to The First National Bank of Pueblo, Colorado, they also have interests in The First National Bank of Denver, The International Trust Company of Denver, and in other banks and trust companies in Otero and Bent Counties, in Trinidad, and


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other points in southern Colorado. They were also incorporators of the Grand Opera House Block, in Pueblo, Colorado, and owned great herds of cattle and vast acreages in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.


John A. Thatcher did not care for politics, belonged to no clubs or lodges, and yet was a most companionable man. He was a mem- ber of the Pioneers Association of Southern Colorado, of the Sons of Colorado, and of the Pennsylvania Society of Colorado, having been honorary president of the latter at the time of his death. He gave liberally to all projects. He was shrewd, able, frugal, and thrifty, the corner stone upon which the Thatcher millions have been built. He was a home and family man, and built a home named "Rosemount," which, with the grounds occupies a city block, and is one of the most beautiful residences in the city. To the author's personal knowledge, John A. Thatcher was generous with friends of his youth, who had not been as successful as he, and funds from his hands reached places where they were badly needed.


Following a trip to Nevada and California, in June, 1913, he was taken ill, and on August 14th, exactly fifty years after the date of his arrival in Pueblo, passed away. Had he lived a few months longer, he would have seen the completion and occupancy of the new bank building, which is one of the finest in the state. "The Thatcher Family," on the preceding pages, contains much in reference to Jolin A. Thatcher.


MAILON D. THATCHER, FINANCIER AND BANKER.


That there should be bred in Perry County, men who have amassed millions, may seem strange to some, especially those who oft use derisive terms in speaking of the county, but, nevertheless, it is true; and, when Mahlon D. Thatcher, leading financier of the State of Colorado, closed his eyes at his home in Pueblo, Colo- rado, on Washington's birthday, in 1916, there passed from the nation one of the most remarkable financiers of all time, having attained wealth reaching into millions. He was a power in the financial world, not only in his state, but of the nation. A younger brother, Henry Calvin Thatcher, became the first chief justice of the State of Colorado, and, in the State Capitol at Denver, stands a bust of this noted jurist.


Of Mahlon D. Thatcher, Hall's "History of Colorado" has this to say :


"His influence among the capitalized forces and productive interests of the commonwealth is coextensive with the great financial triumphs he has achieved. Intimate personal acquaintance with these brothers ripens into deep admiration of the qualities that have produced the results we have briefly enumerated. They have had no part in politics, except to exercise the duties of good citizenship; have not aspired to, nor held office. Busi-


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PERRY COUNTY'S NOTED MEN


ness, and business alone, has occupied their thoughts and governed their acts in the broad field of human endeavor, wherein he who is keenest to foresee and seize upon the unceasing round of opportunities gathers the cream of the harvest. They have sown nothing to the winds, therefore, have reaped no whirlwinds."


Mahlon D. Thatcher was born in New Buffalo, Perry County, on December 6, 1839, being a son of Henry and Lydia Ann (Al-


MAHLON D. THATCHER,


Noted Financer and Banker. Another of the three brothers to attain fame. Mr. Thatcher is said to have been able to finance greater projects than any other from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast.


bert) Thatcher, the father having been an early merchant there. They later moved to Newport ( 1847), and still later to Martins- burg, Pennsylvania (1855), continuing in the mercantile business. There Mahlon D. attended school and, later, Tuscarora Academy,


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then joined his father in the store, and later was admitted into the firm.


In 1865. Mahlon D. Thatcher went to Pueblo and joined his brother. John A., in the mercantile business, conducting it under the name of "Thatcher Brothers, Merchants." Their store, then on the east side of Santa Fe Avenue, at Fourth, was successful from the start, and soon became the headquarters for the cattle- men and mining men who stopped there, as they dealt in every- thing. The Thatcher Brothers' safe became their bank, being freely used, and it is told that often many thousands of dollars were left with them following a deal in cattle or a prospector's success. This accommodation on their part became so extensive that they saw the advisability of starting a bank, as "Thatcher Brothers, Bankers."


In 1871, John A. and Mahlon D. Thatcher moved the banking business into a new brick building built for that purpose, opening with a capital of $50,000.00. Mahlon D. Thatcher, the younger of the brothers, later, the same year, went to Washington, D. C., and obtained the charter for the First National Bank of Pueblo, with a capital of $50,000.00. From that time he became the con- trolling force of that institution. Such was their entry into the banking world. When Mahlon D. Thatcher died, in 1916, he was president of the First National Bank of Pueblo, and chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Denver, president of the International Trust Company of Denver; of the First National Bank of Trinidad, Colorado, and of the Min- nequa Bank of Pueblo. He was vice-president of the Pueblo Savings Bank, of the Central California Electric Corporation, and of the Standard Fire Brick Company. He was treasurer of the Great Western Sugar Company, a director in the American Smelting and Refining Company, the Cement Securities Company, and the Nevada-California Electric Corporation. He also, held large interests in the First National Bank of Florence; the First National Bank of Silverton; the Bent County Bank of Las Am- mas ; the American National Bank of Alamosa; the Miners' and Merchants' Bank of Ouray, and the Montrose National Bank. He was secretary-treasurer of the Pueblo Union Depot and Railway Company, and one of its organizers. He was actively interested in thirty-seven banks at the time of his death. His fortune has been variously estimated at from five to ten millions of dollars.


It is said that all the concerns in which Mr. Thatcher was inter- ested were clean and above-board, and that the men under whose charge they forged to the front were carefully selected by him. His rise in the financial world was never spectacular, but of a steady growth, year by year. From the time of his locating in Pueblo, until his death, he never had a rival for the enviable posi-


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tion which he held in the financial world, so highly was he es- teemed in the community. It was largely through the influence of Mr. Thatcher, supported by Pueblo people, that the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company built its lines into Pueblo. He, also, influenced the building of the first smelting plant in Pueblo, called the "Pueblo Smelter," and the Boston syndicate of stockholders asked his counsel and he became treasurer for then. When illness foretold his passing, his son, M. D. Thatcher, trained in the methods of his father, stepped into his place in the various organizations in which he was interested, performing his duties so like the father that they moved along in their characteristic manner.


Mahlon D. Thatcher was united in marriage, August 1, 1876, to Miss Luna A. Jordan, who survives him, residing in Pueblo. A son and three daughters also survive him. The son, Mahlon D., Jr., is spoken of above ; the daughters are Mrs. Robert C. Wheeler, and Mrs. William Waller, Jr., both of Chicago, and Mrs. Robert 1. Huntzinger, of New York; there are also still living two sis- ters, Mrs. M. C. Everhart, of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, and Mrs. F. J. Bloom, of Trinidad, Colorado.


Mr. Thatcher had many charities to which he was deeply at- tached, and, when he died, both rich and poor in Pueblo felt that a very dear and helpful one had gone. During his life, Mahlon D. Thatcher had the reputation of being able to raise more money for any legitimate enterprise than any man between Chicago and San Francisco. The Thatchers did business, and the younger gen- eration still do, with clients in every state in the Union. Through- out all their dealings the Thatcher Brothers were never interested in shady dealings nor in grafting. It is said of them that, during their long business career, they never foreclosed a mortgage. As times of great crises come in the lives of every individual, so they came also to these men of sterling worth and integrity, at various times and under trying conditions, during the fifty years of their activity in Pueblo. Two of these may be mentioned in this con- nection which stand out more prominently than all the others; the first occurring in the winter of 1878-79. Beautiful and mild weather prevailed during the fall months of 1878, until December ; soon after the first of that month, a gentle rain set in; the atmos- phere soon grew colder, the rain turning to snow, which continued falling, without cessation, for about three days and nights, until from three to four feet of snow covered the eastern slopes and plains of the whole of the Rocky Mountain region, New Mexico, on the south, Wyoming on the north, as well as the whole of Colo- rado. After the snow ceased falling, it grew intensely cold, the sun shining brightly, but perfectly clear. There occurred but one slight thaw for a day or so; the weather remaining cold until


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after the middle of February, 1879, entailing exceedingly heavy losses to all cattle and sheep men in the Western country; in fact, most men engaged in the stock business at that time lost about all they had. The winter referred to was especially severe all over the United States.


The second disaster which proved to be nation-wide was the financial panic of 1893, which brought very disturbed conditions throughout the whole United States, but especially severe in the middle and Western states. Many banks failed and never opened again. These conditions followed the demonitization of silver by the Congress of the United States. Colorado having previously attained the distinction of being one of the best producing precious metal mining states in the Union, received the worst blow it has had in its existence as a state, and to this date, has never recovered its former prestige in this respect, but has fallen very far below its previous activity and production. On July 5. 1893, most people became excited about the safety of the banks, and "runs" were made simultaneously on all the banks, eight in the city. Three or four were closed by noon on that day. The morning of the 6th, the "runs" continued on the banks which were brave enough to open, the Pueblo National, Pueblo Savings Bank, and the Western National, with the aid of the First National, until about noon, when it suddenly subsided and business resumed its wonted aspect. These two critical periods in the career of the Thatcher Brothers, only proved, beyond a doubt, the solidity of their financial building and made no difference in their attitude to associates and fellow citizens ; they outwardly manifesting the same equanimity of tem- perament as characterized their success in other years; never a word of complaint or rehearsal of losses, and it is doubtful if any one outside themselves ever knew what they were.


Once Mr. Thatcher was urged to accept the mayoralty of the city, being elected, but he resigned before one year of his term ex- pired. To-day, with M. D. Thatcher, Jr., as president ; Mr. A. S. Booth, as vice-president, and Raymond C. Thatcher, as chairman of the board of directors, the First National Bank of Pueblo, or- ganized by the fathers, half a century ago, is moving along with the undiminished confidence enjoyed by the elder Thatchers.


George J. Dunbaugh, a prominent Chicago manufacturer, among other things, writes of him:


"Have known M. D. Thatcher since 1870. Every one knew him as a man of sterling worth. His probity in every way was unquestioned. If he had confidence in a man he would go very much further than any capi- talist I have ever known in furnishing him with financial backing. He was never autocratic in any way. He was most democratic in his manners, the door of his office being open to all, and he would see every one. He was always pleasant and genial and the most pleasant man I ever knew. He was a man of clear thought and a remarkably good judge of human


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nature. He recognized the frailties of man and made allowance for them. He once told ine that he feared gambling more than any other vice; he said a drinking man cannot long conceal his failing, but a gambler may lose everything in a single night, and he could not have any confidence in a man who gambled.


"Mr. Thatcher was essentially a home loving man. He had a most beautiful home, and his family and his home meant more to him than anything in the world. No one who has met him in his home life could fail to realize this, and it was in his home that one appreciated his splen- did character and his high ideals.


"He was a great power in the financial world, being known throughout the United States as one of the great financiers. He was always con- sulted in matters of finance, especially in the great West, where nothing of moment was ever done without consulting him. During the World War, when it was thought that the United States might become embroiled, he was one of the great financiers of our land who were assembled to plan the financial end."


The statement that he was one of the great financiers called on to plan the finances in case America became involved in the war is correct and is a matter of government record.


When well established in business and the opportune time had come, M. D. Thatcher, about 1880, built his first permanent home in Pueblo, on the crest of the ridge jutting down from the north toward the center of the city; this ridge (evidently the west limit of the Fountain Valley), overlooking the latter from Green- wood Street, also sloping southward and from Sixteenth Street overlooking the beautiful Arkansas Valley and River. The block of ground and home are called "Hill Crest," and it is still one of the most substantial and beautiful homes in the state, surrounded with grounds which are artistically laid out, with walks and drive- ways, planted with rare trees, plants and flowers from other climes. This home is still occupied by Mrs. Thatcher, to whom, also, was left an equally beautiful summer home at Harbor Point, on Lake Michigan, where she spends the summer months, as she and her husband formerly did. Mrs. Thatcher, by the way, is not idle, but much interested in welfare and charitable work, according to official reports along those lines. During the past year she was engaged in helping raise the funds to purchase a $40,000 home for the Young Women's Christian Association.


Through Paul Appenzellar, a noted New York banker who was born in one of Perry's neighboring counties, we have been able to secure some personal impressions of M. D. Thatcher. From his letter the following is taken :


"In Measure for Measure" the Duke, in bestowing some special honor on one of his deputies, addresses him thus:


"There is a kind of character in thy life,


That to the observer doth thy history Fully unfold."


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To me, who knew Mahlon D. Thatcher only during the last twelve years of his life, there is a peculiar fitness in the application of this quotation. His unruffled, dispassionate temperament; his deep instinct for order, simplicity, accuracy; his passion for fairness and honesty told well the story of his life.


My association with Mr. Thatcher began through the business relation- ship of broker and customer. He came to my office to pay for some bonds which had been purchased for his account by one of the banks in New York where his account was handled. The business finished, he asked me if I was not from Pennsylvania, suspecting this from my inflection, and his reserve disappeared when he learned that my old home and birthplace was in a county adjoining the Perry County of which later he was to tell me so many stories. From the beginning our friendship grew until we formed the habit of spending a week-end together on each of his visits. Except for visits in the winter months we (my wife, Mr. Thatcher and 1) would spend the Saturday-Sunday period in visits by automobile to some of the near-by resorts. The mention of these trips serves to recall one of his peculiarities-his unwillingness to accept any favor, or to permit himself to be placed in a position where he might feel under some obli- gation. He would go on none of these trips as my guest. He would go only if I agreed that we should share the expenses. This was final, and not open for argument. I asked him one day how he should feel if I should come to Pueblo and insist on sharing the expenses of the week-end trip which I well knew he would immediately plan for my pleasure. This was indeed a searching question, but his only reply was a smiling, "Let me do as I like to do in this matter even though you say it's absurd."


"Not apt for speech, nor quickly stirred Unless when heart to heart replied ; A bearing equally remov'd From vain display or sullen pride."


Mr. Thatcher's taciturnity undoubtedly led many who knew him casually to consider him as cold. He loved a fact but cared little for an opinion. He asked few questions when considering a proposition placed before him for his consideration as an investment.


If any attempt was made to hasten his decision, the answer was an immediate "No," and the subject was not reopened. His business judg- ment was so highly regarded in my own office that I used often to tell him that I had a proposition I wished to "try on the dog," meaning that I and my partners wished to see if on the data as presented to him by me, his approval of the venture could be won. If it was or was not, our own opinion was influenced decidedly for or against the proposition.




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