USA > New York > Westchester County > Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, Volume I > Part 32
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1839, and had been engaged in the provision business in New York city, and later at St. Paul, Minnesota. Oliver Field, the second son, was born May 19, 1841; he was a farmer of Somers township, and died in July, 1894, leaving five children. Charlotte C. was born August 14, 1842, became the wife of Isaac C. Wright, and died May 5, 1867, leaving one child, Charles. Thaddeus C. was born July 31, 1845, and is one of the prominent business men of St. Paul, Minnesota, where he conducts a large furnishing store for gentlemen; he has a wife and one chiid. Thomas, our subject, was the fifth child. Mary C., the youngest, was born October 1, 1852, and is the wife of Isaac Wright, of White Plains.
Thomas Jones was raised on his father's farm and educated in the public schools, afterward attending the Clinton Liberal Institute, then located at Clinton, Oneida county, New York, and later removed to Fort Plain. His brothers and sisters also received their education here. After leaving school he began farming for himself on the land now occupied by him, one mile from Somersville. He does general farming, and also is extensively engaged in the stock business, buying up large numbers of cattle, which he places on the market.
He was married January 19, 1871, to Miss Mary Louise Mead, a daugh- ter of William and Adaline (Truesdale) Mead, of Somers township, where she was born May 20, 1850. They have three children: Clara, born No- vember 8, 1871, is the wife of John W. Palmer, who is in the wheelwright, blacksmith and manufacturing business in Brewster, Putnam county, this State; Louise, born June 23, 1873, is the wife of Oscar McBride, of this township; and Ella, born December 15, 1879, is at home. Mr. Jones has given each of his children a good education, and he has every reason to feel gratified with the result. He is a Republican, but by no means a politician.
H. E. WASHBURN.
Among the leading citizens of Westchester county, New York, is included the subject of this sketch, H. E. Washburn, of Pleasantville. Mr. Wash- burn is a native of the Empire state. He was born in New Castle township, this county, March 28, 1856, one of the family of nine children-five sons and four daughters-of Samuel A. and Mariette (Hyatt) Washburn. His boy- hood days were passed in attending school, and in his early manhood he learned the trade of builder, at which he worked in different towns for a number of years. He settled at his present location in Pleasantville in 1894.
At the age of twenty-three years Mr. Washburn married Miss Annie Simons, daughter of Malcomb Simons, of New York, their marriage taking place in 1878. One child, Inez, has come to brighten their home.
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Mr. Washburn casts his suffrage with the Republican party, and zeal- ously supports the principles of that body, ever taking a deep interest in all that pertains to his immediate locality as well as the state and nation. He is one of the members of the city fire department, and is now serving as vil- lage trustee, having been elected to this office by a large majority. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Pleasantville, and his religious faith is that of the Protestant Episcopal church, in which he is a communicant of the church at Pleasantville.
GILBERT W. DOBBS.
This gentleman is a representative of both the building and farming interests of Westchester county, and is an enterprising, wide-awake business man, residing at Scarsdale. He was born in the town of Yonkers, July 12, 1847. The Dobbs family to which he belongs originated in Holland, but five generations have resided in America. John Dobbs, the paternal grand- father of our subject, was born November 22, 1775, and became one of the pioneers of the locality in which Gilbert W. Dobbs now makes his home. He established the first ferry across the Hudson river here, taking passen- gers across in a row-boat. He carried on that business for a number of years and the place still known as Dobbs' Ferry was named in his honor. Lawrence Dobbs, the father of our subject, was born in the town of Greens- burg, Westchester county, October 9, 1812, was a mason and plasterer by trade, and died in the year 1889. On the 6th of November, 1834, he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Leviness, who was born in the town of Greensburg, April 24, 1814, and died April 4, 1894, at the ripe old age of eighty years. Her father was Stephen Leviness, also one of the early set- tlers and native sons of Westchester county.
Upon his father's farm Gilbert W. Dobbs spent his boyhood days and in the common schools acquired his education. At the age of eighteen he began learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed in connection with his father for a number of years. He then engaged in contracting and build- ing on his own account, and at the same time carries on general farming, having an excellent little farm of twenty-five acres, on which is a good resi- dence, barn and outbuidings. He has erected a number of the most sub- stantial buildings in this section of the county,-structures that stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise.
On the 23d of October, 1873, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Dobbs and Miss Mary McNulty, of Scarsdale, and to them was born a son, Frank W., who is now a floral decorator. The mother departed this life, Jnly 23, 1874, and subsequently Mr. Dobbs married Miss Josephine B.
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Drury, of the town of Scarsdale, the second daughter of Reuben and Caro- line (Woollett) Drury. She was born in Syracuse, New York, but during her early girlhood came with her parents to Westchester county, where she was reared. By this union two children have been born: Elsie L., a grad- uate of the high schools of White Plains and now a student in Albany Col- lege; and Chester Arthur, at home.
Politically, Mr. Dobbs is a stanch Republican, who has held several offices of trust. He served as constable for a number of years, has been justice of the peace for the past thirty years, and has been clerk and tax col- lector for twenty years. What higher testimonial of faithful service could be given than his long continuation in office? He is most loyal to the public good, and neither fear nor favor could swerve him from the path of duty. He is an intelligent, social gentleman, well versed in the current events of the day, and his friends know him as an agreeable companion and trustworthy man, who justly merits the high regard in which he is held.
EDWARD J. MITCHELL.
One of the youngest active participants in the civil war, Edward J. Mitchell, of Yonkers, is a citizen well known not only in this locality and state, but also throughout the country, for the prominent place which he has occupied in the Grand Army of the Republic. Nor are his name and fame confined to that organization, for he has won distinction in political circles, and as a private citizen has advocated many reforms and improvements accruing to the good of the people.
Born in Rutland, Vermont, July 10, 1849, Edward J. Mitchell is a son of Thomas Mitchell, who removed to Carbondale, Pennsylvania, with his family in 1850 and five years later came to Yonkers. Our subject was educa- ted in the parochial schools of this place, and, as he was the eldest son, he worked at intervals in a grocery from the time that he was ten years old until he obtained a better position in the Eagle hat factory.
In the opening year of the civil war his father enlisted in Company A, Seventeenth New York Volunteers, and did not return home until two years had rolled away. The mother died in January, 1864, and Edward J., no longer deterred by her solicitude, determined to enlist in the defense of his country. At length, after he had made the attempt three times and had been frustrated each time by his father's interference, he went to Camp Freling- huysen, Newark, New Jersey, and was enrolled as a private in Company E, Thirty-seventh Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, on May 10, 1864. when he lacked two months of being fifteen years of age. On the 25th of May his regiment was mustered into service at Trenton, was sent to Bermuda Hun- dred, Virginia, and was assigned to the Third Brigade, Third Division, Tenth
Edward. JMitchell
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Army Corps, Army of the James, under General B. F. Butler. When the Eighteenth Army Corps was ordered back from Petersburg it was relieved by the Tenth, and the regiment to which our patriotic subject belonged took part in all the engagements which followed.
Returning home he became identified with the Fenian movement, in May, 1866, and went to New York city, where he enlisted in the Irish army for seven years, and was sent to Malone, New York, where several thousand men had congregated, awaiting orders. In June, General Sweeney was ar- rested at St. Albans, Vermont, and the men were disbanded and sent home. From August 18, 1866, to May, 1874, when he resigned, he was a machinist for the Otis Brothers Elevator Works at Yonkers. For twenty years he was actively connected with the fire department of this city, joining Protection Engine Company, No. 1, November 2, 1869, and serving as its secretary until August 1, 1871, when he was elected foreman and acted as such for two years. In October, 1874, he was elected first assistant chief engineer, and held the office for two years. For fourteen years he was the representative of this company, and for ten years secretary and one year treasurer of the board of representatives. He is now a member and vice-president of the Exempt Firemen's Association, is a member of the committee having in charge its new building, and is the delegate for 1899 to the State Firemen's Association, which is held in Yonkers.
Since the 4th of October, 1880, he has been a member of Kitching Post, No. 60, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he has been adjutant for thirteen years. He is also post historian'and is at present engaged in writing a history of the post and personal war sketches of its members. In 1886, 1887, 1890, 1894 and 1896 he was a delegate to the State Encamp- ment; was aide-de-camp on the staff of the department commanders N. M. Curtis and James S. Graham in 1888 and 1896, respectively; and in 189[ he served on the staff of W. G. Veazy, and in the following year on that of John Palmer, both of whom were national commanders of the Grand Army. In 1893 he was elected as a delegate to the national encampment at Indianapolis; in 1896 he attended the annual convention at St. Paul, Min- nesota, as a delegate, and in the same capacity was present at the meet- ing in Cincinnati in 1898. Department Commander J. C. Shotts, on March I, 1894, appointed Colonel Mitchell quartermaster general of the state of New York, which position he successfully filled until his terin expired, May 20, 1895. In May, 1894, Governor R. P. Flower honored him by appoint- ing him to the state board of managers of the Home for Aged Dependent Veterans and their wives, mothers, widows and army nurses, now located at Oxford, Chenango county, New York. The senate confirmed the appoin- ment January 23, 1895, and upon the organization of the aforesaid board 18
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Mr. Mitchell was elected secretary, a position which he is still occupying. At Utica, New York, May 18, 1898, he was elected a member of the New York State Council of Administration of the state Grand Army organization and was re-elected at the encampment at Syracuse, May 18, 1899. Also he was one af the founders of the Westchester county association of the Grand Army, was marshal of the same for five years and is now serving that body as secretary and treasurer, this last office having been given him in 1899. In 1894 he was grand marshal of the 4th of July parade of the different societies of the city of Yonkers, and upon his declining to officiate' as such two years later he was chosen to act as vice-president of the com- mittee having the matter in charge. He was chairman of the committee which presented to St. John's and St. Joseph's Hospitals, on behalf of Kitch- ing Post, United States flags, which were gratefully received. At present he is serving his fourth term as grand marshal of the memorial day committee of this city.
In the ranks of the Democratic party Colonel Mitchell has long been recognized as a man of force, influence and ability. In March, 1880, he was elected alderman from the first ward of Yonkers, and, being re-elected in 1882 and 1884, served for six years, in 1883 being chosen president of the board. During the whole time of his membership in the council he was a member of the street committee, four years as chairman. He presented the resolution which, after two years of effort, secured from the legislature to this city the land at the foot of Main street, -the only river frontage which the public possesses; and he was chairman of the committee which planned and built the dock now located there. He also presented the resolutions for, and succeeded in getting through, an appropriation of ten thousand dollars for building new fire-department houses.
The limitations of an article of this kind forbid more extended notice of the many enterprises which Mr. Mitchell has fostered and promulgated: suffice it to say that he has ever had the interests of his constituents at heart, and when he retired from the council, April 15, 1886, he did so with the entire respect of his colleagues and the good will of all citizens.
In 1882 he was elected one of the coroners of this county, and being re-elected in 1885, served until January 1, 1889. On March 13, 1890, he was appointed by Governor Hill to fill the vacancy in the same office caused by the death of his successor, and in the following autumn was elected, his term running to January 1, 1894. He has attended the state conventions of his party as a delegate five times, and has served in lesser conventions in a similar capacity scores of times. At present he holds the office of notary public. He owns considerable property, and while he was engaged in busi- ness here he was very successful.
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Fond of athlectics, in 1885 he became a member of the Yonkers Ath- lectic Club; in 1889 was a delegate to the annual meeting of the clubs of the Metropolitan district of the Amateur Athletic Union, of America; was elected, a member of the board of managers for the district, and was re-elected in 1890 and in 1891, thus serving three years as a member of that board. Also he belongs to the Yonkers Bowling Association and the A B C Bowling Club, being the treasurer of each; and is moreover identified with the Montgomery and City Clubs, social organizations; and recently he has been elected presi- dent of the Montgomery Club.
The first marriage of Colonel Mitchell was celebrated October 31, 1872, when Miss Mary McGovern became his bride. She died February 23, 1887, leaving a daughter, Mary E. A second marriage ceremony, performed Feb- ruary 17, 1892, in St. Mary's church, by Rev. Charles R. Corley, united the destinies of Colonel Mitchell and Miss Emma J. Beutler. By this marriage there were five children; but two, Virginia and Edward D., died when eight and five months old respectively. Christina, Dorothy and Edward remain to cheer and brighten the home which would otherwise be lonesome, indeed lacking the chief element of happiness.
GARDNER W. SHERWOOD.
An old and reliable contractor and builder of Port Chester is Gardner W. Sherwood, who was born September 6, 1833, on what is now Ridge street, near this village. His father, James Harvey Sherwood, was also a native of this locality, where he passed his entire life, as a farmer and cooper, until he was about sixty years of age, when he moved to Milford, New York, where he remained until his death, when about seventy years old. He was a Republican in his political sentiments, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Deborah Parks, of Westchester county, who died at the age of about fifty-five years, an active and influential member of the same church. In this family were six children.
Nehemiah Sherwood, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was also a native of Westchester county, born in the same locality as were his son and grandson, and was a farmer all his life, dying at the age of about eighty-five years. He was zealous in religion as a devout member of the church. His father, Benjamin Sherwood, was of English descent and prob- ably a native of this county.
Mr. Sherwood, our subject, passed his boyhood and youth on the farm, at his parental home, attending also the public schools, with the exception of three or four years that he spent in the west. At the age of sixteen years he began learning the carpenter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of four
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years, and continuing to be employed in the same for a few years longer, when he began to take contracts, and he has erected more buildings than any other man in Port Chester.
Politically, he is a Republican, but takes no public part in political affairs. He is a member of Lodge No. 653, F. & A. M., of Port Chester, with which he has been connected for twenty years. He is a self-made man, successful in business, the leading contractor of the place, and owns considerable real estate. For his wife he married Miss Harriet Merritt, of Port Chester.
ELLIOTT H. SEE.
Among the brave men who devoted the opening years of their manhood to the defense of our country from the internal foes who sought her dismem- berment was Elliott H. See, a prominent resident of Pleasantville, New York, and a worthy representative of good old Revolutionary stock. The See family was founded in this state during early colonial days, and his great-grand- father, Isaac See, whose home was in Tarrytown, served with honor and distinction as a soldier of the Continental army in the war for independence.
William See, the grandfather, married Miss Mary Van Tassel, a daugh- ter of A. Van Tassel, who belonged to an old and prominent Albany family of that name. Four sons were born of this union, -John, Abraham, Isaac and Abel. Abel See, the father of our subject, was reared and educated in Westchester county, and on reaching man's estate was united in marriage with Miss Matilda Jones, a daughter of James Jones, and the granddaughter of a Revolutionary hero. To them were born two sons,-Sylvester, a resi- dent of Pleasantville, and Elliott H., the subject of this review. The father carried on business as a shoemaker and also conducted a store for some time. He gave his political support to the men and mearures of the Republican party, and both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist church. After a long and useful life they were called to their final rest at the age of seventy-four years.
Elliott H. See was born December 26, 1840, in this county, and here he grew to manhood, receiving such an education as the schools of the locality afforded at that time. On the opening of the civil war he resolved to strike a blow in defense of the Union, and on the Ist day of May, 1861, enlisted in Company G, Thirty-eighth Regiment of New York Volunteers, under command of Captain G. Britton and Colonel J. H. Hobart Ward. With his regiment he participated in the battles of Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, the retreat from Richmond, and the engagements at Malvern Hill, Peach Orchard, Harrison's Landing, the Wilderness and Chancellorsville, and for meritorious service he was promoted to the rank of sergeant.
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After his return from the war, Mr. See took a position on the police force in New York city, and from there removed to Pleasantville, where he efficiently served as postmaster for three terms, -or over eleven years. He was married on the 14th of September, 1864, to Miss Mary E. Bailey, a daughter of Joseph P. Bailey, who was born in Mount Pleasant township, Westchester county, and is a son of Devoe and Deborah (Purdy) Bailey. Joseph P. Bailey married Miss Jemima Onderdonk, and they became the parents of the following children: Henrietta, wife of George Ackerman, of Pleasantville; John E., also a resident of Pleasantville; Alfred, who died, leaving a widow and four children; Mary, wife of our subject; Rebecca, wife of William Fisher; and Sarah, wife of Daniel White, of Pleasantville. The mother of these children died at the age of seventy-nine years, and the father died in August, 1898, at Hempstead, Long Island. He was for half a century, and until his death, an earnest and consistent member of the Reformed church. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. See are Grovie M., now the wife of C. M, Purdy, of Mount Pleastant township; and Bessie E., at home.
Mr. See is an ardent advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, which he always supports by his ballot, and is an honored member of Cornwall Post, No. 466, G. A. R., at White Plains, New York, and of Mount Kisco Lodge, No. 708, F. & A. M. Mrs. See is a most estimable lady and is a member of the Reformed church.
PERLEY H. MASON, M. D.
In no profession have the mark of progress and the discoveries of sci- ence effected greater changes of method and practical application than in that of medicine, and he who would be fully in accord with the spirit of the age must be a close student, possessed of a keen and discriminating mind, capable of determining what is best in the new theories and truths constantly advanced, and then apply them to the needs of the profession whose noble object is the alleviation of human suffering. In this regard Dr. Mason is by no means lacking, and his knowledge, his skill and ability have gained him prestige among the practitioners of Peekskill and Westchester county.
The Doctor is a representative of one of the old and honored families of New England, a family characterized for its patriotism and loyal devotion to every movement or measure intended for the general good. As early as 1634 Captain Hugh Mason, of Ipswich, England, left his native land to take up his residence in the New World. Settling at Watertown, near Boston, Massachusetts, he there made his home until his death, which occurred in 1676. The paternal grandfather of the Doctor was Jonas Mason, a ship-
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builder, of Bangor, Maine. The parents of our subject were Bethuel and Susan (Ramsey) Mason, natives of Maine and New Hampshire, respectively. The former was an expert watchmaker and instructed in the business the man who became the first superintendent of the Waltham Watch Company. Mr. Mason was a man of fine physique, five feet ten inches in height, and weighed over two hundred pounds. In his early manhood he was loyal to the ten- ets of the Whig party, and later became an adherent of Republican princi- ples. Fraternally he was associated with the Masonic order. He departed this life in 1872, at the age of sixty-three years, but his wife is still living, at the age of seventy-eight years. She was born in Rumney, Grafton county, New Hampshire, in 1821, and is a descendant of an old family that was prominently connected with Revolutionary events. The four children of Bethuel and Susan Mason are all living, and are as follows: Mrs. Lewis M. Codington, of Somerville, New Jersey; Henry P., chief clerk in the offices of the New Jersey Central Railroad Company; P. H., of this review; and Wil- liam B. R., an editor and journalist of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
Dr. Perley H. Mason was born in Somerville, New Jersey, May 2, 1853- He acquired most of his education in the public schools of Somerville and Plainfield, New Jersey, and was graduated in the latter with the class of 1870. He then spent one year in the New Jersey Classical and Scientific Institute, at Hightstown, New Jersey, and in the fall of 1871 entered the New York Homeopathic Medical College, wherein he was graduated as vale- dictorian of the class of 1875. Much of the money with which he was enabled to secure his medical education he earned as a compositor in print- ing offices, but the perseverance and determination which he thus manifested showed forth the elemental strength of his character and foreshadowed his present successful career.
Immediately after his graduation Dr. Mason opened an office in the village of Peekskill, New York, for the practice of his profession, and in the intervening years has built up an enviable reputation for skill as a practi- tioner. He is a member of the medical board of the Peekskill hospital, a flourishing institution of that village, and is also a valued member of the Westchester County Homeopathic Medical Society. By the profession and the public he is accorded a high position in the medical fraternity, and now enjoys a liberal patronage.
When he had become well established in his chosen life-work, Dr. Mason was united in marriage to Miss Adelaide Elmendorf, of Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of Captain and Mary (Scott) Elmendorf, of that city. The Doc- tor and his wife have one child, a daughter, Natalie E., by name. The family are members of the Episcopal church of this place and are active in all good works of benevolence. In politics the Doctor is a stanch Republi-
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