USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 10
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Children's Aid Society, Secretary of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum and Vice-President of the American Unitarian Asso- ciation. He was the founder and President of the Liberal Club, President of the Harvard Club of Western New York, member and at one time President of the Buffalo Club, and a member of the Saturn Club.
In June, 1892, Mr. Sprague received the degree of LL.D., from his alma-mater, Harvard University.
Mr. Sprague delivered a large number of notable public addresses. On July 3, 1882, he delivered a brilliant address at the semi-centennial celebration of the incorporation of the city. Another the same year on "The Functions, Duties and Claims of Political Parties." At the dedication of the Merchants' Exchange in 1884, on "The Uses and Abuses of Wealth." To the Buffalo Humane Society on "Philanthropy as a Force in the Solution of Social Problems." To the Civil Service Reform Association on "The Benefits of Civil Service Reform to Workingmen." And to the Buffalo Law League upon "The Constitution of the United States Considered as a Product of Judicial Construction." His last address, one of the most characteristic of his life, was delivered before the Liberal Club. Its subject was, "Liberalism," and it was a noble plea for the rights of the individual. Mr. Sprague also wrote a treatise entitled "Lessons from the Life of Benjamin Franklin," published in 1891.
Notwithstanding his arduous professional pursuits, Mr. Sprague always managed to find time for the cultivation of art, music and literature. He pursued a wide diversity of reading. His alertness of mind was remarkable and equally so the living interest he took both in current literature and the revival of old studies. Shortly before his death he took up the ÆEneid. All that was most noteworthy in belles-lettres, history, philosophy and religious thought he studied. The writers for all time-St. Paul, Plato, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Goethe, Milton, were the friends of his heart and mind. He was a great lover
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of Shelley, and the evening before he died was reading aloud from that poet.
On the 25th of June, 1849, Mr. Sprague was married to Elizabeth H. Williams, a daughter of John R. Williams of Buffalo. He is survived by his widow and four children: Henry W. and Carleton of Buffalo, and Mrs. Edward M. Cook and Mrs. Walter Cook, both of New York City.
The death of Mr. Sprague took place on the 14th of February, 1 1895. The honors paid to his memory were worthy of his ability and character. The press, his brethren of the bar, and the public vied in heartfelt expressions of sorrow and esteem.
CARLETON SPRAGUE, son of E. Carleton Sprague, was born in Buffalo on the 24th of December, 1858. He attended the public schools, Prof. Briggs' Classical School, and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1877, and Harvard College in the class of 1881. In college he was editor of the "Harvard Lampoon" and President of the Harvard Advocate, another well-known college paper, and upon graduation was chosen Ivy Orator of his class. Leaving college, Mr. Sprague began reading law with his father, but after a short time entered the employ of the Buffalo Pitts Company. In 1883 he became Vice- President of the Company; was elected President in 1891, and later filled also the office of Treasurer, resigning the latter office a few years ago. At present he is chairman of the board of trustees, having resigned his active duties as President.
Mr. Sprague was one of the founders of the Saturn Club, which was organized at his residence, and of which he was elected the first Dean, serving three years and later serving two terms in the same office. He is a member of the Buffalo, Country, Thursday, and University clubs of Buffalo, and Century Club of New York City. He is Vice-President of the Harvard Club of Buffalo, and in 1906 was nominated for Over- seer of Harvard College. He is President of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Vice-President of the Society of Artists and
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trustee of the Charity Organization Society. He is also a member of the council of the University of Buffalo. Mr. Sprague was a member of the Pan-American Exposition's Board of Directors, as well as the Executive, Fine Arts, Building and Grounds Committees.
Mr. Sprague has delivered many addresses on literary sub- jects, and in 1905 published a poem entitled "The Mission of Beauty."
April 17, 1883, Mr. Sprague married Alice L. Brayley, a daughter of James and Mary A. (Pitts) Brayley, of the Brayley family originally of Exeter, England, but later and at the time of their deaths both being residents of Buffalo. The father of Mrs. Brayley was John A. Pitts, one of the founders of the Buffalo Pitts Company.
EDWARD H. BUTLER is editor and proprietor of the Buffalo Evening News and the Buffalo Sunday News. The News has the largest circulation of any daily paper between New York and Chicago, and is recognized as one of the best newspaper properties in the country outside of two or three of the greatest cities. The Sunday News was established by Mr. Butler in 1873 and was the first successful Sunday paper published in Buffalo.
Mr. Butler's newspaper career is closely identified with his activities in every direction, both commercial and political. He is a staunch Republican and personal friend of Presidents and Governors, and intimately associated with the politics of the day. His success as a journalist is due to his business capacity, his intellectual force and his habit of being in touch with the people. His sympathies are warm, his friendships very numerous and his zeal for causes that are sound and worthy is no less remarkable than his ability in their advocacy.
In his capacity as an editor and as a citizen Mr. Butler has always promoted causes for the welfare of humanity and that make for good government. He is a firm believer in the value
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of sound culture; he is connected with many clubs and institu- tions exemplifying good citizenship, and he takes an active interest in everything that makes for the welfare of Buffalo.
Edward Hubert Butler was born in LeRoy, Genesee County, New York, September 5, 1850. He was educated in the public schools of LeRoy and also in private schools; on the completion of his academic education he entered the offices of the LeRoy Gazette and after a short experience there he be- came a member of the staff of the Scranton Times and later was interested in the Scran- ton Press. Mr. Butler had, all the time of his work in Scranton, the idea in mind of establish- ing a paper in Buffalo, near his old home, which he regarded as a most favorable field for a modern high-class news- paper. In his 23d year he realized that dream, and coming to Buffalo established the Buffalo EDWARD H. BUTLER. Sunday News. The venture was a bold one, yet not without precedent, for other papers had been unsuccessfully tried. His paper, however, prospered from the beginning. It represented independent journalism of the popular kind with an appeal to the people that was notable for its fair and straightforward character, its freedom from offensive matter and its purity of motive. He at once struck a chord of public approval which has never since ceased to vibrate actively. The circulation increased rapidly,
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the leading merchants became patrons of the paper and its advertising business became great and profitable. The Sunday News grew and was enlarged from time to time to meet the exigencies of the times and the demands of the business. It gave a striking demonstration of its strength in 1875 when it advocated the People's Ticket, and 14 of its candidates were elected.
In 1879 Mr. Butler established the Bradford Sunday News and conducted it for several years until it had become an important paper, requiring so much personal attention that rather than yield his Buffalo interests he disposed of his Brad- ford enterprise. While publishing a Sunday paper several years, Mr. Butler carefully worked out the project of establishing an afternoon paper at the price of one cent. On the 11th of October, 1880, the first issue of the Evening News, a 24 column quarto daily, appeared. On the first day of publication more than 7,000 copies were sold on the streets alone and the circula- tion at once jumped to more than 20,000 copies a day. The record of the News from that time to the present has been one of very great popularity. It is regarded as one of the finest newspaper properties in the United States. Its circulation is greater than that of any other paper between New York and Chicago, and it is believed to be the most widely circulated straight Republican newspaper in the United States, with a single exception. Its advertising patronage is known through- out the newspaper world as probably the most enviable possessed by any newspaper in the country, for it has much more than one-half the business of the City of Buffalo and vicinity. In editorial influence it stands easily at the head of all dailies in Western New York. Although a strong party newspaper, the News opens its columns to all discussions and expresses its own opinions on all questions wholly without waiting for directions or orders or intimations from any other source than the mind of its proprietor.
It stands always for sound maxims in business policies, and
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fearlessly applies them to both local and general interests. In municipal affairs it is insistent for practical administration; it advocates reform when it thinks reform is needed and it is a safe and conscientious guide in the choice of candidates and political policies. It is an exponent of doctrines of economy in government, but believes in liberal investment of public money in enterprises of improvement, which cannot be had on the basis of economy that goes to the length of absolute parsimony.
Mr. Butler has been identified with many movements in furtherance of large aims of reform and benevolence, and perhaps the News came to the front most conspicuously in that respect in the warfare which it waged for many years for a better means of discipline at the Elmira Reformatory, then under the superintendency of the famous Z. R. Brockway. In the commercial field the most conspicuous and illustrative triumph of the News was the campaign of the Barge Canal enterprise. The project of Canal improvement had been defeated in the Legislature of 1902 and was supposed to be dead. The following summer Mr. Butler took it up and in his paper advocated the enterprise on the largest scale and forced it into the Republican State platform. The Democrats had no alterna- tive but to follow suit, both parties adopted the idea and pledged themselves to carry it out, but the great battle really occurred the following winter in the Legislature and afterwards by referendum to the people, so that the campaign was contin- ued for 16 months continuously from the time the News took up the project and advocated it in the way that was finally adopted. Incidentally the News made a permanent gain of circulation to the extent of more than 20,000 during that campaign and entered the class of papers that are on the 100,000 mark.
In political warfare no more remarkable campaigns were ever conducted by a newspaper in this State that the campaign of the News for Governor Higgins in 1904, and that resulted in the re-election of Chauncey M. Depew to the United States Senate.
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Mr. Butler has the distinction of being the most successful newspaper publisher in the United States, who is the founder, developer, sole proprietor and editor of his paper, and has retained these relations from the beginning. No other man has built up so splendid a newspaper property all by himself. He has made his magnificent score entirely off his own back.
In 1896 Mr. Butler was Republican Presidential Elector at Large for New York State, in 1900 he was an elector and served as chairman of the Board of Electors. He is an active member of the Grade Crossing Commission of Buffalo, and is the only survivor of the original commission, after 18 years of service. He is president of the Buffalo Publishers' Association and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Grosvenor Library and of the Board of Trustees of the State Normal School at Buffalo; a director of the Buffalo Automobile Club, the largest resident membership of any club in the United States, and of the American Savings Bank and other financial institutions, both in Buffalo and in other cities. He was Vice-President of the United Press, and has been a director of the Associated Press. He has served as President of the State Editorial Asso- ciation and of the Republican State Editorial Association. He is prominent in the social life of Buffalo and in LeRoy, where he has established a handsome country home. He belongs to the leading Buffalo clubs, to the Clover Club of Philadelphia, the Lotus Club and the Automobile Club of America in New York, and other leading clubs.
Mr. Butler married Mary E. Barber, deceased, of West Pittston, Pa. They were the parents of three children, of whom two, a daughter and son, survive.
Mr. Butler is as well known for his generosities as for his success in business and he is in every respect one of the most esteemed and respected citizens of Buffalo.
THE SAWYER FAMILY. The Sawyer family came to America from England during the Colonial period and settled
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in Vermont. James Sawyer was a soldier of the Revolution, and fought as a Lieutenant at the battle of Bunker Hill. His son, Dan Sawyer, removed to Windham, Connecticut, after the Revolution. He married Miss Denison. Their son, James Denison Sawyer, was born at Windham, Conn., in 1813. In 1840 he removed to Buffalo and the same year married Miss Charlotte Olivia Field, a daughter of Pliny A. Field and Olivia Babcock. Miss Field's elder brother, George Pliny Field, was an infant at the time of the burning of Black Rock by the British and Indians in 1813. Escaping from the catastrophe with her child, Mrs. Field fled from Black Rock to Batavia by the way of Williamsville, taking with her her household goods, which she had loaded on a cart. Her home was burned, but after the invasion was over she returned to Black Rock and built a house.
Pliny A. Field served with the Patriot army in the defense of the Niagara Frontier. George Pliny Field, the son of Pliny A. and Olivia Field was educated at West Point. He served in the Mexican War and was killed at the Battle of Monterey.
JAMES DENISON SAWYER, father of George P. Sawyer, was one of the founders of the industrial and commercial Buffalo of today. He served with ability in the Common Council, was among the original organizers of some of Buffalo's most important institutions of education and benevolence, and took an active part in the church and social interests of his day.
Mr. Sawyer's earlier prominence was attained as a grain merchant. In this capacity he became intimately connected with the storage and transportation interests of the community. He was a trustee and one of the founders of the National Savings Bank, in 1867, President of White's Bank, Vice- President of the Mutual Gas Light Company, and Vice-Presi- dent of the Western Insurance Company. He was one of the founders of the Buffalo Historical Society, one of the organizers of the Young Men's Association, President of the Buffalo
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General Hospital, and trustee of Forest Lawn Cemetery. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church up to 1868, when he became a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. Of the latter church Mr. Sawyer was an elder till the time of his death.
In 1864-5 Mr. Sawyer was a member of the Common Council from the Ninth Ward.
Mr. Sawyer died in 1881. His surviving children are: Elizabeth Field Sawyer, who married George W. Parkhurst (deceased) of Buffalo; George Pliny Sawyer; James, who died in infancy; Ida O., who died in 1888, and William Babcock Sawyer, who died in 1880.
James Denison Sawyer was a man of the highest character. Upright in all his relations, business and social, no one in the history of Buffalo ever enjoyed in a greater degree the confi- dence of the community.
GEORGE PLINY SAWYER, son of James Denison Sawyer, was born in Buffalo, attended Prof. Briggs' Classical School, subsequently graduating from Yale University in 1872. He then engaged in the lumber business in Buffalo until 1905. He was a director of the Mutual Gas Light Company until that concern was absorbed by the Buffalo Gas Company, and also served as a director of White's Bank, which later became the American Exchange Bauk. Mr. Sawyer was among the organizers of the movement, which resulted in the erection of the Ellicott Square Building, and is at the present time a director of the Ellicott Square Company.
Mr. Sawyer is a trustee and one of the founders of the Charity Organization Society, a director of the Fine Arts Academy, a member of the Buffalo, Country, University and Ellicott clubs, and of the University Club of New York City, and Graduates' Club in New Haven.
In 1874 Mr. Sawyer married Ida Maria Wilcox, a daughter of Daniel Hand Wilcox and Frances Ansley of New Haven, Conn.
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The children of the union are: James Denison, Margaret Field and Ansley Wilcox. A daughter, Chloe, died in 1880.
James Denison Sawyer, the second of the name, was gradu- ated from Yale University in 1896. He resides in New York City, where he is sales manager of the American Locomotive Company. In 1904 he married Sallie Shannon Walsh of St. Louis. They have one son, James Denison Sawyer, who was born in 1905.
Margaret Field Sawyer resides at the family home in Buffalo. Ansley Wilcox Sawyer is a student at Yale University, belonging to the Class of 1907.
GEORGE URBAN, JR., is universally recognized as one of the strongest men in the fields of Buffalo industrialism, finance and corporate enterprise. Mr. Urban's business connections are remarkable for extent and diversity. He stands in the front rank of those far-sighted, brainy men who are developing to the utmost the powers of electrical science and are applying it to the uses of transportation, manufacture and commerce. He is also very prominently identified with the management of several important banking institutions. He is a director of two insurance companies. He has large land interests and is a potent factor in the commercial problems relating to the great grain and produce staples of the country. He has found time to take a high and responsible role in Republican politics, to show a citizen-like earnestness and a practical capability in municipal affairs, and to give a share of his attention to the amenities and obligations of social life.
GEORGE URBAN, father of George Urban, Jr., founder of the company which bears his name, was a man of singular executive ability and force of character. The elder Urban was a native of France, where the Urban family lived for many generations in the vicinity of the city of Woerth, in Lower Alsace, then a French province, but now a part of Germany.
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For the most part, the Urbans followed the occupation of farming. George Urban, Sr., was born August 14th, 1820. At the age of fifteen, he came to this country with his parents, Philip Jacob Urban and Katherine Gass Urban, from Mors- brunn, near Woerth, in Alsace, where they both were born. In 1835 the Urbans came to Buffalo, having been preceded, 1828, by George Gass, Mrs. Philip J. Urban's father. The family purchased lands in the northeastern part of Buffalo, extending from what is now Fillmore avenue to Moselle street, south of Ferry. At the present time Woodlawn and Glenwood avenues run through the tract.
George Urban attended the public schools of Buffalo, and when he became of age assumed a position with Manly Colton, who carried on a general merchandise business at the corner of Main and Genesee streets, and with whom Mr. Urban remained until 1846. In that year he purchased the northeast corner of Genesee and Oak streets, where the Urban block now stands, and set up in the wholesale flour business for himself. In 1870 his son, George Urban, Jr., was taken into the concern as partner, and in 1881 the first roller flour mill in Buffalo was built by them on the lot opposite the original store. The senior George Urban was a member of the Buffalo Board of Trade from its beginning. He was Vice-President of the Western Savings Bank until his death, and for many years served as Park Commissioner.
During the more than half a century of his residence Mr. Urban became one of the foremost German-Americans in Buffalo, and, indeed, one of the leading citizens of the munici- pality. The East Side Park system, including Humboldt Parkway and the Parade, owe their existence to his energetic and persistent efforts at the time the Buffalo park system was planned. He was a man of few words but very determined character. He paid strict attention to business and built up a valuable property. He was one of the leading millers of Western New York. Mr. Urban's chief relaxation from business
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was floriculture and horticulture, his gardens and orchards being the finest in Buffalo or its vicinity at that time.
In 1846 Mr. Urban married Marie Kern, who, like himself, was a native of Alsace, where she was born in June, 1828. Their children, were George, Caroline and William C. Urban. Mrs. Urban died January 30, 1879. Mr. Urban died October 13, 1887, at the age of sixty-seven. They are survived by George Urban, Jr., and Caroline, widow of the late Tobias Witmer, Jr. William C. Urban, now deceased, married Louisa W. Burgard, daughter of Peter Burgard. William C. Urban is survived by his widow and six children.
George Urban, Jr., was born in Buffalo July 12, 1850. His education was gained at the public schools. At the age of 16 he entered his father's wholesale flour business. He showed great natural aptitude for the business, and in 1870 became a partner, the firm name being Urban & Co. In 1885, on the retirement of the senior Urban from active business, George Urban, Jr., became head of the co-partnership, which then consisted of George Urban, Jr., E. G. S. Miller and W. C. Urban. At the present time Mr. Urban is President of the George Urban Milling Company, a vast establishment whose brands of flour have become household words and whose output is distributed and sold in all sections of the country. In 1903 Mr. Urban completed his new mill in Urban street, adjacent to the New York Central Belt Line tracks. This mill is one of the most complete in existence, and is the first mill in Buffalo to be run wholly by electrical motive power, brought from Niagara Falls.
Mr. Urban is also First Vice-President of the Buffalo General Electric Company; First Vice-President of the Cataract Power and Conduit Company, and President of the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Electric Light and Power Company. He is President of the Buffalo Loan, Trust and Safe Deposit Company; Director of the Market Bank, and of the Bank of Buffalo, and Director of the Buffalo German Insurance Company and of the Buffalo Commercial Insurance Company; also a Director of the Buffalo
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Elevating Company, and a Director of the Ellicott Square Company. He was an organizer of the Thomson-Houston Electric Light Company, and served as its President until its consolidation with other companies as the Buffalo General Electric Company, of which he became Vice-President. He was an organizer and Director of the Bellevue Land and Improve- ' ment Company.
Mr. Urban's politics are Republican. During the eventful years 1892-1895, Mr. Urban was Chairman of the Erie County Republican General Committee. In 1896 and 1900 Mr. Urban was Republican Presidential Elector from Erie County, and in 1904 Republican Presidential Elector at Large for the State. In October, 1875, Mr. Urban married Ada E. Winspear, daughter of Pennock Winspear of Cheektowaga. Their children are George Pennock Urban, Emma M. Urban, Ada Jeannette Urban and Clara Winspear Urban. George P. Urban is the Secretary and Treasurer of the Urban Milling Company. Mr. Urban is a member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce and of the New York Produce Exchange. He belongs to the Buffalo, Ellicott, Country, Saturn and Park clubs, and is a member of the New York Club and the Republican Club of New York City, and the Whist Club of Rochester.
WILLIAM CHARLES URBAN, who died May 17, 1902, exemplified a life devoted to useful aims, and measurable only by the highest standards of business, social duty and citizen- ship. During his connection of many years with that great industrial enterprise, the Urban Milling Company, Mr. Urban acquired a deserved reputation for superior practical ability.
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