USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907 > Part 61
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of December of that year, he became corresponding member of the Oneida County Historical Society. On the 1st of June, 1891, he was appointed by Governor Hill as one of the managers of the Rochester State Hospital for a term of nine years, and upon the organization of the board was elected its president and was re-elected each succeeding year until the office was abolished by law when Mr. Cook was appointed a member of the board of visitation by Governor Odell: His private chari- ties were numerous, yet no ostentation or display ever characterized his giving. Ile was especially helpful to young men who are ambitious and de- termined and who start out in life upon their own
account empty-handed. Remembering his own struggles and trials in youth, he was ever quick to show appreciation for close application and to recognize ability by promotion as opportunity of- fered. For some years prior to his demise he took no active part in political work, his attention being given to the superintendence of his private busi- ness affairs and extensive investments. He held friendship inviolable and as true worth could al- ways win his regard he had a very extensive circle of friends, his life demonstrating the truth of Ralph Waldo Emerson's statement that "the way to win a friend is to be one." The public work which he did was largely of a nature that brought no pecuniary reward and yet made extensive de- mands upon his time, his thought and his ener- gies. Opportunities that others passed by heed- lessly he noted and improved-to the betterment of the city and the state in many ways. He was unostentatious in manner, but all who knew him spoke of him in terms of praise. In his life were the elements of greatness because of the use he made of his talents and his opportunities, because his thoughts were not self-centered but were given to the mastery of life problems and the fulfillment of his duty as a man in his relations to his fellow- men and as a citizen in his relations to his city, his state and his country.
ALLEN L. WOOD.
Allen 1 .. Wood, a successful nurseryman of Rochester, has built up a business from a very humble beginning to one that has now reached mammoth proportions, his stock being shipped to every state in the Union, as well as to foreign lands, so that he has gained a wide reputation as a fruit grower. He is a native of this city, his birth having occurred here in 1860. His father. Walter Wood, was one of the pioneer set- tlers of this city, having come from Moravia, this state, but for a number of years he was engaged at Union Springs. His mother bore the maiden name of Jane McIntosh, and was a daughter of Jolin MeIntosh, a pioneer merchant of Cayuga, New York.
Allen L. Wood spent the period of his boy- hood and youth under the parental roof and dur- ing the winter months pursued his studies in the public schools and in St. Paul's school, wherein he acquired a good knowledge of the English branches. "He was endowed by nature with a good constitution and developed all the attributes which make the successful man. He carly displayed a trend for business life and at the age of sixteen years, in 1876, established himself in the nursery
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business, securing for this purpose one acre of land, which he planted to fruit trees. This proved a paying venture and encouraged with the out- look for a successful future, he invested the money secured from the sale of his stock in more land, each year adding to his original holdings until he today owns a tract of eighty-five neres, devoted entirely to the growing of nursery stock. He raises only the best varieties of large and small fruits and shade trees, and in addition to this he likewise grows fruit at Lockport and at Danville, New York, on contract. Until 1900 he conducted a strictly wholesale husiness, but since that time has sold to the retail trade through agents and by catalogne, doing a mail order business which ex- tends to every state in the Union and also to foreign lands, including Cuba, Bermuda, Mexico and other places. Ilis stock is prepared for ship- ment at the packing house, which he erected on Culver road and Gorson avenne. His stock of fruit and ornainental trees, roses, shrubs, etc., is of the best varieties and his name is known far and wide in connection with the nursery busi- ness. His success is well merited, for he has ever followed the most honorable methods in carrying on his business, is true to the terms of a contract and conscientiously discharges every business obli- gation to the satisfaction of all with whom he has dealings.
Mr. Wood was married in Pittsford, December 17, 1891, to Miss Georgiana Eaton, who was born in Pittsford, a daughter of Benjamin Eaton, a pioneer settler. Their marriage has been blessed with two sons, Walter and Allen.
Mr. Wood is a Mason, belonging to the Mystic Shrine and he is also a member of the Masonic Club. An investigation into his history shows that he has based his business principles and actions upon strict adherence to the rules which govern industry, economy and unswerving integ- rity. His enterprise and progressive spirit have made him a typical American in every sense of the word. By constant exertion combined with good business judgment he has attained to the the friendship of many and respect of all who know him.
prominent position he now occupies and enjoys . Spencerport and in the spring of 189? began busi-
CHAUNCEY BRAINARD.
Chauncey Brainard is the senior partner of the firm of H. C. Brainard & Company, controlling business enterprises that contribute in substantial measure to the commercial activity of the village of Spencerport. He was born in the town of Gates, Monroe county, on the 2d of May, 1849, and is a representative of one of the old families of this
part of the state, his parents being Claudius and Nancy (Brainard, Brainard. The paternal grandfather, Calvin Brainard, settled on Method- ist Hill in the town of Henriettn in 1823 and made the original purchase of what became his farm, it being a part of the old Holland purchase. Claudius Brainard was a native of Haddam, Con- necticut, and came here with his father. They later bought a large farm in the town of Gates and were not only closely associated with agricultural development but also with various movements for general progress and improvement. The Brainard family has ever been noted for longevity. Chaun- cey Brainard is one of a family of four children, of whom his brother is now deceased, while the sisters, Laura A. and Emma C., are living upon the old homestead in Chili.
Chauncey Brainard was a little lad of five years when his parents removed from Gates to the town of Chili and in the public schools he acquired his early education, which was later supplemented by study in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York, and in Genesse College, now Syracuse University. Thus equipped by excellent educa- tional privileges, he took up the work of teaching and was principal of the school of Churchville for two years. He afterward served as principal of the Pittsford school for six years, proving a cap- able educator with ability to impart clearly and readily to others the knowledge that he had au- quired. Upon returning to the town of Chili he took up the occupation of farming and at the sxine time engaged in teaching in the North Chili school for ten years. He was appointed school commis- sioner of the second district of Monroe county by Judge William E. Werner in May, 1890, and in the following autumn was elected to that position. He served for four consecutive terms or twelve years. The cause of education has indeed found in him a stalwart champion and a warm friend and his labors have been of direct benefit in pro- moting the interests of the public schools of this section of the state.
In the fall of 1895 Mr. Brainard removed to ness with his son, Harry C., under the firm style of H. C. Brainard & Company, controlling his commercial interests in addition to performing the duties of the office of school commissioner. The firm began dealing in coal and later extended the scope of their business to include commercial fertilizers. At a still later date they added a gen- cral insurance department and subsequently took up the cooperage business. They do a good busi- ness in the various lines which claim their time and attention and are representative merchants and insurance men of the village, having secured a liberal patronage as dealers in coal and commer- cial fertilizers and in their cooperage business as
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well, while as general insurance agents the policies which they write annually represent a large figure.
Mr. Brainard was nmrried to Miss Emily Cook Cumming, a native of Genesee county, New York, who with her parents removed to Churchville, where she was married, her father being Theodore Cumming of that place. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Brainard has been born one son, Harry C., who is now his father's partner in business-a young man of excellent business ability and enterprise,
In politics Mr. Brainard has been a life-long republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the party. Fraternally he is connected with Etolian lodge, No. 471, A. F. & A. M., of Spencerport, and for several years he has been a trustee of the Congregational church. He is interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the community and while he has contributed in larger degree to educa- tional and commercial advanerment he neverthe- les- withholds his co-operation from no movement or plan for the public good.
EVERARD PECK.
Everard Peck was born at Berlin, Connecticut, November 6, 1791. and died at Rochester, New York, February 9, 1854. Having gone to Hart- ford, Connecticut, at the age of seventeen, he learned there the book binder's trade and having completed his apprenticeship, went from there to Albany, New York, where he plied his vocation for a few years. Not succeeding as well as he had hoped, he came to Rochester in 1816, bringing with him the implements of his calling and a small stock of books. Many of the incidents of his life have been mentioned in the first volume of this work in connection with the growth of the little hamlet, its expansion into a village and thence into a city. For the remainder it is deem- ed sufficient to give the following extract from an article in one of the daily papers at the time of his death:
"Seeing.through the discomforts and rudeness of the settlement, indications which promised a prosperous future, he set up the double business of hook-selling and book-binding. Being prosper- ous in business he enlarged his facilities by open- ing a printing office and commencing, in ESES, the publication of the Rochester Telegraph, a weekly journal. He afterward erected a paper mill, which he operated with great success until it was burned. Mr. Peck left the book business in 1831. After three or four years, in which he was out of health-so that. for recovery, he was obliged to spend one or two winters in Florida and Cuba --- he engaged in the banking business and was con- nected successively with the Bank of Orleans, the
Rochester City Bank and the Commercial Bank of Rochester, being the vice president of the last pamed institution at the time of his death. Immed- lately on taking up his residence here Mr. Peck gave his warm support to the infant charitable and religions enterprises of the place, and from that time to this has been the devoted friend of all such institutions. To public office he did not aspire but labors for the poor, the suffering and the orphan he never shunned. The successful estab- lishment of the University of Rochester was in a large measure owing to his exertions in its be- half. The friends of the institution accorded to him merited praise, and they will ever respect his memory. Up to the time of his death he was a member of its board of trustees. He was one of the zealous promoters and founders of the Rochester Orphan Asyhunn. Our citizens have been accustomed to rely upon his judgment in all matters of moment pertaining to the common weal, and he always exhibited a sagacity and so- licitude for the welfare of the people which en- titled him to the public confidence.
"Ile was thrice married : In 1820, to Chloe Por- ter. who died in 1830; in 1836, to Martha Far- lev, who died in 1851; in 1852, to Mrs. Alice Bacon Walker, who survives him.
*Mrs. Alice B. Peck died December 2, 1881.
"For more than two years past Mr. Peck has been suffering from a pulmonary complaint, and he spent the winter of 1852-53 in the Bermudas but without obtaining relief from the disease. He has, since his return, been secluded in the sick- mom. gradually declining until he expired, sur- rounded by his wife and all his surviving chil- dren."
It may not be inappropriate to give as a rem- iniscence. the following extract from an article in the Albany Evening Journal, of February 21, 1854, by the pen of Thurlow Weed, then at the head of that paper, in which, after copying a long biographical sketch of Mr. Peck from the columns of the New Haven Daily Palladium of a few days before. Mr. Weed remarks:
"This deserved tribute to the memory of 'a just man made perfect' comes from one who knew the deceased well. The editor of the Palladium grew up under Mr. Peck's teachings and was long a member of his household. a household whose memory is hallowed in many grateful hearts." In another paragraph the editor of the Palladium al- Indes to our own relations to Mr. Peck but in a spirit of kindness which excludes all but the fol- lowing from theer columns ;
"Mr. Weed, of the Alhany Evening Journal, he- gan his career in the Rochester Telegraph office. He was a young man wholly without means when be applied for employment. We remember Mr. Werd's appliention as though it were but vester-
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EVERARD PECK.
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day. Mr. Peck at first declined his offer but there was something in Mr. Weed's manner that touched a sympathetic chord in Mr. Peck's bosom and he called him back and gave him the post of assistant editor, where he soon made the Telegraph one of the most popular journals in Western New York.
"The heart upon which the memory of its early benefactor is engraven will glow with gratitude until its pulsations eease. We were, indeed, whol. ly without means and with a young family de- pendent upon our labor, when, thrirty-two years ago we applied to Everard Peck for employment. He did not really want a journeyman but his kindly nature prompted him to an effort in our behalf. It was agreed that in addition to the ordinary labor as a journeyman in the office we should assist Mr. Peck, who had the charge of his book-store and paper-mill, in editing the Tele- graph. But our friend did not content himself with giving employment. We enjoyed, with our family, the hospitality of his mansion until a hum- ble tenement (tenements were scarce in Rochester in those days) could be rented. The compensation agreed upon was four hundred dollars per annum. That year glided pleasantly and peacefully away, teaching lessons to which memory recurs with pleasure and in formning ties that have linked us in after life to dear and cherished friends. At the close of the year Mr. Peck added one hundred dollars to our salary, with expressions of confi- dence and regard which enhanced the value of his gratuity. And ever after. through whatever of vicissitude and change we have passed, that good man's counsels . and friendship have helped to smooth and cheer our pathway."
WILLIAM FARLEY PECK.
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William Farley Peck, of Revolutionary ances- try on the father's side, of Pilgrim descent on the mother's, was born at Rochester, New York, February 4, 1840. the son of Everard and Martha ( Farley) Peck. After studying at private schools in this city. he went to boarding school in Con- necticut, whence he returned in 1857 to enter the University of Rochester. Having remained here one year. he went to Williams College, where he was graduated in 1861 wtih the degree of A. B. He then studied law in the office of Danforth & Terry, in this city, for one year. going afterward to the State Law School at Albany, where he was graduated in 1863 with the degree of LL. B. and was a little later admitted to practice at the bar of Monroe county. He did not, however, en- ter actively into the legal profession but was soon drawn into journalism, which, with its kin-
dred forms of writing, became his life work. After a short experience upen the Express (now the Post-Express) he became, in 1867, the city editor of the Democrat. Going thence on to the Chronicle he was the telegraph editor of the latter journal during the whole of its existence, from November, 1868, to December, 1870, when the merger of the paper into what became the Democrat & Chronicle threw him out of a posi- tion. He soon became the editor of the Sunday Tribune-a portion of the time as part proprietor -and continued in that capacity until, some twen- ty-five years ago, he abandoned the field of direct journalism. Since that time he has devoted him- self to writing of a desultory character, such as club papers, articles for the magazines and more particularly for encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries, besides preparing several works cov- ering the local history of this region-the "Semi- Centennial History of Rochester," published in 1884; a comprehensive sketch of the city and of the county, in "Landmarks of Monroe county," 1895; "A History of the Police Department of Rochester," 1903; and, finally this "History of Rochester and Monroe County," 1907.
The following are the organizations with which he is connected and is more or less prominently identified: The Fortnightly, a literary club of which he was one of the founders; the board of directors of the Rochester Athenaemin and Me- chanics' Institute, of which he has been the cor- responding secretary from the beginning; the board of managers of the Rochester Historical So- ciety, of which he has always been the recording secretary ; the board of trustees of the Reynolds Library, of which he is the secretary ; the Society for the Organization of Charity, of which he is one of the vice presidents: the Unitarian church : the Genesee Valley Club, of which he was one of the charter members: the Rochester Whist Club : the Genesee Whist Club : the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New York; the So- ciety of the Genesee, in New York city; and cor- responding member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
FRANK A. SMYTH.
Frank A. Smyth, deceased, was born near Canandaigua, New York, and came to Rochesier when quite young but prior to this time his father, Thomas Smyth, had passed away. The son ac- quired his education in the old academy at Rochester and entered business life as an employe in a jewelry store, remaining in the service of J. R. Wight for nine years, during which time he thoroughly acquainted himself with the trade
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other son took an active part in the early Indian wars and received a grant of land on the east side of the Connecticut river at what is now Lyme, Connectient, in 1692. The homedead is still in possession of his descendants and has been occupied of his business transactions he was found thor -. by the family for two hundred and ten years. oughly trustworthy and reliable and as a mer- chant he wrought along modern business lines, having a well appointed establishment, in which enterprise, capable management and a carefully selected stock brought him a desirable patronage.
in every particular. He then embarked in busi- ness on his own account and continued in that line until a few years prior to his death, when he began traveling for a chemical company and during his last years he traded in stock. In all
Mr. Smyth was married to Miss Carrie J. Grie- bel, a daughter of Gustavus Griebel, one of the pioneer residents of Monroe county and afterward a retired farmer. He is now deceased, but the mother of Mrs. Smyth still resides in Rochester and is the owner of considerable property at Glenn Haven. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Smyth was born one son. Paul Vincent, whose birth occurred in 1892. The death of the husband and father ocenrred February 14, 1906.
Mr. Smyth exercised his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of democracy. He belonged to the Rochester Club and to the Elks lodge. He was a supporter ot the church and of all worthy movements for the benefit of the race and the promotion of the city's welfare and was esteemed by many friends as a good man, worthy the warm regard and trust which were so uni- formly extended him.
HENRY ROGERS SELDEN.
In the long roll of names of eminent men who have conferred honor upon the judicial history of the Empire state the name of Henry Rogers Sel- den finds conspienous meution. There are few men whose public careers have extended over a longer period and none have been more fearless.in conduct, faultless in honor and stainless in reputa- tion than this gentleman, who served upon the bench of the court of appeals of New York and whose marked ability caused him to be recognized among the foremost jurists of the Jand.
Judge Selden was born in Lyme, Connecticut, October 14, 1805, a representative of a family whose history in America is one of distinction. In early colonial days his aucestors, who were among the Puritans, took up their ahode in New England and from that time down to the present representatives of the Selden family have been active in promoting progress along all lines of desirable improvement. The first of the family to come to America was Thomas Selden, who settled in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1646, and died there ten years later. He left two sons, one of whom was killed in the Deerfield Indian massacre. The
In 1825, Judge Selden became a resident of Rochester, then known as Rochesterville. His brother, Samnel Lee Selden, hud previously located in this city and was engaged in the practice of law in connection with Addison Gardiner. In their office the subject of this review became a student and when in his twenty-fifth year he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Clark- ron. His equipment was unusually good. Added to the comprehensive knowledge of the science of jurisprudence which he had acquired during his student days was a natural discrimination as to the legal points, a mind logical and inductive, supplemented by strong reasoning powers, About 1859, he removed to Rochester, where he resided up to the time of his death. His career was marked by fruitful achievements and distinguished honors. He had not long to wait for advancement in the line of his profession. The cases with which he was connected during his early career at the bar demonstrated his superior talents and skill, and from that time forward his clientage constant- ly grew in volume and importance. His name tigured in all of the reports of prominent litigation throughout a long period in the judicial history of the Empire state.
Judge Selden was also a conspicnous figure in political circles. With a just appreciation of American citizenship. its duties und its obligations, he informed himself thoroughly concerning every jasne which arose before the people and his natural fitness for leadership soon placed him in front ranks with the party with which he became identi- fied. Ile was progressive, thoughtful and earnest, and became identified with the new republican party as a supporter of Fremont and Dayton in the campaign of 1856. With John A. King as the leader of republican affairs in New York, he largely aided in winning success for the party in this state, Mr. King was elected governor and Mr. Selden lieutenant governor. They were the first two members of the new party to triumph in the nation. It is a noteworthy fact that during this canvass Mr. Selden was in Europe on profes- sional business, but his prominence was so great, his patriotism so well known and the cause which he championed of so progressive a nature that the people gave him their support and conferred upon him the second highest executive honors in the state. He was presiding officer of the senate at a period when skilled parliamentarians belonging to a party hostile to the republicans were powerful and influential members, yet there was no dissent made from his rulings and even the opposition
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acknowledged that he was impartial, dignified and just. No presiding oflicer has ever commanded in a greater degree the respect and confidence of the entire senate. Ilis services here has so judicial a caste that in July, 1862, when Samuel L. Selden retired from the bench of the comt of appeals Governor Edwin D. Morgan appointed Henry Rogers Selden to fill the vacancy and he continued in the office until the close of 1864. He proved himself the peer of the ablest members that have ever sat upon the bench and his opinions, which regarded by his colleagues at the bar of that period as models of judicial soundness, may be found in volumes XXV to XXXI, New York reports, while his work as official reporter of the courts is in- cluded in volumes V to X of the same, commonly cited as "one to six Selden," with a small volume of addenda known as Selden's Notes, all of which were product of his labor and learning while re- porter for the court of appeals.
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