Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 121

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 121

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In 1846, while still acting as manager of the canal transportation line, Mr. Jones became connected with the great industry to whose development he has devoted so large a portion of his life. In this year he purchased, in connection with Mr. Kier, an iron furnace and forges in the Alleghany Mountains, near Ar-

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maugh, in Westmoreland County. Under the influence of the tariff of 1842, pros- perity has become general throughout the United States, and Pennsylvania had shared it with others, but the fatal tariff of 1846 wrought disaster, and the furnace shared the fate of so many others and was idle at the time of its purchase by Mr. Jones and Mr. Kier. It is indicative of Mr. Jones' business ability, that the furnace operation, while under his management, was without loss. In 1851 he became connected with the works with which his name has since been identified, and to whose upbuilding and extension he has devoted more than forty-five of the best years of his life. In that year he took an interest in the American Iron Works, which were being built by Mr. Bernard Lauth, the firm name being Jones, Lauth & Co. It was not until 1852, however, that Mr. Jones became actively engaged in the management of the works. In 1854 Mr. James Laughlin came into the firm. The firm name was changed to Jones & Laughlin in 1857, Mr. Lauth retiring. The interests in this firm remain today as at first, the only change having resulted from the death of partners. In 1853 the Monongahela Iron Works at Brownsville were purchased. These were run for a year and then dismantled, part of the machinery being removed to Pittsburg. In the half century that has passed since his first connection with Pittsburg's iron trade, Mr. Jones has witnessed a marvelous growth. At that date there was not a blast furnace in Allegheny County, and consequently not a pound of pig-iron made, most of the pig-iron for the mills coming from the wooded regions of the Alle- ghany Mountains and the banks of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. In 1896 there were produced in Pittsburg 2,061,269 tons more than the entire prod- uct of the country in 1871. Indeed it was not until 1872 that the production of the United States reached 2,864,558 tons. In every other branch of business (iron) there has been a corresponding increase. In this growth Mr. Jones has taken a notable part. The building of the Eliza Furnaces in 1860, at that time the best of their style, gave an impetus to the building of coke blast furnaces in the West. These furnaces were among the first to use Lake Superior ores. His firm was also among the first, if not the actual, pioneers in buying coal lands and making coke in the Connellsville region. When coal was used in the Pittsburg mills they had one of the most extensive mining operations in the neighborhood of Pittsburg, and when natural gas became the fuel of universal use they drilled their own wells and laid their own pipe lines. The center of Mr. Jones' iron operations is his American Iron Works, situated on the south bank of the Monongahela, a works of sufficient importance to receive special and very com- plimentary mention in the ninth edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica." These include not only one of the most extensive iron-rolling mills and merchant Besse- mer steel works in the country, but in connection with these are extensive opera- tions which are usually conducted as separate enterprises. Not only are there the necessary chemical laboratories, as well as a mechanical engineering and min- ing staff, but machine shops, brass and iron foundries, and various branches of business in which they rework their own product. Their cold rolled steel, espe- cially shafting, is known throughout the world; their machine shops and found- ries are among the best appointed in the West. On the opposite side of the Monongahela from the rolling-mill, and connected with them by a railroad and railroad bridge of their own, are the four Eliza Furnaces, which are part of their plant, which also includes coke works in the Connellsville region and in Pittsburg. iron-ore beds in Western Pennsylvania and Lake Superior, their natural gas wells and the coal works near the rolling-mills for fuel, and limestone quarries for the supply of the furnaces. In a word, from the mines to the rolls the raw material used is largely from their own mines and works. In connection with their busi- ness they also, at an early date (1857) established a large warehouse in Chicago,

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and the firm of Jones & Laughlins, as jobbers of iron and steel and heavy hard- ware, is among the best known and most extensive in the Northwest. In all these enterprises some six thousand people are given employment, and there are no works in the country that run with greater regularity. It is almost needless to say that the policy of protection, to which this great growth is due, has had in all of these years no more ardent supporter, no more intelligent and influential advo- cate than Mr. Jones. His advocacy of this principle, however, is based on broader grounds than those of mere personal advantage. His belief is that the whole country and all classes are benefited by protective tariffs, the lawyer and the doctor equally with the manufacturer; the farmer as well as the laborer. He has no sympathy with those so-called protectionists who desire protection for their products and low duties or free trade for their raw materials; and has always advocated and defended the interests and safety of the weakest as well as of those industries that have grown strong.

Though he has no mechanical education, either theoretical or practical, ex- cept such as he would naturally acquire in his business, he is a mechanician of no mean order. His chief mental characteristics are his sound sense and his rare judgment. He approaches a conclusion only after a careful consideration of all phases of the question before him. While deliberate, his mental processes are, by no means sluggish, but, on the other hand, he is active, alert and quick to grasp a subject presented. So well convinced are his associates of his good judgment and unswerving integrity and fairness, that he is often asked to serve as a referee or arbitrator in disputes involving immense interests, and he is almost uniformly selected by both sides. While Mr. Jones has been, all his life, except the first few months of his Pittsburg experience, an employer of labor, and not an employe, no Pittsburg manufacturer stands higher in the esteem of all Pittsburg workmen, and there is no one whose words, as to the future, are more eagerly listened to by the iron-workers than his. His remarkable foresight has made his opinion as to the future, at times, almost a prophecy. He has brought to the consideration of the relations of employer and employed, a wealth of experience, a soundness of judgment and a broadness of view that few men possess. It is to his far-seeing wisdom and initiative that Pittsburg and the world owe the sliding scale, a method of paying wages that recognizes the true basis of wages, viz .: That wages are paid out of product, and should bear a certain relation to selling price. It was Mr. Jones' foresight that recognized that at a time when almost the entire world held to the wage-fund theory, viz .: that wages were paid out of capital. Though Mr. Jones did not receive a liberal education, he has a natural taste for literature, and in conversation displays a wide acquaintance with the best writers of the age. While not a writer or speaker in the sense these words are usually understood, he is by no means a tyro in respects, as his article on "Protection" in the North American Review, and his speech in calling to order the Republican National Convention of 1888, attest. His object in writing or . speaking is not, however, beauty of expression or the graces of the rhetorician or orator, but to convince and to convict, to secure results. His thoughts are ex- pressed in terse, vigorous, lucid English, while his style is a model of clearness. This clearness of speech and word is the result of his habit of thought. In con- sidering any question he examines it from all sides and thinks it out all through, so that when he begins to clothe in words his thoughts on any subject it is clearly before him in all its details.

Before the war Mr. Jones was a Democrat, but its first mutterings found him unflinchingly on the side of the Union. His influence and his writings, which appeared as editorials and communications in certain Pittsburg papers without a knowledge as to their authorship, did much to influence public senti- ment at a vital formative period. In the organization and enrollment of troops

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he was especially active. The Pittsburg Subsistence Committee, which gained such an enviable reputation during the war, was largely indebted to him for its early impetus and much of its success. He saw far more clearly than most of those in places of power, even, the great demand the war would make upon our resources, and had a clearer perception than most men of what these resources and the basis of credit were. In 1861 and early in 1862 he advocated, by formal letters to congressmen and anonymously through the press, the issuance of legal- tender treasury notes convertible into bonds. These letters on finance were admirable for their sensible, practical suggestions, the outgrowth of his own business experience. The close of the National Republican Convention in 1884, found Mr. Jones the member of the national committee from Pennsylvania, and upon its formal organization, much against his own wishes, he was elected chair- man. It is doubtful if any other incumbent of this trying position ever had a tithe of the complications to contend with that confronted Mr. Jones-the open defection of valued party leaders; the lukewarmness or indifference of others; a large popular majority in the previous State elections against the party he was expected to lead to victory; the candidate he was to defeat, the chief executive of the pivotal State, elected but a short time previous by nearly 200,000 majority- and yet so untiring was the energy, so wise the methods, so skillful the manage- ment Mr. Jones brought to this task, that, when the votes were counted, the magnificent majority of 193,000 given the Governor had fallen to a paltry thou- sand given the President, which, but for an accident for which he was in no wise responsible and could not have averted, would have been changed into a trium- phant majority for the candidate he favored. After the campaign was ended his position brought him no end of labor. There was much consideration to be given to the future, many delicate questions of party policy to decide. Largely by his tact and shrewdness during this period, animosities were allayed, breaches closed up, the issues at stake clearly defined, and when the contest was again joined the victory that was denied him was assured. In December, 1884, the American Iron and Steel Association elected Mr. Jones as its president, to suc- ceed Hon. D. J. Morrell. This selection was preeminently a fit one. Not only had Mr. Jones come to be recognized as the leading iron manufacturer of the country, but his efforts, sometimes known, more frequently not seen by the general public in behalf of all measures that would inure to the benefit of the industry of which this association is the organized head, pointed him out as the one man to be its recognized leader.

Mr. Jones was inarried on May 21, 1850, to Miss Mary McMasters, daughter of John McMasters, Sr., one of the best known citizens of Allegheny County. In his domestic relations he has been as fortunate and happy as in his business career he has been successful. In his personal relations with men he has been approach- able, helpful and kindly to all. His life is an inspiration, and at the same time an example to young men. Without any of the adventitious circumstances in early life that promise success, he has achieved a large measure of it, and with his fame and wealth has also come a reputation for honor, public spirit and upright- ness that, after all, is the highest attainment in any human career.

Rev. Andrew Arnold Lambing, son of Michael A. and Anne Lambing (nee Shields) was born at Manorville, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, February I, 1842. His father was descended from an Alsatian family that immigrated to this country about a century and a half ago, and his mother from one that came over from County Donegal, Ireland, a few years later. His early life was spent on a farm and in public works, until he attained the years of manhood, when he entered St. Michael's Preparatory and Theological Seminary, Glenwood, Pittsburg, where he took his course in classics and divinity, and was ordained to the priesthood

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August 4, 1869. After laboring on the mission in Cambria, Blair, Indiana and Armstrong counties he came to Pittsburg in the summer of 1873, and soon after took charge of the congregation of St. Mary of Mercy, at the Point, from which he was transferred to Wilkinsburg in October, 1885, where he still remains.

He is the author of "The Orphan's Friend" (1875), "The Sunday School Teacher's Manual" (1877), "A History of the Catholic Church in the Dioceses of Pittsburg and Allegheny" (1880), "The Register of Fort Duquesne" (1885), besides a number of religious and historical pamphlets. He is a regular con- tributor to religious and historical periodicals, and for several years has devoted much of his attention to local and religious research. In the summer of 1884 he started "The Catholic Historical Researches," a quarterly periodical, and the first of its kind devoted to Catholic history in the United States. It was afterward transferred to a Philadelphia publisher, by whom it is still continued. In June, 1886, the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, conferred on Mr. Lambing the degree of Doctor of Law. For many years he has been president of the local historical society, and has done more than any other one man to place in perma- nent form the valuable and fast-perishing early records. He is the author of several chapters in this volume.

William Anderson (deceased), one of the pioneers of the Anderson and Herron families, was born near Belfast, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents in the year 1753. In 1772 he came to America, and located at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In the year the colonists declared their independence of the mother country he . entered the service as orderly sergeant in Captain Rippey's volunteer company, under the command of Colonel Irwin, and after repairing to headquarters, marched directly to the Canadian frontier, fighting in the battle of the Three Rivers, and engaging in other arduous duties on the lines until the expiration of his term. He rose to the rank of major, and served with distinction throughout the war. Major Anderson crossed the Delaware with General Washington, and experienced the hardships and privations of that memorable winter at Valley Forge. Later he entered the commissary department, and had command of a brigade of foraging parties and train of wagons under General Wayne, in whose service he continued until the return of peace. During his stay in Pittsburg he became a warm personal friend of Colonel James O'Hara. In 1795 Colonel O'Hara invited Major Anderson to go to Pittsburg and erect the public buildings then contemplated. He accordingly made all necessary arrangements to carry out this plan, and started on horseback with his wife, his children and servants, and workmen following in wagons and ox trains. While on the journey the Whisky Insurrection broke out, and made it impossible for them to proceed farther than Huntingdon. He was now engaged by Huntingdon County to put up some public buildings for the county, and after completing these he went to Bedford, Bedford County, and there also erected public buildings. Upon the completion of the latter undertaking, he carried out his original intention of · going to Pittsburg, arriving there in 1797. Being enterprising and ambitious, when the construction of the executive mansion was under consideration at Washington, D. C., he applied for the contract, and was so highly esteemed that he secured it. The "White House," as it has always been called, was constructed from designs furnished by James Hoban, an architect of South Carolina, and the cornerstone was laid with Masonic honors October 13, 1792. John Adams was the first Presidential occupant of the building, and took possession during the month of November, 1800, after the Government had been removed to Wash- ington. The interior of the building was burned by the British in 1814, but it was afterwards repaired and is still standing. After a short tarry at Huntingdon and Bedford, as stated, Major Anderson arrived in Pittsburg in 1797, and at first

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lived in a log house on the north side of Penn Street between Fourth Street and Evans Alley, his orchard and garden, together with his horse and cow pastures, being on both sides of the street. In those days Mr. Anderson was one of the most enterprising and industrious men in Pennsylvania. He built the first steam sawmill, and the second steam gristmill west of the Alleghany Mountains. He did a large business in lumber, buying logs from the Indians. Fortune favored him, and soon his gristmill was in great demand. In the meantime he owned and carried on a large brickyard, and took contracts for the erection of a num- ber of public buildings, beside stores and private residences. At this time the First Presbyterian Church, on Wood Street, was an old log structure, and Mr. Anderson built the new edifice over it, the logs of the old building being taken out of the windows of the new one. It is related that owing to the church's indebtedness and the necessity of raising money, a species of lottery was resorted to, Major Anderson and Colonel O'Hara heading the list with the largest sub- scription. In 1810 Mr. Anderson built for himself and his son James, a two- story brick residence on the corner of Penn Street and the alley which is now Eighth Street. The old landmark was torn down in 1889 and replaced by a large business block. Mr. Anderson had united with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and had brought his certificate of membership and good standing with him when he came to America. On settling in Carlisle he joined a church in or near that place, and when he removed to Pittsburg he and his wife became members of the First Presbyterian Church here. In 1820 Mr. Anderson removed to Mercer County, where he owned a fine large tract of land, which he designed to improve. Unfortunately in the following year he was seized with an attack of sickness, which in a few days proved fatal. His remains were taken to Pittsburg, where he had been so long known and respected, and buried in the First Presby- terian Church yard beside those of his wife, who had died in 1816. They were afterward removed to the family lot in Allegheny Cemetery. Mrs. Anderson, formerly Miss Mary Ann Cann, came to this country from Wales with a brother, her only relative. At the time her future husband first met her she was an or- phan, living in the family of her guardian, the Rev. Dr. Duffield, who resided in Philadelphia. When the British were about to occupy Philadelphia, Dr. Duf- field sent his family to Shippensburg for safety, he being a chaplain in the patriot army. Miss Cann's brother was killed at the battle of the Brandywine, he having joined the army upon landing in America. It was while residing at Shippensburg that she first met Mr. Anderson, whom she afterwards married. Major Anderson was a living example of a sound mind in a sound body. He possessed remark- able executive ability, and was honored by the friendship of some of the greatest men of his age, including Washington. His sons, William, Paul and James, were actively engaged in the war of 1812. James inherited largely his father's ability, and was one of the most noted philanthropists of his day. He gave Alle- gheny its first library. He was one of the founders of Dixmont, the House of Refuge (now Morganza), and various other institutions. He also was one of the pioneers of the iron trade. He lived the early part of his life on the East Park and Anderson Street. Paul Anderson settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was one of its most prominent citizens. The Pittsburg families of the Herrons, Caldwells, Ways and Grays are Colonel James Anderson's direct descendants. William Anderson Herron, who bears his name, is his oldest living grandson.

John Herron (deceased), who was one of the pioneers of Pittsburg, was born April 3, 1792, on Herron's Branch, Pennsylvania. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians; his paternal grandfather, Francis Herron, having been born in County Antrim, Ireland, whence he immigrated to America in 1734, accompanied by his younger brothers, David, William and James, and his two

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sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. He came of a ministerial family. In 1745 the family settled on Herron's Branch, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and Francis Herron married Mary McNutt, of a Scotch Presbyterian family, by whom he had three sons and two daughters: John, James and William, Mary and Sarah. Francis Herron was a farmer, and cultivated large tracts of land successfully. His second son, James, the father of John Herron, was born in 1754. He married Nancy Davidson, and had four sons and two daughters. John (the subject of this sketch), William, Davidson and James; Nancy and Sarah. James Herron united with the patriots and fought for their country's freedom, made a fine record as a soldier, and rose to be Major in the American Army. He died in 1829, having been a public-spirited man, a good Christian, and warmly respected by all who knew him. John Herron received as good an education as was practical in those days, and during the early part of his life worked on his father's farm, at- tending school in the winter. In 1812 the young man decided to launch out for himself, and accordingly went to Pittsburg, where his cousin, Rev. Francis Her- ron, was living, and where he preached for over forty years. Here young Herron accepted a clerkship with Ephraim Blaine, in the lumber business. He showed at once the material of which he was made, attending closely to business and saving his money to such effect that in a few years he bought out his employer, and continued the business for himself with great success. Seeing the way to extend his business and being now sufficiently prosperous to warrant the outlay, he purchased a large grist and sawmill and lumber yard below Penn Avenue, on what is now Eighth Street, from his father-in-law, Major William Anderson, and also made investments in other property in and about the city. Into the mill Mr. Herron put the second steam engine set up west of the Alleghanies. He did a large business in lumber, purchasing his logs mostly from the Indians, who floated them down the Allegheny River in large quantities, from the lumber regions in Northwestern Pennsylvania, to his mill, the only steam sawmill in the place. His steam gristmill was in such demand that, in dry season, the farmers who came from the surrounding country for many miles, had to wait sometimes days for their turn to get their grain put through the mill. In those ventures Mr. Herron had associated with him Colonel James Anderson, his brother-in-law, but he soon bought out his partner, and continued the business alone. He now added a large brickyard to his other investments, and also began to go into contracting and building on a large scale. A large tract of good farming and coal land coming into the market, Mr. Herron purchased it and began to mine for coal, at the same time having his farm worked by tenants. This land was located at Minersville, now the Thirteenth Ward of Pittsburg. Mr. Herron so interested himself personally in his affairs, in all their connections, that he soon knew most of the inhabitants of Minersville by name, while he never failed to make the interests of his employes his own. A large quantity of his coal Mr. Herron used for his own works, but he also supplied other consumers to such an extent that the business required the employment of a large number of men . and teams to carry it on. He was a representative man of Pittsburg, and always took a great interest in the improvement of the city, and its business.

Always on the watch for any judicious investments that might offer, Mr. Herron also purchased a large sawmill adjoining his property, an entire square of ground in extent, belonging to John Irwin, and opposite to his own grist and sawmill property. With all his investments he carried on a very extensive busi- ness for those days-he was now a man in good circumstances. Fortunately for the locality which owned him for a citizen, he was of a kind and charitable dis- position, and while perfectly unostentatious in all his acts, it grew to be well known that his hand was always open to aid the deserving poor. In 1833, Mr. Herron's health not being as good as could be wished, caused by overwork, he removed

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 121

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192