Part 4 (2/2)
On the failure of an extensive house, T. & Co., in that city, during the pressure which followed a removal of the deposits of the United States Treasury in 1837, Mr. Forten lost by that firm, nine thousand dollars.
Being himself in good circ.u.mstances at the time, hearing of the failure of old constant patrons, he called at the house; one of the proprietors, Mr. T., on his entering the warehouse door, came forward, taking him by the hand observed, ”Ah! Mr. Forten, it is useless to call on us--we are gone--we can do nothing!” at which Mr. Forten remarked, ”Sir, I hope you think better of me than to suppose me capable of calling on a friend to torture him in adversity! I came, sir, to express my regret at your misfortune, and if possible, to cheer you by words of encouragement. If your liabilities were all in my hands, you should never be under the necessity of closing business.” Mr. Forten exchanged paper and signatures with some of the first business men in Philadelphia, and raised and educated a large and respectable family of sons and daughters, leaving an excellent widow.
Joseph Ca.s.sey, recently deceased, was the ”architect of his own fortune,” and by industry and application to business, became a money broker in the city of Philadelphia; who becoming indisposed from a chronic affection, was obliged to retire from business for many years previous to his death. Had Mr. Ca.s.sey been favored with health, he doubtless would have become a very wealthy man. His name and paper was good in any house in the city, and there was no banker of moderate capital, of more benefit to the business community than was Joseph Ca.s.sey. He also left a young and promising family of five sons, one daughter, a most excellent widow, and a fortune of seventy-five thousand dollars, clear of all enc.u.mbrance.
Stephen Smith, of the firm of Smith and Whipper, is a remarkable man in many respects, and decidedly the most wealthy colored man in the United States. Mr. Smith commenced business after he was thirty years of age, without the advantages of a good business education, but by application, qualified himself for the arduous duties of his vocation. For many years, he has been known as the princ.i.p.al lumber merchant in Columbia, Lancaster Co., Pa., and for several years past a.s.sociated with W.
Whipper, a gentleman of great force of character, talents, and business qualifications, Mr. Smith residing in Philadelphia. Smith and Whipper, are very extensive business men, and very valuable members of the community, both of Lancaster and Philadelphia counties. By the judicious investment of their capital, they keep in constant employment a large number of persons; purchasing many rafts at a time, and many thousand bushels of coal. It is not only the laborer in ”drawing boards,” and the coal hauler and heaver, that are here benefitted by their capital, but the original owners of the lumber and coal purchased by them, and the large number of boatmen and raftsmen employed in bringing these commodities to market.
In the winter of 1849, these gentlemen had in store, several thousand bushels of coal, two million two hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber; twenty-two of the finest merchantmen cars running on the railway from Philadelphia to Baltimore; nine thousand dollars' worth of stock in the Columbia Bridge; eighteen thousand dollars in stock in the Columbia Bank; and besides this, Mr. Smith was then the reputed owner of fifty-two good brick houses of various dimensions in the city of Philadelphia, besides several in the city of Lancaster, and the town of Columbia. Mr. Smith's paper, or the paper of the firm, is good for any amount wherever they are known; and we have known gentlemen to present the paper of some of the best men in the city, which was cashed by him at sight. The princ.i.p.al active business attended to by Mr. S. in person, is that of buying good negotiable and other paper, and speculating in real estate. The business of the firm is attended to by Mr. Whipper, who is a relative. Take Smith and Whipper from Lancaster and Philadelphia counties, and the business community will experience a hiatus in its connexion, that may not be easily filled.
Samuel T. Wilc.o.x, of Cincinnati, Ohio, also stands conspicuously among the most respectable business men of the day. Being yet a young man, just scanning forty, he is one among the extraordinary men of the times.
Born, like the most of colored men in this country, in obscurity, of poor parents, raised without the a.s.sistance of a father, and to a commonplace business, without the advantages of schools, by his own perseverance, he qualified himself to the extent that gave him an inclination to traffic, which he did for several years on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, investing his gains in real estate, until he acquired a considerable property. For the purpose of extending his usefulness, and at the same time pursuing a vocation more in accordance with his own desires, a few years since, he embarked in the wholesale and retail Family Grocery business, and now has the best general a.s.sortment and most extensive business house of the kind, in the city of Cincinnati. The establishment is really beautiful, having the appearance more of an apothecary store, than a Grocery House. Mr. Wilc.o.x has a Pickling and Preserving establishment besides, separate from his business house, owning a great deal of first cla.s.s real estate. There is no man in the community in which he lives, that turns money to a greater advantage than Mr. Wilc.o.x, and none by whom the community is more benefited for the amount of capital invested. He makes constant and heavy bills in eastern houses, and there are doubtless now many merchants in New York, Boston, and Baltimore cities, who have been dealing with S.T. Wilc.o.x, and never until the reading of this notice of him, knew that he was a colored man. He has never yet been east after his goods, but pursuing a policy which he has adopted, orders them; but if deceived in an article, never deals with the same house again. He always gets a good article. The paper of Mr. Wilc.o.x, is good for any amount.
Henry Boyd, is also a man of great energy of character, the proprietor of an extensive Bedstead manufactory, with a large capital invested, giving constant employment to eighteen or twenty-five men, black and white. Some of the finest and handsomest articles of the bedstead in the city, are at the establishment of Mr. Boyd. He fills orders from all parts of the West and South, his orders from the South being very heavy.
He is the patentee, or holds the right of the Patent Bedsteads, and like Mr. Wilc.o.x, there are hundreds who deal with Mr. Boyd at a distance, who do not know that he is a colored man. Mr. Boyd is a useful member of society, and Cincinnati would not, if she could, be without him. He fills a place that every man is not capable of supplying, of whatever quarter of the globe his forefathers may have been denizens.
Messrs. Knight and Bell of the same place, Cincinnati, Ohio, are very successful and excellent mechanics. In the spring of 1851, (one year ago) they put in their ”sealed proposal” for the plastering of the public buildings of the county of Hamilton--alms-house, &c.--and got the contract, which required ten thousand dollars' security. The work was finished in fine artistic style, in which a large number of mechanics and laborers were employed, while at the same time, they were carrying on many other contracts of less extent, in the city--the public buildings being some four miles out. They are men of stern integrity, and highly respected in the community.
David Jenkins of Columbus, Ohio, a good mechanic, painter, glazier, and paper-hanger by trade, also received by contract, the painting, glazing, and papering of some of the public buildings of the State, in autumn 1847. He is much respected in the capital city of his state, being extensively patronised, having on contract, the great ”Neill House,” and many of the largest gentlemen's residences in the city and neighborhood, to keep in finish. Mr. Jenkins is a very useful man and member of society.
John C. Bowers, for many years, has been the proprietor of a fas.h.i.+onable merchant tailor house, who has a.s.sociated with him in business, his brother Thomas Bowers, said to be one of the best, if not the very best, mercers in the city. His style of cutting and fitting, is preferred by the first business men, and other gentlemen of Philadelphia, in whom their patrons princ.i.p.ally consist.
Mr. Cordovell, for more than twenty-five years, was the leading mercer and tailor, reporter and originator of fas.h.i.+ons in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The reported fas.h.i.+ons of Cordovell, are said to have frequently become the leading fas.h.i.+ons of Paris; and the writer was informed, by Mr. B., a leading merchant tailor in a populous city, that many of the eastern American reports were nothing more than a copy, in some cases modified, of those of Cordovell. Mr. Cordovell, has for the last four or five years, been residing in France, living on a handsome fortune, the fruits of his genius; and though ”retired from business,”
it is said, that he still invents fas.h.i.+ons for the Parisian reporters, which yields him annually a large income.
William H. Riley, of Philadelphia, has been for years, one of the leading fas.h.i.+onable gentlemen's boot-makers. Riley's style and cut of boots, taking the preeminence in the estimation of a great many of the most fas.h.i.+onable, and business men in the city. Mr. Riley is much of a gentleman, and has acquired considerable means.
James Prosser, Sen., of Philadelphia, has long been the popular proprietor of a fas.h.i.+onable restaurant in the city. The name of James Prosser, among the merchants of Philadelphia, is inseparable with their daily hours of recreation, and pleasure. Mr. Prosser, is withal, a most gentlemanly man, and has the happy faculty of treating his customers in such a manner, that those who call once, will be sure to call at his place again. His name and paper is good among the business men of the city.
Henry Minton also is the proprietor of a fas.h.i.+onable restaurant and resort of business men and gentlemen of the city. The tables of Mr.
Henry Minton are continually laden with the most choice offerings to epicures, and the saloon during certain hours of the day, presents the appearance of a bee hive, such is the stir, din, and buz, among the throng of Chesnut street gentlemen, who flock in there to pay tribute at the shrine of bountifulness. Mr. Minton has acquired a notoriety, even in that proud city, which makes his house one of the most popular resorts.
Mr. Hill, of Chillicothe, Ohio, was for years, the leading tanner and currier in that section of country, buying up the hides of the surrounding country, and giving employment to large numbers of men. Mr.
Hill kept in constant employment, a white clerk, who once a year took down, as was then the custom, one or more flatboats loaded with leather and other domestic produce, by which he realised large profits, acc.u.mulating a great deal of wealth. By endors.e.m.e.nt, failure, and other mistransactions, Mr. Hill became reduced in circ.u.mstances, and died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1845. He gave his children a liberal business education.
Benjamin Richards, Sen., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, forty years ago, was one of the leading business men of the place. Being a butcher by trade, he carried on the business extensively, employing a white clerk, and held a heavy contract with the United States, supplying the various military posts with provisions. Mr. Richards possessed a large property in real estate, and was at one time reputed very wealthy, he and the late general O'H. being considered the most wealthy individuals of the place,--Mr. Richards taking the precedence; the estate of general O'H.
now being estimated at seven millions of dollars. Mr. Richards has been known, to buy up a drove of cattle at one time. By mismanagement, he lost his estate, upon which many gentlemen are now living at ease in the city.
William H. Topp, of Albany, N.Y., has for several years been one of the leading merchant tailors of the city. Starting in the world without aid, he educated and qualified himself for business; and now has orders from all parts of the state, the city of New York not excepted, for ”Topp's style of clothing.” Mr. Topp stands high in his community as a business man, and a useful and upright member of society. His paper or endors.e.m.e.nt is good at any time.
Henry Scott & Co., of New York city, have for many years been engaged extensively in the pickling business, keeping constantly in warehouse, a very heavy stock of articles in their line. He, like the most of others, had no a.s.sistance at the commencement, but by manly determination and perseverance, raised himself to what he is. His business is princ.i.p.ally confined to supplying vessels with articles and provisions in his line of business, which in this great metropolis is very great. There have doubtless been many a purser, who cashed and filed in his office the bill of Henry Scott, without ever dreaming of his being a colored man.
Mr. Scott is extensively known in the great City, and respected as an upright, prompt, energetic business man, and highly esteemed by all who know him.
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