USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 50
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ETER FALING, M. D., a leading phy-
sician of Gasport, and one who has done much to advance his profession in Ni- agara county, is a son of Dr. Cornelius and Susan (Hollester ) Faling, and was born in the town of Clifton Park, Saratoga county, New York, March 12, 1833. Cornelius Faling, sr. (great-grandfather), was a native of Holland, and was an officer in the Queen's service. He became dissatisfied with a su-
perior officer under whom he was serving, and not being promoted to a vacancy to which he was entitled, he left his native country and came to America. Soon after his arrival upon the American continent he located at Schenectady, and when that place was attacked by the French and Indians, who set fire to his house, he was forced to escape without his clothes and take refuge in the Brandywine creek, where for twenty- four hours he remained, walking in and out of the water to keep from freezing. He owned a farm in Saratoga county, and thence he removed soon after leaving Schenectady. He was well educated, and possessed a good knowledge of military discipline. After coming to this country he followed school teaching, and was a faithful member of the Dutch Reformed Presbyterian church. He married a Miss Field and had two sons. He died at Schenectady at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. Cornelius Faling, jr. (grandfather), was born at Schenectady, where he lived until his death, having lived the same number of years as did his father. He was also a man of fine education, and in all probability taught select schools with his father for a number of years. He owned a fine farm in the town of Clifton Park, Sara- toga county. He took an active part in the war for independence, serving first as a pri- vate, but was soon promoted to the rank of a commissioned officer. He was of the same religious belief as that of his father, and reared a family of two sons and six daugh- ters. Dr. Cornelius Faling (father) was the younger of these two sons, and was born in the town of Clifton Park, July 6, 1798. In April, 1840, he removed to the town of Hartland, this county, where he re- sided a year, and then came to Royalton, where he died in November, 1871. He was
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educated in Schenectady, where he became a licentiate. Coming to Niagara county, the Buffalo Medical college was organized, where he received an honorary degree, and practiced until 1859, twelve years prior to his deatlı, when he retired to private life, devoting much time to horticulture. In early life he was a member of the Presby- terian church, but later he became a Uni- versalist. In political sentiment he advo- cated the principles of anti-slavery, but when the Republican party was organized he became one of its hearty supporters. He married Caroline Harder, who died in about one year afterward. After her death he married Susan Hollester, and they reared a family of one son and two daughters.
Peter Faling was educated in the Holley academy, at Holley, Orleans county, and after his graduation from that institution he attended the Lockport schools for five years. Having a desire to pursue the medical pro- fession, he began, in 1851, a three years' course of medicine, and was under Dr. Caleb Hill, of Lockport, the first year, and during the remaining two years studied under Dr. Alden March, professor of surgery in the Albany Medical college. At the close of the year 1852 he entered the Albany Medi- cal college, and was graduated therefrom in December, 1854. He then located at Gas- port, where, by strict adherence to his pro- fession, he has gained a large practice.
In 1866 he united in marriage with Emily Robinson, daughter of William Robinson, and their union has been blessed with one child, a daughter, named Emma.
Dr. Peter Faling is a republican, but has never aspired to any office. He belongs to Gasport Lodge, No. 787, Free and Accepted Masons, of Gasport, of which lodge he is a charter member. He is a man of good
standing, has a fine residence, and is sur- rounded with everything essential to a com- fortable and happy home. To his profes- sion, in which he ranks deservedly high, he gives most of his tine and attention.
ANDREW HAYNER. A life of activity and usefulness has been the life of An- drew Hayner, one of the oldest and most successful business men of the town of Royalton. IIe is a son of Andrew, Sr., and Margaret (Lohnas) Hayner, and was born in the town of Brunswick, Rensselaer county, New York, June 17, 1822. The Hayners, as the name would indicate, arc of German extraction, and a member of the family left his Rhineland home in Germany and came to America, where he settled on the Hudson river with his seven sons, who became the progenitors of the many Hayner families of the United States. A descendant of one of these seven sons was John Hayner (grandfather), who was born on the Hudson in 1745, and became the founder of Hayners- ville, on the old Hoosac road, between Ben- nington and Troy, and only seven miles from the latter place. He owned a large body of land, which was a part of the celebrated Van Rensselaer tract, and followed farming and hotel keeping at Haynersville, where his family crected a very handsome and com- modious Lutheran church. He was a men- ber of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and died in 1820, at seventy-five years of age. He married Catherine Dater, who bore him seven sons and two daughters, and who lived to see her ninety-seventh birthday before passing away, in 1841. Andrew Hayner, Sr. (father), one of these sons, was born and reared on the old homestead at Haynersville, a part of which he inherited,
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and upon which he lived until his death, which occurred in 1854, when in the sixty- sixth year of his age. He was a farmer, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, in which he was an active and prominent worker, and was drafted in Colonel Eddy's regiment to serve on the northern frontier during the war of 1812, but was never called into active service. He was a dem- ocrat, held the office of highway commis- sioner for several years, and married Margaret Lohnas, by whom he had nine sons and four daughters. Mrs. Hayner was born in the town of Brunswick, Rensselaer county, New York, and passed away in 1862.
Andrew Hayner passed the first sixteen years of his life on the farm, and attended the elementary schools of that early day. He then learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed actively and con- tinuously for twelve years. He then pur- chased a tract of thirty acres of land in the town of Brunswick, Rensselaer county, upon which there was a saw mill and flax mill. The saw mill he operated very successfully for ten years, and shortly afterward fitted up his flax-dressing mill as a cider mill. He manufactured a large quantity of cider, which he refined, bottled, and sent to the
cities, where it was in great demand. In 1860 he sold his land and mill to George Derrick, and came to the town of Royalton, where he purchased land and erected a cider plant, which he operated until 1882. In 1871 he erected a second cider plant at Gas- port, which he ran for two years, then rented it for five years to his son, Ira W., after which he again run it for two years, and at the end of that time rented it to Wyancoop and others, who conducted a cider and evaporating business. The first mill at Gas- port burned in 1882, and Mr. Hayner and
John Booth, in the spring of 1883, formed a partnership under the firm name of Hay- ner & Booth, and erected a new plant on the site of the old one. They do a large cider manufacturing, refining, and evaporat- ing business, and have a good trade in many leading cities. Their plant is well arranged for their special lines of work, while their products are first-class in every respect. They employ four men, have an output of fifty barrels a day, when running full time, and have ready sale among a large patronage.
On September 12, 1844, he married Sarah J. Eddy, a member of the Evengelical Lu- theran church, who died March 1, 1878, and two years later, July 1, 1880, he united in marriage with Mrs. Fanny (Sharpsteen ) Young, who was born at Genoa, Cayuga county, June 17, 1822, and is a member of the Universalist church. By his first wife he had a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters : Emma E., married the late Charles S. Day, who died in 1874, and is now the wife of Robert Hopkins, a farmer and horse dealer of the town of Pittsford, Monroe county; Ira W., married Retta MeChestney, and after her death, in 1882, wedded Bertha Bratt, and is now in the employ of Thomas Jackson, of Middleport; Mary M., wife of Louie K. Sawyer, a farmer of Royalton; Ellen J., and Alice E., who are both dead; Nettie M., and Willie A., unmarried, and living at home.
In addition to his large and well-equipped cider plant, Mr. Hayner owns a good farin of one hundred and fifteen acres of well- improved land, which he manages and keeps in a high state of cultivation. He is a strong and pronounced democrat in politics, and during his younger and more active years was a worker for the success of his party. He united, in Rensselaer county, with the
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Evangelieal Lutheran church, of which he is still an active and influential member. He has been prominent and useful in the various Masonie lodges of which he has been a member. He was worshipful master of Cataract Lodge, No. 295, when it was at Reynale's Basin, and was a member of it after its removal to Middleport. He was a member for some time of Hartland Lodge, No. 218, and then became a charter mem- ber and the first worshipful master of Gasport Lodge, No. 787, Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a member of Ames Chapter, No. 88, Royal Areh Masons, of Lockport. Mr. Hayner, while not laeking the spirit of progress, or the energy to rapidly carry for- ward any commercial enterprise, yet is con- servative and safe in his business methods. He has accumulated a competency by due industry and diligence, and is well known for business ability and good judgment in financial matters. He has developed aud built up one of the finest plants of its kind in existenee now in the western part of the State. Its rapid growth and present pros- perous state are tributes to his energy and enterprise, which would win him success in any field of business in which he might embark.
JOHN JACK. Of the many business men distinguished for shaping the lead- ing industries in the city of Lockport, none deserve more credit than John Jack. He is a son of Allen McCaulay and Elizabeth (Matters) Jack, and was born at Lanark- shire, in the town of Airdrie, Scotland, on October 31, 1846. Archibald Jack (grand- father) was the first man that ever, in a business way, took coal from the earth in the western part of Scotland. He obtained
this coal from the estates of Darngavel and Ballochney, and from the year 1800 to 1817 acquired moderate wealth. Allen McCaulay Jaek (father) was also a native of Lanark- shire, Scotland, came to the United States in 1881, and resided with his son until Mareh 8, 1891, when he died, in the eightieth year of his age. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and was buried in Glenwood cemetery. Mrs. Jack never left her native land, and was buried near her honie at Lanarkshire, August 23, 1871, in the fifty-seventh year of her age.
John Jaek was reared in his native town until twenty-four years of age, and received a good praetieal cdueation in the common schools. After leaving school he learned the trade of paper manufacturing, serving six years apprenticeship. In 1872 he set sail for America, eame to Holyoke, Massa- chusetts, and was for twelve years engaged there as a journeyman and superintendent in the paper manufacturing establishment of the Chemical Paper Company. In De- cember, 1884, he came to Lockport, where he and some of the leading capitalists of that place organized the Lockport Paper Company, which has been in successful operation ever since it was formed. This company manufactures all kinds of building and roofing paper, and has a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The mill occupies half a block, has a capacity of ten tons of paper daily, and furnishes employment for thirty men. The officers of the company are: Charles Keep, president; George G. Moss, secretary ; Wallace I. Keep, treasurer; and John Jack, general superintendent.
In South Carolina, December 25, 1875, Mr. Jack married Annie Carroll, of Pol- lockshaws, Scotland. To them have been born five children, one son and four daugh-
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ters : John Allen McCaulay, Jessie, Flora, Nellie, and Agnes.
In his religious views Mr. Jack is a strict Presbyterian, is a republican in politics, and while a resident of Holyoke, Massachusetts, served as a member of the common council. He is an active member of the Lockport Benevolent society, and is a man whose work has added much to the growth and development of his community. He is an active, energetic, and useful citizen, and has been very successful in business life. He is a member of Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar, and a noble of the Mystic Shrine, of Buffalo.
FRANKLIN L. KNAPP, M. D., a leading physician of Niagara county, who has much more than a local reputation, is a son of the Rev. Liscomb and Lucinda (Gay) Knapp, and was born in the town of Phelps, Genesee county, New York, on September 22, 1817. The Knapps are of English extraction, and all of that name in the United States are supposed to be descendants of three brothers, who left En- gland at a very early day, and settled among the mountains of Vermont. In that State the grandfather of Franklin L. Knapp was born, lived, and died. Liscomb Knapp (father) was also born in the Green Moun- tain State. IIe removed from Vermont to Monroe county, New York (where he mar- ried), and in 1836 to the town of Royalton, this county. He located on a farm one mile east of Gasport, near the Erie canal, where the subject of this sketch now re- sides. He was educated in the common schools of Vermont, and after completing his course in school, began preparing for the ministry. In that day his advantages
were few, but by careful reading and hard study he succeeded, was admitted to the ministry of the Universalist church, and began his labors in Monroe county while yet a young man. He was one of the pioneer preachers of that section, and also of Niagara county, and frequently, while traveling as an itinerant minister among the wilds of western New York, he journeyed from place to place on foot. In that early day the people would go to preaching through the woods-roads being a later development-carrying their shoes in their hands until near the church, when they would stop and don their foot-gear, and do what they could to make themselves pre- sentable. They were then too poor to build churches, and generally met for church purposes in the little log school houses, which were such an important feature in early pioneer days. In case of sickness or death, they would send many miles for a preacher to administer consolation, and he would be expected to attend promptly, no matter how great the distance or inclement the weather, and without even a thought of compensation. This experience often came into the life of Rev. Liscomb Knapp. He married Lucinda Gay, and had a family of four sons and one danghter.
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The father of Mrs. Knapp was James Gay, a native of Vermont, who removed to Monroe county, New York, and located in the town of Riga, being among the original settlers of that section. At that time there were only three houses in what is now the busy city of Rochester. By occupation Mr. Gay was a farmer. He served in the Revo- lutionary war as a private under General Putnam, and was with that general on the retreat in which Putnam made his famous ride down the flight of stone steps. Mr. Gay
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P. S. Knapp, M.K.
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
was a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, and married and reared a family of two sons and four daughters. One of his sons, Thomas Gay, served in the war of 1812 as a private, being called out with his com- pany, and serving under the direct command of General Brock, at Queenstown Heights. In that battle Mr. Gay's clothes were cut by bullets, but he escaped without a scratch. James Gay died at his home, in the town of Riga, Monroe county, at the great age of ninety-two years-almost a centenarian- and greatly beloved and respected by his neighbors and friends.
Franklin L. Knapp received his early education in the common schools of Monroe county, and after removing to Niagara county with his parents, he attended the Royalton academy for three terms. In 1844 he entered the Geneva Medical col- lege, attending one term, where he received his certificate to practice, and in the follow- ing year he commenced the practice of medicine at Geneseo, New York, as a homeopathist. He had been thins engaged for one year, and was building up a good business, when the death of his father made it necessary for him to return to Niagara county. After his location at Gasport, Dr. Knapp resumed his practice of the healing art, and has continued it very successfully to the present time. He has always been an earnest student, keeps abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to his pro- fession, and takes rank among the leading practitioners of the county. He was a prominent member of the Homeopathic Medical society of Orleans and Niagara counties for a number of years, during which he served as one of their examining board, and retained his membership until that society dissolved, in 1885.
On March 22, 1866, Dr. Knapp was wed- ded to Phobe M., daughter of William and Abbie (Marshall) Brownell, of Hartland. To their union has been given one child, a daughter, named Mary E., who was born September 15, 1867. Mrs. Knapp's father, William Brownell, removed from Rhode Island to Washington county, New York, when a young man. There he was married to Abbie Marshall, by whom he had eleven children, three sons and eight daughters. By occupation he was a farmer, in politics a whig and later a republican, and in re- ligion a Friend, or Quaker, at the time of his deatlı. He was called out for service in the war of 1812, but about the time he reached the front, peace was declared. In 1833 he removed from Seneca county, whither he had gone from Washington county, and located at Hartland, this county, where he resided until his death, which occurred while he was on a visit to his daugh- ter, Mrs. Dr. William Ring, of Buffalo.
In political sentiment Dr. Knapp was a democrat until 1849, when he became a free soiler, and later a republican, taking an active part in the organizing of the Repub- lican party in Niagara county, and especially in the town of Royalton. He has given that party an active support ever since, and has frequently declined offiec when proffered by his party in recognition of personal worth and party services.
J ULIUS FREHSEE. One regarded as an authority upon civil engineering in Niagara county is Julius Frehsee, city sur- veyor of Lockport. He was born in the Grand Dukedom of Mecklenburg Schwerin, Germany, December 16, 1835, and is a son of Elizabeth (Bush) Frehsee. His paternal
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grandfather, Frederick Frehsee, was a na- tive and life-long resident of Germany. He wooed and won a lady of noble birth whose people objected to her choice, and he sought the aid of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin, whose intercession brought about the marriage at which the grand duke pre- sented the lady with a diamond ring, which is now in the possession of the subject of this sketch. Frederick Frehsee was a large landholder and an influential man in the community where he resided. He reared a family of two sons and two daughters. One of his sons was William Frehsce (father), who was born in 1801, in Germany, where he died seventy-three years later, after he had passed three milestones beyond man's allotted threc-score and ten years. He was a farmer by occupation, and married Eliza- beth Bush, by whom he had five children : Elizabeth, who died in Germany ; Charlotte, who still resides in her native land ; Julius, and William and Peter, who are both dead. The other son, Frederick, was elected three terms to the Prussian House of Commons in Berlin, and distinguished himself as one of the stanchest supporters of the law giv- ing equal civil rights to the Jews, which finally was passed during his term of office.
Julius Frehsee received his education in the noted Dantzic academy, and while attending that institution of learning, in 1851, he was one of the favored few who beheld the total eclipse of the sun that year, which excited so much fear in the minds of some, and with other pupils as- sisted Professor Strehlke in making his astronomical calculations pertaining to that event. He also qualified himself for the profession of civil engineering and came, in 1867, to the United States, where he was a resident of Chicago, Illinois, for six
months. He then came to Lockport where he has resided ever since, and successfully followed his profession.
On July 20th, 1869, he married Ella Klein, daughter of Magdalene Klein, and has six children : Ella, William, Julius, Jr., Emma, Henry, and Marie.
Julius Frehsee is a democrat in political opinion, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. He has, since coming to this country, been continuously and ac- tively engaged in the work of his profession of civil engineering. He spent two years in making a complete and accurate survey of Buffalo, New York, and the assessor's maps of that city were constructed from his work. He was chief engineer of the contemplated Lockport & Northern railway and the Ni- agara Shore Terminal railroad. He has been engaged in various other important surveys and railroad work, and has served for sixteen years as city surveyor of Lock- port. He has also been frequently em- ployed in dividing up large estates, one of which was that of the late Albert H. Porter, of Niagara Falls village. In addition to natural ability and a thorough course in engineering, Mr. Frehsee has given that time and attention to his profession which has made him proficient in all of its branches.
R EV. FRANK P. HARRINGTON, A. M., a popular divine of the Episcopal church, and for the past ten years chaplain of De Veaux college, at Suspension Bridge, is a son of Dr. Delos W. and Ann (Phillips) Harrington, and was born at Akron, Erie county, New York, on April 26, 1853. Ilis grandfather was Spencer Harrington, (for- merly spelled Herington), who was a native of Otsego county, this State, and removed
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to Erie county in the early years of this century, where he died in 1858, aged sixty- five years. He was a farmer, also engaging in other business, and married Polly Evans, by whom he had a family of five sons and one daughter. One of these sons was Delos W. Harrington, M. D. (father), who was born at Akron, this State, and after prac- ticing medicine at various places, located at Lockport, this county, in 1867, where he practiced successfully for twenty years, and where he died October 11, 1889, aged fifty- six years. He received his medical educa- tion at the Buffalo Medical college, being graduated from that institution in 1862, after which he was engaged in regular prac- tice to the time of his death. In polities he was a democrat of the Jacksonian school, always active and earnest in the defense of his party's principles, and served one or two terms as exciseman at Lockport, and was a police inspector in the second ward at Lock- port for some time. Dr. Harrington mar- ried Aun Phillips, and their only child was Frank P. Harrington, the subject of this sketch.
Frank P. Harrington received his early education in the Union school of Lockport, and in 1869 entered Hobart college, at Gen- eva, this State, from which he was grad- uated in the classical course with the class of 1873, standing sixth in his class, and re- ceiving the degree of B. A. Three years later he was awarded the degree of A. M. by the same institution. In his sophomore year he took the Latin prize, and in his senior year was awarded the president's classical prize. Soon after graduation he went to Indianapolis, Indiana, in the em- ploy of the United States Express Company, and remained in this position for two years. At the end of that time he became a candi-
date for orders in the Episcopal church, diocese of Indiana, and entered the Nasho- tah Theological seminary in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, from which institution he was graduated in 1878, taking the Greek prize in the middle year and receiving the degree of B. D. on graduation. He was or- dained deacon in 1878, and placed in charge of St. John's church at Crawfordsville, Indi- ana, and in 1879 was ordained to the priest- hood. After serving there for two years his health failed, and he was compelled to abandon his work and return to New York, and served as supply in various parishes until his appointment as chaplain in De- Veaux college, at Suspension Bridge, in January, 1882, which position he has now occupied for a period of ten years. He was elected to membership in the Phi Beta Kappa society in 1881, and is known as a close student and original thinker. He is also a fine speaker and a pleasant gentle- man, and very popular among a large circle of admiring friends and acquaintances.
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