admin JOHN GEORGE WICKSER, former State Treasurer, Republican State Committeeman, and President of the Buffalo German Insurance Company, is a typical example of a man who owes his rise in life to his own abilities. Mr. Wickser is one of Buffalo’s leading business men, and has also enjoyed high political honors.
Mr. Wickser is the only son of John Jacob Wickser, who was born in the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland, in 1828, came to Buffalo in 1850, and died in 1888. He was in mercantile business in Buffalo for many years, and served three years in the army during the Civil War. In 1855 he married Eva Catherine Becker, daughter of Frederick Becker, and sister of Philip Becker, formerly Mayor of Buffalo. Mrs. Wickser was born in Germany in 1834 and died in 1905. John George Wickser was born in Buffalo October 17, 1856. He attended Public School No. 1, and Central High School, and when sixteen years old went to work for the Forest Lawn Cemetery- Association, and afterward for Smith & Mixer, lumber merchants. Later he entered the employ of the Buffalo German Insurance Company in a clerical capacity. After three years with this corporation, he began business for himself, at the age of 20 becoming a partner in the firm of Becker & Wickser, the senior member being Henry Becker. The firm was engaged in the saddlery business at No. 555 Main street, remaining there until 1880, when the business was removed to No. 9 Court street, where it now is conducted. In 1896 Mr. Wickser became a member of the firm of Philip Becker & Co., which was afterward changed to a corporation of which he became Vice-President, which office he now holds. The company conducts an extensive wholesale grocery business at Nos. 266-271 Pearl street. Mr. Wickser has also dealt in real estate to a large extent, and is President of the Buffalo German Insurance Company. Mr. Wickser’s first service as a public man was in 1903 and 1904, when he was State Treasurer, to which office he had been elected in the fall of 1902, running far ahead of his ticket in Erie County. Owing to his numerous business interests, he was not a candidate for reelection. Early in 1905 he was appointed by Governor Higgins President of the State Prison Commission for a term of four years. Both as State Treasurer and as head of the Prison Commission, Mr. Wickser displayed administrative ability of a very high order, and brought to his work the same fidelity and care which he bestows on his private business. The result has been a notably creditable public record. In the fall of 1905 the substantially unanimous wish of the Republican party in Buffalo was that Mr. Wickser should take the nomination for Mayor, and great pressure was brought to bear to induce him to do so. But personal reasons made it impossible for him to accept the proffered honor.
April 13, 1886, Mr. Wickser married Katherine A. Houck, deceased 1907, daughter of the late Philip Houck of Buffalo.
The children of this union are: Philip J. Wickser, a graduate of Cornell University, class of 1908, and Ruth Houck Wickser.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I