Thomas Taylor Boswell (Boswell, PA)
Thomas Taylor Boswell (October 13, 1856 – November 24, 1929)
Biography
- Name: Thomas Taylor Boswell
- Birth: October 13, 1856, Henry County, Virginia
- Death: November 24, 1929, Baltimore, Maryland
- Founder of Boswell, Pennsylvania
Early life and family
Thomas Taylor Boswell, son of William C. and Mary Armistead (Burwell) Boswell, was born October 13, 1856, in Henry County, Virginia. His father, William C. Boswell, was a retired tobacco manufacturer, formerly of Danville, Virginia. He moved to Baltimore about 1897 and was married to the former Miss Mary A. Burwell and they had seven children, William C., Jr., Misses N.R. and Mary A. Boswell, Mrs. N.R. Edwards of Williamsport, PA; Mr. Thomas T. Boswell of Baltimore; Mr. John L. Boswell of Clarksburg, Virginia and Dr. H.H. Boswell of New York. William C. Boswell, Sr. died on June 13, 1907 at his home in Forest Park, Maryland.
Thomas' mother, Mary Armistead Boswell, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James A. Burgess, Roland Park, Maryland, on Sunday December 10, 1911. She was a daughter of Col. Peyton Randolph Burwell (1792-1840) and Jane Seawell (1791-1850) of Mecklenburg, Virginia and was connected with some of the oldest families of that state, among them being the Harrisons, Spotwoods, and Armisteads. The maternal line could be traced back to Major Lewis Burwell, who settled about 1640 on Carter's Creek, in Gloucester county, Virginia. He was descended from Edward Burwell, of Harlington, Bedfordshire, whose father was also Edward. Robert Walpole, Earl of Oxford, premier of England, and Horatio, Lord Nelson, were descendants of the Burwells through female lines. Lewis Burwell, the immigrant, owned the great plantation of Fairfield, the mansion being one of the most unusual in Virginia. It was like some medieval castle, or fortress, standing staunch and timeworn. At the time her death, Mary was survived by three sons--Thomas T. of Baltimore; John L. of Wheeling; and Dr. Henry H. of Buffalo, NY; and two daughters--Miss Nannie R. Boswell, and Mrs. James A Burgess of Baltimore. Mrs. Nicholas M. Edwards of Williamsport, PA who died recently was also a daughter.
A brother, Dr. W.C. Boswell, Jr., a former Baltimorean, located in London around 1890 and developed a large dental practice. He passed away at 38 at his residence No. 25, Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, London.
Dr. Boswell was a young and skillful dentist in London in 1890. He had the honor of pulling a tooth from the royal mouth of the fair Princess Maud of Wales in December 1890. It was a wisdom tooth and it hated to let go. The princess screamed like a locomotive. Dr. Boswell got 10 pounds for the job and the advertisement was of course priceless. As for the royal tooth, the doctor had it mounted and enshrined in a velvet case.
Thomas Taylor Boswell was educated in the public and private schools of his native place, and in 1874 came to Baltimore, where he would make his home and conduct his businesses ever since. He married, April 6, 1881, in Baltimore, Sallie E., daughter of Andrew and Jane (Stewart) Brown. Mr. Brown, was a well-known contractor. Mr. and Mrs. Boswell had one son: Edward T., born August 13, 1882; he was a member of the Baltimore Athletic Club and married, April 6, 1903, Winifred H. Dillinger, and they were the parents of two children: Winifred Dillinger and Sarah Catherine. Mr. Boswell owned a stock farm of 1,060 acres, in Long Green valley, seventeen miles from Baltimore, and there he and his family spent the summer months. He was extremely fond of animals and the management of this farm provided congenial recreation after the unremitting cares and strenuous toils of business.
Business career highlights
In Baltimore, he became a clerk for A. Schumacher & Company, and through his own individual efforts, strict application and hard work, rose to the position of superintendent of lines. Later, in connection with H.G. Hilken and W.G. Atkinson, he formed the Elbarge Transfer Company, which became extinct in 1906. He was also instrumental in organizing the Chesapeake and Lighterage Towing Company and remained connected with these two companies for ten years.
In 1893, while still associated with A. Schumacher & Company, he founded and organized the Merchants' Coal Company, becoming its president, an office which he retained until 1909, when the business was purchased by W.S. and J.S. Kuhn, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In March 1900, the Merchants' Coal Co. filed for a charter at Dover, Delaware to increase its capital from $20,000 to $300,000. The company was producing 2,500 tons of bituminous coal a day and would increase this to 3,500 tons a day by opening additional mines. Three mines were operated at Elk Lick in Somerset County in what was known as the Pittsburgh seam. This seam was nine feet thick. Two other mines were operated at Tunnelton, Preston County, West Virginia, where the Upper Freeport seam, a five-foot thick seam, was worked.
On February 16, 1907, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company reported preliminary surveys for a new line between Johnstown and Somerset to relieve the congestion of the Somerset and Cumberland branch. This was the result of many requests of coal operators, including the Merchants' Coal Company. The Consolidation Coal Company of Baltimore was arranging to open mines on this branch, while the Somerset Coal Company, which was controlled by the Consolidation Coal Company, was a heavy shipper. The proposed line, according to the first survey, would run almost directly from Johnstown, traversing the southwestern end of Somerset county. The road would branch from the Somerset and Cambria branch at Hogback tunnel and pass through Boswell, Connors and other small towns, tapping the Jerome, Boswell and Quemahoning coal fields, which were connected with the Somerset and Cambria branch by poorly equipped branch lines with heavy grades. The Somerset and Cambria branch, a single track line, had been congested for years.
In April 1909, Mr. Boswell organized, the Big Vein Pocahontas Coal Company, with mines at Pocahontas, Virginia.
On March 17, 1909, the largest coal land deal to occur in southwest Virginia for several years was consummated, whereby Thomas T. Boswell, of Boswell, Pa., leased for 50 years the well-known Browning mines, of Pocahontas, Tazewell County, Virginia, containing the famous No. 3 vein of Pocahontas. The terms of the lease were believed to be the most liberal of the kind that have been reported from any section of the coal field. A cash bonus of $200,000 was to be paid on the first of April by Mr. Boswell to the Brownings, and in addition, a 15 cent royalty would come to the lessors from each ton of coal mined, and 24 cent royalty from each ton of coke manufactured. The contract states that a minimum royalty of $22,500 for each year for three years is to be paid and at, the end of the third year a minimum royalty of $45,000 was to be paid. The lands embraced in the lease lie near the famous mines of the Pocahontas Consolidated Collieries Company, said to be the largest soft coal operation in the world, and contained much of the same vein as the Collieries company. The coal in the Browning mines is what is known among coal operators as No. 3 Pocahontas, and embraced a seam of 11 feet of solid coal. The greatest bulk of this coil has been used for years by the United States Navy, and in construction work on the Panama Canal, and was said to be the best steam producing coal mined.
In December 1909, the general offices of the Merchants Coal Company were removed from Baltimore to Pittsburgh in the Bank for Savings building. Boswell resigned and his place was filled by the election of W.S. Kuhn who was president of the United Coal Company.
As a coal operator and typical business man he was quick to see an emergency and equally quick in devising a plan to meet it. He was decisive in his methods, keenly alive to any business proposition and its possibilities, and finding that pleasure in the solution of a difficult business problem without which there can be no real success. In addition to his presidency of the company, Mr. Boswell was also president of the Bear Run Coal & Coke Company, a new enterprise, which he moved to offices in Baltimore.
In 1926 Thomas T. Boswell and Baltimore associates acquired the mine of George P. Stein on the Berlin branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which since was known as the Mountain Valley Coal Company, becoming one of the most active mines in Western Pennsylvania. The Mountain Valley Company has expended many thousands of dollars in the development of their property and the mine near Beachdale, and was equipped with the most modern device for producing bituminous coal. Mr. Boswell’s son, Edwin T. Boswell was associated with him in conducting the affairs of the Mountain Valley concern.
Banking career
Boswell, Pennsylvania was settled in 1901 and incorporated as a borough on February 22, 1904. The community's founder was Thomas Taylor Boswell, the first president and supervisor of the Merchants' Coal Company. When the town of Boswell was first established, it was heralded far and wide as the best constructed mining town in Pennsylvania, because of the contrast between the well-built tenant houses and the miserable shacks in which miners' families were forced to live in 25 years ago. Every one of the original company houses erected in Boswell was covered with a slate roof and every alternate dwelling was built of brick in order to reduce the fire hazard. The machine shop was built of stone with the same economic foresight. But Mr. Boswell's crowning achievement at that time was the construction in mid-winter of the expensive steel viaduct over which the coal obtained from the "B" and "C-Prime" seams were delivered from deep underground and placed on railroad cars. The heavy steel utilized in the viaduct was delivered overland from the railroad station at Stoystown. Mr. Boswell and his associates were confronted with many obstacles, before they got the Boswell plant of the Merchants Coal Company in good condition, and with still greater obstacles in introducing Somerset County Quemahoning Smokeless" to the markets of America and Europe. The company of which Mr. Boswell was the most active member finally became involved financially and the Boswell property fell into the hands of other operators who have been successfully managing the plant for a number of years.
In December 1902, the Comptroller of the Currency approved an application to organize the First National Bank of Boswell, capital $25,000. W.H. Morris, Charles I. Shaffer, M.L. Hoffman, S.G. Morgan, J.J. Shaffer and others were the incorporators. Thomas T. Boswell was the first president.
Later life and death
On Sunday, November 24, 1929, Thomas T. Boswell, aged 70 years, died at his home in Baltimore. Thomas T. Boswell was one of the pioneer coal operators in Somerset County and was the founder of the bustling town bearing his name, twelve miles north of Somerset, Pennsylvania. Mr. Boswell was probably entitled to greater credit than any other coal operator for the development of the Jenner and Lincoln Township coal fields and it was largely due to his efforts that the Boswell Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was constructed.
James J. Hoblitzell, Jr., of Meyersdale, engineer in charge of the Mountain Valley Coal Company, left Sunday night for Baltimore to attend the funeral of his chief.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, Thomas T. Boswell was involved with the following bank(s):
- First National Bank, Boswell, PA (Charter 6603): President 1903-1908
Sources
- Boswell, Pennsylvania on Wikipedia
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- Thomas T. Boswell, Caswell County, North Carolina Blog (accessed Jan. 29, 2023).
- The Tribune, Scranton, PA, Wed., Dec. 17, 1890.
- Fall River Daily Evening News, Fall River, MA, Thu., Nov. 13, 1890.
- The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, Thu., Aug 8, 1895.
- The Baltimore Sun., Baltimore, MD, Mon., May 30, 1898.
- The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, Wed., Mar. 28, 1900.
- The Ligonier Echo, Ligonier, PA, Wed., Dec. 17, 1902.
- Evening Star, Washington, DC, Sun., Feb. 17, 1907.
- The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, Fri., June 14, 1907.
- The Independent-Herald, Hinton, WV, Thu., Mar. 25, 1909.
- The Republic, Meyersdale, PA, Thu., Dec. 23, 1909.
- The Evening Sun, Baltimore, MD, Mon. Dec. 11, 1911.
- The Daily American, Somerset, PA, Mon., Nov. 25, 1929.
- The Republic, Meyersdale, PA, Thu., Nov. 28, 1929.