Area History: History of Schuylkill County, Pa: W. W. Munsell, 1881
Township and Borough Histories pp. 293 - 305a
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____________________________________________________________
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PA
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers.
New York: W. W. Munsell & Co., 36 Vesey Street, 1881
Press of George Macnamara, 36 Vesey Street, N.Y.
____________________________________________________________
page 293
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES--POTTSVILLE.
_______________________________________________________________
BENJAMIN BANNAN.
The following sketch of the life of the late Benjamin Bannan
is essentially the same as that published in the "Biographical
Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania." A few additions and alterations
were necessary on account of Mr. Bannan's having died since the
article was originally written.
Benjamin Bannan, journalist and political economist, was born
in Union township, Berks county, Pa., April 22nd, 1807, and died
July 29, 1875
His father was a farmer and teacher, occupied in agricultural
pursuits during the spring, summer and fall, and teaching in the
winter. He died when his son was but eight years old. Benjamin
went to school only about two years all together during the next
seven years; for at that time schools were open only for three or
four months, during cold weather. It was at Unionville that he
was inspired with the idea of becoming a printer and editor, from
reading the Village Record, to which the teacher subscribed.
Having learned the utmost that was taught in the schools of that
day, at the age of fifteen he was indentured to learn the print-
ing business in the office of the Berks and Schuylkill Journal,
of which George Getz was proprietor, where he remained six years.
During his term of service the same industry and honesty of
purpose and action which characterized his whole life won the
regard of his preceptor, who asked him to become his partner and
associate in the business. Meanwhile, at the close of his ap-
prenticeship, he had repaired to Philadelphia where he worked in
several printing offices, finally being engaged in the establish-
ment of Lawrence Johnson, the celebrated type founder, where he
added the art of stereotyping to his already thorough knowledge
of printing. After a visit to Reading, where he received the
offer already noted, he thought it advisable to decline it and
directed his steps to Pottsville. On his arrival there he found
the office of the Miners' Journal in the hands of the sheriff;
and, believing that this was a fair opportunity and a field for
future operations, concluded to purchase it. Almost all his
ready funds were invested in this enterprise, and the subscrip-
tion list numbered but 250. This took place in April, 1829, and
he was connected with this one paper nearly forty-four years.
On July 1st, 1866, he disposed of a one-half interest in the
establishment, and wishing to retire from business in January,
1873, sold the other moiety; nevertheless his attachment to the
Journal was so great that he continued writing for the paper and
attending to the coal statistics, as when he was sole owner. The
number of subscribers had increased to over 4,000, and its weekly
circulation was only exceeded by that of three other political
journals in the State, outside of the large cities. Mr. Bannan's
first vote was cast for John Quincy Adams for President, in 1828,
and he voted at every succeeding presidential election as long as
he lived, and always in opposition to the Democracy. Indeed,
during his whole life he never voted for a Democrat when there
was a contest between the political parties. He was always a
firm and undeviating supporter of protection to American indus-
try, and proposed and organized the first tariff league, in 1840,
after the disastrous effects of the first compromise bill had
become apparent; which led to the adoption of the tariff of 1842,
the most beneficial measure, in many respects, ever passed by
Congress, In 1841 and also in 1861 he collected signatures to
the longest petitions ever laid before the national legislature,
praying for protection to home industry. For a period of fifteen
years he held the position of school director and for fourteen
years was president of the board. During this period he suggest-
ed to Governor Pollock the present admirable normal school system
of the State, in all its details, which was afterward adopted.
It is justly claimed for him that he was the first to propose
plan for a national currency; as far back as 1857 he first origi-
nated it and published a series of articles on the subject. His
views were communicated to several prominent bankers, who acqui-
esced in his suggestions and admitted that such a currency as he
proposed would be the best obtainable, but thought his scheme
could not be carried out, as the States had usurped from the
general government the power to issue money, and as the latter
had so long acquiesced in their action the States would never
surrender it. He even prepared circulars embodying his views and
distributed them through the two houses of Congress, but they
received very little attention from any of the members. Four
years elapsed, and the war of the Rebellion broke out and a
national currency became a necessity. He communicated with and
afterward visited Secretary Chase, recalled the circular and
compared it with the bill Secretary Chase had prepared, and the
latter was found to be in perfect accordance with Mr. Bannan's
plan of 1857, except in a few unimportant particulars and one
important feature, which was not incorporated in the bill--the
introduction of an expanding limit. This was not done as it was
impossible to foresee what the exigencies of the country might
demand. The idea of having an issue of currency in proportion to
the wealth of the country and expanding it in that basis seems to
have been original with him. It was submitted to the late Ste-
phen Colwell, of Philadelphia, who was also a writer on currency,
and who had collected all the works written on currency and
money, in all languages, from all countries, numbering more than
700 volumes and pamphlets, and in none of them had he observed
the expression of a similar idea. As a thinker and writer on
important public matters Mr. Bannan belonged to an advanced
school, and earned for himself an honored and respected name; and
wherever he was known, either at home or abroad, his opinions and
advice were solicited and made use of. As a practical reformer
he was farseeing and liberal, and was ever among the foremost in
proposing and carrying out ideas and projects tending to
_____________end age 293._______________
page 294
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
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the improvement and advancement of his fellow men, particularly
of the laboring classes. As a writer on matters pertaining to
the coal trade, his experience of over two score years in the
anthracite region fitted him with special and peculiar qualifica-
tions. As a coal statistician he was the foremost in the coun-
try.
The trade had grown up with himself and in reality it had
almost become second nature to him; particularly on account of
the use he made of the opportunities that fell in his way in the
matter of statistics. On coal his figures and tables are made
use of in every publication of any importance in this country and
abroad. We have in mind at this time two large works in which he
is not only quoted, but highly complimented, and his tabular
statements given are conclusive.
As a high test of the value of the statistics he has collect-
ed in the coal trade, e need only refer to the fact that the
Bureau of Statistics at Washington on several occasions honored
him by asking him to furnish them with information on this impor-
tant subject.
The great work which he undertook to publish and which he had
prepared for publication principally by Samuel H. Daddow, mining
engineer, he only furnishing the statistics and outlines for the
same, is entitled "Coal, Iron and Oil." It was the most expen-
sive single volume issued by any publisher during the Rebellion,
reflects great credit upon him and has elicited from the London
Mining Journal the statement that no single volume ever published
in England affords so much information on the subjects treated of
in that publication.
Influenced by the peculiar circumstances of the time, Mr.
Bannan, about seven years ago, published a monograph on "Our
national Currency and how to Improve it," which takes the ground
as originally suggested in his first circular of 1857, of adopt-
ing an expanding limit to its issue, keeping the paper issue
unconvertible into coin on demand hereafter, but allowing a
proportion of it to be received in payment of duties; the legal
tenders of the government to be received in payment of taxes and
debts due to the government; the issue of national bank notes to
be apportioned to the several banks in proportion to their
wealth; the fractional currency to be canceled and a debased
silver coinage substituted which would, therefore, always remain
at home; this was done in England nearly fifty years ago, and as
a consequence England has always retained her silver. These
features may strike the average reader as being somewhat novel
and startling at first, but Mr. Bannan discussed his propositions
so clearly and forcibly that by many it is believed they will be
received with more favor as they are studied and comprehended by
impartial and unbiased minds. Mr. Bannan was a worker all his
life; it was only when he could no longer hold the pen that he at
last suffered it to drop from his fingers. In losing him the
country lost a man whom it cannot soon replace, and whose merits
will always be acknowledged.
______________
SAMUEL GRISCOM.
Andrew Griscom, according to a tradition of the family, came
from Wales; another tradition says from Wales or Scotland; still
another, from England. As there is no trace of the Welsh lan-
guage having been spoken in the family, it has not been deemed
probably that it is of Welsh origin, even if at some remote date
it was located there. The name, however, is not found among
either old or modern lists of English names. A member of the
family was told that at one time there was a Lord Griscom in
Scotland, another that there were Griscoms in Liverpool, England.
"Leeds's almanac," printed by William Bradford, in New York, in
1694, says, "It is now eleven years since Andrew Griscom built
the first brick house in Philadelphia." In "Watson's Annals of
Philadelphia," it is stated that "on Second street, on the
south-west corner of Lodge alley (now Bank street), stood D.
Griscom's house, of antiquated construction, called in an old
almanac (Leeds's) the first house of brick erected in Philadel-
phia." Andrew Griscom, the builder of this house, was a member
of the first grand jury of Pennsylvania, empanneled (sic) Decem-
ber 27th, 1683. Tobias Griscom was the only son of Andrew known
to have any descendants living at the present time. He was a
land speculator, and moved from Philadelphia to Burlington, New
Jersey. His sons were: Samuel, a master carpenter, of Philadel-
phia; William, a saddler, of Hadonfield, New Jersey; and Andrew,
farmer and blacksmith, of Stowe Creek, New Jersey. Only the
descendants of Andrew are known to bear the family name, those of
William being all dead. Samuel had sixteen children, and it has
been found impossible to ascertain the names of all of them. His
daughters have numerous descendants, one of whom (Betsey Clay-
pole) made the first flag authorized by the Congress of the
United States. Her last husband was a lineal descendant of
Oliver Cromwell, a fact which adds another element of historical
interest in this connection. Andrew Griscom, of Stowe Creek, New
Jersey, was noted for his great strength and agility, and was a
celebrated hunter in his day.
Samuel Griscom was born about three miles north of Salem,
Salem county, New Jersey, February 4th, 1787, and was a great-
grandson of Andrew and Sarah (Dole) Griscom. His wife (Ann
Powell) was born in the same county, September 23d, 1788. In
after years he became prominent in the history of internal im-
provements in Pennsylvania, then in their infancy, and was long
and conspicuously identified with the Schuylkill canal, which
provided the earliest means of transportation from Schuylkill
county to southern markets, for the vast quantities of coal which
had until its day been practically unavailable. His father was a
farmer, and as a farmer's boy Samuel passed the first few years
of his life. Afterward he learned the bricklayer's trade, and,
removing to Philadelphia, was for some years employed very exten-
sively in erecting block of brick houses in that city. About
1822 he purchased a farm of three hundred acres in Chester coun-
ty, and, removing there, was engaged two years in cultivating and
improving it. Successful as his early training rendered him as a
farmer, his natural bent for mechanics again led him to Philadel-
phia, where he leased, embanked and reclaimed a large tract of
land at "Point No-Point," a locality on the Delaware, about three
miles north of Philadelphia; so named on account of the fact that
what from a distance appeared to be a conspicuous point of land
projecting into the river was really, when viewed at shorter
range, only a swampy and useless piece of ground, which until
then, no one had attempted to render available.
At this time portions of Schuylkill canal had been for some
years in operation, with only moderate success on account of
frequent breaks and consequent impassability at various points.
Casting about for a man of good judgment, executive ability and a
knowledge of the construction of divers devices to strengthen the
banks of the canal, the managers probably had their attention
directed to the enterprise just mentioned, which had been prose-
cuted with such judgment and success that it was apparent that
Mr. Griscom was the man they sought. His services were engaged,
and he removed to
____________end page 294._____________
page 295
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-SAMUEL AND SAMUEL E. GRISCOM.
______________________________________________________________
Reading, Pa., in 1826, and assumed the superintendency of a
section of the canal about forty miles in length. So signally
successful was his administration of the affairs connected with
his section that it was only a few years later that he was ap-
pointed general superintendent of the Schuylkill navigation.
From the beginning of his connection with this enterprise (one of
the most important in the whole country at the time) he had
always advocated the improvement and enlargement of the canal.
Under his direction the locks along its entire length were
strengthened, Lewis's dam below Reading, the dam four miles above
Norristown and other dams were rebuilt wholly or in part, and the
canal was deepened so as to admit an increase in the tonnage of
the boats from forty or fifty to eighty. Later (in the beginning
of 1846) the locks were widened and the canal was enlarged to
such an extent as to admit boats of two hundred tons burden.
When contractors who had engaged to build locks failed to fulfill
their contracts, as some of them did when they discovered that
they could do so only at a loss financially, Mr. Griscom, in
addition to the regular duties devolving upon him, took the jobs
into his own hands, and gave to each one as close attention as
though he was simply a contractor with no other responsibilities.
With all of the multifarious perplexities which were unavoidably
attendant upon the prosecution of each one of these numerous
enterprises connected with the enlargement of the canal and with
the general supervision of the whole, it is to be presumed that
Mr. Griscom often felt he was burdened more heavily than one man
ought to be; yet, with indomitable perseverance and unfaltering
energy, he pressed forward planning managing and directing, and
working betimes as hard as any laborer on the job, until at last
he had the satisfaction of beholding his task completed. But the
very measures which were adopted to render the canal more avail-
able to the public, and more useful than ever before to shippers
of coal, operated, at least temporarily, to cause the withdrawal
of much of its former patronage. During the period while naviga-
tion had been closed on account of the repairs going on (in
1847), the railroad, which was already a formidable competitor
for the coal-shipping patronage of the Schuylkill region, drew
away and bade fair to retain the bulk of it. In this emergency
it was dreamed necessary by the managers of the canal to send to
Pottsville some energetic business man in whom the coal men could
have unbounded confidence, to prevail upon them to withdraw their
patronage from the railroad and again bestow it on it on the
canal, which now afforded much better facilities than it had ever
done before. The man of all men to successfully undertake this
difficult task, it was believed, was Mr. Griscom; and to Potts-
ville he was induced to remove, and during the early part of 1848
he labored there earnestly and with such persuasiveness as to be
to a considerable degree successful. But the burden of cares and
responsibilities that had for years rested on his shoulders, and
the ceaseless work in which he had been so long engaged, were
proving too much for his physical constitution, which demanded
rest long before his active mind and strong will so far relented
as to counsel a season of quiet. During the summer he went to
Philadelphia to attend to some of the interests of the Schuylkill
navigation, and while there his health gave out entirely and he
was obliged to return to his home in Pottsville. This was his
first and final relinquishment of business cares; his life work
was done and his life itself was nearly worn out. April 19th,
1849, he died, deeply regretted by people of all classes. He had
been a man of tireless energy; of an iron will; of almost ex-
haustless resources; a man who regarded no obstacle too great to
surmount in the prosecution of any enterprise with which he had
been identified; who planned wisely and executed unhesitatingly.
He had been respectful and considerate in his association with
his co-workers and always just and generous toward those who were
placed under his supervision. His integrity was never called in
question. In reply to a letter of inquiry concerning him, the
cashier of the Farmers' Bank of Reading wrote as follows: "His
word is as good as his bond and his bond is as good as gold!"
His management of the canal had been characterized by remarkable
economy, and it is not probable that there were many men who
could have accomplished as much as he did and at so small an
expenditure of means. In the fall of 1849 his widow removed to
Reading, where she died January 8th, 1860. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Griscom, as have been the family for generations, were members of
the Society of Friends, and held to the simple, unquestioning
faith and lived the honest, godly life of their sect.
SAMUEL E. GRISCOM.
Samuel E. Griscom, son of Samuel and Ann (Powell) Griscom,
was born December 6th, 1817, in a house built and then owned by
his father and yet standing on Sixth street, near Wood, Philadel-
phia, a locality then at the limit of the city in that direction.
At the age of twelve he was placed in the family of an uncle, a
nice farmer, in Salem county, New Jersey, where he remained three
years, working on the farm during the spring, summer and autumn,
and attending school during the winter. Young as he was, before
leaving there he did a man's work at everything except mowing and
cradling. At fifteen he returned to the home of his parents,
which was at the time in Reading, Pa., where he tarried a year,
going thence to Clermont Academy, about three miles north of
Philadelphia, then under the management of his cousin Samuel S.
Griscom, in which he was a diligent student until he reached the
age of nineteen, when he assumed the dignity and responsibility
of the position of assistant teacher in the institution. After
two years spent thus, with the confinement which was inseparable
from his duties as preceptor, together with over-exertion in
study when not engaged in school, Mr. Griscom found his health
considerably impaired, and was obliged to seek employment which
would necessitate his being much out of doors. He surveyed
several thousand acres of wild land owned by his father and
General George De B. Keim. Later he aided his father in his
duties as superintendent of the Schuylkill canal, and in 1843
succeeded his brother Powell Griscom, as assistant superintend-
ent. In 1848 he removed to Pottsville, where he had been ap-
pointed collector of tolls. The following year the collectors'
offices at Pottsville and Schuylkill Haven were consolidated, and
Mr. Griscom was placed in charge, with headquarters at Schuylkill
Haven. Again close confinement to indoor business proved detri-
mental to his health, and in the spring of 1850 he resigned the
position and undertook the management of his father's estate, a
duty to which he had been assigned by his father just previous to
his death. Between Llewellyn and Minersville was a large tract
of timber owned jointly by his father's estate and the Farmers'
Bank of Reading, familiarly known as the May and Lightfoot Tract.
On this property he built a saw-mill, in which was placed it is
probable, the first circular saw used in any mill east of the
Alleghanies (hundreds of them are now in use in the coal regions
of Pennsylvania), and cut the timber on the
____________end page 295._____________
page 296
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
tract and manufactured it into lumber. A little later he became
the proprietor of a mercantile business at Wiconisco, Dauphin
county, which he purchased of Henry Sheafer, father of Peter W.
Sheafer, of Pottsville, which was managed for him by others until
he finally disposed of it. These interests engrossed his atten-
tion until 1863. During this period the timber tract referred to
became involved in a renewed lawsuit of twenty years' standing,
which was a source of anxiety and infinite trouble to him from
1853 to 1861, when it was finally compromised, Mr. Griscom repre-
senting during the entire period of litigation the interests of
both his father's estate and the Farmers' Bank of Reading.
Bringing his lumbering enterprise to a successful termination, he
was for about a year afterward interested with others in a simi-
lar one at White Haven, Luzerne county, where the company owned a
mill on the Lehigh.
In 1863 the firm of Samuel E. Griscom & Co. was organized.
The members were Samuel E. Griscom, E. G. Brooke, of Birdsboro,
Pa., and Seyfert, McManus & Co. (now known as the Reading Iron
Works), of Reading, Pa. Its purpose was to mine coal in the
Schuylkill region for use in manufacturing iron at Reading and
Birdsboro. The responsibility of selecting a suitable locality
for mining purposes devolved upon Mr. Giscom, who effected ar-
rangements by which leases were secured in 1864, of lands two
miles southwest of Shenandoah City. Extensive operations were
set on foot by the firm, and it was due largely to Mr. Griscom's
management that they in time assumed such gigantic proportions as
to entitle William Penn colliery to a place among the leading
collieries of the anthracite coal region. At the close of 1872
Mr. Griscom exchanged his interest in this enterprise for a one-
third interest in the Pennsylvania Diamond Drill Company of
Pottsville (in which all of the persons above mentioned were
interested), of which extensive business he has since been manag-
er. In the summer of 1876 he went to California in the interest
of the company, and while there was induced by a gentleman who
had done the company, through him, a valuable service to under-
take the sale of the stock of the Bloomer Ditch and Grand Mining
Company. In 1878 he became interested in selling the stock of
another gold mining company, located in Georgia. During the
following year he bought a tract of land there and began a mining
enterprise, which has been actively prosecuted to the present
time. In another and very profitable Georgia gold mine Mr.
Griscom owns a one-tenth interest. In 1873 he identified himself
with an enterprise having for its object the manufacture and sale
of diamond mill-stone dressing machinery, originally invented by
Daniel Larer, of Pottsville, who was for a time his partner. The
business is now carried on quite successfully by Griscom & Co.,
under the management of Walter Griscom, a nephew of the senior
member of the firm.
Mr. Griscom's life thus far has been a busy and a useful one.
His administration of the affairs of important enterprises has
resulted so favorably in every instance as to mark him as one of
the most successful business men of the State. Like his forefa-
thers, he is a member of the Society if Friends, and is remarka-
ble for the simplicity of his manners and the directness and
frankness which characterize his transactions of a business
nature.
Politically he was in early life an advocate of Whig princi-
ples. Since the organization of the Republican party he has,
from a deep conviction as to the mission of that party, been
identified with it.
HON. LIN BARTHOLOMEW
Mr. Bartholomew was born at Brookville, Jefferson county, Pa.
He was the third son of Benjamin Bartholomew, of Philadelphia,
who, like our subject, was a lawyer, and member of the State
Legislature in 1846, representing the district of which Jefferson
county was a part, and was afterward district attorney of Schuyl-
kill county, to which he removed with his family. Mr. Bartholo-
mew received a liberal education, mainly at the Pottsville Acade-
my, then under the charge of Elias Snyder, well known throughout
eastern Pennsylvania. The celebrated Daniel Kirkwood was at that
time one of the professors. As a boy after leaving school Mr.
Bartholomew engaged in active business for a short time, but
under the advice of friends and following the bent of his own
inclination he commenced the study of law in the office of his
father, and was admitted to the practice of his chosen profession
in the several courts of Schuylkill county in the year 1857. By
force of circumstances and education he connected himself with
the Republican party in its inception, and very soon after his
admission to the bar, by ability and inclination he occupied a
prominent position in county politics. He was an aspirant for
the office of district attorney in 1859, but failed to secure the
nomination of his party. In 1860 he was nominated and elected a
member of the lower branch of the Legislature, and served on the
committee of judiciary (general), and also ways and means during
the critical juncture in the nation's history, when South Caroli-
na and sister States passed ordinances of secession. In 1861 he
received the commission of aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General
Wynkoop from Governor Curtin, and in pursuance of his appointment
served in that position at York, Pa., and Cockeysville, Md. His
commission was annulled by the War department served in that
nature by State authority. He was then appointed by the Secre-
tary of War, General Caneron, to the permanent and responsible
position of his private secretary, and served in that capacity
until some time after the first battle of Bull Run, when he
resigned and returned to Pottsville to resume the practice of his
profession.
In September, 1862,he was at the battle of Antietam, and in
1863, when the State was invaded by the Confederate army, he
served in the 27th regiment Pennsylvania militia, Colonel J.G.
Frick. He served as a delegate to a number of State conventions,
and was in 1868 a delegate at large from the State of Pennsylva-
nia to the Chicago convention, where he supported General Grant
for the Presidential nomination. In 1872 he was elected one of
the members at large of the convention to amend the constitution
of Pennsylvania, in which convention he was on the judiciary
committee, and also chairman of the committee on schedules. He
was well known throughout the State as a political speaker and as
a lawyer. He was possessed of a fine flow of language and good
perceptive faculties, understood human nature and had a keen
sense of humor. He was forcible as a speaker, and sometimes rose
to eloquence; was a food debater, ready in argument, and quick at
repartee. The esteem and admiration in which he was held by his
fellow townsmen were evidence in the fall of 1879, upon the
occasion of his return from a trip of a few months to Europe.
His fellow citizens, of all shades of politics, united in giving
him a public reception, which amounted to an ovation.
He died suddenly on the 22nd of August, 1880, of heart dis-
ease, at Atlantic City, N. J.
__________end page 296.___________
page 297
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-JOHN W. RYON.
______________________________________________________________
A line drawing of
JOHN W. RYON
is in this position
in the original book.
In the
Table of Contents
it is listed on this same page.
Original text follows the divider line.
_________________
John W. Ryon, of Pottsville, was born at Elkland, Tioga coun-
ty, Pa., March 4th, 1825. He was educated at Millville Academy,
Orleans county, N.Y., and Wellsboro Academy, Wellsboro, Tioga
county, Pa. He studied law under Hon. John C. Knox, at Wells-
boro, Pa., until Judge Knox was elected to the lower house of the
Pennsylvania legislature, when he studied under Hon. James Lo-
wrey, and was admitted to the Tioga county bar in December, 1846.
His father, John Ryon, was born on the first day of January,
1787, in Hanover township, Luzerne county, a short distance from
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and remained there until he was fourteen years
old, when his father moved to Newtown, near Elmira, N.Y. At that
day Elmira was far west. There were no public roads, and young
John had the task of driving the cattle from Hanover to Newtown.
In making this trip it was necessary frequently cross the Susque-
hanna river, and as there were no bridges he often had to swim
across. Remaining at Newtown until 1811, John Ryon moved to
Elkland, Tioga county, Pa., about twenty-four miles from Newtown,
where he went to farming. He was one of the pioneers of that
beautiful valley, which is now one of the finest and wealthiest
agricultural districts in Pennsylvania. Being an active business
man he was called upon by the people to serve them in public
positions. He was elected to several terms in the lower house of
the Pennsylvania Legislature, served four years in the State
Senate, was superintendent of canals of Pennsylvania four years
(under him was constructed a portion of the West Branch Canal),
and was associate judge in Tioga county fifteen years. During
the long period of public trusts his official integrity was never
doubted or questioned.
John W. Ryon, after his admission to the bar, settled in
Lawrenceville, Tioga county, and commenced the practice of his
profession. This he pursued with untiring zeal and industry, and
he soon exhibited a force and power as a lawyer which showed that
he had not mistaken his calling. In 1850 he was nominated by the
Democratic party as a candidate for district attorney and was
elected by a large vote. He served the term with eminent satis-
faction to the people, and was re-elected by the same party in
1853 to the same office, by an increased majority. This was a
valuable school for so young a man, for the bar of Tioga county
in that day had some of the ablest lawyers in Pennsylvania, and
the custom then prevailed of eminent counsel traveling the cir-
cuit, and distinguished lawyers living in other parts of the
State were accustomed to come to Tioga county. Among them were
Judge Williston, Judge Elwell, Judge John W. Maynard, Judge
Mercur, now of our Supreme Court, Johnson of Warren, and others.
Judge John N. Conyngham was president judge for a portion of the
time, after him Judge Williston, later Judge R.G. White, all
among the ablest of the old Pennsylvania judges. Having not only
this experience in the criminal court, but a long practice in the
civil side of the court, and associating with the ablest of the
profession and having the benefit of their riper experience, gave
Mr. Ryon an opportunity to improve and grow in the profession.
At that period Tioga county produced immense quantities of lum-
ber, and the mining of bituminous coal was carried on quite
largely. These gave rise to important litigations, involving
large amounts, and the best legal talent was employed. There was
also a great deal of ejectment litigation, and this branch of the
law occupied his attention and enlisted his enthusiasm; he would
frequently go into the woods with the surveyors and examine the
lines of the lands in the suit, which gave him great advantage
upon the trial and also valuable experience which few lawyers
have. His practice became large, his experience ripened and his
reputation grew. He was called into adjoining counties, and had
in the later years of his experience in Tioga county a large
practice in Potter, McKean and Cameron counties. This extended
practice kept him from the comforts of home a large portion of
the time, and he could not get rid of it as long as he remained
in that county; and, having grown weary of it, he decided to come
to Pottsville, where his practice would permit him to enjoy his
home comforts.
John W. Ryon was an active Union man, and at the breaking out
of the war in 1861 took an active part in raising troops. He
assisted in the raising of Company A of the famous Bucktail
regiment, and accompanied it to Harrisburg. General Cameron,
then Secretary of War, refused to receive any more troops. This
company, with others, was encamped at Harrisburg, with no pros-
pect of employment, and the project of organizing a reserve corps
of 15,000 troops for Pennsylvania was originated. Mr. Ryon took
an active part in procuring the passage of a bill through the
Pennsylvania legislature for that purpose. the corps was raised
as a State organization, and Governor Curtin appointed Mr. Ryon
paymaster of the corps, with the rank of major; he held that
position until this corps was mustered into the United States
service and fully paid off, which was in November, 1861. This
corps reached Washington in time to save the capital after the
national defeat at the first battle of Bull Run. This famous
corps needs no fulsome praise; its history is written in blood,
and its deeds of gallantry and fortitude are attested by the
great battle fields of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Very
few survived the war, and most of them are scarred an maimed.
Mr. Ryon came to Pottsville in January, 1863, and resumed the
practice of the law. His experience and qualifications placed
him among the leaders of the bar;
_________end page 297.__________
page 298
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
he has been on one side of almost every important case tried in
that court. In 1878 he was nominated for Congress by the Demo-
cratic party of Schuylkill county, comprising the 13th district.
After an exciting canvass against the Republican and Greenback-
Labor candidates he was elected by a small majority, the commu-
nistic doctrines of the last named party finding specially fa-
vorable conditions among the mining population. To these new
dogmas Mr. Ryon refused to assent, but stood upon the true prin-
ciple that labor is best protected when the laboring man is free
to make his own contracts; that all the laws which interfere with
this right are hostile to the laboring man; that the wages of
labor should be fully protected, and that the proprietors of
mines, manufactories, etc., should be required to secure their
employes against damages; that capital and labor have a common
interest; that capital should pay fair wages for an honest day's
work, and wages should be paid in honest money; that paper money
not redeemable in gold or silver is not money.
In Congress Mr. Ryon was regarded as one of the ablest law-
yers in that body. In the State his reputation stands very high
and he is regarded as one of the ablest, ripest, and most thor-
ough lawyers at the Pennsylvania bar.
____________
A line drawing of
Hon. ROBERT M. PALMER
is in this place in
the original book.
It is listed on PAGE 298 in the Table of Contents.
___________
The following biographical sketch of the late Hon. Robert M.
Palmer is, with a few necessary alterations, the same that ap-
peared in the "Biographical Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania":
Robert M. Palmer was born in Mount Holly, N.J., in 1820. He
was a son of the late Judge Strange N. Palmer, who, having set-
tled in Pottsville, Pa., in 1829, was during thirty-six years a
resident of that place; and a grandson of Hon. Nathan Palmer (a
lineal descendant of Miles Standish), who, born in Plainfield,
Conn., in early manhood removed to Pennsylvania and served in the
Senate of his adopted State three years, having been chosen
thereto by his constituents of Luzerne and Northumberland coun-
ties, as holding the views and political faith of Thomas Jeffer-
son. He also had been previously commissioned by Governor
McKean, whose election he had warmly seconded, as prothonotary of
Luzerne county. Robert was but nine years of age when his father
removed to Pottsville, and inherited the same tastes as his
parent and grandfather, both of whom had been connected with the
typographical and editorial fraternity. He served successfully
in various positions in the in the printing office and finally
reached the editorial chair of the Emporium. While so occupied
he studied law, and in 1845 was admitted to practice. In his
political faith he was a firm supporter of the principles of the
Democratic party, and so continued until 1854. In 1850 he was
elected district attorney of Schuylkill county, for the period of
three years, and from that time took a high position as a lawyer,
and stood, at a later date, in the front rank of his profession
in the commonwealth. In 1854 he allied himself to the "People's
Party," which occupied the pro-slavery dogma of the modern Democ-
racy. In 1856 he was a member of the Union State Central Commit-
tee and chairman protem. of the committee to arrange the elector-
al ticket. In 1858 he was elected to the State Senate from
Schuylkill county, and during his term, and mainly through his
exertions, that county received more local legislation of a
reformatory character than any other in the State outside of
Philadelphia, amounting to an annual saving of $50,000 to the
people in taxes. He was elected speaker of the Senate during his
last year of service, and filled the chair with distinguished
ability. A half century before, his grandfather had occupied the
same position. In the spring of 1861 he was appointed by Presi-
dent Lincoln minister to the Argentine Confederation, and sailed
for that country in May of the same year. His health was not
good during his residence there, and in less than a year he
resolved to go home, his physicians trusting that the sea air
might be of benefit to him. He died April 26th, 1862, on the
thirteenth day out, and on the following day his remains were
committed to the deep. He left a widow and six children, four of
whom are living. His second son in the order of birth, but the
eldest now living, Dr. Charles T. Palmer, a well-known oculist
and aurist, after serving two years as resident physician of
Mills Ophthalmic Hospital, Philadelphia, returned to Pottsville,
and in 1871 was elected coroner of Schuylkill county, which
position he filled with much credit to himself and the entire
satisfaction of the people at large.
__________
BENJAMIN SPAYD.
Benjamin Spayd (whose great-grandfather was Christian Spayd,
a settler in Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pa., in 1727) came to
Schuylkill county in 1815, and settling in Port Carbon in that
year engaged in the business of coal mining. He removed to
Pottsville in 1830, and in March of that year was commissioned a
magistrate, "to hold office so long as he behaves himself well."
he was elected in 1841 for five years. His office and residence
was on Norwegian street, below Center street, where his son,
William H. Spayd (now a resident of Philadelphia), was born in
1833. Benjamin Spayd died in 1843, and was buried in the old
graveyard of the Lutheran church, at the lower end of Pine Grove.
_______________end page 298.________________
page 299
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
A line drawing of
CHARLES HERMAN HAESELER
was placed here in the original book.
In the
Table of Contents
it is listed on this same page
Original text follows the divider line.
_______________
Dr. Charles Herman Haeseler was born March 30th, 1830, at
Nordheim, in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. When he was three
years of age his parents emigrated to this country, and after
short residences in various other parts of Pennsylvania, located
themselves in Pottsville, where his father, the late Dr. Charles
Haeseler, who was a graduate of the University of Goettingen,
engaged in the practice of medicine, and, in conjunction with Dr.
B. Becker, was the first who introduced the new system of homoe-
opathy in this part of the State.
The subject of this sketch likewise studied medicine, and
after graduating in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the
city of New York, pursued the practice of his profession in that
city five years, after which he removed, in 1857, to Pottsville,
where he established a large and lucrative practice and an influ-
ential reputation as a physician. During the Civil War he twice
entered the service of his country with the militia, and for the
third time during the emergency after the Gettysburg battle, when
he served as assistant surgeon in the 20th Pennsylvania cavalry,
a six months regiment. At the expiration of his term of service
he was presented with a sword in recognition of his successful
management of an epidemic of diptheria (sic), which broke out in
the regiment.
In 1871, having been elected to the chair of Pathology and
Practice of Medicine, by the faculty of the Hahnemann College, of
Philadelphia, he removed to that city in order to perform the
functions thus devolving upon him; but his private professional
business soon attained such proportions that he could not attend
adequately thereto and at the same time do justice to his duties
as a professor in the college. He therefore resigned the latter
position and devoted himself exclusively to the former.
In 1877, his healthy being greatly impaired, he left Phila-
delphia and again took up his residence in Pottsville, where he
hoped by a semi-retirement, he left Philadelphia and again took
up his residence in Pottsville, where he hoped by a semi-retire-
ment from active business to recover his lost healthy, in which
he has now measurable succeeded.
The doctor has also occupied himself at intervals, amid his
professional duties, with literary pursuits, having contributed
largely to the medical and other periodicals of the country. Of
the year 1867 he spent the greater part in Europe, where he
visited the hospitals and medical institutions of nearly all the
great cities, such as London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Heidelberg,
Rome, etc. After his return to America he published an account
of his travels abroad in a book entitled "Across the Atlantic,"
issued by the Petersons of Philadelphia.
______________end page 299._______________
page 300
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
A line drawing photo of
JACOB KLINE
was here in the original book.
It is also listed on this page
in the
Table of Contents
Original text follow the divider line.
_________________
Judge JACOB KLINE.
Jacob Kline was born in Berks county, Pa., October 18th,
1798. He came to Pottsville, when young, and lived there up to
the time of his death. He held the office of justice of the
peace for a number of years, and was an associate judge of
Schuylkill county fifteen years, taking an active part in poli-
tics, espousing the Democratic cause. He died Friday, Marcy
26th, 1880, of paralysis, at the age of eighty-two, and was
buried in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery, Pottsville. He was married
twice, his second wife, who survives him, having been Miss Maria
Lewis, of Orwigsburg and elsewhere, and during her career as
such, taught many men who afterward became well known in the
county and in the west. She is now past three-score and ten
years, and is honored and respected by a wide circle of acquaint-
ances and relations, who hope she may long be spared to them.
______________end page 300._______________
page 301
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
JUDGE C.L. PERSHING.
Cyrus L. Pershing, president judge of the 21st judicial dis-
trict of Pennsylvania, was born in Westmoreland county, Pa. When
he was five years of age the family residence was changed to
Johnstown, Pa., where his father died in 1836. Thrown upon his
own resources, the subject of this sketch, by means of money
earned in teaching school and clerking in offices connected with
the State canal and railroad, paid his own way at Jefferson Col-
lege, Pennsylvania, of which institution he is a graduate. After
leaving college he entered as a student at law, the office of
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, in Somerset, Pa., where he was admitted
to the bar, shortly after which time he commenced the practice of
the law at his home, in Cambria county, Pa.
In September, 1856, Mr. Pershing was nominated as the Demo-
cratic candidate for Congress in the district composed of the
counties of Somerset, Cambria, Blair and Huntington. The dis-
trict was Republican by a clear majority of 2,5000, and had
carried in 1854 by over 5,000 majority. After an energetic can-
vass in the limited time between the nomination and the election
in October Mr. Pershing was defeated by only 284 majority. In
1858 he was again nominated for Congress and defeated. The
dissensions growing out of the Kansas slavery excitement that
year brought disaster to the Democratic ticket. State and Con-
gressional.
In 1861 Mr. Pershing was elected to represent Cambria county
in the Legislature of the State, and was reelected in 1862, 1863,
1864 and 1865. During the whole period of his service he was a
member of the ways and means, judiciary and other important
committees, general and special. At the session of 1863 he was
chairman of the committee on federal relations, and in 1864 was
the nominee of the Democrats for speaker of the House. Mr.
Pershing also represented his Congressional district in the Union
national convention, which met in Philadelphia in August, 1866,
of which General Dix was elected president, and where, for the
first time after the war, the leading men of both sections con-
fronted each other in a deliberative assembly. In 1868 he was
placed on the Democrats electoral ticket in the Presidential
contest of that year.
In 1869 Hon. Asa Packer and Mr. Pershing were placed in nomi-
nation as the Democratic candidates for governor and judge of the
supreme court respectively. By the vote as counted both were
defeated by small majorities.
In 1872 Mr. Pershing was nominated for president judge of the
judicial district composed of the county of Schuylkill, by the
conventions of the Labor Reformers and Republicans. He also
received a large vote for the same office in the Democratic
convention. His election which followed, necessitated his remov-
al from Johnstown, in the western part of the State, to Potts-
ville, where he has since resided.
On the 10th of September, 1875, Judge Pershing was nominated
for governor by the Democratic State convention, which met at
Erie. Governor Hartranft was reelected in consequence of the
large majority which his party commanded in the city of Philadel-
phia. The State, outside of the city, gave Judge Pershing a
handsome majority.
Judge Pershing still presides over the courts of Schuylkill
county. During the time he has occupied a seat in the bench,
particularly in the years 1876 and 1877, the usual monotony of
judicial life has been varied by a number of trials of Mollie
Maguire conspirators, which excited great interest throughout the
county.
JUDGE DAVID B. GREEN.
David B. Green was born in Reading, Berks county, Pa., Decem-
ber 22nd, 1831. His parents were John and Catharine (Bright)
Green. After attending the schools of his native town he entered
Yale College, from which he graduated in 1852. Returning to
Reading he read law in the office of John S. Richards, Esq., and
was and was admitted to the bar in January, 1855. In the follow-
ing April he removed to Pottsville, where he began the practice
of his profession and met with much success.
In 1862 he was appointed adjutant of the 129th regiment Penn-
sylvania volunteers, attached to the 5th army corps. He served
nine months and was with the regiment at the second Bull Run
battle, at the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancel-
lorsville, and in other minor engagements. In the summer of
1863, during the invasion of Pennsylvania by the rebel forces, at
the organization of the "emergency" regiments Mr. Green was
appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 27th Pennsylvania regiment,
with which he served until mustered out of service in August
following.
Resuming the practice of his profession in Pottsville, in
1865 he formed a law partnership with the late Hon. Lin Bartholo-
mew, which was amicably dissolved in 1866. In 1867, upon the
passage of the law creating a new criminal court for the counties
of Schuylkill, Dauphin and Lebanon, he was, without solicitation
on his part, appointed by Governor John W. Geary president judge
of the court. In the fall of the same year, having received the
nomination of the Republican party for the same office, he was
elected for a term of ten years. Owing to bitter opposition it
was some time before the court could go into effective operation,
which was not effected until the Supreme Court had affirmed the
constitutionality of the law creating it, when the entire crimi-
nal business of the county of Schuylkill came before the court
and was dispatched there from 1870 to 1874; then the new consti-
tution of the State abolished the court and Judge Green was
transferred, under its operation, to the Court of Common Pleas of
Schuylkill county, as a law judge, for the remainder of his term,
which expired in January, 1878.
Receiving the nomination of the Republican party for the
office of assistant law judge of Schuylkill county he was defeat-
ed by Hon. O.P. Bechtel, and has since then been engaged in the
practice of his profession. As a lawyer Judge Green stands high
among those who have been prominent at the bar of Schuylkill
county. As a judge his administration was marked by careful,
painstaking consideration of such questions as were submitted to
his decision, and his bitterest political opponents have never
charged him with even unwitting perversion of justice. As a
citizen he is honored and respected, and has ever been foremost
among the active promoters of the best interests of Pottsville.
December 8th, 1870, he married Kate, daughter of L.P. Brooke,
then of Lynchburg, Va., previously and now of Pottsville.
HON. THOMAS H. WALKER.
Thomas H. Walker was born June 15th, 1823, in Winsor, Lancas-
ter county, Pa. His parents were Lewis and Sarah Y. (Hubley)
Walker. He was a student in Pennsylvania and La Fayette col-
leges, and later a civil engineer and a member of the engineer
corps employed on the North Branch canal. In the spring of 1844
he came to Pottsville and entered as a student the law office of
Horace Smith, Esq. In January, 1847, he was admitted to practice
at the Luzerne county bar and soon opened
____________end page 301.____________
page 302
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
an office, and has since enjoyed a successful career as an attor-
ney. He was married May 18th, 1854, to Susan E. Schollenberger.
In 1856 he was elected district attorney of Schuylkill county.
He was a presidential elector in 1860 and in 1868. In 1866 he
received the nomination in the Democratic convention of Schuyl-
kill county for the office of representative in the national
Congress, but withdrew in favor of Dr. Cyrus D. Gloninger, of
Lebanon county. In 1871 he was elected additional law judge of
the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill county for a term of ten
years. In May, 1878, he was appointed by the governor of Penn-
sylvania one of the delegates to the international prison con-
gress, which convened at Stockholm Sweden, August 20th following,
and while abroad visited all of the principal prisons of Europe,
including those at London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin,
Vienna and Geneva, closely studying the systems upon which they
were managed. Politically Judge Walker has been a lifelong
Democrat and an active and influential worker for the success of
that party, making speeches in all parts of the county and else-
where and attending State conventions frequently as a senatorial
and representative delegate. His career has been one of honest
endeavor which has reaped its legitimate reward. Left an orphan
at an early age, he was thrown upon his own resources and has
made his way in the world unaided by friends, except such as he
has won among those with whom he has been associated in social,
professional and political life.
HON. O. P. BECHTEL.
John Bechtel, father of Judge O. P. Bechtel, was born near
Doylestown, Bucks county, Pa., October 6th, 1798. For many years
he lived in Berks county, where for a long time he kept the "Half
Way House" between Reading and Kulztown. During an extended
period he was a mail contractor and stage proprietor, carrying
passengers and mails between Easton and Harrisburg via Allentown
and Reading, and from Reading to Pottsville. At a later period
he was for ten or eleven years a resident of Northumberland
county, where he owned the "Warrior Run" farm, and kept the
"stone tavern" which stood upon it, a few miles from Watsontown.
From Northumberland county he removed to Pottsville in 1847 and
thence to Middleport in 1851. At Middleport he was postmaster
during the administration of Presidents Pierce, Buchanan and
Johnson. The first three or four years of his residence in
Middleport were passed in tavern keeping, which he abandoned
never to resume again. Politically he was a Democrat and as such
was well known in Schuylkill county. He was married twice, his
second wife having been Eliza S. Beiber, mother of Judge O.P.
Bechtel. This lady, a native of Berks county, in 1808 died at
Middleport in June, 1880, her husband having died in the latter
part of December, 1872.
O.P. Bechtel was born on his father's farm, in Northumberland
county, Pa., June 31st, 1842. He attended the common schools,
principally at Middleport, and in his eighteenth year began
teaching school in Wayne township, Schuylkill county, and later
taught in West Brunswick township. Two years later he was for a
portion of a year a student at the Allentown Seminary, and in
September, 1861, he began teaching in the Arcadian Institute at
Orwigsburg, also reciting in several branches to the principal.
In the fall of 1862 he went to Mahanoy City and assumed charge of
the leading school there, conducting it until April, 1864, when
he entered the service of the Preston Coal and Improvement Compa-
ny, at Girardville, as book-keeper and paymaster, in which posi-
tion he remained until March 20th, 1865, when he became a student
in the law office of Messrs. Hughes & Dewees, at Pottsville,
having been three years previously registered as a student in the
office of his brother, James B. Bechtel, of Reading, Pa. April
12th, 1866, he passed an examination for admission to the bar
very creditably, and May 10th following was formally admitted to
practice. Opening an office on Center street, Pottsville, with-
out delay, he soon had a remunerative practice. He was tendered
by his fellow citizens the nomination for the office of district
attorney, but declined the same, preferring to preserve his
independence as an attorney in private practice to accepting the
emoluments arising from that position. In 1873 he was by a
combination of circumstances constrained to become the Democratic
nominee for the office of State senator from the tenth district
and was elected over three opposing candidates with a majority of
nearly fifteen hundred and an excess of nearly one hundred votes
over the combined ballot for his opponents. He served with
signal credit three years, often doing duty as a member of impor-
tant committees, among them those on "constitutional reform,"
"railroads," and "judiciary general," and was offered a re-nomi-
nation, which he declined on account of the pressure of his
accumulating professional duties. In August, 1877, the Democrat-
ic convention gave him a unanimous nomination for the office of
judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was elected by a majority
of between sixteen and eighteen hundred and was sworn in January,
1978. His career as a judge has more that met the most ardent
expectations of his numerous personal and political friends, and
when he retires from the bench it will be with be with honor.
September 15th, 1868, he married Mary Elizabeth Epting, of Potts-
ville. On her mother's side this lady is of the Myer family,
long well known in Pennsylvania, of which her grandfather, Philip
Myer, and her great-grandfather, John Myer, both held the office
of attorney-general. Mr Bechtel occupies a high social position
and as a citizen is much respected by all classed. He is known
as a faithful servant of the people rather than as a politician.
ROBERT E. DIFFENDERFER.
Robert E. Diffenderfer, of Pottsville, was born in Lewisburg,
Union county, June 7th, 1849. He graduated from the Lewisburg
normal school, and for a while afterward attended the Lewisburg
University. He began to practice dentistry with Dr. R.E. Burlan,
of Lewisburg, September 30th, 1867. He removed to Pottsville
September 30th, 1872, where he has since practiced his profes-
sion. He was secretary of the Pennsylvania Dental Society in
1876, and was the first president of the Pennsylvania Central
Dental Association. He has served two terms as a member of the
Pottsville borough council, and was a candidate on the Greenback
Labor reform ticker for the office of coroner Schuylkill county.
He has long been an earnest advocate of the issue of money by the
government, and from his youth up, has been strenuously opposed
to monopolies of all kinds. April 17th, 1872, he married Miss
Kate R., daughter of G. W. Proctor, of Lewisburg. As a dentist
Dr. Diffenderfer is one of the most skillful; as a citizen he is
respected by all, and in his business, political and social
relations he has won many and earnest friends.
_____________end page 302.______________
page 303
HON. WILLIAM DONALDSON.
____________________________________________________________
The subject of this sketch is a living example of the force
of intellect when combined with great firmness and true courage.
William Donaldson was born in the town of Danville, Pa., July
28th, 1799, and is therefore now in his 82nd year. His grandfa-
ther, William Donaldson, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war,
throughout its entire period. His father, John Donaldson, died
early leaving him, at the age of seven years, with his widowed
mother and several sisters, to struggle for support. They met
with success, however, and in addition William acquired a fair
English education. He learned the mercantile business with the
venerable Matthew Newkirk, of Philadelphia, now deceased, and
soon afterward started in that vocation in his native town.
There he operated extensively in the purchase and sale of grain
and other products of the country, which were then sent to market
in arks, on the Susquehanna river. These transactions made him
favorably known to all the leading merchants and dealers in that
valley as far south as Baltimore.
In 1829 he married a daughter of John Cowden, Esq., a merchant
of Northumberland, Pa. Their family consists of a son and three
daughters.
Mr. Donaldson became in 1837, the principal owner of a very
large body of coal lands in the western part of Schuylkill coun-
ty, at that time comparatively a wilderness; and, almost unaided,
conceived the project of developing this portion of the anthra-
cite coal fields. Its accomplishment by the construction of a
railroad and the erection of colliery improvements necessarily
involved the outlay of a very large amount of capital, and years
of time and personal attention. Nothing daunted, this work was
undertaken. The Donaldson Improvement and Railroad Company was
organized with the same president. Soon the railroad was fin-
ished which connected his and vast bodies of other coal lands
with the Mine Hill Railroad and Union Canal, and numerous exten-
sive and costly collieries were erected on the land. The town of
Donaldson also was laid out on the property. It now consists of
machine shops, hotels, churches and houses, sufficient to accom-
modate a population of several thousand inhabitants. The borough
of Tremont, a mile south, and of equal population and similar
industries, was also the direct result of these improvements.
Thus a wilderness was converted into a productive territory under
his leadership. He remained in the control of the Swatara Rail-
road Company until 1863, when were merged in Philadelphia and
Reading Railroad Company.
During this time he participated in one of the most important
legal contests affecting land titles that ever took place in
Pennsylvania. Its final termination in favor of Judge Donaldson
well illustrates his great energy and intellectual strength. The
title to all his coal lands was involved in this suit. It is the
great case of Grant vs. Levan, as reported in 4th Pennsylvania
State Reports, beginning on page 393. It embodies a ruling by
the Supreme Court of that State which, although probably right
according to mere technical legal logic, was shown through the
efforts of Judge Donaldson to be a theory that the facts dis-
proved. There were ten distinct legal propositions passed upon
and determined in the case. These were mainly decided in his
favor; but one, then seeming the most vital of all, was point
blank against him. Certain deed polls from Robert Martin to
Robert Morris (the great financier of the Revolution) were not
and had never been in the possession of the parties to the liti-
gation. The opposing side claimed under Robert Martin, and the
Donaldson title was under Robert Morris. The only evidence of
conveyance by Martin to Morris was the endorsement in a connected
draft of these lands. It was found in the possession of the
representatives of Martin, after his decease and reads.
" These lands sold to Robert Morris, Esq., of Philadelphia.
Deed polls to him, purchase money pd. me.
" Robert Martin."
" The over measure to be cast up and accounted for."
The Supreme Court decided that as this paper had not been
delivered it had no greater effect than a verbal admission, and
therefore " under the circumstances the statue of frauds was a
bar." The results of this decision, altogether unexpected,
spread consternation among many who had acquired interests in
these lands, and others indirectly affected by this seeming
defeat of the Donaldson claim. Judge Donaldson, however, was
positive that the endorsement on the draft meant more than the
Supreme Court thus said. Believing that the deed polls had been
in existence he thought that, so far from being a "mere" verbal
admission of a verbal sale, and therefore affected by the statute
of frauds, the draft was in truth and fact a written declaration
and a admission by the grantor of formal written conveyances
under seal, executed and delivered. Acting upon his convictions
he determined that these deed polls should be discovered. This,
as the result showed, involved years of search, and in the trav-
eling expenses of himself from "Maine to Georgia," and the pay of
assistants, many thousands of dollars were expended. His faith
in his own conclusions and his determination therefore to find
these papers never forsook him. Robert Morris had owned millions
of acres of land in most of the then States of the Union. The
papers of deceased lawyers and agents who had once represented
Robert Morris or those claiming under him, in every State, were
disinterred to find the lost deeds. Not a clue was thus ob-
tained. At last it was discovered that Robert Morris had a son
living, a sea captain, commanding a vessel in the New York and
East India trade. This information was received one Saturday.
That same day Captain Morris arrived in New York, and was visited
at his hotel early the next morning. On being interrogated the
captain remembered that many years before, when in Philadelphia,
his mother had complained to him of the burden of many boxes and
barrels containing quantities of his father's old papers. Be-
lieving them of no value she did not wish to preserve them. The
captain, to relieve her, took them to New York city and placed
them in an old storehouse. No time was lost in making search
among these papers, and the same morning, Sunday, there in a
bundle, still bound together, were found the long lost documents.
They were the ten deed polls for the ten tracts of land, the
surveys of which were connected in the before mentioned draft,
and which tracts were 4,500 acres of anthracite coal lands, worth
over a million of dollars. The papers were delivered for a
large consideration, and their genuineness was easily estab-
lished. The other parties to the controversy thereupon withdrew
from the contest, seeing that the decision of the Supreme Court
was effectually reversed.
While at Danville he was appointed an associate judge for
Columbia county by Governor David R. Porter, entirely without
solicitation on his part or that of mere personal friends. this
appointment was confirmed by the Senate unanimously.
In politics for many years he was a Democrat of the "old
school," but never sought office. He and the late
_________end page 303.__________
page 304
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
______________________________________________________________
Justice Grier, of the United States Supreme Court, participated
in the first meeting held in Danville in support of General
Andrew Jackson for the presidency. After that Judge Donaldson
co-operated with the Democratic party until about 1848, when he
was made an elector on the "Free-soil" ticket. Since then he has
been a member of the Republican party.
Since 1863 he was almost entirely retired from actual busi-
ness pursuits, though idleness has been impossible for his active
mind and temperament.
For over sixty years he has been a member of the grand lodge
of A.Y.M. of Pennsylvania. The charter for the Danville lodge,
No. 224, was granted to him as worship master. He still retains
his place as a member of the lodge.
He is an active participant in the affairs and management of
the Presbyterian church. He is especially interested in the
"Second Church" at Pottsville, organized by Rev. I.D. Mitchell in
1857, now under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Dr. Smiley, and
formerly of the Rev. W.S. Plumer, D.D.
The warm, genial and social disposition of Judge Donaldson
has surrounded him with a vast circle of devoted friends, and
now, in the full possession of his physical and mental faculties,
he enjoys, as he deservedly receives, the kindest sympathies and
approval of all who know him.
On Wednesday, September 19th, 1879, the crowning social event
of this long and eventful life occurred. It was nothing less
than the celebration, by himself and wife, of the 50th anniver-
sary of their marriage. Socially the golden wedding was a bril-
liant success; for, in addition to all the elite of Pottsville,
the entire county was represented, and many friends and relatives
came from distant points, particularly, Harrisburg, Reading,
Danville, Trenton, N.J., and Elmira, N.Y., where the family has
large connections. The celebration was given the form of a
reception, and the guests vied with the children and grandchil-
dren of the happy couple in offering hearty congratulations,
sincere good wishes and tokens of esteem and friendship. Still
the pleasantness had a tinge of pathos, for among all the throng
there were only two-Mrs. Maria D. Colt, of Danville, and Mrs.
S.J. Tuthill, of Elmira, N.Y.,-who had witnessed the original
wedding. Since then the judge's only sister, Mrs. Colt, has
died. This leaves him and his wife the last living members of
their respective families. And so, literally alone together,
they tread in peace and prosperity the well know paths which have
been made by many years of quiet endeavor to do faithfully that
only which is honorable and right.
GEN. J.K. SIGFRIED.
Joshua K. Sigfried was born in Orwigburg, then the seat of
justice of Schuylkill county, July 4th, 1832. His father, Jonas
Sigfried, was a native of Pennsylvania and a wheelwright by
trade. He died about 1840. His mother, who previous to her
marriage was Miss Susan Krater, was a native of Schuylkill coun-
ty. She died at Orwigsburg in 1863. General Sigfried attended
school between the ages of six and ten years, and then embarked
on the sea of business life as store boy in the employ of Messrs.
Lyon & Rishel, at Port Clinton, where he remained five years. At
the expiration of this time, realizing the need of more schooling
than he had been enabled to obtain, he entered the old Pottsville
academy as a student. It was only a year, however, before he
found it necessary to again find employment and resume the labo-
rious task of making his way in the world. Going to Lykens,
Dauphin county, he entered the store of William H. Hetherington,
who two years afterward disposed of the business to Lewis Heil-
ner, with whom young Sigfried remained a year or thereabouts.
Then he was in the flour and feed trade at Port Carbon a year and
an half, when he abandoned the mercantile career he had entered
upon and engaged for year with Bacon, Price & Co., as a shipper
of coal. The next year he passed as bookkeeper for Tobias H.
Wintersteen, the Port Carbon machinist. Then until the outbreak
of the Rebellion he was engaged in shipping coal for Sillyman &
Myers, Samuel Sillyman and George H. Potts & Co., at Port Carbon,
and for Lewis Audenreid & Co., at Schuylkill Haven.
General Sigfried early formed a taste for military life. In
April, 1857, he attached himself to the old Marion rifle company
as a private. In the following October he was promoted to the
first lieutenancy of the company, and April 20th, 1860, he was
appointed major of the 3rd regiment, attached to the 1st brigade
of the 6th division of Pennsylvania militia. When treason raised
her black flag over our land General Sigfried was among the very
first to consecrate his influence, his time, his best energies
and his life itself to his county. The following interesting of
account of his patriotic and gallant military career during the
late war is extracted from Wallace's "Memorial of the Patriotism
of Schuylkill County in the American Slaveholders' Rebellion."
General Sigfried entered the service in April, 1861, as cap-
tain in the 6th Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel James Nagle, for a
period of three months, at the expiration of which he was mus-
tered out at Harrisburg. After his return home he assisted to
organize the 48th Pennsylvania regiment, of which he was commis-
sioned major, and mustered into the service on the 1st of Octo-
ber, 1861. He moved with the regiment to Hatteras on the 11th of
November, 1861. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel by election
on the 30th of that month. He was ordered to the command of Camp
Winfield, Hatteras, on the 9th of December. He moved with the
regiment to Newbern, N.C., on the 11th of March, 1862. In April,
1862, he took command of the regiment, Colonel Nagle having been
detached to command the 1st brigade, 2nd division of what was
afterwards the 9th corps. The regiment left Newbern on the 6th
of July, and reached Newport News on the 9th. Colonel Sigfried
spent the month here in placing his regiment in an effective
condition. He left with his regiment for Fredericksburg, to join
General Pope, on the 2nd of August. The regiment left Freder-
icksburg on the 12th, marched to Culpepper and joined General
Pope on the 14th. It was immediately thrown forward to Cedar
Mountain, and performed picket duty when General Pope's retreat
commenced. The regiment moved from there on the retreat on the
18th. It moved toward and occupied Kelly's Ford on the Rappahan-
nock, Lieutenant-Colonel Sigfried, with a portion of his regi-
ment, recrossed the river in support of Buford's cavalry, who
were engaged in a sharp skirmish with the enemy. The regiment
remained at Kelly's Ford until the 22nd, when it moved up the
river. The regiment, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sig-
fried, was in the second battle of Bull Run, August 29th and
30th, 1862. It fought gallantly and lost heavily. September 1st
he maneuvered the regiment skillfully at the battle of Chantilly.
He commanded the regiment through the Maryland campaign of 1862,
participating in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam.
After the last engagement he was promoted colonel, to date from
the 10th of September, 1862. He commanded the regiment at the
battle of Fredericksburg, December 13th, 1862. After the battle
he was complimented by Generals
_____________end page 304._____________
page 304a
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-GEN. J.K. SIGFRIED.
______________________________________________________________
Sturgess, Ferrero and Nagle for the manner in which he took the
regiment into and for the ability with which he handled it while
in action. March 25th, 1863, Colonel Sigfried left Newport News
with his regiment for the west. He reached Lexington, Ky., April
1st, where the regiment remained on provost duty until September
10th, 1863. During that time Colonel Sigfried was provost mar-
shal of the city and military commandant. He left Lexington on
the 10th of September, as colonel commanding the 1st brigade, 2nd
division, 9th army corps, on the march to East Tennessee, to join
Burnside's forces at Knoxville. The distance (two hundred and
twenty-six miles) was marched in eighteen days, without fatigue
or straggling, in consequence of an admirable plan adopted by
Colonel Sigfried upon starting. The brigade arrived at Knox-
ville, September 28th, and reached Bull's Gap October 14th. From
there it marched to Lick Creek and Blue Springs. Colonel Sig-
fried commanded the brigade in the battle of Blue Springs, fought
October 10th. He returned to Knoxville October 15th, shortly
after which he was ordered to take command of the 2nd division,
9th corps. On the 22nd, with his division, Colonel Sigfried
moved to Louden; then to Lenoir, where it remained until the
14th, when the division returned to Louden, and covered the
retreat of the army on the 15th from Lenoir to Campbell's Sta-
tion. At this point Colonel Sigfried resumed command of the 1st
brigade, Colonel Hartranft taking command of the division. At
the battle of Campbell's Station, fought on the 16th, Colonel
Sigfried's brigade opened the engagement, and participated in it
all day, retreating at night to Knoxville, reaching that place on
the following morning. At this time the siege of Knoxville by
the rebel General Longstreet commenced. The key of the defenses
was held by the ninth corps-a very important point in the line of
works being held by the brigade of Colonel Sigfried. The siege
was raised on the 5th of December, the rebels retreating towards
Virginia, and our forces following. January 3rd, 1864, the 48th
regiment, having reenlisted for three years, left its camp near
Blaine's Cross Roads, Tenn., for home on veteran leave, for
reorganization, and it arrived at Pottsville February 3rd.
Having recruited its ranks to the maximum number the regiment
left Pottsville March 14th, 1864, under command of Colonel Sig-
fried, for Annapolis, where it was ordered to rendezvous. It
left Annapolis, to co-operate with General Grant in his great
Virginia campaign, April 23rd, 1864. On the 4th of May Colonel
Sigfried was appointed to command the 1st brigade, 4th division
(colored), ninth army corps, the duty of which was to guard the
immense trains necessary to facilitate Grant's operations. That
duty ceasing after the army had crossed the James and established
itself in front of Petersburg, Col. Sigfried's brigade was as-
signed to other important duty. The circumstances under which he
received this brigade command, and the manner in which he dis-
charged the duties of the office, will be learned from the fol-
lowing letter:
U. S. Senate,
Washington, April 30th, 1818.
General J. K. Sigfried.
My dear General:
I learned that a " History of Schuylkill County, Pa.," is
about to be published, and I would be glad to have a copy of it,
for I am sure it will contain honorable mention of its gallant
soldiers who served with me during the late war for the suppres-
sion of the Rebellion. You, my dear general, will be prominently
mentioned if the compilers of the work know as much of your
skill, gallantry, and unselfish co-operation as I do. I shall
never forget the disinterested patriotism which actuated you when
you were asked by me to take command of the 1st brigade of the
4th division of the 9th corps. It was composed of colored
troops, and I naturally wanted to give it my best officers for
brigade commandeers. I well remembered the desire you had to
remain with your old command, and with what reluctance you yield-
ed to my desire and order. I wanted you with the 4th division
because you were one of my best officers, and commanded my entire
confidence and esteem. Please have a copy of the work, when it
comes out, sent to me at Bristol, R. I.
With kind regards to your family, I remain, my dear general,
Faithfully your friend,
A.E. Burnside.
At the explosion of the mine at Petersburg Colonel Sigfried,
with his brigade, participated in the charge on the enemy's
works. Subsequently he was brevetted brigadier-general by Presi-
dent Lincoln for his gallantry in this action. He continued in
command of the brigade until mustered out of service, October
2nd, 1864, by reason of the expiration of his term of service.
During his career in the army General Sigfried won the highest
encomiums from his superior officers for the fidelity, prudence
and ability with which he discharged the duties developing upon
him. Without his knowledge, they recommended him for promotion
from colonel to brigadier, for meritorious conduct in the field.
October 1st, 1870, General Sigfried was appointed major-
general of the 6th division National Guards of Pennsylvania, in
which capacity he served until the fall of 1878, doing good,
service as commander of troops in subduing the riots which pre-
vailed in various parts of the States during that period. Octo-
ber 22nd, 1878, when the officers were reduced to one major-
general and five brigadiers, he was commissioned brigadier-gener-
al of the 3rd brigade, and he is yet serving in that position.
His whole administration during his connection with the National
Guard of Pennsylvania has been so efficient and successful as to
win for him the commendation of men and officers under his com-
mand and the superior authorities to which he is answerable for
the performance of his responsible duties.
Since the close of the war the general has been most of the
time prominently identified with various mining enterprises. In
December, 1865, he assumed the management of the Wolf Creek
Diamond Coal Company's collieries near Minersville. In 1868 he
formed a copartnership with George C. Potts and reared and oper-
ated the Mount Laffee colliery. Later Mr. Potts disposed of his
interest in the business to Messrs. Powell & Wigton, of Philadel-
phia, and General Sigfried managed the enterprise until he sold
his interest to the same parties, in 1872. From that time until
in 1874 he owned a one-third interest in the Tunnel colliery, at
Ashland, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company owning the
remaining two-thirds. During the year last mentioned the corpo-
ration became, by purchase, the sole owners of the colliery.
General Sigfried served a term in the Port Carbon school
board and another in the town council before the war, and after
the war on full term (three years) and a portion of a term in the
Pottsville school board as its president.
From the very inception of the Republican party General Sig-
fried has been an ardent advocate of its principles and an active
worker for its success. In 1874 he was nominated for the office
of State senator, but was defeated by the Democratic nominee,
Judge O.P. Bechtel. In 1875 he was appointed boiler inspector
for the district comprising the counties of Schuylkill, Columbia
and Northumberland, and reappointed in 1878 and 1881. He was
chosen chairman of the Republican county commit-
____________end page 304a.______________
page 305
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
_______________________________________________________________
tee in 1880 and is the present incumbent of that position (1881).
General Sigfried's life has been a busy and a useful one and
the results of his exertion cannot but encourage others who are
struggling against difficulties which threaten to be insurmount-
able. His advancement is due almost entirely to his own energy
and personal worth, for he may be said to have made his way
unaided from childhood. Among the many self-made men of the
anthracite regions of Pennsylvania General Sigfried takes a
prominent position. His career marks him as a man of enterprise,
perseverance and ability. Whether in civil, political or mili-
tary life he has been successful and is one of notable Pennsylva-
nians of his generation.
March 10th, 1851, he married a lady of Scotch extraction,
Miss Elizabeth P. Sim, a native and then a resident of Port
Carbon. Their children have been seven in number: Maggie, David
B., Ida S., Cora P., W. Elmer, J. Reno, and Carrie. The first
and last born have died.
GEORGE H. POTTS
Half a century before the beginning of the Revolutionary was
John Potts, great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir,
lived at Sandy Run, about ten miles from Philadelphia, in the
neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. The family had then been nearly
sixty years in America, having emigrated from England under the
auspices of William Penn, in 1668.
Thomas Potts, the youngest son of John and grandfather of
George H. Potts, about 1750, married Elizabeth Lukens, a daughter
of William Lukens, whose estate adjoined that of his father at
Sandy Run. The Lukens family was one of the most notable of the
early Pennsylvania families, and was of Holland descent. Joseph
and John Lukens were brothers-in-law of Thomas Potts. The first
mentioned was a life-long resident on the Lukens estate, at Sandy
Run, a man of wealth, held in high esteem for many good equali-
ties. The later studied civil engineering, and later was ap-
pointed to the responsible position of surveyor-general of Penn-
sylvania, under the King. Upon the agitation of the momentous
question which prepared the way for American independence, he
espoused the cause of the patriots, and so closely identified was
he with the leaders in the revolutionary movement that it was in
one of the apartments of his residence, in Philadelphia, that the
Declaration of Independence was drawn up by Thomas Jefferson.
His granddaughter, the celebrated beauty, Sally McKean, became
the wife of the Marquis D'Yrujo, the first minister from Spain to
the United States under the constitution.
By his marriage with Miss Lukens Thomas Potts received a
handsome fortune. He removed to the beautiful Musconetcong
valley, in New Jersey, near the mouth of the river, where he
purchased a large estate, on which he erected a forge and fur-
nace, and conducted, until his death in 1777, an extensive and
successful iron manufacturing enterprise. To an almost immeas-
urable degree he had the confidence of all who knew him. He was
trusted as a man of honor and unyielding fidelity; he was admired
as a man of unwearying enterprise and brilliant talents. He is
distinguished as having been a member of the Continental Con-
gress, which convened in Philadelphia in 1775 to petition the
King to redress the grievances which had long been suffered by
the colonists. He was in all essential respects a patriot; he
had at heart the cause of the struggling colonies, and deprecated
as deeply as any of his liberty loving contemporaries the severi-
ty with which they were oppressed; but he was a consistent adher-
ent to the religious principles of the Society of Friends, and
finding it impossible to regard the Declaration of Independence
as anything short of a practical declaration of war he refused to
affix his signature to that historical document, not wishing to
co-operate in an act which would precipitate bloodshed and rapine
upon the colonies.
His widow, Elizabeth Lukens Potts, married Doctor John Rock-
hill, of Pittstown, Hunterdon county, N.J., where her descendants
by both her marriages resided continuously until ten years since,
when Hon. Frederick A. Potts, son of George H. Potts, and late a
candidate for the office of governor of the State of New Jersey,
purchased the old homestead, where he has since lived. A remark-
able circumstance in the history of the Potts and Rockhill fami-
lies is that members of them have intermarried for five genera-
tions, during which they have lived on the same estate.
Hugh H. Potts, father of George H. Potts, was born at the
Chelsea Iron Works, on his father's estate, in New Jersey, in
1773, and, having a natural proclivity for a military career,
became an officer in the first United States army raised under
the newly organized government and served as such for many years.
In 1800, at Carlisle, Pa., he married Elizabeth, daughter of
Captain John Hughes, of Revolutionary memory, a distinguished
officer who participated in every engagement from that at Three
Rivers, Canada, to the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown,
during nearly all of which eventful period he was in the compan-
ionship of General Washington. Captain Hughes recruited a compa-
ny at Carlisle, which was attached to the 10th Pennsylvania
regiment, and entered the service as its captain, but was soon
promoted to the office of paymaster-general, a position which the
history of those times would indicate a depended more on the
possession of ample means and a patriotic willingness to disburse
them as occasion required, for the relief of the ill paid and
often suffering soldiers, than the mere desire and ability to
transact its simple routine duties in consideration of the sal-
ary, which under more favorable circumstances might have been a
desideratum to one less generous and more self-seeking. Captain
Hugh H. Potts his son-in-law, subsequently resigned his commis-
sion and purchased an estate on the Delaware river, in Bucks
county, where he resided until the death of his wife, in 1813.
Near the close of the war of 1812-14 he was reappointed to a
captaincy in the United States army service, but just as he was
about join his company and report for duty peace was declared.
He died in 1842.
George H. Potts, the subject of this biographical article,
was born in 1811, on his father's estate on the Delaware. Left
an orphan by the death of his mother in 1813, he found a home in
Pittstown, Hunterdon county, N.J., in the family of his father's
sister, Mrs. Judge Rockhill. He early gave evidence of the
possession of that innate enterprise which has since placed him
prominently among the most successful business men of the United
States, and at fifteen, an age when most youths are thinking only
of boyish amusement, we find him an assistant in an extensive
mercantile house in Philadelphia, receiving a practical business
training. Here he remained three years, laying the foundation of
a busy, useful, and in many respects remarkable career. With the
advantages of good birth and fine social connection, he was yet
not wealthy, and his position as a self-made man was only the
better assured by the opportunities for early training and educa-
tion which he had enjoyed.
In 1829 he removed to Pottsville, Pa., and at once engaged in
mining operations. At that time everything connected with the
anthracite coal interest was in a very primitive condition.
Practical mining as it is now known was yet to be introduced.
What coal was mined was
_____________end page 305.______________
page 305a
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
GEORGE H. POTTS.
_______________________________________________________________
brought to the surface only in limited quantities and by the
hardest physical exertion. Its preparation for market was equal-
ly crude in its processes. The facilities for conveying it to
the sea-board cities were of the most primitive description.
Only 44,000 tons of anthracite was mined in 1828. The aggregate
in 1879 was 26,000,000 tons and it will reach nearly 30,000,000
tons in 1881. In the remarkable series of improvements which
have made such a stupendous growth possible Mr. Potts has been a
pioneer. From 1829 until to-day he has been continuously inter-
ested in the production of coal, and he enjoys the distinction of
being the oldest miner of anthracite in the United States in view
of the number of consecutive years he has been engaged in the
business. From 1834 to 1845 he was the most extensive individual
coal operator in the union. He erected the first engine for
mining purposes in Pennsylvania. It was built by Messrs. Haywood
& Snyder, at their establishment in Pottsville, and is yet in
use. He was the first to use plates of iron for breaking coal,
and erected the second breaker ever put in operation. He built
the first boat which was employed to convey coal to the city of
New York direct from the Schuylkill region, and which opened the
way for the immense inland water transportation of a later date.
He was one of ten men to subscribe $300 each to be used in exper-
iments in making anthracite iron, which were crowned with suc-
cess. The history of these experiments, which were so important
in the development of the leading interests of the country, are
given elsewhere in this volume. In 1836 he surveyed the first
railroad from Pottsville to New York.
After a residence of twenty-four years in Pottsville, in
1853, Mr. Potts removed to New York, as the local representative
of the extensive coal and iron firm of Lewis Audenreid & Co.,
with which he has associated himself, and of which he became the
senior member. While occupying this position his excellent
judgment, business qualifications and executive ability placed
the firm at the head of the coal and iron trade of the United
States and won the frequent admiration and applause of those with
whom he came in contact. By the death of Lewis Audenreid, in
1873, the firm was dissolved, Mr. Potts retiring and his son,
Hon. Frederick A. Potts, who has since continued the business
with remarkable success, becoming sole proprietor.
The regret manifested on all sides at Mr. Potts's retirement
from active business life in 1873, will not soon be forgotten, as
it was felt that the loss of such a man to the coal and iron
industries of America could not be readily replaced. With an
ample fortune, won by a life of unintermitted industry, Mr. Potts
determined to pass his remaining years in ease and quiet, but so
great was the pressure brought to bear upon him to induce him to
accept the vacant presidency of the National Park Bank of New
York, of which he had been one of the organizers, and had long
been a director, that he finally consented to assume its duties
and responsibilities. His election in September, 1879, to the
position of president of one of the wealthiest and most prominent
banking corporations in the union was welcomed with unbounded
satisfaction by stockholders and customers, and was the subject
of much favorable comment by the press of New York and the other
great financial centers of the country. That the public confi-
dence in Mr. Pott's financial abilities had not been misplaced is
indicated by his successful management of the affairs of the
bank, whose stock, from par in 1879, has advanced to 1.60 and
whose surplus has been increased from $200,000 to $1,000,000.
Mr. Potts is in every way fitted to creditably occupy his recog-
nized high position in the financial and social circles of New
York.
In person he is above medium height and of striking personal
appearance; his years rest lightly upon him. He has that combi-
nation of admirable qualities which have marked successful and
popular men in all ages of the world-dignity, courtesy, shrewd-
ness and decision. His geniality and generosity have won him
innumerable friends. His strict, undeviating integrity has been
remarked during his entire business career. Among the early
friends of Mr. Potts in Pottersville, Pa., the following incident
illustrative of his unyielding probity is current. It is related
here in the hope that it may serve as an example to others in
their days of disastrous business failures: In 1848 by the
failure of a gentleman in Philadelphia, with whom Mr. Potts was
connected in business, he lost $104,000. He was forced to call
his creditors together, and settle with them at fifty cents on
the dollar, and was obliged to borrow the money to enable him to
do even this. Sixteen years later he paid these compromised
claims, amounting to over one hundred thousand dollars, although
he had been legally exonerated when he made the compromise,
compelling his old creditors to accept interest on the balances,
in spite of the fact that they repeatedly refused it and used
their utmost powers of persuasion in attempts to convince him
that he ought not to pay it. In 1832 he married the eldest
daughter of George M. Cummings, of Pottsville, who bore him seven
children. In 1863 he was again married, to a daughter of Judge
Gideon Hard, of Albion, Orleans county, N. Y., who has represent-
ed his district in the State Assembly and in the National Con-
gress, and has long been prominent in judicial and political cir-
cles. By his present wife Mr. Potts has had three children, and
all of his children by both marriages are living. The family
home is in New York city, but they have and elegant summer resi-
dence near Somerville, N.J., which, from its admirable location
on a gentle eminence, commands most enchanting views in every
direction.