Surnames: Linton, Doolittle, Hamilton
Robert John Linton. The world honors those men who have won respectable and important standing in their life by their own unaided efforts, and in this class will be found Robert John Linton, son of Joseph and Mary Linton, who was born July 24, 1834, in County Antrim, Ireland. His father, while not a rich man, was yet in very comfortable circumstances.Robert J Linton was raised on a farm, was partly educated in Ireland where he attended the pay schools of that county, then celebrated for their thorough training and effective work.
Ambitious and energetic, he sought for a wider sphere of action in the business world than could be found in Ireland at that time, and upon attaining his amjority came in September, 1855, to Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, with a determination to do something, but with a no definite idea of what that something would be. In a short time he engaged with the Adams Express Company, having charge of their trains, continuing with them but a short time and quitting with a few hundred dollars he has saved.He now proposed to secure a better education and attended Twinsburg Academy for two years. On leaving school he engaged with R C Schmertz & Co, manufacturers and dealers in glass lamps. He continued in their employ in Pittsburgh until 1865 when the firm bought out George A Berry & Co's window glass works at Belle Vernon and increased their capacity from sixteen pots to forty pots, being four ten-pot furnaces. From 1862 to 1868 he traveled and sold goods for the firm and in the latter years located at Belle Vernon as general manager of the R C Schmertz & Co's window glass works.
In 1872 he became a member of the firm and by his active exertions and good management, has continued to build up their business into its present prosperous condition. These glass works are the largest of their kind in the world. The works cover three acres of ground with improvements amounting to $125,000 and operated on an invested capital of $200,000, and do a yearly business of $360,000; 312 men are employed and 136,800 boxes of window glass are made on an average every year. Their goods sell from Boston to San Francisco and from the lakes to the gulf.
Mr Linton was married in 1864 to Miss Caroline S Doolittle, a native of Henderson, Ohio. They had three children: Robert Linton; Grace Linton and Clara Linton. Clara Linton married Rev W B Hamilton of Washington, Penna, missionary, and went to China where she died in six weeks after her
arrival.Mr Linton is an extensive holder in the Belle Vernon Light and Heat Co. He is a Mason, is a highly respected member of the Belle Vernon Presbyterian church and in which he has been an elder for several years.
Robert J Linton has been emphatically the architect of his own fortune. He is a most excellent and accommodating manager, an honest man, a consistent Christian, and a worthy, intelligent citizen. He is liberal in his views, but earnest in his convictions. His thought upon any subject is good and his expression clear. He is naturally and amply qualified for leadership in any great enterprise of the business world.