Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 7

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 7
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 7

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Leon A. Swirbul married Josephine McGraw, of Ithaca, New York, and they are the parents of twin sons: William and Philip Swirbul.

WILLIAM T. SCHWENDLER-Devoting most of his life to the study and practice of aeronautical engineering, William T. Schwendler, who resides in Farmingdale, has been, since 1940, executive vice president and director of the Grumman Aircraft Engi- neering Corporation, one of the leading aircraft manu- facturing companies in the world.

The son of Carl and Emilie B. (Klein) Schwendler, William Schwendler was born April 1, 1904, at Win- field, Long Island. His father, a native of Berlin, Germany, came with his parents to the United States, in 1881, at the age of five. He is a modeler by trade. Emilie Schwendler, born in Winfield in 1879, died September 28, 1927.

Mr. Schwendler received his degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at New York University in 1924. He was first employed by the Chance Vought Corporation in the summer of 1923 as a detail draftsman. One year later he began a career which was studded with promotions in the Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation. From 1924 to 1930, a span of only six years, Mr. Schwendler rose from a detail draftsman to a project engineer, to the chief project engineer, and finally to assistant general manager. Then, in 1930, he became one of the organizers of the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in the capacity of chief engineer and in 1940, in recognition of his ability and outstanding contributions to the success of his company, he was appointed a vice president and director, and executive vice president and director, July, 1946, to date.

He is Fellow of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences; a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers; a member of the Phi Kappa Tau frater- nity; a director of the Bethpage Federal Savings and Loan Association; and a member of the North Hemp- stead Country Club; Unqua-Corinthian Yacht Club and honorary member of Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary engineering fraternity. A lover of outdoor life he is greatly interested in boating, swimming, fishing, gardening and outdoor barbecuing.

William Schwendler married Mabel R. Jorden, daughter of William Jorden and Alwine Peiper of West Englewood, New Jersey, on October 20, 1933, at Teaneck, New Jersey. They are the parents of

three children: 1. Olga E. born August 22, 1934. 2. Hazel A. born February 5, 1937. 3. William T., Jr., born May 23, 1940.

JOSEPH A. STAMM-The present secretary and director of purchasing of the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Joseph A. Stamm, has been associated during his career with several engineering and manufacturing corporations which have encom- passed a great scope of experience in engineering. A native of New York State, Mr. Joseph A. Stamm was born August 2, 1900 in Brooklyn, the son of Conrad and Rose (Sammon) Stamm, now deceased. He was educated at St. Joseph's School and at St. John's Preparatory School, both located in Brooklyn.

For a short time Mr. Stamm entered the employ of Shadbolt Manufacturing Company, of Brooklyn, manufacturers of wagons and trailers. This associa- tion was terminated when he joined the United States Army, serving for two years during World War I with the engineering corps. After his honorable discharge in 1919 he was employed for six years by Marsh and McLennan, Incorporated, of New York City. Then he accepted the position of purchasing agent with the Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation of New York, remaining with the company until 1929. It was in this year that Mr. Stamm began his work with the Grumman corporation demonstrating, dur- ing his years with the firm, his comprehension of the field and his administrative ability.

Mr. Stamm is a Republican and a member of the Hempstead Golf Club. In his leisure he enjoys fishing and golf.

On September 29, 1926, Joseph A. Stamm married Pauline Goodwin, daughter of Walter E. and Cath- erine (McKeon) Goodwin. Mr. and Mrs. Stamm have one son, Paul J., born April 4, 1929.

EDMUND W. POOR-Joining the Grumman Air- craft Engineering Corporation upon its organization in 1930, Mr. Edmund W. Poor has maintained an im- portant position in the aviation industry and now serves as treasurer and director of this well-known company. Mr. Poor is a native of New York City, born September 12, 1904, the son of Charles Lane and Anna Louise (Easton) Poor. Mrs. Charles Poor, mother of Edmund W. Poor, was born in New York City and Charles Lane Poor was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1864. In former years a professor of celestial imechanics at Columbia University, Charles Lane Poor is now retired.

A graduate of Columbia University in the class of 1927, Edmund W. Poor received the Bachelor of Arts degree. His formal education included two years of study at Williams College preceded by attendance at St. George's School at Newport, Rhode Island, class of 1923, and in the public schools of New York City.

In 1928 Mr. Poor entered the field of industry, be- coming associated with the New York Rubber Com- pany in Beacon, New York, and in 1929 with the Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation of New York City and in 1930 transferred to the Grum- man Aircraft Engineering Corporation where he has so notably demonstrated his ability in the ensuing years.

An active participant in community life Mr. Ed- mund W. Poor is the treasurer of the village of Dering Harbor on Shelter Island. He is a Republican in politics and is a member of the Episcopal Church. Memberships in the Chi Psi fraternity, the South Bay Golf Club, and the Labrador Retriever Club occupy much of Mr. Poor's leisure. and his hobby, sailing, is

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intensified by an active membership in the New York Yacht Club.

Edmund W. Poor married Catharine B. Wynkoop of Bath, New York, January 12, 1924. Mrs. Poor is the daugliter of Dr. Henry J. and Belle (Avery) Wynkoop. Mr. and Mrs. Poor have two children: I. Edmund W., Jr., born November 7, 1934. 2. Henry W., born May 20, 1939.

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MERRICK opened its doors for business on March 31, 1924, in a little store on Merrick Avenue. Its original capital was $25,000 and the surplus account was $6,250. The capital has been increased and adjusted several times since the original capitalization and in May of 1946, a stock dividend of fifty per cent was declared on the then outstanding common capital stock of $100,000. An additional $100,000 of common capital stock was sold to the public and the proceeds used to retire the outstanding preferred stock of the bank in the face amount of $92,000.

The present capital is $250,000 common stock, $150,000 surplus and $54,039.08 undivided profits.

Those most active in the development of the origi- nal idea of founding a bank in Merrick, were Frank Wolfe, vice president of the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company and a long-time resident of Merrick, and Alexander Hallock, a retired farmer, whose forbears were among the earliest settlers of Long Island in the early seventeenth century. Frank Wolfe served the bank as president for many years, retiring as a result of the restrictions placed on bank officials by the Banking Act of 1933. He was succeed- ed by Fred Buss, previously vice president and cashier, who died suddenly in May of 1934.

Augustus B. Weller was then selected as president and took over active duty on July 1, 1934.

On November 16, 1929, The First National Bank of Merrick opened the doors of its new modern bank building strategically located near the railroad station and in the heart of the business district on Merrick Avenue. One of the unusual features of the new building was the location of the banking facilities on the second floor, affording maximum daylight from windows on all sides and the most pleasant type of working conditions. The ground floor, originally occupied by shops, has recently been taken over by the Bank for the use of its consumer credit depart- ment and the adjoining building has been leased to assure ample facilities for future expansion.

The First National Bank of Merrick was one of the first banks in the county to promote personal loans and installment credit and over a period of twelve years, has loaned almost $8,000,000 through its consumer credit department with a loss ratio of less than one-eighth of one per cent. Over 21,000 loans of this type have been granted.

The mortgage department of the Bank has been active since the early days of the Federal Housing program and has loaned millions of dollars to small home owners and local businessmen. Many of these mortgages have been resold to other banks under a servicing agreement.

From the fifty-eight accounts which were started with the bank on its opening day in 1924, and its initial assets of approximately $63,000, the bank now shows total assets of $8,200,000 and accounts of more than seven thousand.

Merrick is growing rapidly and the Bank's policies, while modern and aggressive in every respect, are still considered conservative and the institution should

look forward with confidence to many years of con- tinued growth.

Two members of the original board of directors are still active in the Bank's service-Fred Schaardt, Jr., vice president and chairman of the real estate comunit- tee, and Karl Nagele, who serves on the building com- mittee.

Other directors are: Emil J. Bejsovec, Asa B. El- liott, Dr. William C. Graf, Alfred Greis, Moses Horn- stein, George C. Kelso, Robert N. Snyder, Jolın R. Willets, Augustus B. Weller.

The Bank's officers are: Augustus B. Weller, presi- dent and trust officer; Fred Schaardt, Jr., vice presi- dent; George C. Kelso, vice president; Herman F. Heesch, cashier; Howard D. Brooks, vice president in charge of consumer credit; Howard C. Elbe, assistant cashicr; Joseph S. Maddlone, assistant cashier; George WV. Clarke, assistant cashier in charge of mortgage department.

AUGUSTUS B. WELLER-On May 1I, 1944, the "Nassau Daily Review-Star," of Garden City, conferred its "Distinguished Service Award" for 1943, 111011 Augustus B. Weller in "recognition of his public service as Nassau County Rationing Administrator." The citation read, "vested with the responsibility of co-ordinating wartime rationing in this area, he has discharged his duties without favoritism, with full appreciation of the purpose of the restrictions, but with a sympathetic desire to cause the people the least inconvenience and economic disadvantage consonant with the objectives of the program. A voluntary worker, he has cheerfully contributed his time and talents for the duration of the emergency, at personal sacrifice, without anticipation of remuneration or reward." In connection with this occasion a bro- chure presented a brief biography of the recipient, from which the following is largely drawn and further abbreviated.

Augustus B. Wellcr, president of The First National Bank of Merrick and Nassau County, is a native of Kings County, born February 17, 1894, his parents having moved there from Orange County, New York, a few years prior to his birth. He is descended from William Bull and Sarah Wells, who were married in 1716 in Hamptonburgh, Orange County, New York, and whose daughter, Eleanor, the youngest of thir- teen children, married Wilhelmus Weller in 1764.

Mr. Weller attended public school in Brooklyn and was graduated from Boys' High School in 1911. He had served as editor of the high school paper and year book. Matriculating at Yale University, he was graduated in 1915, a Bachelor of Arts. While at Yale, Mr. Weller studied law, receiving credit for one year of law toward his diploma. He had contributed to various Yale periodicals, was a member of the Yale Dramatic Association and was elected to Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He served for four years as a teacher in Bethany Mission, conducted exclusively by Yale students in behalf of poor children of New Haven.

After graduation he entered the employ of the Reid Ice Cream Company of Brooklyn, at that time con- trolled by family interests, but two years later re- signed to enter the financial field. Mr. Weller spent twelve years in the investment banking field in vari- ous executive positions, the last two years of which he served as vice president and general sales manager of the National American Securities Company. While still with that company, he was elected treasurer of the Motologue Advertising Corporation, a national

LONG ISLAND - NASSAU AND SUFFOLK

display advertising organization, with offices in the Graybar Building in New York City and a factory in Newark, New Jersey. In 1929 he was elected presi- dent of the company, and in order to take over active control of this business resigned from the National American Securities Company. Having sold the busi- ness to the Flexlume Corporation of Buffalo in De- cember 1932, he became associated with A. W. Wetzel and Company, investment advisers, until June, 1934.

In May, 1934, Mr. Weller was elected president and director of the First National Bank of Merrick, positions which he still holds. During the period of his office, the bank has shown a substantial growth in deposits and capital accounts. Total assets have in- creased from less than one million dollars to more than $7,500,000 (1947). The First National Bank of Merrick is considered among the more progressive banks in Nassau County, having developed an active installment loan department which covers a wide field of small payment financing. The bank has been active throughout the Federal Housing program, having closed the first Federal Housing mortgage loan to be made on Long Island.

Since coming to Merrick, Mr. Weller has been active in many community affairs. He has served as an officer of several local civic associations, as a mem- ber of the local Boy Scout committee and as chair- man of many fund-raising campaigns. During the construction of the present building of the Community Presbyterian Church of Merrick, he served as treas- urer of its building fund and helped with its original financing. In 1930 he was elected to the Merrick Board of Education and in 1931 was made president -- retiring at the expiration of his term of office in 1933. He is a member of the Merrick Lighting Committee and the Merrick and North Merrick Planning Com- mittee and has served as treasurer of the Merrick War Council since December 1941. He is also an active member of the Merrick Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Weller assisted the volunteer fire companies of Merrick by serving as installing officer or master of ceremonies at most of their annual installations during the past ten years. He has officiated in a similar capacity at affairs of the Merrick Jewish Center and the Center Men's Club-as well as the Sunrise Yacht Club of Merrick, of which he is a member. He formerly served as trustee of the Merrick Library, and has been a trustee of the Merrick Rangers Athletic Club since the organization of its board in 1937.

Mr. Weller was chairman of Group VI of the Nassau County Clearing House Association for a period of two years and simultaneously served as a director of the association. He has acted on many Clearing House committees and for the past two years was chairman of the banks' Red Cross War Fund committee. The banks were the first unit of the Commerce and Industry Division to make their quota in the 1944 War Fund Drive. In January, 1944, he was elected to the board of trustees of Hofstra College and was appointed chairman of the finance committee, and served as treasurer from 1944 to 1946. Mr. Weller, in 1945, was named a member of the special advisory committee on finance for the Nassau County Chapter, American Red Cross. The other two members are Henry Root Stern of North Hills and F. Abbott Goodhue of Hewlett.

In December, 1941, Mr. Weller was asked to serve Nassau County as tire rationing administrator and was elected to this position by the three War Coun- cils representing the city of Long Beach, the city of Glen Cove, and the county of Nassau. Each council also appointed a tire rationing board com-

posed of three members, one of whom served as board chairman, to handle the rationing of tires for the respective municipalities involved. It was the duty of the rationing board members to pass on applications for tires and to issue certificates authorizing their pur- chase. The county administrator's function was to receive the quota of tires assigned to Nassau County by the State Bureau of Rationing, and to reallocate the total county allotment by means of quotas assign- ed to each of the three tire rationing boards.

The story of the labors of Mr. Weller and his asso- ciates in the field of rationing, that was expanded to great limits, is now a matter of history, wherein the endeavors of leaders may often be overlooked. His job was big and made great demands upon his time and energies. At the initiation of rationing in De- cember, 1941, the entire personnel was composed of the administrator and nine board members; three years later there were two hundred and fourteen mem- bers, ninety-two paid employees and more than six hundred volunteer workers. Until the end of ration- ing several years afterwards, the endeavors of Mr. Weller in this connection were long and exceptionally efficient.

On September 23, 1916, Augustus B. Weller mar- ried Lilyan Collins, of Brooklyn, daughter of former New York State Senator Daniel J. Collins and Le- nore (Donovan) Collins, and their children were: I. Don Gardiner, who served in the United States Navy, World War II, and now a student at Hofstra Col- lege, Hempstead. 2. Emily Jane, who died on Janu- ary 9, 1920.

GEORGE H. HAUSER-A native Long Islander, George Hauser has achieved a notable career almost entirely within the borders of the Island and by his eminence in many fields of activity he is ranked among its leading citizens.

Born at Hicksville, in Nassau County, on March 9, 1896. Mr. Hauser is the son of George, a farmer, and Catherine (Wang) Hauser. After attending Herricks Public School at East Williston and Mineola High School, he entered New York University from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1917.

During summer vacations from 1913 to 1917, he was employed by the First National Bank of Mineola. In the latter year he went to Camden, New Jersey, to become assistant to the chief engineer of the Victor Talking Machine Company, leaving to en- ter the United States Army from which he was hon- orably discharged. He then returned to Long Is- land, as a junior mechanical engineer of the Arnold Company of Chicago, appraising the old Rapid Tran- sit System. In 1918 he became associated with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation at Garden City, as production engineer and later as production manager. He resigned in 1923 to become the pur- chasing agent and later, assistant general manager of the Chance Vought Corporation, which plant was orginally located in Long Island City but later re- moved to East Hartford, Connecticut. His associa- tion with Chance Vought continued until 1931. He then became president of the Builders Flooring Com- pany of New York City until 1937, as well as sales manager of the A & S Tool Works (aircraft parts makers) in Brooklyn from 1935 until 1938. In 1938 he became aircraft manager of the Kirkham Engineer- ing and Manufacturing Corporation and then vice president of Liberty Aircraft Products Corporation

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LIBERTY PRODUCTS CORPORATION-1948

LONG ISLAND - NASSAU AND SUFFOLK

when this Company succeeded the Kirkham Corpora- tion. Liberty Aircraft (which was awarded the Army- Navy "E" Award with three stars for their war production) is located at Farmingdale, the one-time small village which in the national emergency be- came one of the greatest centers of aircraft produc- tion in the world. He is a director of the Bank of Hicksville, his native village, and the Bank of Suffolk County at Stony Brook. He also had been a director of the Roberts Numbering Machine Company of Brooklyn from 1943 to 1947, and of the Williston Na- tional Bank of East Williston in 1947.

Mr. Hauser's public and civic connections and ser- vices are numerous-director of The Long Island Association, Inc .; chairman of the Board of Trustees of Hofstra College at Hempstead; president of The Long Island Choral Society-1945-1947; chairman of the Suffolk County Red Cross Campaign Committee -1946-1947; and chairman of the Garden City 1941 Boy Scout Campaign. Deeply interested in the ex- pansion of business and stabilization of economic and social conditions in the post-war period, he served as chairman of the New York State Ninth District Committee for Economic Development comprising Nassau and Suffolk, during World War II and also served on the advisory boards of vocational training schools at Oyster Bay, Mineola, and others and was an active member of other committees for the war effort. He maintains a keen interest in his own alma mater, serving as a director of the Alumni Federa- tion, president of the Arts and Engineering Alumni Association, a member of the Committee of Visitors and received the New York University Alumni Meri- torious Service Award in 1944. He is an honorary member of Pi Tau Sigma (Mechanical Engineers) at New York University and Kappa Mu Epsilon (Mathematics) at Hofstra. He is a Rotarian, having served as president of the Mincola-Garden City Ro- tary Club and District Governor's representative; is a thirty-second degree Mason, Knights Templar, and Shriner; and a member of Morton Lodge No. 63 at Hempstead, Suffolk Lodge No. 60 at Port Jefferson, Freeport Chapter No. 302 Royal Arch Masons, Adoniram Council No. 36 Royal and Select Masters at Flushing, Nassau Commandery No. 73 Knights Templar, at Hempstead, Long Island Con- sistory Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Rockville Centre, and Kismet Temple at Brooklyn. He is also a member of the American Legion; the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Princeton En- gineering Association; the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences and the Nassau County Historical So- ciety. His clubs are Cherry Valley, Garden City Casino, St. George's Golf and Country, Amston Lake, Grolier, and Princeton of New York. He is a vestry- man of the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Episcopal) at Garden City and had been superintendent of the Presbyterian Church School at Mineola, 1917-1922. He is the recipient of the 1948 Distinguished Service Award by the "Nassau Daily Review-Star" Commit- tee.

On June 28. 1922. George H. Hauser married Mil- dred H. Armstrong of Mineola, daughter of Edgar J. and Alberta (Dodge) Armstrong. Their children are: I. George Henry, a graduate student at Prince- ton University. having served in the United States Navy in World War II; and 2. M. Ruth, a student at the Connecticut College for Women. Mr. Hauser's homes are at Garden City. and "Lovely Harbour" at Old Field, Setauket, and he has a summer home at Mattituck.

LIBERTY PRODUCTS CORPORATION or- iginally was established at Farmingdale as the Kirk- ham Engineering and Manufacturing Corporation in 1932 with Charles B. Kirkham, former chief engineer of the old Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation, as president, with Robert Simon, former general man- ager of the Fairchild Airplane and Engine Company, as vice president and treasurer, and with Oliver H. Payne, noted attorney, as secretary. The firm or- ganized a general machine shop to serve the aircraft manufacturers in the East and to offer services for overhaul and development. It aided in the tooling and building of the original Seversky airplanes (now Republic) and converted numerous engines for ma- rine use.

In 1936 the plant operations were moved to the former Sperry plant on Motor Avenue, Farmingdale. There Robert Simon originally had been associated with Lawrence Sperry many years before in the de- velopment of the Sperry "Messenger" plane which Sperry landed on the Capitol grounds in Washington to prove the use of airplanes in the early days of aviation. The plant facilities were enlarged and many Liberty aircraft engines of World War I were con- verted for use in military tanks for the British Gov- ernment.

In 1938 the aircraft division was established to fabricate wings, control surfaces, pontoons and strut assemblies for Grumman and other parts for Glenn L. Martin and Republic. George H. Hauser, former production manager of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation, and later, general manager of Chance Vought Corporation, took charge of this development. The machine shop facilities were expanded under William Ochse, former superintendent of R. Hoe and Company and also Pratt and Whitney Company.

In 1940 the firm became Liberty Aircraft Prod- ucts Corporation with Mr. Simon as president, Mr. Hauser as vice president, and William G. Holman, who had been finance officer with the company since 1933, as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Payne became chairman of the board. The need for air power for the United States for the approaching war began the devolpment of airplane plant facilities throughout the country. Liberty again expanded its facilities with more buildings and equipment and be- came the prime subcontractor in the East making aircraft parts for Grumman, Republic, Martin, Curtiss, Fairchild, Brewster, Vought, Sikorsky

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Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 7

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor Publication date: 1949 Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922