History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 70

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604

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Dauphin county, he entered the store of William H. Hetherington, who two years afterward disposed of the business to Lewis Heilner, with whom young Sigfried re- mained a year or thereabouts. Then he was in the flour and feed trade at Port Carbon a year and a half, when he abandoned the mercantile career he had entered upon and engaged for a year with Bacon, Price & Co., as a shipper of coal. The next year he passed as book- keeper for Tobias H. Wintersteen, the Port Carbon ma- chinist. Then until the outbreak of the Rebellion he was engaged in shipping coal for Sillyman & Myers, Samuel Sillyman and George H. Potts & Co., at Port Carbon, and for Lewis Audenreid & Co., and George H. Potts & Co., at Schuylkill Haven.

General Sigfried early formed a taste for military life. In April, 1857, he attached himself to the old Marion rifle company as a private. In the following October he was promoted to the first lieutenancy of the company, and April 20th, 1860, he was appointed major of the 3d regiment, attached to the Ist brigade of the 6th division

of Pennsylvania militia. When treason raised her black flag over our land General Sigfried was among the very first to consecrate his influence, his time, his best energies and his life itself to his country. The following interest- ing account of his patriotic and gallant military career during the late war is extracted from Wallace's " Me- morial of the Patriotism of Schuylkill County in the American Slaveholders' Rebellion":

General Sigfried entered the service in April, 1861, as captain in the 6th Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel James Nagle, for a period of three months, at the expiration of which he was mustered out at Harrisburg. After his re- turn home he assisted to organize the 48th Pennsylvania regiment, of which he was commissioned major, and mus- tered into the service on the ist of October, 1861. He moved with the regiment to Hatteras on the 11th of No- vember, 1861. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel by election on the 30th of that month. He was ordered to the command of Camp Winfield, Hatteras, on the 9th of December. He moved with the regiment to Newbern, N. C., on the 11th of March, 1862. In April, 1862, he took command of the regiment, Colonel Nagle having been detached to command the Ist brigade, 2nd division of what was afterwards the 9th corps. The regiment left Newbern on the 6th of July, and reached Newport News on the 9th. Colonel Sigfried spent the month here in placing his regiment in an effective condition. He left with his regiment for Fredericksburg, to join General Pope, on the 2nd of August. The regiment left Freder- icksburg on the 12th, marched to Culpepper and joined General Pope on the 14th. It was immediately thrown forward to Cedar Mountain, and performed picket duty when General Pope's retreat commenced. The regiment moved from there on the retreat on the 18th. It moved toward and occupied Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock. Lieutenant-Colonel Sigfried, with a portion of his regi- ment, recrossed the river in support of Buford's cavalry, who were engaged in a sharp skirmish with the enemy. The regiment remained at Kelly's Ford until the 22nd, when it moved up the river. The regiment, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sigfried, was in the second battle of Bull Run, August 29th and 30th, 1862. It fought gallantly and lost heavily. September Ist he maneuvered the regiment skillfully at the battle of Chantilly. He commanded the regiment through the Maryland campaign of 1862, participating in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. After the last en- gagement he was promoted colonel, to date from the 10th of September, 1862. He commanded the regiment at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13th, 1862. After the battle he was complimented by Generals

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-GEN. J. K. SIGFRIED.

Sturgess, Ferrero and Nagle for the manner in which he brigade of the 4th division of the 9th corps. It was took the regiment into and for the ability with which he composed of colored troops, and I naturally wanted to give handled it while in action. March 25th, 1863, Colonel it my best officers for brigade commanders. I well remem- Sigfried left Newport News with his regiment for the ber the desire you had to remain with your old command, west. He reached Lexington, Ky., April ist, where the and with what reluctance you yielded to my desire and order. I wanted you with the 4th division because you were one of my best officers, and commanded my entire confidence and esteem. Please have a copy of the work, when it comes out, sent to me at Bristol, R. I.

regiment remained on provost duty until September 10th, 1863. During that time Colonel Sigfried was provost marshal of the city and military commandant. He left Lexington on the 10th of September, as colonel com- manding the Ist brigade, 2nd division, 9th army corps, on the march to East Tennessee, to join Burnside's forces at Knoxville. The distance (two hundred and twenty-six miles) was marched in eighteen days, without fatigue or straggling, in consequence of an admirable plan adopted by Colonel Sigfried upon starting. The brigade ar- rived at Knoxville, September 28th, and reached Bull's Gap October 14th. From there it marched to Lick Creek and Blue Springs. Colonel Sigfried commanded the brigade in the battle of Blue Springs, fought October Ioth. He returned to Knoxville October 15th, shortly after which he was ordered to take command of the 2nd div- ision, 9th corps. On the 22nd, with his division, Colonel Sigfried moved to Louden; then to Lenoir, where it remained until the 14th, when the division returned to Louden, and covered the retreat of the army on the 15th from Lenoir to Campbell's Station. At this point Colonel Sigfried resumed command of the Ist brigade, Colonel Hartranft taking command of the division. At the battle of Campbell's Station, fought on the 16th, Colonel Sigfried's brigade opened the engage- ment, and participated in it all day, retreating at night to Knoxville, reaching that place on the following morning. At this time the siege of Knoxville by the rebel General Longstreet commenced. The key of the defences was held by the ninth corps-a very important point in the line of works being held by the brigade of Colonel Sig- fried. The siege was raised on the 5th of December, the rebels retreating toward Virginia, and our forces follow- ing. January 3d, 1864, the 48th regiment, having re. enlisted for three years, left its camp near Blaine's Cross Roads, Tenn., for home on veteran leave, for reorgani- zation, and it arrived at Pottsville February 3d. Having recruited its ranks to the maximum number the regiment left Pottsville March 14th, 1864, under command of Colonel Sigfried, for Annapolis, where it was ordered to rendezvous. It left Annapolis, to co-operate with General Grant in his great Virginia campaign, April 23d, 1864. On the 4th of May Colonel Sigfried was appointed to command the Ist brigade, 4th division (colored), ninth army corps, the duty of which was to guard the immense trains necessary to facilitate Grant's operations. That duty ceasing after the army had crossed the James and established itself in front of Petersburg, Col. Sigfried's brigade was assigned to other important duty. The cir- cumstances under which he received this brigade com- mand, and the manner in which he discharged the duties of the office, will be learned from the following letter:

U. S. SENATE, WASHINGTON, April 30th, 1881. General J. K. SIGFRIED.

My dear General:

I learn that a " History of Schuylkill County, Pa.," is about to be published, and I would be glad to have a copy of it, for I am sure it will contain honorable men- tion of its gallant soldiers who served with me during the Iate war for the suppression of the Rebellion. You, my dear general, will be prominently mentioned if the com- pilers of the work know as much of your skill, gallantry, and unselfish co-operation as I do. I shall never forget the disinterested patriotism which actuated you when you were asked by me to take command of the Ist

With kind regards to your family, I remain, my dear general,

Faithfully your friend, A. E. BURNSIDE.

At the explosion of the mine at Petersburg Colonel Sigfried, with his brigade, participated in the charge on the enemy's works. Subsequently he was brevetted brigadier-general by President Lincoln for his gallantry in this action. He continued in command of the brigade until mustered out of service, October 2nd, 1864, by reason of the expiration of his term of service. During his career in the army General Sigfried won the highest encomiums from his superior officers for the fidelity, pru- dence and ability with which he discharged the duties devolving upon him. Without his knowledge, they rec- ommended him for promotion from colonel to brigadier, for meritorious conduct in the field.

October 1st, 1870, General Sigfried was appointed major-general of the 6th division National Guards of Pennsylvania, in which capacity he served until the fall of 1878, doing good service as commander of troops in subduing the riots which prevailed in various parts of the States during that period. October 22nd, 1878, when the officers were reduced to one major-general and five brigadiers, he was commissioned brigadier-general of the 3d brigade, and he is yet serving in that position. His whole administration during his connection with the Na- tional Guard of Pennsylvania has been so efficient and successful as to win for him the commendation of men and officers under his command and the superior author- ities to which he is answerable for the performance of his responsible duties.

Since the close of the war the general has been most of the time prominently identified with various mining enterprises. In December, 1865, he assumed the man- agement of the Wolf Creek Diamond Coal Company's collieries near Minersville. In 1868 he formed a copart- nership with George C. Potts and reared and operated the Mount Laffee colliery. Later Mr. Potts disposed of his interest in the business to Messrs. Powell & Wigton, of Philadelphia, and General Sigfried managed the en- terprise until he sold his interest to the same parties, in 1872. From that time until in 1874 he owned a one- third interest in the Tunnel colliery, at Ashland, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company owning the remaining two-thirds. During the year last mentioned the corporation became, by purchase, the sole owners of the colliery.

General Sigfried served a term in the Port Carbon school board and another in the town council before the war, and after the war one full term (three years) and a portion of a term in the Pottsville school board as its president.

From the very inception of the Republican party Gen- eral Sigfried has been an ardent advocate of its principles and an active worker for its success. In 1874 he was nominated for the office of State senator, but was defeat- ed by the Democratic nominee, Judge O. P. Bechtel. In 1875 he was appointed boiler inspector for the district comprising the counties of Schuylkill, Columbia and Northumberland, and reappointed in 1878 and 1881. He was chosen chairman of the Republican county commit-

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

tee in 1880 and is the present incumbent of that position (1881).

General Sigfried's life has been a busy and a useful one and the results of his exertion cannot but encourage others who are struggling against difficulties which threaten to be insurmountable. His advancement is due almost entirely to his own energy and personal worth, for he may be said to have made his way unaided from child- hood. Among the many self-made men of the anthra- cite regions of Pennsylvania General Sigfried takes a prominent position. His career marks him as a man of enterprise, perseverance and ability. Whether in civil, political or military life he has been successful and is one of the notable Pennsylvanians of his generation.

March 10th, 1851, he married a lady of Scotch extrac- tion, Miss Elizabeth P. Sim, a native and then a resident of Port Carbon. Their children have been seven in number: Maggie, David B., Ida S., Cora P., W. Elmer,

Hugh H. Potts, father of George H. Potts, was born J. Reno, and Carrie. The first and last born have died. at the Chelsea Iron Works, on his father's estate, in New

GEORGE H. POTTS.

Half a century before the beginning of the Revolution- ary war John Potts, great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir, lived at Sandy Run, about ten miles from Philadelphia, in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. The family had then been nearly sixty years in America, having emigrated from England under the auspices of William Penn, in 1668.

Thomas Potts, the youngest son of John and grand- father of George H. Potts, about 1750, married Elizabeth Lukens, a daughter of William Lukens, whose estate ad- joined that of his father at Sandy Run. The Lukens family was one of the most notable of the early Pennsyl- vania families, and was of Holland descent. Joseph and John Lukens were brothers-in-law of Thomas Potts, The first mentioned was a life-long resident on the Lukens estate, at Sandy Run, a man of wealth, held in high esteem for many good qualities. The latter studied civil engineering, and later was appointed to the respon- sible position of surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, under the King. Upon the agitation of the momentous ques- tion which prepared the way for American independence, he espoused the cause of the patriots, and so closely identi- fied was he with the leaders in the revolutionary move- ment that it was in one of the apartments of his residence, in Philadelphia, that the Declaration of Independence was drawn up by Thomas Jefferson. His granddaughter, the celebrated beauty, Sally McKean, became the wife of the Marquis D'Yrujo, the first minister from Spain to the United States under the constitution.

By his marriage with Miss Lukens Thomas Potts re- ceived a handsome fortune. He removed to the beauti- ful Musconetcong valley, in New Jersey, near the mouth of the river, where he purchased a large estate, on which he erected a forge and furnace, and conducted, until his death in 1777, an extensive and successful iron manufac- turing enterprise. To an almost immeasurable degree he had the confidence of all who knew him. He was trusted as a man of honor and unyielding fidelity; he was admired as a man of unwearying enterprise and brilliant talents. He is distinguished as having been a member of the Continental Congress, which convened in Philadelphia in 1775 to petition the King to redress the grievances which had long been suffered by the colonists. He was in all essential respects a patriot; he had at heart the cause of the struggling colonies, and deprecated as deeply as any of his liberty loving cotemporaries the severity with which they were oppressed; but he was a consistent adherent to the religious principles of the Society of

Friends, and finding it impossible to regard the Declaration of Independence as anything short of a practical declara- tion of war he refused to affix his signature to that his- torical document, not wishing to co-operate in an act which would precipitate bloodshed and rapine upon the colonies.

His widow, Elizabeth Lukens Potts, married Doctor John Rockhill, of Pittstown, Hunterdon county, N. J., where her descendants by both her marriages resided continuously until ten years since, when Hon. Frederick A. Potts, son of George H. Potts, and late a candidate for the office of governor of the State of New Jersey, pur- chased the old homestead, where he has since lived. A remarkable circumstance in the history of the Potts and Rockhill families is that members of them have inter- married for five generations, during which they have lived on the same estate.

Jersey, in 1773, and, having a natural proclivity for a military career, became an officer in the first United States army raised under the newly organized government and served as such for many years. In 1800, at Car- lisle, Pa., he married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John Hughes, of Revolutionary memory, a distinguished officer who participated in every engagement from that at Three Rivers, Canada, to the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown, during nearly all of which eventful period he was in the companionship of General Washington. Captain Hughes recruited a company at Carlisle, which was at- tached to the 10th Pennsylvania regiment, and entered the service as its captain, but was soon promoted to the office of paymaster-general, a position which the history of those times would indicate depended more on the pos- session of ample means and a patriotic willingness to dis- burse them as occasion required, for the relief of the ill- paid and often suffering soldiers, than the mere desire and ability to transact its simple routine duties in con- sideration of the salary, which under more favorable cir- cumstances might have been a desideratum to one less gen- erous and more self-seeking. Captain Hugh H. Potts, his son-in-law, subsequently resigned his commission and purchased an estate on the Delaware river, in Bucks county, where he resided until the death of his wife, in 1813. Near the close of the war of 1812-14 he was re- appointed to a captaincy in the United States army ser- vice, but just as he was about to join his company and report for duty peace was declared. He died in 1842.

George H. Potts, the subject of this biographical article, was born in 1811, on his father's estate on the Delaware. Left an orphan by the death of his mother in 1813, he found a home in Pittstown, Hunterdon county, N. J., in the family of his father's sister, Mrs. Judge Rockhill. He early gave evidence of the possession of that innate enter- prise which has since placed him prominently among the most successful business men of the United States, and at fifteen, an age when most youths are thinking only of boy- ish amusement, we find him an assistant in an extensive mercantile house in Philadelphia, receiving a practical bus- iness training. Here he remained three years, laying the foundation of a busy, useful, and in many respects re- markable career. With the advantages of good birth and a fine social connection, he was yet not wealthy, and his position as a self-made man was only the better as- sured by the opportunities for early training and educa- tion which he had enjoyed.

In 1829 he removed to Pottsville, Pa., and at once en- gaged in mining operations. At that time everything connected with the anthracite coal interest was in a very primitive condition. Practical mining as it is now known was yet to be introduced. What coal was mined was

Leo. It. Jotts

Man humble Jernet Millium Andensino

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-GEORGE H. POTTS-WILLIAM AUDENRIED.

305a

brought to the surface only in limited quantities and by position in the financial and social circles of New York. the hardest physical exertion. Its preparation for mar- · ket was equally crude in its processes. The facilities for In person he is above medium heighth and of striking personal appearance; his years rest lightly upon him. He has that combination of admirable qualities which have marked successful and popular men in all ages of the world-dignity, courtesy, shrewdness and decision. His genialty and generosity have won him innumerable friends. His strict, undeviating integrity has been re- marked during his entire business career. Among the conveying it to the sea-board cities were of the most primitive description. Only 44,000 tons of anthracite was mined in 1828. The aggregate in 1879 was 26,000,000 tons and it will reach nearly 30,000,000 tons in 1881. In the remarkable series of improvements which have made such a stupendous growth possible Mr. Potts has been a pioneer. From 1829 until to-day he has been continuously interested in the production of coal, and he enjoys the early friends of Mr. Potts in Pottsville, Pa., the following distinction of being the oldest miner of anthracite in the United States in view of the number of consecutive years he has been engaged in the business. From 1834 to 1845 he was the most extensive individual coal operator in the union. He erected the first engine for mining coal below the water level ever set up for mining purposes in Penn- sylvania. It was built by Messrs. Haywood & Snyder, at their establishment in Pottsville, and is yet in use. He was the first to use plates of iron for breaking coal, and erected the second breaker ever put in operation. He built the first boat which was employed to convey coal to the city of New York direct from the Schuylkill region, and which opened the way for the immense inland water transportation of a later date. He was one of ten men to subscribe $300 each to be used in experiments in making anthracite iron, which were crowned with success. history of these experiments, which were so important in the development of the leading interests of the country, are given elsewhere in this volume. In 1836 he surveyed the first railroad from Pottsville to New York.

After a residence of twenty-four years in Pottsville, in 1853, Mr. Potts removed to New York, as the local rep- resentative of the extensive coal and iron firm of Lewis Audenreid & Co., with which he had associated himself, and of which he became the senior member. While oc- cupying this position his excellent judgment, business qualifications and executive ability placed the firm at the head of the coal and iron trade of the United States, and won the frequent admiration and applause of those with whom he came in contact. By the death of Lewis Audenreid, in 1873, the firm was dissolved, Mr. Potts re- tiring and his son, Hon. Frederick A. Potts, who has since continued the business with remarkable success, be- coming sole proprietor.

The regret manifested on all sides at Mr. Potts's retire- ment from active business life, in 1873, will not soon be forgotten, as it was felt that the loss of such a man to the coal and iron industries of America could not be readily replaced. With an ample fortune, won by a life of un- intermitted industry, Mr. Potts determined to pass his remaining years in ease and quiet, but so great was the pressure brought to bear upon him to induce him to accept the vacant presidency of the National Park Bank of New York, of which he had been one of the organizers, and had long been a director, that he finally consented to assume its duties and responsibilities. His election in September, 1879, to the position of president of one of the wealthiest and most prominent banking corporations in the union was welcomed with unbounded satisfaction by stockholders and customers, and was the subject of much favorable comment by the press of New York and the other great financial centers of the country. That the public confidence in Mr. Potts's financial abilities had not been misplaced is indicated by his successful management of the affairs of the bank, whose stock, from par in 1879, has advanced to 1.60, and whose surplus has been increased from $200,000 to $1,000,000. Mr. Potts is in every way fitted to creditably occupy his recognized high

incident illustrative of his unyielding probity is current. It is related here in the hope that it may serve as an ex- ample to others in their days of disastrous business fail- ures: In 1848, by the failure of a gentleman in Philadel- phia, with whom Mr. Potts was connected in business, he lost $104,000. He was forced to call his creditors together, and settle with them at fifty cents on the dollar, and was obliged to borrow the money to enable him to do even this. Sixteen years later he paid these com- promised claims, amounting to over one hundred thous- and dollars, although he had been legally exonerated when he made the compromise, compelling his old cred- itors to accept interest on the balances, in spite of the fact that they repeatedly refused it and used their utmost powers of persuasion in attempts to convince him that The he ought not to pay it. In 1832 he married the eldest daughter of George M. Cumming, of Potts- ville, who bore him seven children. In 1863 he was again married, to a daughter of Judge Gideon Hard, of Albion, Orleans county, N. Y., who has represented his district in the State Assembly and in the National Con- gress, and has long been prominent in judicial and po- litical circles. By his present wife Mr. Potts has had three children, and all of his children by both marriages are living. The family home is in New York city, but they have an elegant summer residence near Somerville, N. J., which, from its admirable location on a gentle eminence, commands most enchanting views in every direction.

WILLIAM AUDENRIED.

WILLIAM AUDENRIED, eldest son of Lewis Audenried, emigrant from Switzerland in 1789, was born at Kutz- town, Berks county, Pa., March 14th, 1793, and when a mere boy removed with his father's family to what is now known as East Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill county. The spot where Pottsville now stands was then known as the " Pine Swamp," so that the subject of this notice may, with much propriety, be termed one of the pioneers in the great work which has in comparatively so short a period elevated Schuylkill county from a condition at once rude, uncultivated and humble to its present proud and high position. Endowed by nature with a strong mind and extraordinary energy of character he was, in 1816 (about the time of the death of his father) appointed by Governor Simon Snyder a justice of the peace in the district numbered one, composed of the township of Bruns- wick, including the borough of Orwigsburg, Schuylkill county, which commission he held until 1821, when he was commissioned by Governor Heisler as lieutenant- colonel of the 30th regiment infantry of the Pennsylvania militia, 2nd brigade, 6th division. In 1822 he was elected to the State Legislature from Schuylkill county, and re- elected in 1823. In 1824 he was elected to the Senate of the State of Pennsylvania for a term of four years. While a member of the lower house he introduced "a resolution for the calling of a convention to amend the constitution

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History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 70

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell Number of Pages: 604

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604