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 62
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PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- John Crook Morgan was born at Fairview, Erie county, Penn ..
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August 8, 1855 ; attended district schools and a com- mercial college ; married Hattie E. Dewey of Shelby, Mich., December 22, 1880 ; engaged in the manufac- ture of paper at Erie, Penn., and Battle Creek, Mich., 1878-90 ; was assistant general manager of the American Strawboard Co., 1890-91 ; organized the Niagara Falls Paper Co. in 1891, and has been secre- tary and general manager of the same since.
frederick IR. Deterson, well known in the legal and political circles of Chautauqua county, was born in the town of Ellicott, New York. His boy- hood and youth were spent in the familiar way that has so often in American life led to eminence - attending district schools, teaching school at times, and working on the home farm more than anything else. This was his life up to his twenty-first year. In 1877 he entered upon a systematic course of instruction in Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Institute, taking a classical course, and graduating from the institution in 1880. Having decided to follow the legal profession, he entered the office of Sheldon, Green, Stevens & Benedict, a prominent law firm of Jamestown, N. Y. After study- ing there zealously for several years, and acquiring valuable experience in the actual dispatch of legal business, he was admitted to the bar at Rochester in October, 1884.
Opening an office at once in James- town, Mr. Peterson has ever since fol- lowed his profession there. He practiced alone for the first few years, but in 1888 formed a partnership with Clark R. Lockwood under the style of Lockwood & Peterson. This association continued until 1892, when the firm was dissolved. In the same year Mr. Peterson formed a partnership with Frank W. Stevens un- der the firm name of Stevens & Peter- son. This connection has been main- tained ever since, and has been distinctly successful. Mr. Peterson has shown himself a prudent and sagacious adviser on legal questions, and a trustworthy agent in the conduct of litigation. He stands high in the esteem of the bar of Chautauqua county.
Mr. Peterson has taken an active part in political affairs, and his public life antedates by a year his professional career. Becoming clerk of Jamestown in 1883, he continued to discharge efficiently the
duties of the office until 1888. He was one of the supervisors of Chautauqua county from Jamestown in 1892 and again in 1893. In the fall of 1896 he received the Republican nomination for the office of assemblyman from the 1st Chautauqua-county district, and was elected by the extraordinary plurality of 5800. In the legislature he served on the commit- tees on judiciary, revision, and the Soldiers' Home.
Mr. Peterson is fond of social life, and is a mem- ber of various social and fraternal organizations. He is especially interested in Free Masonry, and has attained high rank in the order. He belongs to Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. & A. M. : Western Sun Chapter, No. 67, R. A. M. : and Jamestown Commandery, .No. 61, K. T. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the order of Elks, and the Knights of the Maccabees, as well as
FREDERICK R. PETERSON
the Jamestown Club, Albany Club, and the First Methodist Church of Jamestown.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Frederick R. Peterson was born in the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua
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county, N. Y., January 21, 1857 ; graduated from the Jamestown ( N. Y. ) Union School and Collegiate Institute in 1880 ; was admitted to the bar in October, 1884 ; married Edith S. Osgood of Jamestowm April 8, 1885 ; was clerk of Jamestown, 1883-88, and a member of the board of supervisors, 1892-93 ; was
CHARLES J. SHULTS
elected to the state assembly in 1896 ; has practiced law in Jamestown since 1884.
Charles 3. Sbults, one of the youngest newspaper publishers in western New York, was born in Cattaraugus county thirty years ago. He was educated in the union school at Ellicottville, his native town, and learned the printer's trade with R. H. Shankland in the office of the Cattaraugus Union, published at Ellicottville. Mr. Shankland was a friend of Horace Greeley, and a co-worker with the founder of the Tribune, and under him Mr. Shults obtained an excellent knowledge of the printer's craft. At that time, however, he had not decided definitely to engage in the printing and publishing
business ; and he therefore spent several months as a student in a law office, and also studied medicine for a short time.
Deciding at last that a business career offered greater advantages on the whole than professional work, Mr. Shults gave up both the law and medi- cine, and embarked in the business with which he has since been identified - that of newspaper publishing. His first venture was the purchase of the Pine Valley News of South Dayton, N. Y' .. which he conducted successfully for three years. In 1885 he bought the Cherry Creek Monitor, and consolidated the two papers, issuing a new sheet called the Cherry Creek News. He is still pub- lishing this paper, and is making it more and more valuable to its readers. In 1890 he bought the Gowanda Herald, and has conducted that publication with vigor and success ever since. In addi- tion to these undertakings he acted for a time as state editor of the Buffalo Enquirer.
Mr. Shults is well known to the news- paper fraternity of the state, having served for two terms as a member of the executive committee of the New York State Press Association. At the annual meeting of that organization in 1896 he read a paper entitled " A Year's Experi- ence as an Advertising Agent," that attracted considerable attention for its able and intelligent treatment of the question of advertising, so important to all newspaper publishers. His state- ments carried additional weight as being the result of practical experience rather than of theoretical speculation. This experience had been gained not only in his work as a publisher, but largely in connection with the Consolidated Country Press ; which he organized in Buffalo in 1892, and which he still conducts, in company with Edward Rutherford, under the name of Chas. J. Shults & Co. This association controls the advertising of about a hundred papers published in the territory tributary to Buffalo, and carries on a general advertising agency as well. Mr. Shults is now the secretary and treasurer of the Chautau- qua County Press Association. He is a firm Repub- lican in political belief, and conducts his papers in the interest of that party. He has never thought it worth while to seek public office, but served as town clerk of Cherry Creek in 1887 and 1888.
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Mr. Shults has been greatly interested in Masonry ever since he joined the order soon after attaining his majority. He was Master of the lodge in Cherry Creek for two years ; and in September, 1894, he was appointed by John Hodge, Grand Master of Masons of New York State, as District Deputy Grand Master of the 26th Masonic district. This appoint- ment was unsought by Mr. Shults, and was highly acceptable to the fraternity throughout the district, where he was widely known and respected. In June, 1896, he was again appointed to the position by Grand Master John Stewart, and served a second term with credit and distinction. He is the youngest Mason ever holding a position of this character.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Charles Julius Shults was born at Ellicottville, N. Y., Febru- ary 23, 1867 ; was educated in common schools ; mar- ried Eva M. Morian of Cherry Creek, N. Y., May 4, 1887 ; learned the print- er's trade at Ellicottville : was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of Masons in 1894, and again in 1896 ; has been a newspaper owner and publisher in western New York since 1882.
Elbert RR. Smith was born in the village of North Tonawanda little more than twenty-five years ago. He spent his childhood on a farm on the banks of the Niagara river ; and attended the public schools up to the age of eleven, when he became a clerk in a grocery store. His active career, begun at this early age, has thus been considerably longer than that of most men of his years ; and has also been unusually var- ied, embracing as it does both business and professional life.
When he was fifteen years old Mr. Smith became connected with the lum- ber trade, the great industry that has made the present city of North Tona- wanda one of the most important com- mercial centers in western New York. For a time he acted as tally boy and shipper. He then spent a winter at Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Buffalo, where he took a general busi- ness course, learning stenography and typewriting as well. In the spring of 1889 he entered the office of Smith, Fassett & Co., lumber dealers in North Tonawanda, as stenog- rapher and confidential clerk, and remained with them for the next four years.
By this time Mr. Smith was twenty-two years old, and had made a good start in business life. He was anxious, however, for a different kind of success from any to be obtained as a lumber dealer ; and as he had now accumulated some money he was able to gratify this ambition, and prepare himself for the legal profession. Entering the office of Lewis T. Payne in the spring of 1893, he applied himself for the next three years to the task of acquiring the necessary knowledge ; reading Kent and Blackstone, and familiarizing himself with the practical work of a lawyer's office at the same time. He took the bar examinations at Rochester June 17, 1896, and was admitted to practice July 29. For several months thereafter he remained in Mr. Payne's office, but on January 1, 1897, he opened an office on his own account.
ALBERT R. SMITH
It does not happen to many men to assume judi- cial duties within a year of their admission to the bar, but this was Mr. Smith's experience. The act of the legislature passed April 24, 1897, created the
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city of North Tonawanda ; and on April 27 Mayor McKeen appointed Mr. Smith the first city judge of the new municipality. This appointment was the more noteworthy inasmuch as the mayor is a Repub- lican and there were three Republican applicants for
R. H. BICKFORD
the position, while Mr. Smith has always been identified with the Democratic party.
Military and fraternal organizations have always been attractive to Mr. Smith, and have received his active support. He is first sergeant of the 25th Separate company, N. G., S. N. Y., of Tonawanda ; and a member of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation and of Alert Hose Company of the same place. He belongs to Niagara Council, No. 718, Royal Arcanum ; is Junior Warden of Tonawanda Lodge, No. 247, F. & A. M. ; and a charter mem- ber of Electric City Lodge, No. 663, I. O. O. F., and of Court Warwick, Independent Order of Foresters.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Albert Rock- well Smith was born at North Tonawanda, N. Y.,
August 18, 1871 ; was educated in public schools and a business college ; was clerk for a lumber firm in North Tonawanda, 1889-03; studied lui, and was admitted to the bar in 1896 ; has been city judge of North Tonawanda since May 1, 1897.
IR. 1. Bickford has been promi- nently connected with the leather indus- try in Buffalo ever since he first went thither thirty years ago. He was born in the southeastern part of New Ham- shire in 1830, and at an early age began attending the district schools. After he became old enough he spent his sin- mers at- work on a farm; but he con- tinued his attendance at school during the winter until he attained his major- ity, and in this way secured an excellent general education. When he was eigh- teen years old he gave up farming, and spent a short time as a brick maker, and then went to work at his present trade of belt and hose making.
In 1849 Mr. Bickford left home, and went to Lowell, Mass., where he worked at the latter trade for eighteen years for Josiah Gates. For the first four years he was employed as a journeyman ; but after that he became superintendent of the factory, and continued in that posi- tion while he remained in the establish- ment. By this time he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the business, and was desirous of starting out on his own account. Accordingly, in January. 1867, he went to Buffalo ; and estab- lished himself as a manufacturer of leather belting and fire hose, forming with Fred B. Curtiss the firm of Bickford & Curtiss. Two years later Fred Deming was admitted to part- nership, and the style became Bickford, Curtiss & Deming. In 1875 Mr. Deming retired, and the original firm name was resumed until 1883, when William C. Francis bought out Mr. Curtiss's inter- est, and the firm became Bickford & Francis. Mr. Francis died in April, 1889; and the business was reorganized as the Bickford & Francis Belting Co .. Walter T. Wilson purchasing the interest of Mr. Francis in the working capital, and Mr. Bickford's son, R. K. Bickford, being admitted to a share in the concern.
Mr. Bickford established his business in the beginning at 53 and 55 Exchange street, and he has remained there ever since. But though the
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location has been unchanged, the business has en- tirely outgrown the limited proportions of thirty years ago. More space has been required from time to time for the conduct of the business, and the staff of employees has been greatly increased ; and to-day the concern carries on the manufacture of leather belting and fire hose on an extensive scale, and enjoys a high reputation in the commercial world.
Mr. Bickford is an earnest Republican, and a firm believer in the distinctive Republican doctrine of protection for American industries ; but he has never taken an active interest in party affairs, nor cared to hold public office. He is a 32d degree Mason, and Past Master of DeMolay Lodge, No. 498, and attends the Baptist church. His greatest interest outside of his business has been the subject of music. For over forty years, begin- ning as a young man in Lowell, he sang in different churches, acting much of the time as choir conductor ; and he has also composed considerable church music.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Richmond H. Bickford was born at Roch- ester, N. H., February 8, 1830; was educated in common schools ; married Emma J. Tracy of Mercer, Maine, July 18, 1853 ; learned the trade of a belt and hose maker, and worked at the same in Lowell, 1849-67; has carried on the manufacture of leather belting and fire hose in Buffalo since 1867.
George Bingham was born in Lancaster, N. Y., and has always made his home there, though his work as a business man and as a public official has been done in Buffalo. He is a son of Henry L. Bingham, a native of Wind- ham, Conn., who settled in western New York when a young man.
After a general education in public and private schools, Mr. Bingham took up the profession of a civil engineer, and at the age of eighteen became a rodman in the employ of the old Buffalo & Washington railroad under William Wallace, chief of the engineering de- partment. He soon rose to more import- ant positions, and finally had charge of a division of the road as assistant engineer. part, also, in the planning and construction of other railroads in the western states and Canada, and worked for a year in the city engineer's department
of Buffalo, running the levels for the topographical map of the city. In 1575, however, Mr. Bingham abandoned the calling of an engineer, and embarked in the hide and leather business, forming a partner- ship with S. W. Nash, Jr., on May 1, 1876. This connection was dissolved six months later, and Mr. Bingham then conducted the business alone until May 1, 1886. In 1888 be became superintendent of the Thomson-Houston Electric Light & Power Co. in Buffalo, and held the position for the next three years.
In 1880 Mr. Bingham was elected to the state assembly from the 4th Erie-county district, and in the memorable contest in the legislature of 1881 over the United States senatorship, he distinguished himself by his vigorous support of the candidacy of Roscoe Conkling. In 1891 President Harrison
GEORGE BINGHAM
He took
appointed Mr. Bingham United States appraiser for the port of Buffalo : and since that time he has been occupied with public service, and has filled import ant positions in Erie county. He held the post of
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appraiser for three years, or until he was elected county clerk in 1894. His discharge of the duties of this office has been marked by painstaking care and attention to details, and he has made an enviable record as an honest and capable public official. In 1895-96 he was the chairman of the
CLARENCE W. HAMMOND
Erie-county Republican committee, and in 1895 he was elected president of the village of Lancaster. He is also one of the justices of the peace for the same town.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- George Bing- ham was born at Lancaster, N. Y., December 21, 1848 ; was educated in public and private schools ; worked as a civil engineer, 1866 -75 ; married Carrie Lee of Lancaster September 4, 1874; engaged in the hide and leather business, 1876-86, and in electrical business, 1888-91 ; was member of assembly in 1881, United States appraiser, 1891-94, president of the village of Lancaster in 1895, anl chairman of the Erie-county Republican committee, 1895-96 ; has been county clerk of Erie county since January 1, 1895.
Clarence VI. hammond is widely known and highly regarded in business circles in Buffalo, where he has lived for nearly twenty years. Though he is now so closely identified with the interests of the Queen City, he had a business career of con- siderable length and importance before coming to New York state.
Mr. Hammond was born in the little village of East Jaffrey, N. H., less than fifty years ago. He was taken West in childhood, however, and received his education and carly business training in Michigan. After attending the public schools of Saginaw for a time, he fin- ished his studies at Ypsilanti. At the age of sixteen he became a banker's clerk, gaining thus his first insight into the world of finance, which was afterward to be his successful field of labor.
After a short experience there Mr. Hammond engaged in a general mercan- tile business, becoming manager of a concern manufacturing lumber, salt, etc. He conducted this enterprise for a num- ber of years, and met with much. success. In 1879, in company with Wellington R. Burt of Saginaw, Mich., he estab- lished in Buffalo a wholesale lumber busi - ness and planing mill. The importance of Buffalo as a distributing center, where the product of the western forests could be advantageously prepared for the mar- ket, and shipped by rail or canal to all points in the East, was coming to be realized more and more ; and the ven- ture of the two Michigan men proved a fortunate one. Mr. Hammond took an active part in the work of the Buf- falo Lumber Exchange, an organization formed to secure uniform freight rates, and in other ways to protect the interests of the lumber dealers : and largely instrumental in effecting the passage of the bill to abolish grade crossings within the city limits. His popularity with this association was shown in the fact that when he retired from the lumber business he was elected an honorary mem- ber of the exchange, a distinction never before con- ferred upon a member.
In 1889 Mr. Hammond disposed of his lumber interests and made an entirely new departure, organ- izing the People's Bank of Buffalo. His long experi- ence in the practical conduct of business affairs ha;l been an excellent preparation for this venture in one respect at least -he knew what the patrons of a
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bank expect from such an institution. The result has proved that he also possessed the other qualities necessary to ensure success ; for he has been the moving and guiding spirit in the organization from the beginning, and the high stand it has taken among the banks of Buffalo is due chiefly to his able and efficient management. He has been cashier of the bank ever since its organization, and has given his undivided attention to it. In January, 1897, he was elected to the office of second vice president as well.
Though political nominations have several times been offered to him, Mr. Hammond has uniformly declined them, deeming any active participation in public affairs incompatible with a proper attention to his other duties. He is much interested in Masonry, in which he has taken all the degrees except the 33d ; and he belongs, also, to many other similar organizations. He attends the Unitarian church. He takes an active interest in all things connected with his adopted city, and has done much by his business foresight and acumen to main- tain and increase its prosperity.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Clarence W. Hammond was born at East Jaffrey, N. H., June 3, 1848 ; was edu- cated in Michigan schools ; began business life in 1864 as a bank clerk, and after- ward engaged in lumber manufacture in Michigan ; conducted a wholesale lumber business in Buffalo, 1879-89 ; married .. Adele E. Sirret of Buffalo June 2, 1881 :. has been cashier of the People's Bank. Buffalo, since its organisation in 1889, and second vice president since January 1. 1897.
3obn 00. bull, who for the last dozen years has practiced law at the Erie-county bar. was born in Buffalo thirty-eight years ago. After attending Public School No. 5 and the Buffalo Central High School, he prepared for college at Cook Academy, a well-known institution under the control of the Bap- tist church located at Havana, or what is now the village of Montour Falls. He then took a full classical course at the University of Rochester, from which he graduated in 1882 with the degree of A. B.
Leaving college then, with the world before him in which to choose his line of work, Mr. Hull deter- mined to fit himself for the legal profession. His studies were completed in due course, and in
October, 1884, he was admitted to the bar. In December of the same year he opened an office in Buffalo, and has practiced there continuously since. He has been content to stand or fall in his profes- sional career entirely on his own merits, forming no partnership associations ; and his present assured position and growing clientage prove the wisdom of his course.
Mr. Hull has never taken a very conspicnous part in political affairs, though he has long been known as an earnest Republican who could be counted on to work for his party. His only public office thus far has been directly in the line of his professional duties. In October, 1894, he was chosen by the Erie-county board of supervisors as their attorney : and has held the position ever since, having been reappointed in October, 1895, and again January 1, 1897.
JOHN M. HULL
In private as in public life, Mr. Hull is quiet and unassuming ; but he has many friends in his native city who know and admire his genial nature and many agrecable qualities. He is a Mason,
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belonging to Washington Lodge, No. 240, F. & A. M .; Keystone Chapter, No. 162, R. A. M .; Hugh de Payens Commandery, No. 30, K. T .; and Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He attends the Delaware Avenue Baptist Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -John M. Hult was born at Buffalo December 16, 1858 ; attended Buffalo public schools and Cook Academy, Havana, N. Y., and graduated from the University of Roches- ter in 1882; was admitted to the bar in 1884; has been attorney for the Eric-county board of supervisors since October, 1894; has practiced law in Buffalo since 1884.
Jewett MID. RRichmond is known to all Buffa- lonians as a business man of unusual sagacity and spotless integrity, and a citizen whose time and means for many years have been freely bestowed in behalf of every deserving public movement. The Richmond family came to America in early colonial days, and settled in Massachusetts. Mr. Richmond's grandfather, Josiah Richmond of Taunton, was a soldier in the Revolution ; and afterward removed to Barnard, Vt., with his son Anson. Anson Rich- mond took part in the war of 1812; and at its close emigrated to central New York, and settled in the village of Salina, afterward part of the city of Syra- cuse, where he engaged in the manufacture of salt until his death in 1834.
Jewett Richmond was born at Syracuse in 1830, and received a common-school education there. At the age of seventeen he became a clerk in a country store in the neighboring village of Liverpool, where he remained four years. He then went back to Syra- cuse as clerk in the grocery store of William Gere. In 1853 Mr. Richmond and two older brothers, with William Gere and William Barnes, began the manu- facture of salt and flour on an extensive scale. Branch stores were opened in several large cities, in each of which Mr. Richmond had an interest ; and in the spring of 1854 he went to Buffalo as manager of the branch in that city.
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