USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : pictorial and biographical > Part 2
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Lyman Cornelius Smith
L YMAN CORNELIUS SMITH, prominently connected with the business life of Syracuse as a leading man- ufacturer, banker and capitalist, is pre-eminently a man of affairs and one who has wielded a wide influ- ence. His business capacity has placed him in the foremost rank among the successful men of the day and he is, moreover, one of the world's workers whose labors are attended with results, whether for individual prosperity or for public good. He is descended from English ancestry in the paternal line, although the family have been represented in America for several generations. His grandparents were William and Rebecca (Bissell) Smith, and his parents, Lewis Stevens and Eliza Ann (Hurlbut) Smith. In the maternal line he is descended from ancestors who served in behalf of the cause of independence in the Revolutionary war, both in the ranks and as officers.
Lyman C. Smith was born in Torrington, Connecticut, March 31, 1850, and following the removal of his parents to the state of New York, the family home being established in Lisle, Broome county, where the father conducted a large business as a lumber manufacturer and tanner, he attended the common schools and also the State Normal School. Well qualified by liberal education for the practical and responsible duties of life he went to New York city at the age of twenty-two years and accepted the management of a live-stock commis- sion house, remaining in the metropolis until 1875, when he came to Syracuse to engage in the lumber business. In 1877 he began the manufacture of breech- loading firearms and continued the business with increasing success until 1890. In the meantime he had extended his efforts to other fields of industrial activity, beginning the manufacture of typewriters in 1886. Four years later he organ- ized the Smith Premier Typewriter Company, of which he became president, and in 1903 he was joined by his brothers in the organization of the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter Company, of which he is the president. In this connec- tion he has become known as a manufacturer throughout the entire country and in all civilized lands, having given to the markets of the world a machine which is unsurpassed in qualities which go to make up the action. The conduct of this business requires a most extensive manufacturing plant, and a large office force make it one of the leading productive industries of the city. In recent years Mr. Smith has also become extensively interested in other large enter-
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Mpman Cornelius Smith
prises, where his business ability, keen foresight and sound judgment consti- tute important elements in successful management. He is president of the United States Transportation Company and of the L. C. Smith Transit Com- pany, which operate large fleets of modern steel freight steamers on the Great Lakes. He is likewise treasurer of the Toledo Shipbuilding Company and has contributed in substantial measure to the development of the rural trolley line systems of the state of New York. He has turned his attention also to the north- west, and with faith in its future he has made extensive investments in Seattle, Washington, which have become extremely valuable. He is president of the Hudson Portland Cement Company, of Hudson, New York, of the Rochester- Syracuse Eastern Railway Company, and chairman of the managing directors of the Halcomb Steel Company, of Syracuse, nor is he unknown in banking circles, being president of the National Bank of Syracuse. He is pre-eminently a man of affairs and one who has wielded a wide influence, and the soundness of his business judgment is such that his co-operation is continually sought in the con- trol and management of important commercial, industrial, manufacturing or financial concerns.
Aside from his extensive business interests Mr. Smith finds time for co-oper- ation in public affairs that are of direct benefit to the city. He is well known in educational and philanthropic circles, for, with a sense of conscientious obligation regarding his duty to his fellowmen and a deep personal interest in the welfare of the race, he puts forth effective and earnest labor along these lines. He is now president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Syra- cuse, and has contributed in large measure to the upbuilding of Syracuse Uni- versity, being at the present writing vice president of its board of directors. He established the Lyman Cornelius Smith College of Applied Sciences for the practical education of young men in the higher branches of engineering and has erected on the University campus two fine buildings, splendidly equipped for the purposes of the college. He also founded the Syracuse University Navy.
Politically Mr. Smith has few aspirations, and in fact he considers the pur- suits of private life as abundantly worthy of his best efforts. The only office that he has ever held was that of presidential elector in 1896, when he sup- ported William McKinley. He has always been in sympathy with the principles of the republican party and feels it the duty as well as the privilege of every American man to exercise his right of franchise. For good government, for progressive legislation and in support of the candidates he stands as a high type of American manhood. Mr. Smith is well known in club and social circles, hold- ing membership in the Century and Citizens' Clubs of Syracuse and in the Hardware Club of New York. He is also qualified as a Son of the Revolution and in Masonry has taken the Knights Templar and thirty-second degrees. He is a subscriber to the Egyptian Exploration Fund and a Chevalier of the
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Lyman Cornelius Smith
French Legion of Honor, in recognition of his services in perfecting the type- writer.
In 1878 was celebrated the marriage of Lyman Cornelius Smith and Flora Elizabeth Burns, daughter of Hon. Peter and Elizabeth (Bates) Burns. Their only son, Burns Lyman, married Miss Virginia Haberle, and their daughter, Florence Bernice Smith, is at home. Their residence, "Uarda," is one of the fine estates in Syracuse.
Mr. Smith finds needed rest and recreation from strenuous business cares in hunting, fishing and automobiling. He is actively interested in the cultivation of flowers, especially in orchids, and his conservatories contain some of the finest specimens. Not so abnormally developed in any one direction as to become a genius, his interests are varied, and his is a well rounded character. His relations with his fellowmen, the course he has followed in his business life and the work that he has done for the amelioration of hard conditons for the unfortunate and for the adoption of progressive measures along lines of intel- lectual and moral advancement constitute a practical solution of the great sociological, economic and labor problems which are characteristic of the age.
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Ezekiel K. Mundy
Reb. Ezekiel Wilson Mundy, A. A., Litt. D.
E ZEKIEL WILSON MUNDY, librarian of the Syra- cuse Public Library, was born at Metuchen, New Jer- sey, June 16, 1833. His parents were Luther Bloom- field Mundy and Frances Eliza Martin. The Mundys are an old family in Metuchen, the original ancestor, Nicholas Mundy, a native of England, having come there before 1670. Like most of the early immigrants to this country they increased rapidly. His paternal grandfather was Ezekiel Mundy, whose farm lay near the village of Metuchen, and who married Lovicy Mundy, who was one of the nineteen children of Joshua Mundy. His maternal grandfather was Dr. Wil- liam Martin, the physician of the locality and a surgeon in the war of 1812 and the father of fifteen children.
The early Mundys were farmers, with here and there a clergyman and a merchant. In religion almost all of them were Presbyterians. Ezekiel's paternal grandfather was an Episcopalian and his maternal grandfather was a Quaker. The village church, however, was Presbyterian and the young people of the region were brought up in the Presbyterian worship. The children of this Mundy household are Ezekiel Wilson, of Syracuse; Edward Livingston, of Rahway, New Jersey; Louisa Matilda Andruss, of Florida, deceased; and Caroline Virginia Wendover, of Newark, New Jersey. The father died at the age of sixty-two years, the mother lived to the age of eighty-three.
Ezekiel Wilson Mundy grew up on a farm near the village of Metuchen and received his education in the country school of the neighborhood. He had the advantage of a teacher, Bethune Dunkin, a Boston man, who was also the teacher of his father and his mother, and who taught for fifty years in the same country schoolhouse and who lived for many years in the home of Eze- kiel's father.
At the age of fourteen years the boy went as clerk in a store in the neigh- boring town of Rahway, where he served for two years. He went thence to Newark, New Jersey, where he learned the trade of a jeweler. But then came to him the desire to be a clergyman and at the urgent solicitation of a very warm friend, Harris M. Baldwin, of Newark, New Jersey, a member of the South Baptist church of that city, and with the earnest advice of others, he accepted the offer of Mr. Baldwin to send him to college. He was prepared for college at the seminary in Essex, Connecticut, and in 1856 was entered as a
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hieb. Ezekiel Wilson mundy, A. m., Litt. D.
freshman at the University of Rochester. At college he had the advantage of the instruction of the president, Dr. Martin B. Anderson, and of the professor of Greek, Dr. Asahel H. Kendrick, both very able men. At this early day the college was small and the subjects studied were few and the professors and students were friends, a state of things of advantage to the students. These men were wise, and no student could be with them and escape unblessed.
Mr. Mundy was graduated A. B. in 1860, and in 1863 he received the degree of A. M. from Rochester. In 1863 he was graduated from the Roch- ester Theological Seminary, and came to Syracuse as pastor of the First Bap- tist church. After three years there arose dissatisfaction on account of his religious opinions, and he resigned his pulpit, and at the solicitation of many friends he organized an Independent church. To this church he ministered for thirteen years. He then resigned, and in 1883 took orders in the Episco- pal church under Bishop Huntington. He was sent as a missionary to the village of Geddes, where he gathered and organized St. Mark's church. He served St. Mark's for ten years and then resigned on account of ill health. Meanwhile he had been in charge of the Public Library since 1880 and to that he has ever since given his whole time. In 1904 the Syracuse University con- ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Literature (Litt. D.).
On January 15, 1873, Dr. Mundy was married to Miss Emily Kendall, of Syracuse, a daughter of Horace Kendall and Emily King, who were Connecti- cut people. To Dr. and Mrs. Mundy a son and two daughters have been born, Edward Kendall, Ethel Frances and Emily King.
Mr. Mundy is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and of the Phi Beta Kappa society. He is a member of the American Historical Society, of the National Geographical Society, of the New England Historical and Gene- alogical Society, of the New Jersey Historical Society, of the Onondaga County Genealogical Society, of the Onondaga Historical Association. He is also a member of the University Club of Syracuse.
Aguda Milleup
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Judge A. Judd northrup
J UDGE A. JUDD NORTHRUP, whose natural talent and acquired ability have gained him distinction at bar, in authorship and as one who has molded public thought and opinion and has thus aided in shaping the history of the commonwealth, is one of the native sons of the Empire state. His birth occurred near Peterboro in Madison county, June 30, 1833, his parents being Rensselaer and Clarissa (Judd) North- rup. The father removed from Tyringham, Massa- chusetts, to Madison county, New York, in 1805. The mother was a daugh- ter of Ansel Judd, who settled at Watervale in the early part of the nineteenth century. In both the paternal and maternal lines Judge Northrup is of New England ancestry, represented in this country through six generations.
His boyhood days were unmarked by events of special importance, nor did they foreshadow the prominence to which he was later to attain. When not occupied with the duties of the schoolroom he worked on his father's farm and later engaged in teaching school through the winter months. Ambitious for further educational privileges, he continued his studies in Petersboro Acad- emy and also in Oberlin (Ohio) College, where he completed his preparatory course prior to entering Hamilton College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1858. Having thus laid an excellent foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional knowledge, he matriculated in Colum- bia Law School, wherein he completed a two years' course in one year. Ham- ilton College had conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts and in 1895 the degree of LL. D.
Following the completion of his college course in law Ansel Judd Northrup located for practice in Syracuse in 1859 and has since been a resident of this city with the exception of a few months spent in Chicago. At the time of his arrival he was a young man of twenty-six years, ambitious, enthusiastic and determined, and owing to the possession of these qualities, combined with a comprehensive knowledge of the law, no dreary novitiate awaited him. He yet remains an active practitioner and for years has been accorded a foremost position among the able lawyers who have graced the courts of this district and of western New York. He has never feared that laborious attention to the work of the office that results in a thorough mastery of the case, while in the courtroom he has presented his cause with clearness and force. It is the theory
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Judge A. Juod northrup
of the law that the counsel who practice are to aid the court in the administra- tion of justice. There has been perhaps no member of the profession in Syra- cuse more careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional ethics than A. J. Northrup. He has never sought to lead the court astray in a matter of fact or law, nor would he endeavor to hold from it a knowledge of any fact appearing in the record. Calm, dignified, self-controlled, free from passion or prejudice and overflowing with kindness, he has given to his clients the service of great talent, unwearied industry and rare learning and yet has never forgotten that there are certain things due to the court, to his own self- respect and above all to justice and the righteous administration of the law, which neither the zeal of an advocate nor the pleasure of success has permitted him to disregard. In 1882 he was elected on the republican ticket judge of the county court and in the discharge of his duties was so fair and impartial that at the succeeding election he was re-elected without oppositon from the demo- cratic party, his judicial service closing December 31, 1894.
Judge Northrup has always manifested a citizen's deep interest in the great political problems and issues affecting the weal or woe of state and nation. He early became recognized as a force in republican politics in Syracuse, for the early years of his residence here covered that period when activity in politics became every man's duty-the period preceding the outbreak of the Civil war. During both the Lincoln campaigns he made many speeches and became the first vice president and later the president of the Loyal League, a strong patri- otic organization. His ambition, however, has not been in the line of office holding, yet he has done capable service in the different positions to which he has been called by appointment of by popular suffrage. In 1870 he was appointed United States circuit court commissioner for the northern district of New York, and United States commissioner when the former office was abol- ished in 1897. In 1870 he was also appointed United States examiner in equity, both of which offices he has continued to hold. In February, 1895, he was nom- inated by Governor Morton and confirmed by the state senate as one of the three commissioners to revise the statutes of the state, and soon after was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the code of civil procedure, both of which offices he held until January 1, 1901. He had personal charge of many of the most important revision bills which became laws.
Judge Northrup's interest in municipal affairs has led to active co-operation in many movements having direct bearing upon the welfare and upbuilding of the city, which during the period of his residence here has developed from a small town to an important industrial and commercial center. Since 1877 he has been one of the trustees of the Syracuse Savings Bank. He is also a trustee of the Oakwood Cemetery Association; a director and the president of the Onondaga Historical Association; a director of the Genealogical Society of Central New York; vice president of the Society for the Federation of Churches in Syracuse and Onondaga county; an incorporator and for a long time direc-
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Judge A. Judd northrup
tor of the University Club of Syracuse; for some years president of the board of directors of the Syracuse Boys' Club; a member of the Syracuse Citizens' Club and of the Fortnightly Club and of other organizations. The foregoing list will serve to show the breadth of his interests for all those matters which pertain to civic life, to municipal honor, to intellectual advancement, to moral progress; and in fact all those subjects which touch the general interests of society and work for the good of mankind are of interest to him.
He has long been an elder in the First Presbyterian church and was a lay commissioner from the Syracuse Presbytery to the general assembly held in Saratoga in 1890, celebrated for its great debate on "revision." In 1890 he read a paper before the Elders' Association of the Syracuse Presbytery on "The Powers and Duties of Elders in the Presbyterian Church," which was published in pamphlet form and had a wide circulation. Later it was read at a notable gathering of Presbyterians in the west, and is said to have had a strong influence on the denomination throughout the country.
Judge Northrup was married in 1863 to Miss Eliza S. Fitch. Unto them were born three sons and two daughters: Edwin Fitch, a graduate of Am- herst College, a fellow of John Hopkins University for two years and a Ph. D. degree alumnus of that institution; Elliott Judd, a graduate of Amherst and of the law department of Cornell University, and for some years his father's partner in practice, and now professor of law in the State University of Illinois; Theodore Dwight, who died in 1885; Ursula, a graduate of Miss Wheelock's Kindergarten Training School of Boston, who married Dr. Louis Cleveland Jones, chemist at Solvay ; and Edith, a graduate of Syracuse University.
While Judge Northrup has always regarded the practice of law as his real life work he has found time and opportunity for recreation, for broad study and for authorship in additon to his active participation in political questions and in the municipal life of Syracuse. He believes firmly in the principle that the workers of the world should have their play spells as well, and in his earlier years and yet to a large extent he has greatly enjoyed the sport with rod and gun. He first went to the Adirondacks in 1863, finding there a genuine wil- derness not yet converted into the resort of the summer tourist. For many years he has visited that locality. In 1880 he wrote and published a book entitled "Camps and Tramps in the Adirondacks, and Grayling Fishing in Northern Michigan; a Record of Summer Vacations in the Wilderness." This volume met with a ready sale because of its crisp style of narrative. It was followed the next year by "Sconset Cottage Life; a Summer on Nan- tucket Island." This also met with much favor and a second edition was issued, illustrated by half-tones made from photographs taken by the author. While his trips to the woods were made with a view of indulging in sport with rod and gun, he has ever had that deep love for and appreciation of nature which is ever found in the true woodsinan and he is never happier than when dwelling "near to nature's heart." His writings, however, have
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Judge A. Juod northrup
not been confined to descriptions of camp life and summer vacations but have touched many of the more serious subjects which have claimed the attention of the mature and cultured mind. Perhaps the most important is his "Slav- ery in New York; a Historical Sketch," which was published by the University of the state of New York as a state library bulletin in 1900. It is an exhaust- ive treatise on the subject, and its preparation required much careful research in a new field. He was the author of "The Class History of 1858 of Hamil- ton College," and he prepared the "Genealogy of the Northrup Family in America." Association and study making him thoroughly familiar with local history, he prepared and read before the Onondaga Historical Association a paper on "The Formative Period," treating of the controlling influences in the early days of this county, and recognized as one of the strongest articles ever written along that line. His writings have covered indeed a wide range of subjects, to say nothing of the vast amount of work he did as a member of the statutory revision commission. The "religions corporation law" of this state is largely the result of his work while a member of that commission and during the same time he visited all the prisons and penitentiary of the state, and prepared and read a paper on "Our State Prison System," which he was called upon to repeat several times. He also delivered many other addresses, literary and historical.
A man of great versatility, Judge Northrup is entirely free from osten- tation or display and the humblest can approach him sure of his courteous attention. In manner he is always genial, oft times jovial and has that gen- erous spirit that is quick to recognize the good qualities in another. He has been an able, faithful and conscientious minister in the temple of justice and in his private life is endeared to all who know him by the simple nobility of his character.
George of Comfort,
Dr. George Fisk Comfort
D R. GEORGE FISK COMFORT was born in Berk- shire, Tioga county, New York, September 30, 1833. His paternal ancestors (Comfort, Gildersleeve) and also his maternal (Smith, Lane) were of English descent, their earliest generation in America com- ing to the colonies near the beginning of the eight- eenth century. His father, Rev. Silas Comfort, D. D., was born in Lanesboro, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, on May 5, 1803, and died in 1868; his mother, Electa (Smith) Comfort, was born in Windsor, Broome county, New York, October 17, 1803, and died 1861. Rev. Dr. Silas Comfort was a prominent minister in the Methodist church. In 1835 he was transferred by Bishop Morris from Potsdam, New York, to the First Methodist Episcopal church in St. Louis, Missouri. By his ruling in introducing the testimony of a negro (slave) church member in the trial (which resulted in the expulsion) of a white member, he originated the famous "Silas Comfort Negro Testi- mony Case," which in the general conference at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1840, nearly disrupted that church on the subject of slavery and largely contributed to the tension which caused the secession of the southern Methodists in 1844. Owing to the violence of the agitation in Missouri caused by this "Negro Testi- mony Case," he returned to New York state in 1842, taking the pastorate of the Methodist church in Cazenovia and afterward the presiding eldership of the Wyoming, Oneida and Cazenovia districts of the Oneida conference. He was a member of the general conference of 1848 and 1852. He was a great student in theology and history, contributed articles to the Methodist Quar- terly Review, and was the author of: The Exposition of the Articles of Faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the End of the Argument (on universal salvation) and Man's Moral History. He always stood for reform and prog- ress and it is therefore fitting that the recent prohibition presidential candi- date, Silas Comfort Swallow, should have been named in his honor.
The early education of his son, Dr. George F. Comfort, was commenced in a select school in St. Louis, Missouri, conducted by two highly accom- plished French Emigrees ladies and was continued in Cazenovia Seminary (1842-3) ; in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pennsylvania ( 1843-6), the first meeting for founding which school was held at the residence of Dr. Silas Comfort, he presiding; in Sauquoit Academy, New York (1846-9) ; and in the
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Dr. George Fisk Comfort
Cazenovia Seminary (1849-53) at which he graduated in the three years' course in 1851 and in the five years' course in 1853. Having a great love for drawing, in which he was started in the school taught by the French lad- ies in St. Louis, he availed himself eagerly of all the opportunities in that branch which were offered in the schools he subsequently attended. He remained in Cazenovia Seminary two years after he was prepared for enter- ing college, in order to take instruction in art under the accomplished Ger- man painter, F. C. Welch, who had established himself in Cazenovia and was at the head of the art department of the seminary. He was captivated by the works of Ruskin, then fresh from the English press, and was wavering between educating himself for the career of a practicing artist and entering a classical college. During this time he made for the seminary an herbarium of the flora of Madison county, from flowers appearing in the earliest spring to the latest fall. He also gave time to advanced study in the modern lan- guages, and to the works by Max Mueller on the science of language, then fresh from the English press, being the first presentation of this important branch in education to the Anglo-Saxon public. In all his after life he attrib- uted great importance to the broadening foundation he acquired by these two years of side study at the Cazenovia Seminary, after he had completed the regular preparatory studies for entering the classical college. As America was then destitute of good art schools, he decided to enter the Wesleyan Uni- versity, Middletown, Connecticut, graduating in 1857, receiving the degree of A. B. in 1857, and A. M. in 1860. While in college he found considerable time to devote to painting, and visited freely the art exhibitions in New York and Boston, then yet rivaling New York as the center of art in America.
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