History of Erie County New York

View of Buffalo Harbor, 1826

“History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County” by Henry Perry Smith, published in 1884, offers an extensive and detailed account of the development of Buffalo and Erie County. This two-volume work, enriched with illustrations and biographical sketches, serves as a comprehensive resource for understanding the historical progression of the region from its earliest days through the 19th century. Volume I focuses on the history of Erie County, New York, and its townships, excluding Buffalo. For the detailed history of Buffalo, readers should refer to Volume II.

Biographical Sketch of Egbert Nelson Fairchild

Fairchild, Egbert Nelson; flour mfgr.; born, Peekskill, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1868; son of Egbert Henry and Mary Seymour Fairchild; public school education; married, Buffalo, N. Y., Oct. 4, 1893, Gertrude A. Kenny; two daughters Catherine and Mary; in flour milling business twenty-seven years; becoming pres. of the Cleveland Milling Co. in 1910; before that mgr. Pittsburgh Flour Co., Minneapolis; member Cleveland Athletic and Euclid Golf Clubs.

Julian, Marland R. “Marv” – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Marland R. “Marv” Julian, 65, of Baker City June 28, 2002, at his home. His memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 2177 First St. He was born Aug. 7, 1936, in Springdale, Ark. He was a son of Clyde Julian and Rhetta Grace “Mulkey” Julian. He attended high school at Shreveport, La. He entered the U.S. Air Force and was a weather officer from 1954 to 1958. He was based at Goose Bay, Labrador. After his discharge from the service, he worked in restaurants at Buffalo, N.Y., and Madison, Wis., … Read more

Biography of Charles F. Tabor

CHARLES F. TABOR CHARLES F. Tabor, the present attorney-general of the state of New York, whose official residence is now in Albany, was born on the 28th of June, 1841, in the town of Newstead, Erie County, N. Y. His father, Silas Tabor, was a lawyer, and also attended to the cultivation of his farm in that pleasant township, and there, after spending many years both in mental and manual exercise, he closed an honorable and useful career in 1863, in the midst of the stirring and eventful scenes of our great civil war. He was a man of great … Read more

History of Buffalo New York

Buffalo Village from the Light House, 1828

“History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County” by Henry Perry Smith offers a comprehensive account of the development and significant events in Buffalo and Erie County, New York. Published in 1884 by D. Mason & Co. in Syracuse, New York, this two-volume work delves into the early settlement, growth, and transformation of the area. Volume II focuses on the history of Buffalo, New York. For the detailed history of Erie County, readers should refer to Volume I.

Biographical Sketch of Peter Gobert

Peter Gobert farmer, and stock-raiser, S. 19; P. O. Oakland; one of the pioneers of Coles Co.; born in France Oct. 17, 1821, where he attended school until 11 years of age, when he emigrated with his parents to America, landing in New York the spring of 1832; going to Buffalo, he assisted his father upon a farm until 16 years of age, when he emigrated West in the spring, coming by way of the lakes to Chicago, arriving there June 11, 1837; coming directly to Coles Co., they located in what is now known as East Oakland Tp., before … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas A. Burke

Burke, Thomas A.; surgeon; born, Cleveland, April 18, 1864; son of Thomas A. and Ellen Shannon Burke; A. B., Canisius College, 1885; A. M., same college, 1892; Western Reserve Medical College, 1888; married, Cleveland, 1892, Lillian G. McNeil; three children; after graduating in medicine, received appointment as house surgeon at City Hospital; later assistant to supt. Cleveland State Hospital; 1890, appointed visiting physician to St. Alexis Hospital, and later to same position Charity Hospital; 1902, elected coroner Cuyahoga county; re-elected 1906 U. S. pension examiner in President Cleveland’s administration; has made three trips abroad to study in London and Vienna … Read more

Tonawanda Reservation Map and Occupants, 1890

The Tonawanda Reservation, in the counties of Erie, Genesee, and Niagara, New York, as originally surveyed in 1799, and as reserved by the treaty at Big Tree, covered 71 square miles. Coincident with a treaty between the United States and this band of Seneca Indians, March 31, 1859, promulgated November 5, 1859, the claim of the Ogden Land Company was extinguished, and the present reservation limits embrace 7,549.73 acres, lying partly in each of the counties of Erie, Genesee, and Niagara. One heavy dirt road, almost impassable in the spring or an ordinarily wet season, runs out from the center … Read more

War with the Kah Kwahs

Some inquiries have been made in a prior paper, on the strong probabilities of this people, being identical with the Ererions or Eries. While this question is one that appears to be within the grasp of modern inquiry, and may be resumed at leisure, the war itself, with the people whom they call Kah-Kwahs, and we Eries is a matter of popular tradition, and is alluded to with so many details, that its termination may be supposed to have been an event of not the most ancient date. Some of these reminiscences having found their way into the newspapers during the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Vernon H. Burke

Burke, Vernon H.; attorney-at-law; born, Saybrook, O., Dec. 22, 1865; son of John F. and Minerva C. Stewart Burke; educated, Canisius College, Buffalo, N. Y., Stratton’s Business College, The University of Notre Dame; B. A., C. E., LL. B. degrees; married, Cleveland, Dec. 21, 1892, Matilda B. Hahn; one son, Vernon A. Burke, Jr.; Republican; served on police bench by appointment; senator from Cuyahoga county, 1896-1900; vice chairman Cuyahoga County Republican Committee; has been a trial lawyer; pres. James F. Allen Contracting Co., Cleveland Smelting Co., Idle-wild Co.; sec’y Guest & Buell Co., Fleishman & Smith Co.; director The Cleveland … Read more

Biography of Paul Rohr

Paul Rohr. The Rohr family is one of the oldest names of Leavenworth. The family came to Kansas in the early territorial period, soon after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and at the beginning of the struggle between the free state and pro-slavery elements. The name had many active associations with business, public and civic affairs in Leavenworth and the surrounding district. The late Paul Rohr, founder of the family in Kansas, was born in the Province of Lorain, then part of France, now Germany, in the district of Rohrbach on October 1, 1818. His father was Paul Rohr … Read more

Biography of Edwin Scotton

Edwin Scotton. Precisely speaking there is no new country and pioneers and pioneer life no longer exist. An absorbing and fascinating condition has passed into history, and its lessons and inspiration live principally in the lives of those who endured the hardships and contributed by various services and diversified gifts to the upbuilding of the present. Shawnee County has as noble a roll call of early settlers as any part of Kansas, and among those inseparably associated with the Fulton County records, none are more deserving of perpetuation in its annals than is the late Edwin Scotton. Mr. Scotton was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry Eldridge Bourne

Bourne, Henry Eldridge; college professor; born, E. Hamburg, N. Y., April 13, 1862; son of James R. and Isabella G. Staples Bourne; A. B., Yale University, 1883, B. D. 1887 (Hooker fellow, 1887-1888); (L. H. D., Marietta College, Ohio, 1910); married; associate editor The Congregationalist, Boston, 1888-1889; teacher history and psychology, Norwich (Conn.), Free Academy, 1889-1892; prof. history, since 1892; registrar, 1893-1901; College for Women, Western Reserve University. Author: The Teaching of History and Civics, 1902; Medieval and Modern History, 1905. Editor: Lecky’s French Revolution, 1904. Contributor to reviews.

Biography of Richard Watson Argue

Richard Watson Argue, who died April 24, 1916, was very well and prominently known in the oil industry of the Mid-Continent field, lived at Independence a number of years, and Mrs. Argue, his widow, is still a resident there and had proved her resourcefulness as a business woman in looking after the extensive properties left by Mr. Argue at the time of his death. He was born near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 1, 1845, a son of John Wilson Argue, who was born in County Cavan, Ireland, went to America early in life, and followed farming in Canada. He died … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William Clement Connelly

Connelly, William Clement; mfr.; born, Cleveland, 1875; son of Daniel and Kate Laughlin Connelly; education, St. Ignatius College and Case School of Applied Science; married, Buffalo, Nov. 12, 1907, Mary C. Schaefer; issue, Daniel, born April 6, 1909; on leaving college, entered employ of his father, who had been established as a boiler manufacturer in Cleveland since 1875; business incorporated in 1905, and taken into firm as secretary and treasurer; elected president of the D. Connelly Boiler Co., on death of father, in 1911; member Chamber of Commerce and Cleveland Athletic Club.

Cattaraugus Indian Reservation Map and Occupants, 1890

Theodore F. Jimerson (De-hah-teh), Cattaraugus Seneca

The Cattaraugus Reservation, in Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Erie Counties, New York, as delineated on the map, occupies both sides of Cattaraugus creek. It is 9.5 miles long on a direct east and west line, averages 3 miles in width at the center, dropping at is eastern line an additional rectangle of 2 by 3 miles. A 6-mile strip on the north and 2 “mile blocks” at diagonal corners are occupied by white people, and litigation is pending as to their rights and responsibilities. The Seneca Nation claims that the permit or grant under which said lands were occupied and improved … Read more

Biography of John E. Brooks

JOHN E. BROOKS. – John E. Brooks was born October 29,1822, at Canton, St. Lawrence county, State of New York. His father Cooper Brooks, and his mother, Sophia Brooks (formerly Tuttle), moved from Cheshire, New Haven, Connecticut, and settled at an early day in St. Lawrence county, making the trip with an ox-sled drawn by a yoke of cattle from state to state. To them were born six children, four boys and two girls. The entire family is now dead, except J.E. Brooks, the fifth, and Aniasa Brooks, the youngest of the family, who now live at McMinnville, Oregon. His … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Jay D. Fuller

Fuller, Jay D.; manufacturer; born, Alden, N. Y., Jan. 22, 1872; son of Spencer J. and Mary A. Smith Fuller; educated, Alden High School; married, Cleveland, June 4, 1896, Florence Helen Quayle; one daughter, Helen; with the Haserot Canneries Co. fifteen years; established The Fuller Canneries Co. in March, 1904; pres. of the company; in November, 1912, became identified with The Weideman Co., Canned Foods and Mnfg. Dept.; Mason; member Union and Athletic Clubs.

Biography of Alfred Gray

Alfred Gray, a pioneer of Topeka and always active in promoting the agricultural and industrial interests of the state, was born at Evans, Erie County, New York, December 5, 1830. He was educated in his native state, and in the spring of 1857 located at Quindaro, Kansas. Mr. Gray was a member of the first State Legislature; was secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture from 1872 to 1880, and was one of the commissioners to the Contennial Exposition at Philadelphia. His death occurred at Topeka on January 23, 1880, and his memorial monument stands in the cemetery at … Read more

Biography of Keith Earl Sprague

Keith Earl Sprague. Among the men whose ability and high personal character have lent strength and solidity to the financial institutions of Wilson County, Keith Earl Sprague occupies a recognized place. A man of broad experience in various fields of business life, since 1913 he had been identified with the Benedict State Bank in the capacity of president, and through his shrewd and careful direction of its affairs had made this institution one of the substantial banking houses of the county. Mr. Sprague was born in Wilson County, Kansas, November 26, 1881, and is a son of C. A. and … Read more