Louis Henry Severance was an American capitalist and philanthropist.
Background
Severance was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on August 1, 1838. He was the younger of the two sons of Solomon Lewis Severance and Mary (Long) Severance. His paternal ancestor, John Severans, who is known to have been living in Ipswich, England, in 1635 and in Boston, Massachussets, in 1637, was one of the original proprietors of Salisbury, Massachussets.
One of his descendants, Robert Severance, studied medicine with Dr. John Long in Shelburne, Massachussets, and married the daughter of his patron. Both doctors lived out their time in Shelburne, notable physicians of western Massachusetts.
Solomon Lewis Severance opened a dry goods store, and in 1833 married Mary Long, the only child of Dr. David Long, Jr. Solomon died in 1838, about a month before his son Louis Henry was born. The widowed mother returned with her small family to her father's home, where the boys grew to manhood.
Education
Louis Henry Severance attended Cleveland public schools.
Career
In his eighteenth year he found employment in the Commercial National Bank. Except for 100 days' service with the Union army in 1863, he remained in the banking business until near the end of the Civil War. The oil industry in western Pennsylvania then offered him the opportunity he had been awaiting. In 1864 he went to Titusville, to engage in the production of oil.
Ten years later he returned to Cleveland, drawn into the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. From 1876 until his death, he was a stockholder of that company, and from 1876 until his retirement from active duties in 1894, served as its treasurer. He spent most of the remaining years of his life in New York City, although he died in Cleveland. Severance's interests and industrial influence were extended through investments in oil, salt, sulphur, and steel.
In the nineties, in association with Herman Frasch, F. B. Squire, and Frank Rockefeller, he formed the Union Sulphur Company, which employed a revolutionary process, invented by Frasch, of dissolving and pumping sulphur from its sources and thereby made the United States a great world producer of sulphur.
His chief interest outside of business was in the Presbyterian Church and especially its missions. Hospitals and churches in Japan, Korea, and India stand as monuments to his philanthropy. In 1907-08 he traveled around the world, inspecting missions generally.
He was a trustee and generous supporter of Oberlin College, Western Reserve University, and the College of Wooster. After Wooster had been destroyed by fire in 1901, Severance rebuilt it. He also gave liberally to the Young Men's Christian Association.
He died in 1913.
Achievements
Louis Henry Severance was a founding member of the Standard Oil Trust, the first treasurer of Standard Oil. In retirement he was a leading sponsor of Ohio education, the YMCA, and overseas Presbyterian missions. He donated $50, 000-$100, 000 annually directly to the church. Severance Hospital and the Severance Medical College at Seoul, Korea, are his benefactions. He almost alone rebuilt College of Wooster on a larger and more attractive scale, thus L. H. Severance Gymnasium at the College of Wooster was named in his honour.
Personality
Severance was a gentleman of the old school, urbane, conservative in his tastes, critical in his judgments, but always kindly.
Connections
He was married twice: on August 13, 1862, to Fannie Buckingham Benedict, who died twelve years later, and in 1894 to Florence, daughter of Stephen D. Harkness, a member of the Standard Oil group; she died in 1895. To the first marriage two sons and two daughters were born; a son and two daughters survived their father.
