admin AMOS W. SANGSTER was born at Kingston, Ontario, February 5, 1833. In early life he accompanied his parents to Buffalo, and was educated in the public schools there. As a youth he assisted his father in the latter’s business, but his talent for art meantime found expression in wood engraving, and in which he did much work for the Courier Company. He later devoted himself wholly to art.
It is a remarkable fact that this accomplished painter and etcher was wholly self-taught. In his whole artistic career he only received one lesson, and was so dissatisfied that he never would consent to take another. A man of independent mind and keen observation, Mr. Sangster went to Nature for his instruction. His pictures were simple in conception, profound in sentiment and finished in execution. In oils, water-colors and etchings Mr. Sangster attained equal eminence. In addition to their consummate art, the works of Mr. Sangster have a distinct historic value. To him pre-eminently belongs the title of “Painter of the Niagara Frontier,” whose grand and picturesque scenes he devoted a large share of his life to reproducing. He was a particularly strong painter of marine subjects. He spent many summers with easel and sketch-book at Orchard Park, and he loved to sketch along the shores of the Niagara River and Lake Erie. There is scarcely a home in Buffalo having pretentions to art culture which does not have on its walls a picture or etching bearing his familiar signature. For many years Mr. Sangster conducted a studio with the late A. N. Samuels. There are few Buffalo artists who have not at one time or another studied with Mr. Sangster. He was a successful instructor.
Mr. Sangster was a charter member and first President of the Buffalo Society of Artists, and a charter member of the Young Men’s Christian Association.
October 13, 1853, Mr. Sangster married Miss Eliza B. Remington, daughter of Edwin and Eliza (Kilburn) Remington of Buffalo. The only child of the union died in infancy.
The death of Mr. Sangster occurred on the 23d of April, 1904. ARTHUR J. SANGSTER, son of James Sangster, was born in Buffalo on the 19th of March, 1869. After receiving a common and High School education, he studied law in the Buffalo Law School. In 1897 he became associated with his father in his patent business, under the firm name of James Sangster & Co. Since the death of the elder Sangster, Arthur J. Sangster has continued to conduct the business alone. Mr. Sangster is a man of large experience, of strict integrity, and is an expert in his special field. He commands the public confidence and has maintained and amplified the business of which he is the proprietor.
April 3, 1900, Mr. Sangster married Miss Lulu May Billings, daughter of James D. and Cornelia (Squire) Billings of Buffalo;
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I