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 82
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W. EDWIN WEBB.
W. Edwin Webb, vice president of the Roches- ter Box & Lumber Company, is a native of On- tario, born December 18, 1860. His parents were William M. and Sarah J. (Neale) Webb, both of whom are now deceased. His father was a con- tractor and builder of Rochester for many years and died in 1903, while his wife passed away in 1902. Their family numbered ten children, five of whom are now living.
W. Edwin Webb came to Rochester in early life, was a student in its public schools, and after the completion of his education took a minor position in a box factory, being duly advanced from time to time until the year 1896, when he became a stockholder in the Rochester Box & Lumber Com- pany, of which he is now vice president and man- ager. W. W. Webb is president and E. S. Clarke is treasurer. This incorporation employs about one hundred and seventy-five men in the manu- facture of all kinds of wooden boxes. They have extensive lumber yards and box factory and enjoy a trade extending throughout the eastern and southern states. The business has had a healthy and substantial growth, largely won through the unassailable reputation of the house for business integrity and its promptness.in filling orders.
In the year 1881 Mr. Webb married Miss Eliza- beth Parker, daughter of J. W. Parker, of Rochester. Mrs. Webb died in the year 1902, and Mr. Webb has since married Miss Theresa Cotter, of Bloomfield, New York. He has two children, Jesse H. and Loren D., by his first wife.
Mr. Webb is a member of Valley lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A. M .; Hamilton chapter, No. 62, R. A. M .; Monroe commandery, No. 12, K. T .; Damas- cus Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and the Roches- ter Shoe & Leather Club. He likewise belongs to the Central Presbyterian church, and with his family resides in a beautiful home at No. 1085 Genesee street.
JOHN P. FABER.
John P. Faber, conducting a growing and prof- itable business as a carriage and sulky manufac- turer of Rochester, his enterprise being a factor in the business activity of the city, was born in Can- andaigua, New York, November 13, 1853, his parents being Peter and Elizabeth Mary Faber, both of whom are natives of Germany. The father was for a long period a carriage manufacturer of Canandaigua, but is now retired.
In the public schools of his native city John P. Faber acquired his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in Canandaigua Acad- emy, an institution celebrated for the great num- ber of prominent men who have been its pupils. His school life ended, he became connected with his father's business, mastering the duties en- trusted to him with the same thoroughness and close application demanded of any other employe, and thus gaining an intimate and accurate knowledge of the business. In 1875 he was ad- mitted to a partnership and continued at Canan- daigua until 1879, when he came to Rochester and established his present manufacturing business under the name of A. Faber. The business was afterward incorporated as A. Faber Company, and is so continued to the present time. In 1896 he organized the Faber Sulky Company for the man- ufacture of a trotting sulky, which was invented and patented by him. While both are now stock companies, John P. Faber has always had entire management of the business, and by reason of the excellence of the product of the factories has built up a large trade, which, constantly increasing, necessitated the removal from the first factory. built in 1886, to larger quarters. He erected an extensive modern factory at the corner of East Main and Circle streets, which has been the home of the business since January, 1908. Here are manufactured not only carriages and sulkies, but also a department has been added for automobile repairs and repainting, and the manufacture of automobile equipments. The business has con- stantly grown along substantial lines, and it has been the policy of the house to make the excellence of its product its principal source of advertise- ment, knowing that there is no better recommen- dation for further trade.
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Mr. Faber was married in 1878 to Miss Alice Herron, a daughter of David Herron, a prominent member of the bar at Canandaigua, New York. Mrs. Faber is an accomplished musician, and for many years has been a most successful teacher of music in Rochester. Their only daughter, Char- lotte, is at home.
Mr. Faber is prominent in Masonic circles, holding membership in Yonnondio lodge, F. & A. M .; Hamilton chapter, R. A. M .; Doric coun- cil, R. & S. M., and Monroe commandery, K. T. His political allegiance is given to the republican party at the polls, but he is not active in political work. He and his family are communicants of St. Paul's Episcopal church. Throughout the period of his residence in Rochester, covering al- most three decades, Mr. Faber has maintained an- unassailable reputation for business enterprise and probity, while the sterling worth of his character has constantly gained for him the friendship of those with whom he has come in contact.
MRS. ALICE FABER.
This accomplished musician was born 'at Ovid, Seneca county, New York. Her father was Da- vid Herron, a well known member of the Ontario county bar and for several years the partner of the late Hon. Charles T. Folger, of Geneva, who was secretary of the treasury under Arthur's adminis- tration.
Mrs. Faber was educated at the Ontario Female Seminary at Canandaigua, New York, where her family resided for many years. At the age of seven she began her musical studies, and when fourteen years old was engaged as solo soprano of the quartette choir of St. John's Episcopal church, one of the most critical congregations of western New York. This position she held for ten years. During these years she studied piano and voice under some of the best masters in America and later spent several years in New York, studying voice under P. A. Rivarde and piano with Vila- nova. It is not surprising that with such advan- tages Mrs. Faber soon rose to eminence in her profession. Gifted with a sweet, bird-like voice, whose perfect cultivation gives her full command of its upper range, her concert singing in New York, Rochester and many other cities is remem- bered with pleasure by those who have heard her.
The brilliancy of her playing, her intuitive ex- pression and wonderful musical memory, the pathos and sweetness of her improvisations, give her the fullest claims as a pianist of high order. As an accompanist she is wonderfully artistic and sympathetic.
In 1878 she was married to John Peter Faber, of Canandaigua, New York, and moved to Roches-
ter, where she has since continued her work. Through her esthusiastic labors music in the Flower City has received a forceful impulse. Her beautiful studio in the Granite building has been the scene of many charming recitals, as well as much serious work. By pursuing certain disci- plinary courses with beginners and by a faithful adherence to the laws of musical science as they progress, she trains her pupils to the highest de- gree of efficiency. Many of them are now doing splendid work in different parts of the country.
In addition to her profession, Mrs. Faber is active in the work of St. Paul's Episcopal church, and is interested in many local organizations, among them the Travelers' Club and the Ironde- quoit Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Faber is also proud of being a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford of Ply- mouth colony.
PERCY R. McPHAIL.
Percy R. McPhail, president of the Merchants' National Bank of Rochester, was born in Toronto, Canada, September 18, 1860, and when a lad came with his parents to this city, where for a time he attended the public schools, while later he con- tinued his education in the private schools and in the University of Rochester, where he completed his course and was graduated. He is a member of the Psi Upsilon, a college fraternity ; the Gen- esee Valley Club, and the Rochester Country Club, organizations which indicate much of the charac- ter of his interests and his genial, cordial nature. His business career has been marked by steady ad- vancement until he has attained the position of prominence which he now occupies as a repre- sentative of the financial interests of Rochester. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and his religious faith is that of the Metho- dist Episcopal church.
ROBERT CAMPBELL KERSHNER.
Robert Campbell Kershner, treasurer of T. B. Dunn Company, manufacturers of Sen-Sen and Sen-Sen chewing gum, at 105-115 North Water street, Rochester, New York, is the only son of Henry A. and Maria (Shutt) Kershner, and was born in Bath, Steuben county, New York, April 22, 1857. He is a representative of two of the old families of this state of Holland Dutch line- age, tracing their ancestry back to the land of the dykes.
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The paternal grandfather was Philip Kershner, one of the pioneer settlers of Dansville, Livings- ton county, New York. He was born in Hagers- town, Maryland, in 1783, and came to Dansville on horseback in 1811, near which he cleared a farm in the then wilderness, which he owned and managed until his death, October 12, 1850. The paternal grandmother was Mary Catherine Knap- penberger, born in Catawissa, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, in 1795. She went to Dansville in 1809 and died there on the old farm, September 14, 1879.
To them were born six children, including Henry Adam Kershner, whose birth occurred at "Dansville, March 26, 1820. He was a farmer, and except for a few years spent as superintendent of Lieutenant Governor Campbell's farm at Bath, Steuben county, New York, resided on a part of the old homestead in South Dansville, just across the Steuben county line, until his death August 24, 1892. He was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth A. Osborn. who died January 29, 1850, and his second, Maria Shutt, daughter of John and Christina (Weldy) Shutt. She resided on the old farm until her death June 25, 1901.
Both John Shutt and his wife were born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, the for- mer March 3, 1797, and the latter October 21, 1800. They were married there about 1818, and with John Shutt's parents came to Sparta, Liv- ingston county, New York, about 1820. The father at that time purchased the farm on which John Shutt and his wife resided until their deaths, which occurred at a ripe old age, after rearing a family of thirteen children. '
Henry A. Kershner was recognized as a citizen of worth and value in his community and for twenty-eight consecutive years held the office of justice of the peace for the northern part of the town of South Dansville, Steuben county, New York. By each wife he had two children, by the first, William H. and Fannie A. Kershner, both deceased, and by the second, Elizabeth A. and Robert C. Kershner, the former being the wife of Frank Whaley, of Lima, Livingston county, New York.
Robert C. Kershner was reared on his father's farm and attended the common district schools. He left home at about the age of twenty years and, having in the meantime studied bookkeeping to some extent, entered the hardware store of Bailey & Edwards at Dansville, where he worked several months for the experience it would give him. He then came to Rochester and accepted the position of bookkeeper for the American Chemical Manu- facturing & Mining Company, with which com- pany he continued for a little over five years. He was then for a short time with J. H. Byrnes, shoe manufacturer of Rochester, and from there went with the Bradstreet Company as traveling repre-
sentative. He continued in this position until 1888, when he accepted the position of head ship- ping clerk for the Stein Manufacturing Company, of Rochester. When a year or so later this com- pany opened an office in Chicago, he was trans- ferred there, where he remained until December, 1895, the last five years being manager of the Chi- cago branch of the National Casket Company, which company succeeded the Stein Manufactur- ing Company in 1890. He has since resided in Rochester, covering a period of twelve years, and is treasurer of T. B. Dunn Company, manufac- turers of Sen-Sen and Sen-Sen chewing gum, a productive industry which is meeting with grati- fying success in the conduct of its business.
On the 12th of January, 1881, Mr. Kershner was married to Carrie Robinson, eldest daughter of William H. and Sarah D. (Owen) Robinson. They have one child, Florence Marie, and their home is a pleasant residence at 16 Argyle street. Mr. Kershner has various social relations, holding memberships in Genesee Valley Club, Oak Hill Country Club, Columbia Rifle Club, Rochester Rod & Gun Club and Rochester Automobile Club. These associations are a clear indication of the sports he is fond of and which engage his atten- tion during his leisure hours.
W. MARTIN JONES.
William Martin Jones, a distinguished lawyer, widely known as a leader in the cause of temper- ance and more recently through his labors in con- nection with the effort to establish an Interna- tional Court of Arbitration, was born in Manlius, New York, July 24, 1841. His father, Thomas P. Jones, was a native of Builth, Wales. His mother, Lodoiska Butler, was born at Crown Point, New York, and was a relative of the late Benja- min F. Butler. She was a woman of strong per- sonality and marked ability. While Mr. Jones was very young his parents moved to Knowles- ville, New York, where he spent his early youth. Having been graduated from the Albion Academy, it was his intention to attend Yale College but at about the time he was ready to enter this institu- tion, the Civil war broke out, and, becoming ac- quainted with Hon. Edwin D. Morgan, the war governor of New York, he acted for two years as his private secretary while Mr. Morgan was United States senator. In 1864 he filled the position for some time of private secretary to William H. Se- ward, then secretary of state, and to his son, Frederick W. Seward. His efficiency in this posi- tion led to his promotion to the position of chief clerk of the consular bureau in the state depart- ment. This position told heavily on his health, as it was often necessary for him to remain at his
W. MARTIN JONES.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
desk until long after midnight, preparing instruc- tions to United States representatives who were stationed all over the world, watching Confederate blockade runners, and guarding the interests of the republic under alien skies. While filling this position, information many times came to him of plots against the government and the lives of its officers, all of which information he duly conveyed to the proper officials. On the evening of Good Friday, 1865, he was present in Ford's Theater, sitting within twenty feet of President Lincoln, when the latter was assassinated.
In 1866, the war being ended, Mr. Jones was appointed United States consul at Clifton, Canada, his resignation from the consular bureau having been accepted with regret by Mr. Seward. Dur- ing the five years of his consulship he occupied his leisure hours reading law and upon his retir- ing from this office in 1871, he established himself at Rochester, New York, and was admitted to the bar, where he soon attained a prominent position, and some of his cases are now quoted as authority throughout the country.
At the age of ten years Mr. Jones became a Cadet of Temperance and later he joined the Sons of Temperance. In 1867 he entered the Inde- pendent Order of Good Templars and became a leader in that body. In 1879 he was made Grand Chief Templar of New York state, which office he held for four consecutive years, and for seven years he was treasurer of the International Body of Good Templars. Although a republican in politics, he came to believe that the prohibition movement was the paramount issue of the time, and after the failure of the republican party to redeem its pledges made at the Richfield Springs Convention in 1882, he gave his support to the prohobition party and ran for office on its tickets when to do so was only to invite ridicule and persecution. In 1885 he was a candidate for at- torney general and in 1888 a candidate for gover- nor of the state of New York upon that ticket. In the following campaign he received the largest prohibition vote ever cast in New York state, running ahead of the national ticket. In the free silver campaign of 1896, Mr. Jones took position, with many others, in favor of the gold standard, and the prohibition party failing to adopt any plat- form upon any question other than that of prohibi- tion, and believing that the republican party was at last coming to recognize the merit of the tem- perance movement, he again gave his support to the republican party and stumped the state of Michigan in opposition to Hon. John P. St. John who had been the prohibition candidate for presi- dent of the United States in 1883, and who was then speaking in favor of free silver.
The early experience of Mr. Jones in diplo- matie matters and his intense interest in inter- national questions led to the formation of views of a decided character on the subject of inter-
national peace, and he was always an advocate of a system of international arbitration. At the time of the dispute between Great Britain and Vene- zuela in 1896, after the declaration of President Cleveland that England would have to settle her difficulties without encroaching upon the Monroe Doctrine, and when war seemed imminent between the United States and England, much discussion arose in regard to the settlement of the dispute by arbitration. Mr. Jones' sentiments on this sub- ject were well known, and at a meeting of the New York State Bar Association he was chosen as a member of a committee of nine, appointed for the purpose of considering the question of arbitra- tion between Great Britain and the United States. Hon. Chauncey M. Depew and Prof. John Bas- sett Moore of Columbia University were ap- pointed advisory members of this committee. At the first meeting of the committee Mr. Jones set forth his views and pointed out the difficulties attending arbitration where the litigants only are arbiters, and strenuously advocated the establish- ment of a "permanent international court of arbi- tration" composed of representatives of several nations. At that meeting he and Hon. Walter S. Logan, of New York, were chosen as a sub-com- mittee, charged with the duty of devising and pre- senting to the full committee a plan for such a court and the duty of drafting the desired reso- lutions fell upon Mr. Jones. He accordingly pre- pared a report which was successively approved, without alteration or amendment, by the sub- committee, the whole committee and the Bar As- sociation itself at a special meeting called to con- sider the matter. A committee was then ap- pointed to present the memorial to the President . of the United States. This was done April 21, 1896, by Hon. Edward G. Whitaker, president of the Bar Association, Judge William D. Veeder, chairman of the committee, and Mr. Jones. The ablest journals of the day commented favorably on both the memorial and the report and the Al- bany Law Journal published both in full and closed an extended editorial with these words : "We believe the plan of the Bar Association is well devised and properly considered and it should be, if nothing more, at least a step toward some practical result." The memorial is as follows :
"To the President:
"The Petition of the New York State Bar As- sociation respectfully shows :
"That impelled by a sense of duty to the state and nation and a purpose to serve the cause of humanity everywhere, your Petitioner at its an- nual session held in the City of Albany, on the 22nd day of January, 1896, appointed a commit- tee to consider the subject of International Arbi- tration, and to devise and submit to it a plan for the organization of a tribunal to which may here- after be submitted controverted international
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questions between the governments of Great Brit- ain and the United States.
"That said committee entered npon the perform- ance of its duty at once, and after long and care- ful deliberation, reached the conclusion that it is impracticable, if not impossible, to form a satis- factory Anglo-American Tribunal, for the adjust- ment of grave International controversies, that shall be composed only of representatives of the two governments of Great Britain and the United States.
"That in order that the subject might receive more mature and careful consideration, the mat- ter was referred to a sub-committee, by whom an extended report was made to the full committee. This report was adopted as the report of the full committee, and at a Special Meeting of the State Bar Association called to consider the matter and held at the State Capitol in the City of Albany, on the 16th day of April, 1896, the action of the committee was affirmed and the plan submitted fully endorsed. As the report referred to contains the argument in brief, both in support of the contention that it is impracticable to organize a court composed only of representatives of the governments of Great Britain and the United States, and in support of the plan outlined in it, a copy of the report is hereto appended and Your Petitioner asks that it be made and considered a part of this Petition.
"That your Petitioner cordially endorses the principle of arbitration for the settlement of all controversies between civilized nations and it be- lieves that it is quite within the possibility of the educated intellects of the leading Powers of the world to agree upon a plan for a great central World's Court, that, by the common consent of nations, shall eventually have jurisdietion of all disputes arising between Independent Powers that cannot be adjusted by friendly diplomatic negotia- tions. Holding tenaciously to this opinion, and, conscious that there must be a first step in every good work, else there will never be a second, your Petitioner respectfully but earnestly urges your early consideration of the subject that ultimately, -at least during the early years of the coming cen- tury,-the honest purpose of good men of every nation may be realized in devising means for the peaceful solution of menacing disputes between civilized nations. Your Petitioner there- fore submits to you the following recommenda- tions :
"First :- The establishment of a permanent in- ternational Tribunal to be known as 'The Inter- national Court of Arbitration.'
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"Second :- Such Court to be composed of nine members, one each from nine independent states or nations, such representative to be a member of the Supreme or Highest Court of the nation he shall represent, chosen by a majority vote of his associates, because of his high character as a pub-
lieist and judge and his recognized ability and irreproachable integrity. Each judge thus seleeted to hold office during life, or the will of the Conrt selecting him.
"Third :- The Court thus constituted to make its own rules of procedure, to have power to fix its place of sessions and to change the same from time to time as circumstances and the convenience of litigants may suggest and to appoint such clerks and attendants as the Court may require.
"Fourth :- Controverted questions arising be- tween any two or more Independent Powers, whether represented in said 'International Court of Arbitration' or not, at the option of said Powers, to be submitted by treaty between said Powers to said Court, providing only that said treaty shall contain a stipulation to the effect that all parties thereto shall respect and abide by the rules and regulations of said Court, and conform to whatever determination it shall make of said controversy.
"Fifth :- Said Court to be open at all times for the filing of eases and counter cases under treaty stipulations by any nation, whether repre- sented in the Court or not, and such orderly pro- ceedings in the interim between sessions of the Court in preparation for argument and submis- sion of the controversy as may seem necessary, to be taken as the rules of the Court provide for and may be agreed upon between the litigants.
"Sixth :- Independent Powers not represented in said Court, but which may have become parties litigant in a controversy before it, and by treaty stipulation have agreed to submit to its adjudica- tion, to comply with the rules of the Court and to contribute such stipulated amount to its expenses as may be provided for by its rules or determined by the Court.
"Your Petitioner also recommends that you en- ter at once into correspondence and negotiation, through the proper diplomatie channels with representatives of the governments of Great Bri- tain, France, Germany, Russia, The Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil and the Argentine Republic, for a union with the government of the United States in the landable undertaking of forming an Inter- national Court, substantially on the basis herein outlined.
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