USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 11
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Jane A., of whom further note is made hereinafter. 2. Isabelle, who died in infancy. 3. J. Marvin, who volunteered with patriotic zeal in the hour of his country's need, and as a member of the famous 112th New York Regiment, Company A, served in many engagements and battles, finally giving up his life for his country; he died as the result of wounds received in the last of the many battles of the Chickahominy river, the battle of Cold Harbor, which was fought on June 3, 1864. his death occurring twelve days later. 4. Charles K., well known in later life in Falconer. 5. Alice M., of whom more is written later.
Jane A. Arthur, eldest child and daughter of Robert and Parmelia (Smith) Arthur, was born in the Arthur family homestead, at The Rapids, now Falconer, April 22, 1835. She manifested intellectual aptitude in her youth, and having received a public school education, and in other ways by studious private application, prepared herself for academic life, she became a teacher in Chautauqua county schools. For three
years prior to her marriage she was a member of the teaching staffs of the schools of Ellicott and Carroll townships. Her career as an educator ended when she married Willard Cass, who also was one of those that eventually gave their lives to their country in the Civil War. Willard Cass was born in Carroll township, Chautauqua county, N. Y., Oct. 25, 1827, son of Pliney and Dorothy (Smith) Cass, and when he reached manhood he followed the general occupations of the worthy pioneers, farming and lumbering. He was married to Jane A. Arthur, at Falconer, July 4, 1855. At the outbreak of the Civil War he, a true patriot, whole heartedly with the cause of the Union, offered his services in military capacity, notwithstanding that he was married and had children. He was rejected ; three years later, when the tide seemed to be running against the Union, he again volunteered and was enrolled in Company A, 112th New York Regiment of Volunteers, the regiment being under the command of Colonel Jeremiah Drake, and his immediate com- pany commander being Captain John F. Smith. While the unit was being transported by steamer to Florida, Willard Cass contracted disease, and was taken to Hilton Head, S. C., where he succumbed to the sickness, in May, 1864, and was there buried. To Willard and Jane A. (Arthur) Cass were born three children: I. Alice M .. who eventually married Edward E. Water- house; she died in Cleveland, Ohio, but her body was brought to Falconer and interred in the family plot in Pine Hill Cemetery; she was the mother of two children : Arlene, who married Harry I. Ginter, of Du Bois, Pa .; and Florence, who married Dwight Brynard, of Cleveland, Ohio. 2. Lydia J., who married Alexan- der McDonald, of Sugargrove, Pa., to whom she bore two children: Jessie, who is now the wife of William T. Addenbrook, of Pittsburgh; and Grace, who married Ray Lovejoy, of Jamestown, N. Y. 3. Dora, deceased.
Mrs. Jane A. (Arthur) Cass has spent practically her entire life in Falconer, where she still resides, and has been active in many phases of public and community life during the last half century. Of intellectual attain- ments, and strong character, she has had much part in the woman's phase of public work in her own com- munity, and has gained a definite place of respect among the leading residents of her native place. She was for many years a member of the Woman's Relief Corps of Kennedy, N. Y., and an honored member of the Auxiliary Union Veterans' Legion, of Jamestown. By religious conviction she has of late years given adherence to the Church of Christ, Scientist.
Alice M. (Arthur) Simmons, youngest child of Robert and Parmelia (Smith) Arthur, and widow of Lester A. Simmons, a Civil War veteran of honored memory, was born in Jamestown, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1843. As a girl she attended the district school of Falconer, and later went to Jamestown to take the high school course. She eventually became a graduate of the high school, and for fifteen years thereafter was in the teaching profession. She gave up her professional occupation so that she might attend to her father's needs in his declining years, after the death of her mother. However, Dec. 4, 1878, in Falconer, she married Lester A. Simmons, a native of Poland township, Chautauqua
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county, born May 20, 1842, the son of Russel and Mary (Rice) Simmons, the former a prosperous farmer of that place. After leaving school, Lester A. assisted his father in the operation of the home farm at Poland until the outbreak of the Civil War, in fact, until the second year of its continuance. He was not of age when he enlisted, July 28, 1862, but his father could not or would not hold him back; therefore at that time he was enrolled in Company A, 112th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and during all the campaigns and battles in which that regiment partici- pated from that time until the end of the war Lester A. Simmons took part, being eventually given an honorable discharge on June 15, 1865. Returning to his home State and county, he took industriously to farming in Poland, entering to some extent into lumbering also. In 1878 he purchased a property in Falconer, in which village from that year until his death he made his home and took active part in public affairs. He was popular in the district, and for eight years was tax collector. For many years also he was a member of the Falconer police force. He was a member of the Ross Grange, was a Republican of active interest, and had honored association with organ- izations of patriotic character, constituted by veterans of the Civil War, amongst them the Union Veterans League of Jamestown, and the 112th Regimental Asso- ciation. His death occurred in Falconer, Dec. 12, 1902, his body being interred in Pine Hill Cemetery. Practically since that time Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Cass, sisters, and widows of veterans of the Civil War, have resided together in Falconer. Like her sister, Mrs. Simmons has had prominent part in women's activities in Falconer and vicinity, is a mental scientist, and a member of the Auxiliary Union Veterans' Legion, of Jamestown. She is highly regarded in Falconer for her good qualities and kindly disposition, and she was much devoted to her husband and her home. The sisters are worthy representatives of a family which had noteworthy connection with the early days of Chautauqua county, N. Y.
DR. CHARLES EDGAR WELCH-The vast organization of the Welch Grape Juice Company, with home offices in Westfield, N. Y., and headed by Dr. Charles Edgar Welch, has the foundation of its far-reaching prosperity and usefulness in one of Chau- tauqua county's great enterprises, the grape industry. This great company, shipping its products to all countries of the globe and carrying the name of the locality more widely than any other single article there manufactured, is the result of the vision, organizing power, and industry of Drs. Welch, father and son. The story of the growth and development of the business from a neighborhood business to a world- wide enterprise is outlined in the following pages, containing the life story of Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch and Dr. Charles Edgar Welch.
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Thomas Bramwell Welch was born in Glastonbury, England, and at the age of six years was brought to the United States by his parents. After attending the public schools he entered Syracuse University, and was graduated from that institution with the degree of
Doctor of Medicine. He practiced medicine for time, then studied dentistry, and for twenty years fol- lowed the latter profession, also conducting a dental supply business in Philadelphia. Then came his activity in the manufacture of grape juice, and his subsequent retirement from business and professional affairs several years before his death, Dec. 29, 1903. He married Lucy M. Hutt, who was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., and died April 30, 1894.
Charles Edgar Welch was born in Watertown, N. Y., March 2, 1852, and in 1856 Winona, Minn., became the family home. He was a student in the public schools there until Dr. Welch made his home in Vineland, N. J., where his studies were completed in the high school. In his father's dental office Charles E. Welch learned dentistry, and for several years followed this calling in Washington, D. C., and New Jersey. He withdrew from general practice to become associated with his father in the dental supply business in Philadelphia, but after five years returned to his profession. In 1893 he once more discontinued dental work, and never reëntered that field.
The beginning of the Welch manufacture of grape juice came in 1869, when father and son first made it in the kitchen of their home. Their neighborhood was their first market, and although the early profits were small they were kept intact. A ready patronage built up a business of dimensions too large to be considered merely a side line, and in 1893 both relinquished pro- fessional connections and devoted themselves entirely to the making of grape juice. In 1897, after a careful survey of the field and a consideration of the possibil- ities of grape juice manufacture, they established their first factory in Westfield, Chautauqua county, N. Y. Even in the year of the erection of the first huilding, additions became necessary, and in 1899, 1901, and 1903, there were successive enlargements. The present
larger factory at Westfield dates from 1906, and in 1910 the fine office building on Westfield's principal business corner was built. To reach other sources of supply with a minimum of expense and inconvenience, a plant was erected in 1911 at Northeast, N. Y, and others followed, St. Catharine, Ontario, Canada, 1914, and at Lawton, Mich., 1918. In all the plants of the company the same high standards of manufacture have been maintained, and under absolutely hygienic con- ditions, ideal from the viewpoint of employees and consumers, a beverage of unsurpassed popularity is produced. The growth of the company's business and the place the organization has taken among enterprises contributing to the enjoyment and happiness of the general public cannot be measured by the merely physical fact of building progress. The sales depart- ment that has been built up, the advertising campaigns that have acquainted the country with the Welch product, and the great publicity drives that have made Welch's Grape Juice a national and international institution, are the departments of the business over which Dr. Welch has presided with strong, able leader- ship, and which have made for the present prosperity of the company.
Since 1897, Dr. Welch has heen a resident of West- field, and in all community affairs he has taken an active, interested part. He has long been identified with the
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prohibition movement, and in 1916 was his party's can- didate for Governor of New York. For six or more terms he has been elected unanimously mayor of West- field, an office that was first conferred upon him during his absence at his winter home. In religious, as in civic affairs, Dr. Welch is prominent. He is presi- dent of the board of trustees and vice-president of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Westfield, and for twenty-one years has been superin- tendent of the Sunday school of that church. He participates in the larger work of the church as a member of the board of foreign missions of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in educational matters, as a trustee of Allegheny College, the Chau- tauqua Institution, and the Illinois Women's College. Many good works of charity and philanthropy claim Dr. Weich's generous support, always extended as quietly as it is willingly.
Dr. Welch has travelled extensively in his own and foreign countries, and is an enthusiastic amateur photographer, recording many of the scenes he visited with his camera, and in some instances taking views from aeroplanes. The pressure of his business interests leaves him little time for outside connections and asso- ciations. He spends the winter seasons in Florida or California, most frequently the former place.
Dr. Welch married (first) Nov. 12, 1879, Jennie Ross, of Camden, N. J., who died March 22, 1884, (second) June 16, 1885, Julia Frailey, of Philadelphia. Children of his first marriage: I. Edgar Thomas, born Jan. 22, 1881; educated in the public schools of New Jersey; now vice-president and secretary of the Weich Grape Tuice Company; married Grace Harris, of Westfield, and has children, Charles Edgar (2), Thomas Harris, Paul Roland, and Jean. 2. Paul Ross, born July 20, 1882; attended the Vineland and Westfield schools, and was graduated LL. B. from Columbia University, although he has never practiced his profession; he is now vice-president and treasurer of the Welch Grape Juice Company; he married, in Los Angeles, Cal., Mary Babcock, of Westfield, and they are the parents of Barbara and Martha. Children of Dr. Welch's second marriage: I. John Frailey, born Oct. 26, 1886; educated in Vineland and Westfield schools and the Troy Polytechnic Institute, whence he was graduated with the degree of C. E .; he followed engineering for a t me in Buffalo and other places, and is now a vice- president of the Welch Grape Juice Company; during the World War he served in the 308th Motor Truck Corps. 2. Jennie Ross, born April 17, 1888; studied music after a classical education, and is now the organist of the Methodist Episcopal Church of West- field; married Frederick B. Jones, associated with the Welch Grape Juice Company. 3. William Taylor, born March 21, 1890; educated in Westfield schools and Syracuse University, studied music, and is an accom- plished performer on the piano, pipe organ, and other instruments; he fills a number of musical positions, among them that of organist of the Protestant Episco- .1 Church of Westfield; he married Elizabeth ''Daniels, of Washington, D. C.
So reads a brief summary of the life of Dr. Charles Welch, made up of success in his profession and a rpassing success in the world of business. Attending
well to his affairs, living well his life, doing well his duty, he has won splendid rewards in the esteem and honor of his fellows.
LATHROP L. HANCHETT, former postmaster of Jamestown, and a justice of the peace of that city for more than twenty years, is a native of Chautauqua county, and has lived in Jamestown for seventy years, unless the three years of hard campaigning and fight- ing during the Civil War be excepted, and the time he spent in Washington, D. C., 1898-1899, as private secre- tary to Congressman Hooker.
Lathrop L. Hanchett, who is one of the editors of this historical work, was born in the town of Chautau- qua, this county, on March 8, 1846, the exact locality of his birthplace being, as he expressed it in his character - istic cheerfulness of spirit, "two miles from the Poor House, and four miles from a jail, but never been in cither." He was a son of William and Evelyn ( Hizer) Hanchett, the former a contractor and builder, and the latter of a Herkimer county, N. Y., family. The family removed to Jamestown in 1849, and there the boy received the whole of his schooling. He attended the public schools of Jamestown until he reached the age of sixteen, and then, feeling himself able to take a man's part in the struggle for the abolition of slavery, he en- listed in the Northern forces. He was the youngest of eight Jamestown boys who enlisted in 1862 in Company F, of the 112th New York Regiment, which left at once for the fighting front. Through some of the hardest campaigning of the subsequent three years of warfare young Hanchett served, remaining in the army until peace finally came. He campaigned in Virginia, in North and South Carolina, and in Florida, participating in innumerable engagements and the following major battles of the Civil War: Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864; Druys Bluff, May 16, 1864: Chapin's Farm, Sept. 29, 1864; in the second battle of Fair Oaks, Oct. 27, 1864; and in the storming of Fort Fisher, Jan. 1, 1865. The 112th Regiment lost very heavily at the battle of Cold Harbor, its casualties including five commanding officers and 263 men. Altogether the regiment lost, in killed and wounded, during the war. 451 men, and 23 died in prisons. . The unit was event- ually mustered out of the Federal service on June 13, 1865, at Raleigh, N. C.
Returning to Jamestown, young Hanchett, who was then only nineteen years of age, found work in the local factories, and in such labors passed twenty years. In 1885 he became a traveling furniture salesman, and eventually went into Federal service as a letter carrier in Jamestown. At that time there was no civil service system by which a man once admitted into the govern- ment service could, subject to proper understanding of and application to the work, be sure of permanent employment by the government. In Hanchett's case, the entry of Grover Cleveland into the presidential office brought a change of postmasters in the James- town office, and the incoming Democratic postmaster dismissed Hanchett for no other reason than that he wished the work of letter carrying to be done by a Democrat. However, at the next presidential election, when Harrison became the chief of the nation, Lathrop
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L. Hanchett was preferred for the postmastership of Jamestown. He thus displaced and superceded as postmaster the man who, four years previously, had removed him as letter carrier.
Mr. Hanchett has always been a staunch Republican, of active participation in political campaigns, and has been popular in Jamestown. In 1895 he was elected justice of the peace, and has continued as such ever since, a length of service which testifies to the regard in which he is held by the people of the place. His present term expires with the year 1921, and he then hopes to retire. For one congressional term he was at Washington, D. C., as private secretary to Congress- man Hooker, 1898-1899.
In Grand Army and other veteran organization activities, Mr. Hanchett has been prominent. He is a past colonel of the Union Veteran League, No. 95; is past commander of the J. M. Brown Post, No. 285, Grand Army of the Republic; past vice-commander of the New York State Grand Army of the Republic, and past assistant grand marshal of the Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star, and holds quite an honored place in the 112th Regiment, New York Veterans' Associa- tion. Of the last named body, he has been secretary and treasurer for twenty-five years, and was elected to that office for the period of his life. Mr. Hanchett belongs to two of the main fraternal societies, the Masonic order, and the Odd Fellows. Of the former he belongs to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, is past master, past high priest, and also past patron of Mecca Chapter, No. 253, of the Eastern Star. He is a past noble grand of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Religiously, Mr. Hanchett is a Methodist, a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Jamestown.
Mr. Hanchett, married July 29, 1868, at Jamestown, Emily Platner, who has lived to celebrate the golden anniversary of their wedding. Two children were born to them, but one, a son, Lynn L., died in its first year. The other, Frank E., lives in New York City, and by trade is an electrical engineer. Frank E. Hanchett married three times, but there was issue to only one, the second of the marriages. The child, Gretchen E., passed almost the whole of her childhood and youth in the home of her paternal grandparents in Jamestown, and eventually married Frank R. Hoard, of Jamestown.
EDWARD BURGESS-In his native Stafford- shire, England, Edward Burgess, founder of the Atlas Crucible Steel Company, Inc., of Dunkirk, N. Y., learned the art of making tool steel of the finest quality, and with that knowledge as liis chief capital, he came to the United States in 1883 with his brother Charles, who had been in this country before. Edward Burgess became noted as a manufacturer of high speed tool steel, and when, in 1907, he came to Dunkirk, N. Y., it was to found the Atlas Steel Works, which later became the Atlas Crucible Steel Company, Inc., Edward Burgess, vice-president. The romance of the iron and steel will never be fully written, but among the men who have contributed their lives and their talents none have added more of interest to that chapter of American development than Edward and Charles Bur-
gess, Englishmen and brothers. With the passing of Edward Burgess, his mantle fell upon his son, Charles P. Burgess, who was long associated with his honored !' father, and is the present vice-president of the Atlas Crucible Steel Company, Inc., of Dunkirk, N. Y.
Edward Burgess was born in Pelsall, Staffordshire, , England, May 20, 1846, died in Dunkirk, N. Y., Sept. I, 1918, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Titus- ville, Pa. He attended home schools, and received ! thorough training in the mysteries of tool steel manu- facture, in English steel mills, and in Sheffield, the home of edged tool manufacture, developing deep knowledge of the making of the finer grades of steel. When he came to the United States with his brother Charles, he secured a position with the Cleveland Rolling Mills Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, and there introduced a process of refining and puddling iron. A year later he joined his brother Charles at Titusville, Pa., the latter having just organized the Cyclops Steel Works. The brothers experimented extensively, hoping to develop a quality of superior steel, and in a few years they placed upon the market the first "high speed" tool steel ever made in this country. Edward and Charles Burgess continued their close business associ- ation in Titusville until 1907, when Edward Burgess went to Dunkirk, and with his son, Charles P. Burgess, and R. E. Dickinson, of Titusville, organized the Atlas Steel Company, Edward Burgess, president. When the company began business, seven men constituted the force of employees, but ere his passing, Mr. Burgess saw an extensive plant in successful operation, one that employed a thousand men and contributed greatly to the business prosperity of Dunkirk. In 1912, the busi- ness was reorganized as the Atlas Crucible Steel Company, Inc., A. H. Hunter, president, Edward Burgess, vice-president.
Mr. Burgess ranked high among practical steel men, and was rated an authority. He knew steel from the pig iron to the finished product, and gloried in his intimate knowledge of the different processes. He was not dependent upon the reports of others but would analyze, compound, refine, and test, until his personal investigation or experiment proved or disproved his theories. Burgess and high speed steel became synono- mous words in the steel business, and his place in the steel manufacturers' "Hall of Fame" is secure. He was a member of the Irondequoit Lodge, No. 301, Free and Accepted Masons, and was connected with other organizations, business, fraternal and social. Public- spirited and progressive, he took part in all movements of civic importance, and was a citizen of highest worth.
Mr. Burgess married (first) Catherine Taylor, who died in Titusville, Pa., in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Burgess were the parents of four children who died in infancy, and of a son, Charles P. Burgess, of further mention. In 1898 Mr. Burgess married (second) Mary E. Landas, of Titusville, Pa., who survived him, as did the daughter, Urania Burgess, who resides in California.
Charles Percy Burgess, only son of Edward and Catherine (Taylor) Burgess, was born in Titusville, Pa., Sept. 6, 1885. He received his education in the Titusville schools. When his father founded the Atlas Steel Company in Dunkirk, he became a partner, and when Edward Burgess passed away in 1918, Charles P.
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Edward Burgess
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DEVILLO A. WHITE HOME FREDONIA, N. Y.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Burgess succeeded him as vice-president of the Atlas Crucible Steel Company, Inc. Prior to his election to the office of vice-president, Mr. Burgess had been secretary of the corporation. He is a member of Iron- dequoit Lodge, No. 301, Free and Accepted Masons; Dunkirk Chapter, No. 91, Royal Arch Masons; Dun- kirk Council, No. 25, Royal and Select Masters; Dun- kirk Commandery, No. 42, Knights Templar; Ismailia Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and attends the Presbyterian ehureh.
Mr. Burgess married Florence Russell, of Dunkirk, N. Y.
CHARLES WILLIAM SWANSON, one of the leading business men of Jamestown, has lived in the city for forty-nine years, and for thirty years has been responsibly connected with important business enter- prises in the city. He has been president of the Swanson-Holmberg Shoe Company since its inception in 1895, and was one of the organizers of the James- town Chair Company in 1907, of which local manufact- uring industry he was, from 1910 to 1920, secretary and treasurer. And his general standing in his own locality is clearly indicated by the civic honor to which he was elected-that of alderman from the Sixth Ward.
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