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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVE
NELL'
MOL
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
3 1924 092 224 280
UN
V
Y
1865
N
DE
A.
Cornell University Library
The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092224280
A HISTORY
OF:
Steuben County, New York
AND ITS PEOPLE
BY IRVIN W. NEAR
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUBLISHING CO. 1911
9 . gral la
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GEORGE B. BRADLEY, LL. D .- Among the many men of emi- nence and influence that have honored the bar of Steuben county is the Hon. George B. Bradley, who was actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Corning, his present home, for upwards of half a century. A man of broad and comprehensive knowledge, his professional zeal and untiring industry made him a power upon the bench, aud his decisions were seldom reversed. After a long and brilliant career he is now spending the closing years of his useful life free from business cares, enjoying a well merited leisure. He was born February 5, 1825, in Chenango county, New York, where his parents were early settlers.
Having as a young man become proficient in the study of law Mr. Bradley was admitted to the bar at Oswego, New York, in 1848, and immediately began the practice of his profession in Addison, remaining there four years. Locating in Corning in 1852 he has since been an esteemed and honored resident of this city and one of its leading attorneys. His ability and skill have met with a wide recognition, and several years ago the University of Rochester con- ferred upon him the degree of LL. D.
He has been active in many lines, and in 1872 was a member of the Constitutional Commission for two terms. From 1873 until 1877 he was a member of the state senate, and in 1883 he was elected Justice of the Supreme Court, being exceptionally well equipped for a place upon the bench. For four years, from 1888 until 1892, Judge Bradley was a member of the Court of Appeals, second division of the state. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Corning and is now serving as its vice-presi- dent. A sound Democrat in politics the Judge has ever been an active worker in the interests of his party.
WILLIAM H. PRANGEN .- The present incumbent of the import- ant office of postmaster of Hornell, New York, is a native of New York city, born November 1, 1852. His father, Diedrich Prangen, was born in Germany and came to the United States as a young man, landing at New York. He spent some time in New York in the grocery business and located in Hornell about 1854, estab- lishing himself in the same business. He died there at the age of sixty-three years. He married Ethelind Wheeler, a native of New York. They were married at Newburgh, New York, and lived at New York city. Mrs. Prangen died at the age of thirty-eight
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
years. They were parents of eleven children, of whom William H. was the oldest and was two years of age when the family located at Hornell.
William H. Prangen was educated at Hornell and when he reached manhood became much interested in public affairs. He has held various offices in the city and county and received the ap- pointment to the office of postmaster in January, 1908, under the administration of President Roosevelt. He has been successful in life through his own efforts and has been self-supporting since early years. When he was eighteen years of age he was made yardmaster at Hornell for the Erie Railroad and held this position fifteen years. He afterward embarked in business in other lines and has for some time been proprietor of the City Steam Laundry Company. He is interested in various enterprises and is engaged in wholesale and retail dealing in ice. Mr. Prangen is a man of remarkable business ability and has always shown that careful attention to detail that is so essential to successful business. He is well known and popular in the county and is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He is a member of the Masons in all its degrees and also of the Elks. Religiously he is a member of the Episcopal church.
BENTON MCCONNELL .- One of the most enterprising business men of Hornellsville, New York, is Benton McConnell, president of the McConnell Manufacturing Company, which has been doing a thriving business for over forty years, though it has been incor- porated but half that time. The business was established and built up by Mr. McConnell, who has always been at the head of the concern. He was born in Howard, Steuben county, New York, November 28, 1832, and received his education in the common schools. His father, Asa McConnell, was born in Orange county, New York, and located in Steuben county at the age of seven years, being brought here by his parents in 1808. Asa was a son of Charles MeConnell, also a native of Orange county, who became one of the pioneers of Steuben county and located on a farm in the vicinity of Howard about 1808. Asa McConnell grew up in Steuben county and there received his education. He was there married to Elizabeth Jones, who was born in that county, and they located on a farm near his old home. Here he died at the age of eighty-six and one-half years and she at the age of eighty-four. They reared a family of seven children, four daughters and three sons, and three are living at this writing. Jemima is a resident of Hornellsville and Philo F. lives in London, England.
Benton McConnell is the oldest of the surviving family. At the age of eighteen years he began working for his uncle as clerk in a general store at Howard, and five years later he went west, locating at Madison, Wisconsin. In 1861 he enlisted as regimental quartermaster of the Tenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. In 1863 he was appointed paymaster in the volunteer service and remained in that capacity until the fall of 1865, having served
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more than four years. At the close of the war Mr. McConnell engaged in the lumber business near Norfolk, Virginia, remaining there until the spring of 1868, at which time he returned to Steuben county and located at Hornellsville. He purchased prop- erty and engaged in manufacturing sashes, doors and blinds. In January, 1891, the company was incorporated under the name of the McConnell Manufacturing Company. He has been successful since embarking in the enterprise to a degree that is very gratify- ing. Besides being a business man of energy and acumen he is identified with the best interests of his community and is a repre- sentative citizen.
Mr. McConnell was married in 1864 to Harriet Hopkins, of Branchport, Yates county, New York, and they became the parents of one daughter, Anna C., who married Shirley E. Brown, a prom- inent lawyer of Hornellsville.
THOMAS NILES SMITH .- The Smith family has been prominent in Steuben county, New York, for several generations, and the members of this family have contributed their share toward the development of this section of the state. Thomas Niles Smith, now a farmer living near Kanona in Bath township, a native of the county, born at Pulteney, August 6, 1844, son of Philip T. and Anner (Dean) Smith. Philip was a son of Thomas and grandson of John Smith. John Smith was a Revolutionary soldier, from Rhode Island, and his descendant, Thomas N. Smith, still has the musket he carried in the war. His son, Thomas Smith, was born in Putnam county, New York, and followed masonry contracting most of his life. He married Hillech Smith of Otsego county, and they continued to live in Putnam county several years after their marriage, but finally moved to Steuben county in 1838, where their last days were spent. He died in 1852, at the age of seventy-two years, and his widow died in 1861, at the age of eighty-one.
Philip T. Smith was born in Putnam county, New York, November 21, 1801, and died in Steuben county, May 1, 1886. He took up the masonry contracting business with his father and also followed farming. About 1839 he and his father came to Steuben county and the rest of the family followed later. They engaged in farming in that county, and on account of his health Philip Smith gave up contract work and devoted himself to his farm. He was a good workman and an enterprising business man. He was a member of the Baptist church but not active in political affairs. His widow survived until June 23, 1895.
The education of Thomas Niles Smith was received in the public schools of Steuben county and when about twenty years of age he began farming with his father. A few years later he bought 110 acres where he now lives and he has added to his land until he now has 240 acres of fine farming land. He has made most of the improvements himself and is an industrious, progressive farmer. He has erected substantial buildings and carries on his work in an
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
able manner. He is engaged chiefly in general farming, but makes a specialty of stock, keeping Short-horn cattle and Percheron horses. He believes in the wisdom of keeping high-grade stock and in bring- ing it into the county is doing a good turn to the community.
In 1896 Mr. Smith married Miss May Milliman, who was born in the town of Fremont, Steuben county, daughter of John and Ada (Eldridge) Milliman, the father a farmer. Mrs. Smith died July 28, 1906, leaving children as follows: Bernice M., born De- cember 12, 1897; Ruth, born January 22, 1899; and Naomi Doro- thy, born March 4, 1902. Mr. Smith belongs to the Blue Lodge of Masons at Bath. He is a prominent Democrat and an active worker in the interests of the party. He was candidate for the office of county treasurer in the year 1894 and served three years as treasurer of the Steuben County Agricultural Society, of which he was also vice president four years. Mr. Smith is well known through his community, where he is held in the highest esteem, not only on account of his success as a farmer, but because of his many good qualities of mind and heart. His wife also had many friends and was a woman of good deeds and high character, interested in every worthy cause. The family attend the Baptist church at Bath.
AMORY HOUGHTON, JR .- A publication of this kind exercises its most important function when it pays tribute to the life and labors of a distinguished citizen. Amory Houghton, Jr., rose to prominence and prosperity through his own well directed efforts, stood exponent of the most loyal citizenship, and the memory of his noble personality will always be cherished and venerated in the city of Corning, to whose civic and commercial prestige he contributed in most generous measure. Measured by its beneficence, its recti- tude, its productiveness, its unconscious altruism and its material success, the life of the late Amory Houghton, Jr., counted for much, and it is not the name alone but the man himself that it is hoped this brief article may reveal, and that a tribute of honor may be perpetuated where honor is well due.
Amory Houghton, Jr., was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 20th of October, 1837, and his death occurred on the 5th of November, 1909. He was the eldest son of Amory and Sophronia (Oakes) Houghton, both representatives of sterling families founded in New England in the Colonial era of our national history. The original progenitors of the Houghton family in America settled in Bolton, Massachusetts. From 1848 to 1851 the subject of this memoir attended the boarding school conducted by Edward Hall, at Ellington, Connecticut. Later he continued his studies in the high school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1854. In 1855 he began his business career, concerning the salient points in which no better record can, perhaps, be given than the following statements from the Corning Daily Journal of Saturday, November 6, 1909. the day following his death :
A. Houghton &
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
"After spending three years in the service of Lawson Valentine, in the varnish, paint and oil business in Boston, Massachusetts, he became connected with the Union Glass Company, which his father had founded in 1851 at Somerville, Massachusetts. For thirteen years the father manufactured the finer quality of flint and colored glassware at Somerville, when he removed, in 1864, to Brooklyn, New York, where he purchased the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works. At Brooklyn, Amory Houghton, Jr., was associated with his father in the glass business and was a stockholder in the incorporated com- pany. In 1868 the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works were induced to remove to Corning, New York, largely through the representation of Elias B. Hungerford, of Corning, that coal and wood to operate the works would here be cheaper than in Brooklyn. The works were established here as the Corning Flint Glass Company, the village of Corning taking, through individuals, fifty thousand dollars of stock, while the company, comprising Amory Houghton, Sr., Josiah Oakes, George P. Bradford and Amory Houghton, Jr., took seventy- five thousand dollars in stock and brought here from Brooklyn about one hundred regular and skilled employes.
"As originally established in Corning the works of the Corning Flint Glass Company covered about two acres and consisted of two furnaces. For at least three years after its establishment the com- pany conducted its operations at a heavy loss, the coal used not being suited to its purpose, and the factory being brought into direct com- petition with the larger and better equipped Pittsburg factories. In 1871 disaster came and the business was sold to Nathan Cushing, of Boston, who placed in charge of it as manager Amory Houghton, Jr. With an apparently gloomy future for the business, Mr. Hough- ton began the management on slender capital, being often, as he ad- mitted, hard put to pay the help; but by running economically and by devising and introducing specialties, the business at the end of a year showed a small profit. In 1872 the new manager, then in his thirty-fifth year, bought the establishment on credit, and for three years thereafter he was the sole proprietor, working with characteristic determination to make the business pay. The result of his energy was soon apparent. In 1875 the Corning Glass Works was incorporated with a capital of fifty thousand dollars and with the following officers: Amory Houghton, Jr., president and treas- urer ; his brother, Charles F. Houghton, vice-president; and Henry P. Sinclaire, Sr., secretary. From the time of such in- corporation until his death Amory Houghton, Jr., continued as head of the concern and one of its largest stockholders. In re- cent years he had been ably assisted in the conduct of the business by his two sons, Alanson B. and Arthur A. Houghton, and William Sinclaire, younger son of the late Henry P. Sinclaire.
"Under the management and presidency of Amory Houghton, Jr., the Corning Glass Works grew and thrived, the plant developing year by year and frequent additions being made, until now it is one of the largest glass-manufacturing establishments to be found any-
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where. As now constituted the glass works covers a number of acres and gives employment, in busy times, to more than a thousand persons. It has been the most potent factor in the growth and prosperity of Corning. Amory Houghton, Jr., was ever a student. As a boy in his father's factory in Somerville, Massachusetts, he de- voted his attention to experiments in the composition and manufac- ture of the various kinds of glass, and in this connection he had a laboratory in which to pursue his studies and experimental work. He was determined to know all about glass, and in time there was no detail of the business in which he was not an adept. Iu the art of mixing the ingredients which produced the most beautiful ware he became recognized as one without a peer in the United States. He had a firm grasp of principles and he perfected his knowledge of glass manufacturing by tireless research and patient investigation. Mr. Houghton was a man of great energy and business sagacity. He was not easily discouraged. He was not impulsive, but calm and deliberative, thinking out a project before taking it up, care- fully weighing it in its various phases and then determining upon the course to be pursued. Once that was settled, he went straight forward to the end, his indomitable will pushing aside all obstacles."
A number of years prior to the death of Mr. Houghton the Hon. Harlo Hakes, of Hornellsville, gave the following estimate of his sterling characteristics as a citizen and business man, and the statements are well worthy of reproduction in this memoir: "In some respects Amory Houghton, Jr., is the fair reminder of his father, every dominant trait, firm determination of character, having been transmitted from sire to son, and its best results are seen in the present prosperous condition of the Corning Glass Works. We pay no fulsome compliment to our subject when we say that the suc- cessful re-establishment of the glass works upon a secure and profit- able basis was due to his personal effort, energy and determination. Business men knew him to be straightforward and honest, and al- though his resources in his early business career in Corning were known to be limited, the business men gave him both. credit and cash without asking security."
With the passing of years the earnest efforts of Mr. Houghton found generous and worthy fruition in large and substantial suc- cess, not only in connection with his glass-manufacturing operations but also through judicious investments in coal and other properties. Few men have shown a higher sense of stewardship, and success meant to him not self-aggrandizement and narrowness of view but rather greater opportunity for doing good as one of the world's army of productive workers. It is gratifying to be able to enter at this juncture further quotation from the memorial appearing in the Corning Daily Journal at the time of his death, for the words of appreciation indicate the consensus of popular opinion in the city where he was best known and where his interests were long cen- tered: "Increased resources were to him only a means for increased usefulness. For years he had been the foremost contributor in Corn-
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
ing to worthy canses. No good cause appealed to him in vain. Every measure tending to advance the interests of Corning found in him a generous supporter. To enlist his support of a public projeet was to ensure its success. He was notable for his considerate treatment of employes. He paid good wages and expected good service, but he was never domineering or harsh. He listened patiently to com- plaints ; he even took time to investigate in small matters, so that no injustice might be done. To those employes suffering from dis- ability on account of age or illness he was especially kind and gener- ous, the only condition imposed being silenee as to the amount of the donation or pension and also as to the name of the donor. Mr. Houghton took pleasure in making satisfactory and noble use of the means which he had accumulated by the strength of his brain, the industry of his hands and the steady elearness of his vision. He was a true and stanch friend of those whom he liked or whose good opinion he valued. For many years the most influential citizen of Corning, he never was arrogant, demonstrative or ostentatious in the display of his power or his resources, but to the end of his days he was modest, simple and direct, like all great men. He was a rugged type of man, with an inflexible standard of integrity. In business as in private life he hewed to an unswerving line of honor and hon- esty and uprightness."
That "man lives not to himself alone" is an assurance that is amply verified in all the relations of life, but its pertinence is most patent in those instances where persons have so employed their tal- ents, so improved their opportunities and so marshaled their forees as to gain prestige that transcends mere local limitations and finds its angle of influence ever broadening in beneficence and human helpfulness. There is both lesson and incentive in such a life as that of Amory Houghton, Jr., and even the brief outline here of- fered can but shadow forth the great strength and great nobility of the man. He contributed in magnificent measure to the eoni- mereial and civie advancement of Corning and in his death the city and state suffered an irreparable loss. He was long a valued mem- ber of the local board of education, and of the same was president from 1892 until the time of his demise. Concerning his services in this capacity the following statements have been made: "Although engrossed in business affairs he was no figurehead on the board of education but was its mainspring and directing genius, giving much time and thought to the problems of school growth and being a steady advocate of progress in school affairs. His long and valu- able services on the board of education attest his public spirit and his deep interest in the cause of education."
Though he accorded an unswerving allegiance to the Republican party and showed a broad-minded interest in public affairs, Mr. Houghton had no ambition for political office, and his only devia- tion from his fixed rule was made in 1880, when he consented to permit the use of his name as presidential elector on the ticket of his party. During almost the entire period of his residence in Corning Mr. Houghton was a regular attendant at Christ church,
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Protestant Episcopal, of whose vestry he was a valued member from 1845 until the time of his death. The present beautiful edifice of Christ church stands in a large degree due to his productive interest and marked generosity.
Mr. Houghton's name is graven deeply and with firm distinc- tion on the history of Corning, where his memory will long be re- vered and honored for the good he did and the worthy life he lived. He was a commanding figure in connection with the glass-manufac- turing industry in the United States, and, as has been well said, he made the name of Corning widely known to the commercial world, and his signal influence and ability were felt and recognized in many lines outside of the glass trade. The city of Corning on his death lost a public-spirited and respected resident who, as the head of a great industry, was long the largest individual employer of labor in this city and county. The death of one thus conspicuously identified with the growth and actively interested in the welfare of the com- munity must be regarded as a public loss of no ordinary magnitude.
On the 19th of June, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Houghton to Ellen Anne Bigelow, daughter of Alanson Bigelow, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mrs. Houghton survives her honored husband, and concerning their children the following brief data are entered: Elizabeth Bigelow Houghton died at the age of one year; Alanson Bigelow Houghton is president of the Corning Glass Works and Arthur Amory Houghton is vice-president of the same; Annie Bangs Houghton remains with her widowed mother; and Clara Mabel is the wife of Hon. William J. Tully, of New York.
JOHN D. TAYLOR is numbered among the representative busi- ness men and highly esteemed citizens of Steuben county and for the past fifteen years he has devoted his attention to real-estate business and to dealing in produce. He maintains his residence in Arkport, where he has served most acceptably as postmaster, and he is at the present time supervisor of Hornellsville township.
John Dildine Taylor was born in Hornellsville, Steuben county, on the 4th of December, 1868, and is a son of Thomas J. and Charity A. (Dildine) Taylor, the former of whom was born on the 12th of July, 1838, in Livingston county, this state, and the latter of whom was born in Hornellsville township on the 8th of April, 1844. The father now resides at Arkport and the mother was summoned to the life eternal on the 1st of June, 1890. The latter was a daughter of John R. Dildine. Dr. Zachariah, his son, was one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Steuben county in the early days and who gave effective service as a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war. His brother Zeanas likewise tendered his services in defense of the Union, having en- listed in 1862 as a private and having served two years. He then became disqualified for further service by reason of illness and he died while en route to his home. Thomas J. Taylor is now living virtually retired; he devoted the major portion of his active
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career to farming and he is one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Steuben county. He is a Democrat in politics and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, of which his beloved and devoted wife was likewise a devout member.
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