Lawrence G. Gebhard

Lawrence G. Gebhard, the present chief engineer of the Spaulding Machine Screw Company, on Kensington avenue, Buffalo, N.Y., is a son of Capt. Nicholas Gebhard, whose biography appears above.

Our subject was born at Buffalo, October 6, 1860, and received his education at the public schools and at Canissius College, Washington street, Buffalo. For a short period in his younger days he was employed as clerk in a grocery store, and then spent about five years learning the machinist's trade at the King Iron Works, Buffalo. For three months during the season of 1880 he was oiler on the steamer Boston. During the first two months of 1881 he was oiler on the steamer Montana, and finishing that season and the succeeding one as second engineer of the same steamer. His next position was that of second engineer of the steamer Milwaukee, on which he sailed for a couple of seasons. In the spring of 1885 he fitted on the steamer Colorado and was her chief engineer for that season. He was then second on the steamer Commodore for a season and a half, and remained ashore the next two years, being engaged in the grocery business. In 1889-1890 he was chief engineer of the Empire State, which later sank off Point Sauble, loaded with 875 tons of copper. During the seasons of 1892-1893 he was chief engineer of the steamers Milwaukee and Northern Light, respectively, and for about three months in 1894 he was employed as foreman in John Mahar's machine shop. >From there he went to the King Iron Works and remained until April 1895, when he became chief engineer for the Spaulding Machine Screw Company, a position he has held up to the present time. Mr. Gebhard has been a member of the M.E.B.A., No. 1, fifteen years, and was a charter member of Keystone Lodge No. 50, and National Association of Stationary Engineers.

Mr. Gebhard was married in Buffalo, January 17, 1884, to Cecelia Logel, and they have two children: Gertrude, now (1898) aged twelve years, and Edith aged eight years. The family residence is at No. 259 Riley street, Buffalo, New York.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.