USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 15
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hon. Alfred Ely
ular and honored was he in the city that at the time of his second election he was made the candidate of both parties. Faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation, his memory remains as an example and inspira- tion to all that knew aught of him. Both he and his wife passed away in Rochester and the city mourned the loss of one of its most distinguished, able and devoted men.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ely were born four children, but all are now deceased. Joseph F. Ely, the eldest, was a graduate of law and died in New York city when a young man. Charles died in infancy. Caroline Lydia became the wife of Albert Steinbarger and died soon after her marriage. Elizabeth died in childhood.
The death of the husband and father occurred on the 18th of May, 1892, and his remains were interred in the beautiful Ely mausoleum in Mount Hope cemetery at Rochester. He had continued in the practice of law until within a short time of his death. His life was indeed a busy one, as he was always occupied with some interest or another relating to his professional career or to the city's welfare. He largely had a statesman's grasp of affairs concern- ing political interests, for he was a deep student of the issues of the day, the sources from which they sprang and the probable outcome. His investiga- tion led him to give earnest support to the principles of the republican party as most conducive to good government. He was equally active and effective in church work, holding membership in St. Luke's church, of which he was long a vestryman and to which his wife also belongs. The Ely home at No. 126 Ply- mouth avenue is one of the most attractive in the city. Here Mr. Ely and his wife resided for over fifty years and Mrs. Ely yet remains there. She has a number of fine paintings of her honored husband. His library was one of the most extensive and valuable in western New York. He possessed marked literary taste and with the master minds of all ages was largely familiar through his wide reading and research. He possessed excellent. oratorical gifts and was frequently called upon to address public gatherings, while as a writer he was equally fluent and forceful. His life record is made up of good deeds, of a kindly spirit, of professional activity and honor. He held friend- ship inviolable, but while he was known as a prominent citizen and loyal friend, his best traits of character were reserved for his own home and fire- side.
Octgar HCurtice
Edgar A. Curtice
T HE FINANCIAL and commercial history of Roches- ter would be incomplete and unsatisfactory without a personal and somewhat extended mention of those whose lives are interwoven closely with its industrial and financial development. When a man or select number of men have set in motion the machinery of business, which materializes into a thousand forms of practical utility, or where they have carved out a fortune or a name from the common possibilities, open for competition to all, there is a public desire, which should be gratified, to see the men so nearly as a portrait and a word artist can paint them and examine the elements of mind and the circumstances by which such results have been achieved.
The subject of this review finds an appropriate place in the history of those men of business and enterprise in the state of New York whose force of character, whose sterling integrity, whose fortitude amid discouragements, whose good sense in the management of complicated affairs and marked suc- cess in establishing large industries and bringing to completion great com- mercial undertakings, have contributed in an eminent degree to the develop- ment of the resources of this noble commonwealth. The great army of employes and the magnitude of the business which he controls both attest the marked ability of Edgar N. Curtice, whose name is known in trade cir- cles wherever civilization has left its stamp.
He was born in Webster, Monroe county, on the 9th of December, 1844, a son of Mark Curtice and a descendant of one of the oldest colonial families. His ancestry is traced back to Henry Curtice, who was one of the original grantees of the town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1638. His son, Lieuten- ant Ephraim Curtice, born March 31, 1642, was a noted frontiersman and famous Indian scout. Ephraim Curtice, son of Lieutenant Curtice, was born in Topsfield, Massachusetts, in 1662 and became the father of Ebenezer Cur- tice, born in Boxford, Massachusetts, August 31, 1707. The latter's son, Jacob Curtice, was born March 21, 1730, in Topsfield, Massachusetts. He wedded Mary Stiles, a native of Boxford, Massachusetts, and from Boxford removed to Amherst, New Hampshire. He and five of his sons valiantly fought for American independence in the Revolutionary war, Jacob Curtice enlisting at Amherst in 1775 and serving until the close of hostilities. Jacob
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Edgar .I. Curtice
prise of which Mr. Curtice is the head, and of which he and his brother have been the creators.
Edgar N. Curtice was married in 1876 to Lucy E. Gardner. Their only son, E. N. Curtice, Jr., born in 1878, died in 1905, in which year the death of Mrs. Curtice also occurred. Louie Belle, a daughter, is the wife of Fred- erick Edwin Bickford. Agnes Eloise, another daughter, is the wife of Dr. Volney A. Hoard.
Mr. Curtice is a member of various clubs and social organizations, among them the Genesee Valley Club, the Rochester Whist Club, the Country Club of Rochester and the Oak Hill Country Club. Deeply interested in the welfare and commercial development of Rochester, he has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce since its organization, and he is also a director of the National Bank of Rochester and of the Fidelity Trust Company. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he is identified with the Sons of the American Revolution.
Such, in brief, is the life history of E. N. Curtice, a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, his indefatigable energy and his fertility of resource. One of the prominent characteristics of his successful business career is that his vision has never been bounded by the exigencies of the moment, but has covered as well the possibilities and opportunities of the future. This has led him into extensive undertakings, bringing him into marked prominence in industrial and commercial circles. A man of unswerv- ing integrity and honor, one who has a perfect appreciation of the higher ethics of life, he has gained and retained the confidence and respect of his fel- lowmen and is distinctively one of the leading citizens, not only of Roches- ter, but of the Empire state, with whose interests he has been identified throughout his entire career.
J. lo Laver
Frederick C. Lauer
F REDERICK C. LAUER was born in Rochester, New York, August 17, 1845, his parents being Frederick C. and Margaret Elizabeth (Walter) Lauer, natives of Prussia, Germany, and of France respectively. In 1833, when a youth of eleven years, Frederick C. Lauer, Sr., came to America with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Christian Lauer, who located on Brown street in Rochester, while subsequently they removed to Grove street, where they spent their remaining days. Christian Lauer followed the shoemaker's trade for some years and afterward worked as a stone-mason. His death occurred when he had reached the age of eighty-two, and his wife passed away at the age of eighty-three. They were the parents of six sons and two daughters, of whom one is yet living: Margaret, the wife of Christian Frank.
Frederick C. Lauer, Jr., was reared to manhood in Rochester and learned the mason's trade, in which line he began contracting after he attained his majority. Subsequently he became a street contractor and constructed a num- ber of the streets in Rochester. He always took a commendable interest in public affairs, especially along educational lines, and for two years was a mem- ber of the school board. He also figured in military circles as a member of the state militia and his political allegiance was given to the whig party until its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new republican party. He held membership in Valley lodge, F. & A. M., and both he and his wife were mem- bers of the Lutheran church. His death occurred in 1895, when he was sev- enty-five years of age, while his wife passed away in 1876 at the age of fifty- four years. In their family were seven children, four sons and three daugh- ters, of whom five are yet livng: Frederick C .; Caroline C., the wife of George F. Tichenor, of Manchester, Kansas; Adelia and Amelia, twins, the former the wife of Frederick Wanamacher, of Rochester, and the latter the widow of a Mr. Koerner, of Rochester; and Edward C., a railroad contractor of this city.
Frederick C. Lauer, whose name introduces this record, has spent his entire life in Rochester and is indebted to its public-school system for the edu- cational privileges he acquired. He began working for his father at the age of fifteen years, learning the mason's trade and eventually taking up contract work as his father's partner. After his father's death he continued the busi-
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Frederick C. Lauer
ness alone until 1906, when he admitted his sons, Walter F. and George W., to a partnership under the firm name of F. C. Lauer & Sons, and in 1907 the company was incorporated under the firm style of F. C. Lauer & Sons Com- pany. There stand as monuments to his skill and enterprise a number of the fine buildings of Rochester, and in association with S. W. Hagaman, under the firm name of Lauer & Hagaman, he was extensively engaged in business as street and sewer contractors. The firm during its existence did most of the important work of that character in the city. Mr. Lauer also became presi- dent of the Vulcanide Paving Company, which was organized in 1888 and does most of the asphalt paving of Rochester. He assisted in organizing the Rochester Lime Company and succeeded Horace May to the presidency. He likewise owns some valuable farming property in this county and extensive land holdings near the Montezuma marshes, between Clyde and Savannah.
On the 20th of November, 1872, Frederick C. Lauer was married to Miss Christine Steinhauser, a daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Smith) Steinhauser. They became the parents of three sons: Walter F., Edward T. and George W. The second son died in infancy. Walter F. married Amanda Strauchen and they have four children: Edwin S., Frederick Charles, Franklin Albert and Elizabeth Elsie. George W. married Fannie A. McAllister and they have one daughter, Christine Frances. The sons are now associated with their father in business and are enterprising young men.
Mr. Lauer is not unknown in military circles and for a number of years served as captain of Company G of the New York National Guard. He and his wife are members of the Church of the Reformation, with which he became identified on its organization. He belongs to Valley lodge, No. 109, F. & A. M .; Ionic chapter, R. A. M .; Monroe commandery, K. T .; and has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite in Rochester consistory. He is likewise a charter member of Koerner lodge of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Calvin. His political allegiance is given the republican party, and he has been called to various local offices, having served at different times as supervisor, alderman, school commissioner, member of the executive board and member of the board of health. He has never been a public man in the ordinary sense. He has held some offices, the duties of which have been discharged with the utmost fidelity and promptness. Aside from this, how- ever, through the business enterprises he has conducted the public has been a large indirect beneficiary and at the same time he has exerted his influence as a strong, steady, moving force in the social, moral and industrial advance- ment of the community. A contemporary biographer has said: "His strict integrity and honorable dealing in business commend him to the confidence of all; his pleasant manner wins him friends; and he is one of the popular and honored residents of his native city."
Frederick Miller
Frederick Miller
T HERE IS perhaps in this volume no history which serves to illustrate more clearly the force of deter- mination and persistent purpose in enabling one to rise from a humble financial position to one of wealth and affluence than does the record of Fred- erick Miller, now deceased, who for many years was a prominent business man of the Flower City. For over a half century he was engaged in the brewing business here and was the founder of the Flower City Brewery. He was also well known in local military circles and in connection with other business enterprises. Mr. Miller was born at Oberlinxweiler, Germany, January 28, 1822. His parents, George and Elizabeth (Baker) Miller, were also natives of that place and resided upon a farm there until 1834, when the family sailed for America. They came direct to Rochester but only remained here for about a year and then removed to the middle west, settling in Cook county, Illinois, the father pur- chasing a farm about twenty-one miles from Chicago. Later he returned to Rochester, where both he and his wife died.
Frederick Miller of this review began earning his living as a waiter in the hotels of Chicago for a few years. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to a carpenter, William Jones, who paid him one dollar per week and board. His term of apprenticeship continued for three years, during which time he assisted in building some of the finest residences in Rochester, together with schools, churches and other public buildings. He helped to build the Trinity Evangelical church on Allen street, of which he became a member, continu- ing as such throughout the remainder of his life. As a contractor and builder he did important work in the improvement of the city and many fine specimens of the architecture of an earlier period still stand as monuments to his thrift and handiwork.
In 1852 Mr. Miller turned his attention to another field of business. He established a small brewery on Brown street, where he employed a number of men. He continued the business there until 1861 but in the meantime his trade had constantly increased until it had reached such proportions that he was obliged to have larger quarters. He therefore purchased the site upon which the Flower City Brewery now stands on Lake avenue and there built a larger plant. He conducted the business on his own account until 1882,
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Frederick miller
when the Miller Brewing Company was organized, of which Mr. Miller was made president, with Rudolph Vay as vice president, Solomon Wile secretary, and Moses Hays, treasurer. More stockholders were admitted from time to time. The business still continued to increase and later the name was changed to The Flower City Brewing Company. Mr. Miller was the prin- cipal stockholder in the same and retained his connection with the business throughout his remaining days. Three times was the plant destroyed by fire. It was first burned in 1869, again in 1876 and the third time in 1886, so that he had to rebuild each time. In 1893 Mr. Miller determined to retire from active work but he still remained a stockholder and director of the brewery until called to his final rest. He was succeeded by John C. Enders, who has since been president of the brewery.
Frederick Miller was three times married. He first wedded Christine Her- tel, who died in Rochester in 1867. There were ten children of that marriage, of whom six are now living, all residents of Rochester, namely: Frederick, William, George, Christine, Mrs. Mary Haap and Mrs. Catherine Hermann, For his second wife Frederick Miller chose Louisa Hertel, who died in 1876. There were five children of that marriage, four of whom are yet livng. These are Amelia, Albert, Julius and Arthur. For his third wife Mr. Miller chose Miss Emily Fuchs, a native of Wayne county, New York. In 1886 Mr. Mil- ler and his wife made a trip to Europe, visiting his native country and vari- ous other points of interest during the three months which they spent abroad. At a later date he again visited the fatherland.
Mr. Miller made an excellent record in connection with the public inter- ests of the city. He was especially well known in military circles. Having a fondness for the life of a soldier, he helped organize the Rochester German Grenadiers and was made captain of the organization in 1840. A few years later it became part of the Fifty-fourth Regiment. At the time of the draft riots in New York, Captain Miller's company was called into action, a request being sent from New York to have the Rochester company go to that city to restore order. At Albany the company was ordered to proceed no further and for a long time was stationed at the capital to protect the public buildings, which were threatened. When the National Guard of New York state was being re-organized in 1873, Captain Miller was made captain of the cavalry and two years later was commissioned a lieutenant colonel. Mr. Miller was also a volunteer fireman, belonging to the first hook and ladder company of Roches- ter.
His political allegiance was given to the democracy and for five terms he represented his ward on the board of supervisors, being first elected in 1876, again in 1885 and once more in 1886. His official duties were discharged with a sense of conscientious obligation that showed his loyal interest in the welfare and progress of the city. Mr. Miller was also an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he attained the Knight Templar degree.
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Frederick Miller
He built the residence where his widow and children now reside-a com- modious and beautiful home at No. 416 Lake avenue. They also have a nice summer home on Keuka lake, where they spend the warm months.
The death of Mr. Miller occurred on the IIth of April, 1906, and was the occasion of deep and unfeigned regret, for he had long been recognized as a prominent business man, much interested in the upbuilding of Rochester. For over fifty years he had figured in its commercial circles and in connection with many public events. He was, moreover, a splendid type of the self-made man who is not only the architect but the builder of his own fortunes. He early started out in life on his own account and faced difficulties and obstacles which would be utterly disheartening to many, but he possessed a strong, reso- lute spirit and as the years passed by he so improved his opportunities and utilized his advantages that he made for himself a prominent place in the busi- ness world.
Geo B. Smith
George B. Smith
V ARIOUS important industries and business undertak- ings have felt the stimulus of the aid, co-operation and wise counsel of George B. Smith, who at this writing is living retired at the venerable age of ninety years. He came to Rochester in 1833 and few have longer resided in the city, his memory going back to the time when it was a small town of little industrial and commercial importance. He has seen the extension of its borders to accommodate its growth and has witnessed its development into a business center with ramify- ing interests reaching out in all directions and bearing no little influence upon trade conditions at large. Mr. Smith is a native of Burlington, Ver- mont, born on the Ist of June, 1817. His father, Peter B. Smith, died before the removal of the son to the Empire state. In one of the old time log school- houses of Vermont George B. Smith acquired his education and in the winter of 1833-4 he and George B. Harris carried papers for his brother, Sydney Smith, who was at that time publishing a paper in Rochester. This brother was the first police justice of the city and in other ways was prominently con- nected with public interests.
In the spring of 1834 George B. Smith secured a clerkship with John B. Dewey, working for four dollars per month and boarding himself. He con- tinued in that employ until the spring of 1837, when he removed to Michigan but after eighteen months spent in the Wolverine state he returned to Roches- ter. He then clerked for David Moody until 1842, when in connection with L. E. Gould he bought out the Moody grocery store and the firm of Smith & Gould continued business for eighteen years. Throughout this period his financial resources were increasing by means of a constantly enlarging trade. On retiring from the grocery business Mr. Smith turned his attention to the coal trade, in which he became a partner of John B. Dewey, later, however, selling out to the firm of Dewey & Davis. He then became a member of the firm of Smith & Roberts, wholesale dealers in coal, and they developed a busi- ness of extensive proportions, in which connection they built the Genesee docks on the river to facilitate shipping. They did an extensive shipping busi- ness to Chicago by way of the lakes under the firm style of H. C. Roberts & Company, and when Mr. Smith's connection had continued in this enterprise for some years he retired and became connected with the operation of a blast
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George 23. Smith
furnace. He was director and president of a company engaged in the manu- facture of pig iron but finally sold out about 1902. During his active life, in 1880, he was one of the promoters of the Bay Railroad, became one of its first directors and was later vice president but subsequently the road was sold to a syndicate. His business interests were ever of such a character as con- tributed to general progress and upbuilding as well as to individual success and he did much to further the interests and welfare of the city, his co-opera- tion being never sought in vain in behalf of Rochester.
Mr. Smith was married in early manhood to Miss Caroline A. Broome, a native of Connecticut and a daughter of Horatio Gates Broome. It was in honor of her grandfather and his brother, Samuel and John Broome, that the county of Broome, New York, was named. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born a son and daughter: Henry B., who is now in the coal business at No. 39 Fitzhugh street; and Mary E., who is with her father. The son served as a soldier of the Civil war and now draws a pension in recognition of the aid which he rendered the government. The wife and mother, Mrs. Caroline Smith, died in October, 1906, when nearly ninety years of age, and thus death ter- minated a happy married relation which continued for over sixty-two years.
The home which Mr. Smith occupies was purchased by him a number of years ago. He is still a very active man and his mental alertness is remark- able. He can remember as if but yesterday seeing General Lafayette in Ver- mont when the French marquis was visiting this country. In politics he is a stalwart republican. In his business life has been manifest much of the spirit of the initiative. Many men seem capable of carrying out ideas and plans formulated by others but not in instituting new measures or enterprises. Mr. Smith, however, has established a number of business interests which have proven profitable and is one to whom Rochester owes not a little for its present commercial prosperity. In all of his undertakings he has been eminently prac- tical and, moreover, sustains an unassailable reputation as one whose prob- ity has ever been above question.
Squire Jeal
Squire Teal
S QUIRE TEAL, for many years a prominent repre- sentative of industrial interests in Rochester, who assisted in establishing an industry which still endures, was a native of England, having been born in Yorkshire, October 1, 1837. His father, James Teal, was a machinist and inventor of no little skill and was likewise an expert in clock-making, the clock in the tower of St. Peter's church in Sowerby remaining to this day a monument of his skillful workmanship. All of his six sons inherited more or less of their father's gen- ius, and his son Squire perhaps to an especial degree. At the age of fourteen the latter entered a machine shop at Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire, where he served an apprenticeship of seven years.
In the year 1859 Mr. Teal came to Rochester and soon after his arrival entered the employ of John Greenwood, who then conducted a machine shop on Mill street. About this time Mr. Greenwood began experimenting in bar- rel machinery and found in Mr. Teal an expert machinist who was peculiarly fitted to make a practical application of his ideas along that line. In 1865 a machine for making slack barrels was perfected and a patent obtained there- for
Mr. Teal now entered into partnership with Mr. Greenwood, and the firm, under the name of John Greenwood & Company, made the manufacture and sale of barrel machinery their chief business. For a number of years they had a monopoly of the business in their line, their slack barrel machinery being the first invention of its kind, and the business of the firm grew rapidly and was profitable to its owners. About the year 1874 the business was removed to Nos. 122, 124 and 126 Mill street, where it was continued with great success until after the death of both members of the firm.
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