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 73
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ARCHIBALD W. BELLAMY, M. D.
The medical profession is ably represented by Dr. Archibald W. Bellamy, who since 1897 has practiced in Irondequoit and the surrounding dis- triets. He was born in Grenville county, Canada, a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Bellamy. The father conducted a lumber business and a woollen and grist mill and is now deceased, the mother now
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residing with the Doctor on Ridge Road and Port- land avenue in Irondequoit.
Completing his education in the publie and high schools, Dr. Bellamy then decided upon the prac- tice of medicine as a life vocation and to that end entered the medical department of Queen's Medi- cal College, at Kingston. Canada, being graduated therefrom with the class of 1897. Following his grudnation he located in Irondequoit and has since been successfully engaged in practice at this place. He took a special course on the Treatment of dis- eases of the eye, car, nose and throat and since 1903 has been located at 379 Portland avenue, where he has a well equipped office, supplied with all the latest improved accessories known to the modern practitioner. During his residence here he has enjoyed a large and constantly increasing patronage, which is well merited, for he is a close student, keeping in touch with the advance which is being made by the profession through reading and observation. He is a subscriber to a num- ber of medical journals and in this way greatly broadens Iris knowledge. He owns an automobile, which he uses in making his professional calls, for his services are in constant demand not only in the village but also in the surrounding districts as well.
The Doctor belongs to the Monroe County Medi- cal Society, and the State Medical Society and fraternally is identified with the Foresters, the Modern Woodmen of America and Maerales. He likewise belongs to the Grange and is a member of the Memorial Presbyterian church. where his mother also attends. He is a great lover of horses, keeping several fine animals. He possesses a genial disposition and cordial manner and is never nogleetful of his professional duties, which he discharges with a sense of conscientious obligation, and his many good qualities have gained for him high regard both as a practitioner and as a private ritizett.
POMEROY P. DICKINSON.
In the profession of the law, where advancement depends upon individual merit. Pomeroy P. Diek- inson of Rochester has gained more than local note. His life record began on the 20th of Sep- tember. 1852. in the town of Irondequoit, now a part of Rochester, his parents being Alfred I. and Martha ( Anderson) Dickinson. the former a na- tive of Rochester and the latter of Yates county. New York. The paternal grandfather, Pomeroy P. Dickinson, settled in Monroe county about. 1805, driving across the country from Amherst, Massachusetts, with a horse and wagon in com- pany with Simeon Pomeroy. The grandfather
took up the land that is now in possession of the Dickinsons, together with one thousand acres else- where. The country was full of malaria at that time, nearly all of the early settlers suffering from it, and many died young because of it, as did the grandfather. Pomeroy P. Dickinson, an uncle of our subject, built the big bridge over the Hud- son river at Poughkeepsie, New York. The An- derson family were equally well known, and Hixon Anderson, the maternal grandfather, was a soldier of the Revolution. Alfred L. Dickinson, the father of our subject, was a farmer by occupation and met with a gratifying measure of success in his business interests. He was, moreover, a kind, lov- able Christian man and those who knew him enter- tained for him the warmest regard. He died in the year 1894, leaving to his family the priceless heritage of a good name. His widow survived him until 1904 and passed away at the advanced age of eighty-three years.
Pomeroy P. Dickinson was reared on the home farm, attending the district schools through the winter months and aiding in the work of the fields through the summer seasons. He afterward at- tended the celebrated De Graff Military School and prepared for Yale College but went to the home of his nucle, then living in New York city, and entered Columbia College, in which he pur- sned a course of law, being graduated in the class of 1875. He then returned to Rochester, where he entered upon the practice of his chosen calling with George A. Benton, now on the supreme bench. This connection was continued for several years, since which time he has been alone in prac- tice. From the beginning he has met with splen- clid success. His mind is analytical, logical and inductive, and he readily comprehends the strong points in a cause and gives to each part of the evi- dence its due relative value.
Mr. Dickinson has figured prominently in the public life in other ways. He was president of the excise department for ten years, prior to the passage of the Raines law. He organized the Lin- coln Chib, which grew to a large membership and sent forth into the world many men who have at- tained prominence: Ile is a member of the vari- ons Masonic bodies and of the Mystic Shrine, and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. Moreover, he has gained that knowledge and culture which only travel can bring. He has visited various sections of the world, including nearly all of the European countries and has met most of the celebrities hoth at home and abroad. He has done mnuch newspaper work throughout the different parts of the world and is a fluent, forceful, entertaining writer.
In 1882. Mr. Dickinson was married to Miss Enima Marsh, a member of a family noted for musical talent. They have two children, Pomona and Esther. The family are prominent socially
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POMEROY P. DICKINSON.
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in Rochester and Mr. Dickinson is regarded as a each being always for the best interests and hap- man of well rounded character, finely balanced piness of the other, but on the 6th of October, 1907, they were separated through the death of Mrs. Holmes. mind and splendid intellectual attainments, whose power and ability at the bar are a uniformly ac- cepted fact.
DANIEL HOLMES.
Daniel Holmes, now practically living retired, was the pioneer lawyer of Brockport and for many years a prominent attorney of the Monroe county bar. He is a native of West. Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, born September 11, 1828, and has therefore reached the seventy-ninth milestone on life's journey. His parents were Daniel and Susan (Halc-Stuart) Holmes, natives of Massa- chusetts, who, removing westward about 1812, set- tled in Ontario county, New York, where they cast their lot with those who were reclaiming a frontier district for agricultural uses. The father served his country as a soldier in the war of 1812 and participated in the battle of Buffalo. The maternal ancestry of Mr. Holmes was represented in the Revolutionary war, the grandfather, Thomas Hale, being a drummer boy at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Daniel Holmes was reared at Allens Hill, New York, his father being proprietor of a hotel at that place for a number of years. After master- ing the elementary branches of learning he pre- pared for college at the Brockport Collegiate In- stitute and received his university training at Yale, which he entered in 1846. He is num- bered among the alumni of 1848, having been graduated with the degree of bachelor of arts. Subsequently, in 1853, he received from the Uni- versity of Rochester the degree of master of arts, and in the fall of the same year was admitted to the bar, for which he had previously prepared. He immediately began the practice of his profes- sion in Brockport, where he has resided continu- ously since, having been in practice here for more than a half century. He was the pioneer lawyer of the town and his ability enabled him always to maintain a place in the foremost ranks of its legal fraternity. In recent years, however, he has retired from active practice to enjoy well-earned casc.
In early manhood Daniel Holmes was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Hawes, of Brookfield, Massachusetts, of whom extended mention is made below. Theirs was an ideal relation, their mutual love and confidence increasing year by year as they met together the joys and sorrows, the adversity and prosperity, the disappointments and the pleas- ures which checker the careers of all. Closer grew their friendship as time went by, the desire of
Mr. Holmes still continues to reside in Brock- port, where for many years he has figured promi- nently in community affairs. For thirty years he served as justice of the peace of Brockport, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial, so that he "won golden opinions from all sorts of people." He was also clerk of the village for twenty years and in community affairs was actively and help- fully interested, and is secretary and treasurer of the State Normal School at Brockport.
Mr. Holmes is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, belonging to Monroe lodge, No. 173, A. F. & A. M., of which he is a past master. He also belongs to Daniel Holmes chapter, No. 294, R. A. M., and to Monroe commandery, No. 12, K. T., of Rochester. He is senior warden of St. Luke's church at. Brockport. He is also a member of the Empire State chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the New York State Bar Association. He is one of the oldest attorneys of Monroe county, and while his professional career gained him rank with the lead- ing lawyers of Brockport he has also been well known because of his activity in connection with the interests bearing upon the general welfare of society and the upbuilding and improvement of the community.
MRS. MARY J. HOLMES.
With one exception the works of no American novelist have been so widely read as those of Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, and Brockport was proud to number her among its citizens; but while her name was a household word throughout the length and breadth of this land, in her home town sbe was loved for personal traits of character that endeared her to all with whom she came in con- tact.
She was the wife of Daniel Holmes, whose sketch is given above. In her maidenhood she was Miss Mary J. Hawes, of Brookfield, Massachu- setts, a daughter of Preston Hawes, a man of rare mentality, while from her mother she inherited a love of poetry and of fine arts. When but three years of age she began to attend school, studied grammar at the age of six, and began teaching school when but. thirteen years old. Her first article was published when she was only fifteen years old. Very early in life she manifested rare ability for story telling. entertaining her young companions with tales of her own invention. Her precocity has been horne out by the work of her
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later years, for there is perhaps no American anthor whose works are more widely read than those of Mrs. Mary J. Hohnes.
Over two million copies of her books have been published and the demand for all of them con- tinues unabated. The annual sale amounts to almost a hundred thousand copies, and no better proof of their merit und popularity could be given. A list of ber published works includes the following: Tempest and Sunshine, English Or- phans, Homestead on Hillside, Lena Rivers, Meadow Brook, Dora Deane, Cousin Maude, Mar- ian Grey, Darkness and Daylight, Hugh Worthing- ton. Cameron Pride, Rose Mather. Ethelvn's Mis- take, Millbank, Edna Browning. West Lawn, Edith Lyle, Mildred, Daisy Thornton, Forrest House, Chateau D'or, Madeline. Queenie Hetherton, Christmas Stories, Bessie's Fortune, Gretchen, Marguerite, Dr. Hlathern's Daughters, Mrs. Hal- lam's Companion, Paul Ralston, The Pracy Dia- monds, The Cromptons, The Merivale Banks, Rena's Experiment, and The Abandoned Farm. As an anthor she had a most happy career, with none of the trials which fall to the lot of so many writers, and her publishers have always been her friends. G. W. Carlton and Jater Dillingham had charge of the sale of her books. Her first novel, Tempest and Sunshine, was published in 1851, and since that time her writings have been con- stantly on the market. With the possible excep- tion of Mrs. Stowe, no American woman has reaped so large profits from her copyrights, some of her books having attained a sale of fifty thou- sand copies.
In commenting on this, the Brockport Republic said : "Her success as an author is said by some to be the result of her power of description ; others assert it was her naturalness, her clear, con- cise English and the faculty to hold the reader's sympathy from the beginning to the end; others attribute it to the fact that there was nothing in her works but what was pure and elevating. We who know her best, feel that all this has made her the snecessful writer that she was."
Mrs. Holines was deeply interested in benevolent work in Brockport and in those organizations which promote culinre, charity and patriotism. She was president of the Brockport Union Chari- table Society and vice regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was indefatigable in the founding and sustaining of a free reading room and did everything in her power to promote knowledge and culture among the young people, of whom she was particularly fond. She often talked to them concerning art and foreign travel. on which subjects she was well versed, she and her husband having made various trips abroad, visiting the noted art centers of the old world. As a hostess she was charmingly gracious and hos-
pitable, having the ready taet that enabled her to make all guests feel at home. Her benevolence was also one of her strongly marked characteristics. In early life she made it her plan to give one-tenth of her income to charity and this she did ever afterward. St. Luke's Episcopal church, of which she was a member, is greatly indebted to her for its prosperons condition. Her charitable work. however, was done quietly, and few people knew the great amount of good she did. She cared not for public recognition of her benevolence, content in the consciousness of having aided a fellow trav- eler on life's journey. While she had thousands of admirers throughout the conutry, in her home town where she was best known she was much loved by the people among whom her daily life was passed.
The summer of 190; was spent by Mr. and Mrs. Holmes at Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, and while on the return trip Mrs. Holmes became ill. After improving to a slight degree she insisted on continuing the journey, but lived for only a brief period after she reached Brockport, passing away on the 6th of October, 1907. Perhaps no better testimonial of the regard in which she was held in Brockport can be given than by quoting from n local paper, which said :
"During the many years of Mrs. Hohnes' resi- dence in Brockport her influence for good has been constant and unvarying, and every enterprise that made for the welfare of the village received her most hearty sanction and support. With charity toward all, with malice toward none, she moved among us the very embodiment of precious kind- nesa. And so, in thousands of ways, her death will prove an inestimable loss to this community. and today nearly every household is shadowed by a personal grief. 'She went to her death wearing the white rose of n blumeless life.' The world is the poorer for ber going."
LORENZO S. GRAVES.
Lorenzo S. Graves, who is now numbered among the honored dead and who for many years was a leading manufacturer and one of the most prominent residents of Rochester, came to this city in 1859. He was afterward connected with sev- eral of the lending productive industries here and finally became one of the large stockholders of the Ofis Elevator Company, with which business he was associated throughont his remaining days. He achieved such a goodly measure of success that his methods are of interest to the commercial world and in an analyzation of his life work it will be found that he based his business prin-
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ciples and actions upon the rules which govern industry and strict, unswerving integrity.
A native of Massachusetts, Mr. Graves was born in Southboro, July 18, 1831, his parents being Watson and Fanny (Dench) Graves, the latter a descendant of old Revolutionary stock. The father was born and reared in Southboro, Massachusetts, and while a young man he learned the boot and shoemaker's trade, following the same at South- boro during the early part of his life. He then removed to Ashland, Massachusetts, where he lived retired during his later years. His widow afterward made her home with her son and while visiting her daughter in Newark Valley she passed away.
In taking up the personal history of Lorenzo S. Graves we present to our readers the record of one who for many years figured prominently in connection with the industrial development of the city. He acquired his preliminary education in the public schools of Ashland. Massachusetts, and completed his studies in the school at Amherst. Massachusetts. He was living in Worcester, that state, at the time of his marriage to Miss Eliza G. Coffin, an old schoolmate. Her father, Cap- tain Moses Coffin, of Nantucket, Massachusetts. was a blacksmith and cooper by trade but followed the sea for many years. After leaving the sen he settled in Wilmantic, Connecticut, where he was employed in the first paper mill in that state. Subsequently he removed to Ashland, Massachu- setts, where he resided nutil 1851. when he ho- came a resident of Springfield, Vermont, where hoth he and his wife passed away. Their daugh- ter Eliza became the wife of Lorenzo S. Graves and uuto this marriage was born one son, Fred B., who married Frances Oswald and resides at No. 5 Lorimer street, Rochester. He is now soper- intendent and manager of the Otis Elevator Com- pany and is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Graves also reared an adopted daughter, Ida 1 .. , who is now the wife of Charles H. Chase, a nurseryman residing at No. 46 Rich- mond street.
In early manhood Lorenzo S. Graves learned the shoemaker's trade with his father, making as high as twelve pairs of boots per day, so expert had he hecome at hand labor. Upon his removal to Rochester in 1859 he began working as a shee- maker in the employ of a Mr. Churchill. After a brief period, however, he turned his attention to teaming and a little later, in 1860, he gave to the world as the result of his inventive genins and study the Graves sole cutter, a machine for cutting leather soles. He then began the manu- facture of the same, his factory boing located en Mill street. He also engaged in the manu- facture of paper cutters and shop machinery and was very successful in both lines. continuing the business for a number of years and winning a
ereditable place as a substantial representative of commercial interests here, At length he decided to engage in the manufacture of elevators and the Graves Elevator Company was formed, and the present large factory now operated under the name of the Otis Elevator Company was erected at Nos. 198 to 210 Commercial street. From the In- ginning the enterprise grew rapidly until several hundred men were employed on the construction of all kinds of passenger und freight elevators which were shipped to every section of the coun- try. This became one of the largest productive industries of the city. It was developed along progressive, modern business lines, not only meet- ing but anticipating the needs of the trade in this direction, and Mr. Graves continued at the head of the concern until 1901, when he sold his interest to the Otis Company, at which time the firm name was changed to the Otis Elevator Com- pany, of which the son is now superintendent and manager. The father then retired to private life. He was always a busy man and in his earlier vears his evenings were devoted to study and investigation, especially along architectural lines. His experiments resulted in inventions which gained for him a prominent place in the busi- ness workl. He certainly deserved much credit for what he accomplished and justly earned the proud American title of a self-made man, for he had a capital of but a few dollars when he and his wife arrived in Rochester. The years passed and his industry and ability made him one of the well-to-do citizens. His success may be ascribed to his positive, determined pursuit of business and to the fact that he was a man of unflinching commercial integrity.
After retiring from the field of manufacture Mr. Graves, accompanied by his wife, traveled quite extensively, visiting many points of interest in this country and also making three trips to Europe. They likewise visited the holy land and various sections of Asia. Mr. Graves was always deeply interested in historic research and during their travels he and his wife gathered many in- teresting relies of all kinds in various parts of the world, Mrs. Graves now having in her home two large, fine cabinets well filled with shells, stones and other interesting relies of their trips.
In his political views Mr. Graves was a stalwart republican who took much interest in the party and its growth. He was frequently solicited by his friends to become a candidate for office but always refused. He built a large and beautiful residence at No. 25: Lake avene, where his widow vet resides. There in the spring of 1903 he be- came ill and his death occurred on the 21st of April. 1905.
Mrs. Graves belongs to the Central Presbyterian church. Theirs was a most congenial married life and the very close companionship made the
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death of the husband an almost unbearable blow to Mrs. Graves. His loss was also deeply felt throughout the city where he had resided for more than forty-five years-honored as one of its lead- ing business men and prominent citizens. He was one of the ablest and best known manufacturers of Rochester, was genial in manner and, though his time was largely occupied by the details of ex- tensive business interests, he always found time to devote to those of his friends whose calls were purely of a social character. He was a thorough exemplification of the typical American business man and gentleman.
JOSEPH B. BLOSS.
Among the men who have contributed to the business stability and commercial growth of Rochester is numbered Joseph B. Bloss, who is now living retired. his house being at No. 334 Oxford street. He was, however, well known in mercantile circles for many years as a wholesale grocer, becoming. in 1868, a member of the firm of G. C. Buell & Company. This business was es- tablished in 1844 and Mr. Bloss was connected therewith for twenty-eight years or until 1896, when he retired permanently from active busi- neas life.
A native son of Rochester, his birth occurred on the 22d of November. 1839, his parents being the Hon. William C. and Mary ( Blossom) Bloss. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Bloss, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and carried the news of the capture of Andre to General Washing- ton. Ifis mother sent him to the war and, with the spirit of patriotism which imbued many of the women of the Colonial days, said, "Joe, don't get shot in the back."
Hon. William C. Bloss was for many years a prominent and influential citizen of Monroe coun- ty, and in 1816 accompanied his parents on their removal from Massachusetts to Brighton. The brick tavern still standing on East avenue near the railroad in that village was built by him, and he conducted it until the first wave of temperance, which swept over the United States, reached that section, when he turned his stock of liquors into the canal, sold the hotel and removed to Rochester. While a resident of Rochester he represented that city in the legislature of the state of New York during the years 1845, 1846 and 1847, and while a member of that body offered the following reso- lution as an amendment to the state constitution: "Resolved, 'That no other proof, test or qualifica- tion shall be required of or from persons of color in relation to their exercise of the right of suffrage, than is in this constitution required of or from white persons."
His life work was the advocacy of temperance and the abolition of slavery. He published the
second anti-slavery paper printed in the United States-"The Rights of Man." In the presiden- tial campaign of 1856 he published and circulated a map which illustrated the aggressions of the slave power, the southern states being portrayed in black. This had an immense circulation all over the country and President Pierce ordered it de- stroved when found in the southern mails. Copies of this valuable historical document have been presented to the Rochester Historical Society by Joseph Farley and to Harvard College by Hon. Charles Sumner. William C. Bloss' house on East avenue was always a hospital for the repent- ant and reforming inebriate and a well known station on the underground railroad where the fleeing slave was concealed until he could find safe refuge in Canada.
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