USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume II > Part 13
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There is probably no man in Titusville who more thoroughly represents the progress of western Pennsylvania than John Fertig. He is a Director of the Titusville Board of Trade, one of the most active bodies of that kind in the State, and is also a Director of the Titusville Industrial Association, Limited, which organization has for its chief purpose the aid and promotion of other business enterprises in the city of Titusville. Mr. Fertig was one of the originators of this association, and is now one of its most inter- ested members. As a pioneer oil producer, refiner, banker, manu- facturer and business man, he is worthy of a prominent place among the progressive representatives of the oil country. His faculties, mental and physical, and his public methods and public spirit all combine to make him a gentleman of whom the Com- monwealth may well feel proud.
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LEONARD R. FLETCHER.
INCE the year 1630 the Fletcher family has been a prominent one in American affairs. In the early days of the colonies Robert Fletcher, the progenitor of that name in America, settled at Concord, then Masquetaquid, and, through nine generations, the Fletchers have remained on American soil, giving to the country some of its best men of brain and brawn. Leonard R. Fletcher, the subject of this biography, has been connected with the pro- fession of law for nearly half a century, and during that time he has been the recipient of many public honors in recognition of his activity in behalf of the interests of his city. It is, however, as a professional man that Mr. Fletcher has won recognition among the progressive men of Pennsylvania.
LEONARD R. FLETCHER was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, November 27, 1828, his father being Leonard and his mother Eleanor Austin Fletcher, both of them members of fami- lies which could trace their ancestry back for many generations. The genealogy of the Fletcher family is particularly interesting. Robert Fletcher, the first American of that name, settled at Con- cord in 1630. William Fletcher was born in 1622, and Joshua, the third of the name, was born in 1648. John, the next in descent, was born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and his son Joshua was born in 1724. In 1753 Phineas was born, and his son was Leonard, born in 1796. This was the grandfather of the subject of this biography, and his son, Leonard, Mr. Fletcher's father, became a prominent Baptist minister, and had charge of the Great Valley Baptist Church, near Philadelphia, and in 1840 became pastor of the Baptist Church in Hamilton, Madison 160
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County, New York, the seat of the Baptist Theological Seminary. The law held special attractiveness for numerous members of the Fletcher family. It was in the early part of 1822 that Mr. Fletcher's father emigrated south from New York and married in Somerset County, Maryland. In 1826, or thereabouts, he moved back to New Jersey, where Leonard R. Fletcher was born. Apropos of Mr. Fletcher's interesting genealogy it is a matter of history that on August 30, 1876, one of the most important family meet- ings ever held in that section of the country occurred at Lowell, Massachusetts, in honor of the 246th anniversary of the settle- ment of Robert Fletcher in America. Numerous members of the family assembled there, for Lowell possessed a peculiar fascination, as its site was originally owned by William Fletcher, the second son of Robert Fletcher, and a portion of whose lands are still owned by his descendants, having continued in their possession for more than two centuries.
Leonard R. Fletcher was educated at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Hamilton, New York, and in about 1847 came to Philadelphia for the purpose of studying law, for which profession he had a strong inclination. He entered the law office of William B. Mann, afterwards District Attorney. For three years he studied earnestly under this excellent lawyer, and, in 1850, was admitted to the Bar. At that time all the leading lawyers of Philadelphia practiced in the Court of Quarter Sessions. Following in their example, Mr. Fletcher defended successfully eleven murder cases. This was a remarkable record in itself, and it served to bring him wide-spread fame, for among them were some of the most cele- brated and peculiar cases known in the United States criminal jurisprudence. While Mr. Fletcher practiced largely in the crimi- nal courts, yet he gradually acquired equal renown as a civil attorney, his practice in these lines eventually becoming so exten- sive as to demand most of his time. His civil practice was of a general character, and he represented corporations as well as indi- viduals. Mr. Fletcher was afterwards admitted to practice in the higher Courts, and, while still a comparatively young man, he had attained a wide-spread notability.
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In the meantime he took an active interest in the affairs of his city, not alone from a professional standpoint, but as a public- spirited citizen. This resulted, in 1853, in his election as Director of the Public Schools, in which capacity he remained until about 1864. During this time he was concerned in some of the most important measures bearing upon the school system; all the reforms in the public schools recommended in his annual reports have been adopted and form part of the present system; and he was also elected a member of the Board of Education. For four years he remained a member of the higher Board, serving two years of this time as its President. Mr. Fletcher's interest in public affairs was indicated on a number of occasions, especially when he was elected Chairman of the City Committee, a body of citizens who were instrumental in securing for Philadelphia a just administra- tion of its affairs. He was also a member of the Consolidated Committee which carried out the aims and purposes of numerous reform organizations.
On January 7, 1869, Mr. Fletcher was married to Eliza J. McCullom, the daughter of a well known Methodist minister of Baltimore. He has two children living and two deceased, the former being Leonard R. Fletcher, Jr., who is now studying at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and May Austin Fletcher, who resides with her father. Aside from his interest in the affairs of Philadelphia as a loyal citizen, Mr. Fletcher devotes his entire time to the practice of law, the demands upon his pro- fessional attention being very large.
John Frity
JOHN FRITZ.
EW men whose lives have been occupied in the promotion of the industrial interests of the State have received wider acknowledgment for their labors than John Fritz, whose services to manu- facturing have been so great as to secure for him recognition at the hands of the leading iron and steel institutions of Pennsylvania. At the same time, Mr. Fritz's advance in public esteem has been by no means confined to America, for he has received several rare honors from leading British associations.
JOHN FRITZ was born, August 21, 1822, in Londonderry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His father was George Fritz, who, born in Germany, came to this country with his parents at an early age. His mother's maiden name was Mary Meharg, and she also was born in Chester County, her parents being Scotch-Irish. The son, John, was brought up on a farm. All the schooling he ever had was three months in the winter, until he was fifteen years old. He took care of the stock in the morning, before he went, and in the evening, after his return. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the trade of blacksmithing, with a smattering of country machine work, at a shop in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, under Thomas Hudders, an excellent mechanic. In 1846 he went to Norristown and entered the employ of the firm of Moore & Hooven, proprietors of the Norristown Iron Works, manufacturers of bar iron, boiler iron and nails. His first duty was to assist in completing the mill, and, after starting, in keeping it in repair. Shortly afterwards he was placed in charge of the mill on the night turn, and, in a few months, was made general mill foreman. In 1848 or 1849 Mr.
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Fritz entered the employ of Reeves, Abbott & Company, to assist in building what was known as the Safe Harbor Iron Works. He remained there about two years, until illness compelled him to resign. Upon his restoration to health, his old position with Moore & Hooven being offered him, he returned to Norristown. In a short time David Reeves, of the firm of Reeves, Abbott & Company, offered him charge of the re-building of a blast furnace at Spring Mill, near Philadelphia, which he accepted. In 1852 he went to Catasauqua and, in company with his brother, George, B. F. Stroud and Isaac E. Chandler, his brothers-in-law, built a small foundry and machine shop. In 1854, David Reeves, in company with some friends, leased the Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, and made Mr. Fritz General Superintendent. The establishment was shortly afterwards re-leased to Wood, Morrell & Company, Mr. Reeves being one of the company, and Mr. Fritz continued with the new firm, re-building the works. In 1860 he left the Cambria Iron Company and went to Bethlehem, in the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Company as General Superin- tendent and Engineer, and built the Bethlehem Iron Company works.
The honor and esteem in which he was held by industrial leaders was evidenced on August 21, 1892, when the following congratulatory minute was adopted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers: "In honor and respect of our esteemed member and ex-Vice-President, John Fritz, who, after long years of active duty as a Mechanical Engineer, and as a noted captain of industry, seeks a rest well earned, whose ever busy life began almost contemporary with the manufacture of iron in our coun- try, who through all its advancing stages imprinted upon it the works of his thoughtful labors, who with his friend Holley stood beside the cradle of the newly born industry of steel-making in the United States, by the Bessemer and kindred processes, pro- moting its growth by his wide and varied experience and crown- ing its highest achievements with the versatility of his genius, and his rare good judgment, the Council of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers desire to make this minute. Endeared as
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he is to us and to the Society we represent, we cannot permit this eventful occasion to pass without tendering him our love and respect and without joining him in a hearty wish for his future health and happiness, and without expressing the earnest hope that for years to come we may be aided by his counsel and encouraged by his genial good fellowship. Believing that his great warm heart will receive this slight tribute in the spirit in which it is tendered, we have the honor to subscribe ourselves, the loving friends of John Fritz, of Bethlehem." This was signed by some of the most prominent engineers in the country. What may be considered an even greater honor was conferred on July 28, 1893, when the Council of the Iron and Steel Institute of England unanimously elected him to honorary membership, the other honorary members being the Prince of Wales, the King of Belgium, Professor Akerman, of Stockholm, the Ritter von Tun- ner, of Austria, and A. S. Hewitt. On May 24, 1893, Mr. Fritz was, by the unanimous votes of the President and Council of the Iron and Steel Institute, awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal for valuable services connected with the steel manufacture.
In 1896 he was Presidential Elector from the Eighth Penn- sylvania Congressional District. In 1863 he was commissioned by the Government to build a mill for re-rolling rails, at Chatta- nooga, Tennessee, with power to take any machinery that was necessary for the quick construction of the plant. In 1894 Mr. Fritz was President of the American Institute of Mining Engi- neers, and, in 1886, was President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. On September 28, 1897, he was unani- mously selected by the Armor Plant Board, confirmed and author- ized by the Secretary of the Navy, to get up plans and estimates of cost for a proposed armor plate plant, which plans and esti- mates of cost are now completed.
In 1851 Mr. Fritz was married to Ellen W. Maxwell, of Montgomery County. They have no children living.
GEORGE S. GANDY.
0 NE of the most important branches of modern enter- prise is the creating and maintenance of its passen- ger railway systems, which serve, through the medium of rapid transit, to connect various sections in a thoroughly modern manner. Philadelphia is known the world over for its admirable street railway system, and it is a significant fact that the greatest progress in this direction has been made within the past ten or fifteen years. George S. Gandy, who is known as a successful promoter of these enterprises, has been connected with some of the biggest railway companies in the city of Philadelphia for a number of years, and he has made the development of railway systems almost a life study. His last enterprise was the Fairmount Park Transportation Company, one of the latest additions to Philadelphia's great system of surface transit.
GEORGE S. GANDY was born in Tuckahoe, Cape May County, New Jersey, October 20, 1851. His parents were Lewis and Jane A. Gandy, who were descendants of the oldest families in that section. Lewis Gandy was a sea captain who had traveled over the various quarters of the globe, and had a wide knowledge of many subjects. The mother, Jane A., was the daughter of Nathaniel Reeves, a farmer of Millville, New Jersey. At the age of nine the son, George, was taken to Philadelphia, which was just about the time when the War of the Rebellion broke out. He was sent, during that period of strife, to the public schools, receiv- ing a thorough preliminary education, and at the age of fifteen he graduated from the Madison Boys' Grammar School. Like many another youth of ambition, he started his business life as 166
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an office boy upon leaving school, and, although the world was entirely new to him, he rapidly went to the front, by reason of his excellent home training and parental advice, no less than his own sterling worth. His first occupation was in the saw works of Henry Disston & Sons, and though he started there as office boy, he remained with the firm over eleven years, acquiring a knowledge of business details, and being promoted from one posi- tion to another, until he had reached a high post in the firm's employ and had their warm appreciation. After he had been with the Disston organization for a considerable period, Mr. Gandy determined to branch out into the business field for himself. Once he had settled upon this determination, he lost no time in making the best of the opportunities presented, chiefly those in connection with the development of the city.
Mr. Gandy was identified with the firm of Bowers, Cooper & Gandy, in which he had a third interest. This firm erected one hundred and sixty-three buildings in the northern section of the city, and the operation was entirely successful. Mr. Gandy acquired a large knowledge of real estate, and, having a far-seeing eye for the increase of valuation, as well as a technical knowledge of the details of such operations, he very successfully branched out on his own account and put up a number of structures in that part of Philadelphia. The People's Theatre and Textile Hall properties in Kensington were built by him, and it is a matter of local record that Mr. Gandy was one of the most successful men in improv- ing that section of the city. While Mr. Gandy continued very active in real estate operations, his temperament required a further outlet for his energy, and he became connected with some of the leading corporations in Philadelphia. When the Frankford and Southwark Passenger Railway Company was entering into one of the first progressive stages Mr. Gandy became interested in it in an official capacity, and it was largely due to his enterprise that the company met with such success. He served for five years as Secretary and Treasurer of the Company, and was Director and Vice-President for ten years. When the Electric Traction Com- pany was incorporated, Mr. Gandy was one of the leading men
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concerned in it, and the enlarging of the system was a large part of his work. He served as a Director in the Company and as its Vice-President from its incorporation until it came under the Union Traction Company.
Mr. Gandy has really made the business of passenger railways a close study, and there are few men in Pennsylvania to-day who are more thoroughly conversant with its details than he. Not alone the financial methods of the companies with which he has been connected, but the details contingent upon the operation of the systems are familiar to him. After the Omnibus Company General was organized in Philadelphia, Mr. Gandy took a large part in the conduct of the venture, and again demonstrated his ability as its President. When the Fairmount Park Transportation Company was organized Mr. Gandy was elected President, and continued his services with that company until the road was com- pleted, organized and in successful operation. The record of his services to Philadelphia in his capacity of street railroader is a bright one, and Mr. Gandy is generally considered one of the most progressive men of the eastern part of the State.
Mr. Gandy's first wife was the daughter of Henry Disston, and his second wife was the daughter of James E. Cooper, who was at one time associated with him in business. Mr. Gandy has no children living by his first or second wife; but two boys and one girl, all living, have been the fruits of his marriage to his present wife who was Miss Clara Frances Miller.
AEFRANCIS & CO.
MnGeary
WILLIAM M. GEARY.
ILLIAM M. GEARY, who was elected Philadel- W phia's Recorder of Deeds in November, 1895, has not always had a smooth public career. His first experience in political life was gained, remarkable as it may seem, when he was eleven years old, and it brought him neither joy nor immediate honor. He became an abolitionist, declared himself as such in the face of the opposition and abuse of the people of his native place, his own family included, and bore the consequences of his independence in perse- cution bitter enough to make an ordinary boy retract and ask for peace. He is that kind of man still, and the incident gives the keynote of Mr. Geary's subsequent career. His father, Jonathan Geary, was a poor farmer in Upper Hanover Township, Mont- gomery County, and was descended from Rudolph Geary, a Swiss emigrant, who came from Berne in 17II. WILLIAM M. GEARY was born June 14, 1845, and grew up with few advantages and no schooling worth speaking of; for he was in one of those districts where citizens were compelled by act of legislature to establish the free schools-an innovation that they took none too amiably. He had thirteen weeks' study in the Bucks County Normal School, and his preceptor, A. H. Horn, urged his father to allow him to go on with his studies, promising to give him a position as teacher as soon as possible. The former, however, could not afford to do so.
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The boy remained with his parents for two years, when he was "put out" to work on a farm for his board and clothes. The whole district in which he lived was peopled with the most ardent friends of slave-holders, but there were a few families in the
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neighborhood that formed stations of the "underground railroad," stretching from the South to New England, and passing on, as if by magic, through the heart of a watchful country, the slaves who escaped from bondage in the South, and sought safety in the North. The boy was thrown into contact with these earnest abolitionists, and often heard the anti-slavery doctrine preached by Lucretia Mott and the Davis family. He espoused the cause with all the earnestness of his sturdy young spirit. His family and the neighbors to whom his ambition had looked for help and advancement with one accord treated him as unnatural and worse than a fool, and he was suddenly estranged from parents and nearly every one who had been dear to him. He was phenome- nally tall and strong for his age; in fact, at eleven was almost as large as a man. For two years after his declaration the boy had little peace, and at thirteen told his parents that he was tired of his troubles and was going to leave. With this parting he went to Wissahickon Station, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, and hired himself to a farmer, Adam Frees, working there for over two years. At the outbreak of the war young Geary, who was still under age, lost no time in enlisting, but his parents, who were still strong in their slavery sympathies, declared that he was a minor. He enlisted again, and was again discharged at his father's declaration. It was at Wissahickon that his lack of earlier education was remedied, for the farmer's wife, Mrs. Ann Frees, was a woman of more culture than was common in her position in life, and one whose love of learning was far broader than her opportunities. She was nearly blind, and it was fortunate for both of them that the boy had joined her household. His progress was surprisingly rapid, and at sixteen he was able to speak, read and write five different languages. While in the employ of Frees Mr. Geary met Franklin A. Comley, president of the North Pennsyl- vania Railroad, who, in October, 1861, employed him as a brake- man. By hard work he rose from one position to another until, in 1879, he was appointed Master of Transportation, which, under that corporation, was third to the Presidency. When the Phila- delphia and Reading Railroad leased the North Pennsylvania he
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was employed by the former company, being appointed, on Novem- ber 30, 1879, Superintendent of the Philadelphia and Newtown Railroad, and holding his two positions jointly in this city until 1892, when, in addition to being Superintendent of the Newtown Line, he became one of its Directors. The company was losing money when he was placed in charge of its affairs, which he speedily put upon a paying footing. His political interest, begun at so early an age, continued with unabated fervor, and as a staunch Republican he was active in every campaign from Fre- mont's. In 1889 he was elected to Common Council from the Nineteenth Ward, and was twice re-elected. At the end of the third term he declined another nomination. In 1895 he was the Republican nominee for Recorder of Deeds, was elected and entered upon his duties on January 1, 1896. From 1892 he has been President of the Anti-Cobden Club, and he is also a member of the Union Republican Club. He is a Knight Templar and active in the Order. In March, 1865, he was married to Miss L. A. Keller, of Sellersville, Montgomery County, and they have one son, Leighton K. Geary. Mr. Geary is a member of the German Reformed Church.
JOHN B. GEST.
A THOROUGHLY useful life and one full of activ- ity and business and professional success is out- lined in the career of John B. Gest, the subject of this biography. Mr. Gest not only received a thorough academical education, but took a full collegiate course at the University of Pennsylvania, supplemented by two years in the Law Department. From the time of his admission to the Bar until the present day he has exhibited a wide interest in the affairs of his city and in his profession. Mr. Gest, as President of the Fidelity Trust Company, has intimate connec- tion with the financial world, and in charitable affairs, as well, he is a prominent figure.
JOHN BARNARD GEST was born in Philadelphia on November 4, 1823, and has always resided in this city. He is the son of John Gest, formerly a merchant in Philadelphia, who comes of an old Pennsylvania family, and Ann Barnard, who was descended from Richard Barnard, an early settler in Chester County. He received his early education in various private schools in Phila- delphia, and, in January, 1841, he entered the University of Penn- sylvania in the Department of Arts, graduating in July, 1844, when he received his Bachelor's degree. He was a member of the Zelosphic Society, and for a time its President. In January, 1847, he was admitted to practice in the Courts of Philadelphia, and in the same year received the degree of Master of Arts from the University. When the present Law School was established under Professor Sharswood, Mr. Gest, although then practising law, attended the lectures and received the degree of LL. B. in 1852. He took a great interest in the affairs of his class and of the col-
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lege, and was Chairman of the committees of the Alumni Society who compiled the first, second and third Alumni catalogues of the College Department. He took a principal part in organizing the Society of the Alumni of the University, and was for some years its President, and almost continuously has served as one of its Managers. He has also served as a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania since 1887. Mr. Gest was continuously and actively engaged in the practice of law from his admission as an attorney, in 1847, until he entered the service of the Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company as Vice-President, in 1873, in which capacity he remained until his election as President, in 1890.
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