USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 17
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Born at Bluffton, O., in 1850, he early became en- gaged in the dry-goods, and grain and live stock business, continuing for twelve years. In 1881 HIRAM WALTZ. Mr. Waltz removed to Buffalo, there becoming connected with the live stock commis- sion business, with which he has remained identified to the present time. The importance and the general relationships to the community of the great live stock commission house of Swope, Hughes, Waltz & Benstead, in which the subject of this sketch is a partner and a leading factor, are matters too well known to require extended comment. The transactions of this firm are on a vast scale, including interests co-extensive with
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the United States, and whose ramifications include foreign trade in many countries. The firm controls great capital and has unbounded banking credit. The position held by Mr. Waltz in relation to the live stock commission interests which center at East Buffalo is due to his mastery of the details of the busi- ness and to his possession of executive ability and grasp of general affairs.
The growing importance of East Buffalo as a business center and the financial requirements of the enterprises in that locality, led to the organization of the Union Stock Yard Bank of Buffalo, November 10, 1904. Of this bank Mr. Waltz was one of the founders, and he is also its President. This, the latest addition to the banking institutions of Buffalo, is also among the strongest.
Mr. Waltz is a Democrat and once received the Democratic nomination for City Comptroller, but declined to become a candidate.
As a citizen of Buffalo, the standing of Mr. Waltz is as high as is his rank in the business world. He is the most prominent man connected with the interests of East Buffalo and wields a strong influence in all movements relating to the develop- ment of that section.
THE HAMMOND FAMILY is of origin so ancient that the name may be traced to the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, and to France of a period indefinitely preceding that epoch. Burke's "Landed Gentry " says that the race was probably derived from a branch of the Norman house of St. Amand, far more ancient and of Norman origin, granted to the "Sirname of Hammond," with the motto: "Tentanda Via Est "-" A Way Must be Tried."
In America the Hammonds date to a period nearly contempo- raneous with the earliest Puritan settlement of Massachusetts. The branch of the Hammonds with which this sketch is con- cerned consists of descendants of William Hammond of
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London, County Kent, England, who in 1620 married Elizabeth Penn, sister of Admiral Sir William Penn, and aunt of William Penn.
The children of William Hammond were: Benjamin, Eliza- beth, Martha, and Rachel. After her husband's death the widow of William Hammond, with her children, left a good estate in London, and in 1634 came to New England. Mrs. Hammond lived in Boston and in Watertown, Mass., till 1638, when she removed to Scituate, becoming a member of the Rev. John Lothrope's church. She died in Boston in 1640.
Benjamin Hammond, son of William and Elizabeth, went to Sandwich, Mass., and in 1650 married Mary Vincent.
Samuel Hammond, eldest son of Benjamin Hammond (1st), was born at Sandwich in 1655. About 1680 he came with his brother, John, to Rochester, Mass., where he lived to an advanced age. He was a large landholder, and a leading member of the First Congregational Church. He married Mary Hathaway.
Thomas Hammond, fourth son of the preceding, was born September 16, 1687. He lived at New Bedford, Mass. In 1721 he married Sarah Spooner.
William Hammond, second son of Thomas Hammond of New Bedford, was born at that place on the 17th of August, 1724. From Wales, Hampden County, Mass., he removed to Northern New York, settling in or near Pittstown, Rensselaer County, In 1745 he married Elizabeth Sheperd.
Paul Hammond, son of William, was born December 27th, 1757, probably at Wales, Hampden County, Mass. In 1780, at Pittstown, Rensselaer County, N. Y., he married Mary, also called Polly, Fuller. He was a soldier of the Revolution, was crippled in the Patriot service, and received a pension from the Government. He was a farmer. In 1785 he moved to North- ampton (Northville), Fulton Co., N. Y. Between 1815 and 1820 he removed to Penfield, afterward Webster, Monroe County, N. Y., where he died in 1838.
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Benoni G. Hammond, son of Paul Hammond, Sr., was born February 16, 1784. He was a farmer, surveyor and school teacher. He lived at Brant, Erie County, N. Y., where he resided till his death in 1866. May 1, 1803, he married Ruth Lobdell.
CHARLES HAMMOND, third son of Benoni G. Hammond, born 1807, was the first of the family to settle in Erie County, arriving here in 1823. When he came to Erie County, Charles Hammond was still a boy. When sixteen years old he took up a piece of land in Hamburg, where he followed farming, later pursuing the same occupation in Brant, where most of his life was spent. He was an extensive land-owner, possessing several farms. He was also a contractor on public works, and had charge of the building of a section of the Erie Canal. He died in 1875.
Charles Hammond's first wife was Clarissa Clark, whom he married August 19, 1830. She was born December 4, 1807, and died at Brant February 12, 1844. Their children were: William W., George W., Marthaline and Saralı Ann Hammond. June 12, 1844, Mr. Hammond married Emeline Rice. Their children were Philip Harvey, and Anna Maria Hammond.
WILLIAM W. HAMMOND, eldest son of Charles Hammond, was born at Hamburg, Erie County, N. Y., on the 4th of Novem- ber, 1831. He was brought up on his father's farm and attended the district schools at Brant and a select school at Irving, Chautauqua County. In order to go to school at Irving, young Hammond was obliged every day to walk six miles through the forest tract known as the "Indian Woods." He supplemented his rudimentary training by a course in the Fredonia Academy, and at sixteen began teaching school at Columbus, Pa., after which he went to Kentucky, where he taught school, and went from there to Jefferson County, Miss., a few miles from Louisville. Ill health obliged him to return
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County. Mrs. Hammond died in 1860, leaving one daughter, to his native State, where he again took up his residence in Brant, and Hamburg. While teaching school he began to read law. In 1856 he opened a general store at Brant, and also began to practice in Justices' Courts. When twenty-nine years old he came to Buffalo, entering the law office of Albert Swain and Judge Stephen Lockwood. Here he read law a short time, and was admitted to the bar May 16, 1861. Shortly afterward he opened an office in Angola, N. Y. In 1863 he was ordered with his regiment, the 67th National Guards, to Harrisburg, Pa., where he was stationed when the battle of Gettysburg was fought. He was for fourteen years a member of Company G, 67th Regiment, rising to the rank of Captain.
In 1864 Mr. Hammond removed to Farnham. Here he engaged in farming and the lumber business and conducted a general store. He also served one terin as Justice of the Peace, and was a member of the Board of Supervisors for ten out of the twelve years he spent there. In 1877 Mr. Hammond was elected County Judge of Erie County, and was twice reelected, serving from January 1, 1878, to January 1, 1890. Since 1878 Judge Hammond has resided in Buffalo. Since retiring from the bench, he has engaged in the practice of law here, the name of his present firm being Hammond & Hinkley. Judge Hammond ranks as a lawyer of large experience, excellent abilities and scrupulous integrity. He is a safe and trusted legal adviser, and enjoys a large practice.
Judge Hammond was one of the incorporators of the Angola Congregational Church, and one of the original members and trustees of the first Congregational church organized in Buffalo. For the past twenty years he has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Niagara Square Congregational Church.
In 1854 Judge Hammond married Amy Ann Hurd of Evans, the bride's parents being among the oldest settlers of Erie
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Rosa Belle, now Mrs. Charles Koepka of Angola, Erie County. Later Judge Hammond married Louisa A. Hurd. Their children are: Lillie M., now Mrs. Edward J. Newell of Buffalo, and Clark Hurd, now one of the Municipal Court judges of this city.
CLARK HURD HAMMOND was born in the town of Brant, Erie County, February 23, 1875. When three years old he came with the family to Buffalo, where he attended the public schools and Angola Academy, graduating in 1895.
He had in the meantime become one of the managers of the Buffalo Rubber Type Foundry, of whose financial department he had charge for a year. In the fall of 1895 he registered as a student in the University of Buffalo, devoting his attention to law. While pursuing his studies he became a clerk in the office of Hammond, Hatch & Ackerson, with whom he continued until he was graduated from the Buffalo Law School in 1897. After his admission to the bar he was for a year managing clerk in the offices of Hammond & Brown, and later he formed a part- nership with his father, under the firm name of Hammond & Hammond, the connection continuing until the younger Hammond became Judge of the Municipal Court.
In the fall of 1903 Clark H. Hammond, who was then only twenty-eight years old, received the Republican nomination for Judge of the Municipal Court for the term of six years, and was elected by about 3,000 plurality. In January, 1904, Judge Hammond entered upon the duties of his office, being the youngest man who ever held the position of Municipal Court Judge in the City of Buffalo. Judge Hammond has done excellent work on the bench, presiding with justice and fairness and bringing to his judicial task a thorough knowledge of the law. He is now the senior Judge of his Court. In 1906, when the Law Department of the University of Buffalo added municipal court practice to its regular course, Judge Hammond was asked to deliver the lectures, and gave such satisfaction that he has been asked to regularly fill that chair.
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Always a Republican, Judge Hammond prior to his elevation to the bench was actively interested in the affairs of his party, serving for two years as District Committeeman of the Second District of the old Twentieth Ward, and in 1902 and 1903 repre- senting the same ward on the Republican General Committee. The latter position he relinquished after taking the bench.
Before receiving judicial honors, Judge Hammond was attorney for the Master Plumbers' Association, and the Business Men's Protective Association of East Buffalo, connec- tions from which he resigned when he became Judge, in accord- ance with his pledge made during the campaign to give his entire time to the office. He has for many years been Grand Attorney of the Gamma Sigma fraternity, a High School organization, and is also a member of the Delta Chi legal fraternity. He is a Mason, being affiliated with De Molay Lodge, No. 498, F. & A. M., with Keystone Chapter Royal Arch Masons; Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar; and Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and he is Past Monarch of Zuleika Grotto, No. 10. Judge Hammond also belongs to the Red Men, Fraternal Order Eagles, I. O. O. F., the Acacia Club, Sons of Veterans, and several other fraternal and social bodies. He is also a member and trustee of the First Congregational Church of Buffalo.
June 6, 1899, Judge Hammond married Susan E. Valentine, a daughter of James and Phebe A. Valentine of Buffalo.
ADELBERT MOOT is one of the leading lawyers of the Buffalo bar, and occupies a recognized place among the ablest lawyers of the State.
Mr. Moot has all his life been an independent Republican. He is actively identified with the Civil Service cause and was one of the earliest supporters of the Good Government Club movement. When a Citizens' Association was formed to prose- cute the perpetrators of the election frauds of 1892, Mr. Moot was one of the principal counsel for the Association. He has
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always been a potent influence for honest politics, sound citizen- ship and high standards in the legal profession.
Adelbert Moot was born in Allen, Allegany County, N. Y., November 22, 1854. His father was Charles D., and his mother Mary Rutherford Moot. He attended the district schools, the village school at Belmont, Nunda Academy, and the State Normal School at Genesee.
Mr. Moot read law with the Hon. D. P. Richardson of Angelica, Hon. Wilkes Angell of Belmont, and with Isaac Edwards, the author of several standard legal works. He then entered Albany Law School, from which he received the degree of L.L.B., and on November 22, 1876, was admitted to the bar. In 1877 Mr. Moot began active practice in Nunda, N. Y., forming a partnership with George M. Osgoodby, with the firm style of Osgoodby & Moot. In 1879 Mr. Moot removed to Buffalo. Soon afterward he entered into partnership with Mr. Osgoodby and Judge Titus, under the firm name of Osgoodby, Titus & Moot. This association continued till January, 1882, when Mr. Moot withdrew to become a member of the firm of Lewis, Moot & Lewis. This copartnership lasted twelve years, being dissolved when Hon. Loran L. Lewis, the senior partner, was elected to the Supreme Court bench. On Judge Lewis's withdrawal the new firm of Moot & Lewis was formed. In 1894 this connection was dissolved, and Mr. Moot became a member of the firm of Sprague, Moot, Sprague & Brownell, which, in June, 1897, was changed to the present style of Moot, Sprague, Brownell & Marcy. Mr. Moot has been connected with many important cases to which great legal interest attached. As an all around lawyer he is often counsel against corporations, although he is more frequently found defending important corporate interests of his clients. Since 1904, he has been associated with Messrs. A. J. Rodenbeck, William B. Hornblower and John G. Milburn, in consolidating the statutes of New York, a great task that has been completed.
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July 22, 1882, Mr. Moot married Miss Carrie A. Van Ness of Cuba, Allegany County, N. Y. They have three children, Rich- mond D., Welles V., and Seward A. Moot.
Mr. Moot finds time to do much reading and study outside of professional fields. His pursuits are clearly indicated by certain of his club affiliations. He belongs to the Liberal and Thursday clubs, the Society of Natural Sciences and the Buffalo Historical Society, and the Saturn Club. He is a member of the American and New York State Bar associations, and is one of the Faculty of the Buffalo Law School, an institution in which he takes a strong interest. In religious belief Mr. Moot is a Unitarian, being a member of the Church of Our Father. He is among the most prominent members of the Civil Service Reform Association.
DEVOE PELL HODSON, one of the two judges of the Municipal Court of Buffalo, has won high legal and civic honors, and prior to his elevation to the bench was known throughout Western New York as an able practitioner of the law, an effective forensic and platform speaker, and a man of great popularity, political and social.
Judge Hodson is of English and French descent. His grand- father, Joseph Hodson, was a gentleman of Upwell, England, who married Mary Wiseman. Early in the last century Joseph Hodson, with his wife and six sons, came to the United States, and about 1820 settled in Chenango County, N. Y., later removing to Ithaca. Horatio Hodson, father of Devoe P. Hod- son, was born May 12, 1818. He still survives and resides in Ithaca, where he was for many years a prominent landscape gardener. He married Harriet Ward Pell, daughter of Fred- erick Devoe Pell, who was of French ancestry. They had seven sons and two daughters, of whom the survivors are: Dr. J. F. Pell Hodson of New York City, Mary Hodson Berry, widow of James W. Berry, late of Ithaca, and Devoe P. Hodson.
Devoe Pell Hodson was born at Ithaca, N. Y., March 23, 1856.
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He was educated in the public schools of Ithaca, in the academy at the same place, and in Cornell University. He began reading law in the office of Samuel D. Halliday and that of Judge Marcus Lyon, both of Ithaca, and in September, 1879, at Sara- toga Springs, was admitted to the bar. He began the practice of law in Ithaca, where he successfully followed his profession for the next eight years. In 1887 Mr. Hodson bought a half interest in the Ithaca Republican, a paper then published by Walter G. Smith. The partners decided to engage in a publish- ing enterprise in Southern California, and in San Diego they established a large printing office, and also published the Morning Telegram. After some months Mr. Hodson sold his share in the business, and returning to Ithaca, resumed the practice of law. In February, 1889, Mr. Hodson left Ithaca and opened a law office in Buffalo, where he practiced alone four years. In 1893, with George B. Webster, he formed the law partnership of Hodson & Webster. Mr. Hodson made his special work the contested cases of the firm, and was very successful as a trial lawyer.
Judge Hodson has held several official positions. In 1882-83 he was Clerk of the Tompkins County Board of Supervisors. In 1885-86 he was Corporation Counsel of Ithaca. Soon after coming to Buffalo the authorities of Niagara Falls elected him non-resident Corporation Counsel of that municipality, which office he held two terms. Some years after he was tendered the place of City Attorney of Buffalo, but declined. In 1893 the State Comptroller appointed him a commissioner to report on the accounts of New York State surrogates in matters rela- tive to the collateral inheritance law, and in the same year was nominated by the Democrats for delegate to the Constitutional Convention. May 16, 1900, Mayor Diehl appointed Mr. Hodson a member of the Buffalo Board of School Examiners for the term of three years. He declined a further appointment at the hands of the Republican Mayor Erastus C. Knight. In the fall of 1905 Mr. Hodson received the Democratic nomination
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for Judge of the Municipal Court, and was elected. At the time he took his seat on the bench he was the only Democratic Judge of a civil court in Western New York.
Judge Hodson is a member of Ancient Landmarks Lodge, No. 441, F. & A. M., and several other fraternal societies.
December 23, 1888, Judge Hodson married Mariette Wood, daughter of Barry C. Wood of Painted Post, Steuben County. Mrs. Hodson is very much interested in every thing pertaining to the American Revolution, and looks back with justifiable pride to the fact that her great-great-grandfather, Jedediah Wood fought at the battles of Lexington and Concord.
HENRY DONLY KIRKOVER, one of Buffalo's most exten- sive real estate owners, and a leading member of the Grade Crossing Commission, is a man who throughout his career has borne weighty responsibilities, both personal and public, and has in every instance acquitted himeself with signal credit.
Mr. Kirkover's father, Oliver Kirkover, was born in Baden- Baden, Germany, in 1797. In 1833 he came to America with his wife, whose maiden name was Maria Frambach, and five chil- dren, Mary, Katherine, Louis, August and Oliver. Settling in Buffalo, the elder Kirkover became a lumberman, operating in New York and Pennsylvania. To his lumber business he added the manufacture of brick and the quarrying of stone. He lived in Buffalo till his death, which took place in 1876. Four chil- dren-William, John, Henry D., and Louise-were born to him in this country. His children now surviving are: Henry D., Louis, August, and William.
Henry Donly Kirkover was born in Buffalo February 16, 1838. In his boyhood he attended the public schools. When about sixteen years old he went to work, assisting his father in the brick and lumber business. Later he engaged in the contracting business, furnishing brick, stone and other materials for building purposes. About this period Mr. Kirkover began to deal extensively in real estate, investing mostly in what were then the outlying properties in Buffalo. As the city's popula-
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tion expanded, these lands advanced in value and Mr. Kirkover's wealth grew greater in proportion. Of later years he has devoted his attention almost exclusively to his real estate properties.
Mr. Kirkover was an early advocate of the extension of the Buffalo street railway system. In 1891-2 he drew up a plan for the extension of the lines in all directions, and the system, first conceived and projected by Mr. Kirkover, is in operation today. When the agitation for the improvement of the local telephone service was begun, Mr. Kirkover led the movement which resulted in the building of the Frontier Telephone system. He was a director of the Frontier Company until the consolidation of the independent companies. Mr. Kirkover was actively and efficiently concerned in securing the appropriations for the Stony Point breakwater and the North breakwater, of Buffalo harbor.
For a few years Mr. Kirkover lived in West Seneca, and was four times elected to represent that township in the Board of Supervisors of Erie County, and rendered valuable service. While Mr. Kirkover was a member of the Board of Supervisors, several important reformns were instituted, in all of which he was active, notably in that whereby homes were found for thousands of orphans, the county expenses were reduced $25,000 a year. Another reform was the inauguration of competitive bidding for the public printing. Another field of energetic and conscientious work in the public behalf was afforded Mr. Kirkover by his connection with the State Lunacy Commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Hill, and subsequently reappointed by Governor Flower, serving seven years in all.
With no cause has Mr. Kirkover been more prominently identified than with the abolition of railroad grade crossings. Since 1892 he has served as a member of the Grade Crossings Commission, without compensation, for upward of fourteen years.
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September 26, 1871, Mr. Kirkover married Emma J. Barnard, daughter of Robert Barnard of Buffalo. The one child of this union is Harry D. Kirkover.
For the last twenty years Mr. Kirkover has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a trustee of the Fidelity Trust Company.
LEWIS J. BENNETT, President of the Buffalo Cement Company, is one of Buffalo's representative men and a potent factor in the welfare and progress of that city, of which he has been a prominent resident for more than forty years.
Mr. Bennett comes from a long line of sturdy Scotch-English ancestry, his descent being traceable from John Bennett, Sheriff of Wiltshire, England, in 1266, who was the ancestor of John Bennett, Bailiff of Leicester in 1433 and 1435 and Mayor of that city in 1446. In 1599 Henry, one of the English Bennetts, removed to Scotland, and in 1695 his descendant, James Bennett, a captain in Lord Jedburgh's troop, was made burgess of Dunfermline. Ebenezer Bennett, son of James Bennett (2d) and great-great-grandfather of Lewis J. Bennett of Buffalo, was born in 1700 and died in 1775, and was a land-owner of Fife- shire, Scotland. His son, Amos, born March 26, 1739, and five brothers, came to America in 1770 and took an active part in the Revolutionary War. Amos Bennett settled in Rensselaer County, N. Y., and later at Scotch Bush, in the Mohawk Valley, where he was burned out by the Tories and Indians. He served through the Revolution as a private in the 14th Albany County Regiment, one of the most thrilling incidents of his military career being his capture of John Parker, the famous Tory spy. After the war Amos Bennett was commissioned First Lieu- tenant in Col. Frederick Fisher's regiment of light infantry, four years later being promoted Captain in Col. Abram Vedder's regiment. In 1797 Capt. Bennett removed to Herkimer County, N. Y., and subsequently settled in the town of Locke, Cayuga County, where he died in 1834.
Lewis 2. Bennett
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Amos Bennett, Jr., son of Capt. Amos Bennett, was born June 21, 1770, and died August 8, 1840. He lived in the town of Duanesburg, Schenectady County, and was a farmer. In the War of 1812 he was a Captain in Lieut .- Col. Lawrence School- craft's regiment, and in 1821 was commissioned Major in the 188th Regiment of Infantry. His son, William Bennett, father of Lewis J. Bennett, was born May 26, 1794, and died October 12, 1873, in the town of Mohawk, Montgomery County, N. Y. Throughout his life he was a prominent farmer. He married Elma Strong, daughter of Solomon Strong and Lois Frisbee.
Lewis J. Bennett was born in the town of Duanesburg, Schenectady County, N. Y., July 7, 1833. When he was four years old his parents removed to Glen, Montgomery County, where he received a public and High School education. When sixteen years of age young Bennett became a clerk in the general grocery store of Chapman & Smith, in Fultonville, N. Y., and two years later he was admitted to partnership in the firm of Chapman, Peek & Co. In 1856 he became a partner of William R. Chapman and William W. Kline, under the firm style of L. J. Bennett & Co., which association existed till 1866, when Mr. Bennett sold out bis interest and removed to Buffalo. There he engaged in general contracting in city, State and Government work, including the building of iron bridges, his partners being Andrew Spalding and John Hand. In 1877 Mr. Bennett organized the Buffalo Cement Company, of which he has ever since been President, and which has for many years been a leading concern in the manufacture of hydraulic cement.
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