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 2
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WILLIAM H. LOVE
caucuses, and to be represented in the conventions of the party. They were adopted by the county convention of 1886, and were quite successful for a time in securing those objects.
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In the winter of 1892-93 Mr.' Morey made an address, on behalf of various committees of citizens of Buffalo, before the assembly and senate commit- tees on cities at Albany, in favor of the repeal of what were popularly known as the "sneak bills." These bills had been rushed hastily through the
NORRIS MOREY
legislature ; they changed in an unusual and extra- ordinary manner the political control of the police board of Buffalo; and their passage produced a notable and wholesome uprising of public sentiment, which resulted in a political revolution at the city elections which followed.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Norris Morey was born at Brant, Erie county, N. Y., July 20, 1838 ; completed his education at Oberlin ( O.) Col- lege ; served in the Union army, 1861-62 and 1864-65 ; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1866 ; was assistant city attorney of Buffalo, 1870-71, and assistant district attorney of Eric county, 1872-74 : has practiced law in Buffalo since 1866.
George fh. Stowits, Buffalo's veteran school teacher, began his career in the public schools of that city in 1861, and is still actively engaged there at the age of seventy-five. In all these years his enthusiasm has never failed ; and his most earnest efforts are still directed to the task of training the boys and girls in his charge to be true and loyal American citizens, as well as in- telligent, well educated men and women.
Major Stowits was born in the village of Fort Plain, in the beautiful Mohawk valley. He was left an orphan in child- hood, and was thrown upon his own resources ; but he succeeded in secur- ing a good fundamental education, and during a career of more than fifty years as a teacher he has constantly broadened and extended his mental equipment. After attending academies at Clinton and Whitestown, Oneida county, he studied law for a time in an office at Little Falls, N. Y. ; but when he was twenty-one years old he began his long career as a teacher. His first field of labor was Starkville, Herkimer county ; and he subsequently taught at Fort Plain, Waterford, Little Falls, Ilion, and Bata- via. In the summer of 1856 he went abroad, and made a study of the educa- tional institutions of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
January 1, 1861, Major Stowits went to Buffalo as principal of Public School No. 10. The troublous war times were already close at hand, and in the sum- mer of 1862 he gave up his position as a teacher, and went to the front. Enlist- ing August 29 as a private in company H, 100th New York volunteers, he joined his regiment a few weeks later at Glouces- ter Point, Va. In December the command was ordered to the department of the South, and took part in the siege of Charleston and the bombardment of Fort Sumter. After serving in many of the most hard-fought engagements of the war, the 100th regi- ment was ordered back to Gloucester in the spring of 1864, and thence to Bermuda Hundreds. In the advance upon Richmond Major Stowits served as acting assistant adjutant general on the staff of the commanding officer ; and in attempting to push for- ward his skirmish line closer to the enemy's works, he was shot through the right arm. Before the wound was well healed he returned to his regiment, and served on the brigade staff during the rest of the
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war. In the three years of his service he was pro- moted through the various grades of orderly sergeant, second and first lieutenant, and captain, to the rank of major ; and this title he has been proud to bear ever since.
After the war Major Stowits taught for a short time in Fredonia, N. Y., and at Martinsburg, W. Va. In the spring of 1867 he was recalled to Buf- falo as principal of Public School No. 3. Since then he has been connected in turn with schools Nos. 35 (which he organized), 8, 4, 6, 19, and 2; and in the fall of 1897 he was appointed principal of Pub- lic School No. 11. He was at one time the Repub- lican candidate for superintendent of education.
Major Stowits has taken special interest for many years in the Grand Army of the Republic. He was one of the organizers of Bidwell-Wilkeson Post, No. 9, of Buffalo, and has twice served as commander of the post. In 1893 he was a candidate for the office of Senior Vice Commander for New York state, and came within seventeen votes of elec- tion out of a total of 700. He has delivered frequent Memorial Day ad- dresses to Grand Army Posts in neigh- boring towns as well as in Buffalo. In August, 1897, when the National En- campment of the organization met in Buffalo, he worked with characteristic energy and zeal to make the meeting an entire success, and was the Senior Aide to the Department Commander. At that time he contributed to the Buffalo Illus- trated Express a series of articles consist- ing of war reminiscences, and matters of general interest regarding the Grand Army of the Republic and kindred or- ganizations. Major Stowits has also written a history of his regiment, the 100th New York volunteers ; and he as- sisted George S. Hazard of the Buffalo Historical Society in the compilation of a larger work. It is his purpose to pre- sent to the Historical Society his essays, speeches, and addresses on patriotic and educational topics, which he has carefully preserved and which form an interesting and unique collection. He is a member of the Royal Templars of Temperance, and of Queen City Lodge, F. & A. M.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-George Henry Stowits was born at Fort Plain, N. Y., November 10, 1822 ; was educated at common schools and academics ; married Adaline Stowits of Starkville, N. Y., October
26, 1845 ; served in the Union army, 1862-65 ; has taught school since 1843, with the exception of the years speut in the army, and since 1867 has been continuously employed as principal of various public schools in Buffalo.
G. ffrederick Zeller, who has carried on the manufacture of leather in Buffalo for many years, was born in Germany little more than sixty years ago. His early education was received in the excellent German schools, and at the age of seventeen he emi- grated to the United States, and settled in Buffalo. For the next two years he attended the public schools of that city, learning in that way the language and customs of the strange land, and fitting himself to engage in business.
In 1855 he entered the employ of J. F. Schoell- kopf, a German like himself, who had established a
GEORGE II. STOWITS
tannery in Buffalo some ten years previously, and had already built up an extensive business including sev- eral plants in different parts of the country. He remained with him ten years, and during the latter
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part of the time traveled considerably, buying and selling goods, and acting as Mr. Schoellkopf's confi- dential representative.
At the end of this time Mr. Zeller determined to go into business for himself. He was almost thirty years old ; and had gained an excellent training in
G. FREDERICK ZELLER
sound business principles, as well as a thorough familiarity with the tanner's trade, from his long ser- vice with Mr. Schoellkopf, a business man of unusual ability. Accordingly he formed a partnership with George Laub, under the style of Laub & Zeller, and began the manufacture of leather on his own account. This association lasted for almost a quarter of a cen- tury, and was entirely successful. By the year 1889 Mr. Zeller became desirous of admitting to a share in the business his three sons, Henry C., J. Fred, and Edward G. Zeller. He therefore severed his connection with Mr. Laub, built a new tannery on Howard and Smith streets. Buffalo, and established the present firm of G. F. Zeller & Sons. Mr. Zel- ler maintains an active supervision of the entire
establishment, and devotes the same prudent and careful attention to every detail that has charac- terized the conduct of the concern from the begin- ning. Under the new management the business has prospered markedly, and the product of the Zeller tannery is known throughout the United States, and finds a wide and ready market.
Mr. Zeller's success in carrying on his own business has naturally brought him into prominence in the commercial life of Buffalo, and he has been called upon to take part in the management of vari- ous financial institutions. He has been vice president of the Citizens' Bank ever since its organization in 1890, and has contributed much to its high standing. He has been for many years a trustee of the Buffalo Savings Bank, one of the most solid institutions in the city ; and he is actively interested in other business enterprises.
Though far from being a politician in any sense of the word, Mr. Zeller is a public-spirited citizen, and has taken part more or less in public affairs. In the fall of 1873 he was elected an alderman from the old 4th ward, Buffalo, and served for the ensuing two years, and until he moved out of the ward. He is best known in public life, however, as a fire commissioner, having been one of the most efficient members of that board for more than a dozen years. He was first appointed in 1884 by Mayor Sco- ville, and the appointment was particu- larly gratifying from the fact that it was received without any solicitation on Mr. Zeller's part. At the end of his verm of six years he was reappointed by Mayor Bishop. In 1896 Mayor Jewett appointed him for a third term ; but Mr. Zeller resigned six months later, feeling that he had served the city well and long in that capacity, and was entitled to be released from further duty.
Mr. Zeller is a life member of the German Young Men's Association of Buffalo and the Buffalo Orpheus, and belongs to various other societies.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- G. Frederick Zeller was born in Württemberg, Germany, February 8, 1836 ; was educated in German and American schools ; married Barbara Mochel of Buffalo May 17, 1859 ; was in the employ of J. F. Schoellkopf, 1855- 65 ; was an alderman of Buffalo, 1874-75, and a member of the board of fire commissioners, 1884-96 ; has conducted a tannery in Buffalo since 1865.
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De Elva Stanwood Alexander was born in Maine, but in early boyhood he went to Ohio with his mother, where, at the age of fifteen, he en- listed in the 128th Ohio volunteer infantry, serving three years, and until the close of the war, as a pri- vate soldier. Most young men would feel that such an experience was education enough, but Mr. Alexander deliberately returned to his native state, and prepared for college at Edward Little Institute in Auburn. He took his bachelor's degree from Bow- doin College in 1870, having as classmates James A. Roberts, comptroller of New York state, Dr. Lucien Howe, and Willis H. Meads, all of Buffalo.
After graduation Mr. Alexander went to Fort Wayne, Ind., where he taught in the public schools until he became one of the editors and proprietors of the Fort Wayne Gasette, a leading Republican paper of northern Indiana. Later, having disposed of his interest in this publica- tion, he accepted a position on the Cin- cinnati Gazette as staff correspondent, with residence at Indianapolis. While so engaged he was elected secretary of the Republican state committee, holding the position for six years. It was also his good fortune at this time to be ap- pointed clerk of the United States senate committee on privileges and elections by its chairman, Senator Morton, and to ac- company the latter to Oregon during the investigation of the senatorial election in that state in the winter of 1876.
Mr. Alexander's connection with the newspaper was merely a stepping-stone to the ranks of the legal profession. For his preceptor in the study of the law he had no less a master than Senator McDonald, under whose tuition he studied until admitted to the bar in January, 1877. He then formed a partnership with Stanton J. Peelle of Indianapolis, now judge of the Court of Claims in Washington. In 1881 Mr. Alexander, upon the recommendation of Senator Harrison, was appointed by President Garfield fifth auditor of the treasury department, and left Indiana for Washington. Here among other things he was required to pass upon and settle the accounts of United States ministers and consuls, of the internal revenue, of the Smithsonian Institute, of the census and patent offices, and the department of state - ac- counts amounting in all to upwards of $100,000,000 annually. A reform feature of his work was the
application of a system of checks upon consular fees, making it impossible for any consul, without dis- covery, to collect a fee and retain it. Mr. Alexander served under secretaries Windom, Folger, McCulloch, and Manning. While residing in the national cap- ital, he was elected and served as commander of the
DE ALLA STANWOOD ALEXANDER
Department of the Potomac, Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr. Alexander, attracted by the manifest advan- tages of Buffalo and by a law partnership with his college classmate, Mr. Roberts, moved thither in 1885. Three years afterward, when General Har- rison had' become a candidate for President, Mr. Alexander was invited to assist him, and for this purpose spent the entire campaign of 1888 at Indian- apolis as his private secretary. In June, 1889, Mr. Alexander was appointed United States district attorney for the northern district of New York, and held the office until December, 1893, discharging successfully its responsible duties. The failure of two national banks and a large defalcation in the
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Albany City National Bank, both of which occurred during Mr. Alexander's term, gave the district attor- ney ample opportunity for good work; and the fact that, of eight men indicted for these failures and this defalcation, seven were convicted and sent
TRACY C. BECKER
to the penitentiary, shows that the work of the office was well cared for.
Mr. Alexander has shown marked ability and capacity for affairs in whatever he has undertaken. Political life in its higher form has seemed to him a worthy ambition, and his time and thought, outside the business of his profession, have ever been subject to the demand of his party on the stump and in the work of organization. But while a strong partisan, he is no believer in party success at any cost, and he has identified himself with clean politics at all times. He is a member of the Buffalo and University clubs, and is well known and esteemed in social circles, at the bar, and in the plainer walks of life.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - De Alva Stamwood Alexander was born at Richmond, Me., July
17, 1846 ; served three years during the Civil War ; was educated at Edward Little Institute, Auburn, Me., and at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me .; edited the Fort Wayne " Gazette," 1871-74; was admitted to the bar at Indianapolis in January, 1877; was fifth auditor of the treasury, 1881-85 ; was United States district attorney, 1889- 93 ; married Alice Colby of Defiance, O., September 14, 1871, and Anne Lucille Bliss of Buffalo December 30, 1893.
Tracy C. BBecker has attained a prominent position at the bar and in the public service at a comparatively early age. He was well prepared for the pro- fession he adopted, and thus had to over- come none of those obstacles that retard, when they do not prevent, the success of ambitious men of limited education who undertake the practice of law. Mr. Becker has confined himself closely to his pro- fession ; and whenever he has accepted public office it has been because the posi- tion involved legal work, and was in line with his vocation.
Mr. Becker's studies preparatory for college were pursued at a private school in Albany, where he was fitted for Union College, graduating therefrom in the clas- sical course at the unusual age of nineteen. He then entered the famous Albany Law School, studying office practice meanwhile with G. B. and J. Kellogg of Troy and S. W. Rosendale of Albany, and took his LL. B. degree in 1876. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and thus began practice when only twenty-one years old. The next year he came to Buffalo, where he has practiced ever since.
For four years Mr. Becker was one of the assistant district attorneys of Erie county, under District At- torney E. W. Hatch, now a justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Becker was nominated for the office of city attorney in 1883, and came within two hundred votes of an election. In 1894 he was elected a mem- ber of the state constitutional convention, and served on several of the most important committees. As chairman of the committee on legislative organization, which apportioned the state senate and assembly dis- tricts, he took a leading part in embodying in the constitution provisions to prevent political gerry- mandering. He was also a member of the judiciary committee and of the committee on cities, and ren- dered efficient aid both in committee and on the
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floor of the convention in securing the adoption and of the New York State Bar Association in 1894 : has passage of the important amendments that were practiced law in Buffalo since 1877. ratified by the people.
In the field of municipal reform Mr. Becker has been foremost among the citizens of Buffalo. He served with Messrs. Milburn, Wilcox, Clinton, Graves, and others as a member of the Buffalo Citi- zens' Association, which succeeded in obtaining from the legislature in 1892, after several years of earnest effort, a new charter for the city. Largely through the efforts of the same gentlemen there followed, three years later, the passage of the jury-reform bill for Erie county -- a measure which daily proves the wisdom of its promoters, and which is of vast benefit to the cause of justice. Mr. Becker was one of the organizers of the Buffalo Law School, in which he has lectured since 1886 on criminal law and medical jurisprudence.
The esteem in which Mr. Becker is held by his professional brethren is evi- denced in their selection of him, for four years as chairman of the executive com- mittee, and for one year as president, of the State Bar Association of New York. Not only as a practitioner, however, is he regarded highly ; for he has also gained a reputation in the ranks of law writers. In collaboration with Professor R. A. Witthaus, and other medico-legal special- ists, Mr. Becker has written a valuable work, in four volumes, on " Medical Jur- isprudence, Forensic Medicine, and Tox- icology." His law practice is large and growing, and he has appeared before all the courts of this state during the last decade in many important civil and crim- inal cases. He is a member of one of the leading law firms in Buffalo, of which Comptroller James A. Roberts is the senior partner.
Mr. Becker is prominent in social life, and is a member of various fraternal so- cieties, Masonic lodges, and of the Buffalo Club. He is a Presbyterian in religion and a Republican in politics.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Tracy Chatfield Becker was born at Cohoes, N. Y., February 14, 1855 ; grad- uated from Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1874, and from Albany Law School in 1876 ; was admitted to the bar at Bingham- ton, N. Y., in Mar, 1876 ; married Minnie A. Le Roy of Cohoes December 27, 1876 : was 2d assistant dis- trict attorney of Erie county, 1881-85 ; was president
Charles ff. Bishop owes his success in life to close attention to business, zeal and activity in car- ing for all matters entrusted to him, and an honesty and a singleness of purpose from which nothing could entice him. Firmness, shrewdness, boldness, and the strictest integrity are parts of his character. He has never been known to fail in the discharge of the manifold duties that have devolved upon him as a business man, as mayor of the city of Buffalo for five years, or as a representative Mason, to whom the fraternity often looks for assistance and guidance.
When only thirteen years old, young Bishop sought and obtained employment in a retail grocery.
CHARLES F. BISHOP
This was the humble beginning of a business life that has continued to the present time with an ever increasing and broadening success. For many years Mr. Bishop has been a leading wholesale dealer in
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tea, coffee, and spices, having established himself in that business in 1869. He is interested in various other business enterprises, is a director of the People's Bank, and a trustee of the Western Savings Bank.
Mr. Bishop pursued the quiet tenor of his way as a business man, making friends steadily and hold- ing them firmly, with no thought or ambition for public life, until 1887, when the Democratic party insisted on making him its candidate for county treasurer. The contest was unusually close, and when the official count was made Mr. Bishop was declared defeated by forty-one votes. Some of his friends strongly urged him to contest the election ; but he declined to do this, having no desire for an office so obtained. This forbearance increased his popularity greatly, and, together with the strength he had shown in the contest, made him his party's candidate for mayor of Buffalo in 1889. He was elected by a very large majority, and two years later was re-elected, serving.altogether five years as the chief magistrate of Buffalo. To the discharge of the many vexatious duties of that trying position he applied plain, business methods, and gave the city one of the most efficient administrations it had ever known. His conscientious devotion to duty was modest withal, and he brought about many reforms and prevented many abuses of which the public learned only incidentally. His idea of what a mayor ought to be was aptly shown in an after-dinner ad- dress made at a banquet given to Grover Cleveland at the Iroquois hotel on May 11, 1891, when he said that the mayor should be a "handy man." That was exactly what Mayor Bishop proved himself to be for the taxpayers. Never for a moment did he swerve from what seemed to him the right course : and to his credit it may be added that what seemed right to him seemed right to the majority of his fellow-citizens as well.
Mr. Bishop is a Mason of high standing and great popularity. He is a Knight Templar, and holds the 32d degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He has been Master of Concordia Lodge and Emi- nent Commander of Lake Erie Commandery, No. 20, Knights Templars. He was president of the board of trustees of the Masonic Hall Association for five years, and in that capacity won the highest praise, formally expressed, of his associates. For four years he was District Deputy Grand Master for the 25th Masonic district, and as such had the honor of laying the corner stone of the magnificent temple that is owned by the fraternity in Buffalo. He is first vice president of the Masonic Life Association of Western New York, and has been treasurer of Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, ever since its institution.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Charles Fred- erick Bishop was born at Williamsville, N. Y., Octo- ber 14, 1844 : moved to Buffalo in his boyhood ; at- tended the public schools until he was thirteen years old ; married Kate Moran of Buffalo August 6, 1865 ; was elected mayor of Buffalo in 1889, and re-elected in 1891, serving five years altogether ; has conducted a wholesale business in tea, coffee, and spices since 1869.
Wilson S. BBissell is one of the group of public nien who have made Buffalo famous in the political annals of the country. Four of the num- ber, Presidents Fillmore and Cleveland and Messrs. Hall and Bissell, have been lawyers, and by a unique coincidence have occupied the same law office. Few cities have sent so many men to fill the highest posi- tions in state and nation as the city of Buffalo. That the history of the country has been profoundly influenced by these men is not an unwarranted state- ment growing out of local pride.
Mr. Bissell is a native New Yorker, and his home has been in Buffalo since he was five years old, when his parents removed thither from New London, Oneida county. He had, therefore, the advantages of an education in the public schools of the city ; and in his sixteenth year he was sent to New Haven, Conn., to prepare for college in the famous Hopkins Grannar School. He entered Yale College in 1865, and graduated with the class of 1869. Re- turning to Buffalo, he began the study of law in the office of Laning, Cleveland & Folsom, and was admitted to practice two years later.
As a lawyer his career has been marked by close attention to work, faithfulness to clients, increasing practice, and steady advancement in the respect and esteem of his brethren at the bar. The office of the counselor has been to him far more congenial than the contentious life of the advocate ; and as an office lawyer he holds a high rank both because of his wide knowledge of his profession, and especially because of excellent business judgment. which has drawn to him a large corporation practice. The law is, after all, like any branch of science - a few broad princi- ples and a great deal of common sense.
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