Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume II, Part 11

Author: White, Truman C
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 684

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Whitbeck, Henry L., Buffalo, was born in Stephensville, Albany county, N. Y., June 15, 1854. He was eighteen years old when he began the study of dentistry with Smith Brothers. He bought out E. C. Smith and went in partnership with George Smith for two years, when the partnership was dissolved. He remained at the same loeation for six years, and then went to Philadelphia and entered Pennsylvania Col- lege of Dental Surgery, remaining during the years 1878-1880. After graduation he returned to Greenville, remaining six months, thence removed to Coxsackie, N. Y., in partnership with Dr. Jackson, with whom he continued for two years; thence to Albany, where he practiced eleven years and sold out and removed to Binghamton, N. Y., where he remained six months, and moved thence to Buffalo, where he now is in the practice of his profession.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Hall, Edward A., Buffalo, son of Nathaniel and Ellen (Medbury) Hall, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 16, 1867. After obtaining a public school education, he entered the insurance office of his father as clerk, and in 1887 was admitted to the firm of Nathaniel Hall & Son. At the death of his father the firm became Edward A. Hall & Co., representing fire, marine, life, accident, plate glass and burglar insurance companies. Mr. Hall is treasurer of the Buffalo Association of Fire Underwriters, a member of the Merchants' Exchange, and captain on the 4th Brigade staff, N. G. N. Y.

Rogers, Charles O., Buffalo, son of Bradley Doe and Mary L. (Williams) Rogers, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., July 3, 1860. After obtaining an education from the public schools of Buffalo, he entered the produce business with his father, and in 1881 was admitted to membership in the firm. The firm, composed of C. O. Rogers and H. E. Rogers, occupy three floors at No. 102 West Market street. In hisrelations with business men Mr. Rogers is noted for his frank dealings and obliging disposition. He was married, in 1882, to Mary Lampp of Buffalo.

Foster, Hubbard A., M. D., Buffalo, was born at Adrian, Ohio, November 22, 1847. His parents removed to Rockford, Ill., when he was quite young, where he was edu- cated in the public schools and the High School. While a student at the High School the call to arms was heard and Dr. Foster walked out and enlisted in the 132d I11. Vol. Infty., serving his country well until the close of the war. At this time he re- turned to the High School and was graduated with honors in 1866. He then entered Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, remaining there until April, 1868, when he removed to Buffalo and entered the office of his uncle, Dr. Hubbard Foster, for the study of medicine. He afterward attended the University of Buffalo and was a student in the medical department of Harvard University until March, 1871, when he was graduated with the degree of M. D. He returned to Buffalo and began the practice of his profession in the office of his uncle, where he remained until 1873, when he removed to his present location and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession alone.

Stillman, Horace, Buffalo, was born in Wethersfield, Conn., November 16, 1815. He was educated and prepared for the university, but his health failing, in 1832 he engaged in business with an older brother in Hartford, Conn., in the hat, cap and fur trade. He came to Buffalo in June, 1838, to carry on the same business, asso- ciating with himself Mr. A. R. Ransom, under the firm name of Stillman & Ran- som. On the retirement, a few years later, of Mr. Ransom, he continued the busi- ness alone, having in his employ two young men, William B. Sirret and Frank S. Chester, both of whom he afterward received as partners under the firm name of H. Stillman & Co., and later of Stillman, Sirret & Co., until, in 1871, he retired from active business, leaving the younger partners to carry it on under the name of Sirret & Chester. Soon after coming to Buffalo he united with the First Presbyterian church and was one of the charter members of a colony which founded the North church in 1847, and has been for many years an elder in the church he helped to es- tablish. Through all his life he has been actively engaged in good works, contribut- ing largely of his ample means. He has been twice married; first, in May, 1843, to Miss Huldah Stillon of Enfield, Conn., who died in June, 1844, and in March, 1848, to his present wife, Miss Liska Farnham, daughter of Thomas Farnham, esq., of Buffalo.

PERSONAL REFERENCES.

McAdams, L. J., M. D., Buffalo, was born in Pendleton, Niagara county, N. Y., December 20, 1858. He attended the Lockport Union School and for several years taught school in various districts in Niagara county and one term in Erie county, and in 1887 began the study of medicine in the medical department of Niagara Uni- versity; he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1890, and immediately began practice at Black Rock, where he remained for six years, then removed to a more central part of the city.

Stoddart, James, M. D., Buffalo, was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, June 30, 1856. His medical education was obtained in the University of Edinburgh and his literary education was obtained in the University of Toronto, Canada, where he graduated in 1883 with the degree of B. A. In 1888 he removed to San Francisco, Cal., where he was engaged in practice for four years, after which he spent one year abroad in post-graduate study. In 1892 he moved to Buffalo, where he has since been engaged in the general practice of his profession. Dr. Stoddart is a member of the Erie County Medical Society and the Buffalo Academy of Medicine. He was married in 1883, to Miss Elizabeth Dunbar, of St. Ives, Ont.

Davey, Thomas M., Buffalo, was born in Canterbury, England, March 29, 1834. He received a liberal English boarding-school education. In 1857 he came to America ready to grapple with whatever fate his adopted country might have in store for him. When leaving his native home he intended to go to Chicago, but after reaching Buffalo he found his means exhausted and was compelled to make Buffalo his home, where he has by hard work and economy built up a large and successful business and is to-day one of the leading architects and civil engineers in the city. Mr. Davey is prominently identified with the different societies of Buffalo, being a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, a life member of the Buffalo Library, the Acacia Club, Merchants' Exchange and is a Mason of high rank. In 1859 he mar- ried Alma Haehn, a native of Prussia, who came to America in 1853.

Betts, C. Walter, Buffalo, was born near Philadelphia, Pa., October 30, 1862, and comes from good old Quaker stock. His education was obtained in the public and private schools of Philadelphia. Soon after the completion of his school course he engaged with a retail lumber firm to learn the lumber business. In 1882 he accepted a position with the wholesale lumber firm of Taylor & Betts at their branch house in Buffalo, N. Y., since when he has been identified with Buffalo's progress in general and her lumber industry in particular. In 1890 the old firm of Taylor & Betts, which had been in existence since 1865, was succeeded by that of Charles M. Betts & Co., and the subject of this sketch became one of the junior partners, taking full charge of the Buffalo branch of their business. Mr. Betts has served two terms as president of the Lumber Exchange and still remains a director of that body, but has thus far steadfastly avoided prominence in all matters of a political nature. January 14, 1885, he was married to Miss Lidie B. Haslam, of Philadelphia. Their family consists of two interesting children, Marian H. and Carleton W. Betts.

Goodyear, Frank H., Buffalo, chairman Board of Directors and first vice-president of the Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad Co., was born in Groton, Tompkins county, N. Y., March 17, 1849. His education was obtained from public and private schools and at East Aurora (N. Y.) Academy. In 1871 he removed to Buffalo and engaged

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

in the coal and wood business and afterward in the lumber business, and is at pres- ent one of the largest lumber manufacturers in the United States, manufacturing over 150,000,000 feet of lumber yearly. In 1884 he built the Sinnemahoning Valley Railroad, connecting with the W. N. Y. & P. Railroad at Keating Summit, Pa. In 1887 his brother, C. W. Goodyear, entered into partnership with him and since that time they have extended this railroad and merged it into the Buffalo and Susque- hanna Railroad, which is now 112 miles in length.

Putnam, James Wright, M. D., Buffalo, son of James O. and Kate (Wright) Put- nam, was born in Fredonia, N. Y., June 16, 1860. When he was but a child he re- moved with his parents to Buffalo, where he has since resided. He obtained his early education at the Buffalo schools and was graduated from the Buffalo High School in 1879. He then began the study of medicine in the University of Buffalo and graduated in 1882. He began the practice of his profession with Dr. George N. Burwell. In 1887 he visited Europe and made a special study of mental and nervous diseases in the great medical centers of Berlin, Paris, Vienna and London for two years. In 1889 he returned to Buffalo and began the special treatment of nervous and mental diseases. He was professor of nervous diseases in the Univer- sity of Buffalo, 1889, and lecturer in psychology in the Buffalo School of Pedagogy, 1895; was elected a Fellow of the American Neurological Association in 1892; is an associate editor of the Buffalo Medical Journal, and is frequently called to testify as an expert in important criminal and civil trials on questions of insanity.

Mynter, H., M.D., Buffalo, was born in Denmark, September 2, 1845, and in 1864 entered the university at Copenhagen and was graduated in 1871, and for three years acted as assistant surgeon in the Royal Danish Navy and in the Common Hos- pital. In May, 1875, he came to America and settled in Buffalo, where he began the practice of his profession. In 1882 he was surgeon in the Buffalo General Hos- pital, and from 1888 professor of surgery at the Niagara University, and surgeon to Sisters of Charity Hospital. Dr. Mynter is a member of the American Medical Association, and also of the Erie County Medical Association, New York State Med- ical Society, president of the Buffalo Academy of Medicine, etc.

Pohlman, Julius, M.D., Buffalo, has had an altogether unusual career, one full of marked changes and honorable advancement. He was born in Germany in 1848, and entered upon the life of a sailor at the age of fourteen, visiting during the next six years about all the countries of the globe. In 1868 he prepared himself for a master's diploma at the Hamburg College of Navigation. He served in the German army from 1869 to 1870, and sailed as mate on a vessel cruising between Bremen, Brazil and New York for the next two years. He arrived in Buffalo in 1872 and re- ceived a pilot's certificate to navigate the great lakes in 1874. Diligent study had now prepared him for a somewhat different sphere of action, and he accepted a position as assistant in a museum of the Society of Natural Sciences in 1878, and a little later was appointed director. In 1880 he began his formal education in med- icine in the University of Buffalo and graduated in 1883. He was appointed lec- turer on physiology in 1884, and professor of physiology in 1886, a position he still retains. Dr. Pohlman has received recognition as a scientist from the American Association for the Advancement of Science by being appointed delegate to the

PERSONAL REFERENCES.

meeting of the German Naturalists' Society held at Berlin in 1886, a most unusual honor, and by being elected general secretary of the association in 1888. The doc- tor is a Fellow of the American Geological Society; Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the New York State Medical Association; cor- responding member of the Rochester Academy of Science, and foreign member of the German Psychological Society of Berlin.

Rochester, De Lancey, M. D., Buffalo, was born in that city, February 4, 1859. He obtained his education at the Heathcote School in Buffalo, and was graduated from Harvard with the class of 1881. He received the degree of M. D. in 1884 from the University of Buffalo, and was interne in the Buffalo General Hospital. The following year he went to Boston for further study of the science of medicine and also spent some time in Berlin. In 1886 he began the practice of his profession in Buffalo.

Harrington, Frank A., A. M., M. D., Buffalo, was born in Orangeport, Niagara county, N. Y., October 19, 1854. He was graduated from the Lockport Union School in 1878. He then entered De Veaux College at Suspension Bridge, and was graduated from that institution in 1880, when he entered Harvard University, and was graduated therefrom in 1884. He then entered the Harvard Medical School, Boston, graduating from it in June, 1887, after finishing the course of four years in three, and receiving the fourth year degree of M. D., and also the degree of A. M. He finally removed to Buffalo to begin his labors in the field of medicine, and he has since resided in that city, having a large and lucrative practice.

Bennett, Arthur G., M. D , Buffalo, was born in Birmingham, England, Septem- ber 16, 1861. He received his primary education in his native country and in 1886 came to America, settling in Buffalo, N. Y. In 1891 he was graduated from the medical department of the University of Buffalo and immediately began his practice. He was for two years instructor in surgery in the University of Buffalo. Dr. Ben- nett is a member of the Erie County Medical Society and the New York State Medi- cal Association, Buffalo Academy of Medicine, and the Buffalo Ophthalmological Society. He is clinical instructor in diseases of the eye and ear in the University of Buffalo, and one of the ophthalmic and aural surgeons in the. Erie County Hospital.

Grove, Wellington G., M. D., Buffalo, son of David and Louisa (Fink) Grove, was born on Glade's Farm, near Huntingdon, Pa., October 1, 1866. Like many other men, he made his start in life by working on the farm in summer and attending school in the winter. At an early age he attended Stone Valley Academy and for several years was a successful teacher. Later he entered Juniata Valley College, and after graduating he accepted a position with the R. S. King Publishing Co. of Chicago, with which he remained for one year. At the end of this time he resigned to accept a similar position with the Union Publishing Co. of New York, remaining for some months. But his ambition was to become a physician, and with this end in view he entered the office of Dr. J. W. Putnam of Lyons, N. Y., where he remained for three years, when he entered the University of Buffalo, taking a full course and graduating as an M. D. in May, 1895. He at once began the practice of his profes- sion in Buffalo, where he has since resided. In June, 1895, he was married to Susan

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

M. Barrett, of Buffalo. The doctor is a self-made man, having earned the money to pay his way as he went along from the beginning.

Bruso, C. Frank, M. D., Buffalo, was born in Buffalo, May 11, 1866, and was edu- cated in the public schools. He began the study of medicine in 1884 with ex-Mayor Lewis P. Dayton, and after taking one course in the University of Buffalo, was ap- pointed interne at the Erie County Hospital and was graduated from the University in March, 1887, with highest honors. In the mean time he was appointed interne to the Erie County Penitentiary and house surgeon to Fitch Accident Hospital, start- ing as the first of such appointments After graduating he was appointed assistant resident physician at the Erie County Hospital, but on July 1 he resigned to open practice at lower Black Rock, where he remained for seven years, building up a most successful practice. He moved and opened an office on Lafayette avenue and three years later moved to his present location, corner Main and Seneca streets. In 1891 he married Katharine M., eldest daughter of ex-Alderman John C. Hanbach, and they have three children. He is surgeon for the western division of the West Shore Rail- road, medical director for the Railway Officials' and Employees' Accident Associa- tion, examiner for the Manhattan Life Insurance Co. of New York city, and Endow- ment Rank of the Knights of Pythias; member of the Erie County Medical Society,_ National Association of Railway Surgeons, and New York State Association of Rail- way Surgeons, and medical examiner for the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Life Association of Westfield, Mass.

Kraus, Jacob M., M. D., Buffalo, was born at Clarence, Erie county, N. Y., March 12, 1866. His education was received in the district and Parker Union schools of his native town, and he afterward engaged in teaching school for one year. In 1886 he began the study of medicine at the University of Buffalo, from which he was gradu- ated March 12, 1889. In May, 1889, he became assistant resident physician at the Erie County Almshouse, and in July following was promoted to resident physician, in which capacity he remained until March, 1892, when he engaged in private prac- tice. September 3, 1890, he married Miss Mary A., daughter of Henry Moest. In January, 1896, he received the appointment of physician to the Erie County Peni- tentiary, and was reappointed in January, 1897. He is a member of the Medical So- ciety of the County of Erie; the Independent Order of Odd Feliows, and the Order of the Iroquois, for which he is a medical examiner.

Park, Roswell, M. D., Buffalo .- This distinguished surgeon was born in Pomfret, Conn., in 1852. His ancestors on both sides were prominent in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Park received the degree of B. A. and M. A. from Racine College and was graduated from the Chicago Medical College in 1876. He was for a time interne in Mercy and Cook County Hospitals, Chicago, and afterward became demonstrator of anatomy in the Woman's Medical College, and adjunct professor of anatomy in his alma mater. After three years he resigned to pursue his studies abroad and after his return from Europe he was appointed lecturer on surgery in Rush Medical Col- lege and surgeon of Michael Reese Hospital. In 1883 he was invited to become pro- fessor of surgery in the medical department of the University of Buffalo, and to be- come one of the surgeons of the Buffalo General Hospital; these positions he has since filled and now occupies. He has been a voluminous writer, and is a member

PERSONAL REFERENCES.

of numerous home and foreign societies. He has received honorary degrees of M. D. from the Lake Forest University, and A. M. from Harvard University. His prac- tice is limited exclusively to surgery and both at home and abroad he is recognized authority on surgical subjects.

Morris, Sarah (Howe), Buffalo, was born in Pittsfield, Me., March 2, 1832, and is a daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Coburn) Howe. Sarah received her preliminary education in the Bloomfield Academy. She was left an orphan at eight years of age and was sent to live with an aunt, where she remained until 1846, when she went to Lowell, Mass., and worked for several years to earn money to complete her school- ing. In 1869 she was graduated at the New England Female Medical College and settled in Brooklyn to practice her profession. In 1871 she was married to James Morris. In 1873 they moved to Lockport and then settled in Buffalo in 1881. In 1870 she wrote and delivered a lecture entitled "Woman's Work in the Temper- ance Cause," which attracted wide attention. She has always been an active officer and workerin the W. C. T. U., and is president of the First Political Equality League of Buffalo, and of the Young Women's Polytechnic Club, organized by herself. Dr. Morris has been the mother of two children: William, deceased, and Bernetta. She is a member of the Western New York Homeopathic Medical Society (her papers in this society have been regarded as among the best), and the Erie County Medical society; is an active member of the Woman's Industrial and Educational Union, having in the last twelve years delivered 122 lectures for this institution on physiol- ogy and ethical subjects. In 1873 she was the chief agent of the temperance people of Brooklyn in securing the passage of the Civil Damage bill, and for twelve years she has devoted Sunday evenings to talks on the Life of Christ for the W. C. T. U. mission of Buffalo. Her work in the interest of young women is recognized as most practical and helpful. For thirty years she has advocated the treatment of inebriety as a disease, and has now an institution where she is successfully demonstrating her ideas. She was one of the speakers on Woman Suffrage before the State Constitu- tional Convention in 1894.

O'Brien, Edward C. W., of 439 Delaware avenue, Buffalo, is one of the best known physicians of that city. Born in the city of Quebec fifty-four years ago, he obtained his early education from the teaching of the Christian Brothers and at private schools. Thrown upon his own resources at an early age, he acquired by his contact with the world, away from home, a large fund of practical experience that must have aided in developing the strength of character and self-resourcefulness for which he has long been noted. Dr. O'Brien's residence in Buffalo began almost forty years ago. Having decided, a few years after he settled there, to become a physician, he took the full course at the University of Buffalo, and graduated from the medical department of that institution in February, 1867. He has followed his calling in Buffalo ever since, and has attained high rank in the medical fraternity of Erie county. During his thirty years of active practice he has had numerous cases of exceptional difficulty, but probably none more noteworthy than two instances in which he successfully reduced dislocation of the neck. Both cases were those of adults, requiring exact anatomical knowledge, nice calculation, and rare self-posses- sion. Dr. O'Brien's prominence in Buffalo came about in part as a result of his notable record as health physician of the city for several years. He obtained this

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

office early in his professional career, by appointment of the Board of Health, and was reappointed five times. His term began in the winter of 1872-73, and lasted until 1877, when the Democratic party gained possession of the city government, and appointed a Democrat to the office. Dr. O'Brien's administration will be long remembered on account of the great small-pox epidemic then raging. This scourge infested the entire world at that time, and many large cities were frightfully ravaged by the disease. Buffalo alone had about 1,900 cases, though Buffalo was rid of the pestilence several months before any other large American city. Dr. O'Brien was physician to the small-pox hospital maintained in Buffalo during the epidemic; and in addition to his regular duties as health physician, he was obliged twice a day to visit this hospital, located on the outskirts of the city. He often made his second visit as late as midnight. He naturally came into close relations with the physicians of Buffalo at that time, and it is worthy of note that they cordially commended his administration of the health department during that ordeal. The press of the city, also, without regard to party, recognized his efficiency as health physician. Men- tion should be made of the interesting fact that Dr. O'Brien introduced the use of bovine vaccine virus in Buffalo. There were then only a few vaccine farms in America, and the introduction of virus met with opposition from a considerable part of the general public, and even from some physicians who did not fully understand the subject, though these soon used it freely. Dr. O'Brien's record in the health office of Buffalo attracted favorable notice not only in the city itself, but also in some degree throughout the State. This fact was evidenced in his nomination as a com- promise candidate to the position of health officer of the Port of New York-a posi- tion then comparable in point of compensation to the presidency of the United States, though the enormous fees of the office have since been commuted into a fixed salary. Governor Cleveland nominated for the position the distinguished physician, Austin Flint; but the nomination had not been confirmed when Mr. Cleveland left Albany to enter the White House. Governor Hill then nominated Dr. Phelps of New York, whose name was likewise rejected by the State Senate. Finally Gover- nor Hill sent in the name of Dr. O'Brien, whose political principles were harmonious with those of the dominant party in the Senate. Owing to a factional quarrel among the Republicans of that body, Dr. O'Brien failed by a few votes of confirmation. The general and hearty endorsement of his nomination, however, was very gratifying to his friends. One of the Buffalo papers devoted a page to a report of interviews with leading physicians, other professional men, and prominent citizens generally, who commended Dr. O'Brien's nomination on the ground both of professional fitness and of personal character. A large and representative delegation of Buffalonians, in- cluding members of both the medical colleges, went to Albany to urge confirmation upon the Senate Committee to which the nomination was referred. The Buffalo Commercial, in an editorial article, spoke as follows:

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Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume II, Part 11

Author: White, Truman C Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co. Number of Pages: 684

Author: White, Truman C
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] : Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 684