USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York > Part 44
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In 1890, Colonel Metcalf became connected with the D. M. Osborne Company as vice-president and general manager and settled in Auburn. All the great enlargements of the plant of that company between 1890 and 1905, were made under his administra- tion, and the business of the company increased enormously. Its progress is best shown by exact figures. In 1890 the company made 20,800 machines; in 1905 the output for that year reached 232,329 machines. To accomplish this, the manufacturing, sales and collection departments were completely re-organized. New
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buildings were built almost annually. Machinery rearranged so the work would pass through the factory in a more economical manner and while the cost of manufacturing was continually being decreased the employees received more pay for their services than ever before. A detailed cost system was established, unnecessary duplication of work eliminated, molding machines introduced, compressed air and utilized to minimize the amount of labor required. No expense for new tools ever stood in the way of their adoption if a certain per cent. of economy could be shown as a result of using them.
When the D. M. Osborne Company sold out to the International Harvester Company, he organized the Columbian Rope Company of which he is president, his son Edwin F. Metcalf being general manager and another son, Harold G. Metcalf, assistant treasurer and manager of manufacturing. The great model plant of this company was built under his direction and is one of the finest manufacturing plants in the country. Buildings with about eight acres of floor space were erected in 1903, and in 1907, an entire new mill for the manufacture of jute goods was built, giving about four acres of additional floor space to the original plant, while the adjoining land is laid out and maintained like a private park. The number of employees ranges from eight hundred and fifty to twelve hundred, and rope and commercial twines of all descrip- tions are the staple products.
In addition to being president of the Columbian Rope Company he is president of the Auburn & Northern Electric Railroad, a director of the Auburn & Syracuse Railroad, Cayuga County National Bank, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, vice-president of the Cayuga County Savings Bank and president of the Auburn City Hospital. He is a member of three clubs in Auburn, one in Syracuse and one in Springfield. Has been presi- dent of the Auburn Business Men's Association three years and declined a re-election.
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Since coming to Auburn eighteen years ago, he has taken a very prominent part in the industrial and commercial life of the city, and is regarded as the foremost exponent of Auburn's business interests, and a central figure in every movement undertaken to promote the city's welfare.
Mr. Metcalf's highest ambition for years has been to improve everything he owned or became connected with. He is a believer in home industries and through his ownership of local railroad, commercial, bank and manufacturing stocks and real estate, he is the largest resident tax payer in Cayuga County, and yet he inher- ited no estate, but starting as a poor boy, carved out his own fortune.
In September, 1873, he married Carrie W., daughter of Samuel W. Flint, of Fall River, Mass. Their children are Edwin F., Harold G., and Stanley W. Edwin F. Metcalf married Bertha, daughter of Judge Adelbert P. Rich. They have an infant son, Edwin Rich Metcalf.
ABEL HYDE CLARK was born in the village of Maine, Broome County, New York, September 9, 1834, and is the son of Ezekiel Hyde and Nancy Williams (Clark). His father was a tanner and early settled in Maine as it was the center of the hemlock country, and hemlock bark in those days was essential for the proper tanning of hides. There he built and for many years operated a tannery. Bark becoming scarce, and the long haul too expensive, he built a new tannery in Vestal, Broome County, which he operated down to the time of his death and which was afterwards sold out by his heirs to the United States Leather Company. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the local schools, and after- wards was sent to the Owego Academy, where his school education was completed. He began his active business life as salesman in a hardware store in New York City. After several years' service
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in that capacity, through the influence of his eldest brother, Julian, who was then superintendent of the Auburn & Susquehanna Railroad Company, he received a railroad appointment with head- quarters at Elmira. This was during the War of the Rebellion. In February, 1864, he married Helen S. Manning, daughter of David R. Manning, one of the pioneers of Broome County, and shortly afterwards settled in Waverly, N. Y., where he engaged in the monument and stone business for seven years. During that period he made the nucleus of his fortune in the judicious purchase and sale of village real estate. In 1871 he moved to Auburn and founded a lumber business under the firm name of D. C. Stoner & Company, with offices on Seminary avenue, and from that in- ception has grown through his able management the largest and most important lumber business in the city. From time to time as the enterprise grew, he purchased his partners' interests until he became sole owner of the business and afterwards conducted it in his own name until February 1, 1902, when he took in part- nership his two sons, Mortimer M. and Paul R., and formed the Clark Lumber Company, under which name the enterprise has since been carried on. The new company still occupies the old stand on Seminary avenue, which has been materially increased by the acquisition of the Keeler property at the corner of Seminary avenue and Franklin street. The company has also acquired other lumber yards and with their extensive yards and trackage do the bulk of the lumber business in Auburn, and now own three of the five yards in the city and carry on both a wholesale and retail trade.
Besides his two sons who are associated with him in business, Mr. Clark has one other son, Julian Hyde Clark, who resides in New York City.
Mr. Clark is a Republican in politics and has always taken an active interest in the welfare of his party and has frequently been sent as a delegate to Republican conventions. In 1888 and 1889
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he was a member of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Auburn, and was one of the three water commissioners having charge of the entire water supply of the city during the years 1901-1902-1903. He was a charter member of the Auburn City Club, the principal social organization of the city, and for many years was a member and took an active interest in the Cayuga County Historical Society. He has always been affiliated with the Universalist Church and since his residence at Auburn has been an attendant at the First Universalist Church and for twenty years has been a trustee of the church, and for several years chairman of its Board of Trustees. His family dates back beyond Revolutionary days in America, the pioneer having settled in Connecticut, in the early part of the eighteenth century. His father was born in Cooperstown, and his maternal grandfather, Isaac K. Williams, represented that district in Congress for two terms, when the district embraced all of Western New York. Mr. Clark, although seventy-three years of age, is still hale and hearty, and actively engaged in the management of his business enterprises.
EDWIN FLINT METCALF was born at Springfield, Mass., August 21, 1876. He was educated in the public schools of Springfield, until 1891, when his parents moved to Auburn, N. Y., where he continued in the public schools, going from there to a private school in Duxbury, Mass., and finishing at Harvard University.
In 1897 he engaged in a commercial life and entered the employ of the Columbian Cordage Company, at Auburn, N. Y., manu- facturers of Manila and Sisal rope and binder twine. He was afterwards made a director and also assistant treasurer and held this office during the continuance of the company.
In 1903, Mr. Metcalf purchased the old fair ground property in the west end of the city which property was later purchased from him by the same interests that had conducted the Columbian Cordage Company,. and on these grounds the plant of the Columbian
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Rope Company now stands, devoted to the manufacture of Manila and Sisal rope and also commercial twines made of jute, American, Russian and Italian hemps. Mr. Metcalf was made a director and assistant treasurer of the new enterprise until in the summer of 1 904 he was made general manager of the company, which position he still holds.
He is a director of the National Bank of Auburn, trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, vice-president of Foster, Ross & Company, and a director of the Business Men's Association. He is a member of the City Club of Auburn, Owasco Country Club and the Syracuse Harvard Club.
On October 31, 1906, he married Miss Bertha L. Rich, daughter of the Hon. A. P. Rich, and to this union one son, Edwin Rich Metcalf, was born, March 15, 1908.
FRED F. IRISH, plumber, gas and steamfitter, is a native of Jordan, Onondaga County, but has been in business in Auburn for thirteen years, and his patrons speak of his ability in very high terms. Mr. Irish conducts business at No. 22 Clark street; a fine line of sanitary plumbing, steam and water heating goods are kept in stock, and a competent force of skilled plumbers and fitters employed. He gives special attention to all orders for work, and contracts receive his personal attention. He furnishes plans and specifications cheerfully, and his reputation as an expert has given him a prestige in Auburn that has brought him a lucrative business.
Mr. Irish has been a member of the Examing Board of Plumbers for six years, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity-Auburn Blue Lodge, the Salemtown Commandery and Ziarra Temple, Utica. He married Gertrude Helen White, a teacher in the Auburn public schools, and their children are Helen, Marian, Ruth and Francis.
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NICHOLAS POOLOS, who conducts one of the finest delicatessen and fruit stores in Auburn, is a native of the ancient and historic city of Sparta, in the kingdom of Greece; a city which will ever be remembered as the home of Leonidas and his three hundred brave men who made Thermopyla immortal.
In the year 1886 Mr. Poolos came to Auburn, and in 1890 he established his present business. He is a practical confection manufacturer and makes all kinds of candies and ice cream. He also deals in everything carried in a first class delicatessen store, including tropical and California fruits of all kinds. He has been able to introduce European ideas in his manufactured goods, producing excellent novelties previously unknown to the American market and his establishment is unique in this regard. He deals both at wholesale and reatil and supplies many dealers with his confectionery. During his eighteen years of business in Auburn Mr. Poolos has built up a high reputation for honorable business methods, as well as a large patronage and his stand at No. 45 Genesee street is regarded as headquarters for the best of every- thing in his various lines of goods. He is a member of the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks and is a highly respected business man. His brother, George Poolos, who is in the store with him, came to America in 1892. He is a member of the Maccabees. Courteous attention and promptness in business distinguish this house. The interior of the store is very attractive and well kept. Its soda fountain, ice cream and numerous delicacies are also worthy of distinct mention.
GEORGE S. CADY, Moravia, manufacturer of portable and sta- tionary saw mills, farm wagons, land rollers, feed mills, mill ma- chinery, farm sleighs, farm machinery, water motors, waterwheels, etc., is a native of Sempronius, Cayuga County. He attended school there and was engaged in farming and contracting up to the time that he became identified with the steamboat business
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upon Skaneateles Lake. He owned and ran the steamboat Ossahinta for fifteen years and also was interested in furnishing supplies such as telegraph poles, railroad ties, etc. to different companies during this time. Mr. Cady has been many years an important factor in the councils of the Republican party. This influence he has always exerted in a mnost conscientious and honorable man- ner, believing that men of principle and of tried worth and ability should be elected to public office and has exerted his influence in that direction. He himself has never sought or accepted public preferments, although repeatedly solicited to accept nomination. At present he has, however, consented and is serving Moravia as one of the trustees of the village. Mr. Cady has been a Mason since his twenty-first year, and is identified with the Independent Order of Foresters. He has one son, Le Roy Cady, now identi- fied with him in the manufacturing business in Moravia, which Mr. Cady purchased in 1903,and in which they employ a force of twenty-six men.
BENJAMIN I. C. BUCKLAND, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians of southern Cayuga County for the last quarter of a century, is descended from a long lineage of New England ancesters who came from England in 1636 and settled in Massa- chusetts, at Rehobath and near Boston.
His great-grandfathers both paternal and maternal did valiant service for their country in the Revolutionary War, at Bennington and at Bunker Hill. When the Declaration of Independence had finally transformed the colonies into the United States, they established their pioncer homes among the healthful Berkshire Hills of Cheshire and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and at Guilford on the fertile foot-hills of the Green Mountains of Vermont. These Stalwart New England ancestors were all of them well-educated, God-fearing men, and many of them were prominent professional men.
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Dr. Buckland was born in Cayuga County, at the old homestead near Weedsport, at the beginning of the Civil War. He was thoroughly educated by his father in the local schools, attending in his early youth the Monroe Collegiate Institute at Elbridge, N. Y., then the leading college preparatory school in Central N. Y.
He graduated with honors from the Port Byron Academy and won in competitive examination a scholarship and entered college at Cornell University. After completing his course of study at Cornell, he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he continued his favorite studies in geology, history, litera- ture and medicine. On June 27, 1884, Doctor Buckland graduated with honors from the medical department of the University of Michigan and returned to Cayuga County. He married Miss Avis M. Wyckoff, and commenced the practice of medicine on July 4, 1884, at Fleming, N. Y., where he still continues in active practice and enjoys the respectful esteem of an ever-widening circle of loyal friends.
In the line of his professional calling, Doctor Buckland has been a leading member of the Cayuga County Medical Society since July 9, 1884, having twice been honored by the society as its president. At the one hundredth anniversary of this society during Old Home Week at Auburn, he was selected to give the historical centennial address before the medical fraternity at their banquet at the City Club.
He is also a member of the Central New York Medical Associa- tion and of the Medical Society of the State of New York.
Doctor Buckland is the official medical examiner for all the old- line life insurance companies in his home town and also for several fraternal insurance companies.
President Cleveland during his last administration, appointed Doctor Buckland as an examining physician and surgeon on the United States Pension Board at Auburn, N. Y., which position he filled with credit through that administration.
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COLBY'S TELEGRAPH SCHOOL is the acknowledged leading telegraphy institution in Central New York. Its graduate's all occupy lucrative and responsible positions throughout the country.
That the Colby School has attained an enviable reputation for its thorough and practical methods, has been due to the fact that graduates of the institution have secured responsible positions and have in every instance filled every requirement, and in many in- stances have been advanced to fill vacancies that usually require men of years of practical experience to hold. Colby's graduates have yet to have the first failure recorded against them. These gratifying results are attained by the very thorough methods em- ployed in the school. combined with the fact that Mr. Colby is himself a practical telegrapher and railroad man, having spent some twelve years in the employ of the leading railroads and com- mercial companies.
Mr. Colby has in practical operation in his school miniature semaphores, regular switchboards, all the regular forms used in railroad work, and in addition to all these features he has a direct wire from the Lehigh Valley Railroad offices in this city, which is an exclusive and a very valuable adjunct in the work of training his students in this line of instruction. The course of instruction as taught at this school will equip any young man of ordinary intelligence and with common school education to fill a position paying not less than $45, and in some instances as high as $80, per month. Once qualified, a graduate has a trade which will equip him for a life work.
The railroad work is such that there is a constant demand for competent men, and the demand is increasing every year. This employment puts young men in line for promotions in a class of work where men of ability receive salaries ranging into the thou- sands of dollars. But the knowledge of the work as taught by the Colby School is essential to begin with.
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To any young man with the qualifications mentioned no greater opportunity nor a more opportune time than the present was ever offered to gain for himself, in a few months' study, and a small investment, instruction that will place him not only in a permanent position, but will pave the way for untold advantages which the untrained man may never hope to secure.
The success attained by graduates of this school have led some of the leading business men of this section to place their stamp of approval on the methods employed and the results obtained, and Mr. Colby takes great pride in his reference to these men as well as to the many graduates now accupying positions throughout the country.
To any who are interested in the work, or have any idea of taking it up, full information will be furnished upon application, either by letter or in person, to Colby's Telegraph School, 106 Genesee street, Auburn, N. Y.
E. B. PECK, chief engineer of the International Harvester Works, at Auburn, is one of the employees of this great corporation who has demonstrated his ability to do things. Mr. Peck entered the rolling mill branch of the establishment over twenty-seven years ago, in a minor capacity, and by hard work and earnest en- deavor won promotion until in 1900 he was appointed chief en- gineer of the entire plant, with supervision over some thirty-five assistants. He is married and has one daughter, Mabel.
Mr. Peck is prominent in Masonic circles; is Past Master of St. Paul Lodge No. 124, Auburn, N. Y., having held the chair of Master during the years 1895 and 1896; is a Scottish Rite Mason and held the highest office, that of Past Grand of the Consistory, and is a thirty-second degree Mason. He is a member of the Masonic Club, and of the Masonic Relief Association. He is also past president of the N. A. S. E., No. 5, Auburn, and for the past twenty-one years has been treasurer of the Lodge. He is
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First Patron of Auburn Chapter No. 169 of the Eastern Star, and past president of the Osborne Works Engineering Club. Mr. Peck is an unassuming but practical man, a thoroughly experienced and competent engineer, and is held in the highest esteem by all.
SAMUEL VAN DYKE KENNEDY, manager of the Eastern works of the International Harvester Company, was born in New York City, and educated in the public schools of Connecticut. He learned the trade of machinist in the works of Russell, Birdsell & Ward, of Portchester, N. Y., and after serving his apprentice- ship, went to work for the Colt Arms Company at Hartford, Conn. ; subsequently he worked for the Whitney Arms Company at Whitneyville. About 1880 he went West and was engaged by Hendey & Meyer, of Denver, Colorado, with whom he remained two years. Again changing his location, he connected with the Minneapolis Harvester Works, and remained with that concern for eight years, For the next three years he was assistant superin- tendent of the Deering Harvester Company, of Chicago, and from that time until he came to Auburn, he was general superintendent for the Walter A. Wood Harvester Company of St. Paul, Minn. In December, 1896, he was engaged by Colonel Edwin D. Metcalf for the position of general superintendent for D. M. Osborne & Company, and filled that position until January, 1903, when he became general superintendent for the Osborne Works of the Inter- national Harvester Company, and so continued until 1906, when he was made manager of the Eastern works of the company, which position he now fills.
Samuel V. Kennedy married Cora B., daughter of John D. Noxon, of Great Barrington, Mass. They have two children, Francis S., and Samuel Van Dyke Kennedy, Jr.
Mr. Kennedy is a member of Auburn Lodge No. 435, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Engineers' Club. He is also a member of the Auburn City Club and the Masonic Club. He is a man of
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fine executive ability, as his position indicates, and is much respected in Auburn. He holds the respect and confidence of the employees of the International Harvester Company to a degree not usual with officials of large industries.
FREDERICK A. DUDLEY, Republican, who represents Cayuga County in the Assembly, was born in Madison, Connecticut, in 1842, and was educated in common schools, at Lee Academy, and finally in Yale Medical College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1862.
He was in the United States Volunteer Army during the Civil War from 1861 to the close of the war in 1865. In 1864 and 1865 he was surgeon of the Fourteenth Connecticut Infantry and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. He was captured at the battle of Hatcher's Run, Virginia, and was a prisoner in Libby Prison, Richmond, during the winter of 1864-5.
Dr. Dudley has served as supervisor of the town of Genoa since 1898, and was chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Cayuga County in 1901. In 1906 he was elected Assemblyman from Cayuga County by a plurality of 3,796.
Speaker Wadsworth in 1907 appointed Dr. Dudley a member of the following Assembly Committees: Canals, Affairs of Villages, State Prisons, and Soldiers' Home.
CHRISTOPHER B. MORGAN. A full history of the Morgan family would require almost a history of southern Cayuga County, so intimately has that family heen associated with all local affairs for over a century. Christopher Morgan, the founder of the family, came from New England and settled first at Cayuga Bridge. In 18or he came to Aurora, and on June 3rd of that year opened a store which has been conducted by him and his descendants, continuously, ever since, and which is now owned by his great- grand son, Henry Morgan.
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One of Christopher Morgan's five sons was Richard, the father of Christopher B. Morgan, who was born at Levanna, in 1842. He came with his father to Aurora in 1848, and after granduating at Cayuga Lake Academy, entered the house of Morgan at eighteen years of age and has been a business man in that village ever since. He was appointed postmaster at Aurora, by President Lincoln, and has been the incumbent of that office for more than twenty years. For a time he was in Michigan, and his father was appointed postmaster in his stead during that time. He was re-appointed by President Harrison and has held the office continuously ever since. except during Cleveland's administration. He was once Master of Scipio Lodge, No. 110, Free and Accepted Masons; declined all political preferments, but gave much time and money for the advancement of others, and for the best interests of his party in town and country.
Christopher B. Morgan married Lucy M. Avery, who died in 1904. Their children are: Emily A. Stanton, of Cleveland, Ohio, William A. Morgan of Boston, Mass., and Henry Morgan, mer- chant and proprietor of Wayside Inn, Aurora, N. Y. In 1906, Mr. Morgan married Ida Lincoln Coggshell of New Jersey.
Christopher B. Morgan has worthily maintained, through a long business career, the name and honor of one of the oldest and most notable families of Cayuga County, and he is widely known as a generous and broad-minded man, as well as an enterprising and progressive citizen.
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