History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 49

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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In the struggle of 1860 he took the middle ground, sup- porting the Douglas ticket, but afterwards, when the country was threatened with dissolution and disintegration, his whole energy and efforts were at once and unhesitatingly thrown in favor of any and every sacrifice-to the last man and dollar-for the maintenance of the supremacy and integrity of the Union.

He was, in the early part of 1863, offered a special con- sulate by the lamented Lincoln, at Liege, Belgium,-a city of over 100,000 inhabitants, manufacturing almost exclu- sively arms. This he accepted, and was commissioned under date of Feb. 19, 1863, and was accredited by Leopold, King of the Belgians, which position he held until there was no further need of such consular service.

In the spring of 1867 he was elected one of four from the Thirty-second Senatorial District as a member of the convention to revise and amend the constitution. The convention met on the first of June, and continued in ses- sion, having two recesses, until the last day of the next February.

The convention took high rank as a learned, laborious, and painstaking body. Almost all its important provisions have since been adopted, becoming a part of the funda- mental law.

The Van Campens have been for generations Dutch Re- formed or Presbyterian. Such was the religious denomi- national conditions surrounding his early years, to which he recurs with pride and gratitude.

Although such have been his highly-prized associations, yet in no element of his nature is he sectarian, holding firmly to that catholic declaration, that "in every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him;" and, as the sum of Christian philosophy, that "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."

Finally, the inspirations of his nearly fifty years of active life have not been riches or honor, but those fields offering the greatest opportunity of usefulness, and the labors and duties the most difficult, were to him the most attractive.

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In the various departments of business none require more tact and energy or a closer application than that of which W. H. Mandeville is pre-eminently the representative in this vicinity. The difficulties in the way of success in this line of business are manifold, and to many insurmountable. Among the greatest of these is the competition that characterizes all branches of insurance, which, by unscrupulous and finan- cially worthless companies, is carried to such an extent that it requires the finest sort of executive ability, coupled with shrewdness and an indomitable will, to accomplish results even bordering on success. Therefore, when we encounter a man who has achieved not only more than ordinary success, but also a creditable and extended reputation, it is nothing less than his due to place him in a prominent position among the very best business men in the community in which he lives. Such a position we unhesitatingly assign the subject of this sketch.

William H. Mandeville was born at Millport, Chemung Co., N. Y., Aug. 15, 1841. He is the son of John D. Mande- ville, for some years a prominent merchant, and latterly a well-known insurance agent, who died in Olean, in 1867. In 1847, Mr. Mandeville removed with his parents to New York City, and from thence to Belmont, Allegany Co., in 1851. At the public schools of these two places he obtained what little of literary education he ever had, except a brief period at an academy. The requisite general commercial knowledge he has gained by observation and practical application, and by the same means has also added materially to his literary attainments. In 1858 he went to Almond, and entered the mercantile establishment of H. W. Crandall, where he re- mained for about one year. Returning to Belmont, he entered the store of John Thompson, with whom he stayed two years. In June, 1861, he removed to Hornellsville, and engaged with Martin . Adsit, a prominent merchant of that place. This engagement terminated in 1868, and he returned to Belmont and became associated with his father in the insurance busi- ness, under the firm-style of J. D. Mandeville & Son. In 1865 they removed to Olean, where they continued a success- ful and growing business jointly until 1866, when the firm

became J. D. Mandeville & Sons, and so continued till the death of the senior partner, which, as before stated, occurred in 1867. The business was afterwards continued under the name of Mandeville Bros. In September, 1869, his brother retired from the firm, since which W. H. Mandeville has conducted the business alone. He now does the most extensive insurance business in Western New York. He represents fifteen com- panies, the financial solidity of which is above cavil or doubt. Of this, the promptitude with which they pay their losses is a sufficient guarantee. Mr. Mandeville has paid out for losses by fire more than half a million of dollars, and in the thirteen years he has been doing business in this vicinity he has had but three contested losses, and they were dishonest ones, as one was proven to be at the time; and subsequent develop- ments in the other two showed his status in the suits to have been correct. The Cattaraugus County Board of Under- writers, recognizing Mr. Mandeville's aptitude for the posi- tion, elected him their president, which office he has since retained. He was also chosen to the same position in the Mckean County ( Penna.) Board, and served with eminent satisfaction. At the organization of the Olean Library Asso- ciation, he was elected secretary; in 1873 he was chosen presi- dent; elected to the same office again in 1875, 1877, and 1878, now occupying the position for the fourth time. In 1876 he was made Chairman of the Centennial Committee of Arrange- ments for the Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Independence. In 1877 he was elected Chief of the Olean Fire Department, and re-elected in 1878.

On the 22d of August, 1872, he married Miss Helen L. Eastman, daughter of W. W. Eastman, Esq. They have one son, "the image of his father" and the joy of the household.

Mr. Mandeville is comparatively a young man, who has much of his life's history yet to make. We can say of him, however, and that, too, without undue praise, that he pos- sesses the requisite qualifications for a successful business man, -tact, energy, industry, and, above all, unswerving personal integrity. These, joined to a commendable ambition, never fail of the most flattering ultimate results.

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Photo. by Winsor & Whipple, Olean.

GEORGE W. DICKINSON.

The subject of this sketch was born in Jerusalem, Yates Co., N. Y., Nov. 14, 1847. After receiving the rudiments of his education at a common school, he entered the Penn Yan Academy, in his native county, where he remained two years. He then, in the year 1863, laid aside text-books and engaged as an apprentice in the office of the Yates County Chronicle, S. C. Cleveland, publisher.

In March, 1864, he entered the office of the Angelica Reporter, then published at Angelica, Allegany Co., and the following year became an equal partner with his brother, C. F. Dickinson, in the publication of that paper. In No- vember, 1870, he became sole editor and proprietor of the Angelica Reporter, and soon after removed the office to Belmont, the " hub" of Allegany County, at the same time changing the name of the paper to The Allegany County Reporter, thereby enlarging its sphere of usefulness.

Jan. 1, 1872, he purchased the office of The Olean Times, and published The Allegany County Reporter and The Olean Times in conjunction until 1874, when he disposed of the Reporter establishment to a stock company, retain- ing one-half interest, and filling the station of editor-in- chief.

The same year a consolidation was effected with the Wellsville Times, and the enlarged and improved Allegany County Reporter made its first appearance in Wellsville, January 21 of that year, where it is still published, under the same title.

In 1875 he fitted and furnished the office of the North- ern Tier Reporter, at Port Allegany, now successfully oper- ated by A. J. Hughes, editor and proprietor.

In July, 1875, he disposed of his interest in The Alle- gany County Reporter to Enos W. Barnes, since which time The Olean Times has received his personal attention, occupying foremost rank in the field of country journalism. 23

As a citizen, Mr. Dickinson has an honorable reputation, and his course as editor and publisher has been such as to entitle him to the thorough confidence and respect reposed in him wherever his lot has been cast.

He became a member of the Masonic fraternity at Bel- fast, N. Y., in 1869, and has attained the rank of J. W. in St. John's Commandery, No. 24, of Knights Templar. He is also a member in good standing of Crescent Lodge, No. 60, A. O. U. W.

NELSON S. BUTLER.

The most pleasurable duty of the biographer is to narrate the principal events in the career of a self-made man, to follow step by step the various interests that, by persistent labor and unremitting energy, have been brought to a suc- cessful issue. As in the life of a nation, so in that of an individual, the march of progress is slow, but when founded upon the basis of integrity is sure of ultimate triumph, to the admiration of the world on the one hand, and to that of a community on the other. In the salient points in the life and character of Mr. Butler are presented many features alike worthy of notice and of imitation.

Nelson S. Butler comes of New England origin, and both of his grandfathers served in the Revolutionary war, both participating in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was born in the town of Sanford, Broome Co., N. Y., Oct. 7, 1829. His preliminary education was received in a select school kept by a Miss Shipman at Binghamton, whither his parents had moved when he was about four years of age. He afterwards attended the public schools, and sub- sequently completed his studies under Prof. William Gates, the well-known educator of Maine, Broome Co., this State, to which place his parents removed about the year 1837. Mr. Butler left school in the spring of 1845.

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Alexander Butler, the father of he of whom we write, was a tanner by trade, and later in life became a farmer. He was originally from Connecticut, but immediately from Otsego Co., N. Y. He was a man of eminent respectability, and by example and precept inculcated into the minds of his children the importance and imperative necessity of habits of industry and morality. His mother came from the good old Massachusetts family of Tarbell, and was a lady of great force of character, and admirably aided her husband in the correct training of their children. Under these influences young Butler developed into a steady and industrious youth, and the benefits of his early bringing up have been eminently instrumental in shaping his subsequent career.

It was on the 12th of November, 1845, that N. S. But- ler, then in his seventeenth year, embarked on the sea of life, his first active employment being in the mercantile establishment of H. P. Badger, at Painted Post, Steuben Co., N. Y. In this position he remained until the spring of 1852. During his clerkship he acquired a great deal of practical business knowledge, and by economy saved a small amount of money. When he attained his majority, which was during his engagement with Mr. Badger, he tendered to his father his savings up to that period ($150), as was the custom with dutiful youth in those days, but his father declined to accept it, telling his son to keep it as a portion of his first capital.

In 1852, Mr. Butler removed to Olean, and entered the store of the Smith Brothers, with whom he remained two years. At this time (1854) he had accumulated $875, with which, and some credit,-which he could readily get, for his honesty and steady habits were well known,-he purchased the stock of goods of C. H. Thing, and entered a copartnership with F. P. Thing, a brother of the former. This business connection lasted three years, when it was dissolved by the retirement of Mr. Thing. In 1857 he entered into copartnership with C. H. Thing, who also con- ducted a small banking business. During this year the store occupied by N. S. Butler & Co. was destroyed by fire, as also was a large portion of the business part of the vil- lage. Nothing daunted by this calamity, they erected a shanty store on the public square with a promptitude and dispatch that was creditable to their enterprise. Here they conducted a thriving trade until 1860, the major portion of the business being transacted by Mr. Butler, his partner's attention being required in his banking institution. During the winter of 1859-60, Mr. Butler purchased the old Petrie store, which, with his characteristic energy, he set about remodeling and enlarging. It occupied a part of the site of his present fine store building, erected by him in 1866. At the termination of the partnership of Butler & Thing (doing business under the firm-style of N. S. Butler & Co.), a copartnership consisting of N. S. Butler, Dr. A. Blake, and L. W. Gifford was formed under the old title. In the spring of 1861, Dr. Blake sold his interest to C. R. Haw- ley, one of the clerks of the concern, and the business was continued under the latter arrangement two years, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, and the business was conducted by. Mr. Butler alone until August, 1866, when he associated with him H. C. Miller, one of his former

clerks. The style of the firm was then changed to Butler & Miller, and so continued until 1872, when Mr. Miller retired and removed to Williamsport, Pa. In the spring of 1872, Mr. Butler took Messrs. William H. Stenson and F. C. Burlingham, two of his clerks, into partnership with him. In the spring of 1876 Mr. Stenson retired, and the business of the establishment was continued by the remain- ing partners until Sept. 4, 1878, when Mr. Burlingham disposed of his interest to Mr. Butler, who continues the business alone. In the fall of 1865, in connection with C. R. Hawley, he established a dry-goods store at Bay City, Michigan, under the firm-name of C. R. Hawley & Co., and in the winter of 1872 started a branch store at that place, under the style of F. A. Bancroft & Co., and in the fall of 1878 established a branch store at Alpena, Mich., under the firm-name of C. R. Hawley & Co.

On the 26th of August, 1857, Mr. Butler married Miss Elizabeth A., daughter of Aaron Wade, of Portland, Chau- tauqua Co., N. Y. They have an interesting family of three children,-two sons and one daughter. In religious affilia- tion Mr. Butler is a member of the Presbyterian Church, having united with the church of that denomination at Painted Post in 1851, and by letter with the First Pres- byterian Church of Olean in 1852. The first year of his connection with the church at Olean he was elected super- intendent of the Sabbath-school, which position he filled faithfully and well for fifteen years. He was re-elected to the same office in 1873, and elected each year successively until 1877, when he declined. In the fall of 1869 he was chosen an elder of the church, and has been elected each term since. In 1874 he received a certificate from the Normal Department of the Chautauqua Sunday-school Assembly, which was a fitting recognition of his proficiency as a Sunday-school teacher.

Mr. Butler never aspired to any political distinction, his time and energy being required in his extensive business operations. The only office he ever accepted was that of village trustee, which he filled with fidelity to the best in- terests and to the satisfaction of the tax payers. He was mainly instrumental in the establishment of the Bank of Olean, now the First National Bank of Olcan, of which he has been vice-president since its organization.

During the war of the Rebellion the patriotism of Mr. Butler naturally led his sympathies on the side of the Union. In 1861 his partner, L. W. Gifford, enlisted, and was promoted captain in the Bucktail Regiment of North- ern Pennsylvania, and three of his clerks also enlisted, leaving it impracticable for him to go to the front. But he gave freely of his means, and sent a substitute to repre- sent him in the conflict, and his entire support and assis- tance was rendered in behalf of the Union Government.

Mr. Butler is now one of the best business men in the county. His industry and enterprise are widely known. His success is due to his own exertions, and the uncom- promising spirit of personal integrity that has actuated every movement in his business career. Possessing sound judg- ment, perfect knowledge of commercial transactions, and a determination to be eclipsed by no competitor, he stands to-day pre-eminently at the head of the mercantile business of Cattaraugus County. He has a true sense of moral

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obligation, and a due and unswerving faith in providential interposition in the affairs of mankind; hence his domestic as well as business life is above reproach, and as such a record of it ought to be preserved to posterity.

JOHN L. EDDY. M.D ..

was born in Rutland Co., Vt., Nov. 27, 1829. He is the son of Deacon John C. Eddy, who was a native of Rutland, Vt. He received his preliminary education at Ludlow Academy, Vermont, and his medical studies were first com- menced at the Pittsfield ( Massachusetts) Medical College, , and subsequently at a similar institution at Castleton, Vt., from the latter of which he was graduated, with honors, in

Photo. by Winsor & Whipple, Olean. JOHN L. EDDY, M.D.

June, 1854. The year prior to his graduation he spent in the office of the celebrated surgeon Middleton Goldsmith, M.D., LL.D., of Castleton. In 1854 he entered a medical partnership with J. M. Copp, M.D., at Machias, Cattaraugus Co., whither he had removed in August of that year. In 1857 he removed to Allegany, this county, and ten years later to Olean. He has practiced his profession in this county for nearly a quarter of a century with marked suc- cess, and now enjoys as extensive a practice as any physician within its limits.

On the 1st of November, 1855, he was united in mar- rige with Miss Elvire L., daughter of William Loomis, a prominent farmer and politician of Machias. They have had five children, of whom three-two daughters and one son-survive.

Dr. Eddy entered politics as a Republican, at the organi- zation of that party, in 1854, and has since remained an advocate and supporter of its principles. He has never allowed his name to be put forward for political preferment, rather choosing to devote his time and attention to his pro- fession. Like all patriotic men and good citizens, however, he has taken an interest in local politics, and has evinced

an intelligent consideration for the success of his party. In 1876 he was elected president of the corporation of Olean, to which office he has been twice re-elected. Prior to this he was one of the trustees of the village, and is now a member of its board of education. In these various posi- tions, Dr. Eddy has striven to faithfully discharge the duties incumbent upon him, and that he has succeeded is shown by the general popularity he enjoys with all classes of the people.

At the reorganization of the Cattaraugus County Medical Society he became one of its members, which connection he has since maintained. In religious belief, Dr. Eddy is a Bap- tist, of which society he is an active and zealous member. For a number of years he held the office of trustee in the society, besides other positions in the church government.

As a physician and surgeon, Dr. Eddy stands at the head of his profession in Western New York. He has been a careful student, and has kept pace with the advance- ment in medicine and surgery that has marked the period in which he has practiced. He is rapid and sure in diagnosis, careful in the application of remedial aid, and being of a genial and kindly disposition, his conduct in the sick-chamber is characterized by a gentleness of manner and cheerfulness of mien that is oftentimes as efficacious as medical skill itself. As a neighbor, friend, and citizen, Dr. Eddy bears an irreproachable reputation, and as a Christian he is noted for his charity and benevolence.

HON. C. V. B. BARSE.

Among the truly representative men of Cattaraugus County, few, if any, have been more intimately associated with the material development of the county than has Hon. C. V. B. Barse, and none occupy a more prominent position in commercial circles, deservedly so, than he. His life offers a marvelous example of what well-directed energy and personal integrity can accomplish, and as such is worthy the emulation of others.

C. V. B. Barse was born in Manchester, Ontario Co., N. Y., Dec. 11, 1817. He received his education at the public schools of his native town, and at the Penn Yan Academy. His first business occupation was as a clerk in the hardware-store of Morgan & Smith, of Penn Yan, in whose employ he remained about three years. He subse- quently filled a similar position in the store of Wood & Seymour, of Geneva, and continued in the capacity of a clerk until he attained his majority. He then left Newark, Wayne Co., N. Y., where he was last thus employed, and came to Franklinville, this county, where he embarked in the general mercantile business on his own account, remain- ing in that business venture uninterruptedly until 1851. As showing the spirit of enterprise he always possessed, we mention the fact that, while engaged in the hardware busi- ness, he thoroughly mastered the tinner's trade, and became quite an expert mechanic. In 1848 he established a branch store at Olean, and on the opening of the New York and Erie Railroad, in 1851, he came himself to this village, and enlarged and otherwise extended his business.

During his residence at Franklinville he became ao- quainted with, and, on the 7th of September, 1841, mar-

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ried, Miss Mary H., daughter of Aaron Wade, a prominent and respectable farmer of that town. This union has been blessed with three children, namely : Frances L., born June 20, 1844, married D. C. Lefevre, an extensive leather mer- chant of Albany ; Mills Wagner, born Dec. 6, 1846; Wil- liam Claude, born March 11, 1855; the latter of whom is deceased. His son, Mills W. Barse, is now the cashier and one of the directors of the Exchange National Bank, and is quite an active business man.

In 1864, Mr. Barse visited Bay City, Mich., and while there saw a favorable opportunity to establish a hardware- store, which he did in connection with H. S. Morris, now vice-president of the Exchange National Bank, at Olean. They conducted this business with satisfactory success for five years, during four of which Mills W. Barse represented his father's interest in the store.

In 1868 he received the Republican nomination and was elected to the State Legislature, and served in that position to his personal credit and to the general satisfaction of his constituents. We quote the subjoined touching his political life, from an article written by Colonel James T. Henry, who was, perhaps, the most impartial and best informed political writer of the county :

" We never regarded Mr. Barse as a successful politician. He had all the requisite ability to become a conspicuous leader, but, whether from timidity or an aversion to the ways and modes of politicians, we never clearly understood. We always gave him credit for an obstinate contempt for the tricks and devious manipulations of the active managers of his party in dealing out political preferment. His first political office-that of the Loan Commissioner of the county-was conferred upon him by Governor John Young, in 1847. He was subsequently re-appointed by Governor Hamilton Fish, and thus held this important position for four years. He discharged his duties faithfully, honestly, and well. Mr. Barse was appointed the first Canal Collector at Olean, in 1857.

" As member of the Assembly, in 1869, he took high rank as an incorruptible legislator, free from every suspicion of jobbery or class legislation. The two years he was in the Assembly-for he was re-elected-' The Tweed Ring' reigned supreme. All the measures for robbing the city of New York were perfected and became laws ; but Mr. Barse opposed them all. While hundreds of thousands of dollars were prodigally paid to members of the House and Senate for their support given to these plundering enactments, Mr. Barse voted steadily with the minority against them. He obtained prominence as a conscientious, upright law-maker, absolutely free from taint of corruption or the suspicion of it. During his service in the Legislature he was a member of the committee of ways and means, and notwithstanding the fact that the House was the second year Democratic, he retained his position on that committee, a very sure evidence of his fidelity to his duties thereon. After the close of his second term in the Assembly he retired to private life. In 1871 he was nominated by an irregularly-constituted senatorial convention for senator, and declined it ; why, we have never been able to ascertain. Judge Allen D. Scott was nomi- nated by the same convention, and by the same vote given Mr. Barse, and was elected."

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 49

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: