USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume I > Part 28
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
No pretence is made that Mr. Read is performing his duties unsatisfac- torily ; on the other hand, it is everywhere conceded that he is one of the most efficient and acceptable Collectors that this Customs District has ever had. He is painstaking and courteous, and has a mastery of the duties of the posi-
362
JOHN R. READ.
tion. His record is stainless, and his course as Collector is warmly commended by the business community.
Secretary of the Treasury Gage informed the President of Mr. Read's record as a public officer, and advised against any change in the office. The movement there ended.
Although closely identified with the Democratic organization, and recognizing party men in his appointments in the unclassified service, Mr. Read never removed any Customs officer in the Class- ified Service without good cause, and never without the accused being given a full and impartial hearing, and with ample oppor- tunity to make a defense, and have witnesses appear in his behalf. He specially interested himself in the retention of Union veterans.
Mr. Read has for years been a familiar figure in politics. Since 1876 he has been elected Delegate to every Democratic National Convention, excepting one, that of 1896, and has regu- larly attended nearly all the Democratic State conventions in Pennsylvania. At St. Louis, in 1876, he was a leading supporter of Tilden; at Chicago, in 1884, he was deeply interested in the Cleveland movement, and, in 1892, he took a prominent part in getting the delegation from Pennsylvania instructed for Cleveland. Mr. Read went to Florida, in 1876, at the request of the Demo- cratic National Committee, to act with the State leaders in the Tilden-Hayes electoral controversy. National Chairman Barnum, in 1880, persuaded Mr. Read to again go to Florida to direct the canvass for Hancock.
Mr. Read has for years been interested in charitable and edu- cational movements. He is a Trustee of the Southern Home for Friendless Children; a pew holder in the P. E. Church of the Saviour, a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, Art Club of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Country Club, Hamilton Whist Club, Young Men's Democratic Association of Philadelphia, and Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Dental College.
In 1862 Mr. Read enlisted as an emergency man in Starr's Battery, at the time of the battle of Antietam, and was mustered out of the Federal service with the rank of Sergeant. He mar- ried Miss Powell, of Brooklyn, in 1865. They have one daughter.
AE.FrontIs & Lo
Frank Reeder
FRANK REEDER.
0 F the men who represent the head and front of the dominant party of Pennsylvania it may be said that they have won their laurels chiefly through their ambition, ability and unflagging zeal. This is especially true of Frank Reeder, ex-Secretary of the Commonwealth of the State of Pennsylvania and a resident of Easton. As a lawyer Mr. Reeder has shown himself worthy of occupying a place in the foremost rank of the legal profession; as a public man he is widely and favorably known, and as a soldier he has won his spurs on many a battle-torn field. Through his services with the Union Army during the War of the Rebel- lion and his connection with the National Guard of Pennsylvania, he has made himself one of the most prominent military men of the State and carries the title of General. But it is probably as one of the leading men of the Republican Party in the State that he is best known; and his connection with its affairs point out the way of all his other successes.
FRANK REEDER was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, on May 22, 1845. His father was Andrew H. Reeder, once Governor of Kansas, who was descended from John Reeder, of England, one of the earliest American settlers of whom any account is had. This' early ancestor of the Reeder family came to the New World as early as 1656 and settled in Long Island, and from him came a long line of descendants who have given the country some of its best men. Frank Reeder was educated at Lawrenceville Academy, where he received a thorough course preparatory to entering college. Leaving the Lawrenceville schools he went to Princeton College and later to the Albany Law School. He determined to make the
363
364
FRANK REEDER.
profession of law his occupation through life, and from his earliest school days devoted all his energy to educating himself thoroughly and to acquiring a knowledge of the details of the law. The fact that he graduated from both the Princeton College and the Albany Law School is evidence of the success with which he met through his close application. When the Civil War broke out Mr. Reeder was little more than a boy, but he entered the Union Army in September, 1862, and was connected during the war with Com- pany I, Fourth Regiment, which was the emergency corps in 1862; the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania Regi- ment and the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Calvary. He served with honor and distinction throughout the Rebellion and was dis- charged June 6, 1866, as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Nineteenth Calvary, the last volunteer regiment in the service. Lieutenant-Colonel Reeder was an ardent defender of the cause and a brave soldier. He was wounded at Nashville, December 17, 1864. However, he went on with his studies after his dis- charge, in 1866, while his martial spirit by no means died out, for, in 1872, he was elected Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Pennsylvania; and, in 1874, he was appointed Brigadier-General of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, from which office he resigned in 1881. In 1868 he graduated from the Albany Law School, being admitted to practice in the New York Supreme Court, March, 1868. When he left the mili- tary for the civil walks of life the same success attended his efforts. After being admitted to practice in the New York Court, he had an office with J. K. Porter, of New York City, and after- wards with General Chester A. Arthur, who became President of the United States. From these two distinguished Americans Mr. Reeder imbibed many excellent ideas and sharpened his knowl- edge in so thorough a manner that he became one of the brightest men in his profession. He left New York and returned to Easton in 1870, where he entered into partnership with Howard J. Reeder, his brother, now of the Superior Court Bench, and he has con- tinued to practice law in that city ever since.
The professional ability and wide-awake thoroughness possessed
365
FRANK REEDER.
by Mr. Reeder brought him into the notice of the leading men of the State, and it was but a natural outcome that he should be pressed into politics. He was appointed Collector of Revenue by President Grant for the Eleventh District of Pennsylvania in 1873, and served until 1876. After a term of years, his law practice demanded his entire attention, but he was, nevertheless, quite active in promoting the affairs of the Republican party, of which he was an important factor. In 1888 he was a Delegate to the National Convention and was also a Delegate-at-Large to the National Convention in 1892. At both of these he was one of the foremost Pennsylvanians, and, in 1896, was once again made a Delegate to the convention which nominated President Mckinley. In 1891 he was placed on the Republican ticket as a Delegate for the proposed Constitutional Convention of that year, and, at the same time, he took charge of the Republican campaign in the absence of Lieutenant-Governor Watres, State Chairman, who was then presiding at a special session of the Senate. The following year, 1892, Mr. Reeder filled the position of State Chairman and gave one of the most satisfactory administrations of the party's affairs that had up to that time been known. In January, 1895, he was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth by Governor Daniel H. Hastings, and that important position Mr. Reeder held until he resigned, in September, 1897. The same excellent and business like methods characterized his administration of the affairs of the Commonwealth in this office as those which marked every official act through his entire career. At the same time, however, he remained identified with the law business which he built up as a member of the firm of Reeder & Reeder, and which has steadily grown until it has assumed very important proportions.
General Reeder was married October 21, 1868, to Grace E. Thompson, of Boston, Massachusetts. They have had four chil- dren, all sons, three of whom are living; these are Andrew H., Frank Reeder, Jr., and Douglass Wyman Reeder.
JAMES B. REILLY.
P ENNSYLVANIA has many sons who have won distinction in the field of politics and in the legis- lative halls of the nation, and upon the list of the most prominent and progressive of these appears the name of Hon. James B. Reilly, who served his State for five distinct terms in Congress, who is now occupying the office of United States Marshal of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and who is also numbered among the brightest lawyers in this great State, noted for the number and brilliancy of the men it has given to the legal profession.
JAMES B. REILLY was born on August 12, 1845, in West Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. His father was Bernard and his mother Margaret T. Reilly, who came from Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1842, locating in Pottsville in 1850. The father engaged in railroad construction, at which he became one of the best known experts in the country. He superintended the building of the Camden and Atlantic Rail- road, and in that capacity had an active part in developing the resources of the South Jersey summer resorts. When Atlantic City was originally planned, Mr. Reilly graded the avenues and streets. He also had a large part in the construction of the Lebanon Valley Railroad and others in the State of Pennsylvania. His son, James B. Reilly, was sent to the public schools at Potts- ville, and then to the High School of that city, from which he graduated. He further added to his education by private study, and, turning his eyes toward the legal profession, became a law student in the office of the late Hon. F. W. Hughes, of Pottsville. He studied long and earnestly, and was admitted to the Schuyl-
366
James BRily
367
JAMES B. REILLY.
kill County Bar January 11, 1869. He branched out into further fields of legal knowledge, and, being ambitious to extend his practice, he was admitted to the Supreme Court as well as the United States Circuit and District Courts, in all of which he has continuously practiced his profession. Mr. Reilly early evinced a great interest in the political affairs of his State, and he advanced himself so rapidly along this line that, while he was yet a very young man, he attracted considerable attention in his city and county. In politics he is a Democrat, and, as such, was elected, in 1871, to the office of District Attorney of Schuylkill County for a term of three years. He discharged the duties connected there- with in a very capable manner and with careful fidelity, showing decided professional ability and forensic power. In 1874 he was nominated by the Democratic party of his district for Congress and was elected, taking his seat with the Forty-fourth National Congress. In 1876 he was re-elected to the Forty-fifth Congress and, at the expiration of his term, retired and devoted himself to his profession. In 1881 and 1882, without solicitation on his part, he was nominated by the Democratic County Convention for Judge, but was defeated at the election. Mr. Reilly was, by this time, thoroughly identified with the affairs of the Democratic party, and was one of the recognized leaders in his section. He was not permitted to remain in private life, and, in 1884, he was again nominated for Congress, and, although defeated at the election, was held in such esteem that he was again nominated for the same office in 1888, and was triumphantly elected to the Fifty-first Congress. His record while in this body was so admira- ble and praiseworthy that he was re-elected to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses, in all of which he was prominent and served with distinction. He was unanimously nominated to the Fifty-fourth Congress, but it was in a year when Democratic defeat marked many of the best leaders of his party as victims, and Mr. Reilly was included. Mr. Reilly's Congressional record is a splendid one. While he represented the interests of his district in the nation's halls, he was invariably identified with any and all movements calculated to improve the condition of his State or
368
JAMES B. REILLY.
advance its prosperity. He was an active member of the Select Committee of the World's Columbian Exposition in the Fifty- second Congress, and took an active part in the legislation con- cerning that great enterprise. He was influential in bringing about many of the most desired features which marked the World's Fair in 1893. His talents as a legislator were further demonstrated as Chairman of the Committee on Pacific Railroads, in which capacity he demonstrated rare judgment and ability. In 1880 Mr. Reilly was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and that was the beginning of a career of public work, aside from his other political history, which alone already sufficed to endear him to the hearts of his large constituency.
In March, 1896, Mr. Reilly was appointed by President Cleveland as United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, one of the most important and populous in the country, containing twenty-two counties, including Philadelphia, which is his official residence. Mr. Reilly takes a great interest in charitable institutions, and, in fact, is foremost in all movements calculated to improve the condition of his fellow men, or to advance the interests of his State or his city. He was for two years a member of the Board of Trustees in the Anthracite State Hospital. In June, 1868, Mr. Reilly was married to Mary A. M. Hoey, of Pottsville. They have thirteen children, nine boys and four girls. Mr. Reilly's duties to-day as United States Marshal occupy a large part of his time, and, aside from these, his leading interests are found in the practice of his profession, of which he is one of the most honored members in the State.
A.E Francis & Co
W.H.Rhawn 11
WILLIAM H. RHAWN.
OR forty years William H. Rhawn, President of F the National Bank of the Republic and Secretary of the Philadelphia Clearing House, has been actively identified with the banking and financial interests of the country, and there is probably no man in the Keystone State better fitted for the duties of the offices which he now so successfully fills. Step by step this handler of thousands has advanced toward the goal of his early ambitions, and the stepping-stones which mark his path of prog- ress are chiefly financial institutions which have been benefited by his sagacity and commercial concerns which, even now, owe much of their success to him.
WILLIAM HENRY RHAWN was born in Philadelphia, Septem- ber 12, 1832, where he attended both public and private schools, as he matured, taking a special course in bookkeeping. His first business training was received in a store in the suburban village of Fox Chase, but progress was slow. Returning to Philadelphia, he took the desk of entry clerk in the wholesale dry-goods house of Smith, Murphy & Company, and shortly afterward became book- keeper and cashier for the American Baptist Publication Society. Possessed of an inborn taste for financiering, he still held to his intention of gaining a footing in banking circles, and did not relax his efforts until at last, in April, 1857, he was made temporary clerk in the Philadelphia Bank, to fill the places of clerks who were absent upon their vacations. In a few months this posi- tion was made permanent. In January, 1858, he participated in the opening of the Philadelphia Clearing House, and, as an employé of the Philadelphia Bank, made the first exchange.
369
370
WILLIAM H. RHAWN.
As chief accountant of the bank, he originated, in 1863, the Run- ner's Exchange, a supplementary daily, peculiar to the Philadel- phia Clearing House, which is still in active use. For nearly seven years he served the bank, being advanced steadily. He had said that in ten years he meant to be cashier of the bank, and at the rate of his progress he would have achieved that posi- tion had lie remained there, but with the passage of the National Bank Act, in 1863, he struck out boldly for himself by organizing the Second National Bank, in Frankford, of which he became Cashier. He there opened the first bank telegraph office in Phila- delphia, being the first banker in the city to introduce telegraphic service behind his counters. When the Central National Bank was organized, in 1864, he took an active part in its foundation ; wrote the articles of association, and was chosen its first Cashier, a position which he relinquished on account of illness. A year or so later he was re-elected Cashier of the Central Bank, and resigned his position in the Second National to accept the more advantageous summons, remaining, however, a Director of the earlier institution for several years. In August, 1866, he retired from the Central Bank to assume the Presidency of the National Bank of the Republic, and is now engaged in consolidating the latter with the Fourth Street National Bank. Soon after his elec- tion he was chosen Secretary of the Philadelphia Clearing House, and has since retained that position. Later he became Vice- President of the National Exchange Bank, and, in 1870, consoli- dated it with the National Bank of the Republic. He was Chair- man of the Committee charged with the re-organization, without the aid of a receiver, of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Rail- road Company, which was re-christened the St. Paul and Duluth, and of which he served as Vice-President from 1877 to 1888. In 1872 he founded the Guarantee, Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of which he was first President, and he superintended the erection of its present buildings and vaults. For over twenty-five years he has been a Trustee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company ; from 1876 to its dissolution, in 1889, was President of the Soldiers' Home, and is now a Director of the Educational Home. 1
371
WILLIAM H. RHAWN.
Mr. Rhawn has been more or less a resident of Fox Chase for fifty years, and his daily trip from and to the country impressed him with the necessity for better roads. He organized and became Chairman of the Committee on Better Roads, secured the co-opera- tion of the University of Pennsylvania, offered prizes for essays on road-making and maintenance, and published a volume of the best papers offered in the competition. In 1892, at Chicago, the organization of the National League for Good Roads was effected, Mr. Rhawn being elected Treasurer. From its organization, in 1876, he was an active member of the American Bankers' Asso- ciation ; a member of its Executive Council from 1878; Chairman in 1891 and 1892, in which latter he was elected its President. As a member of its council he was active in urging on the col- leges and universities of the country the organization of business courses similar to the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, at the University of Pennsylvania. He also instituted, with other bankers, a course of University Extension Lectures on Finance, published in book form.
He was the founder of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association, and Chairman of the meeting at which it was inaugurated at the Convention of the American Bankers' Association, held at Atlanta, Georgia, in October, 1895, when he became chairman of the com- mittee whose work was completed in the organization effected at Philadelphia, December 18th and 19th following. Mr. Rhawn was for years a member of the Union League; for ten years was Warden of the Church of St. Matthias, and, as Chairman of the Building Committee, superintended the erection of its edifice, com- pleted in 1873. He is a member of Trinity Church, Oxford, Philadelphia, and one of its Vestrymen, and is also a member of various prominent societies, including the Franklin Institute, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, the American Academy of Politi- cal and Social Science, Park Art Association.
Mr. Rhawn is now actively engaged in a movement for the erection of a statue of Robert Morris, the founder of organized banking in Pennsylvania and the United States, by the Pennsyl- vania Bankers' Association.
JOSEPH T. RICHARDS.
HE development of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany's great system, extending through a large part of the country, has required the services of the most able men procurable. That Joseph T. Richards occupies so important a post in the Pennsylvania Railroad's management is due entirely to his pro- gressive qualities and active career.
JOSEPH THOMAS RICHARDS was born near Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland, February 12, 1845. His father was Isaac Stubbs Richards, a farmer and surveyor, and for the preceding four generations his grandparents had been farmers, who com- bined their tilling of the soil with schooling, teaching and survey- ing. Mr. Richards is the eighth in descent from Joseph Richards, M.D., a member of the Society of Friends, who came from Oxford County, England about 1682. Mr. Richards' mother was Mercy A. Reynolds, daughter of Jacob Reynolds, of Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland, and of the seventh generation from Henry Reynolds, who came from England in 1676 and settled in Burling- ton, New Jersey. Mr. Richards received his early education largely at the West Nottingham Academy, in his native county, and then took a short special course in Philadelphia, preparatory to enter- ing upon his railroad career. He has been for years engaged as designing and constructing engineer for the International Naviga- tion Company for their piers at Jersey City, and the recent two- story steel buildings on Piers 14 and 15 in New York City for their American Line Steamship Company. He had valuable experience as a mining engineer in the service of the Cambria Iron Company at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, during the years 1873 and 1874. In
372
Joseph D. Ruhards
373
JOSEPH T. RICHARDS.
August, 1869, he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as rodman and transit man during the construction of the new shops at Altoona.
He was appointed Supervisor of Division No. 5, from Harris- burg to Newport, on June 1, 1870. He was made Chief Engineer in locating and constructing minor railroads in Maryland, October 16, 1871; became Chief of Locating Engineers for several surveys over the Allegheny Mountains, March 1, 1873, and, May 25, 1874, owing to the general depression in business, accepted a position as Civil and Mining Engineer with the Cambria Iron Company. He returned to the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, March 1, 1875, as Supervisor of Division No. 6, from New- port to Granville stations. On March 20, 1876, he was made Assistant Engineer, Maintenance of Way, of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. From June, 1877, to March, 1883, he was Principal Assistant Engineer of the United Railroads of the New Jersey Division, and from March, 1883, to June, 1885, Assistant to the Chief Engineer. He was then made Assistant Chief Engi- neer by the President, and, March 1, 1893, when a change was made in the organization, owing to his faithful services and excel- lent work, he was appointed to his present important position, that of Engineer of Maintenance of Way, of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company, and all lines owned, leased and controlled, extend- ing west to Pittsburg and Erie, south to Washington, D.C., and east to New York City. The part taken by Mr. Richards in rebuilding the bridges and road-bed after the disastrous June flood of 1889 was an example of his professional skill and energy. In the rebuilding of Montgomery bridge on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, the organization of his department of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company surpassed, for rapid emergency work, probably any record made by a military organization in this country. One thousand feet of this bridge was rebuilt across the swollen waters of the Susquehanna River, twenty-seven feet in depth, with a rapid current, within three and a half days. Simi- lar, though less hazardous, work was done in the valley of the Conemaugh from South Fork to Johnstown. A recent engineering
374
JOSEPH T. RICHARDS.
feat, was the replacing, in October, 1897, of the old metal span of the bridge carrying the New York Division tracks over the Schuyl- kill River, Philadelphia. The combined weight of the old and new spans moved was fourteen hundred tons; the distance to be moved, twenty-seven feet. The old bridge was moved out and the new one put in place in two minutes and twenty-eight seconds, and only thirteen minutes elapsed between the passage of trains over the old and new bridges. He reports directly to the General Manager, and has charge of all matters, including the preparation of standard plans pertaining to the Maintenance of Way and structures within the jurisdiction of the department. The intro- duction and carrying out of the standards which make the system of the Pennsylvania Railroad famous are duties of great responsibility, and the annual expenditures of the department for the maintenance of the road amounts to from eight to ten millions of dollars.
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.