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 43
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Public affairs were always interesting to Juder Vreeland, as they are to every good citizen : a: in 1879 he became president of the village of Sa ... manca, holding the position for four years. He w. then elected supervisor of the town, and served on.
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the board five years. His legal and executive ability had thus been amply demonstrated, and he was soon to have an opportunity to display his judicial ability. In 1887 he was elected to the office of county judge, and began a term of six years January 1, 1888. So well did he discharge the duties of this position that he was re-elected in 1893. Judge Vreeland has many qualities that peculiarly fit him for judicial duties, and his deci- sions are generally regarded as both able and im- partial.
In 1888 Judge Vreeland acted as special counsel for the committee appointed by the assembly to investigate the Indian problem of the state, and wrote the report of the committee.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Oliver S. Vreeland was born at Cuba, N. Y., September 28, 1842 ; attended various schools and acad- emies, and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1869 ; married Anna M. Guilford of Cuba September 15, 1869 : was admitted to the bar in 1872, and began practice at Salamanca, N. Y. ; was president of the village of Salamanca, 1879-82, and supervisor, 1882-86 ; has been county judge of Cattaraugus county since January 1, 1888.
Walden MD. Vard, a prominent citizen of North Collins, Erie county, is somewhat younger than his well-estab- lished place in the medical profession might indicate, as he was born at l'er- rysburg, N. Y., not long before the outbreak of the Civil War. His early education was obtained in the district school of his native town, and this train- ing was supplemented by attendance at Angola Academy. He then taught school for several years. Having de- cided to make the doctor's calling his life-work, he availed himself of an op- portunity to read medicine with Dr. A. D. Lake of Perrysburg. His profes- sional education was completed, so far as schools and colleges go, at the Uni- versity of Buffalo, from which he gradu- ated in February, 1885, with an " honor- able mention."
Dr. Ward's preparation for the work of a physician had been long and unusually varied, so that he felt able to begin practice soon after gradua- tion. He decided upon North Collins as his field of action, correctly judging that the pleasant and
prosperous country town, with its accessibility to large places, would prove a desirable location for both residential ami professional purposes. He opened an office there, accordingly, in May, 1885, and has ever since followed his profession in North Collins and its vicinity. His practice has grown from the small beginning almost inevitable with young physicians until he now has a large and desir- able body of patients. He keeps in touch with his fellow-practitioners, and belongs to the Erie County Medical Society and the Lake Erie Medical Soci-
ety
He has been president of the latter association.
In social life Dr. Ward has naturally been promi- nent, as his calling has taken him into the homes of the people, and has made him intimately acquainted with large numbers of his fellow-citizens and neigh- bors. He is a firm believer in the benefits of
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WALDEN M. WARD
Masonry, and has taken high rank in the order, belonging to Fortune Lodge, No. 788, F. & A. M., Gowanda Chapter, No. 136, R. A. M., and Saki- manca Commandery, No. 62, K. T.
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Dr. Ward has had neither the time nor the incli- nation to run for office, but he is an enthusiastic Republican, and takes an active part in the conduct of local political affairs.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Walden Manley Ward was born at Perrysburg, Cattaraugus
CHARLES H. WICKS
county, N. Y., January 11, 1859; attended district schools and Angola Academy ; married Jennie Waters of Versailles, N. Y., January 1, 1883; graduated from the University of Buffalo in February, 1885 ; has practiced medicine at North Collins, N. Y., since May, 1885.
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Charles D. Vlicks, well known in James- town and the surrounding country, is a native of Chautauqua county, and has spent practically his whole life there. At present his name is connected with real-estate operations chiefly, but during the greater part of his life he has devoted his best efforts to the cause of education. Realizing the paramount importance to the country of the public-school
system, he has striven as teacher, school commis- sioner, and member of the school board, to improve that system and make it effective, bringing its bene- fits within the reach of all.
Mr. Wicks's native town was Ellery, where he was born in President Taylor's first year in the White House. He received a thorough common-school education, afterwards tak- ing a four years' course at the Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Institute. He graduated thence in 1869, at the age of twenty, and began his work as a teacher in the following year. His first position was in the Clymer Union School, and later he taught at Panama, N. Y., anu at Corry, Penn.
After a highly successful career as a teacher, Mr. Wicks was elected, in 1878. a commissioner in the first district of Chautauqua county, and held the office for four consecutive terms, or until Jan- uary 1, 1891. His sphere of activity was thus enlarged from one school to many, and the schools of his district profited greatly by his able and conscien- tious oversight. Having been so long a teacher himself, he possessed a practical rather than a mere theoretical knowledge of what was needed for the perfecting of the school system ; and the excellent condition of the schools to-day is largely the result of his twelve years of faithful and efficient service.
Since 1891 Mr. Wicks has made his home in Jamestown's beautiful suburb. Lakewood, where he has large real-estate interests. The firm of Wicks Brothers had an important part in the establish- ment of this village, as well as in the development of real estate in the city of Jamestown itself, and Mr. Wieks has the prosperity of the new community greatly at heart. He has been a mem- ber of the board of trustees of the village ever since its organization. His well-known devotion to edu- cational interests, and long experience in the man- agement of schools, led to his election as a member of the school board of Lakewood in 1891; and he has held the office continuously since, having re- cently been elected for another term of three years. He takes an active interest in all movements for promoting the welfare of the village, and is widely known in both business and social circles. He is a member of Lakewood Lodge, No. 628, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and of James-
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town Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Charles Henry Wicks was born at Ellery, N. Y., October 15, 1849 ; graduated from Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Institute in 1869 ; married Florence R. Robbins of Spartansburg, Penn., November 6, 1873; taught school, 1870-78 ; served as school commissioner in the first district of Chautauqua county, 1879-90; has been a member of the school board of Lakewood, N. Y., since 1891, and of the board of trustees of the village since 1893; has lived at Lakewood since 1801, engaged in real-estate business there and in Jamestown.
George Balts belongs to that class of ener- getic, self-reliant, and progressive business men, happily found in every thriving Ameri- can city, who are best described as good all-round men. He is a type of the pop- ular citizen, who knows everybody, and whom everybody is glad to know.
Mr. Baltz is a native of Buffalo, having been born in the Queen City less than forty years ago. He has lived there all his life, and few men who have grown to manhood since the Civil War are so well acquainted as he with events in the recent history of Buffalo. His earliest remembrance is of the closing days of the war, when Buffalo's brave regiments were returning from their posts of duty and of danger. He is a genuine New Yorker, and has compressed into a com- paratively short life all the activity and push characteristic of the closing years of the nineteenth century.
The educational opportunities within reach of Mr. Baltz's boyhood were such as the public schools of Buffalo afforded. He received a good common-school training, but lacked the means to pursue a collegiate course. Fortunately, how- ever, with a fair knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic, a young man endowed with a sound mind in a sound body need have no doubt of winning success in this land of promise. After spending a number of years in various mercantile pursuits, in order to find his bent, Mr. Baltz at last entered the commission busi- ness at the Elk-street market in Buffalo. Beginning as a clerk in the house of Oatman Brothers, he ob- tained an accurate and a detailed knowledge of the
commission business. For thirteen years he labored early and late, and succeeded in establishing him- self firmly among the merchants of Buffalo on the produce exchange.
Meanwhile Mr. Baltz had exerted himself in the political affairs of the conimunity, and had become a local factor in the ranks of the Republican party, with which he has always acted. In 1891, when Edward C. Shafer was elected comptroller of the city of Buffalo, he appointed his friend and sup- porter, Mr. Baltz, to the responsible position of tax collector. Mr. Baltz filled this office so acceptably that two years later he was nominated by acclama- tion, by the Republican convention of Erie county, for the important office of county treasurer. The result of the ensuing election evinced the wisdom of the convention's choice, and attested the popu-
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GEORGE B.ILTZ
larity of Mr. Baltz, since he secured a majority of over 11,000 votes. He is still performing the duties of this position, and is proving a safe and conservative guardian of public funds.
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Mr. Baltz is a man of genial disposition, and is connected with several social and fraternal bodies in Buffalo. He is a member of the Buffalo Turn Verein, and of three branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
HERBERT P. BISSELL
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-George Balts was born at Buffalo September 17, 1857; was educated in the public schools ; engaged in the produce commission business, 1878-91; married Ida A. Becherer of Buffalo October 1, 1885 : was tax col- lector of the city of Buffalo, 1891-93 ; was elected county treasurer of Erie county in 1893, for the term 1894-96.
herbert ID. Bissell is one of the best known of the younger professional men of Buffalo. He has been prominent in both law and politics, and has shown that such prominence is compatible with high standards of citizenship and personal conduct.
Born in a little hamlet of Oneida county, he ob- tained the beginnings of his education in the district
school there, and in the public schools of Lockport, whither his family moved when he was nine years old. Four years later he entered De Veaux College at Suspension Bridge. Then came the unusual ex- perience of two years at the Gymnasium Catharin- areum, a public school at Braunschweig, Germany. From this he returned to en- ter Harvard College, whence he gradu- ated with the degree of A. B. in the class of 1880.
That summer Mr. Bissell became a resident of Buffalo, and began studying for his chosen profession, the law. In due time he was admitted to the bar. For several months he remained as man- aging clerk with the firm in whose office he had studied. Finally, on January 1, 1885, he began practice for himself. At first he was alone. Then, on July 1, 1885, he became a member of the firm of Brundage, Weaver & Bissell. Six months later he entered the firm of Bis- sell, Sicard, Brundage & Bissell as junior partner ; and with this firm, under the style of Bissell, Sicard, Bissell & Carey, he remained until its dissolution October 1, 1896. This firm, founded in 1834 by Orsamus H. Marshall, was one of the oldest and most distinguished in Buffalo. Nathan K. Hall, who was President Fill- more's postmaster-general, was one of its early members. President Cleveland was its head when he was elected governor in 1883 ; and its recent head was President Cleveland's late postmaster-general, Wil- son S. Bissell. Thus a President of the United States and two postmasters-gen- eral have been members of the firm. Its list of clients was equally noteworthy, including corporations like the Lehigh Valley and the Phila- deiphia & Reading railroad companies, the Lehigh Valley Coal Co., the Lehigh Valley Transportation Co., and several Buffalo banks.
Among the duties of a good citizen is attention to political affairs. Mr. Bissell is a good citizen, and he has been active in politics ever since Grover Cleveland was a candidate for governor. In 1885 Mr. Bissell was nominated by the Democratic party for state senator for the Erie-county district ; and though he was defeated by 1500 plurality, he ran 1500 ahead of his ticket. That campaign is yet re- membered in Buffalo because of the series of speeches in German that Mr. Bissell delivered in the East Side. He showed a command of classical German
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that won the admiration of the Germans themselves. In 1892 he was nominated for district attorney, and this time, out of a total vote of 65,000, he was defeated by 44. Mr. Bissell was one of the founders, and for a time president, of the organization called the Cleveland Democracy. In his political career the governing qualities throughout have been devo- tion to principle and strict integrity.
Mr. Bissell is a member of the Buffalo, Saturn, and University clubs of Buffalo, and of the Reform Club of New York. He has been a trustee of De Veaux College since 1887 ; and has also served as a trustee of the Cary Collegiate Seminary at Oak- field, N. Y., and as curator of the Buffalo Library.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Herbert Porter Bissell was born at New London, N. Y., August 30, 1856 ; was educated at public schools, De Veaux College, and the Gymnasium Catharinareum, Braunschweig, Germany, and graduated from Harvard College in 1880 ; studied law in Buffalo, and was admitted to the bar in 1883 ; married Lucy Agnes Coffey of Brooklyn October 30, 1883 ; received the Democratic nomi- nation for state senator in 1885, and for district attorney in 1892 ; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1885.
Rollin L. Banta, one of the best- known and most successful physicians of Buffalo, is descended from excellent Dutch stock. The family tree, taking deep root in American soil in 1659, is an imposing specimen of genealogical development. One member of the fam- ily bore the name of Rip Van Winkle --- not the same good-for-naught Rip, per- haps, that Jefferson makes so lovable, but possibly the mundane source of Irving's delightful fancy. Dr. Banta's own father was a famous steamboat build- er in his day. The firm of Bidwell & Banta launched from their yards at Buf- falo some of the largest and most mag- nificent steamers that had ever sailed the lakes, or even the oceans, up to that time.
Born in Buffalo in November, 1846, Dr. Banta has spent most of his life in that city. After attending Public School No. 4 he went to St. Joseph's Academy three years, and afterward to Manhattan College, New York city, for a like period. Having thus formed an excellent preparatory groundwork on which to rest a professional structure, he entered the
medical department of the University of Buffalo in 1868, and graduated therefrom three years later with the degree of M. D. In the spring of 1873 he opened an office in Erie, Penn., and continued to practice his profession in that city for the next five years. At the end of that period he returned to Buffalo, concluding that his old home was prefer- able to any other city for both professional and personal reasons. Since then he has carried on his profession in Buffalo with uniform success, and with an increasingly large practice.
Dr. Banta has made no effort to specialize his work, and as a matter of fact his general practice is still extensive. He has been so successful, how- ever, in the department of obstetrics, that he has come to be regarded as a specialist in this subject. His standing in the medical profession is shown by
ROLLIN L. BANT.1
his appointment to many positions of trust and im- portance. For four years, ending in 1895, he was professor of therapeutics in the medical department of Niagara University : and he is now associate
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professor of obstetrics in the same institution. He has membership in the Buffalo Medical Society, of which he has been president ; in the Buffalo Academy of Medicine ; in the Erie County Medical Society, of which he has been president ; and in the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, of which he has been vice president. He is consulting physician in the Buffalo Mater- nity Hospital and in other institutions. He has written many scientific papers on medical subjects, which have appeared in various professional publica- tions.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Rollin L. Banta was born at Buffalo November 13, 1846; was educated in public and private schools in Buffalo, and in Manhattan College, New York city ; graduated from the medical department of the University of Buf- falo in 1871; married Sarah M. Ayer of Buffalo October 27, 1875 ; practiced medicine at Erie, Penn., 1873-78 ; has been a professor in the medical depart- ment of Niagara University since 1891 ; has practiced medicine in Buffalo since 1878.
Marcus MID. Drake was born in Cortland county, New York, in 1835. His ancestors, Eng- lish on one side and German on the other, came to America in colonial times, settling in New Jersey. His father moved to Chautauqua county in 1837, and there Mr. Drake spent his boyhood on a farm. His education was acquired in the common schools of Sheridan, near Fredonia, and in the academy at the latter place. When sixteen years old he gave up schools and farm alike, resolved to lead the life of a sailor; and ever since, with the exception of an honorable interruption during the Civil War, Captain Drake, as he came to be called, has been connected in some way with the transportation interests of the Great Lakes.
Betaking himself to Buffalo in 1851, he shipped before the mast, and sailed the lakes as a common seaman for the next four years. At the age of twenty he became a mate, and served as an officer on various sailing vessels and steamers until 1861. In that year he was appointed captain of one of the Erie-railway steamers. He had thus secured a fine start in his chosen calling, and might reasonably have expected continuous advancement and pros- perity. By the summer of 1862, however, every- one saw that the Civil War must be fought out in a life-and-death struggle, and Captain Drake did not hesitate to exchange his $1200 position and excel- lent prospects for the 813-a-month perils and hard- ships of a private in the regular army. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 72d New York volunteers,
and went to the front at once with the Army of the Potomac.
Captain Drake's career as a soldier would make an interesting narrative in itself. He took part in many important engagements, but was neither wounded nor captured. He was in the battles of Fredericksburg and of Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg his company was ordered forward on the first day to a most exposed position, not unlike the "bloody angle." The engagement at Wappinger Heights, though less memorable than the foregoing battles, was sufficiently serious to many of Captain Drake's comrades in arms. He took part, also, in the dangerous operations around Petersburg, in the battle of Five Forks, and in the closing scenes of the war at Appomattox. He was promoted at various times for valorous conduct in the field, and at the close of the war had reached the rank of first lieutenant. The document record- ing his honorable discharge from service contains this fine characterization of Captain Drake as a .soldier : " An officer whose strict attention to duty, gentlemanly deportment, and cool courage has won the respect of all his comrades."
Taking up his life on the lakes where he had left it three years before, Captain Drake remained in the service of the Erie railway, in command of various steamers, from the close of the war until the fall of 1869. He was then promoted from the position of master to that of superintendent of repairs of the Union Steamboat Co., controlled by the Erie lines. Two years later the Union Dry Docks Co. was organized as a part of the Erie sys- tem, and Captain Drake, in addition to his existing cares, was made superintendent of the company. These multifarious duties occupied his time until the fall of 1889, when he resigned his position, and thus terminated his long service with the Erie. He was soon made superintendent of the Lackawanna Transportation Co., organized in the same year, and has since held that position. After his retirement from marine service, where he had made a reputa- tion as a prudent and successful navigator, Captain Drake built up another and a more important reputa- tion as a business manager of unusual ability. He is noted for his uniform courtesy and fair dealing, for his fidelity to the interests of his company, for his prompt and vigorous dispatch of business.
In political life Captain Drake has always acted with the Republican party. In 1878 he was elected an alderman of Buffalo from the 11th ward, and was re-elected five times, thus serving twelve years altogether. In November, 1882, he was chosen mayor of Buffalo by the common council,
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to fill the unexpired term of Grover Cleveland, governor-elect of New York state. In December, 1895, he was appointed by Mayor Jewett a commis- sioner of public works of Buffalo for a term of four years from January 1, 1896. Captain Drake has shown in the discharge of public duties the same integrity and ability that have brought him success in business life ; and his fellow-citizens, without regard to party, congratulate themselves that Buffalo is to have the benefit of his counsel in the management of an important department for some time to come.
For more than thirty years Captain Drake has been a member of the Masonic order. He belongs, also, to the Grand Army of the Republic, having been the first commander of William Richardson Post, No. 254. He helped to organize the Niagara Bank of Buffalo, and has been vice president of the institution from the beginning. He was largely instrumental in the erection at the park meadows, Buffalo, of the bowlder monu- ment that marks the burial trench of three hundred unknown soldiers of the war of 1812. Another subject in which Captain Drake has interested himself to excellent purpose in recent years is the deepening of the Erie canal. As chair- man for the last three years of the Mer- 1 chants' Exchange committee on harbor and canal improvements, he has labored in season and out of season in behalf of Buffalo's lake and canal commerce. Largely to his efforts will be due both the extension of the outer breakwater in Buffalo harbor to Stony Point, and the enlargement of tlie Erie canal to a uni- form depth of nine feet. Both these improvements will strengthen the commercial position of Buffalo.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Mareus Motier Drake was born at Homer, N. Y., September 7, 1835 ; attended common schools and Fredonia (N. Y.) Academy ; served as sailor, officer, and master on the Great Lakes, 1851-62 ; served in the Union army from August, 1862, until the elose of the war ; married Mary A. Ludlow of Buffalo December 17, 1867 ; was on the staff of the Erie railway as captain and superintendent, 1865-S8 ; has been superintendent of the Lackawanna Transportation Co. since August, 1888 ; was alderman of Buffalo, 1879-90 ; is com- missioner of public works, Buffalo, having been ap- pointed for the term 1896-99.
30bn kelderbouse is descended on one side, as his name suggests, from Dutch ancestors, while his mother's people were from Connecticut. His life and character have been influenced by both lines of descent, and his prosperity is the natural outcome of a happy combination of Dutch indus-
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MARCUS M. DRAKE
try and prudence with Yankee enterprise and energv.
Born in Albany county, New York, in 1823, Mr. Kelderhousc passed his infancy and early boyhood in that part of the state. When he was nine years old he went West with his father, reaching Buffalo in the fall of 1832. That was before the days of trunk lines, and they made the journey by the Erie canal, which had been opened seven years before. At that time Buffalo contained only nine or ten thousand people, so that Mr. Kelderhouse has seen the place grow from a mere town to a metropolitan community, excelling in several important respects every other city on the continent. After attending the common schools of Buffalo he engaged in various
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