USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 3
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1915 at the ripe age of eighty years. After he had held various positions, and been made familiar with the details of the mercantile business, he opened, in October, 1867, a small dry goods store at Thirty- sixth Street and Eighth Avenue, New York City, taking his son into the store to learn the business. He remained at that location thirty years, and in 1896 moved to One Hundred and Forty-third Street and Third Avenue. Meanwhile the volume of the bus- iness increased, and some five years before his death, he admitted his son Alfred M. as a member of the firm. After his death, the business was incorporated under its present style, and two years after his passing, it was removed to its present advantageous site at Fordham Road and Park Avenue, The Bronx. Mr. Rogers married Kate Holmes, who survived her husband at his death.
Born at the family home, on West Thirtieth Street, New York City, November 4, 1872, Alfred Moorehead Rogers, son of Francis and Kate (Holmes) Rogers, attended the old Harlem School, No. 68, which then stood on West One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Street, and from which he was graduated in 1889. He next entered the College of the City of New York, from which he was graduated in the class of 1892. In that year he began his business career by taking employment in his father's store on Eighth Avenue. Removing with his father as the business changed locations, the son Alfred became a member of the firm about 1910. With the incorporation of the business as Francis Rogers & Sons, Inc., he was elected president, and the Fordham Road and Park Avenue store was opened April 2, 1917, the firm occupying its own store and office building. He still carefully preserves the first dollar taken in with the receipts on the opening day of the Fordham store. A pleasing array of incidents was associated with the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the business by Francis Rogers. A customer who had been loyally constant in his adherence to the firm and The Bronx Board of Trade, as well as others, ex- tended their congratulations on the significant oc- casion.
Mr. Rogers has a well-defined interest in the gen- eral welfare of The Bronx community and its people. He is a member of the advisory board and executive committee of the Globe & Rutgers Fire Insurance Company, and a member of the advisory board .of the Irving Bank-Columbia Trust Company (now the American Exchange Irving Trust Company). Local enterprises for the public good and community im- provement have in him an intelligent adviser and generous supporter. In the World War period he rendered a fine service as chairman of the local Red Cross division and its retail stores in The Bronx. His religious affiliation is with the North Avenue Presbyterian Church, New Rochelle, New York.
Mr. Rogers married, April 6, 1897, in New York City, Florence Hills, daughter of William and Ida (Whitney) Hills, her father a member of the firm of Hills Brothers, manufacturers of the widely-known confection, "Dromedary Dates." Children: 1. Flor- ence, born December 22, 1899; married Kenneth L. Porter. 2. Alfred Moorehead, Jr., born March 11, 1902; married Marie Patneude. 3. Harold Francis, born March 14, 1905; married Edythe Whiting.
JOHN WYNNE-As an indication of the high regard in which he is held by his fellow-citizens of The Bronx, John Wynne, chosen as a presiden- tial elector for the two nominations of President Warren G. Harding, was one of only two of the Harding electors to be reëlected by his fellow-citizens to serve in a similar capacity during the nomination of President Calvin Coolidge.
John Wynne is a native of Keadne, Ireland, where he was born on May 30, 1852, son of the late John and Mary (Cullen) Wynne. John Wynne, the elder, was a son of Teddy and Julia (McDermottroe) Wynne. Julia McDermottroe was a native of the Dublin District. The Wynne family have resided on their old homestead for many generations, it be- ing located in County Roscommon, Ireland, and all have engaged in the tilling of the soil.
John Wynne, prominent resident and business man of The Bronx, New York City, attended the com- mon schools of Ireland. He came to the United States and settled in New York when in his nine- teenth year. He was first occupied as an office-boy for a leading real estate firm, and proceeded to learn the realty business with utmost thoroughness. He eventually engaged in the business on his own account, and was very successful therein. That he was considered a most fair and honest realtor is attested by the frequent laudatory articles relative to himself and his business that were published in the New York "Herald" of that day. He was con- sidered an authority on realty values, has developed, improved and marketed much property, and is the owner of several large parcels of land in the High Bidge district. He was successful in amassing much wealth, and, though considerably embarrassed by the panic of 1907, was able to survive the critical period, and recuperated in good time. He retired from active participation in business affairs in 1908, but continues to speculate in realty properties.
It is said that it is largely due to the vigor and perseverance of Mr. Wynne that The Bronx district owes in large measure its present great prosperity. A personal friend of Mr. Shonts, head of the elevated railway system, Mr. Wynne prevailed upon the mag- nate to erect the Elevated station at One Hundred and Sixty-second Street. His fellow-ciitzens also credit Mr. Wynne with the early completion of the fire station and the public school in the High Bridge section, in which district he has been par- ticularly active as a developer. Following completion in 1913, of the Elevated station at One Hundred and Sixty-second Street and Anderson Avenue, he placed on the market many building lots, and also erected a number of the first apartment houses in the community.
That Mr. Wynne is a Republican is, of course, signally indicated by the honors bestowed upon him during the Harding and Coolidge presidential nomi- nations. He is a director of The Bronx Board of Trade. During the World War, he was chairman of the local Draft board and received a splendid citation from the Government upon occasion of his discharge therefrom.
Mr. Wynne was married, April 15, 1879. Children: 1. Robert Augustus, married Mary M. Worthan and has one son, Robert A., Jr. 2. Florence Antoinette,
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married Dr. Lawrence W. Gallagher, and has two sons, Lawrence W., Jr., and John.
EDWIN WALDON CRUMLEY-Much of the attractiveness of both public buildings and private residences in this section of the city that have upon them the well-known impress of Edwin Waldon Crumley's architectural plans, is due to his assiduous attention to the requirements of locality, business and residential, as well as of the city as a whole, the product of his workshop always being remarkable for a studious regard in those particulars. Whether in partnership with other architects, or continuing business as he has done in his own name for a num- ber of years, Mr. Crumley has established his repute for workmanship of a very high order.
Of the fourth generation from the first-comer of the paternal name from either Ireland or England, Mr. Crumley is a son of George Henry Crumley, a carpenter, who was born May 26, 1864, in Bethel, Sullivan County, and who now resides at West Nyack, New York, and of Ida Marie (Ulrichs) Crum- ley, who was born July 28, 1865, in Hamburg, Ger- many; and they had four children: George F., Edwin W., of whom further; Irvin H., and Leroy A.
Edwin Waldon Crumley was born May 3, 1886, in Equinunk, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and with the removal of the family to Port Jervis, New York, when he was seven years old, he attended the public schools there and at Far Rockaway to his tenth year, completing his high school work in Brooklyn. He then entered the employ of William Higginson, architect, in New York City, remaining with him two years, and for a similar length of time he was associated with the office of John Davidson. I11 1908, Mr. Crumley established his present business in The Bronx, and he has met with well-merited success in his various building enterprises. For a time, Mr. Crumley was active in political matters; and he was a member of the Common Council at Bergenfield, New Jersey. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons; and he is a past president of the Mohawk Club. His favorite recreation consists of motoring and camping, and he annually goes into camp in the Adirondacks. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church.
Edwin Waldon Crumley married, April 22, 1908, at Norwood, Massachusetts, Mary Elizabeth Murray, daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Elston) Murray. Their son, Edwin Waldon Crumley, Jr., was born June 23, 1909, and is a member of the class of 1926 in the City Vocational School.
GEORGE WILLIAM FENNELL-From the year of the establishment of The Bronx National Bank of the city of New York, George William Fen- nell, president of the bank, has been associated with its immediate activities, securing its fundamental in- terests in The Bronx, and making it an indispensable financial institution for this particular section of the city and of the State. The life of this bank and its flourishing vitality today is due in a very large meas- ure to the personal interest and effort of President Fennell in furthering its well-founded financial proj- ects. Mr. Fennell is a son of George and Fredericka (Gronert) Fennell, both natives of New
York City, and both now deceased; George Fennell for many years conducted a furniture store at tlie corner of Grand Street and Third Avenue; and he also carried on building operations in New York City.
George William Fennell was born April 4, 1878, in New York City, where he attended the public schools, afterwards graduating from the Business Institute. He began his business career in the en1- ploy of H. B. Claflin, with whom he remained six months, when he joined his father in the building business in New York City. He continued with his father two years, when he decided to accept a posi- tion with the Standard Oil Company, and he re- mained with the fuel and road oil department of that company three years; and his father then assisted him in establishing, in 1901, George Fennell & Company, of Mount Vernon, a business that has con- tinued to prosper.
In 1907, Mr. Fennell, in association with A. J. Shamberg, Fred A. Wurzbach, George N. Reinhardt, and Theodore J. Chabot, established The Bronx Na- tional Bank of the City of New York with the elec- tion of Mr. Reinhardt as the first president. From the beginning this bank has met with prosperity, having become one of the leading banks in The Bronx. In 1924, Mr. Fennell was elected president and his per- sonality has been the means of securing additional business for this institution, thus placing it in the front rank in The Bronx. Few men have been gifted with greater abilities in the banking business. He is also the senior member of the firm of George Fennell & Company, furniture dealers, at Nos. 2929-2933 Third Avenue, and the store at No. 2259 Third Ave- nue. He is president of The Associated Retail Furni- ture Dealers of New York, also of Harlem Board of Commerce, and is a member of the Board of Man- agers of The New York Bible Society.
Fraternally, Mr. Fennell is affiliated with Archi- tect Lodge, No. 519, Free and Accepted Masons; with Mount Vernon Lodge, No. 842, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is a charter member; a member of The Rotary Club; and of Gold- en Rod Lodge, Royal Arcanum; and he is also a member of The Bronx Board of Trade, New York Athletic Club, Manhattan Club, New York Fishing Club, Schnorer Club of The Bronx, Westchester- Biltmore Club and the Wingfoot Golf Club. He is a member of St. James Lutheran Church, Seventy-third Street and Madison Avenue, of New York; and he is president of the Church Council and its board of trustees.
George William Fennell married, October 30, 1911, Elinore Critchley, a native of Toronto, daughter of John Critchley, deceased, who was born in Canada. Mr. Critchley was superintendent of the Board of Education of Toronto, Canada. Their children are: George Fennell, Jr., born November 19, 1913; and Orville G. Fennell, born January 20, 1915.
JOSEPH BECKER-The vital interests of a general business education are comprehensively served in the curriculum provided by the Becker Business Institute, of which Joseph Becker is the business executive as well as a leader in the teaching corps. Mr. Becker, himself a man of attainment in the
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theory and the practice of business in various of its branches, has performed a work of greatest value in business training in the maintenance of the schools that bear his name, and in his exploitation of the many departments of clerical and of secretarial service in modern business.
Joseph Becker, a son of Louis Becker, a merchant of cloak and suit notions, and őf Sarah Becker, who is now deceased, was born July 1, 1885, in Wilna, Russia, and he came to the United States with his parents when he was three and a half years old. He attended the public schools in New York City; was graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1905, and taking the course in education he received the degree of Bachelor of Education. Prior to 1919, Mr. Becker taught in the New York City public schools, and upon his resignation, in partner- ship with his brother, Isadore Schultz Becker, he founded the Becker Brothers Business Institute, a general college for the teaching of shorthand, type- writing, bookkeeping, commercial law, English, with the usual secretarial courses. About two hundred and fifty students are now enjoying the privileges of this institution. In May, 1913, Mr. Becker purchased the business and teaching rights of The Bronx Preparatory School that was founded in 1907 by Senator Benjamin Anton to prepare students for academic and professional colleges.
In political activities a Democrat, he has very efficiently served for ten years as a member of The Bronx Democratic Committee; he is also a member of the Arthur H. Murphy Association. Exempted as a teacher from active service in the World War, Mr. Becker meantime bore with great credit the responsibilities of directing the Liberty Loan cam- paigns in The Bronx Public Schools, and he sold over $6,000,000 of bonds. He is also director of the Tremont Hebrew School. His own business school is registered and recognized by the State Board of Regents.
WILLIAM AUGUSTIN COKELEY-The name of William Augustin Cokeley is well and widely known not only in The Bronx, but also throughout the realty circles of Westchester County and Greater New York. Mr. Cokeley established a real estate business in The Bronx when that particular section was still known as Westchester Village and included within the corporate limits of Westchester County. That was thirty years ago, and since that time Mr. Cokeley has built up a substantial real estate bus- iness in the metropolitan area. He has also become one of the most expert appraisers of realty values both in Manhattan and The Bronx and of late years his reputation as such has become so well known that practically all his time is devoted to that work. He is also noted for his collection of valuable old maps and real estate atlases, than which probably no finer collection exists today in this State. Mr. Cokeley is one of the most progressive business men of The Bronx, and his successful career is due to native ability, energy, and unflagging perseverance coupled with a strict code of professional ethics in which honesty, fair-dealing and absolute integrity hold chief places.
William Augustin Cokeley was born on July 21, 1861, in a house at No. 151 East Eighty-first Street, between Lexington and Third avenues, a son of John and Elizabeth Agnes (Linden) Cokeley. The mother was born in a house at the corner of Jane and Green- wich streets, New York City, in the year 1830, and died in 1874. The father, John Cokeley (in the Celtic language "Colcolough"), was born in Coun- ty Wexford, Ireland, in 1820, and died in 1865.
William Augustin Cokeley acquired his early educa- tion in the New York City Public Schools Nos. 17, 55, and 58; following which, at a later date, he at- tended the famous Cooper Union Institute. Mr. Cokeley, however, owing to his father's death, em- barked upon his business career at an unusually early age. He was but eleven years old when he took his first position as office-boy, and like all boys and youths he tried many and various occupations before he finally found one to his liking. For a time he worked as a street-car conductor on the Broadway line, and later on the Second Avenue line under Mr. Thorn, who thought so well of him that when Mr. Cokeley resigned from the employ of the street-car company, Mr. Thorn tried to prevail upon him to remain. Mr. Cokeley, however, accepted an appointment as letter carrier, and continued as such for the next seventeen years. He resigned from Federal employ in 1902 in order to devote all his time to the real estate business which he had estab- lished in Westchester Village in 1895. He has con- tinued in this business ever since, and at the same place, No. 3150 East Tremont Avenue, where he has built up one of the finest real estate clienteles in The Bronx. At the present time (1926), most of his time is devoted to appraising properties, in which work he is supreme and unapproachable, and he is a generally recognized expert in realty values. It was for this reason that he served for two years as the head of the Real Estate Bureau of the Finance Department of the city of New York. Mr. Cokeley's excellent and comprehensive collection of maps and atlases decorates his real estate offices. In 1902 he was retained by an aggregation of capitalists to obtain a franchise for a railroad through the counties of The Bronx and Westchester. This effort met with most bitter opposition; the galaxy of lawyers for and against this application included no less celebrities than Charles Evans Hughes, George S. Graham, John P. Cohalon, Louis Cuvillier and J. S. G. John- son, of Philadelphia, for the application and D. Cady Herrick and W. C. Trull against the application. The franchise obtained was the last one given under the law permitting the Board of Aldermen to grant franchises. Mr. Cokeley was appointed the right- of-way agent, and purchased properties from the Harlem River and The Bronx to Danbury, Con- necticut, and from White Plains to Brewster, New York. As right-of-way agent he not only purchased the right of way but prepared all of the physical data necessary in condemnation cases. Mr. Cokeley remained with this company until he entered the employ of the Finance Department of New York City before referred to. He is regarded as an author- ity on the history of the East Bronx and assisted as a representative of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, District of Columbia, in locating the
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spot upon which Throckmorton made camp in 1643. Politically, Mr. Cokeley is a staunch adherent of and believer in the principles of the Democratic party, and he has served his party faithfully and well. He entered in the primary election on the Hylan Ticket of 1925 for president of the Board of Aldermen. He was a member of the Com- mittee of 170 who nominated for the mayoralty of New York City both John Purroy Mitchel and John F. Hylan, and he was also a member of the Convention which nominated George B. McClellan. Fraternally, Mr. Cokeley is a Past Grand Knight, Past National Delegate, of the Knights of Columbus, as well as a member of the Vencentian Council, No. 392, of the French Church on Twenty-Third Street, and a charter member of the Friends of Erin. He is past president of the Taxpayers Alli- ance of The Bronx, and a member of The Bronx Real Estate Board, the Manhattan Real Estate Board, and the New York State Real Estate Board. His religious affiliation is with St. Benedict's Roman Catholic Church, of which he was formerly a trustee. He was also a member of Saint Cecelia's Chorus of the original Paulist Choir.
William Augustin Cokeley was married in New York City, on February 8, 1881, to Harriet Mary Black, a daughter of Thomas Black, who was born in Oneida County, New York State, and Elizabeth (Irving) Black, who was born in England. William Augustin and Harriet Mary (Black) Cokeley are the parents of ten children, as follows: 1. Thomas Clarence Cokeley, born in 1881, married Margaret Honohan and they have four children: Harriet, Mary, Thomas and Margaret. 2. Edward Matthew Cokeley, born in 1885. 3. Harry Aloysious Cokeley, born in 1887, married May Baker, and they have two children, Dorothy and Harry, Jr. 4. Ida Cecelia Cokeley, born in 1893, married Edward Schildknecht, and they have one child, Miriam. 5. Jerome Joseph Cokeley, born January 28, 1895, married Elizabeth O. Carroll. 6. Elizabeth Mary Cokeley, twin of Jerome Joseph, married Frank Fonda, and they have two children, Elizabeth Mary and Mary Magdellen Fonda. 7. Bea- trice Agnes Cokeley, born in 1897, married Joseph W. Droogan, and they have three children, Dorothy, Duell, and Cornelius Droogan. 8. William Augustin Cokeley, Jr., born in 1899, and he is now a widower with one child, Joan. 9. Harriet Mary Cokeley, born in 1900, married Harry Keller, of Palatka, Florida. 10. Mary Magdelen Cokeley, born in the year 1904.
CAPTAIN DAVID J. CONROY-Coming from a long line of sturdy American ancestors, Captain David J. Conroy may well be styled a "self-made man." His father dying when he was only three and one-half years old, he early in life, at the age of thirteen years, took up the burden of helping to support his mother. He started in a small way in the towing and tug business, and today is president of his own company, The Bronx Towing Company, incorporated in June, 1918, the only company of its kind in The Bronx, and with barges running from Jacksonville to Palm Beach, and doing forty per cent of the city work around The Bronx.
David J. Conroy was born in Albany, New York, November 8, 1870, the son of John and Mary Con-
roy, his mother passing away in Albany in 1910. He received his early education in the public schools of Albany, but at the age of thirteen started his business career. He has been in the towing and tug business all of his life, in 1895 doing towing all along the east coast, having eight boats in service. He has barges running from Jacksonville to Palm Beach taking care of his southern trade, while forty per cent of the city's business around The Bronx is cared for by him, and during the building of the Manhattan and other bridges in New York City his tugs carried all the caissons for this work. He has built and launched six tugs in The Bronx, his business the only one of its kind in The Bronx. In 1898 he removed to The Bronx, and in June, 1918, Captain David J. Conroy incorporated his business under the name of The Bronx Towing Company, employing fifty men, with an annual pay roll of $100,000. He is a member of the New York Tow- boat Exchange, New York Maritime Exchange, the National Board of Steam Navigation, and the New York Boat Construction Association. He is a Demo- crat in political affiliation and serves his community as a member of The Bronx Board of Trade and the River and Harbor's Committee. His religious fellow- ship is with the Holy Family Church of The Bronx.
Captain David J. Conroy married, January 1, 1900, in New York City, Catherine Jordan, her parents long deceased. Captain and Mrs. Conroy are the parents of one son, Gerald, born June 24, 1917, the only survivor of eleven children. Captain and Mrs. Conroy's residence is at No. 1251 Theriot Avenue, while his business address is at One Hundred and Fifty-second Street and Harlem River.
HENRY M. POTTER-Connected for almost three decades with the firm of McDougall & Potter Co., Incorporated, of which his father was one of the founders in 1863, Mr. Potter has been vice- president and treasurer of this concern since his father's death in 1917. The company is one of the leading establishments in the structural steel and architectural iron business and for a number of years has been located in The Bronx, with its plant and offices at One Hundred and Forty-first Street and Rider Avenue. Much of its success and prosperity in recent years is attributable to Mr. Potter's very thorough knowledge of the business, his executive ability and energy. Naturally he is well known amongst builders and architects and is highly regarded and respected for his many fine qualities and for his well-established integrity and fairness.
Henry M. Potter was born on West Fifty-fifth Street, New York City, October 13, 1889, a son of Roger and Mary (Scott) Potter, the former a native of Scotland. His father was a blacksmith by trade and came to the United States at the age of thirty- five years. Three years later he organized, in 1863, together with Henry McDougall, the firm of Mc- Dougall & Potter, of which he remained a member until the time of his death in 1917, being survived by his son and by his widow, who is still a resident of New York City. Mr. Potter was educated in Public School No. 69, New York City, and at Powder Point School, Duxbury, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1907. He then entered his father's
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