Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York: pictorial and biographical

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CORNELL

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'SYRACUSE AND
ONONDAGA COUNTY

NEW YORK

PICTORIAL and
BIOGRAPHICAL

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO. ^

19 8 •

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IrOZ

liJi^

Cfjarleg anbreios;

IHARLES ANDREWS, former chief judge of the
court of appeals, and for twenty-seven years a mem-
ber of that court, was born at Whitestown, New
York, May 27, 1827. He was educated at Cazenovia
Seminary; studied law in the office of Sedgwick &
Cutwater, of Syracuse; was admitted to the bar in
January, 1849; and a year l^ter began practice by
himself at Syracuse, In 1851 he entered into part-
nership with Charles B. Sedgwick under the firm
name of Sedgwick & Andrews. In 1853 he was elected district attorney of the
county for a term of three years. In 1855 George N. Kennedy was admit-
ted to partnership with the firm of Sedgwick & Andrews, and the famous
law firm of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy was thus completed. No law
firm of the county has ever had more ability and prominence nor have more
distinguished honors been won by the individuals composing it. This partner-
ship continued until Mr. Andrews' election to the court of appeals in 1870.

Mr. Andrews was mayor of the city of Syracuse in 1861 and in 1862, these
two terms covering the stirring events of the early days of the Civil war, dur-
ing which Mayor Andrews by his patriotic efforts, his wisdom, energy and
firmness, suppressed some dangerous tendencies of the local "Copperheads"
and the mob spirit rampant at that time. He also by his efforts aided mate-
rially in the raising of recruits for the army. He was again mayor in 1868.
With other prominent citizens he was influential in securing the location of
Syracuse University in this city, and was made one of its trustees. In 1867 he
was elected delegate at large to the constitutional convention of this state. Under
the judicial article proposed by the convention and adopted by the people, the
court of appeals was reconstructed. At the election held May 17, 1870, in pur-
suance of that article, Mr. Andrews was elected associate judge of that court,
for a term of fourteen years, from January i, 1 871, but beginning his serv-
ice on July I, 1870. In 1881 Judge Andrews was appointed by Governor Cor-
nell chief judge in place of Chief Judge Folger, who retired to accept the office
of secretary of the United States treasury. In the next year he was nomi-
nated by the republican party to the office of chief judge, but was defeated by
his next door neighbor, William C. Roger, democrat. This was the year
when Folger, nominated for governor, and the entire republican ticket were
overwhelmingly defeated and Grover Cleveland was elected governor. Judge

Jlon. aaiiUiam $tel)oi^ #00^1^

ON. WILLIAM PREVOST *.' •ODiz.i.utu, o„r ot mr
most distinguished members oi iht Ne.v V* . bar
wrio:M: eioquence combined with his Ic^c and Iv
CO!' [iihensive knowledge of the principles of jar:,-
prudtr.'.e has gained him pre-eminence as a n.fc-
sentatvvc of the profession, was born in the ; . n of
Tally, ' iM^ndaga county, New York, ATav 25, iKj.""
a son >t Aaron B. and Eleanor A. (Pre.c-t) Goo<:
elle. The father carried on general agricultural pur ■
•tits ,.iul the boyhood and yeu':' cf his son William were passed on the olo
■i. ^Mslead, during which time he attended the district schools. He readily
!?;'.. red the branches therein taught and for a year was a student in Homer
Aeademy, while later he entered Cazenovia Seminary, being one of only two
rake the five years' course in that mstitution, where he remained from 1854
uitii i860. In the spring of 1861 he matriculated as a sophomore of Dart-
■ !Outh College and was graduated with the highest honors in the class of 1863.
I ic then accepted the proffered position of principal of an academy at Mora-
via Xew York, but at the close of the school year, desiring to retire from
the field i>f education and prepare for the bar, he took up the study of law in
the office and under the direction of H. L. & F. Hiscock, of Syracuse. How-
ever, the reputation which he had gained as an educator led to his selection
for the principalship of the Onondaga Valley Academy and after urgent
solicitation he accepted the position, remaining there for two years, the
academy largely profiting by his labors frr reorganization and improvement.
In the meantime whatever leisure he could secure from his dutie> as
teacher was devoted to the study of law. He again ; ;:::!i) reading in the office
of H. L. & F. Hiscock, and after his admission to the iar in rirt. '.^r, ii^f>^'. he
continued with them for a year to add to his theoretical. knowU .1 -_ the prac-
tical experience of the courts and the law office. Fur three >- u .hereai'ar
he engaged in practice alone and on the expiration of that period w.:!S cho<eri
district attorney of Onondaga county, having gamed a V'^yoiixiu.-'' as a lawyer
which led to positions of honor at the hands of his fellow citizens. For ^^f cc
years 'he filled the position and then again took up '':'.'■ practice .vf law, in which
he made continuous advancement until he had attained aptt^ition e(\wik<} bv few
and surpassed by none of the leading members of the ba- ■<; New Yr.rk A'ur
his retirement from the office of district atvnrnr y, -he New York Central Ra^'

?|on. Milliam ^retiosit (Sootrelle

ON. WILLIAM PREVOST GOODELLE, one of the
most distinguished members of the New York bar,
whose eloquence combined with his logic and his
comprehensive knowledge of the principles of juris-
prudence has gained him pre-eminence as a repre-
sentative of the profession, was born in the town of
Tully, Onondaga county. New York, May 25, 1838,
a son of Aaron B. and Eleanor A. (Prevost) Good-
elle. The father carried on general agricultural pur-
suits and the boyhood and youth of his son William were passed on the old
homestead, during which time he attended the district schools. He readily
mastered the branches therein taught and for a year was a student in Homer
Academy, while later he entered Cazenovia Seminary, being one of only two
to take the five years' course in that institution, where he remained from 1854
until i860. In the spring of 1861 he matriculated as a sophomore of Dart-
mouth College and was graduated with the highest honors in the class of 1863.
He then accepted the proffered position of principal of an academy at Mora-
via, New York, but at the close of the school year, desiring to retire from
the field of education and prepare for the bar, he took up the study of law in
the office and under the direction of H. L. & F. Hiscock, of Syracuse. How-
ever, the reputation which he had gained as an educator led to his selection
for the principalship of the Onondaga Valley Academy and after urgent
solicitation he accepted the position, remaining there for two years, the
academy largely profiting by his labors for reorganization and improvement.
In the meantime whatever leisure he could secure from his duties as
teacher was devoted to the study of law. He again began reading in the office
of H. L. & F. Hiscock, and after his admission to the bar in October, 1868, he
continued with them for a year to add to his theoretical knowledge the prac-
tical experience of the courts and the law office. For three years thereafter
he engaged in practice alone and on the expiration of that period was chosen
district attorney of Onondaga county, having gained a reputation as a lawyer
which led to positions of honor at the hands of his fellow citizens. For three
years he filled the position and then again took up the practice of law, in which
he made continuous advancement until he had attained a position equaled by few
and surpassed by none of the leading members of the bar of New York. After
his retirement from the office of district attorney, the New York Central Rail-

lo t^on. H^iUiam Pretiosit (^ooIteUe

road Company, attracted by his illustrious record made in that office, retained
him as general criminal counsel and attorney, his field of labor extending from
Buffalo to Albany. In that capacity he served until appointed a member of the
state board of law examiners in 1894. While well versed in every department
of the law and while in civil proceedings he hlas gained an enviable record, he
has become especially well known in the practice of criminal law. Hundreds of
law breakers have been brought to punishment through his efforts. There is
scarcely a county in the state and certainly none along the line of the Central
Railroad where he is not well known as a lawyer and where his eloquent voice
has not been heard in behalf of peace and safety from crime. So effective were
his efforts in this direction that it is a well known and acknowledged fact that
crimes against the railroad company within Mr. Goodelle's jurisdiction had
almost completely disappeared when he severed his relations with the company.
He has won notable forensic successes when opposed to some of the strongest
counsel of the state and his name figures prominently on the pages of judicial
history of New York. Among the earlier important criminal cases with which
he was connected was the prosecution of Owen Lindsay, charged with the mur-
der of Francis Colvin in 1874. For the first time in the history of jurisprudence
he brought into the case the point of determining the difference between the
blood stains of the human and of the animal. His conduct of the case showed
untiring research, patient investigation and general legal ability and awakened
the highest commendation of the bench and bar throughout New York as well
as of the laity. There was much favorable comment in the press, one of the local
papers saying "Mr. Goodelle's address to the jury was a most fitting close to his
untiring labors as a public officer of Onondaga county. During the delivery not
only the jury but the entire audience gave that attention which demonstrated
the power of the learned counsel's eloquence and the strength of his argu-
ment. Mr. Goodelle often rose to the height of impassioned eloquence. He for-
got his associates ; he forgot the audience hanging upon his words ; he forgot all
but his case and the jury. His presentation of the people's evidence was perfect.
Taken altogether the effort of Mr. Goodelle in its plain statement of the work
the people had to perform, in its minute tracing of the testimony, in its final
welding of the circumstantial and direct evidence into an unbroken chain and
fastening the same about the prisoner, formed one of the most masterly forensic
eflforts ever made at the bar of this county." Perhaps no better indication of
Mr. Goodelle's ability can be given than by quoting from the press, which is
the mirror of public opinion. In defense of Mary J. Holmes, charged with poi-
soning her husband, the trial lasting six weeks and resulting in an acquittal,
another paper said, "The last tick of the parting day was almost simultaneous
with the final words of an argument for the prisoner which had consumed seven
hours. The counselor's face bore the plain evidence of the mental and physical
strain to which he had put himself. ... A masterly eflfort had been
expected from Mr. Goodelle, whose acumen and learning are a source of pride

^m. WiVii&m |^tetio£it <$oobeUe n

to the bar of this county. Never in the criminal history of Onondaga county
was a more comprehensive defense made of a human Hfe. Mr. Goodelle's
impassioned style of oratory put into graceful language his logical deductions
from an investigation of the case as viewed from the side of the defense. Every
point was covered one by one but at no time was there a break in the conti-
nuity of the argument. It was probably the longest argument ever offered in the
court of justice in Syracuse."

That Mr. Goodelle has become known as one of the ablest lawyers of the
state is indicated by the fact that he has been frequently called to conduct both
civil and criminal cases in various counties of New York. Few lawyers have
made a more lasting impression upon the bar of the state, both for legal
ability of a high order and for the indiv iduality of the personal character which
impresses itself upon a community. Of a family conspicuous for strong intel-
lects, indomitable courage and energy, he entered upon his career as a lawyer
and such is his force of character and natural qualifications that he has over-
come all obstacles and written his name upon the keystone of the legal arch.
In fact he has been one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of juris-
prudence of New York during the past four decades. He has argued many cases
and lost but few. No one better knows the necessity for thorough preparation
and no one more industriously prepares his cases than he. His handling of his
case is always full, comprehensive and accurate; his analysis of the facts is clear
and exhaustive ; he sees without effort the relation and dependence of the facts
and so groups them as to enable him to throw their combined force upon the
point they tend to prove.

Mr. Goodelle is a stalwart republican but not a politician. While he is per-
haps not without that personal ambition which is an important element in the
capable conduct of official duties, he yet regards the pursuits of private life as
abundantly worthy of his best efforts and has concentrated his time, energy
and talents upon his profession. He has, however, addressed the public on many
occasions in discussion of the issues and questions before the people and never
fails to impress his auditors by the strength, truth and force of his argument.
His public addresses, however, have not been confined to political questions
alone. In fact it is a matter of surprise that one of his ability as a lawyer has
had time to so thoroughly familiarize himself with the great variety of questions
that he has discussed from the public platform. He has been an omnivorous
reader, has the ability to co-ordinate the the knowledge gained from various
sources, drawing his deductions and forming his conclusions in the same log-
ical and discriminating manner that characterizes his professional work. As
stated, he has had no desire to divide his time between political office and hia
practice, and almost the only position that he has filled aside from the one
already mentioned was as a member of the constitutional convention — and that
was in the direct path of his profession, in the framing of the organic laws of
the state. The convention was held in 1894 and Mr. Goodelle, who was one

12 i^on. WiUiam Prcbogt Ogooticac

of the five delegates at large from western New York, was appointed by Presi-
dent Choate, chairman of the committee on suffrage, numbering among its
members men of national repute. His position in this connection was, next to
the speakership, perhaps the most conspicuous in the convention and only the
highest merit and capability could have led to his selection for the honor. He
was also second on the committee on the powers and duties of the legislature
and was prominent in most of the important proposed amendments and early
became one of the leaders of the convention. It was in this convention that
the subject of giving women equal suffrage was discussed. There was no ques-
tion before the convention nor has there ever been one in the history of the
state in years that has created such widespread interest. Mr. Goodelle gave to
the question the utmost attention and his opinions and the course which he fol-
lowed were the result of profound thought, wide investigation and thorough
understanding on the subject. Possessing a natural chivalry toward women
and a never failing courtesy, he has never believed that the right of suffrage
could result in good of any kind and least of all, to woman herself. The debate
on the subject before the convention was closed by Mr. Goodelle in what has
been termed the "greatest and most successful effort of his life, both as an
exhibition of eloquent and wonderful oratory and as an argumentative and
logical display." The Troy Times largely voiced the general opinion in the
following : "The argument of Mr. Goodelle is exhaustive. It covers the whole
ground of objection. And it is so grounded in common sense and so grandly
sustains the most chivalrous sentiment and conception of woman's true rela-
tion to society and the state that it may be pronounced unanswerable. Sophistry
may assail it and personal ambition decry it, but as a just and accurate pre-
sentation of woman's cause, a summary of her rights achieved through the
steady advance of civilization, the high position that has been accorded her
because of the recognized and steadily growing importance of her position in
the state, it is complete." The address was pronounced by leading members of
the convention "the most classical and finished that was made before that
body." Mr. Goodelle received many congratulatory letters and telegrams from
people prominent throughout New York upon his speech on this occasion. This
did not end his active service, however, in the constitutional convention. In fact
he was the champion of many progressive measures and needed amendments
and took an active and helpful part in framing the organic law of the state. His
oratorical ability enabled him to present his thoughts with clearness, per-
spicuity and force, proving an influencing factor in molding the policy of the
state.

Prior to 1894 applicants for admission to the bar appeared before an exam-
ining committee in each judicial district, and for several years Mr, Goodelle
was a member of the committee in his district. At the date designated a state
board of law examiners was appointed by the court of appeals with full and
absolute authority to accept or reject applicants for admission to the bar from

Jl^on, lO^ittiam prcbogt ggoobeOe 13

the entire state. Mr. Goodelle was made a member of this board and became
its president, a position which he still holds. He was president of the Onon-
daga County Bar Association for twelve years, declining to longer serve, and
at a recent date was elected referee by the State Bar Association to settle all
disputes between members. With all his public duties he is still practicing his
profession and is now the senior member of the firm of Goodelle, Andrews &
Harding, with offices in the S. A. & K. building, Syracuse.

In February, 1905, Mr. Goodelle was appointed by the State Bar Associa-
tion, as its counsel and representative, to prosecute charges against Warren B.
Hooker, justice of supreme court, for his removal from office for malfeasance.
The preliminary investigation of the charges before the assembly judiciary
committee (required under the constitution) took about four weeks, in which
he was engaged as such counsel. The assembly committee sustained the
informal charges. Formal charges were then preferred and sent to the senate
with recommendation that Mr. Hooker be put upon trial upon the charges.
Mr. Goodelle appeared as counsel for the State Bar Association at the trial
before the senate and assembly. The trial lasted about three weeks, and
resulted in a respectable majority voting for removal, but the required affirm-
ative, two-thirds vote for removal, was not obtained. Mr. Goodelle bore the
brunt of the contest, and with the same force and ability which attended his
discharge of other important public duties.

In January, 1906, he was appointed by the president of the State Bar
Association to represent the fifth judicial district, on a committee of the asso-
ciation to lend its efforts in securing the nomination and election of worthy can-
didates for justice of the supreme court throughout the state, and to prevent
unworthy candidates being selected or elected.

On the death of Dean Huffcut, at the time private counsel to Governor
Hughes, in 1907, Mr. Goodelle was appointed by Mr. Choate, president of the
association, as chairman of the state grievance committee, to fill the vacancy
caused by Dean Huffcut's death. At the last January meeting of the associa-
tion he was re-elected as a member of the grievance committee and again desig-
nated its chairman, which position he now holds.

It may confidently be said that this committee is by far the most important
of the committees of the association, and on which large responsibilities are
imposed. It acts at all times independently, and mainly from the direction and
advice of its chairman. Its efforts and purposes are to elevate and maintain
not only the moral standard of the members of the profession throughout the
state, but of the judiciary as well, as evidenced in the Hooker case, which was
under the charge of the grievance committee. The chairman of the committee
now has under his consideration several important cases.

In January, 1907, the Bar Association directed the appointment of a com-
mittee, one from each of the nine judicial districts, to take into consideration
the subject of contingent fees, involving directly ambulance chasing, and other

14 i^on. H^iaiam Prebosit <$ooliene

abuses in the profession, arising from the contingent fee system, and to report
to the association at its January, 1908, meeting. Mr, Goodelle was appointed
as the member of that committee from this district. Some of his associates
on that committee were Judge John M. Davy, of Rochester ; Judge A. T. Clear-
water, of Kingston; Frank Irvine, dean of Cornell Law School; Edward B.
Shepard, of New York, and others, all eminent in the profession.

The report and recommendation of that committee having been unani-
mously adopted by the association, the same committee was re-appointed in
January last, to introduce and force to passage, if possible, by the legisla-
ture, the proposed amendments to the code recommended by their report.

Mr. Goodelle has personal charge of the proposed amendment, and has been
repeatedly before and addressing the committees to which the bills were
referred, in endeavoring to progress them. They were still pending in the
committees at the last reports.

All the foregoing has direct reference to the moral and ethical standard
of the profession, over which the state board of law examiners have no
power or control under the statutes. The labors and responsibilities of
the state board of law examiners, of which Mr. Goodelle is president, and
has been continuously for ten years past, have grown and increased from
what they were in 1894, when the board was created, to such an extent
that it seems a more extended mention might properly be made than appears
earlier in this sketch. The work has grown to such an extent that while
formerly there were about five hundred applicants for examinations yearly
from the whole state, they now, in this present year, reach approximately
sixteen hundred or seventeen hundred, including new applicants and re-ex-
aminations of old ones, with proportionate increase of labors and responsi-
bilities. The board has become, in fact, a vast bureau devoted to lifting the
legal standard of the profession. Its work, and the results receive the uni-
versal commendation of the bench and bar of the state. The importance
attached to its work by the court of appeals is pretty strongly evidenced by
the court's appointment of one of its retired members. Judge Martin, who has
been serving as a member of the board for three years past and is still serving.

Such has been the work and such the aims of Mr. Goodelle in these
later years of his professional career. He is trying to lift the standard of
the profession, and at the same time to advance the moral and ethical with
an equal pace. To these interests and purposes his present and very likely
his future life seems to be devoted.

Mr. Goodelle was married on the 8th of September, 1869, to Miss Marian
H. Averhill, of Baldwinsville, New York, who died in April, 1901. Their
daughter, Una Mae, was born October 28, 1877. The family is very promi-
nent socially and Mr. Goodelle is well known in the Beaver River Club, of
which he is and has been president since the first year of its organiza-

i|on« Hgilltam Prcbogt <igoobcnc

15

tion. He has the abiUty to put aside from the moment the perplexing prob-
lems of jurisprudence and enter cordially into the joys or interests that may
present. Such a quality indicates a well balanced mind, and one of remark-
able concentration. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities
to which are added the discipline and embellishments of culture, his is a
most attractive personality. Well versed in the learning of his profession
and with a deep knowledge of human nature and the springs of human con-
duct, with great shrewdness, sagacity and extraordinary tact, he is in the
courts an advocate of great power and influence. Both judges and juries
always hear him with attention and deep interest.

Ipman Cornelius g>miti)

YMAN CORNELIUS SMITH, prominently connected
with the business life of Syracuse as a leading man-
ufacturer, banker and capitalist, is pre-eminently a
man of affairs and one who has wielded a wide influ-
ence. His business capacity has placed him in the
foremost rank among the successful men of the day
and he is, moreover, one of the world's workers
whose labors are attended with results, whether for
individual prosperity or for public good. He is
descended from English ancestry in the paternal line, although the family have
been represented in America for several generations. His grandparents were
William and Rebecca (Bissell) Smith, and his parents, Lewis Stevens and Eliza
Ann (Hurlbut) Smith. In the maternal line he is descended from ancestors
who served in behalf of the cause of independence in the Revolutionary war,
both in the ranks and as officers.

Lyman C. Smith was born in Torrington, Connecticut, March 31, 1850, and
following the removal of his parents to the state of New York, the family
home being established in Lisle, Broome county, where the father conducted a
large business as a lumber manufacturer and tanner, he attended the common
schools and also the State Normal School. Well qualified by liberal education
for the practical and responsible duties of life he went to New York city at the
age of twenty-two years and accepted the management of a live-stock commis-
sion house, remaining in the metropolis until 1875, when he came to Syracuse to
engage in the lumber business. In 1877 he began the manufacture of breech-
loading firearms and continued the business with increasing success until 1890.
In the meantime he had extended his efforts to other fields of industrial activity,
beginning the manufacture of typewriters in 1886. Four years later he organ-
ized the Smith Premier Typewriter Company, of which he became president,
and in 1903 he was joined by his brothers in the organization of the L. C. Smith
& Brothers Typewriter Company, of which he is the president. In this connec-
tion he has become known as a manufacturer throughout the entire country and
in all civilized lands, having given to the markets of the world a machine which
is unsurpassed in qualities which go to make up the action. The conduct of
this business requires a most extensive manufacturing plant, and a large office
force make it one of the leading productive industries of the city. In recent
years Mr. Smith has also become extensively interested in other large enter-

17

1 8 JLpman Corneliutt ^tnttl^

prises, where his business abiUty, keen foresight and sound judgment consti-
tute important elements in successful management. He is president of the
United States Transportation Company and of the L. C. Smith Transit Com-
pany, which operate large fleets of modern steel freight steamers on the Great
Lakes. He is likewise treasurer of the Toledo Shipbuilding Company and has
contributed in substantial measure to the development of the rural trolley line
systems of the state of New York. He has turned his attention also to the north-
west, and with faith in its future he has made extensive investments in Seattle,
Washington, which have become extremely valuable. He is president of the
Hudson Portland Cement Company, of Hudson, New York, of the Rochester-
Syracuse Eastern Railway Company, and chairman of the managing directors of
the Halcomb Steel Company, of Syracuse, nor is he unknown in banking circles,
being president of the National Bank of Syracuse. He is pre-eminently a man
of aflfairs and one who has wielded a wide influence, and the soundness of his
business judgment is such that his co-operation is continually sought in the con-
trol and management of important commercial, industrial, manufacturing or
financial concerns.

Aside from his extensive business interests Mr. Smith finds time for co-oper-
ation in public affairs that are of direct benefit to the city. He is well known
in educational and philanthropic circles, for, with a sense of conscientious
obligation regarding his duty to his fellowmen and a deep personal interest in
the welfare of the race, he puts forth effective and earnest labor along these
lines. He is now president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Syra-
cuse, and has contributed in large measure to the upbuilding of Syracuse Uni'-
versity, being at the present writing vice president of its board of directors. He
established the Lyman Cornelius Smith College of Applied Sciences for the
practical education of young men in the higher branches of engineering and
has erected on the University campus two fine buildings, splendidly equipped
for the purposes of the college. He also founded the Syracuse University
Navy.

Politically Mr. Smith has few aspirations, and in fact he considers the pur-
suits of private life as abundantly worthy of his best efforts. The only office
that he has ever held was that of presidential elector in 1896, when he sup-
ported William McKinley. He has always been in sympathy with the principles
of the republican party and feels it the duty as well as the privilege of every
American man to exercise his right of franchise. For good government, for
progressive legislation and in support of the candidates he stands as a high type
of American manhood. Mr. Smith is well known in club and social circles, hold-
ing membership in the Century and Citizens' Clubs of Syracuse and in the
Hardware Club of New York. He is also qualified as a Son of the Revolution
and in Masonry has taken the Knights Templar and thirty-second degrees.
He is a subscriber to the Egyptian Exploration Fund and a Chevalier of the

JLpmm Conteltufii J^mittt 19

French Legion of Honor, in recognition of his services in perfecting the type-
writer.

In 1878 was celebrated the marriage of Lyman Cornelius Smith and Flora
Elizabeth Burns, daughter of Hon. Peter and Elizabeth (Bates) Burns. Their
only son. Burns Lyman, married Miss Virginia Haberle, and their daughter,
Florence Bernice Smith, is at home. Their residence, "Uarda," is one of the
fine estates in Syracuse.

Mr. Smith finds needed rest and recreation from strenuous business cares in
hunting, fishing and automobiling. He is actively interested in the cultivation
of flowers, especially in orchids, and his conservatories contain some of the
finest specimens. Not so abnormally developed in any one direction as to
become a genius, his interests are varied, and his is a well rounded character.
His relations with his fellowmen, the course he has followed in his business life
and the work that he has done for the amelioration of hard conditons for the
unfortunate and for the adoption of progressive measures along lines of intel-
lectual and moral advancement constitute a practical solution of the great
sociological, economic and labor problems which are characteristic of the age.

^u^M^ ?f .yC'Ut^ci^^

»eb» CjeWel Wilson iWunbp, a» iW., litt B.

^ZEKIEL WILSON MUNDY, librarian of the Syra-
cuse Public Library, was born at Metuchen, New Jer-
sey, June 1 6, 1833. His parents were Luther Bloom-
field Mundy and Frances Eliza Martin. The Mundys
are an old family in Metuchen, the original ancestor,
Nicholas Mundy, a native of England, having come
there before 1670. Like most of the early immigrants
to this country they increased rapidly. His paternal
grandfather was Ezekiel Mundy, whose farm lay near
the village of Metuchen, and who married Lovicy Mundy, who was one of the
nineteen children of Joshua Mundy. His maternal grandfather was Dr. Wil-
liam Martin, the physician of the locality and a surgeon in the war of 1812 and
the father of fifteen children.

The early Mundys were farmers, with here and there a clergyman and a
merchant. In religion almost all of them were Presbyterians. Ezekiel's
paternal grandfather was an Episcopalian and his maternal grandfather was a
Quaker. The village church, however, was Presbyterian and the young people
of the region were brought up in the Presbyterian worship. The children of
this Mundy household are Ezekiel Wilson, of Syracuse ; Edward Livingston,
of Rahway, New Jersey; Louisa Matilda Andruss, of Florida, deceased; and
Caroline Virginia Wendover, of Newark, New Jersey. The father died at the
age of sixty-two years, the mother lived to the age of eighty-three.

Ezekiel Wilson Mundy grew up on a farm near the village of Metuchen
and received his education in the country school of the neighborhood. He had
the advantage of a teacher, Bethune Dunkin, a Boston man, who was also the
teacher of his father and his mother, and who taught for fifty years in the
same country schoolhouse and who lived for many years in the home of Eze-
kiel's father.

At the age of fourteen years the boy went as clerk in a store in the neigh-
boring town of Rahway, where he served for two years. He went thence to
Newark, New Jersey, where he learned the trade of a jeweler. But then came
to him the desire to be a clergyman and at the urgent solicitation of a very
warm friend, Harris M. Baldwin, of Newark, New Jersey, a member of the
South Baptist church of that city, and with the earnest advice of others, he
accepted the offer of Mr. Baldwin to send him to college. He was prepared for
college at the seminary in Essex, Connecticut, and in 1856 was entered as a

21

22 Iteb. <g?efeicl WHion jUgunbp, 31. M-f llttt. j^.

freshman at the University of Rochester. At college he had the advantage of
the instruction of the president, Dr. Martin B. Anderson, and of the professor
of Greek, Dr. Asahel H. Kendrick, both very able men. A't this early day the
college was small and the subjects studied were few and the professors and
students were friends,^ a state of things of advantage to the students. These
men were wise, and no student could be with them and escape unblessed.

Mr. Mundy was graduated A. B. in i860, and in 1863 he received the
degree of A. M. from Rochester. In 1863 he was graduated from the Roch-
ester Theological Seminary, and came to Syracuse as pastor of the First Bap-
tist church. After three years there arose dissatisfaction on account of his
religious opinions, and he resigned his pulpit, and at the solicitation of many
friends he organized an Independent church. To this church he ministered
for thirteen years. He then resigned, and in 1883 took orders in the Episco-
pal church under Bishop Huntington. He was sent as a missionary to the
village of Geddes, where he gathered and organized St. Mark's church. He
served St. Mark's for ten years and then resigned on account of ill health.
Meanwhile he had been in charge of the Public Library since 1880 and to that
he has ever since given his whole time. In 1904 the Syracuse University con-
ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Literature (Litt. D.).

On January 15, 1873, Dr. Mundy was married to Miss Emily Kendall, of
Syracuse, a daughter of Horace Kendall and Emily King, who were Connecti-
cut people. To Dr. and Mrs. Mundy a son and two daughters have been born,
Edward Kendall, Ethel Frances and Emily King.

Mr. Mundy is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and of the Phi
Beta Kappa society. He is a member of the American Historical Society, of
the National Geographical Society, of the New England Historical and Gene-
alogical Society, of the New Jersey Historical Society, of the Onondaga
County Genealogical Society, of the Onondaga Historical Association. He is
also a member of the University Club of Syracuse.

3vih(3it a, Jtttrb i9ortj)tup

"UDGE A. JUDD NORTHRUP, whose natural talent
and acquired ability have gained him distinction at
bar, in authorship and as one who has molded public
thought and opinion and has thus aided in shaping
the history of the commonwealth, is one of the native
sons of the Empire state. His birth occurred near
Peterboro in Madison county, June 30, 1833, his
parents being Rensselaer and Clarissa ( Judd) North-
rup. The father removed from Tyringham, Massa-
chusetts, to Madison county, New York, in 1805. The mother was a daugh-
ter of Ansel Judd, who settled at Watervale in the early part of the nineteenth
century. In both the paternal and maternal lines Judge Northrup is of New
England ancestry, represented in this country through six generations.

His boyhood days were unmarked by events of special importance, nor did
they foreshadow the prominence to which he was later to attain. When not
occupied with the duties of the schoolroom he worked on his father's farm
and later engaged in teaching school through the winter months. Ambitious
for further educational privileges, he continued his studies in Petersboro Acad-
emy and also in Oberlin (Ohio) College, where he completed his preparatory
course prior to entering Hamilton College, from which he was graduated in
the class of 1858. Having thus laid an excellent foundation upon which to
rear the superstructure of professional knowledge, he matriculated in Colum-
bia Law School, wherein he completed a two years' course in one year. Ham-
ilton College had conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts and in 1895
the degree of LL. D.

Following the completion of his college course in law Ansel Judd Northrup
located for practice in Syracuse in 1859 and has since been a resident of this
city with the exception of a few months spent in Chicago. At the time of his
arrival he was a young man of twenty-six years, ambitious, enthusiastic and
determined, and owing to the possession of these qualities, combined with a
comprehensive knowledge of the law, no dreary novitiate awaited him. He yet
remains an active practitioner and for years has been accorded a foremost
position among the able lawyers who have graced the courts of this district and
of western New York. He has never feared that laborious attention to the
work of the office that results in a thorough mastery of the case, while in the
courtroom he has presented his cause with clearness and force. It is the theory

23

24 Slubse 31. 31ubb J0otti)v\i9

of the law that the counsel who practice are to aid the court in the administra-
tion of justice. There has been perhaps no niember of the profession in Syra-
cuse more careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional
ethics than A. J. Northrup. He has never sought to lead the court astray in a
matter of fact or law, nor would he endeavor to hold from it a knowledge of
any fact appearing in the record. Calm, dignified, self-controlled, free from
passion or prejudice and overflowing with kindness, he has given to his clients
the service of great talent, unwearied industry and rare learning and yet has
never forgotten that there are certain things due to the court, to his own self-
respect and above all to justice and the righteous administration of the law,
which neither the zeal of an advocate nor the pleasure of success has permitted
him to disregard. In 1882 he was elected on the republican ticket judge of the
county court and in the discharge of his duties was so fair and impartial that
at the succeeding election he was re-elected without oppositon from the demo-
cratic party, his judicial service closing December 31, 1894.

Judge Northrup has always manifested a citizen's deep interest in the great
political problems and issues affecting the weal or woe of state and nation. He
early became recognized as a force in republican politics in Syracuse, for the
early years of his residence here covered that period when activity in politics
became every man's duty — the period preceding the outbreak of the Civil war.
During both the Lincoln campaigns he made many speeches and became the
first vice president and later the president of the Loyal League, a strong patri-
otic organization. His ambition, however, has not been in the line of office
holding, yet he has done capable service in the different positions to which he
has been called by appointment of by popular suffrage. In 1870 he was
appointed United States circuit court commissioner for the northern district of
New York, and United States commissioner when the former office was abol-
ished in 1897. In 1870 he was also appointed United States examiner in equity,
both of which offices he has continued to hold. In February, 1895, he was nom-
inated by Governor Morton and confirmed by the state senate as one of the
three commissioners to revise the statutes of the state, and soon after was
appointed one of the commissioners to revise the code of civil procedure, both of
which offices he held until January i, 1901. He had personal charge of many
of the most important revision bills which became laws.

Judge Northrup's interest in municipal affairs has led to active co-operation
in many movements having direct bearing upon the welfare and upbuilding of
the city, which during the period of his residence here has developed from a
small town to an important industrial and commercial center. Since 1877 he
has been one of the trustees of the Syracuse Savings Bank. He is also a trustee
of the Oakwood Cemetery Association; a director and the president of the
Onondaga Historical Association; a director of the Genealogical Society of
Central New York; vice president of the Society for the Federation of Churches
in Syracuse and Onondaga county; an incorporator and for a long time direc-

3Piibsc a. 31ut»b j^rttrup 25

tor of the University Club of Syracuse; for some years president of the board
of directors of the Syracuse Boys' Club; a member of the Syracuse Citizens'
Club and of the Fortnightly Club and of other organizations. The foregoing
list will serve to show the breadth of his interests for all those matters which
pertain to civic life, to municipal honor, to intellectual advancement, to moral
progress; and in fact all those subjects which touch the general interests of
society and work for the good of mankind are of interest to him.

He has long been an elder in the First Presbyterian church and was a lay
commissioner from the Syracuse Presbytery to the general assembly held in
Saratoga in 1890, celebrated for its great debate on "revision." In 1890 he
read a paper before the Elders' Association of the Syracuse Presbytery on
"The Powers and Duties of Elders in the Presbyterian Church," which was
published in pamphlet form and had a wide circulation. Later it was read at a
notable gathering of Presbyterians in the west, and is said to have had a strong
influence on the denomination throughout the country.

Judge Northrup was married in 1863 to Miss Eliza S. Fitch. Unto them
were born three sons and two daughters: Edwin Fitch, a graduate of Am-
herst College, a fellow of John Hopkins University for two years and a Ph. D.
degree alumnus of that institution; Elliott Judd, a graduate of Amherst and
of the law department of Cornell University, and for some years his father's
partner in practice, and now professor of law in the State University of Illinois ;
Theodore Dwight, who died in 1885; Ursula, a graduate of Miss Wheelock's
Kindergarten Training School of Boston, who married Dr. Louis Cleveland
Jones, chemist at Solvay ; and Edith, a graduate of Syracuse University.

While Judge Northrup has always regarded the practice of law as his real
life work he has found time and opportunity for recreation, for broad study
and for authorship in additon to his active participation in political questions
and in the municipal life of Syracuse. He believes firmly in the principle that
the workers of the world should have their play spells as well, and in his earlier
years and yet to a large extent he has greatly enjoyed the sport with rod and
gun. He first went to the Adirondacks in 1863, finding there a genuine wil-
derness not yet converted into the resort of the summer tourist. For many
years he has visited that locality. In 1880 he wrote and published a book
entitled "Camps and Tramps in the Adirondacks, and Grayling Fishing in
Northern Michigan; a Record of Summer Vacations in the Wilderness."
This volume met with a ready sale because of its crisp style of narrative. It
was followed the next year by "Sconset Cottage Life; a Summer on Nan-
tucket Island." This also met with much favor and a second edition was
issued, illustrated by half-tones made from photographs taken by the author.
While his trips to the woods were made with a view of indulging in sport
with rod and gun, he has ever had that deep love for and appreciation of
nature which is ever found in the true woodsman and he is never happier
than when dwelling "near to nature's heart." His writings, however, have

26 3at>ge a. 31ubti jgortJirup

not been confined to descriptions of camp life and summer vacations but have
touched many of the more serious subjects which have claimed the attention
of the mature and cultured mind. Perhaps the most important is his "Slav-
ery in New York; a Historical Sketch," which was published by the University
of the state of New York as a state library bulletin in 1900. It is an exhaust-
ive treatise on the subject, and its preparation required much careful research
in a new field. He was the author of "The Class History of 1858 of Hamil-
ton College," and he prepared the "Genealogy of the Northrup Family in
America." Association and study making him thoroughly familiar with local
history, he prepared and read before the Onondaga Historical Association a
paper on "The Formative Period," treating of the controlling influences in
the early days of this county, and recognized as one of the strongest articles
ever written along that line. His writings have covered indeed a wide range
of subjects, to say nothing of the vast amount of work he did as a member
of the statutory revision commission. The "religions corporation law" of this
state is largely the result of his work while a member of that commission and
during the same time he visited all the prisons and penitentiary of the state,
and prepared and read a paper on "Our State Prison System," which he was
called upon to repeat several times. He also delivered many other addresses,
literary and historical.

A man of great versatility, Judge Northrup is entirely free from osten-
tation or display and the humblest can approach him sure of his courteous
attention. In manner he is always genial, oft times jovial and has that gen-
erous spirit that is quick to recognize the good qualities in another. He has
been an able, faithful and conscientious minister in the temple of justice and in
his private life is endeared to all who know him by the simple nobility of his
character.

St^ (©eorge Jf igfe Comfort

R. GEORGE FISK COMFORT was born in Berk-
shire, Tioga county, New York, September 30, 1833.
His paternal ancestors (Comfort, Gilder sleeve) and
also his maternal (Smith, Lane) were of English
descent, their earliest generation in America comb-
ing to the colonies near the beginning of the eight-
eenth century. His father. Rev. Silas Comfort,
D. D., was born in Lanesboro, Susquehanna county,
Pennsylvania, on May 5, 1803, and died in 1868; his
mother. Electa (Smith) Comfort, was born in Windsor, Broome county. New
York, October 17, 1803, and died 1861. Rev. Dr. Silas Comfort was a
prominent minister in the Methodist church. In 1835 he was transferred by
Bishop Morris from Potsdam, New York, to the First Methodist Episcopal
church in St. Louis, Missouri. By his ruling in introducing the testimony of
a negro (slave) church member in the trial (which resulted in the expulsion)
of a white member, he originated the famous "Silas Comfort Negro Testi-
mony Case," which in the general conference at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1840,
nearly disrupted that church on the subject of slavery and largely contributed
to the tension which caused the secession of the southern Methodists in 1844.
Owing to the violence of the agitation in Missouri caused by this "Negro Testi-
mony Case," he returned to New York state in 1842, taking the pastorate of
the Methodist church in Cazenovia and afterward the presiding eldership of
the Wyoming, Oneida and Cazenovia districts of the Oneida conference. He
was a member of the general conference of 1848 and 1852. He was a great
student in theology and history, contributed articles to the Methodist Quar-
terly Review, and was the author of : The Exposition of the Articles of Faith
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the End of the Argument (on universal
salvation) and Man's Moral History. He always stood for reform and prog-
ress and it is therefore fitting that the recent prohibition presidential candi-
date, Silas Comfort Swallow, should have been named in his honor.

The early education of his son. Dr. George F. Comfort, was commenced
in a select school in St. Louis, Missouri, conducted by two highly accom-
plished French Emigrees ladies and was continued in Cazenovia Seminary
(1842-3) ; in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pennsylvania (1843-6), the
first meeting for founding which school was held at the residence of Dr. Silas
Comfort, he presiding; in Sauquoit Academy, New York (1846-9) ; and in the

27

28 J^r. (George JFiife Comfort

Cazenovia Seminary (1849-53) at which he graduated in the three years'
course in 1851 and in the five years' course in 1853. Having a great love
for drawing, in which he was started in the school taught by the French lad-
ies in St. Louis, he availed himself eagerly of all the opportunities in that
branch which were oflfered in the schools he subsequently attended. He
remained in Cazenovia Seminary two years after he was prepared for enter-
ing college, in order to take instruction in art under the accomplished Ger-
man painter, F. C. Welch, who had established himself in Cazenovia and
was at the head of the art department of the seminary. He was captivated
by the works of Ruskin, then fresh from the English press, and was wavering
between educating himself for the career of a practicing artist and entering
a classical college. During this time he made for the seminary an herbarium
of the flora of Madison county, from flowers appearing in the earliest spring
to the latest fall. He also gave time to advanced study in the modern lan-
guages, and to the works by Max Mueller on the science of language, then
fresh from the English press, being the first presentation of this important
branch in education to the Anglo-Saxon public. In all his after life he attrib-
uted great importance to the broadening foundation he acquired by these two
years of side study at the Cazenovia Seminary, after he had completed the
regular preparatory studies for entering the classical college. As America
was then destitute of good art schools, he decided to enter the Wesley an Uni-
versity, Middletown, Connecticut, graduating in 1857, receiving the degree
of A. B. in 1857, and A. M. in i860. While in college he found considerable
time to devote to painting, and visited freely the art exhibitions in New York
and Boston, then yet rivaling New York as the center of art in America.

After graduation Dr. Comfort for three years taught art and natural
science in the Amenia and Fort Plain Seminaries and in the Van Norman
Young Ladies School in New York, also giving a portion of his time to paint-
ing and to perusing such books upon art and archeology as were then found
in the Astor Library. In i860 he entered upon his long-cherished plan of
giving some years to travel and study in Europe and the Orient. He took
passage, by the then entirely unfrequented route by American travelers, for
the Mediterranean, on a large Italian packet and merchant ship, which, with
its twenty-six Italian, Austrian and Hungarian passengers, touching at Gibral-
tar and Messina, landed at Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic, a most favor-
able starting-point for a journey to the Orient. Dr. Comfort always speaks
of his long ocean voyage on a first-class sailing vessel as beyond comparison
more delightful than a trip on any ocean steamer can possibly be.

From Trieste, beginning with the highly interesting, but rarely visited
eastern litorale of the Adriatic, the border land betwen the Orient and the
Occident, including Istria, Dalmatia, Montenegro and the Ionian islands, he
devoted six months to this region, Greece and the Mediterranean Orient, stop-
ping two months each in Athens and Constantinople, of which city he has

J^. OBeorge ^iik Comfort 29

written that "In its peculiar combination of beauty of situation, scenic attrac-
tions and historical, political, religious, racial, linguistic and commercial
relations, Constantinople stands unrivaled in weird interest among all the
cities of the world." He next spent sixteen months in Italy; of this time
three months were given to Sicily, Naples and vicinity, and other cities and
regions of classic interest in southern Italy (ancient Grecia Magna) ; five
months to Rome, then having peculiar attractiveness, as being yet under papal
rule, with all the stateliness of ecclesiastical and regal ceremonial, and not
yet encroached upon by recent extensive unpicturesque modern construction,
since it became the capital of Italy; three months in Florence, whose endless
treasures of the art and architecture of the renaissance were not disturbed
by the brilliant life incident to this city having just been made the capital
of united Italy; three months to Venice, Padua and Verona, whose people,
remembering the glories of their old art and their lost commerce and military
power, were then groaning under the harsh rule of Austria ; and the remain-
ing time to other picturesque and artistic Italian cities. As railroads were
yet but sparsely built in southern Europe, and bicycles were not yet invented,
he made many pedestrian trips, generally alone, thus visiting many cities and
regions of great artistic, historic and scenic interest and beauty, out of the
usual line of diligence travel, as : From Rome to Florence, by Terni, Orvieto,
Assisi, Perugia, Cortona, Sienna, etc.; from Florence over the Apennines
to Rimini and Ravenna by way of the three ancient sanctuaries of Vallom-
brosa, Camaldoli and LaVerna, and the ancient little mountain republic of
San Marino, and crossing the headwaters of the Tiber, the Arno and the
Rubicon; from Lake Como over the Alps, by way of the Stelvio pass to
Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, and many minor pedestrian trips, the
whole aggregating over five hundred English miles, all through cities and
regions of peculiar beauty and interest, perhaps enhanced by not being in
the usual regulation line of tourist travel.

After thus studying for two years the regions where the great ancient
civilizations and the medieval renaissance were chiefly developed, and exam-
ining the monuments of those periods in situ or as gathered in museums,
Dr. Comfort spent three years in the countries north of the Alps, where mod-
ern education and culture are most highly represented, with special refer-
ence to studying the organization and methods of the institutions by which
this modern education and culture have been developed and stimulated. To
more efifectively center his work, he spent two years in Berlin, then even
more distinctively than now, as the Germans called it, "Die Geistige Welt-
stadt" — the intellectual capital of the world. He divided his time between
the university, the academy of art, the royal library, the museums, and the
schools of every kind and grade in that remarkable center of modern learning.
He also traveled extensively in other parts of Germany, as well as in France,

30 J^r. O^corge ^i6k Comfort

Belgium, Holland and Great Britain, visiting the great museums of their
cities and studying the organization and methods of the educational systems
of those countries. He expressed himself as "overwhelmingly impressed by
the vast gulf, wider and deeper than the Atlantic Ocean, that separated the
institutions and conditions of education and culture in continental Europe
from those in America," speaking especially of that time, the early '60s.
And he felt impelled to dedicate his life, as far as his circumstances should
permit, to awaking a more active interest in higher culture, especially in
esthetic and artistic lines, in his native country, particularly by establishing
institutions, as schools and museums, for promoting and diffusing artistic
education and culture in the people at large. He also made extensive trips
to Europe in 1879, 1887, and 1891.

In 1865 Dr. Comfort accepted a call to the professorship of esthetics
and modern languages in Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, on
the borders of the then new and wonderful oil region, some of the patrons
of the college having "struck oil," with prospects of immense wealth. In
this college he inaugurated the first course of lectures upon esthetics and the
history of the fine arts ever given in an American college. Great embarrass-
ment having come upon this institution by the then unexplained bankruptcy
of some oil magnates, he resigned his chair in 1868 and went to New York,
to take the lectureship on Christian art and archeology in the Drew Theologi-
cal Seminary, and to devote himself to preparing a series of text-books for
the study of the German language, published by Harper & Brothers, and to
other literary work. With approval of a number of prominent linguists and
professors of language he called a preliminary meeting in the chapel of the
New York University, in September, 1868, to consider the formation of an
American Philological Association, similar to a society in Germany, several
of whose meetings he had attended. By unanimous vote he was requested
to proceed with the organization of such a society, which held its first meet-
ing in 1869, he being its secretary till 1874, when his increasing work on
art lines necessitated his declining further election to this secretaryship.

Conferences which he held with artists and connoisseurs in 1869 resulted
in a meeting attended by several hundred prominent citizens on November
16, 1869, to consider the organization of a museum of art in ' ^ew York city.
Dr. Comfort gave the main address, other speakers being William CuUen
Bryant, W. M. Hunt, Rev. Dr. J. P. Thompson, and Rev. Dr. H. W. Bellows.
From this meeting sprung the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which Dr.
Comfort was a member of its board of trustees and of its executive committee
till September 20, 1872. As the attack upon the Tweed Ring delayed the
development of that museum for several years, he accepted the call to the
professorship of esthetics and modern languages in the newly founded Syra-
cuse University. Dr. Comfort organized a course of public lectures upon

J^r. O^eorse JFfeb Comfort 31

the fine arts, mostly by eminent speakers from outside of Syracuse, given
in the Wieting Opera House in the winter of 1872-3, this being the first public
course of lectures upon art ever given in America. He conducted similar
courses of lectures upon art, by himself and other university speakers, during
eight succeeding winters. In May, 1873, he laid before the faculty of Syra-
cuse University, Dr. Alexander Wincheli being chancellor, a plan for a Col-
lege of Fine Arts, which plan, upon recommendation of the faculty was
adopted by the trustees of the university, at their annual meeting in July, and
the College of Fine Arts was formally inaugurated in September. The entire
scheme of this college is to include courses of study, four years in length,
with entrance studies covering at least two years, in each of the formative
arts (architecture, painting and sculpture) and of the phonetic arts (music,
belles lettres literature and oratory). For the graduates he originated the
corresponding bachelor's and master's degrees in each of these courses. The
courses in architecture and painting were inaugurated at the opening of the
college, in 1873; the course in music was added in 1877; and the course in
belles lettres in 1894; and the courses in applied art and in normal art in
1904. At this writing (1908) the faculty numbers twenty-six professors and
instructors and there are over eight hundred students. This College of
Fine Arts (which Dr. Comfort conducted as its dean for twenty years),
the first of its kind in America, and in some respects the first in the world,
a very important innovation in university organization in America, is one
of the leading departments of the Syracuse University. This college has
been copied, in whole or in part, and the degrees in the fine arts here origi-
nated by Dr. Comfort have been adopted by various American universities
in the east and the west; it is the most unique and may properly be called
the most important contribution of Dr. Comfort to education and culture in
America.

In 1896 Dr. Comfort originated and organized the Syracuse Museum of
Fine Arts, on the same plan as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,
the two distinctive features of which, are: the co-operation of the city,
as a municipality, and of individual contributors in its support; the museum
being a separate corporation, with a board of trustees of its own election,
and being independent of the exigencies and the animosities of current parti-
san politics. Under Dr. Comfort's able superintendence, as its director,
the Museum of Fine Arts conducts continuous exhibitions (chiefly by loans)
of works of art by eminent artists, American and foreign, living and dead,
having an average attendance of over sixty thousand a year. The museum
already owns several pictures of world-wide fame. Dr. Comfort has intro-
duced an important innovation in museum work by frequently displaying
exhibits of regular work in art done by pupils in public and private schools
in Syracuse and other cities, from the first efforts in the kindergarten, up
through the grammar and high schools; and, further, by students in the

32 J^r. <!3eorge iFfefe Comfort

College of Fine Arts and the College of Applied Science of the Syracuse
University, thus making this museum peculiarly educational and instructive
in its function and character. This educational feature is being copied in
other museums. He also organized in 1901, the Central New York Society
of Artists, which has held exhibitions in this Museum.

Professor Frank Smalley said of him: "Professor Comfort came to Syra-
cuse University the year after it opened its doors to students. He came directly
from his long training in Germany and was full of contagious enthusiasm.
He came with broad views of the higher education and a just appreciation of
educational values. His movements were free from that uncertainty, that
tentative quality that characterizes the man whose educational horizon has not
been cleared by careful study, not only intensively within the limits of some
special field, but broadly and with a discriminating survey of the whole field.
It was just the place for a man of his training and he came at the opportune
moment. The institution was in its very early stages. It is at such a time that
a man of genius becomes creator and stamps himself indelibly on his creations.
That is not too much to say of Professor Comfort. He seized the opportunity
to organize a College of Fine Arts, an innovation in American Education. Its
plan was to present courses of study in the various branches of the Fine Arts
similar in breadth and scope to the courses in the College of Liberal Arts in
our country. There were no models to follow. All was new. Everyone now
sees that the idea was a grand one, an inspiration. But the University could
spare but little money at first to develop the new College. This would have
discouraged most men, but Dr. Comfort, already dean of the College of Fine
Arts, managed to keep his College at the front and to gradually develop it
despite this discouraging handicap. He wrote afterwards with no note of
complaint, 'At the outset the faculty of instruction was formed from such
helpers as were found in the city of Syracuse. As the improved financial con-
dition of the University gradually permitted, accessions to the faculty were
made from Europe and America.' That tells the story in brief.

"This college has shared the financial experiences of the University, but has
constantly advanced in the grade and quality of instruction and the standard
for graduation and has exerted an immense influence in art education in the
higher institutions of learning in America.

"For twenty years Dr. Comfort was dean of this college. That gave him
the opportunity of devoting to the enterprise the fostering care it needed at
the beginning and during the early years of its growth and of guiding it at the
time when a less skillful director and a less earnest and enthusiastic lover of
arts would certainly have handled it less wisely, and might have ended in
failure. It is an invaluable asset to the institution and will exist in the future,
firmly established, essential to the integrity of the institution and a monument

0r. d^toxzt Jpfefe Comfort 33

to immortalize its founder. More than four hundred students cherish its
diploma and more than twice that number are now enjoying its instruction.

"Dean Comfort is a man of unusual gifts and ability. His intelligent
enthusiasm in anything he undertakes invariably interests others and makes
an ardent following. No other man that has wrought in this field could have
done what he so ably did. No other man could so interest men of the highest
standing and influence in his plans. His whole college was centered in him.
The faculty was devoted to him and loyally followed his lead. His name and
his accomplished work constitute a part of the heritage of the past of which
every friend of the University is proud."

Dr. Comfort has contributed many articles upon art criticism and histor-
ical subjects to cyclopedias and the periodical press, and was art editor of
the Northern Christian Advocate from 1872 to 1893. The University of the
State of New York conferred upon him the degree of L. H. D. in 1888; the
Syracuse University, the degree of L.L. D. in 1893. He is corresponding
member of the Archeological Institutes of Rome, Berlin and Paris; honorary
Fellow for Life of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Syracuse Museum
of Fine Arts ; honorary member of the American Anthropological Society and
the Texas Historical Society; charter member of the American League of
Museums ; one of the directors of the American Free Art League ; member of
the National Arts Club, the Municipal Art Society of New York, the Society
of American Authors, the Graduates Club of New York, the Syracuse Uni-
versity Club, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Alpha Delta Phi fra-
ternity, and other clubs.

On January 19, 1871, Dr. Comfort married Dr. Anna Manning, of Nor-
wich, Connecticut, who graduated in the first class of the New York Medical
College for Women in 1865 and was the first woman graduate to practice
medicine in the state of Connecticut; author of Woman's Education and
Woman's Health, and of fugitive articles in prose and poetry in the periodi-
cal press. Of their children Ralph Manning Comfort, born in Norwich,
Connecticut, January 6, 1872, is engaged in library architecture in Boston,
Massachusetts. He married Ethel Nutt, of New Orleans, June 16, 1902, and
they have one son, Lowell Rutherford Comfort, born in New York, May 8,
1903. Frederic Price Comfort, born in Syracuse, December 18, 1874, is en-
gaged in architecture and building in New York city.

Jftanfelin ^uts^e Epbet

iRANK P. RYDER, deceased, was a well known capi-
talist of Syracuse, whose investments were largely
in residence property, in the management and control
of which he displayed marked business capacity and
energy. He was born in Dewitt, New York, Janu-
ary II, 1854, and his life span covered the interven-
ing years to the 27th of October, 1905. His parents,
N. C. and Phonora Ann (Thompson) Ryder, were
also natives of the Empire state. The father was
engaged in extensive blasting operations and was also president of the Kemp
& Burpee Manufacturing Company of Syracuse, manufacturers of manure
spreaders. He likewise became connected with other important industrial and
commercial interests of the city and contributed largely to its business devel-
opment in an earlier day. His political allegiance was given to the repub-
lican party and his fraternal relations were with the Masons.

Frank P. Ryder acquired his education in the schools of Syracuse and
took up the study of law, which he found to be of great value to him in the
conduct of his business interests. He was admitted to the bar although he
never practiced as an attorney. His business affairs centered in the owner-
ship and control of valuable realty in Syracuse and he owned about seventy
houses in different parts of the city. He did much for the improvement of
Syracuse in this way and at all times his investments were judiciously made,
so that a most gratifying annual income resulted.

In 1894 Mr. Ryder was married in Syracuse to Miss Julia Fauth, a
daughter of Joseph and Dorothy (Hudson) Fauth. The father came from
Baden-Baden, Germany, to America when about nineteen years of age, and
the mother, who was born in the same locality, crossed the Atlantic when a
maiden of fourteen years. They were married in Syracuse and Mr. Fauth
followed the shoemaker's trade in early life. In Syracuse he became a vol-
unteer fireman, also served as health inspector and was otherwise connected
with public interests, being at one time salt officer of the city. He died about
sixteen years ago at the age of sixty-two years, while his wife passed away
about seven years ago at the age of seventy-five. They were devoted mem-
bers of the Lutheran church. Their daughter Julia was the seventh in order
of birth in a family of twelve children and in the schools of Syracuse acquired
her education. She is a consistent member of the First Methodist Episco-

35

36

iFranikltn Pursie Kpber

pal church. By her marriage she became the mother of one son, Frank, who
is twelve years of age and is a member of the Sons of the American Revolu-
tion, having had seven ancestors in the Revolutionary war.

Mr. Ryder gave his political allegiance to the republican party. He
belonged to no lodges, for he found that his time was fully occupied by his
business interests. He was, however, a great lover of books and his leisure
hours were devoted to reading and study. He thus became a man of brdad
general information and culture, qua,lities which rendered him a favorite
companion of those whose mental attainments are above the average.

' •^ "(

Eeb* Mtatam ifU. Peaucfiamp

EV. WILLIAM M. BEAUCHAMP, scientist, author
and divine, was born at Coldenham, Orange county,
New York, March 25, 1830, a son of William and
Mary Beauchamp. The father came to America in
1829 and in that year visited Skaneateles but did not
take up his abode there until April, 183 1. He was
the founder of the Skaneateles Democrat in 1840.
His son, William Martin Beauchamp, pursued his
education in the academy of the village and pre-
pared for the ministry in the De Lancey Divinity School, at Geneva, New
York, from which he was graduated, while from Hobart College in 1886 he
received the S. T. D. degree. For many years he was examining chaplain of
the diocese of central New York. In 1862 he became deacon and in 1863
became connected with the priesthood. He served as rector of Calvary church
at Northville, New York, from 1863 until 1865 and was rector of Grace
church at Baldwinsville, New York, from 1865 until 1900 — a period of thirty-
five years — ^becoming recognized as one of the eminent divines of the Episco-
palian church in the Empire state.

Dr. Beauchamp is perhaps even more widely known as an author and
scientist. His writings include Iroquois Trial, published in 1892; Indian
Names of New York, 1893; Shells of Onondaga County, New York, 1896; His-
tory of the New York Iroquois, now Commonly Called the Six Nations, 1905,
together with eleven archeological bulletins. He has given much attention
to all branches of local natural history, having prepared full lists of fishes,
reptiles, quadrupeds and birds of Onondaga, besides publishing a descriptive
list of its shells. He is also an active botanist, and corresponding mem-
ber of several botanical societies. He is archeologist for the New York state
Museum and a member of the American Folk Lore Society. In Indian philol-
ogy he has attained a prominent position. In his own denomination he is
well known as a writer of historical and other subjects and has been an occa-
sional contributor to religious periodicals.

Dr. Beauchamp was married November 26, 1857, to Miss Sarah Carter,
of Ravenna, Ohio, and has four children, Virginia, Ellen, Grace and Howard
C. Beauchamp.

37

Hamilton ^altsiliutp W&Wt

1 YRACUSE, his native city, owes to Hamilton S.
White a great debt which it can never repay, for
who can measure the value of a service such as his
in connection with the fire fighting interests of the
city. He was born December 21, 1853, a son of
Hamilton White, who was born in Cortland county,
New York, May 6, 1807, his parents being Asa and
Clarissa (Keep) White, who in 1798 settled in Cort-
land county, where Hamilton White was educated.
At the age of sixteen years he began teaching but soon afterward secured
a situation in a mercantile establishment at Cortlandville, where he remained
about ten years, acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of business methods
which proved the foundation upon which he built his success in later years.
When twenty-nine years of age he removed to Lockport, New York, where
he made wise and profitable investments. The year 1839 witnessed his
arrival in Syracuse and he became cashier of the Onondaga County Bank,
of which Captain Oliver Teall was president. He and Captain Teall were
thus associated by reason of banking interests and also through connection
with other institutions. Manufacturing industries, business projects and
many other concerns felt their aid and influence and they were closely asso-
ciated with the commercial growth and prosperity of the city. In 1849, asso-
ciated with three others, they incorporated the Syracuse Water Works
Company. Mr. White was also instrumental in forming with his brother
and Robert Geer the Geddes Coarse Salt Company and other industries.
He was a prominent factor in promoting railway interests centering in Syra-
cuse and became a promoter of many railroad companies. Any movement
which he deemed would promote the development and growth of Syracuse was
sure to receive his endorsement and many times his active cooperation.

It was not alone the splendid success which he achieved that entitled
Hamilton White to distinction but the work which he did for the ameliora-
tion of hard conditions of life for others. Few good works done in the name
of charity or religion in Syracuse did not receive substantial benefit from
him. He was for many years treasurer of the Onondaga County Orphans
Asylum, was a generous supporter of t he Old Ladies' Home and with others
donated the grounds for the New York State Asylum for Idiots on its
removal to Syracuse in 1855. In 1856 he assisted in organizing the Onon-

39

40 llamtlton ^aligftttrp WWt

daga County Agricultural Society and in 1859 the Oakwood Cemetery Asso-
ciation, serving as treasurer of the latter. His own church and various
others received from him generous contributions and he never allowed the
accumulation of wealth to in any way warp his kindly nature or bias his con-
sideration of others. At the time of the Civil war he was active in raising
troops for the Union arms and gave freely of his time and money in support
of the administration. He was indeed a public benefactor and those who
knew him personally entertained for him the warmest love because the salient
traits of his character were such as to win the highest confidence and admir-
ation. In 1862 he was elected president of the Syracuse National Bank
but was obliged to resign on account of impaired health the following year.
He sought recuperation in foreign travel and in 1864 went to the West Indies,
where he remained until the following June, returning thence to Syracuse,
where he died September 22, 1865.

He had been married in 1841 to Sarah Randolph Rich, daughter of Gains
B. Rich, of Buffalo, New York. She was a woman of earnest Christian
spirit, who shared with her husband in his good work in charitable and
benevolent lines and for many years was prominently connected with the char-
itable institutions of the city. Their children were Mrs. Jane Antoinette
Sherman ; Clara Keep, the wife of Robert S. L. Hall ; Hamilton S. ; Howard
Ganson ; Barrett Richard ; and Sarah Aphia.

Hamilton Salisbury White acquired his early education in the private
schools of this city and afterward attended the Cascadilla Preparatory School.
He then matriculated in Cornell University, from which he was graduated
with the class of 1877. From his boyhood days he was always interested
in the question and methods of fighting fires. His father was a volunteer
fireman and a boy's interest was early awakened in the fire department. He
would go to fires in a trap and always has his rig ready to be used at a
moment's notice. Upon his return from college he equipped the stable upon
his father's place and used it as an engine house. He obtained a two
wheeled chemical engine but he was not satisfied with this and desired a
larger one. Accordingly he purchased a big chemical engine from the city
and hired twelve men to act as his company of firemen, paying them himself.
He read everything that he could find upon the subject of fire department
equipment and introduced the latest improved and useful devices. He put
in alarm boxes, the first in the city, and had twelve miles of wires strung in
Syracuse. He had his engine house door opened by electricty and his
engine house was considered the best in this locality at that time. People
would come from all parts of the state to witness its workings and to see
its equipment. Mr. White never missed a fire and wa:s always the first to be
at the place of danger. He had no fear for himself when there was a life to
be saved, and would take personal risks where he would not allow his men to
go-

!|amtlton ^altsitittrp WWt

41

On the 1 8th of November, 1880, Mr. White was united in marriage to
Miss Adelaide Whitebread, a daughter of Thomas and Jane Whitebread.
Unto them were born a daughter and son : Mrs. Wilfred Wright, of Phila-
delphia; and Hamilton White, of this city, who is a graduate of Cornell
University,

Finding that his engine house was too expensive to be maintained by
himself, Mr. White gave the engine and hose to the city and in return asked
only that they give him a position as a common fireman of the company
without salary, but they made him third assistant chief and he held that
position until his death but would accept no salary for his services. He
had the keenest interest in the work and at last gave his life in that way,
being killed at the Mowry Hotel fire on the 13th of March, 1898. The peo-
ple realize what he did for them, not only in personally fighting fires but in
bringing to the city a knowledge of the best that was to be obtained in fire-
fighting apparatus and in his own company maintained a high standard of
excellence that served as an example for others to follow. The poor peo-
ple of the city erected a monument to his memory at Fayette park at a cost
of over twelve thousand dollars, this being the first monument ever erected
by the public in honor of an individual in Syracuse.

He had extensive property interests, having built the Hamilton flats at
No. 6096 Genesee street and also a home at No. 909 James street. He was
president of the Syracuse Gas Company and director of the Commercial Bank
and a director of the Onondaga County Savings Bank. In business affairs
he displayed keen judgment but was never active in the management of his
invested interests, giving his attention to his fire-fighting service. He belonged
to the Century Club and was a communicant of the Episcopal church.
Death came to him when he was in the midst of duty — and such would have
been his choice. He recognized fully the dangers in which he was involved
and also the responsibility that rested upon him and the worth of his work
cannot be overestimated. The word fear- had no place in his vocabulary
and the deeds of heroism which he performed in a quiet, matter-of-fact way
are such as would thrill every reader if the story were written in detail.

^^

4Uylj

aifretr JWerter, JW. ®.

AN'S WORTH in the world is determined by his use-
fulness — ^by what he has accomplished for his fellow-
men. He is certainly deserving of the greatest
honor and regard, whose efforts have been of the
greatest benefit to his fellows. Judged by this stand-
ard, Dr. Alfred Mercer may well be accounted one
of the most distinguished citizens of Syracuse; for
throughout his professional career, covering many
decades, his labors have ever been of a most helpful
nature. Not alone as a practitioner of medicine and surgery has he become
widely known, but also as a teacher, disseminating knowledge concerning his
profession that has had an immeasurable effect upon the students to whom it
has been imparted. His research and investigation, with their resultant under-
standing of medical truths, have rendered more effective the labors of the pro-
fession; and his efforts have helped to promote the progress which has revolu-
tionized the work of the physician and surgeon until its accomplishments par-
take of the nature of the marvelous. The life work of Dr. Mercer has been
of greatest practical benefit, and the world is better for his having lived. A
resident of Syracuse since 1853, he has been in practice in the city more years
than any other physician of past or present time.

Born in High Halden, Kent, England, November 14, 1820, Dr. Mercer
was a son of William and Mary (Dobell) Mercer, both of whom were natives
of England. They emigrated to America in 1832. The following spring
the parents returned to their native land, but believing there were better oppor-
tunities for getting along in the world in America than in England, they left
their youngest son, Alfred, in this country in the care of an older brother who
had already been a resident of the United States for a number of years. The
father died in England in 1851, the mother surviving until 1863.

Completing his literary education by two years' study in Genesee Wes-
leyan Seminary, Alfred Mercer began preparation for the practice of medi-
cine as a student in the office and under the direction of Dr. John F. Whit-
beck, of Lima, New York. He was graduated from the Geneva Medical Col-
lege in 1845. The following year he visited his parents in England, devot-
ing a few months to medical study and observation in the hospitals of London
and Paris. On his return to this country, in 1847, he located for practice
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The following year he was induced to return to

43

44 aHfrcb Mtvttv, M' J^-

western New York, where he practiced in Monroe and Livingston counties
until he took up his permanent abode in Syracuse, in 1853. Throughout the
intervening years he has lived in the same city block in which he now resides.
From the beginning of his residence here he has enjoyed a reputation as
one of its leading medical and surgical practitioners. Year after year he
has given proof of his skill and ability in the excellent results which have
attended his labors for the alleviation of human suffering.

During his residence in Syracuse he has made several trips to Europe,
visiting foreign hospitals and medical schools and observing the changes and
development occuring in them with the advancement of medical knowl-
edge. He has also traveled quite extensively in this country, from the Natural
Bridge in Virginia to the Muir Glacier in Alaska, picking flowers growing on
tufts of soil deposited on that river of ice. In these trips Mrs. Mercer or some
other member of the family has been his traveling companion.

On the removal of the Geneva Medical College to Syracuse in 1872, to
become a department of the Syracuse University, Mr. Mercer was invited
to a place in the faculty and accepted the chair of minor and clinical sur-
gery which he filled until 1884, when he resigned the surgical chair to estab-
lish and fill a chair of state medicine. At the time sanitation was almost
unknown as a branch of medical instruction in the medical schools of this
country, although it has since become one of great and growing importance.
He has been connected with the Hospital of the House of the Good Shep-
herd from its inception; for many years as a visiting surgeon, and more
recently as a consultant. He was the first physican in central New York,
in about i860, to use the microscope habitually for clinical purposes.

While in Europe in 1846 he wrote professional letters to The Buffalo
Medical Journal. In 1859 he contributed a paper to the same journal on
"Partial Dislocations ; Consecutive and Muscular Affections of the Shoulder
Joint." Therein he recorded original observations which have attracted
considerable attention and have been quoted by subsequent writers. Again
in the same journal in 1873 there appeared under his name an article on the
"Relations of Scientific Medicine to Special and Specific Modes of Medica-
tion." An abstract of his address on "Medical Education" was published
in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in March, 1879. Other papers
have appeared from time to time in various medical journals. Thus he
has made valuable contributions to the medical literature of the country. He
held the position of health officer in Syracuse for several years. He was
also a member of the city board of health for years, and a member of the
state board of health under the administrations of Governors Cleveland and
Hill, although his political allegiance was at variance with their administra-
tions.

In 1848 Dr. Mercer was married to Miss Delia Lamphier, a daughter of
Aaron Lamphier, of Lima, Livingston county. New York. Unto them were

aiKrcti jUacrccr, M- ^^ 45

born six children. Eliza died in early childhood, Alfred Clifford, the eld-
est son, is a practicing physician of Syracuse, having an office with his father.
Mary also died in infancy. Charles D. died at the age of twenty-four years.
John C. Fremont passed away at the age of twelve years. Ina became
the wife of Lepine Hall Rice, of Syracuse, and they have three children,
Alfred Mercer, Elizabeth Garland and Clifford M. Rice. Having lost his
first wife in 1887, Dr. Mercer married Mrs. Joseph Esty, nee Morehouse, of
Ithaca, in 1888. The family residence has been at No. 324 Montgomery
street for more than forty years.

Dr. Mercer is a Unitarian in religious faith. In antebellum days he
was a stanch abolitionist; and when the republican party was formed, to
prevent the further extension of slavery, he joined its ranks and has since been
one of its supporters. In professional lines he is connected with the County
and State Medical Societies, the American Medical Association and the
British Medical Association. He is looked upon as the dean of the profes-
sion and his advice is still sought by leading physicians, although it is some
years since he retired from active practice. He has now passed the eighty-
seventh milestone on life's journey, but is, notwithstanding, a most remark-
ably well preserved man who in spirit and interests seems yet in his prime.
The years rest lightly upon him, and with the passing of time he has developed
along lines of intellectual and moral progress which make of old age a bene-
diction and an inspiration to all. A life of great usefulness has won for
Dr. Mercer distinction in the field of his profession, while his interest and
devotion to Syracuse have accrued to the improvement of the city. As he nears
the end of the journey — ^but may he be spared many years to come— he is sur-
rounded by the veneration and respect of those among whom he has long lived
and labored, his years fraught with good deeds and with splendid results.

CljarlesJ Cbinarb S>fiinaman

IHARLES EDWARD SHI NAM AN, attorney at law,
with offices in the White Memorial building, was
born in Marshville, Montgomery county, New Yofk,
June 12, 1867. Henry Shinaman, his father, was a
blacksmith, who in 1846 came to the new world from
Lauenfoerde, on the Weser river, Hanover, Ger-
many, and settled in Marshville, New York. He
died in 1874 and was long survived by his wife, Mrs.
Caroline (Maertens) Shinaman, also from Lauen-
foerde, who died in Febuary, 1907. The ancestors of the family were arti-
sans and agriculturists.

The first step which marked the progress of Charles Edward Shinaman
was the mastery of the common branches of learning as taught in the dis-
trict school of Marshville. He was afterward graduated from the union
free schools at Canajoharie, New York, and matriculated in Cornell Univer-
sity,, from which he was graduated with the B. L. degree in 1889. He dis-
played marked strength of character and strong purpose by providing for
his own support during his college days. He was also very active in all
college lines. Pursuing a four years' military course at Cornell, he became
captain of his company there and is now eligible to military service with a
commission in the United States army. During his college days he was con-
nected with the Cornell Daily Sun as editor and during his senior year as
business manager, and placed the paper on a paying basis through capable
control, executive ability and indefatigable enterprise.

Coming to Syracuse on the completion of his collegiate course, Mr. Shin-
aman entered the law offices of Goodelle & Nottingham as a student and after
thorough preliminary reading was admitted to the bar in 189 1. He then
began practice in association with the firm of White & King, and when Mr.
King died the firm became White & Cheney, Mr. Shinaman remaining as
assistant in the law office from 1893 until 1898, when he was admitted to a
partnership under the firm style of White, Cheney & Shinaman. There was
no further change in the partnership until 1905, when the admission of a
fourth partner led to the adoption of the firm name of White, Cheney, Shina-
man & O'Neil. Mr. Shinaman specializes in corporation law and has handled
various cases of local importance. In the line of his profession he holds
membership relations with the Onondaga County Bar Association and the New

47

48 Cfiarleg (I^ioatiK ^fitnaman

York State Bar Association. Aside from his practice he is a director of vari-
ous corporations, of which he is also the attorney.

Mr. Shinaman was married in 1905 to Miss Bertha Kocher, of Marsh-
ville, New York, and the same year they went abroad, visiting many points
of historic, modern and scenic interest in the old world. They reside at
207 Highland avenue and have an extensive circle of friends in the city.

Mr. Shinaman is a member of Central City Lodge, No. 305, F. & A. M.,
and the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 215. He also belongs to the Citizens'
Club and the University Club of Syracuse, and to the Cornell Club of New
York city. In political circles in this part of the state he has been very
active and prominent, serving on the city and county committees, and from
1892 until 1900 being the clerk of the board of supervisors of Onondaga
county. During the same period he was secretary of the republican county
committee of Onondaga county and has frequently been a delegate to the
conventions of the party, his opinions carrying weight in its councils. He
is a splendid example of the self-reliant, energetic man, who accomplishes
what he undertakes by reason of practical, systematic methods. In this age
of bustling activity his forcefulness and his enterprise, and unfeigned cor-
diality and his deference for the opinion of others have made him popular.

(iJ'hcovtJd J^ A'T^A^Mit

jFtanfe ftenrj» lousftliti

RANK H. LOUGHLIN, who has a large clientele as
a real-estate dealer and is well known in this connec-
tion in business circles, is perhaps equally well
known to the citizens of Syracuse by reason of his
philanthropy and his broad humanitarian spirit,
prompting his active co-operation in many move-
ments which have for their object the amelioration
of hard conditions of life for the unfortunate. That
he is known as "the father of the orphans" indicates
most clearly his good work in behalf of the homeless children and long after
his business successes are forgotten the memory of Mr. Loughlin will be cher-
ished by reason of what he has done for the little ones whom death has
deprived of father and mother.

His life record began in the little village of Limerick, town of Brown-
ville, Jefferson county, New York, near Watertown, January 9, 1861. His
father, James Loughlin, was a native of Ireland and at the age of eighteen
years came to America, settling in Watertown, where he followed the occupa-
tion of farming. Subsequently he took up his residence at Clayton, Jef-
ferson county, where he continued farming but later removed to Pamelia,
near Watertown, where he purchased a large farm, and where he lived a
retired farmer the remainder of his life. He was considered one of the most
progressive, enterprising and successful agriculturists of the county and
was identified with farming interests up to the time of his death in April,
1904. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ellen McKinley, traces her
ancestory to the same source as President William McKinley. She was
born in the county of Armagh, Ireland, and came to America in 1845, settling
at Clayton, Jefferson county, where she died in 1893. It was in this country
that she became acquainted with James Loughlin, whom she married at Wat-
ertown. The children of this marriage are as follows: Mary E., who, in
1872, became the wife of John E. Williams, of Clayton, and now a resident of
Syracuse; James J., who resides in Watertown; Andrew E. and William J.,
who also make their home in Watertown; and Frank H.

The last named left Limerick, New York, at the age of five years and
with his parents went to Clayton, pursuing his education in the schools at
Spicer Bay and the Clayton high school, from which he was graduated in
the class of 1877. The following year he attended Professor T. C. Gove's

49

50 iFranfe ^tnvp TLougfylin

Commercial College. He engaged in teaching school from 1877 until 1882
and on the 7th of May of the latter year became a resident of Syracuse,
where he was first employed as bookkeeper in the Duguid-Wells saddlery
and hardware house for a short time. In December, 1882, he was appointed
a clerk in the railway mail service, running from Syracuse to New York,
where he remained until April, 1894. On account of his efficiency and the
high standard of his examinations he was successively promoted through
various positions and at the time he resigned was just about to be promoted
to chief clerk in charge of the eastern division of the New York & Chicago
railway mail service, having been recommended by the late Henry A. Beach,
Henry Mowry and Judge O'Brien. He received a letter of commendation
from the department at Washington for high efficiency in examinations but
resigned to engage in the wholesale and retail grocery business, becoming
connected with the trade as a member of the firm of Lighton Brothers & Com-
pany, later the Lighton Grocery & Provision Company. Mr. Loughlin was
manager. This was not his first connection with trade interests, however,
for while in the railway mail service he became connected with various
enterprises. He continued in the grocery business with gratifying success
until 1899, when he engaged in the real-estate business with offices in the
Wieting block. He has a very large clientele and has made some of the larg-
est sales in Syracuse. In fact he is regarded as one of the leading real-estate
men of the city and he has every confidence in its future, having been a tax-
payer here for twenty years, during which time he has thoroughly studied
conditions upon which the city's growth and prosperity depend. Aside from
his interest in this connection he is president of the Century Cancelling Ma-
chine Company of Syracuse, manufacturing and controlling a postoffice
device for cancelling letters. He is likewise a director of the American
Statesman Company of Syracuse.

On the i8th of October, 1887, Mr. Loughlin was married to Miss Margaret
Theresa Lighton, a daughter of James Lighton, of the firm of Lighton
Brothers. They have one child, Helen Marie, born July 20, 1899. Mrs.
Loughlin's father, James Lighton, was one of the valued citizens of Syracuse,
a man of broad humanitarian spirit, of unfailing kindness and generous
charity. His life record covered fifty-nine years and he was born in Syracuse
at the old family homestead within half a block of which his death occurred.
His father was at that time the leading butcher of the city, but was not blessed
with wealth and his sons were early obliged to provide for their own support.
James Lighton had not yet attained his majority when he learned the trade of
stone-cutting, which he followed for a few years and then turned his attention
to the grocery business. He opened his store with a small stock of goods on
the banks of the Erie canal at Lodi locks. In i860 L. Cowan became his
partner and three years later John Lighton was admitted to a partnership
under the firm style of Lighton, Cowan & Lighton. The business grew rapidly

jpranfe #enrp Hougtilm 5^

and in a short time Mr. Cowan sold his interest to the two brothers. In 1866
Arthur McKeever became a member of the firm which was then known as
Lighton Brothers & McKeever and continued for twenty-five years and then
Mr. McKeever's interest in the firm was purchased and the two sons, John
and James Lighton were admitted to a partnership.

In early manhood Mr. Lighton wedded Miss Mary Doran, of Syracuse,
and they had six children, James P., Thomas J., John E., Mrs. Loughlin, Anna
L. and Martha T. Mr. Lighton led a very busy and useful life and continued
active up to the day of his death. In his demise the charitable institutions of
the city and the poor in general lost a generous and helpful friend. No one
ever appealed to him in vain where assistance was needed. The orphans
especially made a strong appeal to his sympathy and he did much for those
who at a tender age were left without the care of father or mother. Asso-
ciated with E. A. DoUard he secured the mission church in the eastern part
of the fourth ward. He was long a prominent member of St. John's cathe-
dral and at his death there gathered one of the largest congregations seen
in that house of worship. His political allegiance was unfalteringly given
the democracy and he was many times solicited to accept political honors but
always declined. However, he gave freely toward carrying on the work of the
party and his influence was an element in its success. He displayed remark-
able devotion to his family and was never happier than when he had his wife
and children by his side. While those who knew him remain in this life he will
be honored and his memory enshrined in the hearts of his many friends.

Mr. Loughlin takes an active interest in politics as a citizen, desiring the
adoption of those principles which he deems will prove of greatest benefit. In
1905 he was a democratic nominee for comptroller of the city of Syracuse and
in 1906 ran for the office of county clerk. His aspirations are not in the line
of office holding, although in the duties of citizenship he is never remiss. He
belongs to the Onondaga County Historical Association, to the Chamber of
Commerce, to the Mystique Krewe and to the Syracuse Council of the Knights
of Columbus. He is also a member of the Real Estate Association of New York.
He has always taken great interest in charitable work and has accomplished
notable results. He has been particularly helpful to those organizations and
societies which have been formed for the benefit of orphans and is continually
devising some recreation or scheme for their benefit or pleasure. So active
has he been in this direction that he is frequently called the "father of the
orphans" and no other work of his life has given him such genuine pleasure
as what he has been able to do for the little ones that are left without parental
guidance or care. He attends the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
and was married by Monsigneur Lynch, now of Utica. He is a good citizen
and a man of kindly nature and of broad loves. Association with him means
expansion and elevation.

1

C^ektel ?B. i|o|>t

A I A HE LIFE record of Ezekiel B. Hoyt forms an impor-
tant chapter in the history of Skaneateles, for he was
closely associated with business interests here that
promoted the welfare of the community and at the
same time he displayed such splendid traits of char-
acter as to make his memory a hallowed one in the
community. He was born March 23, 1823, in Ridge-
field, Connecticut, and when but six months old was
taken by his parents to the town of Sennett, Cayuga
county. New York. The journey was made by way of the Erie canal to Weeds-
port, which was then the terminus of the canal. From that point they pro-
ceeded to Sennett, where a farm was purchased and the family took up their
abode. It was upon the old homestead there that Ezekiel B. Hoyt was reared
to manhood. The household was a lively one, numbering thirteen children,
and there was no lack of interest or of occupation for in early youth the sons
began to assist in the labors of the farm.

Ezekiel B. Hoyt started out upon an independent business career with
only willing hands, integrity and ambition as his capital but these qualities
constitute a safe foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of success.
In 1849 he became proprietor of a country store at Mottville, which he con-
ducted for about three years. On the expiration of that period he sold his
stock and carried on a foundry and machine shop in Mottville for a long
period. The new enterprise proved prosperous and he conducted it with suc-
cess for many years. Just after the Civil war, in company with the late
Thomas Morton, also of Mottville, he erected the stone woolen mills at Skanea-
teles Falls and began the manufacture of woolen goods, continuing in the
business for a few years, after which he disposed of his interest to his partner.
His enterprise, diligence and the careful direction of his business affairs in
former years had brought him financial independence and the evening of his
life was spent in the enjoyment of well earned rest.

Mr. Hoyt was a most methodical man of business, careful, conservative
and strictly honest. He was regarded as an able financier, accumulating
through honorable and straightforward business methods a large estate. With
readiness he solved intricate bushiess problems and whatever he undertook he
carried forward to successful completion. His advice and counsel were of
value to all who sought it, and many there were who asked for his opinions.

53

54 (g?cfeiet 2g. i|opt

Always willing and ready to help another if he could do so, many profited by
his advice concerning business affairs. Others received more direct assistance
in the way of gifts or charity, for he possessed a kindly heart and responded
readily to any tale of need or distress. He was a man of fine personal appear-
ance, pleasant in manner and entirely unostentatious. He was quick to recog-
nize the good in others and was always willing to extend a helping hand. His
political allegiance was given to the Whig party in early life and upon its
dissolution he became a supporter of republican principles but never actively
engaged in politics further than to cast his vote in support of his honest
convictions.

His home life was largely ideal and he found his greatest happiness in
providing for the comfort and welfare of his wife and son. He was twice
married, his first union being with Mary E. Delano, whom he wedded on the
14th of October, 1852, and who passed away January 11, 1867. She left a son,
Frank D. Hoyt, who survived her for many years but died April 30, 1902. Mr.
Hoyt was married a second time, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July i, 1873, to
Miss Mary J. Wheeler, a daughter of Dr. J. W. Wheeler, of Elbridge, this
county, who survives him, the death of Mr. Hoyt having occurred on the
17th of November, 1895. He was a member of St. James' church of Skaneate-
les and was interested in all that pertained to the moral progress of his com-
munity. His religion was to him not a thing apart but the rule of conduct
which shaped his daily life and guided him in all his relations with his fellow-
men. Such were his strong and salient traits of character that his memory is
now cherished by all who knew him and in his death Skaneateles mourned the
loss of one of its most respected and valued citizens.

Mrs. Hoyt is also a member of St. James' church and a most earnest
Christian woman, devoted to the cause of the church and always found in
attendance upon its services. She is always ready to assist in anything for
the general good. She is a member of the Onondaga Historical Society and
the Onondaga Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and is a
lady of culture and refinement. She was graduated from Maplewood Semi-
nary at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and is a descendant of the founder of the
Monroe family of Onondaga. Through the long years of her residence here
she has ever enjoyed the friendship and highest esteem of all with whom she has
come in contact. The congeniality and close companionship which existed
between Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt made her loss doubly great and the memory
which remains to her is one which she will ever cherish. While all his fellow
citizens recognized in Mr. Hoyt those sterling traits of character which ever
command respect, the real depth and tenderness of his nature was best dis-
played to his own fireside.

T*

(JVVCU.

William %. fierce

'O NAME has been more closely or honorably associ-
ated with the industrial development of Syracuse and
its business prosperity than has that of Pierce and the
interests which William K. Pierce is now controlling
as president and general manager of the Pierce, But-
ler & Pierce Manufacturing Company had their
beginning in 1839, making this the oldest business in
Syracuse, although the specific enterprise of which he
is now the leading moving spirit was organized in
1876. He is a splendid type of young men of the present generation, whose
indomitable thrift, energy, unfaltering enterprise and general information,
combined with keen sagacity and sound judgment, have gained them leader-
ship in the world of trade, Mr. Pierce having through these qualities placed
his company far in the lead of enterprises of a similar nature in America.

A life-long resident of Syracuse, he is a son of Sylvester P. and Cornelia
(Marsh) Pierce, who were of English lineage. His education was gained in
the public school and later he attended a private school in preparation for a
college course. He matriculated in Cornell as a member of the class of 1873
and pursued the scientific course. On the completion of his studies he eagerly
accepted his father's offer of a European trip and spent nearly two years
abroad, studying both French and German and visiting various peoples and
places of the old world, all of which tended to broaden and expand his mind
and his views of life and prepare him more thoroughly for a perfect business
education. Following his return to his native land he became a student in a
law office in Syracuse but after a short time abandoned the idea of becoming
a member of the legal profession and turned his attention to business enter-
prises, entering the house of S. P. Pierce & Sons, where he remained for two
or three years, acquiring a general business knowledge. This enterprise had
been established by his father in the year 1839. William K. Pierce became a
partner of his father in 1876 and they were also joined by a brother-in-law
under the name of Pierce, Butler & Pierce, doing a general wholesale business
in gas, water and steam supplies, steam and sanitary engineering. By faithful
and unremitting attention to business William K. Pierce, with the assistance of
his partners, was able to largely increase the business and in 1886, owing to the
retirement of Mr. Butler, he organized the Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manufac-
turing Company with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars and a

55

56 1©iUiam fe. Pierce

year or two later, having purchased the large foundry and machine shop at
Geneva, New York, there organized the Catchpole Manufacturing Company
with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Owing to the great
success of these companies, through careful management in their business
enterprises and in order to simplify the business he brought about the consoli-
dation of the two companies in 1890, under the name of the Pierce, Butler &
Pierce Manufacturing Company, with a capital stock of six hundred thousand
dollars, the company then doing business of over one million dollars annually,
having built up this large and prosperous company since 1876, the first year
the firm doing but fifty thousand dollars worth of business.

In 1882 he was one of the first to organize an electric light company in
Syracuse, this firm obtaining a franchise and introducing the first electric
lights upon the streets and in the commercial houses. Afterward their fran-
chise and electric light business was consolidated with the present Thompson-
Houston Electric Light Company of Syracuse, this company having assumed
very large proportions from the simple beginning which was introduced here
through Mr. Pierce and his associates. "' ^

In 1888, enthused with the idea of still further advancing the city's
prosperity, he organized the Syracuse Heat & Power Company, with a capital
stock of two hundred thousand dollars, this being accomplished almost entirely
through his personal efforts. The company furnish heat and power to the
residents and business places of this city, he being the president of this organ-
ization. They have obtained a valuable franchise from the city to conduct
this heat through mains placed in the different streets furnishing both heat
and power to the residences and business places, the citizens finding this a
great convenience and admitting its increasing popularity.

Recognizing at once the many advantages to be derived from a consoli-
dation of a number of large competitors in the same branch of business
whereby a very large expense could be saved, Mr. Pierce, in conjunction with
other large competitive manufacturers, formed the American Boiler Company,
in 1893, this being the consolidation of five large manufacturers of boilers,
this company being organized with a capital of one million five hundred
thousand dollars. William K. Pierce, of Syracuse, was president, with main
office at Chicago and branches in all the large cities of the United States. At
the expiration of three years Mr. Pierce, for the Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manu-
facturing Company, bought out the entire stock and interest of the other
stockholders of the American Boiler Company and united these mammoth
in|;erests with his own company at their large factories in Syracuse.

Mr. Pierce has always been a conscientious worker and while greatly
interested in politics has never found time to devote any of his personal
attention to its intricacies, until recently, when he was prevailed upon to
accept the honorable office of presidential elector in 1904 for the administra-
tion of Roosevelt and Fairbanks.

I©iaiam Ctl. pierce

57

Mr. Pierce was married on the i6th of June, 1880, to Miss Eleanor B.
Rust, a daughter of Stiles M. Rust, of Syracuse, and they have three children,
two sons and a daughter ; William Rust, Harold Spalding and Rosanna.

Prominent socially, Mr. Pierce is a valued member of the Century Club,
the Cornell Club, the Citizens' Club and the Onondaga Golf and Country Club.
He is an ardent outdoor sportsman, being particularly fond of fishing and golf.
He is also connected with the different Masonic bodies and he is not without
military and political experience. In 1880 he was appointed a captain on the
staff of Brigadier General Hawley and afterward, in 1882, was promoted to
major on the staff of General Bruce. Although the demands of his extensive
business interests have left him little time for active participation in politics,
he is a stalwart believer in republican principles. He has ever taken the
deepest interest in Syracuse and her welfare and has not only been a supporter
but often a promoter of the movements which have advanced her growth,
prosperity and progress along many lines. He is certainly one of the recog-
nized captains of industry of Syracuse and socially, as well as otherwise, his
family is extremely prominent.

W&wcvtn ^etjj ^unngton

ARREN SETH PURINGTON, president and treas-
urer of the Central City Bolt Company of Syracuse,
was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county, New
York, March 21, 1854, his parents being Hiland W.
and Abigail (Paddock) Purington, who were like-
wise natives of Albany county. The father, who was
a farmer by occupation and thus provided for the sup-
port of his wife and children, died in 1879. His wife,
who survived him until 1 900, was a daughter of Rev.
Seth Paddock, a Baptist minister of Preston Hollow, New York.

Warren S. Purington is now the only survivor of the family of five
children. He was provided with liberal educational advantages, for after
attending the district school of his native county, he prepared for college in
the Delaware Literary Institute, from which he graduated, and then entered
Union College at Schenectady, New York, as a member of the class of 1878.
When his school days were over he took up the more difficult life lessons
which come as one enters the business world. For fourteen years he was
a merchant of Preston Hollow, and following his arrival in Syracuse in 1890
he began the manufacture of bolts, nuts and door hangers. The Central
City Bolt Company, now occupying extensive buildings on North Salina
street, was incorporated in 1889, its first president being E. B. Judson, now
the president of the First National Bank of this city. The officers at this
writing, in the winter of 1907-1908, are: W. S. Purington, president and
treasurer; Levi S. Chapman, vice president; and Everett E. Purington, sec-
retary. The Syracuse Faucet & Valve Company, of which W. S. Purington
is secretary and treasurer, is an allied business which was incorporated in
1901, its present officers being: S. B. Groner, president, and Levi S. Chap-
man, vice president. These companies employ fifty or more mechanics in
the manufacture of bolts, faucets and valves, and their business is national
in its scope. Mr. Purington has contributed in substantial measure to the
growth and development of this enterprise during the seventeen years of
his connection therewith. This outline of his career shows that he has been
an active man, one whose diligence and persistency of purpose constitute
the basis of his present very desirable success.

The business history of Mr. Purington is one well known to the public
but his energies are by no means entirely devoted to trade — family, friends,
church and state claim his attention, and he is widely known as an earnest

59

6o l©arren ^etij Purinston

worker for the advancement of all that will promote the interests of city,
state and nation. He is a very active worker and consistent member in the
Central Baptist Church, and his labors have been a strong element in its
growth and development.

In 1878 Mr. Purington was married to Miss Lida Elsbree, of Preston
Hollow, Albany county, a daughter of Dr. Willard Elsbree, of that place.
They have three children: Everett E., Florence L. and Vivian M., aged
respectively twenty-two, fourteen and twelve years. The first named is now
pursuing the liberal arts course in Syracuse University and the other two are
students in the public schools. The family home is at No. 508 West Onon-
daga street.

In politics Mr. Purington is a democrat, but like many of the promi-
nent business men of the day — men who think broadly and are students of
the signs of the times — he does not consider himself bound by party ties
and holds himself free to give his allegiance where he believes the best inter-
ests of city or country can be served. He is in full sympathy with all the
great movements of the world about him and watches the progress of events
with the keenest interest. He is entitled to membership in the Sons of the
American Revolution as his paternal grandfather, Sylvanus Purington,
assisted the colonies in achieving their independence as a soldier of the
Continental army.

62 Cbtuarti '^iitottott 2^artl«tt

from Marshall down, by which the constitution has been expounded, he is
familiar, as are all thoroughly skilled lawyers. He is at home in all depart-
ments of the lawj from the minutiae in practice to the greater topics wherein
is involved the consideration of the ethics and the philosophy of jurisprudence
and the higher concerns of public policy.

Since 1870 Judge Bartlett has been a member of the Association of the
Bar of the City of New York, and was formerly a member of its committee on
administration and its executive committee. He is likewise a member of the
Sons of the American Revolution, of the New York Law Institute and the
New England Society, while in club relations he is connected with the Union
League and the Republican. He stands as one who through the utilization of
the innate talents which are his has risen to honor and distinction.

ittajor tCiieobore letDisi ^oole

S LONG as memory remains to the American people
they will hold in grateful remembrance those men
who fought for the preservation of the Union and
established the country upon a firmer basis than ever
before. Major Theodore L. Poole, of Syracuse,
however, was entitled to recogition not alone because
of his conspicuous military service but also by rea-
son of his equally faithful performance of the duties
of civil life and his activity and honesty in commer-
cial circles. In all Syracuse there was perhaps no man more widely or favor-
ably known, and at the time of his death he was serving as United States mar-
shal for the northern district of New York under appointment of President
McKinley. He left the impress of his individuality upon political, military,
commercial and social circles and although several years have come and gone
since he was called from this life his memory is yet lovingly cherished by those
who knew him.

Major Poole was a native of Jordan, Onondaga county, born on the lOth
of April, 1840, and when he was only about a year or two old his parents
removed to Syracuse, where he acquired his education as a student in the
public schools. He was one of three children but his brother, Benjamin
H., died in Syracuse a number of years ago. His sister, Mrs. Catherine
Baldwin, was for a number of years a teacher in the Syracuse public schools.
Born in this city, she acquired her education at the old high school on
Church street and while attending there the school was removed to the Pike
block. At that time there were only three teachers. She is yet a resident of
Syracuse and prominent in social and benevolent organizations. She is inter-
ested in the Women's Employment Society, is a life member of the Syracuse
Historical Society, is a member of the Women's Relief Corps and also belongs
to the Unitarian church. She still survives her brother, Major Poole.

The latter, after acquiring his education, began preparation for a pro-
fessional career by taking up the study of dentistry and was so engaged
at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. He watched with interest the
progress of events in the south, noted the stubbornness with which the Con-
federacy resisted the attempts of the Federal troops to bring them into sub-
jection and, feeling that his first duty was to his country, he put aside all
business and personal consideration and enlisted in the summer of 1862 as a

63

64 jBiaaior '^ticobore Hetofe Poole

private of Company I of the One Hundred and Twenty-second New York
Volunteer Infantry. When the regiment was mustered into the United
States service he was appointed quartermaster sergeant. In the following
September the regiment was assigned to the famous Sixth Army Corps and
participated in all its battles from Antietam to the final surrender at Appo-
mattox. On the 1st of March, ,1863, Mr. Poole was promoted to second
lieutenant and on the loth of February of the following year he was made
first lieutenant, while at the beginning of the Wilderness campaign he was
acting adjutant of his regiment. For "conspicuous bravery" at Spottsyl-
vania and other battles of the Wilderness and at Cold Harbor he was com-
missioned February 15, 1865, as captain and later was breveted major by the
state of New York and by the United States. At the battle of Cold Harbor
on the 1st of June, 1864, Lieutenant Poole was severely wounded and after
several months of intense suffering in the hospital had to undergo the ampu-
tation of his arm to save his life. As soon as able, however, he returned to
his regiment, with which he was discharged and mustered out on the 15th
of May, 1865, following the surrender of Lee.

The country has ever manifested a spirit of gratitude toward the men
who preserved the Union and for the survivors of the great conflict there
have been seldom lacking marks of preferment ready to be bestowed upon
those who showed their devotion and their manly mettle upon the field. When
equally capable candidates have been contesting for office the preference
has usually been given to the soldier. Soon after his return from the army
Major Poole was appointed assistant assessor of the United States internal
revenue for his district and while still holding that office was elected county
clerk of Onondaga county, in which capacity he served for three years. On
the expiration of that term he became a factor in commercial life, being
engaged in mercantile pursuits first as a member of the firm of Poole & Haw-
kins and afterward as a member of the firm of Poole & North. He was also
for a time interested in the manufacture of coarse salt and at different occa-
sions had various business interests. He was a director of the Bank of Syra-
cuse from its organization and at the time of his death was vice president of
the Engelberg HuUer Company and a partner of the firm of W. A. Abel & Com-
pany, dealers in sporting goods.

In 1879 Major Poole was appointed United States pension agent for
the northwestern district of New York and acted in that capacity for nearly
ten years or until 1889. He became the organizer of the Consolidated
Street Railway Company of the city, serving also as its secretary and gen-
eral manager. In 1894 Major Poole was nominated on the republican
ticket as a member of the fifty-fourth congress and in November of that
year was elected, receiving twenty-four thousand four hundred and sixty-
seven votes against sixteen thousand three hundred and seven cast for his
principal opponent. The last office to which he was appointed was that of

Jiajor '^fitotovt Hetaiiss l^oole 65

United States marshal of the northern district of New York and in June
prior to his death he assumed the duties of the position. The efficient and
soldierly way in which he discharged all of his official duties proved the
soundness of the American theory that war is a capital test of character and
that those who have passed through it with distinction need no further exam-
ination as to their value for the public service in civil life nor any further
demonstration of their worthiness for the confidence of their fellow citi-
zens.

Major Poole was first married in 1869 to Miss Ella, daughter of Dr. C.
S. Totman, of Syracuse. She died the following year and in 1874 he wed-
ded Miss Hattie Totman, a daughter of Joshua Totman, of Conway, Massa-
chusetts. They had one daughter, Harriet. In 1877 Major Poole was again
married. Miss Carrie L. Law becoming his wife. She is a daughter of
Charles H. and Caroline (Parmelee) Law, of Syracuse. The father was a
machinist by trade and both he and his wife are now deceased. Mrs.
Poole was born in Chittenango, New York, and acquired her education in
the schools of Syracuse. By her marriage she became the mother of five
children, of whom two are deceased. The others are: Clara E., at home;
Theodore Law, an attorney of this city; and Sidmon. Both Major and
Mrs. Poole were members of the Historical Society and belonged to the Uni-
tarian church. Mrs. Poole was likewise a member of the Women's Relief
Corps and, like her husband, was greatly interested in military affairs.

From the time of its organization Major Poole was active in the affairs
of the Grand Army of the Republic. For ten years he served as a member of
the council of administration and in 1892 was chosen commander of the
department of New York after having capably controlled its financial inter-
ests for a number of years. He was one of the organizers of Dwight Post,
the first post organized in Syracuse, and became one of the charter members
of Root Post, No. 151, G. A. R. He died December 3, 1900, and was given
a military burial with all the honors of war. Said the Post Standard edi-
torially at the time of his death, "Some men, receiving the impression of
one great event early in their lives, bear it forever, so that it characterizes
their thoughts, their manners and even their physical appearance. The
great war of 1861 seems to have had this effect upon Theodore L. Poole, whose
death is recorded in our columns today. He served with distinction and car-
ries the marks of his bravery to the grave, but the bearing and the spirit of
the soldier would have distinguished him, even without that empty sleeve.
The war which preserved the Union was Major Poole's alma mater. The
diploma of faithful service was his and the degree of veteran has seldom
characterized a more brave, simple and modest gentleman. Major Poole
was a good soldier, a worthy citizen and a Christian gentleman, and the
people of these parts may well be glad that they had the opportunity, and
used it, of proving to him that they appreciated his character and his ser-

66 JSajor Cfieobore Ettois! Poole

vices." Resolutions of respect and sympathy were passed by Root Post
and also by the board of directors of the National Bank, the latter saying:
"In all our relations with him he has proved himself an associate of unchang-
ing loyalty to the interests which he has represented, unflagging in zeal, wise
in counsel and generous in his judgments of others." Perhaps no better
tribute to this soldier, loyal in days of war and in days of peace, can be
given than to quote the poem written by Edward Renaud on the occasion
of the Grand Army Encampment at Washington, where as commander of
the New York Department, G. A. R., Major Poole rode at the head of the
troops from the Empire state.

Down from the green hill yonder,

Cfowned with its snowy dome
The marching host comes, post on post,

Like the cohorts of old Rome;
Heroes of many battles.

Taught in war's sternest school,
They're tramping down through the flag-decked town

Behind the gallant Poole.

Never, I ween, twelve thousand

Of nobler men than these
Marched where tattered ensigns

Waved in the battle's breeze;
Look where they come, advancing

With proudly martial gait!
Hail, to her heroes of the war !

Hail to the Empire state!

There's a "Lincoln" and "Kearney," "Sumner;"

And "Grant" from Brooklyn too.
Marching in serried rank on rank.

Still wearing the dear old blue;
Steady and true the column,

Straight as if lined by rule;
While, stout at need, on his sturdy steed

There, at the head, rides Poole.

Proud mem'ries of the mighty strife

Break o'er each martial strain.
There Sickles, and Slocum, Howard;

All march abreast again;
There's Reynolds, and Carr, and Siegel,

McMahon and Curtis grand ;
For the Empire state flings wide her gate

To the noblest of the land.

M^jot '^teotrore TLtiuia Poole 67

Hark, how the shouts of thousands

Rise from the mighty mass,
Crowning the martial music,

As thev press to see them pass ;
There's "Garfield," and "Hill," and "Hoffman,"

And "Root," and "Hooker" true.
All keeping pace, with the honest face

Of the boys that wear the blue.

Go! fill me a foaming beaker

Full, full to the beady brim.
To quaff to the grand old Empire state

As she sings her battle-hymn —
Sings it with marching thousands

Trained in war's sternest school,
While, stout at need, on his sturdy steed

There, at the front, rides Poole.
Died Dec. 3, 1900.

u^.

Wmtxt Hetuts; ^mtti)

w

p

'ILBERT LEWIS SMITH, who ranks with his
brother, L. C. Smith, as a pioneer of the typewriter
industry in Syracuse, was born February 29, 1852,
in Torrington, Connecticut, the son of Lewis Stev-
ens Smith and EHza Ann (Hurlbut) Smith. He
removed in childhood with his parents to Lisle,
Broome county, New York, where he received his
education and grew up in his father's manufactur-
ing business, but about 1877 came to Syracuse and
was employed in gun manufacture with L. C. Smith. With him, he saw
early the opportunities in typewriter-making and was active in the produc-
tion of the Smith Premier typewriter and the organization of a company for
its manufacture, of which he is vice president and factory manager. He
soon became a recognized authority on typewriter-making and manufacturing
processes and much of the Smith reputation for superior construction is due
to his genius and ability.

When the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter Company was organized
he became its vice president and personally supervised the construction and
equipment of the new factory building, as well as the model of the visible
writing machine which has since been produced with great success.

In addition to his manufacturing interests Mr. Smith turned his atten-
tion to banking and assisted in organizing the Syracuse Trust Company, of
which he is vice president. He is also a director of the National Bank of
Syracuse. Some of his other business relations are vice president of the L.
C. Smith Transit Company, engaged in the carrying trade on the Great
Lakes; and director of the Globe Navigation Company, operating a line of
vessels on the Pacific coast. He is one of the owners of the Smith-Lee Com-
pany of Oneida, New York, manufacturing sanitary caps for milk and cream
bottles. With a few other Syracuse business men W. L. Smith is the owner
of considerable real estate in Seattle, Washington, consisting of city blocks.
He is greatly interested in the welfare of his home city and is a public-
spirited citizen, though he never courts prominence. He is a valued mem-
ber of the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, of which he has served as direc-
tor, and is a member of the board of trustees of St. Joseph's Hospital. He
is a member of the Citizens' and Century Clubs of Syracuse, is domestic in
his tastes, and enjoys automobiling.

69

70

Q^tlfiett %t\ai6 ^mitf)

Mr. Smith was married in 1886 to Miss Louise L. Hunt and has two
sons, Wilbert A., now a student at Trinity College ; and Elwyn L. His charm-
ing home is one of the most substantial in the fine residential section of West
Onondaga street.

James; Cooper g>aj>re

"AMES COOPER SAYRE, deceased, was for many
years identified with building interests as a con-
tractor of Marcellus and was also associated with
other business enterprises which brought him into
close and intimate relations with many residents of
the town. All those associated with him entertained
for him warm regard and throughout the community
in which he lived he was the object of general
affection and esteem. His birth occurred September
II, 1815, at Never sink, Sullivan county, New York. He was descended from
an old family. The old Sayre home, which was built at Southampton, Long
Island, in 1648, by Thomas Sayre, is still standing and is yet occupied. Since
the establishment of the family in America its members have been prominent
in various localities where they have lived.

James Cooper Sayre was about two and a half years old when his par-
ents removed from Neversink to New York city. At the age of ten years,
on the death of his mother, he went to live with an uncle, who was a prac-
ticing physician of New Jersey. About a year later, however, this relative
died and he had to seek another home. He was twelve years of age when he
became a resident of Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, where he lived with
an uncle, who was a farmer. For three years he remained upon the farm
but finding that his tastes were more in the direction of mechanical rather than
agricultural interests, he went to Auburn, New York, where he apprenticed
himself to Dean Hagman, whom he was to serve until twenty-one years of
age, and by whom he was to be instructed in the trade of a carpenter and
joiner. He found this pursuit congenial and made rapid progress therein,
acquiring in three years such efficiency in and knowledge of the business that
he went to his employer, desiring to purchase his time and be reheved from
his engagement to serve until he should become of age. The arrangement
being concluded, Mr. Sayre started out in life on his own account and soon
became recognized as a master builder.

On the 20th of August, 1835, occurred the marriage of James C. Sayre
and Miss Lydia W. Webb, of Auburn, New York, where they spent the early
years of their married life. They also lived for a time near Moravia, while
Mr. Sayre engaged in further building operations in Auburn and in neighbor-
ing towns. On the ist of September, 1843, he removed to Marcellus, to

72 31amc£( Cooper ^Sapre

engage in his chosen field of labor and erected many buildings here, including
a church, the two mills and other structures. He also built the Second
Presbyterian church and the old courthouse at Auburn. He was likewise
interested in the woolen mills at Marcellus for some time and became asso-
ciated with many other business interests which brought him into close contact
with many people. During the last thirty-five years of his life he gave employ-
ment to more people in this locality than any other one man. None ever
found him a hard task-master. On the contrary he was just and considerate
of his employes and was never known to overreach another in a business
transaction.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Sayre were born six children. Sophia, the eldest,
died in 1854. William H. enlisted as adjutant in the Seventy-fifth New York
Infantry under Colonel' Dwight, of Auburn, and served for four years. Being
captured, he was incarcerated in Libby prison but was exchanged and at the
time of his discharge he held the rank of lieutenant. He married Mrs. Sarah
Dwight, of Syracuse, and died June 18, i88i. Charlotte became the wife
of Harvey W. Burr, who died in February, 1904, while her death occurred
February 26, 1907. Sarah B., who was educated in Willard Seminary at
Troy, New York, is now a resident of Marcellus. James Cooper died June
10, 1867. Lue W. is the widow of Albert E. Oatman, of New York city, who
died January 12, 1882. The two surviving daughters now reside in the old
Sayre home in Marcellus.

In his political views Mr. Sayre was a republican but never a politician
in the sense of ofiice seeking. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and
was a devoted and helpful member of the Presbyterian church. For many
years he served as a deacon in the church, was also trustee, a member of the
choir and superintendent of the Sunday school. He loved the place of prayer
and was found there as often as possible. His death occurred February 4,
1882, and the community lost one who was recognized as a leader in business
circles, in the church, in the community and in social life. He possessed a
kind and affectionate disposition, a sunshiny nature ; never forgot a friend and
had no enemies. All men respected him, and his memory is yet enshrined in
the hearts of many who knew him and were his associates in life.

MiUiam p, Coggiuell

F IT HAD not been for William Browne Cogswell's
grasping of a suggestion which came to him while
listening to the reading of a paper upon the manu-
facture of ammonia soda, by the inventor Goesten-
horfer, at a meeting of the American Institute
of Mining Engineers at Drifton, Pennsylvania, in
the winter of 1879, Onondaga would never have
had its greatest industry — so great in truth
that the combined freight outgoing and incom-
ing of all other manufacturers in Syracuse together does not equal it — the
Solvay Process Company. Others heard that same paper, the story of the
manufacture of ammonia soda was somewhat common scientific knowledge,
at least abroad, and the value of the manufactured product well known. But
it was the coming together of the idea and the man that was the important
thing for Syracuse, the financial opportunity for the man's friends and the
prospective opening of thousands of careers of future employes and inventors.
How easy it is to trace back through a man's life and point to this
experience or that accident as controlling upon future success. Yet, when
it comes to the man who materializes an idea, pushes it to success and is
credited with a captaincy in industry, there will be found less of accident and
more of experience, coupled with the exceptional qualities which in combina-
tion made the man for the time and the idea. Accidents may happen in
politics and professions, but seldom in industry. Ideas are common, the
right men are few. There were but fourteen years between William Cogs-
well's birth at Oswego, New York, on September 22, 18^ and the beginning
of that practical experience which did so much to make the man, while there
were thirty-one years' experience before the man and the idea came together.
We see the man in the smooth harbor of success and are too apt to forget
the roug'h sailing which made this haven possible.

The Cogswell family in America dated from 1635, at Ipswich, Massachu-
setts, and came from good old English stock, being founded by Sir John
Cogswell, born 1592 at Westbury, Leigh, Wiltshire. David Cogswell
(1807-1877) a contractor, was the father of William B. Cogswell, and Mary
Barnes, daughter of James Barnes of Ashford, Kent, England, the mother.
The Cogswells moved to Syracuse in 1838, and David Cogswell became promi-

73

74 il^iIUam 2?. CoggtoU

nent in the village and succeeding city of Syracuse. Mrs. Cogswell's death
occured in 1862. William Cogswell attended Hamilton Academy, Oneida
county, and the private schools of Joseph Allen in Syracuse and Professor
Orin Root at Syracuse and Seneca Falls, but Mr. Cogswell's education began
before either of these experiences, and it did not end when he bade tutors
and college good-bye, for he made all life an education. In 1848, when only
fourteen, he took a year's experience in practical engineering in the employ
of a party engaged in surveying the route of the Syracuse & Oswego Rail-
road, and the relaying of the track of the Syracuse & Utica Railroad with
T-rails. This developed rather than curbed his inclination for civil engineer-
ing and gave him a first knowledge of the territory which in a geological
way meant so much for the great Solvay idea.

In 1849 William Cpgswell began his three years' student life at the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, a member of the class
of 1852, but destined not to receive his degree of "C. E." until 1884, an
extension of the course leaving the class of 1852 without the customary exer-
cises of graduation. The belated degree became the greater honor. From
the institute to the school of experience was the graduation in 1852, Mr.
Cogswell serving an apprenticeship for three years in the Lawrence, Massa-
chusetts, machine shops under the superintendence of John C. Hoadley, gain-
ing more of that practical knowledge of engineering, mechanics and physics
which made life no accident with him. When he returned to Syracuse in
1856, Mr. Cogswell was selected by George Barnes to accompany him to
Ohio, where Mr. Barnes was superintendent of the Marietta & Cincinnati
Railroad, and Mr. Cogswell was made manager of the machinery depart-
ment of the road located at Chillicothe. Three years more of experience,
and in 1859 Mr. Cogswell became superintendent of the Broadway Foundry at
St. Louis, Missouri. Returning to Syracuse in i860 Mr. Cogswell in associa-
tion with William A. and A. Avery Sweet, founded the firm of Sweet Broth-
ers & Company, which later became the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing
Company. The mechanic had become the expert.

With the beginning of the Civil war, Mr. Cogswell received the civilian
appointment as mechanical engineer of the United States navy. During
1861 he was located at Port Royal, South Carolina, having general superin-
tendence of the work of fitting up repair shops at five widely separated sta-
tions on the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. It was in this year
that he literally launched a machine shop, a unique idea of this period when
great minds were evolving unique ideas for offense and defense to save the
country. In May, 1861, when Admiral Dupont of the North Atlantic Squad-
ron sought to make repairs without docking, this machine shop was gathered
by Mr. Cogswell in a boat and shipped to Port Royal. There an old whaler
was made over for machine shop purposes, and Mr. Cogswell became a real
captain. The incalculable services of the expert mechanic are not to be

H^tUtam 2^. Coggtocl l 75

gauged by the ordinary standards, for the hazards of the work and the make-
shifts are beyond the comprehension of those who have not the advantage
of a war experience and the doing of great work under difficulties. One
example of the efficiency of this navy machine shop may be glimpsed from
the statement that a cylinder head, weighing more than five hundred pounds,
was cast and made ready for a monitor — not a minor casting task for a land-
built shop even at the present time. In 1862 Mr. Cogswell was transferred
to the Brooklyn navy yards in charge of steam repairs, a construction work
which occupied his attention until 1866. The two succeeding years were
spent in work in New York city.

Mr. Cogswell's return to central New York was in 1869, his expert
abilities being engaged in the supervision of construction and operation of
blast furnaces for the Franklin Iron works of Oneida county, New York, at
the same time being given charge of the completion of the Clifton suspension
bridge at Niagara Falls, a recognition of mechanical engineering and execu-
tive genius which probably appealed more to the popular appreciation of me-
chanics than many other of Mr. Cogswell's important accomplishments. This
work occupied Mr. Cogswell to 1873.

The records of life are filled with turnings and twistings and man
is frequently long upon some pathway before there is a realization that
the turn taken was so career-changing. Mr. Cogswell made such a turn in
1874 when he listened to the inducement of Rowland Hazard, of Peacedale,
Rhode Island, to take charge of the big lead mines at Mine La Motte, Missouri,
Five years mining experience brought new tendencies and a bent for things
under the earth as well as upon the land and water. Then came the meeting
of the man and the one great idea which was to mean so much to thousands
of workmen, professional men and financiers. The more Mr. Cogswell
thought of Goestenhorfer's paper on the manufacture of ammonia soda, the
surer Mr. Cogswell felt that America furnished the field and the opportunity
for like endeavor. Ernest Solvay, the chemist, invented the process which
bears his name, and Alfred, the brother, gave the business qualifications which
assured success. Carrying letters of introduction Mr. Cogswell sailed to
investigate at first hand this process which his industrial and mechanical
mind followed as if the idea was a lode star. At Brussels, Belgium, he gave
his letters to the brothers Solvay, who listened, but refused the application as
they had many others. There had been too many and varied experiences in
Mr. Cogswell's life for him to take one refusal, and his investigation of the
Goestenhorfer plant only convinced him the more that the Solvay process
was the greatest commercial prospect. Back to the Solvays he went and the
siege was on, successful in the end not only for the man's persistence but
because he had capabilities which stood the test of research. Armed with
a commission to examine eligible sites for a plant in the United States, Mr.
Cogswell returned home.

74 WiUiam 2?. Coggtoll

nent in the village and succeeding city of Syracuse. Mrs. Cogswell's death
occur ed in 1862. William Cogswell attended Hamilton Academy, Oneida
county, and the private schools of Joseph Allen in Syracuse and Professor
Orin Root at Syracuse and Seneca Falls, but Mr. Cogswell's education began
before either of these experiences, and it did not end when he bade tutors
and college good-bye, for he made all life an education. In 1848, when only
fourteen, he took a year's experience in practical engineering in the employ
of a party engaged in surveying the route of the Syracuse & Oswego Rail-
road, and the relaying of the track of the Syracuse & Utica Railroad with
T-rails. This developed rather than curbed his inclination for civil engineer-
ing and gave him a first knowledge of the territory which in a geological
way meant so much for the great Solvay idea.

In 1849 William Cogswell began his three years' student life at the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, a member of the class
of 1852, but destined not to receive his degree of "C. E." until 1884, an
extension of the course leaving the class of 1852 without the customary exer-
cises of graduation. The belated degree became the greater honor. From
the institute to the school of experience was the graduation in 1852, Mr.
Cogswell serving an apprenticeship for three years in the Lawrence, Massa-
chusetts, machine shops under the superintendence of John C. Hoadley, gain-
ing more of that practical knowledge of engineering, mechanics and physics
which made life no accident with him. When he returned to Syracuse in
1856, Mr. Cogswell was selected by George Barnes to accompany him to
Ohio, where Mr. Barnes was superintendent of the Marietta & Cincinnati
Railroad, and Mr. Cogswell was made manager of the machinery depart-
ment of the road located at Chillicothe. Three years more of experience,
and in 1859 Mr. Cogswell became superintendent of the Broadway Foundry at
St. Louis, Missouri. Returning to Syracuse in i860 Mr. Cogswell in associa-
tion with William A. and A. Avery Sweet, founded the firm of Sweet Broth-
ers & Company, which later became the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing
Company. The mechanic had become the expert.

With the beginning of the Civil war, Mr. Cogswell received the civilian
appointment as mechanical engineer of the United States navy. During
1 86 1 he was located at Port Royal, South Carolina, having general superin-
tendence of the work of fitting up repair shops at five widely separated sta-
tions on the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. It was in this year
that he literally launched a machine shop, a unique idea of this period when
great minds were evolving unique ideas for offense and defense to save the
country. In May, 1861, when Admiral Dupont of the North Atlantic Squad-
ron sought to make repairs without docking, this machine shop was gathered
by Mr. Cogswell in a boat and shipped to Port Royal. There an old whaler
was made over for machine shop purposes, and Mr. Cogswell became a real
captain. The incalculable services of the expert mechanic are not to be

Ili^illiam 2^. Coggtocl l 75

gauged by the ordinary standards, for the hazards of the work and the make-
shifts are beyond the comprehension of those who have not the advantage
of a war experience and the doing of great work under difficulties. One
example of the efficiency of this navy machine shop may be glimpsed from
the statement that a cylinder head, weighing more than five hundred pounds,
was cast and made ready for a monitor — not a minor casting task for a land-
built shop even at the present time. In 1862 Mr. Cogswell was transferred
to the Brooklyn navy yards in charge of steam repairs, a construction work
which occupied his attention until 1866. The two succeeding years were
spent in work in New York city.

Mr. Cogswell's return to central New York was in 1869, his expert
abilities being engaged in the supervision of construction and operation of
blast furnaces for the Franklin Iron works of Oneida county, New York, at
the same time being given charge of the completion of the Clifton suspension
bridge at Niagara Falls, a recognition of mechanical engineering and execu-
tive genius which probably appealed more to the popular appreciation of me-
chanics than many other of Mr. Cogswell's important accomplishments. This
work occupied Mr. Cogswell to 1873.

The records of life are filled with turnings and twistings and man
is frequently long upon some pathway before there is a realization that
the turn taken was so career-changing. Mr. Cogswell made such a turn in
1874 when he listened to the inducement of Rowland Hazard, of Peacedale,
Rhode Island, to take charge of the big lead mines at Mine La Motte, Missouri,
Five years mining experience brought new tendencies and a bent for things
under the earth as well as upon the land and water. Then came the meeting
of the man and the one great idea which was to mean so much to thousands
of workmen, professional men and financiers. The more Mr. Cogswell
thought of Goestenhorfer's paper on the manufacture of ammonia soda, the
surer Mr. Cogswell felt that America furnished the field and the opportunity
for like endeavor. Ernest Solvay, the chemist, invented the process which
bears his name, and Alfred, the brother, gave the business qualifications which
assured success. Carrying letters of introduction Mr. Cogswell sailed to
investigate at first hand this process which his industrial and mechanical
mind followed as if the idea was a lode star. At Brussels, Belgium, he gave
his letters to the brothers Solvay, who listened, but refused the application as
they had many others. There had been too many and varied experiences in
Mr. Cogswell's life for him to take one refusal, and his investigation of the
Goestenhorfer plant only convinced him the more that the Solvay process
was the greatest commercial prospect. Back to the Solvays he went and the
siege was on, successful in the end not only for the man's persistence but
because he had capabilities which stood the test of research. Armed with
a commission to examine eligible sites for a plant in the United States, Mr.
Cogswell returned home.

76 tigiUtam 2^. CoggfaicH

As geologist and engineer Mr. Cogswell knew the opportunity of his old
home, Syracuse, but there were many things to be considered. Looking at
the result today, when all lines of traffic converge at the Solvay works, lime-
stone gravitates in buckets to the yards and the heaviest solution of brine
runs through the pipes to the works, it is easy to see how admirably adapted
is the location for its purposes. But consider figuring this all out when this
section was but vacant pasture and unused salt lands. How the prophetic
industrial eye must have been developed in these experiences of the man with
the idea. Every promise came true, for the Solvays approved the site chosen,
just over the nothwestern line of the city, but at that time nearer to the village
of Geddes.

Then came the all-important question of capital. Not only the experience
of the man but experiences with the man counted in this juncture. Rowland
Hazard believed in the man, and it was Mr. Hazard's money which aided
materially in the erection of that first plant, now almost lost in the midst
of the great plant of today. With a capital stock of three hundred thousand
dollars the Solvay Process Company was organized in 1881, with Rowland
Hazard president; Earl B. Alvord, William A. Sweet and George E. Dana
directors, and William B. Cogswell treasurer and general manager. Today
the capital stock is eight million dollars, with an investment of twenty mil-
lion dollars, the largest soda ash plant in the world, employing close upon
five thousand people, with a product of six hundred thousand six hundred
tons a year. A branch of almost equal proportions was established at Detroit
in 1897. Mr. Cogswell retained the office of treasurer and general manager
until June, 1887, when F. R. Hazard was made treasurer, Mr. Cogswell man-
aging director, and E. N. Trump general manager.

From the time the first settlers "boiled salt" in Onondaga it was a
debate as to where the salt beds were located which so bountifully fed the
springs in the early days. The state in its reservation of the salt tract was
satisfied to take the springs and adjoining lands, while many bored wells
in the vicinity, some finding salt water but never rock salt. This was where
Mr. Cogswell's mining experience and geological research were again of ines-
timable value, but he was baffled at first. He worked upon a theory that
the springs were somewhere near the edge of a bed or veins of rock salt.
Experimental borings made in 1881 and 1883 were failures. Finally, in 1888,
twenty-two miles south of Syracuse and near TuUy, the belief of the geologist
became truth, and at a depth of twelve hundred feet salt in solid form
was struck. This vein was found to be from fifty to one hundred feet
in thickness, and beyond a vein of equal thickness was found. To convey
this salt in brine to Syracuse, Mr. Cogswell tapped one of the little TuUy
lakes and brought the water through a pipe by gravity, discharging the
water into the half hundred wells, the solution being then piped to the Solvay
Process works by the Tully pipe line. It is an interesting note that in many

la^iUtam 2?. Coggtaell n

places this brine has displaced the output of the old state wells with salt
manufacturers. The Tully Pipe Line Company was incorporated in 1889, with
a capital stock of three hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Cogswell president and
F. R. Hazard treasurer.

The mechanical engineer showed forth again and again in Mr. Cogs-
well's plans. The utilization of the Split Rock quarries by a gravity cable
bucket method is but one, although it is such an important feature in the
landscape for several miles and so material to the works. For this project
the Split Rock Cable Company was incorporated for one hundred thousand
dollars with Mr. Cogswell as general manager.

Another notable work of Mr. Cogswell was his part in the development
of the Hannawa Falls Power Company at Hannawa Falls, St. Lawrence county,
New York, which owns a power plant of ten thousand horsepower capacity at
that point, and another of forty thousand horsepower at Colton. Mr. Cogswell
is the principal stockholder in this, one of his numerous enterprises.

But industrial foresight is not entirely successful which does not com-
prehend the enlisting of helpers and the management of men. It was this
quality in the working organization of the Solvay plant which has counted
much in its success, even after all the other bridges were crossed. Mr.
Cogswell's knowledge of men was such that he gathered about him a staff
of exceptionally bright young men, most of whom were specialists and scien-
tists. Many a bright young man starting in a menial capacity, having shown
an aptitude for greater things, has been taken up by Mr. Cogswell, educated
and advanced to responsible posts. This kindness to men in every walk of
life has given that spirit of loyalty which is one of the great things in the
Solvay works.

Mr. Cogswell's identification with many charitable movements is a mat-
ter which he invariably leaves for the public to find out in some other way
than the bringing forth of his name in prominent letters. But it is work for
that noblest of institutions, the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, which has
made the great plant for the care of the sick and unfortunate possible. His
gifts to that institution alone amount to two hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars — but then that is a matter of historic record and no confidence is betrayed
in the statement.

Mr. Cogswell is a member of many societies and clubs, but is best known
in the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Min-
ing Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society
of Chemical Industry of England, and the North American Society for the
Advancement of Sciences. He is a fellow of the Geographical Society, a Mas-
ter Mason, Royal Arch Chapter, and member of the Sons of the Revolution,
the Citizens' Club, the Century Club, Technical Club, University Club, Syra-
cuse Country Club and Onondaga Historical Association of Syracuse; the Uni-
versity Club, Engineers' Club, National Arts Club, Transportation Club,

78 UOtUiam 2?. CogatpgU

Chemical Club and Republican Club, Pittsburg Duquesne Club, and the Detroit
Club and Fellowcraft Club of Detroit.

The genealogy of the Cogswell family shows a long line founded by
that hardy stock which fearlessly braved the rigors of the New England
coast within fifteen years of the landing of the Mayflower. John and Eliza-
beth Thompson Cogswell emigrated to America in 1635. Then follows this
line of descent: William, baptized March, 1619, died December 15, 1700;
William, December 4, 1659, April 14, 1708; Edward, August 13, 1686, April
17, 1773; Samuel, March i, 1710 — ; Asa, March 30, 1740, 1832; Daniel, 1770
— ; David, March 12, 1807, October 3, 1877; William Browne, September 22,

1834.

The first marriage of Mr. Cogswell was to Miss Mary N. Johnson, daugh-
ter of Reuben Johnson of Boscowen, formerly Fisherville, January 31, 1856,
Mrs. Cogswell dying July 20, 1877, leaving one daughter, Mabel Cogswell.
On April 29, 1902, Mr, Cogswell married Miss Cora Browning, of New York
city.

Mr. Cogswell was one of the hundred captains of industry appointed
by President Roosevelt to meet Prince Henry of Prussia. In politics Mr.
Cogswell has always been a republican but never obtrusively active. He
was satisfied with the honors by his industrial foresight, experience and gen-
ius, never by those things which came by accident. It was a great thing
for Syracuse when this man and the Solvay idea came together. If they had
missed, Syracuse would not be as great a place as it is today.

Eobett ®e|>

OBERT DEY was one of the first men in Syracuse
whose business sagacity was strong enough to enable
him to understand that the growth and development
of the city justified the extension of its business cen-
ter; that it was no longer necessary to concentrate
commercial interests around four corners; that suc-
cessful enterprises could be conducted elsewhere than
in this locality. He therefore purchased property in
the residence district and began the building of the
great Dey Brothers store. This was in 1892, less than ten years after his
arrival in Syracuse. In this way the Deys set the pace for native Syracusans
and the wisdom of their business judgment has been demonstrated so frequently
that the Dey building at the present time is located in what is termed the "down
town" district. "Syracuse is the most enterprising and one of the smartest cities
in the country" is the belief expressed again and again in speech and action by
the head founder of this great dry-goods house and because of this belief Rob-
ert Dey has become as loyal to the city as one of its native sons.

He was born in the parish of Abernathy, Scotland, November 25, 1849.
His father was a farmer and miller and his family one of the highest respec-
tability. The record shows that its members have been characterized by
strength of opinion and honor in accomplishment. The forefathers in the
beginning of the eighteenth century espoused the cause of the brave but unfor-
tunate Stuarts. It was near the end of the sixteenth century that Queen
Elizabeth granted lands in Norfolk, England, to the Dey family for public
services and it was shortly after this event that the branch of the family from
which the Dey brothers sprang, migrated to Scotland.

In Aberdeen Robert Dey laid the foundation of that business knowledge
which he was to bring to this country and use so advantageously for the city
and for his family. He had been educated in the district schools of Kirk-
michael and was but seventeen years of age when he went to Aberdeen, where
he entered the employ of Pratt & Keith, proprietors of the largest dry-goods
house in the north of Scotland. He had remained with that firm for five
years, gaining a practical knowledge of the business in both the wholesale
and retail departments. He came to this country in 1871 and upon his arrival
entered the employ of the well known firm of Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, of Roch-
ester, New York. Over five years more were devoted to practical work and

79

8o lilobert J^ep

study in various departments, during which time he gained thorough familiar-
ity with the requirements and needs of the business in this country. Fully
confident, after devoting ten and a half years to hard work and close applica-
tion to the dry-goods business in all its branches from the looms to the counter,
the firm of Dey Brothers & Company was established in Elmira, New York,
in 1877, Robert Dey previous to this date being joined by his brothers, Don-
ald, Charles and James. About three years later they were joined by an older
brother, John, who subsequently invented and patented the time register.
Their business grew until it became one of the most important in Elmira and
was the inspiration for the attempt to establish a similar enterprise in a larger
city.

It was in 1883 that Robert Dey came to Syracuse and purchased the dry-
goods house of the late Edward F. Rice, this being one of the old established
mercantile enterprises of the city, its location being just south of the White
Memorial building in South Salina street. The Dey brothers increased their
business at once, keeping their old established trade and winning new patrons.
They purchased the crockery business of Charles Hamlin, which was located
to the south of the Dey store. The Hamlin stock was sold out immediately,
for the space occupied by it was much needed by the rapidly growing Dey
business and it was this that inspired the purchase of the Hamlin store. The
severe criticisms that followed by many of the patrons for thus closing out
the best china store in the city, accounts for the provision made in the new
store for ample room for a larger and better china department. Up to this
time the Deys had not carried china at all, which department has since
become an important feature of that store and constitutes one of the finest
lines of goods of this character to be found in central New York. The story
of the success of the Dey firm is one of constant growth. Robert Dey was a
man of ideas. He made the same study of the people's wants that a scien-
tist does of the thing he investigates. Like the snow ball which is rolled
over soft snow down hill, constantly taking up new material, the business
kept growing and in the early '90s came the move south which proved an
epoch in the business life of Syracuse and really changed the down town map
of the city. On the 2d of May, 1894, the Dey Brothers moved into their great
stores at South Salina and Jefferson streets. To the keen business judgment
which dictated this move, even against the prophecies of many of the older
business heads of the city, was due the whole building up of South Salina
street south from Jefferson street.

Robert Dey is typically the progressive merchant of modern life and
concentrates undivided attention upon his business affairs. While his politi-
cal influence has been of the highest, he has been careful to use it only for
the cleanest politics in the city, state and nation. That he has stood for
the best in political life is not a mere assertion but a matter of intimate knowl-
edge to his townsmen. Yet he has persistently refrained from taking an

Robert i^gp 8i

active interest in party politics as a candidate for office. Again and again he
has been offered tempting nominations but has steadily refused unless there
was need that his name should be used to purify the situation. He belongs
to that class of men who wield a power which is all the more potent from the
fact that it is moral rather than political and is exercised for the public weal
rather than for personal ends. His rare aptitude and ability in achieving
results, however, have made him constantly sought but it is only when he
feels that the public situation demands it that he has stepped aside from his
path as a merchant to take active part in public interests. His business
capacity has been called upon many times to help establish other projects and
business enterprises. He was one of the incorporators of the Dey Time
Register Company and for years was one of its officers. He was likewise one
of the incorporators of the Syracuse Trust Company and one of the incorpora-
tors of the Syracuse Homeopathic Hospital. He has been interested in and
identified with national bank boards and at present is one of the directors of
the National Bank of Syracuse. He has also been connected with the Sweet
Manufacturing Company, of which he was made receiver and in the reorgan-
ization of which he rendered material aid.

On the 2d of January, 1890, Mr. Dey was married to Miss Mary Sweet,
the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Sweet. They now have
three children, Amoret Sweet, Victoria Mary Sweet and William Robert.

(^aclmAIi^ // ihJ^i

eiAje^

Jfranfelin H* Cljasie

FRANKLIN H. CHASE, born in Syracuse on Septem-
ber 15, 1864, and since 1880 employed almost contin-
uously upon The Journal, is descended from Aquila
Chase, who came to Hampton, Massachusetts, in
1636. Mr. Chase's immediate ancestors were among
the earlier settlers of Sunapee, New Hampshire,
where the homestead of John Chase, Sr., John
Chase, Jr., and the birthplace of Hills Horace Chase,
ancestors in line, still stands. M. Van Buren Chase,
the father of Franklin H. Chase, was a son of Hills Horace Chase, one of the
first homeopathic physicians of Syracuse, settling in this city in 1851. Van
Buren Chase had charge of the composing room of The Journal for fifty-one
years, and is still connected with the paper.

Franklin H. Chase was educated in the schools of Syracuse, and after
taking up work upon The Journal in 1880 continued his studies. After an
apprenticeship in stock and minor reporting, Mr. Chase in 1890 took up the
work of reporting of the upper courts for The Journal, and at the same time
dramatic criticism, adding later editorial work. Upon September 27, 1887,
he married Lucy A. Post, a lineal descendant of John Post, the first settler of
Utica, Mrs. Chase died October 18, 1905, leaving two children, Dorothy
Sargent, born September 18, 1889; and Donald Frederic, born December 9,
1892.

83

^^^^^^-r^,,/^^^

$l)tltp &. i&ptvet

I

p

T IS given to but few men to command world-wide
attention or even national prominence but in every
community there are men whose force of character,
upright principles and rules of conduct gain for them
the unqualified interest and respect of their fellow
citizens and who by reason of their business ability
and consecutive effort gain positions of more than
local distinction. Such a one was Philip S. Ryder,
for many years the veteran photographer of Syracuse
and known professionally as well throughout this part of the state. For nearly
forty years he figured in the business circles of Syracuse.

A native of Ithaca, he was born on the 7th of April, 1837, his parents
being John and Lucy M. (Crandall) Ryder. At the usual age he became a
public-school student, attending Lancasterian school in Ithaca. After com-
pleting his high-school course he entered business life as a clerk in the employ
of Andrew Giltner & Company, of Ithaca, where he remained for several
years, the length of his service being indicative of his fidelity, trustworthi-
ness and energy. He next entered the employ of Daniel R. Young & Company,
also grocerymen, but through the influence and urgent desire of his brother,
James F. Ryder, a photographer of Cleveland, he determined to acquaint
himself with the processes of photography and entered the employ of Jeffer-
son Beardsley & Brother, who conducted a studio in Ithaca. Philip S. Ryder
remained with that firm for a year and then went to Cleveland, Ohio, to
complete the business with his brother, under whose direction he thoroughly
acquainted himself with the best methods of photography then known. At
length when he felt qualified to engage in business on his own account he
established a photograph gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and later conducted
a studio at Indianapolis, where he remained for three years. He studied in
Cleveland and in Cincinnati, Ohio, in order to perfect himself in the business,
and from the latter city he returned to the east, locating in New York city,
where he studied his art for several months.

The year 1865 witnessed Mr, F. Ryder's arrival in Syracuse and he soon
became an operator for Hiram Lazier, then the leading photographer of the
city. Not long afterward he began business on his own account and from the
beginning was successful, continuing in this field of labor up to the time of his
death. He photographed the great majority of the notable people of the

85

86 j^ttlip ^. Ctpbcr

United States and also some of foreign lands during their sojourns in the
country. His fame as a skilled photographer spread abroad and brought him
a most liberal patronage. He always kept abreast with the advance made in
photography — an advance so great as to seem almost phenomenal. He recog-
nized the value of light and shade and of contrast, employed the latest
improved processes and in his business gained a measure of success that was
most gratifying, being, as it was, a tribute to his merit.

On the nth of August, 1855, Mr. Ryder was united in marriage to Miss
Olive Patterson, of Hartford, Connecticut, who after leaving New England
became a resident of Ithaca. They had two sons, of whom Henry W., born
October 18, i860, died in November of the same year. The other son, John H.
Ryder, born January 12, 1862, died on the 20th of January, 1882. He was a
well known writer of Syracuse and wrote articles for the papers when but
fourteen years of age. .

Mr. Ryder was very prominent in social circles and had an extensive
circle of friends. He belonged to Central City Lodge, No, 305, A. F. & A. M.,
and to other branches of Masonry, exemplifying in his life the beneficent
spirit of the craft. He likewise belonged to the Knights of Pythias and the
Odd Fellows and held membership relations with the Citizens' Club and the
Chamber of Commerce. His religious faith was indicated by his membership
in the Methodist Episcopal church. He took a great interest in baseball and
manly athletic and outdoor sports and was manager of the first baseball team
that was organized in Syracuse and became one of its stockholders in 1869.
He was the originator and promoter of the famous Star Baseball Club in 1876,
which was one of the greatest clubs of the country. He acted as its president,
with Hamilton S. White as vice president and Edward N. Westcott, author of
David Harum, as treasurer. This club was most successful, winning victories
over many of the leading clubs of the country. In community affairs he was
ever deeply interested and was a co-worker in many movements for the public
good.

In politics he was a stalwart democrat and was president of the board of
police commissioners in 1888, having been appointed a member of that board
by Mayor W. B. Kirk. In 1892 he was the democratic candidate for sheriff
and carried the city of Syracuse by eleven hundred majority, which no candi-
date for that office had ever done before. He was also at one time the demo-
cratic candidate for senator and thgugh his party was in the minority he
received very flattering support. A man of fine personal appearance, his
mental caliber was equally great. He was broad minded and looked at life
from no narrow or contracted view. He possessed a most kindly, humani-
tarian spirit and the . poor found in him a most helpful, generous friend. At
all times his life was actuated by high purposes and in his community he was
regarded as a man who did much good in the world by reason of the high
standard which he maintained in business, by reason of a kindly spirit, as well

Ptjttip ^. Itpijer

87

as through those works which contribute directly to the benefit of the race.
When death came to him on the 30th of May, 1907, he had reached the age of
seventy years and he was laid to rest with honors, the funeral cortege being
escorted to the cemetery by a police detail, who acted as a guard of honor.
Syracuse had known him for forty years and always known him as one
worthy of their full honor.

0^.

3fofjn Sunfee

IHRISTMASTIDE has become synonymous with joy
and happiness, with homecomings, family reunions
and all of the pleasures of life. But the Christmas-
tide of 1904 brought sadness and sorrow to Syracuse
in that it chronicled the death of John Dunfee, one of
the foremost citizens not only of Syracuse but of the
state — a man to whom the term brotherhood meant
all hunmanity, who though buffeted by fortune in his
youth, meeting hardships that seldom fall to the lot
of even the poorest, yet kept a heart warm for humanity's sorrows and a
hand quick to lighten the burdens of others. No tale of fiction presents a
more interesting, fanciful or romantic picture than does the life history of
John Dunfee. Fifty-three years were allotted him for his earthly pilgrimage
and in that time he accomplished a marvelous work. From the most humble
surroundings and the environment of direst poverty he rose to rank with the
wealthy men of Syracuse, regarded as a power not only in business but also in
political circles — the latter not because of his desire for office but because of
the influence which he exerted among the many who trusted his judgment and
believed in him.

His father, Edward Dunfee, came from County Kilkenny, Ireland, to the
United States. He was early deprived of his mother and at a time when most
boys of even the poorest parents are in schools he was fighting life's battles in
the struggle for a livelihood. His birth occurred on March 16, 1851, in a most
humble home on Canal street. Many of Syracuse's citizens remember him
when as a little lad of seven of eight years he sold newspapers at the old
Central station in Vanderbilt Square. The associations were such as most
parents seek to shield their children from, but the necessities of the case were
paramount here and in the school of experience Mr. Dunfee had to learn his
lessons and he mastered them right royally. He learned to place a correct
value upon opportunity, upon energy and, moreover, upon character, learned
the true from the false, to hate pretension and sham and to scorn the spurious.
He learned the value of an honest word, a kindly act and a sympathetic utter-
ance, and he made these assets in his later life. This knowledge, however, did
not come to him all at once but was acquired as the years passed. He supple-
mented his earnings as a newsboy in the daytime by selling apples in the
gallery of Corinthian Hall, which was then the fashionable amusement house

89

90 3lof)n l^unfee

of Syracuse. He was dubbed "the little red-headed Irish boy" and many a
joke was uttered at his expense but his good nature and ready wit ever made
apt answer. At his death his property included one of the handsomest theatres
of the city.

Like most boys of Syracuse to whom the protection of home and school
are denied, he found interest and amusement on the banks of the Erie canal,
watching the boats go slowly by. He was fond, too, of displaying his skill in
swimming there and frequently took a high dive from the tops of buildings or
the lumber piles, calling out, "Just watch Sam Patch !" — for the original Sam
Patch was then a sensation in the amusement world. This secured for him the
nickname of Sam, which was afterward corrupted into Sim, by which he was
known throughout the remainder of his life — a name that became dear to the
hearts of many friends.- In the early boyhood days he knew what it was on
many occasions to want a meal, while comfortable clothing was almost an
undreamed of luxury, but the boy had in him the elements of success and his
life is another proof of the fact that it is under the stimulus of opposition and
the pressure of adversity that the strongest in men is brought out and devel-
oped. It is related that on one occasion the janitor of the Pike Block kicked
him down the stairs. The boy picked himself up, shook his fist in the man's
face and vowed that he would one day own the building from which he had
been ignominiously ejected. He lived to see the fulfillment of this vow, while
his real-estate interests included much other valuable Syracuse property.

From newsboy and apple vender his next step in the business world was
made as driver on the Erie Canal. On one occasion the owner of the boat,
having no driver and noting the keen interest in the boy's face, asked him how
he would like to drive for a salary of three dollars per month. The oflfer was
at once accepted and without parental authority he started out in the work to
drive along the towpath to Albany. When they reached Albany the horses
became sick and the canal driver was obliged to lay up there for three months
of winter and the diet of himself and his driver consisted of salt pork and bis-
cuit made from the flour and salt pork which they were carrying as cargo.
One day the boy was sent upon an errand and returned to find that his
employer had abandoned him, taking the boat and the horses and leaving John
Dunfee without a penny. That night he was forced to sleep outdoors. The next
morning, telling his story to a man, he was given enough money with which
to buy a breakfast and a bootblack's outfit. The Albany bootblacks resented his,
to them, intrusion and smashed his kit. He procured another, and, seeing that
he must fight for his place, he soon gave the other boys to understand that he
had a right, as well as they, to earn his living. When he had saved money
enough to buy a new suit throughout, a new bootblack's outfit and pay his
way back to Syracuse he came again to his native city.

This habit of saving was one of his strong characteristics. Speaking of his
own early life, he said his policy was "to save two quarters for every one I

31of)n J^unfee 91

spent." It was this that laid the foundation for his later marvelous prosper-
ity. Following his return to Syracuse he resumed his interrupted career as a
canal driver but watched every opportunity for advancement in the business
world. He was promoted to steersman on the canal and finally invested in a
boat of his own. The interest which he took in politics led to political inter-
vention in his behalf when he was about seventeen years of age in an appoint-
ment to the position of lock tender at the Lodi street locks. While thus en-
gaged he saw a chance to buy and trade in horses and his carefully saved
earnings were thus invested until at one time he had as many as fifty horses
and mules at work along the canal. After leaving the position of lock tender
he continued in business as a horse dealer on a yet more extensive scale, mak-
ing purchases not only in central New York but also going as far as Canada to
obtain desirable animals. The scope of his labors increased when he was
appointed fire commissioner by Mayor Ryan, while Mayors Burns and Kirk
continued him in office. He resigned, however, upon the election of Mayor
Cowie in order that he might devote his attention entirely to his business
interests and never again did he hold office save that of water commissioner.
However, he was one of the recognized leaders of democracy in New York, a
stalwart champion of the principles in which he believed, a delegate to various
party conventions and the warm friend of many party leaders, including
Judge Alton B. Parker. He was never an aggressive partisan, however, and
had as many friends among the republicans as among democrats, and no party
coercion could force him into any course which his judgment did not sanction.
Perhaps Mr. Dunfee was best known to the general public as a contractor.
He did not plan to enter that field of business but, as usual, saw and embraced
his opportunity, his first step being made when he purchased horses and put
them under contract on canal work. His first important contract, was for
cleaning the city streets. From that time forward he took contracts of one
character or another until he became one of the best known contractors of the
east. Only the week prior to his death he was the successful bidder in a con-
tract near Boston, Massachusetts, calling for an expenditure of one million
dollars. He constructed the Boston tunnel, made the improvements of the
Hudson river and took a nine million dollar canal improvement contract. He
was awarded many dredging contracts, some of these being at Albany, at New
York and in Chesapeake Bay. He was the promoter of the Syracuse Lighting
Company, acquiring the stock of the Electric Light & Power Company, which
furnished all the electricity used in Syracuse and had the city lighting con-
tract. The stock of the Syracuse Gas Company was at that time held by a
syndicate and the company was losing money, when Mr. Dunfee proposed to
the syndicate that they form one large company, combine the two properties
and operate together. As a result the Syracuse Lighting Company came into
existence, acquiring the Electric Light & Power Company, the Underground
Electric Wire Company and the Onondaga Lighting Company property. In

92 3lofin J^nfce

his contracting business he was president of the Central City Construction
Company, vice president of the Boston Tunnel Construction Company, a mem-
ber of the dredging firms of John Dunfee & Company and Kirk, Driscoll &
Company, and also of two construction companies under the name of John
Dunfee & Company. He was likewise a director of the Haberle-Crystal Spring
Brewing Company, the Syracuse Reduction Company and the Empire Contract-
ing Company.

In the meantime Mr. Dunfee early in his business career began investing
in real-estate. Long before he reached middle age he was rated as a man of
means. He owned considerable real estate and purchased and established a
successful livery stable, which proved a profitable investment. When the
West Shore road was built he bought many houses and realized a gratifying
income from their sale. As the years passed his successes enabled him to make
real-estate purchases that involved extensive investment and his holdings
included an interest in the Vanderbilt House and Manhattan Hotel property,
the Pike Block, the Dunfee building and much other notable and valuable
realty. ,

To have attained the success which Mr. Dunfee did would alone have
entitled him to distinction but the use which he made of it was what won for
him the gratitude, the admiration and the love of his fellowmen. It was his
cherished dream to provide a beautiful home for his wife. He wedded Anna
Shorten, a native of Syracuse and a daughter of Charles and Mary (Gorman)
Shorten. Her father was born in Kingston, Canada, and came to Syracuse
when a young boy, working in early life at the meat cutter's trade. The
mother was a native of Ireland. Mrs, Dunfee acquired her education in
Syracuse in a school where the new public library building now stands. In
1874 she gave her hand in marriage to John Dunfee, then a young man of twen-
ty-three years, just making the initial steps in the business career that led on
to fortune. As stated, it was the great desire of his early life to promote the
welfare and happiness of his wife and to surround her with the comforts that
money can bring and to this end he eagerly availed himself of the opportunity
to purchase for her a beautiful residence. They had no children of their own
but adopted a niece, who became the wife of John J. Cummins and their only
child was named in honor of Mr. Dunfee — John Dunfee Cummins. Mr. Dun-
fee had the greatest love for children and many of the happiest hours of his life
were spent in the company of this little grandson. No matter what the busi-
ness cares demanding his time and attention, he would put them all aside to
take this child in his arms and talk to him with an affection as eloquent and
sympathetic as that of any mother.

The orphaned children, too, found in Mr. Dunfee a father. He gave most
generously not only to the little ones who needed protection but to the institu-
tions established for their care and one of the large bequests of his will was to
St. Vincent de Paul's Orphan Asylum. It would be impossible to estimate the

31otin i^unfee 93

amount that Mr. Dunfee gave away to charity. He gave ready response to
every call that was made upon him for aid without regard to race, color or
religion. There was probably not a day passed that did not chronicle some
good deed, some assistance rendered to those who needed aid, and yet he never
spoke boastingly, if at all, of what he did in this direction. Every charitable
enterprise promoted in Syracuse sought his assistance. Only the Saturday
before he was taken ill a subscription book for Christmas at the House of
Providence was handed him and his name went down for fifty dollars. The
day before it was the maternity hospital and it, too, received fifty dollars, but
he always felt that the orphans were his special care.

Mr. Dunfee was a man strong in his likes and dislikes. His early expe-
riences taught him to value true worth and to scorn all that is hypocritical or
pretentious. He evolved much philosophy from his early life and many of his
sayings passed into local history. He possessed the keen wit for which the
Irish race are noted, combined with a peculiar sensitiveness and a ready
recognition of the ridiculous. He managed to evoke fun from many situations
which others would have regarded as a hardship and he had a way, well worth
emulation, of looking upon the bright side, possessing a hopeful optimism that
was at all times, however, guided by a sane, rational judgment. Those who
came within the close circle of his friendship entertained for him the highest
regard. To them the full depths of his nature were known. Two of his warm-
est friends were his pastor, Mgr. John Grimes of the Cathedral of the Immacu-
late Conception, and Bishop Ludden. Many of his evening hours were spent
in company with the Bishop in his favorite pastime of billiards at his own
home. He shared with them in their ambitions for the work of the church and
was a most generous contributor in support of their plans. Both he and his
wife were communicants of the Cathedral congregation and he could never
bear that any one should speak lightly or slightingly of the church.

To gain a true knowledge of a man one must know his associates and
their opinion of him and no better summary of the character of John Dunfee
could be given than by quoting from the words of many who were his asso-
ciates in the various walks of life where he figured prominently. John J.
Cummins, the husband of Mr. Dunfee's adopted daughter, said: "Closely con-
nected as I was with him the past five years I grew to know him as few men
did. Having his peculiarities, as we all have, he was at heart one of the best
friends a man could have. Hundreds in Syracuse and elsewhere have learned
from him the test of true friendship, for when in the direst trouble they went
to him for assistance and never in vain. His heart always rang true and no
matter what dififerences of opinion he might have with men regarding busi-
ness or other matters, yet no manifestation of malice ever followed. He was
always the first to help a poor fellow out of difficulty and never deserted a friend
under any circumstances. I considered him the most remarkable man I had
ever met. His judgment of men and the motives that prompted their acts was

94 31ot)n J^unfee

invariably correct. Lack of early education had sharpened his faculties to
such an extent that he seemed to be able to read the very hearts of men and to
thoroughly understand every move they made. He was always the same
blunt, democratic, everyday man, with as hearty a greeting for the poorest
friend he ever knew as for the millionaire who courted his friendship and
sought his judgment in business affairs. The generous hospitality which he
dispensed with the woman he loved so well, both at his city and summer resi-
dences, endeared him. to a wide and rapidly increasing circle of friends. Some
men there are who die and are forgotten in a short time, but the memory of
John Dunf ee will live for many years in the hearts of his friends. His repeated
and munificent gifts to the asylums and hospitals will be sadly missed. He
loved the institution wherein he died and it seemed a strange dispensation of
fate that the hospital to which he was taken for the operation should have been
the institution that gave him kindly shelter and loving care when as a little
lad he was found by the wayside badly injured. Sisters of the sacred order
who cared for him as a lad surrounded his bedside and offered up their prayers
as his soul took its flight to another world."

W. P. Gannon, speaking of Mr, Dunf ee, said : "Possessed of great natural
ability and shrewdness, he was generally able to carry out the many deals and
plans which his ever busy brain conceived. He had an early appreciation of
the business principles necessary for success." A well known lawyer added:
"He was a man of great natural ability, force of character, kind hearted and
generous. Syracuse has sustained a distinct and permanent loss by reason of
his death." A banker said: "Mr. Dunfee was a genius. To think that he
could have started with absolutely nothing, handicapped by lack of even a
common-school education, and make himself the factor he did in the com-
munity was simply wonderful." Another banker added: "He was a man of
strict integrity and his word as as good as gold. His honesty was never
questioned." Mr. Dunfee never failed to leave a strong impress upon those
with whom he came in contact. They recognized that while perhaps he lacked
some of those qualities which come through training and which are called
culture, he had the real manhood which sees and does the right and as a friend
said, "His heart was in keeping with his brain and his body — it was big enough

to make him an invaluable friend His likes and dislikes were strong.

His devotion to those in whom he trusted was wrought in ties stronger than
steel. To those who really knew him he was a character to inspire affection
and firm regard. . , . Mr. Dunfee was a man of action and large enter-
prise. His ability in dealing with matters of magnitude, in making clear
sighted and safe business investments, was the marvel of all who knew him.
It is a far cry from a barefoot boy selling papers or blacking boots on the street
to association with the leading financiers of the country and paramount suc-
cess in big undertakings, but Mr. Dunfee, who had only reached the prime of
life at the hour of his death, had achieved this ascent on the ladder of life.

3oi)n J^unfee 95

His strong hands held many enterprises steady. There will be others to take
his place but none can fill that held by this strong, original figure, whose energy
and strength permeated his pubHc and private life."

Death came to Mr. Dunfee as the result of an operation in St. Joseph's
hospital. It was in that hospital that he once found protection and care when
he had been injured in his boyhood. He always felt for it the deepest attach-
ment and when his will was read St, Joseph's, together with other Catholic
institutions, were found to be very large direct beneficiaries. His name will
ever be enrolled among the philanthropists of this city because of his muni-
ficent gifts to public charities. There are few men who learn so thoroughly
the real lessons of life. He realized fully that "it is more blessed to give than
to receive." He gave generously and with open hand and never lost an
opportunity to prevent an unfortunate child from passing through some of the
hard experiences which came to him in his own youth. Day after day his life
was filled with the interests of business, which developed to mammoth pro-
portions, and yet he was never too busy to listen to the story of one to whom
fate had been unkind and while his large charities to the different institutions
which he assisted awakened for him admiration and gratitude, it was the
numberless little acts of kindness which he performed day by day that gained
him a place in the hearts of many who now cherish his memory. Thus we are
brought to the thought that "it is not from the few conspicuous deeds of life
that the blessings chiefly come which make the world better, sweeter, happier ;
but from the countless lowly ministries of the everydays, the little faithful-
nesses that fill long years."

aiexanber ®motl)j> JBrotPit

N THE field of public life and commercial and indus-
trial activity Alexander T. Brown has won distinc-
tion and is today numbered mong the leading, influ-
ential and honored citizens of Syracuse. He belongs
to the little group of distinctively representative busi-
ness men who have been the pioneers in inaugurat-
ing and building up the chief industries of this sec-
tion of the country. He is now connected with
many extensive and important business interests and
throughout his career his efforts have been so discerningly directed along
well defined lines of labor that he seems to have realized at any one point of
progress his possibilities for successful accomplishment at that point.

He was born in Scott, Cortland county, New York, November 21, 1854.
He comes of Revolutionary ancestry and the line of descent can be traced
back to Thomas Brown of Massachusetts — 161 1 A. D. His paternal grand-
father was an early settler of Onondaga county and one of its pioneer
teachers. The paternal grandfather, Timothy Brown, settled in Scott, Cort-
land county. New York, in 1800, and his wife at one time was the owner
of land on the site of the city of Cortland. The father, Stephen S. Brown,
was also a native of Cortland county and a farmer by occupation. In early
manhood he wedded Nancy N. Alexander, a native of Leyden, Massachusetts.
His death occurred ten years ago but the mother survived until the fall of
1906. Their family numbered three children, one of whom has passed
away, while the living brother of our subject is William H. Brown, of Syra-
cuse.

In the select schools of his native town Alexander T. Brown acquired his
early education and afterward attended Homer Academy. Entering busi-
ness life, he was for some time agent for a harvester machine company and
also sold hardware. The year 1879 witnessed his arrival in Syracuse, where
he became connected with the firearms business of the firm of W. H. Baker
& Company in the mechanical department. He is the inventor of the famous
L. C. Smith shot gun, and continued with the house in the manufacture of
this firearm up to the time the business was sold to the Hunter Arms Com-
pany. From early youth displaying marked mechanical ^ability and ingenu-
ity, Mr. Brown has produced many valuable devices.

97

He is the inventor

98 aiexanber Cimotfjp 2?roton

of the Smith Premier typewriter and also of many clever and practicable
devices for the telephone and the automobile. Since his production of the
Smith Premier typewriter his attention has been given at least in part to
its manufacture. He is now president of the Smith Premier Typewriter Com-
pany, employing some two thousand workmen. He is likewise a director
of the Third National Bank of Syracuse; president of the Brown-Lipe Gear
Company of Syracuse; and one of the founders of the H. H. Franklin Auto-
mobile Company, of which he was at one time president and which has the
largest payroll in Syracuse. He still owns a considerable amount of stock
in this company. Furthermore he is an ofificer in the Globe Malleable Iron
Works of Syracuse; is a stockholder and officer in the Syracuse Aluminum &
Bronze Company; director of the Pneumelectric Machine Company, large
manufacturers of electrical mining machinery at Syracuse, an officer and
director of the C. H. Wood Company; and a director of the Clear Clothing
Company, manufacturers and wholesale dealers of this city.

The extent and importance of his business interests places him at once
in the rank of the foremost residents of Syracuse. Honored and respected
by all, there is no citizen who occupies a more enviable position in commer-
cial, industrial and financial circles than Alexander T. Brown, not alone by
reason of the brilliant success he has achieved but also owing to the straight-
forward business policy that he has ever followed. He has formed his
plans readily has been determined in their execution, and added to his nat-
ural mechanical ingenuity and inventive ability he possesses an aptitude for
successful management and the co-ordination of forces that is often sadly
lacking in the inventor. Intricate business problems he comprehends with
rare quickness and the solution which he proposes almost invariably proves to
be the correct one.

In 1 88 1 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Mary L. Seamens, a daughter
of Julian C. Seamens, of Virgil, New York. They have two sons: Charles
S., a student in Cornell University; and Julian, also in school.

Mr. Brown is a life member of the American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers. He belongs to the Citizens', the Century and the Yacht and Golf
Clubs of Syracuse, to the New York Transportation Club and to the Adiron-
dack League and the Syracuse Automobile Club. He is also identified with
the Chamber of Commerce and is interested in all matters pertaining to the
municipal welfare or the advancement of those public concerns which are a
matter of civic virtue and of civic pride. He is now one of the trustees of
the Syracuse University and of the House of the Good Shepherd, and from
the time when age conferred upon him the right of franchise to the present
he has always been a stalwart republican. Fraternally he is identified with
Central City Lodge, No. 305, A. F. & A. M., and with all the Scottish Rite
bodies up to and including the thirty-second degree, while at Utica he is a
member of the Mystic Shrine. There is in him a weight of character, a native

KUexanber Cimotd? ^to\m

99

sagacity, a far-seeing judgment and a fidelity of purpose that commands the
respect of all. A man of indefatigable enterprise and fertility of resource,
he has carved his name deeply on the records of central New York, and Syra-
cuse acknowledges its indebtedness for much of its advancement to his efforts.

®li\}tt ®eel JButt

LIVER TEEL BURT, who was born in 1824, died
in 1887. His birth occurred in Fayetteville, New
York, his parents being Aaron and Lucy (Burke)
Burt. The father owned a large farm at Fayette-
ville and in early life devoted his time and energies
to general agricultural pursuits but subsequently
engaged in contracting, being largely connected
with public works. He built the railroad from
Syracuse to Utica and was also engaged on the con-
struction of the canal. Oliver Teel Burt was accorded liberal educational privi-
leges and was a graduate of the Rensselaer school for practical training and
also of Union College. He became well known as a business man and at one
time was an important factor in the commercial and industrial life of the
city. In antebellum days he was engaged in the manufacture of firearms and
took a contract for supplying these for the United States. He shared with
the great majority in the general opinion that the war would not last over
six months but hostilities continued and everything advanced in price, so that
in the execution of his contract with the government he lost quite heavily. He
was also at one time president of one of the banks of Syracuse and so con-
ducted his business interests that he became quite wealthy. When the condi-
tion of affairs in war times proved so disastrous he released some of his friends
who had become involved with him and endeavored to carry the business
through alone and to discharge all of the financial obligations incurred there-
by. At one time he was the owner of extensive real-estate interests in Syra-
cuse but he sacrificed all to meet the demands of his creditors. He also owned
a great deal of salt property and for many years figured prominently in busi-
ness life. Although financial disaster overtook him his reputation for business
integrity and fidelity remained unshaken. He put forth strenuous efforts to
meet every obligation and all acquainted with him knew his honesty of inten-
tion and respected him for his strenuous labor.

In 1848 Mr. Burt was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Johnston of
Syracuse, who is a member of the Unitarian church. For twenty years they
lived in the old Burt home at 1008 East Genesee street — a beautiful residence.
Their children were Lucy Eleanor, Steven Smith, Mrs. Mabel Dunlap, Mrs.
Florence Brewster and Howard. After leaving the old home Mr. and Mrs.
Burt took up their abode at No. 1206 Bellevue avenue, which place was recently

101

I02

O^lftjcr Ceel 2?urt

sold by Mrs. Burt, who is now living at No. 412 East Willow street. She is
most highly esteemed throughout the country and is especially well known in
Syracuse, where for almost six decades she has made her home.

<3 /I'^^^^^^^f^-i'-iL^-^Cy ^

3aeti. €mm iHcCijes^nep

^^it^^s

w

ITH A VIRILE intellect that made him a power in the
ministry and as an educator and with a gentleness
of spirit that appreciated and enjoyed the beauty
of the tiniest flower, the Rev. Ensign McChesney
was a man who, once known, could never be for-
gotten. He left the impress of his splendid nature
upon all with whom he came in contact and his influ-
ence was a vital force in the lives of those who
came under his teachings, whether in the pulpit or
in the schoolroom. If in spirit he breathed the prayer :

"Oh, may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again '

In lives made better by their presence."

Truly the prayer has been realized, for hundreds there are who knew Dr.
McChesney that bear testimony of the influence he exerted over them.

His life record began at Grafton, Rensselaer county. New York, on the
17th of March, 1844. He was reared amid the refining influences of a home
of Christian culture, where were nurtured all those tendencies that later
became strongly developed traits of manly character. His early education
was supplemented by study in the Troy University, which he entered in 1863.
In 1865 he matriculated in the Wesleyan University, where he remained until
his graduation in 1868, He achieved distinction in his collegiate work,
becoming a Phi Beta Kappa man of excellent rank.

In the year of his graduation he was married to Miss Ellen M. Bidwell,
of Norwich, Connecticut, who survives him and whose gracious presence and
consecrated fellowship in the ministry of her husband afforded him invaluable
aid in the pastorates which he served. Mrs. McChesney was born at Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, a daughter of Rev. Ira M. and Nancy (Church) Bid-
well. Her father was a Methodist Episcopal minister and was living in Nor-
wich at the time of her marriage. She was the youngest daughter of nine
children and her earnest Christian spirit, her deep sympathy and ready encour-
agement were always elements in the good work of her husband. She shared
with him in his every interest for the upbuilding of the church and in his
educational work as well and united with him in dispensing the hospitality for
which their home became famous. She is now chairman of the visiting com-

103

I04 ^t\i. OBnsiign Mt€i)t6ntv

mittee of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd and both Dr. and Mrs. McChes-
ney were members of the Fortnightly Club of Syracuse.

Following his marriage Dr. McChesney took his bride to the field of his
labor, for prior to leaving the university he had been admitted to the Provi-
dence conference and he entered upon the duties of his first appointment. His
pulpit ability commanded immediate attention and his services were widely
sought by New England churches. The year 1868 was spent by him as pas-
tor of the Methodist church at Thompsonville, Connecticut, and this was fol-
lowed by pastorates at the Central church of Norwich, Connecticut, 1869-70;
New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1871-73; First Church of Fall River, Massachu-
setts, 1874-6; and the First Church of Taunton, Massachusetts, 1877-8. A
decade thus passed, during the opening years of which he pursued post-grad-
uate work in the Boston University, which institution conferred upon him
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, while from Wesleyan University he sub-
sequently received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1876 he was made
a delegate to the general conference of the Methodist church and in 1879 he
was transferred to the Troy conference and appointed to the pastorate of the
Hudson Avenue church in Albany. In 1882 he became pastor of the State
Street church in Troy, where he remained for three years, when in 1885 he
took a supernumerary relation that he might have opportunity to go abroad,
enjoying the pleasures of travel and study in the old world. Accompanied by
his wife, he spent a year in Europe and did considerable work in special lines
in the University of Leipzig. Many of his happiest hours in Europe were spent
in the art galleries in studying the works of the old masters and the modern
painters and he thus stored up a fund of knowledge which proved to him of
greatest benefit in his later work in connection with the Syracuse University.

While still abroad Dr. McChesney was invited to become pastor of St.
Paul's church of New York city and for three years after his return — then
the limit of appointment — he remained in that pastorate. In 1889 he was
appointed to the Madison Avenue Methodist church of New York, where he
remained for five years and from 1894 until 1896 was pastor at White Plains.
The following year he accepted the pastorate of Calvary church of New York
city and then resigned to become dean of the fine arts department of Syracuse
University.

In this city he lived and labored until his death, endearing himself more
and more day by day to the people with whom he came in contact, while the
sphere of his usefulness and activity broadened, the university benefiting
greatly by his labors. He was always a lover of art and of nature. The
Christian Advocate, in commenting on his work in connection with the uni-
versity, spoke of him as an art student by nature and temperament and
quoted from Anna Katharine Green: "There are two kinds of artists in the
world, those that work because the spirit is in them, and they cannot be
silent if they would •, and those that speak from a conscientious desire to make

^tt, ggngtgn Mt€bt6ntp 105

apparent to others the beauty that has awakened their own admiration."
The Advocate added: "Ensign McChesney possessed both the spirit and
purpose, so that we would be compelled to number him with both classes."
G. P. Eckman said of him: "By the very constitution of his mind he was
destined to be an instructor of men. His training in the ministry, no less
than his travels and persistent study, prepared him for the teaching of
youth. And when he was chosen for the exalted position which he occupied
at the time of his death he hailed the event as a Providential opportunity
for enlarged usefulness in a congenial field. An artist of no inconsiderable
merit and always a student in the realm of aesthetics, he was singularly
qualified by nature, inclination and training for the high calling of his late
years. Under his intelligent guidance and executive masterfulness the depart-
ment committed to his care steadily grew in distinction and efficiency. He
drew about him a large body of earnest and devoted students, and his removal
from their company creates a vacancy difficult to fill."

As a leader in the religious world Dr. McChesney became recognized as
one of the most distinguished divines of the Methodist Episcopal ministry.
From his early youth he was a student of religious problems and was ever a
fearless and independent thinker. He frequently contributed to the litera-
ture of the church in articles that attest the virility of the author's mind and
the clearness of his moral judgments. One who knew him well said of him :
"In the pulpit Dr. McChesney presented a rare combination of the intellectual
and emotional types of preaching. He delighted in the discussion of the
great fundamental doctrines of our faith, and when these themes fully engaged
him in public discourse he rose to veritable heights of eloquence and power.
He possessed also the unique ability to impart to his published utterances
the effectiveness of the spoken message. His style was chaste, vigorous
and incisive. He trained his congregation like a master and gave to the
people a solid and invigorating philosophy of life which developed in them a
deeper intelligence and a more robust faith. In the pastorate Ensign McChes-
ney disclosed a nature of unusual warmth and kindliness. No just appeal to
his humane spirit ever failed of a quick and generous response. To the
needy he gave of his substance; to the sinful he proclaimed a gospel of
divine forgiveness; and to the troubled he proffered a ministry of consola-
tion. Exquisitely sensitive to suflfering, he entered into the sorrows of
other men with keen and sympathetic appreciation, which, expressed in words
of cheer, often healed the wounds of the stricken by their very gentleness
and grace. A man of such a fiber will evince the highest qualities of com-
radeship, and those who really knew Ensign McChesney found in him a com-
panion of the most genial and engaging character. Herein lay the essential
manliness of the man. The soul of honor himself, he could not endure duplic-
ity and equivocation. For ignorance, weakness and even waywardness
he had compassion and tenderness, but bigotry, narrowness, prejudice and

io6 met). <l^n£(ign Mt€tt6ntp

insincerity awakened in him an honest loathing. He was genuineness itself,
and he could bear with little patience evidences of artifice, intrigue, com-
promise. He was true and righteous altogether, a shining pillar in the tem-
ple of the Lord, standing erect and stately, a figure of strength, solidity and
grace."

Death came to Dr. McChesney when he was in his sixty-second year. He
had up to that time grown in mental power and strength and in his work
had continually advanced until he was upon a high plane of activity. When
he was called from this life the university with which he was connected, the
church of which he was a representative and the city in which he resided
suffered an almost irreparable loss, which, however, came with deepest force
in his home and in the circle of his intimate friends. Men of learning sought
his companionship and found him a peer, yet he had a heart that reached
out to the humblest and a ready sympathy quick in response. Those who
were associated with him and came to know the full reach of his nature in its
intellectual and spiritual development speak of him in words only of the high-
est praise.

Chancellor Day of the Syracuse University, who had been his associate in
pastoral work in New York city, as well as in the school, said: "The Uni-
versity has sustained a serious loss in the death of Dean McChesney. He
was a true man, four-square, transparent and loyal to his friends and to
any cause in which he was interested. He was a man of large sympathies,
to whom anything that took the form of a sham or was insincere was intol-
erable. Socially he was a delightful companion and was welcomed in a large
circle of friends. He was an entertaining story-teller and drew his stories
from a large fund. He was a rare man to meet and know inside. For that
matter, he was all inside. There was only one side to Ensign McChesney.
He had exceeding tenderness, kindness, sympathy and love. T know no man
who was more of an oflfering to his friends."

His pastor said: "I have seldom found a man whose heart was more
open or one who could strengthen a man more than Dean McChesney. So
that I feel certain that every sermon I preached in the First Church was a
little better when he was present. He was a man great and able, true and
kind, and his life was as white as the sunlight." While there is no doubt
the world is struggling upward, there are as yet comparatively few who have
reached the heights, both spiritual and intellectual, that Dr. McChesney at-
tained. Breathing the pure air and gaining the broader view of such exalted
altitudes, at the same time he ever had a hand down-reaching to lift others
to the position that he had attained.

Cfjarles; be ?Berarti iWiUsi

|HARLES DE BERARD MILLS, clergyman,
scholar, writer and reformer, was born in New
Hartford, New York, January 15, 1821. He was
the eldest of the four sons of Abiram and Grace de
Berard Mills. His father, after following for some
years the calling of a farmer, entered the ministry
of the Presbyterian church. The founder of the
family in America was Simeon Mills, who came
over from England and settled in Salem, Massachu-
setts, about 1630. Five years later he removed to Windsor, Connecticut.
His grandson, Elkanah Mills, settled in Litchfield, Oneida county, New York.
Abiram Mills was his son.

On the maternal side Mr. Mills was of French descent. His grandfather,
Charles Joseph de Berard, for whom he was named, was a member of an
ancient and noble family of southern France. He was educated in the same
military school with General La Fayette and was his warm friend. Through
the influence of this friendship his interest in the American Revolution was
intensified and he came to America as a naval officer of subordinate rank in
one of the French fleets. At the close of the war, Mr. de Berard settled in
Connecticut for a time and there married Polly Johnson of Branford. Thence
he removed to New Hartford, New York, where the remainder of his life was
spent. He was a man of marked characteristics, a scholar and a gentleman,
who was greatly beloved among the people of the county. Suflfering an
accident, it became necessary for him to have several fingers amputated. As
there were no anesthetics known in those days, some one suggested that a
friend hold his hand. Mr. de Berard refused such aid and said laughingly,
"There are no cowards in my regiment." With these words he put his hand
down on the block and held it there unflinchingly until the operation was over.
His wife was a strict Puritan. But he kept to his French dress until his death
and lost none of his grace of manner among the surroundings of a more
primitive life in a new country. His silk stockings, knee breeches, embroid-
ered waistcoat and courtly bearing made him a marked figure among the
country folk. A former resident of Syracuse who remembered him used to
say that he was specially fond of children, a crowd of whom would often run
after him to talk and play, as he walked. He had a fine French library which
he did not teach his daughters to read. When they asked why he did not, he

107

io8 Ctiarlcg be 2^erarb jUSiUg

replied, smiling, "One tongue is enough for a woman." His letters show that
he had mastered English and used it with unusual facility.

The daughter, Grace, reared her children after her mother's faith and was
a strict instructor in all the tenets of the old creed. Each boy had his own
little testament as soon as he was able to sit up at the table and was expected
to read his verses before every meal, Sunday was a busy day for the house-
hold, though no work could be done between sunset Saturday and the same
hour Sunday. The day was filled with long sermons and services. Church in
the morning, Sunday school at noon and afternoon and an early evening
service absorbed the day which seemed very long to small boys of lively
temperaments. The district schools afforded few opportunities for education.

As he grew older, Charles showed a strongly intellectual bent and a
quick mind. He found time in the hours of leisure between his tasks on the
farm to pursue his studies beyond the school curriculum. He read every book
within reach by the light of the back log and was eager for more. His
parents decided to make a minister of him. In 1838 he entered Oneida
Institute at Whitestown, New York. The president. Rev. Beriah Green, was
a man of strong personality and unusual intellectual power who exerted a
marked influence upon his students. He had no more devoted follower than
Mr. Mills, who used often to say in later life that he owed much to Mr. Green.
In two years he had covered the ground of the full college course of four
years. Desiring to make a special study of oriental languages, he left Oneida
Institute in 1840 to enter Lane Seminary at Cincinnati, Ohio. He was at-
tracted to Lane by the fame of two most distinguished scholars of the day.
Dr. Lyman Beecher and Professor Calvin E. Stowe, Dr. Beecher's son-in-law.
Under Professor Stowe, Mr, Mills studied Arabic, Sanskrit and other eastern
tongues, gaining an acquaintance with these languages that in later life led
him to a deep study of oriental literature. He had prepared himself thus
carefully and at great sacrifice, being obliged to practice the utmost economy,
in anticipation of a professorship in oriental languages at Knox College,
Galesburg, Illinois, The president had known Mr, Mills at Oneida Institute
and had offered the place to him because of his enthusiasm and accurate schol-
arship. But, when he was a student at Lane Seminary, the young man had
taught a colored school evenings and had frequently spoken at anti-slavery
gatherings. The trustees of Knox decided that a professor of such pro-
nounced abolition principles would not be acceptable to the sons of southern-
ers who attended the college and so failed to engage him. Thus came the first
sacrifice to higher truth. It was but one of many such sacrifices that Mr.
Mills made through his life.

Absolutely unswerving in his devotion to what seemed to him right, he
never counted the cost of such devotion nor considered worldly losses of any
moment in comparison with loyalty to conscience. Denied the place he had
hoped to have and for which he was so eminently fitted, he went bravely on. He

Ct)arle£( be ^^prarb Mi^i ^°9

began teaching at the academy in Sherburne, New York. But in those days
that tried men's souls the spirit of persecution was rife in many places. At
Sherburne, Mr. Mills' college associate and friend. Rev. James Sayles Brown,
preached in the Presbyterian church. It was not long before both minister
and teacher were deposed by the pro-slavery element which would not brook
any difference of opinion. Then and there Mr. Mills resolved that he would
never again be subject to a board of trustees who would hamper his work or
try to dictate to him as to his personal beliefs. Mr. Brown decided to take
the church at North Pitcher, Chenango county, and persuaded his friend to go
with him and open a private school. One of the chief patrons was David
Smith, a wealthy farmer who had planned to send two of his daughters to the
Emma Willard School at Troy. But Mr. Brown had told him that there was
not a teacher in Troy to equal Mr. Mills. So the girls staid at home. This
step brought momentous consequences for one of them.

In the following June, the younger, Harriet A. Smith, then nineteen,
married Charles de Berard Mills at North Pitcher, New York. Both taught
a private school at Smyrna, New York, the next winter. Then they removed
to Ohio, living there for six years, first at Brownhelm and later at Elyria. At
Brownhelm Mr. Mills preached to an independent branch of the Congrega-
tional church which was organized to inquire into truth unhampered by any
outside authority. He had first been invited to become pastor of the regular
Congregational church of that village. But some of the conservatives scented
heresy in the fearless utterances of the young preacher and refused to sup-
port him. The majority of the congregation followed him and persuaded him
to form this new society. Moving to Elyria he opened a private school in the
academy and still continued to preach at Brownhelm for three years. The
boys who went to college from the Elyria school were so much better prepared
than those from other schools that one of the professors of Western Reserve
College inquired about this superior teacher and made overtures toward secur-
ing him as one of the teaching stafif of the college. Of this advantageous
opening he did not avail himself, saying "It would be of no use. They would
not let me express my convictions and I cannot be false to them." His work
in Elyria was remarkably successful and he might have remained there but for
the ill health of Mrs. Mills. This led him to leave Ohio. He came east and
settled in Syracuse in 1852. In that city he lived for the remainder of his life,
forty-eight years. He was during that time one of its most public-spirited
and best known citizens, taking an active part in its civic, intellectual and
philanthropic life.

His reason for selecting Syracuse as his home was characteristic of Mr.
Mills' desire for the real rather than the outside shows of life. He did not
consider the financial advantages. He had heard of Samuel J. May, the city's
foremost citizen. "Let us go to Syracuse," he said to his wife. "A com-
munity where such a man as Mr. May can work must have a circle of people

I lo Ctarlesi Ire 2^erarb ^iUsi

whom we shall like to know." So to Syracuse the family came, finding Mr.
May, uniting with his church and forming with him a close friendship that
ended only with his death. When the one hundredth anniversary of Mr.
May's birth was celebrated in the May Memorial church, Mr. Mills was intro-
duced as his closest living friend and was able to take part in the service,
although he was then in failing health. For many years these two citizens la-
bored together in reforms. They joined hands with other friends in the anti-
slavery struggle. The night that Mr. May was burned in effigy in Hanover
Square, Mr. Mills was with him at the hall. There they were mobbed and
were forced to escape to the house of Dr. R. W. Pease, where the meeting that
the mob had interrupted was continued. Many times he spoke with Mr. May
and other leaders of the anti-slavery cause in different towns of the state. For
years he presided over- the annual gatherings of the society of Progressive
Friends in Waterloo, New York. He was also the leader of the Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania, meetings for some years. His home was a station on the under-
ground railroad. It was open to all earnest reformers and intellectual leaders.
Wendell Phillips, A. Bronson Alcott, Louisa Alcott, Lucy Stone, Gerritt Smith,
Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ednah D.
Cheney, Parker Pillsbury and many more were welcome guests within those
portals. Whoever came with a message to deliver was gladly received.

Setting aside his scholarly tastes and his special training in literature, for
which there seemed no demand on account of his advanced faith in political
and religious freedom, Mr. Mills turned his hand to the first work that offered
in Syracuse. It happened to be bookkeeping. He accepted a position with
the nursery firm of Thorp, Smith & Hanchett. For twenty-two years he re-
mained connected with this business, though several changes were made in the
membership of the firm. Giving his days to this confining work, he still found
time for literary activity. His nights and mornings, his holidays were given
to the study and writing which he loved. During this period he was a fre-
quent contributor to magazines, writing articles upon Pythagaras (the Radi-
cal, September, 1868), the Eleatic School, (the Radical, October, 1869),
Zoroaster and his religion, (the Radical, October and November, 1871),
Bruno, Fichte, Des Cartes, and other philosophers.

The two strongest literary influences upon his life were Emerson and
oriental thought. He was a personal friend of the Concord seer and knew his
writings most intimately. There was a similarity in their minds and in their
catholicity of spirit as well as in their philosophy of life. For a number of
years Mr. Mills conducted an Emerson class of adults in the May Memorial
Unitarian church of the city. He was a guest in Mr. Emerson's house many
times and lectured in Concord.

With oriental thought as with Greek philosophy he was very familiar.
Reading both ancient and modern languages with ease, he was able to go to
the source of earlier thought and modern criticism. His library was carefully

Ctiarleg be 2^crartr MiVii m

selected, containing the real gems of such Hterature. He lectured on Emerson,
Greek philosophy and other themes in many cities both east and west of
Syracuse, in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, New York, etc. He was an earnest
advocate of temperance and woman suffrage, often speaking for these reforms.
On the platform he had great elegance of diction combined with an elo-
quence and earnestness that carried conviction. His style of writing was
terse and clear. In the year 1876 he published the Indian Saint or Buddha
and Buddhism, which was pronounced by a great critic "one of the best
things ever said of that noble life." It was the first presentation to the
American public of this founder of a great religion. An English author wrote
at about the same time, neither he nor Mr. Mills knowing of the other's effort
until the books appeared. Since then many others have treated this theme.
The whole edition of Mr. Mills' book was soon exhausted. Pebbles, Pearls
and Gems of the Orient, a collection of precious bits in prose and verse, ap-
peared in 1882. In 1883 the Tree of Mythology was published. It was the
result of many years of careful arid comparative study of the myths and folk
lore of different peoples. A study of Carlyle and Emerson and an estimate of
Tyndall were left unfinished at Mr. Mills' death.

For fourteen years and up to the time of his failure in health, he was
general secretary of the Bureau of Labor and Charities and the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Syracuse. Here he labored most
untiringly in rescuing children from unfit surroundings and in redeeming
from idleness and dependence older classes in the community. He believed
that, as the new science teaches how to prevent disease, so the new charity or
philanthropy should teach the prevention of crime and pauperism. Mr. Mills'
personal influence among the poor was a strong one and his broad sympathies
combined with a keen sense of justice made him a wise counselor to those who
sought him in distress. More than once a poor man, led from drink and shift-
lessness to be self-supporting, has come back to Mr. Mills to thank him for
what he had done for him in his hour of trouble.

Professor Horatio S. White, formerly of Cornell and now of Harvard
University, writing at the time of Mr. Mills' death, said : "His loss will affect
deeply others beside his immediate circle. He stood always for a noble inde-
pendence in life and character and his own personal ideals were not only high
but realized in himself. And so he was able to absorb the best in the writings
of the leaders of the race. I have never met any one who seemed so permeated
with the highest thoughts of mankind. And yet his personality was so gentle
and cordial that he won all hearts. I look back upon him and Mr. May as
two of the strongest influences surrounding my boyhood in the church. It
was a rich privilege to have known men of such sterling worth."

Rev. William C. Gannett, pastor of the Unitarian church, Rochester, said :
"Those who knew him best will remember him for his successful brotherhood

112 dlfiatlti be^erarb Mi^^

to them. That word belongs to him in the highest sense — a successful life as
measured by the real life values."

A simple service on a beautiful May day of 1900 testified to the love
and esteem in which Mr. Mills was held by the foremost citizens of Syracuse.
The Rev. S. R. Calthrop, pastor of the Unitarian church, conducted the serv-
ice. He said: "This friend worked until his body almost dropped down,
always in the service of humanity. His life is a benediction. Here is a
man who was true, I will not say, to his convictions, but true to the highest
principles from the dawn of his morning until the evening of his life.

"Those who knew him well, as some of us did, knew that he was a priest
and a prophet; one who had the right to speak glowing words of hope and
truth and progress to mankind."

Others who spoke words of appreciation were: Miss Susan B. Anthony,
Miss Emily Howland, Mr. Salem Hyde, Rev. E. W. Mundy and Mr. E. A.
Powell. Mr. Powell said of him: "Those who have known him in his
home, with his family and friends in social life, have known him best and
we, his neighbors, especially feel that we have lost a true friend, a delight-
ful associate, a sympathetic and beloved neighbor. Here was a true man,
true to every trust, true to his friends, true to country, true to principle, true
to himself, true to every obligation of life."

Mr. Mundy quoted the following lines as most appropriate to the life of
his friend:

"Those souls that of His own good life partake.

He loves as His own self.

Dear as His eye they are to Him.

He'll never them forsake.

When they shall die, then God himself shall die.

They live, they live in blest eternity."

The Syracuse Browning Club, of which Mr. Mills was a charter member,
held a memorial meeting when addresses were made by Mr. C. W. Bardeen
and others. Mr. Mills was also a member of the Fortnightly Club at its for-
mation and of the Syracuse Political Equality Club. His character was re-
markable for its strength of principle, its versatility, its breadth of interest, its
gentleness and its unselfishness. Nothing human was foreign to him and he
regarded people of all ranks and conditions as his brothers, giving to all the
same sympathy and interest.

The children of Harriet A. and Charles de Berard Mills are William Hough
Mills, M. D., and Harriet May Mills, both of whom are residents of Syracuse.

?|on, IS^iEiam ?|» (Sallup

ON. WILLIAM H. GALLUP was born in Marcellus,
New York, May 27, 1858, and was the oldest child
of George and Mary (Clements) Gallup. George
Gallup came from Somersetshire, England, to Mar-
cellus in 1850, where he engaged in the teasel busi-
ness until his death in 1882. He was a citizen highly
respected, influential and esteemed, and possessed
sterling qualities of head and heart, which William
H. inherited to a marked degree. Mary (Clements)
Gallup was also a native of Somersetshire, England. She survived her hus-
band by scarcely two years. William H. Gallup was educated in his native
town and later was graduated from the Law College of Union University at
Albany. He was admitted to the Onondaga county bar in June, 1879. After
practicing his profession for three years in Marcellus, upon his father's death,
he succeeded to the teasel business.

It was at this time that he became most identified with both village
and county politics. Always active and energetic in whatever he undertook
and with never failing good judgment, the many progressive features in the
Marcellus village improvements date back to his administration and stand as
a memorial to his liberal views and undaunted courage in executing the
same. In politics he was a stanch republican and twice represented the old
second district of Onondaga in the legislature. At his second election — in
1889 — his plurality was two thousand and fifteen, the largest ever given to
any candidate in that district. In ;the assembly he was an acknowledged
leader.

In 1892 Mr. Gallup removed to Syracuse, where he organized the Syra-
cuse Improvement Company for the laying of asphalt pavements, he, himself,
acting as its secretary, treasurer and general manager, and making it emphat-
ically successful. Later, in 1895, the Columbia Construction Company was
formed for the importing and refining of asphalt. With him were associated
in this enterprise Charles M. Warner, P. R. Quinlan, Hendrick Holden,
Edward Joy, George M. Barnes, the late W. Judson Smith and others. It
was while the refinery for this company was being built there, that at Jones
Point on the Hudson, Mr. Gallup met his death June 29, 1896.

He was a man of unquestioned integrity and honor. In all his busi-
ness connections he was recognized as an important factor, and his execu-

113

XI4

i^on. WiUmm ^. <$aau9

tive ability was an essential element to their success. His great energy and
ready resources were qualities of high value. At the age of thirty-eight
years he had really accomplished the work of a long life, and his early death
closed a career of exceptional prominence. At the time of his death, Mr.
Gallup was a member of Central City Lodge, No. 305, F. & A. M. ; of the Citi-
zens' Club, and other organizations in Syracuse.

On the 2d of September, 1880, he married Miss Emma Sweet, of Mar-
celluss and two daughters were born to them: Mary Eloise and Bessie
Sweet. After Mr. Gallup's death his family returned to their home in Mar-
cellus, where on October i, 1905, the second daughter, Bessie Sweet, died
at the age of sixteen years.

^^/-^.^^^

^^>^^^

Carl p. aitjorti

HE LIFE history of Earl B. Alvord constitutes an
important chapter in the annals of Syracuse and
Onondaga county. Spending almost his entire life
within the borders of the county and a resident of
Syracuse from 1849, he instituted many of those
business enterprises and fathered many progressive
measures which led to the substantial and rapid
growth and improvement of the city. He was born
in the town of Steuben, Oneida county, New York,
October 7, 1822, his parents being Anson and Abigail (Clark) Alvord, rep-
resentatives of old New England families. They had three sons and two
daughters, of whom Earl B. was the youngest. In March, 1829, they re-
moved with their family from Oneida county to Onondaga Valley, Earl
being at that time six years of age. He remained at home until 1841 and
worked for neighboring farmers or attended the district school as opportunity
afforded, thus acquiring his education. In the year mentioned, however, he
began the manufacture of lime in connection with his brothers, Clark and
Henry G. Alvord, at Onondaga Valley. Soon afterward he purchased his
brothers' interest in the business and continued it as one of the numerous
business enterprise which claimed his time and energies and made him one of
the leading citizens of the county until his demise.

In 1849 Mr. Alvord became a resident of Syracuse and soon afterward
built a lime mill at the corner of Lock and Canal streets, which was after-
ward occupied by the Mowry & Barnes Packing Company. His business
prospered under his prudent and energetic management and in 1869 he
invested largely in limestone quarries at Jamesville, New York, and estab-
lished branches for manufacture at that place and at Binghamton, these vari-
ous enterprises being conducted under the firm name of E. B. Alvord &
Company. In 1878 Mr. Alvord engaged largely in the coal business in
Syracuse and in 1880 opened a branch yard at Cleveland, Ohio, continuing
as a large operator in coal until his death in 1883.

A man of resourceful business ability, he extended his efforts to various
lines of activity, all of which profited by his keen judgment, his unflagging
industry and his aptitude for successful management. He was the pioneer
in the manufacture of the macadam pavement in Syracuse, Warren street
being the first roadway in the city so paved. His business interests were

tl5

ii6 earl 2g. aiborb

largely of a nature that improved the city and promoted its commercial pros-
perity, at the same time advancing his individual success.

Mr. Alvord was a bitter opponent of monopolies and sacrificed many
thousands of dollars in reducing the price of coal and other commodities
for the people of Syracuse. With that end in view he enlarged his mill
property on Lock street and converted it into an abbatoir, which resulted in
the reduction of the price of pork products in Syracuse. He was a man
of unusually broad business views. His path was never strewn with the
wreck of other men's fortunes, nor was he ever known to take advantage of
the necessities of another in a business transaction. He believed in a fair
profit but not in the advancement of prices which would place products out
of the reach of the poor and throughout his entire business career he sus-
tained an unassailable reputation. He possessed the capacity for grasping
opportunities and promoting large undertakings, pushing them to a profit-
able conclusion, and yet no word was ever uttered against the correctness or
integrity of his methods. His wisdom was sound concerning business con-
ditions and possibilities and his advice was often sought and given freely.

On June 13, 1849, Mr. Alvord was married to Miss Helen Hickok, of
Onondaga Valley, who still survives him, occupying a beautiful residence on
South Salina street. They had two sons, Anson E. and Edgar Alvord, both
of whom are now deceased.

Mr. Alvord was always liberal in his political views, never identifying
himself closely with any party. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his abil-
ity and his loyalty to the general good, frequently tendered him the nomina-
tion for mayor and other leading municipal offices but he always declined, pre-
fering to aid in the promotion of the interests of Syracuse in other ways. He
was a firm believer in the future growth and prosperity of the city and at
favorable opportunities he invested largely in real estate, having extensive
property holdings at the time of his death. He endorsed many progressive
measures for the good of the city, nor did he withhold that substantial aid
which must always accompany influence if results are attained. He pos-
sessed a most generous nature and often aided others in times of need. To
the poor and needy he extended a helping hand and they found in him a
warm friend. So upright and honorable was his life in all of its phases,
so commendable his principles, so manly and sincere his actions, that his name
is enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him in a way that time cannot
obliterate.

Colonel Sfoljn Wllesilep gale

N HONORABLE and successful business career
gained for Colonel John Wesley Yale recognition as
one of the sterling merchants of the city and deep and
wide-spread regret were felt when his life's labors
were ended in death. He was born at Scipio, Cayuga
county, New York, on the 17th of December, 1832,
and was a son of Aaron and Mary Yale. His father
was a carriage builder, who left Scipio in the early
days of the California gold mining excitement and
became one of the original "forty-niners" who sought a fortune upon the
Pacific coast, hoping to rapidly acquire wealth through the discovery of rich
gold deposits. In his family were five children : Frederick G., who is now liv-
ing in New York city; Edward, a resident of Newark, New Jersey; Mrs. Cece-
lia Chapin, of Washington, D. C. ; and Mrs. Mary Phelps, of Erie, Pennsyl-
vania.

The other member of the family was Colonel John Wesley Yale, who in
his childhood days was taken by his parents to Perryville, Madison county,
New York. His early education was acquired in the district school of that
neighborhood and when a mere lad he started out to make his own way in
the world. He had no difficulty in early gaining a knowledge of the value
of money, for his financial resources were limited, as he had only that which
he earned and it was necessary therefore that he use each dollar to the best
advantage. He entered a dry-goods store in Erie, Pennsylvania, and after-
ward went to New York city, where he lived for several years, being there
engaged in the book business. The year i860 witnessed his arrival in Syra-
cuse, where he established a book and wall-paper business, his store being
located in the Sherman block until after its destruction by fire. The original
building was then replaced by the Larned block. For more than thirty years
Colonel Yale conducted a wall-paper establishment and art room in South
Salina street and at his death was the oldest merchant in that line in the city.
He had by close application, unwearied industry and careful management
built up a large and lucrative business, his trade extending throughout central
New York. In more recent years his son was associated with him under the
firm style of J. W. Yale & Son. Previously he had for thirteen years been a
partner of Louis Windholz, of Syracuse. He ever made it his purpose to
please his patrons, to furnish goods at reasonable prices and to follow the

117

ii8 Colonel Jofin Wtilep gale

most honorable methods in dealing with the general public. His success was
therefore well merited and gradually he rose from a comparatively humble
position in business circles to one of affluence and prominence. As his finan-
cial resources permitted he from time to time made judicious investments in
real estate until he became the owner of a large amount of property, both
improved and unimproved.

Colonel Yale was long identified with military interests, becoming a mem-
ber of the old Citizens Corps in 1861. He was afterward an officer of the Fifty-
first Regiment of the National Guard and iii 1877 was elected colonel of the
regiment as successor to Colonel Nicholas Grumbach. For four years he was
in command and resigned in 1881, when he was succeeded by Colonel D wight
H. Bruce. The old Forty-first Separate Company was for several years known
as the Yale Rifles, being so termed in honor of Colonel Yale. At the time of
the National Guard encampment at Peekskill he had the contract for furnish-
ing meals to the state troops, having this contract for thirteen years in part-
nership with Louis Windholz.

Colonel Yale was equally prominent and influential in democratic circles.
He was an actiVe participant in the work for its upbuilding and success and
one of its most loyal adherents. For thirteen years he was chairman of the
democratic county committee and in 1880 was his party's candidate for mayor.
For several terms he was a member of the board of education and was appointed
a member of the board of police commissioners by Mayor W. B. Burns in
1887. In the succeeding year he was elected president of the board and in
that capacity rendered signal service to his city. In 1892 he received the
appointment of manager of the Syracuse state institution for feeble minded
children and was re-appointed in 1896 and again in 1900 by Governor Theodore
Roosevelt. He represented his party at many state and national conventions
and was a warm personal friend of David B. Hill and of Governor Roswell P.
Flower. He was, moreover, identified for a long period with the Citizens'
Club and was one of the board of directors of that leading social organiza-
tion.

In July, 1856, Colonel Yale was united in marriage to Miss Fanny Means,
a native of Geneva, New York, and a daughter of Colonel John and Pamelia
(Woodworth) Means. Her father was for some time engaged in the hotel
business and afterward conducted a livery business but was drowned in the
Ohio river at the comparatively early age of forty years. Unto Mr. and
Mrs. Yale were born four children: Mary A., the wife of J. H. Walrath;
Wesley A. ; George F. ; and Fanny Maud, deceased.

The death of the husband and father occurred June 26, 1900. He had been
seriously ill in the previous winter but his health had greatly improved and
he traveled throughout the eastern part of the state, returning to Syracuse
greatly benefited. The final summons came quite unexpectedly and his
death was deeply deplored by a wide circle of friends. He was a regular

Colonel 3lot)n WtHtf gale

119

attendant on the services of St. Paul's Episcopal church and at the time of
his death was one of the vestrymen of that church. He had been a great
lover of outdoor life and sports, had keen appreciation for nature in its
various phases and spent the spring and autumn months in the woods. He
was a member of the Swan Lake Hunting Club of Henry, Illinois, an organ-
ization composed largely of Chicago men. An ardent sportsman, he delighted
in shooting and fishing and was a member of the old Beaver River Club in
the days when its representatives camped at Smith's lake in the Adirondacks.
He also spent several winters in Florida and other parts of the south, fish-
ing for tarpon and greatly enjoyed his trips to the Adirondacks.

Prominent in Masonry, he held membership in Central City Lodge, also
attained the Knights Templar degree and the thirty-second degree of the
Scottish Rite, likewise being connected with the Masonic Veterans. His
popularity — and he was a man of many friends — arose from his sincere inter-
est in his fellowmen, his kindliness, his geniality and deference for the opin-
ions of others. He was always ready with a friendly greeting, a cheery smile
or a word of encouragement and these qualities endeared him to those with
whom he was associated, while the strength of his character, his laudable ambi-
tion and his stalwart purpose gained him a place of prominence among the
leading business men of the city.

?(J:fh^u^^^-.Ua-^J?..

I^elcome ppron 3RanbaIl

INDLY and honorable in all the relations of life, the
virtues of Welcome Byron Randall will cause his
memory to be long cherished by those who were his
associates while he was still an active factor in the
world's work. He lived for some years in Syracuse,
where he figured as a strong and able member of the
Onondaga county bar and also as a prominent factor
in fraternal relations. He was born July 24, 1844, at
Plainfield, Otsego county. New York, and was the last
surviving child of Joshua B. and Emily L. Randall. His early educational
privileges were those of the public schools and at the age of eighteen he
received an appointment to West Point, where he remained as a student for
four years, when he was obliged to leave the school on account of impaired
eyesight. Frustrated in his plans of following a military career, he then
determined upon a professional career and took up the study of law in the
office of his father, who in the meantime had removed to Syracuse. After
thorough and comprehensive preliminary reading he was admitted to the bar
in January, 1872, and joined his father in a partnership. From that time
until his death he continued one of the members of the Onondaga bar and
displayed those qualities which win advancement in the difficult and arduous
profession of the law. He recognized that the essential factor of success was
careful preparation and he never failed to thus qualify for the active work of
the courtroom. In argument, too, he was logical and convincing, showing the
processes of an analytical mind to which close reasoning became habitual.

In 1872 Mr. Randall was married to Miss Gertrude S. Wood,^ of Central
Square, who is now the widow of W. Caldwell. He was always interested in
the work of the fraternal organizations with which he became identified.
Beside being chancellor commander of Syracuse Lodge, K. P., which he joined
in December, 1884, he also became connected with the uniformed rank and was
elected their sir knight commander of the division. His knowledge as a mili-
tary tactician was of service to him in this position and the division felt the
beneficial influence of his discipline. He held various offices in the lodge and
was an impersonation of the cardinal principles of Pythianism. To him friend-
ship, charity and benevolence were not empty words but living realities to be
exemplified in daily life. Mr. Randall was also a member of the Forty-first
Separate Company of the New York National Guard, which organization he

121

122

Wtltomt 2^pron fKanbaQ

raised to a high standard of military efficiency. When death claimed him in
February, 1888, this company with one hundred Knights of Pythias followed
the remains to Oakwood. Each organization passed resolutions of respect and
sympathy, as did the Onondaga county bar. Said one who knew him well:
"His character always commanded the respect of his acquaintances and the
love and esteem of his friends. Those who knew him best loved him best and
to know and love him required intimate association. His nature was of the
kindest and in his relations with others he was always tolerant of their
opinions." It is not financial success, political fame or military honors that
cause an individual to be remembered but those traits of character which
show forth brotherly kindness and the recognition of man's duty and obliga-
tions to his fellowmen.

'CLCi-i:::ui

3sJaac Coonlep ®ti^

'SAAC COONLEY OTIS is a retired farmer, occupy-
ing a house in the village of Jordan which was built
by his father in 1832. He was born October 3, 1832,
in this village and is a son of Herod and Sarah E.
(Coonley) Otis. His great-grandfather, Joseph Otis,
was a soldier in the American army in the Revolution-
ary war. He made his home in Berkshire county,
Massachusetts, and reared a family of thirteen chil-
dren, including Isaac Otis, the grandfather of our
subject, who came from Massachusetts when a boy and settled in Galway,
New York. He afterward removed to Fabius, where he purchased a tract of
land for six cents per acre. Later he took up his abode at Elbridge, where he
followed farming for a few years and in 181 6 removed from that place to the
village of Jordan, where his remaining days were passed, his death there
occurring in 1854. It was his son, Herod Otis, who became the father of our
subject and who followed farming at Jordan for many years.

The days of Isaac C. Otis' boyhood and youth were spent under the
parental roof, where he was reared with a family of four sisters, of whom
Mary is now deceased, while the others are Ella, Lavinia and Sarah. He
acquired his education in the public schools and since putting aside his text-
books has learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience and by read-
ing and observation becoming a well informed man. Having arrived at years
of maturity, he was married to Miss Franc J. Wood, of Jordan, in 1862. Unto
them was born a son, Harry N. Otis, an exceptionally bright and precocious
child, who when a lad of fifteen years went to Denver, Colorado, where he
was employed as messenger boy in the First National Bank of that city. His
fidelity and capability won him promotion from time to time until he became
cashier and he was filling that position when he died suddenly of apoplexy
at the age of twenty-seven years. His death was a great blow to his parents,
as he was their only child.

Mr. and Mrs. Otis now occupy the house which was built by his father in
the year in which the subject of this review was born. In later years he has
remodeled and improved it and it is now most modern in its equipments and
conveniences. Indeed it is one of the beautiful homes of the locality and is
especially attractive for its warm hearted hospitality. While for many years
Mr. Otis was actively engaged in farming, he has for the past twenty years

123

124 Slgaac Coonlep <©ti)S

spent two or three months of each year traveling in different parts of the
country.

For two years he was president of the village and has been very promi'-
nent in municipal affairs. As the chief executive officer he gave an adminis-
tration characterized by improvement and progress and also by an entire
absence of all needless expenditure. He was trustee for six years, also police
justice for six years, deputy sheriff for twelve years and inspector of the
penitentiary for six years, while at the present writing he is serving as a
member of the board of education. It will be seen that in nearly all of the
offices to which he has been called he has been honored with re-election — a
fact which is proof of his capability and fidelity. For seventy-six years a
resident of the village of Jordan, he is undoubtedly one of its oldest native
born citizens and none have been more loyal or progressive in support of its
interests. He is a man whom to know is to respect and honor and it is there-
fore with pleasure that we present his record to our readers.

-=c

Hebi ^. Cfiapman

YRACUSE has long been distinguished for the bril-
liance of her bench and bar. Among the lawyers who
have practiced in the courts here have been many men
of wide distinction, of broad legal learning and of
marked talent in the conduct of cases. Among those
who are now recognized as prominent and represent-
atives of the legal profession in Syracuse is num-
bered Levi S. Chapman, who is one of Onondaga
county's native sons, his birth having occurred in Fay-
etteville, October 15, 1865.

His father, Nathan. R. Chapman, who practiced his profession as a law-
yer for about sixty years in that place, was born in Stonington, Connecticut,
in 1809, and just after the war of 1812 his father and grandfather, both of
whom bore the name of Nathan Chapman, his mother and his maternal
grandfather, Peleg Randall, removed from New England to Madison county.
New York, being among the first settlers in that part of the state. The
great-grandfather, Nathan Chapman, was a hero of the Revolutionary war, as
was also Peleg Randall, who after a pastorate of twenty-three years at the
Baptist church in Stonington, Connecticut, resigned in order to join the
army and was afterward made captain. His company was present at the
surrender of Burgoyne. Nathan Chapman, the grandfather of our subject,
was a veteran of the war of 1812. Representatives of the Chapman family
are still very numerous in Connecticut, and at Stonington is an old cemetery
called the Chapman burying ground, where are found the graves of their ances-
tors as far back as 1600, for there were laid to rest the early members of the
family who came from England. The mother of our subject, Mrs. Martha M.
Tibbetts Chapman, born in Syracuse, returned two years ago to make her home
in this city.

Levi S. Chapman spent his boyhood days at Fayetteville and between the
ages of ten and eighteen years was carrier for the Syracuse Journal there. He
was educated in the Fayetteville union school, being graduated therefrom in
1884. He afterward pursued one year's preparatory work in the Whitestown
Seminary prior to matriculating in Syracuse University in the fall of 1885. He
pursued a four years' course and was graduated in 1889 with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. On this occasion he was one of the speakers of the class at
the commencement exercises and at Fayetteville he had been valedictorian.

125

126 HclJi ^. Cijapman

Immediately after the completion of his university course he began the
study of law with his father at Fayetteville but in January, 1891, accepted a
position as clerk to the board of United States general appraisers in New
York city, this board having just been created under the McKinley tariff bill.
Mr. Chapman filled the position for one year and in the meantime continued
his law reading with Stanley, Clark & Smith. During that year he was
admitted to the bar at Utica, where he went for examination. On the ist
of January, 1892, he resigned his position in New York and returned to
Syracuse, beginning practice in offices with James A. Newell, with whom he
formed a partnership a year later. In June, 1899, Mr. Newell's brother,
Harry E. Newell, was admitted to a partnership, forming the present firm
of Newell, Chapman & Newell. They have made a specialty of negligence
and corporation work and for five years conducted all of the city's legal
business, while James E, Newell was corporation counsel. Mr. Chapman has
become a prime factor in many large corporations in Syracuse and else-
where. He has been instrumental in organizing various companies and is
still a director of the Watson Wagon Company, of Canastota, New York,
which he organized in 1899, and of which he is secretary and treasurer. He
is also officially connected with the Sherwood Metal Working Company, the
H. J. Ormsby Engraving Company, the James H. Morse Optical Company,
the Simmons Binding & Printing Company, of which he is president, and the
Morningside Cemetery Association, of which he is the treasurer, all of Syra-
cuse; and the N. F. Sholes Company, of Earlville.

On the 30th of November, 1892, Mr. Chapman was married to Miss Lucia
Louise, daughter of the Rev. Charles W. Pattengill, of Whitesboro, New
York, formerly pastor of the Baptist church at Fayetteville. They have
three children, Ella Louise, Charles Randall and Lucia M., aged respectively
fourteen, ten and two years. ,

Mr. Chapman is a thirty-second' degree Mason and belongs to all the
local bodies of the Masonic fraternity in Syracuse, He is also connected
with the Delta Upsilon, a college fraternity, and has been president of the
Delta Upsilon corporation for ten years. He is also a member of Phi Beta
Kappa fraternity and is likewise a member of the University Club. For
nine years he was president of the Young Men's Christian Association, resign-
ing in the spring of 1896, and during his administration the organization was
placed upon a good financial basis, paid off a debt of fifty-five thousand dol-
lars on their old building and raised three hundred thousand dollars in sub-
scriptions for a new building. He also won for the association the interest
and support of a host of wealthy and influential friends, in which it had been
greatly lacking before. He has always donated freely of his time and
money to any worthy and charitable or benevolent movement and has con-
tributed largely to the welfare of the city through his moral and financial
support of public movements and industrial enterprises. He and his wife

TLtiii ^. Ci)apman 127

are members of the Central Baptist church, in which he has served as deacon
for fifteen years and at the present writing he is chairman of the finance
committee.

In politics a stalwart republican, he was elected to represent his district
in the general assembly in 1894-5, during which time he was chairman of
tjie committee that investigated the affairs of the city of Syracuse. In man-
ner he is entirely free from ostentation or display, yet there is not about
him the least shadow of mock modesty. He readily recognizes his opportuni-
ties and his duties, utilizes the former and fully meets the latter. He knows
that man's best development comes not through the concentration of one's
energies upon selfish ends and a deep and sincere interest in his fellowmen
and their welfare has prompted his active co-operation in various movements
which have contributed to reform, progress and improvement.

^fjomag Jeffersion leacfj

1

r-p^HOMAS JEFFERSON LEACH neither inherited his
reputation as a banker nor had it thrust upon him.
He earned it, step by step, round by round, until he
occupied a foremost place in the banking world, with
a reputation for integrity and the confidence that
inspired such men as William Kirkpatrick, desiring to
leave a fortune for memorials, to name Mr. LeaCh as
executor to carry out the wishes of the dead. Mr.
Leach is a native of Onondaga county, being born in
Cicero, April 8, 1830. His father was a native of New York state, an early set-
tler of Cicero and a general merchant and business man. The New York nativity
was complete for Mr. Leach's mother was Dorcas Deming, also a native of
New York state. To this family were born three children, two sons and a
daughter, of whom Thomas J. Leach is the only one now living. In the
schools of Cicero Mr. Leach studied until his eighth year, when the family
moved to Brewerton, where he again knew the joys which are chiefly reminis-
cent of the "little red schoolhouse." Three years divided equally between
Joseph Allen's famous old school in Syracuse and a school in Boston, Massa-
chusetts, completed the school days of Mr. Leach, but not his education,
for business introduced him to the greatest education of all, the stuay of men
and events, of which he was ever the student for the benefit of those who
trusted him.

For a short time Mr. Leach assisted his father in business in Brewerton,
and in 1846 moved with his parents to Syracuse to reside permanently. This
was one year before Syracuse became a city, and in its growth he has played
no uncertain nor hesitating part, always building with those other famous men
who had real pride in home for the better and more beautiful city. The
Leaches first lived in a house in East Willow street rented from Captain Cody.
Mr, Leach's father died as the result of an accident in 1847. He was building
a house and went to a lumberyard located where the old Green way brewery
stands to purchase some lumber. He made his purchase and loaded his lumber,
when a plank blew upon him, dislocating his neck. After the death Mr. Leach
settled upon the estate and finished the house in North Salina street, where
the subject of this sketch has since lived.

Mr. Leach's first services in this city was as a clerk for Williams &
Babcock, who kept a general store at the corner of Park and Salina streets,

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I30 ^ftormi Seffergon Heacfi

where he received one hundred and fifty dollars a year for his services and
boarded himself. Salt was the principal industry of the Salina end of the
future Syracuse, and it was to salt that Mr. Leach directed his attention, and
his first individual business enterprise. He purchased two salt blocks at
the foot of Court street, with Edward B. Judson, long president of the First
National Bank, and Coddington B. Williams. Mr. Leach ran these salt
blocks two years and earned a salary of fifty dollars a year and board, for
looking after and attending to the blocks.

Then began Mr. Leach's career as a banker, and there was no lower place
for him to begin than that of clerk, running errands, serving notices and
making himself generally useful at a very small salary. This was in 1850,
and there were but three people in the historic old Bank of Salina, where
he was first employed. Of the thirteen directors of that time and the numer-
ous stockholders Mr. Leach is the only one living. The Bank of Salina was
the leading financial institution of those days. David Munroe of Camillus
was the president and Cornelius L. Alvord, brother of the late Lieutenant
Governor Thomas G. Alvord, the cashier. At that time Salina and Syracuse
were about even as regards the general value of business transacted. This
was the period of Salina's greatest prosperity. Mr. Leach worked up in the
bank, first as bookkeeper and then as teller, leaving the bank in 1859, one year
before it was closed up.

When Mr. Leach left the Bank of Salina it was to accept the position of
cashier of the Salt Springs Bank of Syracuse, which position he held for
thirty-nine consecutive years. As a banker Mr. Leach has been conspicuously
shrewd and successful, and to his knowledge of the financial work was due
in large measure the conduct of the affairs of that well known bank. No
banker stood higher in the confidence and esteem of his business associates
and the financial world. Upon January 19, 1898, Mr. Leach was elected
president of the Salt Springs Bank, which position he occupied for two years.
At this time Mr. Leach was president of the Associated Banks of Syra-
cuse, or the Clearing House Association. No other record for banking
service made in Syracuse equals that of Mr. Leach, and he could rightfully
lay claim to the distinction of being the oldest bank cashier and of having
the longest continued service of any bank officer in the city.

Among the historic enterprises with which Mr. Leach was connected
was the Salina & Central Square Plank Road Company, of which he was
long secretary and treasurer beside being a trustee. This plank road com-
pany was organized in 1844 to build the road from Salina to Central Square,
a distance of seventeen and one-half miles. It was the first plank road ever
built in the United States and is still in use between Salina and Cicero. Dirt
and swamp roads, which were well nigh impassable, existed before the laying
of this plank road, which immediately became a great boon to the farmers
of the north. As a boy Mr. Leach brought loads of wheat from Brewerton

■^tiomag gtffergon Heact 131

to the red mill in Syracuse, which stood on the site of the old high school
building in West Genesee street. This plank road was one of the few enter-
prises of the sort which remunerated the stockholders.

Besides being connected with many public enterprises, Mr. Leach is a
director of the Onondaga Historical Association, a long-time member of the
Citizens' Club, a trustee of the Oakwood Cemetery Association, director of
Chilled Plow Company, trustee of the Onondaga Coarse Salt Association,
president and trustee of the Salina Coarse Salt Company and trustee of the
Salt Springs Solar Coarse Salt Company. He is a member of the May
Memorial Church (Unitarian) and was long upon its board of trustees, and
one time president of the board.

Mr. Leach retired from active business when he left the Salt Springs
Bank, but still manages his own varied interests. Among the large estates
of which he has been executor was that of William Kirkpatrick, who left
many thousands for monuments in public parks. The burden of this work
was cheerfully taken up by Mr. Leach, whose efforts have resulted in most
artistic and lasting memorials.

In 1854 Mr. Leach married Miss Mary L.Williams, daughter of Benja-
min F. Williams, of Salina. The marriage took place in the house in which
Mr. Leach lives at the time of this writing. To Mr. and Mrs. Leach were
born four children: Kate D., deceased; Lucia M., now Mrs. Charles M.
Crouse, of this city; Belle Louise, who married Walter M. Woodward, of
Albany, deceased; and Jennie Stewart, who died in infancy. Mrs. Leach died
September 12, 1906.

Although Mr. Leach's banking career extended into the period of so-called
"high finance," those conservative methods of which he had learned the
value in more careful days were rigidly adhered to, and the spotless reputa-
tion and confidence of the business world were never injured. Mr. Leach
was of the "old school" in candor, courtesy and honesty. Such lives cause
regret for the passing of the "old school" of gentlemen in business.

^. W. S^mtti)

URLBUT WILLIAM SMITH, youngest son of Lewis
Stevens Smith and Eliza Ann (Hurlbut) Smith, was
born at Center Lisle, Broome county, New York,
June 24, 1865. He attended school there and in 1884
removed to Syracuse and took employment in the gun
manufacturing plant conducted by L. C. Smith. As a
young man Mr. Smith developed a fine ability for the
handling of office detail and accounts and became
treasurer of the first typewriter company established
by L. C. Smith, continuing capably in that capacity until the organization of
the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter Company, of which he is treasurer.
He also is treasurer of the United States Transportation Company, the L. C.
Smith Transit Company, and American Transit Company; secretary-treasurer
of the Skahen Steel Company; president of the Austen Manufacturing Com-
pany of Oswego, New York, manufacturers of perfumes; secretary of the
Amphion Company, of Elbridge, New York, makers of automatic piano play-
ers ; and one of the proprietors of the Smith-Lee Company of Oneida. He is a
director of the National Bank of Syracuse; director of the Syracuse Chamber
of Commerce ; trustee of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd ; director of the
Syracuse University Athletic Governing Board ; and chairman of the Syracuse
University Navy.

Outdoor sports in which Mr. Smith is particularly interested are auto-
mobiling and trap shooting. He is president of the Automobile Club of
Syracuse, member of the touring committee of the American Automobile Asso-
ciation, and is president of the New York State Sportsman's Association.
Among other clubs to which Mr. Smith belongs are the Citizens', Century and
Heidelberg Clubs of Syracuse, the Onondaga Golf and Country Club, the
Syracuse Yacht Club, the Masonic Temple Club, and the Masonic Temple Club
Gun Club. He is a trustee of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Grotto, a
trustee of Ziyara Shriners Temple at Utica, New York, an Elk, a Knight of
Pythias, and a member of the Royal Arcanum Council.

Mr. Smith in 1889 married Miss Mina R. Glazier, of Syracuse. Their
handsome home in West Onondaga street is a popular meeting place for the
younger members of Syracuse society.

133

'"^'-a^nd by aK.Campi

,11 I''-

c^ (^-^Py-^^^ooii-^^^^^

Mmxitt ai. <§rabes;

" AURICE A. GRAVES is numbered among those men
whose retirement from business represents the success
which has attended their efforts in earlier years in
active business endeavors, enabling them to rise from
a comparatively humble place to one of prominence in
the business world. His keen discernment and marked
enterprise have long been recognized as salient char-
acteristics in his career and yet his life has never been
narrowed by concentration of his energies upon one
line of labor. On the contrary, he is known as a broad-minded, public-spirited
man who has kept in touch with those concerns of vital interest to his city and
state, laboring entirely for public progress in many ways and especially for the
moral development of the community.

A native son of the Empire state, Maurice A. Graves was born in West-
moreland, April 22, 1846, and is a representative of one of the old colonial
families of English ancestry whose members at the ancestral home in Eng-
land were connected with the royal army and navy. In colonial days a
branch of the family was established in Connecticut about 1636 and Ben-
jamin Graves, great-great-grandfather of Maurice A. Graves, imbued with
the spirit of liberty which actuated the colonies in 1775, enlisted for service
in the American Army with the Connecticut troops. He was one of the
defenders of Fort Griswold at Gratton and was wounded at the massacre by
the British under the traitor Arnold and soon after died of his wounds.
His son, Benjamin Graves, who was then sixteen years of age, at once
enlisted and served for six years, a defender of the rights for wliich the
colonies were contending and which resulted in the establishment of the
republic. His son, Benjamin Graves, wedded Mary Stark, a niece of the
famous leader of the Vermont troops who rallied his forces to victory with
the cry, "Boys, we win today or Mary Stark will be a widow tonight." Ben-
jamin Graves removed from Connecticut to Westmoreland, Oneida county,
New York, making the journey on foot. He soon returned to New England
and with a yoke of oxen again traversed the district between his old Con-
necticut home and Oneida county, where he settled at a very early period
in its development. He made frequent trips to Salt Point when the site
of Syracuse was largely a swamp. He served in the war of 1812. His
death occurred March 23, 1868, when he was eighty-four years of age. His

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136 USauricc H. <0rabesi

eight children included Abial S. Graves, who resided at Westmoreland dur-
ing his active business career and afterward retired to Camden. He was
a member of the Eighty-first New York Volunteer Infantry from July, 1862,
until the close of the war of the Rebellion. His death occurred January 3,
1905, when he was eighty-three years old. He wedded Elizabeth Brockett, a
daughter of Eli Brockett, who removed from Connecticut to Herkimer county,
New York, served with the rank of captain at the battle of Sacketts Harbor
in the war of 181 2 and died in August, 1871, at the age of eighty-five years.
It will thus be seen that Maurice A. Graves is a representative of two
of the oldest pioneer famiHes of the Empire state. While spending his
boyhood days in his parents' home he mastered the branches of learning
taught in the public schools of his native town and in September, 1865,
when a young man of nineteen years, he came to Syracuse to enjoy the
better business opportunities offered in city life. His first position was
that of bookkeeper in the old Fourth National Bank and when his connec-
tion with that institution had covered three years he became bookkeeper
for the wholesale tea and coffee house of F. H. Loomis, where he also
remained for three years. He afterward occupied different responsible posi-
tions and in 1879 became bookkeeper for John Crouse & Company, the largest
wholesale grocery establishment in central New York. His ability being
recognized, he was made financial manager after six months' connection
with the house and given entire charge of the collecting department, filling
that position until the firm went out of business in February, 1887. He
continued as confidential man to John and D. Edgar Crouse until the death
of the former on the 25th of June, 1889, and with the latter until his demise,
November 10, 1892. In the meantime he closed up the estate of John J. Crouse,
the business of John Crouse & Company and the estate of the late John
Crouse, all involving extensive interests in Syracuse and elsewhere. By the
terms of the will, he became one of the executors for D. Edgar Crouse and
was largely engaged in settling up the estate in connection with Jacob A.
Nottingham for several years thereafter. During his residence in Syra-
cuse, as opportunity was offered he has become connected with various busi-
ness enterprises. In 1892 he was active in organizing the Cosmopolitan Build-
ing & Loan Association and from the beginning served as treasurer and
director. He was also one of the projectors of the Manufacturers' Lloyds
(fire insurance) of New York and in 1895 he purchased from the George
F. Comstock estate the Comstock farm of one hundred and five acres, lying
just east of the university, much of which he divided into building lots. This
tract has since been greatly improved, making it one of the finest resi-
dence districts of the city. It is known as University Heights and is one of
the largest pieces of city real estate which one man alone ever attempted to
develop. Here, in 1895, on the most elevated point of the tract, Mr. Graves
erected a handsome residence, its attractive style of architecture making it

one of the most pleasing features in the landscape. A valuable library of
about two thousand volumes indicates the literary taste of the owner, whose
reading has covered an extensive range and made him the equal in mental
culture of many who have had every opportunity for university education.
An important chapter in the life history of Mr. Graves covers his mili-
tary service as a member of Company I, Eighty-first New York Volunteers,
with which he continued from the 8th of September, 1862, until December,

1864. He was then transferred to Company I of the Tenth Veteran Reserve
Corps, which was stationed in Washington during the last year of the Rebel-
lion, guarding the White House, war department and other public buildings.
Mr. Graves was present at the time of Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration
and took an active part in the exciting scenes which followed the presi-
dent's assassination. He has in his possession the drum that sounded the
call for the first troops on that occasion and he also participated in the
funeral obsequies and in other events, including the grand review, when he
was stationed with his drum corps opposite the grand stand to salute the
regimental colors as they passed. He was honorably discharged July 26,

1865, and since September of that year has resided in Syracuse.

On the 17th of January, 1872, Mr. Graves was married to Miss Chris-
tina Reed, a daughter of Philetus Reed, of Syracuse, and they became the
parents of a son and two daughters: Nathan R., Alice R., and Helen B.
Mr. Graves and his family have been deeply and actively interested in church
work in Syracuse. His efforts have been effective and far-reaching and
have been characterized by the utmost zeal in his efforts for the upbuilding
of the church and its kindred interests. For a long period he served as a
deacon and trustee of the Dutch Reformed church in James street and for
some time was engaged in Sunday school mission work in connection with
the Young Men's Christian Association. About 1882 he was elected super-
intendent of the Sunday school of Rose Hill Mission and served in that capac-
ity for twelve years. Largely through his efforts, this mission, in 1886,
was reorganized as the Westminster Presbyterian church and Mr. Graves
was elected one of its first trustees, holding the position for some time. He
has also long been an elder in the church and has cooperated in its various
activities. He was for several years a member of Syracuse Presbytery and
in 1894 was elected a delegate to the general assembly held at Saratoga.
He is identified with the Citizens' Club; Post Root, G. A. R.; Masonic Club;
Anglers Association; Syracuse Lodge, No. 501, F. & A. M. ; Central City
Chapter, R. A. M.; Central City Commandery, No. 25; Central City Consis-
tory, S. P. R. S., Thirty-second degree; the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite;
Ziyara Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and Kedar Kahn Grotto, No. 12,
Veiled Prophets. All these indicate the nature of his interests aside from
those already cited. Although retired from business, he stands today a strong
man — strong in his honor and his good name and in what he has accomplished.

138

llSaurtce H. <$rabesi

not only in the life of individual gain but for the benefit of his fellowmen, in
whom his interest is deep and sincere. His record is one worthy of admira-
tion and is considered one of the most valuable assets of contemporaneous
history in Syracuse.

xC^J:^ ^^^^^y-.

Baniel iSopesf latjjtop

, ANIEL NO YES LATHROP, well known in commer-
cial circles in Syracuse for many years, was born at
South Montrose, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1835.
He was but six years of age when his father, Daniel
Lathrop, died and soon afterward the widowed
mother brought her family to Syracuse, where her
death occurred in 1873. Daniel N. Lathrop, entering
the public schools, largely acquired his education in
the old Putnam school but necessity urged his en-
trance into business life when he was yet a young lad and he began providing
for his own support as a clerk in the grocery store of O. S. Sumner at the
corner of Warren and Fayette streets. On the 9th of September, 1852, he
engaged with Ira H. Cobb, a dealer in crockery, at a salary of one hundred
dollars per year. The value of his service, however, led to an increase in
wages and he continued with Mr. Cobb until the 14th of May, 1856, when
he began clerking for S. P. Pierce, with whose house he was long identified,
continuing there up to the time of his enlistment for service in the Civil war
and resuming his position after his return from the south.

Mr. Lathrop had some military experience ere he joined the volunteer
army, for in 1856 he became a member of the Fifty-first Regiment, Davis
Light Guards, under Captain Chandler, and in 1861 was commissioned second
lieutenant, in 1862 as first lieutenant and in 1863 as captain. On the 5th
of September, 1864, Mr. Lathrop enlisted from Onondaga county, having
in connection with Lieutenant Theodore M. Barber raised Company D of
the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth New York Volunteers. He was mustered
into the United States service at Syracuse on the i8th of September, 1864,
as captain of Company D with Colonel Edwin S. Jenney in command of
the regiment and when the regiment was mustered out it was under com-
mand of Colonel Gustavus Sniper. While at the front Captain Lathrop par-
ticipated in the siege and assault on Petersburg and the battles of Poplar
Grove Church, Burgess Farm, Hickford Raid and the engagements at Boydton
Road, Hatchers Run, Watkins Farm, Quaker Road, Gravelly Run, Five Forks
and the fall of Petersburg. He was also present at Appomattox when Gen-
eral Lee surrendered and took part in a number of minor engagements and
skirmishes. Captain Lathrop shared in all of the marches and military
movements of his command until March 29, 1865, when he was severely

139

I40 J^anicl Moptsi Hat^rop

wounded in an engagement on Quaker Road near Five Forks below Peters-
burg. He was then taken to the hospital at City Point and subsequently,
by order of General Grant, had his choice of going home or to the hospital
at Washington and, being unfit for duty, after thirty days he was honorably
discharged in June, 1865. On the day on which he was wounded their
color sergeant was also wounded and the flag finally fell into the hands of
William H. Tyler, of Captain Lathrop's company, who was instantly killed
at the captain's side. Captain Lathrop then seized the colors and rallied
the regiment and when he was wounded relinquished the flag to Colonel Gus-
tavus Sniper, who led the troops to victory. For his acts of bravery in the
face of the enemy Captain Lathrop was commissioned brevet major.

When the war was over and he had sufficiently regained his health Cap-
tain Lathrop again entered the employ of S. P. Pierce, who was afterward
succeeded by S. P. Pierce's Sons and for many years he remained buyer and
business manager of the house. In this connection he became widely known
in the commercial circles of Syracuse and central New York.

On the 3d of February, 1862, Captain Lathrop was married to Miss
Harriet A. Litchfield, of Syracuse, and unto them were born five children:
WilHam A., born December 20, 1862; Jennie R, who was born January 6,
1866, and died May 4, 1884; Frank B., born July 21, 1870; Charles C, who
was born May 27, 1872, and died January 15, 1895; and Harriet L., who was
born September 7, 1878, and died the following day.

Captain Lathrop was very prominent in Masonic circles. He was for
seventeen years secretary of Syracuse Lodge, No. 501, F. & A. M., was identi-
fied with all the Central City bodies and became a thirty-second degree
Mason. His political allegiance was always given to the republican party,
which came into existence about the time that he attained his majority. He
cast his first vote for John C. Fremont and in antebellum days was a stanch
advocate for abolition principles and an active worker on the underground
railroad. Ere Danforth was annexed to the city he served as treasurer of
the village for eight years and in 1901 he was elected city assessor of Syra-
cuse. The same loyalty which he displayed upon southern battlefields when
he followed the old flag to victory was ever manifest in his life in days
of peace. It was one of his strongly marked characteristics and was manifest
as well in his business life, as was indicated by his long connection with one
house. He enjoyed the full confidence of those whom he represented in com-
mercial life and his ability in commercial lines contributed in large measure
to the success of the company. He died on the 3d of September, 1906.

Babib Wi. £ic()ols(on

AVID W. NICHOLSON is one of the most prominent
contractors of Syracuse and central New York. To
him have been awarded large contracts, and in their
execution he has demonstrated his right to be classed
with the most able and successful representatives of
building interests here. He was born December lo,
1 87 1, a son of Thomas and E. L. (Patterson) Nich-
olson. The father was born in Penerith, Northum-
berland county, England, November 8, 1848, while
the mother's birth occurred January 12, 1850. They were married Novem-
ber 28, 1870, and became the parents of eight children. Of this family David
W. Nicholson is the eldest. He was educated in the Salina graded schools
and in Syracuse high school, completing the course by graduation in 1891.
He entered business life in connection with his father, who was a contractor,
immediately after leaving school and has done an extensive business in the
construction of the mason work for the electric light plants in almost every
village of the state, also receiving a liberal patronage from New Jersey and
western Vermont. The business of the firm was indeed very large and
David W. Nicholson thus operated in conjunction with his father until 1895,
when he started out upon an independent business career, making a specialty
of heavy masonry and trestle and bridge work. He was awarded the contract
for remodeling the old horse car barns on Wolf street, transforming them into
the electric car storage barns. During the succeeding two years he was
engaged in erecting the overhead crossings over the New York Central freight
tracks and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad tracks for the
Syracuse, Lakeside & Baldwinsville Railroad. In the spring of 1898 he built
the Open Air Theater at Onondaga Valley and after the fall of the James
street bridge he replaced it in five days and had the cars crossing. He also
rebuilt the Warren street bridge and repaired the North Salina street hoist
bridge. To him was awarded the contract for building all the foundation for
the Liverpool extension for the Rapid Transit Company, consisting of two
bridges and one culvert, together with many foundations. He also built two
bridges for the Utica & Mohawk Valley Railroad Company, one at Frank-
fort and the other at Stanwix. Subsequently he built the Cortland avenue
barns of the Rapid Transit Company and the coal plant for E. I. Rice on the
salt lands, which plant was built at a cost of seventy thousand dollars. He

141

142 j^abib W. Mt'^oltion

also erected the Halcomb steel plant near the state fair grounds, consisting
of nineteen buildings which he completed in nine months, at a cost of one
hundred and thirty thousand dollars. He likewise built the whole of White
City at an expense of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, thus com-
pleting the work in eleven weeks, the White City Park being opened in eight
weeks from the time that he commenced the work. Mr. Nicholson likewise
built the first reinforced concrete building in the state to be used as a coal
trestle, completing the same on the ist of August, 1907. He is now con-
structing the new electrical car shops for the Syracuse Rapid Transit Com-
pany, which will be the most complete car shops in the country, the building
and its equipment to cost about two hundred thousand dollars. The work on
this will be finished in the spring of 1908. The extent and importance of the
contracts awarded him indicates in no uncertain manner the prominent posi-
tion which Mr. Nicholson occupies in industrial circles. He has rapidly ad-
vanced to a foremost place among the contractors of central New York and
his patronage is steadily increasing.

On the 28th of October, 1896, Mr. Nicholson was married to Miss Eda F.
Wade, who was born February 22, 1873, and was educated in the Salina
graded schools. They have one child, Florence Marian Nicholson, who was
born December 24, 1897, and is now a student in the Salina grammar school.
The family are well known in Syracuse, where Mr. Nicholson has steadily ad-'
vanced to a prominent position as a representative of its industrial life. He
is yet a young man but has attained a success that many a business man of
twice his years might well envy. There has been no esoteric chapter in his
life history but on the contrary his business methods are such as command
admiration and respect and will bear the keenest scrutiny.

ilogesi ®, Eubin

^

M

^

c^

OSES D. RUBIN, banker and broker, has had a notably
successful career. True success is not measured by
the heights that one has reached but by the distance
between his starting point and the altitude he has
attained. Therefore the career of Mr. Rubin is one
which awakens admiration, for he started out handi-
capped in various ways. Moreover, he is widely
known in philanthropic and benevolent circles as one
who contributes freely and generously to the support
of many movements and organizations which benefit mankind and ameliorate
the hard conditions of life for the unfortunate. His wealth has never been
selfishly hoarded but on the contrary has been so worthily used that the most
envious cannot grudge him his prosperity.

Mr. Rubin was born in Russian Poland, May 30, 1864, a son of Marcus
and Fannie (Epstein) Rubin and one of a family of eight children. The
father died March 21, 1882, and a brother Isaac, died in 1894. Another
brother, Robert, is associated with the firm of Hornblower, Miller & Potter of
New York city, while Harry Rubin is junior partner of the firm of Rosen-
thal & Rubin, of Binghamton, New York. Mrs. S. C. Rosenthal, Anna and
Jennie Rubin are the sisters of the family.

Brought to America in his early childhood, Moses D. Rubin was educated
in the public schools of Syracuse and in the business college conducted by

C. P. Meads in this city. In 1871 he came with his mother to the new world
and in Syracuse met the husband and father, who had previously crossed
the Atlantic and made arrangements for having a home in the new world.
After completing his education Moses D. Rubin entered the employ of S.
Kopelowich & Company, wholesale jewelers, with whom he continued until
1882. In that year his father died, leaving a meat market, of which Moses

D, Rubin then took charge, conducting it in order to try and provide for the
other members of the family, including mother and eight children. He
carried on the market until his health failed, when he sold out in 1891. In
that year he located in the Grand Opera House block and established a bank-
ing and brokerage office, continuing in these lines to the present time and
becoming well known as a factor in financial circles. He has secured an
excellent clientage and built up an extensive business.

143

144 Moiti B. Ctubtn

In his political views Mr. Rubin is a stalwart republican, recognized as
one of the leaders of the party in Syracuse, and his fellow townsmen, appre-
ciating his worth and ability, have several times called him to ofifice. In
February, 1892, he was elected supervisor and again in 1895, 1897 and 1903.
He has held the office altogether for sixteen years and has never been defeated,
his long term of service indicating clearly the confidence and regard reposed
in him by his fellow townsmen. He was elected inspector for the Onondaga
county penitentiary and filled that office for three years. He is now chair-
man of the building committee of the board of supervisors and as such has
supervision, over the county buildings. He is likewise a member of the com-
mittee having in charge the building of the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument
in Onondaga county.

Mr. Rubin is perhaps even better known by reason of his active and
commendable service in behalf of various charitable and benevolent organiza-
tions. He has been president of the Jewish Orphan Asylum and was presi-
dent of the Hebrew Association of Syracuse. He is also a member of the
Yiddish Association, the Jewish Aid Society, the Onondaga County Orphans'
Asylum, the Syracuse Free Dispensary, the Denver Hospital for Consump-
tives and the Hebrew Free School, to which he is the largest contributor.
He has been especially helpful in work for the benefit of people of his race
and his labors are deserving of the highest commendation. Well may they
serve as a source of emulation to others. He is likewise known in organiza-
tions for the benefit of the city or for the promotion of its culture and its
fraternal interests. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and is serving
on its membership committee. He is a member of the Musical Festival Asso-
ciation and of the Anglers' Association, of the Citizens' Club, the Escort
Club and the Fayette Club. He is a member of Syracuse Lodge, No. 31, B.
P. O. E., Court Montefiore, No. 356, Foresters of America ; and the Knights
of Pythias. Such a life record needs little comment or elaboration. That
he is a man of broad public spirit and generous purpose is indicated between
the lines of this review. He realizes fully individual responsibility and
meets the obligations that rest upon him in his relations to his fellowmen.
His life work has contributed in substantial measure to those interests which
indicate an advanced civilization in the care of the unfortunate and the needy.
Mr. Rubin is indeed a man of humanitarian spirit, who has made splendid use
of the prosperity that has rewarded his carefully directed labors.

i^yjr>cla/ua^e'' 'fjyt4/f'^i<ii/'

i&al^aman Cutttsi

HEN CENTRAL New York was the "far west" and
Onondaga county was a frontier district Ralzamon
Curtis became a pioneer settler of Skaneateles. He
was born in Farmington, Connecticut, about twelve
miles from the city of Hartford, December 24, 1799.
He was a son of Captain Gad Curtis and a grand-
son of Captain Eliphalet Curtis, a soldier of the Rev-
olutionary war. The year 1816 witnessed the ar-
rival of Ralzamon Curtis in Onondaga county, at
which time he removed from Connecticut and settled in Skaneateles township.
His father also made the trip and drove with teams across the country, bring-
ing the family, while Ralzamon Curtis and another man drove two yoke of
cattle through. Both the father and son spent their remaining days here and
became prominent residents of their community. After arriving in Onondaga
county Ralzamon Cutis followed agricultural pursuits and continued success-
fully in farming until a short time prior to his death, when he removed to Jor-
dan, where he passed away in 1867.

In 1825 occurred the marriage of Mr. Curtis and Miss Adaline Earll,
who was a representative of an old pioneer family. They became the par-
ents of a son and five daughters. Those living are: Mrs. Eugenia C. Conover,
of Skaneateles; John Porter Curtis, a farmer residing near Marcellus; and
Mrs. John Lyman, of Syracuse.

Mr. Curtis was a democrat in his political faith and always voted with
the party but never took an active part in political work. His religious faith
was that of the Episcopal church. Coming to Onondaga county when this
was a pioneer district, he aided in the arduous task of planting the seeds
of civilization and progress here. He found the district largely covered
with the native growth of timber and many of the now thriving villages were
not yet established, while Syracuse had little claim to greatness or commer-
cial importance. The work of development largely lay in the future and Mr.
Curtis, casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers, bore his share in the efforts
for the county's advancement as the years passed by.

MS

(f

e ^

' ' ^//ivf// t / f^//rci^i

iWrs(» Cugenia €♦ Conober

N THE YEAR 1816 Gad and Sharesa (Wilcox) Cur-
tis arrived in Onondaga county, where their descend-
ants have now lived for almost a century. They had
previously made their home near Hartford, Con-
necticut, and drove across the country, the father
bringing his family in a vehicle drawn by horses,
while his son Ralzamon and an uncle made the jour-
ney with ox-teams. The family home was established
about a mile and a half from Marcellus on the old
turnpike extending between that village and Skaneateles. Ralzamon Curtis,
son of Gad Curtis, was born near Hartford, Connecticut, December 24, 1799^,
and was therefore a young man of about seventeen years when he came to
New York. He assisted in the arduous task of developing a new farm in the
midst of the then western wilderness and shared with the family in all of the
hardships and privations incident to the settlement of the frontier. On the
6th of January, 1825, he was united in marriage to Miss Adaline Earll, who
was born in this county June 26, 1802. It will thus be seen that more than
a century has passed since the Earll family was established in this part of
the state. Her parents were Jonas and Experience (Sprague) Earll. Her
grandfather and his sons at the time of the Revolutionary war were residents
of Nova Scotia and he and his sons were cast into prison for piloting an
American vessel into port. When released he determined to establish his
home in the United States and with his family, numbering seven sons and two
daughters, made his way to Washington county. New York. It was during
the period of the family's residence there that Jonas Earll was married to
Experience Sprague, the daughter of David Sprague. As stated, Jonas Earll
arrived in Onondaga county in 1802 and established his home on lot No. 19
in the village of Marcellus. He remained a resident of the county for forty-
five years and was closely associated with its pioneer development. The city
of Syracuse was not established for seven;teen years after he took up his
abode here and only a few white settlers had penetrated into the western
wilderness to found homes and aid in reclaiming this district for the uses of
civilization. Jonas Earll died in October, 1847, at the venerable age of
ninety-six years. His family numbered three sons: Solomon, Jonas and
David. The first named died many years ago. The second son, Jonas Earll,
Jr., largely aided in molding public thought and opinion and in shaping the

147

148 JfltSrg. OBuBcnia C Conobcr

political history of Onondaga county during the first half of the nineteenth
century. He was honored with various positions of public trust and in 1820
was elected to represent his district in the general assembly, serving for two
years. He was then chosen state senator, continuing in the office from 1822
until 1827 and before the expiration of his term was elected to the twentieth
congress. He received public endorsement of his service in a re-election to
the twenty-first congress, so that he was identified with the national halls of
legislation from 1826 until 1830. For several years he filled the office of
sheriff of Onondaga county and in 1837 entered upon a four years' term as
postmaster of Syracuse. He died in October, 1846, and thus passed away
one of the conspicuous figures in the early history.

Ralzamon and Adaline (Earll) Curtis had a family of six children, of
whom Mrs. Eugenia C. Conover is the eldest. Sarah Ann, born January 5,
1830, is deceased: John Porter, born October 4, 1831, now lives upon the old
homestead near Marcellus and is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Viola,
born July i, 1836, became the wife of John Lyman, who is now deceased,
while she makes her home in Syracuse. Gertrude, born October 13, 1838,
became the wife of Miles Almy and died leaving a daughter, Mrs. Joseph
Adams, now a resident of Chicago, Illinois. Helen, born May 14, 1843, became
the wife of Mortimer Smith and died, leaving one son, Frank Curtis Smith,
who is an Episcopal clergyman of Booneville, New York. He was graduated
from Geneva College and also from the New York City Theological Seminary.
The father of this family, Ralzamon Curtis, died at Jordan, New York, in
May, 1867, and his wife passed away in Syracuse in January, 1883.

Mrs. Conover was born February 1 1, 1826, in this county. Her girlhood
days were spent upon the old homestead and on the 28th of October, 1852,
she gave her hand in marriage to Mortimer Conover. They traveled life's
journey together for thirty-one years and were then separated by the death
of the husband in 1883. Mrs. Conover was for a long period one of the best
horsewomen of central New York, and won many prizes at county and state
fairs for her skill as an equestrienne. She has now reached the venerable age
of eighty-two years and is a most active, remarkable woman for one of her
age. The circle of her friends is almost co-extensive with the circle of her
acquaintance and all who know her entertain for her the warmest esteem and
regard.

STofjn porter Curtis

^

J

te

W

"OHN PORTER CURTIS, a farmer living near Mar-
cellus, is a representative of one of the oldest fam-
ilies of Onondaga county. For almost a century the
family has been known here and its members have
taken an active part in the work of general improve-
ment and upbuilding. Mr. Curtis of this review was
born in Skaneateles, October 4, 1831, a son of Ral-
zamon and Adaline (Ear 11) Curtis. His paternal
grandparents were Gad and Eunice (Porter) Curtis
and his great-grandfather was Captain Eliphalet Curtis, who won his title
by service in the Revolutionary war. In 18 16 Gad Curtis removed from Con-
necticut to the state of New York, settling about a mile and a half from the
village of Marcellus on the old turnpike between Marcellus and Skaneateles.
He made the journey with his family with a team of horses, while his son Ral-
zamon and an uncle of the latter came with an ox-team.

Ralzamon Curtis was born near Hartford, Connecticut, December 24,
1799, and was therefore in his seventeenth year at the time of the removal
westward. On the 6th of January, 1825, he married Miss Adaline Earll,
who was born in Onondaga county. New York, June 26, 1802, and was a
daughter of Jonas and Experience (Sprague) Earll. At the time of the
Revolutionary war the father of Jonas Earll, with his sons, who were resi-
dents of Nova Scotia, piloted an American vessel into port and were arrested
and cast into prison. When released the father came with his family to the
United States. He had seven sons and two daughters and they located in
Washington county. New York, remaining there for a time, and it was dur-
ing the period of their residence there that Jonas Earll married Experience
Sprague, a daughter of David Sprague, who was the father of twenty-one
children, eight sons and thirteen daughters. By his first wife, who bore
the maiden name of Amy Sweet, he had eleven children and by his second
wife. Peace Chase, had ten children. He lived to see them all married.

In 1902 Jonas Earll removed from Washington county to Onondaga
county and settled on lot No. 19 in Marcellus. He died in October, 1847,
at the very advanced age of ninety-six years. He had three sons, of whom
Solomon died many years ago, while Jonas, Jr., died in October, 1846. The
third son was David S. Earll. Jonas Earll, Jr., was one of the leading
political leaders of the county for more than twenty years and held many

149

I50 Jofjn Porter Curtis;

important offices of trust. He represented his district in the lower house
of the general assembly in 1820 and 1821, was state senator from 1822 until
1827 and was a member of the twentieth and twenty-first congresses, his
incumbency covering four years from 1826. For several years he was sher-
iff of Onondaga county and was postmaster at Syracuse from 1837 until
1 841. Through his official service and in many other ways he left the impress
of his individuality upon the public life and upbuilding of central New York.

Ralzamon and Adaline (Earll) Curtis became the parents of six children;
Eugenia C, who was born February 11, 1826, and is now the widow of
Mortimer Conover and a resident of Skaneateles; Sarah Ann, born January
5, 1830; John Porter, of this review; Viola, born July i, 1836, who is the
widow of John Lyman and a resident of Syracuse; Gertrude, born October
13, 1838, and now deceased; and Helen, who was born May 14, 1843, and
has passed away. There are but two grandchildren of Ralzamon and Ada-
line Curtis: Mrs. Joseph Adams, of Chicago, Illinois, who is a daughter
of Miles Almy and Gertrude (Curtis) Almy; and Frank Curtis Smith, an
Episcopal clergyman of Booneville, New York. He is a son of Mortimer
and Helen (Curtis) Smith. Frank Curtis Smith is a graduate of Geneva
College and of the New York City Theological Seminary.

In taking up the personal history of John Porter Curtis, whose name
introduces this review, we present to our readers the life record of one
who is widely and favorably known in Skaneateles, where he has long been
a representative of agricultural interests. He pursued his education in the
public schools, was trained to farm work and throughout his entire life has
engaged in the tilling of the soil. He was married at Syracuse, New York,
April 18, 1866, to Miss Jennie Shuler, and they reside on the old homestead
near Marcellus, where Mr. Curtis owns and operates one hundred and sixty
acres of land which he has brought under a high state of cultivation, carry-
ing on general farming in the production of the crops best adapted to soil
and climate.

Mr. Curtis gives his political allegiance to the democracy. His religious
faith is indicated by his membership in the Episcopal church, while his wife
belongs to the Methodist church. His entire life has been spent in this
county and for almost seventy-eight years he has been a witness of its devel-
opment and progress as all of the evidences of a modern civilization have
been introduced and Onondaga county has kept pace with the trend of
general improvement and progress. He enjoys the full respect and confi-
dence of all who know him and has many warm friends in his locality.

•y/clcjt ' /irif'//i

T^

l5(er^^:jHtg/c ^ 4//^fi 1/

O!^^

Jojin ipman

MONG THOSE who in former years were closely
associated with the business development and up-
building of Syracuse, was numbered John Lyman, a
successful dealer in drugs and patent medicines, a
trustee of the Trust & Deposit Company and a
trustee of the Syracuse University. He was born
in Westhampton, Massachusetts, near the old fam-
ily home which is over two hundred years old, one
of the historic landmarks of New England. His birth
occurred April 2, 1821, and covered the span of years to the 12th of January,
1904. His parents were Thomas and Betsy (Clapp) Lyman, both natives of
Massachusetts. They came to this county in February, 1822, and settled in
the town of Otisco. The father died in Onondaga, October 24, 1850, and the
mother passed away at Navarino, July 12, 1876.

In 1859 John Lyman went to Newcastle, Canada, where he and Henry S.
Northrup bought out a patent medicine and drug business, which was located
there, the new firm being known as Northrup & Lyman Company. In 1874
they removed to Toronto, Canada, where they still continue to carry on the
business, which was incorporated in 1883.

In April, 1886, Mr. Lyman removed from Canada to Syracuse and lived
a retired life at No. 308 Hawley avenue, where his widow still makes her
home. For many years he was most active and energetic in business life and
through his intense and well directed labors gained the measure of prosperity
that enabled him to spend his later years in the enjoyment of well earned rest,
surrounded by many of the comforts and luxuries that go to make life worth
the living. He still retained his interest in the patent medicine and drug
business until his death.

Mr, Lyman was twice married, his first wife being Ruth Ann Abbott, by
whom he had one son, Willis J., who was born December 5, 1856, and died
March 9, 1857. After the death of his first wife he wedded Viola Curtis, a
native of Skaneateles, where her girlhood days were passed, and a daughter
of Ralzamon and Adaline (Ear 11) Curtis. Her father, a native of Connecticut,
was born in 1800 and died in 1867, while her mother, whose birth occurred in
Onondaga county in 1802, departed this life in 1883 at the advanced age of
eighty-one years. In their family were six children, five daughters and one
son, namely: Mrs. Eugenia C. Conover, a resident of Skaneateles; Sarah A.

151

152 31oi)n JLpmm

Curtis, who died in Syracuse; John P. Curtis, who resides at the old home in
Skaneateles; Mrs. Viola Lyman; Mrs. Gertrude Almy, who died in Chicago;
and Mrs. Helen Smith, who died in Easthampton, Massachusetts. By his
second marriage Mr. Lyman had two children: Mary, who died in Canada
and Jessie, who died in Syracuse.

In his political views Mr. Lyman was a republican and kept well informed
concerning the issues and questions of the day but had no desire for office.
His life was pre-eminently that of an active business man, one who recognized
and utilized his opportunities and worked his way upward by reason of close
application, unwearied industry and probity in business matters and thus
gained the unassailable reputation which has made his an untarnished name.
To his family and friends he was devoted and the many sterling traits of his
character won him the high regard and confidence of all with whom he came
in contact. While his life may have been less spectacular than that of many
it was none the less of value by reason of successful accomplishment in busi-
ness and by progressiveness in citizenship. Mrs. Lyman still makes her home
in Syracuse at No. 308 Hawley avenue.

SJO rju (lyvvAA^O^^

(©eorge ®enis(an Mjjebon, JW. S-

R. GEORGE DENISON WHEDON, who for many
years was an active practitioner of medicine and sur-
gery in Syracuse but is now living retired, was born
in Camillus, Onondaga county, on the nth of May,
1832, his parents being Denison and Sarah (Blodget)
Whedon, of Deerfield, Massachusetts. His great-
great-grandfather, Denison Whedon, served in the
Revolutionary war and Dr. Whedon has today in
his possession a seven dollar bill that was paid to his
ancestor for service in the war. This bill is numbered 16,735 ^^^ was issued at
Philadelphia, July 22, 1776. He also has a note issued for forty shillings, No.
3,376. It was also printed at Philadelphia, November 3, 1775. The patriot
soldier was likewise given a farm at Camillus as compensation for the aid
which he rendered the colonists in their struggle for independence and this
tract of land has been the homestead of three generations of the family.

Dr. Whedon, having completed his literary education, qualified for the
profession which he determined to make his life work by study in the Berk-
shire Medical College of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the Albany Medi-
cal College, completing his course on the 30th day of May, 1853. He then
located for practice in Plainville, New York, where he remained for a year after
which he was a member of the medical fraternity of Wayne county until the
fall of 1861, when he became army surgeon for the Tenth New York Cavalry,
acting in that capacity for more than a year. He was the sole medical officer
of the regiment for eight months and afterward was the organizer of the field
hospital near Stafford, Virginia, of which he was given charge. He was com-
missioned by Governor Hoffman as surgeon of the staff of the Twenty-fourth
Brigade of the National Guard of New York and continued as such until the
death of General Green, commander of the brigade. During the progress of the
war Dr. Whedon rendered most valuable aid to his country through his profes-
sional services and afterward came to Syracuse, where he located for practice.
He soon demonstrated his ability to successfully cope with the intricate prob-
lems which continually confront the physician and his practice grew and
claimed his time and attention until the ist of January, 1901, when ill health
forced him to retire. His health has much improved since then, yet he has
never resumed active professional duties but is enjoying a well earned rest at
his pleasant home.

1S3

154 <$eorg» i^eniseon W^than, M- ^•

On the i8th of January, 1871, Dr. Whedon was married to Ella Marie
Kellogg, who for nearly her whole life has been a resident of Syracuse. Mrs.
Whedon has been very closely identified with all its charities, and its clubs, and
particularly with all efiforts to retrieve the conditions of working women. They
have two daughters, Ethel and Florence Kellogg Whedon. For a long time Dr.
Whedon was the loved family physician in many a household in Syracuse and
his patrons were loath to give up his services, for he was accorded wide recog-
nition as one of the able and successful physicians of the city and his labors,
his high professional attainments and his sterling characteristics have justified
the respect and confidence in which he is held by the medical fraternity and the
local public.

Dr. Whedon has always been a great lover of the sport of fishing and was
one of the first to recognize the possibilities of the St. Lawrence river along the
lines of its recuperative powers and as a pleasure resort. Over thirty years
ago he purchased five acres at the head of Round island now known as the
"Frontenac" and with his family helped build up the cottage life now so
magnificent in its proportions. The place was named "Ethelridge" in honor
of his elder daughter. Dr. Whedon wielded a strong and forceful as well as
graceful pen and his numerous articles on subjects pertaining to his pro-
fession have always been original and comprehensive in treatment and have
met with marked approval. He also possessed pronounced ability as a busi-
ness man, his judgment in valuing real estate being widely sought for through-
out the community. The development of his home city and its environments
was of paramount interest to the Doctor. He loved its parks, its trees and its
public buildings, and its philanthropies ; he was a student of the woods, know-
ing every tree and every wild flower by name. So did he round out the life of
a physician, adding to other requisites those subtle qualities which blossom into
richest optimism in the chamber of illness and of despair, and which ennoble
the profession he served and loved through a long and notable career.

a^^m^

James; gl, Proton

m

J

"AMES A. BROWN, who for many years was identified
with mercantile interests at Kirkville and spent his
last days in the enjoyment of well earned rest in a
beautiful home in Syracuse, was born near Evans
Mills, New York, February 14, 1835, and was a son
of George Brown, whose birth occurred in Dolge-
ville, Herkimer county, New York, in 181 1. The
father was a tanner, currier and shoemaker in early
life and later followed farming and merchandising.
In 1837 he removed to Manlius, where he established a shoe shop and store
on the old canal. He lived at Pool's Brook for about ten years and then
located at Kirkville, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at a
ripe old age. He served as deputy sheriff of his district. In early manhood
he married Maria Grouse, and to them were born eight children.

James A. Brown, the second son, acquired his education in the common
schools but developed a character and secured his success by his own energy
and good judgment, supplemented by Ghristian principles which made his
life record an example well worthy of emulation. When in his teens he
went to sea and followed that life for about two years, when he and five of
his shipmates, having taken a strong dislike to their captain on account of
his cruelty and unprincipled actions, determined to leave him and the ship.
Accordingly they perfected their plans and in a small open boat at the dead
of night they rowed away for some place — they knew not where. His five
companions were all drowned in the attempt, Mr. Brown being the only sur-
vivor. He clung to the boat and was rescued on the shores of Valparaiso,
South America. The Spaniards watched him closely and tried hard to keep
him a prisoner but after a few days he stole away from them on an American
ship and sailed for home. This closed the sea-faring chapter of his life history.
At the age of eighteen years, Mr. Brown became associated with his
father in business as a member of the firm of George Brown & Son, proprie-
tors of a general store and dealers in lumber, coal and various supplies needed
by the farmers and others living in the surrounding country. The store was
located at Kirkville, Onondaga county, and the business relation between
father and son was continued for fifteen years, at the end of which time
George Brown retired from business. James Brown then became sole pro-
prietor and conducted the business in its various departments with constantly

155

156 31ante£S a. 2?rota)n

growing success until the year 1898, when he withdrew from commercial life
to spend his remaining days in the enjoyment of well earned ease. At that
time he purchased a beautiful residence in Syracuse, where he continued to
reside until called to his final rest, his death occurring February 13, 1901.

In 1859 Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Mariam Hoag, who
was born in Onondaga county in 1837 and is a daughter of Joseph Hoag, who
was engaged in the shoe business in Kirkville. One child blessed this union :
Elizabeth Mariam, who is now the wife of M. Burton Coe and lives with her
mother in Syracuse.

In his political views Mr. Brown was a stalwart republican, prominent in
the ranks of the party, but in early life supported the democratic party. For
fourteen years he served as justice of the peace, was justice of sessions, post-
master and deputy postmaster at Kirkville for three terms, and notary public
for a number of years. He was always active in public work and did all in
his power to promote the success of his party. Fraternally he was connected
with Fayetteville Lodge, No. 578, A. F. & A. M., and Kirkville Lodge, I. O. O.
F., and was a charter member of Chittenango Lodge, A. O. U. W. His religi-
ous faith was that of the Universalist church, and he was a man of charit-
able disposition and broad views, whose honorable life commended him to the
confidence and esteem of his fellowmen, gaining him warm admiration and
many friends.

MtUtam 1. 1. ^mttf)

' I ^HE LIFE span of William H. H. Smith covered the
period of Syracuse's pioneer development and much
of its later progress, and his history was closely inter-
woven with its development and upbuilding in many
substantial ways. He was among those who shaped
its policy during its formative period and in later years
he stood for all that wrought for improvement in a
material way and for the social, educational and
moral progress of the community as well. Thus his
name is engraven on the roll of prominent men as one of the honored citizens.
He was born at Litchfield, Herkimer county, New York, June 5, 18 14, and
his death took place at Syracuse, New York, August 8, 1901. He was
descended in the paternal line from English ancestry, tracing the line back to
Richard Smith, of Smithtown, Long Island, of whom histories of an early
period made prominent and honorable mention. His father was the Rev.
William Smith, who in 1793 removed from West Farms, Long Island, to
Herkimer county, New York. In the maternal line William H. H. Smith was
descended from the Brush family, who were Huguenots and lived in Hunting-
ton, Suffolk county, Long Island. They and the Smith family warmly espoused
the cause of the colonies at the time of the Revolutionary war and suffered
many hardships during the British occupation of Long Island.

William H. H. Smith remained a member of his father's household until
he attained his majority and during that period was connected with general
agricultural pursuits. After he had reached adult age he took charge of and
conducted for two years a wholesale grocery house at Utica, New York. In
the spring of 1839 the first locomotive was placed on the Auburn & Syracuse
Railroad and in September of that year Mr. Smith accepted the position of
collector on that road, which was extended to Rochester and now constitutes
a part of the New York Central system. Mr. Smith continued as collector for
thirteen years and for eight years made his home at Syracuse House. His
brother, Albert G. Smith, was chief of the Utica ticket office and opened the
Syracuse Railroad office, with Dudley P. Phelps as ticket master. He also
established the Auburn ticket office, ultimately becoming its chief. W. H. H.
Smith and Dudley P. Phelps furnished rooms in the depot (Black Nathan in
charge) in East Fayette street. John Wilkinson was president of the Utica &
Syracuse Railroad and was the moving spirit locally of the new railroads. His

157

158 WiUiam ^. ^. ^mttf)

office was in the depot and there his protege, George Barnes, was installed.
Following upon the opening of the Auburn & Syracuse Railroad patronage
was slow in developing and Mr. Smith suggested to General Chedell, of
Auburn, and Mr. Wilkinson, that free excursions, picnics, etc., might have a
good effect. The suggestion approved, a favorite resort became the district near
Camillus and Marcellus with its picturesque scenery, and Miss Bradbury and
her scholars, with others under Mr. Smith's superintendency, appreciated the
novel entertainment.

Syracuse in 1839 was a village of six thousand inhabitants and its hotels
were the Syracuse House, with P. N. Rust as landlord; the Exchange, with
William Winton in charge; while in 1847 the Globe Hotel opened under Mr.
Stevens.

During the early years of his residence in Syracuse, Mr. Smith won the
friendship of the Rev. Henry Gregory, Rev. Dr. Adams, Dr. Storer, Rev. John
A. Cornell and Rev. E. D. Maltbie. Intimate comradeship was formed with R.
W. Washburn, who became the trusted agent, in California, of the Wells Fargo
Express Company, having the sole power to sign for the company — and there
were Martin Burt, Dr. Durand, Silas F, Smith, Thomas A. Smith, E. J. Foster,
Dr. Martin M. White, Jasper Smith, George Raynor and the Sherman brothers.
Religious, educational, philanthropic and social movements were active. The
Franklin Institute library and lectures, agricultural societies and fairs were
features in the early life of Syracuse, and the Onondaga Historical Associa-
tion and Pioneer Society were organized. The Hutchinsons and Ole Bull
gave serenades for Mr. Smith "under Bounibell's window" and favorite
forms of amusement were horseback parties and sleighrides.

When gold was discovered in California Mr. Smith and Mr. Washburn
fitted out and sent a "forty-niner" in quest of fortune. A never to be forgotten
event in the history of early Syracuse was the gunpowder explosion which
plunged the whole village into mourning and Mr. Smith, with the ready action
which always characterized him in an emergency, made a quick trip to Auburn
for doctors to aid in caring for its victims. He figured again in an event of
general interest when in the spring of 1846 he was one of the party that, by
invitation of Governor Seward, accompanied the chief executive to North Bend
and other points.

It was later in the same year, on the 23d of September, 1846, that Mr.
Smith and Miss Margaret Tredwell Redfield were united in marriage. In
1851, purchasing a tract of land on the southeastern highlands of the city,
he built his residence, known as 755 Irving avenue, and occupied it from
1854 until his death. The tract was then farm land, enclosed with rail
fences, and the possessor must needs pay the early city taxes without city
privileges in case of fire, etc. The quiet of the country, the song of wood
birds and the glorious panorama of the hills and the valley and the lake of
Onondaga, unrolled, were ample compensation for the lack of city advan-

WiSiimn <|. ^. ^mttf) 159

tages. Liberal views and practical ideas marked the course followed in the
development which was undertaken in the improvement of this section of the
city.

In September, 1865, the Genesee & Water Street Railroad Company was
organized, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, by George F. Comstock,
W. H. H. Smith, C T. Longstreet, O. T. Burt and James P. Haskins. The
road was built in 1866 and ultimately comprised the Fourth Ward Railroad
and the Chestnut Street (now Crouse avenue) branch, extending to the north
boundary line of the campus of Syracuse University.

Subscriptions were made to the University Avenue Methodist church,
which was built, conditioned by Mr. Remington, to be forever free sittings.
Mr. Smith entered with hearty interest into the work inaugurated by Bishop
Huntington — which was substantially aided by Judge Comstock — in building
the Hospital of the Good Shepherd and Grace church. He always mani-
fested a warm sympathy for the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum wards —
most substantially when the location in Syracuse was decided upon, by the
university powers, to be on these highlands, Mr. Smith making a donation of
twenty-one hundred dollars and Judge Comstock a donation of twenty thousand
dollars, which was paid in land. Thus the story is only in part told of the
development of one of the most beautiful parts of Syracuse.

A republican patriot, Mr. Smith stood with his party from 1861 until
1865, and ever afterward supported that ticket. He was interested in Amer-
ican history, in good literature and in various sources of amusement and
entertainment, including the theatre and whist. He greatly enjoyed, too, the
sport with the rod, and this and his love for nature led him often into the
wilderness. He seldom missed a year during half a century in which he
did not each spring visit the streams of northern New York and the famous
lake region. His was indeed a well rounded character and to him was allotted
a fullness of years that made his an honored old age. He passed away in
Syracuse, August 8, 1901, leaving a name deeply engraved on the roll of the
prominent citizens of Syracuse and the promoters of her development and
her greatness.

Cljarles; OTiUiam parbeen

IHARLES WILLIAM BARDEEN, known through-
out the land as an educator, and as author and pub-
lisher of books on education, has been since 1874
editor and publisher of The School Bulletin and New
York State Educational Journal at Syracuse. He
was born in Groton, Massachusetts, August 28, 1847,
the oldest child of William Thomas and Mary Ann
(Farnsworth) Bardeen. At an early age he moved
with his parents to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and
was educated at the Fitchburg high school and at the Orange County Gram-
mar School, Randolph, Vermont. While a boy of fourteen he enlisted as a
drummer, July 21, 1862, in the First Massachusetts Volunteers, and served
till the regiment was discharged, May 25, 1864, being present at the battles
of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spott-
sylvania. On his return he entered Lawrence Academy, Groton, of which
his mother was a graduate, and upon graduation in 1865 entered Yale, from
which he was graduated in 1869. He was one of the contributors to "My
Schools and Schoolmasters" series in The Educational Review, and a racy
account of his schooldays is given in the number for October, 1901 (xxii.
228-39).

While a junior in college he served for a term as principal of the high
school at Meriden, Connecticut, and before graduation he became principal
of the academic department of the boarding school at Weston, Connecticut.
In 1870 he was vice principal of the Connecticut State Normal School, and in
1872 became superintendent of schools at Whitehall, New York. In 1874
he established The School Bulletin at Syracuse and has been ever since its
editor and publisher, making it one of the leading educational papers of the
country. This publication, together with his writings published elsewhere,
have brought him national reputation. In 1893 he was put in charge of the
department of educational publications of the International Congress, Chi-
cago, and in 1907 he wrote the chapter in Educational Journalism for the
Jubilee volume of the National Educational Association. From 1891 until
1895 he served as a director of the National Educational Association and
since 1900 has been president of the Educational Press Association of Amer-
ica.

161

1 62 Ctiarleg l@iUtam 2^arbeen

His book publications began with the reprint from The School Bulletin
of papers he had written on school law, and have grown till he is by far the
most extensive publisher in the world of books on teaching. His list has
numbered more than fifteen hundred titles, and his books are ordered from
every country. His publications have received awards at every interna-
tional exposition since that at Paris in 1878, including a gold medal at the
Paris exposition of 1889, two gold medals at the Paris exposition of 1900 and
medal and diploma at the Chicago exposition of 1893. He has recently become
also an extensive publisher of maps for schools, his Peerless series being exclu-
sively adopted for use in the rural schools of New York. He has his own
printing and binding establishment and gives employment to a large force of
workmen.

Mr. Bardeen's success in business is due partly to his habit of retaining
employes who prove valuable. The foreman of his bindery has been with
him twenty-four years. The foreman of his printing office came to him
twenty-seven years ago, and though at the time of the printers' strike he felt
obliged to go out with the union after two years in other offices he withdrew
from the union in Qrder to come back. This keeping men is due not only to
good wages and good treatment but also to the fact that when need arises
Mr. Bardeen is always ready to take a hand himself in any department of
the business. In the old Clinton street store he happened to come out of
the office just as a new errand boy was refusing to take a wheelbarrow of
paper around the corner to Garrett's. "I am a high school graduate," the
boy was saying, "and I didn't hire out to do menial work." "Quite right,"
assented Mr. Bardeen cheerfully, "these distinctions should be preserved.
Always maintain your dignity, my boy. Now I am going by Garrett's, and
as the paper must be got there I will wheel it; you come along with me."
At this the boy offered and begged and almost cried to wheel it, but Mr.
Bardeen was already between the handles. He lifted them and wheeled the
barrow along, chatting pleasantly with the boy, but paying no heed to his
protestations. When they reached the store he said, "Now this paper must
be carried in; will you do it or shall I?" "O, you needn't rub it in, Mr.
Bardeen," the boy said, "I've learned my lesson." And thereafter he proved
efficient help.

Mr. Bardeen is himself the author of some of the most successful publi-
cations, including a Manual of School Law, 1875 ; Roderick Hume, 1875 '> The
Song Budget, 1878; Some Facts About our Public School System, 1878;
Educational Journalism, 1881; A System of Rhetoric, 1884; Verbal Pitfalls,
Outlines of Sentence Making, 1884; The Teacher's Commercial Value, 1885;
A Shorter Course in Rhetoric, 1885; Dime Question Book of Temperance,
Physiology, Bookkeeping, Letter Writing, 1884, 1888; Organization and Sys-
tem vs. Originality, 1890; Effect of the College Preparatory High School
upon Attendance and Scholarship in the Lower Grades, 1890; The Tax Payer

Ctjatlcg t^tttiam ^garbgew 163

and the Township System, 1891; The Teacher As He Should Be, 1891; The
Song Century, 1888; The Song Patriot, 1892; The Little Old Man, or The
School for Illiberal Mothers, 1893; History of Educational JournaHsm in
New York, 1893; The Song Budget Series Combined, 1894; Geography of the
Empire State, 1895; Fitting Teachers to Places, 1897; Teaching as a Business,
1897; Author's Birthday Exercises, 1897-99; Some Problems of City School
Management, 1899; Educational Journalism, An Inventory, 1899; Continuous
Contracts for Teachers, 1900; Dictionary of Educational Biography, 1901 ;
A Manual of Civics, 1902; Fifty-five Years Old and Other Stories, 1904;
The Woman Trustee, 1905; The False Entry, 1906; The Cloak Room Thief,
1907; John Brody's Astral Body, 1908. In addition to all this Mr. Bardeen
has been a frequent contributor to magazines on education and literary sub-
jects. He has visited Europe eleven times and Africa three times and his
illustrated magazine articles may some time be gathered into book form.

He was the first president of the Syracuse Browning Club, and one of the
founders of the University Club, of the Players Club (afterward the Syracuse
Club, now merged in the Century Club), of the Syracuse Tennis Club, and of
the Onondaga Golf and Country Club. He is now president of the Syracuse
Yale Club, and of the Syracuse Typothetae. He is also a fellow of the
American Geographical Society and a member of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, and of the American Social Science Associa-
tion.

In 1868 he married Ellen Palmer, daughter of Charles and Eliza Jane
Dickerman, of New Haven, Connecticut. The family home has been since 1879
at No. 1 109 East Genesee street. To Mr. and Mrs. Bardeen have been
born two sons and three daughters. The eldest, Charles Russell Bardeen,
was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, February 8, 1871. After graduation
from the Syracuse High School he spent a year at the Teischmann School at
Leipsic, Germany, and was graduated from Harvard College in 1893. In
college he was successively secretary, treasurer, and president of the Harvard
Athletic Association, and the chapter on The Jerry Rescue in Stray's History
of Syracuse was written by him as a regular theme in college. He was grad-
uated from the Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1897 and became assist-
ant professor there. Since 1904 he has been in the University of Wisconsin,
where he is now dean of the medical school. He is also a member of many
scientific societies, and an authority upon anatomy in Europe as well as in
America. He is just publishing in connection with a professor in Giessen,
Germany, a work on embryology that appears simultaneously in America and
in Germany, in both English and German. He is already recognized, like
his father, as one of the successful men of the country by the annual publica-
tion of his name in "Who's Who in America." The younger son, Norman,
is secretary of the Lee Paper Company, conducting an extensive business at
Vicksburg, Michigan. Of the daughters, Beatrice is the wife of Dr. David

1 64 Cfiatled D^iUiam 2^arbeen

Hastings Atwater, of Rochester, New York, and Bertha and Ethel are at
home.

It is unnecessary to add that Mr. Bardeen is a man of broad intellectual
and scholarly attainments, for these have been shadowed forth between the
lines of this review. He has studied closely the great sociological and
political problems, but his attention has been chiefly concentrated upon educa-
tional subjects. His presentation of ideas has been so forcible and enter-
taining that he has always commanded a wide audience, and he has left his
mark on the school system not only of the state but of the nation. He has
especially sought to introduce higher ideals for the teacher, and his books and
addresses on this topic are quoted wherever the subject is discussed.

$eter Ctfeel

ETER ECKEL, president of the Eckel-Nye Steel Com-
pany, manufacturers of low grade steel, was born in
Syracuse, February 27, 1865. His parents, Jacob B.
and Barbara (Morningstar) Eckel, were both of Ger-
man birth. Coming to the United States, the father
settled in Syracuse at an early period in the growth
and development of the city and was one of the pio-
neer salt manufacturers here. He died in 1903 and is
still survived by his wife, who is living in Syracuse
at the advanced age of eighty-four years. In their family were nine children,
of whom six sons still survive.

Peter Eckel, as a pupil in the public schools, acquired the knowledge
that prepared him for life's practical and responsible duties. A review of
the business situation and possibilities in Syracuse and an understanding of
his own ability led him to enter the field of business in which he is still
engaged. He began the manufacture of low grade steel for mercantile pur-
poses, such as is used in folding beds, etc. From the beginning the enter-
prise has prospered and the development of the business has made it one of
the leading productive industries of the city. It has been incorporated under
the name of the Eckel-Nye Steel Company and one hundred and forty men
are employed in the extensive mill and plant at the corner of Chemung and
Emerson avenues. The plant is thoroughly equipped for the conduct of the
business, having the latest improved machinery required in this line and grad-
ually Mr. Eckel has worked his way upward until he now occupies a foremost
position in industrial circles. The officers of the company are: Peter Eckel,
president; Philip Eckel, vice president; and Francis H. Nye, secretary and
treasurer.

About thirty years ago Mr, Eckel was married to Miss Sarah Carlin of
Syracuse, and since the death of his wife seven years ago he makes his home
with his daughter in a beautiful residence which he erected for her at the cor-
ner of Merriman, Grace and Oswego streets. This daughter, Mabel, is now
the wife of Dr, Charles N. Bloom, a prominent physician of Syracuse, and
they have one child, Carlin Eckel Bloom.

Mr. Eckel is a member of the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, an associa-
tion which indicates his interest in the business development of the city.
His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he holds mem-

165

1 66

Peter Ccfeel

bership in the German Lutheran church. He is a very busy man and yet not
so burdened with the demands of his industrial interests as to refuse his
co-operation in measures for the pubHc good or to extend to friends the
courtesy of an interview. He is wholly worthy the respect which is everywhere
tendered him, for his name is synonymous with honorable dealing and with
all that is elevating and beneficial to the city and to the individual.

Uj. Oi . a/H>l .

William aion^o ^M

ILLIAM ALONZOABEL, son of Alonzo Abel and
Harriett N. Warner Abel, was born in Gibson, Sus-
quehanna county, Pennsylvania, February lo, 1846.
His paternal ancestor in this country is Robert Abell,
who came from the county of Kent, England, with
Winthrop in 1630. On Battle Abbey Roll are the
names of Abell and Abel. The name is also found in
Doomsday Book. Thomas Abel was chaplain to Henry
VIII. His defense of Queen Catherine entitled "In-
victa Vertas" cost him his head. He was condemned for treason and executed
in 1540, a victim to his unsparing defense of his queen and friend. There were
members of the family in the Naragansett fight, also in the expedition of Sir
William Phipps against Quebec in 1690.

William Abel, son of Caleb, a Revolutionary soldier, came to what is
now Gibson, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1810, when that county
was an unbroken wilderness, except of a small settlement at Great Bend
on the Susquehanna river. With six others he bought a large tract of land,
bringing their families into the wilderness in 181 1. His fourth son was
Alonzo, who married Harriett N. Warner, of Athens, Pennsylvania, in 1844.

Their first child was William Alonzo Abel. In 1854 Alonzo Abel, who
was a carpenter, contractor and farmer, moved his family to Harford, Penn-
sylvania, where William attended private schools until 1863, when he went
to Owego, New York, and entered the hardware store of Storrs & Chatfield,
while with this firm he attended school two years. In 1866 he left this firm
spending the fall and winter hunting and trapping in the Adirondacks. In
the spring of 1867 he came to Syracuse and entered the employ of Everson,
Frisselle & Company, hardware dealers, remaining with them until the spring
of 1 87 1, when he went to Colorado, spending part of two years as a hunter,
buffalo and antelope then being very plentiful. Returning to Syracuse he
re-entered the employ of Everson, Frisselle & Company, becoming a partner
in 1887, when the firm name was changed to Everson & Company. Retiring
from this firm in 1893, ^^ formed a partnership with Major Theodore L, Poole,
his brother-in-law, opening a store in the Bastable block for the sale of
sportsmen's goods under the firm name of W. A. Abel & Company, On the
death of Hon. Theodore L. Poole in 1900, Charles E. Crouse bought Mr. Poole's
interest in the business and the place of business was changed to its present

167

i68 WiUmm aUin?o aiiel

location at No. 1 18 South Clinton street. In 1904, Frederick B. Henderson
bought Mr. Grouse's interest in the business, the firm name remaining
unchanged.

In 1877, Mr. Abel married Nettie S. Law, daughter of Charles Law, and
has two children living, A. Evelyn Abel, born in 1887, and Margerie L. Abel,
born in 1890. Mr. Law was a helper in the "J^^ry Rescue" in 1851.

Mr. Abel has the diary of his maternal great-grandfather, who was a
soldier in the Revolution. This contains his account of the taking of Mon-
treal, the battles of Trenton and Princeton, in all of which he took part. Mr.
Abel has a pistol used at Bunker Hill, also a powder horn with owner's name,
camp and date cut on it which was used in the same war. This was left him
by will.

/

{XA'^U/l- /Ct^^C^t^tyi ^3tW

Cfjarlej; lisitman

rif#^^

c

m^^M

IHARLES LISTMAN, manager of the People's Ice
Company and also active in the public service in Syra-
cuse, his native city, was born June 19, 1850. His
father, Adam Listman, was a native of Germany and
came to Syracuse in 1840. The Listmans were famed
as wine growers near Gundersbloom and at that place
there is still a wine cellar in existence, marked 1475
and another 1776. Their wines are famed through-
out the empire. Adam Listman, following his emi-
gration to the new world, engaged in the salt business at Syracuse, also con-
ducted a grocery store and tavern during the early days. At one time he was
the host of the famous old Center House on Salina street and was a very promi-
nent and influential factor of the city. He served as collector before Syracuse
was incorporated. He was also one of the first aldermen of the city and
whether in office or out of it was a loyal advocate of interests that have proven
a valuable element in the material development and progress of Syracuse. A
veteran of the Civil war, he served as captain in the One Hundred and First
New York Volunteer Infantry and died from the efifects of hardships in the
service in 1863. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret S. Koochen,
was a native of Germany and in 1840 came to Syracuse, where she was mar-
ried. She survived her husband several years, passing away in 1871.

Charles Listman acquired his education in the public schools of Syra-
cuse, continuing his studies to the age of fourteen, when he entered business
life and has since been dependent entirely upon his own resources. The
success he has achieved and the straightforward methods he has followed com-
mand for him the admiration and trust of his fellowmen. During the period
of the Civil war he went with his father to the front, although but twelve
years of age, and remained with the army for three months. He was after-
ward employed at home in his father's store and tavern until the age of eight-
een years and he started upon an independent business career by taking
contracts for making excavations. Many large contracts were awarded him
and thus he obtained his start in life. He excavated the cellars of a number
of the substantial buildings now standing in Syracuse. Throughout his busi-
ness life he has made it his aim to do thoroughly whatever he has undertaken
and he long since demonstrated his trustworthiness as well as his enterprise.
It was about the time of his marriage in 1870 that Mr. Listman made

169

I70 Cijarlcss Hisstman

his start in the ice business, becoming a member of the firm of Listman &
YaHng. They began operations on a small scale, putting up their own ice
and personally disposing of it to their customers. The partnership continued
until 1874, when Mr. Listman bought out Mr. Yaling's interest and conducted
the business alone until 1881, when he admitted his brother Phil to a partner-
ship under the firm style of C. & P. Listman. In 1885 Charles Listman again
became sole . proprietor and so continued until 1899. In the meantime the
business increased with astonishing but gratifying rapidity and at that time
the company were utilizing twenty-five wagons in the delivery of ice and
employing one hundred and fifty men. Because of the extent and growth
of the business Mr. Listman, in 1899, organized the People's Ice Company,
of which he is president, and of which he owns three-fourths of the stock.
The original plants are still in operation. In the present capacity the com-
pany can put up eighty thousand tons of ice per year. Mr. Listman remained
as president until 1902, when he retired. He has conducted his business
along systematic lines and has always been able to supply the trade and never
once has failed to supply his customers, owing to his careful calculation.

In politics Mr. Listman is a pronounced republican, recognized as one
of the leaders of the party in central New York. He was a member of the
first board of fire commissioners, holding the office for five years, from 1879
until 1884. He was then elected alderman from the second ward and was
re-elected four times, continuing in that position from 1884 until 1888 inclu-
sive. In this capacity he exercised his ofiicial prerogatives in support of
many progressive measures and practical economy and reform in the man-
agement of municipal interests. On the 24th of March, 1891, he was appointed
police commissioner by Mayor Cowie and later served under Jacob Amos
for a period of five years or until 1896. He was appointed commissioner
of public safety, filling the office under Mayor Kline's administration from
the I St of January, 1902, until the ist of January, 1904. His public serv-
ice has been characterized by unfaltering fidelity to duty and over his record
there falls no shadow of wrong.

On the 30th of January, 1870, Mr. Listman was married to Miss Kate
Warner, of Liverpool, and they have three daughters: Florence W., at
home; Jane M., the wife of John Bartels, of Rochester, president of the Mon-
roe Brewing Company, of which Mr. Listman is a stockholder; and Ethel
E., at home.

Mr. Listman is prominent in social and fraternal circles. He is a mem-
ber of the Harugari, the Century Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Turn
Verein, the Liederkranz, the Masonic Club, Syracuse Lodge, No. 31, B. P. O.
E., the Knights of Pythias and all of the Masonic bodies including the Shrine,
while in the Scottish Rite he has attained the thirty-second degree. He is
also vice president of the Empire State Ice Harvesters' Association. His
business career has been characterized by hard work and persistency of

(CffWcUi ILisittnan

171

purpose. He has ever made it his rule to give value received and in his
business record has maintained a reputation for unswerving integrity. Start-
ing out in business life at an early age owing to his father's death, he learned
to watch for opportunities and to utilize them. He realized, too, the value
of industry and perseverance and throughout his business career, successful
as it has been, there has been not a single esoteric chapter in the record.

^

^^. ^:^:,^^^L...^-^-^i!^

€mil M. aaetoelt

iMIL M. ALLEWELT, of the firm of E. M. Allewelt
& Brother, decorators, furnishers and architectural
woodworkers in Syracuse, his native city, was born
June 19, i860. His father, Henry C. Allewelt, was
born at Bielefeld, Westphalen, Prussia, on the 12th
of Mardi, 1834. He there resided to the 20th of
July, 1853, when he left his native city and on the
8th of August sailed from Bremen in a two mast
schooner, reaching New York on the 30th of Sep-
tember. In January, 1855, he arrived at Syracuse, being called to this city
to decorate Longstreet's castle. Here he met Miss Elizabeth Boehm, whom
he wedded on the 20th of November, 1855. They traveled life's journey hap-
pily together for almost thirty years and were then separated by the death
of the wife on the 6th of November, 1885, her husband, two sons and a daugh-
ter surviving her.

H. C. Allewelt started in business on his own account as a decorator
in September, 1855, and for forty years was a prominent factor in the com-
mercial circles of the city, retiring in 1895 but leaving to his memory a splen-
did monument in a business which is now foremost in the trade circles of the
city. In 1855 he established the first German theatre of Syracuse and
throughout the period of his residence here was closely associated with pub-
lic and private interests. In 1862 he entered the militia as a member of the
Hawley Guards, Company H, and in 1863 was transferred to Company E,
Monroe Cadets, of which he was elected captain the same year. He remained
a member of the National Guard for a long period, was elected major of the
Fifty-first Regiment September 12, 1870, elected lieutenant colonel December
16, 1 87 1, and on the nth of December, 1872, became colonel by the unanimous
vote of the officers. He was also well known in fraternal circles, becoming
an Odd Fellow in 1855 and a Mason in 1863. In the latter order he attained
the thirty-second degree. His interest in the welfare and progress of his
adopted city never abated and he continued one of it.s honored and respected
residents up to the time of his death in April, 1897.

Emil M. Allewelt attended the public schools and subsequently pursued
an academic course in New York city, where he studied figure painting, por-
traiture, etc., in the Art Students' League. After finishing his course he
returned to Syracuse to enter upon his business career with his father in the

173

174 Cmil M- Hfletoclt

decorating business and added to it the complete furnishing of interiors.
Five years ago he further extended the scope of his business by adding an
architectural woodwork department, the factory of which is now located in
Fayetteville, New York. This enables the firm to do everything in interior
woodwork in any style or period desired. Mr. Allewelt insists that in the
artistic decoration of a house perfect harmony in the period of decorative
designs and in color tones is essential, and that the effect is greatly enhanced
when there is the fullest accord in the correct treatment of every detail from
carpets and furniture to draperies and wall decoration, which is now classed
as one of the fine arts. The business has grown to such proportion that
they execute contracts all over the country from coast to coast.

Mr. Allewelt was married in Syracuse, February 7, 1888, to Miss Clara
V. Arnold, of Memphis, Tennessee, whom he had met while they were both
studying at the Art Students' League in New York. They now have four
children: Norma, Althea, Virginia and Emil M. Mr. Allewelt belongs
to the American Fine Arts Society, New York city; the Citizens' Club; the
Syracuse Camera Club; and the Frontenac Yacht Club. He owns a beauti-
ful summer home at Frontenac on the St. Lawrence, and his chief diversion is
fishing in the St. Lawrence and in other Canadian waters. He stands today
prominent among the leaders in his line of business, his natural and acquired
ability gaining him pre-eminence as proprietor of a business which, established
in 1855, has since been accorded a place in the foremost rank of the decorators
of this country.

^

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Jfrancis! Sail

HE LESSONS of life which have real value are
gleaned from biography, wherein are set forth the
plans and methods which lead the individual into
large and successful undertakings. Carlyle has said
"biography is the most interesting as well as the
most profitable reading" and the record of such a
man as Francis Hall contains lessons that may be
profitably followed, showing the value and force of
enterprise, diligence and careful management in the
active affairs of life. He is now the secretary of the Syracuse Chilled Plow
Company, with which he became connected in a humble capacity at the age of
seventeen years, since which time he has steadily worked his way upward to
his present position of trust and responsibility.

Mr. Hall was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, May i, 1874, and traces his
ancestry back to an early period in colonial history. Among the forty-six
original proprietors of the first territorial purchase from the Indian Sachem,
Massasoit, was George Hall, who with his wife came from Devonshire, Eng-
land, in 1636, In 1639 he was one of the founders of Taunton, Massachu-
setts. These lands of the territorial purchase or portions of them have
remained in the family for over two hundred and seventy years. The early
colonial members of the Hall family were iron masters and it is only a few
years since a "bloomery" established by them in Taunton, Massachusetts,
has been torn down. The Halls have been iron masters for eight genera-
tions, Francis Hall being a representative of the eighth generation in direct
line from George Hall. His grandfather, John Hall, the sixth of that name,
was a graduate of Yale College of the class of 1802 and for three years follow-
ing was a tutor in Yale. He was a prominent educator of Connecticut and
for many years he conducted the famous John Hall Preparatory School at
Ellington. The Rev. Nathaniel H. Eggleston, who was pastor of the church
in Ellington during the later years of John Hall's life, said of him years
afterward: "He was truly and emphatically a Christian man and was
greatly interested in the church and in the work of many of our religious
and benevolent societies, in several of which he at times held office. Unob-
trusive, but of high character and unusual mental ability, a student of the best
things through life — he was our sage. As he walked our streets he seemed
like one of the peripatetic philosophers of old, dispensing his wisdom as he

175

176 jFranctfli <|att

walked. He sought to lead others in the pursuit and love of that knowledge
which he had found to be most promotive of the highest achievement and
highest happiness." Aside from his work in connection with the school
and of all his varied activities in the various departments of church and men-
tal work he also served as judge of his county. He married Harriet Reed, a
direct descendant of William Bradford who came to America on the May-
flower and was governor of the Plymouth colony for thirty years. There is
in Ellington, Connecticut, a beautiful memorial library erected by the late
Francis Hall, of Elmira, New York, an uncle of our subject, in memory of
Judge John Hall, his father, and of Edward Hall, his brother, to commemorate
the fifty years of educational work represented by the Hall Preparatory
School in Ellington.

This Francis Hall,, son of Judge Hall, was known as "the traveler," hav-
ing spent thirty years of his life in residence and travel abroad, and next
to Bayard Taylor in his time was the greatest American traveler. He made
a fortune in Japan, being one of the first to enter that country after the Perry
treaty had opened its ports to foreign trade. He founded the house of
Walsh, Hall & Company, at the treaty port of Kanagawa and was the first
president of the Board of Trade there, continuing as such until he left the
country. He was also financially interested in various important business
affairs in America and was for a period of twenty years vice president of
the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company. On the occasion of the dedication of
the Hall Memorial Library in Ellington, the Rev. David E. Jones said of
Francis Hall: "He was a man of choice intellectual attainments, beautiful
character, and a deep spiritual life, of charming personality, utter unselfish-
ness and of marked enthusiasm in every good work for the physical, intellec-
tual and moral welfare of his fellows." At his death he left not only a
bequest for the beautiful Ellington Library but also gifts to various benevo-
lent and other institutions of Elimra.

Robert A. Hall, father of Francis Hall of this review, was born in Elling-
ton, Connecticut, and is now living retired at Elmira, New York, where for
many years he engaged in commercial pursuits, being a member of the widely
known business firm of Hall Brothers, dealing in books and stationery on
an extensive scale. His wife, Augusta (Pratt) Hall, was born in Danville,
Pennsylvania, a daughter of Benjamin Willis and Johanna (Lucas) Pratt.
She is a direct descendant of Francis Cook, who came over in the Mayflower.

From the foregoing record it will be seen that on both his paternal and
maternal sides, Francis Hall of Syracuse, is directly descended from the origi-
nal colonists who came to America in 1620 in the Mayflower, landing at Ply-
mouth. With one exception Francis Hall of this review is the only such
descendant on two sides in Syracuse. His father's family numbers four sons
and two daughters and in the parental home at Elmira, New York, he spent
the days of his boyhood and youth, pursuing his education in its public schools

Stmtii J^att 177

and academy. On January 2, 1892, at the age of seventeen years, he became
connected with the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company, of which his uncle Fran-
cis Hall was vice president for twenty years. This business was organized
and built up in its infancy by Levi Wells Hall, its first secretary and treasurer,
and later, until his death, its president. Young Francis Hall applied him-
self closely to the mastery of the tasks assigned him and gradually worked
his way upward through the various departments of the business to his pres-
ent connection of trust and responsibility as secretary and advertising mana-
ger of the company. His promotion came in recognition of his ability, his
close application and his ready solution of intricate business problems.

On the 5th of September, 1905, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hall and
Miss Ruth Pauline Hoyt, a daughter of Mrs. Mathilde Antionette Hoyt, They
now have one daughter, Pauline Migy Hall. They own a pleasant home at
No. 205 Garfield avenue, which is the center of a cultured society circle, being
a favorite resort with their many friends in Syracuse. Their summer home
is "Vine Hill" at Glenora-on-Seneca.

Mr. Hall votes with the republican party. He belongs to the Congrega-
tional church and while in Elmira held membership in Thomas K. Beecher's
church. He is one of the old members of the Citizens' Club, is also identified
with the Chamber of Commerce of Syracuse, the Mystic Krewe of Ka-Noo-No
and the Syracuse Yacht Club, and is interested in all that pertains to the prog-
ress and upbuilding of his city. Yet a young man, he had nevertheless made
for himself an enviable name and a creditable position in industrial circles,
being now connected with one of the most important business enterprises of
his adopted city.

(:Zc<y^.^u.y^

Cbttiarb fe. BalusJon

'DWARD S. DAWSON was one to whom the world
instinctively pays deference not only because of the
success he achieved but by reason of the straight-
forward business poHcy which he ever followed and
the methods which he employed to attain the bril-
liant success that came to him. He began business
life as the great majority of the world's workers do
— without special assistance or advantages save
those afforded by the district schools and it was
through the force of his character, his strong purpose and laudable ambition
that he gained the heights in commercial life. His name became inseparably
entwined with the history of Onondaga County Savings Bank and that insti-
tution is the best monument to his memory.

Mr. Dawson was born in the town of Nelson, Madison county, New York,
July 22, 1822, and received only such opportunities in youth as are common
to the great majority of boys. His education was that afforded by the
district schools but through life he remained a student — a student of all the
great questions which affect the world's workers or which depend upon the
welfare of his adopted city. It was indeed in the school of experience
that he learned the most valuable lessons. He was a youth of fourteen when
he secured employment in the general store of Horace Wheaton, at Pompey
Hill, and to the training in business methods and in habits of exactness and
punctuality which he then received Mr. Dawson afterward attributed no
small measure of the success which attended his undertakings in later life.
He had to perform the duties of errand boy, clerk and bookkeeper but he
displayed aptitude as well as diligence and eagerly availed himself of the
opportunities that offered in the mastering the methods of business life
and of storing away knowledge for his future use. That he was a most
trusted employe is indicated by the fact that he remained with Mr. Wheaton
for seven years and then sought a broader field of usefulness. Coming to
Syracuse, he entered commercial circles in this city as bookkeeper for the
firm of Wheaton & Robinson, dealers in general hardware, on the site of the
present Wieting block. Three years later he engaged with Charles Pope &
Company, dealers in and manufacturers of saddlery hardware and with his
usual custom of learning everything he could about any business with which
he was connected, he familiarized himself with the saddlery business and in

179

i8o (gbtoarb ^. j^atogon

1858 took his initial independent step in business life in that line of trade
as senior member of the firm of E. S. Dawson & Company. For several
years he conducted business at the corner of Salina and West Fayette streets
and enjoyed constantly growing sales, his success being attributable to his
own unwearied industry, his reasonable prices and his earnest desire to
please his patrons. He also became well known as the inventor and patentee
of many useful and valuable improvements in the line of goods which he
handled.

But it was in the field of banking that Mr. Dawson was destined to become
best known, and for fifty-one years he was a factor in the conduct and man-
agement of the Onondaga County Savings Bank, which came into existence
in 1855 through a special charter granted by the state legislature. The pur-
pose of its organization was to found an institution in whic'h small or large
savings might be deposited and which would bring to the depositor a fair
rate of interest. The value of this institution to Syracuse and Onondaga
county cannot be over estimated. It has stimulated saving among the wage
earners, permitting many in time to gain a most desirable bank account,
where otherwise much of the sum would not unprobably have been expended
without securing adequate returns. The Onondaga County Savings Bank
began business in an office partitioned off from the rear of the law office of
James L. Bagg. No other commentary on its success is needed than a view
of the fine bank building which was erected by the trustees in 1896, at the
southeast corner of South Salina and East Water street. It is a magnificent
structure, ten stories in height and on the ground floor is one of the most
finely equipped bank buildings of the state outside of New York city.

From the beginning Mr. Dawson was connected with this institution.
In April, 1855, he became one of the incorporators and first trustees of the
bank and remained as a member of the board until the nth of January,
1869, when he resigned, to be elected on the ist of February following to the
office of treasurer of the bank. On the loth of November, 1884, the state
law then permitted him to hold both positions, he was again elected a trustee
and thereafter until his death continued his membership in the board. On
the nth of May, 1891, he was elected to the presidency to succeed Daniel
P. Wood and continued as the chief executive officer until his death, which
occurred December 18, 1906. He was the last of the original bank trustees
and incorporators. In their resolutions of respect the board of trustees at
his death said: "Mr. Dawson has had a longer and closer association with
the practical work of the bank than any other person. His outside interests
were few; his business life was practically merged in that of the institution
with which his name at length came to be in the minds of the public so nearly
a synonym. For thirty-six years he was a useful member of the board of
trustees, regular in attendance, prompt and efficient in the performance of his
voluntary and requited service — a service that began with the opening of the

d^luarb ^. i^ainsion i8i

bank for business with its first deposit of one hundred dollars — a service that
terminated only with his life. Seldom does it occur that so nearly the entire
business life and record of an individual living to such advanced years should
be so nearly coincident with and measured by the life of so important an insti-
tution. Twenty-two years as treasurer, he was the custodian of the funds and
keeper of the records and accounts of the institution. The service was char-
acterized by integrity, accuracy, promptness and courteous treatment of cus-
tomers. So complete a system of records, accounts, vouchers, checks and
balances was developed, as combined with his personal vigilance aided by an
unusually strong and reliable memory, that during the period the bank suf-
fered no loss from defalcation, irregularity, or from errors so liable to appear
in a business combining at once such magnitude and such detail. Since May
II, 1 89 1, a period of more than fifteen and a half years, Mr. Dawson has
been the president of the bank and has with unvarying regularity sat at the
head of the table, around which the members of this board have gathered in
their meetings for the consideration of the business of the institution. So
rapidly and imperceptibly does the past merge into the present that some of
us may be surprised to learn that more than two- thirds of the members of our
present board were elected trustees during this period of Mr. Dawson's presi-
dency. During this time those younger and older in the service alike have
found him modest, affable, efficient, and always faithful to his trust."

In the midst of a busy life Mr. Dawson always found time for courtesy
and opportunity to give audience to his friends who sought him upon other
than business questions. He held friendship inviolable and was devoted to
the welfare of his family. In 1849 he was married to Miss Clarissa Marsh,
a daughter of Moses Seymour Marsh. Hei» grandparents were Rev. Truman
and Clarissa (Seymour) Marsh, the former for many years rector of the
Episcopal church of Litchfield, Connecticut, entering upon his pastoral
duties there in 1809, or eariier. He died in Litchfield, in April, 1851, when
about eighty years of age. His wife, Clarissa (Seymour) Marsh, was a
sister of Henry Seymour, father of Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour, of New
York. Her death occurred at Litchfield, September 2, 1865, when she had
reached the remarkable age of ninety-three years and one month. The
maternal grandfather of Mrs. Dawson was Augustus Wheaton, a farmer and
one of the early settlers of the town of Pompey, to which he removed from
Dutchess county, New York, about 1810 or 181 2. Her father was born at
New Milford, Connecticut, December 28, 1792, and became one of the early
residents of Syracuse, where he died October 12, 1843. At Pompey, New
York, on the 19th of August, 1820, he married Flora Wheaton, who was
born at New Milford, Connecticut, July 23, 1799, and died at Syracuse, Sep-
tember 17, 1847. While at Pompey Mr. Marsh engaged in merchandising
and afterward became cashier of the Onondaga County Bank, in which capac-
ity he served for many years and likewise held the office of president. It

i82 ggbtoarb ^. i^atogon

was Miss Clarissa Marsh, daughter of Moses S. and Flora (Wheaton) Marsh,
who became the wife of Edward S. Dawson. Unto them were born a daugh-
ter and three sons: Flora M., who is living at the old home at No. 125 Bur-
net avenue; Edward S., who is a partner in the drug firm of Brown & Daw-
son at No. 125 South Salina street; Homer, deceased; and John B., who is
residing with his sister Flora at the old homestead. There are also five
grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

In his political views Mr. Dawson was a stalwart republican, giving unfal-
tering allegiance to the party from its organization until his demise. He
found rest and recreation from the arduous cares of a business life in trout
fishing, which he greatly enjoyed and his vacation periods were usually
spent in that way. His friends found him an entertaining companion, an
especially good story teller, relating any incident with zest and interest. His
reliabiHty under all circumstances was one of his most strongly marked
traits of character. He regarded any promise, verbal or otherwise, as
sacred. No more fitting tribute to his memory could be paid than the pub-
lic expression of his worth in one of the Syracuse papers, which said: "The
man who has been associated as director, treasurer and president with such
an institution as the Onondaga County Savings Bank for fifty-one years, giv-
ing the advice, influence and management which has enabled this guardian
of the people's savings to ride steadily through every financial storm needs
no long panegyrics to commemorate his name among his fellow townsmen.
When nature exacted from Edward S. Dawson the quittance of his long
endeavor, he had erected the best monument by which man can be commem-
orated on earth — a life of achievement."

^

JWonrae €. S>mit|i

^

M

ta

w

"ONROE CLAYTON SMITH, prominently identified
with the typewriter industry of Syracuse, was born
April 28, 1 86 1, at Center Lisle, Broome county,
New York, His parents were Lewis Stevens and
Eliza Ann (Hurlbut) Smith. His boyhood was
spent at Center Lisle, where he attended school and
was employed during vacations in the manufactur-
ing business carried on by his father. As a young
lad much of his time was spent with gun and dog
in the wooded country about Listle, and a strong love for outdoor life and
sportsmanship became early a part of his nature. Consequently, when
he grew up he hailed the opportunity in 1880 to engage in the gun business
in Syracuse, which in the meantime had been established by his brother L.
C. Smith, He worked in various departments of the factory and eventually
became a very successful road salesman for the L. C, Smith gun and was
prominent in trap shooting tournaments, becoming in 1889 one of the foremost
amateur trap shooters of the country.

Meanwhile the local typewriter industry had been established and the
young gun salesman was called to an important executive position, which
he occupied with credit and ability. When, in 1903, the Smith brothers
severed their existing typewriter relations and established their independent
organization, he was elected secretary of the new L. C. Smith & Brothers
Typewriter Company, a position which he now holds, and he worked very
effectively in building up the selling organization of that company, having
traveled all over the United States and Canada in the typewriter interests
and gained a very extensive acquaintance with the typewriter trade.

In addition to his interests in the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter
Company, Mr. Smith is president of the Skahen Steel Company of Syracuse
and one of the proprietors of the Smith-Lee Company of Oneida, New York,
manufacturers of sanitary caps for milk and cream bottles.

Mr. Smith is a member of the Citizens', Century and Heidelberg Clubs
of Syracuse, is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, member of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Knights of Pythias.
He is also a member of the Masonic Temple Club and the Masonic Temple Club
Gun Club. His interest in shooting is still maintained and he continues to find
his recreation in outdoor life, being accounted one of the best of field shots.

183

1 84

MovLvot C ^mitit

Mr. Smith was married in 1886 to Miss Emma J. Jones, of Syracuse.
They have two children: a son, Harvey Monroe Smith, is now a student
at Syracuse University, and a daughter. Miss Elizabeth Smith at Howard
Seminary, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They reside on West Onon-
daga street.

-^I ^.^-^-^^

Jf rebericfe Malcfj

iREDERICK WALCH was a representative of that
class of men whose laudable ambition prompts them
to seek homes in a foreign land where opportunity
promises better results than can be obtained in the
land of their nativity. Coming to America, he was
for many years a prominent merchant of Syracuse
and a successful investor in real estate, and owed
his prosperity to his recognition and utilization of
opportunity. He was born at Wilberdingen, Ger-
many, on the 14th of March, 1836. His parents were Philip Walch, origina-
tor of the Post Express of Germany and Eva Gruener, daughter of the cele-
brated advocate of that name. The son, Frederick, pursued his education in
the public schools of his native land but early in life began to assist his father
and from his youth was a hard worker — his entire life being characterized
by unremitting industry and perseverance. He came to this country in 1854,
when a young man of eighteen years, expecting that the freer opportunities
of the new world would enable him to more rapidly acquire competence than
was possible in the fatherland. Here, after some trying vicissitudes, he finally
began an apprenticeship in the upholstery and furniture business, and, con-
tinuing in that line, became a progressive, enterprising and successful busi-
ness man. He was a keen judge of realty value and from time to time began
to make judicious investments in property. In his business career he was
known for his reliability and conservatively progressive ideas, and for his in-
defatigable industry. He gained a substantial success, at the same time always
commanding the unqualified confidence of those with whom he was associated
and winning the deserved respect of his colleagues and admiration of his con-
temporaries. Aside from his other interests, he was interested in steel and
iron manufacturing industries and in other industrial enterprises.

He became an American citizen as soon as he was able to take out naturali-
zation papers and from that time on strictly did his duty as a good citizen —
never missing a vote and never avoiding the tax-gatherer. He also believed
in patronizing home industry and would never purchase abroad what had
sterling worth and could be obtained in the city which had given him his
opportunity.

After business hours, his time was practically all devoted to his family,
He was a man of domestic tastes, his interests centering in the growth of his

185

i86 JFreberfctt Walt^

adopted city and in his own home. He was married in 1856 to Miss Caroline
Arheidt, who was born in Pforzheim, Germany, but came to this country as an
infant. Her broad sympathies and many quiet charities were known only
to those whom they benefitted, and any good that she could do was always
quietly sanctioned by her silent abettor. They became the parents of twelve
children, of whom ten are yet living.

Mr. Walch was a devoted member of the First Reformed church,^ and
he tried to carry out its principles. He was fond of art and was a man of
refined taste. With him association meant expansion and elevation. He
died June 29, 1897. His sense of honor, his upright life, his good citizenship
made his death a distinct loss to the city with whose best growth he was so
long identified.

'yy-

■.£r^:Z; I>n-iZSevns tS^-^r-a /V>-^

Joel ®fiaper

"T IS SELDOM that one achieves the measure o,f suc-
cess which crowned the efforts of Joel Thayer and at
the same time retains in such unlimited measure the
unqualified respect of his fellowmen. In his busi-
ness career he displayed such discriminating judg-
ment that he seemed to accomplish at any one given
point the possibility of success at that point. He
placed a correct valuation upon his own capacities
and the people and circumstances that made up his
life contacts and experiences, and while he won prosperity, he regarded, too,
the obligations of life in one's relations to his fellowmen and fully met the
responsibilities of wealth.

A native of New York, Mr. Thayer was born in Ontario, July i8, 1812.
He became a resident of Skaneateles in 1835, when a young man of twenty-
three years, and remained in Onondaga county until his demise. His educa-
tion was acquired in the public schools and later he was for a short time
in business in Palmyra but with the exception of that brief period his identi-
fication with Skaneateles was an uninterrupted one. His business interests,
however, extended to other localities and for a long period he was largely
financially interested in manufacturing industries of Syracuse. Early in
his business career he was engaged in partnership with John Legg in the
manufacture of wagons and carriages at Skaneateles. His capital at the
outset of his business career was limited but he possessed strong determina-
tion, good business ability and laudable ambition and upon those qualities as
a foundation reared the superstructure of his success. He early became
interested in banking in Skaneateles and organized the Bank of Skaneateles,
of which he served as president for twelve years, carrying that institution
through the experimental period on to a substantial, prosperous basis.

Extending his efforts to other financial undertakings, he became the vice
president of the old Mechanics' Bank of Syracuse. His keen discernment
enabled him to correctly value a business situation and opportunities which
others passed by heedlessly he improved to the benefit of his own financial
interests and to the welfare of the community at large. He became proprietor
of a large flouring mill at Skaneateles and was the prime mover and promoter
of the Skaneateles Railroad, serving for several years as its president. About
that time he also became one of the heavy stockholders in the Sweet & Barnes

187

i88 aoel Cliapcr

Company, the predecessor of the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Com-
pany, of Syracuse, retaining a position on its directorate up to the time of
his death. He was also president of the State Bank when death claimed
him, and his investments were extensive and proved excellent dividend pay-
ing property.

In 1835 Mr. Thayer was united in marriage to Miss Juliette, a daughter
of John and Emma (Calvin) Legg and a member of one of the oldest and
most respected families of Onondaga county. It was probably this fact
which induced him to become a resident of Skaneateles and led to his copart-
nership with Mr. Legg in his initial business enterprise in the village. Unto
Mr. and Mrs. Thayer were born three daughters. Mary, whose birth occurred
February 19, 1836, became the wife of H. T. Webb, a native of Mexico,
Oswego county, New -York, in 1855. Mr. Webb is a man of wealth and
has through his business life been actively engaged in business enterprises
of Skaneateles, Syracuse and New York city. Two children grace this
union: Mary Thayer and Eva Thayer. Mr. and Mrs. Webb maintain
residences both in Skaneateles and New York city, spending the summer
months at the former and the winter seasons in the metropolis. Their sum-
mer residence is the old homestead of John Legg and of Mr. Thayer and is
now in possession of the fourth generation. Narcissa Augusta and Emma
Augusta, the other daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Thayer, both died in early
childhood. The death of Mrs. Thayer occurred December 4, 1880, and was
the occasion of sincere and wide-spread regret in Skaneateles, where she occu-
pied in public regard the position of a noble woman, a devoted wife and
mother and kind and generous friend. Her acts of charity and benevolence
were many and her active cooperation was always given to movements for
the public good. Her influence was indeed a beneficial factor in the com-
munity, where her memory is yet sacredly cherished.

Mr. Thayer survived until May 19, 1881, when he, too, passed away after
a residence in Onondaga county of forty-six years. He had lived to wit-
ness many changes here and moreover had been a participant in the sub-
stantial progress which had been manifest in the business development of
Skaneateles and of Syracuse. While he achieved notable success, his path
was never strewn with the wreck of other men's fortunes. He was widely
recognized as a man of undoubted business integrity, while many other good
qualities rendered him personally popular in social circles.

Sfatnesi (fSeorge g>tuatt ©ep

"AMES GEORGE STUART DEY of Syracuse is the
youngest member of the firm of Dey Brothers &
Company. His birth occurred in Banffshire, Scot-
land, a picturesque and romantic region, which deeply
influenced his impressionable temperament. He at-
tended school at Strathavon, an institution noted for
the number of boys, who later, have distinguished
themselves at all parts of the world, in military, pro-
fessional and commercial life. Frequently he and
a few other lads, while passing old Kirk-Michael church, would dream of
future glories while lingering about the mausoleum of General Gordon and
other departed worthies who lie there. At the age of twelve he went to the
university city of Aberdeen and began a course of study at King Street Acad-
emy preparatory to entering the university as did several members of his fam-
ily before him.

At fifteen, while wavering between an artistic and commercial career,
Mr. Dey came to America and took some additional studies in law, and what
is termed a commercial course. The latter he found so useful in after
life, that he is deeply impressed with the importance of technical education as
extended to all forms of industry. It is his belief that the nation fostering
technical education to its greatest possibilities will be the winner in the great
commercial contest of the future. According to his view this form of educa-
tion is as applicable to agriculture, mechanics and commerce as dissection is
to the profession of surgery.

The rudiments of his commercial career were acquired in the very excel-
lent experience gained during his three years service with the house of Sib-
ley, Lindsay & Curr, Rochester, New York. Here he enjoyed the privilege
of earning the munificent income of seven dollars per week, and the added
advantage of subsisting on this generous sum, yet he does not recall a day
during this period in which he did not possess some coin of the realm. In
1878 Mr. Dey joined his brothers Robert and Donald in their first commercial
venture at Elmira, New York, commanding the united capital of five thous-
and dollars. The pace was swift, for at the end of the fourth year the firm
acquired by purchase the business owned by the dignified and courtly Wil-
liam E. Hart. The following year found the firm in Hornellsville, New York,
having secured by purchase the business of Martin Adsit, a fine old gentle-

189

igo SBatneg <tBtoxst ^tuart J^ep

man, who was also a prominent banker at that place. The pace was now
becoming warm at home, for the field was invaded by W. W. Fish, who in
a burst of chivalry announced his intention of occupying the field alone.

In 1883 the firm extended to Syracuse, acquiring by purchase the business
of a notable merchant — Edward F. Rice, from whom it enjoyed the advantage
of a fine business, possessing a spotless reputation. During the year 1886
Mr. Dey received a communication from Mr. Fish, announcing his desire to
dispose of his entire business. The purchase was quickly consummated, and
put the firm in possession of a splendid business, which was later greatly
extended. In 1894 after eleven years of uninterrupted prosperity the broth-
ers erected the magnificent structure at the corner of Jefferson and Salina
streets, which for area, architectural beauty and modern equipment, stands
without a peer in central New York. James Dey is an artist of no mean
order, and to a great extent his ideas were carried out in the construction
and equipment of the firm's palatial place of business.

In the destruction of the Leland Hotel by fire Mr. Dey had a narrow
escape, sustaining the loss of all his sketches and etchings made during his
boyhood in Scotland. He is methodical and punctual to a degree, and
these characteristics have contributed not ,a little to the success of the estab-
lishment with which he is connected. He is a great reader, especially of
historical and art works, possesses a quick and ready judgment, and is alto-
gether a progressive and enterprising citizen.

His father was James Dey, a man of great worth and talent, whose mem-
ory and precepts he greatly reveres. His grandfather, Robert Dey, was a
man of consideraible property, but becoming involved in an unprofitable enter-
prise was practically ruined and died comparatively young.

The first street Mr. Dey approached on landing in New York was Dey
street. This led to the discovery that a branch of his family were very
early settlers in New York. At one time were numerous about Paterson,
New Jersey, and several members of this family actively participated in aid
of the American revolution. There stands at present time at Preakness, New
Jersey, the old family mansion of this branch of the family, which on several
occasions housed Washington and other leaders of the time.

The name Dey is of English origin, of that there is proof, yet docu-
ments exist showing the family residence in Scotland as early as the six-
teenth century. All things considered Mr. Dey's family motto: "J^vat
Deus Impigros" is quite apropos.

Jacob HmosJ

HILE THE business interests of Jacob Amos are
large and varied, unlike many men, he does not allow
his business concerns to monopolize his entire time
and attention but has found opportunity for public
service that makes Syracuse largely his debtor. His
administration as mayor of the city resulted in more
public improvements of real utility and value than
are accredited to any other administration in the
city's history. Mr. Amos was born here on the i8th
of December, 1853. His father, Jacob Amos, St., was a native of Wurtem-
berg, Germany, born April 23, 1818, and was the youngest of the three sons
of Charles and Barbara (Chaffla) Amos, who were likewise born in Wur-
temberg. In early youth Jacob Amos learned the butcher's trade, which he
followed until his emigration to America at the age of twenty-one years. He
removed from New York city to Rochester and arrived in Syracuse in 1840,
when it was yet a village. All of his earthly possessions at that time were his
clothing and seventy-five cents in money. Here he was employed as a wood
chopper and salt packer until he acquired capital sufficient to enable him to
engage in the butchering business, which pursuit he followed for six years.
In 1847 Jacob Amos, Sr., wedded Mary Ann Kipplen, a native of Alsace,
Germany, who was born in 1824 and was a daughter of Sebastian Kipplen.
The year following his marriage he began the operation of a mill at James-
ville, continuing there until 1852, after which he conducted a mill at Dewitt,
manufacturing flour, split peas and farina. He was thus engaged until the
period of the Civil war, during which time the mill was burned. Again
taking up his abode in Syracuse, he purchased three stores in the Raynor
block and once more engaged in the milling business, which proved profitable,
so that he enlarged his plant to double the original size. He carried on mill-
ing operations until 1877 and during that period purchased property and
erected a mill at Baldwinsville, New York, where he also conducted an exten-
sive business. The Amos mill in Syracuse and the one in Baldwinsville were
the largest in the county and Mr. Amos was numbered among the most suc-
cessful men of the city. Although he started out in life empty handed, strict
integrity, unfaltering persistency of purpose and unwearied industry gained
him notable prosperity and won for him a host of friends. He remained one

191

192 3lacoii 3tmoi

of the prominent and honored residents of Syracuse up to the time of his
death, which occurred April 26, 1883.

Jacob Amos, whose name introduces this record, was the third in a fam-
ily of seven children and acquired a public-school education in Syracuse
but put aside his text-books at an early age to assume the management of
his father's flour mill at Baldwinsville. It was his intention to leave school
only temporarily but he became so interested in and imbued with the spirit
of business that he set about to master every detail of the milling industry
and under his guidance the business developed and prospered. He later
became owner of the famous Amos mill in Syracuse in connection with his
brother C. L. Amos upon the death of their father in 1883 and continued
as the most prominent representative of milling interests in this part of the
state for a number of years. Eventually, however, Mr. Amos sold his mills
to the Standard Milling Company of New York. His business interests are
large and varied and he is financially connected with many enterprises and
is one of the best and most favorably known of captains of industry in
Syracuse. He is vice president of the Third National Bank, a director in
the Commercial National Bank and a trustee in the Syracuse Savings Bank,
so that he figures prominently in financial circles. He is likewise president
of the Paragon Plaster Company, a gigantic concern; vice president and
treasurer of the Louisiana Improvement Company of New Orleans ; president
of the St. Lawrence Trolley & Electric Light Company; vice president and
director of the New York Brick & Paving Company, of Syracuse; director
of the Syracuse Independent Telephone Company; president and director of
the Buffalo Auto Station Company; and vice president of the C. L. Amos Coal
Company of Syracuse.

While his success alone would entitle him to distinction as one of the
representative men of his native city, he is perhaps equally well known
because of his excellent service as the city's chief executive. He was elected
in 1892, defeating George Penn, and in 1894 was victorious over two candi-
dates. Jay B. Kline and Duncan Peck, in a memorable contest. His second
election was the expression of popular approval of his former administration.
During his tenure of office he was instrumental in securing more public
improvements than any previous or subsequent mayor. Nominated against
his wishes by those who recognized his splendid business capacity and execu-
tive force, when elected he bent his energies to the performance of his official
duties with the same thoroughness that characterized his business career.
He immediately set to work to secure needed reforms and improvements and
more substantial improvements were made duing his term of office than in
any other like period. He caused the New York Central to pave the entire
length of Washington street, was instrumental in securing the over crossing
at West Genesee street of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad
and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, and in securing the new

3lacoi) 3Imo£( 193

depot. He established the Gray system of sewerage and during his first
administration completed the city hall. He secured the new central rail-
road station and turned on the Skaneateles water that now supplies the city.
He believed in giving the people full value for the taxes which they paid and
his administration won the endorsement of all fair minded citizens of progres-
sive public spirit. He is and always has been a stalwart republican but par-
tisanship never warped his official service and he commanded the respect of
his political opponents as well as those of his own party. Mr. Amos likewise
served as commissioner in 1898 from the state of New York to the Trans-
Mississippi Exposition at Omaha and was commissioner to the Pan American
Exposition at Buffalo from New York state in 1901.

Mr. Amos was married to Miss Florence E. Wells, of Baldwinsville,
New York, who died January 28, 1906, leaving a daughter, Christine, who
was born in 1883.

Mr. Amos belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and in Masonry has
attained the Knight Templar degree. He also affiliates with the Mystic
Krewe and is a member of the Century, the Citizens' and the Onondaga Golf
and Country Clubs. The marvelous development of Syracuse is due to such
men as Mr. Amos, whose indomitable energy and progressive spirit have
overcome all obstacles and reached the goal of success. He is one of the
strong because one of the best balanced, the most even and self -masterful of
men, and has acted so well in his part in both public and private life that
Syracuse has been enriched by his example, his character and his labor.

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JWitjjael i&pan

ICHAEL RYAN, who was one of the best known and
most popular citizens of Syracuse, departed this life
on the 20th of December, 1895, at the age of fifty-
six years. He was born on the old Rust farm or
"Rust garden," in what is now known as West Onon-
daga street, in March, 1839, and was a young lad
when his parents removed to Onondaga Hill, then
the county seat, where he spent his youth. His early
educational privileges were supplemented by study in
Onondaga Academy and when about twenty years of age he came to Syracuse
to make his home here and entered the employ of Marsh, Dillaye & Rogers,
druggists. His elder brother, John Ryan, had by that time firmly established
himself as a very successful undertaker in Syracuse, and Michael Ryan, after
working for some time in the drug business and not finding it to his liking,
decided to learn the undertaking business. He accordingly entered into that
business with his brother and for many years the firm of Ryan Brothers,
undertakers, was known all over the state. Both brothers were remarkably
successful in business, conducting undertaking parlors on Salina street. In
1873 John Ryan died, after which Michael Ryan formed a partnership with
A. K. Hoyt, under the firm style of Ryan & Hoyt. After a partnership of
about three years the firm was dissolved and Mr. Ryan continued alone in
business on East Jeflferson street, near Salina, whence he afterward removed
to No. 434 South Salina street, while the business is now located at 514
South Salina street, being now conducted by Charles Ryan, the only son, who
was admitted to a partnership by his father, under the firm style of M. Ryan
& Son.

Mr. Ryan was not only successful in business as the result of his enter-
prise and capable management but was also prominent in pubKc life of the
city and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, elected him
supervisor of the sixth ward in 1893. He capably served until his death
and was deeply mourned by the board. This office was the only public
position he ever filled, yet he was always a stalwart champion of every
movement for the public good and gave his cooperation to many measures
that have proved of benefit in promoting the city's welfare. His political
preference was for the republican party.

195

196 Mitftatl lltiian

Mr. Ryan was married to Miss Laura Ward Griffin, who died January
14, 1907, and the children of the family are Irma and Charles Phelps, the
latter the father's successor to the business. In his fraternal relations Mr.
Ryan was a past master workman and an ex-trustee of Central City Lodge, A.
O. U. W. He likewise belonged to the Odd Fellows society and was a member
of the Onondaga Historical Society. He held membership in the Presby-
terian church, of which Mrs. Ryan was also a memfber, and he had a very
wide acquaintance in this county, where his entire life was passed. While
he did not seek to figure prominently in public life or to win public atten-
tion in any way, he nevertheless gained that warm personal regard which
arises from true nobility of character, geniality and deference for the opin-
ions of others. As the circle of his friends was almost co-extensive with the
circle of his acquaintance his death was the occasion of deep and sincere
regret throughout Syracuse.

iWrsi. i^ate i«. CuUen

RS. KATE M. CULLEN, principal of the Townsend
school of Syracuse, came with her parents to this
this city at the age of six years and has since made
her home here. Her education was acquired in the
public schools and she was graduated from the high
school as the youngest pupil of the class of 1862.
Immediately following her graduation she was ap-
pointed a teacher in the old No. 12, now the Town-
send school, and with the exception of three years
has taught continuously since in the same school, of which she has been
principal for twenty-three years. She has succeeded in gaining the lasting
love and gratitude of the thousands of pupils who have come under her care
and instruction to a remarkable degree. She is constantly alert in study-
ing out new and advanced methods, and in the work has made continuous
progress.

Mrs. CuUen's vacations have been spent in travel in this country and
abroad and her letters have been read with deep interest whenever published.
She is particularly interested in all that pertains to the advancement of
women, especially the public-school teachers and those who are numbered
among the world's workers. Her proudest achievement is the assistance
which she has given in accomplishing the passage of the teachers' pension
law, a law giving the public-school teachers one-third of their salaries
on their retirement after a certain period of connection with the schools.
She is a broad reader, her library containing hundreds of volumes, many
of which are upon history and travel. She is also interested in current
events and is a reader of the newspapers and magazines of standard repu-
tation for veracity in noting the great questions of the day. Mrs. CuUen
belongs to the Professional Woman's League, to the Political Equality Club
and to the Women Principals' Association. She is extremely frank and sin-
cere, loyal to her friends and regardful of the feelings of all those with whom
she comes in contact.

Mrs. CuUen's success is for the most part due to her indomitable energy
and perseverance. In anything that she undertakes no effort on her part
is too great to carry it to a successful completion. When the Syracuse
pension for teachers was under consideration, she worked among the teach-
ers to create sentiment in its favor. By writing and personal interviews

197

198 Harg. Biate M- Cullen" ^

she influenced those upon whom its success depended, until it was finally
passed at Albany, Mrs. Cullen has had charge of some of the most success-
ful entertainments for the benefit of the pension. Her work in its behalf is
disinterested, as she is a woman who by her own efforts and ability will have
ample to take care of her when she retires. The teachers and principals,
when working for an increase in salary, always sought her counsel. No per-
son has eyer done more individual and successful work for increase of sal-
aries. Mrs. Cullen is optimistic in all her views and a willingness to help in any
cause for the advancement of all makes her a force for good among the
teachers of Syracuse.

Captain JBbJisJjt JF. ifWots^ss

lAPTAIN DWIGHT F. MORSS, who, during an
active life was regarded as one of the most influ-
ential business men of Syracuse, was born in Wind-
ham, Greene county, New York, October 7, 1818.
His father, Foster Morss, was the first tanner that
settled on the west side of the Catskill mountains.
He came to this state from Massachusetts in 1802
and passed away in 1835, being survived by eleven
of his fourteen children. Of this number only one
is now living, Mrs. William H. Richmond, of Scranton. Captain Morss
was reared in his parents' home and is indebted to the district-school system
of the state for the educational privileges he enjoyed. He was captain of a
militia company in 1840. In early life he acquainted himself with the tanning
trade and in 1850 went to Wayne county, Pennsylvania, where he built a
tannery in connection with his half-brother and also founded the town of Leg-
edale. After two years, in 1852, he was married to Miss Marion B. Steele,
a daughter of Colonel Stephen Steele, a farmer of Windham, New York.

Captain Morss remained in Pennsylvania for several years and in i860
took up his abode in Williamstown, Oswego county, New York, where he was
engaged in the tannery business and in mercantile pursuits, lumbering, milling
and farming. He thus became an active factor in the business development of
that locality, where he continued to reside until 1873, when he came to Syracuse
and soon afterward engaged in the oil business, becoming the senior partner of
the firm of Morss, TuUer & Potter, this firm being the predecessor of the pres-
ent Syracuse Oil Company. In later years he was engaged in lumbering in
Delaware and Sullivan counties and in farming in Oswego county. He was
a man of marked enterprise and unwearied industry and could not content him-
self without some active occupation or business pursuit. When his own private
interests did not claim his attention he willingly gave his time to aiding his
friends, of whom there were many, and at his death he was executor of the
William Ballister estate of Oswego county. In his own business life, through
his careful management, keen foresight and judicious investment, he was
successful. His business judgment was seldom at fault and his counsel was
valued by his many friends. For many years he was considered a valuable
authority on stocks and other investments.

199

2(X) Captain l^iai^t iF. Motsii

Captain Morss was married in 1852 to Miss Marion B. Steele, a native of
Windham, Greene county, New York,, where she was born February 15, 1828,
dying at her home in Syracuse January 31, 1906. She was an active member of
the First Presbyterian church from the time that they became residents of
Syracuse in 1873, and was an earnest, energetic woman of great strength of
character, interested in many charities, but devoted to the best good of her
family and a helpmeet to her husband. This noble Christian woman was
highly respected and much loved by those who knew her. Her seventy-eight
years rested lightly upon her, not robbing her of her characteristic cheerful-
ness, activity and enthusiasm, neither bringing silver to the dark locks nor dim-
ness to the bright eyes. She never grew old and enjoyed extensive travel
until overtaken by illness. Captain and Mrs. Morss are survived by a son
and three daughters : . Arthur B., of Syracuse ; Lucy B., Marion S. and Nellie
L., the three sisters residing at the old family homestead at No. 607 West
Genesee street.

Something of Captain Morss' personal popularity is indicated by the fact
that while in Williamstown he was twice elected supervisor by the unanimous
vote of both parties. He was never an office seeker, however, yet he stood as
a stanch defender of all those interests and measures which tend to promote
general welfare or advance the interests at large of the community. His life
was one of activity crowned with success. His years were fraught with honor-
able purposes and kindly motives and wherever he was known he gained the
esteem and friendship of the great majority of those with whom he came in
contact. His salient personal qualities were such as gained for him favorable
regard and cause his memory to be cherished, although he has passed from this
life. His death occurred March 2, 1886, after an illness of two days.

Jnbex

PAGE

Abel, W. A 167

AUewelt, E. M 173

Alvord, E. B. 115

Amos, Jacob 191

Andrews, Charles 7

Bardeen, C. W 161

Bartlett, E. T 61

Beauchamp, W. M 37

Brown, A. T 97

Brown, J. A 155

Burt, 0. T 101

Chapman, L. S 125

Chase, F. H 83

Cogswell, W. B 73

Comfort, G. F 27

Conover, Eugenia C 147

CuUen, Kate M 197

Curtis, J. P 149

Curtis, Ralzamon 145

Dawson, E. S 179

Dey, J. G. S 189

Dey, Robert 79

Dunfee, John 89

Eckel, Peter 165

Gallup, W. H 113

Goodelle, W. P 9

Graves, M. A 135

Hall, Francis 175

Hoyt, E. B 53

Lathrop, D. N 139

Leach, T. J 129

PAGE

Listman, Charles 169

Loughlin, F. H 49

Lyman, John 151

McChesney, Ensign 103

Mercer, Alfred 43

Mills, C.deB 107

Morss, D. F 199

Mundy, E. W 21

Nicholson, D. W 141

Northrup, A. J 23

Otis, L C 123

Pierce, W. K 55

Poole, T. L 63

Purington, W. S 59

Randall, W. B 121

Rubin, M. D 143

Ryan, Michael 195

Ryder, F. P 35

Ryder, P. S 85

Sayre, J. C 71

Shinaman, C. E 47

Smith, H. W 133

Smith, L. C 17

Smith, M. C 183

Smith, W. H. H 157

Smith, W. L 69

Thayer, Joel 187

Walch, Frederick 185

Whedon, G. D 153

White, H. S 39

Yale, J. W 117