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 88
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In 1882 Mr. O'Conor was elected to the New York state assembly from Chemung county and in that body became the intimate of Theodore Roosevelt, who was likewise a member of assembly. At the democratic state convention of 1882 Mr. O'Conor nominated David B. Hill for lieutenant governor. He had contended in deliberations before the convention that Hill was the best choice for governor. This was in part due to the fact that the strife between the Cleveland, Flower and Slocum forces was growing less bitter. The Tammany leaders concurred in his views regarding the nomination of Hill for first place on the ticket, but Cleveland was given the position, and the Cleveland-Hill ticket swept the state by approximately two hundred thousand. In the convention of 1885 Mr. O'Conor made the speech nominating Hill for a second term as governor of New York, and in 1888 nominated him for a third term. He and others held that had Hill won the 1882 nomination over Cleveland, Hill would have been elected president of the United States in 1884.
Mr. O'Conor was tendered the office of collector of the port of New York by Cleveland and Manning, the latter then secretary of the treasury, but he declined the honor because of the press of private business. For years he wielded a conserva- tive influence in the democratic state organization. Efforts to induce him to accept the mayoralty of Elmira at different times were unsuccessful, and twice he declined to accept an appointment as police commissioner.
Perhaps Mr. O'Conor's most notable labors were in behalf of Irish freedom and the cause of the Emerald isle. As the friend of Charles Stewart Parnell he persuaded the latter to make his memorable tour of the United States in 1877 and accompanied him. In 1880 he made himself one of the firm supporters of Parnell and the Irish land league. His compatriots in Ireland needed money, and at a great convention in Chicago, Mr. O'Conor quickly raised a quarter million dollars and collected it from the subscribers within one month. He was twice elected president of the league. He gave personally to the cause twenty-five thousand dollars, and he raised five hundred thousand dollars to support Irish leaders in parliament who were struggling for home rule. John Redmond was his warm friend and it was at Redmond's re- quest that Mr. O'Conor became chief executive of the league.
Jeremiah J. O'Conor was a man of commanding figure, always well groomed and highly refined in his personal appearance and habits. As a public speaker he was strong and earnest, and always made a deep impression in his addresses. Measured by any standard he was a high-minded, wholesome, sincere and fascinating man, and his career as citizen and churchman could not be excelled. A God-fearing man, generous in thought and act, he was ever liberal in the causes of philanthropy, patriotism and charity. To an active and efficient participation in all that tended to promote the common welfare of the community he brought the same inspiring qual- ities which distinguished him as a merchant. The reputation for uprightness and integrity in business was but the manifestation of those qualities that endeared him to his fellows. In the work of the day as in the discharge of every duty that was imposed upon him he was orderly, industrious, progressive, charitable, sincere and sympathetic. And withal he was ever the same courteous, high-minded, mild-man- nered gentleman.
Of the many whose activities were identified with the progress and upbuilding of Elmira during the last half century none have contributed more substantially than Jeremiah J. O'Conor. Of his generosity, of his public spirit, and his sense of civic duty and helpfulness, it is sufficient to say that during this period he was an
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essential part of every movement and undertaking which had for its purpose the improvement of the city or the betterment of the people.
Jeremiah J. O'Conor was married in Elmira, on June 22, 1871, to Mary, daughter of John and Anne (Veach) Purcell, also of Elmira. His widow survives him and now resides in Washington, D. C. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. O'Conor: Frederick J., deceased; Julia, who became the wife of Edward J. Dunn, banker and capitalist; Francis J., deceased; Purcell J., deceased; Anna M., who became the wife of Judge John J. Crowley; Teresa M .; Florence, who is the widow of Alexander C. Eustace, one of the leading lawyers of the country; Marie L., wife of Matthew E. Kennedy, a leading manufacturer of Elmira; Charles B. and Justin V.
In closing this all too brief sketch of Mr. O'Conor's life it is well to point out more specifically the conspicuous work he did in the west, which, while not pertinent to the history of Chemung county, is of interest to the community which proudly claimed Mr. O'Conor as a resident.
On January 29, 1889, Mr. O'Conor made his first investment in the city of Seattle. He purchased from Cyrus Walker, a wealthy pioneer lumberman, Lot 5, in Block 8, of C. D. Boren and A. A. Denney's plat of the town, now the city of Seattle. He paid for this property the sum of fifty thousand dollars in cash. This was the highest price ever paid for any property on First avenue up to that time. Then the northern section of the city was little more than a forest, yet Mr. O'Conor correctly predicted that this section would one day be the center of business as well as the center of population of the city. His investments, and options taken on prop- erty at the corner of Second and Pike streets, and on acreage adjacent to the prop- erty allotted for the future building of the University of Washington, were all based upon his judgment formed at the time of his first visit. He also purchased property in Ellensburg in this state when it was a mere cowboy town, dependent upon the range and mines for its growth. Mr. O'Conor also spent large sums of money inves- tigating the mineral resources of the state of Washington and Idaho, and the province of British Columbia. He supplied the funds for the development of some of the most important properties in the Coeur d'Alenes, and in the mines at Rosalind, British Columbia. He took a great pleasure in visiting the pioneer sections of the country and assisting in the development of many of their natural resources. In the spring of 1900 he was one of the earliest to ship many thousands of dollars worth of goods, supplies and equipment to Nome, Alaska, at which place he had acquired large mining interests. The freight charges alone from Seattle to Nome upon one of his shipments amounted to nearly fifty thousand dollars. He is remembered in the great Northwest for his many acts of kindness, rendered at a time when such assistance meant so much to the struggling pioneers.
EDWIN C. BRADLEY.
In every community there are found men who by force of character and intellect rise above their fellows and draw to themselves the admiration and deference which the world yields to superior ability. In this classification belonged Edwin C. Brad- ley, for many years president of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited, of Wellsville, and one of the strong personalities of Allegany county. He was one of those rare men who are unspoiled by material prosperity and enlisted his talents as readily for the public weal as for his own aggrandizement. Mr. Bradley was long a familiar figure in the oil districts of New York and Pennsylvania, in the de- velopment of which he played a most important part, and his death on the 22d of April, 1913, deprived Wellsville of one of its foremost business men and highly esteemed citizens. He possessed the indomitable spirit of the pioneer, and being a man of strong purpose, determined will and indefatigable energy, won out against adversity under which most men would have gone down to defeat.
Edwin C. Bradley was born in Crossingville, Cussewago township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, December 21, 1833, and acquired his early education in the district schools of that vicinity, later pursuing his studies in Kingsville, Ohio, and in the academy at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He aided his father in the cultivation of the home farm, which was situated near Crossingville, and assisted him in driving cattle to Philadelphia, the eastern market, a distance of about four hundred miles. When a young man of twenty-seven Mr. Bradley became interested in the oil fields near Petrolia, Canada. The fields were just being opened and Mr. Bradley aided in
EDWIN C. BRADLEY
HARRY BRADLEY
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drilling some of the first wells in that section by the use of the spring pole, kicking them down by foot power. He met with considerable success while in the Dominion, but during the panic of 1863 the price of oil dropped to ten cents a barrel and he lost everything that he had made. One of the chief causes of his failure was the fact that he struck a thousand-barrel well which produced oil in such large quantities that he was unable to care for it at this low price.
In March, 1863, Mr. Bradley returned home, being at that time in poor health, and later in the year went to the Oil Creek district of Pennsylvania. On December 22, 1864, he was married to Miss Marion L. Whiting, and they established their home in Rouseville, about four miles above Oil City. For several years Mr. Bradley had a hard struggle to gain a foothold in the oil business, purchasing the oil from the producers, barreling it and hauling it to the cars to be shipped to the refinery at Cleveland and other points. He moved to Oil City in 1873 and was considered one of the most successful oil men there at that time. In 1872, in association with H. F. Whiting, Marcus Hulings, the Blakeslee Brothers and R. R. Richardson, Mr. Brad- ley built the Antwerp and Oil City pipe line in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, one of the first constructed, and in 1877 this line with several others was taken over by the Standard Oil interests and merged with the United Pipe Line Company, the original owners receiving stock in the Standard Oil Company. In the panic of 1878 oil dropped from four dollars to forty cents a barrel and owing to the failure of a friend whose notes he had indorsed Mr. Bradley was obliged to sell his stock in the corporation, much to his regret. In 1879, when forty-six years of age, he was again forced to rebuild his fortunes. He decided to make a new start in Bradford, where he became associated with H. T. Whiting and others in the Oak Shade Oil Company. In 1880, in connection with his brother, J. B. Bradley, and Emerson and J. N. Pew, he built the first gas line to Olean, organizing the Keystone Gas Company. In 1881 E. C. Bradley purchased the Neilan Brothers' interest in the Empire Gas Company, which they had formed at Richburg in association with J. B. Bradley. The company at that time was selling gas for drilling purposes and later Bolivar and Allentown were piped, while in 1883 a line was run to Wellsville. In 1889 E. C. and J. B. Bradley, W. J. Penny and others organized the Mutual Gas Company at Andover, New York, and after Mr. Penny's death the business was taken over by the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited. In 1900 Mr. Bradley's vision became greatly impaired but with characteristic determination and dauntless spirit he rose superior to all obstacles and continued active in the management of the business until his death, at the age of seventy-nine years. He had established his home in Wellsville in 1885, and the work which he began is being ably carried forward by his son, Harry Bradley. E. C. Bradley had a host of friends in every oil section of the country and he was a living example of what can be accomplished in the face of almost unsur- mountable obstacles with perseverance, untiring work, friendliness and absolute in- tegrity.
HARRY BRADLEY.
Harry Bradley, the president of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited, of Wellsville, was born in Rouseville, Pennsylvania, October 3, 1869. His parents were Edwin C. and Marion L. (Whiting) Bradley, the former one of the pioneer opera- tors in the oil fields of New York and Pennsylvania.
Harry Bradley attended the public schools of Oil City and Bradford, Pennsyl- vania, and Wellsville, New York, and during the winter of 1889-90 was a student at the Eastman Business College of Poughkeepsie, New York. Since 1892 he has been connected with the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited, in Wellsville and is now serving as president and secretary of the corporation, which was organized by his father and the latter's brother, J. B. Bradley. It was first known as the Empire Gas Company but in 1885 was reorganized under the name of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited. Later the Mutual Gas Company, Limited, which was founded in Andover, New York, in 1889, and the Cuba Gas Company, were purchased by the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited. For a third of a century Mr. Bradley has labored earnestly, systematically and effectively for the development of the business, which now ranks with the largest of the kind in this section of the state. The com- pany is now operating a very large number of oil and gas wells. His cousin, George H. Bradley of Bolivar, is vice president and treasurer of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, Limited. Harry Bradley also figures prominently in financial affairs as
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vice president of the Citizens National Bank of Wellsville, of which he is likewise a director.
In 1895 Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Myrtle Wells of Oswayo, Pennsyl- vania, a daughter of Walter and Sarah (Lyman) Wells. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have two children: Marion Sarah and Elizabeth Wells. The former was born May 27, 1900, and completed a course in the local high school. She was graduated in 1923 from Bryn Mawr College of Pennsylvania and is now at home. Her sister was born May 5, 1902, and attended the Wellsville public schools. She was graduated from the Shipley School for Girls at Bryn Mawr in 1921, and is a member of the class of 1925 of Bryn Mawr College.
Mr. Bradley is a consistent member of the Congregational church. When na- tional issues are involved he votes the republican ticket but at local elections casts his ballot for the candidate whom he considers best qualified for office, regardless of party ties. He is keenly interested in affairs vital to his community, to which he is rendering valuable service as president of the school board. He is a Rotarian and also belongs to other organizations of a civic or social character. He is identified with the Masonic order, having membership in the lodge and chapter in Wellsville, the consistory in Corning, New York, the commandery in Hornell, and Ismailia Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine in Buffalo. For several years he has been a director of the Randolph Children's Home, and for the past year has been its vice president. Ever since 1890 the Bradley family has owned and occupied the Ephriam Smith home- stead, which is one of the old landmarks of Wellsville.
LEWIS H. THORNTON.
Lewis H. Thornton, one of the foremost residents of Wellsville, has during the past two decades given his attention to oil production in both the local oil field and in Oklahoma. He has devoted some time to writing on local historical subjects, and was formerly identified with journalistic interests for a number of years as editor and publisher of newspapers in the Genesee Country. His birth occurred at Wellsville, Allegany county, New York, on the 18th of January, 1869, his parents being James and Lydia (Dobbins) Thornton, the former born in Dublin, Ireland, February 15, 1840, and the latter in Troy, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1843. The family comes of English lineage, tracing its ancestry back to members of the Church of England who went to Ireland at the time of the Cromwellian invasion. Among the Thornton ancestors in the collateral line was Matthew Thornton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Henry Thornton, an officer in the Irish Hussars famed in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. Among the ancestors of Mrs. Lydia (Dobbins) Thornton, who was a charter member of the Catherine Schuyler Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, were the distinguished English and Scotch families bearing the names of Fassett and Mckean. The county of Mckean in Pennsylvania was named in honor of a representative of the McKean family, and another was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
James Thornton, the father of Lewis H. Thornton, was a little lad of five years when brought to America. In 1862 he volunteered his services as a private in the Civil war and served later as sergeant in Company G of the First New York Dragoons until the close of the war in 1865, participating under General Sheridan in most of the engagements of the historic Shenandoah valley campaign of the Army of the Potomac. He was honorably cited for the capture single-handed of a piece of Con- federate artillery at the battle of Cedar Creek. He settled in Wellsville, New York, after the war, served as postmaster there and died September 16, 1903, after an honor- able and successful business career. Lewis H. was his only son. He had two daugh- ters : Miriam Eager, now Mrs. J. H. Fisher; and Gertrude Eloise, now Mrs. E. C. Million, both of Wellsville.
Lewis H. Thornton completed a high school course in Wellsville with the class of 1886 and after further preparation at Greenwich, New York, was six years later graduated from the University of Rochester, which in 1892 conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He made his home in his native city until twenty- nine years of age and was local editor of the Wellsville Daily Reporter from 1894 until 1898. He then removed to Belmont, New York, and during the succeeding eighteen years, until 1916, was editor and owner-publisher of the Belmont Dispatch. In the year 1903, however, he left Belmont for Cuba, New York, where he was also active
JAMES THORNTON
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in the field of journalism as editor and owner-publisher of the Cuba Patriot from 1904 until 1906. Returning to Wellsville, Mr. Thornton has here resided since 1905, with the exception of about half of each year during the period between 1905 and 1910, which he spent in Oklahoma. As above stated, he has been an oil producer in the local oil field as well as in Oklahoma since 1905. Some idea of the extent and impor- tance of his operations may be gained from the fact that he is now president of the Modern Oil Company of Oklahoma, president of the Ford Brook Pipe Line Company of Wellsville, vice-president and general manager of the Wellsville Oil Company and the Ottawa Oil Company of Oklahoma, and president of the Thornton Company and the Thornton Securities Corporation. He is also interested in substantial real estate and bond investments and has long been numbered among the prominent citizens and successful business men of Allegany county. Mr. Thornton has, moreover, manifested some literary ability and has gained more than local renown as a writer on historical subjects. He is the author of "History of Wellsville" and "Oil and Gas in Allegany County" and he prepared the article on the "History of the Oil Development in New York State" which appears in this "History of the Genesee Country." All of this development has been in western New York. During the World war he served as Red Cross chairman and also as Liberty Loan chairman.
On the 7th of October, 1903, in St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Thornton was united in marriage to Winifred Knight, who was born at Castile, New York, June 9, 1877, daughter of Samuel B. and Della (Hood) Knight, the former being general freight agent in the service of the Wabash Railroad Company and the latter a daughter of William Hood, an old settler. The Knight family were early settlers in Allegany county, New York, coming to the Knights Creek region in what is now Scio township in 1804. They gave their name to Knights Creek. Mrs. Winifred (Knight) Thorn- ton was graduated from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, with the class of 1898. By her marriage she has become the mother of two sons: James Thornton, who was born in 1904 and is a student in the University of Rochester; and Knight Thornton, born in 1910, who is attending the Choate School of Wallingford, Con- necticut.
A stanch republican in politics, Mr. Thornton formerly served as chairman of the republican county committee. He was also a member of the Wellsville board of edu- cation, is past president of the Wellsville Business Men's Association and president at this time of the New York State Oil Producers Association. He was a member of the vestry of St. John's Episcopal church and he also belongs to the Greek letter col- lege fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon. Mr. Thornton is likewise a member of the Masonic order. His name is on the membership rolls of the Masonic Club, the Rotary Club, the Wellsville Country Club and the Olean Country Club. His has been an active, honorable and useful life, notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Thornton feels that his "career was upset at the beginning of its prime in 1910 by a very serious illness which left him permanently disabled and revolutionized his activities."
PHILIP YAWMAN HAHN.
Philip Yawman Hahn is actively identified with Rochester's industrial interests as a manufacturer of high power air rifles and is widely known as a young business man of marked ability and enterprise. He has always lived in Rochester, where his birth occurred on the 25th of February, 1900, his parents being Frank William and Cora (Yawman) Hahn, of German and French descent, respectively. The father, also a native of Rochester, was born on June 6, 1874, while the mother first opened her eyes to the light of day at Mount Morris, New York, on the 3d of April, 1874.
Philip Y. Hahn acquired his early education in the Corpus Christi school of Rochester and following his graduation therefrom in June, 1913, continued his studies in the East high school of his native city, completing the prescribed course therein by graduation in June, 1917. His more advanced intellectual training was received in Georgetown University of Washington, D. C., which institution conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1921. He is now engaged in the manu- facture of high power air rifles and in this field has already gained a measure of success which augurs well for the future.
The military record of Mr. Hahn covers service at the Great Lakes Naval Train-
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ing Station of Great Lakes, Illinois. He is a Roman Catholic in religious faith and as a young man of high ideals and worthy motives has made many warm friends in both social and business relations.
FRANK LEVERNE BARTLETT.
Probably no community in western New York, in this generation, has been called upon to mourn the passing of a citizen of such inestimable value as that of the city of Olean when death removed Frank Leverne Bartlett on December 6, 1922. Banker, philanthropist, humanitarian, public-spirited and greatly beloved citizen, he represented the very highest type of citizenship and his passing has left a place that it is freely admitted cannot be filled. He was the leading citizen of Olean.
Frank L. Bartlett was born at Belfast, Allegany county, New York, on Decem- ber 25, 1858, the son of Ebenezer and Corinthia (Angell) Bartlett and descended from a family that dates to the Norman conquest. The lineage is traced to Adam Bartelot, who removed from Normandy to County Sussex, England, which was the family seat for many generations. The American ancestor of the family was Richard Bartlett, who was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1515, and became an early settler of Newbury, Massachusetts. The family became distinguished in the annals of New England, some of the Bartlett ancestors having fought in the war of the Revolution. One of these, Josiah Bartlett, was one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence. Mr. Bartlett's branch of the family in New York state are descendants of Samuel Bartlett, who was born in 1725, in Massachusetts, and settled in Orange, Ulster county, where he died in 1765. John Bartlett, grandson of Samuel, was the grandfather of Frank L. Bartlett of this review. He settled at Belfast, Alle- gany county, where Ebenezer Bartlett was born in 1824 and died in 1910. The latter was a successful farmer and lumberman and quite a remarkable man. Corinthia Angell, his wife, was a native of Steuben county and came to Belfast with her parents in 1839. She completed her education at what was then the Seminary at Alfred, afterwards becoming a part of that notable university. She survived her husband for a number of years, reaching the advanced age of ninety-four years, her death following that of her son, Frank L.
Of this sturdy parentage, Mr. Bartlett derived some of his sterling qualities which characterized the days of his manhood. He was reared to farm work and edu- cated in a district school of Allegany county, where he completed his studies in 1876. In 1879 he took a position as clerk in the First National Bank of Cuba, serving a year or more without compensation. There he remained until June 4, 1880, when he came to Olean to accept a modest clerical position in the Exchange National Bank. In five years he worked his way through successive promotions to the position of cashier, being elected to that office on November 21, 1885. He had found his true vocation and had so established his value as a financier upon his associates that on January 9, 1895, he was elected president of the bank and continued in that position to the time of his death. It is thus noted that the progress of his life's work was one of upward growth and his courage was not daunted by any obstacles, growing stronger as the years of his service advanced. As a banker he became one of the best known and most successful in western New York and was an authority on banking. Under his alert and able management the Exchange National Bank took its position to compare favorably with any bank in the United States situated in a similar locality. It is now handsomely located in one of Olean's most imposing and attractive buildings, which Mr. Bartlett was instrumental in remodeling together with the construction of the buildings now occupied by the Olean Electric Light & Power Company and the Derby-McCarthy Company. In addition to his presidency of the Exchange National Bank he was also a director of the Buffalo branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and a director of the Olean Trust Company from its organi- zation until his death. He was a director of the old W. N. Y. & P. Railroad and when it was taken over by the Pennsylvania Railroad he became a director of the Pennsylvania Company. Through his deep interest in the local plant of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company he was instrumental in securing for that company addi- tional property in Olean which led later to enlarging the shops. He was made an honorary member of the Veterans Association, Buffalo Division, Pennsylvania Rail- road System, at a meeting held on September 10, 1921, at Rock City. That honor was conferred upon him in recognition of the great value of his services.
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