A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York, Part 44

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1102

USA > New York > Allegany County > A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York > Part 44

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present (1895) officers are Brigham Hanks, senior warden; Oscar A. Fuller, junior warden. Rev. S. A. Whitcomb is the present rector. He is a very scholarly gentleman, with fine literary abilities. The ladies of the church organized and for years have maintained two very efficient societies for benevolent work; they are known as St. John's Guild and St. Margaret's Guild.

The Broad Street Church of Christ (Disciples) was the immediate outgrowth of a series of revival meetings held in the opera house in February, 1886, by the Rev. H. B. Sherman of Canada, afterward state evangelist for Pennsyl- vania. An organization was effected that winter and on Dec. 4, 1888, the so- ciety was legally incorporated with 80 members and these officers: David S. Jones, W. M. Bellisle, and T. J. Applebee, trustees; David S. Jones and T. J. Applebee, elders; W. M. Bellisle, Samuel F. Hanks and T. J. Applebee, deacons; and S. F. Hanks, clerk; all of whom still hold their respective offices. The prime mover in organizing the church was T. J. Applebee, a member of the Church of Christ of Scio. Services were at first held in the opera house and later in a brick store which the society had rented of W. F. Jones and fitted up. A frame church building was begun, which, on Jan. 24, 1889, was formally opened and dedicated. Rev. B. B. Tyler of New York City preached the dedicatory sermon, assisted by Rev. J. M. Trible of Buffalo, and local pastors of other denominations. The edifice, including lot, cost about $6,000 and the society is free of indebtedness. The present membership is 125. The first pastor was Rev. George P. Slade, who came from Centralia, Ill., and assumed charge in the spring of 1886. He continued until January, 1887, when he moved to Missouri and was succeeded by Rev. John Encell, from Syracuse, who remained till August, 1889. He went to Sus- pension Bridge, N. Y., and his successor was Rev. D. H. Patterson of Indiana, who continued in charge until Nov. 1, 1892, when he went to Auburn. The next pastor was Rev. C. A. Kleeberger. Nine months later he was succeeded by John L. Phoenix of Troy, Pa., for one year. The present pastor, Rev. A. R. Miller, formerly of Canton, Ohio, commenced his pastorate Nov. 1, 1894. The church is rapidly growing and prosperous, 35 additions to its member- ship occurring in the winter of 1894-5. The Sunday school membership is about 100 with 12 teachers and William Wilson superintendent.

German Evangelical Lutheran Church .*- As tall oaks from little acorns grow, so did this congregation grow from very small and slender begin- nings to its present strength and importance. It is about a score and ten years ago that a few Lutheran families, who had cast their lot amongst the forest-clad hills of old Allegany, banded themselves together to form what is to-day the flourishing Evangelical Lutheran congregation of this place. They had shaken the dust of the fatherland from their feet primarily to ameliorate their physical welfare. They found what they had hoped to find, a land of milk and honey; honey trickling even from the forest tree. What of the primeval condition of the country? What of the toil and struggles to con-

* By H. A. Laewen.

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vert this wilderness into homes? They were able and willing to cope with them unflinchingly. But no sooner did they see their physical wants in a measure supplied, when their spiritual wants came home to them. Echoes from their childhood and youth, when they used to chant the battle hymn of the great reformer: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott!" when they were wont to listen to the inspired words of the sacred volume on the sabbath day after the toil and turmoil of the busy week. They cast about for a proper person to preach to them the way to salvation in their own tongue even as it had been taught them in the fatherland. Such a man they found to be the Rev. I. H. Doermann, at that time pastor of a Lutheran congregation at Olean. He was prevailed upon to visit them from time to time, and to perform what pastoral ministrations were necessary until they sent a call to Mr. Conrad Engelder, who had, in June, 1860, been graduated from the Concordia Semi- nary at St. Louis, Mo., an institution of learning belonging to the Lutheran synod of that state. They were in all 17 persons who resolved to form a congregation with Mr. Conrad Engelder as their chosen pastor, who there- after successfully administered the affairs of this little flock, They pros- pered and grew in number until they felt sufficiently strong to secure some suitable place of worship of their own, having until this time held their de- votional exercises in the various houses of the several members, A house and lot on Martin St. was bought from Mrs. Judd for $800. The building was transformed into a schoolhouse which was also used as a place of wor- ship on the sabbath. This modest structure was the witness to many a physical exertion on the part of the pastor to ground the young idea in the three R's during the week, which exertions were turned into spiritual ones on the sabbath to ground the adults in the fundamental principles of Luth- eran theological lore, and all the glories of the Solomonian temple in the land of milk and honey under the old dispensation, did not seem so precious to these early worshipers as did this unpretentious temple in the valley of the Genesee under the new.

In the year 1860 Mr. John Himmler succeeded Mr. C. Engelder in the pastorate, the latter having accepted a call to the city of Pittsburgh. By this time the number of communicants had risen to 200. The congregation had built a parsonage costing $1,120 on the Judd place, and must necessarily have a larger building for church purposes. They were offered and bought their present church building on Genesee St., for $2,700. At the close of 1872 the number of communicants had grown to 266 and although Mr. Himmler accepted a call to Cohocton, N. Y., and C. A. Geyer, a recent gradu- ate of Concordia Seminary was called to occupy the pulpit. The change of pastors did not retard the growth of the congregation; for at the end of the year 1874 we find the number of communicants to have been 305. Mr. C. A. Geyer was installed Aug. 6, 1873, and continued 2 years, when he resigned. Mr. Carl Zollmann, another recent graduate of the same theological semi- nary of the Missouri synod, taking up the reins which had to be relinquished by his predecessor for reasons of sickness, continued to guide the fortunes

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of this Lutheran band until the year 1882 when he accepted the responsible position of director to the Martin Luther Orphan's Home at West Roxbury, Mass. At this time the number of communicants amounted to 486. The work to care not only for these adults, but also instruct the young in secular knowledge, devolved upon Mr. Geo. Buch the present incumbent of the pas- torate, who was called from New York City to succeed Mr. Zollmann. He was installed on the 11th of September, 1882. Under the efficient, careful and discreet management of Mr. Buch the congregation continued and does continue to prosper. The number of communicants has risen to 700. The church edifice has been enlarged. A two-storied schoolhouse has been built and the congregation is numerically one of the strongest in this village. Their property is valued at about $10,000. At this time of writing (Febru- ary. 1895,) the officers are: president, Rev. Geo. Buch; secretary, Fritz Sievers; treasurer, John Gallmann; trustees, Messrs. Henry Putzmann, Fred Kaufmann and Louis Dornow; deacons, Messrs. Christian Gallmann Sen., Christian Gallmann, Jun., Andrew Braunschweiger and Charles Biermann.

It is a law unto themselves with Lutheran congregations to establish and maintain parochial schools, so that the young may be instructed not only in secular knowledge, but also in those things which are after all of paramount importance to any Christian and which enter the composition of the most desirable type of citizenship. For these reasons the various pas- tors of this flock administered not only to the spiritual wants of old and young, but since a secular education must not in anyway be neglected they also instructed the young idea in the three R's as mentioned above. Truly they had withal a busy time of it laboring in season and out of season. Since this congregation had grown to such an extent that the pastor was found unable to serve two masters-church and school-a resolution was passed May, 1891, to send a call to Mr. H. A. Laewen of Bergholz, Niagara county, to look after the interests of the young generation. He commenced the labor in September of the same year. In the interval of 1891 to 1895 the number of pupils has grown to 100 and the school has been arranged into grades. The pastor gives religious instruction throughout all grades. The younger pupils are caught by a lady teacher, whose place is at this time filled by Miss Ottilie Sievers of Wellsville. The older pupils from the age of 9 to 14 are instructed by Mr. H. A. Laewen. It is the aim and object of the school to make the pupil proficient in: 1st, "Religion as expounded by the Lutheran church." 2d. English and German reading, 3d, English and German spelling, 4th, English and German penmanship, 5th, Arithmetic, 6th, English Language Lessons, 7th, Deutsche Sprach lehre. 8th, Geography, 9th, United States History. Time of instruction from 9 to 12 M., and from 1 to 4 P. M. The educational course closes with the 14th year, when the average pupil is supposed to possess an education, founded upon a Christian basis, which will enable him to successfully cope with the hardships and adversities of life, and in time make him a good citizen of this world and of the world hereafter.

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Rev. George Buch was born in Koenig, Germany, June 6, 1854, and came to America in February, 1872. He studied in Darmstadt, Germany, the Polytechnical School in Philadelphia, and finished his education in the Evan- gelical Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, Pa., graduating therefrom in 1877. He began his ministerial career as a missionary in Narrowsburg, Sullivan county, and has also preached in Binghamton, Great Bend, and Lackawaxen, in this state. In 1879 he was called to New York City as second pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel church on 86th street. Six months later Mr. Buch assumed pastoral charge of the Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel church on 83d street, which position he held until 1882, when he came to Wellsville, where he has since been pastor of the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity. Rev. Mr. Buch is much respected as a pastor and a citizen. He takes great interest in educational matters and is a member of the school board. It was through his influence and personal activity that the German church at Hornellsville was started.

The German Methodists, Rev. C. Haefeli, pastor, have an organization of some years standing, and a small church in Brooklyn on West Main St.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception. For many years an earnest Catholic society has existed here, which now numbers about 180 families, with a Sunday school of 200 attendants. Under the pastorate of the Very Reverend Dean Leddy the church has been broadened and strengthened, and. in 1895, one of the finest church edifices in Western New York was erected at a cost of $50,000. The building is a large Gothic structure, cruci- form in shape, with two spires respectively 148 and 96 feet in height, and two transepts 26 feet in width, containing handsome cathedral windows 24 feet high, and is entirely constructed of the beautiful Warsaw blue stone. The exterior dimensions are 144.5x91 feet. The auditorium, 96x90 feet, seats 750 persons. It is an ornament to Wellsville. The stone for the foundation came from a valuable quarry on the Rauber farm, presented to the congregation by John Rauber. A parochial school is connected with the church and is spoken of elsewhere. Very Rev. Henry M. Leddy, V. F., was born in county Clare, Ireland, in 1842, received his preparatory education in Ireland, and, coming to America, attended St. Francis College at Albany where he was graduated in 1865 as A. B. and in 1866 as A. M. Taking holy orders in 1870 he was sent to Buffalo as assistant to Vicar-General Gleason at St. Bridget's church and served there 14 months. In 1872 he was stationed at Watkins and for eight years ministered to the congregations there, at Horseheads and at Van Ettenville. In November, 1879, he took charge of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Wellsville and now resides here. He is esteemed by the entire community, beloved by his con- gregation, and is building up a strong and useful church.

Cemeteries .- The very earliest burying grounds were private ones, but the Farnum Cemetery, recently enlarged and improved, was used in the days before ever the village had a name. The earliest recorded burial there was that of the infant son of landlord Samuel Shingler in 1839. The stone

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now stands over this grave. This cemetery is on good high ground. at a convenient distance from the village. The Roman Catholic Cemetery is above the Farnum and nearer Main street. The old Johnson graveyard on Genesee street. though not now much used is well kept.

Wellsville Free Public Library .*- The history of the organization and growth of this institution is very interesting and instructive, showing what the influence of public-spirited and enterprising women can do for the bene- fit of a community. The library, as its name implies, is free to the residents of the incorporated village of Wellsville, and is owned by the corporation. It has a charter from the University of the State of New York, and a board of trustees, appointed by the trustees of the village. pursuant to chapter 387, of the laws of 1892. It is now, after a period of less than two years from its creation, one of the best equipped and most successful libraries in West- ern New York, having 2.000 volumes of the choicest literature, and a weekly circulation of 500 books. and is the direct result of the untiring efforts of a women's literary society known as the Monday Club. This club in pursuing its courses of study soon discovered the need of an institution of this character and sought how the need might be supplied. It was known to some of them that in the past there had been a public library in the village, but it had fallen into disuse and the books were scattered far and wide. Upon inquiry it was learned that the old library was a stock company, its shares of stock owned by men and women, several of whom had died and others who had long ago left their old homes. Some of the books were found in the rooms of the Y. M. C. A., which had for a time used them, with the consent of some of the stockholders, others were packed away in boxes, and many were in the hands of individuals who had taken them from the library and never returned them. The women determined to try and get these books as a nucleus for better things and try and organize a library which should be of a permanent character, and of the benefits of which all might share. As a first step they at their own expense procured of the University of the State of New York one of its Traveling Libraries, consisting of 100 volumes. These books they loaned to the public free, themselves acting as librarians, and one or more of the members becoming responsible for the value of the books. Then they obtained the consent of many of the stockholders of the old association and took possession of such of its books as they could find, procured the consent of the board of educa- tion of the Union Free School that they might use a room in the school build- ing for library purposes, and after fitting the room at their own expense, put the books in there and gave the public access to them. By this time the public had become interested in the movement and they found little difficulty in getting the stock of the old library association turned over to them. The Y. M. C. A. gladly released such claim as it had to the books in its possession, and gradually all that was left of the books were accumulated and got ready for circulation. When this had been accomplished the women went before

* By Mrs. F. B. Church.

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the village trustees and asked them to appoint, pursuant to statute, library trustees, and to accept the books they had secured as the foundation of a free public library for the village. They also petitioned the board to set apart in the new City Hall, then barely begun, rooms for library purposes. Both of these requests were gladly granted, and the enterprise promised to be a success.

These persons were appointed as the first board of library trustees, viz .: Mrs. Alfred S. Brown, Mrs. Enos W. Barnes, Mrs. Frank B. Church, Mrs. Waters B. Coats, Mrs. James Macken, T. Frank Fisher and Hon. Clarence A. Farnum. Very much remained to be done to carry out the plans of the club. No funds had been provided by the village, nor had any been asked, it being the determination of the ladies to put the library on a thorough working basis and turn it over to the authorities perfect in all its details. As a first step, after getting the books mentioned, they called upon the state for an appropriation, based upon the value of the books they had secured. This was granted and the money expended in the purchase of new books. In the mean time Mrs. F. B. Church, the president of the club, went to Albany and at the State Library learned the most approved meth- ods of library work. Under her direction the members of the club have carefully catalogued and classified the books by the Melville Dewey system of " decimal classification," a dictionary catalogue, also a subject catalogue of cards has been made and is kept revised to the latest purchase and the most approved library methods have been put in practice by them. In June, 1895, the city hall was completed, and beautiful rooms set apart for the library. These rooms the ladies of the club have fitted with shelves and furnished with chairs, desks, tables, draperies, rugs, and all things necessary to make it a model library and reading room. They have them- selves twice moved the books, first into the school building and from there to the new rooms. Up to the present time members of the club have volun- tarily acted as librarians, devoting at first three afternoons, and now, owing to the largely increased demand for books, four afternoons of each week to the work Money has been raised by subscription and by lectures and other entertainments to meet the expenses, and as a basis for application for state aid, so that when the library was established in its permanent quarters, there were 1,525 volumes, and $500 in the treasury. This sum is now being expended for good books, under the supervision and approval of the Univer- sity of the State of New York.

The Monday Club is composed of energetic and progressive women, full of the spirit of the age. Mrs. Frank B. Church, president since its organi- zation. Mrs. Alfred S. Brown, vice president, Mrs. E. W. Barnes and Miss M. Fannie Lewis have been the leaders in the enterprise, while every member of the club has worked with the proverbial energy and zeal of women for the accomplishment of their aim, an excellent public library, free to all. They are justly proud of their success and the people of Wellsville are loud in their praises, and eagerly grasp the opportunity to enjoy with them the benefits.

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CHAPTER XXXVIII.

POSTAL HISTORY, MANUFACTURING, SOCIETIES, ETC.

T "HE PIONEER physician, Dr. George B. Jones, was made the first post- master of Wellsville Feb. 25, 1835. A route from Angelica was estab- lished, and mail received and sent once a week. It was said that the post- master either carried the entire mail about with him in his hat, or dumped it into a basket and permitted all comers to look it over. The mail for years was very light and so was the postmaster's remuneration. The U. S. Official Register records Dr. Jones' compensation for 1843 as $36.28. Of the 45 post- offices then in Allegany county 8 did a larger business than Wellsville. Tradition says that the first postoffice, the doctor's residence, was on central Main street opposite the Thornton block. It remained there a few years until the doctor built a house where the Farnum block stands. From here it was moved into the Conklin & Lee store, corner of Main and State streets, where Carlton L. Farnum found it when he became postmaster, June 13, 1849. Dwight Goodrich, deputy under Jones, remained during Farnum's administration. The office was very soon located in the large building op- posite the E. J. Farnum homestead on State street until 1851, when Mr. Far- num built the Empire block on the opera house corner of State and Main streets, where the office remained from that time until E. A. Smith's ap- pointment July 27, 1853. Previous to the establishment of the Erie railway mail service in 1851, Wellsville was not on the line of the principal mail route, which ran from Angelica, via Belvidere, Friendship and Cuba to Olean via Point. Our mail was carried weekly on horseback to and fro from Angelica, Phillipsville, Scio, Wellsville, Hallsport, Whitesville, White's Corners, Harri- son Valley, Westfield, Knoxville, Elkland to Lawrenceville, Pa. Early in 1850 Mr. Farnum obtained stage service and semi-weekly mails. No postage stamps were used and every letter had to be recorded. The postal charges were 5 cents for 30 miles or less; 10cents for from 30 to 80 miles; 12 cents from 80 to 150 miles: 18 cents for 150 to 400 miles and 25 cents for over 400 miles. Under Ephraim A. Smith the office was kept in what became the "Blue Front " opposite the present Congregational church. December 28, 1857, Nathaniel Johnson was appointed, but H. P. Talcott supervised and con- ducted the office, which he moved into a building on the site of the Commer- cialhotel. Luther F. Phillips was postmaster from Sept. 20, 1861, to May 10, 1866, when William T. Barnes succeeded him and served until April 11, 1867, when Mrs. Minerva Phillips was appointed. Under Mr. Phillips, Barnes and Mrs. Phillips the office was kept in a store between the Coats and Far- num blocks on Main street. Lorenzo D. Davis held the postmastership from April 19, 1869, to Dec. 16, 1881. He erected a brick block for the office on the east side of Main street, now occupied by a crockery and jewelry

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store. In 1881 postmaster Alfred S. Brown moved the office to its present location, corner of Main and Madison streets. January 27, 1886, Brown was succeeded by Wm. W. Nichols. Thomas O'Connor held office from March 7, 1887, to July 24, 1890, when James Thornton was appointed; under whose administration the office facilities were much improved, additional clerks employed, and the lobby, which had been occupied by tobacco, candy and jewelry shops, was enlarged by their removal. On Feb. 22, 1893. a fire so injured the office that for three months it was kept in the Lincoln block while the office was being remodeled and repaired, before the repairing ad- mitted of its return. August 29, 1894, John H. Wolverton was made post- master. His assistants are: Miss Mary Frances Dobbins (in office since Jan. 1, 1882, and deputy postmaster for 10 years), Miss Helen Nichols, money order clerk, (in the office since 1886) and Mrs. J. H. Wolverton. In

ten years the amount of mail matter has increased 50 per cent, and the cash receipts 25 per cent. In 1888 the receipts were $6,096; in 1892, $7,934. In 1893 the receipts fell off $150. The business of 1895 however will equal if not exceed that of 1892. About 2,000 letters and 250 registered articles are handled daily. In the money order department $500 a week is the average business. Mail for 23 " dis " offices is handled. This includes stage or " star" routes. Seven Erie trains bring mail daily, 5 from the east and 2 from the west. Mail is sent on but 5 trains, 3 eastern and 2 western. Four stages carry mail.

Banks .- E. P. Clark, the first banker, had an office in his store on Pearl street early in the fifties. In 1868 Wm. A. and Sumner Baldwin established the "Bank of Wellsville," a private institution which continued in business until January, 1894, when a disastrous failure was made. Yorke & Cham- berlain's bank, established in the early sixties, failed in 1877. The solid First National Bank had its foundation in the old Hoyt & Lewis bank which began in a small way in 1856, when arrangements were made by Hoyt and Lewis (dry goods merchants here) with a dry goods house in New York City to make deposits and draw drafts. Until February, 1879, business was con- ducted in an office partitioned off from the store in the Union block, then the bank was moved into the Yorke & Chamberlain bank building on Main and Furnace streets, now the Beever meat-market. Mr Lewis conducted the bank business while Mr. Hoyt attended to the store. December 26, 1881, another removal was made into the present bank building, constructed by Hoyt & Lewis on Main and Madison streets. F. H. Furman became cashier. The business increased rapidly, and Jan. 3, 1883, a national bank was or- ganized. H. N. Lewis was elected president, Hon. E. J. Farnum, vice president; and Frank H. Furman cashier. January, 1886, Hon. E. J. Farnum was elected president and in 1891 was succeeded by Hon. W. F. Jones. The present officers are: Hon. W. F. Jones, pres .; Hon. C. A. Farnum, vice president; F. H. Furman, cashier; J. B. Jones, assist. cashier. Wm. Duke and George E. Brown with the officers named constitute the board of directors. The deposits at the close of September, 1895, were $336,187.02.

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A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York, Part 44

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co. Number of Pages: 1102

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1102