Gaston, Joseph.  "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912."  Vol. 4. 
Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 69.
 
ALBERTUS LARROWE

     entered into his present business relations as secretary and treasurer of
the Peninsula Iron Works at St. Johns, on the 1st of April, 1910, and is thus
prominently connected with industrial activities there in the conduct of a
general foundry, machinist and blacksmithing business. He was born in Steuben
county, New York, February 24, 1880, a son of Albertus and Katherine M. (Morgan)
Larrowe. The family is an old one of that part of the state, having been there
represented for several generations.  The name was originally La Rue but being
driven from their native country of France at the time of the persecution of the
Huguenots, they changed the spelling of their name to prevent identification.
When representatives of the family first came to America settlement was made in
New Jersey and later a branch of the family was established in New York. In the
maternal line Albertus Larrowe is a direct descendant of Miles Morgan of
Springfield, Massachusetts. This family was represented in the Revolutionary
war, entitling Mrs. Katherine M. Larrowe to membership with the Daughters of the
American Revolution, with which she is now identified. Albertus Larrowe, Sr.,
was a miller by trade, following that pursuit as a life work. In politics he was
a republican and became prominent as a party leader in his county. He was also
an active Mason and became a past master of Liberty Lodge, No. 110, F. & A. M.,
of Cohocton, which he joined on its organization.
     His son, Albertus Larrowe, whose name introduces this review, pursued his
education in the public schools and on starting out in business life on his own
account became engaged in merchandising in New York city. He afterward removed
to the middle west and for ten years was connected with the wholesale grocery
trade in Duluth, Minnesota. In 1910 he arrived in Portland and became interested
in the Peninsula Iron Works, which were established by J. C. Murphy and W. A.
Bennett, under the name of the Modern Machine Works, in November, 1909. They
employed about three men and something of the growth of the business is
indicated in the fact that employment is now given to from twenty-five to forty
men. On the 1st of March, 1911, the name was changed to its present form. On the
1st of April of the preceding year Mr. Larrowe had become secretary and
treasurer, having purchased Mr. Murphy's interest. The company does a general
foundry, machinist and blacksmithing business, drawing a large trade from
Portland and the Columbia river valley.
     In 1910 Mr. Larrowe was married to Miss Helen Maginnis, of Duluth,
Minnesota, and they now have one child, Albertus Eugene. In politics Mr. Larrowe
has ever been an earnest republican since age conferred upon him the right of
franchise. He does not seek nor desire political office, however, but has served
for two terms as a member of the school board in district No. 2 and the cause of
education finds in him a stalwart champion. He belongs to St. Johns Commercial
Club and the company of which he is a representative has a membership in the
United Metal Trades Association. Mr. Larrowe is recognized as a self-made young
man of unusual business ability and enterprise. He is what is known in modern
parlance as a good mixer; in other words, he has attractive social qualities
which render him popular and at the same time he is ever appreciative of the
good points in others. He has made steady progress in his business career since
starting out in life on his own account and he is now one of the leading factors
in the development, management and control of a business which is proving a
valuable asset to industrial and commercial circles. It is not that parasitical
kind that feeds upon a community, giving nothing in return, but is one of the
moving vital forces in industrial upbuilding and constitutes a tangible evidence
of the energy, determination and progressiveness of Mr. Larrowe and his fellow
officers.
 
 
Transcriber's additional notes:
 
"Gazetteer of Steuben County, New York"
Compiled and published by Millard F. Roberts, 1891
Town of Wheeler, page 571
   Albertus Larrowe, of Huguenot descent, was born in New Jersey on the night of
the battle of Trenton, December 25, 1776, within sound of the guns. In 1795 he
started on foot and alone for Canada, but on his arrival at Bath he was too lame
and foot-sore to proceed further. Being a mechanic he readily found employment
and remained there, assisting in building operations, working by scribe rule, as
the custom then was. He subsequently bought land in Reading, about three
miles north of Dundee, where he cleared fifty acres. This property he sold and
came back to the town of Bath, now Wheeler, where he purchased about three
hundred acres, and purchased two hundred acres at Liberty where his son John
until late years resided. He married Jeannette, daughter of Deacon William
Aulls, of Pleasant Valley. Their children were: John: Eliza; Sarah A.; Catharine
: Minerva ; Jacob ; James : Albertus ; Mary J.; Jonathan ; Frank, and Charlotte,
who died January 12, 1858.
 
"Landmarks of Steuben County, New York"
Edited by Hon. Harlo Hakes, L.C. Aldrich and others
D. Mason & Co., publishers; Syracuse, N.Y., 1896
Page 70
Albertus Larrowe:
  The subject of this sketch, Albertus Larrowe, was born in Cohocton on the 11th
of July, 1826. On his paternal side, his ancestry can be traced back for several
generations. There is a legend in the family that at the time of the persecution
of the Huguenots, three brothers named La Rue fled from France to the United
States landing in North Carolina. That they changed the spelling of their name
from La Rue to Larrowe for fear of being followed to this country, and to more
completely change their identity. They, however, retained the pronunciation of
La Rue.  It is known that there were three brothers by this name, who formerly
lived in North Carolina. One went from there to Louisiana, one to Kentucky and
one came north to New Jersey. To the latter was born a son, on the day of the
battle of Trenton, within hearing of the guns. This child was named Albertus and
was the grandfather of the present Albertus. He came from New Jersey to the town
of Reading, now Schuyler county, from there he came to Wheeler where
he afterward married Janet Aulls of Urbana. He had twelve children, who
reached maturity, all born in Wheeler. In 1806 he bought from Samuel Haight, in
Cohocton, about two hundred acres of land, which forms a part of the farm now
owned by his grandson and namesake.
     The father of the present Albertus was named John, and was the oldest of
the twelve children mentioned above. He was born in 1801, and was married to
Elizabeth Holmes in Wheeler. Soon after their marriage, they came to Cohocton,
where he bought from the Pulteney estate a tract of land on the Davis Creek,
adjoining that owned by his father. On the banks of the creek he built a little
home, where were born his four sons. A few years later he bought the Haight
property from his father and built a house, which, when he built, the present
Larrowe farm house was removed to the village, and is now owned and occupied by
Ephraim Wemple.
     The maternal ancestors of Albertus Larrowe can trace their descent from
Silas Wheeler, in honor of whom the town of Wheeler was named, and who was its
first permanent settler. He was a native of Rhode Island, was a soldier of the
Revolulution, and was with Benedict Arnold in his perilous march through the
forests of Maine, and at the assault of Quebec stood near Montgomery when he
fell. He was four times taken prisoner, twice by land, and twice upon the high
seas, as a roving privateersman. After his second capture upon the coast of
Great Britain he was confined in jail and condemned to be hanged as a pirate. He
escaped by the aid of the distinguished orator and statesman, Henry Grattan, who
procured for him a passport, and secured a passage to France, whence he returned
to America.  He settled in the town of Wheeler (then included in Bath) in 1799.
     Captain Wheeler died in 1828, aged seventy-eight, at the home of his son,
Grattan H. Wheeler. His children were the son, Grattan H., and twin daughters
named Ruth and Sarah. Ruth married Nathan Rose, one of the pioneers of
Wheeler. Sarah married William Holmes, who made the first clearing on what is
known as the Barney farm, on the opposite side of the creek from the home of her
sister.  The first child born to them was Elizabeth, who afterwards married John
Larrowe, who was born and brought up on the farm adjoining that of her father,
and from where they removed to Cohocton.
     There were four sons born to them, Franklin, Albertus, Marcus Dwight, and
William Wheeler. They, appreciating the benefits of education, were determined
that their boys should have all the educational advantages within their reach
These were necessarily most limited, consisting principally of winter schools. A
Presbyterian minister, a Dr. Johnson, was boarded for one winter, that the boys
might derive the benefit of his college education. During their minority the
boys worked for their father on the farm. Soon after attaining, his majority,
Albertus invested his scanty savings in a timber tract, in company with his
brother Franklin. Their earnings were invested and reinvested until they had
purchased several large and valuable tracts, principally from the Pulteney
estate, and had a good water power saw mill located just above the village. They
built several miles of the first fence along the Erie Railroad running through
the town, furnishing the lumber and doing the work for seventy-five cents per
rod. The principal market for their lumber was in Canandaigua. It was hauled to
the landing, near the head of Canandaigua Lake where it was put into rafts, and
would then wait for the wind to blow from the south to blow it to Canandaigua.
The market for farm produce was either Dansville on the Genesee Valley Canal, or
Hammondsport on Keuka Lake.
     Elizabeth Larrowe died in 1862.
    John Larrowe died in 1867. His remains were interred in the plot of ground
which he had already dedicated as a family cemetery. He left his farm to his two
surviving sons, Albertus and Marcus Dwight. Albertus bought the interest of the
latter in 1868, and has since owned the homestead, known as the Larrowe farm
situated one-eighth of a mile below the village of Cohocton. The larger portion
of it is now within the corporation limits.
     Mr. Larrowe was made a Mason in 1858, at Naples. He was one of the charter
members of Liberty Lodge No. 510, being its first master, and occupied this
position for several terms thereafter.
     Mr. Larrowe has been an enthusiastic Republican since the party was
organized.  He was supervisor for two or three years, and has always felt an
interest in the welfare of his party.
     In 1866 Larrowe bought from David H. Wilcox the Liberty Mills, a small
water power mill, fitted with two runs of stone, using wooden peg gears and the
rude machinery of that period. The grain was hoisted to the top floor by a rope
running over a pulley in the roof, and a man at the other end. Two years later
the mill was remodeled and operated as a custom mill, making a specialty of
buckwheat flour in its season, and from that time until 1889, Mr. Larrowe
continued the manufacture of buckwheat flour, dropping out of the custom work
entirely. The Larrowe Milling Co. was formed at that time, and two years later
changed to a corporation, with A. Larrowe as president, operating the largest
buckwheat mill in the world, equipped with the most modern machines and
appliances, many of them built after Mr. Larrowe's own plans. He has always been
a firm believer in pure food products, and Larrowe's kiln-dried buckwheat flour
is one of the very few brands which have never been adulterated.
     Mr. Larrowe has been a tireless worker, and has always enjoyed the respect
and confidence of all his business associates and acquaintances and a host of
friends. Though most of the active work of the concern is now performed by
younger men, much of the success enjoyed by the Larrowe Milling Co. Ltd., is
attained by his suggestions and counsel, for which his ripe experience so well
fits him.
     Mr. Larrowe was married to Harriet A. Kellogg, daughter of John Kellogg of
Cohocton, on February 32, 1854, who died in December, 1860, leaving two sons,
John and Charles. On the 23d of February, 1863, Mr. Larrowe was married to Julia
A., daughter of James Draper of Cohocton, who died January 4, 1864, leaving one
son, James Erwin.
     Mr. Larrowe was married April 28, 1875, to Katherine, daughter of Shepard
P. Morgan, of Lima, by whom he had three children, Elizabeth A., Albertus, jr.,
and Dwight Morgan.
     Dr. Larrowe was one of the organizers of the Universalist church. The site
of the present residence of Mr. Larrowe is the same as that on which stood the
house, in which were born the Fowler family, the eminent phrenologists, Orson,
Lorenzo and Sarah, now Mrs. Wells. And the large elm on the lawn was set there
by these brothers when it was a slender sapling, the size of their wrists.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in September 2007 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.