The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Wells, James Lee, 1843-1928
Publication date: 1927
Publisher: New York, The Lewis historical Pub. Co., Inc.
Number of Pages: 618

USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 1

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GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01150 0136

THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE

A History

1609-1927

Board of Editors JAMES L. WELLS

LOUIS F. HAFFEN JOSIAH A. BRIGGS

Historian BENEDICT FITZPATRICK

VOLUME III

THE LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO., Inc. New York. 1927

1129640

John On. Hafen

THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE

JOHN MATHIAS HAFFEN-When thinking in terms of The Bronx and its people, proper place in the leading rank must be given John Mathias Haffen, well-known bank executive, president of The Bronx Board of Trade and man of affairs, in that increas- ingly important borough of the Metropolis. His record as a financier is securely grounded in a suc- cessful career in that branch of activity, dating back more than fifteen years, when he succeeded his father as a director of the old Twenty-Third Ward Bank, and he has since risen to the presidency of one of the strongest financial institutions in The Bronx. Through this association and that of the business men's organization head, he comes as close, perhaps, in identification with the promotion program for borough betterment and improvement as any resident of the community. His interest in the permanent development of The Bronx along every desirable avenue is keen, intelligent and sustained. He is an influential and constructive force in the citizen body, and a strong right arm of the progressive element of the borough.

John Mathias Haffen was born in the family home at One Hundred and Fifty-second and Melrose streets, Melrose (then a part of Westchester County, New York, and now a part of The Bronx), February 20, 1872, the son of John and Caroline (Hoffman) Haffen. His paternal grandfather, Mathias Haffen, born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1814, came to the United States in 1832. His father, John Haffen, who was born in 1847 and died in 1910, was president of the Dollar Savings Bank for virtually all his business life, and until his death was engaged in the brewing business.

John Mathias Haffen received his education in the parochial and public schools of the Melrose section, and at the age of sixteen years began to learn the brewing business with the Rochester (New York) Brewing Company. In 1890 he went to the Baltimore (Maryland) Brewing Company, remaining there until 1893, when he entered the firm of J. & M. Haffen, respectively father and uncle, who had become the successors of their own father, Mathias Haffen, who established the business in 1856. In 1900, on the incorporation of the business as the Haffen Brewing Company, he was made secretary, and in 1910, on the death of his father, he became president of the company, succeeding his father in that office, and having also previously, with his other duties, held the office of treasurer.

Mr. Haffen succeeded to his father's interest as a director of the Twenty-Third Ward Bank, of which the elder Haffen was one of the organizers in 1888, and his interest in banking affairs began to mount. In 1914, he determined to pay undivided attention to his financial connections, as the better business for

him to be engaged in, and he disposed of his interest in the brewing enterprises to Jacob Ruppert. In 1919 he acquired a controlling interest in the Twenty- Third Ward Bank and became its vice-president, at- taining a position where he dominated the policy of the institution. He devoted virtually all his at- tention and energy to the bank's business, and within the comparatively short period of four years he practically doubled the volume of deposits and revenue. As a far-sighted business man, he perceived that the times and the field demanded a banking institution of broader purposes and a wider service, if the community interests were to be served to the best advantage, and on January 1, 1925, Mr. Haffen obtained a charter for the establishment of The Bronx County Trust Company, using the old Twenty-Third Ward Bank as a nucleus and foundation. Mr. Haffen was elected president, and in that capacity continues to direct the bank's policy, which has met with unqualified favor at the hands of the business and private interests of The Bronx. Mr. Haffen is also treasurer and a trustee of the North Side Savings Bank in The Bronx. In 1923 he was elected president of The Bronx Board of Trade, and continues in that office, in which he is rendering conspicuous service to the borough. In 1915 he was chosen president of the Haffen Realty Company, which has large property holdings in The Bronx area. He is also vice- president of the Sound View Land & Improvement Company, and a trustee of the Eureka Building and Loan Association.

While formally allied with the Democratic political organization all his life, Mr. Haffen has never aspired to public office. He does, however, have an abiding interest in the success of his party, among the many organizations with which he is affiliated are: Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; The Bronx County Grand Jurors' Associa- tion; the New York Athletic, Siwanoy Country clubs; with the Catholic Club of the city of New York; Rotary Club of The Bronx, and the Schnorer Club of Morrisania; The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; life-member of the Loyal Order of Moose. He is also a member of the advisory committee of the Inter- State Hudson River Bridge Association.

John Mathias Haffen married (first), in 1895, Bertha Helen Eckert. She died and he married (second), in 1911, Charlotte Anna Glechner. Child, by first marriage: 1. Caroline Helen, born December 19, 1895, married Charles J. Krieger. Children, by second marriage: 2. Marjorie G., born December 11, 1912. 3. John Mathias, Jr., born March 13, 1918. Mr. Haffen's office address is No. 2804 Third Avenue (Haffen Building), and his residence is at No. 900 Grand Concourse (Concourse Plaza), The Bronx, New York City.

Bronx-1

THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE

GEORGE VEST SLACK, a native of Missouri, is today one of the outstanding business men of The Bronx, and his varied career, viewed in perspective, proves the reasonableness of the old adage: "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again." Mr. Slack has succeeded, and to a noteworthy degree, but only after traveling up and down and over and across the length and breadth of these United States and Old Mexico, trying first one field of endeavor and then another in his tireless search for a profession or vocation that suited his tastes and his abilities. As the executive head of an important structural steel company, and several subsidiary contracting concerns, he has found the employment which suits him and which has brought him a distinct and un- qualified success, as the following account of his active career will show.

George Vest Slack was born in Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri, on October 17, 1878, a son of Henry and Martha (Carter) Slack, the latter, who was born in Point Pleasant, Virginia, having died on January 1, 1880, when her son was but two years of age. The father, Henry Slack, who is still living in his eighty-fourth year (1926), was for many years a successful stock raiser and a general store-keeper in Calhoun, Missouri.

George Vest Slack received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native com- munity, following which he took a course in the Perkins and Harpels' Business College, in St. Louis, Missouri. He embarked upon his business career when he was nineteen years of age, and leaving his home he went to San Francisco, California, near where he obtained his first job as a farm-hand on Granet & McEwen's ranch at twenty dollars a month and board. But this happened to be one of those dry years when work was not steady and it took every cent he earned to pay his expenses. So he looked around for another job, and was engaged as a "broncho-buster" on the well-known ranch of Miller & Lux, and in this strenuous manner did he finish out his first year on the Pacific coast. He then returned to his home town and worked on his father's four hundred and eighty-acre farm, where, for the years 1898 and 1899, he and his father contracted to a mutual-profit, fifty-fifty, partnership arrange- ment for raising and selling cattle. After feeding and raising the stock, the junior Mr. Slack shipped several carload lots to the St. Louis market, and upon their sale he discovered that he had been doing business at a loss for the past two years. Anxious to retrieve his losses, he left the farm and went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he at once secured employment with the Midland Bridge Company, doing structural steel work on the Eighth Street and Agnes Avenue viaducts of that city. Upon the completion of these viaducts, Mr. Slack went to Cordova, Old Mexico, where he worked on the Vera & El Pacifico Railway, helping to build the first two structural steel drawbridges to be erected in that country. Upon the completion of this work, Mr. Slack returned to the States and found em- ployment with the Bridge Departments of the Mis- souri Kansas & Texas and Santa Fé railroads, in whose employ he was identified for several months.

He then came East to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged by McClintock & Marshall for a short period, following which he decided to come to New York City.

Mr. Slack's advent into the metropolitan area took place in the year 1902, and upon arriving in New York City he immediately was offered work by Terry & Tench, contractors, in the structural steel work on the world's largest power-house at Fifty-ninth Street, Manhattan, which was being built by this firm for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. Mr. Slack was engaged in this work until the job was completed, following which he was employed as a structural steel expert in the erection of the Rockville Centre Bridge, for trolleys crossing the Long Island Railroad; the Housatonic Bridge, at Lenoxdale, Massachusetts; the Williamsburg Bridge, across the East River; and the bridge at Mattituck; for the New Jersey Bridge Company; also across Deal Lake from Asbury Park. Upon the com- pletion of the aforementioned bridges, Mr. Slack decided to go into business for himself, doing struc- tural steel work on contract, opening offices at Nos. 213-15-17 West One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, where he remained until the great fire in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1904. Recognizing the almost limit- less possibilities for building in the stricken city, Mr. Slack immediately removed his office to Balti- more, where he erected more than sixty of the new buildings for various steel companies and contrac- tors. As a lucrative side line, he entered the general contracting business in Baltimore in 1908, and paved many miles of streets, and built many miles of sewers for the City Sewerage Commission. Subsequently, the peak of building having been passed, he removed back to New York City, establishing his headquarters in East Bronx where an extensive and intensive development was taking place. Here Mr. Slack has remained, doing a great deal of sewer building under the firm name of Slack & Slack, and engaged in the general contracting business. He also conducts Slack's Building Materials Company, and for the use of this company has recently built a new dock on West- chester Creek, with warehouses and garages covering an area of one hundred and fifty by three hundred and seventy-nine feet, located on Westchester Creek and Commerce Avenue. His general offices are at No. 134 Westchester Square, and he also conducts the Bay- chester Material & Equipment Corporation. Alto- gether, with his various business, commercial and industrial affiliations, Mr. Slack has become one of the most prominent and influential men of The Bronx, where by the very nature of his work, he is contributing in a very real and tangible way to local progress and advancement. Fraternally, he has also been active, and holds membership with Washington Lodge, No. 3, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, of Baltimore, Maryland; and with Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a member of The Bronx County Jurors' Association, the Arthur H. Murphy Association, the Chippewa Democratic Club, and the Schnorer Club of The Bronx.

George Vest Slack was married at the City Hall, New York City, on March 23, 1905, to Amelia E. Bilzer, a daughter of Edward and Caroline Bilzer,

THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE

and they make their home at No. 1628 Yates Avenue, The Bronx, New York.

JAMES ALBERT HAMILTON-The business and political leadership of America is in large part made up of men who have forged their own success, who have climbed to the top by virtue of native ability, unwearying perseverance, and a fine type of ambition based on high ideals. To this admirable group belongs James Albert Hamilton, resident of The Bronx, New York City, Industrial Commissioner of New York State. He was born in a quaint old house located at No. 421 West Thirty-third Street, New York City, January 24, 1876, son of John Coulter and Margaret Scott (Vance) Hamilton. His father, born in Dooran Road, County Donegal, Ire- land, came to the United States in 1864 and settled in New York City, where he remained until his death. His parents, James and Margaret (Coulter) Hamil- ton, were also native to County Donegal. Margaret Scott (Vance) Hamilton, born at Inver Bay, County Donegal, Ireland, in 1847, is alive and hearty in her seventy-ninth year (1926).

James Albert Hamilton attended Public School No. 32, in Manhattan, and early displayed the deter- mination to gain a well-rounded education no matter what the cost to him in the way of effort in his leisure hours. He graduated from the New York Evening High School in 1892, after three years, during which he worked as a newsboy on the streets by day, and later in a newspaper as office boy, proof- reader, and typesetter. He then entered the Peddie School, at Hightstown, New Jersey, to prepare for college, and graduating in 1894, entered the Univer- sity of Rochester, where he gained both athletic and scholastic honors before his graduation in 1898 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was quarter- back on the Varsity football team and catcher on the baseball team. He was elected a member of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity and received the key of Phi Beta Kappa because of the excellence of his scholarship. At the same time he attained fame as an exhibition cyclist, displaying his skill in various parts of the world.

From 1898 to 1914 Mr. Hamilton was a teacher in the elementary and high schools of New York City. He continued his studies at the same time, carrying graduate courses at Columbia and New York universities, and receiving, in 1903, his Master's degree; in 1904 that of Bachelor of Laws; and in 1909, that of Doctor of Philosophy. He specialized in history, economics, and constitutional law. His legal fraternity was the Delta Chi. In 1914 he "entered politics as State Senator from The Bronx and served a term. On January 1, 1918, he was ap- pointed Commissioner of Correction in New York City, continuing in that position until December 31, . 1922, when he resigned in order to begin his new work as Secretary of State. On January 1, 1925, he was appointed State Industrial Commissioner by Governor Smith, an office in which he has made an excellent record. Other public offices have come his way, including that of chairman, in 1918, of the Central Purchase Committee of New York City. He was chairman of the Democratic County Committee in Bronx County in 1921 and 1922. He is a member

of Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Guiding Star Lodge, No. 565, Free and Accepted Masons; Ivy Chapter, No. 238, Royal Arch Masons; Union Council, No. 2, Royal and Select Masters; Manhattan Commandery, No. 31, Knights Templar; and Mecca Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the Academy of Political Science, the Scientific Alliance, the Society of Criminal Law and Criminology, and the University Club, of Albany, New York. He is president of the Arthur H. Murphy Association of The Bronx.

On October 11, 1904, in New York, James Albert Hamilton married Georgiana Elizabeth Montgo- mery, daughter of Robert and Frances Eliz- abeth (Montgomery) Montgomery, of County Cavan, Ireland. Her father, born in 1839, died in 1904. To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton were born six children: 1. Georgia Montgomery, born October 3, 1905. 2. Margaret Vance, born January 7, 1907. 3. Florence, born November 3, 1908, died at birth. 4. James Albert, Jr., born August 25, 1910. 5. Isabel Henshaw, born August 7, 1912. 6. Robert Mont- gomery, October 30, 1915.

HERBERT JEWELL BLAKE WILLIS - Throughout a career that has a record of great value to the financial interests of The Bronx, Mr. Willis has been a decided influence in shaping the affairs of prominent banking institutions by means of the positions of special trust to which he has from time to time been assigned. Today, as vice-president of The Bronx National Bank, he is a highly esteemed member of that group of business men and financiers, who, to a very considerable extent, maintain the fundamental status of the business life of this section of the city.

Herbert Jewell Blake Willis, son of Henry Spencer Willis, a chemist, and Angenette (Blake) Willis, was born February 3, 1874, in Brooklyn, where he at- tended the public schools and Brown's Business Col- lege; and he has been since 1910 a member of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Banking, an auxiliary school of New York Univer- sity, where he received the first elements of his knowledge of banking. Mr. Willis began work when he was sixteen years old, in the employ of the old Nassau Bank, at the corner of Beekman and Nassau streets, New York City, where he continued until the bank became merged with the Irving National Bank. The stockholders then appointed him cus- todian of assets and acting liquidation agent of Nassau Bank, a position of honor and trust such as is adequately filled only by those who have absolutely proven their solidarity in financial matters. Mr. Willis remained in that office until 1918, when at the solicitation of the board of directors of The Bronx National Bank of the city of New York, he accepted the position of cashier, which he held until November, 1923, when he was elected vice-president of the bank.

In civic affairs, as well, Mr. Willis has shown efficiency and ability, as for seven years he was the town clerk of the Borough of Tenafly, New Jersey. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Alpine Lodge, No. 77, Free and Accepted Masons, of New Jersey; and

THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE

he is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, and of the Closter Polo Club, of Closter, New Jersey.

Herbert Jewell Blake Willis married, September 19, 1894, in Tenafly, New Jersey, Catherine Wester- velt, daughter of Andrew Westervelt, who was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, descendant of an early Dutch settler of that township, and Catherine (Westervelt) Westervelt. Their children; 1. Amy Willis, who married Martin Frobisher, professor of bacteriology in Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. 2. Angenette Willis, who married Lieutenant John William Black, in June, 1924, the year of the gradua- tion of Lieutenant Black of the United States Air Service from West Point.

WILLIAM HARRISON MAEDER - Among those prominent in banking circles in the Borough of The Bronx is William Harrison Maeder, cashier of The Bronx National Bank of the city of New York. He was born January 26, 1889, in New York City, the son of Frederick John Maeder, born in Reuthin, Germany, in 1853. His father came to this country early in life and is living at the age of seventy-three. His mother was Paulene (Maier) Maeder, born in Esslingen, Germany, in 1848, and died in Connecticut, June 19, 1925.

William Harrison Maeder attended the public schools and the High School of Commerce in New York City, being graduated from the high school in 1906. He attended the American Institute of Banking in New York and was graduated from the New York Chapter in the class of 1914. This was followed by a course in The Bronx Union Young Men's Christian Association School of Accounting, New York City. He was one of the first to be graduated from this school in the class of 1919. Mr. Maeder began his business career in 1906 when he was seventeen years old. He was employed as stenographer by the Simplified Spelling Board, New York City, where he continued until 1907. On Oc- tober 23, 1907, The Bronx National Bank of the city of New York was organized, and he accepted a position with them as head bookkeeper. He has advanced since that time to and through every depart- ment of the bank, having been head receiving teller, head note teller, head paying teller, and assistant cashier, and was appointed to the office of cashier in January, 1923, which office he still holds (1926).

Mr. Maeder is a member of the Lions Club of The Bronx, representing the National Bank Division; a member of the American Institute of Banking and its Alumni Association; has been a member of and active in Young Men's Christian Association affairs for the past twenty-two years, and is on the Physical Department Committec of The Bronx Union Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association at the present time (1926).

Mr. Maeder has been twice married. His first wife died a few years after the marriage, and on Sep- tember 12, 1925, he was married to Florence V. (Nadler) Sherwood, daughter of ex-Mayor Gustave and Maric (Rued) Nadler, of Allendale, New Jersey. They had known each other from childhood. Mrs. Maeder is the mother of a son by her first husband, Abbott Sherwood, born in 1918. Mr. Maeder's bus- iness address is care The Bronx National Bank of

New York City, and his home is in Scarsdale, New York.

ALBAN ELLIOTT MUNSON, M. D .- Among the successful men of the medical profession in The Bronx is Dr. Alban Elliott Munson, whose offices are located at No. 2387 Davidson Avenue. Dr. Munson is a graduate of the New York University and of the New York Medical School, and has been engaged in general and surgical practice for more than a quarter of a century.

Dr. Alban Elliott Munson was born in Palisades, Rockland County, New York, April 28, 1874, son of Abram G. and Annie Jane (Woolsey) Munson, of Rockland County, New York. On the paternal side he is related to De Crasto, who was the first police captain of New York City, and to the Munsons who were comb manufacturers of New York City, also to the member of the Cheeseman family who was military aide to General Wolfe in the French and Indian War. A watch which belonged to the last- named ancestor is now owned by Dr. Munson. Abram G. Munson, father of Dr. Munson, was a wheelwright by trade, and was a veteran of the Civil War.

Dr. Munson attended the public schools of his birthplace, and then continued his studies in the Rockland County College, at Nyack, New York. He then matriculated in New York University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1896. He was now ready for his professional training, for which he entered the New York Medical School, gradua- ting in 1899. After serving an interneship of two years in the City Hospital, he engaged in general practice, specializing in surgery. He has been lo- cated at The Bronx now for many years, and is well known in this section of the city as a skilled physi- cian and surgeon, and as a public-spirited citizen. He is a member of the board of directors of the Union Hospital, and of St. Joseph's Hospital at Yonkers, and is surgeon for the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture. His offices are located at No. 2387 Davidson Avenue, where his home also is located, and there he takes care of a very large number of patients. During the World War he was examining physician on Draft Board No. 21, of The Bronx, and he is always ready to forward in any possible way the general welfare of the community in which he resides. In addition to his professional responsi- bilities, Dr. Munson is a member of the board of di- rectors of the Yorkville National Bank, and was formerly identified with the Fordham National Bank. He is a member of The Bronx County Medical So- ciety, The North Bronx Medical Society, the City Hospital Alumni Socicty, The New York State Medical Society, and the American Medical Associa- tion. Fraternally, he is identified with Beta Theta Phi and Omega Phi Epsilon college fraternities. He is also a member of Marion Lodge, Free and Accep- ted Masons; Ivy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Con- stantine Commandery, Knights Templar; of the Consistory; and of Mecca Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; also of Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. During his college years Dr. Munson was much interested in athletics, playcd on the first New

Engry Fining & Long

Leuns historien. Pub.Co

THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE

York University football team, was their foremost runner, and was a member of the University La- Crosse team which won the national and international championships in the years 1894-95-96. He was also censor of his college class. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church.

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The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Wells, James Lee, 1843-1928 Publication date: 1927 Publisher: New York, The Lewis historical Pub. Co., Inc. Number of Pages: 618

Author: Wells, James Lee, 1843-1928
Publication date: 1927
Publisher: New York, The Lewis historical Pub. Co., Inc.
Number of Pages: 618