MERRICK
STOWELL
County Judge of Oswego county,
was born in the town of Scriba on October 3, 1838. His father was
Shubael W. STOWELL, a native of Jefferson county, N.Y. Merrick
STOWELL, at the age of thirteen, commenced to earn his own livelihood by
working as a boatman upon the New York State canals, which occupation he
followed continuously for seven years – the first three as a canal driver,
the remaining four in other positions. His principal ambition at
that early age was to acquire a liberal education. He attended the
country district schools winters; afterward the district schools of Oswego,
and the excellent High School of the city, where by his naturally studious
habits and retentive memory he fitted himself for a teacher. He had
already spent two years in this vocation before graduating from the High
School in 1860, thus securing the necessary means to carry out his cherished
plan of going through college. But the outbreak of the great civil
war, which changed the current of so many men’s lives, found a ready response
in the young man’s breast, and he shouldered a musket as a private in the
gallant Twenty-fourth Regiment, gave his country two years of faithful
service and returned with the rank of sergeant. The record of the
Twenty-fourth Regiment is elsewhere given in this work, and in its varied
struggles Mr. Stowell bore his honorable part.
Returning to Oswego at the
close of his term of service, he resumed teaching for two years, regretfully
abandoning his desire for a collegiate education. The following six years
were passed by him as bookkeeper in the Lake Ontario Bank, succeeded by
six years in the same capacity for a large lumber firm. Finding himself
now in circumstances that justified his engaging in business on his own
account, he joined with Charles W. SMITH to form the firm of Smith &
Stowell, lumber dealers, which connection continued three years to 1876.
Leaving the lumber business
Mr. Stowell became associated with Messrs. Cheney AMES and Coman C. AMES
in the grain and milling industry, which continued three years, which brought
to a close his connection with trade and manufacturing.
In politics he has always
been an earnest Republican, and before the year last named had become well
known in the local councils of the party, where his knowledge of the field
and grasp of the situation when important issues were at stake, gave him
deserved prominence. His official life began with three terms as
school commissioner. In the fall of 1879 he was given the nomination
for the office of county clerk, was elected by a handsome majority and
served three years, 1880-82. Meanwhile in consonance with his natural
liking and his more recent associations, he began studying law in 1878
with B. F. CHASE, now of the city of Chicago. In the spring of 1883
he was admitted to the bar at Rochester and opened an office in Oswego.
His practice was commensurate in extent with his expectations and his success
gratifying to himself and his friends. In the fall of 1887 he was
nominated and elected district attorney, in which office he served three
years to the satisfaction of the bar and the people of the county; receiving
a renomination, he was, in the uncertainty that often prevails in local
politics, defeated. Resuming his practice he continued until the
fall of 1892 when he was further honored by his fellow citizens with the
nomination and election to the office of county judge, in which he is now
serving his third year, with marked favor.
The professional career of
Judge Stowell is one of the seldom occurring examples of success following
the beginning of an entirely new calling in middle life. He was forty
years old when he began the study of the law, and it was five years later
before he was admitted to practice. Within the succeeding ten years
he had risen to the highest county judicial office. While this result
may, perhaps, be creditable to some extent to the fact of his having rendered
valuable military and political services, it is nevertheless true that
it is far more largely due to his exceptional fitness for the office; the
qualifications acquired through the most energetic, persistent, and unflagging
study, with such other fitting attributes as are his by nature. If
he is not classed among the more brilliant lawyers whose greatest success
is attained through eloquence before court and jury, Judge Stowell is accorded
the confidence of his professional associates in his knowledge of the law,
his fairness and impartiality as a judge, while as a man he is esteemed
by the entire community. He is a member of the Congregational church
of Oswego, and is ever found ready to turn his hand to good works.
Judge Stowell married in 1863
Melinda W. EVERTS, of Mexico, daughter of Frederick EVERTS. They
have four children, one son and three daughters, all of whom are living.
SIDNEY SHEPARD
Sidney SHEPARD was born in
the village of Cobleskill, Schoharie county, N.Y., September 28, 1814,
and died in the town of New Haven, Oswego county, December 26, 1893.
The period of seventy-nine years between these dates covered the life of
a successful man – a life replete with indomitable activity, honorable
purpose, and lasting usefulness. Such a career is worthy of emulation
and a fitting example for suture generations.
Mr. Shepard was descended
in a long and honorable line of ancestry from Ralph SHEPARD, Puritan, who
emigrated to America from England in 1635; and on his mother’s side from
William HAMILTON, a Scot, who came over from Glasgow in 1668. His
maternal grandfather, Hosea HAMILTON, was a surgeon in the Revolutionary
war and a personal friend of George WASHINGTON. His own father, Jesse
SHEPARD, a physician, practiced his profession for many years in and around
Cobleskill. From these ancestors young Sidney inherited a vigorous
nature, a strong intellectuality, an upright character, and a robust constitution.
His earlier life was not unlike that of the average country lad of that
period. His rudimentary education being necessarily limited to the
common district schools, his knowledge of books was consequently meager,
but in after years he amply repaired the disadvantages of youth by systematic
reading and extended travel. Possessing an alert and retentive memory,
and being withal a close observer, he was a shrewd judge of human nature,
an accomplishment that materially aided him throughout a long, eventful
life. At the early age of fourteen he found his first employment
as a clerk in a hardware store in Dansville, N.Y., where he was quick to
learn and faithful to duty, traits which characterized him ever afterward.
The liking he then and there acquired for the hardware trade, decided his
vocation. After a similar experience in Rochester, he went to Bath,
N.Y., in 1831, and for three years was associated in business with his
brother. In 1835, while yet not twenty-one years of age, he made
his first venture by purchasing a hardware store in that village.
Honest in all transactions, energetically devoting himself to business,
resolute in a determination to make his own way, he was successful from
the very beginning, and the five years there brought him a little capital.
But he aimed higher.
In 1836 he removed to Buffalo and bought an interest in a hardware store,
the oldest business house in that city, changing the firm name to Crane
& Shepard. The next year he became sole owner under his own name,
and soon afterward the firm of Sidney Shepard & Co. was formed.
A manufactory of sheet metal ware was added, and before ten yeas had passed
an immense business was thoroughly established. A large wholesale
trade was built up, not only in Buffalo, but in adjacent sections of the
country. Mr. Shepard made several prolonged trips into the then comparatively
uninhabited Western States, opening branch houses in Detroit and Milwaukee,
and even carried his enterprise into the South. This was done gradually
and steadily, with a purpose and zeal born of laudable ambition.
In 1849 he became proprietor of the Shepard Iron Works in Buffalo, and
thereafter constantly added to his undertakings. The firm eventually
became one of the largest importers of tin plate, manufacturers of stamped
metal ware, and dealers in hardware and tinners’ supplies in the Union.
Nor was his activity confined to these industries alone. Accumulating
means, and early realizing the advantages of the electric telegraph to
merchants and others, he personally promoted several pioneer lines in the
West, and became one of the largest stockholders in the Western Union Telegraph
Company upon the consolidation of the earlier lines, being one of its directors
until a few weeks before his death, when he resigned. He was also
for many years a heavy stockholder and director in the Alabama Central,
The Mobile and Ohio, and the New Jersey Central railroads, and was prominently
interested in numerous other enterprises. He was frequently offered,
but accepted a few positions of trust, preferring to concentrate his energies
and means largely upon the development and maintenance of the extensive
business he had founded. Yet he was, emphatically, a public spirited
citizen and liberally encouraged every movement looking toward the betterment
of humanity.
His success was due to a good
name, a clear head, a sound judgment, an untiring energy, combined with
perseverance and singleness of purpose. He possessed a rare business
ability and a capacity for organization which almost amounted to genius.
Endowed with a faculty for keen observation, a courage equal to any emergency,
and a strong faith in things divine, he was ever the true and noble man,
the respected citizen, and the sincere Christian gentleman. For twenty-five
years he was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Buffalo, to which,
as well as to numerous other charitable institutions, notably the General
Hospital, the Orphan Asylum, and the Home for the Friendless, of that city,
he was a generous and frequent benefactor. In 1865 he relinquished
the active management of his business, and for several years thereafter
traveled with his family in foreign countries, visiting nearly every capital
in Europe, besides Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Holy Land. Upon their
return they settled in the spacious and handsome homestead of his wife
in the village of New Haven, Oswego county, where he spent the remainder
of his life. In 1885 he transferred to his son Charles Sidney, now
the only survivor of a family of three children, his interest in the firms
of Sidney Shepard & Co. of Buffalo and C. Sidney Shepard & Co.
of Chicago.
On the 12th of June,
1851, Mr. Shepard married in Buffalo Miss Elizabeth De Angelis, daughter
of Chester R. WELLS (elsewhere mentioned in this volume) a lady of rare
personal charms and accomplishments. Their children were Elizabeth
Wells, who died at the age of ten years; Charles Sidney, and Ralph Hamilton.
Ralph Hamilton Shepard was
born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, October 15, 1867, and his infant
tongue first learned French and German. For eight years he spent
the summers in New Haven, N.Y., and the winters in New York city or the
South. In 1879 he passed six months in Dresden, where he pursued
his German studies in the family of Rev. Dr. SAUER and in close companionship
with Counts CASTEL and Otto von PESSENS; the next year he visited Egypt,
Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Roumania,
and other historic places, returning to America in the autumn of 1880.
He prepared for college at Oswego and Buffalo and passed his entrance examinations
at Harvard in 1887, after which he again went abroad, studying German and
Italian. Returning in April, 1888, he entered Harvard University
in the fall of that year and was graduated with honors in 1892, receiving
the appointment as one of the five commencement orators in a class of over
200 men. This selection was really a brilliant honor. The remainder
of his life was mainly spent in New Haven, N.Y., where, after nine weary
months of suffering, he died on August 17, 1894, in the first bloom of
his manly career. Delicate in physical constitution, but endowed
with a mind of rare conception, he evinced the instincts of a scholar and
the attributes of a master. He was one of the brightest men of Harvard,
and during his brief life acquired a reputation in modern literature and
history and as a graceful and forcible writer. He produced many articles
worthy a master’s hand, covering a wide range of subjects, and but for
his early death an honorable and probably a brilliant future in the world
of letters was within his grasp. His most important work was a monograph
on “Ralph SHEPARD, Puritan,” in which he showed tireless research and thoroughness.
This was for private circulation, and entailed the examination of numerous
manuscripts and letters. Early in 1892 he was one of sixteen sterling
young men to band themselves together for mental social improvement and
to re-establish Iota Charge of Theta Delta Chi, of which his was the first
death that fraternal chapter was called upon to deplore. His most
enduring attribute, however, was the sincerity of his manly Christian life,
which he beautifully and appropriately expressed by a legacy of several
thousand dollars to his alma mater “for the carrying on of religious work
in Harvard College.” Never before did a young graduate leave to that
institution a similar bequest; the monument thus founded perpetuates his
good name, and the example of his life should and will guide others to
the same Christian service and its rewards.
CHESTER ROBBINS
WELLS
Chester Robbins WELLS was
born September 8, 1799, in Hartford, Conn., and died August 9, 1867, in
New Haven, Oswego county, N.Y. At the former place his ancestors
had lived since the early colonial days, Thomas WELLES, from whom he was
directly descended and who was one of the first governors of Connecticut,
having settled there after coming from England with Lord SAYLES in 1636.
On his mother’s side he was descended from the Griswolds, and it was Mr.
Wells’s just pride that his great-grandmother was Mary GRISWOLD, one of
the heroines of the Revolution. He was the son of Captain Elisha
WELLES, who was with George WASHINGTON at Valley Forge, and of his wife,
Mary GRISWOLD, born either in Hartford, or near Saybrook, Conn.
After teaching for several years, and not seeming strong enough for a life
of such confinement, he ventured in 1826 into what was then the comparatively
upsettled region of Northern New York, moving from Trenton, Oneida county,
to New Haven. When still a young man he married Miss Hannah Le Moyne
DE ANGELIS, daughter of Judge Pascal Charles Joseph DE ANGELIS, of Holland
Patent, N.Y.
His wife’s family was, on
her father’s side, of noble Italian and French descent, being allied by
the latter to the famous Generals Iberville and Iturbide LE MOYNE, who
founded New Orleans, and on the other side to the well known WEBBS of Revolutionary
and pre-Revolutionary days.
His sons were William Chester
and Charles; his daughter, Elizabeth De Angeles, became the wife of Sidney
SHEPARD of Buffalo, N.Y.
He was remarkable for his
sweet humility. His son-in-law, Sidney SHEPARD, said repeatedly that
he considered him the most honest man, with the purest character, of any
he had ever known, and that his children might be justly proud of such
parentage. Eminently true and lovable in all his ways, Mr. Wells
won that esteem of his fellow men, which, though in a comparatively narrow
circle, was a fitting tribute to a high souled and noble minded Christian.
WILLIAM JAMES
BULGER
William J. BULGER was born
in the town of Volney, near the village of Fulton, Oswego county, N.Y.,
on May 27, 1857. His father, the late Patrick BULGER, was the son
of a well-to-do farmer in the east of Ireland, and was born in Castle Comer,
Queens county, on August 17, 1806. In 1844 Patrick BULGER, who was
possessed of some means, came to the United States, bringing with him his
wife, who was the daughter of a prosperous neighbor in the old country.
Mrs. Bulger, previous to marriage Miss Bridget MURPHY, was an accomplished
and cultivated lady, having a thorough education in the excellent schools
of her native place, which was finished at the Dublin Seminary. She
was a woman of high character, as well as fine education, and proved an
inspiring and faithful help-mate to her husband in his manly efforts to
found a home and rear a family in the new world. With a keen appreciation
of the advantages of the district Mr. Bulger, shortly after his arrival
in America, purchased a farm in the town of Volney, where he remained for
a number of years, and was regarded as one of the most prosperous farmers
in that section of the State. About ten years prior to his death
he disposed of his farming interests in that locality and set about to
find a place to spend the remainder of his days. He then purchased
a farm, charmingly situated on the west bank of the Oswego River, about
five miles distant from Oswego, which is one of the finest and most beautifully
located in this section of the State, and is still owned by heirs of Mr.
Bulger. Skilled in agriculture and having sufficient means at his
command to enable him to carry out his ideas, Mr. Bulger conducted his
farming interests successfully and added largely to his worldly possessions.
His family consisted of five children, one of whom, the eldest, died in
infancy in the old country. The remaining four were brought up under
benign home influences, with a devoted Christian mother to supervise their
education, and with every comfort at their command. Mrs. Bulger died
October 20, 1879, and was followed by her husband August 3, 1881.
The four children who still survive them are the Hon. P. F. BULGER, of
Utica, formerly for twelve years recorder of that city; Hon. C.N. BULGER,
who has held the office of recorder of the city of Oswego since the year
1882; Dr. Bulger, the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. M. HENNESSEY.
Dr. Bulger was the youngest
child of his parents. In his youth he was afforded good educational
advantages. After finishing the ordinary school studies he took a
course at the Falley Seminary in Fulton, after which he took a course at
the State Normal School in Oswego. Deciding to adopt the profession
of medicine, he began medical studies under Dr. Ira L. JONES, of Minetto,
N.Y., and afterwards was a pupil of the late Dr. James A. MILNE, of Oswego.
In 1879 he entered Long Island College Hospital at Brooklyn, and after
a year of study in that splendidly equipped institution entered the medical
department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he remained
a year, when he returned to Long Island College Hospital as the assistant
of the noted anatomist, Dr. Carden L. FORD, and graduated from that institution
June 15, 1882. Well qualified to begin his life work he now returned
to Oswego and entered into partnership with his former preceptor, the late
Dr. MILNE, which partnership was continued until a short time prior to
the latter’s death in 1886. Thorough in his attainments, a conscientious
student and a close observer, Dr. Bulger has steadily advanced to a leading
position among his professional brethren, and is now recognized as the
peer of any physician in Oswego, and the most skillful surgeon in the city.
His practice extends to people in all walks of life, for the confidence
reposed in his ability and skill is shared alike by the wealthy and the
humble, the learned and the unlearned. No medical man in Oswego is
held in higher regard by the profession, and few, if any, hold a higher
place in the public esteem. Some of the most difficult cases which
have occurred during his residence in Oswego have been successfully treated
by Dr. Bulger, and in late years cases unusually severe or presenting uncommon
complications, are always sent to him for treatment. His attainments
are not limited to scientific subjects, but are of a broad and comprehensive
character, which befit the advanced professional man of modern times and
embrace nearly all branches of polite learning.
Outside of his profession
Dr. Bulger has always shown active public spirit and a desire to aid in
advancing the material as well as the social welfare of his city.
Believing that every citizen has duties of a public character which cannot
conscientiously be neglected, he has, particularly in recent years, made
his influence felt in the local political field as a Democrat of enlightened
views. A personal admirer of President Cleveland, and believing in
the political principles that have governed his public acts, Dr. Bulger
has during the past five years been a leader of that section of the Democratic
party in Oswego which has adhered to the president as against the opposing
faction. For his political services he has received conspicuous recognition.
In 1892 he was nominated for
the office of mayor of Oswego by the Cleveland Democrats. The strife
in local politics was then at white heat, and in order to defeat the Cleveland
faction many of the opposing Democratic faction united with the Republicans
and succeeded in defeating Dr. Bulger and electing a Republican mayor by
a plurality of thirty-four votes. In the following year he was again
nominated, and the followers of David B. HILL put up no candidate.
The campaign was an active one and Dr. Bulger’s popularity is shown in
the resulting election by a majority of about 600. His administration
was a successful one and gave satisfaction to the people, in spite of the
fact that the Republicans and Hill Democrats in the Council combined in
opposition to many measures that were necessary for the good government
of the city. While holding this office Dr. Bulger was appointed by
President Cleveland collector of customs for the Oswego District, and is
still administering the office. In the spring of 1894 he again received
the nomination for mayor and received further evidences of popularity with
the people, but with two candidates against him, and the opposing Democratic
faction acting as in 1892, he was defeated by a plurality of eleven(11)
votes, and a Republican mayor elected.
Dr. Bulger and his wife are
prominent in the social life of Oswego, and their hospitable home is often
open to their friends. Dr. Bulger’s most conspicuous personal traits
of character are his aggressiveness in affairs in which he is deeply interested;
a rugged integrity; and a temperament which prompts him to sociability
and to meet all with whom he comes in contact upon the broad plane of humanity.
Dr. Bulger married on August
26, 1883, Miss Mary CUSICK; they had one child, a boy named Charles William
BULGER, who died at the age of fourteen months.
ORVILLE ROBINSON
Was born on the 28th of October,
1801, at Richfield, Otsego county, N.Y. His parents emigrated from
New England at the close of the Revolutionary war to the far west, and
took up their abode in the wilds of Otsego county. His early years
were spent amid the hardships and privations of pioneer life. The
only aid he received in acquiring an education was from the scanty and
precarious instruction of the common school. His own energy and diligence
did the rest. But in the struggles against these adverse circumstances
of his youth, habits of industry and self-denial were formed and a vigor
of body and mind, and a strength and firmness of character were developed,
which distinguished him in after years and enabled him to outstrip, in
the prizes of life, many of his contemporaries who had enjoyed the advantages
of the academy and the college.
When about twenty-one years
of age Mr. Robinson began the study of the law in the office of the late
Veeder GREENE, at Brighton, and finished his legal clerkship in the office
of the late Daniel GOTT, at Pompey Hill, in Onondaga county. William
H. SHANKLAND, afterwards justice of the Supreme Court for the Sixth Judicial
District of New York, was his fellow student in the office of Mr. Gott,
and many lawyers who have attained distinction received their legal training
about the same time at Pompey Hill.
In 1827, at the May term of
the Supreme Court held in the city of New York, Mr. Robinson was admitted
to practice as an attorney of that court, and in July following he opened
a law office in what is now the village of Mexico, Oswego county.
On July 7, 1827, he was married
to Miss Lucretia GREENE, of Richfield, a daughter of Wardwell GREENE, and
the sister of his first instructor in the law. Mrs. Robinson was
born February 8, 1862, in the county of Schoharie, N.Y. Her
father was a native of Rhode Island and a relative of Major-General Nathaniel
GREENE of Revolutionary memory. He was also a soldier in the war
of the Revolution, was severely wounded in battle and for many years received
a pension from the United States. It may also be stated that both
of the grandfathers of Mr. Robinson were citizen soldiers. Both rendered
active service in the so-called French war of 1755, and both, as captains
of companies, shared in the struggles of the American Revolution.
It might be expected that the descendants of such ancestors could not be
deaf to the call of their country in her hour of danger. Age had
unfitted Mr. Robinson for military service in the late civil war, but his
sympathies were with the government in all lawful efforts to suppress rebellion
and maintain the Union, and his contributions to that end were freely given.
His son, Wardwell G. ROBINSON, however, closed his law office, took command
of the 184th regiment in New York Volunteers, and continued in active service
until the close of the war; he is still living in Oswego.
In the first year of Mr. Robinson’s
residence in Mexico he was elected to the office of justice of the peace,
and in the succeeding year to that of town clerk. In 1880 he was
appointed by Governor THROOP surrogate of Oswego county and continued in
that office eight years, having been reappointed by Governor MARCY in 1834.
In 1834 and 1836 he represented the county in the Assembly, and when the
county became entitled to two members in 1837, he was again elected as
one of them. In the meantime his professional business had been increasing
in extent and importance. He had been admitted to the highest grades
of his profession in the State and Federal courts, and had attained a prominent
position among the lawyers of Central New York.
In 1841 Mr. Robinson was appointed
district attorney of the county and held the office two years. In
1843 he was elected to represent the newly-formed district comprising the
counties of Oswego and Madison, in Congress, and in the same year was elected
supervisor of the town of Mexico. In 1847 he removed to Oswego, where
he has since resided. In 1852 he was elected recorder of the city,
but the police duties connected with the office made it distasteful to
him, and he resigned in August, 1853. In 1855 he was for the fourth
time elected to the Assembly and was honored with the speakership of that
body. In 1858 he was appointed by President BUCHANAN collector of
customs for the Oswego District, and after having discharged the duties
of that office to the satisfaction of the government and the public for
two years, he resigned it and thereafter held no public office.
BENJAMIN S.
STONE
Benjamin S. STONE was born
in Bridport, Vt., March 26, 1821, and came to Mexico with his parents,
Isaac and Lydia B. (HURLBUT) STONE, in 1826, where he has since resided.
One of a family of twelve children, reared on a farm, with all the privations
and hardships which that implied in those days, at the age of seventeen
he entered upon a clerkship in the general store of Peter CHANDLER, with
whom he remained until that gentleman’s retirement from business in 1843,
when he was succeeded by S.H. & B.S. STONE. In 1857 this partnership
was dissolved and B.S. STONE engaged with S. A. TULLER under the firm name
of Stone & Tuller, in the hardware trade. They were burned out
in 1862, and again in 1864, after which Mr. Tuller withdrew from the business
and Mr. Stone formed a partnership with a younger brother, J.R. STONE under
the firm name of B. & J. Stone. This firm was dissolved by the
death of J. R. Stone in the spring of 1868, and soon after the present
firm of B.S. Stone & Co. was organized. They were again burned
out in 1882. This record gives Mr. Stone an unbroken active mercantile
career of fifty-seven years.
In 1846 he married, at Saratoga
Springs, Sarah Elizabeth CHESTER, only sister of the Rev. A. G. CHESTER,
D.D., of Buffalo, and Col. J. L. CHESTER, of London, England. They
had six children, two of whom died in childhood, and the four living are:
Walter C., proprietor of the Advance-Journal, Camden, N.Y.; Edward T.,
of B.S. Stone & Co., Mexico, N.Y.; Dr. William G., for thirteen
years a physician in the Northern Insane Hospital at Elgin, Ill.; and Rev.
Carlos H., proprietor of Cornwall Heights School, at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson.
His wife died in 1861, and two years later he married Mrs. Ellen S. BOYLE
(born HICKS), of Bennington, Vermont. Mr. Stone has never sought
political preferment, but has nevertheless been called to many positions
of public trust and honor. He has been a member of the First Presbyterian
church since young manhood, for a greater part of that time one of its
trustees, and three times has had charge of repairing and remodeling the
church edifice. A member of the Board of Trustees of Mexico Academy
for forty years, and president since 1878, he was active and prominent
in the erection of the present academy building, to which, as a member
of the building committee, he devoted much time and energy, estimating
its cost, and, what is noteworthy in these days, completing it within the
estimate. He has several times served as trustee of the village,
has for twenty-five years been prominently identified with the Mexico Cemetery
Association, of which he is at present one of the Board of Commissioners,
and has since its foundation been a trustee of the Oswego County Savings
Bank, of which for several years he has been one of the vice-presidents.
Starting in life with very
limited educational privileges and little or no capital financially, and
in young manhood, owing to the death of his father, being called upon to
partially bear the burden and care of the family, he made the most of his
limited advantages, was energetic, economical and of strictest integrity,
and has won an enviable reputation among the most successful business men
in the county.
THE ROWE FAMILY
The year following the formation
of Oswego county, on February 17, 1817, Norman ROWE, then twenty-two years
of age, with his wife, Mary MOORE ROWE, and all their household goods,
loaded upon sleighs, drawn by a yoke of oxen, started from Paris, Oneida
county, for their new home in the town of New Haven. They settled
upon a farm a mile northwest of the present village of New Haven, and afterwards
purchased and cleared a farm further to the north, which is now known as
the George W. DAGGETT farm, and where Mrs. Rowe died, in October, 1835.
In the following year, Norman ROWE removed to the village of New Haven,
and soon after married Sarah Tompkins HITCHCOCK. She brought with
her her niece and adopted daughter, who, with Norman’s five motherless
children by his first wife, made up the family. Mr. Rowe died at
the village of New Haven October 28, 1887, being then nearly ninety-three
years of age. He was a son of Ari and Wealthy BULL ROWE, and was
born at Litchfield, Conn., January 2, 1795, and removed with his family
to Oneida county in 1803, and in 1808 to Paris, in the same county.
In these early days, he often drove team from Paris to Albany, carrying
wheat to market. During the war of 1812, he served as a soldier at
Sackett’s Harbor, and thereafter was promoted from time to time until he
was commissioned by Governor Clinton, lieutenant-colonel. Intemperance
was then one of the vices of the service, and Colonel Rowe, as an example
to his brother officers, took a bold stand for total abstinence from all
intoxicants, a novel position in those days, and difficult to maintain,
but one which he did maintain ever after. He and his wife, Mary,
with his father and mother above named, were four of the original thirteen
persons who organized the Congregational church of New Haven, July 30,
1817, one of the first churches in the county; and he was made one of its
first trustees, and on December 10, 1852, he was appointed one of its deacons.
In 1827, he was elected justice of the peace, and was thereafter elected
to that office several terms till 1853, after which he was re-elected regularly
every four years, making almost fifty years of service in that office,
and he served as one of the justices of sessions in 1849 and 1856.
He was elected town clerk in 1860 and again in 1865, and continuously thereafter
until his death. These positions he held without opposition of any
kind. He represented the town in the Board of Supervisors in 1839,
1840, 1847 and 1858, and was twice chairman of the board. In 1840,
he was elected sheriff of the county and again in 1848; and at the time
of his death one of his neighbors figured up his years of service in public
offices as one hundred and thirty-four years.
In the early days of this
county, there was much more litigation in justices’ courts than at present,
and its relative importance was much greater. Justice Rowe’s judgment
was considered excellent, and it was seldom that any decision rendered
by him was reversed by the higher courts; but he was known more as a peacemaker
than as a magistrate; and by his counsel and aid, many a settlement of
neighborhood quarrels was brought about that might otherwise have been
the cause of much expensive litigation; in all town matters, his advice
was sought and followed. He had a wonderful memory, and his stories
of early days were delightful to listen to; and he retained his faculties
until his death. At the age of ninety-two, in the last year of his
life, at the town meeting, he presided as chairman of the Town Board.
Mr. Rowe’s children who survived
him were Nathan M. ROWE, of Oswego, N.Y.; Abbie N. ROWE, who is well known
by the present generation of the city of Oswego, where she was a favorite
teacher in the public schools for over twenty years, retiring therefrom
fifteen years ago, to act as housekeeper for her father; Henry M. ROWE,
of Bucyrus, Ohio; Elizabeth, mentioned above, who, in 1850, married Dr.
C. M. LEE, of Fulton; and Augustus F. ROWE, for twenty years postmaster
and the leading merchant at New Haven, and who is now engaged in mercantile
business at Syracuse, N.Y.
Nathan M. ROWE, son of Norman
ROWE, was born in the town of New Haven in 1823. He went to Fulton
while a young man, where he attended Falley Seminary and studied law in
the office of the late Judge TYLER, and taught school for several seasons;
but he afterwards chose to follow other callings. In 1848, when his
father was elected sheriff for the second time, he came to Oswego to discharge
the duties of under-sheriff. In 1850 he married Miss Sophia PARK
a sister of the late Ira LAFREINIERE, the well-known ship-builder of Cleveland,
Ohio. Her parents died while she was an infant, and she was adopted
by Miss Louisa PARK, whose name she took and was reared and educated by
Miss Park and her brother, John B. PARK, who was one of the most prominent
and active members of the First Presbyterian Church, an enthusiastic worker
for the common school system, in which he had great faith, and one of the
leading dry goods merchants of the former village of Oswego.
For a short time Mr. Rowe
was interested with the late James M. BROWN as editor and publisher of
the Oswego Times, and he was also engaged in the clothing business in the
West First street. About this time, he built the house in West Fifth
street, now the home of Charles H. BOND, and lived there until, becoming
interested with Willis S. NELSON, of Fulton, in the starch factory established
by the Messrs. DURYEA, of Battle Island, he removed thither in 1859, where
he assumed the superintendency of the factory, and where he resided with
his family until after the factory was destroyed by fire in 1861.
The loss by the fire was a heavy one.
In the spring of 1862, he
returned to the city of Oswego, and having acquired a large tract of timber
land in conjunction with the late Charles RHODES of Oswego, in the northwestern
portion of the town of New Haven, commenced cutting the timber which found
a ready sale at Oswego, as the Island dock and several elevators were then
being constructed.
While the Oswego Water Works
Company was constructing its plant, the superintendency was offered to
Mr. Rowe, which he accepted and retained for many years, and built up and
ran in connection with the same an ice business under the name of Reservoir
Ice.
About 1890, owing to failing
health, he retired from active business, and spent most of his time thereafter
on his farms in the town of New Haven where he had one of the largest apple
orchards in the county. He died suddenly at New Haven August 29,
1893, of heart trouble, in his seventy-first year.
He was always active and energetic,
and ready to help those who needed help. In politics he was a staunch
Democrat and was widely known throughout the county. He held many
positions of trust and responsibility, and always acquitted himself so
as to gain the highest esteem of all with whom he came in contact.
Among those of the fourth
generation of the Rowe family in Oswego county is the present postmaster
of Oswego city, Louis C. ROWE. He was born at Battle Island, in the
town of Granby, November 27, 1861, while his father, the late Nathan M.
ROWE, was running the starch factory at that place, and the family returned
to Oswego in the following spring. Louis C. ROWE was educated in
the schools of Oswego city, and thereafter began the study of law with
B. F. CHASE, esq., then district attorney of the county. Upon Mr.
Chase’s removal to Chicago, he continued his studies with the late Newton
W. NUTTING, then our representative in Congress. In 1884, at Rochester,
Mr. Rowe was one of twenty-three applicants, out of a class of thirty-four,
then admitted to the bar, and since that time he has been engaged in the
practice of his profession at the city of Oswego, in which he has attained
a satisfactory degree of success. Though still young in years he
has been entrusted with a number of important cases, in the conduct of
which he has shown superior ability as a lawyer.
He has always been an ardent
Democrat, active in the party councils, and has done much good work for
his party. April 19, 1894, President Cleveland nominated Mr. Rowe
to the position of postmaster of Oswego, but his nomination, with many
others, was not acted upon by the Senate, and after the adjournment of
the Senate, and on August 30, the president appointed him to the position,
and in December sent his name to the Senate, which thereupon confirmed
his nomination of December 11, 1894. He was one of the members of
the Charter Revision Commission, 1894, 1895. In these official stations
he retains the confidence and respect of the community.
EARNEST M.
MANWAREN, M.D.
This well-known eclectic physician
of Oswego is a son of Dr. James MANWAREN, and was born in New Haven,
Oswego county, on September 20, 1852. Removing at an early age with
his parents to the city of Utica, he was there given excellent educational
advantages, and attended and graduated from the Select School of Prof.
WILLIAMS. He soon afterward went to Saginaw, Mich., and there attended
and graduated from the Commerical College of Prof. TILLINGHAST. He
was still young and from the time he left this school until he was twenty
years old he had charge of the news business on the Flint & Pere Marquette
Railroad.
At the close of this period,
in 1873, he found himself in such circumstances that he was able to carry
out his earlier formed intention, and he returned to Mexico, Oswego county,
whither his father had in the mean time removed, and began the study of
medicine under his father’s guidance. This period of study was followed
by his attendance at lectures in the Eclectic Medical College in New York
city, from which institution he graduated in 1878. Returning to Mexico
he began his professional practice in association with his father where
he remained until the spring of 1881. He then removed to New Haven,
Oswego county, and succeeded to the practice of Dr. G. W. WHITTAKER.
The death of Dr. James A.
MILNE took place in Oswego in 1886 and left a vacancy which Dr. Manwaren
was invited to fill, and he accordingly removed to the city where he soon
acquired a large and reputable practice which he continues at the present
time. Dr. Manwaren is qualified by nature and by his earnest and
persistent study and reading to successfully fill the honorable professional
position accorded him in Oswego, while his rare social qualifications,
genial and equable temperament and unfailing courtesy have given him his
well deserved popularity outside of his profession. Prompt to act,
and yet gentle in the sick room, sympathetic with every form of distress,
he wins that feeling of confidence and affection from his patients which
always constitutes an important curative element. Among his professional
brethren Dr. Manwaren is accorded the respect and esteem everywhere due
to “the good physician.” This is clearly indicated by his having
been honored with various offices in societies more or less closely related
to his profession. He was president of the Oswego County Eclectic
Medical Society in 1885, of which he is now a leading member. He
has also held the same office in the Central New York Eclectic Medical
Society and the New York State Eclectic Medical Society, is a member of
the National Eclectic Medical Society, and has taken an active part in
the proceedings in each of these organizations. He has also held
the chair of Lecturer on Physiology and Hygiene in the college from which
he graduated in New York city.
Dr. Manwaren is now and has
been since 1893 a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, which
is under the control of the State Board of Regents, and is secretary of
the board.
He is conspicuously identified
with Free Masonry and has been honored with several eminent positions in
that order; has held the office of master of Oswego Lodge No 127; has been
high priest of Lake Ontario Chapter No. 165, R.A.M.; and is a member of
Lake Ontario Commandery No. 32, K.T.; and of Damascus Temple A.A.O.N.M.S,
Rochester.
Dr. Manwaren is not active
in politics, but as far as practicable fulfills the duties of good citizenship
in the ranks of the Republican party. He is a member of the Presbyterian
church of Oswego and one of its Board of Trustees.
He has been a prolific contributor
to medical literature, especially to the Chicago Medical Times, the New
York Medical Tribune, and the Eclectic Medical Journal, of Cincinnati.
In these and other publications his communications are received with marked
favor.
On May 14, 1879, Dr. Manwaren
was married to Emma L. THOMAS, daughter of Almeron THOMAS, of Mexico, N.Y.,
and they have two children, a son and a daughter.
EDGAR A. VAN
HORNE
Edgar A. VAN HORNE was descended
from Dutch ancestry, and was a son of Robert VAN HORNE, born in Cooperstown,
N.Y., in 1809, and settled in Oswego village in 1823. There he joined
his brother, W. H. VAN HORNE, in the boot and shoe trade, the firm being
W. H. & R. VAN HORNE. Upon the subsequent dissolution of the
firm Robert VAN HORNE engaged in grocery trade and was many years one of
the most extensive dealers in that line in Oswego. In 1840
he married Rebecca IVES, daughter of the late John C. IVES, who was during
many years a leading mason and builder of Oswego and erected many of the
large stone structures in the place. Mr. Ives died January 24, 1860.
Mr. Van Horne removed to and lived in the town of Oswego several years,
but in 1865 returned to the city, and acquired an interest in the transfer
business of Parker & McRae, forming the firm of Van Horne & Co.
In politics he was an old school Democrat, but never held nor sought office.
He was one of the original members of the Oswego Guards, organized in 1838,
and so continued until 1842. He was a dignified, courteous and unostentatious
gentleman, and fully enjoyed the confidence of the community. His
death took place on July 7, 1884, and he is survived by his widow.
Robert and Rebecca VAN HORNE had two children, Celia, and the subject of
this sketch, both now deceased.
Edgar A. VAN HORNE was born
in Oswego on August 7, 1845, and received his education in the city schools.
At the age of seventeen years, in 1862, he entered the employ of the late
A. B. MERRIAM as clerk in his hardware store. He served his employer’s
interests with fidelity, but all the time felt that he was not in his proper
sphere. From early boyhood he had shown a deep interest in all matters
connected with railroading; the running of a locomotive, the laying of
track, the bustle about a station, all possessed an irresistible charm
for him, and he resolved sometime to join the great army of railroad workers.
After two years in the hardware store he found a beginning towards gratifying
his ambition, and entered the office of Superintendent George SKINNER,
of the then Oswego and Syracuse Railroad. There he managed, outside
of his prescribed duties, to learn the mysteries of telegraphy, an accomplishment
which was often of great value to him in after life. He was now amid
surroundings that thoroughly pleased him and he labored unremittingly to
master all the details of the office. In 1865 he was promoted to
the position of freight and ticket agent. In 1870 he purchased the
controlling interest in the line of transfer teams, which he managed until
August 31, 1872, when President MOLLISON made him superintendent of the
Lake Ontario Shore Railroad. In the following year he was made assistant
superintendent of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad from Oswego
to Richland, which he managed until June 1, 1874, when the Lake Ontario
Shore road went under control of the R.W. & O. Company and was added
to Mr. Van Horne’s charge. This far his career had amply justified
his choice of life work, and he demonstrated the possession of extraordinary
ability in railroad management. On January 1, 1876, the Syracuse
Northern Railroad also passed to the control of the R. W. & O. Company,
and on October 1, 1878, Mr. Van Horne was made general superintendent of
the whole line of the R. W. & O. road. The exacting duties of
this responsible position were discharged by him until the road passed
under control of Charles PARSONS on July 1, 1883. He did not remain
long idle, and on August 1, 1883, was made general superintendent of the
Utica and Back River road, and took up his residence in Utica. He
held this position about four years, when he substantially retired from
public station, and returned to Oswego to pass the remainder of his life.
For a short time he was engaged in Syracuse in the interest of a street
railway company, and later was made superintendent of the Oswego Street
Railway Company. This offered little inducement to him and he soon
resigned and purchased an interest in the hardware store of Smith &
Lieb, in Oswego. In 1893 this business was consolidated with that
of Tanner & Co., and the Oswego Hardware Company was formed, of which
Mr. Van Horne was a prominent member until his death. For ten years
or more before his decease Mr. Van Horne was in ill health and finally
became impressed with the belief that his heart was affected. This
belief became very strong and to a considerable extent controlled his actions
and weakened his powers. He avoided all possible exertion that might
affect his circulation, and only a short time prior to this death refused
a salary of $10,000 annually for the management of a new railroad.
His presentiment that he would die from heart trouble was finally verified,
and on July 31, 1894 he suddenly passed to another life.
Mr. Van Horne was a fine example
of the typical successful railroad manager. A strict disciplinarian,
he was yet affable and courteous to the lowest employee, as well as to
the wealthiest person; and his knowledge of every detail of the business
was remarkable. His genial bearing and the confidence felt in his
management made him extremely popular with the public and his friends were
numberless. His hospitable home, at a little distance from the city,
was characterized by refinement an affection, and the city at large often
felt the force of his public spirit.
Mr. Van Horne was fond of
military affairs and at one time was a member of the 48th Regiment.
He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in Company K, and in 1867
was made inspector-general on General Sullivan’s staff with rank of captain.
In 1875 he was promoted to major and was inspector general of rifle practice
and brigade inspector in 1877; this office he held until 1881, when he
resigned. In Masonry he was a member of AEonian Lodge No 679,
of Lake Ontario Chapter No. 165, and of Lake Ontario Commandery No. 32,
K.T.; also a member of Oswegatchie Lodge No. 156, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows.
At the time of his death he
was president of the Oswego County Agricultural Society. He was a
Democrat in politics of the conservative type, but never accepted political
office.
On June 12, 1867, Mr. Van
Horne was married to Sarah M. PERRY, daughter of Talmadge PERRY, who was
a son of Eleazur PERRY, the first supervisor of Oswego town, and grandson
of the first Eleazur PERRY, who was the supervisor of the town of Hanibal,
then in Onondaga county. Talmadge PERRY died at his home in Oswego
town on May 25, 1883, bearing the respect of the whole community.
His wife was Amy SABIN. Mr. and Mrs. Van Horne had four children;
Mrs. N.H. TUNNICLIFF, of Omaha, Neb.; R.E. VAN HORNE, F. P. VAN HORNE,
and Medora Maynard VAN HORNE, all whom are living. Mrs. Van Horne
is also surviving.
FRANK S. LOW,
M.D.
Dr. Frank S. LOW was born
in the town of Shrewsbury, Rutland county, Vt., March 31, 1828, being the
fourth child of a family of seven children born to Joel B. LOW and Anna
WEBBER.
Joel B. LOW was the son of
Samuel LOW and Abigail BACON, who moved from Barry, Mass., and settled
in the wilderness of Vermont.
Samuel LOW was the son of
Francis LOW, who was born at Cape Ann, Mass., in 1720.
The stories told to the doctor
by his grandfather Samuel, of the adventures and hardships undergone in
the struggle for existence during the first few years of his residence
in the wilderness, would read much more like fiction than a formidable
fact. But Samuel, whose father was one of the early settlers of Massachusetts
and who was himself a soldier in the war for our independence, was of true
Puritan stock, and with his good wife, Abigail BACON, overcame all obstacles
and reared a family of eight children. He died in 1837.
Joel B. LOW, the father of
Dr. Frank S. LOW, was the seventh child of the above mentioned Samuel LOW
and Abigail BACON. He was born in 1795 in a log house covered with
spruce bark, and was the first child born in the town of Shrewsbury, where
he lived until 1847, when he moved to Castleton, Vt., for the purpose of
better educating his children. He lived in Castleton until
1853, when he came to Williamstown, N.Y., from where he removed to Pulaski,
N.Y., in 1855, where he lived until his death in 1875.
He was for several years elected
justice of the peace while living in Shrewsbury, and was the captain of
a militia company, and when volunteers were called for to defend our northern
border in the war of 1812, he with several other members of the company
volunteered and marched to the defense of Plattsburgh. In politics
he was always a Democrat. He was a millwright by trade and with his
brother, Samuel, went on horseback from Vermont to the place where Rochester,
N.Y., now is and built a saw mill, the first mill on Genesee Falls.
Dr. Low’s mother was the daughter
of William WEBBER and Hannah BARNEY, both of Puritan stock, coming from
Rhode Island, and settling in Shrewsbury about the same time that Samuel
LOW did.
Dr. LOW was one of a family
of three boys and four girls, all of whom, excepting the doctor, have been
dead for several years.
He spent his early life on
his father’s farm, attending the district school during the winter.
Being a great reader, he availed himself on the benefits of a circulating
library (a common thing in New England towns), composed largely of works
on ancient and modern history and biographies of eminent men, acquiring
a kind of education that proved of great service to him in after years.
He also attended a few terms at Castleton Seminary, then quite a noted
school, where the Hon. John C. CHURCHILL, now of Oswego, was one of his
instructors.
The first book the doctor
ever read aloud was Weems’s Life of Washington. This he read to his
grandfather by the side of an old fashioned fireplace and by the light
of a tallow candle.
The stories told by his grandfather
of the war of the Revolution and by his father of the war of 1812 made
a lasting impression on his mind, creating great love and veneration for
his country an its defenders.
In 1847 he commenced the study
of medicine at Castleton Medical College, Vt., under the instruction of
the whole faculty, among whom was Dr. Middleton GOLDSMITH, Dr. Thomas MARKOE,
and Corydon L. FORD, all of whom became very eminent in the profession.
The college being in the town of his residence, the doctor was enabled
to attend two courses of lectures of sixteen weeks each for three years,
which at that time was something unusual. He graduated June 19, 1850,
and immediately settled in Williamstown, Oswego county, N.Y., where he
entered into a large and laborious practice, in which he continued until
1855, when he removed to Pulaski, where he has continued in active practice
ever since, and as an all around general practitioner has probably seen
a large number and greater variety of cases than most physicians.
His opinion and counsel have
always been in demand both locally and abroad, by the laity and his professional
brethren. His honesty and charity are proverbial while his genial,
cheerful manners have won him a host of friends.
The doctor married February
6, 1850, Jane H. GRAVES, daughter of Jesse GRAVES and Sarah WHEELER, of
Castleton, Vt. She proved a true woman, a loving mother and an affectionate
wife. She died March 17, 1860, leaving four children: Frank
W., who, after embarking in commercial pursuits took a course of lectures
at the dental department of the University of New York, and is now a prominent
and successful dentist of Buffalo, N.Y.; Addison S., who graduated from
the medical department of the University of New York, practiced in Pulaski,
N.Y., and Steamboatrock, Iowa, from where he removed to Watertown, N.Y.,
where he remained until the time of his death, January 17, 1892; Kate N.,
now the wife of Frank E. AVERILL, who is a graduate of the School of Mines
of Columbia College and a skillful electrician of Buffalo, N.Y.; Jesse
B., a graduate from the medical department of Howard University, Washington,
D.C., and now a successful practitioner in Watertown, N.Y.
October 8, 1860, the doctor
married Helen L. FIFIELD, OF Salem, N.Y., the daugh- of Francis FIFIELD
and Mary GRAVES. She had one child that died in infancy, and died
January 27, 1871, a noble woman beloved by all.
February 8, 1872, the doctor
again married, this time Mrs. Mary F. WOODS, widow of Wait T. WOODS, also
a daughter of Francis FIFIELD and Mary GRAVES. She is the ideal of
true womanhood, the fondest of mothers and best of wives. She had
borne him one child, Charles E., who is now pursuing a course in medicine
at the medical department of the University of Buffalo.
In politics the doctor is
a staunch Democrat, and although living in a county of an average Republican
majority of 3,300, he was in 1875 elected sheriff of the county by 800
majority. In 1863 he was elected on a union ticket as a War Democrat
to the office of coroner. During the Rebellion he was zealous
in aiding the northern cause and in raising troops. He was three
times offered the surgeonship of different regiments, but owing to his
family of small children he was unable to accept. He has also been
trustee of Pulaski Academy, as a member of the Board of Education, and
has served several terms as trustee and president of the village.
He was active in securing a village water system and the first president
of the Board of Water Commissioners.
He was the first Mason raised
in Pulaski Lodge, F. & A. M., and was for two years master of the same,
and is now a member of Pulaski Chapter No. 135 R. A. M. He
was last year appointed chief inspector of the second division of New York
on the State Board of Health. He is a member and ex-president of
the Oswego County Medical Society, a member of the Central New York Medical
Association, a permanent member of the New York State Medical Society,
of which at its last meeting he was elected vice-president.
ORRIN R. EARL
Was born in Jefferson county,
November 2, 1812. He is a grandson of Stephen EARL, who was born
in Rhode Island and died in Saratoga county aged seventy-eight, and a son
of Pardner EARL, who was born in Rhode Island, and died in Jefferson county,
aged sixty-two. The latter married Nancy SHERMAN, who died at the
age of fifty years; their children were Andrew C., Ruth, Orrin R., Albert,
Nancy, Jenette, and Ann V., who are all deceased excepting Orrin R., the
subject. Pardner EARL was a soldier in the war of 1812, a prominent
farmer, and served as supervisor and in other local positions of trust.
Orrin R. EARL was educated
at Belleville, Jefferson county, and in 1846 began life as a farmer.
His public spirit and his unselfish interest in public affairs gave him
prominence in the town, and he was elected to the Board of Supervisors,
on which he served as a leading member for seventeen years. He held
the office of president of the village four years, and in 1847 was elected
to the State Legislature where he served with credit. In 1848 he
engaged in mercantile trade at Sandy Creek, as a member of the firm of
Earl & Salisbury, which continued five years. He also conducted
the Salisbury Hotel one year, and for about eight years carried on the
tan yard. In 1870 he opened a bank in Sandy Creek, in connection
with P. M. NEWTON, which partnership existed ten years, and was dissolved
by the retirement of Mr. Newton. This bank was the first one established
in Sandy Creek, and is still successfully conducted by Mr. Earl.
In 1884 Mr. Earl became interested in the Sandy Creek Wood Manufacturing
Company, Limited, of which he is now president and one of the largest stockholders.
When the subject of boring for natural gas in Sandy Creek was first agitated,
Mr. Earl took a deep interest in the matter and was one of the prime movers
in the project of sinking the first gas well in 1889. He was chosen
president of the Sandy Creek Oil & Gas Company, held the office three
years, and is now one of the directors, and the principal stockholder.
In addition to these various pursuits, he has successfully conducted a
general farming and dairy business.
During the war period Mr.
Earl was one the most ardent and unselfish supporters of the government,
and in 1862 was sent by the citizens of his town to look after the interests
of the local soldiers at the front. While on this mission he found
himself inside the lines at the battle of Antietam, and witnessed the entire
fight. He gave to the wounded men of his acquaintance $500 in cash,
and rendered them other much needed assistance. Mr. Earl at the age
of eighty-two years still personally conducts his banking and other business
interests, and enjoys the merited confidence and esteem of the community.
In 1844 Mr. Earl was married
to Jenette SALISBURY, daughter of Nathan SALISBURY, and granddaughter of
a soldier of the war of 1812. She died on March 8, 1886.
FREDERICK J.
DORR
The subject of this sketch
was born in Cambridge, Washington county, N.Y., on the 30th of April, 1826.
His father was Rittenhouse DORR, and his mother was Anna Lorain CARRINGTON,
a daughter of Elisha CARRINGTON, and sister of Frederick CARRINGTON, both
of whom were prominent citizens of Oswego city. When Frederick J.
DORR had reached his tenth year, in 1836, he was taken by his parents from
Cambridge to Oswego, and there placed in the family of Elisha CARRINGTON.
His opportunities for obtaining an education were limited to the district
school, after which he was employed as a clerk in the dry goods store of
Dwight HERRICK, where he continued until he had reached his majority.
His experience as clerk served to inculcate in him those strict and conservative
business principles which governed his long and active business life.
Soon after he was twenty-one years of age, he opened a hardware store in
Oswego, where he carried on a successful trade until his death. During
this long period Mr. Dorr gained the entire respect and confidence of the
community. His unswerving integrity, fairness in all business transactions,
sound judgment upon public questions, and the high plane of morality which
governed his social and domestic life, conspired to give Mr. Dorr as enviable
position in the business and social life of Oswego. Although not
a member of any church, he was long a trustee of the Presbyterian Society,
and was always ready to devote his time and energies to good works.
In early life he was a Democrat in politics, but later espoused the cause
of the Republican party, and cast his vote for General Grant for president
of the United States. Of a naturally retiring disposition, the active
strife of politics was distasteful to him, and he never sought public official
station.
Mr. Dorr was married in Watertown,
N.Y., on September 23, 1857, to Mrs. George D. LEWIS. Before her
first marriage, she was Louise L. DAKE, a daughter of Edward D. W. DAKE,
of Saratoga, N.Y. The Dake family were prominent in Saratoga
county, where Mrs. Dorr’s father was a physician, and late in life a successful
lumber merchant. Her grandfather was a large real estate owner in
that vicinity, and a prominent and respected citizen. Mr. Dorr died
on February 24, 1881, his widow surviving him, and now residing on
their homestead about two miles south of Oswego city.
ORSON H. BROWN
Orson H. BROWN, an old and
respected citizen of the city of Oswego, was born in Jefferson county,
N.Y., on September 23, 1816. His father was Roswell BROWN, a native
of Stonington, Conn., of which state his mother, Electa HERRICK, was also
a native. The family removed to Oswego county in 1827, when Orson
was eleven years of age. Roswell BROWN died in Oswego county at the
age seventy-six, and his wife at the age of eighty-four. After receiving
such education as was possible in the common schools up to the age of fourteen
years, the son then entered the service on the inland lakes, which he followed
seventeen years, rising in the mean time from the lowest position to the
command of vessels. In 1838 he was in command of a vessel and continued
in the same capacity ten years, when he abandoned navigation. Mr.
Brown now turned his attention to the insurance business, the adjustment
of marine losses, care of properties, etc. In fire insurance he is
one of the oldest and most respected agents in the State; he has held the
agency of the Aetna Insurance Company of Hartford over forty-one years;
of the Insurance Company of North America thirty years; and the Royal Insurance
Company of Liverpool, England, the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company
of Philadelphia, and the Western Assurance Company of Toronto twenty-three
years each; also the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company,
twenty-five years. During this long period a large part of the insurance
of Oswego and vicinity has been placed in these staunch companies by Mr.
Brown. In the adjustment of marine losses Mr. Brown is an expert
and has had many interesting experiences. Thoroughly familiar with
maritime law, he has in the interest of clients, met and vanquished some
of the famous lawyers of this State. In one memorable case he fought
his opponents almost single handed through four years of litigation and
won his case against some of the best legal talent in the State.
A man of recognized integrity and sound business judgment, Mr. Brown has
been honored with many positions of trust. For fifteen years past
he has been trustee, vice-president, and chairman of the Loan Committee
of the Oswego City Savings Bank, and chairman of other committees in the
same institution; he is a member of the Board of Directors of the First
National Bank of Oswego; and in 1879-80 he was president of the Oswego
Board of Trade, and aided in inaugurating many movements for the welfare
of the city. His public spirit is active and he has always contributed
freely to the local press on topics of current interest. Under the
will disposing of the Guimaraes estate of $200,000 value, of which he was
executor – no bond or other security required – and on which he rendered
his final account on May 16, 1895, and in less than an hour and thirty
minutes after presentation the account was settled, and the surrogate’s
final decree entered. Mr. Brown collected between October 3, 1882,
and May 15, 1895, $126,553, a task requiring much of his time
and oversight for twelve years past. He had previously handled the
same estate under power of attorney after 1876. Complicated litigation
in the cities of Oswego, New York, and Lisbon, Portugal, and other exacting
duties have attended the settlement and care of this estate, but they have
all been judiciously conducted by Mr. Brown. In 1878 he purchased
the lot on which the Guimaraes Block stands, which structure he erected.
He has also been entrusted with other valuable property on many occasions,
and always without the execution of any bonds. Mr. Brown is a Republican
in politics, but has given little attention to that field of effort further
than is the duty of every citizen. For six years he was a trustee
of the Presbyterian church, although not an active member.
In 1838 Mr. Brown married
Jane WEED, daughter of William WEED of Richland, where he died in 1849,
at the age of sixty-two years. He was a native of Vermont, and a
cousin of Thurlow WEED, the celebrated journalist and politician.
EDWIN L. HUNTINGTON
Edwin L. HUNTINGTON was born
in Mexico, N.Y., July 8, 1839, and was the fourth child of a family of
eight children. He was of English stock on his father’s side, while
his mothers ancestors were of Scotch origin.
His grandfather, Caleb HUNTINGTON,
was born October 4, 1770, in Sharon, Conn., and married Sarah JOYCE in
1795. She died September 13, 1823. He died at Mexico, N.Y.,
October 1, 1839.
His father, Edwin HUNTINGTON,
was born in Otsego county, June 1, 1805, and came to Mexico in 1829.
He married Mary C. GREGORY in 1831 and she died July 6, 1834. In
1835 he married Lucy A. GREGORY who died in 1851. In 1853 he married
Mary E. HEWETT who died in 1881.
The children of Edwin HUNTINGTON
were as follows: Marion, Mary H., Lester B., Edwin L., Sarah H.,
Lewis J., Harriet E. and Helen. Three of his daughters are still
living, Mrs. M. H. THORPE and Mrs. S. H. HOWARD in Michigan and Mrs. Helen
MC MULLEN in Mexico. Lewis J. HUNTINGTON, his third son, enlisted
in Battery L, 9th Artillery, in March, 1864, and died in Washington July
9, 1864, at the age of eighteen, of fever contracted in the Wilderness
campaign.
The subject of this sketch
was educated in his native town and finished his studies at Mexico Academy
in 1856. He lived for two years in Wisconsin and Michigan.
In 1861 when the tidings of
the assault on Sumter flew over the land Mr. Huntington was one of the
first to leave his business and his home to defend the principles which
had found such deep root in his heart. From first to last he was
in the thickest of the conflict and has good reason to be proud of
his war record. Waiting for no bounties he volunteered as a private
soldier and went with the first regiment which left the county. Entering
the ranks as a private he was afterwards promoted as corporal and then
as captian.
In April, 1861, he enlisted
in Capt. Payne’s Co. B, 24th N. Y. Infantry, 1st Brigade, 1st Division,
1st Corps. The 24th Regiment was one of the regiments which composed
the famous “Iron Brigade.” Mr. Huntington was at the front during
almost the entire war and took part in the following engagements during
the years 1861-62-63:
Bailey’s Cross Roads, July
25th; Falls Church, October 8th; Falmouth, April 17th; Massaponax, August
6th; Rappahannock River, August 22d; Sulphur Springs, August 26th; Gainsville,
August 28th; Groveton, August 29th; Bull run, August 30th; Little river
Turnpike, September 1st; South Mountain, September 14th; Antietam, September
17th; Fredericksburg, December 14th and 15th; Pollock’s Mill Creek, April
29th; Chancellorsville, May 2d and 3d.
At Chancellorsville Mr. Huntington
was the only private in Co. B that escaped injury, all the others engaged
in the battle being either killed or wounded. He was slightly wounded
at Fredericksburg and honorably discharged and mustered out May 29, 1863.
Mr. Huntington re-enlisted
in 1863 as 2d lieutenant in Capt. Frank Sinclair’s Battery l, 9th N.Y.
Artillery, for three years and was promoted as captain July 6, 1865.
He served in 2d Brigade 3d Division, 6th Army Corps, and participated in
the following engagements during the years 1864 and 1865.
Cold Harbor, May 31st to June
12th; Assault on Petersburg, June 15th to 19th; Weldon Railroad, June 21st
to 23d; Washington, July 12th to 13th; Charlestown, August 21st; Summit
Point, August 29; Winchester, September 19; Near Cedar Creek, October 9th;
Strasburg, October 14th; Cedar Creek, October 19th; Bunker Hill, October
26th; Assault on Petersburg works, March 25th; Fall of Petersburg, April
2d; Sailor’s Creek, April 6th; Appomatox C. H., April 9th.
He was slightly wounded at
Cedar Creek and was honorably discharged September 29, 1965. Since
the close of the war he has devoted most of his time to the drug trade
in Mexico.
In June, 1870, he organized
a company to be attached to the 48th Regiment of National Guards of the
State of New York, which was known as the Huntington Guards. He was
the captain of the company for twelve years. It was composed largely
of veterans and was reputed to be one of the finest companies of the regiment.
This company was called into service of the State several times, the most
notable occasion being at the time of the railroad riots commencing at
Hornellsville and extending over other parts of the State.
In 1880 Mr. Huntington was
unanimously nominated at the republican county Convention as sheriff on
first ballot, an event which never before occurred in connection with that
position in Oswego county politics. He was elected by an unusually
large majority. In 1894 he was elected supervisor of the town of
Mexico for two years. For eight years he has held the position of
commander of the Melzer Richards Post No. 367 of the Grand Army of the
Republic and the Camp of the Sons of Veterans of Mexico bears his name.
He always manifested a deep interest in village improvements and to his
means and energy the people are largely indebted for the Mexico Electric
Lighting System. He was also very active with others in the raising
of funds for the erection of the beautiful monument now standing in the
Mexico cemetery to the memory of the brave men who enlisted from that town
during the war of the Rebellion.
In 1868 Mr. Huntington was
married to Florence A. ALLEN and they have two children, Edith L., now
Mrs. Clinton E. AVERY of Mexico, and Lulu Adelle. His wife died in
1888 and in 1891 he married Mary A. TUDO.
Mr. Huntington has held many
positions of trust and always filled them with honor to himself and credit
to the community. Reliable in his pledges, true to his friends, he
possesses independence of character to do what he thinks to be right.
In whatever position he has been placed, the public have always evinced
entire confidence in his ability and integrity.
