Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 113

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318

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BRANDT, a hamlet on the Starrucca Creek, about two miles above the Erie Railroad viaduct, was known as Harmony Centre until the name was changed to Brandt, in honor of H. W. Brandt. At this point the high hills between which the sparkling Starrucca gracefully winds have apparently receded, forming a little valley, that seems to have been purposely de- signed by nature for this quiet hamlet. At Brandt, and its immediate vicinity, are fifty dwellings, some of which would grace more pretentious towns, a fine brick church (Presbyterian), a modern and commo- dious school-house, store and post-office, chair manu- factory, acid works, brick-yard and stone quarry and two steam saw-mills. The Jefferson Branch of the Erie Railroad has also a depot at this place.

THE BRANDT CHAIR MANUFACTURING COMPANY (LIMITED) .- In 1865, near the present site of the brick-yard, a chair manufactory was erected, and at that place, until 1882, the business was conducted. At the latter date the tannery at Brandt was destroyed by fire, and instead of rebuilding the tannery, in its place a large three-story framed building was erected and provided with improved machinery for the pur- pose of carrying on the manufacturing of chairs and other furniture on a much larger scale than it had been done before. About forty persons are employed, to whom good wages are paid, and thus also a good market afforded for hard-wood lumber, of which, on the Starrucca Creek, there is still considerable re- maining. The business is conducted under a limited partnership, the members of which are W. Scott Brandt, Walter Schlager, George Fromer and H. O. Peck.

They employ about fifty men and the capacity of the factory is eight thousand dozen chairs annually, the principal market for which is New York City. The acid-works are conducted by W. Scott and Jacob

S. Brandt, R. Kessler and Charles and Adelbert Schlager. The brick-yard is owned by W. Scott Brandt, Andrew Blank and H. O. Peck. These en- terprises, including stone quarry and saw-mill, em- ploy about fifty more men. One of the steam saw- mills is owned and operated by - King.

HENRY WILLIAM BRANDT was born in Boden- werder, in the Kingdom of Hanover, April 26, 1808. His parents were Gottlieb Ludwic and Hannah Caroline Charlotte Brandt, who were both natives of Bodenwerder, the former born in 1768, the latter in 1776. Gottlieb Ludwic Brandt was a tanner, as had been his father and ancestors before him, and, look- ing on the practical side of life, he naturally desired his son to follow in his footsteps. In pursuance of this determination, at the age of fourteen young Brandt found his school-days abruptly terminated, and he was placed in his father's tannery to learn the mysteries of the trade. But the occupation of his ancestors did not prove to his liking, and at the age of fifteen he was bound out to an uncle to learn the busi- ness of a hatter. Here he remained but four months, and his father having died, he returned home. Upon the re-marriage of his mother, his step-father as- sumed control of the tanning business that had been conducted by his father, and through certain coercive measures he returned much against his will and re- sumed work in the tannery. Through force of cir- cumstances he remained there until he was twenty- four years old, when taking the advice of his rector, he embarked at Bremen for America, and landed in New York September 7, 1832. Alone in a strange land, without friends or money, he spent a week in looking for work, when, meeting a countryman of his, he learned there were tanneries at Hunter, N. Y., and he decided to accompany his new-made friend to that place. Borrowing some money from an entire stranger-a singular providence, he always thought- he took passage on a tow-boat to the Catskills, and the remainder of the journey, eighteen miles, he made on foot, carrying a knapsack which contained all his worldly possessions. Here he obtained work in Colonel Edwards' tannery at ten dollars per month, and remained a year and a half, when the tannery ceased work and he sought and obtained employment elsewhere. In 1835 he was foreman of the Fixby tannery at Lexington (now Jewett), N. Y., and in 1836 accepted the position of foreman in Colonel Edwards' tannery at Hunter, and after the colonel's death he had full charge of the business for three years. On the 20th day of September, 1838, he mar- ried Ruth Coe, a native of Greene County, N. Y., and three years thereafter, in partnership with Andrew Hover, he went to Andes, N. Y., and commenced the tanning business for himself. Their tannery was destroyed by fire the second year after they com- menced business, but with that indomitable pluck and tenacity of purpose that ever characterized him, it was soon rebuilt. Selling out to his partner in

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1844, he returned to Lexington and soon afterwards went to Maine, intending to make that State his home. While there he had charge of the Southwick tan- nery, in Kennebeck County, but relinquishing his in- tention of making the "pine-tree" State his home, he returned to Lexington. In June, 1845, himself and Jacob Schlager formed a partnership and bought the Charles Chase tannery, at Lexington. Mr. Schlager was also a practical tanner, and the partnership thus formed was destined to continue for more than forty years and to be dissolved only by death. They soon after purchased the tannery of Ezra Pratt, and also rented the Edwards tannery, at Hunter, where they had both previously worked at the "beam." In the summer of 1852 they sold all their property in Greene County, N. Y., and came to Harmony Centre, where they purchased the " Keystone" Tannery, originally built by Enoch Coply in 1848, but then owned by Orlo and Friend Burt. The only buildings at the "Centre " then were the tannery, a small building on north side of creek used as a store, a saw-mill, a slab school-house, a small fraction of the residence of the late Jacob Schlager, and what is now the kitchen of the present Brandt homestead. Thus the firm of " Brandt & Schlager" became indentified with the business interests of Susquehanna County, and their names are associated with almost every enterprise inaugurated for the advancement and improvement of this section of the county, and particularly their own town of Harmony. Hardly were they established in their new home before they began to make radical improvements. They erected a store building, and added from time to time extensive additions to their tannery, increasing its capacity to ten thousand hides annually ; a new school-house took the place of the old slab one, and thrift and industry went hand-in- hand. In 1857 they built a tannery at Sherman, Wayne County, Pa., which they ran successfully until 1880, when they closed it, erected new build- ings, and commenced the manufacture of pyrolignic acid, under the name of the "Scott Chemical Com- pany," still in successful operation. In 1865 they erected what is now known as the "old " chair fac- tory, in which they were only indirectly interested at first, but finally became its owners and successfully conducted it for several years. In 1867 they pur- chased the Lanesboro' Tannery, built about 1854 by the Burt Bros., but then owned by the Tremains. This tannery they run for twenty years, and in Sep- tember, 1886, the last hide was tanned and the busi- ness discontinued.

In 1868 Bayless & Buckalew erected at Brandt the second acid factory established in the country, and after passing through several hands it became the property of Brandt & Schlager, and is still in suc- cessful operation. They also erected, in 1876, a steam saw-mill at Brandt. Mr. Brandt's enterprise and love for improvement was not confined to his own quiet hamlet, as is evidenced by the fine brick

block which he erected in Susquehanna in 1883, and which also bears his name. Mr. Brandt has held high positions of honor and trust, which came to him unsought because of his unimpeachable integrity and business standing in the community.

In 1866 he was elected a director of the First Na- tional Bank of Susquehanna, and in 1870 its presi- dent, which office he held until 1884, when he resign- ed it and became the first president of the new City National Bank, which he had been instrumental in organizing. The same year he was elected president of the Burcey Chemical Company, of Binghamton, N. Y. But the religious life-work of Mr. Brandt was as remarkable and equally as successful as his business career. It commenced in 1847, when himself and Mrs. Brandt united with the Presbyterian Church at Hunter. When he came to Harmony, in 1852, liis energy and zeal, ably seconded by his partner, Mr. Schlager, resulted in organizing the Presbyterian Church at Susquehanna in that year, of which he was a trustee from the first, elected deacon the next year, and afterwards a ruling elder. Here himself and family worshipped for more than twenty years; and he was no " fair-weather" Christian,-the warring elements never deterred him from the performance of his religious duties. In 1875 the neat brick church at Brandt, erected largely through the liberality of Messrs. Brandt & Schlager, was dedicated. In 1884 they presented to the society there a new parsonage, thus further evincing their Christian liberality. In recog- nition of his services to the church and of his high moral character and abilities, he was elected by the Lackawanna Presbytery a commissioner to the Gen- eral Assembly, which met at Minneapolis in May, 1886. This was his last " commission " here, for he died July 8, 1886, shortly after reaching home. Mr. Brandt was fond of his family and true to his friends. He was domestic in his habits, kind and genial in his manner, both in his business and social relations. Deprived of educational advantages himself, he de- termined that his children should enjoy what had been denied to him, and he gave them all a liberal education. Neither did he forget their moral train- ing, and his nine surviving children are all members of the church of his choice. His was a Christian family by precept and example, and it can be said of him that his influence for good was felt from the Sus- quehanna to the Delaware. In 1867, and again in 1878, he crossed the ocean and visited his native land and the scenes of his boyhood. How different must have been his feelings from those of the penni- less boy who, nearly a half-century before, anxiously stepped upon the deck of the ship that was to bear him to a foreign shore. But the rugged experience of his early life served to develop the latent energies of his nature, and fitted him for the successful and prosperous business career which awaited him in the land of his adoption.

RUTH COE (Mrs. Brandt) was born on Lexington

Eng aby AH Ritchie.

H. W. Brandt

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HARMONY.

Heights (now Jewett), Greene County, N. Y., July 2, 1821. Her parents were Oliver and Nancy (Buel) Coe, the former a native of Goshen, Conn., the latter a native of Canaan, in the same State. Their other children are Stata, deceased wife of Charles B. Peck, of Jewett ; Schuyler B., died there; and Mary Ann Coe, a resident of the same place. Oliver Coe's father, Justus, settled at Jewett from Connecticut, where he died. Mrs. Brandt's mother, Nancy Buel, was a lineal descendant from William (Buell), the progenitor of the family in New England, who was a native of Huntingdonshire, England, and came to Dorchester, Mass., in 1630. Her maternal grand- father, Hon. Munson Buel, settled at Jewett from Cornwall, Conn., in 1794. He was a judge of Greene County and an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Jewett. His wife was Anna Holcomb, of Canaan, Conn. Other members of the Buel family were Presbyterian clergymen in New England, and one, Major Elias Buel (1737-1824), served in the Revolu- tionary War, was representative in the General As- sembly of Vermont for four years, assistant judge of Chittenden County, Vt., 1799 and 1801, and died at Albany, N. Y. Another member of the family be- came the wife of the grandfather of the late General U. S. Grant.

The children of Henry W. and Ruth (Coe) Brandt are Nancy Hannah, born in Hunter, Greene Co., N. Y., in 1839, the wife of the Rev. Raphael Kessler, a resi- dent of Brandt; Charlotte, 1841, wife of Rev. H. Moon, D.D., a Presbyterian clergyman of Elkland, Tioga County, Pa. ; Henry, 1843, enlisted in 1861 in Com- pany H, Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, died in hos- pital at Clarksville, Tenn., May 14, 1862; Harriet S., 1846, the wife of Dr. T. T. Wing, a physician of Sus- quehanna, Pa .; Winfield Scott, 1848, attended Homer Academy and afterwards took a course in the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania, studied law in the office of Read & Pettit, in Phila- delphia, and was admitted to the bar of Susquehanna County in 1880, practiced at Susquehanna about one year, when his father's extensive business inter- ests requiring his assistance, he returned to Brandt (he married Harriet Fromer, a native of Hunter, N. Y., and besides being interested in several busi- ness enterprises, is cashier of the City National Bank at Susquehanna) ; Putnam Proctor died young ; Helen, 1850, the wife of Rev. Walter S. Peterson, a Presbyterian minister of Rapid City, Dakota ; Jacob S., 1854 (married Carrie Porter, of Philadelphia), a manufacturer and merchant at Brandt; Adolph, 1857, a graduate of Princeton College, in the class of 1879, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary in the class of 1882, is a Presbyterian minister at Ros- coe, Dakota, married Josie Buffum, of Massachu- setts ; Josephine, 1861, educated at Elmira Female Seminary ; and Schuyler Coe Brandt, 1866, a student at Hamilton College.

JACOB SCHLAGER was born in Willstadt, Baden,

Germany, July 26, 1816. Emigrating to America when a small boy, he entered the employ of Colonel Edwards, who had a large tannery at Hunter, N. Y. Here he received his first practical lessons in the tan - ning business, a business he was destined to engage in till near the close of his life.

In 1843 he married Harriet L. Cornish (1819-77), who was born at Lexington, Greene County, N. Y. Early in 1845 himself aud Henry W. Brandt entered into partnership, and purchased the tannery of Charles Chase, at Lexington, N. Y., and the firm of Brandt & Schlager, from this time forward, for more than forty years, became an important factor in the tanning interests of the country.

To write the business history of one is to recite the successful business career of the other. Perhaps no two men were ever associated together whose habits, tastes and inclinations were so similar, or blended so harmoniously. For more than forty years, and until death dissolved the partnership, their confidence and faith in each other was implicit and absolute. Soon after purchasing the Chase tannery, they bought anotlier, belonging to Ezra Pratt; and also rented the Edwards tannery, at Hunter, where they had both previously worked at ten dollars a month. They con- tinued the tanning business in Greene County, N. Y., until the summer of 1852, when they disposed of all their business interests in that State, and came to Harmony Centre, in this county, and purchased the "Keystone Tannery," then owned and operated by the Burt brothers.

The firm of Brandt & Schlager was a welcome ad- dition to the industries of the county, and proved a valuable acquisition to its business interests. Im- provements were immediately inaugurated, new en- terprises sprang into existence and the old town of Harmony soon began to feel the "new blood " which the energy and enterprise of the new firm had inter- jected into her business veins.

The business enterprises and undertakings of these two men are so interlocked and interwoven with each other that, to avoid repetition, the reader is re- ferred to the "sketch" of the life of Henry W. Brandt for a history of Jacob Schlager's business career in Harmony. Mr. Schlager continued to re- side at Harmony Centre (now Brandt), until 1867, when the firm purchased the Lanesboro' Tannery, and he then removed to that place, and assumed personal supervision of it, remaining there until the business of the tannery was practically discontinued.

The children born to Jacob and Harriet L. Schla- ger are Freelove (1844-71); Adelbert J. 1846, re- ceived a classical education-was a graduate of Ham- ilton College, N. Y., and also of Union Theological Seminary, New York City ; he is professor of lan- guages at the Dubuque Theological Seminary, at Dubuque, Iowa; he married Elnora M., daughter of the late David Taylor, of Lanesboro'-see sketch of David Taylor); Ruth (1848-71) ; Charles, 1854, at-

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

tended school at Deposit Academy, and had entered upon a preparatory course at Clinton Seminary, N. Y., when the death of his sisters called him home. This was a sad bereavement to the family; the two sisters, after completing their education at the El- mira Female College, and while upon the threshold of young womanhood, were suddenly stricken down by death-Ruth dying but two days before her sister. Charles did not return to school, but soon afterwards engaged in the mercantile business, which he contin- ued until 1885. He is now largely engaged as a wholesale dealer in Pennsylvania blue stone, and is interested in various manufacturing enterprises in this and adjoining counties. He is also president of the "City National Bank," of Susquehanna. In 1883 he married Belle Sewell, daughter of W. H. Sewell, of Unadilla, N. Y., and resides at Lanesboro'.

In October, 1885, the business at the Lanesboro' Tannery being nearly ready to close up, Jacob Schla- ger removed to Binghamton, N. Y., and purchased the residence of D. M. Halbert, and fitted it up into a delightful home. He had married, in 1878, for his second wife, the widow of Charles Schlager, and here, surrounded by the comforts that a goodly compe- tence garnered, through the business activities of a busy life, enabled him to command, he hoped to pass the evening of life, freed from the cares and anxieties of his past business career.

But an all-wise Providence decreed otherwise, and on the 17th of December, 1886, a little more than a year after removing to his new home, he was sud- denly stricken down by death. A special train con- veyed his remains, accompanied by sorrowing rela- atives and friends, to Brandt, where, in the quiet cemetery there, they were laid to rest, but a short distance from the grave of his life-time business as- sociate, Henry W. Brandt. Thus the two men who were partners in life, members of the same church and sharing alike the confidence of the public, died the same year, and lie buried in the same cemetery, almost side by side.

Mr. Schlager, besides his other business invest- ments, was a stockholder, director and vice-president of the City National Bank of Susquehanna. He was a man with positive convictions-in religious matters, as well as in politics. He was long known as an ac- tive, earnest and representative Republican of Harmony. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church for nearly forty years, and he was not content for his name to simply appear on the church records -he was known by his works. His was a Christian life, embodying the Christian virtues and delighting in good works to his fellow-men. Mr. Schlager was well known outside of business circles for his liberal generosity and genial social qualities. Such a life is worthy of emulation, and his memory will be cher- ished by many who were recipients of his generosity, and the influence of his life will long be felt in the community that knew him so long and well.

THE HARMONY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT BRANDT, PA .- For twenty-three years the people of Brandt attended religious services in the Presbyte- rian Church at Susquehanna Depot; but when the population and the increased attendance upon the means of grace in the slab school-house seemed to warrant, a desire was manifested that they should have a church organization of their own in the place, and, accordingly, ground was broken for a church building in the month of April, 1874. On the 25th day of August the laying of the corner-stone took place, in the presence of a committee from the Lack- awanna Presbytery, and a large gathering of people, and Rev. S. H. Moon delivered an address.

The church was dedicated January 20, 1875, and the building is thus described,-built of brick, sixty- two by thirty-two feet, semi-Gothic in style, stained glass windows, furnace and organ, and presents a neat interior appearance, corresponding with its exterior, the pulpit and organ being of black walnut. The committee to dedicate the church was Dr. Charles Dunning, of Honesdale; Dr. Samuel C. Logan, of Scranton, who solicited five thousand dollars and cleared the church of debt on the spot; and Rev. P. H. Brooks, chairman of committee. The same month the members of the Susquehanna Depot Church, re- siding at Brandt, petitioned the Presbytery, and were organized into a church in April following, at the meeting of that body at Scranton. Forty-six persons presented their certificates in good and regu- lar standing from the Presbyterian Church at Sus- quehanna Depot, and assented to the covenant of or- ganization. Henry W. Brandt, Jacob Schlager, Geo. Fromer, Sr., and Angus Smith were chosen elders, the latter being ordained ruling elder. The pastors of this church have been : 1875, Rev. W. S. Peterson served until June, 1878, and went as a missionary to Dakota. He was succeeded by Rev. S. H. Moon, who remained until 1879. Rev. A. Patton served the church for two years following, and was succeeded by Rev. Andrew C. Zenos, who remained as pastor until September, 1883, and was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. E. W. Long, who was called in June, 1884, and is its present pastor. The church has a membership of seventy, and a good Sunday-school at- tendance.

ACID-FACTORIES .- Previous to 1867 there was but one acid-factory in America, and that was at Conklin, Broome County, N. Y. In the year above mentioned Bayless & Buckalew erected the second one in this country, near Brandt. In 1880 the firm of Bayless & Buckalew was succeeded by Brandt, Schlager & Co., and in 1883 this firm was succeeded by Brandt & Schlager. About two thousand cords of wood are an- nually used at this place. Subsequently Quinn & Shutts erected another one at Montrose, which, a few years since, was purchased by the Melrose Chemical Company, and by that company the business is now conducted.

Jacob Schlager

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HARMONY.

BRICK-YARD .- Near Brandt is a brick-yard from which about three millions of bricks are annually shipped. The business was projected about fifteen years ago by Weiant & Blank. Some three years after the property was purchased by the Harmony Brick Company, and by this company the business has since been conducted.

POST-OFFICES. - Concerning the post-offices and postmasters at Lanesboro', the reader will find im- formation in the paragraph entitled "Lanesboro'." At Brandt, in 1869, a post-office was established, called Harmony Centre. The name of the office was changed to Brandt in 1875. H. W. Brandt was com- missioned postmaster in 1869, and Raphael Kessler in 1886.

STONE QUARRIES .- In 1874 Joseph opened a flag- stone quarry on the Pig-pen Brook, about one-half mile from the Starrucca Creek. Stone of superior quality, finding ready sales at fairly remunerative prices, was taken out in great abundance. This led to the opening of other quarries, so that at the present time there are six others in operation in this town- ship. From these quarries sixty thousand dollars' worth of stone is shipped annually to Philadelphia, New York, Havre de Grace, Buffalo, Chicago and numerous other smaller cities and towns. At the present writing Mr. Charles Schlager and Mr. Charles Taylor are most extensively engaged in this business. Their shipments in 1886 amounted to about fifty thousand dollars. The business is the more important because it chiefly subsists as a labor factor, giving constant employment, at reasonable wages, to a large number of laboring men. As the Pennsylvania blue- stone, the product of these quarries, has already become a staple commodity in so many markets, the revenue to be derived from this enterprise bids fair to be lasting and important.

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- As early as 1812 a class was formed, yet before this time reli- gious meetings were conducted at various private houses. All of the names of the first class cannot be given with certainty, but it is well known that John Comfort and his wife, Nathaniel Lewis and his wife, Isaac Hale and his wife, Marmaduke Salisbury and his wife, and James Newman and his wife were mem- bers of this class. Nathaniel Lewis was an industrious and quite an intelligent young man. He lived on that side of the Susquehanna River that is now em- braced in Oakland, near the Great Bend line. He was employed a great deal by John Hilborn, who was led to admire the religious zeal manifested by young Lewis. Mr. Hilborn accordingly advised Mr. Lewis to procure a license to preach, in conformity with the rules of the Methodist Church, as Mr. Lewis was so firm a believer in the doctrines of that denomination, and withal competent to teach the people.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 113

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848- Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318