USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. II > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
In 1855 Mr. Baldwin married Miss Emma L. Cowley, a daugh- ter of Calvin and Phila (Rathbun) Cowley, and located on what is known as the Woollenmill farm, near Addison. In the spring of 1857 he removed to Woodhull, where he built the first steam mill in that part of the county. In 1866 he came back to Addison and during the remainder of his life was one of the leading men of that town. From that time, indeed, dates that larger, broader history which identifies him with county and state affairs. He was an ardent and outspoken temperance man, and in 1884 was a nominee for congress on the Prohibition ticket. He also ran for the office of treasurer of the state as a nominee of the Prohibition party. In business circles he was active and prominent, as proprietor of the
¥82
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Baldwin bank and in connection, direct or indirect, with many im- portant interests. As a member of the Presbyterian church he was generously identified with the religious movement in the village. He died January 6, 1903. Of his three sons two died in infancy, Rufus C. Baldwin being the only survivor.
Rufus C. Baldwin was educated at the Addison academy, De Veaux College, Niagara Falls, New York; Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Massachusetts, and at a commercial college at Rochester, New York, where he finished with a business course. From 1880 to 1885 he was in the furniture and undertaking business. After living at Bath three years as under sheriff of Steuben county he re- turned to Addison in 1889 and soon located on a farm two miles west of the village, where he lived till April 1, 1896. In the year last mentioned he accepted a position as a commercial traveler, which he has filled with much ability ever since, maintaining his residence in Addison. On June 18, 1879, he married Miss Celestia M. Smith, of Addison.
. Mr. Baldwin is a member of the Steuben Society of New York city, the City Club of Corning and the Steuben Club of Bath. He was a charter member of the Baldwin Hook and Ladder company of Addison. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, identified with Addison Lodge of the F. & A. M., the chapter at Addison, the Con- sistory at 'Corning and St. Omar's Commandery of Elmira. Of his Blue Lodge he is a past master. He is identified also with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Corning organization of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Official and commercial life have not stifled Mr. Baldwin's love of the soil. He has not lost his interest in agriculture, owning, as he does, a fine farm of two hundred and fifty acres near Addison. There is no one who takes a deeper or more abiding interest in the affairs of the village, township, county and state than does Mr. Baldwin. Especially is he interested in the growth and prosperity of Addison, one of the most solid and progressive of the minor trade and manufacturing centers of Steuben county. To no appeal look- ing to its advancement does he turn a deaf ear.
PHIN. GOULD, known far and near in the athletic world as a champion wrestler, and for the past few years proprietor of a bil- liard and pool business at Corning, New York, is a native of this state, born in Chemung county, December 17, 1881. Mr. Gould's parents, William M. and Ella B (Smith) Gould, were born in 1851 and 1853, respectively, and were married in 1876. They have one other child, a daughter, Mrs. Elvira (Gould) Adsit, born April 11, 1884, and both their son and daughter were educated at Horseheads, Steuben county. By trade William M. Gould is a carpenter and joiner, which he has followed all his life. at times also doing con- tract work.
At the early age of fifteen Phin. Gould began life on his own responsibility, working as a glass blower in the Corning Glass
783
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Works, and this business he followed until 1904, when he opened up the billiard and pool business he has since successfully conducted. From boyhood athletic sports had a great fascination for him, and when quite young he became locally famous as a bicycle rider. He was the winner in all the long-distance bicycle contests within a radius of seventy-five miles of Corning. In 1903 he began public wrestling on the mat, catch as catch can, and during the years of his public wrestling has met and defeated such men as Mitchell, of Elmira ; Miles, of Buffalo; Curley, of Auburn; Al Swanson, for- merly of Sycamore, and George Bothner, champion lightweight of the world and holder of the Police Gazette silver belt. Mr. Gould defeated George Bothner in two hours and forty minutes, with two falls. Also he defeated Hanson of Norwich, who had had seventeen years' experience, twelve years being in the old country; and he wrestled with Eugene Trembalay, of Montreal, in a match at Elmira, New York. Mr. Trembalay posted in the Police Gazette that he would wrestle any man in the United States for one thousand dol- lars and that he could beat any man at one hundred and forty-five pounds. Mr. Gould's weight is from one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and forty and his height five feet and nine inches. He met Mr. Trembalay, and for two hours and five minutes wrestled with him, without a fall, at the end of which time it was called a draw and they were stopped by the police on account of dark- ness. This was the only drawback Mr. Gould ever had. Also he defeated Bradstreet at Hornell in an hour and fifteen minutes, and two falls. Bradstreet weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds. Mr. Gould has offered a challenge to any lightweight wrestler for the world's championship.
His billiard rooms are the finest in Corning, and he has hosts of friends, being a Mason of high degree and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
MRS. SARAH A. SMITH is well known for her many good quali- ties of mind and heart throughout northern Steuben county, and her late husband is remenibered as an upright man and a fine citizen who achieved success in life because he deserved to. She was born in Benton Centre, Yates county, New York, August 9, 1854, a daughter of Jacob H. and Sabra (Mattice) Ouderkirk, both natives of Middleburg, Schoharie county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Ouder- kirk came to Steuben county in 1865 and lived on a farm in the town of Cohocton, where the mother died in 1903 and the father in September, 1906. There Mrs. Smith was reared, under the careful oversight of a good father and mother. She gained her primary education in the public school near the home of her girlhood days, then became a student in the high school at Elmira, Chemung county. Returning home, she was a member of her father's house- hold till she married.
Miss Ouderkirk was married to A. E. Smith in 1877. Mr. Smith was born on the farm on which his widow now lives in the
784
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
year 1854, a son of Artemas and Sarah (Williams) Smith. Artemas Smith was a son of Elihn B. Smith, who came to this part of Steu- ben county among the early settlers. His parents were pioneers here in 1815. He was born in 1806 and was, consequently, nine years old when they came. They located on the farm which afterward came down to the late A. E. Smith. There Mr. Smith was born, reared and lived his busy and useful life. He was educated in the common schools and in a school at Havana and was for a time a successful and popular teacher. He was a member of the order of A. K. O. T. M. and a member of the Presbyterian church. He lived on his farm of one hundred and sixty-five acres the life of a man who is sowing well and expecting to reap well-the life of an honest, God-fearing man who loves his fellow-men and never extends a hand to them but the open hand of friendship. His sympathy for the troubled and the afflicted was unbounded. Many a man found in him the friend in need who is truly the friend indeed. He had a kind and encouraging word for all, a generous helpfulness for any who stood in need of it. His house was the home of guests, his table was spread for all who might come. Regardless of any ques- tion of personal relations, the visitor was weleomed at the door, fed and entertained or aided as the case might demand and sent on his way with a hearty "God-speed" that made burdens lighter for days and days. In all these good works Mrs. Smith loyally aided him. Her ideas of our duty toward our fellow-men and women do not differ materially from his, and so far as she can she orders her attitude toward humanity in general as she knows he instinctively ordered his. Her charity is well known, and no one needing a true friend ever appeals to her in vain. She is a good business woman, and the farm under her management is not falling back by any means. She is known as a woman of rare intelligence and of more than average attainments and all who know her are proud to call her "friend."
HUGH H. KENDALL .- Prominent among the leading citizens and foremost business men of Corning, Hugh H. Kendall is officially associated with one of the more important industries of Steuben county, being president of the C. R. Maltby Company, of Corning. A son of Amaziah Sheffield Kendall, he was born November 30, 1859, in Jasper, New York, coming from honored New England stock.
Amaziah S. Kendall was born in Massachusetts, and when a child came with his parents to New York, loeating in Madison county, where a short time later his father died at about the age of thirty. His mother married a second husband and lived to be one hundred years old. Not fully agreeing with his step-father on many points, Amaziah S. Kendall left home when a boy of ten years and began the battle for himself, working on a farm in Livings- ton county. In the meantime he continued his studies and subse- quently taught school several terms in Jasper, Steuben county. While thus engaged he read law and after his admission to the bar formed
785
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
a partnership with Hon. George B. Bradley, for over thirty years being junior member of the law firm of Bradley & Kendall. He continued the practice alone when Mr. Bradley was called to the Superior Court. He was very successful as a lawyer, continuing his legal work until his death in May, 1898, at the age of seventy- four years. Energetic and forceful, he was a fine representative of the self-made men of our country, a record of his life furnishing a fine illustration of the success that may be attained by persevering industry, wise thrift and manly integrity. He married Caroline Latt- imer, and to them four children were born, namely: Dr. Arthur A., who became a prominent and successful physician of Steuben coun- ty and who died at the early age of thirty-nine years; Hugh H., the subject of this sketch ; Lester L., who died in early manhood, was for a brief time engaged in the practice of law with his father; and Adelaide, wife of Charles A. Hungerford, a well-known business inan of Bloomfield, New York.
Only a year old when brought by his parents to Corning, Hugh H. Kendall was educated primarily in the public schools of Corning, afterward attending the Corning Free Academy, and a member of the class of 1882 in the University of Rochester. Returning to Corning, Mr. Kendall immediately found employment in the office of the C. R. Maltby Company, with which he has since been associated. at the present time being half owner. This company is a wholesale dealer in groceries of all kinds; buys, roasts and sells coffee in wholesale quantities ; and manufactures and packs various kinds of food products ; in which it has a large trade. It is finely equipped, among other practical conveniences owning its own large printing plant. Largely through the enterprise and energy of Mr. Kendall the company has extended its interests and is widely known in com- mercial circles not only in its home city but throughout the county and the state.
Mr. Kendall married in January, 1889, Harriet Maltby, a daugh- ter of Charles R. Maltby, the president of the C. R. Maltby Com- pany, and they have on child, Barbara Kendall. Mr. Kendall was made a Mason in 1882, and has since been very active and prominent in the order, in 1895 receiving the thirty-third degree of Masonry. He has filled almost every office in the order, including that of commander-in-chief of the Consistory. He has made a close study of Masonry in its varied branches and is now historian for this sec- tion of the country.
RAY GIFFORD LAWRENCE, M. D .- This popular and successful medical practitioner was born in the town of Cameron, Steuben county, New York, March 28, 1869, a son of Andrew James Law- rence, who was born there January 14, 1834, and a grandson of James Lawrence, born in New Hampshire in 1801, a blacksmith by trade, who came on foot to Cameron in 1823, one of the early pioneers in that part of the county. This early settler, who was known as Major Lawrence, was prominent in many ways, one of the
786
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
influential men of his time. He was postmaster thirty-six years and town clerk thirty-four years and was an active and helpful factor in the establishment of Presbyterianism in his vicinity. His title came to him for his activities in connection with the old state militia, which he commanded at general trainings. He was a leader, too, in the local work of the Sons of Temperance and was instrumental in organizing lodges of that order. In politics he was an old-line Whig and a hater of slavery and of the "state rights" idea. He married Mary Ann Dickey, of a family that located in the county very early. She bore her husband seven children, of whom William Lawrence and Andrew James are the only ones alive. Andrew James Lawrence was a twin. After the death of his wife Major Lawrence married her sister, Ruth Dickey, who bore him three children-Sarah, wife of William Yates, of Brockport; George N., of Spokane, Washington, and Almyra. The original Lawrence of this American family of the name settled in New Hampshire.
Dr. Lawrence's father was taught the blacksmith's trade by the Major. Later he was employed at railroading. After spending some years in the service of the Erie Railroad Company at Addison, New York, he turned to farming and assisting his father in blacksmithing. His father retired from active life in 1874, after thirty-eight years of honest and strenuous endeavor, which had brought him fair success for the time and locality. In the later years he did quite a business in buying and selling produce. His son took his business and added to it the sale of coal and agricultural implements. In his earlier years the latter was an active raftsman. In 1854 he rafted one hun- dred thousand feet of timber down the rivers to southern markets. Colonel James Jones, now of Yonkers, was also a noted pilot in those days. Mr. Lawrence retired in 1901 and moved to Hammondsport to pass his declining years with his son. He was reared in the Presbyterian faith. Politically he sided with the Republicans, work- ing zealously for the success of his party. He was a member of the Steuben County Republican Committee and held numerous offices. He was supervisor three terms and was three times elected justice of the peace. He trained with the "Know Nothings" in the time of that party and was in all things consistently American, a lover of freedom for all men, an advocate of equal chances for all. In 1858 he married Alma Chissom, who was born in Cameron in 1842, a daughter of George Chissom, a native of Yates county and a pioneer in Steuben. George Chissom's wife was Ruth Williamson. Dr. Lawrence has two brothers-Matthew D. Lawrence, of Bath, and Charles E. Lawrence, a hardware merchant at Knoxville, Tioga coun- ty, Pennsylvania.
After a course in the schools of Bath Dr. Lawrence was grad- uated from the high school in the class of 1889. He then went to New York as a student in the New York College of Pharmacy. He was graduated in 1893, and during the following five years was preparing further for his professional career. In 1898 he was grad- uated from the New York University Medical College, with the degree
Frank LeRoy Dundy.
789
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
of M. D. He practiced medicine and surgery a year at Rochester, New York, and in 1901 came to Hammondsport and bought the practice of Dr. B. A. Barney. He has achieved an enviable success and has become known as one of the up-to-date physicians of the county, a practitioner of modern attainments and of the best methods of today. He is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Steuben County Medical Society and of the Lake Keuka Medical Association and is a Mason.
On June 15, 1910, Dr. Lawrence married Miss Fredericka Mich- elfelder, a native of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of George Michelfelder.
FREDERICK A. ELLISON .- A man of keen intellect and superior business ability, public-spirited and progressive in a practical way, Frederick A. Ellison, an accountant for the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, is a prominent and valued citizen of Corning, which he is now serving as mayor. A Pennsylvanian by birtlı, he was born June 20, 1865, in Tioga county. His parents, G. F. and Mary (Sanderson) Ellison, natives of New York state, are now residing in Elkland, Tioga county, Pennsylvania.
Spending his youthful days in his native state, Frederick A. Ellison was educated in the Tioga High School and in the Elmira School of Commerce, becoming well fitted for a business career. He was subsequently engaged in the lumber business for some time with his father. Entering the employ of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company in 1885, he was for a while tele- graph operator at Waterville, Pennsylvania, from there going to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as accountant. Being transferred to Corning in 1891, Mr. Ellison has since continued as accountant for the company, with which he has been connected for a full quarter of a century, his long record of service bespeaking his ability and his fidelity.
One of the leading members of the Democratic party, Mr. Ellison has been active in the management of public affairs, serving one year as alderman from the Fourth ward and having been elected mayor of the city in November, 1909, a position which he is filling with credit to himself and to the honor of his constituents. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of America.
On March 8, 1894, Mr. Ellison married Stella Bosard, and they are the parents of three children, Henry, Harold and Jessie.
FRANK LEROY PURDY, A. M., M. D., D. O., came from Boston, Massachusetts, to Hornell, Steuben county, New York, August 1, 1909, and is in the active practice of his profession in its various branches at his pleasant offices No. 9 Hakes Avenue. Dr. Purdy's father was the late Dr. Andrew Purdy formerly a physician at Jasper New York and later a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church at various places in New York state and northern Pennsyl- vania.
790
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Dr. Frank LeRoy Purdy was graduated from the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1888 and from Syracuse University in 1892, after having become prominent on the athletic field and socially as well as a student. He was the first athlete in that university and still possesses a splendid physique. In 1895 he was graduated from the Buffalo Medical College. Hc spent the ensuing year in the Buffalo General Hospital. In 1899 he was graduated from the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy and has since been granted by examination, certificates of registration for the practice of medicine and surgery in the states of New York, Maryland and Massachusetts. During the past ten years he has practiced osteopathy in Boston and during that period has been also connected with the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy as professor of orthopedic surgery, major and minor surgery, pathology, clinical diagnosis, obstetrics, gynecology and osteopathic technique.
Dr. Purdy, with his fine scholastic and medical training, with his exceptional hospital experience, entered upon the study of oste- opathy with a preparation possessed by few, and his distinguished services in osteopathy since have made him a leader in that school. His broad edncation has enabled him to adopt the best methods of all schools, and his comprehensive knowledge of the structure and function of every part or organ of the human body enables him quickly to diagnose the cause of a disordered condition and intelli- gently to apply the treatment most exactly indicated.
Dr. Purdy is a Knight Templar and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served as steward. While in Buffalo he was a church choir director. He married Miss Mollie Spicer Jones, of Philadelphia, and has had three children, his oldest son being a high school student and also an athlete.
The Purdy family is one of marked intellectuality. Dr. Purdy's brother, Andrew J. Purdy, is a lawyer at Buffalo. His brother Ross C. is at the head of a department in the Ohio State University. His brother Victor W. is an osteopathic physician in Toronto, Canada. Andrew Purdy, M. D., D. D., father of these remarkable young men, was born in Jasper, Steuben county, New York, February 26, 1842. He was graduated from Alfred University, at Alfred, Alle- gany county, New York, took a post-graduate course in the Uni- versity of Michigan and then studied medicine and surgery in the University of New York. For twelve years he practiced medicine, for a time being house surgeon in Bellevue Hospital. Becoming dissatisfied with the part he was playing in the world, he studied theology and preached as opportunity was afforded him and eight years later was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. He had charges in Erwin Center and Cohocton, Steuben county, New York, Lawrenceville, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, Vic- tor, Ontario county, New York, Tonowanda, Erie county, New York, and at Asbury church, Buffalo.
The Rev. Dr. Purdy was a man of much prominence on the lecture platform and in conference work, and wherever he was sent he met with great success. His powerful preaching made many
791
HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
converts. Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, had to show for his labors there an augmented congregation and a new church building and parsonage. Other towns where he preached were in large measure benefited. He died at Corning, October 6, 1896.
RUFUS R. CLEMENT .- The present popular postmaster at At- lanta, Steuben county, New York, is Rufus R. Clement, and he is a man of sterling integrity of character and unquestioned honesty. He was born at Honeoye, New York, on the 25th of December, 1864, and is a son of Peter N. Clement, a native of Bristol, Ontario coun- ty, New York. Peter Clement established his home in Naples town- ship, Steuben county, in 1871, and he was identified with farming during the greater part of his active business career. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and he was a loyal Re- publican in his political convictions. He married Lois Bundy, who was a daughter of Rufus Bundy, formerly of Connecticut, whence they removed to Cohocton township, Steuben county. The mother of Mrs. Clement was Lois (Lovejoy) Bundy, and she and her hus- band passed the closing years of their lives with their daughter, Mrs. Clement. Mr. and Mrs. Clement became the parents of six children, namely: Peter, of North Cohocton ; Mary, wife of William Chapman, of Watkins, New York; Ella, wife of John Goundry, a farmer in Naples township, this county ; Carrie, wife of Frank Carey, of Naples township; Lola, wife of L. Laird, of Naples township; and Rufus R., the immediate subject of this review. The father was summoned to the life eternal in 1879, at the age of sixty years, and his wife passed away in 1888, at the age of fifty-eight years.
Rufus Richmond Clement was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm of his parents and he was afforded the advantages of the public schools of his native place. He was nine years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Naples, Ontario county, where he completed his education. He was associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm until his marriage, in 1884, and he continued to be identified with farming pursuits until 1895, in which year he removed to Atlanta where he entered the employ of William T. Cornish, who owned a general store, in con- nection with which he conducted the postoffice. After his death, which occurred in 1904, Mr. Clement was appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt, and he is still incumbent of this position. In politics he is a stanch adherent of the cause of the Republican party and he has ever manifested a deep and intelligent interest in all measures and enterprises projected for the general welfare of the community. He takes an active part in local polities and has served as delegation committeeman for his distriet. He is a valued and appreciative member of Kanawha Lodge, No. 566, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand master, besides which he also holds membership in Cohoeton Lodge No. 510, Free & Accepted Masons, and Bath Chapter No. 95, Royal Arch Masons.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.