Biographical Sketch of George Price WHITAKER (1879): Cecil Co., MD Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/md/mdfiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Maryland and Wash- ington, DC", National Biographical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 1879, pp. 661-2 WHITAKER, George Price, Ironmaster, Principio Furnace, Cecil County, Mary- land, was born December 31, 1803, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Joseph and Sarah (Updegrove) Whitaker. His father, who emigrated to this country during the Revolutionary war, then a minor, was the son of James Whitaker, a large cloth manufacturer of Leeds, England. The family of Joseph and Sarah Whitaker consisted of eight sons and six daughters, of whom George P., the subject of this sketch, is the youngest and only surviving son. His early education was limited. He worked on a farm until about nineteen years of age, and then hired as a workman at the 'Delaware Iron Works,' in New Castle County, Delaware, where he remained about two years. By industry and rigid economy he managed, even at the low wages then paid, to save some money, and was judicious enough to invest it in improving his defective education. For this purpose he went to Philadelphia and diligent- ly applied himself to study until interrupted by severe sickness. He early resolved to make himself useful to his employers, and realized that if he would succeed in business enterprises on his own account he must educate his mind as well as labor with his hands. This furnishes the keynote to his subsequent history. "On his restoration to health he was employed as manager of the 'Gibraltar Forges,' near Reading, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, being then but twenty- one years of age, and remained in that position for about two years. From this time Mr. Whitaker was the General Superintendent and managing spirit of most of the works and enterprises with which he has in association with others been engaged. His first business venture on his own account was, in connection with others, the purchase and rebuilding of the 'Elk Rolling Mills,' near Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland, where they manufactured sheet- iron, nails, etc. Subsequently in connection with his brother James he leased and rebuilt the 'Old North East Forge,' located at North East, Cecil County, Maryland. Here he conducted the business for about seven years. "In 1836, in connection with others, he purchased the 'Principio Furnace' property in the same county. This property was probably the first on which iron works were erected in the Colonies, and was owned and operated by an English company, a set of whose account books of 1726 and 1732 are now in possession of Mr. Whitaker. This company went out of existence on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, and the property was confiscated, and some years after was purchased by Colonel Samuel Hughes and others, by whom the iron business was continued until about 1814. They made cannon for the Government, which fact probably prompted Admiral Cockburn to burn the works during the war of 1812-14; the furnace building, boring-mill, grist-mill, and bridge over Principio Creek were destroyed. From about this time until the date of the purchase in 1836 by Mr. Whitaker and others the whole prop- erty became a wild waste. "Here prosperity attended Mr. Whitaker's intelligent and untiring devotion to business, and he gradually purchased the interest of all the other mem- bers of the company, and added many acres to the original purchase. The last one, his brother Joseph, he bought out in 1862; since when he has been and is now sole owner of this extensive property. In 1845 he, in connection with his brother Joseph, David Reeves, and W. P. C. Whitaker, built the 'Havre Iron Works,' consisting of two furnaces at Havre-de-Grace, Harford County, Maryland. Mr. Reeves shortly afterwards retired, and the business was for a number of years thereafter conducted under the firm name of Joseph & George P. Whitaker. In 1862 Mr. Whitaker became sole owner, and subse- quently sold the works to some of the members of the 'McCullough Iron Co.' "In 1848 he with others purchased a large property in Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania, known as the old 'Durham Furnace' property, built two new furnaces, and conducted them successfully under the firm name of Joseph Whitaker & Co. until about 1862, when he sold out his interest to his brother Joseph. In 1855 George P. and Joseph Whitaker purchased an interest in the 'Crescent Iron Works,' at Wheeling, Virginia. In 1863 Mr. Whitaker became by purchase the sole owner of these works and prosecuted the business until 1868, when he sold out to a company who failed during the panic on 1873-74, and he again purchased the property, after which he organized a stock company under the name and style of 'The Whitaker Iron Company,' George P. Whitaker, Pres- ident, and his son, N. E. Whitaker, Secretary, and has since conducted a profitable business there. "These various manufacturing interests rendered it necessary to have a depot in Philadelphia for the sale of the products of their works and Mr. Whitaker, ever quick to see the advantageous points of business, and prompt to carry into effect what ever the requirements of his trade demanded, in 1848, in connection with his brother Joseph, and afterwards with his son-in-law, Joseph Condon (sic), under the firm name of Whitaker & Condon (sic), opened an iron commission house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and did an exten- sive and profitable business there until 1862. "Since his early manhood Mr. Whitaker has been associated in business with his brother Joseph, who resided in Pennsylvania. In 1861, Joseph, fearing the result of the civil war, proposed a division of their property interest, which was effected, Joseph taking the properties in the States of Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey, and George P. those in Delaware and Maryland; thus dividing by free and slave States. The Virginia works being a stock company was not divided. "In tracing Mr. Whitaker from his boyhood, without capital except such as God and nature had endowed him with through the various enterprises in which he has been engaged up to wealth and influence, which he has attained it may be said of him that 'in youth he opened his book of life and hitherto has not left a blank page.' "Though an influential man in the politics of his county, neither his tastes nor time has led him to desire or hold office. Once only he consented to serve his county in the Legislature of Maryland, in the session of 1867. For a number of years he was a Director on the part of the State in the Bal- timore and Ohio Railroad Company. In positions of trust he discharged his duty with unquestioned fidelity. Since Mr. Whitaker's residence in Mary- land, which commenced in 1827, he has at all times been active in aiding and encouraging church, educational, and benevolent enterprises. By precept and example he has ever exerted a wholesome influence in the community." Notes (JMM) * a picture of the subject accompanies the sketch * Joseph 'Condon' was actually named Joseph Coudon and his firm was called 'Whitaker & Coudon.'