USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 26
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America, and has been for many years Attorney for the Supreme Council of the C. M. B. A. in New York State.
Always a Republican, Mr. Hynes was a candidate for Super- visor in the old First Ward in 1879, and though the ward was Democratic, he was elected by 300 majority. In January, 1904, Mr. Hynes without solicitation was appointed by Mayor Knight a member of the Board of School Examiners for a term of five years, and was later chosen Chairman of that body. In the public school system of Buffalo Mr. Hynes takes the deepest interest, and never misses a meeting, either special or regular, of the examining Board. Once a year he visits each school of the city.
When eighteen years old Mr. Hynes enlisted in the 74th Regiment, N. G. N. Y. He rose through successive grades of promotion until 1878, when he was commissioned Captain.
Mr. Hynes is serving his third term as Supreme President of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, which was organized in 1876. Mr. Hynes took a leading part in the establishment of the first branch at Buffalo in 1878, the total membership of the society being then less than 350. Mr. Hynes was one of the earliest men to grasp the possibilities of the work, bringing to his task an ardent belief in the objects and purposes of the Association. He became a member of New York Grand Council in 1881, and served as Chairman of the Law Committee, Trustee, Supreme Representative, Grand President and Grand Chan- cellor. He was twice unanimously elected Grand President. He was on the Committee on Laws of the New York Grand Council which in 1881 submitted the report in favor of a graded scale of assessments. He became a member of the Supreme Council in 1884, has been Chairman of its Committee on Laws ever since, and in 1886 was a member of the London, Ont., con- vention which enacted the present Reserve Fund Law. In October, 1900, the Supreme Council of the C. M. B. A. met in Buffalo, and Mr. Hynes was elected Supreme President for a term of three years, being reelected in 1903 and again in 1906.
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He is thus the head of an organization which has a membership of over 60,000, and which carries insurance aggregating $90,000,000. There is no sounder insurance society in the world, and this is largely due to the wisdom, conservatism and firmness of Mr. Hynes.
Mr. Hynes belongs to the Catholic Benevolent Legion, and is a former member of its Supreme Council. He was active in the inception of the Irish Land League, of which he was elected National Secretary in 1882, and with his colleagues collected and forwarded $79,000 to Ireland. He was Secretary of the Phila- delphia convention in 1883, and was elected Secretary of the new Irish National League, but resigned for reasons of resi- dence. In 1902 Mr. Hynes was appointed by Gov. Odell one of the Board of Managers of the Western House of Refuge for Women, at Albion, N. Y., and later served as Chairman. In January, 1905, he was reappointed by Gov. Higgins, but resigned owing to other duties. For sixteen years he has been a member of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. Mr. Hynes has marked ability as a public speaker. In court or on the plat- form he is convincing and eloquent.
January 8, 1879, Mr. Hynes married Anna M. McCarthy, daughter of Dennis F. and Ellen (Hallaron) McCarthy of Buffalo. The children of the marriage are Mary Gertrude Hynes, a teacher in the public schools, and John J. Hynes, Jr., a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
THOMAS DARK, SR., is one of the oldest and most promi- nent citizens of Buffalo, and as a builder, contractor and sani- tary engineer has a record unsurpassed by any of its kind in Western New York.
Mr. Dark was born at Hanham Mount in the parish of Bitton, County of Gloucester, near Bristol, England, December 21, 1814, being the son of John Dark, a well-known builder and contrac- tor. Thomas Dark received an elementary education, but his
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schooling ended when he was ten years old. The locality where he spent his boyhood was identified with the lives and the work of the Wesleys, and he grew up under the influence of Methodism. Upon leaving school he began learning the mason's trade with his father, and finished his apprenticeship at Bristol. As a young man he became a building contractor, at first erecting dwellings, but presently becoming engaged in munici- pal work. He built the water works in Exeter and Bristol and a system of drainage for the city of Wells, and had some large contracts in coal mines. He successfully pursued the con- tracting business and the mason's trade in England for about twenty-four years.
In 1857 Mr. Dark came to the United States and settled in Buffalo, where, shortly after his arrival he was employed as foreman in the construction of the Custom House and old Post Office in Seneca street. He established himself as a contractor and builder and in this field quickly rose to a position of importance, later forming, with his sons, the firm of Thomas Dark & Sons. He devoted himself chiefly to public works, paved miles of Buffalo's streets, and built many of its sewers, bridges and other municipal structures, his operations always being carried on with conscientiousness and first-class skill. In 1869 he won the $2,000 prize offered by the City of Buffalo for the best plans and specifications for a water supply plant and system. In 1895 he wrote and published a pamphlet in which he contended that the Buffalo water system is radically defective. Among Mr. Dark's notable achievements was the planning and building of the Titusville, Pa., water works. He has invented many tools and appliances, including some of the most excellent sewer apparatus yet devised. He retired from business in 1900. He is a great reader, has traveled much, and has published a narrative of a European trip made in 1893. In 1833 Mr. Dark married Eliza Willis of Kingswood, England, who was born September 2, 1814, and died September 2, 1892. Their children were: John, Thomas, Samuel, George, Thomas,
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Sarah E., Eliza, Mary and Albert, of whom George and Eliza are the only survivors.
THOMAS DARK, JR., was deceased June 17, 1905. He was born in England, and was educated in private schools. As he grew to manhood he became connected in business with his father, who in 1857 he accompanied to America, and after the family settled in Buffalo, he was associated in partnership with his father, and brother, George, under the firm name of Thomas Dark & Sons. He ably assisted in carrying on the business until the firm was dissolved in 1890, when he retired from active pursuits.
A man of strong, earnest character, Mr. Dark was unassuming, and wholly free of pretense or display. His deep religious feeling found expression in efficient endeavor in the Master's cause. He was for many years one of the leading members of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, where he was among the most effective workers and teachers in the Sunday School. He was a great Bible student, had a wonderfully minute and comprehensive knowledge of the Scriptures and often met with others for class study. Profoundly conscien- tious, serious in his outlook on life and of high moral ideals, he was devoted to his business, his family and his church work, and cared little for outside diversions.
Mr. Dark married Julia E. Davies, daughter of Samuel E. Davies, of Rochester, N. Y. Their surviving children are: Samuel J., Florence Ella (Mrs. Linus H. Stickles), Maud Mary (Mrs. F. C. Jahraus), George Dark, Mabel, Julia and Grace Dark.
SAMUEL JOHN DARK, of Dark & Co., is sole proprietor of a contracting concern which is the largest of its kind in this part of the country, and he occupies a place of deserved promi- nence among Buffalo's representative business men.
Mr. Dark was born in Buffalo, July 21, 1866, being the son
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of Thomas Dark, Jr. As a boy he attended the public schools of his native city, and in 1880 entered the employ of Thomas Dark & Sons, the firm established by his grandfather. In 1888 he was admitted to partnership, the firm continuing as Thomas Dark & Sons. From 1890 to 1900 Samuel J. Dark was practi- cally the manager of the business. The firm existed till 1900, when he bought out the interests of the other partners, Thomas Dark, Sr., and the latter's sons, George and Thomas, and became sole proprietor of the concern, which is now styled Dark & Co. It does a combined plumbing, sewer con- tracting and underground construction business, and is the leading enterprise in its field in this part of the State. Since Samuel J. Dark became its pro- prietor, the business has continued to expand in SAMUEL J. DARK. proportions corresponding with the increased demands of the latter day development of Buffalo.
In 1900 Mr. Dark became equally interested with Charles E. Williams, Pliny B. McNaughton, Frank L. Bapst, and William H. Kinch in the Buffalo Dredging Company, the German Rock Asphalt Company, the Buffalo Expanded Metal Company, and the Continental Engineering & Contracting Company. Mr. Dark is President of the Buffalo Sanitary Company, which has the contract for the collection of ashes and garbage in Buffalo, and for cleaning the streets. He is also a Director in the
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Babcock Electric Carriage Company, the Buffalo Automobile Station, and the Buffalo Crucible Casting Company.
Mr. Dark is a 32d degree Mason, being affiliated with Ancient Landmarks Lodge; Adytum Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Historical Society, and is a member of the Buffalo, Country, Park, Ellicott and Acacia clubs.
November 11, 1890, Mr. Dark married Margaret A. Wilson, daughter of George H. and Helen C. (Smith) Wilson of Buffalo.
ROBERT RODMAN HEFFORD. It would be impossible to name a more representative figure in Buffalo than Robert R. Hefford. A native of this city, Mr. Hefford has lived here all his life. He is a man of versatile ability and has won equal dis- tinction in the business world, in citizenship, and in public affairs. From an early period identified with the coal trade, Mr. Hefford, until his retirement from the business, stood in the front rank of that industry. He is one of the leading Republi- cans in the State, and has had a notable political career. Mr. Hefford is distinctively a man of public spirit, and no Buffalonian of our generation has shown himself more earnest and enthusiastic in behalf of the welfare of the city.
Mr. Hefford is the son of Thomas Hefford, who was born in Lilborne, England, March 14, 1807. He settled in Buffalo in 1835, and married Elizabeth Livingston Lasher on the 12th of May, 1844. His death occurred in Buffalo May 6, 1865.
Robert Rodman Hefford was born in Buffalo February 25, 1855. He was educated at public and private schools and at Bryant & Stratton's Business College. When seventeen years old he became a clerk in a wholesale salt and cement concern, for two years. During 1864 he held a clerkship in the Canal Collector's office. In 1865, with Mr. E. E. Hazard, Mr. Hefford engaged in the coal trade. The firm of E. E. Hazard & Company prospered greatly, and the copartnership lasted till 1871, when Mr. Hefford succeeded to the business, which he conducted until
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his retirement in 1896. Under his able management it was developed chiefly along the lines of shipping and forwarding. The enterprise assumed very large proportions, and Mr. Hefford was a leading factor in gaining for Buffalo its status as one of the world's centers of coal distribution. Mr. Hefford was Presi- dent of the Bank of Commerce and a Director of the Merchants' Bank, both of which institutions are now liquidated. He is at present a director in six business corporations.
From early manhood Mr. Hefford has been actively connected with public life. In 1879 he was elected Alderman from the Second Ward, and was twice reelected, serving till 1884. During two terms he was President of the Common Council. Meantime he was chosen President of the City Board of Health, serving two terms. In this capacity he established a lasting claim to public gratitude by opposing the notorious street- cleaning contract which was vetoed by Grover Cleveland, then Mayor. In 1883, Mr. Hefford's party paid him the high tribute of nominating him for Mayor, to fill the vacancy left by Mr. Cleveland, but the local conditions that year were adverse to Republican success, and the Democratic candidate was elected. Mr. Hefford has repeatedly served on the Republican General Committee, and in 1885-1886 was Chairman of the Republican County Committee. He had a distinguished share in the work of establishing the Republican League of the State of New York, and in 1887 was elected its first President, being reelected the following year. He also held for several years a place on the League's Executive Committee. From 1889 to 1893 he was Vice-President of the National Republican League. In the duties connected with these political bodies, Mr. Hefford has shown himself a party manager of signal ability. In 1895 Mr. Hefford was appointed by Mayor Jewett Commissioner of Public Works. The choice was enthusiastically indorsed by the press and people, but Mr. Hefford, for business reasons, felt himself obliged to decline the appointment.
The canal systein of the State has no more earnest and
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efficient champion than Robert R. Hefford. He has ably sup- ported the interests of the Erie Canal, and did notable work in aid of the $9,000,000 canal appropriation and the measures which resulted in the $101,000,000 barge canal enterprise. He served as Chairman of the Executive Canal Committee of the State, which in 1894 induced the Constitutional Convention to approve the $9,000,000 appropriation, was a principal factor in bringing about legislative action in the matter in 1895, and a most powerful influence in effecting the indorsement of the pro- ject by the voters. He was also a delegate to all conventions called in that interest.
Mr. Hefford is a leading member and a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce, and served four terms as President of the Merchants' Exchange. He was Chairman of the Building Com- mittee in 1896, when the Board of Trade Building was enlarged, and served in the same capacity in 1906 when the new Chamber of Commerce Building was built. He has served four terms as President of the Board of Trade. He is a life member of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the Public Library and the Fine Arts Academy and a member of the Historical Society; a trustee of the Buffalo General Hospital and the Y. M. C. A., and a member of the Council of the University of Buffalo. He is President of the Buffalo Club, a member and former Presi- dent of the Ellicott and Liberal Clubs, a member of the Country Club, and belongs to the Republican Club of New York City. In 1877 he was a member of the New York State Commission to the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.
January 4, 1870, Mr. Hefford married Harriet Rosalia Whitaker of Catskill, N. Y.
HENRY CHRISTIAN STEUL is one of Buffalo's best known citizens. He has enjoyed high civic honors, has a distinguished record as a municipal official, is a very prominent fraternity man and has an enviable position in the social life of our city.
A native of Buffalo, Mr. Steul is of German ancestry and
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parentage. He is a son of Charles Steul and Mary Jacobi, resi- dents of Giesen, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, where they were married and whence they came to the United States in the '50's. Their surviving children are: Mary (Mrs. Adolf Hessling); Elizabeth Steul; Caroline (Mrs. William Pohle); Catherine (Mrs. Edwin Pohle); and Henry C. Steul. Conrad Steul, another son, died in August, 1888, at the age of thirty-two. The father, Charles Steul, died in 1894, and Mrs. Steul in 1901.
Henry Christian Steul was born in Buffalo on the 25th of January, 1859. He was educated in the public schools, afterward taking a German course in Prof. Pesler's private school. When thirteen years old he was apprenticed to the trade of cabinet-making. Later he worked seven years as a journeyman cabinet- maker for Hersee & Co., subsequently having HENRY C. STEUL. charge of the cabinet shop of Bardsky Bros., New York City.
In 1882 Mr. Steul returned to Buffalo and engaged in business with his brother, Conrad, under the firmn name of Steul Bros., establishing the present concern at No. 278 Johnson street. The partnership existed until 1888, when Conrad Steul died. Henry C. Steul thereafter continued the business alone for two years, when he formed a copartnership with Frank H. Thuman, under the firm style of Steul & Thuman. In 1904 the firm was incor- porated under the style of the Steul & Thuman Company, Mr.
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Steul being made President and Treasurer. The concern is the largest wood mantel manufactory in the United States. The plant now covers an area of 150 by 280 feet, employing over 250 people, and does over $300,000 worth of business annually. In June, 1906, Mr. Steul was elected the first President of the Wood Mantel Manufacturers Credit Association of the United States.
Besides his manufacturing enterprise, Mr. Steul is interested in real estate and banking, being a Director of the German- American Bank and President of the Steul Land Company.
A Republican, Mr. Steul was elected a member of Council in 1894 by a majority of 12,000, and reelected in 1897. At the end of his term he declined a renomination, but in 1902 Mr. Steul was elected by the Common Council to fill a vacancy in the Board. In this instance Mr. Steul served two years, making in all nine years in which he had held the responsible office of Councilman.
Mr. Steul's career of public service was characterized by eminent capability, honesty and openness. During his second term of office he was honored with election as Chairman.
Mr. Steul has taken a keen interest in the German Hospital ever since its organization, and in November, 1906, was elected a trustee. He is also a trustee of St. Peter's Evangelical Church.
. He is a Mason of the 32d degree, a member of De Molay Lodge; of Keystone Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar; Zuleika Grotto, and Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Acacia Club, to the Buffalo Orpheus, the Saengerbund, the Harugari Maennerchor, and various fraternal bodies.
On the 1st of November, 1882, Mr. Steul was united in marriage to Miss Helen Koerbel, a daughter of Peter Koerbel and Margaret (Winters) Koerbel. The children of the marriage are two sons, Henry C. Steul, Jr., and William M. Steul, and a daughter, Miss Eleanora Steul.
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HERBERT P. BISSELL is a lawyer of distinguished ability, a leading citizen of Buffalo and a man prominent in political life and public affairs. Considered from the professional standpoint, Mr. Bissell represents the sterling traditions of learning and integrity which have given so high a prestige to the Erie County bar. As a public man Mr. Bissell has a notable record as a champion of clean politics and good government. He is of liberal views and wide culture, is actively identified with the cause of education and with movements in furtherance of intellectual and moral progress, and takes a public-spirited interest in local improvement and the welfare of Buffalo as a community.
John Bissel came from England and was one of the settlers of Windsor, Connecticut. Noah Bissell, grandfather of Herbert P. Bissell, was a resident of Vermont, whence he removed. to New London, Oneida County, N. Y., in the early part of the last century. He was a farmer and a well-known man and influ- ential citizen.
AMOS A. BISSELL, son of Noah Bissell, was a noted resi- dent of Western New York. Throughout his career Amos A. Bissell was identified with transportation business on the Erie Canal, and became a very large canal forwarder, owning as many as 100 boats at a time. In 1865 he removed to Lockport, N. Y., but from that year till the close of his life Buffalo was his place of business, and he became one of the leading members of the local Board of Trade.
In 1874-75 Mr. Bissell represented the First District of Niagara County as Member of Assembly.
In 1852 Mr. Bissell married Amelia S. Wilsey of New London, N. Y. The ancestors of Mrs. Bissell came from Holland and were among the settlers of the Mohawk Valley. Her father was Blenis Wilsey, who died in September, 1906, at the age of 100 years. His father, James Wilsey, a farmer in Herkimer County, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War under Gen. Herkimer. The surviving children of Amos A. Bissell and
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Amelia S. Wilsey are: Angus C. Bissell of New York City; Herbert P. Bissell of Buffalo, and Dr. William G. Bissell, also of this city.
Herbert P. Bissell was born at New London, Oneida County, N. Y., on the 30th of August, 1856. When eight years old he removed with his parents to Lockport, N. Y., and there he attended the public schools during the next four years. At the age of twelve he became a student at De Veaux College, Niagara Falls, and in 1873 was graduated. Shortly afterward he went to Germany, where he studied two years at the Gymnasium Catharinareum, a public school at Braunschweig, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of the German language. On returning to the United States, Mr. Bissell entered Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1880, with the degree of A.B. The same year Mr. Bissell came to Buffalo and began reading law with the firm of Laning, McMillan & Gluck. In 1883 he was admitted to the bar. For several months there- after he continued with the firm in the capacity of managing clerk.
On the 1st of January, 1885, he began practice by himself, and continued till 1886, when he became identified with the firm of Brundage, Weaver & Bissell. Six months afterward was formed the copartnership of Bissell, Sicard, Brundage & Bissell, a firm of which the late Wilson S. Bissell, a former Postmaster- General, was the head and Herbert P. Bissell the junior partner. This association, which some time later became Bissell, Sicard, Bissell & Carey, was a firm of no less historic importance in the annals of the Buffalo bar, its origin being traceable as far back as 1834. Among those at an early period connected with the firm was Nathan K. Hall, Postmaster-General under President Fillmore, and Grover Cleveland was the senior part- ner when he was elected Governor in 1883.
In 1896 the firm of Bissell, Sicard, Bissell & Carey was dis- solved, and in March, 1897, Mr. Bissell formed a copartnership with J. Henry Metcalf, under the style of Bissell & Metcalf.
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Later he established, with George C. Riley, the present law firm of Bissell & Riley.
Mr. Bissell is counsel for a number of leading corporations, including the Niagara Gorge Railroad Company, of which he is Vice-President; the Buffalo Traction Company; the Buffalo & Depew Railway, and the New York Power Securities Company, of which he is President and General Counsel. A representative Democrat, Mr. Bissell first came into political prominence at the time when Grover Cleveland was candidate for Governor. He was one of the principal organizers of the Cleveland Democracy of Buffalo, serving for three terms as its President, and since 1884 has been a recognized leader in his party.
In 1885, Mr. Bissell was nominated for State Senator for the Erie County District, and though he failed of election he ran ahead of his ticket by 1,500 votes. A distinctive feature of the campaign was a series of speeches delivered by Mr. Bissell to the German residents of the East Side. These addresses were not only brilliant from the oratorical viewpoint, but were remarkable from the perfect command Mr. Bissell displayed of the German language. In 1892 Mr. Bissell received the Demo- cratic nomination for District Attorney. It was a Republican year in Erie County, but such was Mr. Bissell's popularity that an official count was necessary to ascertain the result. He was declared successful, but owing to some irregularities and errors in the returns, he withdrew his claims. In the fall of 1901 Mr. Bissell was made the nominee of the Democratic party for the office of Mayor of Buffalo. But at that election the whole Republican ticket was elected.
When the Pan-American Exposition Company was formed, Mr. Bissell was chosen a Director of that body and Chairman and counsel of the Exposition Law Committee. In these capaci- ties he did all the legal work connected with the Pan-American enterprise without compensation. In 1904 Mr. Bissell removed his home to East Aurora. The following year he was elected a member and President of the Board of Education. In the fall
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