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The History of New York State Editor, Dr. James Sullivan Online Edition by Holice, Deb & Pam |
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FRED L. PORTER
Prominent in business and political circles in New York State, as
well as being a leader in agricultural advance in Northern New York, is
Fred L. Porter, of Crown Point. Together with these particular
interests, Mr. Porter never fails to give his support to whatever cause,
in his judgment, tends to further the welfare and advancement of the
community, and he is easily one of the most prominent citizens in this
section. Lensay A. Porter, father of Fred. L. Porter, was born in Poultney,
Vermont, March 30, 1849. He served in the Civil War, enlisting in 1864,
and in 1865 at the termination of his service, came to Crown Point,
where for many years he was engaged in business as a carpenter and
builder, and later became a successful raiser and buyer of apples,
continuing thus until his death on August 1, 1911. He married Ollie P.
Heustis, who was born on April 5, 1853, and died November 2, 1900. Fred L. Porter, was born at Crown Point, New York, November 12, 1877,
and received his early education in the public schools of his native
place. Later he attended Albany business college, and since that time
has devoted himself to politics and a business life of cast proportions.
He owns a farm consisting of five hundred and twenty-six acres,
sixty-five of which are devoted to apples, specializing in the raising
of Mackintosh and Northern Spies. He also has one hundred head of
blooded cattle, consisting of Ayrshires and Guernseys, together with
three hundred and fifty registered Hampshire-Down sheep. Mr. Porter also
conducts a feel mill in Crown Point; handles builders' and masons'
supplies and slack and tight cooperage, which proves conclusively that
he is a man of untiring energy and is endows with ability of an unusual
high order. Early in his career, Mr. Porter became active Page 79 in the affairs of the Republican Party, both local and State. He was
supervisor of the town of Crown Point from 1909-1915; served on the
School Board in 1917; was a member of the State republican Committee;
member of the executive committee has been a delegate to State
Convention since 1920; chairman of the commission on the Reorganization
of the State Government; vice-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
in the Assembly; and has represented Essex County in the State Assembly
since 1920. Mr. Porter is also a member of the executive committee of
the New York Farm Bureau Federation; ex-president of the Essex County
Farm Bureau; ex-member of the executive committee of the New York
Horticultural Society, ex-president of the New York Sheep Breeders'
Federation, embracing forty-four counties; president of the Northern
Orchard Company of Peru, the largest commercial orchard in Northern New
York, harvesting in 1927 twelve thousand barrels of apples;
vice-president of the Grange League Federation Exchange, which is the
largest cooperative farm organization of its kind in the East, the value
of farm supplies handled in 1927 having been fourteen millions of
dollars. He is also a trustee of the Cobleskill Agricultural School, and
a member of the executive committee of the Moses Ludington Hospital at
Ticonderoga. His religious affiliations is with the First Congregational
Church, of which he is trustee; and his fraternal affiliation is with
Rescue Lodge, No. 772, Free and Accepted Masons; Cedar Point Chapter,
Royal Arch Masons, of Port Henry; Lake Champlain Commandery, No. 74,
Knight Templar, of Port Henry; Oriental Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Troy; Independent Order of Odd Fellows;
Ethan Allen Grange, and Ticonderoga Lodge, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. His clubs are: Crown Point County Club, of which he is a
member of the executive board; and the Albany Club of Albany, of which
he is a non-resident member. On June 10, 1902, at Crown Point, Fred L. Porter married Margaret
Abott, daughter of the late Charles and Esther (Rowley) Abott, of
Denver, Colorado, the former for many years a successful mining engineer
and operator. Mr. and Mr. Porter are the parents of two children: 1.. De
Vore, born in 1904, was educated at Miss Fuller's school at Ossining,
which her mother attended, and later graduated from Cornell University
with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1925. 2. Charles Abott, born
March 1, 1909; attended new York Military Academy and Manlius Military
School, at Manlius, New York, class of 1928. The family summer home is
at Crown Point, and the winter home is in Albany, New York. Mr. Porter
enjoys both hunting and fishing, but his daily recreation is found in
horseback riding. CHARLES JOSEPH MULLEN Devoting his entire life to the manufacture of smoking tobacco, a
profession inherited from his father and grandfather, Charles Joseph
Mullen, of Kingston, has built solidly upon the foundations laid down by
his predecessors and at this writing is sole proprietor of a great
commercial enterprise, conducted under the name of the E. Mullen Tobacco
Company, in honor of his grandfather, who founded it in 1867. A
Republican in politics, he has ever taken a deep interest in the civic
affairs of Kingston and has acted as president of the Alma Commission of
the town. His fraternal affiliations have added to a natural popularity,
his probity, industry and affability bringing him friends in hosts. His
value as a citizen is attested by the high regard in which he is held by
the community, which unitedly looks upon him as a most important part of
the commercial and civic edifice. Charles Joseph Mullen was born in Kingston, July 11, 1885, a son of
J. Crawford and Edith (Tronson) Mullen, both natives of Kingston. J.
Crawford Mullen's father, Egbert, was born in Wawarsing, new York State,
a son of John Mullen who came to the United States from his native
Ireland prior to the War of 1812, between this country and England. He
was first engaged in the jewelry business in New York City, later
removing to Poughkeepsie, in 1828. Edith (Tronson) Mullen was of Dutch
ancestry and born in Kingston. She was the mother of two children,
Joseph C., dying in 1922, at the age of thirty-four years. He had been
connected for years with the Borden Milk company, and was the husband of
Cecile Clark, by whom he had one child, Virginia, born November 11,
1913. Charles Joseph Mullen, descendant of this line, was educated in St.
Joseph's Parochial School and in the Kingston public schools and was
graduated in 1904 from St. Laurent college, Montreal, Canada. The
tobacco company of which he is sole proprietor was founded by Egbert
Mullen, his grandfather, in 1867, with the location at No. 125 North
Front Street. The Page 80 factory output was long-cut smoking tobacco and a great trade was
built up in the sale of manufactured Kentucky tobacco. To meet varying
demands, changes were from time to time made, with every-growing
business as a result. The founder died in 1908, at which time Charles
Joseph Mullen became president of the company. He is a roman Catholic in
religion and a member of the Knights of Columbus, of which organization
he was Deputy Grand Knight for two years. He also is a member of the
Kingston Lodge, No. 550, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of
which he has been secretary since 1919. Mr. Mullen married, in Kingston, May 11, 1910, Margaret G. Campbell,
of Kingston. She is a daughter of the late John J. Campbell, a building
contractor, head of the firm of Campbell & Dempsey. This concern did
a great deal of work in cities removed from its headquarters, but also
constructed many notable buildings in Kingston. Among these are the
Stuyvesant Hotel, Ulster county Jail, Elks' Club, and Knights of
Columbus Hall. They also built the Poughkeepsie Court House and the
county buildings at Carmel, New York. Mrs. Campbell's mother was Mary
Ann (Clark) Campbell. Of the marriage of Charles Joseph and Margaret G.
(Campbell) Mullen there were born three children: 1. Margaret J., born
June 27, 1912, 2-3. Mary C. and Anne C (twins), born January 10, 1915;
the latter died at the age of seven. BERT H. TERWILLIGER For more then sixty years the insurance business founded in
Ellenville by the Late Uriah E. Terwilliger has been on of the most
flourishing commercial establishment of this section of the State.
Associated with the founder and at this writing carrying on where the
elder had begun, is his son, Bert h. Terwilliger. Upstanding citizens
both, the son is a most worthy successor to the man whose name was
synonymous with progress and substantial business enterprise. Bert H.
Terwilliger was born in Ellenville, May 21, 1874, son of Uriah E. and
Alice A. (Hoar) Terwilliger, Uriah was also born in Ellenville, in 1850,
and was educated at the Claverack Military Academy. For upward of thirty
years he owned and conducted the resort of Mount Meenagha, a beautiful
and popular vacation place of five square miles in the mountains near
Ellenville. At the same time he managed his real estate and insurance
business in Ellenville and assumed a commanding position in the
community for his sturdy citizenship and inviting personality. For the
last twenty years of his life he had partially retired. His death
occurred in 1923. He had been offered and declined the vice-presidency
of the Continental fire Insurance Company of New York, as well as the
management of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company, his
other interest demanding as much of his time as he cared to devote to
business affairs, outside of Mount Meenagha, in which he had some
$300,000 invested. He came of Dutch stock and many of his ancestors
fought in the patriotic army in the War of the Revolution. Alice A.
(Hoar) Terwilliger, his wife, was a daughter of George A. Hoar, of
Ellenville, a builder of canal boats and a very successful citizen, of
English ancestry. Bert H. Terwilliger was educated in the schools of Ellenville, and at
Worcester Academy, Worcester, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated
in 1895. He at once began his life-work as assistant to this father in
the management of the Mount Meenagha estate. This property was sold in
1922 and the son afterward devoted himself solely to the insurance and
real estate offices in Ellenville. He is a director of the First
national Bank of Ellenville and a trustee of the Ellenville Savings
Bank. He holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, of Kingston, and in Wawarsing Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. He
is a member of the Shawangunk County Club, and attends the Dutch
Reformed Church in Ellenville. Mr. Terwilliger married, at Bergen, New York, October 26, 1900, Tone,
daughter of Thomas J. and (Mrs.) Spafford tone, her father having been
principal of the schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, who retired and removed to
Bergen. Their children are: 1. Robert S., a graduate of Worcester
Academy and of Amherst college, where he received the degree of Bachelor
of Arts. 2. Katherine Tone, a graduate of Hillside School, Norwalk,
Connecticut, and now a student at Wellesley College. JOSEPH H. COHEN Twenty years ago, Joseph H. Cohen, the widely known president of the
Pennsylvania Exchange Bank of New York City, was asked for a precept
that would serve as a guide for a young man just starting in life. He
replied that nothing original that he could suggest would improve upon
what the Page 81 great Hillel said, twenty-one hundred years ago: "Judge all men
kindly." Mr. Cohen went on" "A young man cannot start
life with a better attitude toward his fellow-men than the feeling that
there is a lot of good in everybody. If you manage to keep your mind
filled with that thought, there will be no room for malice. When you
part company with malice and walk along with kindness as your constant
companion, you cannot go wrong." This spirit emanates from Joseph
H. Cohen so constantly that one is impressed by it even in a brief and
casual meeting. It is so winsome in its quality that one responds to it
to one's fullest capacity. It inspires confidence and it disarms. An
evil doer would be calloused indeed who would try to take advantage of
Mr. Cohen. He has demonstrated through a long life that material success
can be achieved without disparaging or impairing spiritual values. He
has shown that the "hard-boiled" attitude toward men and life
is not only not necessary, but that it is an interior method. The milk
of human kindness not only makes business, it makes friends. In his own
career, Mr. Cohen has demonstrated the truth of Ira Remsen's statement:
"there is something better then making a living-making a
life," and of that much older proverb: "Bring up a child in
the way he should go and when it is old he will not depart from
it." Reared by parents of great piety, who believed in practice as
well as in precept, Joseph h. Cohen has proven in his own experience the
very vital part that environment plays in the formation of character. Joseph H. Cohen was born in Sapotkin, Portland, February 8, 1865, son
of Jacob and Malka (Landau) Cohen. The restrictions, impediments and
cramping conditions of the old world were greater than the older Cohen's
ambitions could accept; accordingly, in 1872, he came to New York City
to spy out the land as it were, and to see if conditions were favorable
to building a home for his family in the modern land of promise. A
stranger in a strange land, he prospered in spite of his handicaps, and
two years later was able to send for his wife and family to join him in
this country. He continued in business for himself successfully as an
east side merchant as long as he lived. His death occurred in 1893, at
the age of sixty. After completing the courses in the public schools of New York City,
Joseph H. Cohen found work as a boy in a drygoods store. Conscientious,
energetic and intelligent in the performance of his duties, he soon won
promotion to stock clerk, and later was made salesman behind the
counter. Little had been learned of this period in his life; but thus
early he must have manifested those qualities which later won for him a
foremost place in the garment industry. Always he kept before him the
ambition to have a business of his own; so he not only studied
merchandise, but merchandising and people. It is not hard for one who
loves human kind to study people; and few studies are more important.
All the while that he was acquiring knowledge he was also, by the
practice of self-denial, accumulating capital. Finally, in 1886, he felt
that the time had arrived to make the venture, and with Abraham Davis as
a partner, under the firm name of Davis and Cohen, wholesalers of
women's garments. Their combined capital was only three thousand
dollars--not imposing, but a lot of money when it comprises the total
resources of two hardworking men. This first place of business was
located at No. 1128 East Broadway, and there the firm continued until
1892. In that year the business was removed to No. 108 East Broadway, in
order to provide larger and more convenient quarters. And Mr. Davis'
interest was taken over by Moses L. Olenick, the firm name becoming
Cohen and Olenick. In 1896 Mr. Cohen purchased his partner's interest
and moved the business into a building that he had specially designed
and erected at No. 81 East Broadway. That building was taken over by the
city in 1907 to make room for a bridge, and Mr. Cohen removed his
business to a building that he had erected at No. 35-37 East Broadway.
it was in 1888 that Mr. Cohen had begun the manufacture of women's
garments. That was about the time that ready-to-wear clothing for women
began to come into vogue; and Mr. Cohen foresaw that the time would come
when he would be forced to become a manufacturer. One of the big factors
in business success is the ability to foresee and forestall conditions.
This ability Mr. Cohen has always possessed in large measure. He has
always been a student, a keen and thoughtful observer, analyzing
problems an situations from every angle, and there has been a remarkably
consistent accuracy in his judgments. The special type of garment which
Mr. Cohen manufactured has a market which was never completely supplied;
and this condition placed Mr. Cohen in a position to select his
customers. He made it an inflexible rule to see to only one retailer in
each city. No travelers were ever employed. The patrons visited New York
City personally and Page 82 were waited upon by Mr. Cohen himself. This made the demand upon his
time so great that he was compelled to adopt the method of seeing his
customers only by appointment. His location on East Broadway was
somewhat outside the market district of the cloak and suit industry,
which at that time was in the neighborhood of Worth Street. This was
inconvenient for out-of-town customers; but Mr. Cohen's personal
attention offset this disadvantage. He was the gainer, too, because, at
the same time that he was selling merchandise, he was learning what his
trade wanted. He had only one model and one showroom. This pleased the
trade so well that often appointments were made in the spring for fall
showings. Mr. Cohen always went to Europe twice a year and bought
models. Upon his return five or six weeks were spent in revising the
designs to meet the demands of American tastes. The following incident
is interesting as showing Mr. Cohen's adaptability and his quick
response to market demands. A customer from California, who had always
purchased in good volume, showed utter indifference on one occasion. Mr.
Cohen was ably finally to persuade him to explain his reasons. The
customer pointed out that the new styles Mr. Cohen had adapted fro the
latest Paris creations were not in accord with the American style trend.
Mr. Cohen saw the point in a flash, stopped manufacture, worked night
and day on the production of new designs, and in three or four days had
on display a line of samples that, ordinarily, would require five or six
weeks to produce. That season proved to be one of the best in the
history of his business, and led naturally to a continuance of patronage
that otherwise might have begun gradually to fall away. From what has already been said of Mr. Cohen's personality and his
attitude toward men, one an easily understand why he knew nothing of
labor troubles, and that among his workers was an esprit de corps that
led them to rise to the exigencies of every emergency and stand behind
him with a loyalty almost incredible. In 1900, Mr. Cohen suffered an
attack of asthma, and as his sons were yet at school he was compelled to
wind up his business and go to Europe in search of health. he was
fortunate in recuperating sufficiently to permit his resumption of
business. He returned to New York City in 1911 and took up his
manufacturing and wholesaling where he had laid it down. His old
customers resumed business relations with him as soon as they discovered
he was in a position to serve them; and in this fact is implied one of
the finest compliments that could be paid him as a man and to his
methods. By 1912, such a large proportion of the cloak and suit industry
has moved uptown that it became a real hardship for Mr. Cohen's
customers to visit his showroom; so in that year he removed to the
corner of Thirty-third Street and Fifth Avenue. In 1924, he incorporated
the business under the name of Joseph H. Cohen's Sons and Company, and
retired from active business to the enjoyment of a well-earned leisure.
The sons continued the business for about two years; but, as their
tastes led them into other lines of business, they finally retired from
the garment trade. The elder Cohen's leisure was to be short lived; for in January,
1927, the Pennsylvania Exchange Bank drafted him to serve as its
president, in which office he has continued to the present time. His
wide acquaintance in the garment trade and the high esteem and
confidence in which he is held are a valuable asset to the bank. He
knows the psychology of the business man, and, as he says, "it
requires merely common sense plus business experience to check
credits." After all, it is better to wear out than to rust out. And
that is what Mr. Cohen is doing. Happiness is not to be found in
idleness; and after years of active business life in daily contact with
keen virile minds, he could not long remain content outside the sphere
of business. His environment is different, to be sure; but people are
people wherever one find them, and Mr. Cohen is interested above all in
human beings. This interest has led him to give of his time, ability and means
during all the years of a strenuous life to the advancement of Jewish
communal affairs. For long he has been a director and for the past
twenty-five years he has been president of Beth-Israel Hospital. He was
the founder of the first Jewish Center built anywhere in the world., it
is located at No. 131 West eighty-sixth Street, new York City. The
Center is the evolutionary result of an idea that took hold of Mr. Cohen
when his first son was born. As has already been noted, Mr. Cohen's
parents were pious Jews in the strictest sense of the word. They would
not break Sabbath nor tell a lie under any provocation or circumstances.
Their example and teaching were not lost upon their son, who wanted to
pass these ideals on to his own boy. Mr. Cohen felt, however, that while
the underlying principles of his religion would re- Page 83 main forever unchanged, there are changes in form that each period
and place demands and which must be considered. He felt that the
old-fashioned synagogue his father led him to would not appeal to his
son when he grew to maturity. And so, together with other progressive
members of the congregation, Mr. Cohen began to plan ways and means of
attracting your people to their place of worship. The necessity for such
a movement impressed him the more forcibly as his family was augmented
by another son and in time a daughter. So, in time, in collaboration
with Rabbi Kaplan, he evolved the idea of the modern Jewish Center. He
is also a trustee of Yeshiva College of New York City. this institution
is now erecting building at Amsterdam and One Hundred and Eightieth
Street, which involves the expenditure of between seven and eight
million dollars. Yeshiva College embraces elementary and high schools,
collegiate course and a theological seminary. Mr. Cohen is a member of
the Centennial Lodge, No. 763, Free and Accepted Masons. On June 8, 1887, Mr. Cohen marred Dora Olenick, daughter of M. L.
Olenick. She was born in San Francisco. Three children have been born to
this union: 1. Abraham, married Anna Surut, they have four children:
Hinda, Samuel, Natalie, and Elias. 2. Simon, married Rose Kahn, they
have three children: Hezekiah Jacob, Miriam and Judith. 3. Jeannette,
married Joseph Silverstein; they have two children; Murray and Rita. James SOUTHWORK PARKER Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, June 3, 1867, James
Southwork Parker came to new York State many years ago, since which time
he has devoted himself largely to work for his community, both as a
member of the New York Assembly and as Representative in Congress. Mr. Parker was the son of James K. and Grace E. (Southwork) Parker,
the former a jeweler by trade who was a veteran of the Civil War, in
which he fought with the Forty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment. Following his preliminary education in the public school of Great
Barrington, James Southwork Parker entered Cornell University, in 1885.
Later he taught in St. Paul's School, at Concord, New Hampshire, for
four years, and then came to New York State, locating in Salem, where he
purchased a farm. This was in 1898, and he continued at the development
of his property until 1903, when he was elected a member of the New York
Assembly. He served as such until 1905 and then took a further term in
1908, serving in 1912. In 1913, Mr. Parker was elected to represent the
Twenty-ninth District on the Republican ticket, and served continuously
through the Sixty-third Congresses, from 1913 to 1925. He was a delegate
to the motional convention of 1904 and 1908, and has been appointed an
alternate to every convention held since. Mr. Parker is affiliated with
Salem Lodge, No. 391, Free and Accepted Masons, as well as the Troy
Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Grange, and the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Troy Club, the
Metropolitan And Chevy Chase Clubs, of Washington, District of Columbia,
and the Union League and Republican clubs of new York City. His college
fraternity is Alpha Delta Phi, Cornell Chapter. His religious
affiliations are with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, at Salem, of which he
is vestryman. On June 21, 1899, Mr. Parker married (first) Marion Williams,
daughter of James Martin Williams, a descendent of General Williams, the
latter a member of the Continental Congress. Mrs. Parker died in 1923,
and Mr. Parker married (second) Amy (Glidden) Richards, daughter of John
M. and Anna (Warren) Glidden. The Washington resident of Mr. and Mrs.
Parker is at No. 2100 Sixteenth Avenue. |
The History of New York State, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1927
This book is owned by Pam Rietsch and is a part of the Mardos Memorial Library
Transcribed by Holice B. Young
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