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MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES
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HON. WILLIAM
H. ADAMS. Hon William H. Adams,
presiding justice of the appellate division of the
fourth department, is one of a family of seven children
born to John and Rebecca (Hamilton) Adams.
The father was a merchant.
Judge Adams was born in Lyons, Wayne
county, March 27, 1841. His early education was
obtained at the union school in that village, and
subsequently he attended Walnut Hill school in Geneva.
In 1859 he entered the law office of Smith & Lapham,
in Canandaigua, and continued his studies with that firm
until 1861, when, laying aside for a time all personal
ambition, he responded to the call of his country and
aided in recruiting a company of volunteers, of which he
was made lieutenant, and after the peninsular campaign
became captain, and later served as brigade
adjutant-general in General Hunter's
campaign in South Carolina. After bearing an
honorable part in many of the active contests of the war
he returned to Canandaigua and industriously resumed his
preparation for the bar. In 1865 he married Miss
Charlotte L. Lapham, a daughter of the Hon. E. G.
Lapham, junior member of the law firm with which he
studied, with whom he soon afterward formed a
partnership, which continued down to the time of the
election of Mr. Lapham to the United States
senate. He continued the practice of his
profession in Canandaigua until the close of the year
1887, and at the beginning of the next year was elected
to the bench of the supreme court in the seventh
judicial district.
Upon the organization of the appellate division, in
January, 1896, which under the present constitution took
the place of what was formerly the general term. Justice
Adams was selected by Governor Norton to
sit upon the bench of the fourth judicial department,
presided over by the late George L. Hardin, LL. D.
So satisfactory has been the service of Justice
Adams that he was the unanimous choice of his
associates and of the bar of this department for the
presiding justiceship of the court of which he is a
member, upon the retirement of his honored chief.
He assumed the duties of presiding justice on the 1st of
January, 1900, under commission signed by Governor
Roosevelt. Hobart College honored herself
by conferring upon Justice Adams the
degree of Doctor of Laws in June, 1899. Justice
Adams was unanimously renominated for supreme
court justice by the Republican convention of the
seventh judicial district, this occurring October 1,
1901, and also by the Democratic convention held at
Rochester on the day following.
Source: The Biographical Record of the City of
Rochester and Monroe County, New York - Illustrated -
Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1902 - Pg. 162 |
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ROBERT
FOERST CLARK
Self-Written Biography of ROBERT FOERST CLARK, Great
Great Great Grandson of Caleb Clark, Great-Great
Grandson of Angus Clark, Great Grandson of
Shepherd Clark, Grandson of pearl Leon Clark,
Son of Harold Clark
Born in Rochester, New York, March 14th, 1927.
He attended elementary schools in Rochester, New York
and East High school in Rochester, New York where he was
captain of the swimming team and graduated in 1944 after
which time he enlisted in the United States Navy at the
age of seventeen.
He was in the Navy for approximately two yeas serving
on the CVE Badoeng Strait aircraft carrier and attained
the rank of Gunner's Mate Petty Officer Third Class.
He was discharged while still a nineteen year old
teenager and returned to Rochester, New York.
He attended the University of Rochester where he
completed the first year of Chemical Engineering
attaining a Deans List academic standing. He then
transferred to Cornell University in the College of
Architectures five year course and graduated in four
years attaining a continuous upper top of the class
academic standing. At Cornell he was accepted into
the Delta Upsilon Fraternity and became honorary Vice
President, rowed on the Cornell Men's Heavyweight Crew
earning a letter every year and a varsity letter in his
senior year rowing the four seat and was selected to
join the Quill and Dagger senior men's honor society
limited to only approximately twenty senior class
members. After graduation he was employed by
Beardsley and Beardsley Architects in Auburn, New
York as an apprentice preparing for licensing
examinations.
He moved back to Rochester and married Joyce Marie
Rapp from Cincinnati, Ohio and completed his
apprenticeship and passing the examination to
become a licensed Architect in New York State and then
received an NCARB national license. He then became
a minor partner in a firm called Bishop and Clark,
Architects and in 1964 he decided it was time to move on
and opened his own firm in his home town of Webster, New
York known as Robert F. Clark and Associates
Architects before retiring in 1990. His practice
was very successful with many local, national and
international clients.
In the interim period he acquired an island home
directly on the sea in the Netherlands Antilles where he
spent approximately one third of his time with his wife
and two daughters for forty years being a free diver,
Scuba diver, spear fisherman, wind surfer and underwater
photographer.
After his daughters no longer needed parental care he
decided to take up rowing again on the Masters circuit
having missed a great chance at the Olympics while in
college, but this time in a single scull and not an
eight man crew that was his only experience. The
change was a complete shock, very difficult to learn and
he always considered himself a novice compared to his
competitors with many more years of experience.
Consequently after five years of agonizing learning and
training he decided to compete and row in his class
unfortunately with many former Olympic, national and
international champions and hoping to just not to come
in last! Much to his amazement, he ended up
undefeated his first year of competition and a Canadian
national coach said he had a good chance to win on the
European World championship circuit and consequently he
closed his Architectural practice went to Europe for
four months of competition and ending up winning a
single sculls gold medal at the world championships in
Strathclyde, Scotland and then went on to become a
member of the so-called Golden Eight which was called
the USA composite Eight and ultimately rowing in USA
four plus, four minus and quad boats with much success
in all these categories. The rest of history as
documented in the Cornell University article included
herewith.
He competed until the age of seventy-three and finally
realized that his top gun status days had long passed.
His beautiful wife passed away, he then sold his
homestead house and property in Webster, moved to a
small new retirement community single private home in
Walworth, New York where he spent his remaining years
and passed away at the age of 20??
Source: From the pen of Robert Foerst
Clark as written for Sharon Wick's Genealogy Express
NOTE: An see article in the Cornell Chronicle at
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/12/bob-clark-51-bequeaths-3m-heavyweight-rowing |
J. H. Ketcham
Mrs. Lucy A. Ketcham |
JOSEPH H.
KETCHAM. Though at present Having a retired
life in West Webster, Mr. Ketcham has been
intimately connected with the agricultural interests of
Monroe county for many years, and has been one of its
broadest minded and most progressive promoters. He
was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York,
September 9, 1820, a son of Joseph and Alida (Van
Ness) Ketcham, the former of whom was born August
12, 1777, and died June 4, 1850, while the latter was
born November 26, 1784, and died September 13, 1828.
The parents were married July 3, 1802, and the death of
the mother occurred when her son, Joseph H., was
yet a child.
Joseph Ketcham was a prosperous man and made
the most of his opportunities, which lay for the greater
part in the country districts, where he farmed in a
scientific and successful manner. After the death
of his wife he removed to the town of Macedon, Wayne
county, New York, near the city of Palmyra, where he
bought a farm of over three hundred acres, the fertile
fields of which he tilled with success. He was
devoted to his thirteen children, twelve of whom grew to
maturity, and he never remarried.
Although he might have done so, Joseph H. Ketcham
received but a limited education in his youth, his
inclination being rather in the direction of work than
study. When grown to manhood he came to Monroe
county and worked by the month for his brother, and
subsequently entered into a partnership which gave him a
share in the crops. On October 24, 1844, he was
married in the town of Webster to Lucy M Smith,
who was born in Webster November 12, 1827, a daughter of
Nelson M. and Sally Ann ( Cook) Smith. The
Cook family were pioneers of Monroe
county, and came from New Jersey, while the Smith
family came from Connecticut at a somewhat later
day When the maternal grandfather,
Ebenezer Cook, came to Monroe county he kept
hotel or inn in a double log house, and had a blacksmith
shop on the land which he ha cleared for a farm.
He was a Whig an an ardent supporter of his party, and
serve as justice of the peace for several years.
He also served with distinction in the war of 1812, and
in consequence thereof drew government pension.
After his marriage Mr. Ketcham made his
home on the Smith farm, and later r moved
to the farm of his wife's grandfather Ebenezer
Cook, and then worked both farm with considerable
success. He subsequent bought sixty acres of land
in the town Webster and after living on it. a year sold
it to his father, and bought ninety acres more, which
was soon afterward disposed of at a profit. He
then took up his residence in the town of Pevington,
whither his father had removed, and at the end of three
years settled on the Cook farm and lived
there thirteen years. He and wife looked after the
old folks, and were fortunate in having- good crops, and
doing well from an all around standpoint. Their
next place of residence was the farm upon which they now
live, and which in time came into the possession of
Mrs. Ketcham through inheritance. Under
the management of Mr. Ketcham many fine
improvements have been made, and they live in a modern
house, erected at a cost of three thousand dollars.
The farm has been disposed of for the greater part, and
Mr. Ketcham has comparatively few cares to
disturb the tranquility of his latter days.
He was formerly a Whig, but is now a Republican, and
has served as assessor for fourteen years. He was
elected justice of the peace, but declined to avail
himself of the honor conferred by the office. He
is a man of broad sympathies, and the many years that
have passed over his head have not divested him of the
delights of living, or impaired the faculties which have
brought success and many friendships.
Source: The Biographical Record of the City of
Rochester and Monroe County, New York - Illustrated -
Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1902 - Pg. 174 |
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W. A. SMITH.
The meat market owned and managed by W. A. Smith
is one of the busiest places in the progressive and
wide-awake town of Webster. The genial proprietor
caters to a large following, and has risen to his
present prosperity from a comparatively small beginning.
In his youth he received the training accorded the
average farmer boy in New York state, and until his
twelfth year lived on the paternal homestead in
Williamson township, Wayne county, where he was born
February 2, 1861. The family fortunes were then
changed to Monroe county, and from that time on he began
to be financially independent, and worked out on various
farms by the month. At the age of twenty years
Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Ida
De Line, who was born in Cayuga county, New York,
and after this continued to work out by the month until
1888. His method of livelihood was then changed
into commercial channels, and he engaged in clerking in
the general merchandise store of Mr. Hawley in
Webster. So efficient did he prove and so faithful
to the best interests of his employer that his services
were gladly retained for about seven years. Mr.
Smith then embarked upon an independent venture
in the hardware business, and for two years realized to
a large extent his expectations, but not satisfied with
this line of activity as a permanent business he started
in the meat business which has proved such a great
success. He owns the building in which he conducts
his market, a portion of which is used for a residence,
and he also has other interests of value in the town.
Mr. Smith is an expert in his line, and few
have a more liberal knowledge of the desirable portions
of the viands which are handed over his counters, and
few have a more sincere desire to please their large and
appreciative trade. Added to an unfailing courtesy, Mr.
Smith possesses an unswerving integrity, and allows
nothing but honest dealing in his shop. He is a
Democrat in national politics, but has no time or
inclination for office holding. Fraternally he is
associated with Webster Lodge, No. 538, F. & A. M.
Source: The Biographical Record of the City
of Rochester and Monroe County, New York - Illustrated -
Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1902 - Pg. 395 |
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ELLERA
J. WHITTLETON, M. D. The physical woes of
that part of the population of Webster which appreciates
the efficacy of homeopathic treatment are admirably
adjusted by Dr. E. J. Whittleton, one of the most
capable of the disciples of Hahnemann in Monroe county.
The youth of Dr. Whittleton was uneventfully
passed on his father's farm in Walworth, Wayne county,
New York, where he was born June 7, 1859. While
attending the district schools of the county he received
a practical home training, and was reared to an
appreciation of the dignity and utility of an
agricultural life, for his parents, James and Melissa
(Potter) Whittleton, were successful farmers during
their years of activity. When about sixteen yeas
of age he entered the Walworth Academy for a
couple of years, when, having qualified for teaching, eh
was thus employed during the winter terms, and continued
his studies during the spring and fall terms. At
the same time, in order to make both ends meet while
receiving a higher education, he worked for Mrs. Dr.
Gardner, receiving as compensation his room and
board. At the same time, in order to
make both ends meet while receiving a higher education,
he worked for Mrs. Dr. Gardner, receiving as
compensation his room and board.
At the age of twenty-one years he began to read
medicine under Dr. T. J. Peer, of Ontario, Wayne
county, New York, and at the end of a year entered the
Homeopathic Hospital College at Cleveland, Ohio, from
which he was graduated in the class of 1884.
After his graduation Dr. Whittleton located in
Sodus, Wayne county, New York, and engaged in practice,
and eventually brought out Dr. D. McPherson, and
became identified with the most advanced professional
undertakings of Wayne county. In the meantime he
had married, in 1882, Miss Mary G. Hall, a native
of Hamlin, New York, and a daughter of Orlando and
Mary (Chapman) Hall. From the first he
received an appreciative patronage from his adopted
city, and was a successful and popular practitioner for
nearly thirteen years. His fortunes were thrown
into unexpected channels through the financial
difficulties of his father-in-law, to aid whom he sold
out his lucrative practice, and went to live on the
Hall farm. During the following two
years Mr. Hall died, and after placing the
property in good condition, the Doctor sold it and took
up his residence in Webster. While living in
Sodus, two children were born to Dr. and Mrs.
W'hittleton, Arthur J, and Clifford E.
As one who understands and applies the best principles
of his great profession, Dr. Whittleton has made
himself an integral part of the life of Webster, and his
practice is by no means wholly local. He is a
member of the Monroe County Homeopathic Society, the
State Society and the Western New York Society, and he
has prepared and read papers on the advance in medicine
and surgery before these investigating organizations.
He is interested in the general upbuilding of the city,
and has taken an active part in local political
undertakings wherever he has resided. For two
years he served as coroner in Wayne county, and there
and here he has been a delegate to various county and
state conventions. As a stanch friend and
appreciator of education he has exerted his influence
toward perfecting an ideal system in Webster, and is at
present a member of the school board. Fraternally Dr.
Whittleton is a member of the Webster Grange and the
Ridge Road Lodge, No. 425, Ancient Order United Workmen,
of which latter organization he is a charter member and
ex-physician. In Sodus he became associated with
the Independent Order Odd Fellows, where he passed a
number of the chairs, and has since advanced to the
office of Past Grand in Webster, where he is a member of
Lodge No. 742.
Source: The Biographical Record of the City of
Rochester and Monroe County, New York - Illustrated -
Publ. New York and Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1902 - Pg. 321 |
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