USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume I > Part 32
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ISAAC A. SHEPPARD.
Security Bank, being elected a Director; two years later Vice- President, and, in 1885, President. He is also a Director in the Northern Safe Deposit and Trust Company, of Philadelphia. Early in life he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of the State, and he has been for a number of years one of the trustees of the Widows' and Orphans' Asylum Fund of the Order. He is connected with the Masonic Order; the Order of United American Mechanics; is President of the Six- teenth Ward Association of the Philadelphia Society of Organized Charity, and in Baltimore is a member of the Board of Directors of the Workingmen's Institute. He has been a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church for forty-two years and a Sunday- school Superintendent for thirty-two years, having also been repeatedly a Delegate to the Diocesan Convention of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Sheppard's most important part in Philadelphia's affairs during recent years has been as President of the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia. On account of ill health he was com- pelled to resign on December 30, 1896, after having given a long and honorable service of seventeen years. In 1879 he was appointed, by the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Phila- delphia, a member of the Board of the First School District of Pennsylvania for a term of three years. He served as Director through successive re-appointments until January, 1889, when he was elected President, occupying that high office for seven years. He rendered efficient service on many committees and was Chair- man of some of the most important of the entire Board.
Mr. Sheppard was married, in 1850, to Caroline M. Holmes, of Philadelphia, whose parents were from Devonshire, England. They have had five children, the two survivors being members of their father's firm.
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A. S. L. Shields
The Rembrandt Eng. Go Phila.
A. S. L. SHIELDS.
S one of the most successful lawyers and brilliant plead- ers of his generation, the name of A. S. L. Shields will remain on the roll of honor in the annals of the Philadelphia County Bar. His earliest fame came to him through his victory against what scemed overwhelming odds, and in later years he has won some notable legal fights under remarkable circumstances.
ALBERT STEPNEY LETCHWORTH SHIELDS was born near Coates- ville, Chester County, September 27, 1850. His father was a farmer, and the boy spent his early years on the farm. When he was four years old his mother died, and his father went to live in Coatesville, where the lad received the groundwork of a thorough English and classical education, attending first a private school, and being transferred later to the Coatesville Academy. At twelve he was sent to the Chester Military Academy, at his own request, but before the year was over he was convinced that the curricu- lum before him was not one that would lead in the direction of his ambitions. He left in 1863, at the end of the term, and com- pleted his education at T. Clarkson Taylor's Academy, in Wil- mington, to which city his father removed about that time. Mr. Shields was hardly more than a boy when he graduated and entered the employ of the Harlan & Hollingsworth Ship and Car Building Company, of Wilmington. A clerk's life was not to his liking, however, and at eighteen he resigned his place and went to Phila- delphia to study law, for which he had been preparing himself for two years, by night study under a private tutor. He entered the office of Joseph T. Pratt in the fall of 1868, and was admitted to the Bar in 1870. Mr. Pratt's trust and esteem had been won by
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his student's application, and he took every opportunity to assist him in building a paying practice. Three years later, when Mr. Pratt took his seat on the Common Pleas Bench, he turned over the whole of his important practice to Mr. Shields, who had already a legal business and prestige that assured his success. He never confined himself to any one branch of practice, but was equally successful and respected in all the courts of the city.
"Sensational cases," while they did not by any means form the part of his work that best repaid cultivation, were neverthe- less those in which he became best known. He has been counsel in more than one hundred homicide cases, including some of the most famous trials in Philadelphia's annals, and has, by his strength as a pleader, secured, in many of them, the verdict of acquittal. Mr. Shields is a lawyer by instinct. His methods are always the most forcible, and the vigor of his pleading is often in contrast to the leisurely style of the more conservative school. Among the causes celebre in which he was prominent, were the defense of the notorious Emma Bickel, who was acquitted of the murder of William Mennow; the defense of Huhn and Nagle in the Market Street City Railway stock over-issue defalcations in 1877; the case of Work vs. People's Railway; the defense of David Mouat, in his first trial on the charge of ballot frauds; the famous Sullivan and McCaffrey prize-fight case in 1885; the defense in the celebrated case of Rev. Waldo Messaros; the famous bank case of H. H. Yard in the United States Court; and also the noted political case of Harry Hunter who, while a member of Select Council, was tried for altering the election returns and counting himself in. Mr. Shields was the leading counsel in the celebrated Wistar Will case. He successfully carried through the supreme courts the suit in which Charles Osborn, a newsboy who lost his leg by being run over by a street car, received damages of $20,000 and interest, the then largest verdict for personal injuries ever sustained by a Philadelphia court. He was Counsel for the Girard Heirs vs. The City Trusts, for the surplus of more than $2,000,000 in the Trust fund, and has been counsel in numerous will contests involving great estates.
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A. S. L. SHIELDS.
Early in his career at the Bar Mr. Shields was employed by the Republican party as counsel in its election cases, and threw himself into the work with a vigor that attracted attention to his power, and resulted in material additions to his practice. He is still prominent as counsel in all Republican election cases. He was Chairman of the Republican City Committee in the troublous campaign of 1881, and was re-elected in 1882. He declined a third term and was succeeded by William R. Leeds. By his dash and coolness Mr. Shields did much to rescue the Republican party from the position in which it had been placed by the Independent faction, and before the end of his service had the satisfaction of seeing harmony restored. He was frequently spoken of for the office of District Attorney, but has never entertained the sugges- tion, the salary being small compared to his practice. Mr. Shields is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of numerous clubs, social and political. On February II, 1874, he was married to Miss Emma R. Jones. They have a son, Joseph Shields, who gives promise of following in the footsteps of his brilliant father.
WILLIAM S. P. SHIELDS.
EW men in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enjoy a wider or more thorough business experi- ence than William S. P. Shields, the subject of this biography, whose connection with the largest industrial interests of the State has extended over a period of twenty years or more. Mr. Shields is probably best known to-day as a builder and real estate operator, although he has been one of the largest manufacturers in the eastern section of Pennsylvania. One of his chief characteristics is his wonderful activity, and he seems to be able to conduct half a dozen enter- prises at one time, all with the same success, and with a grasp of business details that is something astonishing.
WILLIAM S. P. SHIELDS was born near Coatesville, Chester County, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1847. He is a brother of A. S. L. Shields, known as one of the most brilliant lawyers of the generation, and he was raised, like him, on the farm which was worked by their father, who was one of the most respected men in that section of the State. His mother died while he was a youth, and this to some extent altered the course of his life. His early training was received at home by private tutors, who also instructed his brother and sister. After this preliminary course of training he went to the Coatesville Academy and Myers' Military Academy, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. After graduating from the latter institution he had received a preparatory education which fitted him thoroughly for whatever business upon which he might embark.
In 1863 Mr. Shields entered into business life as a clerk in the Lobdell Car Works, Wilmington, Delaware, and from that time
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until the present day his history has been one of continuous prog- ress. He had advanced from one position to another in the mercantile and manufacturing community until he possesses to-day an enviable reputation as one of the most progressive men in the Commonwealth. In 1886, the year in which he started in the milling and grain business, he made up his mind that in some advantageous field he would win his fortune, and so he was fully alive to all the opportunities which were to be afforded him. After remaining for four years in his first line of trade, he began in a small way to operate in real estate. In 1870 he conducted some small building operations and, in 1872, he started a manufacturing plant at Woodmansie, New Jersey, where he made vitrified drain pipes and brick. He took the clay from that point to Second and Greenwich streets, and there made it into stove tile, in which industry he soon established a large trade. In 1877, however, he closed out his interests, and disposing of his various manufactur- ing plants and similar operations, at the same time continuing his building in a small way, he started in the business of refining paraffine oils and wax, at which he made a great success. At the same time he became an extensive dealer in coal, lumber and building materials, and in the latter branch of the trade was particularly fortunate, before long becoming one of the leading men in this industry. Probably Mr. Shields' chief characteristic in his intense activity, which will not permit of any idle moments, in consequence of which he has always found time for the develop- ment of various branches of trade, and the increase of his business to such an extent that in Philadelphia's commercial circles, and, in fact, throughout the entire State, he is recognized as one of the most notable leaders. In 1885 Mr. Shields bought the Avondale Paper Mill and Village, which great enterprise he conducted for a period of five years. In this he demonstrated, probably more thoroughly than at any other time in his life, the thoroughness of his business methods and his originality as a promoter of great undertakings. In the mean time, in 1880, he had entered exten- sively into building operations and was fast forging to the front as one of the biggest contractors in Philadelphia.
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An idea of the vast experience in business affairs which Mr. Shields enjoyed up until that time may be had when it is realized that he had managed and conducted upwards of half a score of widely different concerns, all of which were successful. This included the milling and grain business, the refining of paraffine oil and wax, the coal, lumber and building materials trade, the manufacturing of vitrified drain pipe and fire brick, and the manu- facturing of stove tile. In 1891 Mr. Shields established the Phil- adelphia Paving and Construction Company, which is now one of the greatest corporations of its kind in the State, and one of the most important in Philadelphia. He is President of the organiza- tion, and is also President of the Kingsessing and Tinicum Meadow Company. Mr. Shields is a Director of the Master Builders' Exchange, the Operative Builders' Exchange, and of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad for several years. His interests in the political affairs of the city are best indicated by his Presi- dency of the Young Republican Club, and his powerful influence is generally conceded. He has attended many conventions and has presided at numerous meetings. Mr. Shields's chief interest is found in the Presidency of the Philadelphia Paving and Con- struction Company and in the building of large edifices and of private houses. He is also interested in the manufacturing of asphalt mastic and is an importer of rock asphalt. In his real estate speculations he buys and sells large quantities of land, on his own account, and he is the largest land owner in West Phila- delphia. He is a member of the George G. Meade Post, the Manufacturers' Club, and many other similar organizations.
On October 1, 1874, Mr. Shields was married to Rachael Serrill Gibson, and this union was blessed with three children, two daughters and one son. They are Bessie G., Nora Louise and Albert W. Shields. Mr. Shields is a most active man and is to-day numbered among the leading men of the city of Philadel- phia, while at the same time his interest in the affairs of the State at large mark him as one of the most progressive Pennsyl- vanians of his time.
AE.Francis & Cn
E du Shipper
EDWARD SHIPPEN.
OR more than half a century Edward Shippen has been connected with some of the most important professional and social affairs of the city of Phila- delphia, and as a thoroughly progressive and representative Pennsylvanian and American citi- zen of the highest type he has won recognition not only in his native country, but abroad. The descendant of a family known through two centuries for their allegiance to American institutions and the development of the resources of their country, he occu- pies, himself, a position of high honor and trust in the com- munity.
EDWARD SHIPPEN was born at Elm Hill, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1823. His father was Joseph Gallo- way Shippen, who married Anna Maria Buckley. He was the son of Colonel Joseph Shippen, private secretary of Governor John Penn, and a distinguished early Pennsylvanian who served in the expedition which captured Fort Duquesne, and who also was secretary of the Provincial Councils. The subject of this biog- raphy, in fact, has a very distinguished ancestry. He is a lineal descendant of Edward Shippen, the first Mayor of the city of Philadelphia under Penn's charter in 1701. From that early period of continental development down to the present time the Shippen family has been remarkable in Pennsylvania's history for the number of distinguished men it has given to the country; men who have attained a high prominence in professional walks of life and in the march of trade. It is undoubtedly true that mental progression is often the result of many generations of high breeding, and the fact has been demonstrated in the history of I .- 28.
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the Shippen family that the brilliant mental temperament of a father, and his physical energy, may be transmitted to the son.
As a physician, Joseph Galloway Shippen, the father of the subject of this biography, attained a high place in the medical fraternity. The son, Edward, however, chose the Bar and, after a thorough education, began the study of law. In 1846 he was admitted to the Philadelphia courts and has ever since been an active practitioner. For more than half a century Edward Shippen has participated in the legal affairs of Philadelphia, and to-day is recognized not alone for his forensic ability and thorough knowl- edge of the law, but because of his high social qualities and his warm interest in all that tends to advance the Commonwealth. In the affairs of the Art Club of Philadelphia he has always exhibited an active interest, and he had the honor of serving as President of that splendid organization for five years. His family connection with the early history of the country and his own fondness for the study of historical and social matters have led him to identify himself with several important societies bearing upon these matters. He is Treasurer-General of the General Society of Colonial Wars; is a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution and a Director of the Colonial Society.
The problem of public education has interested Mr. Shippen for many years. A man of scholastic tendencies, he has always been concerned in the advancement of the youth of the land in educa- tional matters. On January 1, 1864, he was made President of the Philadelphia Board of Public Education, serving until January 1, 1869, during which period he introduced some most notable improvements, which largely conduced to the present state of per- fection in the school system of the city. For many years prior to his election as President of the Board he served as a member, displaying an equal regard for the success of the schools. Mr. Shippen has for thirty years been one of the Managers of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, one of the most successful institutions of its kind in the country. He has a large acquaint- ance with South American affairs and has been an extensive trav- eler. In Italy he is particularly well known. On the roth of
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October, 1877, Victor Emanuel, King of Italy, conferred upon Edward Shippen the order of "Cavalier della Corona d'Italia." This was an unusual honor and served to illustrate the high esteem in which Italy's ruler held the distinguished Philadel- phian. Mr. Shippen is now occupying the important post of Con- sul of Chile and Ecuador, and during the Centennial Exposition he was President of the Chilean Commission.
On June 29, 1849, Edward Shippen married Augusta Chaun- cey Twiggs. She is the daughter of Major Levi Twiggs, late of the United States Marine Corps, who was killed at the storming of Chapultepec, Mexico, in 1847. Mrs. Shippen is also a grand- niece of Commodore Stephen Decatur. As a result of this mar- riage, which united two such distinguished families, three children were born: Elizabeth Bordley Twiggs Shippen, deceased; Francis Stockton Shippen, deceased; and Sarah Burd Shippen, who mar- ried William W. West, now of Asheville, North Carolina. The latter had children as follows: Edward Shippen West, deceased; Charles William West, Augusta Twiggs Shippen West, William Whitehead West, Shippen Decatur West, Evelyn Nephew West, and Sarah Shippen West. Although so active in the affairs of his city and State, Mr. Shippen is essentially a family man, and in the welfare of his grandchildren he takes a special interest.
N. PARKER SHORTRIDGE.
T HE mercantile history of Pennsylvania abounds with striking examples of the success which industry and perseverance may achieve, and among the lead- ing men of the Commonwealth in the latter end of the century are many who began life as clerks in some commercial house, and by close attention to business, and a determination to succeed, arose to positions of prominence. Nathan Parker Shortridge, one of the best known Directors of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, and a gentleman whose name is familiar throughout the entire financial and commercial world, is one of those who attained prosperity through the possession of these qualities.
NATHAN PARKER SHORTRIDGE was born November 28, 1829, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was the youngest of seven sons of John Hart Shortridge, a merchant of Portsmouth, and of Margaret Tredick. His great-grandfather, Captain Richard Short- ridge, was commissioned June 18, 1775, and served under Colonel Enoch Poor in the Continental Army, remaining in continuous service until he died at Lake Champlain, July 8, 1776. Mr. Shortridge's maternal grandfather was Captain Henry Tredick, of Portsmouth. Before he was a year old, Mr. Shortridge's family removed to Dover, New Hampshire, where he was educated at the Dover Academy. He came to Philadelphia when he was fifteen years old, and, after a year's attendance at school, began his life work. He entered the counting house of David S. Brown & Com- pany, one of the largest commission houses for the sale of Amer- ican cotton and woolen goods then in the United States. The counting house department was at that time under the supervision 426
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N. PARKER SHORTRIDGE.
of Stephen A. Caldwell, afterwards president of the Fidelity Trust Company of Philadelphia. Mr. Shortridge was gradually promoted from one position to another, being active and untiring, and fre- quently working twelve and sixteen hours a day. After remaining twelve years with David S. Brown & Company, Mr. Shortridge determined to go into business himself. He, with George F. Pea- body and George W. Harris as general partners, and J. W. King, Charles S. Peaslee and William Woodnut as special partners, organ- ized the firm of George F. Peabody & Company, and carried on a similar business, confining themselves, however, to the produc- tion and sale of printed calicoes. At the end of five years, George F. Peabody and the three special partners retired, Mr. Shortridge, in 1864, organizing the firm of Harris, Shortridge & Company, as successors of the old firm, with George W. Harris, Edward P. Borden and James H. Peabody. In 1867 this was succeeded by Shortridge, Borden & Company, from which Mr. Shortridge retired in 1877, his partners continuing the business under the old firm name. Having devoted over thirty years to active business, during which time he had advanced to the front rank among Philadelphia merchants, Mr. Shortridge spent five months, in 1878, in European travel, this being the first real vacation he had ever taken.
In 1867 N. Parker Shortridge was elected a Director of the Philadelphia National Bank; he served on the committee, with Henry D. Welsh and Thomas G. Hood, which secured the sub- scriptions to the stock of the American Steamship Company, of which he was afterwards elected a Director; and, in 1868, he was chosen a Member of the Executive Council of the Philadelphia Board of Trade, being Chairman of the Committee on Inland Transportation, and, since the death of Henry Winsor, in 1889, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Board. In 1873 he was elected a Director of the Delaware Mutual Safety Insurance Company of Philadelphia. In 1874 he was elected a Director of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad, in which capacity he has served ever since. He has been appointed on the Road and Incidental Committee, and is now Chairman of the Finance Committee and of the Insurance Committee, and a Manager of the trust fund for the purchase of
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securities, created in 1878. He is also Trustee of the company's general and consolidated mortgages, and of the Philadelphia, Wil- mington and Baltimore Railroad sinking funds. He is a Director and Chairman of the Finance Committee of this road, which is the Pennsylvania Southern Line. He is a Director of the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad Company, a Director of the Northern Central Railroad, a director of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Chicago Railroad, a Director of the Manor Real Estate and Trust Company, and of many other corporations. He is President of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company, and President of the Trenton Delaware Bridge Company.
Mr. Shortridge, aside from his business successes, has occupied a notable position in connection with public duties. Upon the organization of the United States Centennial Exposition, he was among the first to take an active part in securing subscriptions to the stock of the Centennial Board of Finance, acting as Chair- man of the Committee on Dry-Goods. In 1873, when the United States Board of Finance was organized, he was elected a member, serving until the Board finally closed its affairs in 1893. Mr. Shortridge is a Manager of the Merchants' Fund, one of Philadel- phia's greatest charities. In 1881 he was elected a Trustee of the Penn Mutual Insurance Company ; in 1890 the President Judges of the Philadelphia Courts of Common Pleas appointed him a Man- ager of the Western Saving Fund Society of Philadelphia, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his warm friend, John Price Wetherill. Mr. Shortridge assisted in the formation of the New England Society of Pennsylvania, and has served as a Director and Vice-President. He is a Director in the Union Trust Com- pany of New York, having been chosen on February 4, 1897.
In 1853 Mr. Shortridge married Elizabeth J. Rundlet, daughter of John S. Rundlet, of St. Louis, Missouri. He has for some years resided at Wynnewood, near Philadelphia, at his country home of nearly two hundred acres, on the main line of the Penn- sylvania Railroad. In April, 1860, he was elected a Vestryman of the Church of the Redeemer of Bryn Mawr, Senior Warden four years later, and Lay Deputy to the Diocesan Convention since.
WILLIAM M. SINGERLY.
T HE press is recognized-and it has proved its right to be so considered-as a most powerful engine of civilization ; a potent agent of reform, an irre- sistible ally of education, and a tremendous recorder and maker of history-more than ever true in these closing days of the century. The vast influence that is wielded by a largely circulated newspaper cannot be too highly estimated. He who controls, or directs, the utterances of a great journal, who moulds and shapes its policy, who is the authority which pulses its columns-to him has been entrusted a high office, a noble trust. A newspaper must rise superior to the mere money-making element which enters into all business enter- prises; the editor or publisher has a duty to the public that must always be conscientiously considered, and absolutely regarded. This is the true ideal of journalism, and it is the one held by William M. Singerly, the directing head of The Philadelphia Record. He was once asked to what special point he attributed the success of the Record. "Above all else to the Record's truth- fulness," he replied. "We have always adhered to the right as that right honestly appeared to us. I do not mean to say that we have always been right, but the Record has been found every time upon the side that the people have indorsed in the moments of calm reflection. And I believe the people are always right after the excitement of a crisis has subsided and the public mind has an opportunity to think calmly. In the recent street railway troubles in Philadelphia, the Record stood for law and order, and it was for law and order that the public stood when the public excitement had subsided."
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