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 85
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the same year. Thomas O. Swanson had but lim- ited educational privileges, for he attended school only three weeks after coming to the new world. Ile crossed the Atlantic at the age of seventeen years, arriving in the month of May, having been attracted by the excellent reports which he heard concerning the favorable business opportunities in the United States. He was first employed at day labor on the Titusville Railroad in Peunsyl- vania, but after three weeks of strenuous toil he was stricken with typhoid fever. Having no funds, he was dependent upon the county's aid during his illness of six weeks, but after his re- covery he resumed work on the railroad, being as- signed to the section gang. Later he went to Ilor- nell, where he worked as a stone-mason and event- ually he entered the employ of a banker, At a later date he made his way to the Pennsylvania woods, working in a sawmill. and upon his return to New York he settled in Orleans county, work- ing by the month in the summer season, while in the winter he cleared land for different parties. Ile then returned to his native conntry, where he continued for a year and a half, but became satisfied that he preferred America as a place of residence, knowing that he could enjoy better business opportunities in a land where effort is not hampered by caste or class. U'pon his return to America he brought with him fifteen of his countrymen and by taking charge of the party he made his own transportation and also some extra money.
When he had again arrived in the new world Mr. Swanson took up farm work, eagerly availing himself of every opportunity that led to business development and growth. He afterward went upon the road with a wagon, selling groceries, dry goods, notions and other commodities. He was thus busily engaged for about five years and eventually he worked into the business of buying and selling farm prodace. For the last fifteen years he has handled small fruits produced in the town of Hamlin and is conducting the only busi- ness of the kind there. He makes extensive ship- ments to all parts of the country, and, in fact, is carrying on a very large and profitable business, in which connection he has become well known from the Atlantic to Chicago. Ile handles im- mense quantities of souill fruits and through his own Inbors has developed his business to its pres- ent extensive and profitable proportions. He is also one of the directors of the Hamlin Tele- phone Company, in which he holds considerable stock.
In the year 1883 Mr. Swanson was married to Miss Anna Reyburn, who was born in Clarkson. New York. in 1860. They have become the parents of three daughters: Alice, born in An- gust, 1885; and Florence and Grace, twins. born in 1887. The daughters have been students in
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THOMAS O. SWANSON.
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the Hilton high school and have also pursued their studies in the Rochester Business Institute.
In his political views Mr. Swanson is a stal- wart republican, and is now serving as one of the town committeemen. He has several times been called to act as a juror and in community affairs he manifest» the same stalwart spirit of progress which characterizes him in his business life. Fraternally he is prominent, being connected with the Masons, the Maccabees and the Legion, carrying insurance in the two lust named. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church and it has been one of the elements of an upright, honorable career, for throughout his entire life bis course has been actunted by high principles. lle has always endeuvored to be just in his busi- ness relations and honest at all times, and wherever he is known he is respected.
CHARLES S. BAKER.
Charles S. Baker, a mumm of broad mind, of kindly purposes and high ideals, with whom con- tact meant elevation and expansion, passed away on the 21st of April. 1902. Such was the force of his character. the strength of his mentality and the breadth of his nature that the news of his demise came with a sense of personal herenve- went to the great majority of those who had known him. He had friends among the promi- nent and the lowly, the rich and the poor. through- out the entire country. All who knew him re- spected him, but in Rochester, where he was best known. he was loved as few men are loved.
A native of Churchville. Monroe county, Mr. Baker was born on the 18th of February, 1839. the youngest son of JJames and Catherine Baker. the former a carriage mannfucturer, who came from Englund in an carly day. In the village schools Charles S. Baker acquired his early edu- ention. Said one who knew him well: "His parents beqneatbed to him the riches of virtuous training and example, a happy temperament, high aspirations, untiring energy and a love of right- consness for its own sake. The fruitage of these qualities during all his vears brightened, stimu- Inted and blessed not only his own life but the lives of a great multitude of bis fellows, brought into close or even casual relationship with him." After a struggle in his youth to secure an aca- demic education, he was sent to the Caryville Col- legiate Seminary in 1854 and the following year was entered as a pupil in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminarv in Lima, New York. During the win- ter of 1857-8 he taught school in Lerov. Coming to Rochester to study law in the spring of 1858.
he accepted a position in the law office of Dan- forta & Terry, where he remained until his admis. sion to the bar in December, 1860. Ile was a very successful attorney of Rochester for many years, displaying keen analytical power, logical reason- ing and clear deductions in the practice of his chosen profession. His first partner was John HI. Jeffries and in later years he was associated with his son. William J. Baker, having an office in the Powers block at the time of his death. He pre- pared his cases with great thoroughness and care and his legal learning was manifest in the strong presentation of his canse before the courts.
Mr. Baker had been engaged in practice for only a brief period when the Civil war was inang- urated. Hardly had the smoke from Fort Sum- ter's guns cleared away when at the first call for volunteers for the Union army he offered his services to the government, enlisting in April. 1861, as a member of Company E, Twenty-seventh Regiment of New York Infantry. He went to the front as first lieutenant und the first battle in which he participated was the first battle at Bull Run, in which he was so disabled as to necessitate his return home. He then resumed the practice of law and when not serving in the general assem- bly of New York or in congress he was continu- onsly connected with the work of the courts. He never regarded his oath on being admitted to the har to support the constitution of the Union and the constitution of the state and to discharge the duties of his profession to the best of his ability as a formal matter but as a solemn vow, which he secredly kept.
At a meeting of the members of the Monroe county bar held to take action on the death of Mr. Baker it was said: "As a lawyer he was well read. skillful and adroit. Ilis office was a model of method, order and nentness. It was as an office lawyer that he excelled. The antagonismis, the contentions, the contradictions. the disputes. the personalities, the ill temper and the friction which sometimes accompany a litigated practice had no charms for him. His superiority was seen in his office when in personal contact with his clients and his associates at the har. The courtesy with which he treated every one was one of his marked characteristics. He did not en- courage needless litigation. He sought to bar- monize differences, to bring men together. and took the broadest view of his duty toward his clients. No one who came into connection with him as a lawyer failed to honor him for his broad spirit, for his firm integrity and for his elevated conception of the trust reposed in him as an attorney and counselor, visited by one in. distroer or in trouble und in search of advice. Ax a friend he knew no faltering. Those who knew him well. who were admitted into the inner circle of his life, come to see in him noble qualities
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of mind and heart, which will always enuse them to remember the man, Charles S. Baker, with af- fectionate regard."
As the years passed Mr. Baker beenme recog- nized as one of the distinguished members of the republican party of New York. In youth, as in maturer manhood, his broad and sympathetic nature led to his cordial identification with the party in its struggles to prevent the further extension of slavery and enlarge the area of free- dom. He was never narrow or intolerant in his partisanship, but cordially recognized patriotism and merit under whatever unme they were found. Ile took great interest in the questions and issues of the day, giving careful study to such, and his firmu support of his honest convictions led him to become an influential factor in republican ranks. He was supervisor of the eleventh ward for two wears and of the ninth {now the tenth) ward for four years. At one time he was president of the board of education and served for two terms as school commissioner. During the years 1879. 1880 and 1882 he was a member of the New York state assembly, and for the years 1884 and 1885 was an active and influential member of the state semite. From that position he was transferred to the larger field of action in Washington. being elected by large majorities to the forty-ninth, fif- tirth and fifty-first congresses. As n member of the house of representatives he served upon some of the most important committees, especially dis- tinguishing himself as chairman of the commit- tee on commerce when six new states asked for and gained admission to the Union. No man who ever represented Rochester either in Albany or in Washington has shown greater willingness or ca- pacity in the service of his constituents. In the national capital he was nutiring and remarkably successful in securing pensions for worthy veterans or the widows and orphans of those who had fallen and could present legitimate claims upon the government. This seemed to him a labor of love. In this work there was for him no polities, no creed, no race. The poor appealed to him with a force even greater than the rich.
While Mr. Baker was thus attending to details and matters of local interest he was concerned also in larger affairs of state. Ile possessed the gift of initiative to an unusual degree. He dared any form of leadership that occurred to him and at Albany was largely instrumental in pushing forward the legislation which established the state railroad commission. The states of North Dakota. South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming gave public acknowledgement of their indebtedness to him for their admission into the Union when in 1890 he traveled through the west, being everywhere enthusiastically received and en- tertained. In Washington, as in Albany, he took a deep interest in the transportation question, and
was the author of a bill creating the interstate commerce commission.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said of him: "Mr. Baker was of notable and impressive physique. Large and commanding in stature, with a face in which sagacity, benevolence and kindhi- ness were singularly blended, with a manner at once both dignified and genial, he was sure to attract attention in any company. He not only made friends, but held them to him by the com- pelling power of genuine sympathy and help- fulness. It is doubtful if, when he was at the height of his congressional career, any man in Washington had more personal friends, of all parties throughout the country, than he. Stanch as the stanchest in his republican principles, he never permitied his partisanship to interfere with his personal relations, and when the democracy was in control of the executive and legislative branches of the goverment Mr. Baker could. without compromising his republicanismo, secure as many favors at Washingion as if he had been a democrat. He enjoyed the confidence and re- spect of President Harrison and had an intimate personal as well as political friendship with Presi- dent Mckinley."
Mr. Baker was married June 22, 1861. to Miss Jane E. Yerkes, who was born on Plymouth ave- nne. Rochester. She is the only living danghter of Silas A. Yerkes, who removed from Phila- delphia to Rochester in 1820. She has one brother living in the west. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Baker were born five sons: Charles A., a resident of Washington, D. C .; Leigh Yerkes, a practicing physician of the same city: Cornelius B., who is engaged in the banking business in Kansas City. and who married a daughter of ex-Governor Mor- rill, of Kansas; William J., an attorney with offices in the Powers block in Rochester; and Harold H., a practicing physician of this city. Both of the sons who are physicians are gradu- ates of the University of Michigan. The only daughter of the household died in infancy. In his family he was n devoted husband and father and at his own fireside the sweetness of a rare sonl found its most fitting and loving expression.
Mr. Baker was a Master Mason and also be- longed to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Hle organized Corinthian lodge of Rochester and served as worshipful master for two years. He was likewise a member of the Loyal Legion and George H. Thomas post, G. A. R., thus maintain- ing pleasant relations with his old army comrades, any of whom he assisted in material ways. He was an elder in the Central Presbyterian church in Rochester at the time of his death and was ever a most earnest Christian man, whose life was actuated by high and honorable principles and who at all times lived in conforinity with his professions. In the church he took a most active
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and helpful part and at all times gave his sup- port to those movements which advance justice, truth and right. When death claimed hin reso- lutions of sympathy and respect were passed by the different lodges with which he was connected; the almnni association of Livingston Park Semi- nary, which his wife attended in girlhond ; the Iu- ['ants' Summer Hospital, to which he had been a peuerons contributor ; the board of supervisors und the board of eduention ; while hundreds of let- ters were received by the family. All contained an expression of appreciation for the rare beauty and strength of his character and the great nse- fulness of his life.
One who knew him well wrote: "In all the multiplied activities of his fruitful life his ener- gies, means and influence were always thrown upon the side of justice, merey, truth and righteousness. The wealth of his great nature and the genial companionship of his warm, generons heart drew to him the rare and sweet friendship of many who took high runk in the various depart- ments of church, state and literature, as well as others closely identified with the financial growth and prosperity of our great country. He allowed no differences of ereed or party to mar these friendships, but took the best of each life that touched him. Conspicuously useful as he was in public affairs, it was as husband. father, brother and friend, within the cheery and sacred pre- cinets of his own home, that the rare sweetness and all embracing love of his large and noble nature were most richly bestowed."
HENRY STEAD HEBARD.
A life of great activity and large usefulness was terminated when in 1890 Henry S. Hebard passed away. He figured prominently in the financial and business circles of Rochester and the state as president of the East Side Savings Bank, as pro- prietor of extensive marble works in this city and as president of the New York Mutual Aid Society. His life record began at Saugerties, Ulster county, New York, March 10, 1827, but for more than a half century he was a resident of Rochester and left the impress of his individuality upon its busi- ness development and its public interests. His father. Zebulon Hlebard, was a licensed local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. His mother was Mrs. Martha ( Inman) Hebard. a na- tive of the Empire state.
In his boyhood Henry S. Hehard accompanied his parents on their removal to Rochester. where he acquired a public-school education and at the age of nineteen years he entered upon his active business carrer, wherein he was destined to rise to
greatness, ns a clerk in his father's marble works. He continued to act in that capacity until given an interest in the business, which under his man- agement and ownership grew to large proportions, as he became recognized in Rochester and through- ont western New York as a snietantial citizen and capable business man, his intense and well directed activity leading to splendid results in industrial circles. The marble works were established in 1831 and Zebulon Hebard, his father, who con- tinned as proprietor of the business until 1845, when the Arm of Z. Hebard & Sons was organized. The business was thus carried on until 1858, when it became the property of the firm of Hebard & Graham, so continuing nutil 1867, when Henry S. Hebard became, and afterward remained, sole proprietor. Having become recognized as a force- ful factor in business life, his co-operation was songht. in other lines and he became the third presi- dent of the East Side Savings Bank, which was organized in 1869 with Pliny M. Bromley as the first excentive officer. The second president was William M. Emerson, theu state senator, who held the office for a single year, when he was succeeded by Mr. Hebard, who continued at the head of the institution until his death. Hle was also a di- rvetor of the New York Mutual Aid Society, which was incorporated August 17. 1881.
It was not alone the signal success which Mr. Hehard achieved in business that made him a not- able figure in Rochester, for his public service alone would entitle him to distinction as one of the representative men of the city. His political views were embodied in the platform of the re- publicun party and he served as a member of the state central committee. He was elected alder- man from the fourth ward in 1857. 1859 and again in 1861. He also served as a member of the old volunteer fire department, to which he he- longed. until its discontinuance in favor of the paid system. Mr. Hebard was foremost in advo- cating the establishment of a paid department. having, while alderman, with another member of the city council, introduced a resolution for its establishment. Mr. Hebard's interest in city af- fairs also extended to the department of publie works and he became an active und helpful mem- her of that board. He also served for one term as supervisor and in 1865 he became a member of the first police commission, serving in that capar- ity for eight years and assisted in laying the foundation for the present police department. In 1873-4 he was a member of the board of public works and in 1875 was chosen supervisor, in which position he served for one term, refusing re-nomination for the snecerding year. In 1880 he was a presidential elector and voted for Gar- field and Arthur. After Arthur succeeded to the presidency he offered Mr. Hlebard appointment as postmaster but he declined. On the 13th of Febru-
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ary, 1890, his name was sent by President Harri- son to the senate as appointee for the position of postmaster and the appointment was confirmed but Mr. Hebard did not enter the office, as his death occurred less than a month later. He was twice nominated for mayor of the city without solicitation and was for many years a member of the board of managers of the Western House of Refuge, now the State Industrial School, and one of its presidents. For several years he was a meni- Ler of the board of managers of the State Indus- trial School and for one year was president of the Lourd.
In 1833 Mr. Hebard was married to Miss Har- riett M. Hazen, a daughter of Charles Hazen, of Martinsburg, New York. They became the par- ents of seven children. Mr. Hebard, in connec- tion with his other public work, was president of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church. Honored and respected by all, there was perhaps not another citizen of Rochester who occu- pied a more enviable position in the regard of fis fellow townsmen. He was closely associated with the city's growth and the interests and needs developed thereby. He desired that Rochester should keep apace in all of its improvements and in its varied municina) interests with other cities of the country and was a guiding spirit in bring- ing about progressive and valued results. He died in 1890 but the worth of his work will not erase to be felt until the public movements which he instituted have reached their full fruition in the life of the city.
FRANK FRITZSCHE.
By the death of Frank Fritzsche, Rochester sustained an irreparable loss and was deprived of the presence of one whom it had come to look upon as a guardian, benefactor and friend. At the time of his demise he wes serving as assessor of the city for a third terin and was also promi- nently connected with its industrial interests, being engaged in the hide trade. His whole career, both business and social, served as a model to the young and an inspiration to the aged. By his use- fulness and general benevolence he created a mem- ory whose perpetuation does not depend upon brick or stone, but upon the spontaneous and free will offering of a grateful, enlightened people. Few men have lived so entirely for their fellowmen and helpfulness may well be fermed the keynote of his character.
Mr. Fritzsche was born at Neustadt, a small town on the Orla river, in Saxe-Weimar, Germany. July 11, 1835. His father was a tanner and leather
dealer in the old country and the son became ap- prenticed to the leather business in early life. He worked at his trade for several years as a journey- man, traveling over the country in accordance with the old German custom, which required one to obtain a general knowledge of the trade before set- tling down. In 1859, however, he returned to Xenstadt, where he was married to Amalie Freund.
In the spring of 1864 Mr. Fritzsche came to America, landing at New York city April 28, his wife and two children arriving one year later, May 20, 1865. He went to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where for a short time he was engaged in the leather business, and in 1866 came to Rochester, where he secured a position as foreman in a tan- nery owned by Henry Lampert, in which capacity he served for eight years. With the capital he had saved from his earnings he then began busi- ness on his own account in Rochester in 1874. From the beginning the enterprise proved profit- able and constantly increased in volume and im- portance, so that in 1886 his two sons, Frank J. and Martin C., were admitted to the firm. The latter is now deceased, but the former is still con- ducting the business and is one of the prominent and enterprising business men of the city. On the 12th of June, 1887, however, Martin C. Fritzsche passed from this life at the age of twenty-six years. Mr. Fritzsche, the father, continued in Imsiness up to the time of his demise and his life history and perseverance intelligently directed brought him a large measure of success. In all that he did he was thoroughly reliable and his business career commanded for him the respect and unqualified trust of his fellowmen.
In 1885, having won public recognition as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and a lead- ing member of the republican party, Mr. Fritzsche was elected to the common council from the old Sixth ward and served as alderman until 1889, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many progressive measures for the benefit of the city. In the '90s he served for seven years as a member of the board of health and in neither of- fice did he receive or accept sulary. He gave his services to the city with a sense of conscientious obligation and discharged his duties in such a manner that his example may well be followed by the officeholders of the present day, as he ever placed the general good before partisanship and the interests of the community before personal aggrandizement. While serving as health officer during the cholera scare in the '90s he superin- tended the cleaning of the city. It was estimated that the work would cost between fourteen and sixteen thousand dollars. The city was about to let a contract for the work of cleaning, when Health Commissioner Fritzsche declared the amornt exorbitant and said that he would do the
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work for less than half the estimated amount. He devoted fifteen weeks to this task, during which time the city was thoroughly cleaned and the ex- penditure amounted to only forty-eight hundred dollars. Hle theu circulated a subscription list and obtained about nine hundred dollars, so that in reality the work cost the city only thirty-nine hundred dollars. Mr. Fritzsche did not receive nor did he accept pay for his work in this connection and this is but one of many examples of the man- ner in which he served his fellow citizens, doing a work the value of which was inestimable. He never faltered in the performance of any task that he believed to be his duty or that he thought would benefit Rochester in any way. In 1899 he was first elected to the office of assessor and dis- charged his duties during the two years' terin with such capability that in 1901 he was re-elected for a four years' term, and in 1905 for a second terin of four years. so that he was filling the posi- tion at the time of his demise.
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