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 24
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ANTON GOTTFRIED, of the firm of A. Gottfried & Company, was born at Neulussheim, Baden, Germany, February 10, 1862, and is the son of George Henry and Dorothy (Schott) Gottfried. After receiving a good education in his native country, he studied organ building, and worked for two of the largest manufacturers in Germany, Lauckhuff, at Weickersheim, Wurtemberg, the largest organ supply house in the world, and W. F. Walcker & Company, of Ludwigsburg, Wurtemberg, the largest pipe organ factory in Europe. In 1888 he came to the United States, landing at New York, and entered the employ of Frank Rosevelt. at that time one of the largest organ builders of the country. He next found employment with C. S. Haskell, of Phila- delphia, church organ builder, and later received a request to re-enter the employ of Rosevelt, of New York City, who had established a large branch in Philadelphia. In 1890 he began the manufacture of organ supplies on his own account, on a small scale, in Philadelphia, which was the humble beginning of the present firm of A. Gottfried & Com- pany, of Erie. His capital was limited, but as he had natural talent along the line of his chosen work, and was thorough master of all its details, he was able to get a start, and his work was of so superior a quality as to be its own recommendation, and in this way he gained the confidence of his patrons, and the goodwill of the trade in general. His efforts have been along the line of improvements to methods already in use ; he is recognized as one of the leading artists in the country in reed and flue work, the most difficult feature in the production of tones, and in this field he has made a number of important improvements. His flue work is of such high character as to have become a standard ; he is a close student of his work, and his endeavors place him in the front rank of his craft in the country. Mr. Gottfried has invented a special Vol. II-11
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organ pipe, entirely new in form and style, with which tones can be produced of a character so closely resembling different orchestral in- struments as to be recognized only by the ear of an expert. This can- not be done by other pipes, and they are covered by patents. He has also applied for a patent on his device for regulating the flow of air in the pipe foot of organs, or in other words regulating the pressure.
In 1892 Mr. Gottfried took in as partner, at Philadelphia, Henry Kugel, and two years later the plant was removed to Erie, primarily through the efforts of Mr. Felgemaker, an organ manufacturer, who induced Messrs. Gottfried and Kugel to locate in that city by promising them orders for pipes for his organ output. Their business continued to grow until they found it necessary to secure larger quarters from time to time. Accordingly they removed to their present location, at Nineteenth and Myrtle Streets, in 1904, and which they built, their present quarters covering forty by one hundred feet, three stories and basement, with ground one hundred thirty-five by one hundred twenty feet. They employ thirty skilled workmen, and their product is pipes and all kinds of organ supplies, having a market all over the country. from Philadelphia to California, and have even shipped goods to British Columbia, South Africa, and other foreign countries. They have a patent on a special stop, also, which they manufacture. In 1909 they began the manufacture of a combination instrument embodying the piano and organ, styled the piano-orchestrion.
Mr. Gottfried is a member of the German Baptist church, also of several social, business and fraternal organizations. He married Re- gina Merz, daughter of William and Margaret Merz. She too was born in Neulussheim, Baden, Germany, who came to the United States at the same time as Mr. Gottfried, and they were married at Philadelphia. They have children as follows: Elsie, Hilda, Ottilie, Helen, Orlinda, Harry A., and Henry. Elsie is a student of the violin, for which she has a high talent, having studied under the best teachers of Erie and Cleveland, on the piano, pipe organ and violin, and is now a student at the conservatory of music at Oberlin College. Ohio, where she is also taking a collegiate course. Her special and favorite instrument is the violin. She is remarkably gifted along musical lines and in harmony is particularly proficient. Hilda is a student at the German Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, where she is preparing for the missionary field. Ottilie, who is highly gifted in music, is studying under the supervision of Mrs. Colby, of Eric.
FRED W. BURNHAM. The leading wholesale lumber business in Erie has Fred W. Burnham as its proprietor and active conductor and he has become a decided leader in that field after having been engaged in it for twenty years of the half century spanned by his life. He is a native of Minnesota, born May 2, 1859, and is a son of the late William B. and Frances (Cowan) Burnham. The father was a native of the state of New York ; was born January 20, 1824, and was a son of Eliphalet Burnham, born in Connecticut of English descent. In the early fifties William B. Burnham migrated westward to Michigan, where after spending a number of years he was married and boarding a "prairie schooner," with his wife, they journeyed to Minnesota. There he en- . gaged in farming until 1871, when he returned to the east and estab- lished a grocery business at Union City, Erie county, which he conducted for twenty years following, dying in 1905. His widow is also a native of New York state, daughter of William Cowan, a Michigan pioneer.
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Fred W. Burnham was twelve years of age when his parents re- turned from Minnesota and located at Union City, this county, and after attending the public schools he entered his father's grocery. He continued in that line until 1889, and at the age of thirty commenced to develop his abilities as a lumberman. He forced such good results from every situation that when he located at Erie in 1906, both his finances and his experience enabled him to there found the largest wholesale lumber business in the city. He has steadily retained that standing, having also become one of the most progressive members of the Erie Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce. He is identified with the fraternities as a Mason and a member of the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Burnham is married to Littie I. Waters, a native of Union township, Erie county, and daughter of Alonzo Waters, an early and prominent settler. His children are Bessie, Rena J. and Fred W., Jr., and all the adult members of the family are active Methodists.
JESSE ALLEN ROOT, real estate and wholesale lumber and timber dealer of Erie, with offices in the Downing building, is a prominent fac- tor in the business activities of that city. Mr. Root is a native of Mid- dlesex, Washington county, Vermont, born just outside the city limits of Montpelier on September 15, 1878, son of George and Iris C. (Howe) Root. His parents were representatives of old New England families and both were born in Vermont, the father at Montpelier and the mother, at Turnbridge. The parental grandfather, Webster Root, was a native of New Hampshire, and the maternal grandfather, Rhino Howe, was born in Vermont. George Root, the father, died in the latter state on January 27, 1889, at the age of thirty-six years, and his wife survived him until September 8, 1903, when she died on her fifty-first birthday.
Jesse A. was reared in his native county and his early education was obtained in the common schools. Then he entered the Montpelier Methodist Seminary (now the Montpelier Seminary), completing a course therein, and in 1899 going west to Kirksville, Missouri, there entering the American School of Osteopathy and graduating from that institution in 1901. Returning east, Dr. Root settled in Erie, which has since been his home and where he has large business interests. He is secretary and treasurer of the Curtis Company and of several other lumber concerns whose aggregate holdings amount to several hundred million feet of timber, the company mentioned doing an enormous busi- ness. The doctor's personal holdings include his handsome residence on the south side of the city and two fine farms in Harbor Creek town- ship, this county, one containing one hundred and eight acres and the other forty acres, all under grape cultivation.
Dr. Root married Miss Zella Myrtle Bowman, a native of Kirks- ville, Missouri, and daughter of Andrew R. and Emily (Clark) Bow- man. Her grandfather, a pioneer minister of Missouri, served in the Confederate army both as a preacher and a soldier. Three children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Root-Paul Bowman, Winifred Naomi and Virginia Harriet. Fraternally, the doctor is identified with several fraternal orders and is a member of the Atlas and the Country clubs.
JAMES ARCHIBALD HENRY, Superintendent of the Erie County Alms House, which is located near Erie, is a man of prominence among the county officials, possessing in an eminent degree the discretion, trust- worthiness and force of character requisite for the responsible position which he is so ably filling. A native of the city of Erie, he was born,
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July 25, 1867, a son of the late Michael Henry. He comes of thrifty Irish stock, his grandfather Henry having been a life-long resident of the Emerald Isle. After the death of her husband, which occurred in 1829, Grandmother Henry emigrated with her eight children to the United States, coming almost directly to Erie, where the family made their first settlement. She died at an advanced age, and all of her chil- dren have passed away. There were four boys in the family, John, Wil- liam, Nathaniel and Michael, and four girls.
Born in Ireland, November 18. 1818, Michael Henry was a lad of eleven years when he first made his appearance in Erie City, which was but a small town, extending westward only as far as Chestnut street, south to Eighth street, east to Parade street, while the lake was its northern boundary. His first work as a wage earner was on the fron- tier farm, where he cut wood for twenty-five cents a cord. He was next employed on the canal and lake, working a few years for old Mr. Reed. Starting then in business on his own account, he took contracts for building sewers, and was one of the leading contractors of the pres- ent system of water works in Erie. Continuing as a contractor until 1872, he was one of the bosses when the present reservoir was built. Retiring from that business, he moved to Summit township, where he carried on farming until his death, in 1891. Although his book knowl- edge was limited, Michael Henry, who attended school but a few days in his life, was a natural mathematician, and could figure the dimen- sions and requirements of a piece of work as rapidly and accurately in his mind as many other contractors could on paper. He did much of the stone work on the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad. A man of much natural ability, he became prominent in public and political life and served as a member of the Select Council and the Common Council for the long term of twenty-six years, and was twice director of the Erie County Alms House, of which his son is now superintendent. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church.
Michael Henry was twice married. He married first Mary A. Pog- son, who bore him eleven children, of whom three are living, namely : Mrs. Will Irving, Mrs. John T. Pressley, and Mrs. Dr. C. L. Fox. He married second Jane Warren, who was born in Erie county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1836, and died in 1870. The only child of this union was a son, James Archibald, of this brief personal narrative.
But three years old when his mother died, James A. Henry sub- sequently made his home with his maternal uncle, John Warren, a farmer in Summit township. He received a practical education in the district school, remaining on the farm until twenty-one years old. Going then to Ellwood, Pennsylvania, he began to learn the trade of a ma- chinist, and at the end of a year went to Greenville, where for eight years he was associated with the Shelby Steel Company, now the United States Steel Company. Returning then to Erie, Mr. Henry worked for a year in the Stearns Manufactory, after which he accepted the posi- tion of engineer at the Erie County Alms House, and retained it until February, 1907, when he received his appointment as superintendent of this institution, which is one of the best of its kind in the state.
Mr. Henry married, in 1901, Leonie Bean, who was born in Sum- mit township, Erie county, a daughter of William A. Bean. Of this union one child has been born, a daughter named Hulda Geraldine. Fraternally Mr. Henry is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the
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Royal Arcanum, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Religiously he belongs to the United Presbyterian church, while Mrs. Henry is a member of the Universalist church.
PETER HARTMAN, Superintendent of School Buildings, Erie, was born in Erie county, in what is now Mckean township, January 7, 1853, son of John and Elizabeth (Ludwig) Hartman, natives of Germany, who came to the United States about 1850. The parents were married in the old country, and five children were born to them there, two of whom died previous to the emigration of the family to America. On their arrival here, they came direct to Erie, where they lived for a time, subsequently removing to McKean township, and a year later making permanent settlement on a farm in Franklin township, which continued to be their home while the parents lived. The father died there in 1871; the mother, in 1884. They were members of the German Lutheran church. Of their large family, the following named members are now living; John, a resident of the Fifth ward. Erie; Mary, wife of Free- man Grant, of Union City, Pennsylvania ; Peter, whose name introduces this sketch; Jacob, a resident of the Sixth ward, Erie; and Daniel, of Union township.
Peter Hartman passed the first eleven years of his life on his fa- ther's farm and received his early education in the country schools. At the age of fifteen he began serving an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, at Girard, Erie county, under the instructions of H. D. Meyers, with whom he remained three years. He worked at his trade for some time and also did some contract work at Girard and other places previ- ous to the spring of 1893, when he came to Erie and established him- self as contractor and builder. For eight years he was thus occupied. Then he was appointed by the school board to the position he now holds, that of Superintendent of School Buildings, having continued in office by each year being reappointed.
December 25. 1887, Mr. Hartman married Miss Anna M. Lacher, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, September 6, 1859, and is the daugh- ter of Jolin Adam and Margaret (Wettslein) Lacher. At the age of twelve years Mrs. Hartman came to America with her father and sister, her mother having died in Germany, and upon their arrival here they made their home in Erie, where Mr. Lacher still lives, now in his eigh- tieth year.
EDWARD PERKINS SELDEN, son of Samuel and Caroline ( Perkins) Selden, was born at Mayside, Fairview township, Erie county, Penn- sylvania. on the 27th of April, 1858. In 1868, when he was ten years of age, his parents removed to the city of Erie, where he has since con- tinued to reside and where he has risen to a secure place as a represen- tative citizen and business man. He attended the public schools until he was about fourteen years of age, when he secured employment in the hardware store of his uncle. John C. Selden on French street ; later he was for a time a student in the Erie high school, where he supple- mented his earlier training. At the age of sixteen years he was office boy in the Erie City Iron Works, of which great industrial institution he is now vice president. In 1894 he became treasurer of the corpora- tion, and of this office he continued incumbent until 1899, when he assumed his present office of vice president, in which he finds insistent
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demands upon his time and attention as an executive and administrative officer.
Amid the cares and exactions of a signally active and successful business career, Mr. Selden has had no inclination to neglect those duties which stand for the higher values in the scheme of human exist- ence. His estimate of the complex elements of life has been such as to make him intrinsically a strong man and one appreciative of his steward- ship in relation to his fellow men. He has thus given of himself, his influence and his material co-operation to all measures which tend to advance the general welfare of the community, and a generous toler- ance and helpfulness have marked his course as a citizen and as a business man.
In his boyhood Mr. Selden became a member of the First Presby- terian church, and those who know him best realize how fully his relig- ious faith has entered into and dominated his daily life. He was made a ruling elder in this church when twenty-five years of age, and during the years since that time his interest and zeal in church work have been constant and marked by appreciative consecration of purpose. He has been a loyal and earnest supporter of the work of the local Young Men's Christian Association, of which he served as president for two terms, and he is identified with various other organizations maintained for benevolent. charitable and moral purposes and standing representative of high civic ideals. At the time of this writing, in 1909, he is specially interested in the promotion and establishing of what is to be known as the Elwood Home, designed as a home for boys and as a partial sub- stitute for the reform school, to which many wayward boys are sent when their needs could be more effectually met by such an institution. of semi-probationary and essentially home functions, as that to whose establishment Mr. Selden is giving much of his time, thought and labor. He believes that many boys are sent to reform schools where associa- tion with those of the incorrigible type brings disastrous results, while such an institution as the Elwood Home can be made to justify its name and become a notable contribution to the benevolent agencies in every state,-one with practical aims and conducted along practical lines. For this proposed home in Erie Mr. Selden, with his cousin, George D. Sel- den, and other members of the family, has donated a fine site on the shore of Lake Erie, and they are otherwise contributing liberally to the furtherance of the philanthrophic enterprise.
Mr. Selden has traveled extensively in America and in foreign lands, and has made his journeyings in the world a source of personal satisfaction and the accumulation of wide and varied information. A man of culture, of fine intellectual ken, a successful worker in connec- tion with the productive activities of the industrial world. and a citi- zen ever loyal and public-spirited. Mr. Selden holds a secure place in the confidence and regard of the people of his native county. In na- tional politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party ; he is iden- tified with various civic and fraternal organizations of a representative type, besides being a valued member of the Erie Board of Trade.
In the year 1895 he married Miss Blanche McCreary, daughter of the late Jackson McCreary, of West Mill Creek township, Erie county, and they have two children .- Edward Perkins. Jr., and Caroline Mc- Creary.
MICHAEL CROWLEY. In this day of scientific farming. methods have been originated or discovered, whereby the soil has been made to
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yield most bountiful crops, and agriculture has taken its rightful place among the leading industries of our nation. The men who have brought about this marvelous change are men of energy, intelligence, and enter- prise, and prominent among the number who are aiding the advancement of the agricultural development and progress of Erie county is Michael Crowley, of Elgin, an active and highly esteemed citizen. His fine farm of one hundred and thirty acres lies partly in Union, and partly in Con- cord townships, and, with its substantial buildings, gives ample evi- dence to the passerby of his skill and good judgment as a thorough-go- ing agriculturist and rural householder. Like many other of our most esteemed citizens, he is of foreign birth, having been born, in 1844, in Ireland.
In 1852 Mr. Crowley's father, Jeremiah Crowley emigrated with his family to this country, coming directly to Erie county. This part of our great state was then comparatively in a primitive condition, there being neither railroads, telegraphs or telephones, in fact none of those modern conveniences which are now classed as necessities rather than luxuries. He assisted to some extent in building the first railway to pierce Erie county, and with his son Michael, witnessed the noted rail- way war of a half century ago, and well remembered the burning of the block house, and consequent excitement. In 1865 he purchased land lying in Union and Concord townships, and began the improve- ment of the property now owned and occupied by his son Michael. By judicious toil and good management, he improved a fine homestead, and there resided until his death, in 1893. He married in Ireland, Hannah - -, who died in the home farm in 1892. Four children were born of their marriage, namely: Catherine, deceased; Michael ; Jeremiah; and Bartholomew.
Succeeding to the ownership of the parental acres, Michael Crow- ley has spared neither pains nor expense in his agricultural operations, and by dint of close application to his chosen industry has his land under a high state of cultivation, producing crops of such value as to command the highest market prices.
Mr. Crowley married, in 1874, Anna Driscoll, who was, likewise, born in the Emerald Isle, and of their union eight children have been born, five of whom are living, namely: Thomas; Martin; Bartholomew ; Catherine, now Mrs. DeWitt; and Mary, who lives at home. The sons are all associated with the oil industry in West Virginia, being busily and profitably employed as well drillers. Mr. Crowley is a Democrat. The family are members of St. Patrick's Catholic church at Union City.
HARVEY S. LYONS. Numbered among the successful, enterprising and well-to-do agriculturists of Erie county is Harvey S. Lyons who is living on the homestead where his birth occurred, in 1843, and on which he has spent a busy and active life, engaged, principally, in the cultivation of the soil. He comes of honored pioneer stock, being a son of John Lyons, who came to this section of the country nearly four score years ago, and by cheerful labor and heroic sacrifice cleared a valuable farm from its primitive wildness, and assisted in the building up and improving of Union township.
A native of New England, John Lyons was born, in 1810, in Mas- sachusetts, and in that state of good morals and good habits was brought up and educated. He was a natural mechanic, skilful in the use of tools, and as a youth learned the cabinet-maker's trade. Soon after at-
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taining his majority, he followed the tide of immigration westward, in 1832 coming to Beaverdam, Pennsylvania, where he began work at his trade. In the meantime, he boarded at the home of Samuel Smith, whose pretty daughter Nancy he soon fell in love with, and wooed and won. A few months later, in 1835, he purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land in Union township, Erie county, and at once began the arduous task of improving a homestead. His earnest labors were re- warded; and in the course of time he added to his landed possessions, until he owned two hundred and eighty acres, a large portion of which he succeeded in clearing. Here he lived, honored and respected, until his death, April 17, 1904. He was one of the respected and upright citizens of the community, prominent in public affairs, holding all of the township offices which the citizens could confer upon him, and was a valued member of the Presbyterian church, in which he served many years as elder. Nancy Smith, whom he married, was born in October, 1811, and died April 30, 1909. Counting the years of their courtship, John and Nancy (Smith) Lyons, lived under the same roof-tree for seventy-three years, more than the allotted period of man's earthly life. They became the parents of seven children, namely: James J., born at Beaverdam, in 1835; David S., born in Union township, in 1838; Samuel S., born on the home farm in 1840: Harvey S., of this sketch; Daniel, born in 1845; John C., also born on the home farm, his birth occurring in 1849; and Sarah Jane, born in 1853. Three of the sons, James J., Samuel S., and Harvey S., did valiant service in defense of their country's flag and honor during the Civil war, James J. and Samuel S. as members of the Eighty-third Pennsylvania Infantry, and Harvey in the 145th Pennsylvania Infantry. Samuel S. was killed at the Battle of Gaines Mills, and Harvey S. was wounded, December 13, 1862, at the battle of Fredericksburg.
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