USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. II > Part 6
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On the 8th of January, 1905, Mr. Swarthout was happily mar- ried to Miss Katheryn, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Gregg, of Wayland, and a son, Maurice G., was born to them on the 1st of January, 1906.
JAMES LAURNO .- The business houses of the city of Bath in- clude among their number the fruit, candy and cigar store of Vennto and Laurno, which was established in 1906, and which is one of the leading houses of its kind in the city. James Laurno, of that firm, was born in Alatri, Italy, April 17, 1876, a son of Beato and Rose (Mirino) Laurno, who are living in the city of Alatri, the father at the age of seventy-two and the mother at the age of fifty-eight. There are two daughters of the family, Zeno- phina, wife of Peter Wetat, who resides in Bath, and Theresina, at home with her parents. James Laurno was a lad of thirteen when he came to America, and during the following six years was em- ployed in a glass factory at Corning, New York. Then return-
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ing to the country of his birth he spent another six years on the home farm there, and coming once more to America in 1904 he located in Bath, but later went again to Corning, and in 1906 he returned to this city, and has since been engaged in the conduct of his fruit, candy and cigar store. He is a member of the Catholic church and of the order of United Workmen in Bath.
Mr. Laurno married a lady from his own native land, Rosa Marino, who was born near his boyhood's home in Italy in 1877, a daughter of Dominick Marino, deceased, and of Rosa (Foggana) Marino, his wife. Three daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Laurno, Olinda, eight years of age, Mathilda, six years old, and Louisa.
WILLIAM CUFFNEY .- The native-born citizens of Bath, Steu- ben county, have no finer representative than William Cuffney, bookkeeper at the Halloek Bank. He is a man of sterling integrity and worth, public-spirited and enterprising, and, although one of the younger generation, is already quite active in local affairs and prominent and popular in social cireles. A son of Dennis Cuffney, he was born October 24, 1886, in this city.
Dennis Cuffney was born in 1858 in Bradford county, Penn- sylvania, but has spent the larger part of his active life in Bath, at the present time being fireman at the Soldiers' Home. He married Mary E. Tigue, who was born, fifty-one years ago, in Bath, New York, a daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Smith) Tigue, who settled in this part of Steuben county at an early day. Five children have been born of their union, namely; James, of Sonyea, New York; William, the subject of this sketeh; Edward, a druggist in Bath; Margaret, a pupil in the Bath High School; and Thomas, a school boy.
Having been graduated from the Union High School in Batlı in 1904 William Cuffney taught school for a year at Allegany, New York, after which he continued his studies at Saint Bonaventure College for a year. The following year he was employed as a clerk, and in 1907 was offered the position of bookkeeper at the Hallock Bank, and has since retained it, performing the duties devolving upon him in this capacity most creditably and satis- factorily.
Mr. Cuffney is a faithful member of Saint Mary's church, and belongs to the Knights of Columbus. He is an earnest advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and in 1909 was elected town clerk of Bath, being the second man elected to that position on the Democratic ticket in a period of fifty-five years. He is still free from domestic ties, making his home with his parents, in the house where his birth occurred.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON, a man of affairs and president of the Bank of Steuben, Hornell, was born in Almond, Allegany county, New York, April 10, 1836, a son of Thomas Richardson. His
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father was a shoemaker by trade, but became a manufacturer and a shoe merchant. He was born in 1800 and died in July, 1869. His wife, who died when she was forty-four years old, was Helen M. Brower, a native of the state of New York. She bore her husband five sons and two daughters, all of whom except one grew to man- hood and womanhood. The subject of this notice, the youngest of the family, was reared on a farm and educated in schools near his boyhood home. At eighteen he became a clerk in a store at Al- mond. In 1856 he formed a partnership with his father in the shoe business in that village. Four years later he bought his father's interest in the enterprise and continued it individually, meantime embarking in the tanning business at Andover, in the same county. In 1873 he removed his business to Hornell, where he conducted it successfully till 1907. Then he disposed of it in order the better to give his attention to other interests.
In 1902 Mr. Richardson and seven other gentlemen organized the Bank of Steuben and he became its president. Its twenty- ninth quarterly report made to the banking superintendent in November, 1909, showed its resources and liabilities as follows: Assets- loans and discounts, $579,225.75 ; bonds owned, $65,249.07; mortgages owned, $13,170.00; accrued interest, $2,000.00; cash on hand and in banks, $160,362.00; liabilities-capital, $50,000.00; surplus and profits, $98,923.55; deposits, $666,084.05; interest due, $5,000.00. The official roster of this strong financial institution is as follows: President, William Richardson; vice-president, L. W. Rockwell; cashier, Charles W. Etz; assistant cashier, William E. Pittenger ; directors, William Richardson, J. E. Walker, J. L. Rock- well, William E. Pittenger, W. G. Hollands, S. S. Karr, H. G. Pierson, Charles W. Etz, L. W. Rockwell, S. E. Brown, C. E. Shults, W. H. Greenhow, George Hollands, Don L. Sharp and J. E. Schwarzenbach. Mr. Richardson owns considerable real es- tate, including several farms. He has erected a number of prom- inent buildings in Hornell, the first one thirty-seven years ago.
Mr. Richardson married Miss Elsie Hammond, of Allegany county, New York. Their only child, Frances, is the wife of Dr. Herman Biggs, of New York city. Without any real desire for political activity, too busy to mix in political affairs even did he wish to do so, Mr. Richardson while exercising much influence as a private citizen has never given much attention to practical poli- tics. It is as a business man that he has made his way in the world, and as such he will impress the spirit of his personality on the community with which he has been so long identified and to which it is to be hoped he may long be spared.
DR. JOHN D. MITCHELL was born at Cameron Mills, Steuben county, New York, March 7, 1853, a son of Dr. Samuel Mitchell, a native of Lisle, Bromme county, New York, who came to Steu- ben county in his young manhood. John D. was the eldest son of the family, and the oldest except one of the members of it who are
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living in 1910. He passed the years of his boyhood at Cameron Mills and at sixteen went to Hornell to school. After a period of study at Lima, he took up the study of medicine under his father's preceptorship. He was duly graduated from the Medical Depart- ment of the University of New York in 1876. For twelve years thereafter he practiced his profession with increasing success at Savona, Steuben county. Then, coming to Hornell, he organized the Hornell Sanitarium company, erected the sanitarium build- ings and was for six years in charge of that institution as its superintendent and resident physician and surgeon. He then turned to the general practice of medicine and surgery as an in- dependent practitioner, in which he has won signal eminence. He is a member of the Steuben County Medical Society, is a member and has been president of the Hornell Medical and Surgical Asso- ciation, a member of the New York State Medical Society, and a member of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Mitchell, while living at Savona, became a Mason. In politics he is a stanch Republican. He is a member and a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church. April 19, 1876, he married Miss Artelissa Morris, daughter of Aaron Morris, a pioneer in Steuben county who was early prominent in connection with the Protestant Episcopal church, influentially helpful in connection with the huilding of the first Episcopal church edifice at Hornell. Mrs. Mitchell's mother was a daughter of Nathanial Finch, an early settler at Hornell. Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell have eight children as follows: William M., M. D., is a practicing physician at Brad- ford, Pennsylvania; Samuel is a dentist; Carrie married Fred G. Spink of Hornell; Hobart is studying for a medical and surgical career at the University of Baltimore; Florence, Lovina, Clarence and Ward are members of their parents' household. As a citizen, Dr. Mitchell is public spirited and helpful to all worthy interests.
JUDGE MONROE WHEELER is not only known as one of the es- sentially representative legists and jurists of his native county, where he is now serving on the bench of the surrogate court, but he is also a scion of one of the old and distinguished families of Steuben county, where the family name is perpetuated in the town of Wheeler, where he was born on the 16th of August, 1849. Judge Wheeler is a son of Grattan H. and Nancy D. (Sayre) Wheeler, whose marriage was solemnized on the 30th of March, 1837. Grattan H. Wheeler was born in the town of Wheeler on the 12th of March, 1813, and was a grandson of Silas Wheeler, who served as a valiant soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution and who also took part in the war of 1812. Silas Wheeler was a native of Concord, Massachusetts, and he took up his residence in Steuben county, New York, about the year 1799. Here he purchased a tract of land in what is now the town of Wheeler and he. and his son, Grattan H., added to their landed estate from time to time until its area was more than four thou-
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sand acres. Silas Wheeler became the father of two daughters, who were twins, and one son, Grattan H. The son was nineteen years of age at the time when the family settled in the town of Wheeler and there be continued to reside until his death. In politics he was a stanch adherent of the Whig party and he was called upon to serve in offices of distinctive public trust, includ- ing that of representative in Congress and a member of the state legislature. He married Miss Frances Baker, of Cameron, this county, and they had three children,-Mrs. Sarah Brundage, Silas and Grattan H., Jr. Grattan H. Wheeler, Sr., died on the 11th of March, 1852, at the age of sixty-eight years, six months and sixteen days, and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest on the 22d of March, 1813, only ten days after the birth of her only son.
Grattan H. Wheeler, Jr., father of Judge Wheeler, was af- forded the advantages of the common schools of his day and he continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits in the township of Wheeler until December 9, 1857, when he removed to Hammondsport, this county, and engaged in the raising of grapes and the manufacturing of wine. He was one of the founders of the Pleasant Valley Wine Company, which built the first wine cellar in this section and which has long held wide reputation for the production of high-grade wines. He was president of the wine company for nine years and then established an individual cellar, which was known as the Hammondsport Wine Cellar and which continued to be operated under this title until 1880, when the title of Hammondsport Wine Company was adopted. He was the owner of a large and well improved landed estate and was a man who wielded much influence in local affairs while he so or- dered his course as to well merit the unqualified confidence and esteem so uniformly reposed in him. In politics he was originally a Whig but upon the organization of the Republican party he identified himself therewith, ever afterward continuing a stanch advocate of its principles and policies. He served one term as supervisor of Wheeler township and was at one time the candidate of his party for the state legislature. Grattan H. Wheeler, Jr., was summoned to eternal rest on the 10th of April, 1901, and his wife passed away on the 27th of May, 1889. They became the parents of ten children, of whom two sons and four daughters are now living.
The name of Grattan, which has been borne by various mem- bers of this old and honored family, has its origin according to the following record. Silas Wheeler was taken prisoner by the British after the historic "Boston tea-party," with which he was supposed to have been identified, and he was confined in Kinsale Castle, Ireland, from which he was assisted to escape by Lord Henry Grattan, who requested Mr. Wheeler to name his son in his honor. This name has been perpetuated in the various genera- tions.
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Judge Monroe Wheeler gained his preliminary educational training at Hammondsport Academy and later he took a partial course in the literary department of the famous University of Michigan. He then began the study of law, under the preceptor- ship of Honorable David B. Hill, later governor of New York, at Elmira, and thereafter he continued his technical studies under the direction of Hon. David Rumsey, of Bath, where for three years he was managing clerk for the law firm of Rumsey & Miller. In October, 1874, he was admitted to the bar and thereafter he was engaged in the active practice of his profession at Hammonds- port until 1906. He served as village attorney of Hammondsport and there he built up a very successful practice, in which he con- tinued until 1906, when he removed to Bath, establishing his home on Liberty street. In 1900 he was elected surrogate of Steuben county and upon the expiration of his first term, in 1906, he was elected as his own successor, his present term expiring in 1912. On the bench of this court Judge Wheeler has given a most able ad- ministration and he is one of the most prominent and influential representatives of his profession in his native county. He is a stockholder in the White Top Champagne Company, in which he formerly served as treasurer and a director, and he is the owner of valuable real-estate at Hammondsport and Bath, as well as in other sections of the county. He has been identified with the early development of aviation, being president of the Curtiss Ex- hibition Company, and he is general counsel for Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss, the famous aviator.
In politics Judge Wheeler is a stanch supporter of the princi- ples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he has done effective work in various campaigns. He is identified with several fraternal and social organizations of rep- resentative character and he holds a secure place in popular con- fidence and esteem.
In the year 1877 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Wheeler to Miss Emma White, a daughter of the late John White, of Cohocton, Steuben county, New York, and the two children of this union are David Rumsey and Harrison Sayre.
F. E. BARBOUR, M. D .- One of the most exacting of all the higher lines of occupation to which a man may lend his energies is that of a physician, but Dr. F. E. Barbour has gained distinction in the profession, and he is at the same time an earnest and dis- criminating student. His name has become widely known in con- nection with the Barbour Sanatorium at Wayland, one of the best known institutions of its kind in this part of the state. Dr. Bar- bour has been practicing medicine in Wayland since 1901, and it was in that year also that he established the Barbour Sanatorium. He is a graduate of both the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York, and of the Eclectic College at Lima, Ohio, in 1903, and he has been associated with the practice of medicine for nineteen years.
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Dr. Barbour was born at Springwater in Livingston county, New York, in 1855, and his early educational training was ac- quired in the district school near his boyhood's home. Jerrod and Sarah J. (Langdon) Barbour, his parents, were farming people, the father a native of Livingston county and the mother of Elmira in Chemung county, New York, and their family numbered the following children: Jerrod A., living in Jamestown, New York; Charles A., of Van Buren county, Michigan; and F. E. Dr. F. E. Barbour in addition to his large professional interests in Way- land also maintains an office in Rochester, which he endeavors to visit once a week. He has attained special recognition for his skill in the treatment of cancers, all female diseases of a chronic nature and in all sanatorium work, and he is not only skilful in the treatment of diseases, but he possesses an attractive personality and commands the respect of all who know him. As a physician he enjoys high honors.
Dr. Barbour in 1876 was married to Miss Libby B. Bray, and the five children born to them are: Allie A .; Sarah E., Mrs. Goodno, and Maude, twins, the latter a trained nurse in Rochester; Minnie, Mrs. Sturner, whose husband occupies a professorship in an educational institution in Rushford; and Hollis D. Barbour, of Buffalo, New York.
THOMAS L. NORTON is numbered among the successful farmers of Wayland township, where he owns and conducts a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty-two acres east of the village of Way- land. He has owned this place since 1905, and since then he has made vast improvements in clearing, draining and cultivating and in beautifying the buildings. He makes a specialty of the raising of celery and lettuce, his average crop being twenty car loads of the latter commodity and ten cars of celery, and he is also giving some attention to the production of spinach. During the summer months he furnishes employment to eight men, and two or three are given constant employment. Mr. Norton has one hundred acres of muck land under cultivation, and each year he adds to the value of his farm and to his acreage for cultivation. His products are sent to all parts of his own state and to adjacent ones, and the superiority of his products insures a ready market.
Mr. Norton was born in Ontario county, New York, at East Bloomfield, in 1881, and he was educated in the public schools there and in the Rochester Business College. For some time he was in the produce business with his father in Ontario county. He is a son of Isaac and Nellie (Stoddard) Norton, and their only heir. He married Miss Hazel E. Newman, from Canandaigua, New York, in 1903, and their four children are Oscar E., Virginia J., Betty S. and Robert. I.
JAMES EMANUEL SCHWARZENBACH is a leader among the busi- ness men of Hornell, New York, where he resides. He is a native of Germania, Potter county, Pennsylvania, born March 26, 1868, a
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son of Joseph Schwarzenbach, who was a marble carver and came to the United States from Bavaria, Germany, in 1853. He was only for a short time in New York city after arriving from his native land, but went to Washington, D. C., where he was en- gaged as a contractor in marble carving on the National Capitol building, and came north to Germania, Pennsylvania, in 1857 where he engaged in the brewing industry, which for fifty-three years has been perpetuated by himself and his three sons. The father was married to Louisa Seebald, who was also of German birth. The mother died in her fifty-fifth year, while the father lived to be sixty-nine.
Of the nine children of Joseph and Louisa (Seebald) Schwar- zenbach all but two grew to manhood and womanhood, James E., the youngest of the family now living, was educated in the pub- lic schools at Germania, Pennsylvania, also had private tutors in the German and English languages, and later received a business education at Detroit, Michigan. When a young man he interested himself in lumbering and various other enterprises with successful results. He was one of the organizers and stockholders of the First National Bank of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, and in 1895 lo- cated in Hornell, New York, where he with his brothers Roland and Herman Schwarzenbach built the new plant of the Schwarzen- bach Brewing Company, and in 1900 erected a new brewery at Galeton, Pennsylvania, these two breweries later consolidated, in- corporated for three hundred thousand dollars (par) and Mr. Schwarzenbach has held the position as its president since. He is a director in the Bank of Steuben and was for seven years secretary and treasurer of the Hornell Telephone Company ; he is a director in the Agricultural Fair Association of Hornell, was most prominent in connection with the construction of the Hornell Maennerchor Hall and is a director of the association at the present time. Mr. Schwarzenbach is a stockholder in the Hornell and Bath Interurban Electric Railway, is now serving his second four-year term as a member of the Board of Public Works of the city of Hornell, is a director of the Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Good Roads Committee. It was largely due to his personal efforts that the three public play grounds for children were established in his home city and he has been most prominently identified with other important public movements.
In his political alliances he is a Democrat; in 1893 he was a candidate for office of representative in the state legislature and ran far ahead of his ticket, especially in his home city, where he was best known. He is now serving his third term as a member of the Democratic State Committee, and in 1908 was appointed as one of the "Big Four" alternate delegates at large to repre- sent the Empire state at its national convention at Denver, Colo- rado, which was a distinguished honor for a comparatively young man from an interior town. He was a commissioner in connec- tion with the Hudson-Fulton celebration, and acted with Pro- fessor Schurmann of Cornell University and other leading men
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of New York state in connection with this state affair. He is pres- ident of the New York and Pennsylvania Bottlers' Association, and was recently selected as one of the Committee of Patrons of the Second International Brewers' Congress and True Temperance Conference to be held in Chicago in October, 1911. In his society affiliations he is a Mason, an Elk and an Eagle.
On May 7, 1900, Mr. Schwarzenbach married Miss Marie S. Zieger, daughter of Louise Zieger, of Hornell, New York. She has borne him two children, Norman Robert and Helen Lois.
Mr. Schwarzenbach is a recognized friend of organized labor, and in Steuben county from the northern to the southern boundary, and from its eastern to its western borders, there is not probably a man of broader or more generous and spontaneous public spirit than Mr. Schwarzenbach. He has the interests of the county and his city close to his heart at all times and there is nothing that he can do to advance them that he does not perform with a prompt gladness that makes it a pleasure to appeal to him.
ROBERT JAMES MAGILL .- Prominent among the leading citizens of Bath, Steuben county, is Robert James MaGill, who has been identified with the agricultural and industrial interests of this section of New York during his active career, and is now rendering excellent service to his fellow-men as school commissioner. A native of Bath township he was born June 13, 1872, a son of the late Alexander MaGill.
Born in Ireland, Alexander MaGill came to America when young, locating in the Empire state. During the Civil war he en- listed in Company H, One Hundred and Forty-first New York Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the conflict. Settling then in Steuben county, he was engaged in general farming in Bath township until his death, February 2, 1893, at the age of fifty-nine years. He married Esther White, a daughter of James and Mary Ann (Dobbin) White, natives of Ireland, who came after their marriage to America and settled on the White homestead in Howard township. Three children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander MaGill, namely: Mary Elizabeth, who mar- ried Charles Brewer, died in Bath leaving one child, Willis M. Brewer, who was born July 1, 1892, and since the death of his mother has lived with his uncle, Robert J. MaGill; Sarah, who died unmarried; and Robert J.
Robert J. MaGill attended the Bath High School, completing his course in 1889. During the following four years he taught school during the winter terms, being engaged in farming during seed time and harvest, and for the next four years taught the year through. He was afterwards for three years engaged in the coal business in Bath, being in partnership with W. D. Garrison. He then served two years as town collector, at the expiration of his term resuming the coal business, with his late partner as manager, continning until 1907. In that year Mr. MaGill had the honor of being elected town clerk of Bath, the first Democrat elected
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