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 74
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FOUR GENERATIONS OF THE SAGER FAMILY James F. Sager, J. Harry Sager, J. Harry Sager (II), Clinton M. Sager.
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since which time the business has developed to extensive and profitable proportions. Mr. Sager is a self-made man whose success is attributable to his marked mechanical skill and ingenuity, indomitable industry, close application and excellent business ability. If Mr. Sager has a hobby aside from his business, it is the improvement and development of his suburban property at Dumpling Hill, on the Scottsville road. In November, 1921, he purchased that property and through his vision and enterprise has transformed it into a valuable residential and business property. Notwithstand- ing the active life he has led Mr. Sager is a remarkably well preserved man for one of his years. He has been successful, but this fact in no way has detracted from his natural democratic manner. His friends and associates feel for him a peculiar esteem, not only for his genuineness and dependability but as well for his many wholesome qualities of mind and heart. Genial and optimistic by nature, he extracts from life the real essence of living.
On the 26th of January, 1884, in Rochester, Mr. Sager was united in marriage to Miss Cora B. Mills, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Mills. Mr. Mills was formerly superintendent of motive power for the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway. Mr. and Mrs. Sager are the parents of two children: Clinton M., who was born in Rochester in 1889 and pursued a course of study in the Mechanics Institute of Rochester, is now a designer for the Selden Truck Corporation. He wedded Miss Ann Boyland of Rochester and they have two children, J. Harry (II), who was born in this city in 1910; and Woodruff, born in Rochester in 1916; Thelma L., the daugh- ter of J. Harry and Cora B. (Mills) Sager, was born in Rochester in 1896 and pur- sued her education in the grammar and high schools of her native city and in the University of Rochester. She was married to M. Porter Walley and resides at Dumpling Hill on the Scottsville road, in Monroe county.
Mr. Sager is a Mason, being a life member of Genesee Falls Lodge, No. 507, F. & A. M .; a life member of Hamilton Chapter, No. 62, R. A. M .; a life member of Monroe Commandery, No. 12, K. T .; and a life member of Damascus Temple, Mystic Shrine. He has likewise been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the past forty-five years and he is a member of the Automobile Club of Rochester, and the Monroe County Fish and Game Protective Association. Mr. Sager is a citizen of worth to his community and an upright, honorable and useful career has won for him the respect, confidence and goodwill of those among whom his life has been passed. Mr. Sager's residence is at No. 9 Brooklyn street.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LEVY.
Benjamin Franklin Levy, one of the leading attorneys of Elmira, his native city, was born April 2, 1874, a son of Simon H. and Jennie (Sellner) Levy, the former a native of Lithuania and the latter of Germany. They were married in Elmira, arriv- ing here during the progress of the Civil war, and the father engaged in the grocery business, also operating in the field of real estate. He was identified with the Masonic fraternity and in politics was a stanch republican, believing that the principles of the party contained the best elements of government for the majority. He passed away in 1911 and the mother's demise occurred in 1918. They were the parents of twelve children, six of whom are deceased. One son, Isaac H., was for some time associated in practice with his brother, Benjamin Franklin Levy, of this review, and became one of the leading lawyers of New York city; August is a chemist, connected with the H. A. Metz Company of Brooklyn, New York; Albert is a successful dental practitioner and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Ira H. lives in Geneva, New York, and is engaged in the clothing business; Rae is the wife of M. N. Sammet of Brooklyn, New York. Harriet M. was graduated from Cornell University and became instructor in Latin at the Elmira Free Academy, filling that position for a number of years. She afterward went to Brooklyn and taught school in that city until her death, in 1911.
Benjamin Franklin Levy completed a course in the Elmira Free Academy and afterward became a student at Cornell University, from which he won the LL. B. degree in 1895. A year later his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Laws and he was admitted to the bar in 1895, while attending the university. In 1896 he engaged in practice with the firm of Bacon & Aldridge, well known attor- neys of Elmira, and was thus associated until the death of Mr. Bacon in 1912. In 1914 Mr .. Levy became associated with Wallace W. Seeley, who has since been his partner.
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In June, 1904, Mr. Levy married Miss Martha Bimberg, a graduate of the local academy and Elmira College, and a daughter of Joseph Bimberg, a prominent tobacco manufacturer of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Levy have two children: Benjamin Franklin, Jr., and Harriet Jane.
Mr. Levy is a man of deeply religious nature and for a quarter of a century has been president of the Temple of the Children of Israel. He has also found time for civic affairs and is much interested in social service work. He is one of the sponsors for the Boys Band, which numbers one hundred and fifty members; he aided in organ- izing the local troop of the Boy Scouts of America and is a veteran scout and a member of the National Council; when our country joined the allied nations in their efforts to suppress Prussianism, Mr. Levy was made secretary of the local war chest and devoted much time to government activities. He is president of the Non-Partisan Association for the League of Nations. He was elected a delegate to the Progressive National convention of 1916. This is the only public office to which Mr. Levy has aspired or which he has held. He has always been a republican, except during the four-year period of the existence of the progressive party, founded by Theodore Roosevelt. Since 1900 Mr. Levy is a member of the Ivy Lodge of Masons and he also belongs to the chapter. He has membership in the Rotary Club and other civic organizations.
JUDGE BERTRAM L. NEWMAN.
Among those who are upholding the prestige of the Elmira bar is numbered Judge Bertram L. Newman, whose identification with the legal profession covers a period of sixteen years. He is a man of high character, studious, well versed in the law, and is therefore thoroughly qualified for the responsible offices of surrogate, judge of the county court, also the children's court, of Chemung county, to which he was elected in November, 1923. He was born in Little Falls, in Herkimer county, New York, September 15, 1885, and is a son of William H. and Celia (Sprague) Newman, natives of Poland, this state. The father was reared on a farm in Herki- mer county and obtained his education in the district schools of that locality. He engaged in teaching school for a time and then obtained work in a factory. In 1887 he purchased a farm in Tioga county, New York, and for nine years his attention was given to agricultural pursuits. In 1896 he removed to Elmira and has since been identified with the management of the State Reformatory. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Newman four are living, and the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth.
Bertram L. Newman was graduated from the Elmira high school in 1903 and be- gan the study of law in the office of Gilford Tobey. He was admitted to the bar in 1908 and began the practice of law in the office of Herendeen & Mandeville. In 1918 he became a member of the firm of Mandeville, Personius & Newman, with which he was connected until his elevation to the bench in 1923, where he assumd his duties in January, 1924. He dispenses justice with an even hand and his decisions indicate strong mentality, careful analysis and a thorough grasp of the principles of juris- prudence. He served as United States commissioner from 1914 until 1923 and his record as a public official is one which redounds to his credit.
On June 21, 1911, Judge Newman was united in marriage to Miss Nellie G. Suffern, who was born, reared and educated in Elmira, and they have four children: Bertram Leland, Jr., born in 1912; Edward O., born in 1915; Robert S., born in 1916; and Marion E., born in 1918. Judge Newman is a strong advocate of the platform and principles of the republican party and served for seven years as a member of the county committee. He is a Presbyterian in religious faith and belongs to the Lake Street church of that denomination. He is a member of the Century Club and his fraternal connections are with the Queen City Lodge of Odd Fellows and Union Lodge, No. 95, of the Masonic order.
CHAUNCEY LYMAN WHITING.
The rising fortunes of a youth endowed only with ability and industry is a theme frequently encountered in the life stories of successful men in contemporary American life. It is seldom, however, that it is developed with such striking simplicity as in the case of Chauncey L. Whiting of Rochester, one of the foremost automobile men of
JUDGE BERTRAM L. NEWMAN
40-Vol. III
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central New York and a conspicuous figure in the Buick Motor Company's sales organization. The desire to do each task, no matter how humble, a little better than anyone else, was directly the means of his getting his start in the motor world. Once given the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities in a field in which he was naturally well qualified to succeed, Mr. Whiting justified the confidence that had been placed in him and has been going ahead ever since.
The story runs something like this: Born in Waterville, New York, on June 26, 1872, Chauncey Lyman Whiting comes from substantial American stock. His mother, who bore the maiden name of Mary Woolcott, was a native of Ware, Massachusetts, but spent practically all of her life in New York state. The father, Chauncey C. Whiting, was born in Broome county, New York, and was connected with the boot and shoe industry during his active life, working all branches of the business from manufacturing to the retail trade. He was a veteran of the Civil war and saw three and a half years of active service as an enlisted man in the Regular One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Infantry. Mr. Whiting died in Rochester, in 1911, and was sur- vived by his wife for twelve years, her death occurring in February, 1923. Of the three children born to them two sons, Fred Buell and Chauncey Lyman of this review, reside in Rochester; a daughter, Mrs. Josie Broughton, is deceased.
Chauncey Lyman Whiting's boyhood was spent chiefly in Elmira and Moravia, New York, where he went to school, attending the high school in the latter place. When he had finished his school career the youth came to Rochester to start out to make his own way in the world. In considering the various ways of earning a liveli- hood open to him, he came to the conclusion that he would follow the calling of a funeral director or undertaker, and accordingly served an apprenticeship in the es- tablishment of the Ingmire & Thompson Undertaking Company of this city. Event- ually he obtained a state license. He continued with the Ingmire & Thompson organi- zation, however, serving an uninterrupted term of fifteen years in all, in its employ. While, of course, he had learned his profession and gained some valuable practical experience, Mr. Whiting was not prospering financially in his work. He made "both ends meet" and that was about all.
Meanwhile, an event of almost revolutionary importance had taken place. The motor-driven vehicle, once little more than a rich man's toy, had taken its place in the transportation systems of the world. Mr. Whiting's employers were among the first men in their line of business to adopt the new vehicles. They had always prided themselves on their up-to-date establishment, and saw in the automobile an opportunity to render their service more effective and satisfactory. Not long after the automobile became an established fact in every-day life, the Ingmire & Thomp- son Company was maintaining an excellent auto service for its own business and for private use. One of the partners owned an especially fine car and it fell to Mr. Whiting's lot to keep it in perfect condition. As he was allowed to drive the car himself on Thursdays for his own pleasure, the young man took a proprietary inter- est in its appearance and working condition. Moreover, he mastered all the details of the mechanism, in spite of the fact that this was his first acquaintance with motors. One day while he was busily at work polishing up his car in the garage of the company the president of the Jackson Automobile Company was shown through as a guest of the firm. It happened that the car Mr. Whiting was working on was a "Jackson" make, so the president of the company paid especial attention to its con- dition. So favorably was he impressed with the car's appearance and the care that was being bestowed upon it that he drew Mr. Whiting aside and offered him a posi- tion in the plant at Jackson, one much better than that with the Ingmire & Thomp- son Company. The young man accepted.
In the Jackson plant Mr. Whiting was placed in charge of the department test- ing out the chassis and engines of the unfinished cars. While he was thus engaged, one day Mr. Durant, president of the Buick Automobile Company, happened by the Jackson factory and stopped to question him about his training as an automobile mechanic, where he learned to drive and so forth. The replies were apparently satisfactory, for at the close of the conversation Mr. Durant made him a conditional offer of employment in his company. He promised him that if after a six months' trial his services should have proven satisfactory, he should be given the Rochester agency. Mr. Whiting accepted the proposition, served his six months' probation, and on May 3, 1906, assumed control of the agency at Rochester. In conjunction with the Rochester agency, he also conducted for a time the Buffalo branch for the Buick Motor Company. In Rochester he founded the C. L. Whiting Buick Corporation, which has grown into one of the most successful automobile agencies in the state of New York.
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The agency covers Monroe county and does an enormous volume of business annually. The credit for this remarkable record is due largely to the president of the local company, Mr. Whiting, whose tireless efforts, effective sales methods and thorough mastery of the motor business have been the chief factors in building up the agency.
On June 21, 1896, Mr. Whiting was united in marriage to Miss Cathrine Mc- Guire of Hornell, New York, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael McGuire, highly re- spected residents of that place. He is identified with Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, fraternally, and belongs to the Rochester, Rochester Auto and Rochester Yacht Clubs, and the Chamber of Commerce. His many endearing qualities have attracted a host of friends. Generous in his sympathies, kindly in his philanthropies and in his personal dealings the most pleasant of companions, Mr. Whiting enjoys a well de- served popularity in the city he has so long made his home.
Unlike many men gifted with a mechanical genius Mr. Whiting loves animals. His Avon-Vale farm near Avon is one of the finest in New York state devoted to the raising of blooded horses. There he owned the world's champion jumping horse, Skyscraper, which gained the championship at that time at the New York horse show, with a height of seven feet, six inches. He also owns a farm in Pittsford, Monroe county, that is devoted to the raising of German police dogs and wire-haired terriers and other blooded animals. In these and other hobbies Mr. Whiting is enjoying the fruits of years of successful labor and consistent effort in the automobile industry. All of his modest fortune has been accumulated in this line of business, for Mr. Whiting states that when he went to Jackson to work for the Jackson com- pany he did not have the money to pay his railroad fare. A career such as his should be full of inspiration to ambitious youths who have their own way to make in the world. Success was not waiting for him at the first turn in the road, but by persevering and doing the best he could with the task in hand he prepared himself to profit by his opportunities when they did come. Mr. Whiting's residence is at Avon-Vale Farms.
JAMES M. BROGAN.
James M. Brogan, one of the prominent citizens of Dansville, has been a resident of the village since 1892 and through his well directed activities in business and public affairs has contributed materially to its advancement and prosperity. He was born March 12, 1877, a son of Patrick M. and Mary (Barrett) Brogan, and is one of a family of six children, of whom two sons and two daughters survive. For a time he was a clerk in the office of Gorham & Pratt, attorneys, and later in Robert Pratt's office, leaving to become manager of the Interocean Telephone & Telegraph Company. In May, 1914, he entered the insurance business in association with his brother, Edward E. Brogan, and they are also operating in real estate. They are sagacious, farsighted, enterprising business men and have met with well deserved success in their undertakings.
On the 26th of June, 1918, Mr. Brogan was married to Miss Mildred M. Brophy, and they have a daughter, Catherine Frances. Mr. Brogan is a member of the Catholic church and also belongs to the Knights of Columbus, of which he is a past grand knight. He is also a county ex-president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He is an adherent of the democratic party and an active worker for the good of his community. He served for seventeen years as justice of the peace. He was one of the founders of the Dansville Board of Trade, and for several years one of the board of directors. He loyally supports all those projects which count for most in civic growth and development.
ROBERT BARDWELL WICKES.
Robert Bardwell Wickes has been' an active and successful representative of the legal profession in Rochester for the past forty-five years and for nearly four decades has served as president, treasurer and manager of the Abstract Guarantee Company, which he helped to found in 1886. He was born in Guilford, Connecticut, on the 3d day of August, 1857, his parents being the Rev. Henry and Elizabeth (Bardwell) Wickes. The father, a clergyman of the Presbyterian denomination, served as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Brighton, New York, from 1869 until 1875, and subse-
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quently occupied other pulpits in western New York. His last years were spent in retirement in Rochester, where both he and his wife passed away.
Robert Bardwell Wickes supplemented his early education by a course of study in the Rochester Free Academy and the University of Rochester. He graduated from the latter institution in 1878. Having determined to follow the legal profession as a life work, he entered the law office of William F. Cogswell, leaving after a year to enter that of James B. Perkins, with whom he continued his reading until qualified to pass the state bar examination. He was admitted to the bar in 1880, and ever since has been a practicing attorney in Rochester. His work is almost entirely in connec- tion with real estate titles and he has succeeded in making the Abstract Guarantee Company a very important element in the handling of real estate transfers. The records of the company contain hundreds of maps not to be found elsewhere and a duplicate record of all the deeds and mortgages in the county clerk's office arranged upon the principle of location as distinguished from the name indexes used in the public offices.
On the 9th of September, 1889, Mr. Wickes was united in marriage to Margaret Perkins Cogswell, daughter of William F. Cogswell. Mr. and Mrs. Wickes are the parents of five children: Francis C., born in 1890, graduated from Williams College in the class of 1912 and received the degree of LL. B. from Harvard University in 1915. He is now engaged in the practice of law in this city. Immediately after his graduation from Harvard Law School he went to Belgium as a member of the Belgian Relief Commission and continued in that work until the entry of the United States into the World war. Upon being sent out of Belgium by the Germans he joined our army headquarters at Paris, was commissioned captain and served in the second section of the General Staff until the end of the war. He then entered the United States relief work under Herbert Hoover, serving at Hamburg and other places. He married Miss Germaine Attout of Belgium, and has two children: Margaret Cogswell and George; Philip Bardwell, the second son, whose birth occurred in Rochester in 1892, and who studied in the University of Rochester and in Cornell University, now devotes his attention to agricultural pursuits in Ontario, Wayne county, New York. While the World war was in progress he served as ensign on a United States sub- marine chaser. To him and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Marian Grant Libbert, has been born a son, Robert Bardwell Wickes (II); Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, born in Rochester in 1894, is a graduate of Vassar College, and the wife of Dr. Rufus B. Crain of this city; Henry Herriman Wickes, who was born in Rochester in 1898, attended Williams College and also the Cornell Law School, receiving the degree of LL. B. from the latter institution in 1922. He was a member of the Re- serve Officers Training Corps during the World war, and is now engaged in law practice in New York city; and Alice Cogswell, born in Rochester on the 23d of November, 1908, is a student in the Columbia Preparatory School.
Mr. Wickes is a member of the University Club and also belongs to Delta Upsilon, a Greek letter fraternity. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers on Long Island, Thomas Wickes being named as patentee of the Town of Huntington in 1664, and all his other ancestors and all his wife's ancestors claim descent from settlers of the seventeenth century in New England.
FRANK D. BALL.
Prudent and cautious men and women always protect themselves against loss and possible ruin by carrying an adequate amount of insurance on their property. The cost of insurance is no longer considered an expense, but as one of the best possible investments, while the underwriting business is regarded as one of the most benevolent enterprises that human ingenuity has ever invented. Frank D. Ball of Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, has made insurance the business of his life, and through the large agency which he conducts in the town the greater portion of the risk business of Caledonia and the surrounding country is written. He was born in Caledonia, on January 18, 1867, the son of Terence and Mary (McGee) Ball, both of whom have passed away.
Frank D. Ball received his education in the public schools of the town and in the Geneseo Normal School. After finishing school he went to work in the grocery business with his brother, and then spent six years in the west. Upon Mr. Ball's return to Caledonia he started in the insurance business, and for twenty-five years has been at the head of the extensive agency which he conducts, representing five
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of the largest and soundest insurance companies. He finds the time and has the disposition to interest himself in the political and local affairs of the community, and during the World war was chairman of the War Savings Stamps committee and did active work in its behalf. President Wilson appointed Mr. Ball postmaster of Cale- donia, and for nine years he filled the position to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of the town. In his political leanings Mr. Ball is a democrat, and was a member of the board of supervisors for two terms, 1909-14.
Mr. Ball was married in 1897 to Mary Smith of Caledonia, who died in 1902, leav- ing three children: Leonard, Stella and Irene. In 1907 Mr. Ball was married to Eva Nichols of Mumford, New York, and they have one child, Ola. In his religious convic- tions he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Knights of the Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ameri- can Fraternal Insurance Association.
KINGMAN NOTT ROBINS.
Kingman Nott Robins was born in Waterville, Maine, September 7, 1881, and was a son of Rev. Henry Ephraim and Cordelia Ewell (Nott) Robins. He came as a child to Rochester, New York, where his father accepted the chair of Christian ethics in the Rochester Theological Seminary. He was educated in Worcester Academy and Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1904, cum laude in economics. He married Miss Elizabeth Adams Sibley, daughter of Rufus Adams and Elizabeth S. (Conkey) Sibley, of Rochester, in 1913, and they lived at 935 East Avenue, Roches- ter. He died in that city, February 5, 1923.
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