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 36
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Mr. Hayes was born in Canada of American par- ents, and he is an American by training. His
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parents were residents of Rochester, N. Y., but moved to Steubenville, Ohio, the year Charles was born. Mr. Hayes had the benefit of a thorough public-school education in the Buckeye State, and graduated from the Steubenville High School when only seventeen years of age. He supplemented this
CHARLES E. HAYES
scholastic training by a course in the well-known business college of Bryant & Stratton at Buffalo. Having thus prepared himself for a commercial career, he became a clerk in the office of Drullard & Hayes of Buffalo, and filled a position with that firm for three years. His next employment was as book- keeper for Cosack & Co., makers of the famous " Buffalo Lithographs." Here he showed such busi- ness judgment and skill in managing the affairs of the firm that he was eventually placed in charge of the office, and of the financial interests of the con- cern. The natural result followed, and Mr. Hayes became a member of the firm. The other members were H. Cosack and H. T. Koerner. On the death of Mr. Cosack in 1892, the firm was reorganized,
the surviving partners buying out Mr. Cosack's inter- est, and forming a new partnership under the style of Koerner & Hayes. The new firm has continued to uphold the reputation, and enjoy the prosperity, of the old house. Their factories on Lakeview ave- nue in Buffalo afford employment to a large number of people, from skilled artists and engra- vers down to laborers and truckmen. The product of their works is found everywhere, and has carried the name of Koerner & Hayes, not only over the United States, but also to foreign lands.
While devoting himself assiduously to his private business, Mr. Hayes has been a potent influence in local political affairs. He is a Republican in political belief. His popularity among his fellow- townsmen is shown by his strong can- didacy for the office of councilman in 1892, a losing year for his party, when he ran ahead of his ticket, and was defeated by only forty-five votes.
In Masonic circles Mr. Hayes occu- pies a prominent place. He is a Knight Templar ; Junior Warden of Hugh de Payens Commandery, No. 30; Senior Warden of Rose Croix Chapter ; and for two years he was Worshipful Master of Ancient Landmark Lodge. He is a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Charles Eugene Hayes was born at Oak- ville, Canada, March 24, 1858; was educated in the public schools of Steuben- ville, O., and Bryant & Stratton's Busi- ness College, Buffalo; became bookkeeper for the firm of Cosack & Co., Buffalo, in 1878, and was admitted to the firm in 1881; married Carrie Fairchild Spencer of Buffalo October 11, 1881 ; has been a member of the firm of Koer- ner & Haves, successors to Cosack & Co., since 1802.
ffrederick howard comes of good old New England stock. Both his parents were born in Ver- mont, and were among the early settlers of Erie county. The Green Mountain State, like the rest of New England, has furnished many substantial and reliable citizens to the Empire State. Any commu- nity is fortunate whose early history was determined largely by New Englanders. Their enterprise, thrift. honest dealing, sense of justice, and devotion to
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school and church, have made them everywhere bul- warks of industrious, loyal citizenship.
Mr. Howard was born at East Aurora, Erie county. When he was three years old his parents moved to Elma, and in the district school of this little town he received his elementary education. He had the usual struggle of boys of limited means to obtain a higher education, but he managed to overcome various difficulties, and to take a course at the Aurora Academy. A college education was be- yond his financial reach, and he went to Buffalo and read law in the office of Milo A. Whitney. He served a faithful apprenticeship as a law clerk, and after gaining a theoretic and practical knowledge of legal science he was admitted to the bar by the Su- preme Court, when twenty-two years of age. For two years after this he practiced alone. Impressed with the ability and capacity of his former clerk, Mr. Whitney then invited Mr. Howard to become his associate. The partnership was formed, and was maintained for several years. Having resumed practice alone and continued the same five years, Mr. Howard asso- ciated himself, in January, 1888, with Myron H. Clark of Elma, becoming senior member of the firm of Howard & Clark. This partnership still continues.
In his chosen profession Mr. Howard has sought solidity of learning in partic- ular branches of the law rather than a smattering of the whole field. He has steadily gained clientage, and long ago passed the uncertain stage in the life of every professional man who begins his career without influential backing. With the spirit of a true American, Mr. How- ard has not selfishly confined himself to his office, and wrapped himself up in the gains and rewards of his profession. He has given freely of his time and thought. to philanthropic and church work, and the advancement of political morality. He is especially devoted to the promo- tion and improvement of the Children's Aid Society, commonly known as the Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Home, of which he is a trustee and most efficient member. For several years he was sec- retary of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum, and ungrudgingly gave many hours of valuable time to its affairs.
Coming of a race nurtured in Congregationalism, Mr. Howard naturally possessed a predilection for
the church of his fathers ; and though originally a member of the Lafayette Street Presbyterian Church, he became identified with the First Congregational Church of Buffalo at its organization. He was one of its charter members, and is now a member of the board of trustees. He is deeply interested in church music, believing that the spirit of worship can be raised by means of it to higher planes.
Mr. Howard's political affiliations have always been with the Republican party, of which he is a consistent, loyal, and active member. He sincerely believes that the welfare of his party means the wel- fare of his country. He is not, however, blind to the fact that all human organizations contain many imperfections ; and he is an enthusiastic member of the Good Government Club, and has identified him- self with its many measures for the correction of
FREDERICK HOWARD
abuses in municipal government, and for the purifi- cation of local politics. As might be inferred from the foregoing, he is an active member of the Buffalo Republican League.
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PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Freder- ick Howard was born at East Aurora, N. Y., Sep- tember 12, 1855 ; was educated in the district schools of Elma and at Aurora Academy ; moved to Buffalo in 1874, and began the study of law in 1875; was admitted to the bar in 1878 ; married Harriet Elisa-
GEORGE H. HUGHSON
beth Mabie of Buffalo October 25, 1881 ; has prac- ticed law in Buffalo since 1878.
George . bugbson is a genuine American, and has the Yankee trait of adapting himself to cir- cumstances. He has been a worker all his life, and when not occupied at one thing has found something else to keep him busy. He is a native of western New York, and few men have so intimate an ac- quaintance with that part of the state as he. His early years were spent in Cattaraugus county, whither his parents had moved when he was an infant. His boyhood was passed on a farm, and he hired out his services to a farmer when most boys enjoy the advan- tages of school life and frequent holidays. From
the farm he entered a gun factory. Disliking the trade of a gunsmith, he went to work in a woolen factory at Gowanda, N. Y., and later at Wattsburg, Penn. It was not until he went to Buffalo, in 1850, that he was able to attend the public schools regu- larly. But he was soon obliged to earn his own living again, and this time he entered the grocery business, in which he con- tinued a number of years. Then he spent one year as a clerk in a clothing store at Rochester. At this period he felt the need of a better education, and attended the Normal School at Fredonia for one term.
After his father's death in 1854, Mr. Hughson returned to Buffalo, and spent another year in a clothing house. His next employment was in the office of Howard & Co., the well-known iron founders. He maintained his relations with this house till 1872, when he entered into partnership with Joseph M. Blake in the packing-box business. He soon sold out his interest, and turned his attention to the manufacture of silk hats. But Mr. Hughson's versatility was not yet exhausted, and he next embarked in the carriage and harness business, and later in the shoe business.
So far in life Mr. Hughson had taken part in almost every occupation deal- ing with the supply of man's bodily wants in the way of protection. His energies were employed in a new field when he became connected with the cele- brated Niagara Bakery, then under the control of Walter S. Ovens. Mr. Hugh- son next interested himself in the na- tional game of baseball, and was chosen secretary and treasurer of the Buffalo Baseball Club. When he gave up that he entered the real-estate and insurance business, and to-day he is a member of the well-known fire-insurance firm of Edward C. Roth & Co. As will readily be seen, Mr. Hughson is an all-round man ; and in every occupation and calling that he has pursued he has made friends, from his genial disposition and fidelity to those who trusted in his worth.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-George Hiram Hughson was born at Gowanda, Erie county, N. Y., August 1, 1834; was educated in the public schools, and in the Normal School at Fredonia, N. Y .; moved to Buffalo in 1850, and has been actively engaged in various commercial pursuits there ; married Helen
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MEN OF NEW YORK-WESTERN SECTION
McLeroth of Chicago April 8, 1858, and Mrs. Juliet Ferguson of Buffalo March 30, 1802 ; has been en- guyed in the fire-insurance business at Buffalo since
Edgar J6. Jewett, mayor of Buffalo, was born in Michigan somewhat more than fifty years ago. His parents, John Cotton Jewett and Priscilla Board- man Jewett, moved to Buffalo when he was a boy, and his father established there the business house that afterward became known as the John C. Jewett Manufacturing Co. Mr. Jewett received his early education in the public schools of Buffalo ; but he had a strong aptitude for business life, and was im- patient to enter upon a commercial career. He closed his schoolbooks, therefore, at the age of sixteen, and went into his father's establishment. This was in 1860. He made rapid prog- ress in acquainting himself minutely with every branch of the business, and he has now for many years been the chief guiding hand in controlling the destinies of the concern. How efficient his management has been may be seen in the fact that the output of Jewett refrigerators has enormously expanded, until the house has become everywhere known as one of the foremost of the country in its line.
When the Civil War broke out Mr. Jewett was actively engaged in the con- duct of his business affairs ; but he did not hesitate to sacrifice personal interests in serving the cause of his country. He joined as a private company C, 74th regiment, N. G., S. N. Y. Becoming second sergeant in May, 1863, he served as such during the campaign that fol- lowed Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania in the summer of that year. Returning to Buffalo as first sergeant of his company, . he was commissioned first lieutenant June 29, 1865 ; promoted to the cap- taincy April 3, 1866 ; appointed major and inspector of rifle practice of the 31st brigade April 11, 1877 ; made inspector of the 14th brigade October 9, 1879 ; appointed lieutenant colonel and chief of staff of the 14th brigade October 25, 1880 ; and elected brigadier general of the 8th brigade March 29, 1884.
To his business record and military life Mr. Jewett has made in recent years a most important addition -a career as a public official. His success
and prominence in commercial and social circles naturally called attention to his eligibility for public office ; and his name was often considered by party managers in connection with the nomination for high offices. He did not enter public life, however, in an important capacity until March 1, 1894, when Mayor Bishop appointed him one of the police commissioners of Buffalo. He discharged the duties of this office vigorously, wisely, and with an eye single to the public good. When, therefore, he became the Republican nominee for the office of mayor of Buffalo, in November, 1894, he was elected by a majority of nearly 10,000, the largest ever received by a candidate for that office.
Without attempting to consider in detail Mr. Jewett's work in the mayoralty, one may safely assert that he has fulfilled the expectations of his
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EDGAR B. JEWETT
supporters, and has justified the faith of his electors. Bringing to the office a mind thoroughly disciplined by years of military and business service, a character impervious to the subtle temptations of power, and
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an experience finely fitted to prepare him in material ways for the work before him, Mayor Jewett could not fail to achieve substantial success. As might have been expected from his past, he has shown singular executive ability in conducting the business of his office, and has required similar capacity in all
FREDERICK KENDALL
the departments of the city government. Without resorting to the petty arts of the demagogue, he has at the same time shown himself in various ways a vigilant guardian of the public rights. He believes in enlarging the sphere of municipal government, or at least the sphere of municipal control, to a certain extent ; but he would do this in a conservative way, and with due regard to vested interests. He has been a stanch advocate of civil-service reform, and early in the year 1896 made a new classification of all the city offices, the marked feature of which was, the sweeping extension of the merit system. It is now applied to nearly every municipal position.
In social life Mayor Jewett has been conspicuous for many years, and has been widely popular. He
has taken high degrees in Masonry, and is a member of the Acacia Club, to which only Master Masons are eligible. He belongs, also, to the Buffalo Club, and to other fraternal and social organizations.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Edgar Board- man Jewett was born at Ann Arbor, Mich., Decem- ber 14, 1843 ; was cducated in the Buf- falo public schools ; married Elisabeth Foster Danforth of Ann Arbor October 3, 1865 ; was appointed commissioner of police of Buffalo March 1, 1894, and elected mayor of the city in November of the same year ; has been president and general manager of the John C. Jewett Mfg. Co. since January 1, 1885, having been connected with the same since 1860.
Frederick Ikendall has for fifty years watched the city of Buffalo grow and expand from little more than a vil- lage to its present industrial and terri- torial limits. During that period he has been a part of its business and political life, and has been at all times a faithful guardian of its interests.
Mr. Kendall comes from a race of Vermonters born and bred for genera- tions among the rocks and hills of that grand old state. He inherited from them a love of country, a belief in hon- esty and in the brotherhood of man, a spirit of industry, a fairness of judgment, and a proper toleration of the sentiments of others. His father, Jacob W. Ken- dall, moved into the western part of New York state when the ox cart was almost the only means of transportation. He settled in the town of Darien, Gene- see county, and there Frederick was
born. The latter's boyhood was spent on his fath- er's farm, amid such incidents as befall the pioneer everywhere. In those primitive days, when Indians and wolves were more numerous than white neigh- bors, educational institutions in the country were far from what they are now. But Darien was not lagging behind her sister towns; she boasted of a brick schoolhouse, where the font of education flowed for all who came. It was there that Mr. Kendall obtained his early book training.
Farm life in a crude country possessed no attrac- tions for the young man. The fame of Buffalo was heralded abroad. The Erie canal had been built, traffic on the lakes was already of great importance. and Buffalo was feeling the impetus. Here, then,
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was the place for the young and the ambitious. So Mr. Kendall went to Buffalo. After a short time word came of Chicago, at the far end of the Great Lakes. Mr. Kendall went there. This was in 1846. Swamps and prairie wolves were the chief sights of the place in that year, and after four months Mr. Kendall returned to Buffalo. He engaged in business there until 1849, when he moved to Detroit, opening a large hardware and stove store. But Buffalo's attractions were still potent, and in 1551 he returned thither again. Shortly afterward he opened one of the first exclusively fancy-goods stores on Main street, continuing there for a number of years, until ill health compelled his retirement.
Mr. Kendall has always taken a deep interest in politics, and for years he was active in Republican- party affairs. When the part of Buffalo included in the old 2d ward was of much greater importance than it is now, Mr. Kendall was its representative on the board of supervisors for six years ; and later he represented the same district on the board of aldermen for two years. In both these bodies he was known as a worker, and the interests of his constitu- ents were never permitted to suffer.
While Mr. Kendall was a member of the board of aldermen he became con- nected with the movement for abolishing grade crossings. He was selected as the aldermanic member of a joint committee representing various interests, formed for the purpose of carrying on a warfare against the evil from which Buffalo had so greatly suffered. From that joint committee an executive committee, of which Mr. Kendall was a member, was formed to devise measures to accomplish the desired result. Finally, in 1888, the legislature created the grade-crossing commission. and Mr. Kendall was named . as one of the original commissioners. Through various changes he has remained in that body, giving much time and thought to the solution of the many vexed questions that have arisen, persist- ent in the face of much opposition, determined that the great work should go on, and striving to be absolutely fair to all interests concerned.
Mr. Kendall is a member of Hiram Lodge, No. 105, F. & A. M., having become a Master Mason in 1863. He is also a member of the Universalist Church of the Messiah.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Frederick Kendall was born at Darien, N. Y., January 6, 18.25 ; attended district schools ; went to Buffalo in 1847 ; engaged in business in Detroit, 1849-51; returned to Buffalo in 1851, and engaged in various mercantile pursuits ; married Elsey L. Saunders at Buffalo March 23, 1854; was supervisor of the old 2d ward of Buffalo, 1877-78 and 1881-84, and alderman of the same ward, 1887-SS ; has been a member of the Buffalo grade-crossing commission since its creation in 1888.
Charles Lamy is a scion of the old German stock that has been so prominent in the history of Erie county. His father came with his parents as a child from Germany in 1829, and settled upon a farm in East Eden. There the family remained,
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CHARLES LIMV
and there Charles Lamy was born twenty years later. One of his brothers, who looks back to the same old home, is George H. Lamy, the present sheriff of Erie county.
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MEN OF NEW YORK-WESTERN SECTION
Charles Lamy's early days were those of the ordinary farmer's son. He worked on the farm, and began going to district school when about six years old. At fifteen he left the school, as his parents were unable to provide further instruction. Then he began work for himself. He entered a grocery in Buffalo, and learned the business. He learned it well, and in 1874 set up for himself as a grocer. He began by paying heavy rent for quarters at Nos. 301-305 Elk street. Eight years later he bought the building, a large four-story brick struc- ture. He is now sole owner of the property, does a large grocery, flour, and feed business employing seven clerks, and is one of the best-known mer- chants of South Buffalo.
Mr. Lamy gave his grocery undivided attention until 1886, when he became a heavy stockholder in the Magnus Beck Brewing Co. He served the company as its president for nearly four years. During his administration a new brewery was erected, at a cost of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, Mr. Lamy acting as chairman of the building committee until the structure was completed. In 1895 he sold his stock, and retired from the business. He is extensively interested in real estate at the present time, not as a speculator, but as a conservative investor who believes in Buffalo's future.
Mr. Lamy's life was merely that of a quiet, pros- perous business man until 1893. In that year Buf- falo rose in revolt against " boss " rule, and to Mr. Lamy, who had never been a candidate for political preferment, there came a suminons to office. He received the Republican nomination for state senator in the 30th district, which comprised various wards in the city of Buffalo. He accepted the nomination with reluctance, and only from a feeling that such was his duty in the existing crisis. The year was remarkable in local politics, and one of its most striking incidents was the result of the election in the 30th district. In a constituency having a normal Democratic majority of 4100, Mr. Lamy, the reform candidate, was elected by a plurality of 940. The following winter he had the satisfaction of pressing through the legislature to final enactment measures that restored to Buffalo her rights of home rule. He was the author of other bills of benefit to Buffalo, and in 1895 he was unanimously renominated to the senate, this time in the new 47th district, and was re-elected by a plurality of 3889. In the legislature of 1896 he was the chairman of the senate committee on canals, and a member of two other important com- mittees. Among the measures connected with his name was that making an appropriation for beginning work on the new 74th-regiment armory in Buffalo.
Mr. Lamy is a member of various societies and orders. He is a Mason, and has reached the 32d degree in the order. He is a member of St. Mark's Methodist Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -Charles Lamy was born at East Eden, Erie county, N. Y., May ?. 1849, was educated in the district schools ; went to work in a grocery in Buffalo when a boy, and com- menced business for himself May 1, 1874, as a grocer ; married Magdalena Urban June 10, 1875, and Clara B. Demeyer June 10, 1885 ; was president of the Magnus Beck Brewing Co. for nearly four years, retiring from the company in 1895 ; was elected to the state senate as a Republican in 1893, and was re-elected in 1895.
George I. Lewis is one of the younger law- yers of Buffalo, but he has been for some time a prominent member of the Erie-county bar. The influence and prestige of a family name justly hon- ored in legal circles and everywhere respected, account in part for his success ; but the chief cause must be sought in his own ability and character as developed and tested in years of earnest professional endeavor.
Born in Buffalo four years before the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Lewis spent his boyhood and youth in that city. He prepared for college at the Briggs School, Buffalo, entering Yale in the fall of 1875, and graduating therefrom with the class of '79. The superiority of a law school over office training in the attainment of legal knowledge is now commonly conceded ; but Mr. Lewis had the best of reasons for preferring the latter method because he had the best of practical schools in his father's office. Judge Lewis was then at the height of his fame as a successful attorney, and his magnificent practice brought to his office all the material that a student of law could desire. With such a preceptor and such a field of study, Mr. Lewis could not fail to make rapid progress, and he was able to obtain admittance to the bar in 1881 after devoting to the task much less time than is commonly consumed in a law school.
Mr. Lewis began practice January 1. 1882, with his father and Adelbert Moot, under the firm name of Lewis, Moot & Lewis. When the senior member of the partnership became justice of the Supreme Court of the state on January 1, 1883, and thus withdrew from the firm, the remaining partners continued their association under the style Lewis & Moot until January 1, 1890. On that day Loran I .. Lewis, Jr., was admitted to the firm. and the old name of Lewis, Moot & Lewis was revived. Since September
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