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 12
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WILLIAM M. SHIRLEY.
The important position of cashier in the Genesee Valley National Bank of Gen- eseo, Livingston county, New York, is occupied by William Malcolm Shirley, who has passed his entire business life in the banking field, and who is generally recognized as an authority on all matters pertaining to finance. Sheerly through his ability and fidelity to duty, Mr. Shirley has worked his way upward to the responsible position he now fills so successfully. He was born at Syracuse, New York, on February 8, 1870, the son of Dudley G. and Helen M. (Webb) Shirley, both of whom have passed away. He was one of five children, four of whom are living.
William M. Shirley received his education in the grade and high schools of Syracuse, and in 1888, when eighteen years old, he made his entrance into the banking business as an employe of the Farmers Bank of Batavia, New York, remaining with the institution for twelve years. In 1900 Mr. Shirley left the Batavia bank and moved to Geneseo to accept the position of teller in the Genesee Valley National Bank; fifteen years later, on January 30, 1915, he was promoted to the office of cashier, which position he still holds and has filled with the most signal success. Mr. Shirley is also a director in the Groveland State Bank at Groveland, New York. Mr. Shirley was married on November 10, 1897, to Joanna Robinson of Batavia, New York. Fratern- ally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, in religion is a member of the Presbyterian faith, and in politics votes the republican ticket.
PAUL H. RITCHEY.
A rapidly growing business, capably managed and judiciously directed, has made Paul H. Ritchey well known in real estate circles of Rochester, and his success has come as the result of untiring energy and the ability to perceive and utilize oppor- tunities for advancement. He was born in Crawford county, Kansas, December 30, 1877, and his parents, John H. and Rebecca V. (Chadwell) Ritchey, were natives of Illinois. After the close of the Civil war they journeyed westward to Kansas, where for a time the father was identified with the cattle business, and later the family removed to Oklahoma. John H. Ritchey remained a resident of that state until his death, following the occupation of farming. His widow is still living.
Paul H. Ritchey attended the public schools of Crawford county, Kansas, and afterward completed a course in a business college at Conway Springs, that state. His first independent venture was in the real estate and insurance business at Ton-
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kawa, Oklahoma, and in 1906 he went to the Pacific coast, locating in Los Angeles, California, where he was similarly engaged for six years. In 1911 he returned to the east and for a time maintained a real estate office in Detroit, Michigan. He went from that city to Rochester, where he has since made his home, and is now serving as president and treasurer of the Monroe Avenue Land & Improvement Company, Incorporated. He is a recognized leader in real estate circles of the city and is now subdividing a tract of one hundred and thirty-five acres on Monroe avenue. It is known as Rose Lawn and contains over five hundred lots.
Mr. Ritchey is identified with the Young Men's Christian Association and also belongs to other local organizations. A man of broad experience, in all of his projects he looks beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future, and builds not only for the present but for the time to come. He has thoroughly identified his interests with those of Rochester and his operations are proving of great value to the city, which numbers him among its most progressive and highly esteemed business men.
GEORGE MELVILLE TRABER.
To George Melville Traber, one of its leading manufacturers, the thriving little city of Perry, Wyoming county, is substantially indebted for much of its industrial progress and commercial development in the past third of a century. Constructive enterprise and foresighted sagacity have been the elements in Mr. Traber's career which, combined with homely old virtues of industry and thrift, have lifted him far above the ranks of the average man into the select group of leaders. As president of the Perry Knitting Mills he is the moving spirit and guiding force in a manufactur- ing organization that gives employment to more than a thousand people and ships its products to all the marts of the world. Like many of the outstanding men of his generation Mr. Traber's birth and boyhood were not distinguished by the unusual, either in especially illustrious lineage or exceptional opportunities for self-advance- ment. The son of Jacob and Mary (Van Patten) Traber, he was born in Dorloo, New York, April 15, 1862.
The formal education of George Melville Traber was limited and at an early age he went to work in a knitting mill in Cohoes, New York, where he was employed for some time. Later he went to Little Falls and there held various positions in the knit- ting industry, finally becoming superintendent of the Robert Mckinnon plants of that city. During this time the young man was looking forward to the day when he could have a mill of his own and put into practice the ideas about the business he had worked out during his long apprenticeship. A definite purpose lent an additional im- petus to his efforts, so that by the time he was twenty-nine years of age, in 1891, he was able to come to Perry and take over the management of the Perry Knitting Mills as general manager. The business at this time was suffering from a seriously im- paired credit, but under Mr. Traber's guidance it began to show immediate improve- ment and it was not long before a sound credit was created and the capacity of the plant was necessarily increased.
Mr. Traber continued as general manager for a number of years until the death of Willis H. Tuttle, when he succeeded him as president. Mr. Traber's administration has been marked by a substantial growth in the business, both in the size of the establishment and personnel and in the output. There were about sixty workers regularly employed by the mills when Mr. Traber assumed their management; now the pay roll numbers eleven hundred. The company specializes in boy's and children's union suits, whose production now amounts to more than five hundred thousand dozen annually. The garments are shipped to merchants in the four quarters of the globe, in addition to finding a wide sale in the stores of this country and Canada.
In Little Falls, New York, on the 27th of April, 1886, Mr. Traber was united in marriage to Miss Ida M. Rickmyre, daughter of David C. Rickmyre of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Traber have been born two children, a son and a daughter. The daugh- ter, Miss Bessie May Traber, was graduated from Vassar and the Biblical Seminary, New York city. She entered the educational profession and was a member of the faculty of a southern college until 1924, when she became a missionary in the Baptist denomination and is now located in the Philippine Islands. The son, George Melville Traber, Jr., was born in Perry, on the 1st of June, 1898, attended the public schools of his native village, and completed his education at the well known Lawrenceville School for Boys at Lawrenceville, New Jersey. After completing his work at Law-
George MTraber
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renceville, Mr. Traber returned to Perry to learn the knitting business in his father's mills. In the past seven years he has held a number of positions in the Perry Knitting Mills, with the view to gaining a complete knowledge of the industry, and is now one of the officials, holding the position of vice president and assistant manager. He was married on September 14, 1921, to Theodora Isabelle Sanford of Perry, and they have one child, George Melville Traber (III), born September 23, 1923.
George M. Traber, Sr., is a man of large abilities and wide interests, who has not found a sufficient outlet for his energy nor for his growing capital in a single in- dustry, even though that be a considerable one. He is connected with the financial life of his home city as president of the Citizen's Bank of Perry and as a director has been a factor in the growth of the Kaustine Company. Many other industries in the Genesee country owe much to his aid, either in the form of financial assistance, or sound business advice. Throughout his life Mr. Traber has voted with the repub- lican party and has been a loyal, public-spirited citizen, showing his civic interest in many tangible ways, and for twenty-seven years he was a member of the school board, serving for a time as president of that body. He is a member of the Masonic order and religiously he and his family are members of the Baptist church, while in the Rotary Club of Perry he represents his particular field of work. Mr. Traber is likewise a member of the Silver Lake Country Club. It has been more than thirty- four years since Mr. Traber first took up his residence in Perry. This period has witnessed a very considerable development in the city, as well as in the business with which he is most closely identified. At every turning point in the city's career Mr. Traber has allied himself with the men who stand for civic virtue and economic progress, until today he well deserves the title of one of the leading citizens of his community.
G. NORTON MORTIMORE.
G. Norton Mortimore, president of the Mortimore Motor Car Company of Roches- ter, is the youngest distributor of Pierce and Nash cars in the United States and is in all probability the youngest man in the country to have attained such a position in the automotive industry. He entered this field in 1920, when he came to Rochester as head of the company. Sales promotion work as the manager of the Ampico division of the American Piano Company won him a wide acquaintance and gave him a valu- able training in that line of activity. He comes from a southern family of distinction, and was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on the 23d of May, 1892, the son of William E. and Julia (Bradley) Mortimore. His mother's father, Clark Bradley, was the pioneer carriage manufacturer of Kentucky. A native of Connecticut, he went to Louisville as a boy and there spent the rest of his life, becoming a prominent figure in the industrial life of that city in his day. His wife was Elmyra Moore before her marriage. On the paternal side of the house, Mr. Mortimore is the grandson of Dr. David and Amelia (Frederick) Mortimore, the former a leading physician and surgeon of Louisville a generation ago. Mr. Mortimore's father is active in the affairs of the Kentucky metropolis today. He is associated with the administration of the George W. Norton estate as executor and is also a director of the George Norton Association. G. Norton Mortimore is the youngest of the four Mortimore children, the others being: Edwin Bradley, who is treasurer of the Surety Coupon Company of New York city; Mrs. Charles T. Stuart of New York city and Rochester, whose husband is the vice president of the Mortimore Motor Car Company, and was formerly vice president of the Empire State Finance Corporation; and Mrs. Carleton B. Hutchins of Chicago, whose husband is the vice president and treasurer of the Hutchins Lumber & Storage Company of Chicago, Illinois.
G. Norton Mortimore was educated in the public and high schools of Louisville, after which he prepared for a business career by taking a commercial training course. Although he was a very young man and had had no actual experience in the commer- cial world, Mr. Mortimore at once launched out on his own account as a merchandise broker. He soon disposed of this business, however, to become a special representative of Chickering & Sons of Boston, the famous piano manufacturers, directing sales promotion work throughout the United States. Later he was associated with the American Piano Company as factory representative and manager for the "Ampico" distribution of that firm at the executive headquarters in New York city, adding greatly to his reputation as a sales promoter of the first rank during the two years he represented its interests.
In 1919 Mr. Mortimore came to Rochester to establish the Mortimore Motor Car
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Company, of which he is the sole owner, and to engage in the distribution of the Pierce Arrow and Nash cars. He has become one of the most successful distributors of motor cars in this part of New York in less than five years. The retail sales divi- sion is located on East avenue, the most prominent thoroughfare of the city and this, together with separate buildings for service, is considered the largest automotive enterprise of Rochester. Plans are at this time under way for additional building quarters, and his company is now doing a business that would satisfy the ambitions of a man much older and more experienced than he. Not long ago his sales record in this territory won from Mr. C. W. Nash, the president of Nash Motors Company, a special commendation and appreciation of his efforts. This achievement on the part of a man who has barely gotten into the "thirty" class, indicates that he has some unusual gifts in addition to ambition and the determination to succeed. And so he has. George Norton Mortimore has ability and the capacity for hard and long continued labor, and in addition he is blessed with those personal qualities that attract men to him and make him a leader. Always pleasant, always considerate of others, never unduly critical, he at the same time is able quickly to discriminate between the essen- tial and the non-essential and to lay his plans so as to get the maximum results with the minimum amount of effort. He has exceptional ability in organization and sales promotion capacity. In short, he is a "born executive" and sales promoter of high- grade products.
Mr. Mortimore is a member of the National Auto Dealers Association and of the Rochester Auto Dealers Association. He is a director in the City Realty Company and belongs to the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally he is identified with the Elks and with the Masonic order, in the latter having attained the thirty-second degree and belonging to the consistory and the Shrine. His clubs are the Rochester and the Rochester Yacht Clubs.
During the World war Mr. Mortimore enlisted in the military service in Louis- ville, joining the Eighty-fourth Division Signal Corps, and was sent to the Fourth Officers' Training School. When he had completed the course of training there he was commissioned lieutenant in the infantry and made instructor in machine guns at Camp Hancock, Georgia. He was honorably discharged from the service shortly after the close of the war and returned to the pursuits of civilian life.
FREDERICK WHITE ZOLLER.
Frederick White Zoller, president of the Union Trust Company, has been con- nected with the banking business in Rochester for nearly forty-five years; in fact, his entire business career has been passed in some banking capacity. He was born in Redwood, Jefferson county, New York, August 11, 1863, a son of Darius D. and Mary F. Zoller.
Frederick White Zoller's education was acquired in the public schools of Roches- ter and the Rochester Academy. At the age of eighteen years he began his business career as messenger for Erickson Jennings & Company, private bankers. This firm was succeeded by the Union Bank of Rochester in 1885. When the institution was changed to the Union Trust Company in December, 1897, Mr. Zoller was elected secretary. In his new position Mr. Zoller's responsibilities were greatly increased. Under his management the business of the company grew to such an extent that larger quarters became imperative. In the spring of 1911 the new building on State street was opened to the public and at that time was considered one of the finest buildings in the city. In March, 1922, the Union Trust Company moved to its present quarters at No. 19 Main street, West. In January, 1914, Mr. Zoller was elected president, and during the eleven years of his presidency (1914 to 1925) the assets of the bank increased to thirty million dollars; the Citizens Bank, at East avenue and Main street was merged with the Union Trust Company in May, 1920, and is now known as the East Avenue Branch; the Lake Avenue Branch at Charlotte, was established in November, 1920; and the Joseph Avenue Branch began business in September, 1923. The main office, at No. 19 Main street, West, and the three branches afford banking facilities to the people in all parts of the city. The prominent position of the Union Trust Company, among Rochester's leading financial institutions, is largely the out- come of Mr. Zoller's opinions, labors and experience.
His long career as a banker has given him a wide acquaintanceship among financial men throughout the country, and there are very few men in Rochester
FREDERICK W. ZOLLER
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today who have known personally as many of the city's financial leaders of the past forty years as has Mr. Zoller.
Among his other business connections Mr. Zoller is vice president of the Rochester Folding Box Company, a director in the Rochester Telephone Corporation and the Rochester, Lockport & Buffalo Company, and is a commissioner of the Mount Hope Cemetery Association.
On September 26, 1886, Mr. Zoller was married to Miss Jessie Gifford, a daugh- ter of Jesse W. Gifford of Rochester. Their son, Gifford Zoller, is now engaged in the real estate business in this city. In Masonic circles Mr. Zoller is a well known figure, being a member of Yonnondio Lodge No. 163 F. & A. M .; Hamilton Chapter No. 62, R. A. M .; the Rochester Scottish Rite consistory; and Damascus Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of Rochester Lodge, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Genesee Valley Club and the Rochester Country Club. Politically Mr. Zoller is aligned with the republican party and his church membership is with the Brick Presbyterian church.
ARTHUR L. RUNALS, M. D.
Dr. Arthur L. Runals is a learned and progressive physician of Olean, New York, who has built up a large practice in the thirteen years he has been in the medical profession. His success is due in part to his personality and to the knowledge of the public that he keeps up with the trend of the times in his profession by constant study and attendance at the best postgraduate schools. In 1916 he attended various clinics in Philadelphia and in 1918 clinics in the New York Post Graduate Hospital. In 1923 he was in the Trudeau School for the study of Tuberculosis and in 1924 did postgraduate work at the University of Buffalo. The Doctor obtained his M. D. degree at this institution in 1911. He is the son of Leonard E. and Nellie G. (Ryder) Runals and was born in 1889. His father was a broker in the cheese and produce business and lived in Arcade most of his life, where he is still a very highly esteemed citizen. Leonard E. Runals served overseas for more than two years as a Y. M. C. A. secretary during the World war. The paternal great-grandfather Runals came to this section over a century ago and bought his land directly from the Holland Com- pany. There is one deed in the family's possession dating back to 1819. The family have always resided in this part of the state.
After attending the public and high schools of Arcade, Arthur L. Runals attended the Central high school of Buffalo and graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1911. He first practiced in Belfast, New York, where he was located for seven years, at the end of which time he came to Olean. He now devotes most of his time to office and hospital practice and has a large consulting practice. Dr. Runals is also a member of the staff of the Olean General Hospital. He belongs to the Ameri- can Medical, the New York State and the Cattaraugus County Medical Associations.
On September 11, 1912, Dr. Runals was married to Miss Florence J. Puetz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Puetz of Buffalo. Dr. and Mrs. Runals have three children: Grace A., born February 16, 1915; Eleanor E., born July 6, 1918; and Dorothy B., born December 3, 1920. Dr. Runals is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Y. M. C. A., the F. L. Bartlett Country Club and the Kiwanis Club. He attends the First Presbyterian church.
IRVING DENNISON BOOTH.
A constantly growing business, capably managed and wisely directed, is indi- cative of the executive ability of Irving Dennison Booth, who is a well known hardware merchant of Elmira, of which city he is a native. He was born May 10, 1884, and his public school training was supplemented by a study in the Elmira and Mercersburg Academies. In 1903, when a young man of nineteen, he entered the employ of his father, Irving D. Booth, Sr., a wholesale hardware merchant of Elmira, under whom he gained a thorough knowledge of the business. Since the death of its founder in 1914, the son has controlled the business, which is now operated under the name of Irving D. Booth, Incorporated, and has prospered under his management. He fills the offices of president and treasurer and follows the most progressive methods in the conduct of the business, at the same time adhering
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closely to the policy of honorable, straightforward dealing adopted by his father. This is one of the oldest and most reliable hardware firms in Elmira and its trade has kept pace with the development of the city and the surrounding district, thus proving its usefulness to the community and the quality of service rendered by the house.
On June 1, 1908, Mr. Booth was married to Miss Mary Stewart Seeley, who was born in Elmira and completed her education in the National Park Seminary at Washington, D. C. Her parents were John and Harriet Seeley, the former a manu- facturer of carriages and one of the substantial business men of the city. Her grand- father, Nathaniel R. Seeley, was one of the honored pioneers of Chemung county, in which he settled in 1792, and his home was the first frame house erected in Elmira. He became the owner of a tract of government land comprising one thousand acres and contributed materially to the upbuilding of this section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Booth have a family of four children: John Seeley, a student in the Choate School at Wallingford, Connecticut; Harriet Louise and Nancy Elizabeth, who are attending the local schools; and Irving D. Booth (III).
The parents are faithful members of the Park Congregational church and Mr. Booth has served on its music committee. He casts his ballot for the candidates of the republican party and conscientiously discharges his civic duties, taking a deep interest in everything that touches the welfare and advancement of his community. He is president of the Chamber of Commerce and serves as vice president of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the City, Country and Century Clubs of Elmira.
ANDREW JOHNSTON TOWNSON.
The names and achievements of many who have won renown which entitles them to the gratitude of mankind are recorded in stone and bronze, but Andrew J. Townson needs no such monument. His fame is preserved in the history of Rochester's progress along material, moral and educational lines as well as in the hearts of his fellow citizens, and his example of industry, integrity and high-minded endeavor lives to inspire future generations. His thoughts were ever fixed upon problems for the elevation of his community and humanity in general. His was a conspicuously useful life and his death was an irreparable loss to his city.
Andrew Johnston Townson was born in Carlisle, England, May 2, 1856, of Scottish and English parents, and was a boy of eight when the family came to the New World. They lived for a time in Toronto, Canada, removing from that city to Rochester, and subsequently became residents of Litchfield, Illinois, where the father died. The mother was left in straitened circumstances and returned to her old home in Scotland with her family of four children, but soon realized that in America she could educate them in the public schools free of charge. In 1867 Mrs. Townson again came to Rochester and as Andrew Johnston Townson was the only son in the family much of the responsibility for its support devolved upon him. At the age of twelve, there- fore, his mother took him to the store of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, then just starting in business, and asked Mr. Lindsay to hire him as a check boy. Learn- ing not long afterward that a bundle boy's pay was fifty cents a week larger than that of a check boy, he at once applied for the position, saying to Mr. Sibley: "I can carry as big a bundle as any of the boys." Eager to secure an education, he soon began to attend night school, while his mother took boarders in order to keep the family together. After completing a commercial course Mr. Townson was made bookkeeper for the firm and later became cashier. While filling that position Dr. Martin B. Anderson, the first president of the University of Rochester, entered the store to pay a bill and was so favorably impressed with the alertness and courtesy of the young cashier that he called Mr. Sibley's attention to the matter, advising him to "keep an eye on that young man". Shortly after this incident, and as a result of the interest of Dr. Anderson, a senior at the university was secured to tutor Mr. Townson along the lines of higher education.
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