USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume IV > Part 42
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Mr. Beach has continued his connection with the firm, which with subsequent changes is now Harris, Beach, Harris & Matson and is regarded as one of the strong- est legal combinations of this part of the state. He has been connected with some of the most important litigation before the courts of western New York.
On the 31st of October, 1901, Mr. Beach was married to Miss Marion H. Lindsay, of this. city, and they have two sons and two daughters: Daniel M., Jr., Alexander, Lindsay and Marion. Mr. Beach is a member of the Rochester Bar Association, the Rochester Country Club and the Genesee Valley Club. His residence is at No. 50 Barrington street.
CHARLES W. KNAPPENBERG.
Active at the bar and in the care of his large practice, Charles W. Knappenberg of Dansville, Livingston county, New York, still finds the time to manifest his interest in local and county republican politics and is a forceful factor in the party's affairs. He was born at Nunda, Livingston county, on January 20, 1885, the son of John Adam and Sarah F. (Carpenter) Knappenberg, both of whom were natives of New York state. The mother is still living. There were four children in the family.
After beginning his education in the grade and high schools of Dansville, Charles W. Knappenberg matriculated in the University of Buffalo, at Buffalo, New York, from which he received the degree of LL.B. and was graduated in 1905. After his gradua- tion Mr. Knappenberg remained in Buffalo for two years, passed six months in North Dakota, and then was a rancher in Oregon for a year and a half. His wanderings over, he located in Dansville in 1914 and opened an office for the practice of law. As a lawyer Mr. Knappenberg has been very successful, served as district attorney for Livingston county, 1921 to 1923, inclusive, and was police justice in Dansville from 1920 to 1924.
During the World war Mr. Knappenberg did service in the Student Army Training Corps. ' Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and is also a member of Delta Chi, a legal fraternity, and of the American Legion, of the latter organization being the first county chairman and a delegate to the first conven- tion at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the fall of 1919. Mr. Knappenberg is a bachelor.
JESSE HOMAN PARDEE.
Jesse Homan Pardee, for many years prominent in business affairs in western New York and other sections, has been since 1904 closely identified with the founding, upbuilding and expansion of The Spirella Companies, a business enterprise of marvel- ous growth and of international importance.
The name Pardee is of French origin, the family being of record in Normandy for several centuries prior to 1562. The Huguenot branch of the family fled from France across the Channel into Great Britain at the time of the early persecutions of the Protestants. Today the figures of Eleanor Pardee and her husband, Louis Lam- bert, are portrayed side by side in a stained glass window, which can be seen in the Church of Saint Julian of Rouen, one of the oldest churches in France. George Pardee, who emigrated to this country, was the younger son of a churchman. His family had for some time been settled in Taunton, Somersetshire, England, where his father, the Rev. Anthony Pardee, was a clergyman in the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene. He occupied this position from the time he was ordained in March, 1627, until his death in 1646, and was buried in the churchyard there. George, born in
CHARLES W. KNAPPENBERG
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1622, was baptized in Pitminster Church, near Taunton, February 19, 1623. He came to the American colonies in 1644, settling in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a scholarly man and had undoubtedly inherited the Latin instinct from his fore- bears. He learned that language from his father and in the Taunton grammar school, which was quite prominent in those days. It is learned from Atwater's "History of the New Haven Colony", that as the Colony school had been discontinued, the town of New Haven negotiated with George Pardee to give the children instruction in English, and, in the quaint language of the time "to carry them on in Lattime soe far as he could, alsoe to learne them to write." The proposition was debated and some expressed the opinion that it was scarcely known in any place to have a free school for teaching English and writing, but yet showed themselves willing to have something allowed by the public and the rest by the parents and masters of such that went to school, and in the issue the sum of twenty pounds was voted out of the town treasury, the remainder to be paid by those who sent pupils to the school. George Pardee agreed to make a trial of one year. At the end of that time Connecticut absorbed the colony of New Haven and the system of colony schools was discontinued. According to an old catalog of the Hopkins Grammar school, George Pardee was elected its second rector, being chosen after the death of its first rector, Rev. Jeremiah Peck, as the only man in the New Haven colony who could read and teach Latin. He held this position until 1667, being succeeded by Rev. Samuel Street. In 1674 George Pardee was reengaged "to teach youth to read English, and the Accidence, and any Grammar rules as far as he could and to write; something also being spoken about his teaching arithmetic as very necessary in these parts; also to be careful to instruct the youth in point of manners, there being a great fault in that respect as some exprest. (N. H. Town Rec. MSS III)."
Hopkins grammar school was established under the will of Governor Edward Hopkins to the following end: "To fit youth (by learning) for the service of God in church and commonwealth." At the first meeting of the Hopkins grammar school committee on June 28, 1660, it was agreed that the master "should teach the schollers Lattine, Greek and Hebrew and fitt them for the Colledge." (New Haven Colony Records, Vol. II, p. 377.) To be able to speak good Latin and write it both in prose and verse, to be competently grounded in the Greek language, to be able to read Cicero or Virgil, Isocrates, or the minor Greek poets, and to have some knowledge of Hebrew, were no light requirements, measured even by the standards of the pres- ent day. There were two other grammar schools in the New England states at this time. Pupils in these schools who did not take Latin gave their attention mainly to reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic-or cyphering, as it was then called.
One of the rules of the Hopkins grammar school in 1684 read: "That noe Boyes be admitted into ye said schools for ye learning of English books but such as have been before taught to spell letters & begin to Read thereby to perfect theire Right Spell- ing & Reading, or to learn to write & Cypher for numeration & addition noe further, & yet all others that are too young and not instituted in letters & spelling & all Girles be excluded as Improper & inconsistent with such a Grammar School as ye law informs & is ye Designe of this Settlement. And yet noe Boyes be admitted from other townes for the learning of English without liberty and specialty license from ye Committee."
The main purpose of the grammar schools in these days was to select and fit the brightest boys for college. As the only college before 1700 was Harvard, the course of study for boys preparing for College was determined by the Harvard requirements which were given in the "Laws of Harvard College" issued in 1655. "When any Scholler is able to read and understand Tully, Virgil, or any such ordinary classicall authors, and can readily make, speake, or write true Latine in prose, and hath skill in makeing verse, and is completely grounded in the greek language, so as to be able to construe and grammatically to resolve ordinary greek, as the greeke testament, Isocrates, and the Minor Poets, or such like, haveing withall meet testimony of his twoardness, he shall be capable of his admission Into Colledge."
In these early days the trustees of the grammar schools employed the rectors "to keep a schoole for ye space of one full yeare." The year contained fifty-two weeks of six working days each, no vacation. The school days of Hopkins were long. Rules required that school begin at six o'clock in the morning and end at five o'clock in the summer and four o'clock in the winter, with an intermission from eleven to one. This was the stern rule of the forefathers. The aim of education as they expressed it was, "the trayning up of the children of the Towne in religion, learning and Civilitie." The master of the school was required to "catechize" his pupils every Saturday aft- ernoon; on Monday to admonish and correct those whom he found guilty of any mis-
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demeanor on the Sabbath, and to examine the advanced pupils on the sermon of the preceding Sunday. According to colony records in 1665 and 1666 George Pardee was assigned the fourth place on the aisle in the Meeting House in the formal seating arrangement.
George Pardee was married, first, on October 20, 1650, to Martha, daughter of Richard Miles, who died early in 1662, their children being: John (1) born in 1652, died in 1653; John (2) born December 2, 1653; died on October 8, 1683; George, born January 15, 1655; married Mercy Ball, and second, Mary Denison, died November 22, 1723; Mary, born February 18, 1658, married Joshua Hotchkiss; Elizabeth, born June 10, 1660, married John Olmstead. On December 29, 1662, George Pardee married, second, Katherine Lane, their children being: Joseph, East Haven, Connecticut, born April 27, 1664; Rebecca, born April 11, 1665, married Samuel Mix; Sarah, born July 1, 1667; Hannah, born July 1, 1668, married Edward Vickers. (Copied from New Haven Town Record, George Pardee's will on the same record.)
Joseph Pardee, son of George the emigrant, born April 27, 1664, was married on July 31, 1689, to Elizabeth Yale, daughter of the first Thomas Yale. Their children were: Joseph, born August 9, 1693; Thomas, born October 26, 1695, died same year; John, born February 6, 1697, died July 13, 1766, of Sharon, Connecticut, married Betsey Horne; Mary, born in 1700. On December 23, 1703, Joseph Pardee married, second, Elizabeth Payne and they had children: Elizabeth, born in 1704; Daniel, born November 28, 1706 (Society of Southington, Connecticut) ; Rebecca, born 1708; Josiah, born September 14, 1711; Ebenezer, born November 4, 1714; Samuel, born August 3, 1718; Sarah, born in 1720. East Haven Register shows that George Pardee gave his son Joseph land in. New Haven a few days before his first marriage.
Daniel Pardee, son of Joseph, born November 28, 1706, married Lydia Porter, daughter of Richard Porter, December 19, 1734. In name, list and age of inhabitants of "Society of Southington" Hartford Library, Volume No. 13, says that Daniel Pardee had pews in church second right and left of front door, and those of his son David, whose age was given as forty-five, were third pews right and left of pulpit on the left. The children of Daniel and Lydia Pardee were: Lydia, born October 27, 1736; Daniel, born December 30, 1738; David, born May 17, 1741; Jonathan, born May 8, 1744; Stephen, born July 4, 1747.
David Pardee, son of Daniel, born May 17, 1741, married Phebe Woodruff, Jan- uary 1, 1761, and they had three children: Daniel, Lydia and Lois. Lydia married Solomon Wilcox and they removed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1799; Lois married William Lincoln of Upper Houses; David Pardee died May 31, 1821, aged eighty years, and his wife died November 30, 1822, aged eighty-two years. They are buried in Cromwell.
In military affairs David Pardee of Southington, Connecticut, served as sergeant under Captain Asa Bray, Colonel Hooker's regiment of Southington, April 3, 1777- May 15, 1779. "David Pardee was with Putnam when waylaid by French and In- dians on their way from Fort Ann to Fort Edward. He held the rank of corporal." Page 210, 1760, in Connecticut Historical Society, Vol. 10: "David Pardee, 3rd Reg. 1st Co., Col. Wooster, April 1-Nov. 23. He served in both wars. State Librarian George S. Goddard of Connecticut, referring to photostats of rolls of French and Indian war says: "A set of photostats, five in number, show the various enlistments of David Pardee, then of Southington Society of Farmington." From the Connecticut Historical Society's records the following information is extracted. French-Indian Rolls, Vol. IX, page 253. Campaign of 1757. A Muster Role of Captain Amos Hitch- cock Company, the third company that went out of the 2nd Regiment, Commanded by ye Honorable Roger Newton, Esq., Coll., under ye Special Command of Major John Hubbard, of Sd. Regiment in the Late Alarm for ye Defense of Fort William Henry and Parts adjacent, August, 1757. Daniel Pardee, Private, 10 Days Service. Page 216. Campaign of 1757. Roll of the Company under the Command of Captain Stephen White, Captain in the 9th Regiment in the Colony of Connecticut, under the Command of Colonel Jonathan Hait, who in the late alarm Marched for the Succor & Relief of fort William Henry & the parts Adjacent, the time they were in Service &c. in August A. Dom. 1757, David Pardee, Private, 17 days Service. Page 44, Vol. X. On Pay Roll of Captain Eldad Lewis' Company in ye 2nd Regiment of Con- necticut forces Ad. 1758, David Pardee, Private, Enlisted April 9, Discharged Nov. 16, in the 7th Company. Page 210, in Campaign of 1760. A Muster Roll of Col. David Wooster's Company, with the Time of their enlistment, Dead, Deserted, Dis- charged, Weeks and Days in Service, David Pardee Enlisted April 1, Discharged Nov. 23. This Company contained four sergeants, three corporals and thirty-five privates who had served in some previous campaign: "Ye Historie of ye Town of
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Greenwich" by S. P. Mead, Page 74: In the company of Capt. David Waterbury, 3rd (of Stamford) Campaign of 1756, 5th Company, 4th Regiment, David Pardee, Pri- vate. Page 75: In the Company of Capt. Stephen White; 9th Regiment, Campaign of 1757, David Pardee, Private.
The accuracy of the above records were authenticated as proven by the follow- ing document: Hartford, Conn., April 16, 1915. Personally appeared Dr. George L. Parmele, who made oath before me that the above are true copies from the authorities quoted. (Signed) Erle Rogers. (Seal of Notary.)
Daniel Pardee, son of David, died March 28, 1852, in Cromwell, having been born in Southington, Connecticut, October 19, 1762. He married Florinda Bray, daughter of Colonel Asa Bray, an officer in the Revolutionary war. Daniel Pardee was the father of eight children: Sally, born May 11, 1794, married Alanson Stowe, died March 9, 1867; Fanny, born June 26, 1797, married John Brainerd Smith, Febru- ary 23, 1814, died March 21, 1873; Daniel, born February 9, 1787, died April 20, 1869; Jesse, born March 18, 1802, died January 9, 1888; John, born July 7, 1806, died March 25, 1884; Lydia, James and Bray.
The following correspondence explains itself :
Revolutionary War Records Section, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pen- sions, Washington, D. C., February 16, 1915. Mr. J. H. Pardee, Meadville, Pa. Sir: In reply to your request of the 8th inst., received 10th inst., for a statement of the military history of Daniel Pardee, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, you will find below the desired information as contained in his application for pension on file in this Bureau: Enlisted July 10, 1779, private, served six weeks under Capt. Asa Bray, Colonel Phelps; June 1, 1780, private, served seven months under Capt. Henry Ten Eyck, Col. Zebulon Butler, Col. Herman Swift; March, 1781, corporal, one year under Capt. Matthew Smith, Majors Shipman and Humphreys; April, 1782, served to end of war, Capt. Nathaniel Jones; engaged in service on Long Island Sound and aided in capturing 20 vessels. Battles engaged in, two at Frog's Point, N. Y. Residence of soldier at enlistment, Southington, Hartford, Conn. Date of application for pension, July 31, 1832. His claim was allowed. Residence at date of application, Southington, Conn. Age at date of application, born Oct. 19, 1762, Southington, Conn. (See Con- necticut Men of the Revolution, 1889, issued by the State of Connecticut.)
Jesse Pardee, son of Daniel and Florinda (Bray) Pardee, was born in Southing- ton, Hartford county, Connecticut, March 18, 1802, and died in Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, January 9, 1888. In the spring of 1820 he joined his elder brother Daniel in Meadville. The inborn thrift of the New Englander and his untiring industry soon made him one of the prominent men of his district. He took great interest in public affairs, serving as a school director, assessor, supervisor and tax collector, holding each office several times. He was often sought in counsel by his neighbors because of his clear judgment and known integrity. On February 7, 1822, he married Eliza- beth Stainbrook, who died March 28, 1846, a daughter of Christian and Esther (Trout- man) Stainbrook, and they had the following children: Sarah, born December 29, 1822, married Andrew Jackson Hunter, December 14, 1844; Susan, born August 15, 1824, married Joseph Johnson on March 20, 1845; James Christian, born September 14, 1826, married Charlotte Barton; Catherine, born October 29, 1828, married Emory Morse; Mary, born June 5, 1830, married Jesse McFadden; Esther, born March 9, 1832, married John Southwick; John Henry, born April 25, 1834; Emeline, born May 7, 1838, married Daniel Fowler, May 6, 1856; Florinda, born May 15, 1841, married Joseph B. Girard; Elizabeth, born March 28, 1846, married Joseph B. Girard, May 21, 1872.
John Henry Pardee, son of Jesse, was born in Mead township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1834. During the early oil excitement he spent several years in the oil districts of northwestern Pennsylvania, being interested in some of the earliest productions. As he was successful in his operations there, he returned home and purchased land, part of which was the old homestead that his great-grandfather, Samuel Stainbrook, bought from the Holland Land Company in 1799. He took great pride in his home and surroundings. In politics he was a republican and served his community in a number of local offices. Mr. Pardee retired from active life some ten years before his death, which occurred March 20, 1909. On May 22, 1872, he had mar- ried Julia Ann Homan, who was born in 1843, in Cochranton, Pennsylvania, and died January 24, 1925. She was the daughter of Samuel Mark and Susanne Homan, and they had three daughters and one son: Flora Luella, born August 11, 1873, mar- ried John Frederick Kitchen of Erie, Pennsylvania, on September 2, 1902; Fannie Elizabeth, born October 29, 1874, died June 14, 1886; Jesse Homan, born December 1, 1875; Margaret Edith, born April 3, 1880, married, first, December 26, 1900, Albert
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Justin Dewey of Meadville, Pennsylvania, second, July 12, 1917, Dr. Clyde M. Crow of Duluth, Minnesota.
Jesse Homan Pardee, only son of John Henry and Julia (Homan) Pardee, is in the eighth generation of the Pardee family in America. He was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1875, and was educated in Allegheny College and attended Bryant & Stratton and Smith Business colleges. During the first few years of his business life he was associated with the Keystone View Company of New York and London, and on account of its broad field of activity, Mr. Pardee became interested in business from an international viewpoint. Early in 1904 he resigned his position as manager of one of the departments of that company and, associated with W. W. Kincaid and the late M. M. Beeman, founded and established the Spirella Company, and later with them organized and financed The Spirella Company of Canada, Limited, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada; The Spirella Company of Great Britain, Limited, Letchworth (Garden City), Herts, England; The Spirella Company, Incorporated, Niagara Falls, New York; The Spirella Gesellschaft Fur Deutschland, m. b. H., Dus- seldorf, Obercassel, Germany; The Spirella Securities, Limited, Niagara Falls, On- tario, Canada; the Korsettfabriken Spirella Aktiebolaget, Malmo, Sweden, and the Aktieselskabet Spirella Korsetter, Copenhagen, Denmark. Mr. Pardee, with W. W. Kincaid and J. H. Moore, of Letchworth, England, form a Spirella board of admin- istration established to direct a uniform policy in the various Spirella companies for the manufacture and sale of their product.
While living in Meadville, Pennsylvania, prior to 1913, Mr. Pardee served as vice president of the G. M. Yost Manufacturing Company, was one of the directors of the Merchants National Bank, and gave much time and assistance in organizing several of Meadville's successful industries. He is a trustee of the Pennsylvania College of Music. For two terms he served as president of the Meadville Chamber of Commerce, and in June, 1914, represented that organization in Paris at the International Con- ference of Chambers of Commerce of the world. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Society of Middletown Upper Houses; a Pilgrim Tercentenary member of the New England Historical Genealogical Society; a member of the Somersetshire Archaeological & Natural History Society; a member of the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, and belongs to the Niagara, Niagara Falls Country, Buffalo and the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and Rotary Clubs. He is also a member of the Buffalo Saddle and Bridle Club, and is an enthusiast in riding to the hounds. In religion he is an Episcopalian and in politics a republican. On January 28, 1914, Mr. Pardee was married to Mary Imboden McClung of Richmond, Virginia, daughter of the Hon. Charles Henry McClung, who served as a member of the Vir- ginia legislature for a number of years. Mr. Pardee's residence is at No. 66 Soldiers place, Buffalo.
WILLIAM F. DIESEL.
William F. Diesel, vice president and treasurer of the Sargent-Greenleaf Com- pany, Incorporated, of Rochester, has been identified with this corporation throughout the period of his business career, covering thirty-four years, and proven ability has placed him in the responsible offices which he now fills. Mr. Diesel is one of those self-made men whose lives are object lessons to the youth of our land. Always am- bitious and eager to improve every opportunity, he began at the bottom of the ladder and slowly but surely worked his way up to the top, placing his dependence on the substantial qualities of industry, perseverance and fidelity to duty. A native of Germany, he was born January 19, 1877, and his parents were Louis and Elizabeth (Schleyer) Diesel, the former of whom was connected with financial affairs and passed away in the fatherland. In 1889 the mother came with her little family to America, establishing her new home in Rochester, and her death occurred in this city in 1922. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Diesel, a son and a daughter. The latter is the wife of Charles Sampson and resides in Rochester.
William F. Diesel was a boy of twelve when his mother settled in this city and in order to aid her in the struggle for a livelihood he obtained work at odd jobs, at which he was employed during the day, while his evenings were devoted to study in a night school. He also had the benefit of instruction in the Mechanics Institute, which has started so many of Rochester's leading business men on the road to success, and was graduated with the class of 1892. Two years previous to this time he had secured a position as errand boy in the Sargent-Greenleaf lock and key factory and his diligence and adaptability soon attracted the attention of his employers, who
WILLIAM F. DIESEL
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showed their appreciation of his efforts by successive promotions as his experience and value increased. He became foreman, assistant superintendent, superintendent, factory manager, and in March, 1923, assumed the duties of vice president and treas- urer, which he is now discharging with characteristic thoroughness and efficiency. Since 1921 he has been a director in the company. The industry is one of the most extensive of the kind in western New York and Mr. Diesel's labors have become an integral part of its history. His expert knowledge of the business is supplemented by marked foresight and executive force and his efforts have been beneficially resultant.
On September 28, 1899, Mr. Diesel was married to Miss Theresa Letteau, a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Letteau of Rochester. Mr. and Mrs. Diesel have become the parents of four children: Mildred, who was born in 1901 and is a graduate of Nazareth Academy; Evelyn B., born in 1902 and also a graduate of that institution, became the wife of Luke P. Vail in 1924, and now resides in New York city; Norman, who was born in 1905, completed a course in the Aquinas Institute, and is now a student at Canisius College, Buffalo, taking a pre-medical course; and Richard, who was born in 1909 and is a high school student.
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