USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III > Part 39
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Mr. Kidder married, in Bradford, Pa., Oct. 25, 1894, Flora Wyman, born in the town of Carroll, Chautauqua county, N. Y., Oct. 25, 1873, daughter of Frank and Kate (Van Arsdale) Wyman. Mr. and Mrs. Kidder are the parents of six children: t. Ruth M., born March 22, 18/6. 2. Ralph W., born Dec. 26, 1897. 3. M. Elnora, born Jan. 9, 1900. 4. Samuel F., born Aug. 5, 1909. 5. Elliot H., born April 29, 1913. 6. Eunice L., born Sept. 1X, 1916.
JAMES E. HANSON-The old proverb tells us that "a rolling stone gathers no moss;" in many cases this is true, but there are exceptions to every rule, and o roi the ri James E. Hanson. Before settling himself muita, Me Hanson was interested in many different (x ciation. , almost always in the line of electrical appli- ar . in various part of the country, in each case gain- ing ireh experiences which in the aggregate made up a complete knowledge of the business which he finally mode In life work, that of general electrical work.
WAHL the Han on family was really of English birth, Fr parent of fame, E. Han on came to this continent 14,2, and lived for a time in Canada, eventually poing to Phore I land At the present time James Hanson, father of Jame I Han on, i living in Youngstown, Olao. The lon, Jaine, 1. Hanson, was born in England,
March 15, 1875, and was three years old when he arrived in Canada. While very young he attended the schools in the town where the family lived, but later, when they went to Rhode Island, the boy obtained employment in a cotton mill and worked there tor some time. In 1888, James Hanson, the father, went to live in Jamestown, N. Y., and the son again attended school for a short period, this time at the Central Branch School of James- town. This was followed by employment in the Broad- head Worsted Mills, he remaining there for a few months, and then working at various odd employments until finally he became much interested in electricity. In 1892, when seventeen years old, young Hanson went to Saratoga Springs, N. Y., and entered the employ of the Union Electric Railway, going later to Troy with the Gilbert Car Works. Following this he obtained a posi- tion with the New York Central Railroad in the lighting and power department, gaining considerable practical ex- perience thereby. Later Mr. Hanson went to Washing- ton, D. C., and while there was in the employ of the Glen Echo Electric Railway Company for a short time. When he returned to Jamestown, N. Y., in 1895, he was employed by J. C. Stearns & Company, contractors of Buffalo, who had the contract for building St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church. When this was finished the young man went to Falconer, N. Y., with the Amer- ican Manufacturing Company in their shipping depart- ment. This not being in his line of work, he only re- mained there a short time, when he returned to electri- cal work, this time with Sooliday & Miner, they having the contract to wire the city hall. After the conclusion of this job, he worked for his father who was superin- tendent of the municipal lighting plant, the son continu- ing in the commercial department for two years. Again the desire for a change sent the young man to Chicago to enter the service of Richards & Meecham, electrical con- tractors, where he gained still further experience in his chosen pursuit.
It was in the latter part of 1897 that he returned to Jamestown and formed a partnership with M. W. Vaughan, as Hanson & Vaughan, on East Second street, in a short time taking Mr. Vaughan's brother into the business, the name being changed to Hanson & Vanghan Brothers. Near the end of the first year, Mr. Hanson withdrew from the firm to do electrical work for the Gokey Electric Light Plant on several buildings then in course of construction, among them being the Burnham Brothers' building, the Sherman House (since destroyed by fire), the Jamestown Brewery, and the residence of Samuel Briggs. After the completion of these contracts, Mr. Hanson went into partnership with David Maloney, the firm being Maloney & Hanson, this continuing for three and a half years, then Mr. Maloney severed his con- nection with the firm to enter the Home Telephone Com- pany and Mr. Hanson continued the business alone for two years. Then E. P. Barley joined with him, the part- nership being known as the Hanson Electric Company, electrical contractors and suppliers for the wholesale and retail trade. This continued for a year. Then Mr. Han- son carried on the business for several years, until 1913, when Edwin W. Shier became his partner, continuing for three years, since which time Mr. Hanson has conducted the affairs of the Hanson Electric Company at No. 30 Main street. Mr. Hanson began at the very bottom of
A. D. Jobes D.C.
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his line of work, learning every detail in every form of labor, and may now be considered a past master of elec- trical construction. Mr. Hanson is much interested in public affairs in Jamestown, being an active worker in the Chamber of Commerce; he is a member of the local lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the beneficial order of Knights of Pythias. At one time he was a member of the Fire Department of James- town.
In Randolph, N. Y., Sept. 1, 1903, Mr. Hanson married Anna B. Murray. They have three children : James E., now at school; Paul M., at school; William J. Mr. Hanson is regarded among his associates as a "hustler" in business, and as a man who thoroughly understands the work he has in hand.
ALTON DELISLE JOBES, D. C .- At the time Dr. Jobes took his degree at the Universal Chiropractic College, that institution was located in Davenport, Iowa, but it now has become an incorporated body of the State of Pennsylvania, and is located at No. 1940 Fifth avenue, Pittsburgh. This school of drugless therapy attracted his interest, and since 1915 he has been its successful advo- cate in Fredonia, his present seat of practice. Mrs. Jobes is also a practitioner of the drugless methods in associa- tion with her husband.
Alton D. Jobes, son of William and Caroline (Ayling) Jobes, was born near the village of North East, Erie county, Pa., Aug. 14, 1859. His father was a farmer of that section at the time of the birth of his son, but soon after moved to Lottsville, Pa., where he lived until the time of his death, which occurred in the summer of 1865.
Alton D. Jobes attended the public schools in Lotts- ville, also the South Lancaster Academy, in South Lan- caster, Mass. During his youth and manhood, he was variously employed, farming, lumbering, etc., and later on was engaged as a jeweler, doing watch, clock, and jewelry repairing in Conneautville, Pa., but finally en- tered the Universal Chiropractic College of Davenport, Iowa, whence he was graduated Doctor of Chiropractic. He located in Fredonia in 1915, and is there well estab- lished in practice. He is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church, and in politics is a Prohibitionist.
Dr. Jobes married, Dec. 30, 1885, Hattie V. Johnson, of Fredonia. They are the parents of two children: I. Lottie Evelyn (Jobes) Kaelin, of Takoma Park, Wash- ington, D. C .; was educated in the schools of Michigan, and Mount Vernon Academy, Mount Vernon, Ohio, also a graduate of the Jamestown Business College. Mrs. Kaelin and her husband hold lucrative positions in the Review & Herald Publishing Company, at Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. 2. Vernon LeRoy Jobes, who was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania, and Cedar Lake Academy, Cedar Lake, Mich .; married Mary Knapp, of Corydon, Pa., and has two children : Theo- dore, and Ariel; he is an expert machinist in garage work, and is located in East Randolph, N. Y.
JOHN W. WITHERS, who comes of a worthy British family, and has for so many years lived in Chautauqua county, N. Y., in the Kiantone township of which he has a well-improved farm, is a citizen of high moral character and commendable traits in general, and
is highly regarded in that section of the county. He was born Jan. 29, 1869, in England, the son of James and Sarah (Watson) Withers, the former at one time a miller, but later a farmer, having in his later life fol- lowed his natural inclination for agricultural pursuits.
John W. Withers was educated in Appleby, England, and with his parents came to this country in 1882. They at first settled in Busti, but eventually John W. Withers acquired a farm in Kiantone township, and there he has lived for thirty years, during which time he has mani- fested a comprehensive understanding of farming and a marked interest in community affairs. He is a man of upright character, and has definite and fixed convictions upon many subjects, regarding which there has been much elasticity of opinion among less conscientious men. He has endeavored to live in strict accordance with his reading of the Bible, and his general understanding of right and wrong, good and bad. He is an ardent church- man, a member of the local Presbyterian church: in poli- tics he is a resolute, outspoken Prohibitionist. Fra- ternally he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
During the war, he was intensely interested in the progress of national affairs, in fact, as a man of British birth, he was interested in the struggle long before this country entered into it, and he showed by his actions that he was whole-heartedly patriotic. He subscribed as much as he was able to the war funds, both to the loans and to other funds which were for the purposes of the nation in some phase of its war aims. As a loyal farmer, he sought, to the limit of his ingenuity and energy, to co- operate with the Department of Agriculture in a national endeavor to bring into profitable bearing every acre of agricultural land that was possible, and thus, by increas- ing production and preventing waste, be able to send to the impoverished allies of the nation foodstuffs that they stood sorely in need of. The result of that national effort by patriotic American farmers is of course well known in the aggregate, and it has its proper place of honor in the national historical records of the war period, and it is generally well known to what an appreciable extent the sending of foodstuffs by this country to Europe affected the prospects of the combatants. But a proper recording of the individual effort of every American farmer has not been possible in the comprehensive national records, and must be left to compilation of local history such as this. Mr. Withers, as an earnest man of English birth, probably felt the awfulness of the calamity which had befallen his homeland long before this nation was drawn into the struggle, and probably felt his own helplessness even more keenly, so that when the opportunity did come to aid in the good cause it must have been a relief to him, and it is but proper that record should be made of his share in the combined effort of nations, not only armies, to hold back and finally defeat the domineering aims of a cruel and unrighteous autocracy which sought to hold sway over all the nations of the earth.
John W. Withers married, July 12, 1894, Jennie B. Osborn, the marriage ceremony taking place in Busti, Chautauqua county, N. Y. Mrs. Jennie B. (Osborn) Withers was born in Warren county, N. Y., and was a daughter of George F. and Roxana ( Stultz) Osborn, her father being of English birth, and her mother of Dutch. Her father was a veteran of the American Civil War,
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and belonged to a regimental unit which was sent in 1864 to the Federal capital at Washington, D. C., to garrison it at a critical period, and there he was honorably dis- charged at the termination of hostilities. Mr. and Mrs. Withers are the parents of one child, a daughter, Annie, born Dec. 12. 190 ;.
PARK L. STARR is a prominent and well known farmer of the town of Gerry, where he was born and has spent most of his active life. He comes from the pioneer stock of Western New York, known for its activity and rugged energy. His father and mother were both born in the town, and both were descendants of the earliest settlers, when Gerry was known as Little Vermont, a designation that honored the State from which many of the carly settlers came. Mr. Starr has taken an active interest in the affairs of his town and county ever since attaining his majority, and has successfully filled the offices of assessor and of town and county supervisor, being repeatedly elected to these positions by the votes of his fellow-townsmen and women. His public service, like his private service, has been performed for the good of the community, in a painstaking way that has won for him the confidence and respect of the people of his com- munity.
Park L. Starr was born in the town of Gerry, May 7, 18. 6, the son of Henry and Mary T. (Fargo) Starr. He spent his boyhood life upon the farm of his father, at- tending the common schools of his neighborhood and securing the foundations of an education which he has built upon by practical observation, experience and a line of reading that has kept him in touch with the affairs of the day at home and abroad. His father, Henry Starr, served the town of Gerry in the same capacity as the son is now serving, in the office of supervisor, for many years, and until the infirmities of age demanded rest and retirement from public activities.
While engaged in business off the farm, the early train- ing of Park L. Starr enabled him to take hold of the farm and manage and develop it at the death of his father, adding more modern equipment than the old time farmers were accustomed to. During the recent war, Park 1 .. Starr did his full share with the farmers of the State and Nation to meet the requirements placed upon agriculture by the government at Washington, and in the interests of the people of the entire World. He also re- sponded to every call for funds to prosceute the activities of war, and he served as one of the great army of work- ers behind the men in the trenches wherever opportunity called and health and strength permitted. As a practical farmer, Mr Starr long ago became identified with the work of the Patrons of Husbandry and is a member of Gerry Grange.
Mr. Starr was united in marriage at East Aurora, Eric contay, N. Y., June 10, 1890, to Lillie Rose Monchow, who was born at Marilla, Erie county, N. Y., March 1, rf), the daughter of Herman Augustus and Melissa l'herbe ( Stedman) Monchow. To Mr. and Mrs. Starr ha been born one son, Troy Scranton Starr, Sept. 10, 14y : at Mari la, Erie county, N. Y .; he is now a student at Falconer High School.
Park 1 .. Starr represents the type of farmer and busi- ness man who is safe and sane in the transaction of his
own business and that of the public; the kind of citizen that is at the foundation of honest Democratie govern- ment, dependable in public service or the privacy of his home. His public services have been recognized by his continued election to public office. He is a Republican by inheritance and by inelination, and at every State or Na- tional election he has given the best service that he could to the cause of the Republican party and its candidates.
FRANCIS E. HARRIS-Although his older broth- ers, Oscar and Gilbert Harris, came earlier to Chautau- qua county, N. Y., Francis E. Harris did not arrive until 1852. He was a son of Jonathan and Lucy (Mil- ler) Harris, and a grandson of John Harris, who served as a private in the Revolutionary army when only a lad of fourteen years. Jonathan and Lucy (Miller) Har- ris were natives of Vermont, living in Halifax and Ben- nington, that State, many years before coming to Chau- tauqua county, N. Y. Jonathan Harris was a earpen- ter and farmer in Vermont and later in New York. They were the parents of seven children: 1. Oscar, a farmer in later years in Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he died. 2. Gilbert, a soldier of the Union army, killed at the battle of the Wilderness. 3. Francis E., of whom further. 4. Malinda, who is now (1921) one hundred years old; lives at Ripley, N. Y., the widow of Addison Burton. 5. Mandana, deceased, was the wife of Lucius Correll, of Portland, N. Y. 6. Maria, died in young life in Portland, N. Y. 7. Vic- toria, deccased, was the wife of Joel Stratton, of Spar- tensburg, Pa. Jonathan Harris married (second) Jane Bruce, of Bennington, Vt., and they became the par- ents of four children: Jennet, Reuben, Mary and Ed- win. These four children were born in Vermont, and in later life resided in various parts of this country and Canada, where their death occurred.
Francis E. Harris was born in Marlboro, Vt., Nov. 29, 1830, died Aug. 12, 1890, at his home in Ellicott, Chautauqua county, N. Y. He obtained few educa- tional advantages in his youth, a faet he deplored all his later life, as at the age of eleven he was hired out to the farmers of his neighborhood by his father and they seemed to have no interest in the motherless lad save to get all the work possible out of him. Later he learned the carpenter's trade, and so rapidly did he advance that at the age of seventeen he was a contractor of building and an employer of men of his trade many years his senior. In 1852, he came to Chautauqua, still single, but four years later married Lydia H. Crandall, and settled down to the life of a farmer. He had broth- ers and sisters living in Chautauqua county when he came, and it was that faet which influenced his coming. From 1852 until 1856, he was employed as a carpenter and builder, but the life of an agriculturist claimed him after his marriage, his farm being located in the town of Ellicott. He was a man of splendid qualities, sound in judgment, and sought by his neighbors for counsel and advice. Honorable and upright, he was respected and esteemed in life and deeply mourned in death.
Francis E. Harris married, in 1856, Lydia Helen Crandall, born at Kinderhook-on-the-Hudson, Colum- bia county, N. Y., but when four years of age was brought to Chautauqua county, N. Y., by her parents,
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Stephen and Christiana (Benjamin) Crandall. From Albany the Crandalls, father, mother and nine chil- dren, came West to Buffalo by boat on the Erie canal, consuming about two weeks in the journey. Lydia H. (Crandall) Harris was a true helpmeet, devoted to her home and family, and from early life a member of the Baptist church of Brocton, N. Y. She died Oct. 8, 1918, in the village of Falconer, N. Y. Francis E. Harris was a Universalist in his religious faith, and in poli- tics a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Francis E. Harris were the parents of six children: Cora, Ida, Rollin Arthur, Gilbert D., (see forward) ; Jennie May, died in early childhood; and Flory Belle. Flory Belle prepared at Jamestown High School, en-
tered Cornell University, then after graduation spent a year in post-graduate study, specializing in Romance languages: she has taught in New York and New Jer- sey cities, also two years in California, and is now a teacher of Spanish and French in New York City; she is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, and of the Unitarian church.
Cora Harris, a graduate of Fredonia State Normal School, taught several years, and is the author of a volume of child stories entitled "Half a Hundred Stories." She is a Daughter of the American Revolu- tion, and a member of the Unitarian church.
Ida Harris married Andrew J. Petersen, in 1892, and died Aug. 15, 1919, leaving two children, Francis and Ruth.
Rollin Arthur Harris, Ph. D., was born in Randolph, N. Y., April 18, 1863. He received his early educa- tion in the public schools and high school of James- town, N. Y. In 1881, he entered Cornell University, receiving the degree of Ph. B. in 1885. He remained at Cornell, taking up graduate work in mathematics and physics. In 1886-87, he was a fellow in mathematics, and in 1888 he received the degree of Ph. D. From 1889 to 1890, he was a fellow in mathematics at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., where he pursued special studies in mathematics and lectured on mathematical subjects.
Mr. Harris entered the Tidal Division of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as computer in 1890, through the United States Civil Service. After becom- ing familiar with the work, he began the preparation of a publication into which would be gathered the tidal information scattered in various journals and memoirs and in which the methods of tidal reduction and predic- tion would be coordinated. Dr. Harris threw himself into the work with enthusiasm. Because of his splen- did training in mathematics and his ability, he was spe- cially fitted for the work, and the result, as embodied in the "Manual of Tides," which appeared in six parts in various reports of the superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, between the years 1884 and 1907, has placed our country well at the front in that branch of scientific enquiry. Taken as a whole the "Manual of Tides" is a monumental work of some 1,200 quarto pages of text and plate containing a large amount of original contributions in a field cultivated by the most brilliant mathematicians.
The "Manual of Tides" has received the recognition it merited from scientists the world over, the eminent French mathematician, Henri Poincaré, in his "Méca- nique Céleste," subjects the various tidal theories to
searching analysis and sums up by saying that "it ap- pears probable that the final theory will have to borrow from that of Harris a notable part of its essential features." Dr. Harris published a number of articles in "Science" and other scientific journals on mathematical and tidal subjects. Mention should also be made of "Arctic Tides," a monograph published by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1911, which is a classic of its kind.
Personally, Dr. Harris was a man of modest bearing, somewhat reticent, but possessed of a pleasing sense of humor. He was an indefatigable worker with a high conception of the obligations of the scientist. He was a member of scientific societies, both local and national. His loss will be felt by his friends and colleagues of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and by the many scien- tific men, engineers and explorers in many parts of the world, who brought their problems to him and received the benefit of his wide knowledge in a peculiarly abstruse branch of science. He died Jan. 20, 1918, of heart disease, death coming suddenly. He married Emily Doty, of Ellicott, Chautauqua county, N. Y.
Gilbert Dennison Harris was born at Jamestown, Oct. 2, 1864. He there graduated from high school, in 1882, going thence to Cornell University, whence he was graduated Ph. B., class of 1886. He was connected as assistant with the Arkansas Geological Survey, 1887-88; United States Geological Survey, 1889-92; Texas Geo- logical Survey, 1892-93; and during 1894 was engaged in geological research in England and Northern France. He was assistant professor of paleontology and stratigraphic geology at Cornell University in 1894- 1909; professor of the same since 1909; director of the Louisiana State Geological Survey, 1899-1909; editor and proprietor of bulletins of "American Paleontology," Vols. I to 6; editor and proprietor of "Palaeonto- graphica Americana," Vol. 1; special geologist to the Louisiana Sulphur Company, 1917; geologist to various salt and oil companies, 1909; paleontologist to Pear- son's Oil Company, of Trinidad, 1919; and is yet a professor at Cornell. He has specially investigated for economic purposes the oil, sulphur and salt fields, and scientifically investigated the geology and paleontology of the tertiary formations of the Southern States and Central America. He is a member of de la Société Géologique de France since 1895; life fellow of the Geological Society of America since 1899; member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. In politics he is a Republican, and in his religious views liberal.
Mr. Harris married, Dec. 30, 1890, Clara Stoneman, and they are the parents of: Rebecca, graduate of Cor- nell, 1913, A. B., Phi Beta Kappa and other university honors.
JEREMIAH J. SULLIVAN, M. D .- More than thirty years of active practice have so firmly intrenched Dr. Sullivan in the confidence and affection of his fel- low-citizens of Dunkirk and of many far beyond the limits of his home town that the appearance of his name will be instantly greeted with admiring and cor- dial recognition. Distinguished in his profession, Dr. Sullivan is also highly esteemed as a citizen, ranking among the foremost in his community.
Jeremiah J. Sullivan was born Dec. 1, 1862, in Byron, Genesee county, N. Y., a son of Michael and Julia
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(Cashman) Sullivan, the former a small farmer who worked for the railway. Jeremiah J. Sullivan attended the public schools of his birthplace, passing thence to the high school of Akron. N. Y., and then entering the medical department of the University of Buffalo. In 1887, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, hav- ing served during his last year as interne in the Erie County (N. Y.) Hospital. Immediately after gradua- tion. Dr. Sullivan began practice in Dunkirk, where he has ever since been continuously engaged in the general work of his profession and in surgery. He is medical examiner for the New York Life and Metropolitan Life Insurance companies. Among the professional organi- zations in which he is enrolled are the American Medi- cal Association, the New York State Medical Associa- tion, the Dunkirk-Fredonia Medical Association, and the Chautauqua County Medical Society. At the time of its foundation and for a number of years after, he was a member of the staff of Brooks Hospital. He has been for thirty years house physician to St. Mary's and Holy Cross colleges, both of Dunkirk. In public affairs, Dr. Sullivan has never actively mingled, though always tak- ing a helpful interest in all that he deems vital to the welfare and progress of his home town. He helongs to the Knights of Columbus, and is a member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church.
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