Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 110

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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Christian Miller. son of Christian and Eliza- beth (Schuster) Miller, learned his father's trade of blacksmith and followed it while in France. All his children were born in that country, and his first wife died there in 1851. Leaving Alsace on March 24, 1854, he arrived at Buffalo May 12th, and was soon established on a farm in Erie county, N. Y., near the vil- -

lage of Boston, where he purchased 113 acres of land and followed agriculture the rest of his active life, reaching the good old age of eighty-seven years, three months. His death occurred in 1896, and he is buried at Boston, where several other members of the family are interred. His ten children were all born to the first marriage, with Magdalena Voeltzel, namely : Christian, father of George C. Miller ; Martin, who died aged seventy-four years; Frederick, who died at the age of forty-nine years; Lewis, who died at the age of forty-five years; Michael, who is yet living in Erie county, N. Y .; Gen. Charles, of Franklin, Pa., whose biography appears elsewhere in this work; William, who is mentioned in the bio- graphy of his son, Charles A. Miller ; George, who died in infancy ; George, who died at sea in early life; and Magdalena, who married Edward Walash and lives in Buffalo, N. Y. The second marriage of Christian Miller, the father of this family, was to Magdalena Co- bett, a cousin of his first wife.

Christian Miller, son of Christian and Mag- dalena (Voeltzel) Miller, was born in Alsace, France, and there married Salomae Frantz, the young couple coming to America with his father in 1854. They first resided in Buffalo, N. Y., later removing to a location about twenty miles south of that city, in Erie county, where Mr. Miller followed farming until his death, which occurred when he was fifty-nine years old. He and his wife Salomae had the following children: William C., who married Carrie Knapp; George C .; Michel L., who married Julie Buffum ; Louis L., who married Anna Roth; Fred, who married Agnes Rid- dell; and Louisa, who married H. K. Kobler.

George C. Miller was reared in Erie county, N. Y., where he began his education in the public schools. After taking a course in busi- ness college, at Buffalo, he found a position as a clerk at East Aurora, N. Y., with Millar & Peek, remaining a few years with that firm before coming to Franklin ( Pa. ) in 1880. Here he at once became associated with the concern now known as the Galena-Signal Oil Com- pany, in the capacity of clerk, later taking a place in the shipping department, whence he was transferred to the position of assistant superintendent. As he gained in experience and familiarity with the details of the works he was advanced to superintendent and even- tually to general superintendent, being so oc- cupied until he assumed the vice presidency. As one of the three vice presidents of the Galena-Signal Oil Company he has charge of the manufacturing and purchasing, and he

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takes proper pride in keeping his department fully up to the high standards maintained throughout the plant.

The Galena-Signal Oil Company has at- tained unusual ease of operation through care- fully worked out organization, and Mr. Miller finds it possible to give prompt and entirely adequate attention to his duties without loss of time or neglect of the other interests which he has acquired. He is operating in oil on his own account, holding seven leases, one of them at the location where the historic Indian God Rock rests along the Allegheny river in this county. He is president of the Pennsy Coal Company of Franklin; of the firm of Kobler & Miller Co., of Buffalo; of the Economy Food & Products Company, of Boston, Mass .; of the Sibley Soap Company of Franklin ; and of the People's Supply Company of Summer- ville and Clarion, Pa. Mr. Miller is a director of about twenty other concerns, including the First National Bank of Franklin, being one of the busiest men in this region. His office is in the Galena-Signal Company building in Franklin, his home in Miller Park, the attrac- tive residence district of the city opened by General Miller. Socially he is well known, holding membership in the Franklin Club and the B. P. O. Elks.

By his marriage to Nellie Allen Mr. Miller had one daughter, Josephine Allen, who was married Nov. 14, 1917, to Boyd Nelson Park, Jr., and died in 1918.

MEYER BRAUNSCHWEIGER died at Oil City April 19, 1918, after a prosperous ca- reer as a merchant, in the course of which he attained high personal standing and the es- teem of a large circle of associates. Besides attending diligently to his own affairs Mr. Braunschweiger has been one of the most ef- fective workers in the city in the promotion of the public welfare, a citizen whose unqualified worth is conceded by all who know him.

Born Feb. 9, 1841, at Steinbach, Hinfeld, Germany, Mr. Braunschweiger was reared in the Old World, coming to America as a young man about fifty years ago. The voyage across the Atlantic, made in a sailing vessel, was an unpleasant experience of nearly three months' duration, during which they passed through a terrible storm, the vessel being in such dan- ger that the passengers were told to take a drink, say their prayers and expect the worst. Incidentally it may be remarked that this was Mr. Braunschweiger's first drink of whiskey. He had served three years in the Prussian army and had learned the trade of capmaker

or furrier, at which he worked for three months after his arrival in New York City. He had two hundred dollars saved, and with this small capital joined his cousin, Meyer Braunschweiger, Jr., who was established in the clothing business at Rouseville, five miles from Oil City, Pa., the partnership lasting for several years. By way of distinction, Meyer Braunschweiger was known as "Yankee Braunschweiger" and Meyer Jr. as "Long Braunschweiger." The latter is now de- ceased. While associated in the clothing busi- ness with his cousin Meyer Braunschweiger became interested in the production of oil in the Bradford (McKean county) fields, his partner in that line being Kasper Kugler, still a resident of Oil City, and his connection with him in that business continued for a number of years. He was a charter member of the old Oil Exchange at Oil City. But he did not give up merchandising, always devoting the principal part of his time and attention to it, and as trade possibilities were constantly wid- ening with the development of this section he and his cousin divided their interests, each opening a store of his own at Oil City. Mr. Braunschweiger did a thriving business until his retirement some fifteen years ago, having one of the most popular stores of the kind in or about Oil City, and he also continued to invest in promising oil properties, acquiring some valuable holdings which are still retained in the family. He owned the block now oc- cupied by the Five and Ten Cent store, re- building it after the big fire of 1892, and later sold it for thirty thousand dollars, the first real estate transaction of such magnitude made in the city. Honest and upright in all his dealings with his fellow men, ready to sup- port good movements and competent in his judgment on their value to the community, he was highly regarded by his townsmen and par- ticularly by those who came in contact with him in the daily rounds of duty and social ac- tivities.

Mr. Braunschweiger always found his great- est pleasure in the domestic circle, and took pride and enjoyment in the home on the south side of Oil City, at No. 607 West Second street.

In New York Mr. Braunschweiger married Regina Sigel, a native of Saxony, Germany. who came to the United States in childhood, and died fifteen years ago. She was a char- ter member of the Council of Jewish Women, whose work is conducted along non-sectarian lines and is world-wide in its scope, and sym- pathized thoroughly with her husband in all

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his interests. Of their five children, Samuel is now engaged as a clothing merchant at Johnstown, Pa .; Emanuel is in the shoe trade at Bradford, Pa .; Leopold has charge of the children's clothing department in Kaufmann Brothers store, the largest retail establishment in Pittsburgh; Ida is the wife of I. Theodore Weill, of Pittsburgh; Sarah lives at Oil City. All this family were educated in the Oil City schools. Mr. Braunschweiger was one of the founders of the Tree of Life Congregation, Orthodox, which erected the first synagogue at Oil City, and was always liberal in its sup- port and active in its enterprises. He is buried in Mount Zion cemetery, at Franklin. His daughter, Miss Sarah Braunschweiger, has been indefatigable in philanthropic work. She is federation secretary of the Belle Lettres Club, the leading literary society of Oil City ; chairman of the finance committee of the Ve- nango County Children's Home ; a member of the charity board of the Council of Jewish Women; a director of the Flower Mission ; and a member of the Winifred Tonkin Guild. She was the first treasurer of the local Surgi- cal Dressings Committee in Oil City at the outbreak of war between this country and the Central Powers, and is now busily en- gaged in Red Cross work.

GEORGE W. VAN VLIET, of Pleasant- ville, Venango county, has the distinction of being the oldest professional oil well shooter in the world. Now living retired after a ca- reer of thirty years in what is probably the most dangerous calling of industrial life, he is able to review a course rich in experiences, with the satisfaction of knowing that by the exercise of caution and good judgment he made an exceptional record. Ordinarily the life of a well shooter as such covers but six or seven years. yet Mr. Van Vliet followed the calling during the greater part of the pe- riod of oil production as now conducted, shoot- ing thousands of wells without injuring any- one and never paying a dollar in damages for personal injury or destruction of property.

Born March 27, 1845, in Monroe county, Pa., Mr. Van Vliet came of Quaker pioneer ancestry. Gen. Joe Van Vliet of Revolution- ary fame, from the Cumberland valley, was of the same stock. George W. Van Vliet en- tered upon his life work when but nineteen years old. shooting his first well on Oil creek. in Venango county, in 1864, with a four-pound charge of black powder in an iron shell sealed with wax, and let down into five hundred feet of water with a clothesline. His remunera-

tion was five hundred dollars-eloquent testi- mony of the danger attending the work. Pow- der was the explosive used for nearly three years, until the employment of nitroglycerin, which up to the present time has continued to be the most desirable and effective charge known. As the oil territory was extended by new discoveries demands for Mr. Van Vliet's services increased constantly, he and his trained employes receiving calls which kept them busy for the many years he remained in the business. Tireless observation and study made the composition and nature of nitro- glycerin an open book to him, and with a full realization of its pent-up power he handled it with respectful care and avoided the disas- ters which usually attend its continued use. In the early years the ordinary compensation for placing and setting off a four-quart charge was one hundred dollars, but later this was reduced to one dollar a quart, the charge, how- ever, generally consisting of seventy-five to one hundred quarts. In a few instances he used as much as three hundred quarts in a single charge. At times he compounded the explosive in small quantities, but the demands upon his time soon made this impossible and he bought from the DuPont Powder Com- pany, who established a factory at Warren and supplied him at sixty cents a quart.

In 1865 a man named Roberts was granted a patent for the very process employed by Mr. Van Vliet, and sued the latter for infringe- ment. The case was carried into the District court, before Federal Judge McCandless, but never came to trial. Mr. Van Vliet's priority of use being so well established that he was left to operate undisturbed in certain terri- tory. At two different times his magazine was destroyed, with considerable loss to himself. After one of the DuPont employes delivered twenty-eight hundred pounds of nitroglycerin at the magazine an explosion ensued which de- stroyed two horses and a wagon as well as the magazine. A few remnants of garments were gathered up. a funeral was held at Sa- lina, and a tombstone was even ordered by the supposed victim's brother, who later ac- knowledged . that he had heard from his brother, the man having set the magazine off with a fuse in order to cover his disappear- ance. which he wanted to effect because of domestic troubles. He never returned. An- other time Mr. Van Vliet had four tons deliv- ered at his magazine, which was obliterated during the following night by a terrific ex- plosion, traces being found of men who. it was afterward learned, had stolen a large part

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of the stock and hauled it into Ohio. Only twice did Mr. Van Vliet have the experience of fire following the shooting of wells, caused by ignition of the escaping gases, with com- plete destruction of the derricks. A bluish flame, engendered by friction, and especially noticeable at night, issues from the wells after shooting, but of the thousands treated by him only these two contained sufficient heat to ig- nite the gases.

Mr. Van Vliet achieved an enviable reputa- tion early in his career, and was frequently called upon to do work for the government, being sent to distant points as a skillful opera- tor. For a few years Pithole was the center of his activities, but since 1867 he has lived at the nearby town of Pleasantville. After thirty years of active association with his chosen line of work he retired, but for ten years longer retained a financial interest in the business. For fifty years he has owned more or less in- terest in oil productions, frequently accepting a share in a well as pay for shooting it, and he has acquired enough to make him indepen- dent in his leisure years. Though he has never married he owns his own home at Pleasant- ville, occupying the old hotel erected in 1870 and closed at the expiration of the license. Possessing keen enjoyment of the excitement of good sport, Mr. Van Vliet for many years indulged his taste for speedy horses and rac- ing, himself owning track horses and fre- quently appearing at the courses on the circuit from Detroit to New Orleans. In the old days newly opened oil territories, often the resort of speculators with no desire for permanent investment, and with their get-rich-quick al- lurements, attracted the throngs of gamblers and similar characters usually present under such circumstances to reap their share of the wealth as it came in, and Mr. Van Vliet re- calls the time when poker was played in the oil fields for stakes as high as any which char- acterized the game on the famous old Missis- sippi steamboats. His interesting recollections include a keen memory of the first pipe line leading from Pithole to a refinery at Miller Farm, on Oil creek, some seven miles distant, and of the two plank roads that previously had served as an outlet for the oil from Pithole, each having a double roadway, and traversed constantly by hundreds of wagons before the construction of the pipe line, which did away entirely with the hauling of oil. He had per- sonal acquaintance with every important oil man of the palmy days at Pithole, Shamburg and Petroleum Center, and was one of the guests at the banquet given at the "Morey

Farm Hotel," Pithole (then a mushroom town of ten thousand population), by the own- ers of the railroad extending from Reno to Pithole to one of the renowned firm of Roths- childs, by way of interesting him in the pur- chase of the road. Two hundred guests were present, negro waiters were brought in for the occasion, rare wines were served in abund- ance, and speeches were made by orators of national fame, including the gifted Galusha A. Grow. General Burnside was one of the guests.

Mr. Van Vliet was one of the best known figures in the oil fields for several decades. With absolute mastery of every detail relating to his own occupation, and ideals of business and personal obligation to which he adhered tenaciously, he was considered an absolutely reliable man to deal with. His mental acqui- sitions and outlook broadened constantly in a life of unusual variety, and he has a wide fund of general information which makes him an interesting companion, while his courtesy gains him the friendly esteem of all with whom he comes in contact.

HUGH C. DORWORTH, of Oil City, gen- eral counsel for the Standard Oil interests at that point, has advanced to a strong position in the legal fraternity on the merits of his pro- fessional achievements. The importance of the affairs intrusted to him is positive indorse- ment of his familiarity with the law and judg- ment in its application by those best qualified to estimate his attainments. His law library is one of the finest private collections of legal works in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Dorworth is a Venango county man, born Feb. 1, 1873, at Oil City. His grand- father. Jonathan Dorworth, came to his section in 1834, from Emaus, Lehigh Co., Pa., and settled in Richland township, on north Richey run, near his wife's parents, Philip and Mag- dalena Knauss, the two families likely emigrat- ing together. Mr. and Mrs. Knauss passed the rest of their lives in that township, where his death occurred in 1869, when he was aged eighty-three years. Their sons, one of whom was Samuel, reared families, but none of the name are now residing in the county. They are one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania, Sebastian Knauss, the emigrant ancestor in this country, having been one of a colony which came from the Rhine Palatinate under the aus- pices of the Penns, about 1723. The First Moravian Church in Pennsylvania was built on his property in 1742, a tablet marking the site. His old home, built in 1777, still stands

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in a good state of preservation and is now owned and occupied by a direct descendant.

Jonathan Dorworth cleared out a farm on Richey run and passed many of his active years in its cultivation, leaving it in 1866 to settle in Oil City, where he was subsequently engaged as a building contractor until his death, in 1873, at the age of seventy-three years. His youngest son to reach maturity was James L. Dorworth, who lost his life in the historic disaster of 1892 at Oil City, when but forty-five years old. He was a talented professional man, an educator and lawyer who had done noteworthy work in Venango county, and his untimely death was regarded as a great loss to the community. He had prepared for teaching at the Edinboro ( Pa.) Normal School. and taught at various points in Venango county, including Oil City, before entering upon the practice of law, which he followed from 1884. His wife, Alice Grey (Thomp- son), of Clarion county, Pa., survives. There were three sons in their family of seven chil- dren, Hugh C., Charles F. and James Win- field. Charles F. Dorworth is an engineer, now in the West; James Winfield is a practic- ing physician in Oil City.

Hugh C. Dorworth was reared at Oil City and acquired his preparatory education in the public schools, graduating from the high school in 1888. He entered Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pa., the same year, graduating from that institution in 1892, and thus equipped for the serious duties of life, carried on the study of law with his other responsibilities during the next few years, gaining admission to the bar in 1898. Meantime he had a practical ex- perience in the field with the Ohio Oil Com- pany, learning the details of oil production by

actual contact, acquiring a first-hand knowl- edge of the business which has been of incal- culable valde to him in handling its legal prob- lems. Mr. Dorworth began general practice twenty years ago, and there is every indication that he will realize the full promise of his early years. From 1903 to 1908 he was in partner- ship with William H. Weigle. He has had the confidence of the substantial element in Oil City throughout his career, and has been con- scientious in his efforts to deserve it. He has continued to read law indefatigably. making judicious use of the fine library which he has gathered, works hard in dispatching the busi- ness of every case turned over to him, and has a reputation for attention to detail that speaks well for his watchfulness and provident thought for the rights of his clients. A clear thinker, logical in deduction and forceful in presenting his causes with convincing argu- ments, he is a dependable advocate in the court- room as well as in counsel, and his admirable self-control holds the respect of all who know him, even his opponents. The appointment which Mr. Dorworth has held for the last ten years, that of general counselor for the Stand- ard Oil interests at Oil City. is sufficient com- ment on his professional ability. His special work concerns the pipe lines in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. In 1906-07-08 he was county solicitor, but he has not taken any other direct part in public affairs. He is a Republican on political questions.

On April 27. 1898, Mr. Dorworth married Margaret Ann Dougherty. of Oil City, daugh- ter of William and Mary Dougherty. her father now living retired. Six children have been born to this marriage : James L., Mary, Alice G., Wilhelmina, Helen Louise and John D.

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 110

Author: Babcock, Charles A. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: