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 42
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Presented to Mr. Frederic P. Warfield by the English High Speed Steel Makers In Grateful Appreciation of his Brilliant advocacy in the case of Bethlehem Steel Company vs. Niles-Bement-Pond Company The successful result of which secured the con- tinued entry of their steel into the markets of the United States of America. March, 1910. "Try it and See."
With his firm, Mr. Warfield has figured in many very celebrated cases, involving electrical and optical arts. He is a member of the New York County Lawyers' Association, the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a member of the Signa Phi fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni of New York City, and the Colonial Order of the Acorn, whose festal occasions have been some times enlivened by his services as
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toastmaster. Mr. Warfield is associated with various clubs, including Union League, Apawamis Country, University, Down Town, St. Nicholas, Ardsley Coun- try, and the Fort Schuyler Club of Utica, New York. He emulates the military example of his forbears as a member of Squadron A, a cavalry division of the National Guard State of New York.
WERNER, Christopher C., Lawyer.
The legal career which Mr. Werner has pursued with distinguished success began in 1885 when he began practice with his brother, the eminent jurist, Wil- liam E. Werner, and afterward with George H. Harris as Werner & Harris has continued. This record shows con- tinuous practice during a period of thirty-one years and no lawyer has higher reputation. He is greatly admired by the judges of the courts before whom he practices for his uniform courtesy, high professional standards and his evident desire to aid the court in the administra- tion of justice. To his clients he gives devoted service, drawing from his deep learning and rich experience in their behalf. He is a man of inbred courtesy and gentlemanly in his treatment of friend or opponent, his genial nature winning him many friends whom his manly qualities ever retain.
He is a son of William and Agnes (Koch) Werner, of German birth, but married in the United States, establish- ing their home in Buffalo, New York. Four children were born to William and Agnes Werner: Judge William E. Werner, the eminent jurist whose recent death shocked the State and whose career forms an interesting and valuable feature of this work; Louise, who mar- ried John Steinmiller, of Buffalo; Lena, married Carl Betz, whom she survived;
and Christopher C., to whom this sketch is dedicated.
Christopher C. Werner was born in Buffalo, New York, November 27, 1859. After extended courses in public and private schools in Buffalo, he was variously employed until reaching his majority when he began the study of law with his brother, Judge William E. Werner, of Rochester. He was admitted to the Erie county bar in Buffalo and on January 7, 1885, began practice with his brother under the firm name of Werner & Werner. That association continued for ten years until January 1, 1895, when the senior partner was elevated to the Supreme Bench. Christopher C. Werner then admitted to partnership George H. Harris, a young man who had studied under Werner & Werner. The new firm, Werner & Harris, enjoyed a large prac- tice from the beginning and as the years have progressed have added to their early prestige. No law firm at the Monroe county bar is held in higher esteem and none bear their honors more worthily. Mr. Werner is a member of the Roches- ter Bar Association, is a member of lodge, chapter, council and commandery of the Masonic order. His club is the Rochester and in all these bodies he is highly esteemed, his friendly, genial nature ex- panding under the social influence of friends and brethren. In political faith he is a Republican.
Mr. Werner married, November 16, 1887, Anna Van Marter, of Lyons, New York. They are the parents of two daughters: Jean A. and Catherine.
OVIATT, Percival DeWitt, / Attorney-at-Law.
As an active member of the New York bar practicing in Rochester since 1901, Mr. Oviatt has won the commendation of his associates and the confidence of the
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public he serves. His fifteen years of practice have brought him an unusual meed of success and as experience has been added to learning and ability, he has advanced in strength as an advocate and counselor, his docket showing that in hard fought contests of legal importance he has well deserved the confidence reposed in him. He is a son of Wilson D. (2) Oviatt, born in Rochester, and a grandson of Wilson D. (1) Oviatt, an early settler of Rochester who owned and operated a flour mill and manufactured barrels in which to pack the product of his own and other mills. This founder of the family in Rochester was a champion of law, order and progress in the rapidly growing community and among other service he rendered was assuming control of the police force as its chief. His enter- prise as a business man was a contribut- ing factor to the development of the city, while his efforts in behalf of public safety gave assurance to new comers that Rochester was to be the abode of law and security. Wilson D. (2) Oviatt was for a number of years connected with the James Vick Seed House of Rochester, later establishing in business for himself as a florist. He married Caroline Hankey, of Canadian birth.
Percival DeWitt Oviatt, son of Wilson D. (2) and Caroline (Hankey) Oviatt, was born in Rochester, New York, April 30, 1876. He obtained his preparatory and classical education in the city public schools, Rochester Free Academy and the University of Rochester, receiving his Bachelor of Arts at graduation from the last named institution with the class of "98." He prepared for the practice of his profession at Columbia Law School, New York City, and in 1900 was graduated Bachelor of Laws and admitted to the Monroe county bar. He at once began practice at Rochester and is there well
established, serving a large clientele in all courts of the district. He formed a partnership with S. Wile under the firm name of Wile & Oviatt, A. L. Gilman is also now a member of the firm, their offices are at No. 1232 Granite Building. Mr. Oviatt is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Roches- ter Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Associa- tion, the Rochester Club and the fra- ternity Delta Psi.
Mr. Oviatt married, June 1, 1904, Helen Louise Moody, of Rochester, and they have a daughter, Helen Jean Oviatt.
FOLLMER, Charles Jennen, Manufacturer.
After the Civil War closed in 1865 Charles J. Follmer, then in his sixteenth year, but a veteran Union soldier, was appointed to a cadetship at West Point in recognition of his services as drummer boy and orderly to General Edwin R. Biles of the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers. But the lad had perhaps seen enough of war, or there may have been other reasons for declining the ap- pointment. Had he not done so the com- mercial world would have been the loser as Mr. Follmer is now a member of Foll- mer, Clogg & Company, who own and operate at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the largest umbrella manufacturing plant in the whole world.
So whatever the influence that presided at fate's keyboard the day he chose the arts of peace rather than the more spectacular soldier's career, no mistake was made, but as Mr. Follmer reviews his career from the heights of success, the thought must often come, "What and where would I be had I chosen the other path on that fateful August day, sleeping in a soldier's grave or high on the Roll
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of Fame among America's military heroes?" He is a son of Mark and Louise (Jennen) Follmer, his father a miller.
Charles Jennen Follmer was born in New York City, January 10, 1850, and until his fifteenth year attended the public schools of the city. He then enlisted as a drummer boy and also served as orderly to General Edwin R. Biles of the Ninety- ninth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry. He was wounded and captured by the Confederates at the battle of Hatcher's Run in Virginia, but two days later was recaptured by Union forces. He served with the Army of the Potomac until the war closed, then was honorably discharged and appointed to a cadetship at the United States Military Academy, West Point.
Declining the honor he entered the employ of William A. Drown & Com- pany, umbrella manufacturers, in August, 1865, and until 1887 was connected with that firm, rising from lowly position through increasingly responsible posi- tions until in 1879 he was admitted junior partner. His twenty-two years of ex- perience in different departments thor- oughly qualified him for the next import- ant step in his remarkable career-the founding of the firm of Follmer, Clogg & Company in 1887. As head of that firm he has won his way to the highest pin- nacle of business success as a manufac- turer, and at Lancaster the silk mills, where their own silk used in the manu- facture of umbrellas is made and thrown, the silk mill at Columbia, Pennsylva- nia, and the vast factories at Lancaster where frames and handles are made and the umbrellas finished and shipped to all parts of the world, constitute the largest umbrella manufacturing plant not only in the United States, but in the entire world. This is Mr. Follmer's record of half a century in his principal activity only. He is vice-president and
director of the Colonial Insurance Com- pany, chairman of the advisory committee of the Great Western and New York and Boston Lloyds and National Under- writers. He is a power in the business world and one of the strong men of New York, able, progressive, and public- spirited.
Mr. Follmer is president of the Ninety- ninth Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Association, member of the Pennsylvania Society, Merchants' Association of New York, Metropolitan Museum, Fifth Ave- nue Association, Museum of Natural His- tory, Philharmonic Society, and in religious affiliation a member of Ply- mouth Congregation. His clubs are the Aero, Automobile of America, Arcola Country, Deal Golf and Country, New York Yacht, Merchants' and Press. These clubs are the best index to his pre- ferred recreations and he is a well-known figure in all.
He married in New York City, in 1872, Theresa Florence, daughter of Michael and Ellen (Green) McCormack. They have three children : Willis Mark ; Adele Regina, married Joseph A. Kelley, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Beatrice, mar- ried A. A. Higgins. The family summer residence is at Ocean avenue, Deal, New Jersey, the city residence No. 312 River- side drive.
LAUTERBACH, Edward,
Lawyer.
From progressive and enterprising an- cestors Mr. Lauterbach has derived a love of liberty and a far reaching interest in the welfare of mankind. For more than four centuries his family flourished in the hill country of Bavaria, their seat being in the town of Burgkundstadt, near the historic city of Nuremberg, the acknowledged center for many years of the liberal party of Germany. The family
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was especially active in the professions and in mercantile life. One of the most prominent of these was Aaron Wolfgang Lauterbach, born 1752, died 1826, a graduate of the University of Prague, noted for his erudition and also for a peculiar fund of wit and humor. Of his six children, the youngest, Solon Lauter- bach, was born in 1806. Under the political tyranny which oppressed Ger- many at that time, he grew restless, and eight years before the revolution of 1848 he left his ancestral home to find asylum in free America. After twenty years' residence in New York City, he died here in 1860. His wife, Mina (Rosenbaum) Lauterbach, came of a family noted for intellectual gifts, which she inherited in remarkable degree. She possessed a strong memory, was noted as a Shake- spearian scholar, and was able to quote literally multitudes of poetical gems from various authors. She survived her hus- band some thirty years, dying in 1890, and left three children.
Edward Lauterbach was born August 12, 1844, in New York City. He received his education in the public schools and the College of the City of New York, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, with honors, in 1864. For several years he was vice-president of the alumni of this college, was a member of one of its Greek letter fraternities, and always took an active interest in its welfare. He subsequently received from his alma mater the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws, and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Manhat- tan College. Adopting the law as his lifework, he began his studies in the offices of Townsend, Dyett & Morrison, and with Mr. Morrison founded the firm of Morrison, Lauterbach & Spingarn. After the termination of this partnership through the death of Mr. Spingarn, a new firm was formed, known as Hoadly,
Lauterbach & Johnson. In addition to his large general practice, Mr. Lauter- bach is prominent as a railroad organizer, and was instrumental in bringing about the consolidation of the Union and Brook- lyn Elevated roads, the creation of the Consolidated Telegraph & Electrical Subway, and has been concerned in the reorganization of many railroads. While not an active politician, Mr. Lauterbach is deeply interested in public progress, and was several years chairman of the Republican County Committee of New York, and of the advisory committee of the Republican State Committee. He was delegate-at-large from New York to the Republican National Convention of 1896, a member of its committee on reso- lutions, and of the sub-committee of nine which drafted the Republican platform of that year. He was one of the three delegates-at-large from the city of New York to the Constitutional Convention of 1894, and chairman of its committee on public charities. He was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, and has been chairman of the City College Board of Trustees. He is a director of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and other charities. While he has been professionally and per- sonally associated with the largest finan- cial and commercial enterprises of the country, and with the leaders of con- temporary business and finance in New York, Mr. Lauterbach finds time for relaxation, and is especially devoted to music and the drama. At one time he was vice-president of the Maurice Grau Opera Company. He is never too busy to give some attention to questions con- cerning the general welfare and progress of his native country.
He married, January 12, 1870, Amanda Friedman, daughter of Arnold Friedman, a retired merchant of this city, and de- scendant of a family which occupied a
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position of prominence in the same sec- tion of Bavaria from which came Mr. Lauterbach's ancestors. For generations they were wealthy and respected mer- chants, and Mrs. Lauterbach's great- great-grandfather, Aaron Friedman, born 1740, died 1824, was owner of the baronial castle of Kunds, at Burgkund- stadt, from which fortress the village took its name. Samuel Friedman, grand- son of Aaron Friedman, born 1796, died 1880, married Sarah Gries, born 1800, died 1872. Both were noted for their philan- thropy and benevolence, having endowed the school of the district in which they lived, and at her death Mrs. Friedman bequeathed all her personal fortune to the poor of her city. Arnold Friedman married Wilhelmina Straubel, daughter of Frederick Straubel, of Green Bay, Wis- consin, whose wife belonged to a titled Saxon family. Mr. and Mrs. Lauterbach have four children : 1. Alfred, born May 20, 1871, since deceased; graduated at Columbia, Bachelor of Arts, 1890, and at the New York Law School, Bachelor of Laws, 1892; was assistant district attor- ney of the county of New York, 1896 to 1899. 2. Edith McDevitt. 3. Florence Hirschfield, graduate of the Law School of the University of the City of New York, 1897. 4. Alice, born 1886.
L'AMOREAUX, Jesse Seymour, Attorney, Jurist.
Jesse Seymour L'Amoreaux is de- scended from Huguenot ancestors, who came to America after 1700 and settled in Dutchess county, New York. His father, Jesse L'Amoreaux, was born 1790, in Peekskill, and lived in the town of Wilton, Saratoga county, New York, where he was a farmer. He died in 1879. His wife, Charity (Esmond) L'Amo- reaux, born 1796, in Pittstown, New York, died 1895.
Jesse Seymour L'Amoreaux was born
December 11, 1837, in Wilton, where he grew to manhood. He pursued the full course at Fort Edward Collegiate Insti- tute, and after graduation taught school, first in his native town, and later in Schuylerville, New York. While residing in the latter place, in 1856, he began the study of law in the office of Lewis & Wells, and located, December 1, 1858, at Ballston Spa, where he began practice in the following year with C. C. Hill, under the firm name of Hill & L'Amoreaux. This continued until February, 1861, when he joined the Hon. George Chap- man in practice, and this association con- tinued a little over two years. After some years of independent practice, he formed an association with A. C. Dake. This firm was later joined by Seth Whalen, and the firm became L'Amo- reaux, Dake & Whalan. This was dis- solved by mutual agreement in 1885. In 1882, Mr. L'Amoreaux was candidate on the Republican ticket for the office of county judge of Saratoga county, and his popularity is evidenced by the fact that no candidate was opposed to him by any party. He was unanimously elected, and after six years of service on the bench re- sumed his practice, becoming the counsel for various large corporations, whose business took him into other States, as far west as the Mississippi Valley. In 1887, Judge L'Amoreaux was a candidate before his party convention for the office of justice of the Supreme Court, and missed the nomination by the bare margin of one vote. At the State Con- vention later the same year he was a nominee of his party for State Comp- troller, but the entire ticket was that year defeated. Upon the organization of the First National Bank at Ballston Spa, in 1865, Mr. L'Amoreaux became its attor- ney, and shortly after a director. He was elected vice-president of the bank, and later served several years as its presi- dent. He is a trustee and elder of the
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Presbyterian church of Ballston Spa, and director and trustee in various religious and educational societies. He is a mem- ber and moderator of the judiciary com- mission of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, and also a member of the board of trustees of the Church Erection Fund of that body. He is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 90, Free and Accepted Masons, of Ballston, a past high priest of Warren Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and a member of Wash- ington Commandery, Knights Templar, of Saratoga, New York. Early in life he was a supporter of the Democratic party, but left it in 1860, and has since been one of the most steadfast and faithful sup- porters of the Republican party. In 1887 Judge L'Amoreaux began practice in the city of New York, and is now a member of the law firm of Graham & L'Amoreaux, with offices at No. 42 Broadway. This firm makes a specialty of corporation law, and acts as counsel for large and import- ant interests. Judge L'Amoreaux's long and successful career has been based upon the solid foundation of thorough preparation, judicial ability and indus- trious application to the interests of his clients. He is widely known throughout the Empire State, and enjoys the friend- ship of multitudes of people in and out of the legal profession. He is the author of an article on the history of Saratoga county, New York, and of various articles relating to legal and financial subjects. His connection with the First National Bank of Ballston has been of notable value to that institution. He is a member of the Saratoga County Bar Association, New York County Lawyers Association, State Bar Association of New York, and American Bar Association. He married, at Ballston Spa, June 8, 1865, Ellen S. Holbrook, of Northbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts, who died in 1914.
CUNNINGHAM, Benjamin B., Corporation Counsel.
In elevating Mr. Cunningham to the office of corporation counsel of the city of Rochester, the law department of the city retains the services of a man trained in the work of the city attorney's office dur- ing a continuous period of eighteen years, and in the most practical way recognizes the value of that service to the city. Admitted to the bar in 1895, Mr. Cunning- ham became an assistant to the corpor- ation counsel three years later, beginning his service under Corporation Counsel John F. Kinney, then head of the depart- ment of law, whose opponent he later became in the famous "Damaged Goods" controversy. He was retained as assist- ant under Corporation Counsel Porter M. French, and his successor, William W. Webb, succeeding the latter as chief of the law department of the city upon the elevation of Mr. Webb to the office of judge of the Court of Claims of the State of New York.
In conferring the office upon Mr. Cun- ningham, Mayor Edgerton eulogized his service in the subordinate positions he had filled in the city law department, and in so doing rendered honor where honor 'was due. He is a native son of Roches- ter, educated in the city schools, there :acquired his professional education, and at the Monroe county bar began his legal career, and in the service of the city's law department has won his fame as a careful, conscientious official and able lawyer. He is a man of ambitious nature, performing each duty with such zeal and earnestness that the logic of events points him out for greater responsibilities.
Benjamin B. Cunningham was born in Rochester, New York, April 1, 1874, son of Michael and Mary (Hanly) Cunning- ham, his parents then residing in the
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Twelfth Ward. He was educated in public and high schools of Rochester. Deciding upon the profession of law, he pursued an extended course of study under the direction of William Butler Crittenden and in 1895, being just of legal age, was admitted to the Monroe county bar. He began and continued private practice in Rochester for three years, quickly taking leading position among the young men of the profession, and demonstrated the quality which led Cor- poration Counsel John F. Kinney to select him as a member of his staff. On June 1, 1898, he was appointed assistant to the corporation counsel and for eighteen years has continued in constant service, advancing from the lowest assist- ant to chief of the legal forces of his native city. The fact that it is his native city is most gratifying to the recipient of the honor, for those by whom the appoint- ment was conferred have known him from boyhood, have watched his course at the bar and in subordinate position, their act testifying that the young man has been tried and found not wanting either in ability or integrity. He was appointed corporation counsel by Mayor Hiram B. Edgerton, March 15, 1916. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Rochester Bar As- sociation and stands high in the regard of his professional brethren. He is a member of the Genesee Valley Club and Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Cunningham married, in 1911, Elonore MacKearnin, of Buffalo. Two children : Benjamin B., Jr., and Elonore J.
THACHER, Thomas, Attorney.
conspicuous of New England families. His ancestor, Rev. Peter Thacher, was a distinguished minister, a man of great talents, of liberal and independent mind, residing at Sarum, England. He was appointed minister of St. Edmunds, in the city of New Sarum, Wiltshire, in 1622. Because of his dissension from the usages of the Established English church, he was much harassed by the spiritual courts, and decided to emigrate to New England, where he might enjoy greater religious freedom. The death of his wife about this time altered his determination, and he did not remove. He was born in 1588, and died February 1I, 1640. A letter written by him to the bishop of the diocese has been preserved. In this he begged that he might be excused from reading certain directions of the vicar- general, which he said were against his conscience. He further stated: "I never neglected the order aforesaid out of con- tempt of ecclesiastical discipline and jurisdiction, as has been affirmed." On his tombstone is engraved the following epitaph: "Here lyeth the bodye of Mr. Peter Thacher, who was a laborious minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in ye parish of St. Edmund for ye space of XIX yeares. He departed this lyfe the Lord's Day at three of the clock ye XI of February, 1640. Let no man move his bones." His eldest son, Rev. Thomas Thacher, born May 1, 1620, received a grammar school education, and it was the intention of his father to send him to Oxford or Cambridge, but the son was disgusted with the prevailing ecclesias- tical tyranny, and decided to remove to America. To this his parents consented, and when fifteen years old he embarked in company with his uncle, Anthony Thacher, and arrived in New England, June 4, 1635. He lived in the family of President Chauncey, who was afterward
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