USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume III > Part 10
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Frank J. Bantley attended Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, New York, and graduated in 1885, and attended Warner's Business College of Elmira, New York, in 1886. He took a literary and scientific course, as well as his business studies. He worked his way by pumping oil wells and after leaving school continued this work for a time and then became a bookkeeper for the Fall-Brook Railway Company in Corning, for one year, after which he went to work for the Erie railroad as ticket clerk, and at the end of twelve years of service he was made ticket agent, which position he held for an equal length of time. During this period he became agent for all leading steamship lines and is still so serving. He also handled life insurance. and has been a newspaper correspondent for years, thus proving his versatility. In 1910 he entered the First National Bank of Corning as corresponding clerk and was. later made receiving teller, which position he still retains.
Mr. Bantley served with the army during the Spanish-American war. When he returned he was elected city clerk and held office for two years, and he was secretary of the board of health from 1904 until 1912. He served as alderman from 1912 to 1914 and was nominated on several other occasions but refused to run. He has always been a republican and been a member of the city and county committees for years. He usually serves as delegate to county conventions, and is very widely known in Steuben county.
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Mr. Bantley was married to Miss Louise Martha Walz, in the Corning Episcopal church, on February 8, 1888. She is the daughter of Augustus Walz of Lawrenceville, New York. Mr. Bantley attends the Episcopal church. They reside in the old Bantley homestead on Walnut Hill, for many years the residence of the Bantley family. Mr. Bantley belongs to the Elks, the Corning Saengerbund, was secretary of the Corning Club when Judge George B. Bradley was president, and is now secretary of the Corn- ing Camping Club. His recreation is gardening. His life has been an exceedingly busy one but he has found that "labor is the law" and has profited thereby, gaining a place of distinction in the community.
JOHN BOYD MULLAN.
Prominent among the citizens of western New York is John Boyd Mullan, post- master of the city of Rochester. Prior to entering upon the duties of his present posi- tion he represented his district in the state senate for three successive terms, and in the field of business he is financially interested in the insurance agency conducted under the name of C. H. McChesney & Son Company. He was born in Rochester, New York, on the 27th of December, 1863, his parents being James and Margaret (McNeary) Mullan, both of whom were natives of County Antrim, Ireland. The mother crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1847 and two years later the father emigrated to this country, taking up his abode in Rochester. Having learned the trade of flour milling on the Emerald isle, he secured a position at the Clinton mill in this city but later became proprietor of a feed store on Lyell avenue and conducted the same until 1865. In that year he removed to Wyoming county, New York, where he purchased a farm and successfully carried on general agricultural
pursuits until 1882, when he opened a store at Peoria, this state. There he carried on business for fifteen years, at the expiration of which period he disposed of his interests and came to Rochester to reside with his son John, for his wife had passed away in 1887 and he had not become reconciled to living alone. Mrs. Margaret Mullan was a faithful, loving wife, whose children declared that a better mother never lived. James Mullan was an ardent follower of Izaak Walton and one of the most success- ful fishermen of his day, knowing better than anyone else in the vicinity the haunts of the bass in the Genesee. As an antidote for business worries he would sally forth with his rod, and he never returned without a string of fine fish. It afforded him keen pleasure to instruct his sons in the art of landing a five-pound specimen of the finny tribe. He had been a resident of the Genesee country for six decades when called to his final rest in 1909, and the community mourned the loss of one of its substantial and highly esteemed citizens. To him and his wife were born three children: John B., of this review; Anna B .; and J. Sankey, secretary of the board of education in Rochester.
John Boyd Mullan obtained a district school education in Covington, New York, and later pursued a course of study in the New York State Normal School at Geneseo. It was on the 22d day of November, 1883, that he returned to Rochester and entered the Rochester Business Institute, and following his graduation therefrom became an employe of the old Blue Line, remaining in the office of the general manager for eighteen years. He had risen to the place of traveling freight agent when he resigned in 1900 to assume the duties of secretary to the board of education, to which position he had been appointed and which he filled most acceptably until his resigna- tion in 1903 to embark in the general insurance business. His brother succeeded him in the position of secretary to the department of public instruction and is still the incumbent therein. For more than two decades John B. Mullan has been financially interested in the C. H. McChesney & Son Company, conducting an insurance agency at No. 19 Main street, West, in Rochester. In the public life of the city he has been a prominent factor. From 1908 until 1910, inclusive, he served as supervisor of the nineteenth ward and was then elected alderman of the ward, acting in the latter capacity through the years 1911, 1912 and 1913, when he resigned to become a candi- date for the state senate. He was elected in 1914 and the following year took his seat in the general assembly, in which he was continued by reelection for four successive terms, serving until 1921. Thus for seven years he ably represented the interests of his constituents and was the author of many excellent measures which have found their way to the statute books of the state. He served on the following senate committees: Chairman of Public printing, 1915-16; Chairman civil service, 1917-18; chairman of cities committee and a member of taxation and retrenchment; insurance,
JOHN B. MULLAN
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1919-20-21; labor and industry, four years. During the period of the World war he was a member of the war service committee in the legislature, a member of the Lusk committee for the investigation of seditious activities and chairman of the joint legislative committee on education. On the 1st of August, 1921, Mr. Mullan was appointed acting postmaster of Rochester and on the 7th of March, 1922, was made postmaster, in which position he has continued, making a most satisfactory and com- mendable record. The mail service has been greatly improved during his adminis- tration, as the most modern and efficient methods have been introduced.
In June, 1889, Mr. Mullan was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth W. MacMillan of Norwood, Ontario, Canada, daughter of James and Mary Ann (Wilson) Mac- Millan. Mr. and Mrs. Mullan have two daughters and a son: Mary Margaret, who was born in Rochester in 1890, is the wife of John A. Baird of this city, and they have a son, John Mullan Baird, who was born in 1923; Margaret Elizabeth Wil- son, who was born in this city in 1898, was married to Alvin Keil, resides in Roches- ter, and has one son, John Mullan Keil, born in 1923; James Boyd Mullan, born May 7, 1903, in Rochester, is a student at Colgate.
In fraternal circles Mr. Mullan is well known as a member of all Masonic bodies and as an honorary thirty-third degree Mason. He is a past master, past high priest, past eminent commander, past commander and chief of Rochester Consistory, past potentate of the Shrine, past grand commander of the state and past district deputy of the Grand Lodge. Mr. Mullan also belongs to the Masonic Club, the Washington Club, the Auto Club, the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and the Life Underwriters Association. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the United Presby- terian church, of which he has served as trustee for twenty-seven years.
For over forty years Mr. Mullan has been identified with the business, public and civic life of Rochester and enjoys a most extensive acquaintanceship throughout the city. He has been one of the advisors and counsellors of the republican party in Monroe county for many years, and an indefatigable worker, at all times, for party success.
The elements were happily blended in the rounding out of his nature, for he unites the refinements of life with the sterner qualities of manhood and his efforts are result- ant factors in almost everything he undertakes. Mr. Mullan has remained in the Genesee country from his birth to the present time and Rochester numbers him among her honored native sons and self-made men.
CHARLES FREDERICK HUGHES.
Charles Frederick Hughes, one of Elmira's native sons, has been engaged in the undertaking business for the past twenty-eight years. His is the oldest establishment of the kind in the city and also one of the finest. He was born November 28, 1871, and his parents were Edward and Margaret (Collins) Hughes, the latter a native of Ireland. The former was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1830 and when a youth of fourteen was bound out to William Ayers, to whom his father paid the sum of ten pounds. Under his instruction the boy learned the machinist's trade, receiving a salary of a shilling per year for his work. In 1850, when a young man of twenty, Edward Hughes secured passage in a sailing vessel bound for America and the voyage was a long and tedious one, forty-seven days being spent upon the Atlantic. Subse- quently he revisited the land of his birth and the return trip consumed over sixty days. He first obtained a position in the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia and afterward came to Elmira as an employe of the Erie Railroad Company. He was connected with the road for over a half century, remaining in its service until his death, which occurred in 1908. In the early days he bought a tract of land in the country adjacent to Elmira and the property is now within the corporation limits, being situated on College avenue. He was a communicant of the Roman Catholic church and a republican in politics. He faithfully discharged the duties of citizenship and in 1880 was elected to represent the sixth ward in the city council. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes had a family of nine children, of whom five sons are living, and the subject of this sketch was the eighth in order of birth.
Charles Frederick Hughes attended the public schools and the Elmira Free Academy, after which he learned the machinist's trade in the employ of I. B. Coleman. In September, 1889, he entered the undertaking establishment of J. M. Robinson's Sons & Company and there he also gained a knowledge of the science of embalming -- a new department of the business at that time. In 1896 he formed a partnership with
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five children: Gladys E., now Mrs. H. Blake Murray of Pasadena, California; Frances B., now Mrs. Floyd W. Burroughs of Medina, New York; George A., Jr., of San Francisco, California; Hildred A., now Mrs. Robert V. S. Richmond of Buffalo, New York; and Natalie C., who lives with her parents in Medina.
Mr. Newell has always been an active worker in the local ranks of the republi- can party and in addition to the offices already mentioned was elected county treasurer in 1894. He is widely known in Masonic circles, having in 1895 attained the thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite and is a member of Damascus Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is a permanent member of the Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., of New York; past grand high priest of the Grand Chapter, R. A. M., of New York; past grand master of the Grand Council, R. & S. M., of New York, being present grand treasurer of that body; also grand treasurer of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, of New York, and past general grand master of the General Grand Council of the United States. Mr. Newell also belongs to the Alert Club of Medina and attends the services of the Universalist church. The county of Orleans may well be proud to number this valued and highly respected citizen among her native sons.
FRANK DICKINSON PULFORD.
Frank Dickinson Pulford, a native son of Elmira, has achieved success in the wholesale·paper business and also in the field of construction. He was born December 25, 1890, and his parents were Charles A. and Harriet L. (Reed) Pulford, who are mentioned more specifically in the sketch of Charles R. Pulford, to be found elsewhere in this work.
Frank Dickinson Pulford attended Riverside School No. 7 and Elmira Free Academy, afterward becoming a student in the law department of the University of Syracuse, from which he was graduated with the class of 1913. He was admitted to the bar the following year. He was connected with the Pulford & Dempsey Con- struction Company for five years and then took charge of the Elmira office of the United States Employment Service, which was subsequently taken over by the New York State Bureau of Employment. He engaged in that work until 1921 and then embarked in the wholesale paper business in Elmira, forming a partnership with his father-in-law, Merton Baldwin, who became the senior member of the firm. In 1922 Mr. Baldwin withdrew from the firm and the business has since been operated under the name of the Paton & Pulford Company. Since its inception the business has grown rapidly and the firm now has a large trade. Mr. Pulford has made a thorough study of the paper business, in which he is keenly interested, and also serves as vice president of the Pulford & Dempsey Construction Company, of which his brother, Samuel A. Pulford, is secretary.
On May 26, 1915, Mr. Pulford was married to Miss Grace Baldwin, who was born in Bentley Creek, Pennsylvania, and received her education in Wellsburg and Elmira. Mr. and Mrs. Pulford have a son: James. They are members of the First Baptist church and Mr. Pulford belongs to the Union Lodge of Masons, the Masonic Club, and Psi Upsilon, a college fraternity.
WILLIAM WALTER MALLEY.
One of the popular members of the younger class of business men in Rochester is William Walter Malley, an enterprising insurance man, who was born in this city on the 6th of March, 1887. His parents, James and Julia (Erwin) Malley, were like- wise natives of this city, where the father was engaged in the insurance business all of his life. James Malley died in 1915, at the age of sixty-six and was survived for several years by his wife, whose death occurred in November, 1923. All of the six children born to them are living: James, the eldest, resides in Rochester; Sister Victoria is a nun in a Roman Catholic order and is now stationed at Nauvoo, Illinois; Mrs. William H. Campbell, M. Upton Malley, Mrs. Edward Rigney and William Walter all make their homes in this city.
William Walter Malley was educated in the Holy Apostle School, after which he became identified with his father's insurance business. At the time of the latter's death the business descended to his youngest son, who has continued it and developed
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it to its present state of success and prosperity. It is often more difficult to take an enterprise organized by another person and carry it on than it is to start out for one's self and build from the bottom up, according to one's own ideas. Mr. Malley, however, has displayed both initiative and resourcefulness in expanding the business founded by his father and continuing it along thoroughly up-to-date and progressive lines, without departing from those underlying principles which were the secret of the older man's success. By so doing he has earned in his own right the high position he now holds in the esteem of the business and professional men of his home city.
Mr. Malley was married to Miss Florence Wood of Rochester, on November 27, 1912, and they have four children, two sons and two daughters: June, born in 1914; William James, born in 1915; Virginia, born in 1917; and Edward Wood, born in 1919. With the exception of the younger son, all of the children are attending the Nazareth Academy. Mrs. Malley is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William W. Wood of this city and comes from a well known family here.
Mr. Malley is a third degree Knight of Columbus and is preparing to take his fourth degree in the near future, a relationship that indicates that his faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. He is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and belongs to the Rochester Advertising and Automobile Clubs.
JULIAN J. WASHBURN.
Julian J. Washburn was born on a farm in Randolph, Vermont, November 10, 1842, the son of Daniel and Adeline (Story) Washburn, and the descendant of a line of New England ancestors dating back to the Mayflower. His great-grandfather, Jonah Washburn, was a first lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, whose commission from the Council of the Massachusetts Bay, bearing date of May 9, 1776, two months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is still a treasured heirloom in the Washburn family. Another great-grandfather, Asa Story, was also an officer of the Revolutionary army.
Julian J. Washburn was educated at Orange County grammar school in Randolph. He enlisted in the Civil war with the Fifteenth Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, and served with the Army of the Potomac. After the war he entered the employment of Holbrook & Company, manufacturers of plows, in Boston, after which he was employed by the Fairbanks Company, the well known scale manufacturers. In 1873 he removed to Newark, Wayne county, New York. In 1877 he removed to Batavia and became associated with the Wiard Plow Company, with which concern he continued until his decease. He was a capable and farsighted business man, and was secretary, and later vice president of the company, the success of which was in no small measure due to his efforts. He was in politics a republican, and occupied various positions of trust in his community, being at one time mayor of Batavia.
Mr. Washburn was married on February 10, 1866, to Martha Kingsbury Bigelow, daughter of Abel and Mary (Kingsbury) Bigelow. Mr. and Mrs. Washburn had a son and a daughter. The widow and the son, Edward A., survive him. The daughter, Mary Virginia Washburn, died December 12, 1915. Mr. Washburn was a man of wide reading and broad general information, energetic and of high character, sympa- thetic and deeply attached to his friends, of which he possessed an unusually large number. He died in Batavia, October 28, 1918.
FLORENCE VAN ALLEN.
"Editors are born, not made", some wise man once remarked. He was not decry- ing the benefit and influences of education in the equipment of editors, but merely emphasizing that the editorial faculty is innate, not acquired, and therefore not to be repressed by the lack of training in schools. Florence Van Allen of Avon, Liv- ingston county, New York, editor and owner of the Avon Herald, is living proof that the wise man was absolutely right. He was born near Herkimer and Little Falls, New York, on May 12, 1856, son of Francis and Jane (Sterling) Van Allen, both of whom have passed away. They were the parents of four children.
Florence Van Allen had little opportunity for education as a boy, and his first work was done as a stationary engineer, and afterward he was with James W. Clement in the office of the Livingston County Republican at Geneseo, New York.
I.g. Nachdem
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Mr. Van Allen was only nine years old when he located at Geneseo, and his work on the newspaper was that of printer's devil, about the lowliest journalistic beginning that is possible. He absorbed all he saw and heard, however, and in this way began the process of self-education which has culminated in well-balanced and thorough knowledge. Early in 1882 Mr. Van Allen moved to Avon, and on October 5, 1882, bought the plant and subscription list of the Livingston County Herald, as the Avon Herald was then named. (The history of the paper forms the conclusion of this sketch.) Mr. Van Allen has built up the paper, made it one of the leading weekly journals of the county, and while doing this has manifested a live and important influence in civic matters and in historic affairs. The editorial columns of the Herald are widely known because of their original thought and literary strength. Mr. Van Allen's mental processes are of a philosophic character, and his ability has given an intellectual tone to his writings seldom found in the columns of the press.
Mr. Van Allen was married on November 1, 1877, in Cuylerville, New York, to Katherine Rebban, and they have one son: Allison Church Van Allen, who is a deputy sheriff and associated with his father in the publication of the Herald. Allison was a member of the famous M Troop during the Spanish-American war. Mr. Van Allen is a member of the Presbyterian church, and politically is a republican.
The Avon Herald was established as the Livingston County Herald on May 11, 1876, by the late Elias H. Davis. It was a republican journal, eight columns, folio, patent outside, with inside printed on a Hoe hand press. Mr. Davis sold out on October 5, 1882, to Mr. Van Allen, who published the paper until July 28, 1887, and then, planning to go to the Dakotas and settle, he sold the plant back to its original owner. Mr. Van Allen remained in Avon for the collection of back accounts, and while so engaged worked for Davis. The latter's health failed and the paper suffered, so Mr. Van Allen was induced to take it over once more, and rechristened it the Avon Springs Herald. Mr. Van Allen installed new machinery on February 7, 1894, changed the name of the paper to the Avon Herald, printed both sides, and changed its political tone to that of an independent republican organ. On October 21, 1903, he merged the Genesee Valley Courier with the Herald.
JOHN CUNNINGHAM.
The life record of John Cunningham is closely interwoven with the history of Elmira and its development, for he has left many evidences of his skill as a contractor and builder and his labors have been of signal service to the city, in which he has made his home for more than a half century. His activities have not been narrowed to business affairs, however, and his work in the field of public service has been equally important and beneficial. He was born in Pennsylvania, April 1, 1854, and his parents, John and Catherine (Spelacy) Cunningham, were natives of Ireland. The mother was a child of nine when the family immigrated to the United States and the father was about twenty-four years of age when he came to the New World. He followed agricultural pursuits for a livelihood and passed away on the old home- stead in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. The mother's demise also occurred there, and the farm is still owned by the family. Mr. Cunningham was allied with the democratic party and his life was guided by the teachings of the Catholic church.
John Cunningham was the second in order of birth in a family of eleven children, eight of whom survive. He attended the public schools of his native county and worked on the home farm until he reached the age of eighteen, when he came to Elmira, arriving here in 1872. He served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, which he followed as a journeyman until 1875, and then embarked in business as a building contractor. He has erected many of the best buildings in the city and his efforts have resulted in enhancing the value of real estate in the sections where he has operated. Having reached the age of seventy, Mr. Cunningham is taking life in a more leisurely manner and his sons are directing the contracting business. He is now occupied with less strenuous pursuits, giving his attention chiefly to municipal affairs.
On July 8, 1887, Mr. Cunningham was married to Miss Agnes Rowan, one of Elmira's native daughters. She was first educated in a convent, then attended an academy for several years, afterward becoming a teacher in the public schools of the city. Four children were born of this union, three of whom are living, namely: John C., William and Mark, all of whom are associated with their father in the con- tracting business, taking the burden of responsibility from his shoulders.
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Mr. Cunningham is and for the past sixteen years has been city assessor, his long retention in the office being proof of the quality of his service and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Cunningham has had a long, useful and honorable career. He well deserves the title of self-made man, for he began life a poor boy and all that he has acquired has been won through his own exertions.
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