USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 16
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The first of his name in America was his grand- father, Frank Keckeissen, who came from Bavaria to New York City, where he engaged in the hay and grain business on the lower east side, on East
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Third Street, Manhattan; his son, who bore the same name, Frank Keckeissen, was born December 15, 1840, in New York City, and died in 1903; he married Margaret Miller, who was born June 27, 1844, in New York City, and died March 30, 1907. Of their fifteen children, the following-named survive: Adam, who lives at Rockwell Center; Henry A., residing in The Bronx; Frances, who married John H. Reheuser; George Francis, of whom further; and Mary Jeannette.
George Francis Keckeissen was born February 12, 1881, in New York City, where he attended the public schools, and Saint Joseph Parochial School, at Eighty- seventh Street and First Avenue. He began his busi- ness career in the employ of a dry goods concern with whom he continued from 1895 to 1902. In the latter year he became associated with the Common- wealth Bank as a junior clerk, and he was gradually promoted to bookkeeper, teller, receiving and paying manager, accepting the latter office in September, 1918; and in October, 1924, he was made assistant vice-president and manager of the bank. Fraternally, Mr. Keckeissen is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and with the Schnorer Club; he enjoys baseball. He is a communicant of Saint Barnabas Church.
Mr. Keckeissen married, October 2, 1906, Eva K. Baab, who died April 10, 1925. Their children were: Anna, Margaret, Gertrude, and Rita.
THOMAS HAYES CURTIN, M. D .- To his special research and successful practice in ophthal- mology, not alone in The Bronx but also throughout the large field that his well-founded repute for skill has developed, Dr. Thomas Hayes Curtin has added the gifts of the teacher and instructor in schools and colleges, and those of the prolific writer and learned public speaker upon a subject that he has mastered as an expert. Dr. Curtin is as well known as a general practitioner, and as one who made a distinct sacrifice of temporal matters, in order to become actively engaged in service abroad in the World War; yet special honors and recognition have been accorded him from many eminent sources for his outstanding attainments in his study of the disease of the eye.
Dr. Thomas Hayes Curtin, a son of David and Elizabeth (Hayes) Curtin, was born May 19, 1875, in Ireland, and coming to the United States when he was five years old, he was a graduate of Public School No. 49, East Thirty-seventh Street, and of the College of the City of New York. During vaca- tions he was employed by John D. Crimmins in an executive capacity in connection with the building of the cable roads in New York City. Preparing for his profession at Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- lege, he was graduated there in 1897, with his medical degree, and for two years he was an interne and house surgeon at St. Vincent's Hospital, New York City.
Beginning with his appointment in 1900, from the civil service list, as coroner's physician for Bronx County, Dr. Curtin served during the following eighteen years under the administration of different parties, and he received commendations from the
executive heads of each, and in particular for his direction of the medical activities during the occasions of the Slocum disaster and the Brewster wreck.
Professionally, Dr. Curtin was well known as a general practitioner, prior to his specializing in eye work, and he has been honored with such important posts as: Professor of gross pathology in Fordham Medical College; adjunct professor of ophthalmology in the New York Polyclinic Medical School; junior surgeon in the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital; surgeon and secretary of the board of directors of the Bronx Eye and Ear Hospital; consulting oph- thalmologist for Columbus Hospital, Washington Heights. Dr. Curtin is a member of the Democratic organization of New York City, and continuously a member of the Democratic Committee of Bronx County.
In 1918, Dr. Curtin applied for leave of absence from the city service, without pay, to accept a com- mission overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces, and being refused leave of absence, he re- signed to answer the call of his country, the public press lauding him for his courage and sacrifice. Dr. Curtin served with distinction on the European battle- fields, and he received the rank of major. He has always been a very active citizen in civic matters, his aid being rendered upon all occasions in behalf of the progress and growth of Bronx County.
An extensive lecturer and writer, Dr. Curtin has discoursed particularly on diseases of the eye before the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, the Red Cross, Columbia University, and various settlement houses of New York City.
Fraternally, Dr. Curtin is affiliated with the follow- ing-named societies: Fellow of the Academy of Medicine; member of the American Medical Asso- ciation; Bronx County Medical Society; Bronx Med- ical Association; Celtic Medical Society; New York Ophthalmological Society; Bronx Board of Trade; New York Athletic Club; Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Schnorer Club; City Island Improvement Association; Ameri- can Legion; and vice-president of the Boy Scouts. He was appointed by Mayor Walker on the Plans and Survey Committee for the building of a greater New York City.
Dr. Thomas Hayes Curtin married, January 3, 1920, Grace A. Lawson. He is the father of one son, Thomas Hayes Curtin, Jr., born by a previous marriage. The family resides at City Island; and Dr. Curtin's office is at No. 391 East One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street, The Bronx.
CLARENCE SHUBAEL SHUMWAY-Though a native of Connecticut and in recent years a resident of New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York, the last two decades of Mr. Shumway's business activities have been devoted to the development and building up of large areas of The Bronx. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 26, 1864, a son of Clark N. and Marilla P. (Freeman) Shum- way, the father a shoe dealer in Hartford, the mother a member of an old New England family, the first American ancestor of which, Edmund Freeman, originally settled on Cape Cod.
Clarence Shubael Shumway was educated in the
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public schools of his native city, and started in to learn the business of steam engineering and general construction at the age of eighteen. He came to The Bronx in 1906 and had charge of the construction work for the corporation which did much of the building and development of some of the largest Bronx estate holdings, such as the Watson, Hoe and Simpson estates. Through this work he was connected with the erection of the A-Re Co Building, now owned by Vincent Astor; The Bronx Theatre, on East One Hundred and Fiftieth Street and Melrose Avenue; Chester Hall; A-Re Co Court, and many other apartment houses. He was among the first to build high-class two-family houses on Faile Street, the operation embracing the erection of forty-two such dwellings. During the World War he was very active in the various Liberty Loan drives and in all other patriotic movements, and, indeed, has always been deeply interested in all civic affairs. His various society affiliations are all with New Rochelle organizations and he is the president of the New Rochelle Humane Society, vice-president of the Men's Club, and a member of the Money Hounds of New Rochelle. He is also a member of St. John's Lodge, Free and Ac- cepted Masons; Washington Commandery, Knights Templar, both of Hartford; Royal Arcanum; and a thirty-second degree Mason. His chief outside in- terest is in music and he has been for many years the director of the New Rochelle Music Club, a choral organization of sixty mixed voices, which is highly esteemed in local musical circles and which rendered valuable services as a community chorus during the World War. During his life in Hartford he was a member of the First Baptist Church, but since his residence in New Rochelle he has been an attendant of the First Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Shumway was married (first), at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1894, to Jessie Wheeler, daughter of James K. Wheeler; (second) at Hartford, Connecti- cut, in 1901, to Belle M. Miller, daughter of Charles G. Miller. From his first marriage he had one daugh- ter, Frances M., now Mrs. Henry Prentiss Christian. The family home is at No. 99 Laurel Place, New Rochelle.
FRANK A. BYRNE was born in Orange, New Jersey, March 28, 1887, son of Michael and Margaret Byrne. His father was a landscape artist who came from Ireland to the United States about the time of the assassination of President Lincoln, and died in 1910. He was drafted into the Union Army and served until the close of the war. His mother is still living (1926) at the age of eighty-two years.
Frank A. Byrne received his education in the public and parochial schools of West Orange, from which he graduated in 1905; then he took a course in the New Jersey Business College in Newark, graduating from this institution in 1906. He has been identified with the insurance business for many years and es- tablished The Bronx Branch of the Travellers Insur- ance Company. On November 1, 1921, he was ap- ponted manager of this office, a position he has since filled most acceptably. The Travellers Insur- ance Company is the first multiple line insurance company to establish a branch office in The Bronx,
and about two hundred agents and brokers clear their business through this office. The company issues a full line of every kind of insurance except bond and marine, including fire, indemnity, casualty, life and accident. The continued success of the com- pany is largely due to the enterprising resourceful spirit of its manager, who is ever on the alert for larger opportunities. He is a Past Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus; a member of the City of Orange (New Jersey) Council, and he and his family are members of the Catholic church.
Frank A. Byrne married, October 23, 1912, in Orange, New Jersey, Genevieve Brennan, daughter of Patrick and Anna Brennan. Mr. and Mrs. Byrne are the parents of the following children: 1. Thecla, born November 7, 1914. 2. Frank A., Jr., born June 27, 1916. 3. Nancy, born December 5, 1919. 4. Bren- dan, born April 1, 1924. The family home is in West Orange, New Jersey.
FREDERICK WEHNES-During thirty-eight years of activity in connection with the butcher trade, Frederick Wehnes, of The Bronx, New York, not only contributed much to the health and well- being of the public but built a very successful business of his own. His butcher shop prospered in The Bronx from 1896 until 1923. There he saw the possibilities of his section and purchased valuable property which is the basis of his present fortune and "of his success as a realtor. He was born October 16, 1869, in Rothenburg A. Fulda, Hesse-Nassau, Ger- many, son of Conried and Madeleine (Braun) Wehnes, both natives of the same village. The father's brother was one of the Hessian soldiers who fought in the American Revolution and settled in the newly independent country after the war.
The education of Frederick Wehnes was acquired in the Rothenburg public school. When he was thirteen, he served his apprenticeship in order to learn the butcher's trade in Rothenburg A. Fulda. At sixteen, well-grounded in the rudiments of his trade and possessed of an adventurous and ambitious spirit, the boy determined to try his fortunes in the United States. He arrived in New York, in December, 1885, and settled on the east side on Fifty-third Street. His first employer in the new world was E. Baum, butcher, whose shop was on First Avenue and Fifty-sixth Street. After nearly a year there and a short period of activity in the pursuit of his trade, Mr. Wehnes displayed the same independence of spirit as in coming to America and opened a shop of his own on First Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street in 1888. Success came to him there until he sold out in 1896 and moved to his new place in The Bronx, for he anticipated the rapid growth of that section. He bought the property at No. 164 St. Ann's Avenue, belonging to John Link, continuing there until 1924, when he sold out the butcher shop in order to give his attention to other property he had acquired and buildings he had erected, at Nos. 614 and 616 St. Ann's Avenue. His realty office is today situated in the latter building, of his own construction, and is very prosperous. Mr. Wehnes, prominent in what- ever movement he joins, was one of the organizers of the Butchers' Association of The Bronx and president for two years. He belongs to The Bronx
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Real Estate Board and to Concord Union, No. 14, of the Steuben Society.
On October 30, 1908, in The Bronx Dutch Reformed Church, One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Street and El- ton Avenue, Frederick Wehnes was married, by Rev. George Miller, to Katinka Stiehl, daughter of Tobias Stiehl, born in Hersfeld, Hesse-Nassau, Germany, in 1851, who died in 1926. Children: 1 .- Eva Madeleine, born December 13, 1910. 2. Elizabeth Elinor, June 13, 1912. 3. Frieda Catherine, February 26, 1914. 4. Fred- erick, Jr., October 5, 1915. 5. Charles Henry, De- cember 30, 1916. 6. Harold Lincoln, February 12, 1919.
THOMAS NAPIER JAQUES-Engaged for more than a half a century in the mason and building trade, in which he followed his father's footsteps, Mr. Jaques has achieved much distinction in that field, and during his long career in the work can point to many important buildings throughout The Bronx, which are examples of his craftsmanship. Recog- nized as a man of much talent, he was appointed to the Department of Highways, of which he was in- spector of work on the Pelham Parkway Gardens, and the paving of the sidewalks of the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street Bridge and of Fulton Avenue in The Bronx. He is now employed as head of the division of permits in the department. A native and lifelong resident of The Bronx, Mr. Jaques has been active in the welfare of his community and is a mem- ber of the Old Timers' Association, whose requirement to membership is limited to those of long residence in the county. He is the son of Robert Howell and Mary (Miller) Jaques, both of whom were born and have lived in New York City during their whole lives; his father was born in 1817 and died in 1880, and his mother was born in 1818 and died in 1905.
Thomas Napier Jaques was born November 13, 1854, on Melrose Street, now One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Street in The Bronx. He attended the old school at One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Street and Third Avenue, leaving to enter the employ of his father, who was established as a successful mason and builder and with whom Mr. Jaques served his apprenticeship, learning the rudiments of the trade, which he mastered speedily and efficiently. Continu- ing with his father for three years, Mr. Jaques went with the J. and W. C. Spears, masons and builders, and was engaged in the construction of the County Court House at Chambers Street, New York City. After eight years with that concern, he became super- intendent of the Charles F. Hart Company, and discharged his duties diligently and efficiently for nineteen years, at which time he established himself as an independent contractor for a number of years. He was then employed by John Lowry, Jr., who had the contract for the construction of the Machinist Building for New York University, and with whom he remained for six months, when he supervised the building of the Rogers Department Store on Fordham Road and One Hundred and Ninetieth Street for Fountain and Choate. Completing that work, Mr. Jaques was appointed to a civil service position in the Borough of The Bronx, where he had charge of the work of the gardens in Pelham Parkway and of the laying of the sidewalks in many of the streets and
bridges in The Bronx. Later he was made inspector in charge of the Division of Permits in the Department of Highways, in which capacity he has served ably and satisfactorily since. He is a member of the Bricklayers' Union, No. 37, of The Bronx, and after forty years of faithful and valuable membership has been made a superannuated member. He is likewise a member of the Old Timers' Association of The Bronx and has been instrumental in making that organization an influential one in the community. Mr. Jaques is a communicant of the Roman Catholic faith, and attends the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in The Bronx.
Thomas Napier Jaques married, in June, 1884, in The Bronx, Mary Rooney, whose father and mother, Michael and Margaret (McIlmun) Rooney, were na- tives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Jaques are the parents of the following children: 1. Robert John, born Feb- ruary 20, 1885. 2. Anna Mary, born September 16, 1887, who was for several years a teacher in The Bronx, but died January 24, 1920. 3. Thomas Napier, Jr., born July 5, 1890; married Annie Fisher, who have a daughter, Isabelle. The family makes its home at No. 1513 Commonwealth Avenue, in The Bronx.
LAMBERT K. PEECOOK, Jr .- One of the well and widely known members of the vast legal fra- ternity of The Bronx is Lambert K. Peecook, Jr., who has achieved an enviable reputation as a legal practitioner of proved ability, high efficiency and wide experience. As a member of the highly re- putable firm of Greiner, Peecook & Buck, he has achieved a distinct and unqualified success, and he stands today as one of the prominent and influential men in the juridical circles of the metropolitan area. In his partnership with the above-mentioned firm, which has secured its excellent repute through a practice accompanied with most creditable methods, Mr. Peecook has shared as a counsel in many im- portant real estate, corporation and estate matters since his admission to the New York State bar, and personally he is highly considered for his legal gifts, both by the bar associations and by the general public. Alert and energetic in all matters which pertain to civic and public progress, efficient as an instructor in the late World War, Mr. Peecook is a loyal and dependable ally in all projects for community ad- vancement. He is a son of Lambert K. Peecook, Sr., who was born on February 14, 1864, in Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, settling in The Bronx, where he became one of the most active citizens, and was for a long time the president of the Taxpayers' and Community associations of Wood- lawn Heights. At the present time he has charge of the New York "Evening Journal" Harlem office, at One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Street. Lambert K. Peecook, Sr., married Ida Amelia Faust, who was born on January 18, 1873, in Allegheny City, Penn- sylvania.
Lambert K. Peecook, Jr., was born on August 4, 1891, in Allegheny City (now Pittsburgh), Pennsyl- vania, and at the age of four years removed with his parents to New York City. He attended the local grammar schools, and was graduated from Public School No. 32, The Bronx, in February, 1904.
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Upon his graduation from Townsend Harris Hall, he attended New York City College up to 1912, following which he spent two years in the Law School of New York University, and one year in the New York Law School whence he was graduated in June, 1915. Admitted to the bar of the State of New York in December, 1916, he was first associated with the firm of Butcher, Tanner & Foster, with whom he remained until 1917. From 1919 to 1924 he was identified with the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of New York City, and his present (1924) partnership is that of Greiner, Peecook & Buck, with offices at No. 364 East One Hundred and Forty- ninth Street, The Bronx.
From September, 1917, to April, 1918, Mr. Peecook was associated with the Young Men's Christian As- sociation in World War service as Educational Sec- retary with the 306th Infantry. In April, 1918, he enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned to the Camp Insurance Office at Camp Upton, New York. The new insurance office was organized by him and he was also engaged as camp instructor, finally receiving his commission as second lieutenant of the Adjutant General's Department.
Fraternally, Mr. Peecook is a life-member of Hope- well Lodge, No. 596, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a Past Master; New York University Chapter of the Delta Chi Fraternity; Sojourners' Club; Reserve Officers' Association; the Inter- Fraternities Club and the Masonic Club. His recre- ations consist of bowling and all out-of-door sports, and while an undergraduate he was active in chess, track and football organizations. He is also a mem- ber of The Bronx Bar Association, and the Woodlawn Heights Taxpayers' and Community associations. He is an active member of the Woodlawn Heights Presbyterian Church, of which he is a liberal sup- porter. He also contributes freely of his means to- ward the maintenance of many local charities and benevolences.
Lambert K. Peecook, Jr., was married on October 21, 1918, to Marion I. Greenlees, a daughter of Wil- liam and Isabelle (Lawrence) Greenlees, residents of Woodlawn Heights, New York City. Lambert K. and Marion I. (Greenlees) Peecook are the parents of two children: 1. Marion Ruth Peecook, born on October 8, 1920. 2. William Lambert Peecook, born on May 4, 1924. The family residence is main- tained at No. 429 East Two Hundred and Thirty- eighth Street, The Bronx, New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Peecook are prominent in the social circles of their community, as well as in religious and civic wel- fare circles. They are always to be found lending their valued assistance to any worthy movement which has as its design the advancement or better- ment of The Bronx, its environs, its people, is condi- tions and its institutions.
ALBERT ERNEST SCHAEFER-Architectural and engineering work of a high grade is assured to business men and residents of The Bronx when en- trusted to Albert Ernest Schaefer, whose offices are located at No. 2408 Grand Concourse, in that section. He is a designer of long experience and most careful training, and a man of high ideals and outstanding
force and integrity. Work commensurate to his abilities has already been entrusted to him in large quantities and with the best of results.
Albert Ernest Schaefer was born June 6, 1894, on Grand Avenue, between One Hundred and Eighty- second and One Hundred and Eighty-third streets, New York, son of Albert Ernest and Mary Elizabeth (Goodenough) Schaefer. The father belonged to one of the very old families of the section who were among its first settlers. He himself was born in Fordham and as a boy worked on his father's farm in The Bronx. In recent years he has been employed in the Zoological Gardens. The son began his school- ing in the Fordham Public School No. 5, and later attended Jerome Avenue School No. 33, graduating, and entering Stuyvesant High School, from which he graduated in 1912. He then furthered his educa- tion in the Mechanics Institute, where he took the course in architecture and engineering and after nearly three years of study received his diploma. After he had worked to obtain more practical and technical experience, Mr. Schaefer was admitted by the University of the State of New York as a regular practicing architect. His first professional affiliation" was with the New York Railways Company in whose drafting room he worked as assistant chief draftsman. After thirteen years in this connection, he felt quali- fied to establish his own architectural business. This he did in 1925, locating on the Grand Concourse, where he has met with great success. He is a mem- ber of the Building Industry League, and interested in all phases of community advancement.
Always patriotic, Mr. Schaefer jenlisted in the Second Field Artillery, New York National Guard, in 1912, and was with that body when it became the 105th Field Artillery. He saw service in France in the World War, being commissioned first lieuten- ant in the Aviation Service, and since that event has been honored with the office of commander of all the Bronx Legion Posts, comprising, in 1925, twenty-two organizations, and later with that of First District Commander of the State of New York, having supervision over one hundred and thirty posts. Mr. Schaefer is a member of the John Fraser Bryan Post, No. 19, of the American Legion.
On May 19, 1919, in St. James Church, Rev. Dr. Dewitt Pelton married Albert Ernest Schaefer to Mae Elizabeth Jaegle, daughter of Paul and Elizabeth Jaegle. A daughter was born of the union on Sep- tember 12, 1922, named Elaine Mae Schaefer.
JOHN GOERGEN is today (1926) one of the outstanding real estate brokers in the metropolitan area, and especially in the rapidly growing section of The Bronx, where he is well and widely known as an expert judge of realty values, a man of proved ability and wide experience in his chosen field of endeavor, and as a man of high ideals and strict integrity in whatever he undertakes.
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