Better American Families ' 361 
history, the younger with a genius for 
administration, who became Governor 
of Vermont. Henry, who was a son 
of Thaddeus, went into the ministry 
but his love of invention later drew 
him into manufacturing. 
Executive ability, the power of doing 
things, isalso asalient trait in the Pom- 
eroy family. Eltweed, the founder of 
the family in America was given a 
grant of 1,000 acres of land by the 
province of Massachusetts on condi- 
tion of his establishing his business as 
gunsmith within its bounds. In each 
of the seven generations that succeeded 
him, there has been at least one follow- 
ing the same trade. In this family, the 
power of doing things easily is fre- 
quently carried so far as to exclude the 
tendency to think about them. The 
typical Pomeroy is said not to be a 
good teacher, and the reason as given 
is that they see through a process so 
quickly they lose sight of the inter- 
mediate steps and thus are unable to 
explain them to another. If we study 
their genealogy carefully, we find inter- 
esting instances of the coming of this 
power of abstraction and elucidation in 
later generations through their mar- 
riage into strains such as the Strongs 
and the Dwights which have this 
ability in abundance. 
Another instance of the inheritance 
of ability in construction is in the 
Herreshoff family, designers and build- 
ers of the swiftest sailing boats in the 
world. The first representative in this 
country was Charles F. Herreshoff 
who, though an accomplished artist, 
had little practical business ability. 
He married Sarah Brown, proficient in 
music and mathematics, whose family 
had amassed fortunes in foreign and 
domestic trade, carrying their goods in 
ships of their own manufacture. Their 
son founded the Herreshoff Manufac- 
turing Company and was associated 
with his three sons, all experts in naval 
architecture. In none of these exam- 
ples can we lay the signal success to 
tradition or merely opportunity, for 
plenty of their associates have had 
similar opportunities without once feel- 
ing the impulse toward construction of 
this type. 
The history of America gives many 
illustrations of signal ability in finance 
extending through three or more gener- 
ations. We have but to think of the 
names of Astor, Vanderbilt, Morgan 
and Rockefeller, Drexel and Palmer, 
all of whom stand for vast accumulated 
wealth. It is interesting to reflect what 
the scions of these houses would have 
been had they lived in an age which per- 
mitted a different type of exploitation, 
the age of Raleigh and Frobisher. 
Most of them piled up their riches by 
conquest of virgin resources, though 
there are not lacking instances where 
the chief characteristic was the will and 
the power to over-ride all competitors. 
For the most part these American pro- 
jectors belong to lines of their respec- 
tive families which show great force 
and energy, an instinct for contrivance, 
acquisitiveness, and a spirit of emula- 
tion which would brook no opposition 
to the fulfillment of its schemes. How- 
ever our captains of industry are not all 
of the same type, just as they have 
sprung from stocks whose leading 
traits have not been by any manner 
the same. With determination, vital- 
ity, and the ability to evaluate correctly 
situations of all kinds in common,{,we 
find in one type love of adventure and 
exploration, a passion for taking great 
risks, the traits of the ‘“‘dead game 
sport,’’ while in another type, pains- 
taking calculation, careful policy and 
great economy are the salient charac- 
ters. 
The latter qualities were exemplified 
to a marked degree in John Jacob 
Astor, the founder of a line of our most 
noted financiers. In the sordid con- 
fines of a butcher’s home in the remote 
village of Waldorf, we find his childish 
imagination aflame with legends of 
marching hosts of Romans, taking 
their triumphant way along the mili- 
tary road on which the hamlet lay. 
Later, under the inspiration of letters 
from America, the vision took the form 
of possible conquest for himself, so 
that he spurned the father’s trade, and 
at sixteen, made his way to London 
and there by arduous unskilled labor 
earned his passage to America. Here, 
he was first a peddler of cakes, but with 
