USA > New York > Erie County > Our county and its people : a descriptive work on Erie County, New York, Volume II > Part 6
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PERSONAL REFERENCES.
was chairman of the citizens' committee for the erection of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, which so beautifully adorns La Fayette Park in Buffalo. In 1871 Mr. Smith, as counsel for the executor of the will of Jesse Ketchum, deceased, prepared the deed of trust which conveyed to the City of Buffalo the fund of $10,000, designated as " The Jesse Ketchum Memorial Fund," from the income of which val- uable and beautiful gold and silver medals are annually awarded by the trustees of the fund to meritorious scholars of the public schools. Mr. Smith was one of the trustees named in the deed and for eighteen years past has been the president of the board. In 1873 Hobart College conferred on Judge Smith the honorary degree of LL.D. Soon after taking up his residence in Buffalo Judge Smith became a member of Trinity church, and as vestryman and warden he served it long and well, and has always been an exceedingly liberal contributor to church work. In 1871 he was ap- pointed chancellor of the Diocese of Western New York and has held that position to the present time, and has represented the diocese as lay delegate to each of the triennial general conventions of the Protestant Episcopal church since 1874. In June, 1840 Judge Smith was married to Martha Washington, daughter of Elias Bradley of Buffalo. She died in May, 1841, leaving a son who survived her but a few months. In June, 1845, he was married to Margaret, daughter of John P. Sherwood of Ver- non, Oneida county, N. Y., and their children are Margaret L., the wife of Robert P. Wilson, esq., a member of the Erie county bar, and Philip Sherwood, who is also a member of that bar. Judge Smith has always been recognized as an able financier and an excellent judge of values and securities. His foresight and his faith in the growth and prosperity of Buffalo have enabled him to accumulate a handsome for- tune for his declining years. Prosperity, however, has not had the effect to render him sordid or penurious, but on the contrary he has always given freely and liber- ally to all public purposes and to charitable, educational and religious objects, while his private charities, done in secret, have been the source of great comfort to many recipients, and no worthy charity has ever been refused aid from his purse, and that, too, not once or twice, but many times repeated. Judge Smith is a man of very marked literary tastes and habits and is the possessor of a large and valuable library, and his friends have always been scholars and men of letters. Genial, kind and af- fable, he has always won the esteem and hearty good will of his fellow citizens, who trust that many and happy may be the years remaining to James Murdock Smith.
Bingham, George, Buffalo, the present county clerk of Erie county, was born in the town of Lancaster, December 21, 1848. His father, Henry L. Bingham, was born in Windham, Conn., April 1, 1814, and settled in Western New York when still a young man. His mother was born in this State. George Bingham received his education in the public and private schools. In 1866 he was given a position as rodman by William Wallace, chief engineer in the engineering department of the Buffalo and Washington Railroad. He was afterward appointed assistant engineer and was given charge of a division of the road. He was employed by City Engineer George E. Mann for one year in running the levels for the topographical map of the city. He was also engaged in the location and construction of other roads in the Western States and Canada. For ten years Mr. Bingham was engaged in the hide and leather business and met with marked success. In 1880 he was elected a member of the Assembly and was one of the staunch supporters of the late Hon. Roscoe Conk- b
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ling in his fight to be returned to the United States Senate in 1881. Mr. Bingham was superintendent of the Thompson-Houston Electric Light and Power Company for three years. He was appointed United States appraiser for the port of Buffalo by President Harrison in 1891, and served three years and resigned. He was elected county clerk in 1894; was chairman in 1895-96 of the Republican County Committee and was elected in March, 1895, president of the village of Lancaster, and is also one of the justices of the peace for the same town. September 4, 1874, he married Carrie Lee of Lancaster, where they reside. They have two daughters. Mr. Bingham as county clerk has made a clean, careful, honest and painstaking official and so far has given entire satisfaction to all concerned. He is an honor to his party and a faithful servant of the people.
Peabody, W. H., jr., Buffalo, son of William H. and Eliza (Purdie) Peabody, was born at Buffalo, April 30, 1870. His education was obtained in the public and private schools of Buffalo and he was graduated from Harvard University in 1892. After completing his classical course Mr. Peabody entered the Law School of the University of Buffalo and at the end of two years received the degree of LL.D. In June, 1894, he was admitted to the bar, and after two years' service in the office of Box, Norton & Bushnell, began the practice of his profession.
Parker, Le Roy, Buffalo, son of the Rev. Orson and Diana Elinor (Atherton) Par- ker, was born at Flint, Mich., December 15, 1844. His early education was obtained at the common schools in Michigan and at Dwight's High School, Clinton, N. Y. He was graduated at Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., with the class of 1865. He at once began the study of law, and in the same year entered the law department of the University of Michigan. He was admitted to the bar at Flint, and in 1879 was admitted as an attorney of the United States Circuit Court, in Detroit, and to the Supreme Court of the United States, April 11, 1890. Mr. Parker was a member of the Michigan Legislature for two terms, elected on the Republican ticket, and was afterwards appointed a member of the State Board of Health by Governor Croswell, in which capacity he served for six years, two years of which he was the president of the board. In 1885 he removed to Buffalo and began his professional career in New York State. In 1887 he was awarded the $250 prize given by the State Bar Associa- tion of New York for the best thesis on the subject of " Divorce Laws and the De- sirability of Uniform Divorce Legislation." In 1887 he was appointed general man- ager of the newly organized Buffalo Law School, and occupied the position of vice- dean for several years. Mr. Parker is still a member of the Faculty of the Law School and a lecturer on Sales, but his time is chiefly devoted to his law practice. He is the author, in conjunction with Robert H. Worthington, of a work entitled "The Law of Public Health and Safety," published in 1892. He was married, in 1881, to Bessie Chandler, daughter of the late Rear Admiral Ralph Chandler, of the U. S. navy, and has two sons, Glowacki and Ralph Chandler Parker.
Tabor, Charles F., Buffalo, son of Silas and Betsey E. (Russell) Tabor, was born in St. Joseph county, Mich., June 28, 1841, and when two years old came with his parents to the town of Newstead, Erie county, N. Y., where he received his early public school education. He also attended the academies at Clarence and Williams- ville and Lima Seminary, and in 1861 came to Buffalo as a student at law in the office
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PERSONAL REFERENCES.
of Humphrey & Parsons, with whom he remained until his admission to the bar in 1863. He then entered upon a successful professional career. In 1868 he formed a copartnership with Judge Thomas Corlett, which continued for six years, when Judge Corlett retired and Mr. Tabor formed a partnership with William F. Sheehan. In 1888 John Cunneen and E. C. Coatsworth were admitted to the firm under the style of Tabor, Sheehan, Cunneen & Coatsworth. This firm continued until Janu- . ary 1, 1895, when Mr. Tabor retired and became the senior member of the present well-known law firm of Tabor & Wilkie. Mr. Tabor has long been a leading Demo- crat, and in 1887 was elected attorney-general of the State of New York, which office he held two terms, being re-elected in 1889. He carried to success the noted Sugar Trust cases, the charter of the Sugar Trust of New York being vacated, through his action, on the ground that it was a monopoly. As attorney-general he also had charge of the litigation which involved the constitutionality of the electrocution law and succeded in obtaining a decision from the U. S, Supreme Court to the effect that the law was constitutional and valid; he also obtained from that court an affirina- tion of a decision of the New York Court of Appeals, in the case of the Home Insur- ance Company, that corporations were liable to taxation on their capital stock, al- though that stock consisted of government bonds, otherwise exempt. In 1881 and 1882 Mr. Tabor was supervisor of the town of Lancaster, where he resided from 1867 to 1883 when he removed to Buffalo. He was an excise commissioner of Erie county for three years, was the Democratic candidate for county judge in 1883, and for two years has been a trustee of the Buffalo Law Library. December 24, 1863, he married Phebe S., daughter of William A. Andrews, of Pembroke, Genesee county, and they have one daughter, Georgia E.
Fitzgerald, Henry D., Buffalo, was born in Springville, Erie county, December 26, 1845, and when five years of age, came with his parents to Buffalo, where he has since resided. He was educated in the public and private schools of Buffalo. In 1862 he entered the office of Hon. Eli Cook, for the study of law. He finished his legal studies in the office of Nichols & Robbins and was admitted to the bar May 8, 1867. In the same year he was appointed deputy clerk of the United States District Court, and United States commissioner by the late Judge Hall, and has filled the office of commissioner ever since. In 1869 he resigned the office of deputy clerk and com- menced the practice of his profession. For twelve years he was in partnership with Josiah Cook, of this city. He is at present associated with Urban C. Bell, of Buffalo, under the firm name of Fitzgerald & Bell.
Guenther, Henry H., Buffalo, is of German descent, his parents coming to America in 1851, locating in Philadelphia and afterward removed to Buffalo, where Henry H. Guenther was born, January 29, 1862. He was educated at the public schools and took a select literary course at Youngstown, Ohio, and graduated as L. B. in the University of Michigan in the class of 1881. Shortly after graduating he was ap- pointed to a clerkship in the city attorney's office under Giles E. Stilwell, serving until the end of Mr. Stilwell's term, and who was succeeded by Herman Hennig as city attorney. Mr. Guenther retained the same position during Mr. Hennig's term. He was admitted to the bar in 1887 and immediately began the practice of his profession and from the beginning has had marked success. In the fall of 1886, at the age of twenty-four years, he was elected representative to the State Legisla-
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ture on the Democrat ticket, serving for seven consecutive terms, acting as chairman of general laws and canal committees, and also being placed on other important com- mittees of that body each year of his service.
Spaulding, Willis M., Buffalo, son of John B. and Maria (Smith) Spaulding, was born February 22, 1866, in Colden, Erie county, N. Y., where his maternal grandfather, John Smith, was a very early settler, coming from Vermont. His paternal grand- father, Gilbert Spaulding, who also came from Vermont, was a pioneer of Concord, Erie county, where John B. was born in 1834. Mr. Spalding in 1881 entered Griffith Institute at Springfield N. Y., from which he was graduated in 1887. He paid his own way through school, and by dint of hard study and sturdy perseverance ac- quired a substantial education, which he supplemented by a course of business and stenography at Bryant's Business College in Buffalo. Immediately after his gradua- tion, in September, 1887, he began the study of law in the office of White & Simons, with whom he remained four years, being their managing clerk the last three years. In 1891 he was admitted to the bar at Rochester and at once entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in Buffalo; in July, 1893, he formed, with Thomas A. Sullivan, the present law firm of Spaulding & Sullivan. As a lawyer Mr. Spaulding has been very successful. He was married, August 25, 1891, to Nellie M., daughter of Millard F. Orr, of East Otto, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., and they have one son, Gordon Orr.
Frye, William B., Buffalo, son of William and Josephine (Burgess) Frye, was born in the town of Concord, Erie county, N. Y., June 10, 1868. His education was ob- tained at the Griffith Institute at Springfield. After removing to Buffalo in 1886 he began the study of law in the Buffalo Law School and was graduated from that insti- tution in 1894. He was admitted to the bar in 1894 and the following year he opened an office for the general practice of his profession, which he still continues with marked success.
Peck, Myron H., Buffalo, was born in the village of Victor, Ontario county, N. Y., May 28, 1827. He received his education from the public schools and State Normal School at Albany. At the age of eighteen he began the study of law in the office of E. G. Lapham, at Canadaigua, where he remained for three years and was admitted to practice in September, 1848. After his admission to the bar he formed a copart- nership with Mr. Lapham and engaged in the practice of law, which they carried on for some years. In 1858 he removed to Batavia and from 1883 to 1889 was county judge and surrogate of Genesee county. April 1, 1889, he moved to Buffalo and for three years was a member of the firm of Peck. Hammond, Peck & Hatch. He is at present located at No. 505 Ellicott Square. His professional engagements are now practically limited to the hearing of references and the preparation and argument of cases in the higher courts.
Davis, George A., Buffalo, was born in that city, August 5, 1858. He received his education in the public schools of Buffalo and from early youth supported himself. At the ageof ten he carried newspapers to earn money for his education. He learned the picture-frame maker's trade and worked at the bench long enough to save suffi- cient money to support himself while studying law. In 1877 he began the study of law in the office of Day & Romer, where he remained until admitted to the bar in 1880. Since that time he has practiced his profession in Buffalo. Mr. Davis enlisted
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in the 74th Regt., N. G. S. N. Y., in 1877 and filled every position from private to commanding officer and for a number of years commanded the regiment. He is a member of Lake Erie Commandery and Buffalo Consistory, 32d degree. He repre- sented the Ninth ward of the city of Buffalo in the Board of Supervisors during the years 1885-1886, during which time he married Miss Lillie N. Grimes, daughter of Judge Grimes of Lancaster, N. Y., and in 1887 took up his residence at that place, and was immediately elected supervisor of that town, and since that time has repre- sented that town in the Erie county board; was chairman of the board in 1889-1894 and 1895, being elected by the unanimous vote of Republicans and Democrats; as chairman he has shown that he is possessed of executive ability of no mean order and as presiding officer has won the good will and respect of all parties. He was the Republican nominee for Congress in the Thirty-third N. Y. District in 1890, but ow- ing to the Democratic land slide of that year was defeated by a small majority. He represented the Thirty-first Senate District in the Constitutional Convention, receiv- ing the largest majority of any delegate upon the ticket, and was one of the active members of that body, serving upon the committees on banking, insurance and military. In 1895 he was elected State senator of the Forty ninth District, and served on the committees on judiciary, commerce, navigation, penal institutions and was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs.
Willett, Porter G., Buffalo, was born in Batavia, N. Y., July 28, 1865, moved to Buffalo in 1872, and prepared himself for college at Buffalo High School, and in 1888 was graduated from Yale College. He then returned to Buffalo and entered the office of Sprague, Morey, Sprague & Brownell, where he remained for three years, and was admitted to the bar at Rochester in 1891. He then entered into partnership with Harry D. Williams, under the firm name of Williams & Willett, which partner- ship continued until 1895. Since then he has practiced alone.
Colgan, William Paul, Buffalo (born in Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., July 4, 1869), is the son of Bernard and Mary Prendergast Colgan. After attending the Dunkirk union schools he was appointed by President Cleveland in May, 1885, to a position in the United States mail service, in which he continued until May 29, 1889, being dismissed for political reasons. Soon after leaving the mail service he began the study of law, at first with Holt & Holt of Dunkirk, and then with his brother, John H. Colgan of Buffalo. He was admitted to the bar at Buffalo, June 8, 1893, and on January 1, 1894, entered into legal copartnership with his brother, under the firm style of Colgan & Colgan, which continued until the latter's death, September 14, 1894. Since that date he has practiced alone. Mr. Colgan has won a reputation among the young lawyers of Buffalo. He was associated with Hon. John Laughlin in the defense of Bernard Murray, charged with the killing of William H. Bright, president of the Genesee Oil Works, and succeeded in acquitting James Towe, charged with the murder of Josie Bennett in Buffalo in 1894. Aside from his criminal practice Mr. Colgan enjoys a large and lucrative civil practice, being coun sel in numerous cases of importance.
Marcus, Louis W., Buffalo .- Judge Marcus is the youngest lawyer ever elected surrogate of Erie county. He was born in Buffalo, May 18, 1863, and received his education in the public schools of his native city and at Williams Academy ; he after-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
ward entered Cornell Law School, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of LL.B. in the class of 1889. Returning to Buffalo, he became the junior member of the law firm of Swift, Weaver & Marcus, which was afterward Weaver & Marcus, In 1895 he was nominated by the Republicans as a candidate for surro- gate of Erie county, and was elected by a large majority; he assumed the duties of his office January 1, 1896. He was married in November, 1889, to Ray R. Dahlman of Buffalo.
Blocher, John, Buffalo, a descendant from the commonly called Pennsylvania Dutch, comes from the race of farmers, men who have reaped a living from the soil. His father came from Pennsylvania in 1823 and settled in Cayuga county, N. Y., and a year after the completion of the Erie Canal became a resident of Erie county. Mr. Blocher was born at Scipio, N. Y., in 1825. His education was begun in a log school house with a winter term of but three months. When he was but ten years of age his father died, leaving a widow and three children, of whom he was the youngest. After working for a year for a neighboring farmer, at $4 a month, he was apprenticed to a tailor, and at the age of eighteen he embarked in the tailoring business on his own account. When the call to arms was heard he was one of the first to answer the summons and served his country faithfully for a year in the 78th N. Y. Regt. After the war was over he returned home and bought a farm near Clarence, where he spent a year in the lumber business. He then re- moved to Buffalo and established himself in the boot and shoe manufacturing busi- ness, which is now one of the well-known establishments of Buffalo. In 1845 he married Elizabeth Neff of Williamsville, and an only son was born to this union, who died in 1884, at the age of thirty-seven.
Rohr, Mathias, Buffalo, was born near Treves (Trier), in Prussia, February 25, 1840. He received his education from the Normal school of his district, and after completing his schooling engaged in teaching for a number of years. He also was quite a writer and contributed numerous articles to different papers and periodicals. In 1868 he emigrated to this country and settled in Buffalo, where he has since re- sided. He had been in Buffalo less than twenty-four hours when he became editor- in-chief of the Central Zeutung, a German paper, in which capacity he remained for two years, when he became editor of the Daily Volksfreund, another German paper, occupying this position for fifteen years. At this date he engaged in the in- surance business, in which he is still engaged. Mr. Rohr is now manager for the German Life Insurance Company of New York, and president of the Erie Fire In- surance Company of Buffalo.
Lautz, Charles, Buffalo .- A worthy example such as that which is presented in the history and career of Charles Lautz, member of the firm of Lautz Bros. & Co., manufacturers of soap and glycerine, the product of which finds its way into almost every hamlet in the United States, is certainly one worthy the consideration and imitation of the young men of the present day and generation, being as he is a cen- tral and prominent figure in the industrial, commercial and financial history of Buffalo. Mr. Lautz was born in Dieburg, Germany, and emigrated to this country with his parents when he was about eleven years of age. His education was ob- tained by taking a thorough course of study of private tuition after his routine duties
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of the day were completed. When, in 1853, the small acorn of the present business was planted, and which has since grown to a gigantic oak, or rather, one of the most formidable of its kind, he was assigned to a most responsible position over which to exercise his judgment. That he proved himself adequate to the occasion is best illustrated by his subsequent success in commercial life. Aside from the above firm, whose name has become a household word, and his multifarious duties, he is one of the original members of The Lautz Company, extensive workers in foreign and domestic marble. A new departure was recently introduced by this company which promises to become one of the largest industries among those of our commercial pur- suits, namely, the execution of interior work in marble of large public and private buildings. A member of this company is now scouring the lands of Italy and Africa in quest of rare and unique marble. The Niagara Stamping and Tool Works, a large and flourishing institution for the manufacture of tinners' tools, is another worthy example of enterprise into which he has been instrumental in creating life. Besides doing a large and lucrative home trade, the company is steadily attaining an extensive exporting business. The Niagara Starch Company, of which Mr. Lautz was one of the original projectors, and which has been merged into The National Starch Manufacturing Company, of which he is a director, is likewise a living mon- ument to his indefatigable efforts. He is vice president of the National Soap Makers' Association, to which he was twice elected; is a director and chairman of the finance committee of the Buffalo Metropolitan Bank, where his counsels and ad- vice are always warmly welcomed by his associates in that institution's affairs. He is president of the Niagara Heights Land Company, president of the Long View Driving Park Land Company of Cleveland; a member of the National Association of Manufacturers of the United States and-a member of the Buffalo Board of Trade. He is also a director and was one of the prime promoters of the Buffalo and Will- iamsville Electric Railway; is a life member of the Buffalo Catholic Young Men's Institute, in which association he has filled the executive chair with great satisfac- tion. The Ellicott Club, composed of most prominent citizens and merchants of this city, likewise has a claim on him as a member. He is a director of the Buffalo Business Men's Association ; a life member of the Fine Arts Academy ; life member of the German Young Men's Association ; charter member of the Buffalo Orpheus Singing Society, and a member of several others. Last but not least is his effective church work, to which he is ardently attached and by whose members he is held in the highest estimation. He is president director of St. Louis parish, and has filled that honored position time and time again with great promptness and satisfaction to all. After the old edifice was destroyed by fire, which was ignited by the burning of Music Hall, he was one of the visiting committee to various cities on a tour of in- spection, to obtain plans, etc., and was largely instrumental in the construction of what is really to-day one of the handsomest structures of its kind in this State. Just so in all public-spirited movements, he has always been among the first to respond, and in matters where liberality is essential he is never backward. The benevolence bestowed upon the poor orphan and those in the humbler walks of life is never for- gotten. In addition to Mr. Lautz's many enterprises, considerable attention is de- voted to his country home-known as the " Amherst Villa"-which is unquestion- ably, and expressed by those having visited it, to be among the finest, best equipped and thoroughly managed farms of its kind. The tract of land, which covers about
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