USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 27
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Cha. The Lambre
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June, 1899. Two months later, in August, 1899, he started work in the main office of the State Bank at Nos. 374-378 Grand Street, Manhattan. Begin- ning as a messenger he gradually was placed in various positions in the different departments and became so thoroughly versed in this bank's policies and business that, when it was decided to open a Bronx branch at Nos. 820-822 East Tremont Avenue, on July 1, 1924, he was made its manager at which time he also became a resident of The Bronx. He has been a member of The Bronx Board of Trade since July 1, 1924. This branch is one of the im- portant banking institutions of The Bronx, its par- ent, the State Bank, having in November, 1925, to- tal resources and liabilities of $122,208,305 of which $109,233,297 were deposits, while the capital stock
was $3,500,000, and the surplus and undivided profits were $5,867,562. The bank, besides its main office in Grand Street, has twelve branches of which three are in Manhattan, three in The Bronx, five in Brook- lyn, and one in Coney Island. During the World War Mr. Wells took an active part in all Liberty Bond drives and in many other patriotic movements. In politics he is an Independent.
Mr. Wells married, in Brooklyn, August 29, 1906, Emma Jeannette Piper, a native of the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx, and a daughter of William G. and Jessie (Blair) Piper. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have no children and make their home at No. 2600 Creston Avenue, The Bronx.
CHARLES MERRILL GAMBEE-For nearly a quarter of a century connected with the Title Guar- antee & Trust Company, Charles Merrill Gambee was appointed manager of the present Bronx branch in 1910, since which time he has become one of the most prominent business men of this section. Charles Merrill Gambee was born in Livonia, New York, October 18, 1876, son of Charles and Frances Gambee. His father, a former hotel man and agri- culturist, is now deceased, his mother living (1926).
Charles M. Gambee obtained his elementary edu- cation in the public schools of Rochester, then entered Cornell University, from which institution he was graduated with the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws in 1898. He was admitted to the bar in Rochester, New York, in 1900, where he conducted a general practice of his profession for five years. In 1905 Mr. Gam- bee came to New York City, and became as- sociated with the Title Guarantee & Trust Com- pany, with whom he has been connected ever since, now holding the responsible position of manager of their Bronx office. In connection with his many du- ties as manager of this office, he has been appointed manager of the Company's Bank, now operating a branch in his community. He is a member of The Bronx County Bar Association, acts as councillor for the Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the Lions Club, and of the Chester Hill Methodist Church in Mount Vernon.
Charles Merrill Gambee married, March 15, 1911, in Bayonne, New Jersey, Gertrude Phillips, daughter of Albert H., now living, and of Anna B. Phillips, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Gambee are the parents of three children, as follows: 1. Charles Merrill, Jr.,
born August 18, 1912. 2. Albert Phillips, born July 13, 1916. 3. Jack, born August 14, 1919. The family residence is No. 235 North Fulton Avenue, Mount Vernon.
HERBERT ALLAN KNOX, one of the citizens of The Bronx who is a power for progress in that section, is a member of the law firm, Knox & Deig- nan, with offices at No. 110 East Forty-second Street, New York. For many years he has generously given his time and legal experience to his section of the city and as a director of The Bronx Board of Trade and a member of various public committees and edu- cational groups. For several years he has been a member of the Committee of Management of The Bronx Union Branch, Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation. He was born in Manhattan Borough, New York, December 28, 1876, son of William and Rachel H. Knox, both natives of Ireland.
He attended the public schools and the College of the City of New York, where he completed the classical course and attained the degree of Bachelor of Arts, graduating in 1896. Thereafter he studied law at Columbia Law School, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1899. In the interim he had pursued graduate studies at Columbia, which be- stowed on him the degree of Master of Arts under the faculty of political science and public law.
Mr. Knox began his business career, after admis- sion to the bar by the Appellate Division, First De- partment in June, 1899, as junior law clerk in the real estate department of Shipman, Larocque & Choate. After some eighteen months there, he be- came managing clerk for Dulon & Roe for a term of one year and a half. For two years thereafter he gained experience in the law department of the New York Title and Mortgage Company. It was thus as an unusually well-equipped and experienced law- yer that he engaged in private practice at No. 68 William Street and No. 198 Broadway, where he maintained a successful practice from 1904 to 1913. He then formed a partnership with James H. Deig- nan, a colleague both in college and law school, and they opened offices in the Woolworth Building. Subsequently Thomas C. Larkin joined the firm, and the location was changed to No. 110 East Forty- second Street. Mr. Knox is counsel for the Bowery Savings Bank. He is an organization Republican, interested in politics, but not an office seeker, and his sole public office has been membership on the local School Board for some thirteen years until his resig- nation on December 31, 1925. He is a member of The Bronx Board of Trade, having served for years as a director, chairman of the committee on educa- tion, and of the law committee for several years. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, The Bronx County Bar Associa- tion, New York State Bar Association, and American Bar Association. In college he was an honor man and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity. His clubs are the Transportation Club, and the Grassy Sprain Golf Club. He is a communicant of the Presbyterian church.
In The Bronx, on October 17, 1906, Mr. Knox married Ethel Elizabeth Harvey, daughter of Walter C. and Elizabeth C. Harvey. Children: 1. Walter El-
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liott, born August 4, 1907. 2. Herbert Allan, Jr., born July 8, 1909. 3. Donald Keith, born April 25, 1912.
JOSEPH HLAWATSCH-His popular reap- pointment to the office of assistant commissioner of Public Works in The Bronx, is a very sufficient proof of Joseph Hlawatsch's fitness and practical abilities in that department of municipal activities. A busi- ness-like official, and at all times deeply interested in political matters, and in the general civic progress of The Bronx, Mr. Hlawatsch exerts his influence in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the communi- ty. He is a son of Leopold Hlawatsch, a cigar man- ufacturer, and Josephine (Meisner) Hlawatsch, both natives of Austria.
Joseph Hlawatsch was born on Forrest Avenue and One Hundred and Sixtieth Street, and he began to work before he was sixteen years old, in a five years' apprenticeship with Paul G. Decker, with whom he learned the business of plumbing and heat- ing. He was then made superintendent of Mr. Decker's business plant, so continuing successfully for another five years. He then entered upon the business on his own account, opening a shop in Forrest Avenue, between One Hundred and Sixty- first and One Hundred and Sixty-second streets, and after continuing there with pronounced success for ten years, he sold out his business, to become a traveling salesman for the Colwell Lead Company, for Pierce, Butler & Pierce, and the E. F. Keating Company, well-known plumbers' supplies manufac- turers. He remained in salesmanship about twelve years, when he was appointed assistant commis- sioner of Public Works for The Bronx Borough, by President Henry Buckner; and since 1916, he has been three times reappointed to that office, so con- tinuing to the present.
As a boy, Mr. Hlawatsch attended Mrs. Logan's School, on Elton Avenue, and successively the schools on One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Street, One Hun- dred and Fifty-seventh Street and Third Avenue, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Street and Court- landt Avenue, and One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Street and Third Avenue, where he was graduated. Mr. Hlawatsch first became interested in political matters when he became a member of the old Tiger and Jefferson clubs; and he had the privilege of con- tributing to the election of Henry Buckner, in 1916, president of the borough.
Fraternally, Mr. Hlawatsch is affiliated with Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and he is a member of the Chippewa Demo- cratic Club, a Bronx County Democratic organiza- tion.
Joseph Hlawatsch married, in October, 1902, Kate Deis, daughter of Conrad and Catherine Deis.
FRANKLIN CLINE BUCK-A firm of highly specialized and trained lawyers in The Bronx has as one of its members Franklin Cline Buck, born December 3, 1888, in New York City. His father, Frank M. Buck, was a lawyer for thirty-eight years, practicing in Mount Vernon. He is a leading mem- ber of the Westchester County bar. He served as county clerk for six years, and as attorney for the State Transfer and Tax Bureau in Westchester
County for six years. His mother is Minnie (Cline) Buck.
Mr. Buck attended public schools, first in Mount Vernon, New York, where he was graduated from the high school in 1906. He entered Williams Col- lege and took the course of four years, and was graduated in 1910 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He pursued his professional studies in the New York Law School. He was graduated in the class of 1912, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar in March, 1913, and began the practice of his profession in White Plains, which he continued for four years. At the close of that period he entered the employ of the Provident Loan Society as executive assistant to the vice-president, where he continued for three years. He next accepted the office of attorney for the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of New York City, and continued in that relation until April 1, 1924. A partnership was then formed with Burt Henry Greiner and Lambert K. Peecook. The firm adopted the style of Greiner, Peecook & Buck, coun- sellors-at-law, with offices at No. 364 East One Hun- dred and Forty-ninth Street, The Bronx. Each mem- ber of the firm has an unusual fitness for his chosen profession, and has a wide experience in practice as applied to business, especially business of the char- acter most transacted in The Bronx. This has brought to them a large clientele, and assures them of a future equal to that of almost any law firm of the borough. It is a coincidence that each member of the firm before it was formed had had a thorough training in law in service of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company, which does so vast a business in the city and the outlying counties of Long Island and Westchester. Mr. Buck was deputy county clerk of Westchester County for one term. He is a mem- ber of the Williams Club.
Mr. Buck was married, June 14, 1913, in Hartford, Connecticut, and in the South Congregational Church of that city, to Barnekah Angell, daughter of Dr. Augustus Angell, and of Sally (Sleight) Angell. Mr. and Mrs. Buck are the parents of two children: 1. Guernsey Sackett, born June 22, 1914. 2. Lois An- gell, born March 17, 1918. His office address is No. 364 East One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street, The Bronx; his house address is Montrose Road, Scars- dale, New York.
WILLIAM JOSEPH CLINTON-In his own continuation of the Thorne & Company real estate business in The Bronx, William Joseph Clinton has kept pace with the ever-increasing demands for realty of the most desirable type on the part of both per- manent and transient residents, who have sought this highly attractive section for their home and business life. Prominent citizen and business man, Mr. Clin- ton, a native of New York City, has devoted the best interests of his career to this community and his part in its business activities.
He is a 'son of John Joseph Clinton, who was born in New York City and spent all his life in Fordham, where he died in 1905 at the early age of forty-six years, a son of William Clinton, a native of Ireland, who emigrated to New York City. John Joseph Clinton married Catherine A. Leahy, who was born
Henry Schneider
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in New York City and now resides with her son, William Joseph, and daughter, Mary Agnes, at No. 276 East Two Hundred and Thirty-fifth Street in The Bronx.
William Joseph Clinton was born January 4, 1901, in New York City, and upon his graduation from Public School No. 33 in 1917, he attended Washing- ton High School for three and a half years. Mr. Clinton began his business career as a clerk in the employ of Studebaker station service, where he re- mained for two years, when he took over the es- tablished real estate business of Thorne & Company, then at No. 36 West Kingsbridge Road, and that is now conducted under the name of William J. Clinton, at No. 30 Kingsbridge Road.
DAVID I. FREY, M. D .- One of the best known physicians in The Bronx is Dr. David I. Frey, born in Kiev, Russia, January 6, 1882, son of Meyer and Gilda Frey, both deceased. Meyer Frey was a very successful merchant of that city.
David I. Frey received his preliminary education in the public, high school, and City College of New York, and in preparation for his chosen profession he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, graduating with the class of 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He established himself in The Bronx in a general practice of medicine, specializing in pediatrics, and now has a very large and lucrative clientele. Dur- ing the World War Dr. Frey served his country as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, from October, 1918, to January, 1919. He is a member of the State and County Medical associations, the American Medical Association, and the Pedriatic Society of The Bronx.
Dr. David I. Frey married, August 1, 1921, in The Bronx, Pauline Weiser, daughter of David and Sadie Weiser, of New York City. Dr. and Mrs. Frey are the parents of two children: Martin W. and Gilda.
JAMES PULLAR SONNEBORN-Distinctively a real estate leader of practical vision, James Pullar Sonneborn, perceiving the possibilities that existed in certain tracts of land in The Bronx, put his plans into operation at the right time, and with the courage- ous venture of the pioneer, laid the foundation of his success in the settlement and the development of the Bedford Park section. He has the apprecia- tion of a community whose realty he has been in- strumental in increasing in value, and the homes and business of which he has been a direct means of establishing.
James P. Sonneborn is a son of Ferdinand W. Son- neborn, born June 15, 1830, in Hanover, Germany, died February 2, 1919, in his eighty-ninth year, and of Harriet L. (Pullar) Sonneborn, born in London, England, February 21, 1831, and died December 25, 1889. Ferdinand W. Sonneborn for many years conducted a printing and stationery business at No. 8 Warren Street, Manhattan.
James Pullar Sonneborn was born December 3, 1860, on Morris Avenue, in what was then the vil- lage of Mount Hope, in Westchester County, now Mount Hope Place and Grand Concourse, The Bronx. He attended the primary school in Mount Hope and
the public school at Third Avenue and One Hundred and Seventy-third Street. When he was fourteen years old, in 1874, Mr. Sonneborn began work in his father's printing shop at No. 8 Warren Street, Manhattan, serving his apprenticeship in the printing trade. He remained with his father, and was ad- vanced to the foremanship of the printing shop, up to 1888, when he began his real estate business, es- tablishing his office in Webster Avenue, opposite his present office, No. 2870 Webster Avenue. Mr. Son- neborn has the distinction of being a pioneer in the early development of this section of The Bronx, and has done much to advance this part of the city, owing to his personal faith in its future. He has had the satisfaction of having his predictions realized by the immense development that has been the means of transforming this valuable territory from a con- dition of vacant spaces to a thriving community of large apartments and all kinds of business activity.
Fraternally, Mr. Sonneborn is affiliated with Hiawatha Lodge, No. 434, Free and Accepted Masons, of Mount Vernon, as a life-member. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church.
James Pullar Sonneborn married, April 30, 1885, Harriet L. Elting, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Frank Fletcher in Tremont Baptist Church. Mrs. Sonneborn is a daughter of Dr. Van Vechten Elting, who was born in Greene County, and of Phebe (Macy) Elting, a native of Columbia County. Dr. Elting was a veteran of the Civil War, in which he was a surgeon. He was a practicing physician and surgeon in Tremont until his death in 1890. His wife died in 1888.
HENRY E. SCHNEIDER-A resident of The Bronx for thirty-two years, with a record of nearly a score of years in banking, Henry E. Schneider, de- spite his youth, might be called a veteran in the busi- ness, and he is an authority on banking methods in the Greater City. He has never been connected with any other business, and his association with the Corn Exchange Bank of New York has been continuous since he was seventeen years old. And although al- ways in harness he has never tired of service. His integrity has never been questioned, and his capacity has by all been acknowledged. The customers of the Fordham Branch of the Corn Exchange Bank find Manager Schneider courtly in his manners and generous of disposition. He has literally grown up among many of these customers, who respect him for his extraordinary business acumen, his keen and quick perception, his exact methods, and his indomi- table and dominating will.
Henry E. Schneider, son of Joseph and Magdalena Amanda Schneider, was born in New York City, January 15, 1890. Both of his parents came to the United States from Germany in their infancy, set- tling in Manhattan. His father is a retired business man. The son received his education in Public School No. 12, New York City. In 1907 he started with the Corn Exchange Bank as a messenger, and in the serv- ice of that institution received successive promotions, working up through the various departments. The Fordham Branch was opened in 1915, and in 1918 he succeeded James P. Birch as manager of that branch. He is a member of Wyoming Lodge, No.
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492, Free and Accepted Masons; of Free Will Coun- cil, Royal Arcanum, also of the Fellow Craft Club of the Wyoming Masonic Lodge. He is a communi- cant of St. Peter's Church of Westchester; was a member of the choir of that church for seventeen years, and he holds membership in the Men's Club of the same church.
Henry E. Schneider married, September 5, 1917, Margaret Bieber, daughter of Charles and Marie Bieber, both of whom are living. Henry E., Jr., the son of Henry E. and Margaret (Bieber) Schneider, was born in The Bronx, February 13, 1919.
DENIS RICHARD SHEIL-The family of Denis Richard Sheil has been for many years identified with the founding and growth of the Williamsbridge sec- tion of The Bronx. Thomas Sheil, his great-great- grandfather, came to America from Ireland and set- tled in Auburn, New York, where he followed his trade as a tailor. His grandfather, whose name he bears, settled in The Bronx in its earliest days and became a prominent citizen of those parts. He was a lawyer, real estate operator, and justice of the peace, a landmark of The Bronx until his death which occurred about thirty years ago.
Denis Richard Sheil attended the parochial school of his parish from the day of its opening, and in 1918 he graduated from the Evander Childs High School. Having decided upon the profession of law for his career, he entered the Fordham University Law School, and took his diploma from that institution in 1922. In 1923, he was admitted to the bar and has been practicing law in The Bronx since then. Mr. Sheil was the third in a family of five children. His father, Robert Frederick Sheil, is a well-known builder of The Bronx. His mother, Mary W. (Mc- Caffery) Sheil, was all her life a resident of The Bronx, where she died on March 19, 1925, at the age of fifty-two. An uncle of Mr. Sheil, Peter A. Sheil, has been for eighteen years a Judge of the Municipal Court of The Bronx, and was formerly an alderman.
Mr. Sheil is a member of the Chippewa Democratic Club and of the Good Fellow Club. He has been actively interested in local politics, campaigning in the year 1925 for Albert G. Halberstedt. He is a Grand Knight of The Guiding Star Council, No. 12, Knights of Columbus, of the Holy Name Society, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the White Plains Ave- nue Board of Trade. He is especially fond of water sports: Swimming, boating, and fishing.
FRANK WALTER KIPP-A descendant of an old Dutch family which was allied by marriage to the family founded by Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Governor of New York, then called New Amsterdam. Mr. Kipp counts amongst his ancestors, on both his parents' sides, also men who fought and' suffered for their country during the Civil War. Though he himself has lived up to this family tradition of patriotic service by having been a member in the New York National Guard for many years, he was never called upon to do any actual fighting, and was able to devote his abilities to the more peaceful pursuit of particpating in the development of The Bronx.
Frank Walter Kipp was born in New York City,
September 26, 1874, a son of Frank Anthony and Josephine (Enwich) Kipp. His father was born in New York City, July 8, 1843, and as a youth en- listed in the Second New York Regiment in re- sponse to the first call to arms, becoming adjutant of the regiment and serving throughout the entire Civil War. He was wounded three times, captured and imprisoned in Andersonville where he almost suc- cumbed to the rigors of his imprisonment. After the war he engaged in the furniture business in New York City, where he died on August 17, 1908. His wife was the daughter of Captain Bancroft Enwich, of Civil War fame, and died August 10, 1910. They were the parents of ten children, only two of whom survive: 1. Frank W., of whom further. 2. Fer- dinand A., also a resident of The Bronx.
Mr. Kipp received his early education at old St. Patrick's Cathedral School and at St. Mary's School from which latter he graduated in 1890. He then entered the public schools and in 1893 graduated from Public School No. 35, after which he continued his education at Paine's Business College, from which he graduated in 1895. The next four years he spent with the firm of Ludwig Bauman & Company, fur- niture dealers. In 1899 he opened "Kipp's Parkway Hotel" at the southwest corner of Fordham Road and Southern Boulevard, which he conducted with marked success for the next fourteen years and which became a landmark in its locality. Becom- ing more and more interested in real estate and in the development of the Fordham section of The Bronx, he decided to enter the real estate business, and in 1913 associated himself for this purpose with Charles Fisk under the firm name of Fisk & Kipp. In 1922 this partnership was dissolved and from then on Mr. Kipp has been in business for himself as a realtor, handling all branches of the real estate busi- ness including insurance, with offices at No. 387 East Fordham Road, Fordham Square. Mr. Kipp's in- terest in real estate is by no means confined to his own business only, but includes the welfare of the business at large, a sentiment which finds expression in his membership in both The Bronx Real Estate Board and the New York Real Estate Board, of the first of which he is vice-president. He is also a member of the Schnorer Club, and a member and vice-president of the Valentine Property Owners' Association. In past years, while he was engaged in the hotel business, he was a member and for twelve years the president of the Liquor Dealers' Association of The Bronx, an organization which later was merged with the Hotel Men's Association. He also was for many years a member and now is a veteran of Company D, Seventh Regiment, New York National Guard. His interest in that part of The Bronx in which he has been in business and of which he has been a resident for the last twenty- five years is so deep, that even his hobby may be said to consist of the advancement of the welfare of this section, Fordham. Mr. Kipp is a communicant of Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church, The Bronx.
Frank W. Kipp was married, in The Bronx, No- vember 15, 1904, to Amanda J. Sturzenegger, daugh- ter of Edmund and Minnie (Moessle) Sturzenegger. Her father died in 1914. Since Mrs. Kipp's
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