Charles G. Roebling was the third son of John A. Roebling and Johanna Herting Roebling and was born in Trenton, December 9, 1849, in the original Roebling home which stood on a site adjacent to the Roebling mansion afterwards erected in 1856, and subsequently occupied by the main office of the Roebling Company. He received his early education in the primary schools of the city and afterwards was sent to a boarding-school on Staten Island kept by a relative, where he prepared himself to enter the Rensselaer Polytechnic School at Troy, New York. He was graduated from that institution in the class of 1871, with the degree of Civil Engineer., two years after his father's death. By his father's will, in accordance with which his four sons were to acquire the business, he inherited his proper interest in the firm of John A. Roebling's Sons, besides his portion of the general estate. He began immediately to take an active part in the industry, devoting himself exclusively to the engineering and manufacturing departments.
When Charles began his labors the industry was a small, though a growing and profitable one, and the plant consisted of a single mill for the manufacture of wire rope, employing about one hundred men. The business expanded rapidly under the forceful management of his elder brother, Ferdinand, who was in full control of the financial and selling sides, as Charles was of the mechanical. Washington was at that period engaged in the work of constructing the Brooklyn Bridge, which required all his time and energy and thus was able to give only occasional attention to the affairs of the company. Long before the completion of the great bridge, in 1883, Colonel Roebling's health had been so impaired by the illness occasioned by his strenuous labors that he was henceforth incapacitated for active work, and the two brothers, Ferdinand and Charles, thereafter divided the responsibility between them. When John A. Roebling's Sons Company was incorporated in 1876 Washington Roebling became president, but was subsequently succeeded by Charles, who held the office up to the time of his death, his brother, Ferdinand, being secretary and treasurer. From the outset the combination was a highly successful one, Ferdinand's astute financial management and extraordinary business genius being the complement of Charles' unfailing industry and skill on the engineering and manufacturing end. During the nearly fifty years' association of the three brothers, following the death of their father, the result shows that they had maintained a full measure of the extraordinary talents, enterprise and industry which so notably marked the character of the father and founder of the business.
With increasing demands for wire which succeeding years brought, due to the opening up of ever fresh avenues for its use, the need for expansion of the plant and for new machinery adapted to modern processes became evident and these things were Charles' special charge. The single mill which existed in
1869 was supplemented as time went on by many others, now embraced in three general groups of the company's property: the upper or main Trenton plant, the Buckthorn plant and the extensive mills located in the industrial town of Roebling, New Jersey. All the factories and the machinery in them as constituted in 1918 were designed and erected by Charles to care for the ever-increasing business demands created by Ferdinand's tremendous driving power, as a wide-visioned business organizer and super-salesman.
Besides his routine work at the mill, Charles designed and built the Oil City Suspension Bridge at Oil City, Pennsylvania, and was responsible for the manufacture and placing of the cables of the Williamsburg Suspension Bridge at New York.
One of his most notable engineering feats was in connection with the removal of Cleopatra's Needle from Egypt, given to the United States in 1877 by the then Khedive, and its transportation and erection in Central Park, New York, in i880. In this connection it will be recalled that the late William H. Vanderbilt subscribed $100,000 towards defraying the cost of removal. To Lieutenant-Commander H. H. Gorringe of the U.S. Navy was assigned the task of transporting the obelisk. The monolith, according to his measurement, was 69 feet 6 inches in height, 7 feet 9 inches in thickness at the base and weighed 44,800 pounds. To remove it from its site in Alexandria and transport it in safety to its resting-place in Central Park was an engineering problem of the first magnitude.
After Commander Gorringe had prepared the preliminary plans he concluded to consult a leading mechanical engineer as to their practicability. Accordingly he visited Charles Roebling in Trenton, exhibited his plans and asked for a frank opinion as to their working value. After some pointed questions had been put to him by the engineer, Gorringe frankly confessed that the job was too big for him without expert assistance and begged Mr. Roebling to go over the plans and revise them according to his own judgment. Accordingly new plans were prepared and special machinery for transportation was designed and built at the old Phoenix Iron Works in Trenton. A selected crew from the Works went to Egypt to superintend the work of removal and transportation. When the monolith was finally set up it was intact, and the engineering profession was a unit in eulogizing the skill which brought the task to a successful conclusion.
Undoubtedly the supreme achievement of Charles' career was the building of the industrial town of Roebling, a vast undertaking which took years of planning and sustained effort to complete, and represents today the founder's visible monument as a master-builder and mechanical engineer. A full chapter in this book is devoted to the story of this enterprise, which, had it not been undertaken at the time in accordance with the wise foresight of the company to meet an ever-increasing competition, would have proved a serious handicap in maintaining the company's ability to get its full share of business as against its powerful rivals in the trade.
An extraordinary number of fires, which from time to time completely demolished various buildings full of costly machinery, occasioned tremendous losses and put an extra burden upon Charles' time and energy, but he met these emergencies with unflinching courage and resolution. He was always a tireless worker. He gave of his days from eight in the morning until six at night and probably wore himself out prematurely.
His recreations were few and he seldom took a vacation. His only hobby, except his love for music, was the cultivation of orchids, of which he possessed a choice and valuable collection, as the awards made at public orchid shows in New York, Philadelphia and Boston bear testimony.
The death of his only surviving son, Washington A. Roebling, 3rd, a young man of many endearing qualities, who perished in the Titanic disaster in i9I2, was a terrible grief to him, and it was feared at one time would result in serious consequences to his health. When the church which the family attended in Trenton was undergoing restoration Mr. Roebling, at his own initiative and to the memory of his son, rebuilt the whole west wall of the edifice and filled it within and without with costly stone statuary, besides providing for the insertion of specimens of fine English stained glass, making this portion of the church probably the most elaborate of any parish church in this country. A free hand was practically given to the rector to make the restoration and embellishment satisfactory to himself, regardless of the expense. Mr. Roebling was also accustomed to send his gardeners to decorate the church at Easter with the orchids and other rare plants in his conservatory, and he himself was an invariable attendant at the services on such occasions.
Mr. Roebling cherished a distaste for public life, though he took a deep if quiet interest in political affairs. He served as a member of the State Legislature in i903, but declined a reelection. He was also for a short time a member of the city Water Board. Besides his position as president of the John A. Roebling's Sons Company he was also president of The New Jersey Wire-Cloth Company and was associated with several subsidiary corporations. He was a member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and the Engineers' Club of New York.
He died after a short illness as the result of Bright's disease, October 5, 1918, doubtless aggravated by, if not directly due to, overwork and excessive strain. He lies buried in Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, in which city he had spent his entire lifetime of sixty-nine years.
Charles Roebling married, January 25, 1877, Sarah Mahon Ormsby of Pittsburgh. For some time previously the young lady, owing to the death of her parents, had made her home with relatives in Trenton, and it was at their house that her future husband made her acquaintance. Mrs. Roebling was a woman of rare beauty and charm. She only lived for ten years after her marriage, dying January 15, 1887, in the thirty-second year of her age. Five children, including one dying in infancy, were born to the couple: two boys, Harrison Ormsby, born November 7, 1877, died January 12, 1883, and Washington Augustus, 2nd, born March 25, 1881, died April 15, 1912; two girls, Emily, born September 9, 1879, and Helen, born December 15, 1884. The two girls survived their father's death. Emily was married to Richard McCall Cadwalader of Philadelphia, and Helen, October 16, 1912, to Carrol Sargent Tyson, Jr., of the same city. Two Tyson grandchildren, Charles, born February 22, 1914, named for his grandfather, and Helen, born May 16, 1916, were their grandfather's solace and happiness. Mrs. Cornelius W. Hook, a sister of Colonel Washington Roebling's first wife, Emily Warren, had been a member of Charles' household ever since the death of his wife and had presided as the lady of the home and acted as the foster-mother of the young children. She survived his death only by a brief period.
At his death Charles was probably the wealthiest of the three brothers. He is said to have been the largest individual stockholder in the Pennsylvania Railroad in the State of New Jersey. His estate was left in trust to his two daughters.
Like all the Roeblings, Charles lived unostentatiously. He indulged in no expensive tastes, unless in the matter of his orchid-growing, and in this respect he did not scruple to spend large sums to procure the rarest specimens. He usually spent his Sundays in visiting his greenhouse and in consultation with his chief gardener. He was always willing to permit those interested to inspect his collection and he thus formed many pleasant associations with those who indulged in the same hobby. Some of the species created by hybridizing, which originated in his greenhouse, were unique and brought great fame to his collection.
Though a skillful performer on the piano, he would play only for his own pleasure or at rare intervals for his family and intimate friends. Allusions to his skill seemed to irritate him, and he always on such occasions quickly changed the subject. On the few occasions when he gave social entertainments in his own home he was a gracious host, though he possessed no fund of small talk or light banter. He seldom gave way to open laughter, though he evidently enjoyed a good story, if he seldom told one himself.
He made one trip abroad for business purposes, but never seemed to wish to repeat the experience. Trenton, where he had grown up and where his business interests were, sufficed him, and his local circle of friends and acquaintances provided all the society for which he had leisure. His two daughters, handsome, sprightly girls, as they grew up brought a more cheerful atmosphere into his home, until they were married and had acquired homes and interests of their own. Thereafter he commonly spent his leisure hours in reading, often the stiffest works. There was hardly any subject ranging from botany to metaphysics in which he was not well informed. His mind was analytical like his father's and he never left a subject until he had mastered it. Perhaps his conspicuous deficiency was a lack of humor, which tended to make him take too serious a view of petty annoyances and led him to cherish antipathies engendered by trivial occurrences.
He had a rooted disinclination for letter writing and when he did write personal letters, in response to communications from his friends or others, he made them as brief as possible. He would often delay his reply, when he made one, for several weeks, leaving his correspondents wondering if he had ever received their communications. Perhaps a month afterwards, meeting them casually and without alluding to the letter, he would bring up the subject, which presumably he had entirely forgotten, and indicate his mind in the matter.
He disliked garrulous people and usually met their remarks with complete silence. Indeed, he had a positive genius for reticence. It was always hard to get him to express an opinion or pin him down to a definite answer.
He would often step into the Lotus Club in the late afternoon, when it was much frequented, and after looking about and silently noting who were present, stand apart by himself gazing out of the window, never exchanging a greeting or venturing a remark. Then he would depart in silence as he came.
Adjacent to his house was a small meadow in which a cow was sometimes pastured. There was a gap in the fence connecting his place with a neighbor's property, and one day the cow incontinently strolled over the line and proceeded to make havoc of the neighbor's fine kitchen garden. A note was written to the cow's owner protesting against the intrusion, to which he never replied. But the fence was immediately repaired and some weeks later Charles did an extraordinary thing for him; he made a formal social call upon the family, remaining some half hour, but without speaking a word about the trespass. That was simply his way of offering an apology and as such it was accepted and the incident closed.
A humble neighbor, a woman who lived opposite his home in a small house which she rented from him, had the temerity to call upon him with the request that he should order some trifling repairs to be made. He made no comment at the moment, but in a day or so he himself made a personal inspection of the premises, and not only made the repairs asked for, but completely renovated the building, adding many new comforts and conveniences. When his humble tenant who became fearful that all these improvements meant that her rent would be raised, protested that she could pay no more than she had been doing, he gruffly replied: "Wait until you are asked," and the rent thereafter continued the same.
Many stories are told of his kindness and consideration extended towards his employees, of which one or two instances may be appropriately given here.
A clever young man had been recently advanced to the superintendency of one of the departments. Charles, who was in the habit of making casual visits to the various shops, with no apparent object in view, seemingly seeing nothing but actually noting everything with his quick glance, suddenly turned to the young man in charge and said: "Where is Soand-So9" referring to an employee who had long been in the service of the company. "Oh, I have discharged him," was the glib reply. "I found the old codger several times asleep at his work and of course I couldn't stand for that." "Young man," said Charles, shaking an admonitory finger, "if you want to stay here you better get that old man back and see that he is paid his wages for the time he has been off." With that he turned on his heel and was gone without another word.
A clerk in the employ of the company who had never supposed he was favorably known to his employer, had the misfortune to lose his father who was living in a distant town. The clerk, who was receiving a small salary and to whom the burial expenses involved in his father's death would have to be met out of his meagre earnings, went to the office, stated his case and asked for permission to take a few days off to attend his father's funeral and settle his affairs. Permission was given and the young man started to take his leave. He had got as far as the door when his employer called him back. "Have you got any money9" he was asked. "Not much," was the reply, "but there are some friends who I think will help me out." "How much do you need'2" was the next question. "Perhaps two hundred dollars," was the response. "Go to the cashier and he will let you have what you require." Nothing was said as to whether this was a gift or an advance to be repaid out of his wages. The young man immediately went to the cashier and repeated the conversation. The cashier promptly gave him the money and asked how he proposed to repay the loan, and how much he thought he could afford to have taken out of his weekly pay envelope. The clerk mentioned a certain sum. The cashier nodded his satisfaction and the young clerk went his way. When pay-day came around again he found that his salary had been paid in full. So it continued to be on subsequent occasions. Finally, thinking that the matter of his indebtedness had been overlooked and being anxious to begin the regular payment of his obligation, he went to the cashier again and stated the circumstances. The cashier, with a twinkle in his eye, remarked: "Oh, I forgot to tell you that your salary has been increased by the exact amount you borrowed."
"I shall never forget," said a personal friend of Mr. Roebling's, "a rebuke he once administered to me when I ventured to express some depreciatory remark concerning the drinking habits of some of the Roebling workmen, which had been brought to my attention in the case of a drunken row, as related in the newspapers." "I presume you will discharge those fellows," I said. "The Roeblings can't stand for that sort of thing." "Discharge them!" thundered Charles. "Of course I'll do nothing of the kind. Haven't they a right to get drunk out of hours if they want to? That's their business, not mine. If you had to work for nine or ten hours before an open-hearth furnace I know damned well you'd get drunk yourself. You white-collar chaps who have never done any real work in your lives and have money and leisure to enjoy yourselves after your own fashion have no sympathy with the working man. He takes his pleasure one way; you take it another, that's all."
These anecdotes may seem somewhat trivial, but they surely tend to reveal the fundamental kindness of the man's heart and his innate sympathy with his fellow men of every degree, all hidden behind an exterior manner that commonly appeared cold and cynical to the superficial judgment of the world.
A tribute to the personality and character of Charles G. Roebling from the pen of one of his friends, standing wholly apart from family or business circles, and written at a time when the memory of his loss was fresh in the mind, may perhaps fitly be reproduced here, leaving the more intimate appreciation by his brother, Washington A. Roebling, to conclude this chapter:
"Charles G. Roebling, though he had lived in Trenton all his life and was the head of the largest and most notable industrial concern in the city, was a man whose personality was little known to the general public. A civil engineer by education and a diligent student of subjects connected with his profession, especially as they were related to the practical problems of his own business, he was also a man of broad general culture, of fine artistic tastes and of wide reading in departments of philosophy, history and literature. Probably there were few other men in Trenton who were in the habit of reading books that demand for their understanding such close application and such severe mental discipline. The range of his intellectual interests was a catholic one and embraced metaphysics, theology and science as well as the lighter forms of literature and current happenings. He had a keen appreciation of art, a technical understanding of music and a passion for botanical and floral forms, as his collection of rare plants and orchids witnesses to.
"Seldom indulging in the diversions of social life and content to spend his hours of leisure quietly in his home and in the cultivation of his personal tastes and hobbies, he sedulously avoided publicity. Though having many acquaintances, he yet cultivated few close friends and intimates. Naturally reticent, and indisposed to commit himself to others, he yet attracted to his orbit a certain few to whom his society and companionship afforded a peculiar fascination. Beneath an apparently brusque manner and a tendency to dispute every proposition which was advanced, he hid a nature of extreme sensitiveness, of tender sympathy for suffering and of unquestioned loyalty to the claims of his family and friends.
"Caustic, and even cynical, as he sometimes seemed to be, these traits were only superficial blemishes in his character. Beneath the surface there was a large tolerance, a deep stream of compassion and a generous appreciation of all that was good, true and beautiful. An unwillingness to conciliate those who might possibly misjudge him did not imply a real indifference to their opinions so much as an instinctive shrinking from exposing the secret of his character and personality to the common view. He did not let his light shine before men, but rather muffled the flame and purposely refrained from exhibiting virtues, which, if disclosed, would have won him public approbation.
"When he did a thoughtful and generous act, as he did many in ways unknown to the public, he deprecated any expression of gratitude on the part of the beneficiaries. He bestowed his favors and gifts, as it were casually, and seemed to wish to hear nothing more about the matter. Possessed of large means he had nothing of the plutocratic spirit about him. He seldom alluded to money and when he did so it was always in a detached way as though it had no personal interest for himself. He was proud of the great enterprise of which he was the head but he never talked of its achievements and successes; indeed, he seemed to regard them as belonging to the natural order of things and thus needing no comment.
"Though apparently an unobservant spectator of what was going on about him, nothing escaped his keen eye. His memory for chance conversation and casual observations was remarkable and exact. Weeks afterwards he would often surprise his friends by recalling matters to which at the time he seemed to have paid absolutely no attention.
"Fastidious in his personal tastes and habits, and always bearing himself with the greatest dignity, he was democratic in his feelings and informal in his relations with his friends.
"If he was a man whom it was difficult to understand on short acquaintance, the longer and more intimately he was known to his friends the deeper became their appreciation of the richness and variety of his personality and attainments. Recognition of the fine spirit of the man came by degrees. The truth concerning him was not so much apprehended intellectually as divined by the power of an intuitive sympathy.
"The study of such a complex character is a baffling task, for it is pursued under peculiar difficulties. It would often seem that there was a deliberate attempt on his part to throw the observer off the track, to defy him to get at the heart of what he was.
"Religious in the large sense of the term, if approval of all that is truest and best in human aspirations may properly be so termed, he probably held no formal scheme of theology. He believed in churches and supported them, even where he had little sympathy with their dogmatic teachings. 'Every man,' he once remarked, 'has a right to his religion and deserves help in maintaining its practice.' 'The greatest sin,' he once observed, 'is wilfully to hurt the feelings of another person.' While hesitating to commit himself to any positive belief in human immortality he yet expressed an intense longing for it and probably cherished an implicit hope in it, though he was unable, perhaps, to justify that hope to the intellect.
"The outward facts concerning the life of such a man afford only a small clue to his true character and personality. The real history lies concealed in the inner arcanum which enshrines the seat of the spirit.
"If the subject of this tribute could read what is here written he would probably dispute most of the statements, so far at least as they suggest any eulogy upon himself.
"Charles G. Roebling more than most men was an enigmatic and unique personality. To the world at large, and even in the case of those who came in casual intercourse with him, he was probably misunderstood, or at least not appreciated at his true value. But to one of his friends he was all that this tribute indicates, and his taking away is the occasion of unfailing regret and profound sorrow."