USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III > Part 57
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2. The prohibition of further promotion prevented the promotion of this officer to the grade of major. JOHN F. O'RYAN, Major-General.
Eventually, however, the arbitrary order of the gen- eral staff prohibiting further promotion of officers after Nov. 11, 1918, the date of the signing of the armistice, was withdrawn, and Auguste B. Peterson, who had been promoted to a captaincy on Oct. 15, 1918, was promoted to 'he grade of major in February, 1919, having served aq acting chief of staff throughout the stay of the divi- sion in France.
Further evidence of the value of Captain Peterson's services to the division is contained in the general report of the division commander. The following is extracted from the vection regarding intelligence work:
The foregoing comments would be incomplete with- out recognition of the marked efficiency of Captain Auguste B. Peterson, Div. intelligence officer, by rea- son of whose services you had a valuable assistant, and whose charge of the intelligence work during the La Selie River operations was marked by a high order of excellence.
Again, the official citation of Captain Peterson, by Major-General O'Ryan, dated Feb. 18, 1919, reads :
Captain Auguste B. Peterson, G-2 division head- quarters. For exceptionally efficient and meritorious service, as intelligence officer of the division, during the periods of operations in Belgium and France. The work of this officer was frequently commented upon, for its special value, hy officers of our own and Brit- ish armies.
UNITED STATES ARMY CITATION-Major Auguste B. Peterson, Intelligence Officer, 27th Div., for excep- tionally meritorious and conspicuous services as intel- ligence officer, 27th Division, France, American Expe- ditionary Forces.
In testimony thereof, and as an expression of appre- ciation of these services. I award him this citation. Awarded on 20th June, 1919.
JOHN J. PERSHING, Commander-in-Chief.
Upon the return of Major Peterson to his native place, he was appointed secretary of the Jamestown Board of Commerce, and took hold of matters with a zest which indicates a true interest in the community with which his family has had such a long association. Andrew Peterson, his grandfather, whose life is elsewhere re- corded in this work, was one of the first Methodist Episcopal ministers of Jamestown. In February, 1920, Major Peterson resigned his position as secretary of the Board of Commerce and affiliated himself with Lyman R. Van Vlach and Allen E. Bargar for the practice of law under the partnership name of Van Vlach, Peterson & Bargar. Major Peterson is a commander of the Ameri- can Legion, and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars; Distinguished Service Order of the United States ; Mt. Moriah Lodge; Jamestown Club; Rotary Club, and several other fraternal and civic organizations.
While in military service and in recruiting duty in Jamestown, he was married at Chautauqua, July 28, 1917, to Clarissa May Starling, of Sandford, Fla., daugh- ter of B. J. and Elizabeth Starling, of that place, where the former owned and operated some fruit farms. Major and Mrs. Peterson are the parents of one son, Robert Bartholdi, born in Jacksonville, Fla. Through her mother, who is regent of the Florida Chapter, Mrs. Peterson belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution, and also to the Daughters of the Con- federacy.
CHARLES AUSTIN HANVEY, Oph .- Since 1906 Dr. Hanvey has practiced his profession in James- town, coming the year after his graduation from the Rochester School of Optometry. His office and plant is in the Wellman block, and there eyes are tested, ex- amined, and prescribed for, the prescriptions now num- bering seventeen thousand, being filled by experts who grind the glasses to the requirements of the prescrip- tion. This latter branch of his business was added by Dr. Hanvey as a convenience to his clients, the time consumed in sending work away and awaiting its re- turn being saved by doing the work at his own plant. Optometry is now recognized as a separate profession
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by many states, and New York has now joined with those states requiring a four years' course before grant- ing the degree of Oph .- Doctor of Optometry. Dr. Hanvey is a son of Henry P. and Belle (Lincoln) Han- vey, his father for many years an engineer in the employ of the Erie Railroad, and at the present time (1920) eligible to the retired list. Mr. and Mrs. Han- vey are the parents of three children: Mrs. Jennie Hughes, a widow; Lettie, wife of Eugene Passett, and Charles Austin, of this review.
Charles Austin Hanvey was born in Attica, N. Y., April 4, 1880. He was educated in Lockport High School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1899. He was a student for one year in the Young Men's Christian Association Training School at Chicago, 111., and after that course in physical culture he entered the Rochester School of Optometry, Rochester, N. Y., from which institution he was graduated in the year 1905. The following year he located in Jamestown, N. Y., and has practiced there ever since. In 1912, Dr. Hanvey received his degree of Doctor of Optometry at the completion of a course of study at the Philadelphia College of Optometry. A specialty with Dr. Hanvey is the treatment of defective vision in infant children with- out subjecting them to the pain and risk of an opera- tion. Numbers of children have been treated and their vision corrected by optometrists without an operation, children who were crosseyed or their eyes defective from the time of their birth, and this method of treat- ment has thus demonstrated its value, and to this branch Dr. Hanvey is giving his closest attention. Dr. Hanvey is a member of the American and New York State Op- tometric societies; Mt. Moriah Lodge, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and from that base has built his Masonic membership in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, be- ing affiliated with Jamestown Lodge of Perfection; Jamestown Council, Princes of Jerusalem, and Buffalo Consistory. He is also a member of Mt. Tabor Lodge and Chautauqua Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Dr. Hanvey married, Aug. 10, 1919, Mabel M. May- bee, daughter of Frank and Catherine Maybee, of Jamestown.
JEROME BONAPARTE FISHER was perhaps the most brilliant and conspicuous figure of Western New York in public life during the last generation. Upon his death (June 18, 1919) Chautauqua county mourned the loss of a favorite and distinguished son. No citizen of this county since Governor Reuben E. Fenton was so widely known and honored throughout the United States.
His public career and service started in early man- hood. He was twice elected county judge of Chautau- qua county and served for fourteen years as Supreme Court reporter of New York State. Before giving the data of Judge Fisher's life and achievements, we will present the picture of the man, as drawn in the editorials written and eulogies delivered at the time of his death, by men who knew him intimately.
As a lawyer, Judge Fisher was a brilliant and skillful advocate, and a counsellor of rare judgment. He was for years the conceded leader of the Chautauqua county bar, and engaged in most of the important litigations.
He was a man of strong character and integrity, and of keen and forceful intellect. He had deep reverence for the law. He presided as county judge with dignity and courtesy, "his sense of justice, tempered with mercy, enabled him to determine questions affecting persons with humaneness, and of property with strict impartiality."
As orator, public speaker and campaigner, he won a national reputation. He read extensively and was a student of history, economics and politics, as well as of men and passing events. He had delivered speeches and addresses on patriotic, political and public occasions, at memorial services, or at social gatherings in nearly every State of the Union. He possessed a voice of unusual range and of rare richness and appeal. No jury or audience long resisted the charm and magnetism of his personality. Patriotic and public-spirited in the highest degree, on many occasions he aroused his audi- ences to patriotic fervor or civic duty by his own en- thusiasm and sincerity, by the inspiration of his high ideals of service and love of country, and by the magic of his words and golden voice. From early manhood an active and ardent Republican in politics, he engaged in many important State and National campaigns. In 1908 he traveled with William H. Taft in his successful campaign for the presidency. He was also with Frank W. Higgins in his campaign for governor in 1909. He has been described as "one of the truly great cam- paigners of his time."
He also possessed that rare ability of extemporane- ous response, a fund of anecdotes, an ever ready sense of humor, which made him an ideal toastmaster and after dinner speaker, and with which he delighted and enlivened many a formal banquet and social gathering. Judge Henry A. Melvin, of the Supreme Court of Cali- fornia, said of Judge Fisher :
He was a wonderful man; he was an orator in the highest sense of that much abused term. I have heard him called by a brother that loved him "an old-fash- ioned orator," not meaning by that that his methods were antiquated, but that very few of our modern orators made use of so brilliant phrases combined with the graces of dictton that were the very courtesy of speech.
While his addresses and speeches were numerous, and although he responded unselfishly to repeated demands for his services as a speaker, at great personal and financial loss, he possessed little egotism, and but few of his speeches and addresses have been preserved. One of them, his address on "The Life and Works of Reuben E. Fenton," delivered at the centennial cele- bration of Chautauqua county, may be found in the "Centennial History." This work was a labor of love, for as a young lawyer Mr. Fisher attracted the atten- tion and gained the friendship of Governor Fenton, who named him as one of his executors.
For fifty-five years Judge Fisher lived in Jamestown. He had known many of the pioneers of the county and was intimately acquainted with the early history of this region. He took keen interest and active part in the growth and development of his city, and was perhaps never happier than when giving expression to his pride in Jamestown, and in describing the beauty and grandeur of Chautauqua county and the Empire State.
In spite of his brilliant attainments and public career, Judge Fisher will undoubtedly be longest and best re-
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membered by the present generation as a friend. He possessed in surpassing degree those generous qualities of mind and heart, of loyalty and ready sympathy, which win and retain friendship. He took a deep interest in fraternalism and was especially devoted to the Benevo- lent and Patriotic Order of Elks, for its principles and its patriotic and charitable service especially appealed to him. In the national councils of that order he was "a leader among leaders." He had been elected grand exalted ruler of the national order and in that capacity, in 1901, instituted a lodge at Honolulu, Hawaii. During the World War, in addition to the inestimable service which he performed in his own community in moulding public opinion and arousing patriotism by his voice and commanding influence, Judge Fisher found opportunity for great service as a member of the national "Elks' War Relief Commission." This commission constructed two large hospitals and performed general work in the relief and service of maimed and sick soldiers and sailors.
Following Judge Fisher's death the Grand Lodge of the National Order of Elks in convention at Atlantic City by resolution set aside the hour of 11:00 A. M., Wednesday, July 9, 1919, for a special memorial service to testify to his wonderful personality and public service, and to express the admiration and esteem, and the sense oi bereavement felt by the half million members of that order at his death. The services conducted and the eulogies there delivered by distinguishd men were printed in a beautiful brochure. Space will permit but brief extract therefrom and we choose certain passages which accurately and intimately describe Judge Fisher's creed of life and the personal side of his character :
He loved and served his fellowmen who in their turn rewarded his great genius with their highest honors. He enriched himself with riches surpassing price by enriching humanity with his golden gifts. His chiv- alric kindness knew no caste or creed. Earth's dreary places he gladdened wherever he found them. * *
He believed in the fatherhood of God and the broth- erhood of man; in the religion of love and the gospel of good works; that "above all sects is truth, above all nations is humanity." He believed that all the sons of men are sons of God. He sympathized with human frailties and human sufferings. He felt that the man who scatters flowers in the pathway of his fellowmen, who lets into the dark places of life the sunshine of human sympathy and human helpfulness is following in the footsteps of the Master. He be- leved that "we rise by raising others, and he who stoops above the fallen stands erect."
From his earliest youth until almost his last day. whether in the athletic arena of the high school or university. in the courts, on the platform, in fraternal circle or in patriotic endeavor, his was the strenuous carrer. Not alone as an inspiring exemplar of the highest citizenship, but as a jurist of learning and probity, as an orator of compelling power and ardent Americanism, as an after dinner speaker whose wit and humor made every occasion which he graced a real delight, and above all as an unselfish and faithful friend, he will he long remembered. . .
His Americanism was an inspiration to all who krew hm. Illy patriotism was as pure as the red blood which pulsed from his pure heart. And he was at his very best when he was giving expression in his own eloquent style to his sentlinents of loyalty and love of country which were a part of his very life ·
Persona' association with Judge Fisher was a delight Ho maintained the vivacity and enthusiasm of youth, for i grew old only in years. His keen wit, ever witha it a ating; his sense of humor; his gentleness and considerabon: his geniality, and his real affection for all his associates, made him a leading spirit in every gathering.
Him pride In the beautiful wife of his youth and in his atalwart sony was equalled only by his eagerness to make sacrifices in their behalf. For many years he
represented professionally the largest corporate inter- ests of his community, but this never gave to his nature a sordid taint, and throughout his active life he seemed never to seek or care for wealth. Perhaps this is one of the secrets of his hold upon the affec- tions of his fellow-men and especially of his profes- sional brethren who find in his career a demonstration that
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches; and loving favor than silver and gold.
And long after his brilllant talents, his acquired accomplishments, and his professional and civic emi- nence shall be only pleasant memories, the large heart- edness, the willing service, and the gift of kindness of Jerome B. Fisher will keep his memory beloved.
Jerome Bonaparte Fisher, the son of Jerome B. and Polly ( Martin) Fisher, was born Feb. 13, 1851, at Rus- sell, Warren county, Pa., in the foothills of the Alle- ghenies. Until thirteen years old he lived at Russell, attending the public schools of Pennsylvania. His fam- ily then moved to Jamestown, N. Y., where he attended the public schools, graduating from the Union School and Collegiate Institute in 1872. After that he attended Cornell University for two years, taking an optional course. He taught school four years before going to college, and during vacations worked on a farm and with his father in lumbering and rafting on the Alle- gheny river. While at Cornell he stood high in his studies, was captain of the baseball nine and rowed on the college crew.
He began the study of law in the office of Bootey & Fowler, at Jamestown, and was admitted to the bar of New York State in 1878. He started practice with Marvin Smith, under the firm name of Smith & Fisher. In August, 1881, he became junior partner of the firm of Cook, Lockwood & Fisher. In 1883, Mr. Lockwood hav- ing retired, Arthur C. Wade was admitted to partner- ship. and the firm name became Cook, Fisher & Wade. This partnership continued until the death of Judge Cook, in July, 1895. Later that year M. R. Stevenson entered the firm, the firm name being changed to Fisher, Wade & Stevenson.
In 1896, Mr. Fisher was the unanimous choice of the Republican party convention for county judge, and was elected the following November by a majority of 7,000. He was reelected county judge in 1902, but resigned in the fall of 1005 to accept appointment as Supreme Court reporter of the State of New York, an appointment made by the justices of the Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court. As Supreme Court reporter he edited and published seventy-nine volumes (Vols. 109 to 188) of the opinions of that court. While holding this posi- tion, he was able to retain his residence at Jamestown and to continue to some extent the active practice of law. In 1908, he formed the partnership of Fisher & Fisher, with his son, Marion H. Fisher, and this con- nection continued until his death. While studying law, Judge Fisher was twice elected clerk of the village of Jamestown, and later represented the city on the Board of Supervisors. In 1883, he was delegate to the Na- tional Republican convention supporting the nomination of Benjamin Ilarrison. In 1884, he was chosen alternate delegate to the Republican National convention and there supported the nomination of James G. Blaine.
Judge Fisher was a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Western Sun Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Ismailia Temple, Ancient Arabic
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Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Buffalo; and was the first eminent commander of the Jamestown Com- mandery, Knights Templar. He was a member of the Republican Club of New York City; Fort Orange Club of Albany; Connewango Fishing Club of Warren, and for many years of the Jamestown Club. He joined the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks as a charter member of Jamestown Lodge, No. 263, in 1893. In 1894, he was elected exalted ruler of that lodge, and in 1896 grand trustee of the National order. In 1900, he was elected grand exalted ruler of the Elks, and in 1901, in that capacity, he founded a lodge at Honolulu, Ha- waiian Islands, the first lodge of the order to be insti- tuted outside the United States.
On Dec. 19, 1878, at Jamestown, Mr. Fisher married Julia E. Hatch, a daughter of Mason B. and Polly (Strong) Hatch. The Hatch family came among the pioneers from Vermont and originally settled at Elling- ton. Mrs. Fisher died in October, 1911, leaving four sons : Jerome B., Jr., Marion H., Daniel E., and Reuben F., sketches of whom follow.
Mr. Fisher died at his home in Jamestown, June 18, 1919, after a protracted illness. He was buried in Lake- view Cemetery at Jamestown, his funeral being attended by members of the judiciary, of the bar, the Elks and the Masonic orders. The burial ritual of the Elks being performed at the grave by past grand exalted rulers of that order.
JEROME BONAPARTE FISHER, JR., son of Judge Jerome Bonaparte and Julia E. (Hatch) Fisher (q. v.), was born in Jamestown, N. Y., Feb. 11, 1880. He completed the course of the public grade and high schools of the city, then entered Jamestown Business College. In June, 1900, after completing his course at the last named institution, he entered the employ of the Farmers and Mechanics Bank, but resigned eighteen months later to take a position with the Pennsylvania Gas Company as bookkeeper, which position he held · until September, 1917, when he became traveling audi- tor for the National Fuel Gas Company of New York, a position he has ably filled until the present (1921). He, however, retains his residence in Jamestown, where he has many fraternal and social ties. He is a mem- ber of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Chadakoin Boat Club, the Chautauqua Council of United Commercial Travelers, and the First Presby- terian Church. Politically, he is a Republican. His recreations are those of the out-of-doors, and he is one of Jamestown's well known younger citizens.
Mr. Fisher, on Oct. 15, 1907, married Imogene Par- tridge, daughter of Frank E. and Anna Berry Par- tridge, of Jamestown. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher are the parents of two sons: Jerome Bonaparte (3), born April 19, 1910; Warren Partridge, born April 8, 1918.
MARION HATCH FISHER, son of Jerome Bona- parte and Julia E. (Hatch) Fisher (q. v.), followed his father at the bar, and from October, 1908, until the death of Judge Fisher, in 1919, they practiced law to- gether at Jamestown under the firm name of Fisher & Fisher. Since then Mr. Fisher has continued practice alone.
From May, 1917, until Dec. 31, 1920, Mr. Fisher served as assistant district attorney of Chautauqua county, under appointment by the Hon. William S. Stearns, district attorney. Mr. Stearns gave to Mr. Fisher full charge of all criminal work in the southern half of the county, comprising the First Assembly Dis- trict. To the public business Mr. Fisher devoted the same care and attention which he gives to his private practice. He made no nice distinctions as to the limits of his duty, but gave unsparingly of his time in the investigation of crimes as well as in the prosecution of offenders.
As assistant district attorney, Mr. Fisher won new laurels as a successful trial lawyer. He secured convictions in every case prosecuted by him save one in which the jury disagreed. However, he sought no convictions by arousing prejudice or passion. His work as prose- cutor was always characterized by dignity, impartiality and fair consideration of the rights of those accused of crime. His successes were won by painstaking preparation and analysis, and by fair and logical pre- sentation of his cases.
Two of the cases prosecuted by Mr. Fisher were unusual and require special mention in the judicial his- tory of the county. In March, 1920, he secured the conviction of Pandeli Constantine on a charge of man- slaughter, in causing death by selling, without poison labels, toilet preparations containing wood alcohol, knowing that such preparations were being used in Jamestown as beverages. The victim was one of the seven men who died in Jamestown in September, 1919, all of whom showed symptoms of wood alcohol poison- ing. This was the first conviction in the State for such a crime. On Dec. 23, 1920, Mr. Fisher secured the con- viction of Edward Persons of murder in the first degree. Persons, with a companion who turned out to be the comparatively innocent accomplice, was charged with shooting George Klinger, a taxicab driver of Jamestown, at nightfall on Sept. 25, 1920, on a lonely road south of Lakewood in the town of Busti, and with burning the body in a straw stack. The criminals were strangers and had escaped. The clues, theories and motives were many and baffling. However, the crim- inals were traced and arrested in Ohio within five weeks. Mr. Fisher worked unceasingly for three months on this case, and credit for unraveling the mystery is largely due to him and Undersheriff Tarbox. Persons was tried before Justice Charles B. Sears. The trial, which lasted ten days, aroused more public interest than any case tried in this county for years. In view of the wave of crimes of violence sweeping the country during the year 1920 the conviction was deemed of great importance. The task of the prosecution was most difficult. Persons was ably defended by Lee L. Ottoway and Frank H. Mott, Esquires. The people were required to call some forty witnesses to establish the chain of evidence, largely circumstantial, which, with certain confessions, established the defendants' guilt. For the successful preparation and trial of this case Mr. Stearns publicly gave the entire credit to Mr. Fisher. Following the completion of this case Mr. Fisher resigned his office in order to devote his entire time to private practice.
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Marion H. Fisher was born Dec. 14. 1881, at James- town. N. Y. He attended the public schools of that city and graduated from the high school in 1901. He then entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni- versity, graduating from there in 1904. He began his legal studies in his father's office, attended Albany Law School during the year 1904-05, and from the fall of to05 until the fall of 1908 acted as secretary to his father in the office of the Supreme Court reporter at Albany, assisting in the editing and publishing of the opinions of the Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court. While at Albany, Mr. Fisher completed his legal studies and was admitted to the bar of the State of New York in March, 1908. In high school Mr. Fisher was prominent in athletics, playing left end on the champion Jamestown High School football elevens in 1897 and 1898, and quarterback in 1900. He was also a member of the first high school basketball team, and rowed on two victorious Chadakoin Boat Club crews ( 1899 and 1904) in the annual race with the Chan- tanqua crews for the Miller Trophy. During summer vacations, Mr. Fisher worked for four seasons for the Chautauqua Steamboat Company, the last year (1903) as captain of the excursion steamer "City of Chicago." At Yale, Mr. Fisher was elected a member of the Chi Phi fraternity, and at the Albany Law School of the Phi Delta Phi, legal fraternity. He is a member of Jamestown Lodge, No. 263, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the Chadakoin Boat Club, the Moon Brook Golf Club, and other social organizations.
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