James McClurg Guffey (January 19, 1839,

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Westmoreland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 364,663. The county seat is Greensburg. Formed from, successively, Lancaster, Northumberland, and later Bedford co ...

– March 20, 1930,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania ) was an American pioneer in the petroleum industry in Pennsylvania and elsewhere and a longtime Democratic politician in his home state.

Early life

He was born the fifth of six children in Westmoreland County and grew up on the family farm. At 18, he found work as a clerk for the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

in Louisville, Kentucky, before landing a better-paying job with the Adams Southern Express Company in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1872, he returned to his home state to become a salesman in the burgeoning oil industry (see

Pennsylvania oil rush The oil rush in America started in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in the Oil Creek (Allegheny River), Oil Creek Valley when Edwin L. Drake struck "rock oil" there in 1859. Titusville and other towns on the shores of Oil Creek expanded rapidly as oil w ...

), learning the business and starting to work for himself.

Petroleum industry

Guffey made a fortune "amounting to millions as an oil producer". He was involved in developing oil and gas fields in Ohio and West Virginia. He and John H. Galey established the Guffey and Galey Company in 1880 or 1886. At one time, it was the largest oil producer in the world, outputting 40,000 barrels per day. The pair arranged the financing needed to drill for oil in the

Spindletop Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindleto ...

oil field. When oil was found on January 10, 1901, it started the Texas oil boom. Guffey had a five-eighths interest in it, Galey one-quarter, and Anthony Francis Lucas one-eighth. Guffey established the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company in May of that year; the firm bought Galey and Lucas's shares. In 1907, it and other companies merged to form the Gulf Oil Corporation; Guffey sold his seven-fifteens interest for $3 million.

Politics

In late August 1897, Guffey was named the Pennsylvania representative to the Democratic national committee, replacing

William F. Harrity William Francis Harrity (October 19, 1850 – April 17, 1912) was an American politician and lawyer. Harrity is best known as chairperson of the Democratic National Committee from 1892 to 1896. He also served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of ...

. In the

1901 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania The 1901 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania was held on January 15, 1901, after the regularly scheduled legislative election in January—April 1899 failed to elect a Senator. Former Senator Matthew Quay, who had left the S ...

, he came second to Republican Matthew Quay, with 22% of the vote. In the 1903 Senate election, he lost to Republican Boies Penrose.

Later life

In 1910, his properties were placed in receivership because he did not have the ready cash to cover his liabilities of about $7,00,000, but the receiver stated that Guffey had assets of over $15,000,000.

Namesake

was a tanker renamed after him after it was purchased by the Gulf Oil Corporation. It was chartered on behalf of the British Ministry of War Transport for World War I.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guffey, James M. 1839 births 1930 deaths American businesspeople in the oil industry Texas Oil Boom people Pennsylvania Democrats People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania