Results for ‘A.E.Coombs’
(Welland, Ont.)
John Emerson Cutler has spent his active life for half a century in Welland, Ont., and is one of the substantial men of that locality, a mill owner, builder and public spirited citizen.
Mr. Cutler was born on January 13th, 1850, in a little hamlet this side of Hamilton, Ont. His great-grandfather came from England; his grandfather owned a plot of 200 acres where now stands the city of Rochester, N.Y., and his father, Jeremiah Webb Cutler, who was one of eleven children, was a builder, working in both town and country; his mother died when he was seven years old.
John E. Cutler, had but a limited education covering about two years, which he received at the school at Hutton Corners. When he was nineteen, after he had been working hard on a farm, he decided to try and better his education when he reached the age of twenty, and at that time found an opportunity to attend school for another five months. His first work was employment as a carpenter for John Tisdell, building homes, at thirteen dollars a month. At the age of twenty so thoroughly had he learned his trade that he was able to lay out and build a home all of his own ability. He came to Welland about forty or forty-four years ago. In the early days he was president of the Town Association for two or three terms; was in the council for two or three terms; an alderman for two or three terms; was chairman of the street committee for two years, and was a member of the high school board for eight years. He advanced in his work by acting as a foreman for Tom Nichols, building homes and other buildings for two years. He then started in the building business in Welland with Bert Adley as a partner for a short time, when he bought out his partner and started his present mill where he employs sixteen men, and has everything in wood of all kinds, paints, roofing, glass etc., and has the oldest and biggest mill in town located at 51 N. Main Street. He has built a number of large and fine residences in Welland, and has also notably built the Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church, Morrison Street Church in Niagara Falls; the Church at Fenwick; the Dunnville Bank of Commerce building; custom house and post office at Bridgeburg; the town hall in Welland; the Industrial Home of Welland County (poor house) and a number of other big construction works. He was married twice; had five children, four living, lost one; the oldest Frank; William Nelson died in infancy; George is married , has one boy, William, married Miss Laura Heslip; Mabel married Norman Michmur, has two children, resides in Welland.
Mr. Cutler is a temperance man, and member of the Methodist Church, does not belong to any clubs. Hard work is his recreation. He is a man of positive views and settled convictions and always determined to carry out his own ideas, but is liked and respected by all for his frankness and solid citizenship.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
(Thorold, Ont.)
Born in Thorold, November 29th, 1865, educated in Thorold Separate School and St. Catharines Collegiate Institute, finishing in Upper Canada College; entered the contracting business, and, with his brother Joseph, carried out many public improvements of great importance. Among his construction achievements are: White Horse Rapids dam in Niagara River, government dock at Sault Ste. Marie, Goderich Breakwater, Twelve Miles on C.P.R., Toronto to Sudbury line, introduced electric power into Thorold and turned first sod for erection of Ontario Paper Mill, Beaver Board Plant, Pilkington Bros. Glassworks, and Exolone Company, involving outlay of three million dollars. Married Miss Mary Conlon, Thorold, daughter of Thomas Conlon of that town. There are three sons, two of whom went overseas in the World War. Was president Thorold Branch Canadian Patriotic Fund, was tendered and refused nomination to Parliament in 1904, was member Thorold Council, 1890-1891, and was reeve in 1892. Member Separate School Board, Public Library Board, Thorold Agricultural Society and president of Board of Trade. Was chairman Mother’s Allowance Board for Welland county. He was a member of the Catholic Church. Passed away in 1930 at Thorold.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
The history of the Glasgow family reads like a romance, yet it is founded on hard facts. Over a hundred years ago the early Glasgows settled in and around Stamford and Niagara Falls, and their lives and deeds are recorded many times in the early history of this section, as well as the brave deeds of some members of this family during the American Revolutionary War.
Dr. Glasgow, a native of Welland county, was born in Stamford on March 30th, 185, and was the son of William Glasgow, who was born on the same farm and always resided in Stamford. The elder Glasgow held a commission for many years as justice of the peace; his wife, Mary Elizabeth, was the daughter of James and a grand-daughter of William Lundy, from whom Lundy’s Lane derived its name, and was one of the earliest county settlers.
The grandfather, Reverend Samuel Glasgow of Scotland, at an early age removed to the County of Tyrone, Ireland, and was educated for the ministry of Belfast. He was ordained by the presbytery of that city, and came to Canada previous to the war of 1812, settling in Stamford. It is claimed on good authority that the City of Glasgow, Scotland, took its name from the ancestors of this branch of the family. Another portion of the family history says: About four generations ago, Lady Douglas, a daughter of the Earl of Douglas, returned the affection of a lover whose suit the haughty Earl forbade.
Although no pains were spared to prevent the union of this heiress of the ancient Douglas’ rank and wealth, with a young man of inferior birth, the young couple proved the truth of the old adage that “Love laughs at locksmiths, “by embarking for America, where their marriage would not be forbidden by tyrannical parents. They sailed in separate ships, and Lady Douglas arrived safely in New York, but never heard of her lover, whose ship is supposed to have floundered at sea, or to have been captured by pirates. Thus Lady Douglas found herself in the strange city of New York, destitute of means, except her jewels, and these she decided not to sell in case she might at some time require them as proof of her identity. Realizing that she must do something to obtain for herself a livelihood, she sought employment and was eventually engaged as a servant in a household of wealthy New York merchant named Fortner. The Fortners discovered from her ladylike manner that she was occupying a position subordinate to her birth, and they made her an equal. She was finally persuaded to marry the merchant’s son, a youth in every way exemplary. Among the descendants by this marriage are to be found some of the leading citizens of the U.S.A. One of Mr. Fortner’s daughters married for her first husband, a Mr. Field. Her second husband was a Mr. Garrison. The ancestor of our subject, Mr. Anderson, her third husband, held the position of Colonel in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, and for his services was given a grant of land, on part of which now stands the City of St. John, New Brunswick. Dr. Glasgow first attended school in the old school house on Lundy’s Lane, and afterwards went to the Drummondville grammar School for five years, whose principal at that time was the Rev. James Yeo Cameron, A.M. He graduated with a teacher’s certificate and for the next two years taught school. In 1874 he matriculated in the Toronto School of Medicine. He graduated with the degree of M.B. from Toronto University in 1878. In the same year he obtained an M.D. degree at the Victoria University, and a license to practice from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. He began his practice in Welland in 1878, and in 1882 was appointed assistant surgeon in the 44th battalion. In 1885 he received the appointment of gaol surgeon for the county of Welland and division surgeon on the Grand Trunk Railroad. He died on March 13th, 1909, at which time he was president of the Ontario Medical Association and was Colonel of the 22nd Dragoons, of which he was in command for several years. He was a Mason and ad adherent of the Presbyterian church, his funeral was said to have been the largest military funeral ever seen in the county. He was married in Ridgeway in 1888 to Mrs. Theodore Fortner, daughter of James Smith Graham of Bertie township. He was very fond of horses, and took a great interest in looking after the grounds about his residence.
Mrs. Glasgow’s great grandfather on her mother’s side was a U.E. Loyalist of the well-known Riselay family and they have some of the original land near Fort Erie, Welland county, still in their possession that came into this family through a crown grant of land given to Mrs. Glasgow’s great grandfather in the seventeenth century, and the fourth generation still owns a portion of the property yet.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
Mr. Patterson who conducts a well-stocked establishment in Welland is distinctively one of the representative citizens and business men of this thriving community, where he has maintained his home for more than forty years, and where his success has been the result of his own ability and well-directed endeavors.
Mr. Patterson was born on September 10th, 1865, at Port Colborne, Ont., and is the son of John and Anna (Clancy) Patterson, a railroad builder.
John Patterson, the father of the subject of this review, was born in England and was reputed to be one of the best known and competent railroad builders of his day, and came to Canada many years ago and was in charge of the construction work and laying of the Welland Railroad, now the Canadian National, from Port Colborne to Port Dalhousie, Ont.
John J. Patterson, received his early education at the separate school in Port Colborne, and after leaving school followed in the footsteps of his father by going to work on railroad construction, and on big contracts travelling nearly all portions of the United States. His ability and experience enabled him to become associated with the well-known firm of Drake and Stratton Construction Company, of New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. That company was one of the largest railroad constructors in the United States. One of the first of Mr. Patterson’s large contracts was work on the tunnel built under the St. Clair River, between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ont., and required several years for completion. In 1891 he moved his family to Welland, where they lived while he was travelling on various contact jobs for the firm. In 1910 he bought out the furniture and undertaking business of George Cronmiller, who had been in that business for forty years, and after taking over this business he made a number of improvements on the property, and in 1921, to meet the requirements of a constantly expanding business, he erected his present building which he now occupies at 125 East Main Street, where he carries nothing but the best of household furniture in connection with the undertaking business. In public life Mr. Patterson successfully served eight years in the Town Council, and was very active; is now a member of the Water Commission and has been for the last six years. He was married on September 22nd, 1887, to Miss Anna McNeff, daughter of James McNeff, of Thorold; they have five children living. Maude, the eldest, married to George O. Darte, prominent undertaker of St. Catharines; John F., married to Miss Neoma Clifton and associated with his father in business in Welland; Marguerite, now Mrs. C.R. Korman of Milwaukee, Wis.; William Gerald, single, and associated with his father in business; Harold Joseph, married to Miss Stella Traver and they have one son. The two children who have passed away are Anna, who died in November 1920, and James T. who died April 8th , 1928, All the boys were in service during the World War; John was in the U.S, army. Mr. Patterson’s religious connection is with St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church; his fraternal affiliation is with the Knights of Columbus.
He has built up a substantial and prosperous business and has a well-equipped store that caters to an appreciative patronage, and as a public spirited citizen takes a great interest in any movement toward the betterment of the community.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
(Welland, Ont.)
Gordon Somerville came from a family of builders in Welland, who have left substantial proof of their work in road building in and around Niagara Falls, where the subject of this review is now established, in handling building supplies, and has been conducting a thriving and prosperous building for the last two decades.
Mr. Somerville was born on March 30th, 1889, at Welland, Ont., and is the son of William George and Elizabeth Somerville, his father a well-known implement selling agent of farm machinery and prominent builder of that place.
W.G. Somerville, father of Gordon P., built the town hall as well as the school house at Bridgeburg, and the school house at Dunnville. Built the concrete road from Niagara Falls to Queenston, and the road from Niagara Falls to Stamford and St. David, in 1924.
Gordon P. Somerville comes from a very prominent family, and is one of six children, and acquired his early education at the public school at Welland and went into business with his father, and later for himself, at the age of twenty, by buying his present business in 1909, from his brother Harvey, who had started the same two years before, and he now handles everything in the line of building supplies, except lumber, and is rated as the oldest and most reliable supply house in the town. He was married in 1915, to Miss Ethel Chambers, daughter of John H. Chambers; no children. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masons and the Eastern Star. He is a great lover of outdoor sports, especially baseball and hockey.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
John Young is one of the outstanding figures in the industrial life of Welland county, and as a business man and citizen has become one of the important industrialists of Welland county.
Mr. Young was born on November 12th, 1882, in Hawick, Scotland, and is the son of John and Mina Smith Young, of Hawick, Scotland. He received his early education in the public schools of his native city up to the time he was sixteen years of age, when he served his apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer at Hawick for a period of five years, then he attended the West of Scotland University of Glasgow, Scotland, taking up electrical engineering and in that line worked in that section of Scotland and England. He was working at his profession when he was employed on the other side together with R.T. Turnbull, a celebrated and widely-known metallurgical engineer, to come to Canada where he arrived in 1907. Mr. Turnbull erected the first electrical furnace ever built and operated both in Canada and the United States. Mr. Young has had a wide experience with electric furnaces. In 1914 he started his present plant in a modest way in the making of equipment for industrial electric furnaces. The building now occupied is of brick construction, 50×130 feet, and twenty men are employed in the plant.
He was married in 1909 to Miss Jemima B. Sommerville, of Hawick, Scotland. He has been the chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board in Welland, of the Board of Education; and been on the High School Board for the past eight years. His hobby is flowers, and he is a member of the Horticultural Society. He is now the president and manager of the Volta Manufacturing Company, Limited, General Consulting Engineers, of Welland, Ont., and is engaged in the manufacture of electric Steel furnaces, electric brass furnaces, electric alloy furnaces, electric furnace equipment and control, electric heat treating furnaces, electric carbonizing furnaces, electric babbitt and white metal furnaces, electric foundry riddles, electric winches and capstans, carburizers and heat treating salts, etc., and electric water heaters.
Mr. Young is a man of wide experience and training in the field of engineering, and his technical knowledge and skill has placed him in the forefront of men in his line, and his remarkable success is not entirely genius, but rather the result of sound judgement and experience.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
Recognized as one of the able barristers practicing at the bar of Welland county, Dilly Benjamin Coleman has won appreciation not only from his professional associates, but from his fellow citizens at Welland where he has been practicing since 1919.
His family on his father’s side, are among the very earliest settlers in Welland county. His great –grandfather having settled at Port Robinson in 1808, their family properly belong amongst the original founders of Port Robinson, this county.
Dilly Benjamin Coleman was born in the beginnings of the eighteenth century, September 6th, 1890, in Wainfleet township, Welland county. His parents were James Arthur and Lelia (Strong) Coleman. His father was engaged in the natural gas business. Mr. Coleman attended public and high school, graduating from both in Welland, and then attended the Toronto University, graduating from here in 1914 with a B.A. and L.L.B. Mr. Coleman then attended Osgoode Hall and was called to the bar in 1916. He spent a short time after his graduation with the well-known law firm of Gregory, Gonderham, Campbell and Coleman of Toronto.
In 1919 Mr. Coleman, visioning a wider field for his talents, returned to his birthplace, Welland county, and entered the practice of law with Mr. McComb, Barrister and City Solicitor of the City of Welland and has been affiliated in this law partnership ever since.
He also enjoys the honor of being president of the City of Welland Horticultural Society, and has been a member of the Welland Park Commission several years. He is a member of the Anglican Church, and is married to Miss Lillian Gooth, daughter of Frederick H. and Augusta A. Gooth, the former is a prominent insurance broker of Toronto.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
Soldier, barrister and official of various courts, the name of Colonel Cohoe stands out as one who has a record, not only in the World War service, but in civilian life as well; and is a man who holds the confidence of the public, and is regarded as a man of sterling worth and fixed integrity.
Mr. Cohoe was born on March 18th, 1871, at Fonthill, Welland county, Ont., and is the son of John Edward Cohoe, a farmer, also born in Fonthill. His great, great-grandfather, Ambrose Cohoe, settled in Fonthill in 1787, and died there in 1789, he was a U.E. Loyalist, and his children were given some of his land presented to him by the Crown. Mr. Cohoe, the subject of this review, has one brother and one sister, and when he was four years old moved to Wainfleet, and first attended school there, and then graduated from the Welland High school. In 1887, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted in the army as a private in the old 8th Company at Wellandport. In 1888 and 1889 he went to military school at Toronto and became a lieutenant; was given a certificate, second class, and then first class. Became a captain, then a major and became commander of the 44th battalion about 1902, and continued as such until 1908. In 1894 he graduated from Osgoode Hall, a law school at Toronto, and practiced law in Welland under the firm name of Raymond & Cohoe for about ten years. In January, 1905, he was appointed Local Register of the Supreme Court, Clerk of County Court, and Register of Surrogate Court. He was Liberal organizer for a number of years, about ten years prior to 1904.
From 1908 to 1911 was Brigade Major of the 5th Infantry Brigade, and in 1911 to 1914, was in command of the 5th Brigade. When the World War broke out he took charge of the frontier force of canal, then went overseas. Went to England in command of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the first contingent, and was first stationed in England at Salisbury Plains. He was then commander of the infantry at Pond Farm Camp, and afterwards Sling Plantation Camp in England. At Pond Farm Camp he had the Newfoundland troops under his command. At Sling Plantation Camp he had New Zealand troops under his command. When the Frist Division went to France Colonel Cohoe was returned to Canada; he did not go to France nor did he see any active service. On his return to Canada he was given charge of training the infantry at London, Ont. He was in England about five months; volunteered to go to Siberia in 1917, but was not accepted; is now a full colonel and on the reserve list of officers. In 1912-1913 he took the militia staff course, and in May, 1914, passed the examinations for tactical fitness for command. The colonel was married in Welland in 1894 to Miss Clara Jane Holcomb, daughter of C.V. Holcomb, a farmer of that place; they have three children: Dorothy Ellen, the eldest, married to Major Hugh W. Murray of Toronto, and they have two children; Donald A. Grant and Dorothy Jane. John Edward Cohoe, age thirty-one, is fourth in the family with the same name; is single. He went overseas with the Artillery, 17th Battery, and was in the final drive at Amiens, and went to the Rhine after the Armistice with the army of occupation, and was quartered at “Bonn” with a professor of that German university.
When the son came home he went to the School of Science at Toronto University, and graduated from there in 1923, and since that time has been with the International Nickel Company, at present working in Port Colborne as superintendent of the refinery. Ruth Buchanan died at the age of five, 1903 of heart failure. *She is buried in Smith Cemetery, Welland. Colonel Cohoe in his social contacts is a member of the Welland Club, and the Lookout Point Golf and Country Club-golf being his hobby. He is a Mason; is a past deputy grand master of this district, member of Merritt Lodge, past grand superintendent of Niagara District , Royal Arch Masons, past first principal of Willson Chapter, and an ex-warden of the Church of England. In his younger days he took a great interest in athletics, played football at Osgoode Hall, and on the Welland cricket, baseball and football teams.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
In all of Lincoln County there are few men who have been more active in public life, in social clubs, in fraternal organizations and in their own business enterprise than the subject of this sketch, former publisher of the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Advance, now an inspector of the Liquor Control Board of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Brewery Warehouse and Justice of the Peace of the County of Lincoln.
Edward Hugh Brennan was born in Welland County on May 11th, 1883. His father and mother were the late Luke Joseph and Mary, nee Whitten, Brennan. His father was a bookbinder at St. Catharines and at Welland, Ont. *His brother was A.J.J. Brennan, pharmacist in Welland.
Mr. Brennan attended public school at Welland before starting in the printing business, which he learned while working for the Welland Tribune. He left the Welland Tribune and roamed about the province in the employ of a number of printing shops before he settled in Welland in a job printing establishment of his own, which was opened in 1907. He managed this shop successfully until 1916, when he left to accept a position as ticket agent, and representative of the Grand Trunk Railroad at Suspension Bridge, New York.
After spending three years in the employ of the Grand Trunk, Mr. Brennan went to Burford, Ont., and purchased the Burford Advance, a weekly newspaper, in connection with which there was being operated a job printing business. Mr. Brennan published and managed the Burford Advance for a period of nearly two years before leaving it to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where he established the Niagara Advance in the year of 1919. In January 1929, he sold the paper to his son, Nixon E.J. Brennan, who now conducts it.
Mr. Brennan’s activity in public life has been widely and varied. For three years he served on the Niagara-on-the-Lake School Board. So well did he fill the duties of this position that for three one-year terms in succession he was elected as councillor for the same town. Then, in 1914, he was appointed Justice of the Peace of Lincoln County, and still holds this post.
For a period of three years he acted as division clerk of the First Division Court of Lincoln County, from which he resigned in 1928 to become an inspector for the Lincoln Control Board.
Mr. Brennan has taken an active part in the conduct of many fraternal organizations. He is a member of the Niagara Lodge, 2, A.F. & A.M., which is located at Niagara-on-the-Lake. He is also a member of the Niagara Chapter, 55, R.A.M., of which he is a past principal. In 1929 he was elected Grand Superintendent of Niagara District No. 7, of the Grand Chapter of Canada, Past President of the Niagara Agricultural Society, Past President of the Bowling Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake; and being a strong Conservative in policy, was most active as Secretary of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Conservative Association; and member of the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
In 1906 Mr. Brennan was married to Hattie Nixon, the daughter of the late James and the late Mary Ann Nixon of Vankleek Hill, Ont. There are two children, Nixon , who has taken his father’s place on the Niagara Advance and Ila H., who was engaged on the Advance for several years. They live with their father on Johnson Street.
Mr. Brennan’s parents are divided between North of Ireland and English ancestry.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
Mr. Benson is from an old and honorable Canadian family, and his grandfather, as well as his father, were among the early pioneers in this section of the country.
Mr. Benson’s father fought at Chippawa in 1812 and 1813, and met his future wife at that place; her family name was Deamud. His father, Albert, learned the trade of blacksmith at Napanee, Ont., and was so impressed with the slogan of that day, “Go West, young man,” and seeking a better opportunity went to Niagara and worked in a carriage manufacturing shop for a year. At that time there were no railroads, and all transportation was done by way of the old canal; he walked to St. Catharines to take a boat to visit his home, but found on his arrival there he had missed the boat by one day, and so determined was he on making this trip that he walked all the way to Port Maitland. The grandfather, who was an early pioneer, had gone west to seek his fortune and finally died at White Pigeon, Iowa; when the elder Benson, then took over the grandfather’s farm at Port Maitland, and went back to work on his trade at a place half way between Stromes and Port Maitland. In this latter place he met his wife, Miss Isabella Sheehan. He died when the subject of this review was but seventeen months old.
Eldorado F. Benson was born on April 25th, 1853 in Port Maitland, Ont., and is the son of Albert and Isabella (Sheehan) Benson, who originally came from Prince Edward County. Mr. Benson acquired his early education and graduated from the public school of Stromess, and first started to work as a carpenter, building ships, in his native town. In 1878 he located in Dunnville, Ont., and remained there as a carriage builder for twenty years. In 1884 he was married to Miss Clara Misener, who died some years later. He now sought new fields and in 1898, went to Hamilton, Ontario, where he worked in the same line for two and a half years, then to Milton in 1901, working there until 1906 when he made his final move and located in Welland, twenty-three years ago, and has been there ever since at 33 N. Main Street. He started business in a modest way and now has ten men in his shop, nearly all of them over seventy years of age. In late years trade conditions and demands have changed, so that he now caters only to the finest trade making milk and bread wagons and commercial truck bodies, auto tops and trimming, auto and carriage painting. He was married the second time in April 1919 to Miss Sarah Jane Catell of Simcoe; they have two boys, Ernest and Collin Blaine. He has always been active in religious and social uplift work; being an ardent prohibitionist, attends the United Methodist Church, three generations on both sides of the house have attended the same church. He was a great angler in his early days and a great ball player, as catcher played on Dunnville and Hamilton teams.
The record of the Benson family is an admirable one that reflects credit on those who have borne the name in the past, as well as those of the present generation. Eldorado F. Benson is a sincere man, conscientious and earnest; strong in his support of prohibition he has sought to lead his people in the way of right living, and to raise the standards in his community. He is a very successful business man and is held in the highest esteem by all who know him.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
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