NOTES
Bert Candee made a family tree of the descendants of Maria & Cortez and sent it to Lulu (Bell) Sinton with a cover letter dated 12 Oct 1932. The letter contained this statement: "As you will note, Wm & Ann O'Brien - Fernando & Maria Candee and Henrietta Candee are all buried at Collins NY - a number of the children of William & Ann O'Brien are also buried in the same cemetery."
Bertram was interested in mechanics early on. "As a boy, he used to make all of his automatic toys, including everything that runs on wheels or propels itself though the water." Except for a brief period between 1879 and 1881, when the family lived in Ithaca, NY, Bertram received his early education in the Dunkirk, NY, public schools. Later, he attended the "Mechanics and Traders Free School of New York City" and Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY. To earn money for his education, he worked in the county clerk's office at Ithaca and for the "Martin Anti-Fire car Heater Co.," Dunkirk, manufacturer of steam-heating apparatus for railroad trains. After leaving Cornell, Bertram worked for this firm, designing machinery.
After Bertram and Augusta's marriage, Bertram worked for the "American Glucose Company," Buffalo, in charge of the machinery repair department. He then was employed by "Plumb, Berdict & Bernard," manufacturer of bolts, becoming its superintendent by 1902. By this time the company was known as "Buffalo Bolt Company," Tonawanda, NY. In 1903, Bertram traveled to Europe on a three-week business trip on behalf of the company, stopping at Paris, London, Glasgow, and Liverpool.
In 1907, the family moved to Williamstown, MA, where Bertram entered a partnership with Carl M. Farley, the husband of Augusta's first cousin. The firm, a pharmacy and soda shop, was known as the "Farley-Candee Co." The partnership was short lived, however, as by 1910 Bertram had become assistant manager of the "Clement Restein Co" and the family was living once again in Dunkirk. Effective July 1, 1910, Bertram became superintendent of the Dunkirk City Water and Electric plant, a position he held until his resignation January 1, 1914. According to a newspaper account, "...many improvements were made (during Bertram's tenure) including the building of a new boiler house, the increasing of the boiler capacity, many improvements in the electric equipment and the laying of something like five miles of water mains..."
Directly after his resignation, the family moved to Buffalo, NY where Bertram became secretary of the "Buffalo Metal Goods Co." A manufacturer of coaster brakes for bicycles. During WWI Bertram was connected with the Curtiss Airplane Co, where he met Myron C. Beman, a fellow Cornell alumnus, and from about 1924 until Bertram's death in 1952, his partner in the consulting engineer firm known as Beman & Candee, which specialized in heating, plumbing, ventilating and electrical work. Bertram received his license to practice professional engineering in the NY State from the Univ. Of the State of NY, 12 Sep 1922. The family lived at various addresses in Buffalo before moving to Kenmore, NY in 1924. By this time, Augusta's infant niece, Margaret Edith Hallock, born in 1922, had come to live with the family, following the untimely death of her mother Juliet, the youngest sister of Augusta. Bertram and Augusta raised this child as their own.
Bertram enjoyed fishing and golf, bridge and cribbage, and reading. He was active in Freemasonry, attaining the 33rd degree, 28 Sep 1949. He was a member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce and of the Buffalo Athletic Club. He was a member of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers (serving as President of its Western NY Chapter, 1937-38, later as its Treasurer, and becoming a life member in 1945), and was a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Bertram was not affiliated with any particular church. Augusta was a Unitarian, the faith of her parents.
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