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 34
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FRANCIS G. WARD
ment. In recognition of his distinguished service, and upon the recommendation of M. Rousseau. councilor of state, who inspected the work, Mr. Ward was made the recipient of a Sèvres vase,
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with a letter of thanks from the French government. In political and social life Mr. Ward is an active factor in Buffalo. He is closely identified with the Republican party, and has been one of its local managers in several campaigns. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution ; and in
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HENRY WEIL.L
the Masonic order he has been Master of Ancient Landmark Lodge, Captain General of Hugh de Payens Commandery, and Lieutenant Commander of Buffalo Consistory.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Francis Grant Ward was born at Jordan, N. Y., March 8, 1856 ; was educated in the United States and France ; was in the employ of the Laflin & Rand Powder Co., at New York and Buffalo, 1873-76, and of the Newe York Central & Hudson River raitroad, 1877-85 ; was employed by the " Cie Universelle Canal Pan- ama," at Aspinwall and elsewhere, 1885-89 ; married Christine Meday at Rutherford, N. J., November 3, 1886 ; was appointed superintendent of the bureau of water of Buffalo in May, 1896.
Denry Ulcill is an excellent representative of the class of citizens concerned in the oft-repeated compliment that the best blood of Europe has gone to make the present development of the United States. Born and educated in a foreign country, he brought to the land of his adoption an appreciation of the importance of industry such as can be felt only by those who have seen the greater poverty of the old world. To this, perhaps, more than to any other one thing, is due the business success he has achieved. He has been a tireless worker, shrewd, methodical, and with a ready talent for grasping opportunities. He has built up a large importing business. besides aiding materially in the develop- ment of Buffalo real estate.
Mr. Weill is about forty-nine years old. His father was a real-estate dealer in the little town of Muttersholtz, Alsace, and Henry was kept steadily at school until he was sixteen years of age. Dur- ing this time he went through the public schools, and obtained the French degree at the college in Schlestadt. He looked forward to a mercantile pursuit, and after leaving college became a clerk in a wholesale dry-goods house in Mulhouse, Alsace. The experience here gained was valuable, especially as he was promoted rapidly, and was thus enabled to learn different branches of the business. When about twenty years old he determined to seek the broader opportunities and better rewards that could be found on this side of the Atlantic. He tried New York for a time, but finding no suitable opening went to Buffalo ; and there his fortune has been made. He engaged first in sell- ing cloth to country tailors, and was reasonably successful, but after a short time became attracted by the jewelry business. It was not the line in which he had experience, but his ready adaptability enabled him quickly to master its details, and by hard work and honest dealing he rapidly built up a prosperous trade. In 1881 he decided to try manufacturing, and went to Chicago for this purpose. He estab- lished there a jewelry factory, the principal product of which was gold rings. After about two years he returned to Buffalo, and established the business of a diamond importer, which he followed up to 1892.
Observing the rapid growth of Buffalo, Mr. Weill was one of the first to realize the possibilities that lay in real-estate operations. He bought a tract of
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land at North Buffalo, developed it, and made it one of the most desirable residence sections of the city. About five years ago he entered the banking business by helping to organize the Metropolitan Bank, of which he has been president since 1893.
Mr. Weill fills an important place socially, and has been of great help in building up several of the popular social organizations of the city. A notable case in point is the Orpheus Society, which he joined when it was founded, having previously been a mem- ber of the Liedertafel. He is also a charter member of the Phoenix Club, and is chairman of the building committee, which now has in hand the work of erect- ing a new clubhouse on Franklin street. He belongs to the Washington Lodge of Masons, and to several other social organizations. He has been a trustee of Temple Beth Zion for twenty-two years, and its president for four years.
Mr. Weill has never held political of- fice. He was elected a member of the executive board of the Orphan Asylum of Western New York at Rochester.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Henry Weill was born at Mittersholts, Alsace, France, December 17, 1847 ; graduated from the college de Schlestadt, Academie de Strasbourg, in 1863 ; emi- grated to the United States in 1867 ; mar- ried Fannie Shire of Buffalo October 16, 1870 ; carried on a wholesale jewelry business in Buffalo, 1868-92 ; has been president of the Metropolitan Bank of Buf- falo since 1893.
George TU. Wheeler exemplifies in his career the value of devotion to an idea : when a mere boy he decided to be a lawyer, and a successful one ; and his plan has become an achievement.
Mr. Wheeler's paternal grandfather was an Episcopal clergyman, for many years in charge of the famous parish of Shrews- bury, N. J., whose historic church has stood for two hundred years, and bears in its walls many bullet holes made at the time of the Revolution. The ancient communion service of the parish was the gift of Queen Anne. The name of Mr. Wheeler's maternal grandfather, Samuel Birdsall, is prominently connected with the progress of Seneca county, New York. He held various public offices, from supervisor to congress- man, and during De Witt Clinton's administration was judge advocate on the governor's staff.
Mr. Wheeler's parents were people of culture, and his early years were spent in an atmosphere of refine- ment well calculated to foster his naturally studious habits. His father, a graduate of Hobart College, was for a time his tutor. The thorough course of instruction mapped out for the young pupil was ended by the father's untimely death. The mother was unable to provide the means for further education, and the boy's ambition for a professional life seemed in danger of being thwarted. Through the influence of friends, and because of his grandfather's service in the Episcopal church, he gained admission to De Veaux College, and received a four years' course there without expense to his widowed mother.
After his graduation the problem of self-support confronted Mr. Wheeler, and the legal profession still seemed far from his grasp. He secured a
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GEORGE W. WHEELER
position with the well-known firm of Sidney Shepard & Co., and later with Pratt & Letchworth, carefully saving as much as possible, to hasten the time when he might begin his law studies. After four years he
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entered the office of Laning & Willett of Buffalo, and three years later, on October 10, 1879, was admitted to the bar at Rochester from the office of Burrows & Viele. On New Year's Day, 1880, he opened an office in Buffalo. Since then numerous important cases have been entrusted to him, and the successful
CHARLES E. WILLIAMS
manner in which he has conducted them has brought him deserved eminence in his profession. In the fall of 1895 he was a candidate for the nomination for county judge on the Republican ticket. His many friends felt that his elevation to the bench would be a fitting tribute to his worth and ability, but he failed to receive the nomination.
Mr. Wheeler is one of the founders of the Thurs- day Club, which is devoted to the study of men and things of a literary character. The club grew out of a reception and banquet given in 1883 to commemo- rate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Washington Irving. The success of the celebration called forth a general desire for the formation of a permanent organization, and the Thursday Club was
the result. In January, 1884, Matthew Arnold lectured under its auspices at Concert Hall, and the proceeds of the lecture were given to the building fund of the Buffalo Library.
Mr. Wheeler is a Past Master of DeMolay Lodge, No. 498, F. & A. M., and a Past Regent of Fillmore Council, No. 823, R. A. He is an Odd Fellow as well. He also holds the hon- ored position of trustee of De Veaux Col- lege, in which he has taken an active interest ever since he was a student there.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- George Welles Wheeler was born at Ni- agara Falls, N. Y., September 1, 1856 ; was educated at De Veaux College ; was admitted to the bar October 10, 1879; married Jennie F. Farrar of Buffalo Oc- tober 17, 1882; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1880.
Charles E. Williams is a Buf- falonian by birth, and has spent his whole business life in that city. He has been one of the fundamental, thorough-going workers who have done so much to make Buffalo a great modern city in all re- spects. His father was a prominent con- tractor, and the subject of this sketch was for many years engaged with him in the building business.
Mr. Williams was educated in the pub- lic schools of Buffalo, and at that well- known private institution, the Heathcote School. After completing his course at the high school, he entered his father's office as bookkeeper, retaining the pos- ition for three years.
Having resolved to obtain a technical education, he went to Germany, and pur- sued a two years' course of study at the celebrated Stuttgart Polytechnic Institute. His work there was devoted, for the most part, to engineering, archi- tecture, and kindred subjects.
Upon his return to this country in 1876, he was taken into partnership by his father, under the firm name of Wm. 1. Williams & Son, general contractors and builders. In 1882, after the dissolution of this firm, he entered into partnership with D. W. Mc- Connell, under the style of Williams & McConnell. Among the big contracts undertaken and success- fully carried out by this firm was the great reservoir at Charlottesville, Va.
Mr. Williams has paid much attention to the important problem of street paving, and he has
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extended his business interests in that direction. He is president of the German Rock Asphalt & Cement Co., Limited, which has laid many miles of smooth asphalt pavement on the streets of Buffalo. He laid the first Medina-blockstone pavement on a concrete luise ever put down on a public thoroughfare. He was the contractor for the construction of the government-breakwater extension at the port of Buffalo in 1884.
On the death of his partner, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Williams organized a new firm, of which he is the senior member -Williams, McNaughton & Bapst. This firm is largely engaged in the paving and general contracting business, and is interested in the grade-crossing changes now going on at what is known as "the Terrace" in the city of Buffalo. This work is extremely important, as it will permit the trains of the Central-Hudson, Lake Shore, Michigan Central, and other rail- roads to enter the Union Station at Buffalo without crossing at grade several streets whose congested traffic is now so endangered.
Mr. Williams is treasurer of the Buf- falo Dredging Co., vice president of the Buffalo Floating Elevator Co., and presi- dent of the McConnell Catch Basin Co.
Not only in business circles is Mr. Williams active and prominent, but equally in social and military affairs is he a factor. For five years he was a member of old company D, Buffalo City Guards, and for an equal period was quartermaster of the 74th regiment, National Guard of the State of New York. He is a Scottish Rite Mason of the 32d degree, a life member of the Buffalo Press Club, and a member of the Buffalo Republican League.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Charles Edwin Williams was born at Buffalo February 21, 1852 ; was educated in the public schools and the Heathcote School of Buffalo, and the Polytechnic Institute, Stuttgart, Germany ; has car- ried on the business of a paving and general contractor at Buffalo since 1876.
3ames IR. Austin came to man- hood in the midst of stirring times, and began early in life an active and a varied career. He has lived in the West, the South, and the East ; has been a soldier, a manufacturer, and a business man in different lines ; and the best part of it all
is that substantial success has attended him from first to last. He was born in Milwaukee shortly before the middle of the century. His parents were among the first settlers of that prosperous city, and they are both living there still, at ages very advanced.
Mr. Austin's education was good so far as it went, but it might have gone farther without violating the proprieties. After attending the public schools and the Milwaukee Military Academy, he made his choice between college and countingroom by accepting, at the age of sixteen, a clerkship in the wholesale dry- goods house of Bradford Bros. This was the second largest concern in the Northwest, and the salary was $800 a year. In normal times young Austin might have been content to plod along in the usual rut of an entry clerk ; but the times were altogether abnor- mal, and the young man was impatient to have a
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JAMES R. AUSTIN
more active part in the great drama of history then unfolding.
In February, 1864, therefore, he enlisted as a pri- vate in company A of the 39th Wisconsin volunteer
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.
infantry, and went to the front. He was captured in August, 1864, in the course of Forrest's raid on Memphis, Tenn. After hasty transfers from one prison pen to another, he was finally landed in a closely packed, open stockade, ridiculously styled " Castle Morgan,". at Cahaba, Ala. Here he suf- fered all the miseries of exposure, starvation, naked- ness, sickness, and needless cruelty implied in the more familiar name of Andersonville. His life was barely saved by a fortunate exchange in October of the same year, and in January, 1865, he was mus- tered out of service. He then returned to Milwau- kee, and after regaining health resumed his position in the house of Bradford Bros. They had continued his salary during his army service, after the manner of a few other patriotic and generous concerns.
Reversing the usual procedure, Mr. Austin went due East in February, 1866, to take a position in the Boston agency of the New York Life Insurance Co. Subsequently succeeding to the management of this branch of the business, he conducted the agency for five years with conspicuous success. His office, indeed, is said to have received and remitted to the home office the largest amount of premium payments of any agency in the country.
After engaging for some time in mining and in the manufacture of agricultural implements, Mr. Austin decided to make Buffalo his home, and to embark in real-estate ventures in that promising city. He went thither, accordingly, in 1889, having previously made investments there, and having for a long time studied the situation, and noted the favorable aspects of the same. Associating himself with A. J. Riege! in the firm of Austin & Riegel, he built up a large business in a magically rapid way. In less than a year the firm sold over 83,000,000 worth of farm property. These operations led to the establishment, in 1892, of the Security Investment Co. of Buffalo, which includes among its directors and stockholders some of the most successful bankers and business men of the city. At the beginning James B. Staf- ford was elected president and James R. Austin vice president ; and both these efficient officers have since been annually re-elected to their respective positions.
Mr. Austin is a Sir Knight of the Masonic order. He is also a member of Bidwell-Wilkeson Post, No. 9, G. A. R .; of the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange ; and of the Ellicott Club. .
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-James Russell Austin was born at Milwaukee, Wis., July 26, 1847; was educated in public schools and Milwaukee Military Academy ; was clerk in a wholesale dry-goods house in Milwaukee, 1863-66, with the exception of a year
spent in the Union army ; was agent and manager of a life-insurance agency at Boston, 1866-78 ; engaged in mining and in the manufacture of agricultural implements, 1879 -- 89 ; moved to Buffalo in 1889 and began real-estate operations ; has been vice president of the Security Investment Co. of Buffalo since its organ- isation in 1892.
August Becker is young in years, though well matured in the practice of his profession. A man who secures an early start in the quickened and busy life of this nineteenth century has an incalculable advantage over those who enter the race even a few years later in life. Mr. Becker not only made an early start as a lawyer, but has forged ahead in his profession at an age when others are just beginning to acquire practice.
Mr. Becker is a native of Buffalo, where he was born two years after the great Civil War was brought to a close. He obtained his education in the pub- lic schools of the city, and after a thorough prepara- tory training in the elementary English branches he entered the office of Greene, McMillan & Gluck, one of the strongest legal . firms of western. New York. This firm was subsequently styled McMillan, Gluck & Pooley, and was noted throughout the state for its skill in that modern and intricate branch of the profession known as corporation law. No better training school for legal culture could be found, on account of the experience of the firm, its valu- able library, and the prestige and traditions of the office. Mr. Becker served a busy and faithful apprenticeship with this firm, acquiring a sound practical knowledge, as well as a broad and compre- hensive theory, of the law, particularly as related to corporations. He was admitted to the bar at Rochester, at a term of the Supreme Court held in that city in October, 1888, a few months after his majority.
After a further period spent in familiarizing him- self with the routine of a law office, Mr. Becker began the practice of his profession in the city of his birth in July, 1891, and practiced alone for one year. A striking feature of the legal profession is the tendency of lawyers to associate themselves in legal firms, and specialize their work. In this way doubled experience, increased clientage, and greater prestige are obtained ; for it is as true in law as in any other business that two heads are better than one. Mr. Becker was quick to recognize this ad- vantage, and he formed a partnership with Charles C. Farnham of Buffalo, under the firm name of Becker & Farnham, that has continued until the present time.
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Mr. Becker is distinctly a student of the law, and for a young man is deeply versed in legal literature. He has already figured as an author, having issued in conjunction with James Fraser Gluck a work known as "Gluck & Becker on Receivers of Cor- porations "; and the volume has been so well appre- . iated by the legal profession that a second edition of the work is now in press.
Mr. Becker has wisely chosen to hold himself aloof from the distractions of a political career, realizing the wisdom of the old adage against having too many irons in the fire. Nor has he sought through social affiliations to gain prac- tice, having relied for success upon in- «lustry, and entire devotion to a noble profession.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- August Becker was born at Buffalo Au- sust 10, 1867 ; was educated in the public schools of that city ; studied law in the office of Greene, McMillan & Gluck, and was admitted to the bar in 1888; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1891.
MID. I. BBirge was born more than ninety years ago in Chittenden county, Vermont. His whole life, from his re- sourceful youth to his vigorous old age, illustrates the Puritan virtues in various ways, and it is not surprising to find that his ancestors were descended from one of the Plymouth Pilgrims. In the early years of the century educational opportunities were few, and Mr. Birge obtained rather more training than most young men in attending the district schools and the village academy. At the age of twenty he entered upon a business career that was destined to last sixty-six years. Obtaining a position as a clerk in a general store at Middlebury, Vt., in 1826, he learned the business rapidly, and at the end of three years felt able to start in on his own account. He did so, accordingly, April 1, 1829, carrying on a general store successfully for about five years.
Mr. Birge had too much Puritan blood in his veins, and was too good a Yankee, to remain satisfied with the slow-going life of a Vermont country town, and in 1834 he joined the endless procession of west- ward emigrants. His original purpose was to go to Chicago, but he was so much pleased with Buffalo that he decided to cast in his lot with the 15,000 people
then resident there. On October 15, 1834, he opened a store on Main street devoted to dry goods, paper hangings, and general merchandise.
Hardly had Mr. Birge become fairly established in his new venture when the financial crash of 1837, one of the most serious in the history of the country,
AUGUST BECKER
descended upon him. Failures abounded in every branch of trade, and many of his customers paid him little or nothing. He was unable, therefore, to meet his own obligations. He did not on that ac- count take advantage of the bankruptcy law to force upon his creditors a fractional payment of their claims ; but paid them what he could at once, prom- ising to pay all in time. This promise he kept faithfully. By 1846 he had paid off the last obliga- tion dollar for dollar, and was even with the world and at peace with his conscience. The struggle had been long and at times disheartening ; but virtue is its own reward, and Mr. Birge must have been repaid many-fold for his self-sacrifice during the fifty years since elapsed.
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Before the middle of the century Mr. Birge's busi- ness had resolved itself into the wall-paper trade exclusively, and for many years he carried on one of the largest stores in this line in western New York. Up to 1879 he handled stock manufactured by others ; but in that year, in connection with his sons,
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M. H. BIRGE
and under the firm name of M. H. Birge & Sons, he began the manufacture of paper hangings. His long experience in the business and minute acquaintance with wall-paper stock assured in advance the success of the new enterprise. On June 1, 1892, after having built up the business to large proportions, Mr. Birge disposed of his interest to his sons. He has since lived in retirement from active affairs, enjoying the leisure and rest to which he was years ago entitled.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Martin How- land Birge was born at Underhill, V't., July 30, 1806 ; was educated in district schools and the village acad- emy ; was clerk in a general store at Middlebury, I't., 1826-29, and carried on a similar store on his own account, 1829-34 : married Elisabeth Ann Kingsley
of Sheldon, Vt., October 21, 1836 ; opened a general store in Buffalo in 1834; established the manufacture of wall paper in 1879, and remained at the head of the firm until his retirement in 1892.
Spencer Clinton, years ago a leader at the Erie-county bar, and now one of the most distinguished lawyers in the Em- pire State, belongs to an historic family. His grandfather on the maternal side was John C. Spencer, secretary of war under President Tyler and an eminent jurist. His grandfather on the other side. De Witt Clinton, was mayor of New York city, governor of New York state, and United States senator. But for him the Erie canal might never have been built, and certainly would not have been built until many years after its actual construction. Mr. Clinton's own father, George W. Clinton, was one of the ablest lawyers of his day.
Spencer Clinton was born in Buffalo, and has always lived there. His educa- tion was obtained in public and pri- vate schools in Buffalo, Brockport, and Albany. Colleges were not so numerous and accessible at the time of his youth as now, and Mr. Clinton did not have the benefit of a collegiate course. Hav- ing determined to study law, he entered the office of Solomon G. Haven for that purpose, and subsequently carried on his reading under William Dorsheimer. He made rapid progress in his studies, and was admitted to the bar in the October term of 1860, when twenty-one years of age.
Measured by the standards of to-day, when many men destined for the law are not even out of college at that age, Mr. Clinton made a prompt beginning on his life-work; and his progress was still further accelerated early in his professional career by an appointment as assist- ant United States district attorney under his former preceptor, William Dorsheimer. In this position Mr. Clinton had a chance to show his legal ability, and he discharged the duties of the office for several years with brilliant success. In 1868 he formed a partnership with Charles D. Marshall for the general practice of the law. This association has been maintained ever since, and has been altogether successful. Others have been admitted to the firm at various times, but the original partnership has not been severed. Since 1893 Adolph Rebadow.
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