My Genealogy Hound

OSCAR F. PRICE, the present efficient mayor of the city of Jamestown, New York, is a son of Addison A. and Charlotte A. (Green) Price, and was born in that city, September 11, 1840. The Price family have been citizens of the new world for more than a century and a half Our subject’s great-grandfather, Stephen Price, was born in the State of New Jersey, December 28, 1758. He received a classical education and pursued the profession of school teaching nearly all his life; in this capacity he went to the town of Homer, New York, and died there on the first day of June, 1831. He purchased a farm at the latter place and the property remained in the family for a great many years. When America had her first struggle with England his patriotism impelled him to enlist in the colonial army, where he remained for seven years, serving until the close of the war. He married Elizabeth Hall, and reared a family of eight sons and five daughters; several of the former were engaged in our second war with the mother country. His father’s maternal grandfather, Abraham Neff, was a native of Holland, born October 18, 1772. He came to America and settled in Cortland county, New York, where he married Eunice Beckwith and reared a large family. Charles Price, the paternal grandfather, was born in Clarendon, Morris county, New Jersey, April 20, 1786, and moved to Cortland county, this State, in 1817. Seven years later he came to Chautauqua county and settled in the town of Portland. In 1828 he moved to the town of Chautauqua, and in 1851 came to Jamestown, where he resided until his death, which occurred November 20, 1868. When a young man he followed farming, but later in life pursued carpenter work. Charles Price was first a democrat, then a whig and finally a republican. For twenty years he was a member of the Baptist church. He married Mary Neif, who was born October 18, 1792, and died November 4, 1883. She bore him twelve children, of whom Addison A., subject’s father, was the second child and the eldest son.

Addison A. Price, who is now a prominent and respected citizen of Jamestown, was born in Cortland county, New York, June 26, 1814. He learned to be a carpenter, and came to Jamestown in 1839, where he has been one of our most active builders ever since. In 1866 he built the residence which he now occupies. He married Charlotte A. Green, a daughter of David Green, of the town of Chautauqua. Their union was blessed with six children, the oldest being Oscar F. Mrs. Charlotte A. Price died some years ago. Addison A. Price erected many of the fine buildings in this city.

Oscar F. Price spent his boyhood days in Jamestown and was educated in the common schools and at the academy of this city. He read law with Smith & Lakin for a time, but has given most of his attention to real estate transactions. He has been one of the largest house-builders in the city, and during the last twenty years has erected upwards of one hundred and fifty and sold them upon easy terms; many of the people of Jamestown, who now own homes, secured them from Mr. Price, and upon terms so favorable that the cost was but little more than the paying of rent.

In November, 1875, he united in marriage with Lizzie H. Osborn, a daughter of Benjamin H. Osborn, of Butler, Pennsylvania. His family consists of a wife and one daughter, Louise O., a young lady eleven years of age. He lives in his comfortable residence at the corner of Main and Sixth streets. Politically Mr. Price is a republican, and has been unwavering in his fealty to that party since his boyhood days. Oscar F. Price has been for a number of years prominently identified with the official history of Jamestown. He was a member of the village board of trustees, serving in 1882-83 as its president. About this time he was elected for two successive terms as member of the State assembly, and when the city charter was granted, in 1886, he was chosen as the first mayor, and has been twice re-elected for the term of two years. Recognizing the demand for an economical city government, which was conspicuous in the charter drawn by the citizens, Mayor Price has not sought for a brilliant administration, being content to conduct the affairs of the city along the lines laid down by the framers of the law. He has so far succeeded in this that a small indebtedness left to the city by the old village of Jamestown has been paid off, and at the date of his last annual message, in May, 1,891, the city was out of debt. In answer to a decided public sentiment he rendered important service in helping to secure several amendments to the fundamental law of the city which has enabled the municipality to put in an electric lighting plant. While Mayor Price has favored all public improvements he has been careful not to crowd them upon the people in advance of public sentiment, and this intelligent conservatism has inspired the public with the utmost confidence, and it is to this fact, largely, that is due today the strong sentiment in favor of other improvements. Those who had conceived the idea that a municipal administration was essentially extravagant have been forced to concede the contrary, and they are ready today to follow the suggestions of Mr. Price in respect to public necessities. He is modest, quiet and unassuming, but he has played an important part in the history of Jamestown’s most rapid advancement, and has always stood ready to aid and encourage all lines of private industries. It is conceded that there is no man more popular before the people in the city. He has probably erected more houses and done more to give Jamestown the name of “the city of homes” than any one man in Chautauqua county, and it is said of him that he never foreclosed upon a single individual except for the purpose of perfecting a title.