General Seating & Supply Co. / Albert E. Bobo, 28 E. 22nd St. (2006)

The words SCHOOLS and THEATRES are fairly clear at the bottom here. Lower still one can read FOLDING CHAIRS and TABLES (click for detail).

This turns out to be the location of General Seating & Supply Co. which sold furniture to "schools, churches, halls and theatres." The owner of General Seating & Supply Co. was Albert Edson Bobo, born 16-Feb-1869 in Columbus, Ohio. The company was located here at 28 E. 22nd St. from 1917 to 1925.

Although the son of a furniture manufacturer, Albert E. Bobo does not seem to have manufactured furniture himself. Rather, he served as an agent for manufacturers and as a wholesale supplier. This ad appeared in Polk's New York City Directory in 1918. As an agent or as an entrepreneur on his own, Bobo can be found connected with the following list of furniture companies: Empire School Desk Co., Fridman Church Furniture Co., Theo C. Kundtz (of Cleveland, Ohio), Readsboro Desk Co., Readsboro School Furniture Co., Steel Furniture Co., and Vermont Folding Chair Co. The complete list is probably much longer...

Albert E. Bobo appears in the U. S. Census of 1870, age 1, living in Cleveland, Ohio in the household of his grandmother, Eunice Dickerman (1809-1895), along with his father, August Levi Bobo (1838-1896), and his mother, Lois Elizabeth Dickerman (1839-1920). By 1880 August L. Bobo had become a furniture manufacturer living on Quincy St. in Brooklyn, NY. The family continued to live on Quincy St. for at least another 40 years. The widowed Lois E. Bobo became head of family, and Albert E. Bobo and two sisters, Cora Luella Bobo (1867-1959) and Alice Louise Bobo (1872-1928), all unmarried, continued to live with her until her death in 1920. By the time of the 1930 census Albert E. Bobo had left the Quincy St. home. He had also married Harriet Furman Bobo (1878/79-1960). The marriage took place when Albert was 59 and Harriet 9 years younger at 50.

Albert Bobo's brother, Charles Fletcher Bobo (1876-1956), also worked in the business. He is usually listed as a salesman.

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