USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 37
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Daniel, and Isaac (deceased). For fuller an- cestral history, see sketch of B. F. Freeman.
Philip Freeman was reared on his father's farm, which he helped to clear and improve, in a day when farmers had neither the machinery nor conveniences of the present day. Ile acquired a practical, but necessarily limited, education in the frontier schools of his boyhood days. He commeneed life for himself as a farmer on one hundred aeres of land, which he still owns, in the town of Royalton. Within the last few years he has retired from all active labor beyond the necessary supervision of his farm, and now resides in the progressive town of Middleport, where he is very comfortably and pleasantly situated to enjoy life.
March 31, 1830, he married Luey Odell, and to their union were born five children, two sons and three daughters: Louis and Alonzo, who are deceased ; Frank, now a resident of Middleport; Fidelia, and Viola.
Philip Freeman is a Universalist in re- ligious faitlı, and a republican in political opinion. A rather remarkable oeeurence in the life of Mr. Freeman is that, in 1840, he and his father and six brothers voted for General William Henry Harrison for presi- dent, and forty-four years later, he and five of his brothers voted for General Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of "Tippecanoe," for president.
Philip Freeman was born in the town of Scipio, county of Cayuga, State of New York. Asher Freeman had five sons by his first marriage : William (deceased ) ; Samuel, Philip, now living; Daniel and Isaac (deceased). Philip and Lucy Free- man had five children; two sons and three daughters: Louis and Alonzo (both de- eeased) ; Franklin, Fidelia, and Viola, who now reside at Middleport, New York.
F RANK A. DUDLEY, a rising young lawyer of Niagara Falls, who has al- ready won an enviable place at the bar, is a son of John A. and Henrictta (Wright) Dudley, and was born January 30, 1864, in the village of Wilson, Niagara county, New York. He is a direet deseendant of Wil- liam Dudley, who came from near Guilford, England, and settled in Guilford, Connecti- cut, in 1637, and whose sons and grandsons lived and died in that vieinity. Among his descendants was the distinguised Rev. Dr. David Dudley Field, on the maternal side. William Dudley and Robert Dudley, who settled in Massachusetts early in the seven- teenth century, were descended from Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to whom was granted Kennelworth castle by Queen Elizabeth in the fifth year of her reign. Governor Thomas Dudley, of Massachusetts, was a son of Roger Dudley, and several of the Dudleys served during the Revolution- ary war as officers in the American army. The family was very prominent in the early history of Connecticut. John A. Dudley (father) was born in Guilford, Connecticut, about 1823, but removed to Wilson, this county, where he remained for a short time, and then went to the State of Wisconsin, locating at Whitewater, where he still re- sides. He was for many years a dealer in real estate, but has now retired from all business. He is a republican in politics, and an active worker in the interests of his party. He married Henrietta Wright, by whom he had a family of four children : Ira W., who is now secretary of the Yakima Ir- rigating and Improvement Company, State of Washington, where he resides ; Fred J., now engaged in the study of medieine in the city of Chicago, Illinois; Frank A., subject of this sketeh ; and Glenn G., a resi-
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dent of Tonawanda, this State, where he is engaged in the practice of law.
Frank A. Dudley received his education in the Whitewater State Normal school of Wisconsin, and after leaving that institution entered the law office of Hon. Joshua Gas- kill, of Lockport, and began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar at Lock- port in 1886, and formed a partnership with W. Caryl Ely in 1888, under the firm name of Ely & Dudley. He immediately began the practice of his profession in that village, and has rapidly won recognition in legal circles, and with his partner is now attorney for many of the leading corporations at Niag- ara Falls, beside having an extensive general business. He is a stockholder in a number of the business enterprises of Niagara Falls, and interested in every movement calcu- lated to add to the commercial importance of the village. In politics Mr. Dudley is a republican, with a clear understanding of the political principles underlying party organization; but while firm in his adher- ence to the tenets of his party, finds little attraction in the busy arena of practical poli- tics. He is a member of Niagara Frontier lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons.
On December 17, 1890, Mr. Dudley was united in marriage to Etta Brown, daughter of Wesley P. Brown, of Niagara Falls.
C
HARLES E. CROMLEY, a prominent
and popular young attorney of Niagara Falls, and late police justice of the village, is a son of James and Elizabeth (Rodgers) Cromley, and was born in Oswego county, New York, on March 8, 1859. His grand- father was James Cromley, a native of Londonderry, Ireland, where he lived and died. His son, James Cromley (father), was
born in Londonderry about 1833, and when sixteen years of age left that country and came to America, locating in Oswego county, this State. For many years he was head cutter in a large shoe manufacturing estab- lishment, and was a great reader and student of English history. Mr. Cromley enlisted at the beginning of the civil war in Company A, 128th New York infantry, and served until the close of that gigantic struggle. He was taken prisoner, and for three months endured the privations incident to incarcer- ation in the southern military prisons, at the end of which time he was exchanged and again joined his regiment. He was an active and devoted member of the Presby- terian church, in polities a republican, and married Elizabeth Rodgers, by whom he had two children: Jennie, who married Ashton Caney, a jeweler at Batavia, this State ; and Charles E. The maternal grand- father of Charles E. Croniley was Edward Rodgers, a native of the green isle of Erin, who was born at Dublin, received a collegiate education, and afterwards graduated at a military school and served as captain in the royal army of Great Britain. He had re- tired and was living on his pension at the time of his death in 1890.
Charles E. Cromley received his early education in the common schools of this State, obtaining there the ground work on which he continued to build until he had acquired a fine edueation by his own unaided efforts. At the early age of thirteen years he began the battle of life for himself, and has successfully waged it ever since. After becoming well grounded in the common English branches, he began the study of law with Pardee & Piper, at Fulton, Oswego county, this State, and later entered the law office of Davenport & Tennant, at Richfield
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Springs, same county, where he continued his studies until 1879, when, at the age of twenty, he was admitted to the bar at Saratoga Springs. In 1880 he removed to Niagara Falls and opened a law office, and has been in the uninterrupted and successful practice of his profession since that time.
On June 10, 1880, Mr. Cromley married Hattie Ransom, daughter of Hon. Norman Ransom, of Otsego county, this State, and they have two children, Ransom and Ned. Mrs. Cromley is an intelligent and cultivated lady, and very popular in social circles.
In his political affiliations Mr. Cromley is a republican, firm in his allegiance to the cardinal principles of that party, and active in his support of party measures. There is a judicial side to his character, however, which prevents him from being a narrow partizan. He was elected police justice of the village in 1886, being the first man to oceupy that position, and his administration of the law was very satisfactory to peaceable and law-abiding citizens. He is a member of Niagara Frontier lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons, and of 42d separate company, National guards, of which he is second lieutenant, and was one of the prime movers in the organization of that company. He is the embodiment of energy and self- reliance, and may well be termed a self-made man. His community appreciate the fact that he deserves great credit for what he has accomplished, and give him unstinted admiration, respeet, and honor.
J AMES H. De GRAFF, president of the State bank of Tonawanda, and a dealer in Michigan pine lands and lumber in the western markets of this country, is an only son of John N. and Eva (Van Eps ) Dc
Graff, and was born in the town of De Witt, Onondaga county, New York, June 21, 1834. The De Graffs and Van Eps are among the oldest families of the State of New York. The De Graffs came from An- sterdam, Holland, to the then colony of New Amsterdam, which two years later was con- quered by the English and became the col- ony of New York. Jolm N. De Graff, a lineal descendant of the founder of the New York family, was born in the town of Am- sterdam, Montgomery county, in the first year of the nineteenth century, and in 1823 removed to the town of De Witt, Onondaga county, where he died in 1840, when but in the mature prime of manhood. He was a contractor by occupation, and formed a partnership with the well known James Voorhees which lasted for several years. In 1823 he married Eva Van Eps, of Hol- land descent, and a member of the old Van Eps family, which was one of the pioneer families of Schenectady, New York, and which, like the De Graff family, furnished many soldiers who fought in the Continen- tal armies for American independence. Mrs. De Graff resides at the present time at East Syracuse, Onondaga county, and although she has seen her eighty-ninth birthday, yet is remarkably active for a woman of her advanced age.
James H. De Graff grew to manhood in the town of De Witt, New York, and re- ceived his education in the public schools of Onondaga county. At an carly age he cn- gaged in contracting, and in that line of business went, in 1851, to Buffalo, New York, where he served as foreman for Theo- dore D. Barton, an extensive contractor. who was then building the breakwater in the harbor of that city. During 1852 and 1853 he was promoted to be general super-
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intendent for Barton & Richardson, con- tractors, who constructed a large portion of the road-bed with dredges across the great marsh between Bell river and Chatham, on the Great Western railroad in Canada, which was then in course of construction. In the fall of 1854 he came to Tonawanda in the employ of the same firm, who had an extensive contract there on the enlargement of the Erie canal; and in 1857, on the com- pletion of their contract on that great artery of commerce between the east and the west, he went to Great Bridge, near Norfolk, Vir- ginia, where he became one of the superin- tendents on the construction of the Chesa- peake & Albemarle canal. As soon as his work was done at Norfolk his services were asked for at Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia), upon the improvement of the Kanawha river, in which work he was en- gaged until May 22, 1861, when the gath- ering of Confederate forces in the neighbor- hood of Charleston stopped business of all kinds and compelled Mr. De Graff to return to New York. From 1861 to 1863 lie was engaged in building canal boats, and in Oe- tober of the last named year he formed a partnership with his father-in-law, Hon. John Simson, for the purpose of buying pine lands in Michigan and dealing in lumber. This partnership was dissolved in 1870, when Mr. De Graff purchased his father-in- law's interest and continued the business for five years longer. During this time he pur- chased and sold large amounts of pine lands, of which he still owns quite an interest in bothı Canada and Michigan. In 1877 he helped to organize and became a stock- holder in the banking house of Evans, Schwinger & Co., of which he was elected president. In 1883 this banking house was ehanged into the State bank, of which Mr.
De Graff was elected and has served as president ever since.
On May 4, 1859, lie married Mary,. daughter of Hon. John Simson, of Tona- wanda, Erie county. They have three chil- dren, two sons and one daughter: Louis, now superintendent of the Albion stone quarry ; Lydia, wife of Charles Weston, one of the lumber dealers of North Tona- wanda; and Le Grand, who is engaged in the office of C. A. Weston & Son.
In politics Mr. De Graff is a republican, and has been twice elected by the people of his town and served them as town super- visor, during the years 1881 and 1882. In addition to his finaneial interests and lum- ber trade, he is engaged in several other business enterprises, being interested with James A. Roberts, of Buffalo, in a sand- stone quarry located at Albion, New York, and president of the Tonawanda Gaslight Company, and is also one of the charter members of the Buffalo Loan, Trust, and Safe Deposit Company, wlieli was organ- ized in Buffalo, New York, in 1881. Of this company of large capitalists he was elected as seeond vice-president, which offiee he still holds. He has won fortune by first deserving and then working for it. It is not luck or accident that helps men on in the world, but resolution and persistent energy, and by these Mr. De Graff has made opportunity contribute to his success in business life.
JOHN J. CUSHING, and old and highly respected citizen of the town of Wilson, and a well-known farmer and fruit grower, is a son of Gilman and Rebecca (Bartlett) Cushing, and was born in the town of Worthington, Hampshire county, Massa-
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
chusetts, on April 13, 1827. The Cushings are deseended from an ancient English family, their progenitor on this side of the Atlantic being Matthew Cushing, a native of Hingham, County Norfolk, England, who emigrated to Ameriea in 1638, arriving at Boston on August 10th. He was a son of Peter Cushing, and was born in 1578. He married Nazareth Piteher (born in 1586), daughter of Henry Piteher, and reared a family of five children. They came to Ameriea in the Diligent, a vessel which sailed from Ipswich, England, in 1638, eom- manded by Captain John Martin, of that place, and settled at Hingham, near Boston, Massachusetts. Matthew Cushing's lineal deseendant was Daniel Cushing, born in 1619. His son, Elisha Cushing, was born in 1682, and in 1719 was born Elisha Cush- ing, Jr., son of Elisha, Sr., his lineal de- seendant being Ezekiel Cushing, grandfather of John J. Cushing, the subject of this sketeh. Ezekiel Cushing was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1759, was a farmer by oeeupation, and removed to Hampshire county, Massachusetts, where he died in 1835, aged seventy-six years. IIe was a whig in politics, served in the Revolutionary war, and received a pension for his services. He married Lydia Jacobs, by whom he had a family of eleven ehil- dren. His wife was born in 1764, and died in March, 1840. Gilman Cushing (father) was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, April 3, 1786, and when only two years of age removed with his father's family to western Massachusetts. In 1837 he eame to the town of Wilson, this eounty, where he died in 1861, at the age of seventy-five years. On coming to this county Mr. Cushing purchased a farm of one hundred aeres, located on Maple street (then Slash road),
three and one-half miles southeast of Wilson. He was a eooper by trade, and later engaged in agricultural pursuits. In polities he was a republican, but not a strong partizan. He married Rebecca Bartlett on April 6, 1820, and by this union had a family of three children, who reached maturity. Mrs. Cushing was born in 1794, in the State of Massachusetts, and died there in 1834.
John J. Cushing eame to Wilson in Jan- uary, 1841, when only fourteen years of age, and lived here until he was twenty-six, when he removed to Lansing, Michigan. At that place he engaged in farming, and re- mained three years, after which he returned to Wilson, and has resided in this county ever sinee. He now owns and occupies the old homestead purchased by his father in 1837. Ile has spent his life in the eultiva- tion of the soil, believing, with Washington, that "agriculture is the noblest pursuit of man." In politics Mr. Cushing is a repub- lican, and in religion is a member of the Wilson Baptist church.
On January 9, 1851, Mr. Cushing was united in marriage with Elvira Covert, daughter of Matthias Covert, of Wilson, this county, and to this union was born a family of four children : Loretta E., who married J. O. Ackerman, and resides in the town of Wilson ; Jemima, who married S. M. Smith, a farmer living in Wilson ; Elon R., and Eli J., who reside at home with their parents. Elvira Cushing, wife of John J. Cushing, died May 8, 1890, aged sixty-three years, and greatly respected and beloved by a large eirele of relatives and friends.
A LEXANDER GRANT, whose death occurred in 1857, was a Seotelman. noted for all the sterling virtues of that
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honored race. He was a son of John and Grace Grant, and was born May 12, 1811, in Morayshire, Scotland. He came to Amer- ica in 1831, and located in the city of Hart- ford, Connecticut, and later removed to Albany, New York, where he was married on November 27, 1838, to Elizabeth Taylor, of that city, who was born in Perthshire, Scotland. By this union he had four daughters and two sons, two of whom are living: Mary Louise, and Elizabeth, who married F. R. Delano, of Niagara Falls.
Alexander Grant received a fine educa- tion in the public and private schools of his native land, and afterward learned the busi- ness of practical and landscape gardening. He removed from Albany to Niagara Falls in the spring of 1839, where lie followed the occupation of a gardener until his death at that place in 1857. In politics he was an old-line whig until the formation of the Re- publican party, when he joined that political organization, but did not live to see it achieve national success. He was a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, and active and liberal in his support of all church interests, serving as trustee of his church for some time. In his later years Mr. Grant made some investments in real estate which proved very fortunate. His widow, Elizabetlı (Taylor) Grant, still sur- vives him, living in her handsome home at Niagara Falls, surrounded by all the com- forts of life, and greatly beloved by a wide circle of admiring friends.
H ON. ALVAH K. POTTER, ex-judge of Niagara county, and who was hon- orably discharged from the Union service in 1865, as lieutenant-colonel of the 18th New Hampshire volunteer infantry, was
born in the city of Concord, New Hampshire, March 31, 1840, and is a son of Thomas D. and Eunice (Marden ) Potter. The Potters are of English descent, and Richard Potter, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Ipswich, Massachu- setts, but in early life became a resident of the city of Concord, in the Granite State. He served in the Revolutionary war, and his son, Joseph Potter (grandfather), resided in Concord until his death. Joseph Potter married Lydia Drake, and had a family of four sons. One of these sons, Thomas D. (father), was born in Concord, in January, 1796. He was a farmer, a member of the Congregational church, and a democrat in politics. He held several city offices, and married Eunice Marden, whose father was a native of New Hampshire. They reared a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters: General Joseph H., who graduated at West Point Military academy in 1845, and is now living a retired life in Columbus, Ohio, with the rank of brigadier general in the regular army; Thomas and John, who are farmers; Hon. Alvah K .; Frank P., one of the directors of the Jolm D. Farwell dry goods firm of Chicago; Annie E., wife of J. B. Richardson, a manufacturer of Lowell, Massachusetts ; Emily, who mar- ried a Mr. Swift, a wholesale ship chandler, of Boston, and is now dead; Clara F. (de- ceased ); Martha J., wife of Benjamin W. Dean, 'of Worcester, Massachusetts; Lydia K., married to A. T. Perry, of Cleveland, Ohio, who is president of the Forest City Chemical Company ; and Mary P., widow of Fred L. Freeman, a merchant of Baltimore.
Alvah K. Porter grew to manhood in the city of Concord, and prepared for college at Appleton academy. He then entered Dartmouth college, from which he was
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Judge a. K. Potter
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
graduated in the elass of 1862. Immediately after graduation he enlisted in the United States serviee, and was commissioned first lieutenant of Company H, 7th regiment New Hampshire volunteer infantry. After serv- ing for some months in this eapaeity he was appointed eaptain of Company A, 18th regi- ment New Hampshire volunteer infantry. He was promoted to major, and afterwards eommissioned as lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. He participated in all the skir- mishes, engagements, and battles of his regiment. The war closed soon after he became lieutenant-colonel, and he returned home to enter upon the study of law in the Boston offices of Boardman & Blodgett, the latter now a judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He finished his legal studies with Anson S. Marshall, of Concord, was admitted to the bar in 1866, and prae- tieed in his native eity for three years. He then removed to Niagara Falls village, where he was a member of the law firm of Piper & Potter for three years. In 1872 he came to Lockport, where he has been engaged ever sinee in the sueeessful praetiee of his profession, as a member of the firm of Ellsworth & Potter.
On July 27, 1865, he united in marriage with Ellen S. Fifield, daughter of Rev. Win- throp Fifield, of New Hampshire.
In politics Colonel Potter is a republican. He served as city attorney of Loekport in 1875 and 1876, and in 1883 was elected judge of the courts of Niagara county for a term of six years, and when he retired from the bench in 1889, he returned to the practice of his profession. Judge Potter is a member of the Congregational church of Loekport. While on the beneh Judge Potter presided with ability, firmness, and fairness. At the bar, while insisting on his own rights,
he respects those of others, and in pleading his eases depends to win by elearness of statement and foree of argument.
J UDGE CYRUS E. DAVIS was a prom-
inent member of the Niagara county bar, and an able advocate who had been in regular practice for forty-four years. His practice was very extensive, and included courts of all grades in this State. He was born at Queenstown Heights, Canada, on August 29, 1827, and was a son of Jaeob and Sarah M. ( Eastman ) Davis. His father was born in 1796 in Albany county, this State, but removed to Canada and located at Queenstown Heights, just opposite Lewis- ton, this eounty, where he followed farming and dealing in lumber. In 1837 he crossed the river and took up his residenee at Lew- iston, on the American side. He was a democrat, and very positive in his convic- tions. He married Sarah M. Eastman, daughter of Rev. Henry Ward Eastman, and to them were born three children : W. O. Davis, who studied medieine, and after graduating located at Sioux City, Iowa, where he is now praetieing, and is a mem- ber of the board of pension examiners in that city; Eliza, who died in 1860; and Cyrus E. Rev. H. W. Eastman (maternal grandfather) was a native of Goshen, Orange county, this State, who preached his first sermon where the eity of Rochester now stands, and after laboring for many years in this section finally removed to Canada in 1799, where Mrs. Davis was born in 1801.
The Albany Evening Times of Tuesday. March 11, 1873, contains a biographical sketch of Judge Davis, who was then sery- ing as a member of the commission to revise and amend the constitution of the State of
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New York, having been appointed to that position by Governor Hoffman in 1872. It was as follows :
"Cyrus E. Davis was born August 29, 1827, at Queenstown Heights, Niagara county, Canada. In 1837 he removed with his father to Lewiston, Niagara county, New York. After finishing his academic education, at the age of eighteen he entered the law office of Hon. S. B. Piper, of Lewis- ton. In 1847 he removed to the city of Buffalo and entered the law office of Dyre Tillinghast, and in the following year was admitted to the bar and practiced in Buffalo until 1857. After the election of Mr. Pierce as president, in 1853, Mr. Davis was urged by his friends for the appointment of secre- tary of legation to France, which position he, however, failed to seeure. In 1857 he removed to Niagara Falls, where he has since practiced. His county and district are (1873) both strongly republican, and the election of a democrat is next to an im- possibility. He, however, has been the champion and leader of his party in his dis- trict, having been nominated in 1859 for the office of district attorney of Niagara county, in 1861 for member of the assembly, and again in 1862 and 1863 for the same office. In 1870 he was nominated for county judge and elected, but it was afterward de- cided by the court of appeals in construing the new judiciary article of the constitution that no vacancy existed at the time of such election. He has always been a strict dem- ocrat, and has represented his party many years in its State conventions. Mr. Davis is a short, thick-set man, with a round, solid head, florid complexion, gray hair cut short, bald on top of- his head, short gray mus- tache and whiskers. He is an assiduous worker, always in his seat, and is the most
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