Harry S. Childs    

HARRY S. CHILDS stands at the head of some of the most important industrial institutions of the city of Erie, but although he has been long and prominently identified with the life and interests of Erie county he is a native son of the Empire state, born in Salamanca, Cattaraugus county, New York, August 28, 1865. The Childs, however, are a Massachusetts family, but David Childs, the grandfather of the Erie merchant, moved from Salem in his native state to Canandaigua, New York, which became the birthplace of his son, Marvin A. During a number of years Marvin A. Childs was engaged in the leather business in that city, but he moved to Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, in 1904, and there he is now living. He married Mary C. Boardman, who was born in western New York, a daughter of John Boardman, and she is also living.

Their son, Harry S. Childs, was reared in Randolph, near Jamestown, receiving in the meantime a public school education, and for a short time he also clerked in a store there. But in 1882 he left there for Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he was a salesman for several years, and from that time until coming to Erie he was engaged along the same line in the oil regions. He was still employed in the capacity of a salesman when he came to Erie, but here he embarked in the tea business with R. M. Johnson, forming what was known as the Great Eastern Tea Bank, their place of business being at 1005 State street, in the Harold building, but Mr. Johnson died within a few months after the organization of the business and he was succeeded by George B. Kimberly, the firm name then becoming Kimberly and Childs. About a year and a half later, however, Mr. Childs sold his interest to his partner and then embarked in the flour and feed business at the corner of Tenth and State streets, but after a short time there he resumed his former vocation of clerking, and for about a year filled a clerkship at New Castle, Pennsylvania.

On the 2d of July, 1898, Mr. Childs formed a partnership with Charles Waxelbaum and David Jones, and under the firm name of Childs, Waxelbaum and Company opened a clothing store at 1206 State street, hut about a year and a half later Mr. Jones retired from the business, and the firm name then became Childs and Waxelbaum, while on the 20th of September, 1907, Mr. Childs purchased the interest of his partner, and has since owned and conducted the business alone. His has been truly a successful life, and being a man of forceful individuality he has placed his name at the head of a number of the industries which has helped to make Erie a commercial center. On the 20th of October, 1907, and in company with other leading business men of this city, T. O. Andrews, Samuel Glenn, A. P. Johnson and John Strueber, he formed and incorporated the Erie Baking Company, the largest establishment of its kind in the city, and of which Mr. Andrews is the president and Mr. Childs the treasurer and general manager. The plant is a three story brick building, 125x165 feet in dimensions, and the company utilize the entire three floors. They have equipped the plant with the most modern machinery known in the business, and they employ thirty-five people, and in Erie alone run eight wagons, and they also have wagons in Ashtabula, Conneaut, Meadville, Warren and at other points, in fact they ship their product, bread and pastries, over the entire northern part of the state.

Mr. Childs married Carrie Glenn, from Crawford county, this state a daughter of Samuel Glenn. Mr. Childs has fraternal relations with the Elks, the Red Men and the Masonic Order, is a member of the Mannaerchor Society, and in politics supports Republican principles.

A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1909, pages 448-449. More Erie County History Books   Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.