USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 19
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In 1828 Mr. Barnett brought his young wife, Catherine Lyell Thorpe to Brockport. She proved to him a true helpmate and is yet lovingly remembered by all who knew her. Mr. Barnett purchased land and built the house in which they lived happily for so many years. Of their five children, three are yet living : Mary H. and Frances C., who made their home with their father; and James M. Barnett, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who is president of the Old National Bank.
In his political views Mr. Barnett was a whig and subsequently a repub- lican and stanchly supported the principles of his party. His life was at all times actuated by his Christian faith and his career was one of helpfulness to his fellowmen. One who knew him long and well and enjoyed his friendship for many years said: "As a man he was a representative of that sterling class of early settlers whose uprightness, truth and honesty, whose appreciation of educational and church privileges and devotion to our free institutions have imparted special and distinguished character to western New York and made it a great factor in the history of the country during a most eventful period.
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George F. Barnett
Mr. Barnett, while of a genial, kindly disposition, was level headed, true and sturdy, and had the happy faculty of getting upon the right side of questions and issues that demanded his decision and quietly but firmly maintaining the ground he had taken. He was a man who trained his children to love and honor the principles he maintained and exemplified. He had a sympathetic eye for struggling integrity and merit and there are many hearts that have warmed with gratitude at the remembrance of his helpful hand."
Another has said of him: "No man has wielded a more powerful influ- ence for good in this whole region than he. Simple honesty, unvarying gen- tleness, combined with executive ability of a high order, were especially prom- inent traits of his character and gave him such a standing among business men of western New York that his advice was constantly sought by them. It was in his home, however, that the brightness and cheerfulness of his disposition particularly shone."
He enjoyed life to its very close. He had the keenest appreciation for what others did for him and a spirit of sincere thankfulness to his Maker for the many hours of happiness that were vouchsafed to him. As his strength failed in the evening of life, back to his lips came the hymns of his boy- hood and in the dim twilight his voice was often heard singing "When I can read my title clear," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "In the Sweet Bye-and-Bye" and other hymns.
He was one of those who shed around him much of the sunshine of life by reason of his hopeful spirit, his consideration, his kindliness and his desire that all should advance. Well may his friends, in recalling his memory, breathe the sentiment
His life was gentle and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world: 'This was a man.'
yours truly J. B. West.
onathan B. Talest
J ONATHAN B. WEST was an inventor of note, well known abroad and in America. He was born in Lakeville, New York, April 30, 1833, and passed away October 22, 1900. He enjoyed the ordinary educational advantages incident to his native state but he had within himself an originality which took its own way to success. As a child he was always busy working out his own ideas, both in play and in school. This element in his nature was encouraged by his parents and teachers and he spent his life as an inventor, following the talent which was so early manifest. As a young man he invented an automatic broom handle machine and a water meter, the patent of which he sold in France. In 1870 he invented the first machine for setting tires cold and called his invention the West tire setter. Today when the automobile is a common vehicle it is interesting to note that the subject of this sketch built the first one in this city. On a trip to Europe in 1894 he found many new ideas relative to the automobile, so that when he returned he perfected his machine and built one for delivery purposes. Among his minor inventions is that of a screw driver, a machine for embroidering and a needle for the same purpose. He was a man who spent his life in his home and was a representative of our best type of American manhood and chivalry. Though he made many trips abroad, where he sold his patents, it was in America that he was always interested in working out his ideas. By perseverance, determination and honorable effort he reached the goal of prosperity.
A large part of his success he attributed to the abundant support and help given him by his wife, who still carries on his business, although it was merged into a stock company before his death. Mrs. West bore the maiden name of Cornelia Grenelle and was born and educated at Saratoga, New York. She and Mr. West were married by the Rev. Dr. Shaw. She is a Bap- tist in religious belief, and has taken an active part in the work of the church for thirty-four years. Mr. West attended church with her. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce for some time.
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Geo Hunt Clarke
George Tunt Clarke
G EORGE HUNT CLARKE, president of the Rac- quette River Pulp Company, was born in Albion, Orleans county, New York, April 15, 1843, a son of Freeman Clarke, who arrived in Rochester in 1845 and became prominent in the financial world, being the founder and president of the Rochester Bank and an officer and director in numerous other bank- ing and railway companies. His wife was a daugh- ter of Dr. Levi Ward, one of the earliest settlers of Rochester. George Hunt Clarke prepared for college at the once famous mili- tary school conducted by Samuel and Edward Pierce, and afterward attended the Rochester University from 1861 until 1863. At the outbreak of the Civil war he became one of the organizers and a charter member of the Union Blues, a local military organization, in which recruits were instructed. In 1865 he was appointed aid-de-camp with the rank of major, commissioned by Governor Hoffman and assigned to duty on the staff of General John A. Williams, com- manding the National Guard of New York. He occupied that position until the death of General Williams in 1873.
Mr. Clarke entered business life in 1865 in a clerical position in the Mon- roe County Bank of Rochester, where he remained until 1873, when he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and reconstructed the Martindale & Eddy Zinc Works, rebuilding the entire plant and establishing a successful business. In 1874, in connection with John Horton, he rebuilt the extensive iron furnaces at Port Lyddon, New York, and then went to Fullerville, St. Lawrence county, New York, where with A. J. Bixby he constructed and operated the extensive char- coal furnaces. Some years later he organized the Racquette River Pulp Com- pany, of which he is now president.
Mr. Clarke has been an active worker in Masonry in Rochester, belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, and has also taken the degrees of the Scottish rite and the Mystic Shrine. He is an honorary member of the supreme council of the thirty-third degree for the Northern Masonic Jurisdic- tion of United States of America. He belongs likewise to the Rochester Club, the Rochester Whist Club and other social organizations.
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Hower Kuaff
Homer Knapp
H OMER KNAPP, contractor and builder of Rochester, was born on the 29th of March, 1858, in Steuben county, New York, his parents being George W. and Caroline (Haskell) Knapp, the former a native of Delaware and the latter of New Hampshire. In early boyhood he began his education as a public- school student in his native county and later he attended the Free Academy at Corning, New York, where he completed a course by graduation in 1876. His initial step into the business world acquainted him with the trade of car- pentering and later on he also learned the mason's trade, about three years being spent in this way. During this time he also enjoyed additional school advantages.
At Corning, New York, Mr. Knapp entered upon an independent business career as a contractor and builder, doing mason work as well as carpentering and in fact constructing the house from cellar to garret. He has made his home in Rochester for twenty years and since 1888 has been associated with its building operations as a contractor. Having demonstrated his ability in this direction, various important contracts have been awarded him and beau- tiful residences, fine churches and substantial business houses are proof of his knowledge of the business and his painstaking care in the execution of the work. He has also been awarded contracts on various public buildings and has become well known for his faithfulness and trustworthiness. He erected the Masonic Temple and built the Curtice and Strong residences besides his own home at 202 Parsells avenue and many others. He is now president and was one of the promoters of the Composite Brick Company, of Brighton, manufacturers of brick, cement blocks and concrete work.
Mr. Knapp is well known in republican circles and while his aspirations are not in the line of political preferment he does what he can for the interests of his friends who seek advancement in official lines. He belongs to the Build- ers' Exchange; to the Carpenters' Association, of which he was president for two years; and to the Columbia Rifle Club, while fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Masons, his membership being with Gene- see Falls lodge, No. 507, F. & A. M., while in Rochester consistory he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is a member of Cyrene commandery, K. T.
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Romer knapp
In 1884 Mr. Knapp was married to Miss Mary E. Graham, of Corning, a daughter of Joseph Graham, and they have become the parents of two daughters, Emma J. and Mildred H., the family being now well known in Rochester, where they have lived for two decades. Mr. Knapp has never sought to figure prominently before the public aside from his business, content to exercise his energies in performing the daily duties of the workaday world, and because he has been honest, because he has done his work faithfully, never taking advantage of the necessities of his fellowmen in a business transaction, he has gained a large measure of success.
Muratton & Langslow
Stratton C. Langslow
T HE LINE of differentiation which separates the suc- cessful from the unsuccessful is found not so much in the possession of opportunities on the one hand or the lack of them on the other as in the use which is made of them. It is only as the individual develops his latent qualities and strengthens his talents by use that he comes to be recognized as a strong individual fac- tor, his powers setting him apart from the great majority as one whose work entitles him to recogni- tion and to success. The wise use which he has made of the advantages that he has enjoyed have gained for Stratton C. Langslow the prominent place now accorded him in Rochester's business circles.
He was born in New York city on the 3d of July, 1857, but has been a resi- dent of Rochester from the age of three years and acquired his education in the public schools here, while spending his boyhood days in the home of his parents, Henry A. and Catherine M. (Cardiff) Langslow. He is descended from English ancestry, being a grandson of Captain Richard Langslow, who for about twenty years served with the rank of captain in the military forces of the East India Company. In 1817 he visited the new world and made an extended tour of the United States. During his travels he kept a journal, which is now both curious and valuable and which graphically illustrates the pioneer life and notable scenes enroute. He traveled after the primitive man- ner of the times by stage or boat or by private conveyance. His son, Henry A. Langslow, was born within twelve miles of London, England, November 16, 1830, and in 1849 crossed the Atlantic to America, landing in Nova Scotia. He went first to Prince Edward's Island and afterward spent a year in Boston, Massachusetts, subsequently taking up his abode in New York city, where he carried on various business interests for ten years. In 1850 he married Cath- erine M. Cardiff, a native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward's Island, and they became the parents of five children: Henry Richard and Thomas Walter, now deceased; Louis A. G .; Stratton C .; and Helena M. All were born in New York city, and in 1860 the father brought his family to Rochester, where he was mainly engaged in the furniture business until his demise. In 1875 he became connected with the furniture firm of Burley & Dewey, predecessors of the I. H. Dewey Furniture Company, of which Mr. Langslow was vice presi- dent until January, 1885, when he and his son, Stratton C. Langslow, withdrew.
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Stratton C. Langslow
The early entrance of Stratton C. Langslow into business life was as trav- eling salesman for the firm of Burley & Dewey, furniture manufacturers, with whom he remained for several years, when they were succeeded by the I. H. Dewey Furniture Company, Mr. Langslow maintaining his association with the latter until 1885.
From the first he showed remarkable ability to handle men and to get the maximum of productive labor from them, at the same time holding their respect and affection. This combined with the force and ceaseless energy of his work brought him his first successes. As stated he and his father withdrew, and the firm of Langslow-Fowler & Company was organized. The senior partner was a man of broad practical experience in business and Stratton C. Langslow had had more than twenty years' experience in connection with the manufac- ture and sale of furniture. From the beginning the new enterprise prospered and has long since attained very extensive proportions. Upon his father's death he became his successor in the business and by his far-sighted and conservative, though extremely progressive policy, has steadily increased the yearly volume of business to the current year's production of over six hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars' worth of furniture and giving employment to four hundred and fifty hands. The manufactured output because of its excellence and durability has been in constant demand and shipments are made by the company to all parts of the country.
Stratton C. Langslow was married in 1883 to Miss Mary E. Thompson, a daughter of John Thompson, of Ironton, Ohio, and they now have two chil- dren, Harry R. and Helena M. For almost a half century the name of Langs- low has figured in connection with the furniture trade in Rochester and the record has at all times been characterized by conformity to a high standard of commercial ethics, while the old and time tried maxims, such as "honesty is the best policy" and "there is no excellence without labor" have constituted the working basis of the business.
Howard ABanan
Howard A. Barrows
H OWARD A. BARROWS is a descendant of that sturdy Connecticut type of humanity that fought for inde- pendence in the colonial war and that has ever rebelled against any form of bondage. He was born at Le Roy, New York, August 10, 1855, and received his education at Batavia, New York. When a mere boy he was employed by the Union and Adver- tiser Company of Rochester, as mailing clerk. He did his work so well that he was quickly promoted to head bookkeeper, a position he filled with so much credit that he was offered and accepted a similar position on the Indianapolis Sentinel. In a few months his former position at a better salary was offered him and he returned to Rochester, which city has since been his home. His first connection with the clothing business was with the manufacturing firm of Wile, Stern & Com- pany, who had been impressed by his energy and solicited him to accept a posi- tion of trust and responsibility. He very soon developed a special aptitude for the clothing trade and attracted the attention of L. Adler Brothers & Com- pany, with whom he became connected in 1885, when he was yet a young man. Ten years later he was admitted to membership in this progressive and suc- cessful house, and for several years has been one of the directors whose judg- ment and advice as a directing force in the steady growth of the business have been fully recognized and appreciated.
Mr. Barrows has charge of the extensive New England trade of the house in connection with his personal work in the manufacturing department. He believes in and practices the policy of strict integrity and has been doing it so many years that he has earned the confidence of his customers to an unusual extent. It is said that he has never lost a desirable account for the reason that men to whom he sold goods found by experience that they could rely on what he told them as well as upon the clothing he sold them; and there has, consequently, grown up between him and them a bond of strong personal friendship, as well as of pleasant commercial relations that holds them together year after year. His personal ideals of merchandising harmonize perfectly with those of L. Adler Brothers & Company, thus making his business connec- tion pleasant as well as profitable.
In 1903 Mr. Barrows saw the possibilities of the retail end of the clothing business in Rochester and bought the McFarlin Clothing Company, of which he
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is president and treasurer. No sooner had he acquired possession than he began systematically to enlarge the company's facilities for doing business. In 1906 the business had grown to such magnitude that the whole building was secured, giving ample facilities for more than doubling the sale of fine cloth- ing, so that, today this store is the largest distributor of distinctly fine clothing in Rochester. Here, too, the keynote of his success has been the gaining of and keeping the confidence of people who buy clothing, the name of the house being a synonym for honesty and a "squaredeal."
Though very active and energetic in his business affairs Mr. Barrows believes in recreation, mostly of the fresh air kind, and is interested in vigor- giving outdoor sports. He is socially inclined also, and is a member of the Genesee Valley Club, Masonic Club, Punxsutawney Club, Batavia Club, Roch- ester Yacht Club, and in the Masonic order is a member of Valley lodge, Ham- ilton chapter, Monroe commandery, Knights Templar, and Nobles of the Mys- tic Shrine.
Howard A. Barrows married Miss Anna Ridley. Their children are Alice Ridley, William Peters, Mary Alexander, Elizabeth and John Barrows. Their home life is characterized by the strongest attachments, each for the others, and a broad spirit of comradeship peculiar to homes guided by a man whose whole life has exemplified the attributes of justice, tolerance and kindliness.
Mr. Barrows has done more than the usual amount of hard thinking. To every problem of life he has applied energy, common sense and thought. He believes that any young man who is fairly endowed with natural intelligence and who has sufficient ambition to stimulate his action and his thought, can achieve success. His own success as a merchant is the result of patient trying and applying the lessons of each year to the work of the next, along with which has gone the erection of a substantial structure of character; so that when he surveys the past he finds few regrets. On the other hand, while he enjoys rationally the material comforts of life, the most enduring reward of his work as a business man he considers to be the respect and esteem of his fellowmen, the real, honest personal friendship and confidence of those with whom he has come in contact.
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Thomas J. Repnolds
T HOMAS J. REYNOLDS was born in Springwater, Livingston county, New York, in 1850, and died October 19, 1902. His life record, compassing fifty years, constituted a period of untiring activity crowned with a large measure of success by reason of his important and extensive connections with business interests. He was reared in the place of his nativity and completed his education by study in Lima Seminary. At the age of nineteen years he started out in life on his own account, going to Lavonia, where for six years he was engaged in the produce business. In the fall of 1882 he turned his attention to the lumber trade and began furnishing ties and bridge timber for the con- struction of the railroad between Binghamton and Buffalo. He bought thirty thousand acres of timber land in Kentucky, which his widow still owns, and he also had large tracts of timber land in Pennsylvania and furnished lumber under contract for many important railway systems, including the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the New York Central, the Erie and other roads. He became a resident of Rochester in 1885 and had his offices in the Wilder Building, being one of the first to occupy that structure. As the years passed by he developed a lumber business of great magnitude, becoming one of the successful lumber merchants of this part of the country. He was also presi- dent of the Pyramid Silver Mining Company in New Mexico, was interested in mining at Kettle Falls and was recognized as one of the progressive men of his day. In his life he displayed an initiative spirit. There are many men who can successfully execute the carefully laid plans of others but there are comparatively few who can institute new methods and develop a business along original lines. Mr. Reynolds was regarded as a man of broad capabili- ties, who formed his plans readily and was determined in their execution. One of the strong elements in his success was that he recognized the fact that the present and not the future holds his opportunity. Neither was he afraid of that laborious attention to business which is one of the essential elements of success. Indolence and idleness were utterly foreign to his nature and his close application, strong purpose and laudable ambition constituted the foundation upon which he builded his splendid prosperity. During the greater part of his connection with the lumber trade he had his office in Rochester first in the Wilder Building and afterward in the Chamber of Commerce. His interests,
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however, called him to various parts of the country and he became widely known in business circles.
While living in Lavonia, New York, Mr. Reynolds was married to Miss Mary Augusta Keyes, a daughter of Alvin C. Keyes, of Lavonia, who resided at that place for about forty-five years. He was a contractor and builder. His wife, Mary Jane Egbert, was born in Lima, New York, in 1832, and is still living, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Reynolds, who also has five brothers residing in Rochester. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were born two sons. Walter Wheeler, the elder, was educated in Lima Seminary and the Keuga Lake Military School. He won his diploma in law in Kentucky and is now practicing in Georgia. He is married and has one child, Alice M. Thur- low J. Reynolds, the younger son, also received his education in Lima Seminary and in Keuga Lake Military School. He is now in Kentucky, supervising the lumber interests there for his mother.
In 1885 Mr. Reynolds erected in Rochester the present beautiful home which his widow has occupied for twenty-one years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Lavonia and Mrs. Reynolds and her younger son are now members of Christ church in Rochester. In politics Mr. Rey- nolds was a republican. He also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite in Masonry and was very active in the work of the craft. He also belonged to the Rochester Club. While he attained pre-eminent success in business, his time and interests were by no means entirely concentrated upon his commercial pursuits. He was a man who held to high ideals and his life was most notable in its varied relations. He was always genial and approach- able and won the kindly regard and friendship of all who knew him. A man honored, respected and esteemed wherever known, and most of all where he was best known, his memory is still held as a sacred treasure by those with whom he came in contact. He was always willing to devote his wealth and energies to any feasible undertaking that would increase the prosperity of the city and add to the comfort of its inhabitants. His life was assuredly a suc- cess and while he accumulated a large fortune he used only such means as will bear the closest scrutiny. Although a man of wealth he was unostentatious in a marked degree and in this age when anarchistic and socialistic doctrines are inflaming the masses, the demeanor and actions of such men as he do more to quench the fire of envy and malice than all other means combined. While his life was not filled with thrilling incidents, probably no history published in this volume can serve as a better illustration to young men of the power of close application, honesty and integrity in insuring success.
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