Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 126

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 126

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In 1860 Mr. Lockhart and Mr. Frew began the building of a refinery at Brilliant Station, which they completed in 1861. In 1862 Lockhart & Frew bought the producing interest of the firm of Phillips, Frew & Co., and, in part- nership with Mr. William G. Warden, in 1865 established a commission house in Philadelphia, and this firm, Warden, Frew & Co., built the Atlantic Refinery there. Upon the organization of the Standard Oil Company in 1874, all the re- fineries with which Mr. Lockhart was connected were merged into that great corporation. With this corporation and its successor, the Standard Oil Trust, he has been identified. Also with many other interests, covering a wide field. Iron and glass manufacturing, timber lands in the South, mining in Colorado and other States, owning and operating two large wheat farms in the Red River Valley in Minnesota, a director for many years in the Pittsburg National Bank of Commerce, and president of the same for the past three years, besides being connected with various other financial institutions of Pittsburg. He is also in- terested in the International Navigation Company, which controls the American and Red Star lines of steamships. Mr. Lockhart has led a busy life, and yet amid the care and attention his many enterprises have required, he has found time to cultivate his love of Art, and to make a collection of paintings which ranks among the finest in Pittsburg, and which contains works of many of the most celebrated artists. In the pursuits of business the dominant qualities of his mind have been developed along those lines that have placed him in the foremost rank of suc- cessful men; but not less has been the development of the qualities of his heart, kindliness, generosity, and love of that which is good and true. He has given liberally in many directions in the fields of philanthropy and charity, without os- tentation or display, in keeping with the modest and unassuming character of the man. A member of the United Presbyterian Church all his life, he has made it the recipient of many generous gifts. Mr. Lockhart was married June 24, 1862, to Miss Jane Walker, of Scotland, and is the father of two sons and three daughters.

Alexander King was born in Milford, County Donegal, Ireland, in the year 1816, and left his native land at the age of seventeen to join relatives in Baltimore. Mr. King had received a classical education in Ireland, being intended for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. These classical studies of early youth Mr. King kept bright and familiar to the very close of his life; young, energetic and educated, of manners cultured and engaging, he easily found employment in a large wholesale grocery establishment in Baltimore. This place he filled with exemplary fidelity and diligence for three years, when he came to Pittsburg. Here he entered the store of his elder brother, R. H. King, Esq., who was then

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largely engaged in the grocery business. After the lapse of a few years he began his successful mercantile career alone, and though still young in years, was ripe in training, capacity and experience. From this time the tide of his successful ventures in trade "knew no retiring ebb." It may be stated, incidentally, that Mr. King was the first merchant in this country to import from England soda- ash, which he furnished in large quantities to our numerous glass houses, and subsequently became a glass manufacturer himself. He was particularly noted for his strong force of character. The long mercantile and manufacturing life of Mr .. King was one of uninterrupted prosperity, and success attended him in all the multifarious departments of his extensive business. In banking, insurance, and other institutions of which he was a director, his well known ability was rec- ognized and valuable services appreciated. He was a close and sagacious ob- server of public measures and men, and when in the councils of the city of Pitts- burg, took an enlightened interest in the cause of municipal retrenchment and reform. He always sought efficiency and economy in all our city affairs. He was also very much interested in the Scotch-Irish Congress and took quite an active part. Mr. King was ever foremost in the good work of alleviating the burdens of the poor and destitute, and in all his generous benefactions, rigidly obeyed the Scriptural injunction, "Let not the right hand know what the left hand doeth." He possessed a mind of a very high order, which he had wonder- fully enriched by varied and extensive reading. He was familiar with the English poets from Chaucer to Tennyson, and would quote the best passages with aptness and accuracy. Until the day of his lamented demise he maintained a familiar acquaintance with all the Latin authors of his school-boy days. He was able to repeat every line of Robert Burns, and regarded the performance as no extraor- dinary feat. He reveled in the treasures of his large library. The memory of Mr. King was one of marvelous power; that it was truly "wax to receive and marble to retain," was obvious to all his literary friends whom he so cordially entertained and rejoiced to see around him in his palatial home at "Baywood," where a "shrub- bery bloomed around him that a Shenstone might have envied." Mr. King was fond of horses and long maintained a noble stable which he drove with a consum- mate mastery of horse and rein. Mr. King was a most delightful and instructive companion, and as such his company was eagerly sought by the refined and en- lightened; his manner, always gracious and fascinating, would not permit him to manifest impatience with dullness or stupidity. But it was in the bosom of his happy and affectionate family, he displayed the noblest traits of his amiable and domestic character, while a devoted and accomplished wife and four children joyously clustered around him and made his beautiful home resound with the choicest music and song. A more charming scene is seldom given to eyes below. Mr. King was well acquainted with music, and the songs and airs of Moore, Burns and Foster charmed him to the last. These musical gems were rendered in the highest style by his wife. His early studies necessarily compelled an acquaintance with the Scriptures. Then he was fond of quoting in his family and often impressively inculcated some high moral or charitable obligation by repeating the felicitious words of Holy Writ. His family will not soon forget the solemn reference he often made to the words of the wise king, "Oh children," said he, "read the first chapter seventh verse of Solomon's proverb, in it you will find a practical guide to the conduct of life." So lived and died an honorable, upright, self-made man, on the fifteenth of September, 1890.

A Kirk Lewis, yet well remembered by the older residents of Pittsburg, was born in this city August 24, 1815. His father, Dr. Joel Lewis, was among the earliest physicians of Pittsburg, and his mother, formerly Ann Kirkpatrick,' was the daughter of Major Abraham Kirkpatrick. He received his education at

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Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, where he graduated in 1835 when twenty years of age. He became a law student in the office of an uncle, Judge Charles Shaler, and in the year 1842 was admitted to the Pittsburg bar. Being of an inventive turn of mind, he devoted considerable time to the construction of appliances for mining coal in Coal Hill, but did not live to realize any advantages from the improvement. He took an active interest in public affairs, was fond of literary and artistic studies and was of a strong religious temperament. A close reasoner, logical in his deductions, quick at repartee, tenacious in his pursuit of right and justice, it was but natural that he occupied a conspicuous place in the community. His home was situated in the midst of a grove of trees on Mt. Washington which became his by right of inheritance from his grandfather. He died November 10, 1860.

John Harper was born December 5, 1811, in County Donegal, Ireland. His ancestors were English, but left that country for Ireland in the time of James I, and, through successive generations, held honorable positions in the land of their adoption. The monument of Robert Harper, his great-grandfather, with crest and coat of arms, standing to this day in the Church of England graveyard at Castle Derg, bears evidence to the place held by the family in that community. In 1820 Hugh Harper, father of the subject of this narrative, with his little family, bade farewell to the home of his fathers and came to this country, settling in Washington, D. C. A year later Hugh Harper died, leaving his disconsolate wife with her young children, to face the struggle of life. John Harper was the eldest of the children and, though but a lad of ten, he realized, with a gravity beyond his years, that henceforth he was to be the stay and support of his bereaved mother and the younger children, and he proceeded to qualify himself for that task, all too serious for his years. There was then in Washington a rela- tive of the family, Alexander McCormick, a man of scholarly attainments and superior character. From him young Harper received instruction and fatherly counsel that developed in him a love of learning that remained with him to the end of his life. It can well be conceived that he had but little opportunity to be benefited by school training, but his native intelligence and resolute character went far to make amends for the loss of such advantages. An old friend aged nearly ninety years, writing to him a short time before his death said, in referring to his schoolboy days: "I have seen you when nights set in, if you had no other lights, reading to your brothers and sisters with the aid of burning bullrushes which you had gathered and allowed to dry so as to burn freely." The boy pursued his studies with unflagging industry in the face of all manner of dis- couragement, and when, in 1826, the family moved to Jefferson County, Ohio, he was a boy of far more than ordinary intelligence. Nor was his knowledge confined to any one particular branch; his studies and his reading had supplied lıim with a very respectable stock of information of a varied character. After seeing the family comfortably situated he secured employment in a general store at Steubenville, which carried, among other goods, a selected stock of books, and it was not long until young Harper had mastered their contents. In an adjoin- ing establishment he had for a fellow clerk Edwin M. Stanton, and there began the friendship between them that was of life long continuance. It may well be conceived that the close association of two such strong minds as these would be of mutual advantage, and nothing in the subsequent career of either is calcu- lated to dispel that idea, for each, in the different sphere to which Providence, in after years called him, achieved a marked success and left the impress of strong character upon all with whom he was associated. Young Harper, by his careful regard for the interests of his employer, and by his intelligence in the affairs of the business, attracted the attention of people having relations with the house.

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He became an expert accountant and confidential clerk. In 1831 Malcom Leach, then a wholesale grocer of Pittsburg, having heard of him induced him to come to this city, promising him the largest salary paid any man in that line in Pitts- burg. When he had been in Mr. Leach's service but one year John Snyder the then cashier of the Bank of Pittsburg, learning through Mr. Leach of his su- periority as an accountant, determined to secure his services in the bank. In those days the science of banking was not the perfected system of today; honesty and good faith were the rule, and the regular practice of balancing, now indis- pensable, was not then customary. The first duty he was called upon to perform for the bank was to go over the books for a number of years, and it is to the credit of all connected with the bank during that time, notwithstanding the easy going methods then in vogue, that everything was found to have been all right. Here, as elsewhere, his intelligence and faithfulness won the confidence and esteem of his superiors and associates. Subsequently the directors opened a branch bank at Beaver, Pennsylvania, of which Mr. Harper was made cashier, serving as such with satisfaction. In 1857 he was elected cashier of the parent bank, Mr. Snyder having resigned. In 1865 he was chosen president, which posi- tion he filled with marked ability and universal satisfaction until his death on April 5, 1891. During his long connection with the old bank, it encountered many trying experiences, notably during the several panics that shook the busi- ness world at more or less regularly recurring intervals, but the stability of the man, and the stability of the bank, were unshaken. He was cool and collected when everywhere there were anxiety and apprehension; his sound judgment and good feeling indicated to him that the time of trouble was the time in which to extend a helping hand. On more than one occasion he stood between good men embarrassed by the general troubles, and weak men whose nerves got the better of their judgment, and averted disaster. It is not assuming too much to say that he left the impress of his wise and liberal conduct on that fine old financial institution, with which he was so long connected and so thoroughly identified, and of which all Pittsburgers are proud-the Bank of Pittsburg.

To view the life of John Harper only in connection with the financial world, would be to take but a partial and narrow view of the man. He was broad minded, public spirited, enterprising, philanthropic and patriotic. While still a young man he became associated with a number of representative men in the founding of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, of which institution he was president for many years, and to which his son, John A. Harper, succeeded at his death. His connection with this magnificent charity was not perfunctory in its character-the duties to him were a labor of love. He was a stanch friend of Western University of Pennsylvania through many years and rejoiced in its steady popularity and growth. To him was largely due the erection of the Sixth Street suspension bridge over the Allegheny River, of which he was president until his death, at which time preparations were well under way to replace it with the present magnificent structure. He was president of the Clearing-house Association from its inception until his death, director of the Monongahela Navi- gation Company, trustee of the Western University, director of the Allegheny Cemetery, and one of the commissioners of Allegheny County sinking fund. His many business enterprises did not preclude his finding time to assist in the public defense during the rebellion. He was energetic, untiring in all measures tending towards the safety of the city, the comfort of the troops and the care of the wounded. Although too far advanced in years for active military service in the field, he sent one son, the lamented Major Albert M. Harper, to the front to do battle for the right. Mr. Harper accumulated a fortune, but unlike many wealthy men, he was extremely liberal and charitable, often giving in secret that his many

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benefactions might not become known. After his death, when the whole city was united in paying tribute to his numerous acts of kindness, many testified to his generosity in relieving them from distress, such deeds never having reached the public ear. In the broadest and most liberal sense John Harper was a Christian gentleman, too broad to be hemmed in by the narrow lines of secta- rianism, party spirit or race distinction. There was no malice in his heart, no venom on his tongue, no uncleanness on his lips. He was scholarly by virtue of his own efforts, was thoroughly familiar with English literature, was a forceful writer, contributing freely to the public prints on a variety of subjects, and at his death left a series of essays on English poets that will not suffer by comparison with similar works familiar to the reading public. It is not strange, with his literary tastes, that he wrote verse of a very creditable character during his leisure hours. His friends were numbered among the learned divines, statesmen, jurists and scientists as well as the more enlightened members of the. community where he resided. But it was in his home life that Mr. Harper was seen to the best advantage. In his early life he met and married Lydia Electa Metcalf, of Cooperstown, New York, who at that time was visiting her uncle, Orlando Met- calf, Esq. This lady, in the evening of her beautiful life, is the embodiment of what her youth promised. She was blessed with a sunny temperament and a Christian spirit of which the bereavements of life have not deprived her. It is easy to understand that John Harper, blessed with such a companion, should have found home the most attractive spot on earth. With his wife, children and a fine library, many of his happiest hours were passed, and with such surroundings many of his most gracious traits of character were developed which, in after years, so endeared him to friends and neighbors. The life lie led was full of hope and encouragement to the young, and is one well worthy the emulation of all poor lads who start out to the battle of life alone and unaided.

Joshua Rhodes is one of the best known among the many substantial men of Pittsburg. His start in life was that of a poor boy, and his success is all the more praiseworthy. Charles Rhodes, his father, was a native of England and a contractor. He was married to Lucy Bazin and together with his family came to the United States in 1830, residing for two years in the cities of Albany and Buffalo, New York. In 1832 he moved to Pittsburg, where he continued making his home until his death. Joshua Rhodes was born in London, England, March 19, 1824, and is one in a family of six children. He was brought up in Pittsburg and after the death of his father, which occurred when he was a small lad, he .made his home with Benjamin Brown, assisting Mr. Brown in his grocery store. When twenty years old he embarked in the grocery trade upon his own responsibility at the corner of First and Smithfield streets, but in the disastrous fire of April IO, 1845, everything he had was swept away: With the enterprise which lias since characterized the man, he was one of the first to rebuild in the burnt dis- trict, and from that day to the present lias been continuously engaged in the various lines of mercantile pursuits. At the present time he is engaged in the manufacture of wrought-iron pipes, being the president of the Pennsylvania Tube- works. He has been, and is yet, connected with numerous other corporations. He served for a time as president of the Allegheny National Bank, and is the pres- ent vice-president of that well known financial institution. At the time of their erection he was president of the Point and Union bridges, and has also been actively interested in street railways for a number of years. His success in life was not brought about through speculation, or any sudden act; on the contrary it has been the steady progress of years of patient industry and careful manage- ment. Mr. Rhodes married Miss Eliza Haslett, by whom he is the father of five children, the following four yet living: William B., Mary, Annie and Joshua W.

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Aaron French, president of the A. French Spring Company of Pittsburg, controls one of the largest industries of Western Pennsylvania, manufacturing springs for cars in this country and in Europe. He was born in Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio, March 23, 1823; a son of Philo and Mary (McIntyre) French. Philo, who was a son of Aaron French, was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1795. He received a public school education, and after finishing his studies learned the trade of powder making with his father. The mill in which father and son were interested exploded about 1817, and they moved to New Connecticut, Ohio, then a part of the Western Reserve, settling in Wads- worth. The place was then a wilderness, and the highways for travel were paths through the woods, marked by blazed trees. Philo French cleared a farm at Wadsworth, and he added to his income by traveling for a powder house in the East, as agent. He died October, 1823, aged 28 years. His wife was a daughter of William McIntyre, a highland Scotchman. She was the youngest in a family of fourteen, all of whom lived to be over seventy-five years; she herself attained the advanced age of ninety-one, passing away in 1877. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her union with Philo French was blessed with three children: Philo, born February 22, 1819; Henry, who died at the age of twenty-seven, and Aaron, the subject of this sketch. After Mr. French's death, she married Daniel Stearns, of Ohio, by whom she had six children: John M. (deceased) and Lucy, twins; William L .; David E .; Frank N .; Daniel M. (de- ceased), and Charles L. Aaron French attended school until twenty years of age, and then went to work on a farm. He began to learn the blacksmith's trade when he was thirteen years old, and followed it a few years, next entering the employ of the Ohio Stage Company at Cleveland, with whom he remained two years. The following year he was employed in the Gayoso House, Memphis Tennessee. He next engaged as agent in the West, for the American Fur Company. While earning his livelihood, he did his best to inake up for the defects in his early edu- cation, and the year that he was twenty, he attended the Archie McGregor Acad- emy at Wadsworth, Ohio. He left the academy in the fall of 1844 to vote for Henry Clay, and after the election went South. In 1845 he was in St. Louis, and was subsequently engaged in the manufacture of wagons with Peter Young, at Carlyle, Clinton County, Illinois. Here he was attacked with chills and fever and was ill for several months, when he was carried back to Ohio by his brother, and spent four years in comparative idleness, being too weak to attend to any business. After his recovery he entered the employ of the Cleveland, Columbus and Lake Shore Railroad Company, at Cleveland, Ohio. His first work for them was the erection of the iron work of the Painesville bridge. He was connected with this company until the summer of 1854, when he went to Norwalk, Ohio. There he worked in a blacksmith shop during the year of the cholera epidemic, being the only able-bodied man to remain through the season, and the following year he had charge of the blacksmith department of the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad at Wellsville. His next position was that of superintendent of the black- smith business of the Racine and Mississippi Railroad at Racine, Wisconsin, and a part of the time he acted as master mechanic. At the outbreak of the war he offered his services, but failed to pass the physical examination. In 1862 he was elected sheriff of Racine County, Wisconsin, and served two years. Before the expiration of his term of service, he started in the manufacture of car springs in Pittsburg, with Calvin Wells as partner, using the firm name now so widely known-A. French Spring Company. On starting business he rented a small place opposite the Union depot, forty by one hundred feet in dimensions, and employed only ten men. The manufacture at first was limited to the elliptic spring, of the Hazen patent. In four years the business had increased so that the firm

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was obliged to provide larger accommodations and erect part of their present plant, known as No. 1; and in 1893 the working force was over 300 men. The output at present embraces all styles of spiral and elliptic springs for locomo- tives and passenger and street cars. Large quantities are exported to Sweden, and until recently this company furnished all the Pullman equipment in Europe. It is said that this is the largest manufactory of its kind in the world. The works occupy two blocks between Nineteenth and Twenty-first streets and a block on Smallman between Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth streets. Mr. Wells was a mem- ber of the firm for twenty years. After his withdrawal the company was reor- ganized, and regularly incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania, with its present name, the A. French Spring Company. It is hardly necessary to state that Mr. French is one of the ablest business men in the country. He is a promi- nent member of the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce. In 1848 he was married to Euphrasia Terrill of Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio; she died in 1871; she was the mother of five children, namely: Lucie, wife of Carl Retter; Ida (de- ceased), wife of William Phillips; Clara, wife of Charles Kaufman of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Philo N., and Aaron (deceased). Mr. French subsequently mar- ried Caroline B. Skur of Chicago, by whom he had one child, Mary A. This daughter died at the age of eighteen. In politics Mr. French is a strong Republi- can. He was made a Mason in Racine Lodge No. 18, at Racine, Wisconsin, and is now Past Master of St. Johns Lodge of Pittsburg; belongs to Zerubbabel Chapter of Pittsburg, and is High Priest of the Chapter in Wisconsin. He is also a member of the Tancred Commandery of Pittsburg; is a member of the Duquesne Club, and attends and supports the Episcopal Church, of which his wife is an active member.

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 126

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