USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 17
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Mr. Goergen was born in Schenectady, New York, on March 31, 1868, a son of Peter and Catherine Goergen. His mother died when he was thirteen months old, and when his son was four years old the father brought him to New York City where they henceforth made their home.
John Goergen received his educational training
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in the public schools of New York City, and while still a mere child of eight years, and still attending school, began his business career by selling news- papers for the Manhattan News Company. He also worked at various odd jobs, as messenger for the District Telegraph Messenger Service Company, and in a grocery store as errand boy and clerk for about a year and a half. He then apprenticed himself to learn the bricklayer's trade, and before finishing his training period removed to Boseman, Montana, where he remained for a period of five years. Upon his return to New York City he again took up the bricklayer's trade, and continued successfully in this field of endeavor until the year 1902, when he received the appointment as inspector of sewers for Brooklyn, thus serving until 1905. In that year he embarked in the real estate business, with an insurance brokerage as a side line, opening his office at Williamsbridge Road and Wakefield Avenue, and later removing to his present address, the corner of Two Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street and White Plains Avenue. Mr. Goergen has been very successful as a realtor and insurance broker, and is regarded as one of the most progressive and public-spirited men in The Bronx. Fraternally, he is an active and interested member of Hopewell Lodge, No. 596, Free and Accepted Masons; and also holds membership in the Real Estate Board of Trade of The Bronx.
John Goergen was married (first), in the parsonage of the . Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City, on March 23, 1891, to Minnie Damm, a daughter of John and Lizzette Damm. Mrs. Minnie (Damm) Goergen died, and Mr. Goergen was married (second), on April 12, 1921, in The Bronx, to Mrs. Augusta (Damm) Knapp, a widowed sister of his first wife. By the first union Mr. Goergen is the father of the following children: 1. Ada Lizzette, who married Harold Noble, and they have one child, Muriel Noble. 2. Eugene Douglas. 3. Elsie Catherine, who married William Holmes, and they have one child, William John Holmes. Mr. and Mrs. Goergen reside at No. 4321 Richardson Avenue, The Bronx, New York.
JAMES BEAL THOMSON, a member of the well-known firm of Porter & Thomson, carpenters and builders of The Bronx, and a man who holds a position of much prominence in this type of en- deavor, was born on February 15, 1883, at Douglas- town, Forfarshire, Scotland. This Mr. Thomson is a son of John and Elizabeth (Thomson) Thomson, and a grandson, on the paternal side, of William and Ann Thomson, all of Forfarshire. John Thom- son, the father, who was born in 1846, and who died in 1910, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, was a blacksmith in Douglastown, and his father was a blacksmith before him. Indeed, the men of this family have been blacksmiths in Forfarshire for al- most a hundred years. Elizabeth (Thomson) Thom- son, the mother, was born during the year 1845, in Jericho, Forfarshire, and she died during 1894, in the forty-ninth year of her age.
Their son, James Beal Thomson, received his educa- tion in the public schools of the community in which he was born, and upon his graduation he began work as a page boy. At the end of one year he
entered the Rural Delivery Service of the Post Office, and remained in this work for the ensuing year. He then decided to learn the trade of joiner and cabinetmaker, and he was accordingly appren- ticed to one Robert Ramsey, a man of note in this type of endeavor in Forfarshire. Mr. Thomson's pay, during this entire apprenticeship, was his board and two pounds, sterling, per year. At the end of four years, however, he was a thorough master of his trade, capable of working side by side with the best cabinetmakers in the Kingdom. For some two years following the completion of this training, Mr. Thomson worked at his trade at full-scale wages of that date. Then he decided to come to America; and he landed in the port of New York on May 23, 1905. For eleven years he followed his trade in New York City and The Bronx, and then, in the year 1916, he formed a business partnership with one Frank Bristowe Porter, and they entered the field of carpentry and building on a large scale, their offices being at No. 4196 Park Avenue, The Bronx. Since that time this concern has become widely known for the high quality of its work, and they have accomplished some of the most important in- terior carpentry work done in The Bronx. Many schools and public buildings have been successfully handled by them, and among the more important of the buildings upon which they have worked are: the New County Court House, on lower Center Street, Manhattan, the George Washington High School in Manhattan, and public schools Nos. 72, 79, 82 and 84 in The Bronx, the Girls' Trade School on the corner of Twenty-second Street and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, the Girls' Commercial High School in Brooklyn, public schools Nos. 180 and 210 in Brooklyn, public schools Nos. 121, 130 and 40 in the Borough of Queens, and they have also done a great deal of important work for the leading contractors and builders of The Bronx, handling all the interior carpentry work on such exclusive contracts as the Louis Morris Apartments, et cetera. Indeed, this concern, Porter & Thomson, is spoken of as one of the foremost organizations of its kind in The Bronx.
Despite the many varied and often exacting duties of the work in which he has been engaged, this Mr. Thomson has nevertheless found time in which to take a keen interest in the civic and general affairs of his community. He has also been active in the club and social life of The Bronx, for he is now affiliated, fraternally, with the Clan McDuff, of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, Manhattan; and with Kilwinning Lodge, No. 825, Free and Accepted Masons, of Brooklyn.
James Beal Thomson married, June 12, 1907, in Highbridge, New York, the Rev. Dr. Voorhees offici- ating, Jane Morrison, a daughter of William and Clemintina (Thornton) Morrison, both of whom were native born to Forfar, in Forfarshire, Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Thomson have become the parents of two children, a son and a daughter: 1. Ernest James, who was born on January 19, 1909. 2. Ina Morrison, who was born on February 20, 1914. Mr. Thomson and his family maintain their residence at No. 227 East One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Street, The Bronx.
Bronx-5
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EDWARD JAMES OWENS-The Owens family of which Edward James Owens, retired mechanic and engineer of The Bronx, is a valued member, proceeded from Martin Owens, a native of the city of Cork, County Cork, Ireland, and Mary (Buckley) Owens, of the same city and county, who immigrated to the United States in 1848 and settled at New York City, where during all of his active life Mr. Owens held the position of foreman of the freight department of the Harlem Railroad, Center and White, Franklin and Elm streets, New York City.
Mr. and Mrs. Owens brought with them Edward James Owens, who had been born two years before- April 13, 1846-at Cork. The parents settled at New York City and went to live on Forty-first Street between Third and Lexington avenues, on the north side of the street, a house his father purchased at the time. When the father obtained a position with the Harlem Railroad, he sold his house and removed to White and Center streets, the Lower East Side, in the old Sixth Ward, to a residence then owned by the late Pierre Lorillard.
Edward J. Owens attended a parochial school that stood where St. Patrick's Cathedral now stands at Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth Street. He later attended the old Thirty-seventh Street school, between Second and Third avenues, and of which William H. Wood was the principal. At the suggestion of his father, who was then station foreman, he obtained a position with the Harlem Railroad, on White Street, where the New York Municipal Building now stands, and after two years of earnest effort he was advanced to the main office on Twenty-sixth Street, where was located the office of Commodore William H. Vanderbilt. In this position he was acting as clerk, with occasional duties, as messenger and was en- trusted with carrying large sums of payroll money and other funds he transported in a buggy or other rig. This was the day before street bandits had to any extent invaded New York City, so he felt per- fectly safe to tie his horse outside of a restaurant, eat his lunch in a restaurant, and return to the buggy to find the money unmolested. Again his wise father came to his aid, with the advice that if he wanted to progress he should enter the machine shops of the company and learn the trade of machinist. So after two years in the main office with Commodore Vanderbilt, he was given an opportunity in the shops at Thirty-second Street and Fourth Avenue as an apprentice. He learned quickly and after three years left the Harlem Railroad to accept a position with Cobanks & Theall, machine, engine and boiler makers on Harrison Street, with whom he remained two years as machinist, and proved to be one of the best men they had. He then entered the employ of the American Arms Company on Center Street, over the old Harlem Railroad depot, and continued with them as machinist for a year. Next he accepted a position as engineer for the A. H. Hart Company, owners of the Elm Flax Mills, with whom he re- mained until 1868, when he became engineer to the New York Fire Department, a position he filled with great credit to himself and the city until 1903, when he was retired on a pension, thus rounding out thirty- five years in the service of the New York City Fire
Department, during which he built up a reputation for integrity and ability that has been equalled by few men in a similar position. It will be seen in these brief statements that Mr. Owens was thoroughly familiar with New York when it was a small town compared with what it is today, and that he main- tained a friendly relationship with numerous New Yorkers of the old school, whose like has not been seen since. Mr. Owens grew to admire Commodore Vanderbilt very much as a man of his word and ac- tion, who contributed so much to early transportation development in this country.
Many years ago Mr. Owens bought the old Schuyler homestead at Coles Lane off Bainbridge Avenue, in The Bronx; the house is now seventy-five years old, and in a fine state of preservation, for builders in that day know how to build a house that was proof against wind, weather and time. His purchase included the surrounding ground, to which he added on occasion until he had a beautiful place to live. Finally he had a lot which measured 131 by 169 feet. The city took 60 by 169 feet to cut through Bainbridge Avenue, and he later sold a 54 by 70-foot lot to William Bergen, builder, retaining 70 by 97 feet on which the homestead stands, and in which he lives with his two daughters.
Mr. Owens is a member of Unity Council, No. 326, Knights of Columbus, and of Archbishop Hughes Council of the same order; the Catholic Big Brothers; the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mercy and the Holy Name Society of that denomination. In political life he is a member of the North End Democratic Club of The Bronx. He is likewise prom- inent in the Firemen's Benevolent Association and the Twenty Year Fire Department Association.
Mr. Ownes married, in 1869, at New York City, Emily McDermott, daughter of Hugh McDermott, member of the New York City Police Force, who died in 1894 in his seventy-sixth year, the ceremony having been performed in St. Theresa's Roman Cath- olic Church by the Rev. Father Boyce. Their union has been blessed with two daughters: 1. Emily, married Robert E. Norman, who died in April, 1926, as the result of an injury at the Billings Estate fire, at Washington Heights, as a member of the New York City Fire Department. 2. Theresa Irene Owens. Both daughters now reside with their father at the old homestead, No. 269 Coles Lane.
CORNELIUS RALPH GLEASON-Nearly half a century of continuous and highly efficient service with the original Ludwig Bauman Furniture Com- pany, of New York City, is the unique record of Cornelius Ralph Gleason, resident in The Bronx for sixty-five years. So greatly valued were his services that Ludwig Bauman, in 1925, retired Mr. Gleason with special and permanent recognition of his long and faithful devotion to the best interests of the firm and their patrons.
Cornelius Ralph Gleason was born July 13, 1850, in Tamplemoore, County Tipperary, Ireland, son of Thomas and Catherine (Ralph) Gleason, grandson on the paternal side of Thomas and Mary (Carlin) Gleason, and on the maternal side of William Ralph, most celebrated breeder of blooded horses of his day in Ireland, and his wife, Catherine (Ralph)
Cornelius Ralph Gleason Elizabeth Boyle Gleason
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Ralph. The father of the subject of this record was born in Tamplemoore, County Tipperary, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1850, the year of his son's birth, preceding by some years the arrival here of his wife and son. He settled in the old Fordham district, where he first engaged in ship carpentry and later became a leading artesian well driver. A man of great natural ability, he mastered the most difficult and intricate types of work with readiness and little training.
The son, Cornelius Ralph Gleason, spent his early school years in Ireland, attending the national school at Puckene, near Nenagh, Tipperary. In 1862 he and. his mother joined the father in New York, living briefly in. Manhattan, then in the Fordham section of The Bronx, where he attended the old West Farms Public School.
Mr. Gleason found his first employment with the pioneer installment house of Bendel and Scott, at the corner of Canal and Hudson streets, where he learned the furniture business in all its ramifications. The sales department became his special sphere, and in this branch of the business he acquired a national reputation and following. His services were in demand by the best firms in this field and he finally allied himself for the rest of his active years-forty-seven in all-with the original firm of Ludwig Bauman, furniture dealers. He retired in 1925 as stated above. Mr. Gleason was one of the organizers of the Retail Clerks Association of New York City, and one of two remaining survivors, organized July 4, 1870, in old Military Hall on the Bowery. He was a member of the Sixty-ninth Regi- ment, National Guard, New York, for nine years; member of the Holy Name Society of St. Brendan's Church ; and a member of the Sons of Irish Freedom.
On September 25, 1875, in the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church at Forty-second Street, New York City, Cornelius Ralph Gleason was married to Eliza- beth Boyle, who was born on Staten Island on the estate of old Commodore Vanderbilt. She is the daughter of Patrick and Ann (Doyle) Boyle, both natives of County Leitrim, Ireland. Patrick Doyle was a landscape artist of exceptional talent, and his work graced the estates of many notables in the metropolitan district, including Washington Ir- ving and Commodore Vanderbilt. Children of Cor- nelius Ralph Gleason and Elizabeth (Boyle) Gleason: 1. John Valentine, married Nora Lynch, who died in 1912, and they had three children: Elizabeth Mary, Cornelius Edward, and Eleanor Marie. 2. Alice Veronica. 3. Francis James. 4. Elizabeth Agnes, married Robert Emmet Ryan.
FRANK JOSEPH COYLE-As president and owner of the North Side Trucking Company, Frank Joseph Coyle is at the head of a prosperous and well established business concern which he organized in 1921 and which during the six years which have passed since its establishment has achieved a very substantial success. For nearly thirty years prior to 1916 Mr. Coyle was engaged in the marble cutting business and there are many public buildings and private homes in this city which Mr. Coyle through his connections with various marble factories through- out the city has contributed his share towards the
improvements of these buildings in the marble carv- ing line.
Frank Joseph Coyle was born in New York City, his birth occurring in the house on the corner of Twenty-fifth Street and Third Avenue, May 12, 1875, son of Patrick Coyle, who was born in Loughbricklon, in a place called Downpatrick, County Down, Ire- land, in February, 1842, and died in 1924, in his eighty- second year, and of Margaret (Buckley) Coyle, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1857, and died in 1899, in her forty-second year.
Frank J. Coyle attended the public school on Twenty-eighth Street, under Principal Olney, until he was twelve years of age, and then began work, at the same time studying drawing in the studio of Mr. Frederick Marshall, on the corner of Ninth Street and University Place, where he continued study for two years. He then secured employment in the book bindery of Alexander, at the corner of Sixteenth Street and Sixth Avenue, where he learned the trade of the bookbinder, remaining here for two years. At the end of this time he determined to take a course in architecture and mechanical drawing in the Merchants and Tradesmen's School, Sixteenth Street west of Broadway, and while attending this school he apprenticed himself to the R. C. Fisher Company, at the corner of the Bowery and Houston Street, where he learned architectural designing in marble for the trade. After his course in the Mer- chants and Tradesmen's School was completed, he remained with the Fisher Company until he had completed the required four years apprenticeship, but at the same time he also attended evening school. During this period he kept physically fit by joining the Pastime Athletic Club, and he also became a member of the Bartholomew Club. In 1888, he en- gaged in the marble cutting trade which he had learned with the Fisher Company, and in this work he continued until 1921, with the exception of the period during which he was in service on the Mexican border and during the World War. In 1916 he enlisted and was given command of a fleet of white trucks known as Train No. 46, and was stationed on the Mexican border. This fleet, under his com- mand, made forty trips into Mexico, directed by three truckmasters. Mr. Coyle received his discharge in 1917, and he then took the examinations for a com- mission in the Motor Transport Corps. These ex- aminations he successfully passed, but he was not sent overseas. In 1921 he organized the North Side Trucking Company, of which he is the president and owner, and he has since given his entire time and at- tention to the management of this enterprise. The North Side Trucking Company is meeting with well deserved success, and is now (1927) one of the well established concerns of this section of the city. Mr. Coyle, as he goes about the city, sees many reminders of the years he spent in the marble cutting business, fourteen of which were spent in the employ of John Shipway, one of the leading marble men of New York City. During that time he worked on a very large number of the leading banking and public build- ings erected in the city, also upon several homes on Fifth Avenue and upon many in Newport, Rhode Island, but he is quite content now to direct the work of his North Side Trucking Company which brings
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to him very satisfactory financial rewards. Mr. Coyle is a member of Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, also of the Eugene McGuire Association, of The Bronx, and of the Muscoota Democratic Club.
Frank Joseph Coyle was married, November 24, 1897, in St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church, on Twenty-eighth Street, in New York City, by Rev. Father William Colton, who later became Bishop of Buffalo, to Elizabeth Roos, daughter of William and Emma (Mundinger) Roos, both of whom were born on Rivington Street, New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Coyle are the parents of two children: 1. Frank Joseph, Jr., who was born March 10, 1900, and who graduated from Stevens Institute, Hoboken, New Jersey, with the class of 1923, receiving at that time the degree of Mechanical Engineer. 2. Grace Clara, who was born March 6, 1911, and is a student in Hunter College, preparing for teaching. Mr. and Mrs. Coyle make their home on Southern Boulevard, The Bronx.
CHRISTIAN RIEGER, Sr .- In the latter part of the nineteenth century Christian Rieger, Sr., founded an establishment for the manufacture of furniture which has grown beyond all the bounds and expecta- tions of its founder. The concern was later known as C. Rieger's Sons, Inc., and was one of the leading and most extensive companies for the manufacture of office, bank and bar fixtures in Greater New York and in the entire metropolitan area. The offices and factory were located at Nos. 450 and 452 East One Hundred and Forty-eighth Street and from No. 447 to No. 453 East One Hundred and Forty-seventh Street, east of Third Avenue, Borough of The Bronx. The foundation of this large establishment was laid in the year 1868 by Christian Rieger, Sr., in a small shop at No. 659 East One Hundred and Forty-fourth Street, for the purpose of manufacturing furniture on a small scale. This original shop employed only from six to ten men, from which modest beginning the later es- tablishment has evolved, climbing steadily upward un- til, in 1918, it occupied an exalted position which few similar manufacturing concerns throughout Greater New York enjoyed to so full a degree. The large fac- tories run through the block from One Hundred and Forty-seventh to One Hundred and Forty-eighth streets, occupying floor space in excess of 55,000 square feet, employing more than one hundred and thirty men in addition to numerous side-line shops un- der the direction of various sub-contractors, who em- ploy on their own account a large staff of men and practical mechanics. C. Rieger's Sons, Inc., were the first to inaugurate and establish this business in The Bronx and their success has been so unprecedented that they are recognized and known throughout the entire eastern part of the country as the most practical and progressive manufacturers of office, bank and bar fixtures. Their designs were all original, and the cabinet features of their work for beauty in design, for mechanical construction, substantiality and dura- bility in service, made for C. Rieger's Sons, Inc., an imperishable name for which the citizens of the Borough of The Bronx are justly proud. The mem- bers of the firm are Christian Rieger, Jr., Charles
Rieger, and Edward Rieger, sons of Christian Rieger, Sr.
Christian Rieger, Sr., was born in Karlsruhe, Ger- many, in 1832, and came to America as a young man. He settled in New York City, where he was married, in the year 1857, to Barbara Banzer, and they cele- brated their golden wedding on June 14, 1907. During the Civil War he served as a member of the Sixth Regiment of New York City. He was an expert cabinetmaker by trade and came to The Bronx in 1868, where he founded the business that later was to be taken over and enlarged so greatly by his sons. His death occurred in the year 1913, at the age of eighty-one years. Christian Rieger, Sr., and his wife, Barbara (Banzer) Rieger, who died in the year 1925 at the age of ninety years, were the parents of three sons and one daughter, whose biographical records will be herewith reviewed in chronological order.
Christian Rieger, Jr., eldest of the four children of Christian Rieger, Sr., was born in New York City, on September 23, 1862, and at the age of five years was brought by his parents to The Bronx, where the family settled at No. 414 Willis Avenue. The old homestead is still standing. Christian Rieger, Jr., received his scholastic training in the public schools of The Bronx, following which he embarked upon liis business career by entering the employ of Herts Brothers, furniture, and decorators, of New York City, as a designer of furniture and creator of new styles. He remained in this position with great suc- cess until the year 1888, when with his two brothers, Charles and Edward Rieger, he borrowed $1,100, took over his father's slowly deteriorating business, and in a short time had started in well on the highroad to success. Subsequently the firm became one of the very largest of its kind in the entire metropolitan area, manufacturing office, bank and bar fixtures. The business was finally forced to discontinue in 1918 as a result of prohibition. The factories and offices of the concern occupied one entire block in The Bronx. Mr. Rieger, Jr., is a member of The Bronx Board of Trade, a trustee of the North Side Savings Bank, a stockholder in various other Bronx banks, a member of Bronx Lodge, No. 871, the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Grand Jurors' Association, the Bronx County Sheriff Jury, of which he is past president, and the Schnorer Club, of which he has been a member for the past thirty- five years. Mr. Rieger and his brothers have to their credit the fitting out of practically every bank in The Bronx in their time, and they were pioneers in fire-proof construction for the reason that they erected the very first fire-proof factory structure in The Bronx. Christian Rieger, Jr., was married in The Bronx, on January 31, 1888, to Emma Charlotte Miller, who has borne him the following two off- spring: 1. Edward C. Rieger, born on September 13, 1889; married, and now connected with the Min- neapolis Heat Regulator Company as assistant man- ager of the New York City office. 2. Elsie L., born on April 12, 1899.
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