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 87
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Chester W. Graves completed his education in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and in 1906, when a young man of twenty-two, became associated with his father in the wholesale lumber business in Buffalo. They also operated mills in Canada and continued as partners until the father's death in 1917. The business was then reorganized under the firm style of Graves, Manbert & George, Incorporated, and Chester W. Graves became treasurer of the company, which continued in the whole- sale lumber business in Buffalo. In 1922 Mr. Graves withdrew from the firm and embarked in the wholesale lumber business in New York city, but soon afterward came to Newark. In association with Maurice E. Preisch of Buffalo, he purchased the business of the S. M. Keener Company, which they now conduct under the name of the Newark Planing Mill, Incorporated. Mr. Graves is serving as vice president,
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treasurer and general manager and Mr. Preisch fills the office of president. They are dealers in builders' supplies and conduct a retail lumber business. They also operate a planing mill and wood-working plant and theirs is the largest business of the kind between Rochester and Syracuse. Mr. Graves has a highly specialized knowledge of the lumber industry, of which he has made a life study, and brings to the manage- ment of his affairs mature judgment, broad vision, initiative and superior executive ability.
On June 18, 1910, Mr. Graves was married to Ruth Leigh O'Donnell of Buffalo, New York, a daughter of Richard Lincoln O'Donnell, now deceased, who was a vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Graves were the parents of one child, Nancy. Mr. Graves was married the second time on June 21, 1921, Lucy- anna Hubbard Joss, daughter of Frederick A. Joss, of Indianapolis, Indiana, becoming his wife, and they have one daughter, Lucyanna Joss.
During the World war Mr. Graves served for six months in the Motor Transport Corps. He is allied with the republican party and his religious views are in harmony with the doctrines of the Presbyterian church. He is a man of strong character and measures up to the highest standards of personal honor and present- day business ethics.
FERNANDO J. KELLER.
Fernando J. Keller, president of the John B. Keller Sons Company, florists, of Rochester, New York, is a native of that city, born May 20, 1872, the son of John B. and Susan (Brueck) Keller, who came from Germany shortly after the close of the Civil war. (See sketch of J. Michael Keller for more of the family history.) The business of which Mr. Keller is now president was founded by his father in 1873.
After attending the Rochester public schools, where he acquired a good practical education, Fernando J. Keller became associated with his father in floral culture. About the time he reached his majority he purchased his father's interest and in 1910 the business was incorporated under its present name. Since that time Mr. Keller has devoted his best efforts to the work of building up one of the largest floral concerns in Rochester and he has seen these efforts crowned with success. His interest in all matters pertaining to floriculture may be seen in the fact that he is a life member of the National Floral Association, a member of the American Rose Society, the American Carnation Society, the American Chrysanthemum Society and some others.
Mr. Keller has been twice married. His first wife was Miss L. B. Rauber, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Rauber. This marriage was solemnized on June 11, 1896, and their one son, Wilfred J., was born in 1897 in Rochester. He was edu- cated in Rochester, where he finished the course in the public and high schools and then attended Cornell University. After leaving college he entered the United States forest service as a ranger and is now located in Denver, Colorado. He was married to Miss Tessie Johnson of Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1919. Mrs. Fernando J. Keller died on July 5, 1899. On January 7, 1902, Mr. Keller was married to Louise Min- hart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Minhart of Rochester. One child has been born to this union: Miss Eleanor Keller, born in 1907 and now a student in the Rochester high school ..
PHILETUS CHAMBERLAIN.
Philetus Chamberlain, one of the best known members of the Rochester bar, has been engaged in the active practice of his profession in this city for forty-six years. He was born in Ross, Wayne county, New York, April 14, 1855, and his parents, Philetus and Julia L. (Barnes) Chamberlain, were also natives of the Empire state, in which they always resided. The mother's birth occurred in Clyde, Wayne county, and the father was born in Mendon, Monroe county. He purchased a farm in Mendon in 1866 and successfully conducted its operation during the re- mainder of his active life. His death occurred in April, 1896, and his wife passed away in 1895.
Philetus Chamberlain, of this review, was reared on a farm and received his edu- cation in the district schools, the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York, and the University of Syracuse in the class of 1877. He taught school for a year in Perri-
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ton and Mendon, New York, and in preparing for his profession, read law in the office and under the direction of General John H. Martindale, a prominent attorney of those days. Mr. Chamberlain was admitted to the bar in 1879 and at once began active practice. He has been connected with some of the most important litigation before the courts of western New York, and his success has won for him a prominent place among the ablest trial lawyers in this part of the state.
On November 13th, 1884, Mr. Chamberlain was married in Rochester to Miss Elizabeth A. Van Doorn, a daughter of Frank and Harriet (Ely) Van Doorn. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain have a son and daughter. Arthur V. D. was graduated from the University of Syracuse in 1914 and is now one of the best known and successful of the younger members of the Rochester bar. In 1915 he married Miss Helen E. Mason, and they have three children; Philetus Mason Chamberlain (III) and Anne Marion and Helen Elizabeth Chamberlain, twins. Mr. Chamberlain's daughter, Belle M. is the wife of Charles P. Oliver, of New Rochelle, New York, and the mother of a son, George Chamberlain Oliver.
Philetus Chamberlain as a citizen has always been interested in matters of general moment and has ever been a stalwart supporter of the republican party. He is a member of the Monroe County Bar Association and fraternally is a Mason. Deeply interested in everything that touches the welfare and progress of the com- munity, particularly along educational lines, Mr. Chamberlain was for six years school commissioner for Rochester, rendering valuable service in that connection, and the cause of education has ever found in him a warm friend. Time has proven his worth, and among his fellow practitioners Philetus Chamberlain is recognized as a lawyer of high attainments who respects the unwritten ethics of the profession.
Mr. Chamberlain's residence is at No. 10 Lamberton Park.
JAMES ROBIE KINGSLEY.
An attorney of ability and a member of one of New York's most respected fami- lies is James Robie Kingsley of Bath, his native city. His birth occurred on the 13th of January, 1866, his parents being Charles F. and Mary (Robie) Kingsley. The father was born near the village of Hammondsport, Steuben county, New York, on September 29, 1835. He pursued his early education in the district school of Urbana and continued his studies in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, this state, which he attended from 1852 until 1855. He was admitted to the bar in 1857. In November, 1860, he came to Bath and commenced to practice law, remaining an active representative of the profession to the time of his death, which occurred on, August 15, 1904. For thirty-three years he served as a member of the Haverling board of education, acting as its secretary during the entire period with the excep- tion of one year. He had served as vestryman of St. Thomas church for twenty- five years and was one of the wardens at the time of his death. In his passing the community sustained the loss of one of its highly respected and valued citizens. On the 2d of June, 1864, at Bath, he married Mary Robie, daughter of Reuben Robie, and they became the parents of three children: James Robie, of this review; Charles La Rue; and Carter Robie Kingsley.
James R. Kingsley supplemented his public school education by a classical course in Hobart College of Geneva, New York, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1888, while three years later the same institution conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Meanwhile he studied law in the office of his father and was admitted to the bar of New York state in 1891. Thus we find Mr. Kingsley following his father's profession and living up to the family character, which is traditional in the Genesee country. He practiced law in Bath until 1896, when he went to New York city, and the same year he became a member of the judicial department of the Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland. He was made manager of its judicial department in 1902 and retired in March, 1922, returning to Bath in the fall of the latter year. Mr. Kingsley is a member of Sigma Phi frater- nity. His interest lies in his work and he believes in carrying out the ideals of his family. His mother was the founder of the Bath Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Kingsleys have always been representative American citizens.
Charles La Rue Kingsley, brother of James R. Kingsley, was born in Bath, New York, on August 29, 1867. Upon graduating from Haverling high school in 1886 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. After leaving
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this institution he studied law in Bath and was admitted to the bar in 1892. He was graduated from the New York Law School in 1893 and since then has been practicing his profession in New York city.
JOHN WHITE JOHNSTON. Author, Publisher, Lecturer, Inventor, Manufacturer.
John White' Johnston, the first child of Thomas Slater Johnston, and Mary Ann White, was born in the Whitcomb House Hotel, Rochester, April 24, 1879. Both parents were Scottish, having been born and educated in, or near, Stromness, Orkney Isles, Scotland.
At seven years of age the lad entered Monroe, or, No. 15 grammar school, and at eight years began his musical studies, on the violin, under William Fraser. At twelve years the study of art and free hand drawing, under Miss Jennings was under- taken. At fourteen years of age drawings made by him in the classroom at Monroe school, were exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago, 1893, as representative of art work, by grammar school pupils of Rochester. At fourteen years he continued violin studies under Herman Dossenbach, perhaps the best known teacher of violin in Rochester.
On graduating from Monroe school in the spring of 1895, and entering Rochester high school, in the fall of 1895, he founded the first Rochester High School Orchestra. Art studies, under Miss Jennings, were also continued at the then newly erected building of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute, on South Washington street. On Washington's birthday, 1896, J. W. Johnston was leader of the Rochester High School Orchestra of nine pieces, which played in the orchestra pit at the Lyceum Theatre, for the public schools celebration. In 1897 he increased the membership of the Rochester High School Orchestra to about thirty pieces, a series of three concerts being given at the old Y. M. C. A. Music Hall, on Court street and South St. Paul street. These concerts by an orchestra of high school boys, assisted by girl soloists, attracted considerable attention from music critics, both in Rochester and outside of the city. Original compositions were encouraged, the first musical composition by J. W. Johnston, known as "The High School March", being rendered by the boys' orchestra at the first concert of the series.
On completing four years of art studies at the Athenaeum and Mechanics Insti- tute, his last teacher being Claude Bragdon, in pen and ink drawing, he was graduated from that institute in the spring of 1896. In 1898, the third year of his high school work, he was elected president of the Rochester, or Beta Chapter of Gamma Sigma fraternity, being elected to the office of corresponding secretary for the Grand Chapter of the same society at the end of his junior year.
Following his graduation from the Rochester high school in the spring of 1899, Mr. Johnston entered Ithaca Conservatory of Music in the fall of 1899, specializing in violin studies under W. Grant Egbert, also studying musical composition, having already had some experience and encouragement from Mr. Dossenbach in this branch of music before leaving Rochester.
In the fall of 1900 he entered the arts department of Cornell University, when he was chosen first violinist with the Cornell University Orchestra, and a first violin- ist with the Sage Chapel Orchestra. At the freshmen banquet, at the Ithaca Hotel in the fall of 1900, he was chosen as the speaker to represent the independent or non- fraternity members of his class. In his sophomore year he was again chosen the speaker for the independent or non-fraternity members of his class. In his junior year at Cornell he won a position on the 1886 Memorial State for Declamation, was a member of the junior prom committee; and was one of the two violinists chosen to represent the university on the Christmas and Easter holiday trips of the Cornell Musical Clubs. In the spring of 1903 he won the competition at Cornell for an orig- inal musical setting for a Percy Field athletic song. In the spring of the same year poster work and pen and ink drawings by him were accepted for publication in the pages of "The Cornell Widow" and in "The Cornell Era".
In the fall of 1903 Mr. Johnston entered Harvard University, and in the compe- titions for positions among the first violinists for the Pierian Sodality or Harvard University Orchestra, which is the oldest existant musical organization in the United States, having been founded in 1812, he was successful. In a competition announced for undergraduate musicians for a march to be used at the opening exercises at the
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athletic stadium at Harvard University, J. W. Johnston won the competition with his "Stadium March", which was subsequently played by Sousa's Band, and reproduced by the Victor Phonograph Company.
In the spring of 1904, after one year's membership in the Pierian Sodality, he was elected director for his senior year. In the fall of 1904, on returning to college, he organized the Harvard University Band of about thirty pieces, which he directed at the Yale-Harvard game in New Haven in the fall of 1904. At the same time he suggested, and was instrumental, in the establishment of nom de plume song competi- tions at Harvard University for original musical settings, in which competitions he was repeatedly successful, two of these compositions being published in "Songs of Harvard", issued by Hines, Eldridge & Noble, of Philadelphia. As a senior at Harvard College, he organized and directed the Harvard University Orchestra, which was a much larger orchestra than the Pierian Sodality.
Following the completion of his senior year at Harvard College, he entered the Harvard Law School, completing one year's study, after which he had two years of post graduate studies in the Harvard Graduate School, completing his three years of post graduate work in the spring of 1908. From the time he entered Harvard College, in the fall of 1903, he served quite regularly on the Harvard University students' musical committee and continued his studies in musical composition under teachers who were members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. While a student at Harvard University he also made poster designs and illustrations, which were ac- cepted and used on Harvard Orchestra programs and for the "Harvard Lampoon".
In 1908 Mr. Johnston began his apprenticeship of six years with the advertising department of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, of which establishment his father has been a member since that business first opened its doors in April, 1868. From October, 1908, until January 1, 1915, J. W. Johnston served in the copywriting, illus- trating, sign making, printing and window display sections of the direct publicity de- partment of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company. While pursuing this apprenticeship work he lectured before the International Association of Display Men at Chicago and while in that city contracted for a series of twelve illustrated articles on depart- ment store card writing advertising, which were subsequently published in the "Mer- chant's Record". P
While attending the great fiftieth anniversary encampment of the Confederate and Union Veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to 3, 1913, he decided to pre- pare a series of illustrated stereoptican lectures on "Interesting Episodes of the Great Battle of Gettysburg". Very extensive and intensive historical research work was commenced in the summer of 1913 on Gettysburg themes, with particular reference to the life and heroism of John Lawrence Burns, the Scot, who volunteered his services on the field in the first day's fight, was accepted as a volunteer on the field, although a veteran of the War of 1814 and was signally honored by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, when the President came to dedicate the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. A large collection of authentic relics pertaining to John Lawrence Burns and Mary Virginia Wade, the civilian heroine, accidentally killed during the struggle, have been collected and placed on exhibition at the Rochester Municipal Museum and in three historic buildings located at Gettysburg, owned by Mr. Johnson who has endowed both the Burns and Wade burial lots in Evergreen Cemetery. The be- ginning of the World war, in 1914, overshadowed interest in the Gettysburg subjects but he immediately began the preparation of a new stereoptican lecture on "The Story of the Flag" published by Williams, Brown and Earle, of Philadelphia, which was immediately successful, and which has continued so since the first announcement of its publication. Following the appearance of the illustrated stereoptican lecture on "The Story of the Flag", Mr. Johnston was appointed substitute lecturer of the Rochester Historical Society, having already lectured before the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore and at encampments of regular soldiers of the United States forces, and at various soldiers' reunions.
In the early part of 1915 he founded a manufacturing business of his own under the name of Snow White Products and also establishing a publication business for the distribution of his historical research and musical works, which he did not care to issue through regular publication channels. Although specializing in literary work in the preparation of illustrated stereoptican lectures on United States history themes, he is also greatly interested in ornithology, having delivered an annual lecture in the city of Rochester at the Municipal Museum, Edgerton Park on "Wild Birds in Monroe County" before the Rochester Audubon-Burroughs Nature Club, for some years past.
In the fall of 1916. after g'v'ng one of h's illustrated stereoptican lectures at
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the Powers Hotel, he was elected president of the Gamma Sigma Alumni Association of the Beta Chapter of that organization, which honor he still holds. In May, 1917, at the outbreak of the war between the United States and Germany, he volunteered with the New York Scottish Regiment of Infantry under Colonel Walter Scott, but did not see battle service, the regiment being held in New York city with the reserves throughout the war.
In the fall of 1919 he founded the Johnston Memorial Pipe Band, which is perhaps the best known Scottish pipe band in the United States. This organization is a memorial to his father, Thomas Slater Johnston. It is purely philanthropic in char- acter and numbers about forty musicians. It is coached by former pipe majors of Highlanders of the British army. This band annually appears in public entertain- ments with the Municipal or Park Band, also frequently appears at the Chamber of Commerce and at picnics for orphan and crippled children. Musicians from this organ- ization are also very popular at the Fathers and Sons banquets, Y. M. C. A. enter- tainments, church socials and church picnics. On November 19, 1919, he donated the tablet pew in the Presbyterian church at Gettysburg, in which Abraham Lincoln sat .after delivering his immortal address.
In the spring of 1920, continuing his musical studies in original composition, he was accepted as a pupil by Percy Grainger, the world famous pianist and composer. Mr. Johnston holds several copyrights on original musical and literary compositions. He also holds patents on several successful devices of his invention.
Being public spirited, Mr. Johnston served ten years continuously as correspond- ing secretary for the Irondequoit Fish and Game Protective Association, which he en- larged January 1, 1921, to the Monroe County Fish and Game Protective Association, becoming its first president. The Monroe County Fish and Game Protective Associa- tion generally numbers about one thousand organized sportsmen. Mr. Johnston has been reelected president three consecutive years, although anxious that his successor be found. This association has two game farms, where game birds are raised and liberated, or given to the department of parks. Millions of young game fish have also been liberated in the waters of Monroe county under his leadership.
On January 1, 1922, he refounded the Saint Andrew's Scottish Society of Rochester, which had been dormant for many years, continuing his membership in Clan MacNaughton, Order of Scottish Clans, in which organization he had been re- peatedly elected to office.
Mr. Johnston was married February 14, 1921, to Miss Constance Grant of Ar- broath, Scotland, and they have a daughter, Mary Grant Johnston, born February 23, 1922; and a son, Grant White Johnston, born March 27, 1925.
At the time this article was prepared for publication, Mr. Johnston was president of the Property Owners' Association of Arnold Park, where he resides; held an appointment as a lecturer before the Rochester Historical Society, had been a member of the class for conductors under Mr. Coates at the Eastman School of Music; was President of the Harvard Club of Rochester; president of the Monroe County Sports- men's Association; owner and proprietor of Snow White Products manufacturing interests of Rochester, New York; a stockholder of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Com- pany; and a stockholder in other successful industries of Rochester and elsewhere.
HON. JEREMIAH JOSEPH O'CONOR.
The late Jeremiah Joseph O'Conor of Elmira, had a career of conspicuous suc- cess in varied fields. As a business man, as a public servant, a humanitarian, and in whatever sphere of life in which he engaged, he accomplished much. He was born in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, December 25, 1844, a son of Timothy Joseph and Julia (Sullivan) O'Conor. When he was three years of age his parents sailed to America and settled in Whitby, Ontario, near Toronto.
Jeremiah Joseph O'Conor received his education in parochial, public and Normal schools in Ontario, and there became a school teacher. In 1864 he settled in Elmira, New York, and became the first principal of the SS. Peter and Paul's parochial school. With splendid success he devoted two years of his young manhood to the development of that school. In 1867 Mr. O'Conor engaged in the oil and real estate business, with headquarters in Elmira, and became one of the pioneer operators in the Pennsylvania oil field. The peaceful and gentle nature of the inner man rebelled
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at the turbulence and lawlessness of the early period of oil development, and had it not been for this condition he undoubtedly would have remained in this vocation. Subsequently he entered into partnership with his brother in the wine and liquor business. Upon the death of his brother he became sole proprietor, and continued the business until his death in Elmira, on November 29, 1913.
Mr. O'Conor owned large property interests in and around Elmira and on the Pacific coast. He possessed a large amount of Seattle real estate and was one of the largest taxpayers in that city. He was also interested profitably in many extensive mining enterprises in the west. He was a life member and vice president of the American-Irish Historical Society, and held membership also in the Catholic Club of New York city, and the Elmira City and Elmira Country Clubs. Politically he was an ardent democrat. In 1875 he was chosen the first city chamberlain of Elmira and as such was the chief financial officer of the city. With eminent success he organized a financial system which has been changed very little in the forty years that have since elapsed. He consolidated into his own position the former offices of city tax collector and city treasurer.
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