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 53
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Though Mr. Hefford has been strikingly success- .ful as a business man, he has attained even more distinction in public life. He began to interest himself in political matters in early manhood, serv- ing as alderman from the 2d ward of Buffalo nearly twenty years ago. He took high rank at once in the municipal legislature, and was elected thereto for three consecutive terms. He acted as president of the common council during the last two years, and as president of the board of health during a part of his service. He was conscientious and aggressive, and especially distinguished himself in opposing the notorious street - cleaning contract which was vetoed by Mayor Cleveland, and which indirectly started Cleveland on his way to Albany and Washington. In January, 1883, Mr. Hefford was sufficiently prominent in the Republican party to receive the nomination for the Buffalo mayoralty when the vacancy caused by Cleveland's election as governor had to be filled ; but John B. Manning, the Democratic candidate, was elected.
Mr. Hefford has always been a strong supporter of the Erie canal, and has done a good deal to maintain and improve that highway of commerce. He is chairman of the executive canal committee of the state, which is composed of representatives from the important commercial organizations of New York, and which carried through the consti- tutional convention of 1894 and the legislature of 1895 the 89,000,000 canal-improvement appropria- tion. The canal committee also did efficient work among the people at large, and was the chief agency in effecting the approval of the measure by the voters at the elections of 1894 and 1895.
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In December, 1895, Mayor Jewett of Buffalo appointed Mr. Hefford a commissioner of public works, and the press of the city, without regard to gurty, warmly commended the appointment. There was general regret-when the fact transpired that Mr. Hefford's private business was sometimes concerned with municipal contracts, and that he did not think it proper under the cir- « umstances to accept the appointment.
Mr. Hefford has lately been made a member of the New York state commis- sion to the Tennessee Centennial Expo- sition.
'The list of offices in party organiza- tions held by Mr. Hefford is almost as long as his list of public positions. He has been one of the recognized leaders of the Republican party in western New York for many years. He has been a member of the Republican general com- mittee several times, and was chairman of the county committee in 1885-86. In 1887 he was made the first president of the Republican League of the State of New York, and was re-elected in 1888. He was a member of the executive com- mittee of the state league for several years, and was vice president of the Na- tional Republican League during the years 1889-93. He is now a member of the Buffalo Republican League and of the State Republican League.
Mr. Hefford has naturally been promi- nent in the social life of Buffalo. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the First Baptist Church, a life member of the Buffalo Library, and first vice president of the Buffalo Club. He was president of the Buffalo Merchants' Ex- change and of the Board of Trade for the three terms included in the years 1894-96 : he was unani- mously elected for the last two terms.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Robert Rod- man Hefford was born at Buffalo February 25, 1845; was educated in Buffalo schools ; was clerk in a wholesale house in Buffalo, 1862-63, and in the canal- collector's office in 1864; married Harriet Rosalia Whittaker of Catskill, N. Y., January 4, 1870; was alderman from the 2d ward, Buffalo. 1879-82, and president of the common council, 1883-84 : was presi- dent of the Republican League of the State of New York, 1887-88, and vice president of the National Republican League, 1889-93; was president of the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange and of the Board of
Trade, 1894-96 ; has been engaged in the coal trade in Buffalo since 1865.
3obn C. Jewett, the founder of the great manufacturing company in Buffalo that bears his name, was born in Cayuga county, New York,
ROBERT RODMAN HEFFORD
February 2, 1820. Central New York was not then dotted with schools of every grade, and Mr. Jewett was unable to obtain much education. Spending his summers on the farm with his father, he attended district schools during the winter, alternating work and study in this way until he was seventeen years old. He then made a start in the outer world by changing his residence to Ann Arbor, Mich., where his brother Samuel was engaged in business. Mr. Jewett went to work in his brother's store, and showed such aptitude for business that he was soon taken into the firm. By far the most important thing that happened to him in Ann Arbor was his meeting with Miss Priscilla Boardman in December, 1840. This acquaintance ripened into courtship,
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and the courtship culminated in marriage on Mr. Jewett's birthday in 1843. Miss Boardman was then in her seventeenth year only, but her strong and lovely character was already well developed. She was a remarkable woman in many ways, and Mr. Jewett's great success in life was doubtless due
JOHN C. JEWETT
in a large degree to the splendid intellectual and moral qualities of his faithful wife.
Soon after his marriage Mr. Jewett left Ann Arbor, and embarked in business on his own account in Albion, Mich. He remained there for several years, reaping as much success as could reasonably be expected in so small a place. The inevitable limitations of the town in a business way ultimately caused Mr. Jewett to seek the larger opportunities of a growing city ; and in October, 1849, accordingly, he took up his residence in Buffalo. Setting up at once a small manufacturing plant, he turned all his energy and wonderful power of application upon the enterprise. For nearly forty years he gave himself up to the business, until he had made it one of the
great industries of the country. Refrigerators,
water filters, and a multitude of other household utensils, have been distributed in enormous quanti- ties over every part of the United States and of some foreign lands, from the mammoth works of the John C. Jewett Mfg. Co. Mr. Jewett, of course, did not build this magnificent commer-
cial structure without substantial assist - ance- no man could have done that : but his was the dominating mind and guiding hand for many years. His sons, Edgar B. Jewett, the present presi- dent of the company, and Frederick A .. the present treasurer, and his son-in-law, Risley Tucker, the secretary of the com- pany, have all grown up with the house, and have had an important part in the marvelous growth of the business.
In January, 1886, after having worked hard for many years -too hard for his own physical good - Mr. Jewett retired from the active cares of business life. In May of the next year he received a severe shock in the sudden death of his beloved consort. This blow sapped his declining strength, and for the last few years ill health has forced him to live in Los Angeles, southern California. Un- der the sunny skies of that favored clime he is quietly passing the closing years of a useful and honorable life.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - John Cotton Jewett was born at Moravia, N. Y., February 2, 1820 ; attended dis- trict schools ; married Priscilla Boardman of Ann Arbor, Mich., February 2, 1843 : engaged in business in Michigan, 1837- 49 ; established in Buffalo in 1849 the business afterwards styled the John C. Jewett Mfg. Co., and actively carried on the same until 1885 ; has lived a retired life in southern Cali- fornia since 1SSS.
Fayette ikelly, one of the foremost citizens of Hamburg, N. Y., and an able member of the bar, was born in the town of Boston, Erie county, in 1849. He received a better education than most young men brought up in the country are able to acquire. Attending first the common schools of Hamburg, he there prepared himself for a course at Aurora Academy, from which he graduated in 1872. This paved the way for additional training at Ilamil- ton College, from which he received the degree of A. B. in 1876, and that of A. M. in 1879. This
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thorough education along general lines was fol- lowed by professional study ; and he was admitted to the bar in 1881.
Long before this date Mr. Kelly had attained marked success in a calling often made the gateway to a legal career. After leaving college in 1876 he . service of his community.
obtained an appointment as instructor in Greek and Latin at the Tarrytown Institute, and taught for the next five years in the famous town by the Hudson. He decided, however, not to make teaching his life- work, but to practice law ; and with that end in view he devoted much of his time during his resi- dence in Tarrytown to legal study. After gaining admission to the bar he thought it worth while to teach a little longer, and thus acquire sufficient capital to tide over the brietless period in almost every lawyer's early experience. He became prin- cipal of the Hamburg Academy, accord- ingly, holding the position during the school year 1882-83. The next year he began the practice of law at Hamburg.
Mr. Kelly doubtless acted wisely in changing his vocation, though he thereby handicapped himself, so to speak, by several years' delay in the race for legal honors. He was thirty-five years old when he began to practice law, whereas the average attorney probably gets to work nearly a decade earlier. Mr. Kelly, however, was admirably equipped for rapid progress when he finally opened an office among people who had known him all his life. Possessed of their good will in advance, he soon built up a sub- stantial clientage in Hamburg and the surrounding country ; and he has long enjoyed rather more than his share of the legal business in his part of the county. By the year 1890 he had his country interests so well in hand that he resolved to open an office in Buffalo, and carry on a city practice in addition to his out- side clientage. This plan worked suc- cessfully, and since then Mr. Kelly has transacted a large volume of legal busi- ness through his offices in Buffalo and Hamburg. He continues to live in the latter town, but his professional work is becoming more important in the larger place.
Mr. Kelly is a Democrat in his way of looking at political questions, and has long been prominent in local public affairs. He has represented the town of Hamburg on the Erie-county board of super-
visors for seven consecutive years ; and for three years, 1890-92, he was chairman of the board. Taking special interest in the cause of education, as might be expected from his early career as a teacher, he has done what he could to improve the school He belongs to the Masonic order, and to similar fraternal associations. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and of the Delta Kappa Epsilon college society.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Fayette Kelly was born at Boston, N. Y., June 5, 1849; gradu- ated from Aurora Academy in 1872, and from Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., in 1876 ; taught school, 1876-83 ; was admitted to the bar in 1881; married Katherine B. Keves .of Hamburg, V. Y., August 4, 1886 ; has practiced law at Hamburg since 1884, and at Buffalo since 1890.
FAYETTE KELLY
3obn Lund, conductor of the Buffalo Sym- phony Orchestra, and otherwise widely known in western New York as a musician, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in October, 1859. He is
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commonly regarded as an out-and-out German, but is not really so. Though he is a native of a German state, speaks German fluently, and has in great measure the ideas and instincts of the German people, yet genealogical analysis reduces the pure German element of his blood to one quarter only.
JOHN LUND
His father was a Norwegian, while his mother was of combined Russian and German descent:
Mr. Lund's father, who was a merchant, wished his son to enter the legal profession ; but the boy's instinet, inclining him strongly in the direction of music, had its way. His mother was a thorough musician, and encouraged her son to indulge his love of music. She became his first teacher, indeed, when he began the study of the piano at the age of six or seven. A few years later he became a pupil of Dinckler, remaining with him for seven years. Entering Leipsic Conservatory at the age of seven- teen, he there enjoyed the tuition of such men as Reinecke, Wenzel, Oscar Paul, Jadassohn, and E. F. Richter, the famous composer of text-books on
harmony. Mr. Lund graduated from Leipsic in 1880, having studied there the piano, violin, oboc, and organ, as well as harmony, counterpoint, and composition. Upon leaving the conservatory Mr. Lund was appointed chorus master at the Opera House in Bremen ; and two years later he was advanced to the post of assistant conduc- tor. In 1883 he went to Stettin as con- ductor at the Opera House in that city.
Mr. Lund came to this country in 1884. Dr. Leopold Damrosch, conduc- tor at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, went to Berlin in quest of an assistant. He wanted a young man thoroughly acquainted with the musical dramas of Wagner. John Lund was recommended to him as exactly the man he sought. A little investigation showed that this was so, and Dr. Damrosch en . gaged Mr. Lund as assistant conductor of the German opera in New York. After the death of Dr. Damrosch John Lund became the leader of Mr. Am- berg's forces in that manager's ill-starred attempt to produce German opera in opposition to the Metropolitan Opera House. After a year with Amberg and a short time in Germany, Mr. Lund accepted an offer to become director of the Rochester Liedertafel. He did not stay long, however, in the Flower City. The Buffalo Orpheus was looking for a director, and through William Steinway heard of Mr. Lund. A committee from the Orpheus society attended one of the Rochester concerts, and after the per- formance made a contract with Mr. Lund.
That was in the spring of 1887. Dur- ing the following fall and winter the Buf- falo Symphony Orchestra was organized, and Mr. Lund was invited to become its conductor. The organization at that time consisted of thirty-three men, of whom several were amateurs. It was not until the fourth year of the orchestra's existence that an entire symphony was presented. By hard and conscientious work Mr. Lund has made the organiza- tion favorably comparable with any of similar size in the United States. His work with the Buffalo Orpheus has likewise borne excellent fruit. In 1888 he took the Maennerchor to Baltimore, where the best singing societies in the country competed ; and the Buffalo society won first prize in the second class. In New York, in 1895, the Buffalo organization won third prize in the first class.
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Although Mr. Lund was educated in the strict classicism of the Leipsic school, Mendelssohn rep- presenting the extreme limit in modern music, he is naturally liberal in his musical tastes. His favorite composers are Wagner, Beethoven, Tschaikowsky, and Svendsen ; but a glance at the Symphony pro- grammes will show that he makes free use of the works of many other composers. Though Mr. Lund is a young man, his compositions are already con- siderable in number. Some of the more important are the "Wanderer's Song," for male chorus and orchestra ; "The Flowers' Revenge," a cantata for mixed chorus, solos, and orchestra ; "The German War Song," for male chorus, solos, and orchestra ; "Scène Amoureuse," for full orchestra ; "In the Garden," for string orchestra and harp.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - John Lund was born at Hamburg, Germany, October 20, 1859 ; studied music under Dinckler, 1869-76, and in the Leipsic Conservatory, 1876-80 ; was connected with the produc- tion of grand opera in Germany and New York, 1880-86 ; married Ida Louise Zel- ler of Buffalo in 1888 ; has been director of the Buffalo Orpheus, and of the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, since 1887.
norman E. Mack, editor and proprietor of the Buffalo Times, and widely known in western New York from his prominence in political life, was born in West Williams, Ont., in 1856. His family left Canada when he was still a child, and took up their residence in Pontiac, Mich., in 1868. There Mr. Mack became a clerk in a business house. Both the mercantile knowledge and the disciplinary training thus obtained were of great value in his important business undertakings later in life. After remain- ing in Pontiac four years, he availed himself of the greater opportunities of a large city by embarking in the advertis- ing business in Detroit and Chicago. This was his first experience in news- paper work, and gave him an insight into a most important part of the publishing business.
In 1874 Mr. Mack established himself in Buffalo. He had then been engaged in the advertising business two years, and was well acquainted with many branches of the difficult sub- ject. He continued, therefore, for several years to conduct various advertising enterprises in Buffalo.
Many of these ventures had to do with the press, and gave him considerable experience in actual newspaper making, and by the year 1878 he felt able to enter the journalistic world as a publisher. Establishing the Chautauqua Lake Gazette, accord- ingly, at Jamestown, N. Y., he conducted the enterprise with fair success for some months ; but in 1879 he received a favorable offer for the paper, and disposed of the property.
In September of the same year Mr. Mack began his long career in Buffalo journalism by founding the Sunday Times. For a while the printing was done outside the office, and not until 1881 was the first press purchased for the new paper ; while the first number of the Daily Times was issued December 13, 1883. Since the latter date the paper has made marked progress in both circulation and advertising
NORMAN E. M.ICK
patronage. In 1886 additional space became neces- sary for dispatching the enlarged volume of business : and the Times building, at Nos. 193-195 Main street, was secured and occupied. In June, 1887, a Hoe
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perfecting press was placed in operation ; in 1892 another Hoe press, a counterpart of. the first, was installed ; and in 1895 a Goss " three-decker " was added to the plant. In 1893 ten Merganthaler lino- type machines were set up in the composing room, superseding the old system of setting type by hand.
D. NATHANIEL MCNAUGHTAN
Until 1884 the Times was independent in politics, but in the presidential campaign of that year it came out strongly for Cleveland, and has ever since supported the regular Democratic nominees. Mr. Mack has been very active in political affairs person- ally as well as journalistically, and has had an important part in the counsels of the Democratic leaders. He has been a delegate to various local and state conventions. He was one of the alternates to the Democratic national convention of 1892, and was the New York member of the notification committee in that year. He represented his con- gressional district on the Democratic state committee for two terms, declining a third term. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of
1896, and was a member of the state committee in the presidential campaign of that year. He sup- ported Mr. Bryan vigorously, and enjoyed his con- fidence in a high degree. Mr. Mack, indeed, was probably the most prominent advocate of the " regular " Democracy in western New York, and thereby acquired great favor with those who believed in that cause.
Mr. Mack is a member of the Buffalo, the Ellicott, and the Press clubs, of the Orpheus and Liedertafel singing soci- eties, and of other social organizations.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Norman E. Mack was born at West Wil- liams, Ont., July 24, 1856 ; was clerk in a store at Pontiac, Mich., 1868-72; en- gaged in the advertising business in Detroit and Chicago, 1872-74, and in Buffalo, 1874-78 ; married Harrette B. Taggart of Buffalo December 22, 1891; estab- lished the " Chautauqua Lake Gazette" at Jamestown, N. Y., in 1818, and the Buffalo " Sunday Times" in 1879; was alternate delegate to the Democratic na- tional convention in 1892 and delegate in 1896; has been editor and proprietor of the Buffalo " Times" since its establish- ment in 1883.
D. Matbaniel MIDcTRaugbtan was born in Worcester, Mass., less than thirty years ago. Before he was six years old his parents moved to Auburn, N. Y., and the greater part of his life thus far has been spent in that pleasant little city. He attended the public schools there, but completed his educa- tion at the academy in the neighboring town of Weedsport, whither his parents moved in 1882. After leaving school he spent about a year working at the shoemaker's trade, and was then employed as an accountant for two years. first with Tompkins & Horton and later with F. B. Tompkins. By this time he had become ambitious to study law, and in January, 1888, he entered the office of F. E. Cady, judge of the City Court of Auburn, as a student. £ He remained there three years, working as a bookkeeper evenings and at odd intervals as the exigencies of his financial con. dition required.
Admitted to the bar in March, 1891, Mr. Me- Naughtan at once commenced the practice of his profession in the office of his former preceptor. Judge Cady ; and in the following December he
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opened an office in connection with John D. Teller, ex-surrogate of Cayuga county, with whom he became closely associated. After a few years, how -. ever, he decided to seek a more extended field of professional labor than Auburn could offer, and in June, 1894, he moved to Buffalo. He spent the first year and a half there as managing clerk for F. M. Inglehart ; but in February, 1896, he opened an office on his own account. His success in the practice of law at Buffalo has been singularly rapid and substantial. He was fortunate in having a chance to show his capacity while with Mr. Ingle- hart, who entrusted most of his important work, and all of his court and litigated work, to Mr. McNaugh-
tan. Having established his reputation in this way. and shown his ability to handle complicated pieces of litigation, Mr. McNaughtan has obtained a class of business that does not commonly fall to the lot of young lawyers. From the outset of his career as an independent attorney he has been able to occupy himself with interesting and important cases ; and his contested work has taken him almost exclusively into the higher and appellate courts. He has conducted these cases with so much ability, and has obtained a class of clients so substantial in character, that a high position at the bar of Buffalo seems assured for him.
Before taking up his residence in Buf- falo Mr. McNaughtan interested himself considerably in the local politics of Auburn, where he did good work in the organization of party forces and the har- monizing of opposing factions. He has never sought nor desired public office, and has declined such openings for political preferment as have been ten- dered to him. In December, 1891, Adelbert P. Rich, district attorney of Cayuga county, offered him the position of assistant district attorney ; and in February, 1894, he was nominated for justice of the peace in Auburn, but did not accept the nomination. As yet he has taken no active part in public affairs in Buffalo.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- D. Nathaniel MeVaughtan was born at Worcester, Masc., August 24, 1869 ; was educated in Auburn ( N. Y. ) public schools and Weedsport (V. Y. ) Academy ; worked at the shoe- maker's trade and as a bookkeeper in Auburn, 1885- ST ; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in
1891; practiced law at Auburn. 1891-94; married Elizabeth Manro of Auburn November 5, 1894; was managing clerk in a law office in Buffalo, 1894-96 ; has practiced law in Buffalo since February, 1896.
Charles T. Miller enjoys in large measure the esteem and good will of the people of Buffalo, where his name has been a household word for more than a quarter of a century. He has been both a cause and a result of the city's progress, and his fame in the special line in which he has won distinction has penetrated far beyond the state. In the livery and baggage business Mr. Miller has kept pace with improvements in the railway and steam- boat service. He has facilitated the movement of baggage and passengers, and rendered travel free from many of its besetting annoyances. He has
CHARLES W. MILLER
established an industry employing hundreds of men and operating a large equipment.
Mr. Miller may be said to have been to the man- ner born. His father, Jacob S. Miller, established
£
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in 1828 one of the first livery stables in Buffalo, sit- uated near the present Coal and Iron Exchange. Mr. Miller, senior, added to this business, in 1848, a line of omnibuses running from the foot of Main street to Cold Spring. Young Miller assisted his father in this business, and tells to-day how he used to sell omnibus tickets for sixpence apiece, or twenty for a dollar. Mr. Miller's reminiscences of those early days would make an interesting volume. He laughs as he tells of his father's prediction of ruin because the town council had passed an ordi- nance forbidding the blowing of the stage horn below Genesee street. On the death of his father, Charles W. succeeded to the business, though he was then -only eighteen years of age. Five years later the Buffalo Street Railway Co. came into existence, and a new order of things arose.
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