| Notes |
- Town of Niagara Supervisor, Election Commissioner. Lived and farmed Joseph Witmer's homestead.
Baptism indicates he was born in 1867
ALSO
Niagara Gazette - 1/15/1943
IN MEMORIAM
A Tribute to the Late Andrew Laur
By EDWARD T. WILLIAMS
Niagara Historian
The dictionaries define a pioneer
as "one who goes before, as into the
wilderness, preparing a way for
others to follow," and that descrip-
tion exactly portrays Niagara
county's earliest settlers. Except
John Stedman and his brothers, at
Schlosser in 1760 there were few
residents of Niagara county, other
then the Red Man, before 1800.
Stedman left for Canada in 1796
after the evacuation of Fort Nia-
gara, and early settlers began to
arrive. The primary pioneer settlers
of Niagara county have been defined
as those who settled here or were
born here previous to the War of
1812. By the same token the secondary
pioneers were those who
wre residents previous to 1940. The
latter date is over 100 years in the
past. the Niagara County Pioneers
Association was organized 57 years
ago next September, and the title
of pioneer has in that time been
extended to embrace not only the
first few settlers but the subsequent
many.
Into this latter class falls Andrew
R. Laur. native and resident for
j more than three-quarters of a ceni
tury. With the rapid increase In
population there are not a large
number of persons in the class of
Mr. Laur, native and resident for
more than three-quarters of a cen-
tury. We are speaking in the sense
of time rather than regarding
character and attainments, but An-
drew R. Laur was an unusual person
in both respects. Vitus Laur, his
father, whose memory old residents
respect was born 100 years ago and
settled in the town of Niagara in
1866. Mrs. Laur, who recently pre-
deceased Mr. Laur was a descend-
ant of a primary pioneer family of
Niagara county. The Wltmer and
Young families. Mrs. Laur was a
Wltmer. were among the earliest
settlers of the Niagara Frontier, in
the locality where their descendants
have ever since lived. Both
the Witmer and Young families
came by wagon and horses from
Lancaster. Pa., In 1810. and were
credited with being the earliest permanent settlers in the town of
Niagara remote from the river. Both
families removed to Livingston
county at the time of the devasta
tion of the Niagara Frontier in
1813. and remained there until after
the ending of the War of 1913,
men coming back during the sum-
mer months to attend to their
farming interests, and going away
again after the harvest.
About the first employment that
Andrew R. Laur had was as a bell
hop in the Monteagle Hotel, the
picturesque hostelry that was con-
temporary with the John A. Roeb-
ling suspension bridge.
One of the enterprises of the
Bellevue Land Company, which was
organized in 1845 by Col. John Fisk,
a prominent railroad man of Roch-
ester; General Charles B. Stuary,
a prominent civil engineer of
Schenectady; J. V. Vedder of
Geneva, and Roswell G. Benedict,
of Saratoga, which bought most of
the land that was the site of the
village of Bellevue was the
construction of the Monteagle Hotel
which WAS first in charge of General
Stuart, who secured the capital to
build ft. Of course, it was some
time afterwards that.Andrew R
Laur, in the 70's, was employed At
the hotel as a bell hop.
Previous to the establishment of
the Niagara Reservation In 1885,
when Prospect Park along the American rapids was lined with various
buildings housing manufacturing
and business enterprises Mr. Laur
was employed in one of these mills
He has related to the writer
boyhood experiences of the real vil-
lage of 60 and more years ago. He
has witnessed a great transforma-
tlon in the Industrial Niagara Falls
of today.
The details of his long and in-
terestlng life have been related.
Some incidents could be emphased.
Only recently one of these was
called by the sale of the car
which he had owned .for years in
which President McKinley rode on his
visit to Niagara Falls Just prior
to his assassination at the Pan-Am-
erican Exposition in Buffalo in
September. 1901. The coach in
which President McKinley rode,
which was recently sold by
Laur to Sanford Morden, Jr,|
engaged in the transportation t
ness, was one of those owned by
the Miller & Brundage Coach Co-
pany. Frank H. Zeiger, for many
years connected with the
Brundage Coach Company and
successor, the Niagara
Company, headed by John C. I
says that this coach was one of
about a dozen purchased by the
former company of a manufactur-
ing company In Connecticut, the
coaches were very substantial
character and cost about $1300
apiece. They were used exclusively
for weddings, funerals and for spe-
cial occasions like the visit of
President McKinley.
On the occasion of the
entertainment of Mr. and Mrs.
of Philadelphia, the winners
of the Niagara honey mooner's
test, conducted by the Niagara Falls
Chamber of Commerce, they were
driven around the Niagara Reserva-
tion and to the center of the
Rainbow Bridge by Mr. Laur and
photographed. Later Mr. and Mrs.
Laur, Mr. and Mrs. C. F.
Reichert, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Ford, and Mr. and Mrs. Michael
McGray, 50 year Niagara Falls
honeymooners, with Mr. and Mrs.
David Edwards, longest married of
all of the party, attended the re-
ception to Mr. and Mrs. Fraul
the Hotel Niagara. Now both Mr.
and Mrs. Fraul and Mr. and Mrs.
Laur have crossed the river.
Andrew R. Laur took a deep in-
terest in the history of the ??
Niagara county of which he and his
family were worth citizens and
was president of the Niagara County
Pioneers Association in 1938, he
an active interest in the organization
for years before and has been
actively as a member of the execu-
tive committee since.
|
1866 - 1944 (77 years)