Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 10

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review
Number of Pages: 1256

USA > New York > Wyoming County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 10
USA > New York > Livingston County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 10

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John Blum was educated at the common schools of Germany, and left the parental roof at the age of sixteen. He learned the trade of a shoemaker, and worked in factories in Switz- erland, Austria, and other countries. In 1851, a few years after his marriage, he left his wife and two children, and started for the New World. Arriving in New York City, he ob- tained employment at 648 Broadway, where he remained about six months, having then the misfortune of losing his wages. Not finding further employment in that city, he was com- pelled through lack of resources to walk to Albany. From there he went to Utica, and thence to Hampton, Oneida County, where he worked in a shoe-shop for a short time. A year or two later he sent the necessary means to Germany for his family to join him in America. After plying his trade in various places, he obtained a position as foreman in a shoe factory at Nunda. There he worked diligently for five years, and in 1859 removed to Dansville, where he established a small shoe-shop of his own. He lived a careful and moral life, obtained the respect and friendship of his fellow-townsmen, and increased steadily in prosperity until his business became large and lucrative. In 1886 he obtained patents upon the special line of goods he manufactures, and at the present time he employs several travelling salesmen. His factory in Dansville furnishes constant employment to from forty to fifty hands. He is assisted in business by three of his sons, who attend to both the fac-

tory and salesroom. Their retail store is situ- ated on Main Street, and is filled with a most complete and varied stock of footwear, includ- ing Mr. Blum's own specialty, known as "Home Comfort " shoes.

The maiden name of Mr. Blum's first wife, whom he married in Germany in 1848, was Euphrosyne Beeler; and she had nine chil- dren - John B., Joseph C., Anthony, Barbara, Daniel, Frank J., Philip, Lizzie, and Catherine. John B. was in the United States army, and died from disability, at the age of thirty-eight years. Joseph C. married Ida Roach, and is now living in Pennsylvania, a salesman for a New York shoe house. He has eight children - Ida May, Joseph, Gertrude, Rosa, Charles, Edward, Eugene, and Leon. Anthony married Barbara Jackson, is a stock-raiser in Texas, and has two children - Lantie and Barbara. Barbara married Jacob F. Schubmehl, and died in 1886. Daniel married Mary Mundig, of Wayland, and has three children - Euphro- syne, Raymond, and Walter. Daniel is with his father in the retail department. Frank J., who is also in the firm, married Molly Roach, of Pennsylvania; and they have one son named John. Philip E. is a graduate of the Dans- ville Seminary, and has been a boot and shoe dealer in the West, but is now with his father. Lizzie is still at home. Catherine is the wife of Louis Sauerbier, and lives in Jersey City, N. J. At present the firm consists of the elder Blum and his sons, Frank, Philip, and Daniel. All of Mr. Blum's children, with the excep- tion of John and Joseph, were born in Amer- ica. His first wife dying in 1865, Mr. Blum married Gertrude Nientimp, a native of Ger- many, and by her he had one child, Christina, now deceased, who was the wife of Frank Schubmachl.

Mr. Blum is a member of the St. Boni- facius Society, and his sons are connected with the E. O. K. of R., the C. R. & B. A., also the C. M. B. A., and the Protective Fire Company, having held offices, one as Treas- urer, and another as Chaplain. Mr. Blum has been for many years a Master of the vil- lage, and also Overseer of the Poor. He is a charter member of the Canaseraga Fire Com- pany of Dansville. He is a Democrat in poli-

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

tics, and he and his family are connected with the German church. He has been Secretary and Treasurer, and is now Master, of the church society. Mr. Blum has labored dili- gently; and he not only enjoys extreme busi- ness prosperity, but also the respect and esteem of his fellow-townsmen, and with his family occupies a very high position in the community.

OHN HUGH McNAUGHTON, author of " Onnalinda," a metrical romance, was born in Caledonia, Livingston County, N. Y., July 1, 1829. His father, John McNaughton, who was a native of Perthshire, Scotland, emigrated to America in January, 1826. Accompanied by his wife and five children, he came to Livingston County, where he purchased a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. He died at the age of eighty years.

The elder McNaughton was married, when in Scotland, to Margaret Cameron, also a native of Perthshire. She survived her husband ten years, and lived to be eighty years old. Their children were six in number - Ann, Margaret, Catherine, Jane, Donald, and John H. John Hugh McNaughton was the youngest child. He attended the home school until sufficiently advanced for entrance to the old Temple Hill Academy; and from there he went to the acad- emy at Riga, where the educational facilities were considered to be of a superior kind. In 1851 he was married to Miss Katherine Chris- tie, daughter of Hugh and Mary (Cameron) Christie; and they had two daughters - Dora and Stella. Dora became the wife of W. J. Byam, a native of Canada, and is now a widow with three children - John Hugh, George Lyt- ton, and Helen Katherine. Mr. W. J. Byam was a son of the Rev. George F. and Maria (Pike) Byam. He received his education at Toronto University and the Canadian Military College. After this he studied law with Will- iam F. Coggswell, of Rochester, N. Y., was admitted to the bar in 1877, and for a number of years was in practice in Caledonia. In 1891 he removed to Niagara Falls, where he

became the first city attorney. He died at Niagara Falls, September 26, 1894.

Mrs. Katherine Christie McNaughton is still living in Caledonia. Mr. John HI. McNaugh- ton died at his home in Caledonia, December, 1891, at the age of sixty-two years. His ill- ness was brief, and seldom has such a light gone out from any community as when his departed.

John Hugh McNaughton, a writer of charm- ing songs in a setting of equally charming music, began in his earlier years when at school to express his thoughts in verse, giving evidence of real poetic talent, perhaps de- scended to him through his mother from her native Scottish heaths. As he grew older, he continued to use his pen, largely but not wholly in imaginative composition. Mr. Mc- Naughton's home was situated on a winding road, quite retired, among maples and ever- greens in the beautiful Genesee valley; and from this secluded retreat he sent out his first considerable literary work, a "Treatise on Music. " It was a subject on which he was qualified to write, as he was conversant with several musical instruments, and had already contributed papers on harmony and kindred themes to foreign and American journals. Mr. McNaughton also contributed other papers to the leading reviews, one of which, as note- worthy, may be mentioned, "The Red Man," printed in the Nineteenth Century, in May, 1885, which attracted much attention. Some of his sheet music songs have won remarkable success, as many as four hundred and fifty thousand having been published, of these five, "Faded Coat of Blue, " "Belle Mahone," "Jamie 'True," "As we went a-haying, " and "Love at Home." Twelve songs in book form, with music by the celebrated composer, Virginia Gabriel, were published simultane- ously in London and New York.

Mr. McNaughton's first collection of poems was issued under the attractive title, "Babble Brook Songs," in 1864. It is of this book that the beloved New England poet, Henry W. Longfellow, wrote in a since published letter: "Your poems have touched me very much. Tears fell down my cheeks as I read them. " But his most noted work is the met-

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

rical romance which bears the title of "Onna- linda," and which discloses his power of delineation of character, his scope of fancy, and his deep love of nature. The book is full of interest to its closing page. Its scenes are laid in the early times when the Indian walked the same sod for which the English and French contended, regardless of the original land- owner's rights and feelings. The Genesee valley was the locality of battle in those his- toric times, and naturally of stratagems, plots, and many exciting adventures and escapes. With some of these the poet has woven a fas- cinating love tale in verse, which compels the reader's attention to the happy and peace- ful conclusion. From the English across the sea recognition of his work came to the gifted author while he was alive to know it. Many letters were received by him, some of which have been published, among them an autograph one from Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith), one also from John Bright, besides a great number of highly complimentary reviews in the chief journals of London and America. Lord Lyt- ton speaks of "the captivating power of the story " as "holding the attention alert through its two hundred and thirty pages to the end." The success of "Onnalinda " in this country was great, but in England, where it had up- ward of four thousand subscribers, was phe- nomenal. The poem passed through seven editions, making a total of thirty thousand five hundred copies; and after these an eighth edi- tion of ten thousand copies was issued in Sep- tember, 1890.

At the celebration of the Geneseo Centen- nial, on September 11, 1890, Mr. McNaugh- ton read a characteristic poem from his own pen, entitled "Red Jacket," dealing with one of his favorite themes. At the time of the poet's passing, the Livingston Democrat, Rochester Herald, and other journals gave feeling tributes to his life and works, not for- getting to allude to the "halo of beauty and romance " he has thrown around the Genesee valley, "such as Scott gave to the Scottish border and Irving to the shores of the Tappan Zee." It is not given to all men to leave me- morials behind them; but the gifted author of "Belle Mahone " and the "Door Ajar" could

ask no better way to be remembered than in those touching stanzas which, from their very simplicity and tenderness, will never be for- gotten, but be sung at the fireside and repeated in the night watches.

. ELLSWORTH WRIGHT, the suc- cessful foreman of the Mount Morris Enterprise, was born in Holly, Oak- land County, Mich., January 21, 1863, and is the only son of Phiseria A. Wright. Having obtained his education in the public schools of Mount Morris, he began when a young man to earn his own living, taking the first step of his career by entering the printing- office of the Union and Constitution, where he worked for a year and a half. Then for a num- ber of years he worked at various kinds of labor, finally returning to the office where he was for- merly engaged, the name of the paper having been changed to the Union. There he had re- mained for eight months, when in April, 1889, he entered the office of the Enterprise, where he has since been continuously engaged, three years ago having been promoted on account of his experience and business ability to the position of foreman, filling the position with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his employer. In December, 1889, he married Anna Brennan, of Moscow, Livingston County.

Mr. Wright belongs to the Republican party, and is a member of several secret societies, where, as a proof of the respect and esteem in which he is held by all his associates, he has been chosen to fill many of the higher offices, among them being that of Secretary of Bel- wood Lodge, No. 315, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which he held for three con- secutive terms, and Secretary of Alert Council, No. 25, E. K. O. R., which, as a charter mem- ber, he has held since its organization: he is also a member of Royal Legion, No. 40, S. K.

Nature has bounteously bestowed upon Mr. Wright various talents, which he has not neg- lected to cultivate. Hence he has been emi- nently successful in his various undertakings. In music he is unusually skilled, being able to play nearly all the various instruments of the profession. He is Secretary and Treasurer of

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

the Mount Morris Cornet Band, and at the present time is playing solo barytone. He is also a mechanical genius, thoroughly under- standing all the different kinds of machinery, and is a very successful photographer, many of his views appearing in such papers as the Rider and Driver of New York, Scribner's Magasine, the Buffalo Illustrated Express, and the Rochester Union and Advertiser.

The Rochester Post Express, in a recent article, had this to say of Mr. Wright : "Dur- ing the past summer and autumn he has at- tended the horse shows and fox hunts, and made a specialty of photographing horses and other objects while they are running at a high rate of speed. In this he was successful be- yond his own expectations. In making his photographs of jumping horses and other fast- moving objects, Mr. Wright uses a shutter of his own invention. "

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LIAS HI. GEIGER, a large landed pro- prietor and extensive lumber dealer of Livingston County, New York, whose recent death, at his residence in Ossian, on Sunday afternoon, January 27, 1895, occa- sioned a loss keenly felt throughout the com- munity, was born in Pennsylvania on Novem- ber 25, 1819.

His grandfather, John Geiger, a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was a stone- mason in early manhood, later a school-teacher. He was a Democrat in politics, and served as Justice of the Peace up to the time of his death, at the advanced age of ninety-seven. Hle had a family of four children. The eldest of the four was John Geiger, Jr., who grew to sturdy manhood and learned the mason's trade, following it first as a journeyman. Later, as a master mason, he worked on the arches of bridges. He married Mary Steacker, daughter of John Steacker, of New Jersey, where she was born. They reared six children, five boys and one girl - George, Charles, Elias, Kate, Peter, John --- and had one other who died in early infancy. Mrs. Mary Geiger passed the last years of her life in Pennsylvania, where she died at the age of seventy-six.

Elias H. Geiger, the third son, spent his

years at Bethlehem, Pa., where he was left early fatherless at the age of four. He then made his home with Mr. John Rightnour, whom he chose as guardian, living with him for fifteen years. At the age of nineteen he learned the carpenter's trade, at the expiration of a three years' apprenticeship going to work as a jour- neyman. In 1839 he removed to Dansville, where he worked in the village for two years. Later he became a contractor, building many houses and churches. In 1859 he came to Ossian, and went into the lumber business, in which he was engaged to the close of his life. He was largely interested in shipping lumber ; and in connection with his business owned a large planing-mill, where he did job work.

On Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1844, Mr. Geiger married Miss Elizabeth Haas, daughter of William Haas, a carpenter and joiner of Dansville. Mrs. Geiger, who was the eldest of a family of ten, came to Dansville with her parents from her native place in Northumberland County, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. and Mrs. Haas were respected members of the English Lutheran church at Dansville. The father passed away at the age of eighty-one, and the mother lived to be eighty-two. In politics Mr. Geiger was a firm Democrat. He was a prominent member of the Lutheran church of Dansville, with which Mrs. Geiger is still connected, and long offi- ciated as Trustee and Elder.

Mr. Geiger was a man of wealth, acquired by his own ability and excellent management. He owned at the time of his demise about three thousand acres of land, and was reputed to be worth a hundred thousand dollars. The combined wealth of character represented by Mr. and Mrs. Geiger, securing for them the unbounded respect of a large circle of friends and acquaintances, cannot be overestimated. Mr. Geiger was one of the incorporators of the Citizens' Bank of Dansville, and a Director from the beginning. His fellow-officials, with deep regret announcing his death, at the age of seventy-six years, justly spoke of him as "a man who possessed more than average acute- ness in his perceptions of business interests, strictly just and honorable in all his dealings, and of a kindly disposition."

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

This brief sketch is happily supplemented by portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Geiger, which meet the eye of the reader on adjoining pages.

RANK B. SMITH, editor and propri- etor of the Herald and News of Perry, N. Y., a progressive and influential weekly, was born in Warsaw, Wyoming County, February 6, 1855, son of Edgar K. and Harriet (Rowe) Smith, and grandson on the paternal side of Edgar Smith. Ilis father, by trade a carpenter and joiner, re- sided in Buffalo in early life, but later bought land in the village of Warsaw, which he divided into village lots, and upon which he realized a good profit. Edgar Smith is now living a retired life in a pleasant home in Warsaw. The children are as follows : Emmogene, who married Leonard Watrous, and lives in the town of Warsaw; Fred E., who married Florence Hardy, and is also a resident of Warsaw; and Frank B., whose name is found at the head of this sketch.

Frank B. Smith, after receiving his educa- tion in the schools of Warsaw, went to work at the printing business, and, ever ready to make the most of his opportunities, acquired at the same time some knowledge of editorial work. He made his first business venture in Castile, in company with Mr. A. Gaines, as publishers of the Weekly Castilian, the firm name being Gaines & Smith. After a year Mr. Smith sold out the business to his part- ner, and then established the Wyoming Era, a bright weekly, and after two years went to Rushford, Allegany County, N. Y., where he instituted the Rushford Spectator, a very successful paper, which he continued to pub-

lish for six years. In Rushford, Mr. Smith built himself a pleasant home, but later sold his interests there, and returned to Warsaw. He then bought one-half interest in the Wy- oming County Times, and after one year took advantage of an opportunity to purchase the Canisteo Times, a weekly paper, which he conducted for six years with the marked appreciation of all his patrons. Upon coming to Perry in May, 1892, Mr. Smith bought out the Weekly Herald and the Weekly News, and

consolidated the two into one paper, known as the Herald and News, which is Repub- lican in its politics, is one of the leading political organs in the county, and has a circulation of over one thousand copies. The paper was established in 1875, and is the leading paper of the town. During the sum- mer season Mr. Smith publishes a daily paper, known as the Herald, for the especial benefit of Silver Lake Assembly and the summer resort at Silver Lake.

On September 10, 1878, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Belle S. Wisner, daughter of Stephen and Hannah ( Dalrymple) Wisner, of Mount Morris. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have lost one child, Joie, but have three children now living, namely: Edith, born July 24, 1879; Ella, born March 7, 1881; Benjamin Harrison, born October 8, 1888.

Mr. Smith is a member of Consolation Lodge, No. 404, A. F. & A. M., of Perry, and of Crystal Salt Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 505, of Warsaw. He has been a successful publisher for twenty years, and enjoys the reputation of being honorable and fair in all his dealings, with the best of business credit. By frugal habits and hard work he has acquired a fair competency, averaging well with the country publisher in general. He started with no capital, and has succeeded by his own able efforts. He is a man of an active and progressive spirit, and his influence is always exerted on behalf of the material welfare and moral advancement of the community.

ILLIAM HENRY NORTON is a well-known and highly successful farmer and grain and produce mer- chant of the town of Springwater, Livingston County, N. Y. His father, John B. Norton, studied medicine in Auburn, and after gradu- ating, came to Springwater, and on February 20, 1820, bought a large tract of land on the spot where the village now stands. At that time this region was all a wild forest, and at first he hewed the trees and cleared a portion of the land. Then he ceased that kind of labor; and, though he did some farming, grad-

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

ually he disposed of much of his land, thereby acquiring a competency, and devoted himself chiefly to the practice of medicine. As Dr. Norton was the only physician in this district, his practice necessarily extended over a large area; and during his long period of active service, sixty years or more, he was one of the best-known men in the country round about. He was greatly beloved on account of his kind and generous nature, his strict honesty in small as well as great matters, and the fine and true qualities which endeared him to patient and neighbor alike. Dr. Norton called himself a Whig, but later he was a loyal Republican in his political opin- ions. He was an anti-Mason, and was a member of the Presbyterian church. Dr. John B. Norton married June 8, 1823, Miss Jane Marvin, a daughter of one of the early settlers in this region, a stanch Methodist, who used to entertain the circuit riders at his home, heeding the scriptural injunction to "use hospitality without grudging." Such a man could not fail of the regard of many friends. Mr. Marvin spent his last years in Springwater, and died in 1845. Mrs. John B. Norton was one of a family of six children ; and she lived to bring up eight of her own, namely: Levinna, who married Mr. C. Y. Andrus (deceased), John M., Ashur B., Solomon G. (deceased), Oscar M., William 11., Juliette (deceased), and Aaron M., also no longer living. Mrs. Norton died at the age of fifty-seven on a farm in the town of Springwater, two miles below the village, which was purchased by her husband in 1851. She was an earnest member of the Methodits church, in which she had been brought up. Dr. John B. Norton died on his old home- stead, August 29, 1878.

William H. Norton was born in Spring- water, August 15, 1840, and was named after the President then in office, William Henry Harrison. He was educated at the district school and at the Lima Seminary, and as- sisted his father later on the farm. He early developed shrewd, keen business traits, even at thirteen carrying on business for himself ; and at fifteen his note without indorsement was considered reliable on the occasion of

buying a flock of seventy-five sheep. At nineteen he purchased his father's farm, which contained two hundred and twenty-five acres of land below the village. About thirty years later, in 1890, he sold it for ten thou- sand dollars, purchasing a small farm, on which he built a house and barn. Not long afterward he sold that place, and bought the land which he now holds. This estate is about one hundred and seventy-five acres, in three farms, having four houses and six barns, including his beautiful dwelling on the main street of the village, which is considered the handsomest house in town.

Mr. Norton makes a specialty of sheep- raising, keeping fine registered stock of Shropshire and Hampshire breeds, and also deals in the best Durham cattle. He owns another farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Canadice, known as the Tarbush farm; and this he oversees entirely himself. Mr. Norton is one of the prominent shipping mer- chants, dealing in lay in large quantities, sometimes sending out from three to six thousand tons a year, besides grain and gen- eral produce in the same proportion. Young men starting out on a business career would do well to study the methods which are fol- lowed by this enterprising financier.

On the 24th of August, 1870, Mr. Nor- ton was married to Miss Alice Wooden, a daughter of the Rev. T. J. O. Wooden, a Methodist preacher of the Genesee Confer- ence, well known throughout the district as a powerful man in the pulpit and a very suc- cessful revivalist. Mrs. Norton received her education at the Lima Seminary, where she was graduated, and is a musician as well as an intellectually cultivated woman. She has one brother, living, who is a physician living in California. Mr. and Mrs. Norton have three children - Lillian M., who is at the normal school in Geneseo, and is a grad- uate of the musical department; Oakley Wooden, now in the normal school, preparing for a business career as a lawyer; and Ethel L., the youngest, who is now attending the public school in Springwater.

Mr. William H. Norton is a stanch Re- publican; but, although he is a popular man

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 10

Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Number of Pages: 1256

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review
Number of Pages: 1256