USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 12
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
cashier until 1873. In that year he returned to Erie and became interest- ed in the organization of the Malleable Iron Works, holding the posi- tion of chairman of the controlling company until the time of his death. He also served for several terms in the common council. He was popu- lar and highly respected in his business, social and fraternal relations, being a member of the Erie, Kahkwa and Cascade clubs and the Masonic order. In his religious faith, he was an Episcopalian, identified with St. Paul's church. His wife, to whom he was married October 11. 1877, was Miss Celia W. Fletcher, of Lockport, New York.
William Wilder, the second child born to Mr. and Mrs. Prescott Metcalf. died in infancy ; Frederick W., the third, died September 2, 1890, at the age of thirty-nine years, and Nellie, the fourth, also passed away as an infant.
George Ralph Metcalf is a native of Erie, where he was born September 26, 1858, and received his education, in the more advanced courses, at the Erie High School, Erie Academy and a boarding school at Clinton, New York. For about a year after leaving school he was a coal operator at Columbus, Ohio, and then returned to Erie to associate himself with his father and brother, as a partner and secretary in the business of the Malleable Iron Works. In 1893 he was elected treas- urer of the company and president in 1901. He succeeded his father as a director in the Erie Gas Company. becoming treasurer of the same in 1892. He is also vice president of the American Sterilizer Company of Erie, a director in the Second National Bank, and has other business and financial interests. Mr. Metcalf is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade; socially, is identified with the Erie, Kahkwa, Country, Yacht and Golf clubs, and his church relations are with the St. Paul's Episcopal society. Married September 3, 1885, to Miss Mary Richards, daughter of the late Captain John S. Richards, he is the father of two children-John Richards and George Ralph Metcalf, Jr.
THOMAS J. GOLDEN, President of the Washburn Manufacturing Company, a well-known citizen of Erie, was born at Lockport, New York, December 27, 1855, and is the son of Thomas and Marcella ( Sum- mers) Golden. The father, a native of Ireland, came to the United States when a young man, and located in Erie in 1865; he died in 1891 and his widow in 1903.
Thomas J. Golden received his education in the public school at Erie, attending the old East Ward School, now Number Two. When seventeen years of age he learned the trade of millwright, and entered the employ of Carroll Brothers, where for thirty years he had charge of a moulding machine. In 1905 Mr. Golden became a partner in Wash- burn Manufacturing Company, which enterprise was established in 1900 by Leon D. Washburn, at 1114 West Eighteenth Street, as a saw mill and box factory. Mr. Washburn died in 1908, and his interests were principally taken over by Mr. Golden and his family, he being president, and his son Herbert vice president. They have a flourishing business, and employ the services of twenty men at their plant, manufacturing wood specialties and boxes, also a mop. which they manufacture com- plete, and which has a market all over the United States.
Mr. Golden married Elizabeth Bradley, born at St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, daughter of James Bradley. and to them have been born the following children : Marcella married Charles Hart, of Erie :
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Annette, married C. F. Beyerle, of Erie; Edward, died at the age of twenty-five years; Herbert, who is associated in business with his fath- er ; Joseph, married Lillian Albrecht; Isabelle and Marion Helen. Mr. Golden is interested in the progress and welfare of the community, and is a public-spirited and useful citizen. He is a member of St. Peters Roman Catholic church, also of the Knights of Columbus and of the Protected Home Circle. He also belongs to the Marquette and Erie Yacht Clubs.
JOHN CALVIN STURGEON. One of the leaders of the western Penn- sylvania bar and a prominent Republican of the state, with a national reputation in patent law practice, John C. Sturgeon, of Erie, is a native of Fairview township, this county, where he was born on the 5th of Oct- ober, 1841. His parents were Andrew and Eliza Jane (Caughey) Stur- geon. The father, a farmer, was born September 3, 1817, and died February 25, 1879, while the mother, whose birthday was April 14, 1816, passed away on the 1st of April, 1885. In their family of six child- ren John C., of this sketch, was the eldest. Until he was about seven- teen years of age the youth worked upon the home farm in Fairview township and attended district school, as well as Girard Academy. He then taught school and was a student at Allegheny College until the end of his junior year, when he entered the United States navy and served until the close of the Civil war. Soon afterward he commenced the study of the law. and in 1867 was admitted to the bar of Erie county ; but after becoming qualified to practice entered the Harvard University law school for a more thorough and a broader review of his chosen field. On January 1, 1868, after his graduation therefrom, he commenced practice at Erie.
Mr. Sturgeon's pronounced natural ability and his thorough train- ing were promptly recognized by the profession and the public of his home community, and in 1869 he was elected district attorney of Erie county on the Republican ticket. Three years of noteworthy public service followed in that office, when he resumed the general practice of his profession. His labors and progress continued along these lines for the first twenty years of his career, but for the past two decades he has devoted himself to the practice of patent law, in which he has reached a foremost rank. During this period he has become a familiar figure in the circuit courts, United States courts of appeals and the su- preme court of the United States. For some years he has been pro- fessionally associated with H. M. Sturgeon, the firm being widely known and now having a number of important suits pending in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. For many years Mr. Sturgeon has been active and influential in the furtherance of Republicanism, having frequently served as a delegate to the conventions of his party. In 1899 his high standing both as a Republican and a lawyer was emphasized by a strong petition presented to the president-signed by the senators and congress- men from Pennsylvania and several other states-asking his appointment to the commissionership of patents. In 1904 he was chosen a presidential elector for the state of Pennsylvania and in that capacity cast his vote for Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Sturgeon has been an earnest fraternalist for half a lifetime, his connection with the Grand Army of the Republic even commencing forty years ago. He has been a Knight Templar in Masonry for upward of thirty years and a member of the Mystic Shrine since 1890. He is also a charter member of the Erie Board of Trade.
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Mr. Sturgeon has been twice married, and by his second wife is the father of two sons. Ralph Andrew Sturgeon who served in the Spanish- American war and is now a construction engineer on a prominent western railroad, while Berry Albert Sturgeon, a member of the Erie county and California state bars, is engaged in law practice at Los Angeles, that state.
Tradition indicates that the Sturgeon family originated in the Nether- lands under the name "Steerjon," and that various members emigrated to England about the twelfth century and settled in Northumberland, the northernmost county, where they became known as Sturgeons. The head of the family was ennobled for distinguished services to the Crown and, especially during the past century, several of the name have become eminent as scientists, Henry Sturgeon being known throughout the world as the discoverer of the electro magnet. The Sturgeon family was always a stanch supporter of Protestantism. and during the religious persecutions of the sixteenth century the American ancestors migrated from England to Derry, in the north of Ireland, where at the famous siege of that place by the royal forces, in 1689, one of the Sturgeon brothers was killed. The other survived and came to Philadelphia with William Penn in 1693. Nothing further is definitely known of the fam- ily until 1:20, when Jeremiah Sturgeon, who is believed to be a de- scendant of the gallant defender of Derry, came to Hanover township, Lancaster county, where he settled with his wife (nèe Ellen Douglas). They became the parents of three sons, one of whom, Thomas, remained in Hanover township and married Margaret Corbet, daughter of Peter Corbet, a well known land owner of Lancaster county. They, also, had several children, and their son Samuel was the founder of the fam- ily in Erie county-the branch represented by John Calvin, of this biography. He was a Revolutionary soldier from Lancaster county and, as the records show, served in the fourth battalion of Associators, going into active service in December, 1775, and participating in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. In December, 1:85, the state of Pennsyl- vania granted him a land warrant for fifty acres in recognition of his services. Samuel Sturgeon died in Hanover township (then Dauphin county) on the 2d of October, 1801. The deceased was twice married. having five sons by his first wife Margaret. Two of these, William and Jeremiah, emigrated to Erie county, in 1996, and founded the town of Fairview.
William, the eldest son, was born in West Hanover, Dauphin county, on July 10, 1768, and died in Fairview April 12, 1838. His wife was Miss Jane McEwen, who was born in West Hanover, August 1, 1767, and died in Fairview in 1818, mother of eleven children, one of whom was Thomas J., the grandfather of H. M. Sturgeon, the partner of the Sturgeon representative with whom this sketch especially deals. Jere- miah was born in West Hanover, Dauphin county, on the 10th of Au- gust, 1770 ; as stated, he migrated to Erie county in 1796, and died at Fairview, July 17, 1818. His wife was Miss Jane Moorhead, who was born October 30, 1776, and died at Fairview, June 30, 1864. She was the mother of six children, of whom Samuel C., the eldest, married Miss Martha 'Eaton and also became the father of six children. Both virtually passed their lives at Fairview. Samuel C. Sturgeon being born in 1801 and dying in 1878, and his wife, born May 12, 1813, passing away Feb- ruary 24, 1883.
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Andrew Sturgeon, fifth child of Samuel and Margaret Sturgeon and of the second generation of the family native to America, was the grandfather of John Calvin, of this sketch. He was born at West Han- over, Dauphin county, and married Jane Finney (daughter of James Finney), who was also a native of that county, born February 3, 1275. They migrated to Tonawanda, New York, about 1805, from which the husband enlisted in the state militia for the war of 1812. In 1820 they located in Girard township, Erie county, where Mrs. Andrew Sturgeon died in 1849 and her husband in 1851. They were the parents of seven children, Andrew Sturgeon, their fifth child and third son, being the father of John C. By his marriage to Eliza Jane Caughey, December 15, 1840, Andrew Sturgeon became the father of John Calvin, Sheldon Franklin, Carson Jay, Mary Jane, Anna Vance and George Andrew Sturgeon. The main facts in the life of the first-born have already been given. Sheldon F., the second child, served in the United States navy during the Civil war, married Rosanna Lowry, and lives at Woodhull, Illinois, the father of eight children. Carson Jay, an electrical engineer and a manufacturer of electrical machinery, married Miss Lyda Camp- bell at Girard, Pennsylvania, and has had six children. Mary Jane died March 5, 1909, as the widow of George Platt, of Erie, and Anna Vance Sturgeon died March 11, 1857, when only seven years of age. George Andrew Sturgeon, the youngest, who is a Pittsburg lawyer, mar- ried Miss Mary L. Davis, by whom he has become the father of four daughters, two of whom are deceased.
The Caughey family, of whom John C. Sturgeon's mother is a member, is of old Scotch origin and Presbyterian faith. During the religious persecutions of the seventeenth century many of its representa- tives migrated from Scotland to the country around Donegal, Ireland, and about 1750 Francis Caughey, with a brother, came from that lo- cality and settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. There he died at the age of ninety-three years, the ancestor of the family in Erie county. The father of five children, his oldest son and child, Andrew, was born in Lancaster county, in 1756, and served in the Revolutionary war as a private in the third battalion of the county militia, Colonel Thomas Porter commanding. He commenced service in August, 1778, and is un- derstood to have participated in the battle of Brandywine. He married his cousin, Elizabeth Caughey, and migrated to West Millcreek town- ship, Erie county, settling about five miles west of the city of Erie, where he lived until his death, March 19, 1828. His wife had passed away March 25, 1826, and they were the parents of four sons and three daugh- ters, the eldest of whom, John Caughey, was the father of fourteen children by his marriage to Miss Ann Vance Wilson. Eliza Jane, the fourth in order of birth, was the mother of John C. Sturgeon, of this sketch. Thus have been traced the main connections in the genealogies of the paternal and maternal side of Mr. Sturgeon's family.
ERNEST KEPPEL. Inheriting those traits of industry, thrift and en- terprise so characteristic of the German people, Ernest Keppel has steadily worked his way toward the upper rung of the ladder of success, and now, as superintendent of the lumber interests of Moore, Keppel & Company, is actively identified with one of the leading industries of Corry. A native of Germany, he was born, February 27, 1851, in Hirsch- berg, Thuringia, a son of Karl and Henrietta (Vogel) Keppel. Fur- Vol. II-6
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ther parental and ancestral history may be found elsewhere in this vol- ume, in connection with the sketch of his brother, Henry M. Keppel.
But two years old when he came with his parents to this country, Ernest Keppel was brought up on a farm in Cattaraugus county, New York. When eight years old he began working for a neighboring farmer during seed time and harvest, receiving fifty cents a week, and his board, in the meantime staying at home during the winter seasons, and attending school. When eleven years of age, his services became so valuable that his wages were raised to five dollars a month. At the age of fourteen years he began teaming oil from Pit Hole to Titusville, Pennsylvania, continuing thus employed two years. Locating in Corry in 1867, he worked in a saw mill two years, and then entered the employ of Howard Brothers, who were then just embarking in business, and remained in their tannery until. 1872. Beginning then his career as a lumberman, Mr. Keppel purchased a tract of timbered land in Dayton township, Cattarau- gits county, New York, cut the timber, sold the bark and logs, and was there successfully employed until the timber was exhausted. He subse- quently did the same thing in Allegany, New York, making money by the operation. Buying then a farm in Dayton township, he lived there a ycar, when, renting his land, he located in Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he remained two years, being employed not only as a hotel keeper, but in drilling for oil. Returning to Dayton township, he subsequently sold his farm, and bought two hundred acres of standing timber in Perrys- burg, New York, where he was engaged in lumbering for two years. Locating next in Torpedo, Warren county, Mr. Keppel bought seven hundred acres of land, erected a saw mill, and for seven years was there employed in the manufacture of lumber. Trading off the cleared land to L. B. Wood for property in Warren county, he lived there a short time, and then disposed of the land. The ensuing three years, he lived it: Perrysburg, New York, and the following two years was superintend- ent of a large lumber business in Forest county, Pennsylvania. Going then to Forest county, he in company with his brothers, Henry M. and Charles, bought seven hundred and sixty acres of timber, erected a mill, and worked for four years in clearing the land, carrying on a substantial business as lumber manufacturers and dealers. Since that time Mr. Keppel has been a resident of Corry, and superintendent of the Moore, Keppel & Company's lumber business, a position for which he is eminent- ly fitted.
On April 2. 1872, Mr. Keppel married Maggie Schneider, who was born in Germany, a daughter of John Snyder. In 1855, accompanied by his wife, and their only child, then an infant, John Schneider emi- grated to America, crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel, and being ninety clays on the water. From New York City, he proceeded first to Buffalo, then to Dayton township, Cattaraugus county, where he bought a tract of wild land. Having cleared and improved a part of it, he sold at an advance, and moved to Allegany, where from a tract of timber he cleared and improved a good farm, erected a good set of buildings, and there resided until his death, at the age of sixty-seven years. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Fisher, four children were born, as follows: Margaret, wife of Mr. Keppel; Caroline; Benjamin; and Charles. The three younger children were born in this country. Mr. and Mrs. Keppel are the parents of nine children, namely : Lena, Mary, Henry, John, Lizzie, Charlie, Florence, Walter, and Clara. Lena, who married Will Dannahey, has passed to the life beyond. Mary, wife of
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Edward Rhinehart, has one child, Clarence. Henry married Ethel Bad- jero, and they have two children, Lena and Rupert. John married Alda Snow, and they have three children, Karl, Mildred, and Myrtle. Lizzie, wife of Harvey Bowles, has one child, Margaret. Charles married Lottie Dewoody. Florence is the wife of Henry Bales. Politically Mr. Keppel is a Republican. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Keppel is a member of the I. O. O. F. at Corry. Mr. Keppel's father was Postmaster in old Germany.
LEGRAND SKINNER. The strong influence of ancestral traits on individual character and the determination of definite and noteworthy careers is quite remarkably illustrated in the genealogy and life of Le Grand Skinner-inventor, manufacturer and financier, and founder and president of the Skinner Engine Company, of Erie. He is a native of Pooleville, Madison county, New York, born May 23, 1845, and from both sides of the family is descended from inventors and pioneer manu- facturers. It would appear that for generations his life lines have been clearly converging to the career which he has followed since early youth. The American branch of the Skinner family originated in eleven broth- ers, who, during colonial times, emigrated from England and settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut. His maternal ancestors, the Eatons, were of Lancashire, England, and came to Plymouth in the "Mayflower,' but soon returned to England. His paternal ancestry is directly from the Connecticut Skinners, his grandfather, Isaac Skinner, migrating from his home in that state and making his way through the dense woods of southern New England into the wilderness now included in the thickly settled section of New York known as Madison county. The Eatons had, in the meantime, re-established themselves in New England, and the maternal grandfather of LeGrand Skinner also became a pioneer of Madison county. He built a log cabin near the present town of Eaton, erected a dam to supply water power, and began the manufacture of woolen goods, his mill being among the first to manufacture such goods west of Connecticut. Frank Skinner, who became the father of LeGrand, when a small boy accompanied his parents to Madison county, and showed decided talents at an early age, both as an inventor and a skilled mechanic. Among his practical inventions may be mentioned a continuous candle- molding machine, which is still in use, and a riving machine for the manufacture of shingles. The father moved from New York state to New Jersey, dying in the later state in 1907, aged eighty-four years. The mother was Charlotte Eaton, a native of Pooleville, New York, whose father was a pioneer woolen manufacturer of Springfield, Massa- chusetts, who spent his later years in Madison county. Mrs. Frank Skinner died in 1901.
The boyhood days of LeGrand Skinner were spent in the little town of Eaton, to which he went to reside with an uncle when he was sixteen years of age. This uncle (Wood) was the second manufacturer of portable engines in the United States, and was an earnest and valued instructor to his ambitious nephew, who remained with him until 1868. During this period LeGrand was not only perfecting himself in the manu- facturing business, but spent considerable time in the tool room of the Remington Arms Manufacturing Company at Illion, New York. In 1868 he constructed his first engine after his own designs, his work being conducted in a little shop built on the site where stood the little log cabin previously mentioned and which had been built by his maternal
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grandfather near the town of Eaton in the real pioneer days of Madison county. After remaining in service for about sixteen years, this first product of Mr. Skinner's inventive and mechanical talents came again into his possession and is now one of his most precious belongings.
In 1821 Mr. Skinner began the manufacture of engines at Chitte- mango, New York, subsequently conducted a like business in Chicago for a time, and on July 3. 1813, established a small manufacturing plant in the Lilley shop, Erie. Not long after the expansion of his business forced him to rent larger quarters in John Coats shop, and in 1875 he formed a partnership with Thomas Wood, who was still connected with the United States navy. The firm of Skinner and Wood occupied a new shop for their business, erected by the late John Selden in 1877, and in 1881 the proprietors built a plant themselves at the corner of Twelfth and Chestnut streets. In 1902 the large addition to the main shops was completed, and the entire manufactory is now one of the largest and most complete in the city. The firm of Skinner and Wood was dissolved in 1883, and for the succeeding two years Mr. Skinner conducted the business alone, but in 1885 the Skinner Engine Company was incorporated, with himself as president. He is also one of the organizers and incorporators of the Union Iron Works, of which he is a director. Before her marriage, Mr. Skinner's wife was Miss Hannah Harrington, a native of Chittenango, New York, daughter of P. D. Harrington. Two children have been born of this union: Allan David Skinner who is now in charge of the sales department of the Skinner Engine Company, while Helen died at the age of six years.
JUDGE FRANK GUNNISON. In a history of the legal profession in Erie it is imperative that mention be made of Judge Frank Gunnison, whose record has at all times been a credit and honor to the city of his nativity. With thorough understanding of the principles of law and actuated by high professional ideals, he made a splendid record during his ten years' service on the bench, and in private practice has been most successful, enjoying now a large and distinctively representa- tive clientage. He was born February 2. 1848, in the city which is now his home, his parents being the late Jonas and Charlotte (Spafford) Gunnison, the former a native of Erie county and the latter of the state of New York. The father was a prominent Erie attorney and as a leading citizen wielded a wide influence in molding public thought and shaping public action. He was called to represent his district in the state legislature, where he gave careful consideration to each question that came up for settlement. In his death in 1871 the county lost one of its valued citizens. His widow still survives.
Judge Gunnison pursued his elementary education in the public schools and afterward attended the Erie Academy and the University of Michigan in the acquirement of his more specifically literary course. Determining upon the practice of law as a life work, he began reading under the direction of his father and subsequently entered the Harvard Law School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1870, winning the degree of Bachelor of Law. On the 5th of February of that year he was admitted to the bar at Erie and at once entered upon active practice in connection with General D. B. McCreary, with whom he was associated until 1875. He was afterward alone in practice until 1886, when his professional ability led to his selection for the office of presi- dent judge of the sixth judicial district. He served on the bench for the
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