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 IV > Part 26
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Mr. Menzie is connected with the Rochester City and New York State Bar Associations and the Alpha Delta Phi, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Delta Phi fraternities. He is a member of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and the University Club. He respects the unwritten ethics of the profession and stands deservedly high in the esteem of his fellowmen. His residence is at No. 167 Seneca parkway.
HOWARD FULLER BARNES.
Howard Fuller Barnes, a well known lawyer of Rochester, where he has success- fully practiced for eighteen years, is a native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and was born on the 29th of March, 1883, his parents being Rev. Newton W. and Lois (Fuller) Barnes, both of whom were natives of the Keystone state. The father was a well-known minister of the Methodist church and his death occurred in Binghamton, New York, while the mother passed away in Apalachin, this state.
Howard Fuller Barnes was educated at Cazenovia Seminary and the Albany Law School, receiving his LL. B. degree from the latter institution in 1907. The same year he came to Rochester and associated himself with the firm of Lewis & McKay, prominent attorneys of the city, with whom he remained for three years. On the ex- piration of that period, in 1910, he established an office for the independent practice of his profession and has since built up an extensive and representative clientage. Mr. Barnes has been connected with some of the most important litigation before the courts of western New York, and his professional ability has long since placed him among the able lawyers of the Rochester bar. He has membership in the Mon- roe County Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
On the 29th of June, 1912, in Rochester, Mr. Barnes was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle Conway, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Conway of Clearfield, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have one son, Donald F., who was born in Rochester in 1913. Fraternally Mr. Barnes is identified with the Masons and the Elks, while his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. Upright and honorable in every relation of life, he is accorded the esteem and confidence of all who know him. Mr. Barnes' residence is at No. 445 Flower City park.
EVEREST AMASA JUDD.
Everest Amasa Judd, who has been an active member of the legal fraternity in Batavia for the past twenty-one years, belongs to a family that has been repre- sented in Genesee county for more than a century. He was born in Bethany, this country, in 1880, his parents being Franklin I. and Sarah (Waldo) Judd. The fol- lowing interesting facts concerning his ancestors are given in his own words:
"In 1815 or 1816 Liberty Judd, my great-grandfather, started with an ox team from Vermont, where he lived, and journeyed through New York state on the usual trail. When he arrived in Canadaigua, he found that a rough road with logs partially across it confronted him. As his ox cart was a little wider than the ordinary ox cart, from that point on he had to get out and saw off the end of the logs so as to let his ox cart through. This continued until he arrived at the end of his journey, which was Bethany, Genesee county, New York, at a farm which is situated on both sides of
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the Bethany Center road, just about a mile north of Bethany Center. Here he built his log cabin about one hundred yards south of the present Judd Homestead. While he was building this house he was alone and a mourning dove over his head in a tree continued to call, until finally Liberty Judd regarded this call as a premonition of trouble. He had left his wife back home, so he left his cabin, which was nearly com- pleted, and started on his long journey back to Vermont with the ox cart. When he arrived there he found his wife had been dead for six weeks, leaving a little baby child. This was a serious quandary, so after three or four weeks he married a maiden lady living in that neighborhood, who climbed into the ox cart and carried the little baby in her lap back to Bethany, where they took up their residence. This woman was my great-grandmother. On this trip back from Vermont my great-grandfather, Liberty Judd, carried a leather purse and in this leather purse were five coins, all of them five-franc pieces, with a picture of King George XVI on them. I have in my possession a coin which bears the fleur-de-lis of France in the year 1783 with this in- scription : SIT NOMEN DOMINI A BENEDICTUM 1783. On the other side is the inscription : LUD XVI D G FR ET NAV REX. My grandfather, Israel Judd, occu- pied the Bethany farm after Liberty Judd; in turn my father, Franklin I. Judd, oc- cupied this farm down to 1897. The farm is now owned by my mother, Sarah (Waldo) Judd, my brother, F. Howard Judd, having occupied the place until 1922. The prop- erty has therefore been in the possession of four generations of Judds-from 1815 down to the present time."
Everest Amasa Judd prepared for a professional career as a student in Cornell University, from which institution he was graduated in 1903. The same year he be- gan the practice of law in association with Judge Safford E. North in Batavia, where he has remained an active member of the bar through the intervening period of more than two decades and has been accorded a representative and gratifying clientage. He served as city attorney of Batavia for two years and as attorney for the State Comptroller in Genesee county during a period covering five years. He has a high conception of the dignity and responsibility of his profession and his record as a public official and as a private citizen is an unblemished one. He is a director of the Bank of Genesee; secretary of the Genesee Country Abstract Company, and vice president of the Stafford Country Club.
In 1908 Mr. Judd was united in marriage to Miss Alice G. Francis and of their three children, Eleanor, the eldest died in 1924, at the age of twenty. The others are: Lawrence and Barbara. During the period of the world conflict Mr. Judd took an active part in the work of all war committees, acted as chairman of the Four-Minute men of Genesee county and was also chairman of the civilian relief committee of the Red Cross. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church, while fraternally he is identified with the Masons and the Odd Fellows. He has a wide acquaintance in Batavia and throughout Genesee county and his sterling qualities of manhood have established him high in public regard.
ARTHUR LEWIS STERN.
There are some men who take possession of the public heart and hold it after they are gone, not by flashes of genius or brilliant service, but by unfailing good conduct in all situations and under all the trials of life. They are in sympathy with all that is useful and elevating in the city in which they reside and the community on its part cheerfully responds by extending to them respect, admiration and sincere affection. Such a man was Arthur Lewis Stern, a lifelong resident of Rochester, who died at the family home at No. 1430 East avenue on the 15th of March, 1923, at the age of forty-three years. A member of the nationally-known clothing firm of Michaels, Stern & Company, he combined marked executive force and notable business sagacity with modesty, kindliness, geniality and gentleness-a most rare combination, found only in the largest and finest natures.
Arthur Lewis Stern was born in Rochester, May 5, 1879, a son of Morley A. and Amy (Michaels) Stern, and a representative of one of the old and prominent families of this city. He attended the public schools and the old Free Academy, after which he became a student at Cornell University, and was graduated with the class of 1900. A business rather than a professional career appealed to him and shortly afterward he entered the clothing firm of Michaels, Stern & Company, of which his father was a member, and became a factor in the development of one of the great clothing indus- tries of the United States.
ARTHUR L. STERN.
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In New York city, on the 11th of November, 1908, Mr. Stern was married to Miss Irma Loveman, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman P. Loveman. Mrs. Stern's father is a prominent cotton broker of New York, and her mother previous to her marriage was Miss Louise Black, a native of Detroit, Michigan, but was reared in Cleveland. Louise Black was a daughter of Joseph Black, prominently identified with the business, civic and public life of Cleveland. A son and a daughter were born to Mr. and Mrs. Stern: Arthur Lewis Stern, Jr., born April 11, 1911, in Rochester; and Louise Morley Stern.
Mr. Stern was active in promoting the sale of the various Liberty bonds, was chairman of the local War Savings Stamp committee, also working indefatigably in behalf of the Red Cross, and over-exertion in patriotic service precipitated his death, removing him from his sphere of usefulness before he had reached the meridian of life. He entered with heart and soul into everything that engaged his attention, never undertaking a task unless he considered it worthy of his best efforts, and wrought himself firmly into the texture of our social and civic economy. He was a director in the Rochester General Hospital, also of the Infants Summer Hospital, and was noted for his deeds of charity, scattering sunshine wherever he went. He was thoroughly conversant with the details connected with the handling of campaigns for philanthropic, civic and patriotic projects and his advice was continually sought in matters of this character. He was identified with several trade organizations and many clubs, greatly enjoying the social amenities of life. He was a member of the Criterion Club of New York city, the Cornell Club, the Rochester Club, the Country and Idlers Clubs, and was an ex-president of the Rotary Club. He was numbered among the energetic workers in the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and was fore- most in every civic enterprise. Mr. Stern had an irresistible smile and a lovable personality that endeared him to all with whom he was brought into contact. By adopting a policy of justice, kindness and consideration in his relations with those who served him, he was able correctly to solve the labor problem, and a feeling of the utmost confidence, cordiality and goodwill existed between Mr. Stern and his em- ployes, whose affection for him was deep and sincere. He loved children and his good deeds were the outpouring of a generous spirit and a heart that reached out to all humanity. In 1916, Mr. Stern completed his residence at No. 1430 East avenue, where he afterward resided.
FREDERICK WILLIAM MOORE.
Frederick William Moore, of the well known firm of undertakers and funeral directors, Moore & Fiske, of Rochester, is a native New Yorker and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Rochester since the days of his childhood. He was born in the town of Palmyra, January 7, 1877, and is a son of Daniel and Alice (Lockley) Moore, natives of England, who came to this country following their marriage and were for a time located in Palmyra, this state. Daniel Moore, his father, died there in 1888. His widow survived him but two years, her death occurring in 1890. They were the parents of three children, Mr. Moore having two sisters, Mrs. Carl Beel- man of Minneapolis, and Mrs. John Singleton of Rochester.
Thus doubly bereaved, losing his father when he was eleven years of age and his mother two years later, Frederick William Moore attended the schools of Rochester until he was twelve years of age, when he became employed during vacation periods as a messenger in the undertaking establishment of Ingmire & Thompson on Court street and thus early acquired an acquaintance with the details of the undertaking business. His education was not neglected and he went on through the local schools and into the Rochester Business College to acquaint himself with business forms. He acquired a liking for the undertaking business and became a thorough funeral director while in the employ of Ingmire & Thompson, a connection he retained for twelve years, or until 1904, when he and Edward W. Fiske decided to enter the field as funeral directors on their own account. That was twenty years ago. Upon complet- ing their plans in this behalf they opened an establishment at No. 262 Court street, and it was not long until they were coming to be recognized as among the leading funeral directors of the city, both having had excellent experience. In 1922, pressed by the need of larger quarters for their establishment, they purchased the property at No. 31 Lake avenue and there carried on their business until 1924, when they realized the need of a further enlargement of their capacity and found it necessary to make another move. It was then that they purchased the handsome old-time residence
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property of James Booth at No. 105 Lake avenue, and by extensive remodeling and the building of additional rooms, converted it into what is regarded as one of the handsomest and best equipped funeral homes in the Genesee country. Their original ground plot there was one hundred and forty-two feet front, but they presently sold forty-two feet of this, a side lot, for oil station purposes and have thus a frontage of one hundred feet, a situation which lends itself admirably to the purposes for which it is now used. The old residence has been remodeled and redecorated in admirable taste, the grounds attractively parked and everything done by the proprietors to bring their establishment up to the highest requirements of their exacting calling. The old walnut stairway in this ancient mansion is an especially attractive feature of the entrance, which latter has been reconstructed in a particularly dignified fashion, and the driveway to the right is most effective. The furnishings and decorations of the large double parlors create an atmosphere of dignity and refinement most fitting to the solemnity of the occasions which bring them into use and the private office of the proprietors is in full harmony with the general decorative scheme. Ample garages are provided in the rear and the general equipment of the establishment is in accordance with the best requirements of modern usage and standards.
On December 30, 1901, in Rochester, Mr. Moore was united in marriage to Miss S. Louise Crouch, daughter of George W. and Mary E. Crouch, members of old fam- ilies of Rochester. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have two sons: Hamilton Moore, born Au- gust 30, 1903, who is now (1924) connected with the Times Union advertising de- partment, and Howard Moore, born January 15, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of Mount Hor church and Mr. Moore is a member of the board of trustees of that institution. He is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association and of the Rochester Funeral Directors Association and has long taken an interested part in the deliberations and activities of these organizations. He is a Mason and a member of Cyrene Commandery, and is affiliated with the Rochester Kiwanis Club. Mr. Moore resides at No. 67 Culver road.
JUDGE JAMES A. LE SEUR.
Judge James A. Le Seur, judge of the city court at Batavia, is numbered among the foremost and best known representatives of the legal profession in that city, where he has made his home during the past forty-five years. He was born in Brattle- boro, Vermont, on the 18th of November, 1859, a son of John and Ann (Wait) Le Seur. John Le Seur, father of Judge Le Seur, was a native of Manchester, Massachusetts, a graduate of Hanover College and was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in Batavia on March 11, 1897, at the ripe age of ninety-five years.
James A. Le Seur was educated at Claverick Institute and was graduated in 1879 with the rank of captain. He then entered the University of Rochester. In 1883 he went to Boston, where he remained until 1887, when he returned to Batavia. The professional career of James A. Le Seur has been one of steady advancement and progress. He was chosen clerk of the surrogate court in 1889 and served in that capacity until 1893. During his service in the surrogate's court he studied law with Judge Safford E. North and was admitted to the bar in 1891. He formed a partner- ship with David D. Lent, under the name of Le Seur & Lent, which continued for a number of years. In 1893 he was elected district attorney, in which capacity he served for six years, making a splendid record through the efficient and faithful discharge of his duties. In 1919 he was elected city attorney of Batavia, his name being on both the republican and democratic tickets, and in 1922, also as the nominee of both parties, was elected to the city bench, on which he now is serving. It has been observed that the legal profession demands not only a high order of ability but a rare combination of talent, learning, tact, patience and industry. The successful lawver and the competent judge must be a man of well balanced intellect, thoroughly familiar with both law and practice, of comprehensive general information, possessed of an analytical mind and a measure of self-control that will enable him to lose his individ- uality, his personal feelings, his prejudices and his peculiarities of disposition in the dignity, impartiality and equity of the office to which life, property, right and liberty must look for protection. That Judge Le Seur possesses these qualities is a uni- formly acknowledged fact. The Judge stands high in the esteem of his professional confreres and since 1918 has been serving as president of the Genesee County Bar Association.
In 1883 Judge Le Seur was married to Carrie, daughter of John Eckler of Mendon,
JUDGE JAMES A. LE SEUR
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Monroe county, New York. Two children were born to them, a son and a daughter: John E., who died in 1904, at the age of thirteen years; and Muriel C., wife of Arthur W. Keyel of Rochester, New York. They have two sons: Donald W., born October 8, 1921; and Earl James, born February 23, 1924.
Judge Le Seur is a republican in his political alignment and has for years been recognized as one of the leaders in that party in his home county. He stands high in fraternal circles and is one of the best-known members of the fraternity of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in the state of New York. For thirty-five years Judge Le Seur has been a member of this order and for twenty-nine years has been a representative in the State Grand Lodge, during twenty-eight years of that period serving also as a representative in the Grand Encampment, an attendant at all ses- sions save one when he was prevented by illness. During the term 1912-13 he served as grand patriarch of the State Grand Lodge and since 1918 has been one of the four representatives from the state of New York sitting in the sovereign grand lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Since 1916 Judge Le Seur also has been serving as judge advocate general on the staff of the department commander of the state, it thus being apparent that there are few Odd Fellows in the state who have a wider acquaintance in that order than he. The Judge also is widely known in the fraternity of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and has rendered service to that order as exalted ruler of the lodge at Batavia. He is a past president of the Western New York State Firemen's Association and is now serving as chairman of the legislative committee of that historic body. The Judge is a member of the locally influential Kiwanis Club of Batavia, the slogan of which club is "We Build", and has long been recognized as one of the real "community builders" there.
HERBERT WOODWARD BRIGHAM.
Herbert Woodward Brigham, secretary and treasurer and chief owner of the Teall Catering Company of Rochester, president of the Rochester Mutual Benefit Association, past counselor of the Flower City lodge of the United Commercial Travel- ers, a member of the exposition committee of the Rochester Industrial Exposition, an active and influential member of the Chamber of Commerce of that city and in other ways prominently identified with the commercial and industrial activities of the community, is a native son of Rochester and has lived here the greater part of his life, though his activities at one time and another have taken him into other fields and, considering his years, he has had a varied and interesting experience in life. He was born in the city of Rochester, November 8, 1891, and is a son of Herbert W. and Nellie (Woodward) Brigham, the latter of whom, a daughter of Judge Homer Wood- ward, also was born in Rochester and is still living.
The late senior Herbert W. Brigham was born in Newmarket, in the province of Ontario, Canada, and early in his business career became a resident of Rochester, where, in association with Charles M. Everest, he was identified with the Vacuum Oil Company, manufacturers of oil products, which became one of the important industries of Rochester and which in time and in the course of the working out of that company's expansion program was taken over by the Standard Oil Company of New York. Following this merger Mr. Brigham was transferred to New York city and thence to Newark, New Jersey, where he occupied an official position in connec- tion with the operations of this subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company until his death, in New York city, in 1909. His widow survives him and is now making her home at Rochester. They had six children, the subject of this biographical review (the youngest) having a sister, Miss Marguerite Brigham, and four brothers, Robert H., Joseph F., Charles D. and John William Brigham.
Due to the several changes in residence made by his father, the junior Herbert W. Brigham's education was received in the schools of New York city, Newark and Rochester and he was graduated from the high school in the latter city in the spring of 1909, then being seventeen years of age. Meanwhile, he had been laying the foun- dation for a successful business career, having begun his commercial enterprises at the age of eleven years, as a dealer in newspapers and stationery in Newark, where he had five other boys in his employ. He carried on this business for three years and finds it interesting to recall that he made a success of it. The venture at least provided an exceedingly valuable training in self-reliance and in commercial forms. Following the death of his father he returned to Rochester with his mother and upon completing the course in the high school there became employed in newspaper
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work, rendering service with the Democrat, and Chronicle and then with the Daily Record, his experiences on these several papers covering almost every phase of news- paper activity from printer's dev.l to general reporting. It was then that Mr. Brigham and one of his venturesome associates took a "flyer" in the publication of a biographical work, staging their operations in the city of Detroit, Michigan, where they got out a highly creditable publication and made some money out of it.
Not caring longer to continue in the publication field Mr. Brigham returned to Rochester from Detroit and became employed as a traveling salesman for a whole- sale candy firm, a form of activity in which he continued engaged for a year, at the end of which time, on December 1, 1910, he entered upon a long period of employment in the office of the Rochester Ice Cream Company, a concern with which he remained connected until 1917, when he and Walter F. Chamberlain became engaged in business along similar lines on their own account, establishing the Flower City Ice Cream Company. A few months later, in October of that same year, Mr. Brigham consoli- dated the Flower City Ice Cream Company with the Rochester Ice Cream Company, becoming sales and advertising manager, while Mr. Chamberlain became superin- tendent of the Rochester Ice Cream Company. In 1923 Mr. Brigham resigned that position to purchase an interest in the Teall Catering Company, one of the old and firmly established concerns of this kind in western New York, and he since has given his attention to the affairs of that widely known concern, now being the secretary- treasurer of the company and the principal stockholder. The Teall Catering Company has a well equipped establishment at No. 263 East avenue, Rochester, and its products are distributed over a wide area throughout this section of New York, the excellence of these products having long ago created for them a wide market.
On April 5, 1915, in Baltimore, Maryland, Mr. Brigham was united in marriage to Miss Pauline A. Reynolds, daughter of Professor A. Reynolds of Rochester, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Brigham have one child: A daughter, Pauline Eleanor Brigham, born in Rochester February 15, 1916. They are members of the Central Presbyterian church and take a proper interest in church affairs, as well as in the general social activities of the city. Mr. Brigham is an active member of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and is recognized as one of the real "boosters" among the younger business men of the city. As a member of the executive committee of the Rochester Industrial Exposition he has rendered valuable service and in other ways has done his part in promoting movements having to do with the extension of the city's general
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