USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 7
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even a lawyer to ascertain what were the legal fees in any case, without the labor of searching the statute books through which they were scattered; but in his pamphlet, which covered eighty pages, he so completely systema- tized the whole subject, that any one could readily ascertain the legal fees, and be prepared to resist the extortion of the officials. The latter, however, continued in their old course after the warning had been given; consequently he caused a deputy-sheriff to be arrested. Every effort was made to avert the conviction and punishment of this officer, who secured the services of two eminent lawyers for his de- fence .. But conviction and sentence followed, although, when the officer had been only ten days in prison, he was pardoned out by the Governor. Not deterred by this un- looked-for reverse, he instituted a number of suits for $50 penalty, as provided by law, against the offending officials, and in every case recovered the money. His energetic and successful action encouraged citizens who had been victimized, to resort to the free services tendered them by the Bar Association, through its Solicitor; and a very marked and satisfactory change in the bearing of the city officials was the speedy result. In the same year in which he, commenced his proceedings against the public officers who had been habitually guilty of extortion, a general reform movement was inaugurated in Philadelphia through the agency of the Citizens' Municipal Reform Association, and the subject of our sketch was placed upon the Reform ticket, and presented by it to the voters of the city, for the position of Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. The Association entered upon the campaign only six weeks before its close, but its ticket polled over thice thousand votes. He has since continued an active mem- ber of the Reform Association, and has taken a promi- nent part in subsequent campaigns. During the memora- ble contest of 1872, in which such determined efforts to defeat the reform candidates for city offices were made by mingling national with local issues, he spoke constantly at political meetings on municipal issues, and contributed largely towards swelling the reform vote of that year to over thirteen thousand. He again occupied a place on the Reform ticket, as candidate for the Legislature in the Sixth Representative District, and diverted a large vote from the "regular " nominees. Ile has always been a very earnest abolitionist, and is now a firm adherent of the Republican party ; but he is equally earnest in his opposi- tion to the introduction of national politics into the govern- ment of the city-the most glaring abuse of our political system. During the progress of the civil war, he was a steadfast supporter of the Government, and when the militia of the State was called out, in 1862 and again in 1863, he shouldered his musket as a member of the Grey Reserves. He was on the field at Antietam, and at Hagerstown, when Lee crossed the Potomac, after the Battle of Gettysburg. His strong public spirit and refined taste are shown by the active part he has taken in
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furthering the movement for forming in Philadelphia a Zoological Garden, modelled after the famous one in Lon- don. Ile is one of the Directors of the Society which has been organized for accomplishing that object, and to which the Commissioners of Fairmount Park have granted thirty acres, beautifully situated on the Schuylkill, near Girard Avenue Bridge. A large amount of money has been sub- scribed towards the undertaking, which promises to be a great success. An article from his fluent pen was pub- lished in Lippincott's Magasine for May, 1873, in which the project was elaborately and attractively discussed. On November 14th, 1867, he married Elizabeth Fry, daughter of the late Joseph R. Fry, of Philadelphia, by whom he has one child. Hle has a cousin of his own name-a son of Jacob Ridgway, a prominent merchant of Philadelphia in the early part of the century, who long ranked with Stephen Girard as one of the two rich men of the city. This John J. Ridgway has lived in Paris for the past twenty years, but has large interests in Philadelphia. The subject of our sketch has been so frequently written to and called upon by mistake for his wealthy namesake, that years and an enfeebled frame warned him that he must give place to a successor, in the person of his daughter, and the business was thereafter continued under the firm name of E. Marshall. Into this interesting family, young Ellis was received, and found an abiding place during his term of service. He had for his companions such well-known names as Frederick Brown, Sr., Samuel P' .. Griffitts, son of Dr. Griffitts, Isaac P. Morris, Joseph Morris, Casper Morris, etc., all of whom have passed away, except. ing the latter, who resides, at the present writing (1873), in the State of Maryland. Mr. Ellis served a faithful apprenticeship, and when he had attained his majority was employed by Miss Marshall as one of her assistants, to carry on the business, in which position he remained for several years, to her entire satisfaction. In the year 1826, he associated himself with Mr. Isaac P. Morris, and purchased the entire establishment, thus becoming the part owner of the store where he had passed so many years. The firm of Ellis & Morris at once took a front rank in the drug business, which now, without being exclusively retail, gradually developed into the wholesale line. After some he was obliged to add "junior" to his name, to save | years of successful management and increasing prosperity, annoyance. Ile possesses a pleasing address, a ready tongue and pen, and indomitable energy; and the large practice which he has already built up at the bar of Phila- delphia, stamps him as one of its rising members.
LLIS, CHIARLES, of Philadelphia, formerly of the firm of Charles Ellis, Son & Co., Wholesale Druggists and Manufacturing Chemists, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in the year I Soo. Ilis father, William Ellis, whose ancestors came from Wales, settled in Lycoming county previous to the close of the last century, and was an exten- sive land owner. He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends. The subject of this sketch was sent to a school on Manhattan Island, New York, to be educated, where he remained until his sixteenth year. In 1817, he came to Philadelphia, and was regularly entered as an apprentice to Miss Elizabeth Marshall, to learn the art and mystery of an Apothecary. Her establishment was on Chestnut street, between Second and Third streets, south side, (old number) 56. This store enjoyed a well deserved reputation, and at that period was regarded as the most complete and important establishment of the kind in the city. It had been founded about the year 1740, by Christopher Marshall, Sr., a name well known to Phila- delphians, as the author of the Remembrancer, being a detail of events which occurred in Philadelphia in the "times which tried men's souls." The date when his son, Charles Marshall, succeeded his father in the' busi- ness, is not material; but he continued the general man- agement of all pertaining to his calling, until advancing
Mr. Morris withdrew from the concern, and subsequently founded the extensive and well-known " Port Richmond Iron Works." In the year 1837, Mr. Ellis achmitted his nephew, William Ellis, into the firm, which became known as Charles Ellis & Co .; and subsequently his son, Evan T. Ellis, was added to the business, without any change in the name of the house. These three gentlemen continued to give matters their constant and undivided attention. In 1857, they removed to Market street, near Eighth, where, in larger quarters, they were enabled to afford better accommodations to their great force of operatives, and increasing number of patrons. In 1863, Mr. William Ellis retired from the firm. After the close of the war, the city took a new lease of life, as is well known, and business of all kinds prospered. In like manner, the firm, the name of which had been changed to Chas. Ellis, Son & Co., the son-in-law of the senior partner, Wm. M. Ellicott, Jr., having entered it in 1863 (he retired in 1872), was con- stantly increasing in importance; and in ISOS, they took possession of their large warehouse, at the Southwest corner of Market and Tenth streets, built for the purpose, in which they carried on one of the most extensive Wholesale Drug Establishments in the city of Philadelphia. In the year 1871, Charles Ellis withdrew from the firm, and has not since been a partner in the house. ITis time and attention, when in the city, are much given to various charitable and other institutions, with which he has been connected for a considerable period of his life. For a long time he has been interested in the success of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, of which he was the President for nearly twenty years, being on his resignation succeeded by Dill- wyn Parrish. He has also been a Manager of the Friends' Asylum for the Insane, located at Frankford, Pennsylvania,
D. H. Melina
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and of the House of Refuge, for the reformation of the vagrant youth of both sexes. In both of these institu- tions he has manifested a deep interest. The Ortho- predic Hospital and Infirmary for the cure of Nervous Diseases numbers him among its earliest trustees and advisers. Like his father, Mr. Ellis is a prominent member of the Society of Friends, and has held many very impor- tant trusts for the Meeting, all of which he has discharged to the satisfaction and credit of that important body. Not- withstanding his advanced age, owing to his regular and steady mode of life, he is in the enjoyment of good health. The business is continued at the old stand by his son, Evan T. Ellis, who has associated with him W. II. Boyle, long connected with the establishment, under the firm name of Charles Ellis's Son & Co.
ELVIN, S. H., Physician, Merchant, and Banker, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, April 22d, 1829. When five years of age, his father removed to Steubenville, Ohio, where he was educated, and at the usual age entered the office of Dr. Sinclair, to study medicine. He was qualified for practice; but his tastes leading him, to mercantile pursuits, he engaged in the' wholesale drug business, which he prosecuted with success in Steubenville, until 1859. He then removed to Springfield, Illinois, and soon was at the head of the leading drug house in Central Illinois. Early in 1867, the Springfield Savings Bank was incorporated, and Dr. Melvin elected President, a position he still retains. The eminent skill and high business talent manifested in the management of this institution can best be shown by the fact, that although the most recently organized but one of any banking institution in that city, it has at once the most numerous depositors, and the heaviest deposits of all. So much of this success was owing to the subject of our sketch, that in 1869, when the merchants of Springfield formed a Board of Trade, he was at once elected its President, and continues in that position to-day. The same year he was chosen President of the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Railroad Company. This corpora- tion, at its outset, met with so much opposition and so many reverses, that its officers despaired of its successful completion, and were ready to renounce it. The President alone refused to yield to these timorous counsels, and went to work, we may say, single-handed, with such determina- tion and tact, that he engaged in its completion the immense resources of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and with such immediate effect, that in less than a year the whole line of 110 miles was graded, equipped, and running on regular time! This, however, was but a part of his plan. The direct connection of Chicago and St. Louis on this line was what he aimed for. So in 1870, ke
was elected President of a corporation entitled the Springfield & St. Louis Railroad Company, and he is now engaged in urging this road to its completion, with the same well-directed ardor which has characterized his pre- vious efforts. In 1863, Dr. Melvin married the daughter of Samuel Slemmons, of Cadiz, Ohio, and is the parent of an interesting and happy family. In early life, he united himself to the Presbyterian Church, and has always taken a deep interest in schemes of practical benevolence. During the Rebellion, he was a staunch Union man, and a warm personal friend of President Lincoln. Appreciating his sterling qualities, the latter offered him any position in his gift, but the offer was declined, for personal reasons. The General Assembly of Illinois in that trying period organ- ized a Home for the Friendless in Springfield, and Dr. Melvin was at once elected its President. This excellent institution has sheltered over a thousand applicants, and continues to be conducted with most gratifying results under his watchful care.
EIGLER, GEORGE K., Merchant, and Presi- , dent of the National Bank of Commerce, Philadelphia, was born in this city on the "Ist of November, 1822, of German parentage. . HIe received : a good education in his native city, and in his fifteenth .year entered upon a long and successful business, career. . This was in 1837, in which year he entered the establishment of Bohlen & Co., one of the oldest commercial houses in the city, as a clerk. This house manufactures in Holland, and imports for sale here the celebrated Bohlen gin, which brings a higher price than any other brand of this article in the market. He was steadily promoted, and is now (1873) the senior mem- ber of the firm. For several years, a large share of his time was occupied in settling important and responsible trusts relating to the Bohlen estate. He has also held responsible positions in several beneficial and similar insti- tutions, being at present the President of the German Society of Philadelphia, which was established many years ago for the relief of distressed Germans in the State of Pennsylvania, and is the oldest society of the kind in the United States. Since March, 1860, he has held the posi- tion of President of the National Bank of Commerce, and is also at present a Director of the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania. For many years, he acted as Consul for the Netherlands, for the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware, which is one of the oldest consulates in the United States; and was held for a long time by former members of the firm of Bohlen & Co. A business man of marked ability and unquestioned integrity, a public- spirited citizen, and genial in private life, he is deservedly popular in business and social circles.
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HILDS, GEORGE W., Merchant and Publisher, | quick perception of the true conditions of journalistic suc- was born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 12th, 1829. At the age of thirteen, he entered the United States Navy, but after spending fifteen months in the service, he removed to Philadel- phia, and obtained employment in a book store. The leisure which this position afforded him, he passed in studying the standard works of literature and the general principles of commerce. ` When but eighteen years of age, he invested his savings-a few hundred dollars -- in busi- ness for himself, and succeeded so well, that two years later he was offered a partnership in the established firm of R. E. Peterson & Co., subsequently better known under the name of Childs & Peterson. This house, during his connection with it, which continued until 1860, published some of the most valuable contributions to the literature of this country. Prominent among these works may be mentioned Kane's work on Arctic Exploration, Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Judge Sharswood's edition of Black- stone's Commentary, Peterson's Familiar Science, and Dr. Allibone's Dictionary of Authors. Some of these works attained a sale at that time unexampled in the history of the trade. In 1860, on the retirement of Mr. Peterson from the firm, he formed a partnership with J. B. Lippin- cott, which endured, however, but one year, when he resumed business by himself, In 1863, he purchased the Publishers' Circular, a moribund periodical, devoted to the interests of the trade. This he remodelled, and changing its title to the American Literary Gasette and Publishers' Circular, edited it with such ability, care and enterprise, as to render it eminently acceptable, and indeed necessary to the trade. Previously to his proprietorship, the Circular had been published in New York. About the same time, he also acquired The American Almanac, which had greatly declined in public favor; and re-naming it The National Almanac, conducted it with such marked judg- ment and appreciation of the best popular taste, that in two years it reached an annual sale of thirty thousand copies. Some little time afterwards, he undertook the publication of Brownlow's famous book, paying the impecunious, even homeless, author fifteen thousand dollars for the copyright, a sum which served to completely re-establish him. About this time an opportunity offered that he had always hoped would come, and that in his boyhood he had determined should find him prepared. His ambition had been to be- come proprietor of the Public Ledger, a newspaper which for many years had been the favorite organ of the citizens of Philadelphia ; but which, for some time before 1864, had, from various causes, seriously fallen in value. This cir- cumstance paved the way for negotiations which resulted in the retirement of William M. Swain, for thirty years the guiding spirit of the paper, and the purchase of the entire establishment by Mr. Childs. Admirable as for the most part had been the organization of the office, and the char- acter of the paper itself, his keen business judgment and | public than by the occupancy of a political office.
cess suggested a variety of new features. In the reorganiza- tion of the journal upon its present eminently satisfactory basis, and in its subsequent management, he displayed the same energy and tact that had marked his earlier business ventures. The fruits of his able direction were not long delayed. He soon had the gratification of seeing the journal enter upon that career of prosperity which has made it the leading paper of the city, as it is in some respects unsurpassed in the world. To accommodate its rapidly increasing business, he, in 1867, erected the pub- lication office at the corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets, which, in its interior arrangements, and in the elegance of its architecture, is probably unequalled by any other estab lishment either in Europe or America. The attention and thought that its proprietor has bestowed upon the various enterprises in which he has been engaged, display them- selves also in his consideration for those whom he has employed in the numerous departments of his business. He has secured for each a policy of life insurance, and has endowed the Philadelphia Typographical Society with an extensive and beautiful burial place, known as the Printers' Cemetery, at Woodland. In works of charity, and in those which have for their aim the benefit of the city of his adoption, his name is always conspicuous as that of an earnest worker and generous supporter. High as his business ability ranks in the special branch of industry with which he has been so long connected, it stands not higher than his personal character in the estimation of a large circle of acquaintance at home and abroad, and of the community generally. In the numerous publications of the book and periodical class with which his name has been associated, he has invariably insisted on a tone of purity and morality, while he has never condescended, either in the advertising or editorial columns of his journal, to permit the insertion of any of those harmful or even questionable matters that mar the general tone of so many newspapers in the United States. He has always striven to favor movements of reform, and to assist in the adminis- tration of justice. Especially has the Public Ledger be- come known in Philadelphia as fearless and outspoken on all matters pertaining to municipal welfare, and as care- fully avoiding all topics of personal scandal and partizan favoritism. Hence the tribute which Chief Justice Lewis once paid to him in an address at the dedication of the Printers' Cemetery is eminently deserved :- " Mr. Childs has planted himself on the affections of the human heart. Hle has laid the foundation of his monument upon universal. benevolence. Its superstructure is composed of good and noble deeds. Its spire is the love of God, which ascends to heaven." Many places of political preferment have been offered him, but he has uniformly declined such dis- tinctions, believing that by diligently caring for the exten- sive enterprises under his control, he can better serve the
Galaxy Pub. Co. Philada
C. J . Hoffman
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OFFMAN, CHRISTIAN J., Merchant, was born | and subsequently rose to be their clerk and salesman. At in Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, November ISth, 1819. Ilis education, up to the age of sixteen, was acquired at the schools of his native place. In 1835, he entered a printing office in Lewistown, with a view to learning the trade, and for two years parsued the vecation, which, how- ever, was not found suited to his tastes. In 1837, he abandoned the idea of making printing his life work, and turned his attention to commercial pursuits. Locating himself in Philadelphia, he entered the counting-house of Carlisle & Humphrys, afterwards Humphrys, Dutith & Co., commission merchants. Early in 1847, he com meneed the Flour and Grain business on his own account, and two years later he became associated with the late Colonel James P. Perot, the firm being Perot & Hoffman, commission merchants, for the sale of Flour, Grain, etc. The firm was located on Delaware avenue, below Race street. Afterwards it was known under the title of Hum- phrys, Hoffman & Kores, and later still, it was changed to llumphrys, Hoffman & Wright. In 1865, Henry C. Kennedy became a partner, and the title was again changed to Hoffman & Kennedy. In 1872, the firm assumed its present title of C. J. Hoffman & Co., Robeson Lea and Joseph J. Wright being the junior members of the firm. Mr. Iloffmm has attained great success in business, rising by dint of industry, perseverance and intelligence, from a small beginning to the foremost rank among the men engaged in the same branch of trade. In 1852, he was elected member of the City Council, and filled the position one year after the consolidation of the city. In 1861, he was elected President of the Corn Exchange Association, and actively promoted the enlistment of the Commercial Exchange Regiment (No. 118). He has been an active member of the Union League from its incipiency, and for the past six years a member of the Board of Directors of Girard College. He is a man of varied information, lib- eral heart, and pleasing manners. Ife has but one child- Washington Atlee Hoffman, M. D., who is Port Physician of Philadelphia, having been appointed to that office by Governor Ilartranft in the fall of 1872.
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EWKIRK, MATTHEW, Merchant, of Philadel- phia, was of a Huguenot family, from the south of Holland, the ancient form of the name being Van Nicukierck. The family emigrated to this country about the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury, and settled in New Jersey. His birth took place May 31st, 1794, in Pittsgrove, Salem county, in that State. Here he received the limited education at that day to be obtained in a country school, and at the age of six- ' teen came to Philadelphia, to acquaint himself with mer- cantile pursuits. At first he acted as store boy with J. & C. Cooper, wholesale dry goods merchant , on Front street,
this period, the city was threatened by an English fleet, and the " Washington Guards " were enrolled for its defence. To them he attached himself, and went into camp near Wilmington, Delaware (1815). After the restoration of peace, in April, 1816, he began a small retail dry goods store, in partnership with his sister, on Second street. After her marriage, he continued it on his own account. and from this humble beginning soon succeeded in building up a considerable wholesale trade. Various business con- nections were formed from time to time until his retirement from active mercantile life, in 1839. Although controlling large resources at this date, his active and enterprising mind would not permit him to rest in idleness. Indeed, those extended operations which brought him most promi- neptly to the notice of his fellow-citizens were nearly all of later date. He had already acted as Director of the United States Bank with his friend, the Hon. Nicholas Biddle, and entered with the most earnest zeal into the construction of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, the first President of which he was, and which may alnost be said to owe 'to him its very existence, cer- tainly its completion, at that early day. A marble monu- ment, erected in testimony to his success in this work, may still be seen on the line of the road at Gray's Ferry, on the west bank of the Schuylkill, below Philadelphia. To his careful study of the equipment of this road, is due several now familiar. improvements in the comfort of travellers. One of these is the system of " checking " personal bag- gage, which was an original suggestion of his; another was the adoption of the form of the American passenger car with eight wheels, instead of the English four-wheeled couré. The coal and iron interests of Pennsylvania at- tracted his attention quite early, and the Little Schuylkill Navigation Railroad & Coal Company owes much of its present prosperous condition to his energy and perseverance. About the year 1854, he became interested in the Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania; and although then three score years of age, he did not shrink from the vast labor and great outlay of capital requisite in order to secure their success. The severe financial crisis of 1858 found him in the midst of this arduous undertaking, and obliged him, in order to protect those to whom he was in- debted, to place much of his property temporarily under the control of others. It was always his conviction that real estate is the safest investment, and at one time he owned more dwelling houses in Philadelphia than any other citizen, and land in no less than eleven States of the Union. Ilis interest in projects of social and religious improvement equalled that in plans of industrial progress. For'forty years of his life he gave his cordial support to the cause of temperance, and was at one time President of the State Temperance Society. At his elegant entertainments, be permitted no kind of intoxicant, an example few were equally conscientious as to adopt. For years he aded as
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