USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 75
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August Lindblad, oldest son of John and Carrie (Lauison) Lindblad, was born in the Province of Skane, Sweden, in 1838. There he received his early education, and learned the cabinet-making trade. After
growing to manhood he came to America, and settled in Jamestown, N. Y., where he began working in the Breed Furniture Factory. He continued in this posi- tion until 1868, when he joined his brother Olof J., the subject of this review, and embarked in business for himself, manufacturing doors, etc. Mr. Lindblad con- tinued in this up to the time of his death, which occurred in his sixty-fifth year. Politically, Mr. Lindhlad was a Republican, but never cared for office. He was a member of the Swedish Lutheran church in religious affiliation.
Mr. Lindblad was united in marriage with Miss Louise Hultberg, who resides in Jamestown, N. Y. They were the parents of four children: Lydia, Anton E., Winifred E., and Evangeline.
Olof J. Lindblad, youngest son of John and Carrie (Lauison) Lindblad, received his early education in the schools of Sweden, and like his brother learned the cabinet-making trade. In the year 1865 he started from his home to America, first going to Germany, whence he sailed from Hamburg in a sailing vessel bound for New York. The voyage took nearly six weeks, and he at last landed in New York in June, 1865. From therc he went to Jamestown, going by way of the Erie railroad, and arrived about the close of the Civil War.
He immediately found employment in the furniture factory of D. C. & J. W. Breed, and here he continued to work for three years for the sum of two dollars and a half per day. However, in 1868, he formed a partner- ship with his brother August, and in company with him formed a small factory of their own. They manu- factured doors and different kinds of furniture, and con- tinued in this for some time, and later took into part- nership with them Mr. Peter Bergquist, and the factory was then known as the Lindbald Brothers' Company. In October, 1876, the factory was destroyed by fire, and Mr. Lindblad suffered a loss of about $2.000. However, not discouraged by this misfortune, he again started business in the Warner building in Jamestown, N. Y., and there continued for four years. They then moved to the George B. Ford building, and after con- ducting business there for three years they moved into their own huilding, which is located on Harrison street, in Jamestown, N. Y. It is a fine three-story structure, one of the finest in the city and it is here that they manufactured all kinds of furniture, making a specialty of veneer doors.
In 1911 Mr. Bergquist died. August Lindblad died, aged sixty-five, and from that time on Mr. Olof J. Lindblad continued to conduct the business himself until 1915, when he sold out the factory and retired from active business.
Mr. Lindblad was united in marriage, with Matilda Johnson, who was born in Sweden, a daughter of Gustaf and Eva Johnson. They have one daughter, Eveline Victoria, who received her education in the public schools of Jamestown, and is well known locally for her fine musical talent. She married Rev. ,Sigurd L. Hanson, of Braddock, Pa., and they are the parents of one child: Alide Eveline. They reside in Braddock, where Mr. Hanson is minister of the Lutheran church.
Politically, Mr. Lindblad is a Republican, but in local affairs votes for the men and measures that he thinks are for the best interests of all the people. In religious
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affiliation he is a Swedish Lutheran, and he and his wife are respected members of the Emanuel Swedish Lutheran Church of Jamestown. He has been a trustee of this church for nearly thirty years, and was one of the organizers of that church in Jamestown.
Mr. Lindblad has built a residence on Price street, where he and his devoted wife are now residing. Mr. Lindblad is a self-made man in the truest sense of the word. His life has always been a busy one, his every- day affairs making heavy demands upon his time, yet he never shrank from his duties or from his obligations to his City, State or Nation. Although the influence of Mr. Lindblad upon the community, due to the part he played in the business world, is a great one, it is by no means the sum-total of that which he has exercised, or even the major portion of it. This is rather the result of his character as a man, a character which coupled with a strong personality such as Mr. Lindblad possesses, could not fail to have its effect upon all those with whom he comes in contact. At the base of his character, as it must be at the base of all worthy characters, are the fundamental virtues of courage and honesty, and to these he adds not only other virtues, but the graces of personality and manner which make him at once a charming companion and a most faithful friend.
AUGUST FRELING, a worthy American citizen, and for fifty-one years an extensive farmer of Chau- tauqua county land, has a worthy record of industry, and during the recent war proved that he was whole- heartedly an American, and that the sixty-eight years of residence in this country, with the intimate associa- tion it would give him with the principles of demo- cratic government, were of far greater influence upon his mind and heart than were the fifteen years he spent, in his youth, in Germany, the land of his birth. He felt the issues of the war very keenly, and probably was more actively loyal to the interests of his adopted country than were many native-born Americans. That has been perhaps his main characteristic-wholeheart- edness; he has been thorough in almost everything he has done; for more than half a century he was respons- ible for the maintenance in good condition of 200 acres of Chautauqua county land, the farm he owns in West- field township being of that acreage; and he has always proved himself to be capable of that responsibility. His farming was skilful, enterprising, and thorough; and he has done well by his fifty-one years of agricul- tural effort. And in one other respect he has done well for his adopted country; he has raised a worthy family of six children, all of whom have grown to useful man- hood or womanhood, and are worthy citizens.
August Freling was born upon an agricultural estate southeast of Berlin, Germany, Sept. 3, 1836, the son of Carl and Minnie Freling. He lost the loving care of his mother when he was only three years old, his mother being buried in Germany. And he remained in that country until he was fifteen years old, and had passed through the German public school. Then, in 1851, his father brought the family to the United States. What was the direct reason for his coming is not definitely known; it may have been one of the results of the Revolution of 1848, although there is no real
data to substantiate the supposition; but it is known that most of the men of German birth who came to this country during the years immediately following that of the unsuccessful Revolution of 1848 did so because they were in some way implicated in, or sympathetic with, that revolution. At all events, the Germans who in those early days came to the United States to make their home in this country were of markedly democratic mind, and made worthy American citizens.
August Freling, son of Carl and Minnie Freling, when thirty-one years old, came definitely into Chau- tauqua county agricultural records, for it was then, in 1867, that he moved to the farm upon which he has since lived, and reared his large family. In 1867, he rented a tract of 200 acres, probably not having the financial means to purchase it at that time, but three years later, in 1870, the property became his, and since that time he has been one of the leading farmers of that section of the county. Practically all the improve- ments upon the farm, with the exception of the conspic- nous brick mansion built in 1835, and still in splendid state of repair, were erected by him, and those improve- ments include many substantial buildings, as of course is would be necessary to have upon a farm of that extent. He has during the more than fifty years of his operation of the acreage been a large employer of labor, and often in the busy seasons has not been able to get as many hired hands as he could use. But, generally, in his farming operations, the hardest worked man has been himself. He has always entered with vigor into everything he has undertaken, and that probably has been the secret of his success. He is of course now he- yond the age when he would be capable of such work as he did in his younger and more vigorous days, and so he has sold some of his land to one of his sons, but he still has more than 140 acres, part of which is in vine- yard, the district being a good one for the cultivation of grapes.
Mr. Freling is a devout Christian, and for very many years has been an earnest member of the Westfield Lutheran Church, and one of its substantial supporters. He belongs to the Westfield Grange, and in politics is a Republican. Had he been so minded, he might have been elected to many offices in the local administration, for he is a man who has always been well regarded by his neighbors, and in his district generally, but he has always felt that his time could be more usefully employed in matters of production upon his own farm than in public affairs, which could be administered by men of less consequential business ties. He has, how- ever, always been interested in local affairs, and has been generous in his support of many a local project, especially in matters connected with the church and the social life of the community.
August Freling was married on Jan. 7, 1874, to Wilhelmina Rieck, and their long period-forty-three years-of wedded life has been blessed by the birth to them of six children, all of whom they have reared to manhood and womanhood. The children in order of hirth are: Otto, Herman, Elwin, Emeline, August, Jr., and Albert. All were born in Chautauqua county, and all were educated in Westfield schools, graded and high. One child, Carl, was killed, aged six years.
Harry C. Preknow.
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August Freling, now eighty-three years of age, has almost a lifetime of busy effort behind him, and the main part of his life has been spent within the borders of Chautauqua county. He is widely known and much respected among agriculturists in many parts of the county, and his private record has been as commendable as has been his industry in business. He has a definite place in this historical record of worthy men of the county.
HARRY CARL ERICKSON, an enterprising, suc- cessful, and popular merchant of Falconer, N. Y., where he has been in business since 1909, since which year the business he then purchased has increased almost 400 per cent. is a native-horn American, born in Wilcox, D'a., Feb. 10, 1887, the son of Swan and Selma Erick- son. His mother is now deceased, but his father, who was of Swedish birth, settled at Wilcox, Pa.
Harry Carl Erickson was able to secure a very good academic education. For the elementary grades, he went to the grammar school of Johnsonburg. Pa., and later studied at the high school of that place, eventually graduating and proceeding to Bucknell University. He was an earnest, resolute scholar, who worked his way through college, gaining money during the summer vacations, by working as a clerk in grocery stores, and for one summer in a paper making plant, to pay for his university course. When he was nine- teen years of age, he closed his student life, and for two years thereafter was a clerk in a Johnsonburg grocery establishment. In 1909 he came to Jamestown and started in independent business, purchasing the retail grocery business belonging to William Watson, was conducted by the latter at No. 358 West Main street, Falconer. Here Mr. Erickson has succeeded be- yond even his own expectations ; he has had to enlarge the store several times, and under his management the volume of business done has increased 400 per cent. in the ten years.
Mr. Erickson is an alert, enterprising merchant, his business activities manifesting some of the vim he used, in his college days, to put into baseball, in which national pastime he was skilled. By the way, he is still much interested in the game, but is too thorough a business man to permit such attractions to draw him away from his serious purpose in life, which is to succeed by applying himself steadily to the business in hand, which for the past few years has been developing, and which demands almost his entire time. He is a member of the Jamestown Board of Commerce, and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He is a good church- man, a member of the Swedish Zion Church, of James- town.
In October, 1913, at Jamestown, Harry Carl Erick- son married Thea Anderson. They have one child, a son, Frederick, who now attends the local school.
MICHAEL L. FERRARA-Though a native of sunny Italy, and loving it and its people, Michael L. Ferrara is nevertheless a good American, helping in every way possible to uplift his countrymen, always urging them to make use of the many opportunities for education which are offered to the immigrant after
reaching the shores of the United States; lending a helping hand to all efforts whose object is to make good American citizens of the Italian people.
Michael L. Ferrara was born in Italy, Dec. 13, 1884. His parents were John and Anna (Angalone) Ferrara; besides Michael L., they had two daughters and one other son. The family immigrated to this country in 1898, going directly to the coal mining district of Penn- sylvania. As a Loy Michael L. worked in the mines, gaining a great knowledge of mining, and the labor question in connection with it, and was chosen presi- dent of the local union, serving from 1900 to 1906. During the following year or two Mr. Ferrara repre- sented the working men (about 1,000 of them) as chief weighman, a very important office in the coal districts. In 1910 he was made organizer of labor in the mining districts, being instrumental in forming the association of United Mine Workers of America, and in organ- izing many local unions, and during his connection with them the membership increased from 27,000 to 42,000 men. Mr. Ferrara's headquarters were at Clearfield, Pa., during this period of his career.
While in Italy young Ferrara had the benefit of the education provided by the graded schools of his native village, but after coming to this country he worked all day in the mines so had to study at night to conquer the language of his adopted country. Later on he took a course in the International Correspondence School to perfect himself in English. So earnest was his study and so satisfactory the results, that a couple of years afterward, when he had become a resident of Jamestown, he was appointed interpreter for the City Court and the County Supreme Court, also acting as private interpreter for a great many lawyers, some times having matters of considerable importance to assist in. Mr. Ferrara has spent many hours of hard work to educate himself, but feels that he is rewarded many times over because of the advancement in life he has accomplished and also because of the esteem in which he is held by all who know him, his agreeable personality and ever-ready desire to assist in every way, making him much liked by those with whom he has dealings.
After coming to Jamestown, Mr. Ferrara started in the grocery business, and as a side issue carried on quite a successful real estate and insurance enterprise. After a time the latter part of his business became so large that he abandoned the grocery portion of it, con- fining himself exclusively to real estate and insurance. In the spring of 1919 he opened up a fine office at No. 16 East Second street, and there conducts a prosper- ous business, specializing in dwelling houses, factory sites and large property tracts. Mr. Ferrara is the local agent for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Buffalo Fire Insurance Company, and the National Casualty Company of Detroit, Mich.
In Reynoldsville, Pa., July 4, 1907, Michael L. Ferrara married Miss C. Angelone, of that town. There have been two children born of this union; John A. and Anna A. Mr. Ferrara and his wife are members of St. James Italian Church, and are active in the church work. Mr. Ferrara is a member of St. Pros- pero's Society. He is a Republican in political affilia- tion.
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ADDISON S. HARRINGTON, the progressive farmer of Mayville, Chautauqua county, N. Y., is a native of the town of Chautauqua, his birth occuring June 24, 1867. He is a son of James Ailsworth and Sarah Maria (Raynor) Harrington, old and highly respected residents of that place, where the former was engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years.
He was given the name of Stephen Addison Harring- ton, but as there were others of the same name in the family, he adopted that of Addison S. Harrington. He was educated in the local schools of Chautauqua, and even as a lad assisted his father in the work on the latter's farm, during his spare hours in school. The elder Mr. Harrington purchased a number of small farms in Chautauqua county, and these, as his son grew older, were placed under the management of the latter, who conducted them successfully until the year 1888. In that year his father went west and young Mr. Harrington, in 1889, purchased a farm of 80 acres, which he conducted for a time as a general farm and for the growing of grain. He later sold his prop- erty and removed to Charlottesville, Va., where he pur- chased 150 acres. This property had a considerable quantity of valuable timber standing on it, which Mr. Harrington used for commercial purposes, after which he sold it and returned to Chautauqua county. Here he bought the Orange Perry farm, at Hartfield, a property consisting of 162 acres, which is now owned by his brother. In 1905 Mr. Harrington's father, in associa- tion with himself, purchased 103 acres of the old Edward Brigham estate, a property which had been greatly run down, and this they improved and cultivated until it became one of the finest farms in Chautauqua county. Mr. Harrington has here remodeled the old house and barns, and now conducts a fine dairy here, in which he uses the product of thirteen fine holstein cows. In 1909, he and his father purchased the Miner Bond farm of 178 acres, which he now also operates as a dairy. Mr. Harrington is a prominent figure in the general life of the community and is a member of the local grange, in which he held the office of master for four years and that of overseer for two years. He is now assistant steward of this organization, and has done much in this capacity to promote the agricultural interests of the community. He is also a committeeman of the farm bureau. In politics Mr. Harrington is an Independent, but although he has not affiliated himself with any party, has held the office of school collector and has served the community well in this capacity. In religious belief, Mr. Harrington was reared as a member of the Church of Christ, but has since joined the Methodist church, and now attends the church of that denomination at Mayville.
Addison S. Harrington was united in marriage, Dec. 18, 1900, with Laura Josephine Baxter, a native of Iowa, a daughter of Henry and Mary Baxter, and they are the parents of the following children: Clarence James, who is associated with his father in the dairy business; Florence Myrtle, and Claude Lorraine.
CHARLES LINDBECK-In presenting to the public the representative men of Jamestown, and the State of New York, who have by their superior force of character and energy, together with a combination of
ripe qualities of ability and excellence, made them- selves conspicuous and commanding in public and private life, we have no example more fit to present than Charles Lindbeck. Not only did he rise above the standard in his line of business, but he also possesses those excellencies of human nature that make men worthy of regard among their fellowmen. He is high- minded and liberal, keenly alive to all the varied requirements of life, and one of those rare men who are capable of conducting operations of the most extended and weighty character and influence,
Charles Lindbeck had his name changed from Hanson when he arrived in the United States. Mr. Lindbeck was born in Westergotland, Sweden, June 6, 1866, a son of Carl Hanson, who was born in Sweden, and Christina Hanson, who was born in Sweden also. His early education was received in the grade schools of Sweden, and at the age of twelve years he began his business career, assisting his father at the mill, as carpenter, continuing in this until he came to America in 1892. Shortly after arriving he came to Jamestown, N. Y., where he immediately secured employment in the furniture factories, and in fact any kind of work he could get for one year. During this time he attended Free Night School at the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1893 he formed a partnership with a Mr. Erickson, engaging in contracting and building on a small scale. This continued for three years, when the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Lindbeck went in business for himself, which continued for twenty years. His building operations grew to exten- sive proportions, including factories, churches, busi- ness blocks, schools, residences, etc. In 1910 he built a planing mill. This business continued to grow so rapidly that it was necessary for him, in 1914, to give up the contracting business entirely and enlarge his planing mill plant, which he did. On Jan. 1, 1919, this business was incorporated under the name of the Lind- beck Lumbering Manufacturing Company, and they are engaged in the manufacturing and sale of all exterior and interior building materials. The firm employs twenty-eight men, and are doing a very successful business. Mr. Lindbeck is president of this company, and it is due to his business energy, ability and fore- sight that the business has grown to the extensive pro- portions that it has. Mr. Lindbeck is a member of the Builders' Exchange, Jamestown Board of Com- merce, the Norden Club, also the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is secretary.
In Jamestown, N. Y., June 21, 1900, Mr. Lindbeck was united in marriage with Ida E. Johnson, and to this union was born three children: Birger, Seigried, and William, all attending school.
Mr. Lindbeck's career has been exceptional, and there are elements in his life which may be useful to others, illustrating as they do the essential principles of a business life of success. Resolute, persevering industry and integrity of purpose have been the factors that have won for him a place among the leading business men of Jamestown, N. Y.
WILLIAM JOSEPH DOTY-Among the promi- nent and successful men of affairs of Mayville, Chautau- qua county, N. Y., is William Joseph Doty, who now
Joseph Bastaon
Elin Carlson.
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holds the responsible office of county treasurer. Ile is a son of Captain Joseph C. Doty, who was a pioneer captain on the Great Lakes, having begun his sailing career in 1836.
William Joseph Doty was born at Sheridan, N. Y., Feb. 17. 1869, and received his education in the district schools here. He was but seventeen years of age when he left school, and secured employment as a pilot on the ships plying the waters of the Great Lakes. Mr. Doty spent four years at this work, and at the end of that time decided to return to Sheridan, which he did, and on coming here embarked in the grape industry, having bought three farms for this purpose. From the outset he was successful in the new enterprise, and remained here until the spring of 1919, when he moved to Mayville, N. Y. Mr. Doty is very prominent in the political life of this region, and has served for twelve years on the Board of Supervisors. He was elected county treasurer in the fall of 1917, and began his duties in this position the following January. Mr. Doty has served in various State and county offices, and is at the present time president of the village of May- ville. He is also prominent in the club circles of this region, and is past master of the Chautauqua County Pomona Lodge and a director of the Chautauqua County Fair Association, of which he was president for six consecutive terms. Mr. Doty is also affiliated with the Masonic order and is a member of the Blue Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; the Westfield Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and has served as district deputy in the Second Chautauqua County Dis- trict of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics, Mr. Doty is a Republican and has served as the Republican county committeeman for some time. Prior to his having accepted the office of county treas- urer, Mr. Doty was the contractor for the South Shore Natural Gas & Coal Company for a period of thirteen years. He is a liberal in his religious belief, and an ardent supporter of all charitable movements.
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