USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 47
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H ON. CHRISTIAN F. GOERSS, dep- uty collector of customs at North Tonawanda, and one of the most active republicans of Niagara county, is a son of Frederick and Charlotte (Sy) Goerss, and was born in the town of Wheatfield, Niagara county, New York, January 2, 1850. His parents were natives of the then kingdom of Prussia, but which is now a part of the present great German empire, and came in 1843 from the land of their childhood to Niagara county, where they settled in the town of Wheatfield, on a farm which they pur- chased soon after their arrival in that town. Frederick Goerss was a prosperous farmer, a strong democrat in politics, and an active
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. He gave his attention mainly to farming and other agricultural pursuits, in all of which he met with good success, but while attentive to his land and cattle, yet he was ever interested in the political and religious movements of the day. Quiet, steady, and peaceable, yet he was firm as a rock in what he deemed to be right, although he never sought to force his opinions on any one, and strictly attended to his own business. He passed away from the scenes of his carthly toils on August 19, 1883, when his life had measured six mile-stones beyond its three-score years. His widow, whose maiden name was Charlotte Sy, was born in 1822. She was reared in the lutheran faith, is a member of that church, and still resides on the homestead farm in the town of Wheatfield.
Christian F.Goerss passed his boyhood days in active and profitable labor on his father's farm, where he was carefully instructed in farm management, as well as trained to all kinds of necessary labor in the field, orchard, and barn. He received his education in the public and some excellent private schools of his neighborhood. Leaving school, he en- gaged in farming, which he has followed ever since, and now owns a productive, well improved, and highly cultivated farm in the town of Wheatfield. He has been frequently called from the domestic quiet of his farm home to serve his fellow citizens in an official capacity, and at different times has held the town offices of assessor for three years, collector, school trustee, supervisor in 1883, justice of the peace and justice of the quarter sessions in 1881 and 1882. Having served satisfactorily in town offices, he was nominated for the legislature by the Republican party in 1887, and was elected
at the ensuing election, although the county was democratic by a fair majority. His services as a legislator, during the session of the legislature of 1887, were so satisfactory to his party and his constituents of all parties, that he was re-nominated and re- elected in the fall of 1887, and served a term during the winter of 1888. In May of 1890 he was appointed as deputy col- lector of customs at North Tonawanda by Major James Law, collector of customs at Suspension Bridge, and has held that office ever since. Its duties he has as faithfully and as efficiently discharged as those of the many other offices which he has held so honorably to himself and so creditably to his town and county.
In 1876 he united in marriage with Albertina M. Schultz, of this county. They have five children, two sons and three daughters : Agatha A., Apollonia V., Marcus A., F. William, and Margaret E.
In religious belief Mr. Goerss is a luth- eran, and has been a member for many years of the church of that denomination at North Tonawanda. In church work he has been called to serve beyond his home church, and is serving at the present time as a trustee of the Martin Luther college, of Buffalo, New York. In politics Mr. Goerss has been one of the most active publie men of Niagara county during the last quarter of a century. He has always held to the principles and policy of the Republican party, which has received upon every occasion his earnest and whole-hearted support. He has studied closely and deeply the principles of the two great contending political parties of to-day, and after calm and mature deliberation has endorsed and supports the party of Lincoln, Garfield, and Harrison. He has become prominent in the
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political field on account of his remarkable success in organizing victory, often from apparent defeat, and securing triumph where nothing but an overthrow had been anticipated.
B IRDSILL HOLLY, the inventor of the world-renowned Holly system of water works, now in use throughout the United States and Canada, and in several foreign countries, is a son of Birdsill, Sr., and Comfort (Parker) Holly, and was born in the city of Auburn, Cayuga county, New York, October 8, 1820. Birdsill Holly, Sr., was born in Cayuga county, August 24, 1791, and made his home at Seneca Falls, New York, where he passed away in 1828. He was a general mechanic and millwright by trade, and built the theological seminary at Auburn, and several of the largest mills at Seneca Falls. He was an excellent work- man, an industrious man, and a well respected citizen. He was a whig and republican, and married Comfort Parker, by whom he had five children : Alanson, Birdsill, John, Caro- line, and Jane. Mrs. Holly was born in 1790, and passed away in 1859.
Birdsill Holly was reared in Auburn and at Seneca Falls, New York. He received a good practical English education in the common schools, and then worked at gen- eral mechanic and millwright work for some time after the death of his father. After having become an expert in all kinds of general mechanic work, he went to Union- town, the county-seat of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he first became super- intendent and afterwards proprietor of a large shop, which he conducted for a few years. At the end of that time he returned to Seneca Falls, New York, where he became
a member of the manufacturing firm of Silsby, Race & Holly. They were engaged for several years in the manufacture of hydraulic machinery. In 1859 Mr. Holly came to Lockport, where he has resided ever since, and given his time mainly to those great inventions which have made for him a world-wide fame as an inventor of useful and needed machinery.
In 1840 he married Elizabeth Field, by whoni he had four children, all sons: Nor- man, who died in infancy; Edgar; Frank, now superintendent of the Holly Manu- facturing Company; and Clarence, who is erecting engineer for the same company. By his second marriage he has five children, three sons and two daughters : Mabel, Bird- sill, Jr., Norman, Howard, and Edith.
In politics Mr. Holly is a republican, but has never been an aspirant for office, and his life work has been mainly in the line of inventions, which have been highly useful, not only to his city, but to all civilized countries and the mechanical world. He invented a chain stitch sewing machine which has quite a large salc. He has per- fected and patented over one hundred and fifty inventions, and as has aptly been said of the irrepressible Edison, " has kept his footsteps hot to the patent office." Some of these inventions in machinery were pur- chased in Europe, where the machines are now manufactured.
But the invention with which Birdsill Holly's name will be identified for all tinie to come is that of the Holly system of water works. Keeping pace with the rapid march of modern progress, very marked improvements have been made in supplying cities in this country with water . within recent years, and the Holly system is far in advance of every other system in use, while
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it is so simple and yet so complete as to preclude the idea of any future improve- ment upon it, or possibility of the invention of any superior system. The builders of this system, the Holly Manufacturing Com- pany, organized in 1859, has now a capital of half a million, employ five hundred men, and their works have an arca of two blocks in Lockport. They have already placed the system in over two thousand towns and cities of the United States and the Dominion of Canada, where it is now in successful operation. The Holly system not only supplies a town or city with water, but dispenses with the necessity of fire engines, and requires no reservoir or stand- pipe. These results are accomplished by placing a set of pumping machinery in a convenient building where the water is received, and from which it is pumped into mains and pipes to supply all parts of a town or city. It is delivered, if needed, under pressure to hydrants to which hose is attached in case of fire, and from which a four inch stream of water has been forced two hundred and ninety-seven feet high and four hundred and sixty-five feet horizontally. Modern progress in the material world is largely due to the great inventions of Franklin, Watts, Fulton, McCormick, Howe, Edison, Holly, and others, who have toiled for long years for the benefit of the human race. In the earlier centuries of the world's history many of the great inventions of the present day would not have been of much practical utility or benefit, as the thinness of settlement and the pastoral character of the people would have precluded their suc- cessful application : so Mr. Holly's system of water works would have been of no use then more than to excite curiosity in nations that had no cities with dense population
confined to such limited areas as the great cities of to-day. But now water for use and for protection from fire is indispensable in thousands of large towns and densely crowded cities, and untold millions were spent and innumerable experiments were made to secure a satisfactory system of water works and efficient fire engines before the Holly system came to fill every require- inent of the one and to dispense entirely with the other.
Birdsill Holly has given long years of hard study and persistent labor to the de- velopment and perfecting of many useful and important labor-saving and economical inventions, and is justly entitled to the high rank which he holds among the great in- ventors of this wonderful century of knowl- edge and progress. His aim in life has been to be useful, and he has successfully attained the goal of his ambition. He has lived life - patiently, persistently, uncomplainingly - so as to follow a clear-defined purpose with vigorously- prosecuted action, recognizing that it is the aim that makes the man, and that success is largely due to perseverance and labor.
A RTHUR SCHOELLKOPF, of Ni-
agara Falls, is a German by lineage, and a business man of good standing, who has made money by good judgment, indus- try, and steady application to the matters in which he is interested. He is the son of Jacob F. and Christianna (Deürr) Schoell- kopf, and was born June 13, 1856, in the city of Buffalo, New York. The grand- father, Christian Schoellkopf, was a native ot Kirchheim, Wurtemberg, Germany, where he died. He was a tanner by trade, and reared a family of children, of whom Jacob
J.MANZACO.
arthur Schoollkopf.
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F. Sehoellkopf (father) was born in Ger- many, November 15, 1819. He came to America about 1841, and located in the city of Buffalo, where he has resided ever since. He is interested largely in various indus- trial enterprises, one of which is a large tannery at Sheffield, Pennsylvania. In 1877, he, together with his present partner, George B. Matthews, of Buffalo, built a large mill on the Hydraulic canal at Niagara Falls. It is one of the largest mills of its kind in western New York, having a daily capacity of about two thousand barrels, and employing about forty hands. They also have large interests in the Central Milling Company at Niagara Falls, its eapacity being two thousand barrels per day. Mr. Schoellkopf is a republican, and married Christianna Deürr, by whom he had eleven children, six of whom are now living: Louis, who resides in the city of Buffalo, and is engaged in the tanning business ; Arthur; Jacob F., Jr., lives in the city of Buffalo, and is one of the firm of Sehoell- kopf Analine & Chemical Company, located in the city of Buffalo; Alfred P., resides in Buffalo, and is a member of the firm of Schoellkopf & Co., carrying on the "sheep skin " tannery, located at Buffalo-one of the largest in the country, its eapacity being at least one hundred dozen per day ; Charles Hugo, in the chemical business with his brother; and Johanna M. Helen, at home.
Arthur Schoellkopf was educated par- tially in this country and Germany. He attended an academy for four years at Kirchheim, Germany, and then came to Buffalo, where he completed his education. Soon after he learned the milling trade with Thornton & Chester, of Buffalo, and upon the completion of the large mill at Niagara Falls, in which he was a part owner, he
beeame local manager of the business. He also owns stock in the Central Milling Com- pany. He and his father were among the many influential citizens who were instru- mental in forming the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Com- pany, owners of the Hydraulic Canal that supplies all of the mills located here. They control ninety per cent. of the stock, and Jacob F. Schoellkopf has been president, and Arthur, his son, secretary and treasurer since its organization. He is a director in the Niagara Rapids View Company, and also the Whirlpool Rapids Park Company. He is a member and trustee of the Presby- terian church, and a republican in politics. He is honest and conscientious in all matters, and his business integrity is un- questioned. He built the Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge street railway, which was completed July 4, 1883, and which he managed until 1890, when he sold out his interest. He was the treasurer and mana- ger of this company during that time, and put it on a paying basis, which required business skill and tact. He and his father were the originators of the Brush Electric Light Company, he being one of the directors. He formerly owned Niagara View farm, a large stock farm in the town of Niagara. He is one of the directors of the bank of Niagara, one of the sewer eom- missioners of the village of Niagara Falls, and one of the stockholders and a director of the International Hotel Company at Niagara Falls. He has lately become sec- retary and treasurer of the Niagara Falls Brewing Company, and president of the Cliff Paper Company, of the same village. He belongs to Niagara Frontier Lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons, is a Knight Templar, and a member of Ishmalia Tem-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
ple, at Buffalo. Hc descends from the early German element that came to the United States at an early date to escape religious persecution.
October 13, 1880, Mr. Schoellkopf was united in marriage to Jessie Gluck, daugh- ter of Alva Gluck, of Niagara Falls. To them have been born two children: M. Beatrice, born October 2, 1881; and Paul Arthur, born March 7, 1884.
J AMES VEDDER, a descendant of an old Holland family who were among the builders of the great commonwealth of New York, was born in Kingston, Ulster county, New York, and is the son of John Van Epps and Sarah ( Robinson) Vedder. As just stated, the family is descended from old Holland stock, being planted in America by Harman A. Vedder, a traveler, who, after visiting many countries, came to North America, and when weary of his journeys in this land, finally abandoned them at Schenectady, becoming one of the very carliest settlers in that part of the State. It appears that the Vedders were among the families who were granted lands in the New Netherlands by the king of Hol- land, thus antedating all English or Ameri- can land titles in that vicinity. Aaron Vedder (grandfather) was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. During his early life he had lived in Schenectady, but removed to Seneca, Ontario county, and later, in 1854, located in the vicinity of Lockport, this county. He married Agnes Van Epps, and had a family of five sons and six daughters. He was a farmer by occupation, and died on a farm just west of Lockport, in 1858, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years. His wife died one year later, at the age of eighty-
seven. John Van Epps Vedder (father) was born July 16, 1798, at Schenectady, New York, and was a railroad contractor, taking and executing some very large contracts, among which was the construction of the Albany & Schenectady railroad, the first railway built in the State. He removed to Suspension Bridge about 1847, and settled on land owned by him in that vicinity. He married Sarah Robinson, daughter of Thomas and Martha Robinson, and had a family of three sons and three daughters, one of the daughters and one son being now deceased. Those who survive are: James, now living at Suspension Bridge; Catherine, also re- siding in that village; Charles, now a resident of Washington city, who served as an officer in a New York regiment during the war for the Union, and subsequently married Sophia M. White, of Maryland; and Sarah J. Emma Vedder, one of the de- ceased children, married Van Renssalaer Pearson in 1858, and died one year later. In 1865 Mr. Pearson was married to her sister, Sarah J. Vedder, youngest daughter of John Van Epps and Sarah ( Robinson ) Vedder. Mr. Pearson was of English and French parentage, and died in 1884.
In 1854 James and Thomas Vedder had a contract for transferring passengers and freight across the suspension bridge, to and from Canada, before the railroad bridge was built. They started a wholesale and retail grocery store at Suspension Bridge village about 1856, and continued in business until the death of Thomas Vedder, which event occurred in 1884. James retired from active business, and the large concern which had been built up during a period of twenty- seven or twenty-eight years passed into the hands of a nephew of the founders.
The Vedders are prosperous, energetic
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people, still noted for the sturdy virtues of their ancestors, but quiet and unassuming to a marked degree. Indeed, their modesty is so pronounced that the biographer finds it impossible to obtain the necessary data to prepare a symmetrical sketch of the family.
F LAVIUS J. BAKER, one of the lead- ing physicians of Loekport, is a son of Dr. Thaddeus and Sarah S. (Spicer ) Baker, and was born in Andover, Allegany county, New York, July 18, 1843. His paternal great-grandfather was Thaddeus Baker, a native of Vermont. Thaddeus Baker, Jr. (grandfather), his son, was a native of the same State, but removed to Andover, this State, where he died. He was originally a surveyor, and served in the employ of the managers of the Poultney estate. After- wards he became an extensive farmer, and was the first justice of the peace in the town of Andover. He was one of the pioneers of that county, served in the war of 1812, and manifested great opposition against the eneroachments of slavery. Jabez Spicer (maternal great-grandfather ) was a native of Cornish, New Hampshire, where he died. Ilis son, Jabez Spicer (maternal grandfather), was born at the same place, and went to Ohio, where he died. Dr. Thaddeus Baker (father) was born in Poultney, Ver- mont, August 30, 1806, and when six months of age was taken to the town of Andover, where he remained until 1882, when he re- moved to Lockport, in which eity he died June 11, 1888. He was a successful phy- sician in Andover for nearly half a century, and in politics was a firm supporter of the Whig, and afterwards of the Republican party, but never sought nor held office, ex- cept that of justice of the peace in Andover.
He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and married Sarah S. Spicer, who was a native of Newbury, Vermont. They were the parents of three sons and two daughters : Flavius J .; Rollin T. (dead), who entered the civil war as assistant sur- geon, United States army, and while serving in that capacity, became a victim of the yellow fever, of which he died at Newbern, North Carolina-being captured, and held in Libby prison for ninety days; Mary A. (dead); Dwight B., of Seattle, Washing- ton; and Sarah A., wife of Dr. A. II. Briggs, of Buffalo, who for a time was health offieer, and is now grand medical ex- aminer of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Flavius J. Baker attended the common schools, and later entered the university at Lima, New York ( now Syracuse university). He read medicine, and then practiced for five years with his father at Andover, New York. He next praetieed at Suffern, Rock- land county, for two years, at the end of which time he returned Andover, where he remained but a short time, and then went to Buffalo for two years. His health failing, he left Buffalo and went to the country, and for a year was a partner of Dr. A. G. Skin- ner, at the end of which time he succeeded to the entire practice, which he held for four or five years. In 1882 he came to Lockport, where he has ever since been a resident, and successful physician. He was graduated, in 1867, from the New York university, and has since taken a special course in gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and now makes a specialty of the treatment of dis- eases of women. He is a permanent member of the New York State Medical society, the Niagara County Medieal society, of which
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for seven years he has been secretary, and is an ex-health officer of the city of Lockport.
He has been thrice married. On May 24, 1863, he married Mary L. Preston, by whom he had two children : F. Edith, who is a teacher in the public schools of Lock- port; and S. Agnes, who married Dr. Nicholas Hoffman, a veterinary surgeon of Lockport, and a graduate of the Toronto Veterinary college. Mrs. Baker died in 1870, and he next married Hattie A. How- ard. After her death, he married for his third wife Isa B. Oliver, and by this mar- riage has four children : Mary L., Rollin O., Gertrude O., and Florence P.
In politics Dr. Baker is a republican, and takes considerable interest in matters per- taining to his party. He is a member and a deacon of the First Free Congregational church of Lockport, and superintendent of its Sabbath school. As a specialist he has won the large measure of success of which he is deserving, and as a physician in gen- eral, he is well qualified for the extensive practice which he enjoys.
R EV. GEORGE FREDERICK ROS- ENMULLER, rector of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal church at Niagara Falls, is a son of David Porter and Eliza (Sheffer) Rosenmüller, and was born at Dayton, Ohio, October 24, 1847. The Ros- enmüllers are descended from old German Lutheran stock, and the name is well known among scholars. George Ludwig Rosen- müller (great-grandfather ) was born in Ger- many, and emigrated, in the year 1753, to America while yet a young man. He lo- cated at Abbottstown, York county, Penn- sylvania, where he lived until his death, July 14, 1819, aged eighty-seven years.
His son, Lewis Rosenmüller (grandfather), was born in Abbottstown, Adams county, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1778. Early in life he removed to York, Pennsylvania, where he became a prosperous hardware merchant, and died there on the 28th of January, 1858. On May 1, 1806, he mar- ried, in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, Rebecca Culbertson Porter, who was born at Boston, Massachusetts, May 3, 1786, and died at York, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1815. She was the daughter of Captain David Porter. U. S. N., who received his commis- sion from General Washington, and a sister of the gallant Commodore David Porter, U. S. N., commander of the famous United States war ship Essex, and who won immor- tal fame in the war of 1812. By this union Lewis Rosenmüller had a family of six chil- dren : Caroline Porter, Lewis Adolphus, who studied medicine and became a physi- cian ; David Porter (father) ; John Porter, died in infancy ; Evaline Mary Porter, and John Porter (second), who died when two months old. David Porter Rosenmuller (father) was born at York, Pennsylvania, January 22, 1809. He was reared at York, and educated in the Gettysburg seminary, becoming a fine linguist and familiar with seventeen different languages. After being ordained to the ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran church, his first work was at Ra- leigh, North Carolina, after which he was called to Newville, Pennsylvania, and later to Dayton, Ohio, where he was most suc- cessful in gathering the Lutheran people together, erecting a commodious brick house of worship, and wonderfully increasing the church membership. He labored in this field for ten years, after which he accepted a call to Hanover, York county, Pennsyl- vania, where he remained nine years. He
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
finally located at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1856, where he remained until his death, which took place while on a visit at Allen- town, Pennsylvania, on September 26, 1880, at the advanced age of seventy-one years. His was an active, useful, and honored life, and might well serve as a model for later generations, could it be recorded in detail for their benefit. On September 24, 1833, he married Eliza Sheffer, who was born at York Springs,'Adams county, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1812, and died at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, October 17, 1890. She was the third child of the Hon. Dr. Daniel and Naomi (Wireman ) Sheffer, of Adams county, Pennsylvania. To -them were born seven children : Mary Rebecca, Evaline Naomi, Lonisa Augusta, David Porter, Lewis Adol- phns (died in infancy ), George Frederick, and Clara Isabella, who died in infancy. David Porter Rosenmüller, jr., who, in 1862, was appointed ensign in the United States navy, was the executive officer of the Essex when she blew up the Confederate ran Ar- kansas. He served in the navy as lieuten- ant until the elose of the war, after which he took up the study of law, was admitted to the bar of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and is still practicing there, having served his people as district attorney of that county, member of the State legislature from the city of Lancaster, and for two years mayor of that city.
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