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 13
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When Mr. Townson was about twenty years of age a member of the firm sent for his mother to ask her approval of a plan whereby a portion of his salary would go toward acquiring an interest in the company. Although this involved a sacrifice on her part, she cheerfully consented, hoping that some day the son would become a member of the firm. and ten years later that hope was realized, when, at the age of thirty, he was admitted to a partnership in the company, of which he later became
ANDREW J. TOWNSON
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secretary and treasurer. He was a man of exceptional business ability and notably keen discernment, readily perceiving the possibilities as well as the limitations of any project presented to him. He supervised the purchase of the various properties on which the present store of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company stands, obtaining the parcels of land at surprisingly low figures. He also accomplished the seemingly impossible task of purchasing for the New York Central Railroad Company the pieces of property, numbering more than two hundred, which were needed for the site of their station. The entire purchase was consummated for less than four hun- dred thousand dollars, the sum stipulated by President Brown, who left the details to Mr. Townson. He was also president of the Stecher Lithographic Company and a director of the Alliance Bank and the Mohawk Condensed Milk Company.
Mr. Townson had a natural aptitude for financial matters and was an organizer of marked ability, which made his assistance much sought after in circles outside of his business. A close student of current events and a man of wide knowledge, gained through constant and intelligent reading, he interested himself in many move- ments of civic importance. He served as treasurer of the Rochester Bureau of Munici- pal Research, and as a trustee of the Rochester Orphan Asylum was largely respon- sible for the present fine home of that institution at Cobb Hill. For years he was a trustee of the University of Rochester and of Vassar College, acting as a member of the Auditing committee of both institutions, and it is said that Vassar College owes its present financial system to Mr. Townson's reorganization. For twenty years he was treasurer of the Rochester Baptist Theological Seminary and he also became a director of the Rochester Dental Dispensary. He was a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce for a considerable period and in 1910 was made first vice president of that body. In 1900 he was appointed by Mayor Carnahan a member of the Rochester Board of Education to fill out the unexpired term of J. Herbert Grant and for eight years he was identified with that organization, serving for six years of that period as its president and rendering at a critical time in the history of the public schools of this city a service that will ever be remembered by the people of Rochester as unique and constructive.
On the 24th of November, 1887, Mr. Townson was married to Miss Marie An- toinette Castle, a daughter of the Rev. John Harvard Castle, D. D., who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1830. In 1851 he completed a course in the Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, which in 1866 bestowed upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1853 he was graduated from the Rochester Theological Seminary. He was in charge of the Baptist churches at Potts- ville, Pennsylvania, and Newburg, New York, and for fourteen years filled a pastorate in Philadelphia. In 1873 he became pastor of the Bond Street Baptist church in Toronto, Canada, and in 1881 was called to the presidency of McMaster's Hall, a Baptist seminary founded in that city. He traveled extensively in Europe and was a man of high character and scholarly attainments. His wife was a daughter of William E. Arnold.
Mr. and Mrs. Townson had a family of four children. The oldest, Kenneth Castle, married Elizabeth Mulligan and they have two sons, Edward and Andrew J .; Douglas Castle married Marie Werner and they have three children, Marie Antoinette, William Werner and Barbara; the other two members of the family are Harold Castle and Andrew J. Townson, Jr.
It may truthfully be said of Mr. Townson that he was a man universally be- loved, and the following tribute to his character was published in the editorial columns of the Rochester Herald: "The career of Andrew J. Townson is one of the familiar if not frequent illustrations of the rewards which life in America holds in its lap for industrious hands, a clear mind, a sound head and a hardy soul. Coming to this country as a boy with little beside these, he won his way steadily to a place of eminence, not only in the commercial and financial affairs of a great community, but in its civic life, and particularly in its spheres of philanthropic and educational endeavor. Under his simple and modest exterior, there were always smoothly in play the rare faculties of wise judgment, resolute purpose and swift decision. These talents displayed in embryo while he was still a boy made him invaluable first as an employe, later as a member of one of the largest and most successful of Rochester's commercial houses.
"By degrees these peculiar gifts of Mr. Townson's made themselves known-quite without the effort or desire of their possessor-to the community as a whole. So it came to be the rule to summon to the councils of the various charities and other civic enterprises, the aid of this skilful and sagacious organizer of system, this simplifier of hitherto unsolved and insoluble problems. To all these uses Mr. Townson contrived
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to give generously of his best in time and labor, quite as if he were not already a man with an infinite variety of employments.
"It is an old saying that when one wants a difficult thing done, one should look for a busy man and give him the task. Something like this was in the minds of the men and women who set out to construct an orderly system of public schools out of the chaos of extravagance, incompetency and corruption that was the disgrace and despair of Rochester twenty years ago. Their work had not proceeded very far before they turned instinctively to Andrew Townson for counsel, advice and guidance. Later they induced him to accept an appointment on the school board itself. Once there, the people of Rochester saw to it that he remained in office until the Herculean task of reconstruction of the school system was completed.
"The civic activities of Mr. Townson were many and useful during the long period of his association with public and semi-public affairs of varying importance and area, but the achievement for which the city owes its greatest debt to his quiet, re- sourceful, unfaltering energy is his great part in establishing the schools of Rochester on a foundation of order and intelligent organization."
The following resolutions were passed by the Rochester Board of Education, February 20, 1920: "On Monday of the present week occurred the death of Mr. Andrew J. Townson of this city. The extent to which his death has taken from Rochester a man who for years had been recognized as one of its most capable leaders in the fields of business and finance, as well as in the shaping of policies in many of the civic and philanthropic organizations of the city, has been set forth by the many resolutions of appreciation that have been passed. All the tributes that could possibly be paid to the worth of this man in these fields cannot adequately express the merit which he had earned. We most heartily join in such expressions of appreciation.
"But the name of Andrew J. Townson will always stand foremost among the names of those who have rendered distinct and invaluable service to the cause of public education in this city. He was one of the first men to serve as a member of the board of commissioners under the plan by which membership of the board was reduced to five and all were to be elected by the people of the city at large. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance and far-reaching consequence of the poli- cies for which this new board was to be held responsible during these early days. The rare capacity of Mr. Townson was immediately recognized by his associates on the board and from January, 1900, to December 31, 1905, he served as its president. His accomplishments in this field of service are well known to the people of this city. They were of the very highest order. The same devotion to the task in hand, the same clearness of insight and soundness of judgment that characterized his work in everything that he touched were manifest here. It is a service which only those can thoroughly appreciate who understand the magnitude of the task.
"Therefore, be it resolved, that the members of this board hereby express their admiration and respect for the services which Mr. Andrew J. Townson rendered as a former member and president of the board of school commissioners of this city, and that they record with deep sorrow the loss that has come to the city at large through his death; and be it
"Further resolved, that the superintendent of schools be instructed to prepare a brief biographical sketch of the life and services of Mr. Andrew J. Townson for distribution and use among those in our public schools, to the end that our boys and girls may be stimulated to find in that equality of opportunity which this country affords, an inspiration to reach the same high rank of wholesome leadership and influence to which this man had attained."
Resolutions adopted by the board of trustees of the Rochester Bureau of Municipal Research: "The appalling suddenness of the death of our associate. Andrew J. Town- son, was not only a severe shock to the whole community, but was a peculiarly crush- ing blow to the members of this board.
"Yesterday he sat with us for two hours at our annual meeting. intelligently discussing questions of importance to the whole city, affable, cheerful, apparently unapprehensive. Within ten minutes after we adjourned he was dead.
"Mr. Townson was no common man: always cool and deliberate. he went straight to the heart of a business proposition and acted upon his judgment with promptness and certainty. Although interested in many enterprises. every one of them felt the effect of his guiding hand. He gave himself generously to city affairs and served on numerous charitable, educational and philanthropic boards, where his counsel was always sought and highly esteemed.
"And yet we shall miss him most of all as a genial friend and companion. He
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was always so even tempered, always so interesting, always so sociable that he was a welcome guest in the home, a welcome counselor at the board meetings, and a wel- come companion everywhere and at all times.
"We extend to the members of his family our heartfelt sympathy, because we know how devoted a husband and how wise a father they have lost.
"We direct that this memorial be entered in our records and that a copy be sent to the members of the Townson family."
Resolutions passed by the board of trustees of Vassar College at its annual meet- ing, held Monday, June 7, 1920: "The trustees record with keen regret the loss of their valued fellow member, Mr. Andrew J. Townson, who died suddenly on February 16, 1920, in Rochester, New York. Mr. Townson was for twenty-one years a faithful member of this board, and rendered most helpful service upon its committees, espe- cially in the field of finance. Mr. Townson was deeply interested as well in the students of the college and more than one of the graduates owes her degree to his devoted advocacy of Alma Mater."
Resolutions adopted on the 17th of February, 1920, by the board of directors of the Alliance Bank: "In the passing of Andrew J. Townson the members of this board have lost a loyal associate and the Alliance Bank a faithful and able director. Touching the business and philanthropic interests of the city at many points and for six years a most valuable member of the board of education, Mr. Townson was a citizen whose unostentatious, even retiring manner and simple life, obscured to the many, the unusual soundness of his judgment and his wide knowledge of affairs, the thought of which generous equipment deepens the sorrow of that smaller circle, know- ing him more intimately, which is inexpressibly shocked and pained by the sudden stroke which has taken him away, and which to most of them came without any warning. It is ordered that this tribute be entered in full upon the minutes of the board and a copy, suitably engrossed, presented to the family with an expression of sincere sympathy and condolence."
Action taken by the board of trustees of the Rochester Dental Dispensary at a special meeting held Tuesday, February 17, 1920: "It is with heavy hearts that we, the trustees of the Rochester Dental Dispensary, contemplate the death of our friend and associate, Andrew J. Townson.
"Our esteem and affection for him is the natural outgrowth of long converse and intimate companionship. His was a many-sided and forceful personality. His man- hood bore the impress of sincerity and candor and combined in the most unusual degree social charms with keen business ability and soundness of judgment. With rare poise and unostentation, he was able to think clearly through a proposition and to formulate conclusions which commanded the earnest attention and consideration of all. No task either public or private, having been undertaken, was too onerous or too immaterial to receive his best endeavor and to be carried to its ultimate conclusion. Few men have contributed such devotion and valuable service to the community at large or to so many worth-while interests of special character. His genial presence and wise counsel will be sadly missed around many a fireside and administrative board.
"It is therefore with profound appreciation of our irreparable loss in the death of Mr. Townson that we enter upon the records of the board of trustees of the Rochester Dental Dispensary these minutes in token of our high esteem and affectionate regard."
The following resolutions on the death of Mr. Townson were offered by Mr. Alexander M. Lindsay and adopted by the board of directors of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company: "Mr. Andrew Johnston Townson, secretary and treasurer of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, died suddenly in Rochester, in the afternoon of February 16, 1920.
"Only by the members of his immediate family will the death of Mr. Townson be felt more keenly than by his associates in this company. An intimate friendship as well as a business relationship of more than half a century is ended. Such an associa- tion cannot be terminated without giving expression to the deep and sincere sorrow which has come to every member of this board.
"A history of this business would be a recital of the life work of Mr. Townson, not complete because he gave generously of his time and talents to public and philan- thropic projects, yet it was here that his best thought and effort were put forth, in full measure. The store had been his training school as a boy, and as a man it was his chief field of activity. When this business had its small beginning as the Boston Store in March, 1868, Mr. Townson entered the organization as a check boy. The founders of the business were not slow in recognizing his ability and capacity. He was not only given guidance and instruction during working hours, but was provided with the opportunity for evening study. These advantages he improved. His advance-
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ment kept pace with the growth of the business. He was successively bookkeeper, cashier, office manager and in a few years had a partnership interest. Since the incorporation of the business in 1897, he had been a director and the secretary and treasurer of the company.
"Mr. Townson possessed a remarkable capacity for turning out work. He was a keen analyst of men and conditions. His judgments were quickly formed and usually sound. Once convinced that a course of action was correct, it was carried through with unswerving energy and determination. He was peculiarly a man of achieve- ment. His work in connection with this business will be taken up by other minds and hands. His place will never be quite filled. To the family of Mr. Townson we express our truest sympathy."
The following resolution was presented to Mr. Townson personally on the occa- sion of the Young Men's Christian Association drive for funds: "The directors of the Young Men's Christian Association of Rochester wish by this formal resolution, spread this day upon the minutes of the board, to acknowledge their personal debt to you as a member of the building committee. They wish also to express to you for them- selves and in behalf of a grateful community, appreciation of an accomplishment of which it is the highest praise to say that it is worthy of that spirit of unselfishness in which it was performed."
"The members of the executive committee of the board of trustees of the Roches- ter Theological Seminary would record their keen and heartfelt sorrow in the death of Andrew J. Townson. For thirty-four years Mr. Townson has been a member of the board of trustees of the Seminary, being next in length of service to Cyrus F. Paine, among all the members of the present board. He became a member of the board in 1886, and for nearly all of the time of his service he has been a member also of its executive committees. For four years, from 1899 to 1903, he was acting treasurer of the Seminary, succeeding Mr. Paine, who had filled the office of treasurer for forty-six years, from 1853 to 1899.
"No words can fitly express the value of the service which Andrew J. Townson has rendered to the Rochester Theological Seminary, and through the Seminarv to the training of ministers and leaders for the churches and of teachers for institutions of higher learning. He brought to his service wonderful executive and administrative powers. He was particularly valuable in relation to the safe and wise investment of the endowment funds. The maintenance of the buildings and equipment of the Sem- inary was also of keen interest to him, and his watchful care never failed. In the building of Alvah Strong Hall, the gift of Mr. Henry A. Strong, Mr. Townson was chairman of the building committee and he was unflagging in his attention to the planning and the construction of this building, which has meant so much to the life of the school.
"But beyond all our recognition of the invaluable service which Mr. Townson has rendered for so many years we record here our most sincere expression of great personal loss. With sorrow we remember that it will not again be ours to sit with him in council. A rare personality has gone from us, a man of unfailing industry, of penetrating and discriminating judgment, a man just, wise and kind. Many inter- ests in Rochester are the poorer for his going, but in none will he be more sincerely mourned than among the trustees of the Seminary. We are sure that the realization of our loss will grow ever more profound with the passing months and years.
"To Mrs. Townson and to all the members of the family of our friend, we extend the sympathy of our hearts, and we direct that this minute be spread upon the records of the executive committee, and that a copy be sent to Mrs. Townson."
The following resolutions of sympathy were adopted by the board of directors of the Stecher Lithogranhic Company: "The death of Andrew J. Townson has brought sorrow and a sense of loss to many of our citizens, but to none more than to us, his business associates. Starting single-handed, possessed of ambition, judgment, and guided by the Golden Rule, he soon rose to prominence.
"Our community and many of its institutions long since recognized his worth and sought his aid. In many ways he contributed, without ostentation, the talents that earned for him the proud position which he held in the civic and business life of our city. He worked quietly and irresistibly, caring little for the praise of others, but reveling in the results achieved.
"He became the head of this company only a few years since, but in that short time the qualities which had distinguished him in other fields, soon evidenced their worth and taught us to rely upon him with that supreme confidence which is the measure of our business loss.
"As a man he was ever friendly, kindly, courteous and sympathetic; and he
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reflected in his individual contacts with men those characteristics which made him a. philanthropist in his relation to the world at large.
"We have lost an executive of extraordinary ability; we regret with deep sin- cerity the loss of our friend."
PETER M. OSTRANDER, M. D.
Over forty years in the successful practice of medicine in the town entitle Dr. Peter M. Ostrander of Nunda, Livingston county, New York, to be ranked as one of the veterans of the profession. With the exception of a few months immediately after his graduation, the entire professional career of Dr. Ostranger has been fol- lowed in Nunda. He was born at Fonda, Montgomery county, New York, on August 15, 1852, the son of William W. and Catherine (Mesick) Ostrander, both natives of New York state, and both deceased. The father was a farmer. There were six sons and one daughter in the family, of whom four of the sons are living.
Peter M. Ostrander obtained his elementary education in the public schools of the county, took his academic course at the Spencertown Academy, and then matricu- lated at the Cleveland Homeopathic College, where he received his M. D. degree and graduated in 1883. For a few months after his graduation Dr. Ostrander practiced at Kinderhook, New York, and then moved to Nunda, where he has practiced success- fully ever since. In 1895 the Doctor took a course at the New York Postgraduate Medical School, in New York city. He is a member of the New York State Homeo- pathic Association.
Dr. Ostrander was married on June 19, 1879, to Ella Fraley, daughter of Charles and Margaret (Hann) Fraley, deceased. Three children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Ostrander: Bertha, the wife of Edward C. Caldwell; Frederick B., and Arthur D. In his religious convictions he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and his political views find expression in the republican party.
CHARLES GALLERY.
Among the well known and progressive young residents of Rochester who have attained success in their respective business ventures is Charles Gallery, grandson of a respected Rochester pioneer who played a prominent part in the early develop- ment of the city. It was in 1906 that Charles Gallery established the Charles Gallery Company, Incorporated, of which he is president, and he is likewise officially identified with the E. C. Campbell Coal Company in the dual capacity of vice president and manager. He was born in Rochester on the 25th of November, 1884, his parents being James F. and Helen (Connors) Gallery, who have been lifelong residents of this city and enjoy an extensive and favorable acquaintance throughout the com- munity. James F. Gallery was successfullly engaged in the coal business here to the time of his retirement. Captain James F. Gallery, the paternal grandfather of Charles Gallery, was one of Rochester's pioneer coal merchants, opening and conduct- ing the first coal yard in the city. During the period of the Civil war he was com- missioned captain and was placed in charge of the Rochester Armory. For a number of years he was in partnership with Walter Bernard Duffy in the ownership and conduct of a hotel on State street, and the two men were also closely associated in other business enterprises. James F. and Helen (Connors) Gallery are the parents. of three children, namely: James Craig, Laura M. and Charles. All are still in Rochester.
Charles Gallery attended the grammar and high schools in the acquirement of an education and was a young man of twenty-two years when in 1906 he established himself in the poultry supply and seed business, in which he has remained to the. present time, being now president of the Charles Gallery Company, Incorporated. The concern has grown from a small beginning to its present extensive proportions. through the enterprise and energy of its founder. Mr. Gallery is also active in the conduct of the E. C. Campbell Coal Company, of which he serves as vice president and manager. His success in the business world is the direct outcome of untiring per- severance, unabating industry and unassailable integrity, and his record is in harmony with that of his father and grandfather in the commercial circles of Rochester.
On the 5th of August, 1908, Mr. Gallery was united in marriage to Miss Harriet:
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LaFontaine, daughter of Louis LaFontaine and representative of a prominent Roches- ter family. Her father, a man of marked mechanical skill and ingenuity, invented among other devises the machinery used in the manufacture of pins. Mr. and Mrs. Gallery are the parents of two children: Helen Clark, who was born in Rochester in 1909 and is a student in Chesbrough Seminary; and Charles LaFontaine, who was born in Rochester in October, 1911, and is also attending school.
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