USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 34
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 34
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Dr. Falk is a Shriner and thirty-second degree Mason, a life member of the National Education As- sociation, and has been a member of the American Association of School Administrators since 1915. He has been president of the New York State Teachers Association, Long Island Zone, since 1946, is a Phi Delta Kappa, and a member of the James Whit- comb Riley Club. Dr. Falk was twice president of the Rotary Club of Sauk Centre and is a past president of the Rotary Club of Sayville. He is a member of the University of Minnesota Alumni Club of New York City.
On June 22, 1915, Dr. Falk married at Fairfield, Iowa, Martha Frances Black, daughter of Benjamin and Janet (Witherspoon) Black. They are the parents of one son, Robert Witherspoon Falk, a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Com- merce at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He married Jane Bail of Fort Myers, Florida, and they have one child, Barbara Jane.
HOWARD CLINTON HEGERMAN-The Heg- ermans, or Hegemans as the name is also spelled, are one of those old pioneer families which settled in various sections of Long Island about the year 1640, or in any case, more than three centuries ago, and
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have remained there tenaciously generation after gen- eration, obviously convinced that this little insular spot of earth, with its little hills, its sand dunes, deep bays, breaker-pounded beaches, sea breezes, its fertile farms and, in later decades, its thriving sub- urbs growing up around the centuries-old villages, is just about the best of all places to live, to work and to achieve.
The late James and Catherine (Cock) Hegeman were, a century ago, prominent residents of the set- tlement then known as Cedar Swamp, the same that is now called Glen Head. To them, at Cedar Swamp, a son whom they named Daniel James was born on August 21, 1852. His education was begun in the public schools of his native place, and he also at- tended a private school in Locust Valley. As a youth he worked on his father's farm. When his father purchased a place at Cedar Swamp, the family moved thither, and that section became known as Hege- man's Lane. Here Daniel James Hegeman remained until he became manager of a Mr. Duryea's farm at Glen Cove. In 1893 he returned to Cedar Swamp, purchasing his father-in-law's farm at that place. Still later he moved to Sea Cliff, where he lived an active life to the time of his passing on January 30, 1923. To the end he continued more or less in- terested in farming activities in Cedar Swamp, but his public services took a large share of his time and attention.
It has been said that the life of Daniel James Hegeman of Sea Cliff was a record of worthy en- deavor which was happily rewarded by marked pros- perity, and in the passing of this universally res- pected and useful citizen, the community lost a man who was the friend of all, and whose helpful- ness and spirit of benevolence made him universally beloved. Those who knew him testified that he was a man of practical ideas and abilities, who gave his tireless endeavors and constructive attention to the progress of agriculture in his section of Long Island. His judgment was widely trusted, and his success was considered well-earned. His public services were many. For a number of years he served as collector of school taxes for the village of Glen Head, and for many years he was one of the trustees of the school board. He was for a long time assessor of the town of Oyster Bay, and from 1911 to 1917 he held the post of county treasurer of Nassau County. He was for eleven years a prominent member of the Glen Cove Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and he was also affiliated with the Royal Arcanum. At his death, which resulted from gastric trouble, the people who knew him in his many activities and as- pects, in Sea Cliff, Glen Head, Glen Cove and the town of Oyster Bay, felt that a man of eminent good- ness and usefulness had gone to his reward.
Daniel James Hegeman, on November 20, 1878, was married to Louise Downing, a daughter of William H. and Lydia Ann (Snedker) Downing, both now de- ceased. Of this marriage there were four children, namely George D., Howard Clinton, M. Elsie, and Edna C .; the last named died when she was an infant.
Howard Clinton Hegeman, or Hegerman, was born at Glen Head, Long Island, on December 4, 1885. His education began in the district schools of his native place, where his mother also was born. He went on to the high school at Glen Cove, from which he graduated in 1902, and subsequently for three years attended the Friends Academy in Locust Valley. During or soon after his school years, he was employed for two years on the staff of the
Oyster Bay Bank, and in 1906 he joined the Bank of Hempstead Harbor, where he held the position of assistant cashier until some time in 1908, when he was promoted to the post of cashier, which he filled for thirteen years thereafter.
In 1920 he formed a partnership with Burtis H. Monfort to conduct a real estate business which be- came one of the most successful enterprises of its kind on Long Island. In 1930 he bought out Mr. Monfort's interest. With offices at 176 Main Street, Port Washington, Nassau County, Mr. Hegerman, now assisted by two of his sons, conducts a lucra- tive business both in real estate and in insurance. His enterprise and his judgment have been factors of importance in the amazing modern development of the North Shore areas of Nassau County during the decades before the second World War, a growth which is resumed in the post-war era, and in which Howard Clinton Hegerman will again be a con- structive force.
Mr. Hegerman is also a man whose judgment and ability are highly thought of in the banking field. He is vice president and a member of the board of direc- tors of the First Federal Savings and Loan Asso- ciation. During war years he was energetic in selling Liberty Bonds, and received a war medal for his services in that worthy work. He was chairman of the New York State Victory Chest sponsored by Lodge 1010 of the Free and Accepted Masons. He has given his time and abilities to ensuring the suc- cess of various drives and campaigns of a civic nature, including a Boy Scouts of America drive in 1945. His civic activities are in part manifested through the Lions Club of Port Washington, in which he holds the position of secretary and treasurer. He is a com- mitteeman of the Port Washington Election District; a present or retired member of the Atlantic Hook and Ladder Company; and he belongs to Port Wash- ington Lodge No. 1010 of the Free and Accepted Masons, holding the office of trustee in that lodge. In religion he attends the First Methodist Church of Port Washington.
At Port Washington on February II, 1911, Howard Clinton Hegerman was married to Grace Davis, a daughter of William Phillip Livingston and Ade- line (Cochrane) Davis. The children of this mar- riage are: 1. William Davis, who was born on April 21, 1912. He is associated with his father in busi- ness, and was an instructor in the Naval Air Corps in Texas and Indiana, with the rank of lieutenant. He married Lorene Clayton of Piqua, Ohio, and they have one son, William D., Jr. 2. Howard Clinton, Jr., born on May 13, 1920. During the second World War he served in the United States Army from April 1942 to some time in November, 1945. As a sergeant in the 180th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the 45th Division, he saw action in the European Theater of Operations. Howard Clinton Hegerman, Jr., is now also associated with his father. He married Marcia Hergasall of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and they have one daughter, Loraine. 3. Louise, who is now Mrs. Charles Laurie Newbold and the mother of Charles L., Ione, Kern, and Robin Newbold. 4. Adeline, who married Stephen Traustschold, and who is the mother of two children, Virginia and Marilyn.
ROBERT FRANKLYN WRIGHT-Since the end of World War II, in which he served as a first lieutenant in the Army Air Forces, Robert Franklyn Wright has been associated with his mother, Mrs.
e
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Mary Smith Wright, in the operation of a real estate and insurance business at Port Washington. This business, located at 273 Main Street, was founded in 1902 by Mr. Wright's maternal grand- father, Franklyn B. Smith. Aside from his business activities, Mr. Wright is active in Port Washington's communal affairs and in various organizations.
He was born at Wallingford, England, on January 22, 1921. His father, Harry Augustine Wright, served for five years in the British Army in the first World War period. He was a captain in the Sixteenth Man- chester Infantry, saw action on many fronts and was wounded. He is secretary of the Garden City Golf Club.
Robert Franklyn Wright was graduated from the Cherry Valley High School, Garden City, in 1939. Four years later he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Williams College, where he had majored in history and political science. Mr. Wright enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1942 and after training re- ceived his commission. He was assigned to flight control in the 103rd Army Airways Communications Squadron and served in the American Theater of Operations. He was discharged in April, 1946.
It was at that time that he joined his mother in the operation of the real estate and insurance busi- ness. Mrs. Wright herself became associated with the business as early as 1904, two years after her father had established it. But she left it in 1919, the year of her marriage. Her brother, Walter Cheshire Smith, then formed a partnership with their father. The brother had just been discharged from the United States Army Air Corps with which he had served as a first lieutenant in World War I. Franklyn B. Smith died in August, 1933. Walter Cheshire Smith assumed legal charge of his busi- ness and affairs until his own death exactly ten years later. Mrs. Wright purchased the business from the estate of her brother and officially took it over on November 1, 1943. Until Robert Franklyn Wright joined her, his mother ran the business alone. Mother and son have won a large following.
Mr. Wright is a member of the Lions Club of Port Washington, the Garden City Golf Club and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He and his mother are communicants of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City.
HERBERT LE ROY MORRIS-In 1916 Herbert LeRoy Morris became a messenger in a bank in Jersey City, New Jersey. Today he is president of the Valley Stream National Bank and Trust Com- pany in Valley Stream. In between the two posi- tions lies a lifetime of tremendous diligence, continu- ous study and a host of responsible banking posts, including that of bank examiner for the state of New Jersey. In that same period Mr. Morris went across the seas to France as a soldier in World War I, was a member of the board of education at North Plainfield, New Jersey, and was otherwise serving his neighbors and his nation.
Mr. Morris was born in Jersey City on August 20, 1896, the son of John and Lucy Victor (Benson) Morris. His father had been a farmer. He began his education in the Marlboro Grammar School, Marl- boro, New Jersey, and from there went to Freehold (New Jersey) High School. He attended New York University and Rutgers University, where he took courses in economics and banking. He was gradu- ated from the American Institute of Banking. After a
time, he went to New York University for graduate work in finance and banking.
Mr. Morris had been working for one year with the Hudson County National Bank at Jersey City in his first bank job, as messenger, when the United States entered World War I. Enlisting, he served in France with the American Expeditionary Forces in 1917 and 1918. After the war he became assistant treasurer of the West Bergen Trust Company of Jersey City and subsequently was associated with the following New York City banks: the Bankers Trust Company, the American Exchange National Bank and the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Then for a period of years he was a New Jersey State bank examiner. In 1937 he became executive vice president and member of the board of directors of the West Hudson County Trust Company and of its suc- cessor, the West Hudson National Bank, at Harrison, New Jersey. In October, 1941, Mr. Morris was elected president of the Valley Stream National Bank and Trust Company.
Through all the years of his rising career in the banking world, he was continuing his education and even now he is still doing graduate work at New York University. In World War II, he was chair- man of War Bond drives throughout the Valley Stream area. He is past president of the Kiwanis Club of Valley Stream, a director of the National Bank of Kings Park, and a director of the South Nassau Communities Hospital.
Mr. Morris married Elizabeth Haviland Jenkins, daughter of Henry C. and Eleanor (Cooley) Jenkins, in New York City on May 17, 1926. They are the parents of three children: Thornton Benson, born February 6, 1928; Robert Jenkins, born May 30, 1929, and Janet Haviland, born June 17, 1936. Mr. and Mrs. Morris and their children worship at the Bap- tist Church at Rockville Centre.
HALSEY B. KNAPP-For nearly a quarter of a century Halsey B. Knapp has been an important factor in the agricultural progress of Long Island, occupying a post for which he has been equipped by schooling and practical experience.
Mr. Knapp was born at Port Byron, New York, September 1, 1888, the son of Halsey and Anna Knapp. His father was a farmer. Mr. Knapp was graduated from high school at Port Byron, New York, in 1904, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 1912, re- ceiving his Master of Science degree from that insti- tution the following year. He was an instructor at his alma mater in 1912-13 and assistant professor there 1913-16. From 1916 to 1923 he was director of the New York State School of Agriculture, now the State Institute of Agriculture and Home Economics, Cobleskill, New York, and since 1923 has been direc- tor of the State Institute of Agriculture, now the Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institution, Farm- ingdale. He is a director of the Bethpage Federal Savings and Loan Association, served as district gov- ernor of Rotary International 1932-33, and has been a member of the advisory council of the Near East Foundation since 1927 and a director since 1947; he was trustee of Cornell University 1939-40. He is a member of the American Vocational Association, the New York State Vocational Association, of which he was president in 1941; the New York State Agri- cultural Society, of which he was president 1939-40; the New York State Horticultural Society; Seventh
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Degree Patrons of Husbandry (Grange); Foreign Policy Association, American Political Science Asso- ciation; the New York Schoolmasters Club; the Na- tional Education Association; and the Eugene Field Society. His fraternity affiliations include Alpha Zeta, Gamma Alpha and Delta Sigma Rho. He is a Metho- dist. Mr. Knapp is co-author, with E. C. Auchter, of "Orchard and Small Fruit Culture," 1929, and "Grow- ing Trees and Small Fruits," 1929.
Mr. Knapp was married at Port Byron, New York, April 5, 1913, to Sarah Gertrude Newkirk, deceased in 1929. She was the daughter of George and Mary Newkirk. They were the parents of four children: I. Merrill. 2. Dorothy, deceased. 3. Laura. 4. Janet.
NORMAN FREDERICK LENT has had a dis- tinguished legal career, military and civilian, public and private. In practice since 1927, he has been cor- poration counsel of the village of East Rockaway, school district attorney in the town of Hempstead, counsel for the Bay Park fire district and justice of the peace of the town of Hempstead. Since Janu- ary I, 1938, except for a period of service in the United States Army in World War II, he has been judge of the District Court of the County of Nassau. In the Army Judge Lent was a major in the Judge- Advocate General's Department attached to the Air Technical Service Command, where he performed outstanding duties, including fraud investigations in association with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Judge Lent was born in Brooklyn, August 26, 1905, the son of Cyrenus Whittaker and Lydia (Lisec) Lent. He was first educated in the ele- mentary schools of East Rockaway. In 1922 he was graduated from the Lynbrook High School and in 1926 from Fordham University Law School with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. On December 7, 1927, he was admitted to the New York State bar. He began his practice as a member of the law firm of Vande Water and Lent, in the Professional Building, at Lynbrook. But some years later he opened inde- pendent offices, which he maintained until January I, 1938, the year of his first election to the district court bench. He was re-elected to a six-year term on January I, 1942.
Judge Lent became corporation counsel of the village of East Rockaway when he had been in prac- tice less than two years and when he was twenty- three years old-on April 1, 1929. He held this office until December 31, 1937. During this period, he was appointed attorney for the Union Free School, Dis- trict No. 19, in the town of Hempstead, and counsel for the Bay Park fire district and elected justice of the peace. All these positions he resigned on De- cember 31, 1937, along with the village of East Rock- away office, when he was elected judge of the county district court.
On April 30, 1943, Judge Lent went on military leave from the bench. Commissioned captain in the Judge Advocate General's Department, he was first stationed at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he took the Army-sponsored indoctrination and other military courses essential to his future work with the Army. He was then transferred to the Air Technical Service Command, with which he served at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, at Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. On September 4, 1944, he was promoted to major. His main duties concerned con- tacts between the Army Air Forces and large cor- porations. He was also assigned legal duties as
liaison officer between labor and management on behalf of the Army Air Forces procurement pro- gram. While with the Army Air Forces, Judge Lent wrote a manual called "Military Operation of In- dustrial Plants," which was widely used in the serv- ice. Before he was separated from the Army on De- cember 6, 1945, he worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on fraud cases involving the cor- porations and individuals under contract to the Gov- ernment.
When he left the Army, Judge Lent returned to his post on the county bench. He is active in all major phases of communal life either at Mineola, where he sits as judge, or at Lynbrook, where he continues to make his home, or on a county-wide basis. He is former president of the Republican Club of Lynbrook, having held this office in 1928. From August, 1931, to December 31, 1945, he was an execu- tive member of the Republican Club of East Rock- away. In 1930, he was president of the Lynbrook Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member of the East Rockaway Post of the American Legion, the Lynbrook Lodge No. 1515, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Lynbrook Council, No. 12, of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and of the New York State and Nassau County bar associations. Judge Lent's hobby is athletics. This interest goes back to his high school days in Lyn- brook, when he was captain of the track team and quarterback of the football team. In 1920 and 1921, he held Nassau County and Long Island records for the one hundred-yard and two hundred and twenty- yard dashes.
Judge Lent married Patricia Mary Cunningham, daughter of James V. and Elinor (Morton) Cunning- ham, in Hempstead on December 5, 1941. They are the parents of one son, Robert Kevin Lent, born December 4, 1945. By a previous marriage, Judge Lent has two sons: Norman F., Jr., born March 22, 1931, and Donald Barton, born March 8, 1934.
THOMAS DANIEL SHANNON is
known throughout Long Island as a real estate broker, with headquarters at No. 299 Sunrise Highway, Lynbrook.
He was born in New York City, on August 6, 1888, the son of Daniel Thomas and Anna Claire (Kane) Shannon, the former a builder in New York. Thomas D. Shannon was educated in New York's elementary schools and the New York Preparatory School.
He received early training in the real estate and construction field of his father's office in the City of New York. Later he entered the employ of Robert Gair Company in Brooklyn, New York, as manager of their advertising specialties department; thereafter becoming their sales representative for western Mas- sachusetts and eastern New York State. He resigned to open his own office at No. 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, where he specialized in the crea- tion and sale of advertising specialties.
In 1923 Mr. Shannon organized and became presi- dent of the Montauk Realty and Construction Com- pany, in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. This firm later became known as the Shannon Realty Company, Inc.
In 1933, in partnership with Walter Bailey, then in charge of sales of Yorkshire Homes, Inc., a large development of single family dwellings in Lynbrook, he built his present office on Sunrise Highway, op- posite the Lynbrook railroad station, the firm being known as Shannon-Bailey and Company. The death
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of Mr. Bailey in 1938 dissolved the partnership and Mr. Shannon continued the business as an individual under his own name.
Mr. Shannon is a life member of the Columbus Council, Knights of Columbus, in Brooklyn, and a member of the Yardarm Club at Westhampton Beach. He is a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church at Lynbrook.
Mr. Shannon married Helen Landrigan, daughter of Michael and Anne (Murray) Landrigan, in Brooklyn, on May 31, 1917. They make their home at No. 230 Atlantic Avenue, Lynbrook.
DAVID THOMAS WILE, JR .- Generally cred- ited with the supervision of the development of the Munsey Park area of Manhasset, David Thomas Wile, Jr., holds a position of importance among real estate men in Nassau County. He is also a leader in fraternal and service club activities and in the Long Island Transportation Bureau.
Mr. Wile was born in Youngstown, Ohio, on No- vember 2, 1889, the son of David Thomas and Hannah (Thomas) Wile. The senior Mr. Wile spent forty years with the United States Steel Corporation as a foreman.
After completing his education, Mr. Wile, Jr., fol- lowed various occupations until in 1928 he became manager of Munsey Park, Inc., a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City. In the next eleven years he and his associates developed and sold the Munsey Park subdivision, which at the beginning was virtually primitive area and is now a well settled region. During the same period and since then, Mr. Wile conducted a general real estate brokerage business, under the name of David T. Wile, Jr., and Company of which he is president, with headquarters at 3393 Northern Boulevard, Mun- sey Park, Manhasset. Mr. Wile is past exalted ruler of Great Neck Lodge No. 1543, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was president of the Lions Club of Port Washington in the club's year 1945 to 1946 and is now district deputy governor of the Lions Club International, District of Nassau County. He is vice president of the Long Island Transportation Bureau.
Mr. Wile married on October 5, 1912, at Youngs- town, Ohio. He has one daughter, Mrs. Jane Louise Conklin, who was born on August 15, 1916. Mrs. Conklin is the mother of two daughters: Helen Greer Conklin, born October 9, 1943, and Barbara Lee Conklin, born in March, 1946.
GEORGE E. LATHAM-The Latham family was among those who pioneered at Orient Point, taking up land along the picturesque areas of Gardner's Bay and Long Island Sound. The old Latham homestead at Orient Point is a major landmark in the region, and George E. Latham, who is prominent throughout Suffolk County as a farmer, is still cultivating the land which his ancestors homesteaded so many scores of years ago. Mr. Latham is not only a lead- ing grower of cauliflower, lima beans and Brussells sprouts but an important participant in the affairs of the Riverhead Production Credit Association and the Suffolk County Farm Bureau.
George E. Latham was born on the old homestead at Orient Point on December 14. 1889, the son of Benjamin D. and Mary L. (Corwin) Latham, both also natives of the town of Southold. Of three brothers of
George E. Latham, one is living, Benjamin Dwight Latham, who is associated with George E. in the operation of the farm. Two other brothers, Vernon and Willis Latham, died in 1918 in the influenza epidemic. An uncle, George E. Latham, also born at Orient Point, fought in the Union Army in the Civil War.
George E. Latham attended first the district school at Orient Point and then the Union School at Orient. He was a farmer from his very earliest days. The original family site, now under their jurisdiction, has been expanded to fifty acres overlooking Gardner's Bay and the Sound. Cauliflower, lima beans and Brussells sprouts are Mr. Latham's major products. He is a director of the Riverhead Production Credit Association and active also in the Suffolk County Farm Bureau. The family worships at the Congrega- tional Church.
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