USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 71
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In 1864, when at home as a recruiting officer, he married Isabella Sinclair, who was born in Stamford, daughter of Hector and Anna (Moorc) Sinclair, of Scotch ancestry, and a descendant of John Moore, one of the oldest and most celebrated settlers in this por-
tion of the State. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin have been called to part with one daughter, Dency, who died when thirteen years of age. They have five children now living: Elizabeth, wife of William Wells, of Middletown, who has one daughter; Mary, who married Philip Titus, and has one son and one daughter; Hector S., who resides at home, and is As- sistant Postmaster; Harry F., a lad in school ; and Anna Bell, a young lady still at school.
Mr. Marvin has been Supervisor of the town, President of the village, and Presi- dent of the Board of Education. He has also served one term in the State Senate. He is a member of the Republican party, the interests of which he ever has at heart, and whose principles receive his earnest support. A gentleman of high moral character, brilliant intellect, and untiring energy, he is regarded by his friends and associates as a living ex- ample of honor and uprightness.
ILLIAM H. WEBB is a man to whom have come experiences, dan- gers, and deprivations which it has been the fate of few men of recent times to undergo. He was born on September 24, 1837, in Kilsby, Northamptonshire, England, son of William Webb, a sheep-raiser in that place. The family afterward moved to West Haddon, where the father spent the remainder of his life, and was buried.
William H. Webb received his early educa- tion at the common school of West Haddon, and when eighteen years of age enlisted in the Fifth Northumberland Fusileers, and em- barked for the Crimean War. Leaving Ports- mouth in 1854, the regiment proceeded to the town of Varna, Turkey, with the expectation of meeting the Russians on the Danube. After a short stay they were ordered across the Black Sca to the Crimea, where they landed at the mouth of the river Alma. They were engaged in the battles of Alma and Inkerman, and in the long siege of Sebasto- pol. After that city was taken, the regiment proceeded to Philippopolis, thence to embark for England; but, before sailing orders ar- rived, the war with Persia broke out, and the regiment journeyed overland to the Red Sea,
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arriving at Bushire in time to participate in the battles of Reshire and Ab El Hamid. The Fifth then embarked for Mauritius on Her Majesty's transport "Simoon," which, when off the coast of Ceylon, struck on a coral reef, and quickly went to pieces, three hun- dred and fifty lives being lost. With incredi- ble strength and endurance Mr. Webb swam seven miles, and reached the shore. He was shipped on board the "Mount Stuart Elphin- stone," and arrived at length in Mauritius.
Rumors of the Indian mutiny now began to take definite shape, and the remnant of the Fifth was ordered to Calcutta. Proceeding up the Ganges River to Chinsura, they disarmed two regiments of native infantry, and at Bhag- alpur met with similar success. Farther up the river they were signalled by Major Eyre's detachment of artillery, who had met the en- emy and had been defeated by them in am- bush. The fresh troops, consolidating with the artillery, met the mutineers drawn up in line of battle; and after an hour and a half of sharp fighting the British were victorious. The Fifth was the first regiment to carry Enfield rifles into India; and their skir- mishers were able at eight hundred yards to drop the enemy. With the superior skill and courage of trained troops, they totally defeated the mutineers and took sixty prisoners, whom they hung that night. This engagement was called the battle of Arrah. At Buxar the victorious troops re-embarked and proceeded to Allahabad, where they joined Havelock's forces, and with them pressed on to Cawn- pore, about which and Lucknow centred the attention of both British and mutineers. About twelve hours before the arrival of the re-enforcements there had occurred in Cawn- pore, under Nana Sahib, one of the most hor- rible massacres ever known, only four men out of four hundred and fifty persons escaping to tell the tale. Nana Sahib escaped across the river just as Havelock's troops came up. The first thing to meet the eyes of the Eng- lish was the "slaughter-house," where three hundred and fifty-seven women and children had been butchered. Mr. Webb assisted in the sad burial of the bodies, and then with the spies helped to discover two or three hundred of the leaders and the followers of
Nana. These sepoys were brought before the English army, the artillery was set up, and they were shot from the mouths of the cannon.
On September 20, Havelock, with about two thousand two hundred men, started for Luck- now, to relieve Sir Henry Lawrence and the beleaguered garrison. At Marigunge the enemy were drawn up in line of battle, and Havelock's forces cut their way through the centre of that immense army of fifty thousand, and kept on to Bunio Bridge on the river Dumree. On this march two hundred and twenty-three men were killed, six of whom were commissioned officers. On entering Lucknow, the Fifth Regiment, being the right of the line, was first to cross the bridge, and lost six hundred and sixty-three officers and men, and, on reaching the city, was re- duced to two hundred and thirty men under Major Simmons. Here it was that William H. Webb passed his twenty-second birthday. The next morning they advanced on the rear of the troops of the enemy, and made it possi- ble for the remainder of Havelock's forces to come through. On September 25, 1857, they entered the residency, and found the rem- nants of the Thirty-second Infantry, Captain Oliphant's battery, and about two hundred and fifty women and children. The siege lasted four months; and during that time the besieged subsisted on four ounces of rice a day, and day and night kept their rifles loaded by their sides, ready, waking or sleeping, for the call to duty. After a while the enemy began to fire upon the hospital. The general gave orders that the firing must be silenced. and detailed Major Simmons for the duty, The Major, taking the forlorn hope, composed of fifty volunteers of his own regiment, Mr. Webb being one of the number, proceeded along till they came to the street facing the battery; and they gave the order to the rear rank to take the left side of the street, leaving the front rank on the right. The enemy, opening a fire of grape, killed every man on the right of the street, the brave Major being one to fall. The left now charged the battery, and killed nearly every man at the guns, spik- ing the battery. From now on Lucknow was surrounded by over one hundred thousand mutineers, being re-enforced from Delhi, who
THOMAS E. HASTINGS, AND DAUGHTER, JENNIE MABEL.
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constantly fired upon the town; and every day the hope of the little band inside grew more desperate. Each day the guards listened for the boom of the relief army. The women climbed the walls, where it was safe, and gazed earnestly across the plains, where help would first appear. At length, on January 26, 1858, Mary Brown, a Scotch girl, known in song as "Fair Ellen," gave out the cry that she heard the bagpipes in the distance playing "The Campbells are coming." Sir Colin Campbell, afterward Lord Clyde, ar- rived at the city with his Sutherland High- landers and others on January 27; and that very night General Havelock died of dysen- tery, and worn out with privation. Mr. Webb was in the rear of the retreat from Cawnporc with the garrison, and received a bullet through the mouth. The British troops con- tinued to pursue the mutineers, and at one time Mr. Webb rode eight hundred miles in ten days on the back of an elephant.
May 16, 1860, the Fifth went on board the troop ship "Megera," at Calcutta, under com- mand of Sir Hope Grant, proceeded toward China, and at the Pei-Ho River had the first engagement with the Chinese, both on land and water, capturing all the forts on the river, and keeping on to Pekin, which they also captured, and ended the war, Mr. Webb being here wounded in the ankle. The homeward voyage to England from Hong-Kong was made in the ship "Cambodia," and was not without incident and peril, the most irksome experi- ence of all to Mr. Webb being when, off St. Helena, they were "lying at sea becalmed, near the equator, under a boiling sun, with scarcely a breath of air."
The Fifth arrived in England ninety-three strong, and was reviewed by the Queen at Hyde Park, January 1, 1863, each man being presented by Her Majesty with the "Lucknow Medal." When Mr. Webb's commanding officer wished him to re-enlist for another ten years, Mr. Webb said that he had seen enough of war; and he received this answer: "Well, if you will go, you must; but you can make up your mind, Webb, you will never be shot or drowned, but whether you will get hung or not I cannot say. Good-by." When in Mauritius Mr. Webb, then a Corporal, was
placed as guard over a Dutch murderer; but his prisoner escaped his guard, jumped overboard, and was drowned. Mr. Webb was reduced to the ranks, but was afterward pro- moted to the rank of Sergeant. To tell the whole story of Mr. Webb's military career would be to give a history of the Crimean and Persian campaigns, the Indian mutiny, and the China campaign of 1860. His memory of places and events is remarkable, including a long list of battles in which he was engaged, besides those mentioned above.
After leaving the service he was appointed Warden of Leicester Prison; but that position he resigned before long, and in 1865 came to this country. He made the voyage in the "Harvest Queen, " an old "Black Ball " liner, landing on September 24, 1865, in New York, and from there came to Unadilla. Here he worked at farming and railroading for a time, and then bought a farm in Masonville. This he finally sold, and bought the one where he now resides. Mr. William H. Webb and Harriet Deacon, daughter of John and Eliza- beth (Allen) Deacon, of South Kilsworth, England, were married in St. George's Church at Leicester, May 24, 1864. They have two children: Harriet Emma, born in Unadilla; and Florence Ella, born in Masonville. Mr. Webb is a useful and highly respected citizen, has held several offices of trust, serving ac- ceptably for some years as Justice of the Peace.
HOMAS ELLIOTT HASTINGS, the oldest business man in Bovina Centre, Delaware County, was born in the town of Bovina on the first day of April, 1829, and was a son of James M. and Eliza- beth (Elliott ) Hastings.
Mr. Elliott's grandfather, John Hastings, who was born in England, came to America, and made his home for some years in Albany, where his son James M. was born about 1797. In 1798 the family removed to the town of Bovina. Here they acquired some wild land. mostly woods, in which bears, wolves, and deer abounded, agreeing to pay the rent for it in wheat. It was in school district No. 14, then known as the town of Delhi. The
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grandfather cleared a portion of this place, which is still owned by the Hastings family, built a log house, and became an innkeeper as well as a farmer. It was not till 1813, dur- ing the last war with Great Britain, that the town was laid out, the first town meeting being held on October 28 of that year. The school-house was furnished with fuel by the farmers, in proportion to the number of scholars sent by their families. Bovina was separated from Delhi in 1820. The pioneer and his wife were Presbyterian church mem- bers. He died at a good old age, leaving three sons - James Madison, John, and Thomas. John Hastings was killed by the fall of a tree which he was hewing down. Their brother Thomas Hastings went to Texas before its annexation to the United States, and fought in the Mexican War, but died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on his way home.
James M. Hastings was brought to Bovina by his parents when very young. Here he grew to manhood, and here he always lived on the same estate, much respected and revered with increasing length of days. In all he cleared two hundred and fifty acres of its tim- ber, and gradually brought the place into order for general agriculture, though with special reference to dairy work. His wife, Elizabeth Elliott, a Scotchwoman, bore him four daughters and three sons, of whom five are yet alive. One of the daughters, Magda- len Hastings, living in Kortright, is the widow of James Miller. Janet is the widow of Andrew Armstrong, of the town of Andes. Elizabeth resides in Bovina, the wife of Will- iam T. Miller. The two surviving sons are Thomas Elliott and his brother, James Ed- ward Hastings, who resides on the old home- stead. The father lived to a serene old age. He was a Republican in politics from the time the party started, and had held minor town offices; but the mother, who, like her hus- band, was a Presbyterian church member, died in 1865, having been born with the century. James M. Hastings died September 13, 1892, lacking three months of his ninety-seventh birthday.
Thomas E. Hastings was born on the home- stead, went to the district school, and lived at home till 1852, when he was nearly twenty-
three years of age. Then he took up his resi- dence in Bovina Centre, where he opened a store for general merchandise, beginning with a stock worth only twelve hundred dollars. At this time he was in partnership with James Elliott. Two years later, in 1854, Mr. El- liott sold out to W. D. Telford, and the new alliance lasted six years. Then, in 1860, Mr. Hastings bought Mr. Telford's share, and for five years carried on the business alone. In 1866 Mr. J. K. Hood joined him, and they worked together two years, till 1868. Then came another change. This time it was the senior partner who sold out to the junior, Mr. Hood, Mr. Hastings retiring from trade for nearly two years. In 1870 he put up new buildings, where he opened a store which he carried on till 1893, when he sold out to A. T. Doig, who still owns it. There are not many older traders than Mr. Hastings in the county. Though no longer selling general merchandise, he deals in agricultural imple- ments, cattle feed, and land fertilizers. In all his busy years he never kept a clerk, he and his partners preferring to do the work themselves; yet in his last year as a store- keeper the business amounted to forty thou- sand dollars.
In 1859, at the age of thirty, he was mar- ried to Jane S. Blair, a daughter of Peter Blair, one of the early settlers of Bovina. Mrs. Hastings died at forty-five years of age, in 1886, leaving five children, who all re- ceived an excellent education. James Blair Hastings, born in 1860, and a graduate of Hamilton College, is a professor in Franklin. Elmer Ellsworth Hastings, born in 1862, lives in Bovina. He is a graduate of Poughkeepsie Business College. William Elliott Hastings graduated from the Franklin Institute, and is now a clerk in Delhi. Milton Hastings is a pupil at the same school. Their sister, Jen- nie Mabel Hastings, is at home. Their father is a Republican, and was several years Town Clerk. He is a reliable Presbyterian, as was Mrs. Hastings. Mr. Hastings is never without some good story to tell of the early days of the town; for he is well informed about everything and everybody in town, and can narrate the history of four generations.
As may be seen from this account of him,
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Thomas E. Hastings is a very self-reliant man, who might adopt as his own the saying of the celebrated author of "Don Quixote," "He is best served who has no occasion to put the hands of others at the end of his arms." His portrait, with that of his daugh- ter, Jennie Mabel, is a pleasing accompani- ment of this outline sketch of his life.
G EORGE AUGUSTUS JUDD, a much respected citizen, and widely known as one of the largest land- owners of Middletown, Delaware County, N. Y., is a native of that place, his birth hav- ing occurred there August 11, 1825. He is the son of Truman and Lucy (Johnson) Judd, his paternal grandparents being Demas and Elizabeth Judd. The grandfather, Demas Judd, was born in Schoharie County, and was a prosperous farmer, a Whig in politics, and a soldier of the Revolutionary War. He lived to be over eighty years old, his wife being eighty-two at the time of her death. A family of seven children were born to this worthy couple; namely, Demas, Hamilton, Parmalee, Anthony, Marena, Marvin, and Truman. The last named, father of Augus- tus, was born April 30, 1800. He learned the art of dressing cloth, and found employ- ment in Halcottsville, in Woodstock, Ulster County, Olive, Greene County, and various other places. At last he bought a farm for himself at Red Kill, now owned by George G. Kelly. This he greatly improved, and sold within five years, moving to another farm about a mile away. After residing here some years, he bought a farm in Lexington, Greene County, and lived there ten years. During this time he lost his wife, who died at the age of seventy. Since leaving Lexington, he has resided in Bushnellville, Ulster County, and has now attained the remarkable age of ninety- four. He is a Republican in politics, and is held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen, who, during his active career, called upon him to fill several town offices. His wife was Lucy, daughter of Luther Johnson, a Revolu- tionary patriot and soldier. Their family of seven children inherited the sterling qualities of their ancestors, both in independence of
mind and business ability, each rearing a fam- ily, whose respective members were in their turn prominent and valuable citizens in the localities where they settled. They were as follows: Emily, who married Eli Jenkins, and died, leaving five children; G. Augustus; Demas, who chose for his wife Caroline Gar- rison, and removed to Minnesota, and had a family of eight children; Elizabeth, who be- came the wife of Henry G. Cartright, removed with her husband to Illinois, and is the mother of four children; William, who set- tled in Athens, Greene County, N. Y., and married Hannah Winter, and has one child; Truman, who took to wife Margaret Mabee, and lives in Bushnellville, having two chil- dren; Lucy A., who married James Sharp, and went to Illinois, and has two children.
G. Augustus Judd grew to manhood in his native town. Of the first three hundred dol- lars he earned he lost two hundred by the failure of his employer; but, not discouraged, he kept on in the path which was to lead to success. He began business for himself at the age of nineteen, farming and dealing in cattle and horses, for which he found a market in Dutchess County, but finally buying a farm at Red Kill. This was the beginning of his investments in real estate and in the accumu- lation of property, in which he has since been so successful. After buying and selling vari- ous farms, his operations extending over a period of fifty years, he is now the owner of one thousand acres of land, most of which is highly cultivated and improved. This he has accomplished by enterprise, industry, and good management.
November 5, 1884, he married Nancy J. Osterhoudt, daughter of Solomon and Nancy Ann (Bookhoudt) Osterhoudt. Her father, Solomon Osterhoudt, was born in Woodstock, Ulster County, N. Y., and was engaged in the clothing business at Clovesville, Delaware County, N. Y. He married Nancy Ann, daughter of John Bookhoudt, one of the first settlers of Roxbury, and the father of nine children, by name James, Margaret, Sarah, Sidney, Anthony W., Augusta, Jackson, Albert, and Nancy Jane. The maternal grandmother of Mrs. Judd, Nancy Ann Book- houdt, was born in Ireland.
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Mr. and Mrs. Judd have two children : Har- old O., born April 10, 1888; and A. Hillis, born November 2, 1891. Mr. Judd is a prominent man in Middletown, and highly esteemed for his personal qualities. He has lived an industrious life, making the best of his opportunities; and his example is worthy of emulation by the rising generation. His home is at Griffin's Corners, where he lives a retired life. He takes an interest in politics, and is a warm supporter of the Republican party. In his religion he is liberal in his views, taking little interest in dogmatic the- ology, but striving so to live as to have a conscience "void of offence toward God and man."
J OSEPH DARROW, a much respected farmer of Hancock, Delaware County, N. Y., was born December 2, 1818, at Cannonsville, in the adjoining town of Tompkins. His father, Ebenezer Darrow, a descendant of an old family who were among the first settlers of New England, was born in New London, Conn., and followed the trade of carpenter and joiner in Cannonsville and vicinity, having here located his home early in the nineteenth century. He married Electa Lowrey, daughter of Memucan Low- rey. Her father was also a carpenter and joiner, who followed that occupation all his days, and whose family were pioneers of the town of Tompkins, coming there from Con- necticut about the year 1800. Ebenezer Dar- row died in early manhood, leaving his wife with four children, namely: Joseph, the sub- ject of this sketch; Nancy, who married Nel- son Chamberlin, of Cannonsville; Catherine, who is unmarried, and since their mother's death has kept house for her brother Joseph; and Caroline, who married William LaBarr, of Hancock, Delaware County, and moved to Belvidere, Boone County, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. LaBarr have two children: Bradley B., a hardware and stove dealer in Belvidere, who married a Miss Jones, of the same town; and Ella, who married a Mr. Cleveland, also a resident of Belvidere, Ill.
Joseph Darrow was educated at Cannons- ville, and first worked in saw-mills, spending
a part of his time farming for Daniel Cham- berlin, of that town, the brother of Nelson Chamberlin. Joseph's mother married for a second husband Solomon Jones, of Hancock, and removed to the Jones homestead, which Joseph afterward bought from the heirs of his step-father. After Mr. Jones's death, in the spring of 1845, Joseph went to Hancock to work the farm for his mother. When not farming, much of his time was spent on the river, working as raftsman and steersman for Marvin Wheeler, then the most extensive lumber dealer in this section. He has been through many perilous adventures on the river, the Delaware raftsmen being noted far and wide as a hardy and brave class of men. Often in the roughest weather he was obliged to make the return journey from Philadelphia on foot, sometimes walking fifty miles in a day, carrying his purchases on his back. But in spite of these hardships he is now hale and hearty, and is highly esteemed by all who know him. Unmarried, he lives with his sister on the farm which he has won by his untiring industry. The natural beauty of his estate, which is pleasantly situated on the river, has been greatly increased by tasteful cultivation.
EORGE G. KELLY is the enterpris- ing and prosperous proprietor of a five-hundred-acre farm on Batavia Kill, in the town of Roxbury. His grand- parents were Edmond and Lovina (Liscomb) Kelly, the former of whom during the early part of his life worked on a farm in Putnam County. When the Revolutionary War brokc out, he took up arms and went forth to the de- fence of his home and his country. Edmond Kelly served through the struggle for Amer- ican independence, and then, with what worldly effects they could bring, plunged into the wilderness with his little family, and at length, after a long and toilsome march through the thick, entangled forests, infested with wild beasts, they reached what is now known as Roxbury. Four or five other fami- lies only were settled, so that they had to cope with the rough, rude forces of nature almost alone. The rifle and the axe were equally
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necessary while Mr. Kelly was erecting his first log house for the protection of his family. Often at night the stealthy step of the prowl- ing panther could be heard as he made the rounds of the little cabin. Game was so plentiful that they lived for weeks on the flesh of deer and bears, and on the fine trout which swarmed in the brooks. Mr. Kelly was an indefatigable worker, a man of great energy, with an iron constitution. Politically. he was a Whig. He and his wife were both deeply religious. They were members of an old-school Baptist church, and brought up their ten children in that faith. These chil- dren were: Charles, William, Abigail, Amy, Martin, Ezekiel, Susan,
Edmond, Jr., Thomas, and Hannah. Edmond Kelly lived to the age of eighty-six, and his wife to about the same age.
Martin Kelly was the second son of Ed- mond, and was the father of George G. Kelly. Martin was born in Putnam County, and came West with his father, sharing the hardships, and afterward the blessings of the pioneer home. He assisted his father on the farm, and, when the opportunity came, worked for others and saved his earnings. When he was old enough, he bought his father's farm and a piece of an adjoining one in addition. Martin had had some educational advantages in a dis- trict school, and he supplemented what he had there learned with so judicious a course of reading that he became a well-informed man. He had good business ability, his agricultural methods were the best, and he obtained excel- lent crops from his fields.
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