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 24
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Along this line of commercial activity Mr. Mayer has expended effort and capital in recent years. He has organized and successfully managed syndicates, which have purchased large sections of land around Buffalo, improved it, and put it upon the market. The transportation problem has also received attention from him, for nothing is more essential to the development of suburban property than easy and cheap means of access. Therefore Mr. Mayer i- interested in street railroads, and was a promoter of the Buffalo Traction Company, whose vigorous fight, in 1895-96, to secure a franchise in Buffalo, is a matter of local history.
Mr. Mayer was born in Baden, Germany, but came to the United States before he had attained!
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his majority. He received a thorough elementary alucation, and graduated in 1866 from the Freiburg gymnasium, an institution of the same relative rank as the American high school or academy.
Mr. Mayer settled in Buffalo in 1868, and for many years was engaged there in the business of im- porting diamonds. He was associated with Louis Weill from 1872 until 1876, when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Mayer continued in the business until 1 ×91, and built up one of the largest and most impor- tant establishments of the kind in the country outside of New York city. He made trips to Holland twice each year, purchasing there unset stones in large quantities. The manifest destiny, however, of the Queen City impressed itself upon Mr. Mayer, and his attention was gradually turned in the direction of real estate. In this field of enterprise his operations have been on a large scale, and his sagacity, persever- ance, and tact have enabled him to con- duct to favorable results the many. im- portant projects in which he has figured.
In politics Mr. Mayer is a Democrat, and is always ardent in the support of his party ; but he has uniformly declined to accept nominations for elective offices. He accepted, however, in 1895, an ap- pwointment from the mayor of Buffalo as a civil-service commissioner. He is presi- dent of the Temple Beth Zion, the lead- ing Jewish congregation in Buffalo ; and is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Ellicott and Liberal clubs. He is a life member of the German Young Men's Association, a member of the council of the Charity Organization Society, and actively interested in the free kinder- gartens and many kindred organizations. lle has been an extensive traveler, having been all over the United States, and visited many European countries.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Joseph B. Mayer was born at Baden, Germany, January 4, 1849 ; graduated from the high school of Freiburg, Germany, !! 1866 ; came to the United States 1868, and began business as a diamond emporter in Buffalo ; married Belle Falck of Buffalo July 15, 1874; has been maged in the real-estate business in Buffalo since 1891.
Willis Do. Meads is a prominent member of the Erie-county bar ; but he is equally well known for his interest in all matters pertaining to the public
good. He is a "down-Easter " by birth, and his early education was acquired in the schools of his native town. He prepared for college at Limerick Academy and Nichols Latin School, entered Bow- doin College at Brunswick, Me., in 1866, and graduated therefrom in 1870 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. Three years later he was honored with the Master of Arts degree by his alma mater. While in college he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fra- ternity, and upon graduation was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. Mr. Meads has a studious nature, and he naturally turned his talents to teaching. He went to Buffalo soon after he left college, and for a period of ten years was principal of one of the public schools there. Mr. Meads studied law while teaching, and in 1880 he was admitted to the bar, and resigned his position in the
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WILLIS IL. MEADS
public schools. Soon afterward he became the junior member of the law firm of Kennedy, Roberts & Meads, which was dissolved in 1881. For about four years after this he practiced law alone, and then
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4
associated himself with George T. Quinby under the firm name of Quinby & Meads. Later the firm was changed to Quinby, Meads & Rebadow, and so con- tinued until its dissolution in 1893.
Aside from his connection with the legal profes- sion, Mr. Meads has associated himself with many of
HERBERT MICKLE
the well-known institutions of Buffalo, and is promi- nent in fraternal and club circles. He .is a member of the Queen City Lodge, F. & A. M., and of the Adytum Chapter, R. A. M. He is a prominent member of the University, Buffalo, and Acacia clubs, and is actively interested in the Buffalo Historical Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Mr. Meads has only once been a candidate for political honors. He had always been interested in the cause of education, and especially in the advance- ment of the public schools, and in 1881 he received the Republican nomination for superintendent of education for the city of Buffalo. How well he ran may be seen in the fact that while Grover Cleveland
was elected mayor of the city at this time by a Democratic majority of 3,700, Mr. Meads was de- feated by fewer than 150 votes.
The reputation for honesty and ability that Mr. Meads had gained during his long and successful career in the practice of law in Buffalo brought him, in 1895, an important appointment The jury system of Erie county was then in a very unsatisfactory condition, and a law had been passed to correct the evil. This law vested the appointing power in the justices of the Supreme Court residing in the county, and in the county judge ; and by them Mr. Meads was appointed commissioner of jurors. The office is a very important one, and Mr. Meads was selected from a large number of candi- dates to fill the position. Since his appointment he has given his whole energy and ability to the task before him, and has brought the once-distrusted jury system of Erie county to a high standard.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Willis Howard Meads was born at South Limington, Me., February 22, 1846 : attended Limerick ( Me. ) Academy and Nichols Latin School, Lewiston, Me., and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1870 ; was principal of Public School No. 13. Buffalo, 1870-80 ; married Martha Rose of Buffalo December 24, 1872, and Louise Collingnon of Buffalo January 6, 1880 : was admitted to the bar at Buffalo in 1880 ; was Republican candidate for super. intendent of education of Buffalo, 1881; was appointed commissioner of jurors for Erie county in 1895.
herbert Mickle, though still a young man, has attained an enviable position among the medical fraternity of Buffalo, and has established a reputation for learning and skill that insures to him a distinguished career in the years to come. He is a member of a family well known in literary and scich tific circles in Canada, and inherits a taste for poetry from his ancestor, William Julius Mickle, who flourished as a Scottish poet, 1735-88, and who i- best known by his translation of Camoens's Lusia.l.
Born at Guelph, in the province of Ontario, Dr. Mickle received a thorough collegiate and medical education to fit him for his chosen profession. 11 graduated from Upper Canada College, Toronto, at the unusually early age of sixteen, and at once entered Trinity Medical School in the same city. In 1881
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he received the degree of Bachelor of Medicine from Trinity College, Toronto ; and the same year went to England, and entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, in London, where he pursued addi- tional studies for two years. At the end of that time he was made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of London, and received the legree of Doctor of Medicine from Trinity College, l'oronto.
After this long and thorough course of preparation, combining the advantages of the old world and the new, Dr. Mickle returned to America, in 1883, and established himself in Buffalo. Although he had de- voted so much time to his medical studies, he had warcely passed his majority when he began his pro- fessional career in Buffalo. He was at once ap- pointed house surgeon to the Emergency Hospital, and demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of Niagara Univer- sity. Two years later he was made lecturer on pathology in the same institu- tion, then professor of anatomy, and finally professor of surgery ; and this position he still fills. Of hospital prac- tive, so valuable to a physician, Dr. Mickle has always had a large share. He is at present attending surgeon to the Hospital of the Sisters of Charity, St. Francis Hospital, the Emergency Hos- pital, and the Church Home, and consult- mg surgeon to the Buffalo Women's Hospital.
His duties in connection with these various institutions, together with his private practice and his lectures at the university, would seem more than enough to occupy the time of one man ; but Dr. Mickle has also given some attention to literature in connection with his profes- sion, and he was at one time assistant alitor of the Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal.
Dr. Mickle finds healthful relaxation from the wear and tear of professional life in his interest in athletic sports of different kinds. He has been an active member of the Buffalo Yacht Club, the Buffalo Cricket Club, and the Buffalo Athletic Club. He is also a member of Iliram Lodge, No. 105, Free and Accepted Masons, and attends the First Presbyterian Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Herbert Mickle was born at Guelph, Ontario, April 30, 1861;
graduated from Upper Canada College, Toronto, in 1877, and from Trinity Medical School, Toronto, in 1881 ; married Susette L. Ross of Brooklyn July 27, 1892 : has practiced medicine in Buffalo since 1888 ; has been professor of surgery in the medical department of Niagara University since 1891.
Hocibert Moot ranks with the foremost of Buffalo lawyers. A studious, painstaking, conscien- tious man, he has won his way by his own efforts, based upon untiring energy and a strong moral purpose. He is a man whom his fellows respect, because they believe that he strives to be right and to do right. Though he has never sought public office, he has been prominent in politics, and has been a lifelong Republican. He loves his country first, however, and his party afterward. He deems
ADELBERT MOOT
it the citizen's duty to keep his party clean if he can, and if he cannot, to punish it for its sins, rather than have his fellow-citizens suffer by its mis- takes or its erimes. Acting on these high principles,
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he is naturally a reformer. The Civil Service Reform Association holds him among its most active and earnest members. When the Good Government Club movement in this state began, he was among the first to identify himself with it. The agitation for sound money found in him a ready and an eager advocate. When the election frauds of 1892 were brought home to the people, and a citizens' associa- tion was formed to prosecute the malefactors, Mr. Moot was retained at once as one of the principal lawyers for the association. He was thus actively engaged at that time in the work of purification of the city.
Mr. Moot was a country boy, born among the hills of famous Allegany county. When he had exhausted the resources of the schools in his neigh- borhood, he followed the usual course of country boys by going to the nearest village school, which in this case was at Belmont. Afterward he attended the academy at Nunda, and then the State Normal School at Geneseo. Thence he went to the Albany Law School, where he took his degree. He was admitted to the bar on his twenty-second birthday.
He began practice a few months later in partner- ship with George M. Osgoodby at Nunda. Two years thereafter the firm moved to Buffalo, and Mr. Moot thus plunged into the struggle of city practice much earlier than do most country-bred lawyers. Lacking the advantage of an extensive acquaintance, he made up for this drawback by exceptional ability and a disposition to work hard. The Nunda firm of Osgoodby & Moot became, in Buffalo, Osgoodby, Titus & Moot, by the accession of Judge Titns. Three years later Mr. Moot withdrew to enter the firm of Lewis, Moot & Lewis, with which he remained twelve years. During this period was achieved the substantial success that won for him his high place at the Buffalo bar. In 1893 he entered his present firm, known as Sprague, Moot, Sprague & Brownell. He has had charge of many important cases in the courts of Erie county, and his practice, it need hardly be added, has assumed large proportions. He is a member of the American Bar Association and of the New York State Bar Association, and is also connected with the law department of the University of Buffalo.
Mr. Moot has found time for extensive reading and study, outside his profession, in the general field of literature, science, and history. As an aid to these pursuits, he has joined the Thursday Club, the Liberal Club, the Buffalo Historical Society, and the Society of Natural Sciences. His only social club is the Saturn. He belongs to the Church of Our Father ( Unitarian).
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Adelbert Moot was born at Allen, Allegany county, N. Y., Novem- ber 22, 1854; was educated in public schools and the Albany Law School; was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1876 ; practiced law at Nunda, N. Y., 1877-79; married Carrie A. Van Ness of Cuba, N. Y., July 22, 1882 ; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1879.
William f. Orcutt was a distinguished mem- ber of the Middlesex-county bar in Massachusetts be- fore he moved to Buffalo, and became a citizen of the Empire State. In his new home Mr. Orcutt has already won a high place in the ranks of his profes- sion, and among the influential factors of the city's intellectual and social life. Mr. Orcutt is a Boston- ian by birth, and had the benefit of a thorough train - ing in the public schools of his native city, and of the neighboring city of Cambridge. Educated un- der the very eaves of America's greatest university, it was quite natural that he should enter Harvard Col- lege. His course there was most creditable, and he took rank with the best scholars in his class, gradu- ating eighth in a class of 108. This high stand made him eligible for membership in the Phi Beta Kappa society, composed of the brainiest men of all the leading colleges of the country. Mr. Orcutt was prominent also in athletics, and is a fine illustration of the fact that a man can attain to high scholarship, and yet participate in the athletic sports of his college.
After completing his classical course, Mr. Orcutt entered the law school of the university, and at the end of two years received the degree of LL. B. He entered at once upon a twenty months' clerkship in the office of Brooks & Ball of Boston. In 1875 he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar, and in that year began to practice for himself in Boston. lle was there engaged in the duties of his profession con- tinuously until 1882, when he was appointed by Governor Long judge of the District Court in the county of Middlesex. This was a life position, and as the court was located in Cambridge, the shire city of that county, Mr. Orcutt's duties were performed there, until he resigned his office and moved to Buffalo.
Mr. Orcutt took up his residence in the Queen City under most favorable auspices. He became a member of the law firm of Roberts, Alexander, Messer & Orcutt, now changed to Roberts, Becker, Ashley, Messer & Oreutt, one of the largest legal firms in western New York. In the comparatively short time that he has lived in Buffalo, Mr. Orcutt has impressed the bar and the community as a man of
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wide intelligence, a clear and deep thinker, endowed in an exceptional degree with hard sense, deliberate judgment, and absolute integrity. To these sterling qualities he adds a dignified presence and courtly manners. In public affairs Mr. Oreutt has been less conspicuous in Buffalo than he was in Massachusetts, and has confined himself closely to his law practice, doubtless from an inherent modesty and dislike to obtrude himself in the affairs of a somewhat strange city ; but Buffalo has need for the very services which he is most competent to render, and which in Cambridge he did render.
While a resident of Cambridge, Mr. Oreutt gave twelve years of efficient and unrewarded service to the public schools of that city. The cause of education has been his special study outside the law, and he has devoted time, in a manner worthy of the highest praise, to the betterment of the system. It is such service that really tests a man's loyalty to American institutions. His practical sense has been displayed in providing manual training schools, and in shortening the time and simplifying the courses of study in preparatory schools so as to give to pupils who can spend but a few years in school the greatest variety of training compatible with sound principles of instruction. Mr. Orcutt has written frequently on educational topics, and is master of a logical, forceful style. He is a member of the Buffalo and Ellicott clubs, and is an attendant at the Delaware Avenne Baptist Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- William Hunter Orcutt was born at Boston, Mass., November 15, 1847; was educated in the public schools of Boston and Cambridge, and graduated from Harvard College in 1869 ; studied law at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1875; practiced law in Boston, 1815-S2; was appointed judge of the District Court in Middlesex county in 1883 ; married Leafie Sloan of Buffalo June 4, 1889 ; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1889.
Maurice JS. Watch has made applied science the study of a lifetime, and has become a recognized authority on the subject of metallurgy. He is a son of the Pine Tree State, and has enjoyed the double advantage of a broad education in the East and a large practical experience in the West. After
completing a public-school training at Lowell, in a state famous for its educational system, he pursued a course in mining and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has sent out many of the scientific leaders of the day. He graduated thence in 1872 with the degree of Bachelor of Sciences.
WILLIAM II. ORCUTT
Mr. Patch chose as a field for his talents and attainments the remote western regions containing the mines for whose exploitation he had equipped himself. Accordingly, the very year of his gradua- tion found him settled at Georgetown, Col., carrying on his profession as a mining engineer. For two years he remained there, surveying mining properties and working in the various departments of his call- ing. He then accepted an offer from the Detroit & Lake Superior Copper Smelting Co., and became the chemist of the company at Houghton, Mich. While in this position Mr. Patch was able to follow a line of original research which had always been attractive to him, and which he has pursued untiringly, until
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he is now among the foremost copper metallurgists in the country. During these same years he was also establishing a wide reputation as a mine sur- veyor, chemist, and practical operator in mining and smelting, and in all the branches of his profession. Consequently, when the well-known Calumet &
MAURICE B. PATCH
Hecla Mining Co. was preparing to install a smelting plant at Lake Linden, Mich., they sought Mr. Patch as designer and superintendent of the work. He accepted the position, moved to Lake Linden, and remained there for five years, completing this con- tract and carrying on work in his special line. At the end of this time he received a flattering offer from the same company to undertake similar work for them at Buffalo. He went to that city in Janu- ary, 1891, and became superintendent of the com- pany's works there ; and he still holds this position.
In connection with his special branch of science, Mr. Patch has done much original work, and has made many discoveries of great practical utility ;
but his work has been solely in the interest of the corporations by which he has been employed, and which naturally desire to keep secret the processes that they have perfected. For this reason Mr. Patch has never been able to write anything for publication, and the general public has not profited, except indirectly, by his research.
Mr. Patch has been a prime mover in several successful financial undertakings. While residing in Michigan he helped to organize two banks, the First National at Lake Linden and the Superior Savings Bank at Hancock, and was a director in both until he left the state. He is now a director of the Niagara Bank of Buffalo, and is interested in several mining com- panies. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and of the Engineers' Society of Western New York. He is a member and vestryman of St. John's Episcopal Church, Buffalo.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Maurice Byron Patch was born at Otis- field, Me., June 8, 1852 ; was educated in the public schools of Lowell, Mass., and graduated from the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology in 1872; was em- ployed as a mining engineer in Colorado, 1872-74 ; married Emily Isabella White of Lowell July 6, 1875 ; was chemist of the Detroit & Lake Superior Copper Smelting Co., 1874-86, and superintendent of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co.'s works at Lake Linden, Mich., 1886-90 ; has been superintendent of the Buffalo Smelting Works of the same company since 1801.
3obn Tu. Robinson, president of the Robinson Bros. Lumber Co. of North Tonawanda, N. Y., is one of the solid, conservative business men whose life shows the rewards that may be obtained from prudence, close attention to business, and strict integrity. The Tonawandas constitute one of the chief centers of the lumber trade in the United States. The fact is due to the efforts of such men as Mr. Robinson, who have had the foresight and courage to invest their capital in the development of this important business at the foot of the lakes.
Mr. Robinson has been the architect of his own fortunes. At the age of fourteen he was left to care for himself. His education was therefore necessarily limited to such as could be obtained at the common schools, supplemented by attendance at night schools
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and by careful reading. He first went to Buffalo when about seventeen years old, remaining there and thereabouts for a few years. His father had been engaged in the lumber business, and it was natural for the son to concern himself with the same industry. Then he went to Detroit, and obtained employment with one of the large lumber manufacturers there. By his fidelity, intelligence, and determination to master the business, he soon obtained the best posi- tion at the disposal of his employers.
But he was not satisfied to remain working for others. Having acquired a thorough knowledge of the calling and a moderate capital, he became inter- ested with his brothers in the wholesale lumber busi- ness in Detroit. The concern began operations in a small way, but was at once successful and grew steadily. Having concluded that their business could be carried on more advantageously at North Tonawanda, the company moved thither in the latter part of 1888. One of Mr. Robinson's brothers retired from the firmn before the removal of the busi- ness from Detroit. The other died June 30, 1889. Mr. Robinson soon after- ward purchased the interest held by his brother, and for the last few years has been practically the sole owner of the business. In 1891 he brought his family to Buffalo, and has maintained his resi- dence there since. He is now known as an upright citizen, and a firm and enthu- siastic believer in a greater Buffalo.
As soon as he went to Tonawanda Mr. Robinson began to take a prominent part in promoting the welfare of the place, and especially of the trade in which he was engaged. He has frequently been called upon to visit both the national and state capitals in the interest of the Twin Cities. He has been twice elected president of the Tonawanda Lumber- man's Association, serving in that capac- ity during the great strikes of 1892 and 1893, and conducting the affairs of the association with the sagacity and firmness which finally resulted in an amicable adjustment of all disputed matters. He has served as vice president of the Lum- lær Exchange Bank, North Tonawanda, for several years, and has also been twice elected president of the National Association of Wholesale Lumber Dealers.
In private life Mr. Robinson is of quiet, unassum- ing manners, and is approachable by both old and
young. He is fond of outdoor sports, and is an expert angler. He is an official member of the Delaware Avenue Methodist Church, and takes great interest in charitable and religious work. He was one of the founders and supporters of the Buffalo Ophthalmic Hospital. He is a member of the Buf- falo, Acacia, and Liberal clubs, and the Buffalo Historical Society. He is also a Knight Templar, a 32d degree Mason, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a Republican, and takes pride in attending the primaries, believing that this duty is as important as voting, and should be dis- charged by every good citizen. He has never aspired to political office.
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