USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 13
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When asked what he would most like to say on the occasion of the one hun- dredth anniversary of his birth Captain Brooks took up a small hymn book that was published in London, and turning to one of the hymns said:
"I think that this hymn best expresses my thoughts at this time." This is the hymn :
When we survey the wondrous cross On which the Lord of glory died, Our richest gain we count but loss, And pour contempt on all our pride.
Our God forbid that we should boast, Save in the death of Christ, our Lord; All the vain things that charm us most, We'd sacrifice them at his word.
There from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flowed mingled down; Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
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Barry Brooks
Were the whole realm of nature ours, That were an offering far too small; Love that transcends our highest powers, Demands our soul, our life, our all.
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Aaron Erickson
Aaron Erickson
A MONG THE names of the men that stand out promi- nently on the pages of Rochester's history is that of Aaron Erickson, who contributed in substantial meas- ure to the upbuilding of the city, where he located in pioneer times. His life record extended over seven- ty-four years-years fruitful in successful accom- plishment, years fraught with good deeds and crowned with honor and respect. The birth of Mr. Erickson occurred on the 25th of February, 1806, in Allentown, New Jersey, within sight of the historic battlefield of Monmouth, and he represented one of the old and prominent families of the state. His father served with the American army in the attainment of independence through the Revolutionary war. He was the youngest of several children and in the comfortable home of his parents his boyhood and youth were passed, but the desire to test his own strength and to develop the latent powers with which nature had endowed him led him to leave home when a youth of seventeen years and 1823 witnessed his arrival in the then little town of Rochester. He took up his abode with C. H. Bicknell and entered business life as a worker at the machinist's trade in the manufacture of axes and similar commodities. The industry, close application and determination which are the basis of all success brought to him prosperity in the undertaking and he often pointed with pride to the fact that he made with his own hands the iron yoke that swung the bell in the old St. Luke's church.
Mr. Erickson had been a resident of Rochester for but four years when he established a home of his own through his marriage to Miss Hannah Bockoven, of Lyons, New York, and soon after erected a dwelling on Clinton street, where the young couple were at home to their friends, the number of whom increased yearly as the circle of their acquaintance widened.
It was about this time that Mr. Erickson withdrew from the machinist's trade and began the manufacture of potash at Frankfort. His patronage increased rapidly and he was soon in control of what was considered at that time a very extensive business. Laudable ambition, however, prompted him to enter still broader fields with larger opportunities and greater scope for his industry and business sagacity-his dominant qualities. Therefore, abandon- ing the potash manufactory, he became a dealer in wool and morocco on Water street in Rochester, forming a partnership with Ezra M. Parsons. Their busi-
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ness developed along substantial lines until the firm became the largest buyers of wool in this section and in 1850 Mr. Erickson established the famous wool house of Erickson, Livermore & Company at Boston, which rapidly became the leading enterprise of this character in the country, conducting a mammoth business.
Each forward step in his career brought him a wider outlook and his ready recognition of opportunity constituted one of the strongest elements in his busi- ness advancement. He had been engaged in the wool trade for three years when he organized and opened the Union Bank, capitalized for five hundred thousand dollars. From the beginning he was its president and the institu- tion enjoyed a prosperous existence under that name until the spring of 1865, when it was converted into a national bank under the title of the National Union Bank. In the following year, however, Mr. Erickson purchased the bank and established in its stead a private banking house under the firm name of Erickson & Jennings. The admission of George E. Mumford to a partnership led to the adoption of the firm name of Erickson, Jennings & Mumford and under this style the business was conducted for twelve years. Mr. Mumford with- drew in May, 1879, and was succeeded by A. Erickson Perkins, a grandson of Mr. Erickson, which partnership existed until the death of the bank's founder on the 27th of January, 1880. Mr. Erickson's strict integrity, business conservatism and judgment were always so uniformly recognized that he enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree. For many years he was also a director in the Park Bank of New York city and was a member of the board at the time of his death.
Mr. Erickson left no son to carry on his work, for his last surviving son, Aaron Erickson, passed away at Revere, Massachusetts, in August, 1871. In the family were eight children but only three daughters survived the father : Mrs. W. S. Nichols, of Staten Island; Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins, of Rochester ; and Mrs. W. D. Powell, of New York. In 1842 he builded his home on East avenue and he lived to witness its transformation into one of the most beauti- ful thoroughfares of the city. The home was ever characterized by the most gracious and liberal hospitality and through more than a half century the name of Erickson figured prominently in the social circles of Rochester.
As Mr. Erickson's success increased so did his charities and benefactions grow and expand. Few men have realized as fully as he did the obligations and the responsibilities of wealth. He did not believe in that indiscriminate giving which fosters vagrancy and idleness but no case of real need ever sought his assistance in vain and many gifts were spontaneously made whereby the poor and unfortunate were direct beneficiaries. A man is admired but is not loved for his successes; he is loved for his good deeds and it was the kindly spirit, the generous sympathy and the great helpfulness of Aaron Erickson that so endeared him to his fellow townsmen and caused his memory to be enshrined in their hearts, although a quarter of a century has come and gone
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since he was an active factor in the world. He found genuine delight in help- ing young men to make a start in the business world. His employes recognized that faithfulness and capability meant promotion as opportunity offered and when they left his service he ever gladly spoke the word of recommendation and encouragement which enabled them to take a forward step in the business world. Many organized charities received his timely assistance. He was presi- dent of the board of directors of the City Hospital for years and occupied that position at the time of his demise. He gave freely to the different benevolent organizations of Rochester and to many other institutions situated elsewhere. The Industrial School and the Institute for Deaf Mutes found in him a gener- ous friend, while his deeds of charity, unknown save to himself and the recip- ient, were innumerable. Few men have been so unostentatious in their giv- ing but Mr. Erickson found his reward in the pleasure that came to him in helping a fellow traveler on the journey of life.
To one of such breadth of nature as Aaron Erickson matters of citizenship are always of deep interest. It would be impossible for such a man to enjoy the protection of a government, to benefit by the municipal interests and not give return in co-operation in the various movements and plans tending to promote local advancement and national progress. He was never a politician in the commonly accepted sense of that term, yet he filled some local offices, regarding it as his duty to perform such service as he could for his fellow townsmen. He was alderman for one term from the old fifth ward and was both alderman and supervisor at different times from the seventh. In 1860 he was appointed, with the late Amon Bronson, a commissioner to erect bridges at Clarissa and Andrew streets over the Genesee river and the manner in which the work was accomplished is a monument to the thoroughness in which he carried out the trusts imposed upon him. To the last he was always intensely interested in his city and in those things which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride. In his later years he retired to a large extent from active par- ticipation in business but his nature was such that want of occupation could have no attraction for him. His later years were given to the development of those strong intellectual tastes which were ever with him a marked character- istic. Throughout his entire life he was a student of the signs of the times, of the great sociological problems, the governmental questions and of the sciences, especially in their practical adaptation for the benefit of mankind. He was an earnest student of horticulture, pomology, floriculture and the natural sciences, and he delighted in the society of men of intellect and was regarded as their peer and often their superior. His mind was enriched with knowledge gained both from travel and extensive reading. In 1869 he visited Palestine and ascended the Nile. He also visited the various European countries and his last summer was spent on the continent. In an analyzation of his character to determine the motive springs of conduct, one must accede the fact that in all things that he accomplished he was prompted by the spirit of true Chris-
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tianity. During his early residence in Rochester he became a member of St. Paul's chuch and after its destruction by fire in 1846 he joined St. Luke's church, with which he was identified until his demise. His was not that relig- ion typified by dogmas and creeds, but the religion which found expression in the faithful performance of the duty at hand, that sought to overcome wrong by right and the false by the true. One of nature's noblemen, he stood four square to every wind that blows and his memory remains as a benediction and an inspiration to those who knew him.
Luther Gordon
F EW MEN of Brockport were more prominent or widely known than Luther Gordon, who for a quar- ter of a century was prominently identified with the commercial and banking interests of that city. He was a man of keen discernment and sound judgment and his executive ability and excellent management brought to the concern with which he was con- nected a large degree of success. Moreover, he dis- played in the conduct of his business interests those traits of character which ever command regard and confidence and he belonged to that class of representative American citizens who promote the general pros- perity while advancing individual interests.
A native of New York state, Mr. Gordon was born in Rushford, February 8, 1822, and inherited many of the sterling characteristics of his Scotch ances- try. The founder of the family in America was his grandfather, James Gor- don, who was born in the land of hills and heather and was a son of James and Kastorn (Davis) Gordon, of Lead, Perthshire, Scotland. Leaving his native land, James Gordon, Jr., crossedthe Atlantic when a young man and landed on the shores of the new world, June 15, 1775, becoming a resident of Epping, Rockingham county, New Hampshire. His sympathies being with the colonists in their struggle for independence, he joined the American army and served with distinction until honorably discharged from service at the close of the war, July 1, 1782. He married Miss Jerusha Tarbell, at Groton, Massa- chusetts, and they became the parents of seven children, namely : Thomas, Kas- torn, James, Tarbell, William, John and Wilson. The father of this family died at Rushford, New York, on the 9th of December, 1844, at the advanced age of ninety-two years.
His son, John Gordon, the father of Luther Gordon, was born in Caven- dish, Vermont, on the 4th of August, 1790, and in early manhood was united in marriage to Miss Harmony Woodworth, a native of Connecticut, by whom he had five children, James, Luther, Walter, Matilda and Wilson. Leaving New England in the early part of 1809, he came to the Empire state. In company with the Gary brothers he then made his way to Allegany county, being one of the first to locate in that region, and on the 12th of June, 1809, he and William Gary felled the first tree ever cut in the town of Rushford, New York. He continued to make his home there throughout the remainder of his life and died February 12, 1842.
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Luther Bordon
Luther Gordon was reared to manhood in his native town and after his father's death started out to make his own way in the world. Forming a part- nership with Henry White, he leased a furnace belonging to Samuel White, and after operating it for seven weeks he purchased the entire plant, which he at once began to enlarge and improve in order to meet the growing demands of his trade. At the end of eight months it was completed and in full operation. Seven months later he sold the business to Mr. White with the understanding that he would not again engage in that line of business in Rushford. In the meantime Mr. Gordon had invented the well known Genesee plow, which con- stantly grew in popular favor and was extensively manufactured in his foundry. Later he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, erecting two buildings and opening two general stores in the year after his retirement from the foun- dry business. He then continued in mercantile lines with marked success for fourteen years. At the same time he was also interested in the live-stock busi- ness, buying and driving stock to the eastern markets through the summer months for sixteen years, while in the winter seasons he devoted his attention to the lumber trade. These enterprises also proved profitable, as he never depended upon agents but personally transacted his business affairs, giving to each detail due consideration and care.
It was in 1856 that Mr. Gordon embarked in the lumber business at Brock- port, New York, purchasing the interests of Boswell and Walker in the firm of Boswell, Walker & Hood, while five years later he became sole owner. He then erected an extensive steam sawmill and steam planing-mill in Brockport and purchased several hundred acres of timber land at Portville, Cattaraugus county, New York, on which he built another sawmill, carrying on an exten- sive wholesale lumber business. Disposing of his property in Rushford in 1858, he brought his family to Brockport, where he had erected an elegant resi- dence, continuing to make it his home until his death, which occurred in March, 1881.
In the meantime Mr. Gordon had extended his business interests into other fields and in all met with gratifying success. In partnership with George S. Weaver, of Albany, New York, he leased a large sawmill at East Saginaw, Michigan, in 1860, and there manufactured lumber which he shipped to Brock- port and various other points. Two years later he bought a half interest and after four years' ownership sold it to the Flint & Marquette Railway Com- pany. The extension of his lumber interests led to the erection of a large saw- mill at Sterling, Michigan, in the ownership of which he was associated with his brother Walter, and there they manufactured lumber on an extensive scale, taking the raw material from a tract of pine timber land of nearly seven thou- sand acres which they owned. They made extensive shipments to the eastern markets and the business proved a very profitable one. Mr. Gordon also had a steam mill and gristmill at Holley, New York, and operated all of these mills up to the time of his death. He was ever watchful of opportunities, quick to
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note and utilize a possibility and his executive force and keen discernment led to a marvelous success. Mr. Gordon also extended his lumber interests in 1867 to the building of a sawmill on the Allegany river, four miles above Olean, New York, and there gave his attention largely to the manufacture of hem- lock and hardwood lumber. In the early days of his operations as a lumber mer- chant he dealt largely in Rochester, selling a great portion of his lumber to the agents of Anson Brown. In 1873 he disposed of his lumber business in Brockport to Ellis Garrison and Charles Benedict but after three months, in connection with his brother, James Gordon, repurchased the business, which was then carried on under the firm style of Luther Gordon, Brother & Son.
In the meantime Mr. Gordon had become equally well known as a financier and owned a controlling interest in the National Bank Association which was organized in Brockport in 1863. In fact he was largely instrumental in the establishment of this institution and was made its president. His adaptability for finance was soon acknowledged and in moneyed circles he displayed most sound judgment, placing the institution upon such a practical and safe basis as to give it an enviable position in the financial world. He remained at the head of the bank until his death and it is today one of the institutions which stands as a monument to his business ability.
As a financier Mr. Gordon ranked among the ablest and in business affairs was prompt, energetic and notably reliable. He was watchful of all details and of all indications pointing toward success and the prosperity that crowned his efforts was the merited reward of a life of industry. He started out when a young man of eighteen years without capital or influential friends to aid him but, brooking no obstacles that could be overcome by honest effort, he worked his way steadily upward until he left the ranks of the many and stood among the successful few-a man honored and esteemed wherever known and most of all where best known.
On the 24th of April, 1848, in Allegany county, Mr. Gordon was married to Miss Florilla Cooley, of Attica, Wyoming county, New York, who after a happy married life of almost twenty-one years, died in Brockport, New York, February 8, 1869. Their only son, George Cooley, became a worthy follower of his father in the business world and a most honored citizen of Brockport, so that the name of Gordon has long figured conspicuously and prominently in connection with the business development of the history of the city.
Tiwan Merkins
Bilman Till Perkins
W HEN DEATH claimed Gilman Hill Perkins on the 16th of November, 1898, Rochester mourned the loss of a citizen whom it had long known and honored, whose life had constituted an integral chapter in her history and whose memory is cherished as one whose influence was ever on the side of the city's substantial development and growth along business, intellectual and moral lines. He was born in Gene- seo, March 4, 1827, and in the spring of 1832 went to live with his grandmother in Bethlehem, Connecticut, owing to the death of his mother when he was but four years of age. Two years later when his father married again he returned home. He began his education in the schools of Connecticut and after returning to Geneseo was for three years a pupil in the district school there. Between the years 1837 and 1842 he was a stu- dent in the Temple Hill Academy but left school at the age of fourteen years to enter business life. The first money which he ever earned came to him dur- ing the periods of vacation for service in the county clerk's office in comparing mortgages and deeds for Samuel P. Allen, afterward a resident of Rochester. He also folded the Geneseo Republican for Mr. Allen, its editor, on Satur- day afternoons for nearly a year, for which work he received twenty-five cents per week. This was long prior to the time when invention attached folders to newspaper presses. On permanently leaving school at the age of fourteen years Mr. Perkins entered the book store of John Turner, where he worked for six months at twelve shillings per week. He had been in the store only a few weeks when his employer died and at the age of fifteen he assumed the management of the store and was given entire charge for half a year.
Mr. Perkins arrived in Rochester on the 19th of March, 1844. He was the possessor of two suits of clothes and three dollars in money. At nine o'clock in the evening he had left Geneseo as a passenger on a stage coach, arriv- ing in Rochester at eight o'clock the following morning. The city was small and of little commercial or industrial importance as compared with its present conditions but Mr. Perkins saw here the opportunity for business advance- ment. He sought and secured employment in the wholesale grocery house of E. F. Smith & Company, where he remained until the spring of 1847, when he was compelled to leave on account of ill health. He then secured a situation at the "Old Red Mill," owned by Harry B. Williams. This gave him less
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arduous employment and enabled him to spend much time out of doors in driv- ing about the country buying wheat. His health improved in this way and in 1848 he re-entered the employ of E. F. Smith & Company as clerk, grad- ually working his way upward until on the Ist of January, 1852, he was admitted to a partnership in the business. Later the firm style of Smith & Perkins was assumed and subsequently that of Smith, Perkins & Company. At the time of his death Mr. Perkins had for many years been president of the firm. There was nothing spectacular in the growth of the business. It came through laborious effort during the long years and was one of the marked instances of successful business development on the solid basis of merit. As president Mr. Perkins carefully controlled its interests, watching the markets and the indications of trade and ever maintaining a commercial policy that was unassailable from the standpoint of integrity and fair dealing.
His efforts were not confined alone to the wholesale grocery business, however, for he became a valued factor in the promotion and conservation of many leading business enterprises of the city. In 1879 he was made a trustee of the Rochester Savings Bank and so continued until his death. He was an officer and director of the Union Bank from 1858 and a trustee of the Rochester Trust and Safe Deposit Company from 1888. Upon the organiza- tion of the Security Trust Company in 1891 he became one of its trustees and was also a director of the Genesee Valley Railroad and the Rochester Gas & Electric Company.
When a young man enters into the life of any community his actions are closely watched as an indication of character and purposes and his reception in business and social circles is determined thereby. Mr. Perkins had not long been a resident of Rochester before the consensus of public opinion became favorable and throughout the years he grew in the respect and confidence of his fellowmen and there was naught in his life to disturb their perfect trust. During the first seven or eight years of his residence here he attended the First Presbyterian church and during a part of that time was a member of the choir. In 1852 he took a seat with John Rochester, William Pitkin, Edward Smith and Frederick Whittlesey in one of the old box pews at one end of the choir in St. Luke's, where he had his seat until his marriage. He served as a vestryman of St. Luke's from 1858 until 1869 with the exception of the years 1864-5. In 1869 he was chosen a warden of the church and so continued until his death. He was, moreover, deeply interested in the various activities of the church and in much charitable and benevolent work. He served as a trustee of the State Industrial School, was a trustee of the City Hospital and also of the Reynolds Library. He took a deep and public- spirited interest in community affairs and aided in the furtherance of various projects for the public good. He was a member of the Hemlock water works commission, which furnished the city its first pure water supply, and in 1892 he was chosen a presidential elector on the republican ticket. He was a
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member and one of the founders of the Genesee Valley Club and at one time served as its president.
In 1856 Mr. Perkins was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Erickson, a daughter of Aaron Erickson, and theirs was largely an ideal home life. They became the parents of four sons and four daughters and the following still survive: Erickson and Gilman N., who are prominent business men of Rochester: Carolyn, now Mrs. Thornton Jeffress; Berenice, Mrs. H. V. W. Wickes; and Gertrude, Mrs. John Craig Powers.
Mr. Perkins ever held friendship inviolable, while the best traits of his character were reserved for his own fireside. At his death expressions of regret were heard on every hand throughout Rochester and wherever he was known and resolutions of respect were adopted by the trustees of the Rochester Savings Bank, the directors of the Union Bank, the trustees of the Union Trust Company, of the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit Company and of the vestry of St. Luke's church, with which he had been identified for more than forty years. While he was a remarkably successful business man and contributed in large measure to Rochester's advancement in this direc- tion, it was his personal traits of character, his kindliness, his geniality, his consideration and his unfaltering honor that endeared him so closely to those who knew him. "Not the good that comes to us but the good that comes to the world through us is the measure of our success," and judged in this way Gilman Hill Perkins was pre-eminently a successful man.
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