the steam engine, the electric telegraph, the wireless telegraph,
illuminating gas, the knowledge of chloroform, and many other
important inventions, it was to be expected that the inventive faculty
of her sons would not fail when transplanted to this country.
Hugh Orr (1717-98), born in Lochwinnoch, inventor of a machine for
dressing flax, took a patriotic part in the war of the Revolution by
casting guns and shot for the Continental Army, besides doing much to
encourage rope-making and spinning. His son, Robert, invented an
improved method of making scythes and was the first manufacturer of
iron shovels in New England. William Longstreet (1759-1814), a New
Jersey Scot, invented and patented an improvement in cotton-gins
called the "breast-roller," also a portable steam saw-mill. As early
as 1790 he was at work on the problem of the application of steam
power to the propulsion of boats, but lack of funds prevented
operations until 1807, the same year in which Fulton launched his
steamboat. His son, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet (1790-1870), became
President of South Carolina College. Robert Fulton (1765-1815), of
Ayrshire origin through Ulster, was, as every one knows, the first to
successfully apply steam to navigation. Hugh Maxwell (1777-1860),
publisher and newspaper editor, of Scottish descent, invented the
"printer's roller" (patented in 1817), cast his own types and engraved
his own woodcuts. Henry Burden (1791-1871), born in Dunblane, inventor
of an improved plow and the first cultivator, was also the first to
invent and make the hook-headed railroad spike "which has since proved
itself a most important factor in railroad building in the United
States." His "cigar boat" although not a commercial success was the
fore-runner of the "whale-back" steamers now in use on the Great
Lakes. William Orr (1808-91), manufacturer and inventor, born in
Belfast of Ulster Scot parentage, was the first to manufacture
merchantable printing paper with wood fibre in it, and made several
other improvements and discoveries along similar lines. Cyrus Hall
McCormick (1809-84), inventor of the reaping machine, was descended
from James McCormick, one of the signers of the address of the city
and garrison of Londonderry presented to William III. after the siege
in 1689. Of his invention the French Academy of Sciences declared
that by its means he had "done more for the cause of agriculture than
any other living man." James Blair (1804-84), born in Perth, Scotland,
was the inventor of the roller for printing calico; and Robert M.
Dalzell (1793-1873) was inventor of the "elevator system" in handling
and storing grain. Samuel Colt (1814-62), inventor of the Colt
revolver, and founder of the great arms factory at Hartford, Conn.,
was of Scots ancestry on both sides. He was also the first to lay a
submarine electric cable (in 1843) connecting New York city with
stations on Fire Island and Coney Island. Thomas Taylor, inventor of
electric appliances for exploding powder in mining, blasting, etc.,
Chief of the Division of Microscopy (1871-95), was born in Perth,
Scotland, in 1820. Duncan H. Campbell, born in Greenock in 1827,
settled in Boston as a lad, by his numerous inventions, "pegging
machines, stitching machines, a lock-stitch machine for sewing uppers,
a machine for using waxed threads, a machine for covering buttons with
cloth," laid the foundation of New England's pre-eminence in shoe
manufacturing. Gordon McKay (1821-1903), by his inventions along
similar lines also helped to build up New England's great industry.
Robert Dick, (1814-93), born in Bathgate, Linlithgowshire, died in
Buffalo, lecturer, newspaper editor, writer, preacher, and inventor,
was inventor of the mailing machine used in nearly every newspaper
office on the continent. Alexander Morton, (1820-60), the perfector if
not the inventor of gold pens, was born in Darvel, Ayrshire. James
Oliver, born in Roxburgh, Scotland, in 1823, made several important
discoveries in connection with casting and moulding iron, was the
inventor of the Oliver chilled plow, and founder of the Oliver Chilled
Plow Works, South Bend, Indiana. The business established by him is
now carried on in several cities from Rochester, New York State, to
San Francisco, and south to Dallas, Texas. William Chisholm, born in
Lochgelly, Fifeshire, in 1825, demonstrated the practicability of
making screws from Bessemer steel, organized the Union Steel Company
of Cleveland, (1871), and devised several new methods and machinery
for manufacturing steel shovels, scoops, etc. His brother, Henry, was
the first to introduce steel-making into Cleveland, and might justly
be called "The Father of Cleveland." Andrew Campbell (1821-90) was the
inventor of many improvements in printing machinery, and of a long
series of devices comprising labor-saving machinery relating to hat
manufacture, steam-engines, machinists' tools, lithographic and
printing machinery, and electrical appliances. William Ezra Ferguson
(b. 1832), merchant and inventor of the means of conveying grain on
steam shipments without shifting, was of Scottish ancestry. Alexander
Davidson (b. 1832) made many inventions in connection with the
typewriter, one of the most important being the scale regarding the
value of the letters of the alphabet. As an inventor he was of the
front rank. Andrew Smith Hallidie (b. 1836), son of a native of
Dunfermline, was the inventor of steel-wire rope making and also the
inventor of the "Hallidie ropeway," which led up to the introduction
of cable railroads. James Lyall (1836-1901), born in Auchterarder,
invented the positive-motion shuttle (1868) which revolutionized the
manufacture of cotton goods. He also invented fabrics for pneumatic
tyres and fire-hose. James P. Lee, born in Roxburghshire in 1837, was
inventor of the Lee magazine gun which was adopted by the United
States Navy in 1895. His first weapon was a breech-loading rifle which
was adopted by the United States Government during the Civil War.
Later he organized the Lee Arms Company of Connecticut. The production
of the telephone as a practical and now universally employed method of
"annihilating time and space" in the articulate intercourse of the
human race will forever be associated with the name of Alexander
Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh in 1847. By its means he has promoted
commerce, created new industries, and has bridged continents, all the
result of "sheer hard thinking aided by unbounded genius." To Dr.
Graham Bell we are also indebted for the photophone, for the inductoin
balance, the telephone probe, and the gramophone. During the war he
designed a "submarine chaser" capable of traveling under water at a
speed of over seventy miles an hour, and he has made important
experiments in the field of aeronautics and in other arts and
sciences. The mother of Thomas Alva Edison (b. 1847), it may here be
mentioned, was of Scottish parentage (Elliott). The originator of the
duplex system in the manufacture of railroad tickets was William
Harrison Campbell (1846-1906), of Scottish parentage. William Malcolm
(1823-90), also of Scottish parentage, was the inventor of telescopic
sights, an invention adopted by all civilized governments. His
attainments were better known and appreciated in Europe than in his
own country. Daniel McFarlan Moore, electrician and inventor, of
Ulster Scot descent, was inventor of the Moore electric light. James
Peckover, born in England of Scottish and English ancestry, invented
the saw for cutting stone and a machine for cutting mouldings in
marble and granite. Rear-Admiral George W. Baird (b. 1843), naval
engineer, invented the distiller for making fresh water from sea
water, and patented many other inventions in connection with machinery
and ship ventilation. James Bennett Forsyth (b. 1850), of Scottish
parentage, took out more than fifty patents on machinery and
manufacturing processes connected with rubber and fire-hose. John
Charles Barclay, telegraph manager, descendant of John Barclay who
emigrated from Scotland in 1684, patented the printing telegraph
"said to be the most important invention in the telegraph world since
Edison introduced the quadruplex system." Alexander Winton, born in
Grangemouth in 1860, inventor and manufacturer, successfully developed
a number of improvements in steam engines for ocean going vessels,
founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897, and patented a
number of inventions in connection with automobile mechanism. The
works of the company at Cleveland, Ohio, now cover more than thirteen
acres. The first to expound and formulate the application of the law
of conservation in illumination calculations was Addams Stratton
McAllister (b. 1875), a descendant of Hugh McAllister, who emigrated
from Scotland c. 1732. He also holds several patents for
alternating-current machinery, and has written largely on electrical
subjects. Richard Dudgeon (1820-99), born in Haddingtonshire,
Scotland, was distinguished as a machinist, inventor of the hydraulic
jack and boiler-tube expander.
SCOTS AS ENGINEERS
Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789), engineer and geographer was of Scottish
origin. He was author of some topographical works and also furnished
the maps and plates of Smith's Account of Bouquet's expedition
(Philadelphia, 1765). James Geddes (1763-1838), of Scottish birth or
parentage, was surveyor of canal routes in New York State and was
chief engineer on construction of the Erie Canal (1816), and chief
engineer of the Champlain Canal (1818). "In all matters relating to
the laying out, designing and construction of canals, he was looked
upon as one of the highest authorities in the country." James Pugh
Kirkwood (1807-77), born in Edinburgh, came to United States in 1832,
was one of the most eminent engineers in the country, one of the
founders of the American Society of Civil Engineers (1852) and
President (1867-68). James Laurie (1811-75), born at Bell's Mills,
Edinburgh, Chief Engineer on the New Jersey Central Railroad,
consulting engineer in connection with the Housatonic Tunnel, and
first President of the American Society of Civil Engineers. William
Tweeddale, born in Ayrshire in 1823, rendered valuable engineering
service in the Civil War, and was an authority on the sources and
character of water supply. Henry Brevoort Renwick, noted engineer and
expert in patent cases, first inspector of steam vessels for the Port
of New York, was a son of James Renwick the scientist. David Young,
born in Alloa, Scotland, in 1849, was President of the Consolidated
Traction Lines of New Jersey and General Manager of the larger
consolidated company. William Barclay Parsons (b. 1859), is partly
descended from Colonel Thomas Barclay, a Tory of the Revolution.
Hunter McDonald (b. 1860), descended from Angus McDonald, a refugee
from Culloden, is a prominent railroad engineer. T. Kennard Thomson,
born in 1864, is prominent as a bridge builder, designer of pneumatic
caissons, etc. His father came from Stranraer in 1834. Hugh Gordon
Stott, born in Orkney, in 1866, President of the American Institute of
Electrical Engineers (1907), Superintendent of motive power of
Manhattan Railway System, etc. William Gibbs McNeill (1801-53), of
Scottish parentage, was another engineer worth mentioning. Theodore
Crosby Henry (1841-1914), "the father of irrigation in Colorado," was
also of Scottish descent. William McLean (d. 1839), brother of Judge
McLean, was mainly instrumental in extending the Ohio Canal from
Cincinnati to Cleveland. John Findley Wallace (1852-1920), of Scottish
descent, was chief-engineer of the Panama Canal (1904-05), and also
designed and constructed many important engineering works. Angus
Sinclair (1841-1919), born in Forfarshire, was an engineer, author of
several text-books on engineering, and editor of the "Railway and
Locomotive Engineering."
SCOTS IN INDUSTRIES
Robert Gilmor (1748-1822), born in Paisley, was the founder of the
East India trade in this country. He also assisted in founding the
first bank in Baltimore (the Bank of Maryland), and the Maryland
Historical Society. His son Robert (1774-1848) was also prominent in
Baltimore business and was President of the Washington Monument
Association which laid the foundation for the Washington monument in
Baltimore in 1815 and completed it in 1829. Henry Eckford (1775-1832),
shipbuilder, was a native of Irvine, Ayrshire. On the outbreak of the
War of 1812 he built several ships for the American Government for use
on the Great Lakes. In 1820 he was appointed Naval Constructor at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard and there built six ships of the line. In 1822 he
built the steamer "Robert Fulton," which made the first successful
steam voyage to New Orleans and Havana. Angus Neilson Macpherson
(1812-76), born at Cluny, Inverness-shire, was builder of the frigate
"Ironsides," and designer of the furnaces for heating large plates and
the method of affixing them to the sides of the vessel. Donald Mackay
(1810-80), born in Nova Scotia, grandson of Donald Mackay of Tain,
Ross-shire, established the shipyards at East Boston, and constructed
a number of fast sailing ships, and during the Civil War a number of
warships for the United States Government. The beauty and speed of his
clippers gave him a world wide reputation as a naval constructor.
Thomas Dickson (1822-84), President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Co., was born in Lauder. William Grey Warden (1831-95), born in
Pittsburgh of Scottish ancestry, was a pioneer in the refining of
petroleum in Pennsylvania, and the controlling spirit in the work of
creating the great Atlantic Refinery consolidated with the Standard
Oil Company of Ohio in 1874. George Gibson McMurtry (1838-1915), born
in Belfast of Scottish descent, steel manufacturer and philanthropist,
was "one of the big figures of that small group of men which
established the industrial independence of the United States from the
European nations of cheap labor." James Edwin Lindsay (1826-1919),
lumberman, was descended from Donald Lindsay, who settled in Argyle,
New York, in 1739. John McKesson (b. 1807), descended from the
McKessons of Argyllshire, was founder of the, wholesale drug firm of
McKesson and Robbins; and Alfred B. Scott of the wholesale drug firm
of Scott and Bowne was also of Scottish descent. Edmond Urquhart (b.
1834) was one of the pioneers in the creation of the cotton seed oil
industry. To Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), born in Dunfermline, "the
richest and most free-handed Scot who ever lived," more than anyone
else is due the great steel and iron industry of the United States.
His innumerable gifts for public libraries, etc., are too well known
to need detailing here. To New York alone he gave over five million
dollars to establish circulating branches in connection with the New
York Public Library. In the development of the steel business of
Pittsburgh he was ably seconded by James Scott, George Lauder (his
cousin), Robert Pitcairn, Charles Lockhart, and others--all Scots.
James McClurg Guffey (b. 1839), oil producer and capitalist, was of
Galloway descent. He developed the oil fields of Kansas, Texas,
California, West Virginia, and Indian Territory. The town of Guffey,
Colorado, is named in his honor. His brother Wesley S. Guffey was also
prominent in the oil industry. John Arbuckle (1839-1912), merchant and
philanthropist, known in the trade as the "Coffee King," was born in
Scotland. Robert Dunlap (b. 1834), hat manufacturer and founder of
Dunlap Cable News Company (1891), was of Ulster Scot origin. William
Chalk Gouinlock (1844-1914), physician and manufacturer, of Scottish
ancestry, was one of the first to establish the salt industry in
Western New York (1883), and in 1887 established the first salt-pan
west of the Mississippi (at Hutcheson, Kansas). Edward Kerr, born in
Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, in 1842, was founder of the Laurenceville
Bronze Company (1891); and William Mackenzie (1841-1914), born in
Glasgow, was founder of the Standard Bleachery at Carlton Hill, New
Jersey. Hugh J. Chisholm (1847-1912), capitalist and manufacturer, was
of Scottish parentage. James Smith Kirk (1818-86), soap manufacturer
in Chicago, was born in Glasgow. George Yule, born in Rathen,
Aberdeenshire, in 1824, was distinguished in manufactures. William
Chapman Ralston (1826-75), developer of California, was of Scottish
ancestry. William Barr (1827-1908), merchant and philanthropist,
founder of one of the largest dry goods firms in the Middle West, was
born in Lanark. Matthew Baird (1817-77), born in Londonderry of Ulster
Scot parentage, a partner in the Baldwin Locomotive Works, in 1865
became sole proprietor besides being a director in several other
important corporations. James Douglas Reid (1819-1901), born in
Edinburgh, superintended the construction of many of the most
important telegraph lines in the United States and founded and edited
the "National Telegraph Review." Theodore Irwin (b. 1827), grain
merchant, manufacturer, and bibliophile; and Edward Henry Kellogg (b.
1828), manufacturer of lubricating oils, were of Scottish descent.
James Abercrombie Burden (b. 1833), ironmaster and manufacturer, was
son of the great Scottish inventor, Henry Burden. William Sloane (d.
1879), came to the United States in 1834 and established the great
carpet firm of William Sloane and Sons. The development of the tobacco
industry which so enriched Glasgow in the middle of the eighteenth
century, drew large numbers of Scots to Virginia as merchants and
manufacturers, and, says Slaughter, "it is worthy of note that Scotch
families such as the Dunlops, Tennants, Magills, Camerons, etc., are
to this day (1879) leaders of the tobacco trade of Petersburg, which
has grown so great as to swallow up her sisters, Blandford and
Pocahontas, which were merged in one corporation in 1784." David
Hunter McAlpin (b. 1816) was one of the largest tobacco manufacturers;
and Alexander Cameron, born in 1834 at Grantown-on-Spey, had an
extensive share in the tobacco business, with four large branch
factories in Australia. Alexander Macdonald (b. 1833), born at Forres,
Elginshire, was President of the Standard Oil Company of Kentucky and
Director in several other important business enterprises. James Crow,
Kentucky pioneer, (c. 1800-1859), born in Scotland and graduated as a
physician from Edinburgh University. In 1822 went from Philadelphia to
Woodford County, Kentucky, where his knowledge of chemistry enabled
him vastly to improve the methods of distilling whiskey, and he became
the founder of the great distilling industry of that state. Walter
Callender, born in Stirling in 1834, was founder of the firm of
Callender, McAuslan, and Troup, of Providence. E.J. Lindsay, born in
Dundee in 1838, was manufacturer of agricultural implements in
Wisconsin. Alexander Cochrane, born at Barrhead in 1840, was a great
chemical manufacturer. Edwin Allen Cruikshank, born in 1843 of
Scottish ancestry, was a real estate operator and one of the founders
of the Real Estate Exchange in 1883. George Harrison Barbour, born in
1843 of Scottish parentage, was Vice-President and General Manager of
the Michigan Stove Company, the largest establishment of the kind in
the world. William Marshall, born in Leith in 1848, was founder of the
Anglo-American Varnish Company (1890). Robert Means Thompson, born in
1849 of Scottish ancestry, was President of the Orford Copper Company,
one of the largest producers of nickel in the world. William James
Hogg (b. 1851), carpet manufacturer in Worcester and Auburn,
Massachusetts; and Francis Thomas Fletcher Lovejoy, Secretary of the
Carnegie Steel Company were of Scottish descent. William Howe McElwain
(b. 1867), shoe manufacturer in New England, is of Argyllshire
descent; and the Armours of Chicago, descended from James Armour, who
came from Ulster c. 1750, claim Scottish ancestry. William Barbour
(b. 1847), thread manufacturer, was grandson of a Scot who moved from
Paisley, Scotland, to Lisburn, Ireland, in 1768, and in 1784
established what is now the oldest linen thread manufacturing
establishment in the world. George A. Clark (1824-73), born in
Paisley, established the thread mills at Newark, New Jersey, the
business of which was carried on by his brother William (b. 1841), who
came to the United States in 1860. The great Coates Thread Mills at
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, are a branch of the firm of J. and J. Coates
of Paisley. Hugh Chalmers (b. 1873), President of the Chalmers Motor
Company, of Detroit, is descended from Thomas Chalmers who came from
Scotland early in the nineteenth century. Ramsey Crooks (1786-1859),
fur trader, born in Greenock, Scotland; came to America and settled in
Wisconsin. In 1809, he entered the service of John Jacob Astor and
made, with Donald Mackenzie and Robert Stuart, the memorable
3,500-mile trip to Astoria, on the Pacific Ocean. In 1834, he settled
in New York and engaged successfully in business. During his residence
at Mackinac Island, Mich., and on his adventurous trips he was a great
friend and confidant of the Indians. Black Hawk said he was "The best
paleface friend the red men ever had." Mention may also here be made
of the Anchor line of Steamships founded by Thomas and John Henderson
of Glasgow. The ships of this line began service between Glasgow and
New York in 1856. In 1869 they established a North Sea service between
Granton, Scotland, and Scandinavian ports and through this channel
introduced many thousands of industrious Scandinavian settlers into
the United States. In 1870 they established the first direct
communication between Italy, southern Europe and the United States,
and in 1873 they inaugurated, and were the principal carriers of, the
live cattle trade between the United States and Europe.
SCOTS IN BANKING, FINANCE, INSURANCE AND RAILROADS
In the financial and commercial field in this country the Scots have
held a foremost place and stand unrivalled for integrity, energy,
fidelity, and enterprise. Many jibes are made at the expense of the
Canny Scot, but American business men have realized his value. In
business and commercial life the success of the average Scot is
remarkable and many of the guiding spirits among America's successful
business men are Scots or men of Scottish descent.