USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 45
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
mustered out with the rank of captain in September, 1865, having been wounded at Cold Harbor and again at Five Forks; Elizabeth H., married Edwin Terrill, of Niagara Falls, where they reside; Henry C., deceased, who was born in 1842, enlisted as a private in the 8th New York heavy artillery in 1862, and served until 1865; and George W., who died before reaching man- hood.
Benjamin Flagler received his education in the common schools of Niagara county, finishing his studies in the Lockport Union school. He remained at home on the farm until after his marriage, in 1859, when he entered the canal collector's office as chief clerk, and remained in that position until 1861, when he entered the service of the United States as captain of Company A, 28th New York infantry -the first regi- ment organized in Niagara county. The regiment was soon ordered to the front, and participated in some of the hardest fighting done during the war. Captain Flagler was seriously injured near Winchester, Virginia, and on account of disability resulting from this injury, was discharged from service in October, 1862. He has never fully re- covered from the effects of his injury, being quite lame in consequence. Some time after his discharge from the army he re- ceived the appointment of inspector of customs at Suspension Bridge, and served in that capacity until December 1, 1864, when he was made deputy collector, and on January 1, 1872, was appointed special deputy collector. He continued to occupy this position until 1878, when he was ap- pointed collector of customs for the district of Niagara, and discharged the responsible duties of that office until 1886. At that time he engaged with others in the or-
ganization of the Bank of Suspension Bridge, and became its president, which place he still holds. In 1883 he was active in organizing the Niagara Falls and Sus- pension Bridge Railway Company, and was elected as its president, serving until the spring of 1890. He is one of the directors of the Niagara Falls Power Company, and also a director in the bank of Niagara, at Niagara Falls.
On November 9, 1859, Mr. Flagler was united in marriage with Martha J. Mc- Knight, daughter of Robert McKnight, of the town of New Fane. To this union was born an only son, Sylvester, who died in his twentieth year, just as his feet had touched the threshold of mature manhood. Mrs. Flagler's father, Robert McKnight, removed' from Seneca county to Niagara county in 1816, and settled in the town of New Fane, being one of the early pioneers of that locality. He was a farmer, and one of the most respected citizens of the town. He married Eliza Combs about 1816, and had a family of five sons and four daughters : Hannah, born in 1817, and long since de- ceased; Mary, born in 1819, also dead : Christopher C., born in 1822, and now deceased; Thomas, born in 1825, and lives in California; Andrew J., born in 1827. now deceased; George W., born in 1829, and now a resident of Michigan; De Witt C., born in 1832, and died several years ago; Martha J., born in 1835, married Benjamin Flagler, subject of this sketch ; and Julia, born in 1837, married J. F. Nye, of Lockport, where they residc.
Captain Benjamin Flagler is a stalwart republican, and takes an active part in cur- rent political discussion, being a local leader of recognized ability. He was presidential elector for the thirty-third district of New
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York, in 1888, on the republican ticket. He is a member of Niagara Frontier Lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons, and a thirty-third degree honorary member of the Supreme Council of the northern juris- diction, and has been grand master of the State-during 1882 and 1883. He is also a member of Dudley Donnelly Post, No. 133, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was commander for three years.
H ARRY M. CLARK, a live, progressive, and promising young business man of Niagara Falls, is a son of Henry and Rachel (Morrison ) Clark, and was born September 30, 1860, in La Salle, Niagara county, New York. [See sketch of Henry Wells Clark for ancestry.] Henry Clark (father) was born October 29, 1826, in the village of Ni- agara Falls, and died December 23, 1889, aged sixty-three years. He began life at La Salle, this State, where he also owned and operated a lumber mill. Disposing of this property, he removed to Niagara Falls, and about 1861 embarked in the shoe business, in which line he continued until 1871. Hc was a republican in politics until 1872, but being an enthusiastic admirer of Horace Greeley, he voted for him for the presidency that year, and became a democrat after- ward, taking an active part in politics. He served as justice of the peace at La Salle for a number of years, and was trustee and president of the village of Niagara Falls, and served as justice of the peace. He died in 1889. He married Rachel Morrison, daughter of John Morrison, a native of Paisley, Scotland, who came to America about 1826, locating in New York city, and becoming the first manufacturer of silk in the United States, Later he removed to
Auburn, where he was connected with the Auburn prison, and in 1840 to Columbus, Ohio, where he died in 1873.
Harry M. Clark attended De Veaux col- lege, in Niagara Falls, for two years.
In 1886 Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Lucy M. Brown, daughter of Wesley P. Brown. [See his sketch.] This union has been blest by the birth of two children: Henry W., born in April, 1887, and Rachel M., born in January, 1889.
HANS NIELSON, one of the best known and most popular business men of the village of Niagara Falls, is a son of Chris- tian and Anna Dorthea ( Helgosen ) Nielson, and was born October 16, 1821, in Veile, Denmark. His ancestors on both sides were natives of Denmark for unknown gen- erations, his father being born there about 1794. All of his ancestors were Lutherans. His father was proprietor of a brewery and distillery. He married and reared a family of seven children: Niels Christian (de- ccased), Loren, Peter (deceased), Johan (deceased), Ane Maria (deceased ), Sophia Christensen, and Hans.
Hans Nielson was educated in the com- mon schools of Denmark, and after leaving school learned the trade of tobacco manu- facturer. He went to Norway, where he was engaged for six years in the manufac- ture and sale of tobacco. In 1850 he emi- grated to America, settling at Niagara Falls, where for two years he was a tobacco mer- chant. He then removed to Plattville, Illi- nois, and in company with Frederick Gluck, a native of Germany, went into the brewing and distilling business. After they had conducted this a short time their plant was accidentally destroyed by fire, entailing a
Juna. C. Kommentar
ARCADE AND POST-OFFICE BUILDING NIAGARA FALLS
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
loss of several thousand dollars, they having no insurance on their plant. This unto- ward event left Mr. Nielson again at the foot of life's ladder, with no capital but his native energy and strong will power. He began again as a tobacco merchant, but shortly afterward went into the grocery business, and in 1860 added the luniber business, in company with Jeremiah Bink- ley. For eleven years he conducted this combined business, and then sold out. In 1873 he was made president and manager of the company owning Prospect park, and served in this capacity until the purchase of the park by the State in July, 1885. Pros- pect park is now included in the Niagara Falls reservation, and commands one of the finest views of the great falls. In 1887 he, in connection with two of his sons, em- barked in the dry goods business, in prop- erty owned by him on the corner of Main and Falls streets. This business is chiefly conducted by his sons, Mr. Nielson giving his own attention to handling real estate in Buffalo.
On September 18, 1857, Hans Nielson was married to Louisa Krull, a native of Mecklinburg, Germany, and to this union have been born four children : Herman, a photographer, who married Mary Moran ; Otto, living with his parents; Charles, in business with his brother Herman; and George S., married Fannie Swartz and lives in Niagara Falls, where he is engaged in the dry goods business with his father, under the firm name of H. Nielson & Sons.
Hans Nielson is a member of Frontier Lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons, and has been a Knight Templar for over a quarter of a century. Starting without capital, and depending alone on his inher- ited talents and force of character, Mr.
Nielson has attained a position of honor and influence in the community, and is now reaping the reward which should crown an active and busy career.
JOHN C. LAMMERTS, the genial and popular postmaster at Suspension Bridge, and a large real estate dealer, is a son of Peter D. C. and Catharine (Stortz) Lam- merts, and was born in Rochester, New York, on May 25, 1856. Peter D. C. Lam- mierts was a native of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and was born June 21, 1821. In 1850 he emigrated to America, and located at Suspension Bridge, New York.
John C. Lammerts came to this county with his father's family when only one year old, and has always been a resident of Sus- pension Bridge. He received his education in the common schools of this village, and afterward learned the blacksmith trade, which vocation he followed until 1880. In that year he began manufacturing carriages and wagons, and successfully conducted this business until the spring of 1891, when he sold out to other parties. Several years ago Mr. Lammerts began operating in real estate, and for some time has done an ex- tensive business in that line, owing, buying, and selling farms and village property. He is president and a large stockholder in the Devil's Hole Land Company, which was organized in the spring of 1891. He is also interested in lands at Marion, Indiana, in the natural gas belt, and in mineral lands in the Yacma valley, in the State of Washington. On the organization of the Niagara County Savings bank, in 1890, he became one of its directors and was made a member of its executive committee, which positions he still holds.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
On November 13, 1873, Mr. Lammerts was united in marriage with Caroline F. Nitzschke, of Buffalo, New York, and to their union have been born three children : Lillie, John C., and Edwin T.
In politics he is a stanch and zealous republican, always taking an active interest in the triumph of republican principles and the success of the Republican party. He was elected treasurer of Suspension Bridge in 1884 and served for one term, and was chief of the fire department the previous year. He was elected a member of the board of education in the spring of 1887, and re-elected in 1891. In May, 1889, he received the appointment of postmaster at Suspension Bridge, being commissioned by President Harrison, and is now serving in that responsible position, performing his duties with an ability and promptness that renders satisfaction alike to the citizens of the village and the postal authorities at Washington. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church at Suspension Bridge, of which he has been a trustee for the past eight years. He is a member of Lodge No. 81, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Whirlpool Lodge, No. 19, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and of Supreme Lodge, No. 139, Sexennial League. The busi- ness life of Mr. Lammerts has been marked with nnusual success, and points to the fact that he is possessed of energy, tenacity of purpose, intelligence, and great practical ability. Along with this excellent equip- ment goes a suave manner, that wins political and personal friends, and has had much to do with his great popularity and unusual success. In all the varied duties of life he has acquitted himself with marked ability, and honestly won the honorable place he now occupies in public esteem.
p ROF. NATHANIEL L. BENHAM,
Superintendent of Schools at Niagara Falls, and an experienced and popular edu- cator of Niagara county, is a son of John A. and Susan (Latham) Benham, and was born at Seneca Falls, Seneca county, New York, October 29, 1851. The Benhams originally settled in Connecticut, from which State Harvey Benham (grandfather) removed to Seneca Falls at an early day, being one of the pioneers in that part of Seneca county. He served in the war of 1812 as a fife major, and was a teacher most of his life. He married Martha Scott, and to them seven children were born. One of these was John A. Benham (father), who was a native of Seneca county, this State. He was a carpenter by occupation, and married Susan Latham, by whom he had a family of three children : John, long deceased; Eugene, who received a good academic education and now resides in New York city, employed in the department of public works; and Nathaniel L. About 1852 John A. Benham removed to Califor- nia, where he died a few years later.
Nathaniel L. Benham received a good practical education in the common schools and academies of his native county, and commenced teaching when only seventeen years of age. With the exception of five years, he has taught continuously ever since. Like every man who achieves suc- cess in this calling, Prof. Benham has been a careful reader and a close student all his life. For a number of years he taught in the country schools of the county, and in 1870, was elected to the position of princi- pal of the grammar school at Seneca Falls. where he began the study of law in the office of J. N. Hammond. On the comple- tion of his course of reading he was
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
admitted to the bar, in 1878, and opened a law office at Waterloo, Seneca county, where he practiced for one year, and then removed to the city of Buffalo, where he spent another year in practice. He was then offered a good position in the freight office of the Michigan Central railroad, and accepting it he remained with that com- pany for three years. In 1884 he was solicited to accept the principalship of the schools at Niagara Falls, and resigned his position in the freight office to accept the more congenial employment. He was principal for five years and at the end of that time he became superintendent of these schools, and has served in that capacity ever since. Twenty-one teachers are under his charge. Prof. Benham was instrumental in having the regent's course of study adopted in the schools, and has since gradnated three classes, several members of which have gone at once into the best colleges in the land, being thoroughly prepared to enter college by the careful training received here.
Prof. Benham was united in marriage August 12, 1886, to Margaret E. Sheldon, daughter of Captain H. H. Sheldon, whose biography appears in this volume, and to this union three children have been born : Alice (deceased), Margaret, and .Edith. Mrs. Benham is a lady of intelligence and refinement, and taught in the public schools of Niagara Falls for nine years.
In his political sentiment Prof. Benham is a democrat, with an intimate knowledge of the various questions pertaining to prac- tical and theoretical politics, and takes an active interest in the success of his party's policy and principles. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and active and earnest in his support of the various inter-
ests of that church. He is a Knight of Pythias, and unusually active in promoting the growth and welfare of that order, hav- ing organized Seneca Lodge, No. 104, at Seneca Falls, and assisted in organizing International Lodge, No. 164, of Buffalo. He is also a member of Niagara Frontier Lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons, in which he holds the office of junior war- den. Prof. Benham has been quite suc- cessful as an educator and is very popular with his people, and being now in the very prime of an active and useful life, with energy unabated and an honorable ambition to excel, there is promise of even greater things yet to be.
ETER D. WALTER was one of the most prominent and highly esteemed citizens of western New York. Ile was born in Springfield; Otsego county, New York, September 15, 1817, and died at the city of Rochester, New York, on Septem- ber 23, 1889, aged seventy-two years. His suave manner, gentlemanly bearing, strict integrity, liberality and characteristic cour- tesy, all combined to make him popular, and his memory is cherished by hosts of friends who realized that he lived not alone for himself, but for the good of others. In the home circle his greatest aim was to make everything pleasant for those under his care, and in his church he was ever anxious to do something for the benefit of his fellow man, while in the lodge room, business circles and every-day life his coun- sel and advice was often asked and freely given.
He came to Lockport in 1845, and was known as one of the most enterprising and reliable jewelers of western New York.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
He occupied many positions of honor and responsibility, among which may be men- tioned the following: In 1841 and 1842 he commanded a regiment of State militia ; in 1853 he served as trustee of the village of Lockport; he also served successively as secretary, treasurer, vice-president and pres- ident of the Niagara county agricultural society.
In politics Mr. Walter was a republican, active and influential, and served in 1865 and 1866 as treasurer and tax receiver. In the fall of 1871 he was elected clerk of Niagara county, and served three years, and was chosen mayor of Lockport in 1873. He was a prominent member of Grace Episcopal church for more than forty years, thirty-five of which he was vestryman and warden. His visit to Rochester, which resulted in his deatlı, was made in his twenty-eighth consecutive year as delegate to the diocesan council of the diocese of western New York, and he was the only delegate present who had served so long.
He was also very prominent in Masonic circles, and held many important positions therein, being considered one of the pillars of the fraternity in this section. He was made a Mason in Niagara Lodge, No. 375, March 20, 1855, and was the first candidate of the lodge after its organization. He served as master of this lodge in 1860, and was its treasurer for more than twenty years. He was exalted to the degrec of Royal Arch Mason in Ames Chapter, No. 88, March 10, 1859, and became a member of Bruce Council, No. 15, Royal and Select Masters, on February 2, 1860, serving as its treasurer from 1868 until his death. He was created a Knight Templar in Genesec Commandery, No. 10, on May 6, 1859, and served as its treasurer for twenty years,
being also treasurer of the Masonic board of trustees for a like period previous to his death.
For many years Mr. Walter was one of the trustees of De Veaux college at Sus- pension Bridge, and gave each year an elegant gold medal-known as the Walters mathematical medal-to the student of that institution who attained to the highest standing in mathematics. He always took a deep and abiding interest in the cause of education.
Peter D. Walter was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth St. John, by whom he had one daughter, who survives hin, now Mrs. James Camp, of Linden, Genesee county, New York. In November, 1860, he married Mrs. Frances J. (Dainforth ) Mead, who was with him at the time of his deatlı. Two step-daughters and one step- son mourned his loss when he died as if he were their own father. They are : Frances, 110w Mrs. Albert Pomeroy, of Lockport ; Mrs. William L. Baker, who resides in Toledo, Ohio; and George Mead, also living in the west.
The remains of this venerated man lie in Cold Spring cemetery, where they were deposited with Masonie honors, but his memory lives, green as the eternal laurel, in the hearts of multitudes of his friends and acquaintances, who counted his as one of the rare spirits that occasionally dignify humanity and bless the earth by their presence.
JACOB BINGENHEIMER, a useful and highly respected, though quiet and unassuming, citizen of Suspension Bridge, is a son of Jacob and Catharine (Schneider) Bingenheimer, and was born September 22, 1823, in the kingdom of Hessentainestoadt,
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
near Manse, Germany. Jacob Bingenheimer (father) was born at the same place, but emigrated to America in 1857, and settled at Suspension Bridge, Niagara county, New York, where he died in 1871, aged seventy- two years. He was an honest, economical, and hard-working German, and died with the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He married Catharine Schneider, and reared a family of five children.
Jacob Bingenheimer, the subject of this sketch, received his education in his native country, and immediately after leaving school became an apprentice and thoroughly learned the masons' trade, after which, at the age of twenty-seven, he left Germany, and emigrated to America; landing in the new world in 1850, and locating at Sus- pension Bridge, New York, in the following year, where he has ever since resided. After coming to this place he began working at his trade, and continued in this vocation until 1878, when he opened a coal and wood yard. In this business he met with good success, and continued it until 1888. when his son, Jacob H. Bingenheimer, suc- ceeded him, and has since conducted this enterprise with ability and marked success.
In political belief Jacob Bingenheimer is a straight democrat, believing thoroughly in majority rule, and has several times been called upon to fill official positions. He was appointed as emigrant agent at Suspension Bridge in 1869, and held this position for seven years. In 1872 lie was elected as coroner of Niagara county, and served for three years. He has been president and trustee of the village for many years, and is also a member of the board of water works, of which he has been president for the last three years, and has served on the board of education for six or eight years. In short,
he has at one time or another filled all the offices in the village, and has rendered satis- faction in the discharge of his official duties in each of these positions. He is a member of the United German Evangelical Lutheran church at Suspension Bridge, and has been a member and president of the board of trustees of the church for some years. He is also a member of Niagara Lodge, No. 81, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the German society of Suspension Bridge.
In 1852 Mr. Bingenheimer married Eliza- beth Eberhart, by which union he had born to him a family of six children, two of whom died in infancy. The four who grew to maturity were: Elizabeth, who married Charles C. Buck, a live stock dealer of Toronto, Dominion of Canada; Jacob H., married Jennie Schleisinger, and resides at Suspension Bridge; Bertha, who married Charles H. Clark, a traveling agent for William Peters & Co., wholesale coal dealers of New York city; and Mary, who married F. C. Caswell, who conducts a restaurant at Suspension Bridge, New York.
W ILLIAM A. WILLIAMS, of the firm of Williams Brothers, of Lockport, is the second son of Jean and Friederike (Schultz) Williams, and was born in 1846, at Bergholtz, Prussia. The Williams family are of French origin and trace their ances- try back to Jean Villan, born in 1652 in the department Pas de Calais, France. From his native place Jean removed to Mannheini on the Rhine, in 1661, and in 1685, two years after the revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., he together with a large number of French protestants, emigrated to Zerrenthin, Bradenburg, Prus- sia. He died there June 9, 1720. His
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
wife was Francoise Tourbier, also a native of Pas de Calais, France. In recording the name Villan in the church book at Zerren- thin, it was changed into Williams by a careless clerk, and by the latter name the family has ever since been known. From Jean the line follows down through (1) Jaques Antoine Williams (youngest son of the preceding), born in 1705 at Zerrenthin, Prussia, and died there in 1776; (2) Jaques Antoine Williams, born in Zerrenthin in 1737, and died at Battin in 1769; (3) Jean Williams, born at Battin in 1761, and died at Rossow in 1851; (4) Jean Williams, father of the present generation, who was born in Rossow, January 4, 1818, and mar- ried Friederike Schultz, April 1, 1841, (she being the first German to intermarry with the Williams family). After his mar- riage he lived at Bergholtz, Bradenburg, and there joined the old Lutheran church, of which his wife was already a member.
On account of religious persecutions a great number of lutherans left his vicinity and emigrated to America during the years between 1835 and 1855, and on May 25, 1857, Jean Williams left Germany on the steamer Argo to join their colony in America. He arrived here June 11, 1857, with a family consisting of his wife and nine children. He immediately purchased a farm one mile south of Sanborn, this county, where he lived until his death, September 10, 1883. One of the sons, with his mother, still resides therc.
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