George Jewett Hicks was born on 28. Jun. 1869 at parents home, New Brighton, Richmond County, New York. He was the son of
George Frost Hicks and
Sarah Holman Jewett. George Jewett Hicks died on 15. May. 1891 at Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, at age 21. He was buried on 18. May. 1891 at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. From the Staten Island Historian.....April-June 1958
INTO LIFE ETERNAL AT TWENTY-TWO
A Sketch of the Brief Life of George Jewett Hicks
June 28, 1869 - May 15, 1891
by Herbert T. Magruder
The arresting fact in this story of the life of George Jewett Hicks is that he never grew old. This paper is not written as a eulogy, nor is it intended as a memorial tribute; too many years have passed. It is rather a sincere attempt to record in historical retrospect important incidents and some personal characteristics and experiences in the life of a Staten Island youth of great promise whose life began in the last year of the Civil War decade, and who did not live to see an automobile or an airplane. And through trained as a mining engineer, he knew nothing of radio-active minerals or of the usefulness of the wonder metal aluminum, which with lowly born gypsum rock has almost revolutionized construction in our day.
Growing up, as he did, in an age when the great mining booms were developing by giant strides our Northwest territories, and when blast furmaces of the Pittsburgh region were pouring forth those first ribbons of molten steel to lay the foundation of an industry that was to rebuild Ameriaca, his steps responded readily to Horance Greeley's admonition "Go west, young man" But I am ahead of my story.
George Jewett Hicks was born in the home of his parents at New Brighton, Staten Island on June 28, 1869. He was the fourth child of George Frost Hicks and Sarah Holman Jewett Hicks. Photographs which have been cherished show a face of unusual intelligence, surmounted by flowing blonde hair, and with alert bright eyes. There was the suggestion of a winsome smile about the corners of his mouth, above which a mustache of near-handle bars dimension draped itself, aserting adulthood. He was called "Georgie" in the boyhood years, to distinguish him from his father; and among members of his family he never quite outgrew the name. A justifiable pride in her own family influenced his mother to select the name "Jewett" as a middle name for this son, as it became the middle name of three others of her children. The Jewetts were in their day one of the prominent families of the County. Older residents of the North Shore will remember the large and successful business established on the Port Richmond waterfrount under the name "Jewett White Lead Works." Family tragedy and a devastating fire at the plant adversely affected the business, and evertually it was incorporated into the great National Lead Company and moved to the Raritan Bay section of New Jersey. For a number of years a Jewett from covered much of the area of lower Jewett Avenue.
Of Georgie's early schooling there remains little record. Undoubtedly he was prepared in Island schools for entrance into the preparatory school of high standing in the eyes of his Brooklyn born parents, The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Thither he journeyed daily from his Staten Island home, leaving as an early hour to catch the steamboat of the North Shore ferry, at the nearby Sailors' Snug Harbor dock.
His scholastic record at the Polytechnic Institute is proudly preserved by his devoted family; old-fashioned certificates recite that fact in the language of those years, 1880 to 1886.
George's enrollment at Polytechnic Institute was preceded by that of his brother Charles, his senior by two years; and in his last year his brother James also entered that historic preparatory school, famed for its high scholastic standing. A sidelight, illustrating George's serious minded devotion to his studies is found in the diary of one of his travelling companions of the fair sex on those daily ferry boat trips. She writes with obvious chagrin that try as hard as they might, the charms of the young girls failed to excite the interest of the studious "Mr. Hicks." George was putting his travel time to better use.
Some note should perhaps be made here to give an idea of the wholesome atmosphere of family life in the Hicks home. The family was large, four sons and three daughters; and there were usually other relatives living in the home. The influence was exemplary and Christion of the liveral school identified with the Unitarian Church, of which Mr. and Mrs. Hicks were leaders on Staten Island. With the acumen of his father, which George in herited, was combined the personal charm and tact of his mother, whose graciousness tempered her rare ability to direct the many community interests to which she was devoted.
To return now to George's progress in the field of education. The excellence of his marks on graduation from the Polytechnic Institute assured his acceptance to admission to the School of Mines at Columbia College, as the rpesent day university was then called. He was enrolled in the Class of 1890 upon entrance. Thecollege was them located at 49th street and Fourth Avenue in the City of New York.
At Columbia College George became a leader among his classmates, gaining membership in Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and many other extra curricular organizations. His scholastic standing did not suffer by reason of his personalpopularity; and his graduation diploma which bears the signatures of Seth Low, President, and the entire faculty of the Shcool of Mines, adn is dated June 11, 1890, recites that "the Professors have examined George Jewett Hicks in all the studies of the course in Metallurgy; and having found him in all respects well qualified, have recommended him as worthy to receive the degree of Metallurgical Engineer." He was thereupon admitted to such Degree, as his diploma so certifies.
With so fine a record of scholastic accomplishment it is not surprising that his thoughts and his steps turned toward the West, which was then going through early stages of development. This determination reinforced by a generous allowance from his father, and an authorization to draw such additional drafts as he might have need for, enabled George to start out on his journey to the fast growing cities fo the Pacific Northwest: Portland, Seattle, Tacoma; and inland to Spokane and the Montana copper country. There on the frontier, after much thought, he coame to the conviction that greater opportunity existed for one of his training in the newly-developed procession of iron ore into steel, which was destined to revolutionize the building of ships and to bring into existence modern skyscrapers in every large American city, and, as was to follow, steel rails which served to tie together ever the remote sections of the country.
George's letters home from the far West were not written in discouragement, and almost no mention was made in them of his health. When he wrote that he planned to return East as far as Pittsburg, hub of the world's new born giant industry, the steel mill, his family were relieved, assuming that in that field, not so far from home, he would find the sought-for opening.
Arriving in that smog-laden industrial center, he lost no time in seeking a position where his knowledge and training might be best applied. He sought interviews with a nimber of prominent leaders in the stell world; but the economy of the country was then in an unstable condition, and retrenchment rather thatn expansion was being practiced. The Carnegie Steel Company was among those companies by which he was turned away. When the letter which follows reached him, addressed to Mr. Andrew Carnegis by a family freind of long standing, George William Curtis, George Hicks was keenly dismayed that the letter had come too late. Mr. Curtis's letter has been preserved; and because of its obvious sencerity and desire to be of assistance to one he held in high esteem, it is printed here:
West New Brighton
Staten Island, N.Y.
January 9, 1891
My dear Sir:
My young friend, Mr. George Jewett Hicks, after graduation with great distinction at the Columbia School of Science has gone to Pittsburg with the purpose of mastering the carft of steel working and manufacture. He is in every way so excellent a young man, so steady, upright, intelligent and earnest that I am sure you would be willing to advise him in matters upon which you are the most competent and kinkly of advisers, and I therefore venture to give him this note to you.
With great regard, I am
Very truly yours,
George William Curtis
to Andrew Carnegie Esq.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
As George did not present this letter it is obvious that he flet that the door to Mr. Carnegie's favoraboe consideration was already barred to him. Reluctant to call on his family for further support, he found employment in a drafting office in the nearby town of Allegheny. Here, after days and weeks bent over a drafting table in that environment of poisonous fumes he was taken seriously ill. Living alone in a boarding house, virtually unknown, it was impossible for him to receive the care that might have saved his life. He became steadily worse, for the malady which had been giver the dread name "consumption" had laid its havn on him. A friend who came and took him for a Sunday afternoon walk urged him to return home, or as least to go to a healthier climate. Courageous to the end, he refrained from alarming his family; but when at length his spirit was broken by bodily weakness, he came to the realization that he must return home. Reaching there he was barely able to walk up the porch steps.
Loving care and competent professional attention were lavished on George during the few short weeks he was to remain on earth. At the last--and it was all too tragically soon---the lamp flickered and went out, on May 15, 1891. Dismay grim and unconsolable filled the hearts of those who loved him. Neighbors and friends were left aghast; his classmates distressed beyoud comprehending.
The body of young George Jewett Hicks was laid away in kthe family plot in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, on that May day sisty-seven years ago, there to wait until joined by his broken hearted parents and adoring brother and sister. How fejoiced they must each have felt to be welcomed into the life everlasting by their precious and unforgettable son and brother, still in the rediant bloom of youth.