USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 33
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For such excellent constructive work as is sug- gested in the above excerpts, the Rev. Nesbitt was given an appointment as agent, United States De- partment of Justice, by the United States Govern- ment for western Connecticut and he also served as Food Director for the Food Administration.
It was on April 1, 1919, that he assumed lus present pastorate, where he has continued through- out seven years to labor so zealously and success- fully that he has pulled the church out of the slough of despond into which it had fallen before he tooka
Afamillon VEslit
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it over and restored it to its early vigor and use- fulness. Its budget in 1919 was $350, and now ex-, ceeds $14,000 a year. Its ideal is to identify itself with every phase of modern life, making itself in- dispensable to the members of its congregation and offering to them the pleasures they would other- wise seek from the outside world, thus seizing the opportunity to ennoble these pleasures. Moving pic- tures, a radio, and social gatherings form the nu- cleus. An employment bureau operated by the church meets an exigent demand. The Mott Ave- nue Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in February, 1887, and was first housed in a chapel on land purchased by the New York City Church Ex- tension and Missionary Society. The rapid growth of the congregation and extension of the work ne- cessitated a larger edifice, and by 1897 the new build- ing was ready for dedication. Even in those early days, the objectives were broad. The church main- tained an industrial school largely attended by the children of the neighborhood. It dispensed charity in many directions and maintained a lady visitor constantly engaged in missionary work. It held a railroad men's meeting once a week which proved popular and resultful. The Epworth and Junior Epworth leagues interested the young people, and the Sunday School soon outgrew even the com- modious new building. The renewed life and ac- tivity of the church in accordance with its earlier spirit is a great satisfaction to its members and to the community at large, and this renaissance is largely due to the Rev. Nesbitt.
He takes an active part in community life in general as an honorary member of the Lions Club, a member of The Bronx Board of Trade, for four years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, State of New York, a post to which he was appointed by Judge Tompkins of the Supreme Court, June 2, 1923, and chaplain of the Police Department, to which he was appointed January 1, 1923, which positions he still occupies.
On March 23, 1908, in Omaha, Nebraska, Rev. A. Hamilton Nesbitt married Hilda N. Deane, a childhood sweetheart, who was born in Drogheda County, Ireland. They are the parents of a son, Deane H. Nesbitt, born May 24, 1913, now attending Barnard's School for Boys.
GEORGE JAMES BAXTER-The trade annals of The Bronx, New York City, would be incomplete without reference to George James Baxter and his flourishing merchandising establishment at No. 1420 Williamsbridge Road. This store, stocked with high grade merchandise, ably managed with the idea of giving to customers the best values and the best service possible, is one of the most public-spirited and progressive commercial institutions in the bor- ough. Its proprietor was born in old Westchester Village, now known as East Bronx, August 4, 1877, son of Robert Frederick and Eliza (Auchterlone) Baxter. The father, born in old Westchester Vil- lage, on Middletown Road, in 1839, son of Frederick Baxter, was a carpenter and builder who erected many of the old residences still found standing in Westchester and Throggs Neck. He died in 1910 at the age of seventy. The mother, born in Eng- Bronx-9
land, was brought to this country in her infancy.
George J. Baxter was educated at old Public School No. 3, in Throggs Neck. He began work as a clerk in the furnishing store of William R. Sprague, on Williamsbridge Road, where he remained for more than seven years. Appointed then to the posi- tion of postal clerk in the main post office, opposite City Hall, in Manhattan, he worked in that capacity for five years. Then came his transfer to the West- chester post office, on Williamsbridge Road, where he continued for ten years. During this period Mr. Baxter had gained a very comprehensive knowledge of the people of his district, of the business poten- tialities, and of his own preferences in the matter of business. He had, moreover, a loyal belief in the future of his section. His thrift and ambition had encouraged him in the saving of enough capital to enter into business for himself. Characteristically, because he was always faithful to people and places he knew well and liked, he returned to Sprague's store, which he purchased on July 1, 1914. There Mr. Baxter has continued to operate in the past twelve years, and he has one of the representative enter- prises of the borough, one the section is proud to own. He is a member of Wyoming Lodge, No. 492, Free and Accepted Masons, having served as Master in 1925; and a member of Freewill Council, No. 487, Royal Arcanum, as well as Wyoming Fel- lowcraft Club. Mr. Baxter has long been a mem- ber of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and of its Men's Club; and his son, George Leorphan Baxter, at the age of sixteen, is organist for all regular services, playing with beauty and technical skill all the master- pieces of church music.
On June 24, 1908, in St. Peter's Church, George J. Baxter was married, by Rev. Frank Clendenning, to Susan A. LaCoste, daughter of Cornelius and Charlotte (Quigley) LaCoste. Her father, born in Morrisania in 1848, and died in 1900, was a mem- ber of a very old family of that section, first settlers in the region, and his father, Cornelius Leorphan LaCoste, was related to Commodore Vanderbilt. Her mother, born in the same section in 1852, is en- joying good health in her seventy-fourth year (1926). To Mr. and Mrs. Baxter was born a son: George Leorphan Baxter, April 3, 1910, on Country Club Avenue, now known as Jarvis Avenue, and he is already a musician of ability.
HENRY HAHNENFELD-Among the success- ful business men of The Bronx is Henry Hahnen- feld, who has been since 1910 treasurer of the North Side Savings Bank, and vice-president and a director of
The Bronx Consumers' 'Ice Company. Mr. Hahnenfeld had previously spent forty years in the wholesale and retail grocery business on Murray Hill, and he had also been engaged in real estate and building as a side interest in recent years. He is a son of Henry and Margaret Hahnenfeld, both of whom were born and died in Germany. The father, who was a farmer, spent some time in the United States on a visit. A brother of Mr. Hahnen- feld served in the Franco-Prussian War.
Henry Hahnenfeld was born in Aachen, Ger- many, May 24, 1857, and came to the United States alone at the age of fifteen. He had attended the
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public schools in his native country, and shortly after coming to New York became connected with the grocery business, in which he spent the greater part of his life. In 1917, after forty years in the wholesale and retail grocery business on Murray Hill, Mr. Hahnenfeld sold out with the intention of retiring from active business life. Instead, how- ever, he became president of The Bronx Consumers' Ice Company, which is located at No. 435 Devoe Avenue, and held this office for three years, after which he accepted the post of vice-president which freed him from the heaviest responsibilities of the management, and Arthur E. Reinhardt, who had previously been vice-president, assumed the presi- dency. Mr. Hahnenfeld's connection with The Bronx Consumers Ice Company dates from 1910 when he first became vice-president and a director, and in this year also he was elected treasurer of the North Side Savings Bank, a position he still holds. He is an active member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, in which he has served as a trustee for twenty-five years, and for fifty years has been a member of the Aachen Club.
Henry Hahnenfeld married, in New York City, November 11, 1883, Mary Lewers, a daughter of Henry Lewers, and they had but one child, which died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Hahnenfeld reside at No. 433 East One Hundred and Forty-third Street, The Bronx.
EMMA LOUISE BELLOWS, M. D .- A prac- ticing physician in The Bronx, Emma Louise Bel- lows, M. D., is a most active member of the medical profession, and also takes a prominent part in the functions of certain medical organizations.
The parents of Dr. Bellows are Alonza Austin, oyster merchant, and Henrietta (Burgomeister) Bel- lows, the mother being a native of England. On the paternal side of the family, Dr. Bellows is able to trace the family genealogy to pre-Revolutionary days, the first of her ancestors settling in 1632, and during the War of the Revolution coming to Long Island.
Dr. Emma Louise Bellows was born December 16, 1896, in the village of Good Ground, Long Island. She acquired her rudimentary education in the public schools of Southampton, Long Island, later was graduated from the high school of that city, and subsequently matriculated at the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, and was graduated from that institution June 4, 1918, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Her medical studies com- pleted, Dr. Bellows entered the Norwegian Hos- pital, at Brooklyn, New York, where she remained during the customary period of interneship, folowing which she engaged in the general practice of medi- cine, and made a specialty of pediatrics. Dr. Bel- lows enjoys the distinction of being the first woman to be duly registered as a practicing physician on the staff of the Norwegian Hospital. For the past four years, she has also been connected with the Lying-In Hospital, being a member of the staff of the latter institution, connected with the clinic at the Post-Graduate Medical School, and is one of the committee for building the Gotham Hospital. Dr. Bellows is secretary of the Homoeopathic Medical
Society of New York State, secretary of the Alumni Association of the New York Medical College, vice- president of the Lozier Medical Club, and is also a member of the State Homeopathic Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy. During her earlier professional career, Dr. Bellows was assist- ant to the noted surgeon, Dr. Addisone Boyce, for a period of six years.
Dr. Bellows is unmarried. She is a member of the Woodycrest Methodist Episcopal Church. An enthusiastic believer in outdoor sports, both in theory and practice, she is especially proficient with the fish- ing rod, and derives great enjoyment from camp- ing in the wilds amid the marvels of mother nature.
JUDGE ALBERT COHN-With the office of the Bronx County judgeship at the present summit in the history of its activities and responsibilities, Judge Albert Cohn administers its affairs from the standpoint of an executive who regards first of all the highest moral standards of the community, and clearly and incisively pronounces unbiased judg- ment. Profoundly interested in every movement for the welfare of The Bronx, alert to the lasting advantages to be gained by strict observance of the law, Judge Cohn courageously defines both his judi- cial belief and position, with the consequent approval of a comunity of sound and fearless judgment.
Judge Albert Cohn was born December 20, 1885, in New York City, where he attended the public schools and was afterwards graduated at the Col- lege of the City of New York, in the class of 1904, with his Bachelor of Arts degree. For a short per- iod he was employed as a clerk in the New York Post Office while he was waiting for a position as a teacher in the public schools, and then for six years he taught both day and evening high school. While employed as a teacher in the day-school he took the course in law in the New York Law School evening class, and when he was grad- uated in the class of 1908, he was awarded the first prize of the senior year of one hundred dollars, and was admitted to the bar in October.
Mr. Cohn then began the practice of law, and on January 1, 1918, he became assistant district attorney in The Bronx under District Attorney Francis Mar- tin, who is now justice of the Appellate Division of the City of New York; and he was appointed first assistant district attorney January 1, 1922, by Dis- trict Attorney Edward J. Glennon, who is now Jus- tice of the Supreme Court. After completing five years as assistant district attorney, he served three years as first assistant district attorney, and in this capacity he prosecuted many of the important cases in the district attorney's office.
On January 1, 1925, Mr. Cohn was appointed by Governor Smith, county judge of Bronx County, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Louis D. Gibbs, who was elected to the Supreme Court, and he has been serving in that office since; and in cooperation with District Attorney John E. McGeehan, he was largely instrumental in ridding the county of desperate crim- inals. Since he has been in office, every man con- victed of robbery and other crimes of violence has been sentenced to long terms in the State Prison, his policy being rigorously and speedily to enforce
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the laws with respect to hardened criminals. Bronx County, since January 1, 1925, according to figures furnished by the police commissioner, has been singularly free from crimes of every kind; Judge Cohn having conducted the affairs of his office with the same degree of courage and fearlessness that was exhibited by his illustrious predecessor, Judge Louis D. Gibbs. Judge Cohn was elected to his office to succeed himself on November 4, 1925, for the term of six years, and by a very large majority. He is a member of The Bronx Board of Trade; Bronx Chapter of the Lions Club; Bronx Bar As- sociation; National Democratic Club; and he is a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Hebrew Association. His religious fellow- ship is that of the Montefiore Congregation.
LAMBERT G. MAPES-To his excellent train- ing and practice in the law, Lambert G. Mapes has added the valuable experience of a general business in real estate activities, as well as continuous proof of his abilities as an adviser in law matters and a counsel in the courts, the firm of Mapes and Raynor, of which he is the senior member, holding a place of high regard in legal circles as well as with the general public. He is a son of Henry Clay Mapes, who was born in 1844, in Van Nest, a descendant of Samuel Mapes, who came from England and located in New York State, and of Susan Tier Mapes, who was born in New York City, and died Sep- tember 23, 1905, her husband's decease occurring June 30; 1911.
Lambert G. Mapes was born October 25, 1882, in Van Nest, and after being graduated from Public School No. 100, in 1898, he attended Morris High School in New York City. He began his business career as a clerk with a local importing firm where he continued for two years and a half, when he be- came associated with the firm of H. C. Mapes & Co., his father the senior partner, in real estate.
In 1906 Mr. Mapes began his law studies in the New York Law School, and upon his admission to the bar in October, 1908, he began a general practice under his own name which continued until 1917, when the present firm of Mapes and Raynor was established.
Fraternally, Mr. Mapes is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, as a Past Master of Wyoming Lodge, No. 492. His hobbies are athletics in general, horseback riding, fishing, and automobiling, and in 1896, he was one of the six charter members and or- ganizers of the Franklin Athletic Club. He is a member of the Methodist Episco ~~ 1 church, to whose Sunday School work he has devoted much of his time.
Lambert G. Mapes married, June 2, 1909, Marion I. McConville, who was born in Boston, Massa- chusetts, a daughter of Joseph G. and Theresa Mc- Conville, who reside in Bridgeville, New York. Their children are: Constance M., born March 13, 1911; and Marjorie L., born December 10, 1912.
MARTIN WALTER-For forty-eight years iden- tified with The Bronx, New York, Martin Walter, one of the founders of The Bronx Borough Bank in Tremont and a director of The Bronx Young Men's
Christian Association, is well known in that borough. He is a son of Martin and Elizabeth Walter, his father having come with his parents to America from Alsace-Lorraine at the age of two.
Martin Walter was born in New York City, No- vember 2, 1856, and was educated in Public School No. 39, in Harlem. He left school at the age of fourteen to engage in business pursuits. Forty-eight years ago he came to The Bronx, which has since been his home and the field of his business efforts. He was one of the founders of The Bronx Bor- ough Bank in Tremont; he is a director of The Bronx Board of Trade; director of the Bronx So- ciety for Prevention of Cruelty to Children; and is a member of the Business Mens' Committee, Greater New York Federation of Churches. He was one of the first in the real estate field in The Bronx to pur- chase acreage property and lay out into building lots. Fraternally, Mr. Walter is affiliated with all the various bodies of the Masonic order, his lodge being Guiding Star Lodge, No. 565, Free and Ac- cepted Masons. He takes a keen interest in civic affairs and is a member of the board of directors of The Bronx Young Men's Christian Association. His religious connections are with the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Walter married, in New York City on June 18, 1891, Elizabeth Nergenah, of Jacksonville, Illinois, and they have two children: Bernice Violet, born June 13, 1892, and Martin, Jr., born June 28, 1904.
CARLOS GREEN WEBSTER, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of his profession in The Bronx, is a descendant of a distinguished family, one of his ancestors having been governor of the State of Massachusetts. In his college days, Dr. Web- ster was rated as a most proficient athlete and also excelled as a scholar.
The paternal side of his family originally lived in Connecticut and Massachusetts, but migrated West, as did the maternal ancestors of Dr. Webster, the latter having traveled to the West through the me- dium of ox-carts in 1825, proceeding along the route of the old Mohawk Trail. The paternal-side of the family is directly descended from Governor John Webster of Massachusetts. The parents of Dr. Webster were Charles Rich Webster and Josephine (Green) Webster. Their son was born at Milan, Ohio, on February 20, 1872, and was a student in the public and high schools of that community. By means of his ability as a scholar, he succeeded in attaining an excellent education by means of scholar- ships, having attended Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio, Cleveland University of Medicine and Surgery (1896), and later engaged in a post-graduate course in the Homeopathic Medical College in New York City, and was graduated from the latter institution in 1904 with a Doctor of Medicine degree. Thereafter, from 1896 until 1900, Dr. Webster engaged as a medical practitioner at a' popular summer resort in the State of Ohio, and in the meanwhile was also a teacher of military tactics and assumed charge of a military school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was an instructor in history, mathematics and athletics and was a teacher and athletic instructor in The Cutler School in New York City until 1904,
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in which year he resumed the practice of medicine in New York. Dr. Webster had ten years' service in the National Guard of Ohio and held the rank of captain in the Fifth Ohio Infantry. During the period of the World War he was the organizer of a unit of the reserves battalion of the Eighth Infantry, State of New York, and now holds the rank of sen- ior major in the 258th Field Artillery, National Guard of New York. Dr. Webster is a member of the board of the Fifth Avenue Hospital, and also serves on the visiting staff of the Yonkers Homœopathic Hospital. He was formerly assist- ant neurologist at the Metropolitan and the Flower hospitals, and is a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, the New York Homoeopathic Society, and The Bronx County Homeopathic Medi- cal Society. He also is a member of the Kane Lodge, No. 454, Free and Accepted Masons.
On October 22, 1897, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Carlos Green Webster was united in marriage to Marie Johanna Tiehle. Their residence is lo- cated at No. 380 East Two Hundred and First Street, The Bronx. Dr. Webster also maintains his pro- fessional offices at the latter address.
THOMAS A. MANCINI, senior member of the firm of Mancini & Sammartino, is recognized as a leading real estate man. He has for the past quar- ter of a century been intimately identified in the de- velopment and advancement of that section known as Wakefield. Mr. Mancini is one of the most ex- pert appraisers of realty values in the Metropolitan district, and this fact has helped to no small extent in building up his reputation. For many years he was associated in the real estate and building and contracting fields of endeavor with his well-known father, under whose expert tutelage Mr. Mancini laid the foundations for his vast and valuable knowl- edge of real estate in all of its many ramifications. Expert knowledge, proved ability, unflagging in- dustry, and absolute honesty are well-known at- tributes of Mr. Mancini throughout The Bronx and its environs.
Thomas A. Mancini, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 9, 1883, a son of Andrew and Florence (Buongiorno) Mancini, the latter having been born in Italy in Salerno Province, on February 11, 1860, and died in Wakefield, Bronx County, New York, on March 6, 1900. The father, Andrew Man- cini, was born in Salerno, province of Salerno, Italy, on December 13, 1846. He came to the United States when a young man of thirty years, settling first in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but shortly after removing to Wakefield, Westchester County, which subsequenty became a part of The Bronx. He became one of the leading builders and contractors of Wakefield, where he was one of the foremost bus- iness men in the building up and development of the section. His death occurred there on April 13, 1925.
When Thomas A. Mancini was still but a child his parents removed to the village of Wakefield, West- chester County, New York State, and here, at Pub- lic School No. 101, did the youth acquire the rudi- ments of his education. Later he attended Morris High School in The Bronx, following which he
entered Woods Business College, where, following a comprehensive business course, he was graduated with the class of 1898. He immediately associated himself with his father in the latter's general con- tracting business, and began work as a time-keeper on a development project in the Wakefield. section. He worked in various capacities under his father's management until the latter took him in as a partner, under the firm name of Andrew Mancini & Son, which was not dissolved until 1917, when the father retired from active business life. Thomas A. Mancini then entered the real estate business, and in 1918 opened his own offices at No. 3813 White Plains Avenue, where he remained for two years. In 1920 he moved to his present address, No. 4008 White Plains Avenue, where, in 1923, he formed a partner- ship with Pasquale Sammartino (see following sketch), under the firm name of Mancini & Sammar- tino, which continued to December 31, 1926, when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Mancini has been a factor in the development of the Wakefield section.
Politically, Mr. Mancini is a staunch Democrat, and holds membership in the Chippewa Democratic Club, the Harmony Democratic Club, and the An- nex Democratic Club, of which he is a charter memr ber. in addition to having served as the club's first chairman. He was one of the founders of the Wil- liamsbridge Taxpayers' Association, a member of the White Plains Board of Trade, and fraternizes with Riscossa Lodge of the Order of Figlie d'Italia. Mr. Mancini has never married, and resides at No. 650 East Two Hundred and Twenty-eighth Street, The Bronx.
PASQUALE SAMMARTINO-The name of Pasquale Sammartino is well and widely known throughout The Bronx for his many real estate activities. But he has not been successful in this one field of endeavor alone, for the foundation of his fortunes was laid by his wise and personal direc- tion of a wholesale grocery establishment, with which business he was identified in New York City for fourteen years. Since 1915, however, his activi- ties have been confined to the buying and selling of real estate in The Bronx and its environs, where he has become known as one of the most progressive business men of that section.
Pasquale Sammartino was born in Salerno, prov- ince of Salerno, Italy, on May 5, 1875, a son of Vincent and Raffaela (Ventura) Sammartino, the latter of whom was a native of the village of Ruffoli, province of Salerno. The father, Vincent Sammar- tino, was born in Salerno, province of Salerno, in the year 1853, and carried on a successful wholesale grocery business there until his death in 1918.
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