Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Sr. (February 14, 1895 – February 1978), was an assistant scientist. He worked with inventor George Poe. In his childhood he worked with Poe (mid-1907 to 1908), who taught him how an artificial respiration device functions. His assistance to Poe was instrumental in the successful development of the respiration device, as he performed the fine detail work and metal fabrication that Poe could no longer do. His face came to be one of the most well known of the time, having been featured in several large circulation newspapers.

Biography

Arthur was the youngest child of Abram Cline (September 12, 1843 – October 2, 1914) and Harriet Louise Ostrander (April 15, 1856 – November 6, 1947). He was descended from The 1679 marriage of Pieter & Rebecca in Kingston, Ulster County, NY. A son, Theunis, born 1691 in Kingston, was ancestor to both Abram Cline Ostrander and Harriet Louise Ostrander. The name "Ostrander" was coined in New York after 1701. Dutch

settlers A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

who migrated to the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...

(present day New York City) in the 1660s. He had five siblings: Louis Sherley Ostrander, George Francis Ostrander, Cornelia Elizabeth "Nina" Ostrander Dudley, Faith Wilbur Ostrander Allen Gatling, and Helen Louise Ostrander Smith.

Early life

Arthur was born in the

Schodack Schodack is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 12,965 at the 2020 census.U.S. Census, 2020, 'Schodack town, Rensselaer County, New York' The town name is derived from the Mahican word, Escotak. The town is in ...

Rensselaer County Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on his family's farm (named "Brookview Farmstead"), which was in the process of being subdivided after the death of his grandfather, Walter Ostrander (September 12, 1806 – September 17, 1880). In the late 1890s his father moved the family south to Norfolk County, Virginia, and bought a large tract of land, using contacts gained from his wife's Virginia branch of the family. Arthur was raised to be a farmer, like his father before him. He attended public schools along with his siblings, and worked hard at excelling in the

technological Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as ute ...

fields of study An academic discipline or academic field is a subdivision of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part) and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, ...

, and labored on the farm during term breaks. From an early age, he exhibited an interest in science and an aptitude for

mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

. When his family boarded George Poe for several years, he began to assist the inventor with his work. Poe, by then nearly blind and paralytic, soon discovered the boy had both the technical skills and dexterity to perform fine

metal work Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

, and could act as his veritable hands and eyes on tasks of minute detail. Poe approached the Ostrander family with a proposition; if Arthur would assist him full-time, he and his two assistants, (J. P. Jackson, M.D., and Francis Morgan, M.D.) would privately tutor Arthur through high school. The family consented, and he exited the schooling system to become a full-time member of the artificial respiration device team at age ten. He worked with Poe, Jackson, and Morgan for the next several years, and toured with them when they demonstrated the artificial respirator in 1907. In doing so he received a rigorous education in science, in addition to classes in

Classical Studies Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages ...

and

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

provided ''

quid pro quo ''Quid pro quo'' (Latin: "something for something") is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: " ...

'' by his tutors. He shared in the patent granted to Poe for the device, on July 9, 1907, but his mother had to be listed as having the share of the credit due to his very young age. Even though the device was well received, Poe's health continued to decline, and the device was never successfully marketed. When Poe died in 1914, Arthur had already made plans to enter Apprentice School at the

Norfolk Naval Shipyard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility ...

. He completed training and became a skilled

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...

, and later a

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position and role that is primarily based on authority over la ...

Later years

Arthur married Annie Caribel Campen in 1919, and they had two children, Cline Brooks Ostrander and Arthur Frederick Ostrander, Jr. He lived his life in the Norfolk and

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, making it the second-most populous city in Virginia, the tenth largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 92nd-most populous city in the ...

areas, and after a successful career with the

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

, retired to his home in Chesapeake, dividing his leisure time amongst fishing,

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and spending time with his family. He owned land in the so-called "outer banks" of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, and often vacationed there in his

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

. He died suddenly in February 1978, and was interred in Chesapeake Memorial Gardens beside his wife, who predeceased him in 1971. He was survived by his two sons, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Faith

Arthur was raised an

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

, but later joined the Chesapeake Avenue United Methodist Church, Chesapeake, Virginia where his wife was a member.List of 50 Year Members of Chesapeake Avenue United Methodist Church, 1969, indicating membership starting in 1919, the year he married Annie Campen in that church. Harper, Raymond L., (2005). South Norfolk Virginia 1661–2005, A Definitive History, page 98. He was a

Master Mason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and long-term member of the South Norfolk Masonic Lodge of Chesapeake, Virginia.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrander, Arthur Frederick 1895 births 1978 deaths American health care businesspeople People from Schodack, New York People from Chesapeake, Virginia Methodists from New York (state)