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 5
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730
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
In 1876 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Stuart and Miss Nellie Vance, a daughter of Will- iam Vance of Rochester, and they have two chil- dren, Addie and Nellie, the former a graduate of the Rochester high school and the latter a student in the East high school of this city.
Mr. Stuart is a Master Mason, belonging to Yonnondio, No. 163, lodge. In politics he is a republican and, as every true American citizen should do, keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but has never been a poli- tician in the sense of office seeking. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and his life has been characterized by those principles of integrity and honor, of regard for the rights of his fellow- men and of devotion to the public good, which båve made him a respected and honored resident of Monroe county. His home is at No. 95 South Union street.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL W. W. GILBERT.
Lieutenant Colonel William Wallace Gilbert, a retired army officer, who did active service in the Philippines, is entitled to that honor and dis- tinction which is due to the soldiers of the Span- ish-American war, and thus he did duty in the far east, extending the colonial possessions and gaining place for this nation among the great powers of the world, in proof of which was then given her military and naval strength and pre- eminence.
Colonel Gilbert was born in New York city and came to Rochester in 1856. His carly educa- tion was acquired in the schools of Brooklyn, New York, and he was a student in the Rochester Uni- versity from 1857 until 1861. In May of the latter year he joined the United States army and was commissioned first lieutenant of the Nine- teenth United States Infantry. He was drilling a company at Rochester for the service, and in August, 1861, he was appointed adjutant of the regiment. In 1864 he received appointment to the rank of captain and continued in service until 1866, when he resigned. The regiment was as- signed to the department of the Cumberland dur- ing the war and did active service on the battle- fields of the south. A year after he had tendered his resignation as an officer of the United States regular army Colonel Gilbert came to Rochester and was made instructor in Latin and Greek in the Rochester University. The position was ten- dered him and at the time he was the only teacher of the Latin language in the institution, succeed- ing Professor Richardson, who was ill and soon after died. After a year spent in the school he retired and engaged in the tanning business at
Rochester for a year. Later he read law for some time, and in 1869 he was appointed United States commissioner, serving in that capacity until 1898. During the early part of that period he engaged in building operations and was otherwise connect- ed with the business life of this city. In the year in which trouble arose with Spain he was recom- missioned by President Mckinley in the regular army with the rank of major and was soon sent to the Philippines, where he remained for about two years. He was retired from the army in 1904 as lieutenant colonel, and since that time has been engaged in translating literary articles in French for military information for the general staff of the United States army.
Colonel Gilbert was married in 1870 to Miss Mary E. Chapman, of Rochester, a daughter of Edward Chapman, who at one time was treasurer of the Western Union Telegraph Company. Unto Colonel and Mrs. Gilbert were born four children, of whom Martin A. is now engaged in business in St. Paul, Minnesota ; and Prentiss B. was gradu- ated from Rochester University in 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and in 1907 graduated from Yale University with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Colonel Gilbert is a member of the Athletic Club of Rochester, also of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Loyal Legion of New York. In earlier manhood and in later life he gave several years' service to his country, and progress and patriotism might be termed the key- note of his character. His experiences in war have been interesting and varied, nor have they been unattended by the hardships and privations which are meted out to the soldier. When he can be prevailed upon to talk of his experiences in the Philippines his friends find his recitals most interesting, and at all times he is an enter- taining gentleman, who in civic as well as mili- tary life has commanded the respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact, or who know aught of his career.
ARTHUR M. LOOMIS.
Arthur M. Loomis, who is classed with the en- terprising merchants of Fairport, where he is en- gaged in dealing in coal, grain and produce, was born in Coventry, Connecticut, on the 8th of Octo- ber, 1851. His parents were Albemarle and Sarah (Moseby) Loomis of whose family of four children only two are living, the brother of our subject be- ing the Rev. Alva L. P. Loomis, a Congregational minister now located in Randolph, Wisconsin. The Loomis family in this country is descended from two brothers who crossed the Atlantic in the May- flower and established their homes in the New
U.S.
COL. WILLIAM W. GILBERT.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
England colonies. The father, Albemarle Loomis, was born, lived and died in the old residence on the Loomis homestead at Coventry, Connecticut. He was killed by lightning in the corn field during a severe thunderstorm, when sixty-seven years of age.
Arthur M. Loomis was reared upon the old home farm and acquired his education in the common schools. He remained under the parental roof until he attained the age of twenty-five years. Upon the death of his father, his brothers wished him to buy the home farm and remain thereon, but he determined upon a different course and the farm was therefore sold, while Mr. Loomis went to New York, where for two years he worked in a brother's store. In 1878 he came to Fairport, where he established a produce business and later built his present warehouse and extended his busi- ness to the coal and grain trades and all the by- products. His business is now extensive and im- portant, making him one of the leading representa- tives of commercial interests in this place.
Mr. Loomis is also a member of the municipal board of the Electric Light and Water plant of Fairport and is greatly interested in everything pertaining to the city's welfare and upbuilding. In politics he is a republican and does everything in his power to promote the growth and insure tne success of his party. He is a member of the Free- will Baptist church.
Mr. Loomis was married in New York city, in 1877, to Miss Zaida E. Heyberger and unto this marriage have been born three children, of whom one survives, Adalaide E., who is at home. The family are much esteemed in the community, where they have many warm friends.
1136164
REV. HENRY E. ROBINS, LL. D., D. D. -
Rev. Henry E. Robins, author, educator and minister of the gospel, his labors in behalf of the intellectual and moral progress of the race being of no restricted order, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 30, 1827. His parents were the Rev. Gurdon and Julia (Savage) Robins, the former a native of Suffield, Connecticut, and the latter of Middletown, that state. The father was a preacher and publisher and was a very active man, whose labors were effective and far-reaching in business circles and in the church as well. He educated a large family and thus prepared his children for the practical and responsible duties of life. His eldest son and his namesake enlisted for service in the Civil war and was made first lieutenant. For some time he was incarcerated in the prison at Charleston. The youngest son,
Charles M. Robins, joined the army in 1861 and rose to the rank of major.
The boyhood of Rev. Henry E. Robins was passed amid pleasant surroundings in a home of culture and refinement. He continued a resident of his native city until twenty-eight years of age, save for the time when he was away at school. His early education was acquired in the grammar schools of Hartford and he manifested a precocity that enabled him to take up the study of classics under private instruction at the early age of twelve years. He afterward became a student in the Con- necticut Literary Institution, at Suffield, from which he was graduated at the age of nineteen years. Throughout his entire life he has been a student and a thinker and has carried his re- searches and investigations far and wide into the realms of secular and of biblical knowledge. In early manhood he entered the book publishing busi- ness with his father, at Hartford, Connecticut, and while thus engaged he won for himself a place in intellectual circles in his native city. From early youth the study of philosophy has been a passion with him. With co-operation he formed a debating club called the Hartford Atheneum, which numbered many prominent members and proved very profitable as a source of mental and spiritual development to its members.
While possessing the strong intellectuality which enabled him to continue his studies far beyond the range of average intellectual effort, he also dis- played the qualities of a successful business man and about 1855 made a trip to England and Wales, returning with a ship load of miners to work in the mines on the Ohio river, with which he was connected. Studying closely the great questions affecting the race from the sociological, economic and moral standpoints, he began giving to the world the result of his thought and investigation when about twenty-five years of age as an inde- pendent preacher. His ability, however, was recog- nized by the church, which without his solicitation sent him a license to preach.
When twenty-eight years of age Rev. Robins de- termined to leave his native city and entered the Newton Theological Institute at Newton Center, Massachusetts, where he studied under Dr. Horatio B. Hackett and Alha Hobey until the time of his graduation in 1861. On the completion of his course he began preaching but declined two pastor- ates, owing to delicate health. Going to Newport, he there remained from 1861 until 1867, spending the first two years as assistant pastor in the Cen- tral Baptist church and the remaining years as pastor there. He had been ordained on the 26th of December, 1861, at Hartford City, following his graduation, and subsequent to his ministerial serv- ice at Newport he came to Rochester in 1867 as pastor of the First Baptist church, which extended
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
to him a call without having seen him or heard him deliver a single sermon-such was the repu- tation which he had made as a Baptist divine. The most active intellectual life of the denomina- tion was here found and Mr. Robins had the joy of delivering the results of his deep research and thought to a congregation which manifested the utmost appreciation for his discourses. He con- tinued in the pastorate here until 1873, when he was called to the presidency of Colby College at Waterville, Maine, then Colby University, where he remained for nine years or until his health failed and he was compelled to resign. He then returned to Rochester to accept the chair of Chris- tian ethics in the Rochester Theological Seminary, in which he remained until he resigned about three years ago. Since then he has given his time to study and feels that he has accomplished more in this way than ever in his life before. He is the author of Harmony of the Ethics with Theology and Christian Education as Distinguished from Secular Education. He is also the author of The Ethies of the Christian Life, a work which is the outgrowth of years of study, research, thought and reasoning. It has been termed "one of the really great books of the age," while another man of great intellectual force has said, "It is on my study table with the Bible. It is so true to the Word that I like to have them side by side." "It is Christian philosophy put into the most popular form" said another, while one equally well known in the intellectual world said, "It is not a book that one may borrow from a library and read and return, but it is a book that must be owned and studied." "Any one who had ever known Dr. Robins can well imagine how his passionate devo- tion to duty and righteousness, his ideal of manli- ness and above all his insistence upon the truth that a man is a trustee of his powers, must have stirred our friend's deepest soul."
Dr. Robins received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Roch- ester after about two years of his pastorate, while Colby University conferred upon him the Doctor of Laws degree after he left that institution. He has written largely for the papers and magazines, having a bibliography of considerable extent, and is especially well known in theological circles. He was president of the Baptist state convention of New York at the time when he removed to Maine and also served as president of the Maine state convention.
In 1864 Dr. Robins was married to Miss Martha J. Bird of Hartford, Connecticut, who was a daughter of Rev. Bird, a Congregational minister. She died in 1867, leaving a daughter, Martha Julia, who is with her father. In September, 1872. Dr. Robins wedded Margaret Richardson, a daugh- ter of Professor Richardson, of Rochester, and
in 1823 was again called upon to mourn the loss of his wife. On the 3d of August, 1876, he wedded Cordelia Ewell Nott, who died in 1888, leaving a son, Kingman, who is a graduate of Harvard University of the class of 1903 and is at home with his father.
While Dr. Robins has attained the venerable age of eighty years he is still one of the world's work- ers-a student of the great questions which affect man in his relations to his fellowmen and to his Maker. He has been a prolific writer an earnest and able speaker and while he has not been free from that physical decline which always accom- panies the passing of the years, he has enjoyed, too, that mental and spiritual growth and develop- ment which should ever be characteristic of old age. In spirit and interest he seems yet in his prime and is still a force in the intellectual circles of his city and state.
J. GEORGE KAELBER.
The prosperity of any community, town or city depends upon its commercial activity, its indus- trial interests and its trade relations and therefore among the builders of a town are those who stand at the head of the business enterprises. Such a man is Mr. Kaelber, who is now connected with many extensive and important business interests in Rochester and elsewhere.
A native of Germany, he was born in Baden on the 22d of September, 1859, and is a son of John F. Kaelber, who brought his family to this coun- try in 1873, locating in Rochester, where he con- tinued to make his home until his death, which occurred in 1898. J. George Kaelber spent the first fourteen years of his life in his native land and in the schools of that country received a good practical education. He then accompanied his parents on their removal to America.
At the age of twenty-two years Mr. Kaelber embarked in the electrical business, under the firm name of Schmidt & Kaelber, in both Roches- ter and Buffalo, being among the first to estab- lish a business of that kind. Prosperity attended their efforts and the business has become a very extensive one. Mr. Kaelber removed to Colorado in 1887 on account of his health, returning to Rochester in January, 1889. He was associated with the Western Electric Company of Chicago and New York for some years, afterwards became manager and part owner of the Rochester Light & Power Company, which was later on consolidat- ed with the Rochester Railway & Light Company. He is now president of the Rolfe Electric Com- pany, and a director of various light and power companies. He is also vice president of the Hol-
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
land-American Construction Company and is American representative and director of the Am- sterdam & North Holland Electric Railway Com- pany. For years he has been connected with the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, serving as vice president and as one of the executive committee.
In 1883 Mr. Kaelber was united in marriage to Miss Mathilda W. Siebenpfeiffer, a daughter of Rev. Carl Siebenpfeiffer, a very prominent man, who was the founder of the Salem Evangelical church of Rochester and its pastor for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Kaelber have one son, Carl F. W., a very bright young man who recently graduated from the Rochester University and will enter Har- vard in the fall of 1907. The family have a beau- tiful home at No. 587 University avenue.
Mr. Kaelber takes a very active and prominent part in church work, serving as elder of the Salem Evangelical church, and socially is a member of the Rochester Club. The republican party has always found in him a stanch supporter of its principles and he has served on several important committees. He is today one of the best known business men of the city and in his dealings is known for his promptness and honorable methods, which have won him the deserved and unbounded confidence of his fellowmen.
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JOHN KILEY.
1
For over forty years John Kiley has been a resident of Rochester and has long been promi- nently identified with her business interests. His early home, however, was on the other side of the Atlantic, as he was born in County Limerick, Ire- land, but was only three years old when brought to the new world, the family locating in Peterboro, Canada. Later they removed to Mount Morris, New York, he receiving his early education in the district schools and Nunda Academy. Graduating from Bryant and Stratton Commercial College in Rochester in 1861, he acquired a good practical knowledge of business methods which has been of great value to him throughout life.
After leaving school Mr. Kiley was for a short period engaged in the lumber business in Catta- raugus county, being in the employ of the late John Cameron. In 1865 he returned to Rochester when he was connected with public works, and subsequently engaged in business in Pennsylvania. On again coming to Rochester he became interested in the malting business with the late Colonel E. B. Parsons. In 1879 they, with others, organized the E. B. Parsons Malting Company, with which he has since been identified, acting as secretary of the company until it sold out to an English syndicate, when he was made manager and has since served
in that capacity. Mr. Kiley has a family con- sisting of a wife and two sons, is a member of Cathedral parish of the Roman Catholic church, and has always been a stanch supporter of the democratic party and its principles since attaining his majority. He is a member of the Union Club, Knights of Columbus, a man of good business and executive ability, as well as sound judgment, and the success he has achieved in life is due to his own well directed efforts. He is recognized as one of the leading business men of his adopted city and has a host of warm friends here.
ABNER ADAMS.
Abner Adams, who for twenty-two years has been connected with the commercial industries of Rochester, was born in East Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, March 31, 1838, a son of My- ron Adams, while his great-grandfather, Captain John Adams, was one of the pioneers of western New York, settling in this section of the state more than a century ago. The grandfather, Abner Adams, died at Adams Basin, Monroe county, in 1849. Myron Adams, who was born in Bloom- field in 1799, passed away in Rochester in 1893. His son, Rev. Myron Adams, filled one of the prominent pulpits of Rochester for many years and was an able and extensive writer on religious and theological topics. He is represented on another page of this volume.
Abner Adams of this review spent his boyhood and youth at school and on his father's farm in his native county. The need of his country awak- ened his patriotism during the dark days of the Civil war and he enlisted for active service with the Twenty-fourth New York Battery of United States Volunteers. He was subsequently promot- ed to a lieutenancy in the Second North Carolina Union Volunteers, serving as military secretary on the staff of Governor Edward Stanly, military gov- ernor of the Department of North Carolina, in 1862-3.
As stated. Mr. Adams has been identified with the commercial interests of Rochester since 1886, when he connected himself with the Wood Mosaic Company of this city. manufacturers of fine hard- wood floors, becoming their general agent for west- ern New York. This company was organized about a quarter of a century ago by Dr. C. E. Rider, an old resideut of Rochester, who is still the presi- dent. It is now an incorporated stock company doing business under the name of the Wood Mo- saic Flooring Company. Mr. Adams was the pioneer in this line in western New York and has practically been without competition since the first. Under his management the products of the
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
house have acquired an enviable reputation and are generally spoken of in this locality as "Adams floors." His success in this line is also supple- mented by that of his three sons, who have been associated with him in business from their youth. The eldest, Robert T., is now the New England representative of the company, located in Boston. John M. is the representative of the company in Baltimore, with branch offices in Washington. Ed- ward P., the youngest son, has for the past few years relieved his father of the management of the Rochester office and the branch at Syracuse. Mr. Adams was for years most active in develop- ing and building up the business and well merits the partial rest that has come to him, enabling him to live practically retired at the present time.
On the 21st of October, 1863, in Livingston county, New York, Mr. Adams married Miss Minerva E. French, daughter of Sirene and Jane E. (Whitney) French. Her father was a promi- nent insurance man of Chicago. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Adams were born three sons and two dangh- ters. the latter being Kate Stanley, now Mrs. G. F. Smith, a resident of Rochester, who has two daughters; and Mrs. Alice Minerva Webster, also a resident of Rochester. Of the sons, Robert T. was born in East Bloomfield, New York, March 31 1866, and married Carrie Whitlock, of Roches- ter, by whom he has two sons. John M., born July 29 1870, in Rochester, married Clementine War- field of Baltimore, and has one son; Edward P., horn May 28, 1881, married Maie Roades and has two sons.
Mr. Adams resides at No. 24 Riverside street in the tenth ward and is a member of Plymouth church of which his brother was pastor for many vears. He is a prominent and honored represen- tative of one of the pioneer families of western New York, the record of which has ever reflected eredit upon the history of this section of the state.
FRANK ADDISON WARD.
Frank Addison Ward, well known as a finan- cier in Rochester, his native city, where he has always resided, was born in the year 1851, his father being Levi A. Ward at one time mayor of Rochester. As a pupil in the schools he mastered the elementary branches of learning and prepared for college as a student in the Satterlee Collegiate Institute of Rochester prior to entering Princeton TTniversity of New Jersey, from which he was graduated in 1870 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Following his graduation Mr. Ward returned to Rochester, and for some time was engaged in the
real-estate and insurance business with his father. Subsequently he became treasurer and president of Ward's Natural Science Establishment, which position he now holds. He is, moreover, a director in the Merchants Bank and has been on the di- rectorate of the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit Company since its organization.
Mr. Ward has given his allegiance to the repub- lican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and for the past eight years has represented the sixth ward in the city council, where he has exercised his official prerogatives in support of many progressive measures. He is op- posed to anything like misrule in public affairs and is ever interested in all those movements and plans which are a matter of civic virtue and of civic pride. An active member of Christ (Epis- copal) church, he has served as vestryman for thirty years and for the past six years has been warden. A life-long residence in Rochester, a elose association with its business and civic inter- ests, have made him a popular and valued citizen.
RUFUS F. OSGOOD.
Rufus F. Osgood was for many years a patent solicitor in Rochester. His life record began in New Hampshire in the year 1830. His father, Samuel Osgood, was a native of Laconia, New Hampshire, where his last days were also passed. The son Rufus was reared and educated in the old Granite state. In early manhood he success- fully engaged in teaching for several years. He later went to Washington, D. C., to study patents and the laws relating thereto. In the early '60s he came to Rochester, where he entered business life as a. patent solicitor in connection with Mr. Frazier. Later the firm became Burk, Frazier & Os- good, the senior partner, however, maintaining his residence and looking after the business in- terests of the firm at Washington, D. C. Mr. Os- good was the first patent solicitor in Rochester, and continued in that business throughout his remaining days, having his office in the Reynolds Arcade Building for thirty-six years. At the time of his death he was alone and had a liberal client- age of an important character. He became a rec- ognized authority on the subject of patent and was well known through his work in Washington as well as in other sections of the country.
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