Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 122

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

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his family to his farm at Minersville. While living in Pittsburg, Mr. Herron had been noted for his strong and increasing interest in religious matters, and this trait continued to characterize him after his change of residence. He took an active interest in the work there, and that, too, in a practical form, as he built a Presbyterian Church, and zealously promoted the interest of the Sunday School, being the superintendent. He became an elder in the church, as he had been an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg. In April, 1861, when the trouble with the South commenced, four of his five sons offered their services to the Government, immediately upon the firing of Fort Sumter, thus showing the loyalty of the Herron family to their country. Mr. Herron took great interest in assisting in raising troops to send to the front; and there is little doubt that he would have volunteered himself were he not too old to stand the exposure. He died in May, 1863, known throughout Western Pennsylvania for the admirable earnestness and usefulness of his life, and mourned by thousands who had profited by his large generosity and his liberal charity. Mr. Herron married, in 1817, Clarissa, daughter of Major William and Mary Ann (Cann) Anderson, by whom he had nine children, viz .: James A. (died July 4, 1842, in his twenty-fifth year); William A. (married Louisa J. Hills, of Erie, Pennsylvania); John D. (married to Emma, daughter of Samuel Thompson); Richard G. (a colonel in the War of the Rebellion, married to Annette Tomlinson); Francis J. (the youngest general in the Union service during the war); David R. (lieutenant of an Iowa battery); Mary Ann (married to Rev. George A. Lyon, D. D., of Erie, Pennsylvania); Eliza, (married to Richard Sill), also of Erie, and Margaret D. (married to William C. Friend, of Pittsburg). Mrs. Herron was a devoted wife and mother, and an earnest Christian. She lived to a good old age, and always held the esteem and love of all who knew her. She died in May, 1873.

The first of the Herron family to immigrate to this country landed at Philadelphia in 1734. From there they went to Pequa, a little town in Lan- caster County, near Harrisburg, and here they remained for several years. In 1745 they moved to Franklin County, settled near Shippensburg, and attended the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church. The brothers afterwards invested in a large quantity of land, through which property ran a creek, subsequently known as Herron's Branch, on which they built a large stone gristmill. It became quite a prominent place in Franklin County, it being within a short distance of Shippens- burg. It was said in the History of Cumberland County, in referring to the Mid- dle Spring Church and its prominent members, that Major James Herron (grand- father of William 'A. Herron) was one of the most prominent members of that church, as well as prominent in the Revolutionary War.

William Anderson Herron, an honored and public-spirited citizen, and one of the leading business men of Pittsburg, was born August 7, 1821, at Pittsburg, in the house which is still standing at the corner of Penn Avenue and Eighth Street. He started his business career with a good education, beginning early in life as a clerk for A. Way & Co., dry-goods merchants, at Pitts- burg, but finding indoor life too confining and not agreeing with his health, he gave up his position and went into the coal business to assist his father, who was then operating a large number of mines in Minersville, now the Thirteenth Ward of Pittsburg. In 1846 he became a member of the coal firm of Herron, Brown & Co., of which his father was the senior member. The firm owned an extensive tract of land on the Monongahela River near Turtle Creek, and filled large contracts for iron mills, factories and gas-works in Pittsburg, besides ship- ping large quantities of coal to Cincinnati, Louisville, Cairo and New Orleans in flatboats. Owing to failing health, Mr. Herron was compelled to discontinue business for a time, and he then devoted two years to general travel and rest to recuperate, after which, with his brother-in-law, Richard Sill, he engaged in the

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lumber business. He shortly afterwards had partnership interests in a brass- foundry and in the manufacture of glass, and also of cotton batting, besides, and being part owner in a large tract of coal land near Pine Run on the Monon- gahela River, which was operated under the firm name of Herron, Blackburn & Co. This firm did an extensive business, building a coal railroad under his su- pervision to supply the trade. Mr. Herron also formed a partnership with Mr. Hercules O'Connor, and together they purchased the steamboat George Albree, and some model barges, and took contracts to supply the gas-works at St. Louis with coal, running the cargoes to Cairo in flatboats and reloading them in model barges to tow to St. Louis. In 1855 Mr. Herron engaged in the banking business at the corner of Wood Street and Sixth Avenue, the present site of the German National Bank. In 1860, perceiving the need of greater banking facilities in Pitts- burg, he took an active part in founding the German Bank, (now the German National) and later on he helped to organize the Iron City Trust Company, which subsequently became the Second National Bank. He also cooperated in the formation of the Third National Bank and the Mechanics National Bank, which, like the others named, are today among the strongest financial institutions of the city. In 1863 he, with two other well-known citizens, secured a charter and organized the People's Savings Bank, of which he became the first president, and which has become one of the most successful institutions of its kind in Pittsburg. In 1860 Mr. Herron was induced to accept the nomination as clerk of the courts of Allegheny County as a Temperance candidate. He was elected by a flattering majority, and served with eminent satisfaction to his fellow citizens until 1866 (being reelected in 1863), when he retired, owing to the condition of his health, although he could have been again reelected had he cared to continue in office. Freed from the cares of office, he next engaged in buying and selling real estate, and so continued for a number of years. In 1877 he took his youngest son, John W. Herron, in as partner, and in 1883 his son Rufus H. Herron, the business being carried on under the name of William A. Herron & Sons. The firm does a large business, second to none in the city, and holds a high rank. Rufus H. Herron and John W. Herron have since risen to prominence in business circles, and the latter is President of the Commercial National Bank of the city. During the progress of the Civil War, Mr. Herron was active and indefatigable in his services to the Union cause. Although prevented by ill-health from taking the field, he accomplished a great deal of good work at home, and aided liberally with his means and influence in upholding the supremacy of the National Government. At several crises during the war his services proved of the utmost value. He was appointed a colonel on the staff of Governor Pollock, and an aide-de-camp to Major-General J. G. Barnard, chief of engineers, Department U. S. A. Some years after the war General Barnard wrote as follows of Colonel Herron's service, the letter being intended for historic purposes:

"Washington, March 6, 1879.

"Col. W. A. Herron :- At the time of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederate Army under General Lee, in June, 1863, great anxiety was felt as to the safety of Pittsburg, whose manufacturing establishments in iron, machinery, and other objects of great importance to the country, not only in a commercial sense, but as supplying the material of war, offered a strong inducement to a powerful raid, if not a direct object of the enemy's campaign. At the solicitation of leading citizens of Pittsburg and her representative in Congress, General Moorhead, I was sent to Pittsburg by Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, to direct the effort of her citizens in fortifying the place. The great manufactories were, for the time, mostly closed, and nearly all the working forces of able-bodied men- several thousand-were, the first day of my arrival, placed at my disposal. With- out previous knowledge of the surrounding country, and with but a single en-

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gineer officer (Major Craighill) to assist me, the reconnoisances and the putting intelligently at work such a large body of men, with no previous organization, was an arduous and embarrassing task. The intelligent aid of many of the citizens, especially of the proprietors of the large iron-works, enabled me to surmount the difficulty. But to yourself I am more particularly indebted. Placing your serv- ices entirely at my disposal, you constituted yourself virtually an aide-de-camp and an adjutant, guiding me with your intimate knowledge of the localities in my reconnoissances-pointing out beforehand the salient features of the surrounding country, thus furnishing the indispensable clews to a proper location of field works and enabling me to send out my working parties to proper points before I myself had been able properly to reconnoitre them. I cannot too highly speak of the value and importance of your services in those critical days.

"I am, very respectfully, your most obediently,

"J. G. BARNARD,

"Colonel of Engineers, and Brevet Major-General, U. S. A."

Mr. Herron was never a politician, but in 1879 he was appointed pension agent for Pittsburg by President Hayes, who was his warm friend, and he held that office four years. His health failed him during his term as pension agent, and since leaving that office he has not taken a very active part in business out- side of a general oversight and interest in the purchase and sale of real estate. It is proper to state here that at the end of his term as pension agent he was warmly complimented by the authorities at Washington for the careful and prompt manner in which he conducted the business of the office, and left the agency very much against the wishes and great desires of the pensioners in his district, as they wanted him to continue. Within a few months after his retire- inent the Government was able to close his account, and sent him a certificate in full to that effect, a fact all the more remarkable when it is understood that it 11sually requires several years to settle the accounts of a retiring pension agent. Mr. Herron is an influential member of the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce, with which he has been connected a number of years, and was also a member of the Select Council of the city for several years. In religious and charitable work he has always taken a leading part. Since his nineteenth year he has been a professing member and an active worker in the Presbyterian Church, has held the office of elder, deacon and trustee for many years, and has done excellent work in the Sabbath School at Minersville, of which he was superintendent for a long period. In 1888 he was a delegate to the Centennial General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, held at Philadelphia. He has also at various times been a delegate to the Synod and Presbytery, representing the Third Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, of which he is an elder. In charitable matters he has also taken a warm interest. Since 1863 he has been an active member, and is now vice-president of the board of directors of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. He is also vice-president and a member of the executive committee of Dixmont Asylum for the Insane, vice-president of the Homeopathic Hospital, president of the Blind Asylum of Western Pennsylvania, and a director of the Young Men's Home, and also a member of the Young Men's Christian Association. Also president of the Presbyterian Union of the Presbytery of Pittsburg. He is presi- dent of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution of Western Pennsyl- vania, and is also a member of the national organization at Washington, D. C. Being both on the paternal and maternal side a grandson of an officer of the War of the Revolution, he naturally takes a lively interest in this organization. Mr. Herron is vice-president of the Scotch-Irish Society of Pennsylvania, and was instrumental in having it meet in Pittsburg in 1890, helping to make it a great success. In educational work he has also taken a deep interest, and for many years held the office of director of the public schools.

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Mr. Herron is still one of the active and busy men of Pittsburg, interested in its welfare and development, and prominent in all movements of a public charita- ble character. Although annoyed by ill-health in early life, he is today a vigorous specimen of manhood, erect and sturdy, and capable of no end of hard work. His family have long been noted for their kindly natures, and he is no exception to the rule. Indeed, it has been asserted by one who knows him well, that he has more warm friends to the square mile than any other man in Western Pennsyl- vania. His wife, formerly Miss Louisa J. Hills, daughter of the late Dr. Rufus Hills, a physician of note of Erie, Pennsylvania, and a native of Amesbury, Massachusetts, is one of the most estimable and respected women in Pittsburg, where she has been active for many years in religious, charitable and philanthropic work. Her splendid executive ability was recognized by her election in 1865 as the first president of the Woman's Christian Association of Pittsburg, of which she was one of the principal organizers. She has been president since 1875 of the Association for the Improvement of the Poor, one of the most beneficial organizations in Pittsburg, which she was the means of organizing, and which re- lieves and assists thousands of worthy poor annually, without regard to color, nationality or sect. She is president of the Free Kindergarten Association of Pittsburg, likewise renders valuable assistance in almost all the other charitable work of the city. Of her it has been written that, "she is the personal friend of every needy family in the city." Mr. and Mrs. Herron were married October 23, 1843. They have had seven children, of whom three survive, viz .: Rufus H. Her- ron, Sarah (now Mrs. Ogden M. Edwards), and John W. Herron. In speaking of William A. Herron, one who has been intimately connected with him for many years, remarked:

"Mr. Herron is an exemplary man, a Christian gentleman of the highest type; always kind to and thoughtful of those around him, never forgetting a friend, but ever ready to forgive an enemy; strictly temperate, scrupulously hon- est, and of such superior ability that had Nature given him health and strength he must have risen to distinction among the chief men of his day, for he is a man of great natural parts."

He loves nothing so well as to talk about the city that he has seen grow almost from a village to the most important manufacturing center in the Republic. As it is, even with the great drawback of delicate health in earlier life, Mr. Herron has carved a name for himself among the most active and energetic men of Pittsburg, which will long endure. The Colonel, who is now in his seventy- seventh year, is active and energetic for a man of his age, and is said to be the oldest man who was born and raised in this city, and who is engaged in active business today (January, 1898).

Mrs. Edward W. H. Schenley, possessed of large estates in Allegheny County, was born near Louisville, Kentucky, in 1827. Her ancestors were identified with the patriot cause from colonial times. She was the grand- daughter of Major William Croghan and of General James O'Hara; the grand- niece of General George Clarke and of General William Clarke, and the niece of General George Croghan.

Major William Croghan was a native of Ireland, born about 1750. He came to Virginia when quite young. When the Revolutionary War broke out, and the clash of arms were heard on the fields of Lexington and Concord, Virginia sprang to the contest. Among Virginia's soldiers was young William Croghan. In 1776 he was a captain in the Fourth Regiment of the Virginia line, under Col- onel John Neville. The lieutenant-colonel of the regiment was Presley Neville, the son of John Neville. William Croghan was promoted to be Major of the regiment. These soldiers fought under the eye of Washington, being intimate friends of his. Amid the snows of Trenton and Princeton, and under the burning

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heat of Monmouth, they fought and were victorious. At Brandywine and Ger- mantown they fought also, and, though defeated, retired in grim defiance with Washington to Valley Forge, to watch through that dismal winter, the British army under Howe in Philadelphia, and to drive that army the following summer across the Delaware, through New Jersey to Sandy Hook, and across the bay to New York. In 1780 the regiment was ordered South to join the army under General Lincoln. During the most of this year the military operations were con- fined to the Carolinas. A powerful British fleet conveyed Sir Henry Clinton and the bulk of his forces from New York and anchored in Charleston Harbor. After a month's siege, the most of the fortifications having been beaten down, General Lincoln found himself obliged to surrender his troops, including Neville's regiment of Virginians; among them Colonels John and Presley Neville and Major Wil- liam Croghan. Colonel Presley Neville was fortunate enough to be exchanged, but Colonel John Neville and Major Croghan, with the rest of the officers, were released only on their paroles of honor.

Before Major Croghan was exchanged he was present at the siege of York- town and surrender of Cornwallis, but could only participate in the stirring scenes by his presence. Major Croghan came to Fort Pitt with Colonel John Neville, and was here on the 6th of July, 1782. Under that date he wrote to the Virginia Secretary of War, giving an account of the murdering of the Moravian Indians by a party of white men from Washington County, Pennsylvania. On the 24th of July 1783, he was ordered by the Secretary of War to discharge the men of the Vrginia line at Fort Pitt, enlisted for the war, and give them three months' pay. He was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati, the officers of the Virginia line having joined at a meeting held at Fredericksburg in the beginning of October, 1783. It is remarkable what a number of soldiers of the Revolutionary Army became residents of Pittsburg and vicinity after the war. Among them were Colonel John Neville, Colonel Presley Neville, Colonel Rich- ard Butler, Colonel William Butler, Colonel Stephen Bayard, Major Isaac Craig, Major Ebenezer Denny, Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, Colonel James O'Hara, General John Wilkins, Jr., Major James Gordon Herron, James Foster, Major William Anderson and many others.

In 1784 Major William Croghan visited Kentucky and was so pleased with the country that he concluded to make it his home, and accordingly moved there, finally settling in Jefferson County, where he passed the remainder of his life at his beautiful place, Locust Grove, not far from Louisville, where he died in Sep- tember, 1822. After he removed to Kentucky he married a sister of General George Rogers Clarke, who conquered the Northwest Territory from the British during the Revolutionary War.

General James O'Hara was a native of Ireland, and immigrated to this country when quite young. He came to Fort Pitt in 1773, and was an Indian trader here before the Revolutionary War. He entered the army as a private, and became a captain in the Ninth Virginia Regiment. His superior business qualifications made him necessary to the quartermaster's department, and he served as assistant quartermaster. After the Revolutionary War, he was actively Jengaged in business, among other things filling large contracts with the Govern- ment for supplying the Western Armies, and acted as purchasing agent for Indian supplies. When the town of Pittsburg was laid out, and afterward the reserve tract opposite Pittsburg, on the north side of the Allegheny River, he made large purchases of property at the low prices offered by the Penns and the State of Pennsylvania. He also secured large landed property in Ohio, Indiana and Illi- nois. He was foremost and led the way in every enterprise calculated to promote the business interests and growth of Pittsburg. In his various active move- ments his life was constantly exposed and in danger. The Indians in the interests

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of the British had planned to murder him at Schoenbrun, one of the Moravian towns. The Moravians discovered the plot, and sent one of their most trusty Indians, called Anthony, to guide him by night through the woods, avoiding the trail, to Fort Pitt, which place he safely reached, although hotly pursued by eleven Hurons. In 1788 General O'Hara was a presidential elector, and cast his vote for George Washington at the Presidential election. In 1792 he was appointed quartermaster-general in the United States Army, and served as such during the Whisky Insurrection in 1794, the third armed rebellion against the United States, to suppress which Washington himself drew the sword, and marched at the head of 15,000 men as far as Bedford. In 1795 General O'Hara, as quarter- master-general, marched with General Anthony Wayne in the memorable cam- paign which put an end to Indian hostilities at the battle of Fallen Timbers, and the treaty of Greenville. General O'Hara, in partnership with Major Isaac Craig, erected the first Pittsburg glassworks. It was a stone building on the south side of the Monongahela River, nearly opposite the Point. William Eichbaum was brought from the East to superintend the works. Green glass bottles were made. In a note of General O'Hara, found among his papers after his death, he says: "Today we made the first bottle at a cost of $30,000." About this time he built his own ships and loaded them, some with furs and peltries from the great Northwest for Liverpool, others with flour for South America and the West In- dies. A bushel of salt had been worth a cow and calf at Pittsburg, and men were not allowed to walk across the floor when salt was being measured. After Wayne's treaty, General O'Hara entered into a contract with the Government to supply Oswego with provisions, which were then cheaper at Pittsburg than in the settle- ments on the Mohawk. General O'Hara was a far-seeing calculator. He had obtained correct information in regard to the manufacture of salt at Salina, and in his contract for provisioning the garrison he had in view the supplying of the Western country with salt from Onondaga. This was a project that few men would have thought of, and at the same time hardly anyone else would have un- dertaken. The means of transportation had to be created on the whole line. Boats and teams must be provided to get the salt from the works to Oswego. A 'vessel was built to transport it to the landing below the Falls of Niagara, wagons procured to carry it to Schlosser, then boats constructed to carry it to Black Rock. Then another vessel was required to transport it to Erie. The road from Erie to the head of French Creek had to be improved, the country through which it passed being mostly swampy, and the salt carried in wagons across the portage; and finally boats provided to float it down French Creek and the Allegheny River to Pittsburg. It required no ordinary capacity and perseverance to give success to this enterprise. An individual undertaking at the present time to exchange Pittsburg goods for furs and Russian leather with the traders at Nijni Novgorod by way of the Great Lakes and Behring Straits, would hardly be equal to it in boldness and in complexity of detail. General O'Hara, however, could execute as well as plan. He packed his flour and provisions in barrels suitable for salt. These barrels were reserved in his contract. Arrangements were made with the manufacturers, and the necessary advances paid to secure the salt. Two vessels were built; one on Lake Erie and one on Lake Ontario, and the means of trans- portation on the various sections of the line were secured. The plan fully suc- ceeded, and salt of fair quality was delivered at Pittsburg, and sold for $4.00 per bushel. The vocation of those who brought salt across the mountains on pack- horses was gone. The trade opened by this man, whose success was equal to his merits, was extensively prosecuted by others. A large amount of capital was invested in the salt trade, and the means of transportation so greatly increased that in a few years the Pittsburg market was supplied with Onandaga salt at $2.40 a bushel.

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In 1804 General O'Hara was appointed a director of a branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania established that year in Pittsburg. This was the first bank west of the Alleghany Mountains. The "Miami Exporting Company" was not then a bank and did not become one until afterwards. General John Wilkins, Jr., was the first president, and he was succeeded by General O'Hara, who was the presi- dent when the Branch Bank of Pennsylvania was transferred to and merged into the office of the Bank of the United States. In the first board of the Branch Bank of Pennsylvania were the following other officers of the Revolutionary Army: General Presley Neville, Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, Major Ebenezer 'Denny, General Adamson Tannehill, Surgeon George Stevenson. A large por- tion of the prominent citizens of Pittsburg at this time having been officers of the army, they necessarily constituted a majority in the boards of trustees of the church, the bank and the Academy. Nor does it appear that the Bank of Penn- sylvania or its successor, the Bank of the United States, had any reason to regret their confidence in these gentlemen. Only one other branch of the United States Bank (the office at Mobile) was more successfully managed or lost less money. To these brave men the country was a debtor when they died, and con- tinued so to the descendants of most of them. But no one lost by them.

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 122

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