Biography of
James Charles Carlyle

p. 1662

     JAMES CHARLES CARLYLE. Ohio has sometimes been suspected of priding herself upon the production of a particularly fine type of citizen and while it is not the province of this article to prove the truth or falsity of the matter, nevertheless Albion is in possession of a native son of the Buckeye state who has  done much to substantiate this good opinion in local circles, namely James Charles Carlyle, superintendent of the Albion Vitrified Brick Company. Mr. Carlyle has resided here since 1907 and no small part of the success and progress of the concern with which he is identified is traceable to his ability. As his name indicates, he is of Scotch origin, his father having been born in the historic old city of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1818. Believing that P. 1663 the newer land across the Atlantic presented greater opportunity for an industrious young man, he severed the ties that bound him to the “land o’ cakes” and in 1841 came to these shores in quest of his share of opportunity.

     He located in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he worked at the potter’s trade, becoming an expert clay worker. In 1847 he went to Toronto, Ohio, and engaged in sewer pipe manufacturing, having the distinction of making in the year mentioned the first sewer pipe ever manufactured in the United States. He continued in this line of endeavor for an extended period and built up a large plant in his forty years activity in this line. He saw it grow from small beginning to an immense concern which sold for nearly $300,000. After retiring from business the elder gentleman removed to Winchester, Kentucky, where he passed the declining years of life and passed to the Great Beyond. He married Anna Hamilton, of Knoxville, Jefferson county, Ohio, who survives him, this venerable lady residing at the present time in Winchester, Kentucky, her years numbering eighty-two. The subject is one of a family of three children. Anna is the wife of Dr. J. W. Cochran, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and George Edward is in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he is president of the Carlyle Paving Brick Company, one of the large and important Ohio river industries.
 
     James Charles Carlyle received his education in the public schools of Steubenville, Ohio, and graduated from the high school at the age of eighteen years. Shortly thereafter he went to Cleveland, Tennessee, and engaged in fire brick manufacturing, at that early age acting in the capacity of superintendent of a factory. He remained in the south until 1891 and then went to Cincinnati, where for a year and a half he was commissary agent for the Pullman Car Company of the Queen City. In 1892 he went to Winchester, Kentucky, where he accepted a position as president of a brick manufacturing plant and remained there until 1897, in which year he located in Brazil, Indiana. His residence at that point in the Hoosier state was of nine years  duration, or until 1906, when he located at Brooklyn, Indiana, where he became superintendent of the Indiana Drain Tile Company, a position he held for one year. In 1907 he located in Portsmouth, where he was in business with the Carlyle Paving Brick Company for one year. In August, 1908, he came to Albion, where he accepted his present position and in the fortunes of the enterprise which is justly valued by Albion as a potent factor in its advancement he has played an important role. Fraternally this gentleman is identified with the Modern Woodmen and his faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church.