Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 8

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York : Chapman Publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1068

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The silver question precipitated a controversy between those who were in favor of the continu- ance of silver coinage and those who were op- posed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his inauguration.

On June 2, 1886, President Cleveland married Frances, daughter of his deceased friend and part- ner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo Bar. In the. campaign of 1888, President Cleveland was re- ·nominated by his party, but the Republican candi- date, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, was victorious. In the nomination of 1892 these two candidates for the highest position in the gift of the people were again pitted against each other, and in the ensuing election President Cleveland was victori- ous by an overwhelming majority. Since the close of his second term, he has resided in Prince- ton, N. J.

BENJAMIN HARRISON

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty-third President, is the descendant of one of the historical families of this country. The first known head of the family was Maj .- Gen. Harrison, one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and fighters. In the zenith of Crom well's power it be- came the duty of this Harrison to participate in the trial of Charles I., and afterward to sign the death warrant of the king. He subsequently paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 1660. His descendants came to America, and the next of the family that appears in history is Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great-grandfa- ther of the subject of this sketch, and after whom he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a mem- ber of the Continental Congress during the years 1774, 1775 and 1776, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was three times elected Governor of Virginia.

Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a successful career as a soldier during the War of 1812, and with a clean record as Governor of the Northwestern Territory, was elected President of the United States in 1840. His career was cut short by death within one month after his in- auguration.

President Harrison was born at North Bend,

Hamilton County, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His life up to the time of his graduation from Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a country lad of a family of small means. His father was able to give him a good education, and nothing more. He became engaged while at college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of a female school at Oxford. After graduating, he determined to enter upon the study of law. He went to Cincinnati and there read law for two years. At the expiration of that time young Har- rison received the only inheritance of his life-his aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as a fortune, and decided to get married at once, take this moncy and go to some Eastern town and begin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and, with the money in his pocket, he started out with his young wife to fight for a place in the world. He decided to go to Indian- apolis, which was even at that time a town of promise. He met with slight encouragement at first, making scarcely anything the first year. He worked diligently, applying himself closely to his calling, built up an extensive practice and took a leading rank in thic legal profession.

In 1860, Mr. Harrison was nominated for the position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- gan liis experience as a stump speaker. He can-

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BENJAMIN HARRISON.

vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its Colonel. His regiment was composed of the raw- est material, but Col. Harrison employed all his time at first in mastering military tactics and drill- ing his men, and when he came to move toward the East with Sherman, his regiment was one of the best drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and for liis bravery at Peachtree Creek lie was made a Brigadier-General, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most complimentary terms.

During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field, the Supreme Court declared the office of Supreme Court Reporter vacant, and another person was elected to the position. From the time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 he had taken no leave of absence, but having been nominated that year for the same office, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time made a brilliant canvass of the State, and was elected for another term. He then started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most. trying attack made his way to the front in time to participate in the closing incidents of the war.

In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-election as Reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 1876 he was a candidate for Governor. Although defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him a national reputation, and he was much sought after, especially in the East, to make speeches. In 1880, as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, and was elected to the United States Senate. Here he served for six years, and was known as one of the ablest men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in that body. With the ex- piration of his senatorial term he returned to the practice of his profession, becoming the head of one of the strongest firms in the State.

The political campaign of 1888 was one of the most memorable in the history of our country. The convention which assembled in Chicago in June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief stand- ard-bearer of the Republican party was great in every particular, and on this account, and the at-

titude it assumed upon the vital questions of the day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in the campaign throughout the nation. Shortly after the nomination, delegations began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This movement became popular, and from all sections of the country societies, clubs and delegations journeyed thither to pay their re- spects to the distinguished statesman.

Mr. Harrison spoke daily all through the sum- mer and autumn to these visiting delegations, and so varied, masterly, and eloquent were his speeches that they at once placed him in the fore- most rank of American orators and statesmen. Elected by a handsome majority, he served his country faithfully and well, and in 1892 was nom- inated for re-election; but the people demanded a change and he was defeated by his predecessor in office, Grover Cleveland.

On account of his eloquence as a speaker and his power as a debater, Gen. Harrison was called upon at an early age to take part in the dis- cussion of the great questions that then began to agitate the country. He was an uncompromising anti-slavery man, and was matched against some of the most eminent Democratic speakers of his State. No man who felt the touch of his blade desired to be pitted with him again. With all his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for ora- torical effect, but his words always went like bul- lets to the mark. He is purely American in his ideas, and is a splendid type of the American statesman. Gifted with quick perception, a logi- cal mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the most distinguished impromptu speakers in the nation. Many of these speeches sparkled with the rarest eloquence and contained arguments of great weight, and many of his terse statements have already become aphorisms. Original in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. By his first wife, Caroline (Scott) Harrison, he had a son and daughter. In 1896 he married Mrs. Mary (Scott) Dimmick, and they, with their daughter, reside in Indianapolis, Ind., where he has made his home since early manhood.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

ILLIAM MCKINLEY, who was inaugu- rated President of the United States in 1897, was born in Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843. The family of which he is a member originated in the west of Scotland, and from there removed to the north of Ireland. According to the fam- ily tradition, James and William McKinley emi- grated to this country from Ireland and founded the two branches of the family in the United States, one settling in the north, the other in the south. At the time of their arrival, James was twelve years of age. He settled in York County, Pa., where he married and spent his remaining years.

David, son of James, and the great-grandfather of William McKinley, was born May 16, 1755, and three times enlisted in the service of the colonies during the Revolutionary War, serving seven months after his first enlistment in June, 1776, spending six months at the front in 1777, and again in the following year serving eight months. December 19, 1780, he married Sarah Gray, who was born May 10, 1760, and died October 6, 1814. For fifteen years he lived in Westmoreland County, Pa., and thence removed to Mercer County. One year after the death of his first wife he married Eleanor McLean and about the same time settled in Colum- biana County, Ohio, but afterward made his home in Crawford County, where he died August 8, 1840.

James, grandfather of William Mckinley, was born September 19, 1783, married Mary (or "Polly" ) Rose, and with his family moved to New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1809. Their eldest son, Will- iam, Sr., was born in Mercer County, Pa., November 15, 1807, and in 1827 married Nancy Allison, a woman of noble and strong character and consistent Christian life. For some years he was engaged as manager of iron fur- naces at different places. From Niles he re-

moved to Poland, because of the educational ad- vantages offered by Poland Academy. In 1869 he established his home in Canton, and here he died November 24, 1892. His widow lives at the family residence in Canton, and with her are her daughter, Miss Helen, and two orphan grandchildren.

Of the family of nine children, William, Jr., who was seventh in order of birth, was born during the residence of his parents at Niles, Ohio, Jan- uary 29, 1843. His boyhood years were spent in that place and Poland, where he studied in the academy. At the age of seventeen he entered Allegheny College, but illness caused his return to Poland, and on his recovery he did not return to college, but taught a country school. At the opening of the Civil War, though only eighteen years of age, he immediately wanted to enlist. As soon as he could overcome the objections of his mother, he enlisted, in May of 1861, as a private in Company E, Twenty-third Ohio In- fantry. The regiment was commanded by Col. W. S. Rosecrans, who afterward, as general, led his forces on many a bloody battle field, and the first major was Rutherford B. Hayes, afterward President of the United States. As a gallant soldier Mr. Mckinley soon won promotion, serving for a time as commissary sergeant, later was pro- moted to the rank of second lieutenant for gal- lantry at Antietam, and then won his way up- ward until, at the close of tlie war, lie was pro- moted to major by brevet. July 26, 1865, after more than four years of liard service, he was mustered out with his regiment.

With Judge Charles E. Glidden, of Mahoning County, Mr. Mckinley began the study of law, which he afterward carried on in the Albany (N. Y.) Law School, and in 1867 was admitted to tlie bar. Beginning the practice of liis pro- fession in Canton, lie soon became prominently known among the able attorneys of the city. His

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WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

first connection with political affairs was in 1869, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County, and this office he held for two years. In 1876 he was nominated for Congressional honors and was elected to the Forty-fifth Con- gress, afterward by successive re-elections serv- ing for fourteen years. In March of 1890 he in- troduced the celebrated Mckinley tariff bill, which was passed and became a law. In the fol- lowing year, 1891, he was elected governor of Ohio, and two years afterward was re-elected to that high office, which he filled in such a manner as to command the respect not only of his own party-the Republican-but his political op- ponents as well. The connection of his name with the tariff bill and his prominence in the Re- publican party, together with his force and elo- quence as a speaker, brought him into national fame. In the campaign of 1892, for a period of more than three months, he traveled over a territory extending from New York to Nebraska, making speeches in the interest of the Republi- can platforn1. Those who heard him speak, whether friends or opponents of his political opinions, cannot but have admired his logical reasoning, breadth of intellect, eloquence of speech and modesty of demeanor. During the campaign of 1894 he made three hundred and seventy-one speeches and visited over three hundred towns, within a period of two months, addressing perhaps two million people.

Tlie tariff issue and all the intricate questions of public revenue that are interwoven with it, constitute the most complicated problems with which a statesman has to deal. To master them in every detail requires an intellect of the high- est order. That Major Mckinley thoroughly un- derstands these questions is admitted by all who have investigated his official utterances on the subject, beginning with the speech on the Wood tariff bill, delivered in the house of representatives April 15, 1878, and closing with his speech in favor of the tariff bill of 1890, which as chairman of the ways and means committee he reported to the house and which was subsequently passed and is known throughout the world as the Mckinley tariff bill of 1890. He opposed the Wood bill be- cause of a conviction that the proposed measure

would, if enacted, prove a public calamity. For the same reason, in 1882, he advocated a friendly revision of the tariff by a tariff commission, to be authorized by congress and appointed by the president. In 1884 he opposed the Morrison horizontal bill, which he denounced as ambiguous for a great public statute, and in 1888 he led the forces in the fight against the Mills tariff bill.

As governor of Ohio, his policy was conserva- tive. He aimed to give to the public institutions the benefit of the service of the best man of the state, and at all times upheld the legitimate rights of the workingmen. Recognizing the fact that the problem of taxation needed regulation, in his messages of 1892, 1893 and 1894, he urged the legislature that a remedy be applied. In 1892 he recommended legislation for the safety and comfort of steam railroad employes, and the following year urged the furnishing of automatic couplers and air-brakes for all railroad cars used in the state.

When, in 1896, the Republican party, in con- vention assembled at St. Louis, selected a man to - represent their principles in the highest office within the gift of the American people, it was not a surprise to the public that the choice fell upon Major Mckinley. The campaign that followed was one of the most exciting in the history of the country since the period of reconstruction. Especial interest centered in the fact that the point at issue seemed, not, as in former days, free trade or protection, but whether or not the government should declare for the free coinage of silver. This question divided the voters of the country upon somewhat different lines than the old- time principles of the Republican and Democratic parties and thus made the campaign a memorable one. The supporters of the gold standard main- tained that silver monometallism would precipi- tate a panic and permanently injure the business interests of the country, and the people, by a large majority, supported these principles.

January 25, 1871, Major Mckinley was united in marriage with Miss Ida Saxton, who was born in June, 1847, the daughter of James A. Saxton. Their two children died in 1874, within a short time of each other, one at the age of three years and the other in infancy.

LACKAWANNA COUNTY

PENNSYLVANIA

INTRODUCTORY

HE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to perpetuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, thie enlightenment of the age, and the duty that men of the present time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In biographical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number remaining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preservation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.

To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to preserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory have been in proportion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the naines and deeds of their great rulers. The exhumations made by the archæologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks was for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monuments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea-to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the extreme, give but a faint idea of the lives and character of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crumbling into dust.

It was left to modern ages to establish an intelligent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost unlimited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.

To the present generation, however, we are indebted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.

The scythe of Time cuts down all; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his children or friends may erect to his memory in the cemetery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.

To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits; for the same reason we collect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone; to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.

JAMES BLAIR.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

J AMES BLAIR, president of the Scranton Savings Bank, is well known as one of the foremost business men of this city, one who has for years thoroughly identified himself with the best interests of the east, his far-reach- ing enterprise, aptitude for affairs and broad public spirit being potent in extending its rail- road interests and enlarging its commerce. The bank, which he organized in 1867, and of which he has since been president and the principal stockholder, has over $1,100,000 on deposit, with large capital and surplus. Notwithstanding the fact that he has had more than seventy years of active business life, he is still as keen in decision, as energetic in action, as in the days gone by, and his large interests receive careful attention on his part.

The Blair family was founded in America by John Blair, grandfather of James, and of Scotch birth, who, crossing the Atlantic in the latter part of the eighteenth century, settled in Warren County, N. J. He married an American lady of English parentage, and among their children was James, Sr., born in New Jersey, a farmer by occupation, and in politics first a Federalist and then a Whig. His death occurred when he was forty-eight years of age. He married Rachael Insley, who was born in Northampton County, Pa., of Scotch descent, and died at the age of eighty years. Their family consisted of seven sons and three daughters, namely: Samuel and William, deceased; John I., the founder of Blairstown, N. J., and of the academy at that place; Robert, deceased; James, of this sketch; Jacob M., who is living retired in Knoxville, Tenn .; Mary, Catherine, David B. and Elizabeth, deceased.

Born in Sussex (now Warren) County, N. J., May 15, 1807, the subject of this article attended the district schools about one year altogether, and the broad information he now possesses has been acquired principally by self-culture. In 1826 he embarked in the mercantile business at Marksboro, Warren County, N. J., where he built up a large trade, remaining for forty years. In company with his brother, John I., in 1831 he organized the Belvidere Bank (subsequently changed to a national bank), in which he was elected director for the sixty-sixth time in suc- cession in 1897, being the oldest bank director in the United States. His brother, John I., the first president and still at the head of the institu- tion, came in as a director in 1832. November I, 1848, the two brothers organized the Lacka- wanna Iron & Coal Company, in connection with twenty-one others, and of these original incor- porators they are the sole survivors.

With the inception of the present system of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Mr. Blair was identified as a stockholder and di- rector. The road then ran between Scranton and Binghamton, but later was built as far as the Delaware Water Gap. For years he was con- nected with the company as a director, and still retains an important interest in its properties. The extent of his interests in Pennsylvania led him, in 1865, to transfer his home to this city, and here he has since resided. The first street railway in this place, nine miles in length, he assisted in building, and was president and gen- eral manager of the People's Street Railway Company, which completed the road in 1868; also served as a director until recently.

At the first meeting of the board of trustees of

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the Scranton Savings Bank, in 1867, Mr. Blair was elected president, and has since been an- nually re-elected. Besides the responsibilities connected with this position, he has been largely interested in railroads and has invested, both in the east and west, but has been so cautious and sagacious that he has seldom found his specula- tions losing ventures. Among the roads which he assisted in building and in which he has served as a director are the Iowa, Cedar Rapids & Mis- souri, Iowa Falls & Sioux City, Sioux City & Pacific, Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley, all now leased to the Northwestern system. For some years he was vice-president, and is still a large stockholder in the Dickson Manufacturing Company. For twenty-five years or more he has been one of the heaviest stockholders in the First National Bank of Scranton. He has been long interested in the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Com- pany and is a director in the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company. He is also a director in the Moses Taylor Hospital.

From this review, it will be seen that Mr. Blair justly ranks among the foremost men of Scran- ton and this section of the country. Though ad- vanced in years, age has not dimmed the lustre of his mental vision or impaired his intellectual faculties. Time has dealt leniently with him, permitting him to enjoy the twilight of exis- tence in comfort, happiness and a reasonable de- gree of health, surrounded and ministered to by his children and a host of old-time friends. When a young man he voted the Whig ticket, and since the organization of the Republican party has been one of its stanch adherents. During the war he assisted in raising funds and troops for the Union service. His first ballot was cast for John Quincy Adams in 1828, at his second nomi- nation. He was the first postmaster at Marks- boro, N. J., and filled that position for several years. Since boyhood he has been identified with the Presbyterian Church, and has served as a member of the board of trustees of the First Church.

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Portrait and biographical record of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: New York : Chapman Publishing co. Number of Pages: 1068

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York : Chapman Publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1068