Samuel Martin Kier (July 19, 1813 – October 6, 1874) was an American inventor and businessman who is credited with founding the American petroleum refining industry. He was the first person in the United States to refine crude oil into kerosene lamp oil.[1] Kier has been dubbed the Grandfather of the American Oil Industry by historians.[2]
Biography
Kier was born in Conemaugh Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania near the town of Livermore. He was the son of Thomas Kier and Mary Martin Kier. The Kiers were Scots-Irish immigrants who owned several salt wells around Livermore and nearby Saltsburg.
In addition to the salt business, Samuel helped found Kier, Royer and Co., in 1838. The company was a canal boat operation that shipped coal between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Kier also owned interest in several coal mines, a brickyard, and a pottery factory.[3]
He, along with several other investors including Benjamin Franklin Jones,[4][5][6][7]
Business career
Samuel Kier moved to Pittsburgh at the age of 21. In Pittsburgh, he found employment with a railway express company,[10] where he recognized his business acumen. He soon became a partner in the expanding enterprise, but the business eventually collapsed during the economic downturn of the Panic of 1837.[11]
Samuel Kier rebounded from the failure[12] of his first business by exploring new opportunities. In 1838, he ventured into canal transportation, utilizing Pennsylvania's extensive canal system connecting Lake Erie to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Kier hired several independent canal operators of the Pennsylvania Canal to establish a continuous route from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and formed Kier, Roger, and Company to manage the operation. This enterprise proved financially successful, allowing Kier to settle any outstanding debts from his previous business.[11]
When the government began constructing the Pennsylvania Railroad, which paralleled Kier's canal route, he adapted his canal business.
External links
References
- Greater Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Past, Present, Future; The Pioneer Oil Refiner The American Manufacturer and Iron World, 1901^
- Karen McInnis. Kier, Samuel Martin- Bio biography, The Pennsylvania State University, retrieved 2008-12-12^
- Carey Croneis. Early History of Petroleum in North America