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. 3 > Part 16
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county in the Abolition movement, and represented Crawford county, Pennsyl- vania, in the State Legislature. He was a man of wide spreading and beneficial in- fluence and highly esteemed until his death at the age of sixty-eight years. He married, April II, 1833, Sally Beatty, born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Joseph and Susan (Lint- ner) Beatty. They had eight children, of whom Edward Alexander Powell is of further mention; three compose the firm of Powell Brothers, engaged in business in Shadeland, Pennsylvania; one was an attorney and practiced at Cincinnati, Ohio; a daughter married George C. Gal- lawhur, of Girard, Pennsylvania ; and two died in infancy.
Edward Alexander Powell was born on the Shadeland farm, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, January 27, 1838. In the district and select schools of his native county he obtained an excellent educa- tion, which he has supplemented by a life- long course of judicious reading and study. At the age of eighteen years he engaged in the profession of teaching, which he followed successfully for a num- ber of years, and before abandoning this profession was with his brother, W. G. Powell, in charge of the schools at New Carlisle, Ohio. Always a lover of out- door life, he then established himself in the nursery business as vice-president of the Smith & Powell Company, with which he was successfully identified. He next added to this industry the breeding of fine strains of cattle, making a specialty of Holstein-Friesian blood. In this field he gained notable successes, becoming one of the famous breeders of America, and for five years served as president of the Holstein Friesian Association of Amer- ica. He is an oft quoted authority on his special strain of cattle and an extensive exporter of live stock, having shipped to nearly every country of the globe where
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the breeding of live stock is an industry. He has taken active part in other busi- ness affairs, serving as president of the Syracuse, Lake Shore & Northern rail- road five years ; trustee of the Onondaga County Savings Bank for nearly a quar- ter of a century, and was the first presi- dent of the Syracuse Chamber of Com- merce, serving six years. The parks and streets of the city received an especial share of his attention while in that office and the beauty of the city was greatly enhanced by his wise suggestions and aid. The Syracuse Nurseries with which he has been connected for forty-eight years have furnished and planted trees without charge in the streets of Syracuse and sur- rounding sections equivalent to a con- tinuous row forty feet apart for a distance of twenty-five miles.
Mr. Powell is a man of many sided abil- ities and broad interests. In spite of the manifold demands made upon him by his business activities, he has ever been a lover and reader of good literature, and has spent much time in furthering the in- terests of charitable projects in the city. He is a member of the Historical Society and of the Fortnightly Club; is president of the Council of the Old Ladies' Home of Syracuse, and trustee of the Homœo- pathic Hospital ten years; was president for six years of the Society for the Pre- vention of Cruelty to Children ; president of the Bureau of Labor and Charities six years ; president of the Onondaga County Agricultural Society nine years; presi- dent of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian Church twenty-two years ; president of the Holstein-Friesian Club of the State of New York two years; president of the Onondaga County Farm Bureau three years; director of the Onanda Historical Society twenty-two years; director of the New York State Breeders' Association three years; and a member of the executive committee of the Fortnightly Club.
Mr. Powell married, in 1868, Lucy Smith. Their only child, Edward Alex- ander Powell, Jr., after completing his education entered the United States diplo- matic service, which has for several years compelled his residence abroad. He is also a well known litterateur and the author of many books widely read and recommended. For a year he was vice- consul at Beirut, Arabia, following that service as consular agent at Alexandria, Egypt. When the present European war began in 1914 he went to Belgium and there served as official reporter from the Belgian government to the United States, and was war correspondent of the New York "World." He remained in Belgium until the capture of Antwerp. He then reached London, but in such a broken condition physically that he was for some time under treatment at a hos- pital. While convalescing there he dic- tated his book, "Fighting in Flanders," later published in the United States by Scribners. Later in 1914 he returned to the United States and entered the lecture field and is touring the country deliver- ing his interesting and valuable lectures dealing with the war in Europe. His pub- lished books are: "The Last Frontier," a work on South Africa; "The Beckoning Land;" "Gentleman Rovers;" "The End of the Trail," an account of a journey from Mexico to Alaska by automobile ; "The Road to Glory ;" "Vive La France ;" "Fighting in Flanders," and "The Secret of the Submarine," all published by Scrib- ners.
HOLLISTER, Granger A.,
Leader in Public Utilities, Financier.
Every man who has served his day and generation well has done so along special lines for which he was peculiarly well adapted. The service rendered Rochester by Mr. Hollister has been in connection with public utilities, for which his abil-
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ity as an organizer and as an executive peculiarly adapted him. No city in the State of New York can boast of a better system of street railway transportation or of a better system of lighting its streets, buildings, and homes than Rochester, and to Mr. Hollister this condition is largely due. What has been accomplished in bringing these public utilities to such a condition of perfection in Rochester he has repeated in other places through his connection with light and railway com- panies. He is also deeply interested in financial institutions and other business enterprises, and is not in any sense a man of one idea, but is progressive, public- spirited, and interested in all that makes for the public good. His work in Roches- ter has been spoken of as "the splendid success of an honest man in whose life business ability and recognition of his obligations to his fellow men are well balanced forces." To these forces may well be added intense civic pride.
He traces descent from Lieutenant John Hollister, who in 1640 came to New England from England, settling at Glas- tonbury, Connecticut. From Connecti- cut, the home of his forbears, came George A. Hollister, who settled in Rochester in 1826. In 1832 he established a lumber business which two succeeding generations continued. Emmett H., son of George A. Hollister, born in Rochester in 1829, after association with his father succeeded him in business on the death of the founder in 1854, and successfully conducted it until his own death in 1871. He married Sarah, daughter of Austin Granger, of Troy, New York, who died in 1894, leaving two sons, Granger A. and George C. Hollister, who continued the business under the firm name of Hollister Brothers until 1888, when the Hollister Lumber Company, Limited, was incor- porated, of which George C. Hollister is
now president. This successful connec- tion with a business for three generations under a family name is unusual in this country, where changes are frequent, sons seldom and grandsons rarely engaging in the same business with the same con- spicuous success as the founders.
Granger A. Hollister was born in Rochester in 1854. He was educated in Rochester's private schools, continuing his studies until the death of his father in 1871. He then entered into active busi- ness life in connection with the lumber busi- ness founded by his grandfather and con- tinued by his father, forming later, with his brother, George G. Hollister, a part- nership and trading as Hollister Brothers. In 1888 the Hollister Lumber Company was incorporated with a capital of $125,- 000-Granger A. Hollister, president ; George G. Hollister, vice-president. Seven years later, in 1895, Granger A. Hollister disposed of his interest in the company, which still continues, the largest lumber and coal company in Western New York, George G. Hollister, president. About the year 1884 Mr. Hollister became inter- ested in the business that has since prin- cipally claimed him, and with a few asso- ciates organized the Edison Illuminating Company, entering into competition with three other companies occupying the Rochester field, the Rochester Electric Light Company, the Brush Electric Light Company and the Rochester Gas Com- pany. Realizing the futility of attempt- ing the object upon which he was bent under the competition then existing, the perfecting of an electric lighting system for the city, Mr. Hollister and the others associated with him determined upon a plan of bringing these four antagonistic interests into harmony through consoli- dation. With a few associates he pur- chased all of the stock of the Rochester Electric Light Company, a controlling
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interest in the Brush Electric Light Com- pany, and a large interest in the Roches- ter Gas Company. The consolidation of the four lighting companies followed under incorporate title, the Rochester Gas and Electric Light Company. Vast im- provements were made and a perfected system installed with results that have realized the hopes of Mr. Hollister and his associates, justified their plans, and proved the clearness of their foresight. With a perfected lighting system estab- lished, the weakness of the street railway system became more apparent. The Clark- Hodenpyl-Walbridge Syndicate, then in control of the Rochester Railway Com- pany, was brought by Mr. Hollister into possession by purchase of a considerable interest in the Rochester Gas and Elec- tric Company, and in 1904 the lighting and traction interests of the city were merged into one corporation, the Roches- ter Railway and Light Company, a cor- poration of which Mr. Hollister is first vice-president. With the formation of the new company an era of expansion and improvement in transit facilities began that has continued greatly to the benefit of Rochester and a great area of contiguous territory. The lighting and traction sys- tems of the city are unexcelled and are Rochester's pride. In addition to his official responsibility as vice-president of the railway and light company, Mr. Hol- lister is vice-president and director of the Dispatch Heat, Light and Power Com- pany, the Ontario Light and Traction Company, and the Canandaigua Gas Light Company, which are subsidiaries of the Rochester Railway and Light Com- pany. He also is a director of the Roches- ter Electric Railway Company, the New York State Railway Company, and the Syracuse and Suburban Railway Com- pany. He is the second vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, and member
of the board of trustees of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, one of the two members from New York State.
His banking and financial interests are equally important. Since 1886 he has been a trustee of the Rochester Savings Bank and is the present first vice-presi- dent In 1892 he aided in organizing the Security Trust Company, was chosen its first manager, has been a trustee of the company since its incorporation, and is the present vice-president and chairman of the executive committee. In June, 1907, he was elected a director of the great New York Life Insurance Company and he is now a member of the executive committee of the board of directors. He is charitable and philanthropic, interested in various enterprises for the betterment of mankind, and serves as president of the board of governors of the Homoeopathic Hospital of Rochester.
Mr. Hollister married (first) Isabelle M. Watson, of Rochester, who died in 1903, daughter of Don Alonzo Watson, one of the organizers of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He married (second) in 1906, Elizabeth C. Watson.
This necessarily brief record of the life of Granger A. Hollister reveals a man strong in executive ability, with the capacity for the organization and man- agement of great enterprises. He entered a field already occupied and in it brought about great improvement, harmonized conflicting interests, impressed others with the wisdom of his plans, and to him and to his associates Rochester is in- debted for its present excellent street rail- way and lighting service. Civic pride, long dormant, was aroused and the exam- ple of public spirit thus set has been fol- lowed in other directions until Roches- ter has become a shining light to other municipalities.
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STRONG, Henry A.,
Man of Enterprise, Philanthropist.
Commercial interests have assumed such extensive proportions, industries have become of such mammoth growth, such princely fortunes are controlled by corporations and individuals, that no longer can any business concern of medi- um size make any noticeable impression upon the history of the country. The men whose names are before the public associated with the world of business are men of master minds, capable of planning and directing enterprises of far-reaching import and benefit, effective in working a change in conditions that will influence a wide trade, will alter the established order of things and prove advantageous to the public. The two men comprising the firm of Strong & Eastman, established in 1880, and which later became the East- man Kodak Company, were Henry A. Strong and George Eastman. To the former belongs the credit for a broad vision that saw the possibilities of the undertaking so clearly that he furnished the capital and became the business head, while to the latter belongs the honor for the constructive genius and ability that has developed the business to its present gigantic proportions.
Henry A. Strong traces his ancestry to the early Puritans who settled in New England, ancestors strong both by name and nature. He is a son of Alvah and Catherine (Hopkins) Strong, the former named removing to Rochester, New York, from Scipio, same State, at an early day, he a barefoot boy driving the cattle that accompanied the wagon in which the family belongings were carried. On the way into Rochester the Strong family stopped to rest at Castle Rock, from which point they viewed the site of the present "Flower City." Thus it will be seen that Mr. Strong was one of the early
settlers of the city of Rochester, and in due course of time became one of its prominent and public-spirited citizens. · Henry A Strong, in honor of his parents, erected in 1907, on the grounds of the Rochester Theological Seminary, "Alvah Strong Memorial Hall"; "Catherine Strong Hall" to the Women's Depart- ment of the University of Rochester; in 1909 gave to Brick Church the building, completed in 1910, known as Brick Church Institute, a four-storied structure with assembly halls, dining room, social halls, gymnasium, swimming pool, quar- ters for boys' and girls' clubs, manual training room, and eighty sleeping rooms for men; and in 1911 his gift to the Young Women's Christian Association was their Administration Building, com- pleted in 1912, of handsome brick con- struction, two stories in height, with a roof garden. All were given in a most unostentatious manner, in keeping with the characteristics of the donor.
Henry A. Strong was born in Roches- ter, New York, August 30, 1838, and there he has always maintained his resi- dence. He was educated in the public schools, passed his youth in varied man- ner, little of general interest entering his life until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was then twenty-three years of age, and on enlistment was appointed assis- tant paymaster in the United States navy, there serving four years. After the cessation of hostilities, he returned to Rochester and engaged in the manufac- ture of whips in partnership with an uncle, Myron Strong, and later he pur- chased the interest of his uncle and con- ducted the business on his own account for a number of years. He next became associated in business with E. F. Wood- bury, a connection that existed until 1889. It was, however, nine years prior to the latter date that he became interested in the plans and hopes of George Eastman,
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and believing his plans to offer a reason- able prospect of success furnished the capital with which to make a proper be- ginning. Under the firm name of Strong & Eastman, they began the manufacture of dry plates for photographic use, and success attended their venture. In 1884 Strong & Eastman incorporated as the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company, with Henry A. Strong as president, and later a legal change of name was made, and as the Eastman Kodak Company they have made a business conquest of the realm of photography all over the world. They led in the development of the technical processes and the perfection of apparatus that made photography a pleasure to so many people, and that has made possible the wonderful effects that, from a mere mechanical process, has lifted photography to a place among the fine arts.
Their plant is conducted under the most perfect organization in manufactur- ing and selling departments known to the manufacturing world. Every department is under the charge of an expert, the most efficient in his specialty, and the wonder- ful success attained is due not more to the perfection of product than to the per- fection of organization, the two coördi- nating and cooperating. It is impossible to separate the names Strong and East- man in their relation to the Eastman Ko- dak Company, the largest concern of its kind in the world, producing everything in the way of apparatus or material neces- sary to the practice of every branch of photography by professional or amateur, as they have worked in perfect harmony and to both the result achieved must be attributed.
Mr. Strong has devoted a portion of his time, experience and ability to financial institutions of his city, and for many years has served as a director of the Alli- ance Bank, the Monroe County Savings
Bank, and the Security Trust Company, and thus has borne his full share in aid- ing the growth of his native city. He is also deeply interested in the work of the Brick Church (Presbyterian), is a trustee of the Young Women's Christian Associ- ation, a trustee of the Rochester Orphan Asylum, and a firm friend of the Univer- sity of Rochester.
Mr. Strong married (first) August 3, 1859, Helen P. Griffin, daughter of Robert I. Griffin, of Niles, Michigan, who bore him four children: Gertrude, widow of Henry L. Achilles; Herbert, died in in- fancy ; Helen, wife of ex-Governor George R. Carter, of Hawaii; Henry G., of Rochester. Mr. Strong married (second) June 14, 1905, Hattie M. Lockwood, a native of Connecticut, daughter of James H. and Marie R. Corrin.
NOTTINGHAM, William,
Lawyer, Leader in Corporation Affairs.
Individual merit may claim a recogni- tion in America that is accorded it in no other country on the face of the globe. The power of personality to conquer fate, to utilize opportunities and to take ad- vantage of possibilties to rise to higher planes is acknowledged here, and the man who depends upon his own ability, enter- prise and honesty, and not upon the repu- tation of his ancestors, is the man who wins public honor and fame. William Nottingham, whose extensive practice places him among the leading lawyers of the State of New York, has achieved that success which is the natural result of systematic effort, straightforward dealing and resolute purpose. He has climbed upon a ladder of his own building to prominence and prosperity, and has earned the well merited esteem and re- spect of his fellow men. In the course of his practice Mr. Nottingham has de- voted much attention to corporation law,
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and has not alone benefited the city of Syracuse, but has organized many corpo- rations which have been instrumental in increasing the prosperity of the State.
The Nottingham family is of Dutch descent, and came to this country at an early date, several of its members taking an active part in the Revolutionary War. One of the three Nottingham brothers who came to America at the commence- ment of the eighteenth century settled in New York, and another in Virginia. The father of William Nottingham, Van Vleck Nottingham, married Abigail Maria (Williams) Nottingham, who was a de- scendant of the Williams and Stark fami- lies, both also prominent in the War of the Revolution.
William Nottingham was born in De Witt, Onondaga county, New York, No- vember 2, 1853, and his early years, which were spent on the farm, gave him the splendid physique which has enabled him to work with an incomparable vim and energy. His early life was filled with toil and hardships, but through it all rose his fixed determination to acquire an edu- cation and make his mark in life. In order to acquire the earliest rudiments of this education, he was obliged to rise early and toil late, and thus obtained the necessary time to devote to his studies. He was obliged to walk to and fro, be- tween De Witt and Syracuse, in order to attend the public schools in the latter city. For a number of years he lived with the greatest economy, carefully put- ting aside as much as possible of his earnings, in order to accumulate a suffici- ent sum to enable him to pursue his studies in Syracuse University, from which he was graduated in the class of 1876 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Of a severely analytical turn of mind, he had long planned to fit himself for the legal profession, and in furtherance of this plan, studied law in Syracuse from
October, 1876, to June, 1879, when he was admitted to the bar in Buffalo, New York. He at once, with his characteristic energy, established himself in the prac- tice of his profession in Syracuse, and has been chiefly identified with that city since that time. In 1881 the firm of Goodelle & Nottingham was established, with Wil- liam Nottingham as the junior partner, and was continued under that style until 1900, increasing years continually adding to its fame. The firm of Goodelle, Not- tingham Brothers & Andrews was organ- ized in 1900, and continued in force until April, 1907, when William and Edwin Nottingham left it and commenced inde- pendent practice under the firm name of Nottingham & Nottingham, which has become widely known. While they are engaged in general practice, they make a specialty of corporation and banking law, and have became known throughout the Union. William Nottingham is acknowl- edged by those competent to judge as be- ing one of the most able corporation counsels in the the United States. In 1912 he was president of the New York State Bar Association. He has displayed wonderful powers of organization, nota- bly in industrial and transportation lines. Among the organizations which had their first inception in his brain are: The Com- mercial National Bank in 1891 ; the Syra- cuse Trust Company, 1903; many indus- trial and transportation companies, in- cluding six interurban railway companies and two large steamship companies, one of which is the Great Lakes Steamship Company, operating on the Great Lakes and owning and controlling a large fleet of vessels, Mr. Nottingham being vice- president and the general counsel of this company; a vice-president and director of the Syracuse Trust Company; and a director of the Commercial National Bank. For many years he was a lecturer on corporation law at the Law College of
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Syracuse University, and was a trustee of this institution until elected a member of the Board of Regents of the University of New York State. In more recent years he was chosen a member of the executive committee of The Trust Companies' As- sociation of the State of New York. The University of Syracuse conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1877, that of Doctor of Philosophy in 1878, the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1903, and he was president of the Syracuse University Alumni Association in 1885-86. In politi- cal matters Mr. Nottingham is a Repub- lican, and while he is loyal to his party, he has consistently refused nomination to the numerous offices tendered him, and which it is a foregone conclusion that he would fill with honor and credit to him- self and benefit to the community. He holds the opinion that a man cannot serve two masters, and therefore prefers to give his undivided attention to his legal in- terests. His religious affiliation is with the First Methodist Church, to which he gives generous support. Fraternally he is a member of the Pilgrims' Club of New York and London, Recess Club of New York, Citizens' Club and Century Club of Syracuse, the Delta Kappa Epsilon and the Phi Beta Kappa.
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