John Haldane Flagler

Background

John Haldane Flagler was born on September 3, 1836, at Cold Spring, New York, the son of Harvey K. Flagler. and Sarah Jane Haldane.

Education

Flagler attended the academy at Patterson, Dutchess County, New York (not at Paterson, New Jersey, as usually given).

Career

In 1854, Flagler entered the iron business with his uncles, John and James Haldane of New York, who operated the Greenwich Iron Works.

After a visit to Europe to study methods of making iron tubes, he was given charge of the Boston branch of the business in 1860, and furnished some of the iron used in the construction of the Monitor, and other boats of this class.

With the increasing demand for tubing for the growing oil industry, Flagler and his brother, Harvey K. Flagler, formed in 1867 the firm of J. H. Flagler & Company which was merged with the National Tube Works Company in 1869, with works in East Boston.

It was soon seen that Boston was too far both from raw materials and from the principal market for the product, and in 1872 the branch at McKeesport, Pennsylvania, began production. This plant was the first to use gas furnaces under the Siemens patent in the manufacture of iron, and Flagler later obtained seven patents for improvements in the manufacture of pipe.

The East Boston plant was discontinued in 1874, and the plant at McKeesport became the largest producer of pipe in the world, employing over 4, 500 men when Flagler resigned as general manager in 1888. During his stay in McKeesport, he was active in the affairs of the town and had a large part in its development from an unsightly village to a prosperous manufacturing city.

In 1909, when Flagler revisited the scene of his labors, he was given a reception by some forty of his old employees who had worked for the company more than twenty-five years.

Flagler continued as director of the National Tube Works Company until 1899, at which time it became the National Tube Company. From this time his interests were diversified — banking, insurance, manufacturing and mining, and he served as officer or director in many corporations, maintaining an office in New York until his death. John H. Flagler died on September 8, 1922, at his home at Greenwich, Connecticut, of pneumonia.

Achievements

• John Haldane Flagler was a successful businessman, an industrialist, and a founder of the National Tube Company, who gained and kept the loyalty of his associates and subordinates.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Reception to Mr. John H. Flagler. McKeesport, forty years after

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Membership

John H. Flagler was a member of various philanthropic, cultural, and scientific organizations.

Interests

• John H. Flagler was an enthusiastic yachtsman.

Connections

John H. Flagler was married three times: in 1856 to Anna H. Converse, by whom he had a daughter; in 1894, to Alice Mandelick who died in 1918; and, in 1921, to Beatrice Wenneker.

Father:

Harvey K. Flagler

Mother:

Sarah Jane Flagler (Haldane)

Wife:

Alice Flagler (Mandelick)

Wife:

Beatrice Francis Sullivian (Flagler)

Beatrice Francis Wenneker was married to John H. Flagler. After the death of her first husband, in 1927, Beatrice Francis Flagler married Armand M. Sullivian.

Wife:

Anna H. Flagler (Converse)

Daughter:

Anna Harper Harden-Hickey (Flagler)

Brother:

Harvey K. Flagler, Jr.

Uncle:

John Haldane

Uncle:

James Haldane