Eber Brock Ward
Encyclopedia
Eber Brock Ward was an iron and steel manufacturer and shipbuilder. He was known as the "steamship king of the Great Lakes
" and as the "first of the iron kings." Ward became Detroit's first millionaire. He was the wealthiest man in the Midwest, in his time, due his steel factories.
Ward was into several industries in Michigan
and the Midwest. He accumulated timberlands and lands that contained iron ore, copper and silver. He branched into several industries including newspapers, railroads, glass manufacturing, banking, steamships, and insurance companies. He even was one of the promoters of the Soo Locks
of which he was one of the first to use, as at first he hauled schooners overland around the Soo Rapids to sail Lake Superior
.
, Canada
, on December 25, 1811. He was one of four children. The eldest was Emily, who remained a spinster until her death, Sallie the second, Eber Brock the third, and Abbie the forth. Ward was an American citizen. His parents had grown up in Vermont and soon after they were married they moved to Onondaga County, New York
shortly before Ward's birth. Shortly thereafter they moved to Waterloo County, Ontario
, not far from York (modern Toronto), unsuccessfully trying to avoid the pending War of 1812
in the United States.
Ward's parents moved back to Vermont and their old homestead and stayed there for the next five years until he was about six years old. The town they lived in was Wells, Vermont
, near the city of Rutland. In 1817 his parents started a move to Kentucky with the family. While they were in Waterford, Pennsylvania
his mother got sick and died. His father with the family then changed his plans of moving to Kentucky and went to Ohio instead. Once in Ohio for only a short time his father decided to move to Detroit, which they reached by 1821 when Ward was nine to ten years old. Detroit had been destroyed some sixteen years earlier and what Ward saw was a small town of 1,400 but the capital of the Michigan territory.
and deck hand on the Great Lakes
when he was twelve or thirteen years old at Marine City, Michigan
. This was on vessels that traveled to Mackinaw City
and back. There were no vessels owned by any shippers in Detroit in the early 1820s. Samuel Ward, his unclke, was the leading shipbuilder of Marine City at the time. He noticed young Ward's high energy and enthusiasm for life and gave him a job in 1830 as a clerk in one of the warehouses of his shipbuilding firm. Ward came in contact with marine transactions this way and learned the industry.
Ward worked hard and saved every amount of money he could. Eventually he invested in a vessel called the General Harrrison as a twenty-five percent owner. He became the Master of this vessel in 1835. He was successful as its operator but eventually became a partner with his uncle at Marine City. He was successful at this interprise and continued this until 1850 when he moved to Detroit. There he was involved in the ship building business and among the many steamers and sailing ships he built were the Artic, Atlantic, B. F. Wade, Detroit, General Harrison, Huron, Montgomery, Ocean, Pacific, Planet, Samuel Ward, The Caspian, The Champion, and The Pearl. With his uncle he built a fleet of thirty steamships that transported supplies to various towns and cities around the Great Lakes. In the mid-nineteenth century they were the largest shipowners on the Great Lakes
.
in Lake County, Michigan
near the Ludington
area. He held onto these lands until the timber had matured more. Ward was elected president of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad Company
in 1860. Ward was the first to build rail tracks
made out of Bessemer steel.
at Thunder Bay
in 1870 containing the Silver Islet Mining Company
. It turned out to contain a seventy foot vein of high quality silver. The silver was so rich that in the first three weeks of mining Ward's mine extracted $100,000 worth of silver - which was more money than the Nevada Comstock Lode mine
made per day.
stalled the negotiatons to purchase mills in the Ludington area because he feared Ward would become too big and dominate the lumber industry in the area. Mr. Ludington favored the extending of the rail line to Ludington, however since he owned most of the sawmills in the area, he refused to sell any of them to Ward for any price. He was hoping then that since Ward would not have a sawmill in the area that he would be forced to sell some of his timer lands at a very economical depressed price. Ward never did sell off any of his timber lands of the area due to Mr. Ludington's actions.
Ward had heard in Detroit, where his businesses were, that Mr. Ludington had cut down timber in his 70,000 acres he owned in Northern Michigan near the town of Ludington. He did nothing about it at the time. Eventually Mr. Ludington came to Detroit to do business. Ward had Mr. Ludington arrested for stealing his valuable timber. Mr. Ludington was thrown into the Wayne County jail. Ward then got a judgement against him for $650,000 for the theft and trespassing. Mr. Ludington then suffered a stroke. Eventually the company once owned by Mr. Ludington, the Pere Marquette Lumber Company, settled it with Ward in August 1869 with an amicable agreement.
Ward built a sawmill out on Lake Pere Marquette in 1870 known as the "North" mill. It was built on fifty-five stone piers and was 50 feet by 130 feet in size. It was equipped with two circular mills and cutting edge technology. The cost of the mill was $60,000 and it had the capacity of 100,000 board feet per day. Ward purchased all the land between his mill and that of Messrs. Danaher and Melendy, which bordered on the Lake in the spring of 1871. During the summer months he built a warehouse that was 50 feet by 120 feet near his original mill. This was used for storing supplies and selling supplies to his employees. The next year Ward built another mill nearby which was called the "South" mill. This mill was considered the best sawmill in the United States.
, was 2200 acres (8.9 km²). The factory was at an ideal location for the steel industry as iron ore from the Upper Peninsula and limestone from other parts of Michigan could easily be brought in economically through the Great Lakes down to Wyandotte through Lake Huron
and up the Detroit River
. Extensive beech forests were nearby to supply the charcoal needed to make steel. The Eureka furnace in 1864, with its huge steel making smelting
apparatus, made the first commercial steel produced in the United States by the Bessemer process
. The first successful America
n experiments of making steel using the Bessemer conversion process in a furnace was through the Eureka Works company that Ward owned.
Ward took great interest in the first experiments of the apparatus for the Bessemer process
of making steel. The patent to the Bessemer process was granted in England in 1856 and in the United States in 1857 to William Kelly
. In 1861 Ward and Zoheth S. Durfee of New Bedford, Massachusetts
, obtained control of the patents of William Kelly, credited in Europe to Henry Bessemer
. Kelly had previously successfully experimented with the pneumatic process at Eddyville, Kentucky
, where he owned the Eddyville Iron Works, however went into bankruptcy caused by the panic of 1857. To pay off his debts he sold his rights to Ward and his investors.
In 1861 Zoheth S. Durfee went to Europe to study the Bessemer process and to obtain the Bessemer patent rights. During his absence Ward invited William F. Durfee, a cousin of Z. S. Durfee and also of New Bedford, to erect an experimental blast furnace apparatus at Wyandotte, Michigan
, for the manufacture of pneumatic steel using the Bessemer process. This experimenting took place in the latter half of 1862. In May 1863 the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company was organized by Ward with other investors with Kelly being one of the beneficiaries of profits made using the Bessemer process of making steel since he was the original patent holder. Kelly received thirty percent of the stock of the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company and Ward with his investors received the remainder seventy percent.
To make the steel legally it was decided to acquire the Bessemer patent rights. Zoheth S. Durfee went to England to acquire the patent rights to the Bessemer process. He was unsuccessful at this but did observe several European steelmakers and managed to get the rights to Englishman Robert Mushet's patent use of spiegeleisen
(manganese-rich pig iron) for better overall quality of steel produced this way. Meanwhile William F. Durfee (engineer and architect), Robert Mushet, Thomas Clare and John Brown were brought in by Ward to make the procedure necessary to produce Bessemer steel, especially using spiegeleisen. He succeeded in making Bessemer steel at the experimental works of the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company owned by Ward and his investors. The first Bessemer steel made in the United States was at this factory in 1865. In Henry Bessemer
's autobiography he writes that the Bessemer process was first experimentally practised in the United States with a 3-ton converter, at the ironworks of Mr. E. B. Ward, at Wyandotte, near Detroit.
Ward's Kelly Pneumatic Process Company merged with interests of a Bessemer factory of Troy, New York
since an engineer there had acquired initially the Bessemer process rights for the United States. In 1866 the new formed company was called the Pneumatic Steel Association. The new formed company then licensed franchises to prospective Bessemer steelmakers who paid royalties to use the patented process for every ton of steel they made. Ward created steel rails beginning in 1865 for his railroads using the Bessemer process. Detroit soon became a major center of steel production, especially for use in home heating stoves. Henry Ford of nearby Dearborn took advantage of this technology. With its capabilities to create large amounts of steel for his automobile assembly lines Ford produced his cars. Eureka Iron Works prospered through the late 19th century, but suffered a shortage of raw materials. It closed in 1892. Ward meanwhile had built another steelmill in Chicago called the Illinois Steel Company. From this steelmill in 1865 Ward made the first Bessemer steel rails produced in the United States.
United States Census 1860 shows his children then to be Henry (age 18), Elizabeth (age 13), Milton(age 12), Charles (age 10), Frederick (age 8), Mary (age 5). Ward's wife (Maryell) divorced him in 1869 after six children on grounds of adultery. Two months later he married Catherine Lyon, Ohio Senator Benjamin Wade
's niece. They had two children, Eber Jr. (b. 1870) and Clara (b. 1873) - a.k.a. Princesse de Caraman-Chimay
.
Ward’s children by both of his wives had many personal problems. Charles, Ward's fourth child and third son by his first wife Mary, was considered "deranged and eccentric" and went bankrupt. Ward's first born child by his first wife was his son Henry, insane from 15, was committed to the Michigan State Hospital and wasn't recorded in the 1850 census where the Wards was living, even though he was their first child. Frederick, Ward's fourth son, committed suicide. Elizabeth was considered as mentally incompetent. His youngest child by his first wife, Mary E. Ward, was considered "eccentric."
Ward's two children by his second wife also had problems. Clara married Marie Joseph Anatole Pierre Alphonse de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay in 1890 and became Princesse de Caraman-Chimay, officially a genuine European princess. She, however, later run off with a Hungarian gypsy and left her husband causing quite a scandal. Eber Jr.’s wife, Victorine, divorced him in 1900. She said he was too much captivated with his stepdaughter, her daughter from a previous marriage, Blanche Herault.
Ward's immense wealth and business interests were so large at the time of his death that it is said that hardly any town of any importance in the Midwest was not affected by his death. His capital was so large and vast that it took several different accountings to figure it out. His businesses extended through several States reaching from Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. His businesses were chiefly invested in iron, silver and copper mines, pine lands, sawmills, in rolling mills, silver smelting works, railroads, farming lands, and glass works. Ward was nominally the wealthiest man in the whole Midwest at the time of his death. His capital was estimated anywhere from about $7,000,000 to about $22,000.000. Realistically about $10,000,000 was all that was obtained from his estate when it was ultimately cashed out. It was not enough to cover all the liabilities Ward entailed.
At the time of his death he left five grown up children by his first wife and two children (boy, 5 years old and girl 2 years old) by his second wife. He wrote up a Last Will and Testament
six month prior to his death. He last lived at West Fort Street and 19th Ave in Detroit. Ward is buried in Elmwood Cemetery
.
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
" and as the "first of the iron kings." Ward became Detroit's first millionaire. He was the wealthiest man in the Midwest, in his time, due his steel factories.
Ward was into several industries in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and the Midwest. He accumulated timberlands and lands that contained iron ore, copper and silver. He branched into several industries including newspapers, railroads, glass manufacturing, banking, steamships, and insurance companies. He even was one of the promoters of the Soo Locks
Soo Locks
The Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks which enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario...
of which he was one of the first to use, as at first he hauled schooners overland around the Soo Rapids to sail Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
.
Early life
Ward was born in Applegaths Mills, Waterloo county, province of OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, on December 25, 1811. He was one of four children. The eldest was Emily, who remained a spinster until her death, Sallie the second, Eber Brock the third, and Abbie the forth. Ward was an American citizen. His parents had grown up in Vermont and soon after they were married they moved to Onondaga County, New York
Onondaga County, New York
Onondaga County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 467,026. The county seat is Syracuse.Onondaga County is part of the Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area....
shortly before Ward's birth. Shortly thereafter they moved to Waterloo County, Ontario
Waterloo County, Ontario
Waterloo County, created in 1853 and dissolved in 1973, was the forerunner of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries...
, not far from York (modern Toronto), unsuccessfully trying to avoid the pending War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
in the United States.
Ward's parents moved back to Vermont and their old homestead and stayed there for the next five years until he was about six years old. The town they lived in was Wells, Vermont
Wells, Vermont
Wells is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,150.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 3.42%, is water....
, near the city of Rutland. In 1817 his parents started a move to Kentucky with the family. While they were in Waterford, Pennsylvania
Waterford, Pennsylvania
Waterford is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,449 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Waterford is located at ....
his mother got sick and died. His father with the family then changed his plans of moving to Kentucky and went to Ohio instead. Once in Ohio for only a short time his father decided to move to Detroit, which they reached by 1821 when Ward was nine to ten years old. Detroit had been destroyed some sixteen years earlier and what Ward saw was a small town of 1,400 but the capital of the Michigan territory.
Shipping
Ward obtained a job as a cabin boyCabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
and deck hand on the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
when he was twelve or thirteen years old at Marine City, Michigan
Marine City, Michigan
Marine City is a city in St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the west bank of the St. Clair River, it is one of the cities in the River District north of Detroit and south of Lake Huron. The population was 4,652 at the 2000 census...
. This was on vessels that traveled to Mackinaw City
Mackinaw City, Michigan
Mackinaw City is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2000 census the population was 859. The name "Mackinaw City" is a bit of a misnomer as it is actually a village...
and back. There were no vessels owned by any shippers in Detroit in the early 1820s. Samuel Ward, his unclke, was the leading shipbuilder of Marine City at the time. He noticed young Ward's high energy and enthusiasm for life and gave him a job in 1830 as a clerk in one of the warehouses of his shipbuilding firm. Ward came in contact with marine transactions this way and learned the industry.
Ward worked hard and saved every amount of money he could. Eventually he invested in a vessel called the General Harrrison as a twenty-five percent owner. He became the Master of this vessel in 1835. He was successful as its operator but eventually became a partner with his uncle at Marine City. He was successful at this interprise and continued this until 1850 when he moved to Detroit. There he was involved in the ship building business and among the many steamers and sailing ships he built were the Artic, Atlantic, B. F. Wade, Detroit, General Harrison, Huron, Montgomery, Ocean, Pacific, Planet, Samuel Ward, The Caspian, The Champion, and The Pearl. With his uncle he built a fleet of thirty steamships that transported supplies to various towns and cities around the Great Lakes. In the mid-nineteenth century they were the largest shipowners on the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
.
Railroading
Starting around 1852 Ward acquired timber lands along the Pere Marquette RiverPere Marquette River
The Pere Marquette River is a river in the State of Michigan. The main stream of this river is about long, running from Lake County, Michigan just west of Reed City into the Pere Marquette Lake, and from there into Lake Michigan....
in Lake County, Michigan
Lake County, Michigan
-Highways:* US 10* M-37-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,333 people, 4,704 households, and 3,052 families residing in the county. The population density was 20 people per square mile . There were 13,498 housing units at an average density of 24 per square mile...
near the Ludington
Ludington, Michigan
Ludington is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,357. It is the county seat of Mason County.Ludington is a harbor town located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Pere Marquette River...
area. He held onto these lands until the timber had matured more. Ward was elected president of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad Company
Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad
The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the U.S. state of Michigan between 1857 and 1899. It was one of the three companies which merged to become the Pere Marquette Railway.-Early history:...
in 1860. Ward was the first to build rail tracks
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
made out of Bessemer steel.
Mining
Ward’s last venture was silver mining. He bought into a fourteen acre island with other investors off the north shore of Lake SuperiorLake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
at Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario, and the second most populous in Northern Ontario after Greater Sudbury...
in 1870 containing the Silver Islet Mining Company
Silver Islet, Ontario
Silver Islet refers to both a small rocky island and a small town site located at the tip of the Sibley Peninsula in northwestern Ontario. It was the first silver mine in Ontario....
. It turned out to contain a seventy foot vein of high quality silver. The silver was so rich that in the first three weeks of mining Ward's mine extracted $100,000 worth of silver - which was more money than the Nevada Comstock Lode mine
Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...
made per day.
Logging
Ward carried on logging operations in Lake County through his agents and in the 1869 purchased a tract of land which consisting of 70,000 acres in the Fourth Ward of Ludington on Lake Pere Marquette which was accessible by the Pere Marquette River. He then made plans to extend his railroad to Ludington to operate mills there, however James LudingtonJames Ludington
James Ludington was an American entrepreneur.-Biography:When Ludington was sixteen in 1843, the family moved from New York to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With his father, Lewis Ludington, they founded Columbus, Wisconsin in 1845.On October 11, 1854 Ludington loaned funds to George W...
stalled the negotiatons to purchase mills in the Ludington area because he feared Ward would become too big and dominate the lumber industry in the area. Mr. Ludington favored the extending of the rail line to Ludington, however since he owned most of the sawmills in the area, he refused to sell any of them to Ward for any price. He was hoping then that since Ward would not have a sawmill in the area that he would be forced to sell some of his timer lands at a very economical depressed price. Ward never did sell off any of his timber lands of the area due to Mr. Ludington's actions.
Ward had heard in Detroit, where his businesses were, that Mr. Ludington had cut down timber in his 70,000 acres he owned in Northern Michigan near the town of Ludington. He did nothing about it at the time. Eventually Mr. Ludington came to Detroit to do business. Ward had Mr. Ludington arrested for stealing his valuable timber. Mr. Ludington was thrown into the Wayne County jail. Ward then got a judgement against him for $650,000 for the theft and trespassing. Mr. Ludington then suffered a stroke. Eventually the company once owned by Mr. Ludington, the Pere Marquette Lumber Company, settled it with Ward in August 1869 with an amicable agreement.
Ward built a sawmill out on Lake Pere Marquette in 1870 known as the "North" mill. It was built on fifty-five stone piers and was 50 feet by 130 feet in size. It was equipped with two circular mills and cutting edge technology. The cost of the mill was $60,000 and it had the capacity of 100,000 board feet per day. Ward purchased all the land between his mill and that of Messrs. Danaher and Melendy, which bordered on the Lake in the spring of 1871. During the summer months he built a warehouse that was 50 feet by 120 feet near his original mill. This was used for storing supplies and selling supplies to his employees. The next year Ward built another mill nearby which was called the "South" mill. This mill was considered the best sawmill in the United States.
Steel Manufacturing
Ward organized Eureka Iron and Steel Works in 1853 with a group of investors and they purchased "The Wyandotte" farm from John Biddle for $44,000 and built an iron and steel manufacturing factory. The site of this company located in Wyandotte, MichiganWyandotte, Michigan
Wyandotte is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,883 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 7.6% from 2000. Wyandotte is located in southeastern Michigan, approximately south of Detroit on the Detroit River, and is part of the collection of communities known as...
, was 2200 acres (8.9 km²). The factory was at an ideal location for the steel industry as iron ore from the Upper Peninsula and limestone from other parts of Michigan could easily be brought in economically through the Great Lakes down to Wyandotte through Lake Huron
Lake Huron
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...
and up the Detroit River
Detroit River
The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
. Extensive beech forests were nearby to supply the charcoal needed to make steel. The Eureka furnace in 1864, with its huge steel making smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
apparatus, made the first commercial steel produced in the United States by the Bessemer process
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
. The first successful America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n experiments of making steel using the Bessemer conversion process in a furnace was through the Eureka Works company that Ward owned.
Ward took great interest in the first experiments of the apparatus for the Bessemer process
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
of making steel. The patent to the Bessemer process was granted in England in 1856 and in the United States in 1857 to William Kelly
William Kelly (inventor)
William Kelly , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was an American inventor. Kelly studied metallurgy at the Western University of Pennsylvania. Instead of getting a job as a scientist, Kelly, his brother, and his brother-in-law started a dry goods and commission business, which they called...
. In 1861 Ward and Zoheth S. Durfee of New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
, obtained control of the patents of William Kelly, credited in Europe to Henry Bessemer
Henry Bessemer
Sir Henry Bessemer was an English engineer, inventor, and businessman. Bessemer's name is chiefly known in connection with the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel.-Anthony Bessemer:...
. Kelly had previously successfully experimented with the pneumatic process at Eddyville, Kentucky
Eddyville, Kentucky
Eddyville is a city in Lyon County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,350 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lyon County . The Kentucky State Penitentiary is located in Eddyville.-History:...
, where he owned the Eddyville Iron Works, however went into bankruptcy caused by the panic of 1857. To pay off his debts he sold his rights to Ward and his investors.
In 1861 Zoheth S. Durfee went to Europe to study the Bessemer process and to obtain the Bessemer patent rights. During his absence Ward invited William F. Durfee, a cousin of Z. S. Durfee and also of New Bedford, to erect an experimental blast furnace apparatus at Wyandotte, Michigan
Wyandotte, Michigan
Wyandotte is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,883 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 7.6% from 2000. Wyandotte is located in southeastern Michigan, approximately south of Detroit on the Detroit River, and is part of the collection of communities known as...
, for the manufacture of pneumatic steel using the Bessemer process. This experimenting took place in the latter half of 1862. In May 1863 the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company was organized by Ward with other investors with Kelly being one of the beneficiaries of profits made using the Bessemer process of making steel since he was the original patent holder. Kelly received thirty percent of the stock of the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company and Ward with his investors received the remainder seventy percent.
To make the steel legally it was decided to acquire the Bessemer patent rights. Zoheth S. Durfee went to England to acquire the patent rights to the Bessemer process. He was unsuccessful at this but did observe several European steelmakers and managed to get the rights to Englishman Robert Mushet's patent use of spiegeleisen
Spiegeleisen
Spiegeleisen is a ferromanganese alloy containing approximately 15% manganese and small quantities of carbon and silicon. Historically, this was the standard form in which manganese was traded and used in steel making...
(manganese-rich pig iron) for better overall quality of steel produced this way. Meanwhile William F. Durfee (engineer and architect), Robert Mushet, Thomas Clare and John Brown were brought in by Ward to make the procedure necessary to produce Bessemer steel, especially using spiegeleisen. He succeeded in making Bessemer steel at the experimental works of the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company owned by Ward and his investors. The first Bessemer steel made in the United States was at this factory in 1865. In Henry Bessemer
Henry Bessemer
Sir Henry Bessemer was an English engineer, inventor, and businessman. Bessemer's name is chiefly known in connection with the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel.-Anthony Bessemer:...
's autobiography he writes that the Bessemer process was first experimentally practised in the United States with a 3-ton converter, at the ironworks of Mr. E. B. Ward, at Wyandotte, near Detroit.
Ward's Kelly Pneumatic Process Company merged with interests of a Bessemer factory of Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
since an engineer there had acquired initially the Bessemer process rights for the United States. In 1866 the new formed company was called the Pneumatic Steel Association. The new formed company then licensed franchises to prospective Bessemer steelmakers who paid royalties to use the patented process for every ton of steel they made. Ward created steel rails beginning in 1865 for his railroads using the Bessemer process. Detroit soon became a major center of steel production, especially for use in home heating stoves. Henry Ford of nearby Dearborn took advantage of this technology. With its capabilities to create large amounts of steel for his automobile assembly lines Ford produced his cars. Eureka Iron Works prospered through the late 19th century, but suffered a shortage of raw materials. It closed in 1892. Ward meanwhile had built another steelmill in Chicago called the Illinois Steel Company. From this steelmill in 1865 Ward made the first Bessemer steel rails produced in the United States.
Family
Ward married twice. His first wife was Maryell and his second wife was Catherine. He married Mary Margaret McQueen on July 24, 1837. She is of Scottish descent and these is a lengthy McQueen genealogy at Rootsweb of her family history. United States Federal Census 1850 shows his marriage to Mary (age 34) as having two children, Elizabeth (age 4) and Milton (age 2). There was also a son Henry (age 8), location then unknown. The Wards lived at 807 Fort Street in Detroit.United States Census 1860 shows his children then to be Henry (age 18), Elizabeth (age 13), Milton(age 12), Charles (age 10), Frederick (age 8), Mary (age 5). Ward's wife (Maryell) divorced him in 1869 after six children on grounds of adultery. Two months later he married Catherine Lyon, Ohio Senator Benjamin Wade
Benjamin Wade
Benjamin Franklin "Bluff" Wade was a U.S. lawyer and United States Senator. In the Senate, he was associated with the Radical Republicans of that time.-Early life:...
's niece. They had two children, Eber Jr. (b. 1870) and Clara (b. 1873) - a.k.a. Princesse de Caraman-Chimay
Clara Ward, Princesse de Caraman-Chimay
Clara Ward was a wealthy American socialite who married a prince from Belgium.-Biography:The story of Clara Ward, who commonly used one or another version of the title "Princesse de Caraman-Chimay", is poorly known today, but for some years in the early 1890s she was the toast of the United States...
.
Ward’s children by both of his wives had many personal problems. Charles, Ward's fourth child and third son by his first wife Mary, was considered "deranged and eccentric" and went bankrupt. Ward's first born child by his first wife was his son Henry, insane from 15, was committed to the Michigan State Hospital and wasn't recorded in the 1850 census where the Wards was living, even though he was their first child. Frederick, Ward's fourth son, committed suicide. Elizabeth was considered as mentally incompetent. His youngest child by his first wife, Mary E. Ward, was considered "eccentric."
Ward's two children by his second wife also had problems. Clara married Marie Joseph Anatole Pierre Alphonse de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay in 1890 and became Princesse de Caraman-Chimay, officially a genuine European princess. She, however, later run off with a Hungarian gypsy and left her husband causing quite a scandal. Eber Jr.’s wife, Victorine, divorced him in 1900. She said he was too much captivated with his stepdaughter, her daughter from a previous marriage, Blanche Herault.
Death
Ward died January 2, 1875. At the time of his death he was a multi-millionaire. He owned about two million dollars worth of real estate and about $500,000 in a shipping fleet. Additionally he owned about a million dollars worth of stock in the Chicago Rolling Mill company and about half a million dollars worth of stock of the Milwaukee Rolling Mill company which contributed much to his wealth. He also had about a half a million in the Wyandotte Rolling Mill. At the time of his death it was uncertain what he was worth.Ward's immense wealth and business interests were so large at the time of his death that it is said that hardly any town of any importance in the Midwest was not affected by his death. His capital was so large and vast that it took several different accountings to figure it out. His businesses extended through several States reaching from Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. His businesses were chiefly invested in iron, silver and copper mines, pine lands, sawmills, in rolling mills, silver smelting works, railroads, farming lands, and glass works. Ward was nominally the wealthiest man in the whole Midwest at the time of his death. His capital was estimated anywhere from about $7,000,000 to about $22,000.000. Realistically about $10,000,000 was all that was obtained from his estate when it was ultimately cashed out. It was not enough to cover all the liabilities Ward entailed.
At the time of his death he left five grown up children by his first wife and two children (boy, 5 years old and girl 2 years old) by his second wife. He wrote up a Last Will and Testament
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
six month prior to his death. He last lived at West Fort Street and 19th Ave in Detroit. Ward is buried in Elmwood Cemetery
Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit, Michigan)
Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit is one of Michigan's most important historic cemeteries. Located at 1200 Elmwood Street in Detroit's Eastside Historic Cemetery District, Elmwood is the oldest continuously operating, non-denominational cemetery in Michigan...
.
Sources
- Bessemer, Henry, Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S, an autobiography with a concluding chapter, ca. 1850
- Cabot, James L. Ludington 1830-1930, Arcadia Publishing 2005, ISBN 0-7385-3951-1
- Carlisle, Frederick, Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County, O.S. Gulley, Borman & Co., Printers, 1890
- Catlin, George B., Librarian of The Detroit News, The story of Detroit, The Detroit News, 1923
- Fricke, Ernest B., Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography, Iron and Steel in the Nineteenth Century, The Kelly Pneumatic Process Company and the Steel Patents Company,Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc., 1989, ISBN 0-8160-1890-1
- Hillstrom, The industrial revolution in America, Volume 8, ABC-CLIO, 2007, ISBN 1851096205
- Lamar, Howard R., The Reader's Encyclopedia of the American West, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1977, ISBN 0-690-00008-1
- Leake, Paul, History of DETROIT, Lewis Publishing Company 1912
- White, James T., The National Cyclopedia of American biography, J. F. Tapley Co. 1906
- Page, H. R., History of Mason, Oceania, and Manistee Counties, Michigan, 1882
- Tuttle, Charles Richard, General History of the state of Michigan with biographical sketches, R. D. S. Tyler & Co., Detroit Free Press Company, 1873
- Western Historical Company, History of St. Clair County, Michigan: containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, A.T. Andreas & Company, 1883
- Woodford, Arthur M., This is Detroit, 1701-2001, Wayne State University Press, 2001, ISBN 0814329144