HIRAM SIBLEY

Hiram Sibley, whose name will he forever associated with the commencement and progress of some of the great enterprises that have distinguished this age, was horn at North Adams, Massachusetts, February 6, 1807, and was the second son of Benjamin and Zilpha Davis Sibley, of old New England stock. He did not have the advantages of a good early education in the schools, hut as he was endowed by nature with rare mechanical genius he had mastered five trades before he reached his majority, At the age of sixteen he came to Western New York and settled in Livingston county where for several years he carried on business as a wool carder, machinist, and iron founder. In 1843 he was elected Sheriff of Monroe county on the Democratic ticket and then moved from Sibleyville, in the town of Mendon, to this city. Previous to that he hod been interested in the experiments of Stephen Vail and Professor Morse in telegraphy and in 1840 had gone to Washington with Morse and Ezra Cornell to promote the appropriation of forty thousand dollars by Congress to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. They secured the appropriation, and the subsequent history of the telegraph is known. Quickly following on the success of the pioneer line several telegraph companies were organized, hut they were not financially successful, and Mr. Sibley bought a majority of the depreciated stock and consolidated them under one management as the Western Union Telegraph company, of which he was the first president. During the first sixteen years in which he was president of the company the number of offices was increased from one hundred and thirty-two to four thousand, and the property arose in value from two hundred and twenty thousand to forty-eight million dollars. He projected the Atlantic and Pacific line to California and it was built under his administration. Before the success of the Atlantic cable was assured Mr. Sibley was interested in the project to unite the Old and the New World electrically, by way of Behring straits. In promoting that enterprise he made a visit to Russia in 1864-5 and was received most cordially by the Czar, who assigned to his American guest the second place of honor at state functions, the French ambassador alone taking precedence of him. The Russian government entered into co-operation with the American projectors and the line would undoubtedly have been established had not the Atlantic cable been put in operation. In addition to his labors for the introduction of the telegraph, Mr. Sibley was largely interested in promoting other enterprises of moment, including railroads and the manufacture of salt and lumber. While, however, his commercial enterprises were of a character and magnitude that would alone perpetuate his memory, Mr. Sibley has a more lasting claim to the gratitude of posterity in the institutions which he endowed for the promotion of learning. He established Sibley hall for the use of the library of the University of Rochester at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, and provided for the free use of the library by the public. He also endowed the Sibley College of Mechanics' Arts at Cornell university at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Sibley was married to Elizabeth M. Tinker at North Adams, Massachusetts. He died at his home in this city July 12, 1888. His surviving children are Hiram W. Sibley and Mrs. James S. Watson.

PATRICK BARRY

The son of a farmer, and born near Belfast, Ireland, May 24, 1816, Patrick Barry made his way to fortune and acquired international fame as one of the first horticulturists of the age. He obtained a good education in the Irish National schools and was himself a teacher for two years. In 1836 he came to America and was employed as a clerk in the Linnaean of the Princess, at Flushing, Long Island, where he remained four years, during which he mastered every detail of the business which he was to carry on so successfully in this city. He came to Rochester in 1840, and in July of that year formed a partnership with George Ellwanger, and under the name of Ellwanger & Barry they founded the Mount Hope nurseries, which soon became of world-wide reputation and are still among the best known in existence. In 1852 Mr. Barry published The Fruit Garden, a book of permanent value to everyone interested in the propagation of fruit trees or plants and the growing of fruit. As one of the organizers of the Western New York Horticultural society, and for twenty years its president, Mr. Barry contributed perhaps as much as any man of the age to the advancement of horticulture in America, He died June 23, 1890.

HENRY E. HOOKER

Henry Edward Hooker was born in Rochester, September 1, 1824. From his father, Horace Hooker, he inherited a love of trees and flowers; and from a Puritan ancestry on both sides, an unbending integrity and that deep interest in moral and philanthropic questions which characterized his whole life. When scarcely twenty years of age he purchased a tract of land on East avenue and established a nursery in connection with his brother-in-law, Josiah W. Bissell. He was one of the organizers of the Western New York Horticultural society, at one time its president, and was one of its most active and valued members. He was also a member of the American Pomological society. He was a welcome contributor to the leading horticultural papers, and not only presented his views forcibly and clearly, but impressed his readers and co-laborers with the soundness of his judgment. When he introduced the Brighton grape to the trade and to the public and gave it his hearty endorsement, it started the grape with a reputation such as only the Wilders and Downings of horticulture could have given. Mr. Hooker was an early member of Plymouth church, where his anti-slavery sympathies, and later his interest in liberty of thought, were frequently tested and found always on the right side. As the city developed, the land where he had established his nursery was needed for other purposes, and he laid out and planted numerous streets through his property, notably Brighton avenue with its graceful birches, and Oxford street with its magnolias and evergreens. He was married on June 9, 1853, to Miss Mary C. Glenn, and soon after built the house where he died April 12, 1883. His wife and five daughters survived him.

MAX BRICKNER

Max Brickner, ex-president of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, was born in Bavaria on the fourth day of May 1842. He was educated at the village school and at Furth, and in 1859 landed in New York. Here he obtained employment and remained about a year, after which he went South, locating at Talladega, Alabama. He came North on the last steamer that left Charleston before the outbreak of hostilities between the North and South, and the first day he was at sea Fort Sumter was fired upon. He came to Rochester shortly after this and has been a resident of this city ever since, prominently identified with its growth and progress and a leading spirit in One of its most proniinent industries. Mr. Brickner, though always a public-spirited citizen, never held a public position until at the annual election of officers of the Chamber of Commerce in January 1892, he was chosen president by a unanimous vote of the members present. The office came to him entirely unsolicited and even against his express wish, hut he yielded to the desires of the members and accepted the honor. As president of the Chamber Mr. Brickner devoted all his energies to insure a successful and memorable administration, and this he had. The membership of the body increased rapidly and great interest was manifested in the work of the Chamber. Mr. Brickner is at present president of the Wile & Brickner company, manufacturers of clothing; president of the Photo-Materials company; vice-president of the Rochester and Irondequoit Railway company; president of the Clothiers' Exchange; trustee of the Rochester Trust and Safe Deposit company, and of the Post Express Printing company. He is also a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a partner in the Boston Clothing store, St. Paul, Minnesota, and is interested in many other enterprises. Mr. Brickner is a member of the Eureka club, the Rochester club, the Whist club and the Yacht club, and is connected with many charitable enterprises. In politics he is a firm and consistent Republican. Mr. Brickner came to this country with no capital save brains, enterprise, and the strictest probity, and these have been his only passports to success. He is one of the best known citizens of Rochester. At present he is a member of the Board of Health.

LEWIS H. MORGAN

Literary fame outlives that won by exertion in nearly every other field, and no one in Rochester has yet done anything with the pen that is likely to last longer, or be more widely read, than the works of Lewis Henry Morgan. His parents, Jedediah and Harriet Morgan, were of New England stock and residents of Aurora, New York, at the date of his birth, November 21, 1818. He was graduated from Union college in 1840 and began the successful practice of law in this city. In 1855 he became interested in railroads and mines of Michigan, the management of which led to his gradual withdrawal from the practice of law. His membership in a village society, the "New Confederacy of the Iroquois," led to his study of the Six Nations and ultimately to the composition of his League of the Iroquois, published in 1851. While in Michigan he made frequent excursions to the northern wilderness and became interested in the habits of the beaver. His study of the animal is recorded in The American Beaver and His Works, published in 1868. Mr. Morgan was a devoted friend of the Indians and, while he wrote extensively about the race, he also attended their councils and endeavored to protect them from imposition by the National authorities. The work by which he is most widely known in the literary world is his volume published in 1877 - Ancient Society, or Researches in the Line of Human Progress from Savagery Through Barbarism to Civilization. In addition to his books Mr. Morgan wrote a large number of papers on subjects relating to ethnology that were published in pamphlet form or in magazines and proceedings of scientific societies. He received the degree of A. B. from Union college in 1840, and that of LL. D. in 1873. The title in which he took most satisfaction was that of President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor conferred on him in 1879. Mr. Morgan represented the city of Rochester in the State Legislature as a Member of Assembly in 1861, and as a Senator in 1867-8. He was married in 1851 to Mary E., daughter of Leonard Steele, of Albany, New York, and died at his home in this city December 17, 1881. He left one child, a son, on whose decease the estate will go to the University of Rochester to establish a college for women. Mrs. Morgan, who died in 1883, willed that her separate estate should he devoted to the same purpose as that of her husband.

HON. FREDERICK COOK

The career of Hon. Frederick Cook, ex-Secretary of State, affords a happy illustration of the fact that, under American institutions, character, ability and energy are the leading factors in the attainment of positions of honor and trust. The subject of this sketch was horn in Wildbad, Württemberg, Germany, December 2, 1833. His father, a contractor, died when Frederick was twelve years old, leaving a family of eight children. The boy, who up to this time had been attending school, was now compelled to make his own way in the world, and at fifteen coming to Buffalo, where a sister resided, lie soon thereafter secured employment upon the Central railroad between Rochester and Buffalo, and within a short period was promoted to conductorship, retaining that position nearly twenty years. On his retirement from that position in 1872 he was presented a fine silver service by his fellow employes and patrons of the road. At an early period Mr. Cook became interested in the Pullman Palace Car company and with keen business foresight invested his savings in its stock. In 1870 he was appointed Excise Commissioner of Rochester, and later was placed in nomination by the Democrats for mayor of the city. In 1874 he was chosen vice-president of the Bartholomay Brewing company, and in 1876 was elected president of the Rochester German Insurance company, and in the same year was made president of the Rochester Driving Park association. In 1882 he was elected to the presidency of the Bank of Rochester, which has since been reorganized as the German-American bank, of which he is still president. Mr. Cook has been prominent in the political world for many years. In 1872 he received from Governor Hoffman the title of Judge Advocate with the rank of Colonel of the Seventh Division of the National Guard of the State, and in 1875; Governor Tilden appointed him Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff of the division. In 1876 he was a delegate to the Democratic National convention at St. Louis, and in 1880 was a delegate to the Democratic National convention at Cincinnati, of which he was a vice-president. In 1880 Governor Cornell appointed him a manager of the Western House of Refuge, and in 1883 Governor Cleveland re-appointed him to the same position. In that year he was chosen Trustee of the Rochester Savings bank. In 1885 Mr. Cook was elected Secretary of State on the Democratic ticket by a majority of 14,608. In 1887 he was re-nominated and elected by a majority of 17,677. When he took formal leave of his associate State officers on December 31, 1889, Mr. Cook received from his official associates a fine gold watch, which was presented to him by Governor Hill. The latter, on June 1, 1891, appointed him one of the Board of Managers of the Rochester State hospital, the appointment being for nine years. At the first election of the Board, Mr. Cook was chosen president. It is a generally admitted fact that the subject of this sketch is one of the most popular citizens of Rochester to-day. His distinguished ability, public spirit, broad philanthropy, and rare personal qualities form three elements of that popularity and would have made him the candidate of his party for Governor of the State in 1894, had Mr. Cook himself not declined to entertain the propositions which came from all parts of the commonwealth, voicing the strong prevailing sentiment, favoring his candidacy for the Governorship. The unanimous expression of the party press, as exhibited on that occasion, superadded to the verdict of his fellow townsmen, shows that the popularity of Mr. Cook is not fictitious or ephemeral - it is sound and lasting. A local Democratic newspaper at the time admirably summed up Mr. Cook's political and business standing, when it stated that "While his Democracy is sound, and his party status so broad-gauged that all divisions can heartily unite upon him, his great business capacity and executive ability peculiarly qualify him for the office of Chief Executive of the State." Mr. Cook has prospered in material affairs as well as succeeded in gaining the confidence and respect of his party colleagues. He lives in one of the handsomest residences on East avenue - a home of comfort and refinement. He was married in 1853 to Miss Catherine Yaky of Rome, New York, who died in 1864. His present wife was Miss Barbara Agne, to whom he was wedded in 1865. An only daughter is the wife of Mr. Augustus MacDonnell.

GEORGE ARNOLDT

George Arnoldt, an old citizen of Rochester, died at his residence, No. 36 Columbia avenue, at 11 o'clock on the morning of April 17, 1893. He was born at Heidelberg October 18, 1820, and descended from an old family of high social standing, that had long held official position. At his birth his father was an officer in the department of forestry, having charge of the district of Heidelberg. George's early associations were thus mainly with cultured people, and his home training was of a nature that imbued his mind with high principles, and strengthened his naturally imperious disposition. Advancing through the gradations of the best schools of the day, he became a student in the University of Heidelberg at eighteen, and passed thence to Carlsruhe, where he entered the polytechnic school and studied civil engineering as a life profession. Graduating with honors, he obtained a position in the government service, and was employed in the survey and construction of the sections of railroad between Heidelberg and Manheim, and Heidelberg and Frankfort. In the political eruption that agitated Germany in 1848 Arnoldt took an active part. Throwing himself into the struggle with all the strength of his impulsive nature, he became secretary of the Democratic association of Heidelberg, was one of the envoys of the Storm petition to Carlsruhe, was a commissioner of war, received a commission in the engineer department, oversaw the building of the fortifications in the Oldenwald and on the line of the Neckar and Main, and participated at one battle, or skirmish. With the downfall of the revolution he fled to America with Frederick Heckar, Frederick Kapp, Carl Schurz and other noted revolutionists. Landing in New York in 1850, Arnoldt continued there one year, and proceeding to Rochester, found employment with the nursery firm of Ellwanger & Barry. A few months later he entered the service of the State in the office of the division engineer of the Erie canal in this city. By superior talent he retained his position through twenty-seven years of political change, and, in fact, until declining health forced him to retire from active business. During his period in the canal department he was an associate and friend of George D. Stilison, General E. S. Parker and other civil engineers who later acquired distinction in the State and United States service. In 1852 Mr. Arnoldt became associated with the Bartholomay Brewing company and held the office of secretary from the date of its organization to the sale of the institution to the syndicate, May 29, 1889. In 1852 he married Miss Theresa Oehling, to whom he was engaged at Heidelberg prior to his departure for America. Their eldest son, Richard, was lost on Lake Ontario November 18, 1879, in a frightful storm that destroyed the fleet under his command and rendered him famous as a hero. Julius W., the younger son, also a brilliant scholar and a civil engineer of high standing, died in November, 1891. His widow, two daughters - Mrs. Herman Behn and Mrs. Johanna Koch - with six grandchildren, a brother, Joseph Arnoldt, and a sister, Miss Johanna Arnoldt, survive Mr. Arnoldt.