Biographical Sketch of George Lyman Van Voorhis

George Lyman, eldest child of Lyman and Elizabeth (Field) Van Voorhis, was born at Charleston, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, April 21, 1871. He was very young when his parents returned to the state of New York, and his education was obtained at the Victor high school, later the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, and finally the Brock State Normal School, which he left prior to graduating. From early manhood he has been actively engaged in the interests of the Republican party. During this time he taught school during the winter months, and worked on the farm during the summer, a course … Read more

Biography of Hon. Andrew Jackson Thayer

HON. A.J. THAYER. – Few of the pioneers of Oregon are more worthy of having their memories perpetuated for their worth and services to the state than the late Judge Thayer. Andrew Jackson Thayer, the second child of Gideon Anne (Dodge) Thayer, was born in Lima, Livingston county, State of New York, on the 27th of November, 1818. He received an academic education at what was known as the Wesleyan Seminary, afterwards the Wesleyan University, studied law in the office of Doolittle & Thayer, the latter being his cousin. He was married to Melissa D. Chandler on the 9th of … Read more

Biography of Arthur Gilbert Aldridge

(III) Arthur Gilbert, son of Gilbert T. Aldridge, was born November 24, 1861. He received his early education in the public schools of Victor and Lima, New York. During his boyhood he worked on his father’s farm, and at the age of nineteen took charge of the homestead. When his father. died he bought the shares of the other heirs and became the owner of the homestead. He now (1910) owns one hundred and twenty acres of land in Victor. In 1891 he made a specialty of raising seedpotatoes in a small way, and from year to year has increased … Read more

Biography of William Wallace Thayer

The typical Western man is popularly conceived as a man of liberal ideas, of generous and hospitable instincts, imbued with a spirit of adventurous enterprise, and withal hardy and courageous. He is not punctilious in minor questions of etiquette or inclined to make much of mere forms and ceremonies. He is a friend to his friends, a man of sterling integrity and of firmness of character developed by habits of self-reliance. Such men are the State builders whose names and deeds are a part of the history of the newer States of the American Commonwealth. Every western community contains individuals … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lieutenant Lester P. Thompson

(IV) Lieutenant Lester P. Thompson, son of Joshua Thompson, was born September 3, 1840, in Lima, New York. He married, and shortly after the birth of his son, Robert F., he removed to Phelps. New York, where he followed the occupation of a manufacturer of agricultural implements and resided there until shortly before his death, April 25, 1889. He rendered faithful service to his country during the rebellion, serving in the Fifth and Seventh United States Regular Infantry. He became prominent in Grand Army and political circles: a born leader of men, he wielded a powerful influence in that great … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Rowlee Fausey

JOHN ROWLEE FAUSEY – To the general advancement of the interests of the public schools of Massachusetts, and particularly of Springfield and West Springfield, Mr. Fausey has devoted the larger part of his career as a teacher and superintendent, and with results that are recorded as having enlarged the bounds and increased the value of the educational institutions in those communities where he has taught and held official position. John Rowlee Fausey, son of James Seldon and Caroline Helen (Blauvelt) Fausey, was born March 19, 1870, in Elmira, New York, where he attended the public school, and he afterwards graduated … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Albert C. Aldridge

(III) Albert C., son of Gilbert T. Aldridge, was born in Victor. March 13, 1849. He attended the public schools of his native town and Brockport, the Collegiate Institute at Brockport, the Rochester Business University, taking special courses in law and laboratory work. For ten years he was engaged in teaching school, two years in the public schools, one year in Canandaigua Academy, and six years in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York. In 1884 he was elected school commissioner of the second district of Ontario county, and was reelected from term to term until he had served … Read more

Biography of Hon. William Wallace Thayer

HON. W.W. THAYER- William Wallace Thayer, the present chief justice of the supreme court of Oregon, came to this state in 1862. He was born at Lima, Livingston county, New York, July 15, 1827. His boyhood was spent upon a farm in that county, where he attended the common schools and received the meager instruction that the times and circumstances of farm life afforded. But an early love for books and a retentive memory, characteristics that mark him even to-day, supplied what was lacking in his school education. He became a wide reader of standard literature; and, having determined to … Read more