Biography of Robert Ramsay (Oct 23, 1840-Aug 11, 1899)

Source: Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Samuel T. Wiley, Chief Assistant, John M. Gresham & Co: Philadelphia, 1890, pp. 214-215.

“Many there are who, after scores of years in this land of privileges and opportunities, join the silent majority and upon their graves are erected costly monuments of marble, bronze or granite to preserve their resemblance unto future generations, but not a few there are who need no sculptured marble, ‘no storied urn or animated bust’ to preserve their memory from oblivion; they build their own monuments of ability and worth—monuments more sacred and more enduring than brazen columns or colossal statues of adamantine rock.

An example of this class of men is Robert Ramsay, a skillful engineer and superintendent of the Standard coke works. He was born sixteen miles northwest of Edinburgh, near Dunfermline, county of Fife, Scotland, October 23, 1840, and is a son of William and Elisabeth (Sharp) Ramsay, both natives of Scotland. His parents first came to the United States in 1852, and after a residence here of four years they returned to the land of their birth. In 1863, however, they immigrated a second time to this country and settled at Larrimer [sic], Westmoreland county, Pa. The father died on April 16, 1885, and the mother August 13, 1889, and both were buried in Shafton cemetery, same county.

Robert Ramsay is a miner as was his father, but at an early age he gave promise of engineering ability and embraced every opportunity to improve himself with a view of adopting that profession. Shortly after immigrating with his parents to this country the second time he worked at the machinist trade, then worked in the mines on the Monongahela river, and in 1865 went to Shafton, Westmoreland county, where he became winding engineer for the Shafton Coal Company. His services were so satisfactory that he was given charge of the mine and machinery, and in 1870 was advanced to the position of superintendent of the company, which he held for eleven years. He then served as superintendent and engineer at the Monastery coke works of the Carnegie brothers until he removed to Mt. Pleasant in 1883 to take charge of the Standard mines, where he has remained up to the present time, 1890.

On January 4, 1861, Robert Ramsay was united in marriage with Janet Erskine, a daughter of William and Margaret (White) Erskine, of Elgin colliery, near Dunfermline. They have twelve children, eight sons and four daughters: William, Erskine, Robert Jr., Morris, John, Charles, Andrew, George, Margaret, Lizzie, Janet and Mary. Like their father the sons as they grow up take to the engineering profession; the second son, Erskine, is chief mining engineer at the Pratt mines near Birmingham, Alabama.

Robert Ramsay and his wife in religion are Presbyterians and members of the Presbyterian church at Mt. Pleasant. His skill as an engineer is recognized in the design and arrangement of the new Standard shaft which he built in 1886, and which is considered the finest shaft in this country by the best mining authorities. He also engineered and superintended the erection of the Mt. Pleasant water works and quite a number of other improvements in the Connellsville coke region. He is a man whose kindness, usefulness, blameless character, persevering energy and intellectual force are building for him a monument of respect and love that will be bright and sacred in the hearts of future generations when time shall have crumbled to dust the graven monolith, the gorgeous mausoleum, and the heaven, pointing obelisk of this century; for man goes to his long home, his bones are placed beneath the sod, but his works live after him, and his influence for good goes down through the ages, on and on ‘until our race has run its course and the wide firmament is rolled up like a scroll.’”