USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 62
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BYRON ROWLAN BARTON-One of Mayville's prosperous business men and also trustee of the village -this, in brief, is a description of the citizen whose name heads this article, but those who have long known Mr. Barton, who has always remained a resident of his birthplace, could bear abundant testimony to his many excellent qualities as a friend and neighbor.
Rowlan Leroy Barton, father of Byron Rowlan Bar- ton, was born in 1833, in Otsego, N. Y., a son of Wil- liam Barton, who was of English descent. Rowlan Leroy Barton came to Chautauqua county at the age of eleven years, and spent the greater part of his life in the hotel business. He married Olive Ackles, a native of Arkwright, N. Y. Mr. Barton, who is now retired, is the eldest resident of Mayville, and one of the oldest hotel men in the State of New York. Mrs. Barton is deceased.
Byron Rowlan Barton, son of Rowlan Leroy and Olive (Ackles) Barton, was born Feb. 17, 1868, in May- ville, and received his education in the public schools of his native village. As a boy, he assisted his father in the hotel, later being associated in the business. The first hotel of which his father was proprietor was the Hotel Chautauqua, and subsequently he built the Bar- ton Hotel, which he and his son conducted successfully until 1907, when the hotel interests were sold and Mr. Barton, Sr., retired. The Barton Hotel has a record of more than fifty years. After the discontinuance of the hotel, Byron Rowlan Barton established himself in the grocery business, which he has since conducted with most satisfactory results. He is a representative of the Democratic party, and in 1919 was made trustee of the village, his term expiring in 1921. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In a threefold capacity as hotel proprietor, business man and public official, Mr. Barton has proved himself an able and use- ful citizen, meriting and receiving the sincere respect and cordial esteem of his entire community.
Mr. Barton's first marriage was to Miss Emma A. Bunnell, of Canfield, Ohio, the daughter of Ira H. Bun- nell and Elizabeth Bunnell. They become the parents of two sons, Rowlan Sylvester Barton and Louis Bunnell Barton. The two sons received a high school education, Rowlan S. taking up telegraphy, and Louis B. farming. Louis B. has just returned from France, where he saw service during the late war. Mrs. Barton died in Febru- ary, 1911, and Mr. Barton's second marriage was to Miss Carrie Denzer, of Chippawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of George and Catherine Denzer.
WILLIAM FREDERICK FISCHER-No resi- dent of Mayville, we venture to say, is better known to a majority of his fellow-citizens than is the popular proprietor of the Central Hotel. Mr. Fischer has been still longer known as a business man, having been for more than a quarter of a century connected with the ice business and having thus established a substantial repu- tation.
William Frederick Fischer was born Jan. 19, 1862, in Westfield, N. Y., and is a son of Henry and Hannah (Voight) Fischer. While he was still a child death deprived him of both his parents, and at the age of eleven years he became a member of the household of Mrs. Donald Mckenzie, of Mayville. There he re- mained, rendering such assistance as he could and at- tending school until he attained his majority, when he went West in quest of land which he might devote to farming purposes. His search led him as far as the Dakotas, where many persons from Chautauqua county had taken up land, and there he lived for the space of two years. At the end of that time Mr. Fischer returned to Chautauqua county to work with the surveying crew who were then making the survey for what is now the Jamestown, Chautauqua & Westfield Railway. After the completion of this work, he was employed by Mrs. Mary E. Odell, owner of the hotel of which he himself is now the proprietor. After remaining in her service about four years, Mr. Fischer spent a season in running a yacht on Lake Chautauqua, and in the autumn of 1891 purchased the hotel which he has ever since suc- cessfully conducted. The building contains sixteen guest chambers, and the proprietor employs about sixteen per- sons, including those connected with his ice business in which he has been engaged much longer than in the hotel business. From the time when he was hardly more than a boy he has sold ice, and has now, making allowance for occasional intervals, been engaged in the business nearly thirty-five years.
Politically, Mr. Fischer is a Democrat, and for sev- eral terms held the office of president (mayor) of the village, serving in all nine years to the full satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. He affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Mayville, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Jamestown. Mr. Fischer is emphatically a self-made man, a useful, suc- cessful and highly respected citizen with a record of which his family and friends may be justly and rea- sonably proud. He was one of the organizers and is a director of the State Bank of Mayville, N. Y.
Mr. Fischer married, June 12, 1900, Carrie H., daugh- ter of Henry and Amelia (Gordon) Mckay, of May- ville, and the following children have been born to them : Henrietta Florence, Gordon Mckay, Alberta Carrie, and William Frederick, Jr., who died at the age of eight years. Mrs. Fischer and her children are members of the Protestant Episcopal church.
JOHN FRANKLIN KINGMAN-After a long life spent in Jamestown. beginning in his youth, Mr. King- man, well known as a builder and citizen, was called to his reward, and laid at rest in Lakeview Cemetery. He was born Oct. 22, 1845, died in Jamestown, Oct. 11, 1911,
To R Barton
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son of John and Adaline ( Bennett) Kingman. He was brought to Jamestown by his parents when still young and his education was largely obtained in the old Jamestown Academy. His early life was spent on the home farm, but in youthful manhood he learned the car- penter's trade, and in time became one of Jamestown's contracting builders. He continued in that business until his health failed, when he retired. For twenty years he served the city as inspector of elections for the Second Ward, an office he filled to the satisfaction of the voters and city officials. He was a Republican in polities, a man of quiet life and habits, thoroughly respected as citizen and neighbor.
Mr. Kingman married, in Jamestown, N. Y., June 3, 1871, Florence V. (Hobert) Campbell, born in Erie county. N. Y., daughter of Charles Sardis and Eliza- beth (Palmer) Hobert, and widow of Hilton J. Camp- bell. Mrs. Kingman survives her husband, and with rare judgment and devotedness has been to her children a mother in the truest, best sense. She is a member of the Free Methodist church of Jamestown, and is active in church and Christian work, especially interested in the work of the Gerry Home for Children, and in other charitable work. Children: Edith Campbell, a child of her first marriage, wife of Axel E. Anderson, a shoe dealer of Jamestown, and mother of Grace and Wilton Anderson; Charles H. Kingman, child of her second marriage, was born in Jamestown, Oct. 23, 1880; he prepared in the graded and high schools of James- town, then entered Brown University, Providence, R. I., whence he was graduated A. B., class of 1905; he then began teaching. being master of a school at Terrace Park, Ohio, for two years, going in 1908 to the State of Illinois, serving for five years as principal of the high school at Kankakee; he was then elected superin- tendent of school at Ottawa, Ill., a position he yet most ably and satisfactorily fills; he is well known upon the lecture platform, and as an educator; he is married and is the father of three children: John, Charlotte, and Mary J. Kingman.
RICHARD JOHN BROWN, M. D .- No general practitioner of Jamestown is accorded a more exten- sive or important practice than is given Dr. Richard John Brown, a fact at once indicative of his broad skill and ability and his unfaltering devotion to the duties of the profession.
Dr. Brown was born in Albany, N. Y., June 4, 1860, a son of Nicholas and Mary Brown. He obtained his education in the public schools of the city of his birth. and later entered the Medical and Surgical College of Albany, N. Y., from which he was graduated with the class of 1882. with the degree of M. D. After leaving college, Dr. Brown began practicing in Albany, N. Y., where he continued until 1890, when he removed to Jamestown, where he has continued since.
Fraternally Dr. Brown is a member of the Masonic order, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically he is a Republican, but never cared to hold office. In religious affiliation he is a member of the Episcopal church and he and his family are prominent in all its business as well as social activities.
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In Denver, Colo., Feb. 10, 1909, Dr. Brown was united in marriage with Kate May Fuller, a daughter of John and May Fuller, of Streeter and Chicago, 111.
In concluding this review of Dr. Brown's life will say that his social standing is of the highest and only equalled by his professional standing. Affable and genial, he is ever welcome in the highest circles of this com- munity, where he is honored and respected for his ster- ling character, professional skill, candid sincerity and attractive manner, as well as being a good neighbor, a firm friend, and a citizen of which any city might be proud.
CHARLES KENDRICK ARTHUR-No State in the Union has given to our common country more active, earnest and intelligent business and professional men than has the State of New York. It has been the birth- place of a sturdy race of men, remarkably alike for their power and endurance as well as superior intelli- gence, who have become leaders of all the great branches of industry. To that class of Americans, whose energy and individuality never failed to make them prominent in the community in which they reside, belongs Charles Kendrick Arthur.
Mr. Arthur was born in the town of Levant, Ellicott township, Chautauqua county, N. Y., May 13, 1841, a son of Robert W. and J. Parmelia (Smith) Arthur. He obtained his early education in the district schools of his native home and after completing his studies, assisted his father in business until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted, July 29, 1862, in Company A, 112th New York Volunteer Infantry, under Col. J. C. Drake, and Capt. John F. Smith. Mr. Arthur con- tinued to serve all during the war in the commissary department, and in the ambulance corps. He was mus- tered out of service at Raleigh, N. C., and discharged from the army with mention from Washington for bravery under fire, June 13, 1865.
Upon returning from the war Mr. Arthur again associated himself with his father in the teaming and stump pulling business, and continued to follow this occupation with great success for many years. Mr. Arthur gave up his business in 1904 and has since lived retired in his beautiful home in Falconer, N. Y. He is still active in mind and body and takes a great interest in all the topics of the day, being well read and able to talk intelligently upon any topic of public interest. Politically Mr. Arthur is a staunch Republi- can, but never cared for the emolument of office, though he served as trustee of the village of Falconer for one term. Fraternally, he is a member of the James N. Brown Post, of Jamestown, N. Y., and a member of the Union Veteran Legion, of Jamestown.
In Richmond, Crawford county, Pa., Mr. Arthur was united in marriage with Alice Chamberlain, who was born in Ellicott township, Chautauqua county, N. Y., a daughter of DeLoss and Ellen (Griffith) Chamber- lain.
Mrs. Arthur is a woman of true refinement and culture. She is noted throughout Falconer for her many aets of charity, and is very popular in social cireles of that village. She is as popular with the younger people as she is with older and it is not
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strange to see her surrounded by a party of younger people, talking and laughing with the best of them.
Mr. Arthur is well known in the community in which he resides and in all of Chautauqua county. Personally, he is an upright and honest man, firm in his convictions, and fearless in adhering to them. He is one of the most loyal and public-spirited of Chau- tauqua county's pioneers and all during his life has been eager to cooperate in movements for the general pro- gress. A power of constructive organization is a sure basis for success and this quality Mr. Arthur possesses in a remarkable degree. The honorable business principles upon which he founded his enterprises dis- tinguished his policy throughout his career and made his activities in an industrial way useful and valuable, and his life as a private citizen a credit and honor to his community.
THE DOUGLAS FAMILY-A representative of this ancient and honorable Scottish family, Rev. Richard Douglas, a Presbyterian devine, was a resident of New London, Conn., and there his son Richard, the founder of the family in Chautauqua county, N. Y., was born. Richard Douglas spent his youth and early man- hood in New London, and there married Mary Ferris. At an extremely early date, 1801, they came to Western New York, and finally made settlement in that part of Chautauqua county now the town and city of Dunkirk. There he became the owner of a large tract of land, part of which now lies within the city limits of Dunkirk. He spent the remaining years of his life in that section engaged principally in clearing and farming. He and his wife, Mary (Ferris) Douglas, are buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredonia, N. Y. They were the parents of the following children: Hiram, Arnold, Joy, Ledyard, of further mention; Linas, Zattu, Almira, married John Sloan: Rosetta, married Russell Beckwith; Sarah, married Frank Pier; Lavina, married a Mr. Mont- gomery; Polly, died in girlhood.
Ledyard Douglas, fourth child of Richard and Mary (Ferris) Douglas, was born in the town that is now Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., June 15, 1811, and died at his home in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, June 13, 1895. He grew to manhood on the home farm and there continued until the year 1848, when he settled in the town of Portland and purchased a farm of 135 acres east of the village of Portland, on the main road, formerly owned by Abner Beebe. There he followed general farming and grape culture very successfully all the active years of his long life, becom- ing one of the substantial agriculturists of his town. He was well known and highly esteemed as a man of industry and good character, devoted to his family and loyal in his citizenship. In politics he was an ardent Democrat, and in his religious faith true to the Pres- byterian teachings of his father who imbibed the same doctrine from his father.
Ledyard Douglas married Maria Main, daughter of Silas Main, of the town of Charlotte, Chautauqua county, N. Y. Mrs. Douglas died Sept. 20, 1897, sur- viving her husband two years. They are both buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredonia. They were the parents of five sons: William J., a Civil War veteran, who died in the town of Portland; Richard B., of further
mention; Squire, who died at the homestead in Port- land; Daniel, who also died at the homestead; James K., accidentlly killed on the railroad near Portland.
Richard B. Douglas, second son of Ledyard and Maria (Main) Douglas, was born in Dunkirk, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1845, died at the youthful age of 22, March 26, 1867, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredonia. He was educated in the district schools, and all his short life was spent at the home farm in Portland. Like his parents, he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and in his political faith had allied himself with the Democratic party. He married, in April, 1866, Melissa P. Hunt, born in the town of Cherry Creek, Chautauqua county, daughter of Amos and Anne ( Barrows) Hunt. Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Douglas were the parents of an only child, Mittie, of further mention. Mrs. Douglas married (second) William Main, of the town of Charlotte, Chautauqua county, died in the town of Cherry Creek, Chautauqua county, Feb. 28, 1876, and is buried in Cherry Creek Cemetery. She left a son by her second marriage, Fred. R. Main, of the town of Portland.
Mittie Douglas, only child of Richard B. and Melissa P. (Hunt) Douglas, was but an infant when her father died, and at the age of nine years was doubly orphaned by the death of her mother. She found a home, how- ever, with her loving grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ledyard Douglas, who educated and cared for her until she in turn became the caretaker and to them she gave the devotion of a daughter. She was indeed the daughter of the house, the five children of Ledyard Douglas being all sons. Miss Douglas inherited the farm from her Grandmother Douglas, and after the latter's death she continued her residence at the home- stead for several years. She then disposed of the greater part of her farm, including the homestead, but reserving for her own use 22 acres upon which she resides. Miss Douglas is a woman of good business ability, a member of Portland Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and of the Methodist Episcopal church.
FRANK AUGUST LEONARD ANDERSON- Business men who possess at the same time adminis- trative ability are the men who count most in the material advancement of a community. Chautauqua county had the good fortune to number among her residents not a few of this type, among whom was the late Frank August Leonard Anderson, who was the tax collector for the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua county, N. Y. Mr. Anderson was by descent Swedish, and exemplified in his character and career the sturdy and aggressive traits inherited from a vigorous ancestry.
Frank A. L. Anderson was born in Polan township, Chautauqua county, N. Y., May 24, 1873, the son of Peter Augus Anderson, who was born in 1848, and Johana (Matelda) Anderson, who was born in 1851. He received his early education in the district schools of his native town, and after laying aside his text books he took up the agricultural business, at which he worked for some time. He then worked at the lumber- ing business until 1893, when he accepted a position with a concern, manufacturing furniture and wood novelties, continuing in this until 1912, when he was elected tax collector of the town of Ellicott. He was
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elected the two succeeding terms, and in 1919 was elected again for another term of two years. Mr. Anderson was also school tax collector for nearly five years. In politics Mr. Anderson was a staunch Re- publican, and though he never sought for office, when it was given him as an expression of the people's trust in him, he accepted and gave to his city, county, and State the best of his ability. Fraternally Mr. Anderson was also very popular, being an active inember of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Maccabees. In religious affiliations Mr. Anderson was a member of the Lutheran church, having been active in its business and social affairs, as are also his family.
On Dec. 8, 1897, in the village of Falconer, N. Y., Mr. Anderson was united in marriage with Augusta Fredereka Kullberg, who was born Feb. 27, 1872, in Gottland, Sweden, a daughter of Ferdinand and Mar- garet Kullberg. To this union were born two children: Harold Gustaf, born Sept. 19, 1898, and Margaret Helen, born Sept. 6, 1911.
Mr. Anderson was a man of most attractive person- ality. In private life his amiable and generous dis- position endeared him to a host of friends. In business transactions he exhibited the quick appreciation and prompt decision which are as necessary to the success- ful business man as they are to a successful general, but tempered with a courtesy which won all who were brought in contact with him. He was one of those men who advanced the interests of his city by maintaining in all the relations of life a high standard of citizenship. His death occurred May 13, 1920.
EDWARD LIVINGSTON HALL was born in Warren, Pa., Oct. 1, 1841, the eldest son of John A. and Emily (Perry) Hall. In 1849 his parents removed to Busti, N. Y., upon the farm that had originally been taken up by his grandfather, Samuel Hall, when he emi- grated from Vermont, in 1814. After obtaining an edu- cation in the public schools of his native town, supple- mented by courses in the Painesville (Ohio) Academy and in an eastern business college, Mr. Hall worked upon the farm until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Seventh Company of Sharp- shooters, which went to the front in 1861 with the 112th Regiment of New York Volunteers. In the following year he was honorably discharged from the army at Suffolk, Va., on account of serious illness.
After a brief period of managing the farm for his father on shares during the absence of the latter in Washington, Mr. Hall engaged in the manufacture and marketing of lumber. The latter at this time was done by rafting down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, and for about ten years, during the flourishing period of this important industry, he continued business until the rail- road began to supplant water transportation. He then took up the manufacture of staves and heading in West- ern New York and Pennsylvania, and in 1878 formed with the late Edward Shaver the firm of Shaver & Hall, a business association which remained unbroken for nearly twenty-five years. Later the principal mills of the firm were located in Tennessee and Kentucky, and Orlando C. Frisbee was taken into the firm, which con- tinued doing a large business throughout the middle
States. In 1802, the firm divided, Hall & Frisbee en- gaging in the manufacture of hardwood lumber in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri, while the firm of Shaver & Hall continued the stave business.
In his later years Mr. Hall largely withdrew from these undertakings and devoted himself to landed in- vestments in Colorado, Arkansas, and Missouri. In addition to these he was for many years interested in a variety of local enterprises. He was a director of the Jamestown National Bank before it was merged into the Chautauqua County Trust Company, and was until his death a member of the board of its successor, the National Chautauqua County Bank. Before moving to Jamestown in 1879, Mr. Hall was for some time super- visor of the town of Carroll. He was a member of the Masonic order, Thirty-second degree, and in politics was a Republican.
In 1866, Mr. Hall was united in marriage with Char- lotte Parker, eldest daughter of James Parker, of Frews- burg, N. Y., at which place he resided, save for a brief sojourn in Warren county, Pa., until the family removed to Jamestown in 1879. To Mr. and Mrs. Hall were born two children: James Parker, now dean of the University of Chicago Law School, and Sabra Glyde, who is the wife of Charles S. Grover, of Jamestown. Mrs. Hall dicd in 1915, and on May 2, 1920, after a brief illness, Mr. Hall also passed away, in the seventy-ninth year of his life. Both died at Jamestown.
In the great period of expansion of American indus- try that followed the Civil War, Mr. Hall played an honorable part. He was of the generation that followed the pioneers, that built the railways, felled the forests, tilled the prairies, dug the mines, and settled the coun- try with such marvelous rapidity between 1865 and 1900. Tireless and enterprising, prodigal of the unearned bounty of nature that lay at their hands, they cut from the hills in a single reaping the harvest of a hundred years, and dug from the earth what for aeons had awaited the use of man. The freedom, the energy, and the machinery for developing the resources of a virgin continent were theirs, and they threw themselves into the task with the same fierce zest, whether they were exploiting nature or competing with their business rivals. Their opportunities were unique and, though they and their times have vanished, the epic memories of both will long remain.
LEWIS BUTLER BIXBY, who for forty-two years has been superintendent and general manager of the lighting plant of the Chautauqua Institution, Chautau- qua, Chautauqua county, N. Y., has had a career in responsible affairs worthy of note in this history of Chautauqua county. In addition to his direction of the lighting plant, he also was for almost the whole of that period in independent business as a machinist.
Lewis B. Bixby is a native of Chautauqua county, N. Y., born in Hartfield, Chautauqua township, April 2, 1864, the son of Horace and Julia (Hanchett) Bixby. When he was five years old, the Bixby family removed to Mayville, N. Y. There he attended school, and there later he went into his father's shop to learn the machinist's trade. Eventually, he took over the machine shop business from his father, and managed to keep it in successful operation until 1915, in which year he
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gave up residence in Mayville, and moved into the village of Chautauqua. His long connection with the Chautauqua Institution commenced in 1878. He was of good practical mind, and was more than superficially based in the elements of engineering. He demon- strated that when the present plant of the Chautauqua Institution was built, in 1901. It was erected under his supervision, and testifies to his knowledge of con- struction and his thoroughness. It is a modern plant, and furnishes power and light to the village of Chau- tauqua and grounds of the Chautauqua Institution. The plant employs four men, and has been under the direction of Mr. Bixby, as superintendent and manager for many years; and altogether he has been connected with the operation of the plants of the Chautauqua Institution for 42 years. Length of service testifies more than to the technical ability of the servant; it tes- tifies strongly to his character. Mr. Bixby must be a man of steady, reliable, stable characteristics, otherwise he would not have held the one position for so long ; and he must have been a man of commendable energy, otherwise he would not have concurrently been able to attend to his other business. He was aided in that by the fact that for many years the electric lighting plant was only operated in summer, and that conse- quently during the winter he was able to give his entire time to his private enterprise.
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