Samuel Augustus Fuller Sr. (August 8, 1837 - October 23, 1891) was an American
steel industry
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
executive during the
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
in the United States. A resident of
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, he founded the Union Iron Works and Condit-Fuller & Co., which later became the
Bourne-Fuller Company The Bourne-Fuller Company in Cleveland, Ohio, was one of three constituent companies that formed the Republic Steel Corporation in 1930. The other companies were the Central Alloy Company and Republic Iron and Steel Company. The principal stockholde ...
.
Cyrus S. Eaton combined this company with two others to form the Republic Steel Company which became the third largest steel company in the U.S., trailing only U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel in size.
Early life
Samuel Augustus Fuller was August 8, 1837, in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Ohio, one of five children born to Augustus and Mary Ann ( Hutchins) Fuller. He was a direct descendant of
Edward Fuller, a passenger on the ''
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
'', the ship that transported the first
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
(known today as
Pilgrims) from
Plymouth, England
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth' ...
, to the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
in 1620. His father, Augustus Fuller, had been born in August 1805 in
Burlington, Connecticut
Burlington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States.
Situated at the foot of the Berkshires and bordering the Farmington River, Burlington is a scenic hill town, rural in nature, located west of Hartford. Incorporated in 1806, the ...
, and emigrated to
Trumbull County, Ohio
Trumbull County is a county in the far northeast portion of U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 201,977. Its county seat is Warren, which developed industry along the Mahoning River. Trumbull County is part of the You ...
in 1830.
His mother, Mary Fuller, was born in Vienna in August 1806. She was the sister of
Representative
Representative may refer to:
Politics
* Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people
* House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities
* Legislator, som ...
John Hutchins,
and daughter of Samuel Hutchins (who had walked from Connecticut to Ohio as part of a survey party in 1789).
The Fuller family moved to Cleveland in 1847. Augustus founded a
wholesale
Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...
cap, hat, and fur business,
and the Fullers were co-founders of the
Euclid Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Samuel was educated in the Cleveland public schools, graduating from Central High School in 1853 at the age of 16.
Samuel joined his father's business immediately after graduation, where he trained as an
accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
. He proved to be an excellent businessman, and in 1859 his father made him a partner in the firm (which was renamed A. Fuller & Son). He remained associated with his father's firm and other retail businesses for the next decade.
Iron and steel industry
The first iron foundry in the greater Cleveland area was founded in 1834. By 1837, there were four foundries, and by 1846 there were six. All of these were small and produced inferior-quality products, as they relied on the poor-quality iron ore found in Ohio. The metals industry in Cleveland in 1860 consisted of just three shops, which manufactured iron bar and plate.
The completion in 1856 of the
Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railroad
The Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railroad (C&MV) was a shortline railroad operating in the state of Ohio in the United States. Originally known as the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad (C&M), it was chartered in 1848. Construction of the line began ...
through the city provided the impetus for the establishment of the iron and steel industry in Cleveland by linking the mills to sources for raw materials, opening up regional markets for iron and steel, and for allowing Cleveland to serve as a transshipment center for high-quality
hematite
Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
ore from the
Marquette Iron Range
The Marquette Iron Range is a deposit of iron ore located in Marquette County, Michigan in the United States. The towns of Ishpeming and Negaunee developed as a result of mining this deposit. A smaller counterpart of Minnesota's Mesabi Range, thi ...
to inland areas. The establishment of what would become the
Cleveland Rolling Mill The Cleveland Rolling Mill Company was a rolling steel mill in Cleveland, Ohio. It existed as an independent entity from 1863 to 1899.
Origins
The company stemmed from developments initiated in 1857, when John and David I. Jones, along with He ...
in 1856 proved to be the starting point of the emergence of a vast steel industry in Cleveland.
Another 21 iron and steel mills were established in the area between 1860 and 1866, and by the end of the 1860s steel had become Cleveland's biggest industry.
Fuller joined the Cleveland Iron and Nail Company in 1869, and was elected secretary of the firm. That same year, Fuller founded the Union Iron Works at what is now the northeast corner of the intersection of Union Avenue and E. 78th Street in Cleveland to reroll worn railway rails. Henry Chisholm purchased the company in 1871 and combined it with the Aetna Iron and Nail Company. Chisholm built the massive Emma Furnace at the Union Iron site in 1872.
In 1878,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
imposed a steep
tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
on imported iron and steel. Fuller transplanted his family to
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
, that same year, where he founded an iron mill to meet the sudden increase in demand for domestic Canadian metals.
Fuller returned to Cleveland in 1880. He bought back his old company from Chisholm, renaming it the Union Rolling Mill Co. The following year, Fuller and partner Paul P. Condit formed Condit, Fuller & Co. This new firm marketed the iron and steel Fuller's mills were producing. Henry Chisholm, who had retained ownership of the Emma Furnace,
spun it off as the Newburg Furnace Co. in January 1882. Fuller purchased it in August 1883 and made it part of the Union Rolling Mill Co. again.
Paul P. Condit died in February 1886, forcing Fuller to take on additional duties at the firm. To ease the workload, he brought his son, Horace A. Fuller, into the firm as a partner.
Death
![Samuel A Fuller Sr - Fuller family plot - Sec 3 - Lake View Cemetery](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Samuel_A_Fuller_Sr_-_Fuller_family_plot_-_Sec_3_-_Lake_View_Cemetery.jpg)
Samuel Augustus Fuller died on October 23, 1891. He had complained of feeling unwell the night before, and went to bed at about 11 P.M. He was discovered dead in his sleep from an apparent
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
at 1:30 A.M. the following morning.
He left an estate worth about $40,000 ($ in dollars).
He was interred in the family plot at
Lake View Cemetery
Lake View Cemetery is a privately owned, nonprofit garden cemetery located in the cities of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and East Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1869, the cemetery was favored by wealthy families during the Gil ...
in Cleveland. His will provided for the erection of a $1,000 ($ in dollars) funerary monument at the gravesite.
Personal life
Samuel Augustus Fuller amassed what ''
The Plain Dealer
''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday.
As of Ma ...
'' newspaper called "a large fortune".
He owned a home at 1120
Euclid Avenue,
an exclusive area of the city known as "
Millionaires' Row" and "The Showplace of America" for the vast number of homes owned by the ultra-wealthy located on the street.
Fuller was a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, and a lifelong Presbyterian.
He enjoyed all kinds of music, and sang in the Euclid Avenue Presbyterian Church choir.
Fuller married 18-year-old Julia Elizabeth Clark of Cleveland, Ohio, on January 1, 1858. She was the daughter of Albert Clark, a local banker. The couple had 12 children: Albert Augustus (born October 30, 1858), Kate Amelia (born November 19, 1859), Willard (born January 2, 1861), Julia Clark (born September 12, 1862; died in infancy on April 10, 1864), Horace Arthur (born September 23, 1864), Helen Williams (born June 28, 1867), Samuel Augustus Jr. (born August 19, 1868), Charles Clark (born April 30, 1870; died in infancy on December 6, 1870), Mary Elizabeth (born October 15, 1871), Frances Kellogg (born April 3, 1876), Daphne Campbell (born July 20, 1877), and Emily Lyon (born April 20, 1880). Julia Fuller died on April 23, 1880, in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
, three days after giving birth to her daughter, Emily.
On August 18, 1881, Fuller married Louise Allen Wood. She was the daughter of
John W. Allen
John William Allen (August 24, 1802October 5, 1887) was an American lawyer and politician from Ohio. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1837 to 1841 and also served as the fourth Mayor of Cleveland.
Early life ...
, the fourth
mayor of Cleveland
The mayor of Cleveland is the head of the executive branch of Local government in the United States, government of the Cleveland, City of Cleveland, Ohio. As the chief executive in Cleveland's Mayor–council government#Strong-mayor government fo ...
(1841). She married Dr. George Kip Wood, a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
surgeon who had been widowed about 1873. She died at her home at the Hotel Roosevelt in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, on May 8, 1928.
Legacy
Condit, Fuller & Co. became the Bourne-Fuller Co. in 1896 with the elevation of Herbert C. Bourne to partner. Bourne-Fuller purchased the Upson Nut Company and the Union Rolling Mill in November 1911/
This marked the beginning of a number of acquisitions by Bourne-Fuller, and by 1929 it had merged with or purchased 18 companies.
On December 17, 1929, the Bourne-Fuller Co., Central Alloy Steel, Donner Steel, and Republic Iron and Steel merged into a new company,
Republic Steel Corporation
Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Centu ...
.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Samuel Augustus Sr.
1837 births
1891 deaths
Burials at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland
Businesspeople from Cleveland
People from Vienna Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
American company founders
American steel industry businesspeople
19th-century American businesspeople