USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 58
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Edwards H. Pratt was born in Auburn, Mass. in December, 1838, and after fulfilling man's allotted years on earth, three-score and ten, passed away March 31, 1908, at his home in Fredonia. Chautauqua county, N. Y. He was educated in the Phillips Andover Academy, Andover, Mass., and in 1861 moved to Dans- ville, N. Y., there continuing his home until coming to Fredonia in 1887. During the Civil War he enlisted
in Company B, 136th Regiment, New York Volunteers, which he also recruited, and went to the front with that company as its captain, returning with the rank of major. He led his company on many battlefields, and when appointed on General Hooker's staff par- ticipated in many more. He had charge of Pickett's men at Gettysburg, and was engaged at Lookout Moun- tain and Chattanooga.
After the war, Major Pratt returned to Dansville and became interested in the nursery business, having nurseries in Dansville and Geneva, N. Y. He was very successful in business, and for a time was postmaster of Dansville, appointed by President Grant. In 1887, he bought a large interest in the T. S. Hubbard nurs- ery business and moved to Fredonia, N. Y. Later he became president of the company, a position he held until his death in 1908. He was a member of the New York State and National Nursery and Fruit Growers Association, and was one of the ablest men connected with the nursery business. He was a progressive, public- spirited man of affairs, and held the respect and con- fidence of all with whom he dealt, and of all in his employ or associated with him.
Major Pratt was a Democrat in politics, and in 1893 and 1894 was president of the village corporation. It was under his administration that Fredonia adopted that chapter of the charter which provided for paving the streets of the village, an improvement that did much to advance the community interests. From 1888 until 1908 he was continuously a member of the vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, serving the last thirteen years as junior and senior warden. He was interested in all village movements, and was identified closely with the social as well as the business interests of Fredonia, where he was universally acclaimed "a good man and a good citizen."
Major Pratt married (first) in Dansville, N. Y., Miss McNair, who died, leaving two daughters, Fannie and Carrie, who at the time of their father's death were residing in Hampton, Va., and Richmond, Va. He married (second) after his return from the army, Sarah, daughter of Judge John and Anna (Day) Van- derlip. of Dansville, N. Y. Mrs. Pratt survives her husband and continues her residence in Fredonia. Her only daughter, Sarah, was born in Dansville, and completed her education in Fredonia State Normal School. She married Albert W. Atwood, of New York, a decendant of one of the oldest families of the Cape Cod section of Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood are the parents of four children: Albert W., Jr., Eliza- beth, Sarah Vanderlip, and Minor Giles Atwood. Major Pratt was buried in Dansville, N. Y.
The following tribute came from the vestry of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church:
We, the rector, junior warden and vestrymen of Trinity Church, are suddenly called upon to mourn the death of our senior warden, Major Edwards H. Pratt, who has been a member of this hody for twenty years. During this time he has been faithful in the discharge of his duties as vestryman and warden, has given lih- erally to the support of the parish, and his counsel has been most highly regarded by and valuable to his associates. He was elected junior warden in 1895 and senior warden in 1905.
In all these years of association with him we have ever found him a true Christian gentleman and no higher tribute need be paid to any man. In every rela- tion of life his conduct has been such as to commend
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him to the esteem and respect of all who formed his acquaintance, his example inspiring them to higher Ideals, while those intimately acquainted soon came to regard him with warm affection.
Flis service in the Union army during the Civil War was highly creditable, as was shown by his pronto- tion, and he was a noble example of a brave and patriotic citizen.
We therefore spread this tribute upon our record book, extend to the bereaved family our tenderest sym- pathy, and will attend his funeral in a body.
Memorial by the Monday Club:
In view of the loss that has been sustained by the members of this club and by our entire community in the death of Major Edwards H. Pratt, we, the mem- bers of the Fredonia Monday Club, desire to give ex- pression to the high place which Major Pratt held in our esteem and affections. He was a charter member of our body and its first president.
In the high order of the papers he contributed, in the breadth of his information, in his resourcefulness and readiness in extempore debate, in his uniform courtesy and in his good comradeship, he was one of the most valuable and popular members of the club.
As a cultured Christian gentleman, a self-sacrificing patriot, a man of integrity and moral courage, and a loyal supporter of all that is best, Major Pratt was a citizen of great value to the community.
We, the members of the Monday Club, feel deeply our loss in the removal of our friend and desire to extend to his bereaved family our sincere sympathy.
EVERETT NORMAN GOULD-It would be hard to find, not within the limits of Jamestown alone, but even within the boundaries of Chautauqua county a more aggressive business man than the one whose name we have just written. Mr. Gould has few interests outside his chosen work, his duties as proprietor of the James- town Welding Company, which are of an arduous nature, leaving him but few leisure hours even within the compass of a twelve month.
Everett Norman Gould was born March 10, 1874, in Brunswick, Me., and is a son of Joel Henry and Florence Emma (Small) Gould. Mr. Gould, who is still living in Maine, is in business for himself as a carpenter and builder. The education of Everett Nor- man Gould was received in local grammar and high schools, and his first employment was as shipping clerk in a pulp and paper mill, where he remained two years. He then went to Boston to learn the machinist's trade, but remained only one year, becoming shipping clerk in a wholesale dry goods establishment. At Lawrence, Mass., he learned the brazing business with the New England Brazing Company, and at the end of two years was given an interest in the firm. Return- ing to Boston he organized the Standard Brazing Company, which later hought out the New England Brazing Company, Mr. Gould remaining with them for a year and a half. His next removal was to Phila- delphia, where he became shop manager for the Ferrofix Brazing Company. This concern executed a large amount of work for steel mills and Mr. Gould traveled as consulting man through New York, Boston and Pittsburgh, being an expert in Oxy-Acetylene welding and cutting apparatus. He handled the first touch brought to the United States, the invention of an English chemist and introduced here by a Mr. Davis, who later founded the Davis-Bournonville Company. Mr. Gould worked with them, doing a large amount of experimenting. About 1907, he severed his connection with the concern and came to Jamestown, selling braz- ing outfits. The Art Metal Construction Company pur- chased one and after Mr. Gould had installed it placed
him in charge of the brazing department. After in- stalling a plant for the Salisbury Wheel and Axle Company, he remained with them about one year. In 1912, he organized the Cast Iron Welding and Brazing Company, and in 1916 moved to his present quarters, taking as a partner Bertram Manly Thayer and chang- ing the style of the firm to the Jamestown Welding Company. The firm handles all kinds of brazing and welding and executes a large amount of work on autos. While a faithful Republican, Mr. Gould takes no active part in politics, though always ready to do his share as a good citizen toward improvement of community con- ditions. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Jamestown.
Mr. Gould married in Philadelphia, Florence Emma Coffin, of Cambridge, Mass.
It is said of Mr. Gould that he has advanced in his work with astonishing rapidity, accomplishing what had hitherto been deemed impossible, not only in the remote past, but not very many years ago. Thus he proved his initiative, his determination to succeed, and his power of making that determination an accomplished fact.
JOHN ERNEST JOHNSON-When John Ernest Johnson came to the United States with his parents he was only five months old, so his memory of Sweden, his birth place, is absolutely nil, but his love for his ances- ral land is strong and he is active in the interests of the Swedish people of Jamestown.
John Ernest Johnson was born Dec. 31, 1864, his parents being James and Eva (Person) Johnson, natives of Sweden. James Johnson was among the early settlers of Jamestown when he located there in the summer of 1865. He started in business as a shoer of horses and general blacksmithing work, being the first Swedish blacksmith in the town. Young Johnson re- ceived a good fundamental education in the graded schools of Jamestown, and after leaving school obtained employment in the retail store of a manufacturer of shirts and gentlemen's furnishings. After a short time as clerk the young man learned the trade of a shirt cutter, after which he started in the shirt making business for himself with another man, the firm being Martin & Johnson. These two continued their part- nership for fourteen years, meeting with much success, and then Mr. Johnson, having acquired a thorough knowledge of business requirements, became interested in the Acme Furniture Company, of which he was made treasurer, a position he now holds. Mr. Johnson takes an active part in the affairs of his home city, at one time being appointed a member of the Board of Health and he so continued for twelve years. He is not a politi- cian, hut votes the Republican ticket on election day. He is also a member of the Norden Club and of the Order of Maccabees. Mr. Johnson is one of the workers in the Methodist Episcopal church, as his father was before him, the elder Johnson having been actively engaged in the work of the First Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty years.
John Ernest Johnson married, in Jamestown, Dec. 14, 1892, Emy Berquist, of that city. Mr. Johnson has one brother, Edward L. Johnson, who has been a bookkeeper for Charles L. Lindbeck for some years.
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HERMAN CLIFFORD EHLERS-Among the best known and most successful mercantile establish- ments of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., is that of H. C. Ehlers Company, Incorporated, of which Herman Clifford Ehlers is the president and secretary, a concern that has been in business under various names at Dunkirk for nearly half a century, and has always enjoyed the high regard of the community on account of the excellent service it has maintained and its consistent adherence to standards of integrity and fair dealing. Mr. Ehlers is a son of Charles Ehlers, the founder, who opened a small upholsterer's shop in Dunkirk in 1872, having learned the business in Ger- many as a young man. The elder Mr. Ehlers, whose death occurred in 1909, began business under the name of Charles Ehlers & Company, but the name was altered to that of Ehlers & Philippbar, in 1900, and so contin- ued until 1909, when George G. Philippbar sold his interest to the present head of the concern. The follow- ing year the company was incorporated under its present name with Herman C. Ehlers, president and secretary, and Philip Albach, vice-president and treas- urer. Charles Ehlers married (first) Caroline Philipp- bar, and after her death married (second) Mary Philippbar, a sister of his first wife. He was the father of five children, as follows : Ferdinand C .; Emma I., who became the wife of Clinton N. Smith; Flora H., who became the wife of Guy L. Smith; Herman Clifford; and Mildred Frances, who became the wife of Karl E. Downer.
Herman Clifford Ehlers, son of Charles and Caroline ( Philippbar) Ehlers, was born March 15, 1875, at Dunkirk. He received his elementary education at the Dunkirk public schools. He afterwards attended the Bryant and Stratton Business College at Buffalo, N. Y., where he took a commercial course in order to fit himself for his business career. He also took a course in embalming under Professor Howard S. Eckels, of Philadelphia, and upon completing his studies entered his father's establishment and there learned the entire furniture business. Upon his father's death in 1909, he succeeded the elder man as head of the business and, as already mentioned, also bought out the interest of Mr. Philippbar at the same time. In 1900 a new store was built, which is one of the finest of its kind in this region, and there the business has been continued with a very high degree of success up to the present. The establishment is completely equipped for the house furnishing trade, and also acts as agent for the Victor, Sonora, Brunswick and Cheney phonographs, in which line a large business is done. One of its largest patrons is the American Locomotive Works, for which it pro- vides large quantities of upholstery for railroad engine cabs. Mr. Ehlers has not confined his activity to his private interests, however, but is prominent in the general life of the community, and is a member of a number of organizations at Dunkirk, fraternal and otherwise, including the local lodge of Masons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent order of Odd Fellows, the Dunkirk Club, and the Chamber of Commerce. He is also interested in many charitable undertakings, and is a director of the Brooks Memorial Hospital. In politics Mr. Ehlers is a Republican, and he attends
the Adams Memorial Church, of which he is one of the trustees.
Herman Clifford Ehlers was united in marriage, Feb. 3, 1903, with Lydia Lee Maughan, of Waukesha, Wis., a daughter of John E. and Ada (Brown) Maughan, of that place. They are the parents of one child, Dorothy May Ehlers, who is now a student at the Dunkirk High School.
EDMOND BENTON OSGOOD, a prominent business man of Brocton, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and a conspicuous figure in the general life of this place, is a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred at the city of Bradford, in that State, March 26, 1863. He is a son of Edmond and Rowena (Cole- grove) Osgood, old and highly respected residents of that city and is the tenth of the eleven children born to his parents.
Mr. Osgood was educated at the schools of Angelica, N. Y., studying at the high school for a num- ber of years at that place, and in 1882 he and his father engaged in the undertaking business in Angelica, N. Y. He later embarked in the same line of business on his own account, and in the spring of 1892 removed to Brocton where he has been thus occupied ever since. During his association with his father Mr. Osgood thoroughly learned his business, and is now well known throughout the region and largely patron- ized. Mr. Osgood has always been actively interested in local affairs and on Jan. 25, 1904, was appointed coroner to fill a vacancy in that office left by the death of his predecessor. Since that time Mr. Osgood has continuously occupied this office, having been elected to it at each subsequent campaign. He is a member of the local lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is chief ranger of the Order of Foresters. He is a Republican in politics, a Methodist in his religious belief and attends the Methodist Episcopal church at Brocton.
Edmond Benton Osgood was united in marriage, in February, 1892, at Angelica, N. Y., with Elizabeth Fox, a sister of W. H. Fox, the present postmaster of Broc- ton, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Benton Osgood have one daughter, Montrose, wife of Sherwood S. Dunham, of Brocton, N. Y. They are the parents of two children, Jane and Betty Dunham.
GEORGE POWELL BRAND-A man of strong personality, honorable, upright, kindly hearted and generous, George Powell Brand, a resident of Silver Creek, passed to his reward truly mourned and deeply regretted. There was one period of his long and useful life which was not spent in his native village and that was the first two years of the Civil War, in which he early enlisted as a volunteer. He was then a young man of twenty-two, and until his death he kept in touch with his comrades of the great struggle through the medium of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was interested in every form of village life and when laid at final rest it was his brethren of the Masonic order who conducted the services according to the ritual he loved so well. His bearers were all past masters of Silver Creek Lodge, a rank he too held during his lifetime. He was held in highest regard in the village: in the
George D. Brand
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hearts of his many friends his memory is warmly cherished.
George Powell Brand, son of Morell Brand, was born Nov. 27, 1839, and died at Silver Creek, Chau- tauqua county, N. Y., April 15, 1912. He was educated in public schools and while yet in his teens went as far West as Laporte, Ind., there joining an elder brother, Lorenzo Brand, in the operation of a threshing machine outfit. They continued in this business in Laporte and other sections of the State until 1861, when George Brand returned to New York State and in response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers to defend the Union against disruption, enlisted in the city of Buffalo on May 11, 1861, joining the 21st New York Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry. He served two years and during that period was with his regiment in some of the sanguinary battles fought by the Army of the Potomac, including Bull Run, first and second, South Mountain, Fredericksburg and Falmouth. He was a good soldier and bore the hardships of those two years of actual warfare with a fortitude only equalled by his courage in fighting his foes on the battlefield, and disease in the hospital where for a time he was confined. At the expiration of his two years term of enlistment he was honorably discharged and mustered out.
After his return from the army, Mr. Brand spent some time in the Pennsylvania oil fields but finally located at Silver Creek, Chautauqua county, N. Y., there entering the employ of Simeon Howes, of Howes and Babcock, manufacturers of grain cleaning machin- ery. He began his connection with the Eureka Works as a pattern maker and there continued for several years, finally retiring to engage in business as a member of the firm of Gorndt & Brand, hardware dealers of Silver Creek. That firm built up a prosperous busi- ness but in a few years Henry Gorndt sold his interest to his partner, George P. Brand who conducted it for many years, and when he laid down the burden, he was succeeded by his sons, who yet conduct it under the old firm name, George P. Brand & Sons. He did not continue in business after his sons had heen admitted as partners, but retired several years prior to his death, and in the community where nearly half a century of his life was spent he was most highly esteemed as a man of highest integrity, sound judgement and sterling character.
Mr. Brand took the deepest interest in community affairs; was a devoted member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Masonic order and the Eastern Star, all of these appealing to his social, friendly, paternal spirit. He was a past master of Silver Creek Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, as before stated, an official member of the church, and active in civic, social, business and church life. In politics he was a Republican.
George P. Brand married, at Silver Creek, Nov. 27, 1867 (his twenty-eighth birthday), Ellen V. Howes, daughter of Simeon and Angeline (Ewell) Howes, of Silver Creek, whose lives are also recorded in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Brand were the parents of four sons, three of whom with Mrs. Howes survive their honored father: 1. Wilbur J., now senior member of the firm George P. Brand & Sons, of Silver Creek; he married (first) Agnes Freeburg (second) Martha
Griffith. 2. Leon, who was a Y. M. C. A. secretary in France during the late war; he married Josephine Hanson, of Silver Creek. 3. Herdic, who died March 19, 1912, and is buried with his father in Glenwood Cemetery, Silver Creek; he married Emma Barnes, who survives him with children, Kenneth and Allen; he was connected with his father's hardware business. 4. Harry, a resident of Buffalo; he married Josephine Jarvis.
Mr. Brand was devoted to his wife and children and for forty-five years the family circle was unbroken. The death of his son, Herdic, while a crushing blow to all, also affected Mr. Brand physically and he failed in health rapidly, following his son to the grave eight months later in the same year, 1912. The family home for many years was with Mrs. Brand's father, Simeon Howes, but later he built a modern brick residence on Main street, Silver Creek, where Mrs. Brand yet resides. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Silver Creek.
FRED COLE PURCELL, M. D .- Among the successful physicians of Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., should be mentioned Fred Cole Purcell, who is a native of Lundys Lane, Erie county, Pa., where his birth occurred, Feb. 13, 1877. He is a son of Thomas and Louise (Cole) Purcell, the former one of the oldest practicing physicians in Erie, Pa. Fred Cole Purcell was educated in the public schools of his native town of Lundys Lane and at the Erie High School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1896 and where he was prepared for college. Two years later, upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he volunteered as a private in Company L, 65th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry. He served for six months at Camp Black, L. I., and Camp Alger, Va. At the close of hostilities he returned to civilian life and took a position in a drug store at Buffalo, where he continued until the autumn of 1899. During that time he had developed a keen interest in the subject of medicine and determined to follow it as a profession, with which end in view he entered the medical depart- ment of the University of Buffalo, and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1903, taking his degree as Doctor of Medicine. He then spent one year as interne in the German Hospital at Buffalo, after which he went to Ellington, N. Y., and engaged in the practice of his profession. He remained five years at Ellington and then went to Kennedy, N. Y., where he carried on a successful business as pharmacist and also practiced medicine for two years.
It was in 1910 that Dr. Purcell first came to James- town, since which time he has been active in the gen- eral practice of his profession and has developed a large and high class clientele. Dr. Purcell has estab- lished a very high reputation, both with his professional colleagues and with the community-at-large, and is now medical examiner of the Jamestown schools, a post that he has held for the past four years. Dr. Purcell is a member of the Jamestown Medical Society, of which he was president for one year ; the Chautauqua Medical Society; the New York State Medical Society; the American Medical Association; and he is also
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affiliated with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Eagles, and is a member of Camp Samuel M. Porter, Spanish-American War Veterans, and the Omega Epsilon Psi fraternity. In his religious belief Dr. Purcell is an Episcopalian and attends St. Luke's Church of that denomination here. In politics he is a Republican but the demands upon his time and energies made by his professional activities have rendered it impossible for him to take that part in public affairs which his abilities well fit him for. During the late European War, Dr. Purcell offered his services in the cause of his country and was appointed surgeon to Company E, New York Guard, with the rank of captain.
Dr. Purcell was united in marriage, Sept. 10, 1904, with Elizabeth Eagley, of North Girard, Erie county, Pa., a daughter of C. A. and Mary (Larch) Eagley. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Purcell, as follows: Mary Louise, Dec. 17, 1911, and Thomas Eagley, July 13, 1915.
FRED MANLEY THAYER, treasurer of the Brocton Hardware Company of Brocton, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and a prominent and influential citizen of this place was born at Brocton, July 6, 1866, and is a son of James and Melissa (Hopkins) Thayer, lifelong residents here.
Mr. Thayer was educated at the public schools of Jamestown, and having completed his studies at the Jamestown High School, secured a position in the hardware establishment of A. P. Lowell, of this place, and here he learned the business. Later, however, he became associated with Charles F. Crandall in the same line of business. In the year 1906 Mr. Crandall, to- gether with Mr. Thayer, founded the Brocton Hard- ware & Lumber Company, of which the former was president, the latter treasurer and general manager, and Clarence J. Thayer secretary. These three gentle- men have built up a very large and successful business which is unquestionably one of the most important of its kind in this region. They also founded and are now conducting the Brocton Garage, which does a large business in the village here. Mr. Thayer does not con- fine his energy to his business interests however, but takes a lively and active interest in the general life of Brocton and is affiliated with a number of important organizations. He is a member of the Masonic frater- nity, the Knights of Pythias, the Order of Maccabees, and other fraternal bodies. He has always been keenly interested in local politics, and is a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party. He was elected on the Republican ticket as trustee of the village of Brocton and held that office for six years, serving during the last three as president of the body. He was also deputy sheriff of Portland township under John C. Jones from 1904 to 1905, inclusive, and dis- charged the responsible duties of that post with a high degree of efficiency and in a manner which has made him universally popular throughout the region. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church of Brocton.
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