USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907, Vol. II > Part 17
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Mr. Mahon was married to Miss Minnie Judge, a native of Rochester and daughter of Patrick Judge. Her father is now deceased but her mother is still living in this city. Mr. Mahon left eight children, of whom Rose Marie was a daughter of his first marriage. The others are Gertrude, Adrian, Lillian, Lois, Gerald, Oswald and Dorothy.
Mr. Mahon gave his political support to the democracy, and although he never sought or de- sired office he was ever a public-spirited citizen and gave active and hearty co-operation to many movements for the public good. He belonged to St. Mary's Catholic Church, of which Mrs. Mahon is also a member, and was identified with the Knights of Columbus. Wherever known he was greatly esteemed because of his progressiveness in citizenship, his enterprise in business and his loyalty in social circles. He had the confidence and trust of his business associates but his best traits of character were reserved for his own home and fireside, and in his family he was a devoted husband and father, considering no sacri- fice too great on his part if it would promote the welfare and happiness of his wife and children.
JOSEPH B. ROE.
Joseph B. Roe is now living retired on the Roeside farm in the town of Penfield, Monroe county, after many years of active and successful connection with business interests. He was born upon the farm where he now resides June 27, 1842. His father, Joseph Brewster Roe, Sr., was born in Long Island, New York, and in Butler, Wayne county, this state, was married to Char- lotte Wisner, a daughter of Moses Wisner, who was one of the early settlers and pioneer farmers of Wayne county. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Roe were
born seven children but the subject of this review is the only one now living. The father followed farming in Wayne county until 1835, when he removed with his wife and two oldest children to Monroe county, purchasing the farm Roeside, upon which his son and namesake is now living. In 1845 he removed to the village of Penfield, where he engaged in the milling business for some years. He then removed to Rochester, where he remained for three years, after which he re- turned to the old farm, where he died in March, 1858, at the age of forty-eight years. His widow long survived him and died at the home of our subject in Detroit, Michigan, in 1891, at the age of seventy-eight years.
In the common schools of Penfield township, Joseph B. Roe, of this review, acquired his early education, which was supplemented by study in the Penfield Academy. For five years following the time when he became twelve years of age he spent the summer months in taking cream to a confectioner in Rochester and in carrying other market products to that city. At the age of six- teen he was left fatherless and the management of the home farm devolved upon him and his older brother Jerome. When eighteen years of age he was obliged to abandon farm work on account of ill health and went to Brantford, Ontario, where he entered the employment of an uncle, being engaged in the selling of fanning mills to the farmers. After a few months, however, he re- turned to Monroe county and secured employment in Moulson's provision store in Rochester, but after a brief period he identified himself with the nursery business, with which he was connected for three years, delivering and selling nursery stock. For the succeeding three years Mr. Roe conducted the old farm, as his brother had mar- ried and left the place.
On the 4th of June, 1867, occurred the mar- riage of our subject to Miss Maria Allen, of Wil- liamson, Wayne county, New York. For a few years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Roe re- sided on the home farm and then went to Michi- gan, where Mr. Roe became a member of the firm of F. W. Beers & Company in the publication of county atlases. In 1874 he removed to Portland, Michigan, where for fourteen years he was one of the firm of Maynard, Allen & Company, bankers of that city. He also engaged in general grain and produce business for six years as a member of the firm of Maynard & Roe, and on the expira- tion of that period he purchased his partner's in- terest and continued in the grain business alone for eight years, carrying on a more extensive trade in grains and produce than any other dealer in that portion of the state. He would buy any- thing which the farmer raised and could sell him anything he wanted to buy. In 1875 he became a member of the Detroit Board of Trade, but in
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
1887 he had to abandon the grain business on ac- count of ill health. He never expected to be again able to enter commercial circles, but after recuperating in northern Michigan for a year he sold out his banking interests and removed to Detroit, where he became actively engaged in the grain and commission business, becoming one of the best known representatives in the state; in fact, the name of J. B. Roe was known throughout Michigan and he met with excellent success in his undertakings, but in June, 1900, he retired from business, owing to ill health, and returned to the farm. He leases his land, but still makes his home at the old place, in the enjoyment of a well earned rest. In politics Mr. Roe is a demo- crat, and socially he is connected with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to both the blue lodge and chapter.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Roe have been born two children : Helen Orrena, who died in 1880, at the age of five years ; and J. Etheleen, who is the wife of Herbert F. Caswell, of Portland, Michigan. Mr. Caswell is one of Portland's successful busi- ness men, being manager and treasurer of the Verity Caswell table manufactory of Portland. Mrs. Caswell is of a literary turn of mind, being prominent in all church work and president of the literary organization of the place. They have two children: Orrena Frances and Mildred Roe.
Mrs. Roe was born August 6, 1845, in William- son, Wayne county, New York. Her father was Peters Allen, a prosperous farmer of that place, baving removed there in his early manhood from Dutchess county, New York. He died at the age of fifty-five. Mrs. Roe's mother bore the maiden name of N. Jane Maynard and was a native of Williamson, New York. She gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Allen in 1840 and survived him many years, passing away in 1906, at Roeside, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Roe, at the advanced age of eighty-five. They had but two children, their son being Captain E. M. Allen, a banker living in Portland. Mrs. Roe received her early education in the common schools of the township, passing from there to Marion Collegiate Institute, Wayne county, New York, and then to Brockport Colle- giate Institute, Monroe county, New York, gradu- ating from the latter in 1864 as valedictorian of her class. From that time until her marriage she was a popular teacher. Upon moving to Portland, Michigan, she became one of the charter members organizing the Ladies Literary Club of the place and was its first president. Her influence was widely felt in the Methodist Episcopal church, to which she and Mr. Roe belonged, she being presi- dent of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society and organizer of the Mission Store under the management of the Ladies Aid Society of said church. Upon moving to Detroit she still con- tinued her church work, having a bible class of
young married people, numbering seventy-two, and also for many years was corresponding secre- tary of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of Detroit district. Voluntarily she took up hospi- tal visitation and for three years hardly missed her weekly visits to the patients, carrying flowers and reading to them. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Roe had a summer home at Bay View in northern Michigan, the Chautauqua of the west, and had been identified with the literary and edu- cational work there. In 1897 Mrs. Roe accepted the position of field secretary of the Bay View Reading Circle and was instrumental in organiz- ing a large number of literary circles in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Upon retiring to the old homestead, Roeside, she was made secretary of New York State and many circles in the state look to her as their organizer. Mrs. Roe is at this writing an invalid, but, by her pen, still con- tinues to some extent her literary work.
ERASTUS U. ELY.
Erastus U. Ely is secretary and treasurer of the Adirondack Mining Company, of Rochester, and in all of his business life has been actuated by the spirit of the pioneer who seeks out new realms, recognizes untried possibilities and utilizes his forces so as to produce the best results from existing conditions.
Mr. Ely is one of Rochester's native sons, born on the 20th of December, 1857. His parents were David and Angeline (Upson) Ely, the former a native of Lyme, Connecticut, and the latter of Camden, Oneida county, New York. They were early settlers of Monroe county and the father, who was a physician and surgeon, practiced in Camden for a number of years. Finally he re- tired and removed to Rochester, where he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 1876, while his wife passed away in 1884.
Erastus U. Ely was educated in the public schools of Rochester until he had mastered the branches which usually constitute such a curri- culum, and in the Albany Law School he pre- pared for his profession, being graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1889. In the same year he was admitted to the bar in the capi- tal city and located for practice in Rochester, where he continued for about ten years. He then practically retired from the legal profession, con- centrating his energies upon the organization of the Riverside cemetery, of which he was the first secretary. He has been connected with various other corporations, especially those organized for the development of real estate, and has handled
ERASTUS U. ELY.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
large tracts of land. He has been personally in- terested in all these corporations and was the mov- ing spirit of most of them. At present he is largely interested in mining in Wyoming and Nevada. He now has large investments in acreage property on the west side of Rochester and has recently succeeded in securing the establishment of street car service thereto. He was formerly heavily interested in a corporation that owned one thousand acres in the Adirondacks. As a pro- moter of real-estate development he has done much for the improvement of Rochester, being a repre- sentative of that class of American citizens who, while promoting individual success, also advance the general good.
Mr. Ely was married in 1895 to Miss M. Grace, of Rochester, and they have one son, Erastus La Rue, now ten years of age. Mr. Ely belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Masonic Club, the Co- lumbia Rifle Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Thus social and municipal interests claim his at- tention and he is actuated in much that he does by a public-spirited devotion to the general good.
GEORGE M. LEWIS.
The gentleman whose name introduces this rec- ord occupies a prominent place in the industrial life of Charlotte, for he is interested in two of the most extensive business enterprise of this village, the West Webster Basket Factory and the Char- lotte Veneer Works, the success of these being due in large degree to the capable business manage- ment of Mr. Lewis. He is a native son of New York, his birth having occurred in West Webster, July 4, 1854, and his entire life has been passed in Monroe county. He is a son of William and Sarah (Moore) Lewis, the former a native of Newburgh, on the Hudson, and the latter of Men- don, Monroe county. The father removed with his parents to West Webster when a lad of thir- teen years and there spent the remainder of his life, and the mother still resides on the old home- stead there. Their family numbers five children: Mrs. Kate M. Murphy, who resides on the old homestead with her mother; George M., of this review; Mrs. Eva J. Stewart, of West Webster; Mrs. Flora A. Bancroft, of Rochester; and Mrs. Hattie M. Blanchard, a resident of West Webster.
George M. Lewis, the second in order of birth in his father's family, acquired his education in the common schools of his native place and was reared to the occupation of farming, remaining on the old homestead farm with his father until he had reached the age of twenty-six years. He then sought another field of activity and began the manufacture of fruit baskets at West Webster.
After engaging in business alone for a time, he admitted H. D. Bancroft to a partnership, the business being conducted under the name of the West Webster Basket Company. Through the ability and capable management of Mr. Lewis the business rapidly developed until it had reached such extensive proportions that it became necessi- tous that the firm seek a location that would af- ford better shipping facilities, and accordingly, about 1898, they removed the factory to Char- lotte. They manufacture all kinds of fruit bas- kets, the output of the factory finding a ready sale on the market, for the prices are reasonable and the workmanship excellent. They employ eight men in the manufacture of their product and the business of the house amounts to ten thousand dollars annually. Ambitious to extend his busi- ness interests, in 1900 Mr. Lewis established the Charlotte Veneer Works. This business, too, has rapidly grown in volume and importance and now amounts to fifteen thousand dollars per annum. Three years ago Mr. Lewis purchased a lot on the river and erected a building near the docks and the business of both the companies is transacted therein, and thus they enjoy excellent shipping facilities. The lot owned by Mr. Lewis is the only one not retained by the railroad company. Mr. Lewis conducts his business affairs in a most prac- tical and straightforward manner and thus enjoys the confidence and good will of all with whom bus- iness relations bring him in contact.
Mr. Lewis chose as a companion and helpmate for the journey of life, Miss Mary Louise Mc- Elroy, their marriage being celebrated October 26, 1879. She was born in Rochester, May 3, 1860, a daughter of James and Hannah M. (Hill) Mc- Elroy, both of whom died during the early girl- hood of Mrs. Lewis. The father was twice mar- ried and went to Rochester during the early '30s, and engaged in business as a mason contractor. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis has been blessed with one son, Fred Raymond, who was born in West Webster, July 3, 1881. He has been afforded excellent educational advantages, having graduated from the high school and the Brock- port Normal, in which he pursued an academic course. He later entered the University of Rochester, from which he was graduated in the class of 1907, and is now in Columbia University Medical College. He is a young man of culture, popular among his friends and acquaintances. The family occupy a beautiful home, which was erected in 1900. It contains fifteen rooms, mod- ern in all equipments, and is considered the finest dwelling in Charlotte, one of its most pleasing features being its warm-hearted hospitality.
Mr. Lewis gives his political support to the re- publican party and for one term served as trustee of the village. He holds membership with the Presbyterian church and was one of a committee
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
of three appointed to supervise the construction of the new church edifice, to which he was a liberal contributor, and he is now acting as a trustee of the church. A man of great natural ability, his success in business from the beginning has been uniform and rapid, and yet he has never allowed the accumulation of wealth to in any way affect his attitude toward those less fortunate.' His life is exemplary in all respects and he ever supports those interests which are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity, while his own high moral worth is deserving of highest commendation.
THE CORNWALL FAMILY.
The Cornwall family was founded in America by Sergeant William Cornwall, who was sergeant at arms and one of the sixteen body guards of King Charles First. He came to this country from England early in the seventeenth century and received a grant of land in Connecticut for fighting the Indians. He became the progenitor of the family in the new world. For some time he lived in Massachusetts and his wife died in Rox- bury, Massachusetts, in 1633. About four years later, in May, 1637, he was one of a company of seventy-seven men who fought the Pequod In- dians and was one of but nineteen who were not killed in battle. In 1638 he was sent with others to purchase land from the Indians in the vicinity of Stratford, Connecticut. The following year it seems that he was the owner of a house and six- teen acres of land at Hartford, Connecticut, his name being one of the three among forty people who had land in Hartford and held pasturage, etc. He married a second time, in 1639, and eleven years later, in 1650, he removed to Middle- town, Connecticut. In 1666 he recived a grant of land at Hartford, that state, and at Middletown he owned ten acres and a house. He had alto- gether nine hundred and three acres of land granted him at Hartford and at Middletown, to- gether with other tracts elsewhere. In 1667 he was freed from taxes, while in 1670 he was as- sessed in Middletown, his being the fifth largest assessment. In 1668 he became a member of the church of Middletown and in 1674 he made his will, which is still on file in the probate court of Middletown. He was one of the first to move to that place and he spent his remaining days there, passing away in 1678, his grave being made in the cemetery at that place. He was representative from Middletown to the colonial legislature in 1654, 1664 and 1665 and served as constable at that place. He had three sons, the Cornwalls of Rochester being descendants of his eldest son. The Cornwall family have been very prominent
and twenty-two members of the family were sol- diers of the Revolutionary war.
The line of descent is traced down through Wil- liam 1st and 2d, three Andrews, Amos 1st and 2d, John, Jolın Byron and Byron Edward to Edward Floyd Cornwall, now three years of age, so that twelve generations of the family have been repre- sented in America. The second Amos Cornwall was the first to come to Rochester and he was ac- companied by his two sons, John and George, and also a daughter, and the sons were both married here. The family now living here are descendants of John and George Cornwall.
Amos Cornwall died in Rochester, April 16, 1868. He was a hatter and furrier on West Main street in this city and for a number of years con- tinned actively in business. He held membership in the Masonic. lodge. His son, John Cornwall, was sixteen years of age when he arrived in Roches- ter with his parents. He remained with his father for some time and then went into the oil country accompanied by his brother, being one of the first to go to the oil regions. There he did a large bus- iness which proved profitable and he afterward went to New York city, where he remained until 1867. He owned the Crystal Palace block and considerable other valuable realty in Rochester.
George Cornwall lived in Oil City, Pennsyl- vania, and later owned a plantation near Rich- mond, Virginia, on the James river, this being known as the old Peyton Randolph property. It was upon this plantation that both he and his wife died. Two of his sons are living in Roches- ter, Arthur V. and Karl H.
John Cornwall married Margaret Von Schuy- ver, whose father came to Rochester in 1820. She was born here and by her marriage became the mother of a son and daughter, John Byron and Alice Elizabeth. The son died leaving one son, Byron Edward, who married Florence Maxon, of New York, and they have one son, Edward Floyd. John Byron Cornwall wedded Anna V. Gardiner, of Mohawk Valley, and she now resides at No. 54 Elm street, Rochester. She also owns the Corn- wall block, which was built here by members of the family, at Nos. 50 to 56 Elm street. John Byron Cornwall was a member of the Masonic fraternity and also belonged to the Young Men's Christian Association. His sister and the only sur- viving memeber of the family here is Mrs. Alice Elizabeth Cornwall Burton. She is a member of the Ward Association, formed by the descendants of Andrew Ward. The connection came in this way: William Cornwall, a grandson of Sergeant William Cornwall, was born September 13, 1671, and died July 16, 1747. He was married in Jan- uary, 1692, to Miss Esther Ward, a daughter of John and Mary (Harris ) Ward of Middletown, Connecticut, and a granddaughter of Andrew Ward who was deputy governor of Connecticut
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
under Governor Ludlow in 1634. It will thus be seen that Mrs. Burton is a representative of two of the old and prominent families of the country. She is well known socially in Rochester, the fam- ily having long figured prominently here.
WILLIS H. COON.
Willis H. Coon, whose large clientele indicates his prominence as a member of the Rochester bar, was born at Deruyter, Madison county, New York, February 22, 1854, his parents being Henry C. and Ann M. (Maxson) Coon, who were also natives of Madison county. The Coons, however, came from Rhode Island and Connecticut, the family having been established in New England in early colonial days. Representatives of the name were participants in the early wars of the country and in later years the members of the family have been classed with those citizens who always uphold the political and moral status and stand for business stability and progress. Henry C. Coon was a professor of music, devoting forty years to teaching the art. He was also one of the first men of the country to take up photography and gained marked efficiency and skill in that di- rection. He died November 24, 1902, at the ripe old age of eighty-two years, while his widow still survives at the age of seventy-five. In her girl- hood days she was a playmate of Hon. Lyman J. Gage, ex-secretary of the United States treasury. She belonged to a family of farming people- sturdy, upright citizens-who belonged to that de- nomination known as the Seventh Day Baptists, in which they had figured prominently for two hundred years.
Willis H. Coon in early boyhood days was a student in the district schools of his native county and was graduated from Deruyter Institute, an institution conducted under the auspices of the Seventh Day Baptists. Mr. Coon early deter- mined upon the practice of law as a life work and when but eighteen years of age entered the law office of Harry C. Miner of Deruyter, under whose direction he continued his reading for some time. Later Hon. D. C. Pomeroy of Utica, New York, was his preceptor, while in the office of Hon. Horatio Ballard, who was secretary of state in 1863 and one of the leading lawyers of New York, Mr. Coon completed his studies. He was admitted to the bar at Schenectady on the 16th of Septem- ber, 1875, and was licensed to practice in the United States circuit court in 1888. He practiced for six years at Ithaca and at Groton, New York, and became a prominent factor in public life as well as in his profession there. He served as secretary of the republican county committee in
Wayne county and was also corporation counsel for a number of years. He gradually advanced in his profession, always remaining a student of the principles of law until for some years he has been recognized as one widely familiar with legal principles, very correct in his applicaton to the points in litigation.
In Wolcott, New York, in 1887, Mr. Coon was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Cook, who was brought into prominence by being the first lady candidate for the office of school commissioner, in which connection she became known from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Mr. Coon was secretary of the county committee at the time and furthered her interests. This was in March, 1894. The same year Mr. Coon was a candidate for deputy attorney general of New York and was endorsed by the bar and prominent men throughout the state but owing to the fact that his only son and child died about this time he gave up the cam- paign and has since devoted his energies to the general practice of law.
Mr. Coon is prominent in Masonry, having taken all the degrees of the York Rite and also extended his membership to the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the chamber of commerce in Gene- see and to the Genesee Golf Club, as well as the Masonic Club. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church and his influence is ever found on the side of righteous- ness, truth and justice. During his active legal career be has been interested in many important civil and criminal cases and has conducted such litigation in the most able manner. As a lawyer he is sound, clear minded and well trained. Limi- tations which are imposed by the constitution on federal powers are well understood by him. He is at home in all departments of the law, from the minutiae in practice to the greater topics wherein is involved the consideration of ethics and the philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher con- cerns of public policy. He has also studied closely those subjects which are of interest to the world at large and has kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age.
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