USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 31
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
A LONZO B. LEWIS .- One of the well established and reliable harness and saddlery houses of the city of Lockport is that of Alonzo B. Lewis. He is a son of Daniel G. and Alzina (Joslyn) Lewis, and was born in Cayuga county, New York, October 22, 1829. The Lewis family is one of the old families of Cayuga county. It is of Welsh descent, and Joshua Lewis, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native and lifelong resident of Cayuga county, where he died. His son, Daniel G. Lewis (father), was born in 1797, and in 1833 removed to Orleans county, where he resided until about 1863, when he came to the town of New Fane, this county, in which he died in 1873, when in the seventy-sixth year of his age. In early life he followed tanning, but after removing to Orleans county he engaged in the boot and shoe business. He was a republican and Baptist, and married Alzina Joslyn, of Vermont, who died in 1851, when in the forty-first year of her age.
Alonzo B. Lewis was reared in the town of Clarendon, Orleans county, where he re- ceived his education in the common schools. Leaving school, he learned the trade of harness maker, and at twenty-one years of age came to the town of New Fane, where he was engaged in the harness business for ten years. At the end of that time he came to Lockport and opened a harness-making establishment, which he has conducted suc- cessfully. His premises are well arranged to suit his extensive business, while his assort- ment comprises saddles, harness, horse and stable equipage, horse blankets, whips, and everything late or useful in his line of trade. Mr. Lewis is well acquainted with every detail of his business, and his house is to be relied on for a superior grade of
goods. In 1878 he was elected on the re- publican ticket as supervisor of the poor, and was re-elected to that position in 1881 and 1884. He is now holding the office of excise commissioner, and has been serving for several years as one of the board of directors of the Niagara County Agricul- tural Society. He has always manifested a willingness to be of service to his fellow citizens, and although never asking, yet when elected to any office, has discharged faithfully its every duty.
In 1850 Mr. Lewis married Mary J. Wil- liard, daughter of Elias Williard, of Orleans county. They have four children, one son and three daughters: Nellie J., wife of Willis Van Horn, of Suspension Bridge; Emma, who married Arthur Hilton, of Lockport; Flora, wife of Fred Dunn, also a resident of Lockport; and Loran A., who is now serving as a clerk in the Third National bank of Buffalo.
F RED B. DAGGETT, a leading furni- ture dealer and undertaker of Lock- port, and one of her most prosperous citizens, is a son of Hollis and Flora ( Jackman ) Dag- gett, and was born at Henrietta, Monroe county, New York, September 16, 1834. Hollis Daggett was a native of Westmore- land, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, and moved to Monroe county, this State, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1882, at the age of seventy-two years. He was a prosperous farmer and spent all his life on a farm. He always kept pace with the growth and de- velopment of this great industry, and was among the first in his neighborhood to use the new and improved farming implements as they were invented and brought into use.
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He lived through the age of the sickle, cradle, reaper, and witnessed the triumph of the self-binder. He was among the first to avail himself of the use of these great labor- saving machines, which have revolutionized and elevated farming in this country and made it one of the most casy, pleasant, and respectable occupations that a man can fol- low. By perseverance, energy, and econ- omy, he has accumulated a handsome for- tune for himself and children. He was an active republican, and kept well posted on the great questions in issue during thic many hotly-contested campaigns which he wit- nessed during, before, and since the war, and could always give a good reason for his po- litical faith. He was a member of the Pres- byterian church, in which he took great interest. He married Flora Jackman, who was a native of New Hampshire, where she was reared and educated. She was a mem- ber of the same church as her husband, and lived a long, useful life, and died at the ripe old age of eighty years, in 1886.
Fred B. Daggett was reared on the farm and received his education in the common schools. He remained on the farm until 1876, when he eanie to Loekport and engaged as a clerk in the furniture and undertaking business, which position he held until 1890, when he, in partnership with L. J. Blackley, went into the furniture and undertaking business under the firm name of Daggett & Blackley. They have one of the leading furniture stores in the city, and carry a large stock of fine furniture, and are doing a good business in both lines.
In 1861 Mr. Daggett united in marriage with Mary A., daughter of Hiram Peets, of Monroe county, this State. This marriage has been blessed with three children : Wil- liam G., Edgar P., and Frank W.
In politics Mr. Daggett votes the republi- can ticket, and works for the success of his party. He is one of the many solid and prominent business men of Lockport; always upright and accommodating in his business, pleasant and affable, and is one who has a host of friends in the social and business circles of Lockport.
EV. WENDELL J. GRILL, a man of fine scholarship and the efficient pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church, of Lockport, is the son of Nicholas and Cath- crine (Eich) Grill, and was born in the Pal- atinate, Germany, August 31, 1847. Nich- olas Grill was a machinist by trade, and a Catholic in religions faith, as was his wife. They were both natives of the Palatinate, and in 1850 left the home of their child- hood to come to Philadelphia, where they died.
Wendell J. Grill was brought, at three years of age, by his parents to Philadel- phia, where he attended the common schools and prepared for college in a well-knowal seminary. He then entered St. Vincent's college, at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which he afterwards left to complete his theological studies at St. Vincent's seminary, of Wheel- ing, West Wirginia. After the completion of his theological course, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Whelan in 1869, and immediately thereafter entered upon his duties as assistant pastor of St. Al- phonso's church of Wheeling. At the end of three years of arduous and efficient labor in the metropolis of West Virginia, he took charge of three missions in Doddridge and Lewis counties, of that State, which he served for one year, when his health became impaired, and he resigned in order to go to
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Europe to recuperate. He sailed in May, 1876, from Philadelphia on the steamer Indiana, on board of which was General Grant, who had opened the great Centen- nial of American Independence. Landing on the shore of the old world he spent two years in traveling through its different countries, but spent most of that time be- neath the sunny skies of Italy and in the "Eternal City," where he studied the intel- lectual treasures of the ages, and viewed the works of the great masters in painting, sculpture and architecture. Leaving Rome he returned in 1878, by the way of Ireland, to the United States, making a pleasant trip across the Atlantic on the fine steam- ship Pennsylvania.
His health having been greatly benefited by his travels in continental Europe, he was enabled upon returning to the United States to immediately resume ministerial labor, and was appointed the same year (1878) to the charge of the Boston mission, in Erie county. Two years later he as- sumed charge of the Bennington Mission, which he resigned in 1883, when he came to Lockport, where he has served ever since as pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church. Two years after assuming his pastoral labors in his present important and responsible field, his efforts in up-building the church had been so successful and well appreciated, that he was enabled to erect the present fine and handsome brick and stone church, which is fifty by one hundred feet in dimen- sions, and thoroughly finished throughout in the best of taste. St. Mary's church has grown to a membership of one hundred and fifty families under Rev. Grill's charge, and is in a highly prosperous condition.
Rev. Grill while pleasant, courteous and companionable, yet is earnest in the dis-
charge of every duty, and a persistent and successful worker in the interests of his people, and the whole community in which he resides. He is scholarly and able, and enjoys the respect of all with whom he comes in contact.
D ANIEL E. BRONG, a member of the law firm of Brong & Lewis, and ex- district attorney of Niagara county, was born in Sypher township, Seneca county, Ohio, June 9, 1857, and is a son of Panl and Mary A. (Stahler) Brong. His grand- fathers, John Brong and Henry Stahler, were both of German descent, and settled in this county at an carly day. The former was a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1836 left this county to settle in Ohio; where he died in 1859, aged eighty years. One of John Brong's sons was Paul Brong, the father of the subject of this sketch, and who was born in this county in 1831. In 1840 he removed to Olio, where he now owns a large farm. He is a successful farmer and stock dealer, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and a repub- lican in political opinion. He has held several offices in his township, and married Mary A. Stahler, who was a member of the same church as her husband.
Daniel E. Brong was reared on his father's Ohio farm, and attended the public schools of that State. He afterwards entered the normal school at Republic, Ohio, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1872. Soon after graduation he selected the legal profession for a life vocation, and entered the law department of Ann Arbor univer- sity of Michigan, from which he was grad- uated. In the autumn of 1880 he was ad- mitted to practice in the courts of Niagara
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county, and immediately formed a partner- ship with Eugene M. Ashley, under the firm name of Ashley & Brong, which was soon afterwards changed to that of Ashley, Brong & Ashley. The last firm was dissolved in 1884, when Mr. Brong was appointed assist- ant distriet attorney, which office he held under E. M. Ashley for three years. In 1887 he was elected district attorney, and served until January 1, 1890, when he retired from office and gave his entire time to the practice of his profession. He is a member of the firm of Brong & Lewis, which was formed on April 1, 1889.
September 27, 1883, he married Mary E. Parker, daughter of C. C. Parker, of Lock- port. They have two children : Parker P. and Carl S.
Daniel E. Brong is a republican in poli- ties, and attends and contributes liberally to the Universalist church, of which his family are members. He is a member of Red Jacket Lodge, No. 646, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and the Ancient Order of Elks. He is is also a member of Protection Hook and Ladder company, No. 1, of Lock- port, and the Niagara County Anglers' club, of which he has been advisory counsel ever since its organization. As a lawyer Mr. Brong acquaints himself with every detail of his cases, which he is generally success- ful in winning, and never neglects his client's interests in any particular.
G EORGE A. WICKHAM, ex-post-
inaster and now a prominent merchant of Middleport, one of the self-made men of this community, starting in life without a dollar, and one who has by energy and strict attention to business fought his way single-handed and alone, is a son of Jere-
miah and Rhoda (Smith) Wickham, and was born in the town of Yates, Orleans county, New York, April 1, 1831. Stephen Wickham (grandfather) was born in Wash- ington county, New York, and his ancestors were of English extraction. He was a farmer by occupation and spent his days in agricultural pursuits. He married a Miss Reynolds, by whom he had eight children. Jeremiah Wiekham was born in Dutchess county, this State, February 2, 1780. He was a farmer all his life, and a democrat up to the organization of the free-soil party, when he became a republican, his only ob- ject in politics being the prosperity of the country. He was one of the heroes in the war of 1812, and for his services drew a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land. He was a member and a regular attendant of the Baptist church. In 1803 he married for his first wife Polly Kinyon, by whom he had five children, who are all dead but two. After the death of his first wife, in 1815, he married Rhoda Smith, in 1816, who bore him six children, four sons and two daugh- ters. Mr. and Mrs. Wickham died in Somer- set, this county, the former September 30, 1860, and the latter January 3, 1857.
George A. Wickham attended the com- mon schools and Yates academy for two terms. After leaving school he began teach- ing at eighteen years of age, which he fol- lowed for thirteen years in Niagara county. During this time he learned the carpenter and joiner's trade, at which he worked dur- ing the summer seasons. He was appointed deputy collector of customs by Colonel Els- worth, and held the office for four years. In 1878 he formed a partnership with M. L. Compton, under the firm name of Compton & Wickham, and embarked in the furniture and undertaking business in Middleport for
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
two years, at the expiration of which time he was appointed postmaster, in 1880, of Middleport, which office he held for five years. In 1886 he formed a partnership with Linus Spalding in the general mer- chandise business, under the firm name of Spalding & Wickham, and in March, 1891, purchased his partner's interest, and has since continued the business alone in Mid- dleport, having a flourishing trade.
On March 8, 1859, Mr. Wickham married Phoebe E. Hoag, of Somerset, New York. To this union has been born one child: Cora, born June 11, 1864, and still at home.
In political faith Mr. Wickham is a re- publican, in which party he takes a great interest. He is a member of the Presby- terian church of Middleport, in which he holds the offices of trustee and elder. He is a man of influence in the community, and is highly esteemed and respected by all his many friends and acquaintances.
F RANK PHELPS WEAVER, a prom-
inent furniture dealer and a leading citizen of Lockport, is a son of Erastus B. and Louisa E. (Phelps) Weaver, and was born in Cambria, Niagara county, New York, August 29, 1845. Rufus Weaver (grandfather) was a native of Oswego county, and came to Cambria at an early day, being one of the pioneers of this county. He settled on a farm at that place and lived there the remainder of his days. He was an old-time democrat, and always took an active interest in the affairs of his party, but never sought political promotion. He was a member of the Baptist church. IIe married Elizabeth Brown and reared a fam- ily of twelve children, of whom Erastus B. (father) was the oldest. Erastus B. Weaver,
(fatlier) was born in Cambria, in 1820, and was reared on the old homestead. In 1866 he came to the city of Lockport, and to- gether with his son, Frank B., went into the furniture business, in which business he continued until one year before his death, which occurred in 1887. He was a repub- lican in politics, and active in the political work of his party, in which he took a deep interest. He served as superintendent of the poor two terms, and acted as justice of the peace. He was a member of the Con- gregational church, and was superintendent of its Sabbath school a number of years. He married Louisa E. Phelps, daughter of Alphens Phelps, a native of Connecti- cut. Walden (maternal great-grandfather) served as a captain in the Revolutionary war. The Phelps are of old New England stock, and came to this country soon after the land- ing of the Mayflower. To Mr. and Mrs. Weaver were born five children : Frank P .; Louisa, wife of D. E. Pomeroy, a coal mer- chant, of Chicago, Illinois; Mary E., wife of Charles A. Lewis, a jeweler of Suspension Bridge; Henry E., now a wholesale dealer and operator in coal and coke in Chicago; and Charles A., also in the coal business in Chicago.
Frank P. Weaver received his education in the common schools of Lockport, and after leaving school at twenty years of age, entered the furniture business with his father, one year before the death of the latter, and has continued in the same ever since. He has a fine business place on Pine street, 60x100 feet, three stories high, where he carries on an extensive business. He is a republican in politics and an earnest be- liever in republiean principles, but has never taken an active part in political contests. HIe is a leading member and vestryman of
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
Grace Episcopal church, and takes a deep interest in its prosperity. He is a director of the Merchants bank and a member of the board of education, in which cause he is greatly interested. He stands socially and as a business man among the best citizens of Lockport, and may well be considered one of her useful, solid and substantial citizens.
On June 1, 1872, Mr. Phelps united in marriage with Catherine Cady, daughter of HI. F. Cady, of Lockport. To this marriage have been born three children : Carl, Flor- ence, and Catherine.
JAMES ATWATER, sou of Titus and Jane (Hay) Atwater, was born August 29, 1821, in the village of Conesville, Scho- harie county, New York. His grandfather, Stephen Atwater, born June 28, 1751, was a native of Dutchess county, aud resided during most of his life in that county, but in later years removed to Schoharic county, in which he deceased. He was a farmer by occupation. He was married to Hannah Mead, who was born June 9, 1752. His great-grandfather, Caleb Atwater, was a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and the lineal descendant of David Atwater of the same city. The latter was among the early settlers of the State who came to the United States. The grand-parents reared a family of nine sons and five daughters. The father of the subject of this biographical sketch was born July 5, 1792, in Dutchess county, New York, but in later life he removed to Schoharic county, and finally settled in Niagara county in 1838, where he died July 4, 1874. He was very decidedly committed to the anti-slavery cause, aud in his religious attachment a
member of the Free -Will Baptist church. December 11, 1817, he married Jane Hay, a daughter of Daniel Hay, a native of Scot- land, who was brought with an aunt to America when but a lad of seven years. The family located in Schoharie county, where the father died. IIe was a farmer, and in politics a whig, and for a number of years he occupied the office of justice of the peace. There were eight children, six of whom grew to maturity, two sons and four daughters; two of the children deceased in infancy. Daniel H. died many years ago.
The subject of this sketch received his education in common schools, and in the Normal school at Albany, this State, grad- uating in 1845. He chose the employment of teaching, and began as instructor in the district schools of Niagara county, and con- tinued in that profession for twenty-five years. He was superintendent of the city schools of Lockport for twelve years, and for five years he was teacher of mathemat- ics, and for one year was employed as teacher in Bryant & Stratton's Commercial college at Syracuse. In the year 1867 he engaged in the insurance and real estate business in Lockport, New York, and has continued in that occupation to the present time, in the same city, with encouraging success.
James Atwater married Jane Taft, a daughter of Cheney Taft, of Massachusetts. Their children are: Willard, married to Ella Pearce, now residents of Minneapolis. Minnesota, where he is office manager of the Standard Oil Company's works at St. Paul. They have three children -James, Jr., Florence Fay, and Helen: Charles N., married Mary Snoden, and is now on train- ing ship Portsmouth, he having graduated from the Naval academy at Annapolis, Md.,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
in 1879, and is now serving as second lieu- tenant in the navy. They have one child, a daughter, Catherine; Edwin C., married to Alice Van Valkenburgh of Lockport, and he is now located in Helena, Montana, as agent of the Continental Oil Company, and is a graduate of the academic depart- ment of the union school. They have two children - Thomas V. and Dorothea; Ir- ving J., married to Florilla Tucker, is now living at Suspension Bridge, New York. He is an employee in the custom house at that place; and Jennie F., living at home.
In politics he was a whig and afterwards a republican, casting his first vote for the abolitionist, James G. Birney, in 1844. He served thirteen years as supervisor of the third ward 'of Lockport, serving for ten years as chairman of the board of coun- cilmen.
M ARK MCDONOUGH, the present United States commissioner for Lock- port, is of that class of energetic workers who are remarkably active in whatever they un- dertake. He was born in county Mayo, Ire- land, March 6, 1844, and is a son of John and Margaret (MeGlough ) MeDonough. His paternal grandfather, Patrick McDonough, was born in county Sligo, Ireland, of which he was a life-long resident. He was a car- penter and joiner by trade, and married and reared a family of six sons and three daugh- ters, of whom all the daughters and three of the sons came to America. One of the three sons who thus sought their fortune in the new world, was John MeDonough, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Ireland in 1799, and in 1846 came to Lockport, where he died in 1891, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. He was
a carpenter and joiner by trade, a democrat in politics, and married Margaret McGlough, by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter: John, a member of the firm of McDonough & Whalen, engaged in the manufacturing of sashes and blinds.
Mark McDonough was reared principally in the city of Lockport, where he attended the common schools, and then entered a printing office to learn the "art preservative of all arts." He served his apprenticeship as a printer, and in 1868 became city editor of the Lockport Journal, which position he held until 1874, when he was elected police justice of Lockport for a term of four years. In 1880 he was appointed clerk of the com- mittee on claims by the legislature of New York, and after serving in that capacity for four years, was appointed as clerk of the judiciary committee of the State senate. After serving in the last named position, at Albany, for two years, he returned to Lock- port, where he acted as United States com- missioner until 1890, when he was appointed clerk under Sheriff Pickard, and retained the same position under the present sheriff, Ensign.
June 24, 1856, he united in marriage with Mary Moon, daughter of James Moon, a na- tive of Ireland, who came to Lockport about 1841. Mr. and Mrs. McDonough have two children : John C. and Ellen.
Mr. McDonough is a member of the Cath- olie church and Benevolent association, and has always been useful as a citizen as well as an active official in public affairs. His varied and valuable experience, from the editorial chair and police court to the sen- ate committee room, renders him especially well qualified to fill a public position where energy, business tact, and executive ability are required.
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THOMAS B. COSFORD, M. D., a
T well-known and prominent physician of Lockport, and a man who is rapidly gain- ing distinction in his profession, and who has an extensive and lucrative practice as a specialist in western New York, is a son of John and Mary ( Bettinson ) Cosford, and was born in Toronto, Canada, February 6, 1854. John Cosford (grandfather) was a native of London, England, and emigrated to America at an early day, and located in Toronto as a leather merchant. IIe married Martha Law, of London, by whom he had a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters. John Cosford (father) was born in Toronto, June 14, 1823, and died in 1876, in the county of Wellington, Ontario. He was a farmer and stock-dealer, and married Mary Bettinson, who is still living in the county of Wellington. They had seven children: Milton, who lives in Ontario, is a farmer by occupation ; Wesley also lives in the old homestead with his brother; Samuel is engaged in the active practice of medicine in Lincoln, Nebraska; Mary is the wife of John Legett, who is a farmer of Wingham, Ontario; Emma, who married Robert Simpson, a farmer of Hol- lin, Ontario; and Dr. Thomas B.
Thomas B. Cosford was educated in Vie- toria university, at Cobourg, Ontario, and was graduated from Trinity university, To- ronto, in 1876. From the spring of 1876 to 1878 he was assistant superintendent of the government hospital at Toronto, coming from there to Lockport in 1878, where he has been engaged in the active practice of medicine ever since, making the diseases of women a specialty, and he has met with rare success in the healing art, and has already gained an extensive and paying practiec. He is a prominent member of the
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