USA > New York > The men of New York: a collection of biographies and portraits of citizens of the Empire state prominent in business, professional, social, and political life during the last decade of the nineteenth century, Vol. I > Part 10
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Mr. Ramsdell has not confined his attention to projects for the material prosperity of the city. He is a member of the Westminster Church, the Buffalo Library, the Buffalo Historical Society, the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. and the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. He is a director of the Buffalo General Hospital. Mem- bership in the Buffalo Press Club, the Country Club, and the Buffalo Club, evidences his interest in social matters, and rounds out on an important side his character as a successful business man and public- spirited citizen.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Thomas T. Ramsdell was born at Buffalo March 15, 1854 : graduated from the Buffalo Classical School in 1871; began business in 1873 as a clerk for O. P. Ramsdell
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~~ Co., wholesale dealers in boots, shoes, and rubbers : became partner in this firm in 1877 ; organised the present firm of O. P. Ramsdell, Sweet & Co. in 1870; married Louise Miller of Sterling, Ill., No- vember 10, 1881.
James H. Roberts began life in the back- woods of Maine. He was " raised on a farm," as the saying is - a statement that conveys to all Amer- icans a mental image perfectly intelligible and mean- ingful. He resolved to obtain a college education, and to effect this he underwent the most rigorous self-denial. He taught school in winter, worked in the fields in summer, and practiced the strictest economy at all times. At one particularly trying stage of his college finances he contracted to haul a large number of logs to market, and ful- filled the contract on time by arising at four o'clock every morning and starting into the woods with two yoke of oxen.
If it be true, as some competent judges assert, that a young man who enters col- lege with plenty of money to spend is really handicapped thereby in the race for college honors, we may understand why our teacher-farmer-contractor stu- dent was able to graduate from Bowdoin at the head of his class.
One reason for this success, in the face of obstacles that would have disheartened most men, may be found in the fact that young Roberts brought to his college duties a matured mind and a character that had been strengthened by experi- ences quite unusual in the case of so young a man. When he would naturally have entered college the Civil War was raging fiercely, and he determined to ex- change his books for the soldier's knap- sack. He enlisted in 1864, when only seventeen, in the 7th Maine battery, and served with the Army of the Potomac until the surrender at Appomattox.
After leaving college Mr. Roberts taught school in Portland for one year and in Buffalo for three years, studying law at the same time. He abandoned teaching on his admission to the bar, and devoted all his energy to the practice of law and the promotion of various busi- ness enterprises. At that time Buffalo was about to enter upon a period of extraordinary growth in popu- lation and of wide expansion in industrial affairs, and she needed professional men of the highest class to
complement her material prosperity. Mr. Roberts was quick to realize the significance of these con- ditions and to take advantage of them, and he soon became prominently identified with the city of his adoption. Coincidentally with wide learning, lit- erary culture, and intellectual attributes of a high order, Mr. Roberts possesses an intensely practical turn of mind, which has been of the utmost value in his professional work and in his highly successful business operations. In the organization and the conduct of banking, street-railroad, electric-lighting, and real-estate enterprises, Mr. Roberts has shown a marked genius for business.
In political life Mr. Roberts has attained decided success without the sacrifice of self-respect or of any quality that should be dearer than the highest measure
...
JAMES A. ROBERTS
of success as sometimes estimated. He has not always been prominently before the public in politi- cal matters, but he has always been allied with the best clement of his party, and has always given that
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element the wisest and most patriotic counsel. He has been an ardent civil-service reformer, and has done yeoman's service in the advance of that cause As comptroller of the state of New York, Mr. Rob- erts has splendidly improved the opportunity to show how important that office may be made in the hands
SHERMAN S. ROGERS
of a capable and a thoroughly upright public official. Without attempting the difficult feat of forecasting the political future, the statement may safely be made that Mr. Roberts' career in the world of politics has not yet reached its zenith, if honesty of purpose, independence of character, fearlessness of judg- ment, and broad-minded statesmanship of the highest type count for anything with the people of the Empire State.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-James A. Roberts was born at Waterboro, Me., March 8, 1847 ; fitted for college at Auburn, Me., and graduated from Bordoin in 1870 ; was admitted to the bar at Buf- falo in 1875 ; married Minnie Pinco of Calais, Me., in 1871, and Martha Dresser of Auburn, Me., in
1884; was representative in the state assembly, 1879- 80 ; was elected comptroller of the state of New York in 1893, and was re-elected in 1895.
Sberman S. RRogers has served the law and his fellow-men all his days. He began the endless study of legal science at an early age, and enjoyed an important practice before young men nowadays have received their diplomas. After practicing three years in his native town of Bath, N. Y., Mr. Rogers sought the wider opportunities promised in the city of Buffalo. This was in 1854 when Buffalo contained fewer than 50,000 people, but when evi- dences of its later greatness were clearly apparent. There Mr. Rogers has lived for more than forty years - a shining light in his profession, an ornament to his city, and a distinguished honor to his state and country.
Of Mr. Rogers as a practitioner hardly any words of praise could be deemed ex- travagant. The Buffalo bar has a very splendid history, and includes among its illustrious members two presidents and many famous jurists ; but it may be said without fear of contradiction that Mr. Rogers' success as a lawyer in western New York has rarely or never been sur- passed. Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, Bowen, Rogers & Locke, and Rogers, Locke & Milburn have been names to conjure with in the annals of the Buffalo bar; and the subject of this sketch has been a tower of strength to these firms as regards weight of legal counsel, brilliancy of pleading, and solidity of clientage.
The lawyer's calling, more than any other, paves the way for political preferment, and abundant evidence of this may be found in the career before us. Early in life Mr. Rogers was a Democrat in political belief, but at the outbreak of the Civil War he became a Republican, and has so remained. At various times Mr. Rogers has been strongly sup- ported for high political offices, such as the governor- ship and the United States senatorship, and these might easily have come to hiin under conditions slightly different. Political and personal independ- ence, however, and absolute integrity, such as char- acterize Mr. Rogers, are not the best motive power in the operation of office-actuated "machines." Whenever the popular voice has been heard, the tone has been loud and unmistakable. In 1875, for
性,
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example, Mr. Rogers consented to run as state sen- ator in a district that had gone heavily Democratic two years before, and in which Republican defeat seemed inevitable ; but he was elected by the largest majority ever given to a senatorial candidate in the district. In the same way, when he ran for lieutenant governor, he received more votes than any other candidate on the ticket.
Mr. Rogers' influence in national politics has been felt through his active and consistent advocacy of reform in the civil service. For many years he has been a member of the executive committee of the National Civil Service Reform League, rendering great service under the captainey of his intimate personal friend, the late George William Curtis. Mr. Rogers has in fact for years been deemed in Buffalo the typical anti-spoilsman, having been president of the local reform organization, as well as an officer in the National League. To no other citizen does Buffalo owe so much for its place in the front rank of civ- ilized communities as regards the dis- tribution of municipal patronage.
Mr. Rogers has been a director of the Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo, director and vice president of the Bank of Buffalo, president of the Fine Arts Academy, and president of the board of trustees of Calvary Presbyterian Church. He has been prominently identified with almost every literary and benevolent so- ciety in Buffalo, and with the intelligent and cultured side of the city in general.
Mr. Rogers has found time in the in- tervals of his busy life as a lawyer and a statesman to cultivate the arts. He is a connoisseur in painting and music, and his literary style is most charming. Unfortunately for his admirers, it is only in occasional addresses and now and then in a magazine article that he has dis- played his gifts in pure literature.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Sherman S. Rogers was born at Bath, N. Y., April 16, 1830; prepared for college, but entered a law office at the age of sixteen without further scholastic training ; married Christina Cameron Davenport of Bath January 6, 1858 ; was appointed a member of the commission to revise the con- stitution of the state of New York in 1812 ; was elected state senator in 1875 ; was nominated for lieutenant governor in 1876, on the ticket headed by E. D. Morgan ; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1854.
Charles H. RRupp was thrown on his own re- sources early in life, and began his business career when he was fifteen years old. How well he has succeeded in his efforts to build up a business every resident of Buffalo knows. For many years he has been closely identified with the best interests of the city, and many flourishing enterprises are due to his sagacity, energy, and faith. As a young man he was not averse to turning his hand to any honorable occupation however lowly. During the war and while attending the public schools he sold papers on the streets, and worked at various small jobs. His first permanent employment, however, was as a "trotter " for the old Buffalo City Bank, which was located in the Ætna building on Commercial street. This section of the city was then the business center,
CHARLES A. RUPP
for the chief material interests of the town were in its lake and canal trade. It was only natural for Mr. Rupp to drift into employment connected with this trade, and he was soon hard at work as a tallyman
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and clerk for forwarding firms. It is seldom that a young man at the outset of life finds the business to which he is best suited, and Mr. Rupp was not so favored. He soon abandoned the forwarding busi- ness, and worked as a clerk in a dry-goods store and later in a variety store ; and it was not until 1868 that he found the vocation in which he was to make his mark.
In the year mentioned he was employed by Henry Rumrill, a leading contractor and builder, to keep his books and to act as confidential clerk. He liked the business, and soon evinced an ambition to acquaint himself with its practical details. ‘To accomplish this he attended night schools of archi- tecture and mechanical drawing, and even worked for a time at bricklaying. His enthusiasm, ambition, and determination to master the practical knowledge necessary to become a contractor found encourage- ment from his employer, and in 1874 he was ad- mitted to a partnership. This lasted for fifteen years, or until Mr. Rumrill sold his interest to his son, Henry Rumrill, Jr. The firm name of Runirill & Rupp remained unchanged until 1893, when the partnership was dissolved. Since then Mr. Rupp has conducted his business alone as a mason, builder, and contractor. Many extensive contracts have been successfully carried out by Mr. Rupp and his partners, and their work has found a place in a large number of the best buildings that adorn the city of Buffalo.
Mr. Rupp has been active in politics, and his advice and support have been eagerly sought by his party. His entrance into public life was made in 1881, when he was elected an alderman from the 11th ward. He served two years. For the next seven years he held no public office, but in 1890 he was appointed a civil-service commissioner. This position carries with it a great deal of hard work and no corresponding recompense beyond the grati- tude of all believers in honest, efficient government, and the satisfaction involved in the faithful discharge of duty. When the citizens of Buffalo rose in their might, in 1894, and vindicated the principle of home rule, Mr. Rupp was appointed one of the police and excise commissioners. Their first duty was to cleanse the police force of the city of partisan politics, and Mr. Rupp had an important part in this work. In the fall of 1894 he ran for the office of commissioner of public works, but shared in the general defeat of his party at that time.
Mr. Rupp has been active in various other direc- tions. He is a Mason and a Knight Templar, and is active in a number of business associations. He is president of the Builders' Exchange Association,
a stock company that owns the fine building occupied by the Buildlers' Exchange. That project was carried to a successful completion largely through the efforts of Mr. Rupp. He has been vice president of the National Association of Builders of the United States, and was elected president thereof at the con- vention held in Baltimore in October, 1895.
Some years of Mr. Rupp's life were devoted in part to the State Guard. He enlisted as a private before the war closed, and held various positions, finally becoming lieutenant colonel of the 65th regi- ment in 1873. He resigned after a service of thirteen years.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Charles Albert Rupp was born at Buffalo April 1, 1850; attended the district schools ; married Nellie Pilot of Buffalo September 11, 1872, and Anna T. Henafelt of Buf- falo October 2, 1889 ; was elected alderman on the Democratic ticket in 1881; was appointed a civil- service commissioner in June, 1890, and a police and excise commissioner March 1, 1894; entered the service of Henry Rumrill, builder and contractor, in 1868, and formed a partnership with him in 1874; has been in business alone, as builder an contractor, since 1893.
Stephen Vincent Ryan, bishop of the Cath- olic diocese of Buffalo, is revered by the priests under his authority, beloved by all his people, and honored by all classes in the city of which he has for nearly thirty years been a resident. Strict in his ex- action of church authority, firm in his control of the great interests in his charge, he has yet no harshness in his character, and benevolence and kindness are the foundation stones of his rule. His influence is naturally most weighty ; and his voice is always heard in behalf of whatever makes for the highest moral welfare of the community.
A little Canadian town, Almonte, Ontario, was the birthplace of Stephen Vincent Ryan, and Janu- ary 1, 1825, was his natal day. When he was yet a child his parents removed to Pottsville, Penn., and there young Ryan spent his youth. He was early attracted to the priesthood, and when his parents consented to fall in with his bent, he was sent to St. Charles's Seminary at Philadelphia for a classical course. This was in 1840. While there he made the acquaintance of the fathers of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul, and expressed a desire to enter their community. In 1844 he was sent to their col- lege at Cape Girardeau, Mo., and afterward to St. Mary's of the Barrens, Perry county, Mo., when that institution became the mother house of the Vincen- tians. While at Philadelphia he served as one of the
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acolytes in the cathedral at that place, and thus had the honor of participating in the consecration of Bishop Kenrick. When Mr. Ryan was ordained to the priesthood in St. Vincent's Church, St. Louis, Archbishop Kenrick conducted the august ceremony. Father Ryan at once entered upon the discharge of the duties pertaining to his holy order, and brought to them rare intelligence and unflagging industry. He was untiring in his devotion to the interests of the order of the Mission, and it was not long before · he took a leading part in the grand work carried on by the Lazarist fathers. In 1857 he was appointed Visitor, or head, of the order in the United States. To him was due the successful establishment at Germantown, Penn., of the Vincentian Seminary, which is now the headquarters of the Vincentian army of devoted mis- sionaries, the mother house of the Eastern Province, and the residence of the Visitor of the order in America. On several occasions Father Ryan crossed the ocean to consult with the Superior General of the order in Paris concerning the welfare of tine Vincentian congregation in America.
Father Ryan's eminent success in all matters placed in his care had attracted so much attention that when Bishop Timon of the Buffalo diocese died in 1867 it was freely prophesied that Father Ryan would be his successor. His ap- pointment came from the Holy See a little later, and he was duly consecrated November 8, 1868. His administration of the constantly growing diocese of Buf- falo has met with the entire approval of his superiors, and, as has been said, he has endeared himself to priests and people alike. His wonderful popularity was shown a few years since, on his return from a journey to Rome, when he received a welcome home such as is extended to but few men. The churches in this great diocese number more than one hundred and sixty and the priests more than two hundred. Under his zealous care there have grown up three seminaries, five colleges, twenty academies, over seventy parochial schools, and seventeen charitable institutions.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Stephen Vin- cent Ryan was born January 1, 1825, at Almonte, Ont. ; was taken by his parents when a child to Pottsville, Penn., where he grew up ; was sent to St. Charles's Seminary, Philadelphia, in 1840, to begin a course of study to fit him for the priesthood ; was
ordained at St. Louis in 1849 ; was consecrated bishop of the Catholic diocese of Buffalo November 8, 1868, and has lived' there since.
benry th. Seymour illustrates vividly, on his intellectual side, what is known as the " legal mind."
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STEPHEN VINCENT RYAN
A disposition to get to the root of the matter, to push aside nonessentials and get down to fundamen- tal causes, is a marked characteristic of his mental processes. This legal cast of mind, joined to a strong, wholesome faith in his fellow-men, is per- haps the distinguishing trait of his character. While yet a student in Cornell University, he was attracted to the philosophic study of history : and his interest in the subject has continued ever since, and has been stimulated by extensive foreign travel.
Mr. Seymour's college career was a brilliant one, and on his graduation from Cornell University he received one of the Goldwin Smith prizes, then deemed the highest rewards in the gift of the univer- sity. After a season of study and travel abroad, he
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returned to Mount Morris and began the reading of law. He studied law in the offices of his uncles, McNeil Seymour and George Hastings - two of the most widely known lawyers in the Genesee valley - . and was admitted to practice in 1874. He then went abroad again, and spent over a year in further
HENRY H. SEYMOUR
study and sight-seeing. In 1876 he returned to this country, and opened a law office in Buffalo, where he has since practiced.
It has ever been Mr. Seymour's desire to elevate the standard of legal education. He has filled the position of lecturer on the law of agency and partner- ship in the Buffalo Law School ever since the forma- tion of that institution, and in that capacity has sought to impress upon the students the importance of the fundamental principles of the law. Statutes may change with every session of the legislature, but the great legal principles do not vary, and every statute must ultimately rest upon them. He urges his students to think for themselves, and to attach
more importance to independent and well-considered reasoning than to mere text-book knowledge.
Mr. Seymour has never held, and has not cared to hold, any publie elective office. He has been a consistent independent Democrat in political opinion. and has filled numerous publie trusts in a creditable manner. He has been for many years one of the bar examiners for the judicial department in which he lives, and since 1889 he has been commissioner of jurors for the northern district of New York in the United States District Court. For the latter office he was selected by Judge Coxe, who made the appointment in recognition of Mr. Seymour's strong faith in the jury system and strong desire to see it maintained and strengthened rather than abolished. In 1895 Mr. Seymour was appointed deputy commissioner of jurors for Erie county, under a reform- jury act passed in that year. He has been a bulwark of strength to the jury system against the attacks that have lately been made upon it in various quarters. Ad- mitting that the system has faults, he contends that these may be remedied by wise legislation, and that the institution as a whole has rightly been regarded as one of the pillars of constitutional liberty.
Mr. Seymour's extensive travels in the old world have given him ample oppor- tunity to broaden his general culture, and to round out his legal knowledge by a study of comparative constitutions. On one of his visits to England he enjoyed, through the courtesy of Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, the somewhat unique privilege of sitting beside that official all one day while he held his court in the Law Courts in the Strand. Such an honor, and many other opportunities to note the workings of the law in the mother country, were naturally highly prized by the young American lawyer.
Mr. Seymour is a prominent member of Buffalo clubs. He is chairman of the house committee of the University Club and of the library committee of the Buffalo Club.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Henry Hale Seymour was born at Mount Morris, N. Y., October 27, 1849; prepared for college at Mount Morris Academy : after one year in Dartmouth College entered Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1871 with the degree of Bachelor of Science ; studied law at Mount Morris, and was admitted to the bar in 1874 :
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served as judge advocate of the 4th division N. G., S. N. Y., 1880-85 ; was appointed commissioner of jurors for the northern district of New York state in the United States District Court in 1889, and deputy com- missioner of jurors for Erie county in 1895 ; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1874.
T. Guilford Smith finely typifies, in his career and in his character, the material prosperity of our country and the conquest of man over nature by which that prosperity has been attained and promoted. The intelligent and persistent develop- ment of our natural resources by men especially adapted for the work by reason of native ability and technical training, has characterized our industrial history as a whole, and especially the chapters relating to coal, iron, and steel. Few men have had a larger and more important part in this work than T. Guilford Smith.
A thorough scholastic training, both general and technical, paved the way for Mr. Smith's life-work. His father took great pains with his education, obtaining special instruction for him in French, German, and the sciences, in addition to the regular courses in the public and private schools of Philadelphia. When he graduated from the Central High School there in 1858, he was the saluta- torian of his class, and five years later the same institution gave him the degree of Master of Arts. To the general edu- cation obtained in Philadelphia, he added the special training of a civil engineer, which he obtained at the . Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y.
Mr. Smith began his business life in the engineering department of the Phil- adelphia & Reading railroad, and finally became resident engineer of the company . in the Mahanoy district of the anthracite coal fields. He resigned from the road in 1865, and spent the next four years as general manager of the Philadelphia Sugar Refinery. He was then connected, as consulting engineer, with railroad and mineral projects in various parts of the country ; and in 1872 he visited Europe in connection with railroad enterprises. His appointment as secretary of the Union Iron Company of Buffalo brought him to that city in 1873. He has lived there since.
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