USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 21
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But it was not merely as a business man that Mr. Huntley was known on both sides the Atlantic. He was a philanthropist as well. He made money not to hoard it or to lavish it but to invest it wisely for the welfare of his fel- lowmen. He was always generous of instinct and in later years gave large sums to public and to private benevolent enterprises.
The extent of his benefactions will never be known, for he was as modest as generous and often gave very large sums only on condition that no record of the gifts should be published. To the missionary societies of the Baptist denomination, of which he had been a faithful member from boyhood, he was a constant giver. To the Rochester Theological Seminary he gave not less than one hundred thousand dollars. The home of the Young Men's Christian Association of Batavia was his gift. To the Batavia hospital he not only gave generously from year to year, but shortly before his death he established for it an endowment fund of ten thousand dollars. On the same day he endowed the First Baptist Church of Batavia with an equal amount. Many struggling churches in Western New York and in the new states of the west were helped to their feet by his generous hand. Many poor families in Brockport and in Batavia have been mysteriously aided at critical times by some unknown friend and have never learned who their friend was.
Mr. Huntley was stricken with something like apoplexy while at his desk in the winter of 1902. From that moment his business career was at an end though he lived for nearly four years from that time. His death took place at Batavia, September 28, 1906, and his body rests in the Lake View cemetery at Cleveland. He will be remembered as a sagacious and successful business man, a humble Christian gentleman and a large-hearted and generous-handed philanthropist.
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SECurtice
Simeon 6. Curtice
T HE MAN who recognizes opportunity and then bends every energy toward the accomplishment of his purpose wins success. There is no secret method by which prosperity is attained. Its basis is always effort-unrelaxing effort,-a statement which finds verification in the life record of Simeon G. Curtice and thousands of other successful men. In the death of Mr. Curtice on the 7th of February, 1905, Rochester mourned the loss of one whom it had come to respect and honor as a most able business man and worthy citizen. His name was a familiar one in trade circles, not only in this country but in foreign lands as well, and the extensive business which he and his business associates developed contributed in substantial measure to Rochester's indus- trial and financial activity.
Mr. Curtice was born in Webster, New York, August 13, 1839, but spent the greater part of his life in Rochester. He was a son of Mark and Elmina (Goodnow) Curtice, and was thus a direct descendant from Henry Curtice, who was one of the original grantees of the town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1638; and from Edmund Goodnow, who came to America in the ship Con- fidence in 1638. These facts are fully set forth in the genealogy of the Curtice family given in the sketch of Edgar N. Curtice.
Simeon G. Curtice attended the common and advanced schools of Web- ster, New York. After finishing his school life in Webster he became a clerk in the general store of William Corning, an old time merchant of Webster, with whom he remained for three years. He then removed to Rochester and entered the Collegiate Institute under Professor Benedict. In 1862 he con- cluded his studies and then established himself in the grocery business in Rochester in the old flat iron building at Main, North and Franklin streets. In 1865 he was joined by his younger brother, Edgar, and they adopted the firm name of Curtice Brothers. Thus began a business association which con- tinued until his death. It was in a room above their store that they com- menced the canning of fruit in a small way, experimenting with the preserv- ing of various fruits. In the autumn of 1868 they sold their grocery business, and purchased the property at the corner of Water and Mortimer streets and devoted themselves entirely to the canning and preserving of fruits and vege- tables. The rapidity with which their products found favor on the market
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led to the demand for increased space, causing them to purchase land and build on North Water street between Andrews and River streets. In 1880 the demand for still further increased space led them to buy the land and erect the buildings which the company now occupies. From time to time these new buildings have been enlarged in order to meet the constantly increasing demand for their products. In 1887 the business was first incorporated as the Curtice Brothers Company, with a capitalization of two hundred thousand dollars; Simeon G. Curtice was chosen president; Edgar N. Curtice, vice president and treasurer; and Robert A. Badger, secretary. In 1901 the busi- ness was re-incorporated under the same corporate name and with the same officers, but with a capitalization of one million five hundred thousand dollars, showing thus an increase of more than sevenfold in fourteen years. In the course of these years the enterprise to which Simeon G. Curtice had devoted his life had developed into one of the greatest industries of its kind in the world and there is probably not a hamlet or village in the entire country in which the name of Curtice Brothers is not known and recognized as a guarantee for high standards. In connection with his manufacturing interests Mr. Curtice was a director of the Commercial Bank. In all of his business life he dis- played an aptitude for successful management and a ready ability for solving intricate business problems. Starting as he did, with small beginnings, he continually broadened the scope of his undertakings and accomplished a steadily increasing success. He was a man of untiring energy, of great busi- ness courage and of uncommonly sound judgment. He found in the faithful performance of each day's duties strength and power for the labors of the suc- ceeding day. As has been already said, he died on the 7th of February, 1905.
On the 5th of January, 1881, Mr. Curtice was married to Miss Christine Roodenburg, a native of Holland. Mrs. Curtice died in May, 1884, leaving besides her husband, one daughter, Grace C. Curtice, who still survives her father.
Mr. Curtice was one of the charter members of the old Windsor Club, which later became the Rochester Club, of which he continued an active and prominent representative for many years. He was also a member of the Cham- ber of Commerce and a firm believer in the growth and future of Rochester, doing everything in his power for the upbuilding of a greater city, his labors proving effective and far-reaching. He was a man who loved his business, was wide-awake and alert for every opportunity, possessing, moreover, a determination and spirit of perseverance that enabled him to carry to success- ful completion whatever he undertook. He loved the business career for its own sake, as well as for the success it brought to him. In business circles he commanded the highest admiration and goodwill of his contemporaries and in other relations of life gained the unqualified respect of those with whom he was brought in contact.
America has made wonderful advancement along all lines of activity
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through the latter part of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century and Mr. Curtice belonged to that class of enterprising, public-spirited citizens whose efforts kept Rochester apace with the universal progress and upbuilding. His name is enrolled among its leading men and his work was so clearly interwoven with the city's history that no volume purporting to treat of Rochester and its growth would be complete without the record of Simeon G. Curtice.
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Army Potter
Henry Sapre Potter
H
ENRY SAYRE POTTER was born in Galway, Sara- toga county, New York, February 14, 1798. He was the oldest of four children born to Nathaniel Job Potter and Mary Sayre, and was of the seventh gen- eration in the male line from Nathaniel Potter, who came from England in about the year 1635 and set- tled at Portsmouth, Rhode Island. On his mother's side he was of equally sturdy colonial English stock, Mary Sayre being a descendant of Thomas Sayre, who came from Bedfordshire to Lynn, Massachusetts, about 1637. In 1801 his parents moved from Galway to a farm of one hundred and twenty acres between Seneca Falls and Cayuga lake, occupying a small log house. Seven years later the family moved to Canandaigua, where the father kept a hotel for two years, dying in the year 1810. The mother then moved her family back to the farm, where for two years young Henry did farm work summers and attended school the short winter terms. In 1812 he became store boy for Ebenezer Hale of Canandaigua. In 1814 he was clerk in Samuel Hild- reth's branch store at Williamson, New York, remaining there nearly two years. During this time he was intrusted to drive a team alone on the long journey of more than two hundred miles to Albany, and to return with a load of merchandise. He had a great love for horses and they became his chief source of pleasure and amusement throughout his long life. He also taught school one winter and pursued his studies as opportunity afforded. In 1818 Mr. Potter removed to Pittsford, New York, where he resided for thirty- two years. During the first four years of this time he was a clerk in the store of Sylvanus Lathrop, and then for four years he was a partner, buying out Lathrop in 1826. During the next twenty years, until 1846, he owned and conducted alone a large business of general merchandising, laying the foundations of his future fortune. Mr. Potter was married in 1824, to Har- riet Benedict, daughter of Thomas Benedict and Mary Dunning. Six chil- dren were born of this marriage, all but one of whom survived both their parents.
The most active and successful period of Mr. Potter's life began with his removal to Rochester in 1850 at the age of fifty-two years. In 1851 he became one of the organizers, incorporators, directors and largest stockholders of the New York & Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company with a capi-
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tal of three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. He was elected its first president and entered as a pioneer with great vigor and enthusiasm into this new enterprise, which was ultimately to make the fortunes of so many Roches- ter families. This company was the original Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, and the parent company into which scores of smaller companies through- out the country were gradually merged and combined over a period of many years. By a special act of the New York state legislature, passed April 4, 1856, the name of the original company was changed to The Western Union Telegraph Company. Mr. Potter served as president continuously for more than five years from April 2, 1851, till July 30, 1856, when he declined re-elec- tion and was succeeded by Hiram Sibley, who served for the next nine years until July 26, 1865.
James D. Reid in his volume on "The Telegraph in America," after men- tioning the organization of the company in April, 1851, says: "Of course, nothing was so essential, after the glamour of organization was over, as money. Few of the parties were the possessors of great wealth, even in its then restricted sense. The subscriptions were somewhat limited, and their payment, partly because of a rising jealousy of the advantageous position seen now to be held by the owners of the patent, was not prompt, and, to some extent, doubtful. But money was absolutely necessary. To secure funds, the holders of the patent interests, who had thereby acquired a large issue of stock, very wisely determined to part with a liberal amount of their interest to induce the subscribers to pay up in full, and so to enable the company to start operations with vigor. Henry S. Potter, a rich, active, stirring citizen, had subscribed ten thousand dollars. To him an additional ten thousand dollars of stock- twenty thousand dollars in all,-was issued. He was then elected president of the company. This was very adroit action, and Mr. Potter entered into his duties with much zeal. About eighty-three thousand dollars of stock was thus discreetly distributed among desirable men who would give strength and char- acter to the enterprise, and all subscriptions were promptly paid. With the sinews of war thus provided, the work became lively."
Mr. Potter early became interested in the banking business in Rochester. He was one of the incorporators of the Eagle Bank in 1852 and served con- tinuously as a director in that bank and its successors until the time of his death. This bank and the Manufacturers Bank were consolidated in 1859 into the Traders Bank, a state bank; and in 1865 this was reorganized into the present Traders National Bank. During his lifetime he was the largest sin- gle stockholder in this bank and in the Flour City National Bank, the two largest and strongest banks in the city. He was also a large stockholder in the New York Central, the Harlem and the Lake Shore Railways, his activity in the telegraph business having brought him in early and close relations with the Vanderbilt railway interests.
In politics he was a whig in his early life and later a republican. He and
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his family attended the Presbyterian church. He was a life-long earnest advocate of total abstinence; during the period of his youth and early man- hood, such principles required great firmness and seriousness of character, considering the social customs then prevailing. The largest building which he owned is at the corner of State and Andrews streets and still bears in prominent letters the name he gave it-H. S. Potter's Temperance Building. He died at his residence on South Fitzhugh street, January 9, 1884, at the age of eighty-six years.
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Frederick D. Allen
F REDERICK P. ALLEN, whose name is on the list of Rochester's honored dead, was for a long period closely associated with the moneyed interests of the city, being identified with the German American Bank at the time of his death. He was born in Rochester on the 26th of February, 1853, and was a son of Samuel P. Allen, of this city. He acquired his education in Rochester and was graduated from the school conducted by Mr. Satterlee. When he had put aside his text-books he turned his attention to the banking business, accepting a position as teller in the Traders National Bank, where he remained for a number of years, thoroughly acquainting himself with the business. On leaving the Traders National Bank he became associated with the German American Bank as cashier, with which he was connected up to the time of his demise. He became well known in financial circles as one thoroughly familiar with the banking business in every department and in Rochester his opinion was largely considered authority upon questions of interest to the banking world.
Mr. Allen was married in 1874 to Miss Caroline Clarke and unto them were born two daughters and one son: Henrietta; Mary Allen; and Freeman Clarke Allen, who is manager of the Concrete Block Works and is also treas- urer of the Hollister Lumber Company, and a member of the firm of Beckley, Allen Realty Company. He has thus become a prominent factor in the busi- ness life of the city and he is also well known socially, being a member of the Genesee Valley Club and the Friars Club.
Frederick Allen was likewise a member of the Genesee Valley Club and he belonged to St. Peter's Presbyterian church. In politics he was a stalwart republican, with firm faith in the principles of the party, which he believed to be most conducive to good government. He died May 2, 1905, at the age of fifty-two years, having spent his entire life in Rochester, where his record was as an open book. There was not one esoteric phase in his career and his strongly marked character enabled him to leave the impress of his individuality upon public life.
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Camphill Brothers New York.
Balay
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William F. Balkam
W ILLIAM F. BALKAM, residing at No. 7 Strathallan Park, Rochester, is a native of Boston, born Febru- ary 5, 1849. His paternal grandfather, John Bal- kam, was twice married and died when well advanced in years. His son, Gilbert Balkam, was a native of Maine and was engaged in shipbuilding at Robbins- ton, Maine, prior to 1860. He then retired from business life, spending his last days in Boston, where he died in 1888 at the age of seventy-eight years. He married Susan Dutch, whose father was a man of considerable prominence. Mrs. Balkam survived her husband and passed away in Rob- binston, Maine, in July, 1906, in her ninetieth year. The father was promi- nent in political circles, serving as a member of the Maine legislature, and in early manhood he commanded a regiment in the Aroostook war. Their fam- ily numbered four sons and two daughters, of whom four are yet living.
William F. Balkam spent his early boyhood in Maine and afterward went to Boston, where he resided until 1873. His education, however, was largely acquired in the schools of Maine. In January, 1873, he came to Rochester as superintendent of Bradstreet's agency and in 1885 he became the treasurer and business manager of the Union and Advertiser. There he remained until the fall of 1898, successfully controlling the business. He was also interested in the New York & Kentucky Company, a large distilling and medicine company, of which he was director and secretary. He held the same position in the American Fruit Product Company until February, 1905, and he is now presi- dent of the Menihan Company, makers of women's shoes, and the Winslow Mining Company, while in other corporations and business concerns he is financially interested. His connection has been extended into various fields of commercial and financial activity and he was a member of the organization committee of the Guardian Trust Company at New York city and is director in the National Bank of Rochester. For two years he was president of the New York State Associated Press and for several years a member of its exec- utive committee.
Politically Mr. Balkam is a democrat in principle and was a member of the executive committee of the Albany conference which supported the demo- cratic ticket except for governor in 1906. He has figured prominently in the
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ranks of his party, serving for several years as a member of the democratic state committee and its treasurer for four years.
On the 30th of August, 1875, William F. Balkam was commissioned cap- tain of the Twenty-fifth Brigade of the Seventh Division of the New York National Guard by Governor Samuel J. Tilden. His social relations extend to the Genesee Valley Club and the Country Club, while fraternally he is a life member of Monroe commandery, No. 12, K. T., and is also a member of the Rochester Historical Society.
In June, 1877, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Balkam and Miss Jen- nie Van Zandt, a daughter of the late Maxcy N. Van Zandt and his wife, Almira J. (Woclverton) Van Zandt. Mr. Balkam has a beautiful home on the upper waters of the Neversink river in the Catskill mountains, where he spends his summer seasons, owning three or four miles of fine trout fishing including the famous Biscuit Brook. He is a lover of that sport, the woods, the birds, the brooks and the fields, nature making strong appeal to him.
Y Parle
Talilliam Karle
W ILLIAM KARLE, possessing an ability that has enabled him to overcome obstacles which to others might have been insurmountable, has steadily worked his way upward until he is today at the head of the Karle Lithographic Company, one of the largest and most important enterprises of this character in Rochester. It was established in 1879 and incorporated in 1904, and from the beginning William Karle has been the guiding spirit in its des- tinies. He was born in Rochester, New York, September 19, 1854. His father, George Andrew Karle, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, had become a resident of this city in 1846, at the age of twenty years. In his native land, ere his emigration, he had learned the cabinet-maker's trade and followed that pursuit for some years in Rochester, after which he engaged in the hotel and restaurant business on St. Paul street, near the present site of the Osburn Hotel. His business interests, his enterprise and his social qualities made him well known here during the middle part of the nineteenth century. He was a member of the German Protestant church and died in 1870 at the com- paratively early age of forty-nine years. His wife, Mrs. Juliana (Durst) Karle, of Bavaria, Germany, came with her parents to Rochester in her girl- hood days and was married in this city in 1850. She survived her husband for more than a quarter of a century, passing away in 1896. They were the parents of three sons, George, John J. and William.
William Karle attended a private German school of Rochester and acquired a particularly fine education in the languages and the sciences. In 1871 he became connected with the lithographing business in the employ of Muntz & Company, and when he had become thoroughly acquainted with the business in every department he entered into partnership with Louis Ennecker and in 1879 opened an establishment of his own on a small scale, starting with a capital of only three hundred dollars, which he had saved from his earnings, after meeting the necessary expenditures for his own support. He continued in this business until today it is one of the large concerns of the city, occupying a mammoth six-story structure located on Central avenue from No. 276-288 and No. 60-76 on Chatham street. In 1898 the company erected this building according to their own plans, suiting the requirements of their business. It is a pressed brick structure, well lighted and admirably adapted for the uses to
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which it is put. The business was carried on in the original building until 1904, when it was found entirely inadequate in its floor space to accommodate the trade and they then added a building over half the size of the original one, so that they now have a structure one hundred and twenty by one hundred and twenty feet, and six stories in height. It is built along modern lines of construc- tion for light and fire proof protection. The company makes a specialty of fine color and commercial work, folding boxes, posters, show cards, labels, steel die printing, embossing, transfer ornaments, letter and bill heads, checks, bonds, etc. Their color work is up to the highest standard and the greater part of their business is done in that line. They have ten lithographic printing presses, two of which are two color presses. The building occupied by the company is one of the most up-to-date in the entire country. It is improved with the latest mill construction, so that in case of fire a very small damage would be done. All of the flooring is four inches thick, so that it would be almost impossible for fire to penetrate more than one floor. Their machinery, too, is of the very latest type. One hundred and twenty-five people are given constant employment here and the work turned out by the company is the very best obtainable. In 1904 the business was incorporated with William Karle as president; William J. C. Karle as secretary and treasurer ; and George J. Haf- ner as vice president. All these men possess well known business ability, so that the success of the firm is a well assured fact.
In 1878 William Karle was married to Miss Mary Eyer, a lady of German birth, who was reared, however, in Rochester. They have two children: William J. C., who is now associated with his father in business as secretary and treasurer of the company; and Amelia Mary, now Mrs. Heydweiller, of Rochester.
Aside from his other business interests Mr. Karle is a director of the Mechanics Savings Bank of Rochester. He is very prominent in Masonry, being one of the best known and valued representatives of the craft in this city. He is a member of Germania lodge, No. 722, F. & A. M., of which he was master for two terms. He is a member of Hamilton chapter, No. 62, R. A. M .; Monroe commandery No. 12, K. T .; the Rochester lodge of Perfection; Rochester Council of Princes of Jerusalem; Rochester chapter of Rose-Croix and Rochester Consistory, S. P. R. S., thirty-second degree. He also is a mem- ber of Damascus Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and of Germania Chapter No. 72, O. E. S., of which he has been patron a number of years. He has every reason to be proud of his record in Masonry and though of German birth has done active and effective work both in English and German lodges. In other fra- ternal societies Mr. Karle is a member of Humboldt lodge, No. 138, I. O. O. F., a charter member of Teutonia encampment, No. 55, I. O. O. F .; a charter member of Germania Rebekah lodge, No. 80, I. O. O. F., and a member of Grand Canton J. W. Stebbins, No. 2, I. O. O. F. In Odd Fellowship Mr. Karle has held the highest offices to be attained outside of the grand lodge
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