USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 9
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Charles Waterhouse Goodyear was born in Cortland, Cortland County, N. Y., October 15, 1846.
Mr. Goodyear's early education was gained at the academies of Cortland, Wyoming and East Aurora, N. Y. In 1868 he came to Buffalo, entering the offices of Lanning & Miller, and later continuing his studies with John C. Strong in 1871. In 1875 he formed a partnership with Major John Tyler, which continued two years, and after 5 years he formed a co-partner- ship with Henry F. Allen, with the firm style of Goodyear & Allen.
CharlesW. Foodycan
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In 1883 Mr. Goodyear became the junior member of the firm of Bissell, Sicard & Goodyear, which for four years thereafter and up to the time of Mr. Goodyear's retirement from active practice, was one of the leading law partnerships in Western New York.
From January 1st, 1875, to October 1st, 1877, he served as Assistant District Attorney of Erie County, and later as District Attorney, by appointment to serve an unexpired term.
Mr. Goodyear was intimately concerned in the election of Grover Cleveland as Mayor of Buffalo, as Governor of New York, and in his nomination to the Presidency in 1884. Mr. Goodyear's admiration for Mr. Cleveland as a statesman has been confirmed by intimate acquaintance with the former President, and their friendship exists to this day.
Since his retirement from the law Mr. Goodyear has not taken an active part in politics, yet one of the most noteworthy episodes of his later years was of a political character, namely the movement to bring about his nomination as the Democratic candidate for Governor in 1904.
Mr. Cleveland expressed in emphatic terms his satisfaction at the hope that Mr. Goodyear would be nominated and his appreciation of the Buffalonian as a man and a citizen. The tribute of Mr. Cleveland was a memorable one.
In January, 1887, Mr. Goodyear became a member of the firm of F. H. & C. W. Goodyear. Ever since the partnership was formed, it has continued to buy vast acreages of timber lands in Northern Pennsylvania.
It is part of a comprehensive plan of the Goodyears to create transportation where it is lacking. In the furtherance of this design the brothers became pioneers in standard built and equipped railroads for logging operations. The forests have been traversed and opened up to trade by main lines of well- built railways, while minor lines have been improved and merged with the trunk system and connected with the roads that pass on either side of the Goodyear holdings. Ultimately
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the partners extended their railway system, now known as the Buffalo & Susquehanna, south to the Pennsylvania coal fields and northward direct to the city of Buffalo. All this has been developed from a logging railroad. At the present time the Buffalo & Susquehanna R. R. gives every augury of becoming a permanent and profitable property as a coal and passenger road, even when the whole region through which it passes shall have been stripped of its timber. The railway in question, of which Mr. Goodyear is Vice-President and a principal stock- holder, includes more than 300 miles of first-class standard gauge track, and when the plans now approved shall have been carried out, the system will contain 400 miles of road.
Within a comparatively recent period Mr. Goodyear, with his brother and other financiers, reorganized the original firm of F. H. & C. W. Goodyear, the present style being the Good- year Lumber Company. For many years the concern has manufactured 200,000,000 feet of hemlock lumber annually.
Mr. Goodyear is also Vice-President of the Great Southern Lumber Company, the Pearl River Lumber Company, and other lumber companies in Louisiana and Mississippi which have extensive holdings of long leaf yellow pine in those states. The Great Southern Lumber Company has recently completed what is probably the largest saw and planing mill plant in the world. The saw mill, planing mill and docks connected therewith being constructed entirely of steel and concrete. The capacity of these mills is 300,000,000 feet of lumber per annum.
Mr. Goodyear is also Vice-President of the New Orleans and Great Northern Railroad Company, which acquired what was formerly known as the East Louisiana Railroad. The New Orleans and Great Northern Railroad Company has constructed a line of railroad from Slidell, a point on the New Orleans North Eastern Railroad to Jackson, Mississippi, a distance of 151 miles. This road traverses the extensive yellow pine forests of Louisiana and Mississippi and extends through the . valley of the Pearl River. This company has entered into
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contract with the New Orleans North Eastern Railroad for trackage rights from Slidell to New Orleans, and terminal facilities in New Orleans. Thus an outlet is provided for the products of the forest to tide water, to the great West and, in short, to the markets of the world.
During the lumber tariff controversy several years ago, Mr. Goodyear was Chairman of the convention of lumbermen which urged the imposition of a tariff on Canadian lumber. He appeared before the Ways and Means Committee of Congress in behalf of the measure, and it is largely on account of his efforts that the present tariff law contains a provision for a protective duty on Canadian lumber of $2 a thousand.
Aside from his lumber and railroad interests, Mr. Goodyear is identified with the Buffalo & Susquehanna Coal & Coke Company, the Buffalo & Susquehanna Iron Company, and the Lackawanna Steel Company.
He is a member of the Buffalo, Saturn, Ellicott, Country, Falconwood, Liberal and Acacia clubs. He is a Mason, a life member of the Buffalo Library and a trustee of the State Normal School of this city.
He attends the First Presbyterian Church, is prominent in philanthropy, and takes an interest in all municipal projects tending to the betterment of local conditions.
March 23d, 1876, Mr. Goodyear married Miss Ella Portia Conger, of Collins Center, N. Y. The children of the union are four: Anson Conger, Esther, Charles W., Jr., and Bradley. Anson Conger Goodyear, the eldest son, is associated with his father in business. The other sons, Charles W., Jr., and Bradley, are students in Yale University.
Viewing his personality by the aid of his career, one feels justified in saying of Mr. Goodyear that he is a man to whom it is difficult to assign limitations. Mentally and physically he is of large mold, and he gives a constant impression of reserve power. He has the gift of popularity, and the still better one of inspiring public trust. Had he chosen to continue
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in politics, it is hard to draw any line circumscribing the honors he might have received. A keen observer of manners and customs, he is fond of travel, and spends from two to four months every year in this manner, his journeys including tours in the United States and abroad. His success in the world has been conspicuous, but it has not awakened envy, for it is known to be the outcome of industry and square dealing and has benefited not only Mr. Goodyear but the community in which he lives and notably a great section of a neighboring state.
FRANK HENRY GOODYEAR, who died May 13, 1907, was the foremost figure in the lumber interests of the East, a leading factor in railroad affairs and a dominant force in the commercial, industrial and financial world. Railroad presi- dent, lumber and coal operator, iron manufacturer and financier, his responsibilities probably exceeded in extent and variety those of any other citizen of Buffalo. The great enter- prises which he controlled were the results of his own energy and foresight, and every phase of his career is marked with the impress of unerring sagacity, indomitable resolution and sterling integrity.
Mr. Goodyear was born at Groton, Tompkins County, New York, March 17th, 1849. He was the son of Dr. Bradley Goodyear and Esther P. Goodyear and came of Scotch and English ancestry. He received his education in the public schools, at East Aurora Academy and from private tutors. After some time spent in teaching in district schools he became bookkeeper for Robert Looney, who operated sawmills at Looneyville, N. Y. In 1871 he came to Buffalo, where he engaged in the coal and lumber trade. Beginning on a small scale he soon extended his operations, making extensive purchases of timber tracts in Mckean, Potter, Elk and Cameron Counties, Pa. The course thus pursued by Mr. Goodyear was characteristic of his remarkable acumen. Many years before he began to acquire holdings in Pennsylvania, men
THE
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were saying that the lumber supply of that state would soon become exhausted. Mr. Goodyear had the foresight to grasp the situation. In the deserted and , so-called inaccessible districts Mr. Goodyear saw the possibilities of a fortune. As fast as he could acquire or enlist capital he bought large areas of hemlock and hardwood timber lands, and his purchases in northwestern Pennsylvania were the nucleus of his later operations. Before Mr. Goodyear's day the only way of getting timber to milling points was by means of watercourses. He made the innovation of building railroad lines for the especial purpose of furnishing transportation for lumber. His railways were not the ordinary type of logging road, but of standard gauge and permanent construction. He built sawmills in immediate proximity to the forests and was the pioneer of the steam log loader.
In 1887 Mr. Goodyear became associated in business with his brother, Charles W. Goodyear, and the firm of F. H. & C. W. Goodyear was established. In 1902 it was reorganized as the Goodyear Lumber Company, with Frank H. Goodyear as President. To facilitate his lumber shipments, Mr. Goodyear had in 1885 built at his own expense a small railroad, the Sinnemahoning Valley, and later the Goodyear brothers incor- porated the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad, into which the earlier lines were merged. The road now embraces main lines nearly 400 miles in length, including an extension to Buffalo completed in 1906, and traverses a large agricultural, timber and bituminous coal district. It will have permanency in its operation far beyond the life of the great forests that lie along its path, its future as a coal-carrying road being assured, to say nothing of its passenger and general freight possibilities. Mr. Goodyear was counted the head of the hemlock industry in the United States, the total Goodyear holdings in Pennsylvania having an annual output of 200,000,000 feet of hemlock and nearly as much more in hardwoods, all of which is shipped over the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad. In 1902 Mr. Goodyear
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and some of his associates made an initial purchase of 90,000 acres of yellow pine timber in the Southern States, additional tracts being taken until 600,000 acres were acquired, all being properties of various companies, the most important being the Great Southern Lumber Company, of which Mr. Goodyear was President.
Mr. Goodyear was the owner of large bituminous coal inter- ests in the Reynoldsville (Pa.) district, and was President of the Buffalo and Susquehanna Coal and Coke Company, an important adjunct of the Goodyear enterprises. He was President of the Buffalo and Susquehanna Railway Company, the Buffalo & Susquehanna Steamship Company and Vice -. President of the Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company, the latter being one of Buffalo's foremost industries. The Company operates two large furnaces at South Buffalo, both of the most modern type. The plant cost over $4,000,000, and has a capacity of 225,000 tons of pig iron annually. Besides its South Buffalo plant, the Company is the owner of immense ore properties in the Lake Superior region. An important * enterprise of Mr. Goodyear's later years was the New Orleans Great Northern Railroad Company, of which he was President, and which, under his able and progressive management, was so developed that it will soon have 250 miles of main line. Mr. Goodyear was a Director of the United States Leather Com- pany and also of the Marine National Bank of Buffalo, and was a potent factor in many Buffalo industries. The account above given is simply an outline narrative of his chief activities as an industrialist, organizer and financier, and in arriving at a just estimate of his life work the fact must be borne in mind that Mr. Goodyear's principal enterprises carried others in their wake, and that in addition to the projects which filled the largest place in the public eye, he was a potent factor of many others, either accessory or awaiting development in the future.
In his relations to Buffalo and the community at large, Mr.
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Goodyear was a broad-minded, public-spirited citizen. Elective offices were often tendered him, but he always declined such honors. However, he rendered the City of Buffalo efficient service as a member of the Board of Park Commissioners, and when, in 1886, President Cleveland appointed him a Commis- sioner to examine a section of the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, on behalf of the Government, he discharged the duties of the place with characteristic ability and zeal. One of Mr. Goodyear's most notable efforts in a civic direction was his offer to contribute $100,000 for the erection of a Zoological Garden for Buffalo and the purchase of an exhibit, the project being planned upon the liberal lines typical of whatever Mr. Goodyear undertook. It was proposed to buy 1,400 animals to be installed on a site to be furnished by the city and to make the projected Zoological Gardens one of the foremost institu- tions of its kind in the world. To this idea Mr. Goodyear devoted great energy and much time and money, even taking one hundred of Buffalo's prominent citizens to Cincinnati to see the Zoo in that city. When the matter was brought before the Legislature, so many amendments affecting and changing the original idea were attached to the bill that the project became impracticable, and thus Buffalo lost the opportunity to secure a really great Zoological Garden. To charitable insti- tutions Mr. Goodyear contributed liberally and he was especially generous to the Buffalo General Hospital. Many Buffalo charities were remembered by large bequests in his will. He was a leader in all movements having in view the advancement of the City of Buffalo, was a leading member of the Chamber of Commerce and belonged to the Buffalo, Ellicott and Country Clubs.
September 13, 1871, Mr. Goodyear married Josephine Looney, daughter of Robert and Josephine (Kidder) Looney of Buffalo. Their children are: Mrs. Grace Goodyear Depew, wife of Ganson Depew; Mrs. Florence Goodyear Wagner, wife of George O. Wagner, and Frank H. Goodyear, Jr., all of whom reside in
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Buffalo. Another daughter, Mrs. Josephine Goodyear Sicard, wife of George M. Sicard, died in Buffalo September 6, 1904.
There is a pathetic significance in the fact that when his life was drawing near its close, much of Mr. Goodyear's thought in a dual sense characteristic of the man, for it represented both his practical ability and the family devotion-the deep regard for the ties of kindred and domestic life-which was one of the strongest elements in his nature. Mr. Goodyear's last illness came upon him while he was absent on a journey to Yellowstone Park with his wife and son, in the fall of 1906. When the family returned they went to live for a time in their new home, later spending the winter at their residence at Jekyl Island. While there Mr .. Goodyear's illness gave serious grounds for apprehension, and he returned to Buffalo to seek medical attention and the benefit of a cooler climate. Mr. Goodyear had long been suffering from overwork and all active duties were forbidden him, but the energy of his mind was unaffected by physical illness and he spent much of his time in laying plans for the extension of his enterprises and for the inauguration of new ones. To this end he remained the firm, well-poised, self-contained man of his prime, a source of strength and encouragement to those about him, an example of devotion to duty. When it became evident that his death was near, he met the common destiny of man with a resignation and courage worthy of one whom all his life his fellow-men had looked up to as a leader.
In Frank H. Goodyear the country lost one of the strongest and ablest of its executive men of affairs, Buffalo a high- minded and loyal citizen, his friends a sincere, modest and genial personality, his family a kind and devoted husband and father. Beginning life as a poor boy, by ability and integrity Mr. Goodyear rose to the highest houors in the business world; the great enterprises he founded will live after him and per- petuate his name; but of more import than any material result, however brilliant, of his career, is the example he presented of a resolution undaunted by any obstacle, of an honor without spot or blemish.
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HON. LORAN L. LEWIS, President of the Third National Bank and former Justice of the Supreme Court, was for many years one of the foremost advocates in the State. Of Welsh lineage, his ancestors were among the early settlers of Central New York. His grandfather, Joshua Lewis, was a pioneer in Mentz township, near the city of Auburn, Cayuga County. His son, John C. Lewis, the father of Loran L. Lewis, became one of the most successful and substantial farmers of the locality.
Judge Lewis's maternal grandfather was Friend Barbour, a farmer of Cayuga County. His mother was a woman of remarkable endowments and fine educational attainments. In her early womanhood she was noted for her accomplishments, and became a well recognized oracle in the neighborhood.
Loran Lodowick Lewis was born at Mentz, Cayuga County, N. Y., May 9, 1825. He attended the public school and a private school in Auburn. While still a stripling he supported himself by teaching school. When twenty-one years old, and already well embarked on his course in law reading, he main- tained himself by selling law books. When able to enter the regular study of the law, he became a clerk in the law office of William H. Seward, at Auburn. July 4th, 1848, he was admitted to the bar and came to Buffalo and opened an office. The progress of Judge Lewis in his profession was steady and rapid. In a surprisingly short time he advanced to the front rank. He formed several successive associations. The firm best known to the latter day generation was that of Lewis, Moot & Lewis.
Judge Lewis had a genius for the trial of cases, and ranked as an advocate of the highest order. He had a reserve of sarcasm which made him dangerous to attempt to trifle with, and as a forensic orator he was brilliant, eloquent and convincing. He was regarded as almost unequaled in powers of persuasion, and it was currently remarked, and still is said today, that no advocate ever practiced at the Erie County bar
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who won so great a proportion of jury cases as did Loran I .. Lewis.
Politically Judge Lewis has always been a strong Repub- lican. He served in the State Senate from 1870 to 1874. In 1882 he was nominated for Justice of the Supreme Court. It was the year of the political tidal wave which swept Mr. Cleveland into the office of Governor by 200,000 majority. Yet Mr. Lewis was elected by about 3,000 majority, being the only candidate elected on the Republican ticket in Erie County. He presided as a Judge at circuit till 1890, when he was designated by the Governor a Justice of the General Term, now called the Appellate Division, serving till January, 1896, when he reached the 70-year age limit. The judicial career of Judge Lewis was distinguished by learning, dignity and impartiality.
Judge Lewis has been for many years a director in the German American Bank of Buffalo, and when that bank was in serious trouble caused by its unfortunate connection with some of the officials who wrecked the German Bank, and during the time that an active run upon the bank was pending, he received a remarkable tribute of confidence of men who stand in the front ranks of Buffalo's esteem, by his election to the presidency of that bank. He continued in that position until complete confidence was restored to the bank. He has been a director of the Third National Bank of Buffalo for many years, holding the position of Vice-President for several years, and is now President. He is also a trustee of the Fidelity Trust Company.
June 1, 1852, Judge Lewis was married to Charlotte E. Pierson, daughter of Gordon Pierson, of East Aurora, N. Y. Their children are: George Lester Lewis, Louise Lewis, Kahle Elizabeth Lewis, Preston and Loran Lodowick Lewis, Jr. Both - of the sons of Judge Lewis are lawyers, practicing under the firm name of Lewis & Lewis. Judge Lewis, though not in active practice, is advisory counsel of the firm.
He is one of the staunchest supporters of the Buffalo Law School, and for years gave it the benefit of his lectures.
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Throughout his life Judge Lewis has been a man of simple tastes. He is the owner of a fine farm in Lewiston, Canada, and there he spends much of his time. Now past the age of eighty- two, he enjoys firm health and the resources of a mind whose vigor is equal to the best days of his prime. His is a career in which youth may find emulation, manhood, courage and hope.
THE SPRAGUE FAMILY is of English origin, and, in its American branch, of Puritan antecedents. Francis Sprague arrived . at Massachusetts in the ship "Anne," in July, 1623. He was the first Secretary of Plymouth Colony and a man of influence in the Puritan commonwealth. John Sprague, son of Francis, married Ruth Bassett. Samuel Sprague, son of John, married Ruth Alden in 1669. She was the daughter of David Alden and Maria Southworth, of whom the former was the son of John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins. Noah Sprague, . son of Lieutenant Samuel Sprague, married Sarah Hammond. They had a son, Noah Sprague, who married Mercy Dexter. Aldn, son of Noah Sprague, married Eunice Stoddard.
NOAH PAUL SPRAGUE, son of Alden, was born November 6, 1798. He lived in Bath, New Hampshire, in his early man- hood. In 1825 he removed to Buffalo, where he died August 21, 1879. He married for his first wife Abiah Carleton. The first of the American Carletons was Edward, who was appointed Judge at Rowley, Mass., in 1647. Edward Carleton (2d), son of Edward, removed from Rowley to Haverhill, Mass. Edward Carleton (3d), son of Edward (2d), had a son, Edward Carleton (4th), who had a son, Peter, who was a Revolutionary soldier, a member of the convention for revising the Federal Constitu- tion in 1791, and a Representative in Congress in 1807 and 1808. Ebenezer Carleton, son of Peter Carleton, married Mary Heath. They had a daughter, Abiah, who married Noah P. Sprague, and who was the mother of the late Hon. Eben Carleton Sprague of Buffalo. The second wife of Noah P. Sprague was Mary Bach. His death occurred on the 21st of August, 1879.
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EBEN CARLETON SPRAGUE, son of Noah Paul Sprague and Abiah (Carleton) Sprague, was born in Bath, N. H., November 26, 1822. He was brought by his family to Buffalo in 1826, where he attended the public schools. He was prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and gradu- ated from Harvard College in 1843. An authoritative descrip- tion of him at the close of his college career says that "He had a manly beauty, a scholarly bearing and a charm of manner which at once gave him distinction in every circle. He had high ideas of culture and character, and entered upon the study of his profession richly equipped for large success."
He read law in the offices of Fillmore, Hall and Haven, and in October, 1846, was admitted to the bar. For almost half a century thereafter Mr. Sprague practiced his profession in Buffalo, attaining a high reputation as a lawyer. Among his clients were The Great Western Railway Company, the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railway Company, the Erie County Savings Bank, and the International Bridge Company.
He was successively senior member of the leading law part- nerships of Sprague & Fillmore; Sprague & Gorham; Sprague, Gorham & Bacon; Sprague, Milburn & Sprague; Sprague, Morley & Sprague; Sprague, Morley, Sprague & Brownell, and Sprague, Moot, Sprague & Brownell.
Mr. Sprague was repeatedly urged to become a candidate for office, but almost invariably refused. He did, however, consent in 1875 to fill a vacancy in the State Senate for a single session. He also served for a few months as Register in Bankruptcy. Mr. Sprague was to a notable extent identified with professional educational, social and benevolent organiza- tions. He was a member of the American Bar Association, the New York and Erie County Bar Association, Buffalo Historical Society, Fine Arts Academy, Society of Natural Sciences, and was an active member of the Civil Service Reform Association. He was Chancellor of the University of Buffalo, served as President of the Young Men's Association, Director of the
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