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 64
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only American member of the order of the Harıl- gari in this country.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Robert For- syth Atkins was born at London, Eng., February 24, 1837 ; was educated at Knox's College, Toronto, and Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Buffalo ; mar- ried Susan E. Wheeler of Buffalo June 24, 1857 ; served in the Union army, 1861-65 ; was local edi- tor of the " Evening Post," 1866-69, and paymaster of the Anchor line of steamers, 1870-76 ; was Com- mander of the Patriarchs Militant of the Empire State in 1886 ; has conducted an undertaking establishment in Buffalo since 1877.
William f. Bradish was born in Wayne county, New York, about forty years ago ; but his parents moved to Batavia when he was only two
WILLIAM H. BRADISH
years old, and there he obtained his education and his early business experience. Having graduated from the Batavia High School, he served for a time as recorder in the office of the county clerk of
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Genesee county, and was afterward .employed by his father, who owned a large wood and iron working establishment in Batavia. In 1877 he went into the newspaper business, establishing with Malcolm D. Mix the Batavia Daily News. When this enterprise *was well under way he sold out his interest therein,
BRONSON C. RUMSEY
and sought a wider field of activity in the neighbor- ing city of Buffalo.
Notwithstanding his varied experience, Mr. Bradish was but twenty-three years old when he began his residence in the Queen City. His first employment was that of stenographer for Sprague, Milburn & Sprague, one of the leading law firms of the city, with whom he remained for four years. He then acted as superintendent of the Gilbert starch works at Black Rock for a time. Subsequently he was connected with the firm of Bell, Lewis & Yates, coal dealers, and with Richard Humphrey, a flour and feed merchant at Black Rock. For several years past Mr. Bradish has carried on an insurance office and a brokerage business in real
estate and mining stocks, and in this he has been wholly successful.
Mr. Bradish is an earnest Republican in political belief, and has interested himself actively in public affairs for many years. In 1892 he was his party's candidate for alderman in the 25th ward, and his popularity was so great that he was elected although the district is usually strongly Democratic. Two years later he was re-elected by a largely increased majority, and in 1896 he occupied the important position of president of the board of aldermen.
For eleven years Mr. Bradish was prominently connected with the National Guard, serving most of the time in the 74th regiment. He was for a time first lieutenant of company B, Spaulding Guards; and afterward first lieutenant and captain of company A. He was also elected president of company D, Buffalo City Guard, comprising the old company D, the Gordon Highlanders, and the mounted Buffalo City Troopers. When he retired from the National Guard he held the rank of major on the staff of General William F. Rogers.
Ever since his early newspaper experi- ence in Batavia Mr. Bradish has been more or less interested in the publishing business, and in general newspaper work. He acted for a time as manager of the Black Rock Publishing Co., and he has done occasional work for different papers as a correspondent. He attends the Pres- byterian church, and belongs to a number of clubs and other organizations. He is a member of Occidental Lodge, No. 766, F. & A. M. ; North Buffalo Lodge, No. 517, 1. O. O. F. ; and Black Rock Court, I. O. F. His clubs are the Acacia ( Masonic), the Fraternity (Odd Fellows), and the Audubon, an association devoted to hunting, fishing, and shooting, and maintaining a well equipped shooting park. He is a prominent member of the Black Rock Business Men's Association.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- William Hamilton Bradish was born at Lyons, N. Y., April ?, 1856; was educated in Batavia public schools ; engaged in various business enterprises in Batavia, 1870-79: married Louise H. Reichert of Buffalo April 26, 1887 ; was an alderman from the 25th ward, Buffalo, 1893-97, and president of the board of aldermen in 1896 : has lived in Buffalo since 1879, and has con- ducted a brokerage and insurance business since 1892.
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Edward Bennett, president of the Buffalo Savings Bank, was born in the Queen City seventy years ago, and has spent almost all his life there. He was just twenty-one when the California gold fever of 1848 broke out ; and, with the enthusiasm of youth, he at once set out for the new El Dorado.
Returning to Buffalo after a year's absence, Mr. Bennett soon established a reputation as one of that city's most trustworthy men of affairs. In 1877 he was elected a trustee of the Buffalo Savings Bank. In Angust, 1890, he was elected its first vice president ; and in October, 1893, on the death of Warren Bryant, the president, Mr. Bennett succeeded to that office. The Buffalo Savings Bank was estab- lished in 1846, and is therefore the oldest institu- tion of its kind in Buffalo.
When the revised charter of the city was adopted in 1853, enlarging its boundaries to in- clude the village of Black Rock, and increasing the number of wards to thir- teen, Mr. Bennett was elected one of two aldermen from the 5th ward, and re- tained his seat in the common council by re-election for four years. In 1872 Mayor Brush appointed him a member of the board of park commissioners, and he held the office for sixteen years by successive reappointments from dif- erent mayors. In 1877 he was nomi- nated by the Workingmen's party for mayor of Buffalo, and the nomination was endorsed by the Tax Payers' Asso- ciation.
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Mr. Bennett is a member of the Buf- falo Club and of the Orpheus Singing Society. He has been a trustee of the Charity Organization Society of Buffalo ever since its early days, and has taken an active interest in its work of super- vising and regulating the charities of the city.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Edward Bennett was born at Buffalo February 21, 1827 ; received an academic education ; was a clerk in a dry-goods store, 1841-48; engaged in mining and other enterprises in California, 1848-49, and in the real-estate business in Buffalo, 1850-97 : married Mary Josephine Osier- Auchinleck October 19, 1885; was an alderman from the 5th ward, Buffalo, 1854-57, and a park commissioner, 1872-88 ; has been president of the Buffalo Savings Bank since October, 189.3.
Darlan Ul. Brush, editor of the North Tona- wanda Daily News, is a native of Ohio, and made his home there until his removal to western New York in 1894. Born in Nelson, Portage county, in 1865, he began his education in the public schools at an early age; and entered Mt. Union College when only thirteen years old. He took a classical course there that lasted two years ; but left college in his sophomore year, and began to make his own way in the world.
Mr. Brush has been connected from the first with the printing and publishing business, and though little more than thirty years of age, his experience therein extends over a period of fifteen years or more. He learned the printer's' trade in the office of John G. Garrison, publisher of the Alliance (Ohio ) Weekly Standard; and at the age of eighteen purchased a
EDWARD BENNETT
job-printing office in Alliance, and began to work for himself. In 1887 he formed a partnership with his former employer, Mr. Garrison of the Standard : and the next year he organized a stock company
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with a capital of $16,000, for the purpose of purchas- ing the two Republican papers of the place, the Review and the Standard. He became manager of the company, and conducted it for about six years with much success. The same year the company was organized he began the publication of a daily
HARLAN W. BRUSH
paper called the Daily Review, which became, under his vigorous management, a prosperous and well conducted publication.
In December, 1894, Mr. Brush sold out his inter- ests in Ohio, and moved to North Tonawanda, where he purchased the Daily News, which he has edited and published ever since. During this time the place has developed from a village into a city which is growing rapidly, and which presents unusual evi- dences of material prosperity. So thriving a com- munity offers an excellent field for a newspaper man of energy and ability such as Mr. Brush has proved himself to be, and he may be counted on to make the Tonawanda News a power in the Lumber City.
Politically Mr. Brush's sympathies have always been with the Republicans, and he has long been an active and efficient party worker. During his resi- dence in Alliance he served for a time as secretary of the Republican committee there. Since moving to Tonawanda he has taken a prominent part in public affairs ; and in the fall of 1897 he received an appointment as United States consul at Clifton, Ont., a posi- tion that he will doubtless fill with entire credit.
Aside from his newspaper business Mr. Brush has been actively interested in several manufacturing enterprises, and has become- thoroughly identified with the general life of the community. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega college fraternity.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Harlan W. Brush was born at Nelson, O., May 27, 1865 ; was educated at com- mon schools and Mt. Union ( O.) College ; learned the printer's trade at Alliance, O., 1880-85; married Annetta Hamilton of Emlenton, Penn., May 16, 1888; con- ducted a job-printing office in Alliance, 1885-87, and published a newspaper there, 1887-94; was appointed United States consul at Clifton, Ont., in 1897 ; has been proprietor and editor of the North Tonawanda " Daily News" since De- cember, 1804.
Carl Thurston Chester has practiced at the Buffalo bar for fifteen years, and is well known in the profes- sional and general life of the Queen City. Born in Connecticut forty-odd years ago, he spent his childhood and youth there, moving to Buffalo at the age of sixteen. He had already received an excellent fundamental educa- tion in the public schools of his native state, ending with several years' attendance at the Norwich Free Academy ; and he finished his preparation for college in the Buffalo Classical School under Profes- sor Horace Briggs. He returned to Connecticut to complete his education, entering Yale College in 1871, and graduating therefrom four years later with the degree of A. B. He took a high stand in scholarship from the first, and won distinction throughout his course. He received the Junior Exhibition prize and the De Forest medal, the two highest prizes in literature and oratory in the gift
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of the university ; and he was chairman of the board of editors of the Yale Literary Magazine.
Mr. Chester determined to follow the law as a profession, and he spent two years in New York at the Columbia Law School immediately after leaving college, graduating in 1877 with the degree of L.L. B. He then became managing clerk in the office of Bowen, Rogers & Locke, one of the most prominent law firms in Buffalo. He remained there for several years, receiving thus an excellent train- ing in the practical work of a busy office, and gain- ing experience that has been invaluable to him since. After an interval of about a year spent in European travel, Mr. Chester in 1882 opened an office in Buffalo on his own account. His success was marked from the beginning, and proves the value of thorough preparation for such a career. Large and important as is the clientage he has built up, it is the result of his individual effort ; for he has steadily re- fused all offers of partnership associa- tions, preferring to control the entire business of his office with the aid of an able staff of assistants. Though he has devoted himself to general practice, not making a specialty of any particular branch of the law, he has become widely known as the counsel for large estates, corporations, and business houses.
Mr. Chester's sound and accurate learning in the law was recognized in the early years of his professional life by his appointment as a member of the faculty of the Buffalo Law School soon after its organization in 1887. He has retained his connection with this institu- tion ever since ; and is at present pro- fessor of the law of insurance, wills, special actions, etc. Since 1882 he has been the secretary and attorney of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum ; and for upwards of ten years he has acted as secretary and treasurer of the board of trustees of the City and County Hall.
In the social life of Buffalo Mr. Ches- ter is well known, and he is especially popular in club circles. He belongs to the Buffalo, Saturn, and University clubs, and to the Yale Alumni and D. K. E. associations of western New York. He served for two terms as president of the Saturn Club, and is a member of the council of the University Club.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Carl Thurs- ton Chester was born at Norwich, Conn., August 1,
1853 ; graduated from Yale College in 1875, and from Columbia College Law School in 1877; was managing clerk in the office of Bowen, Rogers & Locke of Buffalo, 1877-81: has practiced law in Buffalo since 1882.
Gibson L. Douglass, vice president and general manager of the Western Transit Co., is a lineal descendant on his father's side of William Douglass, who settled in Gloucester, Mass., in 1640, and Major Brian Pendleton, who came to America in 1630 and settled in Watertown, Conn. On his mother's side he comes of a race of sturdy, honorable ship carpenters and seafaring men, who emigrated from Germany in 1630, and settled in New York. His grandfather in this line was Captain John Winans, whose career deserves more than a passing mention.
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CARL THURSTON CHESTER
John Winans was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y .. June 15, 1766. He learned the trade of a ship carpenter under his father, James Winans, whose shipyard was at that time a noted place for the
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building of ocean vessels as well as river craft ; and he ultimately succeeded his father in the ownership of the business. When Robert Fulton started the first steamboat ever built - the " Clermont " - from New York for Albany September 2, 1807, John Winans was on board. He had been brought in
GIBSON L. DOUGLASS
contact with the great inventor through Robert R. Livingstone, Fulton's friend and partner and the legal counselor of Captain Winans. Chancellor Livingstone appreciated the ability of the latter, and brought the two men together for the purpose of aiding Fulton to perfect his invention. Captain Winans had watched the construction of the " Cler- mont " with the deepest interest, and had given Fulton many valuable suggestions. When the suc- cess of the new invention was secured he immedi- ately contracted with Fulton and Livingstone for the right to build and navigate steamboats on Lake George and the waters of Lake Champlain lying within the borders of New York state. He at once set about the construction of a vessel for this
purpose ; and in the spring of 1808 he launched from the foot of King street, Burlington, Vermont, the steamboat " Vermont." This steamer was 120 feet long, twenty feet wide, and eight feet deep ; and had a speed of four miles an hour. She was the second steamboat ever constructed in America ; and Captain Winans, as her builder, owner, and navigator, may justly claim a high place among the industrial pioneers of the land. The " Vermont" com- menced regular trips between Whitehall, N. Y., and St. Johns, Canada, in the spring of 1809 ; and from that time until she sunk at Isle Au Noix in October, 1815, had an eventful career. During the war of 1812 she was used by Commo- dore McDonough and General Macomb for the transportation of troops and sup- plies on Lake Champlain ; and she took an active part in the battle of Platts- burgh September 11, 1814. During these years Captain Winans organized the Champlain Transportation Co. and the Lake George Steamboat Co., both of which are still in existence as part of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. system. The state of Vermont granted to Captain Winans and his associates, November 10, 1815, the sole right to navigate with steam vessels the waters of Lake Cham- plain within the boundaries of that state ; and this grant, together with his con- tract with Fulton and Livingstone for New York waters, gave him control of the steamboating on lakes Champlain and George. In 1815 he superintended the building of the steamer " Phoenix " at Vergennes, Vt., for the Champlain company, and the next year he built for himself the steamer " Champlain." Both of these vessels were burned within a few years. The steamer " Caldwell," which was built about this time, and of which Captain Winans was half owner, was the first steamboat ever used on Lake George. This vessel furnished the connecting link in the water transportation between New York city and Montreal, since the great thoroughfare between the north and the south at that time was by way of these two northern lakes. Having successfully established steam navigation on these waters, Captain Winans sold his interest in the two transportation com- panies and returned to his native city of Pough- keepsie, where he died June 5, 1827. He was married September 2, 1793, to Catherine Stewart of
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Poughkeepsie. Many original documents of unusual interest connected with the early history of steam- boating on the waters of Lake Champlain and Lake George were left by Captain Winans, and are now in the possession of his grandson, Mr. Douglass.
Whether it be owing to a special interest in the subject of transportation inherited from his grand- father, or to some other cause, the fact remains that Mr. Douglass's entire business life has been devoted to this kind of work; and that few men in the country have had a greater amount of practical experience in that line than he. The altered conditions of the present day have produced many changes in the transportation industry ; but Mr. Douglass has exercised the same foresight, en- ergy, and sagacity that were conspicuous in Cap- tain Winans's career, and has met with equal success.
Entering the employ of the Western Transportation Co. as a clerk in their office at Troy, N. Y., at the age of nine- teen, Mr. Douglass has ever since been connected with that company and its successor, the Western Transit Co. In 1865 he succeeded to the management of the Troy agency of the company, and held that position for upwards of fifteen years. In 1881 he was appointed gen- eral freight agent of the company, with headquarters in New York city ; and when the New York Central railroad pur- chased the organization in 1884, and it became known as the Western Transit Co .. he continued to occupy the same position.
During these years Mr. Douglass has been connected with various other freight organizations ; and his experience in all branches of inland transportation - canal, rail, and lake - has been remark- ably extensive and thorough. During a part of his years in Troy he represented the New York Central road as agent for . the Blue Line and subsequently for the Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co., both all-rail fast freight lines. From 1872 to 1877, also, he was the Troy agent for the Northern Transportation Line, a canal and lake line doing busi- ness between New York city, northern New York, and Canada via the Cham- plain canal and Lake Champlain. He was a director in this company, and at one time its general superintendent. In New York city his du- ties were still more varied and important. In 1890 he was appointed manager of the floating property
of the New York Central railroad used in the harbor of New York, and operated under the name of the New York Central Lighterage Co. At the same time he managed the grain elevators of the New York Central and West Shore railroads, and the East river piers of these companies. In January, 1897, he was elected vice president and general manager of the Western Transit Co., and has since made his home in Buffalo.
Mr. Douglass is a Democrat in political belief, but has never had time to interest himself actively in public affairs. He is a Mason ; and belongs to the Ellicott Club of Buffalo, and the Transportation Club of New York city. He attends in Buffalo the Delaware Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Gibson L. Douglass was born ot Chasy, Clinton county, N. Y.,
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JOHN WEMANS
January 22, 1839 ; married Anna M. Ojers of Chi- cago March 30, 1864 ; became a clerk in the office of the Western Transportation Co. in Troy, N. Y., in 1858, and has been actively engaged in the handling and
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transportation of freight ever since ; has been vice presi- dent and general manager of the Western Transit Co., with headquarters at Buffalo, since January 20, 1897.
James J. fbuff is one of the most popular citizens of Tonawanda, both politically and socially ;
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JAMES B. HUFF
and this fact is perhaps best accounted for by his character, which is modest and unpretentious, and generous to a fault. He was born in Tonawanda barely forty years ago, and has always lived there. He received a thorough education in the public schools of the town, which he attended from early childhood until he was twenty years old.
Public affairs have interested Mr. Huff intensely ever since he was old enough to vote, and he began to hold office soon after he attained his majority. Nominated by the Democratic party in 1879 for the position of village clerk, he was elected by a major- ity of 200. The next year he defeated a different candidate by about the same majority. His popu- larity was so generally recognized that in the three
succeeding years no one could be found to accept the Republican nomination against him, and he was re-elected each time without opposition. But Mr. Huff does not believe in monopolies, even though they be political ones ; and at the end of five years he refused to allow his name to be used as a candi- date, thus leaving the field free to other competitors. His next public office was that of village treasurer, to which he received a unanimous election. He has also served as trustee of the village, and has attended county and other conven- tions of his party.
Mr. Huff's allegiance to the Demo- cratic party was put to the test in 1896, when the free-silver declaration was in- serted in the Chicago platform ; and it was a question whether he should stand by his party or his principles. The lat- ter triumphed, however, and he cast his vote for a candidate who would maintain the currency of the country on a gold basis. In the spring of 1897 Mr. Huff was chosen to bear the standard of the disaffected faction of the Republican party in Tonawanda as their candidate for president of the village. That fac- tion had suffered defeat the previous year, and it was felt that he was the only man who had a chance of succeeding against the regular Republican nominee. The result of the election was most flat- tering, since he received a large majority of the votes cast. Indeed, Mr. Huff has never been defeated in a contest for any public office, and it is easy to predict for him further political triumphs in the future.
Of late years Mr. Huff has been prominently identified with the great lumber in- dustry at Tonawanda, having established himself as a wholesale lumber dealer in 1892. He is well known in Masonic circles, belonging to Tona- wanda Lodge, F. & A. M., and Tonawanda Chap- ter, R. A. M., as well as to Zuleika Grotto, No. 10.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - James B. Huff was born at Tonawanda, N. Y., August 14, 1857 ; was educated in the public schools ; married Etta L. Long of Tonawanda December 21, 1881; has served as clerk of the village of Tonawanda, village treasurer, and village trustee ; was elected president of the village in March, 1897 ; has carried on a whole- sale lumber business at Tonawanda since 1892.
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Edward C. Roth, one of the best-known insurance men of Buffalo, was born in that city shortly before the beginning of the Civil War. His scholastic education was not carried far and his present fund of general information was acquired by judicious reading and observation after he had left school, and entered the larger world of business. He prepared himself to take the course of study at the high school in Buffalo, but finally decided not to do so. Instead of that he began business life in his early teens by entering the old hardware estab- lishment of De Witt C. Weed & Co. Purposing to learn the business thoroughly, he remained with the house in various grades of service about five years, and thereby acquired not only a minute knowledge of the hardware business in particular, but also an excellent all-round training in general business principles and usages.
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