Robert Coleman | |
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 Coleman by Jacob Eichholtz circa 1812-1815 | |
| Born | November 4, 1748 |
| Died | August 14, 1825 (aged 76) |
| Occupation(s) | Ironmaster, Industrialist |
| Spouse | Anne Old |
Robert Coleman (November 4, 1748 - August 14, 1825) was an American industrialist and politician who became Pennsylvania's first millionaire. [1] [2]
Coleman was born in Castlefin in County Donegal, Ireland, one of eight children of Thomas Coleman. [2] Although born in Ireland, his family was English. [3] He immigrated to America, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1764 when he was sixteen years old. [4] According to tradition, he brought with him two letters of introduction and three guineas. [5]
He worked as a clerk for merchant Mark Biddle who was impressed with Coleman's penmanship and attention to detail. [2] This led to Coleman being hired as a bookkeeper by prominent iron masters Curtis and Peter Grubb of the Hopewell Forge furnace. [2] While working for the Grubbs, Coleman learned about the iron making industry and what it took to become an ironmaster. [3] [5] He also learned that operating an iron furnace took little cash, as workers were paid with supplies which were, in turn, acquired by barter from iron shipments. [5]
After six months at the Hopewell Forge, he moved on to become a clerk at James Old's Quittapahilla Force furnace in Berks County, Pennsylvania. [2] [3]
Shortly after his marriage to Old's daughter, Coleman leased the Salford Forge near Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1773. [2] He leased the Elizabeth Furnace near Manheim in Lancaster County in 1776 from its owners creditors. [3] Coleman turned the struggling ironworks into a profitable business by capitalizing on the Continental Army's need for ammunition in the Revolutionary War. [2] He reduced costs by using Hessian prisoners as laborers to make cannonballs and grapeshot at the Elizabeth and Salford Furnaces. [2] [5] His resulting profits made him the first millionaire in Pennsylvania. [5]
Coleman used his profits to purchase all of the shares in the Elizabeth Furnace between 1780 and 1794. [3] He also purchased the Speedwell Forge from his father-in-law in 1785. [3] He also acquired shares of the Upper and Lower Hopewell Forges (not the similarly named Hopewell Furnace). [1] [5] He acquired a 1/6 interest in the Cornwall Furnace from the Grubbs in 1786, and an added 2/3 share in 1798, for a total of 5/6 ownership. [3] This bought out Curtis Grubb and half Henry Bates Grubb's shares. [3] Most importantly, the Cornwall Furnace purchase included an equal share in the Cornwall Ore Bank. [3] This was one of the richest iron deposits in the United States. [3]
Coleman constructed Colebrook Furnace in 1791. [3] He also acquired a share of the Martic Forge in 1801, [2] His sons, James, Robert Bird, and William trained at Speedwell Forge when they came of age, moving on to manage other operations. [5] In 1809, he delegated most of the operations to his sons. [5]
For more than three decades, Coleman served as a politician in Pennsylvania and leader of the Federalist Party in Lancaster County. [2] [6] In 1776, he attended the Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention. [2] During the Revolutionary War, Coleman served briefly in the Pennsylvania militia lieutenant, marching aid in the doomed defense of New York. [5] However, he returned home to what was probably a more important service to the war effort—making iron. [5]
He served in the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1783. [4] In 1787, he was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention to ratify the United States Constitution. [2] He helped edit the state's charter in 1790. [5] He was a Presidential elector in 1792. [2] In 1795, Coleman was Captain of the Lancaster Troop of Light Horse. [2] In this capacity, he led thirty-five cavalrymen to aid in the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion. [2]
He was an elector again in 1796; this time he cast one of the three critical votes in the selecting John Adams, rather than Thomas Jefferson, as president. [3] He also served as an Associate Judge from 1791 to 1811. [2] He also made an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate. [5]
On October 4, 1773, Coleman married Anne Old (1756 – 1884), the oldest daughter his employer James Old (1730 – 1809), at Reading Furnace, Chester County, Pennsylvania. [2] [8] [3] The couple had nine children: William, Edward, Thomas Burd, Richard, James, Margaret, Ann Caroline, Harriet, and Sarah. [9] [5] In 1791, he built Elizabeth Farms house overlooking his Colebrook Furnace on 400 fertile acres. [5]
Starting in 1802, Coleman served as a trustee of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for 23 years. [2] He also served on the board of Franklin College and was a director of the Bank of Pennsylvania. [5]
The Colemans moved to a large brick mansion on East King Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1809, along with their youngest children: thirteen-year-old Ann Caroline, nine-year-old Harriet, and seven-year-old Sarah. [9] Harriet died the year after the move, followed by Robert a year later. [5]
In 1818, attorney James Buchanan started courting Anne Caroline who was a "catch" with her social standing and wealth. [9] [5] Buchanan did not have a status or background, but was beginning to gain a reputation in law and politics, having served as both prosecuting attorney and state assemblyman. [9] The two became engaged in the summer of 1819. [9] Coleman was apparently unhappy with Buchanan's checkered history at Dickinson College where he was disciplined by faculty twice and dismissed on one occasion. [9]
During October and November 1819, Buchanan was busy with the Columbia Bridge Company Supreme Court case in Philadelphia, many clients impacted by a collapsing economy, and with the Missouri problem with regards to slavery at the legislature—and apparently neglected Anne Caroline. [9] Town gossips concluded that Buchanan "was tremendously ambitious to make money; that he was more affable and friendly to many young ladies than he ought to be as one betrothed; and finally, that he had been something less than an ardent suitor of Ann Coleman in recent weeks." [9] They came to the untrue conclusion that Buchanan was marrying Anne Caroline for her money. [9] In November, Anne Caroline heard the gossip and, as one of her friends wrote, began to believe “that Mr. Buchanan did not treat her with that affection that she expected from the man she would marry, and in consequence of his coolness she wrote him a note telling him that she thought it was not regard for her that was his object, but her riches.” [9] Buchanan replied, but did not give an explanation for his recent behavior. [9] Then, when he returned to Lancaster from Philadelphia, he first visited a colleague's home and spent the afternoon with the man's wife and her unmarried sister. [5] [9] In anger, Ann Carolina sent a letter, breaking the engagement. [9] She wrote, “I do not wish, nor, since you are a gentleman, do I expect, to meet you again." [5]
As Buchanan dealt with the worst of the financial crisis on November 29, 1819, Ann Caroline traveled to Philadelphia on December 4 to visit her sister Margaret who had married United States Congressman Joseph Hemphill in September 1806. [10] [9] Just after midnight on December 9, 1819 ,Ann Caroline was dead. [9] Judge Thomas Kittera wrote, “At noon yesterday, I met this young lady on the street, in the vigour [sic] of health, and but a few hours after, her friends were mourning her death. She had been engaged to be married, and some unpleasant misunderstanding occurring, the match was broken off. This circumstance was preying on her mind. In the afternoon she was laboring under a fit of hysterics; in the evening she was so little indisposed that her sister visited the theatre. After night she was attacked with strong hysterical convulsions, which induced the family to send for physicians, who thought this would soon go off, as it did; but her pulse gradually weakened until midnight, when she died. Dr. Chapman, who spoke with Dr. Physick, says it is the first instance he ever knew of hysteria producing death.” At the time, some believe this to be a suicide, but there was no proof. [9] However, Coleman would not let Buchanan walk as a mourner at her funeral. [5] Buchanan was so devastated by her death that he vowed never to marry as "his affections were buried in the grave.” [9] He eventually became the only bachelor President in the history of the United States.
Another daughter, Sarah, also is believed to have committed suicide. [5] Around 1824, William Augustus Muhlenberg, co-rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, courted Sarah. [11] Coleman served on the vestry of St. James and had a bitter dispute with Muhlenberg over the latter offering evening worship services. [11] Coleman then banned Muhlenberg from his house. [11] Muhlenberg wrote in his diary, “But for no earthly consideration whatever, not even the attainment of the dear object of my heart will I sacrifice what I believe to be the interests of my church. O lord, help me!'” [11] The dispute continued for a year, before coming before the church council again, but by that time Coleman was too ill to protest. [5] After her father's death in August 1825, Sarah hoped to marry Muhlenberg. [5] However, in his will, Coleman gave his sons Edward and James the right to approve of Sarah's spouse, and tied such approval to her inheritance. [5] Unfortunately, her brother Edward also dislike Muhlenberg, and even offered the church $5,000 only if the young rector was to leave. [5] [11] Perhaps broken hearted, Sarah traveled to Philadelphia in the fall of 1825 where she died at the age of 23. [11]
Coleman died in Lancaster at age 77. [2] He was one of the wealthiest and most respected men in Pennsylvania at the time of his death. [2] He left Dickinson College dividends and fifty shares in the Carlisel Bank worth $1,140. [2]
His legacy was retained through the surviving companies of the Cornwall Iron Furnace company until the industry was replaced by steel manufacturing late in the 19th century.
Cornwall is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,604 at the 2020 census.
George Taylor was an American ironmaster and politician who was a Founding Father of the United States and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Pennsylvania. His former home, the George Taylor House in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
David Rittenhouse Porter was the ninth governor of Pennsylvania. Voted into office during the controversial 1838 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, which was characterized by intense anti-Masonic and anti-abolitionist rhetoric during and after the contest that sparked the post-election Buckshot War, he served as the state's chief executive officer from 1839 to 1845.
Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg was an American political leader and diplomat. He was a member of the Muhlenberg family political dynasty.
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in southeastern Berks County, near Elverson, Pennsylvania, is an example of an American 19th century rural iron plantation, whose operations were based around a charcoal-fired cold-blast iron blast furnace. The significant restored structures include the furnace group (blast furnace, water wheel, blast machinery, cast house and charcoal house), as well as the ironmaster's house, a company store, the blacksmith's shop, a barn and several worker's houses.
Speedwell Forge Mansion, also known as Speedwell Forge Homestead, is a historic home located at Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The ironmaster's mansion was built about 1760, and is a 2½-story, four bay wide and two bay deep, brownstone and fieldstone dwelling in the Georgian style. It was expanded about 1795 with a Georgian/Federal style wing. Also on the property are a contributing stone summer kitchen, stone and frame workshop, stone paymaster's office c. 1795), and stone privy.
Henry William Stiegel was a German-American glassmaker and ironmaster.
Robert Habersham Coleman was an iron industrialist, railroad president, and owner of extensive farmland in Pennsylvania. He was nationally known as the "Iron King of Pennsylvania." In 1879, he was worth about $7 million. By 1889, he had turned that into $30 million. At the time, he had more money than his contemporaries A. J. Drexel, Marshall Field, J. P. Morgan or Frederick William Vanderbilt.
Cornwall Iron Furnace is a designated National Historic Landmark that is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Cornwall, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The furnace was a leading Pennsylvania iron producer from 1742 until it was shut down in 1883. The furnaces, support buildings and surrounding community have been preserved as a historical site and museum, providing a glimpse into Lebanon County's industrial past. The site is the only intact charcoal-burning iron blast furnace in its original plantation in the western hemisphere. Established by Peter Grubb in 1742, Cornwall Furnace was operated during the Revolution by his sons Curtis and Peter Jr. who were major arms providers to George Washington. Robert Coleman acquired Cornwall Furnace after the Revolution and became Pennsylvania's first millionaire. Ownership of the furnace and its surroundings was transferred to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1932.
The Stiegel-Coleman House, also known as Elizabeth Farms, is an historic mansion house which is located at 2121 Furnace Hills Pike, just north of Brickerville, Pennsylvania.
Peter Grubb (c.1702—1754), the founder of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty, discovered Cornwall Iron Mines and established Cornwall Iron Furnace, together one of the largest ironworks in Colonial Pennsylvania. The Cornwall Iron Mines are the largest U.S. iron mines ever discovered east of Lake Superior.
Mount Hope Estate is a National Register of Historic Places-listed property in Rapho and Penn Townships, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The original estate was the center of operations of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty during the 19th century and included over 2,500 acres (1,000 ha), a charcoal iron furnace, a grist mill, housing for employees and tenants, plus supporting structures such as a post office, a general store, a railroad station, a school and a church. The existing mansion and grounds remain from what was once a thriving industrial headquarters complex and small village.
Curtis Grubb (c.1730—1789), Patriot and oldest son of Peter and Martha Bates Grubb, was a second-generation member of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty along with his younger brother Peter Jr. The brothers operated the Cornwall Ironworks, making significant contributions to the American Revolutionary War effort, and Curtis served several terms in the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. He was also one of the largest enslavers in Pennsylvania at the time of independence, registering twenty-five people as his property in 1780 in accordance with state gradual abolition law.
Peter Grubb Jr. (1740–1786), Patriot and second son of Peter and Martha Bates Grubb, was a second-generation member of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty along with his older brother Curtis Grubb. They operated the Cornwall Ironworks, making significant contributions to the American Revolutionary War effort.
Jehu Grubb, unacknowledged son of the prominent ironmaster Curtis Grubb, was an early settler who became a leading citizen in Plain Township, Stark County, Ohio. Grubb served in the War of 1812, was a justice of the peace, served in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1828 and 1832, and in 1852 donated land for the Whitehall School. Grubb was often called John in various documents, and seems to have used both names himself. His stepson built the beautiful and historic Jacob H. Bair House on what been a corner of Grubb's farm.
Hopewell is an historic, American iron manufacturing site that is located near Hammer Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The site where Peter Grubb first began his iron making activities sometime around 1739, it is located approximately six miles southeast of Cornwall, Pennsylvania, which was founded by Grubb in 1737.
Henry Bates Grubb was a third-generation member of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty, the founder of the family's enterprises headquartered at Mount Hope near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and perhaps the family's first "true" ironmaster. He was the son and heir of Peter Grubb, Jr. who, with his brother Curtis, had owned and operated the Cornwall ironworks founded by their father Peter Grubb in 1737. Henry and his heirs rebuilt the family business after most of the original Peter Grubb holdings were gradually acquired by Robert Coleman between 1783 and 1802. The Grubbs and Colemans were among the largest iron producers in Pennsylvania through the mid-19th century.
The Grubb Family Iron Dynasty was a succession of iron manufacturing enterprises owned and operated by Grubb family members for more than 165 years. Collectively, they were Pennsylvania's leading iron manufacturer between 1840 and 1870.
Abbeville, also known as Mt. Pleasant, is a historic home located at 1140 Columbia Avenue in Lancaster Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The Edward Brooke II Mansion (1887–88), also known as "Brookeholm," is a Queen Anne country house at 301 Washington Street in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania. Designed by architect Frank Furness and completed in 1888, it was Edward Brooke II's wedding present to his bride, Anne Louise Clingan.
Coleman Papers Collection, Series 1, 1759-1904
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