USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 21
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June 29, 1898, Mr. Fleischmann married Laura Justice, daugh- ter of William G. and Anna (Gillam) Justice of Buffalo. Their children are: Edwin, born in August, 1899; Justice, born in August, 1902, and Dudley, born in May, 1905.
FRANK V. E. BARDOL, former Chief Engineer of the City of Buffalo, is today one of the leading civil engineers of this part of the State.
He was born in Erie, Pa., June 12, 1869. When he was three years old his parents removed to Buffalo and here he attended Grammar School No. 31. Later he entered Cornell University at the age of sixteen, where he pursued a course in civil engi- neering, graduating with the class of 1889.
After his graduation Mr. Bardol was employed by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company as a draughtsman and on field work. He assisted in the Company's engineering enterprises at the Tifft farm at South Buffalo, and in terminal work at East Buffalo. He continued with the Lehigh Valley Railroad two years and a half, at the end of this time being appointed by the Board of Public Works Assistant City Engineer of the City of Buffalo. For five years he served in this capacity, rendering such excellent service to the municipality that on the 1st of January, 1898, he was appointed by the Board of Public Works Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Engineering. The position was one of arduous responsibility, Mr. Bardol having charge of all public improvements, such as the laying out of streets, and the construction of sewers, bridges, and viaducts, and all similar works carried on by the city. During his administra-
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tion Mr. Bardol was officially and in fact the supervisor of engineering undertakings involving an outlay on the part of the city of $1,000,000 a year. His official record was among the the ablest, most economical and successful of any to be found in the history of the city. It reflected credit on the administration and did equal honor to himself.
When Col. Francis G. Ward, the Republican Commissioner of Public Works, took charge of that department at the beginning of 1902, Mr. Bardol resigned, and began the private practice of his profession, locating in the D. S. Morgan Building, where he has had his offices ever since. Mr. Bardol is also engaged in general contracting, in which he has an extensive and valuable business.
He belongs to a number of engineering and other societies. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Western New York Association of Civil Engineers, also of the Cornell Alumni Association, and the Buffalo Orpheus, and a member of Washington Lodge, F. & A. M.
CHARLES EDWIN WILLIAMS, senior member of the firm of Williams, McNaughton & Bapst, and President of the Ger- man Rock Asphalt & Cement Company, the Buffalo Expanded Metal Company, the Lake Erie Dredging Company, and the Continental Engineering & Contracting Company, is one of the foremost contractors and industrial executives of Western New York. Mr. Williams comes of a family which has been identi- fied with Buffalo since the pioneer period of that city.
William I. Williams, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born near Fort Niagara in 1823, being the son of Daniel Williams, an army officer stationed at the fort, who later cou- ducted a hotel at Black Rock and Utica. As a young man he learned the tobacconist's trade, and that of carpenter and joiner. In 1849 he went to California and accumulated enough money to enable him to start in business. Returning to Buffalo in 1850, he purchased a lumber yard, and later bought a lumber
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yard in Main street, conducting a lumber, contracting and building business for the next fifteen years, and admitting to partnership his son, Charles E. Williams, under the firm style of William I. Williams & Son. Mr. Williams erected many large buildings, and upwards of 2,000 houses, stores and other structures in Buffalo were of his construction. He retired from business in 1884, and died November 7, 1885. In 1845 Mr. Will- iams married Eliza C. Ramsdell, daughter of Capt. Alexander Ramsdell of Buffalo. Their children were: Charles Edwin, and Cora E. (Mrs. Reuben J. Getz).
Charles Edwin Will- iams was born in Buffalo February 21, 1852, and was educated in the pub- lic schools and at Heath. cote School. On leaving school he became his CHARLES E. WILLIAMS. father's bookkeeper, con- tinuing in that capacity for three years. He then went to Germany, and entered Stuttgart Polytechnic Institute, where he pursued a two years' course in architecture, engineering and similar subjects. Returning to Buffalo, he entered into partner- ship with his father, and in 1884 became associated with D. W. McConnell. The firm of Williams & McConnell being dissolved by the death of the junior partner, Mr. Williams organized the firm of Williams, McNaughton & Bapst, which soon stood in the front rank of the general contracting business.
Anthony Schenbro
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Mr. Williams is a Republican, but has never held office. In the military affairs of Buffalo he has a creditable record, having served as a member of the old Company D, City Guard, and also as Quartermaster of the 74th Regiment, National Guard. He is of high standing in the Masonic order, being a Scottish Rite Mason of the 32d degree. He is a member of the Ellicott and Press clubs, the Chamber of Commerce and the Historical Society, and is connected with various other organizations.
June 6, 1906, Mr. Williams married Jeanette J. Hodges, daughter of the late Edward Hodges.
A. SCHREIBER, President and founder of the A. Schreiber Brewing Company, Civil Service Commissioner, and Censor of the Polish National Alliance of the United States of America, is one of the foremost Polish-American citizens of Buffalo, an industrial leader and a man of an exceptionally wide range of activities, including business, civic and social pursuits.
Mr. Schreiber was born in Poland January 12, 1864. He received a High School education in his native country, and then came alone to the United States, being eighteen years old when he arrived in New York City. Mr. Schreiber's early career was typically that of a self-made man. For a number of years he maintained himself by following various pursuits. He became office boy in a large chemical company, and rose by a rapid series of promotions. He was successively shipping clerk, city salesman, traveling salesman in New England and later general salesman, his territory including all of the United States and Canada.
Resigning in 1899, he came to Buffalo, where, with one of his employees, Mr. F. Rawolle, he formned a partnership, and the same year he established the A. Schreiber Brewery, which in 1899 was incorporated under the Laws of the State of New York as the A. Schreiber Brewing Company, with Mr. Schreiber as President and General Manager, the concern having a paid-in capital of $100,000. Under Mr. Schreiber's able
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direction the business was extended with unexampled rapidity, and soon built up an immense trade. When running to its full limit the establishment has a capacity of 100,000 barrels annually. It now produces 70,000 barrels every year, all of which is disposed of in the city of Buffalo. The plant originally occupied 140 feet front; today it has a frontage of 477 feet on Fillmore avenue, extending back to Wilson street in the rear. The business is steadily growing and is destined to be one of Buffalo's greatest brewing industries. The company has a large and increasing family trade, and its delivery wagons are con- stantly kept busy. Of commensurate magnitude is its hotel and general trade, and for sound policy, purity of product, improved methods of manufacture and financial trustworthiness, the house enjoys a reputation unsurpassed in Western New York.
Though his business pursuits leave little time at his disposal, Mr. Schreiber takes an intelligent interest in the civic welfare of the community and has rendered excellent service as Civil Service Commissioner.
Staunchly American in his loyalty to his adopted country and in his assimilation of its customs and progressiveness, Mr. Schreiber has never ceased to take a living interest in the welfare and history of his native land, and he is a representa- tive figure in the movement to bring about unity among Polish- Americans and to perpetuate the traditions and sentiments of Polish nationality. That his efforts in this field are appreci- ated is convincingly shown by the fact that to him has been accorded the high honor of being chosen Censor, or Supreme Master, of the Polish National Alliance, an organization of over 100,000 members.
Mr. Schreiber is also a member of the Elks, the Royal Arcanum as well as various other societies. He devotes con- scientious thought and attention to the welfare of all organiza- tions with which he is identified, and in the prosperity of Buf- falo and the plans for the furtherance of his home city's inter-
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ests, he takes such a part as becomes a loyal citizen and a prominent factor in the business world.
Mr. Schreiber is married and has two daughters.
A man of genial personality, Mr. Schreiber has the popular qualities which belong to a true man of the people. He has made his own way in life, and no one is better aware than he of the difficulties which are to be overcome before the goal of business success is attained. His modesty, courtesy and ster- ling qualities of mind and heart have won him many friends, and his career is an admirable illustration of what may be accom- plished by zeal, honesty and ability.
NEWTON ERNEST TURGEON, Major of the Seventy-Fourth - Regiment, is among the best-known of the younger business men of Buffalo, and has to his credit a long record of capable and frequently distinguished service in the National Guard of the State.
Maj. Turgeon is of French and New England descent. His grandfather, Jean Francis Turgeon, came from France early in the nineteenth century, settling in the province of Quebec. He was a farmer by occupation. His son, Joseph Turgeon, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Quebec in 1839, and when thirteen years old came to Vermont, where he married Harriet Atwood Johnson, August 16, 1868. The Johnsons were one of the oldest families of Vermont. Members of the family served in the Revolutionary army.
Newton Ernest Turgeon was born at Shrewsbury, Vermont, July 3, 1869. Young Turgeon was educated in the public schools of his native place, Black River Academy, at Ludlow, Vt., and Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Boston, Mass.
He then entered the employ of the Pope Manufacturing Company of Boston January 1, 1889, by whom he was sent to Chicago, where he proved himself so efficient that for five years he was continued in that field, when he came to Buffalo to take charge of its business here for four years longer. He then
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resigned to represent the interests of the George N. Pierce Company, whose business he managed for two years, then severing the connection in order to engage in insurance. July 1, 1899, he formed a copartnership with Augustus H. Knoll, under the firm style of Knoll & Turgeon, an association which still exists, the concern having the agency in the territory of Western New York for the accident and liability department of the Aetna Life Insurance Company.
December 30, 1889, Maj. Turgeon joined Company F of the First Infantry, Illinois National Guard, as a private. He remained with Company F three years, during which time he attained the rank of Corporal and Acting Quartermaster Ser- geant. He then went into the regimental Signal Corps of the First Infantry, serving two years as Corporal.
Coming to Buffalo he joined the Seventy-Fourth Regiment, N. G. N. Y., and on the 20th of December, 1896, was elected Second Lieutenant of Company H. A year later he was com- missioned, in 1897, First Lieutenant, and in 1898 Captain, serving until July 13, 1904, being in command of Company H for five years and a half. At that time Maj. Robert M. Harding, of the Second Battalion, resigned his commission, and Captain Turgeon was chosen Major to succeed him.
When Governor Odell officially attended the opening of the World's Fair at St. Louis, Maj. Turgeon, then Captain of Com- pany H, was chosen to select a body of 103 picked men to form a part of the provisional regiment detailed from the National Guard of the State of New York to act as escort to the Governor on that occasion. Out of the many bodies of troops available, the same regiment was selected as escort for the President of the United States.
Another notable military affair in which Maj. Turgeon partici- pated was the mobilization of the National and State forces at Manassas, Va., in September, 1904. On this occasion the Major accompanied the 74th Regiment, and during the ensuing maneu-
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vers and other events of field service, was in personal command of his battalion.
Maj. Turgeon has little leisure, but he nevertheless finds time to attend to social obligations and has a large circle of acquaint- ances. He attends the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.
October 19, 1892, Maj. Turgeon married Gertrude M. Chap- man, a daughter of David and Hannah Whitcomb Chapman of Ludlow, Vermont. They have one child, Ford Wesley Turgeon, born September 5, 1900.
GEORGE C. FOX, for fifteen years commanding officer of the 74th Regiment, N. G. N. Y., and for more than a quarter of a century a member of the National Guard of the State of New York, has a military record which, measured by the standards of length of service, promotion and soldierlike efficiency of conduct, is excelled by that of no National Guardsman in the State.
Gen. Fox was born in Buffalo June 18, 1860, being the son of Christopher G. Fox and Rhoda Potter. He attended Public School No. 1 of Buffalo, the private school of H. C. Williams, and Central High School. On leaving school he entered the employ of Isaac Holloway, a paving contractor, as office assistant, con- tinuing until 1882, when he became connected with the office of Fox & Holloway, a firm consisting of his father, Christopher G. Fox, and Charles W. Holloway, and engaged in dealing in sand, gravel and builders' supplies. In 1889 he was admitted partner, and is still a member of the firm.
In 1876, Mr. Fox joined the Tifft Zouaves. In 1878-79 he was a member of Company D, Buffalo City Guards, serving as a private and later as Corporal. In 1879 he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company D, 65th Regiment. Afterward he was transferred to Company I, and in 1881 was promoted to First Lieutenant of Company G. In May, 1882, he was com- missioned Captain of Company F, of the 74th Regiment, which company he commanded until December 9, 1889, when he was
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commissioned Major. In April, 1891, Col. U. S. Johnson, then in command of the Regiment, resigned, and on April 13, of that year, Maj. Fox was commissioned Colonel to take his place. From that time to the present, Gen. Fox has continued to be the commanding officer of the Regiment. Col. Fox was brevetted a Brigadier General by Governor Odell in December, 1904, the honor being conferred as a reward for twenty-five years' service in the National Guard. On the same occasion he received a solid gold medal awarded by the State for twenty-five years of continuous service. Since Gen. Fox has commanded the 74th, the Regiment has been greatly strengthened and improved. When he was elected Colonel, the Regiment consisted of seven companies with an aggregate strength of 370 men. Later the organization was increased to eight companies, with 451 men. In 1893 the Regiment was divided into two battalions and given an additional Major, Adjutant, Quartermaster, and Surgeon for each battalion. In 1906 another company was added, making nine companies and 670 officers and men, which is the present strength of the organization. As Colonel of the 74th Regiment, Gen. Fox saw active duty during the switchmen's strike of 1892, when the Regiment was called out for fifteen days to preserve order. In 1891, 1893, 1895 and 1897 the Regi- ment participated in the State Camp held at Peekskill. In September, 1899, it took part in the New York City parade in honor of Admiral Dewey, also going on a tour of field service, and in 1902 it saw field service at Grand Island. It also partici- pated in the mobilization of the Regular Army and the National Guard at Manassas, Va., in 1904, and in 1905 visited Toronto as guest of the Queen's Own Regiment. The 74th is considered one of the finest regimental organizations in the State, and under Gen. Fox has received praise wherever it has appeared. In 1894 an agitation was begun for the erection of a new armory, and in 1895 the State granted an appropriation of $25,000 for the foundations of the building. In 1897 another appropriation of $375,000 was granted to complete the building.
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On the 4th of July, 1898, the corner stone of the armory was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons of the State of New York, the edifice being finished in the fall of 1899. The first official occupation of the building took place January 15, 1900. The armory is a superb structure of brown sandstone, and is one of the handsomest military buildings in the State. The property is valued at $700,000. Gen. Fox was the originator of the plan to build the armory, and more than any other individual, he is entitled to credit for securing for the 74th Regiment the splen- did edifice which is one of Buffalo's chief architectural adorn- ments. Gen. Fox served in 1894 as President of the National Guard Association, and ex-officio is now a member of that organization.
Gen. Fox is a member of Queen City Lodge of Masons, of which he was Master in 1894 and 1895, and District Deputy Grand Master in 1900 and 1901. Since 1896 he has served as Secretary of Keystone Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and he is a member of Keystone Council, Royal and Select Masters; of Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar, and of the Acacia Club, of which he has for two years acted as Secretary.
November 18, 1891, Gen. Fox married Matilda Inman of Buffalo, daughter of Henry Inman and Mary Summerfield.
OLE LYNN SNYDER is the senior member of the law firm of Snyder & Cook, but to the average Buffalonian Mr. Snyder is better known for the immense business undertakings in which he is a leading factor than in his capacity as an attor- ney. He is an able lawyer, a business man of remarkable grasp and breadth, and a brilliant orator.
Mr. Snyder is descended from an ancient French family that left France with Bernadotte and settled in Sweden, eventually going to Norway, becoming identified with that country and ranking among the most prominent residents of the cities of Christiania and Bergen. The family name was LaMoe. James O. LaMoe, the great-grandfather of the subject, was field mar-
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shal on the staff of Marshall Ney and served with Napoleon dur- ing his numerous campaigns. When Bernadotte became King of Sweden, James O. LaMoe was appointed by Bernadotte Commander -in - Chief of the Swedish Army. The LaMoe family were mili- tary men, and to this career Jens LaMoe, father of Ole Lynn Snyder, was destined. Jens LaMoe was educated in the Mili- tary University of Nor- way, and upon graduation was appointed Orderly Sergeant and Despatch Officer to the King. In the War of 1848 between Denmark and Germany he served as First Lieuten- ant. Jens LaMoe was married in Norway to Sirene Bronken, daughter OLE L. SNYDER. of Samuel Bronken, who served as Captain in the War of 1812-14 between Sweden and Norway, and was given a gold medal by the Government for bravery.
When Ole Bull, the great violinist, came to America in 1852, Mr. LaMoe, the father of the subject of this sketch, his warm personal friend, accompanied him. Together they founded a Norwegian colony in Potter County, Pennsylvania, and the town of Oleona, in that county, was named after Ole Bull. When the Civil War broke out, Mr. LaMoe went to the front as Lieutenant in the 3d Wisconsin Regiment. He was also recruiting officer and Drill Major of the Regiment, and later commissioned Captain. He died from wounds received at the Battle of Gettysburg at forty-nine years.
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Mr. LaMoe was married in Norway to Sirene Bronken. They had three sons, Peter J. LaMoe, a resident of Springfield, Minn., who served through the War of the Rebellion in a Minnesota Regiment; Seward J. LaMoe, who lives in Minnesota, and who served as Postmaster of Jackson, Minn., during Cleveland's first administration, and also as Sheriff of Jackson County in that State; and Ole L. Snyder. The latter's mother dying at his birth, the infant was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Snyder of Sweden, Potter County, Pa. He was a prominent farmer, and for their devotion and kindness, Mr. Snyder chose to retain the surname of his foster-father.
Ole L. Snyder was born in Potter County, Pennsylvania, in 1852. He graduated from the Pennsylvania Central Normal in 1878, and the Law Department of the University of Michi- gan in 1880.
Mr. Snyder first practiced in Pennsylvania for six years, when he removed to Buffalo. Here he became a member of the firm of Snyder & Stoddard, an association which continued until the latter's death. Both legal acquirements and executive ability have combined to identify Mr. Snyder with industrial enterprises carried on upon a large scale. No Buffalonian is better known in big financial circles throughout the country.
One of the chief enterprises with which Mr. Snyder is con- nected is that of the Denver and Salt Lake Railway Tunnel Company, which is building a tunnel through the Rocky Moun- tains at the base of Mount Kelso, cutting through the Conti- nental divide. The tunnel is to be four miles and a half long, and its completion means that the traveling distance between Denver and Salt Lake City will be shortened by 220 miles. Up to the present time the cost of the undertaking has been one million. To finish the task will cost two million and the expense of equipping the tunnel for railway use will be two million more. The tunnel is cut through the solid rock. It is a labor collossal in conception and accomplishment and is destined to be one of the classical examples of American engineering.
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Mr. Snyder is also deeply interested in coal and timber lands in Wyoming and Logan Counties, West Virginia. He is the founder of the Niagara Storage Company and of the Adirondack League Club. The admission fee to this celebrated club is $1,000. The League owns in fee 86,000 acres of land, and the properties it holds under lease amount to 25,000 acres more. It is said that the Club is the owner of the largest hunting and fishing preserves in the United States. Mr. Snyder owns a beautiful Swiss chalet situated upon the League's preserves on the shore of Hennedager Lake, in the wilderness.
Always a Democrat, when Cleveland ran for President the first time, Mr. Snyder took the platform for him, speaking in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio throughout the campaign. In the Bryan campaign of 1896, Mr. Snyder spoke under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee, for Mr. Bryan, in New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Colorado.
In the State campaign of 1897 he supported Van Wyck for Governor, and spoke throughout the State in his behalf. He later received the Democratic nomination for Congress to oppose Col. D. S. Alexander in the Western District of Erie County. In the ensuing contest Mr. Snyder made a splendid showing in this strongly Republican district. Upon the organi- zation of the Independence League in Erie County in 1906, Mr. Snyder was its first President. Mr. Snyder belongs to High- land Lodge of Masons, to Buffalo Consistory and Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also Past High Priest of Arnold Chapter, No. 254, of Port Allegany, Pa., and has been a member of St. John Commandery, Knights Templar, of Olean, N. Y. He is a Mason of the 32d degree.
In 1888 Mr. Snyder married Miss Ora L. Lillibridge of Port Allegany, Pa., daughter of Alvah N. Lillibridge, son of Lodwig Lillibridge, one of the first settlers of Port Allegany. Mrs. Snyder's mother was Leora S. Viner, a daughter of Isaac Viner, whose father served in the Revolutionary War. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have one daughter, Olga Leora, who was born in Buffalo in 1897.
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ALBERT JAY SIGMAN, a successful lawyer of Buffalo, is one of the best known attorneys in Erie County. For thorough- ness of preparation of cases and zeal for the interests of his clients, Mr. Sigman has no superior at the Buffalo bar.
The Sigman family is of German origin. The first of the stock in America came from Baden, Germany, about 1840. The grandparents of Albert Jay Sigman settled at Tobyhanna, Sus- quehanna County, Pa. They were survived by three children, Martin, Elizabeth, and Catherine.
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