Person:Jacob Albrecht (1)

From the History of Erie County, Vol 1^S5, describing Happy Valley, a section of Erie County that is no longer a separate community, just beyond Glenwood Park:

"The last one of the original industries of the Happy Valley to disappear was the old woolen factory, owned for forty years by Jacob Albrecht. It occupied its place by the portals of the Happy Valley for half a century, having been built by John Jewett in 1853. Mr. Jewett operated it for ten years, but only on a small scale, having but a single loom.

"In 1863 Jacob Albrecht took the mill. He was a practiced hand at the business of spinning and weaving; he was young, industrious and thrifty. Moreover he was ambitious. There seemed to be here a good opening for the practiced weaver. The place was upon a main road from the country and was near the city. Though he possessed but little capital he had unbounded faith in his abilities, and possessed a splendid stock of energy. So he contracted to purchase the mill and the acres and privileges that went with it....[I]n time the mill at Happy Valley was operating four looms, one a power machine, the others operated by had. There was other machinery as well: his spinning jacks and jennies, that numbered many spindles, and a complete outfit of all that was necessary. He gave steady employment to seven hands, and turned out a considerable variety of goods, flannels, blankets, tweeds and such."

"But he was not making swift progress financially, because untoward circumstances came upon him. More than once his dam was washed out... Then in 1873 came the great panic, and the bottom fell completely out of his business. For a time there was nothing doing. However, he kept up his courage and renewed his industry, eking out a meagre living... And so he continued for twenty years longer, until the fateful year of 1893 came and visited him with dire disaster.[See Erie's Blackest Day,^{S4, N1}]"

Essentially, the flood of 1893 washed away the entire first floor of the mill as well as the mill dam. "The extent of the damage to Mr. Albrecht was appalling. Not only had he lost the most important part of his power supply in the destruction of the water wheel and its connections, but his dam was wiped out of existence. Not even a vestige of it remained. It is one of the last, possibly the very last, of the woolen factories of Erie county."^S5

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census. (Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004;)
   Database online. Erie, Erie, Pennsylvania, post office Erie, roll M653_1107, page 289, image 299.

   Record for Jacob Albracht

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Albrect, Jacob, in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule
   Database online. Mill Creek, Erie, Pennsylvania, ED 156, roll T9_1128, page 405.3000, image 0259.

   Name: Jacob Albrecht
   Residence: Mill Creek, Erie, Pennsylvania
   Birthdate: 1827
   Birthplace: Germany
   Relationship to head-of-household: Self
   Spouse's name: Therisa Albrecht
   Spouse birthplace: Germany
   Father's name:
   Father's birthplace: Germany
   Mother's name:
   Mother's birthplace: Germany
   Race or color (expanded): White
   Ethnicity: American
   Gender: Male
   Marital status: Married
   Age: 53 years
   Occupation: Clothier
   NARA film number: T9-1128
   Page: 405
   Page letter: C
   Entry number: 6077
   Film number: 1255128
   Collection: 1880 United States Census

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census. (Name: - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.: United States of A;)
   Database online. Mill Creek, Erie, Pennsylvania, ED , roll , page .

   Record for Jacob Albrect

4. ↑ Erie's Blackest Day.

   http://www.eriecountyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/eriesblackestday3.pdf. See note for text from this flyer, quoting Jacob Albrecht.

   From Erie County Historical Society:
   
   "Mill Creek, one of Erie County’s freshwater streams which empties into Lake Erie, has a history of overflowing its banks. One of the latest recorded floods, but certainly not the most disastrous, occurred May 1893. Jacob Albrecht, owner of one of the last woolen mills along Mill Creek, shared his account of the 1893 flood with John Miller, author of History of Erie County, PA.
   
   'I could hear the rain and the roar of the rushing water; but it was dark. There was no moon, so I could see nothing. When the morning came we hurriedly dressed and as soon as the light broke we were eagerly looking for the creek. We saw with surprise and some fear that the water filled all the valley above and, running across the road extended up to within a few feet of our door-step.
   
   Soon it became light enough so we could see that there was a heap of timber of all kinds jammed against the bridge, and the culvert of the tail race from the mill was clogged. The water was running in a swift torrent across the road and cutting deep gullies in it. At length with a noise of awful rending the bridge let go and went away down stream with all the mass of timbers following; the stone abutments went with the bridge; and the road itself seemed to be going with it, and through the yawning chasm a torrent nineteen feet in depth swept resistless.'
   
   After the worst of the flood was over, Mr. Albrecht inspected what remained of the mill, and discovered he had lost the water wheel and its connections and the mill’s dam. Sixty hours of perpetual rain had caused Mill Creek to turn from its natural course, overflow city streets, enter houses and cause irreparable damage."

5.   Miller, John. 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)
   Vol 1 p. 199-200, 1909.

   See text.