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 60
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Chicago, he had command of the steamers "Ironside," "Planet." and others of that line. In the winter of 1867 Capt. Benjamin Wilkins superintended the transfer of the machinery and cabin of the "Planet" to the steamer "Northwest." In 1869 he purchased an interest in the steamer "Cuyahoga," which he sailed two seasons. Entering the service of the Anchor line in 1811, he was made pilot of the steamer "Wilson." In 1813 he was made master of that vessel, and held the position until 1871. Being made master, in 1818, of the "India," which was owned by the Superior Transit Company, he retained its command until his death, October 6, 1880. He married Anna Backus, and to them seven children were born, namely: Joseph H., Thomas E., Park C., W. W., Clara L., Jennie M., and Sarah P.
While still a school boy, W. W. Wilkins spent all of his vacations on the water, going on lake trips with his father, thus gaining a prac- tical knowledge of science, art and laws of navigation as well as of the common branches of study. In 1877 he shipped on board the steamer "Wilson," of the Anchor line, his father being in command of the vessel, and in 1818 he shipped on the "Indian" as lookout, and was soon pro- moted to the berth of wheelman. In 1880, having successfully passed his examination, and received his license as second mate, Mr. Wilkins shipped on the "Arizona." In 1881, he served as mate of the "Wilson," under Captain M. H. Murch, and in 1882 was second mate of the "Annie Young." In 1883 he was mate of the "China," and the following year was mate of the "Idaho," belonging to the Lake Superior Transit Com- pany. In 1886 he entered the employ of the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior Transit Company as mate of the steamer "City of Fremont." and at the end of that season left the lakes for a time. In 1889 he re- sumed his duties with the same company, shipping as mate on the steamer "Samuel F. Hedge," and in 1890 became mate of the "Badger State," but was subsequently transferred to the "William H. Stevens." In 1897 Capt. W. W. Wilkins entered the service of James McBrier as master of the steamer "Nyanza," which he commanded until 1903. The follow- ing five years he had command of the steamer "Uganda." Since 1906 Captain Wilkins has commanded the "Luzon," a stanch vessel, in which he has made many successful trips.
Captain Wilkins has been twice married. He married first, August 22, 1891, Hattie, daughter of Schuyler and Miranda (Force) Saulsbury. She died July 29, 1901, leaving two children, Anna L. and Cameron M. The Captain married second, February 6, 1906. Clara Gertrude Banis- ter. Fraternally Captain Wilkins is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
A. A. WETMORE, the well known farmer and dairyman of the town- ship of Wayne, Erie county, was born in that place March 13. 1887. His father. Arthur H. Wetmore, a native of Concord township. this county, was the son of Clifford and Lavinia Wetmore. the former of whom rendered the Union faithful service in the Civil war. Verna (Alden) Wetmore, mother of A. A., died in the year 1890, the mother of two children-Roy, now deceased, and A. A. Wetmore. Some time after her demise, the husband married as his second wife, Edith Schooley, by whom he has had four children-Earl, Mabel. Kenneth and Gladys. Arthur H. has been in the employ of the Standard Oil Company for some years.
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A. A. Wetmore of this sketch, was reared and received his educa- tion in his native town, upon the completion of which he pursued various callings before finally fixing upon the agricultural specialty, which he now follows. Today he resides on his productive farm of one hundred and thirty-two acres, which is principally given to dairying. He takes deep interest in his vocation and is one of Wayne's most enthusiastic and successful dairymen.
JAMES M. SHADDUCK. Possessing excellent business and financial ability, James M. Shadduck, a general contractor and builder of Erie City, located at No. 1102 East Twenty-fifth street, has won well de- served success by a thorough mastery of his calling, and gained a note- worthy position among the leaders in industrial circles. Coming from honored pioneer ancestry, his grandfather, Joseph Shadduck, having been one of the original settlers of Erie county, he was born, in 1811, in North East, this county, a son of Henry Shadduck.
Coming to Erie county in 1783, Joseph Shadduck was one of the first men to settle in Greenfield township. Buying from the government four hundred and sixty acres of land, at $1.25 an acre, he began the improvement of a farm from the wilderness. A man of stout heart and unlimited courage, he dared all the dangers and privations of frontier life, in order to pave the way for those who should follow, and to estab- lish a home where his children and their descendants might enjoy the comforts, and even the luxuries of life, without the labor and toil in which his years were spent. He was successful in his operations, ac- cumulating money, and subsequently bought one hundred acres of land in North East. He continued in agricultural labor during his active years, and passed away, in 1849, at a good old age. He came from hon- ored New England ancestry, his father, Joseph Shadduck Sr., who served as a gallant soldier in the. Revolutionary war, having been born and bred in Vermont. Joseph Shadduck was twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Harriet Cass, bore him eighteen children, of whom nine grew to years of maturity, as follows : George : Henry, father of James M. ; Esther ; Nancy : Hannah ; Polly ; Ann ; Lester ; and Hiram. By his last wife he had four children, Ira, Betsey, David and Matilda. Joseph Shadduck was the father of twenty-two children, a truly patri- archal family, and had 306 grandchildren.
Born on a farm in Erie county in 1818, Henry Shadduck was a suc- cessful agriculturist, becoming the owner of a valuable farm of four hundred acres, located in that part of North East known as Shadduck's Corners. He was a man of prominence, influential in public affairs, and his death, which occurred in 1905, was deemed a loss to the community. He married first. Lucy Boutwell, who bore him six children, as follows : Sarah : Clinton, deceased : Clarence, deceased : Frank : Emma, deceased ; and Joseph. He married second, Lucy Davis, who was born in Erie county in 1838, and is still living here. She is the mother of three chil- dren, namely: Rev. Burt Shadduck, a minister in the Methodist Epis- copal denomination : James M., the subject of this sketch; and Isabelle.
Receiving his education and training in North East, James M. Shadduck assisted his father in the care of the home farm until eighteen years of age. Beginning the struggle of life for himself, he came, in 1889, to Erie, where he has since been actively employed, since 1905 having been engaged as a contractor and builder. His reputation in this
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line of work has become firmly established, and he is well patronized throughout this section of the county.
Mr. Shadduck married, in 1892, Lillian Chapin, who was born in Lowville, this county, March 13, 1871, a daughter of Melville and Civilla Chapin. Mr. and Mrs. Shadduck have had four children, one of whom has passed to the higher life, while three are living, namely: Arthur, Blanche and Hazel.
WILLIAM H. SPRAGUE, a retired farmer of Albion, Pennsylvania, was born June 5, 1838, in Sheffield, Ohio, and is a son of Heman Sprague, a native of Vermont, who died April 1, 1851, aged fifty-three years. Heman Sprague came to Ohio and settled in Sheffield, where for several years he was a distiller : in 1848 he removed to Erie county, where he owned several farms, and there followed farming the re- mainder of his life. Ile was a Whig, and at the organization of the Republican party, espoused their cause. He married Melissa Williams. who died in 1881, at the age of sixty-eight years. Their children were: Mary J . widow of J. Marsh, of Chicago; Addie, wife of H. Brook, of Bowling Green, Ohio: Hattie, wife of J. Pike, of Muskegon, Michigan ; William H., and four sons and one daughter, deceased. Heman Sprague was a son of Seth Sprague, a farmer of Vermont, who died when William H. Sprague was a young boy.
William H. Sprague received his education in the public schools, and followed farming until he reached the age of nineteen years, when he went to work on the Erie Canal, becoming a steersman, and worked at that until twenty-five years old. He settled on a farm and con- ducted same with good success until a few years ago, when he retired from active life.
Mr. Sprague married, December 31, 1859, Eleanor Pike, daughter of Daniel and Rachel (Lowe) Pike, born February 14, 1844, in Gallia county, Ohio. Daniel Pike died in 1872. at the age of seventy-seven years, and his wife died in 1857, aged thirty-eight. His father was a sailor on Lake Erie, and was drowned in the lake. Daniel Pike and his wife had children as follows: Alice, who was drowned at Meadville, Pennsylvania ; Eleanor; Joseph, living in Michigan ; Charles, deceased : Elmira, deceased ; Lottie, wife of E. MeClintock, of Oil City, ; Rachel, deceased ; and Laura, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Pike came to Crawford county in 1855 and he removed to Erie county after the death of his wife: for seventeen years he resided with his daughter, Mrs. Sprague. He was an industrious and useful citizen, and worked to the end of his life. He was a member of the Free Will Baptist church.
Mr. and Mrs. Sprague became parents of children as follows : Elsie Dora, wife of H. V. Ball, mentioned elsewhere in this work: George Alfred, born in 1865, carpenter at Girard, married Adelpha Ward and has one adopted child : Lewis (deceased) born in 1862, married Alice Conger and had three children. Charles Clifford, Lottie Elinor, and Lewis Walter : Joseph L., born in 1872, employed in the car repair shops at Albion : Ella May, born in 1875, married E. Smith Beckwith, and has two children, Louise May and William Henry: Minnie Belle, born in 1882. wife of Arthur Potter, a merchant of Cleveland, has four chil- dren, Lila Belle, Howard A., Erma and Eveline: Eva Pearl, born in 1881, wife of O. McMillen, has two children, Eva Elinor and Blanch Gladys. Mr. Sprague is the proud possessor of one great-grandchild, grandchild of H. V. Ball and his wife, namel Mabel.
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
EDWARD E. WHEELER, of Waterford. Erie county, who for many years has been a leading figure in the development of the oil and lumber industries of this section of the state, is especially identified with the latter as general manager of the Wheeler Lumber Company. He is a native of LeBoeuf township, this county, born on the 13th of January, 185%, and is a son of Charles M. and Sarah J. (Clark) Wheeler. The family of which he is a representative is of early New Hampshire origin, his grandfather, Stephen Wheeler (of good Scotch descent), being a man of much public influence in the Granite state; besides holding all the local offices, he was honored with such higher preferments as dele- gate to the constitutional convention and member of the legislature. He died in 1860, and his wife ( nee Hannah Syratton) passed away about ten years later. The father, Charles M., was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on the 29th of January, 1826; was educated in his native town, and continued to reside there, engaged in farming, until 1852, when he removed to LeBoeuf township, where he has ever since resided. In addition to developing large farming interests in the county, the elder Mr. Wheeler operated a sawmill and a cheese factory for a number of years; had large lumber interests in Forest county, Penn- sylvania, and valuable agricultural property in Minnesota. He has been honored with nearly all the township offices and in 1891-3 served as a member of the state legislature.
Mr. Wheeler received a thorough education both in the higher and commercial branches before he entered practical business life. The Waterford Academy, Edinboro State Normal and the Commercial Col- lege of Pittsburg, all contributed to his mental equipment, so that he was thoroughly prepared to assume business enterprises with a broad understanding of commercial principles. The natural result has been an advance both rapid and steady. Mr. Wheeler was one of the leaders in the founding and promotion of the oil business in the Bradford fields, and afterward obtained control of large lumber interests in Mckean, Warren and Forest counties, Pennsylvania. Some years ago he became general manager of the Baker-Wheeler Company, lumber manufacturers and dealers of Forest county, and has long held the general superintend- ence of the large and expanding interests of the Wheeler Lumber Com- pany. Besides himself, the members of the firm are Fred C. Wheeler. Dr. A. C. Wheeler and C. L. Baker. Mr. Wheeler's lumber interests have even expanded to West Virginia, and at the present time he is serving as president of the West Virginia Sawmill Association.
On June 29, 1882, Mr. Wheeler was married to Miss Imogene L. Davis, daughter of T. S. Davis, of Union City, Pennsylvania, and there have been four children by this union, as follows: Grace Lillian, Mable Florence, Margaretta Marie and Edward Everett. The oldest child and daughter was born October 22, 1883, and married June 30, 1906, to Fred W. Moore, of Union City. Their son, Marshall Edward Moore, was born September 19, 1908. The family resides at Gladys, West Virginia, where Mr. Moore is identified with the Wheeler Lumber Com- pany. Mable Florence, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Wheeler, was born January 27. 1886. Margaretta Marie, who was born February 22, 1888, is at present a student at the National Park Semi- nary, Forest Glen, Maryland. Edward Everett, the youngest, was born in April, 1890, and, with his elder sister, Mable, resides with his parents. Mr. Wheeler is a thirty-two degree Mason. Mr. Wheeler's county seat is called "Wheeler Place."
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CALVIN J. HINDS. It has not been the portion of the honored sub- ject of this review to endure the stifling atmosphere of mediocrity, for he has been decisively a man of action, strong in initiative power, fertile in resource, and animated by the spirit which makes for impregnable integrity of purpose. It has been to attain to distinction as one of the able and successful members of the bar of the old Keystone state, and he is now one of the oldest members of his profession in Erie county, being still engaged in active practice and maintaining his home in the beautiful little city of Girard, to whose civic and material advancement he has contributed in generous measure. His life has been one of worthy achievement and his career has had many and varied phases the while he has ever stood as one of the world's noble army of workers, appre- ciating well that only through labor, whether in the field of mental ap- plication or the domain of physical industrialism, can man make prog- ress, which is his distinctive mark alone.
Mr. Hinds has played a large part in the history of his native county and is a scion of one of its honored pioneer families, so that there is no dearth of interesting data from which to draw in offering even so neces- sarily brief a review of his career as the province of this publication ren- ders possible.
Calvin Jennison Hinds was born on the parental homestead farm in Girard township, Erie county, Pennsylvania, on the 27th day of De- cember, 1832, and is the son of Perley and Sarah (Lawrence) Hinds. His father was born in Barre, Massachusetts, on the 3d of October, 1803, and was a member of a family of stanch English lineage, that was founded in America in the early colonial epoch of our national history. He was a son of Jesse and Sarah (Stanford) Hinds, the former of whom was born in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1764, and died in 1823, and the latter of whom was born in 1173, and died in 1864. Jesse Hinds was a son of Corlis and Janet ( McMaster) Hinds. the former born in Brookfield. Massachusetts, in 1124 and died in 1821, and the latter a native of England and a member of one of the pioneer families of Chesterfield, New Hampshire.
Perley Hinds was reared and educated in Cheshire county, New Hampshire, to which his father moved when he was a small child, and his main vocation throughout his entire active career was that of farm- ing : in connection with which he so applied his energies as to gain a clue measure of success, though his enterprising spirit led him to iden- tify himself also with other lines of business. He came with his wife and two children from West Swanzey, New Hampshire to Erie county, Pennsylvania, in the year of 1831, and purchased a farm in Girard town- ship of II. J. Huidekoper which was covered with primitive forest. Here he had for neighbor Captain Rufus Thompson, whose son Denman Thompson has attained to so much of distinction on the American stage, especially in the presentation of his idyllic rural drama. "The Old Home- stead." which is held in pleasing memory by all who have witnessed its exploitation by this veteran actor and sterling gentleman. A number of years after locating in Erie county Perley Hinds, in addition to farming, engaged in transporting coal and other freight on the Erie and Pitts- burg canal, and later purchased a hotel known as the Martin House in Girard : and in connection with this he was also an interested principal in the firm of "Hinds, Battles, and Wright." engaged in the operation of a line of stages between Girard and Sharon, Pennsylvania. With this
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enterprise he was identified from 1858 to 1860; but he always resided on his farm until his death, which occurred in 1868. He was a man of strong individuality, was liberal and public spirited and he so ordered his course as to gain and retain the inviolable confidence of his fellow men.
In his early life as a young man he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Lawrence, who was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, in February, 1803, and whose death occurred in 1840. She became the mother of five children, all of whom are now deceased except Calvin J. She was a daughter of Edmund Lawrence, and her paternal grandfather was Nathaniel Lawrence, of Winchester, New Hampshire.
After the demise of his first wife Perley Hinds wedded, at Ellington, New York, Mrs. Polly ( Kent) Smith, who was born the 16th of Sep- tember, 1806, and whose death occurred in 1874. Of this union five children were born, and two are now living: Clarissa, who is the widow of William H. Palmer and maintains her home in Girard, and Helen Mar- ian, who is the wife of James A. Cooper, a representative manufacturer and influential citizen of the city of Owosso, Michigan. Perley Hinds originally gave his allegiance to the Whig party, but he became a mem- ber of the Republican party at the time of its organization and ever after- wards continued a stanch advocate of its principles and policies. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as were also both his first and second wives.
Calvin J. Hinds, of this review, gained his preliminary educational discipline in the common schools of Erie county, where during all those early years his school mate and special chum was Denman Thompson who was born and lived on the adjoining farm. As a youth our subject rendered his quota of aid in the work and management of the home farm and in transporting freight on the Erie canal.
In the autumn of 1849 he became a student in the Academy then con- ducted at Kingsville, Ohio. In the spring of 1851 he entered the em- ployment of his brother-in-law, Asa Battles, who was conducting a dry goods store in Girard borough under the name of A. Battles & Com- pany, having Henry Cadwell, of Erie, as a partner. Asa Battles was also postmaster, express agent, and telegraph agent and operator, in con- nection with the store.
Calvin J. Hinds soon became proficient in these various lines of busi- ness. In the fall of 1851, when the Girard Academy opened, he became a student there and continued for two years, at the same time continuing his employment with Asa Battles & Company, and spending his time when not in school, in their store; and in this way, and later by teaching in the public schools, mainly defrayed the expense of his higher educa- tional training. Finally he entered the well ordered Commercial Col- lege of Bryant, Lusk & Stratton, in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where he effectively supplemented his more purely academic education.
Here he still had his old school mate and chum for a companion- "Den" being then playing with a stock company at the old Atheneum theater on Superior street, and boarding at the same place. It may be said that they have been together frequently since that time, and have ever maintained their friendship inviolable, and that both have been re- ciprocally appreciative of the same.
In 1854 while attending school in Cleveland Mr. Hinds was offered a position as bookkeeper and cashier in an insurance company in Phila- delphia, which he accepted and retained for two years. Among the
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Erie county young men in Philadelphia during that time was the late justice of the Supreme Court, Samuel Gustine Thompson, who occa- sionally accompanied our subject on visits to Erie county during his residence in Philadelphia.
In the fall of 1855, while holding this office, having saved a few hundred dollars, Mr. Hinds went to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where the land office was about to open, to invest his money in government lands and purchased about 1,000 acres. This land he held for several years and in the end realized a handsome profit. On this trip to Fort Dodge Mr. Hinds drove a team with carriage from Girard, passing through Cleve- land, Detroit, Chicago, Dubuque, etc., there being no railroad at that time west of the Mississippi. Chicago then appeared to be all swamp. It had plank streets and side walks, and was just commencing to lay the first stone pavement. His frequent visits to Chicago since that time have shown him the mistake he made by not investing there, in or near the city which looked so forbidding to him then. Mr. Hinds returned to Philadelphia, and in the spring of 1856 became general superintendent of the Philipsburg Coal & Lumber Company, in Center county, Pennsyl- vania, which was largely owned by the gentlemen with whom he had been associated in Philadelphia. He continued in this position for about three years, during which time he became joint owner of a large tract of coal and timber land on the Mushannon creek near Philipsburg, and built a fine residence in that place, which after more than fifty years is still an ornament to that thriving town.
In the spring of 1859 he resigned his position, sold out his holdings, and returned to Girard to pursue the study of law in the law office of the Hon. George H. Cutler who had entered his name as a student at law prior to his going to Philadelphia ; and under whose directions he had been pursuing the study of the law during all the intervening years, the delay in completing the study being caused by the necessity of earn- ing a living and getting a start.
In May, 1860, Mr. Hinds was admitted to the bar and entered into a professional partnership with his former preceptor, Mr. Cutler, under the firm name of Cutler & Hinds, which firm continued for more than a quarter of a century. From 1860 to the present time he has been con- tinuously engaged in the general practice of the law in Erie county. He has been a close and appreciative student of the science of jurisprudence, and within this period of nearly half a century he has been identified with much of the important litigation in the courts of this section of the state. His fine private law library has been selected with marked discretion and scrupulous care, and is one of the largest and best in this section of the state.
In 1861 during the administration of President Lincoln, Mr. Hinds received appointment to the office of postmaster of Girard,, and inciden- tally assumed control of the local express and telegraph offices. He held the office of postmaster for four years, and his administration of the same gave universal satisfaction. This office he resigned at the ex- piration of his commission in favor of Calvin L. Randall who received the appointment.
In addition to his large and representative law business, Mr. Hinds has made large and judicious investments in real estate, and through his able handling of various local properties, he has done much to advance the progress and upbuilding of his home town, to which his loyalty is
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of the most insistent type. He was the prime factor in promoting and opening Rice Avenue-a beautiful street eighty feet wide-from Girard to North Girard; and in the purchase by Carl Jones of the beautiful old homestead of Dan Rice; and in the purchase by James Murphy of the elegant "Wurzbach" mansion ; two of the largest and most notable resi- dences in Girard.
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