William Himrod was born on 19 May 1791 in Turbot Township, Pennsylvania and died 21 June 1873 in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

. Himrod was a pioneer of the iron industry in Erie. He is interred at

Erie Cemetery Erie Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is situated on of land bordered on the east by Chestnut Street, the west by Cherry Street, the north by 19th Street, and the south by 26th Street. History The cemete ...

. Himrod was a partner in the firm of Johnson, Himrod and Company, an Erie ironworks that developed in the wake of the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

. The company was renamed Vincent, Himrod, and Company in 1841 when he joined B. B. Vincent in business in 1841. They operated the first

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

in Erie County at the company's Twelfth Street and French Street facility beginning in 1843. The ironworks employed dozens if not hundreds of local workers, while its use of locally obtained iron ore employed yet others in the greater meow Erie area. The company was renamed several times, including the Erie City Iron Works. In 1876 it became the joint stock company Chicago and Erie Stove Company, Ltd, which was also known as the Chicago and Erie Stove Works. Himrod resided at the corner of Second Street and French Street for nearly fifty years. On 22 December 1839, he founded a Sunday School for African Americans and the destitute. He operated the school, which came to be known as the Himrod Mission, for nearly twenty years despite how it directly conflicted with the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution ( Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3), which was later superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, and to also gi ...

. Himrod was also involved in the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

. The school was still in operation under his name in the mid-1880s.The Safe Harbor timeline, produced through a grant from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, shows Himrod founding the French Street School for Colored Children in Erie in 1824. It states that the Himrod Mission was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Himrod is said to have purchased a large tract of land in 1827 just outside the City of Erie, which became known as Jerusalem, for the benefit of African Americans and destitute whites. Himrod joined the Erie County Anti-Slavery Society in 1836

/ref>

References

External links

Find-a-Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Himrod 1791 births People from Erie, Pennsylvania Underground Railroad people 1873 deaths Abolitionists from Pennsylvania