USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
217
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
try, and tastefully furnished with elegant furniture, including a fine piano.
On September 25, 1872, he wedded Loma E., daughter of Arnold Richardson, of Lockport. To their union have been born four children : Bertram A., Howard II., Arnold R., and Frank J., Jr.
Politically Mr. Moyer is a republican. He is a member of Constellation Lodge, No. 184, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also of No. 39, Ancient Order of Elks. IIe takes an interest in the material de- velopment of Lockport, and in 1888 and 1889 erected the "Grand Hotel," which is the finest and largest hotel in the city. He is pleasant and courteous, of fine personal appearance, and well known as an efficient and skillful workman.
LAWRENCE J. McPARLIN, a well-
known lawyer of Lockport, and an active and prominent greenback-labor leader of Niagara county and western New York, is a son of Lawrence and Bridget (Han- non ) MeParlin, and was born in Lockport, Niagara county. New York, November 14. 1848. Lawrence MeParlin, although a na- tive of County Leitrim, Ireland, yet was of Scotch descent. He came in 1846 to New York, where he worked on the Erie canal. and afterward became a foreman on the New York Central railroad. He was a democrat and a member of the Catholic elmarch, and died July 30, 1880, aged fifty-seven years. HIe married Bridget Hannon, who was born in 1828, and is a consistent member of the Catholic church. The name MeParlin is said to have been originally written Mac- farlane.
Lawrence J. MeParlin was reared in Lockport, where he attended the public and
private schools, and one of the latter was taught by J. B. Chase, a brother of Chief Justice S. P. Chase. At fourteen years of age he went into a stave mill, but in a short time became a messenger boy in the West- ern Union telegraph office, of which he became assistant manager in 1867. During that year he was in the Atlantic & Pacific telegraph office, of which he became mana- ger in 1868. Two years later he was made chief operator in the Buffalo office, and afterward manager and superintendent of the wires from Albany to Toledo, but in October, 1870, resigned on account of weak eyes, and returned to Lockport as manager of the office there. On May 11, 1871, he commenced reading law with Hon. Richard Crowley, and in 1874 became chief clerk in the law office of T. M. & A. H. Webster, where he remained two years, and then was admitted to practice by the general term of the Supreme court at Rochester, New York. in October, 1876. In that year he opened an office in Lockport, where he has been in active practice ever since.
On August 19, 1878. he united in mar- riage with Mary E .. daughter of Patrick Walsh, of Lockport.
He has been instrumental in bringing all the opposing lines of the Western Union to Lockport which that city enjoys to-day. and in several telegraphic strikes went out with the telegraph operators. In 1883 he became a member of Local Assembly, No. 1926. Knights of Labor, and has always been an advocate of labor and labor inter- ests. He is at present a member of Local Assembly, No. 2964, and master workman of District Assembly, No. 52. Knights of Labor. From 1872 to 1877 he acted as chairman of the second ward and secretary of the county Republican committee, but in
L
218
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
the latter year he identified himself with the National Greenback-Labor party, which nominated him in 1878 for justice of the peace ; in 1878, 1880, and 1886 for district attorney ; in 1881 for associate judge of the court of appeals; in 1882 for chief judge of that court, when he ran one thousand votes ahead of that ticket, and in 1883 for county judge. The Greenback-Labor party being in a minority, liis election to any of the above named offices was an impossibility, although in 1878 it required a fusion of the Republican and Democratic parties to defeat him for justice of the peace in the second ward. He believes in equal pay for equal work regardless of sex, and served for eleven years as a member of Washington Hose company, of which he was twice pres- ident and several times a state representa- tive. As a lawyer he is attentive to his cases; as a labor leader he is untiring in behalf of the working classes, and as a citizen he is respected.
.
FREDERICK CRAIG is one who has been emphatically the architect of his own fortune. He was born in the town of Goffstown, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, February 14, 1822, and is a son of Hon. Robert and Martha ( Dunlap) Craig. The Craigs are of Scotch origin, as the name would indicate, while the Dun- laps are of Irish descent. Joseph Craig (paternal grandfather) was born in Goff's- town, where he owned a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres of productive land, at the foot of the Uncanoonuc mountains. Ilis son Robert, father of Frederick Craig, was born in 1799, and on May 25, 1837, left Goffstown for Middleport, where he arrived on June 7th of that year. He was
a farmer in New Hampshire, but after com- ing to Middleport he became a member of the general mercantile firm of Craig & Barr. He afterwards removed to Johnson's Creek, engaged in farming for four years, and then returned to Middleport, where he died in 1861. He was a prominent demo- crat in New Hampshire, where he served as town clerk and selectman, and repre- sented his county in the State legislature for two years, besides being captain of a light infantry company. He was a gradu- ate of Ahnierst academy, commenced teach- ing at fourteen years of age and taught seven terms. He served under President Pierce as postmaster at Middleport, and although not a church member, was a moral man and regular attendant on divine wor- ship. He married Martha Dunlap, daugh- ter of Robert Dunlap, a farmer of the town of Bedford, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire. They reared a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living.
Frederick Craig received his education in the common schools of New Hampshire and at Middleport academy. He came with his parents by stage over the Green moun- tains, in a car from Troy to Schenectady, and then on a line boat to Middleport. He commenced life for himself by working at whatever came to hand, and at the age of twenty years worked in Canada for a fan- ning-mill firm. He next engaged in manu- facturing fanning-mills and working at the carpenter's trade. In 1852 he was appoint- ed the first station, ticket, and express agent at Middleport, for the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. He sold tickets off the head of a barrel for some time, until a ticket case was furnished. ITis services were so well appreciated by
4
219
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
the railroad company that he held his posi- tion for thirty-two years, and then resigned in order to retire to private life. Ile owns a beautiful and well-furnished residence at Middleport, besides a valuable farm of seventy-five acres in the town of Royalton.
January 5, 1853, he married Cornelia, daughter of Uri Andrus, of Johnson's Creek. To their union were born four children, of whom two died at an early age. The two living are: Helen M., wife of Nathan B. Odell, a farmer of Royalton ; and Frederick, Jr., a Western Union tele- graph operator in Buffalo, who married Lizzie Delano.
Frederick Craig is a democrat, and a reg- ular attendant at church, and although not a member of any religious denomination, yet contributes liberally to all churches. IIe is a member and the treasurer of Cata- ract Lodge, No. 295, Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Craig started in life as a poor boy, with no capital or influential friends. By his energy, honesty and economy, he has acquired a competency, and stands well with his fellow citizens.
ROBERT PEARCE, who enjoys the distinction of being the oldest business man now in business in Middleport, is a son of Robert and Mary (Jordan) Pearce, and was born in County Devonshire, Eng- land, May 23, 1834. He spent his boyhood in the old country, receiving a good English education, and came to the United States in 1853, being then nineteen years of age, and settled in Middleport, this State. He learned the harness making trade under Richard Ide, and in 1856 opened a harness shop on his own account, and soon established a good business, which continued to grow every
year under his careful and skillful manage- ment until it became a leading shop in Middleport, and now enjoys an extensive patronage among the people of the county.
On March 24, 1854, he married Ann Podgers, who has been a faithful and true helpmate to him, and being domestic and economical in her habits, has contributed much to his success in life. They have two children : James H., who was born in Middleport in 1855, married Emma Coon, and is a miller by trade and resides in the employ of B. P. Barnes, of Middleport ; and Everett A., who was born in 1864, and married Jane Mufford. He learned the harness making trade with his father, and is now employed in his father's shop.
Robert Pearce is a republican, and has taken a leading and active part in his party in Middleport. IIe served as trustee of the village of Middleport for three years and filled the office satisfactorily to the people, but his interest in politics has not been confined to his short official career; he believes that the prosperity of the country depends upon the goverment being run on republican principles and by the Republican party. He and his wife are members of the Episcopal church-the old mother church of England - in which he has always been an active and influential member; he is now (1891) a vestryman in that church. His family was also reared under the benign influence of this great church and continue to be members of the same.
Robert Pearce started out in life without a dollar, and has fought his way to the front as a snecessful business man without the assistance of any one. He now owns his harness shop, a house and lot in Middle- port, and an orchard of eight aeres in the
220
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
town of Hartland. He has a good trade, enjoys the good-will of the community, and is still, at the meridian of life, with a bright future and fine business prospects before him.
T IMOTHY S. SPALDING, one of the well-known and highly respected citi- zens of Niagara county, was a son of Linus, Sr., and Lydia (Shepherd) Spalding, and was born in the town of Hartland, Niagara county, New York, November 14, 1814. The Spalding family is of English origin, and Linus Spalding, Sr., was born in 1787 in Vermont, which he left in 1801 to come to New York, where he successively resided in Monroe, Broome, and Niagara counties. In 1811 he became one of the pioneer settlers of the town of Hartland, where he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land from the Holland Land Company. Ile was a democrat, a Universalist, and one of the largest land-holders in his town. He enjoyed the respect of all who knew him, and died in 1871. He was twice married, first to Lydia Shepherd, and after her death to Tamerson Spalding. By his first marriage he had four sons and three daughters, and by the second marriage one child. For a fuller account of the Spalding family, see the sketch of Linus Spalding.
Timothy S. Spalding was reared on the farm, received his education in the limited but practical schools of his day, and then engaged in the agricultural pursuits in which he had been carefully trained by his father. He always resided upon the old homestead farm which his father had pur- chased from the Holland Land Company, and gave his attention principally from choice to farming and stock-raising, al- though he was well qualified to be successful
in other lines of business. He was one who believed in doing well whatever he had to do, and had faith more in example than precept. His farm was an apt illustration that he allowed no other pursuit of life, however tempting, to draw his attention from agriculture. Neither did he allow public affairs to divert needed time from his farm, although he was always duly and deeply interested in everything affecting the public weal. His daily life was calm and peaceful, and marked by due diligence in business and conduct. He was eminently practical in all of his efforts, yet luis hours of leisnre were given to the cultivation of one of the fine arts, in which he was proficient. Ile was gifted by nature with a talent for music, which he improved in private lessons under Prof. Tibbits, of Lockport. He was one of the most accomplished violinists of the Empire State, and delighted his friends and all who were favored by hearing him, with his execution and skill. In political sentiment he was a whig and republican, and held the offices of constable and tax collector of the town of Hartland from 1841 to 1847. While not a member of any church, or an advocate of any religious denomination, he was always regular in attendance upon the services of the Uni- versalist church of Middleport.
On January 14, 1841, he united in mar- riage with Mary M. Hollenbeck, a daughter of Silas N. and Anna C. (Coburn) Hollen- beck, who was born at Lisle, Broome county, New York, March 7, 1818. Mrs. Spalding is an intelligent and amiable woman, and has been a member for many years of the Universalist church of Middle- port, and the Women's Christian Temper- ance Union. Mr. and Mrs. Spalding were the parents of three children, one son and
221
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
two daughters: Frances, born April 20, 1842, and wife of A. G. Taylor, of Reid City, who handles large quantities of gen- eral building material; Edgar D., born November 24, 1845, and died June 2, 1887; and Flora, who was born September 16, 1847, and has been twice married, first to Willianı Robinson, who died in 1883, and then to L. W. Brown, a general mechanic, who now resides in Buffalo, New York.
He lived to reach man's allotted three score and ten years, and passed three years beyond that mark ere the hand of death called him from the scenes of his earthly labors on July 6, 1887. His remains were deposited by the hands of sorrowing rela- tives and loving friends in Harrington cem- etery, where a beautiful and appropriate stone records the name and age of Timothy S. Spaulding, who was a good citizen, a true friend, a kind husband, and an affectionate father.
E
DWARD J. TAYLOR, an indus-
trious and successful lawyer of Lock- port, is a son of James D. and Ursula M. (Moore) Taylor, and was born in the city of Lockport, Niagara county, New York, January 2, 1856. While the pioneer ele- ment of western New York was largely of New England extraction, yet this section of the State also attracted the attention of many from the Middle Atlantic States, and among that number was Taylor ( great- grandfather), who had borne arms in the Continental armies for American liberty and independence. He was of English descent, and became a resident of Johnson's Creek, this county, where his remains now peacefully rest in a quiet cemetery. He married, and of the sons born to him in New Jersey one was Henry Taylor (grandfather)
who came in 1813 to Johnson's Creek, where he purchased a farm on which he passed the remainder of his life. His son, James D. Taylor (father), first saw the light in 1820. He was reared on the farm and received the exceedingly limited but emi- nently practical education of that early day. Farming was the main pursuit of western New York when he was of sufficient age to commence life for himself, and in that he engaged and has followed it snecessfully ever since. He is a democrat, resides now in the city of Lockport, and married Ursula M. Moore, who was born at Johnson's Creek in 1824.
Edward J. Taylor grew to manhood on the farm, received his education in the city schools of Lockport, and in 1876 entered the law office of Farnell & Burrell. He completed the required course of reading, was admitted to practice in the courts of Niagara county in March, 1880, and in December of the year following opened a law office in Lockport, where he has built up a very remunerative practice. Aside from the law, he gives some time to the superintendence of his farms.
On January 17, 1878, he united in mar- riage with Mary L., daughter of Sylvester G. Root, of Johnson's Creek. Their union has been blest with three children, one son and two daughters: Kitty M., James D., and Eleanor M.
In political opinion Mr. Taylor is a straight and hard-working democrat, and has been chairman of the Democratic county committee for the last three years. He has been a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity for several years, and is now serving his second year as Worshipful Master of Red Jacket Lodge, No. 646, Free and Accepted Masons, and is the present
222
BIOGRAPHIY AND HISTORY
distriet deputy of the grand lodge for the 24th Masonic district. He is also a member of Ames Chapter, No. 88, High Royal Areh Masons, Bruee Couneil, No. 15, Royal and Select Masters, and Genesee Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar.
C HARLES W. ODELL, one of the leading sueeessful business men of Middleport, and seeretary of the Batavia Preserving Company, is a son of Colonel Alanson T. and Julia ( Baldwin ) Odell, and was born in the town of Royalton, Niagara county, New York, July 9, 1837. The Odells are of Welch origin, and Capt. William Odell, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketeh, eommanded a vessel for many years and died at sea. His son, Joseph Odell, was a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and removed in 1800 to Jefferson county, this State, which he left nineteen years later to settle in the town of Royalton, where he died in 1849, aged seventy years. He purchased a farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres from the Holland Land Company, and followed farming. He was a demoerat, and married a Miss Cooley, by whom he had seven ehil- dren, four sons and three daughters. After her death he wedded a widow Richardson. His son, Alanson T. Odell (father), was born in the town of Lorraine, Jefferson county, December 16, 1811, and came in 1819 to the town of Royalton, where he died in May, 1883. He was a farmer, a Universalist, and a leading republican in his community. He served as a colonel in the New York militia in 1837, and married Julia, daughter of James Baldwin, a Uni- versalist of Connecticut, who came to Mon- roe eounty in 1816, and settled in the town
of Royalton in 1830, where he was a justiee of the peace for a number of years, and in which he died in 1845, aged fifty-nine years. He was a whig, and married Olive Munger, who bore him six children, three sons and three daughters. To Colonel and Mrs. Odell were born seven ehildren, five sons and two daughters. Colonel Odell was one of the leading and influential eiti- zens of Middleport, where he was highly respected by all who knew him.
Charles W. Odell received his edueation at Caryville seminary of Genesee county, from which institution he was graduated in 1855, in the seientific eourse. At that institution he also took a special eourse in mathematics and six years later, in 1861, he obtained the position of assistant door- keeper of the House of Representatives of the United States, in Washington city. After one year's service as sueh he went into the war department, where he was for five years superintendent of the division of aeeounts of quartermasters. His salary the first year was twelve hundred dollars, which was increased to eighteen hundred dollars the second year. In 1867 he re- turned to Middleport, where he embarked in the general mereantile business, which he successfully pursned for seventeen years, when his store and entire stoek was de- stroyed by fire, after which he beeame a member of the furniture and undertaking firm of Compton & Odell. Three years later lie severed his connection with the firm to become a member and secretary of the Ba- tavia Preserving Company, of Middleport. This company owns and operates three large factories, situated respectively at Mid- dleport, Spencerport, Monroe county, and Batavia, Genesee eounty. Mr. Odell, in ad- dition to serving as seeretary of the com-
223
- OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
pany, also aets as superintendent of the Middleport factory. He is an earnest repub- liean, an active Universalist in religious faith, and has been a member of Cataract Lodge, No. 295, Free and Accepted Masons, sinee 1860.
On November 25, 1862, he united in mar- riage with Caroline Swain. To their union have been born three children, one son and two daughters: Jennie S., wife of Lewis H. Cotton, an upholsterer of Middleport; Julia, and Howard.
E DWARD SIMMONS, one of the old- est and most substantial business men of Loekport, is a son of Cornelius and Sal- lie (Green) Simmons, and was born in the town of Madison, Madison county, New York, August 1, 1815. As the name would indicate, the Simmons are of French de- scent. Benjamin Simmons, the grandfather of the subject, was a native of Rhode Island, from which, then a colony, le enlisted in the American army at sixteen years of age. He served for six years during the Revolu- tionary war, and some years after its close came to Madison, New York, where he lived to be eighty-five years of age. IIe was a ship-builder and blacksmith by trade, owned a good farm, and was known as a prompt and energetic man. One of the sons born to him in his Rhode Island home was Cornelins Simmons (father), who be- came a farmer in Madison county, where he died in 1854, aged seventy-one years. He was an old-line whig, a member of the Congregational church, and one of the earlier settlers of his New York town.
Edward Simmons was so unfortunate as to lose his mother when but a year old. At sixteen years of age he left his uncle's farm
and his native neighborhood, where he had received a common school education, to learn the jewelry and watch-making trade at Hamilton, New York. After completing his apprenticeship and working for some time at the jewelry business at Hamilton, he came, in 1838, to Loekport, where he opened a jewelry manufactory and watch- making establishment, which he conducted until 1868. In 1852 he opened a music store, which he conducted until 1856, when he became a member of the present firm of Thomas, Hall & Simmons, the oldest busi- ness firm in the county, and which carries a very fine and well selected stock of mu- sical instruments, sheet music, and every- thing else to be found in a first-class music store. Their patrons are from a wide sur- rounding area of country, in which the firm sustains a very high reputation for first-class goods and fair dealing. Mr. Simmons is also now engaged in the hardware business, and also at another time had an interest in fruit growing in southern Illinois, but has disposed of his interest in that enterprise to devote his time entirely to his music store and hardware business.
On October 17, 1843, Edward Simmons married Julia Augusta, daughter of William Goodrich, who settled in Niagara county in 1828. Mrs. Simmons passed away on De- cember 5, 1880, when in the sixty-third year of her age.
Edward Simmons is an active member of the First Congregational church of Lock- port, and in politics has been a whig and republican. He has held various offices of trust and responsibility, both city and county. For several years he was a trustee of Lockport, afterward served as treasurer of the Niagara County Agricultural Society, and is now a trustee and treasurer of the
224
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Niagara County Bible Society. Mr. Sim- mons is a pleasant and affable gentleman, whose many years of active business life in Lockport has made him well known in that place and its immediate vicinity. He is an enterprising and honorable man who dis- charges all of his transactions with prompt- ness and fidelity.
F IRAM A. ROBERTSON, one of the leading business men of Middleport, and now engaged in the lumber business, is a son of Archibald and Susan (Adams) Robertson, and was born in Middleport, Niagara county, New York, September 22, 1834. The Robertsons are of Scotch an- cestry. Archibald Robertson (grandfather) was a native of Scotland and emigrated to this country and settled in the State of Vermont. His father, Archibald Robertson, was born in Brattleborongh, Windham county, Vermont, January 10, 1796, and came to Middleport in 1832, where he died January 2, 1870. He was engaged in the carriage and wagon business in connection with farming. He bought fifty-two acres of land of the Holland Land Company, and located in the town of Royalton, this county. He was a Jackson demoerat, but became a republican at the time of the Rebellion, although liberal in his political views. He had a good common education, and was noted for truth and veracity, and was a man of such good, sound judgment that his opinion and advice were sought for and relied upon by his friends, and he was con- sidered a leading man of the vicinity. He married Susan Adams, and by her had nine children, four sons and five daughters.
Hiram A. Robertson was educated in the academy of Middleport, and began life in the general mercantile business. He after-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.