Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 104

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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Dispensary, Chicago, and two years assistant to Dr. Antisdale, in diseases of the nose, throat and ear, at Harvey Medical College.

In the fall of 1902 Dr. Jobson located at Franklin, where he has since specialized in diseases of the eye, ear, throat and nose. Dur- ing 1915 he was president of the Venango County Medical Society ; and in 1916-17 served as secretary of the eye, ear, nose and throat sections of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society. In 1915 he was elected a member of the Franklin board of education, and in 1916- 17-18 held the position of president of the school board. He is a member of the Franklin Board of Trade, and State vice president of the Wild Life League of Pennsylvania ; a member of the Venango County Medical Society, the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-laryn- gology : also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and chairman of the Venango County Committee of Medicine, Sanitation and Hospitals of the Pennsylvania Council of Na- tional Defense.

On June 21, 1893, Dr. Jobson was married to Almira E. Giddings, and they have two chil- dren, Jean and Marion.

George B. and Jane ( Blaikie) Jobson. now residents of Franklin, Pa., had a family of six children : George B., Jr .; William R., M. D .. now engaged in the practice of medicine in Oil City, Pa. : Amy. wife of Boyd N. Park, of Franklin. Pa .: Jessie. wife of John McK. Snow, city engineer of Franklin; Alexander B., an attorney at law, practicing in Franklin. Pa .; and Daisy, living at home.

W. (). PLATT. president of the Joseph Reid Gas Engine Company. of Oil City, was born in Clarion county in 1860, but has claimed Oil City as his home town since he was eight years old.

His father was a soldier in the Civil war and was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va .. in December. 1862. and he received his educa- tion in the Soldiers' Orphans' Schools of the State of Pennsylvania until he was sixteen years old.

His first steady job was at the old barrel works, and from that he passed to a job of cleaning castings at the foundry of the W. J. Innis & Co. works, and from that job he passed into their machine shop to learn the machinist's trade. Two years later, in the panic of 1878. the shop shut down and he got a job with Joseph Reid, who was running a jobbing shop on Seneca street.

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Four years later he moved on to a job in Corry, Pa., with the Harmon, Gibbs & Co., who, besides making steam engines for the oil country, were doing a general jobbing and re- pair business. With them he was outside man and had repairs to make in tanneries, gristmills, sawmills, planing-mills, refineries, furniture factories, waterworks, brickyards, printing of- fices, creameries, bottling works, and at farms and any other places where machinery was used and would need repairs.

As he was not a genius, or one of the As W. Osborne he has made friends who have written to him from all parts of the Eng- lish-speaking world, and most of these friends of the name W. O. Platt. "natural" mechanics who are supposed to know all about machinery without study, it had always taken reading and study to keep . do not yet know that W. Osborne is but part up with these jobs, and to be ready for the new kinds which kept coming.

In 1888 he returned to Oil City to again enter the shop of Joseph Reid, this time having the position of foreman. This shop had been moved from Seneca street to Elm street, and besides the general jobbing work it was making refinery equipment and a line of crude oil burners. These oil burners had been designed and patented by Mr. Reid, and were so well fitted for their purpose that they are still being made.

He has always considered that it was a great privilege to have been associated with Mr. Reid during the period that Mr. Reid was develop- ing the gas engine and fitting it to oil country uses, and to have had a share in that work.

In 1899 Mr. Reid incorporated his business and the Joseph Reid Gas Engine Company came into being. Mr. Platt was one of the first board of directors, and has continued on the board until the present time. He was also elected as vice president, and was appointed superintendent, and held both of these positions continuously until the death of Mr. Reid in 1917, when he was elected to fill Mr. Reid's place as president.

Mr. Platt had always found the work, the shops and the people of the oil country of ab- sorbing interest and thought that they should interest others, and to test out his theory in 1900 he wrote an article under the title "Echoes from the Oil Country," and sent it to The American Machinist. The answer was a check and a request for more, and there' began a part of his life that was carried on under the pen name of W. Osborne that has been un- known to all except a few of his intimate friends. During some of the time since that small beginning this branch of Mr. Platt's ac- tivities has been the most remunerative. even though it has kept him busy evenings and holi- days. He has also been a contributor under

various names to the Iron Age, the Iron Trade Review, Foundry, Castings, the Gas Engine, the American Manufacturer & Iron World, Machinery, Pattern Making, Power, Wood Craft, the Engineering Magasine, the Gas Magazine and Industrial Management. All of these publications are well known to those who are interested in the things which they repre- sent. He has also sent a few articles to Engi- necring of London, England, and they have all been published.

Home study has enabled him to be grad- uated from the Scranton Correspondence Schools in a course of Mechanical Engineering. He has been since 1902 a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has been granted a number of patents for inventions that have been of use in developing the oil country, among them being the well known bandwheel power which is manufac- tured by the Joseph Reid Gas Engine Com- pany, and which is extensively used in the Mid- continent oil fields.

Besides his position as president of the Joseph Reid Gas Engine Company Mr. Platt holds the position of president of the Reid Land & Development Company, which is a company that for years has been engaged in a large way in developing land in the orange belt of central California ; of vice president of the Frick-Reid Supply Company, which is one of the large oil well supply houses of the Mid- continent oil fields ; is a director of the Oil City National Bank, and of the Home Savings & Loan Association, and is a member of the I. O. O. F., of the Venango Club, of the Wan- ango Country Club, of the Mid-continent Oil & Gas Association, of the American Founders Association, of the Y. M. C. A., of the Oil City: Rifle Association, of the Oil City Motor Club, of the United Sportsmen, of the American Automobile Association, etc.

Mr. Platt married Lucinda A. Messinger, of Elgin. Pa., in 1882, and they have had a family of nine children. Of these Ralph died when seven years of age, Margaret when five, and Fred when twenty-one. The other children are: Hugh A., who is foreman at the Joseph Reid shops : Mrs. Annie L. Brakeman; Mrs. Rose A. Ramsey. of Sewickley, Pa .; Olive M .; Mary L., and J. Reid.

Mr. Platt is certain that the measure of suc- cess that has come to him in his passing along

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from the job of cleaning castings in a foundry up to his present job has not come to him because of any special ability or of any un- usual opportunities, but because he has recog- nized that every job that he has ever had was big enough to require his best efforts and all the knowledge that he could get from every source within his reach, and because in early life he got a real partner in getting his wife, and because all the way along he has had the privilege of associating with men of ability, integrity, fair mindedness and a willingness to do team work.

ORRIN DUBBS BLEAKLEY, of Frank- lin, has been one of the most conspicuous fig- ures of his generation in Venango county his- tory. Financial enterprises and big business, in both commercial and manufacturing fields, community interests and public affairs, all have felt the influence of his participation. It is true that he had an auspicious beginning, in his association with his father, the late James Bleakley, whose talents and restless vigilance kept him in a foremost position among the men of his day. But it is no less certain that from the start he showed full possession of the in- dividual characteristics necessary to maintain his position, and developed strength so fast that he was not only ready for increasing re- sponsibilities as they came but able to assume more, displaying a gift for large undertakings that has been of vital importance to the locality in enabling it to adjust its industrial economy to modern requirements. Indeed, he is one of the most typical exponents of present day methods and ideals regarding business and finance in the county.

The Bleakleys began their connection with affairs in Franklin more than three quarters of a century ago, and have been prominent in many activities here throughout the interven- ing period. They are of Scotch-Irish origin, descended from one James Bleakley, whose son John Bleakley was the grandfather of Orrin Dubbs Bleakley. John Bleakley was born Oct. 20, 1788, at Merley. County Tyrone, Ireland, and he and his wife came to this country as young people, in June, 1819, at which time all the inhabitants of their parish save one bore the name of Bleakley. They first settled in Berks county, Pa., and in the summer of 1833 he removed to Venango county, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at his home in Jackson township Sept. 11, 1869. Mrs. Bleakley died shortly after their arrival in the United States and left one son, James. Mr. Bleakley was a Presbyterian and a Mason, in

good standing in both church and fraternity, as attested by the letter he brought from his pastor and the demit from his lodge in the Jurisdiction of Ireland, a copy of which fol- lows :

To all whom it May Concern: We the Master Wardens and Secretary of Lodge No. 911, held in the town of, Merley, and County Tyrone, and on the Registry of Ireland, do hereby certify that the bearer, Mr. John Bleakley, a regular registered Master Mason in said lodge, and during his stay with us behaved himself as an honest brother. Given under our hands and seal of our lodge in our lodge room, dated this 12th of June, 1819, and of Masonry 5819.

It is signed by Mathew Hunter, master ; James Bleakley, senior warden; James Dogh- erty, junior warden ; John Hanna, secretary.

James Bleakley, son of John Bleakley, was born Sept. 13, 1820, near Unionville, Berks Co., Pa., and was a boy when he accompanied his father to Venango county, assisting him until his sixteenth year. In 1836 he was ap- prenticed to learn the trade of printer, and after serving a three years' term found occu- pation in that line at Butler, Pa., where he re- mained three years. At the end of this period, though little past his majority, he returned to Venango county and located at Franklin, where he and John W. Shugert began the publication of the Democratic Arch, being so engaged for about two and a half years. The venture is evidence that the self-reliance and confidence for which he is well remembered were mani- fested early. It is said that his total attend- ance at school would not exceed eighteen months, but he got so much out of his restricted privileges that he was far in advance of the average young man of his time in mental training, and his experience in the printing office was the very thing he wanted to give him opportunity for the practical application of his acquirements. One story of his school days is worth repeating. He was late so often re- turning home during his last term in school that his father investigated, and found that the teacher, being frequently unable to work the examples for his advanced class in arithmetic. had the boy remain to help him prepare the les- son for the next day. The Bleakley family have the files of the Democratic Arch from July, 1842, to October, 1843, the earliest con- tinuous files in existence of any Venango county newspaper. Mr. Bleakley had a sub- sequent experience in the newspaper business. beginning in 1851. from which time for several years he was associated with the late A. P. Whitaker in the publication of the Venango

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Spectator. But from the spring of 1844, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Frank- lin, he was occupied principally with com- mercial and financial enterprises, though he also acquired manufacturing and real estate interests of considerable magnitude. The variety of his investments, and his uniform success in their management, would indicate that he had the underlying principles of busi- ness at his fingers' ends, and also that he had a mind versatile beyond the ordinary in its ability to grasp the details of many subjects of diverse character.

Mr. 'Bleakley continued merchandising for about twenty years. He started modestly, but he had good methods and the assistance of a capable wife, and within a few years had ac- cumulated a little money, which he put into real estate in Franklin and elsewhere. In 1849 he erected the building on Liberty street where almost twenty years later he opened the Inter- national Bank, one of the most substantial business structures in the city. For two years he filled the office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in 1851. He first entered the banking field in 1854, operating a private bank in connection with his mercantile business, and in 1864 assisted in organizing the First Na- tional Bank of Franklin, of which he was cashier from that time until 1867. In 1868 he founded the International Bank, which he con- tinued until his death and in which his sons succeeded him. He was president until his death, and the institution became one of the best known financial establishments in the county under his management. In the spring of 1870 he started a banking house at Sharon, Pa., in the name of James Bleakley, Sons & Co. Meantime he also took on many other responsibilities, becoming associated with in- terests of all kinds in this vicinity, including a tannery, foundry. oil refinery and tinning establishment, real estate investments and various branches of the oil business, with which he was associated from 1859 until his death; he was one of the purchasers of the Galloway tract and outlot No. 8, famous for their production of Franklin lubrication oil. In addition to looking after his own affairs, he took a leading part in the administration of the government of Franklin, served in the council of the borough and later of the city. and was burgess for several terms. One of his special projects was the care and develop- ment of the public parks and other improve- ments for the beautifying of the city. Polit- ically he was a Democrat in his early life, join- ing the Republican party in 1856, and support- 84

ing it to the end of his days. He died Oct. 3, 1883.

On Aug. 3, 1843, Mr. Bleakley married Elizabeth Dubbs, who was born in May, 1822, eldest daughter of Jacob Dubbs, who came to this section from Harrisburg, Pa., in 1824, and was a pioneer merchant in Franklin. Mr. Dubbs was born at Harrisburg, and died at Franklin in 1845. He was a wheelwright, and engaged at his trade until 1830, following mer- chandising the rest of his life. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bleakley, Elizabeth, born Jan. 16, 1845, married T. W. Bridgham ; Clara, born April 6, 1847, married Alexander McDowell, a banker of Sharon, Pa .; William James, born July 6, 1849, be- came a prominent business and public man of Franklin ; Effie, born Nov. 26, 1851, married Dr. E. W. Moore, of Franklin; Orrin Dubbs is mentioned below; Harry was born Jan. 8, 1859: Edmund, born Oct. 30, 1860, married Bertha Legnard, of Waukegan, Illinois.

Orrin Dubbs Bleakley was born May 15, 1854. at Franklin, and there received his early education, attending the old academy. He pur- sued his higher studies at the University of Bonn, in Germany. When he entered business it was in his father's employ in the old Inter- national Bank, where he continued until his oil interests had attained such proportions that he felt they needed all his attention. This was in 1876, and for the next seven years he de- voted himself to production, participating profitably in the Edenburg and Bradford booms. When he returned to Franklin in 1883 he bought his father's interest in the International Bank, he and his brothers con- tinuing it until 1901, when he organized the Franklin Trust Company, of which he has since been president. The Franklin Trust Company has the heaviest capitalization of any banking institution in Franklin. Mr. Bleak- ley has also been interested in the First Na- tional Bank of Franklin, of which he has been vice president. He has been a stockholder in a number of important business and manufac- turing concerns in Franklin and in Venango county, his excellent judgment as to the per- manent value of any enterprise drawing sup- port to any undertaking in which he has shown faith. Like his father he has gone into public life as an ardent Republican, and he was a delegate at large to the national convention which nominated Theodore Roosevelt for the presidency. Local institutions of all kinds have had the benefit of his hearty cooperation, and he serves as a trustee for the Institution for the Feeble Minded at Polk, this county. His re-

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ligious connection is with the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Bleakley married Harriet Elizabeth Richardson, daughter of Richard Richardson, and they have had two children: Rollin Rich- ardson, born July 6, 1886, and Wayne W., born Oct. 31, 1891.

Mr. Bleakley is an enthusiastic follower of the development of the science of aviation, and deserves to be classed with the pioneers among the non-professionals who have adopted that method of travel. In December, 1916, he won considerable attention by a trip from Phila- delphia to Washington, D. C., made in his own machine, operated by Sergeant William Ocker of the United States Army Aviation Corps. While in Washington he took a number of his friends up for short flights.

ROLLIN RICHARDSON BLEAKLEY, eldest son of Orrin Dubbs Bleakley, was born and reared in Franklin, Pa., and continues to make his home in that city, where he is associated in business with his father as treasurer of the Franklin Trust Company. He is one of the leading members of the younger set and in- fluential in various associations. On Oct. 6, 1909, he was married to Sarah Ruth Acheson, daughter of E. G. and Margaret Acheson, of Niagara Falls, N. Y., and they have three chil- dren: Rollin Richardson, Jr., born Sept. 29, 1911 ; O. D. II, born May 31, 1914; and Ache- son G., born April 5, 1917.

WAYNE W. BLEAKLEY married Margaret Amberson, and they have one child, Wayne, Jr., born Jan. 29, 1915. He holds an army commission as first lieutenant.

HOMER C. CRAWFORD, of Jackson township, Venango county, has kept alive the associations of worth and substantial character which have attached to the name he bears throughout its connection with this region. His home place is one of the most interesting agricultural properties in the county, but its development has by no means occupied all of his attention, his broad interests embracing business responsibilities of varied nature. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction and a son of the late Dr. Robert Crawford, than whom there was no better known citizen of that part of Venango county lying around Cooperstown -- as well as the adjoining sections of Mercer and Crawford counties-during the fifty-five years of his residence there. The reader is referred to other pages of this work for his biography.

Homer C. Crawford was born Sept. 26, 1853, at Cooperstown. He had excellent edu-

cational advantages, leaving the public schools to pursue his higher studies in Allegheny Col- lege, Meadville, Pa., from which he was gradu- ated in 1877. It was originally his intention to engage in the practice of medicine, but the condition of his health, and particularly of his eyesight, led him to change his course. Thirty years ago he came into possession of the three- hundred-acre farm which he is still operating, and which his father had owned for some years previously. Its transformation to an up-to-date dairy farm is a practical illustra- tion of the possibilities of dairy farming in this section. The Coolspring Farm and Dairy property is now considered the best dairy farm in Venango county, and the arrangement and equipment, as well as system of operation, have called forth encomiums from dairy ex- perts all over the State. Mr. Crawford's prac- tical training made him decide early to lead, not to imitate, and being gifted with strong initiative he has not found it difficult to adhere to the policy he laid down originally. He is not overly conservative, but when he proceeds along any line he is guided in his course by actual knowledge, guesswork having no place in any of his operations. With such prin- ciples, it is not remarkable that he has attained a foremost place among dairymen. At the out- set of his farming enterprise he began breed- ing Jersey cattle, and has become widely known for his success with them as well as with other valuable stock. The situation of his farm being ideal for dairy purposes he decided to make the most of it, and every natural advan- tage has been utilized fully, doubled in value by the application of modern ideas and ma- chinery. The soil is fertile and watered by noted flowing springs which afford an abun- dant supply for dairy and house, centered at a capacious spring house, where the water from subterranean streams gushes from the living rock at a constant temperature of forty-eight degrees, affording model cooling facilities. The overflow is directed to the various build- ings on the property, fresh running water being carried to each stall. and water power being available for the washing of machinery and other devices. No detail pertaining to the handling of milk in accordance with the strictest principles of hygiene has been neglect- ed, including the care of the stock itself. A gas engine operates the compressed air milk- ing machines, and also the electric dynamo, by which a complete lighting system in house and buildings is maintained. Everything is thor- oughly tested before installation, hence there

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is great economy in operation, both as to labor and equipment-a minimum of power with maximum results.

Mr. Crawford used the first commercial fer- tilizer employed in this section, and has dem- onstrated to his neighborhood the unques- tionable value of using lime and phosphates on the local soils. From March, 1897, for more than ten years, he owned and published the "Pennsylvania Farmer," at Meadville, Pa., when they had some five thousand subscribers. Mr. Crawford's work has been sufficiently noteworthy to attract wide attention among experts, and has been recognized by his ap- pointment to the State Board of Agriculture. However, he has never sought political prefer- ment, on the contrary refusing such offers. The experience gained in his local business ventures has been valuable on a larger scale in other fields of enterprise. He has acquired outside interests of considerable magnitude, chief among which may be mentioned his con- nection with the Franklin Trust Company, one of the strongest financial institutions of Ve- nango county. He helped organize that com- pany, and has since served as vice president. For years he was president of the Light & Power Company at Durand, Wis., and he now holds a controlling interest in the waterworks system of Centerville, Iowa, which he has com- pletely remodeled and rebuilt at a vast ex- penditure. When this property came into his possession it was in a rundown condition, and had been a failure financially. Mr. Crawford found plenty of opportunity for the exercise and application of the principles of industrial economy which he had formulated. He gave his time without limit to a personal study of the situation and the remedy, and concluded that the wisest course would be to spare no expense to develop the system into the best attainable. A new source of water supply was secured, with the result that it has be- come one of the most desirable public service properties in the State. The settling basin and filtering plant were designed and built after tiresome research and experiment. Their operation by automatic remote electrical con- trol. as well as that of the pumping machinery, pumping the water and operating the entire plant, makes it the first of its kind to be in- stalled. Its successful operation for several years marks a new era in the building and economical operation of water plants for small cities. Mr. Crawford considers the success- ful development of this plant one of his most creditable achievements. In his home State he has been a prosperous oil producer, both on

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 104

Author: Babcock, Charles A. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: