USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 98
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 98
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Mr. Gilmartin has achieved such leadership among his fellow attorneys that he is secretary-treasurer of the Suffolk County Bar Association. He is past exalted ruler of the Southampton Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, having held that office in 1940 and 1941. . He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and a communicant of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary at Southampton.
On February II, 1934, at Rutherford, New Jersey. Mr. Gilmartin married Mary A. Ruffer, daughter of
David J. Gilmartin ilmartin
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Augustus D. and Kathryn (Kelly) Ruffer. Mrs. Gil- martin, born in Jersey City, New Jersey, studied stage- craft at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmartin are the parents of six children: Mary R., born in Bay Shore on December 9, 1934; David R., born May 18, 1937; Kathryn R., born June 4, 1941; Ruth R. and Laura R., twins, born June 17, 1943, and Martin R., born June 14, 1946, the last five in Southampton.
HENRY T. FAHY-The progress of agriculture in Suffolk County has been substanially forwarded by Henry T. Fahy, owner of the renowned Bayview Farm at Bridgehampton. For Mr. Fahy is not only a large grower of potatoes, cauliflower, wheat and rye, but chairman of the Suffolk County Farm Trans- portation Committee and a leader in the Suffolk County Farm Bureau. He has also aided farmers through his work with the First National Bank of Southampton, of which he is a director. Mr. Fahy's wife also occupies a position of importance in the affairs of Bridgehampton and the county at large. A former teacher, she is a member of the school board and the Suffolk County Home Bureau, of which she is chairman.
Mr. Fahy was born in Bridgehampton on August 16, 1890, the son of James W. and Cecelia T. (Mc- Gee) Fahy. The elder Mr. Fahy, a native of Ireland. came to Long Island when he was sixteen, settling at Greenport. Subsequently he moved to Bridge- hampton, where he bought a farm on which he reared nine children besides the present county farm leader.
Henry Fahy was educated in Bridgehampton's ele- mentary and secondary schools. Until 1913, he worked with his father on the original family farm. Then he purchased Bayview Farm, with its one hundred thirty- five acres of cultivated land and fifty additional acres of woodland. Since its formation in the early 1920S, Mr. Fahy has been active in the Suffolk County Farm Bureau and in recent years he has headed the Suf- folk County Farm Transportation Committee as well as served on the Southampton bank's board of direc- tors. He is also a director of the Southampton Golf Club.
Mr. Fahy married Louise Swett at Southampton on January 7, 1915. She is the daughter of Mark and Lillie M. (Ward) Swett, the former a native of Boston, Massachusetts, the latter of Norwich, Con- necticut. Mrs. Fahy traces her ancestry to early American settlers and soldiers of the Revolution. She was born at Pomfret Center. A graduate of Syra- cuse University, from which she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Mrs. Fahy was the first high school teacher in Bridgehampton. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as of the school board and the County Home Bureau. Mr. and Mrs. Fahy are the parents of five children: I. Mary Louise, born February 14, 1916; 2. Paul, born April 3, 1917; Donald Giles, born December 22, 1919; 4. James T., born November 12, 1922; 5. Nancy N., born March 19, 1924.
Mary Louise Fahy, a graduate of the Bridgehamp- ton High School, received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College in 1938, and of Master of Arts from New York University in 1939. In June, 1946, she was married to John Luton Mason, of Ber- wyn, Illinois, who in World War II served in the United States Army as a captain.
Donald Giles Fahy is a graduate of the Bridge- hampton High School, Williston Academy, Fordham University and Cornell Medical College. He received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the last-named in 1945. In World War II, Dr. Fahy served in the
United States Army Medical Corps as a lieutenant; he was in the Pacific Theater of Operations throughi most of the war.
James T. Fahy is a graduate of the Southampton High School and is associated with his father on tlie farm.
Nancy Fahy is a graduate of the Bridgehampton High School and Skidmore College. She also attended art school in New York City.
JACOB DRANITZKE, M.D .- Known throughout Suffolk County as physician and surgeon Dr. Jacob Dranitzke is also recognized as a citizen active in major communal affairs. In 1946 his fellow citizens took advantage of his interest in educational matters by electing him to a three-year term on the Board of Education of the Village of Patchogue.
Dr. Dranitzke was born in Gitonir, Russia, on Janu- ary 14, 1903, the son of Benjamin and Gertrude (Godoff) Dranitzke. Both parents were also natives of Russia. The father is a retired merchant. When he was two years old the future physician and surgeon was brought to the United States by his parents. The family settled in Patchogue, which has since been the scene of most of its activities and the site of its home.
Jacob Dranitzke began his education in Patchogue. In 1918, he was graduated from the Patchogue High School. Four years later he took his degree of Bache- lor of Science at Columbia University in New York, and in 1924 he was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His junior intern- ship, was begun in his senior year in medical school, at City Hospital, New York. For further experience before launching himself in private practice, he in- terned another three years at Beth Israel Hospital, New York.
Since 1927 he has been in practice in Patchogue, specializing in surgery. He is on the surgical staffs of both John Mather Memorial Hospital at Port Jef- ferson and Southside Hospital at Bay Shore. His membership on the Patchogue school board is only one of his many activities outside the medical pro- fession. He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Patchogue and the Suffolk County Medical Society and the New York State and American medical as- sociations. His favorite recreations are golf, boating and fishing.
Dr. Dranitzke married Ruth Holstein at Syracuse, New York, on October 15, 1939. Mrs. Dranitzke, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Holstein of Syra- cuse, is a graduate of the University of Syracuse. She and the doctor have two children: Richard, born December 26, 1940; and Joan, born November 27, 1942, both in Patchogue.
LANNIS K. MOORE-After something like seventeen years in railroading, Lannis K. Moore de- termined to achieve greater independence by going into business for himself as a funeral director and embalmer. In this he was actively encouraged by his wife, who also qualified herself to engage in this oc- cupation. During nearly twenty years the Moores, by mastery of their technique, by tact and sympathy and ethical practices, have built up a lucrative busi- ness in the pleasant and ever-growing Nassau County village of Valley Stream, where Mr. Moore more- over is prominent in civic, political and fraternal life.
Born at Bethel in the state of Delaware on March 23, 1891, Lannis K. Moore is the son of the late Kendle A. and the late Anorah (Phillips) Moore. Kendle A.
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Moore was for many years in early life a farmer and fruit broker, and in later years owned and conducted a general store and also served as postmaster at Bethel. The young Lannis K. Moore attended public school in his native place, graduating from the Bethel high school with the class of 1909.
As a young man Lannis K. Moore became a tele- graph operator, and he was so employed with the Pennsylvania Railroad for ten years before becoming associated with the Long Island Railroad as station master at Lawrence Station, on Long Island's south- ern shore, a position which he held from 1918 to 1925. It was at this time that he determined to make his own business venture, and to that end he studied em- balming and undertaking for two years, graduating from the McAllister School of Embalming in 1927.
In that same year, 1927, Mr. Moore established himself in business under his own name in Valley Stream. From the start he was successful, and in 1933 he built the thoroughly modern funeral home which stands at 54 West Jamaica Avenue, facing also on Corona Avenue. Here all equipment is up-to-date and efficient, and the service is of that quality which eases the grief of those who must see a loved one to the last resting-place.
Mr. Moore is a Republican in politics, and an active member of the Valley Stream Republican Club. Keen- ly interested in the business and civic welfare of the community, he became a charter member of the Val- ley Stream Kiwanis Club, in which he remains ac- tive. He is fond of fraternal life, and holds member- ship in Lynbrook Lodge No. 1018 of the Free and Accepted Masons; in the Valley of Rockville Centre Consistory; in the Valley Stream Square Club; in Valley Stream Chapter No. 840 of the Order of the Eastern Star, of which he is a past patron; and he also belongs to the famed Kismet Temple, Brooklyn, New York, of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a charter member of the Valley Stream Kiwanis Club. Mr. Moore's religious affiliation is with Grace Methodist Church, which he serves as a member of the official board.
At Rehoboth, Delaware, on August 15, 1918, Lannis K. Moore married Kathryne Ralph, a native of Laurel, Delaware, and a daughter of Albert Ralph, who was also born in Laurel, of an old Delaware family, and who was a farmer and merchant, and his wife Orpha Ralph. Both of Mrs. Moore's parents are now de- ceased. Mrs. Moore attended high school in her native Laurel, graduating in 1914, and subsequently studied at the University of Delaware for two years before taking up school teaching, which she followed, in Delaware, for four years. After her marriage Mrs. Moore studied the undertaking and embalming busi- ness at the McAllister School of Embalming to qualify herself to assist her husband in his business venture, and she is now actively associated with him in all the activities of the funeral home.
Lannis K. and Kathryne (Ralph) Moore are the parents of one child, a son, Donald Ralph Moore, who was born on May 5, 1936.
ARTHUR T. NEWELL-Long an engineer in the aircraft industry, Arthur T. Newell is president of Farm Equipment, Inc., of Huntington Station, and, of Arthur T. Newell and Company of Huntington. The latter concern manufactures marine and aircraft instruments and accessories. During World War II Mr. Newell was the Town of Huntington's deputy director of Civilian Defense.
Mr. Newell was born at Milton, Massachusetts. on September 25, 1906, the son of the late Arthur Rus-
sell and Ethel (Tucker) Newell. Born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, the elder Mr. Newell was for many years in the leather business in Boston. Later he was a manufacturer of chemicals, also in that city, operating under the firm name of Arthur R. Newell and Son. (The present Mr. Newell was the "Son.") Arthur R. Newell was one of the leaders in the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows in Boston. He died in 1936. His widow, a native of Milton, Massachu- setts, and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, now makes her home at Dedham, Massa- chusetts.
Arthur T. Newell is a graduate of the Dedham High School and of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received the degree of Bache- lor of Science in aeronautical engineering in 1931. He then became associated with his father in Arthur R. Newell and Son, the chemical manufacturing concern. When his father died, Mr. Newell came to Long Island as an engineer for the Grover Loening Air- craft Company at Roosevelt Field. He left this con- cern to become chief engineer for the Air Associates, also at Roosevelt Field. Next he was with the C. E. Sheppard Company, Long Island City, as resident engineer. In September, 1938, he became associated with the Kenyon Instrument Company, Inc., at Hunt- ington Station, and was elected president and chief engineer. In May, 1946, he resigned to take over the farm Equipment, Inc., of Huntington Station. This concern was founded in July, 1943, and is a prosper- ous merchandiser of mechanized farming implements and operator of a service center for such equipment. Also since May, 1946, Mr. Newell has been head of Arthur T. Newell and Company at Huntington. He is a director of the Huntington Station Bank and is the commodore of the Huntington Yacht Club. Boat- ing is his hobby. He is also a member and former director of the Rotary Club of Huntington, a techni- cal member of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences and since his days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been a member of Theta Chi fratern- ity. He worships at the Congregational Church in Huntington.
On June 16, 1934, at Dedham, Massachusetts, Ar- thur T. Newell and Mildred Chute, daughter of Dr. Howard and Alice (Morris) Chute of Dedham, were married. Mr. and Mrs. Newell are the parents of two children: Arthur Tucker, born in Huntington on August 19, 1939; and Nancy Scott, born in Hunting- ton on January 10, 1943.
ERASTUS H. MUNSON-The Grinnell Lithio- graphic Company of New York City, can boast of being the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the world. Of this colossus of the greeting card busi- ness, the sole owner and active manager is Erastus H. Munson of Babylon, whose rise to that position is a story as typically American as the greeting card business itself.
A son of Harry E. and Anna (O'Connor) Munson, Erastus H. Munson was born in New York City on January 13, 1896. After graduating from public school in that city, he found his first employment with the Grinnell Lithographic Company, Inc., in the humble capacity of office boy. Ambitious and enterprising, industrious and alert, he realized that chance or choice had led to his association with a growing business and a growing firm, and he must have formed an early determination to learn all there is to know about that business. Step by step he rose in the Grinnell organi- zation, until in 1937, he became a partner in this com- pany which had been founded in 1908 bv the late Oliver Cromwell Grinnell of Bay Shore. Two years
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later, in 1939, Mr. Munson bought out all other inter- ests and became the sole owner of the Grinnell Litho- graphic Company, Inc.
As long ago as 1921, Mr. Munson had moved with his family to Babylon on Long Island's pleasant South Shore. Entering into the business and civic life of this community, he became a member of the board of directors of the Babylon National Bank and Trust Company, an active figure in the Rotary Club of Babylon, a member of the board of trustees of the Southside Hospital at Bay Shore, and a member of the Montauk Yacht Club. He also belongs to the New York Athletic Club in New York City, to the Surf Club of Miami, Florida, and to the La Gorce Club in that same Southern resort city. In religion he is a Presbyterian.
Always concerned with the good government and the best interests of the community in which he makes his home, Erastus H. Munson recently entered the political arena in an active way for the first time, and as the candidate of the Independent Citizens' ticket, he was elected to the office of mayor of the Village of Babylon, and discharged the duties of public office ably, conscientiously, and to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens of the old but very modern village on the Great South Bay.
In the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, on May 7, 1921, Erastus H. Munson was married to Amiee Julia Ehrhardt, a daughter of Stephen and Lucille (Emer) Ehrhardt. Of this marriage the three children are: 1. Lillian, who was born at Babylon on February 26, 1923. A graduate of the Babylon High School and of Adelphi College, she married James Landis Peck of Henderson, North Carolina. This couple now live at Rockville Centre. 2. Oliver Cromwell, who was born at Babylon on July 2, 1925. After graduating from high school in his native village, he attended the Peddie School. He also studied at Princeton University, until the call to the colors in the second World War led to his enlistment in the United States Navy, in which during the hostilities he served on the destroyer U. S. S. "Laffay," with the rank of ensign. Honorably discharged from the service, Oliver Cromwell Munson is now associated with his father in the Grinnell Lithographic Company. He is married to the former Helen Avis Jenkins of Manhassett, with whom he resides at New Hyde Park Manor. 3. Lenore Amee, who like her older sister and brother was born at Babylon, on January 11, 1926. In the family tradition she graduated from the Babylon High School, and subsequently attended the Cathe- dral School of St. Mary at Garden City, and Adelphi College.
RICHARD VAN HOUTEN RYERSON, presi- dent of Ryerson Motors, Incorporated, of Huntington, distributors of Buick motor cars in this district, has been a Buick dealer for forty years. In 1946 Mr. Ryerson completed a fine modern building which houses his business.
Mr. Ryerson was born in Denton, Orange County, New York, on December 30, 1874, the son of Amos and Mathilda (Bailey) Ryerson, both now deceased, the former a native of Glenwood, New Jersey, and the latter also a native of New Jersey. Amos Ryerson was a farmer.
Mr. Ryerson attended the public schools of Denton and Middletown High School, after which he took a business course at Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie. Until he was thirty-five he was a farmer, remaining on the family farm. He then en- tered the garage business with George Morrow in L.I .- 45
Middletown, under the firm name of Empire Garage, and handling Buick cars. This partnership lasted until 1914. In 1915 he came to New York City as assistant zone manager for the New York division of the Buick Motor Company, and served in this capacity until 1932. He then moved to Huntington, where he acquired the Buick franchise, and he has since been the Buick dealer there, employing ten peo- ple. The present fine modern building, which was built two years ago, provides a showroom, offices and service station, and also a residence. It is located at 645 New York Avenue. Mr. Ryerson does business under the firm name of Ryerson Motors, Incorporated, holding the office of president, and his wife, Cath- erine (McDermott) Ryerson, is secretary and treas- urer. This year Mr. Ryerson rounds out a period of forty years of association with Buick Motors in one capacity or another-an enviable record. He is a member of the Brooklyn and Long Island Automobile Dealers Association and of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Fraternally Mr. Ryerson is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, Hoff- man Lodge No. 412, of Middletown, and with Lodge No. 1097 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, also of Middletown. He is a member of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, and his religi- ous ties are with the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Ryerson is a Republican and at one time served as supervisor of the town of Wawayanda.
On May 21, 1940, Richard Van Houten Ryerson was married to Catherine McDermott of Amityville, daugh- ter of the Rev. William R. and Bessie (Gillette) McDermott. Mr. Ryerson has one son by a previous marriage, Robert E. Ryerson who was formerly vice president of the Tide Water Oil Company. Robert E. Ryerson married Ruth Patterson, and they have two sons, Robert and Richard. Both Robert and Richard Ryerson served in World War II and both are now students at Princeton University under the G. I. Bill of Rights.
BERNARD WEBSTER, D.D.S., was born at New Haven, Connecticut, and began the practice of his profession there. New Haven was an appropriate scene for both of these events, for Dr. Webster is a lineal descendant of a great New Englander whose life and works were closely identified with New Haven, namely Noah Webster, the great lexicographer, whose American Dictionary of the English language was one of the most important achievements of the early cultural beginnings of this country, and a legitimate source of pride to all his countrymen.
Dr. Webster's father, like himself a native of New Haven, was a leading merchant tailor of that city. He married Kathryn Raub, and of this union the son whom they named Bernard was born on April 18, 1883. By the time he had graduated from the Hill- house High School in 1902, he had made his choice of dentistry as a profession, and of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia as the scene of his studies toward the degree of Doctor of Dental Sur- gery, which was conferred upon him at his gradua- tion with the class of 1906. Returning to his native city, he established his practice there in the same year, and he remained in New Haven until 1918, when he came to Long Island and established his resi- dence and practice at Hicksville in Nassau County.
From 1918 to 1929 Dr. Webster built up an ex- tensive clientele in Hicksville, but in the latter year he moved to Suffolk County, locating at Port Jeffer- son, where since that time he has continued to re- side. His professional standing is very high, and
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he is a past president of the Suffolk County Dental Society. Nor are his interests and activities by any means confined within the bounds of his profession. He is one of the most active members of the Port Jefferson Rotary Club, of which he has also been president; and his popularity and the confidence of his fellow-citizens in his ability and devotion to pub- lic interests is evident in the fact that he is a mem- ber of the board of trustees of the Town of Brook- haven. Dr. Webster's record of public service in fact antedates his settlement in Port Jefferson, for while he was a resident of Hicksville, he founded the Hicks- ville Public Library and served as the first president of the board of trustees of that cultural institution.
Dr. Webster enjoys outdoor sports and recreation, and holds membership in the Stony Brook Yacht Club and in the St. George's Golf and Country Club, also located at Stony Brook, Suffolk County. In re- ligion Dr. Webster is a member of the Roman Catho- lic communion, and attends the Church of the Infant Jesus at Port Jefferson.
At New Haven, Connecticut, in June, 1908, Dr. Bernard Webster was married to Kathryn O'Brien, a daughter of James and Kathryn (Boyle) O'Brien. Of this marriage there are the following children: I. James Bernard, who was born at New Haven on August 24, 1909. He is a graduate of the Brooklyn Preparatory School, and of Holy Cross College. Dur- ing the second World War he served in the United States Naval Reserve. He is married to the former Kathryn Williams of New York City. They reside in Albany. 2. Kathryn Anna, born at New Haven, on August 23, 1910. She attended St. Francis Acad- emy in the Borough of Brooklyn, followed by the Albany State College at Albany, New York, from which she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently Kathryn Anna Webster received the Master of Science degree from Columbia University. 3. Arline Margaret, born at Devon, Connecticut, on December 27, 1915. After preparatory studies at the Bishop Molloy High School in the Borough of Brook- lyn, she attended Columbia University, where she took the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Science. 4. George Raymond, who was born at Hicksville, on February 21, 1928. After graduation from the Port Jefferson High School, he enrolled at Syracuse Uni- versity, and was a student there when he answered the call to the colors in the second World War by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps.
Dr. Bernard and Kathryn (O'Brien) Webster are the grandparents of Arline M. Rennie, who was born at Wantagh, Long Island, on May 11, 1938; of Kathryn Rennie, born at Garden City, Long Island, in 1943; and of William J. Webster, who was born at Albany, New York, in 1941.
JOHN J. MEAD COMPANY, INC .- Founded by John J. Mead in 1922 and incorporated in the follow- ing year, the John J. Mead Company, Inc., of 30 Hanson Place, Sayville, justifiably boasts of being the largest concern in Long Islands' Suffolk County, engaged in the wholesale distribution of plumbing, heating, sheet metal supplies and well supplies. The motto of the firm is "A Business Built on Service."
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At the present time the officers of the John J. Mead Company, Inc., are Mrs. Ann M. Mead, president and treasurer; Miss Ann Mead, vice president; Robert W. Mead, secretary and assistant manager; and George J. Huether, manager. A biographical account of Mr. Huether follows.
GEORGE J. HUETHER-As active manager of John J. Mead Company, Inc., George J. Huether has
become widely known throughout this county and the adjoining territory, and a familiar and active citizen of the Village of Sayville.
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