USA > New York > Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preeminent in their own and many other states, Vol. 2 > Part 39
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John H. Kent early developed artistic talent, studied under capable teachers,
and while yet a young man became in- structor in oil painting at Brockport Nor- mal School. In 1868, shortly after his marriage, he moved to Rochester and there began his long and successful ca- reer as a photographic artist. He ven- tured successfully into new fields and obtained results deemed marvelous. His exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in 1876 was a revelation to photographers and won him fame; his exhibits were the largest as well as the finest ever produced by direct contact printing and were a puzzle as well as a revelation to photographic artists the world over and ushered in a new era in art. He won five awards at that exposition, but that was but a small victory compared with the international fame he won as a wonder working photographic artist. He was no mechanical maker of pictures but a mas- ter of the art of pose, color, light and shadow. He was recognized as the lead- ing photographic artist of the country, a reputation he enjoyed as long as he continued his studio work. He later turned from picture making to picture taking machines, and associated with George Eastman in developing the modern camera, known as the Kodak. He was closely connected with the great industry built up by Mr. Eastman in Rochester, was one of the incorporators of the Eastman Kodak Company, and until his retirement was a director and vice-president of the company. In 1884 he was elected president of the Photo- graphers' Association of America, and in 1903 was elected a life member of the order. Few men were so well known in Rochester as Mr. Kent, none were more universally or more highly esteemed. He was a member of the Society of the Genesee, and an honorary member of the Rochester Art Club and the Mechanics' Institute. He gave largely to public and private charities, but so quietly and un-
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ostentatiously that few of the benefici- aries knew from whom their help came. He was an attendant of the Plymouth Congregational Church at the time of Rev. Myron Adam's pastorate, and in his private life was actuated by purest mo- tives.
Mr. Kent married, January 16, 1865, Julia Ainsworth, of Canandaigua, New York, who died September 16, 1916. One daughter, Ada Howe Kent, is the sole surviving member of the family. She is a notable artist in water colors, her work taking first rank in many important ex- hibits. She is also very active along social and philanthropic lines, being a charter member of the Century Club, one of the managers of the Industrial School of Rochester, and is also a member of the board of the Young Women's Chris- tian Association, to which she has given the valuable property at No. 57 South Washington street.
ERICKSON, Aaron, Man of Enterprise.
All honor to the builders, not necessarily those whose work is the erection of build- ings of brick, wood and stone, their work is also estimable, but to the great con- structive minds that erect the extensive business enterprises of a community, a labor fully as arduous, just as enduring and vastly more far reaching in its effect. Among the names which stand out with prominence on the pages of Rochester's history is that of Aaron Erickson, who contributed in so large a degree to the upbuilding of the city of his adoption. He located in Rochester in pioneer times and his life record extends over a period of seventy-four years-a long period de- voted to successful accomplishment and fraught with good deeds, for which he re- ceived a gracious meed of honor and re- spect.
Aaron Erickson was born February 25, 1806, in Freehold, New Jersey, a place made famous by its proximity to the historic battlefield of Monmouth. The Erickson family was one of the oldest and most prominent in the State; his father served with the American army during the war for independence, and though his birth occurred after that mo- mentous conflict the participators therein were the early friends of his youth and must have influenced him in some degree by giving him direct knowledge of the times through eye witnesses, more forci- ble than any written page could ever be. He was the youngest of ten children and passed a comfortable childhood and youth in the home of his parents. How- ever, when he had reached the age of seventeen years he felt that to test his strength and develop whatever latent powers nature had endowed him with it would be necessary to venture for him- self, and consequently the year 1823 wit- nessed him as a resident of Rochester, at that time a small town. His first at- tempt at business life was as a worker at the machinist's trade in the manufacture of axes and similar commodities, making his home with C. H. Bicknell. From the start he evinced those basic qualities of success and prosperity, industry, close application and determination, and even in this first undertaking he could through all his later life point with pride to his accomplishment of the work attempted, among which was the fact that he made with his own hands the iron yoke from which swung the bell in the old St. Luke's Church.
A few years after his coming to Roches- ter Mr. Erickson deemed a change of occupation to his betterment and began the manufacture of potash at Frankfort, an article then in great demand. He made a decided success of this venture and rapidly increasing patronage soon
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put him in control of what for the time must be considered a very extensive busi- ness. He still felt, however, that there were wider fields to conquer, with broad- er opportunities and greater scope for his business perspicuity and industry, his predominating qualities. He therefore became a dealer in wool and morocco on Water street in Rochester, having as a partner in the enterprise Ezra M. Par- sons. This business rapidly developed and on a thoroughly substantial basis, until the firm became the largest buyers of wool in this section, warranting, as Mr. Erickson wisely prophesied, the establishment of a branch, and in 1850 he founded the famous wool house of Erickson, Livermore & Company, at Bos- ton, which soon became the leading en- terprise of this character in this country, doing a mammoth business.
Every step in his career was a forward one and brought him a wider outlook, and every opportunity was quickly taken advantage of, this being one of the strongest elements in his business success. Some three years after embarking in the wool business he organized and opened the Union Bank, capitalized for five hun- dred thousand dollars. He was president from the beginning and the institution enjoyed a prosperous existence under that name until the spring of 1865, when it became the National Union Bank. A year later, however, Mr. Erickson pur- chased the bank and established in its stead a private banking house under the firm name of Erickson & Jennings. Upon the admission of George E. Mumford to a partnership the firm name became Erickson, Jennings & Mumford, and under this style the business continued for twelve years. Mr. Mumford with- drew in May, 1879, and was succeeded by A. Erickson Perkins, a grandson of Mr. Erickson, which partnership continued until the death of the founder on January
27, 1880. Mr. Erickson's strict integrity, business conservatism and excellent judg- ment were always so uniformly recog- nized that he enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree. For many years he was a director in the Park Bank of New York City, and was a member of the board at the time of his death.
Mr. Erickson was married, in 1827, to Hannah Bockoven, of Lyons, New York, and soon after erected a dwelling on Clin- ton street, which remained his home for many years. Mr. Erickson left no son to carry on his work, his last surviving son, Aaron Erickson, having passed away at Revere, Massachusetts, in August, 1871. There were eight children in the family but only three daughters survived the father: Mrs. W. S. Nichols, of Staten Island; Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins, of Rochester; and Mrs. W. D. Powell, of New York. In 1842 he built his home on East avenue, and during his lifetime saw this thoroughfare transformed into one of the most beautiful in the city. His home was ever the seat of a most gracious hospitality, and the name of Erickson figured prominently in the social circles of Rochester for over half a century.
Mr. Erickson had a keen realization of the obligations and responsibilities of wealth, and therefore as his success in- creased so did his charities and benefac- tions expand. Not that he believed in the indiscriminate liberality which does not help but rather fosters vagrancy and idleness, on the contrary he made careful distribution of his gifts and where real need was apparent the aid was most spon- taneously given, the poor and unfortu- nate being his direct beneficiaries. A man may be admired but is not loved for his attainments; but he is beloved for the good he does, and it was the kindly spirit, the ready sympathy and extreme helpfulness of Aaron Erickson that so enshrined him in the hearts of his fellow-
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men and caused his memory to still be fresh in their hearts although a quarter of a century has come and gone since he was an active factor in the world. He found especial pleasure in assisting young men to make a start in business life. His employes were well aware that faithful- ness and capability meant promotion as opportunity offered, and when their busi- ness relations were severed he was al- ways ready to speak a good word of com- mendation and encouragement that should speed them on their way to take a forward step in business life.
He was particularly friendly to charit- able organizations, which received his ac- tive assistance. He was president of the board of directors of the City Hospital for years and occupied that position at the time of his demise. He not only gave freely to the different benevolent organi- zations of Rochester but also to many other institutions situated elsewhere. His deeds of charity, unknown save to him- self and the recipient, were innumerable. Few other men have found as much pleasure in unostentatious giving, and in the reward that comes solely from helping a fellow traveler along the jour- ney of life.
He did not neglect his duties of citizen- ship, and in return for the protection of government and the mutual benefit of municipal interests, he gave cooperation of a generous nature to all movements and plans tending to promote local ad- vancement and national progress. He was never an officeseeker for the personal emoluments gained thereby, yet he filled some local offices, as a matter of princi- ple, regarding it as his duty towards his fellow citizens. He served one term as alderman from the old Fifth Ward, and also represented the Seventh Ward at various times as both alderman and su- pervisor. He was one of the commission, with the late Amon Bronson, in 1860, to
erect bridges at Clarissa and Andrew streets over the Genesee river, and these municipal improvements stand as a monument to the manner in which the work was accomplished, being an excel- lent example of the thoroughness in which he carried out the trusts imposed upon him. He never relinquished his interest in his home city and in those things which are a cause for civic virtue and pride. Though in his later years he lived retired to a considerable extent from ac- tive participation in business, still his nature was such that want of occupation could have no attraction for him; and his later years were largely spent in the development of those strong intellectual tastes which were ever with him a marked characteristic. In fact at all times during his entire life he was a stu- dent of the issues of the day, the great sociological problems, the governmental questions and of the sciences, especially in the adaptation of the latter to the prac- tical benefit of mankind. He was an earnest student of horticulture, pomology, floriculture and the natural sciences, and took great delight in the society of men of intellect, with whom he was regarded as a peer and often a superior. He had greatly enriched his mind by travel and extensive reading. In 1869 he visited Palestine and ascended the Nile. He also visited many other European countries and spent the last summer of his life abroad. It must be acceded, in an an- alyzation of his character to ascertain the motive springs of conduct, that in all things he accomplished he was prompted by the true spirit of Christianity. He was an Episcopalian in his religious pref- erence, having first been a member of St. Paul's Church and when that building was destroyed by fire in 1846 he joined St. Luke's Church, with which he was identified to the end of his life. How- ever, his was not a religion expressed by
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dogmas and creeds, but rather one which found expression in the faithful perform- ance of every duty, winning over the wrong by the force of right and overcom- ing the false by the true. He was truly one of nature's noblemen, standing staunch and true whate'er befell, and leaving a memory that is a blessing as well as an inspiration to all who had the good fortune to have known him.
PERKINS, Gilman Hill, Business Man.
To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to positions of honor and respect in a community is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their per- sonal qualities and left the impress of their individuality upon the business and growth of their places of residence, and who have affected for good such institu- tions as were embraced within the sphere of their usefulness, build monuments more enduring than marble obelisk or granite shaft. To this class of men we have the . unquestioned right to say belonged the late Gilman Hill Perkins, of Rochester, New York, one of the early business men of the city, whose name for many years was well and favorably known through- out the community, and although he is now numbered among those who are sleeping in "God's acre," his influence is still potent for good, for he was a broad- minded, obliging, kindly, whole-souled man, who used his influence in every man- ner possible to advance the prosperity and general good of Rochester. A public- spirited citizen, he was ready at all times to use his means and influence for the promotion of such public improvements as were conducive to the comfort and happiness of his fellow-men, and there
was probably not another man in the community so long honored by his resi- dence who was held in higher esteem by the population, regardless of sects, poli- tics or professions. He was especially distinguished by his honesty, firmness of character, piety and intelligence. He was one of the most unostentatious of men, open-hearted and candid in manner, al- ways retaining in his demeanor the sim- plicity and candor of the old-time gentle- man, and his records stands as an endur- ing monument, although his labors have ended and his name is become but a memory.
Gilman Hill Perkins was born in Gene- seo, Livingston county, New York, March 4, 1827, and died at his home in Roches- ter, New York, November 16, 1898. He was but four years of age when his mother died, and early in 1832 he was sent to Bethlehem, Connecticut, to make his home with his grandmother. In 1834 his father remarried, and he again went to live with him. His education had been commenced in the schools of Connecti- cut, and was continued in the district school in Geneseo for a period of three years. From 1837 to 1842 he was a pupil in the Temple Hill Academy, but left school finally at the age of fourteen years, when he entered upon his business career. Prior to leaving school, however, he had already commenced to partially earn his own living. During the vacation periods he was employed in the office of the county clerk, comparing mortgages and deeds for Samuel P. Allen, who subse- quently became a resident of Rochester. Mr. Allen was the editor of the "Geneseo Republican," and for almost a year young Perkins folded this paper every Saturday afternoon, this being prior to the time when folders were attached to newspaper presses, and for this work he received twenty-five cents per week. The natural
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energy and ambition of the lad was ap- parent at the very outset of his career. When he finally left school and was able to devote his entire time to business affairs, he did so with the zeal which had been one of his chief characteristics al- ways. He lost no time in looking about for a suitable position, and found one in the book store of John Turner, where he was employed six months at a compensa- tion of twelve shillings per week. A few weeks after entering upon the duties of this position, Mr. Turner died, and al- though Gilman H. Perkins was but fifteen years of age at this time he showed such marked executive ability that he assumed the management of the store and was given entire charge for half a year. He longed, however, for a wider sphere in which there would be more opportunity for advancement than the position in the book store offered, and he determined to go to Rochester, where he arrived at eight o'clock in the morning of March 19, 1844, having left Geneseo as the only passen- ger on a stage coach at nine o'clock the previous evening. His worldly posses- sions consisted of three dollars in money and two suits of clothes, and with these he felt amply provided to conquer the world. Compared with present condi- tions, Rochester was a small, unimportant town, but Mr. Perkins, with keen fore- sight, recognized the possibilities of the town and saw here the opportunities he was seeking.
He looked about carefully for a busi- ness which showed growing possibilities, and found employment in the wholesale grocery house of E. F. Smith & Com- pany, where he remained three years. He had worked with such unremitting zeal that the close confinement of his indoor work made serious inroads upon his health, and he considered it better to leave the concern for a time and take up an
employment which would necessitate his being outdoors at least a part of each day. He found a position of this kind at the "Old Red Mill," owned by Harry B. Wil- liams, where the labor he was called upon to perform was of a much lighter char- acter, a part of his duties being the driv- ing about the country to purchase wheat. In the short course of one year his health had improved to such an extent that he resumed his employment with E. F. Smith & Company, becoming a clerk there, and ascending, step by step, until he became a member of the firm, January 1, 1852, his business ability being amply recognized and appreciated by the other members. Later the name of the firm read Smith & Perkins, and still later the firm was incor- porated, the style being Smith, Perkins & Company, and for many years prior to his death Mr. Perkins had been president of this corporation. In this office his ex- ecutive ability was felt in the continued progress and growth of the concern. While progressive in his methods, and ready to take prompt advantage of every opportunity that presented itself, yet the proceedings of Mr. Perkins was tempered with a certain amount of conservatism which always enabled him to steer clear of danger. The grocery business, how- ever, was not the only business interest with which Mr. Perkins was prominently identified. He was connected with many leading enterprises of the city, a partial list being as follows: Became trustee of the Rochester Savings Bank in 1879, and was the incumbent of this office at the time of his death; officer and director of the Rochester Union Bank from 1858, and president at the time of his death; trus- tee of the Rochester Trust and Safe De- posit Company from 1888; when the Se- curity Trust Company was organized in 1891, he became one of its trustees ; was a director of the Genesee Valley Railroad
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Company, and of the Rochester Gas and Electric Company.
Mr. Perkins married, July 17, 1856, Caroline Erickson, a daughter of Aaron Erickson. Four sons and four daughters blessed this union, of whom there are now living: Erickson, Gilman N .; Caro- lyn, who married Thornton Jeffress; Berenice, who married H. V. W. Wickes ; and Gertrude, who married John Craig ยท Powers.
During the first seven or eight years of the residence of Mr. Perkins in Rochester, he attended the First Presbyterian Church and was a member of the choir during a part of this time. He then, in 1852, in association with John Roches- ter, William Pitkin, Edward Smith and Frederick Whittlesey, took one of the old box pews at one end of the choir of St. Luke's, and retained this seat until his marriage. He served as vestryman of St. Luke's from 1858 to 1869, with the ex- ception of 1864-65 ; in 1869 he was chosen a warden of the church, and held this office until his death; was trustee of the Episcopate Fund of the Diocese of West- ern New York from 1870; a member of the standing committee ; and manager of the Church Home from 1869. Charitable and benevolent work, whether connected directly with the church or not, was ever sure of his hearty and active support. He served as a member of the board of trus- tees, and was at one time president, of the State Industrial School ; was a trustee of the Rochester City Hospital ; treasurer of the Deaf Mute Institution from the time of its organization ; and a trustee of the Reynolds Library. He was a leading spirit in furthering the interests of a num- ber of projects for the public welfare; was a member of the Hemlock Water Works Commission, which furnished the city with its first pure water supply ; and in 1892 was chosen a presidential elector
on the Republican ticket. His social membership was with the Genesee Val- ley Club, of which he was one of the founders and at one time its president.
ROCHESTER, Colonel Montgomery, Man of Affairs, Veteran of Civil War.
The late Colonel Montgomery Roches- ter, distinguished member of the famous Rochester family which settled and gave its name to the city now known as Rochester, New York, was a lineal de- scendant in the sixth generation of Nich- olas Rochester, the first of the name in America up to the year 1689. The fam- ily, an old and honorable one in Eng- land, had its principal seat in the county of Essex, was of the gentry class and entitled by royal patent to bear arms. It is proved by the Herald's Visitations of 1558, that the family was in Essex at that time, when the coat-of-arms was con- firmed and allowed to the family. The arms are : Or, a fesse between three cres- cents sable.
(I) Nicholas Rochester, progenitor of the family in America, was born in Kent county, England, about 1640, and was married there, previous to his emigration to America. He left England and came to the colony of Virginia in 1689. On De- cember 26, of the same year he purchased one hundred acres of land (which shows him to have been a man of at least mod- erate means) in Westmoreland county, from John Jenkins, planter, who by pat- ent from Governor Richard Bennett, had obtained one thousand acres of land "in consideration of importing twenty per- sons into the Colony." Little more is known of Nicholas Rochester than that the following order concerning him, made on May 25, 1719, by the county court of Westmoreland, then in session: "Nich- olas Rochester, an ancient person is upon
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his mocon acquitt from future payment of liens in this county." Nicholas Roches- ter died soon after this date.
(II) William Rochester, son of the pro- genitor, Nicholas Rochester, was born in England, and came to America with his father in 1689, settling in Westmoreland county, where he grew to manhood on the plantation which his father purchased from John Jenkins. Upon reaching his majority he purchased the lands adjoin- ing those of his father. On these lands he built a homestead which is one of the oldest in the country, stands in good con- dition, and bears in the chimney corner the legend, "W. R. 1746," cut in a broad brick near the coping stone. This planta- tion, comprising four hundred acres, was located partly in Richmond and partly in Westmoreland county. William Roches- ter married Frances, widow of William Mckinney. He died between the 23rd and 30th of October, 1750. His children were: John, mentioned below; William.
(III) John Rochester, son of William and Frances (Mckinney) Rochester, was born about 1708, and died in November, 1754. He married Hester or Esther Thrift, daughter of William Thrift, of Richmond county, Virginia. After his death, she married Thomas Critcher, and with her entire family moved about 1763 to Granville county, North Carolina. The children of John and Hester (Thrift) Rochester were: William, John, Ann, Phillis, Nathaniel, mentioned below; Esther.
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