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 26
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On the 13th of August, 1882, Mr. Miller wedded Miss Emma Jane Lewis, born in Fairview township, this county, January 22, 1860. Her parents, Marcus and Emily M. (Knapp) Lewis, migrated from Poultney, Vermont, at an early date, settling first in Harbor Creek township and in 1857 locating in Fairview. Three children have been born of this mar- riage-James B., a brilliant engineer connected with the coast survey of the United States government and now stationed in the Philippines (of whom a sketch follows) ; Emma Adena, born October 12, 1888, a grad- uate of the Erie high school and now a Junior at Oberlin College ; and Thomas Cassius, Jr., born August 12, 1891. a classmate with his sister, who was also educated in the schools of Mill Creek township and the Erie high school, now a Junior in Oberlin College.
James Blaine Miller, oldest child and elder son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Miller, was born October 30, 1883, and is a graduate of the graded school course of Mill Creek township, the Erie high school and Oberlin College (class of 1903). While a student at college he was appointed to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, with orders to report at Washington, D. C., for duty. Leave of absence was granted him for a few days before the college commencement, his entire course being marked by high scholarship, as was indicated by his membership in Phi Beta Kappa. His first work as a government surveyor was along
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the coast of Alaska and in 1903-4 he was engaged in the survey and chart- ing of the west coast of Porto Rico. In the summer of the latter year Mr. Miller was in charge of a party of government engineers running the precise level line from St. Cloud, Minnesota, to Watertown, South Dakota, and in the winter of 1904-5 was on duty in and around Wash- ington and Chesapeake, among the other interesting duties assigned him being that of definitely ascertaining whether the Washington monument was settling. In the summer of 1905 he was again on duty in the Dako- tas, being placed in charge of parties surveying the precise level line to Sioux City, Iowa, and his work was so satisfactory to the department of commerce and labor as to draw forth a letter from the general super- intendent stating that for speed, accuracy and economy it had not been equalled. In the winter of 1905-6 Mr. Miller was appointed captain of a cost survey steamer, and in that capacity surveyed and charted, for the first time, Timbelier and Terre Bonne bays, in the gulf of Mexico. In the summer of 1906 he re-surveyed and re-charted the Hudson river from West Point to a location above Poughkeepsie, and in the winter of 1906-7 he had charge of a party engaged in work of the same nature at Hampton Roads, Virginia. He surveyed and charted the island of Kodiak, on the Alaskan coast about seven hundred miles west of Sitka, in the summer of 1907, and on December 10, 1907, sailed for Manila, Philippine Islands, going by way of San Francisco, Honolulu, Japan and Hongkong. Arriv- ing at Manila January 15, 1908, he was dispatched to Ilo Ilo, island of Panay, where he has since had his headquarters, as captain of the coast survey steamer "Research," in charge of the coast survey of Cebu and other islands. Within the past year he has surveyed about 7,500 miles of the insular coast, which fixes the record for department work of that character.
ANDREW AUGUSTUS CULBERTSON, so extensively connected with the coal interests of Erie and northwestern Pennsylvania, comes of old- world ancestors who migrated from their original home in Scotland to the north of Ireland and first came into prominence as among the stanch Protestant defenders of Londonderry, Ulster. The first of the family to emigrate to America is said to have come over about 1720, John, the eldest son of the original emigrant being at the time twelve years of age. Andrew Culbertson, the eldest son of the latter, married Jennette Boyd in 1763, and in the following year moved from Philadelphia to the present site of the town of Williamsport, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, which town he founded in about 1773. The first-born of their nine children, William, was the great grandfather of Andrew A., and by his marriage to Mary Culbertson in 1794 became the father of four children, viz :-- Andrew Columbus, Jennette C., John Augustus and Willam Washington. This first marriage took place at Williamsport, and in the following year
(1795) they moved to the mouth of Conneattee lake, where Mr. Culbert- son erected a grist and saw mill near the site of the present mill at Edin- boro. Besides conducting this enterprise, he acquired considerable land in the vicinity ; was both farmer and miller and for forty successive years. held the office of justice of the peace. William Culbertson's first wife died at Edinboro March 2, 1802, and by his second wife (Margaret Johnson) who passed away in 1820, he was the father of five children, as follows : Maria J., James Johnson, Josiah J., Cyrus A. and Elizabeth. The father of these two families died November 11, 1843. John A. Cul- bertson, the third child by the first marriage, wedded Clarissa Harrison,
5 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTEK, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION
Geo W. Cook
Rebecca & B look
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: 3
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ASTOR, LEWOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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in Edinboro, on the 23rd of October, 1827. and they became the parents of Harrison, Louis C. (father of Andrew A.), Johnson, Porter and Emily. The paternal grandmother died October 16, 1862, and the grand- father March 16, 1872. The father, who was born at Edinboro, March 7, 1832, has spent his life there, and as a carpenter and builder, and an industrious and sturdy citizen, has added much to the family record as perhaps the strongest agent in the continuous development of the place. Louis C. Culbertson married, on May 31, 1859, Miss Martha M. Proud- fit, daughter of Alexander Proudfit and granddaughter of Andrew and Isabel (Smith) Proudfit, who were of Scotch-Irish ancestry and settled in Franklin township in 1833. Seven children were born of this union, of whom Andrew Augustus is the youngest.
Mr. Culbertson was born in Edinboro, December 15, 1874; was reared there and received the bulk of his education within the limits of the town. In 1893 he graduated from the State Normal at Edinboro and in 1901 finished his course at Allegheny College. In the latter year he located in Erie to assume the management of the Erie and Cambridge Springs Suburban Railroad, resigning that position, after three years, to enter the coal business. In 1904 he organized the Culbertson Coal Company and later the Saltman Coal and Supply Company, and has been president of both from the first. As a fraternalist, he is a Mason, and as a club- man, connected with the Erie and Country Club organizations.
Mr. Culbertson's wife was formerly Miss Anna Giles Reeder, young- est child of Isaac R. and Sarah (Giles) Reeder, and is of the well known family which since 199 has been identified with the progress of the coun- try tributary to Edinboro. In that year her great-grandfather located in the southern part of Washington township, and James Reeder, his second son, owned much of the land which, with his brother-in-law (Mr. Taylor), he afterward platted into eastern Edinboro. He was a success- ful farmer ; built and operated the saw mill now owned by his son, Isaac R .; was a school director and a tireless promoter of education, and in ways too numerous to specify an ideal citizen of his times. Isaac R., the fourth of his thirteen children, was educated in the schools of Crawford and Erie counties, and in 1853 entered into his career as a farmer and lumberman by taking charge of the old saw mill erected by his father, which has already been mentioned. At the present time about four hun- dred and fifty acres of the original six hundred comprising the old mill property is still held in the family name. In 1865 Mr. Reeder became part owner in the Burlingham pump manufactory at Edinboro and, with various members of the Taylor family, conducted it successfully for many years, or until its destruction by fire. He has always been a citizen of marked public prominence, having held many of the local offices; has served for thirty-two years as a director of the State Normal, being now president of the board, and was one of the organizers of the Edinboro Savings Bank, of which he is president. His wife's people, the Giles family, were natives of Massachusetts, her parents coming from that state in 1818 and slowly journeying by ox-team to their first home in Washington township. This was, in fact, their wedding trip, and Anna Giles was the last of their five children.
GEORGE W. Cook, who passed the last years of his life as a retired farmer and citizen of Fairview, Erie county, was a native of Onondaga county, New York, born March 6, 1832. His father, Alvin Cook, moved with his family to Fairview township, this county, about 1837 and at Vol. II-12
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that time located just west of the village of that name where he passed the balance of his life as an agriculturist. Both he and his wife are buried in the cemetery at Fairview.
His son, George W. Cook, of this sketch, received his education in the schools of Fairview township and Fairview village and at the age of twenty-one located at Erie where for twenty-five years he was engaged as a clerk and bookkeeper. He then returned to his old Fair- view home where for a number of years he was postmaster and proprietor of a store, spending the last years of his life in retirement. His death occurred November 2, 1908, and his decease took from the community a popular and Christian man. For many years he was known as a strong supporter of the Republican party and during the Civil war was a member of the state militia organized to oppose any invasion of the Confederate army from the south. He was also an active member of the Masonic fraternity at Girard, Pennsylvania, and that order, with which he was so long identified, conducted his funeral rites. In his religious faith he was an earnest member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Cook's wife was formerly Miss Rebecca Ann Brecht, a native of Fairview township, and a daughter of Samuel and Isabella ( Nichol- son) Brecht. Her mother was born in Mill Creek township and a daughter of John and Isabella Nicholson. Samuel Brecht, Mrs. Cook's father, was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who came to Erie county about 1820 and located at Manchester, Fairview township, where he passed the balance of his life in farming. When Mr. Brecht came to Erie county he brought with him his mother, Elizabeth (Kuhn) Brecht, and seven other children of the family, so that he may be said to have founded it in this section of Pennsylvania. The children born to Samuel Brecht and his wife were as follows: Elizabeth Kuhn, now deceased, who married Jerome Galliard ; Isabella Nicholson Brecht, who is now deceased; Maria Louisa, who is also deceased, and married Elias Bales ; Rebecca Ann, who became Mrs. George W. Cook; John, and Harriett Jane, now deceased.
John Brecht, mentioned above, was one of the best known and most honored farmers of Fairview township although a man of most retiring disposition. He was very liberal both in his private charities and in his support of the local Methodist church but all of his generosity in this regard was never known until after his death. The deceased married Margaret E. Dixon, of East Springfield, and now also buried with her husband.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Cook were as follows : Miles Brecht, Georgianna Alfaretta, who died while quite young: Kath- arine Rosemond living at home with her mother; and Harriett Isabella, who became the wife of Porter A. Newton, and is a resident of Altoona. Pennsylvania and the mother of Katharine Brecht and George Cook Newton.
Dr. Miles B. Cook, the eldest of this family and a practicing phy- sician of Buffalo, New York, is a graduate of the Cleveland Medical College. lle married Miss Maud Anna Davis of Forest county. Penn- sylvania, and they have had the following three children : Miles George, who died in November, 1908, at the age of eighteen : Donald Davis, now sixteen years of age; and Ralph Alvin Cook. Miles George was a member of the class of '09 in the high school, also a member of the Lafayette High School Orchestra and of the Mandolin Club. He was
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a bright young man and greatly beloved by all his schoolmates and friends and his death was a blow to everyone.
Katharine Rosemond graduated in Erie high school in the class 1907, and in the class of 1909 at the Birmingham School for Girls in instrumental music.
George W. Cook's great-uncle, Lemuel Cook, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and at one time encountering an Indian in his own home he defended himself with a chair. He died aged 107 years old. Elihu and Sarinda Cook, great-grandparents of George W., are interred in Fairview Cemetery.
TITUS BERST. More than three-fourths of a century ago the Berst family was founded in Erie county, and few names have been more prom- inently identified with the civic and material progress of the county than that of this old and honored family, of which Titus Berst of this review is a worthy representative. The old Berst homestead is now an integral part of the city of Erie, and to the development and upbuilding of the city those bearing the name have contributed in most generous measure. Titus Berst was born on what was then known as the old Reed farm, now within the city limits of Erie, on the 10th of April, 1847, and he has literally grown up with the city, in whose advancement and prosperity he has ever taken much pride, the while doing all in his power to further the work of development and progress along industrial, commercial and material lines. His grandfather, Conrad Berst, was a native of Plautz, Germany, where he was born in the year 1779, and where he was reared and educated. In 1798, when about nineteen years of age, Conrad Berst immigrated to America, and soon after his arrival he took up his residence at Manheim, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where, in 1807, was solemn- ized his marriage to Miss Catherine Gunthner. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and thus manifested his intrinsic loyalty to the land of his adoption. In 1827 he removed with his family from Lancaster county to Butler county, but three years later, in 1830, he came to Erie county. He first rented a small farm south of the city of Erie, which was then a mere village, and in 1834 he leased the Reed farm, of which mention has just been made. In 1836 he removed to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his life, as did also his wife.
John Berst, father of Titus, was born in Manheim, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, September 3, 1808, and there he was reared to manhood. receiving such advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Erie county, and here he passed the residue of his long and useful life, a man of progressive ideas and one animated by the utmost civic loyalty and public spirit. In February, 1836, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Miller, whose death occurred in 1886 and who is survived by five children, namely : Henry, Catherine A. (wife of Hobart Hogan, of. Erie,), Jacob, John W., Titus and Hiram L., who died December 19, 1908.
John Berst continued to occupy the Reed farm until 1866, when he removed to his own farm, located west of the city. In 1842 he had pur- chased of Joseph S. Colt about seventy acres of land, extending from the present Cherry to Liberty streets and from Seventeenth to West Twen- ty-sixth streets in the city of Erie. All of this land was at the time given over to farming purposes, and it is now all included in the heart of the residence section of the southwest part of Erie. On a portion of this old homestead three of his sons still continue to make their homes. For a
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number of years John Berst continued to devote his attention to agricul- tural pursuits, and he then became interested in the nursery business, to which he devoted much of his farm, as did he later to the propagation of garden seeds. In 1861 he purchased the property on the west side of State street between Eighth and Ninth streets, and in 1872 he erected thereon the brick business block which is still standing and which bears his name. He, with his sons, also became interested in the old Erie Rail- way franchise, and at one time they owned the controlling interest in the system, which they sold in 1888. John Berst was known as one of Erie's most progressive and substantial citizens, and his course in life was char- acterized by that impregnable integrity and honor which ever beget objec- tive confidence and esteem. He was the architect of his own fortunes and his success was won by worthy means, not the least being the great appreciation in the value of the land which he had the prescience to hold in his possession. He was a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife were consistent members of the German Lutheran church. He was summoned to the life eternal in April, 1888, and his name has an enduring place on the roll of the sterling pioneers and loyal citizens of Erie county.
Titus Berst gained his early educational discipline in the common schools of Erie, and supplemented this by a course of study in the old Erie Academy. In July, 1864, while on a visit in the city of Philadelphia, he tendered his services in defense of the Union. He was eighteen years of age at the time and he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Ninety seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He takes much satisfaction in reverting to the fact that he signed his enlistment papers in Indepen- dence Park just outside of old Independence Hall. undoubtedly the most cherished landmark in the history of the nation. After remaining in camp at Baltimore, Maryland, for several weeks, his command proceeded to Rock Island, Illinois, where it was assigned to guard duty at the federal prison, in which were held about fifteen thousand Confederate prisoners. At the expiration of the ninety days' term of enlistment the members of the company were mustered out, in Philadelphia, where Mr. Berst received his honorable discharge. By virtue of his service he is eligible for and retains membership in the Grand Army of the Republic.
After the close of his military services Mr. Berst returned to his home in Erie, and later he entered a commercial school in the city of Pittsburg, where he was a student at the time of the assassination of President Lin- coln. In the autumn of 1868 he was matriculated in Pennsylvania Col- lege, at Gettysburg, where he remained as a student for four years, but impaired health caused him to withdraw from the institution only a short time before the time of graduation. Returning to Erie, he became asso- ciated with his father and brother, Hiram L., in the nursery business, and gradually the enterprise was changed to that of floriculture, and still later to the seed business. The father ultimately withdrew from the enterprise, which was thereafter continued for some time under the firm name of Berst Brothers. In 1878 Titus Berst became the sole owner of the business, and he continued the same until 1901, when he sold out, after having developed a large and important industry. For several years he was secretary of the Erie City Passenger Railway Company. In 1875 he was commissioned to investigate and report upon the condition of the Methodist Episcopal church interests in the Sandwich Islands. He spent two months in the work of this interesting commission, and within this period visited all sections of these beautiful tropic isles.
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In 1880 Mr. Berst erected his commodious and attractive brick resi- dence, at 655 Brown's avenue, and the same is located on a portion of the old Berst homestead of which mention has been made. He has five acres of ground, with an abundance of handsome shade trees, and the residence is surrounded by beautiful lawns, making it one of the most attractive homes in the city. In 1878-9 Mr. Berst was a member of the board of education of Erie, but he has never consented to become a candidate for political office, though he gives a stanch allegiance to the cause of the Republican party. He and his wife are zealous and valued members of the First Methodist Episcopal church, and he holds membership in the Erie County Historical Society, taking a deep interest in the collating and perpetuating of data concerning the history of his native county.
The Berst family has done much in furthering the upbuilding of the city of Erie, in evidence of which fact it may be stated that several fine business blocks stand as monuments to the enterprise and progressive spirit of its representatives. The brick block at 808 State street was erect- ed by the father, John Berst, in 1871, and is now owned by his son Jacob. The Berst block, 806 State street, was erected in 1867, by John Berst and Jacob F. Walther, taking the place of a primitive log house, and this property is owned by Hiram L. and Titus Berst. The New Berst block, on West Eighth street, and adjoining the block on State street, was erected in 1904, by Hiram L. and Titus Berst.
On the 22d of February, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Titus Berst to Miss Mary G. Brubaker, daughter of George M. and Elizabeth (Beaver) Brubaker, of Millersburg, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Berst's mother was a niece of Thomas Beaver and a cousin of Hon. James Beaver, a former governor of Pennsylvania. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Berst are : Charles Brubaker Berst, born at the old family home- stead, was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Erie, includ- ing the high school, and after serving three years as a teller in the First National Bank he entered Syracuse College, New York, in the electrical department of which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1907. He is now (1909) completing a practical course in electri- cal work in the plant of the Westinghouse Company in the city of Pitts- burg. Clara Lois was graduated in the Erie high school as a member of the class of 1900, after which she spent three years as a student in the Syracuse Conservatory of Music and completed her musical studies in the conservatory connected with the famous University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where she also taught music for two years; she is now at the parental home and is most popular in the social and musical circles of her native city.
JOHN ELMER REED AND GEORGE ARTHUR REED, M. D. In the pro- gress of the agricultural interests and the professional affairs of Erie county, various members of the Reed family have actively and prominently participated for several generations, the legal and medical fields having been cultivated with signal success by John E. and Dr. George A. Reed, residents of the city. Joseph Reed, their grandfather, was born in Erie county, and married Jane Grubb, also rep- resenting one of the substantial pioneer families of the county ; his brother, James L., is still living. John Grubb Reed, the father, still owns the farm on which he was born in Mill Creek township, September 27, 1838, and he wedded Miss Candace Eliza Blair, daughter of John W. and Candace Blair. Mrs. Reed was born January 1, 1840, and died May 8,
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1901. Mr. Reed has been a prominent citizen and a progressive farmer of Mill Creek township for many years, having served for two terms as tax collector and three terms as justice of the peace. He has also been of great activity and influence in the affairs of the Westminster Presby- terian church of Mill Creek, having served as trustee, elder and Sunday school superintendent. Six children were born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. John G. Reed-John E., George A., Joseph W., Mary E., Edith J. and James R.
John Elmer Reed was born on the old farm in Mill Creek township on the 27th of February, 1865. He obtained his education in the common schools of his home neighborhood, at the State Normal, Edinboro, and at Clark's Commercial College, Erie. After teaching two terms of school in McKean township and three terms in Mill Creek, he read law in the office of Judge E. A. Walling and was admitted to the bar of Erie county, June 28, 1895. Mr. Reed has since been engaged in a growing practice at Erie. He is identified with the Erie Tool Works both as attorney and secretary and has other interests outside his legal work. Like his father, he was a leader in all the active affairs of the Westminster Presbyterian church, at West Mill Creek, in which he has served as secretary, Sunday school teacher and superintendent. He is now active in the church work of the Central Presbyterian church of Erie. Mr. Reed married Miss Elizabeth Cora Brown, daughter of James and Anna Jane (Cameron) Brown, the former born in Ireland and the latter in London, Ontario, the mother being a descendant of the ancient Cameron clan of Lochiel. Mr. and Mrs. John E. Reed are the parents of one child, Robert C., born March 27, 1901.
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