Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 132

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 132

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Robert Pitcairn. In the village of Johnstown, near Paisley, Scotland, Robert Pitcairn was born May 6, 1836. Early in their married life his parents, John and Agnes Pitcairn, crossed the ocean to America, but subsequently returned to their native country, where they remained for about fifteen years. With the sole purpose of giving their children a better chance they returned to America in 1846, and made their home in Pittsburg, where the father, who was a skilled mechanic, passed his last days. Up to the age of ten years Mr. Pitcairn remained in his native land and received the rudiments of his education there. After reaching the United States he attended the schools of Pittsburg, principally the night schools as he was employed during the day, and in 1848 he entered upon his duties in a variety store. This was his first regular position. Later, through the influence of a friend, he secured a position as messenger boy in the office of the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company, at Pittsburg, where he took advantage of every

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opportunity to perfect himself in telegraphy. Possessed of much ambition and urged to greater by his environments, he soon became an expert operator and was one of the first to read by sound. As quickly as he was found to be fitted he was promoted and was soon sent to Steubenville, Ohio, as assistant operator and telegraph line repairman, when the railroad west of Steubenville was started. Still later he was made operator at Pittsburg on the Cleveland Line, when the old Ohio and Pennsylvania (now the Pennsylvania, Fort Wayne and Chicago) Railway was started, and afterwards as operator at Pittsburg on the Atlantic and Ohio (a line from Pittsburg to Philadelphia) when the Pennsylvania Railroad was near completion. The railroad business had ever had an attraction for him and desiring to become connected with it in 1853, he secured a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as telegraph operator and assistant ticket-agent at the Mountain House, near Hollidaysburg, while the company was still using the old Portage road over the mountains. In 1854, after the company had com- pleted its own track over the mountains, Mr. Pitcairn was transferred to the general superintendent's office at Altoona, where he remained, filling different positions, until 1861, with the exception of about a year, when he was sent by the Pennsylvania Railroad to the Western Division of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago, while the road was being completed between Plymouth and Chi- cago. Having acted as division superintendent in previous years, Mr. Pitcairn, in 1861, was regularly appointed superintendent of the middle division, embracing that part of the line between Conemaugh and Mifflin. Soon after his appoint- ment the road was divided into three instead of four divisions, and Mr. Pitcairn, being the last appointed, was left without a division. A new department being created he was put in charge with the title of "superintendent of transportation," and while discharging the duties of this position he organized the car-record, a system of car mileage and other matters pertaining to that department as they are now conducted. During the Civil War, in addition to the extra labor necessi- tated by the transportation of large bodies of troops and supplies, particularly in 1862, he had charge as superintendent of the middle division between Harris- burg and Altoona, and as superintendent of the Pittsburg division, between Al- toona and Pittsburg. So ably did he fill this position that in the spring of 1865 he was promoted to the superintendency of the Pittsburg division, a position he has since filled in a most satisfactory manner. In 1875 he was tendered the general agency of the road at Pittsburg in addition to the other position he was holding. His marriage to Miss. Elizabeth E., daughter of John Rigg, a resident of Altoona, formerly of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, was celebrated July 26. 1856, and to this union have been born four children, three daughters and a son. Al- though not an active politician, Mr. Pitcairn has always advocated the principles of the Republican party, and was secretary of the first Republican convention held in Blair County, Pennsylvania. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and takes a deep interest in all good work. For many years he has been a member of the Masonic Order, and is now past grand commander of the Knights Templar of the Keystone State. However, his duties of late have prevented him from taking an active part in the order. Mr. Pitcairn has been a director of the Masonic Bank since its organization; is now a director of the Citizens' National Bank of Pittsburg, a director of the First National Bank of Greensburg, and resident vice-president and director of the American Surety Company at Pittsburg, and a director of the Western Pennsylvania Exposition. Many years ago he became acquainted with Mr. George Westinghouse, Jr., when that gentleman started his world-known and celebrated air-brake, and assisted in the organization and intro- duction of the same. He is now vice-president and director of the company. He is also a director in the Philadelphia Natural Gas Company, as well as other

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companies known as the Westinghouse plants, and there has been no sphere in which he has been called to labor which has not been benefited by his exertions.

John Scott Ferguson. In the elements of strategy, without an intuition of which no lawyer can reach distinction, it is doubtful if any other lawyer of this city is the superior of the gentleman whose name forms the subject for this sketch. The characteristics which have made him successful in his profession were with him at the outset of his career. He had, as a young man, the tact, skill, energy and integrity to successfully meet most of his professional brethren in a fair fight. It is not to be wondered at, then, that he very soon established a large practice. He had the qualities to win and he succeeded. And yet his life has been uneventful, though it affords an interesting lesson. Mr. Ferguson was born in this city January 24, 1842, and is the son of Charles and Mary A. (Hamil- ton) Ferguson, the former a native of Washington County, this State, and the son of John Ferguson, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, who was one of the colonial defenders in the Revolutionary War. After that sanguinary conflict John Ferguson came west to Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he reared his family and passed away. His son, Charles, the father of John Scott Ferguson, upon reaching manhood, became a contractor and builder, and removed to Pitts- burg, where he pursued that vocation for many years. He died in 1875, followed by his widow two years later. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters, of whom one son and three daughters are yet living. John Scott Fer- guson, since his birth, has made Pittsburg his home. He received his early education in the city public schools and prepared for the university at the Alle- gheny City College, but, owing to the distraction of the Civil War, he was never able to take such a course. Instead he entered the employ of Hussey, Wells & Co., a large steel manufacturing firm, and while attending to the duties thus re- quired of him, read law under the direction of Robert Woods. April 7, 1863, he passed the examination and was admitted to the bar, and immediately there- after became a partner of Solomon Schoyer, Jr. This partnership continued with mutual profit and satisfaction for three years, after which Mr. Ferguson practiced alone until 1874, when James W. Murray became his partner, the firm name being Ferguson & Murray. After two years this firm was dissolved, whereupon Mr. Ferguson continued alone until 1889, when his son, Edwin G. Ferguson, became his partner, the firm name becoming J. S. & E. G. Ferguson. The son had previously read law in his father's office, and was admitted to prac- tice the same year that he became his father's partner. Father and son have con- tinued to practice together down to the present time. Having a natural aptitude and inclination for law, Mr. Ferguson had no difficulty in gaining prompt recog- nition. His practice has not been confined to any particular line, but has been of a general character. As a trial lawyer he has succeeded in a remarkable de- gree, but a growing clientage in the line of corporate law has kept him, to a con- siderable extent, confined to office practice. A Republican in politics, he has never aspired to any political preferment, preferring to confine his attention ex- clusively to his legal practice, in which he has achieved a degree of success far above the average. During the past thirty-three years he has been connected with some of the most important litigation in the State. Perhaps the largest case, from a monetary point of view, with which he has been connected, was that involving bonds of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to the amount of $10,000,000. A very important case in which Mr. Ferguson was retained was that of the builders' strike of 1892, where he was engaged on the side of the employers. The lower courts held in favor of the strikers, a conspiracy of the employers, contrary to the spirit of the law, being the grounds for the decision: but the Supreme Court reversed the finding of the inferior courts, thus sustain-

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ing the position advocated by Mr. Ferguson. Another important and interesting case in which he was counsel, was that of the ejectment cases known as the Cu-ba-you quit cases some twelve years ago. This, briefly, serves to illustrate the importance of the cases upon which he has been retained. He was married September 10, 1863, to Miss Nancy A. Graham, the daughter of Hugh M. and Abigail (Cubbage) Graham. Five children have been born to this union-Edwin G., Mary H. (Mrs. H. Watts), Areta S., John S., Jr., and Anna L. Mrs. Ferguson is a native of Pittsburg and a member of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church.

George W. Guthrie descends from one of the oldest and best known families of Pittsburg, being a son of John B. Guthrie, a grandson of James V. Guthrie, and a great grandson of John Guthrie, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War. The family ancestry can be traced back to the time of Charles II., when members of it were living in Scotland. From there they went to the northern part of Ireland, and in 1744 immigrated to America, finding a home in Pennsyl- vania. James V. Guthrie was a boatbuilder. He was born in Carlisle, but came to Pittsburg early in the present century, and died August 4, 1827. He married Martha, daughter of John Brandon, who was a captain in the war between the colonies and Great Britain, and afterwards was sheriff of Westmoreland County, this State. John B. Guthrie was born at Kittanning, Armstrong County, July 26, 1807, but came to Pittsburg while yet a child, Possessing superior intelli- gence, he became one of its foremost citizens. Being strictly upright in his rela- tions with his fellow man, it is natural that he was often called upon to fill posi- tions of honor and trust, and for two terms was elected and served as mayor of the city. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1872-73. He chose a wife in the person of Miss Catharine S. Murray, who bore him a family of eight children, six living to years of maturity, and four (Alexander M., Robert W., George W. and Annie S.) of whom are yet alive. He died honored and respected by all who knew him, in August, 1885. Catharine S. Guthrie was a daughter of Magnus M. Murray, whose ancestors left Scotland during the troublous times of 1715. Commodore Alexander Murray, father of Magnus M., had an exceptionally fine record in the Revolutionary War. His father-in-law, General John Wilkins, was also a Revolutionary officer. Magnus M. studied law in Philadelphia, and was there admitted to practice; but in about the year 1807 he came to Pittsburg, where for a time he pursued the practice of his pro- fession. Having the charge of quite a large estate belonging to his father, much of his time was taken up in managing this property, and he was also one of the promoters of one of the first rolling-mills to be established in Pittsburg. He was elected mayor of the city, and is yet well remembered by the older citizens of Pitts- burg. He died March 3, 1838, when fifty-one years of age. George W. Guthrie, the immediate subject of this sketch, grew to man's estate in Pittsburg, where he was born September 5, 1848. After attending the public schools of the city he entered the University of Western Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1866. Upon the advice of Judge Lowrie, he pursued a course of study pertaining to commerce, but a year later became a student in the office of Hon. Robert J. Walker, of Washington, D. C. Entering the law department of Columbian Col- lege he was graduated therefrom in 1869 and was admitted to the Washington bar, but came to Pittsburg, where he was admitted to practice November 5, 1869. Mr. Guthrie immediately took high rank among the lawyers of the city, a position he still maintains. In 1886 he was united in marriage with Miss Florence J. Howe, daughter of Hon. Thomas M. Howe. In addition to his professional duties he has found time in which not only to think of municipal affairs, but to take an active part in shaping and directing them. Being of an aggressive turn, and having the courage of his convictions, he has often been engaged in con-

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tests involving the interests of the city, while as one of the Democratic leaders in the State, he has shown himself to be a practical politician of much ability. and a safe leader. He was one of the secretaries of the National Democratic Convention in 1884, and was nominated for elector-at-large on the ticket of 1896, but being unable to accept the platform adopted by the National Con- vention, he withdrew. . He was nominated by the Citizens' Municipal League for mayor of the city in 1896, and made a most brilliant, creditable and effective campaign. Possessing the confidence of the people, and being heartily in favor of municipal reforms in the city government, he was a most formidable candidate. On the face of the returns he was declared defeated. The Municipal League was not satisfied with the return, and a contest was instituted which, at this date (June, 1897), is being vigorously prosecuted. It has already been shown that the League suffered greatly by reason of irregular and illegal voting, but the result has not yet been judicially determined.

Clarence Burleigh was born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 20, 1853, and at a suitable age, having removed here, commenced life on his own account as a pattern-maker on the South Side, and while thus engaged managed by per- sistence at odd times to improve his education. He saved his wages, and in due time entered Washington and Jefferson College, took a full course, and gradu- ated with distinction at the end of his class term. Soon after this, or in 1875, he began the study of law and was admitted to the bar October 13, 1877. He pluckily passed through the starving period in a young lawyer's career, and began to attract attention by the persistence and ability he displayed in the management of his cases. He won prominence as a speaker, and was elected to the City Councils from the Thirtieth Ward, and served his constituents with fidelity one term. When the new charter went into effect he was chosen one of the assistant city solicitors and assigned to take charge of the Department of Public Safety. In this position he gained prominence by the vigor and ability with which he pursued all corruption in city offices. So strongly had he in- trenched himself in the confidence of the bar and other citizens, that upon the death of Richard H. Johnson, district attorney, in June, 1891, he was appointed by the judges to succeed him. He again attracted wide and merited recognition by the vigor with which he prosecuted all wrong-doers. He served his term of appointment, and was elected to succeed himself. In one term he convicted thirteen men of murder in the first degree; whereas, previous to this time, a conviction for murder was almost a novelty. In prosecuting the Homestead strikers and rioters he showed the same determination to punish law-breakers as he had before, notwithstanding the unpopularity which such a course entailed upon him. He was told that such a proceeding meant his political death, but he declared he would do his duty without fear or favor. Afterward his prosecu- tion of the manufacturers removed much or all of his unpopularity. It was seen that he did his duty to workman and aristocrat alike. Though solicited to do so, he declined a reëlection. Soon after this his name was prominently men- tioned in connection with a vacant judgeship, but he discouraged this move- ment on the part of his friends. In October, 1895, he was appointed to the office of city attorney, and still officiates in that capacity, greatly to his credit and honor.

William H. Graham is another example in this community of the possi- bilities of commercial success that lie within the grasp of a young man, however humble his birth, who possesses the necessary pluck and energy to make the fight, as the following brief sketch will show: Mr. Graham was born August 3, 1844, in Alleglieny City. His father was Harrison Graham, a ropemaker in the employ of John Irwin, whose rope factory, or walk as it was called, faced the

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West Commons, now West Park, Allegheny City, extending along what is now known as Lincoln Avenue, at present solidly built up with palatial mansions. The death of his father compelled him to leave school at the age of thirteen to aid the widowed mother in supporting a family of younger children. His first employment was with J. J. East, a bookseller in Allegheny City, as an errand boy and seller of newspapers, at a salary of $2.00 per week. From there he went into the brass-foundry of Maffitt & Old, in Pittsburg. Before reaching the age of seventeen, the firing upon Fort Sumter, at the commencement of the late Civil War, had aroused his patriotic young spirit, and he enlisted for the war in a Pittsburg company. Pennsylvania's quota of troops under that first call being full, they were not accepted. But learning that there was diffi- culty in filling the quota required of Virginia, this company chartered a steamer and went to Wheeling, tendered their services, and were accepted, becoming Company A, Second Virginia Infantry. They were immediately sent out along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, where the rebels were burning bridges, tearing up track and committing other depredations. At Glover's Gap, in the western part of Virginia, on May 28, 1861, a small detachment of the com- pany had a skirmish with some rebel soldiers commanded by Captain Christian Roberts, during which Captain Roberts fell mortally wounded, being the first armed rebel soldier that fell in the war. Thus this company had the distinction of killing the first soldier of the Confederacy. Jackson, the slayer of the gallant Captain Ellsworth, killed a few days previous, was a civilian, while Captain Rob- erts was a regularly mustered officer of the Confederacy. Young Graham was one of the squad that buried the dead officer. After this the company went to Grafton, where it lay while the battle of Phillipi, the first battle of the war, was being fought sixteen miles away. After a service of two years under Generals McClellan, Fremont, Sigel and others, the regiment was mounted and became the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry, seeing very active service under Generals Averill, Crook and Sheridan. Mr. Graham participated in many battles, but was fortu- nate in escaping with only one wound, in the right arm, received in the battle of Rocky Gap, near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. While carrying a message to General Sheridan, the eventful 9th day of April, 1865, he rode out between the two lines of battle to the little village of Appomattox, and there, in the house of Mr. McLain, had the rare good fortune to be one of the spectators of that memorable interview between Generals Grant and Lee that terminated in the surrender of General Lee's army. He was therefore literally "at the be- ginning and in at the death" of the Confederacy. After taking part in the grand review of the army at Washington, he returned to his home in Allegheny. He now had to face the battle of civil life with these disadvantages: He was twenty- one years of age, without a trade, profession, occupation or even a liberal educa- tion, and with but a paltry sum of $150 saved from his four years' army service at $13.00 a month. After a two months' course at a commercial school in Pittsburg, he took charge of a set of books for an oil firm. By frugal manage- ment he was enabled to save enough to enter business, forming a partnership with Mr. H. A. Spangler in the leather business under the firm name of Graham & Spangler. Later he became president of Mansfield & Co., Limited, brass manufacturers. He took an active interest in Republican politics, being elected to Common Council, Allegheny, in 1873, and Select Council in 1874; member of the House of Representatives, Pennsylvania, 1875, 1876, 1877 and 1878. He was elected recorder of deeds for Allegheny County in 1881, and was continued in that office for three successive terms-nine years in all. He developed a mar- velous faculty for conducting successfully many business enterprises. During the time that he was an officer of the Pleasant Valley Street Railway, it was the pioneer in the street railway revolution, that road being among the first to change

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from mule to electric power. He is president of the Mercantile Bank, the Mer- cantile Trust Company, Central Accident Insurance Company, and Eureka Coal Company; treasurer of the Pittsburg Terra Cotta Lumber Company and Lustre Mining Company, and secretary of two bridge companies. He is a member of the First Christian Church, Allegheny, and superintendent of the Sunday School. He is past commander of Post No. 88, G. A. R., and a member of several societies and patriotic orders. On the 30th day of September, 1869, he married Miss Sarah K. Shields, daughter of Samuel S. Shields, of Allegheny City, and they have five living children. His domestic life has been as pleasant and happy as his business career has been busy and successful. He has traveled extensively at home and abroad, and his incidents of travel, frequently recited on the rostrum and at the fireside, are interesting and instructive.

Charles Pfeifer, whose recent lamentable death deprived the cities of Alle- gheny and Pittsburg of one of their most promising business men, was especially deserving of praise for the success he had achieved, owing to the fact that he was of foreign birth and had begun for himself at the lowest rung of life's ladder. He was born at Dresden, in the Province of Saxony, Germany, December 20, 1850. When a child of three years old he was brought by his parents to America, and was reared to man's estate in Pennsylvania, acquiring a fair education from the public schools. When yet in his early manhood he came to Allegheny and was employed by his brother, who was then conducting a laundry business. In- heriting the thrift and economy for which the German people are proverbial, he soon had saved sufficient means with which to start in the business for himself. This was the foundation of the extensive business he afterwards built up. As his means would increase, he would reinvest the money in perfecting and enlarg- ing his business. Branch houses were established; the latest and best improved machinery was introduced; dyeing and cleaning establishments were added, and the scope of his labors was so enlarged that his name became a familiar household word. In time he became a bank director and the. holder of large realty interests. While business matters engrossed much of his attention, he found time to devote to the social and domestic duties of life. Com- panionable in disposition, he allied himself with charitable and other organizations, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Masonic fraternity. On the 14th of January, 1873, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. McDowell, by whom he became the father of seven children, named Ora, Anna, Myrtle, Edward, Charles, Harry and Nellie. Fond of hunting, Mr. Pfeifer left home with a party of friends after Christmas, 1896, and while climbing over a fence on December 28th, the contents of his own gun was accidentally discharged into his body, from the effects of which he died very shortly thereafter. Thus, when in the midst of a most promising career, death deprived the community of an honorable and respected citizen, and a family of a loving husband and father.

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 132

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