USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume II > Part 37
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E. T. TYSON.
Though so well advanced in years, Mr. Tyson is still thoroughly capable of administrating the details of his business in the northern section of the city, and there he is known as one of the most enter- prising and thoroughly energetic men. His chief interests are found in the development of real estate, in his building associations and in banking matters. His connection with Pennsylvania's progress is full of interest, and he is one of the most remarkable of living Philadelphians. His mother, Sarah K. Tyson, lived for almost a century, and until within a few days of her death retained all her faculties unimpaired. She saw Washington and Jefferson in her early days. Her birthplace was at Second and Callowhill streets, in 1791. From both his paternal and maternal ancestors Mr. Tyson can trace his family connections back to the earliest stages in the development of the country.
On December 12, 1844, Mr. Tyson was married to Louisa H. Levering, and as the result of this marriage five children were born. In Germantown and, in fact, throughout the entire city, Mr. Tyson is one of the most respected business men, and although he has well earned his retirement from active life, yet the spirit of enter- prise which marked his early days still animates him, and there are few who exceed him in the capacity for work. He has earned by a long series of services rendered to his city and State the distinction of being numbered among the most progressive sons of the great Commonwealth.
MOSES VEALE.
A ALTHOUGH born in the sister State of New Jersey, the subject of this biography is a Pennsylvanian by long residence, and one who won his spurs in many a hot battle of the great Civil War. Major Moses Veale is known throughout the Keystone State not only as a soldier of gallantry and as a lawyer of ability, but for his efficacious aid to the State Government in several important posts, and for his well-fought battles in the cause of health.
MOSES VEALE was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, November 9, 1832, his parents being Moses Veale and Elizabeth Sharpe. His father's grandfather, Nehemia Veale, settled near Bridgeton in the year 1700, and Walter Veale was rector of Idyslight, North Devon, England, 1691. His mother's family, the Sharpes, settled at Salem, New Jersey, 1675, and a great-uncle of his mother was appointed judge of the district by George I. His mother's father was in the charge of Lundy's Lane under General Scott as a non- commissioned officer, and died at Sackett's Harbor. He married the daughter of William McDonald and Elizabeth Wynne. Her great-grandfather, McDonald, was one of the free Quakers of the Revolution, and her mother's great-grandfather was Thomas Wynne, who came with William Penn as surgeon. Major Veale's early education was received in the Quaker Seminary in Philadelphia, where he afterward became an instructor, a post which he held for three years. He then read law and was admitted to the Civil Courts of Philadelphia and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Shortly after the first guns of the great strife were fired, he was mustered into the service of the United States as Second Lieu-
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tenant, Company F, One Hundred and Ninth Pennsylvania, November 8, 1861. During the spring and summer of 1862 he served upon the staff of General C. C. Augur as Assistant Provost- Marshal, and later upon the staff of General John W. Geary as Assistant Commissary of Musters and Aid-de-camp, with the several ranks of Lieutenant, Captain and Major. He was commissioned Captain, April 4, 1863 ; Major, May 4, 1864 ; and has the record of having mustered in the first veteran volunteer regiment ever sworn into the service of the United States, the Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania. Major Veale was discharged from the service by special order from the War Department, June 8, 1865, and has a commission dated January 16, 1865, as Brevet Colonel for gal- lant and meritorious service at many battles. On this roster of fearless fighting for the Union appear the names of such battles as those of Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettys- burg, Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ring- gold, Resaca, New Hope Church, Pine Knob, siege of Savannah and Sherman's campaign throughout the Carolinas. In an extract written by General John W. Geary, he speaks of him in the fol- lowing terms: "Major Veale was bravest of the brave." Gen- eral John H. Kane and General Joe Hooker also praised him highly. Major Veale was slightly wounded in the arm and groin in the battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, was taken a prisoner, and held as a hostage in Libby Prison, under retaliatory orders of Jefferson Davis, until the last of September, 1862, when he was exchanged and immediately returned to his command. He was wounded in the action at Wauhatchie by a ball passing through his right shoulder. At Kenesaw Mountain he was shot through the right lung, the ball passing entirely through his body; his horse was shot from under him and mortally wounded at the same time. Upon the personal recommendation and per- sonal request of General W. H. Slocum, commander of the Army of Georgia, the Secretary of War issued a medal of honor, with the following inscription: "The Congress to Major Veale, One Hundred and Ninth Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, for gallantry in action at Wauhatchie, Tennessee, October 28, 1863." This is
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the war record of a man of whom Pennsylvania and Philadelphia may well be proud.
When the war ended Major Veale was commissioned United States Attorney for the Territory of Montana, a post which he filled with capability and honor. He served as Clerk of Indian Affairs, and on January 8, 1868, was appointed Adjutant-General, with the rank of Brigadier, for the same Territory. Major Veale returned to Philadelphia in the fall of 1876, was nominated by the Democratic party for State Senator in the Fifth Senatorial District, and in 1881 for Recorder of Deeds, running 8,000 ahead of the candidate on the ticket with him for State Treasurer. Several other politi- cal honors have come to him unsought. Governor Pattison, on April 15, 1884, appointed him Health Officer for Philadelphia, and at the expiration of his term in that office he resumed the prac- tice of law. On December 14, 1891, he was again appointed to this post by Governor Pattison. Major Veale is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion; President of the State Quarantine Board; First Vice-President of the State Sanitary Association and Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis ; is Vestryman of St. Philip's Parish of the Episcopal Church and Superintendent of St. Philip's Sunday-School; Delegate to the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church of Pennsylvania.
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IRVING P. WANGER.
U SEFUL lives and strict integrity are the character- istic traits of the religious sect known as the Brethren, or Dunkards, a large number of whom were among the early settlers of Montgomery and adjoining counties. Here they pursued the even tenor of their quiet lives, universally respected because of their many commendable qualities of intellect and the absolute justice and honesty of their commercial transactions. From this sterling stock is descended Irving P. Wanger, whose vigorous mentality and robust physique are doubtless largely the results of the quiet lives of his ancestry. A well defined purpose in life, and that purpose one inspired by laudable ambition and adhered to with singular devotion, has placed Mr. Wanger in one of the highest places within the gift of those who know him best. He is now (1897) serving his third term in the National House of Repre- sentatives, where he has made a commendable record.
IRVING PRICE WANGER was born on the 5th day of March, 1852, in North Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He is the son of George Wanger and Rebecca Price. All his male ancestors, for over two hundred years, were farmers. His father was a prominent citizen of the northern end of Chester County, and known there and throughout the surrounding district as a man of force and character and a leader in the anti-slavery cause. For several generations the progenitors of the subject of this sketch on the maternal side, including his grandfather, were preachers, and the eloquent and widely known Rev. Isaac Price, of Corner Stores, near Phoenixville, was the brother of his mother. The son was reared on the old Wanger homestead, in Chester 505
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County, and was educated in the neighboring public schools, after- wards pursuing a higher course in the Pottstown High School and the Hill School, of the same town. In 1869, when he was but seventeen years old, he was appointed a teacher in the district schools. He taught for a year; in 1870 accepting a clerkship in the Prothonotary's office in Chester County. In 1871 he became Deputy Prothonotary, but resigned the position soon after to begin the study of law at Norristown. In December, 1872, he was appointed Deputy under the first Republican Prothonotary ever elected in Montgomery County, his experience in a similar posi- tion in Chester County having suggested his selection for the place. He continued the study of law, however, and, after a thorough course of preparation, was admitted to the Bar in 1875, rapidly rising in his profession and acquiring an extensive prac- tice. Mr. Wanger is regarded as one of the most eloquent and forcible pleaders before bench and jury at the Montgomery County Bar, and in conjunction with Irvin P. Knipe, with whom he estab- lished a partnership in 1889, forms one of the most prosperous legal firms in the State.
The Republican party in Pennsylvania never had a more hard-working or determined member than Mr. Wanger. In 1875 he was elected a Delegate to the Republican State Convention. At the age of twenty-six he was elected Burgess of Norristown, and was Solicitor of the School Board of the borough for several years. He was again a Delegate to the Republican State Conven- tion in 1879, and substituted as a National Delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1880. In 1880 he was elected District Attorney of Montgomery, and the thoroughness with which he conducted the affairs of his office had so won him the admiration of the com- munity that, in 1886, he was re-elected by a majority of 1, 178 votes, running several hundred votes ahead of his ticket. In 1889 Mr. Wanger was made Chairman of the Republican County Com- mittee, but at the end of the year declined re-election. In the campaign of 1890 he was unanimously nominated by the Repub- licans of the Seventh District for Congress. He made a vigorous canvass, but in the Democratic landslide of that year was defeated
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by the narrow margin of 187 votes, although the Republican can- didate for Governor lost the district by 2,214. In 1892 Mr. Wanger was again nominated by his party and elected by a majority of 180 votes. He served with distinction in the Fifty- third Congress, holding membership on the committees on Public Lands and on Railways and Canals. In 1894 he was re-elected by a majority of 4,826 as a member of the Fifty-fourth Congress. His conduct as a member of the national legislature and the fidelity with which he had attended to the interests of his con- stituents led his party to again nominate him, in 1896, and he was once more elected. The estimate at which Mr. Wanger is held by so eminent a national leader as Speaker Reed is evidenced by his appointment to the Chairmanship of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post-Office Department, and his re-appoint- ment to a high place on the Committee on Inter-State and Foreign Commerce.
The social side of Mr. Wanger's nature gained for him many close friends among his fellow members in secret societies, and he is prominently identified with many of the best known orders in his section, among them the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, and nearly all the Masonic bodies of the State. What is one of the highest honors that could be conferred by his fellow Masons has fallen to Mr. Wan- ger's lot. In February, 1894, after the death of Charles C. Baer, he became Grand Commander of the Knights. Templar of Penn- sylvania, and in the following June, at the conclave held in Pittsburg, he was unanimously elected to succeed himself. He is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, of Norristown.
Mr. Wanger was married to Miss Emma C. Titlow, daughter of the late John Titlow, of North Coventry, Chester County, on the 25th day of June, 1884. Five children have been born to them, of whom three survive-George, Ruth and Marion. Two others, Lincoln and Rebecca, died in infancy.
GEORGE WATSON.
T HE city of homes. Thus is Philadelphia known the world over. This proud title is the result of the comparative absence from its crowded centres of those huge tenement houses that have proved such breeders of filth and crime in other cities, their place being filled by rows of small but neat and clean dwellings, fitted with every appliance known to sanitary science. The laborer, who in many another city would be compelled to herd his family in two or three rooms in a dingy tenement in the noisome depths of some dark and dirty court or alley, in Phila- delphia resides in a model six or seven room house on an asphalt paved street, where his wife and children can drink in the pure air and find health in the cheering sunshine. So, for miles in every direction stretch out block after block of pretty residences, some roomy and pretentious, others modest in size and appearance, but almost all, even in the poorest neighborhoods, as neat and clean as the most exacting could desire. This is a most admira- ble state of affairs, but it did not simply happen so. Some pub- lic-spirited investors have made it possible ; some energetic builders have done this work. To these two classes of progressive Phila- delphians is due the credit for this happy condition-a condition that makes it possible for even the common laborer to buy and pay for his home in installments scarcely larger than his monthly rent would be. Philadelphia's contractors have done much in bringing about this most desirable state of things and in the upbuilding of the city, and though the men who deserve the praise are many, George Watson, for years engaged in beautifying the Quaker City, is entitled to a large share of the commendation.
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GEORGE WATSON.
GEORGE WATSON was born in Buckingham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1826. His parents, Joseph and Annie Watson, were of English extraction, their grandfather and grand- mother, members of the Society of Friends, having come over from Britain in the Eighteenth Century. From this sterling stock, so prominent in planting the beneficent seeds of progress in the New World, he inherited those characteristics of mind and conduct for which his career was distinguished. Mr. Watson's course of study was taken while a pupil at the Friends' School in Phila- delphia, where he acquired a substantial education. Upon the completion of his school course Mr. Watson entered upon an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade with his brother, James V. Watson, one of the most skilled mechanics of his day, and under whom he served five years. Throwing his whole energies into his work, he soon became a fine workman, and progressed until, on attaining his majority, his brother was glad to associate him in the business, the firm then taking the title of James V. Watson & Brother. This partnership continued until 1857, when the senior brother withdrew, and the business was continued by the subject of this review until 1886, when his son, George J. Watson, was admitted into the firm, which thereupon assumed the name of George Watson & Son. Mr. Watson has been a remarkably hard worker and suc- cessful in all his labors. Among the builders of Philadelphia few have attained greater prominence, and the esteem in which he is held by his brother contractors is evidenced by their selecting him for the Presidency of the Master Builders' Exchange, the foremost organization of its kind in Philadelphia. The prominent place which Mr. Watson has won in building circles has not prevented his taking an active interest in quite a number of well known financial projects, in all of which he has reached positions of pro- minence and distinction. In the banking world his name has long been known, and as Director and Vice-President of the Consolida- tion National Bank he has proven himself an able financier. A considerable portion of his time, too, has been devoted to the Lumbermen's Insurance Company, of which he is a Director, and in whose affairs he has long taken an intense interest. Among
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the public organizations with which he has connected himself is the House of Refuge of Philadelphia, of which he is Manager.
Educational matters have also demanded considerable of his attention, and he has taken a prominent part in the affairs of the Friends' Central School, the J. M. George School and other edu- cational institutions under the control and patronage of the Society of Friends. He is President and, in fact, may justly be called the father of the Mechanical Trade School of Philadelphia, one of the foremost institutions for technical training in the country.
Mr. Watson is one of the oldest and best known members of the Union League, having been admitted to membership in that famous organization in 1863, and having ever since taken a prom- inent part in the government of its affairs.
He was married, in 1854, to Miss Blackfan, a member of one of the oldest and best known families of Bucks County, Penn- sylvania.
Altogether, the long career of Mr. Watson has been character- ized by energy, perseverance and success. The genial qualities of heart which he inherited from his Quaker ancestors have con- tributed much to the general esteem in which he is held, and his energy and conspicuous commercial ability have made him a prominent figure in the business life of the city to whose upbuilding he has contributed such a generous share. Happily combining the most commendable qualities of heart and brain, he has devoted a large portion of his time to forwarding the interests of others, especially being interested in the proper edu- cation of the young and their training along such lines as will best fit them for the duties of after life.
Forest Wharton
JOSEPH WHARTON.
S EVERAL great industrial enterprises have been successfully launched and fostered in Pennsyl- vania during the past quarter of a century; one of the most important and successful of these is that of the Bethlehem Iron Company, established partly under the direction of Joseph Wharton.
JOSEPH WHARTON was born in Philadelphia, March 3, 1826, his parents being William Wharton and Deborah Fisher, through whom he is descended from two of the first settlers in Philadel- phia, Thomas Wharton, who came here about the year 1683, and John Fisher, who came with William Penn from England on the ship "Welcome," in 1682. He was educated in the best private schools of Philadelphia until he was fourteen years of age, after which, until the age of sixteen, he received private instruction. He was then sent to learn farming in Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, spending three years upon this labor, but returning to Philadelphia each winter to study. At the age of nineteen he entered the counting house of Waln & Leaming, receiving there a good commercial education, and, in the year 1847, joined his brother in establishing a large manufactory of white lead and similar productions, which factory they sold, after a few years, to John T. Lewis & Brothers. In 1853 Mr. Wharton took charge of the Lehigh Zinc Company's works at and near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 1857 he leased the entire plant and managed it on his own account through the hard winter of 1857 and 1858, resuming afterwards its management for the company on a wider basis. He experimented successfully in the production of metallic zinc or spelter, which resulted in his building, in 1860, for the
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Lehigh Zinc Company, of which he was part owner, the first suc- cessful spelter works on this continent. Until April 1, 1863, he operated these works as lessee, and produced about nine million pounds of spelter. In 1863 he began the manufacture of nickel at Camden, New Jersey, from the ores of the Gap Mine, in Lan- caster County, Pennsylvania, which mine he bought. He still carries on this establishment. In nickel making Mr. Wharton is a leader and pioneer. For advances in the art of nickel making he has received several medals, particularly the gold medal of the Paris Exposition of 1878 for malleable nickel in divers forms, a display so novel that the jury at first doubted its reality. As far back as 1876 Mr. Wharton made magnets of pure nickel, among them nickel magnets for ships' compasses and, in 1888, the increased magnetic moment of forged nickel, by the addition of tungsten, was demonstrated from bars made by him for that purpose.
As Director of the Bethlehem Iron Company he advocated, in 1885, the manufacture, by that company, of steel forgings. He visited England and France in 1886, making preliminary contracts for machinery and seeking information; and, largely out of his investigations and arrangements, under the wise liberality of the Company, has grown a vast steel making establishment, producing steel and nickel-steel armor plates, gun forgings, shaftings, cranks, and similar products of the finest description. Their excellence is unrivaled, and without their use the modern navy of the United States or the new ship-building industry in this country would
scarcely have been possible. Aside from his business interests, Mr. Wharton takes quite an active part in the management of a number of institutions of a socio-political character. He was offered the Republican nomination for Congress in the Second District of Pennsylvania, but declined to enter political life, the only public office he has ever occupied being that of School Director. He has, however, frequently been consulted in regard to national policy, and has for more than a quarter of a century taken an active part in promoting wise tariff legislation.
The monument which will best commemorate this distinguished leader of industrial enterprise in the years to come is probably the
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Wharton School of Finance and Economy, a department of the University of Pennsylvania, founded by him in May, 1881. So successful have its operations been that Mr. Wharton has doubled the original endowment which he made to that institution. He was one of the founders of Swarthmore College, and has been President of its Board of Managers since 1883.
Mr. Wharton has taken an active part in a number of rail- road enterprises, and has had a large experience as a railroad director, bank director, and in a number of similar capacities. His acquaintance with the scientific, industrial and financial topics of the times, and his identification with their practical workings in the State of Pennsylvania, have led him from time to time to produce treatises and addresses upon such matters, all of which have been marked by common sense, clear expression and famili- arity with the subject treated. In every capacity in which he has shown his interest in the welfare of the State or nation Mr. Wharton has evidenced thoroughness and mastery of the matter in hand.
In 1854 Mr. Wharton married Anna C. Lovering, daughter of Joseph S. Lovering, of Philadelphia. He has been a member of the American Philosophical Society since 1869, and is a member of the Religious Society of Friends, as have been all his ances- tors for a number of generations.
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JAMES S. WHITNEY.
ANY of the most prominent Pennsylvanians of the day are men who, while they have attained recog- nition through their attention to business and their enterprising spirit, have yet found time to interest themselves in the progress of humanity in general. James S. Whitney, who is sole proprietor of the firm which has made itself known throughout the entire world as Asa Whitney & Sons, is one of the representative Pennsylvanians of this type. JAMES SHIELDS WHITNEY was born in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York, December 2, 1830. His family was one that can trace its ancestry beyond Revolutionary days, and his parent- age has an honorable record. His father was Asa Whitney, of Townsend, Massachusetts, sixth in descent from John Whitney, who came from England to Watertown, near Boston, in 1635. His mother was Clarinda, daughter of Ralph Williams, of Groton, Connecticut, who, as well as Asa Whitney's grandfather, served in the Revolutionary War. James S. Whitney went to school at Schenectady, where his father, Asa, was Superintendent of the Albany and Schenectady Railroad, now a part of the New York Central, and afterwards at Albany, where his father had removed, being then one of the State Canal Commissioners. His school education was finally completed in the Northwest Public School in Philadelphia and in the Central High School, from which latter he was graduated in 1848, after a four years' course. In 1842 his father had come to Philadelphia to be a partner with the late Matthias W. Baldwin (the founder of the world-famous Baldwin Locomotive Works), and, in 1848, six years later, the son, James S. Whitney, entered the Car Wheel Works of Asa Whitney & Son.
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