The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-20
,urg Letter in the sun.
Iyancenent

husIE lItllCT III tHe cuil
man of his prominence in the
ness world comparatively little is
yn about Henry Clay Frick by the
jral public. a great deal that has
written about the present head
the Carnegie interests, and the or
hizer of what promises to be the
latest manufacturing enterprise OF
bdern times, has been ignorantly un-
Futhful, because there is only small
mount of authentic material concern
6g him available with which to build
biography. Seven years ago the
memorable events at Homestead and
the attempt on his life by the Anar-
chist assassin Bergman brought him
prominently into public notice, and
started a flood of biographical sketches.
| Few Of them pictured him as he really
was.
In appearance Mr.. Frick is Of med
I ium height and sturdily built, with a
well-shaped head set firmly on square
shoulders. His hair and beard, the lat
ter worn full and carefully trimmed,
are heavily tinged with gray. His car
riage is erect. his manner at all times
suave but reserved, while his voice is
Ararely raised above an even conversa-
kional tone. He dresses quietly, with
\lreference for dark colors. Shave
his beard and there would be re-
lower jaw characteristic OF
Imness and tenacity of purpose
IA latter is a characteristic of Mr.
Frick and it is a characteristic OF his
American ancestry.
OF GERMAN STOCK.
Very early in the present century the
maternal grandfather of Mr.. Frick
Abram Overholt. removed from a point
on the Delaware river near Point
Pleasant, Bucks county, Pa, to south
ern Westmoreland county. The Ober-
holtZers-the name was subsequently
| changed to Overholt--came from the
\Palatinate to America in the first hall
the last century and settled IL
f6cksN county. 1t is one of the family
/traditions that the wife of Abran
Overholt. growing homesick after few
months for q sight of the Old home
stead on the beautiful river above
Philadelphia. rode back across tn,
width of Pennsylvania on her owl
horse. accompanied only by small
boy, to the old Point Pleasant farm
Western Pennsylvania was then re
Larded as q frontier of civilization
ttsburg was still in its swaddlinl
thes and the settlements along tn
gheny and Monongahela were scat
ID hamlets. After a short visit il
East she rode back again owe
ntain and across foothill to he
home, never to visit the old agar
ram Overholt became the leadin
~ N WpGtnTn Penn
mia. He was a Mennonite. an
is still preserved in the family
ait of his wife, a sweet-faced Of
in Mennonite cap and kerche
ram Overholt lived to be Sc, dyin
out 1870, and leaving large famil
sons and daughters, among the lat
being Mrs. Elizabeth Overho
elk, mother of Mr.. Frick, who is sti
ng in Ohio. with a son and daugf
at the age Of a. Mr.. Frick we
on December 10, 1S49, at We
rton, a village named after h
hdfather. about twelve miles sout
ireensburg. His father was a pros
BUS farmer of Swiss ancestry, WI
just after Mr.. Frick entered upo
career as a coke operator in IL
hnelsvillc region The FriCk farm
Pit is still known, is situated abol
Emile and a half south of Mount Pleas
ant on the road to Scottdale, and We
oted up to twenty years ago as one {
he finest properties in a region note
or fertile farms. The village of We
Overton is today a decaying hamlet {
wo dozen houses. The fields about
are falling into the abandoned mine
marring the surface with great III
lightly cavities.
EDUCATION.
The stories that Mr.. Frick's early Ii
was spent in penury and privation a.
part of the general biography of falls
hood that gained currency shortly aft
the Homestead trouble. AS a lad
ATTENDED the district school at We
Overton. and later was pupil at Il
Mount Pleasant academy, subsequen
ny known as the Presbyterian coleg
! and now conducted as a classical al
scientific institute. Later he attendt
school at Westerville, o. The resu
was that he entered upon his busine