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 76
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CLARENCE W. SMITH
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The magazine business called, and on February 19, 1898, Mr. Van Hoesen was made assistant manager and associate editor of the "The Grape Belt" and "Fruit", publications of Dunkirk, New York, then published by his old employer, Mr. Morton. He also took over the Franklinville Journal and conducted it successfully for a time, turning it over to Mr. Morton that he might return to work with Mr. Adams. In 1906 he became bookkeeper for the People's National Bank and that ill-fated institu- tion, which failed in 1908, not only left him jobless but also devoid of the savings of a long period of hard work-several thousand dollars. During the next year, trying to regain his place in the world, he managed the Assembly Store in Silver Lake and for two years was daily messenger between Franklinville and Buffalo, meanwhile working up a mail order printing business. In October, 1909, he started a small job shop in the basement of his home and in September, 1912, the business having flourished, he moved to the present location of the Van Hoesen Press. In 1910 he established the Ancona World and in 1912 The Campine Herald, both monthly poultry publications, and in 1914 the Yorkshire Swine Monthly. These magazines have a world-wide circulation and have proved to be high-grade trade publications.
Mr. Van Hoesen and his partner Mr. Hayden installed the first telephone line in the village. They secured a franchise and strung a mile of wire and connected several phones. They eventually sold their franchise to the Franklinville Telephone Com- pany. Mr. Van Hoesen was a volunteer for the war with Spain, inducing twenty friends to join the colors with him. The Brown Cavalry Company was their organi- zation but it was not called out. Fraternally he belongs to Franklinville Lodge, No. 626, F. & A. M., where he has served as junior warden and secretary for several years; and is a Scottish Rite Mason, belonging to the consistory, at Olean. He has been a Mason for over thirty years and is now worthy patron of the Eastern Star, serving his third consecutive term. He was superintendent of the First Presbyterian Sunday school for three years and secretary of the Cattaraugus county Sunday School Association for four years; has been secretary of the lecture course com- mittee; organized the Franklinville Camera Club and was its first president; was secretary of the Franklinville Business Men's Association for two years; and belongs to other clubs and associations. He is a member of the Holland Society of New York, limited to one thousand members, who are qualified descendants of pioneers who came from Holland before 1675.
Mr. Van Hoesen has made a name for himself in the chicken fancying world, and imports and exports stock. He is secretary of the Ancona Club of this country; vice president of the Ancona Club of England; vice president of the Cattaraugus County Association; and a member of the International Ancona Club and the Ameri- can Poultry Association. He is a newspaper contributor and has published several books.
Roy W. Van Hoesen was married to Miss Lena L. Kelley of Pike, New York, on June 24, 1903. She had been a very successful teacher and was an alumni of Pike Seminary and Buffalo Normal. Mr. and Mrs. Van Hoesen have one child, Christine.
JOHN FRANCIS KELLOGG.
When the State Bank of Avon, at Avon, Livingston county, New York, was organized in 1892, the executive officers of the bank looked around among their ac- quaintances for a likely young man to fill the responsible position of assistant cashier. That was thirty-two years ago, as these lines are written. The choice of the officers settled upon John Francis Kellogg, then in his twenty-first year of life, a native of Avon and member of a well known family. Mr. Kellogg was installed in the position and has retained it through the intervening years, a fact which speaks well for the perspicacity of the officers who selected Mr. Kellogg, and more strongly still for the fidelity with which he has attended to his duties in the institution. He was born in Avon, June 4, 1871, the son of Francis and Helen M. (Hogmire) Kellogg, both now deceased.
John Francis Kellogg was reared in the town, received his education in the grade schools, the Geneseo Normal School, and the Rochester Business University, at Rochester, New York. His first employment was with A. Carpenter, entering the State Bank of Avon in 1892 as assistant cashier. In addition to the duties pertaining to his position Mr. Kellogg also conducts a general insurance and real estate office, representing eight companies in the first named branch. Mr. Kellogg is a member of
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the Masonic order, is an elder in the Presbyterian church of Avon, and in politics votes the republican ticket.
On June 15, 1898, Mr. Kellogg was married to Kate Washburn, a native of Maine. Five children have been born to them: John F., Jr., is now attending the Medical School of Harvard University, at Cambridge, Massachusetts; Thurlow W., Helen, Katharine and Martha are at home in Avon.
HENRY CONOLLY.
Henry Conolly, president of the Henry Conolly Company of Rochester, was born in Sligo, Ireland, on the 22d of November, 1861. He learned the trade of a bookbinder in the old country and upon his arrival in the United States in 1886 secured a position in a bindery of Boston, Massachusetts, where he followed his trade for about a year. Through the solicitation of the Alling & Cory Company of Rochester he came to this city on the 1st of May, 1887, as an employe of that firm. During the eighteen months Mr. Conolly worked for that concern he conceived the idea of going into business for himself, and upon the perfection of his plans he started out in a small shop which was enlarged from time to time during the first few years of the business. Finally it became evident that nothing short of a building erected especially for the work of Mr. Conolly's establishment would be sufficient to take care of the growing demands of his clientele. He then built the structure at No. 39 Elizabeth street, now occupied by the Henry Conolly Company. This building is a tangible evidence of Henry Conolly's achievements in the commercial world and symbolizes the growth of his printing and binding business from a little shop to a large modern industry. The plant is one of the most modern and completely equipped of its kind in the state and requires a force of over one hundred experienced printers and binders. Those who are familiar with this establishment can discern in every department of its work the influence of Mr. Conolly, the president of the company since 1915, for he has been the guiding spirit of the business ever since its beginning over thirty years ago.
For two terms Mr. Connolly served the Typothetae Association of Master Printers of Rochester as its president, and has ever stood ready to cooperate with every move- ment he felt would be of value to the printing trade. As one of the leading business men of the city he supports the work of the Chamber of Commerce and also belongs to the Washington and Rochester Clubs.
WILLIAM KENDALL PAUL, M. D.
Other responsibilities made it necessary many years ago for Dr. William Kendall Paul, of Belmont, Allegany county, New York, physician, oil producer and financier, to withdraw from the active practice of his profession, but that did not nullify his interest in medical work, and he has always kept in close touch with what is being accomplished and the progress that is being constantly made. Dr. Paul is associated with a number of organizations which have for their object the prevention and cure of disease and the betterment of living conditions among the poorer classes of the people. To this work he has devoted many years of his life, and the results of his efforts are being felt in every part of the Empire state, as well as in many others.
Dr. Paul was born on December 26, 1860, at West Falls, Erie county, New York, the son of Reuel Mahuron and Sarah (Long) Paul, both of whom are deceased. The mother passed away at East Aurora, New York, on December 26, 1923, at the age of ninety-three years and six months. The early education of Dr. Paul was acquired in the district schools of West Falls and his studies were continued in the Aurora Academy at East Aurora, New York. He received an academic diploma at the University of the State of New York, at Albany, New York, in 1881, while subse- quently he pursued a three-year course at Cleveland, Ohio, in a branch of the Uni- versity of Ohio maintained there, and was the salutatorian of his class, which gradu- ated in 1884. Dr. Paul then began the practice of medicine at Angelica, New York, remained there for two and one-half years, and next took a course of six months at the Post Graduate School of Medicine in the city of New York. He be- came a resident of D 1 1. in 1896, and was in active practice for about three years before his Churawal. Since 1908 Dr. Paul has been a trustee of the Western
WM. K. PAUL
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New York Society for Protection of Homeless and Dependent Children. He is presi- dent of the Allegany County Committee on Tuberculosis and Public Health, was associated with its organization in 1917, and has been its president since that time. He is also a member of the State Charities Aid Association, under the surveillance of which the county organization is being carried on.
Dr. Paul is a member of the Allegany County Medical Society and the New York State Medical Society, and the Sons of the American Revolution. He is a Knights Templar Mason, has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is a Noble of Ismailia Temple of the Mystic Shrine. In his political convictions he is a member of the republican party.
On the 5th of October, 1887, Dr. Paul was married to Henrietta Willets, daughter of Isaac and Harriet (Ayres) Willets. Only one of their three children is living, for Willets Castleton Paul died at the age of eighteen months and Frances Paul died in infancy. Henrietta Helene Paul, the surviving daughter, became the wife of William Hector Mackenzie, of Hamilton, Ohio, on December 17, 1917. They have one son, William Hector (IV), he being the fourth in direct line of that name.
Isaac Willets, father of Mrs. Paul, was a pioneer lumberman and later a large oil producer. He was one of the extensive individual oil producers in this section, his daily production being over five thousand barrels. The interests of the late Isaac Willets were incorporated in 1922 as the Willets & Paul Corporation. Dr. Paul is also identified with financial activities as vice president of the State Bank of Belmont.
GEORGE HERBERT SMITH.
George Herbert Smith, of Rochester, was born in Elmira, New York, December 11, 1857, only child of Lewis E. and Lucy (Boardman) Smith, whose home at that time was in the town of Livonia, Livingston county, New York. The mother was a daughter of Allyn and Phoebe (Woodworth) Boardman, the latter a native of New England. They lived in Tompkins county, New York, where Mr. Boardman engaged in farming and stock raising, also operating a tannery. The paternal grandparents were George and Sally (Woodruff) Smith, both of whom were natives of Vermont and became pioneer settlers of Livingston county, New York. The former was a surveyor and contractor. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, retiring with the rank of colonel. He was the first representative of Livingston county in the New York assembly. His son, Lewis E. Smith, was born in Livingston county and followed the law until failing health compelled him to abandon his chosen profession.
George Herbert Smith attended the Livonia district school, moved with his par- ents to Rochester, New York, in 1871, and was graduated from the Rochester Free Academy. In 1879 he entered the University of Rochester, from which he won the A. B. degree in 1881, receiving the degree of A. M. some years later. He entered the law office of Smith & Briggs almost immediately. About a year afterward he became a law student at Columbia University, which he attended for a year. He was ad- mitted to the bar in the fall of 1883. He established himself in practice in Rochester in May, 1884, where he has since followed his profession. He is a life member of the New York State Bar Association.
In Somerset, Pennsylvania, on October 22, 1896, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Maud L. Cook, a daughter of Jonas M. and Emma Cook, prominent residents of that place. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Lucy B., who was educated at Wellesley College and is now an art student in Paris, France; Malcolm E., who completed a course in agriculture at Cornell University of Ithaca, New York; Margaret L., now a student in that university; and Mary Eleanor and Hilda A., who are students in West high school of Rochester. There is also an adopted son, Roger Alan Smith.
Mr. Smith takes the interest of a good citizen in public affairs. He was for six years a member of the board of supervisors of Monroe county and for two years chairman of the board. During the sessions of 1902 and 1903 he represented his district in the general assembly of New York state. He is a member of the University Club and in Masonry has attained the thirty-second degree. His religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the Unitarian church. Mr. Smith was an earnest advocate of political equality for women before the cause became popular and enjoyed the personal friendship of Susan B. Anthony. He has been a student of municipal government and interested in procuring the best form of charter for our cities. He was a member of the National Municipal League and a charter member of the
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New York State Commission Government Association. He has been interested in the care of the insane and was for a number of years a member of the board of man- agers of the Rochester State Hospital for the Insane.
ROBERT JAMES McKECHNIE.
While the efforts of the merchant and the manufacturer take a more tangible form in direct results, the labors of perhaps no individual more closely affect the welfare and advancement of a community than do those of the educator. In this pro- fession Robert James McKechnie has achieved notable success. He is the founder and head of the Phono-Syllabic Secretarial and Accounting School, situated at No. 35 Main street, East, in Rochester, and within a few years has built up an institution second to none in the character and thoroughness of its instruction. He is a native of Canada, born April 12, 1887, in Georgetown, in the province of Ontario, and his parents, Donald and Rhoda (Watson) McKechnie, were residents of the Dominion, where the mother passed away in 1899. In 1900 the father, who was a merchant, removed to Gloversville, New York, where his death occurred in 1907. Six children were born to them: William J., treasurer and manager of the Toledo Casket Com- pany; Martha, who is unmarried and resides in Toronto, Canada; Thomas H., who lives in Gloversville, New York, and acts as general agent for various manufacturing firms; George A. whose death occurred in Gloversville, in 1924; Mrs. Sophia Pen- gelly of Glencairn, Ontario, Canada; and Robert James of this review.
Robert James McKechnie obtained his early education in his native province, continuing his studies in the Gloversville high school, and afterward attended a business college of that place, while he also completed a course in accounting and secretarial work in Toronto, Canada. When a young man of twenty-one Mr. Mc- Kechnie established his first business college, choosing Detroit, Michigan, as the scene of his operations, and encouraged by the success of the venture, he extended his activities to other cities. At the end of five years he was the proprietor of com- mercial schools in two other cities besides Detroit. Subsequently he withdrew from the educational field and went to Toronto, Canada, as advertising manager for a large mail-order house of that city. He filled that position for three years and then joined the Elliot Advertising Service of Rochester, with which he was con- nected for two years. In 1917 Mr. McKechnie opened a small business college on Church street, where he had accommodations for twenty students, and later secured larger quarters on State street, where he remained for three years, when he removed to his present location. He now has room for more than two hundred and fifty students and is planning to expand the business within a few months. The rapid growth of the institution is evidence of the executive ability of its president, as well as his thorough understanding of the practical and theoretical sides of business life, while the success of the graduates of the school is proof of the excellence of its methods of teaching. The accounting course includes instruction in bookkeeping, rapid calculation, penmanship, corporation accounting, national bank accounting, cost accounting, touch typewriting, office management, income tax reports, business organization and administration, advanced business letter writing, advertising tech- nique, parliamentary law, and special lectures covering the legal status and duties of the accountant, modern methods and other phases of the work. The secretarial course covers shorthand, touch typewriting, English and spelling, filing methods, office procedure, office appliances, secretarial training, secretarial bookkeeping, business organization and administration, advanced business letter writing, advertising tech- nique, business and personal efficiency, business and social amenities, parliamentary law, research and investigation and special lectures covering the duties of the sec- retary and other points. The faculty is composed of six members, who are authorities on the subjects they teach, and the enrollment is limited, only a certain number of pupils being accepted at one time. The teachers thus have an opportunity to study each student and train him along the lines of his own personality or peculiar require- ments. Mr. McKechnie is the inventor of the Phono-Syllabic system, the most mod- ern way of writing shorthand. It offers all the advantages of the old-style methods and over three thousand Rochester stenographers testify to its efficiency. Owing to its simplified form it is written and read with the greatest ease, regardless of the technical nature of the dictation, and represents the most perfect expression of the "winged art." The Phono-Syllabic Secretarial and Accounting School affords a course in business administration that opens the door to the highest positions in the
ROBERT J. McKECHNIE
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business world to ambitious young men and women, who are coming to Rochester in large numbers to avail themselves of this modern institution of learning.
In Acton, Ontario, on June 30, 1909, Mr. McKechnie was married to Miss Flor- ence A. Soper, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Soper, well known residents of that town. Mr. and Mrs. McKechnie have two children: Elmore S., who was born in Detroit, Michigan, June 25, 1911; and Donald V., born in Toronto, Canada, De- cember 29, 1914. The family now resides at No. 93 Ellicott street, Rochester.
Mr. McKechnie is a Mason in high standing. He has attained the thirty-second degree in the Consistory and is also a Shriner. He is a member of the Lions Club of Rochester, the Shrine Lunch Club, the Automobile and Ad Clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. He heartily indorses all projects destined to prove of benefit to his community and is accorded the respect which the world ever pays to the self-made man who has won success on his own merits. Holding to high ,ideals, he has built. up an institution which is a great asset to the city and a monument to the progres- sive spirit and constructive powers of its founders.
EDDY C. GILBERT.
In the matter of family trees that possessed by Eddy C. Gilbert, druggist, of Rushford, Allegany county, New York, is especially notable. Members of his family have been domiciled in Allegany county for nearly one hundred years, while the family origin is traced back to the east and to a period before the Revolutionary war, in which at least one of his forebears was a soldier on the American side. Eddy C. Gilbert was born in Rushford, July 15, 1857, the son of Hiram B. and Sophia (Eddy) Gilbert, who were married in Rushford, on September 15, 1856. Hiram B. Gilbert was born in Rushford, January 28, 1834, and was a farmer until his death, which occurred on April 2, 1899. His wife was a daughter of Newbury Eddy, who moved from Vermont and settled in Rushford in 1829, and (with the exception of one year), she lived and died on the farm on which she was born. This farm was purchased from the Holland Land Company and has ever since been in the family's possession. The paternal grandfather of Eddy C. Gilbert was Harris Gilbert, who was married to Chloe Smith on December 30, 1826, in Milo, New York. Harris Gilbert was born August 7, 1805, and died April 6, 1870. He located in Rushford in 1831, where he worked at his trade as a blacksmith. The great grandparents of Mr. Gilbert. were William Gilbert and Hope Burr, who were married on April 6, 1789, in Middle- town, Connecticut. William Gilbert was born in Middletown, June 24, 1758, and died on July 11, 1836, in Gates, near Rochester, New York. He served with the American forces in the Revolutionary war at various periods between February 1, 1776 and August, 1779.
Eddy C. Gilbert is not only a pharmacist but is actively interested in all matters that affect the welfare of his community, and takes a prominent part in the business, social and political life of his town and county. He received his education in the local public school and the Rushford grade school and in 1880 formed a partnership with Dr. O. T. Stacy in the drug business, under the name of Stacy & Gilbert. At the end of five years Mr. Gilbert took over the business and has since conducted it alone. In his political opinions Mr. Gilbert is a democrat, and during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson he was appointed postmaster of Rushford. He was the democratic candidate for the state assembly in 1923, but was defeated, since Allegany county is strongly republican. For twelve years he served as justice of the peace in Rushford. Mr. Gilbert has been a director of the Union National Bank of Franklin- ville, New York, for the past twenty-four years, and is a director of the State Bank of Rushford. In 1921 he called a meeting of citizens to consider organizing a bank to succeed a bank at Rushford that had failed, and being an effective and convincing: speaker is often called upon to address public gatherings. Fraternally Mr. Gilbert is: affiliated with the Masonic order, was worshipful master . of the Rushford Masonic: Lodge for ten years, and belongs to the chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Gilbert was married on November 29, 1883, to Mrs. Nellie (Bell) Marean, daughter of Joseph and Matilda Bell of Rushford. She died on March 8, 1885. On September 9, 1886, Mr. Gilbert was married to Helen J. White of Rushford, adopted daughter of Henry Kirk and Marena Sears White. Mrs. Gilbert was born in Rushford on February 3, 1855, was educated in the local schools and was graduated from the Geneseo Normal School in June, 1878. For ten years she was a teacher in the public schools of New York state, and prepared and published a history of the town of Rush-
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ford entitled, "Rushford and Rushford People." Mrs. Gilbert has contributed a number of articles to newspapers and has organized several literary clubs. She was the organizer of the Rushford Free Library Association. In 1914 and 1915 she was awarded first prize in a historical contest by the Empire State Society of Chicago. She has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Rushford for fifty-five years.
Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert have a son, Allan H., born March 18, 1888. He is now professor of English in Duke University, at Durham, North Carolina. For a time he was an instructor in Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and later taught in Rice Institute and the University of Tennessee. He has published a book entitled, "Geographical Dictionary of Milton", and is a contributor to various educational publications. He received the degree of A. B. from Cornell University in 1909, A. M. from Yale University in 1910, and Ph. D. from Cornell in 1912. Allan H. Gilbert was married on August 1, 1913, to Katharine Everett of Brook, Indiana, whom he met at Cornell University. She has a Ph. D. degree from Cornell, having formerly graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
D. SHERMAN BURDICK.
D. Sherman Burdick of Alfred, New York, president of the University Bank and treasurer of Allegany county, was born in Ward, Allegany county, August 12, 1860, the son of Milo and Sarah (Sherman) Burdick, both now deceased. The father was a merchant in Alfred for a number of years before his death.
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