USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 44
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Lewis S. Payne was reared in Monroe county, where he received his education in the common schools and a high school. At sixteen years of age he embarked for him- self in the great current of business life by accepting a position as a clerk in a general mercantile house of Tonawanda, where he remained for five years. Upon attaining his majority, he and another clerk purchased the establishment in which they had served, and conducted a general mercantile business for four years, when they dissolved partner- ship, and Mr. Payne accepted a position as clerk in a forwarding house of Buffalo, New York, where he remained for four years. During the next year, 1847, he built the first steam saw-mill ever erected in North
Tonawanda, which he ran successfully for nine years, and then engaged in the lumber business for several years. He now owns a beautiful farm in the town of Wheatfield, within the limits of the village of North Tonawanda, where he lives surrounded by all the comforts of life, and where he and his estimable wife delight to welcome their many friends and invited guests.
In the fall of 1861 Mr. Payne raised at his own expense a volunteer company, of which he was elected captain. His com- pany was attached to the 100th New York regiment, which was recruited at Buffalo, New York. This regiment was made a part of Casey's division of the Army of the Potomac. In April, 1862, the 100th New York landed at Newport News. With his regiment, Captain Payne was the second to cross the Chickahominy, and first to take up position at White Oak Station. He led his company in the battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, White Oak Swamp, and Mal- vern Hill. He came out of the Peninsular campaign with but sixty-two of the one hundred and two men of which his com- pany consisted when he landed at Newport News. He next served under General Foster, in North Carolina, and in the spring of 1863 was sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina. From there he was sent to St. Helena Island, and then ordered by General Hunter to Cole's Island, where his regiment was used as a corps of observation in the vicinity of Charleston. It was from this point that he took his company and made his many daring scouts, daring expeditions, and bold dashes by which he was enabled to report to General Hunter tlic topography of the country and the positions and strength of the Confederates in their various loca- tions, posts, and situations. Some of his
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adventures during these expeditions were related in his "Heroic Deeds of Heroic Men," which article appeared in Harper's Magazine in April, 1867.
On the nights of April 5 and 6, 1863, he led the Union advance up Folly island, which supported the attack of the iron monitors on Fort Sumter, on April 7. On the 10th of May he led the advance and piloted up Folly river and across Light- house inlet a Union force of forty-five hun- dred men, in small boats, to attack the south end of Morris island. He was first to land, and first in the engagement by which that part of the island was taken under a very heavy Confederate fire, and soon suc- ceeded, with his company, in reaching and burning the stcamer Marrigault, which was used for supplying the seaward forts and batteries of Charleston. On the night of the 3d of August, 1863, while engaged on Morris island in intercepting communica- tions with Fort Sumter, he was attacked by a superior force, and after a desperate en- gagement, in which he was wounded in the head by a musket ball, was taken prisoner and conveyed to Charleston, where he was confined in the Queen Street hospital. When his wound admitted of removal he was sent to Columbia, South Carolina, and kept in close confinement until February 14, 1865, when he was sent to Wilmington, North Carolina, where, on March 5, he was exchanged. He arrived home on April 1, after an absence of three years and three months. He was promoted to major before he was captured, but would not accept it, as there were captains in the regiment older in the service than he was, but after he was a prisoner he was commissioned lieutenant- colonel, a rank which he accepted.
In 1840 he married Mary Tabor, of Ithica,
New York. They have six children, three sons and three daughters : Emily R., wife of George Crandell, of Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania; Eugene R., who also resides in Wil- liamsport; Ida, who is now Mrs. G. W. Mc- Cray, of Buffalo, New York; Edward C., who is in business at Decatur, Alabama; Lewis C., an attorney at law at North Ton- awanda; and Cornelia R., wife of Lyman Stanley.
Colonel Payne is a member of Tona- wanda Lodge, No. 247, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member and vestryman of St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal church. He has always been interested in the prosperity of North Tonawanda, and was largely in- strumental in securing the building of the Lockport & Buffalo railroad to that village.
In politics Colonel Payne is an aggressive and popular democrat of the Jacksonian type. His distinguished and useful political career commenced when he was elected supervisor of the town of Wheatfield, an office which he has held for eleven terms. He was elected to nearly all the other offices of his town, including that of justice of the peace. In 1850 he was nominated and clected as county clerk on the National whig ticket, and at the end of his term re- tired with the respect of every one, irre- spective of party, for the courteous and able manner in which he had discharged all the duties of the office. On the dissolution of the Whig party he became a Douglas dem- ocrat, and in 1859 was nominated for State senator for the twenty-ninth district, but that party being in the minority he was de- feated. In the fall of 1865, after he had returned home from the army, he was nom- inated on the democratic ticket for county clerk, and was elected, although the repub- lican majority in the county at that time
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
was two thousand. At the end of his sec- ond term as county clerk, he was elected as a member of the assembly from his district, and during the session of the New York legislature in 1870 served as chairman of the committee on claims, besides being a member of the committees on canals and military affairs. In November, 1877, he was elected by the democrats to represent the twenty-ninth district in the State senate, and was the first democrat that was ever elected in that strong republican district. In 1883 the democrats nominated him for congress in the district composed of the counties of Niagara and Erie, but the large republican majority in Erie county was even too much for Senator Payne's popularity and splendid home vote to overcome.
Colonel Payne is highly esteemed by all who know him, and has been identified with the interests of North Tonawanda by over half a century's residence and active business life within its corporate limits. He has well performed the duties of good citi- zenship, and rendered .efficient services in many different public positions of trust, honor, and responsibility. He is popular in the best sense of that term, and widely re- spected by all classes.
S. PARK BAKER, a leading lawyer of Youngstown, and a prominent peach grower of that section, who is now serving as president of that village, is a son of Colonel S. P. and Mary ( Atherton) Baker, and was born in Oswego county, New York, March 28, 1832. The Bakers are of old New England stock, some of the family coming into New York at an early day. Colonel S. P. Baker (father) was born in Chenango county, this State, in the
initial year of this century, and died in Oswego county in 1888, having passed eighteen years beyond life's span of three- score and ten. He spent nearly all his long and useful life in Oswego county, was a de- voted Christian man, and very prominent during the active part of his life. He was a leather manufacturer in early life, but his later years were devoted to farming. While yet a boy, he enlisted and served in the war of 1812, and afterwards became a colonel in the old: State militia. Hc always took a great interest in military affairs, and pos- sessed a fine knowledge of military tactics. He was a republican in politics, and served as sheriff of Oswego county, and also filled many other offices of honor and profit, being a very prominent man in his county. He married Mary Atherton, a native of New Hampshire, who bore him eight children. She was a Christian woman of many rare virtues, and died in 1882, in the eightieth year of her age, greatly beloved by all who knew her.
S. Park Baker was reared principally in Oswego county, attending the public schools there during his earlier years, and, entering the Albany law school, received a complete theoretical training in that most important of the learned professions -law. He was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1857, and the same year located at Youngstown, this county, for the practice of his profession. From that day to this- a period of thirty- five years-he has been regularly engaged in practice, frequently being retained in important cases and winning a good stand- ing at the bar. He is an eloquent advocate and a fine chancery lawyer. Every man who devotes himself assiduously to a pro- fession for any length of time, fcels the necessity of relaxation and recreation. Mr.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Baker has found both in the pursuit of horticulture, having been one of the pioneers here in peach growing. He owns some very productive land and takes great satis- faction in his fine peach orchards and other superior fruits, and has given instructions in horticulture to many of his neighbors- particularly in the matter of producing the luscious peach in its greatest perfection. When weary with prolonged legal research in the law office, or the wearing activity of a crowded court-room, he forgets carking cares and gathers new energy by visiting and superintending his orchards and real estate.
In political matters Mr. Baker is in strict accord with the great Democratic party, and gives a loyal and intelligent support to its principles and policy. He has been elected by his people and is now serving as presi- dent of the village of Youngstown. He was a charter member of the Youngstown Lodge, No. 289, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and was its first master.
E UGENE N. S. RINGUEBERG, M.
D., a scientist of reputation, although young in years, and a successful specialist in diseases of the eye and ear, in Lockport, is a son of Nicholas S. and Carolina (Iutzi) Ringueberg, and was born in the city of Lockport, Niagara county, New York, April 13, 1859. The Ringueberg family, origi- nally of Swiss descent, resided for three generations in France. Pierre Ringueberg (grandfather) came from France in 1832 to the State of New York, and died at Lock- port in 1857, aged seventy-five years. His son, Nicholas S. Ringueberg, was born at Rinting, near Nancy, France, in 1814, the year that Waterloo sealed the destiny of the
great Napoleon. In 1832, at seventeen years of age, he came with his father to Lowville, Lewis county, New York, where he resided till 1837, when he removed to Hamilton, Ohio. In 1841 he came to Lock- port, where he was engaged in the retail and wholesale grocery trade up to 1865. He then retired from that line of business and embarked in grape growing and wine making upon an extensive scale. He made a specialty of the Delaware grape and the wine which he manufactured from it. He was among the earliest wine manufacturers of the State, and was very fond of horticul- ture, on which he was a recognized author- ity. He was remarkably successful in busi- ness, did much to improve Lockport, and erected a fine, large brick residence, with beautifully laid out grounds, at No. 431 Willow street, where his widow and the subject of this sketch now reside. He also built, in partnership with a brother, the large brick block on the corner of Cottage and Main streets, now known as the Ma- sonic block. He was a democrat in politics, and a member of Red Jacket Lodge, No. 646, Free and Accepted Masons, and died, after living a very useful life, in 1885, aged seventy years. He married at Miamisburg, Ohio, in 1839, Carolina Iutzi, also of Swiss descent, who was born in Hesse Cassel, Ger- many, in 1817, and still resides at her taste- ful home in Lockport.
Eugene N. S. Ringueberg grew to man- hood in his native city and received his edu- cation in the Lockport schools. Leaving them at the age of nineteen he engaged in grape growing until 1883, when he entered the medical department of the University of Buffalo, and after three years' close and careful study of medicine, was graduated in the class of 1886. After graduation he
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he spent two years in the University Eye dispensary, the Polyclinic Eye dispensary, and Wills Eye hospital, making a special study of the eye. In 1891 he opened an office in Lockport for the special treatment of the eye and ear. His remarkable and well deserved success and large practice attests his ability, skill, and thorough prep- aration as a specialist.
Dr. Ringueberg has a taste for the natu- ral sciences, to which he has devoted con- siderable time, with very satisfactory re- sults. He has read many valuable papers before scientific societies, and has contribu- ted some interesting articles to the leading scientific magazines of the country. He has prosecuted his geological researches with great care, and has made a special study of the palæontology of the Niagara formation, of which he has a large collection of very fine specimens from the different strata of its fossils, including the types of many new species, which he has described. He is a corresponding member of the Buffalo So- ciety of Natural Sciences, and of the Buffalo Microscopical club, a member of the Amer- ican Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the Geological Soci- ety of America. He is also a member of the Niagara county Medical society.
In politics Dr. Ringueberg is a democrat. In addition to his fine medical practice and interesting scientific investigations, he still continues, upon a large scale, the growing of the Delaware grape.
G EORGE MORSE, a second cousin of the great inventor Samuel Morse, and a prominent citizen and ex-justice of Ni- agara county, now residing on his farm
near Gasport, is a son of Asher and Anna (Reynolds) Morse, and was born in the town of Greenville, Greene county, New York, October 21, 1812. The Morses are of ancient English lineage, and the family was numerously represented among the English puritans who came to America early in the seventeenth century. George Morse is the lineal descendant of one of seven brothers who left the mother country in 1636 to settle in New England and share that wider religious freedom enjoyed in the new world. About all that has been pre- served of their history is comprised in the following : Samuel Morse was born in England in 1585, emigrated to America and settled at Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1636, and died at Medfield in 1654; John, born in 1604, settled at New Haven, Con- necticut, and died at Wellingford; Joseph, settled at Ipswich, Essex county, Massachu- setts, where he died in 1646; Anthony, born at Marlborough in 1606, died at New- bury, Connecticut, in 1686; William, born in 1608, and died at Newbury in 1633; Robert and Peter, settled in New Jersey, and died there some years later.
The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Samuel Morse, and his son, David Morse (grandfather), was born in Connecticut, but removed from that State to Greene county, New York, where he died about 1825. By occupation he was a farmer and fruit grower, carrying on exten- sive operations and being a pioneer in fruit culture in his section. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and very active and prominent in church affairs. He mar- ried Ruth Kimberly, and had a family of six children : Asher, Martha, David, Simeon, Ruth (who married a Mr. Norton ), and one who died in infancy. Asher Morse ( father)
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
was born at New Bedford, Connecticut, June 24, 1788, and is a cousin of Professor Morse, the famous inventor of the telegraph. He removed with his parents to Greene county, this State, and after attaining man- hood, settled at Westerlo, Albany county, where he lived until his death, March 28, 1858. While a young man he learned the trades of tanner, currier, shoemaker and harnessmaker, and after removing to Albany county carried on an extensive business in these various lines, having as high as eight apprentices learning trades under hin at one time. He was a man of great industry and energy, and after selling his tannery he purchased a mill site and erected a large grist-mill and saw-mill. In politics he was originally a whig, but became a republican on the organization of that party a few years prior to his death. He was an active and influential member of the Presbyterian church, and married Anna Reynolds, July 19, 1809, by whom he had a family of eight children.
The maternal grandfather of George Morse was Jared Reynolds, a native of Albany county, New York, where he died about 1850, at the advanced age of eighty years. He was a farmer and owned a fine farm, which he cultivated with great care and good success. Politically he was a Jacksonian democrat and a leading man in the community. He served as justice of the peace for a long period in his town of Westerlo, and was a devoted member of the Baptist church, of which he was deacon for many years. He was thrice married and reared two sons and two daughters.
George Morse received his education in the public schools of Albany county-or at least the broad foundations on which he afterward builded a more symmetrical
superstructure by careful reading, wide observation and concentrated thought. In 1832, when twenty years of age, he went to the city of New York and was employed there for two years as clerk for a lumber firm. He removed to Niagara county in 1834, and located at Reynale's Basin in the town of Royalton. Here he opened a general store, in partnership with Chas. Callender, of New York city, under the style of Callender & Morse, and successfully conducted this business for eight years. At the end of that time he disposed of his interest in the store and removed to West- erlo, Albany county, where he again embarked in general merchandising in company with a Mr. Saxton, under the firm name of Saxton & Morse. This part- nership lasted two years, and upon its dissolution, Mr. Morse returned to Niagara county, purchased a farm in the town of Royalton, and has since been engaged in farming and fruit growing. He was at one time engaged in merchandising at Gasport, as junior member of the firm of Colwell & Morse, and at another in the lumber and grocery business at Middleport. In politics he is a republican, and served as justice of the peace for four years at Royalton.
On April 19, 1838, Mr. Morse was united in marriage with Philena, daughter of Elias and Abigail (Niles) Richardson. To their union was born a family of seven children : Huldah; Caroline, married John Q. McNow, a farmer of Royalton; Jared, who married Nellie Dodge and was a hard- ware merchant in Indiana, but is now deceased; George, married to Augusta Loring, and is a hardware merchant in Indiana; Fred, Helena, and Mont., who is a civil engineer. Mrs. Morse was born at Reynale's Basin, February 15, 1820, and is
Major S. M. N. Whitney-
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
the oldest lady now living who was born in the town of Royalton. Her father, Elias Richardson, was born in Hartland, Ver- mont, and removed to Ontario county, New York, and from there to the town of Roy- alton, this county, in 1820. He secured a farm of one hundred and fifty acres front the Holland Land Company, and resided on it until his death in 1870, at the age of eighty-one years. He was a democrat, married Abigail Niles, and reared a family of five sons and five daughters.
S OLON M. N. WHITNEY, one of the
most venerable, entertaining, success- ful business men, who has done more and has taken a deeper interest in the general welfare of his section of the State than al- most any other gentleman of whom we have any knowledge, is a son of General Park- hurst and Salinda (Cowen) Whitney, and was born on October 7, 1815, in the village of Niagara Falls, Niagara county, New York, being now the oldest living native citizen of the village. Parkhurst Whitney (father) was born in Conway, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 25, 1784, and eame to Niagara Falls in 1810. He owned the property where the present International hotel is located, upon which plat he built a small tavern, as termed in the early days, and subsequently, in con- nection with his son, Solon M. N., built the present Cataraet hotel, hotel keeping being his principal business during his life. He also owned a farm, which is now located within the Niagara village limits, and upon this farm he lived until his death, in 1862. He was a soldier in the State militia of New York, took part in the war of 1812, and was taken prisoner at Queenstown. He married Salinda Cowen, who was born in
March, 1783, and they lived to celebrate their golden wedding, and a few years be- yond. Their children were: Acenath, born in Massachusetts in 1809, is dead; Angeline, born in Massachusetts in 1812, (deceased) ; Eliza, born in 1817, married James F. Troth, of Niagara Falls; and Solon M. N.
Solon M. N. Whitney was educated in Lewiston academy, and after leaving school engaged with his father in the management of the Cataraet hotel, together with Mr. Jerauld, until 1889, when his father died, after which he sold out to Peter A. Porter. He was one of the promoters and president of the Niagara Falls Gas works, and is a director of the Cataraet bank. During the Patriot war of 1837 he was made quarter- master, with the title of captain, having charge of all supplies and rations for troops, and afterward was made aid-de-camp to the major-general, with the title of major. The " Three Sisters island" was named in honor of his three sisters. He and his father ac- companied General La Fayette to Lockport to witness the opening of the Erie canal. In polities he is a republican, and in religion an Episcopalian. He remembers of many distinguished persons who stopped at his hotel in their travels, recollecting well the forms and faees of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and many other men of renown. He is president of the village council. He has always been devoted to farming and garden- ing, and in hotel keeping found plenty of scope to test his practieal knowledge in the science of agriculture. He is a man full of years and equally full of honors, and has the respect and esteem of his many friends and acquaintances.
On May 12, 1840, Mr. Whitney married Frances Drake, and they have had two children : Drake, born August 23, 1843, is a
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civil and mining engineer, and was edu- cated in the Polytechnic institute at Troy, from which he was graduated in June, 1864. He also attended the university at Goettin- gen, Hanover, and took a course in the Mining academy at Freiburg, Saxony. He attended the Ecoledes Mines, at Paris, for six months, and after obtaining all the skill and knowledge possible for him in this lim- ited time, he returned to the United States, and for a period was engaged on the Erie railroad as an engineer. From this position he became connected with the Canada Southern railroad for two years, and for one year on the Michigan & Midland railroad. He then entered the employ of the Canada Southern, until the state of his health would improve, and finally was obliged to resign. when he was then employed by the village of Niagara Falls, and has been its engineer for twelve years; and Solon, born July 18, 1846, married Grace Oaton, and now lives with his father. He was formerly with his father in the management of the Cataract house, which is full of tourists continuously. He has three children : Grace B., Ethel, and Edward.
C APTAIN BENJAMIN FLAGLER,
president of the Bank of Suspension Bridge, and a prominent citizen and leading business man of Niagara county, residing at Niagara Falls, is a son of Sylvester and Abbie (Remington ) Flagler, and was born in the town of Lockport, Niagara county, New York, December 10, 1833. His great- great-grandfather, Simon Flagler, was a native of Holland, and with his two brothers, Zachariah and Solomon, emigrated to Amer- ica and located in Dutchess county, this State, in 1735. Simon Flagler married and
lived in Dutchess county until his death. His son John (great-grandfather ) was born in that county, but after marriage removed to Saratoga county, and thence to Washing- ton county, where he lived for many years and died. He had a son named James, who was the grandfather of Benjamin Flagler, and who was born in Dutchess county, but removed with his parents to Saratoga county, and later to Washington county, where he died. He was a farmer by occu- pation, and married Vincey Hall, by whom he had a family of four sons and one daughter. One of these sons was Sylvester Flagler (father), who was born in Wash- ington county, New York, in 1804, where he was educated, and where he married Abbie Remington. His avocation was that of a farmer, and in 1831 he removed to the town of Lockport, where he lived until his death, in 1856, aged fifty-two years. In politics he was first a whig, and later became a republican, and served in the several official positions in his town. By his union with Abbie Remington he had a family of six sons and six daughters: Phœbe, now a widow; Mary, died in 1850; Edwin, a farmer, who was killed by a vicious horse in 1866; Emeline, died in 1854 ; Vincey, died in 1884; Benjamin, subject of this sketch; Daniel W., graduated from West Point Mil- itary academy in 1861, served all through the civil war, taking part in seventeen en- gagements, and now holds the rank of brigadier general of the United States army, and is chief of ordnance, stationed at Wash- ington, District of Columbia; Sarah, un- married, and living at Niagara Falls; Charles W., a farmer, now living on the old homestead in the town of Lockport, who enlisted as second lieutenant in the 2d New York mounted rifles, in 1863, and was
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