USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 15
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His son, Charles Spencer Clark, received his educa- tion at the old West Farms Public School, and he later began work with his father and uncle, H. & C. Clark, carpenters and builders of The Bronx. There he served his apprenticeship, learning and mastering
Entantin Prague.
John t. Makes
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the joiner's trade; but during all this time he was also attending night school courses in architecture at Cooper Union Institute. This carried him over a period of time very slightly in excess of five years, so that he worked with his father and uncle for some twelve years in all. Then, in 1888, he branched out for himself, carrying on a general practice of his profession as an architect. This proved to be a successful branch of the building industry, and today Mr. Clark has the reputation of being one of the best men in his profession in The Bronx. He has designed some of the principal buildings in that part of the city, and among the more important of the structures built upon his plans are the Bergen Building, designed for William C. Bergen, the build- ing engineer, the Francis Kiel & Son factory, the overhauling and repair work that went into the gen- eral remodeling of The Bronx Company mills, many of the residences and apartments built by the lead- ing construction companies of that part of the city, such as that of Max Jacobson; he designed the Tremont Temple Synagogue on the Concourse, and the Edison Studios at Decatur Avenue and Oliver Place, and he is at present designing apartments for Morris J. Grossman, a real estate operator and builder, who is constructing two apartments, one on Townsend and Mt. Eden avenues, and the other at Walton and Mt. Eden avenues.
Indeed, Mr. Clark is the second oldest architect living in The Bronx, and the oldest now engaged in his profession; a well preserved man who is devoted to hunting and fishing, a lover of the woods and open country. He is a member of the Whitcomb Gun Club, and the Old Timers' Association of The Bronx; he is fraternally affiliated with the Guiding Star Lodge, No. 565, Free and Accepted Masons; and he takes a particularly active interest in all local civic affairs, being noted for the fine manner in which he stands behind any movement designed for the welfare or advancement of his community.
Charles Spencer Clark married, February 23, 1887, at Seventy-second Street, near Central Park West, New York City, Annie Sarah Budworth, a daughter of William S. and Addie (Manchester) Budworth. Mr. and Mrs. Clark now maintain their residence at No. 740 Fairmount Place, in The Bronx.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HAIGHT, a retired member of the New York City Fire Department, and a carpenter and cabinetmaker of no mean ability,“ was born on January 28, 1864, on Greenwich Avenue, Manhattan. This Mr. Haight is a son of Welcome Arnold and Eliza Maria (Tuttle) Haight, and a grandson of John Haight, who was among the original ninety men who stormed and took Fort Ticonderoga in the War of 1812. Earlier members of the family served with distinction during the Revolutionary. War. Welcome Arnold Haight, the father, was born on March 2, 1832, in Dutchess County, New York, and he died during the year 1910. He was a carpenter and builder all of his life; a man beloved by those who knew him well and respected by all with whom he came in contact. Eliza Maria (Tuttle) Haight, the mother, was born in 1832 in old Greenwich Village, New York, and she died April 22, 1925. She
was a daughter of John and Helen (Pultz) Tuttle, the Tuttles being among the older families in America.
Their son, George Washington Haight, first at- tended the old public school on Thirty-seventh Street between Second and Third avenues, and he later attended the public school on Forty-second Street, both in Manhattan. He was then but seven years old, about which time his parents removed to The Bronx, where the lad attended the old Morrisania Public School, under Principal John Moore. He later attended the public school at One Hundred and Forty-sixth Street and College Avenue, under Principal Hyatt. Upon the completion of these courses of education, he at once branched out for himself, receiving his first real contact with the world of commerce as a delivery wagon driver, working thus for the butcher store owned and operated by one Marlin Norz, at One Hundred and Forty-fourth Street and Third Avenue. After about four years at this type of work he returned to his father's carpen- try and building business and under this competent preceptorship learned and mastered the joiner's and cabinetmaker's trade. He worked at this, in com- pany with his father, up until the year 1910, at the time of his father's death. Sometime prior to this, however, in the year 1898, he had also joined the New York City Fire Department, and being physically endowed to meet the many hazards of this dangerous occupation, he decided to close his father's business, in 1910, and remain in the depart- ment. Thus he served uninterruptedly from 1898 to 1918, rounding out a full twenty years in the service, after which he was retired upon a city pension. Since 1918, however, he has returned to his work as a cabinetmaker, and although he is doing this principally to occupy his time he has nevertheless turned out some of the most beautiful cabinet inlay work to be found in this country.
He still takes a keen interest in the general affairs of the Department, and he now holds active member- ship in the Twenty-year Firemen's Association, and he is affiliated, fraternally, with the Harlem Lodge, No. 201, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
George Washington Haight married, September 25, 1888, at the Methodist Church on Jane Street, Man- hattan, the Rev. Dr. Lowther officiating, Josephine C. Herger, who was born near One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Street and Washington Avenue, in The Bronx, a daughter of William and Josephine (Bod- mark) Herger, pioneer bakers in The Bronx. Mr. and Mrs. Haight have become the parents of four children: 1. Irene Amanda, who was born Novem- ber 29, 1889, and who married Otto Serget. 2. Helen Louise, who was born February 28, 1891, and who married William Noll, and by him became the mother of Howard, who was born May 1, 1920. 3. Josephine Bell, who was born on November 10, 1894. 4. Ethel Georgina, born July 7, 1900; married Henry Bahle, and they have one child, Ethel Henrietta. Mr. and Mrs. Haight maintain their residence at No. 1114 Washington Avenue, The Bronx.
JOHN SIMONSON MAPES-A generation of the most successful of the realty men in this section of the city have desirable and pleasing reasons for
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recalling the remarkably active period while John S. Mapes, of the H. C. Mapes & Company, was New York City's leading auctioneer, and dealt thus more extensively in real estate matters than any other individual, at the same time creating a new and widespread interest in realty in behalf of all estab- lished in the business. Mr. Mapes, who is now in- terested solely in his immediate real estate posses- sions, has always lived in The Bronx, and he is one of a very few men still surviving who actively shared in the history of the material progress of The Bronx from the outset of its realty enterprises. He is a son of Leonard Mapes, who was born in November, 1804, and died in July, 1880, and Mary (Archer) Mapes, born in 1812, died April 19, 1880, and descendant of John Archer, who held an original land grant under King Charles I, purchasing for ten barrels of apples in the sixteenth century land that is now inclusive of nearly all of Fordham.
John S. Mapes was born August 17, 1849, in the old homestead on the Mapes Farm, at East Tremont and Beach avenues, The Bronx; the house which was built in 1851 and is still standing is in a good state of preservation. When he was sixteen years old, he began work on his father's farm, where he remained until he was twenty-three years of age, when his father gave him full charge of the property; he then established a coal yard at Gouverneur Slip and Front Street, at the lower section of Manhattan. After continuing in that business two years, he decided to return to the farm, and starting a dairy business, for nine years he drove a milk wagon, and retailed milk.
On April 27, 1887, Mr. Mapes became a member of the Auctioneers' Association, and entering actively upon that profession, with special abilities as a speaker and an unusual gift of wit, he became the leading auctioneer in the real estate market. For a considerable period he had charge of all real estate sold by auction in The Bronx, and doubtless of more real estate than any other man in the greater city. He continued thus until his health became broken on account of a severe attack of pneumonia, and after a period of traveling, he retired from public business, and now gives his sole attention to his personal holding of real estate. As a boy he attended and was graduated at the old public school at the corner of Vyse Avenue and One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Street.
John S. Mapes married, June 16, 1874, Ella M. Frost, daughter of John Bartow Frost, and Jane (Beatty) Frost. John Bartow Frost was of an old Westchester County family, who were early settlers in the town of Bartow, in the section of Pelham. Their children: 1. Ella Leonard, born April 16, 1876; married John F. Robinson. 2. John Francis, born January 21, 1879; married Lena Saul, and they have one child, John Francis Mapes, Jr., born in 1903, who is now a member of the United States Navy, aboard the United States Ship "Maryland." 3. Edna, born in October, 1881; married Gustav Nielson, and they have one child, Donald Nielson, born in 1913. 4. Lucy, born in October, 1883; married Richard H. Arnold, of Poughkeepsie, son of Judge C. W. H. Arnold, second attorney for the Poughkeepsie Trust
Company, of which his son is an officer; they have three children: i. Ruth M., born January 6, 1910. ii. Charles William H., Jr., born April 3, 1912. iii. R. H., born March 18, 1922. 5. Alva, born in October, 1885; married Frederick DeGar, and they have chil- dren: i. Warren Harding, born in August, 1922. ii. Betty Jane, born September 19, 1925. 6. Harriet, born in February, 1892; married Henry E. Giegler; they have two children: i. Henry Courtney, born Novem- ber 11, 1917. ii. Robert Mapes, born March 26, 1922.
OTTO CARL TRAUTMANN-In the premises located at Nos. 88-90 Cypress Avenue, in The Bronx section of New York City, labors a noted scientist, inventor and manufacturer, whose presence in the United States is the result of an unusual circum- stance, the developments of which constituted a dis- tinct gain to our Nation.
On December 5, 1882, in the province of Saxon, Germany, was born Otto Carl Trautmann, a son of Julius Trautmann, a farmer, and Mary (Bartels) Trautmann. The infant, Otto C., gradually progressed toward the boyhood stage, and in good time joined with his fellow playmate's as students in a gym- nasium (preparatory school) in which pupils were taught, in successive stages, the elementary, high school and college preparatory courses. His studies at the gymnasium completed, the father, desirous that his obviously talented son should be afforded an opportunity to acquire a higher education, ar- ranged for the matriculation of Otto in the famed Technical Institute of Charlottenburg, from which institute the youth was graduated in 1903, as mech- anical engineer and diploma engineer. Having at- tained his theoretical education, the time had now arrived when Otto must devote the results of his knowledge to practical achievement. He began his professional career in the capacity of field engineer, gradually advanced through several other minor posi- tions, was professor of mechanics and mathematics in a private technical college for several years, eventu- ally became city engineer for the city of Kustrin, Germany, and finally, so he thought, the crowning achievement of his career was attained when he was elected to the presidency of the Central Heating Plants Corporation of Berlin, which event took place in 1913.
Just prior to the beginning of the World War, an urgent business transaction required his presence in the United States, and before he was prepared to return to Germany, hostilities were declared, and Mr. Trautmann, well on the way to becoming a power in the manufacturing and scientific world of Germany, found himself an involuntary citizen of the United States. But never for an instant did the resourcefulness peculiar to his countrymen desert him. A battle was raging; the United States, foe of the land of his birth, eventually joined forces with the Allied armies, and was in urgent need of certain chemical by-products which he (and probably only he in this country) knew how to and did manufacture, for Otto C. Trautmann promptly en- tered into the manufacture of this product, fused- silica, otherwise known as quartz-glass, essential for insulation purposes in searchlight manufacture, and also in the manufacturing of certain acids and in labo-
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ratory work as a substitute for platinum, the cost of which product is only about one-tenth of that of platinum. Fused-silica, a product of sand and elec- tricity, will withstand acids and heat, and is the only chemical product known to modern science that will neither contract nor expand under even the most intense heat. Prior to the World War, England had the monopoly on the manufacture of this product; and today, the only other nation possessing this facility is the United States, in New York City, at the above-mentioned address in The Bronx, where the Sidio Company, Inc., is now furnishing this product to a great number of leading industries as the General Chemical, General Electric, du Pont de Nemours, Hercules Powder, etc., to Japan, also to Canada and South America, which markets have replaced the demands of war-time users, including the United States Government. Mr. Trautmann began the operation of this company originally, in 1914, in Manhattan Borough, and removed the concern to its present Bronx location in 1919, where manufacturing proceeds in a commodious three-story building containing about 10,000 square feet of floor space, and about a score of skilled workmen are now employed on the premises, the executive offices of the corporation being located at No. 14 West Twenty-third Street, New York City.
Otto Carl Trautmann married, at Berlin, Germany, in 1906, Ella Edda Claassen, daughter of Herrman Claassen, president of the Silesia Mining Corpora- tion, and Minna (Doerch) Claassen. Two children, Etta Ella, and Harry Otto, were born to this union, but both having died in infancy, Mr. and Mrs. Trautmann adopted from the Children's Society of New York City, a daughter, Ruth, born on March 10, 1915. The family reside at Ardsley, New York State, and are members of the German Lutheran church.
HENRY BREUNICH-After a varied and suc- cessful business career in Manhattan, Henry Breunich established himself in The Bronx, where he is widely known as a constructive citizen. He is one of the old and highly respected members of various Masonic bodies.
Henry Breunich was born, January 11, 1849, in Grunstadt, Rhine Pfalz, Bavaria, son of Hieronymus and Julia (Krieg) Breunich. The father, born in Eisenberg, Rhine Pfalz, died November 11, 1911, in his eighty-third year, after more than sixty years of residence in the United States. He had a dairy business on Rivington Street. His wife, born Novem- ber 15, 1824, in Grunstadt, Germany, died in her ninetieth year. The family came to the United States when Henry Breunich was an infant and lived on the lower east side of New York City.
The boy attended school on Rivington Street and the new building on Broome Street, under Principal Martin, until his parents sent him to a private school on Market Street, which was conducted by Dr. Dulon, father-in-law of General Franz Siegel, the celebrated German patriot. These private lessons so speeded the boy's education that he completed his studies and was able to go to work at the age of fourteen as a hat salesman in the store of George Hewison,
on Chatham Street. After two years there, he en- tered the employ of Goedel and Goedecke, whole- sale silk merchants, of Murray Street, and remained with them for five years. His next change was to a business venture of his own. He bought a half interest in the hat business of Pfister, the Hatter, and the firm prospered under the name of Pfister and Breunich, at the corner of Eldridge and Grand streets until Mr. Breunich became sole proprietor. After four years, he established a wholesale Cali- fornia wine business at No. 81 Essex Street, which he conducted for four years. His next venture, a coal and wood yard on Eighteenth Street and Avenue C, into which he finally took a partner, Mr. Miller, prospered for a time under the name of Miller and Breunich. Finally Mr. Breunich sold his interest to Mr. Miller, who as sole owner oper- ated the business, and soon thereafter Mr. Breunich opened a coal yard at Cannon and Stanton streets, which flourished there until his retirement in 1912. Since that date he has occupied himself with his property and private affairs in The Bronx.
Mr. Breunich is a member of Germania Lodge, No. 182, Free and Accepted Masons, of the Knights Templar, and since 1872, has been affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs also to the Polar Star Lodge, No. 119, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On March 19, 1870, in New York City, at the First German Presbyterian Church, Madison and Mont- gomery streets, Henry Breunich was married (first), by Rev. Dr. B. Krusi, to Philippina Kraemer, daugh- ter of Joseph and Philippina Kraemer. Born in Hesse- Darmstadt, she died in 1891. Mr. Breunich married (second), January 8, 1893, Emma Fauerbach, who died in 1916, survived by three children: Emma Hen- rietta, born December 4, 1893; John Thomas Wiles, born December 29, 1894, married to Grace Burt and they have children: Marian, Jean. and John Thomas, Jr .; Wright Dusenberry Pownall, born February 21, 1897, who married Emma Mangers. Mr. Breunich married (third), November 26, 1917, in New York, Emily Straisslin, an old schoolmate, daughter of James Straisslin and Caroline (Lange) Straisslin, and widow of Charles W. Kenneway, by whom she had a child, Charles. Mr. Breunich's children by his first wife were: 1. Julia Wilhelmina, born April 6, 1871, married Frederick Sparrenberger, an officer in the United States Medical Corps at Fort Mussila, Mon- tana, by whom she has a child: John Henry Spar- renberger. 2. Hieronymus, born March 12, 1874; married Anna Louise Aursi, and they have two chil- dren: Oneta and Paul. 3. Joseph Charles, born December 18, 1876; married Anna Polinsky, and they have children: Joseph Charles, Jr., Dorothy, and Otto Arthur. 4. Jacob Groebel, born in 1878; mar- ried Madeleine Neisel, and they have a child, Kath- erine. 5. Henry Breunich, Jr., born October 27, 1881; married Minnie Schwendeman, and they have chil- dren: Henry (3rd), and Theodore. 6. Frank Fiefe, born March 26, 1884; married Isabell Verilac. 7. Philippina Breunich, born November 13, 1886. 8. Otto Theobald Breunich, born June 19, 1890; mar- ried Virginia Ebel and they have a daughter, Vir- ginia Alice, born May 27, 1920.
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ARTHUR WELLSLEY RICHARDSON - A
name in The Bronx standing for stability and pros- perity as well as excellence of service and con- sideration for the public is that of Arthur Wellsley Richardson, funeral director, at No. 314 East Two Hundred and Fourth Street. His long and varied merchandising experience with such a noted firm as Marshall Field and Company and his incidental con- nection with several morticians have given him the best possible foundation on which to build his en- terprise. His business has therefore grown both rapidly and healthily, and his patrons are among the best people of his section. He is influential also in many phases of civic life.
Arthur Wellsley Richardson was born February 10, 1880, on One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Street, The Bronx, son of Arthur W. and Julia (Healy) Richard- son, both born on New York's lower east side, the father, who died in 1884, being born in 1842. He was for many years general manager of the famous old wholesale dry goods house, Calhoun, Robbins & Company.
The boy attended Public School No. 49, in the Kipps Bay section of Manhattan, between Second and Third avenues. When he graduated, he found it necessary to become self-supporting, because of his father's premature death, and he found, at the age of twelve, a position in Stern Brothers' Dry Goods Store on Twenty-third Street where he re- mained for a year and a half. His next position was with Van Horn and Ellison, druggists, at Forty-first Street and Park Avenue. A year sufficed to teach him much about this type of merchandise. Returning to the dry goods business, he entered the employ of Marshall Field and Company, in their small office at No. 104 Worth Street. Beginning at the bottom he ad- vanced to the position of salesman and was the first agent to represent the firm throughout all the Eastern Atlantic States. He rounded out twenty-four and a half years of service with Marshall Field. Mean- time, on various occasions his assistance was sought by several undertakers, whom he helped prepare burials. This experience, viewed from many angles, taught him much about the undertaking business. In 1925, when opportunity offered, he bought out the funeral establishment formerly owned and oper- ated for nine years by George T. O'Connor, now deceased, whose estate had put it on sale. Mr. Richardson has since continued to conduct the con- cern under his own name and in the same location, meeting with great success.
His broad interest in general welfare has engaged Mr. Richardson in many activities. He enlisted for service in the Spanish-American War when the first call for volunteers went out, and was received into Company A, 71st Regiment, New York National Guard, until it was discovered that the sister who sponsored his enlistment was not his legally ap- pointed guardian. Undaunted, the young patriot had her so appointed by the courts, which, however, moved too slowly to permit his joining his unit before the close of the war. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, Guiding Star Council, and Bishop Hughes Council, with the Fourth Degree; of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and the Holy
Name Society of St. Brendans Catholic Church. He is also sexton of the church. His other affil- liations are with The Bronx Friends of Erin and the Norwood Social Club, of which he was a charter member and the first president.
On April 22, 1912, in St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church, Arthur Wellsley Richardson was married by Rev. Father J. Murray to Mary Magdelen McDer- mott, daughter of John and Hannah (Mahoney) McDermott, both natives of Ireland. Children: Arthur Wellsley Richardson, 3rd, born December 31, 1915; land Elise Marie Richardson, born October 8, 1920.
PATRICK JOHN TOYE-Prominent among those citizens of The Bronx whose vision and bus- iness sense has so greatly contributed to its up- building is Patrick John Toye, active in real estate developments, in association with P. J. Dwyer, the well-known builder, with offices at No. 2456 Grand Concourse. Mr. Toye was born March 24, 1878, on the west side of New York, at No. 435 West Twenty- fifth Street, son of John and Alice (Keenan) Toye, both natives of County Monaghan, Ireland. The father came to the United States in 1860, settling in New York and remaining there the rest of his life. His son was given a good education in the New York public schools, attending No. 55, and St. Columbia School, and graduating from the College of Pharmacy, with the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy.
The business career which was to prove so success- ful began when Mr. Toye opened his own drug store on One Hundred and Seventeenth Street and Seventh Avenue. His success there led him to move to the more advantageous location on One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Street somewhat later, and after ten years to turn his attentions to wider opportunities. He became supervisor and inspector of foods in the Health Department of New York City, continuing until his resignation in 1922. Since that date Mr. Toye has busied himself with realty developments and has made his activities count toward the general improvement of living conditions in The Bronx, the expansion of new residential sections, as well as the opening up of new commercial centers.
On August 26, 1912, in St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, Patrick John Toye was married to Warburga Katherine Laemmle, daughter of George and Katherine (Grell) Laemmle, both natives of Hohenzollern, Germany. A son was born of the union, June 19, 1918, Joseph John George Toye.
GEORGE FRANCIS KECKEISSEN-Among the successful builders of the banking interests of The Bronx, and one whose financial programme has been steadily progressive from the year of his first employment with the Commonwealth Bank, George Francis Keckeissen, assistant vice-president and man- ager of that institution, is an official of capabilities and energies eminently adaptable to the expanding history of this bank, through whose various grades he has risen by his own personal worth.
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