Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 38

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 744

USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 38

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Joshua Pine, second, married Margaret Remsen, of Newtown, L.I., in 1795; and they had seven children - Mary, Joshua, George W., Charles, Sarah, Alfred, and Mar- garet, the latter of whom is now living, at the age of eighty-five years, in Detroit, Mich., the last survivor of her family. The second Joshua built the house long known as the Pine homestead, almost the counterpart, it is said, of the old North home at Newtown. He en- gaged largely in business, as a dealer in both lumber and merchandise, going frequently to Philadelphia, and having an extensive ac- quaintance throughout the country. He also filled the office of Judge in the Court of Com- mon Pleas, and was considered a man of more than ordinary integrity and business ability. His death occurred in 1818, at the age of fifty-seven years; and he was succeeded in his home by his son, Joshua Pine, Jr., the subject of this sketch. The latter never married;

and at his death, in 1888, the property was sold, and the old Pine homestead passed out of the family.

NDREW J. THOMSON, a progressive young farmer of Roxbury, N. Y., is a grandson of John Thomson, who came from Scotland in 1820, with his wife and two children, to seek a new home in Western wilds. After a voyage of seven weeks and four days they landed in New York, and thence proceeded up the Hudson on a sloop to Catskill, and from there came in a wagon to Bovina, Delaware County. After staying a few weeks with a brother who had been in the country twenty years, Mr. Thom- son put up a log cabin about two rods from where the present house stands. He had pre- viously been fully bent on going to Ohio, and he afterward thought his decision to stay here was providential. It was all a wilderness two miles down the valley, more than that to the east, and one mile and a half to the west. An Indian and his wife and grand-daughter lived there during the winter in a cabin they had built in the woods, and made baskets. A spring near the head of the little brook on the farm was much frequented by deer, and men would come here with their guns and wait for them. Finding the log cabin a convenient resting-place, they named it the "Hunter's Retreat.'

During the first year Mr. Thomson used to bring flour and other things for his family on his shoulders four miles. Having good water- power on his land, he built a mill, which was of great use to him for threshing, grinding provender, and sawing wood. On this pioneer farm Mr. Thomson and his wife, Marion Boyle Thomson, settled down to hard work. They had a daughter Janet, born October 28, 1815, and a son James, born November 26, 1818. Later two more sons were added to the family: Andrew Y., born May 26, 1822; and John B., March 17, 1824. Janet after- ward married Robert McFarland, of Bovina. The three sons grew up manly and helpful; and in time what had been a dark, wooded wilderness became a broad tract of smiling farm land, open to the sun and teeming with

265

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

the fruits of the soil. Thus down to ripe old age lived John Thomson and his wife Marion.

After the death of his father, James H. Thomson took possession of the farm, and carried it on in the same wide-awake, progres- sive manner. He brought the remainder of the land under cultivation, and, building large, roomy barns, filled them with good stock. As the years went on, his dairy be- came noted; for he turned the water supply to a good purpose in driving churns, as well as in sawing wood, and opened a good, sub- stantial source of income thereby. Early in life he planted a profusion of shade-trees about the grounds, and now these have grown so luxuriantly that they make the place very beautiful. Here Mr. Thomson lives a life of quiet retirement. He is fond of reading, and has added to his early learning, which was very limited, schools not being established here till 1833, such a fund of valuable infor- mation that he is widely known as a "well- read man." He is a leading Prohibitionist, and highly respected by all who know him. Mr. Thomson's wife, Jane Amos, whom he married in January, 1856, was, like himself, born in Scotland. Her parents, William and Margaret (Sinclair) Amos, came to this coun- try in 1830, when Jane was two years old, and settled at Cabin Hill in the town of Andes on a farm now owned by their son, William Amos, Jr. Seven of the eight chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Thomson are now living, namely: John A., a minister at Sprakers, on the Mohawk, is now married, and has three children. William S. has no children living. Jacob N. married Mary E. Scott, also Scotch. They live on an adjoin- ing farm, and have two children, one having died. Amos W. is a physician, practising his profession at Saratoga. Margaret Janet died young. Annie married Thomas Archi- bald, and lives in Bovina. She had three children, but one of these died. Marion lives

at home.

The other son is Andrew J. Thomson, who was born November 26, 1864, and received his education at the district school. When he came of age, he bought his farm from his father, and has continued and enlarged the dairy business. He keeps twenty-five fine

Jersey milch cows, and these supply the cream for a fine grade of choice butter. There are also twenty-five sheep on the place, besides horses. Everything about the estate is kept in perfect order, and the whole farm is in a flourishing condition. Mr. Thomson married Nettie C. Hewitt, the only daughter of John B. and Marion Hewitt. John Hewitt was a successful farmer of New Kingston. His first wife died ; and he married the second time, and had two children - Leola and How- ard. Mr. Hewitt died September 17, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Thomson have a little child, born May 3, 1891, Milton A. In religion the Thomson family are United Presbyterians.

ETER YOUNG, who owns and occu- pies a valuable estate of three hun- dred and eighty-six acres, finely located in District No. I of the town of Hamden, is one of the most energetic, self-reliant, and successful farmers of this section of Delaware County. He is a Scotch- man by birth and parentage, and first opened his eyes to the light in Roxburghshire, Scot- land, in 1854.

His father, Thomas Young, was born in Dalkeith, Scotland, in 1811, and died in the town of Hamden, N. Y., in 1887. He was a teamster by occupation while in his native country, where more than one-half of his long life was passed. He was twice married, and reared a family of nine children, eight sons and one daughter. His first wife, the mother of Peter, his second son, was Margaret Simington, who died in Scotland, at the age of fifty years, leaving four sons and one daughter. The remaining children of the first marriage may here be thus briefly men- tioned: Robert, who has never left the coun- try of his birth, is a policeman in Scotland, having been on the force seven years. Will- iam, who studied law with the late Judge Glea- son, of Delhi, is one of the lights of the legal profession in Denver, Col. Jane, the only daughter, is the wife of Isaac Miller, of Pe- pacton, N. Y. The father emigrated to Amer- ica in 1868, bringing with him all of his family with the exception of his oldest son, and was thereafter a respected resident of this county.

266

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Peter was but a lad of fourteen when he be- came a resident of this vicinity, and from that time until he was married and had a home of his own he worked out by the month. He was strongly imbued with the true Scotch spirit of industry, frugality, and thrift, so that, with the exercise of a wise discretion in monetary matters, he was enabled to save a part of his yearly wages, which never exceeded three hundred dollars. Mr. Young's first purchase of land consisted of two hundred and eighty acres lying about two miles from Delhi, for which, including thirty cows, he paid seven thousand dollars, running into debt five thousand five hundred dollars. He labored hard, and economized; and four years later, in 1888, he sold that farm, and bought his present property, paying ten thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, partly in cash, and giving a mortgage for the remaining seven thousand five hundred dollars. His place in all of its appointments indicates the super- vision of a thorough farnier and business man, and is one of the attractive homesteads in this vicinity. In addition to mixed husbandry, Mr. Young directs much of his attention to dairying, keeping from sixty-seven to seventy head of dehorned milkers, mostly graded Jer- seys, and ships his milk to New York City. He has five horses and a fine flock of Shrop- shire sheep, and in the rearing of stock he has excellent success.

On the 25th of September, 1883, Mr. Young was united in marriage to Anna L. Halstead, of Ulster County, the daughter of Marcus and Maria (Hill) Halstead, both of whom passed to the higher life in middle age. They were the parents of four children, three of them being girls. The harmonious and pleasant wedded life of Mr. and Mrs. Young has been brightened by the birth of three children, one of whom, a little daughter, died while in the innocence and purity of infancy. Two bright and wide-awake boys remain to them, namely: James H., ten years old; and Robert B., four years of age. Mr. Young and his sons all celebrate their birthdays in the same month, each having entered this world in July. In politics Mr. Young casts his vote in support of the principles of the Re- publican party. Religiously, he and his

excellent wife are members of the First Pres- byterian Church, wherein he is an honored Elder. He has been prominently identified with the agricultural and business interests of Hamden ever since his residence in the town, and is greatly esteemed among his neighbors and acquaintances.

- ECTOR COWAN, who died on July 4, 1878, at his home in the town of Stamford, N. Y., where he was an influential and valued citizen, was born here on October 2, 1824. His father, John Cowan, was a Scotchman, born in the old country on June 4, 1798; and his mother, Helen Grant Cowan, was born two years later, September 15, 1800, in Stamford.

John Cowan's father, whose name was Hec- tor, came to America with his wife at the beginning of the century, while John was only two years old, and settled in Stamford, on what is now known as the old Cowan farm, which he reclaimed from the wilder- ness, building a frame house, wherein he re- sided till his death, at ninety-three years of age, in 1843. The children of the emigrant Hector were as follows: James Cowan, born June 29, 1794; William, on August 3, 1796; John, in 1798; Isabella, on June 14, 1800 - all before the emigration. Afterward, in Stamford, came Mary, March 12, 1803; Agnes, July 1, 1805; Andrew, December 13, 1 808. Grandfather Cowan was an Elder in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church in South Kortright. Politically, he was a Whig. He lost his wife when she was sixty years old, nearly thirty years before his own demise.

John Cowan grew up on his father's farm, and attended the district school, his educa- tional opportunities being, however, very meagre. In the course of years he purchased the homestead from the other heirs, and added thereto so largely that finally he owned six hundred acres, and stood at the head of the agriculturists of this neighborhood. Not only was he his father's successor as a farmer, but as an Elder in the Kortright Parish. His marriage to Helen Grant took place on New Year's Day, 1824; and Grandfather Hector

267

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Cowan was greatly pleased the next autumn, when they named their first child after him, Hector. On September 18, 1826, came a sister, Ann Eliza, and on December 11, 1830, another sister, Marietta; but all three have joined "the innumerable caravan," Ann Eliza on February 21, 1843, the same year with ber grandfather, as above mentioned. Hector died in 1878, and Marietta in April, 1893.

Young Hector went to the local school, like his father before him, and likewise worked on the home farm, devoting himself wholly to agriculture. In 1851, November 5, at the age of twenty-seven, Hector Cowan married Helena Jane Rich, who was born on the Rich family homestead at South Kortright, the daughter of James and Helena (Marshall) Rich; and more particulars concerning her family may be found in the sketch in this vol- ume of Mrs. Sarah Rich. Like his progen- itors, Mr. Cowan took an active part in church affairs, and succeeded them as an office-bearer, holding the position of Ruling Elder. As they had been Whigs, so was he in senti- ment, and cast his first vote for Taylor and Fillmore; but a few years later the Republi- can party arose, and he at once joined its fort- unes. He was also influential in town affairs. At his death he left a widow and eleven chil- dren, eight of whom are still living.

The eldest of these, John A. Cowan, born in 1854, is a Stamford farmer and an Elder in the Presbyterian church of Hobart. Helena Cowan, born in 1856, married Dr. F. H. Mc- Naught, of Denver, Col. Of James Rich Cowan more will be said presently. Robert F. Cowan, born in 1860, is a Stamford farmer. Hector William Cowan, born in 1862, amid our Civil War, and named for his father and great-grandfather, is a Presbyterian clergyman in Lawrence, Kan. Henry Mar- shall Cowan, born in 1864, resides on the an- cestral acres. Charles Cowan was born in 1868, and lives in Stamford, unmarried; and so does Frank B. Cowan, born in 1870. The children no longer living in this world are: Thomas Rich Cowan, who died at the age of twelve; Stephen, at seven; Annie, at four. Since the death of their father the large farm has been carried on by his widow, who owns it.

Of course she is aided by her efficient sons, but is herself a very capable manager, as well as a bright and intelligent woman. She is especially proud of her son, the Hon. James Rich Cowan, who bears her own family name.

The Hon. James R. Cowan was born on May 22, 1858. He was educated in the local school, like two generations of his ancestors, and then went to Stamford Seminary. He lived at home till his majority, and did not give up farming till the year 1891, having six hundred acres under his control. Like other farmers in this region, he gave special atten- tion to cattle, having from seventy-five to one hundred. In politics he has been active, being commissioned a Justice of Peace. In 1889 he was made Town Supervisor by the Republican party, holding the place three years, and acting as chairman of the board the latter part of the time. In 1891 he was elected to the State Assembly, and served a term at Albany. The same year he was chosen President of the National Bank of Hobart, which has a capital of fifty thousand dollars; and this place he still fills, the Vice- President being Oscar I. Bennett, and the Cashier J. A. Scott. Mr. Cowan is still un- married, and gives his main time and atten- tion to finance. In religion, as well as politics, he retreads the inherited footsteps, and is a member of the United Presbyterian church in South Kortright. The Cowan home- stead is a noble old place, the house standing amid fertile fields not far from the village of Hobart.

A® LONZO A. HAVERLY, miller and lumberman, is carrying on an exten- sive business in the town of Wal- ton, his mills being located near the corporation line. He made his appear- ance on this mundane sphere in the year 1840. in Middleburg, Schoharie County, that town being likewise the native place of his father, Jacob Haverly, whose birth occurred in 1809. Jacob was a son of Christopher Haverly, who was born in Berne, Albany County, in 1783.

Christopher Haverly married a Miss Haugh- strauser, who was of High Dutch ancestry; and they became pioneer settlers of Schoharie

268

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

County, taking up a tract of wild land in the town of Middleburg, where they not only improved a fine homestead, but by toilsome labor, frugal economy, and wise management accumulated property valued at some twenty thousand dollars. Life's labors over, their bodies were laid to rest in the family grave- yard, on the farm which they cleared from the forest. They reared five sons and five daugh- ters, Jacob being the eldest child.

Jacob Haverly was reared to farming indus- tries, and after his marriage, which was cele- brated in 1832, he being then united to Catherine, daughter of David G. and Mar- garet (Nashaultz) Rickard, lived for a few years on a farm near his father's. In 1843 they settled in the town of Wright, where they lived on rented land for a few years, afterward buying land and improving a farm. To this he added from time to time, until he had three hundred and forty acres of as fine farming land as could be found in the vicinity, which he carried on with excellent results until his removal to Gallupville, where he and his good wife lived, retired, until his death, in 1892. His widow, now several years past threescore and ten, is living in the same town, surrounded by all the comforts that make life desirable. Of the eleven chil- dren born to her, nine grew to maturity, seven boys and two girls, the subject of this sketch being the third son and the fourth child.

Alonzo A. Haverly received but an indiffer- ent education in the public schools in his boy- hood, but has supplemented it with after years of study. When he was growing up, his parents being in rather straitened circum- stances, his help was needed on the farm, where he remained until twenty-seven years old, working with fidelity and diligence. He then pursued his studies for a while in a select school in Gallupville for two terms, and afterward attended the Schoharie Acad- emy. The following five winters Mr. Haverly was engaged in teaching. In 1880 he purchased very cheap, at a foreclosure sale, his present fine mill property and the house in which he lives. He has rebuilt and im- proved the buildings at quite an expenditure, his grist-mill now having three sets of stones

and his saw-mill a four-foot circular saw. Both of the mills are run by four different kinds of wheels, propelled by water taken from the Delaware River, a half a mile away. The improvements are many and varied; and the property has now a commer- cial value of ten thousand dollars, a great in- crease since the first establishment of the plant, some ninety years ago.

In July, 1873, Mr. Haverly formed a mat- rimonial alliance with Betty Sullivan, a na- tive of Delaware County. She lived but two years after their marriage, dying in 1875, and was soon followed by their infant daugh- ter. In 1877 Mr. Haverly married Hattie Sullivan, a sister of his first wife. Of the four children born of this union two died in infancy; and one daughter, Mary, a capable girl of fifteen years, and one son, Fred, a bright boy of thirteen, are both attending school. In politics Mr. Haverly is a straight- forward Democrat, but not an office-seeker. Religiously, he is a believer in the doctrines of the Lutheran church, but with his family attends the Methodist church. He is a man of substantial business ability; and, being blessed with good physical as well as mental ability, he carries on the work of his two mills with the help of one man only. In con- nection with this he also deals extensively in flour and feed.

TEPHEN R. AND ERASTUS R. SEACORD were both born in Bo- vina, and are to-day numbered among the most prosperous farmers of the town. They are sons of James C. Sea- cord, and of French origin, tracing their an- cestry back to their great-grandfather, Paul Seacord, who was one of the early colonists. He left France with his six brothers, on account of the religious persecutions attend- ing the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He had a son, William Seacord, who came from Dutchess County to Bovina in 1789, early in Washington's Presidency, and settled near Bennett Hill, where settlers were very few, the country wild, and game plentiful. Here he was twice married, reared fifteen children, and led a useful and happy life.

269

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

He was a Baptist, and died on his farm at seventy years of age.

Stephen R. Seacord, the son of William and the grandfather of the special subjects of this sketch, was born in Bovina in 1805. In 1827 he bought the farm of a hundred acres where his grandsons now live, on which al- ready stood a log house and barn ; but later he bought more land, so that before his death he had two hundred and thirty acres. He was very liberal in his religious views, and a Whig in politics, though he joined the ranks of the Republican party at its formation. Stephen Seacord died on his farm at forty- seven years of age, leaving three children and a widow, who outlived him twenty-three years. One of the two daughters is Mary Ann Seacord, the wife of George Bell, a farmer in New Lisbon, Otsego County. James C. Seacord was the only son. Amanda Seacord, the other daughter, married Homer C. Burgin, and is no longer living.

James C. Seacord was born November 21, 1828, and lived on the homestead which he inherited, and to which he added. On Feb- ruary 3, 1852, he married Esther Close, who was born October 8, 1822, and was a daughter of Eli and Elizabeth (Adee) Close. Eli Close was born in Dutchess County, but died in Bovina, at sixty-five years of age. He was a shoemaker as well as a farmer, and an old- time Whig. Mrs. Close was born in Lane County, became the mother of ten children, and died at seventy-eight. Five of these children are still living - George, Stephen, William, Harriet, and Mrs. Seacord. James C. Seacord was a Democrat, and died at the homestead on Independence Day, 1893. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and were the parents of five children. The eldest, Abigail Seacord, was born December 12, 1852, and is now Mrs. Thomas Fuller, a resident of Bovina Centre.

The second child, Stephen R. Seacord, the elder of the Seacord brothers, was born in the town of Bovina on August 5, 1856, just prior to James Buchanan's Presidential victory over John C. Fremont; and on New Year's Day, 1883, he married Annice McDivitt. She was born in Bovina on February 5, 1862, being one of the five children of William J.

and Elizabeth (Kipp) McDivitt. Mr. and Mrs. McDivitt are members of the Presbyte- rian church in Andes village, where they reside. Mr. McDivitt was a farmer for many years, but is now a drover; and he has always been a stanch Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen R. Seacord have four children : Mabel Esther Seacord, born April 6, 1884; S. Edgar Seacord, born February 23, 1886; Elizabeth C. Seacord, born April 6, 1888; and Anna Myrtle Seacord, born September 20, 1893. The father is liberal in his relig- ious views, but Mrs. Seacord belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. The third child of J. C. Seacord, Erastus R. Seacord, was born on January 28, 1859, the year before Lincoln's election. He has never married, but makes his home with his mother and brother at the old farm. His second sister, Elizabeth Nancy Seacord, was born on June 25, 1862, and is the wife of H. G. Bramley, a farmer in Bovina. Another sister, Mary Ann Seacord, was born November 19, 1865, and died January 31, 1872.

Stephen and Erastus Seacord were educated in the district schools, and since their father's death have lived in partnership on the old farm. They have used their buildings to the very best advantage, and have a fine dairy, owning twenty-seven grade Jersey cows. For ten months of the year 1893 they averaged two hundred and fifty pounds of butter per cow for the market. The farm would afford support for as many as forty cattle; and there is an orchard of seven acres, stocked with the finest fruit. The brothers are to be congratu- lated on their uniting efforts to increase the value of the estate. They are both men of superior business qualities and agricultural knowledge.

"In the field of destiny we reap as we have sown."

ARPER B. GAYLORD, a highly. es- teemed citizen and prosperous young farmer in Harpersfield, Delaware County, is a descendant and name- sake of the founder of that town. He is the son of Daniel N. and Mary (Stevens) Gay- lord, and was born March 19, 1860. His

270

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

great-grandfather, Jedediah Gaylord, who had been a soldier in the Revolution, came from Connecticut, and settled with the Harpers and Roswell Hotchkiss on a large tract of land in Harpersfield, which was then a wilderness. His children, ten in number, were Jedediah, Horace, John, Harry, Daniel N., Levi, Ach- sah, Lois, Ruthala, and Mercy Gaylord. The father lived to the age of eighty-four years, but his wife died at threescore and ten.

Daniel N. Gaylord, the fifth son named above, was born in Harpersfield, January 6, 1796; and when but a boy he entered service for the War of 1812. When manhood was reached, he bought a small tract of land, nearly all of which was covered with forest, built a store on the road at West Harpersfield, and married Isabella Hotchkiss; but, just as a happy and successful life seemed opening be- fore him, he was stricken down with a fever, from which he died at the early age of twenty- seven, leaving a widow and a baby namesake.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 38

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 744

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 744