USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 22
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Mr. Husson married, in St. Peter's Episcopal Church, at Palatka, Florida, December 30, 1916,
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Mary Elizabeth Evans, a daughter of Thomas D. and Mary Elizabeth (Murrell) Evans, the former a native of Hempstead, Long Island, New York, the latter of Jackson, Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Husson are the parents of two daughters: 1. Mary Eliza- beth, born February 27, 1918. 2. Margaret Blanton, born January 30, 1920. The family residence is lo- cated at No. 308 Stephens Avenue, Clason Point, The Bronx.
LOUIS SUSMAN-A member of the New York Bar for almost two decades, Mr. Susman has been en- gaged for most of this time in the general practice of law, with offices in recent years at No. 3308 Third Avenue, The Bronx. His extensive legal knowledge, based both on careful training and long experience, his energy and his pleasing personality have resulted in securing for him a large and important practice, and he is considered today one of the most successful of the younger generation of lawyers in The Bronx.
Louis Susman was born in New York City, October 5, 1886, a son of Abram and Sophia Susman, the former now retired from business, the latter, together with her husband, a resident of The Bronx. He was edu- cated in the public schools of The Bronx, attend- ing, successively, Public School No. 85 and Morris High School. After graduating from the latter he took up the study of law at the New York Law School, from which he graduated with honor in 1907 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. During 1909 and 1910 he took some special courses at the College of the City of New York. In the meantime he had been admitted to the bar in 1908 and had established himself in the practice of his profession, in which he has met with marked success and in which he has continued ever since with a steadily growing circle of clients and sphere of influence. During the World War he was inducted in the United States Army as a private, was promoted to regimental sergeant major, and eventually attended the Central Officers' Training School at Camp Lee, Virginia. After his honorable discharge from active service after the end of the war, he returned to civilian life and resumed the practice of law.
Mr. Susman is also active in fraternal circles and is a member of Level Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, and of Lodge No. 871, Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks, as well as of the Grand Street Boys' Association. He is a member of the New York County Lawyers' Association, the Association of the Bar of the County of Bronx, the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. His religious affiliations are with Congregation Tal- mud Torah Beth Avrohom, of the council of which he is a member.
Mr. Susman is unmarried and makes his home at No. 501 East One Hundred and Fortieth Street, The Bronx.
MOURITZ F. WESTERGREN-The story of Mouritz F. Westergren, president of the Architec- tural Sheet Metal Works, at Nos. 213-215-217 East One Hundred and Forty-fourth Street, New York City, is one that inspires all who know him with admiration for the initiative, courage and ability dis-
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played in his successful fight against heavy odds. Born in another land, he came to this country as a young man. Discerning the need for the products he still manufactures, without other backing than the strength of his own personality, he organized and built up this important plant forty years ago.
Mr. Westergren was born in Stockholm, Sweden, February 1, 1860, son of Mouritz and Fredericka E. Westergren, both of whom died in Sweden. His father was a merchant of Stockholm.
Mouritz F. Westergren was educated in the public schools and finished what is tantamount to the high school course here. At twenty-one, in 1881, he im- migrated to America. He threw himself whole- heartedly into industrial progress here. In 1886 he established his metal work factory on Mercer Street, New York. With the foresight which has character- ized him from the start, however, he purchased, two years later, The Bronx site now occupied by his plant, for he anticipated that the new section of the crowded city would soon be its manufacturing center. In the intervening years he changed the grade of his property and adapted it to his purpose in other respects, and in 1895 erected his new build- ing. The business of the plant was at first the manufacture of cornices, skylights, roofing and sheet metal work of every description, and they soon put on the market an admirable system of fireproof doors. The new building covered a plot sixty-five by one hundred feet, five stories in height, and so strongly built as to accommodate two more stories should need arise, executed and planned by Mr. Westergren, himself, to meet the needs he knew so well. A strong and capacious elevator, adequate for handling any weight, cared for the lifting and lowering of trucks, etc. Unusually strong and durable materials were used throughout in construction. The lowest floor contained two forty-five horse power boilers with engine, glass cutting facilities and a blacksmith's shop; the second, a machine shop, storage, and stabling in one corner for eight horses. Part of the ground floor, divided from the rest by hardwood and glass partitions, handsomely furnished, made the offices of the company. The rest of the floor con- tained part of the fine machinery for cutting and bending sheet iron and metal work, and the two uppermost floors were devoted to other machinery- a circular saw, mitre cutters, draughtsmen's boards, and a fixed easel of large proportions with a sliding board and rule upon it, both ingeniously contrived and designed to facilitate the expeditious preparation of plans. Machinery was built to cut, bend and stamp sheet metal to a length of thirteen feet, thus reducing the number of joints by one-half. The most important machine was a press of enormous size, eighteen feet long and twelve feet high, weighing some sixty thousand pounds, and with a pressing power of 600,000 pounds. The plant was perfect for turning out skylight and cornice work in every detail, including not only the parts in zinc and cop- per, but those in wood and iron and glass. Their specialty then was skylights, which their varied and highly perfected machinery enabled them to produce at a twenty-five per cent reduction in price. It was this company which erected the enormous sky- light for the Sixth Avenue building then known as
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Siegel Cooper Company. The fireproof door manu- factured by the company consists of a double sheet- iron frame, formed in a series of bends, calculated to contract and expand, thus keeping the doors, perfectly straight. Between the frames, fillings of asbestos and plaster were placed, and they were then bolted together, forming a solid door, practically in- destructible by heat, such as is used in the Bankers' Trust Building, that of J. P. Morgan & Sons, on Wall Street, and the Federal Reserve Bank, in lower Manhattan.
The plant has figured in completing many other structures in and near New York, such as the Amer- ican Surety Building, on which Mr. Westergren erected the large guilded corona; the St. Nicholas Skating Rink, the Ryer Building, etc. In 1906 came a need for still further expansion of the plant struc- ture and equipment, and a new addition was com- pleted. In 1902 the business was incorporated under its present name with the organizer, Mr. Wester- gren, as president, a position which he has since retained. The property from No. 213 to No. 235 East One Hundred and Forty-fourth Street is occu- pied by the plant today, and an army of workmen, clerks, draughtsmen, and well-trained foremen, to- gether with time-saving steam and electrical power, enables the company to care for a tremendous volume of work. Honest dealing, promptness, and careful attention to the best of quality and workmanship characterize the output.
Mr. Westergren is on the board of governors of the Building Trade Employers' Association, which he helped organize, and a member of the Building Trades Club. He was formerly president of the Credit Association of the Building Trades, the Roofers and Sheet Metal Workers' Organization, and the Metal Covered Doors and Windows Association. Nor has he neglected civic and philanthropic duties. He is on the traffic and waterways committee of The Bronx Board of Trade, and a director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. During the World War his constant readiness to help and to assume responsibility was utilized, and he was made chairman of the Liberty Loan committees of all the organizations with which he was connected. In New York City, on February 6, 1902, Mouritz F. Westergren married Elvina Higgins.
HENRY FRIEDLAND, M. D .- As a specialist in gastro-enterology and X-ray diagnosis, Dr. Henry Friedland occupies a distinctive place among the physicians and surgeons of The Bronx, in whose activities, outside those associated with his profes- sion, he is an interested participant. In the thirteen or more years that he has been engaged in practice in The Bronx he has forged ahead in medical and surgical skill until his rating is accorded its proper appreciation, not only among the medical fraternity of the borough, but also among the people whom he so ably serves. He has a recognized standing among the leading medical bodies of the State.
Dr. Henry Friedland was born in New York City, in October, 1887, a son of Philip and Leah (Vislor) Friedland, both now deceased, his father having been a rabbi in the Jewish faith. Having received his preliminary education in the grade and high schools
of New York City, he entered the College of the City of New York, and, then having elected the medical profession, took the course at New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1911 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Following the service of his interneship in St. Mark's Hospital, he entered practice in The Bronx in 1913. For nine or more years he conducted a general practice, and drew to his office yearly an increasing number of patients, among them being a goodly representation of established and influential families of The Bronx. In 1922 he entered the field of a specialist, giving exclusive attention to cases of gastro-enterology and the department of X-ray diagnosis. His practice in these branches of the profession has been attended with gratifying success. He is a member of the staffs of The Bronx and Lebanon hospitals.
Dr. Friedland served an enlistment period in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, in this country, being commissioned a first lieutenant. He is a member of the New York State Medical As- sociation, The Bronx County Medical Society, and The North Bronx Medical Society. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Alumni Association of St. Mark's Hospital. He is a staunch supporter of the Democratic party, and belongs to the Highbridge Democratic and Con- course Democratic clubs. Dr. Friedland has his of- fices at No. 1266 Grand Concourse, The Bronx.
Dr. Henry Friedland married, in October, 1917, at New York City, Florence Rottenberg, daughter of Solomon and Ethel Rottenberg. They are the parents of two children: Philip and Leah.
SAMUEL STEVENSON MILLER is one of the oldest residents of The Bronx, particularly of that section which forms City Island, and he is one of its most honored citizens, not only because of his intimate knowledge of the land and its value, but also for the part he played in its formation and final annexation as a Borough of New York City.
Born September 19, 1865, in Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Miller is the son of Elisha Johnson and Mary (Allen) Miller. Elisha Johnson Miller, his father, was born in lower Manhattan, and was the son of Joseph Montague Miller, born in Toms River, New Jersey, who conducted a packet from the Battery to Toms River, and whose father was in the Con- tinental Army during the Revolutionary War. Mr. Miller's mother, Mary (Allen) Miller, was a de- scendant of Ethan Allen, and a cousin of Allan A. Thurman, who at one time ran for vice-President of the United States.
While Samuel Stevenson Miller was still less than a year old, his parents moved to City Island, and it was there that he attended public school. Com- pleting that, he attended high school in Brooklyn. When he was but sixteen years of age he entered the world of commerce as a clerk in Edward Ridley's department store on Grand Street, in New York City. After a period of three years there, though still only a boy of nineteen, he decided to start in business for himself, and, opening an office at No. 28 Union Square, in 1885, he entered the field of real estate and insurance. Here he stayed for three years,
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and then removed his office for a short period to Montague Street, Brooklyn. In 1890, he returned to City Island, where he has continued his real estate and insurance business ever since, being today the oldest established realty man in City Island. He has been most successful in this, due to his great knowledge of land values in this section of The Bronx.
He has always taken a keen interest in the civic affairs of this part of the city and has played an active part in agitating the annexation of The Bronx as a Borough of Greater New York, in 1895. He was the first leader of the Republican organization of City Island, and he was on the ticket for council- man in the first year of the consolidation. On several occasions in later years he has refused to accept nominations for any office. Mr. Miller is the vice- president of the Volunteer Firemen's Benevolent Fund of The Bronx. He is a member of the South Tier and States associations, and also of the State and National Insurance Agents, which he has rep- resented as a delegate to the National conven- tions on several occasions. Mr. Miller is fraternally affiliated with Pelham Lodge, No. 712, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, in which organization he has occupied the chairs a number of times. He is also Past Regent, City Island Lodge, No. 1844, Royal Arca- num, and he has been a delegate to various of this organization's conventions. His other interests in- clude membership on the City Island Board of Trade; as well as being chairman of the Transportation Com- mittee of City Island.
Samuel Stevenson Miller married (first), June 15, 1892, in Cold Spring Harbor, Ada M. Smith, of Long Island, the daughter of Judge Percy M. and Elizabeth (Keene) Smith, the mother being the daughter of an old and well-known Maine family. They are the parents of Marian Smith Miller, who married Herbert Harrison Nye, a cousin of the famous "Bill" Nye. They have one child: Harrison Elwin Nye, who was born May 29, 1918. Samuel Stevenson Miller married (second), April 21, 1918, in Washington, District of Columbia, Blanche Parkins, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Laura (Ross- borough) Parkins, of Kansas City, Missouri.
EDWARD JOSEPH FLYNN-A native of The Bronx, where he has spent his entire life, Mr. Flynn is not only one of its most prominent lawyers, but also one of its most effective political leaders and public servants. In spite of his youth his fellow- citizens have honored him with several important offices, all of which he occupied with honor to him- self and gain to his community, and his political future is considered today one of the most promising. He was born in The Bronx, September 22, 1891, a son of Henry T. and Sarah (Mallon) Flynn, both his parents being natives of Ireland, his father coming from Cork, his mother from Armagh. Henry T. Flynn was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, and after his arrival in the United States at first located in Flushing, Long Island, but later moved to The Bronx where he lived for fifty years until his death in 1911. He was associated with the New York Central Railroad. Mrs. Flynn survived her husband until June, 1925.
Edward Joseph Flynn was educated in the public and high schools of The Bronx, and then studied law at Fordham University Law School, from which he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1909, later in 1925 receiving the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar in 1912, as soon as he had reached the age of twenty- one, this being one of the requirements for admis- sion to the practice of law. He became a member of the firm of Mckeown & Flynn, and later, in 1922, of that of Deiches, Goldwater & Flynn, with offices at No. 63 Wall Street, Manhattan. He is a member of New York Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Century Council, Knights of Columbus; Bronx Catholic Big Brothers; Bronx County and New York County Bar asso- ciations; The Bronx Board of Trade; New York Ath- letic Club; Catholic Club; National Democratic Club; Fordham University Alumni Association; National Vaudeville Artists' Club; Schnorer Club; Manhattan Club; Leewood Golf Club; Shinnecock Country Club; and a director of The Bronx County Trust Com- pany.
In spite of his very active professional and social life, he has always taken a deep interest in public affairs and has been most effectively active in Demo- cratic politics for many years. In 1917 he was elected to the State Legislature from the Second Assembly District, the district in which he was born, and served until 1920. In that year he was elected sheriff of Bronx County, assuming his office on Janu- ary 1, 1921, and serving until January 1, 1926. In May, 1921, he was elected chairman of the Demo- cratic Executive Committee of Bronx County as suc- cessor to the late Arthur Murphy. Both as sheriff and as county leader he broke a record, no previous incumbent ever having been elected so young. On January 1, 1926, he was appointed chamberlain of the city of New York by Mayor Walker. His religious affiliations are with the Roman Catholic church, while his principal sources of recreation are golf and the theater.
Mr. Flynn is unmarried and makes his home at No. 269 Alexander Avenue, The Bronx.
OLIN JAMES STEPHENS is today the president owner of one of the best known and most reputable retail coal establishments, as well as the second largest, in Greater New York and the entire metro- politan area. Mr. Stephens' father, James Stephens, laid the foundation of the enterprise and gave his son the excellent business training that has been the means of keeping this business growing steadily for a period of seventy-two years, to date. But James Stephens is also well and widely known throughout The Bronx and its environs for other reasons than his expert management of the Stephens Coal Com- pany. Mr. Stephens is a prominent clubman, and is also always to be found identified with any move- ment-civic, religious or public welfare-that has as its design the advancement and improvement of his community.
Olin James Stephens was born on One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Street, in the family home (where Madison Avenue runs today), on October 30, 1859, a son of James and Elizabeth (Ballantine) Stephens.
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When Olin James Stephens was ten years old his parents moved to The Bronx, making their home on One Hundred and Forty-sixth Street, between Walton and Gerard avenues. His early education was received in Public School No. 60, on College Avenue, following which he attended the City Col- lege of New York for one year. He then spent one year in the law offices of his brother, George W. Stephens, following which he associated himself with his father in the latter's coal and wood business. He was nineteen years old at this time, and under his father's expert tutelage he soon familiarized him- self with all the many and varied ramifications of the business, profiting from his father's wisdom and rich experience.
James Stephens had established this business in Harlem, where the Third Avenue Railroad offices are today, and in the year 1853, when he leased six city lots at One Hundred and Thirtieth Street and Third Avenue, and established a retail coal business, coal had not come into its own. Those who were then engaged in the business of producing and dis- tributing the anthracite coal were truly pioneers, whose services to the Nation and to the community were not appreciated by themselves or their neigh- bors. Twenty years later James Stephens purchased four front lots on the Mott Haven Canal at One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street, and there estab- lished the nucleus of what has since become the second largest retail coal concern in the greater city of New York.
This first Bronx coal-yard was established before the township of Morrisania became a part of the city of New York as it was then known, and The Bronx consisted then of a series of separate and sparsely settled towns, the community as a whole being largely rural in character. In 1886 the firm name was changed to James Stephens & Son, in recogni- tion of the active part being played in the develop- ment of the business by Olin James Stephens, who had by this time become an active partner in his father's business. James Stephens died in 1895, since which time the business has been carried on with success by his son.
In the year 1882 the first coal pocket with mechan- ical hoist was constructed in the northern part of the city by James Stephens & Son, and it is of in- terest today to note that the original self-filling coal shovel and automatic hoist is still operating daily and most efficiently at One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street and Mott Haven Canal-after forty-four years of continuous and most trying service. Always in- terested in improving the service to be rendered, the same of Stephens has been synonymous with im- provement and progress from the very first, and the first cable railway for distributing coal to the separate pockets or bins, the first revolving screen, and the first use of "duplicate delivery tickets" (show- ing weight of coal in pounds) was introduced by this company. In 1882 the first patent hoist wagon (carrying one ton of coal) was put into service in The Bronx, and similarly the first automobile truck to be used in that territory was installed by Olin J. Stephens, Inc. Having visualized the prospective development of the northern part of New York City, Olin J. Stephens proceeded to extend the bus-
iness by acquiring sites for retail coal plants located on the water front at strategic points throughout The Bronx, and at the present time the Stephens Fuel Company, as the present organization is known, having been incorporated as such in August, 1919, operates seven plants in that borough, in addition to which four plants have been established in the Borough of Manhattan along the East River, from which stations deliveries are now made to any point from the Battery to The Bronx.
The present organization is proud, and justly so, of the record and history of the past seventy-odd years, for in these years the business has grown from one of small stature to the second largest retail coal business in the greatest city of the world. This record testifies more clearly and conclusively than words to the fact that a service has been rendered by this company of sufficient value to the community to justify such an ever-increasing patronage. The retail coal business is highly competitive, with prices of coal at the mines established beyond the control of the retailer and with strong competition for the best sources of supply. Household anthracite fre- quently commands a premium, and there is often a struggle between the various retailers in a com- munity and between the various communities and territories where anthracite is consumed for the ton- nage required by each respective section. Under such conditions the experience, prestige, good will, stabil- ity and utter dependability of an organization, with seventy and more years of active life behind it, and many more years of active service in prospect, is an asset of inestimable value.
The Stephens Fuel Company, Inc., is continuing its wise policy of conservative yet progressive devel- opment of its resources to the end that it may be able to assure its customers of dependable service under any and all conditions. On that foundation and with especial emphasis upon courtesy and fair dealing, the corporation looks forward to the future with well-founded anticipation, and to the past with well-merited pride.
Mr. Stephens is a director of The Bronx County Trust Company, a trustee of the Harlem Savings Bank; treasurer of the New York State Waterways Association, and treasurer of the Bronx Society of Arts, Science and History, of which he has been financial officer since the organization of both asso- ciations.
Mr. Stephens has always been prominent in ath- letic circles, and holds membership in the St. An- drews' Golf Club, the Camp Fire Club of America, the Nassau Boat Club, the Lake George Club, and the Glens Falls Country Club, as well as life-member- ship in the New York Athletic Club. In 1877 he helped to form the Entre Nous Association, which later developed into a club making a specialty of tugs-of-war. In 1881 the majority of the members of the Entre Nous Association joined the Harlem Athletic Club and competed under that name during the years 1882 and 1883. Mr. Stephens was anchor- man for most of the teams, and although they were defeated in the first open competition, later on the teams were very successful, and during the year 1882-83 won every competition in which they were eligible in and around Greater New York, in-
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