As mentioned in last week’s article, Town of Niagara pioneer Abraham Witmer’s two youngest sons, Tobias and Elias, were twins. The brothers were born on Oct. 8, 1816, in their father’s log house on what is now Witmer Road near Hyde Park Boulevard. Both sons received their primary education at home and later attended the Lewiston Academy in that village.
Tobias had the mind of an engineer and as a young man designed many practical inventions including a wheel with spokes made from an old hoop skirt, a corn sheller, a fire escape and a portable signal tower. Because of his expertise, Tobias was hired as a civil engineer to work on various public works projects throughout his life. But he also had an artistic side and appreciated art, poetry and music which may be why he also developed “a simple contrivance to teach the transposition of the scale for the use of music teachers.” In 1837, Tobias married Anna Frick of Snyder, in the Town of Amherst, and the couple lived in her parents’ home for the next 60 years. The 130-acre farm was located on the south side of Main Street, 2 miles west of the village of Williamsville near what is now Lamarck Dive. Between 1838 and 1867 the couple had 14 children, nine daughters and five sons, all of whom lived to adulthood. In 1861, at the age of 45, Tobias and his eldest son, Christian, age 21, both enlisted in the Union Army. While father and son were fighting in the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862, Anna Witmer gave birth to the couples’ eighth daughter (13th child) and named her Clara Fredericka after the site of the battle.
Education had always been important to Tobias Witmer. Before his marriage, he had taught school near his home in the Town of Niagara, and in 1857 was one of the founders of the Williamsville Classical Institute (later the Williamsville Academy). He taught vocal music and served for a short time as principal there. Tobias’ older children, boys and girls, attended the school until it closed in 1869. In addition to his scholarly pursuits, his inventions and assisting his father-in-law in managing a large farm (Anna Frick Witmer was an only child), Tobias was also very active in the Christian Disciples Church in Williamsville. He was responsible for establishing new churches and Sunday schools in Erie and Niagara counties and coordinated religious meetings and speakers throughout the area.
Tobias Witmer died at this Williamsville home on Aug. 14, 1897, two months before his 81st birthday. Anna Witmer passed away in 1908 at the age of 89. Both are buried in the Williamsville Cemetery. The Witmer farm outside of Williamsville was sold to a developer in 1922 and sub-divided for streets and houses.
Elias Witmer was born on the same day and in the same house as his brother Tobias but passed away 101 years later in another house built right next door to the original log home on Witmer Road. Like his brother, Elias was educated at home and then at the Lewiston Academy. He too taught school as a young adult in the Pine Hill area of Buffalo before moving to Williamsville at about the same time as his brother. He had decided to pursue the trade of tailor and was apprenticed to an established business in that village.
After finishing his apprenticeship, he returned to Niagara and practiced his trade for a few years before giving it up for health reasons. Elias then went back to teaching school but after five years also left that profession as well. Since he had been raised on a farm and knew the business of agriculture, he devoted the rest of his life to that occupation. Elias Witmer remained a bachelor all his long life but enjoyed the company of his numerous nieces and nephews.
In 1885, Tobias’ daughter Emily and her husband Daniel Schmidt, moved into the old Abraham Witmer house (built in 1821) to assist Elias in his later years. Despite his advancing years, he remained active on his farm and was very much involved in the Niagara County Pioneer Association, eventually becoming the oldest surviving member. He was able to attend the annual picnics up until his 94th year. Though his hearing and eyesight failed him in his final years, Elias “retained his mental faculty right up to the time he expired,” according to his niece, Emily Schmidt. He passed away on Feb. 23, 1918 at age 101. Like most of his family, Elias Witmer was buried in the family cemetery on the farm. A year after his death, the Schmidts sold the property to the U.S. Alloy Company.
Although there are still Witmer homes left in the Town of Niagara, none of them are left on Witmer Road.