Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 58

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374

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HERMAN MYERS.

HERMAN MYERS was born May 18, 1824, in Cassel (formerly of the Kingdom of Hesse), Germany. His mother died when he was scarcely six years old, leaving his father, then a poor struggling farmer, with five small sons and a daughter to support. In his youth young Myers was apprenticed for four years to the trade of a dyer and colorer which he learned thoroughly. While still a very young man he was drafted into the German army to serve in the Kingdom of the then Hessian Prince, who was ruler of the city of Cassel and its surrounding country. Young as he was he rose rapidly as an officer, and by reason of his fine soldierly qualities within a short time was selected and became Guard of Honor to the reigning prince at the Palace

WILLIAM BEATTIE.

of Williamshöhe in Cassel, then quite an honor and distinction. (This was the same palace where in later years Napoleon III was confined. )

After five years of army service he emigrated alone to America, hoping thereby to better his condition as well as that of his father and brothers. Coming directly to Albany after landing on American soil, a poor lad with but eleven dollars left in his pockets on arriving in the capital city, but with health, indomitable will, and energy, he at once began business life in a very small way, making Albany his per- manent home. Not more than six months had elapsed after his arrival when he visited Fulton county, N. Y., where he really laid the foundation of his future stand- ing and success. Within a few years thereafter Mr. Myers opened a jewelry store at 386 Broadway, Albany. He began on a small scale, gradually increasing his stock until before his retirement in 1860, he had one of the largest wholesale and retail jewelry establishments in the city.

No man is better known by the older inhabitants of Fulton county even to this day than Herman Myers. There he is loved, honored, and respected. And during the fifteen years he was engaged in the jewelry business not a single month passed but he visited the people of that county, and especially the cities of Gloversville and Johnstown, where his name for honesty and integrity had become so well known and established that it was then a well-known saying "that no jewelry store could then exist there, for Herman Myers sold three-fourths of all the goods in his line pur- chased in Fulton county." No sooner had Mr. Myers laid the foundation of a com- petency here than he at once sent to Europe for his father, four brothers and sister. He started all his brothers in business for themselves, and also several distant rela- tives, whom he brought from his old German home, one of whom now ranks among the foremost of all merchants in New York city.

Retiring from active business in 1860 it was not until 1865 that Mr. Myers again embarked in business, associating with him a Mr. Busley in the wholesale manufac- turing of ladies shoes, under the firm name of Busley & Myers, with a factory at Nos. 13 to 25 Church street Albany. Mr. Busley attended solely to the manufactur- ing and Mr. Myers to the buying, selling and financial part ; and for a period of seven years their factory was one of the largest here, making on an average two thousand shoes per day. In 1872 Mr. Myers finally retired from all active business and has since devoted all his time to his real estate. He now ranks among the large owners of real estate in the capital city.

In 1854 Mr. Myers was married to Sophie Kohn, a native of the well-known Kohn family of Bamberg, Bavaria. They have an only son, Max Myers, the well-known lawyer of Albany.

Never accepting nor holding any office, though often requested so to do in financial institutions in which he is a stockholder, Mr. Myers's counsel and advice are con- stantly sought. As a judge of real estate he has no peer. Herman Myers is the very epitome of a self-made and self-educated man. Belonging to no societies or clubs except the Masonic order and also a life member of the Littauer Hospital of Gloversville, Fulton county, he loves his adopted home and its institutions and is ever ready to assist in doing what good he can to all, irrespective of creed or sect, in his quiet unobtrusive way. One thing can also truthfully be said of him: To Herman Myers alone belongs the chief honor of the possession by its congregation of the new beautiful Jewish Synagogue on Lancaster street, erected at a cost of over

$130,000. As chairman of the purchasing and building committee he selected and bought the church lot, selected the architects, and was instrumental in the erection of the temple, than which no finer one can be found in New York State.

MAX MYERS.

THE legal profession of Albany includes many a bright and honored name in the exhi- bition of those manly, upright, and progressive qualities which command the respect and esteem of all good citizens, and prominent among this class of studious, substan- tial, earnest workers in the walks of professional and business life is the well known lawyer, Max Myers, the subject of this sketch. Born in Albany on the 18th of Octo- ber, 1855, he is of Hebrew parentage, and is one who is proud of his race and his ancestry. He is the only son of Herman Myers, a native of Hesse-Cassell, Germany, who in early life found his way to the free soil of America and made the capital city of the Empire State his residence. The mother of Max Myers is Sophie Kohn, whose ancestors for three generations back were natives and residents of the quaint old cities of Bamberg and Nürenberg, Bavaria, where they were, each in their time, prominent merchants and bankers. Even to this day her brothers are still the lead- ing bankers of Nürenberg. The career of Herman Myers affords another notable example of the success that may be achieved under our free, benign government by a steady perseverance in the line of industry and honorable dealing. When Herman Myers came to American shores he found himself almost a penniless young man, but with willing hands and a hopeful heart he began the race of an industrious life in a very humble way and with many obstacles stretching along his path. His pecun- iary success was marked at every step, and before many years had passed he had gained a competency. Steadily pursuing his progressive course in financial walks he has come at length to be one of the largest real estate owners and foremost citizens of Albany. And deservedly have his efforts been crowned with rich and abundant success, for Mr. Myers is a man of incessant labor, untiring energy and enterprise, and incorrupted integrity-a treasury to any individual or nation. He is a friend and advocate of the best and most promising institutions of his adopted city, and is highly esteemed by all who know of his gentle, worthy, and noble qualities.

From his earliest youth Max Myers evinced a studious disposition and a great de- sire for establishing an intellectual and business fabric. He was at first carefully in- structed by private tutors, and afterward, when scarcely nine years of age, became a pupil in Professor Cass's Classical Institute in Albany. Young as he was he now began to realize the truthfulness of old Lawrence Sterne's remark, that "the desire for knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it." Inspired by such a feeling he entered with great zest and pleasing anticipations the Albany Boys' Academy. In this excellent time-honored institution he pursued his various regular studies with true devotion during a period of five years and was graduated with honor in 1871, at about the age of sixteen, being the youngest in his class.

After finishing his academical education he went abroad and visited some of the

Hax Myers.

most famous places in the Old World, drawing stores of information from every ob- ject he saw and every occurrence he met with, thus enlarging his mind, cultivating his taste, and increasing his enjoyment for the beautiful and sublime in nature. On returning home Mr. Myers had fully decided upon the choice of a profession, and in 1875 he entered the celebrated old law office of Smith, Moak & Buchanan, where he was rapidly advanced in his knowledge of the law under the profound oral instruc- tions of its distinguished members. He was a faithful and diligent law student, and read with avidity the best legal text books, besides numerous other treatises on gen- eral subjects embraced in the magnificent law library of the late Hon. N. C. Moak, upon whose death he delivered on September 19, 1892, a most fitting and eloquent eulogy. And to this gentleman of high professional ability and vast literary acqui- sitions Mr. Myers doubtless owes something towards the cultivation and development of his own well known taste for universal literature. While remaining with this firm he also took a thorough course of lectures at the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in 1880, taking the degree of LL. B. The five years he spent with Smith, Moak & Buchanan were years of deep study, rare intellectual pleasure, and lasting profit, upon which he will always look back with pride and satisfaction.

After leaving the law school Mr. Myers began for himself the general practice of the law, and succeeded in establishing an excellent reputation as a thorough, pains- taking lawyer, a safe, cardid, and conscientious legal adviser. His specialty in the law department has been in investigating, and expounding cases pertaining to Surro- gate's Court, and to the law and practice of voluntary assignments; and in this field he has been uniformly and eminently successful. One of his earlier and most mem- orable efforts was in connection with the contested will case of the late J. H. Hidley, of Albany, in which 890,000 were involved. Hundreds of other cases of less note he has carried to a speedy and satisfactory issue and settlement on his part. He has likewise gained wide distinction as counsel for the Accident Insurance Company of North America, settling many hundred claims. Mr. Myers now devotes his attention to office practice, and to the management and care of large estates, for which he is admirably adapted and perfectly responsible. He has been and is now the executor and administrator of vast estates involving many hundred thousand dollars. Like his father, he is himself a large owner of real estate and has inherited from the old stock a thorough knowledge of the same, hence he is often called upon and his judgment requested in the investment of moneys and of estates.

In 1887 Mr. Myers made a second tour abroad, combining pleasure with study. He remained six months in Europe, visiting most all places of interest from the borders of Russia to the French coast and from the Adriatic to the North Sea. He possesses a vigorous constitution, a most active temperament, and a quick, elastic step, and is ever attentive to business demands. He belongs to no societies, clubs, nor organizations except the Masonic order. He has an utter aversion to politics and political life, and has declined various offers of trust and responsibility in this line, even refusing a directorship in one of the city's leading banks, in which he was a heavy stockholder.

Mr. Myers is a close student of human nature, a keen observer of men, a born financier, and though comparative young in years his advice on men and affairs has been and is constantly sought by many prominent merchants and bankers. He is ready in conversation, and has a friendly, social, benevolent nature, with a just sense

of what is right, and an integrity that is unimpeachable. His word is as good as his bond. His love of books is a marked feature of his busy, useful career. Besides possessing an excellent law library he has gathered around him one of the largest and finest miscellaneous collections of books in the city, His taste runs in the di- rection of rich, rare, standard volumes and choice editions, and in the calmer hours of his life he finds a world of pleasure in poring over his literary treasures; for reading and study is his life from which he would not be debarred. He is not only a well read lawyer, but thoroughly posted on all general historical, biographical, literary, and scientific topics.

In 1888 Mr. Myers was married to Miss Pauline Fisher, an estimable and accom- plished young lady of Logansport, Ind., and their pleasant home at No. 12 First street, Albany, is the center of true domestic happiness and hospitality. They have one son, Daniel Herman Myers, who was born March 16, 1889.

JAMES BLUNN.

JAMES BLUNN, who with his brothers, Thomas and William, was the builder of many of the older brick buildings of West Troy, is a son of Charles Blunn, a central figure in the early development of West Troy. He is a mason, having acquired the trade in his native country, England, where he was born in Warwick- shire in 1823. He came to West Troy in 1847, where his father had been located for nineteen years. He was in partnership with his brothers until their death, even in their abstinence from tobacco and intoxicants. Mr. Blunn built the Watervliet Ar- senal, his brothers William and Thomas being his partners. In early life he was a maker of gelatine, working for the proprietors of what is now known as " Coxe's Gela- tine," ofwhich George Nelson was the original manufacturer. Mr. Blunn has been married three times, and has four daughters, one of whom is Mrs. J. C. Covert, sr., of this place; one Mrs. F. W. Covert, of this place; the other is Mrs. Eugene Linn of East Troy; the youngest daughter, Caroline I., by his present wife, who was Edith Shackelton, niece of the late Robert Inwood of Troy.

FRANK BROWN.

FRANK BROWN is a resident of Cohoes since 1859, and is now retired from active business life, an aged and respected citizen. He was a self-made man, full of energy and courage. He obtained an ordinary school education in Prussia, where he was born in 1824, and there learned the spinner's trade. On coming to America in 1856 he followed his trade and in 1860 came here, opening a cotton batting shop, continu- ing in the business for ten years. In 1869 he bought the Miller House block, the hotel in which he conducted for seven years. Though a Democrat he is very liberal in his political views. His wife was Alice Longtree, of English birth, who died in 1864, leaving one son, Francis W. Brown, born in 1863. He is a noble young man and held in high respect by all who know him; he lives with his father and has charge of

EDWARD MCCREARY.

the real estate interests. November 21, 1865, Mr. Brown married Miss Magdalena Fierstohs, of Canton, Ohio. He is a director of the Manufacturers Bank of Cohoes, and a member of the German Catholic church.

EDWARD MCCREARY.

EDWARD MCCREARY, president of the Albany County Board of Supervisors, is a Republican, and represents the Fifth ward of the city of Cohoes in that body. He was born in Malone, Franklin county, N. Y., September 15, 1847. Five years later he moved with his parents to Cohoes. He was educated in the public schools of that city. In 1862 he entered the Cohoes Iron Foundry and Machine Shop as an appren- tice. A year later he went to Scranton and served his time as a machinist. He returned to Cohoes in 1866 and entered the machine shops of the Harmony Cotton Mills. Soon after he engaged with his brother, the late John McCreary, in the man- ufacture of Pin Napping and Brushing Machinery. Mr. McCreary is the patentee of several valuable pieces of knitting machinery and an automatic fender for electric cars. His father was overseer of the spinning department in the Ogden Mills, was a soldier of the 54th N. Y. Regt., and was killed during the war. Mr. McCreary is interested in military matters and was for many years captain of the well known Adams Zouaves. He is a member of Cohoes Lodge No. 116, F. & A. M., and presi- dent of the John McCreary Steamer Co.

GEN. ROBERT SHAW OLIVER.

GEN. ROBERT SHAW OLIVER was born in Boston, Mass., September 13, 1847. He always evinced great interest in military affairs; his education tending to develop his natural taste. He received a thorough training in the Military School of Mal- borugh Churchill at Sing Sing, N. Y., and went directly from it into the volunteer service, receiving a commission as second-lieutenant in the 5th Massachusetts Cav- alry, September 27, 1864. Although but seventeen years of age he was almost immediately placed in command of his troop, and was in his first action within two weeks after receiving his commission. While serving before Petersburg he was selected by General Cole to be his aide-de-camp and appointed A. D. C. Cavalry Brigade, 3d Division, 25th Army Corps. On September 3, 1865, hetwas appointed by General Clark to be assistant adjutant-general of the Third Division, 25th Army Corps, then serving in Texas after the close of the war. On the recommendation of his superior officers he was commissioned second-lieutenant, 17th U. S. Infantry, February 23, 1866, and after a short service in New York harbor was again ordered to Texas with his regiment as acting adjutant, and later received his promotion as first lieutenant 26th Infantry. At his own request he was transferred to the 8th U. S. Cavalry, and appointed first lieutenant of that regiment May 7, 1867, and ordered to the Pacific Coast, where he served for three years in California, Oregon and Arizona in the various Indian wars at that time, and was promoted captain October

31. 1869. After leaving the army he returned to the East and moved from Boston to Albany. Becoming interested in the development of the National Guard he ac- cepted the colonelcy of the 10th Regt., August 25, 1873, assistant adjutant-general, 9th Brigade, July 11, 1878: brigadier-general and inspecto -general of the State of New York, January 1, 1880; brigadier-general, 5th Brigade, January 10, 1883; briga- dier-general, 3d Brigade, December 30, 1890, a position which he still holds, an almost unbroken line of service for thirty-four years.

In social and civil life General Oliver has long been prominent in the city of Al- bany, where he has resided many years. He became a civil service commissioner of the city in 1894 and a police commissioner in 1895, and in promoting the welfare of the municipality he is active and persevering. He was president of the Mutual Boat Club, the Albany Tennis and Republican Unconditional Clubs, and the National Lawn Tennis Association ; and is first vice-president of the Albany Vigilance League ; and a member of the Fort Orange Club, the Press Club, the Albany Club, the Country Club, the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Association of the Army of the Potomac, and the Cavalry Association, and governor of Albany Chapter No. 1, Order of Patriots and Founders of America. In business he is associated with Rathbone, Sard & Co., one of the largest stove manufacturing concerns in the United States.

GEN. SELDEN E. MARVIN.

GEN. SELDEN ERASTUS MARVIN is a son of Hon. Richard Pratt and Isabella (New- land) Marvin and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 20, 1835. He is a lineal descendant of Reinold Marvin, a native of England, who came to America with his family and his brother Matthew in 1635, and settled first in Hartford, Conn., afterward in Farmington, and finally in Saybrook, where he died in 1662. Lieut. Reinold Marvin, son of Reinold, was born in 1634, settled in Lyme, Conn., and was one of the committee to divide the town of Saybrook in 1665. He died in 1676. His first wife was Jemima Belcher and his second wife Sarah -. Reinold Marvin, of Lyme, son of Lieutenant Reinold, was born in 1669, was a rep- resentative to the General Court from 1701 to 1728, and died in 1737. He married, first, Phebe - , and second, in 1708, Martha Waterman. I He had a son, Deacon Reinold Marvin, who was born about 1701, married, first, in 1725, Mrs. Sarah Lay, and second, in 1746, Mrs. Mary Kellogg, and died in 1761. Dan Marvin, son of Deacon Reinold, both of Lyme, Conn., was born in 1731, married in 1762 Mehitable Selden, and died in 1776. Selden Marvin, the son of Dan, was the first of the family to settle in Chautauqua county, N. Y. He was born in 1773 and died in 1832. In 1798 he married Charlotte Pratt, of Saybrook, Conn .; his second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Vandenburg. Hon. Richard Pratt Marvin, son of Selden by his first marriage, was born in 1803, and held several offices of trust and honor. He was member of as- sembly in 1835, represented his district in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Con- gresses; and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1846, under which he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court, an office he filled with great credit and dignity for nearly twenty-five years. He died in January, 1892, widely respected and honored. In 1834 he married Isabella Newland.

Gen. Selden E. Marvin was educated in the public schools and academy of James- town, N. Y., and at Professor Russell's private school in New Haven, Conn. He then became bookkeeper and teller in the Chautauqua County Bank, in his native town, aud remained there until 1862, serving the last three years as cashier. In July, 1862, he was appointed adjutant of the 112th N. Y. Vols. and on the 17th of that month was mustered into the United States service. He served in that capacity and as assistant adjutant-general of Foster's Brigade, with the Army of Southern Virginia, through the Peninsular and Charleston campaigns, until September, 1863, when he was appointed additional paymaster U, S. Volunteers and was assigned to duty in the Army of the Potomac. He filled this position till December 27, 1864, when he resigned to accept the post of paymaster-general of the State of New York on the staff of Gov. Reuben E. Fenton. Upon Governor Fenton's re-election General Marvin was appointed adjutant-general of the New York State Militia. As paymaster- general he had, in the execution of the laws for the reimbursement of bounties paid by the localities in the State to fill quotas established by the general government, and for the equalization of the excess of years on calls for troops prior to the last call of December, 1864, a difficult and arduous task. The sum required and paid for this pur- pose was $27,000,000, and its disbursement necessitated the exercise of a careful, dis- criminating judgment to protect the interests of the State and render full justice to the several localities. As adjutant-general he inaugurated and carried into practical effect reforms in the National Guard which were greatly needed, and which, with subsequent reforms instituted by his successors, have placed this splendid body of citizen sol- diery upon a firm and efficient foundation for every service that may be required of it. During his service in these capacities he maintained his residence in Albany. After his term of adjutant-general expired he engaged in banking in New York city, being a member of the firm of Morgan, Keen & Marvin until the spring of 1873, when they dissolved. His chief operation as a banker in the metropolis was the placing of Northern Pacific securities on the market, in which he was eminently successful. On January 1, 1874, he went to Troy, N. Y., as the representative of Erastus Corning's interest in the iron and steel business carried on by the firm of John A. Griswold & Co., and while there organized the Albany and Rensselaer Iron and Steel Company on March 1, 1875. This corporation was a consolidation of the establishments of John A. Griswold & Co. and the Albany Iron Works, and General Marvin was elected a director and the secretary and treasurer. On September 1. 1885, this concern was succeeded by the Troy Steel and Iron Company, which went into the hands of a receiver in 1893. General Marvin continued as director, secre- tary, and treasurer of the company until its business was closed up November 1, 1895. On June 17 of that year he was appointed receiver of the Perry Stove Com- pany of Albany, which position he still holds.

As a business man of recognized ability General Marvin has long been actively and prominently connected with a number of important enterprises. He was for several years a trustee and vice president of the Albany City Savings Institution and since June 1, 1894, has been its president. He has been a director of the Hud- son River Telephone Company since 1892 and president since February, 1894, and was the chief organizer and principal promoter of the Albany District Telegraph Company, of which he has been a director and the president since the incorporation on July 1, 1895. He is a member of the State Board of Charities, having been ap-

pointed by Governor Morton on March 27, 1895, and is also a member of the chapter and assistant treasurer of the cathedral of All Saints, treasurer of the Diocese of Albany, treasurer of the Board of Missions, treasurer of the Aged and Infirm Clergy Fund, treasurer of the Fund for Widows and Orphans of Deceased Clergy, treasurer of the Fund for Theological Education, and treasurer of the Clergy Re- serve Fund. He is an influential member and trustee of the Corning foundation, on which is built St.'Agnes's School, the Child's Hospital, St. Margaret's House, Grad- uate Hall, and the Sister's House in Albany. He is also a member of the Board of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Epis- copal church in the United States, a prominent member of the Fort Orange Club, and actively connected with several other institutions of the capital city.

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 58

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374