My Genealogy Hound

JAMES LYMAN VAN BUREN, the leading insurance agent of Dunkirk, who comes from one of Chautauqua’s old families, is a son of James Henry and Lydia (Coleman) Van Buren. He was born in that city, Chautauqua county, New York, April 8, 1867, and now, although thoroughly identified with the leading insurance companies of the country, is but twenty-four years of age. The Van Burens originally came from Holland our subject representing the fourth American generation. Henry Broadhead Van Buren (paternal grandfather) was a native of Pompey, N. Y., and came to Dunkirk in 1825, beginning as a merchant. He was one of the pioneers in the mercantile business and opened probably the first insurance agency in the town. He died in 1872, aged sixty-nine years, consoled by his faith in the Presbyterian religion. James Henry Van Buren was born in Dunkirk in 1831. He entered the insurance business when quite young and soon became general agent for one of the leading companies of New York and at the time of his death, August 9, 1889, was general agent for the Connecticut Fire Insurance Co., of Hartford, for New York State. He was one of the oldest general agents in the State having held such a position nearly twenty-six consecutive years. In connection with the general agency business he conducted a local agency at Dunkirk, which is now carried on by James Lyman Van Buren. Mr. Van Buren was an elder in the Presbyterian church and a republican. He married Lydia Coleman, a daughter of Truman R. Coleman, of Ellicottsville, Cattaraugus county, in 1856, and had six children. Mrs. Van Buren was a member of the Episcopal church and died in 1871, aged 35 years.

James Lyman Van Buren was reared in Dunkirk and educated in the academy. When nineteen years of age he entered his father’s office as a clerk and in 1888 was admitted to partnership in the firm. This training gave him an acquaintance with the business so that when his father died he was enabled to continue it without confusion. He has a fine business representing eighteen companies: American Fire, Pennsylvania; Commercial Union, England; Springfield Fire and Marine, Springfield, Massachusetts; Franklin Fire, Pennsylvania; Germania Fire, New York; Hanover Fire, New York; Connecticut Fire, Hartford; Insurance Company of North America, Pennsylvania; Home, New York; Phoenix, Brooklyn; Phoenix Assurance Company, London, England; Queen, England; North British and Mercantile, England; Hartford Fire, Hartford, Connecticut; Guardian Assurance Company, London, England; Niagara Fire, New York; and Imperial Fire, England.

On June 11, 1890, J. Lyman Van Buren married Julia Nelson, a daughter of Joseph Nelson, who is an old resident of this city.