USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume II > Part 26
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Mr. Hofmann doubtless inherited his marked business ability and sterling integrity from his Teutonic ancestors, who were of the industrial class, to which the German Empire of to-day owes its strength and sta- bility. His grandfather, Peter Hofmann, was born in Germany in 1776, died in 1864; his grandmother, Katherine (Grim) Hofmann, was born in Baden, Germany; in 1776, died in 1872. His father, Hubert C. Hofmann, born in Germany, 1820, died in 1860, owned and operated two tanneries. Hubert C. Hofmann married Catherine Hofmann, born in 1822, came to America in 1890, and died in 1894.
Frank Christian Hofmann, son of Hubert C. and Catherine Hofmann, was born in Amerbach, Germany, December 10, 1849. He was reared
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and educated in the "Fatherland," and at the age of thirteen began an apprenticeship of four years at the butcher's trade. Arriving in this coun- try in 1869 he located first in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and later in Buffalo, New York, and some three years later removed to Rochester, this state. About 1875 he went to Geneva, where he found employment as a butcher with W. I. Higgins, and finding himself at the expiration of two years in a position to engage in business for himself, he entered the meat and provision trade in partnership with Gustavus C. Wilkens. After a prosper- ous existence of seven years the firm of Hofmann & Wilkens was dis- solved by mutual consent, and Mr. Hofmann continued in business alone, opening a meat market and provision store at Nos. 49 and 51 Seneca street, and carrying it on successfully for twelve years, at the expiration of which time he retired permanently from that trade. For a number of years Mr. Hofmann has devoted his attention to the real estate business, and also to several profitable commercial enterprises. In 1895 he opened Hofmann avenue, and in 1900 opened Grant avenue, both of which are exceedingly desirable residential sections, and in addition to developing property for building purposes he has erected some substantial buildings for residential and business use. These include a large brick block on Avenue B, Torrey Park, divided into flats and stores (built in 1898), and the Masonic Temple, and an attractive brick and stone office building located on Seneca street in the heart of the business district. The foun- dation of this building was begun June 2, 1898, and it was completed and occupied by September I, of the same year, thus establishing a record for rapidity of construction hitherto unequalled in Western New York. A strange fact might be recorded that it never rained during the day time during the the construction of this building. Besides his real estate enterprises he is proprietor of the Torrey Park Drug Store, president of the Allen Drug Company, of Geneva, and also of the City Hall Pharmacy, of Auburn, New York. In politics Mr. Hofmann is a Republican. In 1894 he was elected a trustee of the village from the second ward, and was re-elected in 1896; was chosen police commissioner in 1896 for a term of six years, and was therefore the last to hold that office under the old town government. He was elected an assessor in 1898 and again in 1900, and was chairman of the committee on electric lights. During the administration of President Herendeen he secured the enactment by the village government of a bill providing for the purchase by the municipality of the Geneva Water Works, hitherto a private corporation, and was also responsible for the establishment of an entirely new sewer system, a sani- tary improvement, the value of which cannot be too highly estimated.
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In 1910 he was a delegate to the Republican state convention at Saratoga and assisted in the selection of candidates to be nominated by that body. He has served as president of the Geneva Board of Trade a number of terms, and is treasurer of the Economic Relief Association. He is called the father of the city charter, as he worked faithfully to bring about the charter that made Geneva a city. In the Masonic Order he has attained the thirty-second degree, being a member of the local blue lodge, chapter and commandery ; has held all of the important offices of these bodies including that of eminent commander, and is numbered among the Ancient and Accepted Nobles of the Order of the Mystic Shrine in Rochester. He also affiliates with the Improved Order of Red Men, and the German Harugari.
In 1880 Mr. Hofmann was married in Geneva to Margaret Cath- erine Klopfer, born in Williamsburg, New York, June 3, 1855, daughter of John Michael and Anna Barbara (Kerndter) Klopfer. Children : I. Frank, born in 1882, died in infancy. 2. Anna G., born in 1884, married Frank Day in 1908; one child, Margaret. 3. Charles, born in 1886, died in 1901. 4. Elizabeth, born in 1888, graduate of the Genesee Normal School, teacher in the public schools. 5. Edward John, born in 1900.
SOUTHWORTH.
There are some men who take possession of the public heart and hold it after they have passed away, not by flashes of genius or brilliant ser- vices, but by kindness and the force of personal character, and by steady and persistent good conduct in all the situations and under all the trials of life. They are in sympathy with all that is pure and useful and good in the community in which they reside, and the community on its part cheerfully responds by extending to them respectful admiration and sincere affection. Such a man was Samuel Southworth. In many re- spects he was a model as a business man, not alone for the rectitude of his methods, and the truth and honor which formed the foundation of all his dealings, but because of the keen insight he possessed into all matters of business even remotely connected with his enterprises.
Samuel Southworth was the son of Dr. Samuel Southworth, a physician of note in his day, who was a native of Vermont and located in Geneva, Ontario county, New York, in the year 1825. Samuel Jr was born in that town, October 11, 1828, and died there October 28,
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1909. His early days were spent like those of the majority of boys in a semi-rural section, in attending the district school and the academi- cal and high schools. He was of tender age when he commenced his business career, his first position being as a general helper in a store. At the age of sixteen years he started out on a sperm-whaling expedi- tion, and this was extended over a period of three years. Upon his re- turn to Geneva he secured a position as clerk in the postoffice, which was then located on the site of the present Nestor Hotel. His appoint- ment was made under Postmaster Barilla Slossom, and he held the po- sition six years, which took him into the administration of S. H. Parker. By this time he commenced to tire of the confinement of indoor labor and resigning in 1853, he succeeded S. B. Dutcher as agent at Stanley, of the Canandaigua-Elmira railroad, which was largely patronized at that time. In the spring of 1855 Mr. Southworth returned to Ceneva to assume the duties of clerk in the Bank of Geneva, which was the pre- decessor of the Geneva National Bank. William E. Sill was president of the bank at the time, and W. T. Scott cashier. The office was lo- cated at the head of Seneca street in a building to the north of the resi- dence of Mr. Southworth. His faithful attention to the details of his work and the precision with which he carried out the minutest details of the manifold duties entrusted to his care, had the inevitable result of raising him from one position to another until as cashier he served successively under Presidents William T. Scott and S. H. Ver Plank, and when the bank was reorganized under the new national banking laws, and be- came known as the Geneva National Bank in 1865, Mr. Southworth was retained in his old position. He continued to hold this until his resignation in July, 1868, when he decided to engage in the insurance, real estate and pension business in association with Colonel John S. Platner. Upon the death of Colonel Platner the following December, Mr. Southworth became the sole proprietor and manager of the busi- ness thus organized, and shortly afterward added banking to its other features. At first the work of securing pensions was the most im- portant item of the business, but this gradually gave place to the bank- ing interests. The real estate and insurance enterprises remained fix- tures of the concern throughout the connection of Mr. Southworth with this business. In 1906 he admitted as a partner in the insurance branch of the business, John W. Mellen, who had previously been a clerk in the office, and this left Mr. Southworth with more time to attend to the other interests. In addition to these numerous demands upon his time Mr. Southworth had nevertheless paid considerable at-
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tention and taken an active interest in public affairs. Although unas- suming and modest in his disposition, he took a lively interest in all matters that pertained to the welfare of the community in which he resided, and was ever ready to bear his due share of any burden which had to be borne. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, and he was elected to the office of supervisor of the town of Seneca prior to its separation from the town of Geneva. When the charter of the village of Geneva was amended making the presidency of the village an elective office, Mr. Southworth was the first man to be elected to fill the office, and served from April, 1871, until April, 1873. It was during his administration, October 11, 1872, that the town of Geneva was set off from that of Seneca. He was appointed a member of the cemetery commission in 1879, and February I of that year he was elected treasurer of the commission to succeed Z. T. Case, and he held this office until his death. As a member of the board of education he served from 1888 to 1890. During the greater part of his life Mr. Southworth was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, and an active member of Trinity Parish. For many years he served as vestryman and treasurer of the parish, and upon the death of James P. Mellen, in 1905, became junior warden of the church. He was a member of Ark Lodge, No. 33, Free and Accepted Masons, for more than fifty years, being initiated in 1854, and was not only the oldest mason of the local lodge, but one of the oldest in the state of New York.
Mr. Southworth was married in 1851 to Annesley Louise Evans, who died in 1899, and they had two children, also deceased. At the time of his death he was living with his adopted daughter. Lillian W. C. Southworth, at their home at No. 346 Main street.
GRANGER.
The name of Granger is a conspicuous one in the civil and political history of this state and nation, while its lustre has been for more than three-quarters of a century reflected upon the county of which this volume gives the history. Two of the family held for many years one of the most honorable and responsible offices under the national gov- ernment, while three who honored Canandaigua with their residence were graduates of colleges and were illustrious members of the legal
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profession, men of culture, refinement, integrity and the other good qualities that constitute the American citizen in his best estate.
(I) The family is of English descent, their ancestor, Launcelot Granger, having come to this country from England in 1652 and set- tled at Newbury, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thence he re- moved to Suffield, Connecticut, in 1674.
(II) Gideon, son of Launcelot Granger, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, July 19, 1767, and was the first of the name to make his home in Canandaigua, New York. We are not familiar with the details of his early life except that he was given opportunity to obtain a liberal education, of which he availed himself, graduating from Yale College in 1787, at the age of twenty. He entered upon the study of the law soon afterward, and rose to distinction in the bar of his native state. He was a man of public spirit, and imbued with the Jeffersonian principles of free government. He was early and deeply impressed with the importance of the most energetic work for the advancement of the public school system, and was one of the foremost laborers for the establishment of the public school fund in Connecticut, giving liberally himself towards its foundation, and being often called its father. While still a young man his reputation had reached the national capital, and in 1801 he was called by President Jefferson to take a posi- tion in his cabinet as postmaster-general. For thirteen years he filled that honorable and responsible office, during which period he was instrumental in the rapid development of the great postal system of the country. His administration of the office continued through both of Mr. Jefferson's terms as president, and most of Mr. Madison's. On his retirement from Washington in 1814, he settled in Canandaigua, whither his reputation had preceded him, and where he was at once accorded the station to which his abilities entitled him. In 1820 he was elected to the state senate, and in that body served two years. He promptly took a leading position as a legislator, and became conspicuous in co-operation with Governor DeWitt Clinton in promoting the great system of internal improvements of which the Erie Canal was the most important feature. In 1821 he retired from public life, and died December 31, 1822, at the comparatively early age of fifty-five years, leaving a record of a career distinguished for its purity, its spotless integrity, and its devotion to the public good. He married Mind- well Pease.
(III) Francis, second son of Gideon and Mindwell ( Pease) Granger, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, December 1, 1792, and in 18II, at the age of nineteen years, was graduated with honor from Yale
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College. He followed the example of his distinguished father by study- ing for the bar, and soon after the removal of the family to Canandaigua took up the practice of his profession in that village. He promptly entered public life and for many years the suffrages of his constituents placed him in positions of honor and responsibility, where his natural and acquired qualifications enabled him to occupy the foremost rank. A man of striking and commanding personality, polished manners, and courteous and dignified bearing, he soon drew to himself a host of warm friends and admirers, who lost no opportunity of demonstrating their confidence and esteem by conferring upon him such public honors as were at their dis- posal. In 1826 he was elected to the state legislature, where he served by reelections in 1828-30-32. In that legislative body his winning personal- ity, persuasive eloquence, sound judgment and practical ability gave him a commanding influence and won for him friends throughout the state. Twice (in 1830 and 1832) he was nominated for governor of the state, and was defeated by an insignificant Democratic majority. Under the then existing conditions of the great political parties, these defeats were in every sense a reason for congratulation to him and his political friends. In 1836 he received the nomination for the vice-presidency of the nation, in the campaign of General Harrison for the presidency, but the success of his party was destined to further postponement, as recorded in the political history of the country. In 1835 he was nominated and elected to congress, where he served with distinguished ability and influence until 1841, when he resigned to accept the high station so long and honorably filled by his father, the postmaster-generalship, General Harrison having been elected to the presidency. The duties of this office he discharged until the memorable disruption of the cabinet under President Tyler. Declining a foreign mission which had been tendered him, he was again pressed to accept the nomination for congress, but his determination to retire from public life had become fixed and in the succeeding years he resisted all persuasion to again accept political preferment. He, however, occasionally presided at meetings of his political friends when interests of more than common importance were at issue. It was during his political career that the branch of the Whig party which became known as the "Silver Grays" received its peculiar title in a convention of which he was the chairman, from his flowing locks of gray hair. During the troubled era of 1861-65, when the very foundations of the Union were threatened, Mr. Granger was a staunch supporter of the government. He was induced through the solicitation of many friends to go to Washington as one of
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the so-called peace convention in 1861, in which he bore a conspicuous part in the proceedings held to avert the threatened war.
It has been written of him that he was a man of great native intelli- gence, of quick wit, of warm heart, of popular manners, of imposing appearance, and of impressive speech, both in public and in private. Few persons have had more friends in all parts of the country. Webster and Clay, Preston and Crittenden, Edward Everett, Abbott Lawrence, and many more of all parties and sections, were on terms of intimacy with him, to which they admitted few others. His nature was peculiarly attractive to young and old, and he seemed incapable of making an enemy of any one. Singularly happy in his own temperament, he made every- body happy around him. His sunny disposition was never quenched or clouded, either by disappointment or old age, and when he was at last called to die under circumstances full of sadness, he uttered no word of impatience or repining, but threw himself with quiet resignation and per- fect trust upon the mercies of his God. He died in Canandaigua, August 28, 1868, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.
He married Cornelia Van Rensselaer, of Utica, New York, who lived but a few years. He was survived by his two children: I. Cornelia Ade- line, who married (first), John E. Thayer, of Boston, and ( second). Robert C. Winthrop; she died in 1894. 2. Gideon, see forward.
(IV) Gideon, son of Francis and Cornelia (Van Rensselaer) Granger, was born in Canandaigua, New York, August 30, 1821. His early life was surrounded by all the refinements of a beautiful home, and the most liberal opportunities for gaining a thorough education. Like his father and his grandfather, he was a graduate of Yale College. where he took his degree in 1843. Like them, too, he studied for the legal pro- fession, and had he been so inclined might without doubt have taken a foremost position at the bar. Born with a heart in sympathy with suf- fering of all kinds, he gave much of his professional skill and time to the service of the poor and needy. This was true also of the labor of his life outside of his profession ; the empty hand or the troubled mind never sought his aid in vain. Prevented by ill health from serving his country in the field, he acted as chairman of the war committee for raising troops during the great struggle for the support of the Union, laboring faithfully to fill the depleted ranks of the army, and to care for the families left behind. The widows and orphans of those who fell on the field he made his special care, and his strength and substance were given out freely for their relief. The revival of the Agricultural Society of the county was also largely due to his activity and interest, and he served as its secretary
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for twelve years. Indeed, wherever and whenever a public good could be advanced, a charitable deed done, or a gentle word spoken, Gideon Granger was ever foremost, in every act of his daily life following the example of the Saviour, to whose cause he had consecrated himself. He died in Canandaigua, September 3, 1868, aged forty-seven years, six days after his father, Francis Granger.
Gideon Granger married Isaphine Pierson, of Canandaigua, 1868. She died in 1903. Their two children, Antoinette P. and Isaphine P., survive them and are living on the old homestead, which for thirty years was occupied by Granger Place School for Ladies from 1876 to 1906.
(III) John Albert, third son of Gideon and Mindwell ( Pease) Granger, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, September 11, 1795, died in Canandaigua, New York, May 26, 1870. Originally intended for the navy, his early education, commenced in Suffield and there continued until the removal of the family to Washington, D. C., was along lines of instruction which, when the idea of the sea was abandoned, found him without the classical training required for a college course. He spent some years under the tutorage of "Parson" Gay, of Fairfield, Connecticut, a noted instructor in those days, from whose hands he entered a business career at an early age. Some years were spent in Washington during the period of his father's connection with the cabinets of Jefferson and Madi- son ( 1801-14), and at the time of the family leaving that city he went in advance to Whitestown, New York, (Utica) which place his father had decided on as their future home. They had barely settled there, how- ever, before a business connection with the Hon. Oliver Phelps, of the Phelps and Gorham purchase, induced their further removal to and per- manent settlement in Canandaigua, which was ever after the family home. He assisted his father largely in the building of the Granger homestead there and drew from the Genesee country most of the timber which con- stituted its frame.
In 1820 Mr. Granger married (first) Julia Ann, daughter of Dr. William Augustus Williams ( Yale, 1780) and Elizabeth (Chapin) Will- iams, daughter of General Israel Chapin, the United States agent to the Indians and commissioner of Indian affairs in the new county. His wife died in 1822, leaving two daughters: Delia, who married Alexander Jeffrey, and died in 1847: and Julia, who married Sanders Irving, a nephew of Washington Irving, still survives ( 1893). In 1829 he mar- ried (second) Harriet, daughter of Amasa and Mary ( Phelps) Jackson and granddaughter of the Hon. Oliver Phelps before referred to. Mrs. Granger died in 1868, having had two children: Harriet Mindwell,
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who married Caleb Brinton, of Westchester, Pennsylvania, and died in 1860; and John Albert ( Yale, 1855), who married Annie, daughter of Edwin D. Townsend, of Palmyra, New York. He died in 1906.
About the time of his first marriage Mr. Granger settled in the Genesee country at Moscow, Livingston county, where he lived with but few neighbors except the Indians, with whom he became very friendly and was adopted into their tribe. Here he lived until the death of his wife left him with two children of such tender years that the simple care of them required services he could not obtain so far from neighbors, and he therefore returned to Canandaigua. For a few years he was engaged in the mercantile business, and later acted as agent in the purchase of wool for some Boston houses, but about the year 1840 he retired from active business and devoted himself to the management of landed interests inher- ited from his father. This he continued until his death, and in it found full employment. At this period he became interested in and identified with the National Guard of the state, rising from subaltern to become major-general commanding the division. His liking for such service was very great, and he was not only a very zealous officer but a very liberal one, paying out of his own pocket-and largely, too-very many of the expenses incident to the advancement of his command.
He was a strikingly handsome man, a superb horseman, and on the days of the annual parade and inspection made, with a brilliant staff and well-drilled regiments, a display which would do credit to these days. There was that in the character of Mr. Granger which won esteem at the outset, and so nourished it that it soon became affection. Generous and hospitable, almost to a fault it might be said, his hand was ever open and his table ever spread to one in want. No halting, trembling hand of the unfortunate, groping in the dark, amid cares and anxieties, but found his helping grasp with aid and brotherhood. Save here and there an election to some unimportant local office he never sought or cared for political preferment. He loved his home and his home loved him, and he passed in and out always with a tender, loving greeting, born in a warm heart and fostered by countless kindnesses to all.
GRANGER.
Henry Francis Granger, at one time an attorney and counselor at law in the city of New York, now for some years one of the largest stock- holders and the president and manager of the Indian Splint Manufactur-
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ing Company of Geneva, Ontario county, New York, is a member of a family which has had representatives in this country for many years, and which has always been well represented when the rights and liberties of the country were in need of defence. He belongs to that class of restless, energetic men whose whole lives are an incessant battle, and whose clear brains and executive ability bring order out of chaos and transmute ideas into wealth.
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