USA > New York > Monroe County > Landmarks of Monroe County, New York : containing followed by brief historical sketches of the towns of the county with biography and family history > Part 45
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Christopher C. Werner, son of William and brother of Hon. William E. Werner, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., November 27, 1859, and re- ceived his education in the public and select German schools of that city. In 1881 he entered the law office of his brother in Rochester and was admitted to the bar in January, 1885, at the Buffalo general term. He practiced his profession in partnership with Hon. William E. Werner until the latter's election to the Supreme court bench in the fall of 1894, when he formed his present copartnership with George H. Harris, a former student who was admitted from their office, under the firm name of Werner & Harris. Mr. Werner is a prominent member of Yonondio lodge, No. 165, F. & A. M., Hamilton chapter, No. 62, R. A. M., Mon- roe commandery, No. 12, K. T., and Rochester City lodge K. P.
Merton E. Lewis was born in Webster, Monroe county, Decem- ber 10, 1861. He attended the Webster Union school and was graduated in 1882. He read law with James B. Perkins, of Rochester, and was admitted to the bar in this city in June, 1887. In 1890 he was elected alderman of the Sixteenth ward, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of H. G. Thayer; he was re- elected in 1891 as alder- man of the Eighteenth ward, and in 1895 became mayor on the resig- nation of George W. Aldridge. In 1886 he married Adeline L. Moody, of Webster, N. Y., who died June 9, 1894, leaving two sons, Donald and Roscoe. He was elected president of the common council in 1894, and is also president of the Riverside Cemetery association. His father, who was born in New Jersey in 1826, and now resides with his son in this city, was one of the early settlers of Wayne county. Merton E. Lewis was elected delegate to the national convention in 1894, and is the senior member of the law firm of Lewis & Jack.
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Lewis H. Jack, born August 24, 1869, in Livonia, Livingston county, was graduated from Genesee Wesleyan seminary in 1889. In April, 1890, he came to Rochester and began the study of law in the office of Sullivan & Morris, and was admitted June 9, 1892, at the Buffalo gen- eral term. He practiced his profession alone in Rochester about one year, and in October, 1893, formed a partnership with Hon. Merton E. Lewis, as Lewis & Jack, which still continues. His practice has been successful and varied. The first year he defended his first criminal case and secured the acquittal of Patrick O'Hara, who was indicted for the murder of John Theiss. Since then he has successfully conducted sev- eral criminal and civil cases. Mr. Jack is a member of Yonondio lodge, No. 163, F. & A. M., Col. J. P. Cleary camp, Sons of Veterans, and of Wahoo tribe, I. O. R. M. His father, John Jack, enlisted in Co. C, 36th N. Y. Vols., in 1861, and served until the war closed, being promoted second lieutenant after the battle at Gettysburg, and being transferred from the IIth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to Sher- man's army, with which he marched to the sea.
Charles A. Keeler was born in Rockford, Ill., July 7, 1846, and when quite young came to Western New York with his parents, where he re- ceived a preliminary education. He entered the Genesee Wesleyan seminary at Lima, and took a special course preparatory to the study of law. He read law with Judge Homer A. Nelson, afterwards secre- tary of state, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and later with C. H. Holmes, of Albion, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in Buffalo, general term, in 1867. He began the practice of his profession at Albion the same year, and in 1870 he was appointed clerk of the Orleans county Surrogate's court, which position he faithfully filled for seven years, when he re- ceived the nomination for district attorney, and was elected by a large majority. He held that office until 1881, and in 1880 was appointed by Gov. Lucius Robinson a member of the board of managers of the Batavia Blind asylum, but never acted as such. He removed to Roch- ester in 1882, and in 1893 became the senior member of the law firm of Keeler & Marsh with offices in the Chamber of Commerce building. He was employed as special counsel in building the bridge across the Ohio river at Cairo, Ill., and the bridge at Memphis, Tenn., across the Mississippi, and also the bridge at Alton, Ill., and many other large
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public and railroad works in several states and Canada. He is a thirty- second degree Mason, being a member of Yonondio lodge, F. & A. M., and Rochester consistory and Damascus Temple.
Ednor A. Marsh, son of Albert L., was born in West Sparta, Living- ston county, N. Y., and when an infant removed with his parents to Geneseo, where he received his rudimentary education. He was grad. uated from the Genesee Wesleyan seminary in Lima, in 1887, being at the time class orator and president of the Lyceum society. He read law in the offices of Judge Solomon Hubbard, of Geneseo, and Keeler & Salisbury, of Rochester, and was admitted to the bar in 1890. The same year he commenced the practice of his profession in partnership with C. J. Browning, in Rochester, with whom he remained until Janu- ary 1, 1890, when he was appointed surrogate's clerk, and after accept- ably serving in that capacity for two years, he resigned to accept the appointment of deputy county clerk, which position he held until the spring of 1893, when he became a member of the law firm of Keeler, Salisbury & Marsh. This partnership was dissolved in April, 1895, by the retirement of Mr. Salisbury, and since then the firm has been styled Keeler & Marsh. Mr. Marsh is a prominent attorney, and is regarded as one of the leaders of the Republican party in Monroe county He was one of the organisers and the first president of the Young Men's Republican league, and held that office two terms. He is a member of Rochester lodge, No. 660, F. & A. M., the Rochester Whist club, and the Rochester Athletic club.
James E. Briggs was born April 22, 1835, at Williamstown, Vt. His ancestors were of Puritan stock, coming to this country among the earliest emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay colony. His grandparents were Amasa Briggs, and Rhoda Wright, his wife. His father was James W. Briggs, recently deceased in Rochester, and among his relatives were Silas Wright, governor of New York and United States senator, and Governor Briggs of Massachusetts. The subject of this sketch was the oldest of nine children. His early education was in the common schools and at the Newbury seminary and Collegiate institute, where he fitted to enter college in the junior year. At this time, No- vember, 1856, he was induced to accept the position of principal of the Arsenal street school, Watertown, N. Y. He was then twenty-one
Jamas & Dryss
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years of age, and filled the position for five years, devoting all his spare time to the study of law. When, in the fall of 1861, the second call for volunteers was made, Mr. Briggs resigned his position in the high school and raised Co. H, 94th N. Y. Vols., and was mustered in as captain. In March, 1862, after passing the winter in drill at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., he left with his regiment for the front. The train conveying the regiment jumped the track at Tivoli on the Hudson river division of the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R., and fell into the river. Captain Briggs was among the injured, and was left at the New York city hospital. He soon joined the regiment at Washington, which had then been ordered to Alexandria to guard that city, of which he had been appointed provost marshal. McClellan's army was then reorganising and moving to Fortress Monroe via transports from Alexandria, and the captain's duties were without cessation night or day until he was taken with typhoid fever in April, 1862, and recovered consciousness in the general hospital ten days later. After his partial recovery he again joined the regiment in the Shenandoah valley, and was put on regimental and general court martial duty until August, 1862. Then he was obliged to resign, chronic diarrhea and ulceration of the bowels following the fever. In October, 1863. still suffering from the disease, he attended Albany law school, graduated in May, 1864, when he went to Newark, Wayne county, and entered upon the practice of law, which he con- tinued with uniform success until 1883. In 1879 he was appointed gen- eral manager and treasurer of the Ontario Southern railroad, of which he had been the attorney for seven years, from its construction. After the sale of the railroad he organized the Lawyers Co-operative Publish- ing company, of which he became president. This company has ex- pended over $200,000 per year in the publication of law books for the last twelve years.
In 1858 he was married to Marcia Hebard, of Randolph, Vt., who died in September, 1884. They had five children, of whom four are living, all in Rochester, viz : William H., John S., Benjamin R., and Susan M. Harlan H. died in 1878, aged six years.
In September, 1886, he married Mrs. Susan B. Seeley, his present wife. With his wife and three younger children he lives at No. 22 Lake View Park, Rochester, N. Y.
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Mr. Briggs has never accepted political office, although often offered it, and notwithstanding a constant and lively interest in all that pertains to good government. His close attention to business and uniform per- sistence and success in what he has undertaken has resulted in the accumulation of a competence which consists largely in real estate. He is actively engaged in the development of the International, North and South American Transportation and Express company organised in Maine in January, 1895, but with headquarters established in Roches- ter, and of which he has been elected president. Its capital stock is five million dollars and its offices are in the new Chamber of Commerce building.
Charles M. Allen was born in Rochester, N. Y., October 9, 1845, and was graduated from the Rochester High school in 1863, at which time he entered the university of Rochester, from which he was graduated with high honors in 1867. He then attended the law school of Phila- delphia for one year, when he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. William Farrer, of Rochester. He was admitted to the bar at the Rochester general term in December, 1868, and immediately began the practice of his profession. He has been in constant and successful practice in this city, and has been attorney for the Genesee National Savings and Loan association since March, 1892. This association was incorporated in March, 1891, and considering its age has developed into one of the most extensive and successful fiduciary organisations in the state, representing a subscribed capital stock of $2,000,000. Mr. Allen has passed all the chairs in the I. O. O. F., is a member of the Roch- ester Whist club and the Bar association, and has been treasurer of Ideal Union, No. 592 E. A. U., since its inception in 1887. He is the son of the late Newel Allen, D. D. S., the oldest dentist, at the time of his death in 1878, in Western New York.
Daniel W. Forsyth was born in Caledonia, September 22, 1856. He received his early education in his native town and later became a stu- dent at the Geneseo Normal school, after which he entered the Bennett Medical college, where, in 1880, he received the degree of M. D. He practiced medicine at Hammond, Indiana, where he was coroner of Lake county in 1878-9, and afterwards at Dowagiac, Mich., where he was elected city treasurer. He then began the study of law, was in 1884
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admitted to the bar in Michigan, and two years afterwards, upon ex amination, became an attorney and counsellor-at-law in New York state, located in Rochester, where he has since practiced his profession. He is a member of the law firm of Forsyth Brothers, who have a wide reputation as lawyers. In 1887 he was appointed assistant district at- torney of Monroe county, under George A. Benton, district attorney ; in 1891 he was nominated and elected school commissioner of the Eighth ward, which office he held until the passage of the Twentieth ward bill by the legislature in 1892, which terminated his service as school com- missioner. In the spring of that year he was elected alderman of the Ninteenth ward and served one term. Owing to the inability of his brother, George D. Forsyth, district attorney, he was appointed special district attorney, and acted from January to July, 1895. During that period he had charge of two noted murder trials, that of Gavin, who was charged with the murder of young Abbott at Charlotte, and that of Gallo, the Italian murderer, who was convicted and afterwards sentenced to death.
Harvey F. Remington .- Prominent among the younger members of the Monroe county bar and well and favorably known in Western New York is Harvey F. Remington. His ancestors emigrated from York- shire, England, in 1637, settling in Newbury, Mass., and the descend- ants of John Remington, the first settler, are very numerous; one of the number, Jonathan, was for many years a justice of the Supreme court of the state of Massachusetts. Others have held positions upon the bench and filled honorable places at the bar, in the pulpit, the press, the medical profession, in commercial pursuits, and in fact in all worthy avocations. Frederic Remington, the artist, a son of a former editor of the Albany Express, is a cousin of the subject of this sketch. Mr. Remington was born in Henrietta, Monroe county, June 28, 1863, and is a son of the late William T. Remington, who was born in a log house in Henrietta that his father, Alvah Remington, erected when he emi- grated from Vermont in 1817. Harvey F. Remington was educated in the common schools, at the Geneseo State Normal school, and at the law department of Union university, graduating in 1887. He was at once admitted to the bar and opened an office in the Elwood building in Rochester with the late Hon. Alfred Ely, which office he still occupies.
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Having from boyhood had a taste for politics, Mr. Remington has fre- quently been a delegate to state and other party conventions, and often a presiding officer, and he has enjoyed the friendship and confidence of prominent officials irrespective of party for years. In 1891, during a warm local contest in the Sixteenth ward, then containing nearly one- fourth of the population of Rochester, he was induced to make a canvass for the nomination for supervisor,. and after the most exciting caucus ever held in Rochester, lasting an entire day, at which over 1, 500 votes were cast, he was nominated and later elected .supervisor. He served one year, and was elected a member of the board of education, resign- ing this position to accept the apppointment of second assistant city at - torney under Hon. C. D. Kiehel. He filled this position for two years and upon the election of Hon. A. J. Rodenbeck as corporation counsel he was made first assistant, succeeding Mr. Rodenbeck in that position. Mr. Remington is largely interested in suburban property, and is actively engaged in church and mission work. He is a member of the First Bap- tist church and a trustee of the West Brighton Chapel society. He is also affiliated with the Masonic and other fraternal societies, and is a member of the State Bar Association and the Rochester Bar Associa- tion. He married Agnes, daughter of Thomas Brodie, of Caledonia, N. Y., in 1889, and four children are the result of this union. He resides on Reservoir avenue, in a residence which overlooks the city from the Highland Park range of hills, and it is evident that here in a happy home he finds the keenest enjoyment in life, for his is a home in its broadest sense.
Edward W. Maurer was born in Rochester, N. Y., April 17, 1858, was graduated from the university of Rochester in 1877, and in the fall of the same year entered the university of Goettingen, Germany, where he remained for over two years. In 1880 he returned to America and entered the law office of ex-Congressman (now justice of the Supreme court) John M. Davy, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1882. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Davy, which continued until 1886, when he opened an office alone for the practice of the law. In 1887 he was elected member of assembly on the Republican ticket. He is a member of the Central Presbyterian church. His father was one of the oldest grocery merchants in this city, and died in 1892, his
I A Sword.
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place of business being at 149 East Main street. His mother is still living in the old homestead, 67 North Clinton street, in Rochester. Mr. Maurer's offices are at Nos. 416, 417 and 418 Ellwanger & Barry building.
Isaac R. Ellwood was born at Herkimer, in the Mohawk valley, N. Y., in 1800, and received a common school education. He descended from an ancient German family, of which one branch settled in England many generations ago. To this branch belonged Thomas Ellwood, the Quaker, reader and friend to the blind poet, John Milton. Our sub- ject's grandfather, Richard Ellwood, of German extraction, came to America from England in 1748, and soon afterward settled in the town of Minden, Montgomery county, in the Mohawk valley. He was a mason by trade. and an old stone house near St. Johnsville still stands. to attest his handiwork. His son, Richard Ellwood, jr., father of Isaac R., was born in England, and had attained the age of six years when the family came to this country. He was a farmer in the Mohawk valley, and married a Miss Bell, by whom he had six children, Isaac R. being the youngest. John Elwood, a younger brother of Richard, jr., settled in Canada and changed the orthography of the name from Ell - wood to Elwood, which was originally Ellwoode.
The following incident relative to the mother of Mrs. Richard Ell- wood, jr., appears in the Documentary History of New York, Vol. I., p. 522. During the French and Indian war, when an attack from the Indians was imminent, Captain Herchamer issued orders calling upon all settlers to take refuge within Fort Herkimer. By an oversight Mrs. Bell and her family were left unwarned. They were surprised, her husband and two children were killed, and an infant's brains dashed out, while she herself was scalped and left for dead, her nose being also nearly cut off. Her then unborn child became in course of time the mother of the subject in this memoir. Mrs. Bell suffered severely from the shock, and was several times at the point of death before she recovered.
Isaac R. Elwood, who adopted the spelling of the name as modified by his uncle, was reared on the paternal farm amid the Dutch settle- ments of the famous Mohawk valley. About 1830 he came to Roches-
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ter, where he not only spent the remainder of his life, but which was destined to become the scene of his active and useful career. After studying law and being admitted to the bar he practiced his profession in partnership with those two distinguished brother jurists, Samuel L. and Henry R. Selden, for several years, acquiring eminent success and a wide reputation. Possessing a profound knowledge of legal literature, and endowed with great ability and sound judgment, he was recognized as an able lawyer and trusty counsellor. Originally a Democrat and subsequently a Republican in politics he always manifested a keen inter- est in public affairs, and in 1838 officiated as clerk of the common coun- cil. Afterward he was clerk of the New York state senate for two sessions, and at the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion he took a prominent part in supporting the Union cause. But in the midst of this struggle, on February 27, 1863, he died at his home in this city from injuries received in a runaway accident, widely respected and esteemed. To his memory his eldest child and only son, Frank Wor- cester Elwood, erected in 1879 the handsome and substantial Elwood building on the historic northeast corner of State and Main streets.
It was as one of the founders of the Western Union Telegraph com- pany, however, that Mr. Elwood acquired a name which imperishably stands upon the annals of time. When this great corporation was formed by the consolidation of lines which then covered thirteen states of the union he was retained as an attorney, and in that capacity drew all the papers which started the enterprise and placed it upon a success- ful working basis. He was also made its first secretary and treasurer and held those positions until his death in 1863, his office being in Rochester.
As a citizen Mr. Elwood was endowed with the highest qualifications, and in both public and private life he was esteemed for his many noble characteristics. He was a public benefactor. All movements of a worthy nature met with his generous support and encouragement. He traveled extensively, and being a close observer acquired a large fund of valuable information. In 1839 he made an extended tour of Europe and kept a journal of rare interest. In 1849 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Handy Gold, third child of William Erskine and Caroline
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(Handy) Gold, of Pittsfield, Mass. Her father was a lawyer. Her mother was a daughter of Abigail Rosewell Saltonstall and Dr. William Handy, of New York. Abigail was a daughter of Rosewell Saltonstall, seventh son of Gurdon Saltonstall (son of Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, of Connecticut) and Rebeckah Winthrop, of New London, who was a daughter of John Winthrop and Ann Dudley. Ann Dudley was a daughter of Governor Joseph Dudley, of Massachusetts, lieutenant. gov- ernor of the Isle of Wight, and first chief justice of New York ; he was a son of Thomas Dudley, governor of Massachusetts, 1576-1653, first major-general of Massachusetts, and a direct descendant of John Sut- ton, first baron of Dudley, and first of the Dudleys who were dukes of Northumberland and earls of Warwick and Leicester.1 Mrs. Isaac R. Elwood was also a relative of the poet Longfellow's second wife. She died September 10, 1869, leaving three children, viz .: Frank Worcester, of Rochester; Mrs. Arthur L. Devens, of Boston; and Mrs. Ludwig Klipfel, whose husband is a captain in the Prussian army. Mrs. Klipfel died in January, 1895.
Frank Worcester Elwood2 was born in Rochester, N. Y., April 4, 1850, son of Isaac R. Elwood. He was educated in private schools. At the age of fourteen he went abroad and spent two years in studying Italian, French and German. Returning to America he continued his studies under various eminent teachers, entered Hobart college at the age of nineteen and left at the end of his sophomore year to enter Harvard college, from which he was graduated as A. B. in 1874. During his stu- dent life he was a member of a number of college societies. He re- ceived the degree of LL. B. from Columbia college in 1877, was admitted to the bar the same year, and practiced law in the office of Judge Dan- forth in Rochester till 1879, when he erected the Elwood Memorial building as a memorial to his father. He was engaged in the stock brokerage business under the firm name of Frank W. Elwood & Co., from 1881 to 1884, inclusive, when he resumed the practice of his pro-
1 Vide "Sutton-Dudleys of England," by George Arnold; London, John Russell Smith, 36 Soho Square, 1862.
2 For family ancestry, see preceding sketch of Isaac R. Elwood.
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fession and the care of his real estate, which he has since continued. Mr. Elwood was formerly president of the Rochester club, and is now vice-president of the Rochester Historical society, a member of the board of managers of the Genesee Valley club, vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal church, trustee of the Riverside Cemetery association and of the Chamber of Commerce, and member of the board of park commis- sioners. In 1835 he married Frederica H., daughter of Frederick Pumpelly, of Owego, Tioga county, and they have one daughter, Dorothy.
William Martin Jones was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., July 24, 1841, and is a son of Thomas P. and Lodoiska (Butler) Jones. He was a young child when his parents removed to Monroe county and a boy of tender years when they made a second removal to Orleans county. At an early age he attended the village schools and later entered Albion academy, where he began to fit himself for Yale college. He had been but a year in the academy, when he accepted a position in it as assist- ant teacher, and was engaged with his classes when the civil war opened. He finished his preparation for college at John Hopkins school in New Haven, Conn., but never entered upon a college course. He became acquainted with Major-General Edwin D. Morgan, " war governor " of New York, soon after This election to the United States senate, and for two years Mr. Jones was with him in Washington as his private sec- retary. His acquaintance with Secretary Seward ripened into intimacy, and after the adjournment of congress in 1864 he filled the position of private secretary to William H. Seward and his son, Frederick A. Sew- ard, in the department of state for several weeks, and until his efficiency won for him the promotion to the post of chief clerk of the consular bureau. In 1866 Mr. Jones resigned his position and was immediately appointed by President Johnson to be United States consul at Clifton, Canada. He remained in the consulship exactly five years. During the comparative leisure of these five years he read law, and upon his retirement from office established himself at Rochester, was admitted to the bar, and has successfully practiced his profession ever since.
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