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 25
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Dr. Lee stands deservedly high in the estimation of his fellow practitioners and he has been called upon to serve in many
positions of honor and trust, such as pres- ident of the Homeopathic Medical Soci- eties of Monroe County, of Western New York and of the New York State Society. He is a member of the Alpha Sigma fra- ternity, Ann Arbor Chapter ; president of the Alumni Association of the Homœo- pathic Department of the University of Michigan ; president of Rochester District Alumni Association, University of Michi- gan ; an honorary member of the Homœo- pathic Medical Society of the State of Michigan ; and a member of the American Institute of Homœopathy. He was also chairman of the legislative committee ap- pointed by the State Homeopathic Medi- cal Society of New York, which commit- tee secured the appropriation for the es- tablishment of the Gowanda State Hos- pital for the Insane, an institution which has accommodations for about fourteen hundred patients. Dr. Lee has been pres- ident of the New York State Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners and the joint board composed of the three recognized schools of medicine. He is an associate alumnus of the New York Homeopathic Medical College and be- longs to the Medical-Chirurgical Society of Central New York, the Southern Tier Medical Society, the Surgical and Gyne- cological Association of the American In- stitute of Homeopathy, the National So- ciety of Electrotherapeutists, the Roches- ter Medical Association ; consulting sur- geon to the Gowanda State Hospital, the Rochester Hahnemann Hospital and cen- sor of the Cleveland Homeopathic Medi- cal College. He is a director of several business corporations of Rochester ; direc- tor of the Rochester Public Health Asso- ciation ; director of the Children's Hos- pital and the State Industrial School at Industry, New York. For several years Dr. Lee was associate editor of the "Phy- sicians and Surgeons Investigator" and was one of the corps of writers of the
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"Homœopathic Text-Book of Surgery." His original research and investigation have led to the preparation of many valu- able papers and addresses which may be found in the transactions of these soci- eties and the magazines of his school.
Dr. Lee married (first) September 28, 1876, Idella Ives, a daughter of Dr. Charles E. Ives, of Savannah, Wayne county, New York. She died October 11, 1897, leaving two children: Maud, the wife of A. Dix Bissell, Esq., of Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, and Carrie Eliza- beth. On June 20, 1899, Dr. Lee married (second) Carrie M. Thomson, a daughter of the late John Church Thomson, of Bat- tle Creek, Michigan.
In religious faith Dr. Lee is a Baptist ; he belongs to the Baptist Social Union, the Lake Avenue Baptist Church, and is chairman of its board of trustees. In his fraternal relations he is connected with Corinthian Temple Lodge, No. 805, Free and Accepted Masons; Hamilton Chap- ter, No. 62, Royal Arch Masons; Doric Council, No. 19, Royal and Select Mas- ters; and Monroe Commandery. He has attained the thirty-second degree in Scot- tish Rite Masonry and is second lieuten- ant commander of Rochester Consistory, and past president of the Rochester Ma- sonic Temple Association. He is also a member of Damascus Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Lalla Rookh Grotto, No. 113, M. O. V. P. E. R .; and the Rochester Ma- sonic Club. He belongs to the Genesee Valley Club, the Oak Hill Country Club, the Rochester Medical Club, and the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, and by his ballot supports the men and measures of the Republican party. Although prom- inent socially his time and attention are almost wholly devoted to his professional duties and he has that love for his worx which has been rewarded by success, so that he ranks with the ablest representa
tives of the medical fraternity in the State of New York.
GARVAN, Francis Patrick, Lawyer, Public Official.
Mr. Garvan is the child of Patrick and Mary (Carroll) Garvan, natives of Ire- land, who came to this country and set- tled at East Hartford, Connecticut. Pat- rick Garvan became an active and useful citizen, represented his district in the State Senate, and was one of the best known paper manufacturers of the State. He died in London in 1912.
Francis P. Garvan was born June 13, 1875, in East Hartford, and was educated in the public schools, including the high school of Hartford, Connecticut. He en- tered Yale University, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1897, and subsequently, for a time, attended the Catholic University at Washington, D. C. He took the lead in his classes and was very active in college fraternities. From the New York Law School he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and was admitted to the bar of New York in 1899. For some time he was a clerk in the law office of James, Schell & Elkus, and in 1901 was appointed assistant dis- trict attorney of New York county under District Attorney Jerome, continuing to serve under that noted official for a period of eight years. Mr. Garvan was in full - charge of the homicide cases and was practically the chief of District Attorney Jerome's staff. He was a very active figure in the prosecution of many world- famous cases, including the murder trial of Patrick, and of Molineaux and Harry K. Thaw. He also prosecuted railroad fraud cases and a large number of in- dividuals for false claims against insur- ance companies. In this trying position Mr. Garvan developed the keenest of abil- ities, and assisted greatly in making the
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great reputation which surrounded Mr. Jerome as State's attorney. No man in that position ever achieved a finer record than Mr. Garvan. He is a member of many organizations and clubs, among the latter including the Manhattan, Piping Rock Racquet and Tennis, Rockaway Hunt, University, Yale Club, and the Delta Psi college fraternity. In addition to a large general law practice, he is inter- ested in various enterprises, and is a direc- tor of P. F. Collier & Sons, one of the largest publishers in the country. On leaving the district attorney's office Mr. Garvan became a member of the law firm of Osborne, Lamb & Garvan. Here he finds field for the exercise of his unusual talents, and is making rapid strides toward the position of a leader at the New York bar. He has been retained in much important litigation, and has ever acquit- ted himself with credit and success. He is a faithful member of the Roman Cath- olic church, and in political action has ever been an unswerving Democrat, hav- ing faith in the principles which have made his party an active factor in the direction of affairs since the time of Thomas Jefferson.
He married, June 9, 1910, in Albany, Mabel Brady, daughter of the late An- thony N. Brady, one of the most success- ful business men of New York, and a prominent politician. Mr. Brady was born August 22, 1843, in Lille, France, and came with his parents to the United States in childhood. His wife, Marcia Ann (Myers) Brady, was born July 10, 1849, in Bennington, Vermont. Mr. Gar- van's children are: Patricia, Francis Pat- rick, Jr., and Flora Brady.
GERE, James Brewster, Business Man.
Identified with the business interests of Syracuse since 1896, Mr. Gere is well
known in commercial circles as the capa- ble president of the Gere Coal Company and of the Onondaga Vitrified Brick Com- pany. He is a son of Colonel James Mon- roe Gere, one of the best known Civil War veterans of Onondaga county, who answered final roll call, July 12, 1908, at the age of eighty-four years.
The family name is found spelled both Geer and Gere, the earliest known ances- tor of the family, Walter Geere, of Heavi- tree, Devonshire, England, living in the fifteenth century. He married, about 1450, Alice Somaster, of Southams, Dev- onshire, England, and from them all Dev- onshire Geers sprang. The origin of the name is said to have been from the occu- pation of the man who first bore it, John of the Gear. He was in the service of a chieftain and was chosen to superintend the war equipment of the chieftain's men. All such equipment was then designated as "gear," and when surnames came into vogue, about the middle of the eleventh century, "John, of the Gear," became John Gear. The immediate ancestor of J. Brew- ster Gere, of Syracuse, was Jonathan Geer, of Heavitree, Devonshire, of whom little is known further than that he left considerable property and two sons, George and Thomas, in charge of his brother. George Geer was born about 1621, his brother Thomas in 1623. Their uncle gave them no educational advan- tages and began at once to plan getting rid of them in order to secure their patri- mony, left in his care. He finally got the boys upon a ship about to sail for Amer- ica by requesting them to deliver a letter to the captain for him. The letter asked that the captain take the boys to Amer- ica, and before they discovered the trick they were at sea. This was in 1635, and after the arrival of the ship at Boston the boys went ashore, without money, all trace of them being lost for many years. George is on record as one of the early
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settlers of New London, Connecticut, in 1651; Thomas was living in Enfield in I682.
George Geer, the ancestor of this branch, married Sarah Allyn in February, 1658, and lived at Groton until about 1720, then moved to Preston, where he made his home with a daughter, Mar- garet, wife of Thomas Gates, until his death in 1726, aged one hundred and five years, having been totally blind for sev- eral years. The line of descent was through George ; his son, Robert ; his son, Ebenezer ; his son, David; his son, Wil- liam Stanton; his son, Colonel James Monroe; his son, J. Brewster Gere, of Syracuse.
William Stanton Gere, born in Octo- ber, 1785, died September 15, 1852. He married, February 14, 1816, Louisa Brew- ster. Their son, Colonel James Monroe Gere, was born November 15, 1824, died in Camillus, July 12, 1908, the last sur- vivor of the seven children of William Stanton Gere. He died in the house in which he was born eighty-two years be- fore, a house that had been his residence and home during nearly his entire life. His military career was attended by many dangers and thrilling experiences. He enlisted in 1862 and was at once commis- sioned captain of Company F, One Hun- dred and Twenty-second Regiment Vol- unteer Infantry, a company recruited in Camillus. He fought with the Army of the Potomac from Antietam to the Wil- derness, rising in rank to lieutenant-colo- nel, and for some time prior to his death was the highest officer in rank among the survivors of his regiment. During the Federal occupancy of Danville, Virginia, Captain Gere was assistant provost mar- shal and for several weeks commanded the forces holding that city. At the battle of the Wilderness he ranked as captain and was taken prisoner by the enemy. He was confined in Confederate prisons at
Macon, Savannah, Charleston and Colum- bia, twice escaped and was recaptured, but a third attempt was successful after a six months' imprisonment. He made his escape from Columbia prison in the night, and after eight weeks of hunger, suffering and privation joined a detach- ment of troopers from Colonel Kirk's command, who were raiding the moun- tains of Tennessee. He was aided in his get-away by a loyal Union man, a North Carolina mountaineer, who fed, clothed and cared for him as best he could, and instructed him as to the proper course to pursue. Colonel Gere never forgot this man and the only break in his Camil !. residence was during the ten years he spent in North Carolina engaged in min- ing mica with the man as partner who had befriended him in his hour of need. Colonel Kirk, after Captain Gere reported to him, aided him to get to Washington, and soon afterward he was sent back to his regiment, arriving in time to accom- pany it on the Petersburg campaign. At the storming of Lee's lines at Petersburg the One Hundred and Twenty-second New York took part, Lieutenant-Colonel Gere leading his men.
Colonel Gere married, October 8, 1856, Helen Hopkins, daughter of Anson Hop- kins, of Amboy, Onondaga county, New York. She was born July 7, 1832, died February 26, 1913, at Gere Locks, a mile west of Solvay, aged eighty years. At the time of her death she was the last survivor of the first members of the Am- boy Presbyterian Church, one of the old- est churches in the county. She was born in Amboy and never resided outside of Onondaga county. After the death of Colonel Gere in 1908 she made her home at the old Gere homestead.
Colonel Gere for thirty-five years was elder of Amboy Presbyterian Church, and the year prior to his death represented that church in Syracuse Presbytery. For
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many years he was engineer of the town of Solvay, and for many years was con- nected with the manufacture of Solar Salt in Syracuse. Children of Colonel James M. and Helen (Hopkins) Gere: Helen Eliza, born June 10, 1858, graduated from Syracuse University, Bachelor of Philos- ophy, class of 1881, now a teacher of science ; William Anson, born September 3, 1860, married Caroline Munro, June 4, 1890; James Brewster, of further men- tion; Mary Emmeline, born October 2, 1870, died March 27, 1872.
James Brewster Gere was born in Ca- millus, New York, August 14, 1867. He obtained his early education in the schools of that town, and then entered Syracuse High School, continuing there until 1883, when he left school to become his father's farm assistant. In 1896 he engaged in the retail coal business in Syracuse, and in 1899 added a wholesale department. In 1907 he incorporated his business under the title of the Gere Coal Company, of which he is president. He is also presi- dent of the Onondaga Vitrified Brick Company, both companies leaders in their respective lines. Mr. Gere is an active member of the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, is a trustee of Geddes Congre- gational Church, is a member of the Ma- sonic order, of the Citizens' Club, and is an ardent Republican.
He married, November 1, 1894, Harriet, daughter of Henry S. Munro, of Belle Isle, New York. Children: Wendell, born September 28, 1897; James Brew- ster (2), born June 17, 1900; Caroline, born May 25, 1902; Donald Kerr, born December 25, 1903.
CHAPMAN, Levi Snell, Lawyer, Man of Affairs, Legislator.
Levi Snell Chapman was born at Fay- etteville, Onondaga county, New York, on October 15, 1865. His father was Nathan
Randall Chapman, who after practicing law in that village for fifty-seven years, died March 21, 1897, at the age of eighty- eight years. As an evidence of the esteem in which he was held, the Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Baptist churches united for a union memorial service on the Sunday evening following his funeral. His mother was Martha Maria (Tibbits) Chapman, who was born in Syracuse on April 1, 1829, and who married Nathan R. Chapman on Decem- ber 27, 1847. She was a daughter of Otis and Rebecca Tibbits, who were early set- tlers in Syracuse, where she died on March 31, 1909, at the age of eighty years, leaving her surviving three children, Sara Fidelia Chapman, now living in Syracuse ; Ella Chapman Dike, wife of Rev. Otis A. Dike, of Lake Placid, New York; and Levi Snell Chapman, the two latter being twins. Thomas D. Chapman, a half- brother and a veteran of the Civil War, died at Fayetteville in 1901.
Mr. Chapman can trace his ancestry on his father's side in an unbroken line al- most to the beginning of American his- tory. His father was born at Stonington, Connecticut, April 21, 1809, and with his father, Nathan Chapman, and his mother, Hannah (Randall) Chapman, and an uncle, Smith Chapman, who later re- moved to Rochester, New York, came to Lenox, Madison county, New York, about 1818, long before the advent of railroads and when Central New York was almost a wilderness. There he lived for years in a log cabin and helped his father clear the virgin soil of the county of which his brother, Sanford Palmer Chapman, after- wards became sheriff, and his cousin, Benjamin Franklin Chapman, became county judge.
After graduating from Cortland Acad- emy at Homer, New York, in 1831, the elder Chapman entered Hamilton College, at Clinton, New York, from which he was
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graduated with high rank in 1835. He by an equally continuous genealogical survived every other member of his class record, traces its ancestry back to Walter Palmer, who lived in Charlestown, Mas- sachusetts, as far back as 1629. and lived to be the ninth oldest alumnus of his alma mater. Later he taught Greek, Latin and mathematics in the Manlius Academy, and in the year 1836, became a teacher in the Fayetteville Academy, of which he afterwards became principal, which position he held for two and one- half years. During his administration the Fayetteville Academy, which was a pri- vate preparatory school, had an attend- ance of nearly three hundred students, as the old catalogues show, coming from all parts of Central New York. While teach- ing, the elder Chapman studied law in the offices of Nicholas P. Randall, a relative on his mother's side, of Manlius, and Judge Watson, at Fayetteville, and was admitted to the bar in 1840.
Mr. Chapman's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all bore the Christian name of Nathan. Both his great-grand- fathers were captains in the War of the Revolution, one of whom, Peleg Randall, his grandmother's father, as Bachus' "History of the Baptists," volume 3, page 259, informs us was a lieutenant, and at the surrender of Burgoyne, the captain having been killed, took command of the company. This same Peleg Randall was for thirty years, as Benedict's "History of the Baptists," page 475, tells us, pastor of the First Baptist Church of North Ston- ington, Connecticut, one of the earliest Baptist churches in New England. The first Nathan Chapman was a deacon in this church, and his son, Nathan, Jr., mar- ried the daughter of this pastor, Hannah Randall, May 29, 1808. Her mother was Hannah Palmer, who married Rev. Peleg Randall, in 1772, thus connecting the Chapman family with the ancient Ran- dall and Palmer families, the first of which traces its ancestry back to John Randall, who died at Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1684, and the second of which,
This particular Chapman family begins with John Chapman, who was born in England, near London, in 'or about the year 1694, and came to America in 1712, having been impressed on a British man- of-war, from which he escaped in Boston, and fled back into the wilderness, where he stayed with the Pequot Indians until he could make his way to Westerly, Rhode Island, where in or about the year 1714 he married Sarah Brown. They had five children, viz., John Chapman, who settled at Westerly, Rhode Island; Wil- liam Chapman, who settled at North Bol- ton, Connecticut ; Andrew Chapman, born in the year 1722, who settled at Stoning- ton, Connecticut ; Thomas Chapman, who settled at North Bolton, Connecticut ; and Sumner Chapman, who settled at West- erly, Rhode Island. Andrew, the third of these five sons, was the great-great-grand- father of Levi S. Chapman, and died at North Stonington, Connecticut, April 15, 1794, at the age of seventy-six years. His wife, Hannah Smith Chapman, to whom he was married in 1744, died June 31, 1783, at the age of fifty-six years. They had seven children, of whom Nathan Chapman was the fourth, born October 7, 1760, and who was married July 7, 1785, to Nabby Peabody, who was born Sep- tember 20, 1763. The first Nathan died at North Stonington, Connecticut, Febru- ary 14, 1824, and his widow died at Fay- etteville, New York, May 12, 1847. They had seven children of whom the oldest was Nathan, Jr., Levi S. Chapman's grandfather, who was born at Stonington, Connecticut, March 17, 1786, and died at Auburn, New York, June 27, 1871, and is buried at Fayetteville, New York.
Many representatives of the Chapman family are to be found in Connecticut at
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the present day, and at Stonington we find the "Chapman burying ground" with the graves of the earlier members of the family dating back almost as far as 1600.
The early education of Levi S. Chap- man was acquired in the Fayetteville Union School, from which he was gradu- ated as valedictorian in the class of 1884, after which he was then engaged in col- lege preparatory work for one year in Whitestown Seminary, from which he also was graduated in 1885. Entering Syracuse University in the fall of 1885, he was graduated in the class of 1889, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, hav- ing been one of the commencement day speakers. He then commenced the study of law with his father at Fayetteville, but in January, 1891, having accepted a posi- tion as clerk in the Board of United States General Appraisers in New York City, he continued his studies with the law firm of Stanley, Clark & Smith. He was ad- mitted to the bar at Utica, New York, in 1891, and having resigned his clerkship in New York on January 1, 1892, he returned to Syracuse, where he became associated in offices with James E. Newell, with whom, in 1893, he formed a partnership under the name of Newell & Chapman. Harry E. Newell, a brother of James E. Newell, was admitted to partnership in 1899, and the firm has since continued under the name of Newell, Chapman & Newell, with whom also since 1901 Har- ley J. Crane has been associated.
For several years James E. Newell was corporation counsel of Syracuse, during which time the firm transacted all of the legal business for the city. Mr. Chap- man's particular field has been corpora- tion work, and he has organized and pro- moted many corporations. Principal among these at the present time are the City Bank of Syracuse, promoted by him in 1909, and now having assets of over
$5,000,000, of which he is a director and attorney ; Thomas Millen Company, man- ufacturers of Portland Cement at James- ville, New York, which he reorganized in 1913, and of which he is secretary and treasurer; Watson Wagon Company, manufacturers of dumping wagons and motor tractors at Canastota, New York, of which he is vice-president ; Sherwood Metal Working Company, of Detroit, Michigan, and Syracuse, manufacturers of metal-frame window screens, etc., of which he is vice-president ; Syracuse Fau- cet and Valve Company, manufacturers of faucets and valves, of which he is treasurer ; United States Steel Furniture Company, manufacturers of steel office furniture, of which he is secretary, and Morningside Cemetery Association, which dedicated in 1899, one hundred and four- teen acres of land in Syracuse for ceme- tery purposes, of which corporation he is treasurer. In the year 1905, Mr. Chap- man represented the Third Assembly Dis- trict of Onondaga in the State Legisla- ture.
Since coming to Syracuse he has been a member of the Central Baptist Church, consolidated in 1910 with the First Bap- tist Church, and was largely instrumental in bringing about this consolidation, which united two strong down-town churches, and made possible the building of the new First Baptist Church, during the construction of which he was chair- man of the building committee. This church cost, including site, over $550,- 000 and is unique, in that it operates a hotel and restaurant in connection with its church building. Mr. Chapman has been one of the deacons of this church for over twenty years, and for several years has been the teacher of the First Baraca Class, an organization of men in the Sunday school, having a membership at present of about three hundred and
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fifty, with an average Sunday attendance of about two hundred. This is the first class organized by M. A. Hudson in the Baraca-Philathea Union, now having a membership of over 1,000,000 men and 300,000 women.
Mr. Chapman has also been interested for many years in the Young Men's Chris- tian Association work, having been presi- dent of the Syracuse Association for nine years prior to 1896, when the new build- ing on Montgomery street was completed. During these nine years, the association secured pledges for $55,000 to wipe out an indebtedness in that amount on its old building on South Warren street, and raised more than $300,000 for its new building on Montgomery street. Mr. Chapman secured from Benjamin Tousey the gift of the land on which this new building was erected and an additional gift to make Mr. Tousey's subscription $114,000 which was conditioned on the balance of the required amount being raised, and appointed the special com- mittee consisting of Mr. Frederick R. Hazard, Mr. Lyman C. Smith and Mr. W. L. Smith, who with these called to their assistance had charge of the con- struction of the building and of securing the other subscriptions. Since 1896 he has been a member of the board of trus- tees.
Mr. Chapman is a member of the Uni- versity Club, the Phi Beta Kappa honor- ary fraternity, the Masonic Club, the Delta Upsilon Society, of the board of trustees of which corporation he has been president for fifteen years or more, and a member of the various local bodies of the Masonic fraternity, including the Shrine. He is also a trustee of Roches- ter Theological Seminary and a trustee of Syracuse University.
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