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 21
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While taking such interest in public Mitters as is the duty of all good citizens, Mr. Barnum has never sought · or held political office. In his younger was, however, he took a more active part in affairs than he has taken of late. At one time in the early astory of the city the rivalry between the different 'te companies became so great that more attention
was given by their members to fighting each other than to fighting fires. The situation became so scan- dalous at last that the city council was obliged to disband the companies and to call for volunteers to fill their places. Mr. Barnum was one of the volun- teers, and ran to more than one fire. Before his removal to Buffalo he was a member of the Utica fire department. He was also a lieutenant in the Utica Citizens' Corps, and is now an honorary mem- ber of that organization.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Stephen Os- borne Barmon was born at Utica, N. Y., January 14, 1816 ; was educated in the public schools ; began busi- ness in Utica in partnership with his father in 1838 : married Elisabeth Chatfield of Utica May 18, 1841 ; has carried on a general notion business in Buffalo since 1845.
STEPHEN O. BARNUM
Lewis 3. Bennett has built for himself an enduring monument in Buffalo in the beautiful resi- dence district known as Central Park, of which he is the founder. This is a part of the city that has not
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been left to grow up at haphazard. It was conceived and laid out on a broad plan, with an eye mainly to the future. Instead of waiting, as has usually been the case elsewhere, for the houses to be built and the residents to come and determine the character of the section, Mr. Bennett planned Central Park from the
LEWIS J. BENNETT
first as a high-class residence district. Broad macadam streets were laid out, sewer, water, and gas mains constructed, and wide, deep lots platted, before any building was permitted. Then, whenever a lot was sold, a minimum cost was fixed of the house to be placed on it. As a consequence, Central Park con- tains some of the finest, most modern houses in Buffalo, and its general topographical features make it one of the acknowledged beauty spots of the city. Only a man with strong faith in the future of Buf- falo, sound business judgment, and a public spirit that refused to yield one iota of a general plan for the sake of temporary advantage, could have car- ried to a successful completion such an enterprise.
The laying out of the park took four years, and re- quired for improvements alone an expenditure of nearly $300,000.
Like many other prominent citizens of Buffalo, Mr. Bennett is not a native of the city. He was a country boy, having been born in Schenectady county, New York. His education wa- limited to attendance at the district school, and when its meager facilities had been outgrown, at the larger village school of Fort Plain, N. Y. At the age of eighteen Mr. Bennett entered business. buying a partnership in the grocery firm of Chapman, Peek & Co., at Fulton- ville, N. Y. At first he was only the "Co."; but three years later Mr. Peek withdrew, and the firm name became Chapman & Bennett. In two years more Mr. Bennett had become the senior partner, the firm embracing Wm. R. Chapman, Wm. W. Kline, and Lewis J. Bennett ; and the style was changed to L. J. Bennett & Co. So it remained until 1866, when Mr. Bennett moved to Buffalo. While a resident of Fulton- ville, in 1861, Mr. Bennett was appointed collector of canal tolls, and held the position for two years. In 1865 he was elected supervisor for the town of Glen, in which the village of Fultonville is located. His good standing with his townspeople is evidenced by the fact that, though he was a Republican, he received a majority of 184 votes in a town in which the ordinary Democratic majority was 60.
Soon after moving to Buffalo Mr. Bennett established a general contracting business, in partnership with Andrew Spalding and John Hand. This was continued for five years. In 1877 he organized the Buffalo Cement Co., Limited. He was elected the first president of the company, and still holds the position.
Mr. Bennett is a Universalist in religion and a prominent Mason. He holds membership in the following orders : Fultonville Lodge, No. 531, F. & A. M. ; Johnstown Chapter, No. 71, R. A. M .: and Apollo Commandery, No. 15, K. T., at Troy. He was a charter member of the Fultonville Lodge, and was its first treasurer. Mr. Bennett's long and active business career has been varied by only one notable vacation, which was taken in 1894-95, when he made a tour of the world. While on this trip he
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sent home frequent letters, which were published for the benefit of his friends.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Lewis Jack- son Bennett was born at Duanesburg, N. Y., July 7, 1833 ; was educated in the public schools ; conducted a general store in Fultonville, N. Y., 1851-66 ; married Mary Francelia Spalding of Johnstown, N. Y., Oc- tober 6, 1857 ; moved to Buffalo in 1866, and engaged in the business of a contractor ; organized the Buffalo Cement Co. in 1877, and has been president thereof ever since.
Jobn Blocher is a worthy representative of the inen, more numerous in this country than elsewhere, who are the architects of their own fortunes ; who rise by their own exertions from obscurity to dis- tinction, and attain success in spite of adverse circumstances.
Mr. Blocher's ancestors belong to the class known as the " Pennsylvania Dutch," who were accustomed to the toil of the fields, and disciplined in the school of economy and frugality. Mr. Blocher's father settled on a farm in Cayuga county, New York, in 1823. In addition to farming he furnished supplies to the contractors engaged in building the Erie canal. This business brought him into western New York ; and he was so favorably impressed with the country that he bought a farm at Clarence in Erie county. This was the year after John Blocher's birth. As most of the farm was heavily timbered, young Blocher was carly enlisted in the work of clearing the forest. His life was like that of the average farmer's boy, consisting of in- cessant labor in summer followed by three months' schooling in winter. The school was a log house with a big open fireplace at one end, in which huge logs from the surrounding forest were burned. Mr. Blocher was but ten years old when his father died, leaving him the youngest of a family of three children. Life now lecame more difficult for the afflicted family, but continual toil and a spirit of self-reliance carried them through. When there was no work at home John was hired out to neighboring farmers, ind the scanty wages were carefully saved and laid by as a nest egg for the future.
At twelve years of age John's school education ended, and he was apprenticed to the tailoring trade.
In six years he had a shop of his own. This he ultimately turned into a ready-made clothing house, to which in time he added a stock of dry goods, groceries, and the other accessories of a country store. Mr. Blocher had thus established hinself as a prosperous merchant when the war broke out. It was hard to leave his business, but patriotism de- manded the sacrifice, and he enlisted as a volunteer soldier in the 74th New York regiment. After a year's active service in the field he was honorably discharged, and sent home on account of impaired health. He was now obliged to pursue an outdoor occupation, and for a year he engaged in farming and the lumber business. In this way he regained suffi- cient health to warrant his resuming a sedentary occupation. He accordingly moved to Buffalo, and
JOHN BLOCHER
began in a small way the manufacture of boots and shoes, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. Neff. Their capital was small, and patrons were yet to be found ; but untiring industry, dauntless pluck,
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and strict integrity soon brought the firm a fair measure of prosperity. Two years later Mr. Blocher opened a factory of his own in the Rumsey block on Exchange street. Here his business steadily grew, until it required several large shops and two hundred operatives. A noteworthy fact in Mr. Blocher's career as an employer, creditable alike to head and heart, is that he has never had a serious disagree- ment with his employees. For many years he had for a partner his only son, whose early death was a terrible blow to his parents. Together they had worked harmoniously to build up an extensive business, and had accumulated a comfort- able fortune.
Since his son's death Mr. Blocher has retired from active business, and now occupies himself chiefly with his property at Williamsville, where he has a country home, and has laid out pleasure grounds for the public. He is president of the Buffalo & Wil- liamsville electric railroad, and deals to some extent in real estate and loans. His leisure is spent at his country home and among his books. Mr. Blocher is a well-informed and widely read man, history being his favorite study. Those who know him intimately are aware that he possesses talents which, if cultivated at the proper time, would have dis- tinguished him. He has the inventive faculty, and has taken out many patents. He is a man of original ideas. The mausoleum that he erected in Forest Lawn cemetery in memory of his son embodies his
own idea. Nay, he fashioned the models with his
own hands. He had tried many artists, but all failed either to grasp his idea or to carry it out successfully. But Mr. Blocher knew what he wanted, and was determined to have it. Reject- ing the ideal creations of the artists, one of which represented Mr. Blocher as a togaed Roman, he sought to sculpture the real man. Without previous training in art, he worked for months over his models, and at last produced clay figures so perfect in design that the marble workers of Italy were astonished by the skill displayed. Out of purest Carrara marble, famed from classical ages, the forms of Mr. Blocher, his wife, and son were hewn just as they existed in life, and exactly as Mr. Blocher desired. He wished to construct a memorial unique in conception, permanent in its quality, and calcu- lated to convey to remote ages a true representation of men and women as they appear to-day, in their proper stature. dress, and lineaments. In this design he has admirably succeeded.
Mr. Blocher is a Republican in politics, but always votes for the best man. In 1896 he celebrated the fiftieth year of his long and happy wedded life. He
is a member of the Delaware Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, and in philanthropic work is a generous and cheerful giver.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-John Bloche, was born at Scipio, N. Y., July 22, 1825 ; was edu- cated in district schools ; conducted a general store at Williamsville, N. Y., 1851-61 ; married Elizabeth Neff of Williamsville April 20, 1846 ; enlisted in the Union army in 1861, and served one year ; estab- lished a boot and shoe factory in Buffalo in 1863, and has been connected with that industry since.
Patrick Cronin has achieved distinction, not only as a preacher and a theologian, but also as an orator, an essayist, a professor, and an editor. Few men in Buffalo are better known or more popular, at home and abroad.
Father Cronin is a native of Ireland, and possesses in large measure the warm-hearted generosity and readiness to help those in need which are character istic of his countrymen. He was born in Limerick county, near the banks of the Shannon, Ireland's most famous river ; and his early education was received in the schools of Adare, in his native county. When he was fourteen years old, he came to the United States with his father, his mother having died years before. His college training was received at St. Louis University, and from there he went to St. Vincent's College, at Cape Girardeau, Mo., to pre- pare for the ministry. He was ordained to the priesthood in December, 1862, by Archbishop Ken- rick, in the cathedral at St. Louis, and served for the next eight years under his episcopal jurisdiction, first as assistant in the Church of the Annunciation, St. Louis, then as pastor of a church in Hannibal, Mo., and finally as pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, St. Louis.
In 1870 Father Cronin was called to occupy the chair of Latin and belles-lettres in the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, now Niagara University, at Suspension Bridge, N. Y. His marked literary ability and general culture rendered him well fitted for this position. While there he made his first ven. tuire in journalism, a field in which he was to dis- tinguish himself later. He became editor of the college paper, which was printed in the institution, and known as the Niagara Index.
In October, 1873, Father Cronin went to Buffalo. Bishop Ryan had begun work there five years before as head of the diocese, and Father Cronin became one of his most valued and trusted priests. For nearly a quarter of a century they lived under the same roof, where under the guidance of his bishop Father Cronin found inspiration for his work.
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During all that time Father Cronin has been editor of the Catholic Union and Times, the official organ of the diocese of Buffalo, and in that capacity his literary talents have had full scope. He has also made good use of the opportunities thus afforded to advance the cause of Home Rule for Ireland, so dear to the hearts of patriotic Irishmen the world over. Ile has taken an active part in this agita- tion, and was the first vice president of the Land League in the United States. His services in this connection have won for him the enthusiastic friendship and admiration of his fellow-countrymen broad.
An account of Father Cronin's life would be incomplete that made no men- tion of his work as a poet. Though he has never collected his productions in a volume, he has written and printed many poems that give evidence of decided talent. There is little doubt that, had he been free to devote his time to this pursuit, he would have won lasting fame as a poet. He has also delivered lectures and addresses on many subjects in many places. Perhaps the most famous are the oration at the O'Connell centenary at Detroit, a speech at the Columbian World's Fair, and an address before the New York State Bar Association at Albany. In June, 1891, Father Cronin re- ceived the degree of LL. D. from the Uni- versity of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Patrick Cronin was born at Pallaskenry, Limerick county, Ireland, March 1. 1835 ; come to the United States in 1849 ; was educated at the St. Louis University and at St. Vincent's College, Cape Girardeau, Mo .; was ordained to the priesthood at St. Louis, Mo., in 1862, and was connected with various parishes in that state until 1870 ; was professor in the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, Suspension Bridge, N. Y., 1570-72; has been editor of the " Catholic Union and Times," Buffalo, since 1873.
3obn Cunneen has demonstrated what perse- verance in study and an honorable ambition can accomplish in this country, where a fair field is given to their possessor. Born in Ireland, he came to America when a boy, and, like many others of his nationality, embraced the rich opportunity here afforded to rise in the world by dint of industry and !tlent. He obtained his elementary education in
private schools in Ireland, and after coming to the United States attended for a time the Albion ( N. Y. ) Academy. Having secured all the preliminary train- ing his limited means could afford, he settled down to the study of law, was duly admitted to practice, and at once, in January, 1874, opened an office at
PATRICK CRONIN
Albion. During his term of legal clerkship, and for several years after his admission to the bar, Mr. Cunneen was clerk of the board of supervisors for Orleans county. He also served one term as collector of taxes of Albion. Aside from these positions he has never held any political office, though he was twice nominated by the Democratic party for district attorney. As an evidence of his popularity, it may be remarked that on the second occasion he came within twenty-six votes of an election in a county where the usual Republican majority was over one thousand.
For sixteen years Mr. Cunneen practiced his pro- fession at Albion. His learning, industry, and integrity drew to him a numerous and important
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clientage. He recovered the largest verdict ever won by a lawyer in that county, amounting to nearly 8500,000, in a case tried in the United States Cir- cuit Court for the northern district of New York. His success in jury trials has been exceptional in the record of cases won.
JOHN CUNNEEN
In 1890 Mr. Cunneen sought a wider field for the exercise of his legal talents, and settled in Buffalo. In company with Charles F. Taber, William F. Sheehan, and Edward E. Coatsworth, he formed a law partnership under the firm name of Taber, Sheehan, Cunneen & Coatsworth. Two of his partners were more or less absorbed in public affairs, and a great share of the work devolved upon Mr. Cunneen. In 1894 the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Cunneen became the senior member of the firm of Cunneen & Coatsworth. His well-merited success gained at Albion has followed him to Buffalo, and he has appeared in many of the most important causes in Erie county during the past five years, and is recog- nized as a lawyer of marked ability.
Apart from his chosen profession Mr. Cunneen has displayed a taste and bent for journalism. While at Albion he conducted successfully a weekly paper, and he has on many occasions been a contributor to the press. He has thus been an active factor in two profes- sions, and both have naturally led him into the field of politics. Law and journalism are the most frequented roads to public position and political prominence. Mr. Cunneen has displayed an interest in politics in the best sense of the word. A strong adherent of the Democratic party, he has been active among its leaders on the stump, in his paper, and in conventions, and he is recognized as an honest, astute, and inde- fatigable worker, seeking not his own preferment but the success of his cause. He is a member of the Democratic state committee, and one of the chief men of his party in Buffalo. In social life he is held in high esteem, and is a member of the Buffalo and Ellicott clubs. The duties of an exacting profession, how- ever, have left him little time for pursuits and pastimes not connected in some degree with his life-work - the study and practice of law.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- John Cunneen was born at Enis, Ireland, May 18, 1848 ; came to the United States in 1861, and settled in Albion, N. Y .; was admitted to the bar at Rochester in 1874; married Elisabeth E. Bass of Albion January 26, 1876 ; practiced law in Albion, 1874-90, and has practiced in Buffalo since 1890.
Banson Depew is a genuine Buf- falonian, having been born and educated in the Queen City, and having lived there always. He attended the public schools of Buffalo, and graduated from the high school in 1884. He was president of his class, and was also class orator. Additional evidence of Mr. Depew's popularity is afforded by his election, in the year of his gradua- tion, to the office of vice president of the High School Association, which numbers over two thousand members.
Without resort to either college or law school, Mr. Depew soon after his graduation from the high school entered the law office of Greene, McMillan & Gluck as a student. This firm was one of the foremost at the Erie-county bar, and hardly any office could have been found that was better fitted to train and instruct
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a student in general and corporation law. Mr. Greene, one member of the firm, afterward became leading counsel of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railway ; Mr. Gluck has long lectured on the law of corporations in the Buffalo Law School ; and the firm as a whole is known far and wide for its vigilant and able guardianship of large corpora- tion interests. Thus Mr. Depew had an unusually fine opportunity to become minutely and thoroughly acquainted with railroad and general corporation law. This department of legal science he had determined to make his specialty, and the connection with Greene, McMillan & Gluck was correspondingly valuable to him. He made rapid progress in his legal studies under the favorable conditions noted, and in 1887 he was admitted to the bar at Buffalo. He continued in the office that had served his student purposes so well, and in 1890 his fidelity and ability were rewarded by admission into the firm with which he had so long been associated. The style then became McMillan, Gluck, Pooley & Depew, and the firm continnes to-day as it was then organized. The legal in- terests of some of the largest corporations in the country are committed to this firm - such corporations as the New York C'entral & Hudson River railroad, the West Shore railway, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railway, the Michigan Central railway, the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg railway, the Western Union Telegraph Co., and the Equitable Life Assurance Co. of New York city.
The same earnestness, perseverance, and faithfulness that marked Mr. Depew's carly career at school have been charac- teristic of the man, and have been embodied in his professional work. Al- though still a young man and only recently started on his career, he may confidently be regarded as one of the " coming legal lights of western New York. Two relatives, whose names he bears, were long leaders of the bar in New York state, and in the careers of his . ousin, John Ganson, and of his uncle, Chauncey M. Depew, there is much to encourage and spur him onward in his profession.
Mr. Depew is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church ; of Ancient Landmark Lodge, No. 441, F. & A. M. ; of Adytum Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; of the Sons of the American Revolution ;
and of the Buffalo, Saturn, Liberal, and Ellicott clubs. He was elected a director of the Buffalo Library in 1892 and again in 1895, receiving on each occasion the highest vote of any of the candidates.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Ganson Depew was born at Buffalo March 6, 1866; was educated in the public schools, and graduated from the high school in 1884; studied law in the office of Greene, McMillan & Gluck in Buffalo, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1887 ; became a member of the firm of McMillan, Gluck, Pooley & Depew in 1890 ; married Grace E. Goodyear of Buffalo November 15, 1894.
Samuel G. Dorr comes of a lineage that in- sures to him public spirit and devotion to civic duty.
GANSON DEPEW
The name Dorr is doubtless of German origin, but in the seventeenth century a representative of the family lived in the western part of England, whence Edward Dorr came to Boston somewhere about 1670.
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Dr. Dorr's middle name is that of one of Connecti- cut's oldest families, several members of which held the office of governor. Edmund Dorr, one of Dr. Dorr's ancestors, moved to Connecticut in the early part of the eighteenth century, and there married into the Griswold family. Another of his ancestors
SAMUEL G. DORR
was Captain Matthew Dorr of revolutionary fame, who did heroic service at the battle of. Saratoga, and whose regiment was officially praised by General Gates. A son of Captain Matthew Dorr, named Samuel Griswold, was the American inventor who patented a wheel of knives, which, in connection with the spinning jenny, was destined to revolution- ize the business of cloth manufacture. This son, while introducing his machinery in England, died of poison presumably administered by persons bent on frustrating any improvement that would decrease the number of people employed in cloth manufacturing.
Dr. Dorr, like his father, has been a business man and a physician. He was born at Dansville, N. Y., and received a liberal education at Nunda ( N. Y. )
Academy and at the Albion State Academy in Wis- consin. Upon his graduation from the latter institu- tion he returned to New York state, and ran a flour mill at South Dansville, which he had bought of his father. Not being of age, Mr. Dorr was unable to execute legal papers, and such complications arose that he wound up the business, after having assumed obligations amounting to over 810,000, every penny of which he ultimately paid to his creditors. When the Civil War broke out, and President Lincoln called for 75,000 troops, Mr. Dorr enlisted within forty hours there after. Unfortunately he was prevented from going to the front by an attack of diphtheria, which left him an invalid for a year In 1863 he was appointed by Governor Seymour recruiting agent for half of Livingston county, a position in which he rendered valuable service during the rest of the war.
After the war Mr. Dorr went to the oil regions in Pennsylvania, and engaged in the business of refining oil, in partnership, with Charles Twining, at Oil Creek. The cooperage business soon proving more attractive, they established works for the manufacture of barrels at Water- ford, Penn. Mercantile life, however, was not to Mr. Dorr's taste, and the force of heredity asserted itself. He went to Buffalo, and matriculated in the medical department of the University of Buffalo in 1873, receiving his doctor's degree two years later. Once established in the practice of his profession, Dr. Dorr won quick success, for he possesses in addition to medical knowledge a kindly disposition that is in itself a tonic to the afflicted. During the administrations of mayor> Brush and Cleveland he held the position of police surgeon. No physician is better known or more highly esteemed in the neighborhood in which he lives than Dr. Dorr. He is a member of all the leading medical societies in the state, and for years has been a consulting physician at one of Buffalo's largest hospitals.
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