Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-19
A NOTABLE FINANCIER.
Sketch of Erastus Wiman, the Mil
lionaire.

slightly under the medium height, in a
gray business suit, with Jacqueminot
rose in his button hole and an intent, earn
est, yet good natured expression on his
hnsHsh looking features. In his mutton
chop whiskers he looks like a LondOner,
out hie activity Is that Of born Ameri-
can. 1t is Erastus Wiman. He is one of
the numerous foreigners who have won
wealth and distinction In this country.
| Alexander Hamilton in craftsmanship,
Albert Gallatin in finance, A. T.
Stewart in trade, Farragut In war,
anu now comes man from
| Canada whose name Is already well
known in the United States as a tinancier
and the organizer of various business
projects. He was born in 1884 in a little
! village near Toronto. In the summer
! months he worked in the fields for 80
| cents week; In the winter he picked up
| scanty school education. His best edu-
cation was in printing office in Toronto,
| where he obtained employment as a boy
| OF 10. He remained there until he was 10,
acting first as roller boy for an old style
| Adams press and finally as a type setter.
| His wages ranged from 81 % to SIS a
week.
! ''THE PRoUDEST DAY OF ERAsrUs
WIMAN'S LIFE"
said one who knows him we'll, "was the
! day that he threw into his widowed
mothers lap the sum of 81 25-his first
weeks wages. Throughout his whole
| apprenticeship the same disposition was
| made of every dollar he earned, for they
were very poor. He had a younger sister,
| but no brother, to share the burden with
| him. He has told me with glstening eyes
| how, when he had achieved the great
| earning power of S. week, he
! and his sister walked the streets
| of Toronto looking into all the milliners'
| windows to select bonnet for the dear
| mother that she might go to church on the
| following Sunday, aud with what pride
| the adOrnment was selected and presented.
| Long before he himself owned house the
! good mother and sister were comfortably
| settled in home of their own, and years
| before he himself could afford carriage
| one had been provided for his mother,
who, in her advanced years, had become
| lame and unable to walk. With such
| principle of selt-sacritice and such indus
| try as he early manifested, success was
only question of time"
LEAVING THE PRINTING OFFICE
| he Joined the staff of the Toronto Globe as
| a commercial writer and compiler of sta
| tistics. These duties brought him in con-
tact with a large number of business men.
| In time his acquaintance extended to all
the leading merchants aDd bankers of
| Canada. When Il. G.. Dun 81 Co. extended
| the operations of their mercantile agency
| to Canada, young Wiman was employed
| as one of their trusted assistants. In few
| years he became the Canadian head of the
! business. In 1865 he came to New
! York as one OF the leading members
| of the firm now known as Dun, Barlow d
| Co., in New York, and Dun. Wiman d Co.,
| In Canada. His experience IN the me-
| trOpOlis has been as interesting as his
| success has been marked. He is always
| ready to help the needy, and his sympa-
| thies are especially warm towards Cana
dams. He is President of the Canadian
| Club Of this city; in his fine home at New
| Brighton, Staten Island, are numerous
| specimens of Canadian art; he has spent
| considerable sums in encouraging Can
! adas national game of lacrosse; he has
| used all his influence and adroitness IN
| promoting the success OF the winter car
| nivals in Montreal, whittier some tif-
| teen or twenty thousand Americans
| have been induced 10 90 and spend,
| as the Canadians compute, not less
! than half a million dollars in season.
| He has done much to establish Canadian
| colony in the United States by giving en-
! ployment to Canadians in his agency
! business all over the country. He has,
am told, 106 branch offices, and fifty of
! these have Canadian managers who in
| turn have looked after their fellow cOun-
/
front of the firm known an Dun, Barlow
! g. Co. Under his administration it's reve-
nues have increased to $2,00O,0 900 an
| nuaIly. He prints a book four times
year containing, | believe, million
names, and requiring forty tons of type
to print it. He IS director of the West
ern Union Telegraph Company, and pays
nothing for his kilograms.
MR.. wIMAN HAS IN RECENT YEARS
| given much attention to the enlargement
| OF the harbOr of New York, and to the de-
velopment of Staten Island. He Is Presi-
dent of the Staten Island railroad, and
controls the ferry company which acts in
| conjunction with 1T. A few years ago
Staten Island was little known to New
| Workers. The trips by the ferry were few,
and the means OF transportation on the
island primitive. Now, the ferry boats
make thirty-eight trips a day, and even
the remoter parts OF the island are about
! as accessible as Harlem. Mr.. Wiman, |
expect, would like to see the city of Now
| York, or at least the kernel
thereof, transferred to Staten Island,
but energetic and persistent as he
| is he will never see this miracle
accomplished. The people Of New York,
! as it is now known, like Staten Island
| well enough as summer resort, but they
! will not emigrate to it as business body.
| Mr.. Wiman may as well try TO move some
! other mountain. AS TO his efforts to-
wards an enlargement OF the New York
| harbOr, they have met with the approval
! OF all who understand the supreme impOr-
lance of the subject. Congress has de-
! voted millions to the goose runs Of the
country, but nothing Of importance has
| been done in recent years to enlarge the
principal harbor OF this continent.
| MR.. wIMAN'S RAILROAD AND OTHER
PROJECTS
have brought him into conflict with tine
State Of New Jersey and the Pennsyl-
vania railroad in some respects remark
able. lie is at once aggressive and
shrewd. An alliance with the Baltimore
| and Ohio railroad for the entrance Of that
road into New York is one IT the chief
events Of Mr.. WIman's life. The printers
boy at 81 80 week had become a railroad
! maCuate. Toe alliance Is Of such "A ma
ture that it is peculiarly to Mr.. WIman's
! advantage TO build up Staten Island and
attract visitors thither. This is the secret
of Saint George and it's skyrockets. its
blare of bands, its Buffalo Bill shows,
electrical fountains and base ball
matches Tae tinancier mas something of
MIR. Barnum's skill in leading tho public
| by the nose.
! ALL HIS FORTUNE OF TWO OR THREE
! MILLIONS,
- II.