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 84
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William Sturgeon, the grandfather of Mrs. Knowles, built the first hotel in Fairview and conducted it for many years. He was a man widely and favorably known throughout this part of the state, and his name is indelibly engraved on the pages of its history. Mrs. Susan D. Knowles departed this life June 23, 1909, and her remains are interred in Fairview Cemetery.
EARL J. HOWLAND, a prosperous farmer of Union township, owns and operates a farm of fifty acres of valuable land, which he devotes principally to dairying purposes He was born in Erie county, at Lake Pleasant, Venango township, March 4, 1876, and is the son of Jacob and Martha (Fuller) Howland, the former of Otsego county, and the latter of Schoharie county, New York. Jacob Howland removed to Erie county with his family in 1870, and there followed his trade of stone mason until his death, in 1884. His widow married Mr. Hatch, a broom manufacturer, of Union City. Jacob and Martha Howland had two children, Levi W. and Earl J.
Earl J. Howland received his education partly in Erie county and partly in Binghamton, New York, to which his parents removed. His first independent enterprise was repairing and selling bicycles at Union City, which business he carried on for two years, but his ambition to better his condition led him to a larger town, and he re- moved to Rochester, New York, where he found employment in the mercantile house of Sibley, Lindsey & Curr, where he spent two years in the sporting goods department. He then removed to Erie, Penn- sylvania, where he spent a couple of years in the produce business, but he thought he would find some other line more pleasant and ie- munerative, and began dealing in toys and talking machines, at which enterprise he met with pleasing success, and which he conducted for three years. In 1908 he removed to the farm which he now occupies. He has nine head of cattle, and intends enlarging his herd from time to time, also to embark extensively into the line of poultry. His farm contains a sugar bush of some four hundred trees, from which he de- rives a very good revenue. He is enterprising and energetic, con- ducting his affairs in a business-like manner, and has made a close study of agricultural methods.
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Mr. Howland married, in 1899, Dora B., daughter of Charles and Hannah Goodwin, and to them have been born two children, Doro- thy and Donald, both healthy and promising. Mr. Howland is a Re- publican in politics. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Union City.
MALCOLM J. MORRISON, was born in Scotland, near Glasgow, Octo- ber 24, 1842, but coming to the United States in his early life he con- tinued closely associated with the business life and history of Erie county during the greater part of his life. It was in the year of 1860 that he crossed the ocean to American shores, stopping first in Can- ada-then in Buffalo, New York, and for about a year he followed the life of a sailor. Coming then to Erie county about the year 1860 he located on the lake road in the northern part of Fairview township and farmed until his retirement from active life in 1903. He gave his political allegiance to the Republican party, and he was a member of the Protected Home Circle.
Mr. Morrison married in 1868 Miss Irene I. Melhorn, a daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Sturgeon) Melhorn. Daniel Melhorn was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1822, a son of John and Sarah (Kaffroth) Melhorn, a German family who moved in a wagon from Lancaster county to the northern part of Fairview township when their son Daniel was a small boy, establishing their home in the woods. John Melhorn was born January 22, 1792, and his wife January 20, 1790, and their children were as follows: Henry, born November 16, 1817; Elizabeth, March 2, 1819; Josiah, October 7, 1820; Daniel, February 25, 1822; Caroline, December 19, 1823; John K., January 20, 1826; Samuel, November 3, 1829; and Abiline, October 6, 1832. For a short while Daniel Melhorn owned and oper- ated a boat on the canal, and to this Erie county pioneer belongs the credit of sawing out the old flag stone from a quarry near his home in Fairview township and placing it where it yet stands in front of the old custom house in Erie. To Daniel Melhorn and his wife were born: Irene, who became the wife of Mr. Morrison, Eugenia, Viola V. and Scott W., all of whom are now deceased with the exception of the eldest. Daniel Melhorn died June 14, 1888, and his wife sur- vived until the 11 of February, 1907, dying at the age of eighty-three years, and both lie buried in the cemetery at Fairview.
The following children were born to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Morrison : Donalda, who was born June 29, 1869, and died June 25, 1891; Carrie L., who was born June 27, 1871, married Ernest Bumgartner, by whom she had one child, Carl E., and she died on the 7th of June, 1894; Anna V., born July 2, 1874, married George Traut, by whom she had one child, Charles R .; Sarah, born March 22. 1878, died February 2, 1885 ; D. Clyde, born August 27, 1880, lives in North Dakota; Margaret C., born March 26, 1883, lives at home with her mother ; she graduated from Fairview high school and is a lover of music ; and Malcolm, born September 11, 1884, is deceased. On the 12th of January, 1907, Malcolm J. Morrison completed his work on earth and passed to the higher life, but in memory he will long be re- membered by those who knew him.
MRS. ISABELLA B. MANVIL, one of the few women of Union town- ship to manage a profitable dairy business, and depending entirely on
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her own knowledge and experience, has been very successful in her enterprise. She was born in Oxford county, Maine, sixty miles from Portland, and received a good education, becoming a young woman of refinement and culture. She married, in 1851, Fred A. Barstow, and they became the parents of one son, Charles L. Mr. Barstow died in 1868, and in 1870 Mrs. Barstow removed to Erie county, Penn- sylvania, which has since been her home. In 1890 she became the wife of Nelson B. Manvil, who died in 1891, without issue.
Mrs. Manvil is a woman of rare mental attainments, of wide knowledge and deep thought. She owns fifty acres of land, and keeps a very fine herd of Jersey cows, twenty-five in number; the head of the herd is a descendant of Stog Pogies, one of the leading strains of Jerseys, and the leading dam is from the St. Lambert strain. The average test of milk from the herd shows the remarkably high test of 66% butter fat. Mrs. Manvil has reason to be proud of the results of her efforts. She is a student of the book of nature, and in religious belief has faith in the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, the unlimited mercy and love of the Divine Ruler, and the ultimate salvation of all.
Charles L. Barstow, son of Mrs. Manvil, was born in Maine, April 15, 1858, and removed to Erie county, Union township, in 1872, two years after his mother's removal to that place; he spent sixteen years in New York state since that time, and in 1901 returned to Union township, where he now owns a farm of fifty acres, chiefly de- voted to dairying. He was married, February 22, 1877, to Alice A., daughter of Barrett and Lorena M. (Masten) Burt, who was born in New York state, August 26, 1858, and to them have been born chil- dren as follows: Isabella B., born January 25, 1878, now the wife of F. Bishop; Iona L., born April 1, 1882, deceased ; Frederick A., born November 23, 1883, married Myrtie Maynard; Charles M., born March 26, 1886, deceased ; Leon A., born October 1, 1894; Barrett E., born June 20, 1896 ; and Charles L., Jr., born April 27, 1899, deceased.
WILLIAM F. TRACY. An industrious and prosperous agriculturist, engaged in dairy farming and horticulture at Corry, this county, Wil- liam F. Tracy is also a thoughtful, useful and moral citizen, and a stable honor to the community. He is worthy of representing one of the first families to establish itself in this part of the state, its special founder in this section being John Tracy who migrated from Con- necticut to Erie county in 1799. Tracing the genealogy still further into the past, it is learned that the progenitor of the family in the United States was Lieutenant Thomas Tracy, who settled at Nor- wich, that state, in the early times of the colonies. Benjamin, the great-grandfather of William F., moved from Preston, Connecticut, in 1780, Shubael, the third of his four sons being born at that place on the 12th of February, 1773. He (the paternal grandfather) married Miss Diana Cottrel, located in Erie county in 1833, and died at Girard August 10, 1864. The parents were Charles B. and Maria Tracy-the father born at Mount Morris, New York, June 7, 1826, and the mother at Otsego, that state, on the 21st of August, 1829. They were mar- ried in 1850 and the following children were born to them: Matilda A., Diana, William F., Susie A., Rose E., Robert N., Daniel R. and D. L. The father, Charles B. Tracy, owned a farm in Greene town-
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ship and another in Illinois, and was a farmer of means and influence. He died January 22, 1903.
William F. Tracy, of this sketch, was born January 9, 1859; has earned a high reputation as a thorough farmer, and has been prom- inent in the religious affairs of his township. He has owned his present farm, which consists of sixty acres, since 1899, and has a fine dairy and a large and productive orchard of both large and small fruits. In 1908 he erected a fine residence on his homestead, which greatly adds to the attractiveness of the property and is a speaking evidence of its proprietor's substantial standing. He is deeply in- terested in the improvement of his township and has done faithful work as road commissioner of the district. In the affairs of the Methodist church he has attained special prominence, as is indicated by his service as steward, trustee and superintendent of the Sunday school. On March 11, 1886, Mr. Tracy wedded Miss Martha B. Ran- dall, who bore him two children: Oliver W. H., who died at the age of three years, and Mabel May. On September 9, 1901, some years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Tracy married Miss Carrie B. Watts, of Savannah, Georgia. Politically he is a Prohibitionist.
JOHN ALBION CORDNER. Noteworthy among the esteemed and re- spected residents of Erie county is John A. Cordner, who holds high rank among the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of Con- cord township, where he is prosperously engaged in dairying and general farming. A son of A. C. Cordner, he was born in Concord township, near Lovell's Station, February 20, 1855, coming on the paternal side of the house of thrifty Irish stock. John Cordner, his grandfather, emigrated, when about twenty-one years old, to the United States, and subsequently married Elizabeth Shadduck, who was born in Maryland, of English ancestors. Of their union twelve children were born, of whom eight are living, as follows: A. C .; James; William: Joseph; Albert; Benjamin; Margaret, wife of J. Anderson ; and Diana, wife of E. Chandler.
On July 25, 1830, A. C. Cordner was born, his birth occurring in Belmont county, New York. Soon after beginning life on his own account, he settled in Erie county as a farmer. He afterward spent a few years in Ohio, but, in 1860, returned to Concord township, his former home. purchased fifty acres of land, four, only, of which were cleared, and here continued his agricultural labors. Succeeding well in his undertakings, he bought another fifty-acre tract of land in 1880, and has now a finely improved and valuable estate, one of the most desirable in the neighborhood. On April 5, 1852, he married Mar- garet McCray, who was born, June 6, 1832, in Warren county, Penn- sylvania. Seven children blessed their union, namely: John A., of this sketch; Theodore E .; Frederick, deceased ; Georgiette, deceased ; Lizzie, wife of Elmer Kinney : Eloise ; and Rev. Archie M., a minister in the Wesleyan Methodist church.
But a year old when his parents removed to Ohio, John A. Cord- ner spent his early childhood in that state. After leaving school, he went to Mount Jewett, Mckean county, Pennsylvania, where he re- mained about five years. Returning to Erie county, he invested his money in land, in 1883 buying his present farm of fifty acres, and in its management has met with deserved success. He is well versed
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in all branches of agriculture, but is making a specialty of dairying, a branch of the industry that he finds satisfactory and profitable.
Mr. Cordner married, April 14, 1884, Della Crowell, a native of New York state, and they are the parents of two children, namely : Edna, born in 1885, and Earl, born in December, 1890. Edna married C. Lilly, and has two children, Reid and one other.
SQUIRE W. GILBERT, a general and dairy farmer of substantial stand- ing and a respected resident of Mckean township, is a native of Erie county, born in Amity township, July 9, 1857. He is a son of Jacob and Aurelia (Trask) Gilbert, his mother being a sister of Mrs. Webb Hunt, mentioned elsewhere in this work. In the days when the country was given over to the forests and their wild denizens, the paternal grandparents of S. W. entered the region included in the present county and located on two hundred acres of untilled land situated on French creek. This virgin tract was cleared of timber, well cultivated and wielded for years goodly returns of crops and other family comforts. There, also, the grandparents died and the father was born. The latter, Jacob Gilbert, appears to have divided his time almost equally between operations in the oil country and agricultural pursuits.
Mr. Gilbert, of this sketcli, was born on the old homestead and received a district school education in the neighborhood. From early in life to the present he has been engaged in some form of agricul- tural industry, his interests for some years being those of a general farmer and dairyman, and his life-long residence in the county has brought him naught but the highest respect for his unassuming abil- ities, his strict integrity and his fine traits as a family man and a citi- zen in the broader sense. Outside the circle of his household and immediate friends his social and fraternal life is chiefly connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp Mckean, of which he has been an active member for some years.
Mr. Gilbert's wife was before her marriage Miss Jessie H. Wood, daughter of Benjamin C. and Emily E. (Middleton) Wood. In June, 1833, as a youth of eighteen years, the former came with his parents (Daniel and Amy Wood) to McKean township. There the grand- parents established the family homestead on a tract of land com- prising two hundred acres, which was then a forest wilderness, and in its cultivation and improvement spent the remainder of their lives. Daniel, the grandfather and founder of the family in Erie county, was a son of David, who, in turn, was a son of Jonathan, the ancestral home having been in the state of New York for several generations. Benjamin C. Wood, Mrs. Gilbert's father, passed his life on the old place engaged in farming, and was the father of Alvinia A., Jessie H. (Mrs. Gilbert) and Bertha A. Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Gilbert have be- come the parents of nine children, as follows: Nina A., born Septem- ber 9, 1879, who married W. Porter and is the father of Lillian W. and Linn W. Porter ; Florence E., who was born June 30, 1885, is the wife of Kent Stafford and the mother of Louis; Arthur B., born April 7, 1887; Alice J., now Mrs. Groves Wilson, who was born October 28, 1889 ; Floyd J., born November 4, 1890; Leafy O., born December 23, 1892; Eddy G., born May 7, 1894; Benjamin W., born April 23,
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1896, and Esther I., born September 2, 1901. Mr. Gilbert is a Re- publican.
WALTER E. MCCRAY, the enterprising proprietor of the Lovell creamery, was born in Concord township, Erie county, in 1859, and is the son of William and Amelia McCray, natives, respectively, of Titusville, Pennsylvania, and Concord township. Erie county, same state. The McCrays are of Scotch-Irish extraction, and the name is common in Concord township. The first of the family to settle here was James, great-grandfather of Walter E. McCray. James McCray removed from Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, in 1799, to Erie county ; his children were: Joseph, James, William, John, George, Robert, Ellen, Betsy and Jane. The oldest son, Joseph, was a soldier in the War of 1812. When the family first came to Erie county the country was just opening up, and the explorers of the wilderness were looking for places to settle and build homes. Walter McCray's grandfather, familiarly known as "Deacon" Robert, came from Titusville about the same time as his son William, and purchased two hundred and twenty-five acres of land in Concord township; his children were: Margaret, William, Absalom and Susan.
William McCray, a large land holder and extensive lumber dealer, was a man of considerable wealth and social importance. At one time he embarked in the butcher business at Corry, in company with a Mr. Hubbard; he served as commissioner in the township, and also helped in the survey of township lands. William McCray died Jan- uary 22, 1903, and his wife died April 13, 1891. Their children were: Leslie, Emery, Effie, Harry and Walter E.
Walter E. McCray received his education in the common schools of his native township, and later took up farming, which he followed until deciding to learn butter-making. In 1894, in partnership with B. J. Crowell, he started the creamery, and eight years later bought out his partner and has since operated the business on his own re- sponsibility and in his own name. He is an experienced and skilled butter maker, and has a large patronage; he handles from ten thousand to twelve thousand pounds of milk per day, and manufac- tures on an average seventy-eight thousand eight hundred and forty- three pounds of butter per year. He also owns a small farm at Lov- ells Station. His fellow-citizens have honored him by electing him to the offices of tax collector and township treasurer, each of which positions he has filled acceptably for three years.
Mr. McCray married, in 1899, Amy, daughter of Francis and Kate (Sullivan) Bates, and they have been blessed with four children, namely: Fay, Clifford, Theodore and Guy.
SAMUEL STOWELL. The venerable and rugged Samuel Stowell, who is still living on his fine farm of sixty-seven acres in Concord town- ship which he has owned for half a century, is one of the most widely known of the Erie county pioneers. Now more than eighty years of age and truly an "old bachelor," he is still in robust health and vigorously supervises the general operations of his farm. in whose appearance and productiveness he takes the old-time pride and with which he is thoroughly and excusably in love. To have been the owner of a homestead since 1849, and been the chief factor in its de-
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velopment, means that the heart tendrils of its master are tightened close around it in 1909.
Samuel Stowell is a son of Oliver and Wealthy (Parker) Stowell and comes of an old and substantial family of Vermont. In 1835 the parents brought their nine children to their new home in Concord township, where the father had purchased three hundred acres of un- broken land. In after years this was cleared and made productive by his three sons, as the head of the family passed away from the scene of his faithful labors just one year and a day from the time the house- hold was established in Erie county. The children of the family were Esther, Nancy, Oliver, Harriet, Isaac, Clistie, Louise, Samuel and Caroline, the four last named being alive. Clistie has been married three times, and is the mother of Mary, Emory and Emma. Her last husband was a Mr. Baker, and L'ouise also married a gentleman by that name. Mrs. Louise Baker is the mother of eleven children, viz. : Helen, Louise, Jay, Lydia, Mary, Lewis, Willis, Alice, Belle, Eva and Charles. Caroline is the widow of Mr. Hyde who died in February. 1894. She was born in 1832, married in 1857, and is the mother of Frank, William and Inies. As stated, Samuel Stowell never married, but will leave behind him a record of useful and good works and a kindly and elevating influence. He is a Republican. Grandfather Parker was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
WILLIAM H. BAKER. Erie county is the center of a rich agricultural region, and prominent among the brave and enterprising pioneer settlers that did so much toward the development and advancement of its many industrial resources was the late William H. Baker, for more than half a century a resident of Concord township, and one of its most intelligent and respected farmers. A son of William Ba- ker, he was born, April 3, 1820, in Lancaster, Erie county, New York, of English ancestry. His grandparents, Timothy and Hannah (Can- dy) Baker, were people of worth and integrity.
Jeremiah Baker was twice married. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Polly Stevens, he had six children : Cynthia, Dorus, Jeremiah, Lewis, James, and Susanna. He married for his second wife Mrs. Lizzie (Baker) Hallett, by whom he had four children : William H., Hannah, Minerva, and Polly.
Brought up and educated in New York State, William H. Baker located in Crawford county. Pennsylvania, soon after his marriage, but not liking the place well enough to settle there permanently came, in 1848, to Erie county in search of a more favorable location. After looking about for a brief time, he bought fifty-six acres of wild land in Concord township, and immediately began the improvement of a homestead. He bought fifty-six acres in another part of Concord township, and then one hundred and seventy acres more in Union and Concord townships. He had over four hundred acres of land at one time. His unwearied industry, and skill in the management of his land, soon enabled him to reap abundant harvests each year, and he became known as one of the leading agriculturists and business men of his community. A man of undisputed integrity, Mr. Baker won the confidence and esteem of his fellow-townsmen to a marked degree, and his death, which occurred March 31, 1903, was a cause of general regret.
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Mr. Baker married, October 22, 1843, Louisa Stowell, who was born, May 8, 1827, in Vermont, being the descendant of a New Eng- land family of note. Mrs. Baker still resides, in 1909, on the home farm, a venerable and highly esteemed woman. Thirteen children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker, namely: Helen E., married J. Tewksbury ; Louisa W., wedded Milo Ames; Jerry F., married Belle Stranahan ; Marietta, wife of William H. Wade; Lydia A .; Emma C .; Lewis O., married first Lillie B. Webb, and married second Clara A. Watson ; Alice J .; Willis married for his first wife Florence Wilcox, and married for his second wife Leona Tuttle; a son that died in in- fancy ; Belle, wife of Harry E. Rice; Charles F., still unmarried, resides on the old homestead; and Eva M., wife of Archie J. Webb. Mr. Baker was a Republican.
GEORGE W. SPENCER. Among the native-born citizens of Erie county who have spent their lives within its boundaries, and have aided in every possible way its growth and development, whether relating to its agricultural, commercial or financial interests, is George WV. Spencer, whose birth occurred August 9, 1835, in Wayne town- ship, where he lived for three score and ten years, removing to Corry, his present place of residence, in 1905. Coming from a long line of honored New England ancestors, he inherited in no small measure those sterling qualities of heart and mind that have gained for him a place of influence among his fellow-men, and won for him signal suc- cess in the business world.
Matthias Spencer, father of George W. Spencer, was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, November 15, 1795, and there spent his earlier years. While living in Columbus, Pennsylvania, on July 9, 1818, he married Harriet Smith, who was born in Bridgewater, New York. Some years later, probably about 1830, he came with his family to Wayne township, Erie county, being among the pioneer settlers of the place. Purchasing 525 acres of land that was still in its virgin wildness, he began the Herculean task of improving a homestead. He was a hard-working, persevering man, one who observed and thought for himself, and his labors were crowned with success, as in the years that followed, he, with the aid of his sons, made various and substantial improvements, converting the raw land into valuable and productive farms. He was a blacksmith, and followed his trade to some extent in conjunction with general farming, promoting as far as possible the industrial interests of the pioneer settlement. He was a man of eminent piety, a stanch churchman, and as a local preacher held a conspicuous position in the Methodist Episcopal church. He far outlived the allotted three score and ten years of man's life, dying, May 1, 1882, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His wife pre- ceded him to the better world, passing away May 7, 1858. Eight sons were born to them, namely: William O., a farmer, born in Colum- bus, Chenango county, New York, in 1819; David, a farmer, born in 1820 ; John W., born in 1823, was an attorney in Rising Sun, Indiana ; Dr. Edmund V., born in 1825, practiced medicine in Mount Vernon, Indiana ; Dr. Henry A., born in 1828, was a physician in Erie ; Harry H., born in 1830; Elijah M., born in Wayne township, Erie county, in 1831, was for many years a prominent lawyer in Mount Vernon, Indiana; and George W., of this brief biographical sketch. From the
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