admin HOBART WEED, son of Thaddeus Weed, head of the great wholesale and retail hardware house of Weed & Co., stands in the front rank of Western New York merchants. He was born in Buffalo, and received a thorough education at schools in Buffalo and Toronto, and the Percival Classical School in Fredonia, N. Y., and Kev. H. D. Noble’s School at Brookfield, Conn. After finishing his studies, Mr. Weed returned to Buffalo, where he gained his first experience in business in the store founded by his father, then being conducted by his brother, De Witt C. Weed. After he had learned the business Mr. Weed with his brother formed the copartnership of De Witt C. Weed & Co. On the death of Mr. De Witt C. Weed, in 1880, the firm became Weed & Co., with Mr. Hobart Weed as principal owner. In 1903 the house was incorporated as Weed & Company, with Mr. Hobart Weed as President. The concern is one of the foremost wholesale and retail hardware houses between New York City and Chicago. It celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary in, 1893. One of Mr. Weed’s most noteworthy activities has been in advancing musical culture. The musical career of Mr. Weed began in his youth. While a student at school he organized and trained a choir. When he was only seventeen years old, the vestry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church placed the entire direction of the church music in Mr. Weed’s hands, and he has had charge of it ever since. He sang in the choir of St. Paul’s as early as 1870, was made member of the Music Committee in 1873, and was chosen Chairman of that body in 1881. From early in life he has been interested in procuring for the Buffalo public the best vocal and instrumental talent for concerts, and has had an important part in, educating the popular taste in music in the Queen City. Among the more notable musical organizations and artists brought to Buffalo by Mr. Weed and his associates were the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, the Boston Symphony and New York Symphony Orchestras, the Pittsburg Orchestra and the Damrosch Opera Company; Melba, Nordica, Sembrich, Gadski, Christine Neilson and the great artists of the last generation. Connected with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church all his life, Mr. Weed is a vestryman and one of its most prominent members. He is an active member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, holds life memberships in the Fine Arts Academy and the Young Men’s Association, and is a member of the Buffalo, Ellicott and Country Clubs, and of the Hardware Club of New York City. In 1870 Mr. Weed married Miss Harriett Monteath, daughter of William and Rhoda Monteath of Buffalo. Mr. and Mrs. Weed have three children, Emily M., Shelton and Walter Irving Weed.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I