John Henry

Submitted by Robert Kingrey

Source: Memoirs of Allegheny County

John Henry (deceased), iron and steel manufacturer, was born at Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, Wales, in 1842. His parents, Evan an Elizabeth Henry, were well and favorably known throughout the community. The father, a copper roller by trade, filled the position of percentor at the Dyffryn church for thirty years, with constant faithfulness and great credit. The late John Henry was the eldest of six children. Of his brothers and sisters, David, Thomas and Elizabeth are dead, and Llewellyn and William are living in Wales.

From early youth, John Henry was remarkable for his good habits, straightforwardness and earnest ambition. He loved his home and native land, but America offered him a broader field and more advantageous surroundings, and in 1866, accompanied by his life-long friend, William Hughes, he came to Pittsburgh, Pa. In America he met many ups and downs, but profited by his reverses, and in the end succeeded better than he had hoped.

At Frankstown rolling mill, owned by the late Grey Brothers, of Soho, he went through the lower grades of his trade patiently, but persistently, and in 1896 he was given charge of a sheet mill at Apollo, Armstrong county, where he worked for four years, giving the best satisfaction as a roller and a mechanic, and laying foundation if an extensive fortune and a brilliant future. In 1873 he received appointment of manager of the Ironton sheet works in Ironton, Ohio, and 1877 was engaged by the success. In 1879 he returned to Apollo and took up the superintendence of the mill where he had made his first start as a roller, and soon the concern was in a flourishing condition, turning out superior brands of iron and steel sheet, which commanded an enviable market.

In 1883, with Messrs, Kirkpatrick and Carter as partners, he erected the Chartiers iron and steel works, and was its general manager from the start. The success of this undertaking was phenomenal from the first; the iron and steel sheet turned out was as near in quality to the Russian iron sheet as any brand in the American market, and readily commanded the highest price. In 1899 the mill was sold to the steel trust, and later on, with other mills of the trust, was absorbed by the United States steel corporation; but with both companies Mr. Henry was retained as manager. In 1901 during the ironworker’s strike, when the combine ordered the Chartiers mill be dismantled, he strained every effort to prevent it, but in vain, and after the dismantling he tendered his resignation. The higher officials refused to accept it, and up to the time of his death, he filled the position of inspector, making trips occasionally to the various mills of the company, in an advisory capacity.

Mr. Henry was killed, Aug.16, 1902, by falling between the train and the platform at the fourth avenue depot, Pittsburgh, while in route to Alma, Mich., to spend a month at the sanitarium at that place. Mr. Henry was a man of sterling worth, intensely active, prompted by lofty ambitions, and endowed with unconquerable courage. Besides being a successful manufacturer, he was a gifted man of affairs, and endowed with the business instinct of a financier. He was a heavy stockholder in various enterprises, among them the First National bank of Carnegie, and the Carnegie trust company, holding the office of director in both institutions.