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. II > Part 28
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MEN OF NEW YORK -- CHEMUNG SECTION
his old friend, Senator Dennis McCarthy, had become president pro tempore of the state senate, and appointed Mr. Knipp his private secretary. He retained this position during the legislative session of 1885, thereby acquiring an experience in public affairs and an acquaintance with public men that have been of great value to him.
Mr. Knipp has been admitted to practice in the United States District and Circuit courts of this state. He has conducted many important cases, and has earned a position among the leading trial lawyers of Chemung county.
Mr. Knipp has always taken an active interest in polities, having served several years on the Republi- can county committee. He was for six years a member of the 30th Separate Company, N. G., S. N. Y. He is a Mason and a member of the orders of the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men, and the Elks.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Charles Henry Knipp was born at Corn- ing, N. Y., August 7, 1858 ; was educated in district schools and in Corning Free Academy ; studied law in the Albany Law School, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1883 ; married Jennie L. Walker of Elmira, N. Y., April 11, 1893 ; was electedl district attorney of Chemung county in 1892, and was re-elected in 1895 ; has practiced law in Elmira since 1883.
Edmund O'Connor was born in County Cork, Ireland. Perhaps to that fact is largely due his pugnacity, his elo- quence, his perseverance. No man in the Southern Tier is better known throughout the state than Mr. O'Connor. His long and distinguished service in the state senate, as well as his high standing in the legal profession, has brought him into much notice. As a politician he is famed for his ability to rally the people, to arouse their enthusiasm, to gather and hold a strong following. In the halls of legislation he is bold, sometimes defiant, ready to meet any and all comers in de- bate, prepared to resist an attempt by opponents to profit unfairly by any situa- tion that may arise, equally quick to secure for his own side all proper advan- tages in the game of politics. His law practice is extensive and of course profitable. Ile is one of the prominent lawyers of Binghamton, and clients. come to him from a wide range of territory.
'The qualities that brought Mr. O'Connor success in manhood brought him success in youth. His early years were spent in Little Falls, N. Y. He was but eleven years old when his father died, and he had to begin his battle with the world. He did not hesitate. He was ready to turn his hand to whatever honest employment he could find. He had already attended both public and parochial schools, but the question of further education presented a serious problem. By working in a hammer shop and railroad blacksmith shops at Little Falls he finally saved enough money to take a course at the Little Falls Academy, and later at the Delaware Academy at Delhi, N. Y., where he graduated in April, 1869. He began the study of law at once in the office of Judge Rollin H. Smith at Little Falls,
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EDMUND O'CONNOR
and in a little over two years was admitted to the bar. In August, 1873, he moved to Binghamton, where he has since lived, an honored member of the community.
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Mr. O'Connor is a Republican in politics. His first office was that of trustee of the Binghamton Asylum for the Chronie Insane, to which he was appointed in 1880 by Governor Cornell. Since 1881 he has been chairman of the auditing com- mittee of the asylum board, and bills for more than $1,000,000 have passed through his hands. Although he had been for some years actively interested in party politics, taking the stump in hotly contested campaigns and giving valued advice in party coun- cils, Mr. O'Connor never held an elective office until he was chosen in 1889 to represent the 24th senatorial district, comprising the counties of Broome, Delaware, and Chenango. He took his seat in the state senate on January 1, 1890, and his two years' service was so satisfactory to his constituents that he was re-elected in 1891. When the state was reappor- tioned the counties of Tioga and Cortland were added to the three first named, the five composing the 25th district, from which Mr. O'Connor, in 1893, was sent to the senate for his fifth and sixth years.
When the senate of 1895 was organized Mr. O'Connor was chosen president pro tempore. This was a recognition of his able service as the leader of his party on the floor, and of his ability as a parlia- mentarian. During his six years in the senate Mr. O'Connor served on some of the most important committees of that body, and was at different times chairman of the committee on commerce and navi- gation and of the judiciary committee. Besides the usual run of bills of minor or local interest that fall to the lot of every senator, Mr. O'Connor's name is attached to some legislation of state-wide importance. Chief among these measures is the " Bi-partisan Election Inspectors " law, now in force, which is designed to give each of the great political parties equal official power and representation at the polls. This bill was strenuously opposed in some quarters, but Mr. O'Connor's masterly management won success. He took an active part in passing the act providing for the state care of the insane, and he derives much satisfaction from his efforts in behalf of this humane measure. He was also largely instru- mental in the passage of successive acts raising the age of consent from twelve to eighteen years. Mr. O'Connor was a member of the famous Lexow com- mittee, which in 1894 exposed the monstrous corrup- tion of the New York police department, and through its discoveries wrought an entire change in the governing powers of the metropolis.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Edmund O' Connor was born in County Cork, Ireland, Novem -. ber 26, 1848 ; was brought to this country by his
parents in 1851 ; was admitted to the bar at Oswego, N. Y., in October, 1870 ; married Bridget Murphy of Deposit, N. Y., November 17, 1880: was elected to the state senate from the 24th district in 1889 and 1891, and from the 25th district in 1893, serving six years altogether ; has practiced law in Binghamton, N. Y., since 1873.
3obn ff. Darkburst has attained a profes- sional position that may well excite the envy of other aspirants for legal honors, having built up a law practice that is one of the most extensive in central New York. In political life, also, Mr. Parkhurst has achieved marked success, and he is one of the most respected leaders of the Republican party in his section of the state.
Mr. Parkhurst was born at Wellsboro, Penn., and received his education at Lawrenceville, in the same state. At the age of twenty he moved to Bath, N. Y., and began the study of law in the office of Judge Guy Humphrey McMaster. Two years later he was admitted to the bar at Rochester, and at once began the practice of his profession. In 1872 he formed a partnership with his former instructor, judge McMaster, which lasted until the death of the latter in 1887. The firm enjoyed an important practice in both the state and federal courts, Mr. Parkhurst de- voting his special attention for many years to bank- ruptcy and equity causes in the United States District and Circuit courts.
Among the important cases successfully carried through the state courts by him was that of Griffith Jones against the Bradford Oil Co. and others. Cor- porations are proverbially hard to fight, and it was not until after seven years of litigation and three jury trials that Mr. Parkhurst succeeded in winning a ver- dict for his client. But the victory was worth all it cost, for it established the right of the plaintiff to three hundred acres of oil land valued at several hundred thousand dollars, in virtue of a tax title that cost him less than fifty cents an acre. Another of Mr. Parkhurst's legal victories was the case of Silvey against Lindsay, in which the Court of Appeals passed upon the constitutional right of the thousand or more inmates of the State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home to acquire a voting residence in the town of Bath, where the institution is situated.
While Mr. Parkhurst has not sought political office, he has been for years an earnest and active Republican, and a prominent member of committees and conventions. Since 1889 he has been chairman of the Republican committee of Steuben county, and since 1890 he has represented the 29th congressional district in the Republican state committee. He is
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MEN OF NEW YORK-CHEMUNG SECTION
also a member of the executive committee of the state committee. He was a delegate to the Republi- can national convention of 1888, and alternate dele- gate at large to the convention of 1892. He was the first delegate chosen from New York state to the Republican national convention of 1896 in St. Louis. The high esteem in which he is held by his party throughout the state was evi- denced by his election as state delegate at large to the constitutional convention of 1894. He exercised an important in- fluence upon the deliberations of that body, as a member of the judiciary and suffrage committees, and chairman of the - - committee on county, town, and village officers.
Since 1890 Mr. Parkhurst has added to his other duties that of editor of the Steuben Courier, one of the leading Re- publican weeklies in the state. It goes without saying that he is a public-spirited citizen, actively interested in all move- ments for the welfare of the community of which he is an honored member. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- John Foster Parkhurst was born at Wells- boro, Penn., February 17, 1843; was educated in common schools and by private tutors ; was admitted to the bar at Roches- ter in 1865 ; married Alice McMaster of Bath, N. Y., July 22, 1886 ; was a dele- gate to the Republican national conventions of 1888, 1892, and 1896, and to the New York state constitutional convention of 1894 ; has been chairman of the Repub- lican committee of Steuben county since 1889, and member of the Republican state committee since 1890; has edited the Steuben " Courier" since 1890.
Jackson Richardson is one of the men who, by their prominence in the business life of a community, become exponents of the enterprise of the cities in which they live. Such men as he have made American cities, by building up the industries that draw men together. As a manufacturer he has made his name known throughout a wide territory, and has attained prominence among the business men, not only of his own city but of the whole state. This has been accomplished, not by any brilliant or sensational feat, but by steady. patient attention to whatever work lay nearest at hand. Never in his life has he speculated. His investments have
depended not on chance, but on legitimate business conditions. He is a modest man, content with such recognition as may be spontaneously accorded ; but it may be said of him, altogether in keeping with this attitude, that the rock on which he has founded his fortune is striet business integrity.
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JOHN F. PARKHURST
Mr. Richardson comes of sturdy New England stock. His father, when a young man, settled in Utica, then a part of " the West " in the view of New England people. Here the subject of this sketch was born, and here he obtained, in the com- mon schools, such education as sufficed for the business life in which he was to engage. When Jackson was eleven years old, his father moved to Almond, Allegany county, then a little settlement among the pine lands, devoted to lumber camps and desultory attempts at farming. Lumbermen and farmers need shoes, however, and Mr. Richardson, who was a shoemaker by trade, set out to meet the need. Jackson, with his three brothers, was set to work helping his father, and thus received practical
MEN OF NEW YORK-CHEMUNG SECTION
education in the occupation that was to constitute his life-work. The pioneer shoe factory prospered, and as the country developed the demand for Rich- ardson shoes increased. The enterprise of the family led them to push out into new markets, until in the course of time a prosperous business had been
JACKSON RICHARDSON
built up. Jackson worked in the factory, bought and sold goods, and attended to many details, thus forming business habits of accuracy and thoroughness to which much of his later success has been due. On coming of age he was given an interest in the business. Gradually he accumulated capital of his own, and after ten years' partnership with his father, he determined to seek a larger field on his own account.
He opened a factory in Elmira, on Water street near the Erie-railway bridge. Boots and coarse shoes were turned out, and were sold in New York and Pennsylvania, supplying a trade of the same class, for the most part, as that served by his father. Suc- cess came slowly but steadily. In 1865 his building
was wrecked by a flood, but the owner rebuilt it for him, and after several months' suspension Mr. Richardson was able to resume operations. The business was gradually extended until in time it attained its present rank among the leading shoe factories of central New York. The year following the flood, Mr. Richardson bought the building in which he was located. This soon proved inadequate, and he finally built his present factory on the corner of Railroad avenue and Market street. He then had his old building removed, and erected in its place the beautiful structure known as the Odd Fellows' Temple.
Mr. Richardson has always been a strong Democrat, but has never sought nor held public office. He joined the Episcopal church soon after settling in Elmira, and has been an active member ever since, contributing liberally to the support of the church.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Jackson Richardson was born at Utica, N. Y., April 27, 1829 ; was educated in common schools ; began business, with his father, at Almond, N. Y., in 1850; married Emma Hickman November 10, 1862 ; has carried on a shoe manufactory at Elmira, N. Y., since 1861.
William findlay Rogers, superintendent of the state Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Bath, N. Y., has filled a large place in the public life of Buffalo and western New York. Ile went to Buffalo in 1846, to work at his trade as a printer ; and both the Buffalo Express and the Buffalo Courier include Mr. Rogers among the noted men who have served them as compositors. Hé established one of the daily newspapers of Buffalo, the Republic, after- wards known as the Times-Republic. He went to the front with the first Buffalo regiment, the 21st, at the outbreak of the war, and served his country for two years in the field. During the later '60's he filled the offices successively of auditor, comptroller, and mayor of the city. His public career was crowned, before his removal to Bath, by election as a member of the 48th congress.
It was as mayor, however, that General Rogers performed the service for which he is best entitled to the gratitude of all Buffalonians. During his teri he was largely instrumental in establishing the pres- ent beautiful park system of the city. He was the
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MEN OF NEW YORK-CHEMUNG SECTION'
first president of the board of park commissioners, and was subsequently its secretary and treasurer for many years. The Buffalo of that day gave little indication of its present greatness, and only men of remarkable foresight and unbounded faith in the future of the city could have had the sagacity to lay out so extensive a park system as was then designed .. Another service that General Rogers rendered to Buffalo was his work as secretary and treasurer of the Buffalo State Hospital while it was in course of construction.
General Rogers was born near Easton, Penn., but was taken to Philadelphia early in life when his father, General Thomas J. Rogers, was appointed naval officer there. Mr. Rogers attended a select . school in Philadelphia for about five years, but was obliged to leave school at the age of twelve on account of the death of his father. He learned the trade of printer in the office of the Easton ( Penn. ) Whig. After mastering the art he worked for two years in Philadelphia, and then, when only twenty years of age, began the publication of a weekly paper of his own at Hones- dale, Penn.
The establishment of the Buffalo Re- public was due to the desire of politicians of the "Barnburner" faction to obtain an organ. Mr. Rogers was the manager of the paper ; and his partners in the enterprise were James Albro, George Livingston, James Stridiron, and Peter Howden.
The son of a soldier, Mr. Rogers had a natural inclination for military affairs, and on going to Buffalo he joined com- pany D, Buffalo City Guards. During his thirty-two years' residence in Buffalo he continued his connection with local military organizations, rising through the several gradations from private to major general. He held the latter position until the several division districts of the State National Guard were abolished, when the office became supernumerary. At the outbreak of the war he was a captain in company C, 74th regiment. The regi- ment volunteered under the first call of the President for 75,000 volunteers for ninety days, but the order for its move- ment to the front was countermanded, and volunteers for two years called for instead. Ten companies recruited in Buffalo and vicinity, rendezvoused at . Elmira, and were organized as the 21st regiment,
New York volunteers ; and Captain Rogers was unanimously elected colonel. He took part in the Maryland and Virginia campaigns, and was mustered ont at the close of his two years' service. He was brevetted brigadier general by President Johnson for faithful service in the field. He was then appointed commissioner of enrollment, and afterwards provost marshal of the 30th district of New York.
General Rogers stands high in the Masonic order, having been Master of Hiram Lodge, No. 105, High Priest of Buffalo Chapter, and Eminent Com- mander of Lake Erie Commandery. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic ; and has been post commander of Chapin and Bidwell- Wilkinson posts, past department commander of the Department of New York, and past president of the State Military Association. He was appointed
WILLIAM FINDLAY ROGERS
inspector general on the staff of General Hartranft when that officer was elected commander in chief. PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-William Find- lay Rogers was born in Forks township, Penn., March
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1, 1820; published a paper at Honesdale, Penn., 1840-44 ; married Caroline M. Waldron of Hones- dale, Penn., June 20, 1842, and Phoebe Demony of Buffalo September 20, 1849 ; moved to Buffalo in 1846, and established the Buffalo " Republic" in 1850 ; served in the Union army, 1861-63 : was
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E. M. TIERNEY
auditor of Buffalo in 1864, comptroller in 1866, and mayor in 1868 ; was a member of the 48th congress, 1883-85 ; has been superintendent of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Bath, N. Y., since 1887.
JE. MID. Tierney is classed with the most ener- getic and public-spirited citizens of Binghamton. Ilis career is a source of encouragement to young men who start in life with no capital except a good character and the blessings of a public-school educa- tion. He was born in Susquehanna, Penn., where he attended school till his fifteenth year. He was a bright student and learned quickly. He early evinced a decided talent for literary pursuits, and served as correspondent of many newspapers. His
contributions to the press elicited most favorable comments, and were an earnest of the literary pro- ductions of more mature years. He has been a close student, devoting his leisure time and thought princi- pally to public questions and affairs ; and his opin- ions are always sought, and held in deserved esteem. Mr. Tierney's first business position was that of a clerk in his father's grocery. He spent three years in this business, and then became clerk of a hotel, thus enter- ing upon the business in which he has earned inost signal success. As a Boniface Mr. Tierney bas few equals, and his popu- larity among his associates has been re- peatedly attested by his election as presi- dent of the New York State Hotel Association, comprising a membership of over a thousand hotel-keepers. Mr. Tierney's rise in the hotel business has been unusually rapid and successful. It was in 1885 that he made his first venture, forming in that year a partnership with T. J. Brosnan of New York, and leasing with him the famous old Seaside House at Rockaway Beach, L. 1. After two years of prosperous management, Mr. Tierney sold out his interest to his part- ner, and went to Binghamton, N. Y.
It was there that Mr. Tierney's capacity and ability first had an ample field. In company with J. W. Kennedy he built the magnificent Arlington hotel, which to-day constitutes one of Binghamton's chief attractions, and is a fitting monu- ment to the sagacity and enterprise of the owners.
Mr. Tierney is especially interested in hotel associations, and is a strong advo- cate of the necessity of such organization among hotel-keepers. Three successive times he has been elected president of the New York State Hotel Association ; and he was elected first vice president of the National Hotel Keepers Association in 1894. He is an ardent supporter of the principles of the Hotel Men's Mutual Benefit Association of the United States.
While never a candidate for political office, MIr. Tierney has sat as a delegate in Democratic conven- tions, and is a prominent and an influential member of his party. He has many qualities that would make him a strong candidate, if he should enter the po- litical field. He is recognized as a forcible and fluent speaker, of commanding presence and pleasing ad- dress, and possesses marked executive ability. As
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presiding officer in various organizations, Mr. Tier- nes has delivered many notable addresses displaying a high order of literary merit and a wide and thorough knowledge of the subjects treated. He has been an active factor in the recent develop- ment of Binghamton, and his value has received recognition in his election as president of the Board of Trade for two successive years. To his realous efforts the city owes much of its present pro- gressive spirit. Few men are better known through- out the state, especially to legislators ; for it has been one of Mr. Tierney's duties as president of the New York State Hotel Association to watch legisla- tion at Albany, and see that no statutes unjust to the calling slipped into the laws.
Mr. Tierney is a member of various fraternal bodies, chiefly of a benevolent character. domestic in his tastes, and is happiest in the midst of his family. He has one daughter, Mary Genevieve, aged fourteen years, and one son, Edwin 31., aged eight.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Edward M. Tierney was born at Susque- hanna, Penn., November 11, 1858 ; was educated in the public schools ; married Nellie E. Hogan of Susquehanna December 30, 1879 ; engaged in the grocery business in Susquehanna, 1879-85 ; has been one of the owners and proprietors of the Arling- ton hotel, Binghamton, N. Y., since 1887.
Theron Augustus Tales is descended from Puritan ancestry, the earliest American progenitor of his family having settled at Dorchester, Mass., in 1635. Dr. Wales was born in the Bay State, in the quaint old town of South Weymouth. He was trained in the public" schools, and prepared for college at Kim- ball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., where he graduated as valedictorian in a class of fifty-six students. He entered Dartmouth College, but adverse circum- stances required him to withdraw and take to teaching. He was afterwards able to pursue a special course at the Uni- versity of Michigan, and subsequently matriculated as a medical student in the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1873.
Dr. Wales began his professional life at Elmira in partnership with Dr. S. O. Gleason, who conducted the well-known Gleason Sanitarium there for many years. This association continued until 1879, when
He is
the partnership was dissolved and Dr. Wales opened a private office, and has since practiced alone.
It is not often that physicians have either the incli- nation or the aptitude for political affairs, but it is safe to assert that if Dr. Wales had chosen the pro- fession of law instead of that of medicine, he would have filled by this time many important offices in the gift of the people. As it is, he has frequently been requested to run for various positions, but has uniformly declined ; and he has accepted appointive positions only when they were in line with his pro- fession, or involved a call to duty not to be ignored.
Dr. Wales is an active and a prominent member of the Republican party. In all important cam- paigns he is an influential factor, both by counsel and by contributions to the press, in directing the efforts of his party and promoting its success. He
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