Franklin Sidway

Franklin Sidway (July 7, 1834 – March 20, 1920) was an American businessman and banker from Buffalo, New York, known for building the Sidway Building in Buffalo, the Spaulding-Sidway house in Grand Island, and commissioning the 1865 painting, Interior with Portraits, by American artist Thomas Le Clear. Early life Franklin Sidway was born on July 23, 1834, in Buffalo, New York, to Jonathan Sidway (1784–1847) and Parnell (St. John) Sidway (1801–1879). Of the nine children of Jonathan and Parnell, only four reached adulthood. Franklin's grandfather, James Sidway, was the first of his family to immigrate to the United States. James was born in Dudley Woodside, England in 1759 and was educated there. During the revolutionary period he immigrated to the American colonies where he made settlement in Orange County, New York, and enlisted as a drummer in a New York regiment and served until the regiment was mustered out of service. Sidway attended private schools including Canandaigua Academy and the George W. Francis School in Yonkers, New York, among others. In 1853, after completing his schooling, he toured Europe.