USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 59
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Up to the fall of 1876 Mr. Crary was one of the most energetic and active business men in the country. His hand and his head were felt in every business interest with which he was connected. No one stirred earlier, no one worked later. From the years of his boy- hood until the day of the Presidential election in 1876, he had scarcely known what it was to be sick, and had never known what it was to be incapacitated for business for any length of time. Returning home from a hard day's work at the polls, his eyes, until then seem- ingly perfect, began to pain him; and before the beginning of the new year he was threat- ened with blindness. Like a bolt out of a clear sky, this threatened calamity almost un-
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nerved him; but soon the old will got the mastery, and he resolved to make the best of it, as he must, and accomplish what he might be spared to do. Consulting the best oculists in the country, he was informed that he must break loose from his direct and active connec- tion with his business affairs, and that to do so it would be better for him to leave home for a time. After passing the winter of 1877 and 1878 in Florida, in May, 1878, he, to- gether with his wife and his daughter Emma, now the wife of J. C. Young, of Liberty, sailed for Europe, where they spent a con- siderable part of the year, celebrating the Fourth of July at Interlaken. At Mr. Crary's suggestion the stars and stripes were hoisted above all other flags, and during that anniver- sary day floated over them all. The next season he made a trip to California, and since then has been quite a traveller. In 1885 he removed to the city of Binghamton, where he continues to reside. He has never fully re- covered his sight, and for that reason has been unable to take an active part in the business of the several firms with which he is con- nected ; but he has never ceased to be a coun- sellor, guide, friend, and organizer, and there has been no time in which his experience, ability, and energy have not been felt in the conduct of the business.
In the spring of 1891 Mr. Crary's son Cal- vert, who is connected with the leather house- at 107 South Street, Boston, Roscoe Crary, of Hancock, N. Y., a nephew of H. H. Crary, J. C. Young, of Liberty, N. Y., his son-in- law, and several other parties, purchased about fifteen thousand acres of land in Wyoming and Sullivan Counties, Pennsylvania, with the in- tent to open up another large tanning and lumber business. While H. H. Crary had no direct interest in this enterprise, yet in the purchase of the property and the planning for the opening up of the business both his counsel and his capital were largely relied upon.
In the autumn of 1892 Mr. Crary was asso- ciated with nine tanning firms and the milling firm at Hancock. The output of the combined tannery interest was about four thousand sides of sole leather daily, requiring two thousand hides, and using about one hundred thousand
cords of bark per year. The firm of Horton, Crary & Co. had acquired a very large export trade, which in 1888, to Europe alone, com- prised twenty-four and three-fourths per cent. of all the leather which went out of the port of New York. In the winter and spring of 1893 a great change took place in the tanning business. The greater part of the tanners and leather men agreed to combine their interests, and their various properties were conveyed to several corporations by which the business is to be carried on. Mr. Crary and his asso- ciates took an active part in bringing about the change, and all of their properties have been conveyed to these corporations. The direct personal control of the men who had organized and operated these vast business en- terprises has ceased, and their influence and power can now only be used and felt as the officers of a corporation.
During his business life Mr. Crary has been associated with about twenty-five partners, none of whom have ever become seriously em- barrassed or failed to pay their debts. A large number of these partners, including some of the most successful ones, have been young men whose early business training has been under Mr. Crary's direct influence. His success has not been a business success alone, but his influence as a sober, upright, and industrious business man has been felt far and near. Over the young men connected with him in business, in his employ, or asso- ciated with himself and family, Mr. Crary's influence for good has been such as few men have been able to exert. The success which he has attained as a business man has unques- tionably been to some extent the result of good fortune; but its real secret is to be found in himself - his superior qualifications for conducting vast enterprises, his keen in- telligence, energy, and close application, his combined daring and prudence, his self-reli- ance and power of organization - these, with his strict sense of justice, his honorable methods of dealing.
Mr. and Mrs. Crary have had five children born to them, all of whom are living. The eldest daughter, Mrs. J. C. Young, resides at Liberty, N.Y. The eldest son, Thomas B., and two daughters, Grace and Mary, live with
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their parents in the city of Binghamton. The other son, Calvert, who prior to the recent change was a member of the firm of Walter Horton & Co., at 107 South Street, Boston, Mass., is still connected with the business there. Mr. Crary and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their influence and their means have been widely felt in church interests and charities, both at home and abroad; while their home itself is an inspiration and a benediction to all who may be so happy as to fall within the circle of its influence.
The excellent steel-engraved portrait of Mr. Crary which accompanies this sketch and adds to its interest will be recognized as the like- ness of a man of character and ability, one who has done well by his fellow-men, and whom they delight to honor.
AMES S. McLAURY, M.D., an old settler of Walton, Delaware County, N. Y., was born in the town of Kort- right, October 9, 1815, his parents being Matthew and Margaret (Riggs) Mc- Laughry. The longer spelling of the name is historically correct, having been used by the earlier generations. The abbreviated form was adopted by the Doctor's father late in life. The home of the McLaughrys for many generations was in Scotland, but between 1600 and 1630 some of the family emigrated to Ireland. Here on July 12, 1690, an ear- lier Matthew McLaughry, the Doctor's great- great-grandfather, took part under the banner of King William in the decisive battle of the Boyne. Troublous times both preceded and followed this event; and at length, after suf- fering innumerable hardships, these Scottish colonists, despairing of justice from the gov- ernment, abandoned the country, and emi- grated by thousands to America, eventually becoming the most determined enemies of England in the War of the Revolution.
Matthew McLaughry decided to come hither with his entire family, twenty-five persons in all, including children and grandchildren, and with a large number of his friends joined the company known as the Clinton colony. On May 9, 1729, they left their home in
Longford; and on the 18th they embarked at Dublin on board the ship named the "George and Ann," the infamous Captain Rymer in command. Setting sail on the 20th, they came round on the north-east coast of Ireland, and on the 24th came to Glen Ann, where Matthew McLaughry and wife, Margaret Parks, on account of the infirmities of age and ill health, decided to abandon the voy- age, and with his daughter Sarah and youngest son, Thomas, left the ship, and re- turned to Longford. Matthew, buying back from his brother-in-law, Matthew Parks, part of his old home, resided there till his death. His family consisted of four sons, Andrew, Matthew, Jr., Joseph, and Thomas, and five daughters, one of whom married a McDowell. After a protracted voyage of nearly five months, land was sighted at Cape Cod, Octo- ber 4, when the wretched survivors, reduced to almost the last extremity through sickness and starvation, obtained of the captain (a treacherous villain, as they believed) per- mission to land, though their intended destination was Philadelphia. Matthew Mc- Dowell, a grandson, who became the ancestor of the McDowell family in Orange County, New York, was the only survivor of the twenty-one members of the family who prose- cuted the voyage; and there were in all ninety-six deaths on board that ill-fated ship. After spending the winter at Cape Cod, where a number more were added during the winter to the list of the dead, the survivors came on to New York, and, obtaining land at and near near Little Britain, in Ulster, now Orange, County, they settled there in the spring of I731.
Thomas McLaughry, the youngest son of Matthew, married Margaret Swift; and in 1765, thirty-six years after his previous vent- ure, emigrated with his family, including his wife, four sons, Matthew, Richard, Andrew, and Thomas, Jr., and three daughters, Mary Ann (Mrs. Edward Riggs), Agnes (Mrs. John Watson), and Margaret (Mrs. James Savage). After a voyage of two months they arrived in New York on November 13. At this time Edward Riggs, who had married the eldest daughter, Mary Ann, and had crossed the Atlantic a year or two before, was engaged in
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teaching a classical school in Esopus, where his wife and the rest of the family joined him. Their father, however, and his eldest son, Matthew, on their way up the river, stopped off from the sloop at New Windsor, to visit the father's nephew Matthew, named above, and others of his old friends belonging to the Clinton colony. In the spring of 1766, after spending the winter in Esopus, the family went to Little Britain, settling on a farm belonging to John Reid, and the next year removed to a farm near the Wallkill meeting-house, belonging to George Monell. In the spring of 1768, having purchased a lot of about one hundred acres of new land on the south side of the Battenkill, near Fitch's Point, in Salem, Washington County, Thomas McLaughry, with his family, left Wallkill on May 17, and, after a tedious journey through an almost unbroken wilderness, reached their forest home, where he spent the remaining years of his life, dying about 1772.
Andrew McLaughry married Elizabeth Har- sha; and his brother, Thomas, Jr., married her sister, Agnes Harsha. These ladies were daughters of Elder James Harsha, who came from Monaghan, Ireland, to this country in 1764, with the large number of emigrants who accompanied Dr. Thomas Clark, father of Judge Ebenezer Clark, of Argyle. Thomas McLaughry, Jr., settled about 1784 in Kort- right, Delaware County, at that time an almost unbroken forest. For a part of the distance- they were obliged to clear the way and make a road, such as they could, through the woods to their isolated and lonely dwelling-place. Few in these days can appreciate the toils and trials of the brave pioneers who made their homes in the wilderness, and here laid the foundations of the comforts and advantages enjoyed by their descendants. The elder Mc- Laughrys did no small part of the work in Kortright. Richard and Andrew, two of the other brothers, came on a few years after Thomas; and the three brothers together, having large families, made up for some time a large part of the population of the town. Thomas and Agnes McLaughry were the par- ents of the following children: Joseph and James H., of Kortright, the latter born in 1777; John R., born 1779; William H., who
died at Harpersfield in 1874, in his ninety- third year; Thomas P., a resident of Kort- right; Matthew, born 1790, died in Kortright in 1874; Edward R., born in 1792; Mary, who married Joseph Douglas; Martha, wife of John Leal, who first settled in Kortright, and later at East Meredith, where she died; Sarah, who died in early womanhood.
Matthew McLaury, father of Dr. James S. McLaury, of Walton, was educated at the common schools of Kortright, his native town. He was a man of much ability and in- fluence, upright and honorable, holding vari- ous official positions which he filled with credit, being a Justice of the Peace many years, and also Deputy Sheriff of the county. He was a Deacon and Elder of the Presbyte- rian church, and in politics he was a Demo- crat. He was married in 1814 to Miss Margaret Riggs, daughter of Erod Riggs and Mary A. (Savage) Riggs, of Argyle, Wash- ington County, who was born in 1792. They became the parents of eleven children, the eldest of whom is James S., the subject of this sketch. The second, Thomas S. Mc- Laury, died in infancy. Thomas D., born 1819, married Margaret Louden. Edward R. married Sarah Youngs, and both died in Illi- nois. William M., a physician in New York, married Miss Margaret King. John N., born in 1833, enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-fourth New York Volun- teer Infantry, and died from fever contracted in the service at Hilton Head, S.C., in 1864. Walter T. married Caroline Marvin, and re- sides at the old homestead at Kortright. Two other sons also died in infancy. Of the daughters, Martha A. died at the age of twenty-eight, and Mary E. married James D. McGillivrae, of Stamford, and died near Bloomville in 1885, at the age of sixty.
James S. McLaury obtained his preparatory education chiefly in the common schools of his native town and in select schools - one taught by the Rev. Melancthon B. Williams, the other by the Rev. William McAvley. He also attended the Delaware Academy at Delhi. In 1835 he entered Union College, where he was graduated in the class of 1838. He began the study of medicine the same year with Dr. Ezra T. Gibbs, of Kortright, and
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afterward entered the office of Dr. James H. McLaury, of New York City, and while there took a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1842 he came to Walton, and formed a partnership with Dr. T. J. Ogden for one year, and was afterward at East Worcester, Otsego County, from June, 1843, until November, 1845, when he returned to Walton, and followed the practice of his pro- fession in this town until 1880, when he re- tired from active practice and moved to Yonkers, where he lived until his wife's death in 1890, since which time he has resided with his children.
Dr. McLaury was married September 5, 1843, to Miss Elizabeth H. Mead, a daughter of Allan and Mary (Smith) Mead. By this union six children were born. The eldcst, William P., born March 15, 1845, a practis- ing physician in New York City, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, married Theodora J. Ingersoll, daughter of Dr. Leonard and Julia (Day) Ingersoll. The second son was born and died in 1846. Ed- ward, born June 18, 1854, is a teller in the Chemical National Bank, New York. Maria E., born April 17, 1848, married the Rev. Charles F. Janes, a Presbyterian minister re- siding at Onondaga Valley. Martha, born in 1850, became the wife of A. D. Peake, and died in 1883. Sophia G., born April 8, 1852, married Herbert B. Gardner, and lives in Minneapolis.
Dr. McLaury was long a member of the Delaware County Medical Society, and has held the office of President and Secretary, and was also a delegate to the State Medical Soci- ety. He has also taken an active part in educational matters, having been for several years superintendent of schools in Walton. He was one of the founders of the Walton Academy, and a member of the Board of Trus- tees. The Doctor was one of the organizers of the Republican party in 1856, but has "lately chosen," as he says, "to train politi- cally with the slandered Prohibitionists."
Dr. McLaury, who has inherited from his Scotch-Irish ancestry both strong and pleasing traits of character, and who has passed many years of his life in the active pursuit of his profession, is a man of interesting personal-
ity, genial and companionable, possessed of excellent conversational powers, and is in the full enjoyment of a physical and mental vigor which years have not impaired.
OHN CHAPMAN, a prosperous farmer of Colchester, in Delaware County, was born in Fallsburg, Sullivan County, N. Y., July 22, 1829. His father, Enos . Chapman, removed to Fallsburg from Schoharie County when he was twenty years old, and engaged in farming and lum- bering. He served as a private in the War of 1812. He married Nancy Joshlin, daugh- ter of David Joshlin, who had by his first wife seven children - David, Nelson, George, Jones, Joseph, Nancy, and Katie - and by his second wife
two children - Henry and Amanda. On the banks of the river known as the Beaver Kill, Mr. Joshlin bought one hundred acres of land, on which he erected his buildings, and was very successful as a farmer. He was a private in the Revolution- ary War, and when he returned home lived on his farm till his death at the age of eighty years. To Enos and Nancy Chapman were born these children, namely: Abigail, who is now dead; Lucy, who married J. Reed, a cabinet-maker of Westfield; Katie, who mar- ried H. Corgan, a farmer of Colchester; David, who married L. Chapman, and is now dead; Barnett, Jones, Jane, Mahila Ann, Rufus, all of whom are now dead; and Ar- nold, a farmer of Colchester, who married E. Robinson. Enos was a Whig in politics. He lived upon his farm in Fallsburg the greater part of his life, but finally sold his homestead, and spent the rest of his days with his son, dying at the advanced age of eighty years, his wife surviving him a short time.
John Chapman was educated and grew to manhood in his native town. Leaving home at the age of nineteen, he went to Merton Hill, where he bought one hundred and forty- two acres of new land, which he cleared, and on which he erected buildings, and estab- lished his home. He married Mary, daughter of Matthew and Jean (Campbell) Russell, her father being a prosperous farmer and lumber- man of Colchester. Mr. and Mrs. Russell
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had a family of ten children. The five now living are Robert, Matthew, John, Elizabeth, and Mary. The five deceased are William, Stephen, Isabella, Jennett, and James.
John Chapman is a stanch Republican, and is active in many of the political affairs of the town, in which he has for some time held the position of Constable. For forty-two years he has lived upon the farm which he first pur- chased, conducting a large dairy, and also keeping sheep. His farm is situated on the mountain side, and his residence commands a beautiful view of the surrounding country, in- cluding hills and mountains twenty and thirty miles away. The place is much admired by visitors.
TEPHEN J. RIFENBARK occu- pies the farm in Sidney, Delaware County, to which he removed with his father when but a lad of ten years, in 1829, and may therefore be consid- ered an old resident of the town. He was born in Newark, Wayne County, N. Y., on May 7, 1819, son of George and Catharine (Pettibone) Rifenbark, both natives of Scho- harie County. His grandfather, Adam Rifen- bark, who was one of the pioneer farmers of the county, living there for several years, died at a good old age in Niagara County. He had seven children, all of whom grew to maturity, but are all now deceased.
George Rifenbark, one of the sons of Adam, and father of Stephen J., was a farmer, and pursued his vocation first in his native county, where he remained some years after his marriage, and then successively in Dela- ware and Wayne Counties, finally, in 1829, removing to Sidney. The farm which he here purchased contained a log house, and had been partly cleared, but was still mostly covered with timber; and some deer still remained in the depths of the forest. Mr. Rifenbark was an energetic pioneer, a man of high moral principles, toiling diligently to reclaim a farm from the wilderness, and doing his best to uproot noxious practices in the community, and displant seeds of error, being strongly opposed to the use of intoxicating liquor, and an active temperance worker. In
religion he was a Methodist, and in politics a Jacksonian Democrat. Being early called to part with his wife Catharine, who died when she had scarcely reached middle life, he was married again to Mrs. Lucy Rodgers, and died at the age of sixty-three years, survived by his second wife and six of his seven children.
Stephen J., the fourth son, who is the sub- ject of the present sketch, is the only one of the family now living. His brothers and sisters were: Adam, Peter, Jacob, Polly, Sally, and Catharine. His opportunities for education in the district schools were very meagre, as his help was early needed on the farm. He gave his time to his father until twenty-one years of age, and after that con- tinued working for him and receiving wages as a hired laborer. Coming into possession of the homestead by paying off the other heirs after his father's death, he continued its man- agement, his step-mother keeping house for him as long as he remained single.
Mr. Rifenbark has been twice married. His first wife, Hannah A. Mack, of Harpers- field, with whom he was united September 15, 1850, died April 17, 1863. He was again married, September 18, 1867, to Mary J. Thompson, of New Berlin, N. Y., who was born August 16, 1840, daughter of Asa and Betsy (Adams) Thompson. Her father was born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego County, 1808. He worked at the trade of tanner and shoemaker in Otsego County, and later in Cortland County, where he resided some years, whence he came to Delaware County, and was for several years engaged in farming in Masonville. He went from there to South New Berlin, and finally removed thence to Virginia, and became a landed pro- prietor in the State. In politics he was a Democrat, and a Baptist in religion. He died in Virginia in 1874. His first wife, Betsy Adams, was born in Cortland County in 18II, and died in 1859, leaving six children, namely: Edward Thompson, who resides in Boston; Frances, Mrs. John Rider, residing in Sidney; Harriet, Mrs. Mason Boult, living in Steuben County, New York; Helen, wife of Phineas Smith, who is employed in the Post- office Department in Washington, D.C .; Mrs.
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Rifenbark; and Almira, wife of Arthur Payne, - of Kingston, Mich. By his second wife he had one daughter, Jennie, wife of Dr. L. E. Dickson, of South New Berlin. By his first marriage Mr. Rifenbark had five children, only one of whom, Fred Rifenbark, a farmer in Sidney, who was born in 1857, is now liv- ing. By his last marriage he has one daugh- ter, Etta, born June 6, 1873.
Mr. Rifenbark owns two farms, one of two hundred acres, which is occupied by his son, and the homestead of ninety-six acres, on which he lives in a commodious, comely resi- dence built by himself. A man of industri- ous habit and of good, practical sense, he has earned every dollar's worth of his property, and is widely known as a clear-headed and successful farmer, a citizen of integrity, ca- pable, and well fitted to fill the important office to which he has more than once been called - that of Assessor. In politics he is a Democrat. He and his wife are not members of any church, but arc liberal in their relig- ious views, and exemplary in their lives, practising human kindness and believing in "love eternal, fixed in God's unchanging will."
ILLIAM McDONALD, a retired merchant, was for upward of twoscore years a sustantial and well-known representative of the mercantile interests of Delaware County, and one of the most honored and successful business men of the village of Davenport. He is a keen, practical man, gifted with mental and physi- cal vigor; and his life record, in home, social, business, and political circles, has been irreproachable. Mr. McDonald is of Scotch antecedents, and one of Delaware County's native citizens, having been born January 15, 1835, in the town of Stamford, on the home farm of his parents, Duncan and Eada (Wickham) McDonald. His grand- father McDonald came to this country at an carly period of its settlement, and, taking up a tract of unimproved land in Stamford, ener - getically began the work of preparing it for tillage. After living there a few years, his improvements ranked with the best in the
vicinity; and the work thus begun he con- tinued as long as he lived. He reared three children - Angus, Nancy, and Duncan.
Duncan McDonald was the youngest child of the parental household, of which he re- mained a member until attaining his majority, attending the district school in the winter season, and working on the farm at other times. He subsequently purchased an ad- joining farm, on which he and his good wife spent the greater part of their remaining years. They were both members of the Pres- byterian church, and were universally re- spected. They reared the following children : Margery; Angus; John; Dunbar; Gideon; Duncan; Andrew; Nancy, who married John Copley, a farmer of Davenport; Hannah, the wife of Perry Buts, a carriage manufacturer of Davenport ; and William.
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