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 70
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John S. Lapp attended the public schools of Honeoye Falls and afterward became a student in the University of Rochester, completing two years in that institution in 1899. In the same year he became an employe of Fred M. Locke, a manufacturer of insulators in Victor, New York, for whom he worked until 1901, and for three years thereafter he was in the service of C. S. Knowles of Boston, Massachusetts, engaged in the same line of business. In 1904 he returned to the Locke Insulator Manufactur- ing Company, with which he was connected until 1915, filling the offices of secretary and manager. In 1916 he established a business of his own, organizing the Lapp Insulator Company, Incorporated, and assumed the duties of vice president and gen- eral manager. He served in those capacities until 1922 and has since been president and general manager of the company. In 1917 the company erected a plant in Le Roy and first employed twenty-five men. Additions have been built each year and in 1924 the capacity of the plant was tripled. The firm now has over three hundred employes and is doing a business of approximately one million dollars a year. It manufactures high voltage porcelain insulators, obtaining material for this purpose from England, Canada and America, and the output of the plant is sold to the highest electric power lines in the world. The firm has created an international market for its insulators and has representatives in Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and throughout the United States. Mr. Lapp has a highly specialized knowledge of the business, of which he has made a life study, and the remarkable success that has attended the operations of the concern is proof of his superior executive ability and organizing powers.
JOHN S. LAPP
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In October, 1902, in Honeoye Falls, New York, Mr. Lapp was married to Miss Ethna L. Visscher, a daughter of Stephen K. Visscher of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Lapp have become the parents of four children: Rudolph S., a member of the class of 1927 at Union College; and Judith H., Wendell V. and Dean H., all of whom are attending the Le Roy high school.
Mr. Lapp is liberal in his political views and supports the candidate whom he considers best qualified for office, irrespective of party ties. He takes a keen interest in civic affairs and as a member of the water, light and park commissions and school board of Le Roy he is rendering valuable service to his community. He is a member of the board of directors of the Le Roy National Bank; belongs to the Chamber of Commerce of Rochester; Olive Branch Lodge, F. & A. M., at Le Roy; the Oatka Hose Club of Le Roy and the Stafford Country Club. He turns to golf and motoring for recreation.
ROSS GEORGE LOOP, M. D., F. A. C. S.
For over a quarter of a century Elmira has been the scene of the professional labors of Dr. Ross George Loop and he has gained recognition as one of the foremost surgeons of the city. He was born in Lawrenceville, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1876, a son of James W. and Anna J. (Brant) Loop, the former also a native of that county, and the latter of Lindley, Steuben county, New York. They were married in Nelson, Pennsylvania, in 1874, and Ross George Loop was their only child. One of the earliest settlers of Chemung county was Christian Loop. Dr. A. M. Loop, another member of the family, was born in Elmira and subse- quently removed to Tioga, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the practice of medicine for a period of sixty-five years. James W. Loop was an honored veteran of the Civil war, in which he served for two years as sergeant of Company G, Second New York Cavalry. He became a resident of Elmira in 1884 and engaged in the real estate business. Both he and his wife were consistent members of the Presbyterian church and he was identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, while his political support was given to the republican party. He passed away in 1912. The mother still resides in Elmira.
Ross George Loop attended the public schools and the Elmira Free Academy, afterward entering the medical department of the University of Buffalo, from which he was graduated in 1897 as president of his class. He was one of the founders of Omega Upsilon Phi, a Medical Collegiate fraternity, and was the first president of Alpha Chapter, the first chapter of the fraternity. For eighteen months he was interne at the Erie County Hospital of Buffalo and in 1898 opened an office in Elmira, where he has since made his home. He specializes in surgery and has served on the staff of the Arnot-Ogden Memorial Hospital of this city since 1899. He has en- hanced his skill by postgraduate work in Paris, London and Edinburgh.
On June 5, 1900, Dr. Loop was married to Miss Agnes Margaret Elliot, who was born, reared and educated in Port Huron, Michigan, and they have become the parents of two daughters: Marget Brant, who is attending the Institute of Musical Art of the city of New York; and Jane Elliot, a public school pupil.
Dr. Loop's military experience covers seven months' service in the United States army during the World war. He was commissioned captain and assigned to duty at the base hospital at Camp Lee, Virginia. He is a member of the American Legion and has served as commander of Elmira Post. He is also a member of the Military Order of the World war. He is one of the Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the First Baptist church, while in politics he is a republican. In 1914 Dr. Loop was honored with a fellowship in the American College of Surgeons. He has written and spoken extensively on surgical subjects.
HON. JAMES WOLCOTT WADSWORTH.
Hon. James Wolcott Wadsworth of Geneseo, financier, former member of con- gress, agriculturist and one of the widely known and most highly esteemed citizens of the Genesee country, was born on the 12th of October, 1846, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, son of Brigadier General James S. and Mary (Wharton) Wadsworth. James W. Wadsworth is the grandson of James Wadsworth, who, with his brother William, came from Durham, Connecticut, to what is now Livingston county in 1790,
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and bought a large tract of land of the reserved Phelps and Gorham Purchase in the Genesee valley. General James Samuel Wadsworth, son of James, became a leading citizen of the Empire state. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in the Union army and rose to the rank of brigadier general. While the War between the States was in progress he was the republican candidate for governor in 1862 but was de- feated by Horatio Seymour, the democratic candidate. He was killed in May, 1864, while gallantly rallying his division-Fourth of the Fifth Corps-in the battle of the Wilderness.
James Wolcott Wadsworth was a student at the famous Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, Connecticut, preparing for Yale, but left in the fall of 1864, to enter the Union army. He first served as volunteer aid on the staff of Gen. G. K. Warren, commanding the Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, from October 1, 1864 to January, 1865, and was then appointed captain and A. D. C. by President Lincoln, and on April 1, 1865, was brevetted major for "gallant and meritorious service" at the battle of Five Forks, Virginia, serving on the staff of General G. K. Warren. In May he was ordered to report to General Sheridan, at New Orleans but hostilities having ceased he was mustered out on June 25, 1865. Upon his return to Geneseo he assumed the management of extensive farm interests, which he has continued very successfully.
Always a stanch republican, his first public office was as supervisor of Geneseo in 1875, 1876 and 1877. In 1878 and 1879 he was a member of the assembly, and in 1880 and 1881 was comptroller of the state of New York. He then became his party's choice for congress, being first elected to the forty-seventh congress, and served in the forty-eighth, fifty-second, fifty-third, fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh congresses, retiring in 1907. Mr. Wadsworth was a member of the constitutional convention of 1914. In 1898 Yale University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
Hon. James W. Wadsworth was for many years president of the Genesee Valley National Bank at Geneseo and president of the Genesee River National Bank at Mount Morris, and is now president of the State Bank of Livonia, vice president of the Citizens Bank of Dansville, chairman of the board of the Livingston County Trust Company and of the Genesee Valley National Bank. He is now first vice presi- dent of the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, having first served seven years as its president.
On September 14, 1876, James W. Wadsworth was married to Louisa Travers, daughter of William R. Travers of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth are the parents of a daughter and a son: Harriet, who is the wife of Fletcher Harper of New York; and Hon. James W. Wadsworth, Jr., senior United States senator from New York.
FRANK ROWLETT AULLS.
Frank Rowlett Aulls, the capable incumbent in the position of county treasurer of Steuben county, justly merits the proud American title of a self-made man, for he has been dependent upon his own resources from the age of fourteen years and has won prosperity in business and prominence in public life. He was born in Brad- ford, Steuben county, New York, on the 7th of August, 1878, and represents an old family of the county. His great-grandfather. William Aulls, made his way to Pleasant Valley in company with William Baker in 1793, seventeen years before the arrival of the Hammond family, in whose honor the town of Hammondsport was named. Ephraim Aulls, the grandfather of Frank R. Aulls, came to the Empire state from Connecti- cut and took up his abode among the pioneer settlers of Pleasant Valley. Frank Aulls, his father, a native of Wayne, Steuben county, this state, died when his son, Frank R., of this review, was a youth of fourteen. In the acquirement of an education Frank Rowlett Aulls attended the public schools and the Haverling Academy. After putting aside his textbooks he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until he had attained his majority. In 1898 he built a feed mill in Bradford, Steuben county, and two years later purchased the waterpower mills at Campbell in the same county. He also erected the Aulls electric plant in Campbell and owned ninety-eight per cent of the stock. The following is an excerpt from a review of his career, which appeared in the Elmira Star-Gazette under date of July 27, 1922: "The citizens of Campbell and Savona, New York, now have the advantages of metropolitan places in the way of electricity for power and illumination. On January 10, 1921, Frank R.
FRANK R. AULLS
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Aulls organized the Aulls Electric Corporation, under the laws of New York state, and the following are the officials: Frank R. Aulls, president; R. C. Turnbull, treas- urer; and William V. L. Turnbull, secretary. In a fine new annex constructed of concrete and connected with the Aulls flour mill, a complete plant was constructed and equipped with General Electric Company machinery of Schenectady, with the hydroelectric direct connected system. Visitors to the town will find a plant second to none and with up-to-the-minute apparatus. balanced and efficient business man. *
Mr. Aulls has few equals as a well * He has recently remodeled his flour * mill from a fifty-barrel wheat flour to a seventy-five barrel per day buckwheat mill and ten ton per day feed mill, so that he will have unsurpassed facilities for supply- ing the wholesale and retail trade in the future." The sale of his electric plant was noted in The Evening Leader of Corning, New York, on March 7, 1924, as follows: "Negotiations which have been under way for some time were closed yesterday when the Aulls Electric Corporation of Campbell entered into a contract with the New York Central Electric Corporation, distributors of Niagara power, for the sale of the transmission lines, the only assets of the company. Frank R. Aulls of Campbell also entered into a contract for the sale of the power plant, grist mill and water rights now owned by him in the town of Campbell to this corporation."
Mr. Aulls has figured prominently in public affairs of his community. He was a member of the board of education for eight years and had served as supervisor of the town of Campbell for seven and one-half years when he resigned to assume the duties of county treasurer. He was appointed county treasurer by Governor Miller on the 4th of November, 1921, and was elected to that office as a republican candidate four days later, running about two thousand votes ahead of the ticket. In the year 1915 Mr. Aulls was appointed chairman of the committee named to locate and build the Pleasant Valley Tuberculosis Sanitarium, an institution containing thirty-two beds, which was completed and opened in the fall of 1918. On this committee he served as chairman until his resignation from the board of supervisors of Steuben county in 1921. He had filled the vice presidency of the Steuben County Agricultural Society for eight years when elected president of the organization in 1923. On the 1st of September, 1917, Mr. Aulls was commissioned by Governor Charles L. Whitman as first lieutenant of the Home Defense Reserve of the State of New York.
Mr. Aulls has been twice married. He first wedded Miss May Charlton of Peeks- kill, New York, who departed this life in 1906. On the 1st of September, 1909, he was united in marriage to Miss Marguerite C. Cox of Cleveland, Ohio, and they are the parents of three children: Anna, Frank W., and Virginia. In Masonry Mr. Aulls has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, belonging to Corning Consistory, A. & A. S. R. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the. Presbyterian church, of which he has been a trustee for two decades.
LOUIS C. ZIEGLER.
Louis C. Ziegler was for many years identified with the Otis Elevator Company and is now devoting his attention to public affairs, serving as president of Palmyra, his native village. He was born on the 4th of January, 1868, and his parents, Jacob and Lena (Zipfel) Ziegler, were natives of Germany. It was in 1845 that the Zipfel family immigrated to the United States and Jacob Ziegler came alone to this country in 1850, during his boyhood, making his way to Wayne county, New York. He served an apprenticeship to the carriage maker's trade, which he followed in Palmyra for a number of years, building up a good business. He was an honored veteran of the Civil war, in which he served from 1861 until 1865 as a sergeant in the New York State Cavalry, and gallantly defended the Union cause. In 1864, at Palmyra, he married Miss Zipfel and they became the parents of three children, the subject of this review being the second in order of birth. The two sons survive, but the daughter has passed away.
After his graduation from the Palmyra high school, Louis C. Ziegler completed a course in the Rochester Business University and in 1885 obtained a clerical position with the Graves Elevator Company, which subsequently sold its business to the Otis Elevator Company. Mr. Ziegler's services were retained by the new owners of the business and he was employed in Rochester until 1907, when he was sent by the firm to Buffalo, New York. As he proved his worth and reliability he was steadily advanced. He was made manager of the Buffalo office in 1912 and filled the position for four years, when he resigned, owing to ill health, and returned to Palmyra. His.
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work has since been in the field of public service, in which his efforts have been equally resultant and beneficial. He served for four years as trustee of the village and for four years was justice of the peace. He is now acting as president of the municipality, justice of the peace and also discharges the duties of town assessor. He brings to his official life the same intelligent grasp of conditions and conscientious application which characterized his business career and his work has received high commendation.
During the World war Mr. Ziegler devoted much of his time to government activities, laying aside all personal interests, and was appointed local chairman of the committee in charge of the Fourth Liberty Loan and the Victory Loan, also serving on the committees which raised funds for the Salvation Army, Red Cross and War Chest drives. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the lodge, chapter, council and commandery at Palmyra, and his political support is given to the republican party. He is a member of the Steamer and Hose Company and an ex-president of that organization. He has never used his talents unworthily nor supported a dishonorable cause and his record as a public official as well as a private citizen is an unblemished one, while his personal qualities are those which make for strong and enduring friendship.
HON. SEYMOUR LOWMAN.
Seymour Lowman, lieutenant governor of the state of New York, former state senator from the forty-first district, prominent in finance and commercial circles in the Southern Tier, is descended from one of the pioneer families of Chemung county. He is one of the outstanding business men of southern New York and the fact that his clean, honorable activities in many fields have won recognition from his fellows is indicated in the support given him in the 1924 campaign, when he was chosen by the voters for the second highest office in the state. His record in politics and in his various vocations is filled with notable achievements and in every way he has upheld the pride and prestige of the family name which he bears.
Seymour Lowman was born on a farm in the town of Chemung, October 7, 1868, the son of John Lowman (1832-1884) and Fanny (Bixby) Lowman, and the grand- son of Martin and Lydia (Jenkins) Lowman. The mother survives, but the father passed away on August 7, 1884. He was a native of Lowman, New York, and his wife was born in Bainbridge, this state. The progenitors of the Lowman family in Chemung county were Jacob Lowman (1769-1840) and Martin Lowman (1794-1862) brothers. They were of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction and sons of George Lowman (1743-1809) and Esther (Koenig) Lowman (1750-1821), residents of Middletown, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. Soon after General Sullivan and his army drove the Indians out of the Chemung valley Jacob Lowman began to make trading trips up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point. Finally settling permanently at Chemung in the year 1792, he soon became a large owner of farm and timber lands in that town. He married Huldah Bosworth (1774-1839) and reared a family of two sons (George and Jacob) and three daughters (Laurinda, Esther and Cynthia), who became prominent in the social and business life of the community.
Martin Lowman was a younger brother of Jacob Lowman and served in the War of 1812. On being discharged from the army in 1814 he came to Chemung county and settled just below what is now the hamlet of Lowman. At the time of his death he owned over one thousand acres of land and was one of the leading dairy farmers of the Southern Tier. He married Lydia Jenkins (1800-1877) and had four sons, Frederick, George, John and William; and four daughters, Esther, Sally, Alzina and Julia. Many of the pioneer families of the Chemung valley have become extinct. Not so with the Lowmans, who are still numerous and highly respected. They are largely interested in agriculture in the neighborhood where their ancestors settled more than one hundred and twenty-five years ago.
Seymour Lowman was educated for the law and practiced his profession in the city of Elmira for several years. He became interested in various business enterprises and finally abandoned his profession in order to devote his entire time to other lines of endeavor. In politics, in which field Mr. Lowman has won distinction, he has always followed the republican banner, and no man in the state has been a stronger advocate of the principles of the Grand Old Party. Mr. Lowman was a member of assembly from Chemung county during the years 1909 and 1910. In 1918 he was elected to the state senate from the forty-first senate district, comprising the counties of Chemung, Schuyler, Tompkins and Tioga. He performed meritorious service in
HON. SEYMOUR LOWMAN.
3S-Vol. III
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this public office until 1924. In the latter year, at the republican state conven- tion, he was chosen as the party's candidate for lieutenant governor, on the ticket headed by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. Although the latter was defeated by his democratic opponent, Mr. Lowman and the remainder of the republican candidates were. elected at the polls on November 4th.
Seymour Lowman was married on September 7, 1893, to Kate Harding Smith of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a woman of gracious personality and a worthy helpmate in the career of her husband. To this union the following children have been born: Abner Marshall; Gratia, wife of Arthur Stiles; Fanny; Caroline; and Katherine. Abner Marshall Lowman married Camilla Bryan of Elmira and has one son, Marshall Lowman. Abner M. Lowman was an aviator in the United States navy during the World war, having been a lieutenant, junior grade, on the Battleship Nevada, in charge of the observation balloon attached to that vessel.
HUBERT J. MARTINS.
The business interests of Rochester are important and varied, offering splendid opportunities for advancement to the man of ambition and energy. Competition in the different lines of business, however, is exceedingly keen and only those possessed of more than ordinary ability have won the full measure of success. To this class belongs Hubert J. Martins, who for the past fourteen years has been numbered among the leading realtors of the city and is now conducting his operations on. an extensive scale. He was born in Montclair, New Jersey, March 22, 1876, and his parents, John and Katherine (Lally) Martins, were natives of Ireland. In early life they came to the United States and for a time were residents of New York city, whence they removed to Orange, New Jersey, and later to Montclair, where both passed away.
In the acquirement of an education Hubert J. Martins attended the public schools of Orange and Montclair, New Jersey, and afterward became a student at George- town College. On leaving that institution he joined his father, who was engaged in merchandising, and after the latter's death, which occurred in 1905, secured a position as salesman with the Garfield Realty Company. In 1910 he organized the Martins-Hall Realty Company and is now serving as president of the business, which has been incorporated. He is an expert valuator and has developed several sub- divisions, greatly enhancing the value of property in the sections where he has operated. He is an astute, farsighted business man and has brought the firm to a position of leadership in real estate circles of Rochester.
On October 1, 1910, Mr. Martins was married to Miss Flora Kester, a daughter of John B. Kester. Mr. and Mrs. Martins have two sons, William and James, natives of Rochester. The former was born in 1912 and the latter in 1916 and both are pupils in the public schools. Mr. Martins is an influential member of the Rochester Real Estate Board and the Chamber of Commerce and his life is guided by the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, of which he is a faithful communicant. Whatever touches the welfare of his city is to him a matter of deep concern and in the control of his interests he has worked toward making Rochester a most desirable and attractive place of residence.
JOHN BENNETT.
There is no satisfaction in life which can quite equal that of the man who has finished a successful career and in the autumn of his life settles down to enjoy the fruits of his labors, knowing that he has accomplished something worth while. Such is the history of John Bennett, who for nearly a half century was engaged in the banking business in Horseheads and is now living retired. He is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Chemung county and a worthy scion of his race. He was born on the old homestead, at the edge of the village, in 1847. His grandfather, Comfort Bennett, was born in Orange county, New York, in 1781 and came to Chemung county in 1799, when eighteen years of age. At that time there were few white settlers in this section of the state and he was foremost in the development of the rich agricultural resources of the valley. He worked diligently and systematically, bringing to his pursuits an intelligent, open and liberal mind, and gradually increased the scope of his operations until he became the wealthiest farmer
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in five counties, being rated as a millionaire. In 1806 he was married to Abigail Mil- ler, a daughter of Alexander Miller. His demise occurred in Big Flats in 1864, when he was eighty-three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett became the parents of twelve children.
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