USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 12
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Having given proof of his capacity for capable management and keen busi- ness discernment, his labors were sought in other fields and in 1888 he joined with substantial business men in the purchase of the Ham-Rogers shoe fac- tory, which was in a bankrupt condition. Then was organized the Moore- Shafer Shoe Manufacturing Company. So great was the ability he displayed in the management of this enterprise and so pronounced its success that a new and larger building was necessary, leading to the erection of the extensive brick factory near the Central station in Brockport. The business has been constantly and steadily developed along progressive lines and is one of the most important sources of revenue in Brockport's industrial circles. Mr. Moore was also a large stockholder in the Brrockport Piano Company and in the wheel works of this village.
Intricate business problems he solved readily and saw through the com- plexity of a business entanglement or involved situation the course leading to
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a successful outcome of the same. He was not swayed by passion or preju- dice and hence his opinions were based upon reason and a careful consideration of the questions and conditions at hand. He was, however, a man of intense and positive character, never occupying an equivocal position, and it was his unfaltering energy displayed in business that caused a breakdown in nervous and physical forces, resulting in his death.
In 1887 Mr. Moore was united in marriage to Miss May Scranton, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Scranton, of Brockport. Be- sides the wife two children were left to mourn the loss of the father, Helen and Henry, both at home with their mother.
The Brockport Republic in an editorial which appeared at the time of his death gave a very accurate estimate of his character as follows: "His was a positive character if ever there was one. What he believed, he uttered; what he believed in, he did, and he spoke his beliefs and did what he deemed to be his duty in the most positive and forceful way possible. Such a man could not have failed to impress himself upon the life of the community in which he lived nearly all his life. Mr. Moore has been an active and aggressive factor in the activities of Brockport." He was, moreover, recognized as a stalwart champion of any movement for the general good, whether along business, social, political, educational or moral lines.
He was a member of the State Normal School Board and a vestryman in St. Luke's church. Nature and culture vied in making him an interesting and entertaining gentleman. Aside from his superior business ability there were other qualities which rendered him a valued citizen of his community. He was stalwart in his friendships and devoted to his family and at all times was actuated by a strong spirit of fidelity to what he believed to be right, manifesting the utmost conformity to a high standard of commercial ethics.
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Ship He Yourman
Philip . Damman
R OCHESTER, with its pulsing industrial activities, its excellent shipping facilities and the various advan- tages derived because of its favorable situation near the Canadian border as well as in regard to trade interests in the United States, is continually drawing to it important business concerns and its native citi- zens, recognizing all of these elements for success, have also been among the founders of some of the most successful enterprises here. To the latter class belongs Philip H. Yawman, president of the Yawman & Erbe Manufactur- ing Company, manufacturers of office specialties.
He was born in Rochester, September 1, 1839, and was educated in the schools of this city and of Scottsville, to which place his family removed in his youth. His father, Nicholas Yawman, was born in Schmidtweiler, Lor- raine, in 1816, and came to America with his father and four brothers in the year 1832. He was a cooper by trade and for some years was connected with industrial life in Rochester, but is now deceased. His wife, Mrs. Anna (Gor- man) Yawman, died during the infancy of her son Philip. Two uncles of our subject are yet living: John Yawman, residing in Scottsville at the venerable age of eighty-eight years; and Philip Yawman, of Rochester, eighty-six years of age. There are also three surviving brothers and two sisters.
After attending the public schools Philip H. Yawman joined his father in the cooperage business in Scottsville and subsequently learned the machinist's trade. In 1880 he entered into partnership with Gustav Erbe, a mathematical instrument maker. They began the manufacture of microscopes, at first employing only five workmen, but gradually they enlarged and extended the scope of their business, first to include the manufacture of novelties and later the manufacture of office devices for the old Clegg, Wegman, Schlicht & Field Company, which was later changed to the Office Specialty Company. Event- ually the firm of Yawman & Erbe bought out the latter company and then sold out their metal working business to the Art Metal Construction Company of Jamestown, in which they are still, however, financially interested. Business was begun in 1880 on Exchange street, followed by a removal to what is now South avenue to secure enlarged quarters, and in 1885 to the present location on St. Paul street. They own their building here and have a most thoroughly equipped plant, supplied with all the modern machinery for the production of
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the manufactured product. Their output is sold throughout the United States, also in Mexico, Canada, South America, the Australian colonies, Great Britain and various points in Europe. From the beginning the trade has constantly grown and the firm now enjoys a business which is indicative of the spirit of enterprise and progress which characterizes its founders and promoters.
In 1863 Mr. Yawman married Miss Mary C. Webber, who was born in Rochester in 1839, and unto this union nine children have been born, as fol- lows: Cecelia M., Mrs. Marie Antoinette Hafener, Mrs. Julia A. Heislein, Mrs. Cora Y. Hahn, Aloysia, Eugenia, Josepha, Francis J. and Victor.
Engraved by Campbell Brothers . New York
Larry Brooks
Barry Brooks
N TO HISTORY of Monroe county would be complete without mention of Garry Brooks, who is today the oldest citizen within her borders. He reached the century milestone on life's journey on the 5th of July, 1906, and his mind bears the impress of the early historic annals of the country. He has lived to see the country emerge victoriously from three interna- tional wars and one great civil strife. The Roches- ter Democrat and Chronicle, on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, said: "In all Monroe county, per- haps in all western New York, there is only one man who can say this morn- ing that his life has covered one hundred years, and he is Captain Garry Brooks, of Fairport, who rounds out a full century of years today. When he first saw the sunlight in Connecticut, Rochester was not yet on the map; indeed, six years were to pass before the first house would be erected upon the site of what is now a rich and powerful city. The Erie canal, upon which he was to travel in later years, was only a dream in the minds of men who were looked upon as being mildly insane; the second war with England was more than half a decade in the future; the American clipperbuilt ship, the swiftest commer- cial sailing craft the world has seen, was yet to come; the first steamboat, Ful- ton's Clermont, was only begun; steam railroads were utterly unheard of and a quarter of a century was to pass before the locomotive would become an accomplished fact in America; forty years before the telegraph would come into general use, and the span of a man's life, three score years and ten, before spoken words would be heard through what men now call the telephone. Fifty years were to pass before the republican party, of which Captain Brooks has been a member for fifty years, would put its first presidential candidate into the field. Tippecanoe had not been fought, Illinois had not yet become a ter- ritory and the western frontier was not far from where Cleveland and Detroit now are. Those were the ancient days, and yet Captain Brooks is today, on his one hundredth birthday, as hale and hearty as many men twenty years his junior. His eye is clear, his mind is unclouded and the grasp of his hand is as strong and cordial as it was twenty-five years ago."
It is not only compatible but absolutely imperative that mention be made of Garry Brooks in this volume. A native of Connecticut, he was born in New Milford on the 5th of July, 1806. The Brooks were Crusaders from
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Normandy who planted the standard in the Holy Land and came into Eng- land with William the Conqueror. Ancient English records say the family of Brooks or Brooke issued originally from the house of Latham or Leighton in Cheshire, England. The name has been spelled in various ways: Brooks, Brookes, Brook, Brocke, Broocks, Brooke and Brukes. The Brooke family of Whitechurch, Hampshire, England, was represented in the latter half of the sixteenth century by Richard Brooke, gentleman, and his wife Elizabeth Twyne. The brasses of Richard Brooke and his wife Elizabeth are sur- rounded by the Brooks arms. The coat of arms: on a cross engrailed, per pale, gules, a sable; crest : a brock or badger, proper. The bodies of Richard Brooke and his wife Elizabeth, of Whitechurch, lie in the old churchyard. Their son, Thomas, born in 1553-4, married Susan Forster and died in 1612. Thomas Brooke was a barrister at law in the Inner Temple and sat for Whitechurch in the Parliament that summoned to meet at Westminster, March 19, 1603-4. He was the elder brother of Lord Robert Brooke, who received the Connecticut grant. Among the children of Thomas and Susan Brooke was John Brooks, who came to America. He was born in Cheshire, Eng- land, in 1615. In 1639 he was a signer of the first covenant of New Haven. He was one of the earliest settlers at Wallingford, Connecticut, of which New Cheshire was a part, in 1670. He died at Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1690 or 1695 and made his will nine days before his death. William Brooks came as passenger on the Matthew of London, May 21, 1635, aged twenty- five years. He was probably a brother of John Brooks. The latter was mar- ried in 1640 to Sarah Osborn, widow of John Peat, or Peet, who came to America in the Hopewell. She was a daughter of Richard Osborn, of New Haven and Fairfield, Connecticut. Among their children was John Brooks, born January 31, 1643. He purchased his first land in Stratford, Connecti- cut, March 18, 1678-80. He came from New Haven with his brother Henry and was at Wallingford about 1723, later removing to Stratford.
The next in the line of direct descent is Benjamin Brooks, who was born at Stratford, Connecticut, October 27, 1685, and there died December 30, 1745, at the age of sixty-one years. He was married March 12, 1712, in Stratford, to Mary Fairchild, who was born in Stratford in 1691 and there died in 1740 at the age of forty-nine years. They had seven children, the third of whom was the Rev. Thomas Brooks.
The birth of Rev. Thomas Brooks occurred October 26, 1719, at New- town, Connecticut. He was a graduate of Yale College and was ordained as first minister at what was called Newberry Society, September 28, 1758, the church being gathered at the same time. In 1788 the name was changed to Brookfield in honor of its first pastor. It is credited to the memory of good Pastor Brooks that his ministry continued through a period of forty-two years. He continued to reside in Brookfield until his death, which occurred September 13, 1799, when he was eighty years of age. His first wife, Han-
Engraved by Campbell Brothers. New York
chers & Brooks
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nah Lewis, was born at Stratford, Connecticut, April 15, 1735, and died April 17, 1769, at the age of thirty-four years. He afterward married Sarah Bur- rett. On the headstone in the ancient cemetery at Newtown, Connecticut, near the present village of Hawleyville, Fairfield county, appears this mod- est record: "In memory of the Rev. Thomas Brooks, who departed this life September 13, 1799, aged eighty years. 'Mors niti vita est.'
"Oh mortal wander where you will, Your destiny is cast. The rising stone and verdant hill Proclaim your destiny at last."
On the second headstone is inscribed: "Here lies interred the body of Mrs. Hannah Lewis, first wife of Thomas Brooks, who died April 17, 1769, aged thirty-four years. Born 1735." A third headstone bears the inscription :"Here lies interred Rebecca, the wife of Rev. Thomas Brooks. Died June 13, 1805, aged seventy-nine years. Born 1726."
The ancestry of Hannah Lewis, first wife of Rev. Thomas Brooks, is traced back through several generations. William Lewis, a native of England, came to America on the ship Lion, landing at Boston, September 16, 1632. He settled at Cambridge and removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, becom- ing one of the original proprietors. In 1659 he removed to Hadley, Connect- icut, and was representative in 1662 and for Northampton in 1664. His wife Felix died at Hadley in 1671, and in 1675 he removed to Farmington, Con- necticut, where he died in 1683 at a very advanced age.
His only son, Captain William Lewis, was born in England and came with his father to America on the Lion in 1632. He lived successively at Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Hartford and at Farmington, Connecticut. He was, in 1665, 1667 and 1674 approved by the court as captain of the Farming- ton Traine Band. He was also deputy there in 1689 and 1690, the latter year being also the date of his death. In 1644 he married Mary Hopkins, daugh- ter of William and Mary (Whitehead) Hopkins, at Stratford, Connecticut. After the death of his first wife Captain William Lewis, of Farmington, wed- ded Mary Cheever, daughter of the famous schoolmaster, Ezekiel Cheever. He had ten children by his first marriage and one son by the second marriage.
Benjamin Lewis, the first of the name at Stratford, Connecticut, was born at Wallingford in 1650 and removed to Stratford in 1676. He was married to Hannah Curtice, who was born February 2, 1654, and died at Stratford, Connecticut, in 1728. She was a daughter of Sergeant John and Elizabeth (Wells) Curtice. Her father, born in England in 1613-14, served in the Swamp fight December 14, 1675, and died December 2, 1707. His wife died in 1681-2.
Deacon Edmund Lewis, born in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1679, died in 1757. He was married May 21, 1702, at Stratford, to Mary Beach, a daugh-
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ter of James Beach and a granddaughter of John Beach. Mrs. Mary Beach Lewis died in 1756 and Mrs. Sarah Lewis, second wife of Deacon Edmund Lewis, died in January, 1792. The children of the first marriage were: Sarah, born in 1704, the wife of Ephraim Burrett; Edmund, born October 3, 1710; Hannah, in 1712; and Martha, in 1716.
Of this family Colonel Edmund Lewis was the father of Hannah Lewis Brooks. He was born in Stratford, Connecticut, October 3, 1710, and there died May 14, 1757. He was married there in June, 1729, to Sarah Burrett, who died in Stratford in June, 1756. Their children were: Ebenezer Lewis, born March 9, 1730-1; Edmund Lewis, January 4, 1733-4; and Hannah, April 15, 1735. After losing his first wife Colonel Edmund Lewis wedded Frances Keys, a widow, who died December 14, 1768.
Samuel Lewis Brooks, son of Rev. Thomas Brooks and the father of Garry Brooks of Fairport, was born in Newtown, Connecticut, in 1753, and died in Penfield, Monroe county, New York, January 3, 1849, aged ninety-six years. He settled at Penfield before 1806. That the Brooks family were prominent in the pioneer village is indicated by many of the old records. The first Presbyterian church there was organized February 7, 1806, with Thomas Brooks, Jr., and Esther (Burr) Brooks, as among the original fifteen mem- bers. There are no records of pastors previous to 1816, in which year Lemuel Brooks, son of Samuel Brooks, was installed, serving to 1829, while his uncle, Thomas Brooks, Jr., was deacon of the first church and ruling elder in 1814. There were forty-one by the name of Brooks participated in the Revolution- ary war from Connecticut. Captain Samuel Lewis Brooks was one of the heroes of the Continental army and commanded a battery of artillery under Washington at West Point. Later he served under General Lafayette and was with the latter during the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. He lived to enjoy the fruits of liberty for more than two-thirds of a century. His first enlistment in the army in June, 1776, was for a year, and in June, 1777, he re-enlisted for six years. He served as gunner, being discharged in June, 1783, at West Point, New York. He served under Cap- tain Robert Walker, Captain Jacob Reed, Colonel Elmore, of Connecticut, and Colonel John Lamb. On the 23d of April, 1818, at the age of sixty- two years, he made application for a pension, which was allowed. At that date he was a resident of New Milford, Litchfield county, Connecticut, but in 1824 removed to Monroe county, New York, where he died in 1846. It is a noteworthy fact that the combined lives of Rev. Thomas Brooks, the grand- father, Captain Samuel L. Brooks, the father, and of Garry Brooks, cover the period from 1719 to 1907, of one hundred and eighty-eight years.
Captain Samuel L. Brooks was married to Pheba Beers, who was born in 1761-2 in Danbury, Connecticut, and died January 9, 1848, at the age of eighty- six years in Penfield, New York. They had four children: Lewis, Lemuel, Ellis and Garry. Of this family Lewis Brooks, born in 1793, died at Roches-
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ter, August 9, 1877. He came to Monroe county from Connecticut in 1822, at the age of twenty-nine years. He was exceedingly modest and retiring in dis- position and rarely confided his affairs to others. He first engaged in Roches- ter in the manufacture of woolen cloth and later followed merchandising. In 1844, with Asa Sprague, he built Congress Hall. His investments were in good railroad and like securities and he also owned much valuable property in Rochester, his last years being devoted to his investments and the supervi- sion of his real estate. He was a great reader, well informed and much inter- ested in historical and scientific matters. He never accepted but one office, serving as alderman in 1827 in the first common council of Rochester. He was charitable to an eminent degree and almost literally followed the precept not to let the left hand know what the right doeth. His benefactions to the poor and needy were almost numberless and to different educational institu- tions he gave generously, the Lewis Brooks Museum of Natural Science of the University of Virginia being named in his honor in recognition of a gift of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to the institution. Rev. Lemuel Brooks, born in Brookfield, Connecticut, in 1797, died in Churchville, New York, September 21, 1881. His wife, Mrs. Maria Brooks, died in Rochester. Rev. Brooks devoted his life to the ministry and to work for mankind, and, after the death of their brother Lewis, he and his brother, Garry Brooks, each gave twenty-two thousand dollars to complete the museum in the state of Vir- ginia.
In the maternal line the ancestry of Garry Brooks can be traced back to Captain Richard Beers, Jr., who had a brother, James. Both were residents of Gravesend, County Kent, England, and James had two sons, James and Anthony. He was a mariner and died in 1632, after which his brother, Cap- tain Richard Beers, with the two sons of James Beers, came to America, locat- ing at Watertown, Massachusetts. Captain Richard Beers was an original proprietor of Watertown; freeman, March 16, 1636-7; selectman, 1644 to 1675; representative thirteen years, 1663 to 1675. He was a captain in King Philip's war and was slain by the Indians at Northfield, Massachusetts, Sep- tember '4, 1675. His will was probated October 5, 1675, his entire estate to go to his wife Elizabeth. The eldest of their seven children was Elna- than Beers, who was born in 1648 and died in 1696. In 1681 he mar- ried Sarah Tainter, who was born November 20, 1657. They had five children, their eldest son being Elnathan Beers, who was born February 17, 1680-I. He was married in 1727-8 to Anna Beach and their third child and second son was Peter Beers, who was baptized in April, 1734. The place of his birth was Stratford, Connecticut, and there he was married April 13, 1758, to Eunice Booth. They had seven children: Anna, born in 1759; Sarah, born June 30, 1760; James, April 23, 1762; Rachel, in August, 1764; Pheba, who was baptized February 18, 1767; Peter, who was baptized March 21, 1769; and Ashbel, in April, 1782. It was Pheba Beers of
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this family who became the wife of Captain Samuel Lewis Brooks and the mother of Garry Brooks.
Garry Brooks is today the only survivor of his father's family. At the usual age he became a public-school student in Connecticut, but when still quite young started out to make his own way in the world, being but a lad when apprenticed to a tailor in Litchfield to learn the cutter's trade. Before he had completed his apprenticeship his parents removed to western New York and purchased a farm in what is now the town of Penfield, Monroc county. When his term of indenture was ended Garry Brooks joined his parents in western New York, making the journey to this point by way of the Eric canal. He landed first at Fullamtown, a port on the canal between Fair- port and Rochester and which was then larger than Fairport. Almost imme- diately he went to live with his parents on the farm, where he remained con- finnonsly until his retirement from active life in 1867, since which time his res- idence has been in Fairport. He comes of a race in whom the warlike spirit in defense of honest convictions has ever been prominent and the soldier instinct showed itself in Garry Brooks while he was yet a boy. Following his removal to Monroe county he became identified with a militia company and rose through various grades, eventually becoming captain. The soldiery at that time were termed minutemen from the fact that they were likely to be called forth at a minute's notice to enter upon active service. In consequence it was necessary for an applicant to pass a government inspection and examination before he was admitted to the militia and after his acceptance he had hard work in learning the mannal of arms and mastering military duties. Four or five times each year there were"general training days," when several companies would assemble at a given point for further instruction under field officers. Captain Brooks mastered all the details and it is said that his company went through its paces more like regulars than militiamen. It is one of the Captain's cherished memories that in 1835 he won a silver cup and pitcher for having the best drilled company in western New York. The state also presented him with a gold mounted sword.
It was about this time that Captain Brooks was united in marriage to Miss Emma Chauncey, a direct descendant of Charles Chauncey, the cele- brated president of Harvard College, who died in 1672. Mrs. Brooks was born and reared in Connecticut but at the time of her marriage was living with her parents a short distance west of Rochester. She remained a faithful companion and helpmate to her husband for many years but they were sepa- rated by death on the 26th of October, 1889. They had four children, three of whom survive: Lewis S., who resides on the west side of Main street at the summit of the hill at the south end of Fairport; Mrs. Fanny L. Harris and Mrs. Enuna J. Saleno, also of Fairport.
Captain Brooks had two brothers, Rev. Lemuel Brooks, of Churchville, and Lewis Brooks of Rochester. At the time the construction of what is now
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the main line of the New York Central into Rochester was contemplated, the three brothers became interested in the project and were instrumental in securing most of the right of way for the proposed railroad between Roches- ter and the Wayne county line. The three brothers were also greatly inter- ested in higher education and gave liberally for the support and maintenance of several educational institutions, including Oberlin College, Berea College, the University of Virginia, Lake Forest University at Lake Forest, Illinois, Tabor College of Iowa, and also the Auburn Theological Seminary. Captain Brooks likewise joined with others in building the Penfield Academy and has ever been a stanch friend of the cause of education in Monroe county. Moreover, he has stood for development and improvement along other lines resulting beneficially to the county and his efforts have ever been of a practical, resultant character. Seventy-five years have passed since Captain Brooks proudly cast his first presidential vote. He has regarded it as the duty as well as the priv- ilege of the American citizen to exercise his right of franchise and upon the organization of the republican party he championed its cause and has since been one of its stanch advocates. His is indeed a notable career, not only by reason of longevity but also by reason of the fact that there is so little that can be said against him. No life is absolutely free from mistakes but none have ever questioned the honesty of his motives or his fidelity to a course that he has believed to be right. He is a broad-minded man, has always looked upon the world from the bright side of life, has made the most of his opportunities, has used his powers to an unusual degree for the benefit of others, and now in the late evening of life can look upon the past without regret and toward the future without fear.
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