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 70
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E. B. SMITH, M. D. One of the most successful of the practicing physicians and surgeons of Union City is Dr. E. B. Smith, who has been identified with its professional life since 1883, the year following his graduation from the Cleveland Homeopathic College. Since the year of 1896 he has practiced in partnership with Dr. H. L. Stem, a graduate of the same institution and another of the successful physicians of Union City.
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Dr. Smith was born in Spartansburg, Crawford county, Pennsylva- nia, in 1858, but he was reared and educated in Townsville of that county, and there laid the foundation for his future successful professional career. He is identified with both the State and County Homeopathic Medical associations, and is a member of the fraternal order of Knights of Pythias.
HARRY J. SEAMAN is an electrical engineer in Union City, and since 1905 has been in entire charge of the Union City Electric Light, Heat and Power plant. This plant, installed in 1890, is equipped with a two hun- dred horse-power Skinner automatic engine, a one eighty horse-power Skinner automatic engine, two sixty K. W. eleven hundred volt Warren alternators, one sixty K. WV. Westinghouse alternator, and the output of the plant is one hundred K. W. And besides his superintendency of this large plant Mr. Seaman is an electrical contractor and installs and equips electrical plants, a skilled mechanic and an experienced electri- cian and thoroughly competent for his responsible position.
Born at North East in Erie county, Pennsylvania, December 19, 1872, he is a son of Melvin J. and Hattie A. (Graham) Seaman, both of whom were also born at North East, and his grandfather on the maternal side was in his day one of the most prominent residents of that commun- ity, a very wealthy man and a large lender of money. In the family of. Melvin J. and Hattie A. Seaman were three sons, Fred M., B. F. and Harry J., all electrical engineers of prominence. Harry J. Seaman received his educational training in Buffalo, New York, where he was also reared, and by his marriage to Miss Mabel O. Ferguson he has two children, Arville V. and Melvin J. He is a member of Eureka Lodge No. 66 F. & A. M., and he is also a member of the Independent Order of Foresters.
G. W. CLAYTON. The proprietor of the Ideal Cigar Store on Main street, G. W. Clayton, is a well known business man in Union City. He has been at this location during the past four years, and in that time has built up a large patronage, while at the same time his store has increased in popularity and value and now contains a stock amounting to three thousand dollars, including six billiard tables. His stock of cigars and tobacco is of the choicest and finest brands, and the establishment is all that its name implies, an "Ideal Store."
Mr. Clayton was born in Warren, Pennsylvania. December 29, 1875. a son of Joseph R. and Ann Clayton. Joseph R. Clayton carried on his trade of shoemaking in Union City until the time of his death on the 13th of January, 1908, and of his family of nine children seven grew to years of maturity, namely : J. R., J. W., B. R., Mrs. Sarah Palmer and G. W .. all of whom reside in Union City: Mrs. Etta Davis and Mrs. Christine Riley, of Youngstown, Ohio. G. W. Clayton came with his parents to Union City in 188%, and here completed the educational training which had been begun in his native town of Warren. Going from here to Youngs- town, Ohio, he was a motorman on one of the lines running out of that city and also on a line from Niles, that state, and by close application to business and by strict economy he was soon able to return to Union City and start in business for himself. Besides his costly and well appointed store he owns a splendid home on Main street, surrounded by nine acres of land. On February, 22, 1900, Mr. Clayton was married to Miss Lillian
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Sessions, of this city, and their only child is George Myron born June ?, 1909.
FRANK W. BEEMER. One of the most valuable and attractive of the farm homesteads of Le Boeuf township in Erie county is owned and operated by Frank W. Beemer. This is a fertile and highly improved dairy farm of one hundred and seventy acres, and was formerly the pro- perty of George W. Brooks. In his pastures Mr. Beemer keeps a large herd of finely graded stock, and the milk is converted into cheese, for which he finds a ready sale at the highest market value.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 18th of April, 1879, Mr. Beemer was educated there, but his young life was spent on a farm near that city, up to the year of 1899, when he moved to Erie county, Pennsylvania, the former home of his mother. His parents were Sylvanus and Rose (Anderson) Beemer, natives respectively of the state of Michigan and of Erie county, Pennsylvania. In 1890 Frank W. Beemer was united in marriage to Ruth H., a daughter of Stephen B. and Eliza J. (Carroll) Brooks, of Le Bœuf township, and the children of this union are Lyle F. and Lula. Mrs. Beemer was born in Le Bœuf township in 1880, and on the maternal side she is descended from one of the first settlers of Union township in Erie county, and she was one of the following chil- dren : Ashley, Cassius, Charles S., Phebe A., Archibald W., Elverdo C., William W., George G. and Ruth.
Ferdinand Carroll, her maternal great-grandfather, was born in the north of Ireland in 1751. and on attaining the age of twenty-four he was united in marriage to Miss Isabella Johnston, to whom twelve children were born, but three of the number died when young. In the spring of 1801 the family bade adieu to home and native land, embarking from Dublin for New York, and at that time Samuel, the eldest of the children, was twenty-five years of age, and Isabella, the youngest, was but a babe of two years, and she died on the voyage. They were eight weeks in making their way across the ocean, and finally landing at New Castle, Delaware, instead of their intended port of New York. They soon set out for Chillicothe, Ohio, but during their westward journey they were told that that location was not healthful, and they accordingly headed for Meadville in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and thence to Union township, where Ferdinand Carroll finally purchased from Andrew Hal- sey the right of settlement and improvements on tract one hundred and fifty-nine, the consideration being thirty dollars in gold. The family with all their earthly possessions were moved from Pittsburg to their new home in Union township on horseback, and their first little cabin he built of poles and christened the home "Castle Halsey." Not long after this he procured a clear title to one hundred acres, and this he subsequently deeded to his son William, who became the grandfather of Mrs. Beemer. This purchase was made in the year of 1801, when Ferdinand was fifty years of age, and his family then consisted of nine living children : Sam- tel, George, Phoebe, Jane, Betsey, Mary, James, Thomas and William. Ferdinand, the father, died on February 1, 1831, at the good old age of eighty years, and his wife died in September of 183-, aged seventy. Samuel the first born of his children, died on the 28th of January, 1836. leaving no issue.
George Carroll, the second born, purchased a farm ten miles below Union City, and he became the father of these children: John, James, Mary, Isabella, Margaret and Hannah. John, of this family, lived near
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his father's old homestead, and had eight children, Frank, Sophia, John, Charles, Maria, Albert and Alfred, twins, and Emma.
James Carroll, the third son of Ferdinand and Isabella Carroll, located near the west line of Union township, and there he died at the age of fifty-four, the father of fifteen children.
Thomas Carroll, the fourth born son of Ferdinand, also settled near the west line of Union township, and he became the father of nine chil- dren and died at the age of sixty-four years. Wesley, his eldest son, located on a farm which his father had given him, and in his family were seven children. He died at the age of sixty-four years in 1819. Jonathan MI. Carroll, the fourth born of the seven children of Wesley and Phoebe (Organ) Carroll, was born at the old homestead October 2, 1855, and he married Olive, a daughter of Levi and Mary ( Shelmandine) Barns, who bore him two children, Clarence E. and Winnifred. Fletcher S. Carroll, the next born of the children of Wesley and Phoebe Carroll, was born November 27, 1858, and married Alice, a daughter of Levi C. and Mary (Shelmandine) Barns, and they had three children, Wayne, Alta M. and Mabel. O. W. Carroll, the next son of Wesley, was born July 6, 1860, and he married Jennie, a daughter of David Carroll, of Cleveland, Ohio, on September 15, 1886. The children of this union are Elsie, Rees and Clifford and Clifton, twins. Jonathan G. Carroll, another of the nine children of Thomas, lives on a part of the old Carroll homestead, and is the father of two sons, Solomon and Rees. and three daughters, Jane, Isa- bella and Margaret.
William Carroll, the youngest son of Ferdinand and Isabella Carroll, married Hannah Slauson in 1820, and their ten children were: James, Lucy, Mary A., Lucille, Esther, Charles S., David, George W., Esther and Eliza Jane. Esther married G. W. Brooks, and had two sons, Glennie and George C., deceased. Eliza Jane married S. B. Brooks, and the names of their seven children are given above with the brothers and sis- ters of Mrs. Beemer.
Of the daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella Carroll : Phebe married Daniel Middleton, of Waterford township, Erie county ; Jane married Jonathan Carroll, of Mercer county, Pennsylvania ; Betsey married John Richards, of Brady's Bend, this state; and Mary never married. Mr. Becmer is a Republican and he and wife are members of Union City Grange No. 89.
THIE COLEMAN HOSE COMPANY, of Union City, organized for the saving and protection of life and property, is an organization of which that city may well be proud. This company was organized in 1883, with charter members as follows: F. A. Deming, F. E. McLean, E. B. Lands- rath, J. Macock, G. W. Brakeman, Joseph Kaufman, W. Mandonsa. George Eason, G. D. Alden, Harry Laive. Harry Cheney. Edward Waters, Samuel Gordon, George Smith, Lewis Clark, A. E. Mallory, E. Ford, Ed Kaufman. George Palmer, Glen Pratt, Omer Alden, M. E. Bean. Dick Woods. Ernest Caffish, C. M. Johnson, E. B. Mackay, F. Woodcock, Mott Allen, Lewis Palmer, and John France ; of this number. F. E. McLean, George Palmer, and Mott Allen are still (1909) members. In 1908 the company was incorporated, with officers as follows: Presi- dent. F. M. Carle : vice president. D. A. Post ; recording secretary, K. N. Pier ; financial secretary, C. Z. Smiley ; treasurer, George LeFever ; and foreman, C. 7. Smiley. Their board of directors comprised the follow- ing : George H. Palmer, C. Z. Smiley, C. R. McLean, F. E. Waters, M. C. Brown, and George LeFever. The company now consists of one hundred
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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and nine active members, and holds the world's record in two hundred fifty yard hose race, having in 1904, at the Fireman's Tournament held at Erie, made the run, unlimbered their hose and attached same to the hydrant ready for the play of water, in thirty-two seconds. Their run- ning team of fifteen members keeps in excellent condition and training. At the tournament above mentioned, which was attended from all parts of Pennsylvania, this company took prizes amounting to more than $700.
The Coleman Hose Company not only furnish training for their members, but have commodious quarters on Main street, where their rooms are furnished with unusual elegance and taste for an organization of the kind. Their parlor is a very large and comfortable room, elegantly furnished, their office and meeting rooms clean and neat, and furnished with cabinets in which are displayed relics, trophies and curios from dif- ferent parts of the world; the kitchen and dining room are furnished with the most modern and sanitary appliances and furnishings, and fur- nish the members of the society a place of refreshment which is greatly appreciated after a fight with fire, especially when the weather is cold and inclement.
The society has a code of laws for its government, which is strictly adhered to by all the members, making an organization which is formed on sure foundations, and giving an example of harmony and unity of which the members may well feel proud. The property owned by the company amounts to some twenty-five hundred dollars, and their uniform is pale blue with white trimmings. During the year 1906 their headquar- ters were visited by 662 persons.
HARRISON F. WATSON. A publication of this nature exercises its most important function when it gives recognition, through proper mem- orial tribute, to the life and labors of such honored and useful citizens as was the late Harrison F. Watson. An enormous amount of vital strength has been used in building up the city of Erie, and this dynamic or en- ergizing force has been applied by men of energy, acumen and progres- sive ideas, with the result that the industrial prestige of the city has reached splendid proportions. Among the citizens of this character Mr. Watson occupied a conspicuous position, and upon the civic and commer- cial life of this section of the state he left a beneficent and lasting im- press.
Mr. Watson was a representative of one of the old and sterling fami- lies of the Keystone state and was born on a farm near the city of Mercer, Mercer county, this state. December 5, 1853. He was a son of Robert W. and Amanda (Painter) Watson, both of whom were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, where the respective families were founded in an early period. Mr. Watson was afforded excellent educational advantages in his youth, as, after completing the curriculum of the public schools, he continued his studies under the direction of able private instructors, in the city of Pittsburg. In 1874. soon after attaining to his legal majority. Mr. Watson took up his residence in the city of Erie, where he engaged in the manufacture of coal-tar products. Three years later, while still continuing in the line of enterprise noted, he also turned his attention to the manufacture of paper, in which connection his first mill was located in Fairview township, not far distant from the city of Erie. This mill was destroyed by fire in 1883 and was not rebuilt. In the meanwhile, however, in 1881, he had erected a paper mill in Erie, and this he operated in con- nection with his distillery and chemical works, devoted to the manufacture Vol. II-32
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of coal-tar products. Under his effective direction the dual enterprise was developed into one of the most extensive industries in this section of the state, and at the time of his death the plant of the concern was one of the largest and best equipped in the county, where it occupied the entire block on Sixteenth street between French and Holland streets, with a depth of two hundred and thirty feet. About 1903 the chemical depart- ment was removed to a new plant at the foot of Sassafras street, on the Lake front, and is now one of the largest in the county. In 1894 Mr. Watson effected the organization of the Erie Dock & Transportation Company, of which he was thereafter president until his death, which occurred on the 10th of November, 1904.
In all that makes for worthy citizenship and for productive usefulness in connection with the practical activities of life, Mr. Watson stood as a high type, and to him should ever be given a tribute of honor for what he accomplished. Measured by its beneficence, its rectitude, its pro- ductiveness, its unconscious altruism and its material success, his life counted for good in all its relations, and it is but due that this brief memoir be entered in a work that has to do with the city and county to whose civic and industrial advancement he so liberally contributed. He never sought the great white light of publicity, but was ready to encourage and aid all worthy movements and enterprises. He gave his political allegiance to the Republican party, and was identified with various social and fraternal organizations.
On the 25th of October, 1812, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Watson to Miss Carrie T. Tracy, daughter of the late J. Avery Tracy, one of Erie's most honored and influential citizens. Mr. Watson is sur- vived by one daughter Winefred T. and his widow who still maintains her home in the beautiful residence in Erie, where practically her entire life has been passed and where she has been prominent in the best social life of the community. One daughter Gertrude L. died aged eight years and nine months.
Mr. Watson was a man who read much, was unusually well informed, a devoted lover of literature, music and the arts in general, and was a capable judge of the same.
DR. CHARLES L. MEAD has the distinction of being one of the oldest dental practitioners in Union City and the acknowledged leader in the ranks of the fraternity here. The doctor was born in Crawford county. Pennsylvania, in 1873, a son of L. C. and Elizabeth Mead. The father, a man highly esteemed by his fellow citizens, was a manufacturer of cheese and followed other lines of dairying. The son was reared and received his elementary education in the county of his birth, and later entering the Cambridge Springs School he was graduated from that insti- tution in 1892. Next he matriculated in the State University of Iowa. and graduating from its dental department with the degree of D. D. S. in 1896 he at once came to Union City and prominently identified himself with its professional life. He is a member of the Lake Erie, the Erie and the Pennsylvania State Dental societies, and he also has fraternal rela- tions with the Knights of Pythias. On the ?7th of October, 1898. Dr. Mead was happily married to Miss Wilma W., a daughter of Solomon and Margaret Coup.
MCLEAN BROTHERS, owners, proprietors and publishers of the Union City Times, have a paper which has gained wide circulation. The mem-
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bers of this firm, F. E. and J. C. McLean, are sons of Lewis H. and Mary E. (Lamphier ) McLean ; Mary Lamphier was born in Steuben county, New York. F. E. McLean was born in Le Bœuf township. Erie county. Pennsylvania, June 4, 1850, and J. C. McLean was born in Union township, Erie county, January 6, 1861. They were of Scotch-Irish extraction ; their grandfather, George McLean. married Elizabeth Sebring, of Dutch descent, in 1847, and the following year they removed to Le Boeuf township from Steuben county, New York. George and Elizabeth McLean had eleven children, namely: Daniel, Edwin, Lewis, Chandler, John, Ansel, Joan, Deborah, Darzilla and Jane. The father was a well-to-do and industrious farmer, and owned a farm of three hun- dred acres. All the children lived to become parents themselves. John was a soldier in the Civil war. Lewis McLean was born in 1848, and learned the trade of blacksmith, at which he worked for many years. In 1870, he removed to Union City, where he held several offices, among them, assessor. street commissioner. and constable. His children were: Charles A., George H., deceased, the two brothers previously mentioned, and others who died young.
In 1841 F. E. McLean was nominee of the Democratic party in Erie county for assembly, being defeated by a small majority, although run- ning ahead of the ticket. He served five times as chairman of the Erie County Democratic committee, and was also member of the State Execu- tive committee. In July, 1887. he was delegate to the Democratic conven- tion, in Chicago. He also served as mercantile appraiser for the county. In August, 1887, he was one of the delegates from Pennsylvania to the National Editorial Association, which met at Detroit, Michigan. He has also served as chief burgess, and as councilman. He was private secre- tary to the member of congress from this, the twenty-sixth district. during the years 1900 and 1901. He was also delegate again in 1909 and this convention was held at Seattle. Washington. He is a member of the fol- lowing organizations: Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Protected Home Circle, Knights of Pythias, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Royal Arcanum and Patrons of Husbandry. F. E. McLean mar- ried, in 1870. Lucinda, daughter of John and Mary Cottrell, and to them have been born three children, only one of whom is living, Bessie W.
J. C. McLean served as postmaster under Cleveland's Administra- tion, and is now serving his second term as justice of the peace. He served his borough several years as secretary. He has also served as mer- cantile appraiser of the county. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Independent Order of Red Men, Knights of Pyth- ias and Royal Arcanum. He married Flora O., daughter of Calvin and Orphia Starrett, and they had four children, of whom two are living. Cal- vin R. and Mabel G.
The Union City Times is the outgrowth of the Union Mills Bulletin, started in 1865, by William C. Jackson. The following year the paper was purchased by Pratt & Burrington, who changed the name to the Star, and published same for two years, after which they moved to Corry, and the Star was merged with the Republican. In 1870, the Times appeared, printed for about two years in the Despatch office, at Erie, by Robert Troup, who then took into partnership J. E. Locke, and in 1872 the paper began to be issued at Union City. H. D. Pearsons and L. B. Thompson purchased the office in 1843. Six months later Mr. Thompson retired from the firm and in 1874 Mr. Pearsons and W. F. Richards formed a partnership, though they soon dissolved this partnership, and
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Mr. Pearsons continued editing the paper until the spring of 1875. In 1875 the Times, of Union City, was removed to Erie, and merged into the Argus, which, however, soon failed, and August 12, 1875, the Times was again established in Union City. In 1867 the enterprise was pur- chased by Dr. D. P. Robbins, who the next year sold it to F. E. McLean. In 1879 Mr. McLean took into partnership W. A. Moore, who sold his interest the following year to A. F. Moses, who in turn sold it a year later, to J. C. McLean and W. G. LeFevre. The firm was then known as the Times Publishing Company. In May, 1882, F. E. and J. C. McLean became sole proprietors, and now have a semi-weekly circulation of sev- enteen hundred copies, and by their industry and untiring energy have improved their methods and plant to a great extent, and now put into circulation a paper that is a credit to themselves and to the city. The pro- prietors are both men of good education and business acumen, and are enterprising and progressive, striving to give the people of Union City a paper that is first-class in all respects.
THE J. F. KAMERER COMPANY. One of the most important of the industrial interests of Union City as well as of Erie county is the J. F. Kamerer Company, which has gained a wide reputation as lumber manu- facturers and owners of a large saw mill and turning mill in Union City. The plant was established by J. F. Kamerer in 1890, and just recently, in 1908, the mill was remodeled by the present owners, M. H., Fred J. and S. E. Kamerer, wife and sons of the founder. It is now one of the finest shops of its size in Union City, and covering three-fourths of an acre of ground it is operated by two sixty-five horse-power engines and furnishes employment to fifteen operatives.
The founder of the company, J. F. Kamerer, was a native son of Wurtemberg, Germany, where he was born on the 4th of April, 1839, to John and Dorothy ( Breakley) Kamerer. In 1847 the family came from their native Fatherland to the United States, and choosing Mckean county, Pennsylvania, as their place of settlement, they became useful and well known residents there, and there also Jacob F. received the edu- cational training which fitted him for his future life of usefulness. He followed agricultural pursuits until 1861, when the oil excitement in Can- anda caused him to migrate in that direction and for two years he was an oil operator there. Returning to the States in 1861, when the clash of arms was being distinctly heard from north to south, he cheerfully responded to the call of the federal government and enlisted as a mem- ber of Company F. One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry, and served in his command well and faithfully until the expiration of his term of service. Then again taking up the peaceful walks of life, he in 1864 resumed his speculation in oil, this time at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, and in 1865 he went to Fayette county, this state, and engaged in drilling oil wells. But this proving an unsatisfactory venture he returned north and locating in Union City became identified with the contracting and building business, while in 1872 he began the manufacture of lumber, shingles and broom handles, and soon turned his attention exclusively to the latter industry.
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