USA > Pennsylvania > The Book of Prominent Pennsylvanians; a standard reference > Part 8
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Although young when taking full charge of business affairs, Mr. Holmes was unusually well prepared for the re- sponsibility of the position. His home training was of the best. Both father and mother from his earliest boyhood had taught him habits of industry and honesty. On account of his father's extensive medical practice among the business men of Pittsburgh and because of his high standing in the Masonic fraternity, Mr. Holmes as a youth associated much with men of affairs. Being naturally of a receptive and inquiring turn of mind he early familiarized himself with business matters and when he reached the age of 21 he was far better fitted both by nature and by training to be successful in business than many men double his age.
At the time Mr. Holmes took charge of the Holmes' properties he opened an office at 226 Fifth avenue, and he has been there ever since. Not content with looking after his personal property, Mr. Holmes' keen and active mind impelled him to seek other channels of endeavor. Soon he became interested in banking. He commanded the attention of the banking institutions of Pittsburgh, and Mr. Holmes was elected vice-president and trus- tee of the Dollar Savings Bank, and a director in the Anchor Savings Bank.
Mr. Holmes takes the deepest interest in the Masonic fraternity, in which he has risen high. He has been honored with the thirty-third degree. He belongs to Dallas Lodge, No. 508; Shilo Chapter Royal Accepted Masons, No. 257; Tancred Commandery, No. 148, and to the Pennsylvania Consistory.
Few Pittsburghers have taken a deeper and more practical interest in philanthropic and altruistic movements than Mr. Holmes. He is also a member of the Episcopal Church.
Mr. Holmes belongs to the Duquesne Club, the Pittsburgh Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Country Club.
Mr. Holmes' life, like the majority of successful business men, has in a way been un- eventful. He has devoted his time strictly to the duties which seemed to be his to at- tend to. For the greater part of his life he has lived in Pittsburgh. His wife was Miss Catherine A. Cain, of Philadelphia. The marriage was celebrated April 22, 1880. Mr. Holmes resides at the Hotel Kenmawr, Pittsburgh.
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John Frederick Tim, attorney, was born in Pitts- burgh, June 4, 1878. His parents were Anthony G.
JOHN Tim and Jennie J. (nee Maerkt) Tim. He attended the Highland public school,
FREDERICK
TIM. and graduated from Shady Side Acade- my in 1897. He completed the four-year course of study in Lafayette College and was given the degree of bachelor of arts in 1901. Following three years of study in the law school of the University of Pittsburgh he was graduated in 1904 with the degree of doctor of laws. The same year he was admitted to practice at the Allegheny county bar. Shortly after- wards he was admitted to practice in the Superior and Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania and in the Federal Courts. He has stood always for integrity and a high standard of legal ethics among lawyers. He is a Mason and a member of the Greek letter fraternity of Theta Delta Chi.
Archibald Hamilton Rowand, Jr., has had a unique history as a business man, a soldier and an attorney at law. He was born in Philadelphia, Pa.,
ARCHIBALD
HAMILTON March 6, 1845, the son of Archibald ROWAND, JR. Hamilton Rowand and Catherine Greer Rowand. He was educated in the public schools in Greenville, South Carolina, in the city of Allegheny and by private tutors in Pittsburgh. July 17, 1862, he enlisted in the First West Virginia Cav- alry. He participated in the battle of Gettysburg. On the personal recommendation of General Sheridan he received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest honor that can be paid an American soldier. He was elected clerk of courts of Allegheny county on Novem- ber 5, 1878 ; served two terms, and was admitted to the bar in 1885, and is now practicing in the county, State, Supreme and Federal Courts, with office in Pittsburgh.
Prominent among the younger practitioners at the Allegheny county bar is Edmund Kiernan Trent, of
EDMUND Pittsburgh. Mr. Trent was born in KIERNAN Somerset, Pennsylvania, August 5, 1883.
TRENT. He is the son of Samuel V. Trent and Marion Kiernan Trent. His elementary education was received in Shady Side Academy, in Pittsburgh, where he was a student for six years.
Mr. Trent's higher education was attained in Princeton University, where he was a student for four years. His professional schooling was secured in the Pittsburgh Law School, a department of the University of Pittsburgh, and the law department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. In the former law school he studied for one year, and in the Philadelphia institu- tion for two years. In January, 1908, Mr. Trent was admitted to the bar of Allegheny county. He has se- cured recognition as a legal adviser.
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CENTRAL DISTRICT TELEPHONE COMPANY.
The telephone service of a modern city plays no mean part in its economic life. Men have come to turn to their telephones to carry them up and down the thoroughfares, to the nearby towns and to the distant cities. The housewife of nowadays shops, makes her ap- pointments and visits friends by Telephone. The immense volume of this is realized when it is remembered that the Bell system during 1912 established throughout the country 26,310,000 telephone connections daily. Pittsburgh has been quick to recognize the de- pendability of the Bell telephone. Shortly after the invention of the telephone, an office was opened in Pittsburgh. This was the beginning only. From that time until now Pittsburgh's Bell System has been growing, improving, extending-and now the system is one to which Pittsburghers may point with just pride.
The Central District Telephone Company is the name of the company operating in Pittsburgh and vicinity, and to that company is attributable the credit for the satisfactory construction, maintenance and operation of the Bell telephone plan in Pittsburgh.
Metropolitan Pittsburgh, as it is called in telephone parlance, or the city and its im- mediate environs, contains some 66,600 Bell telephones-one to every 11 people, man, woman and child. Twenty-two central offices are used to connect the telephones and the offices are of various sizes. Pittsburgh sends 92,500,000 Bell telephone messages per year, an enormous bulk of telephone traffic. And to furnish it a plant of the highest possible standard, maintained in the best way and operated by the most intelligent and efficient force is necessary. That Pittsburgh's telephone plant might keep pace with the city's progress, that it might continue to compare favorably with thoroughly modern standards in telephony, over $850,000 was spent in 1912 by the company for additions and replace- ments to the system. Service is the keynote of the Bell company's policy, the very nucleus around which its organization has been formed. The results in Pittsburgh have proved the strength of this policy.
W. B. CLARKSON.
Walter Beaumont Clarkson is divi- sion manager of The Central District Telephone Company of Pittsburgh. Mr. Clarkson is a Virginian by birth; was born in Fauquier county, June 29, 1875. He is the son of Henry Mazyck Clarkson and Mrs. Jeanie Sayre Clarkson. He is a graduate of William and Mary College, of Virginia, and Columbia University, receiving from the latter the LL.B. de- gree. In 1897 he decided to take up telephone work, and became an employe of the Bell system at Washington, D. C. By applying himself diligently, in 1903 he was made commercial superintend- ent. He held that position for five years, when he was offered a position in the same capacity with the Delaware & Atlantic Telephone & Telegraph Com- pany, operating in New Jersey and Del- aware. In 1910 he accepted the posi- tion he now holds. Mr. Clarkson is a charter member of the University Club of Washington and a member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh.
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OLIVER K. EATON.
Oliver K. Eaton, attorney at law in Pittsburgh, was born in Brownsville, Pa., July 13, 1877, a son of T. N. Eaton and Mary M. Eaton. He received his early education in the public schools, and later attended Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pa., whence he was graduated in 1900.
After completing his studies there, Mr. Eaton took up the study of law, and in 1903 he was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has practiced in Pittsburgh, and as a gen- eral practitioner in that city has won a splendid record. He is prominent and has a wide circle of friends in professional and business life.
James A. Wakefield, a lawyer of Pittsburgh, Pa., with an office in the Berger build- ing, was born in Redstone, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1865. He is the son
JAMES A. of David H. and Mary (Randolph) Wakefield. He is the great-grandson of
WAKEFIELD.
Samuel Morton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Wake- field's father lead the life of a country gentleman.
Mr. Wakefield's first education was received in the public schools of his native coun- ty. Later he attended the Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and subsequent- ly Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he took several oratorical prizes and successfully represented his college in the Intercollegiate Chautauquan Oratorical Contest. He graduated in 1888, then undertook the study of law in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the bar in 1890, and is now a member of the Superior and Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania ; also of the United States District and Circuit Courts. He has been connected with many important cases, and has devoted special attention to compli- cated insurance cases.
In 1894 he was the Democratic candidate for Congressman from the Twenty-second District of Pennsylvania, being opposed on the Republican ticket by John Dalzell. Mr. Wakefield was defeated, but made a highly creditable canvass. Among fraternities, he is a member of the Delta Tau Delta and the Theta Nu Epsilon. He is past master of Hail- man Lodge, F. and A. M., and a member of the Country Club of Pittsburgh.
Charles Aloysius Fagan, attorney at law, was born in Pittsburgh July 1, 1859. He was educated at CHARLES St. Mary's parochial school and Ewalt ALOYSIUS College. After admission to the bar in FAGAN. 1887 he was Assistant District Attor- ney. He was married to Mary Kane February 11, 1888. He is a Democrat; was presidential elector in 1892; was chairman of the Democratic County Com- mittee 1894-96; delegate-at-large to Democratic Na- tional Convention of 1896. He is vice-president Ger- man National Bank of Pittsburgh; vice-president Iron City Sanitary Manufacturing Company; director East End Savings & Trust Company, Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Ship Canal Company, Anthracite Coal Company, Natalie & Mt. Carmel Railroad Company; president Wheatly Hills Land Company of New York; president Pittsburgh Hospital. His clubs are the Duquesne, the Union, Pittsburgh Country and the Oakmont Country.
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JOHN WORTHINGTON.
An interesting figure in the petroleum industry is John Worthington. His first connection with the business was in the capacity of civil engineer for a furnace com- pany. For 40 years since he has been a student and investigator, and has given to the trade geological and scientific in- formation of much value. He has vis- ited many foreign oil fields and is one of the best informed men on the general subject of oil and natural gas.
Mr. Worthington was born in South Wales March 14, 1848, and came to the United States with his parents when four years old. The elder Mr. Worthington was engaged with the Brady's Bend Iron Company, and the family settled at Brady's Bend, Pa. He worked for several years, the last two as civil and mining engineer. At that time oil developments were making their way down the Allegheny river, and the iron company became interested in the possibilities of their lands for oil purposes.
Mr. Worthington was sent to Oil City in 1872 to run a line of levels from that place to Brady's Bend, taking in on the way considerable oil development lying between. A little later the work was extended from Brady's Bend to the newly developed oil fields in Butler county. The result was to determine that the sand from which the oil was being produced at Brady's Bend and on Armstrong Run was 80 feet below the formation from which the Butler county wells procured their oil, and that the latter were getting their oil from the third sand of the Oil Creek region. In other words, Mr. Worthington made it plain that there was a fourth sand in that section of the country. If this knowledge had been acted upon then the famous fourth sand belt from Armstrong Run to Greece City would have been developed some time before it was discovered by accident, when the Tack & Moorehead well was deepened.
In the fall of 1872 Mr. Worthington resigned from the service of the iron company and became superintendent of the Meclimans Farm Oil Company. When this company disposed of its holdings, he engaged as cashier with the Parker's Landing Savings Bank. On account of ill health, Mr. Worthington left the East in 1880 and located in the San Juan country of Colorado, engaging in the mining business. He was elected the first mayor of the new city of Ouray, Col. After six years he returned to the oil country and was in the brokerage business for 17 months. Then he organized, in connection with Frank Thompson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Nineveh Petroleum Com- pany, of which he was manager. The long experience and practical business knowledge of Mr. Worthington led to his selection as superintendent of the newly organized South Penn Oil Company in June 1889. Under his administration the company participated in the development of the great oil and gas resources of West Virginia. Later he was pro- moted and remained on the firing line. He is a director of the Union National Bank of Pittsburgh. He resides in the Squirrel Hill district of Pittsburgh.
Since the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company, Mr. Worthington is connected with the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.
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Churchill Brown Mehard, Attorney, was born in Mercer, Mercer County, May 27th, 1881. His father is
Hon. Samuel S. Mehard, President Judge
CHURCHILL of the Mercer County Court, and his
BROWN mother, Ida Augusta Brown, a daugh- MEHARD. ter of Hon. George H. Brown, Chief Jus- tice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Mr. Mehard was educated at Westminster College, Haverford College, Pennsylvania Military College and the law department of the University of Pittsburgh. He was admitted to the bar in 1905 and for two years and a half served as Assistant District Attor- ney of Allegheny County. For nine years Mr. Me- hard was an officer of the "Duquesne Grays" (18th In- fantry, N. G. P.), until his promotion to higher office on the Second Brigade Staff. He is a member of the Du- quesne, University, Edgeworth and Allegheny Country Clubs. He is married and has one child, a daughter.
James H. Gray, lawyer, of Pittsburgh, was born in Pittsburgh August 20, 1872, the son of Joseph H. and Mary Gray. Mr. Gray was edu- JAMES cated in Pittsburgh public schools. He H. GRAY. was employed by George Westinghouse, Jr., as a draughtsman for six years. At the same time he studied law with R. B. Petty, Esq. ,and was admitted to the Allegheny county bar in 1895. He practices in the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, the United States Courts, all of the county courts and the Supreme Court of Colorado. Mr. Gray is chairman of the County Committee of the Keystone party of Alle- gheny county. He is a director of the Parkersburg Iron & Steel Company, a member of the council of the Presbyterian Brotherhood, an elder in the Sixth Pres- byterian Church of Pittsburgh, and a member of the Davis Camp, Sons of Veterans.
George Newton Chalfant was born at Martin's Ferry, Belmont county, Ohio, August 6, 1864, the son of the Rev. George Wilson Chalfant and
GEORGE
Chalfant. He was
NEWTON Sarah (Moore) CHALFANT graduated from the Martin's Ferry high school, and later from Lafayette Col- lege in Easton, Pennsylvania. Mr. Chalfant served with the P., C. & St. L. Railways as civil engineer. He was next engaged for about four years as a civil and mining engineer in Pittsburgh. In 1889 he was ad- mitted to the Allegheny county bar. He is now a mem- ber of the law firm of Carpenter & Chalfant, Frick Annex, Pittsburgh. Mr. Chalfant is a director of the Union Electric Company, Pittsburgh; a member of the University Club, the Pittsburgh Athletic Associa- tion and the Young Men's Republican Tariff Club; a member of Duquesne Lodge, F. & A. M., Pittsburgh Chapter and Duquesne Commandery and A. A. Scot- tish Rite, of Pittsburgh.
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PERRY ORVILLE LAUGHNER.
Wherever a few gallons of crude oil ooze their way to the surface of the earth, some- body is usually on hand in time enough to raise and spread the good tidings; and immedi- ately there follows an oil boom that makes poor men rich and rich men poor over night.
Several years ago a number of small and unimportant communities in Oklahoma experienced booms of this kind. Money rolled into Oklahoma by the millions, and among those who went there to take advantage of the oppor- tunities presented was Perry Orville Laughner, of Pittsburgh. One thing that favored Mr. Laughner more than anything else, when he went there, was the fact that he got there before some- body else had a chance to seize the land on which oil had been discovered. With him were several other Pittsburghers, well experienced in the oil business at home, and so well experienced were they that they had no difficulty select- ing just such tracts of land as promised the best results, and not investing in other tracts that were held out at tempting prices to them.
For a number of weeks the Pitts- burghers remained there watching the development of their claims, selling what land seemed least profitable, and retaining that which they knew would in time fill their coffers. Then they came back to Pittsburgh with the lion's share of the Oklahoma oil fields, and spent the remainder of their time organizing companies and making other investments.
Mr. Laughner was born in a little place in Butler county, known as Six Points, Sep- tember 21, 1859, and is the son of Samuel S. and Sarah J. Laughner. Early in life he moved to Clarion county and in the public schools received his early education, and then he entered and made his way through the State Normal School at Edinboro. Later he became a student in the Iron City College at Pittsburgh, from which he graduated. For a time he engaged in the brokerage business, but oil lands were making people rich and he tried his hand at oil producing. In Pittsburgh he was ordinarily successful, but when the latest oil boom broke loose in Oklahoma he went to the more promising fields.
At present he is the president and director of the Minnetonka Oil Company, and the president and director of the Crescent Oil and Gas Company. Both concerns occupy of- fices in the Arrott building, Wood street and Fourth avenue. Mr. Laughner lives at 1237 Beechwood boulevard. He has many fraternal and social connections in Pittsburgh, and among the more prominent organizations of which he is a member are the Masons, As- calon Lodge, Knights Templar, Syria Lodge of Shriners, the Pittsburgh Athletic As- sociation, the Union Club, the Pittsburgh Press Club and the Pittsburgh Country Club.
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THE PEOPLES NATURAL GAS COMPANY.
The Peoples Natural Gas Company was incorporated under the laws of Pennsyl- vania June 26, 1885, by J. N. Pew, E. O. Emerson, Theodore Johnson, Robert C. Pew, R. S. Duffield and J. S. Robinson. The original stock authorized was $200,000.00 which was, soon after the incorporation of the company, increased to $1,000,000.00, and later increased to $9,300,000.00.
J. N. Pew, the first president, was the pioneer of the natural gas industry in the Pittsburgh district. In the year of 1890 the field pressure of gas coming from the Mur- raysville field, in Westmoreland county, declined rapidly and the supply of gas to Pitts- burgh began to fail. This was a problem that required several years' study and all the ingenuity of the natural gas engineers to overcome. Various schemes were thought out and tried, such as large storage tanks, increasing the size of the pipe lines to the wells, etc., but without success. To Mr. Pew, however, belongs the credit of conceiving the idea of the gas compressor pump, now utilized by all gas companies, and enabling nat- ural gas to be carried and distributed over a large area. But for the compressor pump Pittsburgh would not now enjoy the benefit of this ideal fuel.
A further step in natural gas development and improvement, in which this company was a leader, was to stop the great amount of wastefulness and conserve the gas for the future. Without considering the expense, this company put into effect a plan to eliminate all waste at the wells and on high pressure mains, such as putting an extra band at each joint on its lines, thus stopping all leakage on same, and by their method of conservation and their sources of supply, they can assure natural gas for domestic consumption to their consumers for years to come.
The Peoples Natural Gas Company, in the first few years of its incorporation, sup- plied gas only to Wilkinsburg and a portion of the city of Pittsburgh; later, as large fields of natural gas were discovered in Allegheny, Washington, Armstrong, Clarion and Greene counties, Pennsylvnia, the high pressure main lines were extended to these points and the low pressure system enlarged from time to time, so that at the present time The Peoples Natural Gas Company supplies not only Wilkinsburg and a large portion of the city of Pittsburgh, but they also supply Edgewood, Swissvale, Rankin, East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, East Mckeesport, boroughs and towns along the Pennsylvania Railroad, including Greensburg, Latrobe, Derry, Bolivar, etc., to Altoona. In the Mo- nongahela Valley, this company supplies Monessen, Webster, Belle Vernon and Fayette City. In the Allegheny Valley, New Kensington, Arnold and adjacent towns. West of Pittsburgh, they supply Woodlawn, Aliquippa, Imperial, Burgettstown, Midland, etc.
The Peoples Natural Gas Company has from its inception always set a high stand- ard for efficiency and the best of service for its consumers, and were the orginators of the idea to sell gas ranges and appliances to their consumers at cost.
The present officers of the company are: A. C. Bedford, president; J. W. R. Craw- ford, vice-president; John G. Pew, vice-president and manager; Captain L. F. Barger, general superintendent; Christy Payne, secretary; Thos. Nicoll, treasurer, and Geo. H. Jones, comptroller.
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JOHN H. GALEY, Oil Producer, Pittsburgh.
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The treasurer and collector for the city of Mckees- port, James A. Fulton, has served the people faithfully.
JAMES A.
He was born in Pittsburgh April 14,
FULTON. 1874, and is the son of Samuel and Matilda Fulton. He was educated in the public schools of Mckeesport. During his boyhood, Mr. Fulton was employed in many occupations. He was a newsboy and later a grocer's clerk. He became a market gardener and florist assistant, learned the house painting trade and served several years as jour- neyman workman and as a contracting painter. He is a director in the McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery, and secretary of the American Monetary League. Al- ways known for his liking for independent policies, Mr. Fulton is a strong progressive and was elected on that ticket in 1909. He is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and several other organizations, and is also an author of repute.
The thriving municipality of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, has a capable chief executive in the person of Dr. Herbert S. Arthur, its present mayor. Dr. Arthur is a native son of
HERBERT S. the city he now heads, having been born and reared in Mckeesport. The
date of his birth was April 28, 1879. He is the son of Robert and Johanna
ARTHUR. Arthur. His elementary education was secured in the public schools and the high school of Mckeesport.
His preparation for the practice of medicine was secured in Northwestern Uni- versity Medical College, from which institution he was graduated in 1903. He is at pres- ent practicing medicine in the Tube City. He is now identified with, and has been identified ever since his graduation from medical college, the Mckeesport Hospital.
He has embarked into the business world aside from his professional occupation and has met unusual success. Dr. Arthur is a director in the Joel T. Painter Paint Com- pany, a flourishing industrial organization in Mckeesport. It was in 1909 that he promi- ently entered the field of politics, and that year he was chosen mayor of the Tube City. His administration of civic affairs has been business-like and provocative of much favor- able comment. His entire term as Mckeesport's chief executive has been characterized by an economical and equable administrative system. He is prominently and favorably known throughout the State.
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