John Irvin Beggs (September 17, 1847 – October 17, 1925) was an American entrepreneur, industrialist and financier associated closely with the electric utility boom under Thomas Edison. He was also associated with Milwaukee, St. Louis, Missouri and other regional rail and interurban trolley systems. Beggs is also known for developing modern depreciation techniques for business accounting and one of the early directors of what became General Electric.

Youth

John Irvin Beggs was born in Philadelphia, September 17, 1847, the son of James and Mary Irvin Beggs. Both of his parents were of Scottish descent but had emigrated to America from the north of Ireland.

His early life was spent in the neighborhood of Philadelphia and, his father having died when he was seven years old, Mr. Beggs was obliged to go to work soon after to assist in the support of his widowed mother laboring in a brickyard and as a cattleman and butcher.

Education

As a young man he taught accounting and handwriting in the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Philadelphia and an opportunity having developed to get into business, he went to Harrisburg, Pa at the age of twenty-one where he became identified with the Mitchell & Haggerty Coal Co. as an accountant. He afterwards entered the real estate and fire insurance business in Harrisburg. Early in his manhood Mr Beggs joined the Masonic fraternities at Harrisburg and maintained his membership in them until his death.

Electric Light Industry

When the electric light industry was in its infancy, assisted in the organization of the Harrisburg Electric Light Co., he built and managed the plant for this company which was ???the first commercially successful electric light plant in the United States???. Mr. Beggs? interest in electric lighting arose from the fact that he was the active head of the building committee of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church and that the problem of lighting the church aroused his interest in the new and untried method. He was married in Harrisburg to Sue Elizabeth Charles, who died March 14, 1902. One child, Mary Grace, was born of this union.

Called to New York

On account of his success in Harrisburg as an electric plant manager, he was called by J.P. Morgan to New York in 1887 as manager of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of that city. He remained in New York for about five years during which time he built the Pearl Street Station and Twenty-Sixth Street. Stations. With Pearl St. providing electricity for the first time to Wall Street's stockbrokers. In this work he was closely associated with Thomas A. Edison and consequently became one of that small group known as Edison Pioneers. When Henry Ford first met Thomas Edison and presented his idea for the automobile, Beggs was one of the Illuminating Company Directors present at the meeting.

Career

From New York he went to Chicago as Western Manager of Edison Company where he remained until the Edison Company was merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form what is now the General Electric Company.

The North American Company, which had just been organized, had acquired certain electric lighting interest in Cincinnati and after leaving Chicago Mr. Beggs went to Cincinnati in charge of these interests. The North American Company shortly afterward acquired the electric railway and lighting companies in Milwaukee, and for several years, Mr. Beggs divided his time between these cities. In 1897, the Cincinnati interests were sold and Mr. Beggs moved to Milwaukee to devote his entire time to the utilities of that city.

In 1903, The North American Company began to acquire electric lighting interests in St. Louis. Mr. Beggs first visited St. Louis to advise concerning these interests, and then as they became more important began to divide his time between the two cities. At one time, Mr. Beggs was President of the St. Louis electric lighting company, the gas company, and the street railway company, as well as President and General Manager of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company.

While Mr. Beggs was President of the Milwaukee Companies he built the Public Service Building in Milwaukee in the auditorium of which his funeral services were conducted by the Employees? Mutual Benefit Association. He also constructed the important systems of interurban railways radiating from Milwaukee.

In 1911, Mr. Beggs resigned his official connection with the Milwaukee companies, having acquired a controlling interest in the St. Louis Car Company , moved to St. Louis. He still maintained many business connections in Milwaukee and continued to spend much time in that city, although his residence was in St. Louis.

Beggs Isle

In the spring of 1911, Mr. Beggs purchased and named Beggs Isle an island in Lac La Belle at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. This he maintained as a summer residence for himself and his daughter?s family, and one of his greatest pleasures was in the development of this place. He devoted his spare time and energy to the work, and beautiful Beggs Isle was one of the monuments he left. Beggs turned this island into a state showcase and botanical garden bringing in exotic plants. Remaining today are the Egyptian papyrus plants trained to last through the long Wisconsin winters. Beggs relished time spent with his grandchildren and would make special efforts to purchase large commercial grade fireworks for their Fourth of July celebrations.^[1]

In 1915, he became interested in some water powers in northern Wisconsin and began to spend more time in that state, although still maintaining his residence in St. Louis. In 1920 he was again elected President of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., which position he still held at the time of his death.

Personal Energy

Mr Beggs was a man of great energy. At the time of his death he was a director in fifty-three corporations, many of which he actually managed. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the North American Company and took active interest in its affairs. He also devoted much time to the affairs of the First Wisconsin National Bank in which he was largely interested. In addition during his last decade he directed the construction of the second largest paper mill in the country; engineered the reorganization of the J. I. Case Plow Company, arranged to finance a hotel in Atlantic City, and conducted a large Florida real estate transaction.^[2] He maintained his business activities up to the end of his life and did so often at the cost of great physical suffering.

He died in Milwaukee on October 17, 1925 at the age of seventy-eight years and one month. He was buried in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Director and Officer

At the time of his death, Beggs was an active Director or Officer of 53 companies, including:

1. North American Edison Company, Director (Now called General Electric)
2. The North American Company, Director, Member of Executive Committee
3. The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company, Director, President, Member of Executive Committees
4. Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company, Director, Vice-President
5. Briggs & Stratton Corporation, Director, Chairman Executive Committee
6. St. Louis Car Company, Director, Chairman of Board
7. J. I. Case Plow Works Company, Inc., Director
8. Southern Improvement Company, Director, President
9. First Wisconsin National Bank, Milwaukee, Director, Member of Executive and Finance Committees
10. First Wisconsin Company, Milwaukee, Director
11. Grand & Sixth National Bank, Milwaukee, Director, Member of Executive and Finance Committees
12. First National Bank in St. Louis, Director
13. Milwaukee Northern Railway Company, Director, President
14. Wisconsin Traction, Light, Heat & Power Company, Director, President
15. Peninsular Power Company, Director
16. North American Utilities Investment Corporation, Director
17. West Kentucky Coal Company, Director
18. United Railways Company of St. Louis, Director
19. Wisconsin Securities Company, Director, Member of Executive Committee
20. Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, Director
21. Menominee & Marinette Light & Traction Company, Director
22. Wisconsin Railway, Light & Power Company, Director
23. Land & Sea Investment Company, Baltimore, Director
24. Oil Transport Company, Baltimore, Director
25. Wisonsin Power, Light & Heat Company, Director
26. Wisconsin River Power Company (Hydro-Electric), Director
27. Southern Wisconsin Power Company (Hydro-Electric), Director
28. Northwestern Casualty & Surety Company, Director, Member of Executive and Finance Committees
29. The Newport Company, Director
30. Milwaukee Coke & Gas Company, Director
31. Globe Electric Company, Director, President
32. Globe Real Estate Company, Director, President
33. Wisconsin Real Estate Development Corporation, Director, President
34. Grand & Sixth Building, Inc., Director, President
35. Central Utilities Securities Corporation, Director, President, Treasurer
36. Midland Oil, Gas & Refining Company, Director
37. Lane Oil Producing Company, Director
38. Johnson & King Coal Company, Director, President
39. Raven Mining Company, Director
40. American Granite Company, Director, President
41. Shotwell Manufacturing Company, Director
42. East Coast Development Company (Florida), Director, President
43. Louisiana Pulp & Paper Company (Bastrop, LA.), Director, President
44. Frankenberg Refrigerating Company, Director
45. Prescott & Northwestern Ry. Company, (Prescott, Ark.), Vice-President
46. Montana Railroad Company (Clarksville, Ark.), President
47. President Apartment Hotel Company (Atlantic City), President

Legacy

Edison and Beggs remained friends throughout their lifetimes. On Beggs' 75th Birthday Celebration on Beggs Isle, Edison presented Beggs with a large handsome grandfather clock and a cheeky signed photograph addressed "To my hustler friend, (signed) Thomas A. Edison".

At the time of his death in 1925, Beggs was reported to be the wealthiest man in Wisconsin, with an estimated net worth of over $20M. He passed this incredible fortune to his grandchildren: John Irvin Beggs McCulloch(1908-1983), Robert Paxton McCulloch(1911-1977), and Mary Sue McCulloch(1913-1996) each going on to have incredible lives:

• Grandson Robert was responsible for McCulloch Chainsaws, the Paxton Supercharger, founding Lake Havasu City, Arizona and moving the London Bridge to Arizona.^[2] He married Barbra Ann Briggs, whose father was Stephen Foster Briggs of Briggs and Stratton.

• Granddaughter Mary Sue McCulloch "Suzie Linden", author of Suzie's Story, was inducted into the Croquet Hall of Fame for founding in 1957, and operating for forty years, the Green Gables Croquet Club in Spring Lake, NJ - recognized as the first on the east coast, and now the oldest continuously running club in the USA.^[3] Also, a founding member of the USCA. In 1931, She first married Whip Jones who went on to found Aspen Highlands in Aspen, Colorado. Subsequent husbands were New York Investment Banker/Attorney James Lowell Oakes (the father of the famous judge), WWII veteran Bruce Lister Knight, and Portland banker Carvel Cabel Linden.

• Grandson John became fluent in over 10 foreign languages. After graduating from Yale, in 1933 he married Whip's sister Elizabeth Ten Broeck Jones. He became a foreign political analyst and a prolific writer of books and articles in many languages. Later in his career he supported the English Speaking Union pushing for the wider use of English.

These three had another notable grandfather Robert McCulloch (Capt) (1841-1914) who was the only confederate officer to survive the Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. Both grandfathers were active in Freemasonry.

Source

• In Memoriam, John Irvin Beggs (1926), 49 pages, with Photo, - Source: Bruce McCulloch Jones
• Funerary Packet, Captain Robert McCulloch (1914), Includes biography and the speech of Robert McCulloch on his return visit to Gettysburg fifty years after the battle - Source Bruce McCulloch Jones
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - Archives
• Biographical sketch from Wisconsin Historical Society

Filmography

• - 1986 Documentary Film, Directed by Louis Rugani. Through the use of archival footage John I. Beggs 'stars' in this look at the history and survival efforts of this small anachronistic Wisconsin trolley line since 1907, and an overview of its relationship to the surrounding area, the now-dissolved parent company which built it, and the vanished traction empire of which it was a small part.

See also

• Let there be light: The electric utility industry in Wisconsin, 1881-1955 by Forrest McDonald
• East Troy Electric Railroad
• Suzie's Story
• Edison Pioneers

References