USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 15
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Coward 5. Datoson
1858 took his initial independent step in business life in that line of trade as senior member of the firm of E. S. Dawson & Company. For several years he conducted business at the corner of Salina and West Fayette streets and enjoyed constantly growing sales, his success being attributable to his own unwearied industry, his reasonable prices and his earnest desire to please his patrons. He also became well known as the inventor and patentee of many useful and valuable improvements in the line of goods which he handled.
But it was in the field of banking that Mr. Dawson was destined to become best known, and for fifty-one years he was a factor in the conduct and man- agement of the Onondaga County Savings Bank, which came into existence in 1855 through a special charter granted by the state legislature. The pur- pose of its organization was to found an institution in which small or large savings might be deposited and which would bring to the depositor a fair rate of interest. The value of this institution to Syracuse and Onondaga county cannot be over estimated. It has stimulated saving among the wage earners, permitting many in time to gain a most desirable bank account, where otherwise much of the sum would not unprobably have been expended without securing adequate returns. The Onondaga County Savings Bank began business in an office partitioned off from the rear of the law office of James L. Bagg. No other commentary on its success is needed than a view of the fine bank building which was erected by the trustees in 1896, at the southeast corner of South Salina and East Water street. It is a magnificent structure, ten stories in height and on the ground floor is one of the most finely equipped bank buildings of the state outside of New York city.
From the beginning Mr. Dawson was connected with this institution. In April, 1855, he became one of the incorporators and first trustees of the bank and remained as a member of the board until the IIth of January, 1869, when he resigned, to be elected on the Ist of February following to the office of treasurer of the bank. On the 10th of November, 1884, the state law then permitted him to hold both positions, he was again elected a trustee and thereafter until his death continued his membership in the board. On the IIth of May, 1891, he was elected to the presidency to succeed Daniel P. Wood and continued as the chief executive officer until his death, which occurred December 18, 1906. He was the last of the original bank trustees and incorporators. In their resolutions of respect the board of trustees at his death said: "Mr. Dawson has had a longer and closer association with the practical work of the bank than any other person. His outside interests were few; his business life was practically merged in that of the institution with which his name at length came to be in the minds of the public so nearly a synonym. For thirty-six years he was a useful member of the board of trustees, regular in attendance, prompt and efficient in the performance of his voluntary and requited service-a service that began with the opening of the
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bank for business with its first deposit of one hundred dollars-a service that terminated only with his life. Seldom does it occur that so nearly the entire business life and record of an individual living to such advanced years should be so nearly coincident with and measured by the life of so important an insti- tution. Twenty-two years as treasurer, he was the custodian of the funds and keeper of the records and accounts of the institution. The service was char- acterized by integrity, accuracy, promptness and courteous treatment of cus- tomers. So complete a system of records, accounts, vouchers, checks and balances was developed, as combined with his personal vigilance aided by an unusually strong and reliable memory, that during the period the bank suf- fered no loss from defalcation, irregularity, or from errors so liable to appear in a business combining at once such magnitude and such detail. Since May II, 1891, a period of more than fifteen and a half years, Mr. Dawson has been the president of the bank and has with unvarying regularity sat at the head of the table, around which the members of this board have gathered in their meetings for the consideration of the business of the institution. So rapidly and imperceptibly does the past merge into the present that some of us may be surprised to learn that more than two-thirds of the members of our present board were elected trustees during this period of Mr. Dawson's presi- dency. During this time those younger and older in the service alike have found him modest, affable, efficient, and always faithful to his trust."
In the midst of a busy life Mr. Dawson always found time for courtesy and opportunity to give audience to his friends who sought him upon other than business questions. He held friendship inviolable and was devoted to the welfare of his family. In 1849 he was married to Miss Clarissa Marsh, a daughter of Moses Seymour Marsh. Her grandparents were Rev. Truman and Clarissa (Seymour) Marsh, the former for many years rector of the Episcopal church of Litchfield, Connecticut, entering upon his pastoral duties there in 1809, or earlier. He died in Litchfield, in April, 1851, when about eighty years of age. His wife, Clarissa (Seymour) Marsh, was a sister of Henry Seymour, father of Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York. Her death occurred at Litchfield, September 2, 1865, when she had reached the remarkable age of ninety-three years and one month. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Dawson was Augustus Wheaton, a farmer and one of the early settlers of the town of Pompey, to which he removed from Dutchess county, New York, about 1810 or 1812. Her father was born at New Milford, Connecticut, December 28, 1792, and became one of the early residents of Syracuse, where he died October 12, 1843. At Pompey, New York, on the 19th of August, 1820, he married Flora Wheaton, who was born at New Milford, Connecticut, July 23, 1799, and died at Syracuse, Sep- tember 17, 1847. While at Pompey Mr. Marsh engaged in merchandising and afterward became cashier of the Onondaga County Bank, in which capac- ity he served for many years and likewise held the office of president. It
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was Miss Clarissa Marsh, daughter of Moses S. and Flora (Wheaton) Marsh, who became the wife of Edward S. Dawson. Unto them were born a daugh- ter and three sons: Flora M., who is living at the old home at No. 125 Bur- net avenue; Edward S., who is a partner in the drug firm of Brown & Daw- son at No. 125 South Salina street; Homer, deceased; and John B., who is residing with his sister Flora at the old homestead. There are also five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
In his political views Mr. Dawson was a stalwart republican, giving unfal- tering allegiance to the party from its organization until his demise. He found rest and recreation from the arduous cares of a business life in trout fishing, which he greatly enjoyed and his vacation periods were usually spent in that way. His friends found him an entertaining companion, an especially good story teller, relating any incident with zest and interest. His reliability under all circumstances was one of his most strongly marked traits of character. He regarded any promise, verbal or otherwise, as sacred. No more fitting tribute to his memory could be paid than the pub- lic expression of his worth in one of the Syracuse papers, which said: "The man who has been associated as director, treasurer and president with such an institution as the Onondaga County Savings Bank for fifty-one years, giv- ing the advice, influence and management which has enabled this guardian of the people's savings to ride steadily through every financial storm needs no long panegyrics to commemorate his name among his fellow townsmen. When nature exacted from Edward S. Dawson the quittance of his long endeavor, he had erected the best monument by which man can be commem- orated on earth-a life of achievement."
Monroe C. Smith
M
ONROE CLAYTON SMITH, prominently identified with the typewriter industry of Syracuse, was born April 28, 1861, at Center Lisle, Broome county, New York. His parents were Lewis Stevens and Eliza Ann (Hurlbut) Smith. His boyhood was spent at Center Lisle, where he attended school and was employed during vacations in the manufactur- ing business carried on by his father. As a young lad much of his time was spent with gun and dog in the wooded country about Listle, and a strong love for outdoor life and sportsmanship became early a part of his nature. Consequently, when he grew up he hailed the opportunity in 1880 to engage in the gun business in Syracuse, which in the meantime had been established by his brother L. C. Smith. He worked in various departments of the factory and eventually became a very successful road salesman for the L. C. Smith gun and was prominent in trap shooting tournaments, becoming in 1889 one of the foremost amateur trap shooters of the country.
Meanwhile the local typewriter industry had been established and the young gun salesman was called to an important executive position, which he occupied with credit and ability. When, in 1903, the Smith brothers severed their existing typewriter relations and established their independent organization, he was elected secretary of the new L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter Company, a position which he now holds, and he worked very effectively in building up the selling organization of that company, having traveled all over the United States and Canada in the typewriter interests and gained a very extensive acquaintance with the typewriter trade.
In addition to his interests in the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter Company, Mr. Smith is president of the Skahen Steel Company of Syracuse and one of the proprietors of the Smith-Lee Company of Oneida, New York, manufacturers of sanitary caps for milk and cream bottles.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Citizens', Century and Heidelberg Clubs of Syracuse, is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Masonic Temple Club and the Masonic Temple Club Gun Club. His interest in shooting is still maintained and he continues to find his recreation in outdoor life, being accounted one of the best of field shots.
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Mr. Smith was married in 1886 to Miss Emma J. Jones, of Syracuse. They have two children: a son, Harvey Monroe Smith, is now a student at Syracuse University, and a daughter, Miss Elizabeth Smith at Howard Seminary, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They reside on West Onon- daga street.
etr Malch
Frederick Walch
F REDERICK WALCH was a representative of that class of men whose laudable ambition prompts them to seek homes in a foreign land where opportunity promises better results than can be obtained in the land of their nativity. Coming to America, he was for many years a prominent merchant of Syracuse and a successful investor in real estate, and owed his prosperity to his recognition and utilization of opportunity. He was born at Wilberdingen, Ger- many, on the 14th of March, 1836. His parents were Philip Walch, origina- tor of the Post Express of Germany and Eva Gruener, daughter of the cele- brated advocate of that name. The son, Frederick, pursued his education in the public schools of his native land but early in life began to assist his father and from his youth was a hard worker-his entire life being characterized by unremitting industry and perseverance. He came to this country in 1854, when a young man of eighteen years, expecting that the freer opportunities of the new world would enable him to more rapidly acquire competence than was possible in the fatherland. Here, after some trying vicissitudes, he finally began an apprenticeship in the upholstery and furniture business, and, con- tinuing in that line, became a progressive, enterprising and successful busi- ness man. He was a keen judge of realty value and from time to time began to make judicious investments in property. In his business career he was known for his reliability and conservatively progressive ideas, and for his in- defatigable industry. He gained a substantial success, at the same time always commanding the unqualified confidence of those with whom he was associated and winning the deserved respect of his colleagues and admiration of his con- temporaries. Aside from his other interests, he was interested in steel and iron manufacturing industries and in other industrial enterprises.
He became an American citizen as soon as he was able to take out naturali- zation papers and from that time on strictly did his duty as a good citizen -- never missing a vote and never avoiding the tax-gatherer. He also believed in patronizing home industry and would never purchase abroad what had sterling worth and could be obtained in the city which had given him his opportunity.
After business hours, his time was practically all devoted to his family, He was a man of domestic tastes, his interests centering in the growth of his
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adopted city and in his own home. He was married in 1856 to Miss Caroline Arheidt, who was born in Pforzheim, Germany, but came to this country as an infant. Her broad sympathies and many quiet charities were known only to those whom they benefitted, and any good that she could do was always quietly sanctioned by her silent abettor. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom ten are yet living.
Mr. Walch was a devoted member of the First Reformed church, and he tried to carry out its principles. He was fond of art and was a man of refined taste. With him association meant expansion and elevation. He died June 29, 1897. His sense of honor, his upright life, his good citizenship made his death a distinct loss to the city with whose best growth he was so long identified.
Thay
Joel Chaper
I T IS SELDOM that one achieves the measure of suc- cess which crowned the efforts of Joel Thayer and at the same time retains in such unlimited measure the unqualified respect of his fellowmen. In his busi- ness career he displayed such discriminating judg- ment that he seemed to accomplish at any one given point the possibility of success at that point. He placed a correct valuation upon his own capacities and the people and circumstances that made up his life contacts and experiences, and while he won prosperity, he regarded, too, the obligations of life in one's relations to his fellowmen and fully met the responsibilities of wealth.
A native of New York, Mr. Thayer was born in Ontario, July 18, 1812. He became a resident of Skaneateles in 1835, when a young man of twenty- three years, and remained in Onondaga county until his demise. His educa- tion was acquired in the public schools and later he was for a short time in business in Palmyra but with the exception of that brief period his identi- fication with Skaneateles was an uninterrupted one. His business interests, however, extended to other localities and for a long period he was largely financially interested in manufacturing industries of Syracuse. Early in his business career he was engaged in partnership with John Legg in the manufacture of wagons and carriages at Skaneateles. His capital at the outset of his business career was limited but he possessed strong determina- tion, good business ability and laudable ambition and upon those qualities as a foundation reared the superstructure of his success. He early became interested in banking in Skaneateles and organized the Bank of Skaneateles, of which he served as president for twelve years, carrying that institution through the experimental period on to a substantial, prosperous basis.
Extending his efforts to other financial undertakings, he became the vice president of the old Mechanics' Bank of Syracuse. His keen discernment enabled him to correctly value a business situation and opportunities which others passed by heedlessly he improved to the benefit of his own financial interests and to the welfare of the community at large. He became proprietor of a large flouring mill at Skaneateles and was the prime mover and promoter of the Skaneateles Railroad, serving for several years as its president. About that time he also became one of the heavy stockholders in the Sweet & Barnes
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Company, the predecessor of the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Com- pany, of Syracuse, retaining a position on its directorate up to the time of his death. He was also president of the State Bank when death claimed him, and his investments were extensive and proved excellent dividend pay- ing property.
In 1835 Mr. Thayer was united in marriage to Miss Juliette, a daughter of John and Emma (Calvin) Legg and a member of one of the oldest and most respected families of Onondaga county. It was probably this fact which induced him to become a resident of Skaneateles and led to his copart- nership with Mr. Legg in his initial business enterprise in the village. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Thayer were born three daughters. Mary, whose birth occurred February 19, 1836, became the wife of H. T. Webb, a native of Mexico, Oswego county, New York, in 1855. Mr. Webb is a man of wealth and has through his business life been actively engaged in business enterprises of Skaneateles, Syracuse and New York city. Two children grace this union: Mary Thayer and Eva Thayer. Mr. and Mrs. Webb maintain residences both in Skaneateles and New York city, spending the summer months at the former and the winter seasons in the metropolis. Their sum- mer residence is the old homestead of John Legg and of Mr. Thayer and is now in possession of the fourth generation. Narcissa Augusta and Emma Augusta, the other daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Thayer, both died in early childhood. The death of Mrs. Thayer occurred December 4, 1880, and was the occasion of sincere and wide-spread regret in Skaneateles, where she occu- pied in public regard the position of a noble woman, a devoted wife and mother and kind and generous friend. Her acts of charity and benevolence were many and her active cooperation was always given to movements for the public good. Her influence was indeed a beneficial factor in the com- munity, where her memory is yet sacredly cherished.
Mr. Thayer survived until May 19, 1881, when he, too, passed away after a residence in Onondaga county of forty-six years. He had lived to wit- ness many changes here and moreover had been a participant in the sub- stantial progress which had been manifest in the business development of Skaneateles and of Syracuse. While he achieved notable success, his path was never strewn with the wreck of other men's fortunes. He was widely recognized as a man of undoubted business integrity, while many other good qualities rendered him personally popular in social circles.
1
James George Stuart Dey
J AMES GEORGE STUART DEY of Syracuse is the youngest member of the firm of Dey Brothers & Company. His birth occurred in Banffshire, Scot- land, a picturesque and romantic region, which deeply influenced his impressionable temperament. He at- tended school at Strathavon, an institution noted for the number of boys, who later, have distinguished themselves at all parts of the world, in military, pro- fessional and commercial life. Frequently he and a few other lads, while passing old Kirk-Michael church, would dream of future glories while lingering about the mausoleum of General Gordon and other departed worthies who lie there. At the age of twelve he went to the university city of Aberdeen and began a course of study at King Street Acad- emy preparatory to entering the university as did several members of his fam- ily before him.
At fifteen, while wavering between an artistic and commercial career, Mr. Dey came to America and took some additional studies in law, and what is termed a commercial course. The latter he found so useful in after life, that he is deeply impressed with the importance of technical education as extended to all forms of industry. It is his belief that the nation fostering technical education to its greatest possibilities will be the winner in the great commercial contest of the future. According to his view this form of educa- tion is as applicable to agriculture, mechanics and commerce as dissection is to the profession of surgery.
The rudiments of his commercial career were acquired in the very excel- lent experience gained during his three years service with the house of Sib- ley, Lindsay & Curr, Rochester, New York. Here he enjoyed the privilege of earning the munificent income of seven dollars per week, and the added advantage of subsisting on this generous sum, yet he does not recall a day during this period in which he did not possess some coin of the realm. In 1878 Mr. Dey joined his brothers Robert and Donald in their first commercial venture at Elmira, New York, commanding the united capital of five thous- and dollars. The pace was swift, for at the end of the fourth year the firm acquired by purchase the business owned by the dignified and courtly Wil- liam E. Hart. The following year found the firm in Hornellsville, New York, having secured by purchase the business of Martin Adsit, a fine old gentle-
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man, who was also a prominent banker at that place. The pace was now becoming warm at home, for the field was invaded by W. W. Fish, who in a burst of chivalry announced his intention of occupying the field alone.
In 1883 the firm extended to Syracuse, acquiring by purchase the business of a notable merchant-Edward F. Rice, from whom it enjoyed the advantage of a fine business, possessing a spotless reputation. During the year 1886 Mr. Dey received a communication from Mr. Fish, announcing his desire to dispose of his entire business. The purchase was quickly consummated, and put the firm in possession of a splendid business, which was later greatly extended. In 1894 after eleven years of uninterrupted prosperity the broth- ers erected the magnificent structure at the corner of Jefferson and Salina streets, which for area, architectural beauty and modern equipment, stands without a peer in central New York. James Dey is an artist of no mean order, and to a great extent his ideas were carried out in the construction and equipment of the firm's palatial place of business.
In the destruction of the Leland Hotel by fire Mr. Dey had a narrow escape, sustaining the loss of all his sketches and etchings made during his boyhood in Scotland. He is methodical and punctual to a degree, and these characteristics have contributed not a little to the success of the estab- lishment with which he is connected. He is a great reader, especially of historical and art works, possesses a quick and ready judgment, and is alto- gether a progressive and enterprising citizen.
His father was James Dey, a man of great worth and talent, whose mem- ory and precepts he greatly reveres. His grandfather, Robert Dey, was a man of considerable property, but becoming involved in an unprofitable enter- prise was practically ruined and died comparatively young.
The first street Mr. Dey approached on landing in New York was Dey street. This led to the discovery that a branch of his family were very early settlers in New York. At one time were numerous about Paterson, New Jersey, and several members of this family actively participated in aid of the American revolution. There stands at present time at Preakness, New Jersey, the old family mansion of this branch of the family, which on several occasions housed Washington and other leaders of the time.
The name Dey is of English origin, of that there is proof, yet docu- ments exist showing the family residence in Scotland as early as the six- teenth century. All things considered Mr. Dey's family motto: "Juvat Deus Impigros" is quite apropos.
acob Amos
W
HILE THE business interests of Jacob Amos are large and varied, unlike many men, he does not allow his business concerns to monopolize his entire time and attention but has found opportunity for public service that makes Syracuse largely his debtor. His administration as mayor of the city resulted in more public improvements of real utility and value than are accredited to any other administration in the city's history. Mr. Amos was born here on the 18th of December, 1853. His father, Jacob Amos, Sr., was a native of Wurtem- berg, Germany, born April 23, 1818, and was the youngest of the three sons of Charles and Barbara (Chaffla) Amos, who were likewise born in Wur- temberg. In early youth Jacob Amos learned the butcher's trade, which he followed until his emigration to America at the age of twenty-one years. He removed from New York city to Rochester and arrived in Syracuse in 1840, when it was yet a village. All of his earthly possessions at that time were his clothing and seventy-five cents in money. Here he was employed as a wood chopper and salt packer until he acquired capital sufficient to enable him to engage in the butchering business, which pursuit he followed for six years.
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