USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 11
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Mr. Urban was born in Buffalo July 28, 1861, the youngest of three children, received a public and High School education, and on leaving school entered his father's establishment as a book- keeper. He showed strong natural aptitude for business, and was presently admitted a member of the firm, the other partners being his father, his brother, George Urban, Jr., and
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E. G. S. Miller. April 1, 1897, the Urban Milling Company was incorporated. William C. Urban's connection with the company continued until two years before his death, when ill health made it impossible for him actively to participate in the business, from which he accordingly retired. After illness ยท compelled him to sever his relationship with the enterprise to which he had devoted so great a share of his life, he lived quietly at his residence at Pine Ridge.
June 30, 1886, Mr. Urban married Louisa W. Burgard, daughter of Peter and Sarah (Rinck) Burgard of Buffalo. He is survived by his wife and six children: Grace E., William P., Raymond G., Ada M., Edward B., and Louise C. Urban.
Mr. Urban was one of those able, sagacious and unpretending men who accomplish important results by unobtrusive methods. Though of high social standing he belonged to no clubs or societies. His tastes were domestic to an unusual degree, and he was devoted to his home and family. A man of strong religious feeling, he was a devout and consistent member of the English Lutheran Church. His circle of friends was wide, and his estimable personal qualities contributed to make his friendships enduring.
MARTIN HOWLAND BIRGE, who died October 3, 1900, was for over half a century one of the most prominent business men of Buffalo, and no resident of that community ever stood more deservedly high in the general esteem.
The Birge family is of English origin. Richard Birge came from England to this country in 1630, in the ship "Mary and John," and settled in Dorchester, Mass. His son, Joseph, was the father of Joseph, one of the first settlers of Litchfield, Conn. Elijah, son of Joseph Birge (2d), was the father of David Birge, who was a soldier of the Revolution and served under Wash- ington at the battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton .; fought in Gen. Stark's army at the battle of Bennington; took part in the campaigns of Gates
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and Schuyler in 1777, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. He married Abigail Howland, a descendant of John Howland, who came over in the Mayflower. Their son, Elijah Birge (2d), was born in Lenox, Mass., March 2, 1782, and died at Underhill, Vt., April 11, 1854. November 18, 1805, he married Mary Olds. During the War of 1812 Elijah Birge (2d) was Captain of a company of militia.
Martin Howland Birge, son of Elijah and Mary Olds Birge, was born at Underhill, Chittenden County, Vt., July 30, 1806. He attended the district school and the village academy. When twenty years old he became clerk in a general store in Middle- bury, Vt. After three years he engaged in business for himself, and for several years successfully conducted a dry-goods and general store in Middlebury. Here he joined the first Total Abstinence Society in the State, and though stores then always carried a stock of liquors he absolutely refused to sell spirits.
In 1834 Mr. Birge disposed of his business and journeyed to Western New York, intending ultimately to settle in Chicago. He was, however, induced to remain in Buffalo, where he opened a store for the sale of dry-goods and paper hangings. The business prospered for about three years, and then came the financial panic of 1837, in which Mr. Birge suffered with others. Hundreds of men were going into bankruptcy, but he firmly refused to take advantage of the Bankruptcy Act. What cash he could raise he turned over to his creditors; his splendid reputation for honor and capability enabled him to continue in business and he resolutely set to work to pay his indebtedness in full. By 1846 he had paid every dollar of his obligations. The same year he sold his dry-goods business, thereafter devoting himself to paper hangings exclusively, building up the largest trade in that line in this section of the State. In 1878 Mr. Birge organized the firm of M. H. Birge & Sons and founded the first paper hangings factory west of New York City. The enterprise was enlarged until the manufactory became the best equipped of its kind in the United States. In 1892 Mr. Birge
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disposed of his interests to his sons and retired from business after an active career of sixty-six years.
October 21, 1836, Mr. Birge married Elizabeth Ann Kingsley, daughter of the Rev. Phineas Kingsley and Parnel (Keith) of Sheldon, Vt. Mrs. Birge was born in Rutland, Vt., August 15, 1812. The children of the marriage were: Julia Elizabeth, Mary Olds, George Kingsley, and Henry Martin Birge.
GEORGE KINGSLEY BIRGE, President of M. H. Birge & Sons Company, is a life-long resident of Buffalo, one of the industrial leaders of that city, and head of one of the largest wall-paper manufacturing concerns in the United States. In addition to his business pursuits Mr. Birge is a prominent factor in Buffalo's general interests.
Mr. Birge was born in Buffalo December 19, 1849, and was educated in the public schools, Buffalo Academy and Cornell University. Upon leaving the university he entered the wall- paper establishment of his father, the late Martin H. Birge, and was soon admitted partner, the firm style being M. H. Birge & Company. Later Henry M. Birge became a member of the house, which became M. H. Birge & Sons. This partnership continued until 1890, when it sold out to the National Wall Paper Company. In 1900 the original proprietors bought back the business, establishing the corporation since widely known as the M. H. Birge & Sons Company, of which George K. Birge is President. The house maintains branch offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, Boston, and London, England, and its products are sold throughout the United States, Europe, South America, South Africa and Australia. The designing of wall paper has been raised by the Birge Company from the status of mere trade work to that of artistic decoration. In 1896, Mr. Birge reorganized the George N. Pierce Company, which was then engaged in the manufacture of bicycles, but is now one of the foremost automobile concerns in the country.
When the Pan-American Exposition was organized, Mr.
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Birge was elected a director and a member of the Executive Committee. But one of the most difficult functions of the enter- prise rested with the Building Committee, of which Mr. Birge was also a member, his associates being J. N. Scratcherd, Col. T. W. Symons, Carlton Sprague, and Harry Hamlin. The work was so divided that upon Messrs. Scratcherd, Birge and Sprague devolved the task of erecting the numerous and beautiful buildings of the Exposition.
Mr. Birge is a trustee of the Fine Arts Academy, and a member of the Historical Society. He belongs to the Arts Club of New York City, and for several years was one of its Vice- Presidents. He is also a member of the Buffalo, Saturn and Country clubs.
Mr. Birge married Carrie Humphrey, a daughter of the Hon. James M. Humphrey, who represented Buffalo in Congress during the Civil War period and later received the honors of the bench. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Birge are Humphrey, Marion and Allithea Birge.
JACOB F. SCHOELLKOPF. America suffers many wrongs through undesirable immigration from Europe; America also enjoys the precious privilege of being sought as the future home of many of Europe's sons who come prepared and equipped for sharing in full measure in the boundless opportunities which constitute the priceless offering of America to humanity. From no other foreign land has there come a people so richly endowed with characteristics so eminently qualifying them for intelli- gent and loyal citizenship as from Germany. Jacob F. Schoell- kopf was a splendid type of that powerful race. A Prince of Industry, he was the peer if not the leading citizen of his gen- eration and time in the development of the city of Buffalo.
Jacob F. Schoellkopf was born in Kirchheim-unter-Teck, a small town in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, November 15, 1819. He attended the schools of his native place, and was at fourteen years of age apprenticed for five years to
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the trade of tanner under his father; his grandfather also having been a tanner. Completing his work he clerked in a mercantile house for two years. The United States had just begun to attract large numbers of German emigrants to her shores and ambitious young Schoellkopf, with characteristic courage and foresight, determined to try the fortunes of the less economic conditions returning messages brought of the opportunities this country offered.
He landed in New York City in December, 1841, when twenty- two years of age. Totally ignorant of the English language, he accepted the readiest employment that offered, and naturally reverted to his old trade. He quickly acquired the language, and after spending two years in New York and the West, he was attracted to Buffalo in 1844, when with $800 capital advanced him as a loan by his father, he launched his independent business career, by establishing a small leather store on Mohawk street. The same year he purchased a small tannery at White's Corners (now Hamburg), which he contracted to pay for in six years. In 1846 he started a sheepskin tannery in Buffalo; two years later he built a tannery in Milwaukee, the firm being G. Pfister & Co. Two years later he became interested in another in Chicago, the firm being C. T. Grey & Co., remaining in that firm until 1856.
Both the Milwaukee and Chicago tanneries have been in continuous and successful operation up to the present time, though Mr. Schoellkopf disposed of his interests soon after they were established. In 1853 he started another tannery at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in 1854 another at North Evans, New York, the latter of which he operated with unusual success for twenty years. In 1857 Mr. Schoellkopf made his first departure from the tanning industry, by erecting the North Buffalo Flouring Mills. His great business ability won him unparalleled success in this new field and he ultimately became one of the largest operators of flouring mills in the Empire State. He bought the Frontier Mills of Buffalo in 1870 and later erected
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extensive flouring mills and a large brewery at Niagara Falls, utilizing the immense water power at this point by means of a system of canals connecting with the rapids in the Niagara River, an enterprise now under the control of the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Schoellkopf was President. He was senior partner in one of the largest sheepskin tanneries in the United States, located on Mississippi street. At the time of his death he was senior member of the famous milling firm of Schoellkopf and Mathews.
Having displayed such signal ability in the handling of his own great business interests he became much sought to serve upon the directorates of several large corporate enterprises in which he had become interested by way of investment. He was Vice-President of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad prior to its sale to the Western New York and Pennsylvania Company. He was many years Vice-President of the Third National Bank of Buffalo, was a Director in White's Bank and the Merchants' and German banks of Buffalo, and was at the time of his death a Director in several other banks in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. He was a Director and President of the Citizens' Gas Company, and a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospital until his death.
In 1877 he purchased the Hydraulic Canal at Niagara Falls, N. Y., where he subsequently established large manufacturing enterprises. This Canal has since been continuously enlarged and improved by the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, Mr. Schoellkopf being President of this company at the time of his death.
Such is but a brief review of some of the salient features in a busy life well spent. Of one who with no fortuitous advan- tages, began at the bottom rung of the industrial ladder and by industry and ability won a high position among his fellow men. by deserving it. The story of his eventful life reveals a many- sided man. Pre-eminently a business man of great ability and capacity for large undertakings, he ranked among the great
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men of his day; as a banker and financier he displayed the same unerring judgment, and keen foresight, that ranked him among the leading financiers of the city. As a public-spirited citizen, he placed at the disposal of the city and its institutions his best talents and gave much of his time and means to further the interests of both. A man of deep and abiding religious sentiment, the one predominant attribute of his nature was his devotion to the Church and its institutions, and he was ever a liberal contributor to their material needs. A man of generous impulses his charities were many and widely distributed.
Personally he was the kindest hearted of men. His gospel work was annotated by a large measure of human interest in everything that concerned the physical, moral or spiritual welfare of the community. Mr. Schoellkopf left a fragrant memory that will long be cherished in the hearts of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and all who knew his sterling worth. Mr. Schoellkopf passed away September the 15th, 1899.
In 1848 Mr. Schoellkopf married Miss Christiana Duerr, an estimable lady who was born in Germany and who came to this country soon after her future husband's arrival. She proved a helpmeet indeed, and to her encouragement and faithful companionship may no doubt be very justly credited a large measure of the success achieved by her illustrious husband. She survived her husband, passing away October 13, 1903. Their children were: Henry Schoellkopf, born December 22, 1848, died February 20, 1880, was married to Emily Vogel of Milwaukee, Wis .; Louis Schoellkopf, born March 28, 1855, died July 21, 1901, was married to Myra Lee Horton of Sheffield, Pa .; Arthur Schoellkopf, born June 13, 1856, married Jessie Gluck of Niagara Falls, N. Y .; J. F. Schoellkopf, born February 27, 1858, married Wilma Spring of Stuttgart, Germany; Alfred Schoellkopf, born July 1st, 1860, died October 12, 1901, married Emily Graeby of Niagara Falls, N. Y .; Hugo Schoellkopf, born July 6, 1862, married Emmie Annette of Fort Lee, N. J., and Helena Schoellkopf, born April 14, 1870, married Hans Schmidt of Hanover, Germany. Four children died in infancy.
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HENRY SCHOELLKOPF, whose death occurred on the 27th of February, 1880, was a man of strong personality and great force of character, and one who achieved for himself an acknowledged place in the industrial world. A son of Jacob F. Schoellkopf, Sr., whose large manufacturing enterprises occupy so important a page in the industrial annals of Western New York, Henry Schoellkopf was both by inherited inclination and by natural environment attracted toward the manufacturing field. His abilities and his fidelity to duty were such as to command the implicit confidence of those with whom he was thrown into business relations, and only a year or two after obtaining his majority he became his father's part- ner. The period when this association began was one in which the un- dertakings of the elder Schoellkopf were, com- paratively speaking, at an initiative stage of HENRY SCHOELLKOPF. progress.
Henry Schoellkopf was born in Buffalo December 22, 1848. He was the eldest of the children of Jacob F. Schoellkopf, Sr., and his father did not feel in a position to give him the educa- tional advantages he was able later to provide for the other children, all of whom received thorough classical educations in Germany. Henry Schoellkopf also studied in Germany, but early left school and went to work, soon becoming closely asso- ciated with his father in the latter's great business interests.
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In 1870 was formed the firm of J. F. Schoellkopf & Son, in which Henry Schoellkopf was the junior partner, and which was engaged on an extensive scale in the tanning business, the manufacture of sole leather, dealing in sheepskins, and allied branches of trade. Subsequently, by the admission of the other sons into the business, the firm became known as J. F. Schoellkopf & Sons.
In 1874 Henry Schoellkopf married Emily Vogel of Milwau- kee, Wisconsin. Their children are: Two daughters, Elsie and Paula, and a son, Henry. Miss Elsie Schoellkopf married Kai Von Rumohr, an officer in the German Army, stationed at Schwerin, where he and his family reside. Miss Paula married Gustav Reuss, a Banker in Milwaukee. Henry Schoellkopf, Jr., son of Henry Schoellkopf and Emily Vogel, was educated at Cornell University and at Harvard. He is now a practicing lawyer at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
LOUIS SCHOELLKOPF, who died on the 7th day of July, 1901, was well known in the business life of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, and was an example of a strong, persistent, self-contained man, who pursued his aims with resolution, acted with uniform consistency of judgment and attained successful results. Mr. Schoellkopf was prominent, not only in commerce and manu- facture but in social affairs. Though neither a holder nor a seeker of public office, he was a man of defined political convictions and had a citizen-like conception of duty. A native of Buffalo, his character and his career were chiefly identified with this city, and he always had an active concern for its welfare. As an individual who commanded esteem, he possessed a wide circle of friends, and as a man of culture and experience, his opinions were universally respected. Mr. Schoellkopf occupied a noteworthy sphere of usefulness and belonged to that class of men whose abilities and fidelity to obligation have constituted the best elements in the business and social life of our city.
Mr. Schoellkopf was born in Buffalo March 25th, 1855. He
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was son of the late Jacob F. Schoellkopf, whose reputation as a builder up of industries at once great and permanent has survived its possessor. Belief in education and willingness to spend time and take pains in gaining it is a characteristic of the Schoellkopf family, and Louis Schoellkopf was no exception to the rule. In his childhood and youth his tuition was unusually careful and sound. Until he was ten years old he attended private schools. His father having a high opinion of German thoroughness in educational matters, the lad was soon sent to Germany, where he studied for four years. Upon his return to Buffalo the knowledge he had acquired was supplemented by further instruction by private teachers, by a course of study in St. Joseph's College, and by a system of practical training in Bryant & Stratton's Business College.
At the age of eighteen Mr. Schoellkopf resolved to master the details of the tannery business, and accordingly went to work in his father's tannery. He rapidly acquired a compre- hensive knowledge of the industry, and in 1877 began business on his own account, forming with his brother Henry a partner- ship under the firm name of J. F. Schoellkopf's Sons. The venture was successful, and the co-partnership continued until the death of Henry Schoellkopf in 1880. The same year a new firm was organized, its members being Louis and Alfred P. Schoellkopf and John Russ. This also proved a profitable enterprise, the concern being ably managed and acquiring a durable prosperity.
Aside from his tannery business, Mr. Schoellkopf was engaged in many other undertakings. Much of his time was devoted to his affairs in Niagara Falls, where he was interested in the Power City Bank, the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company, the International Hotel and the Cliff Paper Company.
In politics Mr. Schoellkopf was a Republican, and was a member of the Buffalo Republican League. He was faithful to his political principles, but had no aspirations toward office or leadership, and was not what is called an active politician.
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In social life he was highly regarded. He was a member of the Ellicott Club, the Orpheus Singing Society and the Westminster Club. He also belonged to the Merchants' Exchange and the Charity Organization Society. He attended the Westminster Presbyterian Church.
On the 18th of May, 1881, Mr. Schoellkopf was united in mar- riage to Myra Lee Horton, of Sheffield, Pennsylvania. Their children are Walter Horton and Genevieve.
ARTHUR SCHOELLKOPF, one of the ablest of the strong group of industrial leaders who have developed the resources of Niagara Falls, though his business enterprises chiefly belong to the Cataract City, is nevertheless by birth, family connec- tions and social ties so much identified with Buffalo that the latter city may well lay a claim to him. Mr. Schoellkopf is a member of the family whose name is synonymous with industrial progress in Western New York. His father, Jacob F. Schoellkopf, was not only one of the greatest manufacturers, financiers and directors of corporate interests in Buffalo, but was a pioneer in the utilization of the hydraulic power of Niagara Falls, and the sons of the elder Schoellkopf have worthily maintained and greatly amplified the immense industries committed to their charge. A bare list of the enter- prises in which he is a leading factor would show a surprisingly varied field of activities, and in whatever he has undertaken he has been successful. He is pre-eminently an able, broad- minded and public-spirited man, and holds an undisputed place among the foremost citizens of Western New York.
Arthur Schoellkopf was born in Buffalo on the 13th of June, 1856. The rudimentary educatiou of Arthur Schoellkopf was received in private schools in his native city. As a youth, he was sent to Germany, where for four years he pursued his studies at the Academy at Kirchheim, in the province of Wuertemberg. In 1869 he returned to Buffalo, where he became a student at St. Joseph's College, later taking a course at Bryant & Stratton's Business College.
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His education being completed, in 1873 Mr. Schoellkopf entered the North Buffalo and Frontier Mills, operated by Thornton & Chester, and afterward by Schoellkopf & Matthews. Here he remained for the next four years, gaining a compre- hensive knowledge of the milling business, and in 1877 becoming part owner of the Niagara Flouring Mill at Niagara Falls. This mill having a daily capacity of 2,000 barrels, is among the most important in this section of the State. Mr. Schoell- kopf is now President of the Niagara Falls Milling Co., which includes the Central Mill with the Niagara Flouring Mill, with a combined output of 4,000 barrels daily.
In 1878 Mr. Schoellkopf and his father organized the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, of which Jacob F. Schoell- kopf was made President and Arthur Schoellkopf Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager. ARTHUR SCHOELLKOPF. Formed to develop the Hydraulic Canal and to furnish water power for other mills in the locality, the establishment of this company marked an era in the industrial progress of Niagara Falls.
A striking illustration of Mr. Schoellkopf's enterprise and initiative is found in the fact that he built the first street railway at Niagara Falls, personally managed it for seven years and put it on a paying basis. The road, known as the Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge Street Railway, was
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finished July 4, 1883, and Mr. Schoellkopf continued its manager till 1890, when he disposed of his interest.
Arthur Schoellkopf and his father were the founders of the Brush Electric Light Company of Niagara Falls, and the former is prominently connected with many enterprises aside from those of a strictly industrial character. He is President of the Power City Bank, a Director of the Bank of Niagara, President of the Cliff Paper Company, stockholder, Director and President of the International Hotel Company, which owns the hand- some International Hotel and Theatre near Prospect Park.
In politics Mr. Schoellkopf is a Republican. He has repeat- edly been called to responsible official positions and in public life is characterized by sound common sense and sterling citizenship rather than by close adherence to political lines of conduct. When the municipality was a village he was one of its first Sewer Commissioners. In March, 1896, he was elected Mayor.
Mr. Schoellkopf is a member of Niagara Frontier Lodge No. 132, F. & A. M., Knights Templar and of Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Buffalo. He was also exalted Ruler of Lodge No. 346, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.' He belongs to the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, the Ellicott Club of Buffalo, and a member and Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Niagara Falls.
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