STRUTHERS, THOMAS. The subject of this
sketch was born in Trumbull (now Mahoning) county, O., on the 6th day of
June, 1803. His father, John Struthers, came of a Scotch family, and,
imbued with the spirit of adventurous enterprise characteristic of that
hardy race, removed with his father’s family from the State of Maryland
to Washington county, Pa., in 1776. By reason of his skill as a
practical land surveyor he rendered invaluable assistance to the
settlers then crowding into that region; and by reason of his military
prowess he rose to the command of a company of mounted rangers, who were
commended for their courage and skill in protecting the government from
the fierce onslaughts of the desperate and savage allies of the British
during the Revolutionary War. He married a Miss Foster, of Irish
extraction, and with a family of four children removed to Trumbull
county, O., in 1798, where he settled on lands that he had previously
selected during his excursions as an Indian hunter. He was thus one of
the first settlers in the Connecticut Western Reserve, which from that
time became rapidly peopled with immigrants from New England and
Pennsylvania. Here he cleared and cultivated a large farm, built mills,
and in company with Robert Montgomery, erected a small blast furnace,
the product of which was cast into pots, kettles, caldrons, and such
other articles as were demanded by the household necessities of the
settlers. He afterward unfortunately met with disastrous business
reverses.
On this farm, some eighty-four years ago, Thomas Struthers was born and
disciplined in the then undeveloped mysteries of agriculture. He
obtained his early education in the common schools of the time; during
intervals of farm work, prepared for and entered Jefferson College at
the age of seventeen years, worked his own way through, and after
graduation entered the law office of A. W. Foster, of Greensborough,
Westmoreland county, Pa. In December, 1828, one year and eleven months
after his admission to the bar, he opened an office in Warren, Pa.,
which has ever since, been his home, and, as we shall see, the object of
his pride and bounty. He was partly induced to settle here by offers of
agencies by owners of large tracts of disposable wild lands in
northwestern Pennsylvania, but chiefly by his belief that the best thing
for a young man to do was to cast his lot among the pioneers of a new
and promising country, and keep step with the march of improvements.
There were only about five hundred voters in Warren county at that time.
His success in the practice of his profession was active from the first,
though he found his commissions from the sale of land more profitable.
His unwavering fidelity to his clients, his diligent efforts in their
behalf, and the signal ability with which he discharged the duties
imposed upon him, soon established for him a most gratifying reputation.
He was from the beginning so successful in disposing of lands and
turning the tide of immigration in this direction, that he was
encouraged to purchase large tracts on time, and pay for them by the
proceeds of resales, at a moderate advance. The greatest difficulty with
which he had to contend in this work was the utter want of railroad or
other facilities by which to reach these lands. " Here" it has been well
said, "was a broad expanse of almost unbroken forest lands, partly in
the State of New York and partly in the State of Pennsylvania; probably
one hundred and fifty miles north and south by two hundred and fifty or
three hundred miles east and west; not penetrated even by good wagon
roads; and in some directions one hundred and fifty miles without any
roads, and this, too, in the direct line between New York city and the
West, and Philadelphia and Lake Erie. The State of Pennsylvania had left
it intact by her line of canals and railroads on the south, whilst the
Erie Canal passed around to the north." His attention was thus directed
to the incipient movements on foot for the construction of railroads
through one part or another of this wilderness. Whilst he preferred a
road from Philadelphia, by the route now occupied by the Philadelphia
and Erie (originally the Sunbury and Erie) railway, and a branch by the
Catawissa and Lehigh Valley to New York, he found the projectors of the
New York and Erie road first in the field, and hastened to give them all
the encouragement he could, attended many of their primary meetings held
along the proposed line, aided them in getting the necessary right of
way through Pennsylvania, and in other ways evinced his interest in the
scheme.
In 1836 efforts were first made to establish a line between Philadelphia
and the great lakes, and Mr. Struthers, as a delegate from Warren
county, attended the first convention held at Williamsport. Here was
developed the scheme for the Sunbury and Erie road, and Mr. Struthers,
with others, appointed to lay the subject before the Legislature and
induce, if possible, that body to adopt the appropriate measures. A bill
was accordingly introduced early in the session of 1836-37, but the
members of the Legislature, from their ignorance of the character of the
northwestern part of Pennsylvania and of the trade of the lakes, looked
upon the scheme as altogether absurd and chimerical. The committee
thought it best, therefore, not to urge precipitate action on the
measure, but gradually to educate and interest the southern and eastern
members in the geography and unbounded resources of that region, and the
importance of the lake trade, and thus win their approval. By virtue of
his zeal and of his more intimate knowledge of the country, Mr.
Struthers was requested by the Philadelphia gentlemen who had been
chosen to act with him, to pilot the measure through to its enactment.
After months of untiring work he succeeded in obtaining the passage of
the bill, though he did not dare bring it to a vote until April, 1837.
In the subsequent organization of the company Mr. Struthers was chosen
one of the directors, the others being of Philadelphia and east of the
mountains, while the accomplished financier, Nicholas Biddle, was made
president. After elaborate surveys made in 1838—39, the location of the
line and the beginning of the work of grading in 1840, operations were
suspended by the recurrence of the financial panic of 1837, the
consequent failure of the United States Bank and its associates, and the
long train of failures that followed in the wake of these disasters. In
1847 the Philadelphians abandoned the scheme and transferred their
efforts to the Pennsylvania road. This project was not dead, however,
and Mr. Struthers, with sublime faith and perseverance, despite a host
of discouraging circumstances, obtained a revival of the company and its
works in 1851. Philadelphia returned to her allegiance and subscriptions
came in from all along the line. To prevent the subscriptions from the
west from being conveyed to the east, Mr. Struthers placed himself at
the head of a company associated at Warren, while a similar company was
formed at Erie. These parties took contracts covering eighty-six miles
of the western division, receiving the municipal bonds of their several
localities and stock of the company for their principal pay, taking only
a very small percentage in money. They also rendered aid to the eastern
division. The financial operations of the Warren party were managed
altogether by Mr. Struthers, to whose energy it is largely due that,
while the prosecution of the work on the remainder of the line was
suspended nearly two years for lack of means, this party went steadily
forward with their labors, trusting to events for that part of their pay
which they were to receive in money— a misplaced confidence, as the
subject of our notice realized in a loss of more than all the profits of
the contract. However, under a new arrangement he took an individual
contract for the completion of a portion of the work, and carried it
through. The road was finally completed in 1862.
In the mean time, early in the decade of years that ended with 1860, Mr.
Struthers became interested with General Wilson in constructing the
first railroad in California, from Sacramento to Folsom, or Negro Bar.
When he took hold of the enterprise it was unendowed. By his superior
tact and financial ability, he procured in Boston the rails and
equipment complete for forty miles of road, to be delivered in San
Francisco, without money or other securities than the bonds of the
company, and his own and Wilson’s guarantee. Soon after this he embarked
with others in the enterprise of building street railways in the city of
Cincinnati, and obtained from the city council a grant for about half
the city, after which he sold out his interest. It was about this time,
too, that in company with others, under the supposed protection of an
act of the Iowa Legislature, procured for the purpose, he undertook the
improvement of the Des Moines River for steam navigation. No sooner had
they located their dams, and several towns and cities on the donated
lands, then their grant was repudiated by the Legislature.
After the completion of the Sunbury and Erie Road, Mr. Struthers
procured the passage of a law incorporating the Oil Creek Railroad
Company, with powers to build a line from the Sunbury and Erie Railroad
in Warren or Erie county to Titusville, and down Oil Creek and Allegheny
River to Franklin. In the year 1862 he organized the company, located
the road from Corry to Titusville, a distance of twenty-eight miles, and
in one hundred and twenty working days the road was completed, without
subsidies from any source, and almost without stock. Finding it almost
impossible to inspire the people along the route with confidence in the
project, he and his associate, Dr. Streator, took nearly all the stock
themselves and built and equipped the road upon its own bonds. The
project developed into a remarkable success. He remained the president
of the road and chief financial agent until 1866, realizing large
profits from its earnings, when he sold his interest, and with his
entire family passed a year and a half traveling through Europe, Asia,
and Egypt. Previous to his departure, however, he made arrangements for
the completion of the Cross-Cut Railroad, which he and Dean Richmond had
organized for the purpose of connecting the Oil Creek and New York
Central Railroads. After his return from the Old World, and as late as
1870, he, in conjunction with John Stambaugh, John Tod and others,
completed the Liberty and Vienna Railroad. Again he was remarkably
successful; this road was afterward sold to the
Atlantic and Great Western, and Ashtabula, Youngstown and Pittsburgh
Railroad Companies. Mr. Struthers was also one of the projectors of the
Youngstown and Canfield Railroad, connecting the Lawrence Railroad with
the Kyle and Foster Coal Mines, in which he owned a large interest.
Notwithstanding the multitude of his business undertakings, the care of
an extensive law practice, his dealings in land, and his various public
enterprises, Mr. Struthers had not forgotten the place of his birth. In
1863 he purchased the farm on which he was born, and four years later,
in company with several associates whom he had induced to join him, he
erected upon it a large blast furnace and built up the prosperous
village of Struthers, on the Lawrence Railroad. In the same year, 1867,
he purchased an. interest for himself and son in a flourishing
machine-shop and foundry in Warren, which he extensively enlarged and
had incorporated under the name of the "Brown & Struthers Iron Works."
In August, 1875, he bought up the entire property of the corporation and
founded the firm of Struthers, Wells & Co.
During the period of his management of the Oil Creek Railroad, he
established the Corry National Bank, becoming and for years continuing
its president.
Mr. Struthers has always been an earnest and active politician of the
Whig and Republican persuasion, and a tried friend of the protective
tariff system. He represented his district in the State Legislature in
the sessions of 1857 and 1858 with distinguished ability, and was a
prominent member of the convention of 1872—73 to revise and amend the
constitution of the State, serving on important committees. He spent
much time and money in aid of the Union cause during the war with the
South, filling quotas, etc., and furnished two substitutes, though not
subject to service himself.
His course in the Legislature so inspired his fellow-members in that
body with confidence in his abilities and integrity, that at the close
of his term many of them insisted on his becoming their candidate for
State treasurer, to which he was reluctantly constrained to consent.
During the canvass for the nomination the following tribute to his
worth, one of many published throughout the State, appeared in a paper
more than a hundred miles from the district he represented:
"Among the Republican gentlemen named as candidates for the responsible
office of State treasurer, the Hon. Thomas Struthers, of Warren county,
stands conspicuous. His sterling integrity, business capacity, and the
efficient services he has rendered to the political cause upheld by the
great Republican party, render him, in our opinion, by far the most
suitable and available candidate. The West, we think, is now entitled to
the office, more especially when one so capable and trustworthy is
presented. During the sessions of 1857 and 1858, Mr. S. represented in
the State Legislature, first the counties of Warren, Venango, and
Mercer, and afterwards Warren and Crawford. Those who served with him
during two sessions can testify to the important character of his
services to the State and to his party.
"We agree with the Reading Journal when it says to the members of the
present Legislature, let us for once have a State treasurer upon whom we
can look without suspicion or distrust; in whose past life and freedom
from evil financial associations the people can have some guaranty of
future honesty. There are such men before the people. Give us one of
them if only for this once. Give us a man of pure and spotless honesty,
not one whose name has been dragged in the mire. Give us a man whom we
can hold up before the people as a servant worthy of their confidence,
as a servant of the kind in whom they will be well pleased."
Neither his business nor private inclinations permitted him to give the
canvass the attention necessary to obtain the nomination. He had no
political aspirations. To aid in developing the resources of the country
by public improvements, was ever his highest ambition and greatest
pride.
The work for which he will be longest remembered is the magnificent
structure known as the Struthers Library Building, which was built for
the borough. by Mr. Struthers in the winter of 1883, at an expense of
about $90,000 in addition to the site, which was furnished by the
citizens. It is described in the history of Warren in this work.
Mr. Struthers’s "predominant mental characteristic," says one who has
for many years been closely associated with him by the ties of
friendship and business connection, "is concentrativeness. He would
always become totally absorbed in the project or enterprise in hand, and
pursue it with an avidity and pertinacity that admitted of no diversion
or interruption. His mental resources in extricating himself from
embarrassment, and in combining agencies to accomplish his purpose, have
always proven sufficient for all drafts upon them and seem
inexhaustible, and his power for attracting both men and capital and
enlisting them, in his adventures, is wonderful. His temperament is
over-sanguine, producing too favorable estimates of future results, and
would often have led him into serious difficulties, except for his
indomitable will and perseverance. He never surrendered, and
consequently was always victorious, or made a draw game of it.
"He has always shown himself emphatically to be what Carlyle said of
Cromwell, ‘an earnest man.’ Whatever his hand has found to do he has
done with his might. Bold, apparently to rashness, and hopeful to
enthusiasm, whatever he has undertaken he has carried through, with an
earnestness and energy that surmounted all obstacles. These elements in
his composition induced him sometimes to venture too much, perhaps, and
take risks which the timid prudence of less resolute men would have
avoided. He would buy, on time, far beyond his income from other sources
to pay, trusting to sell at an advance before the liability matured. Yet
no protests came. He would spread more canvass and run farther out to
sea than larger crafts dare venture, yet his frail bark, through calm or
storm, always made the voyage bravely, and returned to port safely. His
industry has ever been as indefatigable as his will indomitable. Had he
not enjoyed perfect health and great powers of endurance, he would often
have overtaxed his energies and broken down.
"Although his travels and associations with the business world have been
such as to subject him to frequent and strong temptations, his habits
have ever been temperate and free from dissipation of any kind. He,
indeed, attributes much of the vigor, both physical and intellectual,
which he enjoys at his present advanced age, to the fact that several
years ago he abjured the use of spirituous liquors altogether. He seldom
indulges even in a glass of beer. He says its use defiles the stomach,
vitiates the appetite, destroys the sensitive organs, and results in
intellectual stupidity, physical grossness and deformity, and total
unfitness for business or society. The medicated wines generally in use
he considers equally obnoxious and to be avoided.
"But paramount among his virtues it may be affirmed that he is an honest
man. In his immense and complicated business transactions, no one was
ever found to charge him successfully with a dishonest or dishonorable
act. Naturally a little credulous, although usually cautious, he has
sometimes been overreached and involved in litigation. But he has lived
through more than forty years of trials without a tarnish upon the
escutcheon of his manhood, or a stain on his integrity as a citizen.
During all that time he has been the recognized leader, and often the
originator of measures calculated to benefit the county and borough in
which he has lived, and still enjoys the confidence and esteem of the
present, as of the past generation."
In December, 1831, Mr. Struthers married Miss Eunice Eddy, of Warren,
Pa., and reared two children. His son, Thomas E., died in 1872. His
daughter, Ann Eliza, was married to Captain George R. Wetmore, a soldier
of the war for the Union, and a prominent manufacturer and influential
business man. She died in 1880 leaving one son, who is Mr. Struthers’s
only lineal descendant.
History of Warren County:
With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent
Men and Pioneers, J. S. Schenck, Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., 1887.
More Warren County
History Books
Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History
Books for biographies and historical information
on your ancestors. View the book page images on line and print them
out for your genealogy file!
Free Access to the old history books - plus birth &
death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.
