USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume I > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
-
.
239
CHARLES GEYER.
Ice Company, the latter of which has grown to such proportions that it is now the most extensive operator and largest dealer in and manufacturer of ice in western Pennsylvania.
Mr. Geyer has always taken great interest in political affairs, for which he has evinced considerable aptitude, and has long stood high in the councils of the Republican Party, of which he is an ardent member. His high rating in commercial circles and his sterling integrity and well known ability have won him marked recognition at the hands of his political associates, and as a result Mr. Geyer has found time to lay aside his business cares and devote a portion of his attention to the management of the affairs of the municipality. He served six years in the Common Council of Allegheny, and there amply upheld his reputation as a public- spirited citizen, but resigned in 1883, on account of his removal from the Sixth Ward, which he represented, to the Eleventh, where he has since resided. His conspicuous services in official life, as well as the prominent part he had taken in the progressive devel- opment of the thriving city of Allegheny, led to his nomination, in the spring of 1896, by the Republican Party, as its candidate for Mayor, and he was elected without opposition.
Mr. Geyer is at present devoting almost the whole of his time to the exacting duties of his positions as Mayor of Allegheny and as Vice-President of the Chautauqua Lake Ice Company, still find- ing opportunity, however, to take a place in the forefront of every movement calculated to further the material prosperity of the city of his birth.
WILLIAM B. GILL.
L ESS than half a century ago the "click-click " of the telegraph ticker was practically a new and strange music in the country, and it was only the large cities of Pennsylvania which enjoyed the innumerable benefits of the then wonderful inven- tion. The progress along every line which the State of Pennsyl- vania has made since that time is represented very thoroughly in the vast improvements which have taken place in the great telegraph system which connects city with city, town with town, and hamlet with hamlet from one end of the country to the other. The great organizations which have so wonderfully developed this system have engaged the services of some of the brainiest and brightest men of the time, and William B. Gill, Superintendent of the Sixth District, Eastern Division of the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, is one of them. Since 1861, when he first entered the tele- graph service as a messenger boy with the Inland Telegraph Company, he has devoted all his time and energy to the develop- ment and improvement of every branch of his chosen profession.
WILLIAM B. GILL was born in Philadelphia, December 27, 1847. He was but a lad when he entered the service of the Inland Telegraph Company, but his powers of perception were keen, and he quickly saw that in a comparatively new enterprise such as that was at the time, he would have opportunities to rise; conse- quently he determined to continue in the service, and, subsequently, in 1866, was employed by the Western Union Company. His ability and industry at once attracted attention, and he was made Assistant Cashier of the Philadelphia office. His promotion to the position of Chief Clerk in the Superintendent's office under James
240
.
A.E.Francis & Co.
MBbill
24I
WILLIAM B. GILL.
Merrihew followed in 1875, and he was later made Assistant Superintendent. On Mr. Merrihew's transfer to New York, in 1880, as Assistant General Superintendent, Mr. Gill was appointed Superintendent of the Sixth District, which position he held until 1881, when he resigned and engaged in the construction of the Bankers' and Merchants' Telegraph Line, between New York and Philadelphia, and the American Rapid Telegraph Line, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, which were completed in a very short time. In 1882 Mr. Gill accepted a position as Manager of the Mutual Union Telegraph Company, at Philadelphia, but he resigned the same year to become General Superintendent of the Delaware and Atlantic Telephone and Telegraph Company. By this time he had thoroughly mastered all the details of the service, both from a managerial and constructive point of view, and was accounted one of the most thorough-going and expert telegraph men in the country. In 1883 he was again appointed Superin- tendent of the Sixth District by the Western Union Telegraph Company, retaining, at the same time, his position with the Dela- ware and Atlantic Company. He has held the Superintendency of this district ever since, profitably extending its field of useful- ness, and he is to-day one of the most popular and able officials of the great Western Union Company.
The district under Mr. Gill's care is one of immense impor- tance. It extends from the northern part of the State of New Jersey to the Potomac River and from the sea coast to the Alle- ghany Mountains, and it embraces the vast trunk routes between the North, South and the West. It includes the cities of Phila- delphia, Baltimore and Washington; has nearly 1,300 offices, with 6,500 miles of pole-line, 43,000 miles of wire, and 2,000 employés. But Mr. Gill, aside from these, has other important connections. His knowledge of telegraphy, in both a technical and official capacity, is so complete that his services are valuable to several other organizations. He is President and General Manager of the Philadelphia Local Telegraph Company, and Director and Execu- tive Officer of numerous telegraph companies and other corporations. In 1889 he was appointed one of the Commissioners to represent
242
WILLIAM B. GILL.
the State of Pennsylvania at the Paris Exposition, and on March I, 1893, he was appointed a Member of the Board of World's Fair Managers. Mr. Gill has received honors in other directions, his capabilities having been recognized upon numerous occasions. On June 16, 1890, he was appointed Commissioner of the Board of Public Charities by Governor Beaver. He filled this office with great credit, so much so, that he was re-appointed by both Gov- ernor Pattison and Governor Hastings, still retaining the post. In 1889 he was appointed a member of the Board of Public Educa- tion from the Thirty-second District, serving the full term of three years. He is, without doubt, one of the most active men in busi- ness and public affairs in the State; his progress points out a way to success which may well serve as an example to emulative young men. Mr. Gill is a Director in the Equitable Trust Com- pany of Philadelphia, and in that capacity he has always indicated a remarkable business tact and judgment. One of the most noteworthy tributes to Mr. Gill's ability was his appointment to the Vice-Presidency of the Bell Telephone Company, of Phila- delphia, in 1888. He served to his own distinction and the Com- pany's profit until 1895.
Beginning life practically as a messenger boy, Mr. Gill has advanced step by step into an enviable position of prominence and respect in the State of Pennsylvania. Through his entire career of activity and zeal he has ever been actuated by motives of the greatest integrity, a fact which has won for him the respect and highest admiration of all who know him.
Uni. B. Given
WILLIAM B. GIVEN.
AMONG the brilliant and brainy men the Scotch-Irish race has given to the State of Pennsylvania may be numbered the subject of this biography. His family has from time to time been known in the history of the State for its good and great men, and on this roll William B. Given occupies a deserved place. In the politics of the State there have probably been greater oppor- tunities afforded for individual advancement than through any other channel, and the marked abilities possessed by Mr. Given have combined to make his position in the Democratic Party a con- spicuous one. As a lawyer he has won both honorable recogni- tion and a competence.
The Given family are of Scotch-Irish descent. James Given, the grandfather of William B., was born in the north of Ireland, and, having emigrated to America during his early life, settled in Chester County, removing later to Columbia, Lancaster County, where he engaged in the lumber business. He became quite pros- perous, and at the time of his death possessed considerable wealth. Politically, he was a Democrat, and was a man of prominence in the community. He married and had nine children. William F., one of this number, was born near Downingtown, Chester County, January 20, 1813, and, during the year 1816, removed to Columbia, where he grew to man's estate and succeeded to the busi- ness of his father. In 1859 he retired from active business, and purchased a farm near Baltimore City, Maryland, and settled thereon, where his death occurred in 1862. William F. Given married Miss Susan A., a daughter of Rev. William Barns, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and as a result of this union, WILLIAM
243
244
WILLIAM B. GIVEN.
B. GIVEN was born September 25, 1856, in Columbia, though Mary- land, to which he early removed, was the scene of his boyhood experience. He was a student in private schools in Baltimore, later at the Saunders Institute, at Philadelphia, then at the Univer- sity of Michigan, from which he graduated in his twentieth year. Having chosen the law as his profession, he began his studies in Philadelphia in the offices of Vincent L. Bradford and Emanuel Rey, and completed them under the direction of Hugh M. North, of Columbia, being admitted to the Bar in December, 1877. He has practiced law in Columbia ever since his admission to the Bar, and has been successful. Mr. Given manifested an active interest in public affairs, and served for six years as a member and Presi- dent of the Columbia Board of Education. For many years he was Solicitor of Columbia Borough. In addition to his professional duties he is largely interested in the Electric Railway System of Lancaster County, and has recently been appointed Receiver of the Pennsylvania Traction Company, a corporation operating fifty-nine miles of electric railway. He is the President of the Wilson Laundry Machinery Company and a Director in the Columbia National Bank; the Keeley Stove Company, the Triumph Shirt Company, the Columbia Water Company, the Columbia Gas Com- pany, East Columbia Land Company, the Triumph Embroidery Company, and a Trustee of the large silk mill, and also of the large lace mill, now in operation at Columbia. In politics Mr. Given is an active and pronounced Democrat. He was a member of the State Committee for many years, Chairman of his County Committee for a number of terms, and has been a Delegate to almost every State Convention for the past fifteen years. He was a Delegate to the National Convention in 1892 and in 1896. He was Chairman of the Democratic State Convention which was held at Allentown in April, 1896, and in his address to the Convention took high and strong grounds in favor of a single gold standard. At the Democratic National Convention, in 1896, he took a decided stand against the position of the majority on the financial ques- tion, and before leaving Chicago announced his determination to temporarily part company with the organization. He was active
245
WILLIAM B. GIVEN.
in advocating a third ticket, and it was through his efforts that a National Democratic County Convention was held in Lancaster County. He subsequently was sent as a Delegate to the Musical Fund Hall Convention, at Philadelphia, and as a Delegate to the National Democratic Convention, held in Indianapolis, which nomi- nated Palmer and Buckner. He was elected State Chairman of the new party organization for Pennsylvania, and for ten weeks con- ducted an earnest, active and aggressive campaign, with headquar- ters in the Bullitt Building and Hotel Walton, Philadelphia. He was a candidate of his party for the office of District Attorney in 1878, and was nominated for Congressional honors in 1882.
Mr. Given was married September 5, 1879, to Mazie E., only daughter of Abraham Bruner, of Columbia. Mr. and Mrs. Given have four children-Erna, Jane B., William B., Jr., and Susan A.
JAMES GAY GORDON.
AMES GAY GORDON, Judge of Court of Common J Pleas, No. 3, of Philadelphia, was born November II, 1855. His career has been one of successes, and now, at the early age of forty-two years, his char- acter before the community as judge, orator and literary man, places him among the foremost of Philadelphia citi- zens. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the son of Andrew Gordon and Mary Caldwell Gordon, both from the County Antrim, Ireland. He was educated in the public schools, and graduated from the Central High School February, 1873. He studied law with Lewis C. Cassidy, and was admitted to the Bar February, 1876. He married Kate LeCompte Woolford, of Alexandria, Virginia. November 14, 1883, and has six children living: John Douglass Gordon, James Gay Gordon, Jr., Mary Caldwell Gordon, Charles Caldwell Gordon, Kate Woolford Gordon, and Andrew Gordon.
Elected to the State Senate in November, 1880, he, by his force, industry and eloquence, attained prominence in a body strong in characters like Senators William A. Wallace, John Stewart, Simon P. Wolverton, Eckley B. Coxe, etc. In the legislative session of 1883, on January 25th, Senator Gordon presented a bill entitled, "An Act relative to the supervision and control of asylums or houses in which lunatics are detained," which became a law May 8, 1883. The effect of this law was to give safeguards to persons confined. This incident happily connects with the earnest investi- gation he is now making of the condition of the criminal and convict insane in the Eastern Penitentiary, and the fruits of his first labors may, at this writing (1897), be reaped in some per- manent reform of the present penal and lunacy systems.
246
Human Tay Andon
247
JAMES GAY GORDON.
From the commencement of his political career he has been prominent in championing reform. His voice and guidance were active in the public and private counsels that gave to Demo- cracy so many successes in the period following 1877. As a Sena- tor he stood in the sessions of 1881 and 1883, as the defender of economic measures. During the latter of these sessions Lewis C. Cassidy was the Attorney-General, William S. Stenger the Secretary of the Commonwealth and James Gay Gordon was the active representative in the Senate for all that the reform State administration stood. His personal force and most effective ora- torical abilities were perhaps best shown in the "extra session " of the Legislature, in 1883, when he held the minority Demo- cratic party to the endeavor to accomplish the passage of an apportionment bill as required by the Constitution. He com- mendably evidenced the consistency of his convictions by returning to the State Treasury his salary for the "extra session " upon the ground that the Senate, having failed to adopt a new apportionment, as commanded by the Constitution, members were not entitled to any pay. He was prominently active in securing the passage of the bill to prevent the consolidation of competing telegraph lines, and he labored. for the Free Pipe Line bills, and presented and urged, in June, 1883, the appointment of a com- mittee of investigation of the Standard Oil Company and foreign corporations in this State.
He was appointed a Judge of Philadelphia County October 17, 1885, to fill the unexpired term of the Hon. William H. Yerkes, deceased. He was elected for the full term in Novem- ber, 1886. He is commended for his independence and fearless- ness, his industry, and constant attendance, and the conscientious performance of his duties in the Quarter Sessions as well as the Common Pleas Courts. He received, in 1896, the unani- mous nomination of both Democratic and Republican conventions, and was re-elected in November of that year without any opposition, for another ten years' term. He was prominent upon the bench in the first four sessions of the License Court in Phil- adelphia. The bench was composed, in these sessions, of Judges I .- 17.
248
JAMES GAY GORDON.
D. Newlin Fell, Robert N. Wilson, F. Amdée Bregy and James Gay Gordon. When the High License Laws of 1887 went into force there were 5773 licenses in Philadelphia. The Court cut them down to 1343 at their first session in 1888; in 1889, to 1203; in 1890, to 1173. These labors were arduous and exacting, and were conducted under criticisms, and even threats, that made the work most embarrassing, but the independent action of the Court in the interests of the people is now fully vindicated.
Of his public speeches, his address at the annual dinner of the Scotch-Irish Society, February 11, 1892, and his eulogies of State Senator John Cochran in the Senate on February 15, 1883, and of Judge Ludlow at the Bar meeting, September 22, 1886, best exhibit his varied style and his eminent powers. His mind is philanthropic, and his intellect and labors are constantly exer- cised in formulating and aiding reform ideas in Government, or in giving his personal and judicial influence and power to the abatement of public evils, as shown notably by his effective efforts in stopping boxing and fighting exhibitions, in closing the immoral "dives" that infested Philadelphia, and in his present investigation of the criminal and convict insane. An incident will, in this connection, be recalled. It was Judge Gordon's severe denunciation of the "Camden Marriages" in a case brought to his notice in Quarter Sessions Court in 1894, where a middle aged tramp had taken a girl of fifteen from Philadelphia, and had a marriage ceremony performed, that led to action by the religious bodies in Philadelphia and Camden, and aroused the press of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The agitation led to the passage, in 1897, of a Reform Act by the New Jersey Legislature that now makes a license necessary. As Judge he is also noted for the perspicuous style and concise language which make his charges models for the members of the Bar, and, at the same time, clear to the juror. At the time of his second nomination for Judge, in 1896, the active Bar was practically unanimous for his re-nomina- tion, and he received the unexampled endorsement of over one thousand lawyers, without regard to party.
Vermentarriscou.
"hr Rembrandt Eng . "
CLEMENT A. GRISCOM.
HEREVER on the globe the American vessels sail or steam, the name of Clement A. Griscom is a familiar one. Chiefly to his efforts is it due that the American flag floats over one of the most important steamship lines of the world. The story of Mr. Griscom's rise in life and of his identification with the prosperity of the State and country is an interesting one.
CLEMENT A. GRISCOM, the head of the International Naviga- tion Company, occupies a place in the maritime world more prominent, perhaps, than that of any other American. His rise from the ranks in the office of the great shipping firm of Peter Wright & Sons was in a degree the natural outcome of the worth of his thorough-going business spirit, but the spread of American commerce and the movement for the wider use of the Stars and Stripes on the sea were labors unselfishly shouldered by him in addition to the burden of his work as the chief of the Navigation Company. Mr. Griscom was born March 15, 1841, and is the descendant of a family that for two centuries played an important part in the history of Philadelphia, the first of that name, members of the Society of Friends, having settled there in 1680. The family from which his mother descended was also active in the public affairs, Thomas Lloyd, one of her ancestors, having been, from 1684 to 1693, Deputy Governor and President of the Council of Pennsylvania. Mr. Griscom was educated in the public schools, and, after two years in the High School, finished his studies in the Academy of the Society of Friends. He entered the office of Peter Wright & Sons as a clerk, but was rapidly advanced. In 1863, when but twenty-two years old, he was admitted
249
250
CLEMENT A. GRISCOM.
to the firm, gradually enlarging the scope of his activities, until it embraced largely the management of the ship and steamship enter- prises which formed a leading part of the firm's business. His superiors had had ample evidence of his ability, and, as they grew older, with confidence placed in his hands the direction of one department after another. To the shipping interests of the house he devoted every energy, and one of the first tasks to which he set himself was the exhaustive study of marine architecture in its special application to the merchant marine. His standing in this science was recognized by his selection to be the first Presi- dent of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and his subsequent re-election each year. In 1871, when the International Navigation Company was established, Mr. Griscom became its Vice-President, and, in 1881, when Mr. James A. Wright resigned from the Presidency, he succeeded to that office, which he still occupies. The company has grown steadily; it owns the fleet of the " American Line," now numbering four palatial vessels, and, as it controls nearly all the stock of the "Red Star Line," a Belgian company, and nearly all of the stock of the Inter- national Navigation Company, Limited, of Liverpool, an English company, its fleet is thus brought to a total of twenty-two vessels. The steamships "New York " and "Paris," built under Mr. Gris- com's direction, were placed under American registry at his instance. These were quickly followed by the "St. Louis" and "St. Paul," the first American passenger vessels that deserved the name of ocean greyhounds built for American capital by Ameri- can workmen, at Philadelphia's great shipyard, Cramp's, and flying the American flag. Included in the fleet of the company are those pioneer Philadelphia-built ocean steamships, the "Pennsyl- vania," "Ohio," " Indiana " and "Illinois," of the old " American Line," and which constituted for a long time the only trans- Atlantic line under our flag. The vessels were bought from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1884. Mr. Griscom labored earnestly to secure Congressional legislation in support of the fine fleet that was ultimately put under the protection of the Stars and Stripes. His patriotism was recognized by the press and by many
251.
CLEMENT A. GRISCOM.
public bodies, and by none of the latter more strongly than by the Union League of Philadelphia, which, on April 18, 1893, gave a banquet in his honor and presented him with eulogistic resolu- tions. Mr. Griscom has also been a prominent factor in other business enterprises. He is a Director of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company; of the Bank of North America; the Insurance Company of North America; the Fidelity Insurance, Trust and Safe Deposit Company; the Western Saving Fund Society, and other transportation and industrial companies. With others he organized the National Transit Company, a Pennsylvania enter- prise which has the most complete system of petroleum pipes and storage tanks. For several years he served as its President.
Mr. Griscom is a member of a number of the Quaker City's clubs, including the Philadelphia, Rittenhouse, Union League, Farmers' and the Corinthian Yacht Club, of which last he has been Commodore for the past two years. In New York he is a member of the Union, the Metropolitan and the New York Yacht clubs. His home, "Dolobran," (named for the old seat of the Lloyd family in Wales) is on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, near Haverford. In 1862 Mr. Griscom was married to Frances C. Biddle. They have had five children.
ELISHA ATHERTON HANCOCK.
ILITARY and mercantile circles have few men more prominently in the public eye or more widely known than Elisha Atherton Hancock, of Phila- delphia, who, as a member of the firm of Hancock & Company, has long taken an active part in the commercial affairs of his city, and, by untiring industry and hon- orable business methods, has built up an establishment probably pre- eminent in the grain shipping business in the United States.
ELISHA ATHERTON HANCOCK was born in what was then Wilkes-Barre Township, but now known as Plains Township, a few miles from the city of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1839. His father was a farmer, and the early boyhood of the subject of this review was largely spent at farm work. His early education was obtained in the country schools during the winter months, and, although the means placed at his disposal for obtain- ing an education were limited, yet he made the best use of the facilities within his reach, and laid the foundation for the broad, general knowledge which he now enjoys. When he was fifteen years old the family removed to Wilkes-Barre, where, after two years spent in school, he entered a machine shop as an appren- tice. He applied himself as closely to learn the business thoroughly as he had previously devoted himself to his books, and zealously labored the full time of his apprenticeship. After attaining his majority he commenced work as a journeyman, but his career as a machinist was abruptly terminated in 1861, when he enlisted in a military company at Wilkes-Barre to lend his aid in suppressing the rebellion. When this organization arrived at Harrisburg his services were declined, because the State's quota of troops had been
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.