FRANCIS "FRANK" SEMPLE

Francis "Frank" Semple
1842 - 1908

Frank Semple the son of John Bonner Semple and Mary Jane Blair was educated in Pittsburgh, clerked in a dry goods store and later in a bank after which he entered Yale College. Later he accompanied Prof. Benjamin Sillman of Yale College as private secretary, inspecting the mines of California. Frank Semple’s father John Semple was a partner in the private banking firm of Semple & Jones which Frank continued after his father’s death in 1873 (it was for a time thereafter called Semple & Thompson).

At the time of the Johnstown Flood, Frank Semple’s principal client was William Thaw. During the Spanish American war he served on the executive committee of the Red Cross, along with SFF&HS members and their relatives: H D W English, H C Frick, Mrs. William Thaw and C B Shea. Additionally, Frank Semple was the treasurer of the Homeopathic Medical and Surgical Hospital and Dispensary of Pittsburgh located at 146 Second Street in Pittsburgh. Frank Semple was a director of the Fidelity Title and Trust Company, of which Reuben Miller, James Hay Reed, C B Shea and Robert Pitcairn were all directors as well. He was also a director of the Union National Bank of Pittsburgh, which included other Club members on the board. In 1908 Frank Semple died and was buried in Sewickley Cemetery. By 1912 Frank Semple Jr. was serving as secretary of the Edgeworth Club, Sewickley.

From The Social Mirror of 1888: “Mrs. Frank Semple, a charming blonde, nee Annie Wilcox, was in her girlhood a noted belle. She is still so young and pretty looking that it is hard to realize the two young ladies of the house are her daughters. Leila and Annie both inherit their mother’s beauty. They are both demi-blondes with rose leaf complexions and red-gold hair. Through their father they belong to one of Pittsburgh’s finest families.” (page 191) Additional information comes from family research as noted in the comments section below: "Annie Semple was my great grandfather, Charles Wilcox's sister. She was very pretty. I have pictures of both she and Frank. My records do not have her as Hanah Sarah but as Ann or Annie Sarah?"

In 1880 their household consisted of the following:

Frank Semple (38)

Annie Semple (36); given name was Hanna Sarah ("Annie Sarah") Wilcox

Their Children:

- Leila Semple (13); married Dale Bakewell (1864-1916); their children included Hazel Bakewell and Paul Bonner Bakewell. Hazel Bakewell married Irving Stanislaus Fellner and had five children by him: Anita (married Frederick Swetland), Irving Stanislaus Jr (married Shirley ?); Hazel (married Charles Dinsmore Tuttle); Leila (married Thomas Hugh Lenagh); and Dale Bakewell (married Betsey ?). Hazel died on 13 November 1974 in Greenwich Connecticut.

- John B. Semple (10); A director of the John B. Semple and Company, John B Semple was a Trustee of the Carnegie Museum and collected many birds on a 1926 expedition to Hudson Bay, and subsequent expeditions to Michigan (1936) and Mexico (1939) etc. The Semple's Florida home was designed by the architects of the main buildings at Rollins College, Kiehnel and Elliott of Pittsburgh, Penn . Dubbed "La Brisa", Mr. & Mrs. John B. Semple Residence 1, 3551 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL.

- Frank Semple (9) (twin)

- Annie Semple (9) (twin)

- Herbert Semple (4)

Frank Semple’s sister was Louisa Semple Clarke, the wife of SFF&HC member Charles J. Clarke. (Mary Ormsby Phillips, m. 14 January, I89I, to Louis Semple Clarke, son of Charles J. Clarke of Pittsburgh, by his wife Louisa Semple.)

DUNCAN CLINCH PHILLIPS

Duncan Clinch Phillips
1838 – 1917

Duncan Clinch Phillips (the son of Elias Phillips and Mary Mahon Ormsby) was born in March 1838 at the Ormsby family homestead called “The White House” in what was later the South Side of Pittsburgh. He was educated at St James College in Maryland and Brown University, in RI. During the civil war, Phillips rose to the rank of Major of the Company M, 4th PA cavalry. D C Phillips was associated with Phillips and Company, a window glass manufacturer.

He married twice.
His first wife: Florence Ebbs of West Chester, PA (?-February 4, 1870)
Married October 18, 1866
Their children did not survive childhood:
- Arthur Ormsby Phillips (July 1867– October 1867)
- Florence Ebbs Phillips (April 12, 1869 – September 17, 1878)
His second wife: Eliza Irwin Laughlin, daughter of James Laughlin of Jones and Laughlin Steel. Married June 14, 1883.
Their children:
- James Laughlin Phillips (May 30, 1884 - 1918)
- Duncan Clinch Phillips (II) (June 26, 1886 - ?) married Marjorie [?] He worked as an essayist, book reviewer, and art lecturer. To display his art collection, in 1918 he founded the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, DC (now the Phillips Collection) in honour of his father and brother. He directed the gallery (1918–66) and wrote several books on art, notably The Artist Sees Differently (1931).

[Duncan Clinch Phillips (I)’ brother John Ormsby Phillips was the father of Mary Ormsby Phillips who married SFF&HC member Louis Semple Clarke on Jan 14, 1891]

Genealogy source: A Short Account of the Family of Ormsby of Pittsburgh. By Oliver Ormsby Page. Albany, N. Y., J. Munsell's Sons, 1892.

About their legacy, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC…

The two Phillips brothers were so inseparable that when James, the older, was ready to leave home for Yale in 1902, he waited 2 years so that Duncan, the younger, could graduate from secondary school and accompany him. The brothers, who were full of energy and talent, spent their early years in Pittsburgh, where their maternal grandfather, James Laughlin Phillips, had achieved success as a banker and cofounder of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company. Seeking a milder climate because of his health, the boys' father, Major Duncan Clinch Phillips, relocated the family to Washington, DC. In college, Duncan (the son) was elected an editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Soon after college, James was appointed assistant treasurer of the Republican Party. Both developed a passionate love of contemporary art, and in 1916 their efforts to identify and purchase modern paintings had become so successful that James requested an annual stipend of $10,000 from their parents for the purchase of works of art for their growing collection.
But war had already broken out in Europe, and in 1917 the United States entered it. The brothers' patriotism overtook them, and they tried to enlist, even though they were pacifists at heart. Both were rejected for service. Duncan, turned down by both the Army and the Navy, was 30–40 pounds under the desired weight for his height, which suggested to recruiters the possibility of a chronic disease he in fact did not have. James had had prior bouts of pneumonia, and his military rejection may have been related to questions about his pulmonary status. Disappointed, James nonetheless arranged to marry his sweetheart Alice, with Duncan as best man.


But as was the case for so many in those dark years, the world was beginning to unravel. Their father died suddenly not long after the wedding. Surrounded by war and loss, James and Alice moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland, near the headquarters of the American Red Cross, where James became associate director of the Bureau of Personnel, in charge of applications for overseas war service. Then, in the fall of 1918, the "Spanish flu" struck James, and on October 21, he died in the family home in nearby Washington, DC. Her son's death broke the health of their mother, who became a semi-invalid. His secure world shattered, Duncan's health broke down too, and he gave in to despair.


"There came a time when sorrow all but overwhelmed me," he later wrote. "Then I turned to my love of painting for the will to live. Art offers two great gifts of emotion—the emotion of recognition and the emotion of escape. Both emotions take us out of the boundaries of self…. So in 1918 I incorporated the Phillips Memorial Gallery… to create a Memorial worthy of… my father… and my brother, James Laughlin Phillips, an idealist… a keen student of men and social conditions—a broad-minded, warm-hearted, lovable and very noble American".
And so as a direct consequence of the death of his brother James from influenza, the 32-year-old Duncan Clinch Phillips, Jr (1886–1966) dedicated his life to creating a living memorial to him and to their father, and to establishing one of the finest public museums of modern art in the world. The collection, assembled over the next 5 decades, showed his remarkable taste, vision, and prescience in recognizing great works before others had suspected their greatness. Duncan's creative expression of feeling, the product of an artistic spirit, is reminiscent of similar creative expressions in literary form: the beautiful stories of Thomas Wolfe and Katherine Anne Porter, both of whom wrote about death and suffering from influenza. Wolfe's remarkable scene in Look Homeward, Angel records the death of his own brother Benjamin from Spanish influenza, 2 days before the death of James Phillips. In Pale Horse, Pale Rider, Porter wrote a surrealistic but harrowing account of her own near death from influenza in 1918 and her belated discovery of the death from influenza of the lover who had cared for her. In each case, unbearable tragedy and loss were ennobled by art.


The collection assembled by Duncan Phillips and his wife Marjorie, herself a painter, focuses on modern art and its sources. The nearly 2,500 items included works by many now-famous 20th-century artists (van Gogh, Degas, Homer, Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse, O'Keeffe, Rothko) as well as earlier artists whose work Phillips believed anticipated modern art (Chardin, Goya, El Greco, Daumier). Phillips also championed many artists who were not well known at the time (Milton Avery, Pierre Bonnard, Karl Knaths, John Graham, Nicolas de Staël) and sometimes provided stipends to them (Arthur Dove, Augustus Vincent Tack).


Today The Phillips Collection is still housed in the family home, where James died, at 21st and Q Street, in northwest Washington, DC. The building itself is a work of architectural accomplishment, built in Georgian Revival style by Hornblower and Marshall in 1897. The paintings are exhibited in a warm intimate setting that encourages reflection and contemplation. Even though The Phillips Collection was conceived in sorrow and loss, Duncan Phillips wanted the viewing experience to be "joy-giving and life-enhancing".


Source: Influenza and the Origins of The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. David M. Morens and Jeffery K. TaubenbergerNational Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC, U


While the legacy of another SFF&HC member, Andrew Mellon, may be more grand -- The National Gallery of Art -- The Phillips Collection (which is currently chaired by Duncan and Marjorie's son, Laughlin Phillips) is an equally lasting, but more intimate and personal creation. It is one man's gift to the nation financed by Pittsburgh steel.


There is a Duncan Phillips story that is worth telling. It has the founder standing with Dr. Albert Barnes in front of the Renoir masterpiece "Luncheon of the Boating Party."

"That's the only Renoir you have, isn't it?" asked the redoubtable Dr. Barnes, whose idiosyncratic more-is-more art collection is in the Barnes Foundation.

Phillips's reply was succinct: "It's the only one I need.”

CALVIN WELLS

Calvin Wells

December 26, 1827 - August 2, 1909

Calvin Wells was born in Genessee County NY on December 26, 1827. Wells came from sturdy New England stock, from which he derived those sterling qualities which have distinguished him through life. His father and mother were both of New England birth. His maternal grandfather Rev. Samuel Taggart, a Presbyterian minister, was a man of mark in his day, wielding a strong influence upon the political as well as the religious affairs of the community. He represented the western district of Massachusetts in Congress for thirteen years. Mr. Wells’ father’s family was very prominent in Greenfield. His grandfather was Col. Daniel Wells, on of whose sons Calvin Wells the father of the subject of this sketch, settled in Western New York, and bought a half interest in a mill and also engaged in farming. Calvin Wells, Sr. was a justice of the peace for many years and was an elder in the Congregational Church and afterward of the Presbyterian Church. His wife was a woman of strong mental powers and deep religious convictions and her teachings and influence did much to shape the future of her children. She died when her son Calvin was but fourteen years of age. In 1842 the latter entered the store of his brother-in-law, P. S. Church, a Detroit merchant, and two years later he went back to Batavia NY where he remained until 1847. He had always wished for a better education than had been afforded to him, and for this reason wrote to a brother in Pittsburgh, Rec. Samuel Taggart Wells, a Presbyterian clergyman, who responded with an invitation to come hither, and make a home with him and attend the Western University. This invitation he gladly accepted and packing his goods in a pine box, took a boat to Erie PA going thence by canal to Beaver, and then by boat to Pittsburgh. Here he landed November 19, 1847, his worldly possessions being worth probably twenty-five dollars.

Mr. Wells entered the Western University and remained there until the winter of 1848-49. Early in the latter year he entered the dry goods store of Benjamin Glyde as bookkeeper. The next year (1850) Mr. Wells was thrown into connection with Dr. C. G. Hussey, who had then commenced the copper business, having a mill and warehouse in Pittsburgh. Mr. Wells continued in this line until 1852, when Dr. Hussey started him in a bacon and pork business, the firm name being Hussey & Wells. This was continued until 1858 or 1859,when the firm became Hussey, Wells & Co. engaged in the manufacture of steel, and this was laid the foundation of one of the great industries that have done so much to build up the city of Pittsburgh. Mr. Wells was made manager of the new business and went east to learn all he could regarding the manufacture of steel. On his return he gave his entire attention to the enterprise which grew rapidly receiving a wonderful impetus during the rebellion, and demonstrated that England had at last found a competitor in the manufacture of steel.

Mr. Wells sold out his interest in this concern in 1876 and thus ended his long association with Dr. Hussey. in 1865 Mr. Wells became interested in railway elliptic springs and owned a half interest in the firm of A. French & Co., then engaged in their manufacture. This business was a success and grew to large proportions. On leaving the firm of Hussey, Wells & Co., Mr. Wells gave his entire attention for a year or two to the spring company. In January 1878, he was chosen president and treasurer of the Pittsburgh Forge & Iron Company and yet holds these positions. In 1884 he sold out his interest in the firm of A. French & Co. In 1877 Mr. Wells was induced to join in the purchase of the Philadelphia Press, founded by the late John W. Forney. At first he expected that his associates would manage the affairs of the concern, but a couple of year’s experience convinced him of the necessity for a change, and he took hold of the paper with the same good judgment, business tact and energy that have distinguished him in other enterprises. The result is that the Press is now not only one of the ablest but one of the strongest and most influential newspapers in the country. It is especially noteworthy for its advocacy of a protective tariff, for Mr. Wells is thoroughly convinced that protection is a great blessing to all parts of the country as well as to Pennsylvania.

He has other interests engaging his attention. In 1888 he was led to investigate the subject of spelter. His practical knowledge of metals and his study of this branch of metallurgy led him to unite with some friends in the establishment of the Illinois Zinc Company, at Peru, LaSalle County, Illinois, with a capital of $50,000. From the inception of the enterprise Mr. Wells has been president and treasurer of the company which has grown to $400,000. He has been for a number of years and is now a director in the Exchange National Bank of Pittsburgh. He was at one time a director in the Consolidated Gas Company, and was also connected with the Chartiers Natural Gas Company.

All that Mr. Wells has and is are the products of his natural forces. He possesses special skill as an organizer, in systematic management, and in his ability to read and understand men and to put the right man in the right place. He is a man of strong will, resolute courage, and in great tenacity of purpose, fertile in resources, alert to take advantage of circumstances as they occur. With all these advantages in business life, he has proven himself of kindly disposition and generous purposes. Though keeping himself posted upon political questions he has been too busy to take an active part in partisan politics or enter public life. His father was a Henry Clay Whig and the son is a consistent Republican.

Mr. Wells was married on July 5, 1854, to Annie Glyde, daughter of Benjamin Glyde. She died in 1859 and in 1861 he was married to Mary Chaffey, a sister of his first wife. Tow sons and two daughters have been born to him. His eldest son was born in 186? And died in the same year. His two daughters are married, laving him, his wife and his youngest son to constitute the family. Mr. Wells is a member of the Third Presbyterian Church, of which he has been a trustee for a number of years.

Calvin Wells married twice as noted below:

1. Anne Glyde (Jan. 23, 1835 - March 13, 1859); married, July 5, 1854.

Daughter of Calvin Wells and Anne Glyde Wells:

Anne Glyde Wells; born May 6, 1855;

Married:

Robert Johnson Cook; born March 21, 1849 in Fayette Co, PA.;

Robert Johnson "Bob" Cook, born March 21, 1849. He was graduated from Yale in 1876, was captain of the Yale boat crew from 1873 to 1876. He was sent by Yale to England in 1873 to learn the English stroke. Cook read law in Greesburg, PA, with A. M. Fulton, Esq., in 1877, and completed his course in the office of Hon. John H. Baily, of Pittsburgh. He was admitted to the Pittsburgh bar in 1878. He marrried Miss Annie Wells of Pittsburgh, April 26, 1881, and in 1882 took a special course in a German university. The 1924 Yale Boathouse was dedicated in his honor.

1870 was the year that Bob Cook, then a sophomore and captain of the Yale crew, went to England for three months to study rowing at London, Cambridge and Oxford. Returning, he brought with him an understanding of the English Orthodox style of rowing, which he introduced to Yale and to America at large. Cook would later become head crew coach at Yale and produce an extraordinary record of success from 1872 until his departure in 1899. During the time that he coached at Yale the team was bested only four times, in ‘75, ‘78, ‘79, and ‘91. To this day, no other college in America has produced an amateur alumnus crew coach with such an outstanding record of success. In 1924 Yale opened a new boathouse at Derby, abandoning crew on New Haven Harbor. Designed by famed architect James Gamble Rogers and named after legendary Bob Cook, the boathouse was used by Yale until 1999 and is now demolished. But for 75 years, the Bob Cook boathouse on the Housatonic River stood as a monument to his significant contribution to American collegiate crew. Bob Cook, Yale's grand old man of rowing, once called Averell Harriman "easily the most promising crew coach in America." According to Chauncey Depew, while at Yale, Bob Cook was assaulted with an ax wielding ruffian who plunged the ax into Cook’s head. Cook seized his assailant, nearly knocked the life out of him, carried him a prisoner to the police station and only thereafter pulled the ax out of his head and called for a doctor.

The children of Robert Johnson Cook and Anne Glyde Wells Cook:

Elsa COOK b: 17 FEB 1882 in Leipsic, Germany (married Charles Edward Greenfield)

This is probably Charles Edward Greenfield, and isn't the only connection that the Club members have to the sinking of the Titanic:

Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1912
Can't Collect For Lives Lost
Titanic Owners Not Liable For Deaths on Sea.

If Precedent is Followed Company Will Probably Settle for Property Loss Without Dispute, but Admiralty Lawyer Says It Cannot Be Held Further
Chicago, APRIL 16—[Exclusive Dispatch.] Relatives of the 1232 passengers who lost their lives in the wreck of the Titanic will be unable to collect a single dollar in damages according to Charles E. Greenfield of Kremer and Greenfield, admiralty attorneys, with offices in the Fort Dearborn building.
If the White Star line follows precedent it will settle without legal dispute for the loss of property, but as this was insured the company will lose nothing on that score.
“There is no law which fixes liability for loss of life on the high seas,” said Attorney Greenfield today. “About ten years ago several suits were filed in the Federal court here, but they were dismissed because of the lack of any statute fixing liability.
“Suits for loss of property very seldom follow disasters of this kind. The steamship companies are usually covered by insurance, and in the past nil have generally settled without going to court.”
Mr. Greenfield added that some States and nations have laws fixing liability for loss of life in wrecks, but they are not applicable to the high seas. The Titanic was on the “high seas” at the time it foundered.
It is estimated that the passengers on the Titanic carried in money, bonds, jewelry, and other securities approximately $6,000,000.

Helen Chaffey COOK b: 1 JAN 1885 in Philadelphia, PA (married Daniel Stephenson)

He was born in Sharon, PA.

Dorothy Glyde COOK b: 20 JUL 1890 in Bryn Mawr, PA (married Harry Grant)

After an unhappy marriage, Harry Grant became manager and Chairman of the Board of the "Milwaukee Journal". Here is information about Harry Johnson Grant and Dorothy Glyde Cook:

Society Wedding: The fiber of Harry Grant's independence threads back through his entire life. He was born in Chillicothe, Mo., the son and grandson of stable owners. The family moved to St. Louis, and when Grant was 15, his father killed himself, leaving Grant's mother to make ends meet by teaching dancing. Harry Grant quit high school after his freshman year, went to work as a $5-a-week railway messenger. He was earning $60 a month as a ticket clerk when he quit to make more as a bookkeeper and cattle checker in Swift & Co.'s stockyards. He bought schoolbooks and studied at night, and by the time he was 22, he had saved enough money to enter Harvard as a special student.
In his first year, with his usual energy, Grant took seven courses (four was standard), lived in an attic, wore secondhand clothes and did odd jobs to add to his savings. By the end of the year, his money ran out, so Grant took a job selling roofing in the Southwest until he saved enough for a second try at Harvard. After struggling through the second year, he gave up and moved to a cheap room in Hoboken, having lost his "illusions about what an education could do for me." By limiting himself to 11¢ a day for lunch and not much else, he held out until he found a job he liked, working for N. W. Ayer advertising agency in Manhattan. Grant moved through every department, was so able at whatever he turned his hand to that in three years he was sent to London to represent the agency.
In Europe he met Dorothy Cook, a wealthy American girl, whom he married the same year at what he describes as a "goddamned society wedding." Grant felt that his in-laws wanted him to be "a gentleman of leisure." He had different ideas, and his marriage was unhappy. (Mrs. Grant died in 1923.) Grant went to Chicago to work for O'Mara & Ormsbee, Inc., the Journal's advertising representative. There he quickly rose to vice president and caught the eye of Lucius W. Nieman, owner of the Journal. Nieman hired Grant for $250 a week as business manager, with a promise of stock in the paper if things went well.

Source: "The Fair Lady of Milwaukee", Time Magazine, February 1, 1954

Additional information exists on ths Cook line of the Wells family.

2. Mary Glyde (March 8, 1836 - May 31, 1904)

Married: 13 Sep 1861 in Christ Methodist Episcopal Church Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Their children:

George Duncan Wells born Jan. 20, 1866 died July 27, 1866

Benjamin Glyde Wells born Nov. 8, 1868; died May 6, 1929
Married:
Louise Dewey born August 11, 1873; died October 12, 1939

The children of Benjamin Glyde Wells and Louise Dewey Wells:

Mary Glyde Wells (1897)

Calvin Wells II (1898)

FYI Descendent Calvin Wells III is a NASCAR owner, Bobby Hamilton Jr. drives his "Tide" Chevy.

Lois Badger Wells ()

Elizabeth Dewey Wells (1903-1988); married Rowland Erving.

More on Elizabeth Dewey Wells:
Rowland Erving died Dec. 18, 1995, at his home in Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, Penn. He was born Apr. 22, 1905, and was a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh. Before Princeton, Rowly prepped at Choate School and Babson Institute. He married Elizabeth Dewey Wells in June 1930. She died in June 1988. He retired from the McKay Co. as a v.p. in 1968 after nearly 40 years with the company. Rowly spent his summers with his family in Beaumaris in Ontario, where his family has vacationed since the turn of the century. He maintained friendships throughout the years with classmate Doug Hannah and others. Rowly was a boatsman, accomplished painter, and golfer. He was a member of the Fox Chapel Golf Club. Rowly was above all a family man and a consummate gentleman. He was kind, considerate, very positive, and had a cheerful word for everyone. He will be missed by his family and friends. The class extends its sympathy to Rowly's family: sons Rowland Jr. and Rev. William D. and his wife, Mimi; grandsons Richard T. and David Y.; granddaughter Mary E. Humenik; and two great-grandchildren.
Princeton: The Class of 1930PAW March 6th, 1996

Husband of Mary E Humenik is Dr. Mark J. Humenik DDS of Northbrook, IL. The Rev. William D. Erving is serving / living in Portersville, near Grove City.

Note that the new vacation spot at Beaumaris, Ontario, was the choice of more than one Club member.

More on that:

Mr. Edward Prowse started the Beaumaris Hotel and in 1890 was attracting wealthy visitors from America and Europe who would later purchase properties close to the hotel and build large summer homes there. The Beaumaris Yacht Club is a strictly private, family-oriented club located on Lake Muskoka, in Ontario, Canada. It has its roots in the early 1900's. The Beaumaris Golf and Tennis Association was formed in 1911 by local cottagers (mostly from Pennsylvania at the time) to lease a 5-hole golf course and tennis courts from the nearby Beaumaris Hotel. A new clubhouse was built in 1912, and the golf course was expanded to 9 holes. New tennis courts were completed in 1916, and by 1919, the golf course had expanded to 18 holes.
At about the same time, the Beaumaris Yacht Club got its start. Originally founded (in about 1912) by US Congressman James Francis Burke, it operated as a sailing club until 1921. The BYC's present building was purchased in 1921, and the Club became a centre for social activities for the surrounding summer community.
Despite ups and downs resulting from changes in ownership, two world wars, and the Great Depression, the two "clubs" were consolidated in 1946, and today, the Beaumaris Yacht Club offers its membership a variety of activities including golf, tennis, weekly sailing races, and social entertainment. In addition to top-notch golf and tennis teaching professionals, the Club staff also provides instruction in sailing, swimming, and lifesaving.
The Beaumaris Yacht Club 1197 Beaumaris Road Beaumaris, Ontario

Mary Chaffey Wells born June 1862 or 1863 in Pennsylvania
Married 15 OCT 1885 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Chauncey Milton Griggs born 19 FEB 1860 in Minnesota (St. Paul)

The children of Chauncey Milton Griggs and Mary Chafee Wells Griggs are:

Children
Calvin Wells GRIGGS b: 13 NOV 1886 in Minnesota
Milton Wright GRIGGS b: 15 NOV 1888 in Minnesota
Katherine Glyde GRIGGS b: 10 JUN 1890 in Minnesota
Mary S. GRIGGS b: MAR 1893 OR 21 APR 1893 in Minnesota
Everett Gallup GRIGGS b: 17 DEC 1894 in Minnesota
Benjamin Glyde GRIGGS b: 1 JAN 1898 in Minnesota
Elizabeth GRIGGS b: 3 MAR 1901 in Minnesota
Chauncey Wright GRIGGS b: 3 NOV 1902 in Minnesota

(Note that this Griggs branch of the Wells family line extends to the present)

Calvin Wells and his wives, sisters Anne Wells and Mary Wells, are buried in Allegheny Cemetery Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Here is a description of some of Calvin Wells' buisness interests...


It is said that an institution is but the lengthened shadow of a man. The man most responsible for the success, repute and prosperity of the Pittsburgh Forge & Iron Co. unquestionably is Calvin Wells, who since 1878 has been the president of the corporation. After graduating from the Western University of Pennsylvania, Calvin Wells began his business career as a bookkeeper for C. G. Hussey. His work was performed so acceptably that in I852 the firm of Hussey & Wells was organized. In i859 the title of the partnership was changed to Hussey, Wells & Co. (For those days they were rather important steel manufacturers.) Calvin Wells was general manager of the business of Hussey, Wells & Co. until I876. when he sold his interest in the firm to Dr. Hussey. In i865 he acquired a membership in the firm of A. C. French & Co., car spring manufacturers. He was an active participant in the affairs of this concern until 1884 when he disposed of his holdings in the car springs establishment to Mr. French. Another manufacturing enterprises with which Calvin Wells has long been interested in is the Illinois Zinc Company, noted for its manufactures of sheet zinc, spelter and sulfuric acid.
Of the Illinois Zinc Company, Calvin Wells has been President and Treasurer for thirty-seven years. Established by John W. Forney, on of the most influential dailies in Philadelphia was purchased by Calvin Wells in 1878. The ownership of this great newspaper property Mr. Wells still retains. Despite the importance and value of his other holdings, the affairs of the Pittsburgh Forge and Iron Co. continue to receive the careful attention of Calvin Wells. He still takes upon himself the task of President and Treasurer. F. E. Richardson is Secretary of the company, and between the two are divided the arduous duties pertaining to the management. The offices of the company are on the corner of Penn Avenue and Tenth Street Pittsburgh; the works of the Pittsburgh Forge and Iron Co. are located in Allegheny, four miles away, on the “Fort Wayne” railroad. At the company’s plant are employed about 1,000 men. (Thereafter follows a lengthy description of the products and value of the company’s annual output).

Source: The Story of Pittsburgh [available on line from PSU].


Here is a snapshot of Mrs. Calvin Wells:


Mrs Calvin Wells of Lincoln Avenue is one of the intellectual women. In person, she is rather under the medium size, inclined to enbonpoint and verging on the brunette style of coloring. Their house is large and furnished more with a view to comfort than style. Mr. Wells owns the Philadelphia Press and is a millionaire. One of their daughters maried R. J. Cook, the famous captian of the Yale boat crew and the other a gentleman of St. Paul. Mrs. Wells was a Miss Glyde, her father who was quite well off being a member of the firm Shaklett and Glyde. (The Social Mirror, page 93)

FREDERICK H. SWEET

FREDERICK H. SWEET
February 6, 1844 – [? After 1920]

Although further research is needed to confirm that the F. H. Sweet of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club is indeed Frederick H. Sweet of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the prospect seems most likely.


Frederick H. Sweet, who for most of his life went by F. H. Sweet or Fred H. Sweet, was born in 1844 in Athens, Pennsylvania which is within a few miles of New York State in Bradford County. Sweet himself gave New York State as his place of birth in the 1880 census. Both of his parents were listed as New York natives as well. His wife Mary Jane Sharar (born in 1846, died somtime after the death of her father which was in 1897) was a Pennsylvania native, as were her parents Mr. and Mrs. William (Rebecca States) Sharar.

The Rev. J. B. Polsgrove officiated at the marriage of Fred H. Sweet and Mary Jane Sharar on July 11, 1870.

The Sweets had two children:


Harry Sweet was born in Pennsylvania in 1871. He was married in April of 1894 to Kate Fegley, the Rev. W. H. Graff officiating. Less than two years later Harry H. Sweet died, in late August or September 1, 1895.


Alice Sweet was born in Pennsylvania in 1878. Alice Sweet married Chester Rice Misner, (born 6 September 1879 in Indiana. His parents were William J. Misner (1852 - ?) and Sarah C. Rice. In 1880 Chester resided with his parents at Richland Township, Madison County, Indiana. By 1900 he resided in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as boarder, still single. By 1920 he and his wife Alice and his father- in-law Fred H. Sweet lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Chester Rice Minser was a mechanical engineer. In 1920 Fred H. Sweet was listed as widowed and the manager at the wood company.


F. H. Sweet was engaged in pattern making for the woodworking industry. Here is more about his business…


The Williamsport Machine Company was organized as a limited concern, March W, 1882, with a capital stock of $6,000. In 1878 Thomas and John H. Millspaugh, who had done business since 1875 at the corner of Hepburn street and the canal, purchased from Oliver Watson a small building located on the site of their present works. Here they did general repairing and manufactured engines and saw mills until March 30, 1882, when Fred H. Sweet was admitted as a partner. The firm manufactures all kinds of improved woodworking machinery. The building been enlarged until they now occupy a floor space of 42,000 square feet. The capital stock is $225,000. The company is officered as follows: John H. Millspaugh, chairman; F. H. Sweet, general manager; Thomas Millspaugh, secretary and treasurer. The office and works are located on West Third and West streets. From ninety to one hundred men are employed.


Another account of the business follows here…


Following the 1875 dissolution of Millspaugh, Rowley & Millspaugh, Thomas Millspaugh and John H. Millspaugh started a business manufacturing and repairing engines and saw mills. They were joined in 1882 by Fred H. Sweet (who had been working at Rowley & Hermance, and Williamsport Machine Co. was organized as a limited concern, with a capital stock of $6,000. The developed a complete line of woodworking machinery, and by 1892 they had 42,000 square feet of space, and a capital stock of $225,000. At that time the company officers were John H. Millspaugh, chairman; F. H. Sweet, general manager; Thomas Millspaugh, secretary and treasurer. From ninety to one hundred men were employed.


Williamsport Machine Co. was one of the eleven companies that merged in 1897 to form American Wood Working Machine Co. Williamsport's jointers, at least, continued to be made by the merged company. A "Happy Thought" planer badged with both the Williamsport and American names is reported.

More on this subject...

In 1897, American Wood Working Machine Co. was incorporated by Charles N. King, Nelson R. Vanderhoof, and August C. Kellog. It was a $50 million to $80 million corporation - a lot of money at that time. The object of the company was to join a large group of major woodworking machine makers into one concern, and thus achieve both manufacturing and marketing economies. Manufacture of the products of the 11 participants was consolidated into four factories, and adjustments in sales arrangements were made.

American's catalog #1, issued in 1898, named the 11 merged companies, shown in the illustration of the catalog page. Note the pointed denial that any antitrust laws were being violated.

Source: Merger mania of the '90s ... 1890s, that is.- from “Wood and Wood Products”, Jan 1995

F. H. Sweet was also a civic leader in Williamsport as indicated by the following…


The Lycoming Opera House Company was chartered May 19,1891, with the following officers: President, H., W. Watson; secretary and treasurer, John L. Guinter; directors, Charles R. Stearns, Fred H. Sweet, Emanuel Andrews, J. W. Pierson, Charles J. Cummings, William C. King, and H. W. Watson. The building is situated on West Third and Laurel streets, and has a seating capacity of 1,800. It cost $85,000.

Here is a biography from the History of Lycoming County, edited by John F. Meginness; ©1892:

FRED H. SWEET, general manager of the Williamsport Machine Company, was born in Athens, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1844. His parents, John S. and Mary (Carmon) Sweet, came to Williamsport in 1854, where the former became a prominent contractor and builder. He erected many of the prominent buildings of the city, but has now retired from active business. He is a member of Pine Street Methodist Episcopal church, in which faith his wife died in 1871. They reared a family of one son and three daughters, Fred H. being the youngest of the family. He was educated in the city schools and at Dickinson Seminary. He learned the carpenter’s trade with his father, followed it for four years, and then engaged in contracting and building. He subsequently followed pattern making for one year and then became foreman of the pattern shop of A. T. Nichols, with whom he continued until the failure of that gentleman. For the succeeding six years he had charge of the pattern department in the machine works of Rowley & Hermance, and in 1883 he associated himself with the Millspaugh Brothers, and organized the Williamsport Machine Company, of which he has since been the general manager.

Mr. Sweet is one of the organizers of the Williamsport Suspender Company, is a stockholder in the Lycoming Opera House Company, and is one of the directors and a member of the building committee in the erection of the new opera house. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is connected with the lodge, chapter, commandery, and council. He is a Republican in politics, and an active supporter of that party. Mr. Sweet was married in 1869 to Mary Jane, daughter of William Sharar, of Williamsport, and has two children: Harry, and Alice.

For the record, the charter members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were:R F Ruff; T H Sweat; Charles J Clarke; Thomas Clark; W F Fundenberg; Howard Hartley; H C Yeager; J B White; H C Frick; E A Myers; C C Hussey; D R Ewer; C A Carpenter; W L Dunn; W L McClintock; A V Holmes.

DANIEL J. MORRELL

Daniel Johnson Morrell
August 8, 1821 – August 20, 1885

Daniel Johnson Morrell was born August 8, 1821 in North Berwick, Maine, the son of (and one of ten children of) Thaddeus Morrell and Susannah Ayres, a Quaker family. Morrell married Susan Stackhouse (January 5, 1821 - July 6, 1887), the daughter of Powell Stackhouse and Edith Dillworth, on February 11, 1845 in Philadelphia, PA.


Morrell was the long time general manager of the Cambria Iron Company (he had in fact been Carnegie’s employer for a time). He held the post from 1855 until ill health caused his retirement almost thirty years later. Morrell became a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club so as to have both a voice and influence upon its design and development. Much correspondence exists between Morrell and B F Ruff to show that Morrell had deep concerns about the Club's dam and its integrity (or lack thereof). Most of what Morrell tried to do was either igonred or scoffed at by Ruff.


One of Johnstown’s leading citizens (one could make the arguement that he was Johnstown's MOST influential citizen) Morrell was the president of the local gas and water company from 1860 to 1884 and president of the First National Bank of Johnstown from 1863 to 1884. He was also president of the city council.


Here is his Congressional Biography…


MORRELL, Daniel Johnson, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in North Berwick, York County, Maine, August 8, 1821; attended the public schools; moved to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1836; entered a counting room as clerk and afterward engaged in mercantile pursuits; moved to Johnstown, Pa., in 1855 and became general manager of the Cambria Iron Co.; also served as president of the local gas and water company 1860-1884 and president of the First National Bank of Johnstown 1863-1884; president of the city council many years; elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1871); chairman, Committee on Manufactures (Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress; commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1878; again engaged in banking; died in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa., August 20, 1885; interment in Grandview Cemetery, Johnstown.

Morrell died four years before the Johnstown Flood--a disaster which confirmed the fears he had often expressed and energetically worked to avoid. Subsequently, Morrell’s membership was purchased by the Cambria Iron Company’s chief legal counsel and Johnstown resident, Cyrus Elder.

A photograph of Morrell may be seen at the "Daniel Johnson Morrell" Wikipedia article.

A Great Lakes ship named the Daniel J Morrell was launched in 1906 and broke up and sank in a storm on November 29, 1966--much like the more famous Edmund Fitzgerald. 28 of her 29 man crew were lost. You can see a photo of the ship here:

http://www.mhsd.org/photogallery/morrell-11-25-66-stcrvr-5pm-EmoryMassman.jpg

Here follows a longer biography, with the source noted:

FROM THE BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION, AUGUST 26, 1885.

HON. DANIEL J. MORRELL died at his home in Johnstown on Thursday morning, August 20, 1885, at the age of 64 years and twelve days. Daniel Johnson Morrell was a descendant of one of three brothers who in early colonial days emigrated from Old England to New England. From these three brothers there probably descended all the Morrells and Morrills in the United States today. David Morrell, grandfather of Daniel J. Morrell, made his home in Maine considerably over a century ago, and here, in a settlement of Friends, or Quakers, in the town, or township, of Berwick and county of York, was born, one hundred and two years ago, on the farm on which he died eleven years ago, Thaddeus Morrell. When about twenty-three years old he married a neighbor's daughter, Susannah Ayres. They were married on February 17, 1806, and were buried on the same day, June 10, 1874. Ten children were given to this Quaker couple, of whom eight grew to manhood and womanhood. Daniel was the seventh child. He was born on the farm on August 8, 1821. The childhood and youth of Mr. Morrell were attended by such vicissitudes as are experienced by most boys whose lot has been cast in pioneer homes. His immediate ancestors were true pioneers, whose scanty fortunes had been carved from primeval forests and gleaned from the virgin soil amid many hardships and at the risk of life itself. His father's family wore homespun, woven from threads of flax and wool which had made acquaintance with the family spinning-wheel. When old enough Daniel was taught to assist in the labors of the farm, and when the winter school was in session he was a regular attendant. But the entire time spent by him in the school-room did not exceed two years. The education thus acquired was, of course, limited to the most elementary studies. The only additional schooling he ever received was obtained in a course of study at a commercial college after his entrance upon a business life. His religious training was such as prevails among the Friends. Those citizens of York county who were not engaged in farming sixty-odd years ago found profitable and needed employment in some form of manufacturing industry. If they did not make iron the first settlers of York county did make it. During the Revolution the colonists had great difficulty in procuring iron, and extraordinary efforts were made to supply the want. Many Catalan forges were erected, by means of which malleable iron was obtained directly from the ore by a single fusion. One of these forges stood two miles from the farm of David Morrell, and from the farm itself was taken the ore from which the iron was made. The grandmother of the boy Daniel used to delight to tell him how the iron was made by the Catalan process in the forge that had long been abandoned. Years afterwards, in a distant State, he successfully embarked in the manufacture of iron and steel on the largest scale and by the most improved modern processes. In 1837, when in his sixteenth year, Mr. Morrell left home and went to Philadelphia, to which city his older brother David had preceded him. David was engaged in the wholesale dry-goods trade as a member of the firm of Trotter, Morrell & Co., which occupied the building now designated as No. 32 North Fourth street. With this firm Mr. Morrell was employed as a clerk for five years, until 1842, when the firm was dissolved and he embarked in the same business for himself, in the same building, his brother David being associated with him. The business of this firm was conducted with energy, but with some eccentricity on the part of David, the older brother, which finally led to its dissolution. In 1845 Mr. Morrell joined Oliver Martin, a dealer in fancy dry goods, at No. 28 North Fourth street, first as a clerk and afterwards as a partner, the firm name being Martin, Morrell & Co. In 1854 Mr. Martin died and Mr. Morrell became executor of his estate.

Notwithstanding the death of Mr. Martin the business of the firm continued, and Mr. Morrell's duties kept him constantly engaged until 1855, when his mercantile career ended. He retired with a small capital to assume the management of the Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, which had been established in 1853 for the manufacture of iron rails, and which in 1855 passed into the hands of Wood, Morrell & Co. as lessees. This position he retained for nearly twenty-nine years, until January, 1884, when failing health obliged him to retire from all active business. Down to 1871 the product of the Cambria Iron Works was iron rails solely, in the manufacture of which they had acquired an excellent reputation, but long prior to this year the time had arrived when it became apparent that rails rolled from steel made by the Bessemer process must ultimately displace those made of iron, on account of their greater durability. Mr. Morrell early perceived the coming revolution, and it was largely through his efforts and persistence that the directors of his company were among the first in this country to enter upon the business of manufacturing Bessemer rails. The company commenced their manufacture on July 12, 1871. During the early part of his mercantile career Mr. Morrell frequently visited the Western and Southern States as a collector, and in this way he obtained a knowledge of the extent and resources of the country which he could not otherwise have acquired. He was a regular attendant for several years upon the lectures of the Franklin Institute, and the time thus spent in a scientific atmosphere was most profitably employed. Attaching himself to the Whig party he became an ardent admirer of its great leader, Henry Clay, and from his speeches he obtained a knowledge of the policy of governmental protection to American industries, of which policy he subsequently became one of the most prominent exponents in the country. Since 1855 Mr. Morrell had resided continuously in Johnstown and taken an active interest in its growth and prosperity. He might have kept himself aloof from its people and manifested no interest in their welfare, but he chose to regard himself as one of their number and to throw his influence in the scale in behalf of local improvements and an enlarged public spirit. During the Rebellion he greatly aided the cause of the country by encouraging the enlistment of volunteers. Almost every able-bodied employe at the Cambria Iron Works was at some period of the war an enlisted Union soldier. When the war closed his great ability, his patriotism, his intelligent and influential advocacy of the protective policy, and his many sterling qualities of head and heart were recognized by the people of the Congressional district in which he resided, who twice elected him their Representative in Congress - first in 1866 by a majority of 1,219 and again in 1868 - by a majority of 1,094. In 1870 he was a candidate for re-election, but was beaten by 11 votes through the defection of a faction of the Republican party in Huntingdon county. In his first speech in Congress Mr. Morrell uttered the following plea for labor: "The American workingman must live in a house, not a hut; he must wear decent clothes and eat wholesome and nourishing food. He is an integral part of the municipality, the State, and the Nation; subject to no fetters of class or caste; neither pauper, nor peasant, nor serf, but a free American citizen. He has the ballot, and if it were possible it would be dangerous to degrade him. The country stands pledged to give him education, political power, and a higher form of life than foreign nations accord their laborers, and he must be sustained by higher rates of wages than those of Europe. Our industries operated by American citizens must be freed from foreign interference and organized into a distinct American system, which will exact some temporary sacrifices but result in general prosperity and true national independence. In maintaining diversified industries we utilize every talent, provide a field for every capacity, and bind together the whole people in mutual dependence and support, assuring the strength and security of our Republic." No better definition of the protective policy of this country was ever written. Upon the organization of the first Congress to which, Mr. Morrell was elected, the Fortieth, he was made chairman of the standing committee on manufactures and a member of the standing committee on freedmen's affairs. He retained his chairmanship of the committee on manufactures during the Forty-first Congress, and was also a member of the standing committee on the Pacific Railroad and of the select committee on the decline of American commerce. The feature, however, of his Congressional career with which his name will longest be associated is his introduction on the 9th of March, 1870, of a bill to provide for the celebration at Philadelphia of the hundredth anniversary of American Independence. This bill became a law largely through his persistent advocacy of its propriety and justice, and through the happy effect produced on Congress and the country by his admirably conceived speech of the 14th of December, 1870, in favor of its passage. Upon the organization of the Centennial Commission provided for in the act of Congress the services of Mr. Morrell in securing its creation, and his superior business and executive qualifications, were recognized by his selection as chairman of the executive committee of the commission. In January, 1878, Mr. Morrell was appointed by President Hayes a commissioner to the Paris Exposition. On Tuesday evening, May 7, 1878, he was tendered a farewell dinner at the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia by leading citizens of the State, including Governor John F. Hartranft, Mayor William S. Stokley, Hon. Morton McMichael, General Robert Patterson, Thomas A. Scott, Henry C. Carey, A. J. Drexel, A. E. Borie, and many others almost equally distinguished. Over one hundred gentlemen sat down to the dinner, which was tendered him "as a complimentary testimonial on the eve of his departure to Europe as a Commissioner from the United States to the International Industrial Exposition at Paris, and in recognition of the services rendered by him to the Centennial Exhibition while he was a member of Congress, and afterwards while filling the arduous and responsible position of chairman of the executive committee of the Centennial Commission during the whole period of its existence." Governor Hartranft presided at the dinner. On May 9, 1878, Mr. Morrell sailed for Europe, returning on the 14th of October, 1878. On the 6th of March, 1879, Mr. Morrell was elected president of the American Iron and Steel Association. He resigned this office on December 15, 1884, his resignation being accepted and his successor chosen on January 6, 1885. His official retirement from the management of the Cambria Iron Works took place on January 15, 1884, owing to ill-health, as we have already stated.

In 1845 Mr. Morrell married Susan Lower, daughter of Powell Stackhouse, a member of the Society of Friends. His wife and a daughter survive him.* The latter is the wife of Captain Philip E. Chapin, the general manager of the Cambria Iron Works. Mr. Morrell was never blessed with any other children. The funeral of Mr. Morrell took place on Monday, August 24, and was attended by an immense concourse of his old neighbors and employes. Many friends from a distance were also present. He was buried at Johnstown, amid the scenes of his industrial triumphs and among a people who loved him and will miss him.

*Mrs. Morrell died at her home in Johnstown on June 7, 1887. Her daughter, Mrs. Chapin, died in Paris, France, on March 2, 1909.

More on their daughter:

Name
Anna Stackhouse Morrell
Born
14 JAN 1850
Married
1 December 1880 to Philip Eugene Chapin. Philip Eugene Chapin was b. in New Hartford, Conn., 1 December 1838. Philip Eugene Chapin was from Cleveland OH and the author of a pamphlet about wood planes. Mrs. Chapin was a guest at a soiree in DC in 1896.

Anna Morrell's first husband George A. Bates, was Mr. Morrell's assistant for a few years prior to his death, which occurred in September, 1877.

Henry Wilson Storey has an equally excellent article about Morrell in his "History of Cambria County" which can be read on line.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN RUFF

Benjamin Franklin Ruff
1835 – March 29, 1887*

Benjamin Franklin Ruff was born in 1835. His wife Mary Jane was born in 1840. They had at least one daughter, Sally, who was born in 1860. Ruff is said to have been a Connellsville-area neighbor and a friend of Henry Clay Frick. In her wonderful book on Frick, Martha Sanger tells us that Ruff often stayed at The Monongahela House, the residential hotel in Pittsburgh where H. C. Frick also lodged. So when Ruff envisioned the summer retreat in the hills above Johnstown, it was natural that he promoted this idea to Frick, who by that time had achieved his goal of being a millionaire by age 30. Indeed Frick was fast becoming one of the richest men in America and he was, as yet, single.


There is an excellent account in David McCullough’s “The Johnstown Flood” of how Ruff bought the land and developed it for the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Below is a summary from other sources...

For the record, the charter members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were: B F Ruff; T H Sweet; Charles J Clarke; Thomas Clark; W F Fundenberg; Howard Hartley; H C Yeager; J B White; H C Frick; E A Myers; C C Hussey; D R Ewer; C A Carpenter; W L Dunn; W L McClintock; A V Holmes.

B. F. Ruff had been a tunnel contractor for the Pennsylvania Railroad and sometime-real estate salesman, as well as a coke dealer. He became not only the purchaser but also the developer and the first president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. B. F. Ruff supervised the repairs to the dam, and while he was not a civil engineer, he had a background that included being a railroad tunnel contractor.


Here is how two Flood historians describe it…


In 1879 Henry Clay Frick was approached by a good friend and neighbor, Benjamin Ruff. Mr. Ruff had quite an idea - to purchase an old canal reservoir a few miles upstream from Johnstown and create a new fishing and hunting club, which was all the rage at the time. Mr. Frick signed on, and in that year the infamous South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was born.
For the next 10 years, the club owned a breathtaking lake and offered some of the finest scenery that Western Pennsylvania had to offer. The club's membership grew to include some of America's most powerful men. The club itself was a private affair, yet it found itself in the middle of one of the largest scandals of the late 19th century: the Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889.

(Source: Stanley Pinkas, Chairman; Douglas J. Richardson, Historian; 1889 South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club Historical Preservation Society; St. Michael, PA; from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Letter to the Editor, Saturday, January 22, 2000)


* * *

One source summarizes the history of the start of the Club this way…


In 1875 Congressman John Reilly bought the dam, lake, and surrounding land for $2,500, then sustained a $500 loss when he resold it to Benjamin F. Ruff in 1879. Ruff developed the property into the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club with a wealthy nabob membership of 100 families including those of Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, Henry C. Frick, A. V. Holmes, Philander C. Knox, W. L. Dunn, and John A. Harper. Each paid $2,000 to join [sic; McCullough says the cost to join was $800.00; "The Johnstown Flood"; page 57].

As McCullough further relates, Cyrus Elder, the chief legal counsel for the Cambria Iron Company, became "extremely exercised" by the news that Ruff was rebuilding the old dam... (TJF, page 67). Ironically, Elder would later buy the deceased Morrell's membership and on the day of the Flood, lose his home, his wife and daughter to the deluge.

A brief history of the dam by John Fulton, who was Club member Daniel Morrell’s chief engineer at the Cambria Iron Company, as printed in the “Annual report of the Commissioner of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1928/30"; which also has outstanding plans and sections of the South Fork Dam…


The work of the dam was begun in 1840 and completed in 1852. It was constructed under the authority of the state of Pennsylvania, from plans by William E Morris, principal assistant engineer; the work was performed under contract by Col James K Moorehead. … the dam was abandoned in 1857. the first break occurred in July 1862, carrying out about 25,000 cubic yards. The break was caused by neglect of the bulkhead and general want of repairs to the dam. As its pool at this time was only half full, a moderate amount of damage was caused in the valley below. In May of 1875 this property consisting of about 500 acres including the dam was sold to Hon. John Rilley. He held the property until 1879 when he disposed of it to B. F. Ruff, an old railroad contractor, for $2000.

[David McCullough states that although Congressman Reilly sold the property at a slight loss, he made up for it by first removing the old cast iron discharge pipes and selling them for scrap. (The Johnstown Flood, page 55]

Mr. Ruff the same year interested some Pittsburghers and others in this property and organized “The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club”. He estimated the cost of repairing the first break at $1,700—it is said to have cost $17,000. The repairs were made in the summer and fall of 1880. During this and subsequent years a number of quite elegant cottages were built along the south margin of this, “The Conemaugh Lake”. …(thereafter follows an account of the exchange between Ruff and Morrell regarding the need for repairs and the insufficiency of the brush used as fill, etc. as well as an account of the flood itself). ...there is no evidence that any engineer was employed in making these repairs. Mr. Ruff evidently dominated the whole of the operations of the repair of the dam. Every operation in making these repairs exhibited a total lack of skill or criminal negligence. (thereafter these flaws are enumerated and described)
- John Fulton, C. E.
- Engineer Member
- Johnstown Pa. January 1, 1898

Accounts of the improvements made on behalf of the Club by B. F. Ruff and Cyrus Unger included lowering the top of the dam by about four feet, making the roadway across the top of the dam wider (about 17 feet) and more convenient for carriages to pass one another going to and from the Clubhouse and Cottages. This made the center of the dam the lowest and weakest point.

Benjamin Franklin Ruff died suddenly on March 29, 1887 of a carbuncle of the neck, at a Pittsburgh hotel. It was two years, almost to the day, before the tragic events of the Johnstown Flood.*


*(Ruff's year of death is given in David McCullough's American Heritage article about the Flood called, “Run For Your Lives!”, June 1966; and he further provides the day and month in his book "The Johnstown Flood" on page 78).

H. SELLERS McKEE

Henry Sellers McKee
March 5, 1843 – June 10, 1924

According to McKee family researchers, H. (Henry) Sellers McKee was born on March 5, 1843 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (although on at least one occasion, McKee himself gave as his date of birth, August 9, 1842*). H Sellers McKee was the son of Thomas McKee (b: 18 Sep 1800) and his wife Henrietta “Hetty” Zillhart (b: 19 Oct 1809). Thomas was a native of Carlisle Pennsylvania, and Hetty, of Pittsburgh. Thomas was a glass manufacturer as were H. Sellers McKee's uncles, Samuel, John and Daniel McKee. His grandfather William McKee was also in the glass manufacturing business according to the Birmingham Twp. census of 1850. His grandmother was Mary Stewart McKee, daughter of Archibald Stewart, who can be found in many of the banking companies of Pittsburgh.

Henry Sellers McKee had 11 brothers and sisters who were all well to do residents of the Pittsburgh area. Most of them were in the family business of glass making. The original "McKee Brothers" who were with the McKee Glass Co. were Henry's brothers Frederick (b. 1827) and James (b. 1829) McKee--the two oldest in the family.

H. Sellers McKee married Jeannette E. Hartupee (family sources say she was born May 18, 1849 in Pittsburgh, died 18 Nov 1924 in New York City, NY). However, Mrs. McKee gave as her date of birth Sept 14, 1846 on the same occasion that HS McKee gave an alternate dob.*


The Social Mirror describes Jeannette E. Hartupee McKee as follows:


“Mrs. H. Sellers McKee, a large, fine-looking lady, although fond of society and active in charitable work, is moreover a devoted mother and fine housekeeper. The McKees live in a lovely Allegheny residence and keep their coach and pair. Mrs. McKee has a number of fine diamonds. Their worth is estimated at well over a million...”

Mrs. Jeannette E. Hartupee Mckee was a Daughter of the American Revoloution: DAR ID Number: 24373 Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Wife of Henry Sellers McKee. Descendant of Capt. William Hartupee and of Aaron Mershon. Daughter of Andrew Hartupee and Louise David Cook, his wife. Granddaughter of Aaron Hartupee and Isabella White, his wife. Gr.-granddaughter of William Hartupee and Jane Mershon, his wife. Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of Aaron Mershon and Mary Gapin, his wife. [p.134] William Hartupee, (1756-1844), served as captain of Middlesex County, New Jersey militia. He was born in Cranbury, N. J.; died in Pittsburg, Pa. Aaron Mershon, (1740-76), was a private in the New Jersey state troops at the battle of Long Island, where he lost his life. He was born in Trenton, N. J.

H. Sellers McKee was president of the First National Bank of Birmingham; glassmaker and developer of the use of natural gas in manufacturing. He was a member of the Duquesne Club. Calvin Wells, H S McKee, James W. Brown and M K Moorhead all served as directors of the Exchange Bank of Pittsburgh (established in 1836), located on Fifth Avenue between Wood and Market streets. Charles J. Clarke, Ruben Miller and H. Sellers McKee were directors of the Western Insurance Co, established in 1849.

The McKee Residence stood at 230 Ridge Avenue, Allegheny.

The family of H. Sellers McKee and Jeannette S. Hartupee:

Children:

Thomas M. McKee (1854-1939) (more below)

A. Hartupee McKee (known as Hart) - lived and died in Paris, France. He married Eliza McCullough Sutton (born on 23 June 1871) the daughter of Rhodes Stansbury Sutton and Josephine McCullough.

_ _ _

Thomas M. McKee married Nellie Foster Wood, Nov. 27, 1889

Children of Thomas M. McKee and Nellie Foster Wood McKee:

H. Sellers McKee II - born Feb. 11, 1891; died Sept. 26, 1978, West Islip, NY

Married on June 24, 1916:

Alice Martin Davies (? - died September 1971)

Children of H. Sellers McKee II and Alice Martin Davies:

- H. Sellers McKee III, (April 13, 1917 - May 21, 1923)

- Julien Davies McKee (June 13, 1918 - ?)

- Marie Rose McKee (Sept. 10, 1921 - now deceased)

- Richard Gilpin McKee (Sept. 10, 1932 - )

* * *

Julien Davies McKee married (1) Helen Frances Busard (1922/1975) on April 2, 1944); married (2) Mary V R Robbins on June 13, 1964.

Children of Julien and Helen McKee:

- Julien Davies McKee, Jr. (April 27, 1945 - )

- H. Sellers McKee, II. (November 23, 1946 - )

- Rodney Wood McKee (September 7, 1948 - August 12, 1996)

- - -

Marie Rose McKee married Richard G. Yates on March 14, 1942. Two children:

Richard G. Yates Jr and Jeffrey Yates

- - -

Richard G. McKee married Suzanne Eddy on Spetember 5, 1953 (divorced)

Children of Richard and Suzanne McKee:

Richard G McKee, Jr., married Gard Elizabeth Olund, Nov. 25, 1956

Children: Alice McKee and Hope McKee

Hope McKee, CRNP, MSNLecturer BContact InformationUniversity of Pennsylvania School of NursingRoom 480 NEB420 Guardian DrivePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6096UNITED STATEStel: (215) 573-2184

- - -

H. Sellers McKee II (born 11/23/1946) married (1) Carol Ann Hatch (1948/1972) in June 1969; married (2) Elin Birgitta Lundgren (1952/1977) on April 27, 1973; married (3) Ana Maria deSiqueira Laffont (born Oct. 25, 1956) on August 29, 1987.

Children of H. Sellers McKee and Erin Birgitta Lundgren:

Ian Clayton McKee (born Octoer 20, 1974) (he was featured as one of the eligible bachelors on "The Bachelorette")

Erik Busard McKee (born May 19, 1976)

* * *

Here is a history of McKee Glass Company:

McKee and Company (McKee Glass Company)Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (c.1834-1888); Jeannette, Pennsylvania (1888-1951)

This company went through various name and ownership changes. Sources of information on McKee frequently disagree and the timeline for company and factory names and their actual years of operation are confusing and incomplete. At least 4 or 5 McKee brothers were involved in the early glass industry in Pittsburgh. Samuel & James McKee reportedly started a factory in Pittsburgh circa 1834. Samuel McKee operated a factory (S.McKee & Company) after c.1836.(Some sources give 1850 or 1860). There were evidently at least 3 separate McKee factories under operation at the same time, using similar names, although the owners, of course, were related.Bottles, fruit jars, window glass and other products were made in abundance. Company names included "McKee Brothers" and "McKee Brothers & Co" during certain periods. Glass factory embossed marks on some bottles give the spelling as "M'Kee". Threadless glass telegraph line insulators (CD 731) marked "S.McKee & Co." were evidently produced in the Civil War period and immediately afterward (circa 1865-1875).McKee moved to Jeannette, PA in 1888, (at that time known as McKee Brothers' Works), and then in 1899 became part of the National Glass Company "combine". However, by 1903, McKee had apparently broken away from the combine, and later reorganized to become known as the "McKee-Jeannette Glass Works". At some point in time, it seems to have become known simply as "McKee Glass Company", but with perhaps some minor variations in the exact business name being used through the years. Under this name large quantities of high quality glassware was produced, including pressed "pattern glass", milk glass and other opaque ware, blackglass, etc. Window glass was also produced, at least during the early years at Jeannette. McKee also made industrial glassware as I have received information from Mark Ounan indicating they produced automotive glass headlight lenses in the c. 1917 period. He owns a lense marked "Dodge Brothers / U. S. A. / McKee & Co. / Jeannette PA". I presume this is the same company as "McKee Glass Company" though there is a slight possibility it was a separate McKee company also located in Jeannette. Any additional info is appreciated. After many years of production the factory was acquired in 1951 to become the McKee Division of Thatcher Glass Company. In 1961 Jeannette Glass Company bought the property and a variety of pressed glass items and ornamental tableware was manufactured there by Jeannette until it closed in 1983. (Pictured: Light aqua "coffin flask" of the type made by many Midwestern glasshouses in the 1870s-1890s period. This one is embossed "S. McKee & Co." on the base.) [McKearin & McKearin- American Glass; Newbound- Collector's Encyclopedia of Milkglass, other sources]


McKee Glass Company began its life as McKee and Brothers Glass Works in Pittsburgh, PA in 1853. The factory later moved to Jeannette, PA, which was founded by H. Sellers McKee and named for his wife. In 1901, the National Glass Company took over the factory and ran it as McKee Glass until 1904. In 1904, National leased the factory to McKee-Jeannette Glass Company. It is this company that launched the patterns we now call the “tec” patterns. (The High “Tec” World of McKee’s “Tec” Patterns)


In 1887, H. Sellers McKee and James Chambers began buying land in the valley for the construction of their glass factory. The company built long rows of brick dwellings to house workers, who began blowing glass in 1889. Chambers-McKee Glass Co. eventually became the American Window Glass Co., the largest window-glass factory in the world, employing more than 1,000 people. McKee's father and brothers, who owned McKee Brothers Glass Co. of Pittsburgh, opened a plant in Jeannette called McKee Jeannette Glass Works. It was the largest tableware glass factory in the world and employed almost 600. Other glass factories in the city included The Pittsburgh Lamp, Brass and Glass Co. -- formerly Dithridge & Co. -- of Pittsburgh; Westmoreland Specialty Glass; Jeannette Glass Co.; and the Fort Pitt Glass Co. Jeannette was incorporated as a borough on June 7, 1889. Within a year, the population reached 3,000. By 1890, the Pennsylvania Railroad constructed a station on the main line, and Jeannette became known as the fastest-growing community on the main line. The town was named in honor of H. Sellers McKee's wife, Jeannette. As Jeannette's place in the glass-making world gained strength, other industries moved into the region. (By Marjorie Wertz, FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Sunday, January 28, 2007)


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From: John N. Boucher, "History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania", The Lewis Publishing Co., 1906. Pages 504-505:
"Jeannette, "the glass city", bears the proud distinction of being the first large manufacturing town within Westmoreland county, the sixth county in population in the state in 1900. It has the largest window glass plant in the world, and the largest pressed glass concern in America. According to government statistics it produces more glass in various forms than any other place in the United States. “This borough derived its name from the wife of one of the founders, Jeannette being the name of Mrs. McKee, whose husband, H. Sellers McKee, in company with the Western Land and Improvement company of Philadelphia, together with Messrs. Chambers and Brickell of Pittsburgh, purchased in the spring of 1888 the farms of J. F. Thompson, Solomon Longhner and J.F. Gilchrist. The discovery of natural gas at Grapeville brought ready capital to this point. The land company established an office in an old brick farm house, which then stood in an orchard near where the Presbyterian church now stands. The building of the Chambers and McKee Glass Works was the first move toward town building in Jeannette. In June 1888, the company commenced to erect a long row of brick dwelling houses, and all wondered who were going to occupy such fine houses. Lots sold at first at $400, but before a year rolled by they sold at $1,200. The phenomenal growth of Jeannette was only equaled by the building of Vandergrift and Monessen at a little later period. The question of fuel, always a factor to be counted in any factory town, was solved by generous nature long years ago, for within two miles of Jeannette are situated vast coal beds of the best gas producer in Pennsylvania. As to coke, another essential, the borough is near the famous Connellsville coke district, making freight merely a nominal sum, while the natural gas lines entering the place afford cheap fuel in that class. The place was plotted in April, 1888, and by the same month in 1889 fully four thousand people called the place their home. It now numbers between seven and eight thousand, and, including its suburbs, fully ten thousand. Its banks are: The First National, established in 1889, on $50,000 capital. To-day (1905) it has $75,000 undivided profits and $375,000 in deposits. The Jeannette National Bank commenced business about 1900. It has $50,000 capital. The Jeannette Savings and Trust Company opened for business July 10, 1903. The capital is now $135,000. “There are seven great glass factories. It may be stated that these, with the Rubber plant, are what the business life of the borough depends on. The largest tableware glass factory in the world is that of the McKee-Jeannette Glass Works. This was the pioneer plant of the place, and was then known as the McKee Brothers' Works. The first glass produced was in September, 1888. It covers six acres of ground, has six furnaces of 109 pot capacity, and employs from five to six hundred men. Its monthly payroll in $25,000. Eighty per cent. of its product is sold in America, and twenty per cent. exported to its show rooms in all the large European cities. They make what is known as press-cut glass goods, a real rival, as they claim, to the genuine cut glass. “The American Window Glass Company has the largest single window glass plant in the world. The immense building is of brick and stone. Blowing mechanisms are used here in the production of fine window glass. Five years ago the plant came into its present, it formerly being the Chambers-McKee Glass Company. They employ about one thousand men.

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following is the obituary for H. Sellers McKee's mother:
Mrs HETTY McKEE died yesterday morning at her home, No. 139 Smithfield Street. Mrs McKEE was a daughter of Captain DAVID ZELHART and was born on Wood Street near Sixth Avenue in 1809. In 1824, she married THOMAS McKEE, the flint glass manufacturer, who died some twenty years ago. Mrs McKEE leaves five children: H SELLERS McKEE, STEWART McKEE, Mrs LORENZ, and two daughters who are unmarried.

(The above death notices appeared in the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette on June 25 1884; note that Hetty and Thomas McKee had in all 12 children—these five survived her. Stewart McKee’s wife was Virginia Dalzell.)

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Most of the McKee family is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, including Jeannette and H. Sellers McKee and his parents and siblings. Here is the list:

McKEE, Amanda Marie, 1916-1972, w/o Edgar R., Sec 40, Bronze,

MCKEE, Bertha Chadwick, June 8, 1869-Jan 8, 1945, wife of Frederick W.

MCKEE, Catherine, Jan 18, 1836-July 22, 1841

MCKEE, David, Feb 21, 1840-July 12, 1855

McKEE, Edgar R., 1912-1987, h/o Amanda, Sec 40, Bronze

MCKEE, Emma Amelia, Dec 13, 1852-June 22, 1897

McKEE, Emma C., Jan 21, 1849-June 17, 1921

MCKEE, Eric Stewart, Oct 31, 1956-May 10, 1966

McKEE, Florence Barker, 1851-1925

MCKEE, Frederick Chadwick, July 30, 1891-Mar 4, 1961

MCKEE, Frederick W., Dec 26, 1857-Mar 22, 1912

MCKEE, Frederick, Aug 2, 1827-Mar 21, 1865

MCKEE, H. Sellers, Mar 5, 1843-June 10, 1924

MCKEE, Henrietta, July 3, 1849-Jan 2, 1915

MCKEE, Herbert William,Dec 7, 1896-Apr 29, 1991

MCKEE, Hetty Zillhart, Oct 19, 1809-June 24, 1884, mother

MCKEE, James, May 4, 1829-May 15, 1955

McKEE, James L., July 7, 1844-Dec 14, 1922

MCKEE, Jeannette E. Hartupee, May 18, 1849-Nov 13, 1924, wife of H. Sellers

McKEE, Margaret, d: Oct 28, 1875, Age 56

MCKEE, Margaret Dunlop, May 6, 1923-May 10, 1966

MCKEE, Margaret Killoh, Dec 8, 1910-Jan 12, 1996

MCKEE, Mary Stewart, Dec 2, 1894-May 12, 1966

MCKEE, Mary Stewart, died June 14, 1841, in her 66 year, grandmother

MCKEE, Mary, June 23, 1831-Aug 21, 1835

MCKEE, Melissa P., July 2, 1837-July 5, 1905, wife of Frederick

MCKEE, Richard Stewart, June 3, 1924-May 10, 1966

MCKEE, Samuel A., Killed at Petersburg, Va., 16 June 1864, Co.I, 155th P. V.

McKEE, Stewart, Feb 5, 1845-Nov 11, 1885

MCKEE, Thomas, Jr., Sep 8, 1833-Feb 8, 1850

MCKEE, Thomas, Sep 18, 1800-June 2, 1864, father

MCKEE, Wallace Bruce, Aug 11, 1898-Aug 20, 1986

MCKEE, William S., Feb 23, 1836-Nov 22, 1870

McKEE, William Scott, 1848-1923

*The alternate dates of birth offered above for H. Sellers and Jeannette McKee were what they reported for the passenger list of their return home voyage, arriving in New York City at Ellis Island on October 27, 1913 on the “S. S. Nieuw Amsterdam” from Cherbourg, France.