USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume II > Part 7
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WILLIAM M. BROWN.
returned to his native State, and entered upon a course in Powers' Commercial College, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in which he acquired a thorough theoretical insight into the details of business transactions that, put into practice in later life, has been of vast service to him, and contributed, in no mean degree, to his suc- cess. He next took a two years' course in the New Castle One Study College, where he added further to that stock of knowledge which his remarkable business achievements show him to possess. Earnest application having by this time qualified him for teach- ing, for two terms he taught school, devoting his spare hours to further study. A place as bookkeeper in a bank was then offered to him, and he accepted the post and filled it with fidelity for two years. Mr. Brown began the study of law in 1873, in the office of the late Judge McMichael, and three years later was admitted to the Lawrence County Bar. Until 1883 he engaged in the practice of his profession, and in the February of that year was tendered and accepted a position as Special Agent in the United States Land Office. This post, however, he resigned in the August of the same year. In 1888, his practice having been for five years interrupted by other pursuits, he resumed the law in con- nection with the firm of Winternitz, McConahy & Brown. But two years later his street railway interests again demanded his attention and forced his severance from the Bar. He was Secretary and Treasurer of the Standard Paper Company from 1885 until 1887, although he entered the mercantile world in 1884, at the head of the firm of Brown, Thompson & Company, general dealers. It was while engaged in this business that he first became inti- mately associated with the progressive street railway movement, and became a partner in the firm of Townsend & Brown, electric railway contractors, a concern which is well known as the con- structor of many lines, not only in Pennsylvania, but in other parts of the United States. This connection rapidly brought Mr. Brown into prominence in street railway circles, and he soon became identified with the management of the New Castle Electric Street Railway, taking, in 1890, the responsible position of Vice- President and Manager of the road, which position he continued
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to fill until 1896, when he became a member of its Directorate, as well as its Secretary and Treasurer. Turning his eyes to the South, and perceiving the rapid development of the section, he became one of the prime movers in the construction of the Mont- gomery Street Railway, located in the city of Montgomery, Ala- bama, in the affairs of which corporation he has ever since been active. He now holds a place in the Board of Directors of the road, in whose success he takes an intense interest. The State of New York, too, came in for its share of the fruits of his ener- getic enterprise, evidenced in the construction of an electric line in Syracuse, and in the affairs of this road, too, Mr. Brown has been active and prominent. He is a Director and President of the Syracuse Rapid Transit Railway Company, which is at present operating the line.
Thoroughly devoted to the progressive development of the city in which he had made his home, and being greatly interested in the proper conduct of its municipal business, Mr. Brown con- sented to devote a portion of his time to the active management of the public affairs of New Castle, and served the people with zeal and fidelity as a member of the Select Council, which post he held for eight years. Although taking a deep interest in the welfare of County, State and Nation, and being concerned, as a good citizen, in the proper administration of their respective governments, he has not taken a prominent place in partisan politics, and has never consented to accept any other public office at the hands of his fel- low citizens until elected to the State Senate, from the Forty- seventh Senatorial District, for the term ending in 1900.
In 1884 Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Margaret C. Foltz. They have two children. Practically the whole of his time is now taken up in the development of the various electric rail- ways in which he is interested, and by his duties as a Director in the companies controlling and operating them, though he still finds time to forward, as far as lays within his power, the interests of New Castle and of the State of Pennsylvania.
Solom & Bullitt
JOHN C. BULLITT.
AD John C. Bullitt done nothing else more deserving of honor than the drafting of the charter under which the city of Philadelphia is now governed, his fame would still descend to posterity, for the " Bullitt Bill," as it is generally known, is a monument to its author's clear-sightedness, ability and worth. But Mr. Bullitt's entire life has been one of usefulness, and it is marked by events which now point, like stepping stones, the way of his success.
JOHN C. BULLITT was born February 10, 1824, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, at "Oxmoor," the old thousand-acre estate of that branch of the Bullitt family. Mr. Bullitt's genealogy is a brilliant one. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked one of the Languedoc Huguenots who fled from the persecution that followed was Benjamin Bullitt, who came to America and cast his lot as a planter near Port Tobacco, Maryland; and his grandchildren were among those who made the history of the growing colonies. One of them, Cuthbert Bullitt, became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and another, Captain Thomas Bullitt, in 1773, visited the Falls of the Ohio and laid out the city of Louisville. Alex- ander S. Bullitt married a niece of Patrick Henry and made his home on the Kentucky manor, now owned by his grandson, the subject of this biography. In politics and the records of the Bench and Bar of the Southern States many other sons have brought honor to the family name. On the maternal side of Mr. Bullitt's ancestry was Colonel Josiah Fry, conspicuous in Virginia's history, who met his death while leading his regiment in Brad- dock's campaign, and was succeeded by General Washington. John Christian Bullitt received his education at Centre College,
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JOHN C. BULLITT.
Danville, Kentucky, graduating at eighteen. He followed the vocation pointed out to him by family example, and after studying law at the University of Lexington, was admitted to the Bar at Louisville in 1845, being then only twenty-one years of age. He spent a few years in practice in that and other cities of the Ohio valley, and, in 1849, came to Philadelphia, where he has remained from that time. The field of politics opened to him with tempting promise, and his assertive spirit would not allow him to remain silent where his convictions were so strong. He had been bred a Whig, and as such he entered the political arena, making his first address, an able and forcible one, at a meeting in the Chinese Museum Building at Ninth and Sansom streets, July 8, 1850. When the Whig party came to an end Mr. Bullitt found that Democracy nearest approached his views, and he became a Demo- crat. His conservatism never made any sacrifices to party fealty, however, and his independence in this respect has placed him as a leader among other thoughtful men of his kind.
Corporation law was the special branch of practice in which he made his success, and he has been conspicuous in the settle- ment of the affairs of railroad and banking companies. When, in 1873, there came the colossal crash of the banking house of Jay Cooke & Company, and the fall of the noted Philadelphia financier who had, by his energy and enthusiasm, supplied to the United States the financial sinews of the war, Mr. Bullitt, as counsel for the bankers, became the directing mind in the settlement of that great estate, and by his good judgment and unceasing efforts had at last the satisfaction of seeing all the creditors satisfied. Another notable evidence of his deep grasp of complicated business situa- tions was indicated when he was counsel for the syndicate of capitalists who sought to rescue the Reading Railroad and place it on a paying footing some years ago. His success at the Bar has brought him a practice surpassed, probably, by none in Penn- sylvania, as he is counsel for some of the greatest interests in the country. The city charter drawn by Mr. Bullitt, and adopted largely through his efforts, has given the city one of the most compact and serviceable municipal governments in this country.
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JOIIN C. BULLITT.
In 1896, when the Democratic Convention in Chicago adopted a silver platform, Mr. Bullitt at once decided that he could not sup- port that ticket, and lost no time in seeking out other Pennsyl- vania Democrats who adhered to the sound-money principle. As Chairman of the committee thus formed he waged a tireless battle in the State, and was one of those who first proposed the Con- vention in Indianapolis which resulted in the nomination of Palmer and Buckner on the Jeffersonian Democratic ticket. Mr. Bullitt's distinctive characteristics are a sound judgment, a thorough knowl- edge of the law, indomitable energy and a spotless integrity, quali- ties which have placed him high in the confidence and respect of the community. The "Bullitt Bill," of which he is the father, was introduced into the Legislature in 1883, passed June 1, 1885, and went into effect April 1, 1887. Mr. Bullitt as a financier and political economist enjoys a national reputation, and his plan for the reform of the currency system, as outlined to the Currency Commission, October 18, 1897, was generally pronounced a master- ful production.
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JAMES D. CALLERY.
OTH by the rights of distinguished parentage-dis- B tinguished because of the warm interest and active participation in the affairs of the city and State taken by his father-and by the still greater right of untiring energy and progressive business methods, James D. Callery, the subject of this biography, is identified with the history of Pennsylvania as a factor of large worth and influ- ence. In the city of Pittsburg he is recognized as one of the most deservedly successful business men, and his interests not only in the commercial affairs of his city, but in the charitable institutions thereof have established upon an immutable basis his reputation as a representative citizen.
JAMES D. CALLERY was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, November II, 1857. James Callery, his father, was one of the most active and enterprising men of Pittsburg, and from 1885, until his death, in 1889, was President of the Pittsburg and Western Railroad Company. He was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1833, and although of Irish birth was thoroughly American in all his qualities. He belonged to the farming class, and came of a most respectable family, being trained in his boy- hood in all those traits which tended to make him a man of sterling integrity and honor. From the time he landed in America until his death his career was a series of progressive movements, and well earned distinctions. In Allegheny and Pitts- burg his was one of the best known and most highly honored names. His son, the subject of this biography, has inherited his many excellent traits. From his mother, too, James D. Callery has received many qualities which contributed to his success. Her
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A.
JanusCalley
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JAMES D. CALLERY.
maiden name was Rose A. Downing. When he was seventeen years of age, James D. Callery started in business with his father in Pittsburg, the firm name being James Callery & Company, tanners and leather merchants. In 1878 he was admitted as a member of the firm, and it was through his untiring industry and close attention to the firmn's affairs that much of its success was attained. At the death of his father, April 5, 1889, he became the senior member of the firm. One brother, William D., and his mother, Rose A. Callery, were the other members. It continues a leader in Western Pennsylvania to the present time, there having been an addition made of another brother, Charles D., who became a member in 1894. The firm's business is the largest of its kind in that section of the State. Mr. Callery is one of those men, who, possessed of so many attributes that lead to success, cannot confine themselves to any one channel for the outlet of their abili- ties. He has been President, since 1888, of the Second Avenue Passenger Railway Company, and its leased and controlled lines, operating in this city and Allegheny County, which include about sixty-five miles of street railway in all. These lines became con- solidated in 1894, and since that time the company has taken control of the Pleasant Valley Railway and Pittsburg, Allegheny and Mancher Traction Company, which operates in Pittsburg and has control of all the important lines in Allegheny and Mononga- hela Valley in the Pittsburg district. Mr. Callery serves as President of the consolidated lines, known as the United Traction Company; he is also President of the City Savings Bank of Pittsburg, and is a Director of National Bank of Commerce. Mr. Callery is also a Director of the City Insurance Company of Pittsburg, and in this capacity he has demonstrated the versatility of his attainments. Upon the death of his fatlier he succeeded him as a member of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburg and Western Railway Con- pany, continuing in that post for several years. He is a Director of the West End Passenger Railway and many other companies.
Mr. Callery received his early education in the Fourth Ward public schools of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and after this founda- tion had been laid for a more complete education he was sent to
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Notre Dame College. The same industrious disposition which distinguished him in his youth made Mr. Callery successful in the pursuit of business affairs, and his progress in this field has been remarkable. However, he finds much time to devote to chari- table affairs, and is identified with some of the leading institutions of this nature in Pittsburg and the surrounding districts. He was an incorporator of the St. Mary's Cemetery and also Calvary Ceme- tery, of Pittsburg. He is a Director of St. Paul's Orphan Asylum and of the Boys' Protectory. He is also a Director in the Rosalia Foundling Asylum and he is a Director and Secretary of the Mercy Hospital. His interest in charitable and religious matters has led him to occupy positions in a managerial capacity with a number of Catholic institutions of Pittsburg. His business interests extend outside of the State of Pennsylvania. He is a Director of the Fair- port Terminal Company, of Fairport, Ohio, which controls the Fairport docks.
Mr. Callery was married, October 27, 1885, to Marcella Howley. They have four children, three boys, Dawson, William and Charles, and one daughter, Marcella. Mr. Callery has never held any public office of any character whatever, notwithstanding his interest in all matters connected with the advancement of Pittsburg and the State at large. He is a very active, energetic business man, of modest, pleasant manners, and one who enjoys great popularity.
J. ABBOTT CANTRELL.
La
0 F late years the young men have shown a decided tendency to forge to the front and take those high places for which their talents fit them. The time was when age was considered necessary to wisdom, and youth stood diffidently by and respect- fully waited until the older workers one by one dropped out. But in the present progressive age diffidence has no place, a condition particularly true of the profession of medicine. In the medical world, during the past few years, there have been many radical changes, many innovations, and it is natural that the young men, just from college, should be equipped with all the latest discoveries of their profession, and should rapidly gather about them practices as great as even the most eminent enjoyed a quarter of a century ago. Of this class is Dr. J. Abbott Cantrell, of Philadelphia, who, though a comparatively young man, has evidenced his possession of peculiar fitness for the profession, and has already won his laurels in the medical field.
JOHN ABBOTT CANTRELL was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, on the 14th day of August, 1863. His father was Dr. James H. Cantrell, a prominent physician, and once a Democratic nominee for Coroner of Philadelphia County. His mother was Matilda M. Fuller, who came of a well known Philadelphia family. His parental grandmother was named Henry, a relative being James Henry, a high officer of the English army stationed in Africa. His maternal grandparents were John and Elizabeth Fuller, the former being a descendant of John Fuller, who came over in the "Mayflower," and the only Fuller in the first directory published. The Fuller cradle was shown at the Old Folks' building at the
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J. ABBOTT CANTRELL.
Centennial. Dr. Cantrell's earlier education was acquired in the public schools of Philadelphia, where he laid the foundation for that broader training which has aided him so much in the prac- tice of his profession. On completing his course in the public schools he entered the Episcopal Academy, from which, after making commendable progress, he was graduated in 1880. He became a member of the class of 1885 at the University of Penn- sylvania, but at the completion of his first year left that institu- tion and entered Jefferson Medical College, from which he graduated in 1885. Immediately upon completing his course at the Jefferson College, Dr. Cantrell, appreciating the tendency of the times, decided to qualify himself in a specialty, and began a closer study of diseases of the skin, in which special line he has since prac- ticed. His first post was as Adjutant Professor of Skin Diseases at the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates of Medi- cine. He resigned this position in 1891. From 1888 until 1893 he was instructor in the same specialty in Jefferson College. While instructor here he was Chief of the Clinic, and under his fostering care the department was greatly built up. This post, however, he resigned to accept a Professorship in the Department of Skin Diseases in the Polyclinic, which important chair he still holds. In 1889 he was appointed Dermatologist of the Philadel- phia Hospital, and still remains connected with that institution in the same capacity. Besides these eminent connections, the general recognition which the peculiar attainments of Dr. Cantrell have met with by the profession is illustrated in a number of similar positions which he has held, among them being Dermatologist of St. Agnes' Hospital from 1890 to 1893, and Dermatologist of the Southern Dispensary from 1893 to 1895. Dr. Cantrell is now Dermatologist in the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital, to which office he was elected at the time the institution was first opened. In the spring of 1890 Dr. Cantrell was solicited to accept the Lectureship on Skin Diseases at Jefferson Hospital. Perhaps no member of the profession has contributed more largely to American medical literature along the lines of his specialty than has Dr. Cantrell, who has written over one hundred and fifty
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articles for various publications, many of which are looked upon as standard treatises upon the subjects, and have been widely reproduced.
On the 12th day of June, 1895, Dr. Cantrell was united in marriage to Miss Louise Loftus Nixon, of Richmond, Indiana. They have one child, a boy, Harold Thorp, who was born on the 30th day of October, 1896. Dr. Cantrell's wife is a direct descen- dant of David Rittenhouse, the famous astronomer, and also numbers Robert Morris, the famous patriot of Revolutionary times, among her ancestors. The Rittenhouse family is one of the oldest in America, the original Rittenhouse having, in 1644, come from Germany, where the family tree runs into royal lines in the Middle Ages. They were the first paper makers in America, William Rittenhouse having established his mill near Germantown, in 1690, and members of the family have continued in the paper- making industry from that day until the present time.
Dr. Cantrell is devoting the whole of his professional attention to the practice of Dermatology, in which he has achieved note- worthy prominence. In personal appearance the Doctor is a very commanding man. He is six feet and one-half inches in height, and weighs 235 pounds. One of the characteristic features of his every-day life is his domesticity, his home being a thoroughly happy one. Most of his leisure hours are spent around the family hearthstone, which is made attractive by his jovial disposition, his sense of humor and the refining influence of his estimable wife, who is a lady of the highest accomplishments. It is to these same genial qualities scarcely less than to his scientific attain- ments that the Doctor owes the high place he has won in his profession. Besides this, his contributions, through the medical press, to the literature of Dermatology and general medicine, have gained for him a national reputation.
GEORGE BRADFORD CARR.
IN the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania there are many life stories woven, telling of the struggles, trials and final triumphs of men who began life with scarcely anything to their credit but honest, healthful parentage. There is none who better illustrates this class of self-made men than the subject of this biography, George Bradford Carr, who has, unaided by any one, made himself a leader in the ranks of the legal profession. His story is an interesting and instructive one.
GEORGE BRADFORD CARR was born in North Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1847. His father was George Gage Carr and his mother was Julia A. Brett, whose father, Zibeon Brett, was in the War of 1812. His paternal grandfather was Benjamin Carr, who lived in Rearfield, Maine, where Mr .. Carr's father was born. In him are united the best traits of the Irish and Scotch. His father was a man of strong personality, and both his parents were devotedly pious, all day Sunday being given up to religious matters. This influence had a considerable effect upon his later life and character. His mother died when he was very young, however, and his father married a Miss Thankful Whitney Chandler, who is now living, and whose love and affection for him have largely directed the course of his life. He left New England in 1867, and from then until now scarcely a week has passed that he has not written to her and she to him in return. She is now in her seventy-sixth year. His father died at the advanced age of eighty years on February 27, 1896. George Bradford Carr's early education was obtained in a little schoolhouse three miles away from his home, 88
Jeo Bras Jord Can
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GEORGE BRADFORD CARR.
but with the war his father lost all he had, the young man was compelled to go to work to hielp the family, entering a shoe factory, where, for the first six months, he earned three dollars a week. About 1867 his earning capacity was a thousand dollars a year. In 1868 he entered the State Normal School, at Bridge- water, Massachusetts, intending to become a teacher, but later went to Omaha, Nebraska. There he found the social conditions absolutely unlike those to which he had been accustomed, and, becoming discouraged, finally decided, in 1869, to settle in Phila- delphia. He secured employment with the firm of Saller & Lewin, 313 Arch Street, then the largest shoe manufacturers in the city. In a short time he succeeded in earning as high as thirty-five dollars a week, managing to save money, until early in July, 1871, he determined to quit shoemaking forever, and making a settlement with the firm, found himself the possessor of four hundred dollars. Deciding to make the study of law his occupa- tion, he entered the office of Amos Briggs, 530 Walnut Street, at a salary of three dollars per week, agreeing to do errands while he studied. In March, 1872, however, his preceptor was appointed a Judge, and in October of that year was elected to the Bench. Mr. Carr then entered the office of George L. Crawford, finally, in June, 1873, passing the examination for admission to the Bar. His means were all exhausted, however, and he was in debt for board; so he started again in the business of shoemaking. He went to his native town, the name of which had been changed from North Bridgewater to Brockton, and there found employ- ment, with a man who had known him all his life, in his shoe factory, at twenty-one dollars per week. He worked during the entire summer, sometimes fourteen and fifteen hours a day, and in September, 1873, was admitted to practice law in Philadelphia County. He continued with Mr. Crawford until 1876, and then went to 137 and 139 South Fifth Street, where he took offices and continued for twenty years, until September, 1896. In 1883, from overwork, he fell ill and the doctors believed he would never recover, but, eventually, broken down in health, his practice all gone and without a penny in the world, he began life again.
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