St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-17
Short Biographies OF Some Of
the Eminently Rich Men
OF the Hub.
j. Montgomery Sears Has
Been Termed the Typical
AStor Of Boston.
Ben Buffers Fortune Is Rated
at Several Millions OF
Round Dollars.
The Ames Family History the
Groundwork Of q Comma
diouS Law Suit. o.

i he rapid increase In real estate val
| ueS is always a matter of interest.
whether IL be due to booming, to gain
in population or to change of business
centers. Here in Boston the advance
in valuation has not been so sudden as
III many other places, but remarkable
instance of great increase is that of the
Sears estate, on the corner of Washing
ton and Court streets. In 1920 it was
valued at $4,000. while last year it was
assessed for 1921. 700, says a Boston cor
respondent of the Chicago Herald.
j. Montgomery Sears, the owner OF
the property, has been termed the Astor
of Boston. He ranks third in wealth
among the capitalists of New England,
and is the second largest individual real
estate owner in the Hub" Mr.. Sears
has fortune estimated at $4,000, 900.
Besides his elegant home here i'm Bos-
ton he has costly summer residence at
Bar HarbOr and fine farm at
SouthOOrO. Like the other many
time millionaires of the Atlantic coast
cities he also has a handsome steam
yacht, the Novya, in cruising on which
i'll the yachting season he takes no little
uCliSHl, duu DOSlOIl dIIu DdI
Harbor frienCs. He married daughter
of Charles F. Choate, at one time presi-
dent of the Old Colony railroad, and
has charming family. Mr.. Sears.
who is a graduate of Yale, is
above medium height, of fine
address and bearing; yet with
all his wealth is modest and
unassuming. The care of his real es-
tate claims large share of his atteI-
ton, yet he saves time for much practi-
cal philanthropy. He established a
workingmen's club in this city, and
presented the Episcopal society, of MARI
Sears is the son of Joshua Sears, all
eccentric but successful East India
merchant, who married late In life. and
died when his son was quite young.
Speaking of real estate reminds me
of Gen. Butler, who, some time since.in
giving advice as to how young man
may acquire wealth, wrote as follows:
when young man has very little
money let him buy some property, pref
erably piece, however small, accord
ing to his means, of improved real es-
tate that is paying rent. He had better
buy it when sold at auction, under ju-
dicial sale, paying in cash what he can,
giving his notes for the balance In small
sums coming due at frequently re-
curing intervals. secured by mort
gage on the property, and then use all
his extra income in paving up those
notes. 1t always safe to discount your
own note, and if the notes come little
too fast, as soon as he gets anything
paid his friends will aid him when he is
putting his money where it cannot be
lost, and where the property is taking
care of the interest, and in very short
INN hGa will End fhot hn
got a very considerable invest
ment. He will become interested
in it. save his money to meet his notes
and he will directly come into consid-
cradle possession of property and hardly
know how it came to him. That is, he
will have had motive for saving, and
will get the result of that saving. and
will not be tempted to enter into specu-
lation. Nothing is so safe for an invest
ment as improved real estate. Nothing
is likely to grow in value faster. In
of all the merchants and traders
in Boston have failed. In the
last fifty years ninety per cent of all
the business corporations have failed or
gone out of business. so that their stock
has been wiped out. In the last fifty
years all the improved real estate. on
the average. has paid IFS interest and
taxes and quadrupled in value"
Buffers Real Estate Possessions.
Mr.. Buffers fortune is placed at sew
eral million dollars, large part of
which he has made by investing in
manufactures in Lowell and elsewhere.
Besides possessing considerable
amount of real estate in Boston, Wash
ington and Chicago. he also owns vast
tracts of land in the West. The Craig
ranch, near Pueblo. Col, the finest i'm
the state. belongs to him, and he, with
one or two others, controls the Mora
grant of 100000 acres in New Mexico.
besides which the general has 80. 900
acres of coal and mineral land in Vir-
ginia.
Early in the winter Gen. Butler was
confined to his house by illness for some
time, but finally rallied. and. as soon as
he was able, completed his autobogra-
ply. on which he had been engaged for
some time. There has been some trou-
BILE over the publication of the book. as
the publisher with whom he first con-
tracted became financially embarrassed.
and the general transferred his work to
another firm. The original contractors
objected to this, and the great lawyer
soon found himself with lawsuit of
his own on his hands.
OuliCl piuCh dtlu perseverance
were we'll illustrated in his efforts a few
years since to secure the governorship
of the Old Bay State Although de-
feated time and again, he was not in the
least daunted, and fought on till he was
finally successful as the nominee of the
Democratic and Greenback parties in
1882. He was candidate for reelection,
but was defeated. and has not been
much heard of in public life since. A
certain district judge, whose home is in
Rhode Island, gained considerable I'M.
desirable nOtOriety and excited much
sympathy for the general by using his
official position to sit down severely
upon the old man in case in court last
summer. Gen. Butler. however. said
he did not mind the matter at all, as the
official in question was IAN inferior
judge of an inferior court OF an inferior
state"
Another wealthy Bostonian who has
recently been involved in litigation over
book is Frederick L. Ames, widely
known in railway circles and nephew
Halfa dozen years ago T. l.. Ames was
put down in the reports of the United
States, Mexico and Canada as director
in fifty-twO different roads, and has been
elected to other similar positions since
then. The fourteen-story Ames build
ing on Court street. the tallest in this
city, completed last fall, and
directly opposite the Sears estate,
above spoken of. will be a last
ing monument to his enterprise. Mr..
Ames has sat in the state senate, is a
member of the board of fellows of
Hazard university and liberal patron
of art. his residences, both at North
Easton and on Commonwealth avenue,
i'll the fashionable quarter of this CITY.
being filled with equisite paintings.
Like all in his line. Mr.. Ames is tall and
robust. He has cool head, clear
judgment, an even temperament and a
warm, kindly heart. This latter part
of his anatomy was lately somewhat
hardened toward another member of
family. however, and suit at law was
the result.
Lawsuit Over a Family History.
The subject of the controversy was a
history Of the meg family and the oh