George Catchpole was born in England in 1804 and learned the cabinet makers trade. In 1834, he came to Geneva and worked in carpentry. He was an inventor of a clover seed sheller and separator, and made improvements in grain threshers. In 1842, he received a silver medal from the American Institute for a cornstalk cutter. He married Mary A Hinkelton and had 6 children. He died on January 2, 1889. A brother, James G Catchpole, also immigrated to Geneva and opened a meat market; a third brother Robert immigrated to Huron in 1846.

Alfred Catchpole was a son of George and Mary, born in England in 1829 and was 5 when his family moved to Geneva. He learned the machinist’s trade and worked in a machine shop in Waterloo, assisting in the invention of stove machinery. He went to Syracuse to work, then to Susquehanna where he worked in railroad shops, then to Rochester and employed by the NY Central Railroad. In 1860, he returned to Geneva and established a small machine shop. In 1864, he entered the navy as an engineer and was there until the end of the Civil War. When he returned, to Geneva, he began to manufacture boilers and other machinery and in 1884, he invented the Florida steam boiler. He continued to invent and make improvements, revolutionizing the system of steam heating.

Daniel Catchpole was a son of George and Mary, born in England in 1833. In Geneva, he worked in his father’s machine shop as a boy, at 16 he worked in PH Fields’ lumber yard which became Conger & MacKay where he remained and was foreman for 21 years. In 1870, he was started working at T. Smith & Co. as superintendent for 3 years and later became a member of the firm. He married Lucy A. Bodle and they had 3 children, Lizzie, Edward, and Llewellyn. The sons became partners with their father. He died in 1894.

George and Mary’s daughter Adelaide Catchpole married Edward Smith, who owned nurseries in Geneva with his brothers William and Thomas Smith. He later left WT&E Smith to start his own nursery business.

The Catchpole Foundry manufactured a variety of products in its time, Alfred opened the business after returning from the war. The business account books show the company was producing upright and horizontal engines for grist mills, saw mills, and locomotives as well as being an early manufacturer of central heating systems for the home, businesses, and public buildings. It also started manufacturing iron base-burning steam heaters, one of the first sectional boilers which could be easily taken into any cellar and erected.

The first factory was at the corner of Railroad Place and Exchange Street; the second factory was on Jackson Street. In 1887, the Pierce, Butler, and Pierce Company of Syracuse bought out Catchpole, purchasing his patents, shop, and machinery, though he continued to run it for 5 more years. The company was purchased by Walter Howard in 1902 and moved to Syracuse around 1903.