Biographical Sketch of De Witt C. SUPLEE; Philadelphia Co., PA

Contributed to the PAGenWeb Archives by Diana Smith 
[christillavalley@comcast.net] 

Copyright.  All Rights Reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
*********************************************************

Philadelphia, A History of the City and its People: A Record of 225 Years
Philadelphia: S.H. Clark, 1912; Vol. 3, page 378.
Author, Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer
 
De WITT C. SUPLEE
 
     Among the men of marked business discernment and capability whose well 
defined plans are reaching fruition in the commercial development of 
Philadelphia, is numbered De Witt C. Suplee, the president of the Suplee 
Elevator Company, one of the more recently organized industrial enterprises of 
the city but one which, in the brief span of its existence, has won for itself a 
creditable place in business circles.
     De Witt C. Suplee, was born in Philadelphia, September 28, 1873, and is a 
son of George W. and M. A. Suplee.  Thomas Suplee, the grandfather of De Witt C. 
Suplee, was born in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, in 1805.  He was a farmer but retired 
thirty or more years before his death, which occurred in Overbrook, 
Pennsylvania, in 1903.  He married Henrietta Filmore, who died suddenly December 
25, 1885.  Three sons and one daughter were born of this union.  George W. 
Suplee, the father of De Witt C., was born in Philadelphia in May, 1851, and was 
engaged in the plumbing business until 1887.  He married Mary A. Brodhead, of 
Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, in 1872.  Her parents were Thomas and 
Henrietta (Guilick) Brodhead and were one of the oldest families in Monroe 
county, Pennsylvania.  Four sons were born of this union, two of whom died in 
infancy.  The father died in July, 1910.
     De Witt C. Suplee attended public school to the age of sixteen years, when 
he began providing for his own support as a draftsman in the employ of  The 
Stokes & Parrish Elevator Company.  Gradually he worked his way upward, winning 
promotion through successive positions until he was elected to the presidency in 
1898.  In 1900 the Otis Elevator Company purchased the business and Mr. Suplee 
was appointed general manager of the repair department and also sales agent.  He 
continued in those positions until July 1, 1908, when he resigned and organized 
the Suplee Elevator Company, of which he was elected president.  The business 
has shown a steady growth and increase each month since its inception, and 
although it has been in existence for only about two years it has come to be 
recognized as one of the substantial productive industries of this city.  They 
have installed elevators in the Public Ledger building, the Curtis Publishing 
building, in the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company building, for the William 
Hoskins Company, Fels & Company, J. Caldwell & Company, the Buick Motor Car 
Company, and in the Delmar apartments at Germantown.  They have also been 
accorded an extensive patronage outside of Philadelphia, installing many 
elevators in various buildings in the district east of Chicago.  They are also a 
Canadian company having an extensive factory in the city of Montreal, Quebec, 
Canada.
     Mr. Suplee was married in Philadelphia to Miss Eva L. Shaw, on the 29th of 
November, 1898, and they have two children; Harold S., eight years of age, now 
attending the Quaker public school; and De Witt C., four years of age.  The 
family residence is at No. 427, North Twenty-third street.
     In his political views Mr. Suplee is a stalwart republican and his 
religious faith is evidenced in his membership in the Presbyterian church, in 
the work of which he takes an active and helpful part.  His progress in the 
business world has resulted from the purpose which he formed at the outset of 
his business life to follow well defined plans and to allow no outside interests 
to interfere with the prompt and efficient performance of the duties that 
devolve upon him.  Energy and perseverance have been resultant factors in his 
life record, bringing him to the enviable position which he occupies.