My Genealogy Hound

LEONARD PECKITT, Superintendent of the Crane Iron Company, was born in 1860, in Yorkshire, England, near Thirsk, at Charlton, Husthwaite. He is the eldest of nine children comprising the family of Leonard F. and Frances (Quickfall) Peckitt, residents of Yorkshire. He received in youth splendid educational advantages, and was for some years a student in a college in the northern part of his native shire, where he took a special course in analytical chemistry. His studies were completed under the tutelage of Prof. W. F. Stock, at that time County Analyst at Darlington, Durham County.

In June of 1882 Mr. Peckitt crossed the Atlantic, and arriving in Philadelphia, Pa., was soon afterward engaged by the Reading Iron Works as their chemist. With that firm he remained until their failure in April, 1886, when he spent a month in the employ of the Allentown Iron Company as chemist. Later he took charge of the laboratory of the Crane Iron Company at Catasauqua and was chemist for one year. In the fall of 1888 he was chosen Assistant Superintendent, and at the same time also took charge of the Edge Hill Furnace, in Montgomery County, Pa., and the furnace of Macungie, Pa., both of which had been leased by the Crane Iron Company.

In 1890 Mr. Peckitt was promoted to the position of Superintendent of the Crane Iron Company, which he has since filled with credit to himself. The Crane furnaces are the oldest in the Valley, having been started in 1838-39 with David Thomas as Superintendent. To them belongs the distinction of having been the first to manufacture pig iron by the use of anthracite, or hard, coal. From time to time the furnaces have been remodeled to keep pace with the improvements of modern time, and the plant is the largest as well as the oldest in the valley. The four furnaces here have a capacity of one hundred and thirty thousand tons per annum. Those at Macungie and Edge Hill are smaller, having a capacity of about fifty thousand tons per year.

The Crane Iron Company also owns and operates the Catasauqua Water Works and supplies the borough with water. During the past year (1893) they put in at an immense cost new engines and pumps and two large filters. The standpipe is thirty-seven feet high and is situated on the Rowertown Road, at the highest point in the city, thus affording excellent capacity and power. They supply three hundred and fifty thousand gallons every twenty-four hours, but could readily furnish twice that amount if necessary.

To facilitate the transportation of material the company built tracks and side tracks, as well as the bridge across the canaland river. They now use four large and four narrow-gauge locomotives for hauling their ore product, cinders and fuel. During busy seasons they employ over six hundred hands. They have their own mines in several counties of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, those in the former state being located in the counties of Lehigh, Northampton and Berks. Their farms in Cumberland County are rented, and they also own several farms on which are valuable limestone quarries. In smelting the ore they use two-thirds anthracite coal and one-third coke. They manufacture all the different grades of pig iron, including ordinary foundry iron, branded “Crane;” special, branded “Castle;” ordinary Bessemer, branded “Michigan;” and the basic iron used in steelworks, branded “Pottstown.”

In Reading, Pa., in 1889, Mr. Peckitt was united in marriage with Miss H. M. Weidler, who was born in that city. One child has blessed their union, a son named Leonard Charlton. Mr. and Mrs. Peckitt are members of the Episcopal Church at Catasauqua, in which he is one of the Vestrymen. In everything pertaining to the science of chemistry he is deeply interested, and is a Fellow of the Chemical Society of London, England, also a member of the American Institute of Mining. Doubtless in his special department no one in Catasauqua is so well informed as he, and his thorough knowledge of the iron industry enables him to render most acceptable service to the Crane Company. At the present time he is one of its receivers, as during the panic of 1893 the failure of many large steel works that were indebted to the Crane Company crippled the resources of the latter to such an extent that they went into the hands of receivers. This, however, is but a temporary arrangement, and with the return of prosperity to the country the matter will undoubtedly be satisfactorily adjusted.