My Genealogy Hound

HORACE C. SILSBY, the well known manufacturer of the Silsby Fire Engines at Seneca Falls, was born in Sheffield, Conn., on the 3d of May, 1817, and is a son of Seth and Betsy K. (Cady) Silsby, the former being a native of New Hampshire. The ancestry of our subject can be traced back to Henry Silsby, who was born in London, England, in 1608, and who emigrated to America in 1670. He died in Lynn, Mass., in 1700. Betsy Cady, the mother of our subject, was a daughter of James Cady, and her death occurred in Monroe County, N.Y., in 1840.

The subject of this sketch is the sixth in a family of nine children, only three of whom are now living. His boyhood days were passed in the village of Mendon, Monroe County, N. Y., to which place his parents had removed. He attended the village school there until fourteen years of age, when he commenced clerking in a store at Palmyra. He afterward went to Pittsford, in the same county, and later to Honeoye Falls, where he engaged in the same business. In 1836 he came to Seneca Falls, where he engaged in the manufacture of chopping axes and mill picks, in company with his brother, William C. Silsby, and his brother-in-law, William Wheeler. After following this business until 1840, he sold his interest and engaged in the dry-goods business, and later in the hardware trade, in which he continued until 1843, when he began the manufacture of pumps and stove castings, doing a large and successful business until 1856, at which time, in connection with his other lines of business, he commenced experimenting in the manufacture of fire engines. In that year he completed his first engine, which, when tested, proved all that was claimed for it. He then began the manufacture of the Holly Rotary Engine and the Holly Rotary Pump. Mr. Holly was the inventor, but they became the property of the Silsby Manufacturing Company.

The works of this company are known in the village as the Island Works, being situated on the island and covering about five acres. The plant includes twenty-two buildings, constructed of brick, with metal and slate roofs. The works were established in 1845, but it was not until 1856 that the rotary engine was manufactured and presented to the public. Mr. Silsby was a pioneer in the United States in the manufacture of steam fire engines, and was the first to produce a practical and successful one. The business of the company has practically been under one management for about forty years, and in more than half the villages of more than ten thousand inhabitants which have steam fire engines the Silsby is used. Our subject was connected with the business until 1889, when he turned it over to his sons and retired. The present company was incorporated, in 1891, as the American Fire Engine Company. This is a consolidation of the Silsby Company and three other companies. They now operate two plants — one at Seneca Falls and the other at Cincinnati, Ohio. The capital stock is $600,000, and the annual product exceeds that of all other fire-engine manufactories combined. In addition to steam fire engines, the company manufacture hose carriages and carts, fire pumps and fire-department supplies. Their trade is very large throughout the United States, and also extends into Mexico and Central and South America.

In 1839 Mr. Silsby was united in marriage with Miss Phoebe M. Burt, of Mendon, N. Y. a daughter of Festus Burt. By this union nine children were born. Those living are: Horace, General Manager of the American Fire Engine Company; Charles T., Treasurer; and William S., Secretary. All are well known and prominent residents of Seneca Falls.

In politics Mr. Silsby is a Democrat, but has never been very active, as his business required his undivided attention, though he served four years as Trustee of the village and two years as Supervisor. He is a regular attendant at the Presbyterian Church, to which he has contributed liberally, and of which he served as a Trustee for a number of years. Mrs. Silsby, who died in March, 1893, in her seventy-fifth year, was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and was always happy in carrying on the Master’s work. For nearly sixty years Mr. Silsby has been a citizen of Seneca Falls, and it goes without question that he has done more than any one man in building up the industries of the place. Throughout the entire country Seneca Falls is known as the place in which the Silsby Fire Engines are manufactured, and its reputation as a village has been largely acquired from that fact. The honors heaped upon Mr. Silsby are worthily bestowed.