USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
continuously in that capacity ever since. He has discharged the many and varied duties of his office in such a manner as to be acceptable to bench and bar, and all with whom he has been brought into contact by the prosecution of his stenographic work. He is a democrat in political affairs, but gives his time principally to his profession, for which he carefully prepared himself. He is a member and a past master of Niag- ara Lodge, No. 375, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Lockport Council, No. 307, Royal Arcanum.
On July 5, 1883, he united in marriage with Mary A. Phalon, daughter of James Phalon, of Lockport. To their union has been born one child, a daughter, Bessie, who was born May 5, 1884.
C HARLES L. DOLE, the leading and most enterprising florist of Lockport, is a son of Daniel E. and Mary E. (Lane) Dole, and was born in the city of Lockport, Niagara county, New York, on Christmas day, 1859. His paternal grandfather, Isaac Dole, was a native of New Hampshire and came to Lockport, where he started the first line of stages which ran through Lock- port from Buffalo to Rochester, New York. He died in 1851, aged sixty-three years. His son, Daniel E. (father), was born in the "Granite State," in 1813, and came, in 1833, to Lockport, where he died August 30, 1888. He succeeded his father in the proprietor- ship of the stage line of the latter, and conducted it successfully until the advent of the railroads sounded the death-knell of pikes and stage coaches. He next engaged in the mercantile business, and ranked as one of the leading dry goods dealers of Lockport until 1858, when he retired from
259
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
active business. He was a public-spirited man, a republican in politics, and owned a large amount of valuable property. His widow, whose maiden name was Mary E. Lane, is a native of Middleport, and has been for several years a meniber of Grace Protestant Episcopal church, besides being a charter-member of the Protestant Episcopal society of Lockport.
Charles L. Dole attended the Lockport Union school, and then served an appren- ticeship of three years under an experienced florist. At the end of his term as an ap- prentice he established his present green- houses and store in Lockport.
September 12, 1889, he united in mar- riage with Elizabeth L., danghter of W. J. Jackman, proprietor of the Niagara hotel of this city.
Charles L. Dole is a member of Grace Protestant Episcopal church, the Sexennial League, and Lockport Council, No. 307, Royal Arcanum. He is a republican in poli- tics. His floral stands and office are located at No. 279 West Main street. He has the largest green-houses in the city. His growths of choice foliage and flowering plants are unequaled in the city, while his green-houses are kept in beautiful order and the highest state of cultivation. He always has a choice and seasonable stock of cut flowers and beautiful plants, especially adapted for decorative purposes. Mr. Dole is a pleasant and agreeable young business man, who resides in one of the most beau- tiful homes of the progressive city of Lock- port.
C APTAIN SELDEN E. GRAVES, a
member of the Niagara county bar in well established practice at Lockport, is a son of Nelson A. and Maria (Beach ) Graves,
and was born in the village of Albion, Or- leans county, New York, November 11, 1845. The Graves family is traced back to a Graves who was one of the "Sea Kings" of Norway, whose nanies were so terrible to the inhabitants along the shore of Eng- land, which they ravaged so frequently with fire and sword. Selden E. Graves is fourth in descent from a Graves who held a commission in the American army during the Revolutionary war, and whose son, Rev. Selden S. Graves (grandfather) was born in the town of Fairfield, Connecticut. He was a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died at his home, near Rochester, New York, at the advanced age of ninety years. One of his children was Hon. Nelson A. Graves, who was born near Rochester, in Monroe county, in 1812. He read law, was admitted to the bar, and was a partner of his uncle, Gideon Hard, at Albion, New York, for nearly twenty years. He was then elected surrogate of Orleans county, which office he held for several years. He was killed in a collision of two trains on the railway, near Rochester, in 1889. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and served as the attor- ney of the Genesee conference of his church in their troubles with the Free Methodists. His practice was chiefly devoted to real es- tate transactions, and in politics successively a democrat and a republican. He married Maria Beach, a native of near Rochester, New York, and a methodist, and who died in 1884, at the age of sixty-four years. She was a daughter of Elias Beach (maternal grandfather), a native of Connecticut, and a pioneer settler of Monroe county, where he owned a large tract of land in the town of Greece. He was an architect and builder by profession, dealt largely in real estate,
260
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and owned several fine bodies of land in Michigan. He removed in 1859 to Albion, where he died in 1879, aged eighty years. He was a very prominent frec mason in his day, and had a family of thirteen children. His widow, who is of German descent, has passed her ninety-ninth mile-stone on the pathway of life, and can work as rap- idly as most persons her junior in age by fifty years.
Selden E. Graves passsd his boyhood years in the town of Albion, where he at- tended the public schools. He entered Williams college, Massachusetts, and was graduated from that institution of learning in 1863, at twenty years of age. Return- ing home from college he commenced to read law with his father and Judge Church, of Albion, but left his legal studies in the spring of 1865 to recruit Company K, 8th New York cavalry, of which he was com- missioned captain, on April 13th of that year. He was in command of this company until the close of the war, then returned home, where he completed his law studies, and was admitted to practice in Buffalo, New York, in 1867. In the same year he commenced practice at Albion, but soon made an agreement with his father to take charge of a large tract of land which the latter owned in this county, and accordingly came to the town of Pendleton, where he started a sheep ranch on his father's land and where he also served as a justice of the peace. In 1885 he retired from agricultural pursuits and came to Lockport, where he resumed the active practice of his profes- sion, which he has continued ever since.
February 1, 1871, he married Jennie E., daughter of William H. Canfield, of Ham- burg, Erie county. Captain and Mrs. Sel- den E. Graves have four children, one son
and three daughters: Elna L., Edith C., Clara B., and Frank.
In . political sentiment Mr. Graves has always been an active democrat of the Jef- fersonian school, who believes in an eco- nomic as well as an honest administration of the government in all of its branches. He is a member of Columbia Lodge, No. 20, Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is also a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, in which he has passed through Lodge and the A. A. Scottish Rite up to the rank of a sixteenth degree mason.
H ORATIO KILBORNE, of the firm of H. Kilborne & Son, of Lockport, who represent substantial and leading fire insurance companies, is a son of Truman and Deborah (Cushman) Kilborne, and was born in the town of Burlington, Otsego county, New York, January 21, 1821. The Kilborne family is of English descent, and was among the titled nobility of the realm. It traces its ancestry back for seven hun- dred years in English history. One of its dis- tinguished members was the Baron Kilborne, who once entertained King John at his hunting scat. A branch of this family was founded in New England at an early day in its history, and one of its descendants was Truman Kilborne, who was a native of Litch- field, Connecticut, and removed about 1800 to Otsego county, which he left thirty-seven years later to become a resident of Lock- port, in which he died in 1873, aged ninety- four years. He was in the mercantile busi- ness in Otsego county, but after coming to this county engaged in farming, which he followed actively until a few years before his death. He served as warden in the Protestant Episcopal church for over thirty
=
261
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
years, and aeted for thirty years consecu- tively as postmaster at Burlington, Otsego county, under different political administra- tions, although an unswerving whig. Ile married Deborah Cushman, a member of the Presbyterian church and a lineal descendant of "Elder Cushman," who came to New England in the ship Fortune the next spring after the Mayflower had dropped her anchors at Plymouth Rock.
Horatio Kilborne, at sixteen years of age, in 1837, came with his father to Lockport. He received his education in the district schools of Burlington and Lockport, and was variously engaged until about 1851, when he engaged in his present fire insur- ance business. A few years ago he associ- ated his son, William H., with him under the present firm name of H. Kilborne & Son.
On May 29, 1845, he married Cordelia, daughter of W. Lattin, of Lockport. They have three children : Allerton W., Charles T., and William H. Allerton W. and Charles T. are bankers and brokers in New York eity, where the one does business on Wall street, and the other on Broad; while William H. is associated with his father in the fire insurance business.
Horatio Kilborne is a pleasant and eourt- eous gentleman, as well as a straightforward business man, and represents companies which afford every element of security, as well as reasonable rates of insurance to the publie. Sinee ten years of age Mr. Kilborne has been a member of the Presbyterian church, of which all his family are members. He became an Odd Fellow forty-four years ago, is at present a member of Constellation Lodge, No. 184, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Loekport, in which he has filled every office from outside guardian to noble grand, and has been a member of the State
Grand Lodge and Eneampment. He also holds membership in the Odd Fellows Vet- eran Association, of New York city. He is a strong democrat, served five years succes- sively as a member of the board of super- visors, one year of which time he was chair- man. In educational matters Mr. Kilborne has always taken a deep interest and an ac- tive part. He was for six years a member of the board of education of Lockport.
W ALTER J. LEAKE, one of the young and progressive dentists of Loekport, is a son of Rev. Robert N. and Margaret (Morgan) Leake, and was born in the town of Williamsville, New York, November 20, 1863. Rev. Robert N. Leake was born near London, England, in 1833, and at sixteen years of age came to this country, where he has resided ever since. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and con- ference, and married Margaret Morgan, who was born and reared near the world's me- tropolis in the west of England.
Walter J. Leake grew to manhood in western New York, received his education in the public schools of this State, and in 1883 commeneed the study of dentistry with the late Dr. Charles Watts, of Loek- port. After completing his full course of reading and practice work in 1888, he en- tered the dental department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated during the year of '89. He then entered into partnership with his pre- ceptor, Dr. Watts, under the firm name of Watts & Leake. This partnership continued until the death of Dr. Watts, which occurred May 20, 1891. Since then Dr. Leake las continued in active practice without any partner. IIe has watched closely the rapid
17
262
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
advance of his profession within the last decade, and has made himself acquainted with all its improvements and late invented apparatus. He is rather neutral in political matters, with a tendency towards supporting the temperance cause. Dr. Lcake is a member, chorister, and recording steward of the Methodist Episcopal church of Lock- port, in whose Sunday school he is a teacher and active worker. He is also a member of the quarterly conference of his church, and of the Empire Knights of Relief, and Masons.
On May 29, 1890, he married Adaline II., daughter of Edmund Voke, of Lockport. Dr. and Mrs. Leake have one child, a son, named Robert Edmund.
H ON. WALTER P. HORNE, a popular
host of Suspension Bridge, and an ex- member of the State assembly, is a son of John and Eunice (Roberts) Horne, and was born at Brighton (now included in the city of Boston), Massachusetts, on April 20, 1849. His grandfather, Samuel Horne, was born on the Isle of Shoals, in Portsmouth harbor, New Hampshire, in 1797, and moved to Dover, New Hampshire, while young, where he lived until his death. He owned a large farm and accumulated considerable property. He married, and reared a family of one son and three daughters. His only son, John Horne (father), was born at Dover in March, 1817, and removed to Brighton, Massachu- setts, where he died in 1861, at the age of forty-four. He was a stone-mason by occu- pation, and in politics a Douglas democrat. He married Eunice Roberts in 1841, and had a family of five children, four of whom are still living.
Walter P. Horne was educated in the common schools of Massachusetts, and at
the age of seventeen he removed from Brighton and located at Suspension Bridge, New York, where for two years he was employed at the New York Central stock yards, and in 1868 in a meat market at Suspension Bridge, which he conducted for two years, after which he engaged in the flour and feed business. He returned to Boston in 1873, and for a couple of years did business in the Fanucil Hall market of that city, after which he became clerk in the Western hotel at Suspension Bridge, a position he held for five years, and which he resigned to go to Kansas City, Missouri, and accept the charge of a dining car on the Chicago & Alton railroad. In 1881 he resigned this position, and returning to Suspension Bridge, purchased the Western hotel, of which he is now sole owner and proprietor.
On December 24, 1874, he was united by marriage to Emma E. Atwood, and to them have been born four daughters : Eunice J., Florence E., Amiee E., and Clara E.
In politics Mr. Horne is a democrat, and while in no sense an aspirant for office, he has frequently been called on to serve the public in responsible positions. He was treasurer and collector of Suspension Bridge for two years, and served as president of the water works three years, holding a like position in the board of education now for six years. In 1884 he was elected as a member of the State assembly from Niagara county, and served one term, with satisfac- tion to his constituents and honor to himself.
W ILLIAM E. JENNEY, one of Lock- port's enterprising, successful, and in- fluential business men, was a son of Justice and Lucy (Wicker) Jenney, and was born
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
263
1
in Lockport, Niagara county, New York, August 9, 1830. He came of good, sturdy stock, his English ancestry on one side being traced back to the landing of the Pil- grims at Plymouth Rock, in 1620. Justice Jenney and his wife, Lucy ( Wicker ) Jen- ney, were both natives of Hardwicke, Massa- chusetts, where they were married on De- cember 8, 1810. In 1813 they came to Lockport, where they remained until 1833, when they removed to Akron, Ohio. Jus- tice Jenney was a carpenter and contractor, and died February 18, 1850, aged sixty-two years; but his widow lived sixteen years longer, when, on April 5, 1866, she received her summons at the advanced age of seventy- six years. They reared a family of eleven children, of whom but one daughter and the eldest child, is now living: Mrs. Jane Flint, of Lockport, who is quite active for her eighty-one years of life.
William E. Jenney was reared and edu- cated in Lockport, where, at a suitable age, he went into business for himself. He was identified and connected with various com- mercial enterprises, in which he was suc- cessful, and in 1887 founded the crockery house of Hill & Jenney. Three years later he purchased Mr. Hill's interest, and asso- ciated with himself his son, William E., under the firmn name of William E. Jenney & Son. This partnership continued until the death of Mr. Jenney, on April 1, 1891. During his lifetime he had been prominently identified with various fire, military, and fraternal organizations. He entered Rescue Engine company as a torch-boy, and when the hook and ladder company was formed, in 1863, he was elected as assistant foreman. He afterwards served six years as foreman, and two years as chief engineer. He was a member of the Lockport Light Dragoons, in
which he was made first corporal in 1857, and was also a member of Company K, 66th regiment, New York militia, which he en- tered as a private, and was elected in 1857 as second sergeant. He was a member of Grace Protestant Episcopal church, in which he became a vestryman March 29, 1867, and served as clerk of the vestry from April 23, 1873, until his death in 1891. He was a member of the Knights of Honor, the An- cient Order of United Workmen, the Masonic fraternity, the Sexennial League, and sev- eral others, in all of which he held various appointed and elective offices.
William E. Jenney, as a church member, never shirked any duty that devolved upon him, and conducted himself throughout life so as always to enjoy the respect of his com- munity. He was of a genial nature, and cheered social life by his hopefulness, while he was a hater of injustice, and keenly sym- pathetic. When he died, the different societies of which he was a member passed resolutions of respect to his memory, and his remains were interred with appropriate ceremonies. Ever faithful as a friend, and . always honest in business, he left a wide circle of friends to regret his loss.
William E. Jenney, Jr., grew to manhood in Lockport, received his education in the public schools, and then engaged in business with his father. Since his father's death he has been conducting the business with his brother-in-law, H. B. Claflin, under the firm name of "The Jenney Company." Their establishment is at No. 44 Main street, where Mr. Jenney employs three salesmen, and his assortment comprises full lines of crockery, china, and glassware. Much of his rare and valuable ware is of direct importation, and he makes a special feature of stock patterns, known as the Schonbrun and Tournay.
264
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
His building is a three-story brick, 30 x 80 fect in dimensions, handsomely fitted up, and carefully arranged in every department. He is a democrat, and a member of Grace Protestant Episcopal church. He is also a member of Protection hook and ladder com- pany, and takes an active part in promoting all measures for the protection of Lockport from the fury of the flames.
E. ASHLEY SMITH, one of the prom- inent business men of Lockport and western New York, is one of those who has slowly but steadily increased the field of their business and been successful in each new enterprise undertaken. He is a son of Wil- liam C. and Mary (Newell) Smith, and was born in Rochester, New York, September 10, 1832. His paternal grandfather, Smith, lived to reach the advanced age of ninety years. He was a native of West Spring- field, Massachussetts, served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and followed farming as an occupation in life. His son, William C. . Smith (father), removed from West Spring- field in 1822 to Rochester, New York, where he was engaged in the grocery bus- iness with an older brother until 1837, when he came to the town of Royalton, in which he resided up to the spring of 1867. Hc then removed to the city of Lockport, where he died of heart disease in 1876, aged sev- enty-three years. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church, and held several political offices while residing in Rochester, but refused to accept any office after coming to Niagara county. He was a strong repub- lican, was well read on all public matters, and for years had been an intimate friend of Thurlow Weed, of whom he was a great admirer. He married Mary Newell, who
still survives him, and although now in her eighty-fifth year is still quite active and re- markably well preserved for her years. She is a Presbyterian in religious belief, and her family is descended from one of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Her brother, Hon. Franklin Newell, who died in Lockport in 1890, aged cighty-six years, had served as a member in the legislatures of Massachu- setts and Wisconsin.
E. Ashley Smith spent his boyhood days on a farm in the town of Royalton. He received his education in the public schools and an academy of Livingston county. In 1856 he went to the city of Rochester, where he was engaged for three years in the mercantile business, which he left to em- bark in farming and fruit growing on a farm that he had purchased in the town of Royalton. After twenty-one years of as- siduous and successful attention to agricul- tural pursuits and fruit culture, he removed, in 1880, to Lockport, of which he has been a resident ever since. After removing to the city he became actively interested in the grapevine nursery business. He was the originator and is now secretary and treas- urer of the Niagara White Grape Company, which was incorporated with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars, and owns over five thousand acres of the different varieties of the Niagara grape. Within the last ten years the sphere of his business has rapidly widened until it embraces var- ions lines in different fields, all of which receive his personal supervision. He is one of the heavy stockholders in the Holly Manufacturing Company, and the Niagara County bank, besides being a trustee of the F. and A. M. bank. Positions of respon- sibility have been given him and duties of importance have devolved upon him, for
-
E. ashley Smiths
265
OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
the successful manufacturer, financier and producer, by the very nature and extent of his large enterprises, occupies prominent positions and must discharge many and varied duties. Mr. Smith has always been equal to any and every position which he has occupied, while he has been faithful to every duty that has come to him as a citi- zen or as a business man.
He is a republican in politics, while in religion he holds to the faith of the Pres- byterian church, and is a member of the First church of that denomination in Lock- port. He has been an elder since 1874, has served successively as the superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday school- of Middle- port and Lockport, and has always taken a deep interest in religious work. He is pleasant and courteous, active and energetic, and prompt and reliable.
R DEV. MATTHEW J. DARCY, a pleas-
ant, courteous, and scholarly gentle- man, is the energetic and efficient pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic church, of Lockport. He was born in County Tip- perary, Ireland, February 20, 1844, and is a son of Daniel and Joanna (MeGrath ) Darcy. His parents were both natives of county Tipperary, where his father was a farmer, and where he died at the age of forty-two years, and where his mother continued to reside until her death in 1883, at four-score years.
Matthew J. Darcy was reared in his native county until he was twenty years of age, and then came to New York. where he landed August 16, 1864. He attended the private schools of Ireland, where he took a full classical course, and after coming to this State, entered the seminary then called
Our Lady of Angels, now known as the Niagara university, which is situated in this county, near the Suspension bridge. Upon completing his literary studies and theo- logical course at this seminary he was graduated and ordained priest.
His first assignment to pastoral duties was at Bath, in Steuben county, where he had charge of four churches. After five and one- half years of continuous and efficient service, he was called, in 1876, from that extensive field of labor and given charge of his present congregation -the church of St. John the Baptist, of Lockport. The parish of St. John the Baptist was organized in 1834, and has been served ever since by different fathers, and some time prior to the centen- nial year, a neat stone church edifice had been erected and comfortably furnished.
When Rev. Darcy assumed charge of the parish he planned out an extensive field of work for the mental benefit, moral improve- ment, and spiritual advancement of his peo- ple. He has carried forward his conceived work with praiseworthy energy and good success. He secured, by persistent labor, the necessary means to enlarge and improve the church, and to erect a fine stone resi- dence and a tasteful and thoroughly equipped school house, in which a promising parochial school is being conducted by the Sisters of St. Mary. He has increased the member- ship of his church until it now numbers eighteen hundred. His labors have been duly appreciated, while the wide circle of his friends extend far beyond the membership of his own church and inchide many in the various Protestant denominations existing in Lockport and its vicinity. He is a per- sistent worker, who never tires in a good cause or wearies in carrying forward to sue- cessful completion any needed improvement.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.