USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. II > Part 24
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HENRY A. ARGUE, M. D., a practicing physician of Corning, New York, dates his birth in this city January 23, 1861, and is a son of Thomas and Catharine (Conor) Argne. Thomas Argue and wife were born in Ireland, the former January 23, 1830, the latter in 1836, and they were married in Corning, New York, in 1855. Of their family of four children, Dr. Henry A. Argue was the third born and is the only one now living, the others being as follows: Charles E., born in 1856, died in January, 1871; William, born in 1859, died in 1887; and Mrs. Louise Purtill, born in September, 1864, died in Buffalo, New York, in November, 1908.
Henry A. Argue received his first schooling in Corning Acad- emy. Afterward he spent two years at McGill University, Mon- treal, where he studied both art and medicine, following his course there with three years in the study of medicine in New York Uni- versity, of which institution he is a graduate with the class of 1881. The year after receiving his degree of M. D. he settled down to the practice of his profession at his old home, Corning, and here for nearly thirty years he has successfully conducted a general practice. He is employed as physician for the New York Central, Erie and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad companies, also the street railway of Corning, and is pension examiner for the New York Cen- tral Insurance Company. He is a member of the Corning Academy of Medicine, the Steuben County Medical Association and the New York State Medical Association.
On November 25, 1899, Dr. Argue married Miss Tressa Bowes, daughter of Mrs. Anna Bowes, of Bath, New York, and to them has been given one son, Thomas H. Argue, who was born November 8, 1900.
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Fraternally Dr. Argue is identified with numerous organiza- tions in addition to the medical societies above named, among them being the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Red Men, Elks and Eagles. Politically he is a Democrat.
MRS. HARRIET L. DAVIS, of Hornell, comes of old New York families, on both sides of the house, and, almost as a matter of course, she has the blood of patriots in her veins; in fact, it was no further back than the fourth generation of her maternal ancestors when her great-grandfather Baker bravely served as a Revolutionary soldier.
Mrs. Davis was born about a mile from her present residence in Hornell, on the 25th of July, 1833, and is a daughter of Leander C. and Minerva (Baker) Stevens. Her father, a native of Steuben county, was born November 26, 1806, her mother's birthday being October 25, 1814, and the place of her nativity, Clarence, Erie county, New York. Reared at Hornell and educated in its public school, the subject of this sketch was married July 8, 1861, to Anson Davis, a son of James and Phoebe (Osborne) Davis, who was born in 1837. The parents resided during the later years of their lives in Fremont, Steuben county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Davis was born, in 1867, a daughter Nettie, who married Alvin G. Miller and became the mother of the follow- ing: Grace, Mildred, Elouise, Willie and Clifford, the latter dying in infancy. The father of the family was engaged in the meat trade for twenty-one years, and a citizen of industry and probity. His death, September 12, 1891, meant the great loss to the community of an honest man and a Christian gentleman.
Mrs. Davis was one of the following, of which all are deceased but herself and her sister Joanna and one brother, D. V. Stephens. Mary Eliza, Maria, Betsey, Amanda, Bazy, Delevan and William are deceased.
WILLIAM E. GORTON .- A man of rare business ability, tact and judgment, William E. Gorton has contributed largely towards the material progress of Corning, his native city, and to its substantial development along industrial lines, his widely extended enterprises bringing him into prominence in manufacturing and financial opera- tions. He was born in Corning village October 9, 1854, and acquired his elementary education in the public schools.
An ambitious student, he was graduated from the Corning Academy with the class of 1872, after which he continued his studies at the State Normal School in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, for a year. Going then to Poughkeepsie, New York, he was graduated from Eastman's Business College, after which he studied medicine for three years with Dr. Updegraff, a specialist, in Elmira, New York. Mr. Gorton then entered the Hahnemann Medical College in New York city, where in 1878, after taking a full course of three years, he was graduated with the degree of M. D.
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Returning to Corning, Dr. Gorton laid aside his well-earned title of Doctor of Medicine and became a clerk in the Fall Brook Company, of which he was subsequently assistant superintendent for three years. Becoming then a contractor in railway construction, he as junior member of the firm of Griffin & Gorton built in whole or in part several of the southern railroads, including the Charles- ton, Cineinnati and Chicago Railroad; a part of the Piedmont Air Line extension in North and South Carolina, and likewise the Roanoke and Southern Railway in North Carolina.
In 1889 Mr. Gorton again returned to Corning, and during the same year established the Corning Iron Works, which he sold later to the American Brake-Shoe & Foundry Company, and of which he was aeting manager until the incorporation, in 1893, when he was elected to the responsible position of president and manager. He has other interests of note, and as president of the Munger Candy Company is carrying on a substantial business both as a manufac- turer and as a merchant. Noted from earliest youth up for his patriotism and loyal spirit, he was known during the Civil war as the "Drummer Boy of the Southern Tier." Politically Mr. Gorton is a stanch Democrat, and although never an aspirant for public office he served as first mayor of Corning under the city charter. In 1893 he was the Democratic nominee for state senator, but refused the nomination.
On May 18, 1877, Mr. Gorton was united in marriage with Clara Belle Stevens, a daughter of Peabody Stevens, of Buffalo, New York, and to them six children have been born, namely : Ethel Louise, Belle, Alonzo, Hiram, William E. and Gretchen.
REV. JESSE A. RYAN, reetor of the Protestant Episcopal church at Hammondsport, Steuben county, New York, was born at Loek Haven, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1875, a son of James F. Ryan, a native of Whitedeer, Union county, that state. Searcely out of school, a boy of sixteen, James F. Ryan enlisted to fight under the stars and stripes in our Civil war. He was a member of Company H, Fifty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which was ineluded in the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. He served through the war, participating in many engagements, great and small, risking his life times innumerable, and after taking part in the Grand Review at Washington was mustered out and permitted to return home. That was a great experience for a lad of from six- teen to perhaps twenty, a beginning in life that might have made such an one fit for any fate, equal to any responsibility to which he might be ealled. One must have lived in the time of that struggle to comprehend what it was. After the war the young man settled at Lock Haven. He was a Grand Army man, of course, and he was a member of the Union Veteran Legion, too, and a communicant of the . Presbyterian church. He married, in 1874, Jennie Elizabeth Smith, a Pennsylvanian by birth, who is living, aged fifty-two. Her father was William Gibbs Smith, who married Mary Holly. Mr. Ryan died in 1902. He left two sons, Ernest Eugene Ryan, of Loek Haven, and the subject of this article.
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After leaving school Jesse Asa Ryan entered the Pennsylvania Central State Normal School, where he was graduated in 1895. He taught in the public school at Fairport, Clinton county, Pennsyl- vania, till 1898. He was graduated from Hobart College in 1903. Later he took a special course in theology at the Episcopal Theo- logical School at Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the intervals of study he worked as a painter in order to procure money with which to meet his educational expenses. He was ordained a deacon on June 10, 1906, in Trinity church, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and was made a priest by Bishop Darlington February 20, 1900, at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He took charge of St. Mary's churchi at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in July, 1906. On April 1, 1909, he was called to the rectorship of the Protestant Episcopal parish of Lawrenceville and Tioga, Pennsylvania. On February 1, 1910, he was called to Hammondsport, where he is laboring successfully and winning many friends.
Mr. Ryan is a Mason, a member of Blue Lodge No. 106, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania; of the Consistory (thirty-second de- gree) at Corning, New York, and of Damascus Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is a member, too, of the Sons of Veterans, Camp 46, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and is division chaplain in that order and brigade chaplain with the rank of major. He married, April 22, 1908, Mary Emily Perkins, who was born January 7, 1880, at Baldwinsville, New York, a daughter of Charles Jenckes and Ann Theresa (Holihan) Perkins.
JOHN L. LEWIS .- Noteworthy among the active and progres- sive citizens of Steuben county is John L. Lewis, of Corning, cashier of the Fall Brook Coal Company. A son of the late Dr. E. W. Lewis, he was born January 21, 1851, in Watkins, Schuyler county, New York, coming from honored New England ancestry, the founder of the branch of the family from which he is descended having been a passenger on the Mayflower. He is of Welsh lineage, and many of his ancestors were people of prominence and influence in Connecti- cut, where his great-great-grandfather, Eldad Lewis, was a life-long resident. His great-grandfather, John Lewis, a native of Connecti- cut, was for a long time one of the instructors in Yale College.
John L. Lewis, the first, grandfather of Mr. Lewis, was born and brought up in New Haven, Connecticut, and, eagerly availing himself of the opportunity granted him for advancing his education, was graduated when a young man from Yale College, in which he was likewise a teacher for some time. Following the tide of cmi- gration to- New York in 1797, he settled as a pioneer in Geneva, Ontario, where he was engaged as a physician and a teacher for about five years. In 1802 he became a pioneer of Yates county, settling in Benton, where he soon became prominent in public af- fairs, holding various town and county offices and serving a number of terms as postmaster. He died at the advanced age of eighty-five years, having lived a long and useful life.
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A native of Yates county, New York, Dr. E. W. Lewis inherited the scholarly tastes of his immediate ancestors, and having fitted himself for the medical profession was for many years one of the leading physicians of Watkins, where he died at the age of seventy- six years. Dr. Lewis was twice married. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Relief Holden, he had two children, Charles C. and Caroline S. He married for his second wife Mary C. Gardiner, who was born in Rhode Island, a daughter of Captain David Gar- diner, a native of Providence, Rhode Island. She survived him, passing away at the age of eighty-three years in Watkins, New York. Four children were born of the second marriage, Edwin A., Martin G., Mary E. and John L. Of these six children Caroline S. and John L. are the only ones now living.
Going to Penn Yan, New York, when sixteen years of age, John L. Lewis lived with his uncle, John L. Lewis, for two years. Dur- ing the ensuing four years he was bookkeeper for the Morris Coal Mining Company at Morris Run, Tioga county, Pennsylvania. Lo- cating then in Blossburg, Pennsylvania, Mr. Lewis had charge of the business of Pomeroy & Smith until 1878, when he accepted the position of bookkeeper for the Fall Brook Company at Watkins, New York. Coming from there to Corning, he has won a position of prominence among the leading men of the city, and since 1903 has ably filled his present position as cashier of the Fall Brook Coal Company. He is identified with various city enterprises, being one of the directors of the First National Bank of Corning and treasurer of the Corning Co-operative Savings and Loan Association.
A stanch Republican in politics, Mr. Lewis has been active in public affairs, in 1884 serving as president of the village of Corning, and at the present time being a member of the Corning Board of Education. Socially he is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars of the state of New York, and fraternally he is prominent in the Masonie order, belonging to lodge, chapter and consistory, and has taken the thirty-second degree of Masonry. His uncle, John L. Lewis, for whom he was named, was a thirty-third degree Mason and very prominent in the order, having served as grand master of the state of New York and having been past sovereign grand commander of the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction.
Mr. Lewis married, January 20, 1875, Belle Townsend, a daugh- ter of Nathaniel Townsend, of Glenora, New York, and they are the parents of two children, namely : Kate, wife of E. H. Gorton, of Hornell, New York, and Spencer, who was educated at the Lawrence- ville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
FRANCIS C. WILLIAMS. - Prominent among the foremost lawyers of Steuben county is Francis C. Williams of Corning, who belongs to the inner circle of the bar. The field of his professional labors has been broad, and his fine legal attainments and his noted suc- cess have won for him a wide and merited reputation throughout this section of the Empire state. A native of Corning, he was born
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November 26, 1864, in the house in which he now resides and which has always been his home, being a son of the late Francis A. Williams. He comes of Welsh lineage, the emigrant ancestor from which he is descended having emigrated from Wales to this coun- try about 1640. His great-grandfather, Joseph H. Williams, was born and reared in Connecticut, from there removing to Yates county, New York, in 1801, settling in Rushville, where on May 8, 1809, his son, Ira C. Williams, Mr. Williams' grandfather, was born.
Francis A. Williams was born, March 25, 1834, in Prattsburg, New York. He early determined to enter the legal profession, and in 1862, at Rochester, New York, he was admitted to the bar. Lo- cating the following year in Corning, he was here a practicing at- torney until his death, which occurred very suddenly, December 21, 1901. He was quite active in public affairs and a valned mem- ber of the Presbyterian church. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Clark, was born November 29, 1838, in Urbana, Steuben county, a daughter of Solomon Clark, who came to this part of the state in pioneer days from New Jersey, settling in the midst of the woods. Five children were born of their union, namely; Mary G., a professor at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massa- chusetts; Francis C., the special subject of this sketch; Clark B., professor of mathematics at Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michi- gan; Jane, wife of W. H. Insley, of Indianapolis, Indiana; and Elizabeth, who died July 5, 1908.
Acquiring his elementary education in the graded schools of Corning, Francis C. Williams was graduated from the University of Rochester with the class of 1888. He subsequently studied law under his father's tuition, and in 1891 was admitted to the bar. Immediately entering his father's office, he was engaged in the practice of his profession with him until the death of the father in 1901. Since that time Mr. Williams has continued the practice alone, meeting with excellent success in his legal work, his opinions and counsel being much sought for the guidance of large interests and in the solution of perplexing legal problems. He has rendered excellent service as a public official, having been justice of the peace in 1890, city recorder in 1892, city attorney for four years and at the present writing, in 1910, being a member of the Corning Board of Education.
Mr. Williams is prominent in social and fraternal circles, being past master of Painted Post Lodge No. 117, F. & A. M .; past high priest of Corning Chapter No. 94, R. A. M .; a member of Corning Consistory ; and has taken the thirty-second degree of Masonry. He is also a charter member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically Mr. Williams is an uncompromising Democrat, and re- ligiously he is an active member of the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder. He is unmarried and lives with his widowed mother in the home which has always been his dwelling place.
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WILLIAM McMICHAEL .- At this point is entered brief record concerning one of the native sons of Steuben county, who has here been actively identified with the great basic art of agriculture from the time of his youth and who is one of the representative farmers of Prattsburg township. The estimate placed upon him in his native township is shown by the fact that he is now serving as its super- visor, a position of which he has been incumbent since 1907 and the duties of which he has administered with great discrimination and ability, as & evident from his continuons retention of the office which involves the handling of the public funds of the township and the fostering of its varied interests.
William McMichael was born in Prattsburg township on the 9th of May, 1866, and is a son of Alexander and Mary (Risdale) McMichael, both of whom continued to reside in this township until their death. They were numbered among the sterling. citizens of Steuben county, and here the father was a prosperous agriculturist and an influential citizen of Prattsburg township, where he ever commanded unequivocal confidence and esteem. William McMichael was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the district schools, which he attended until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, in the meanwhile having been associated in the work and manage- ment of the home farm. As already noted, his active career has been one of close identification with farming interests, and he eventu- ally purchased the old homestead farm, which comprises three hun- dred and two acres of most productive land and which is eligibly located two and one-half miles north of the village of Prattsburg. Mr. McMichael is a bachelor, and with him on the old homestead resides his sister and two older brothers. He is a member of the directorate of the Prattsburg State Bank and is one of the sub- stantial citizens of his native county, where he is well upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears. He is affiliated with Prattsburg Lodge No. 583, Free and Accepted Masons, and with Prattsburg Lodge No. 598, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he has ever given an unqualified allegiance to the Re- publican party, and he has shown a public-spirited interest in all that touches the welfare of the community, giving his support to measures and enterprises that have conserved the social and indus- trial advancement of the county. In 1907 he was elected supervisor of Prattsburg township and as a member of the county board he has shown distinctive loyalty and progressiveness the while he has been specially earnest in forwarding the best interests of his home town- ship.
CHARLES M. GAMMON .- Corning, New York, counts among her worthy citizens a sterling Englishman, who has to his credit nearly sixty years of business activity in the town-Charles M. Gammon. He was born in England October 15, 1824, and when a young man was united in marriage, at Christ's church, Marylebone, London, with
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Miss Maria Boddington, who was born in England in 1822, a niece of Lord Boddington. She accompanied him to America and here shared his joys and sorrows until her death, which occurred in 1870. To them were given three children who grew to adult age, namely: Mrs. Mima Hood, a resident of Corning, New York; Dr. A. M. Gammon, of Oaklorna, New York; and Mrs. Anna Hill, of Fall River, Wisconsin.
It was in 1848 that Mr. Gammon landed in New York city, after an Atlantic voyage of six weeks in a sailing vessel. Going direct to Philadelphia, he spent six weeks in that city, but at the end of that time returned to New York and entered the employ of John Brooks, a shoe manufacturer on Broadway. In England he had learned the trade of shoe-cutter, and on coming to this country took up that line of work. After remaining in New York one year he spent two years in the employ of a Mobile firm, following that with a few months each in New Albany, Utica and Syracuse. On June 17, 1851, he landed in Corning, and at once entered the service of a Mr. Fuller, a boot and shoe dealer who occupied a store on the same site on East Market street now occupied by Mr. Gammon. He engaged in business here for himself in 1864, and in 1895 built a three-story brick block. Also he owns a store building adjoining the one in which he does business. His honest, active, regular life has kept him in excellent physical condition, and now, although past eighty-six years of age, he looks the picture of health, reads and writes without the aid of glasses, is erect and active as a man of forty and regularly attends to his duties at the old stand. His kindly attitude toward his fellow-men during his long residence in Corning has won for him their high esteem, and he counts among his many friends both the old and the young and people in various walks of life.
Many times Mr. Gammon has been solicited to accept political office. but has always refused. He has ever taken a commendable interest in public affairs, however, voting the Republican ticket and always presenting himself promptly at the polls on election day. He was made a member of Painted Post Lodge, F. and A. M., in 1854 and has advanced in the order up to and including the thirty- second degree. In 1861 and 1862 he served his lodge as worshipful master and represented it in the Grand Lodge of New York. He has long been a worthy member of the Episcopal church.
JEROME J. BARBER .- This well known and highly respected citizen of the town of Prattsburg was born in Pulteney, Steuben county, September 3, 1883, a son of J. C. and Caroline (Mace) Barber, both of whom are yet living there. He was reared on his father's homestead and educated in the primary branches in the district school near by. Later he was a student at Franklin Acad- emy at Prattsburg. From the time he left school until he was twenty-two years old he farmed on his father's land. Then, in 1895,
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he married Anna Ringrose, a native of Prattsburg and a daughter of John and Elizabeth Ringrose.
After his marriage Mr. Barber bought a hundred and eighty- seven acres of land a mile and a quarter north of the village of Prattsburg, where he has achieved success as a general farmer and stockraiser. His knowledge of farming was obtained in the prac- tical school of actual experience, and he is as well informed a farmer as is operating anywhere in the county at this time. He is an excep- tionally well posted stockman, too. In his hands a farm is handled as scientifically as is possible, the best is planted, the crops are care- fully cultivated, they are harvested on time, are properly cared for and are sent to market in good form and in good time to bring the best possible prices. No one in northern Steuben county raises bet- ter stock than does Mr. Barber and no one sells to better advantage.
Mr. Barber is a member of Prattsburg Lodge No. 598, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, but he is not an office seeker and has resolutely refused such offices as have been proffered him, yet he is a man of undoubted public spirit, who is ready at all times to do anything in his power to advance any measure for the general good of the community.
MICHAEL F. MCNAMARA .- A man of undoubted legal talent and ability, Michael I'. MeNamara, of Corning, has won notable suc- cess as a general practitioner of law, his clientele being large and remunerative. He was born February 19, 1870, in Howard, Steuben county, New York, being a posthumous son of the late Michael Mc- Namara, who was born in Ireland and died in Howard, New York, in 1869.
Spending his boyhood days in Howard, Michael F. McNamara acquired his first knowledge of books in the common schools, sub- sequently being graduated from the Canisteo Academy in 1891. He afterwards taught school for a while, in the meantime continu- ing his studies for six months, preparing himself for college. Tak- ing the Cornell examinations in Hornell, he won a Cornell scholar- ship and immediately entered the Cornell University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1895. In June, 1895, Mr. Mc- Namara successfully passed the bar examinations at Rochester, New York, and was admitted to practice before the courts of New York. In 1896 he located in New York city, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for two or more years, obtaining a fine start as a lawyer. Opening a law office in Elmira, New York, in 1900, he remained there until November, 1907, when he located in Corning, where he has already established a good general practice, being now one of the leading attorneys of the city.
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