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 57
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FRANK J. CAMPBELL
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and cleared away land. He met his death at the hands of the Indians. His brother, Major Moses Van Campen, came here at about the same time and he made the various surveys for the Holland Land Company when they purchased their great tract of land in western New York. The descendants of Benjamin and Major Moses Van Campen continued to live in and near Olean and by their works and characters have established the family as a primal one. Dr. Van Campen's parents were George and Emily (Borden) Van Campen. His father was in the insurance business and has lived most of his life in Olean, where he still resides.
Benjamin Van Campen was born in Olean, July 7, 1879, and attended the public and high schools of Olean, and then went to Yale, where he received his A. B. in 1905. He took his medical work at the University of Buffalo and graduated from that school in 1908 with the M. D. degree. For three months he was attached to the Boston Floating Hospital and then spent three months more with Dr. John Lovitt Morse of Boston. Returning to Olean in 1909, he began his practice there, and by 1917 he had become one of the best known and most respected physicians in western New York. He risked losing his practice, as did many other professional men in 1917, by enlisting for service in the World war in June, 1917, and was made a lieutenant of the Medical Corps. He went to France in August, 1918, and remained overseas until July, 1919, when he returned to this country and was discharged from the army. During his service with the Eighty-fourth Division his ability was signally recognized by his promotion to lieutenant colonel, a record advance for a non-regular army officer of the Medical Corps. He was made colonel of the Medical Reserve Corps on November 7, 1924. In 1919 Dr. Van Campen resumed his practice in Olean, and has been there ever since, with a practice which makes him one of the busiest men in Cattaraugus county. He belongs to the American Medical and New York state as well as the Cattaraugus county Medical Associations.
Dr. Van Campen is a republican and takes an interest in local politics and good government. He belongs to the First Presbyterian church and is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk and an Eagle. He loves out-of-door life but equally as well his profession and his home, combining all in a perfect whole that he may get the most of life by giving richly to it.
Benjamin Van Campen and Miss Josephine McCarthy, daughter of Matthew McCarthy of Olean, were married in Olean on June 8, 1911. They have three chil- dren: Avery Van Campen born August 3, 1913; Mary Jane Van Campen, born November 22, 1916 both of them being students in the Schools of Olean; and Joan, born November 13, 1924.
CHARLES HASTINGS WILTSIE.
Charles Hastings Wiltsie has been an active representative of the legal profes- sion in Rochester for more than four decades and has long enjoyed a position of leadership at the bar of the city. He was born in Pittsford village, New York, on January 13, 1859, and is the oldest of three children born to James Martin and Emily Ward (Hastings) Wiltsie. Charles H. Wiltsie is of the ninth generation in male line from Philippe Martin Wiltse, a soldier, who came from Holland to Manhattan Island in 1624, in the ship New Netherlands, and who was one of those detailed to build Fort Orange, at Albany. On his mother's side he is of pure colonial English stock, Emily Ward Hastings being a descendant of Thomas Hastings, a Puritan of noble lineage, who emigrated with his family from Ipswich, England, in the ship Elizabeth, in 1634, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Charles Hastings Wiltsie attended the village school in Pittsford until the age of fourteen, and the Brockport State Normal School during the succeeding three years. In 1876 he matriculated in the University of Rochester, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1880, ranking second for the full four-year classical course and receiving various prizes and honors. He was a student in the Universities of Göttingen and Berlin in Germany, during the years 1880 and 1881. In 1883 he was admitted to practice law in Rochester, New York, where he has continued to reside and follow his profession through the intervening years to the present time and has been accorded a large and important clientage.
In 1885 Mr. Wiltsie published a monograph on "Parties to Mortgage Fore- closures", and in 1889 a treatise of eleven hundred and fifty pages on "The General Law and Practice of Foreclosing Mortgages", which has long been a standard among attorneys. This treatise was revised and enlarged into two volumes in 1897, and in
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1913 a third edition was printed. Mr. Wiltsie traveled extensively in Europe, Asia and Africa in 1889 and 1890 and made a trip around the world in 1892 and 1893, writing two series of descriptive travel letters for local newspapers. His latest trip abroad was in 1925, when he spent three months in the Mediterranean countries of Europe and Africa.
On the 5th of October, 1893, Mr. Wiltsie was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Potter Hart of Rochester, New York, and they have one daughter, Mary Emily. who is the wife of Harold L. Field of Rochester. Mr. Wiltsie is a republican in politics. He is president of Rochester Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, is a member of Delta Psi, the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, president of the Rochester Historical Society from 1921 until 1925, president of the Rochester Public Library from 1922 until 1925, of which he has been a trustee since 1912, trustee of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute from 1892 until 1925, treasurer of the Rochester Exposition and Horse Show from 1915 until 1925, trustee of Perry's Victory Centennial Commission from 1915 until 1925, trustee of the Saratoga Battlefield Association and trustee of the First Presbyterian church. Socially he is a member of the Rochester Country, University, Genesee Valley and Oak Hill Clubs. His resi- dence is at No. 123 Plymouth avenue.
PHILIP PRESENT.
Philip Present, a well known diamond merchant of Rochester, where he has been continuously engaged in business for more than forty years, is sole proprietor of the largest diamond importing house in western New York. He was born in Russian Poland in 1856. His father came of French ancestry and his mother of Polish. The first seventeen years of his life were spent in his native country and he then came alone to the United States, landing at New York. He had received good educational privileges and for a year and a half he acted as German tutor in a private family. He was afterward employed as clerk in a grocery store for a short time and later went to Elmira, New York, where he learned the watch repairing and jewelry business in both the mechanical and mercantile departments. He then went on the road as . traveling salesman for a wholesale jewelry house and after a brief period spent in that way he came to Rochester in 1884. Ambitious to engage in business on his own account, he had carefully saved his earnings and here opened a small retail and wholesale jewelry house. From the beginning his trade increased, owing to his care- ful management, earnest effort to please his patrons and his straightforward dealing, and when a year and a half had passed he was forced to seek larger quarters, which he secured on the second floor of a building at the corner of Clinton and Main streets. He then confined his attention to the wholesale trade and after four years was again obliged to seek larger quarters in the Wilder building, where he also spent four years. Each removal has been necessitated by the demand for greater space in which to accommodate his continually developing trade. For five years he was in the Monroe County Savings Bank building and then came to his present location, having the entire second floor of the Commerce building. He does strictly a wholesale business, carrying a large stock of loose and unmounted diamonds, and has also a small factory, where he manufactures diamond mountings. He employes three traveling salesmen, who cover New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. In May, 1922, the New York office was opened at No. 170 Broadway, which has been under the management of Mr. Present's son, Le Roy, who has built up a very large business. Mr. Present has every reason to be proud of his success, for from the beginning his business has constantly developed until it has now reached very extensive proportions. Mr. Present goes personally to Europe each year to purchase diamonds. In his busi- ness life Mr. Present has been conservative rather than speculative and his prosperity is due to his unwearied industry and straightforward business methods. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished and as the architect of his own fortunes he has builded wisely and well. His life is another illustration of the fact that in this land where labor is unhampered by caste or class, any individual may attain success if he has but the determination to persevere in a persistent course of well defined labor.
In 1888 Mr. Present was married to Miss Celia Selling, a daughter of Henry Selling of Paterson, New Jersey, who for many years was a prominent citizen of Hartford. Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Present have two daughters and one son, all born in Rochester: Reta, who was educated in Rochester, in New York city and in
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PHILIP PRESENT
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France, is now a noted concert pianist. During the World war she served as an entertainer for the soldiers in France; Le Roy attended the grade and high schools of Rochester and for three years was a student in St. John's Military Academy. He served in the commissary department during the period of the World war, purchasing supplies for the army. He is now associated with his father in business, having charge of the office in New York city and spending much time abroad in the interests of the business as a buyer of rare jewels; Mrs. Allison Rosenthal, the youngest of the family, was educated in the grade and high schools of this city and still resides here.
Mr. Present is a great lover of literature and has one of the fine private libraries of the city. His reading has been of broad and varied character and he is especially interested in philosophic and economic subjects. He has studied closely the sociologi- cal, economic and political history of the country and has been very active in pro- moting practical plans and measures toward ameliorating the hard conditions of life for the unfortunate and bringing into the lives of the poorer classes the advan- tages, opportunities and pleasures enjoyed by the rich. He is a prominent supporter and one of the trustees of the Chamber of Commerce and formerly served as president of the Rochester Credit Men's Association, in which connections he is well known, being recognized as one of the strong factors in the business life of the city. His labors have not been selfishly concentrated upon his individual success but have been exerted along lines working toward the general business development of the city. Mr. Present is also connected with several charitable and philanthropic insti- tutions, in which he has served as an official member and as a leader in promoting the work thereof. He established an educational institution for foreigners to fit them for American citizenship. He bought the ground and building and donated a large amount for the support of this institution, which is equipped with gymnasium and baths and in which all common branches of study are taught. It is an advanced step toward good citizenship, which entitles Mr. Present to be classed with the philanthropists of the age. He is also one of the organizers and a trustee and director of the Social Settlement of Rochester, an institution for the industrial and social training of young girls of the poorer classes. He is the president and promoter of the Jewish Young Men's Association, on the board of which he served for many years, was vice presi- dent of the Rochester Public Health Board, since abolished, has been made secretary of the Louis Henry Morgan Society and is likewise the secretary of the New York Archaeological Association. He is a member and trustee of the Jewish Temple and takes a most active and helpful part in its work, while of the Orphan Asylum he is a director. In the more specifically social and fraternal relation, he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Irondequoit Country Club, and the Athletic Club. The record of Philip Present is one which commands uniform respect and admiration. Coming to America practically empty-handed, he has achieved notable success in business and moreover has grown and developed in character and in intellect, taking cognizance of the trend of the times toward a recognition of individual obligation and the truth of universal brotherhood. His labors for good citizenship, for charity and for intellectual progress have been of the most practical kind and deserve the highest commendation. Since 1912 Mr. Present has resided at No. 2161 East avenue.
EMMET L. HARDER.
There is no satisfaction in life which can quite equal that of the man who has finished a successful career and in the autumn of life settles down to enjoy the fruits of his labors, knowing that he has accomplished something worth while. Among the retired business men of Wellsville who are enjoying the contentment that comes from results achieved and tasks well done, there is none more highly esteemed than Emmet L. Harder, who for many years was prominently identified with oil development work in this district. He was born in Addison, Steuben county, New York, March 10, 1849, a son of Robert E. and Liza M. (Shumway) Harder, who were married January 1, 1848. The father was born in Steuben county, November 6, 1820, and engaged in lumbering, also following the occupation of farming. Mr. and Mrs. Harder had a family of four children: Emmet L .; Gilbert J., who resides in Olean, New York; Uri, who is deceased; and Robert E., Jr., who is employed by the Empire Gas & Fuel Com- pany of Wellsville.
Emmet L. Harder attended the district schools of Steuben county, New York, and after completing his education was employed for a time in the lumber mills of that locality. He then went to the lumber region of Michigan and remained in that state
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for eleven years. Upon the expiration of that period he went to Mckean county, Pennsylvania, obtaining work in the oil fields. In 1889 he arrived in Wellsville and entered the service of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company, in the capacity of superin- tendent, which position he has since filled, but now acts mostly in an advisory capac- ity. He supervised the construction of the company's pipe line and his labors have become an integral part of the business, constituting an essential element in its up- building. He also operated independently as an oil producer and there is no phase of the industry with which he is not thoroughly familiar.
On the 11th of May, 1872, Mr. Harder was married to Miss Cynthia Whitney of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who died March 5, 1914, leaving five children, of whom Lula is the oldest. She was graduated from the Wellsville high school and married Charles Stebbins of Andover, New York, manager of the gasoline plant of the Empire Gas & Fuel Company; Elton is acting superintendent for that company and is also an oil producer; Guy resides in Andover and is engaged in the development of the oil fields of this section. He married Emma Luden of Wellsville, and they have a son, Richard; Florence married Ernest Glauche. He died January 4, 1924, leaving one child, Ernes- tine, who is attending the local high school; Le Roy is an electrical engineer and draughtsman. He received his professional training in the Bliss Electrical School at Washington, D. C., and afterward became an instructor in the Mechanics Institute at Rochester, New York. He married Miss Cecil Holder of that city, and they now reside in Detroit, Michigan. On August 19, 1916, Mr. Emmet L. Harder was married to Mrs. F. Eugenia (Richardson) Judd, a daughter of DeWitt Clinton and Frances Chapin (Forsyth) Richardson. Her father, a native of Livingston county, was a talented musician and became widely and favorably known as a violinist and composer. He also followed the occupation of farming and resided in Allegany county from boy- hood until his death in January, 1900.
Mr. Harder is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has always been a strong advocate of prohibition. He is allied with the republican party and his public spirit has been manifest by both word and deed. The cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion and for twelve years he served on the Wellsville School Board, while for six years he was a member of the village board. He has always been loyal to any trust reposed in him and his interests and activities have touched the vari- ous phases of life which are factors in public progress and improvement. Mr. Harder is a man of strict integrity and a long, useful and upright life has earned for him the confidence, respect and goodwill of the citizens of Wellsville, in which community he has made his home for thirty-six years.
WILLIAM J. DARCH.
Just as William J. Darch had begun the practice of law the World war claimed the assistance of the United States for its settlement, and he abandoned his prac- tice as an attorney in Batavia, Genesee county, New York, and enlisted in the American forces. Since the war ended Mr. Darch has been engaged in building up a practice in Batavia, with gratifying success. He was born May 13, 1893, in Stafford, New York, the son of John and Jennie (Trick) Darch, the former of whom was engaged in mechanical work for a long time in Stafford and still makes his home there. William J. Darch's father was the first member of the family to settle in Genesee county, coming from Devonshire, England, about 1873, since which time he has been a permanent resi- dent. He attended Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, for two years, but was obliged to discontinue his studies on account of ill health. He was interested in engineering, and for a short time was located in the state of Wyoming, where he obtained much practical experience in that line.
William J. Darch acquired his early education in the grade schools of Stafford and in the high school of Batavia, after which he entered the college of law at Cornell University, received his degree of LL. B. and was graduated in the class of 1917. Immediately after graduation Mr. Darch opened an office in Batavia, remained for a short period and then moved to Buffalo, New York, where he practiced in the office of Norton, Penney, Spring & Moore until February, 1918. He then entered the World war service as an ambulance driver attached to the Cornell Ambulance Section, went overseas in June, 1918, and remained abroad until July, 1919, when he received his discharge. Upon his return to the United States, Mr. Darch reopened his office in Batavia and has since that time been in continuous practice in the city.
Mr. Darch is a member of the Genesee County Bar Association and an honorary
WILLIAM J. DARCH
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member of the Delta Theta Chi Legal Society of Cornell University. In politics he is a republican and is interested in political affairs, is unmarried, and is not con- nected with any religious organization. Fraternally Mr. Darch is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and socially is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Batavia, the Batavia Club, the Stafford Country Club and the Genesee County Cornell Club, of which he has been president since its organization in 1920. He is a director of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Darch takes a healthy interest in baseball, football, golf, hunting, fishing, and all other outdoor sports, making trips to the northern sections of the United States or Canada each year for hunting and fishing.
F. H. VAN ORSDALE, M. D.
One of the most excellent and praiseworthy features about the town of Belmont, Allegany county, New York, is the private hospital maintained by Dr. F. H. Van Ors- dale, a physician and surgeon of long residence in the town and with a large practice that takes in Allegany and adjoining counties. The local need of a place where the sick could have absolutely sanitary surroundings and trained nursing had long been apparent to Dr. Van Orsdale, and the outcome was that he erected the hospital him- self. It has proved one of the most beneficent acts ever done for the town, and the institution has been taxed almost beyond its capacity for accommodations ever since it was opened in 1918. Dr. Van Orsdale was born December 12, 1859, in Jasper, Steuben county, New York, the son of Henry V. and Jane A. (Shumway) Van Orsdale, both of whom have passed away.
F. H. Van Orsdale began his education in the public schools of Jasper, leaving them in 1875 to take a preparatory course at Alfred University, Alfred, New York, from which he graduated in 1878. Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, came next, and young Van Orsdale there received his A. B. degree and was graduated in the class of 1881. After leaving Cornell, at which time he was twenty-two years old, Mr. Van Orsdale was married to Grace E. Craig of Jasper, and for the next six years was busy as a teacher in the public schools, being engaged in Scio, Troupsburg, Jasper and Greenwood, New York.
Mr. Van Orsdale then took up the study of medicine and in 1887 entered the Medi- cal College of the University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, received his degree of M. D. and was graduated in the class of 1891. The Doctor began the practice of medicine in Jasper, where he remained from 1891 until 1898, and in the latter year moved to Belmont, where he has been in continuous practice ever since, and is assistant surgeon at the Wellsville Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Van Orsdale is a member of the American Medical Association, the New York State Medical Board and the Allegany County Medical Board, having been president of the latter body for three years. During the World war the Doctor was secretary of the Allegany County Home Service Board. He is a member of the blue lodge in the Masonic order, and in his religious convictions is of the Presbyterian faith. The Doctor has one child: Mabel C., born August 18, 1882, who became the wife of Arthur R. Bradley, vice president of the Kelsey Heating Company of Syracuse, New York.
JOHN AMBROSE DRISCOLL.
John Ambrose Driscoll, treasurer and general manager of the Asbestex Corpora- tion of Rochester, who was for many years prominent in business circles of this city, passed away on the 7th of January, 1924, when sixty-two years of age. He was born in London, England, August 5, 1862, his parents being John and Abigail (McSwee- ney) Driscoll. The father was one of the firemen on the Monitor in the famous Civil war engagement in which that pioneer armored vessel won a victory over the Merrimac.
When a lad of eleven years John Ambrose Driscoll, accompanied by his mother, left Paris, where they had been living, and crossed the Atlantic to the United States, locating in Rochester, New York, where they had relatives. He attended the public schools of this city until fifteen years of age, when he secured a position in a shoe factory. At the end of four years he had risen to the position of foreman in the Burns shoe factory and about the same time was made president of the Shoemakers' Union. Already he had manifested considerable oratorical ability, which developed in later years to positive genius.
It was in association with Eugene Satterlee, George R. Fuller and Thomas Finu-
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cane that Mr. Driscoll established the Home Telephone Company. He was the man who fought the Bell interests, secured the franchises and as toll manager built the lines through the counties in which the company held franchises. After its consolida- tion Mr. Driscoll discontinued his identification with the telephone business and embarked upon an independent venture by purchasing the interests of the Superior Belting Company on Water street. Subsequently he removed the plant to East Rochester, where he had built the factory. He had discovered a process for coating a Webb belting, which made it a substitute for and in no way inferior to leather belt- ing. Numerous large contracts were awarded him, including the furnishing of all brake bands for the Fisher Body Corporation of Detroit, as well as the Chandler Company and many others of equal importance. His firm made brake bands and belt- ing for all kinds of machinery and for all uses. During the period of the World war, through circumstances over which he had no control, Mr. Driscoll was forced into bankruptcy. He spent a year looking over various sites and finally in 1920 decided on six acres at No. 950 Chili avenue, where he had access to three railroads, as well as the barge canal. He built a factory and started in business life anew, becoming treasurer and general manager of the newly organized Asbestex Corporation. It was while on a trip to Cleveland for the purchase of machinery that Mr. Driscoll experi- enced an attack of mushroom poisoning but after a time had recovered sufficiently to resume his office duties. On the 7th of January, 1924, while at his office, he suffered a hemorrhage which resulted in his immediate demise. The Asbestex Corporation will go on to the accomplishment of its destiny, Mr. Driscoll having left his plans in such shape that there is no difficulty in carrying them out. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Marie (Repp) Driscoll; two daughters: Mrs. Leo N. Sullivan and Mrs. Florence M. Riley; two sons, Ambrose A. and Bernard J. Driscoll; and five grandchildren.
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