My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE P. ISHAM, one of the leading wholesale tobacconists and cigar manufacturers of Dunkirk city and western New York, was born in New York city, June 19th, 1840, and is a son of Edwin and Eliza (Brown) Isham. The Isham family traces an unbroken record back to 1424, and its founder in England was one of the Norman warriors who came into that kingdom in 1066 with William the Conqueror. Edwin Isham was born at Manchester, Vermont, in 1812, and in early life removed to New York city, where he was engaged in the dry-goods business until 1843, when he removed to Dunkirk, where he was successively a partner in the wholesale and retail general mercantile firms of Bradley & Isham, 1843-63, and Isham & Co., 1863-68. He is a republican in politics, a Presbyterian in church membership, and organized the first Odd Fellows’ lodge that was instituted in Chautauqua county, His wife, Eliza (Brown) Isham, was born in Nantucket Island, of French and Dutch parentage, became an active member of the Presbyterian church, and died in the spring of 1887.

George P. Isham grew to manhood in Dunkirk, where he attended the public schools. In 1857 he entered the junior class of Union College of Schenectady, N. Y., and was the youngest member of the class which graduated from that institution in 1859. In 1863 he became a partner with his father in the wholesale grocery business, but in 1868 retired from the firm to form a partnership with J. H. Jackson, of Pennsylvania, under the firm name of Isham & Co., which partnership existed until 1878, when Mr. Isham purchased his partner’s interest and fitted up the grocery establishment into his present wholesale tobacco and cigar manufacturing house. This establishment is a three-story brick structure, forty by ninety feet, on the corner of Second and Buffalo streets, where he handles large quantities of tobacco at wholesale, and manufactures over a million and a quarter of cigars early. Since its inception, his tobacco business has grown so rapidly that he now employs over twenty hands, and an examination of internal revenue statistics shows that he does a larger business than any other tobacco establishment in this district of New York. His “G. P. I.” and “American Gentleman” brands of cigars are public favorites throughout New York and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Isham has also branched out into other lines of business, and at the present time is a member of the Mulholland Spring Manufacturing Co., and a partner of the firm of P. J. Mulholland & Co., dealers in coal, lime and cement.

A late history of Dunkirk, in its review of the industries of that city, records the following tribute to Mr. Isham: “He is prominently identified with the manufacturing, mercantile and social features of this city, and his indomitable energy and correct business methods have secured for him a high commercial standing.”

He is a republican in politics, and has served as alderman and member of the school board. In addition to his business establishment, he owns some other desirable real estate in Dunkirk. He has passed through lodge, chapter and commandery in Masonry, and is a Past Commander of Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40, Knights Templar.

In 1863 Mr. Isham united in marriage with Ellen, daughter of John Scott, of Dayton, New York. They have two children: Amelia, now Mrs. Gerry Jones, of Binghampton, N. Y.; and Edwin, who is preparing himself for opera in the Conservatory of Music.