admin JACOB P. SCHOELLKOPP. America suffers many wrongs through undesirable immigration from Europe; America also enjoys the precious privilege of being sought as the future home of many of Europe’s sons who come prepared and equipped for sharing in full measure in the boundless opportunities which constitute the priceless offering of America to humanity. From no other foreign land has there come a people so richly endowed with characteristics so eminently qualifying them for intelligent and loyal citizenship as from Germany. Jacob F. Schoellkopf was a splendid type of that powerful race. A Prince of Industry, he was the peer if not the leading citizen of his generation and time in the development of the city of Buffalo.
Jacob P. Schoellkopf was born in Kirchheim-unter-Teck, a small town in the Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany, November 15, 1819. He attended the schools of his native place, and was at fourteen years of age apprenticed for five years to the trade of tanner under his father; his grandfather also having been a tanner. Completing his work he clerked in a mercantile house for two years. The United States had just begun to attract large numbers of German emigrants to her shores and ambitious young Schoellkopf, with characteristic courage and foresight, determined to try the fortunes of the less economic conditions returning messages brought of the opportunities this country offered.
He landed in New York City in December, 1841, when twenty two years of age. Totally ignorant of the English language, he accepted the readiest employment that offered, and naturally reverted to his old trade. He quickly acquired the language, and after spending two years in New York and the West, he was attracted to Buffalo in 1844, when with $800 capital advanced him as a loan by his father, he launched his independent business career, by establishing a small leather store on Mohawk street. The same year he purchased a small tannery at White’s Corners (now Hamburg), which he contracted to pay for in six years. In 1846 he started a sheepskin tannery in Buffalo; two years later he built a tannery in Milwaukee, the firm being G. Pfister & Co. Two years later he became interested in another in Chicago, the firm being C. T. Grey & Co., remaining in that firm until 1856.
Both the Milwaukee and Chicago tanneries have been in continuous and successful operation up to the present time, though Mr. Schoellkopf disposed of his interests soon after they were established. In 1853 he started another tannery at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in 1854 another at North Evans, New York, the latter of which he operated with unusual success for twenty years. In 1857 Mr. Schoellkopf made his first departure from the tanning industry, by erecting the North Buffalo Flouring Mills. His great business ability won him unparalleled success in this new field and he ultimately became one of the largest operators of flouring mills in the Empire State. He bought the Frontier Mills of Buffalo in 1870 and later erected extensive flouring mills and a large brewery at Niagara Falls, utilizing the immense water power at this point by means of a system of canals connecting with the rapids in the Niagara River, an enterprise now under the control of the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Schoellkopf was President. He was senior partner in one of the largest sheepskin tanneries in the United States, located on Mississippi street. At the time of his death he was senior member of the famous milling firm of Schoellkopf and Mathews.
Having displayed such signal ability in the handling of his own great business interests he became much sought to serve upon the directorates of several large corporate enterprises in which he had become interested by way of investment. He was Vice-President of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad, prior to its sale to the Western New York and Pennsylvania Company. He was many years Vice-President of the Third National Bank of Buffalo, was a Director in White’s Bank and the Merchants’ and German banks of Buffalo, and was at the time of his death a Director in several other banks in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. He was a Director and President of the Citizens’ Gas Company, and a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospital until his death.
In 1877 he purchased the Hydraulic Canal at Niagara Falls, N. Y., where he subsequently established large manufacturing enterprises. This Canal has since been continuously enlarged and improved by the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, Mr. Schoellkopf being President of this company at the time of his death.
Such is but a brief review of some of the salient features in a busy life well spent. Of one who with no fortuitous advantages, began at the bottom rung of the industrial ladder and by industry and ability won a high position among his fellow men by deserving it. The story of his eventful life reveals a many sided man. Pre-eminently a business man of great ability and capacity for large undertakings, he ranked among the great men of his day; as a banker and financier he displayed the same unerring judgment, and keen foresight, that ranked him among the leading financiers of the city. As a public-spirited citizen, he placed at the disposal of the city and its institutions his best talents and gave much of his time and means to further the interests of both. A man of deep and abiding religious sentiment, the one predominant attribute of his nature was his devotion to the Church and its institutions, and he was ever a liberal contributor to their material needs. A man of generous impulses his charities were many and widely distributed.
Personally he was the kindest hearted of men. His gospel work was annotated by a large measure of human interest in everything that concerned the physical, moral or spiritual welfare of the community. Mr. Schoellkopf left a fragrant memory that will long be cherished in the hearts of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and all who knew his sterling worth. Mr. Schoellkopf passed away September the 15th, 1899.
In 1848 Mr. Schoellkopf married Miss Christiana Duerr, an estimable lady who was born in Germany and who came to this country soon after her future husband’s arrival. She proved a helpmeet indeed, and to her encouragement and faithful companionship may no doubt be very justly credited a large measure of the success achieved by her illustrious husband. She survived her husband, passing away October 13, 1903. Their children were: Henry Schoellkopf, born December 22, 1848, died February 20, 1880, was married to Emily Vogel of Milwaukee, Wis.; Louis Schoellkopf, born March 28, 1855, died July 21, 1901, was married to Myra Lee Horton of Sheffield, Pa.; Arthur Schoellkopf, born June 13, 1856, married Jessie Gluck of Niagara Falls, N. Y.; J. F. Schoellkopf, born February 27, 1858, married Wilma Spring of Stuttgart, Germany? Alfred Schoellkopf, born July 1st, 1860, died October 12, 1901, married Emily Graeby of Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Hugo Schoellkopf, born July 6, 1862, married Emmie Annette of Fort Lee, N. J., and Helena Schoellkopf, born April 14, 1870, married Hans Schmidt of Hanover, Germany. Tour children died in infancy.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I