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 26
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LUTHER COLLAMER.
Luther Collamer is an orchardist of the town of Parma, known throughout the state in connection with his progressive and scientific fruit raising. He was born in 1845 and with two exceptions has resided for a longer period upon one farm than any other resident of his locality. His father, Nelson E. Collamer, drove a team across the state
from Saratoga Springs to Parma upon his re- moval to this county, while his wife with her three children made the trip by way of the Erie canal. This was in 1848. The district, which was then covered with a native growth of forest trees, is now devoted to the raising of fruit, and the busi- ness has been developed so extensively and success- fully that the orchards of western New York are famous throughout the entire country and are not unknown throughout the world.
Mr. Collamer has added to the reputation which has been gained for western New York in this connection. He was but three years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Monroe county and here he was reared to farm life, while in the public schools he, acquired his education. When not busy with his text-books he worked in field, meadow and orchard, and since 1867 he has occupied the farm which is now his home. In the previous year he was married to Miss Lodema I. Burrett, who was born in Parma in 1846.
The substantial buildings on his place stand as monuments to the thrift, enterprise and labor of
Mr. Collamer, having all been built by him. He has likewise set out all the orchard, which com- prises twenty-five acres of apples and fifteen acres of peaches, pears and plums. There are also two hundred and fifty cherry trees upon the place and he produces fruit of the finest varieties, making extensive annual shipments. He owns altogether one hundred and fifteen acres of rich and fertile land located about eighteen miles from Rochester on an eminence commanding a splendid view of the lake and the surrounding country for miles. The soil and climate are splendidly adapted for the production of apples and the output from this farm for the past five years in apples alone has brought in an income of more than twenty-five thousand dollars. He makes a specialty of Baldwins and Greenings and was the winner of the first prize on Baldwin apples in a competition open to the entire world at the St. Louis exposition. He assisted in planting a portion of the orchard upon the old Collamer homestead owned by his father in 1859, it being one of the old orchards of this section of the state. Since that time the subject of fruit culture has been one of deep interest to him, and his labors, his experiments, his study and investigation have enabled him to produce results in his orchards that have made him a prosperous man and gained for him a reputation which is not limited by the confines of this state. He has fine buildings on his place and the farm is a model one. There are only two other residents of the northern section of the town who have resided longer upon one farm than Mr. Collamer. That he has gained distinction in connection with his chosen life work is shown by the fact that he is now the vice presi- dent of the New York State Fruit Growers' Asso- ciation and is a member of several important com- mittees of that organization.
In his political views Mr. Collamer is a prohibi- tionist, supporting the party because it embodies his ideas concerning the temperance question, which he regards as one of the most important issues before the people today. In every relation of life he has stood for reform, progress and im- provement and this has been as strongly mani- fest in his citizenship as in his fruit-raising in- terests.
MARTIN B. HOYT.
In the recognition and utilization of opportunity lies the secret of success and therein is found the strong element in the life work of Martin B. Hoyt, who is now secretary and treasurer of the Defender Photo Supply Company of Rochester, manufacturers, importers and dealers in photo- graphic papers, chemicals and supplies.
MRS. LUTHER COLLAMER.
LUTHER COLLAMER.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
A native resident of Rochester, he was born September 12, 1869, a son of David Hoyt, a promi- nent banker, mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The son passed through successive grades in the public schools until he was graduated from the high school and entered business life in connec- tion with the firm of C. P. Ford & Company, deal- ers in shoes. He became treasurer of this com- pany and still acts in that capacity. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Defender Photo Supply Company, located at Driving Park ave- nue and the railway. This business was estab- lished and incorporated in 1898, with Frank Wil- mot as president; Henry Kuhn, vice president ; and Martin B. Hoyt, secretary and treasurer. While the main office is in Rochester the company owns a large dry plate factory in Philadelphia and has branch offices in many cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Buf- falo, Chicago, St. Louis; Oakland, California; Toronto, Canada; and London, England. The business is conducted on an extensive scale, em- ployment being furnished to one hundred and fifty people, with a floor space of sixty thousand feet. The plant is thoroughly equipped with all modern machinery and the latest improved proc- esses for producing the higher grades of photo- graphic papers and chemicals, and they also im- port quite extensively. Mr. Hoyt has made a careful study of the business, displaying keen ability in its enlargement, and the house is now enjoying a very extensive and gratifying patron- age, making this one of the leading commercial and manufacturing enterprises of Rochester.
Mr. Hoyt is also a member of the Genesee Val- ley Club, the Rochester Club, the Friars Club, the Country Club and other social organizations, and his popularity is attested by his large circle of friends in the city, where his entire life has been passed and where his record is as an open book.
BELA STEVENS BUELL.
Bela Stevens Buell, a capitalist of Monroe county, occupying a beautiful country estate at Spencerport, has had a phenomenal career, con- necting him with extensive mining operations in Colorado. A native of Newport, New Hampshire, he is the only survivor of the family of Bela and Almira C. (Allen) Buell. His father was born in Newport, New Hampshire, December 18, 1805, and the mother in 1809. She was a daughter of Captain Samuel Allen, a sea captain and merchant of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Buell was celebrated at Newport, New Hampshire, February 24, 1831, and after the birth of two of their sons, Samuel and Bela, they removed to Norwich, Vermont, where they re-
mained for nearly thirty years. There two chil- dren, Charles and Ransom, were added to the family. In 1865 the family came to Ogden, where a farm just north of Spencerport had been purchased by Bela Stevens Buell for his parents. After a residence thereon of seven years the father died March 15, 1872. He was a man whose many excellent traits of character and kindly spirit won him a large circle of warm personal friends. His widow long survived him, making her home with hier son Charles until her death, May 16, 1898, when she had reached the very venerable age of ninety years. The eldest son, Samuel A., who went to Colorado in 1862, died in 1870. The third son, Charles H., died in Ogden, June 6, 1894, and the youngest son, Ransom, born May 15, 1847, passed away November 23, 1863.
Bela S. Buell was reared in Norwich, Ver- mont, to the age of nineteen years and was grad- uated from the Norwich University. Soon after completing his education he went to Coldwater, Michigan, and during the succeeding winter en- gaged in teaching school at Batavia, that state. The pioneer west which, however, was being rap- idly developed, attracted him and in the spring of 1856 he removed to Burlington, Iowa, where as mining engineer he engaged in making prelim- inary surveys for the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad from Ottumwa to the Missouri river.
In the fall of 1857, at the time of the great financial panic which engulfed the country, he went to St. Louis and accepted a position with the United States Express Company, running on the Missouri river on steamboats plying between St. Louis and Omaha. He acted as messenger and mail agent until April, 1860, when he crossed the plains to the recently discovered gold regions upon and around Pipe's Peak, to become express agent for Hinkley & Company. His route was between Denver and Central City and he was also agent for a time of the United States mails. His position was a most important one, as there were over twenty-five thousand miners at Central City and twenty-five cents was charged for the postage on a letter. The miners largely paid the postage in gold dust. As the country was infested with desperadoes and men who valued life at nothing, resorting to any means to acquire money or its equivalent, it required a man of great personal courage and of ready adaptability to fill such a position.
Mr. Buell's experiences in Kansas also form an interesting and thrilling chapter in his life his- tory. He was in that state during the period of border ruffian warfare when John Brown, Gov- ernor Stringfellow and Colonel Donaldson were operating there, and with all of them Mr. Buell was personally acquainted. In the fall of 1859 he met Abraham Lincoln upon the river boat. He
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
was an interested witness of the events which oc- curred there and which constitute so important a chapter in the nation's history.
In 1861, at the time that Colorado was organ- ized as a territory, he became the candidate for clerk and recorder of Gilpin county, the principal mining county, and was elected by a very large majority, owing to the popularity which he had won while serving as mail and express agent. Men had come to recognize and know his worth and for two terms he was retained in the position, which proved to be a very lucrative office, the re- ceipts in one year being twenty-five thousand dol- lars. During the mining excitement soon after the war Mr. Buell went to New York city, where many gold mines were sold. He then located in Gilpin county and was closely associated with its political history as well as its material develop- ment. During the years 1864-5-6 he accumulated a fortune of over one hundred thousand dollars. attaining this position of financial independence when not yet thirty years of age. At the time the first National Bank of Denver was organized he became one of its incorporators and took an eighth of the stock. The bank was capitalized for two hundred thousand dollars, with J. B. Chaffee,, afterward United States senator, as president. At a later date Mr. Buell disposed of his interest in the bank to President Chaffee for thirty-five thousand dollars. His numerous investments made about that time included a farm at Spencer- port of one hundred and thirty-two acres, upon which he now resides but it was not until a num- ber of years later that he took up his abode on this place. In 1868 he accepted the management of two banks owned by George T. Clark & Com- pany, one located at Central City and the other at Georgetown, Colorado, and was thus actively identified with financial interests for several years. In 1871 he turned his attention to mining and for three years met with most excellent suc- cess in his mining operations at Central City. During that period he took from his mine about four hundred thousand dollars, yielding him a profit of one hundred thousand dollars. This he expended in opening up and developing the prop- erty which he still owns and it is now and has been for the past ten years worked by several lessees, who have already expended over one hun- dred thousand dollars on the property. About five years ago a company was organized as the Gregor-Buell Consolidated Mining Company, in which connection Mr. Buell is still interested in mining operations in the west.
While actively associated with the development of the natural resources of the state, Mr. Buell also became a factor in public life and in 1872 was elected to the lower honse of the Colorado leg- islature, serving for one term. He continued his mining operations in Gilpin county until 1876
and in that year his ores took two premiums at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. On the 1st of January, 1877, in company with David H. Moffett, the multi-millionaire of Colorado, a warm personal friend, he arrived in New York city and from 1877 until 1883 spent much of his time in the eastern metropolis and at Spencerport, on his country estate here. He then returned to Colo- rado and engaged in mining at Leadville as a lessee and manager of some of the large mines of that district, his time being thus occupied until 1891, when he was elected treasurer of Lake county on an independent ticket. He refused the nomination for state treasurer on the populist ticket in 1893. Soon after he was impelled to re- turn to Monroe county because of illness in the family, but in 1895 he again went to Colorado, where he continued until January, 1896. He then once more came to Spencerport, where he is now located, giving his supervision to his in- vested interests. With keen foresight he has seemed to recognize the properties which would prove valuable and in his mining operations in the west he meets with a high degree of prosperity. Moreover his life in its varied experiences upon the frontier has been fraught with many interest- ing and thrilling incidents and few men have more intimate knowledge of the history of the country during the border warfare of Kansas and the early development of Colorado, and with the subsequent events which have shaped the history of that state.
HARRY C. GORTON.
Harry C. Gorton, vice president and treasurer of the Wollensak Optical Company, was born in Rochester, September 10, 1858. He acquired a public-school education, which he completed by graduation from the high school. He spent many years in his father's bank in responsible positions and afterward was associated with the retail dry goods business for a number of years. For the past nine years he has been connected with the optical business and at this writing, in 1908, is vice presi- dent and treasurer of the Wollensak Optical Com- pany, which was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York in 1900, for the manufac- ture of photographic shutters and lenses. Of this company Andrew Wollensak is president and J. C. Wollensak, secretary, and together with Mr. Gor- ton and two others they constitute the board of directors. The business has been developed along safe and conservative lines where its financial in- terests have been concerned and along progressive lines when the character of its output is consid- ered. Employment is furnished to about one hun- dred and twenty-five people and the excellence of
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
its product insures a continuation of an exten- sive and growing business. This is one of the en- terprises which contribute to the commercial pros- perity and upbuilding of Rochester, as well as to the individual success of the stockholders.
Mr. Gorton was married in 1886 to Miss Marion Lattimore, a daughter of Dr. S. A. Lattimore, of Rochester. He is a member of the Genesee Valley Club and the Rochester Athletic Club, and is also a communicant of St. Luke's Episcopal church. He is treasurer and member of the board of trus- tees of the Rochester Orphan Asylum, in which connection he has done splendid work for the in- stitution.
ADELBERT CRONISE.
Adelbert Cronise, son of Simon and Catherine Maria (Fredenburgh) Cronise, is a descendant of John Cronise of Strasburg, who came to Maryland and settled at Frederick early in the eighteenth century. His grandson, John Cronise, of Fred- erick, Maryland, great-grandfather of Adelbert Cronise, living there not far from Colonel Nathan- iel Rochester, came to New York at the same time with him, 1802, and purchased from Sir William Pultney two tracts of land near the hamlet which hecame Lyons. Part of this family homestead is still held by Adelbert Cronise. John Cronise re- turned to Maryland and his son, Henry Cronise, came in 1807, bringing with him slaves whom he freed and employed. His wife afterward made the trip to Maryland and return on horseback through the wood roads, attended by two blacks, and car- rying in the saddle her boy, two years old. This son, Simon Cronise, lived on part of the home- stead, excepting 1879 and 1880, when he lived in Rochester, and finally removed to Rochester in 1886. His wife, Catherine Maria Fredenburgh, was descended from Wilhelm Van Vradenburgh
Adelbert Cronise prepared for college in the Lyons Academy and came to Rochester in 1873 He graduated from the University of Rochester in the class of 1877, read law with William F. Cogs- well and James Breck Perkins and was admitted to the bar in 1879, since which time he has con- tinned in the practice of law in Rochester for over eighteen years as a member of the firm of Cronise & Conklin. He was married in 1898 to Maria Hubbard, daughter of Henry Fitch Hubbard and Maria Slater Debnam, of Stockton, California, a descendant of Jonathan Hubbard of Charlestown,
New Hampshire, who served in the war of the Revolution, and of Adjutant Jonathan Hubbard, who served in the Colonial wars. Mr. Cronise was president of the Rochester Academy of Science 1885-1887, president of the Rochester Historical Society 1900-1902, and is a member of the Roches- ter Bar Association, the Kent Club, Delta Up- silon fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa Society, the Masonic fraternity, Archaeological Institute of America, Genesee Valley Club, and the Country Club of Rochester. He is a director of the Roches- ter Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute and a trustee of the University of Rochester. He had charge of the work of procuring the fund for and erecting the statue of President Martin B. An- derson upon the campus of the university. For twenty years his principal diversion has been for- eign travel, including the Windward Islands, northern South America, Panama, Hawaii and Alaska, two visits to Norway, Russia and Turkey and two tours to the Orient and around the world. His observations on these visits have been given from time to time in papers and addresses before various societies and occasional contributions to periodicals.
FRANCIS H. SCHOEFFEL.
Francis H. Schoeffel, of the Schoeffel Automo- bile Company, was born in Rochester, his natal day being November 30, 1867. He is a repre- sentative of one of the old families of the county, the name of Schoeffel having figured prominently in connection with its business development for a long period. His father, Francis A. Schoeffel, was born in Greece, Monroe county, and for many years was master mechanic in the great locomotive works at Schenectady, New York. He is now as- sistant street superintendent of the city of who came from Holland in the ship Gilded Beaver . Rochester and is well known in political circles, in 1653. For several generations the Fredenburgh family lived in Ghent, Columbia county, where Mrs. Cronise was born and whence she came when a child, traveling by express packet on the Erie canal. being a republican of prominence and one whose efforts have been an effective working force in the party. He is a member of the Universalist church. His wife, who hore the maiden name of Sarah Cawthra, is also living, and of their seven children five still survive, namely: George B., who is president of the Shoeffel-Elwood Coal Company; Francis H., of this review ; John B., who is cap- tain of the Tenth United States Infantry; Susan Blanch, who is in the office of her brother Fran- cis ; and Marguerite Elizabeth, living at home with her parents.
Following his graduation from No. 18 Free Academy in Rochester, Francis H. Schoeffel went to West Point and matriculated in the United States Military Academy in 1887. He pursued the regular four years' course and was graduated
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
with honors in the class of 1891. He was then appointed a second lieutenant of the Seventeenth United States Infantry and subsequently was transferred to the Ninth Infantry, while later he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant of the Fifth Infantry. He afterward again became a member of the Ninth Infantry and his next pro- motion made him a captain of the Twenty-third Infantry. Again he became a member of the Ninth Infantry and saw active service in Cuba. He also went with the first expedition to the Phil- ippines, after which he took part in the Chinese expedition and again returned to the Philippines. He was wounded in an action in the Samar and later was promoted to major in the department of judge advocate general. He continued in active military duty until December, 1903, when he re- tired from the army and returned to Rochester. He had made an excellent record when following the stars and stripes into the colonial possessions of the country and is thoroughly familiar with the conditions which existed in the far east.
On assuming the pursuits of civil life Francis H. Schoeffel joined his brother George in the con- duct of the automobile business and also a livery business, being now president of the Schoeffel Automobile Company, located at No. 26 Plymouth avenue. They are meeting with excellent success in this enterprise, having an extensive patronage, and in connection they conduct a livery barn, keeping a number of horses for general hire.
In 1891 Captain Schoeffel was married to Miss Anna May Hinds, a daughter of J. A. Hinds, a prominent miller of Rochester. They have two children, Marian and Malcolm, both in school.
Mr. Schoeffel belongs to the Genesee Valley Club and to the Psi Chi, a college fraternity. He is a trustee of the Universalist church and is in- terested in its work. Captain Schoeffel is a pop- ular young man of Rochester, who has to his credit an excellent and interesting military record and has attained equal distinction in business cir- cles by reason of methods which neither seek nor . his salient characteristics and have been one of require disguise and also by reason of business qualifications which enable him to overcome dif- ficulties and obstacles and achieve gratifying suc- cess.
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HOMER B. ASKIN.
Homer B. Askin is a resident farmer of Chili township, his birth having occurred upon a farm adjoining that upon which he now resides on the 27th of June, 1843. His parents were George and Adeline (Abbey) Askin and the father was born in Ireland, whence he came to the United States in early life, arriving about the year 1826. Rochester was at that time a small town of little
industrial and commercial prominence. He sought employment there, remaining in Rochester for a few years, after which he removed to Brighton, where he spent one year. He then came to Chili township and bought the farm upon which the birth of his son Homer occurred. The place com- prised one hundred acres of land, which he im- proved, developing it into a fine property, equipped with modern conveniences and supplied with all the accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. He afterward bought other land and be- came a prosperous citizen of the community, his extensive property interests classing him with the men of affluence in his neighborhood. His wife was born in Richmond, Ontario county, New York, and they became the parents of four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters, namely: Henry, who is living in Chicago; Frances, a resi- dent of Massachusetts; Homer, of this review; and Charlotte Johnson, the wife of . Harvey Johnson, of Rochester, New York. George Askin was connected with the business interests and development of Monroe county for many years. In early manhood, while in Rochester, he did carting for the firm of Smith & Perkins in the '20s. Close application and earnest purpose enabled him to gradually work his way upward as the years passed by until he became a prosperous farmer and in his later life he could enjoy all of the comforts and many of the luxuries that money can secure. He died in 1891, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-seven years, and his wife, surviving him until the 30th of May, 1897, passed away at the age of eighty-five years.
Homer B. Askin was educated in the common schools and has followed farming all his life. The training which he received in his youth brought him intimate knowledge of the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops, while upon his mind were impressed lessons concerning the value of industry, energy and perseverance. These qualities have always been numbered among
the sources of his success. He is now the owner of two hundred acres of valuable farming land ın Chili township, which is well improved and fenced. There are good buildings on the farm and everything about the property indicates the progressive spirit and practical methods of the owner. He is a thorough going man, determined and resolute in business, energetic and diligent in carrying on his work. In connection with the tilling of the soil he raises stock, which also con- tributes to his prosperity, for he handles high grades of horses and cattle.
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