USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 68
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GEORGE M. BURGESS, an extensive fruit grower and successful general farmer, respected and popular in Ripley township, where he has lived all his life, is a fine representative of the capable, energetic, and optimistic younger generation of Chautauqua county agriculturists, who are continuing the high standard, in many respects, set by the older generation, but by more modern methods, and with probably greater return for the labor expended. George M. Burgess has farmed during the whole of his adult life, and although now only forty-four years of age, has already reached substantial success. He has a well-improved, and well-maintained farm, and a vineyard of twenty-two acres, one of the large ones of the county.
He was born on the farm next to that which he now owns, in Ripley township, Chautauqua county, N. Y., June 3, 1875, the son of Henry and Jennie (Stetson) Burgess, both of whom are still active, the former still managing his farm, which is near that of his son. George M. Burgess, in his young days, attended the district school of Ripley, and later became a student at Ripley High School. Still later, he took the commercial course of Clark's Business College, Erie, Pa., apparently intending to enter commercial life. After graduating from that special college, he returned home, and soon afterwards embarked ener- getically upon farming occupations. In course of time he purchased the 101 acre farm he now owns, and during his many years of cultivating it, he has very appreciably improved it, bringing the whole of his acreage into cultivation, twenty-two acres of it being devoted to grapes, his vineyard being one of the im- portant ones of the neighborhood.
He has had very satisfactory return from his holding, but it has not come without the expenditure of both thought and well directed labor. Still, he has never shirked the personal physical effort; in fact there are not many successful farmers regarding whom it cannot truthfully be stated that energy is an outstanding characteristic. It certainly is so with George M. Burgess: but an equally strong outstanding character- istic of his is thoroughness. His farming is not hap- hazard: it is based upon certain knowledge of the best method by which a desired result may be secured. He is an indefatigable worker, and also an indefatigable student of all phases of farming in which he engages, knowing how to calculate to bring results.
He is a member of the Ripley Grange, and frater- nally is a member of the local lodge of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically, he is a Dem- ocrat, and was a loyal supporter of President Wilson, in all his war aims. He supported him not as a Democrat but as an American, and he proved himself to be wholeheartedly patriotic. During the war, he contributed to the best of his financial means to the many funds raised for the purposes of the Nation in the prosecution of the war; and upon his own farm he sought, by preventing waste, and by cultivating every possible acre, to cooperate with the president and the Nation in the desire of the government that American agricultural land should yield such a surplus of food- stuffs that the ill-nourished allied nations might be fed. That was a great undertaking, a consequential undertaking, and produced definite results, the magni-
tude and importance of which is now so well known, and is part of national history. But the part taken by the individual American farmer has not been recorded; in fact could not be recorded, excepting in such local histories as this. The part taken by the individual farmer might have been considered a minor one, just as the part taken in the actual fighting by the individual soldier would be considered minor, but both neverthe- less had bearing upon the aggregate momentous results gained. and if one is worthy of recognition, the other is. The lot of the vigorous American farmer who remained at home to attend to the vital, but prosaic, affairs of the homeland while his more fortunate brother went abroad to the fields of glory, was a hard one, and called for commendable strength of will and self-effacement. Mr. Burgess probably more than once hoped during the struggle that he might see a way by which he too might go into the fighting, and when in the final days of the struggle, opportunity came for those of older age to participate in the military effort, he registered for military service in the United States forces. By religious conviction, Mr. Burgess is a Methodist, and is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Ripley.
Mr. Burgess married Lottie Hull, of Crawford county, Pa., Sept. 7, 1896. They have three children: 1. Henry, who was educated in the district and high schools of Ripley, and is now employed by the B. and L. E. Railway Company, in Erie. 2. Luella, educated at the district and high schools of Ripley, and now at home. 3. Theodore, who is still in the graded school. Mr. and Mrs. Burgess have taken good part in local movements, church and social, and are popular in the district.
CURTH A. SWANSON, secretary and treasurer of the Jamestown Construction Company of Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and one of the most prom- inent figures in the business life of the community, is a native of the city with which his career has been so consistently identified, and was born there Sept. 2, 1889. He is a son of Charles and Anna (Lind) Swanson, old and highly respected residents of James- town, the former, president of the Jamestown Con- struction Company, and the subject of extended mention elsewhere in this work.
Curth A. Swanson obtained his primary education in the public schools of his native city, but, being exceed- ingly ambitious to begin his business career, did not continue his studies in the local high school until the time of his graduation, preferring to devote his time to a more direct preparation for his future work. Accordingly he entered the Jamestown Business College, where he took a commercial course, and then went to Chatham, Canada, and became a pupil in the celebrated technical school there. Returning to James- town, he entered the employ of the Jamestown Con- struction Company, of which his father was the head, and there worked in a clerical capacity and in superin- tending the active work of erecting buildings until he had gained a thorough knowledge of the business. He was rapidly advanced in position until he was appointed to the double office of secretary and treasurer, which he has held ever since. Although a young man to hold
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so responsible a post, Mr. Swanson has proved himself entirely capable of discharging its duties, and is now one of the most active and useful officers of the com- pany, his counsel having much influence in the manage- ment of the affairs of the concern.
The Jamestown Construction Company, with offices at No. 60 River street, Jamestown, is one of the largest and most widely known concerns of its kind in this part of the State, and employs at this time on the average of 120 men. It was founded some years ago by Charles Swanson and associates, and was incorpor- ated Sept. 10, 1910, with its present officers, who are as follows: Charles Swanson, president; Charles Ander- son, vice-president; and Curth Swanson, secretary and treasurer. It has done much of the most important construction work in the city of Jamestown and the surrounding region and has erected many of the city's handsomest buildings. Among these should be men- tioned the Fenton building, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Temple, the Norden Club building, the First Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, the Salva- tion Army building, the building of the Jamestown Business College, and the buildings of the Jamestown Art Metal plant. Besides these structures, all of which are credits and ornaments to the city, the concern has to its credit the plant of the Watson Manufacturing Company and those of the Jamestown Brewing Com- pany, the International Metal Company, the Gurney Ball Bearing Company, and the Chautauqua Woolen Mills Company. Several public and semi-public build- ings have been erected by the company, including the Charles street public school, School No. 9, and the Young Womens' Christian Association Hospital, and hundreds of dwellings and smaller buildings in and about the city among which should be mentioned the splendid mansions of W. W. Watson and Lyman Cornell. Mr. Swanson has not, however, confined his attention entirely to business interests, and is a prom- inent figure in social and fraternal circles in the city, being affiliated with a number of orders and fraternities here. He is especially active in the Masonic order, having taken his thirty-second degree in Free Masonry, and is a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Council, No. 32, Royal and Select Masters; Jamestown Commandery, Knights Templar; Ismailia Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nohles of the Mystic Shrine; and the Buffalo Consistory, Sovereign Princes of the Royal Secret. Besides these Masonic bodies, he is a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Order of Maccabees, the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Norden Club. In politics he in an independent voter, preferring not to become identified with any partisan organizations which might bias his personal judgment, especially in local affairs.
Curth A. Swanson was united in marriage, Nov. 12, 1912, at Jamestown, with Florence Ann Matson, a daughter of - and Jennie (Ellis) Matson, of Jamestown.
JOHN MAGNUS WINNBERG, one of the prom- inent business men of Jamestown. Chautauqua county, N. Y., is a native of Sweden, his birth having occurred at Laksand Dalarme in that country, June 23, 1861.
As a lad he received his education in the public schools of his native land, and was graduated from the high school, where he was prepared for college. He then attended the College of Pharmacy at Stockholm, Sweden, and also served as an apprentice at the Royal Lion Drug Store in that city, working in the labora- tories and helping to fill prescriptions. In the year 1887, he left his native land and came to the United States, where he located in New York City, and immediately secured a position with the laboratories of Eimer & Amend on Eighteenth street and Third avenue. Mr. Winnberg remained one year with this establishment, and then worked as a prescription clerk for Dr. Gottfried Hirschman, who had a store on Columbia street, Brooklyn. In the year 1888, he passed the examination for assistant pharmacist for New York State, and the following year the examination for phar- macist. In 1889 he came to Jamestown, where he secured a position with the firm of Hult & Swanson and remained there for something over twelve months. His next position was with C. A. Swanson, in the latter's drug company, where he remained from 1890 until 1898. In the meantime Mr. Winnberg had saved considerable of his earnings and in 1898 was able to carry out a long cherished ambition and engaged in business on his own account. He formed a partnership with Mr. L. B. Batcheller and purchased the city drug store at No. 113 Main street, where he is still located. At the present time this business has grown to large proportions, and he and his partner are finding it necessary to enlarge their present quarters to take care of their increasing trade.
In addition to his business activities, Mr. Winnberg has been prominent in local public affairs, and has held a number of public offices in the gift of the community. He was a member of the Board of Health of James- town for several years, and served as registrar of vital statistics. He was also city committeeman from the Third Ward, and held the position of hospital commissioner. Mr. Winnberg is a director of the Swedish-American National Bank, and is affiliated with a number of important social and fraternal organ- izations here, including the Norden Club, of which, for a time, he was vice-president, and the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias. He is especially prominent in the Masonic order, being a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Western Sun Chapter, No. 67, Royal Arch Masons;
Council No. 32, Royal and Select Masters, Jamestown Commandery No. 61, Knights Templar, and Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and has taken his thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. In religious belief Mr. Winnberg is a Lutheran, and is an active member of the First Swedish Lutheran Church. Mr. Winnberg is generally inter- ested in archaeological and historic matters, and is the possessor of a fine collection of old coins and curios, stamps, etc.
FRANK O. NORQUIST is a member of a family which, for more than thirty years has been bringing revenue to the city of Jamestown by reason of the em- ployment given at their plants which are appreciable in size, and the products of which are exported to all
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parts of the country. Frank O. Norquist, who is the founder of both the Superior Furniture Company, and the Allied Furniture Company, and is president of both, was one of the principals of the Norquist Brothers' plant for many years prior to the establishment of the two companies before stated, and his success in developing the Superior and Allied Furniture com- panies indicates that he is a man of sound business ability.
Frank O. Norquist was horn in Sweden, Ang. 27, 1866, the son of John M. and Mary C. Norquist. The Norquists of America are of the Swedish family of the name of Nord, the termination "quist" meaning "branch of," and the immediate branch to which the Norquists of Jamestown belong apparently adopted the American equivalent of the Swedish patronymic soon after arrival in this country, for Jamestown records show them under the name of Norquist almost since their first coming, in 1869. Frank O. Norquist was only three years of age when the family came to America, and to Jamestown, and his education was obtained mainly in that city. He attended the public schools of Jamestown until his parents acquired a farming property in Lander, Warren county, Pa. He attended the district school of the latter place during the residence of the family in that section, but when, after a few years in Lander, his parents sold the farm and returned to Jamestown, Frank O. again went to a Jamestown school, remaining diligently at his studies until he had reached the age of fifteen years, when he took employment in the spinning department of the Broadhead Worsted Mills. There he worked for one year, and for two years thereafter was in active employment, of diversified character, in Allen's Auction House, Jamestown. The work was, to an extent, clerical, and it showed him to be well adapted for executive occupations. Maybe it influenced him somewhat, for he went from Mr. Allen's employ to that of his brother, August C. Norquist, and in the capacity of clerk and bookkeeper at the small furniture manufacturing plant two of his brothers had established in Jamestown some years previously. He remained a salaried employee of his brother for three years, until 1887, when a reconstruction of the family business brought Frank O. into the firm, as co-partner with his brother, August C., the partners trading under the firm name of Norquist Brothers, and turning out a superior class of bedroom furniture, in appreciable quantities. from their plant. Frank O. Norquist devoted himself to the clerical and commercial part of the business, which prospered considerably until 1904, when the plant was destroyed by fire, the loss totalling to $15,000. Whether the loss was covered to any extent hy insur- ance the writer does not know, but that loss was incon- sequential by comparison with the family calamity which came at the same time. One of the brothers was burned to death in the factory fire, he having attempted to pass through the burning building to make sure that all the workmen had left it.
The plant was soon rebuilt, of brick, and the affairs of the partnership reconstructed. In 1905, the company was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York as the A. C. Norquist Company, Incorporated, Frank O. Norquist becoming secretary and treasurer of the corporation. He continued a member of the firm
until December, 1918, when his brother, August C., purchased the whole of his stock. That sale left Frank O. Norquist free to devote his entire time to other interests of his. He had organized a company, the Superior Furniture Company, in 1908, and had been its president since its inception, and had supervised its affairs with such success that the output had increased in ten years-1908 to 1918-from a value of $13,000 to $140,000 yearly. Mr. Norquist also, on Jan. 1, 1919, established another plant for the manufacture of bedroom furniture, the new concern being duly incor- porated under the name of the Allied Furniture Com- pany, and its first year of trading indicates a healthy expansion for it.
Mr. Norquist's success in business has been appreci- able, and has come by steady application to business. He is a man of unostentatious bearing, is not given to display in any phase of his affairs, but quietly, con- sistently, and steadily he has produced. He has given indication of earnest Christian spirit, has been a member of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal church since his early days, and has taken much part in church work. He was a trustee of the church for ten years, and its secretary for a like period. He is an interested member of the Jamestown Board of Commerce, is a member, and at one time was a director, of the Norden Club, Jamestown, and belongs to the International Case Goods Manufacturers' Association.
On July 31, 1889, Mr. Norquist was married, in Jamestown, to Josephine W. Anderson, of a well known Jamestown family, of Swedish antecedents. They have two children: I. Judith J., who married Austin E. Anderson, who is vice-president and treasurer of the Superior Furniture Company and vice-president of the Allied Furniture Company. 2. Reynold, who is secre- tary and treasurer of both companies.
THE ALLIED FURNITURE COMPANY, of Jamestown, N. Y., is a recently established manufac- turing concern of that busy center of the furniture making industry, and gives promise of rapid develop- ment. It is conducted by able men, who have been for long in responsible direction of factories in Jamestown, and although it was only incorporated on Jan. 1, 1919, it was found necessary within a year to build an addition to the plant. Its factory on River street is equipped with what modern mechanical wood-working devices are necessary for the expeditious production of high grade bedroom furniture, which is the class of furniture in which the company plans to specialize, and at present finds employment for fifty men. The organizers of the company, and its present officers, are: President, Frank O. Norquist, who for many years was one of the principals of the A. C. Norquist Company, of Jamestown, and is also president of the Superior Furniture Company; vice-president, Austin E. Ander- son; and secretary and treasurer, Reynold Norquist.
AUSTIN E. ANDERSON, who of late years has come into good place among the responsible men rep- resentative of the furniture manufacturing industry of Jamestown, N. Y., has had notable success. Born in humble circumstances, deprived of the comfort of a
5
Frank On orgrit -
lunsandusom
- Reynold Marquish
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mother when very young, reared under straightened financial conditions, with all the limitations and curtailment of years of study that such a condition would cause, and the eventual launching of the youth into the sea of business, to navigate as best he could with poor instruments, it is therefore all the more creditable and worthy of note that he should have steered such a fine course as to bring him, while still a young man, into a safe and promising zone of responsible business. Although only thirty-two years old, he is on the directorate of two substantial manu- facturing companies of Jamestown, vice-president and manager of the Superior Furniture Company, and vice- president and manager of the Allied Furniture Com- pany.
Austin E. Anderson was born in Jamestown, March 17, 1888, the son of Charles E. and Minnie Anderson. Charles E. Anderson was born in Sweden, came to this country in his boyhood, has worked industriously in the furniture factories since he came to Jamestown, but until somewhat late in life he did not rise to such a lucrative position as to be able to provide for his children all that he would have liked in the matter of educational facilities. Of late years he has been the superintendent of the plant of the Superior Furniture Company. His wife, Minnie Anderson, mother of Austin E., died in 1895, Austin E. then being only seven years old.
Austin E. Anderson attended the grammar school, and later started upon a high school education, the last two years of which he would not have been able to complete had he not worked to support himself and buy clothing. As a matter of fact, he worked through the summer for three years while at school, and for the last two years at high school he found congenial employment as assistant secretary at the Jamestown Young Men's Christian Association. For a year after graduating from the high school he acted as secretary of the boys' department of the local Young Men's Christian Association, and then, for a year, was in the employment of the Erie Railroad Company, working in clerical capacity in the Jamestown freight house. In 1906 he left the freight house, thinking that the position of bookkeeper offered him by the Johnson Table Com- pany would be a satisfactory advancement. That company, however, went into bankruptcy four months later. Mr. Anderson then, in partnership with F. O. Norquist and four other local men, organized a company to acquire the plant of the Johnson Table Company. The new company took corporate existence as the Superior Furniture Company, and commenced to operate, Mr. Anderson being one of the principals at the plant. Four years later, he and Mr. Norquist became sole owners, having bought the whole of the stock holdings of the other men who joined them in organizing the company. Under the reorganization, Mr. Anderson became vice-president, treasurer, and manager of the plant. The business has been very satis- factorily developed, and its part in the industrial activities of Jamestown has received note elsewhere in this historical work. On Jan. 1, 1919, Mr. Anderson and Mr. Norquist organized another manufacturing company, the Allied Furniture Company, of which corporation Mr. Anderson was elected vice-president.
Altogether, Mr. Anderson's days are fully occupied;
he divides it about equally between the plants of the Superior and Allied Furniture companies, and his ability as an executive has gained him the confidence of the men associated with him. His success is all the more gratifying to record in that he is a native of the city. Of course, as would be expected, he is much interested in the advancement of Jamestown, and he is appreci- ably helping in that advancement, the plants for which he is partly responsible bringing money into the city, as almost the whole of the output is exported, and the money thus brought into the city is distributed, in the main, to wage earners, eventually to pass to the retail merchants of the city. So that he must rest content with his part in the prosperity of the city; such pro- ducers as Mr. Anderson are the very life of an indus- trial community. But he also takes active part in much public and church work. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Jamestown Board of Commerce; of the Manufact- urers Association of Jamestown; and the Interstate Case Goods Association. Of the Norden Club he was at one time a director and also secretary, and vice- president of the Kiwanis Club. Especially in church work is Mr. Anderson's record commendable; he is a member of the official board of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal church; superintendent of the adult depart- ment of the Sunday school of that church; and teacher of the young men's Bible Class, which has sixty-five members. During the war, Mr. Anderson took appreciable part in the work of local committees, having as their object the raising of funds, and for many years he has been connected with the Young Men's Christian Association work, a director of the Jamestown branch of that association, and chairman of the religious work committee. He is one of the charter members of the local Epsilon Phi fraternity.
In March, 1913, Austin E. Anderson married Judith J., daughter of F. O. Norquist, with whom for five years previously Mr. Anderson had associated in business enterprises. To Mr. and Mrs. Anderson has. been born one child, Austin E., Jr., who now attends the primary public school.
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