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 2
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Gordon, James F
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Gorsline, Richard
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Greene, D. B. 826
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Hale, George D. 1398
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Ormrod, William L 1076
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Nolte, Adolph 1104
Norton, Charles A 1118
Notehaert, A. A. 992
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Light, Mary H. 1306
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894
Irondequoit Wine Company.
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Martin, P. F. 775
Martin, W. K. 1228
Matson, W. A 1397
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Jones, W. Martin.
1408
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Kendall, Mrs. M. S. 1281
Kennedy, J. W. 1129
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Ideman, John G. 780
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Gordon, E. S. .1137
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Scott, Walter I. 923
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Van Reypen, G. D. 1231
Palmer, G. D. 1265
Palmer, H. W. 1094
Palmer, John P. .1342
Pammenter, James 1139
Patterson, W. H 1276
Patton, George 840
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Walter, J. A. P 1194
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Race, E. Stanley 764
Race, Milton 1276
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West, James H. 1247
Westbury, R. E. 873
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Westervelt, Z. F. . 1009
Weston, John P .1406
Whalen, H. W. . 1091
Whalen, Richard .1232
Wheeler, Clarence 1253
Whipple, A. G. 1123
White, C. H. 786
Whittlesey, W. S. 903
Wichmann, C. J. 1361
Widener, H. H. 1000
Wilbur, H. S. 899
Wilcox, G. F 1343
Wilder, M. R. 743
Wile, Isaac 1409
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Stuart, Hugh E 729 Wile, Julius I. 971
Willard, Ernest R 723
Williams, C. S. 1202
Williamson, W. A 1264
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Taylor, Frank 1109
Taylor, G. C. 1072
Roth, Chris 1364
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Taylor, Irwin 972
Taylor, Z. P. 720
Teal, Squire 1030
Tenny, D. P. 745
Thompson, George H. 819
Thompson, F. K 1282
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Udell, Foster 1083
Upton, F. S. 1252
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Seymour, W. H. 780
Van Zandt, William 1094
Shafer, C. E. 1281
Shafer, M. A. 1067
Shafer, W. F 1247
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Vogel, William 750
Vogel, Theodore J. 766
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Webster, E. A. 1157
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Reeve, John .1018
Remington, H. F. 889
Reynolds, T. J. 807
Richardson, A. G. 963
Richmond, Lee 821
Ricker, Dr. M. S. 924
Riley, W. S. 1421
Rippey, Harlan W 754
Risley, Albert 1172
Roberts, Garrett 1178
Robeson, I. S. 957
Robins, Henry E. 733
Robinson, Lucins W. 1341
Rochester Business Institute. 743
Roe, J. B. . 829
Roe, Dr. J. O. 1424
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Sykes, Edwin C. 923 Wilmot, Frank
Rogers, F. S. 760
Root, Frederick P.
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Ryan, J. C. 974
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Saegmuller, George N 1332 Salisbury, Frederick P. 1347 Salmons, R. H. 953
Stevens, Holmes B 927
Stevens, H. K. 866
Stockbridge, H. R 865
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Stone, Asa B. 1212
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Steitz, G. W 897
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Stace, W. A. 1432
Stallknecht, Joseph, Jr. 968
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Stull, John M. .1391
Stull, Joseph A. 1404
Sullivan, W. H. 1367
Sunderlin, Lewis 1121
Swanton, Thomas J 1353
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Schwikert, Frank 800
Oviatt, P. D ... 764
Owen, Charles S. 949
Van Norman, Alexander. 853
Scrantom, I. Gridley 1348
Security Building Co. 1349
Vella, S. M. 1423
Venor & Montgomery 1147
Shannon, R. C. .1370
Shantz, M. B. .1429
Sheldon, Smitlı 1197
Sherwood, F. A. 1133
Potter, Charles B. 1405
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Smith, Charles J .. 1099
Smith, Charles W
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
Schellhorn, J. P. 1428
Winney, H. R.
JOHN VAN VOORHIS.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
JOHN VAN VOORHIS.
If those who knew the Hon. John Van Voorhis were called upon to name the strongest character- istic of his useful and honorable career, by the consensus of public opinion fidelity would be the response. His loyalty to his home, his friends, his city and his country, to his beliefs and his convic- tions made him trusted wherever known and gained him the unqualified confidence of the lowly and those high in the councils of the nation, of the distinguished members of the profession, in which he figured so prominently, and of those with whom he came in contact through the ties of friendship. His strong intellectual endowments, well directed, made him a leader at the bar and in republican ranks in the state of New York, and never was he known to waver in his allegiance to a cause he espoused, for his championship was ever based upon a belief in its righteousness.
John Van Voorhis, a native son of New York, born in Decatur, Otsego county, October 20, 1826, was of Holland lineage, descended from Stephen Coerte Van Voorhees, who was a son of Coert Al- berts of Voor Hees (so called because he lived be- fore the village of Hees, in Holland), hence the origin of the surname. In April, 1660, Coert Al- berts was a passenger on the ship Boutekoe (spotted cow), which sailed for the new world. He was accompanied by his wife and seven children and settled at Flatlands, Long Island, where he pur- chased from Cornelius Dirksen Hoogland nine morgens of corn land, seven of woodland, ten of plain land and five of salt meadow for three thou- sand gilders ; also the house and house-plot in the village of "Amesfoort en Bergen" (Flatlands) with the brewery and all the brewing apparatus. He died at Flatlands in 1702.
One of his grandsons, Johannes Coerte Van Voorhis, removed to Fishkill, Dutchess county, in 1730, and purchased a farm of twenty-seven hun- dred acres, for six hundred and seventy pounds sterling. Before his death in 1757 he changed the
spelling of the name to its present form, which has since been retained by his descendants.
John Van Voorhis, of this review, was the great- grandson of Johannes Coerte Van Voorhis and the son of John Van Voorhis, who was a farmer and a local preacher of the Methodist church. He was reared upon the old homestead farm and acquired such education as he could obtain in the common schools, through the school library and a few terms spent at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima. He was seven years of age at the time of the father's removal to Otsego county, and after residing for a few years in the town of Scott, Cortland county, and in the town of Spafford, Onondaga county, he became a resident of Men- don, Monroe county, New York, in March, 1843. He took up his abode upon a farm at Mendon Center and in the summer months aided in the work of the fields, while in the winter seasons he taught in the district schools of Victor until 1850. In the summer of that year he became a law student in the office of John W. Stebbins, of Rochester, and in the succeeding winter taught Latin and mathematics in the East Bloomfield Academy. He was connected with that institution until the spring of 1852 and in the meantime continued his law reading as opportunity offered until in December, 1851, he successfully passed the examination that secured him admission to the bar.
Mr. Van Voorhis began in law practice in El- mira in 1853 as a partner of Hon. Gilbert O. Hulse, but in 1854 became identified with the Rochester bar. Here he soon won recognition as a lawyer of wide learning, of thorough familiar- ity with the principles of jurisprudence and of notable force in argument and in the presentation of his cause.
In 1858 Mr. Van Voorhis was married to Frances Artistine Galusha, a daughter of Martin Galusha and a granddaughter of Jonas Galusha, who was for nine successive terms governor of Vermont. Soon after his marriage he purchased
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
the home on East avenue, where he lived for many years. For a long period the law firm con- sisted of his brother, Quincy Van Voorhis, and himself, while later he admitted his two sons, Eugene and Charles, under the firm name of John Van Voorhis & Sons.
From the beginning of his connection with the bar Mr. Van Voorhis maintained a prominent place in the ranks of the legal fraternity and as attorney for the plaintiff or defense he was con- nected with almost every important litigated interest tried in the courts. His ability, too, well qualifying him for official service, he was from the beginning of his residence here a prominent factor in public life, being first elected a mem- ber of the board of education from the old fifth ward in 1857. In 1859 he was appointed city attorney and in 1863 received appointment as collector of internal revenue from President Lin- coln. He was a delegate to the republican na- tional convention which renominated Lincoln in 1864 and was ever a stanch supporter of the martyred: president. In 1878 and again in 1880 he was elected to congress, but was defeated in 1882, when there was a democratic landslide. In 1892 he was once more chosen to represent his district in the national law making body and upon the close of that term he retired from active political life. He was one of the most earnest workers on the floor of the house, con- nected with much of the constructive legislation which finds its inception in the committee rooms. An indefatigable worker for his constituents, Rochester owes to him its public building at the corner of Church and Fitzhugh streets. He made a desperate fight for this, one of his first public acts in the forty-sixth congress being the presentation of a bill for a public building at Rochester. The bill was reported favorably by the committee on public buildings, but the house was democratic and he was unable to pass it. Elbridge G. Lapham, of Canandaigua, who was one of the house leaders, opposed the bill vigor- ously on the ground that Canandaigua was less than thirty miles from Rochester and had a United States courthouse. When the forty-sev- enth congress met in December, 1881, Mr. Van Voorhis again presented his bill and secured its passage in the house after a prolonged and stren- uous contest. In the interim Mr. Lapham had been elected United States senator and in the upper house he again opposed the measure even more vigorously than he had before. He was supported in his opposition by the late Charles J. Folger, secretary of the treasury, who lived at Geneva and was interested in Canandaigua's efforts to prevent Rochester from obtaining ses- sions of the United States court. Congressman Van Voorhis enlisted the support of Senator
Warner Miller and the late Senator John J. Ingalls, of Kansas, until finally, after the bill had brought about a factional line-up in the sen- ate, it was passed over the heads of Senator Lap- ham and Secretary Folger. Every member of congress for twenty-five years before that time had fought in vain for a public building for Roch- ester, and the success of Mr. Van Voorhis was notable.
During his congressional career and as an attorney he was a champion of the rights of the Seneca Indians, and it was largely due to his opposition that the claim of three hundred thou- sand dollars of the Ogden Land Company against the lands of the Indians was defeated. In 1895 a council of the Seneca nation was held on the Allegany reservation and resolutions of thanks to Mr. Van Voorhis were adopted. The resolu- tion was engrossed and framed. The parchment on which it is written is decorated with a toma- hawk and a pipe of peace and bears the nation's seal. It was always regarded by Mr. Van Voorhis as one of his most valuable possessions.
For a half century Mr. Van Voorhis remained an active practitioner at the Rochester bar and attained marked distinction. He was thoroughly informed concerning all branches of the law and his practice extended beyond the borders of New York. He was particularly strong in argument and in the presentation of his cause, which he ever contested with the qualities of a warrior. His ready sympathy was easily enlisted in the cause of the weak and oppressed and when he once espoused a cause it received his untiring efforts to the end, regardless of the fees accorded him. He was deeply interested in young men who were starting out in the profession, was always ready to assist and encourage them, and they enter- tained for him the greatest admiration and sin- cerest affection, feeling that they had lost a stal- wart champion and friend when he passed from this life.
Too broad minded to confine his attention and interest to his home locality or even to his state, he was concerned in all matters of national im- portance and in those events which were framing the history of other nations. He firmly believed in the cause of the Boers in South Africa, gave to them his ready sympathy and addressed many public meetings in their behalf, being one of the speakers at the great Boer meeting held in the city of New York. He was equally ardent in his championship of Cuban independence and thrilled an audience with his presentation of the question at a large mass meeting in Rochester. He con- tinued one of the world's workers until called to his final rest October 22, 1905. Perhaps no better proof of the initial statement of this review that one of his strong characteristics was his unfalter-
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ing fidelity may be best shown in quoting freely from the statement of many of the public ex- pressions that were made at the time of his demise.
The Monroe County Bar Association adopted the following memorial: "Hon. John Van Voor- his died at his home on East avenue, in the city of Rochester, on the 20th day of October, 1905.
"Mr. Van Voorhis was born in Decatur, Otsego county, New York, October 22, 1826. He was of Dutch descent, his earliest ancestor in this country, Stephen Coerte Van Voorhees, having emigrated from Holland in the year 1660 and settled at Flatland on Long Island.
"In 1843 Mr. Van Voorhis removed with his father's family to Mendon and since that time had been a resident of Monroe county, with the exception of two years spent in the city of Elmira. His early education was obtained in the common schools, in the East Mendon Academy and the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York. He came to Rochester in 1848, entered the office of the late John W. Stebbins as a student of law and was admitted to the bar in 1851. In 1853 he opened an office in the city of Elmira, but removed to Rochester in 1854, and from that time until his death had been continually engaged in the practice of his profession in this county. In 1854 he married Miss Frances Artistine Galusha, a daughter of Martin Galusha, of Rochester, and a granddaughter of Jonas Galusha, who for nine successive terms was governor of the state of Vermont.
"Mr. Van Voorhis during his lifetime filled many public offices to which he was elected by his fellow citizens. In 1857 he was a member of the board of education of the city of Rochester ; in 1859 he was the city attorney; in 1864 he was a delegate to the republican national convention at Baltimore; from 1879 to 1883 he was a mem- ber of congress from this district and again from 1893 to 1895.
"His life had been active, strenuous and full. He had no advantageous aids in making his career. What he has achieved he has achieved by his own labor and efforts.
"As a lawyer his practice was largely in the courts and he had been engaged in many impor- tant and hard fought cases which reached their final decision in the court of last resort. His practice was large, at times reaching into other states.
"His clients were for the most part individ- uals; corporate interests he seldom represented, and he may with justice be described as the peo- ple's lawyer. He possessed ample knowledge of the law and had large experience and great ability in the trial of causes. His fearlessness in assert- ing his client's cause and his persistence in press-
ing it to a final conclusion were marked character- istics of the man.
"To his clients he gave his best efforts, the benefit of his large knowledge and large experi- ence, with untiring diligence worked for their interest.
"Mr. Van Voorhis possessed a strong person- ality in keeping with his massive form and powerful and striking features that made him the most picturesque member of our bar. He thought vigorously and expressed himself with vigor. In the heat of conflict, somewhat brusque in manner, he was at heart kindly. He will be remembered by the members of the bar as a strong man and an able lawyer, and in social intercourse as a genial and pleasant companion.
"Full of years, the last of his own generation of lawyers, he rests from his labors."
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said editorially :
"Mr. Van Voorhis was a born fighter, a fighter who never took an unfair advantage of an ad- versary, but who never gave up a battle until the issue was finally adjudicated. When he was as- sured that his cause was just, he would never admit the possibility of ultimate and final defeat. It has often been said of him that he was a loyal friend; he was at the same time a stalwart and vigorous adversary. In common with all truly strong men, he was positive in his likes and in his dislikes; but at the same time he was generous toward all with whom he came into professional conflict. But he always stood for that which he regarded as right, and stood steadfast to the end, and his friendship was abiding. He was trained in the school of integrity, and he had no patience with departures from the path of up- rightness in which his course unswervingly lay, through the world that now is to that world which is to come.
"It was perhaps in his home life and in his library where Mr. Van Voorhis shone the bright- est. He never gave np his early friendship for that which was noblest and best in literature. Fortunate in his early studies of the classics, he could always retire from the strife of the bar and the political arena to communion with his favor- ite authors ; a communion which he loved to share with his friends. Although, as has been said, he never relinquished the active duties of his pro- fession, with the later years of a more than usually successful life came leisure and oppor- tunities for travel and purely literary enjoyment which were more infrequent in the earlier portions of a long and strenuous career.
"As a friend and counselor of the younger members of his profession, and indeed of other professions, Mr. Van Voorhis will be long and gratefully remembered. When sought, his advice and assistance were always lavishly bestowed, and
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
many men largely owe their success in life to his wise and timely advice.
"It was vouchsafed to John Van Voorhis to come down to the close of a long and well spent life in the full possession of all his mental facul- ties. With him there was no fireside period, in the common acceptation of the term. His sun set suddenly. To him came not the partial mental eclipse which sometimes clouds the closing days of men who were physical and mental giants among their fellows. The end found him in the buckler and armor which his friends and his antagonists knew so well."
The Rochester Evening Times said editorially : "At the ripe age of seventy-nine, in full pos- session of his remarkable mental faculties, Hon. John Van Voorhis, one of Rochester's foremost lawyers, characterized by his virility of thought, his forcefulness and his sturdy independence, passed suddenly away yesterday, leaving a vacancy in the city's public life that cannot be easily re- paired.
"Mr. Van Voorhis was a giant mentally and physically. When he was once convinced, the cause which attracted his support was fought for earnestly but fairly until the conclusion of the issue was reached. His wonderful mental cour- age, his disregard of influences, his unwavering devotion to the interests of the people rather than special interests or classes were logical products of his Dutch ancestry.
"In public life Mr. Van Voorhis was the stal- wart champion of his adopted city. He left his imprint in the halls of congress, where he is re- membered as the best legislator Monroe ever sent to the national capitol. In the practice of his profession he achieved a country-wide distinction. As a scholar and student, in his own library, he showed a side of his character that was particu- larly attractive to his intimates. As an adviser of young men, and as their steadfast friend, if they deserved his friendship, Mr. Van Voorhis will be sincerely mourned and his loss as a coun- selor will be keenly felt.
"Strong in his loves, undying in his hatreds, but fair in both, Mr. Van Voorhis made countless friends and some enemies. All, at his death, will pay him the tribute that truly great citizens strive for-HE WAS SINCERE."
The Post Express of Rochester said editorially : "Mr. Van Voorhis was a man of great intensity and made both friends and enemies with remark- able ease. He was bold and vigorous in speech, defied parliamentary usages and restraints, drove straight at his mark, affected to care nothing for the feelings of antagonists, made no objections whatever to savage thrusts in return, and delighted in intellectual conflict. It was inevitable that lie should fall into difficulties occasionally in the heat
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