A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 1

Author: Miller, John, 1849-
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 910

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A TWENTIETH CENTURY

HISTORY

ERIE COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA

A NARRATIVE ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORICAL PROGRESS, ITS PEOPLE, AND ITS PRINCIPAL INTERESTS BY JOHN MILLER

ILLUSTRATED

Volume II

1909

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO 1 1

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 706983 ASTON ETIN AND TILDEN FONDATION R 1915 L

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTON LENEX TILDEN FOUNDATIONB

Frederick Previllier

FREDERICK BREVILLIER. Nearly a half century ago Frederick Brevillier became one of the two interested principals in what eventually became one of the leading wholesale grocery houses of Northern Penn- sylvania and until within very recent years he continued to be identified with this line of enterprise in the city of Erie, where he remains to-day a representative citizen and one whose course has been such as to com- mand for him the confidence and high esteem of the community which has been his home during the major portion of his life. His capitalistic investments are of important and varied order, and as a man he is es- sentially broad-minded, liberal and public-spirited. Self-aggrandizement has not hedged him in, and his name is known in the realm of practical philanthropy and judicious benevolence. His influence has definitely permeated the civic and business life of the city of Erie, and it is most consonant that he be accorded recognition as a publican of this pro- vince.

Frederick Brevillier was born in Sonnenberg, Sachsen-Meiningen. Germany, on the 29th of August, 1838, and is a son of Alexander and Christiane (Koch) Brevillier. The agnatic lineage is traced back to stanch French-Huguenot origin, and the founders of the family in Ger- many were refugees who fled from France to escape the persecutions in- cident to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685. Like many others of the same patrician French lineage, they found hospice in Ger- many and located in the city of Frankfort-on-Main, where they be- came identified with extensive business and banking enterprises. The mother of Frederick Brevillier was of German descent. In 1840, when he was about two years of age, his parents removed from his native place to Hildburghausen, Thuringia, and there he received his rudimen- tary education in a private school, after which he entered the local gym- nasium, a collegiate preparatory institution comparing with the Ameri- can high school. He there continued his studies until the spring of 1852, when he entered a polytechnical school in the city of Nuernberg, Bavaria, where he remained a student until the spring of 1854, when he with- drew to accompany his parents on their removal to the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, where his elder brother, Gustave F., had taken up his resi- dence several years previously. The family arrived in Erie June 10, 1854, and this city has represented their home during the long inter- vening years. Here the honored father died on the 20th of July. 1860, and the cherished and devoted wife and mother was summoned to eternal rest on the 16th of February, 1876.

During the year 1855 Frederick Brevillier was a student in the Erie Academy, and in the spring of the following year he became an employe in a large importing house in New York City, where he remained until the latter part of 1857. He then entered the Bryant & Stratton Business College in the city of Cleveland, where he completed a three months' course, after which he accepted the position of secretary and treasurer of the Croton Glass Works, at New Castle, Pennsylvania. Later on, in compliance with the wishes of his venerable parents, he returned to Erie, where he entered the employ of J. V. Boyer, who conducted a hardware establishment on upper State street. In January, 1861, he be- came bookkeeper in the wholesale grocery establishment of J. Johnston Vol. II-1

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

& Brother, and on the 23rd of February, 1864, he was admitted to the firm as a copartner with Joseph and Orville Johnston, under the firm name of Johnston & Brevillier. Under this title the business was con- tinned for nearly two score of years, and during all this time the reputa- tion of the firm was impregnable, while it advanced to the rank of one of the leading commercial concerns of this section of the state. Based upon honorable dealings and most effective service, the business of the house reached extensive proportions and covered a large territory. On the 12th of March, 1901, Joseph Johnston retired from the firm, owing to advanced age and the desire to be free from the exactions of active business. Mr. Brevillier purchased his honored partner's interest in the business, which he thereafter continued under his own name until April 1, 1906, when, after forty-five years of arduous and effective work in the wholesale grocery trade, he too felt it expedient to retire, and the business was closed out.

A man of fine intellectuality and broad mental ken, it is but natural that Mr. Brevillier should have taken at all times a lively interest in public affairs, especially those of a public order. He has been repeatedly honored with positions of public trust, and no citizen has maintained a more secure hold upon popular confidence and esteem in Erie than has this veteran business man and sterling citizen. He is one of the charter members of the Erie Board of Trade, which was organized in 1814, and for many years he was a member of its directorate ; he was president of the organization for the fiscal year 1902-3. As a member of the board of corporators of St. Vincent's Hospital, he has served several years on its board of directors, and he is also connected with the board of corporators of Hamot Hospital, and that of the Erie cemetery. In the latter he has served as a member of the board of directors since May, 1905. He was for seven years a valued member of the Erie board of education, and was president of the East ward school board at the time when, in June, 1870, the East and West ward school board were consolidated, under the title of the Erie school district. In February, 1901. Mr. Brevillier was elected a member of the board of trustees of the Erie public library, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles Jarecki, and in the following December he was elected for the regular term of three years. at which expiration he was chosen as his own successor, retiring at the expiration of his third term, December 31, 190.

In politics Mr. Brevillier gives his allegiance to the Republican party. He became a charter member of the Erie Liedertafel, organized in September. 1862, and served as its president for two terms. He has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity since October 20, 1868, when he became an entered apprentice in Perry Lodge, No. 392, Free & Accepted Masons, with which he is still identified. In the Scottish Rite he is affiliated with Presq'isle Lodge of Perfection, and the Pittsburg Consistory, besides which he is enrolled as a member of the adjunct organization, Zem Zem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Since his retirement from the wholesale grocery trade Mr. Brevillier has kept constantly in active touch with the business affairs of his home city, where he has various capitalistic investments, including stock in manufacturing concerns. He has devoted much of his time and attention to the various civic and public offices of which he has been incumbent since his retirement from active business.

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

On the 6th of October, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brevillier to Miss Charlotte M. Walther, daughter of the late Jacob Walther, of Erie, and of this union have been born four sons, all of whom are actively identified with business interests in Erie. Frederick A., who married Miss Katharina E. Conrad is secretary of the Erie Brewing Company ; Charles G. is one of the representative members of the bar of his native county and is engaged in the practice of his profes- sion in the city of Erie ; Arthur W., who married Miss Eda W. Conrad, is secretary and treasurer of the Morse Iron Works; and Edwin H. is identified with the Union Iron Works.

In studying a clean-cut, sane, distinct character like that of Frederick Brevillier interpretation follows fact in a straight line of derivation. His character is the positive expression of a strong nature, and he has made his life count for good in all its relations. In his home city he is veritably surrounded by "troops of friends" and by other gracious influences which make for the gaining and holding of the "durable satisfactions" of life.

EDWIN WALKER, president of the Erie Specialty Company, is one of the best known citizens of the city. He is a native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and descended from hardy pioneers of the Key- stone State, his ancestors occupied a prominent place in the development of Northeastern Pennsylvania also having been noted woodsmen and Indian fighters in the early days of the commonwealth. His great- great-grandfather, as well as several other members of the Walker family, met death at the hands of Indians, some of them in the historic Wyoming Massacre. His great-grandfather was last seen when starting out on a hunting trip from which he never returned; he was supposed to have been killed by Indians or lost in the wilderness as his fate was never known. He left but two sons at his death, one of whom drifted into the wilds of Canada and was never heard of thereafter by his family ; the other. William Walker, became a rugged pioneer, passing through many hardships and exciting experiences. He was a fine specimen of manhood, nearly six feet in height and proportioned accordingly. His wife, Amanda Granger, was a descendant of the family whose members have figured in the history of the country since 1640, at which time Launcelot Granger, the progenitor of this family in America, came to Massachusetts from England. Since this time, men of the name have figured in every war from King Philip's to the present time, and in times of peace have shown their ability in all the walks of life, in the professions, politics and commercial affairs.

At the time Launcelot Granger returned to England to secure his share of his father's estate, he mnet an adventure that might well have resulted disastrously to one of a less brave and intrepid nature. After securing his patrimony, which he secreted about his person, he proceeded toward the nearest seaport, intending to embark immediately for America ; as night overtook him, he thought it advisable to repair to an inn, but when he reached one he was able to see at once that it was of an unsavory character, so he felt safer in continuing his journey, although the landlord of the inn urged him to rest there for the night, warning him of danger from highwaymen. He had not proceeded far on his way when he saw in the moonlight two masked figures by the roadside, who peremptorily halted him and demanded his money or his life; though armed only with a loaded cane, while the highwaymen had

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

broadswords, he offered to fight them singly, and after a short parley they agreed to this; one stepped forth, his broadsword to be used against the loaded cane. Launcelot Granger was an expert with the broadsword, and was of such alertness as soon to send his adversary to earth with a blow on the head that made him drop in his tracks and never stir again. Upon this unexpected outcome of the encounter, the other miscreant took to his heels, and Launcelot pushed on to the next village and informed the authorities of what had taken place. When the mask was lifted from the face of the dead highwayman, it was discovered that he was a man of considerable prominence in the village, supposed to be a respectable citizen. Upon his return to America, Launcelot Granger settled on what is known as Kent's Island, near Newburyport, Massachusetts, and there built a house which stood until 1884, and his descendant above named, Edwin Walker, now has in his possession some of the bricks which were used in building the fireplace, and which were brought from England.

Though not a Puritan himself, Launcelot Granger lived among these people, and the high regard in which he was held by his neighbors, as well as his personal worth and uprightness of character are shown by the fact that for his wife he won the daughter of a Puritan, whose first American ancestor was Deacon Hanchett, who settled in Boston, in 1634. When the Connecticut Valley was opening up, Launcelot Granger decided to locate there, so started to make the journey with an ox team and took one cow along, to what was then considered the far west, then full of hostile Indians. King Philip's war, a few years later, made it necessary for the women and children around Suffield, Connecticut, where the Granger family settled, to take refuge at West- field, Massachusetts, while the men took up arms against the Indians. Launcelot Granger, who commanded a company, was wounded in one of the encounters. When peace was restored, the family again took up their residence at Suffield, and a house was built there which is standing to the present day. From Launcelot Granger have descended families who settled in all parts of New England, and later in the region west and south. Amanda Granger, grandmother of Edwin Walker, came with her parents to central New York, when young.

The father of Edwin Walker, George Walker. a native of Owego, New York, and reared in Pennsylvania, was a man of very large stature and great strength, as well as superior mental attainments. He was a well read man and an carnest student of the Bible, with which he was thoroughly familiar; he was also a deep thinker along other lines, and kept himself. well-informed on all the leading questions of the day. Though in early life he was imbued with the idea that there was no hereafter, he later became a convert to the spiritualistic faith, of which he became a strong exponent, and into the realms of which he made deep research. Until the date of his marriage he resided in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, but afterwards removed to Southeastern Michigan, making the journey thereto by way of the Erie Canal, thence by boat to Detroit, and from that city to the interior of the state by means of the old fashioned "prairie schooner." The climate of Michigan, however, was not agreeable to him, and many in the locality suffered from the prevailing chills and fever, which also claimed Mr. Walker for a victim, so he returned to Pennsylvania, settling at Towanda.

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

George Walker was an expert mechanical engineer, bridge-builder and millwright; in 1851 he planned and built the bridge across the Susquehanna River at Towanda, which is standing at the present time, and he built many other bridges in that section of Pennsylvania, as well as in Western New York. In 1856 Mr. Walker removed to Hamburg, Erie county, New York, and at that location and throughout the surrounding country built large flouring mills, mostly run by water. He foresaw the early necessity in utilizing the natural resources of the county's water powers, so made an extensive research and study with a view to obtaining the greatest amount of power from the fall of water which resulted in his discovery of the action of water and formulas for determining the lines of turbine water-wheels to obtain the highest per- centage of power from the water, this was his greatest work and to this (late there is no evidence that any one else has discovered the same since. His discovery was put into practical and successful use in build- ing turbines, but owing to his death was never made general use of. His plans and formulas are extant but not in operation at present. Now that water powers are proving so valuable owing to electric power being so extensively used, it is the intention of his sons to put his valuable discoveries into general use, thereby saving the great waste of power under present conditions. His wife, Mary McMicken, was the daughter of William and Mary (Bathrick) McMicken. Her great-grandfather McMicken was a scout in the Revolutionary war and was killed by the Indians while making observations from the top of a stump. His first wife died on the ocean when on the way to this country. The McMicken family were of Scotch descent, and early settlers in Eastern Pennsylvania ; the American ancestor first settled in Connecticut. Mary Cleveland Bathrick, mother of Mrs. McMicken, was first cousin to Moses Cleve- land, founder of Cleveland, Ohio. George Walker died in 1889, at Hamburg, from lagrippe, and his widow died about four weeks later. Here their only daughter, Miss Eliza I. Walker, and remaining son, Mr. Frank Walker, sister and brother of Edwin Walker of this sketch, now reside.

Edwin Walker was born at Sheshequin, Pennsylvania. He spent his boyhood at Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and at Hamburg and Springville, New York; his parents removed to the last-named place about 1858, in order to secure for their children better educational advantages, the town affording an academy, which is now known as Griffith Institute. After spending ten years at this place, during which time Edwin finished his education, they returned to Hamburg. As a boy he evinced a genius for mechanics and invention, and when a young man constructed a bicycle, with the assistance of his father, using as guide designs and descriptions published in the "Scientific American," which was the first bicycle ever seen by him, and which he became an adept at riding, winning many hotly contested races on this wheel. He also constructed a mud-guard for his machine, which was of his own invention, and same as the guard with which all modern bicycles are fitted.

Mr. Walker left home at the age of twenty-one years, his first employment being at Silver Creek, near Dunkirk, New York, for a concern manufacturing flour-milling machinery ; in a short time he be- came superintendent of another plant in the town in the same line of manufacture, and remained with them until 1880, when he removed to Erie. In Erie he entered the employ of Sterns Manufacturing Com-

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

pany, as draughtsman and pattern-maker, and later became employed in a similar capacity by Taper Sleeve Pulley Company, and later by Skinner & Wood Engine Company. His first independent business venture, in 1883, was in the manufacture of tools under the firm name of the E. Walker Tool Company, his plant being on Eighteenth street, in the plant of the Noble Sewing Machine Company, and later he bought a plant on West Fourth street, near State, which is now used by the Erie Lithographing Company. At this time E. Walker Tool Company was reorganized and incorporated as a stock company, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and in 1888 Mr. Walker severed his connection with the company, shortly after which he organized what is now the Erie Specialty Company, on an upper floor of what was then Reifle Pump Works plant, on West Twelfth street; the business was a partner- ship affair, consisting of Benjamin B. Brown, present collector of the port of Erie, T. A. Thomas, and Mr. Walker, as equal partners. Three years later Mr. Walker bought out the interests of his partners, and took as partner Z. T. Brindley, at the same time changing the name of the firm, which was Erie Specialty Manufacturing Company, to Erie Specialty Company. In 1902 the business was incorporated, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and Mr. Walker's son, Clarence L. Walker, became the third stockholder and an officer of the company. October, 13, 1908, Mr. Walker purchased the holdings of stock belonging to Mr. Brindley, and since this time all the stock has been held by him and his immediate family.

Mr. Walker has natural gifts in the lines of inventor, mechanic, manufacturer and salesman, in combination with great executive ability and business acumen. He has a thorough knowledge of all details of his business, and is equally efficient in the office, the factory or on the road as salesman, a combination rarely found in one individual. The large enterprise over which he presides has been completely under his control from the beginning, and its policies shaped and executed by him. He has taken out some fifty or more patents, all his own inventions, covering articles and appliances which are leaders in their lines, and find a ready market not only in all parts of the United States, but in foreign countries as well. They are in the lines of sundries for hotels and kitchens, hardware articles, soda water specialties, and metal advertising contrivances, all of which are manufactured at the Erie plant on West Twelfth street. The company occupies a three-story brick building, covering three hundred sixty-five square feet, modern in con- struction, and containing special automatic machinery, all designed and constructed by Mr. Walker and his son. The Erie Specialty Company is very successful as a business enterprise, and ranks among Erie's leading industries, while its guiding and controlling spirit, Edwin Walker, has long been accorded a place among the city's most enterprising and progressive manufacturers. Besides managing the affairs of the factory. Mr. Walker gives his personal attention to the sale of their products. spending considerable time in visiting the large trade centers of the country, in search of trade. Though busy in the interest of his business ventures, Mr. Walker finds time to spend in the interest of his fellow- citizens, and the progress and development of the city and its institutions. and is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade.

In physical characteristics Mr. Walker inherits the fine frame and figure of the Walker family, but has inherited to a remarkable degree

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

the features of the Granger family. So strong is his resemblance to them, in fact, that when he paid a visit to the old Granger home at Suffield, Connecticut, on being introduced to a man who had ten genera- tions before branched from the Granger family, the two men bore such a striking likeness to each other as to be immediately noticed, and frequently commented on. Before Mr. Walker's identity was known in the town, several old inhabitants recognized in him a descendant of the Granger family.

Edwin Walker married, in 1871, Edith May Wight, born at Sheri- dan, New York, and reared from early childhood at Silver Creek, same state. Her father, Amos Wight, who died at Fredonia, New York, at the age of seventy-six years, was a man of unusual gifts, being author, poct, artist and newspaper man. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Walker are: Clarence L., of whom further mention is made; Jessic, who married Miles Sterrit, of Erie; Mary G. married Albert Steiner, of Erie; Edith May died at the age of four years; Bertha E., living at home; and Irene, who resides with her parents.

CLARENCE L. WALKER, treasurer and superintendent of the Erie Specialty Company, is one of Erie's well-known young manufacturers. He was born at Silver Creek, New York, November 15, 1871, and educated in the common schools and commercial college. Since com- pleting his education he has been identified with the business interests of his father who finds in him an able assistant in the conduct of his affairs. He also is a member of the board of trade. Mr. Walker married Alice, daughter of John and Anna (Webber) Strucken, both natives of Germany. The father was born in 1831 and the mother, who was born in 1830, died in 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Walker became parents of one son, Clarence Edwin, July 4, 1906.

WINTER J. OLDS. "Jesse" Olds, the proprietor of the Union City Greenhouse, represents a family well-known in Erie county. The Olds family is of English origin, but was established in the colonies as early as 1669, the founder of the American line being Dr. Robert Old (also written Ould), who, according to colonial records, resided in Windsor and Suffield, Connecticut, from 1669 to 1728, and whose third son, Mindwell Old, was the first white child born in Suffield. Robert Old was the father of fourteen children, thirteen of whom were sons, and at least ten of these sons grew to manhood. There was little of "race suicide" among the early Olds families as the official records of the state of Massachusetts contain the names of more than twenty members of this family who bore honorable part in the early Indian and French wars, and of more than fifty of this name who served in the Revolu- tionary war. The direct ancestor of the Erie county Olds families was Captain William Old, the sixth son of Robert Old, who lived in Brook- field, Massachusetts, where he was the first to organize and establish the public school system in that town, and the first public school was held in his home. Captain William Old took active part in the famous Cape Breton expedition in Queen Anne's war 1746-1747. The siege and capture of Louisburg, by this expedition was reckoned one of the most notable military events in history.

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A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 1

Author: Miller, John, 1849- Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 910

Author: Miller, John, 1849-
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 910