USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 19
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
He was appointed examiner for the New York State Banking Department, and in 1919 he helped to or- ganize the Municipal Bank in Brownsville, remain- ing there until June 30, 1921. Since that date he has been president of the Cosmopolitan Bank of The Bronx.
This institution had been founded in 1906 and had from the beginning followed a policy consonant with its slogan "A Bronx Bank for Bronx People." It had a steady, gradual growth until 1921, but since Mr. Gallagher has been president its deposits have increased by leaps and bounds, from about $2,500,000 to over $10,000,000, the latter being the total for May, 1926. In August, 1925, the bank took over the street floor and upstairs space of two adjoining offices, so cramped had its original quarters become in view of the increasing business. Two years be- fore, in September, 1923, it had opened its first branch on Freeman Street, and its growth was so rapid that a year later it was forced to move to larger quarters on Southern Boulevard. In February, 1925, a Ford- ham branch was opened and in June moved into larger and permanent quarters. The bank is said to be the fastest growing bank in the borough. It is a depository of the State and also of the city of New York, and includes the following on its board of directors: William A. Buckner, Barron Col- lier, Frank A. Gallagher, James B. Lackay, Lamar Hardy, Maurice Muller, Morris Polsky, and Alex- ander Selkin. The officers include Frank A. Gal- lagher, president : Dennis J. Sullivan, cashier; Joseph Greenberg, Conrad J. Kellenberg, Henry G. Barber and Harry Ries, assistant cashiers. The Cosmopoli- tan Bank has very commodious quarters on Prospect Avenue.
Mr. Gallagher takes a very active interest in local affairs in The Bronx and is prominent in many local organizations. He is president of the Lions Club of The Bronx, president of The Bronx Legal As- sistance Society, of The Bronx Dental Clinic and the Prospect Avenue Merchants' Association, is vice- president and a director of The Bronx Board of Trade, and chairman of that organization's Industrial Bureau, was one of the organizers and serves as second vice-president of the Building Industry League of The Bronx. In addition he is a director of the Boy Scouts Bronx Council and was active in the Scout drives in 1925 and 1926; is chairman of The Bronx Victory Memorial Association; treasurer of The Bronx Hospital drive and of the Pelhamwood Association of New Rochelle; chairman of the Jeffer- sonian drive for Bronx County; one of the prime movers of the Borough Celebration for 1926; a member of the New York Credit Men's Association, New York State Bankers' Association, National Bankers' Association, of the Grand Street Boys' As- sociation; member and trustee of The Bronx Friends of Erin; member of the Schnorer Club of Morri- sania in The Bronx, of the Elks Club of New Rochelle, the James W. Brown Association, Grand Concourse, the Wilkins Avenue Merchants' Asso- ciation, the Fordham Merchants' Association, The Bronx Builders, the Pondiac Democratic Club, Unity Club of Hunts Point, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Manhattan, the Sheriff's Jury Club of The Bronx, The Bronx Real Estate Board; is a member of the
Committee of the House of Calvary Cancer Society of The Bronx, and an honorary member of the Mott Avenue Community Club and Council of The Bronx. During the World War, Mr. Gallagher was chair- man of the Liberty Loan for the Bushwick District, and was connected with all the drives in some of- ficial capacity. He is a man of versatile interests, keenly alive to the varied movements in his com- munity and always to be counted upon to take some prominent part in promoting the public interest. His religious affiliations are with St. Catherine's Catholic Church in North Pelham.
Mr. Gallagher married, in Manhattan, November 20, 1906, Catharine Payne, daughter of Robert and Annie Payne. Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher were the parents of one child, who died at the age of two. They are adopting two children.
THOMAS P. WARD-For twenty-six years Thomas P. Ward, of The Bronx, New York City, has been a vital factor in the development in that section of the New York Telephone Company, of which he has long been commercial representative. He has also as an official in many civic organiza- tions been identified with numerous movements having for their purpose the betterment of con- ditions in New York City.
Mr. Ward was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 3, 1877, son of Thomas P. and Sarah E. (Stoy) Ward. The father, likewise a native Phil- adelphian, was descended from a soldier of the Amer- ican Revolution, and was himself a soldier in the Civil War. The Ward family for many years owned and managed the Hotel Keystone, in Philadelphia, and the Hotel Albert, on Eleventh Street and Uni- versity Place, in New York City. The son, Thomas P. Ward, for a time attended a parochial school in Boston, Massachusetts, and moved with his family to The Bronx, New York, in his childhood. He attended St. John's College, now called Fordham University, completing the commercial course.
At the age of twenty-three, in 1900, Mr. Ward began on his long period of association with the New York Telephone Company, serving as field agent in the only contract office they conducted in The Bronx, which was located in the old Smith Building at the junction of One Hundred and Forty-eighth Street and Third Avenue and Willis Avenue. From this modest position he was advanced steadily as his ability and loyalty to the company's interests made themselves felt, and soon he was agent and manager of the contract department of the Bronx Branch of the Telephone Company, in 1904. For several years now he has been commercial representative of the company in New York City. He is a director of the Harlem Board of Commerce; of the Washington Heights Tax- payers' Association; of the Chamber of Commerce of Washington Heights; of the Central Park West and Columbus Avenue Association; of the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce; president of the Harlem Luncheon Association; member of the North End Democratic Club, the West End Association, and the Grand Jurors' Association of The Bronx. His fraternal affiliation is with Lodge No. 1, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Manhattan. He belongs also to St. Luke's Council, No. 448, Knights
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of Columbus, The Bronx, and for many years has been a member of the Sons of the Revolution.
Thomas P. Ward is married to Marion A. (Dris- coll) Ward, and has seven children: Helen; Ruth; Maurice; Charlotte; Thomas P., Jr .; Virginia and Madeline.
FREDERICK WILLIAM EGGERT-In the six- teen years of his activity in Bronx real estate, during which he has conducted a business of his own at White Plains Avenue and Two Hundred and Forty- first Street, Frederick William Eggert has taken a leading part in the remarkable development of that section of New York City. He was born on Park Avenue near One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, New York, on January 5, 1887, son of Anton and Olivia (Wetzel) Eggert. His father was for forty years in the employ of the New York Central Rail- road Mechanical Department.
Frederick W. Eggert attended Public School No. 16, formerly No. 101, in later years the College of the City of New York, at Twenty-third Street and Lexington Avenue, and New York Preparatory School, on Forty-third Street, near Fifth Avenue. At the age of fourteen, Mr. Eggert began work in the real estate field, his first connection being with the office of Albert F. Gescheidt & Son, in Mount Ver- non, where he remained for two years. He then worked in the office of Harry V. Morgan, a lawyer, where he simultaneously studied law for three years, following up this plan in his next position, which was in the law office of Judge William W. Penfield, and where he remained for four years. Deciding then to make real estate his profession, he opened a real estate and insurance office of his own at the location he now occupies, and he has prospered throughout the years since 1910, when he established himself in this business. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of The Bronx. His knowledge of local realty values is encyclopædic, his foresight is wise, his judgment balanced, and his habit of thought conservative. His standing in the community and among his fellow-realtors is high. Frederick W. Eggert is a member of Hebron Lodge, No. 813, Free and Accepted Masons; and the Chippewa Dem- ocratic Club.
On June 21, 1916, in Maspeth, Long Island, Fred- erick William Eggert married Rose Bace, the cere- mony occurring in the Church of St. Stanislaus and being performed by Rev. Bennett. Mrs. Eggert is the daughter of William and Josephine Bace. To Mr. and Mrs. Eggert were born: Frederick William, Jr., June 28, 1917; and Olive Rose, February 7, 1920.
JUDGE ELY NEUMANN is justice of the Mun- icipal Court of New York City, Borough of The Bronx, First District. He has won distinction on the bench by his own unaided efforts, having ac- quired his legal education by dint of hard labor, and having been largely dependent upon his individual resources since a lad of thirteen years.
Morris Neumann, a native of Germany, and Cecilia (Kalisher) Neumann, were the parents of the judge. The mother was born and reared in England. Ely
Neumann, their son, was born on March 22, 1874, on Attorney Street, in the lower east side of Man- hattan, and there he acquired the rudiments of an education through attendance at Public School No. 4, which he quit, as before mentioned, when in the thirteenth year of his age. Thereafter, he was em- ployed during the day-time and after completing his labors, went in the evenings to a night school, thus continuing until he had attained his twentieth year, at which time he matriculated at the New York Law School and participated in a law course. He was duly graduated from that institution as a mem- ber of the class of 1897, with Bachelor of Laws degree and in the same year he received his diploma from the institute. Judge Neumann was admitted to practice law by the Appellate Division First Judicial Department, of this State. It is said of him today that few men possess greater natural aptitude for successful careers in the law, or are better qualified to assume the responsible position upon the bench that is his. From 1919 until 1921, he served in the office of first assistant counsel to the Public Service Commission; from the last named year until 1923, occupied most efficiently the position of parole commissioner of New York City, and since 1923 has held his present position as justice of the Municipal Court of the city of New York, Borough of The Bronx, First District.
Judge Neumann is a member of the Jackson Demo- cratic Club, of which organization he was the pres- ident for a term of six years. He is also a mem- ber of the Bar Association of The Bronx, Truth Lodge, No. 853, Free and Accepted M'asons, Sioux Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, No. 357, the Court of William J. Florence of the Foresters of America, the Grand Street Boys' Association, and many other organizations.
Judge Neumann was married in Brooklyn, New York, in 1915, to Ethel Irma, and he is the father of two children: Eileen C., and Muriel A. His cham- bers are located at the Municipal Court, on the corner of One Hundred and Sixty-first Street and Washington Avenue, The Bronx.
THOMAS HENRY O'NEIL-With a very prac- tical and able versatility, Under Sheriff Thomas Henry O'Neil has represented The Bronx in borough, coun- ty, and community matters, his appointment or elec- tion to office in all cases proving a recognition of his special fitness to utilize the duties of the places he has filled for the public betterment, for the further development and expansion of commissionership and clerical activities, and for the fulfillment of important shrievalty duties. Possessing the esteem and the good will of his associates and of the public, Mr. O'Neil, in the exacting service that he now renders, continues to demonstrate his value as a public official in executive office.
Thomas Henry O'Neil, a son of James and Mary (Hoy) O'Neil, was born in the town of Rye, West- chester County, New York, and he attended the old Rye Neck Public School on Barry Avenue, where he was graduated. He began his career when he was seventeen years old, serving apprenticeship as a blacksmith in 1884 with Peter Clinton in West- chester, remaining with him until 1895. He then es-
Clarence I Sobrety
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tablished a blacksmith shop of his own on Main Street, Westchester, where he continued until 1900, when he was appointed superintendent of incum- brances for the Borough of The Bronx, holding that office for two years. Mr. O'Neil then received the appointment of deputy commissioner of water supply, gas, and electricity for The Bronx; and in 1908 he was appointed to the office of superintendent of sewers for The Bronx, so continuing until 1910.
In 1911, Mr. O'Neil was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen from the Twenty-sixth Alder- manic District of The Bronx for the term of two years, when he was offered a second nomination, which he declined. After his incumbency of the office of chief clerk in the county registrar's office from 1914 to 1918, he was appointed as under sheriff; and on December 31, 1920, Governor Smith advanced him to the office of sheriff. On January 1, 1922, he was reappointed to his present position as under sheriff.
Fraternally, Mr. O'Neil is affiliated with Saint Raymond's Council, Knights of Columbus; with Lodge No. 817, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Ancient Order of Hibernians; and with the Royal Arcanum; and he is also a member of the Chippewa Democratic Club of the Sixth As- sembly District. He is a communicant of Saint Ray- mond Roman Catholic Church of The Bronx.
Thomas Henry O'Neil married, November 27, 1894, in Westchester, Margaret McMahon, daughter of Bernard and Bridget (Lavin) McMahon, both natives of Ireland. Their children are: James Henry, Bernard Thomas, Margaret Marian and Marian Margaret (twins), Mildred Rose, and Anna Anastasia O'Neil.
JOHN MICHAEL HAASS-Connected with the lithographing business for almost a quarter of a century, Mr. Haass, having acquired a most thorough theoretical and practical knowledge of the art of lithographing in the technical schools and in one of the leading establishments of this type in Nurem- berg, Bavaria, Germany, after some years' associa- tion with several important lithographing plants in New York City, established himself in business for his own account in The Bronx. There, at No. 2664 Park Avenue, he has carried on a successful and steadily growing business, known as the Haass Lithographing Company, which is the only plant of this type in The Bronx. To it he has devoted his expert knowl- edge and all of his efforts, and as a result he has been able to build up a very extensive and profitable trade, and his firm has gained a very high reputation for workmanship, promptness and efficiency.
John Michael Haass was born in Nuremberg, Ba- varia, Germany, July 31, 1889, a son of Stephan and Marie Margarete (Schroeder) Haass, the former born in Nuremberg, July 31, 1857, and a resident of this city until his death in 1925, the latter also born there in 1858, having pre-deceased her husband in 1909.
John M. Haass was educated in the public schools of Nuremberg and at the Academy of Drawing, from which latter he graduated in 1907. While studying at this school he also worked as an apprentice in the lithographing establishment of the Carl Meyer
Kunstanstalt, in Nuremberg. Having completed his course at the Academy and his apprenticeship, he traveled for several years through Germany, working as a lithographer in different cities and thereby greatly increasing his knowledge of lithography. In 1909 he came to the United States and entered the employ of the American Lithographic Company, New York City, with which he remained for one year. For a short time he was then connected with the Brett Lithograph Company, after which he took charge of the plant of the Commercial Decalcomania Company at Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York. During his three years' connection with this concern he made valuable contributions to its firm establish- ment and its prosperity. The next enterprise with which he became associated was the plant of Traut- mann, Bailey & Blampey, on Laight Street, Man- hattan, where he remained for three years. At the end of this period he decided to establish his own business and since then he has been the head of the Haass Lithographing Company, in The Bronx, an enterprise which under his able management has enjoyed a marked success from its inception. He is a member of Michael Hilgus Unit, Steuben So- ciety, of The Bronx.
Mr. Haass married (first), in the German Lutheran Church on Fifty-third Street, Manhattan, July 16, 1913, Marie Rink, a daughter of Carl and Sophie Rink. Of this marriage one child was born, Theo- dore, born December 29, 1914. Mr. Haass married (second) Sophie Schlegel, a daughter of Carl and Frieda (Haass) Schlegel, both natives of Baden, Ger- many. Mr. and Mrs. Haass are the parents of one son, John Stephan, born December 11, 1921. For many years after coming to this country, Mr. Haass resided in The Bronx, but in recent years he has made his home at No. 156 Harris Avenue, Freeport, Long Island, New York.
CLARENCE JOSEPH SCHULTZ-An expert mortician, who acted as preceptor to two of the younger generations who are now practicing their profession in their own establishments, Clarence Joseph Schultz for some years has been the esteemed super- intendent of St. Raymond's Cemetery in The Bronx. His ministrations to the bodies of the departed which once were confined to the details attending the prepar- ation for interment, with the employment of his sympathetic offices in the home, the church or the funeral chapel, now have their expression in the praiseworthy work of preparing the hallowed ground for the reception of the bodies and of caring faith- fully for the "Silent City of the Dead." The service into which Mr. Schultz has entered with the punc- tilious attention to the essentials of kindliness, thoroughness and courtesy that characterized his more strictly professional practice has seemingly brought the right man into this official relationship with those who have to do with the performance of the last rites for the loved and gone. In the exercise of his duties as the superintendent of St. Raymond's Cemetery he takes a commendable pride and maintains a virtually personal interest, occupying a position of responsibility as the local representative of the church authorities in his dealings with the bereaved and the funeral director.
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Clarence Joseph Schultz was born in the town of Westchester, now known as East Bronx, May 1, 1880, the son of Sergie and Justine (Scofield) Schultz. His father, who was born in the old German settlement on the lower east side of Manhattan, New York City, in the neighborhood of Fourteenth Street, con- ducted a grocery for many years, as had his father before him. The mother, a native of Westchester, was of a very old Westchester County family, whose members were among the earliest settlers there. She was a lineal descendant of the Austin Stinard who married Susan Lawrence, and was the father of thirteen children.
Clarence J. Schultz was a pupil in the old public school that stood where now is Westchester Square, in The Bronx. His first regular employment was with B. J. Lavin, funeral director, who had his estab- lishment on West Farms Road, now East Tremont Avenue, the boy being sixteen years old when he began to learn the profession. After a period of several years with Mr. Lavin, he became associated with Isaac Butler, who had his mortuary parlors on Westchester Avenue, opposite St. Peter's Church. It was during these connections that Mr. Schultz, through practice and natural adaptability, became highly efficient in his profession as mortician, devoting a full quarter-century to the details incident to caring for the body from decease to its final resting place. Under his competent instruction, Bernard J. Lavin, Jr., and Frank Butler, the latter a nephew of his former employer, were given an excellent foundation for carrying on the respective establishments in which he had been a valued assistant. The Butler funeral home is one of the oldest in The Bronx, it having been founded by the grandfather of the present proprietor more than fifty years ago. Mr. Schultz's appointment as superintendent of St. Raymond's Cemetery was made October 13, 1919, and the selec- tion has proved the wisdom of the appointing power.
Mr. Schultz is affiliated with the St. Raymond's Council, Knights of Columbus, and he is a com- municant of St. Raymond's Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Schultz married, May 30, 1916, in St. Ray- mond's Church, The Bronx, Right Rev. Mgr. Ed- ward McKenna officiating, Lucy O'Dell, daughter of Charles O'Dell, who was born in Eastchester, Westchester County, and his wife, Annie (Fox) O'Dell, a native of Ireland. Children of Clarence Joseph and Lucy (O'Dell) Schultz: 1. Clarence Joseph, Jr. 2. Cornelius. 3. Francis. 4. Marie. 5. Joseph.
Austin Stinard, the maternal ancestor of Clarence Joseph Schultz, was a very early settler of West- chester County, and married Susan Lawrence, born October 10, 1776, died in 1838, the daughter of Talcott Lawrence. Austin Stinard died July 27, 1855, at the age of eighty-seven years, four months and fifteen days. Children: 1. Augustus, married Mary Ann Bartlett. 2. John, married Ellen Secor, of East-
4. chester. 3. Frederick, married Emily Drake. Jacob, married Janet Ferris, daughter of David Fer- ris. 5. Oglesby, married Abby Tice, widow. 6. Susan, married Robert Findlay. 7. Phebe, married William Leggett. 8. Tabitha, married George Scho- bie. 9. Betsey Ann, of whom further. 10. Polly,
married Valentine Stevens. 11. Charlotte, married Robert Coffin. 12. Nancy, married John Bartlett. 13. Margaret, married Samuel Berrian.
Betsey Ann Stinard, ninth child of Austin and Susan (Lawrence) Stinard, married, February 17, 1824, Richard Gooseberry Arnow, who died in service in the Mexican War, July 7, 1847. She died Septem- ber 28, 1884. Children: 1. Richard, born February 18, 1825, died February 17, 1869; married Elizabeth Secor, of Eastchester. 2. Elizabeth Ann, born June 1, 1826, died March 2, 1900; married (first) Morris (or Daniel Morris) Schofield, who died April 15, 1855, aged forty-one years and six months; she married (second) Coles. 3. John, born January 18, 1828, died October 29, 1832. 4. Herman, born in February, 1829; married Elizabeth Cockran, of City Island, New York. 5. Edgar, born January 2, 1831, died May 10, 1856. 6. Louisa, born February 12, 1832, died March 10, 1869; married Elias Carpenter, of Long Island, New York. 7. Susan, born April 11, 1833; married John Kelsey Ackerman. 8. Andrew, born August 1, 1834, died June 12, 1901; married Ann Elizabeth Stivis. 9. Helen S., born September 9, 1835, died November 30, 1910; married Samuel Shear- er, of Mamaroneck, New York. 10. Augusta, born December 29, 1839; married Edmond Lockwood, of Mamaroneck, New York.
Andrew Arnow, also an ancestor of Mr. Schultz on the maternal side, died March 4, 1865, aged ninety- two years, two months and four days; married Eliza- beth Valentine, died September 11, 1857, aged eighty- five years, ten months and twenty-two days. They had seven children: 1. Louisa Jane, who died April 4, 1849; married Thomas Brooks. 2. Eliza Ann, died October 10, 1892; married John Benson, who was a native of Ripon, Yorkshire, England. 3. Mater- son, married Jane Horton, of City Island, New York. 4. Simon, married the widow of - 5. William, married Stillwell. 6. Richard Brooks. Gooseberry, married Betsey Ann Stinard. 7. An- drew, married; died November 2, 1897, aged eighty- three years.
Benjamin Valentine, who died July 25, 1850, aged eighty years, two months and fourteen days, and his wife, Phebe, who died August 14, 1840, aged forty-nine years, three months and two days, were the parents of Elizabeth (Valentine) Arnow. Her brother, Stephen Valentine, Sr., died in 1862, in his eighty-sixth year; married, and had nine children: 1. Stephen, died February 15, 1882, in his sixty-fifth year. 2. Augustus, died December 25, 1871, in his fifty-third year. 3. Abijah, died March 12, 1840, in his thirteenth year. 4. George, died June 7, 1833, in his second year. 5. Elizabeth, died May 29, 1834, in her tenth year. 6. Sarah, died March 29, 1872, in her fiftieth year. 7. Alexander, died January 28, 1892, in his seventy-ninth year. 8. Isaac, died No- vember 25, 1893. 9. Mitchell, died September 9, 1909, in his eightieth year.
JOHN JACOB BENTZ-Among the men prom- inently identified with the building up of The Bronx in recent years is John Jacob Bentz, builder and contractor, who has been responsible for the erection of some of the finest homes and office buildings in that section. Mr. Bentz is a son of John George
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