USA > New York > Broome County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Broome County, New York. > Part 32
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The elder sisters married brothers, Luther and Asa Page, distant relatives of the mother, and were left widows. Ann M., the eldest, died one year ago. She lost a son in his nineteenth year, Wesley Page, a youth of much promise as a scholar. A son and daughter survive her, both married; the son on the father's farm. Julia F. is not married, her duty being in the direction of caring for her invalid mother at the homestead. She commenced teaching, but means to finish an education were wanting; and after a term in the district schools and three years as a gov- erness in Chicago, in. the family of an old neighbor from Broome County, she spent two years in Kansas with the widowed brother, Melville. She "proved up" a claim in Har- per County, which is one of the finest wheat farms in the great wheat belt of the State. She lives at present on the homestead. Clara C., the other widow, lives in Tompkins County, New York. They reared a family of four daughters and three sons: one a physi- cian in Brooklyn, N. Y .; another a farmer; one a master builder in Cortland, N.Y .; two daughters married; one, unmarried, at their homestead, carries on the farm with the mother. The other .unmarried daughter, Villa Faulkner Page, Preceptress in the New Paltz Normal School, N.Y., is a fine elocutionist.
S. P. Tracy, the sixth in the family num- ber, lives at the homestead. He made the most of school opportunities in his day. He went to Chicago in 1852, engaged in a wholesale and retail grocery business, later
was clerk in a bank in Chicago, subsequently had the position of Cashier of a bank in Dalton, Ga., which he held two years, when he returned to Chicago, and engaged for a time in the hardware business. A good op- portunity to join a partnership in the lumber trade at St. Paul, Minn., was accepted. But a partner became involved in a personal diffi- culty with parties in Chicago, which, with the financial pressure of the year 1857, caused the firm to break up. Mr. Tracy became responsible for several thousand dol- lars by lending his name to private papers, besides his share in losses the firm sustained. In the autumn of 1858 he came East to at- tend to matters connected with his mother's failing health, and several circumstances caused him to remain for a time. Finally, the overtaxed, faithful, and true mother was laid to rest. The father of this family, Thomas Tracy, died in Michigan in about the year 1881.
In the year 1867 he was married to Miss Amelia Walter, of Whitney's l'oint, N. Y. In the spring of 1872 he moved to a farm in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he lived two years. ITis eldest son, Howard M., was born there. In 1874 he returned to the homestead in Broome County, New York, : where he is now settled. He has five chil- dren, as follows: Gertie E., who graduated from the Whitney's Point Academy, and took a course of instruction in a business col- lege at Binghamton. She is now 'engaged in teaching, will enter some State Normal School the coming year, or Cornell Univer-
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sity. Howard M. has been teaching for two years, is now a student in the Cortland Nor- mal, will graduate, and expects to go to col- lege. Clara C., the youngest daughter, an intellectual and attractive young lady, taught her first term when sixteen; expects to gradu- ate from the Cortland Normal. Rufus is fourteen years of age, and Emmett P. eleven. These will find their vocation in due time, no doubt, and enter life's contest to win.
Mr. Tracy is a man of large experience in various departments of business, and brings to his present occupation, which is farming, a large fund of general information, and a prac- tical knowledge which enables him to work intelligently and accomplish much without being subjected to that constant physical . exertion so wearing upon many engaged in agriculture. He rightly believes that the proper management of a farm requires some- thing more than muscle; and thus, placing the vocation above a life of drudgery, he can appreciate the pleasure and comfort of a farmer's life. He believes in work, but not to that extent that it absorbs the body and soul entire, so that one is in it all day and dreams of it all night. From such continual slavery emancipation is needed, if for nothing else than for the sake of a decent family life. The slave of work becomes an inharmonious element in his own home circle. It is pitiful to see the thousands scattered all over this country who, through insane devotion to busi- ness, have ceased to be husbands and fathers, who have scarcely any part in the family life but to furnish the funds for its maintenance.
Mr. Tracy has risen above these sordid ideas of life, and, looking out upon his own domain, can give some time to the consideration of those things which bring happiness and con- tentment.
HARLES R. SEYMOUR, M.D., com- menced the practice of his chosen profession at Binghamton in May, 1892. Ile is among the younger physicians of the place, and possesses excellent qualities of heart and mind, together with a careful preparation for the work he has undertaken. He was born at Albany, N. Y., March 11, 1870, a son of E. W. and Harriet (Grave- line) Seymour. His paternal grandfather was Charles Seymour, who was a contractor and builder, and came from Canada to Albany, where he was an early settler.
His father, E. W. Seymour, was born in Albany, and was also a contractor and builder. His mother, formerly Miss Graveline, who was born in Albany, was from one of the old families of the city, but traces her ancestry to France. The family moved to Binghamton in 1879, where Mr. Seymour has continued the same business, he being at the present time one of the leading builders in the city. His son Charles, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the Binghamton High School, and read medicine with Dr. J. F. Pratt as Preceptor, subsequently attending the Medi- cal College at Albany, and graduating from that institution in 1892. Dr. Seymour then at once engaged in active practice in Bing- hamton, establishing his office at 250 Front
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Street. He is a member of the Broome County Medical Society, the Broome County Academy of Medicine, and is Corporal of the Twentieth Separate Company. He has suc- ceeded remarkably well for a young man start- ing in practice in a field so well occupied, believes there is always room at the top. To that point he is working his way with com- mendable zeal and energy.
ESSE JONES, an intelligent farmer and dairyman of the town of Conklin, was born January 24, 1823, in the town of Cincinnatus, Cortland County, N. Y., and was the son of John and Polly (Moore) Jones. His grandfather, Ebenezer Jones, a native of Massachusetts, came to this State, and settled in Cortland County shortly after the Revolu- tionary War. He found there a virgin ter- ritory covered with thick timber that had never felt the edge of an axe, tenanted prin- cipally by wolves, bears, and other wild ani- mals, Indians being occasional visitors. He erected his log cabin, and cleared a good farm, being nobly assisted by his helpful wife, who, besides attending to the other household cares, had to card, spin, weave, and make the family clothing. Ile and his wife died about the age of seventy. They were both consistent and earnest members of the Baptist church. They reared a family of six sons and four daughters, of whom only one of the sons is now living, Samuel Jones, who resides in Tioga County. John Jones, son of Ebenezer, had the distinction of being
the first white male child born in the town of Cincinnatus, Cortland County. He grew to manhood there, getting what education he, could in the old log school-house, and early turned his attention to general farming. He was very successful in this line, and owned an excellent farm. He and his wife had one son, Jesse, who was the eldest of their chil- dren, and three daughters, namely: Rhoda, Mrs. Charles Nichols, who lives in the town of Cincinnatus, Cortland County; Maria, Mrs. John Swetman; and Salome, widow of James Wheeler, who resides at MeGrawville, N. Y. Mrs. Swetman and her husband are both dead, The parents died at Cincinnatus, the father aged fifty-nine, and the mother seventy years. They were members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. John Jones held the offices of Road Commissioner and Constable, and main- tained the political principles of his father, being a Democrat.
Jesse Jones was reared in the town of Cin- cinnatus, and there received his early edu- cation in the old field school-house, but afterward attended the newer district school. He remained at home, assisting his father on the farm, until his thirtieth year, meanwhile . learning the wagon-maker's trade, which he followed for two years. He was married Sep- tember 13, 1853, to Miss Louisa Grummon, who was born in the town of German, Che- nango County, N. Y., on the 14th of March, 1825, daughter of Nathaniel and Lydia (Win- throp) Grummon. Her father owned a farm in German, and was one of the practical and progressive men of his day. He reared a
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family of ten children, of whom six are liv- ing, namely : Lucina, widow of Samuel Hall, and Sally, widow of Peter Smith, both of whom reside in Chenango County; Louisa, Mrs. Jones; Daniel and William, living in Allegany County; and Nathaniel, living in Binghamton, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Grummon died when they were about seventy-eight years old. They were members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Grummon was a Republican in politics.
After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Jones lived for one year in the village of Cincinnatus, and then removed to the old home farm of one hundred and seventeen acres, which he bought, and where, besides carrying on gen- cral farming, he also had a dairy. He sold that place in 1865, and came to the town of Conklin, Broome County. In 1867 he bought the farm of sixty-eight acres on which he now resides, conducting a dairy and rais- ing small grains, hay, and garden vegetables and fruits. The farm is beautifully situated on the banks of the Susquehanna River, and is provided with excellent buildings and a handsome family residence. They have one son, John H., who was born June 2, 1854, and with his wife and two children, Jesse B. and Maud C., resides at the old home farm.
In this pleasant home Mr. and Mrs. Jones enjoy all the comforts of life, and in the so- ciety of their only son and his family are happily passing a serene old age. They are broad-minded and liberal in their conceptions of religious doctrine and duty, and, while liv- ing upright and honorable lives, have never
become connected with any denomination. In his political opinions Mr. Jones follows the example of his ancestors in being an un- compromising Democrat.
DWARD C. BELCHER, of Binghamton, is a manufacturer and dealer in house- hold goods and furniture, having a large and varied stock at his store, No. 39 Carroll Street. lle deals in the finest grades of goods as well as the cheaper stock, keeping a varied assortment, so as to suit all tastes, conditions, and purses. He was born in Binghamton, July 3, 1861, a son of Yelles and Roxanna (Mason) Belcher, and a grand- son of Daniel Belcher, who was from Con- necticut, and spent most of his life in that State. His mother was also from New Eng- land; and he retains many of the characteris- tics of that good old Puritan stock, so much noted for their sturdy virtues.
Yelles Belcher was born in Salem, Wash- ington County, N. Y. He was of a mechani- cal turn of mind, and could make almost any- thing that could be made with tools. For a time he engaged in building boats, and later was in the milling business. He came to Binghamton previous to 1840, and erected a mill at Fitch Hollow, where he remained some years, then came to the city, and estab- lished the plant which has since been devel- oped and enlarged to its present dimensions. lle died May 26, 1892, at the age of eighty years. His wife, Roxanna, died in Novem- ber, 1872. They belonged to the Presbyte-
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rian church, and were useful members of society.
Edward C. Belcher attended the common schools during his boyhood days, and finished his education at the Binghamton High School. Ile obtained a good knowledge of the furni- ture business from his father by observation, application, and easy adaptation, seeming to grow into the trade. However, he regularly learned the art of the upholsterer from men who were employed by his father. Thus, in the course of time, he became established in his present business, which under his efficient management continues to increase. IIe now gives employment to three men. Ile deals largely in second-hand furniture, and has deservedly a liberal patronage, keeping in stock a good supply of all goods for which there is any demand.
He is a member of the local Tribe of the Improved Order of Red Men, is Sergeant of the Sixth Battery, having held that office for eight years, and has been for three years Cap- tain of the Rockbottom Hose Company. He is industrious, attends strictly to business, and has accumulated some property, having at this time, among other investments, two large lots at 37 and 39 Carroll Street - one a residence, the other a business property - and also a house at 113 Susquehanna Street, which he rents. He is a member of the First Congregational Church, and takes an active interest in Sunday-school work. Ile has a good reputation for honesty and integrity, and is among the leading young men of the city.
HARLES WIIITNEY, dramatic reader and author of wide celebrity, was born at Chenango Point, now Bing- hamton, N. Y., April 1, 1815, a son of Gen- . eral Joshua Whitney, of whom see the very interesting biographical sketch on another page. The Whitney family is one of the best known in the annals of this city.
The subject of this brief memoir, who died suddenly, April 17, 1885, at his home, No. 7 North Street, Binghamton, received a good education, attending some of the best institu- tions of learning in the State of New York at the time of his school-days in the early part of the century. He held first rank as a dra- matic reader, and was especially versed in Shakesperean literature, to which he was so devoted that every room in his house had some appropriate quotation from the bard of Avon painted on the walls. He was a man of great ability as a writer, and was a corres- pondent for various New York papers for. many years,
At the age of forty he married Miss Emily Clark, a most gifted and intelligent lady, who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She died March 10, 1892, on the home farm in the town of Conklin, N. Y., where she and the family had lived since the death of her hus- band. They had a family of five children, of whom only two are now living, Mary E. and Jennie J. Mary E. was born in Boston, Mass., and is an artist of rare merit, and also a well-known author. She and her sister are graduates of St. Agnes Church School at Al- bany, N.Y., and are brilliantly educated
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young women. They manage the farm in the town of Conklin, where they reside, and which consists of one hundred and sixty acres of excellent and productive land. Miss Mary devotes herself principally to her paintings, for which she receives many valuable orders; and her literary work appears in the best mag- azines of the day.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitney were communicants of the Episcopal church, and in politics he voted with the Democratic party.
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RS. EMMA A. THOMSON, who has ably carried on the business of her late husband, l'eter Thomson, the inventor of the Thomson Piano, has fur- nished the data for this memorial sketch of him.
Peter Thomson was born in January, 1849, in Flensborg, which was then in Schleswig- Holstein, but has since been annexed to the German Empire. He was educated both in the German and Danish schools, and, emigrat- ing to this country about 1871, soon after went to Owego, N. Y., and engaged with Spoor, Carlson & Berry, piano manufacturers of that place, where he remained until 1877. At that time he entered into partnership with Mr. P. Englebreck, the firm name being Englebreck & Thomson, manufacturing pianos in Owego until 1881, when the firm removed the plant to Binghamton, N. Y., and engaged particularly in making upright pianos. In 1886 Mr. Englebreck retired; and Mr. Thom- son continued the business successfully until
his death, January 17, 1889. Ile had just per- fected improvements of wonderful value to his pianos, making them first-class in every re- spect, and had sold about seven hundred in the city. The special quality of this instru- ment is its powerful yet sweet and musical tone and its evenly balanced scale. The warm welcome this piano received and its steadily growing popularity are proof sufficient of its merit ; and musicians speak of it highly.
Mr. Thomson married Miss Emma A. Englebreck, May 14, 1877; and to them were born three children - namely, Edith, Ina, and Louise. Mrs. Thomson was born in New York City; but while yet a child her parents removed to Owego, N. Y., where she was edu- cated in the public schools and academy, and resided there until her marriage. Her father, Mr. Englebreck, was born in Sweden, married there, and came to America soon after. Iler mother died when Mrs. Thomson was a little child. Mr. Englebreck followed the business of piano manufacturing until the time of his dissolution of partnership with Mr. Thomson, which was about 1891, and has since lived in retirement at Owego, N. Y.
Mr. Thomson was a member of Wamsutta Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, and was a Trustee and very prominent in the organiza- tion. He also belonged to Calumet Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In re- ligious belief Mr. Thomson was a follower of the Presbyterian faith, and attended the First Presbyterian Church of Binghamton. He was an honest, upright man; and the heritage of a good name which he left to his children was
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greater and more valuable than any amount of wealth.
Mrs. Thomson, being herself the daughter of a piano manufacturer, and having always assisted her husband in selling, became so well acquainted with the business that she was able to carry it on after his death. The manufacture of these instruments was con- tinued by her until April of 1893, the works being located at No. 30 Chenango Street, and giving employment to a large number of men. She now conducts warerooms at the same place for the sale of the pianos. When left a widow, she did not give way to discourage- ment, but, nobly putting her shoulder to the wheel, assumed the entire charge; and to-day all acknowledge her remarkable qualities as a thorough business woman and an excellent manager. She is highly esteemed as a gen- ial, kindly person, one who has borne sorrow and trouble with a sublime faith, and has made of her trials stepping-stones to prosper- ity and happiness.
ELMER S. ZIMMER, Principal of the Lisle Academy, was born in Newark Valley, Tioga County, N. Y., in 1867, on a farm where his father, Seymour E. Zimmer, who was born in 1840, now lives. His grandfather was Henry Zim- mer, his great-grandfather was John Zimmer, and his great-great-grandfather was Henry Zimmer, who was a native of Germany, so that he may well have inherited from that land of eminent savans some of his own apti-
tude for learning. Henry Zimmer, the sec- ond of the name, married Mary Potter, of Schoharie County; and together they came to Newark Valley, in Tioga County, in 1829, and there bought the farm where the father of the Professor was born in 1840, and where he now resides. They were the parents of thir- teen children, of whom seven are now living.
Seymour E. Zimmer married on January 6, 1863, Esther Whittemore, a native of Broome County, a daughter of William and Catharine (Livingston) Whittemore, and a lineal de- scendant of one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence. Mrs. Catharine Whit- temore and her mother, the maternal great- grandmother of Delmer S., are both still liv- ing, the former at the age of seventy-seven years, and the latter ninety-three years old, her home being in Owego. Mr. and Mrs. Seymour E. Zimmer have lost an infant daughter, and have three sons, namely: Sher- man S., aged twenty-eight, a farmer, living near his parents; Delmer S .; and Edward H., a young man of twenty-three years, who works on the farm during the summers and teaches during the winters.
The subject of this sketch received his primary education in the district schools, afterward attending Newark Valley Union School, and finally taking a classical course in the Cortland Normal Institution. He taught`his first term in his own district when but eighteen years old, and has always been successful. Professor Zimmer is a young man of high qualifications for his work, ac- quainted with the principles of education, and
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having had a practical training in the best methods of arousing mental activity and im- parting instruction. He has been in his present position for the last three years; and the school is, under his efficient management, in excellent condition.
DMUND V. BEARDSLEY, D.D.S., President of the Chicago Dental Asso- ciation, which was located at Binghamton in the year 1891, was born at Deposit, Broome County, N. Y., February 15, 1868, son of Eb- enezer and Mary (Daniels) Beardsley. The father was a wagon manufacturer, and, al- though an old resident of Broome County, was born in Pittsfield, Otsego County, N. Y. In 1855 he went to Deposit to engage in his business, and he and his wife still reside there. llis ancestors were notable people of English origin, and descendants of Sir Fran- cis Drake, who in 1579 accomplished the feat of sailing around the world.
The subject of this sketch was educated at the Deposit High School, and after graduat- ing began the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. L. E. Knapp, of Deposit, going from there to the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery at Philadelphia. He was graduated at that institution in 1889, and immediately engaged in practice at Binghamton, N. Y., with Dr. W. S. Huntington. After this Dr. Beardsley opened an office at Franklin, N. Y., where he practised for two years in connec- tion with the Binghamton office, this continu- ing until 1891, when he formed his present
partnership in this city with Dr. Frederick I. Holcomb, which he has since continued, buy- ing out the dental practice of Dr. Allen, doing all kinds of dentistry, including crown and bridge work.
Dr. Beardsley married Miss Laura J. Cable, of Walton, N.Y., in 1887. Ilis resi- dence is at No. 17 Dickinson Street in Bing- hamton; and the home circle is made joyous by the presence of two charming children, Lena and Edith.
Although the profession in which Dr. Beardsley is engaged is very largely repre- sented in Binghamton, yet, as there is always room at the top of the ladder for superior ability, he has found no difficulty in attaining a prominent position among the first-class dentists of the city. Careful, painstaking, and diligent, his workmanship is universally commended; and, although a young man, his practice is constantly increasing.
A RTHUR S. ANTHONY, of the An- thony Publishing Company, was born at Taunton, Mass., October 22, 1850, son of Edmund and Nancy (Hodges) Anthony. The father was a native of Somer- set, Mass., born August 2, 1808. lle was a publisher all his life, and established the Taunton Gasette, the New Bedford Standard, and the Springfield Union - all in the State of Massachusetts. The Standard, at New Bedford, is still published by the family. The children of Edmund were: Edmund, Jr. ; Nathan, of the firm of Bradford & Anthony;
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Benjamin, who carried on a large cutlery establishment; Arthur S .; Elizabeth, de- ceased; Sarah; and Adeline.
Arthur received his early education at New Bedford, and finished his studies at the East Greenwich, R.I., Methodist Episcopal Semi- mary, going immediately from there into the office of E. Anthony & Sons, his father and brothers comprising the firm. In this estab- lishment he learned the printing and pub- lishing business from the very foundation, beginning as a compositor. llis first book was published in 1871, and was a "Business Journal," so called because it was edited as a summary of the commercial interests of Providence and Newport, R.I., and Fall River, Taunton, and New Bedford, Mass. This venture proved a great financial success. The Seaside Gasette, a thirty - two - column newspaper, published at the famous and favor- ite watering-place, Martha's Vineyard, was edited and managed by Mr. Anthony for four or five years. Emory Il. Talbot, the well- known present editor-in-chief of the Boston Journal, was associate editor of the Gasette with Mr. Anthony.
Mr. Anthony was the leader in forming a company by which New Bedford was favored in having an elegant new opera house built. He was manager for a while, and was instru- mental in bringing to that place such theatri- cal stars as Maggie Mitchell and Mary Anderson.
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