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 71
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Jacob F. Kamerer was twice married, first to Miss Eliza M. John- son on August 4, 1864, but she died in 1874, leaving two children, Fred J. and Addie. For his second wife he married Miss Margaret H. Mc- Intire, to whom one son, S. E., was born. These two sons and their mother took up the father's mantle where he laid it down on the Sth of
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January, 1901. He was a good man and worthy citizen, and was an honorable member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and its encamp- ment, and at one time served his order as a noble grand, and also as D. D. G. M. Officially he was chief burgess of his borough two terms, and also a member of the school board.
Fred J. Kamerer married Miss Addie Hodges on October 26, 1887. and their two children are Donald and Herold. S. E. Kamerer married on the 25th of January, 1898, Etta, a daughter of H. M. McLallen. Both brothers are members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Fred J. Kamerer has served his city as a councilman and in other offices. The families are members respectively of the Baptist and Pres- byterian churches.
G. L. SUNDERLIN is numbered among the rising young business men of Union City, and is the efficient manager of the large dry goods store of Oliver and Milne, being in full control of their entire establishment and looking after both the buying and selling. The firm consists of A. Oliver, the president, J. S. Milne, the vice president, and C. L. Carr, the secretary and treasurer. The business was established on the 4th of April, 1908, and in addition to their Union City store they have another establishment in Batavia, New York, and Mr. Oliver also has a store under his own personal supervision in Buffalo, that state.
Mr. Sunderlin was born in Wayne, Steuben county, New York, in 1876, a son of D. J. and Emma L. Sunderlin, also from Steuben county. After receiving his education in the schools of Keuka and in the Dundee high school, New York, he entered upon his business career as a clerk in a country grocery store at Keuka, receiving two dollars and a half a week, and from there he went to West Tyrone, New York, and received employment at twelve dollars a month. Returning in the following summer to Dundee, New York, he entered upon a more responsible position at a larger salary, but still ambitious he became an employe of C. P. McLean with nearly a double increase in wages, and during his three years connection with Mr. McLean his salary was raised from $26 to $32.50 a month. Moving from there to Watkins, New York, he entered upon his connection with the dry goods merchant, J. B. Morris, but he had been with that gentleman but a short time when one of his competitors, recognizing in Mr. Sunderlin a good and reliable salesman, offered him a position with an increase in salary. But before accepting Mr. Sunderlin in a straightforward manner related to his employer the entire transaction with the result that Mr. Morris retained his services at an increase of salary, offering him $600 a year. Mr. Sunderlin continued in that position for three years, and then going to Elmira, New York, he entered the store of Danks and Eastgate at a salary of $13 a week, and during his connection with that establishment had charge of its linen department. His next location was at Penn Yan, New York, where he was employed by T. O. Hamlin and Company, dealers in dry goods, crockery and wall paper, at his former salary, he having made that move to be near his wife's home, and he remained in that establishment for five years in charge of their linen, knit goods and waists. Coming at the close of that period to Union City he has since been the efficient manager of Oliver and Milne's large dry goods store.
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On the 8th of May, 1902, Mr. Sunderlin was united in marriage to Miss Edith Mae, a daughter of Edmond Crosby, of Crosby, New York, and their two children are Dorothea C. and Ruth L. Mr. and Mrs. Sunderlin are members of the Baptist church.
CHARLES W. HAYES, an enterprising and progressive business man of Union City, is senior partner of the Hayes Carriage and Hardware Company, Limited, dealers in hardware and carriages. Mr. Hayes was born in 1861 at Waterford, Erie county, and is a son of Sylvester M. Hayes, who was formerly a hardware merchant associated with his sons, F. L. and Charles W. Hayes. F. L. Hayes subsequently with- drew from the business, of which Charles W. and H. P. Hayes became sole proprietors. Mr. Hayes, of this sketch, received his education in Union City and was employed as a skilled mechanic before embarking in his business career. Among the several firms by whom he was em- ployed may be mentioned the American Rocker Company.
The origin of the present business of the Hayes Carriage and Hard- ware Company, Limited, was the stock carried by Mr. Culbeson, of Waterford. This was purchased and business was inaugurated under the firm name of Boland and Hayes, this partnership continuing for a year. On May 15, 1888, the establishment was bought by S. M. Hayes and Sons, and the business was conducted by them until January, 1894, when, by the destruction of the store by fire, the firm suffered a loss of seven thousand dollars. In April, 1895, the remaining stock was purchased by J. Canfield, the proceeds of its sale being applied to satisfy the outstanding debts of the company. Mr. Canfield carried on the busi- ness about a year, when it was purchased by the present firm, which has since successfully conducted it with a capital stock of more than twenty- five thousand dollars. Mr. Hayes, the head of the company, is highly respected wherever he is known and has spent a large portion of his life in active business. It is true he has served one term as an. officer of the city board of health, but his close application to mercantile matters has debarred him from activity in political or public matters.
In December, 1888, he married Miss Helen P. Canfield, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and to them have been born three daughters, Lu- cile, Kitty and Imogene Hayes. Mr. Hayes is a Democrat politically and also a member of Clement Lodge. I. O. O. F., No. 220; Ninevah Encampment. No. 248; Canton Union No. 10; and he is past captain of the Canton.
C. J. MAHONEY, a prominent and well-known insurance broker, of Union City, was born August 18, 1865, in MeKean county, Pennsyl- vania, and is the son of James and Ellen (Doyle) Mahoney, the former a farmer, living at Mercer county, Pennsylvania. C. J. Mahoney re- ceived his education in his native county, supplemented by study in more advanced institutions. Much of his life was spent in the lumber mann- facturing business. In 1906 he removed to Erie, where he established himself in the insurance line, covering fire, accident, liability, plate glass and bonding, and he represents twenty companies of the highest standing in the United States. By his careful attention to the interests of his customers, and his honest and straightforward methods, he has built up a large and prosperous business. He is a man of considerable natural ability, and is an agreeable person to deal with, one who has
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made a careful study of his vocation, and thoroughly understands busi- ness principles.
Mr. Mahoney is an earnest member of the Baptist church of Union City. He belongs to the Masonic orders of the city, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Encampment. He is a stock- holder in the First National Bank of Union City, and takes an active interest in the improvement of the city. Mr. Mahoney married, in 1883, Harriet Minnick, and they were blessed with four children, of whom three are living, namely : Guy C., Ruth J. and Grant W.
1. J. TREAT, now living retired in Union City, is one of the city's reliable and stanch residents who by his own industry and economy has hewed out for himself an enviable reputation and an independent fortune. From a small beginning in his youth and without the many advantages of the present twentieth century young man, he has achieved almost phenomenal success and at the same time has been of inestimable value to his city and community.
Mr. Treat was born in Oneida county, New York, April 12, 1828, where he received a common-school training, and from there in 1821 he came to Union City, Pennsylvania, and embarked in the gentlemen's furnishing business. Thus for many years he was identified with the city's business interests. each year adding to his experience and extend- ing his interests until his establshment became one of the leading stores of its kind in Union City. But in 1902 he sold his interests therein to his two sons, G. H. and A. B. Treat, who are following in the footsteps of their father as progressive business men. L. J. Treat during twelve successive years has been honored with the office of school director.
He was happily married in 1866 to Miss Adelia R. Broadwell, and their children are as follows: George H., A. B., W. B., H. L., J. P., Ruth L. and Myra L. Only three of the sons are living in Union City. two who have succeeded their father in business and George H., who is a member of the Union City chair factory. The family are worthy mem- bers of the Baptist church. Mr. Treat having joined that church in 18:1. during thirty-seven years he has served it faithfully and well being a trustee and treasurer.
BURTON W. MIDDLETON is prominently identified with the busi- ness interests of Union City as a member of the firm of the Universal Chair Company. lle is a member of a family that traces its history back to the earliest settlement of Erie county. Andrew Middleton, his great-grandfather, came with his wife and children from their native land of Ireland to the United States in the year of 1827, establishing their home on French creek in Erie county, and there he purchased one hundred acres of land. His children, named as follows, William, Samuel, John, Andrew, George, James, Hugh, Jane, Charlotte and Eleanor, were all born in Ireland with the exception of the youngest, whose birth occurred after their settlement in Erie county.
Of this number Andrew II became the grandfather of Burton W. Middleton. He was born in Ireland in 1815, and was a boy of twelve at the time of the emigration of his parents. He married Mary Ormsby. from Vermont, and their union resulted in the birth of five children : Charles, P. A., J. W., Truelon and Sophia, but one of the number, Charles, is deceased. Charles Middleton, who died in the year of 1881,
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was the father of Burton W., and he was born in Waterford township of Erie county. His wife, before marriage Rachel Kemmerer, was a native daughter of Germany, and their children were as follows: Leon G., Dorothy, Frank (deceased), James, Burton W., Frederick C. and Floyd P.
Burton W. Middleton was born in Waterford township, Erie county, on May 22, 1813, and he was reared and received his educational training there. Coming to Union City in the year of 1889, he has since been prominently identified with its interests, and he is well known in its business circles through his connection with the Universal Chair Com- pany, one of the most important of its industries. This company was organized in the year of 1908 with E. B. Landsratli and Burton W. Mid- dleton as owners, and their works now cover one-fourth an acre with a capacity of thirty dozen chairs daily, and they furnish constant employ- ment to sixty men. The chief characteristic of this large factory is that it manufactures only the best quality of genuine guaranteed quartered oak. MIr. Middleton is a practical chair maker, having been identified with this line of work throughout his entire business career, and he is building up the industry to large and important proportions.
In the year of 1897 he was united in marriage to Miss Annell Par- sons, who was born in Union township in 1876, a daughter of John and Catherine (Lilly ) Parsons. Two children have been born of their union, Pani F .. in 1900, and Catherine L., in 1903. Mr. Middleton is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Royal Arcanum, and at one time he served his city well and honorably as a member of its council.
WILLIAM L. FULLER is one of the most prominent of the business men of Union City and of Erie county. He was born in this city in 1866 to Rulaf Fuller, who came to Erie county in 1863 and here during many years he was well known as a cooper. In the public schools of Union City William L. Fuller fitted himself for the prominent place he was destined to fill in industrial cifcles, and ten years of his early life were spent in the hardware business and a similar period as a grocery merchant. In 1884 his present industry, the Novelty Wood Work Com- pany, was organized, and in 1900 it was incorporated. C. H. Fuller is president and William L. Fuller is secretary and treasurer. Their plant covers an area of five acres and is operated by an engine of eighty horse-power, the plant being valued at eighty thousand dollars. This extensive concern furnishes employment to one hundred operatives and turns out a splendid line of folding desks, cabinets and other articles of a similar nature. But besides attending to the many pressing duties of this mammoth enterprise Mr. Fuller is also a director in the First National Bank of Union City, and a director and the treasurer of the Union City Electric Light Company.
He married Miss Anna Hipple, and a son. George R., has been born to bless their union. Mr. Fuller is a member of Eureka Lodge. No. 366. F. &. A. M., in which he is a past master, and he is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Union City. His religious home is in the Presbyterian church, and he is serving at present as one of its trustees.
CHARLES H. EASTMAN is one of the most prominent of the manu- facturers of Union City and is the sole owner of the Variety Wood
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTER, LEHOX TILBEN FOUNDATIONS
THE BIRTHPLACE OF MRS. C. C. PARKER
RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. C. C. PARKER
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Turning Works, which was established in 1900 and which furnishes employment to thirty men. The factory is equipped with a fifty horse- power steam engine, and the buildings cover a space of one hundred and twenty-five by two hundred feet. Mr. Eastman has been identified with this line of work since his school days, and though in close com- petition with men of maturer years and greater experience he is able to more than hold his own and is sure of greater successes in the future.
Mr. Eastman is a native son of Union City, born on the 20th of March, 18:2. a son of H. W. and Lizzie ( Parker) Eastman, in whose family were the following children,-Frank, Lillian, Nellie and Charles H. H. W. Eastman came to this city from Chicago, and he was identi- fied with the business interests of Union City as a cooper for thirty- eight years and more, but on account of ill health is now living retired. Mrs. Eastman was born in Chautauqua county, New York, in 1846, and her father, Avery Parker, came to Erie county in the following year, where he was a successful agriculturist for many years. His wife was before marriage Harriet Stanford, and of their six children four are now living, but Mrs. Eastman and Mrs. Alice McCrey are the only ones residing in this county.
Charles H. Eastman married in 1901 Miss Esther Royer. In Febru- ary, 1909, he was elected to the common council from the First ward.
CASSIUS C. PARKER was born on the farm on which he now resides and which he owns. a valuable and well improved homestead in Summit township. His natal day was the 23d of June, 1845, and he is a son of Ora and Emily ( Martin) Parker, the father born at Barry, Vermont, in 1810, and the mother in Mill Creek township, Erie county. The paternal grandparents were Jonas and Amanda (Allen) Parker who came from Vermont and located in Mill Creek township, Erie county, Pennsylvania. in the year of 1814, buying a farm of one hundred and sixty acres there. and this they cleared and improved and it remained their home during the rest of their lives. On the maternal side Mr. Parker is a grandson of Andrew and Margaret ( Clark ) Martin. the mother a native of Ireland. They came to Mill Creek township in Erie county in the year of 1800, buying a farm there of sixty acres, which they also cleared and improved, and it was their home until death. Ora Parker, the father, was , educated in the schools near his boyhood's home, and in later life he accumulated the one hundred and fifty acres of land which now forms the homestead of his son. and he followed agriculture there until his life's labors were ended in death. To him and his wife were born the following children : Sophia J. (deceased), Cassius C .. David C. (deceased). Emily F. (de- ceased). Ora F. and Jonas A.
Cassius C. Parker has spent his entire life in Summit township, re- ceiving his educational training in its public schools, and throughout his mature years he has been an agriculturist, farming the one hundred and twenty-five acres which forms the old Parker homestead in Summit town- ship.
He married, October 20, 1901. Miss Serena J. Robison, a daughter of King and Margaret J. (King) Robison. The father was born near Londonderry, Ireland, June, 1811, and mother in Belford, Ireland, May, 1818, and both are now deceased, the father dying March 28. 1901, and the mother December 5, 1888. On the paternal side Mrs. Parker is a granddaughter of William and Jane (Ewing) Robison. He died in Ire- land, and in 1822 his widow came to the United States with her family
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and located in Mill Creek township, Erie county, Pennsylvania. Her son King later came to Summit township, where he accumulated one hundred and ninety acres of land and which was his home during the re- mainder of his life and the birthplace of Mrs. C. C. Parker. The Robison farm is now occupied by the son George S. Robison. Mrs. Parker on the maternal side is a granddaughter of James and Elizabeth ( Mc- Connell) King, from Ireland and Scotland respectively. The grandfather fled from Ireland to Scotland during a period of persecution there, and was married in Scotland, and a little later came with his wife to the United States and to Buffalo, New York, in 18 ?? , but after a short time there he came to Waterford township, Erie county, Pennsylvania. There he bought a little farm of sixty acres, and the remainder of his life was devoted to its cultivation and improvement. To Mr. and Mrs. King Robison were born six children, two sons and four daughters as follows: Serena J., Mrs. Parker : Margaret L. died in 1865 : Irene, a resident of Summit township: W. Pressley. a farmer, and residing in Summit township ; Maria S .: E. Matilda, wife of William Alexander, a resident of Frank- lin ; George S. married and now owns and occupies the farm which be- longed to his father. King Robison.
Mr. Parker is a Prohibitionist in his political views and he has served his township as a road commissioner and as assessor, and is now serving his third term as its auditor. Mrs. Parker is a member of the United Presbyterian church.
CAFLISHI BROTHERS in the business world have achieved a re- markable success, for from a small and unpromising start in life as wood cutters at from twenty-five to forty cents a cord, which was paid them by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, they have steadily and persistently climbed the ladder of success, step by step, until they have reached a place of prominence in industrial circles. Among their promi- nent holdings is the saw, planing and grist mill at Union City. This mill, then containing but the saw and planing departments, was built by Peter Thompson in 1820, and he was succeeded in ownership by William Hunter. After five years he sold to Brunstetter and Bently, who operated it for two years, and during a similar period following it was under the management of Brunstetter and Company. It was finally purchased by its present owners, the Caflish Brothers, who have greatly enlarged the enterprise and have added the grist department.
In addition to this property they also own two other saw mills, one at Springboro in Crawford county and one at Wattsburg, the latter operated by Caflish Brothers and the former operated under the name of the Beaver Lumber Company. The mill as Springboro is a massive structure, forty feet wide by one hundred and thirty feet long. two stories high, while its capacity is from thirty to fifty thousand feet every ten hours. The saws used are of the latest improved make, endless or band saws, and seventy-five operatives are employed in its opera- tion, and in order to supply the mill with logs and to faciliate its out- put a ten mile railroad has been laid running into the timber tract. The Caflish Brothers also conduct a wholesale lumber yard in Jamestown, New York, where they are at the head of a large business in their line. and they are also stockholders in the Jamestown Mantle Company. As individuals J. C. Caffish is a director in that company and at the present time president of the Union City Chair Company. The firm have large holdings in the Adirondack Mountains, consisting of fifty-two thousand
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acres of land, which is in itself a vast fortune, and they are stockholders and directors in the First National Bank of Union City. A. L. Caflish has served Union City as a member of its council.
The brothers were born in Chautauqua county, New York, J. C. Caflish in 1858 and A. L. in 1862, and in 1863 they were brought to Erie county, Pennsylvania, by their parents, John and Adaline Caflish. The father was by trade a tanner, but he later turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He too served Union City as a councilman, and he was at one time the vice president of the National Bank of Union City. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Caflish numbered eleven children, and the following are living: Fred, E. L., E. G., J. C., A. L .. W. M. and John A. They are all in the lumber business and are prominent and well known business men.
J. C. Caflish married Miss Margaret Goodrich on November 1, 1883, and they have had two children, Dora and Jacob C., but the daugh- ter is deceased. A. 1 .. Caflish on the 17th of March, 1887, married Miss Matilda Maurer, and their children are Margaret B., Alfred W., John M., Gertrude L., Gladys L. and Mabel A.
HARRY B. RANDALL. The Union City Chair Company, of Union City, Pennsylvania, is especially fortunate in having among its employes a man of such intelligence, ability and integrity as Harry B. Randall, who has served as a foreman for this firm during the past thirteen years. He is not only a skilled mechanic, versed in every branch of the art, but possesses great ingenuity and inventive talent of a high order, one of his inventions, which he has patented, having, practically, revolutionized to a great extent the work of his department. Mr. Randall has entire charge of the first floor of the chair company's plant, and, with the assistance of his force of sixty men, saws the plank, which he receives from the lumber dealer. planes and turns it, preparing it for the sandpapering room, where the material from which the chairs are manufactured passes through the next process of construction.
When Mr. Randall entered the factory, rockers for chairs were marked, and then sawed out by the mark, a tedious and necessarily im- perfect process. Seeing the necessity of turning out better work, and of competing more easily with other manufacturers, Mr. Randall put his inventive faculties to work in earnest, with the result that he soon had in operation a machine that would saw out rockers more rapidly, accurately, cheaper, and better than any before used. This machine, which he has patented, consists of a curved track, which clamps the plank, and saws the curved rocker, at one continuous feed, the prin- ciple being modeled on that of the old log carriage, but being simplified and curved. The machine can be detached, and another device applied. or the saw can be used for plain work. Not content with this useful in- vention, Mr. Randall has invented another device which greatly facilitates the formation of chair seats, and will be of great benefit to the company.
A son of G. A. Randall, Harry B. Randall was born, August 28, 1868, in Crawford county, Pennsylvania. G. A. Randall was also born in 1846, in Crawford county, and during the earlier years of his active career was sucessfully employed in the lumber business. Removing to Ohio in 1901. he has since been engaged in the laundry business in Ashtabula. His wife, whose maiden name was Juliet Bump, was born in Rockdale, Crawford county, in 1850, not far from Hayfield, his birthplace. Three children were born of their union, namely: Harry
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B., the subject of this sketch; Albert C .; and Mary E., wife of O. H. Taylor of Ashtabula, Ohio.
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