USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 30
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The present board is as follows : John B. Coryell, N. B. Bubb, S. T. Foresman, William Gibbon, Eben J. Russ, C. LaRue Munson, G. D. Tinsman, C. S. Horton, John G. Coryell, Peter Follmer, H. C. Bubb.
The present officers are: John B. Coryell, president ; N. B. Bubb, vice-president; Charles Gleim, cashier ; J. Cooke Sturdivant, teller ; Hall Reighard, assistant teller; John Gibson, Jr., clerk; C. LaRue Munson, solicitor.
Present financial standing: Capital, $100,000; surplus and undi- vided profits, $126,000; deposits, $600,000; loans and discounts, $418,000. This is to date of September 11, 1905.
THE BROWN FAMILY.
Amasa Brown (I) was a native of Rhode Island and a descendant of the family that founded Brown University. He was a Baptist minis- ter, a prominent political friend and supporter of Clinton and a man of high standing and marked influence in his day. Among his children was David Brown (II), who was born in Washington county, New York, and a farmer by occupation, but later in life engaged in the lumber
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business in Allegany county in the same state. He was first a Whig and afterwards a Republican, filling numerous offices in his native county. He died in 1866. He was twice married and raised a family of fifteen children, ten of whom were living in 1892: I. Henry; 2. James; 3. Richard; 4. Daniel C .; 5. Alfred S .; 6. Stephen S .; 7. Allen L .; 8. Orange S .; 9. Sarah A .; 10. Charles F.
(III.) James Van du Zee Brown (deceased), son of David (II), was born in Hartford, Washington county. New York, March 2, 1826, and was reared in Allegany county, New York, where he attended the common schools, after which he learned the printer's trade, at which he was employed from the age of seventeen years until he had attained his majority. He then, in connection with his father, purchased a flour mill at Angelica, New York, but in 1851 went to Wellsville and engaged in milling and merchandising. He remained there until 1859, when he came to Williamsport and bought the Updegraff and Herdic flouring mill, which he operated with his brother Stephen S. until 1866. During this time the mill was burned, but was immediately rebuilt. In 1866 he sold the property, devoting his whole time to the lumber busi- ness. He followed this life under various firm names until 1881, when he severed his connection with it here, but embarked in the same line of business in the West. Mr. Brown was one of the organizers of the First National Bank. In 1866 he became the president of the Williams- port Water Company also president of the Citizens Water and Gas company in 1885; and an original stockholder in the Market street Bridge Company, prior to the building of the present steel bridge. He was also a stockholder and director in the Central Pennsylvania Tele- phone and Supply Company. He was ever active in and a supporter of the Young Men's Christian Association of his home city. Politically he was an out and out Republican, but never desired political office. He
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was one of the Mckinley electors. He was married in 1860 to Carile, daughter of Edmund C. Higgins and wife, of New York state. Mr. Brown and wife were both members of the Christ Protestant Episcopal church, he being a vestryman and warden.
His was an eventful and highly successful career in many ways, and the handsome competency which he secured by a legitimate occu- pation is, since his death, going on to perform laudable work for those who shall come after him and who may well take pattern from his own well-rounded character. He died December 8, 1904, at Williamsport. Mrs. Brown died November 16, 1902. Her death came suddenly and entirely unlooked for. She appeared to be in the best of health, but was stricken down by heart failure, leaving only a surviving husband. Her maiden name was Carile C. Higgins. She was born at Pike, Wy- oming county, May 4, 1831, and married Mr. Brown and removed to Williamsport in 1860. She possessed many truly noble, lovable traits of character, and was noted for her charity. She was a devout member of the Episcopal church. She had been a regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a charter member of the Clio Club.
The entire community deeply mourned the death of these noble characters. Among the bequests in his will, Mr. Brown made one of five thousand dollars to Christ Episcopal church of Williamsport. But perhaps the most lasting and far extending bequest was that of the free public library for Williamsport. It was his desire and so named in the will that it should be known as the "James V. Brown Library of the City of Williamsport, Pennsylvania." It is to be under the management of nine trustees, to have perpetual succession and to be as follows: I. mayor of the city and his successors, ex-officio; 2, the rector of Christ Episcopal church and his successors, ex-officio; 3, the superintendent of the public schools and his successors, ex-officio; 4, any person to be
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elected from time to time by the city councils, to serve for a term of five years; 5, Edmund Brown Piper; 6, David A. Howe; 7, Orange S. Brown; 8, J. Clinton Hill, Esq .; 9, J. Artley Beeber, Esq. These trustees to all serve without compensation ; the library to be a free library. The sum of $150,000 was given to erect and furnish a suitable library building. Also $10,000 for the purchase of books for said library; he provided for an endowment fund to produce $10,000 annually. It was also his desire that when a vacancy occurred in the board of trustees that his nephew, Henry D. Brown, should be chosen to such position.
III. Henry Brown (deceased), son of David Brown, was born in Washington county, New York, 1824, and moved to Angelica with his parents when young. There he was educated and engaged in the lum- bering business, and also flour mills engaged a part of his attention. In 1846 he moved to Wisconsin, where he became a merchant. When but twenty-four years old he was appointed on a commission, associated with the governor of Wisconsin, to select a site and direct the planning and arrange for a state prison. In 1854 he returned to Angelica, and was also interested at Wellsville, New York, in the firm of Brown & Brown. He was sheriff of Allegany county for several terms.
In 1864 he came to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and two years later became interested in lumbering as a member of the firm of Brown, Early & Co. In 1882 he retired from lumbering in the east, but took charge of the large lumbering interest of the firm in the west, finally retiring to his beautiful home in Williamsport, on Fourth and State streets. Several years prior to his death he resided in New York city, and died at a hotel in Long Island, August 1, 1902. Up to a short time before his death he had been in excellent health. His wife preceded him in September, 1897. Her maiden name was Diantha R. Brown. Her father, James Brown, was a prominent man in his state, and served
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twenty-seven years in the Vermont legislature, in succession. She was married to Henry Brown, September 16, 1850, at Angelica, New York. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, and charitably disposed toward all worthy causes. She possessed a sweet disposition, and stood with an open purse for the unfortunate poor.
(III.) Stephen S. Brown, deceased, son of David Brown, was born at West Almond, Allegany county, New York, April 11, 1837, and died, aged sixty-three years, January 29, 1900, at his home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, of la grippe and acute Bright's disease. He was one of the pioneer and most prominent lumbermen of this sec- tion of the east. His grandfather was Amasa Brown, a native of Rhode Island. His father, David Brown, was a farmer and finally a lumber- man of much note in his day. In September, 1859, S. S. Brown came to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and was associated with his brother, James V. Brown, in milling, operating the Williamsport Flour Mills until 1866, when the mill was burned. He then engaged in the lumber business with Henry and James V. Brown and Henry W. Early, under firm name of Brown, Early & Co., and they continued until 1883. Later he was of the firm of Brown, Clark and Howe, S. S. Brown being the senior member, in what was the leading industry of Williamsport, Penn- sylvania, for many years.
Early in life he was united with the Second Presbyterian church of Williamsport. When the edifice of this society was burned, he was very active in building the magnificent new Church Of The Covenant, which is the successor of the old Second Presbyterian church. He was one of the designers, and was on the building committee, and was a faithful trustee at the time of his death. He was a director of the First National Bank, also of the Williamsport Water Company, and the Citi- zens Water and Gas Company. The Ross Club counted him among
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their conspicuous members, as did Reno Post and the Young Men's Republican Club. Politically, he was a stanch defender of Republican principles, an aggressive worker in county, state and national politics. He was chairman of the county committee several years, and several terms served as member of the city council, being first elected in 1876. During the forty years of energetic, business and social life at Williams- port, he endeared himself to a very large circle of admirers.
He married Mary D. Brown in 1872. By this union the following children came to bless their home: Florence A., Henry D., Stephen V. and James T., all residents of Williamsport. Stephen V. was educated at Williamsport, Lawrenceville, and Princeton College, graduating in 1902 from the last named institution. He is now connected with the Williamsport Gas Engine Company as secretary, of which his brother, Henry D., is president. James T. took a course at Princeton College, and was a student at Lawrenceville. Henry D. was born August 23, 1874, and educated in the schools of his native city, Williamsport, and at Lawrenceville, graduating from Yale College in 1896. He has been president of the Williamsport Water Company since December 28, 1904, and is connected with various other business enterprises.
KOCH FAMILY.
The great brewing industry of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, con- ducted by the Koch family, is one of no small importance. The founder of this business was August Koch, Sr., born in the Kingdom of Wur- temberg, Germany, April 1, 1807. He grew to manhood in his native land, and served three years in the German army. His education was limited, but as the years passed by, by self-application he became a well- posted man. At an early age he learned the trade of a millwright and
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contracted for the erection of flouring mills, erecting some of the largest mills in Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Badan, and Hungary. In the spring of 1850 he sold his property at a sacrifice, and with his family removed to the United States, finally settling in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. By the time he had fairly got settled in this city, his means were greatly reduced. He was in a strange land, with whose language and customs he was unacquainted, but he manfully went to work to build for himself a family name and home in the New World. In 1851 he established a small brewery in what is now South Williamsport, which he conducted until the autumn of 1868, increasing in size and capacity in the meantime, and then sold to his sons, August and Edmund G., who have since carried on an extensive business. In 1856 he built a flouring mill and operated it in connection with his brewing plant. His sons finally took that also and operated it. He accumulated a handsome competency, and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1873, while under medical treatment for a throat affliction. He married Wil- helmina Ferber of Germany, who survived him. They reared four children : August, Jr., Edmund G., Alvina and Minnie.
August Koch, Jr., was born in Germnay in 1837, the eldest son of August and Wilhelmina Koch. He accompanied his parents to Williams- port Pennsylvania, in 1850, and since 1868 has been the senior member of the firm of A. Koch & Brother. He was an enthusiastic student of natural history and a skilled taxidermist. He collected the finest array of stuffed birds and quadrupeds in Pennsylvania and belonged to several European scientific societies. He was married in 1861 to Sarah, daugh- ter of Daniel Wise, of Lycoming county, by whom five children were born: Edmund V., Laura, Ida, Clara and Harry.
Edmund G. Koch, son of August Koch, Sr., was born in Germany in 1846 and came with the family to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, when
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but four years of age. He received a public school education and afterwards attended Dickenson Seminary and the Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. He learned the brewing business of his father and in 1868 formed a partnership with his brother, August, succeeding to the business of his father. After the death of his father, the title was changed from that of Koch & Sons to that of the Koch Brewing Company, with August, Jr., as president, Edmund G., vice- president, and Edmund Victor, secretary and treasurer. They built up a very large trade in the West Branch Valley. Mr. Koch was one of the original organizers of the Board of Trade and served as treasurer of that progressive institution.
He was married in 1869 to Clara, daughter of Joseph Fielemeyer, of Philadelphia. They had one daughter, Alvina, who married H. M. Ritter, a physician of Williamsport. Mr. Koch came to be one of the most widely known and enterprising business characters of all Lycoming county.
Concerning the growth of the business with which the Koch family has built up, it may be stated that in 1879 they were the first local brewery to bottle a part of their product. It has now come to be a large branch of their business. By the fall of 1889, the business had so increased and the modern methods so obtained, that the firm concluded to build a new plant, so the following year the old pioneer brewery was torn down and enlarged to its present proportions. With but one or two possible exceptions, this brewing plant is the oldest manu- facturing concern in Lycoming county and has been managed by the one single family for fifty-four years. It is now a fully up-to-date plant and shows that " nothing succeeds like success."
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HYMAN A. SLATE.
Few families of Williamsport are more thoroughly identified with the interests of the place than that of which Hyman A. Slate, a prominent resident of the city, is a representative. Some of the most valuable real estate in Williamsport has been for a long time the property of the Slate family, and is devoted to social, philanthropic and business pur- poses.
George Slate was a native of Ontario county, New York, where he was born February 5, 1815, his ancestors coming to this country in 1742. His mother died when he was six months old, and his father went to California in 1819. He was reared by friends and was appren- ticed to the shoemaker's trade. He came to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, January 29, 1833, where he followed various occupations, working at his trade, and also in the foundry of John B. Hall. In 1835 he formed a partnership with John Corson and engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes in the evenings, working for Mr. Hall in the day time. In 1837 the firm of Slate & Fulmer was established, and, purchasing the tannery which was founded by George Fulmer in 1813, they em- barked in that business and also engaged in the manufacture of leather belting. This partnership existed up to 1856, when Mr. Fulmer retired from the firm and Mr. Slate continued the business alone until 1868. In that year he took his son, Hyman A., into partnership, under the firm name of George Slate & Son, and continued under that name until 1880. when J. Walton Slate was admitted and the title of the firm became George Slate & Sons. He retired from active business in 1886, turning over his affairs to his sons, Hyman A. and J. Walton, when the firm of George Slate's Sons was organized.
Mr. Slate was a Republican and filled various minor offices. He
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was a member of Pine Street Methodist Episcopal church from the time of his arrival in Williamsport up to 1860, when he joined Mul- berry Street Methodist Episcopal church, in which he served as a steward and trustee. He was a member of the building committee of both churches.
Mr. Slate was twice married, first in 1843, to Sarah, daughter of George Fulmer, who bore him six children: Hyman A., mentioned at length hereinafter; J. Walton; George Fulmer, who served two years in the Civil war, and died in 1864; and Ellen, Sarah, and Rosa, all of whom are dead. Mrs. Slate died in 1857, and he subsequently married Char- lotte H., daughter of Thomas P. Simmons, of Williamsport. Two chil- dren were born of this union: William H., of Hawley-Slate Furniture Company, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and Gracy S., wife of Harvey L. Simmons, of Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Slate died December 11, 1889; his widow survives him. He was an exemplary, upright man, and was highly respected by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
Hyman A. Slate, oldest surviving son of George and Sarah (Ful- mer) Slate, was born May 19, 1847, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public schools of that city and at Dickinson Seminary, and is also a graduate of Eastman's Business College. At the age of fifteen he entered his father's office as bookkeeper, and in 1868, his father sold him an interest in the business. They were engaged in the tannery business up to 1889, in connection with their belting business, but in that year they tore down the tannery and erected their present building on Government place, which is one of the substantial structures of the city. This firm is the successor of one of the pioneer tanneries of Williamsport, and is the oldest business house in the city, the business being continuous from grandfather to grandson.
In 1861 Mr. Slate went out as a drummer-boy in Company B,
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Thirty-seventh Regiment, Emergency Men, and served six weeks. He was out again for a short time in 1862. He has been a member of the city council and is a member of the G. A. R., and is a charter member of the Ross Club and Antes Fort Fishing Club. In politics he is a Republican. His family are members of the Mulberry Street Methodist Episcopal church, and he is the treasurer of the board of trustees.
Mr. Slate was married, in 1872, to M. Virginia, daughter of Dr. John W. Wright, of Baltimore, Maryland, and great-granddaughter of Ellis Walton, the second prothonotary, recorder and clerk of Lycoming county. Mr. and Mrs. Slate are the parents of four children: Anna Blanche, now missionary to Yokohama, Japan ; Florence Walton ; George, Jr .; and Martha Virginia.
J. Walton Slate, mentioned above, brother of Hyman A. Slate, was born September 24, 1851, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and received his education in the public schools and at Dickinson Seminary. He entered his father's office in 1872, and became a member of the firm in 1880. He has been a director of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and a charter member of the Ross Club. He is a Republican in politics and a member of Mulberry Street Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Slate was married, in 1885, to Elvira, daughter of John Hamp- ton, of Philadelphia, and has two children: Sarah Fulmer and John Hampton.
HERBERT RUSSELL LAIRD.
The subject of this sketch is the son of John Russell Laird and Ellen Amanda (Van Vorce) Laird and was born at Galesburg, Illinois, February 7, 1867. When but a few months old his parents returned to Williamsport, where his life has been spent.
His ancestor on the paternal side was William Laird, who was born
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in Ireland on October 27, 1727, came to America in his youth and set- tled in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where he died on April II, 1820. William Laird served in Captain Cluggage's Company of the Pennsylvania Battalion of Riflemen of Col. Thompson, and marched to Boston, Massachusetts. Private, First Pennsylvania Line, Col. Hand (Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. I, pages 19 and 330). William Laird married Martha Wilson. Their son, James Laird, married, first, Mary McFarland ; second, Watson. The son of James Laird and
Watson, James Laird, married Esther Russell, by whom he had three children, John Russell Laird, Susan M. Laird and Sarah Laird.
John Russell Laird married Ellen Amanda Van Vorce at Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1861, and their son Herbert Russell Laird is the subject of this sketch.
On the maternal side his ancestry is traced from Wandril de Leon, a famous soldier, to whom in 1055 A. D., a township in Lorraine, France, called Council, was given. From that he became Lord of Courcil or Courcelles, which afterward became Churchill. From him the English line is definitely traced and while it has been impossible to definitely ascertain the point from which the American line branched it is conjectured that the descendants of No. 13, William Churchill, were Joseph Churchill, the head of the Plymouth branch, Josiah Churchill. the head of the Connecticut branch, and William Churchill the head of the Manhattan branch, although there is no actual evidence of kinship between the three American settlers.
Josiah Churchill, the head of the Connecticut branch, makes his first appearance in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on the occasion of his marriage and the first entry relating to his real estate is made in the Town Records, B. I, p. 204, under date of February 28, 1641.
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In Hinman's genealogical account of the early Connecticut settlers he says of Josiah Churchill: "He was a gentleman of more than a medium estate for the time in which he lived, and of reputation in the colony." He executed his will on the 17th of November, 1683, and died before January, 1687.
Josiah Churchill married Elizabeth Foote, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Deming) Foote, who died at Wethersfield, September 8, 1700, aged about eighty-four years. They had eight children, of whom Joseph, the fifth, was born December 7, 1649, and married Mary , May 13, 1674.
Joseph was one of the beneficiaries named in the will of his ma- ternal grandmother Elizabeth (Deming) (Foote), widow of Governor Thomas Welles. That he was a man of ability and influence is shown by his gradual advancement to places of trust and influence. He held various. offices and the Wethersfield Records show that at the Annual Meeting held December 27, 1697, "Sergt." Joseph Churchill was chosen " Selectman " and was holding that office when he died, April 1, 1699, at the age of forty-nine years. It has been impossible to ascertain the surname of his wife, who survived him and lived to advanced age, being referred to as "widow Mary Sr." They had nine children, of whom Jonathan, the eighth, was born in 1692 and married Mrs. Sarah Deming. They had five children, of whom Jonathan, the first, was born in 1724 and married Lydia Smith. This couple had ten children, of whom Jonathan, the second, was born November 25, 1749, and mar- ried, first, Sarah Burgess, second, Comfort Woodcock.
Jonathan Churchill, the fifth of the Connecticut branch, served in the Revolutionary war in Captain Hezekial Leach's company. A letter dated November, 1776, is preserved by his descendants, which he wrote from "Saw Pits in Rye," meaning " rifle pits " in a rye field.
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By his first wife he had seven children, of whom Josiah, the second, was born January II, 1777.
He married Olive Odell in Litchfield, Connecticut, and settled in Franklin, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, as a farmer soon after his marriage. He was a man of good business ability and methods. They had two children, the second of whom, Lucretia, was born 1805 and married Aaron Van Vorce, 1825. They had six children, the fifth of whom, Ellen Amanda, was born September 30, 1838, and married John Russell Laird, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1861.
John Russell Laird and Ellen Amanda (Van Vorce) Laird had one child, the subject of this sketch.
Herbert Russell Laird married Mary Wilson, first daughter of Colonel Samuel Wilson and Harriet Babb McGowan. Mary Wilson Laird is a descendant of Samuel Wilson, a native of Ireland, who came to what is now Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, about 1725. He brought with him his son James, a lad of seven years, who afterward became a well known surveyor of Buffalo Valley, and being sent by Governor Penn to survey lands in that valley, now Union county, which had been recently purchased from the Indians, he made a selection of a tract of three hundred acres of land lying about a mile north of the present town of Lewisburg. This land he afterward gave to his son William Wilson, who there made his home and whose remains with those of his wife are buried in the Lewisburg cemetery.
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