USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. II > Part 5
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HON. FRED A. ROBBINS .- This legal practitioner, attorney at Hornell. for the Erie road, was born at Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York, October 16, 1858. His father, of the same name and a native of Granby, Massachusetts, died in his sixty- sixth year. Asa Robbins, father of the latter and grandfather of Fred A. Robbins of Hornell, was of an old New England family of English extraction. Mr. Robbins' mother was Miss Catherine Whittlesey, daughter of Zina Whittlesey. Her father was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, she, in Durham, Greene county, New York. She died in her fifty-third year. Of the children that she bore her husband four grew to maturity and of those four Fred A. was the second in order of nativity.
The immediate subjeet of this sketch was educated in common schools at Angelica, Allegany county, New York. He began the study of law there and in 1880 was admitted to the bar at Rochester. He began his practice at Belfast, Allegany county, but remained there only about six months. Returning to Angelica, he was in practice there from in 1881 until in 1898, when he located at Hornell, and there he resumed his professional work. Since January 1, 1904, he has been one of the local attorneys for the Erie road.
While living in Allegany county Mr. Robbins was for five years supervisor of Angelica township, and during the last three years of the five he was chairman of the Allegany county board of supervisors. From 1893 to 1897 he represented Allegany coun- ty in the general assembly of the state of New York.
In 1887, Mr. Robbins married Miss Clara E. Kendall, of Angelica, New York, and they have three sons,-Charles, Albert and Edward Robbins.
WILLIAM MANLEY WAGNER .- One of the most prominent of the industrial representatives of the little city of Savona is found
Clarence Willis
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in the person of William M. Wagner, perhaps most prominently known as a merchant. He was born in the city of Bath on the 28th of November, 1866, to Peter and Mary (Freeman) Wagner. The mother, a daughter of Alexander and Hulda Freeman, died in the year 1906, aged sixty-seven years, and she is survived by her husband, who is living retired at Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was born in Steuben county, New York, seventy-eight years ago, and for many years he was both a farmer and lumberman in Bath.
William M. Wagner, the only surviving child in his parents' family, on leaving school at the age of sixteen spent three years as a clerk in the office of the superintendent of the Erie Railroad Company at Hornell, New York, was then for a similar period em- ployed in the capacity of a brakeman, and returning at the close of that period to Savona he embarked in the general mercantile business as a member of the firm of Wagner and Stevenson. This association continued until 1892, and since then Mr. Wagner has been alone in the business. He carries the largest stock of goods to be found in any store of its kind in this community, and his goods are also well selected. In addition he is associated with the insurance business, representing as a general agent the Baron Steuben Fire Insurance Company, is a stockholder and the secre- tary and treasurer of the Coleman Iron Works Company of Savona, and is also a stockholder in the Savona Milling Company and the Savona Elgin Butter and Cheese Association. In politics he is. allied with the Democratic party, and he was formerly president of the Savona corporation, and has been its treasurer during the past six years. During a period of three years he was the overseer of the poor at Bath.
Mr. Wagner married in 1895 Miss Anna M. Van Housen, and two daughters have graced their union, Julia and Cora.
CLARENCE WILLIS .- No citizen of Steuben county has shown more vital interest in its history than Clarence Willis, of Bath, who is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of this section of the state and who is a representative member of the bar of his native county. He has been called upon to serve in various offices of public trust and is a citizen who is held in implicit confidence and esteem in the community.
Clarence Willis was born in Howard township, Steuben county, on the 31st of July, 1852, and is a son of William H. and Nancy (Whiting) Willis, both of whom were likewise natives of Steuben county, the father having been born in Bath township, on the 30th of May, 1832, and the mother in Howard township, on the 30th of November, 1827. The marriage of the parents was solemnized on the 25th of September, 1851, and they immediately established their home on the farm of Mrs. Willis' father, the old Whiting homestead, and this has been maintained as the homestead of the Willis family since that time. There William Hern Willis still maintains his home and there his cherished and devoted wife died on the 20th of September, 1894. Mr. Willis remodeled the house
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on the farm which is now his home and has made other improve- ments of the best order. He is one of the substantial and hon- ored citizens of the county, and though now venerable in years, he still gives a general supervision to the work and management of his fine farm. The Whiting family is of English extraction and was founded in Massachusetts in 1636. Colonel John Whit- ing, grandfather of Mrs. Nancy (Whiting) Willis, removed from Massachusetts to Maine, whence he came to Steuben county, New York, in 1814, settling near the old stone quarry south of the village of Bath, and in the township of the same name. He afterward removed to the village, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1853. Of his fourteen children, twelve attained to years of maturity and his son, John W. Whit- ing, father of Mrs. Willis, became one of the representative farmers of Howard township, where he continued to reside during the major portion of his life and where he died on the 15th of June, 1871. Colonel John Whiting was a man of prominence and influence in the community in the pioneer days and was es- sentially progressive in his attitude, doing all in his power to further the civic and material upbuilding of the county. He was prominently identified with the construction of the Lake Erie turnpike and it may be noted that in 1818 he contracted to plow and scrape twenty-two miles of this highway and to build the needed aqueducts and bridges. For this work he received $3,076.56. The construction of the road was initiated in 1809.
William Willis, paternal great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in the year 1779 and was likewise a representative of one of the Colonial families of New England. In 1820 he came with his family to Steuben county and secured a tract of land in the western part of Bath township, a locality which was later known as Willis Hill. There he died in 1824. His children were nine in number and of these Harry Willis, grand- father of the subject of this review, continued to reside on a part of the old homestead farm, where he remained until his death. On this ancestral farm William Hern Willis was born and reared. He has been for many years a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his wife was a Presbyterian in her religious faith. He has always given his support to the principles and pol- icies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and he has been called upon to serve in various offices of public trust, in- cluding those of township supervisor and assessor. His election to these offices indicates his personal popularity in the township which has for many years given a large Republican majority. William H. and Nancy (Whiting) Willis became the parents of four children, of whom Clarence is the eldest. Sarah W is the wife of Albert T. Abbey, of Watkins, Schuyler county; John W. remains on the old homestead with his father and has the gen- eral management of the place; Angeline is the wife of Andrew J. Mckibben and they reside near the old homestead in Howard township. William H. Willis was at one time the candidate of his
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party for the office of state senator and he has been for a good many years influential in the public affairs of his township. Con- cerning the Whiting family it should be noted that the subject of this sketch is a direct descendant in the sixth generation from Timothy Whiting, who was a valiant soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution, in which he participated in the battles of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill.
Clarence Willis passed his boyhood and youth on the home farm and his rudimentary education was secured in the district schools, after which he continued his studies under the direction of a private tutor, Rev. Peter C. Robertson, a graduate of Union Col- lege. Under the preceptorship of Mr. Robertson Mr. Willis began the study of Latin and he later became efficient in this classical language. He finally entered Haverling Academy, at Bath, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1871. Thereafter he was engaged in teaching in the public schools of his native county during the winter terms for five years and in the meanwhile, in 1873, he began the study of law in the of- fice of Ruggles & Little, of Bath, besides which he continued his technical studies under Charles F. Kingsley. His health became impaired and under these conditions he returned to the home farm, where he remained for two years, at the expiration of which he resumed his law studies and on June 14, 1878, at the General term of the Superior court, in the City of Buffalo, he was ad- mitted to the bar. He immediately initiated the practice of his profession at Bath and on the 1st of January, 1883, he was ap- pointed sheriff's clerk, a position of which he continued incumbent under two administrations. In 1889 he was elected village clerk of Bath and in 1890 he was elected police justice, a position which he retained for six years. In 1891 he was also elected justice of the peace of Bath township and this incumbency he retained four years. In 1906 he was Democratic candidate for the office of county judge and though he received a very flattering endorse- ment at the polls he was unable to overcome the normal Republican majority. On the 1st of March, 1907, he was appointed transfer tax attorney for Steuben county by the state comptroller and in this position he served until January 9, 1909. He has also served as village assessor and as a member of the board of health of Bath. He became a member of the local board of education in 1888 and has continuously served in this capacity except for an interim of three years, and is now the president of the board. Mr. Willis has taken a specially active interest in educational affairs and also in political manoeuvers in his home county. In the autumn of 1909 he was made the nominee of his party for member of assembly of the First district of Steuben county in the state legislature. He made a splendid campaign and was de- feated by only one hundred and forty-two votes in a district that gives a normal Republican majority of sixteen hundred. He car- ried the town of Bath by three hundred and ninety-six plurality and his home precinct by one hundred and forty. He was the
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candidate of the Democratic party for the state senate in 1910, in the forty-third senatorial district, comprising Steuben and Living- ston counties, a district that gave Taft a majority of over seven thousand, and he. was defeated by the meager majority of two hundred and sixty-seven votes. He carried every election district in his own town and his county by three hundred and twenty votes, the first Democrat to receive a plurality in Steuben county in twenty-five years. He was secretary of the Democratic county committee from 1881 to 1884, inclusive, and in 1909 he served as chairman of the Democratic committee of the First assembly dis- trict of Steuben county.
Mr. Willis has maintained his law office in the Dean Block for twenty years and his business is largely that of the settlement of estates. Concerning him the following statements are substantially those that appeared in the Elmira-Star Gazette: "He is known as a careful counselor and a man thoroughly read in his profes- sion. Mr. Willis is a gentleman of great and diversified ability and is authority on all matters pertaining to the local history of Steu- ben county. He has given numerous addresses at various meet- ings and before various bodies on historical subjects and these papers are valuable additions to the historical literature of Steu- ben county. In a business way he has always been a careful man- ager. Since he became secretary of the Nondaga Cemetery Asso- ciation at Bath, in 1898, when he found the organization hope- lessly in debt, he has placed its affairs in a fine financial condi- tion and has made the cemetery one of the beauty spots of the town. When transfer tax attorney his businesslike management was praised by all, including the state comptroller. While police justice his papers were never reviewed by any court and only two appeals were taken from his decisions, in both of which he was affirmed. Mr. Willis has been the architect of his own fortune and has worked his way up from the original vocation of farm- ing. He can still pitch hay, and enjoys the acquaintance of hun- dreds of the farmers of Steuben county, who respect him thor- oughly as a man and a citizen. He is a typical American, is a first class business man and an official who has always been true to his trusts."
Mr. Willis is a most zealous communicant of the Episcopal church and has been a member of St. Thomas church at Bath since 1873. He was elected a member of the vestry of this parish in 1889 and he is now senior warden of the church. He is a mem -. ber of Kohocton Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has served both as district deputy grand master and as district deputy grand patriarch of this organization, which he has rep- resented in both the Grand Lodge and Grand Encampment of the state. In 1905 he received from Hobart College the honorary degree of Bachelor of Arts and 1910 he received the honorary degree of Master of Litigation from Alfred University.
On the 23d of April, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Willis to Miss Mary Alice Billington, who was born March 25, 1849, in Bath township and there reared, a daughter of Jacob and Abigail (Hewlett) Billington, well known residents of the county.
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FRED E. BARTHOLOMEW .- Among the representative citizens of Steuben county, New York, is Fred Eugene Bartholomew, who is actively engaged in farming and the dairy business in Wayland township and who has ever manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters tending to advance the general welfare of this section of the grand old Empire state. He was born in Naples township, this county, on the 20th of October, 1876, and is a son of Henry Eugene Bartholomew, who was likewise born in Naples township, the date of his birth being February 3d, 1852. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this review was Henry Bartholomew, who resided in Pennsylvania for a time, coming thence to Naples township, Steuben county, New York. He and a brother who accompanied him were identified with the dairy busi- ness and general farming throughout their lives. Henry Bartholo- mew was a carriage-maker by trade and he married Minna Rodley, who was born in Connecticut. He was summoned to eternal rest in 1895, at the age of seventy-five years, and she passed away in 1893, at the age of sixty-eight years. Allen Bartholomew, father of Henry, was a native of Connecticut, whence he came to Naples township, where he took up farming and where he died in 1853, at the age of eighty years. The maiden name of his wife was Zenith Bryce. The great-great-grandfather of Fred E. Bartholo- mew, of this sketch, was Aaron Bartholomew, who lived to the age of ninety-seven years; he was a farmer by vocation. The mother of him whose name initiates this review was Miss Phoebe Warring prior to her marriage. She was born on the old Warring homestead in South Cohocton, New York, on the 4th of February, 1854, and is a daughter of John C. Warring, who was also born in South Cohocton, where he died in 1887, at the age of fifty-seven years. He married Martha D. Hoag, who died in her seventy-fifth year, in 1904. Martha D. Hoag was a daughter of Nathan and Susan Hoag, of Buffalo, New York. The maternal great-grand- father of Fred E. Bartholomew, Charles Warring, was a carpenter and ship-builder by vocation and he was born and reared in England, whence he came to the United States with his parents. Settlement was made in Connecticut, where Charles Warring wedded Rhoda Glason. They came to New York with an ox-team and wagon and located a colony at what is now known as Warring Hill, where Charles took up a homestead of two hundred and sixty acres of timber land, which he cleared, hauling the timber to Cohocton and Bath, whence it was shipped down the Cohoc- ton river. In those days all the clothing worn was homespun and the schoolhouse was some two and a half miles distant. John C. Warring, grandfather of Fred E. Bartholomew, served for a time as a soldier in the Civil war. He enlisted in Company C, New York Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into service at Elmira, New York. He participated in many important campaigns under General Grant and was present at the time of General Lee's surrender.
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Mr. and Mrs. Henry Eugene Bartholomew became the parents of two children, namely,-Lottie, who is the wife of Philip Damoth, of Corning, New York; and Fred E., the immediate subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew are both living. Fred E. received his educational training in the public schools of Steu- ben county and he was associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm until he had attained to the age of sixteen years, after which he farmed out until 1909, in which year he engaged in the farming and dairy business on his own account. He now owns a splendid estate in Naples township and in con- nection with the milk business he utilizes twenty cows, operating a fine milk and dairy depot. In politics he is aligned as a stal- wart supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party and although he has never manifested aught of desire for political preferment of any description he is alert and enthusiastic- ally in sympathy with all measures advanced for the general good of the community. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Bartholomew married Miss Lieny Sidmore, who was born in 1879. She was a daughter of E. Sidmore, a prominent farmer near Hemlock, this county. Mrs. Bartholomew was summoned to the life eternal in 1899. She was a woman of most gracious per- sonality and was deeply beloved by all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence.
REUBEN E. ROBIE .- At this point it is permitted to enter brief record concerning one of the honored and essentially representa- tive members of the bar of Steuben county, with whose annals the name has been identified for more than four score years. Mr. Robie has been for a number of years engaged in the practice of his profession at Bath and this place has represented his home from the time of his birth, which here occurred on the 24th of Sep- tember, 1843. He is a son of Hon. Reuben and Nancy (Whiting) Robie, whose marriage was here solemnized on the 29th of April, 1824, in which year Reuben Robie had established his home at Bath, whither he came from his native state of Vermont in 1822. He became one of the prominent business men and influential citi- zens of Steuben county and was a member of congress in 1851-2. For more than half a century he was numbered among the lead- ing merchants of Bath and here his death occurred in January, 1872. The lineage of the Robie family is traced back to John Robie, of Castle Donnington, Leicestershire, England, who died in 1515, and the original representative of the name in America was Henry Robie, who landed at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1639, and went thence to Exeter, New Hampshire, in which state he continued to reside until his death, which occurred at Hampton. Mrs. Nancy (Whiting) Robie, mother of him whose name initiates this review, was a descendant of Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Lynn, Massachusetts, who settled at Lynn in 1636, and she was a daughter of Colonel John Whiting, who came from Maine to Bath, Steuben county,
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in 1815. Reuben and Nancy (Whiting) Robie became the parents of twelve children, whose names are here entered in their respec- tive order of birth,-Nancy Jane, Harriet Alvira, Lydia, Olive, John Whiting, Jonathan, Charles Henry, James Whiting, Mary, Reuben Edward, Joel Carter and James Lyon. Of the number three sons and one daughter are now living.
Reuben E. Robie gained his early educational training in the schools of his native town and in 1864 he was graduated from Hobart College, in Geneva, this state. Thereafter he began read- ing law under the able preceptorship of Hon. David Rumsey, of Bath, and in 1866 was duly admitted to the bar. He initiated the active work of his profession by entering into partnership with his former preceptor and George S. Jones, under the firm name of Rumsey, Jones & Robie. This alliance continued for two years and for the succeeding two years Mr. Jones and Mr. Robie were in partnership. Since that time Mr. Robie has continued his prac- tice in an individual way and he has long controlled a large and representative professional business, based upon his recognized ability as an advocate and counselor and upon his sterling at- tributes of character. He has served as a member of the board of trustees of his native town and as loan commissioner of the state of New York. He was long and prominently identified with the National Guard, in which connection he served as adjutant, brigade inspector and judge advocate. In politics Mr. Robie has ever ac- corded a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party and he has been an efficient exponent of its principles and policies. He is identi- fied with various social organizations.
On the 2d of February, 1881, Mr. Robie was united in marriage to Miss Anna Watkins Babcock, a daughter of the late Colonel William Babcock, of Canton, Illinois.
E. R. HYDE, Wayland's florist, has been a resident of Steuben county for twenty-one years, but has maintained his residence in Wayland only since 1904. He is a natural horticulturist and a successful man in the vocation, and he has always been a lover of flowers, but it was not until 1906 that he took up the business as a special vocation. He owns his own property, and has twelve hundred feet under glass, and will soon enlarge his plant in order to supply the growing demands of his trade. He is at the present time making a specialty of the raising of carnations and roses, but he has a large trade in all cut flowers and potted plants.
Mr. Hyde claims Candice Corners in Livingston county, New York, as the place of his nativity, and he was born in 1869 to the marriage union of Frank L. and Lucretia (Mott) Hyde, whose children consisted of but two and E. R. Hyde is the only one liv- ing in Steuben county. He was educated at Hornell, this state, and his first business experience was in a clerical capacity in the dispatcher's office in the Erie Railroad shops at Hornell, but later he went from there to Buffalo and followed clerical work there until coming to Wayland in 1904. In 1899 he married Miss Nellie
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Algier, and a son, Stephen, was born to them in 1901. Mr. Hyde is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Patchin Lodge of Wayland.
M. C. SWARTHOUT .- The one agency which has done most for public progress is the press, and M. C. Swarthout is a journalist of well known ability, the editor of the Wayland Register. He has been connected with journalistic work during the greater part of his business life, and his power as a writer and editor is widely acknowledged. He has edited the Wayland Register since the 17th of November, 1904, and with the passing years he has made it one of the leading journals of Steuben county.
Mr. Swarthout has been identified with Wayland and its in- terests since 1902, but he claims Ovid in Seneca county as the place of his nativity, born on the 22d of September, 1882. His parents, C. H. and Elizabeth (Critchell) Swarthout, were from Seneca county, New York, and Adrian, Michigan, respectively. The mother died June 6, 1907, and the father is now living in Ovid, where he is held in the highest esteem. He has served in many of the public offices of Seneca county, including six years as its sheriff, ten years as a supervisor, ten years as the chairman of the County Democratic Committee, and he is now the president of the village of Ovid and is numbered among his county's rep- resentative and influential citizens. M. C. Swarthout is the third born of his parents' five children, and he was reared and educated in his native village of Ovid and is a graduate of its high school. Immediately after leaving school he became associated with the printing business and in a comparatively short time has become proficient as an editor. His job printing department is one of the chief features of his business, and he is well equipped in every line of his work. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and served his lodge as consul during the years 1906 and 1907.
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