USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume I > Part 34
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county was heavily Democratic, he met with a defeat. Nothing daunted, however, in 1888, he again accepted the candidacy for the office, and despite the fact that the county was still Democratic, his personal popularity was so great that he was triumphantly elected by a majority of 691, and was serving as Sheriff during the disastrous Johnstown flood. In 1889 he was a Delegate to the Republican State Convention and, in 1891 and 1892, was Repub- lican County Chairman. He was elected to the State Legislature, for the session of 1893, serving on the committees of Bureau of Statistics, Fish and Game, Iron and Coal, Judiciary Local and Mines and Mining. So thoroughly did his course meet with the approval of his constituents that he was re-elected for the session of 1895, serving on the committees of Appropriations, Bureau of Statistics, Iron and Coal, Mines and Mining, and Printing. He was elected to the State Senate in 1896, from the Thirty-fifth Sena- torial District, serving with honor and distinction during the session of 1897 on the committees on Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Apportionment, Mines and Mining, Railroads, Street Passenger Railways and of Public Buildings and Grounds. Mr. Stineman has served his State and party with such conspicuous zeal and intelligence that further honors will doubtless come to him.
He was married on the 20th day of December, 1866, to Miss Ella Varner. He has six children, Albert Meade, Washington Irving, Harvey Cameron, Nettie May, Oliver Morton and Jacob Wilbur. At present, Mr. Stineman devotes almost all his time that is not spent in the service of the public to farming and to his extensive coal mining interests.
MAYER SULZBERGER.
EW men are more honored and esteemed in the State of Pennsylvania than MAYER SULZBERGER, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, No. 2, of Philadelphia. He is in his fifty-fourth year, having been born on June 22, 1843, in Heidelsheim. His father, Abraham Sulzberger, himself a man of scholarship, was in his day prominent as a leader in the religious and charitable life of the Jewish people of Philadelphia. He came with his family to this country in 1849, and having at once settled in that city continued his residence there until his death in 1886. Mayer received a common school education, and was graduated from the Central High School in 1859, after proving himself a particularly apt pupil.
Before the conclusion of his course in school, however, much of his time was devoted to the study of subjects other than those there taught. There already was developed in his mind that interest in matters literary, theological, scientific and philosophic which has ever since been the source of the highest pleasure. After graduating from school, though his ambition was ultimately to become a lawyer, he at first took a situation as a bookkeeper, which position he held for about two years. The experience of commercial methods thus acquired has been useful in his subse- quent career. In 1862 he registered as a student of law in the office of Moses A. Dropsie, Esq., a corporation lawyer of wide and varied interests. While fitting himself for the practice of his profession, he for a while taught school. He was admitted to the Bar in September, 1865, and at once entered into an active practice which speedily became extended and various.
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The logical and analytical mold of his mind enabled him quickly and surely to recognize governing principles and essential circumstances amid the mass of trivial and irrelevant detail, which is usually appurtenant to the subject of litigation as it reaches the hands of the attorney. This, together with his energy and industry, his power of hard and accurate thinking, and the varied knowledge he brought to bear upon the matters entrusted to his charge, early secured for him the respect of his fellows at the Bar, a respect to which the courtesy and kindliness of his inter- course with his brethren, and his unswerving and delicate sense of honor, added universal esteem and liking.
As a forensic speaker, he is distinguished by the vital human interest which he succeeds in imparting to the discussion of questions of law before the Court, or of fact in his addresses to the jury. His oratory seldom appeals to the prejudices or passions of his hearers, and as seldom fails of enlisting their thoughtful attention. While profound in his knowledge of the theory of the law, he was not, as practitioner, nor is he as a judge, pre-eminently a bookman. He possesses keen powers of observation, extensive knowledge of human nature, and the practical judgment by which, in the busy, exacting and often hurried life of the active lawyer or the trial judge, the one or the other may be turned to proper account.
His professional advancement was rapid. He became, within a few years of his admission to the Bar, a prominent and then a leading attorney. He remained in practice for a period of twenty- nine years, until, in 1894, with the approbation of the many citizens who were familiar with his high qualities, and at the earnest demand of the legal fraternity of Philadelphia, he was put forward as a candidate for, and was elected to the Judgeship, then vacant, of Court of Common Pleas, No. 2.
Before his elevation to the Bench he had achieved a degree of professional eminence in which he stood almost without a peer. It is scarcely more than a literal truth to say that, for the ten or fifteen preceding years, no largely important case of local origin found its way through the courts without Mr. Sulzberger's partic-
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ipation upon one side or the other, at least at some stage of its progress. He was of especial force as a constitutional lawyer. To his brilliant efforts may be ascribed the overthrow of the legisla- tion attempting to empower creditors, after the recovery of judg- ment, to subject their defaulting debtors to inquisitorial question and self-accusation. His address before the Senate of Pennsylvania on behalf of the Magistrates of Philadelphia County at the time of the investigation of the State Treasury was marked by profound and cogent reasoning. He made a masterly argument upon an important constitutional principle in the case of H. H. Yard, in which the rights of the citizen were involved. He was of counsel for the Elevated Railroad companies in their efforts to establish themselves upon the city streets. These are but a few of the innumerable matters of great moment in which his services have been invoked. He was in the full vigor of mental and physical health when he became a Judge, and since his advent upon the Bench he has, in the breadth, solidity and lucidity of his pur- poses and opinions, fully sustained his reputation as a jurist of great abilities.
Judge Sulzberger has remained unmarried. He is a Repub- lican in politics, but has never heretofore held office. He is, however, a progressive and public spirited citizen. For many years he has been closely identified with literary, charitable, educa- tional and scientific institutions, as well of the general community as of those of his own Church (the Jewish). In his earlier days at the Bar he gave some of his time to the advancement of Jewish journalism. He is said to possess the finest private library in Philadelphia, and upon some lines of research his collection of books is unsurpassed by any other in the country.
Being a student and thinker, he spends in his library the greater portion of his leisure, and those who have enjoyed the pleasure of social intercourse with him know his original and powerful mind to be well stored with the fruits of many years of scholarly cultivation.
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FRANK THOMSON.
COTCH ancestry is conspicuous in every field of American development, and in Pennsylvania's industrial progress the descendants of the land of the thistle and the heather have played an import- ant part. In 1771 Alexander Thomson sailed from Scotland and settled in the Cumberland Valley. That was the beginning of the Thomson family in Pennsylvania, and it has given to the State some of its most potent factors in both business and professional life. Among his children was a son, Alexander, who, after winning distinction at the Bar of the State, represented his district in Congress from 1824 to 1826. He afterwards became Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District and subsequently Professor of Law in Marshall College. One of his sons was Frank Thomson, the subject of this biography. He did not inherit the paternal taste for the law, but had a bend of energy in another direction which eventually brought him to success in one of the most honored and important positions possible to hold-the Presidency of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
FRANK THOMSON was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1841. His rudimentary and classical education was received at the Chambersburg Academy. At seventeen years of age he entered the Altoona shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad for instruction. A four years' course of training in this great school of applied science graduated him a mechanical engineer, who could build a locomotive through every stage of the progress, from the crude iron to the finished engine on the rails, while it also fitted him to operate, as engineman, the product of his own skill. It required little time for Col. Thomas A. Scott, General Superin:
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tendent of the Road, to detect in the young engineer evidences of unusual ability. Col. Scott had been appointed, by President Lincoln, Assistant Secretary of War, and placed in charge of all matters relating to the transportation of troops and supplies, and he called Frank Thomson to his aid as Chief Assistant. The latter took the field immediately, the scene of his operations being the South and the upper Southwest, where he constructed rail- roads and bridges, repaired those which had been injured by the exigencies of war, and directed the transportation of troops. In June, 1864, he was appointed General Superintendent of the Eastern Division of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, which occupied his time until March, 1873, when he was made Superin- tendent of Motive Power of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona. Here the vast information and wide experience gained from his course in the shops was applied, and so was laid the foundation of the system which has since produced those celebrated locomo- tives known as the "Pennsylvania Railroad Standard Engine." On July 1, 1874, he relinquished this post to become General Manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad system east of Pittsburg and Erie, in which office he introduced a number of reforms. The standard track and solid road bed owes its existence to his efforts, and the system of track inspection and the award of prizes for the best section of track was instituted by him. He was also instru- mental in developing the high grade of discipline for which the Pennsylvania Railroad is noted.
On October 1, 1882, Mr. Thomson became Second Vice-Presi- dent, and, on October 27, 1888, was advanced to the post of First Vice-President, which he held up until the death of George B. Roberts, early in February, 1897. Mr. Roberts had given the Pennsylvania Railroad one of its most successful presidential administrations, and it was a difficult task to a man following in his footsteps to adhere to the original high standard, but Mr. Thomson, whose wide experience and able talents enabled him to take hold of the work of his predecessor in a masterly manner, proved himself eminently worthy of the office which came into his care. During his incumbency of the Vice-Presidential offices,
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Mr. Thomson was in close touch with all the railway interests of the country, and to-day he is one of the best informed, most experienced, and ablest of American railroad managers. These qualifications are universally acknowledged by all his contem- poraries of the railroad world.
Mr. Thomson's duties as the President of a great railway require so much of his time that he has never been identified with many other public institutions. A notable exception, however, is the Equitable Life Insurance Company, of which he is a Director. The social side of Mr. Thomson's life is quite as com- prehensive as its business counterpart. He is a patron of art, literature and music, and his handsome residence at "Corkerhill " near Merion Station, is enriched with many rare works of artists in painting and sculpture. At this mansion, with the assistance of his daughter, Miss Anne Thomson, he dispenses a quiet but notable hospitality. His famous "cabin " too, uniquely decorated with the spoils of the chase, is often the scene of entertainment. The secret of Mr. Thomson's excellent health under the heavy strain of his duties is found in his love for out-door sport, for he is an ardent angler and hunter. Mr. Thomson is a member of the Philadelphia Club, the Union Club of New York and other prominent organizations in both cities.
Mr. Thomson is a widower, his wife, the daughter of the late Benjamin G. Clarke, of New York, having died in June, 1887. Miss Anne Thomson, the only daughter, a prominent figure in Philadelphia society, and Frank G., and Clarke Thomson, both students at Harvard, compose the family. Few men in Philadel- phia or Pennsylvania can point to a better record than Frank Thomson, and in his latest office, that of President of one of the greatest corporations in the world, Mr. Thomson's wonderful capacity for work and organization, and his undeniable talents. admirably fit him.
WILLIAM THOMSON.
IN DOCTOR WILLIAM THOMSON the profession of medicine possesses a worthy leader, and the State of Pennsyl- vania one of its most progressive men. Dr. Thomson represents a notable family. Born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1833, the son of Alexan- der Thomson, then President Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Dis- trict, and Jane (Graham) Thomson, his ancestry on both sides was of Scotch origin. One of the most interesting chapters of Pennsylvania's history is that dealing with the stern Presbyterians of the Scotch-Irish race who were known in a general way as the Covenanters. Their influence exerted in the history of Pennsylvania is hardly fully appreciated. No representative of this race of sturdy people was more earnest and thorough-going than Alexan- der Thomson, Doctor Thomson's father, who exerted a lasting influence upon the people of the Cumberland Valley. His grand- father, Alexander, emigrated from Scotland in 1771. He had a numerous family, two of his sons having since attained eminence in Philadelphia. One is Frank Thomson, President of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, and the other Dr. William Thomson, the subject of this biography. Four sons and two sons-in-law served in the Civil War.
Dr. Thomson was educated at the Chambersburg Academy, then a famous classical school, and in the office of Doctor John C. Richards, of Chambersburg. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1855, and settled in Lower Merion, a few miles from Philadelphia, where he married Rebecca, daughter of William E. George, and began practicing medicine. In 1861 he entered the regular army and began his military service, participating in all
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the interests and responsibilities of that heroic period, and par- ticularly in conjunction with the Army of the Potomac. At one time, at the Battle of South Mountain, he was left in charge of the field, and was obliged to find food, transportation, and shelter, as well as surgical aid, for twenty-five hundred men. After the battle of Antietam he elaborated reforms for overcoming the defects of the medical field service, which were adopted and promulgated in orders from the Medical Director of the army. In 1863, under his charge, the Douglas Hospital in Washington became conspicu- ous for its system; in 1864 Dr. Thomson was made Medical Inspector of the Department of Washington, where he remained until the close of the war. In 1866 he organized and had charge of a hospital for cholera, and, in 1867, was promoted and sent to Louisiana. In 1868, tendering his resignation, he returned to civil life, having received two brevets.
During his course of public service Dr. Thomson established a reputation which placed him in the front rank of surgeons in this country. He introduced, in 1861, the use of carbolic acid or creosote as a disinfectant in the treatment of wounds, and was a frequent contributor in specimens and papers to the Army Medical Museum. At the Douglas Hospital, in conjunction with Dr. William F. Norris, he demonstrated the value of photography in preserving valuable surgical records, and also established the possibility of preserving records of microscopic work by photo- graphy. When Dr. Thomson settled in Philadelphia he was elected a member of the leading local medical and scientific societies, and soon decided to give his exclusive attention to the diseases of the eye, for which his knowledge of optics especially qualified him. He was elected a Surgeon of the Wills' Hospital, and, in 1877, was unanimously elected Emeritus Surgeon. In 1873 he was appointed Clinical Lecturer on the Diseases of the Eye and Ear in Jefferson Medical College, and, in 1877, Ophthalmological Sur- geon to the Jefferson Hospital. He contributed many papers to the literature of his specialty, some of which have become well known ; among these are the articles on the color-sense and on the detection of color-blindness in Norris and Oliver's System of
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Diseases of the Eye. He was elected Honorary Professor of Oph- thalmology in Jefferson Medical College in 1880; Ophthalmic Surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Railroad for detection of color blindness; full Professor of Ophthalmology of Jefferson Medical College, with a seat in the faculty, in 1895; Surgeon of the Wills' Eye Hospital in 1896; May 21, 1897, Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology in Jefferson Medical College, and, on May 29th of the same year, he was made a member of the American Academy of Medicine. In addition to these, Dr. Thomson is connected with such leading and important medical institutions as the College of Physicians; the Deaf and Dumb Institute; the Academy of Natural Sciences; the Photographic Society; the American Ophthalmological Society; the American Otological Society; the Academy of Surgery, and the American Public Health Association. He belongs to the leading social organizations of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Club, the Assembly, the Rittenhouse, the Art, Gun, and Merion Cricket clubs, and other organizations. In Ophthalmology Dr. Thomson has been a dis- coverer and pioneer of progress, particularly in the science and art of refraction, and the relief of reflex neurotic disorders depen- dent upon eye-strain. Perhaps he is more widely known for his work in testing the color-sense, and the systematization and appli- cation of the tests to railroad employés, thus protecting the public from accidents resulting from the employment of men who are really incapable of seeing the colors of signals used. His system is used on 106,395 miles of road.
Dr. Thomson has an interesting family. One son, William G., is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and studied law in the office of John G. Johnson. Another son, Archebald G., is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, receiving the degree of Ph.B., in 1889, and M.D., in 1892. He was elected Assistant Surgeon of the Wills' Eye Hospital in 1896, and to Fellowship in the College of Physicians in 1897. The other two sons are named Walter S. and George S. One daughter, Caroline H., was married to Dr. A. Sidney Roberts, is now a widow with three children, and another daughter, Sara, is unmarried.
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WILLIAM E. THOMPSON.
HILE the material prosperity of the great State of W Pennsylvania is being guarded and increased by the immense business undertakings which, from time to time, mark off the paces in its advance- ment, the pride of the State and its military prowess are well cared for in the splendid body of men who con- stitute the National Guard of Pennsylvania, an organization which has time and time again proved itself entirely worthy of the impor- tant trust imposed upon it. On its rolls are to be found the names of men who in the civil walks of life have attained high promi- nence, and when this commercial and professional eminence is allied with military honor, the combination is one which undoubtedly inspires both respect and admiration. Major William E. Thomp- son, the subject of this biography, is entitled to all that this implies, for in the service of his State he has demonstrated an exceptional worth, and as a business man has won permanent success.
WILLIAM EMERY THOMPSON, of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, was born at Fredericktown, Washington County, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1850. His parents were Charles C. and Malinda Thompson, the former having been a wagonmaker who moved to Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1856. He served through the late war in Company M, One Hundredth Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry, generally known as the "Round- heads." From him the son received that martial spirit which has since characterized his connection with the National Guard. He was educated at the public schools, and when but thirteen years of age he left school to support his family while the father was in
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the army. His further education was acquired by practical expe- rience and study at home. He learned the trade of wagonmaking and entered into partnership with his father from 1868 to 1873, when he went into the flour and feed business. In 1874 he bought out his father's interest and continued in wagon manufac- turing until 1876, when he was appointed to a Clerkship in the Recorder's office of Allegheny County. It was then that his brilliant political career entered upon its first stage, and the appointment proved to be one of the most important steps in the subsequent success achieved by Mr. Thompson. Once given the opportunity to develop the political ability of which he was so well possessed he speedily acquired a reputation which continually advanced him. His next step was taken four years later, in 1880, when he was elected Justice of the Peace at Elizabeth, resigning in 1883. He was Burgess of Elizabeth in 1881 and 1882. His faithfulness and care gained for him the confidence of his con- stituents, and he was sent to the Pennsylvania House of Repre- sentatives in 1882, serving until 1886. During his term in the State Legislature Mr. Thompson was Chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining, one of the most important to his constitu- ency, and was identified with many of the leading reforms insti- tuted on behalf of the people of the State. When his term expired he was at once appointed to another office of political worth. This was in 1885, when he entered the Register of Wills' office of Allegheny County. On September 1, 1885, Mr. Thompson moved his family to Mckeesport, Allegheny County. He was made Mercantile Appraiser of Allegheny County in 1893; was elected Controller of the County on November 3, 1896. He was appointed Postmaster of Mckeesport by President Harrison in 1890. Mr. Thompson is Chairman of the Republican City Executive Commit- tee of the city of Mckeesport, and has been for the last seven years. In 1891 he was made Secretary of the Board of Education of Mckeesport. He is now a member of the Board of Trade of that city and he has numerous other interests. His chief office, of course, is that of Controller of Allegheny County, in which capacity he invariably aims to give the taxpayers an economic and business
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administration of county affairs. That he is successful in this is evidenced in the continued prosperity of the county and the general satisfaction of his constituents.
Major Thompson entered the State service in 1868, enlisting as a private in the "Walton Blues," Company A, Nineteenth Regiment, Eighteenth Division, State Militia, of which he was Sergeant when the Company was disbanded in 1873. He enlisted as a private in Company I, Fourteenth Regiment, Infantry, in March, 1880, was made First Lieutenant May 7, 1883, and Captain October 3, 1884. He was re-elected Captain October 15, 1889, and resigned March 26, 1890; was elected Captain of Company G, Fourteenth Regiment Infantry, June 9, 1890, and was elected Major of the Regiment in 1894. He is Secretary and Treasurer of the Armory Board of the Fourteenth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania. He served at Johnstown from June 4 to June 30, 1889, during the terrible times following the flood, and he also served with the Regiment at Homestead from July 11 to July 27, 1892, being in command of the battalion most of the time, owing to the illness of the senior Major.
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