William George Neilson

Background

William George Neilson was born on August 12, 1842 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of William Smith Neilson of Philadelphia and Esther (LaCoste) of Trinidad, who was of French descent.

Education

Neilson graduated from the Polytechnic College of the State of Pennsylvania in 1862.

Career

Neilson was connected with Booth & Garrett, a prominent firm of analytical chemists in Philadelphia. In 1867 he was associated with the interests of Jay Cooke in the Adirondacks, spending three years in those mountains operating forges at Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York. He was next, for a short time, with the Pennsylvania Steel Company. During 1871, when the Logan Iron & Steel Company of Burnham, Pennsylvania, failed, Neilson was appointed its receiver and upon subsequent reorganization of the company was made its general manager. In the meantime he became interested in the Freedom Forge of the same place, and with WitwWilliam Burnham of Philadelphia laid the foundations for what later became the Standard Steel Works, an affiliated interest of what was then called Burnham, Parry, Williams & Company, and is now known as the Baldwin Locomotive Works.

He was manager of the Standard Steel Works for thirteen years (1877 - 90), and in 1878 was given charge of the first consignment of American-made locomotives to Russia. He was accompanied by a picked crew of men from Baldwin's for the purpose of placing these engines in service at Eydtkuhnen, an important railroad point on the border of East Prussia (now Lithuania).

In 1890 he resigned from the Standard Steel Works to accept a position with the Chester Rolling Mills, later becoming vice-president of the Wellman Iron & Steel Company (1890 - 92).

From 1893 to 1895 he was general manager of the Taylor Iron & Steel Company of Highbridge, New Jersey, and subsequently, for a period of eight years, treasurer of the Keystone Drop Forge Works at Chester, Pennsylvania. With William Burnham and Edward Nichols, who subsequently became the president of the Brooks Locomotive Works, Tarrytown, New york, now a part of the American Locomotive Works system, Neilson, in 1882, purchased the Ridge Valley Iron Company, makers of charcoal pigiron, in Floyd County, Georgia; and in that year formed the Republic Mining & Manufacturing Company for purchasing and operating mineral properties in the South. Bauxite, the ore from which aluminum metal is derived, was first discovered in the United States the following year at Hermitage, about one mile from the Ridge Valley Furnace.

In 1888, with a few friends, he purchased land which was about to be sold for its timber and established the Adirondack Mountain Reserve, one of the largest and most attractive forest reserves in New York State. Its area, which includes Mount Marcy and the Ausable lakes, still retains its original wildness and beauty and has served as a game refuge to the present time.

Neilson served as president of the controlling organization from its formation until 1903.

He was secretary of the centennial committee of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and his tact and the charm of his personality are attested by the successful manner in which he carried out the work of this office at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876.

Achievements

• Neilson became a pioneer in the bauxite industry and was closely associated with its remarkable development. He was president of the Republic Mining & Manufacturing Company from 1892 until his death.

Religion

His religious interests covered a broad field, his activities centering chiefly in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, of which he was long a vestryman, and in the Philadelphia Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, which he served as director and for three years as president.

Membership

Neilson was a member of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association for many years.

Connections

In 1872 he married Mary Louise Cunningham, of Philadelphia. He was survived by two sons and four daughters.

Father:

William Smith Neilson

Mother:

Esther (LaCoste) of Trinidad

Spouse:

Mary Louise Cunningham