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 58
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ISAAC S. HOBBIE.
ISAAC S. HOBBIE is a son of Caleb K. Hobbie and a native of the town of North East, Dutchess county, N. Y., being born there July 19, 1820. His ancestors, who
Allen Ayraulty
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spelled the name Hobby, came from England to this country soon after 1620, and ever since then members of the family have been prominent in affairs of state and nation. Several of the name have held high official positions and distinguished themselves in social, civil and commercial life.
At the age of eleven years the subject of this sketch removed with his parents to Irondequoit, Monroe county, where he was reared on a farm. He was educated in the public schools of that town and of Rochester, and finished at Macedon Academy in Wayne county. Prior to this, however, at the age of twenty-one, he was elected town superintendent of schools of Irondequoit and served one term. He taught school in Monroe county about eight years. January 12, 1848, he mar- ried Miss Emily Ayrault, daughter of John Ayrault (whose sketch appears in this volume), and soon afterward moved to Rochester, where he ably filled the position of superintendent of public schools one year. Following this he was a member of the Board of Education for two years. While acting as superintendent he was one of the prime movers in founding the Rochester Free Academy. He then engaged in the manufacture of water and gas pipe and the construction of water and gas works, having factories at Elmira and Tonawanda, N. Y. In 1865 he moved to Elmira, where he became an active member of the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he was president for several years. There he and his wife joined the Rev. Thomas K. Beecher's Congregational church, of which they are still members. In 1877 the two factories were consolidated and Mr. Hobbie removed to Tonawanda, where he continued business until 1886, when he withdrew, being succeeded by Ayrault, Charlton & Co. He then moved to Fairport, Monroe county, where he has since resided, and where he has served as justice of the peace for four years.
In all these capacities Mr. Hobbie has been eminently successful. Possessing great energy, ability and perseverance, his business interests developed into ex- tensive proportions. But outside of them he has acquired an equal prominence. He was for a number of years secretary of the old Monroe County Agricultural Society, and has always taken an active part in public affairs. In 1850 he became a charter member of Company L, Rochester City Dragoons, of the 54th Regiment, and re- mained with that organization until its disbandment after the war, being at the time the only one in continuous connection and having served as captain for several years. During the Rebellion the regiment volunteered its services and was sent to Elmira, where it did guard duty. Mr. Hobbie also manifested his patriotism for the Union cause by actively recruiting men for the service. Another important event in his career should be recorded, as it places him among the foremost benefactors of the time. In 1879 he wrote and published an article in the Tonawanda Index (of which his son was editor), advocating the feasibility of harnessing the great power of Niag- ara Falls by constructing a tunnel similar to the one just completed. This is believed to have been the first suggestion of the kind ever offered, and its results have shown the practicability of his plan, although the original idea has been attributed to others.
Mr. and Mrs. Hobbie have had born to them three children, by whom they have eight grandchildren, and in none of the families has a death occurred. Their children are John A., of Tonawanda, Alice Emily (Mrs. Charles C. Roosa), and Dr. George S., of Buffalo. The sons are prominently connected with the well known Buffalo Asthmatic Institute.
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E. M. MOORE, M. D.
DR. EDWARD MOTT MOORE, son of Lindley Murray and Abigail L. (Mott) Moore. was born in Rahway, N. J., July 15, 1814. His ancestors came from England to America between 1625 and 1630 and lived in New York or New Jersey until the close of the Revolutionary War, when his grandfather moved to Nova Scotia, where L. M. was born. He received a classical education in his father's school at Flushing, L. I., and also attended the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N. Y. In 1830 he removed with his parents to Rochester, where in 1833 he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Anson Coleman. After attending lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city he was graduated from the medical depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 being resident physician to Blockley Hospital during his last year, and holding the same position in the Insane Asylum at Frankfort, Pa., for the two years following. He then came to Rochester, where he has ever since resided, and where he has long held the foremost place among the city's eminent physicians and surgeons. For many years he has been the rec- ognized leader of the medical profession in this part of the State.
In 1841 Dr. Moore began lecturing on anatomy and continued for seven years. In the spring of 1843 he was elected professor of surgery in the Woodstock Medical Col- lege, and for two months every year until 1854 he was there officiating in that capacity. Since then he has taught surgery in various institutions, particularly in the Buffalo Medical College. He is a member and ex-president of the American Medical Association and the New York State Medical Society, was the second presi- dent of the Surgical Association of the United States, was president of the State Board of Health for six years, is ex-president af the Genesee Valley Club, and mem- ber of the board of trustees of the University of Rochester, which conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. To him more than to any man is due the inauguration and establishment of Rochester's excellent park system, which was systematically started in 1888, and which to-day places the city in that respect beside the finest and best in the country. Dr. Moore has been president of the park commission since its incep- tion, and in the face of strong opposition has successfully guided the enterprise to its present condition.
As a writer on medical subjects he has won wide distinction and contributed many valuable papers to the literature of his profession. His writings may be found in the Transactions of the American Medical Association and the New York State Medical Society, and in periodicals published in the interests of medicine. In 1847 he mar- ried Miss Lucia Prescott, of Windsor, Vt., granddaughter of Dr. Samuel Prescott, whose brother, Colonel Prescott, was companion to Paul Revere on his memorable ride to Concord. Of their eight children two sons are physicians and surgeons.
ALBRECHT VOGT.
ALBRECHT VOGT was born in Baden, Germany, October 21, 1844, and received a liberal education in the schools of the Fatherland, graduating from a polytechnic in- stitution of Ettlingen in 1859. He then served an apprenticeship at bookkeeping in
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mercantile eslablishments and traveled for different houses in Germany until 1866. In 1867 he came to this country and located in New York city, where he was engaged as a salesman in various businesses, especially for passamentary trimmings, in which he acquired a practical and diversified knowledge, laying the foundations for what eventually became his life work. In 1874 he removed to Rochester and purchased an interest in the newly established business of Frederick Haiges, as Haiges & Vogt. They manufactured large quantities of passamentary trimmings at No. 44 Exchange street till 1876, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Haiges withdrawing and Mr. Vogt continuing the concern alone until February 1, 1880. The site Nos. 332 and 334 North St. Paul street was purchased and the present factory erected in 1879, and on February 1, 1880, the business was moved to its new quarters. In 1884 the Vogt Manufacturing Company was incorporated with Mr. Vogt as president, and in 1887, a new branch, that of coach laces and trimmings, having been added, the Rochester Coach Lace Company was similarly organized. Both companies were continued in the same building and by the same parties until 1891, when they were consolidated and incorporated under the present name of the Vogt Manufacturing and Coach Lace Company, with a capital of $135,000, and with Albrecht Vogt as president and general manager.
Mr. Vogt has thus been a manufacturer of passamentary trimmings in Rochester for a period of twenty-one years, and with the manufacture of coach lace, etc., for for some eight years, and has successfully built up one of the largest concerns of the kind in this country. This he has accomplished almost entirely through his indi- vidual efforts .. His trade extends all over the United Stated and Canada, and the business furnishes employment to from 100 to 150 hands. In addition to attending to the details of this extensive establishment Mr. Vogt is prominently and actively identified with numerous other enterprises in Rochester. He was one of the origina- tors and is now a director of the German American Bank and Standard Sewer Pipe Company; was one of the organizers and has continuously been a director of the Rochester Title Insurance Company; was one of the incorporators and is president of the Rock Asphalt Company; is a director of the Rochester German Insurance Company; and was one of the incorporators and for a time secretary and treasurer of the Genesee Brewing Company. He was one of the originators of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company and served as its vice-president until its consolidation with the Rochester Gas and Brush Electric Companies under the name of the Roch- ester Gas and Electric Company. He is a member of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, Germania Lodge, No. 722, F. & A. M., the Rochester Club, and the Mannechor, of which he was for nine years the president. He has always taken a lively interest in the city's growth and prosperity and is a business man of recognized ability, of the strictest integrity, and of great popularity. Kind, benevolent, and charitable, he generously encourages every good movement and supports all worthy objects.
In 1873 he was married in New York city to Miss Emilie Werner, who has borne him five children: Mrs Edward G. Pfahl, Albert E. (a student in the textile depart- ment of the School of Industrial Art of the Pennsylvania Museum at Philadelphia), Hertha, Elsa, and Walter Paul,
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HIRAM H. EDGERTON.
HIRAM H. EDGERTON, one of the leading contractors and builders in Western New York, was born in Belfast, Allegany county, April 19, 1847, and is a son of Ralph H. Edgerton, who at that time was an extensive lumber manufacturer and dealer there. The father was the youngest of four brothers- U. C., DeWitt C., Collins"and Ralph H .- who came to Rochester from Vermont about 1830 and for several years ran the old Childs saw mill on what is now Aqueduct street. At the head of this quartet was U. C. Edgerton, who directed their affairs through a number of the larger contracts in this part of the State, and who acquired a wide reputation from his numerous operations. Among the important works in which they were interested were the reconstruction of the locks at Lockport and the construction of the old Genesee Valley Canal. About 1840 Ralph H. Edgerton severed his connection with this concern and moved to Belfast, N. Y., where he carried on a large lumber business until 1858 when he returned to Rochester where Hiram H., the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools and Free Academy. He engaged in business as a lumber dealer continuing it successfully until his death in December, 1867, when he was succeeded by his son, who had connected himself with the establishment immediately after leaving school.
H. H. Edgerton was liberally endowed with all the attributes which make the successful man. Inheriting the characteristics of a sturdy New England race he man- ifested a special capacity for business affairs in his father's office where heacquired a valuable training; after his father's death he continued the concern, comprising a large retail lumber yard on Crouch island, until 1881, when he sold out to Chase & Otis. During that period he acquired a wide and favorable reputation as well as meeting with marked success. He then engaged in contracting and building, a busi- ness with which he has ever since been actively identified, occupying a foremost po- sition among the leading representatives of the business in this section, and for several years past being one of the heaviest and most successful operators in West- ern New York.
Hundreds of magnificent structures throughout Western, Central and Southern New York as well as elsewhere, testify to his enterprise and business ability; num- erous residences, churches, commercial blocks, public institutions, etc., are the result of his work as a contractor. Among the more important of his many contracts may be mentioned the Government and Wilder buildings in Rochester, part of the reform- atory at Elmira, the Western House of Refuge for Women at Albion, St. Michael's, Third Presbyterian and Christ churches in Rochester, and a number of imposing church edifices, etc., in this city and elsewhere.
In politics Mr. Edgerton has always been an unswerving Republican. For four years he was a member af the Board of Education, during two of which he served as president. He is president of the East Side Trunk Sewer Commission, and in Sep- tember, 1895, was nominated for mayor of the city on the Republican ticket. He has always taken an active interest in the councils of his party and is one of its trusted and influential leaders. He was one of the incorporators and is president of the Galusha Stove Company of Rochester, is a director in the Central Bank, a member and trustee of the Chamber of Commerce, and a director and charter member of the
7 %. Ed gustan
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Builders' Exchange, of which he was for five years the president. He is also a trus- tee of the Third Presbyterian church; and is prominently connected with various other social, commercial and political organizations.
MAURICE LEYDEN.
THE Leyden family in America is descended from Holland Dutch ancestry dating back to the times of William of Orange, who in 1690 invaded Ireland with a large army, including a number bearing the name. These Leydens settled in the Emer- ald Isle and among their descendants was Michael Leyden, sr., who married Mary Walton of English birth and parentage. They emigrated to the United States in the early part of this century and located in Salina (now a portion of the city of Syr- acuse), Onondaga county, N. Y., whence they afterward removed to Collamer in the town of De Witt and died there. Their son Michael, jr., was born in Ireland on May 5, 1809, and emigrated to America with his parents when a mere lad. He re- ceived an excellent education, finishing at Onondaga Valley Academy, and inherited all the sturdy characteristics of his race. Leaving school and the parental farm he became a clerk in Syracuse for the father of the late Dennis McCarthy, founder of the wholesale and retail dry goods firms of D. McCarthy & Sons and D. McCarthy & Co. Afterward he was engaged in the mercantile business for himself in Salina until the cholera broke out, when he purchased and removed to a farm near Colla- mer, town of De Witt, Onondaga county, where he remained till about 1860, when he returned to Syracuse, where he still resides. Since the war he has been engaged in the insurance business. His wife Catharine, daughter of Isaac Carhart, was a lineal descendant of Thomas Carhart, who came to America on August 25, 1683, holding the appointment of private secretary to Col Thomas Dongan, English gov- ernor of the colonies in this country at that time. Several of his descendants par- ticipated in the American Revolution and other wars and all became loyal citizens of the United States. Isaac Carhart, born in 1789, removed from Coeymans, N. Y., to Manlius, Onondaga county, in 1827, and died there, a farmer, on March 17, 1845. His wife was Hannah Rowe, whose parents were natives of Holland. Catherine Carhart (Mrs. Michael Leyden) was born in Coeymans June 22, 1813, and died at Syracuse in February, 1889.
Maurice Leyden, the eldest of the ten living children of Michael and Catharine (Carhart) Leyden, was born at Collamer, Onondaga County, N.Y., October 18, 1836, and received his education at the district schools of his native town, at the High School in Syracuse, and at Cazenovia Seminary. His early life was spent on his father's farm, where he developed a strong constitution and rugged physique. Leaving this and the seminary he entered the dental office of Dr. Amos Westcott, of Syracuse, one of the leading dentists in the country and at one time president of the American Dental Association. There he remained until the Rebellion broke out. On June 13, 1861, he enlisted in B Company, 3d Regt. N. Y. Cav., and was promoted second lieutenant July 30, 1861; first lieutenant June 12, 1863; and captain October 10, 1864. July 25, 1865, he was transferred to the 4th Provisional Cavalry; October 13th of the same year he was brevetted major of U. S. Volunteers by President John
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son; and on November 29, 1865, he was honorably mustered out of service at City Point, Va. Major Leyden participated in all the battles and marches of his regi- ment and was frequently assigned to important commands. He was in the engage- ments at Ball's Bluff and Winchester, marched with Burnside to New Berne, N. C., and was present at the battles of Trent Road, Little Washington, Tarboro, Golds- boro, Trenton, Bachelor's Creek, Warsaw, Street's Ferry and others in that vicinity. He then returned with his regiment to Virginia and participated in all the battles of the "Army of the James," beginning with Stony Creek May 7, 1864, and including Blacks and Whites, South Quay, before Petersburg, Roanoke Bridge, Ream's Station, Malvern Hill, Yellow Tavern (where he had command of the outposts when General Hill made an attempt to drive General Warren from his position on the Weldon Rail- road), and Prince George Court House, to Johnson's Farm, three miles from Rich- mond, October 7, 1864, when he was taken prisoner. For a little more than six months he was confined in Libby Prison and the prisons at Salisbury, N. C., and Danville, Va., and after a brief parole returned to his regiment and remained in the service until his discharge.
Returning from the army Major Leyden came to Rochester, where, in March, 1865, while a paroled prisoner, he had married Miss Margaret L. Garrigues, a grad- uate of the East Avenue Collegiate Institution in Rochester under the late Prof. Myron G. Peck, and a daughter of the late Cyrus Garrigues, a native of Morristown, N. J., and an early settler of this city. Her paternal ancestors on both sides were prominent in Revolutionary times and actively participated in the war for American Independence. Her mother was Eliza Woodruff, whose grandfather, Capt. Samuel Woodruff, was an officer during the War of 1812, while her great-grandfather, John Acken, served in Washington's army in the Revolution.
In partnership with Dr. Frank French, as French & Leyden, Major Leyden first practiced dentistry for two years, and then with George P. Davis, under the firm name of Davis & Leyden, he engaged in business as manufacturer of and whole- sale dealer in dental and surgical instruments and materials, This continued for eighteen years. During that period, being a staunch Republican, he took an active interest in politics, served as county and city committeeman, delegate to State and county conventions, etc., and for one term represented the old Eighth ward in the Board of Supervisors. In the fall of 1885 he was elected county clerk and served from January 1, 1886, to December 31, 1888. While in that office he was largely in- strumental in organizing and incorporating in February, 1887, the Rochester Title Insurance Company with a capital of $150,000, of which he was chosen secretary, treasurer, and general manager on May 1, 1891, which position he has since held. This is the only organization of its kind in the State outside of New York city and Brooklyn. The idea originated among a number of the leading and wealthy citi- zens, whose object was to duplicate the records of the county and thus guard against the possible loss of the original copies, and at the same time to inaugurate a system of real estate title insurance which had been successfully carried on in larger cities. The company has developed into one of the largest in the country and has more than fulfilled the expectations of its originators.
Major Leyden had scarcely relinquished the duties of county clerk when he was called into the field of finance, in which he has since labored with distinguished ability and success. On January 1, 1889, the Rochester Saving and Loan Associa-
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MY LHayes
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tion was incorporated and he was elected its president, which position he still holds. - Under his efficient management it has become one of the strongest associations of the kind in the country. It was the first in the city to do business outside this State and now operates also in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, Ohio, and Michigan. Outside of these business relations Major Leyden has been promi- nently connected with various other enterprises of a public and private nature. He has always manifested a deep interest in the prosperity of the city, giving every worthy object generous support, and aiding all movements which promote the gen- eral advancement. He is a prominent member of George H. Thomas Post, No. 4, G. A. R. and Valley Lodge, No. 109, F. & A. M., which he has served several years as treasurer. He has had two children: Maude, who died in infancy, and Blanche Eloise, a graduate of Livingston Park Seminary, class of 1895.
M. D. L. HAYES.
M. D. L. HAYES was born in Dublin, Cheshire county, N. H., in 1834. He is of good old New England stock, in direct line from William Hay, M. D., who was born in Edinboro, Scotland, a descendant of William de Haya, the founder of a family honored in Scottish history. Dr. Hay came to this country in early life, settled in Reading, Mass., was an officer in the town for several years, a distinguished practi- tioner of medicine and one of the literati of his time. He died at Reading in 1780 at nearly 100 years of age. The subject of this sketch decided, with his sisters, in their early years, to write the family name " Hayes," although their parents always re- tained the ancestral form of " Hay."
After receiving a common school and academic education, Mr. Hayes entered a musical college in Boston, but owing to the opposition of his family abandoned the idea of making music a profession. After five successful years in the publishing house of Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co., in Boston, he was called to a wider field with the well known New York publishers, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. He pur- chased an interest in the Spencerian System of penmanship, and was made associate author, and superintendent of that department. With the Spencer brothers he made a thorough revision of this celebrated series, and by eleven years of unremitting labor raised the then small sale of the work to an enormous figure. While traveling through the principal cities and towns of the United States, he was at each visit to Rochester more strongly impressed by its opportunities for business, its charming possibilities as a place of residence, its educational advantages and religious tone. These considerations finally made it his first choice for a permanent home, and he settled here in 1875, engaging in both life and fire insurance, managing the former branch of the business. Six years later he accepted the important work of establish-
1 ing a general agency of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in West- ern New York; his conscientious and able management has made it one of the largest and most successful general agencies of the company; he possesses in a high degree the confidence and esteem of its officers and policy holders. He is an earnest, active Christian, whose time and money have always been freely given to religious work. He united in 1863 with the Clinton Avenue Congregational church of Brook- lyn, N. Y., and is now a member of the Third Presbyterian church of Rochester.
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HIRAM SIBLEY.
HIRAM SIBLEY, capitalist, and one of Rochester's wealthiest townsmen, was born in North Adams, Mass., Feb. 6, 1807, and died July 12, 1888. His father, Benjamin Sibley, followed the honorable and useful occupation of a millwright. Hiram was educated at the schools of his native place and at the age of sixteen moved to Lima, N. Y., where he engaged in setting up and operating wool carding machinery. Earnest, ambitious and competent, his experience in three years enabled him in 1826 to venture the bold enterprise of starting a foundry and machine shop of his own at Mendon in Monroe connty. This was a successful enterprise and the little suburb which grew up around the shops took the name of Sibleyville. This industry occu- pied his attention for ten years. Having been, in 1843, elected sheriff of Monroe county, he was compelled for a time to live in Rochester and this city then became his permanent home.
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