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 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
Willard C. Lipe was born in Mont- gomery county, New York, December 21, 1861, a son of John E. and Susan M. (Coughtry) Lipe, old and highly re- spected residents of that region. The family had long been engaged in agri- culture in Montgomery county, and both John E. Lipe and his father, Jacob I. Lipe, were successful farmers there. The latter died in 1880 at the advanced age of eighty-four, and the son, John E., died in 1910, having attained the same age as that of his father, eighty-four years. Wil- lard C. Lipe was one of a family of three children. He passed his childhood in his
44
W.C. Like
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
native region, attending the local district school for his education and benefiting by the healthful life and training to be gained on the farm. In the year 1880, before he had completed his nineteenth year, he left the parental home and re- moved to the city of Syracuse, which has ever since remained his home and the scene of his busy life. In his youth he attended Clinton Liberal Institute where he studied mechanical, scientific and com- mercial lines and proved himself a most apt student and a hard and industrious worker. His elder brother, Charles E. Lipe, had already made an entrance into the industry of manufacturing of machin- ery and tools and founded the Lipe Shops, and it was into this establishment that Willard C. Lipe went and it was there that he gained the practical knowledge that he has of his business in all its de- tails. It was not long before his talent made itself apparent and he was trans- ferred to the drafting room where the de- signs of the machinery were made which were afterwards constructed in the shop. Here his ability displayed itself to even greater advantage and he was steadily advanced to posts of greater and greater trust and responsibility. His talents did not stop short at the mechanical side of the business, but as he advanced to a place of control he showed himself to be a man of general executive and business capability and soon was recognized as an important figure in the industrial world. Nor were his business connections limited to any one concern, but extended them- selves until they embraced many great enterprises and he to-day holds the office of president of the Lipe-Walrath Com- pany, the Globe Malleable Iron and Steel Company and the Railway Roller Bear- ing Company. Besides this he is vice- president of the Brown-Lipe Gear Com- pany, the Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company and one of the largest owners of the
Engelberg Huller and the Endicott Forg- ing companies. The Brown-Lipe Gear Company has a large plant near the Straight Line Engine Company's works on South Geddes street, employing five hundred and fifty workmen in its exten- sive operations. The Lipe Shops design and build special machines, tools and dies and general machine work, the plant being one of the most perfectly equipped for this purpose in the State. Mr. Lipe is himself an expert in his line, possessing the most complete knowledge of the prin- ciples underlying mechanical construction and a very large experience of the actual workings of engines and mechanisms gen- erally. To this he adds unusual inventive ability and is therefore the best possible person to carry on the business founded by his brother.
A man so deeply engaged in the con- duct of enterprises of such moment, it would seem could scarcely find time and opportunity to give to other kinds of activity, yet such is certainly not true in the case of Mr. Lipe who is very promi- nent in the general life of the city. He is extremely interested in the general wel- fare of the community and is associated with many organizations having that wel- fare as their objective. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Citizens' and Technology clubs and in his connection with them amply displays his broad-minded public spirit. Socially and fraternally, too, he is active, a member of Syracuse City Lodge, No. 215, Knights of Pythias, and his interest extends to sports and athletics so that he belongs to the Onondaga Golf and Country Club, also the Bellevue Country Club, the well- known Mystique Krewe, and the Boys' Club. In politics he generally votes the Republican ticket, but maintains that in- dependence of mind that marks him in every department of thought and activity, reserving to himself the privilege of se-
45
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
lecting the best cause and candidate as he sees them at the time. He is affiliated with the Presbyterian church and attends the Fourth Church of that denomination in Syracuse. His residence is the hand- some one at No. 112 Summit avenue.
Mr. Lipe was married on August 27, 1884, to Jennie Sponable, a daughter of David and Margaret (Vrooman) Spon- able, of Fort Plain, New York, and of their union two children have been born, Marjorie and Willard Charles.
Mr. Lipe is a great believer in organi- zaton and cooperation and has learned to economize to the last degree all the fac- tors of an operation to the production of the greatest possible result. It is his policy to utilize every possible opportun- ity to promote his aims, and as these are so closely identified with the best inter- ests of the community it is obvious in what lies his great value as a citizen. He stands to-day as a splendid example of the man of enterprise so typical of our epoch and if it is true, as it unquestion- ably is, that America can boast of a repu- tation as the leader of the world in the conduct of all successful industrial and commercial affairs, then it is due to the presence in its midst of men of action such as Mr. Lipe.
Clifford E. Lipe, nephew of Willard C. Lipe, whose tragic and untimely death was the cause of so general a regret, was born December 23, 1887, in Syracuse, the lifelong scene of his short but active career. He was a son of Charles E. and Mary (Sponable) Lipe, both deceased, his father having been the founder of the Lipe Shops and a part founder of several other great concerns. The son began his education in the excellent public schools of his native city and graduated from the Central High School. It had been decided in accordance with the wishes of both him- self and his father that he should take an engineering course and with this end in
view he matriculated at Cornell Univer- sity. Here he distinguished himself as a student of unusual aptness and diligence and won the regard and affection at once of his masters and the undergraduate body. He graduated with the class of 1911 and received a degree in mechanical engineering. He then went abroad with Mr. Charles S. Brown and with him spent a year in travelling over the British Isles and the Continent of Europe. Returning to America he at once began active busi- ness life in connection with the engineer- ing and machine works in which his father was so deeply interested, and quickly displayed an ability in business far above the average and which seemed to promise a most brilliant career for the future. Unfortunately the future never arrived for him. He was a large stock- holder in the Brown-Lipe-Chapin Com- pany, the Globe Malleable Iron and Steel, the Railway Roller Bearing, the Engel- berg Huller and the Endicott Forging companies. He was also vice-president and a large stockholder of the Brown- Lipe Gear Company. He was also very active in social and club circles in the city and was a member of many organ- izations. While in college he became a member of the Seal and Serpent Frater- nity and he later belonged to the Ameri- can Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Technology Club of Syracuse, the Cornell Club of New York and the Syracuse Cor- nell Club. He was also a member of the University, City, Century and Citizens' clubs of Syracuse. Deeply interested in athletics and out-door sports he was one of the incorporators and a director of the Bellevue Country Club and was a mem- ber of the Onondaga Golf Club, the Ya- hundasis Golf Club of Utica and the Automobile Club of Syracuse.
Unaccustomed to anything in the nature of ill health-he had always been robust from childhood-Mr. Lipe did not
46
C.& Lipe
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
realize the significance of certain symp- toms of disorder which attacked him about a year before his death, and con- tinued his hard work until they had gained too great a hold upon his system to be checked. When at length he con- sented, upon the solicitations of his friends, to consult a physician, he was already advanced upon a decline which neither medical skill or a change in climate could halt. He went to Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and was there under the best medical treatment for some months, but eventually succumbed to his trouble. The death of few young men would have been felt as generally as his as the words of many prominent men of Syracuse amply testify, and this brief appreciation cannot be more fittingly closed than by a quotation of some of them.
Of Mr. Lipe Mr. Alexander T. Brown said :
When Charles E. Lipe died in his prime this city suffered a great loss. Now, in the death of his son, Clifford E., at the early age of twenty- eight, another life of great promise ends. Clif- ford E. Lipe inherited his father's keen mechan- ical and business sense, and this was linked with a thorough theoretical and practical education. His ability and influence were widely recognized. He possessed a host of friends and, in his own quiet way, contributed liberally to many chari- ties.
Mr. H. W. Chapin said :
From his earliest boyhood, through his school and college days, I have watched Clifford E. Lipe develop into a lovable and splendid young business man. It is a pity that his life could not have been spared for he was already well along the way to a manhood of great usefulness. His ability in business, mechanical and financial matters was unusual. The men in the factories admired and respected him as their friend. He was absolutely square, a man who would decide for right every time regardless of his personal interests. I feel his loss exceedingly.
The tribute of Arthur E. Parsons was as follows :
From early boyhood Clifford E. Lipe demon- strated that he possessed the Lipe mechanical genius. Repeatedly as a young boy I saw him working along the right lines on mechanical devices. Upon his graduation from college he brought to his business, not only a natural mechanical ability, but a fine technical knowledge and a keen, shrewd business sense. He quickly developed into a careful, competent manufac- turer, well liked and relied upon by his associ- ates. In his death Syracuse loses a young man who was already one of her captains of industry and a loved and respected citizen.
WHITRIDGE, Frederick Wallingford, Lawyer, Railroad President.
Frederick W. Whitridge springs from New England ancestors, and partakes of the qualities of thrift and enterprise which have distinguished the people of that section for three centuries. The founder of the family in this country was William Whitridge, born 1599, died De- cember 9, 1688, came to America in the ship "Elizabeth" in 1625, with his wife, Elizabeth, born 1605, and son, Thomas, from Beninden, County Kent, England. He was living in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1637, and his wife died before 1663, in which year he married (second) Susanna, widow of Anthony Colby. She died De- cember 9, 1668. Thomas Whitridge, son of William and Elizabeth Whitridge, born 1625, was living in Ipswich, Massa- chusetts, in 1648, and had a wife, Flor- ence, who died in 1672. Their son, Wil- liam Whitridge, born 1659, resided in Rochester, Massachusetts, and was the father of Thomas Whitridge, born there November 12, 1710, died March 7, 1795. His intention of marriage to Hannah Haskell was entered September I, 1733. Their third son, Dr. William Whitridge, was born February 13, 1748, in Roches- ter; settled at Tiverton, Rhode Island, in 1780, dying there April 5, 1831. In 1791 he received the honorary degree of Mas- ter of Arts from Yale College, and in
47
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
1823 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Uni- versity. He married Mary Cushing, born July 21, 1759, in Scituate, Massachusetts, died in Tiverton, March 17. 1846. They had a large family of children born in Tiverton. Of these, the second son, Wil- liam Cushing Whitridge, was born No- vember 25, 1784, in Tiverton, and became a physician, practicing many years with great success in New Bedford, Massa- chusetts. He married his cousin, Olive Cushing, born February 20, 1783, in Bos- ton, eldest daughter and fifth child of John and Olive (Wallingford) Cushing, of South Berwick, Maine, died September 9, 1876. John Cushing Whitridge, son of William C. and Olive (Cushing) Whit- ridge, was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, and lived in New Bedford, Mas- sachusetts, where he died in 1908. He married Lucia Shaw Bailey, daughter of John G. Bailey, of Newport, Rhode Island. and they were the parents of Frederick Wallingford Whitridge.
Frederick Wallingford Whitridge was born August 5, 1852, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he grew up, and received his primary education in the public schools. Entering Amherst Col- lege, Amherst, Massachusetts, he was graduated A. B. in 1874, following which he entered Columbia Law School in New York City, from which he received the degree of LL. B. in 1877. In that year he was admitted to the New York bar, but did not engage in active practice. For some years he was lecturer in the school of political science attached to Columbia University, and is one of the founders of the Civil Service Reform Association. Mr. Whitridge has given his talents and energies to the development and progress of many business enterprises, and is now a director of the Niagara Development Company and the Cataract Construction Company. He is and has been for several
years receiver and president of the Third Avenue Railroad Company of New York City. In religion he is an Episcopalian, and in politics independent of party dic- tation. On the occasion of the marriage of King Alfonso of Spain to Princess Vic- toria Eugenie of England, Mr. Whit- ridge was appointed by the President as special ambassador to attend the cere- monies as representative of the United States. He has been an occasional con- tributor to magazines on various subjects, and has demonstrated a large amount of business ability and versatility in other directions .. He is a member of several clubs, including the University, Knicker- bocker, Metropolitan, City, Downtown, Players, Century and Westchester Coun- ty clubs.
He married, in 1884, Lucy Arnold, daughter of Matthew and Lucy (Wight- man) Arnold, and they have children : Arnold, Eleanor, Joan. For a quarter of a century the family has resided in the same house on East Eleventh street, New York City, and the summers are spent in the Scottish Highlands, where Mr. Whit- ridge is the owner of a beautiful estate.
IRVING, Walter,
Retired.
Walter Irving, of Binghamton, New York, is a scion of a family which has be- come noted in history, in literature and in the professions. The name in olden times is found in a variety of forms. Erevine, which was contracted into Irvine, comes from the ancient Celto-Sythick Erinvane, or Erinfeine, signifying a true or stout Westland man, for the word Erin, both in the old Gaelic-Welsh and the old Gaelic language, signifies "the west," which is the Ireland of to-day, being west of Albia, and veine, or feine, signifying "himself," meaning as that of a strong, resolute man. Arms of the Irving family
48
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of Drum Castle: Argent, three bunches of holly leaves proper. Crest: Three in each, two and one. Crest: A sheaf of arrows. Motto: Sub sole, sub umbra, virens. The device on the arms, consist- ing of three holly leaves, was conferred about the year 1333, A. D., by King Robert Bruce upon William de Irvine, and which he (Bruce) had borne as Earl of Carrick. The story in this connection is that when Bruce was closely pursued by the enemy, and accompanied by only three of four followers, he was so over- come by fatigue that he required a few hours of rest, and lay down to sleep be- neath a holly bush, whilst Irvine kept watch, and thus chose to memorialize the event and in testifying to the fidelity of his follower, bestowed the motto: Sub sole, sub umbra, virens, referring both to the holly and to his companions fidelity -"growing or flourishing in sunshine and in shade"-and the lands of Drum in Aberdeenshire.
William Irving, son of Magnus and Catherine (Williamson) Irving, was the founder of this American branch of the Irving family. For a time he followed a seafaring life, but later became a mer- chant. He married at Falmouth, Eng- land, in 1761, Sarah Sanders, daughter of John and Anna Sanders, and granddaugh- ter of an English curate by the name of Kent. He came to America with his wife and they became the parents of eleven children, among whom was Washington Irving.
Judge John Treat Irving, another son of William and Sarah (Sanders) Irving, was born in New York City, March 26, 1778, and died there, March 15, 1838. He was graduated at Columbia College in 1798; admitted to the bar ; was a member of the State Assembly, 1816-17, 1819-20, and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, serving as first judge, 1821-38. In his earlier years he contributed political
articles to "The Chronicle," edited by his brother, Washington Irving. He was a trustee of Columbia College, 1818-28, and a vestryman of Trinity Church, New York. He married, April 28, 1806, Abby Spicer, daughter of Gabriel and Sarah (Wall) Furman.
John Treat Irving, son of Judge John Treat and Abby Spicer (Furman) Irving, was born in New York City, in the family mansion in Wall street, at that time a select residential district, December 2, 1812, and died in the same city, February 27, 1906. He possessed many of the gifts of his famous uncle, Washington Irving, his works being characterized by the same easy style and literary grace that marked the masterpieces of his eminent uncle. His maternal grandfather, Gabriel Furman, was one of the first aldermen of New York City, and was a leading citizen of more than average standing and re- pute. During the War of the Revolution, he fought in the battle of Long Island, and while attempting to join Washing- ton's army in New Jersey, he was seized by the British as a spy and held for three years, being confined in a jail on what was afterward the site of the Hall of Records. The younger John Treat Irv- ing, like his father, was educated at Columbia College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1829, living to be the oldest alumnus of that institu- tion. In June, 1832, he accompanied the first expedition sent by the government to Fort Leavenworth, to treat with the Indians, and was acting secretary, and his experiences on that memorable mis- sion were afterward embodied in his first published work, which appeared in 1835 under the title "Indian Sketches," the volume attracting wide attention by rea- son of its graphic descriptions, both at home and abroad, being given the dis- tinction of republication in England. On his return from the frontier, he took up
N Y-Vol IV-4
49
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
the study of law under Daniel Lord, and was subsequently admitted to practice as a member of the New York bar. In 1835 he went to Europe and for the next two years traveled extensively, returning in 1837. In the meantime, in 1836, he wrote "Hawk Chief," an Indian tale of excep- tional merit that was published and achieved popularity both in this country and in England. Among his other writ- ings were: "The Attorney," "Harry Har- son," and "The Van Gelder Papers," all of which displayed talent of a high order and ranked as works that reflected honor upon American literature. After his mar- riage, however, Mr. Irving applied him- self energetically to the practice of his profession. He was associated with Gar- diner Spring at this stage of his career, and he continued to practice law until 1857, in which year he retired. In 1858 he became a real estate broker, with offices on lower Broadway, and he re- mained identified with realty interests until 1887, when he withdrew from active pursuits altogether, spending the remain- der of his days in well earned rest. As a business man, in his real estate venture, he exhibited ability and gained success equal to those which marked his' earlier professional efforts in law and literature. He was a Republican in his political prin- ciples but was never active as a poli- tician. He was a member of the Authors' and Century clubs, and the Columbia University Alumni Association, and served as president of the New York Chess Club when that former metropoli- tan organization was enjoying its palm- iest days prior to 1863. An Episcopalian in his religions faith, he was at one time a member of Grace Protestant Episcopal Church and later held membership in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the In- carnation. He was president of the Insti- tute for the Blind, Thirty-fourth street and Ninth avenue, New York City, and
a trustee of Roosevelt Hospital. Through- out his entire life, and up to the very last, he manifested a warm interest in charit- able work and his deeds of good in that direction were without number. He was always ready and even anxious to extend an earnest and willing hand in the reformation of drunkards and, with true Christian spirit, rather than wait to be sought and importuned, ministered to the sick and aided the unfortunate. Many funerals among the destitute were paid for by him, and his benefactions caused him to be widely loved. A man of culture and refinement, he was artistic in tem- perament and was especially fond of painting, that form of art claiming con- siderable of his leisure time in his younger years. He was married to Helen Schermerhorn. To this union were born eight children, namely, five sons and three daughters, as follows: John, who married Josephine E. Peacock, and at- tained success in metropolitan brokerage circles; Cortlandt, who became a noted jurist, married Theresa R. Beck; Helen C .; Henry, who married Josephine K. Miller; Frances R .; Edward, who mar- ried Julia Atkins, and died in 1880; Wal- ter, whose name heads this sketch; Mari- on H., who died in 1877. The death of Mr. Irving at an advanced age, severed another of the links which connects the New York of to-day with the old New York of the past, rich in its memories of honorable business achievements, profes- sional eminence and intellectual attain- ments.
Walter Irving, son of John Treat and Helen (Schermerhorn) Irving, was born at Glen Cove, Long Island, February II, 1857. His education was obtained at the University Grammar School and the Col- umbia Grammar School of New York City. In his very early manhood he en- tered upon his business career in a cleri- cal capacity in Wall street, New York
50
Ship He Yourman
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
City, and for a period of five years was associated actively with that busy center of the city. Impaired health obliged him to abandon business activities and for some years he traveled in this country. Later he devoted himself to the conduct of his private business affairs, and spent a great deal of his time in his fine library, where he has a choice collection of some two thousand volumes, many of them rare specimens. He has been a member of the New York Historical Society, the New York Geographical Society, the New York Museum of Natural History and the Academy of Science. In the course of time he has resigned from all of these with the exception of the New York Geographical Society.
Mr. Irving married, at Elmira, New York, November 12, 1890, Bessie Louise Van Sickler, a daughter of George Wil- son and Fayette (Woodburn) Van Sick- ler. They have been blessed with two sons: Walter Van Courtlandt, born July 13, 1901; and Harold, born December 5, 1904. They are members of the Epis- copal church. Mrs. Irving is descended from several noted and well-known fami- lies ; the Ridgeways, of Philadelphia ; the Burrs, the Stocktons and the Wood- burns. Her maternal grandmother was Jane Burr Ridgeway, who married Hiram Woodburn; she was the daughter of David Ridgeway, of Philadelphia, whose first American ancestor was Richard Ridgeway, who came from England in 1677; he married Abigail Stockton, a daughter of Richard Stockton, who was the ancestor of Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and of Admiral Stockton. The line of descent from the American pro- genitor, Richard Ridgeway, is as fol- lows: Joseph, David, another David, Jane Burr, who married Hiram Woodburn, and whose daughter, Fayette, married
George Wilson Van Sickler, and became the mother of Mrs. Irving, as above stated.
YAWMAN, Philip H., Manufacturer, Inventor.
The great force in business to-day is not capital, nor organization, nor methods, necessary as they are, but it is man. Em- erson says, "Every successful institution is the lengthened shadow of one man," which means that success is largely due to the individual. The great plants of the Yawman & Erbe Manufacturing Com- pany, covering as they do an area of twenty acres, is the "lengthened shadow" of the little business started in 1880 by Philip H. Yawman and Gustav Erbe in a little shop measuring twenty feet in width, thirty feet in length, located in the heart of the business district of Roches- ter, New York. From such a small be- ginning has been reared a great organ- ization with many branches in the United States and Canada and exclusive selling agencies throughout the world. The company owns three large plants, two in Rochester, one in Newmarket, Canada, in which are manufactured more filing cabinets and supplies for office systems than are made by any other firm in the world. Fifteen hundred people are em- ployed in the United States and Canadian plants exclusive of the agency salesmen, and fourteen branch stores in the United States and fourteen in Canada stretch across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.