USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume III > Part 10
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STANLEY G. FLAGG.
Mr. Flagg spent his early years in Boston. He entered in the primary grade of the public schools there, and made successful progress until he reached the High School, where he obtained a solid rudimentary knowledge of the English language. At fourteen years of age he came to Philadelphia. Possessed of an energetic spirit, always a willing worker, and ever anxious to be the hewer of his own fortune, he entered the retail dry-goods store of Gideon Cox, then situated at Eighth and Market streets. This was in 1845. He stayed with his first employer until the latter went out of business, and when his successor, Curwen Stoddart, took charge of the store, he remained with him until 1855. About this time Mr. Flagg discovered that commercial life was not exactly to his liking. He possessed mechanical tastes, or rather inven- tive inclinations. Hence, he cast about to better himself, or rather to afford his natural abilities a more desirable outlet. In a small way he started a malleable iron business in Frankford, a suburb of Philadel- phia, and worked early and late to attain an independent footing. At that time all gas, steam and water-pipe fittings were made of brass. He evolved the idea that they could be made of malleable iron, thus saving a great deal to the users of the article. His idea was thor- oughly successful in every way. The demand became greater than the supply, and, in 1863, his business having greatly increased, he built new and larger works on Front Street below Girard Avenue. Two years later he bought the plant then located at Nineteenth Street and Penn- sylvania Avenue. In 1881 he remodeled his works by the purchase of property adjoining, the whole including the entire square at Nineteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, and he greatly enlarged the plant. Later on he admitted his son, Stanley G. Flagg, Jr., into the firm, and as their business grew he admitted another son, George Flagg, such being the present composition of the firm of Stanley G. Flagg & Co. In 1896 he built and equipped a plant at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, thus forming three plants in active operation in the business.
Since 1872 Mr. Flagg has been interested in the manufacture of stove-lining and fire-brick and devotes considerable of his attention to a pottery for that purpose. In 1896 he purchased the interest of his partners in the plant and is now the sole owner of the pottery located at Ridge Avenue and Wallace Street, under the name of George
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Sweeney & Company. Some few years ago he introduced a superior article of steel castings in connection with his iron business. Such a success did these castings prove that his business was increased, and now they are used throughout the United States. In fact, they are considered the best of their kind on the market, and a great increase in the business of the firm has been the result of this departure. It has been the aim of the firm to make its goods of a superior quality, and their malleable iron fittings hold a high rank in domestic and foreign markets, the firm being very extensive exporters of their pro- ducts. Holding the record of being the first firm to make malleable iron fittings, they do a business in their line scarcely equaled in manu- facturing circles by any similar establishment in the world.
Mr. Flagg devotes his entire attention to his various business interests, yet he finds time to look into the political affairs of his city and State. He is a Republican and is loyal to the party of his fealty. He belongs to no clubs and is very domestic in his habits. He pos- sesses a kind and benevolent disposition, and, when not occupied with business, his family circle commands all his attention. He was married on May 7, 1856, to Adelaide Gordon, a member of an old Philadelphia family, and the youngest daughter of Mordica Lewis Gordon.
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BENJAMIN K. FOCHT.
T HREE terms in the Legislature, each replete with instances of loyalty to his constituents and care for the interests of the entire State, up to the present, comprise the public career of Benjamin K. Focht, the subject of this biography. Mr. Focht is editor and proprietor of the Saturday News, of Lewisburg, and he has not only made his mark in journalism, but, through his practical work in the political field, has won a reputation as one of the best organizers in Pennsylvania.
BENJAMIN K. FOCHT was born in New Bloomfield, Perry County, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1863. His father was the late Rev. David Heinlein Focht, a Lutheran minister, who was known as an author and who was noted for his powers as a pulpit orator. His mother was Sarah Brown Focht, daughter of John Brown, one of the original set- tlers of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and one who had tracts of land there. On the death of her husband, in 1864, one year after the son, Benjamin, was born, she returned with her children to her native place. Mr. Focht's ancestry includes many clergymen, and others who were Revolutionary heroes. John George Focht, his great-grandfather, emi- grated from Neustadt, Franconia, Germany, in the Eighteenth Century, and settled in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. He served under General Wayne and took part in the battles of Stony Point, German- town and Trenton, and he also served under General Sullivan against the Indians of the Six Nations. When Benjamin Focht was old enough to go to school, he was sent to Bucknell Academy, Lewisburg, where he was educated, also receiving a course of instruction at State College and Selinsgrove Institute. At the age of fourteen he entered a printing-office as an apprentice, and so rapid was his progress in
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this line that, at the age of seventeen, he wrote the salutatory for the first issue of the Lewisburg Local News.
Mr. Focht had a decided leaning to journalism, both in its practi- cal and theoretical branches, and in 1882 he founded and was part owner of the Local News, and then, after one year, upon becoming sole proprietor, changed its name to the Saturday News. The difficulties that beset him in the early part of his journalistic career were many; but by his energy and application to business he surmounted all obsta- cles, becoming, within the space of a few years, one of the strongest editorial writers in Pennsylvania and owner of an extensive and valu- able newspaper plant. It was but a natural step from the field of journalism into that of politics, and early in his career as a publisher and editor Mr. Focht attracted the attention of the Republican party.
. The victories which Mr. Focht won as a journalist marked him as a man of progress before he reached his majority, and it was only a short time before he had attained a prominent position in his com- munity as a leader of thought. As early as 1882 he came into the notice of the Republican organization of his district by upholding its course as opposed to the "Independents," in which cause he exer- cised all his influence and his able pen. Mr. Focht's first active participation in the affairs of the Republican Party occurred in 1889, when he was elected Delegate to the State Convention. In 1892 he was chosen and served as a Congressional Conferree; and three times he was elected Delegate to the Republican State League Con- vention. In 1890 Mr. Focht was a candidate for the Republican nom- ination for Assembly, but the contest was a three-cornered one, and so peculiar were the political conditions which obtained, that he met with defeat. Nothing daunted, however, he was again a candidate in 1892. Although bitterly opposed, on account of his leadership in the battle of the previous year, when Judge Bucher, a Democrat, was defeated in the Union-Snyder-Mifflin District by an opponent, who, at the time, was not a resident of the District, he won at both the prim- ary and general elections. The fact that Benjamin K. Focht was a man of wonderful resources as a political leader was indicated in the contest which defeated Judge Bucher and in which H. M. McClure, Mr. Focht's brother-in-law, was victorious. This triumph was a great
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one, as Judge Bucher was reputed to be one of the most sagacious politicians in central Pennsylvania, and had as his supporters nearly the entire Bar of the District, together with all the Democratic papers and five Republican papers in his District. The fact that he could so well fight a desperate political battle thus gave Mr. Focht a place among the most resourceful and wisest leaders in the State.
In 1894 he was re-elected to the State Assembly, and again, in 1896, the last time receiving a majority of 1,265, the largest ever given a Republican candidate for that office in Union County. On March 5, 1898, Mr. Focht, at the Republican primary of Union County, was again nominated for the Assembly.
In 1887 Mr. Focht was married to Florence Edith, daughter of H. G. Wolf, a prominent merchant of Mifflinburgh and President of the Farmers' Bank. They have two children, both daughters, Ellen Wolf and Edith Virginia Focht. Mr. Focht has three brothers and one sis- ter: Rev. Dr. J. B., George M., Dr. M. L., and Mrs. H. M. McClure. His interests are centered in his duties as a Legislator and in his capacity as a newspaper editor and proprietor, in both of which he enjoys the confidence of the public.
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JOHN H. FOW.
MAN among a million who occupies a conspicuous A position and who retains particular prominence, especially when the million is multiplied three times and over, requires ability, sterling integrity and .great force of character. This may be said of the subject of this sketch, John H. Fow. He has the unrivaled record of being the only Democrat elected to the Pennsylvania State Legis- lature in 1894, from all that territory east of the Susquehanna and south of the Lehigh River, containing a population of more than three millions of people. His success has been chiefly due to his magnetic personality, combined with a tireless energy that acknowledges no obstacle, while his remarkable popularity is matched only by his thorough progressiveness.
JOHN H. Fow is a native of Philadelphia, born June 23, 1851. His father, Jacob Fow, died in 1867. His mother, Margaret Fow, also a native of Philadelphia, is still enjoying life at the ripe age of eighty-seven years. He dates his American ancestry back to 1720. He is the great-grandson of Matthew Fow, who served in Captain Harmar's Company of the First Pennsylvania Battalion, Colonel De Haas, raised by order of Congress in Philadelphia, October 12, 1775. Mr. Fow obtained his education in the public schools of Philadelphia, studied the law under the preceptorship of F. Carroll Brewster, was admitted to the Bar on May 4, 1878, and his energy and wide knowledge soon won for him a prominent place among his associ- ates. Possessed of strong convictions and an indomitable courage, public life had a powerful fascination for him. He took an active interest in political affairs and soon became a leading factor in State and municipal politics. He was a member of the Democratic State
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Committee during the years 1882 and 1883, and was afterwards, for three years, Vice-President of the Democratic State League, being its first President. He served the city of Philadelphia for two terms in Councils. He was Chairman of the Sub-Committee of the Bi-Cen- tennial Celebration of the settlement of Pennsylvania, in 1882, and was a member of the Committee having in charge the Centennial Celebra- tion of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1887. He became a member of the lower branch of the State Legislature at the session of 1889, and so faithfully and well did he perform his duties that he was unanimously elected for the succeeding term. He continued in that position four terms, being a member of the important Com- mittees on Appropriations and Judiciary General. During the legis- lative session of 1895 he was the Chairman of the Democratic caucus, and received the praise of the Press of the State for the excellent performance of his duties.
Mr. Fow is President of the Citizens' Corps, Post 19, Grand Army of the Republic, and was one of the committee to represent the city of Philadelphia at the unveiling of the Washington Monument, at Fairmount Park, on May 15, 1897. He was the first President of Old York Trolley Road, and afterwards President of Gray's Ferry Passenger Railway. He was appointed by Governor Hastings one of the Commissioners from Pennsylvania to the Cotton States' Exposi- tion at Atlanta, Georgia, in 1895. He is a Past Master of Lodge 131, Ancient York Masons, and Grand Sir Knight of the Grand Lodge Knights of Birmingham. Besides being a lawyer and statesman, Mr. Fow has also obtained an enviable reputation as an active jour- nalist, having been connected with the Philadelphia Evening Star as special correspondent at Harrisburg and World's Fair at Chicago. It was in his capacity as a newspaper man that he became a Delegate to the International League of Press Clubs from the Pen and Pencil Club of Philadelphia, at the sessions held at Atlanta in 1894, at Philadelphia in 1895, and at Buffalo in 1896.
Socially, Mr. Fow is a great favorite among a wide circle of acquaintances. It has been said of him that he knows everyone in Eastern Pennsylvania and everyone of note knows him. In fact, he is something of a revelation to steadfast friends who have known him
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since boyhood. In debate he is a fearless fighter, strong in physical make-up and stentorian in voice, with a mind that moves with startling rapidity and well-trained culture in the most diverse directions. His fund of humor is as inexhaustible and infectious as his debatings are ingenious and successful. Mr. Fow is happily married and is the father of three children, F. Carroll, John Gordon and Franklin R. Fow.
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MORRIS S. FRENCH.
HE efficiency of the police force and the fire department of Philadelphia is generally recognized as the standard of merit by which those of the larger cities are judged, and to the work of Morris S. French, the subject of this sketch, is the city, in a great measure, indebted for this condition. Not only did he assist largely in the work of bring- ing the policemen and firemen up to their present degree of physical perfection, but he was the first to suggest the creation of a pension fund for those faithful servants of the people. Deeply interested in penology, he made a special study of that branch of public service under which the care of the penal classes is included. A physician and surgeon of far more than ordinary ability and experience, a stu- dent of the sciences analogous to his profession, and a man of unusual force of character, he has been eminently well fitted for work in his chosen field.
MORRIS STROUD FRENCH was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 28, 1856. His father was Lewis French, and his mother Jane M. (Clare) French. His grandfather, Asa French, traced his lineage back for many generations. His father, Lewis French, was a graduate of the Denison University in 1836. He was a teacher of prominence in Ohio for ten years and then entered and was graduated from the Law Department of Cincinnati University in 1848. He was active in the practice of his profession until 1882, since which time he has appeared occasionally, but only in the higher courts of his own State and in the District and Supreme courts of the United States. Morris Stroud French is the only son of Lewis French and Jane M. French. He passed through the public schools of Cincinnati and took a two years' course at the Medical College of Ohio, before coming to Philadelphia
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MORRIS STROUD FRENCH.
and entering the Jefferson Medical College. It was as a member of the Centennial year class that Doctor French graduated from Jefferson, his diploma bearing the date of 1876. In order to thoroughly prepare himself for the practice of his profession and to particularly secure a more complete practical knowledge of surgery, he spent several years as Assistant Surgeon in various Philadelphia hospitals. He devoted much of his time and directed a great deal of his attention to the study of penology, of crimes and criminals, not only in this country, but abroad. He went to Europe particularly with a view to the prosecu- tion of his studies in criminology. He visited and examined nearly all the great penal institutions abroad and studied the various methods of detection and punishment employed in many of the important Euro- pean countries. So thoroughly well informed was he acknowledged to be upon the subject of penology that, in 1894, President Cleveland selected him as a special representative of the United States to a Con- gress of national representatives of all countries, held that year in Brussels, relative to penology. In 1883 he was appointed Police Sur- geon of Philadelphia and held that office for four years. During that time he recommended the creation of a pension fund for police and firemen, and later saw his recommendation put into effect. By an ordi- nance of Councils he was requested to examine into the physical condition of the members of the police and fire departments. In pursuance of this request, he personally conducted and directed the examination of over nine thousand men. The effect of these examina- tions was unquestionably to raise the degree of physical perfection of the police and firemen, and thus to greatly strengthen the efficiency of those departments. Doctor French established the system of district surgeons, that has worked admirably in Philadelphia, and supplied the first patrol wagon ever so equipped with appliances and apparatus for the care of sick and injured persons in emergencies. The subject of epidemics of diseases deeply interested Doctor French, and, by special appointment, he investigated several severe epidemics of cholera, typhoid fever, yellow fever, diphtheria and small-pox. Accompanied by Dr. E. O. Shakespere and Robert M. McWade, he assisted in the distribution of food, clothing and medicine to the sufferers of the fires at Clarendon and Du Bois. He was one of those who represented
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Philadelphia in giving relief to the sufferers during the terrible epidemic of typhoid fever at Plymouth in 1885. They found death, desolation and starvation, and he and his associates soon discovered the true nature, as well as the cause, of the epidemic, and, as repre- sentatives of Philadelphia, established hospitals and hospital service. Through their work the miners and their families were speedily relieved, and in a comparatively brief period of time these humanitarians suc- ceeded in mastering the disease. Doctor French, again as one of the representatives of Philadelphia, went to the mountain districts of West Virginia and investigated a report that the people there were greatly suffering and in need of assistance. He and his associates were pro- vided with means to effect a prompt relief, but returned with the money, stating that facts did not warrant its use.
Doctor French and Fannie Boyd, the only daughter of Thomas A. Boyd, a former Philadelphia merchant of prominence, were married in 1877. They have one child, Susan Witmer French. Doctor French has been for many years a member of the Pennsylvania Medical Soci- ety, the American Medical Association and of most of our city medical societies.
GEORGE F. GAGE.
S O scientific are the methods employed in the operation of great railways, that even the small and compara- tively unimportant connections or feeders of trunk lines are to-day managed under a system that is almost perfect. The transportation business is one of the most vital of all the interests in the whole country, and men who are in charge of that work must be alert, or, confessing their incompe- tency, retire from active participation in the business. Improvements and inventions, however immaterial they may seem to the general public, must be seriously considered by the railroad manager, and competition is so intense that the official who fails to recognize the true value of suggested changes is defeated in the contest. All the great railroad corporations have places open for men of unusual brilliancy, but few there are who prove their ability to fill them. It is the work of years to learn the railroad business, and even then the student must be fitted by nature for it. So rapid are the changes, always in the interest of the traveling public and for the benefit of the mercantile business, that only the eminently progressive man can hope to keep abreast of the times and achieve success. A railroad manager, in order to be a credit to his company, must have a thorough knowledge of even the minor details of the business, and such a knowledge is best secured by personal experience. George F. Gage, a brief sketch of whose life is here given, actually began at the foot of the ladder, and, by his own energy and ability, has climbed round by round, until he now occupies a position of great importance and responsibility. The civil engineer is, in these times, the man who, evincing a more than ordinary executive power and displaying vigor and energy to a material degree, most quickly attains the position of superintendent
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of a railroad line; but in Mr. Gage's case, he did not even have the advantage of special education. He started as a brakeman or bag- gage-master on an unimportant train, and went slowly but surely upward over the course, as conductor, train dispatcher, superinten- dent and general superintendent, until he reached the exalted position of general manager.
GEORGE F. GAGE was born at Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont, in 1827. His parents resided all their lives in the Green Mountain State and traced their ancestry back through several generations to early immigrants, who came to this country and made their homes in New England. His early education was obtained in the public schools of his native county, and his boy- hood days were spent on a farm near Royalton, Vermont. In 1851, at the age of twenty-four years, Mr. Gage entered the railway service as a brakeman and baggage-master on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and remained in the employ of that company for nine years. His brightness and intelligent attention to business soon brought promotion to him, and during the major portion of the nine years he was in charge of a train as conductor. The more important position of train dispatcher of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad was offered to him in 1860, and he accepted that office. There is really no more responsible position on a railroad than that of train dispatcher, nor is there one in which there is greater oppor- tunity for good work. Above all other officials of a railway line, he must know thoroughly the schedule of trains and be familiar with all the details of travel and transportation over the road. On the train dispatcher's head is placed almost all the blame for delaying of trains, and, as when everything is running smoothly he is almost forgotten, he gets very little praise for good work. That Mr. Gage was a successful train dispatcher is proven by the fact that he was offered a similar position on another line, and that, having accepted it, he remained there until a better office was given to him with still another company. It was in 1864 that Mr. Gage was made train dispatcher of the Mine Hill Railroad, and, in 1866, he accepted the office of Superintendent of the Reading and
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Columbia Railroad. For several years he filled the latter position, and with such satisfaction that the office of General Superintendent of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad was offered to and accepted by him. A few years later he was made General Manager of the company, and this position he still holds. For twenty-four years he has been an official of that corporation, and he has well earned the comparative rest which his position permits and entitles him to enjoy. By his own work he has achieved success in the transportation business, and he is, therefore, entitled to a place among the prominent and progressive citizens of the Keystone State.
ALFRED S. GILLETT.
LFRED S. GILLETT was born in the parish of A Gilead, town of Hebron, Connecticut, March 17, 1818. He was the son of Rev. Nathan Gillett, who graduated at Williams College in about 1797. He became a clergyman of the old school, and, while a man of talent, was plain and unostentatious in his manner. His wife was Lydia Jones, the daughter of Capt. Samuel Jones, an officer in the Colonial Army. The son, as a boy, went to western New York with his parents, but was sent back to Connecticut to finish his business education, subsequently entering the counting-house of an elder brother, where he remained until 1837, when he went to Georgia as a bookkeeper in an extensive mercantile establishment. This house, soon after, determined to open a branch in Texas, and sought to induce young Gillett to enter the firm and take charge of the enterprise. He, however, preferred to be his own master, and, returning to New England, invested his savings in such merchandise as he deemed sal- able in the Texas Republic. This was in 1840, and the war for separa- tion from Mexico, still in progress, made business ventures of all kinds extremely hazardous; but Mr. Gillett was successful and his under- taking profitable. Among the articles which he took to the frontier were five thousand papers of vegetable seeds, the first ever entered in a Texas custom house. They found a ready sale at a dollar a paper. After a short time Mr. Gillett returned to Georgia, engaged in busi- ness near his former location, and was appointed Postmaster of the district. For a while he prospered, but the animosities which finally culminated in the Civil War made it uncomfortable for a man of his outspoken disposition. Leaving the South, he again sought the region in which he had been born and once more engaged in business. He
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