Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 1

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

00012656609

COMMEMORATIVE

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

-- OF --

DUTCHESS COUNTY,

NEW YORK,

PO TAINING

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OI PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS, AND OF MANY (F THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

RYILLUSTRATED-

CHICAGO: J. H. BEERS & CO. 1×97.

-197

HE PRESS OF W LOS, BIL MI HIREY & FOURTH SF LOANSP RI. INI).

PREFACE.

T HE importance of placing in book forin biographical history of representative citi- zens -- both for its immediate worth and for its value to coming generations-is ad- mitted by all thinking people; and within the past decade there has been a grow- ing interest in this commendable means of perpetuating biography and family genealogy.

That the public is entitled to the privileges afforded by a work of this nature needs no assertion at our hands; for one of our greatest Americans has said that the history of any country resolves itself into the biographies of its stout, earnest and representative citi- zens. This medium, then, serves more than a single purpose; while it perpetuates biogra- phy and family genealogy, it records history, much of which would be preserved in no other way.

In presenting the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD to its patrons, the pub- lishers have to acknowledge, with gratitude, the encouragement and support their enter- prise has received, and the willing assistance rendered in enabling them to surmount the many unforeseen obstacles to be met with in the production of a work of this character In nearly every instance the material composing the sketches was gathered from those im- mediately interested, and then submitted in type-written form for correction and revision. The volume, which is one of generous amplitude, is placed in the hands of the public with the belief that it will be found a valuable addition to the library, as well as an invaluable contribution to the historical literature of the State of New York.

THE PUBLISHERS.

TSEPH F BARNARD

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ARNARD, HON. JOSEPH F. The family of this distin- guished citizen of Poughkeep- sie, Dutchess county, is of English origin.

In very early times two brothers by the name of Bar- nard received a patent from the king of Great Britain of a considerable tract of land upon the island of Nantucket, and there they and their descendants inade their home until about the year 1818. The father of Joseph was born upon that island, as was his father and his father's father, and his father's grandfather also.

This makes quite a long line of American I citizenship. By birthright the Judge must be an American of Americans. The business of all upon this island from time immemorial was to "go down to the seas in ships," a life of trial, adventure and profit, in pursuit of the whale, principally, but sometimes chartered for com- mercial ventures the world over. At about the age of twenty years Frederic Barnard, the fa- ther of Joseph, came to the fore and took command of a ship sailing in all the seas where the whale was to be found. He seems to have been the last male representative of the name and fortunes of the Barnards at Nantucket. About this time he married a Miss Margaret Allen, a native of Millford Haven, on the bor- der of Wales and the kingdom of Great Britain. William and Thomas were born there. Re- maining there a few years, Frederic brought his family to Nantucket, and having accumu- lated a fair competence he migrated with his family of two children and wife to the east bank of the Hudson river about two miles north of the then village of Poughkeepsie, and settled upon an estate of about 100 acres of farm and

wood lands. It is said that he was attracted to this location partly by the fact that there was a company here engaged in sending out a fleet of whalers to search the seas for whales, then valuable for oil and bone. But the father of Joseph engaged in no further business ven- tures. He lived quietly upon his lands, doing not much more farming than seafaring inen are accustomed to do when upon the seas. Here were born to this father and mother eight additional children, six sons-Thomas, Henry, Joseph F., John, Frederic, George-and two daughters-Margaret and Martha. Each of these lived to adult age except Henry, who from some child's sickness died as a little one of some half dozen years.

Capt. Frederic Barnard used his time and resources most faithfully and wisely for the profit of his numerous family, for every child, nine in number, both girls and boys, were as thoroughly educated as was possible in this country. William, Thomas, Robert and Fred- eric were each graduates from Union College, while John, Joseph F. and George G. were graduated from Yale. This shows remark- able fixedness of purpose in a parent, and shows also that there were no idle ones in that family. Capt. Barnard seems to have taken the bearings of life early and to have sailed the ship without variation from the true course. In that day the funds and opportuni- ties for education were far more difficult of attainment than now since the cities and State almost fill one with learning with but one price-the boy must be diligent. In 1836 Frederic Barnard parted with the lands upon the Hyde Park road and purchased of Walter Cunningham the premises known as 47 Can- non street, where he died at the age of eighty years. The house is still owned within the

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

family, and Margaret Barnard, and Martha B. Jones, widow of Judge Samuel Jones, now re- side there during a portion of each year. All of the brothers of Joseph F. Barnard are now deceased. William, Thomas and Henry died at Poughkeepsie, and John at Santiago, in the Republic of Chili, where he acted most suc- cessfully and with uncommon skill in behalf of the government as a civil engineer. He was said to be one of the ablest in his profession. Frederic and Robert practiced law in Califor- nia and died there. George G. was a lawyer, recorder, and judge in New York City and died there. Every member of this large family who lived to manhood or womanhood, was known for quick abilities, thoughtful also, and won to themselves the firmnest personal friend- ships and regard from others.

On December 31, 1893, our subject laid off the robes as presiding justice of the supreme court, he having then reached the age of sev- enty years-the constitutional limit. On this occasion the story of his life as here given ap- peared in the Poughkeepsie News- Telegraph of about that date:

" Joseph F. Barnard was prepared for col- lege at the Dutchess County Academy in the village of Poughkeepsie and finished the course at Yale, graduating in 1841. He returned to Poughkeepsie and resided at the Barnard house on Cannon street. He entered the law office of Stephen Cleveland, then that of Henry Swift, each most able lawyers of that day here. He was admitted to practice about the year 1845. He began his career as a lawyer at Poughkeepsie alone. He was tall, thin and pale, but athletic, given to rowing, swim- ming. and keeping out of doors a good share of the day, although he attended carefully to his little business. He was alert, independent, not at all given to oratory, but his work was done and the matter was either won or lost, and no one found fault with him or his effort. It seemed to be from the time of his first efforts that the work was thought to be well done if he did it. He used his time upon a wise plan, such as to be sure of having what he wanted of it for his business. He arose early, and the office work, drawing of papers, writing letters, and hunting law, was done at once. Much was added to his knowledge of law, and his clients' business was attended to, and then he had more leisure time for recreation, and had done as much work as any man on the street. He had no influences of family, or

corporation to help him. He got clients, poor ones with small business at first, but the people began to discover that there was something to get in his office; and the farmers and able people of the county who wanted a militant lawyer, and did not ex- pect to be fawned over in a law office, began to be seen there early in the morning He had them, after a few years, sufficient for full employment; he was earnest in whatsoever he took hold of ; if he was not to be, he let go of it very quickly- the dawdling client's money had no place in his pockets, and this quick- brained, truthful lawyer had no use for any part or parcel of such case or man. He won the cases in court that work, ingenuity and law would win; fair charges were made, col- lected, and business closed. Next morning he was early at the office ready for a new invest- ment in himself. The clients came more and more plentifully until his time was used fully, and if there was a tough, hard job of litigation or a close legal question, and people wanted sure work, and answers to live and die by to questions of law, the hard-headed working and business men stated their cases to him, and sometimes the statements had to be shortened, too, for he was ready to answer, and it may be that he wanted the question or statement to be lively in its delivery also. At any rate he got a place as lawyer at the Poughkeepsie bar, wherein he had more real clients than any other lawyer here. No large corporations- but suits for all the people everywhere, suits about little things and big. People who want- ed right protected or a wrong stopped took him for lawyer quickly. The trials, as to all the various businesses of men, in which he put his fervid, his best, efforts, it was always one thing with him, the best he could do; they were all the time going on and covered our county completely, until he was the head of the profession here, and people commonly said if he said a thing it must be so. He was careful of money, but obliging with it in all proper situations, often helping the nopdy client with aid to tide him over troubles. He did not appear to think life was all on one side, and that side for himself.

" In 1863 there was an opening for some Democratic lawyer in this judicial district to be elected as justice of the supreme court. Joseph F. Barnard was the choice of the pro- fession and people in Dutchess county. There was no question made as to that here, and,

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

after some little struggle at Brooklyn, he was nominated and elected for eight years at a salary of $2,500 per year: after serving this term he was again elected, in 1871, for the term of fourteen years, at a salary of $8, 500 per year; this term he served in full, and was again re-elected in 1885, for the term of four- teen years; for each of these two latter terms he was renominated by both political parties, and with the expiration of this year (1893) the eighth year of the present term, his offiical duties end as judge.

·· Judge Barnard began the discharge of his official duties with the same earnestness with which he had acted as advocate or counsel. He was the servant of the people and did their work only, and this was first with him, above all things, during these whole thirty years. He was early at his post-indeed, his life work thus far has been largely done by noon of each succeeding day, and it has been an exceedingly active lawyer who has been able to be at the court room before him with business for the judge, or order, or paper for him to sign. This has enabled him to dispose of the busi- ness, and to take upon himself to personally see to many things, in the administration of the law, that are usually disposed of otherwise. This has been largely to the benefit of the people in money, and in the saving of their time. There is a vast amount of work for the judiciary of the district of which Dutchess county is a part to do, it being a district with as great a population as any in the State. But the appeal calendar under Judge Barnard was clear each term, the special and regular court terms for trials are made to move with vigor. lawyers, jurymen and all are kept busy with this system of going ahead with business. When the court house bell is ringing the judge is on the bench ready, with gavel in hand, to begin the duty of the day. This place, he considered, was as important as a railroad train, and why delay and use up the people's money in idle court hours when just a little pains on the part of each would bring all of them along in time? At any rate the sys- tem of this judge has kept our calendars clear of stale suits, and there is no long deferred litigation to worry and perplex litigants.

" In the work of Judge Barnard as a trial judge a great benefit has been conferred. The case, and nothing else, was to be heard. The attorney who wandered, as many are prone to do, into illogical paths, was suddenly

brought up with an admonitory word, and things moved on apace. There has been no known delay of this judge to administer the word, and the ways were made plain, kindly but firmly. How is it? It is often asked, ' Does the judge try cases all the time ?' It has come about in Dutchess county, that almost all the law cases are left to arbitrament by Judge Barnard without a jury, and thus, day by day, the weeks, months and years have been going away -- the judge constantly trying cases, as it makes so much less trouble to the litigants and less expense in all ways. The practice in this respect has brought cases to a conclusion, and prompt justice is had.

" What scenes of legal work have transpired in those plain rooms wherein our special terms are held! The judge has sat there as any other occupant of the room, near the table, surrounded by the counsel for the parties, with nothing in seat or station to indicate his rank in the assembly, At times the room is filled with the leading lights of the profession from New York and Brooklyn, and some great case is heard, involving millions of property rights, perhaps; the arguments are varied, op- posing and masterly; but almost invariably as soon as the argument is ended, if there is need of decision, it is rendered at once, orally-in a few plain words, directly to the point, and de- cisive of the subject matter. This quickness of decision has been of great value to both lawyers and their clients. A

"Sometimes it has seemed that the case has been by him rolled up and handed over in a very small parcel, and just a little warm from the mental forging, but it has had the thing in it that has satisfied the people, for it was right and men could see it. It is a great thing for a man to have so satisfied the conscience of all the people through thirty years of living under their gaze, and administering their affairs. Of friends the judge has many, but some of those, with whom youth and manhood were passed, have gone from earth. Other lawyers were here to strive and work with him, Judge Charles Wheaton, Homer A. Nelson, John Thompson, Edward Cruminey, Cyrus Swan, E. Q. Eldridge, L. B. Sackett, and others: with them, as a lawyer, he had his struggles, but he was just as ready to help them to win their cases when he was not engaged against them, as he had been to win his own. He has greatly enjoyed the society of his legal breth- ren, and jokes and pleasant talks were a daily

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

repast, indeed, the writer has often, in the early days, found great pleasure in the talks of Judge Charles Wheaton, and those other gen- tlemen of the law. Sometimes the joke would be upon Judge Barnard- often this way when Judge Wheaton was to the fore and the Judge has not failed since his accession to the bench to use and fully enjoy these kindly and and familiar social habits. But, in passing, a word must be in justice said, that many a hard knock-down has come to many of us when our cases did not upon examination bear his acute inspection. What a legal fight there was about the building of the reservoir, about the walling in of the Fallkill and the Quicksilver Mining Company case; and cases without number could be mentioned, especially remark- able, from the public interest as to their de- cision, and by reason of the eminence of the counsel engaged -- but why particularize when it has been every-day business for him for thirty years full of work.

" The father of Judge Barnard and his an- cestors for many generations were of the sect known as Quakers, bringing with them to Nan- tucket this religious faith and practice. The mother was of the Church of England, and Joseph and the other children were, through her influence, brought up in the American rep- resentative of her faith, the Episcopal Church. The Judge is a most faithful reader of the Bi- ble and a firm believer in the doctrines it sets forth, and it is often that he speaks with won- der of the wealth of wisdom in the book.

.. Judge Barnard has become the owner of many farms in the county of Dutchess, and also of a number in other counties. He has taken much care of these possessions, and has put the buildings and the farm appurtenances in first-class order; indeed, nearly all of them have new sets of buildings upon them, and. perhaps, in this opening for personal attention to the management of lands, crops and nice stock of farm animals, he may find a charming employment, in out-door life, in his days of leisure to come. It has been his constant pleasure to walk over the roads and fields, taking close note of all that there is in Nature getting health, rest and amusement. All the roads and ways upon each side of the river for miles around have been well and frequently traveled by him. He continues to practice, as a means of throwing off the burdens of in-door life. Judge Barnar | has always been a Dem- ocrat, and a man in sympathy with the people.

In ISGI he was married to Miss Emily B. Has- brouck, of Kingston, Ulster county. They have two children-Frederic Barnard, yet re- siding with his parents in their beautiful home in Poughkeepsie, and a daughter named Maud, who is now Mrs. James Lenox Banks, of New York City; each of these, the son and son-in- law, are graduates of Yale College, and are each lawyers working in the profession for its emoluments and honors. A young lawyer bids us say, and we cannot refrain from so doing, since we think it a sure mark of greatness and broadness of thought in a man who has won high position by dint of merit, to remember how weak and timid Joseph F. Barnard once was as a lawyer; and so we must say that. to the young lawyer, diffident, strange in the place, poor, usually, and needing help just then with his case, no parent with his child could have been more considerate than Judge Barnard was with him. No attempt at praise in this article has been intended, and only the facts of this useful service to us all has been the purpose of this story to plainly and truth- fully give."

U'DGE CHARLES WHEATON (deceased ).

The subject of this sketch, one of the most talented and distinguished members of the Dutchess County Bar, was born May 21, 1834, at Lithgow, in the town of Washington, Dutchess county.

He was connected by marriage and blood with many well-known residents of this region, the Bockee, the Carpenter, the Barculo, the Smith and the Thompson families, and his ancestors in the direct line were among the most prominent citizens of their day. His (Charles Wheaton's great-grandfather Whea- ton died during the Revolution, in the city of New York. His grandfather Augustus (born in 1774 in New Milford, or. town of Washing- ton, Conn., and died in 1851 in New Milford, was married, about 1796, to Hannah Givan, of the town of Washington, Conn. ; she was born in 1776, and died in 1825 in Pompey, N. Y. In about 1802 Augustus Wheaton came to the town of Northeast, Dutchess county, where he remained till 1810, managing one of Judge Isaac Smith's farms In ISIO

he moved to Pompey, N. Y., with his family. where he bought a farm and lived till about 1840. In 1833 or 1834 he wis appointed by the Governor as inspector of salt, which posi-

Charleswheaton.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tion he held for about five years. Later he removed to his former home, New Milford, Conn., where he married Miss Bostwick. He died in 1851.

On December 15, 1804, Charles Wheaton's father, Homer, was born about three-quarters of a mile north of the Square. He commenced his school life at Pompey, where he entered the academy at eight years of age. His pre- cocity is evidenced by his being already engaged in translating Xenophon when nine years old. He entered Hamilton College in 1819, being graduated in 1822, and delivering the English oration. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practice in Syracuse. On June 23, 1830. he married Louisa Smith, daughter of Judge Isaac Smith, a well-known jurist and large land-owner of Dutchess county, and as she preferred to live near her old home he gave up his profession and came to Lithgow, where his time was largely occupied in manag- ing the estates of his wife. He prepared for the ministry of the Episcopal Church, was ordained in 1841, and in 1842 was made assistant rector of Christ Church, Pough- keepsie, and in 1846 was chosen rector, serv- ing one year, when he resigned and returned to Lithgow. Here he acted as rector of St. Peter's Church, building Episcopal churches in Amenia Union and Beekman during his ministry. In 1854 he was urged by a number of the clergy for the bishopric then vacant by the death of Bishop Wainwright, but his relig- ious views were undergoing a change, and he discouraged the movement. In 1855 he be- came a Roman Catholic, and thereafter resided at his beautiful country home till within a few years of his death, which occurred in his nine- tieth year. He had become quite deaf, and was accidentally killed by the cars at Mill- brook, on November 12, 1894.

As to the maternal ancestry of Charles Wheaton: His mother, Louisa Smith, was born March 29, 1805, and died May 21, 1863. Her father, Isaac Smith, was born at the Square, July 25, 1767, and died at Lithgow in 1825. Early in the century he held the office of county judge, and served also as member of the Assembly of the State. For the earlier history of the Smith family we copy the follow- ing from an old record: " William Smith came from Gloucestershire, in England, in or about the year 1635 or 1636, unto Boston, where he was persecuted for his religious principles. He left Boston and came to Hempstead, on Long

Island, in the year 1639, where about forty families that had left Boston on the same ac- count had settled about two years before, under the States of Holland. He was killed a few years after by the Indians. He left several sons: John, Abraham and Morris. Abraham `had two sons-Isaac and Abraham; the young- est removed to Cape May, in New Jersey. Abraham died, aged eighty-six years. Isaac Smith, he settled on the side of Hempstead Plains. He was born about the year 1657 or '8, and died in the year 1746. He left two sons-Jacob and Micah. Jacob was born De- cember, 1690; Micah was born 1703. Jacob died in the year 1757. He left two sons- Thomas, born 9th of August, 1720; Jacob was one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas when he died. Isaac Smith was born the 9th day of September, 1722, and moved from Hempstead, in Queens county, where his ancestors had resided nearly a century before, to the town of Amenia, in Dutchess county, the year 1769"-and from another section: "Isaac Smith was born September 9, 1722; Margaret Platt was born August 16, 1728. They were married January 2, 1743 or '4. Of eleven children born to them, Isaac Smith was the tenth, born July 25, 1767," the grand- father of Charles Wheaton, subject of this sketch.

Of the two sons of Homer Wheaton, the elder, Isaac Smith, died in November, 1872; Charles, the younger son, was a graduate of the College of St. James at Hagerstown, Md., and a tutor there for two years. He then studied law in the office of Thompson & Weeks, of Poughkeepsie, was admitted to the bar, and entering the office of Silas Wodell, then district attorney, he became assistant district attorney. In 1863 he was elected county judge, and on the resignation of Judge Homer A. Nelson, who had been elected to Congress, he was appointed to fill his un- expired term in addition to that for which he had been chosen. He declined a renomina- tion, and never again held a public office, al- though as an ardent believer in the principles of the Democratic party he valiantly led a "forlorn hope" several times against the overwhelming Republican majority of his dis- trict. He seemed to care nothing for defeat; the cause was all that he considered; the principles which he held dear filled him with enthusiasm, in which the thought of self had no place. He was candidate for Congress in

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL, RECORD.

1866, for the U. S. Senate in 1873 (against Roscoe Conkling, and for State Senator in 1877, bearing the party standard as gallantly as if success instead of defeat were assured. He was frequently a delegate to State Conven- tions, and on several occasions was chairman, his clearness of intellect and judicial fairness making him an ideal presiding officer. He held minor offices of public trust, fulfilling their duties with scrupulous care, serving on the board of education, and on the board of managers of the Hudson River State Hospital for many years. With his high intellectual endowinents, and a manner which never failed to establish a spirit of good-fellowship, it has been a matter of surprise to many that he did not make use of opportunities for distinction in public life which arose from time to time. But he was genuinely indifferent to official honors for himself, and preferred rather to help his friends, when victory was probable, than to enter into competition with them. Again, his high sense of honor has stood in his way on more than one occasion, and the story is told that in 1879, during the preliminary campaign for the nomination of a governor, a friend asked his support for the State Treasurership. Judge Wheaton's promise was readily given, and when he was afterward notified by several delegations that he could be named for gover- nor if he so desired he informed them that he could not accept the nomination as his promise had been given to support a Dutchess county man for the Treasurership, and two could not be chosen from that county. Had he been nominated, he could certainly have been elected, as he would have reconciled all fac- tions. Public opinion is united in the belief that had he possessed greater ambition, and a less scrupulous sense of honor, he would have filled a larger place in the public eye. This is doubtless true, but one may well question whether he would have found in official place and power the satisfaction which private life afforded one of his temperament. A lover of books and travel, of home and all the refine- ments of cultured society, it is no wonder that he turned from the turmoil of political life with perfect contentment. Ile died Tuesday, May 11, 1886, at the early age of fifty-two, after a brief illness. The funeral services were held in St. Paul's Church at eleven o'clock, Friday, May 14, and the sad event was marked by sincere grief among all classes. The mem-

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 1

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354