- Samuel P. Bush
Infobox Person
name = Samuel P. Bush
image_size = 200px
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1863|10|4|mf=y
birth_place = Brick Church, Orange,Essex County, New Jersey , U.S.
death_date = dda|1948|2|8|1863|10|4|mf=y
death_place = Columbus,Franklin County, Ohio ,
occupation =Business
spouse = Flora Sheldon
parents =James Smith Bush
Harriet Fay
children = Prescott Sheldon Bush
Robert Bush
Mary Bush-House
Margaret Bush-Clement
James BushSamuel Prescott Bush (
October 4 ,1863 –February 8 ,1948 ) was an American industrialist andentrepreneur , and the patriarch of the Bush political family. He was the father of SenatorPrescott Bush , grandfather of former U.S PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush , and great-grandfather of current U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush .Biography
Early life
Bush was born in Brick Church, Orange, New Jersey [Bush's obituary in the "New York Times", February 8, 1948, incorrectly stated that he was born
October 13 ,1864 onStaten Island, New York .] , the son of Harriet Fay and the Rev.James Smith Bush , an Episcopalpriest at Grace Church in Orange. He grew up in New Jersey,San Francisco , andStaten Island , but spent the majority of his adult life inColumbus, Ohio . He married Flora Sheldon onJune 20 ,1894 . They had five children: Prescott Sheldon Bush, Robert (who died in childhood), Mary (Mrs. Frank) House, Margaret (Mrs. Stuart) Clement, and James.His wife, Flora, died on
September 4 ,1920 inNarragansett, Rhode Island when she was hit by a car. He remarried to Martha Bell Carter of Milwaukee.Career
Bush graduated from the
Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken in 1884, where he played on one of the earliest regular college football teams. He took an apprenticeship with thePittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad at theLogansport, Indiana shops, later transferring toDennison, Ohio andColumbus, Ohio , where in 1891 he became Master Mechanic, then in 1894 Superintendent of Motive Power. In 1899 he moved toMilwaukee, Wisconsin to take the position of Superintendent of Motive Power with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.Just two years later, in 1901 he returned to Columbus to be General Manager of Buckeye Steel Castings Company, which manufactured railway parts. The company was run by
Frank Rockefeller , the brother of oil magnateJohn D. Rockefeller , and among its clients were the railroads controlled byE. H. Harriman . The Bush and Harriman families would be closely associated at least until the end ofWorld War II . In 1908 Rockefeller retired and Bush became President of Buckeye, a position he would hold until 1927, becoming one of the top industrialists of his generation.He was the first president of the [http://www.ohiomfg.com/ Ohio Manufacturers Association] cite journal
author=Phillip R. Shriver
url=http://publications.ohiohistory.org/ohstemplate.cfm?action=detail&Page=009179.html&StartPage=74&EndPage=82&volume=91&newtitle=Volume%2091%20Page%2074
title=A Hoover Vignette
publication="Ohio History"
volume=91
pages=74–82] [Many sources, including Bush family biographer Kevin Phillips, erroneously state he was first president of theNational Association of Manufacturers , which was founded in 1895. [http://www.nam.org/s_nam/sec.asp?CID=22&DID=20] ] , and cofounder ofScioto Country Club andColumbus Academy . He was an avid sports buff and a skilled carpenter.Political prominence
In the spring of 1918, banker
Bernard Baruch was asked to reorganize theWar Industries Board as the U.S. prepared to enterWorld War I , and placed several prominent businessmen to key posts. Bush became chief of the Ordnance, Small Arms, and Ammunition Section, with national responsibility for government assistance to and relations withmunitions companies.Bush served on the board of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (as well as of the Huntington National Bank of Columbus).. In 1931, he was appointed toHerbert Hoover 's President's Committee for Unemployment Relief, chaired by Walter S. Gifford, then-President of AT&T. [cite web
url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=22786
title=The President's News Conference of August 25th, 1931
date=August 25 1931
publisher=The American Presidency Project, theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara
accessdate=2007-02-26] He was once recommended to serve on the board of theReconstruction Finance Corporation , but Hoover did not feel he was sufficiently nationally known.Death
Bush died on
February 8 ,1948 , aged 84, in Columbus; he is interred atGreen Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio . [cite web
url=http://www.forgottenoh.com/Greenlawn/greenlawn.html
title=Greenlawn Cemetery
publisher=Forgotten Ohio
accessdate=2006-08-07]ee also
*
Bush family Notes & references
External links
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/086/000055918/ Samuel P. Bush] at the
Notable Names Database
* [http://ghmchs.org/tour-pages/st-raphael.html Samuel Bush residence]
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