Jerome Francis Downing    

JEROME FRANCIS DOWNING. Success in any line of occupation, in any avenue of business, is not a matter of mere chance, but is won through energetic effort, extreme earnestness of purpose, a wise improvement of every offered opportunity, and strict attention to its every detail. The great measure of prosperity that has invariably attended every venture of Mr. Downing is speaking evidence of his ability, keen foresight, and integrity, and does him both honor and credit. He is one of Erie’s oldest and most prominent citizens, and is conspicuously identified with its financial and business progress.

Coming on both sides of the house from substantial New England stock, Jerome F. Downing was born, March 24, 1827, in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, being the youngest child in a. family consisting of eight sons and four daughters. His parents, James and Roxana (Forbush) Downing, natives respectively of Boston and Roxbury. Massachusetts, settled in the latter place, which is now a part of the city of Boston, soon after their marriage, but subsequently, in 1810, removed to Enfield, Massachusetts, where they bought land, and engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Brought up on the home farm, Jerome F. Downing began as a boy to assist his father in the labors incidental to farm life, attending in the meantime the short sessions of the district school. An apt scholar, with a decided liking for books, he applied himself to his studies, and having earned some money by working for wages in the neighborhood in which he was brought up, he entered the freshman class at Amherst College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1848. In 1850 he embarked in journalism, becoming editor of a newspaper in Holyoke, later being similarly employed on the Troy (New York) Daily Post. In the meantime Mr. Downing read law, and after his admission to the bar came to Pennsylvania in search of a favorable location, settling, in the fall of 1855, in Erie. Beginning at once the practice of his profession, he met with genuine success, and in 1863 was elected district attorney of Erie county. The ensuing year the Insurance Company of North America and Philadelphia, one of the most important and reliable fire and marine insurance companies in the country, was diligently searching for a suitable person to extend its operations westward. Its choice fell upon Mr. Downing, who, with some reluctance and many grave misgivings, accepted the offered position, becoming the company’s general agent for the Western states, with headquarters in Erie.

Under the efficient management of Mr. Downing, his department of the company’s affairs made rapid progress, becoming one of the most important in the insurance world, and still maintains its high standing among the many flourishing organizations since established. To accommodate and better house this immense business, Mr. Downing erected the fine brick office block at the corner of Ninth and Peach streets, which has since been its home. In 1892, as an investment for his money, he erected the six-story, brick block known as the Downing Building, at the corner of Ninth and State streets. It is the largest and most modern business block in the city, and its first, second and third floors are occupied by one of the largest and most thriving dry goods establishments in Erie, while the other floors are used as offices. Mr. Downing has also other property of great value, owning real estate in the city of Chicago, and extensive farming lands in the Northwest.

Formerly a Whig in politics, Mr. Downing became identified with the Republican party at the time of its birth, and has since been true to its highest interests. He has been prominent in municipal affairs, serving on the school board, and as a member of the city council. When Erie celebrated “Columbus Day,” Mr. Downing was one of the four speakers selected to deliver addresses, the subject assigned him, and to which he did full justice, being “The Development of Four Centuries;” and when, September 11, 1895, the one hundredth anniversary of Erie’s birth was celebrated, he was chosen Centennial Orator, and, as on the previous occasion acquitted himself with honor.

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 474-475. 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.