Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 44

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 44

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His natural aptitude for mechanics found scope at this juncture in the carpenter's trade, which he learned, and followed for some years, giving it up at length, except the work of building and repairing needed on his own place. After his marriage he bought a farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Masonville, and lived on it two years. Selling it then, he moved into the village of Masonville, and engaged in the manufacture of builders' mate- rials and doing contract work. After carry- ing on this business about six or seven years, he disposed of his property in the village, and, moving back on the old home farm, took care of his parents. He now owns the old homestead, and, having added to it by pur- chase of adjoining lands, is now the possessor of three hundred and thirty acres, one of the largest farms in this part of the county. He keeps about fifty head of cattle, including about forty cows, Jerseys and Holsteins, yielding an average of seven hundred and fifty pounds of milk a day through the year. He is building a large barn with a capacity of seventy head of cattle.

Mr. Fuller has been twice married. His first wife, Emaline Parker, with whom he was united October 28, 1863, died March 6, 1882, leaving four children, namely: Anna, born September 24, 1866, now wife of William Bogart, of Masonville; Edmund L., born Jan- uary 1, 1868, who died February 28, 1872; Jerome E., born August 25, 1873; and Laura A., born September 7, 1880, both living at home. Mr. Fuller was married the second time, on October 16, 1884, to Elizabeth Whit- man Darling, who was born in Tompkins, Dela- ware County, daughter of Jeremiah Darling.

Mrs. Fuller is Methodist Episcopal in re- ligion, while Mr. Fuller is a member of the Baptist church. He is a Republican in poli- tics, and has served acceptably in several town offices, having been Supervisor of the town one term, and Overseer of the Poor sev- eral years, and Road Commissioner two terms. He is a public-spirited, enterprising, useful, and valued citizen.

Life-like portraits of Mr. and Mrs. William

Fuller will be found near by on opposite pages of this volume.

OBERT A. FRASER, a well-known lawyer of Delhi village, was born in the town of Delhi, January 30, 1851. His father, James Fraser, married Mary A., a daughter of Robert Ar- buckle, of the same town; and both parents are still living in this town, where they were born and where they have always made their home. The grandfather, Andrew Fraser, was born in Inverness, Scotland, came to New York State when a young man, and, settling in Delhi, here pursued the calling of a farmer for many years.

Robert A. Fraser spent his early years on the home farm, receiving his elementary edu- cation at the district schools, afterward sup- plementing it by a course at the Delhi Acad- emy. He then studied law with the late Judge Gleason, of Delhi, and later with Adee & Shaw. Being admitted to practice at the Al- bany general term in 1877, he opened his office in Delhi, where he has remained ever since.

Mr. Fraser was married in 1880 to Miss Mary E. Blair, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Holmes) Blair; and they have one child, Edwin B. Fraser. Mr. Fraser has been Justice of the Peace in the town of Delhi for twelve years, and for three years was Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. He is a Free Mason, a member of Delhi Lodge, No. 439, and in politics is a strong upholder of the Re- publican faith. Mrs. Fraser is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, of which he is an attendant.

HARLES JAMES DICKSON lives in Margarettville, in Middletown, where he carries on a very exten- sive business, and is the owner of important pieces of real estate. He was born November 25, 1852, son of Peter and Eliza (Boak) Dickson. His paternal grandparents were James and Jane (Trotter) Dickson. James Dickson came to America in 1816, and was a carpenter; but he took up a farm of a hundred and forty acres, now occupied by

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James Armstrong, in Gladstone Hollow, town of Andes, and put up a log house and barn. There grew up his nine children: Elizabeth Dickson married John Banker, deceased. William is no longer on earth. Thomas mar- ried Mary Turnbull, and the widow lives in Andes; and so does James Dickson, who mar- ried Elizabeth Davidson. Mary Dickson married Edward Turnbull, a brother of her brother Thomas's wife, and is now a widow. John married first Anna Gladstone, and then Elizabeth Oliver. Peter, the father of the special subject of this sketch, married Eliza Boak, and lives in New Castle. Henry, now dead, was the husband of Esther Gladstone, a sister of his brother John's wife. Ellen Dickson married A. Frisbie, and lives in Andes. Grandfather Dickson and wife both lived to be very old, and were earnest mem- bers of the Presbyterian church.

Their fifth child, Peter Dickson, was born in Andes, where he received the usual com- mon-school education, and worked on the farm. Having accumulated a little money by dint of hard work, he went with his brother, William Dickson, to New Castle, Pa., and opened a livery stable. Though doing well, Peter sold out at the end of a year, and came to Andes, Delaware County, and began a manufacturing enterprise in a building now in ruins and known as Dowie's Mill. He did sawing and planing, and had machinery for turning all sorts of wood work. Later he traded this plant for a farm near the village, now called the Adam Bassett place. There he remained ten years, and then exchanged the farm with Thomas Muir for village prop- erty, covering what is now called the Dickson & Armstrong estate, but was then a carding and wool-spinning factory, erected by the Waterburys about the year 1830. Mr. Dick- son remodelled the building, added a grist- mill, and for six years did a large business. Then he sold out to his nephew, Henry James Dickson, and went again to New Castle, where he became a successful grocer. This also he sold out after a few years, and retired from active life.

He was a Methodist in faith, and a Repub- lican in politics. His wife Eliza was the youngest daughter of Charles Boak, who even

in his old age was considered one of the best teachers in the county. He was a farmer, owning a large tract of land in Harlansburg, Lawrence County, Pa., where he raised the following children: Aaron, Charles, Wash- ington, Margaret, Rebecca, Sarah, Martha, Mary Ann, Eliza. As fast as they grew up, the boys did the farm work, while the father taught school here and there. Mr. and Mrs. Boak lived to be fourscore, and died the same year. Peter and Eliza Dickson reared three children, the eldest being the subject of this sketch. Thomas W. Dickson married Anna Greene, lives in New Castle, is a commercial traveller, and has two children. Their sister Carrie died at the lovely age of eighteen.

Charles J. Dickson was born in New Castle, while his father was keeping the stable, and was educated, not only in the dis- trict school, but in the Andes Collegiate In- stitute, besides attending for one term the Delaware Academy. The work of life he began on his father's farm, but soon gave this up for a clerkship with David Ballantine. Desiring to see more of the world, and having kinsfolk in New Castle, he went thither to try his hand at his grandfather Boak's profession of school-teaching. In two years he came back to Andes, and for another brace of years was clerk for James Ballantine, a brother of his former employer. Next he tried the hard- ware traffic, buying out the interest of the junior member of the firm of O. S. & C. W. Nichols. Five years later, when thirty years old, he sold his interest in the store to his partner, came to Margarettville, and associated himself with W. F. Doolittle, in the business already learned. Three years later Mr. Dick- son bought out Mr. Doolittle. Since then he has enlarged the store from time to time, till now he has one of the largest in Delaware County, and sells not only hardware and groceries, but agricultural implements, lum- ber, and all other goods usually sold in a country store. In 1884 and 1885 he erected a skating-rink, which, since that amusement declined, has been changed into the only hall in the village, and is provided with a stage for various literary, musical, and dramatic performances. Attached to this building is a store for the sale of tin and plumbing goods.

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In 1879, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Anna S. Boyes, daughter of James and Barbara B. (Gordon) Boyes. Mr. Boyes was the son of the senior James Boyes, of Dumfries, Scotland, who had a large family. The son James came to America at the age of twenty-two, and there met and married Barbara Gordon, a lady of Scottish blood, the daughter of James and Mary (Hay) Gordon. Their children were Peter, Jane Ann, Bar- bara, and Jeanette Gordon; and the parents lived to a good old age. Mr. Gordon was a storekeeper in various places. James Boyes came to America in 1810, locating first in Canada, and then in New York, working at his trade of horse-shoeing. Next he came to Delhi, and then to Andes, finally retiring to Margarettville, where he still lives, though his wife Barbara has passed onward. They be- longed to the United Presbyterian church, and reared nine children. James Boyes mar- ried first Miss Josselyn, and afterward Laura Caulkins, and has two children. Mary Boyes is no longer living. Peter Boyes married Mary E. Davis, is a farmer, and has one son. Agnes Boyes married Edwin Shaver, an inn- keeper, and has two children. John Boyes is deceased. Thomas H. Boyes married Maggie Bell, lives in Hartford, Conn., and has four children. William A. Boyes married Anna Burhans, is a Margarettville gardener, and has four children. David Boyes lives in Michi- gan. Anna Boyes, Mrs. Dickson, is the youngest. Their mother died December 20, 1882, firm in the Presbyterian religion.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Dickson have two children. Irving was born October 5, 1881, and Irene on June 4, 1889. Being an active, progressive, and obliging merchant, Mr. Dickson is not only rewarded with plenty of business, but is highly respected by his fel- low-citizens throughout the county. As a stanch Republican he has efficiently filled several offices. He has belonged to the fire department ever since its organization.

EORGE BRAZEE, a retired resident of the village of Walton, is well known in the vicinity as having long been an active man of business, and is deeply

reverenced as an earnest exhorter and preacher of the Methodist faith. The early ancestral home of the family was in Holland; but these records go back only to Mr. Brazee's grand- father, Peter Brazee, who with his family emigrated from Massachusetts to this county and settled in Wilson Hollow.

He was twice married, and by his first wife had three sons and three daughters, all of whom are now dead, including his son Tunis, born about 1785, who was a young man when they came here. Tunis Brazee married Delia Cook, of Rockland, in this county, who was born about 1800, and after eighty-one years of useful life died in the town of Han- cock. She was the mother of four daughters and five sturdy sons, the fourth son being George, the subject of this sketch. Three other sons and two daughters are still liv- ing, Robert and Peter being respectively in Western New York and Pennsylvania, and Eben in Matteawan, N.Y. Rachel, wife of George Babcock, lives in Colchester, N.Y. Ann Eliza, wife of George Brooks, lives in the West.

George Brazee was born in Colchester, September II, 1827. After a very limited education in the district school he became a pupil in that larger institution of learning, the world. Much of his time was spent in hard work, early and late, on the farm and in the woods, where the stroke of his axe or the call to the oxen awoke echoes through the vast forests. In those sylvan solitudes was the spirit of this man prepared to receive divine instruction and to experience conver- sion from the ways of sin to the paths of the godly. The change in his spiritual life oc- curred in the town of Hancock in 1852, when he was twenty-five years old, and in the same house in which the lady who was afterward his wife had become converted eight years before. Through him were his parents also brought to a profession of faith; and for forty- two years has this earnest Christian worker, deeply imbued with the power of the Spirit, labored in his Master's vineyard, being for many years a local preacher.

Mr. Brazee began life with but little capital except a ready hand and a willing mind, and by his industry and economy has accumu-

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lated a competency. For fourteen years he engaged in farming and lumbering near Trout Brook. Here he owned a saw-mill and some five hundred acres of land, all of which he has sold. In 1864 he enlisted in the cause of the nation, and was assigned to the First New York Engineer Corps in Company C. The war being over, he was discharged at Hilton, July 4, 1865. In 1872 he came to the village of Walton, and bought his present home with twelve acres of land, on which he has already built two dwelling-houses. It is probable that within a very few years the entire place will be in great demand for building-lots. Here Mr. and Mrs. Brazee now live, con- tented with the simple ways and surroundings of their peaceful home.

Mr. Brazee married Margaret Weeks Greg- ory, widow of Ezra Gregory. Her first hus- band died in the prime of life, leaving her with twin sons, one of whom died at the age of two years. The other son, Scott Gregory, is a farmer and lumber merchant in Harvard, Delaware County, and has a family of four sons and one daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Brazee have one son, James, who married Jennie Quinn, of Middletown, N. Y., where they now reside, and where eighteen months ago a beautiful little daughter, Edna B. by name, was born to them. James Brazee profited by the excellent educational opportunities given him by an indulgent father, who took care that he should have the advantages of early training which to himself had been denied. He is now a conductor on the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad.

In the olden times a Democrat, when the parties changed Mr. Brazee became a Republi- can, from the ranks of which party he has risen to the acceptance of the principles of the Patriot or Prohibition party. Illustrating in his daily life the Christian principles en- forced by his devout utterances, Mr. Brazee is deeply loved and respected by his neighbors in Walton, and especially by those of the Methodist faith, in behalf of whom he has labored and preached for nearly half a cen- tury; and those who know him and admire him for his benignant qualities wish for him all that he constantly prays for for others, and hope that it may be the will of the all-wise

Father to spare him to his earthly friends for many years to come.

ON. DAVID LOW THOMPSON, a distinguished resident of Bovina, Delaware County, N.Y., was born in this town on the first day of Au- gust, 1831. He was a son of David and Jean- nette (Low) Thompson, who were both born in Scotland; and he was a grandson of Will- iam Thompson. Little is known of Grand- father Thompson except that he lived and died in the old country. David Low, though born in Scotland, was among the earliest settlers of Schenectady, N.Y. At that time the Indians of the Mohawk Valley were very troublesome, and Mr. Low took an active part in the battles with them. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed church, reared two children, Isabella Lovett and Jeannette Low Thompson, and was one of the most thriving farmers of his day.

David Thompson came to America when a young man, and settled in the town of Bovina at the time of the famous War of 1812. This region was little better than a wilderness; but he rented land, and a little later bought a farm of three hundred acres, where he lived until his death, in his fifty-first year. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, a Whig, and a successful man financially. His first wife was a Miss Hume, by whom he had four children, two of whom are now living; namely, William D. Thompson, of Bovina, and James Thompson, of Walton, both of whom are retired farmers. His second wife was Jeannette Low, who died at the advanced age of eighty-two years, leaving two sons : Robert F. Thompson, a Bovina farmer, and David Low Thompson, the subject of this sketch.

Young David grew to manhood in Bovina, and, after graduating at the district school, continued his studies at Andes Academy, under Professor William Stoddard, from Edin- burgh, Scotland. Young Thompson was of an independent turn of mind, and began teaching in the district schools when but a boy of sixteen. Later in life he became superintendent of schools, and represented his

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town as Supervisor for two terms. During thirteen years he was Postmaster. In 1854 he established a hardware store, in which busi- ness he still remains. On December 28 of the same year he married Eliza Murray, daughter of John Murray, one of the early sct- tlers of Bovina. Mrs. Thompson died Sep- tember 11, 1893, leaving three children; namely, Nettie, the widow of Dr. Henry Don- elly, residing in Davenport; and Annabell and William D., who live at home, the latter being in the hardware business.

. Mr. Thompson is an Elder in the United Presbyterian Church of Bovina, having been thirty-two years superintendent of the Sab- bath-school, which was organized September 15, 1856, with seventy-four scholars. He is a Republican, and has always supported his party, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont. In 1887 he was elected a member of the State Assembly, and served one term at the capitol. He is a forcible speaker, vigor- ous writer, and an able debater, but has lat- terly retired from politics, and gives his time and attention wholly to business, in which he is reliable and high-minded. Personally, he is very intellectual and unassuming, and be- lieves, with the poet,

"True worth is in being, not seeming."

'EORGE SMITH, owner and manager of a livery stable in the pleasant vil -. lage of Walton, is one of the solid and substantial business men of the town, and is meeting with excellent financial success in his present occupation. He is a native of this county and town, his birth having oc- currcd June 30, 1822. His father, Rufus Smith, was engaged in agriculture in this vicinity for many years, owning different farms, and finally becoming proprietor of a hotel known as Smith's tavern, which he rented in 1835, and subsequently purchased. It was a wooden structure, and has since been rebuilt. Some of the hand-made wrought nails used in the original building are now in the possession of the subject of this sketch. Rufus Smith remained engaged as hotel- keeper until his death, in 1842, while yet in

the prime of manly vigor, being but forty- five years old. His wife, Sophia St. John, who was a daughter of David St. John, bore him three sons and two daughters, of whom George, the second child, is the only one now living. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Smith with the assistance of her children con- tinued the management of the tavern for some twenty-five years. She was a very energetic, capable woman, and lived to be more than seventy years of age, dying in 1869. Her father was one of the conspicuous figures con- nected with the early history of Walton; and, in all enterprises tending to elevate the edu- cational or religious status of the place, David St. John could be relied upon to assist. He was one of thirteen men who organized the Congregational church and society, and who built the log house that was for several years their place of worship. He possessed a fac- simile of the Declaration of Independence of the thirteen original States, dated July, 1776, which has been in the family for more than a century, and is now in the possession of his son George. Mr. Smith has other relics of value and interest, one of them being the clarinet which his father owned, and on which he used to play on public occasions, in the town band.

In common with the boys of his day, George Smith attended the district school; and he afterward spent one term at the Delhi Acad- emy. When quite young, he learned the tailor's trade, which he followed for a while in Ithaca, going thencc to Trumansburg and subsequently to Binghamton, where he was under instructions for a year, and was then engaged as a journeyman tailor for a number of years. Shortly after the death of his father, Mr. Smith returned to Walton; and the following twelve years he assisted his mother and brother in the management of the hotel, and took an active part in local affairs. It was during this period that the anti-rent difficulty occurred in this State, attracting wide attention; and in the stirring events which occurred Mr. Smith was an active par- ticipant. He was one of the sheriff's posse of one hundred men who, under the command of Tim Corbin, were called to the Earls farm, in Delhi, on the occasion of killing cattle

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for restrained rent, at which time Mr. Steel was killed. Mr. Smith rode his own horse, as did most of the other members of that band. Difficulties of this kind were effectu- ally settled by the State Constitution of 1846, which abolished all feudal tenures, and for- bade the leasing of all agricultural lands for a period exceeding twelve years In 1857 Mr. Smith left the hotel, and, purchasing a small house and barn, started the first livery busi- ness of the town. In 1865 he sold out his livery, and engaged in merchandising and lumber dealing, erecting a feed-mill and a planing-mill, carrying on a successful business until 1874, when the mills were burned. Prior to this time, however, Mr. Smith was in partnership with Gould & Truesdale; and they operated two daily stage lines, one run- ning from Walton to Delhi, and one to Oneonta. Besides carrying passengers, this enterprising firm secured the contract from the government to carry the mails between these places; and they also carried on a heavy express business, paying from July to Octo- ber, 1865, two thousand one hundred dollars, their receipts for these three months being over seven thousand five hundred dollars. After the burning of his mills, Mr. Smith, in company with Messrs. Jarvis and Truesdale, bought the street-car line in Binghamton, which they operated seven years. In 1881 he returned to Walton, and again resumed the livery business, beginning with four horses, and doing his own work. About ten years ago he and his son, George T. Smith, started a livery business on an extensive scale, on the property of the old mill site, which he had never sold, keeping from ten to twelve horses. They are upright and obliging business men, and have won hosts of friends and a very large patronage by their courtesy and honorable dealings.

Mr. Smith was married in 1854 to Sarah Baker, of Gilbertsville, daughter of Lyman and Esther Baker, the latter of whom livcd to the remarkable age of ninety-six years, dying in July, 1892. She retained her faculties of both body and mind to the last, being a very intelligent and pleasant old lady. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Smith only one child has been born, George T. Smith. In 1878 he

married Bessie Eells, a daughter of J. Baird Eells, of Walton. They are the parents of three children: Charles, sixteen years old; Frederic, fourteen years of age; and Grace, a little miss of nine years. Mr. Smith is a man who thinks for himself on important questions, including politics and religion, and usually casts his vote for the candidate he deems best fitted for the office, although he is in sympathy with the Prohibitionists. He is a temperance man in every respect, and has never used liquor or tobacco. Although be- longing to no religious organization, he gives freely to the support of the. churches, and - leads an exemplary life.

B ENJAMIN HATHAWAY, one of the oldest and most widely known residents of the town of Tompkins, is the proud possessor of twenty-six grandchildren and twenty-five great-grandchil- dren. His father, Jacob Hathaway, who was a native of New Jersey, emigrated to Dela- ware County when but sixteen years of age, accompanying a Mr. Dixon, by whom he was employed for some time. He then purchased a tract of land in the valley of the Delaware River, and there, in the wilderness, erected a common plank house and a saw-mill, and en- gaged in the lumber business, sending the logs in rafts down the river to Philadelphia. Many of the forest giants fell by the blows of his axe; and in a short time he had cleared a large tract, and added the occupation of farm- ing to that of lumbering. Here he dwelt and labored until his death, at sixty years of age. His wife was Lydia Lowry, a native of Con- necticut, who died when eighty-four years old, having been the mother of eleven chil- dren; namely, Nancy, Robert, Sally, Jacob, Lydia, Harriet, Benjamin, Josiah, Abigail, Elizabeth, and a second Robert. The first Robert died at the age of sixteen; but all the others, except the two eldest daughters, who remained single, lived to marry and rear fam- ilies of their own.

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 44

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