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GEORGE LOURIE
WILEY.
GEORGE LOURIE WILEY, a well known
electrical engineer and a prominent resident of Arlington, N.
J., was born in St. Louis, Mo., on the 12th of May, 1849. He
is the son of George W. Wiley and Elmira M. Gregg, a grandson
of James Wiley, Jr., and Margaret Sutherland and of James Gregg
and Abagail Wright, and a great-grandson of John Wiley and Matilda
Lourie and Joseph Wright and Mary Sinclair. The Sutherlands and
Louries were of royal Scotch blood and the Greggs and Wrights
on his mother's side were members of the Society of Friends or
Quakers. His father, George W. Wiley, was a stock broker and
well known in Wall Street twenty-five years ago; he was an esteemed
and prosperous citizen, and died in Chicago in 1899, having retired
from business in 1878.
Mr. Wiley was graduated from the
St. Louis (Mo.) City University and afterward spent one year
in a classical and technical course under a private tutor. In
1868 he became a clerk in the New York Gold Exchange Bank, where
he remained one year. He then associated hismelf with the Gold
and Stock Telegraph Company of New York, and continued with that
corporation for eleven years (1869-1880), serving successively
as clerk, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent. In 1880
the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company's telephone business, which
was then under his charge, was consolidated with that of the
Bell Telephone Company of New York, forming what is now the New
York Telephone and Telegraph Company. Mr. Wiley continued under
the consolidation of the new company as General Superintendent
for two years, resigning in 1882 to become President and General
Manager of the Central Telephone Company in Mexico. He sailed
for that country June 22, 1882, and continued with that company
in Mexico for three years, until it was put on a paying basis.
In 1885 he returned to New York and became manager of the Standard
Underground Cable Company, manufacturers of electrical wires
and cables, with offices in New York, Pittsburg, Philadelphia,
Chicago, and San Francisco, and factories in Oakland, Cal., Pittsburg,
Pa., and Perth Amboy, N. J. He is also President of the New York
Electric Construction Company, a Director in several important
electrical enterprises, and a member of the American Institute
of Electrical Engineers and of the New York Electrical Society.
In these various positions Mr. Wiley
developed great executive ability, and not only achieved success,
but gained a reputation in electrical circles which extends throughout
the country. He also has a wide reputation as an inventor and
electrical expert. Though an active, engergetic, and patriotic
citizen, he has always avoided public or political office, having
devoted his entire time to the improtant duties which have devolved
upon him and which he has discharged with ability and satisfaction.
He is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Past Regent of the Royal Arcanum,
and a member of the Loyal Additional. He holds membership in
America Lodge, No. 1304, R. A., and in Arlington Council, L.
A. He was raised in the Presbyterian Church and has affiliated
with that faith. His career has been an active and successful
one, and in both business and social relations he is highly esteemed
and respected. As a resident of Arlington, N. J., he has contributed
much to the growth and development of that attractive borough,
and is prominently connected with many of its leading institutions.
On Christmas Day, December 25, 1873,
Mr. Wiley was married to Josephine Griffiths Polhemus, of New
York, a lady well known in literary circles. They have six children,
three sons and three daughters, the eldest a son, being twenty-two
years of age.
Source: Genealogical
History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor,
Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing
Company, 1900, page 173-174. |
