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 8
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As was said in the beginning, the great force in businness to-day is man. The making of filing cabinets that will meet the needs of great modern business houses is only an idea. Philip Yawman and Gustav Erbe did not invent the letter file, neither are they the fathers of office
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systems. The idea of filing letters and documents for future reference is as old as writing itself, and some sort of system prevailed in the first business office. What these men have done is to take the idea, develop it, make it practical, make it comprehensive, make it fit the needs, and meet the demands of modern busi- ness. The object of this article is to give an intimate view of the man, Philip H. Yawman, who all through the years, thirty-five, that cover the life of the Yaw- man & Erbe Manufacturing Company, has been its presiding mechanical genius. Go into the big Rochester plant to-day and you will probably find him in one of the mechanical departments, a man over seventy, slightly stooped, with loose grey coat, black cap, and discerning eye, talk- ing with this foreman or that workman. In the experimental and tool making department he has his inventive ideas worked out and later they are passed to the manufacturing department for adoption. Many of the best patented features of the "Y" and "E" cabinets and equipment are due to his genius, working along original lines. Though over three score years and ten, he is still an active factor in the business. His private office adjoins Mr. Erbe's, they daily confer, and their guiding hands can be seen at every turn. The whole business is at their finger tips, and they are familiar with every part of both manufacturing and selling organizations. No step of importance is taken without their knowl- edge, although they are too busy to handle details. True executives in every sense, they are never too occupied to give attention to the humblest employee, and every man in the great organization feels that he has a friend in Philip H. Yaw- man, president, and in Gustav Erbe, treasurer and general manager of the Yawman & Erbe Manufacturing Com- pany. Both of these men, themselves
risen from the ranks, look upon each man as an individual, deserving individual consideration, and see in every office boy a possible manager, in every workman a possible foreman. Among the fifteen hundred people in the employ of the com- pany there are many who have been there since its earliest days, there are more who have served loyally for twenty years, and many more who have been with the com- pany for twelve years. So in addition to being the largest manufacturers of their lines in the world, the company stands as a shining example of the close coopera- tion that should exist between employers and employees. The firm's first office boy of over thirty years ago is now super- intendent of the Canadian business, and this instance is typical, not an exceptional case.
Philip H. Yawman was born Septem- ber 1, 1839, in Rochester, the city of his early struggles and later successes. He is a son of Nicholas and Anna (Gorman) Yawman, his father born in Schmidt- weiler, Lorraine, in 1816. In 1832 Nicho- las Yawman came to the United States with his father and four brothers, learned the coopers' trade, and engaged in busi- ness in Rochester, later in Scottsville, New York. His wife, Anna (Gorman) Yawman, died when her son, Philip H., was but an infant. Philip H. Yawman attended public schools and in boyhood worked with his father in the cooper shop at Scottsville. Later he learned the ma- chinist's trade, working in many shops, becoming a master mechanic and an ex- pert workman. While in the employ of a large optical instrument manufacturing company of Rochester, where it was his duty to invent, design and improve new machinery and methods, he formed the acquaintance of Gustav Erbe, foreman for the same company. The two men were much together, each finding the other a master, and, working in close harmony,
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each supplementing the other's efforts, they accomplished important results for their firm. Mr. Erbe stated his needs and Mr. Yawman's inventive genius found a solution, as a result many machines were perfected to do work formerly performed by hand. In 1880 the two men decided that what they could do for others they could do for themselves, and with little capital, but with unlimited courage and faith in themselves, they formed a part- nership and launched a frail bark upon a rough business sea. They began under the name of Yawman & Erbe in a small room, twenty by thirty feet, investing practically their entire capital in ma- chinery. They began manufacturing math- ematical, optical and surveying instru- ments, and from the first resolved that whatever instrument they made should be of the best quality. It was not easy going, for their resources were small and they had entered a field occupied by large, well established firms. The part- ners, working hard and conscientiously, had many discouragements during the early years, but their reputation for good work and fair dealing was spreading and business gradually increased. They made goods for other concerns and soon larger quarters were necessary. At the end of the third year the business had grown to such proportions that the young firm felt that their fight was won. James Cut- ler, later mayor of Rochester, gave them a contract for manufacturing a mail chute to be used in office buildings and for twenty-five years Yawman & Erbe made the widely known Cutler Mail Chute. The Eastman Kodak Company did not always have its present large plant, and in the spring of 1883 Yawman & Erbe made for that company the first model film holders, and in 1884 the first Model No. I Kodak. Until 1895 they continued doing all the metal work and assembled
all the work ready for inspection for the film roll holders and Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, Kodaks that were made for the Eastman Kodak Company. There is a picture ex- tant taken by George Eastman with his first Kodak, showing Messrs. Yawman and Erbe, standing on the steps leading to their little shop. In the spring of 1883 Yawman & Erbe also entered into an agreement with the owners of the patents to manufacture the only Shannon Files for letters, bills, etc., that were made in the United States at that time. This Shannon Arch File, consisting of an arch, a board, a compressor cover, an index and a perforator, had been invented in 1877 and was the forerunner of the modern business filing systems. This Shannon design, with many improvements, is still made by Yawman & Erbe, who were among the first to manufacture filing equipment. During this early period and shortly after the first Shannon File was placed on the market, the company began the manufacture of the now famed Yaw- man and Erbe Rapid Roller Copier, a machine having all the advantages of letter press and carbon methods.
In 1884, feeling that their prospects justified the move, the young firm pur- chased ground, erected a four-story brick factory, and to their product added metal interiors for vaults, banks and public buildings. This brought further increase of business, and in 1890 another four- storied building was erected on the same lot. Prior to 1898 the company manu- factured for other concerns, but in that year they incorporated as the Yawman & Erbe Manufacturing Company, took over the entire business of the Office Specialty Company, and instituted their own selling organization. They then dis- posed of their metal working business to the Art Metal Construction Company, of Jamestown, New York. Their business,
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still increasing, a new factory was erected in Rochester and one in Canada, which has developed into the extensive New- market plant, one of the largest com- pletely motorized factories in the Do- minion. In 1900 a building larger than any of the others was erected in the rear of the original plant, where now all the Yawman & Erbe steel and paper products are manufactured. From 1905 until 1908 the company operated both day and night, and in 1906 an adjoining building was purchased. In 1907, to provide room for present and future needs, fourteen acres in the suburb of Gates was pur- chased and a modern factory was erected, and in February, 1914, the largest struc- ture of all was built, to be followed by others that will cover the entire tract. The entire selling organization is modern and in line with most advanced ideas. The company sells service and maintains a system department of trained experts whose services are given free of charge to customers. Every salesman is trained in the company's own school and must qualify as a system expert before he is assigned territory. The factory force of five has grown to fifteen hundred, the floor space of six hundred square feet to twenty acres, the limited capital to un- limited resources, and the young partners of 1880 to the veterans of 1915 in control, Mr. Yawman, president; Mr. Erbe, treas- urer and general manager. They are as enthusiastic as they were thirty years ago, when it took a year to do as much business as they now transact in a week. Mr. Yawman can review with satisfac- tion the outcome of his mechanical, and inventive genius, and the fact that his name is known all over the world wher- ever office systems are in use, which means wherever civilization extends. But more than his mechanical fame he values the fact that Yawman and reliability are synonymous and that he is honored as a
man of sound judgment, originality, per- severance and determination. Kindly and friendly to all, he has many warm friends, but it is in the home circle that his best traits of character are made manifest. He is a director of the Genesee Valley Trust Company, but he has seldom gone far beyond his own particular field in busi- ness enterprise.
He is a good citizen and an honor to the city that gave him birth and afforded him business opportunities, and in return he has carried her name to the uttermost parts of the earth and has aided to a great degree in spreading the name and fame of Rochester as an industrial and com- mercial center. The weight of seventy years has slightly bent his frame but the spirit of progress is strong within him, and while the heavier burdens have been surrendered he keeps in close touch with every movement made, and his approval is always secured in any measure of im- portance affecting the company interests. A strong and capable executive, a kind and generous employer, a citizen of worth, a man among men, he has ever been the great force that, more than capital, more than organization, more than method, has created a great enterprise.
Mr. Yawman married, in 1863, Mary C. Webber, who for over fifty years was the queen of his heart and the mistress of his home. She died November 11, 1914. Nine children were born to Philip H. and Mary C. Yawman: Cecelia M .; Marie Antoi- nette, married Frederick J. Hafner, of Rochester; Julia A., married Harry Heistein, of Rochester; Cora Y., mar- ried Frank W. Hahn, of Rochester; Aloysia, a resident of Rochester; Eu- genia, a sister of St. Joseph's Convent ; Josepha, a sister of Little Sister of the Poor; Francis J., secretary of the Yaw- man & Erbe Manufacturing Company ; Victor, residing with his father.
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BREWSTER, Henry Colvin, Financier, Humanitarian.
It is the record of such men as Henry Colvin Brewster that stands as contradic- tory evidence of the statement, too often heard, that America is given over to the spirit of commercialism ; that busi- ness and naught else claims the attention and efforts of our leading men. Roches- ter knows Henry C. Brewster as a finan- cier of ability, but has known him more- over as a public-spirited citizen, as a man of benevolences, of kindly purposes and high ideals. The great interests of the country at large-politics, the church and the charities-have made claims upon his attention, claims that he has fully met. and while the business activity and pros- perity of the city have been greatly aug- mented through his labors, her public welfare has profited by his efforts and his history is one which reflects honor and credit upon Monroe county and the state- at-large.
Rochester may well be proud to num- ber him among her native sons. The an- cestral history is one of close connection with America through many generations. His parents were Simon L. and Editha (Colvin) Brewster. The father, who was born in the town of Griswold, New Lon- don county, Connecticut, in 1811, ac- quired his education in the common schools and afterward became connected with the business interests of his native town. For ten years he was there en- gaged in manufacturing and in his thir- tieth year he removed to Rochester, New York, where for eighteen years he was a prominent representative of mercantile interests. On the expiration of that period he retired from business life in 1859, but four years afterward again took his place in the business world, being elected president of the Traders' Bank in
1863. Two years subsequently this was reorganized under the National Bank Act under the name of the Traders' National Bank and Simon L. Brewster continued as its president until his death, which occurred in August, 1898. He was, there- fore, for more than a third of a century at the head of this important financial in- stitution and under his guidance it took rank among the leading monied concerns of the Empire State. Its business covered every department of banking and its finan- cial strength, based upon the well-known reliability and business methods of its president and other stockholders and officers, secured to it a constantly in- creasing patronage. In 1844 Mr. Brew- ster was united in marriage to Editha Colvin, a daughter of Hiram D. Colvin, of Rochester. She died in 1899.
September 7, 1845, was the natal day of Henry C. Brewster, who was reared amid the refining influences of a home of culture. Between the ages of six and eighteen years his time and attention were largely given to the acquirement of an education, and he then became a factor in financial circles, entering the Traders' Bank, later the Traders' Na- tional Bank, in the fall of 1863. No pa- rental influence smoothed his pathway or released him from the arduons work which constitutes the basis of advance- ment and success. It was personal merit that gained him promotion as he mas- tered the various tasks assigned to him in the different positions which he filled in the bank. He realized that there is no excellence without labor and in the years which followed he so thoroughly ac- quainted himself with the banking busi- ness that in July, 1868, he was chosen by the vote of the directors to the office of cashier, in which he continued to serve for more than twenty-six years. He was then elected to the vice-presidency in the
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fall of 1894 and five years later succeeded his father as president of the Traders' National Bank, since remaining at the head of the institution.
For forty-four years Henry C. Brewster has been a factor in financial circles in Rochester, his usefulness and activity con- stantly increasing as time has passed. He was for many years the first vice- president of the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit Company, and for a considerable period was president of the Genesee Val- ley Trust Company, which was organized by him. In 1893 he became the founder of the Alliance Bank of Rochester and for nearly seven years served as its first vice- president. As a financier he is known and honored throughout New York. In 1899 he was elected to the presidency of the New York State Bankers' Associa- tion, which he had assisted in organizing five years before, acting as its vice-presi- dent during the first year of its existence. He was also vice-president of the Ameri- can Bankers from the State of New York for five years. His course has ever been such as would bear the closest investiga- tion and scrutiny. There is in him a native sagacity and a weight of character that well qualify him for leadership and command for him admiration and confi- dence. No trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree and in fact his entire career has been an ex- emplification of the old and time-tried maxim that honesty is the best policy.
His broat humanitarianism has led to his support of various charitable and be- nevolent interests and, while report says that he gives generously in cases of need, he has always done so in a most unosten- tatious manner. In fact, he is opposed to display of any character and is never given to weighing any act in the scale of public policy. Principle has guided his conduct and shaped his course and his views of life are based upon a recog-
nition of individual responsibility and the brotherhood of man. He has served as one of the trustees of St. Peter's Presby- terian Church, and is connected with the Rochester Homoeopathic Hospital as a member of the board of governors. He acted as its first treasurer and has done much in the interests of that institution. Socially he is connected with the Genesee Valley and the Country clubs of Roches- ter, while his membership relations also extend to the Union League Club of New York City. In those societies which foster patriotism, historical research and an appreciation of the honor which is ever due to a worthy ancestry, he is also known. He is a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, being eligible by reason of the fact that his ancestry is directly traceable to Elder William Brew- ster, who crossed the Atlantic in the his- toric vessel which brought the first set- tlers to New England. He is likewise a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the New England Society of New York. In his citizenship he has ever stood for advancement and improvement and is not unknown in political circles. On the con- trary he believes it the duty as well as the privilege of every American citizen to exercise the right of franchise and sup- port those principles which seem most beneficial in bringing about good govern- ment. His stalwart republicanism and his well-known devotion to high ideals in political life led to his selection in the fall of 1894 for representative in Congress from the Thirty-first district of New York. He served in the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth congresses and during his first term was a member of the committee on coinage, weights and measures. The fol- lowing term he was made chairman of the committee on the alcoholic liquor traffic and a member of the committee on invalid pensions. In 1900 he repre-
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sented New York in the Republican Na- tional Convention which placed William Mckinley at the head of the ticket, and was an alternate-at-large in 1904. He has been a member of the New York Cham- ber of Commerce for fifteen years.
Most happily situated in his home life, Henry C. Brewster was married in Octo- ber, 1876, to Alice Chapin, a daughter of Louis and Rachel (Shepard) Chapin, of Rochester, and they have two daughters, Rachel A. and Editha C. Their home is the center of a cultured society circle and their friends are many. Mr. Brewster has never allowed the accumulation of wealth to affect in any way his manner toward those less fortunate and entrance to the circle of his friends is gained by character worth and not by material pos- sessions. His associates know him as a most genial, kindly gentleman and, while he has made the acquaintance of many men distinguished in state and national affairs, he holds as his most priceless treasure the friendship and respect of his fellow-townsmen, among whom his entire life has been passed and who are thor- oughly familiar with his history from his boyhood down to the present time.
VAN DUYN, John, M. D., 1 Civil War Veteran, Physician.
One of the foremost members of the medical fraternity of Syracuse, Dr. John Van Duyn, in whom the public has long reposed trust and confidence of his skill, was born in Kingston, New York, July 24, 1843, a son of Abraham and Sarah Van Duyn.
His early education, which was of a literary and classical nature, finally led to his graduation from Princeton in the class of June, 1862, and thus broadly equipped, he undertook the study of his profession, having paved the way to success by first learning the power of expressing himself.
His degree of M. D. was received from the Kentucky School of Medicine. At that time he enlisted his services in de- fence of his country, was a member of the medical cadet corps, and upon receiv- ing his medical degree he became assis- tant surgeon in the United States Volun- teers, and continued as such until the fall of 1865. After the war, Dr. Van Duyn turned his attention to building up a practice, locating at first in the State of New Jersey, where he remained until the year 1868, when he removed to Syracuse, New York, this move being due to his relations with Dr. Wilbur, the founder of the State Idiot Asylum, who offered him the position of physician to that institu- tion, in which capacity he served for a short period of time. He then engaged in private practice in Syracuse, which in due course of time became both extensive and important. He has also taught in the Medical School of Syracuse University since its establishment, and his ability as an educator has found no fewer encomi- ums than his ability in the art of heal- ing. Many are the scholars who will pass along the secrets of his vast knowledge, for as a teacher Dr. Van Duyn has given as freely of his gifts as he has received them. He was one of the originators and founders of the Syracuse Free Dispensary and of the Hospital of the Good Shep- herd, serving the latter institution in the cacapity of surgeon. He is also surgeon for the Delaware, Lackawanna & West- ern Railroad. He is a member of the Syracuse Academy of Medicine, of the American Ophthalmological Society, of the American Otological Society and of the New York State Medical Association. He is president of the University Club of Syracuse, president of the Princeton Club of Central New York, a member of the Hospital Association, of the Onondaga Country Club, of the Ka-Noo-No Karni- val Company, of the Automobile Club,
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of the Loyal Legion, and of the Grand Army of the Republic. In Masonry he has taken all the degrees of the York Rite and has attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He has, moreover, given of his time as commissioner of education and as health officer, in both of which offices he rendered valuable service. In February, 1915, the Syracuse Academy of Medicine and the Onondaga County Medical Society gave an enter- tainment in honor of the completion of his fiftieth year in the practice of medi- cine.
Dr. Van Duyn married, December I, 1866, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Sarah Faulks, who bore him two sons and one daughter, namely: Edward Seguin, Wil- bur, and Gertrude, who became the wife of E. F. Southworth, of Syracuse. Ed- ward Seguin Van Duyn was born in Au- gust, 1872; graduated from the Syracuse High School, class of 1889; Princeton University, class of 1894; Syracuse Medi- cal College, class of 1897; Rhode Island Hospital, 1899, and studied in New York and abroad during the years 1900 and 1901. He is professor of clinical surgery at the Syracuse University Medical School, surgeon of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd and of the Syracuse Free Dispensary, consulting surgeon of the Ogdensburg State Institution, president of the board of managers of the Syracuse State Institution for the Feeble Minded, and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Professor Edward S. Van Duyn had conferred on him the degrees of B. S., M. D. and F. A. C. S. Mrs. Van Duyn died December 21, 1915. For many years she was prominent in social circles of Syracuse. She was a member of the Fortnightly Club, of which she was one of the founders, and the Social Arts Club. She was widely known in church circles and took an active interest in causes of religious and charitable natures.
The Rev. Dr. A. H. Fahnestock, pastor of the First Ward Presbyterian Church, a cousin of Mrs. Van Duyn, officiated at the funeral services and interment was in Oakwood Cemetery.
The demands made upon Dr. Van Duyn by his profession have left him little time to lead what might be generally termed a social life. But this man, to whom so many have come in time of need to profit by what he has learned through wide study, research, investigation and experi- ment, can claim undoubtedly more of a place in the hearts of the people than one who has striven merely to be socially popular.
ROGERS, Clinton,
Merchant, Financier, Philanthropist.
Rochester is a city noted for its great industries and stable commercial houses, but her true source of greatness has ever been the quality of her citizens. Her Roll of Fame includes men who, from small beginnings, have built colossal manufacturing houses, and others who, as retailers, have attained the same de- gree of prominence. The latter group includes Clinton Rogers, who with J. H. Howe established the firm of Howe & Rogers in 1857, and who now at the age of eighty-two years still gives the busi- ness his daily attention. From a very modest start with three employees in 1857 in a building thirty by one hundred feet devoted to the sale of carpets, ex- pansion has been constant until now the handsome five-storied fireproof building at the corner of South avenue and John- son Park, completed in 1915, is required to properly house the very large business in carpets, rugs, draperies, and a very extensive and varied line of furniture, which will be a new and important part of the business, and one hundred em- ployees are necessary to transact busi-
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