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 32
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Mr. Green was now twenty-one years old. He had lived in the country all his life, and had enjoyed only slight educational advantages : but the more important conditions of character and disciplinary training were strongly in his favor. Becoming a traveling salesman, he obtained more time for his own purposes. While attending strictly to business during business hours, he spent his evenings, not to say a considerable part of his nights, in reading and hard study. He continued this process of self- .education for years, and in that way made up in great measure for the lack of a collegiate training.
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Continuing "on the road," Mr. Green entered the service of Ford & Evans, and built up for them a substantial trade in " Eureka " bituminous coal, mined by Berwind, White & Co. He was so success- ful, indeed, and so strongly impressed his employers with a sense of his character and business capacity, that he was admitted to the firm, on the retirement of Captain Evans, as a full partner. The style was Ford & Green for four years, or until Mr. Ford retired from the concern. Since then Mr. Green has conducted the business alone, representing the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. of Philadelphia and New York as general sales-agent for the Empire State and Canada. Having canvassed the territory himself for years, and established pleasant business and personal relations with hundreds of customers, Mr. Green has an exceedingly large bituminous-coal trade -the largest, probably, of any sin- gle dealer in the state. Aside from his coal business and from real-estate inter- ests, he is concerned with various enter- prises : he is president of the Bundy Mfg. Co., making the Bundy automatic time recorders ; half owner and manag- ing partner of the Binghamton Cigar Co .; partner in the firm of Berry & Green, wholesale dealers in flour, feed, and grain ; stockholder and director in the Binghamton House Furnishing Co. and in several other enterprises.
Having so many and so varied busi- ness interests, and devoting thereto an amount of time and energy that would more than exhaust the capacity of most men, Mr. Green has nevertheless given much attention to political affairs. He began to take an interest in such matters as a young inan, becoming an ardent Republican early in life. Elected in 1887 alderman from the 3d ward of Bing- hamton, and made president of the com- mon council the next year, he devoted his wonderful business ability to the benefit of the city in various ways. To his efforts may be ascribed in great : measure Binghamton's effective system : of sewers, its asphalt pavements, the full- deck bridge across the Chenango river. and many other municipal improvements. He was also largely instrumental in securing the location at Binghamton of the Home for commercial travelers. He has long been a " diplomat of commerce " himself, and has taken great interest in the Commercial Travelers' Home
Association. He was elected president of the organization in October, 1895, and was re-elected a year later.
In 1889 the Republican party nominated Mr. Green for the mayoralty of Binghamton, but he failed of election by a narrow margin. Nominated again in 1893, he was elected by a substantial major- ity ; and in February, 1895, he was re-elected by the largest majority ever given to a candidate for mayor in Binghamton. His administration has been vigorous, business-like, and conservative, and is regarded by men of all parties as one of the most efficient that the city has ever enjoyed. His term will not expire until January, 1898, when he will have completed five years of continuous service in the mayor's chair. In June, 1893, Mr. Green was unanimously elected president of the Republican
GEORGE E. GREEN
League of the State of New York, and was re-elected each succeeding year until 1896, when he voluntarily retired. He is chairman of the Broome-county Republican committee.
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Mr. Green holds high rank in the Masonic order, and in various similar organizations ; and his promi nence in the social world corresponds with his standing in business and political life. His career must be deemed strikingly successful from all points of view.
THOMAS G. HAWKES.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- George Ed- ward Green was born at Kirkivood, Broome county, N. Y., August 30, 1858 : was educated in district schools ; was a clerk in country stores, 1874-79; married Sara E. Cole of Port Crane, N. Y., Febru- ary 27, 1880 ; has engaged in the wholesale cost trade and in other business enterprises in Binghamton, N. Y., since 1880 ; has been mayor of Binghamton since 1893.
Thomas G. fawkes was born fifty years ago in County Cork, Ireland, where his people were prominent and had large estates. The family, in- deed, had long been distinguished for its character, culture, learning, and material possessions-ever since
the martyr, Thomas Hawkes, in the middle of the. sixteenth century, had willingly suffered death at the stake as the price of his unstained honor and peace with God. Favored thus by birth and inherited talents, Mr. Hawkes obtained an excellent education at preparatory schools and at Queen's College, Cork. He remained in the latter insti- tution two years, studying civil engi- neering, when the love of adventure and the desire to test for himself the oppor- tunities said to exist in America, induced him to take passage for New York.
He landed in this country with only fifty dollars, and was not able to obtain employment at once. He had practi- cally decided, therefore, to return home, when a fortunate chance brought him into contact with John Hoare, a partner in the firm of Hoare & Dailey, glass cutters. He gave Mr. Hawkes a posi- tion as draughtsman, and the connec- tion thus formed lasted for many years, and proved mutually advantageous. Mr. Hawkes accompanied Mr. Hoare when the latter changed his place of business from Brooklyn to Corning, N. Y., and remained with him until 1880. At first he worked as a draughtsman exclusively : but he was looking ahead all the time, and was not content until he had mas- tered every detail of the business, in- cluding the selling as well as the man- ufacturing departments. Some of Mr. Hawkes's ancestors were famous glass makers in the English midlands. His own success in that occupation is a curi- ous coincidence, though possibly some inherited cast of mind had something to do with his choice of vocation.
Most men of ability and long-headed views would rather have an independent establishment of their own than almost any salaried position of the com- mon type : and Mr. Hawkes decided, in 1880, that the time had come for him to make a start on his own account. His means were limited. and he was obliged to begin in a small way ; but his experience, energy, and judgment more than made up for his lack of capital. The result amply proved his wisdom in making the change, since the works established by him quickly became an important factor in the cut-glass trade. He gave the business, especially in its earlier years, minute supervision in every depart- ment, knowing that success could not otherwise be obtained, and determined that the Hawkes brand of
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cut glass should become universally known for its richness, elegance, and general value. How suc- cessfully he has carried out this endeavor may be inferred from the statement that his establishment now employs 250 men, as compared with twenty at the start, and that his product has won its way into the cultivated homes of almost all the civilized countries of the globe. At the Paris Exposition in 1889 the Hawkes exhibit, submitted in competition with the world, was awarded the "grand prize "; and many pieces there displayed were purchased by the nobility of Europe.
In some cases, fortunately not common in this country, the business side of a given career is all that need be presented to disclose the whole man. This is not at all the case with Mr. Hawkes. As one of the leading manufacturers of Corning, he is naturally an important factor in the mer- cantile affairs of the city ; but his in- fluence there is far greater than mere business pre-eminence by itself would warrant. In social and civic life, and in all the various relations by which men measure and appraise their fellow- mortals, Mr. Hawkes stands high. He has lived in Corning nearly thirty years, and the people know him well and re- spect him greatly. For two years he was chief engineer of the fire depart- ment. He has been vice president of the City Club. He is one of the vestry of Christ Church. He is a strong Re- publican in political belief, but has never had either the time or the inclination to run for office. His private and home life is ideally charming.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY -- Thomas Gibbons Hawkes was born in County Cork, Ireland, September 25, 1846 ; completed his education at Queen's College, Cork ; came to the United States in 1865, and entered the employ of Hoare & Dailey, glass cutters ; married Char- lotte Isidore Bissell of Corning, N. Y., June 15, 1876 ; has carried on the manu- facture of cut glass in Corning since 1880.
O. V. Dalmer belongs to the class of men, so numerous in out land, whom we call "self-made"- in other words, men who have set out with a determination to achieve success in some chosen field of activity, and who have accomplished their purpose, without aid from others and in the face of unfavorable circumstances.
Palmer's grandparents came from New England, and settled in what was then the wilderness of central New York, on the shores of Cayuga lake ; and it was there that he was born. He was brought up on a farm, with only the limited educational opportunities of a farmer's boy. But he was ambitious to become a lawyer, and to that end he determined to get as much education as possible. For several years he divided his time between farm work, teach- ing, and attendance at academies, earning enough money from the two former occupations to pay for his schooling ; and at length, in the winter of 1848- 40, he anended Fowler's Law School in Cherry Valley, N. Y. The following spring he entered the office of Diven, Hathaway & Woods of Elmira, one of the leading law firms in central New York. Three years later he was admitted to the bar, and for the
O. W. PALMER
next ten years he practiced the profession of his choice in Elmira. . During that time he was associated with Henry W. Collins, under the name of Palmer & Collins, and with G. L. Smith, under the name of
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Smith & Palmer; but for the last five years he practiced law in Elmira, 1851-62; engaged in the practiced alone.
We hear much of the mental and moral stimulus that comes from the discipline undergone by the student who works for his education, and practices strict economy in order to obtain it; but unfor- tunately there is another side to the story, and the physical effects of such a course are sometimes dis- astrous. Mr. Palmer's constitution was not sufficiently strong to stand the strain to which it had been sub- jected in his youth, and after ten years of legal prac- tice he was obliged to seek a less, confining occupa- tion. In the spring of 1862 he moved to Washington, and bought a wholesale and retail coal business, which he conducted for the next three years. Mr. Palmer's residence at the national capital during the momentous years of the Civil War, and the intimate relations he there enjoyed with well-known public men, stimulated his patriotic impulses. Unable on account of ill health to go to the front himself, he sent a substitute, though he was not drafted, and did all in his power to relieve the wants of soldiers from his native state who were confined in hospitals in and near Washington.
At the close of the war Mr. Palmer returned to Elmira ; but he soon moved to New York city, where he became connected with the Manhattan Insurance Co. When the great fire at Chicago, with its tremendous losses, brought ruin to so many insurance companies, the Manhattan was one of those to suc- cumb. Mr. Palmer then set himself to organize a new company, called the Manhattan Fire Insurance Co., of which he was made a director and secretary. The confining duties of this position again proved too much for his health, and in 1874 he severed his connection with this company, and took up field work for the Franklin Fire Insurance Co. of Phila- delphia. For twenty years he carried on this work with distinguished success, and during a great part of this time his headquarters were again in Elmira. Recently he resigned his position with the Franklin company, and now devotes his time to the adjust- ment of fire losses.
Mr. Paliner has done much to promote the interests of good underwriting in New York state. He was one of the organizers of the New York State Associa- tion of Underwriters, and has always been an active member of the organization. He was at one time its president. He is a member of St. Omer's Com- mandery, Elmira, and of the Century Club.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Orson Walker Palmer was born at Genoa, N. Y., August 10, 1827 ; was educated at Genoa Academy and Harford ( Penn. ) Academy; was admitted to the bar in May. 1851 :
coal business in Washington, D. C., 1862-65 ; was in the insurance business in New York city and else- where, 1807-94 ; married Mary Moe of Lansing, N. Y., January 9, 1850, Elizabeth Grover of South- port, N. Y., October 11, 1853, and Mrs. C. A. Bentley of Brandon, Vt., April 26, 1882.
Ellerander Cumming, widely known in Bing- hamton and adjacent territory as a leading member of the bar, was born in Delaware county, New York, a few days after Jackson was elected to the White House the second time. His family was one of the oldest in the county, his grandfather, for whom he was named, having come to this country from Scot- land in childhood, and settled in Stamford, Delaware county, while still a young man. There he married and reared his family, and there he and his wife both died, at ages very advanced. They were Scotch Presbyterians, and were among the founders of the church of that faith at Stamford, of which Mr. Cumming was a deacon for many years. Their son John, the father of our subject, was born at the beginning of the century, and spent his life as a farmer in the same county, where he died at a ripe old age.
Brought up on a farm, and limited in educational opportunities to the common schools of Stamford and to local academies, Alexander Cunning had some difficulty in preparing himself for the legal profession. He was a close student, however, and made the most of such advantages as came in his way. After reading law two years in the office of James R. Allaben of Delhi, N. Y., he was admitted to the bar in 1858.
Taking up his residence in the pretty town of Deposit in the southwestern corner of Delaware county, Mr. Cumming began his career as a lawyer in the fall of 1858. He continued to practice his profession there for the next twenty years, and built up an important clientage. He had no partners in this period. Deciding that his long and successful experience in the law could be more effectively utilized in a larger place, Mr. Cumming moved to Binghamton, a few miles west of Deposit, in 1878. For a few years he was associated with W. M. Hand. and afterward for a short time with David Murray. In recent years he has practiced with his brother, under the firm name of Alex. & A. W. Cunning.
Mr. Cumming has worked hard in his profession for nearly forty years, and has naturally attained great skill in the conduct of legal affairs. "Possessed of deep learning in the principles of common law, he profits also from a wealth of experience acquired
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in years of litigation. His practice has consisted largely of contested cases, because he developed early in professional life unusual skill in this branch of the attorney's work. He is a formidable an- tagonist in jury trials, and has appeared in many cases of this kind in the southern counties of the state. He also enjoys an extensive office practice.
Mr. Cumming has never entered polit- ical life, preferring to devote all his en- ergy to his professional work. He is interested in public affairs, however, and is an earnest believer in the principles of the Republican party. He spends much of his leisure time in his large library at home. He is exceptionally well read in modern authors, and is thoroughly informed in current history.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY --- Alexander Cumming was born at Stam- ford, N. Y., November 12, 1832; at- tended common schools and academies ; was admitted to the bar in 1858 ; married Hannah Huguiner of Deposit, N. Y., September 17, 1860; practiced lare at Deposit, 1858-78, and has practiced at Binghamton, N. Y., since 1878.
Francis JE. Baldwin of Elmira is known throughout the Empire State and beyond, for his able and zealous support of the Prohibition party. Be- licving thoroughly in the principle for which it stands, and accepting its methods as those most likely to secure the desired result, he has given freely of his time and means, and has worked early and late with both voice and pen, to further its interests. Since 1883, when he was less than thirty years old, he has taken the stump in every election in behalf of this party, and he has been a member of its executive committee con- tinuously since 1886. In 1888, and again in 1896, he was the president of the Prohibition state con- vention ; and for four years beginning in 1889, he was the chairman of the state committee. In this capacity he was particularly active, holding conferences and addressing meetings in every county in the state ; and as a result, the Prohibition vote for President in New York state in the campaign of 1892 was the largest ever polled there either before or since. Besides various local poli- tical nominations, Mr. Baldwin received in 1894 the Prohibition nomination for governor, and was
heartily supported by his party throughout the state. This honor was a well deserved tribute to his loyal allegiance to the Prohibition cause, for probably no man in the state has worked harder for the growth of the party than he. In 1897 he received an addi- tional proof of bis popularity with his party associates
ALEXANDER CUMMING
in his nomination for chief judge of the Court of Appeals.
Mr. Baldwin was born in Otsego county, New York, little more than forty years ago. After attending the common schools of his native town of Otego, he entered the academy at Oneonta, from which he graduated in 1877. About this time he spent some time as the teacher of a district school, but the law was his chosen profession, and he soon set about preparing himself for the bar. Entering the office of Erwin J. Baldwin of Elmira, he devoted himself to legal study, and to familiarizing him- self with the routine work of a lawyer's office ; and in January, 1881, was admitted to the bar. Hle immediately formed a partnership with . his
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instructor in the law, under the style of Bakdiwin & Ballwin, that has continued ever since. The firm has conducted an extensive practice in Elmira and its vicinity, and has attained an excellent reputation at the Chemung-county bar.
FRANCIS 1. BALDWIN
Mr. Baldwin's active political work, of which account has already been given, has necessarily occupied most of the time that could be spared from his profession ; and he has frequently sacrificed his private affairs to his, interest in outside matters. In 1885 and 1886. in addition to his professional work, he edited a Prohibition paper in Elvira. He has also been active in church and philanthropie work. of various kinds. He was the president of the Elmira Women's Christian Temperance Union for several years, during which the association conducted a large hotel ; and he has been for years a trustee of the Anchorage at Elinira, an instit tion that carries on an excellent work as a reseue home for women.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Francis Everitt Baldwin was born at Ology. V. Y. August
10, 1856 ; was educated at Onconta ( N. Y. ) Acad- (my ; studied low, and was admitted to the bar in 1891 ; married Anna E. Grandin of Elmira, N. Y., May 7, 1882; was the Prohibition candidate for governor of New York state in 1894, and for chief judge of the Court of Appeals in 1897 : has practiced law at Elmira since 1881.
Isaac G. Derry, commissioner of the New York state capitol, and widely known as an architect and builder, was born at Bennington, Vt., seventy-five years ago. The family is of Scotch origin ; but Mr. Perry's grandfather, Valentine Perry, and his father, Seneca Perry, were natives of White Creek, N. Y.
When Mr. Perry was seven years old his parents moved back to the Empire State, and settled in Keeseville, Essex county. Seneca Perry was a carpenter and joiner ; and his son, after obtaining his education in the common schools of the village, began work in his father's shop. He learned the trade thoroughly : and soon displayed decided talent as an architect, and won considerable local reputation. For several years he worked as a contractor and builder in Essex county, but in 1852 he made a new start on a larger scale. He moved to New York city and opened an office a. an architect. For the next twenty i car .. he made his headquarters there, and his business increased and prospered stear- ily. In 1857 he received a commission to furnish plans for the New York State Inebriate Asylum at Binghamton, and to superintend its construction ; and, the ability he displayed in discharging this duty did much to extend and strengthen his reputation.
The success of this undertaking brought Mr. Perry a large amount of business in Binghamton, where he designed and erected many notable buildings, in- (Inding the First Baptist, Centenary Methodist Epis- copal, Congregational, and St. Patrick's churches : the Phelps and First National bank buildings; the MeNamara, Hagaman, and Perry blocks : the high school, Hotel Bennett, the Phelps mansion : and other edifices equally prominent. His work had come to be so largely in that part of the country. that in 1872 he moved to Binghamton, and from that the on did a large business in southeastern New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. He
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built the court house at Scranton, the Second National and Scranton Trust Company's.banks, the library buildings, the machine shops of the Dickson Manufacturing Co., and many private dwellings. At Wilkesbarre he designed and erected the First National Bank, the opera house, and many business blocks and residences. The Dutch Reformed and Catholic churches at Poit Jervis, the Farnum & Howell block, and other buildings, are his work. This is by no means a complete catalogue of Mr. Perry's achievements ; but it serves to give some idea of their extent and variety. His field of labor extended into many western states and other sec- tions of the East; and he estimates that at times the work under contract in his office aggregated as much as $1,000,000.
In 1883 the New York state legislature passed a law vesting in a single commissioner the entire charge of the new capitol, which had previously been committed to a board of commissioners ; and on March 30, the day he signed the bill, President Cleveland appointed Mr. Perry to the responsible position, which he has filled ever since. The appointment was made without solicitation on Mr. Perry's part, and was well received by the press and the general public. In the work thus committed to his care, Mr. Perry has found ample scope for his artistic talents and for his skill as a practical builder. . Although the new capitol had been occu- pied by the legislature for several years at the time of his appointment, much remained to be done both inside and outside the structure : and much that was badly done before had to be done over again. More than $8,000,000 has been expended on the work since Mr. Perry took charge of it, and it is now estimated that somewhat less than 82,000,000 wi !! complete it. Besides superintending minntely the work of construction, Mr. Perry has left his own impress on the building in several of its finest features. He designed the grand western stairway. and the beautiful northeastern stairway : and the eastern approach to the building and its western facade are also his work. In the practical matters of lighting and ventilation he has done great service to all who use the building by putting in shafts in various parts to supply needed light and air. Mr. Perry's several reappointments to the office are sufficient indication
to those who do not personally know his work, of the energetic and able manner in which he has discharged the duties of the position.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-Isaac G. Perry was born at Bennington, Vt., March 24, 18222 ; was educated in common schools ; learned the carpen- ter's trade with his father, and worked at the same in Keeseville, N. Y., until 1852 ; married Lucretia I .. Gibson of Keeseville in December, 1848; engaged in business as an architect and builder in New York city, 1852-72, and in Binghamton, N. Y., 1872-83 : has been capitol commissioner of New York state since March 30, 1883.
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