HENRY HOLDSHIP

Henry Holdship
October 26, 1833 – May 11, 1897

The name Henry Holdship belonged to two leaders of Pittsburgh, grandfather and grandson.

Henry Holdship (the elder) was a paper manufacturer. The Anchor Steam Paper Mill, owned and conducted by Henry Holdship, situated at the corner of Ross and Breckenridge Streets, was the largest west of the mountains in 1825; his son George Washington Holdship, serving as a partner with him in the paper business. Their Anchor Paper Mill issued The Farmer’s and Mechanic’s Almanac and similar almanacs that were widely distributed throughout the West as a means of advertising merchandise of particular interest to settlers there. Holdship was a director of the Pittsburgh Gas Light and Coke Company founded in 1827, which had as its purpose providing gas for lighting the city of Pittsburgh. An account of how he began in the paper business is given (below) in this post.

On June 20, 1827, Holdship’s Anchor Paper Mill served to host a gathering in honor of Henry Clay. Mr. Clay delivered an eloquent address and over 600 guests dined that evening. Henry Holdship (the elder) was an early Pittsburgh civic leader, involved in early efforts to improve transportation in and out of the city, including serving as a founding commissioner of the Pittsburgh and Coal Hill Turnpike Road in the 1820s, and the founding of the Pittsburgh Reading-Room in 1829.

Henry Holdship (the elder) was an original pew holder of Trinity Church, Pittsburgh.

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The following biographical sketch will provide greater detail. It comes from Vol. 4 History of Pittsburgh and environs, from prehistoric days to the beginning of the American Revolution, by George Thornton Fleming. 1922:

The history of the city of Pittsburgh would be incomplete indeed were space lacking for the recounting of the achievements of her sons of a generation past, and for recording fitting appreciation of their lives and service. In the number of Pittsburgh citizens who in the course of a career successful in unusual degree, found time and desire for public spirited activity, well directed and valuable, was Henry Holdship.

He came of a family of long connection with Pittsburgh, a grandson of Henry Holdship, whose active years were spent in the city during the post-Revolutionary period. His father was George W. Holdship, a leading paper manufacturer, and for many years the owner of a book store in the city. In the great fire of 1845, his entire stock, including many rare and costly volumes, was destroyed by the flames. George W. Holdship married Eliza Anne Gibson Bryan and they are the parents of Henry Holdship.

Henry Holdship was born in Pittsburgh, Oct. 26, 1833, and in Pittsburgh attended public and private schools, entering school at Lawrenceville, NJ, under the tutorship of the Rev. Joseph Travelli. His business life began in the banking house of Palmer, Hanna & Company of Pittsburgh, and after a term in this employ he and his brother Charles A. opened a bank in Decorah, Iowa. The death of his brother occurring in 1859, Mr. Holdship returned to Pittsburgh, and became secretary in the offices of his cousin, Thomas M Howe [of Hussey Howe and Co., with many S F F & H C connections], who was associated with the Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company. His work in these connections comprised valuable and faithful service but in none of them did he find the sphere of activity for which his talents and qualifications best suited him. This he encountered in 1863 when with his brother George W. Holdship (jr.) he entered the oils fields of Newton, Pa. as a pioneer operator, and it is this line of achieved success that made his name widely known in the oil trade.

In 1865 George W. Holdship died and the firm was reorganized as Holdship and Irwin, Mr. Holdship taking into partnership his brother-in-law, Lewis Irwin.* This association continued until 1886 when ill health required Mr. Holdship to retire from the direction of its affairs, and he withdrew to private life, bearing with him the admiration and respect of his business colleagues, many of whom had witnessed his steady rise to prominence and fortune, and honored him for the splendid qualities that induced his success.

Mr. Holdship was a loyal friend of the Republican Party but it was not in the political arena that he performed his best service to his city, although men and measures of merit and worth always received his wholehearted support and the benefit of his wise influence. In the elevation of the cultural standard of Pittsburgh Mr. Holdship was an interested worker. Himself and ardent lover of art, music and literature, and a generous patron thereof, he strove to share the inspiration and enjoyment he derived fro these sources with the great body of his fellow-men, and to those ends he addressed the practical wisdom and tactful judgment that marked his every relation of life. He was one of the incorporators of the Art Society of Pittsburgh, a founder of the Pittsburgh Orchestra, and one of the chief promoters of the “May Festival” which was a one time a popular institution in the city. Mr. Holdship was a member of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, was a generous supporter of charitable and philanthropic institutions and gave time to the social phase of life, holding membership in several clubs.

Mr. Holdship married, October 3, 1860, Maria Irwin, daughter of the late Henry and Elizabeth (Peterson) Irwin of Allegheny Pa., a descendent of an old Pennsylvania family. They were the parents of Charles Frederick, of Pittsburgh, George Irwin of Pittsburgh and Alice, who married Rev. Edward Twichell Ware, president of Atlanta University. Rev. and Mrs. Ware are the parents of Alexander Holdship and Henry Holdship Ware.

Henry Holdship died May 11, 1897. Of him one could say with St. Paul, “He had run a good race, he had finished the course.”

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Henry Holdship (the younger), as noted above, was born in Pittsburgh in 1833, the son of George Washington Holdship and Eliza Ann Gibson Bryan (Eliza was from Maryland). He married Maria Irwin, also a Pennsylvania native and together they had the following children:

Charles Frederick Holdship – born 1863
George Irwin Holdship – born 1866
Alice Holdship – born 1873

Their household establishment in the City of Allegheny in 1880 was quite elegant and supported a butler, a chamber maid and a cook.

“Mrs. Henry Holdship is decidedly musical; is a finished and brilliant performer on the piano, and thoroughly understands the science of music. She is also artistic and literary in her tastes, and what is rarer, a woman who thinks for herself and to some purpose; has opinions of her own on important subjects and the ability to express them. The family lives in a handsome residence on Lincoln Avenue, Allegheny.” (The Social Mirror, 1888, p 61).

Henry Holdship was associated with banking, mining, and oil throughout his career. He is probably best known for helping to found the Art Society of Pittsburgh and the Symphonic Society (Pittsburgh Orchestra). He was a member of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and the Duquesne Club.

*South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club member Lewis Irwin was Henry Holdship's business partner and brother-in-law. South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club member Dr. David Nevin Rankin was married to another of the Irwin siblings, Anne Katherine (Kate) Irwin. Through their daughter Elizabeth (Lily) Rankin who married Howard Childs, this extended family is related to South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club founder Henry Clay Frick and his wife, Adelaide Childs.

A portrait of Henry Holdship can be seen at this link:

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pitttext;cc=pitttext;q1=henry%20holdship;rgn=full%20text;idno=04aee9405m;didno=04aee9405m;view=image;seq=341;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset

Henry Holdship was 49 at the time of the Johnstown Flood.

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Some distingushed Holdship descendents:

Edward Twitchell Ware (born 24 Mar 1874, Atlanta, Georgia; died May 19, 1927, Claremont, CA) the son of Edmond Asa Ware, a Yale Divinity School Graduate and the founding president of Atlanta University. E T Ware was its third president. Atlanta University, founded in 1865, by the American Missionary Association with later assistance from the Freedman’s Bureau, was, before consolidation (making it now Clark Atlanta University), the nation's oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African American student body. E T Ware was born in Atlanta, Georgia on March 24, 1874, the son of Atlanta University's first president, Edmund Asa Ware. He was elected Atlanta University's third president in 1907, serving until 1919, he died in Claremont CA and is buried in Oak Park Cemetery, Claremont, Los Angeles, CA.

Alice Holdship (Ware) (born 19 Jul 1872, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; died 1965) She was the author of several acclaimed and still produced plays on the African American expereince, including “Mighty Wind A Blowin” (1936), “Like a Flame”, “Together” and “The Freedom Bell”, 1944. She is buried along side her husband in Oak Park Cemetery, Claremont, Los Angeles, CA.

They were married 30 June 1905.

Their children:

Alexander Holdship Ware (born August 9, 1906 ; died ?)
Henry Holdship Ware (born 1908, died May 27, 1991)

ALEXANDER HOLDSHIP WARE (born 9 Aug 1906 d. ?)
(More details to follow)

HENRY HOLDSHIP WARE (born 1908, B.A., Pomona, 1932; M.A., Columbia, 1929; died May 27, 1999) an economist who founded a bartering service in Fairfax County that was copied elsewhere in the world, died of a heart attack May 21 at Reston Hospital. He lived in Reston. Dr. Ware began Useful Services Exchange in 1975, basing it on the barter concept used in his wife's business, the Vienna Swap Shop. Participants in the service, now limited largely to western Fairfax County, exchange a range of services, from dog-walking to legal help. Dr. Ware helped spread the concept elsewhere in the country and abroad. He wrote several books on bartering…
Source: “Economist Henry H. Ware, 90, Dies; Founded Fairfax Bartering Service That Was Copied Widely” Obituary from The Washington Post Date: May 27, 1999 Author, Claudia Levy.

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More distinguished Holdship descendents:

George Irwin Holdship (born 1866)
Married…
Jane Campbell Bakewell (born?)
They lived at 1175 Murry Hill Avenue in the East End.

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Charles Frederick Holdship (born 1863)
Married…
Katherine Duncan Davis (born ?)
They had the following children:
Katherine White Holdship – born 1904
Margaret Morris Holdship – born 1909

Here is their household in the 1910 census, including native state:

Holdship Charles F. 48 Pennsylvania

Holdship Katherine D. 35 Pennsylvania

Holdship Katherine W. 6 Pennsylvania

Holdship Margaret M. 10/12 Pennsylvania

In 1912 they lived at “Glen Osborne” on Beaver Road in Sewickley.

Recently at auction: Tiffany & Co. copper and silver bud vase, inscription made from printing plate used to announce a marriage "Mr. And Mrs. Charles Frederick Holdship / announce the marriage of their sister / Mrs. Helen Willard Davis / to / Mr. John Lisle / on Saturday the thirteenth of April / One thousand nine hundred and twelve / at Saint Stephen's Church / Serwickley Pennsylvania", marked on base "Tiffany & Co. Makers of copper and silver", 9 1/2" high.

In 1922 they lived at Centennial and Boundary Streets in Sewickley PA. Listed as a member of their household was Mrs. Holdship’s sister, Helen Willard Davis Lisle. Also in 1922 – The William H. Singer Memorial Research Laboratory… “At present Mr. CF Holdship is chairman and together with Rev. Doctor Maitland Alexander and Mr. DE Park represent the Hospital Board. ...”

And still in Pittsburgh in 2006:

Miss C. F. Holdship

607 Davis Lane

Sewickley, Pennsylvania 15143

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Here is an interesting account of how Henry Holdship, the elder, entered the paper business that would make his fortune:

Pittsburgh, March 26th, 1823.

WE take the liberty to inform our friends and the public generally, that R. PATTERSON & LAMBDIN have appointed us their Assignees; and as such we shall continue to keep on hand a general and exhaustive supply of B O O K S AND STATIONERY, at the old stand, (corner of Wood and Third Streets) where Rags and country produce will be received in payment as formerly. We have reduced the prices of all articles in this line of business to a cash standard.

M. B. LOWRIE

HENRY HOLDSHIP,

THOMAS COOPER

> Assignees"The Assignees of R. Patterson & Lambdin."

Note 1: Also printed in the April 4th issue of the Gazette was the Notice of a Sheriff's Sale, ordered to dispose of the Pittsburgh properties belonging to the bankrupt firm of R. Patterson & Lambdin. Among the properties sold on Saturday, April 19th was Patterson's steam paper mill. The fact that Lambdin had dissolved his partnership with Patterson on or about Feb. 17, 1823, combined with this forced sale of the assests of the defunt firm, probably indicates that the final weeks and months of the partnership were not amicable ones. James Reid Lambdin says in his "Journal": "my brother's [in 1822] were becoming quite embarassing. Patterson & Lambdin, who were then largely engaged in the manufacture of paper... [suffered] loss without any insurance. This caused increased trouble in their pecuniary affairs. Note 2: Apparently Matthew B. Lowrie and Henry Holdship (a Lambdin family friend) either sued Patterson and Lambdin in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas late in 1822 for financial obligations incurred by the partnership, or in some other way became involved in the firm's financial affairs. The court settlement eventually left Henry Holdship as the owner of most of the partnership's assets. Holdship, in turn, appears to have engaged Robert Patterson and J. Harrison Lambdin (probably seperately) as agents in running the former partnership's paper mill and book store. Note 3: Into the midst of this unforunate set of circumstances in Pittsburgh came the Rev. Sidney Rigdon at the end of January, 1822. During the following three years of his residence in Pittsburgh, Rigdon could honestly say: "...there was no man by the name of Patterson during my residence at Pittsburgh who had a printing office... He was then acting under an agency, in the book and stationery business, and was the owner of no property of any kind, printing office, or any thing else, during the time I resided in the city."

Source: Uncle Dale's Old Mormon Articles: Pennsylvania, 1820-1839

HOWARD HARTLEY

Howard Hartley
1846 – ?

Howard Hartley was born in 1846 in Pennsylvania. He married Sarah E “Sallie” Wardenburg (Family historians say she was born circa 1846 – although the 1880 census gives her age as 30 which would be a birth year of 1850). They were married on the 28th of April 1870. Sarah was the daughter of William and Annie M. Wardenburg of Baltimore MD, formerly of Germany (Prussia). In 1880 Howard and Sarah Hartley’s household in the City of Allegheny (the North Side of Pittsburgh) included the two of them, as well as son Robert H Hartley age 8 and Sarah’s brother, Charles A. Wardenburg, age 22, who was working as a clerk in Hartley Brothers’ establishment.

Howard Hartley was associated with Hartley Brothers, manufacturers of leather belting and hose, rubber belts and machinery packing. His brother Thomas shared in the business with him (Thomas’s widow, the former Miss Anshutz, married as her second husband the oil millionaire J J Vandergrift). As described in a business resource of the day:

“There is but one establishment carrying on this branch of business, which was established in 1836, by R H Hartley and is now pursued by his sons under the title of Hartley Bros. at No. 58 Smithfield Street. They manufacture leather belts from one to forty inches wide, using for that purpose the product of their own tannery, having sixty vats.”

Fellow S F F & H C members D W C Bidwell and Howard Hartley served as directors of the Marine National Bank of Pittsburgh located at 301 Smithfield Street’ founded in 1870.

“Mrs. Howard Hartley when she made her advent into Pittsburgh society as Miss Wordenberg of Baltimore made captives of all with whom she came in contact. Her wonderful mass of golden hair contrasted exquisitely with the deep dark eyes. The rose leaf tinted coloring, beautifully molded neck and arms of a snowy whiteness, and the lithe graceful figure marked her as beauty’s own.” (The Social Mirror, 1888, p. 15)

Sallie Wardenburg’s cousin Helena Marie Wardenburg married The Rev. Dr. Robert John Coster; they moved from Baltimore to Pittsburgh where he became rector of Grace (Episcopal) Church.

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.

At the time of the Johnstwon Flood, Howard Hartley was 43 years old.

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Howard Hartley Jr. was an 1892 graduate of Lehigh University and later was associated with the Standard Automobile Company of Tarentum, PA.

JOHN A. HARPER

John A. Harper
December 5, 1811 – April 5, 1891

John A. Harper, president of the Bank of Pittsburgh, is remotely of English descent. From the reign of James I till the death of Robert Harper, the great-grandfather of John, in 1780, his ancestors were the owners of one of the townlands in County Tyrone, Ireland and were men of high character. John Harper was born in County Donegal Ireland Dec. 5, 1811. At the age of nine (or in 1820) he came with his parents to Washington DC, where he received a thorough practical education under the superintendence of a relative, Alexander McCormick, Esq., who is still living at the age of ninety. In his boyhood he was distinguished for the strength of his memory, as well as for his domestic tastes and habits. His father, Hugh Harper, died in 1821, and in 1826 his mother, with her children, moved to Jefferson County Ohio (his brother Lecky Harper, still living, has been a newspaper editor for more than fifty years, and is ex-senator in that state). When fifteen year of age he took a subordinate position in a mercantile house at Steubenville, and four years later he had become bookkeeper and confidential clerk. During his clerkship he was noted for his studious habits and the scholarly attainments he acquired. At this time, Edwin M. Stanton was employed in a neighboring store and between the two young men an intimacy sprang up that terminated only with the life of Mr. Stanton. In 1831 Mr. Harper became a bookkeeper in the house of M. & A. Leech, of Pittsburgh, and on Sept. 19, 1832 he was chosen, without his solicitation, to a position in the Bank of Pittsburgh, where he soon became principal clerk. In 1827 he was sent to Beaver as a cashier in the branch bank at that place, but was soon recalled to become assistant cashier in the Bank of Pittsburgh. He was chosen cashier on the resignation of that office by Mr. John Snyder, and subsequently succeeded Mr. John Graham as President of the bank, which position he still occupies (1889). It is proper to remark here that during his service of more than half a century the bank has passed safely through all the financial crises that have occurred: that there was never a defalcation in its accounts, or a misdemeanor by any of its officers involving the loss of a dollar. It has never repudiated its obligations and never failed to pay a semi-annual dividend. Mr. Harper has occupied many other responsible positions. He has been president of the Pittsburgh Clearing House ever since its organization, is president of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital of which he is one of the founders, president of the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Suspension Bridge Co., a director of the Monongahela Navigation Co., a trustee in the Western University of Pennsylvania, a corporator and director of the Allegheny Cemetery, a commissioner of the sinking fund of Allegheny County and a member of other useful associations.

Mr. Harper married in June 1836 Miss Lydia Electa, a daughter of Nathan W. Metcalf of Otsego County NY. Mrs. Harper’s genealogy runs through an honored line to Michael Metcalf, who came from Norwich, England, to the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1637, because of the religious tyranny of Bishop Wren of Norwich. They have five sons and one daughter and to all these who survived their childhood were given a collegiate education. The family record might end here but a few words more may not be amiss. The issue of the subject of t his sketch might suggest inquiry as to the quality of their fruit. Major Harper, whose life history follows this sketch, died unmarried. The only daughter, Lydia, married George B. Mallory, civil engineer, of New York, and died at the residence of her parents October 4, 1884, leaving a son John Harper Mallory. John A. Harper, born June 29, 1839 in Pittsburgh married, May 30, 1882, Flora, daughter of Col. Edward Warner Sherburne, of St. Louis, MO., and they have three daughters. Orlando M. Harper, born Sept. 17, 1846 in Pittsburgh, married Nov. 22, 1887, Kathleen Theodora, daughter of John Livingston Ludlow, M.D., of Philadelphia, PA. They have two daughters, and reside in New York. Charles S. Harper, born March 5, 1853 in Pittsburgh, married, October 26, 1882, Julia, daughter of Gardner Bower Murfey, of Cleveland Ohio, they have one daughter and reside in New York. The subjects of this sketch, John Harper and Lydia Electa, his wife, celebrated their golden wedding June 4, 1886, with mental powers unimpaired. Both are able to look back without regrets on long and well spent lives.

Source: History of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania : including its early settlement and progress to the present time ; a description of its historic and interesting localities ; its cities, towns and villages; religious, educational, social and military history ; mining, manufacturing and commercial interests, improvements, resources, statistics, etc. ; also, biographies of many of its representative citizens. Chicago : A. Warner Co., 1889.:


John A. Harper was a member of the Duquesne Club. John Harper and Ruben Miller served as directors of the Bank of Pittsburgh, located on Fourth Avenue, founded in 1814.

The Harper’s son John Arunah Harper, shared in his father’s banking profession. John Arunah Harper’s children: Granddaughter Florence married Herbert Fulton Byram; granddaughter Lydia Electa married Ralph E. Brush and lived in Greenwich, CT.

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About John Arunah Harper, son of S F F & H C member John A. Harper:

John Arunah Harper, a faithful citizen and veteran banker for thirtyeight years associated with the Bank of Pittsburgh National Association,the oldest financial institution west of the Allegheny Mountains, JohnArunah Harper was born on Penn Street near old Marbury, Pittsburgh, June 29, 1839, son of John Harper and Lydia Electa Metcalf Harper.

John Harper, son of Hugh Harper, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, December 5, 1811, and following the father's death in 1821, the mother and children came to America, settling in Washington, DC. In 1826 the family moved to Jefferson County, Ohio, and one of the sons, Lecky Harper, became a United States Senator from Ohio. Among John Harper's intimate boyhood friends was Edwin M Stanton whobecame President Lincoln's famous Secretary of War. John Harper became an expert bookkeeper and in 1831 accepted a position with one of the large mercantile houses of Pittsburgh, a year later being elected to a position in the Bank of Pittsburgh. Within the following year he was promoted to chief clerkship and his subsequent long career was a succession of advances to posts of increasing responsibility, culminating in his election to the presidency. He assumed the duties of this office in 1866 and remained at the head of this institution until his death in 1891. Not only did he guide the Bank of Pittsburgh in paths of prosperity, usefulness and honor throughout a quarter of a century of his presidency but as one of the organizers and the first president of the PittsburghClearing House, he rendered a valuable service to the cause of financialand commercial stability in the district. As a financier he was without a superior, his excellent judgment havingits source in comprehensive knowledge of economic and banking laws, and strengthened by intimate touch with all phases of the industrial and business life of the community. He was president of the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Suspension BridgeCompany, director of the Monongahela Navigation Company, and a corporator ofAllegheny Cemetery. For several years he was trustee of West Penn Hospital, a trustee of theWestern University of Pennsylvania for many years, and a commissioner of the Sinking Fund of Allegheny County. His home life was of rare beauty and in his home he had gathered one ofthe finest libraries in Western Pennsylvania. He was endowed with a marvelous memory and his mind was a veritable storehouse of the contents of the volumes of his library.

John Harper married in June, 1836, Lydia Electa Metcalf of Otsego, NewYork, daughter of Nathan Metcalf, granddaughter of Arunah Metcalf, and a direct descendant of Michael Metcalf who came to New England from his English home in 1637. Arunah Metcalf was for many years sheriff of Otsego county, New York; served in the New York Legislature and the National Congress, and was a neighbor and friend of James Fenimore Cooper. Arunah Metcalf married Eunice Williams, a direct descendant of William Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and they lived to celebrate their Golden Anniversary.

John Arunah Harper, son of John Harper and Lydia Electa Metcalf Harper,was educated in the Griff and McDonald Academy of Pittsburgh, the Western University of Pennsylvania, and Kenyon College of Gambier, Ohio, being graduated from the last named institution in the class of 1860. In the same year he attained his majority and he entered the Bank of Pittsburgh and for many years served in various official capacities, his service interrupted only by a term of enlistment in the Union army as a private in Company D, Fifteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, dating from June15, 1863. His influence in Pittsburgh financial circles was the counterpart of that of his father, steadying and strengthening the public confidence, inducing trust and good will wherever he appeared, and these qualities constituted a large part of his contribution to the bank's welfare. Mr. Harper had numerous business affiliations outside financial circles, and was a director of the Eagle Cotton Mills, and a director and for a longtime secretary and treasurer of the Sixth Street Bridge Corporation. His philanthropies were numerous and important, prominent among his interests of this nature being the West Penn Hospital of which he was a staunch friend from 1860, serving as its president from 1891 until his resignation in 1898. He found time for social and club activities, was a member of Post No 259, Grand Army of the Republic, sons of the American Revolution, the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society of which he was a trustee, and from his college years was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. His club was the Duquesne of Pittsburgh. In religious affiliation the Harper family is Episcopalian.

Mr Harper married in Pittsburgh, May 30, 1882, Flora Warner Sherburne, daughter of Edward Warner Sherburne and Jane Marie McLaughlin Sherburne. They were the parents of the following children:

Alberta Harper, born December 17, 1883, married Franklin C Irish of Pittsburgh;

Florence Harper, born August 2, 1885, married Herbert Fulton Byram of Pittsburgh;

Lydia Electa Harper, born January 1, 1887, married Ralph E Brush ofGreenwich, Connecticut.

John Arunah Harper died December 28, 1920. His death marked the closing of a record of remarkable service of father and son to one of the city's great financial institutions, and more important still of notable cooperation for the advancement of the civic, educational and philanthropic interests of Pittsburgh.

Source: Vol. 3 History of Pittsburgh and environs, from prehistoric days to thebeginning of the American revolution. By George Thornton Fleming p 858

A. G. HARMES

A. G. Harmes

1846 - ?

Mr. A. G. Harmes was born in New York in 1847, the son of parents who were both New York natives. His wife Susan B. Harmes was born in 1850 in Pennsylvania—her father hailing from Pennsylvania and her mother from Irelend.

Harmes Machine Depot – Steam engines, boilers and Machinery, 97 & 99 First Avenue Pittsburgh is not only noted as a center for the manufacture of boilers, engines and all kinds of machinery, but also as a result of its prominence in manufacture, is an important point of distribution of items of this character. Among those who engage in this business who possess a certain celebrity by reason of the extent and completeness of the assortment of their stock, the establishment known as Harmes Machine Depot is one of the most prominent. The business was established in 1874 by Mr. A. G. Harmes, at 92 and 94 First Avenue, from whence removal was made in 1887 to 97 and 99 on the same thoroughfare, where he is still located. He carries a general stock of portable and stationary engines and boilers, saw mills, mill gearing, wood working machinery, all styles of automatic marine and portable engines, as well as complete stocks of mill supplies of all kinds. He makes a specialty of supplying steam engines for special purposes, and no better opportunity for selection is offered by any establishment in this line in the country than is provided by this depot. Mr. Harmes who is a native of New York State is practically conversant with machinery of every description and has been connected with his present line of business for many years….

Source: Leonard, John William, 1849-1932. Pittsburgh and Allegheny illustrated review : historical, biographical and commercial. A record of progress in commerce, manufactures, the professions, and in social and municipal life. Pittsburgh, Pa. : J. M. Elstner, 1889.

In 1880 the Harmes family lived in the City of Allegheny, and included…

A. G. Harmes - 34
Susan B. Harmes - 31
Their Children...
Maud Harmes - 7
Eddie Harmes - 3
Grace Harmes - 11 M

The household also included the sister of A G or Susan.... (probably Susan since she was born in PA):
Sarah Garner - 22
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Although A G's first and middle names are not yet known, the best supposition is that he was named for "Albert Gallatin" the Swiss banker, who succeded Alexander Hamilton as Treasury Secretary. Gallatin's wife belonged to the pre-eminent British banking and espionage family of the time.

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Son, Edward Harmes, born in 1876, still lived in Pittsburgh as late as 1913, when he and his wife Caroline (also born in 1876) are listed as arriving in NYC at Ellis Island from Bermuda on the S S Orotava (April 13, 1913).

William Mullins

William Mullins
1824 – August 1893

William Mullins was born in Ireland in 1824. His wife Lucy Anne Bustard was born in Ohio in 1828. Together they had (at least) the following children:

- Anne (Annie) Esther Mullins – born March 1858 in Ohio; married Thomas H. Bakewell: children: William Mullins who married Gertrude Paxton and has two daughters: Frances Jean, born August 24, 1910 and Anne who married Donald Campbell; Allen Averill, Benjamin Page.

- William James Mullins – born in Steubenville, Ohio, August 21, 1860. He was reared in Pittsburgh and educated in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He came to Franklin as a chemist for the Standard Oil Company and held that position until his father’s death, when he resigned from active work, devoting himself to art and church work. He is an active member of the Episcopal Church, a member of the board of trustees of the Diocese of Erie and formerly of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He takes a great interest in the public library of Franklin and is its secretary and treasurer. In politics he is a republican. He married November 28, 1898, Elizabeth Johnson Bostwick in Franklin PA. Children: Marjorie, born September 16, 1890; Louise Anne, born July 26, 1894; Elizabeth Allison, born November 21, 1899.

- Edwin Stanton Mullins – born March 13, 1869 in Pennsylvania.

The Mullins’ nephew William H Mullins also lived with them for a time, he served as a clerk for the Pennsylvania railroad.

The Mullins were well off, they kept three household servants (one, a housekeeper) as well as a driver.

They lived in Allegheny PA in 1880, in a neighborhood that was filled with fellow South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members:

- Calvin Wells lived two doors away from them.

- James Chambers lived three doors from them.

- Henry Holdship lived about eight houses away.

Mullins served as a General Purchasing Agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

According to the Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania; under the editorial supervision of John W. Jordan. Vol. 2. Author: Jordan, John Woolf (1913):

William Mullins was born in Ireland near the city of Dublin in 1824. He was a man of great natural ability and high attainments. He was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and qualified himself as a civil engineer. He came to this country and was employed on the construction work of the Erie Canal and later went to Steubenville, Ohio where he engaged in railroad building. There he met and married his wife, Lucy Bustard, m 1857. during the Civil War, he became connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad and was of great service to the government in transporting troops and supplies. He was afterward employed by that company for many years as purchasing agent and resided in Allegheny City, where he died August 1893. he was a scholarly man, a patron of the fine arts, and collected a very fine library.

William Mullins was 65 at the time of the Johnstown Flood.

(About him, the National Flood Memorial says only, “Due to lack of strong documentation nothing is known about Mullins.)

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Edwin A. Myers

Edwin A. Myers
1835 – November 22, 1895

Edwin A. Myers was a newspaper man, a printer and partner in the ownership of the newspaper that is, today, the “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.”

(Although the National Flood Memorial states correctly that Edwin A. Myers was associated with the firm Myers, Shinkle and Company, that company did not come into being until the year after the Johnstown Flood, that is 1890. It was the successor to Wilcox, Shinkle & Miller, "founders and machinists, grist and saw mill machinery a specialty” which had been in existence since the 1870s (if not before) and was founded by another South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club member, John F. Wilcox.)

Edwin A. Myers was early involved in the printing and telegraph business in Pittsburgh—which the “Post” pioneered. In 1847 their slogan was that their news was “Received by Lightening, Delivered by Steam”.

Here is a brief overview of Mr. Myers’ involvement with the “Post”:

James P Barr became editor of the Pittsburgh Post in May of 1857. At the end of the Civil War, Barr associated himself with Edwin A. Myers, William Schroyer and Joseph S. Lare to form J P Barr & Co. This was in 1866; Edwin A. Myers had been his former partner in the job printing business since 1855. The firm name continued till 1886, when it became “The Post Publishing Co.” Edwin A. Myers died on November 22, 1895, after forty years of faithful service to the paper.

(Source, “The History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress”, by Sarah H. Killikelly, 1906).

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Edwin A. Myers was born in 1835 and grew up in the city of Allegheny, as a member of a large household of Myerses. His mother’s name was probably Isabella. Edwin’s father (whose name we do not know) was deceased and Edwin was already engaged in the printing trade by the time he was fifteen (1850).

He married Helen M. (?) and they had at least one child, a daughter, Helen E. Myers who married William Hervey Allen—the couple named one of their children Edwin Myers Allen.

The Pittsburgh Blue Book reading seems to indicate that the Myerses were divorced as she is listed in the 1895 Blue Book living with the William Hervey Allen family as Mrs. Helen M. Myers—the socially correct way of listing a divorcee. They lived on Fifth Aveune nr. Shady Avenue. William Hervey Allen was a friend of and pall bearer for Stephen Collins Foster.

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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.

Edwin A. Myers was a member of the Duquesne Club. Mr. Myers and fellow Club member Sylvester S. Marvin served as directors of the Commercial National Bank located at 97 Fourth Avenue, founded in 1882.

By 1880 he lived as a boarder at a polite residence on Liberty Street in the East End. At the time of his death, Edwin A. Myers lived at 325 South Highland Avenue, also in Pittsburgh’s East End.

Edwin A. Myers was 54 at the time of the Johnstown Flood.

James Hays Willock

James Hays Willock
September 11, 1853 - ?

James Hays Willock was Cashier of the Second National Bank, and so much more.

Indeed, he was elected President of that bank in 1888, the year before the Johnstown Flood, and he held that position through 1903 and perhaps longer. Along with Club member Moses B. Suydam he served as a director of the Second National Bank of Pittsburgh, located at Ninth and Liberty, which had been founded in 1859.

Mr. James H. Willock, the President of the bank, was born in the city of Allegheny, September 11, 1853, the son of Capt. John Scott Willock of the Hays Coal Company, who owned the Hazlewood land that would become the site of the Jones and Laughlin Steel plant. (Source for date of birth is: “A Century of Banking in Pittsburgh” by Edward White, Pittsburgh, Pa. Index Co., 1903).

James Hays Willock was vice president of the Firth-Sterling Steel Co. founded in 1897; this was a merger between two firms, one in Pittsburgh and the other in England, for the consolidation of precision steel tool manufacturing.

As were so many of the S F F & H C members, Willock was a member of Pittsburgh's Duquesne Club. He served as the financial secretary of the Americus Republican Club to which many other S F F & H C members and other prominent Pittsburghers also belonged.

In the years 1898-1906 Willock served as a director of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.

He was a shareholder in the Guarantee Company of North America along with S F F & C H member J. M. Schoomaker, as well as Elizabeth R. and William Minor Thaw.

In 1897 he served as a director of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. He served as a delegate to the 1904 Republican National Convention, from Sewickley, PA., according to the Political Graveyard website.

Frank Scott Willock is a brother of James Hays Willock; see the various Blue Books from Pittsburgh. Frank Scott Willock married Lucy Haskell Christy, a daughter of George H. Christy, also a SFF&CH member. Additional Willock prominent Pittsburgh family connections include the Benjamin Franklin Jones family, the Durban Horne and C. B. Shea families, and the Larimers through which they were connected to the Carnegies.

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James Hays Willock was 35 at the time of the Johnstown Flood.

An illustrious Allegheny and then Sewickley family, the Willocks count among their descendants residents of Syosset, Long Island, and are as far flung as California and the Carolinas. I have been in touch with some family members. If you are one of them I would like to hear from you, as well. Please post a comment here saying how I can contact you.