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 43
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Thomas Thacher, a prominent prac- ticing attorney of New York City, is a native of New Haven, Connecticut, a scion of one of the most ancient and president of Harvard College, and under
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the tuition of that eminent scholar pre- pared for the ministry. He was ordained, January 2, 1645, as pastor of the church at Weymouth, Massachusetts, where he continued a most faithful and affectionate minister several years. We are told that he possessed a peculiar spirit of prayer, and was remarkable for the copious, fluent and fervid manner of performing the sacred service. Having acquired a knowledge of medicine he was physician as well as pastor to his flock. He removed to Boston, and there became eminent as a physician. When the Third or "Old South" Church was founded in Boston he was chosen pastor, installed February 16, 1670, and continued in charge of that church until his death, October 15, 1678. While attending a patient he became infected with fever, which caused his death. He has been credited as the best Arabic scholar in the country, and accord- ing to Cotton Mather was a great logician, well versed in mechanics, both in theory and practice. In 1677 he pub- lished the first medical work in America, "Brief Guide in the Small Pox and Measles." He was remarkable as a scribe and wrote in many languages, with singular exactness, much of his work being still in existence, including Syriac and other oriental characters. His first wife, Eliza, youngest daughter of Rev. Ralph Partridge, first minister of Dux- bury, Massachusetts, died June 2, 1664. Their second son, Rev. Ralph Thacher, was constable at Duxbury in 1673 and clerk of the town for several years fol- lowing 1686. Subsequently he settled in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, where he engaged in the work of the ministry for many years. He married, January I, 1670, Ruth, daughter of George Part- ridge, of Duxbury, where he made his home several years. His youngest son, Rev. Peter Thacher, was born August 17, 1686, in Chilmark, and settled at Lebanon,
Connecticut, where he died in February, 1766. He married, in 1713, Abigail Hibbard, of Windham, who died in Leba- non, July 9, 1778, aged eighty years. She was but fifteen years of age at the time of the marriage, and is described as a woman of remarkable beauty, as was also her mother, Abigail (Linden) Hibbard, of Rhode Island. Her second son was John Thacher, born February 22, 1739, in Lebanon, a soldier of the Revolution in 1775, in Captain John Durkee's company. About 1787 he moved to Lempster, New Hampshire, where he died October 7, 1805. He married Abigail Swift, of Leba- non, and they were the parents of Peter Thacher, who was their second son. He settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and had sons: Thomas Anthony; Rev. George, president of Iowa University; Sheldon P., who resided in Hartford.
Professor Thomas Anthony Thacher, eldest son of Peter Thacher, of Hartford, was born there January 11, 1815, and graduated at Yale College at the age of twenty years. From 1842 until his death, in 1886, he was Professor of Latin in that institution. He married Elizabeth Day, born December 24, 1820, in New Haven, daughter of Jeremiah Day, who was president of Yale College from 1817 to 1846.
Thomas Thacher, son of Professor Thomas Anthony and Elizabeth (Day) Thacher, was born May 3, 1850, in New Haven, Connecticut, where he grew to manhood and received his education. In boyhood he was a student at the Webster public school in New Haven, and the Hopkins grammar school, and entered Yale College in 1867, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1871. For a year following this he was a teacher in the Hopkins grammar school and sub- sequently pursued graduate courses for a year. From 1873 to 1875 he was a student at the Columbia Law School,
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under Professor Dwight, and in May of the latter year was admitted to the bar. From Yale he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1874, and Doctor of Laws in 1903. From Columbia Law School he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and during the summer follow- ing he aided Hon. Ashbel Green in pre- paring for publication Green's "Brice's Ultra Vires," a work on corporation law. In the fall of 1875 young Thacher became a clerk in the law office of Alexander & Green, and in June, 1876, was made attorney of the Equitable Trust Company, which conducted an extensive business in real estate, loans in Western States, with principal office in New York City. At the same time he engaged in general law practice, and has been successively a member of the law firms of Simpson, Thacher & Barnum; Reed, Simpson, Thacher & Barnum; Simpson, Thacher, Barnum & Bartlett. The present style of the firm is Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, and makes a specialty of matters relating to corporations. For many years Mr. Thacher has been a lecturer on corpor- ation law in the Yale Law School. For some years he was secretary and a mem- ber of the executive committee of Yale Alumni Association of New York City, and from 1895 to 1897 was its president. When the Yale Club of New York City was organized, in 1897, he became its president, and continued in that position until 1902. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Alumni Univer- sity Fund Association since its organiza- tion, and from the outset represented the Yale Club of New York City on the Alumni Advisory Council, organized by the Yale Corporation. At the Yale Bi- Centennial Celebration, in 1901, he de- livered an address, "Yale in Relation to the Law," and two years later received from the corporation the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Mr. Thacher has
been an occasional contributor to legal publications. From 1907 to 1909 he was vice-president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a member of the Law Institute, New York State Bar Association, American Bar As- sociation, and several clubs, including the University, Century, Yale, Midday clubs. He was vice-president of the University Club in the City of New York, 1910-1913, and president from 1913 to the present time. At this writing (1915) he is presi- dent of the University Club of New York. Politically he is accustomed to sustain Republican principles and policies. In religion he is liberal, and is not asso- ciated with any organization.
Mr. Thacher married, December I, 1880, Sarah McCulloh Green, born April, 1859, in New York City, daughter of Ashbel and Louise B. (Walker) Green. Their home is in Tenafly, New Jersey, and they have children: Thomas D., Louise Green, Sarah and Elizabeth. In his career, Mr. Thacher has fully justified the promise of his worthy ancestors, and to-day occupies an enjoyable position in literary, legal and social circles of New York.
KINNEY, John F.,
Lawyer, Jurist.
Admitted to the Monroe county bar in 1881, Mr. Kinney nine years later was elected special county judge, winning not only the office by a respectable majority, but also the distinction of being the first Democrat elected to a county office in Monroe county in eight years, 1882-1890. From his admission to the bar until the present time he has been continuously engaged in private law practice in Rochester, save during the four years spent upon the county bench. He has won high reputation as a lawyer of sterling worth, has ever taken a promi-
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nent part in public affairs, and is one of the strong men of the Democratic party, potent in council, a trusted leader and popular campaign orator. He is a son of William D. and Julia (Howe) Kinney, his parents coming from the Emerald Isle in childhood, meeting in Monroe county, New York, where their marriage was solemnized. William D. Kinney was a merchant at Spencerport for several years, and prominent in community affairs. He was clerk of the village, weigh master on the Erie canal at Roches- ter in 1878 and 1879. He was an ardent Democrat and an untiring, capable worker for party success.
John F. Kinney was born in the town of Ogden, Monroe county, New York, June 20, 1860, and since 1881 has been a resident of Rochester. After completing the courses of the Union School at Spen- cerport, he attended St. Joseph's College at Buffalo, New York, there completing his classical study. Choosing law as his profession, he entered Albany Law School, Albany, New York, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Laws, class of 1881. In June of the same year he was admitted to the Monroe county bar, and so continues, having practiced in Roches- ter for thirty-five years. He won his position at the bar through merit, and so highly was he recommended to Gov- ernor David B. Hill that the Governor on January 1, 1890, appointed him to fill a vacancy on the county bench as special judge. He received the nomination of his party as the regular candidate for that PIERCE, Charles L., Lawyer. office, and in November, 1890, was chosen special county judge for a term of three years. He was elected to the office by a A graduate Bachelor of Arts, Univer- sity of Rochester, class of 1902, and a year later admitted to the Monroe county bar, Mr. Pierce has in the thirteen years that have now intervened pursued the practice of law in the city of Rochester. majority of about eight hundred votes over his Republican opponent, and that in face of the fact that Monroe county had not chosen a Democrat for a county office in eight years. He served his term with credit and acceptability, then re- Most of those years he served the city in
turned to private practice, his service on the bench leaving him the better equipped for practice through viewing cases purely from their legal aspect, uninfluenced by the natural bias of a retained counsel. In 1898 he was appointed by the Common Council corporation counsel for the city of Rochester, and served in that position until January 1, 1904, since which date his practice has been in private capacity. He is a member of the Rochester Bar Association, of which he was one of the incorporators, November 28, 1892; also belongs to the State Bar Association, and to organizations social and fraternal. A Democrat in politics, bred in the faith and instructed in party management by his honored father, Mr. Kinney in addi- tion to the offices mentioned of a legal nature has been of value to his party as a manager and leader of campaigns and as a trusted adviser. In 1904 he was chair- man of the executive committee of the county central committee, and in many ways has aided the party cause.
Mr. Kinney married, October 23, 1883, Elizabeth J. Hanlon, of Albany, New York. They are the parents of: Wil- liam E., graduate of the University of Rochester, class of 1907, now a member of the constructing firm of William E. Kinney & Company ; Helen R .; John J., an inspector; Dorothy E., an instructor. The family home is No. 64 Lorimer street ; Mr. Kinney's law office No. 406 Livingston Building.
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official legal capacity, special counsel, tax member. He was formerly secretary- assistant and deputy corporation counsel. He is a native son of New York, his father, John Davis Pierce, a farmer of Oneida county, a man of local promi- nence, filling several offices including that of justice of the peace.
Charles L. Pierce was born in the town of Bridgewater, Oneida county, New York, April 22, 1877. He spent his youth at the home farm. He completed the public school courses of the district, pre- pared for college at Marion Collegiate Institute, completing the prescribed course and graduating with the class of 1898. He entered the University of Rochester with the freshman class in that year, taking a classical course, and in 1902 received his degree Bachelor of Arts. During his university course he read law and after graduation spent a year in special study in the law offices of Suther- land & Otis, Rochester, New York. On July 9, 1903, he was duly admitted to practice at the New York bar, but until January 1, 1904, he remained with Sutherland & Otis as managing clerk. He then opened private offices and has practiced independently until February I, 1907, when he became a member of the law firm of Carnahan, Adams, Jameson & Pierce, with offices in the Wilder Building. During the years 1904 and 1905 he was special counsel in the office of the corporation counsel, and in 1916 was appointed to the office he now holds, deputy corporation counsel, his long con- nection with the city law department in the tax bureau calling for extended knowledge of the law governing the assessment and collection of taxes. He is a member of the Rochester, New York State and American Bar associations, highly regarded by all who have come within his sphere of influence. A man of genial, social nature, he has many friends and in fraternity and in lodge is a popular
treasurer of the Rochester Chapter, Delta Upsilon Club, and a member of that fraternity. He is a member of the Uni- versity Club, Rochester Athletic Club, Rochester Tennis Club, also of the Ma- sonic order, belonging to Genesee Falls Lodge, and Hamilton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.
Mr. Pierce married, August 30, 1904, Grace, daughter of Oliver S. Adams, editor of the Rochester "Democrat and Chronicle."
BERNHARD, John A., V
Lawyer.
Admitted to the Monroe county bar in 1882 Mr. Bernhard, during the thirty-five years which have since intervened, has made continuous progress in his profes- sion and has long occupied a position of distinction in the ranks of the legal fra- ternity of his native city, Rochester. The reputation he has won is a tribute to his learning and ability, but had he not pos- sessed the qualities of perseverance and industry to make them operative, they would have availed him little. His is a practical example of the value of labor in the development of all that is best in man's intellectual strength and to the per- sistent care he gives to the preparation of his cases Mr. Bernhard owes his success as much as to the learning and ability which inspires the strong, logical man- ner in which he presents them to court and jury.
He is a son of Adam and Phillipine (Young) Bernhard, born in Germany, who came to Rochester in 1848. Adam Bernhard was a man of wonderful physi- cal power and business ability, who for sixty years was a merchant of Rochester. He continued in business until past eighty and did not surrender the burden of man- agement until his last illness. His mantle
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of energy and determination fell upon his son and in him the resolute spirit of the father survives.
John A. Bernhard was born in Roches- ter, New York, August 5, 1859, and his years, fifty-eight, have been spent in his native city. After graduation from Rochester Free Academy in 1879, he be- gan the study of law, and in 1882 was admitted to the bar. He at once began practice in Rochester, having a partner for the first half year, and since the dis- solution of that partnership, practicing alone. His practice, general in character, is conducted in all State and Federal courts of the district, his offices at No. 236 Powers Building. He has a large and well established practice, both as an adviser and an advocate. He is a man of quick invention, but does not depend upon the inspiration of the moment, never appearing in court without the most care- ful preparation and no matter upon which feature of the case develops the higher importance he is fortified against surprise and is equally ready to attack. He is a member of the Rochester bar, highly es- teemed by his professional brethren as a man learned in the law, skillful in its application, and strictly ethical in his methods of practice.
He has since academy days been closely allied with fraternity and secret orders, and is one of the old volunteer firemen of the city, now a member of the Veteran Exempt Firemen's Association. He was one of the founders of the Pi Phi frater- nity of the Free Academy in 1878, and has been a member of the Masonic order since 1889, belonging to Germania Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. In Scottish Rite Masonry he has attained the thirty- two degrees of Rochester Consistory, and is a noble of Damascus Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a mem- ber of the Independent Order of For- esters and of the Knights of the Macca-
bees. He is a man of genial, social nature, winning many friends and ever retaining them. In political faith he is a Republican.
Mr. Bernhard married, May 14, 1884, Minnie E. Hertel, of Rochester. They have two sons, Robert A., now city super- intendent of play grounds and recreation, and Frank E. The family home is at No. 1387 Dewey avenue.
SWEET, John Edson, Scientist, Inventor.
Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the individual, or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial development, it is impossible to clearly determine. Yet the study of a successful life is none the less profitable by reason of the existence of this uncertainty, and in the majority of cases it is found that exceptional abil- ity was the real secret of the preeminence which many envied. The career of John Edson Sweet furnishes an example of what may be accomplished with but few of the advantages of favoring circum- stances, when one is endowed with ambi- tion, ability and untiring energy. The Sweet family has been resident in Amer- ica since the early Colonial days, the direct American ancestors being John and Mary Sweet, who settled at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1631. Many of the family have won fame as inventors.
Horace Sweet, father of Professor John Edson Sweet, was a son of Timothy and Eunice (Woodworth) Sweet, was born April 1, 1796, and died at Pompey, New York, August 4, 1858. He was a prosper- ous farmer in Onondaga county, of pro- gressive ideas, and assisted materially in the development of the section. He mar- ried, November 20, 1817, Candace Avery, daughter of Punderson Avery, and had children : Clarence H., Helen L., Anson
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John E. Sweet.
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Avery, Homer D. L., Wheaton B., Wil- and draughtsman in the railroad shops in liam A., John Edson and Ann E.
Professor John Edson Sweet was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, October 21, 1832. Until the age of fifteen years he attended the public schools, where his mechanical ability was noted at an early day. He readily found means to help himself over any mechani- cal difficulty which any situation pre- sented, as an instance of which may be given the fact of his construction of a small violin, and learning to play a num- ber of old-time melodies upon it, in the course of a few weeks. In 1850 he was apprenticed to John Pinkerton, a car- penter and joiner, and the money he earned was carefully put aside to pay for needful tools, among these being the sec- ond set of socket firmer chisels ever made, one of these still being in his pos- session. Having obtained a subordinate position in the office of Elijah T. Hayden, one of the ablest architects of Syracuse, he obtained an excellent knowledge of this line of business as it was carried on at that time, and for a period of ten years was chiefly employed in making construc- tion drawings for buildings. He then be- came office boy for C. O. Holyoke, a dis- ciple of Ruskin, and under this preceptor- ship he studied for one winter, during which he profited in large measure. Be- coming convinced that success lay for him in mechanical fields, Mr. Sweet pursued his studies and work in that direction, and received the first premium in a national competition held by "The Rural New Yorker," after which he wrote many articles on architectural matters, and was recognized as an authority.
At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Sweet was engaged in his pro- fessional duties at Selma, Alabama, and he soon returned to Onondaga county, New York. He became a pattern maker
Syracuse, and in the summer 1862 vis- ited the London Exhibition, where he continued his studies and investigations. During the latter part of the year he was a draughtsman in the international patent office of Hazeltine, Lake & Com- pany. Subsequently he again went abroad as draughtsman for the Patent Nut & Bolt Company, of Birmingham, England, in order to superintend the con- struction of machines for the manufac- ture of nails, Mr. Sweet being the pat- entee of this machine, which was financed by the Birmingham company. While abroad he contributed articles of a tech- nical nature to "Engineering," a journal published in London. Upon his return to Syracuse in 1864, Mr. Sweet became associated with Sweet, Barnes & Com- pany, designing many machines, tools and appliances, and introduced some of the features which still mark his designs. He invented a machine which paved the way for the introduction of the linotype machines now so commonly used. This machine, which was exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1867, was later pre- sented to Cornell University. He spent some months in Paris, and upon his re- turn to Syracuse he was again actively connected with Sweet, Barnes & Com- pany, and from 1871 to 1873 was mainly engaged in bridge building for Howard Soule, of Syracuse. His mind, however, was constantly busied with inventive plans of various kinds, and in the fall and winter of 1872 he made the plans and patterns, and completed the greater part of the work on the first Straight-Line steam engine. His contributions to the English paper, "Engineering," were also continued, and were published under the title of "Mechanical Refinements."
Professor Sweet was one of the fore- most pioneers in college work in mechani-
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cal lines, and for the six years commenc- ing in 1873, was connected with Cornell University. The manufacture and intro- duction of the Whitworth surface plates and straight-edges were largely due to the Cornell shop under his management, and the first standard measuring machine made in this country was made and is now stored in the Cornell shop. In speak- ing of this John Richards testified that its method of correcting the error of the screw is the only one known that is com- mercially practicable. The equally im- portant problem of neutralizing the effect of wear was solved in an equally success- ful way, but has not come so uniformly into use. Professor Sweet was the pio- neer in promoting this measuring ma- chine, which he hoped to make the foun- dation of a system of standard gauges, and it was not until some years later that his example in this was followed. The first Gramme dynamo produced in this country was also built in the Cornell shop, and the second straight-line engine. These, with other products of the shop, were exhibited at the Centennial Expo- sition. This straight-line engine, now so well known throughout the world, em- bodied what was then the novel combina- tion-a balanced valve, a shifting eccen- tric and a shaft governor. This has be- come the accepted type of high-speed engine, and the Centennial engine may well be considered the first of the kind. Professor Sweet accomplished all this with the aid of his students, no other labor being employed in the shop. He worked under disadvantages, for up to that time it was largely believed that edu- cation was a matter of mental training and discipline and he received compara- tively little encouragement for the prac- tical work he was doing along mechanical lines. However, the value of his service has stood the test of time, and methods which he employed for construction are
now in general use in all such institu- tions. John Richards, in speaking of his work in connection with Cornell, said in a lecture before the students of Leland Stanford University that "Professor Sweet is one of the most successful teachers of constructive engineering that this or any other country can boast."
Not receiving the encouragement he desired at Cornell University, however, Professor Sweet resigned and returned to Syracuse, where he continued his experi- mentation with the original Straight-Line Engine and, obtaining what appeared the maximum of simplicity and perfection of action in the governor, he commenced the building of the engine, becoming president and general manager of the Straight-Line Engine Company, which was organized for manufacturing pur- poses. The business was established on a small scale, but the value of the engine has been demonstrated and recognized so universally that its growth necessitated the construction of new works, which were erected according to plans made by Professor Sweet in 1890. Many new methods have been introduced since the company was organized, and these, to- gether with the style of manufacture and other improvements, have been exten- sively adopted by other engine builders. The direct result of the superior skill and ability of Professor Sweet is seen in an improved system of steam distribution, the value of which is universally acknowl- edged. A number of new machines have been constructed after his designs, includ- ing a traversing machine which has be- come standard. He has also invented numberless devices for furthering the construction of the engine and insuring more perfect results. Mr. Sweet is con- sidered an authority in all matters of this kind, and inventors in Syracuse and else- where have frequently sought his coun- sel, which is freely and generously given.
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