Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 80

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1) > Part 80

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Pearl, a little village in the extreme south- western corner of the township, has a popula- tion of about twenty-five. There was a post office here at one time, but the service is now from Polk.

Digitized by Google

BIOGRAPHICAL

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by Google

L'H Beers & Company

Enod hy Campbell Brothers N.Y.

Allumer

Digitized by Google

BIOGRAPHICAL

A RNOLD PLUMER was born June 6, 1801, in Jackson township, Venango Co., Pa., one of the first children of Caucasian parentage ushered into life in that vicinity, and destined to become its most dis- tinguished citizen. He was a son of Samuel and Patty (Adams) Plumer, and it is said that his mother was a remarkable woman, a fact best indicated by the statement that her son is said to have received from her his best instruc- tion. Early in life he evinced an active inter- est in politics, allying himself with the Demo- cratic party and becoming a leader of the or- ganization in his native county. Four months after reaching his twenty-second year he was elected sheriff of Venango county, acquitting himself so creditably in that capacity that in January, 1830, he was appointed by Governor Wolfe prothonotary and clerk of the courts, register and recorder, which combination of offices he held for the next six years. In 1836 Mr. Plumer was elected a member of the Twenty-fifth United States Congress, repre- senting the district composed of Crawford, Erie, Warren and Venango counties. On May 20, 1839, he was named by President Van Buren as United States marshal for the West- ern district of Pennsylvania, filling that office until May 6, 1841. In October, 1840, he was elected to the Twenty-seventh Congress, and on Dec. 14, 1847, was again appointed United States marshal for the same district. On April 3, 1848, he resigned in order to accept the State treasurership. At the expiration of his term he retired from public life, though never ceasing to take a keen interest in politics. The record of his services forms part of the an- nals of his State and nation. In 1855 Mr. Plumer, as a warm personal friend of James Buchanan, was entreated, by other friends of that statesman, to accept the nomination for canal commissioner, in order to harmonize the

Democratic party after its defeat the preced- ing year. It was then a political maxim that "as Pennsylvania goes, so goes the Union," and, as Mr. Plumer was regarded as the strong- est possible nominee, his candidacy was desir- able to establish Democratic supremacy previ- ous to Mr. Buchanan's nomination for the presidency the following year. Accordingly, he made a personal canvass, winning an elec- tion in the Buchanan interest. He was offered a place as postmaster-general in President Buchanan's cabinet, but declined on account of ill health.

During his twenty years of private life Mr. Plumer accumulated, by his remarkable fore- sight and business acumen, the largest for- tune ever up to that time acquired by any one resident of Venango county. He was one of those who regard wealth as a trust, and ac- tively aided a number of institutions by his influence and means, while his private char- ities were both numerous and comprehensive. In all movements which meditated the moral improvement and social culture of the com- munity he was deeply interested. The qual- ities which made Mr. Plumer a leader among men were his intuition. his courage, his self- reliance and, above all, his fidelity to his word. When he had said he would do a thing, he did it. Loyal to obligation, firm in principle, rock- bound in his convictions, he possessed the im- plicit confidence of the public. Of tall stature and majestic appearance, dignified in bearing, and possessing to a striking extent the cour- tesy of the old school, his presence in any assembly attracted general attention. As a public speaker he practiced none of the arts of oratory, talking simply, earnestly and di- rectly to the point, but in language so forci- ble and aggressive, and above all convincing, that his services on the platform were in great demand.

407

Digitized by Google

408

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Mr. Plumer married, Feb. 6, 1827, Mar- garet, daughter of George McClelland, of Franklin, Pa., and they were the parents of six children, all of whom survived him with their mother: Elvira A., who married Judge Gilmore, of Uniontown, Pa., and survived him; Samuel; Margaret, wife of H. W. Lam- berton, of Winona, Minn .; Arnold A .; Ann Eliza, wife of Rev. R. H. Austin, of Phila- delphia; and Henry B. Devoted in his fam- ily relations, Mr. Plumer ever found his home a refuge from the strenuous duties and en- grossing cares of public life, and one of his chief pleasures was the exercise of hospitality. On April 28, 1869, this man, so nobly planned and so true to every trust, passed away at his home in Franklin. His death removed from the community a true patriot and a model cit- izen, and all classes of society united in sin- cere. mourning.

On the day of Mr. Plumer's death the Ve- nango county courts adjourned out of respect to his memory. On the evening of April 29, 1869, the day following his death, a meeting of the citizens of Franklin was held at the courthouse, at which Hon. John Trunkey was appointed president, Hons. Richard Irwin and Thomas Hoge, vice presidents, and A. P. Whitaker, Esq., and Col. J. W. H. Reisinger, secretaries. The Spectator of May 7, 1869, had the following account of this meeting:

"Upon the completion of the organization of the meeting Gen. A. B. McCalmont rose and pronounced a eulogy upon the character of the late Hon. Arnold Plumer, whose de- cease was the occasion of the meeting, and moved the appointment of a committee of five, of whom he should not be one, to draft a minute expressive of the meeting. Where- upon C. Heydrick, William Hilands and R. L. Cochran, Esqrs., Col. James P. Hoover and Hon. R. S. M'Cormick were appointed. Dur- ing the absence of the committee, and after their return, in support of their report, the meeting was addressed by Rev. S. M. Eaton, Hon. R. Irwin, Cols. L. D. Rogers and J. S. Myers, and the president. The committee, after a brief absence, reported the following minute, which was unanimously adopted, viz .:

"We, the neighbors and friends of the late Hon. Arnold Plumer, assembled at the Court House in the city of Franklin, this 29th day of April, 1869, by the announcement of his decease yesterday, desire to re- cord our sense of the loss which we have sustained in his death. Before the middle-aged of to-day were born, and while the oldest among you were yet young men, Mr. Plumer had made his mark as a rising man, and the influence of his commanding intellect was felt in the country, and thence extended gradu-

ally and steadily throughout the Commonwealth un- til his name and character were, a few years ago, acknowledged and accepted as a tower of strength in a doubtful political contest which was to deter- mine the then next presidential struggle. His power and influence never waned during the years of his most active life, because he was built upon a sure foundation-he adorned by a faithful and intelligent discharge of its duties every position to which he was called by the confidence of his neighbors or the par- tiality of his fellow citizens of a great Common- wealth, while his private character was unstained by the too common reproaches of public men. Such a record is a source of just pride to the citizens of the county of his birth, and of his lifelong residence, and challenges the respect of those among us who have not been able at all times, or upon all questions, to agree with him. And while we thus record the common judgment upon his public life, we, who have long and intimately known him, can not refrain from bearing testimony to his many excellent qualities as a private citizen, neighbor and friend. We point with affectionate pride to the purity of his private life, and the unostentatious dignity of his demeanor, which have done much to mould the character of our people. He was a true friend, but not a bitter enemy, who would go out of his way to renew strife; he was warm-hearted and ever willing to counsel any who needed the benefit of his great experience and mature judgment. Of this, many in our midst will long continue to bear grateful witness, as they will relate how the attainment of success or the aversion of calamity was attributed to his wise counsels. One who combined all the qualities we attribute to Mr. Plumer could not be other than he was, an unpre- tending Christian gentleman.

"In testimony of the common sympathy of this community with the bereaved family of our deceased friend, we direct a copy of this minute to be pre- sented to them, attested by the officers of this meet- ing, and as a public tribute of respect for his memory we request our proceedings to be published in the newspapers of the county.

"JOHN TRUNKEY, "President. "RICHARD IRWIN, "THOS. HOGE, "Vice Presidents.

"A. P. WHITAKER, "J. W. H. REISINGER, "Secretaries."

GEN. CHARLES MILLER during his fifty years' residence in Franklin has proba- bly left a deeper impression of his person- ality and initiative upon the city than has any other resident. Born in Alsace, France, he came to America when a child and spent his boyhood near Boston, N. Y., and when a young man moved to Franklin, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the dry goods business. He was one of the first to realize the possibilities of the oil industry, and purchasing a refinery en- tered into a partnership to manufacture rail- way lubricating oils by a secret process. The little company met with heart-breaking re- verses, their plant was destroyed by fire, and

Digitized by

Google

409

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

the business seemed on the brink of dissolu- tion. With the indomitable spirit that has characterized all his actions, General Miller rebuilt the plant and personally took charge of the marketing and all the affairs of the com- pany. So aggressive was he that the business grew rapidly, and in a short time Galena oils and service were known and recognized as the standard for lubrication on every railroad in the United States and Canada. So confi- dent was he of the quality of Galena materials that he evolved and put into practice the idea of guaranteeing the net cost of lubrication, which has saved the railroads millions of dol- lars. Not satisfied with having practically all the steam and electric railroads of the country under contract, he looked to an extension of the business in foreign fields. Undismayed by the fact that he was confronted by well-es- tablished, strong competitors, he proceeded with his exploitation, and to-day has a large and growing business in South America and European countries-in fact, it was Galena oils that furnished the lubrication to the French railroads for twenty-two years and during the great war.

From his home in Miller Park, which spot he transformed from a rough hillside pasture into one of the show places of Franklin, he can look across the city and see the smoke from half a dozen thriving industries that owe their existence to his initiative and foresight and that have been the principal factors in the development of Franklin. At the top of the hill back of his home is his farm, situated on a rolling plateau overlooking the city and affording a view for miles up the French Creek valley. His farm is his hobby, but not a plaything. It represents a material invest- ment and is making material returns. It is a mecca for sightseers and farmers, who come to see the blooded cattle and hogs and the hundreds of fowls, in the most modern quar- ters, cared for according to the most advanced methods and practices, and to study the ap- plication of scientific farming to what was but a few years ago a waste of barren pastures. Besides its personal gratification to its owner, the farm is an educational institution to the farmers of the surrounding country and has contributed much to an improvement of the farming methods and production of the county.

General Miller has been commander of Mays Post, G. A. R., Franklin, Pa., for twen- ty-five years. Had business not claimed him, he would probably have been a soldier. Mili- tary affairs always possessed for him a fas- cination, and his talent for organization and

command secure for him the admiration and obedience of men. For many years he was connected with the National Guard of Penn- sylvania, rising from one grade to another until he secured the rank of major-general, which position he held for six consecutive years, under two different governors. Then his pressing private affairs necessitated his resignation.

When head of the National Guard of Penn- sylvania, while studying a military map, his attention was attracted to the possibility of a short line railroad connecting the northwestern part of the State with the large cities of the southwest, and that would afford a shorter route between New York and Philadelphia and Chicago than any of the established lines. He immediately engaged engineers to make the necessary surveys, which he finally turned over to the New York Central Railroad Company, who built the Jamestown, Franklin & Clear- field railroad.

In securing the rights of way for the rail- road, General Miller saw the possibility of large coal development in the territory tra- versed and purchased and leased coal rights and organized the Pennsy Coal Company, which under his management has grown into a very profitable concern with great future possibilities. He also purchased the Lake Erie, Franklin & Clarion railroad and made it the best equipped road in western Pennsyl- vania, and increased its earnings over five hun- dred per cent.

In addition to being president of the Gal- ena-Signal Oil Company, General Miller is president of the Colburn Machine Tool Com- pany, president of the General Manifold & Printing Company, president of the Evening News Printing Company, chairman and. act- ing president of the Franklin Manufacturing Company, president of the First National Bank of Franklin, chairman of the board of the American Steel Foundries Company, and president of the Lake Erie, Franklin & Clarion Railroad Company.

General Miller received only a common school education, but all his life has been a student, and his retentive memory has enabled him to accumulate a fund of knowledge on all subjects that is surpassed by few college men. He holds the degree of A. M. from Bucknell University, and has also been decorated by the French government as Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his eminent services to industry and commerce.

General Miller is strongly attached to the city of Franklin, to which he has contributed

Digitized by Google

410

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

so liberally of his time and means, and is prouder of what he has done toward the civic and social betterment of the city than of his contribution to its material advancement. He built at his own expense a Sunday school room for the Baptist Church and contributed liber- ally to the rebuilding of the church itself, of which he has been one of the largest sup- porters. For forty-five years he has been superintendent of the Sunday school and presi- dent of the Miller Bible Class, with a mem- bership of over one thousand. For nearly thirty years he has maintained at his own ex- pense a night school, which has helped hun- dreds of young men and women to fit them- selves for business life. For many years he was president of the Young Men's Christian Association, and assisted it liberally by his time and means. Under his leadership the present Y. M. C. A. building, costing over fifty thousand dollars, was built by public sub- scription. Although the city of Franklin abounds in many memorials to his generosity, enterprise and public spirit during more than fifty years of residence there, his greatest monument is the respect and affection in which he is held by his fellow citizens.

MICHAEL GEARY was at the time of his death regarded as Oil City's most prominent citizen, and the one to whom the town in a great measure owes its importance as a manu- facturing center and its remarkable prosper- ity. He was born in Ireland, Sept. 26, 1844. Soon afterward his father, Daniel Geary, who was a farmer in County Clare, went to the United States, making the journey alone, to establish a home for the family, consisting of wife and three children, Susan (now a resi- dent of Oil City), Daniel and Michael. When Michael was six and a half years old the mother received word to come to America and prepared to join her husband, reaching New York only to learn that he had died of cholera and had been buried for some time, his grave being at Limestone, near Buffalo, N. Y. The little family first .found a home in Buffalo, and in the fall of 1851 removed to Westfield, N. Y., where the mother married Martin O'Shea, a farmer, by whom she also had three children, all now residents of Oil City, namely : John, who married Bridget Callahan, of Titus- ville ; Mary Ann, and James.

After enjoying the advantages of a good old-fashioned practical schooling until fifteen years old, Michael Geary showed his strong trait of self-reliance by securing work and starting out for himself. When he was sixteen

the call for troops found him a man in strength and full of patriotism, although a boy in years, and in July, 1861, he enlisted, becoming a private in Company E, 3d Regiment, New York Volunteers. He served his country with distinguished gallantry, and though

once wounded remained in active service for his full term of three years, when he was honor- ably discharged. At the close of the war he found employment in the Erie City Iron Works, where for seven years he devoted his time and energies to learning every detail and branch of the iron industry necessary in the successful management of such an estab- lishment. In 1871 he removed to Titusville, Pa., where he was foreman for Gibbs, Sterret & Co., later becoming manager and also part owner of the iron works of Runser & Com- pany, of Sharon, Pa. The natural advantages of Oil City as a manufacturing center, its proximity to the oil fields as a market, and to the sources of the raw materials needed in the business, appealed to his business sagacity, and in 1876 he moved thither, and in company with the late B. W. Vandergrift and Daniel O'Day, of New York City, started a small tank and boiler shop at the corner of Duncan street and .the Western New York & Pennsyl- vania railroad. After the first year the inter- ests of Mr. Vandergrift were purchased by Capt. J. J. Vandergrift and his son J. J. Vandergrift, Jr., now deceased, the business continuing under the personal management of Mr. Geary. It grew rapidly and steadily. so much so that in 1881 several acres of land on Seneca street were purchased and the plant removed to that location. From that time up to the present the business has shown remark- able development, the Oil City Boiler Works, as it has been known from the beginning, be- ing a leading industrial establishment of the city and county. Mr. Geary and Mr. O'Day became sole owners in 1882. In addition to the tank and boiler department, the manufac- ture of engines on a large scale was under- taken, and for the manufacture of flues for boilers the tube works was added, the Oil City Tube Company being formed in 1887, at which time Mr. Geary became one of the directors. On Jan. 1, 1888, he became presi- dent, with Joseph Seep as vice president and G. S. Oberly secretary, and within a year or two the five-acre site on Seneca street and the railroad tracks was the scene of great indus- try. A lap-weld mill of corrugated iron, 304 by 200 feet in dimensions, was constructed, as well as a butt-weld mill 100 by 250 feet, the former containing four furnaces and having

Digitized by Google

411

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

a daily capacity of one hundred tons of pipe, Oil City, securing employment and becoming ranging in size from one and a half to twelve permanent residents. inches in diameter and up to thirty feet long ; while the latter had three furnaces and equip- ment for the production of one-eighth- to one- and-a-half-inch gas, steam, water and hy- draulic pipes. Six hundred men were em- ployed in the tube works alone.

In every department the strong master mind and guiding hand of Michael Geary brought success. Year after year the plants were en- larged, as their output increased with the scope of the markets for the products. Dis- tributing agencies were established in Los An- geles, Cal., St. Louis, Mo., Denver, Colo., and Chicago for the West; Philadelphia and New York, East; Pittsburgh, Sistersville and Cin- cinnati for the South, and Buffalo for the Great Lakes and Canadian points. Every de- tail of the enormous business, from appoint- ing agents, securing new markets, improving and perfecting the equipment and products of the plants, was planned and executed by Mr. Geary, who found his reward in the growth of the establishment from a small boiler shop, employing a half dozen men in 1871, to works with a force of two hundred in 1890, and at the time of his death the Oil City Boiler Works and Tube Mills combined were giving steady employment to a force of from fifteen hundred to two thousand men. At one time, in fact, the works had on their payroll more men than all the other manufactories of Oil City combined. Their name and fame, and that of Michael Geary, were known from one end of the country to the other.

Mr. Geary was naturally of a reserved turn, and with this disposition strengthened by his early training, yet no man was firmer in his personal friendships or took more interest in the general prosperity and growth of the city than he. During the long period of busi- ness stagnation and financial panic, which closed nearly every mill and iron manufactur- ing establishment in the country, he gave his big force of workmen steady employment, tak- ing contracts at a figure that prohibited pro- fits, and when orders were unobtainable turn- ing out stock and storing it in the warehouses and works rather than allow his workmen, who were residents of Oil City, to go without food and clothing, as was the case in many other places throughout the country at that time. With the revival of the iron business he was the first manufacturer in the country to advance wages, and in consequence hun- dreds of skilled mechanics were attracted to

Although he was the leading spirit of these great concerns, Mr. Geary's energies were too great to be occupied with them alone. Recog- nizing the necessity for a first-class hotel in the city, he in 1888 bought the "Collins House" and the large brick block in which it was sit- uated, refitted, refurnished and practically re- built the interior, and renamed it the "Arling- ton," which he personally conducted until its reputation as one of the leading hotels in the country was established, when he intrusted it to the hands of capable managers. Soon after establishing himself in business here he be- came one of the heaviest stockholders in the bank of the Oil City Trust Company, and for years was one of the directors of this solid and widely known financial institution. He was also a director and part owner of the Oil City Opera House, being chosen president and a director of the company in 1885; a half owner of the producing interests of the Han- ley Oil Company of Bradford; president of the Snow Pump Works, of Buffalo; and had large oil producing interests in the New York and Sistersville (W. Va.) fields. At one time he was one of the largest stockholders in the Brush Electric Light Company of Buffalo, N. Y., and the first president of the Oil City En- terprise Milling Company.

Mr. Geary died of pneumonia Sept. 18, 1895, at New York, while on a business trip, and his son Daniel J. Geary succeeded him as gen- eral manager and vice president of the Oil City Boiler Works, Daniel O'Day holding the position of president. In 1907 Charles O'Day was elected chief executive, and Frank O'Day vice president, Charles P. Berry becoming sec- retary and treasurer. They have since dis- continued the manufacture of tubes, making a specialty of gas and oil engines; army type boilers; the Geary water tube boiler (Mr. Geary's patents) ; Foster type water tube and marine boilers. For a number of years this concern owned the rights and patents of the Hohensten boilers, but have now discontinued their manufacture.

Mr. Geary married Catherine Flanagan, who was born Oct. 12, 1845, in Erie, Pa., daughter of Timothy Flanagan, and children as follows were born to this union: (1) Daniel J., now manager of sales for the Re- public Iron & Steel Company, at Youngs- town, Ohio, married Emma Sowers, and after her death (second) Ermine Monarch. (2) Catherine E, married A. F. Colling, and died leaving one child, Mary Dorothy, who lives

Digitized by Google

412

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 80

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

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