National Republican., 1883-07-21
eoULD,s BoYuooD.
His Success ms n student, Clerk, Thinner,
Surveyor, and Tenner-A sharp Real
Elstnte Transaction.
C2ereland Leader

friend" said well known Cleveland broker
yesterday. "Ho was born and passed his
boyhood days on farm about one mile from
Roxbury, Delaware county, N. Y, at which
place was engaged in business before / came
west was we'll acquainted with the whole
family, and they were very nice people Mr..
Gould was small in stature, like his son, and
lame. He was democrat, and took great
interest in local politics, attending every
tawn meeting and electioueerng with the
greatest earnestness. The male members of
the Gould family were remarkable for their
precocity. They came into manhood much
earlier than most boys and ut fifteen Jay
was as sharp as most young men at twenty
two jays mother and sisters were all inteli.
gent, refined women. In the fall of the year
that Jay was sixteen years old his father pro-
posed to trade his farm for my place in town.
We managed to como TO an agreement, aud
bargain was made the transfer to take place
the following spring Young Jay had desire
to attend tho village school, so he offered to
work for me for his board, and kept him all
winter He was an excellent boy. His habits
were all good and he devoted most of his eve
nings to study. He was always the first one up
in the morning, and he had the fire burning and
the teakettle boiling by the time my wife
was ready to prepare breakfast. Ihe next
spring | moved to the farm and Jays father
took possession of my house in town. l was
running tin shop, and as l could not very
well attend to that and the farm, Jay bought
ME out, aud for u year turned his attention
to selling pans and milk pals and doing jobs
of tinkerng. The business did not suit his
tastes however, and he disposed of the shop.
He was fine penman and first class aC-
countant, and he soon secured position. as
confidential clerk to a merchant, who COM
bined the real estate business with his mer-
camille pursuits quite extensively. 1t was
in this position that Jay first gave evidence
of the shrewdness which is part of his
nature A portion of an estate which had
been the subject of litigation for years was
about to be sold, and Jays employer
had endeavored to purchase it. There
was some disagreement about the price.
The executor asked $500, but the man for
whom young Gould worked was not willing
to give nore than $1,000. Jay of course read
all aud wrote part of the letters that passed
between the two, and IL occurred to him that
he might make strike. He discovered that
the property was worth at least 81 900 in the
market, and understood that there was
chance to speculate. Accordingly without
his employers knowledge, he borrowed $1,000
from his father and went down to Kingston,
where the executor of the estate resided. He
said that he had come to purchase the land,
and laid down the money. The bargain was
soon closed, the deed being made in his fathers
name and inside of two weeks Jay sold tho
land for $1,000, clearing $1,000 by the trans
action. This breach of faith caused separa-
ton of Gould and his employer, and also
burst a little matrimonial bubble in which
the former and female relation of the latter
were the central figures.
while at school Jay paid considerable at
tention to mathematics, and acquired quite
knowledge of civil engineering. This attain
ment came into play at this time. man
named Oliver was making u sectional map of
Ulster county, which joins Delaware, and he
wanted an assistant. Jay rendered his serv-
ices and was employed. His duties consisted
of wheeling perambulator along the coun-
try roads and across fields, and noting the
distances. lie remained with Oliver for one
season, and i'll that time acquired so much
knowledge of map making that he started out
for himself to make map of Delaware
county. lie next took his cousin, who lived
at Albany, into partnership with him, and
they sent men to Ohio to make the first maps
of Lake and Geauga counties. Men were also
sent to Michigan to map the county in which
Pontiac is situated These undertakings were
never completed by Gould, the work having
been transferred to a man living in Philadel-
| phia.
"At this time, when Gould was between 10
and 90 years of age, he was considered good
surveyor, and his services were i'll great de-
| mand. short distance from Roxbury lived
Col. Pratt who had been sent to congress from
that district. He was an ignorant man, but
being worth about 100000, was considered
the most important person in that section. He
| felt his own Importance, and delighted to see
his name painted on the fences and printed
on large bills. He was a farmer, tanner, and
sheep raiser, and he usually placed all the
| titles after his name when he wrote it. He
had great desire tomake his the model farm
and add fresh laurels to his wealth of rcnown.
Accordingly he sent for young Gould to come
and make a survey of the place and arrange it
| in q tasty manner. Gould saw that the old
man was susceptible to hattery, and when he
had concluded his work aud was about to
| leave, he said:
| "'Colonol, you are statesman, farmer,
| tanner, and sheep grower. You ought to
make yourself more famous still by building
the largest tannery in the world
80 BY George D would said the colonel,
IF knew where | could get plenty of bark
"That was enough for Gould. Ho went
down into Lackawanna county, Penn, and
near where Goldsborough now stands, found
| thousands of acres of hemlock timber uncut.
He asked the people living about there if they
would give him land on which to build the
| largest tannery in the world. They readily
agreed to give him all the land he desired,
and he then made contracts in his own name
for bark at twenty-five cents per cord, sufli-
cent to run the tannery for twenty-five
years. He returned to Col. Pratt, who
was astonished at his success, and who
| told him to go on and build the tan
nery and he would furnish the money.
In the course of time the mammoth
establishment was in full blast under tho
firm name of Pratt & Gould Such great
concern must have banking facilities, SO
| Gould organized wildcat bank at Gouldsbor-
ough, and, as he was not of age, he induced
his relations to take large portion of the
stock and appoint him their proxy. lie was
elected director of the bank, aud everything
went on swimmingly. All the notes issued by
the bank bore a picture of the tannery or some
part of it, and the tannery controlled every
thing in GoudsbOrough. Gould withdrew
from the bank and deposited $4,000 of the
banks funds with Leupp & Lee, brokers, of
New York, and thereby obtained credit
which did him good service later on. All this
time Col. Pratt was putting money into the
business until he had invested about $4,000.
| He realized little on his investment, and be-
/ came uneasy He sent a man down to Goulds-
borough to investigate affairs,and when he re-
turned with the report that you had better
get out of there or Gould will break you up
the old man decided to dissolve the partner
ship lie met Gould in New York and of
fered to sell to him for 900 or pay to him
$4,000 to leave the business. Gould was
given ten days to consider the matter, and at
the end of that time he surprised the colonel,
who had supposed him without ready funds,
by agreeing to purchase the tannery. He
gave Leupp & Lee, of New York, as security,
and Col. Pratt was satisfied to get out.