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 35
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who studied as a young man in the office of Marshall & Clinton, has been a member of the firm, and the prevent style is Marshall, Clinton & Rebadow. The inn is one of the strongest in western New York, and transacts an immense amount of legal business. Mr. Clinton is everywhere regarded as a lawyer of great sagacity, wide learning in the law, and sound pigment.
Though deprived himself of systematic training in a law school, Mr. Clinton believes thoroughly in wsh institutions. He has taken an active interest in the Buffalo Law School, having been one of the or- xanizers of the institution, and having lectured therein ever since its foundation. He has been attorney for the Buffalo grade-crossing commissioners vnice 1887, and has done all that he could, aside from his professional interest in the matter, to ex- jedite and discharge in the best possible manner the important work of this com- mission. He is one of the trustees of the Buffalo Savings Bank and a director of the Third National Bank. As executor of two large estates, he represents the C. J. Wells elevator and the Bennett elevator in the Western Elevating Association.
Mr. Clinton has been absorbed in his professional work, and has studiously woided public office. In 1887, how- over, he permitted himself to become the Democratic nominee for state sena- tor : and he was much relieved by the sticcess of the opposing candidate. The episode is worth mentioning because readers will remember how freely and frankly the opposing press acknowledged Mr. Clinton's ability and high character. The National Democratic state conven- tion, held at Brooklyn September 24. 1596, nominated him by acclamation for the position of associate judge of the Court of Appeals.
In social life Mr. Clinton has enjoyed the position to which his professional attainments and personal character would naturally entitle him. He is a promi- nent member of the Buffalo Club, and was its president in 1885. He is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Spencer Clinton was born at Buffalo June 49, 1839 ; was educated in public and private schools ; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1860; was assistant United States district attorney, 1866- 6 : has practiced law in Buffalo since 1868.
George A. Davis can enjoy in full measure the satisfaction that comes from the gratification of an honorable ambition. Nowhere but in America, perhaps, would a life like his be possible ; but even in this favored land it requires ability and determina- tion for a young man entirely dependent on his own resources to become a successful lawyer and public man before he has reached his fortieth year.
Mr. Davis was born in Buffalo, and is a thorough Buffalonian, though of late years he has been actively identified with one of the suburban towns. His education was received in the Buffalo public schools ; and he doubtless used the opportunities there all the more faithfully because the lack of money made the acquisition of an education somewhat difficult. On the completion of his school course, he learned the trade of a picture-frame maker, and worked at that
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SPENCER CLINTON
long enough to get a little money ahead. But he had determined to become a lawyer, and as soon as circumstances permitted he left the workman's bench for a law office. He became a student in the office
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of Day & Romer, Buffalo, and applied himself so diligently to the task of gaining the necessary knowl- edge of the law that in three years he was admitted to the bar.
Mr. Davis at once opened an office in Buffalo, and has practiced there continuously since. The same
GEORGE .1. DAVIS
energy and ability that gained for him admission to his profession at the early age of twenty-two, in spite of obstacles that would have disheartened a less determined man, have brought him success in his chosen calling ; and he has already established a reputation as an able attorney.
Public affairs have interested Mr. Davis greatly for many years. Before he was thirty he was a member of the Erie-county board of supervisors, representing the 9th ward of the city of Buffalo for two years. On his removal to Lancaster in 1887, he was elected supervisor of the town, and proved so able a guardian of the interests of the community that he has held the office ever since. In the years 1889, 1894, and 1895 he was chairman of the
board of supervisors, being the unanimous choice of his colleagues of both political parties ; and he made an admirable presiding officer, and displayed unusual executive ability. In 1890 he was nominated for representative in congress from the 33d congres- sional district. This was a year of defeat for the Republican party, however, and Mr. Davis failed of election by a small major- ity. In 1894 he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. There he was made a member of the committees on banking, insurance, and military, and did good work in each. In 1895 he was elected, by a majority of nearly 6000 votes, to represent his district, the 49th, in the upper house of the state legisla- ture ; and on the organization of that body he became a member of the com- mittees on judiciary, commerce, navi- gation, penal institutions, and Indian affairs, acting as chairman of the latter.
Such a record for a comparatively young man indicates uncommon talent for public affairs, and this Mr. Davis un- doubtedly possesses. It is safe to predict that further honors are in store for one who has already served his fellow-citizens so acceptably.
Mr. Davis is well known, also, from his long connection with the National Guard. Enlisting as a private in the 74th regiment in 1877, he rose through all the intermediate grades until he be- came commander of the regiment ; and this position he retained for a number of years. He is a 32d degree Mason, belonging to the Buffalo Consistory, and a Knight Templar in Lake Erie Com- mandery. Since his removal to Lancaster he has taken an active interest in Trinity Episcopal Church there, and is at present one of its wardens.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - George Allen Davis was born at Buffalo August 5, 1858 ; was educated in the public schools ; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1880; married Lillie N. Grimes of Lancaster, N. Y., June 4, 1885 ; was a member of the constitutional convention in 1894, and was elected state senator in 1895 ; has been a member of the Erie-county board of supervisors since 1885 : has practiced law in Buffalo since 1880.
Benjamin Folsom, well known in western New York as a member of the bar, and throughout the country as the representative from the United
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States in an important foreign station, was born in Wyoming county, New York, in 1847. The Folsom family has an interesting genealogy, beginning in this country with the landing of John Folsom in 1638 at Hingham, Mass., and directly traceable from him to the present generation. After receiving his preliminary training in the Attica Union School and Wyoming Academy, Mr. Folsom prepared for college at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, N. Y., and entered the University of Rochester in the fall of 1867. He took the classical course there, and graduated in 1871 with honors, obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and afterward receiving from the same institution the degree of Master of Arts.
Mr. Folsom at first contemplated a journalistic career, and he went to Europe as a newspaper corre- spondent in the summer of his gradua- tion. He seems, however, to have agreed with Thiers's doubtful praise of journalism as "a very good profession if you get out of it in time" ; for he soon changed his plans, and after serving on the staff of the New York World until the fall of 1872, began the study of law in the office of Bass & Bissell, Buffalo. He made rapid progress in this work, and was regularly admitted to the bar in October, 1875. For the next two years he strengthened his grasp of legal prin- ciples, and obtained further insight into the actual conduct of litigation, by ser- vice in the city attorney's office as managing clerk. Opening an office in Buffalo on his own account in 1878, he began the active practice of the law, and continued the same with marked success until November, 1886.
.An appointment as United States con- sul at Sheffield, England, received at that time, caused a long interruption in his law practice. He remained at Shef- field about seven years, resigning the consulate in 1893 for the purpose of returning to this country, and looking after his real-estate interests in California and in Omaha, Neb. The extraordi- narily rapid growth of Omaha vastly increased the value of the estate of his father, the late Benj. R. Folsom, and the care and development of this property, together with its partition and division, required Mr. Fol- som's personal attention. Having adjusted his affairs in the West, he returned to Buffalo and re- stimed the practice of law.
In political matters Mr. Folsom has allied himself with the Democratic party. He has served in the ranks, and has never sought a nomination for office. For many years before his residence in England he was secretary and treasurer of the board of trustees of the City and County Hall, Buffalo ; and in that capacity he arranged and systematized the accounts of the institution in the way that they are now kept.
Mr. Folsom is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Washington Lodge, No. 240, Buffalo, and to Talbot Chapter of Rose Croix, Scottish Rite, Sheffield, England. He is a meniber, also, of the University Club, Buffalo, St. George's Club, London, and the Sheffield Club, Sheffield. He is much interested in the history of his family, and is engaged in a study of the Folsom genealogy.
BENJAMIN FOLSOM
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Benjamin Folsom was born at Folsomdale, Wyoming county. N. Y., December 5, 1841 ; graduated from the University of Rochester in 1871 ; served as newspaper correspondent, 1871-12: studied law, and was ad-
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mitted to the bar in 1875 ; practiced law in Buffalo, 1878-86 ; was United States consul at Sheffield, Eng., 1886-93 ; married Mrs. Ella Blanchard Howard of Rochester Oct. 11, 1893: resumed the practice of law in Buffalo in 1893.
PHILIP GERST
Dbilip Gerst has attained high public station in Buffalo at an unusually early age, and is among the youngest of the prominent city officials. The chronology of events in his comparatively short career bespeaks an energy, determination, and abil- ity that may be expected to lead to yet higher positions in the public service in coming years. He has made an excellent start, and bids fair to maintain his present rate of progress.
Mr. Gerst is a native of Buffalo, and still lives in the house in which he was born thirty-odd years ago. Few men know the beautiful city so intimately and thoroughly as he ; and his accurate acquaint- ance with both the people and the history of Buffalo has doubtless stood him in good stead in his political campaigns. His educational training preparatory
to entering upon a vocation was obtained in the public schools of Buffalo, and in a business college. He graduated from Public Sehool No. 20, and after a period of study at the Central High School en- tered Bryant & Stratton's Business College, where he acquired a knowledge of commercial forms and usages.
After completing his school course he began the study of law in the office of James A. Roberts. Practical business life, however, attracted him strongly, and he soon laid aside his text-books to en- ter the railway serviee. He was in the employ of the Erie railroad for several years, rising from the position of mes- senger to that of cashier. Resigning from the railroad company in 1886, he went into the coal business with the firm of Dakin & Sloan ; and afterward em- barked in the real-estate business, form- ing a partnership with Michael Doll. He is still engaged in this, having lately purchased the interest of his partner.
While earning the reputation of an aetive and enterprising business man, Mr. Gerst at the same time was eoming to the front as a forceful factor in the politics of Erie county. He has been conspicuous in the reform move- ments that have so much benefited the city politics of Buffalo. In 1892 he was nominated for his first office, that of assessor. Though defeated, he ran ahead of his ticket several hundred votes in his own ward ; and his friends maintain that he was deliberately counted out. His strength having been thus demon- strated, he was elected in the following year to the state assembly. He represented the 6th Erie district in the legislature two years, and estab)- lished a record that entitled him to further con- sideration at the hands of his party. In 1895, aceordingly, he was nominated for the responsible position of treasurer of the city of Buffalo, and was elected by a large majority. On the first of January, 1896, he began his four years' term of office ; and he is already fulfilling the predictions and anticipa- tions of his friends.
Mr. Gerst is an enthusiastic fraternity man, be- longing to Occidental Lodge, No. 766, of the Masonic order, and having membership in the Valley of Buffalo Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, 32d degree. He is also a member of the North Buffalo Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 517.
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PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Philip Gerst was born at Buffalo September 17, 1863 ; was edu- sted in the public schools and Bryant & Stratton's Business College ; was in the employ of the Erie rail- road, 1879-86, and of Dakin & Sloan, coal dealers, 1886-88 ; was member of assembly, 1894-95 ; was elected treasurer of the city of Buffalo in 1895, for the term 1896-00 ; has carried on a real-estate and insurance business since 1888.
Edward W. batch, though still in the prime of life, long ago attained a position of dignity and importance in the affairs of men. The judicial call- ing, probably more than any other, requires a com- bination of qualities and a thoroughness of mental equipment that can rarely be found outside the ranks of men well advanced in years and experience. T'hat Judge Hatch was found to possess carly in life the requisite experience in the law, and the penetration and general maturity of mind appropriate to the bench, stamps him at once as a man of exceptional ability and character.
Heredity doubtless had something to do with all this. Judge Hatch's grand- father was Captain Jeremiah Hatch, who obtained his title through heroic action in the War for Independence. His son Jeremiah inherited, with his father's name, something at least of his father's spirit, for he raised a company at the outbreak of the Civil War, and went to the front as captain of the 130th New York volunteers. He died at Suffolk, Va., in December, 1862.
Judge Hatch was born in Friendship, Allegany county, and attended the acade- my there in the fall and winter months until he was sixteen years old. Unable to pursue his studies further in a system- atic way at that time, he turned his hand to the blacksmith's trade, and also engaged in lumbering in the Pennsylva- nia forests and in Wyoming county, New York. These occupations - not altogether prophetic of his later career - occupied about four years, between 1868 and 1872. In the latter year he found an opportunity to take the first step towards satisfying an ambition that he had long cherished. Andrew J. Lorish, afterward county judge of Wyoming county, was then postmaster of Attica, and was also practicing law there. He gave Mr. Hatch a clerkship in the post office, with the
understanding that a considerable part of the time might be devoted to the reading of law. This divided allegiance to business and to study was a poor substitute for a law school ; but the young student made the most of his opportunities, and had accomplished a great deal when the chance came, in 1874, to go to Buffalo and enter the law office of Corlett & Tabor. Mr. Corlett afterward became a justice of the Supreme Court, and Mr. Tabor the attorney-general of the state; and in their office a broad and thoroughly practical training in the law could be obtained by a diligent student. Mr. Hatch remained with them until the dissolution of the firm in 1875, and continued with Mr. Corlett until admitted to the bar the next year. He then practiced law alone for two years, when he was invited by Mr. Corlett to form a partnership
EDWARD W. HATCH
with him This association, significant of Mr. Hatch's fidelity and success as a law student, con tinued until Judge Corlett went upon the bench in 1883. After that, in January, 1884, Mr. Hatch,
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together with Porter Norton and H. W. Box, formed the law firm of Box, Hatch & Norton, with which Mr. Hatch continued to practice until his elevation to the bench January 1, 1887.
A firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Hatch early rose to prominence in polit- ical circles. In 1880, and again three years later, he was nominated by acclamation for the office of district attorney of Erie county. He was elected by large majorities on both occasions, and discharged with conspicuous ability the important duties of the office. He was next a candidate for public honors in the fall of 1886, when he was elected by a large majority for a term of fourteen years one of the judges of the Superior Court of Buffalo. The new state constitution, prepared by the convention of 1894, abolished that court, and provided that the judges thereof should be transferred to the state Su- preme Court on January 1, 1896, for their unexpired terms. This feature of the constitution would have affected Judge Hatch, had he not been nominated in the fall of 1895 as justice of the Supreme Court for the 8th judicial district. He was elected, with many votes to spare, and thus entered upon a new term of fourteen years from January 1, 1896. Under the new constitution the Supreme Court has four appellate divisions, to which justices are assigned by the governor ; and Judge Hatch was appointed for five years one of the appellate judges for the 2d de- partment, comprising Kings and adjoining counties. He entered upon his new duties at Brooklyn January 1, 1896.
A justice of the Supreme Court of the state of New York cannot discharge his duties ably and con- scientiously and have much time left for outside pur- suits. Judge Hatch is subject to this limitation, but he contrives, nevertheless, to maintain close relations with many movements affecting the public welfare. He delivers occasional lectures on literary and social topics as well as on questions of the day. His career thus far has been rich in results, and promises a future of honorable achievement.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Edward Wingate Hatch was born at Friendship, N. Y., No- vember 26, 1852 : received a common-school education ; began the study of law at Attica, N. Y., in 1872, and was admitted to the bar in 1876; married Heten Woodruff of Conneaut, O., in 1878 ; practiced tato in Buffalo, 1876-86 ; was district attorney of Erie county, 1881-86 ; was judge of the Superior Court of Buffalo, 1887-95 ; became judge of the Supreme Court January 1, 1896, and was appointed by Gor- ernor Morton appellate judge for the 2d department of that court for a term of five years.
Lucian Mawley has considerably exceeded the scriptural limitation of life, and has never in all these years been false to the trust reposed in him. As counselor, public official, corporation officer, and trustee, the chief business of his life has been to guard and preserve the interests of others. With what vigilance and fidelity he has done this our opening statement shows. The more critically and minutely his career is examined, the more clearly will this aspect of his life appear.
Born not long after James Monroe entered the White House, in Saratoga county, New York, Mr. Hawley spent his boyhood in that part of the state. His education was begun at Glens Falls, and was finished at Buffalo, whither he had moved in April, 1837. In those days the opportunities for academic and collegiate instruction were far less abundant than now, and Mr. Hawley was unable to study for a degree. He had the best possible substitute, how- ever, in a long term of service with the legal firm of Fillmore, Hall & Haven. Millard Fillmore, after- ward President of the United States, and his asso- ciates, were giants at the Erie-county bar ; and Mr. Hawley, as managing clerk of the firm, could hardly have been better placed to acquire valuable experience in the actual practice of the law. He held this position for four years, and was thus enabled to obtain admission to the bar in November, 18-44.
His first partnership was with Isaiah T. Williams, a brother of the late Gibson T. Williams. In 1846 the firm was strengthened by the addition of Nelson K. Hopkins, and the style became Williams, Hopkins & Hawley. This association was dissolved in 1847, when Mr. Hawley formed a partnership with his brother, Seth C. Hawley. An appointment, in 1849, as deputy collector of customs for the district of Buffalo Creek, caused Mr. Hawley to abandon the law for about four years. At the end of that period he became successively managing clerk in the law office of John Ganson, secretary of the company publishing the Commercial Advertiser, traveling col- lector for the famous house of Pratt & Co., and secretary of the Buffalo Agricultural Machine Works.
This brings us down to 1865, when Mr. Hawley began his long career in the United States internal - revenue service. During the eleven years thus em- ployed he was legislated out of office three times and resigned twice ; but on each occasion he was restored to office with a better position. This came about, not from solicitation on his part, but from the desire of the treasury officials to perfect the service, and as a reward of merit. The internal-revenue officers of the government were subjected to subtle temptations in those days, and were not always above suspicion :
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w> that an officer of Mr. Hawley's fidelity and abso- late honesty was correspondingly valuable to the treasury department. After eight years of service in subordinate capacities Mr. Hawley was appointed, in 1873, supervisor of internal revenue by President Grant, and was assigned to duty in New York city, with the state of New York as his dis- triet.
The most important and interesting juirt of Mr. Hawley's work as supervisor was his ageney in the downfall of the " whiskey ring," the popular name for the association of revenue officers and distillers who so largely defrauded the government of the internal revenue on distilled spirits. The ring originated in St. Louis, but extended its nefarious oper- ations throughout the country. Presi- dent Grant and Secretary Bristoe, how- ever, were equal to the emergency, and on May 10, 1875, a simultaneous raid was made on the implicated distilleries of St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Chicago. As a result the government was able to bring into court about 83,500,000 worth of seized property, and indictments against 238 persons, including distillers, rectifiers, wholesale liquor dealers, and many officers of the internal-revenne service. Mr. Hawley was placed in ยท harge of the raid at St. Louis, and car- tied out his end of the movement with exceptional vigor and success. In the fall of the same year he was sent to the Pacific coast, and confirmed the sus- picion that a corrupt ring there was defrauding the government. The ring was so powerfully protected by local allies that Secretary Bristoe and his faithful supervisor were unable to repeat here their St. Louis success. In February, 1876, Mr. Hawley submitted his resignation, but at the request of the commissioner of internal revenue remained in office until May. He then returned home, poor in pocket and broken in health, having given some of the best years of his life to the service.
Since then he has engaged in the management of individual estates, and in executive and fiduciary work of various kinds. His legal training, broad experience, and spotless integrity make him particu- Jarly efficient and valuable in such matters.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Lucian Hawley was born at Moreau, N. Y., November 8, 1818 : received a common-school education, and was
admitted to the bar in 1844 ; practiced law in Buffalo, 1844-49; was appointed deputy collector of customs in 1849; was engaged in the United States revenue service, 1865-16 ; married Irene Burt Leech of Buf- falo April 19, 1848, and Lida Williams Jennings of Lockport, N. Y., December 18, 1877 ; has made his
LUCIAN ILMULEY
home in Buffalo since 1876, and has been a resident of the city since 1837.
Charles E. fbayes is a member of one of the most prominent lithographie companies in the United States. For years the work turned out from the establishment of Koerner & Hayes has elicited universal praise and admiration, and few houses have done more to educate popular taste in the art of illustration. The standard of the general public in such matters is higher now than ever before, and bespeaks for the future a race more appreciative of the nature and function of pictorial representation.
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