USA > New York > Niagara County > Landmarks of Niagara County, New York > Part 40
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CHARLES PETERSON.
CHARLES PETERSON was born in Mount Morris, N. Y., January 31, 1848. In 1856 his parents moved to Reynale's Basin, where the firm of Hunt, Kingsley & Peterson was engaged in enlarging a section of the Erie Canal. In 1858 the family took up their residence in Lockport.
Charles Peterson was educated at the Lockport Union School and the Buffalo Business College. His first business experience was in 1864 as bookkeeper for his father, who at that time had a repair contract on the Erie Canal at Albany. He worked with his father for some time and then became a contractor himself.
Among his most important works have been the construction of the Milwaukee Water Works, completed in 1873; the Grand Rapids Water Works in 1874 ; three sections of the New Welland Ship Canal in Can- ada in 1880; the Nunda division of the B., N. Y. & P. R. R. in 1883 ; the Erie Co. and Buffalo division of the West Shore Railroad at Buffalo ; and the Syphon Tunnel, 350 feet below the Harlem River, carrying the new Croton Aqueduct to Manhattan Island. He was elected mayor of the city of Lockport, on the Democratic ticket, April 16, 1895.
He was married April 27, 1881, to Jennie G. Lapham, daughter of William G. and Rebecca Smith Lapham of Syracuse. Mrs. Peterson is a niece of Hon. Elbridge C. Lapham, former United States senator of Canandaigua. They have three children, Rebecca L., Charles Gilbert and Jennie Gray.
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Charles Peterson is a son of Gilbert and Elizabeth Parker Peterson. Gilbert Peterson was born at Owasco, N. Y., August 5, 1824, and died at Lockport November 13, 1890. He was a son of Garrett and Rebecca Babcock Peterson, married in Scipio, Cayuga county, in 1800, her family having removed from New Bedford, Mass. Garrett Peterson died at Nunda, N. Y., November 1, 1843. He was a son of Cornelius and Hannah Parcel Peterson who lived in Hillsborough, Somerset county, N. J., during the Revolutionary war. Cornelius Peterson was an offi- cer of the New Jersey militia in the war, having been elected second, and his brother Roelif first lieutenant of the Neshanic Company of Somerset County Militia at a meeting of freeholders held in Hillsborough May 3, 1775. All his children were baptized in the Dutch Reformed church of Neshanic, N. J. After the Revolutionary war Cornelius Peter- son removed from Somerset county, N. J., to Cayuga county, N. Y., bringing with him in covered wagons his family of six sons and two daughters, among whom were Cornelius, Jerome, George, Garrett, Roelif, Richard, Anna and Altje, and some negro slaves. In 1796 he purchased 950 acres of land on the shores of Owasco Lake.
Hannah Parcel Peterson was of English descent, her family having emigrated from England to Holland on account of religious troubles. There is a legend in the family that Parcel Square in the city of London belongs to her descendants. Some of the oldest members of the family now living, say that documents to that effect were sent here from Eng- land about 1825, but they do not know where they are now or whether they are still in existence.
The ancestors of the Peterson family came from Holland, and from all the information to be had up to this time, appear to have settled first on Long Island and afterward removed to the banks of the Raritan River in Somerset county, N. J., settling there some time previous to the Revolutionary war.
Elizabeth Parker Peterson, mother of Charles Peterson, is the daugh- ter of Benjamin and Catherine Snyder Parker. Benjamin Parker came from Somerset county, N. J., to Livingston county, N. Y., in 1797. He served in the war of 1812, losing a leg at the battle of Queenston Heights. She is also the granddaughter of Capt. John and Elizabeth Pettit Parker of Somerset county. N. J. Capt. John Parker served in
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the Revolutionary war with the First Battalion of Somerset county militia. He fought in the battle of Monmouth under General Washing- ton, and died soon after the battle from the effects of being overheated.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FELTON
WAS born and educated in Barre, Worcester county, Mass., the date of his birth being December 31, 1827. He removed to Buffalo in 1854 and to North Tonawanda in 1867. When he located in Buffalo he be- gan the manufacture of pocket books, leather goods and stationery. Subsequently he engaged in the news business and for about fifteen years controlled that business on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, the Lake Shore and other roads, paying a rental of $41,000 per anuum. This business was then succeeded by the Union News Company. Since coming to North Tonawanda he has been en- gaged in various enterprises, including the real estate business, and has been very successful in his endeavors to develop the place. A large number of streets were opened under his supervision in the city, and Felton street was named after him. He and Hon. John Simson were engaged quite extensively in the real estate business and were the first to pay $1,000 an acre for land in North Tonawanda, and they once owned a large portion of the Niagara River frontage in the northern part of the city. He was also one of the first in the organization of the Niagara River Iron Company, purchasing the realty, and was their local director during the early years of its existence He has been a member and president of the Board of Education of North Tonawanda for twenty-one years, and re-elected for three years additional, and has done much for the cause of education in that city and been instrumental in shaping the course and policy of the board for many years. He has also been a member of the village Board of Trustees and president one term, receiving the nomination of all the political parties and was elect- ed without opposition. In politics Mr. Felton is a Democrat and has always been influential in his party. In 1857 he married Ellen P. Chap- man, of Maine, and they have three children : Grace A., Charles E., a student in Cornell University ; and Wilbert H., a student in the North
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Tonawanda High School. Mr. Felton is a prominent Mason, a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter ; also of the A. O. U. W., and of the Mystic Circle. He is a man of great virility and strength of character, independent in thought and action, a genial entertainer and of abound- ing hospitality.
JAMES FULLERTON TROTT.
THIS distinguished citizen of Niagara Falls, who for half a century has been identified with public affairs, and particularly with its educa- tional interests, is one of the oldest and most public-spirited citizens of the place. He was born in Boston, Mass., on Purchase street, Fort Hill district, at that time the most aristocratic part of the "Hub," March 25, 1815. He came from one of the most distinguished families of Boston, being seventh in direct line of descent on his maternal side from John Winslow and Mary Chilton. His grandfather on his mother's side was Gen. John Winslow, who served as a lieutenant under General Washington in the Revolution. He was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati, being the sixth to sign the original articles of association, and for many years the treasurer of the organiza- tion. He was also treasurer of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, and was made a brigadier-general by the city of Boston for valuable services, and at his death was buried with military honors in the Winslow tomb in King's Chapel burial ground, where for six generations the family have deposited their dead.
The subject of this sketch was baptized in the Old South church, where most of his ancestors had been baptized before him from the time the church was built, and in which they always owned a pew. His father, Capt. James Fullerton Trott, had command of a packet of which he was part owner, and sailed between Boston and Liverpool. When the war of 1812 began his vessel was seized by the English, the officers and passengers being paroled and returned to Boston.
His son, named after him, received his education in the Boylston Public Grammar School, where he was awarded the Franklin medal for scholarship, an honor highly prized, and afterwards attended the
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High School for three years. After residing for a few years in New York city he came to Niagara Falls, where he married Miss Celinda Eliza, youngest daughter of the distinguished Gen. Parkhurst Whit- ney, September 9, 1844, at the Cataract House.
He removed to Galena, Ill., after his marriage, and thence to Belle- vue, Iowa, at which latter place he engaged in business, but on account of General Whitney's earnest request he returned to the Falls, and as a member of the firm of Whitney, Jerauld & Company, he became in- terested in the management of the Cataract House, the great reputation of which was more than maintained by the firm; their combined efforts adding greatly to the popularity of the hotel, which, under the man- agement of General Whitney, had obtained a world-wide popularity. In 1853 the firm built the historic ball room in which so many distin- guished people have participated on festive occasions. In 1859 the firm built the still more famous drawing-room, whose magnificent piazza commanded a superb view of the rapids. These additions, how- ever, were removed when the State of New York purchased this part of the property for reservation purposes. In 1868 the massive stone ad- ditions fronting on Main street was built.
Mr. Trott for forty years managed the financial affairs of the firm with consummate ability, and retired from the business in 1886. He has always taken a lively interest in municipal affairs. He had been a member of the Board of Education since 1848, and president for many years. He was for six years supervisor of the town, being elected on the Democratic ticket of which party he has always been a staunch supporter. He was at one time tendered the Democratic nomination for Congress, but declined the honor. Since 1848 he has had charge of the school district library, and has always taken deepest interest in the welfare of the schools. His aim was for many years to elevate the standard of scholarship in the public schools to the high plane which it now occupies, in which he was ably seconded by his fellow members of the board and by the public generally. At the graduating exercises June 20, 1895, one of the most interesting features of the occasion was the presentation to Mr. Trott, president of the Board of Education, of a portrait of himself, in a handsome frame, in recognition of his continu- ous and faithful service of the school board for forty-eight years, and
ARTHUR SCHOELLKOPF.
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his fellow-citizens are a unit in the desire that his usefulness will con- tinue for many years to come.
ARTHUR SCHOELLKOPF.
ARTHUR SCHOELLKOPF was born at Buffalo, N. Y., June 13, 1856, and is a son of Jacob F. Schoellkopf, who came to America from Kirchheim u. T., Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1841, settling in Buffalo, where he began business as a tanner. He is at present a resident of that city and interested in various industrial enterprises; he formed a partnership with George B. Mathews of Buffalo, and with his son Ar- thur, in 1877 built a large flouring mill on the Hydraulic Canal at Niagara Falls. Arthur Schoellkopf was educated in the public schools, the St. Joseph College and Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Buffalo, and in the academy at Kirchheim u. T., Germany. At the age of eighteen he entered the large flour mill of Thornton & Chester, Buffalo, where he remained four years and fully mastered the business. In 1877 he removed to Niagara Falls, where he assumed the manage- ment of the mill built by his father in the preceding year. He is one of the influential citizens of this section who were instrumental in forming the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, else- where described in this volume, and has been secretary and treasurer of the company since its organization. He is also vice president of the Cliff Paper Company and secretary-treasurer of the Niagara Falls Brew- ing Company. In politics Mr. Schoellkopf is a Republican. In March, 1896, he was elected mayor of the city and held the office until a cor- responding date of the present year (1897). He was chosen president of the Power City Bank when it was established in June, 1893, which position he still holds. On October 13, 1880, he married Jessie Gluck, and they have two children, M. Beatrice and Paul Arthur.
CHARLES NEWELL PALMER, M. D.
THIS eminent physician and surgeon was born in the town of Bridge- water, Oneida county, N.Y., May 25, 1841. He dates his ancestry in this
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country back to 1623, he being the eighth generation in this country on both sides, and in direct line on the maternal side of the first governor of Rhode Island. His great-grandfather, Jonathan Palmer, was an officer in the Revolutionary war and a pioneer in New York State, coming from Connecticut in 1793 and settling in Oneida county, where Gershom Palmer, father of Charles N., was born in 1798. Doctor Palmer was edu- cated at the Charlotteville and West Winfield Seminaries and the Amster- dam, N. Y., Academy, and at the University of the City of New York, where he was graduated from the medical department in 1864. He spent one year in military service during the war of the Rebellion as surgeon in the Mount Pleasant General Hospital at Washington, D. C .; the 9th corps field hospital; the floating hospital, "New World"; the transports Con- necticut and Thomas A. Morgan, and was surgeon in charge of the 22d New York Cavalry in the field, after which he began private practice in Sauquoit, Oneida county. In 1867 he located in Lockport, where he has since pursued the practice of his profession extensively both in medicine and surgery.
Doctor Palmer is prominently identified with a number of societies. He is a Mason of high standing, occupying high official positions in the subordinate bodies and in the Grand Lodge of the State, and is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine; a member of the Niagara County Medical Society, at one time being its president ; of the New York State Medi- cal Society, and of the American Medical Association. He is also a member of Charles P. Sprout Post No. 76, G. A. R. ; was surgeon of the 16th Separate Co, N. G. S. N. Y .; also surgeon on the staff of Major General Rogers, 4th Division, with the rank of lieutenant-colo- nel, which he still holds, and of the Knights of St. John and Malta, He has been a prominent member of the Baptist church for forty-five years, and his family are members of the same denomination,
The ancestors of both Dr. and Mrs. Palmer were from the origi- nal Puritanic stock. The doctor was married April 20, 1867, to Sarah E. Fillmore, a daughter of ex-Sheriff Fillmore of Norwich, Conn, and a relative of President Fillmore ; they have three children : Bertha L., Harry R., and S. Valencia.
Although engaged in a general practice Dr. Palmer has made a specialty of forensic medicine, and for many years there has rarely
ANDREW KALTENBACH.
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been in Niagara county a high court in which he has not been called as an expert. In fact, he has throughout Western New York a high repu- tation in legal medicine. He was a private pupil of Prof. Alfred L. Loomis, who had a world-wide reputation, and who up to the time of his death was a friend and father to Dr. Palmer. Dr. Palmer has long been prominently identified with all advance movements in the city and county, and is widely and favorably known outside his imme- diate vicinity, both professionally and otherwise.
ANDREW KALTENBACH.
ANDREW KALTENBACH came to Niagara Falls, N. Y., from the city of Rochester in the autumn of 1877 and at once began the erection of his now famous hotel, known throughout the civilized world as the Hotel Kaltenbach, which was opened to the public on May 21, 1878, and where he has since entertained many notable people of both con- tinents, being popular and successful.
JOSHUA GASKILL,
JOSHUA GASKILL was born in the town of Royalton, Niagara county, N. Y., November 4, 1835, and is a son of Varney Gaskill, of Quaker parentage, whose ancestors immigrated from England about 1750, settling in New Hampshire, where he was born. Varney Gaskill re- moved to Niagara county about 1813, settling on a farm The mother of Joshua Gaskill, Sarah Bishop, was of French descent, whose ances- tor, Eleazar Bishop, came from France in the latter part of the seven- teenth century. Her father, Thomas Bishop, was a captain in the Revolutionary army. Joshua Gaskill's early education was received in the district school, Wilson Collegiate Institute, Lockport Union School and the Gasport Academy. He was employed on his father's farm during the summer seasons until he was twenty years of age, when he entered the University of Rochester and graduated from that institution with the degree of A. B., in 1859, and received the degree of A. M. in
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1863. He began the study of law in the office of Hon. George D. Lamont, of Lockport, and in December of 1860, was admitted to the bar in Buffalo. He has been engaged in the practice of his profession since that time at Lockport, N. Y., with the exception of four months in 1862-63 which he spent in Saginaw, Mich. In politics Mr. Gaskill has always been a Republican, on his twenty-first birthday voting for John C. Fremont for president. For many years he has been recognized as one of the leading Republicans of the county. He was for two years city clerk of Lockport; one year clerk of the Board of Supervisors of Niagara county, and six years surrogate of the county. Mr. Gaskill married, May 25, 1863, Salome Cox, daughter of George H. Cox, now of Indianapolis, Ind. They have had eight children, three of whom are now living : Sara Frances, wife of Fred S. Jackson, a lawyer of Buffalo ; De Witt Clinton, a law student in his father's office; Bertha Salome, a student in the Lockport Union School.
REV. PATRICK T. MULLANEY.
REV. PATRICK THOMAS MULLANEY, rector of St. Peter's Roman Catholic church, Lewiston, and St. Bernard's church, Youngstown, is the youngest of eleven children of James and Margaret (Byrne) Mulla- ney, natives of County Leitrim and County Sligo, Ireland, respectively. His parents came to America about 1850, settled in the town of Lock- port, Niagara county, and died there, the father on August 12, 1889, aged ninety-three, and the mother August 23, 1879, aged about seventy.
Rev. Father Mullaney was born on a farm in Lockport, this county, and received his preparatory education at the Christian Brothers' Acad- emy in Rochester. He subsequently took a course at Niagara Uni- versity, and was ordained to the priesthood from there, by the late Bishop Ryan, of Buffalo, on June 15, 1884, after which he was assistant priest at Rexville, Steuben county, for eleven months. On June 13, 1885, he was appointed to the charge of St. Peter's parish, Lewiston, and of St. Bernard's mission, Youngstown, which he has since served with great fidelity and success. These two parishes comprise about
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sixty-five families, of which forty are in Lewiston, and their history dates back many years. The first priest of whom there is any record was Father Stephens, who was followed by Father Hughes, Tierney, Leyden, Monohan, Asmuth (president of Niagara University), Boyle, Smith, Ryan (the poet-priest), Mulholland, Maloy, Toohey, Farley, Baxter, Brady, Michael O'Shea, Gratton, Johnston, Morris O'Shea, and Mullaney. Several of these were resident priests.
Father Mullaney, during his pastorate of more than twelve years, has been remarkably successful, and is justly popular with all classes of the community. He is public spirited and progressive, and in every sense a thorough, patriotic American. He is a prominent member and past chancellor of Branch 27, C. M. B. A., of Lockport.
RICHARD CROWLEY.
RICHARD CROWLEY, counselor and statesman, was born at Lock- port, Niagara county, N. Y., on the 14th of December, 1836. His life, thus far, is a shining example of what ambition, unaided, can achieve ; of triumph over obstacles, and patience and perseverance under diffi- culties. From early childhood until he attained his majority, he labored hard and faithfully on his father's farm, only alternating his arduous tasks with the solace of study and reading in the winter months. And here is marvelously shown the mighty force which genius and greatness can exert over the youthful mind, as in the lonely farm house, by a solitary light, he reads of the lofty paths others have trod, in burning words of immortal eloquence. Among his most precious possessions to-day, as a dear memory of the past, is a volume of Shakespeare, which he earned by chopping wood, at fifty cents per cord, and for which he paid three dollars. And the grand array of classic authors of ancient Greece and Rome, with their carefully worded comments pen- ciled on the margin of their pages, thus showing how deeply the im- pression was engraved upon his young mind, have long since shown the golden fruitage of such seed, in the glowing political speeches, richly freighted with knowledge of the world's history, and the charac- ter and achievements of its greatest men.
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Mr. Crowley began the study of law in the office of Gardener & La- mont in 1857. A little later he entered the office of L. F. & G. W. Bowen, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1860. In 1861 he formed his first law partnership with Edward I. Chase, a brother of the celebrated chief justice, who in 1865 admitted him to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. Since then a great many cele- brated cases have been placed under his care, and he has saved many lives, and won many laurels as an advocate.
From boyhood he was greatly interested in national politics and his decision to enter the ranks of the Republican party first came about through the excitement in regard to the repeal of the Missouri Com- primise, and the Kansas and Nebraska troubles. He was the first city attorney of the city of Lockport, in 1865 and 1866. When twenty- nine years old he was elected to the State Senate. He was re- elected in 1867, and made chairman of the Committee on Municipal Affairs. At that time, from 1865 to 1869, he was in daily association and close friendship with many whose names have since been written permanently in the annals of our country. Charles J. Folger, though twenty years older, was his most intimate companion, and they two, with Chester A. Arthur, Alonzo B. Cornell, and many others, were instrumental in the sudden and brilliant rise of Roscoe Conkling to the Senate, and to the leadership of the Empire State.
In 1871 General Grant, then president, appointed Mr. Crowley United States attorney for the Northern District of New York. On the paper which Senator Conkling presented to the president were arrayed the names of all the leading Republicans of this State. This office he held with great distinction for eight years, only resigning it to take his seat in the Forty-sixth Congress in 1879. Many of the causes then pleaded were famous. There was the Central Railroad case, the Ballard coun- terfeiting case, plea of the Woman Suffragists, and many others. The favorable newspaper comments of these years form a history in them- selves.
Mr. Crowley's appearance in the House of Representatives was on the eve of Garfield's election. In the desire to win over all the prom- inent Grant men, Garfield was moved to place Mr. Crowley in the Cabinet; he was therefore slated for the attorney-generalship, but
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afterwards made way for Folger (who afterwards declined the same), whose claim was seniority, "an older soldier, not a better."
When the most noted of all the contests for the United States Sen- ate occurred in 1881 between Mr. Crowley and Mr. Platt, every one is familiar with the sudden and simultaneous resignation of the two senators, Conkling and Platt, only a few weeks after the success of the latter, as well as the tragedy which quickly followed. During the administration of Arthur, Mr. Crowley, although he obtained powerful and lucrative offices for many friends, singularly enough never sought office for himself. Soon after the election of Cleveland he re- turned to his old home at Lockport to practice law once more, having previously lived for a brief time only in New York and Buffalo. In as much as the associates of his early political career were many years older than himself, he now stands almost the last one left of the famous Stalwart Band.
In January, 1896, Levi P. Morton, then governor of the State of New York, unsolicited, appointed Mr. Crowley agent for the State of New York in the Collection and Settlement of Claims of the State of New York against the Government of the United States, growing out of the late war of the Rebellion. These claims aggregated many mil- lions of dollars, and a part of Mr. Crowley's time is now devoted to their settlement in Albany and in Washington. Mr. Crowley comes from a long-lived race of people, and is in the prime of physical and mental manhood. Before him, apparently, there lies a brilliant future, eclipsing the brilliant past.
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