Northumberland-Schuylkill County PA Archives Biographies.....Robertson, Andrew 1826 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 6, 2005, 5:12 am Author: Biographical Publishing Co. ANDREW ROBERTSON. The active experience as a coal operator of the gentleman whose name heads this review covers a period of over half a century in the anthracite coal fields of Northumberland and Schuylkill counties, he having been in the business longer than any man now living in either county who is in the business at the present time. Our subject was born April 23, 1826, near a place called Johnson, in Scotland, and his parents were George and Agnes (Aiken) Robertson. In 1831 or 1832 his father, desiring a wider field for the cultivation of his talents and the exercise of his energies, emigrated with his family to Nova Scotia, British America. He removed to that country as a superintendent of mines for a foreign corporation operating what were known as the Sidney Morris Mines. He remained there until about 1836 when he came to Pennsylvania, locating near Pottsville where he embarked in coal operating, continuing in that business the remainder of his active life, dying in 1849 at the age of forty-six years. Andrew Robertson had but limited advantages for securing an education so far as the schools were concerned, as his school-boy days were included in that period just prior to and following the adoption of the present common school system. Most of his education has been obtained in the great university of practical business operations. His initial experience in coal mining was secured when, as a boy, he was engaged about the mines of his father as a picker of slate and in other jobs such as fell to boys about a mine. His father died when he was young and Andrew learned the trade of a blacksmith which he followed in the vicinity of his birthplace about three years. He carefully husbanded his earnings and at the end of that time he had accumulated sufficient money to go into the coal-producing business on his own account on a very small scale. This he did at New Philadelphia, about six miles east of Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pa., where he remained about three years and then went to St. Clair, and entering into partnership with William Littlehales, took charge of an old colliery, repaired it, and operated it for a short time, when he sold out and returned to New Philadelphia where the firm started a new enterprise known as the New Philadelphia Shaft, operating it about two years when it was sold. About this time, or in 1853, the gold fields of California seemed to offer unusual advantages to the ambitious and enterprising, and, yielding to the strong impulse, Mr. Robertson resolved to try his fortunes on the Pacific coast. There for two years his fortunes were cast among the miners, part of the time as a searcher after the precious metal and part of the period as a blacksmith, a trade which at that time and under the circumstances stood him in very good stead.. After this experience on the Western Slope he returned to Schuylkill County and for one and a half years was employed as superintendent of the coal operations of Rhoades & Shoullenberger of New Philadelphia. He then formed a business partnership with Thomas Beddall and opened a colliery about one mile from New Philadelphia known as the Lick Run Colliery. They successfully operated this enterprise for a period of about two years when misfortune overtook them and the colliery was burned. Their next operations were at the Eagle Hill Colliery with which they were connected from 1861 to 1865 when they sold out to eastern capitalists. In 1866 Mr. Robertson removed to Shamokin, Northumberland County, and first became identified with the eastern anthracite coal fields. He formed a partnership with Henry Guiterman and Thomas Gorman and built the Greenback Colliery, which they operated until 1869, when Mr. Robertson sold his interest to his partners. In the meantime the same firm had leased the Henry Clay Colliery and Mr. Beddall and Mr. Robertson opened a colliery at Helfenstein in the Mahanoy Valley. The latter enterprise, however, did not prove a paying one and was abandoned. About the time he was operating the Henry Clay Colliery our subject formed a copartnership with Alexander Fulton and entered into a contract to mine and deliver coal for the Mclntyre Coal Company of Elmira, N. Y., operating in Lycoming County, Pa., near Ralston, about twenty-seven miles north of Williamsport. This contract covered a period of four years, at the end of which time he returned to Shamokin and has since made that town his headquarters for his extensive coal operations. He formed a partnership with C. W. Kingsley of Cambridge, Mass., and purchased a half interest in the Excelsior Coal Company in 1880 and it has continued in active operation ever since. In 1886 the same company opened the Corbin Colliery and has operated it in connection with the Excelsior Colliery. These enterprises are of considerable magnitude giving employment to a force of about six hundred and fifty men. Having two outlets the firm always has given steady employment and been noted for the generous treatment of its men. Mr. Robertson's operations have not been confined to the anthracite region, but since 1890 he has been largely interested in developing the bituminous districts of Virginia and West Virginia. In the above year the Shamokin Coal & Coke Company, consisting of himself and other capitalists, was organized and the company is extensively engaged in the mining and shipping of coal and the manufacture of coke at Mayberry, West Virginia. The mines are in the celebrated Pocahontas field. Of this company our subject's son, George W., is vice-president, and his son, Andrew D., a director. In connection with his two sons, Andrew D. and George W., Mr. Robertson bought a large interest in the same region in the Turkey Gap Coal & Coke Company, one of the most extensive and best-equipped plants in that section of the state. He also is interested in the Bottom Creek Coal & Coke Company, being active as a director in both companies. He also is a stockholder in the Clinch Valley Coal & Coke Company of Virginia. Mr. Robertson is one of the several capitalists who built and equipped the first electric light plant in the United States outside of New York City, in which city the Edison Electric Company had equipped a plant. The plant referred to is that built in Shamokin, and was the first in this country, outside the metropolis of New York State, to be used for illuminating a residence, a church or an opera house. This fact certainly speaks highly for the public spirit and enterprise of the gentlemen at the head of the Shamokin corporation. Of this company, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Shamokin, Mr. Robertson has been an active director since its organization. He also is a director of the Shamokin Gas Light Company and of the Shamokin Powder Company. Testimony of the highest sort to the experience and the thoroughness of Mr. Robertson in mining is the fact that he was some time ago appointed and now serves as a member of the state board of examiners whose duty it is to examine for fitness and experience all applicants for appointment as mine-boss in the anthracite field. To this work of great importance Mr. Robertson gives much attention and to his wise oversight is considerably due the fact that mine-bosses are men of experience and caution, resulting in manifold benefits both to the mine-owners and the mine-workers. Religiously Mr. Robertson is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Pottsville, Pa., where he resides, although he is considered, practically, a resident of Shamokin, with whose commercial interests he is so closely identified. Fraternally our subject is a member of Pulaski Lodge No. 216, F. & A. M., Mt. City Chapter, R. A. M., and Constantine Commandery, Knights Templar. Mr. Robertson has been three times married. His first marriage was with Phoebe Barlow and was blessed by the birth of four children, William, Phoebe and Nathan, all deceased, and Andrew D., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Robertson married as his second wife Malinda Barlow, sister of his first wife, and to their union were born: George W., who is interested in business with his father; Phoebe, wife of F. G. Clemens of Pottsville, Pa.; and Ida, deceased, and a fourth child who died in infancy. Mr. Robertson was united in marriage for the third time to Mrs. Rose Barlow, nee Randall. To few men has been accorded the privilege of such a long and successful business career as that of Andrew Robertson. His life record, contemporaneous almost with the history of the anthracite coal industry, is indeed an inspiration to every young man who would succeed in life. It is a lesson of industry, honesty, perseverance and pluck, and clearly demonstrates the possibilities of our American youth when backed by these qualities of head and heart. His is a mind in which the power of construction and generalization are highly developed, while he possesses that executive and organizing ability which is so essential in carrying out enterprises vast in conception and far reaching in their influence. Successful and honorable has been his career, and as Mr. Robertson looks back upon its conquests it is with that happy consciousness of having faithfully performed every duty entrusted to his care in such manner as to win the confidence and respect of all who have had business or social relations with him. Being possessed of quite a fortune Mr. Robertson is enabled to exercise his charitable propensities with lavish hand, but in this commendable inclination, as in all other matters, his unostentatious spirit prevails and is a distinguishing characteristic of his many good deeds of which the general public knows little. In this he follows literally the Biblical injunction: "Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth." So unassuming is the man, and so plain and unaffected is his manner, that it was impossible to obtain from himself information concerning his charitable and kindly deeds, but the facts were made known by those who have been intimate for years with Mr. Robertson in business and in social relations. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899) This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/pafiles/ File size: 10.8 Kb