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 33
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Obtaining his preliminary education in the district schools, H. H. Foringer subsequently attended the Edinboro State Normal School. A man of his mental calibre naturally turns towards a professional life, and his choice led him to take up the study of medicine. He began his preparation in Edinboro, in the office of Dr. S. B. Hotchkiss, after which he entered the Western Reserve Medical College, in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was graduated, with the degree of M. D., in 1883. Beginning the practice of his profession in Edinboro, in company with his old pre- ceptor, Dr. Hotchkiss, he remained there a year and a half. Locating then in Middleboro, Pennsylvania, Dr. Foringer built up an excellent practice, remaining there until the winter of 1888 and 1889. Going east at that time, the doctor reviewed his studies in some of the more noted medical colleges, becoming familiar with the more modern methods employed in medicine and surgery, and in the fall of 1889 settled in the city of Erie. In the practice of his profession he has met with distin- guished success, and is well worthy of the recognition he has received as one of the foremost physicians and surgeons of this part of the state.
Dr. Foringer married, June 11, 1885, Anna A., daughter of Rich- ard and Lorinda (Strohm) Owen, of Rouseville, Pennsylvania and they have one son, Owen H. Foringer, now of Ann Arbor, Michigan, studying medicine. Fraternally the doctor belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and to the Knights of Pythias. Religiously he and his family are valued members of the Presbyterian church, and liberal contributors towards its support.
FRANK M. WALLACE is president of the Second National Bank of Erie and vice president of the Pittsburg Coal Company. He is a native of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, born January 11, 1868, and it will therefore be seen that he has attained a high and broad standing in the practical affairs of the country at an age which is but the early period of middle life. He is a son of Dr. Thomas C. and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Wallace, and the grandparents on both sides were natives of county Done-
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILCEN FOUNDATIONS
"SHADE VILLA," RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. HERMAN F. SHADE
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gal, Ireland, who came to the United States about 1825. William Wallace and William Hamilton, the grandfathers, also first located near Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Butler county. They were farmers in that section of the state. The father (Dr. Wallace) was a native of Butler county and, prior to taking his regular medical lectures, was a student at Prospect ( Pa.) Academy. After his graduation from the Cleveland Homeopathic College, he entered practice at Allegheny City, where he continued until the time of his death in 1905, at the age of sixty-four years, his wife passing away December 22, 1891, fifty-two years old.
Mr. Wallace was reared and educated in the public schools of Alle- gheny City. In 1893, then only twenty-five years of age, he was ap- pointed a national bank examiner, resigning that position after service of five years, to become vice president of the Second National Bank of Erie. Following the death of the late Daniel D. Tracy, on December 9, 1901, Mr. Wallace succeeded to the presidency of the institution, and has since been the active head of its administrative affairs. To these responsibilities were added, in March, 1904, those connected with the treasuryship of the Pittsburg Coal Company, and in April, 1909, Mr. Wallace was chosen vice president of that great corporation. He is an active member of the Erie Chamber of Commerce and, as a Mason, is identified with Tyrian Lodge. As an offset to his strenuous life in the fields of finances and business, he is associated with numerous organiza- tions of a social, out-of-door and athletic nature. This list includes the Erie, Kahkwa, Yacht and Country clubs of Erie, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg, the Pittsburg Athletic Club and the Pennsylvania Society of New York City. But his domestic affairs are, after all, his chief pleasure. His wife was, before marriage, Miss Margaret Shannon, daughter of Henry C. Kelsey, of Erie.
PHILIP SHADE SR., represents a worthy and prominent family who have been identified with the agricultural life of Greene township for many years. As a lad of eight years he came with his parents from his native land of Germany to the United States in 1836, and coming direct to Greene township in Erie county, Pennsylvania, the family lo- cated in the woods near where the West Greene Methodist Episcopal church now stands. There the father, Philip Sr., bought a little farm of ninety acres, cleared his land and spent the remainder of his life, a worthy representative of the sturdy German race. His son Philip, whose birth occurred in Germany in 1828, accumulated one hundred and forty acres of land in Greene township, and he lived on his farm and cultivated its fields until he retired from an active business life and moved to the city of Erie. By his first wife, nee Emily Pillman, he had the following children: Edward and Philander, both deceased, Herman F., Philip J. and Charles. He subsequently married Mary Spade, and she bore him three children, Lewis, Jesse and Emma, while by his third wife, Mary Smith, he had one son, Daniel, who died in infancy.
Herman F. Shade has devoted his entire business career to farming and dairying, and he now owns and operates the farm of one hundred and forty acres which his father cleared and improved and on which he made his home for many years. This pretty home is known as "Shade Villa." On the 30th of March, 1879, he married Nellie Cutter. a daughter of Charles A. Cutter and a granddaughter of Jacob Sawyer and Orpha Anna (Adams) Cutter, natives respectively of Troy and of Vol. II-15
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Sandy Lake, New York. Jacob S. Cutter served as a soldier in the French and Indian war, and while serving his country he was captured by the Indians and died in captivity. Mrs. Cutter, his widow, came with her children to Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1836, and located in Venango township. Charles A. Cutter, one of the children, was born in Troy, New York, March 11, 1834, and when a lad of twelve years he entered upon his career as an agriculturist and farming has been his life's work. On the 25th of December, 1856, he was united in marriage to Sallie Lorena Weed, a descendant of one of the earliest of Greene township's pioneer families, and their children were Perry F., Nellie, Guy F. and Andrew and Jake. both of whom are now deceased. In July of 1862 Charles Cutter enlisted for the Civil war in Company C. Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served with his command for two years or until he entirely lost his voice, and he was then with the invalid corps until the 28th of June, 1865. Another two years passed before he regained his speech. He is now a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Three children have been born to the union of Herman F. and Nellie Shade,-Ralph G., Eva L. and Harry Andrew, but the only daughter is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Shade and their son Ralph are members of the West Greene Grange, and Mr. Shade is also a member of the fra- ternal order of Odd Fellows, No. 1143 Samaritan and his wife of its auxiliary, the Rebekahs, while the son Ralph has membership rela- tions with the Royal Order of Moose. It may be added that the elder Mr. Shade served as first master of the West Greene Grange, for two years, and that he has always been esteemed one of its most influential members.
GEORGE DUDLEY SELDEN, who is president of the Erie City Iron Works, is at the head of one of the largest manufactories of Pennsyl- vania, having been president for the past fourteen years and wisely guided the business through its most expansive period. He has been identified with the progress of the industry since the days of his youth, and the business energies and abilities of his life are mingled with its advancement and form a large element in the forces which have pushed it along. Born in Erie, April 21, 1847, Mr. Selden is the son of Joseph and the grandson of George Selden, and as his father died when he was but five years of age the boy was received into the home of his uncle. John C. Selden. Completing his education at the Old Erie Academy when nineteen years of age, George D. Selden assumed a subordinate position in the Erie City Iron Works, which establishment then, as now. was controlled by the Selden family. From that time to the present, some forty-three years, he threw the force of his personality into the development of the works, with the natural result of continuous per- sonal advancement. He finally reached the general office of the treasury- ship. was then advanced to the vice presidency and in 1895 was promoted to the presidency. Under his skillful, but conservative management, the Erie Iron Works have advanced into the foremost class of Pennsylvania's great industries, and another large addition to the plant is planned for the near future. For many years Mr. Selden was also a director of the First National Bank of Erie, resigning from the board because of his other engrossing duties. He has long been a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and his social activities are identified with the Erie and Kahkwa clubs.
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Mr. Selden has always taken a deep interest and wielded a strong influence in the religious and philanthropic movements of Erie. He is president of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian church ; has been president of the local Young Men's Christian Association for sev- eral terms, and is now serving on the state board of that association. Married to Miss Marie Louise Spader, daughter of J. Vanderbilt Spader, of Brooklyn, New York, he is the father of two children-Marie Louise and George Dudley Selden, Jr.
ADDISON LEECH was a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of the old Keystone state, and for many years he played an im- portant part in connection with the industrial and civic life of the city of Erie, where his death occurred on the 10th of April, 1899, and where his widow still maintains her home. His earnest and successful life well entitles him to such tribute as may be perpetuated in the pages of this publication.
He was born at Slippery Rock, Butler county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February, 1824, and was the fifth child of David and Rhoda (Findley) Leech, both likewise natives of this state. The Leech family traces its genealogy through a long line of sterling English ancestry, and the American branch was founded here in the early colonial epoch of our national history. John Leech, grandfather of Addison, removed from York county, Pennsylvania, and settled near Greenville, Mercer county, where his home locality was named Leech's Corners, in honor of him. He was a surveyor by profession, and in Mercer county he took up a large tract of government land, to which he later added by pur- chase of other tracts, so that he became one of the extensive landholders of that section of the state. He married Miss Jane Morrison, from Morrison's Cove, near the center of this state, and they became the parents of ten sons and two daughters. John Leech was one of the influential citizens of Mercer county, where he developed extensive farming lands and where both he and his wife continued to reside until their death.
David Leech was reared and educated in Mercer county, and he became one of the representative citizens and business men of that sec- tion. He was the founder of the town of Leechburg, Armstrong county, where he established and operated flouring and saw mills, and he was also the head of a transportation company which operated a line of boats on the old canal between Pittsburg and Philadelphia. Like his father, David Leech became a skilled civil engineer, according to the standard of his times, and when a young man he came to Erie and as- sisted in the construction of the old Waterford plank road, the govern- ment highway between Erie and Buffalo. Both he and his wife died in Leechburg, and their five sons and one daughter are all now deceased.
Addison Leech gained his early educational training in the common schools of Armstrong county. whither his parents removed when he was about two years of age, and later he was afforded the advantages of Allegheny College, at Meadville. After leaving school he became as- sociated with his father's business operations, and in this connection became an expert at the miller's trade. The Leech mills made an exhibit of their products at the London exposition, and there Addison received a bronze medal for flour which he had made. In 1846 the Franklin Institute, in Philadelphia, conferred upon him a silver medal, for a
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similar exhibit. At the inception of the Civil war he tendered his services in defense of the Union. He was appointed assistant commissary with rank of major, with which department he was identified until the close of the great conflict.
After the war Mr. Leech returned to his home in Leechburg. where he continued in business until 1868, the winter of which year he passed in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the meanwhile his brother, William F. Leech, of Philadelphia, at that time identified with the Pennsylvania Railroad, had purchased a grain elevator in Erie for his company, known as the Anchor Line Transportation Company, of which the elevator and the subsequent elevators were a part, and in the spring of 1869 Addison Leech came to this city to assume charge of the elevator business. He became associated in the ownership of the same and was identified with operations here until 1880, when he went to the territory of Dakota and purchased large tracts of wheat lands for his sons,-in what is now the state of North Dakota. Thereafter he passed a portion of each sum- mer in Dakota and his winters at his home in Erie. He found much satisfaction in these annual changes, and he continued to give a gen- eral supervision to his various business and capitalistic interests until his death, at the venerable age of seventy-five years.
Mr. Leech was never an aspirant for public office but was loyal to the duties of citizenship and was a stanch adherent of the Republican party. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and his religious faith was that of the Methodist church. His wife is a devoted member of the St. Paul's Episcopal church. In the city of Erie Mr. Leech was known and honored as a man of marked business ability, unswerving integrity and gracious personality. so that his memory will long be re- vered in this community.
On January 8, 1852, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Leech to Miss Mary Isabel Watson, of St. Louis, Missouri. She was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, and was a child at the time of the family removal to St. Louis, where she was reared and educated. She is a daughter of John S. and Mary (Reynolds) Watson, the former of whom was born in Lycoming county and the latter in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. The Watson family were numbered among the early settlers of Lycoming county, and the mother of John Smiley Wat- son was a daughter of Brattan Caldwell, a noted character of that sec- tion of the old Keystone state.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Leech are: John Watson Leech, who is connected with the Burke Electric Works, of Erie, married Miss Nellie Clark, and they have one daughter, Marion C .; Miss Mary Reynolds Leech remains with her mother at the attractive family home in Erie; William Findley Leech is a representative farmer and citizen of Cass county, North Dakota; Isadora is the wife of Chester W. Bliss, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and they have three children,-Elizabeth, Addison and Isadora; Addison Leech, Jr., is one of the extensive farm- ers of Cass, North Dakota, and, like his brother. William F., is a bachelor ; Isabella is the wife of Wilson A. Luce, of Sewickley, near the city of Pittsburg, and they have two children,-John Wilson A. Jr., and Addison ; Henry Lansing Leech died at the age of ten years; Ella is the wife of Edward D. Whetmore, of Warren, this state; Louise remains at the maternal home and is a popular teacher in the public
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schools of Erie, with whose best social life the family has long been identified.
ROBERT F. DEVINE president of the Erie Forge Company, who operates one of the most complete iron manufactories of northwestern Pennsylvania, has made success assured at every stage of his career by a thorough preparation for every step he has undertaken. He is com- plete master of every element of his great industry, from the coal which feeds his huge furnaces to the most complicated engine forging of his fine modern plant. Mr. Devine is a native of the hamlet of Lake Run, located near Pottsville, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and was born on the 17th of September, 1860. He is a son of Robert and Jeannett ( Murray) Devine, natives of Scotland who came to America with their parents when in childhood. After residing about a year in Nova Scotia, the family migrated to Pennsylvania, the father enlisting in the Forty- eight Infantry of that state for service in the Civil war and contracting a fatal attack of pneumonia in 1864.
When he was about eight years of age young Devine went to work in the coal mines of Schuylkill county, as a "breaker boy," and continued identified with the coal mining industry until 1879. Far from satisfied with either his condition or his prospects at this time, the youth aban- doned the mines and served an apprenticeship of three years as a me- chanic blacksmith in Philadelphia. He worked at his trade for a time in that city ; married in 1885, and one month later started for the west with his young wife. They located at Kansas City, where Mr. Devine found employment at once and before long became foreman of the black- smith department of the Armour Packing Company. Soon he found himself in condition to buy a small home ( which, with other property, he still owns in that city), but after several years of profitable employ- ment in. the interests of others moved to Seattle, Washington, and es- tablished a shop of his own.
In 1895 Mr. Devine returned to the east and entered the Frankfort Steel and Forging Company of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, and at the death of his brother, who was superintendent of the works, he succeeded to the vacancy. In 1903 he organized the company which purchased the Erie Forge Company (limited), and the new concern was incor- porated under that name on May 22nd of that year. The incorporators and officers (also the present incumbents) were as follows: Robert F. Devine, president and general manager: G. W. J. Stout, treasurer and general superintendent ; A. C. Grove, vice president ; Joseph C. Campbell, Charles R. Eckert, J. R. Phillips, Thomas F. Judge, George B. Galey, Elizabeth C. McCoy. Robert McLane, .J. G. Mitchell, C. P. Brobeck, C. M. Wallace, H. J. Eckert. E. C. Weir, John Greer and E. J. Schleiter. Hugh C. McLaughlin, secretary and accountant of the company, is the only official who is not among the incorporators. When the newly or- ganized company assumed the old plant it was in very poor condition, but with the addition of modern machinery and new buildings the manu- factory is now up-to-date and complete. The power plant is entirely new : a charging machine was installed for the modern open-hearth furnaces : over 800 feet of runway is in operation, as well as four over- head traveling cranes for handling hot metal --- two of five tons each, one of fifteen tons and one of forty tons. The employes number two him- dred and fifty, nearly all of whom are skilled workmen, and the works
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turn out iron and steel forgings, including those for steam, gas and marine engines and for pneumatic and hydraulic machinery, and, as a specialty, crank shafts and connecting rods of from twenty to thirty thousand pounds. Mr. Devine is widely known in the trade as the head of this great metal manufactory, and is also an active member of the Manufacturers' Association, the Erie Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade, and the Engineer's Club of New York City. In the secret and benevolent orders he is identified with the Masonic fraternity, the Royal Arcanum, Elks, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Improved Order of Heptasoplis.
In 1885 Mr. Devine married Miss Sarah Craig, who was born at Grace Hill, a Moravian settlement in county Antrim, Ireland. Five chil- dren were born to this union, as follows: May, who died as an infant of seven months; Robert F., Jr., who was born March 1, 1888, and is a student at the University of Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, born July 25, 1890; Jeannette, born October 29, 1893; and Joseph Craig Devine, born May 8, 1895.
C. W. HORNE. Although he has not yet reached his fortieth year, C. W. Horne, of Albion, is in such comfortable circumstances that he is not engaged in active business, although he transacts quiet dealings as a stock broker and is interested in the Dempsey hotel. He is a na- tive of Hagerstown, Pennsylvania, born on the 12th of July, 1870, and is a son of George D. and Mary E. (Terrill) Horne. The father, who died in 1906 at the age of sixty-four, spent all the years of his man- hood as a train despatcher of the Erie Railroad and various members of his family have been prominent officials of that corporation. The widow is living in retirement at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and is the mother of C. W. Horne, of this sketch; Edward A., a general store- keeper of the Erie Railroad, residing in New York; Mary F., now the wife of M. T. Foraker, purchasing auditor of the Erie road, at Meadville ; and Earl S., assistant to the master mechanic of that road at the same point.
After graduating from the public school course at Meadville, C. W. Horne entered the employ of the Erie Railroad and was a tele- graph operator for twelve years. Later, he engaged in the wholesale oil business at Toronto, Canada, and after three years in this employ- ment, located at Pittsburg as a stock broker. He was an active mem- ber of the Pittsburg Consolidated Stock and Produce Exchange until 1909. In that year he became a resident of Albion, where, as stated, he is virtually retired from active business, although he is placing his means in not a few profitable channels. His fraternal affiliations are with the Elks lodge of Johnston, and his religious connections are with the Episcopal church. His wife, who was born in Meadville, July 6, 1872, a daughter of Henry and Emeline (Brown) Shafer. bore him one child, Henry, on the 3rd of September, 1896.
WILLIAM M. ORR, of Girard township, who has been farming for sixty years in the county, is the typical English type of agriculturist -industrious, dependable and not only concerned in his own welfare and those nearest to him, but in the good of the general community. He is a native of Cornwall, England, born August 14, 1833, and is a
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son of John and Elizabeth (Handy) Orr. His grandparents were William and Ann Orr, and for many generations the most of the male members of the family in England have been employed in the tin and copper mines of Cornwall. Mr. Orr's grandfather was a miner all his life, and his father followed that occupation until he came to the United States with his family and settled in Washington township, Erie county. From that time until his death he was identified with the soil as a farmer. Mr. Orr's mother was a daughter of Nicholas Handy, who came to the United States with his daughter, her hus- band and family, in 1841, settling in Washington township, and built the first log house in their neighborhood, known as Ash Corners. The first year spent by the Orrs and Handys in Erie county was one of many hardships, their food consisting almost entirely of the scant crop of corn and potatoes which was raised from their small clearing. The winter was also so bitter cold that it was no unusual thing to wake up in the morning and find the bedsteads and bedding decorated with glistening icicles.
William M. Orr was reared in Washington township, attending district school with more or less regularity until he was seventeen years of age. From that time until he was thirty he was employed on the paternal farm, and then purchased a homestead in Franklin township whose development occupied him for thirty years. In 190? he bought the sixty-four acre tract in Girard township, which he is now cultivating with his old time thoroughness. . In connection with his successful agricultural enterprises of these many years he has also served his townships in many public capacities, evincing in his official business the same faithfulness and practical judgment which have been displayed in the management of his private affairs. In politics, he has always been a Republican.
In 1864 Mr. Orr married Miss Lucy Fellows, daughter of William and Deborah (Fuller) Fellows, the former being a native of New York state and the latter of Massachusetts. Mrs. Orr was born in Livingston county, New York, August 4, 1832, and was seven years of age when the family settled in Washington township. Her father died in 1843, at the age of seventy-four and her mother in 1875, eighty years old. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. William M. Orr. Charles, born January 1, 1869, is a farmer of Franklin town- ship, married Miss Emma Alford and is the father of one child, Don- ald. Lynn is a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, married Miss Emma Kidd and has one child. Nelson and Wilda are both living with their parents. Mr. Orr has one sister living-Elizabeth, wife of Morris Fritz of Platea, this county. One brother and two sisters of Mrs. Orr survive, viz : Charles Fellows, a resident of Corry, Pennsylvania ; and Alliff, widow of William Putnam of Edinboro, and Mina, widow of W. Sherwood, a farmer of Washington township.
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