USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol. III > Part 6
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In April, 1927, Mr. Hill married Allene Bertholf, a native of Brooklyn, New York, and they are the parents of the following three children: I. Ruth Marjorie. 2. Richard Walton. 3. Ronald Arthur.
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FRANCIS J. ARNOLD, M. D .- Doctor Francis J. Arnold was born in Burlington, Vermont, October 10, 1872, the son of Joseph Arnold, a mer- chant and a native of this city, and Mary S. (Cummings) Arnold, who was born in Ireland. He was educated in the parochial schools and at Saint Joseph's College of this city. He was graduated from the College of Medicine of the University of Vermont in 1901 and was then appointed an interne at the Mary Fletcher Hospital, serving until 1903. He then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he spent a year studying diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat in different hospitals, including the University of Pennsylvania Hos- pital, where he worked in Dr. de Schweinitz's Clinic. In 1904 he returned to Burlington, Vermont, and opened an office for the practice of medicine, specializing in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He is on the staffs of the Mary Fletcher Hospital, the Bishop De Goesbriand Memorial Hos- pital, the Fanny Allen Hospital and the Providence Orphan Asylum and Hospital.
He is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, the New England Oto- Laryngological Society, the Vermont State Medical Society and the Burling- ton and Chittenden County Clinical Society. He is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Arnold is a member of the Ethan Allen Club of Burlington and a lover of outdoor life. In religion he is a Roman Catholic and is a member of the Knights of Columbus. His office is at No. 182 Pearl Street and his residence at No. 94 North Avenue, Burlington, Vermont.
JOHN F. ROTHERHAM-John F. Rotherham, mayor of Corinth, local historian, and one of the leading figures in the business life of this com- munity, was born at Troy, October 27, 1893, the son of George A. and Mar- garet (Glenn) Rotherham, both natives of Troy, and both deceased. George A. Rotherham was engaged for many years in this section in the stove and pattern fitting business.
John F. Rotherham received his early education in the Troy public schools, and completing his high school studies, he attended Troy Business College. He began his career as a stenographer for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, and later for the New York Central Railroad, but after a short time in this field, he came to Corinth, to enter the employ of the International Paper Company, a concern with which he has been actively identified to the present day. Mr. Rotherham launched his career with this company as a timekeeper, and in 1933 he was appointed safety supervisor. The duties of this office have since been widened, and Mr. Rotherham now serves as supervisor of safety, employment, and industrial relations. In addition to his business activities,
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Mr. Rotherham is also a prominent civic worker, being one of the organizers, and president of the board of directors of the Corinth Hospital, and also a director of the Saratoga County Tuberculosis Association, and chairman of the town amusement committee. During the World War, he enlisted for service, and was sent to Camp Meade, Maryland, as a member of the 11th Ammunition Train. He remained there until he received his honorable dis- charge in December, 1918, with the rank of regimental sergeant major.
Mr. Rotherham is a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Corinth, and an active follower of the Republican party. He has been a member of the village board for nine years, and is now chairman of this body. He has also served as a member of the Board of Health, and in his present office as mayor of Corinth, he is devoting considerable time and effort to the civic development of this community. He is also affiliated with Corinth Lodge No. 987, Free and Accepted Masons and the Employees Mutual Benefit Asso- ciation, being a member of the advisory board and chairman of the safety council of this latter body. He also holds membership in the Luzerne Villa Golf Club.
He is married to Emma Seitz, a native of Corinth, and they are the parents of a daughter, Ruth, at present a student at Corinth High School.
ROBERT L. WADDELL-The W. R. Waddell Stores, owned and operated by Robert L. Waddell, Roy Waddell, and Mrs. Lulu M. Waddell, is one of the largest mercantile establishments in this section of the State.
Robert L. Waddell was born October 7, 1886, in Weavertown, New York, son of William R. and Laura (Washburn) Waddell, both now deceased. His father, a native of Weavertown, was engaged in the conduct of a general store in 1888 and afterward, and also was for years the operator of Tally Ho Coaches, a stagecoach line running between North Creek and Blue Mountain Lake, New York. He died December 21, 1930. The mother was a native of Fort Ann, New York.
In the public schools at North Creek, Robert L. Waddell received his early education, and after completing his studies there he became a student at the Albany Business College, Albany, New York. His first business association was with his father and brother in the operation of bus lines and three stores in this region of New York State. They 'also handled coal and building materials, building up what was one of the largest enterprises of its kind here.
In addition to his other activities, Mr. Waddell is a director of the North Creek National Bank. He is a Republican in his political views. During the World War he enlisted in the United States Army on July 17, 1918, serving as a sergeant in Company A, 335th Battalion Tank Corps, being honorably discharged on July 17, 1919, with the rank of sergeant. In spare time he is
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more than ordinarily fond of outdoor life and healthful recreations, being a particularly strong angler and huntsman. He attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1927 Robert L. Waddell married Kathryn McArdle, a native of Olm- steadville, New York.
FRANK H. CRONKHITE-A noted lawyer of Northern New York, with a wide and varied experience, Frank H. Cronkhite was born at Fort Edward, August 12, 1884, the son of Hanmer P. and Mary E. (Milliman) Cronkhite. The Cronkhites came to New York City from the Netherlands in 1642 and were known as "Sybouts," that name being changed to Cronkhite in 1728.
(I) William Woolsey Cronkhite, grandfather of Frank H. Cronkhite, was born here, and was a farmer all his life, living near Hudson Falls.
(II) Hanmer P. Cronkhite, father of Frank H. Cronkhite, was born at Sandy Hill, and lived to the age of sixty-one. As a youth he was a drug clerk. For twenty years he was deputy sheriff and constable, auctioneer and construction foreman on the State canals. He died October II, 19II.
The Milliman family, of English origin, came to America in Colonial days. With the Barnetts, who were among the ancestors of Mrs. Cronkhite and who settled at Hoosick, New York, near the Vermont State line, they fought in the Patriot Army of General John Stark at Bennington, and that historic field covered the farm at Walloomsac, New York, owned and occupied at the time by Moses Barnett, an important character of the period. Genera- tions of the Milliman family are buried in the cemetery upon this farm at Walloomsac, where the bones of many heroes of the Revolution rest. This secluded spot is near the highway, just behind the old school house, but shut off from view by the traveler following the road. Its important and interest- ing memories of the historic struggle waged hard-by have led the State of New York to purchase the Barnett farm, and also the Colonial residence, for its preservation as a historical park. While ownership has passed to the State, as yet no improvements have been made.
(III) Frank H. Cronkhite, with whom this review is primarily con- cerned, attended the Fort Edward Union High School, graduating in 1904. He was graduated from the Albany Law School, in 1906, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Admitted to the bar, he opened an office by himself in Fort Edward, but afterwards went into the firm of Fred A. Bratt and Rodney VanWormer. In 1908 Mr. Cronkhite went to New York City, entering the law offices of James, Schell and Elkus. He soon returned to Fort Edward and continued to practice there until late in 1909. He next went to Peekskill with the famous law firm of Couch and Couch, and con-
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tinued there until 1914. In that year he returned to Fort Edward and resumed his practice, continuing until 1922, when he opened a branch office in Hudson Falls. Mr. Cronkhite is a Republican. In 1915 he was corpora- tion counsel for Fort Edward. He was justice of the peace in Hudson Falls from 1922 to 1936 and is now attorney for the town of Kingsbury. Mr. Cronkhite is a member of Sandy Hill Lodge, No. 372, Free and Accepted Masons, and Sandy Hill Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, No. 189. He was an active member of the George Satterlee Hose Company at Fort Edward for twenty-three years, and has become a life member.
Mr. Cronkhite married, at Cleverdale, Lake George, New York, Septem- ber 25, 1912, Evelyn M. Ferris, of Hudson Falls, the daughter of George A. and Harriet (Schermerhorn) Ferris, who is descended from soldiers of the Revolution, while Mr. Cronkhite counts many among his ancestors and fore- bears who took part in the War of Independence. Mr. and Mrs. Cronkhite are the parents of two children: I. George Ferris, born July 25, 1916, who graduated from Harvard University, June, 1938. 2. J. Reynolds, born Feb- ruary II, 1918, who is a junior at Brown University.
Mr. Cronkhite's business address is Masonic Temple, Hudson Falls, New York.
WILLIAM C. LEONARD-Visitors to Saranac Lake often express surprise at the size, completeness of stock and service of the department store of W. C. Leonard and Company. Few ever learn the story of its background and development. William C. Leonard is its president, principal owner of its capital stock, and for more than forty years the prime factor in its growth. His own achievements are a refutation of the idea that the old copybook maxims of persistence, frugality, enterprise and hard work are outmoded, or that there has been found a substitute for practical individualism.
Mr. Leonard was born at Bangor, New York, August 17, 1869, son of Marcelus A. and Maria A. (Taylor) Leonard. His mother, born in Malone, New York, is deceased. His father, a native of Rouses Point, New York, engaged in merchandising all of his mature years. After completing his education, William C. Leonard spent eighteen months in California where he worked on a ranch and in other occupations, and returning he took charge of one of the "traveling stores," a novel idea of his father, and covered a large part of Franklin and Essex counties in New York, an enterprise in which he spent about seven years. In the meanwhile he was arriving at the conclusion that he no longer wanted to travel, and had been impressed with the future of Saranac Lake. Here he established a small store which he developed into one of the outstanding in the mercantile class in the Adirondacks.
One who knew of what he wrote is the authority for the following outline history of W. C. Leonard and Company :
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The Department Store of W. C. Leonard and Company, Saranac Lake, is the outgrowth of a store established in Bangor, New York, in 1867 by W. M. Leonard, grandfather of the present owners. From this Bangor store origi- nated the idea of Leonard's Traveling Stores which covered this North Country, pioneering their way into the Adirondacks bringing clothing, shoes and general dry goods to the people of this North Country.
The firm name in these early days was M. A. Leonard and Company. M. A. Leonard, during his active years, was widely known as a successful merchant, an earnest advocate of good roads and is called "The Father of the Famous Whiteface Mountain Highway," because of his steadfast advocacy of the practicability of this road. He had the privilege, before passing on in 1935, of riding over this improved Whiteface Highway that had been his life's dream and desire.
In 1895 a small store was opened on River Street in Saranac Lake, and a year later a three-story brick building was built on their present site. At a later date additions were made which gives their present block a frontage of sixty-three feet on Main Street. In 1897 a branch store was opened at Lake Placid and is still in operation under the name of F. S. Leonard and Company.
The Saranac Lake store of W. C. Leonard and Company is the largest department store in the Adirondacks. It employs an average of twenty-five people. Four floors are devoted to the display and sale of merchandise. They maintain a New York office with F. Lilienthal and Company, No. 119 West Fortieth Street, in addition to sending their buyers frequently to the markets. The present, 1939, officers of the company are William C. Leonard, president ; Mrs. Harriet L. Leonard, vice-president ; R. B. Leonard, treasurer ; and R. E. Molloy, secretary, who has held this post for twenty-eight years. It is note- worthy that W. C. Leonard and Company has a remarkable record for the length of service rendered by its employees. Five have been with the firm for from twenty to twenty-seven years; seven have been associated with the business for from eleven to nineteen years.
Aside from his commercial activities, Mr. Leonard is vice-president of the Adirondack National Bank and Trust Company ; president of the Saranac Lake Finance Corporation ; and president of the F. S. Leonard Company, of Lake Placid, New York. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Whiteface Mountain Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and of all the higher bodies of the York and Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite bodies of Masonry, including Oriental Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was one of the founders of the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce, and served as its first president. He is also a member of the Rotary Club, for several years of the Village of Saranac Lake Board, and attends the Church of Christ, Christian Science.
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In 1885 William C. Leonard married Harriet L. Spaulding, a native of Bangor, New York, and they have a daughter, Mildred Marie, graduate of the Emma Willard School, who is the wife of Frank M. Baker, of Saranac Lake.
HENRY WINSHIP LEETCH, M. D .- One of the outstanding specialists in pulmonary pathology and surgery, Henry Winship Leetch, M. D., of Saranac Lake, has come to be not only widely known throughout the Saranac region but has also received national recognition for his accom- plishments within his field, partly as a result of his several published articles in professional journals, articles based upon his observations and deductions in the treatment of some one hundred selected cases of pulmonary tuber- culosis. In these articles and studies particular reference was made to the closure of cavities following the cutting of the phrenic nerve as well as the results of treatments with various compounds of creosote, cypress, garlic and eucalyptus.
Henry Winship Leetch, M. D., was born in Washington, District of Columbia, September 5, 1894, son of William A. and Virginia (Dougal) Leetch. William A. Leetch, who was a native of Georgetown, District of Columbia, died October 22, 1938, devoted his life to his business of wholesale coal and fuel supply. Virginia (Dougal) Leetch, his wife, is also a native of Georgetown, where she now resides.
After passing through the public schools of the Nation's capital and grad- uating from the Western High School, Henry Winship Leetch entered George Washington University where, after a pre-medical course, he determined to devote himself to medicine as a profession and, accordingly continued his studies and won his Doctor of Medicine degree as a member of the class of 1919. Following service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army during the World War, Dr. Leetch spent a year as an interne at the New Emergency Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia. Then, becoming intensely interested in the problems of pulmonary tuberculosis, the doctor joined the staff of the Trudeau Sanatorium at Saranac Lake, coming to the Adirondacks in 1920 and remaining at the Sanatorium through 1923. At that time, he took up the private practice of his profession, establishing himself at Saranac Lake as a specialist in diseases of the chest, a field in which he has remained active with constantly increasing prominence through the present time.
Supporting his profession by membership in the Saranac Lake Medical Society, of which he is a past president, Dr. Leetch also belongs to the Franklin County Medical Society, the New York State Medical Association, the American Medical Association, of which he is a Fellow, the American
Stugh M. King horn M. D.
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Sanatorium Association, the National Tuberculosis Association, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, and the Saranac Lake Osler Club. Among various other professional asso- ciations, Dr. Leetch serves as a member of the staff of the Saranac Lake General Hospital and holds similar positions with the Saranac Lake Reception Hospital and the Adirondack Sanitarium. A member of the First Presby- terian Church of Saranac Lake, an institution which he serves as a trustee, Dr. Leetch belongs to the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce and to the Saranac Lake Fish and Game Club, obtaining through this latter organization a means of obtaining recreation through his favorite sports of hunting, fishing, and boating. The doctor, who is a member of Delta Tau Delta and Phi Chi fraternities, belongs to Whiteface Mountain Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and also to Waneta Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Saranac Lake.
Henry Winship Leetch married, February 7, 1931, Elizabeth Morris Schaefer, who is a native of Toccoa, Stephens County, Georgia. Dr. and Mrs. Leetch are the parents of a daughter : Mary Katherine.
HUGH McLENNAN KINGHORN, M. D .- In many years of prac- tice as a specialist in tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, Dr. Hugh McLennan Kinghorn has firmly established his professional reputation. He has been closely associated with the research work carried on by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau and members of his staff, participating in the activities which have made Saranac Lake known throughout the world as a medical center.
Dr. Kinghorn was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, on November 9, 1869, son of George Mathewson and Elizabeth (Scobel) Kinghorn. His father, who was born in Scotland, came to Canada in early life and was engaged in the hay and grain business during his active career. The mother was a native of Kingston.
Dr. Hugh McLennan Kinghorn received his preliminary education in the public schools of Montreal. After completing the high school course, he entered McGill University, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1890, and subsequently prepared for his professional career in the Medical School of the same university, taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1894. He spent two years as an interne in Montreal General Hospital, following which he was appointed medical superintendent of this institution. As a result, however, of the stren- uous program of activities he had pursued for several years, he contracted tuberculosis and in 1896 came to Saranac Lake as a patient in Dr. Trudeau's Sanatorium. After two years he was fully cured and, having decided to remain in Saranac Lake, he resumed the practice of his profession in this community. He has since specialized in the treatment of pulmonary tuber-
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culosis, with some attention to other diseases of the lungs, carrying on an extensive practice in this field. For many years, Dr. Kinghorn has also been engaged in research work at the Saranac Laboratory on the subject of tuber- cular infections, immunity and prevention, first under Dr. Trudeau and later under his successor, Dr. Edward R. Baldwin.
Dr. Kinghorn is a member of the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, the American Clinical and Climatological Association, of which he was vice-president ; the American Medical Association, the New York State Medical Society, the Franklin County Medical Society, of which he is past president ; the Saranac Lake Medical Society and the Saranac Lake Academy of Medicine, of both of which he is also past president. He is a mem- ber of the staff of Saranac Lake General Hospital and Reception Hospital and a member of the teaching staff of the Trudeau School of Tuberculosis. Dr. Kinghorn has contributed many articles to the literature of his profession and is the author of the published volume: "The Cure of Pulmonary Tuberculosis by Rest and Exercise." During the World War, he served as a member of the Medical Advisory Board. In 1938 he was elected president of the Steven- son Society of America and still continues as such.
In addition to his professional connections, Dr. Kinghorn is affiliated with the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity at McGill University and is a member and elder of the Presbyterian Church in Saranac Lake. Outdoor sports furnish him his principal recreation.
On September 8, 1913, Dr. Kinghorn married, first, Helen Carmichael, who was born at New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, and died on January 28, 1924. They became the parents of one daughter, Nora, now a member of the class of 1941 at Royal Victoria College in Montreal. Dr. Kinghorn married (second) in 1928, Emma Pearl Smith, of Montreal. There is one son of this second marriage, John Hugh Kinghorn.
PATRICK BLANCHFIELD-His fellow-citizens recently honored Patrick Blanchfield by reëlecting him for a third term as mayor of Salem, where he was born and where he has lived the greater part of his long and useful life.
Both the parents of Mr. Blanchfield were born in Ireland and are both now deceased. Richard Blanchfield, the father, married, in Ireland, April 30, 1863, Johanna Shea, and they immediately left for Salem. He engaged in farming, also marble work in a mill. They became the parents, on March 17, 1866, of Patrick Blanchfield, the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Blanchfield started to work at the age of fifteen, with an education at least equal to that of his fellow-students in District School No. 3 in Salem and with a plucky determination, perhaps his richest inheritance from Irish
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forebears, to make something of his own life. September 28, 1881, marked the humble commencement of his career, for on that date he entered the employ of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, remaining in that connection for two or three years. He then followed, for about three years, his father's trade as a marble worker in mills at Baxterville, Salem, Watertown and Gouverneur, all located in New York State, and at Fair Haven, Vermont. There followed a year's employment with the Standard Oil Company, another year of farming his father's acres at Salem, and finally in April, 1895, Mr. Blanchfield came to work at Evergreen Cemetery and has been superintendent of same since 1897.
In the forty-three consecutive years that he has been employed here by one organization, Mr. Blanchfield has never avoided the responsibilities of good citizenship nor missed the opportunity of proving himself a good neigh- bor. A staunch Democrat, he has served as member of the village board of trustees for the past several years, as chief of the local fire department, and as already mentioned, he is now serving his third term as mayor of Salem. He is a devout Catholic, being a member of Holy Cross Church in Salem, and the Knights of Columbus, of which he is Past Grand Knight. His chief diver- sion is outdoor sports.
Patrick Blanchfield married Rose Murtha, of Salem, now deceased, and they were the parents of the following children, of whom the mayor is right- fully proud : I. Frank Blanchfield, born in Salem and attended Washington Academy and Holy Cross College, and graduated on June 14, 1922, from the Catholic University at Washington, District of Columbia. He has had mili- tary service and was commissioned second lieutenant at Plattsburg to teach at various officers' training schools. He is now professor of economics in Canisius College in Buffalo. He married Marion Biggerstaff. 2. Rose Alice Blanchfield, likewise born in Salem, attended Washington Academy and also Albany Business College; she is now married to LeGrand Fraser, man- ager of the A. & P. Store at Granville, New York. They have one daughter, Alice.
WINFIELD W. F. RANDOLPH-Principal of the Keeseville High School, Winfield W. F. Randolph is not only one of the leading educators and secondary school executives in Essex County but is also an outstanding leader in civic affairs and in fraternal organizations.
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