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 90
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Mr. Bradley was a comrade of Bayard Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and a Knight Templar in St. John's Commandery of Olean. One of his greatest pleasures was the companionship of his friends in the City Club. He was a loving and faithful
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son, brother, husband and father, generous to a fault, fearless in danger, possessed of a loyal, lovable, magnetic personality made additionally attractive by a sense of humor which charmingly transformed even the commonplaces of everyday life. When a lad he was baptized in the Presbyterian church. With a clear mind he saw the close of his earthly life approaching, and with a brave heart, on June 25, 1909, he entered the por- tal of the future life.
KATHERINE EATON BRADLEY.
Katherine Eaton Bradley was born December 12, 1859, in Olean, New York; was educated in that town and was married there, November 28, 1877, to Samuel Henry Bradley, a sketch of whose life appears in this history. Three children were born to them.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
The Olean Rock City, composed of huge, glittering blocks of the Great Conglomer- ate lies upon a ridge of the great divide a few miles from Olean and one thousand feet above it. In 1920 a booklet was published, entitled, "The Olean Rock City, The Bradford Oil Field, Olean and Bradford." In a review of the booklet the Olean Times referred to it as "a remarkable brochure by Mrs. Katherine Eaton Bradley, widely known and esteemed for her earnest community spirit and for the literary taste she has evidenced. The booklet is replete with geological and historical gleanings including the fascinating story of the drilling of the first oil well. The appendix contains a suggestion for community-owned fruit and nut groves, "trees pleasant to the sight and good for food."
Several results have followed this suggestion. The plan for such a grove was presented to Chairman A. T. Fancher of the Allegany State Park Commission with the suggestion that one be established in the park as a memorial for those who gave their lives in the World war. The plan was endorsed, and in 1922, trees were planted and twenty-one hundred apple and pear tree scions were set in native apple and thorn-apple trees. Later, nut trees of budded and grafted stock were planted and the grove was registered with the American Forestry Association. The American Nut Journal for January, 1925, commented, "If Mrs. Bradley's notable initiative were fol- lowed up no doubt many who are planning memorials would be glad to make such a useful one." In 1925 the New York state department of silviculture will present to the Allegany Park grove California and Japanese walnut trees. A nut grove is to be established at the Physicians Home, Incorporated, near Caneadea, New York, in which Mrs. Bradley will collaborate with Dr. Robert T. Morris of New York city, and Dr. S. V. Mountain of Olean. The General Federation of Women's Clubs through its conservation committee, is interested in the memorial nut grove idea.
VACANT LOT GARDENS.
A similar line of work was taken up by her in 1911-13. As a volunteer worker she conducted vacant lot garden cultivation in Olean, sponsored at first by the Daughters of the American Revolution and later by the city. About twenty acres were put under cultivation. The work recommended itself and doubtless made easier the war garden work of 1917-18, conducted by the Olean Chamber of Commerce.
RECOLLECTIONS OF ARMY LIFE.
Her husband's "Recollections of Army Life" was published in 1890-a narrative in his own words of his experiences as a patriot in time of war, and after his death she brought out another edition containing also a biographical sketch, referring espe- cially to his patriotic service in time of peace, namely his exposure of attempted bribery when he was a member of the New York state legislature in 1882. (See Sam- uel Henry Bradley.)
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
From girlhood she has been active in the First Presbyterian church, an officer and teacher in the Sunday school, superintendent of its primary department, 1887-1892; an officer in the missionary societies and superintendent of the Temperance Union, 1911-1916.
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CLUBS.
In the Olean Natural Science Society she was interested in the geological history of the county; for the National Society for the Study of Science she identified and described one hundred and fifty varieties of wild flowers; she was a member of the Author's Club; of the Olean Shakespeare Club for twenty-five years; of the Red Cross Committee of One Hundred during the World war; has been a member of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution for thirty-four years; of the Women's Christian Temperance Union for thirty-five years; of the Olean Traveler's Club for forty years. She is the vice president of the Olean Historical Society, a member of the Chromatic Club, of the Frank L. Bartlett Country Club, the Consumer's League of New York, the Land Rent League, American Forestry and Nut-Growers Associations, County Tuber- culosis and United Welfare Associations. She organized in 1924 and became the assembly district leader of the Cattaraugus County League of Women Voters.
CONSUMER'S LEAGUE.
The Consumer's League made its appeal to her in 1900. She was president of the local branch for three years; much educational work was done; the league was instrumental in placing seats in a factory employing girls and also in mercantile establishments. One store had voluntarily observed the law.
A breakdown in health occurred in 1904, her daughter took her to the Adiron- dacks and cared for her; the next winter the family spent in Florida.
EQUAL SUFFRAGE.
For the four years following 1912, she actively supported the suffrage cause in press work, in house to house canvasses, with delegations before the city council; for registration and election she was captain of the first ward and appreciated the friendliness of many men who voted for the amendment. She and her daughter were election district watchers in a blacksmith shop with an anvil for a table. The op- ponents sadly admitted that the ward had carried for suffrage by a majority of seven votes.
In Washington in 1919 they went day after day to the Capitol, hoping to be present when the Anthony amendment came to a vote. On May 21 they witnessed its passage in the House of Representatives, after having been presented for the fiftieth time.
PROHIBITION.
In the tensely dramatic campaign for the prohibition amendment men and women worked shoulder to shoulder; she was captain of the temperance forces in her ward, her two daughters were among the workers; in assisting in counting the ballots she witnessed the blank astonishment of the liquor forces.
POLITICAL VIEWS.
She and her daughters are affiliated with the republican party. After the National Woman Suffrage Association had transformed itself into a League of Women Voters, she had charge in 1921 in Olean of the state-wide school health survey. She was a delegate to the national convention held for ten days in Baltimore in 1922 in conjunction with the Pan-American Conference of Women. Twenty-five hundred women from all of the Americas conferred together with the help of in- terpreters. A special train took one thousand citizens of the United States to Wash- ington, where they were received by congressmen in the senate offices. The forty- eight offices were visited by groups of women and two resolutions presented, one on the outlawry of war and one on citizenship for married women. A dramatic event was the planting of an international tree on the grounds of the Pan-American Union building by women representing twenty-four nations. Vice-president Coolidge deliver- ing the address.
PERSONAL ACTIVITIES.
The Woman's Victory dinner on Lincoln's birthday took Mrs. Bradley and daughter to Washington in 1919. Seven hundred and fifty women, many of them world leaders of thought were in attendance. Hopeful of world peace they cabled a message to President Wilson, then in France.
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For five months the vital movements of the period were under discussion from pulpits, community forums and the floors of congress. Among many memorable events were the twenty-eighth congress of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion and the marvelous pageant on July Fourth. The pageant and pantomimes sym- bolized the unity of the nations, forty-six nations participating.
They were five months in California in 1921 for travel and study at the Uni- versity of California; in 1922-23 they spent nine months in Europe and two months in Egypt.
ANCESTRY.
As a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution she attended its First Continental Congress in 1891. A Revolutionary ancestor, Corporal Jeremiah Potter, was lineally descended from Roger Williams. The Olean Chapter, D. A. R. dates from 1897, as second vice-regent she had charge of the literary program for the year. She greatly enjoyed an adventure in ancestor hunting; in gathering data concerning the Eaton and Bradley families, she traced fifty-nine lineal lines into the colonial period and to the first-comers to the new world, and in many cases, to their non-conformist forbears in the old world. In research work she visited libraries in Buffalo, Boston, New York and Washington. She filed in Memorial Continental Hall the records of nine lineal ancestors who served in the war of the Revolution.
FIRST ANCESTOR IN THE GENESEE COUNTRY.
Her first ancestor in the Genesee Country, Rufus Eaton, came from Eatonville in the Mohawk valley to Boston near Buffalo in 1810; finding malarial conditions, he removed to Springville. He and his sons had first to convert the forest bridlepath over Townsend hill into a wagon road. A pioneer in Springville, he donated land for the Presbyterian church, for the Academy, the cemetery and for the "Fiddlers Green." He built the first sawmill, took a prominent part in the building of the Academy, and officiated as justice of the peace. In 1835 he and his wife, Sarah Potter, journeyed in a one-horse gig to and from his wife's home in Scituate, Rhode Island. All the relatives assembled to see them start on the journey. They were absent seven months.
PARENTS.
Her father, Frederick Richmond Eaton, born in Springville, New York, in 1835, was son of Elisha and Betsey (Chafee) Eaton. He was educated at the Springville Academy, married Florence Rebecca Lockwood and located in Olean in 1855 in the mercantile business. He became town clerk, supervisor, school trustee for eleven years, volunteer fireman for seventeen years and president of the town for two years. His memory was stored with passages from the Bible and the great poets, and he possessed a keen sense of humor. During the Civil war he threw his whole influence for the cause of the Union. He died in Olean in 1911. Three children, all born in Olean, were Fred Lockwood, Katherine Eliza and Earle Hooker.
Her mother, Florence R., the daughter of Orrin and Eliza Jameson Lockwood, was born at Boston, New York, in 1837. She was an active member of the First Presbyterian church in Olean for half a century, a teacher of young girls, president and secretary-treasurer of Aid and Missionary Societies. An early member of the W. C. T. U., the D. A. R. and the Author's Club, she was also secretary for seven years of Poor Relief Society; one of the founders of the Olean Public Library she became its first treasurer. She died in 1916.
CHILDREN.
The children of Samuel H. and Katherine E. Bradley were three in number: Samuel W., born 1880, died at the age of eleven months; Florence A., born in 1882, was graduated from the Olean high school; she took a course in the Play School in the University of California in 1920. She was engaged as secretary by the Olean Board of Health in 1908 with the understanding that she was to have time for tuberculosis work. After three years she resigned this position to be married.
In a bulletin of the New York State Charities Aid Association in 1921 was the following statement: "Mrs. Florence Bradley has accepted a position as executive secretary of the Cattaraugus County Tuberculosis Committee. She was formerly secretary of the board of health of Olean and helped very effectively in organizing the anti-tuberculosis work in that city and county in 1909 and 1910." After thirteen
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months she resigned to travel abroad for pleasure and for research. (See Anti- Tuberculosis work in Cattaraugus county prior to the Milbank health demonstration.) In 1919 she assisted in securing the first temporary policewoman for Olean, and in 1925 she represented citizens in having the office of policewomen and policematron created by the city council.
She organized the temperance work of the Presbyterian Sunday school and served as superintendent, 1909-1911; she is a member of the I. H. N. Circle of Kings Daught- ers, the Traveller's Club, the Bartlett Country Club, the City and County Tubercu- losis Associations and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
The third child; Almena K., born in 1893, was graduated from Olean high school and from the State Normal School at Fredonia, New York. After teaching school for three years in Portville and Olean, she was married in Olean, August 8, 1918 to Lieu- tenant George G. Lundberg, a graduate of Olean high school and of the University of Pennsylvania. During the World war he was a volunteer in the balloon division of the air service; he is now in the regular air service and serving in the Philip- pines. His wife was a member of the Teacher's Association, the Bartlett Country Club, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and was a teacher in the Sunday school. Their children are George Bradley, born in 1919, and Arthur Pierre, born in 1923.
THE SINGLE TAX LEAGUE-THE LAND RENT LEAGUE.
The views of the noble patriot and statesman, Robert Morris on the land question, a man so conspicuously identified with the Genesee Country have been of deepest interest to Mrs. Bradley.
After securing the signatures of one hundred and five persons, the organization of a Cattaraugus County Single Tax League was effected in Olean in July, 1916. As secretary she found that the name of the league was inadequate and misleading. Robert Morris' reference to the principle as to the rent of land seemed more appro- priate. Through the newspapers she tried to bring his views before the citizens. "Robert Morris called attention to the land policy of the American Indian who be- lieved that the earth was open on equal terms to the day-old papoose and the aged chieftain. The Indians were in agreement with Moses when he ascribed to Jehovah the command, 'the land was given to one as much as to another.' Morris felt that a land policy well suited to a primitive people could by a simple arrangement be adapted to a complex civilization. He said, 'Make use and occupancy the title to land, each paying a rental for the privilege of using an exclusive portion of it.' On July 29, 1782, he proposed in a letter to the president of the congress (Diplomatic Correspondence, Vol. 12, p. 277) to settle the land question by a land tax (or rent). He wrote, 'The land tax (or rent) would fall justly as the land could neither be removed nor concealed, that it would encourage settlement and population, and not only redound to the national good but even to the particular good of all landholders.' He refers to the value, not to the area of land. Later, the magnificent resources of the Genesee Country came into his hands. However the founders of the republic had not heeded his opinions nor those of Penn and Franklin. The latter wrote to the land reformers in France, 'I am charmed with your beautiful philosophy, it is just and it is practicable.' Penn ruled that if a colonist failed to use his land for three years, another could have it by paying the first man the cost of the survey.
"These men were advocating not the public ownership of land but the public ownership of the rental value of land. The private possession of parcels of land would continue. No new machinery would be required; the desired result would be reached by gradually transferring taxes from individual property (improvements) and placing them on public property (the rental value of land). The most eminent jurists declare that 'the reserved right of the people to the rental value of land must be construed as a condition to every deed.' The collection by the public of the rental value of land is not confiscation, it is restoration.
"Pliny said, 'Great estates ruined Rome'. Another writer has said, 'The evil of land monopoly has been realized all down the ages. The distinctive contribution of Henry George was to point out the method of abolishing the evil.'"
For forty-three years Mrs. Bradley's faith in the method of Henry George has not faltered. The Land Rent League in Olean has brought able speakers to the city, has distributed literature and placed it in the library and has also petitioned the legislature.
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As one of the vice presidents of the New York State Single Tax League, she read an article at a state conference entitled, "Sowing the Seed"; it appeared in the "Single Tax Review," now "Land and Freedom." She was present at the National Fels Fund Conference held in Washington in 1914, and at two international conferences. One was held at Niagara Falls in 1914; the other in the town hall at Oxford, England, in 1923, at which fourteen nations were represented.
Through public addresses and through the press she has called attention to the progress of this fundamental reform. "The greatest of sanitary engineers, Surgeon General William Gorgas, said that he found Havana no peculiar exception to other cities-unsanitary, overcrowded and with grinding poverty. He believed that eco- nomic rent belonged to the people, that its collection by them was practicable and that vast economic, social and spiritual betterments to society would result." Henry George did not claim that his plan was a panacea, but that "liberty is justice and jus- tice is the natural law."
"In nearly every country in the world some progress is being made toward a more just system of land tenure. In 1922 Denmark set the world an example; it is the first country to apply the principle nationally. It is now making it possible for urban and rural communities to have the opportunity to apply it locally; the farmers have been the leaders in the movement. In the United States the Roosevelt dam, the Kansas City park system, The San Francisco street railway tunnel, the Minnesota drainage works have been financed by a levy against the lands directly benefited. The principle operates in the ore law of Minnesota, in two Maryland towns, and in the "Pittsburgh Plan." In 1922 Mrs. Bradley visited Arden, Delaware, one of seven communities, which are proving the principle. Arden is twenty-five years old and has no public debt. Fairhope, Alabama, is thirty years old. These demonstration stations began with six hundred acres of land and now have five thous- and acres.
When in California she visited the Oakdale, Turlock, Modesto and other irrigation districts. They comprise one million one hundred and fifty thousand acres which are operated by assessments on land values only, with exemption of improvements. Their Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade are optimistic over the practi- cal results.
Tolstoi said, "The teaching of Henry George is irresistibly convincing in its clear- ness and simplicity; the people simply do not know it."
Mrs. Bradley has found the teaching of this man, "The Prophet of Social Right- eousness," to be one of the greatest enthusiasms of her life.
BROTHERS OF MRS. KATHERINE E. BRADLEY.
In the Youth's Companion of May 29, 1890, appeared a short story by Mrs. Bradley's brother, Fred L. Eaton. It was entitled, "Way Out 'en the Prairie Country" and had been awarded a prize of one thousand dollars, offered for the best Memorial Day story for girls.
Her younger brother, Earle Hooker Eaton, was on the editorial staff of the American Press Association in New York city, 1890-1917, the last few years as man- aging editor. Since that time he has been press representative for the Canadian Pacific Railway; he is now in charge of this railroad's publicity department in the United States.
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER ANCESTORS OF KATHERINE EATON BRADLEY, OLEAN, N. Y.
Lineal ancestors in the war of the Revolution:
1. John Eaton, North Adams, Massachusetts.
2. Captain Timothy Lockwood, Greenwich, Connecticut.
3. Captain Noah Miles.
4. Private Joel Miles, Westminster, Massachusetts.
5. Ensign Jesse Seymour, Poundridge, New York.
6. Ensign Archibald Taggart, Hillsboro, New Hampshire.
7. Alexander Jameson, Antrim, New Hampshire.
8. Stephen Chafee, Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
9. Corporal Jeremiah Potter, Scituate, Rhode Island.
Some of Mrs. Katherine Bradley's ancestors:
Among the first-comers were John Eaton, Dover, England, to Dedham, Mas- sachusetts, 1634; Roger Williams, George Bunker, John Prescott, Charles Hoare,
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Joshua Windsor, Stephen Harding, Comfort Starr, M. D., Rev. Joseph Estabrook, Robert Lockwood and John Mead, Greenwich, Connecticut; among the founders of Hartford, Richard Seymour and Matthew Marvin; William Jameson and others of the Presbyterian colonists in Antrim and Londonderry, New Hampshire.
OSWALD PRENTISS BACKUS, JR.
Among the younger professional men of Rochester, Oswald Prentiss Backus, Jr., and his brother, Sidney K. Backus, associates in a legal practice, are highly regarded as able representatives of the legal profession and citizens of the first rank. They are the sons of Oswald P. Backus, Sr., and his wife, Frances D. (Kinney) Backus, both members of old colonial families that date back to the Puritan immigration of 1630. Oswald P. Backus, Sr., was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, while his wife is a native of Rome, New York, where they now make their home. A lawyer by pro- fession, Mr. Backus stands high in professional circles in Rome and is retained by the Rome Savings Bank as its legal counsel. His hobby is history, in which he is both widely and deeply read. He has written some very interesting articles on the history of his home community and is now the official historian for Rome. Three of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Backus are living: Two sons, Oswald P., Jr., and Sidney K. Backus; and a daughter, Mrs. Robert W. Holden of Utica.
The older son, Oswald Prentiss Backus, Jr., was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on the 20th of October, 1883. He grew to manhood and received his early education in Rome, New York, where he attended the academy. Entering Yale College, he graduated in 1908, with the A. B. degree. Following graduation he taught in a private school, Morris Academy, of Morristown, New Jersey, for two years, then entered the Yale Law School, from which he graduated in 1912. He immediately came to Roch- ester, where he "hung out his shingle" and began to build up the excellent practice that is now his. His thorough knowledge of the law, absolute integrity and scrupulous observance of the etiquette of his profession long ago won the admiration and confidence of his colleagues, while years of successful practice have gained the confidence of the general public, as well as of his clients. In 1918 Mr. Backus took into partnership his younger brother, Sidney K. Backus, also an alumnus of the Yale Law School and a very able young man.
In New York city, on the 20th of December, 1919, Mr. Backus and Miss Elma A. Muller were married. Mrs. Backus is the daughter of Henry and Caroline E. (Dunkak) Muller. Mr. and Mrs. Backus have two children: Oswald Prentiss Backus (III), born March 11, 1921; and Eleanor Draper Backus, born July 9, 1923. Mr. Backus is a Mason, belonging to Corinthian Temple Lodge No. 805, of Rochester. In college days he was initiated into the brotherhood of Beta Theta Pi. In law school he received a Chi Tau Kappa key in recognition of his scholarship. He is a member of the Rochester Athletic Club, while in connection with his professional duties he maintains membership in the Rochester Bar Association. His residence is at No. 190 Laburnum Crescent.
SIDNEY K. BACKUS.
Sidney K. Backus, brother and legal partner of Oswald P. Backus, Jr., whose career is outlined in the preceding sketch, was born in Rome, New York, on June 19, 1887, and educated in the grammar and high schools of that city. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1911; taught for two years at the Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, Vermont; and then entered the law school of Yale University, graduating with the class of 1916. In the fall of that year he was put in charge of the Rochester Legal Aid Society and continued as its attorney until he entered the World war in 1918.
Both Oswald P. Backus, Jr., and Sydney K. Backus of this review are well qualified by natural ability and educational training to distinguish themselves in a profession where individual merit is the only key to success. The record of their firm thus far is one that would satisfy the ambitions of older and more experienced men and there is every indication that they will continue to increase the value and scope of their efforts in the future.
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