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 pre?minent in their own and many other states. V.6 > Part 24
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as a student of chemistry. So successful was he in this that he earned his M. A. (1895) and Ph. D. (1898) in course and was awarded first the University Fellow- ship in Chemistry (1897), and later re- ceived a three-year appointment to the "Barnard Fellowship for the Encourage- ment of Scientific Research." It was un- derstood that one year of this occupancy should be spent studying abroad and Dr. Matthews chose to work with Professor Sir William Roberts-Austen, K. C. B., F. R. S., at the Royal School of Mines, Lon- don. Professor Roberts-Austen was chair- man of the alloys research committee of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and it was along the line of alloys research that Dr. Matthews studied. While in Lon- don in 1900-1901 Andrew Carnegie en- dowed certain research scholarships in the gift of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain. These were open to interna- tional competition and the first three ap- pointees included an Englishman, an Aus- trian and an American-Dr. Mathews. This award was made with the under- standing that he should return to Colum- bia University and take up special studies in iron and steel under Professor Henry M. Howe. A scholarship "going and com- ing" was so much of a novelty that Hon. Seth Low, then president of Columbia University, referred to this unique record at some length in his commencement ad- dress in 1901 and one year later took pleasure in announcing that the first "An- drew Carnegie Gold Medal for Research" had been awarded Dr. Mathews as a re- sult of his work while holder of the Car- negie Scholarship.
The work connected with this scholar- ship directed Dr. Mathews' attention to steel and in the course of his work he secured permission to carry on some ex- periments on a commercial scale at the Sanderson Brothers Works, Syracuse, New York. The acquaintances thus
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formed led to the offer of a position with that company upon the completion of his investigations, so in September, 1902, he came to Syracuse as metallurgist in charge of research work for the Crucible Steel Company of America of which the Sanderson Works forms a part. Even then he had not fully decided to give up his wish for teaching. Several years at Columbia had been spent as instructor in chemistry and when he accepted a posi- tion in an industrial plant it was with the idea of securing some practical experi- ence to better fit him for a professorship in applied science. The fates, however, de- cided otherwise and in less than two years he had become assistant manager of the Sanderson Works, and in 1908 he went to the Halcomb Steel Company of Syracuse as operating manager and gen- eral superintendent. He later became a director in the corporation and general manager. In 1915 he succeeded Mr. H. S. Wilkinson as president of the com- pany and of the Syracuse Crucible Steel Company, an affiliated interest.
Dr. Mathews is a member of many technical societies, domestic and foreign, and has been a frequent contributor to their journals. He was a special con- tributor on steel to the "Encyclopedia Americana," second edition, and frequent- ly lectures before learned societies. While a recognized authority upon the science of iron and steel he is also a successful executive and manager. The companies with which he has been associated enjoy enviable reputations for the highest grades of tool and alloy steels.
Aside from his business he has given freely of his time and talents to civic affairs, philanthropy and charities. He has never held or sought political office but has had the rare distinction of ap- pointment by Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft to the Assay Com- mission. At present he is president of the
Manufacturers' Association of Syracuse ; first vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, a director of the First Na- tional Bank and the Provident Loan As- sociation. He was formerly a trustee of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd and has served on several commissions to in- vestigate municipal problems, frequently as chairman. His reports upon smoke abatement, city pavings, municipal own- ership of gas and electric plants, etc., have attracted much more than local at- tention. In politics he has been a staunch Republican and Protectionist ; in religion a Presbyterian. He is a member of the Engineers' and Chemists' clubs of New York; the University, Onondaga Golf and County Club and the Bellevue Coun- try Club of Syracuse. His chief diversion has been the collection of old books of metallurgical value and his library con- tains many of the rarest books in exis- tence on this subject, as for example : copies of Biringuccio (1540), Agricola (1563) and Gilbert (1600), beside many others.
Dr. Mathews is of mixed ancestry. His father was Scotch-Irish, the great-grand- parents coming to America shortly after the Revolution. His mother was of French Huguenot lineage, the first mem- bers of the family coming to America in 1685, and for many generations lived at Southampton, Long Island. In 1903 Dr. Mathews married Florence Hosmer King, of Columbus, Ohio, and they have two children, Margaret King, born 1903, and John Alexander, Jr., born 1908.
PERKINS, Robert Patterson,
Manufacturer.
Mr. Perkins was born in December, 1861, in New York City, and is a descend- ant of one of the oldest New England families. Peter, being one of the twelve Apostles, his name was a favorite one for
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centuries among Christians. It assumed the form of Pierre in France, whence it found its way into England and there took the diminutive form of Perkin. This gradually and naturally became Perkins and, in time, was bestowed upon or as- sumed by one as a surname. Many of the name were among the early settlers of New England, and their descendants have borne honorable part in the develop- ment of modern civilization in the West- ern Hemisphere. John Perkins, born 1590, in Newent, Gloucestershire, England, set sail from Bristol in the "Lyon," William Pierce, master, on December 1, 1630, with his wife, Judith (Gater) Perkins, five children, and about a dozen other com- panions. They reached Nantasket, Feb- ruary 5, 1631, and settled in Boston. He was the first of that name to come to New England, and was one of the twelve who accompanied John Winthrop, Jr., to settle in Ipswich, where he was made freeman, May 18, 1631. On April 3, 1632, "It was ordered" by the General Court, "that noe pson wtsoever shall shoot att fowle upon Pullen Poynte or Noddles Ileland; but that the sd places shalbe reserved for John Perkins to take fowle wth netts." Also, November 7, 1632, John and three others were "appointed by the Court to sett downe the bounds betwixte Dorchester and Rocksbury." He at once took a prominent stand among the colonists, and in 1636 and for many years afterward represented Ipswich in the General High Court. In 1645 he was appraiser, and signed the inventory of the estate of Sarah Dillingham. In 1648 and 1652 he served on the grand jury, and in March, 1650, "being above the age of sixty he was freed from ordinary train- ing by the Court." He made his will (probate office, Salem, Massachusetts), March 28, 1654, and died a few months later, aged sixty-four. Thomas Perkins, second son of John and Judith (Gater)
Perkins, born about 1616, in England, came to America at the age of fifteen years with his parents. He settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where he owned Sagamore Hill, an elevated tract one hundred and seventy feet high. After a few years he removed to Topsfield, Massachusetts, where he was deacon, selectman, and often on committees rep- resenting the town and the church. A farmer by occupation, he bought and sold much land, and died May 7, 1686. He married in Topsfield, about 1640, Phebe, daughter of Zachary and Phebe Gould, born in England, baptized September 20, 1620, at Hemel Hempstead. On her mar- riage she received from her father a gift of one hundred and fifty acres of land. Her husband subsequently purchased the tract of two hundred and twenty-seven acres upon which he lived in the town of Topsfield. Timothy Perkins, son of Thomas and Phebe (Gould) Perkins, was born June 6, 1661, in Topsfield, and re- ceived by inheritance a portion of his father's farm, upon which he lived, and died December 18, 1751. His first wife, Hannah, died November 14, 1690. She was the mother of Jonathan Perkins, bap- tized January 22, 1693, in Topsfield, died June 2, 1749. He married at Salem, De- cember II, 1722, Elizabeth Potter, born April 23, 1695, in Ipswich, daughter of John and Sarah (Kimball) Potter. They were the parents of David Perkins, born December 6, 1725, in Topsfield, died April 30, 1803. He married, March 10, 1752, at Wenham, Massachusetts, Mary Fisk, of that town, born March 9, 1729, daugh- ter of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Fuller) Fisk, died October 19, 1777. Their son, David (2) Perkins, born May II, 1756, in Topsfield, was baptized on the 16th of the same month, and died July 27, 1827. He married (intentions published in both Topsfield and Beverly, November 2, 1783), Nabby Conant, of Beverly, born
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February 25, 1756, died November 25, 1842, daughter of Lott and Abigail (Per- kins) Conant. Benjamin Conant Perkins, son of the above couple, was born Sep- tember 11, 1803, in Topsfield, and there married, March 10, 1835, Lucy Peabody, born August 24, 1812, in Topsfield, daughter of Ebenezer and Mercy (Per- kins) Peabody. They were the parents of Charles Lawrence Perkins, who mar- ried Elizabeth West Nevins.
Robert Patterson Perkins, son of Charles Lawrence and Elizabeth W. (Nevins) Perkins, was born in New York City, and was educated in a private school conducted by a Dr. Calerson, and at St. Paul's Episcopal School, Concord, New Hampshire, where he spent six years in preparation for college. In 1879 he en- tered Harvard University, from which he was graduated A. B. in 1884. Having determined to engage in business, he en- tered the general offices of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Com- pany of New York, where he continued one year, after which he was with H. C. Thacker & Company, wool dealers, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until 1892, when he became secretary of the Higgins Carpet Company, continuing in that posi- tion some four years, after which he was vice-president of the company. In asso- ciation with others he purchased this business, of which he became president, and continued two years until 1894, when it became the Hartford Carpet Company, a corporation of which he was president. In 1914 this company purchased the Bige- low-Lowell Carpet Company, and now maintains factories at Thompsonville, Connecticut, and Clinton and Lowell, Massachusetts, and is one of the largest establishments of the kind in the United States. Mr. Perkins resides in New York City, and is a communicant of the Prot- estant Episcopal church. He is a mem- ber of the Brook Club, of which he was
four years president, is a trustee of St. Paul's School of Concord, New Hamp- shire, and a friend of education and prog- ress. Politically he acts with the Re- publican party.
LEE, John Mallory, Surgeon, Hospital Official.
Dr. John Mallory Lee, a native of this State, was born in Cameron, Steuben county, September 29, 1852, and he is among the most prominent surgeons en- gaged in practice in New York State. He is descended from good old Revolution- ary stock. His paternal great-grandfather aided the colonies in their struggle for independence, and members of his family served in the late War of the Rebellion. Dr. Lee's grandfather was one of the early settlers of Steuben county, New York, where he carried on farming for many years, and there Dr. Lee's father, Joseph R. Lee, spent his entire life. He engaged in business as a contractor and builder throughout the years of his man- hood; he also served as justice of the peace, and was a deacon and chorister in the Baptist church of South Pulteney. In early life he married Sarah Wagener, a daughter of Melchoir Wagener and a granddaughter of David Wagener, who was of German birth and a Quaker. He removed from Pennsylvania to Yates county, New York, at an early day and became the owner of a large tract of land on which Penn Yan was afterward laid out. He was prominently identified with the development and upbuilding of the village, to which he gave its name, taken from "Penn" and "Yankee." He contrib- uted the site for the cemetery and was the first white man to be buried there. His oldest son, Melchoir, grandfather of Dr. Lee, moved to Pulteney in 1811, where he purchased a section of land and developed extensive milling interests.
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During her girlhood days Mrs. Lee at- tended the Franklin Academy at Pratts- burg, New York, where she was gradu- ated. She died in 1898, at the age of ninety-three years, and long survived her husband, who passed away in 1861. They were people of prominence in the com- munity where they made their home and were highly respected.
Left fatherless at the early age of nine years, Dr. Lee has practically made his own way in the world and success is due to his untiring efforts. He attended the schools of Pulteney, Steuben county ; the Penn Yan Academy, and was also in- structed by a college professor at Palo, Michigan, where he was employed as clerk in a drug store for three years. Under his guidance Dr. Lee was fitted to enter college and he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1878 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He opened an office in Rochester in June, 1878, and engaged in general practice for nine years, but finally decided to devote his attention to surgery and with this end in view he took post-graduate work in the Polyclinic of New York City in 1880 and the Post-Graduate School of New York in 1890, 1891, 1892 and 1894. He is to- day numbered among the most eminent surgeons of the State and has met with remarkable success in his practice. He as- sisted in founding the Rochester Homœo- pathic Hospital and its Training School for Nurses and was vice-president of the medical and surgical staff of the hospital during the first ten years of its existence. He has also been surgeon, surgeon-in- chief and consulting surgeon at different times. In 1897 he established a private hospital at 179 Lake avenue and from the start success has attended his efforts in this direction.
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 Homeopathy. 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 Homoeopathic 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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"Homeopathic 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 II, 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. known in commercial circles as the capa- Jerome as State's attorney. No man in 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. 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
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 Am 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 Macon, Savannah, Charleston and Colum- 1651; Thomas was living in Enfield in 1682.
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
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