USA > New York > Broome County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Broome County, New York. > Part 12
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Alexander B. Carman was born in Bing- hamton, N. Y., May 12, 1841. llaving pur- sued his studies in the district school of Vestal, he remained on the home farm until his twenty-first year, when he learned the carpenter's trade, and then began taking contracts, settling at once in the city of Bing- hamton. Among many contracts he has filled, we may cite the new wings to the court- house, Binghamton; the Lester Shire fac- tory ; and many residences, besides a large . number of structures out of the city, some of the principal ones being the almshouse at Norwich, N. Y., and a block of stores at Wal- ton, N.Y. He is at present engaged in the . erection of the union school-house at Homer, N.Y. These are but a few of the exemplifi- cations of his skill and taste as a builder, and his popularity is well evinced by his steady and increasing business. Mr. Carman is quite extensively interested in real estate in Binghamton, owning several pieces of prop-
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erty, among them his handsome residence, No. 197 Murray Street, and the adjoining houses.
In August, 1867, Mr. Carman married Mrs. Ellen (Gumbert) Loomis, a native of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. They are members of the First Baptist Church of Binghamton. Mr. Carman has acceptably filled the office of Supervisor for the First Ward in 1889, and following that was elected Alderman for the years of 1890 and 1891. Ile served as Chairman on the responsible Committees of Streets, Walks and Bridges, Finance, and City Buildings; but he has had all of politics that he cares for, and aspires to no more pre- ferments from his party. He takes a genuine · interest in all enterprise for the progress and welfare of the city, and by his daily life illus- trates the career of an upright and worthy citizen. He is an active, self-reliant man, . and has accumulated his possessions by his own industry and the habit of depending upon · himself instead of others.
RIAH A. JEFFARDS, one of the pros- perous farmers of the town of Tri- angle, brings to his calling that degree of practical knowledge and sound judg- ment which enables him to avoid its drudgery, and have the most delightful vocation for health and genuine pleasure known among the various occupations of men. A farm is no place for the shirk or for the lazy man: the great centres of commercial exchange are the points of attraction for him. Mr. Jeffards be-
lieves in work, and plenty of it; but he also believes in recreation and relief from constant labor. Ile carries on general farming, and pays some attention to the rearing of fine stock. He so manages his affairs as to ac- complish much without the necessity of plac- ing himself constantly in a position where there is no opportunity for a moment's respite from severe toil. Hle farms with his head as well as his hands, and the results are those of intelligent labor.
llis paternal grandfather was Amasa, of Massachusetts, who married Susan Cleveland, of the same State. Together with four daughters and two sons Mr. and Mrs. Amasa Jeffards came to Chenango County about 1817. Another son was born to them in New Berlin, and the seven grew to manhood and woman- hood. The only survivors now are: Lucy, widow of Daniel Morse, residing in Ohio; Martha, widow of James Rogers, who was a descendant of the martyred John Rogers; Harvey, who was a physician of reputation and skill at Rochester, and who accumulated a considerable property from the practice of his profession; and Charles, who was a contractor and builder in Rochester, and a public man.
The father of Uriah was Allen Cleveland Jeffards, a native of Pittsfield, Mass., who was born in (803, and who died here Decem- ber 7, 1890. He was married about 1826 to Ann Eliza Robinson, of New Berlin, a daughter of William Robinson, who was a Scotchman, and brought considerable money to this country. Allen Cleveland Jeffards spent several of his early years in driving, herding,
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and handling sheep during the summer, and teaching school in the winter season, Hav- ing taught over twenty-two winters, he came here about sixty years ago, and bought one hundred and fifty acres of land, mostly un- improved, but having some clearing, to which he subsequently added more, until he had two hundred and twenty acres. They had six children, namely: William, a graduate of Union College, Schenectady, who died at the age of thirty years, leaving a widow and one daughter - he was a thorough and successful teacher, a man of principle, conscientious, genial, and of marked ability, but was cut off in the prime of life in the midst of prosperous work at Pittston, Pa .; Charles, who was a farmer in Broome County, and died unmarried in 1862; Maria, the first-born, the widow of Asa Canfield, living on her fine large farm at Upper Lisle; Mary, wife of George Sher- wood, a member of the Assembly, and a large farmer and milk-dealer, of Binghamton; Eliz- abeth, wife of Seth Dickinson, living in the town of Triangle; and Uriah A. Mrs. Allen Cleveland Jeffards died December 13, 1890, only six days after the death of her husband.
The subject of this biographical sketch was reared to farm life. At his books he was an apt student, learning readily and obtaining a good education without much apparent effort. lle taught one term of school when but seven- teen years old, and might have made a success of that occupation. When nineteen years old, he heard the call to arms: civil war was at hand; and, as he witnessed the departure of friends and associates, he felt that he ought
to help maintain the honor and perpetuity of his native land. In this idea he did not have . encouragement, his parents thinking he was too young to join the army. So, to accom- plish his purpose, he ran away from home, and enlisted under Captain Robert Brown in Company F, Eighty-ninth New York Volun- teer Infantry. His father took him out, but he re-enlisted in the same company, and went to the war. He was the first man of the regi- ment who succeeded in getting a furlough to come home. After remaining with his family six days, he joined his comrades in the field. At Suffolk, Va., he received a gunshot wound in the month, cutting off the end of his tongue and knocking out six teeth, and was discharged for disability November 20, 1863, at Elmira, N. Y.
He was married February 14, 1874, to Helen Dillenbeck, a daughter of Jacob Dil- lenbeck, of this neighborhood. They have two children: Harry, a young man of seven- teen years, a promising farmer; and Nellie, a very bright and active girl of nine years, the youngest member of the Grange in the State, having taken four degrees. Mr. Jef- fards is a Republican of the consistent stamp, not addicted to running away after false gods. He does not aspire to official honors, but has : been Deputy Sheriff, and is regarded as a man of good judgment in political affairs. He belongs to the Masonic Order, and his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. The business of the farmer with them is a partnership affair, Mrs. Jeffards, who is a helpmeet in- deed, assuming much of the responsibility,
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and being personally cognizant of all the details in the various departments. Living underneath their own roof, sharing the work of life, and surrounded by their own posses- sions, their lot is a happy one among the children of the earth.
INCENT W. HEMINGWAY, a worthy representative farmer of Broome County, New York, living near Whitney's Point, is among those agriculturists who make their calling one of pleasure as well as profit, although not quite agreeing with the Kansas orator who pronounces farming at the present day almost a sedentary occupation. Mr. Hemingway was born in the town of Tri- angle, August 30, 1839. His father, Dr. Harry Hemingway, was born in 1805, near Middletown, Orange County, N. Y., and died in Broome County in 1868, from the effects of an injury by the cars which he received about six weeks before.
The Doctor's father, Silas Hemingway, of Orange County, was born in 1778, and died in Livingston County, Michigan, in 1873, being ninety-five years old. He was a man of wonderful physical power and endurance, hav- ing robust health, and being strong and active to within a week of his death. He was a car- penter by trade, but in his later years fol- lowed farming. He moved to this country with his wife and three children in 1813, bringing with him about three thousand dol- lars -a sufficient sum to count him among the wealthy men of the day. He purchased one
hundred acres of land in Nanticoke, having a little improvement, and there went to work to make a home, clearing the place of timber, planting the seed, and reaping the harvest from year to year, and adding to his acreage until he accumulated a considerable property, which late in life he gave to his son William, who cared for him and his wife in their de- clining years. His wife died at Binghamton about the year 1853. They had five children, of whom Harry was the first-born. Those now living are: Eliza, widow of John S. Graham, of Baltimore; William, a wealthy farmer, of Gregory, Livingston County, Mich .; and Fannie, widow of Frederick S. Griggs, resid- ing in the neighboring town of Lisle.
In 1834 Dr. Harry Hemingway married Lovina Belknap, of Orange County. They lived at Whitney's Point, where for forty years he was actively engaged in the practice of medicine. They were the parents of seven children, four of whom died early in life. Three are now living, namely: Vincent W., of Whitney's Point; Eugene B., a resident of Triangle; and Ella, wife of Wilfred Lewis, who is a fruit-grower in California. The mother of these children, now seventy-nine years of age, makes her home with her son Eugene.
Vincent Hemingway was brought up on the farm, and educated in the district schools. He was married in 1869, when thirty years old, to Addie A. Yarrington, whose mother was a sister of Judge Bosworth - a judge of great reputation, who died here in 1886. Mrs. Hemingway's grandfather, Nathaniel
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Bosworth, was quite wealthy, and the leading man of the village of Killawog - a pious and cultured gentleman, who contributed liberally to every good cause. Mrs. Hemingway is a very pleasant and well-educated lady. She taught her first school when but fifteen years old, and continued to teach during the ten years before marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Hem- ingway have been on a farm since they com- menced life together. They came to their present home in April, 1877. They have two daughters: Grace, a young lady at home; and Iva, a girl of twelve years. Both are bright and intelligent, having a talent for music, in which accomplishment they excel. Mr. IIem- ingway was formerly a Democrat, but is now a Prohibitionist, believing the liquor question must be settled by the votes of the people, since it has a greater power in politics than any other thing or combination of things. He and his wife are active members of the Baptist church, of which he has been Trustee, and is now the Clerk.
ILES LEONARD, one of the lead- ing contractors and builders of Binghamton, N. Y., with shop lo- cated at 37 Washington Street, has been a resident of this city since 1870. He was born at Nichols, Tioga County, N.Y., on December 19, 1849, a son of Peter and Hes- ter (Courtwright) Leonard. His father, who was a native of Tioga County, was by occupa- tion a farmer, and for a long time was ferry- man at Hyde's Ferry. Young Miles received
a fair education in the common schools, being a good student in the branches which most in- terested him, and early in life found congen- ial employment working on the extension of the Chenango Canal. He developed a con- siderable ability in this kind of work, and, when less than eighteen years old, had charge of eighty men in the construction department of the Southern Central Railroad. He con- tinued thus engaged till in September, 1871, he came to Binghamton, where he learned the trade of carpenter, and worked for two and one-half years for his uncle. As he had now demonstrated his ability as a first-class work- man and a man competent to handle large contracts and control large forces of work- men to good advantage, he was employed by. . Martin Stone, who was a large contractor, to manage and superintend his interests in the line of building. IIe remained with Mr. Stone for about three years, and had full charge of the more important contracts, push- ing forward the work with commendable zeal and superior judgment. After the death of Mr. Stone he became foreman for Sullivan &. Clark, and was engaged in putting up build- ings in Owego, Onconta, Cobleskill, Demon's . Station, Jonesville, and other places, and con- structing railway stations and school-houses in different parts of the country. Ile also superintended the construction of two of the buildings for the State Hospital at Bingham- ton, discharging all of his duties in a work- manlike and satisfactory manner. He was then Superintendent of Streets for one year ; and, when a syndicate of capitalists bought a
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tract of land at the East End, he took the contract of grading six miles of street, which he accomplished in one summer. Then the Court Street & East End Railroad employed him to build their street-car line. He com- pleted and equipped nine miles of road, and had charge of the same, as Superintendent, until the consolidation with the Binghamton Street Railway in April, 1893. During the time he built the Binghamton Wagon Works plant, the Opera House, the power plant for the Binghamton Railroad, and other struct- ures, employing about two hundred men dur- ing the busy seasons, being fully equipped for all classes of heavy contracting. In 1893 he rebuilt the First Baptist Church, having the contract for all the work in every department. He is a member of the Binghamton Lodge, A. F. & A. M., belongs to the order of Red Men, and is fully up to the times in his department of labor. He was married in 1870 to Miss Josephine Swartwood, of Bar- ton, Tioga County ; and they are the parents of one child, Lena Leonard.
APTAIN LAUREL L. OLMSTED was born in Binghamton in 1840, and is descended from Revolutionary stock. His great-grandfather, Nathan Adams, was a sea-captain, who served in the Revolu- tionary War under Colonel William Ledyard, and was massacred by the English under com- mand of Benedict Arnold and Colonel Eyre at the surrender of Fort Griswold, opposite New London, Conn., September 6, 1781, where,
out of a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, one hundred and ten were killed or mortally wounded and forty taken prisoners. At the same battle his great - great - grand- father, Luke Perkins, with his five sons, was also massacred. Ilis great - grandmother, Hannah Taylor, died April 3, 1813, aged seventy-five years; and his great-grandmother, Margaret Perkins Adams, died June 23, 1829, aged ninety-nine years. At the commence- ment of the Revolutionary War his grand- father was too young to enlist; but two of the grand-father's brothers, Samuel and Nathan Taylor, aged sixteen and eighteen respectively, served during the entire war, and were paid off with the worthless Conti- mental money, a part of which Captain Olm- sted now has in his possession. They fought under General Gates at Bemis Heights, were present at the surrender of Burgoyne and at the battles of King's Ferry and White Plains, were at Valley Forge during that terrible winter of suffering, were on the scorching field of Monmouth, and were selected by Gen- eral Wayne to take part in that daring achieve- ment, the storming of Stony Point, and with Lieutenant Gibbon were of the forlorn hope.
The longevity of Captain Olmsted's family on his mother's side is remarkable, two uncles (twins) living to the age of ninety-two and ninety-three respectively, one aunt to ninety-three, and the remainder of the fam- ily to above eighty. His maternal grand- father, Joseph Taylor, was born in 1768, and served with two sons during the War of 1812 in the northern part of this State. George
,
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1
Olmsted, his paternal grandfather, was a farmer, and resided at Hanover, N.H. The Captain's father, Lorenzo B., son of George, was born in Bradford, Vt., 1805. At the age of fourteen he went to Norwich, Conn., and apprenticed himself, to learn the trade of tin- smith, to Captain Wilcox, a survivor of the famous Boston tea-party - the assemblage of men who, disguised as Indians, on December 16, 1773, threw the English tea overboard in Boston Harbor. After finishing his trade, Lorenzo B. Olmsted removed to Whitehall, N. Y., and in 1836 to Binghamton, where he was engaged in the tin and stove business until 1862, when he retired, and died shortly afterward, aged fifty-nine years. Ile married Miss Lucy Taylor, who was born in Hart- ford, Washington County, N. Y., where her father had been one of the earliest pioneers, coming from Connecticut with ox-teams and taking up a large tract of land. When Mr. and Mrs. Olmsted came to Binghamton, the village contained less than two thousand in- habitants, no railroads or canals had been built, and their goods were transported in wagons. There were only two children born to their marriage: Mary E., who died in 1861; and Laurel L." The mother died in 1887, at the age of seventy-eight years. Both parents were stanch Presbyterians and thor- oughly imbued with Puritanical ideas. They were both among the first members of the First Presbyterian Church.
Captain Olmsted received the early part of his educational training at the Binghamton Academy, was graduated at the Susquehanna
Valley Seminary, and afterward, in 1857, at Bryant & Stratton's Mercantile College at Albany. He went to New York City as clerk in a hardware store for a short time, and then returned to Binghamton, and began to fit him- self for an engineer in the United States Navy, to that end learning the machinist trade, afterward going to sea on the Cromwell Line under instructions. In 1860 he entered for a competitive examination held at Phila- delphia, and among forty candidates passed the best examination, receiving the rank- ing certificate No. 1. When the War of the Rebellion broke out, he was at his home awaiting orders, which he received in May, 1861, to report at Charlestown, Mass., to Commodore Stewart, for duty on the United States steam frigate "Colorado, " the flag-ship of the Gulf Squadron. He has the distinc -. tion of having been the first one ordered to the front from Broome County.
Owing to the continued desertion of the Southern officers who were ordered to the ship, Captain Olmsted was in command of his department for some time before sailing. . The "Colorado" sailed under command of Captain Theodorus Bailey with sealed orders, and no one knew her destination until out of sight of land. She first visited Fort Sumter,' where she was not permitted to land; then Fort Taylor, Key West; and Fort Pickens, at Pensacola, Fla., rendering such assistance as was possible and hunting the blockade run- ner "Sumter." While in the Gulf of Mexico, Captain Olmsted served on various gunboats, under Commodores Merwin, of the "Missis-
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sippi," Mckean, of the "Niagara," and Farragut, of the "Hartford," taking part in engagements at Fort Pickens and Mobile and the running of the forts at New Orleans. The privations and hardships to which all the early participants in the war who were sta- tioned upon vessels in the Gulf were obliged to endure, together with the effects of malaria encountered during over a year's blockade in the mouth of the Mississippi River, so im- paired the health of the command that the ship was ordered North; and, by the advice of his physician, Captain Olmsted resigned from the United States service in 1863.
In 1871-72 the Sixth Battery, National Guard, State of New York, was organized by one hundred and twenty-five veteran soldiers and sailors; and Captain Olmsted enlisted as a private. He was successively promoted to be First Lieutenant and Captain in 1874, and has been for ten years the senior artillery officer of this State, and as such has received several important details from the Com- mander-in-chief. He has twice been elected Vice-President of the New York State Mili- tary Association and a member of the Mili- tary Service Institution at Governor's Island, New York Harbor; and to his efforts our citi- zens are indebted for the elegant and commo- dious armory now located in Binghamton. He is a Past Master of Otseningo Lodge, A. F. & A. M., a Royal Arch Mason, Knight of Pythias, and one of the oldest members of the Grand Army of the Republic. He served on the Board of Education for four years, and was Chairman of the Building Committee
when the high school and Carroll Street school buildings were erected. For five years after the war Captain Olmsted was engaged in the general hardware business, and after- ward for four years was connected with the office of the Secretary of State under General Joseph B. Carr.
At the age of twenty-one Captain Olmsted was married to Miss Jennie E. Collier, daughter of Henry Collier, and grand-daughter of the Hon. John A. Collier, one of the most celebrated of New York State lawyers, and at one time Comptroller of the State. They have had three children: Henry C., a lawyer of Binghamton, and at present an Alderman of that city; Mary E .; and Laurel Murray, an electrician. All of the family are thor- ough Republicans, as the Captain's father was a pioneer Abolitionist and an agent in Bing- hamton of the underground railroad concerned in running fugitive slaves from the South to Canada.
ENRY D. HOWARD, a progressive farmer of the town of Binghamton, N. Y., a member of the Dairy Asso- ciation, was born in Auburn, Susquehanna County, Pa., January 4, 1852. Mr. Howard's carly ancestors in America were New England people. His grandfather moved from Con- necticut to Brooklyn, Pa., being an early settler in the county. The emigrant's first purchase of land was heavily timbered; but he cleared it off, erected good farm buildings, and at the time of his death had as fine and productive a farm as any in the county.
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His son, Samuel B. Iloward, was born in Brooklyn, Pa., where he was educated in the district school, and lived at home with his parents, assisting in the farm work, until he was eighteen years old. At this youthful age for assuming the responsibilities of family life he was married to Miss Hannah Bunnell, and first settled in Black Walnut, Wyoming County, Pa. Later he moved to Auburn, Susquehanna County, Pa., where he bought a farm, and lived some years, afterward remov- ing to Binghamton, N. Y., at which place he died. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Howard reared six children, namely: Harrison; Isaac ; Edmund; Sarah, Mrs. David Gardner; Mary, Mrs. George Cary; and Henry D., the subject of this sketch. The mother is still living, aged seventy-four years, and now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Cary, at the homestead in Binghamton.
Henry D. Howard, after completing his education in the schools of Anburn and Bing- hamton, went to Great Bend, Pa., where he purchased a hotel, going into partnership with Mr. Erastus Cook, of Binghamton, whose daughter Charlotte he married when he was twenty-one years of age. After remaining in this occupation for two years, he came again to the town of Binghamton, where he resumed farming for his father, with whom he stayed several years. He afterward bought a farm, which he kept but a short time, moving in 1882 to the one on which he and his family now live. His first wife died in 1880. Mr. Howard married for his second wife Miss Mary I .. Addison, daughter of Robert Addi-
son, of Livingston County, Illinois. They have two children, Robert Wilson and Claude Raymond,
Mr. Howard is a prominent member of the Chickasaw Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men; also of Ivy Castle, No. 7, Ancient Order Knights of the Mystic Chain. He is a good, thorough Republican in his politics, and has held the office of Assessor. He is a considerable stockholder in the Binghamton Dairy Association, and is very deeply inter- ested in dairying as an important and profit- able department of farming. Mrs. Howard is a faithful member of the Methodist church, and illustrates the sincerity of her faith by her conscientious work in the Sunday-school. When Mr. Howard purchased his present farm, a large amount of the land was covered with a thick growth of timber; but from this forest which he has cleared away he has made a smiling, beautiful farm, and has brought it to the highest state of cultivation. In this lovely home, surrounded with plenty, living a good, upright, and Christian life, doing his duty as a loyal, true citizen, he enjoys with his pleasant family that true independence and solid comfort which are pre-eminently the possession of the farmer,
A SAPH B. WALTER, who has been a resident farmer of the town of Barker for the last thirty-seven years, com- menced at the bottom, and worked his way to his present position, reaching the same by a determination that knew no such word as
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