USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. II > Part 13
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In politics Mr. Hollands is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he has ever been on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises projected for the gen- eral welfare of the community. Prior to the incorporation of the city of Hornell he served for a period of six years as trustee of the village. In 1879 he was elected county superintendent of the poor for Steuben county, retaining this incumbency for a period of three years, aud in 1886 he served as a member of the board of supervisors of Hornellsville. In 1891 he was given further mark of public confidence and esteem in that he was then elected sheriff of Steuben county and for three years he administered the affairs of this office in a manner that won for him commendation as a model sheriff. In 1906 he was elected supervisor of the first su- pervisors district of the city to fill out the term of Mr. W. G. Masterman, who had been elected county treasurer, and he was re- elected again in 1907 for the term of two years and proved himself a very capable official. He is affiliated with various fraternal and social organizations of representative character and, as already noted, he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, hold- ing membership in Doty Post, No. 226, of which he was commander in 1889-90, and at present is its commander. Both he and his wife are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the dif- ferent departments of whose work they have been most active factors.
On the 2nd of January, 1866, Mr. Hollands was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Bailey, who was born and reared near Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Hollands became the par- ents of five children, namely: Minnie, the wife of Charles A. Smith, of Middletown, New York; Eva and Robert, deceased, their deaths having occurred in October, 1876. George, Jr., who was born November 1, 1875, and Burr R., born June 5, 1878, are both now residents of this city and both of whom are now associated with their father in the drug, book and stationery business.
It is to such men as Mr. Hollands that Hornell owes her ad- vancement to a proud position among the interior cities of the state. The present status of the city was not gained without hard work by the best citizens, without liberal helpfulness from leaders
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in all lines. Mr. Hollands has contributed in generous measure to the civic and material development and progress and as a public official he has well served his fellow citizens. To every demand upon him he has responded with fine ability and admirable in- tegrity, the spirit that prompted him to make sacrifices for the defense of his country having dominated him through life.
MRS. SARAH EDWARDS HARLOW was born at Bath, Steuben county, New York, June 5, 1847, a daughter of James R. Dudley. Her father was a native of Bath, born November 5, 1816. He was a son of John and Elizabeth Dudley from Maine, who settled early at Bath, where Grandfather Dudley won success as a farmer and became a man of influence in the town and county. After leaving school James R. Dudley, who was well educated for his time, was in the mercantile business till he accepted a place as bookkeeper in Cook's Bank. He became prominent as a citizen and in political circles as a Republican, was active and helpful in the work of the Presbyterian church and was an earnest temperance leader. He married, April 2, 1844, at Bath, Clarissa Roe Edwards, born in Elmira, New York, December 25, 1820, a daughter of George C. and Hannah Edwards, the father born at Stockbridge, Massa- chusetts, September 21, 1787. Mr. Edwards, who was an able lawyer, gained high standing at the Chemung county bar, but re- moved to Bath in 1821. In 1827 he was appointed the first judge of the court of common pleas of Steuben county. He married Hannah Carpenter. He passed away November 18, 1837, she sur- viving him till in 1877. He was a great-grandson of Jonathan Seeley Edwards.
Besides Mrs. Harlow the children of James R. Dudley are: Hannah E., of Bath; William Dudley, a jeweler, Canisteo, New York; John M. Dudley, a member of the stock exchange of New York and a resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Miss Sarah Dudley married Dr. James Stratton Harlow, who died in 1875, aged thirty- four years, having attained high standing as a physician and sur- geon. He was a son of the Rev. James M. and Abby (Osborne) Harlow, pastor of the Bath Presbyterian church, 1863-68. Dr. and Mrs. Harlow had three children, two of whom died in infancy. The other is Agustin De Peyster Harlow of New York city. It is a matter of record that Dr. Harlow became a member of the Steuben County Medical Society in 1865. He was educated in medicine at the Buffalo Medical College and was in practice at Bath several years. After that he practiced about two years in New York, then sought health unavailingly at Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was a Presbyterian and a member of the Masonic order. For a time he held the office of adjutant in the New York state militia.
Miss Hannah Edwards Dudley, Mrs. Harlow's sister, was born at Bath September 17, 1850. She has been practically all her life a member of the Presbyterian church.
Chas Bliver Jones .
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MISS MARY L. NOBLE was born on the old Noble farm May 16, 1856, a daughter of Martin William Noble, who was born in Otsego county, New York, in 1828, a son of Lay and Lucinda Noble. His parents came to Bath, where his father worked for a time as a cabinet maker. When they moved on the first Noble homestead near the home where Miss Noble was born he was but a child. There Lay Noble improved a fine place and prospered as a farmer and he died in 1879 at Bath, aged seventy-nine years, having been born in 1800. He was a man of influence in his time, a Whig and later a Republican, who was active in all work looking to the de- velopment of his town and county, but never sought nor accepted public office. In his religious affiliation he was an Episcopalian.
Martin W. Noble was educated in common schools near his boyhood home and was brought up as a farmer's boy of all work, in which capacity he learned in a very practical way about all that was to be known about tilling the soil in the time and locality. After the farm came to him he added to it and improved it in many ways. He prospered not alone as a farmer but as a stock raiser and shipper and as a wool buyer. Indeed, he was one of leading stockmen in the county. His farm came eventually to com- prise two hundred acres. He married Lucinda Hunter, born in 1830, a daughter of Peter and Lucinda (Dimmick) Hunter, natives respectively of Bath and of Orange county, New York. Mr. Dim- mick was a prominent farmer and stock raiser, a Republican and a member of the Universalist church.
Martin W. and Lucinda (Hunter) Noble had the daughter mentioned above and two sons. Their son, Clarence H. Noble, is a farmer owning the Noble homestead. Their son, Albert Lay Noble, is a lawyer at Winfield, Kansas. Miss Noble, after completing her regular school course, was a student at the Clifton Springs Female Seminary. Her life has been devoted to her parents. Her father died May 23, 1900, and her mother April 11, 1909. She is a mem- ber of the Episcopal church and a useful and popular member of society.
CHARLES OLIVER JONES .- This name will be recognized as that of one of the earliest and most conspicuous victims of the airship, which seems destined to kill off many of its inventors and devotees before it is brought to safety and to practical utility. Mr. Jones was born in Wayne county, Illinois, June 27, 1867. His father was John Jones, who lived some years at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was a river boss on steamboats for the Wineford Coal Company. Later he moved to Illinois, where he farmed as long as he lived. He married Ellen Van Pelt, mother of the late Charles Oliver Jones, and after her death he married Mathilda (Otte) Wilson, a widow, who is now living with her daughter, Mrs. Charles Oliver Jones, a child of her first marriage, her second husband being now dead.
After leaving school Charles Oliver Jones was for some years with an uncle on a cattle ranch in Texas. Then going to Chicago
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he studied drawing and engraving and did work in designing for various artistic and commercial purposes. He invented the first modern color work as applied to printing and during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 did the artist's color work for the first number of the Graphic that was printed in colors. The prin- ciples of his invention are now of world wide application and could his name be handed along with them would give him endless fame as an originator. After remaining in Chicago six years he re- turned to his parents in Cincinnati, where he took a position in the engraving department of a large establishment. Later he went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he married and lived three years. Then he went through the west, lecturing on Socialism. While traveling with his family through the mountains with a team and van that he had bought in Denver he began those studies in aerial navigation which were destined to lead him to fame, but to death.
Returning to his old home in Illinois he remained there a year, then went to Dayton, Ohio, where he organized a stock com- pany to promote his airship plans. Mr. Curtiss and Mr. Baldwin came to Hammondsport, Mr. Curtiss' birthplace, and built an airdrome shed where they constructed his first machine. His first flight was made in the valley in which Hammondsport lies. The machine proved too heavy and was eventually converted into a dirigible machine. This work Mr. Jones did himself. His first flight in the new machine from the glen showed that the apparatus was defective. He improved the machine and after trials at El- mira and Binghamton, New York, made several successful flights at Palisade Park, in New Jersey, during August, and from there he went to Waterville, Maine, where he was killed in his second flight by the explosion of the gas bag of his machine, the cause of which has never been explained.
Mr. Jones married Miss Lottie Wilson, who was born at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, March 22, 1879, a daughter of Alfred H. and Ma- thilde (Otte) Wilson. Her father, an operator, had died and her mother had married Mr. Jones' father. Mrs. Mathilde (Otte) Wilson Jones' father was the first manufacturer of hats in Cin- cinnati. Mrs. Jones bore her husband three children: Stanley, aged ten years; Mina, aged six years, and Alfred, aged three years.
CHARLES GILBERT LYON .- A man of much ability, enterprise and judgment, Charles Gilbert Lyon holds an assured position among the foremost business men of Atlanta, Steuben county, and as a man and a citizen is held in high respect. A son of the late James S. Lyon, he was born May 22, 1864, in Buffalo, New York. Born and brought up in Montreal, Canada, James S. Lyon came to the states with his parents, and during his active life was en- gaged in the real estate business at Buffalo, New York, dying in that city in 1892, aged seventy-six years. He married Louisa L. Dougherty, a daughter of John and Julia Dougherty, natives of Vermont. and of the children born of their union five are living,
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as follows : Emma L., wife of E. L. Kimberly, a retired business man of Buffalo, New York; Eva, wife of J. T. Burrows, of Elyria, Ohio; Florence, living in Buffalo; Henry L., deputy water com- missioner of Buffalo, New York, and Charles Gilbert, the special subject of this sketch.
Leaving the public schools at the age of eighteen years Charles Gilbert Lyon studied civil engineering for a while, and was sub- sequently engaged in the lumber business at Buffalo for six years. Moving from that city to Atlanta, Steuben county, Mr. Lyon here embarked in the lumber and produce business as a member of the firm of Hatch, Otto and Company, and met with success from the start. In September, 1909, Mr. Otto retired from the firm, and its name was changed to Hatch, Lyon and Company, its present form. Mr. Lyon is connected with other substantial business en- terprises, being secretary of the United Produce Company, which has its general office in Atlanta, and of the Steuben Bean Company, an Atlanta corporation.
Politically Mr. Lyon is a Republican, but he has never desired public office, his private interests demanding his entire attention. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and be- longs to Liberty Lodge, No. 510, F. & A. M., and to Bath Chapter, No. 95, R. A. M., of Bath, New York. Religiously he is a trust- worthy member of the First Presbyterian church.
Mr. Lyon married, August 13, 1891, Minnie L. Hatch, who was born February 4, 1871, in Atlanta, a daughter of Hiram W. Hatch. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lyon, namely : Hyatt Hatch, born August 23, 1893, is taking a post- graduate course in Atlanta; Stuart Gilbert, born May 6, 1897; Harold Maurice, born June 1, 1899; Hiram William, born Febru- ary 9, 1901, and Florence Dorothy, born February 19, 1907.
FRANK M. BERTRON .- Standing as one of the most valued ex- ponents of his profession, that of veterinary surgery, is Dr. Frank M. Bertron. He comes of stanch New England parentage and his father, Daniel Bertron, was born in New Jersey in the year 1812, and his mother, whose maiden name was Melissa Balch, claimed the Green Mountain state, by the particular tie of birth within its borders, the date of her nativity being 1822. This worthy couple united their hands and fortunes in marriage in 1844, and reared a family of children who came to enjoy the respect and considera- tion of all who knew them. They were: Mary E. Bertron, who became the wife of O. P. Jeffries; Helen, who married Marcus Hickock; Oscar, now living in Allegany county; Frank M., our subject; Roxie. who married Theodore Cobert, and Andrew, who is a citizen of Pennsylvania. Some two years after their marriage Daniel Bertron and his wife came to Steuben county and he en- gaged in blacksmithing, and in Canisteo pursued that useful trade until the time of his demise, which occurred in January, 1876. Ever busy at his anvil he was a familiar figure and a beloved
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one, and he left this earth with a worthy record. His wife, who had been an ideal helpmate in all that the term implies, survived him for a number of years, her death occurring in the month of January, 1892.
Dr. Frank M. Bertron was born in Steuben county on June 3, 1856, and has passed the greater part of his useful and active life amid the familiar scenes of his birth. He was educated in the public schools and attended the Canisteo high schools. He learned the blacksmith's trade under his father's tutelage when a boy, so young that it was necessary for him to stand upon a block to work the bellows, and he came to have a very unusual skill in horse- shoeing. Later when he took up veterinary surgery his practical experience in horseshoeing enabled him to place in general prac- tice many original and humane ideas and improvements in that line. He was prepared for his profession in the Ontario Veterinary College, of Toronto, Canada, which he entered in the year 1891, and from which he was graduated in 1893, in a class numbering one hundred and sixty-three. This class was a cosmopolitan gath- ering, comprising students from the States, from Canada and from various countries across the Atlantic.
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Since 1893 Dr. Bertron has been in continual practice. His practice is of an extended character, for he is known far and wide, being well advertised by the irrefutable fact that he is one of the best in his profession. He has been frequently called out of the state upon professional business, his judgment being widely sought. Mr. Bertron's citizenship is irreproachable and he can be depended upon to give his heart and hand to all good causes. He was one of the first to promote temperance in Canisteo, and he has made many speeches in the cause, his eloquence and logic forming a combination difficult to withstand. His heart is in the good work and he has not hesitated to contribute generously of his own means to the campaign fund for the promotion of temperance. Zealous and never-tiring, he is one of those who usually accom- plish what they set out to do and he is largely responsible for the fact that Canisteo is now a temperance town.
On November 6, 1879, Dr. Bertron laid the foundation of a happy home life by his marriage to Hannah M. Dickinson, born November 9, 1846. She is the daughter of Perry Allen and Phoebe W. (Denman) Dickinson, residents of Thompson county. The father was a railroad fireman and was killed at Ithaca while on duty, a bridge falling beneath his engine. Dr. and Mrs. Bertron have one daughter, Helen A., born February 27, 1886. She was educated in the Canisteo High School.
Dr. Bertron is a Republican in politics and he and his family are attendants at the Presbyterian church, being earnest in their advocacy of its good works and generous in its support.
IRVING GARDNER BURCH .- A general merchant of Atlanta, Irv- ing Gardner Burch is numbered among its prosperous and sub- stantial business men, and is a well-known factor promoting its
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mercantile prosperity. A man of culture and talent, he is held in high repute as a citizen, and by his excellent character and straight- forward business methods has fully established himself in the es- teem and confidence of his associates, winning and retaining a lu- crative patronage in this vicinity. A son of Darius J. Burch, he was born, June 12, 1870, in Western, Oneida county, New York.
Darius J. Burch was born in Rome, New York, and has spent his entire life of seventy-seven years in Oneida county, being now retired from agricultural pursuits, which he followed during his active career. He has been twice married, first to Cynthia Blasier, a daughter of David and Catherine (Tcachout) Blasier, descend- ants of pioneer families of the Mohawk valley. He married, second, Marcia Blasier, a sister of his first wife. Of the four children born of his first union, all daughters, two are living, namely: Emma, wife of L. S. Parkhurst, of Trenton, New York, and Alice, wife of G. M. Thomas, of Holland Patent, New York. By his second mar- riage he was the father of three children, as follows: Archie L., living on the home farm at Western, Oneida county; Nellie, de- ceased, and Irving Gardner, the special subject of this brief biographical review.
Obtaining his rudimentary education in the public schools Irving G. Burch subsequently attended Rome Academy for a year, after which he taught school in his home town for two years. En- tering then the Fairfield Military Academy, he was graduated from that institution at the end of a year, and the ensuing year was an instructor at Gressly College, at Mckeesport, Pennsylvania. He was subsequently honored with the degree of Bachelor of Litera- ture by Gressly College. Continuing his residence in Mckeesport, Mr. Burch was principal of the normal department of Douglas College for a year, and also teacher of oratory.
Deciding to make a change of occupation Mr. Burch located in Lowville, New York, where he was engaged in mercantile pur- suits for seven years. Coming then to Steuben county, New York, he was for three years associated with his brother-in-law, D. D. Cottrell, as cashier. Since 1907 he has been actively engaged in business at Atlanta, where he has built up a flourishing trade in general merchandise, his store being finely equipped and well stocked. In his political affiliations Mr. Burch is independent, vot- ing for the best men and measures. Religiously he belongs to the Methodist church.
Mr. Burch married Clara De Voe, a daughter of the late Alexander De Voe, who was born in Lewis county, New York, and there married Mary Staring, a native of the same county. Mrs. Burch was born in Lewis county, September 7, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Burch have one child, Marjorie, born June 6, 1906.
SEYMOUR C. WILLIAMSON, M. D .- Occupying an enviable posi- tion among those who are ably upholding the high prestige of the medical profession of this section of the Empire state is Dr. Sey-
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mour C. Williamson. A veteran of the fraternity, he is also the kindly friend and adviser of hundreds of families in this com- munity, and for many years has faithfully devoted himself to re- lieving the ills and sufferings of humanity.
The father of the Doctor, David Williamson, was born in Al- bany county, New York, July 15, 1788, at about the time that the Revolution had really achieved the independence of the colonies. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Rullufson, was like- wise a native of the Empire state, born in Schenectady county in the year 1798. The father was a farmer and a very prominent citizen in his day and generation. He served as sheriff of Albany county for one term and was always active and influential in poli- tics, his word being of weight both because of its common sense and truthfulness. While fulfilling the duties of the shrievalty it was necessary upon one occasion for him to make a long journey on horseback into Canada, over Indian trails and terrible roads, and the fact that his business was of a financial nature and re- quired him to carry a large sum of money in grain bags slung over his horse's shoulders did not add to the safety or the personal calmness of the pilgrimage.
In the year 1837 David Williamson moved to Steuben county and bought two hundred acres of wild forest land, upon which he settled with his family. The livestock of the household, part of which he shipped by canal and the balance drove overland, con- sisted of six cows, four horses and ten sheep. Upon his newly acquired property he erected a log house, and in this locality and amid the typical pioneer surroundings seven boys and seven girls were reared to useful manhood and womanhood. With the in- dustry and thrift of his race he cleared one hundred acres of his new land and sowed it to wheat, realizing fine crops and good prices, and in time he became one of the leading agriculturists of the locality. He was so well pleased with this favored section as to make it his permanent home, and it was here that his death occurred in 1866. The wife and mother died in 1876.
Dr. Seymour C. Williamson was born in Steuben county July 15, 1838, and spent his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm. At the age of seventeen he became a man in all but years, leaving the farm, engaging in the business of sawing lumber for four years and attending school in the winter months. He then married, moved to Wisconsin, and cultivated a rented farm for another four years. His next step was to settle in Cameron, that state, and conduct a mercantile business until 1879, when he decided upon a professional career in the field of medicine and surgery. Entering the University of the City of New York he pursued a thorough course and upon graduating from that institution in 1885 began practice in his native town of Canisteo. Although not trained to his profession from youth Dr. Williamson had the advantage from the start of wide worldly experience and a mature judgment; the result has been a substantial advancement from first to last, and
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he has already passed a quarter century of well-considered and notable activity in his chosen field.
Frederick D. Williamson, M. D., the son, is also a practicing physician; in fact, entered the ranks of the fraternity in 1891. He is a graduate of the Medical University of New York and stands high in his profession.
Dr. Seymour C. Williamson is one of the prominent Masons of Steuben county, being a leading member of the chapter and commandery. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. To round out his professional record it may also be said that in addition to carrying along a large private practice he has served as coroner of Steuben county for four years and is medical examiner for a number of standard life insurance companies. He is a Republican in politics and a Presbyterian in his religious faith -a man who can be implicitly depended upon, whether considered in the light of his profession, his citizenship or his every-day morality.
HARRY L. ALLEN, one of Hornell's leading lawyers and a citi- zen of much worth and prominence, is a native of Alfred, Allegany county, New York, born June 1, 1872. Henry Allen, his father, was born there and has lived there all his life. The family is of English extraction. Its first representative in Allegany county arrived about 1815. Henry Allen married Henrietta Rice, a na- tive of Raymond, Potter county, Pennsylvania. Her father, Samuel Rice, was born near Cortland, Cortland county, New York, of mixed French and German ancestry. She was living when this work was in preparation.
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