Frederick Venator

Frederick Venator has been sailing out of Buffalo harbor as engineer for a number of years. He is a native of Buffalo, having been born in that city July 9, 1839, a son of Charles and Dora (Miller) Venator, and there he obtained his education. The early part of his active life was given up to employment in the direct line of his trade, and he has at different times worked in Davis & Eaton's planing-mill, Pierce's shingle factory, George Bailey's machine shop (in which he learned his trade), the Kendall Machine Shop, John T. Noyes' shop, the King Iron Works, Brook's Locomotive Works at Dunkirk, the Erie Railway Shops and the Holly Water Works. Mr. Venator's first experience on the lakes was as second engineer of the steamer Artic, and he was subsequently engaged in the same capacity on the Owego, of the Union Steamboat Company. Following this he was chief engineer in turn of the steamer Susquehanna, the Conemaugh and the Wissahickon, all of the Anchor line. He is a member of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association and, fraternally, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

In 1864 Mr. Venator was married, at Buffalo, to Miss Raney Blummer, by whom he had six children, and in 1875 he married, for his second wife, Miss Anna Ross. They reside at No. 543 Oak street, Buffalo.

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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.