David H. Henry, president of the Geneva Cutlery Company, and a member of the firm of Sears, Henry & Company, nurserymen, is the first member of his family to have settled in New York state. His father, Paul M. Henry, was a native of Bennington, Vermont, came to Geneva late in life, and died in 1887.
David H. Henry was born in Bennington, Vermont, 1848. He came to Geneva, Ontario county, New York, in 1865, and soon became interested in the nursery business, with which he is connected at the present time. The firm of Sears, Henry & Company consists of David H. Henry and A. H. Herendeen. The yearly plantings of seedlings, etc., amount to about two hundred and fifty thousand. The Geneva Cutlery Company, of which he is the president and one of the largest stockholders, has Horace L. Henry as secretary and treasurer, and also manager of the business, Dr. Charles D. Vail is vice-president, and Walter Althoff is the business superintendent. The plant was established in 1901, with a capital of common and preferred stock amounting to sixty thousand dollars. They have about one hundred and fifty on their pay roll. They manufacture standard safety razors, turning out about fifteen hundred dozen per week, and are the largest manufacturers of this kind in the United States. Their weekly payroll amounts to from sixteen to twenty-two hundred dollars, exclusive of the salaries to the office help and the officials of the company. Mr. Henry is also one of the directors of the First National Bank of Geneva, president of the chamber of commerce and a commissioner of the board of public works. He gives his political support to the Republican party, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. His fraternal affiliations are with Kanadasaga and Country clubs.
Mr. Henry married, 1871, Ella, daughter of Peter York; she was born in New York state in 1848.