A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 64

Author: Miller, John, 1849-
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 910

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 64

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salaries of from one hundred to one hundred and forty-five dollars per week. Not only does the company turn out the finest designs in bonds, checks, tablets and stationery heads, but artistic posters of every de- scription ; so that not only skilled engravers and workmen are required, but real artists. In 1905 the Walker Lithographing and Printing Com- pany was absorbed by the lithograph syndicate, in which Mr. Walker is the managing director of the Erie establishment. In February, 1908, the Courier lithographing plant of Buffalo, New York, was absorbed by the Erie company, new buildings being erected by the latter to accom- modate the additional machinery thus acquired. Mr. Walker is also secretary and treasurer of the Walker Grape Products Company, a sketch of which enterprise is elsewhere given in this biography.

Mr. Walker married Miss May L. Walker, daughter of C. C. and Elizabeth ( Cummings) Walker, and, although the family name is the same, no direct genealogical connection has been traced. Her father was born at Harbor Creek, Erie county, in 1822, and was a son of Samuel and Sarah (Case) Walker, natives of New York who located in Harbor Creek township two years before the birth of C. C. Walker. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Francis J. Walker were as follows : William H., now president of the Grape Products Company ; Francis J., Jr., vice president of that corporation ; and Florence Pauline, born in Erie, December 26, 1890, and a graduate of the city high school who is now attending a young ladies' school ( Miss Mason's "Castle") at Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson, New York. It should be added that the elder Mr. Walker is an active member of the Erie Chamber of Com- merce and a Mason of the thirty-second degree.

William H. Walker is a native of Erie, born on the 14th of Sep- tember, 1882; graduated from the city high school in 1902, after being president of his class for four years, and completed his collegiate course at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1904. While a University student he made a particularly brilliant record as a debater, winning the Frazier prize from one hundred contestants and being an active member of the university debating committee and of the team which met the select orators of Columbia University in the intercollegiate contest. He served as the president of the Wharton School Association and in the freshman year of his course won the highest prize for class standing. From 1906 to 1909 Mr. Walker was secretary and treasurer of the Walker Lithographing and Printing Company, resigning to become president of the Grape Products Company.

This enterprise, which is developing into one of the most important in this part of the state, had for its inception the purchase of the Mc- Carter farm by F. J. Walker, Sr., in 1905. On this fine piece of prop- erty, located seven miles east of the city, were sixty acres of grapes, which suggested to Mr. Walker their utilization in the form of pure manufactured products and placing on the market a soft, healthful tem- perance drink, to meet the sentiment and demand of a growing element. He therefore organized the Walker Grape Products Company, with an authorized capital of five hundred thousand dollars, and his sons and himself in the offices already given. The plant is located on a ten-acre site opposite the depot of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- road, just south of the Nickel Plate. The grounds front twelve hundred feet on the tracks of the roads mentioned, and the main building of re- inforced concrete is 500 feet by 106 feet. In the basement and sub-

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cellars are the storage vaults, the structure above is three stories in height and an ornamental stack one hundred feet high rises above the power house. When under full headway the company not only manu- facture grape juices, syrups and jellies but like products from berries, apples and other tree fruits ; and several carbonated beverages will be turned out as special summer drinks-all under the Pure Foods and Drugs act and according to the most modern antiseptic methods. The entire cost of the plant is estimated at some $300,000, exclusive of the site, and the company has already expended a large part of an additional $50,000 for sanitary appliances. The storage vaults have a capacity of two million gallons, and the statistician of the company figures that when the plant is in complete operation it will receive one ton of grapes every ninety seconds during the five or six weeks of the grape harvest.

Francis J. Walker, Jr., vice president of this enterprise which means so much to the standing of Erie along the line of special in- dustries, is a native of the city, born February 13, 1887, and is a gradi- ate of the Erie high school (class of '06) and the University of Penn- sylvania.

ARTHUR W. ARMES, of Albion, proprietor of the only complete liver- ies in Albion, Pennsylvania, was born in Elk Creek township on the old family homestead founded by his grandfather in 1858. He engaged in farming until 1901, when he engaged in his present line of business. Mr. Armes is one of the most progressive and enterprising citizens of Albion, and is a credit to the old and honored pioneer family whose record appears in connection with the sketch of Archie A., a brother.

CHARLES C. BENDER has been a resident of Erie county from the time of his nativity and is a member of one of its sterling families and is a popular young business man of the city of Girard. Mr. Bender was born on the homestead farm of his father, in Girard township, Erie county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February, 1885, and is a son of Daniel and Catherine ( Know) Bender, who still reside in that township, where the father is a successful agriculturist and stock-grower and a citizen of prominence and influence in his community. He is a Republican in politics and has held various local offices of trust. Con- cerning their children the following brief record is entered: Louise is the wife of Edward Biegert, a successful farmer of West Springfield township: Lena is the wife of Fred Cowley, and they reside in the city of Erie, this county; Charles C. was the next in order of birth ; Walter remains at the parental home: Frank is a carpenter by trade and resides in Girard : and Adolph, Clara and Nellie remain with their parents at the pleasant farm home.

Charles C. Bender is indebted to the public schools of his native township for his early educational training, and after leaving school he continued to be associated in the work and management of the home farm for two years. During the ensuing two years he was employed in the service of the Nickel Plate Railroad, after which he held for some time the position of engineer in a factory in Girard. In 1907 he was engaged by Mrs. E. Lommer as manager of the large and finely equipped pool and billiard rooms and bowling alley of which he now has charge, and under his regime the place has attained marked popularity and suc- cess, as every attention is given to the demands of patrons and to offering the best of service, with the constant maintenance of good order. Mr.

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Bender has a wide acquaintanceship in his native county and is well entitled to the esteem in which he is held as one of the enterprising young business men of the city of Girard.

WILLIAM L. SCOTT. There are some characters in the world whose very atmosphere stamps them as destined to perform great deeds, whether of material achievement or of sturdy virtue. No one who has ever had the felicity to come in association with the last William L. Scott, of Erie, could fail to see plainly stamped upon his intense per- sonality the highest traits of ability and nobility. The firm chin, the splendid contour of his forehead, the determined furrows between the eyes, and, above all, the eyes themselves, with their serious penetrat- ing and yet reassuring expression, were all marked indexes of a man who seemed pushed along by almost preternatural forces to vast perform- ances. Mr. Scott has been conceded to be, on the whole, the most dis- tinguished citizen whose fame was achieved in Erie, and in the minds and hearts of the mass of its people the title "honorable" would have been enthusiastically attached to his name had he never seen Washington or the halls of Congress. At the height of his railroad career, not long before his death, he controlled more miles of railway than any other man in the field ; he enjoyed the distinction of being one of the pioneers of rapid transit in New York City ; was at the head of the largest coal com- pany in the world ; yet was an unwilling leader of the Democracy, the oldest popular party in the country's history, and was idolized by thou- sands of people who owed to his unostentatious assistance their relief from trouble, their advancement and their happiness. In these almost silent manifestations of his kindly and helpful spirit, William L. Scott was far greater than the works which have given him worldly fame ; and, in reviewing his bewildering activities, when it is remembered that he was a man of almost delicate physique, the wonder over his achieve- ments increases to a degree which borders on awe.

Mr. Scott was a southerner, his brithplace being Washington and the day, July 2, 1828. He is of ancient Scotch-Welsh lineage and, as blood undoubtedly tells, it is not difficult to account for the patience and pertinacity which he displayed in the midst of the most brilliant of his campaigns. Rev. James Scott, his great-grandfather, graduated from Aberdeen University, of Scotland, was ordained in the Church of Eng- land and licensed to preach in Virginia by the bishop of London in 1735. The grandfather, Gustavus Scott, was also educated at Aberdeen : com- pleted his law studies in London in 1771, and upon his return to the colonies resided and practiced either in Annapolis or Baltimore. He was also a member of the Continental Congress, held many other offices of distinction in Maryland, and in 1794 was appointed by President Washington a member of the board of commissioners who laid out the city of Washington. After performing his share of the assigned duties, Mr. Scott built the noted Kalorama residence on the site of the future national capital and occupied it until his death. Major Robert L. Scott. his son, became the father of William L. The former, who was a graduate of West Point, served with distinction in the War of 1812, and died when the latter was quite young, leaving six children. Of these Robert Wainright Scott entered the United States navy, served through the Civil war, was promoted to be a commander and is deceased. Miss Ann Eliza Scott, long a resident of Erie, is also deceased.

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After receiving a common school education in Washington, Wil- liam L. Scott was appointed a page in Congress when he was about thir- teen years of age. In that capacity he attracted the attention of Gen- eral Reed, representative from the Erie district, who, in 1844, induced the youth to locate in his home city. The boy was then in his seven- teenth year and his mature friend was at the height of his commercial career, having at his command a fleet of lake craft and an army of clerks and agents. It was in one of General Reed's numerous warehouses that young Scott found employment, thus obtaining his first lessons from the man who was then one of the masters of the lake commerce. Such an example was contagious in the propagation of independence and am- bition, and in 1850 Mr. Scott showed that he had become a victim by associating himself with Hon. Morrow B. Lowry and making his first venture in the coal and shipping business. A year afterward he formed a partnership with John Hearn, and upon the death of the latter the business was resumed under the style of W. L. Scott and Company. This was the commencement of Mr. Scott's kingship in the great coal fields of the country. His company eventually controlled mines of vast production in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri; its operations covered upward of seventy thousand acres of coal lands and employed more than twelve thousand people, altogether representing the largest business of the kind in the world. With John F. Tracy, his brother-in-law, he became identified with the building of the first elevated railroad in New York City, and in 1884 he was also one of the constructors of the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad, which was the pioneer line to enter the peninsula of Virginia. He was one of the early direc- tors of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and in 1861-4 built that portion of the Erie & Pittsburg line which extends from Girard to New Castle and thence to its connection with the Fort Wayne Rail- road. He was president of the former system until his death and dur- ing the Civil war located and constructed the Pittsburg docks in Erie. In 1862, with John F. Tracy as his associate, he built the first railroad to the Missouri river by extending the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific from Grinnell, Iowa; aided in developing the Canadian Southern and Canadian Pacific railroads. and was a director in the Chicago & North- western Railroad Company, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis and Michigan Central railroads. At his death Mr. Scott has become president and director of twenty-two thousand miles of railroad and was the Railroad King, as well as the Coal King of the United States. As to the details of his interests in the coal business, they are so numerous and involved as to be both ponderous and unenlightening. The local evidences of his ceaseless activities and his abiding love for Erie as his home city are many, imposing and beautiful. In 1872 he erected the Scott block, on the northwest corner of State and Tenth streets ; his own home was elegant and commodious, and the residence which he designed and built for his daughter, Mrs. C. H. Strong, was one of the most graceful and magnificent in that section of the country. But the most striking evidence of his taste and of his affection for Erie is found in his artistic development of his estate of two thousand acres, the nucleus of whose beauties is Massassauga Point. The result of this munificent improvement of his private property has been permanently beneficial to the city and those who seek rest and recreation on and

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around the beautiful bay which is now so richly adorned by Massassauga Point.

AAside from the mayoralty of Erie, Mr. Scott held no political office until his election to Congress in 1884. He had served as mayor in 1866 and 1811; was a delegate to the Democratic conventions of 1868, 1876, 1880 and 1888; was a state representative on the national committee from 1846 to 1884, and had been nominated for Congress in 1866 and 1846, but took no part in the campaigns and was not elected. In 1884, however, in the face of his inactivity his friends so rallied to his support as to send him to Washington and to keep him there for four years. Once in Congress, his strong influence was so manifest both with the president and the speaker of the house that it is doubtful if any member of the cabinet stood higher in the public eye. The Chinese exclusion and the oleomargarine bills, which became laws, were fathered by him; he took a leading part in the preparation and defense of the Mills revenue bill ; his speech upon the silver question is still pointed to as a remarkable prophetic utterance borne out by events which have since transpired ; and the official appointments made upon his recommenda- tion were high testimonials to his good judgment, as well as to the loyalty of his friendships.

Mr. Scott's domestic relations were harmonious and affectionate. Soon after his arrival in Erie, as a youth, he met Miss Mary M. Tracy, daughter of John A. Tracy and granddaughter of Daniel Dobbins, the latter an early lake navigator and one of the commanders of Perry's fleet, and the former one of Erie's leading citizens. The result of this friendship and final love was the marriage of September 19, 1853. The children of this happy union were Mary Tracy, now the wife of Richard H. Townsend, Jr., of Philadelphia, and two children have been born of this union, Matilda Scott Townsend and Annie Scott Townsend, de- ceased : Annie Wainwright, married C. H. Strong, of Erie, and became the mother of Matilda Thora Wainwright Strong who is the wife of Regin- ald Ronalds, of New York, and they have one daughter, Thora Scott Ronalds. William L. Scott, the tender father and the great man of affairs passed away September 19, 1891, at Newport, Rhode Island, whither he had gone to recuperate those energies which had been too severely taxed by the many and great burdens of his life. His remains were brought to his "dear Erie," as he fondly called it and not only did thousands of its citizens, both distinguished and humble, pay the honor of their deep respect and tears, but the president of the United States. Grover Cleveland, who was a personal friend of the deceased, the gov- ernor of Pennsylvania and leaders in commercial and state affairs through- out the country, bowed their heads in acknowledgment of the departure into the future of a man who had made a noble use of the talents en- trusted to him.

JOSEPH H. WILLIAMS, a well known contractor in Erie, was born in Burlington, New Jersey, October 29, 1839, a son of Samuel S. and Sarah (Hutchinson) Williams, the father a native of Burlington New Jersey, and the mother of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The Williams family is an old and highly established one in New Jersey, and John N. Williams, the paternal great-grandfather of the Erie contractor, served in the Revolutionary war in a New Jersey regiment. He met his death at the battle of Monmouth, and his son Daniel, the grandfather of

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Joseph H., was born near that battle ground in Monmouth county, and died in Burlington, New Jersey, and the maternal grandfather of Mr. Williams died in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The latter was an Eng- lishman by birth.

Joseph H. Williams spent the carly years of his life in his native city of Burlington, and in 1861, from Burlington, he volunteered in three months' service in the Civil war, but being refused on account of the company being full, he again volunteered in February, 1864, in Company F., One Hundred and Eighty-sixth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry and served until the close of the struggle. Four of his brothers were also in the war, two serving in the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, one in the Third New Jersey Regiment and one was in the Construction Corps. Previ- ous to joining the army Joseph H. Williams had learned the brick layer's trade, and coming to the city of Erie in 1872 he began contract- ing and building and has since continued along that line of work. Dur- ing the past years in company with Robert T. Shank, they have been one of the largest contracting firms in their line in Erie county, and among some of the buildings for which he has given the brick may be mentioned the public library, the central school, also school buildings, Nos. 4, 5, 9, 12 and 14, many business houses and some of the finest residences in the city, including those of Dr. Brandis on East Eighth street, now the Zem Zem Club, and Mrs. C. W. Strong on West Sixth street and Central Park. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and the Masonic fraternity, and from 1891 to 1902 he served as a member of the school board.

Mr. Williams married in Erie, Nancy B., a daughter of James Crane and granddaughter of Abiatha Crane, one of the pioneers of Erie and a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have six children : Charles H., Joseph C., Max C., Robert K., Sarah and Laura.

CAPT. JOHN MARSHALL BOWYER was born in Indiana. Being ap- pointed from Iowa, he entered the Naval Academy, September 28. 1870. and graduated in 1874; he was promoted as follows : ensign, July 17, 1875 ; master, May 28, 1881 ; lieutenant (Junior grade) March 3. 1883; and lieutenant, May 26, 1887. He was on the "Powhatan," in 1874 ; the "Franklin," "Juniata" and "Alaska." European Station, 1825-6 : training ship "Monongahela." 1877; "Michigan," of the Northwestern Lakes, 1827-80; receiving ship "Independence," 1880-81; "Wachuset." Pacific Station, 1881-4: "Michigan" Northwestern Lakes, 1884-87. Capt. Bowyer gave instruction in torpedo service, during 1887-88: was then assigned to the "Omaha," Asiatic Station, and was with this ship from 1888 to June, 1891 ; he was in the naval academy from September, 1891 to 1894 ; on the practice ship "Constellation" during the summer cruise of 1893: "Detroit" and "Raleigh" and the ill-fated "Maine," North Atlantic Station, from July, 1894 to July, 1897. The captain was with . the bureau of ordnance and did ordnance duty at Washington Navy yard from July, 189%, until the beginning of the war with Spain, April, 1898, and then went to the "Princeton" as executive officer. May 2. 1898. He was given patrol duty about the west end of Cuba during the latter part of Spanish-American war, from there he was sent to the Philippines via Suez Canal, sailing from New York, January 11, 1899;

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he was promoted to lieutenant commander, March 3, 1899, detached from "Princeton" to "Yorktown," January 1, 1900; participated in the suppression of the Philippine insurrection and the boxer troubles in North China ; was detached from "Yorktown" to flagship "Brooklyn," as executive, September 3, 1900, and detached from the "Brooklyn" to home, April 4, 1901. Captain Bowyer did duty at Naval Gun Factory. Navy Yards, Washington, D. C., as assistant superintendent of the Gun Factory and head of the department yards and docks, from July 16, 1901 to July 8. 1905. He was promoted to commander on March 21. 1903, and sent to command the U. S. S. "Columbia" on special duty, July 10, 1905 ; he was senior officer present in command of "Colum- bia" at Colon, and the "Marblehead" at Panama when six hundred marines went ashore on the Isthmus of Panama, during elections in June, 1906 ; he was senior officer present, Havana, commanding United States naval force assigned to special duty in Cuban waters from No- vember ?, 1906, to March 26, 1907, then detached to duty as aid to the assistant secretary of the navy; promoted captain, November 8. 1907; assumed command of the battleship "Illinois," United States Atlantic Fleet, November 25, 1906, and made cruise with that fleet to the Pacific, Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, U. S. N., being Commander-in-Chief, and thence around the world to the westward, Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry, U. S. N .. being Commander-in-Chief, arriving at Hampton Roads, February 22, 1909. Detached from "Illinois" to command "Con- necticut" flagship of the fleet, April 20, 1909 ; and detached from "Con- necticut to U. S. Naval Academy as superintendent, June 10, 1909.

VIRGIL G. CURTIS. A man of broad culture, talented, energetic and progressive, Virgil G. Curtis, superintendent of the city schools of Corry, is widely and favorably known in educational circles, both in the East and the Middle West, where he has served in the same capacity with equal zeal, intelligence and efficiency. A son of Seymour Curtis, he was born March 31, 1842, in Columbus, Warren county. He comes of good old New England stock, his grandfather, Captian David Curtis, and his great-grandfather, James Curtis, having both been natives of Woodbury, Litchfield county, Connecticut.

Born in October, 1762, James Curtis was not yet seventeen years old, when, in July, 1779, he eagerly responded to the alarm call, and went to the defense of New Haven when that city was burned, being afterwards present at the burning of the cities of Fairfield and Norwich. He subsequently enlisted five times for service in the Revolutionary war, enlisting first in the fall of 1779, as a private, under Captain Griswold. and serving two months; second, in February, 1780, when he served under Colonel Mead for five weeks as a private ; third, in August, 1780, when he served for a month as guard at Stamford ; enlisting fourth, in July, 1781, as a private, and serving one year and three months under Captain Turner and Colonel Harvey Jackson : and fifth in October. 1782. when he enlisted as a private under Colonel Brooks, with whom he served fourteen months. In September, 1832, he applied for a pension, which was granted him without demur. Removing. about 1796, from Connecticut to Chenango county, New York, he settled as a pioneer on land that he purchased, lying four miles east of the village of Sherburne, and was there employed in tilling the soil until his death, in 1835. He married Amy Seymour, who was born Tune 9. 1761, and died November 8, 1826. She reared two children. David and Sibyl.

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A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 64

Author: Miller, John, 1849- Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 910

Author: Miller, John, 1849-
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 910