Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 48

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 48

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sary departments, and for some time supplied Washington's army with fat cattle. Aaron Champion, born August 5, 1794, one hundred years ago, was a millwright, and married El- mina Brown, of Schenevus, N. Y.

Simon B. Champion, son of Aaron and El- mina, was born at East Worcester, in Otsego County, September 7, 1825. He attended the district schools till September 7, 1840, when he was fifteen, and then went to Cooperstown, to learn the printing trade with the Hon. J. H. Prentiss, in the office of the Freeman's Journal. In 1844, during the Democratic campaign which elected Polk and Dallas against Clay and Frelinghuysen, he was the Otsego correspondent of the Albany Argus, furnishing its readers with full reports of the Democratic meetings in Otsego County. After six years' apprenticeship in the Coop- erstown printing-office, he became foreman, and worked for nine months as a journeyman printer. In 1847 he left Cooperstown for Prattsville in Greene County, where he en- tered into partnership with John L. Hackstaff, in the publication of the Prattsville Advocate, a Democratic paper. Among other new de- partures he placed a section of the paper under the special caption of " Home Matters," and was perhaps the pioneer in this method of arranging a local news department. After a couple of successful years his health gave way, and he moved to Bloomville, and, so far as strength would allow, worked in his father's grist-mill. As he grew stronger, however, his first love returned, and he estab- lished the Mirror on a small scale; but he soon had to enlarge it, so that during our war he had thirty-six hundred subscribers, a large number for the time and place. There were then only three other papers in the county, and at this date there are about twenty. In 1870 he removed the Mirror from Bloomville to Stamford, where it has been published ever since, and is one of the best country papers in this part of the State.

While no office-seeker, Mr. Champion has held many local positions of trust, never allowing them to interfere with the Mirror. In 1858 he declined a nomination to the State Assembly, though unanimously made, deem- ing this for the best interests of his paper.

In 1860 he was the Democratic candidate for County Treasurer, and ran a hundred votes ahead of his ticket, but was defeated, like almost every Democrat, that being the year of the Lincoln avalanche. The same year he was appointed Assistant Marshal for taking the national census, having special charge of the towns of Kortright, Meredith, and Daven - port. On January 3, 1861, he was one of the delegates to the celebrated Democratic Peace Convention at Albany, and in 1868 was one of the Presidential Electors, casting his vote with the New York delegation for Horatio Seymour for President of the United States, against General Grant. Always willing to bear his share of any duty, he has frequently been a member of county and State conven- tions, and was in 1856-57 Postmaster at Bloomville, and in 1870-71-72 Deputy Post- master at Stamford. He has been Trustee of village schools, a member of the Stamford Board of Education, High-priest of Delta Chapter, No. 185, of Royal Arch Masons, etc.

In 1857 Mr. Champion married Mary L. McCollum, who was born March 21, 1829, a daughter of Reuben McCollum, of Bloomville; and they have reared four children, two sons and two daughters. Amasa Junius Champion was born April 10, 1858, and married Mary Rexford. Elmina Champion was born July 20, 1860, and is the wife of John Dewitt Church. Clifford Champion was born May 2, 1864. Lucy Brown Champion was born on October 8, 1869, and died December 31, 1873. Nellie Champion was born January 27, 1873.

Amasa J. Champion learned the printing business in his father's office. After grad- uating at the Stamford Seminary in 1885, he published the Davenport Transcript. In 1891 he sold the plant to Walter Scott. After a vacation he bought the Hobart Inde- pendent at Hobart, published a year, and then disposed of his interest in that paper to a stock company, and went back to his father's offices, where he is assistant editor, and has a stationery and book store. Mr. Champion's youngest son, Clifford, after finishing his studies at the Stamford Seminary, learned the printing business with his father, and does the job printing. In April, 1894, he and F. G. Hartwell started the Prattsville

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Advocate at Prattsville, Greene County, a bright, newsy Democratic sheet, which already has a circulation of nearly a thousand copies per week. For a short time he was a Clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington, bestowed upon him in part because of devotion of the Champions to the Democratic party. A famous journalist has truly said -- and the career of the Champions confirms its truth -

"Journalism is an immense power, that threatens soon to supersede sermons, lectures, and books."

AVID WILLIAMSON, a retired merchant of the town of Delhi, Delaware County, N.Y., was born in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, December 17, 1819. His father and grand- father, John and James Williamson, were both natives of Scotland and weavers by trade. John Williamson died at the early age of forty, leaving a widow and six chil- dren, namely: David; Betsy, the wife of Alexander Low, residing in Scotland; John; Robert; Ann, married to Charles Smith, of Bovina, N. Y .; and Mary, who died young. Mrs. Williamson came to this country, and here spent the last years of her life, dying in the town of Delhi at the advanced age of eighty-eight.

David Williamson spent his early years in Forfarshire, Scotland, attending the schools there, and obtaining a sound common-school education, after which he learned the trade of weaver. At the age of twenty-two he left his. native land for America, coming directly to Delhi, and went to work for Mr. Edwards, learning the trade of a house and sign painter. In this capacity he worked for about ten years, and then opened a store for himself, dealing in all kinds of paints and paper-hang- ings. He continued in this line for the period of forty years, doing a successful busi- ness, and is one of two survivors who com- menced business in Delhi at the same time, the others having passed away. He has built for himself one of the finest residences in town, which is fitted with every modern con- venience.

Mr. Williamson was married July 5, 1847,

to Miss Euphemia Lamont, a native of Wal- ton, Delaware County, the date of her birth being February 8, 1829. Her father and mother were descendants of Scotch High- landers, and were the parents of four chil- dren. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson have two children. Mary A., born April 2, 1848, is the wife of Alexander Oliver, of Delhi, and has five children - Charles, James, Grace, Lizzie, and Mabel. The second child, John H., was born September 5, 1850, and is now a resident of California. He married Clara Belle Peterson, and they have two sons - David V. and Charles A.

Mr. Williamson is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also a strong supporter of the Republican party. Both he and his wife are members of the Sec- ond Presbyterian Church, of which for ten years he was Trustee, at the present time being Treasurer. He is self-made in the true sense of the term; and to that mixture of de- termination, energy, and honesty peculiar to the Scottish race his successful business career may be ascribed. He is a man of gen- erous impulses, ever ready to give a helping hand or word of advice to those who have been less successful than himself.

HARLES L. ANDRUS, an eminent lawyer of Stamford, Delaware County, N. Y., was born in Roxbury, which lies south of Stamford, on Decem- ber 10, 1859. He received his education in the district schools of Roxbury and in Stam- ford Seminary, where he was graduated in 1877. In 1878 he began the study of law with Judge Maynard, with whom he remained till he was admitted to the bar in 1881. For three years he was Clerk to the Surrogate's Court for Delaware County at Delhi, and on January 1, 1885, went into partnership with Judge Isaac H. Maynard. They settled for practice in Stamford, remaining together till 1887, when Mr. Andrus opened an office for himself. He was alone till 1890, when he formed a partnership with Judge F. R. Gil- bert, staying with him for about three years, and since that time has carried on his profession alone.

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At the age of twenty-seven he married Alice Bowne, whose father, Norwood Bowne, was for a number of years editor of the Dela- ware Express of Delhi. A prominent, well- known citizen, Mr. Bowne died at the age of seventy-four. Mr. and Mrs. Andrus have two children : Bessie K., who was born April 10, 1889; and Mary B., who was born April 13, 1891.

Mr. Andrus is a Democrat, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He belongs to St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 289, A. F. & A. M., of Hobart, Delta Chapter, No. 185, Royal Arch Masons, of Stamford, and is a member of Rondout Commandery, No. 52, Knights Tem- plars, also non-resident member of the Kings- ton Club of Kingston, N. Y. He has an office on Main Street, and a very pleasant residence on Delaware Street, which was built in 1886. He is the leading lawyer of Stam- ford, having a very large practice, and is con- sidered a man of much ability and greatly respected among his clients and friends.

LBERT PAYNE, a clear-headed, well- to-do farmer of the town of Franklin, Delaware County, is descended from an old English family which was one of the first to settle in the State of New York. His father, Isaac Payne, was a native of East Hampton, L. I., where he was · born in 1782. His trade was that of a tanner and shoemaker; but later he adopted the life of a farmer, in which he was very successful. Isaac Payne was a soldier in the War of 1812, manfully doing his duty in his country's ser- vice. He married Lucretia Barnes, of Ama- gansett, L.I., and soon after moved to Franklin, where they reared seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest, and is now the only survivor, al- though the others all lived to reach maturity, with families of their own. Isaac Payne died in Franklin in 1860, his wife living four years longer, and dying when eighty years of age.

Albert Payne was born November 22, 1826, at the parental home near the village of Franklin, and grew to manhood on his father's farm, attending the district school, and re-

ceiving the best instruction that could be given to a farmer's son of those days. He later taught school during the winter term, but when seventeen years old, with the inde- pendence and confidence characteristic of a young, sturdy farmer just starting out on life's journey, determined to set forth to seek his own fortune. He was offered a position on a neighboring farm, which he accepted at the small remuneration of six dollars a month. For nine years he was employed in this way, . never receiving more than fifteen dollars a month. Later, after taking a Western trip to Iowa and Wisconsin, he returned to Franklin, and purchased for seven thousand dollars his present estate of two hundred acres, including the stock and farm implements, paying six- teen hundred dollars in cash, this amount being all he possessed at that time.

In April, 1856, he married Miss Helen F. Drake, daughter of the former owner of his new home, where they began domestic life and reared a large family.

Mr. and Mrs. Payne have buried four chil- dren: Charles, aged one year; Howard, who died in 1886, at the age of fifteen; Luella, who died aged one year; and Eleanor, aged nine years. Their children still living are the following: Louisa, wife of Morton L. Mills, a postal mail clerk on the N. Y., O. & W. Railroad, they having one son, Albert P., a bright, manly boy of thirteen ; Mary E., wife of Henry H. Kerr, of Fort Worth, Tex., and mother of one son, Harry; Arthur Mel- vin, a graduate of Hamilton College at Clin- ton, N. Y., in the class of 1894, who was vale- dictorian of his class of twenty-five, having taken many prizes in oratory as well as other honors during his college career, and has now adopted the law as his chosen profes- sion; Walter Albert, a young man of twenty- two, who lives at home and manages the farm.

Mr. Payne is a Republican, and has ren- dered acceptable service as Assessor and Su- pervisor. He is a Trustee of the Methodist church, of which both he and his good wife are conscientious members. The Payne fam- ily live in the house which was built by Mrs. Payne's father over sixty years ago, but which has been remodelled into a comfortable mod-

ALBERT PAYNE.

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ern dwelling. In 1893 Mr. Payne erected his commodious barn, where he keeps about thirty grade Jersey cows of choice breed be- sides his other stock. Near by is his large timber lot of thirty acres, which produces a goodly supply of lumber and fuel.

Mr. Payne is the possessor of a rugged con- stitution, and, though somewhat aged with the toil's and cares of many years, is well pre- served, and active in his daily duties, having at all times given careful attention to his health, never indulging in the use of tobacco or intoxicating liquors in any form. He is a man of unswerving principles, practical, in- telligent, and upright, and holds a high posi- tion in the esteem of all who know him. Such a citizen is well worthy of being held in remembrance by coming generations; and the publishers of the "Biographical Review " are happy to present a very good likeness of Mr. Payne in connection with this brief sketch of himself and his family.

AVID JAMES MILLER is among the best-known and most respected inhabitants of the town of Bovina, where he has his home. He was born June 26, 1858, his birthplace being the very farm on which he now resides. His first name, David, has been perpetuated in the Miller family for at least three generations.

Grandfather David came from Scotland, and was in his younger days a carpenter. In Delaware County he became an agriculturist, settling on the present family acres between the years 1815 and 1820, soon after the differ- ences between Great Britain and the United States were fairly adjusted. Indeed, it was this contest which brought him to America. The land he purchased had to be cleared be- fore the new country seemed like home; but the sturdy Scotchman achieved his purpose, and at his death left nearly two hundred acres in a good state of cultivation. At this time he was about eighty years old, and had reared seven children, four of whom are still living. John T. Miller, the eldest, lives in Delhi; and so does the next son, David, who is our special subject's father. Their sister Isabell is the wife of John R. Hoy, of Bovina Centre;

and the unmarried sister, Jennie Elizabeth Miller, also lives at Bovina Centre.

The second David Miller was born in 1828, on the old Bovina farm, where he grew up, and attended the district school. In due time he turned his attention specially to agricult- ure, bought the grandfather's old place of the other heirs, and married Christina P. Hoy. He has been a successful dairy farmer, keep- ing about a score of milch cows, and attaining the success -which is the legitimate result of sagacious industry. On this farm he resided till 1885, and then moved into the village of Bovina Centre; but, not feeling quite con- tented there, he soon made another change to the village of Delhi, where he still lives a retired life, though not without a deep inter- est in things that go on around him, espe- cially in Republican politics. Both Mr. Miller and his wife were members of the United Presbyterian church in Bovina, and he now maintains the same relation to the Delhi society ; but she died on the second day of the year 1893, at the age of sixty-four, having been born September 29, 1828. Only two children were the fruit of her marriage, which took place on February 23, 1853, when she was twenty-five years old. Of these the el- dest is David James, to whom this biography specially relates. His brother, William Por- tus Miller, was born two years later, July 25, 1860, just before the election of President Lincoln filled the father's heart with mild tri- umph. This son now resides in Portland, Ore., where he is the honored pastor of the Presbyterian church. He was graduated at Hamilton College, was married in 1885 to Ada G. Chipman, and has a growing family of two children.

David J. Miller grew up on the farm, and attended the school which his father had at- tended before him, and which his grandfather had assisted in establishing. As we have already seen, he has never left the old place, and is now its owner, having bought it of his father in 1885. Nor has he swerved from his father's methods, except to adopt the latest modes of keeping and using the milk from his thirty or forty grade Jerseys, which yield an average of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds of butter per head annually.

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The land and the buildings are in good condi- tion.

Mr. Miller was married on November 28, 1883, at the age of twenty-five; and the bride was Elizabeth Nancy Campbell, the daughter of a Scotch pioneer, Duncan Campbell, of whom a separate sketch has its place in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are both Presbyterians, but belong to different sections of that body, he to the United society, and she to the Reformed. With his antecedents Mr. Miller could hardly be other than a stanch Republican in his politics. Though no children have blessed their marriage, the Mil- ler fireside is a centre of wholesome influence in the community. On all sides Mr. Miller is regarded as a practical man, whose agricult- ural opinions are worth attention. Well has a practical writer said, "In life, as in chess, forethought wins."

RA BEACH, a highly respected farmer of the town of Masonville, Delaware County, N. Y., was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, February 19, 1825. His parents were George W. Beach, who was born October 26, 1804, and Lovisa Dorman Beach, born March 3, 1805, both na- tives of Litchfield County, Connecticut. The grandfather, Joshua Beach, moved to Delaware County in the early pioneer days, settling at Masonville on the farm now owned by William Birdsall, which was then in a wild and uncultivated state, game being plen- tiful, and the nearest market town being Unadilla. Mr. Beach resided on this farm until his death in 1841, at the age of sixty- one. He reared the following family, all of whom have passed over to the silent majority - Jeremiah, Chester, Marvin, Harriet, Nel- son, George W., Luman L., Miranda, and Harlow.

George W. Beach settled in Masonville, December 28, 1828, his father giving him fifty acres of land, to which he afterward added thirty-five acres more. He was a hard- working and successful man, and resided on this farm until his death, February 7, 1878, aged seventy-three, his wife having died March 27, 1861, aged fifty-six years. Eleven

children were born to them, six of whom grew to maturity, and three being alive at the pres- ent day, namely: Ira, the subject of this sketch; Avia A., wife of Charles L. Rowell, of Franklin; George J. Beach, of East Mason- ville. Emeline died young. Marvin, a sol- dier in Company F, Fifth Michigan Rifles, died during the late war. Fanny A. died September 12, 1865. Curtis H., a soldier of the late war, died in front of Petersburg. Mary L. died in 1839, Francis B. in 1840, and two infant sons died at birth.

Ira Beach received his early education, a fair one for those days, at the old log school- house at East Masonville, having to journey two miles through the woods to reach the school-house. He lived at home, assisting on the farm, until he was twenty-one years of age, when he started out in the world for him- self, working for ten dollars a month, and managing to save money on this small amount. It was when he was in the heyday of his youth that he took a trip to Connecticut on foot, walking to Hudson, a distance of one hundred miles. Upon his return he worked for his father three years, afterward receiving a piece of land consisting of one hundred and five acres, which he eventually paid for, at that time not having sufficient capital to pur- chase the land outright. He first built for himself a small house, in after years adding to it considerably. His land also increased as time went by, until at one time it amounted to two hundred and five acres. He also owns the farm upon which his son now lives. He conducted a dairy for many years, and was noted for making a fine grade of butter. In 1887 Mr. Beach had a remarkable escape from death by lightning, his son Orlando being killed by his side, and he himself severely burned from the shoulder to the heel. From this shock, however, he has fully recovered.

Mr. Beach was married on January 2, 1850, to Abigail Blowers, a native of Pennsylvania, who died February 8, 1851. Mr. Beach mar- ried for his second wife Priscilla Blowers, a sister of Abigail. She was born in Sidney, November 28, 1833, a daughter of Hiram and Persis (Baker) Blowers. Mr. Blowers, who was a prominent farmer of the town of Sidney, died in March, 1872, aged seventy-one, his

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wife surviving him ten years, dying in De- cember, 1882. They were the parents of twelve children, five of whom are now living, namely: Priscilla, wife of Mr. Beach; Mrs. Mercy Fitch, who lives in Sidney Centre ; Mrs. Mary A. Taft, who resides at Afton; Sidney Blower, a resident of Unadilla; and Amelia Cunningham, who resides at Wells Bridge, Sand Hill, Otsego County.

Mr. Beach has been the father of six chil- dren, one by his first wife, and five by the present. The two now living are: Frances A., wife of Martin Price, born January 21, 1851, a resident of Masonville; and Legrand I. Beach, born August 26, 1855. He was educated at the district schools, also going for one term to the Unadilla Academy, and has given his attention to farming, living at home until his marriage, February 5, 1890. His wife, Anna Lewis Beach, was born in Rockdale, May 28, 1870, a daughter of Jay and Tryphenia Lewis, and died June 25, 1892, at the early age of twenty-two.

Mr. Ira Beach is a Republican in politics, but has never been desirous of accepting pub- lic office, devoting himself entirely to his farming pursuits, in which he has been emi- nently successful, and is esteemed as a man of probity and honor.

APTAIN WILLIAM HYMERS, a practical agriculturist and dairyman of DeLancey, in the town of Ham- den, is a man of marked intelli- gence and a prominent granger. He is a native of Delaware County, having first drawn the breath of life in the town of Meredith, September 1, 1827. He is of sturdy Scotch ancestry, his father, John Hymers, Jr., hav- ing been born March 12, 1795, in Roxburg- shire, Scotland, being a son of John Hymers, Sr., a shepherd, who died when a young man, from exposure and exhaustion during a great snow-storm.

The younger John was but a boy when his father died, leaving a widow and two sons; and he was reared to a shepherd's life by his grandfather, Adam Douglas, who was a game-keeper on the estate of the Duke of Roxburg. In 1818 he left the home of his

grandsire, and emigrated to America, arriving here in March. He settled in this county, and here formed the acquaintance of Elizabeth Ormston, who afterward became his wife. She was born in the town of Bovina, October 6, 1802, being one of the six children of William and Janette (Graham) Ormston. Her parents were both natives of Scotland, but emigrated early in life, and were married in this county in 1801. The union of Eliza- beth Ormston and John Hymers was cele- brated January 9, 1823, and they began their wedded life on a farm in the town of Mere- dith, where they reared a family of eleven children, seven girls and four boys, the sub- ject of this sketch being the second son and the third child in order of birth. Two of the daughters have died, namely: Mary, who passed away May 29, 1852, aged twenty-two years; and Janette, the wife of Lewis B. Strong, who died in 1882, leaving three sons. The following are the nine living children : A. D. Hymers is an undertaker and a livery- man. Margaret is the wife of Andrew Oliver, of Oswego, N.Y., and has two chil- dren. William, a farmer at DeLancey, is further mentioned below. Thomas, a livery- man and proprietor of a boarding and sale stable in Reno, Nev., is married, and has two children. Ellen, the wife of Milan Seeley, of Hartwick, Otsego County, has two chil- dren. Elizabeth, who married W. H. Max- field, of Croton, has two children. John, a farmer, residing in Reno, Nev., has two chil- dren. Nancy, the wife of S. D. Reynolds, of Franklin village, has two children. Lu- cretia, the wife of James Brazer, of Oneonta, has one child. The mother passed to her eternal home March 22, 1881, and the father, August 27, 1883, being then nearly ninety years of age. They were active, sincere Christians throughout their entire lives; and their bodies were laid to rest in the old Flat churchyard cemetery.

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 48

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