USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 55
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HUMPHREY JOSEPH MONAHAN-A resident of The Bronx since his childhood days and one of its valiant soldiers in the World War, Mr. Monahan was born in Harlem, August 12, 1889, a son of Humphrey Joseph and Mary (Mahoney) Monahan, his father being connected in various capacities with different departments of the New York City ad- ministration.
Humphrey Joseph Monahan was educated in Pub- lic School No. 9 in The Bronx and after graduating from Morris High School completed his education
Frean taleren
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at Fordham University. At the age of nineteen he began his business career with P. Centemeri & Company, glove manufacturers. One year later he be- came associated with the Union Tank Line Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company. He re- mained with this concern until 1917 when, upon the entrance of the United States in the World War, he joined the Seventy-seventh Division. Commissioned a second lieutenant, he was transferred to the Fifth Division with which he saw active service in France, participating in the fighting in the St. Mihiel sector. Transferred again to the Sixty-ninth Regiment of the Forty-second Division, he went through the Argonne campaign until the end of the war and received his honorable discharge in 1919. Upon his return to civil life he entered the general insurance business in The Bronx under his own name. In this business he continued until he formed a partnership with Arthur H. Murphy, a prominent realtor of The Bronx, under the firm name of Murphy & Monahan, the new firm with offices at No. 601 Tremont Ave- nue, combining most appropriately the closely allied lines of real estate and insurance. In politics he supports the Democratic party and he is a member of the North End Democratic Club.
Mr. Monahan was married on December 31, 1920, in Holy Cross Church, West Forty-second Street, Manhattan, to Alice Allen Walsh, daughter of Thom- as and Ann (Allen) Walsh. Mr. and Mrs. Monahan have one daughter, Gloria. The family home is at No. 9 East One Hundred and Ninety-third Street, The Bronx.
JONAS LEHRER, apparently determined in early youth to carefully investigate the merits of various enterprises before finally choosing a permanent busi- ness which should be his life's career, finally became identified with the real estate business as being one to which his talents are best suited.
Jonas Lehrer is the son of Gedalie and Mecca (Miller) Lehrer, both of whom were natives of Galicia, Austria. The father brought his family to the United States in 1886, and entered into the tailoring business in New York City. He was born September 18, 1897, on the lower east side of New York City, and there began his education as a student of the public school. When he had attained his fifteenth year, his parents removed their residence to The Bronx, and there the young man entered Pub- lic School No. 25, situated on Wales Avenue. His education completed, he sought employment, and was retained as a clerk in a grocery store, which work he continued for a period of two years. He then secured a position in a woolen house on Fourth Avenue and remained with this concern for six months, when he became employed by the shirt- manufacturing concern, Untenberg's, located at Church and Franklin streets, and was connected with that firm for one year. He then decided to enter the army, and accordingly joined the United States "Regulars" in 1915, when he was seventeen years of age. During his military career he was in active service on the Mexican border and during the World War, was commissioned a battalion sergeant-major and was mustered out of service on July 30, 1921.
He then took up the study of accountancy, and after completing the course, engaged in the profession until he entered the real estate business with offices located at No. 3399 Third Avenue, The Bronx.
Jonas Lehrer married, on May 27, 1923, in Brook- lyn, Esther Weitzman, daughter of Henry S. Weitz- man. He is the father of a son, Stanley, born on Easter morning, April 20, 1924.
OSCAR AUGUST PEDERSEN-A native of Norway, but a resident of the United States for more than a quarter of a century, ever since he came to this country at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Pedersen, having soon afterwards learned the carpenter's trade, has been engaged for about ten years in the building and real estate business in The Bronx. From small beginnings he has developed a very extensive business, which he operates under the name of B. & O. Realty Company, of which he is president, its offices being located at No. 509 Willis Avenue, The Bronx. Many homes of varying sizes and also a number of large apartment houses have been erected by him, and both as a builder and as a dealer in real estate he has met with marked, but well deserved success.
Oscar August Pedersen was born in Svennevig, Kristiansand, Norway, October 6, 1883, a son of Peter Olsen and Regine (Jacobsen) Pedersen, the former also a native of Svennevig, Kristiansand, Norway, and throughout his life a sailor and fisher- man in his native country. He attended the public schools of Norway and after leaving school, like his father, began to follow the sea. In 1900, when he was seventeen years old, he came to the United States and there continued for the next two years to work as a sailor on coastwise boats along the Eastern Atlantic seaboard. At the end of this period he went to California, where he became an appren- tice of a Mr. Perry, an expert carpenter. He re- mained with him for three years, during which he acquired a thorough knowledge of all branches of the carpenter's trade, and then returned to New York City. There he continued for a short time to work at his trade for other builders, but before long he entered the building business on his own account. His first contract was for a three-story, three-family house on Grand Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Street, The Bronx. This he completed to the entire satisfaction of the owner, and within ten years from the time he had first started in busi- ness for himself he had built more than one hun- dred homes and large apartments, all of which he sold advantageously. He is still one of the most active builders of and dealers in homes and apartment houses in The Bronx. In recent years, in order to handle his ever-growing transactions to better ad- vantage, he has formed the B. & O. Realty Company, of which he has been president since its organization.
Mr. Pedersen married, in The Bronx, February 22, 1908, Anna Olsen, a daughter of John and Torbar (Thorsland) Olsen. Mr. and Mrs. Pedersen are the parents of two children: 1. Ruth, born Decem- ber 28, 1910. 2. James, born October 3, 1913. The family home is located at No. 111 Seminary Avenue, Yonkers, Westchester County, New York.
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MAX DICK-Having come to this country alone from his native Austria when he was only twelve and a half years old and having experienced for some years, as he himself said, "a hard, weary, unhappy life such as no boy ought to have to look back to," Mr. Dick, when in later years success came to him in full measure as the result of his unremitting toil and his unusual determination and ability, considered it a privilege to lend a helping hand to those on whom fortune had not yet smiled. As the owner of several apartment houses he has been in constant touch with a large number of families and their many problems, and his attitude towards them has always been that of a friends rather than that of the average hard-hearted and hard-headed landlord. Especially has he become known for his great love and consideration for children and in this respect he has gone even so far as to give preference to ten- ants with large families and to pay a reward to those fortunate parents who have been blessed with twins.
Max Dick was born in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, December 26, 1870, a son of the late Joseph and Rebecca (Burby) Dick, the former engaged in the liquor and real estate business in Lemberg to the time of his death, the latter later a resident of New York City, where she died in the home which her loving son had provided. He came to the United States in 1883 and, although he was only a little over twelve years old at the time, he made the long journey alone, with his ticket pinned to his coat. The first few years in the strange country were full of difficulties and hardships for the young boy. He brushed finished clothes in a sweatshop on the lower east side of New York for two dollars a week and slept on the floor of one of the little shacks which stood on the property now occupied by one of his tenement houses at Nos. 69-73 Rivington Street. A little later he became a helper in an east side saloon and restaurant. All this time, whenever there was the slightest chance to do so, he continued to im- prove his education by attending night-school. He also made friends, for he has that gift of the gods, a winning personality. Amongst the earliest of his friends was Timothy D. Sullivan, popularly known later in his life, when he had become a power in politics, as "Big Tim," then a newsboy, only a little older than Mr. Dick. The two boys helped each other and their close and friendly relation continued for many years. When Mr. Dick opened his first store on Tenth Avenue, it was Mr. Sullivan who eased the way for the young merchant. Again, after the Rivington tenement had been put up, it was through the good offices of "Big Tim" that Mr. Dick was enabled to secure a lease on the saloon on the ground floor, and a year and a half later, when Mr. Dick was only about twenty-five years old, his friend once more helped him to take the next step forward on the road to success by assisting in raising the money enabling Mr. Dick to put the title to the entire building in his own name. This property has been owned by Mr. Dick ever since and is one of the best known buildings of its type on the lower east side. It has always been kept in the best possible condition and on account of its owner's well-known preference for children it has always housed more
than its fair share of them. It is a large property, as properties go in this section, and has become familiarly known as "The House of Babies," for the sixty-odd families which resided there in 1926 were able to show a total of two hundred and fifty-one children. Innumerable stories about Mr. Dick's kind- ness to and consideration for his tenants in cases of need, sickness or trouble are part of the neighbor- hood lore, and every day the owner comes down to Rivington Street from his home in The Bronx at three o'clock in the afternoon, just as all the children come home from school. For two hours he visits with the children on the stoops and in the streets, so familiar to him from his own boyhood, and he is also a welcome and honored guest in the homes of the parents.
The acquisition of the Rivington Street property was the start of Mr. Dick's career as a real estate man and as a builder. Since then he has built many homes and apartment houses in many parts of The Bronx, where his own home has been located since 1920 at No. 2842 Sedgwick Avenue, a property which he bought in that year and where he also maintains offices for the transaction of his extensive business, which latter also includes stockholdings in a number of important banks. He is a member of the Grand Street Boys' Association, as well as of many clubs and other organizations, the latter including a very large number of benevolent and charitable under- takings. He helped to build the Home for the Aged on East Tenth Street, the Home for Incurables, the Beth Abraham Society, in The Bronx, the Maternity Hospital on East Broadway and the National Orphan Asylum in Yonkers, and he also freely contributes to many charities of all kinds. In politics he is a supporter of the Democratic party and from his early youth on he has always been a staunch sup- porter of Tammany Hall. His religious affiliations are with the Washuwa Congregation.
Mr. Dick married, in The Bronx, June 4, 1915, May Gottfried, a daughter of Philip and Bertha Gottfried. This union was blessed with two children: Irving, who died in infancy, and Georgette, born in 1918.
HARRY A. KEIBER-Entering the real estate business as a young lad, immediately after leaving school, some thirty years ago, and having spent all of the intervening years in the same line of business, Mr. Keiber today is considered one of the best trained real estate men of The Bronx. He was born in New York City, May 16, 1886, a son of Philip and Anna (Storck) Keiber, both natives of Germany. His father, born in 1854, came to the United States in 1872 as a young man of eighteen and became a barber in New York City. He owned, for many years, a barber shop on Nassau Street in the financial and insurance section of downtown Manhattan, and counted among his customers some of the most prominent of New York City's captains of industry and finance. Later in life, desiring the peacefulness of country life, he removed to Glen Gardner, New Jersey, where he opened a barber shop which he still operates. He was married in 1874 and he and Mrs. Keiber, on November 13, 1924, celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at The Bronx home of
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their son, Harry A. Keiber. They were the parents of six children, of whom three lived to maturity: 1. Kate, widow of Henry Badenberger, of Brooklyn. 2. Mary, wife of John H. Keller. 3. Harry A., of whom further.
Harry A. Keiber received his early education in the public schools of New York City, including Public Schools Nos. 51, 61, and 65, which latter was then known as West Farms School, and from which he graduated in 1890. Immediately after leaving school he went to work in a real estate office, and later was associated for eight years with the real estate firm of Jacob Leitner, at Prospect and Westchester avenues, The Bronx, one of the leading real estate concerns in that section. In 1912 he organized a branch office for this firm on East Fordham Road, and in 1914 he established himself in business under his own name on the same street, where he con- tinues to conduct a very successful real estate of- fice, at No. 337 East Fordham Road. He is a Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while his religious affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and more particularly with the Fordham Methodist Church. His only hobby is golf and most of his leisure time is devoted to his family circle.
Mr. Keiber married, November 1, 1911, in The Bronx, Carrie A. Reuse, daughter of the late Henry and Caroline Reuse. Mr. and Mrs. Keiber are the parents of two children: 1. Ruth, born June 16, 1915. 2. Arleen, born December 22, 1918. The family residence is located at No. 360 East One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Street, The Bronx.
CHARLES KAMMERS SMITH-A substantial and highly respected citizen of The Bronx, New York, is Charles Kammers Smith, now living in retirement, after twenty-one years as proprietor of a famous restaurant on East Tremont Avenue. His loyalty was proved on the battlefield, for he volun- teered his services to the Union in 1863 and served for two years at the front. Charles Kammers Smith was born September 4, 1845, in Minden, Prussia, Germany, son of Christian and Louise (Kammers) Smith. The father, also a native of Minden, was a railroad engineer in Germany all his life. The son was educated in the public schools of his native town and remained there during his youth.
At the age of eighteen, just about the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, he came to the United States. After a brief period of work in a restaurant at No. 102 West Street, he enlisted in the 13th Connecticut Infantry, in 1863. He was present at the battle of Cedar Creek under General Phil Sheri- dan and received his honorable discharge at Savan- nah, Georgia, in 1865, loyal and efficient service which entitles him to the pension he now enjoys. The war over, he reentered the restaurant bus- iness, opening his own establishment at One Hun- dred and Twenty-eighth Street and Third Avenue. When this property was requisitioned for the en- trance to the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Street Bridge, he moved to The Bronx, where he opened a restaurant on East Tremont Avenue, in 1889, which made a name for itself far and wide because of the excellence of its cuisine and service, and which
throve until Mr. Smith's retirement in 1910. Since that date he has busied himself with his private affairs in his home at No. 1972 Bathgate Avenue, where he has resided for twenty-six years.
On May 22, 1882, in the Church of the Strangers, in New York City, Charles Kammers Smith was married to Margaret Ann Colvin by the Rev. Dr. Deems. She was born in Tullinthisney, County Monaghan, Ireland, daughter of Thomas and Agnes Nancy (Ennis) Colvin, and came alone to the United States at the age of sixteen. Her father, born in Ballinrae, County Armagh, died as he neared his eightieth year, and her mother, of Mulladuff, Coun- ty Armagh, died in her sixties. To Mr. Smith and his wife were born: 1. Sidney Horn Smith, May 2, 1883; married Mary Mills, of Syracuse, New York, daughter of James Mills. 2. Agnes Gertrude, born December 22, 1886. 3. Charles John, born December 28, 1888; married Marian Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson, and they have two children: Marian Elizabeth and Edith Audrey Johnson. 4. Robert Thomas, born December 27, 1893; married Grace Eitel, daughter of George Eitel, and they have a daughter, Joan Roberta Smith. 5. Elsie Isa- belle Smith, born March 15, 1900; married John Harold Thompson, son of John and Eva Thompson.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HALSEY, who has been inspector of highways in The Bronx since 1893, is well known in that borough, where he has lived since 1854, when he was two years old. Mr. Halsey is a member of the Old Timers' Association of The Bronx which has as its chief requirement for mem- bership a half century of residence in that borough. He is a son of Isaac and Sarah (Watson) Halsey, his father having been a carpenter and builder, born in New York City, the son of Abraham and Sarah (Ely) Halsey, the latter a sister of Mayor Ely, of New York City. Mr. Halsey's maternal grand- father was Rev. John Watson.
George Washington Halsey was born at No. 65 Columbia Street, New York City, October 9, 1852. His birthplace is still the site of the old house, but when he was only two years old his parents moved to The Bronx, where he first attended school in old No. 2 Public School on the corner of One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Street and Washington Avenue. When he was fourteen he entered the employ of Alonzo Carr, feed and grain merchant, in the capacity of clerk and remained for five years, leaving to establish his own feed and grain business in 1872 on One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Street and Third Ave- nue. He carried on this business very successfully from 1872 to 1893, a period of twenty-one years, and then sold out and accepted the post of inspector of highways which he has continued to fill ever since. Mr. Halsey is a member of Company B, Seventy-first Regiment, National Guard, and now a life-member of its Veterans' Association, and is an active member of the Old Timers' Association of The Bronx. He has always taken a keen interest in local affairs and is active in the County Democratic Association.
Mr. Halsey married, November 10, 1881, in The Bronx, Emma Carley, daughter of Benjamin and Ann Carley, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Henry Lobingier. Mr. and Mrs. Halsey have three
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children: Georgiana Halsey, born January 8, 1888; Carley Watson Halsey, born August 2, 1890; and Eldrid Absalom Halsey, born June 2, 1895.
JOHN KADEL-A lawyer and influential citizen of The Bronx, John Kadel is the leading spirit in the firm of Kadel, Van Kirk & Reynolds, an out- standing legal firm, the largest and most active north of Forty-second Street in this city. Mr. Kadel was born in New York City, July 7, 1890, son of Michael J. and Louise Kadel. His father and mother are both dead.
John Kadel was educated in New York City, at- tending the public schools, Townsend Harris High School, and the New York Law School. He ob- tained the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1911 from latter school. He was admitted to the bar in 1911 and began to practice alone. He was then associated with Mr. Van Kirk, the firm name being Van Kirk & Kadel; the next variation was Kadel, Van Kirk & Kennedy; the next, Donnelly & Kadel; and the present firm is, as given above, Kadel, Van Kirk & Reynolds.
He is a member of the board of directors or trus- tees of the following: Bronx National Bank, Mott Haven Securities Corporation, Bronx National Se- curities Corporation, Stephens Fuel Corporation, Episcopal Church of St. Peters, Bronx County So- ciety Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Bronx Club of Pinehurst, Realty Foundation, Trustees Land Cor- poration, Winged Foot Golf Club, Grassy Sprain Golf Club, Lloyds First Mortgage Corporation. He belongs to the following clubs: Oak Ridge Golf, Westchester-Biltmore, Schnorer, Piano and New York Athletic. He is general counsel for The Bronx National Bank of the City of New York and for The Bronx County Clerk. Mr. Kadel, a Demo- crat, is a member of the County Democratic Com- mittee and Chippewa Democratic Club. He is on the law committee of The Bronx Board of Trade and chairman of Building Committee of The Bronx County Bar Association. His fraternal affiliations are: Wyoming Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is Past Master; Manhattan Commandery, Knights Templar; Bronx Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Odd Fellows Lodge of Unionport.
On August 2, 1914, in New York City, John Kadel married Amanda Friend, daughter of John H. and Wilhelmina Friend. Children: Ruth, aged ten years; John, aged eight years; Doris, aged six years; Mildred, aged four years and George, aged one month (1926).
SAMUEL F. REYNOLDS-The thoughtfulness, long experience, and wide legal knowledge of Samuel F. Reynolds adds stability to the rapidly growing firm of Kadel, Van Kirk & Reynolds, one of the outstanding New York law firms north of Forty- second Street. Their offices are at No. 2804 Third Avenue. Mr. Reynolds was born in New York City, April 4, 1880, son of Dr. George E. and Sarah L. Reynolds. His father, a well-known dentist of New York, died in February, 1924, at the age of seventy- two.
The son grew up in New York, attending various public and private schools; he was one of the first twenty-five students in Mount Vernon High School, and graduated from New York University at the age of twenty in 1900. In 1901 Mr. Reynolds was ad- mitted to practice law before the Supreme Court cf the Second District of New York. For a year he engaged in general practice at No. 265 Broadway, then, in 1903, joined the forces of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company, with whom he remained for over twenty years. With a quick mind, the power to ob- serve, to think clearly and comprehensively, Mr. Reynolds absorbed in that period a wide knowledge of New York business conditions and of affairs in general which are of great importance in the litigation his firm today handles. On January 1, 1923, the present firm was organized. Mr. Reynolds has played an important part in the rapid growth the firm has enjoyed. Kadel, Van Kirk & Reynolds are attorneys for The Bronx National Bank.
Mr. Reynolds is a member of the County Com- mittee of the Republican party, as he has been for several years. During the World War he was on Draft Board No. 7, of The Bronx, at Williamsbridge. He is a member of The Bronx Bar Association, of Pelham Lodge, No. 712, Free and Accepted Masons; Manhattan Commandery, Knights Templar; Ivy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and of the Royal Ar- canum. He attends Grace Church, City Island.
Mr. Reynolds married, in June, 1904, Harriet Hor- ton, daughter of Captain James F. Horton. Her mother is deceased. Children: 1. Harriet, born in 1905. 2. James, born October 29, 1907. 3. Wesley, born November 27, 1913.
DR. THOMAS HENRY DOYLE-Lifelong and pronounced leadership in veterinary matters is that of Dr. Thomas Henry Doyle, for years prominent in the interests of departments in New York City, wherein his services are recorded as of utmost im- portance to the high standard of the upkeep of the Board of Health and the Street Cleaning Division. Dr. Doyle is everywhere known as one of the most skillful and reliable men in his profession, his chief interests from early boyhood to the present time be- ing those of the physiology and the hygiene of the horse. He is a son of James Doyle, who was born in Garyhill, County Carlow, Ireland, in 1815, and died in New York City in 1881, and Margaret (Coo- gan) Doyle, a native of Garyhill, County Carlow.
Dr. Thomas Henry Doyle was born April 8, 1855, in Bagnalstown, County Carlow, Ireland, and com- ing to the United States when he was fifteen years old with his parents, settled in New York City, where he attended Public School No. 55 on One Hundred and Fifteenth Street, between Lexington and Third avenues, when Principal Warner was the head of that school. He then went to work in his father's blacksmith shop, that stood on One Hundred and Eighth Street and Third Avenue, the shop being built upon stilts over the canal. Having served his apprenticeship in that practical way in his father's shop, Dr. Doyle remained there until 1881, when he decided to study veterinary medicine, and matriculat- ing at the America Veterinary College on Fifty-
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