USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume I > Part 17
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Like many other successful business men, Mr. Fleming takes a large interest in public affairs as well as in the field of politics. He has been elected as the representative of the First Ward, Pitts- burg, to the Select Council a number of times, his re-election in each instance being the natural outcome of a most careful atten- tion to the interests of his constituents. He is an active member of the Central Board of Education of the city of Pittsburg, and is a profound believer in the value of thorough school training as an element in the creation of good citizenship. In relation to his views on this subject, he has from time to time been the author and supporter of many measures tending to improve the school system, and he is recognized as a competent authority in the administration of the affairs of the School Board. Throughout his entire career Mr. Fleming has taken an active interest in public affairs. He has always identified himself with the Democratic party, and for a number of years was President of the celebrated Randall Club of Pittsburg. He was an ardent supporter of Presi- dent Cleveland during both his first and second terms of office, and also rendered great service to his party as the lieutenant of National Chairman Harrity in the conduct of Democratic politics in Allegheny County. Mr. Fleming has been a delegate to all State conventions for the past four years, and also served 'as a delegate from his district to the Democratic National conventions
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of 1892 and 1896, when his voice was heard and his influence exerted to the best interests of his party. While finding time in his active busy life to give some attention to public affairs in the manner indicated, he has withal no ambition for public office, his large business interests being his first care. In this respect he is a leader in his community, for the able direction of the affairs of his firm is such as to win the highest encomiums and praise in commercial and mercantile circles. From the profits of his splendid business he is a liberal giver to all worthy chari- ties, and in any and all work tending to improve the condition of humanity he is an active participant.
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ROBERT H. FOEDERER.
S OME of the most successful men of the Common- wealth-those who have attained prominence in the business world during the last score of years -are to be found on the roll of honor comprising the self-made men of the State. Robert H. Foederer, the subject of this biography, began his career at the age of sixteen as an apprentice in a morocco factory. To be sure, the establishment was his father's, but when he entered the plant it was merely as a humble beginner without any more chance of promotion than any of his fellow workmen. This was the result of his own determination, as well as of paternal advice, for, when a young man, Mr. Foederer made up his mind that the surest way to succeed was to succeed by his own efforts. From the position of apprentice he worked himself through several estab- lishments of a like nature, until, mastering all the details of the trade, while at the same time obtaining a thorough understanding of its business, he eventually went into the manufacturing of morocco on his own account. He is now one of the largest manu- facturers of glazed kid in the world, and his factory is one of the largest and best appointed in this country.
ROBERT H. FOEDERER was born in Frankenhousen, Prussia, Germany, on the 16th day of May, 1860. His parents were Edward and Augusta Foederer, and they were frugal and indus- trious people of many sterling qualities and looked upon in their community with great respect. When he was an infant his parents immigrated to America and located in Philadelphia, bringing him with them. They prospered exceedingly well upon American soil, and the young son grew to sturdy boyhood. He
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was sent to the public schools and received a supplementry educa- tion at a private academy in Philadelphia. At an early age he evinced a strong desire to enter the business world, and accordingly his parents permitted him to leave school and adopt whatever course into which his ambitious nature directed him. In his seventeenth year he entered the morocco establishment of his father, Edward Foederer, who was then one of the best known men in the leather trade of the city. The son proceeded to learn the business in all its details just as any other apprentice would do, beginning in the smallest and most humble capacity and working his way through the various branches until he had thoroughly mastered the mechanical as well as the executive details of the establish- ment. For a few years he served with his father, during which time he evinced a strong determination to advance himself with as much thoroughness as though he had no prospects whatever save those which he made for himself. He left the Foederer Morocco works and sought employment in other factories. Being a splendid workman and a thoroughly bright and ambitious young man, he easily obtained work, and greatly increased his knowledge and experience until eventually he became one of the most skil- ful morocco workers in the city, as well as one of its brightest business men.
On May Ist, 1885, Robert H. Foederer began business for himself in a small way and with varying success. There was a great deal of competition to contend with, but, by his unfailing energy and his determination to succeed, he finally succeeded in maintaining a foothold which his close application to business firmly established. Mr. Foederer extended his field of operations gradually until he became one of the best known morocco manu- facturers in the country. He introduced a number of improve- ments in the work of tanning and its branches, and in the perfecting of certain processes he exercised his ability and exper- ience with such success that before long he attained a large fame in the trade as one of its master minds. He was the first morocco manufacturer successfully to make leather with the chrome tannage process, and the products thus put on the market met with
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immense favor owing to their superiority and low price. Through the large business which grew out of this improvement, Mr. Foederer's present factory, built in 1892, is the result. The factory is located at Frankford, Philadelphia, and it is the largest plant of its kind in the world. This fact attests more strongly than any amount of praise the progressiveness and enterprise which are among Mr. Foederer's greatest qualities. He is a man who, taking a chosen line of work, built upon it an edifice of prosperity and permanent success which he reared through his own efforts, rising from a humble beginning as a mere appren- tice to the proprietorship of one of the largest concerns of the kind on the globe. The manufacturing of glazed kid occupies his entire time, and he is recognized as a leader in this branch of the trade. However, Mr. Foederer has from time to time evidenced an interest in other business matters, of a financial nature more particularly. He is a Director in the Tenth National Bank and of the Columbia Avenue Trust Company. The affairs of both of these institutions have always profited by his advice and co-operation. While essentially a man active in business life and one prominent from the public's point of view, he has never held any public office, preferring rather to give his entire attention to the demands of his business. This has been his rule through life, and that it is a good one as far as his individual case is concerned has been amply demonstrated by its successful issue.
On June 8, 1881, Mr. Foederer was married to Miss Caroline Fisher. They have two children, Florence and Percy. Mr. Foederer's home life is a happy one, and although he is known in several of the leading social clubs, he gives his chief attention to the family when not occupied in the numerous duties of his business.
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HENRY P. FORD.
IN Western Pennsylvania there are many living instances of what ambition can accomplish, when backed up by natural abilities and determination to win. Espe- cially in the political arena is this demonstrated most fully. One of the best known public men in that part of the State is the present Mayor of Pittsburg, Henry P. Ford. From his sixteenth year until the present time, he has been active in advancing himself, with the result that he is to-day a leader in his party, and is regarded as a man of progress through- out the entire State.
HENRY P. FORD has lived nearly all his life in Pittsburg, and the interests of that city seem to have been woven with his own. From his school days he has been actively identified either with the business prosperity of his city, or, as in later life, with its political affairs. After receiving an education at the public and select schools, Mr. Ford, when sixteen years old, was given a position as clerk in one of the local business establishments. His close attention to the affairs of his employers, and a natural aptitude for work, soon attracted the attention of his firm, and he was rapidly advanced. In financial matters he was particularly quick, and soon made for himself an excellent reputation as an accountant. Within a year or so he was made bookkeeper for the Associated Firemen's Insurance Company, and remained until it finally closed its affairs. His knowledge of finances had attracted general attention, and following this position he was offered a similar one with the Eureka Insurance Company, where he was given charge of the books. From there he went with Singer,
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Nimick & Company, in 1861, remaining with that concern nine years, through a series of advancements which spoke well for the trust imposed in him. With a good insight into business affairs, he embarked in the commercial world for himself in 1871. His management of his own affairs was entirely successful, and his firm, Emerson, Ford & Company, saw manufacturers, of Beaver Falls, became favorably known throughout the country. He con- tinued his interest there until 1876. He went back to the field of his former labors in 1878, being engaged by the Crescent Tube Company, Limited, of which he was afterwards made Secretary and Treasurer. In 1881 he went to the Pennsylvania Tube Com- pany, where he did excellent work, but, unfortunately, during the next year, severe illness in his home compelled him to relinquish work for a time, when, through the death of a relative, he became a member of the extensive lumber firm of Ford & Lacy, who owned large interests in Clarion and Forest counties. The relative, whose place he took in the firm, being in litigation with the other partners, he was obliged to follow it up, and, after three years of one of the most closely contested series of legal contests in the counties of Allegheny, Clarion and Forest, succeeded in bringing it to a successful and satisfactory termination. After this he did not engage in active business, but found a congenial field for his labors in politics, and soon developed that political sagacity and clear-sightedness which made him so fit for the best work of his party. In 1881, while still in business, he was elected to Councils, and it was then that his political career of success began.
Mr. Ford was re-elected to Councils every term until he was taken from that office by his constituents, and elected to the larger and most important one of Mayor of his city. His deep interest in the affairs of Pittsburg, and his successful management of the details of municipal government, won for him admiration and friendship on all sides. On April 2, 1888, he was made President of Select Council. This was the stepping-stone to his election as Mayor. He was placed in his present high trust, April 6, 1896, by a handsome majority. As Mayor of Pittsburg, Henry P. Ford has more ably than ever demonstrated his thorough fitness for
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the post of Chief Executive, and there is little doubt that the brightest part of his political career in Pennsylvania is yet to come. There is no man in the great Iron City more intimately acquainted with its needs and its resources, and none more capable of making the best use of this knowledge. His long experience in public affairs has equipped him with an executive ability suffi- cient to meet every exigency that may arise in municipal govern- ment. Since his incumbency in office, Mr. Ford has demonstrated himself a model official, and the list of his public services is a long one. He has introduced many needed improvements, and has served his city's interest conscientiously. As a trustee of the famous Carnegie Library, Mr. Ford has used his knowledge to the best ends, and his services on some of its most important committees has been decidedly valuable. In other ways Pittsburg's Mayor has demonstrated the warm interest he feels in his city's welfare. Socially he is a favorite, and in several societies his influence is strongly felt.
Mr. Ford's home life is a happy one. In this, as well as in his political and social affairs, he has been blessed with success. He was married to Rebecca, daughter of John Gillespie, of Phila- delphia, in June, 1870. He has three daughters : Sarah, the eldest, being the wife of Joseph H. Hunter, of Pittsburg, to whom she was married in October, 1894. The others, Mary and Katherine, reside with their parents.
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WILLIAM W. FOULKROD.
S TATISTICS show that among the leading cities of the world Philadelphia ranks as one of the most important as a manufacturing centre and in the distribution of textiles. The firm of Hood, Foulkrod & Company is known wher- ever there is commerce as one of the most representative of the great wholesale dry-goods houses, and William W. Foulkrod, the subject of this biography, who is widely known as a business man of the highest attainments, has been a prominent factor in the development of the firm's great business.
WILLIAM W. FOULKROD was born in Philadelphia, November 22, 1846, in the section now known as Frankford, where the Foulkrod family has resided for several generations. His father's name was Levi Foulkrod, and he was born in Philadelphia, March 8, 1811, dying there December 21, 1854. Mr. Foulkrod's mother's maiden name was Jane Adams Barnhurst, and she was born in Philadelphia, February 11, 1820, and is still living. Levi Foulkrod resided in Philadelphia during his entire life and was prominently connected with public affairs. At the time of his death he was a member of the State Senate of Pennsylvania. Mr. Foulkrod's grandfather, John Foulkrod, was born in Philadelphia, March 8, 1792. John Foulkrod was also prominent in public affairs, being for several years a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature and the Senate. He was the Philadelphia representative in the Constitutional Convention of 1837 and 1838. He was a soldier of the War of 1812. Mr. Foulkrod's great-grandfather, Jacob Foulkrod, was born in Philadelphia, April 20, 1760. Jacob Foulkrod was one of the Revolutionary soldiers and participated among
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other engagements in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, German- town and Monmouth. The latter's father, George Foulkrod, also was born in the same part of Philadelphia as the other members of the family. Mr. Foulkrod's paternal ancestors were Quakers, and all of his family, in fact, were people of a most respected position in their communities. One of the ancestors on the maternal side, Thomas Barnhurst, established a large brass foundry in this city about 1812.
After receiving his education in the public schools, William W. Foulkrod connected himself, on January 1, 1863, with the firm of Mustin & Bennett in order to learn the wholesale hosiery, glove and notion business. Mr. Foulkrod remained with that house during its different business changes, and, January 1, 1879, the firm of Thomas J. Mustin & Company was formed to succeed what was at that time John Mustin & Son, they having in turn succeeded Mustin & Bennett. Mr. Foulkrod became a member of the firm of Thomas J. Mustin & Company, and from that time on took an energetic part in the management. In April, 1887, when the firm sold their entire business to John Wanamaker, it was consolidated with his wholesale business, and from that time until the formation of the firm of Hood, Foulkrod & Company, in July, 1890, Mr. Foulkrod was connected with Mr. Wanamaker in his wholesale business. From July 1, 1890, when Mr. Foulkrod became a member of the present firm, he has devoted himself to the management of its large and constantly increasing business, which is one of the most extensive in wholesale dry-goods in the country, the firm employing in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty traveling men and three hundred and fifty local clerks. The firm is represented in every part of the country and also has offices in Europe.
In addition to Mr. Foulkrod's large business he has devoted much time to matters of interest to the city of Philadelphia, being one of the organizers and the first President of the Trades League, an office which he still holds. The Trades League has over two thousand members, and from the date of its organization, in March, 1891, it has grown largely through Mr. Foulkrod's efforts.
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Mr. Foulkrod is also a member of the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia and has for several years been on the Legislative Committee of that organization. He is a member of the Art Club of Philadelphia; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Germantown Cricket Club. He is an active and enthusiastic member of the Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee, organized for the purpose of extending aid to the victims of famine or flood in any part of the world, the Mayor of the city being chairman. It was this organization which, during the memorable famine in Russia, fitted out and sent to that country two vessels loaded with provisions and which also assisted at Johnstown and other places where famine and flood wrought havoc. Mr. Foulkrod was the first President, and still continues in the management, of the Philadelphia and Frankford Railroad; he is President of the Board of Trustees of Frankford Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest in Philadelphia, having celebrated its one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Philadelphia Museum and is a Director of the Frankford Library ; a member of the Frankford Lodge of Masons; is a Director of the Frankford Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and is connected with a large number of other charitable and business organizations.
On June 7, 1871, Mr. Foulkrod was married to Mary C. Buckius, who was also from a very old Philadelphia family who have resided in the same section of Philadelphia for several gener- ations past. He has two children : William W. Foulkrod, Jr., and Minnie B. Foulkrod. In the affairs of the various organizations with which he is connected Mr. Foulkrod continues to take an active part, and his chief interests are centered in the development of the immense business of the firm of Hood, Foulkrod & Com- pany, which is one of the most notable commercial organizations in a city of manufactures and commerce.
LEVI G. FOUSE.
0 NE of the most important adjuncts to modern finan- cial methods is the system of insurance, and prob- ably no greater advancement has been exhibited in any department of public enterprise than in this. And among those who have been identified with this progressive movement, the name of President L. G. Fouse stands out with prominence.
LEVI GARDNER FOUSE was born October 21, 1850, at Clover Creek, Blair County, Pennsylvania. He came of sturdy, energetic and thrifty Teutonic stock. It is to the inheritance of the vir- tues of this parentage that Mr. Fouse may attribute his suc- cess, as the energetic and busy life to which he was inured during his boyhood, and the strict integrity which was instilled in him, together with his exceptional physique for endurance, have enabled him, with his superior mental endowments, to attain his present commanding position. Mr. Fouse's education was obtained at the country school three or four months each year, followed by a course at Juniata Collegiate Institute, Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, and Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. He con- cluded his collegiate education at Mercersburg College, Pennsyl- vania, which he had entered for the purpose of preparing himself for the ministry, in compliance with his father's desire.
The eminently practical character of Mr. Fouse's mentality has never made it possible for fiction or romance to enlist his interest ; in fact, he has never been what one would call a student, though he has devoted much time to mathematics and the sciences. He has always enjoyed the faculty of quickly imbibing the ideas of others through observation or personal contact. Mr
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Fouse's business career really commenced when he was yet a student at Mercersburg, for, while there, although supplied with ample funds by his father, he utilized his spare time in solicit- ing orders for a book for which he had the agency. So suc- cessful were his efforts that he was soon able to convert it into a general agency, by employing four of his fellow students to assist him. Thus, at the very outset of his life, his enter- prising and energetic character asserted itself. This taste for business life so influenced Mr. Fouse that he left Mercersburg College in January, 1870, and gave up all thought of entering the ministry. Shortly afterwards, he married Miss Mary B. Hause, of Mercersburg, and accepted a clerkship with the American Iron Works at Pittsburg, where he performed his duties so intelli- gently and faithfully that he received three promotions within a year. While holding this position, he was solicited for insur- ance on the endowment plan. When the agent called the second time, Mr. Fouse had made a calculation, whereby he was able to demonstrate that it would be more advantageous to him to take a straight life policy, and to invest the remainder in a building and loan association, than to take endowment insurance. Mr. Fouse's astuteness ended by his being prevailed upon to take an agency with the company.
It was in this very unusual manner that he made his debut in the insurance world. Some time later, having established a reputation as a successful insurance man, although only twenty- one years old, he was engaged to organize a fire insurance company, and was afterwards made its general manager, which position he subsequently gave up to interest himself in manu- facturing and in a mercantile agency business. About 1878, through the failure of a large number of old-line life insurance companies (incurring a loss of over $50,000,000 to their mem- bers), insurance had come temporarily almost into disrepute. The mathematical doctrines of probability having engaged Mr. Fouse's attention to a large degree, he knew that the failure had not been due to the basic principles of insurance, but to some inherent weakness in organization, method or management. He
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believed that absolutely safe insurance was possible, and that insurance protection, such as people sought, could be furnished, if a company were rightly organized and conducted. As the result of his deliberations, he evolved one of the safest and most scientific methods of insurance that have ever been exploited, and he organized the Fidelity Mutual Life Association, of Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania, as its exponent, for the purpose of proving that insurance could not only be furnished with absolute secur- ity, but also at much lower cost than it had been.
Mr. Fouse has not only been the Fidelity's Actuary and President since its inception, but he has also acted as Consult- ing Actuary for a number of other companies and fraternities at various times, and has contributed largely, in a most valuable way, to insurance literature and mathematics. Mr. Fouse, among other connections of trust and honor, is President of the Amer- ican Faculty of Actuaries, and the author of its text books; he has been a member of the Statistical Association, of Boston, since 1888; a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, of Philadelphia, since 1891; he is a Director of the Third National Bank; he is a member of the Executive Committee of National Convention of Mutual Life Underwriters; is Consulting Actuary for the Army Officers' Life Association of the U. S. War Department ; Subsidiary High Court of Canada of the Ancient Order of Foresters, and Life Insurance Clearing Company, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; and is a member of, and formerly was Pres- ident of, the Presbyterian Sunday-School Superintendents' Asso- ciation of Philadelphia; he is a member of Presbyterian Social Union, and Superintendent of Northminster Presbyterian Sunday- School, of West Philadelphia.
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