USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 81
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Henry, the eldest son, married Sarah San- ford, and lives in Bragg Hollow. Asol was married three times. His first wife was Mary Thorpe, who left one child; the second was Mary Hanley, who also left one child; and the third was Agnes Miller, who is still living, and resides with her husband at Halcottsville. . Emery was joined in wedlock to Eunice Jen- kins. They live at Kelly's Corners, and have four children. David F. married Sarah Brooks, and is the father of three children ; he owns a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres, and is considered one of the most suc- cessful farmers in this region. Charles H. married Miss Mary A. Jaquish, and lives in Bragg Hollow. Esther married Charles D. Rowe, lives in the same locality, and has four children.
Riley Sanford disposed of his estate on
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Hubbell Hill, and in 1858 moved to the farm he now owns, and upon which he resides. The handsome new buildings on the place and its generally improved condition bear witness to his industry and judgment. He is a man of fine physique and strong nerve, and is full of plans for future improvement. Some years ago he mastered the art of veterinary surgery, and has been very successful in his practice. He has held several town offices, including that of Assessor.
PC ON. ISAAC HORTON MAYNARD is one of the citizens of Delaware County whose reputation as a man of public affairs extends far beyond the boundaries of his native State, and whose name is connected with some of the most im- portant events of the State and nation in recent years.
He was born on April 9, 1838, in Bovina, son of Isaac and Jane (Falconer) Maynard. His great-grandfather, Isaiah Maynard, emi- grated to this country from the north of Eng- land about 1750, settling in the town of Rye, afterward Harrison, Westchester County, N. Y. During the Revolutionary War the grandfather of Judge Maynard, Elisha B. Maynard, distin- guished himself as a patriot soldier; and in 1790, when the days of fighting were over, he removed from Westchester County and settled in Bovina, then a part of Stamford, Delaware County. He was the first settler within the present limits of the town of Bovina. Here in the wilderness he reared his family of five sons and seven daughters; and Isaac, born in 1795, the father of the present Judge Maynard, was the first white child born in the new settle- ment. Isaac. Maynard was a prominent man in the affairs of the town and county, serving as Magistrate for more than twenty years.
His wife was born in 1797, in the city of New York, and was the daughter of Archibald Falconer, a native of Nairn, Scotland.
In the healthful and vigorous work of the home farm Isaac H. Maynard developed a con- stitution which has not failed him in the arduous and wearisome tasks of his maturer years. In September, 1854, he entered the Stamford Seminary, where he prepared for col-
lege; and in 1858 he entered Amherst College, from which he was graduated with high honor in 1862. He took prizes for Greek, and one for proficiency in extempora- neous debate, delivered the German oration at the Junior exhibition, pronounced one of the English orations at commencement, and was valedictorian. He then studied law with the late Hon. William Murray, and in November, 1863, was admitted to the bar at Binghamton. He practised law in Delhi until 1865, then removed to Stamford and formed a law partner- ship with his cousin, the Hon. F. R. Gilbert, the firm of Gilbert & Maynard continuing until January, 1878. He was Supervisor of the town, and was largely instrumental in securing the incorporation of the village of Stamford by special act of the legislature in 1870, and was the author of its charter. He was the first President of the village, and was re-elected unanimously for ten years in succession. He was one of the founders of the Stamford Seminary in 1874, and was a member of its Board of Trustees until it became a part of the Union Free School in 1881. He was also one of the organizers of the latter institution.
His legislative career began in 1875, when he was elected a member of the Assembly from Delaware County, and in that capacity served on many important committees. He was an active supporter of Governor Tilden in the ex- citing Presidential contest of 1877, and one of the foremost leaders of the Democratic party. In November, 1877, he was elected Judge and Surrogate of Delaware County, and in his full term of six years showed rare judicial ability and integrity. In 1883 he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for Secretary of State, but was defeated. On January 1, 1884, Judge Maynard was appointed by Attorney-General O' Brien, First Deputy Attorney-General, and held the office till June 1, 1884, when he re- signed to accept the office of Second Comp- troller of the United States Treasury, to which he had been appointed by President Cleveland. When Judge Maynard went into the Second Comptroller's office, the work of the office was over two years behind; but, when he left it, the work was up to current date. April 1, 1887, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; and here he had
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charge of the Custom Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the Revenue Marine, the Supervising Surgeon-general's Bureau, the Navigation Bureau, the Life-saving Service, the Light-house Board, the Steam Inspection Service, the Miscellaneous Division, and the Supervising Architect's Bureau -all of which required his personal attention. All these official services at Washington, involving so many different and intricate cases, Judge May- nard rendered thoroughly and faithfully, to the hearty satisfaction of the government and the approval of the public. On the inauguration of President Harrison, Judge Maynard resigned his office, and May 22, 1889, was appointed by Governor Hill as one of the commissioners to revise the general laws of the State. In this, as in all of his official duties, he displayed rare ability. The work of the commission resulted in reducing by about one-half the entire bulk of the laws of the State. In Janu- ary, 1892, he was appointed by Governor Flower Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, the appointment being confirmed by the Senate.
Judge Maynard was married June 28, 1871, to Margaret M. Marvine, daughter of Charles Marvine, of Delhi, N. Y. They have one daughter, Frances, a young lady of eighteen. Few of our public men have discharged more. constant and arduous duties than Judge May- nard. From the time of his first election as Supervisor of Stamford he has without ceasing worked for the public good in professional and political capacities, and his executive ability has proved to be of the highest order. For the foregoing facts, summarizing the career of this eminent citizen of Delaware County, the "Re- view" is indebted to the Albany press.
AVID C. HOAG, a prosperous farmer of Andes, was born in the town of Delhi, July 3, 1864. His grand- father, William Hoag, a stone-mason of English descent, was born in Scotland. He married Ellen Jackson, also a native of Scot- land, who lived to be over ninety years of age. Mr. Hoag's death, which occurred when he was but fifty years of age, was caused by a large stone falling upon him.
John Hoag, the father of the subject of this biography, came to America in 1852 with his wife Margaret and one child, James, and en- gaged in carpenter work at Andes. But eight of their family of twelve children are now liv- ing : James, who was born October 18, 1852, and with his wife, Blanche Bell (Knapp) Hoag, and two children, now resides in Wayne County, Pennsylvania; John, Jr., who married Betsey Hitt, and now lives in Evansville, Sullivan County, and has two children; Ella, who married William Van Kuren, a farmer of Andes, and is the mother of two children; Robert, who married Libbie Lewis, and is now a farmer with five children, in the town of Hardenburg, Ulster County; Jennie, who mar- ried Warren Dean, a carpenter in Bovina; David C., the subject of this biography; Will- iam, who married Belle Middlemist, and is now a farmer in Sullivan County ; and Thomas, who married Jennie Lunn, and is a farmer of Delhi, with one child. John Hoag moved from Andes to a farm in Delhi, whence he returned to Andes, where he bought one hundred and fifty acres. This he afterward sold, and went back to Delhi, where he at present tends the . toll gates. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He was always active and industrious, and has been very successful in his undertakings.
David C. Hoag was educated in his native town of Delhi, and at the age of twenty-three bought of Margaret Hoag a farm of two hun- dred and forty acres. His brother William shared the expense with him, and together they purchased two more farms, one of ninety-six and the other of fifty-five acres, making them then the possessors of about four hundred acres. After a year David bought his brother's share, and, having sold eighty-five acres, operates the rest as a dairy farm. He keeps thirty cows, grade Jerseys, and some young stock. In 1892 he married Tina Fenton, daughter of Orin and Mary (McLean) Fenton. Mr. Fenton owns a farm of two hundred and thirty acres near Perch Lake, and has a family of five children : Alex- ander, George, Andrew, Mamie, and Tina. Mr. Fenton enlisted in the One Hundred and First New York Infantry at the commencement of the war, received his discharge after three years' service, and is now drawing a pension.
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Mr. Hoag is the owner of about two-thirds of Perch Lake, an extended view of which is obtained from his residence. He is classed among the successful farmers of the vicinity. He is a Republican in politics, a man of broad views, liberal in religious matters, and a kind neighbor, loved and respected by all who. know him.
'LUMAN L. WATTLES is the wealthiest citizen of Sidney Centre, in the town of Sidney, Delaware County, where he has held many offices, and is a very influential man. He was born in another part of the same town, May 6, 1816, just as the War of 1812 was over, and in the very year when James Mon- roe was elected as the successor of James Madison in the Presidential chair.
The grandfather for whom he was named, Sluman Wattles, was born in the town of Lebanon, Litchfield County, Conn., in 1752, of Scotch descent. He was a land surveyor, and came to this region in 1784 to make sur- veys in connection with the Livingston grants. He brought his young wife with him, bought land, and at last became owner of a quarter of the Livingston Patent. The whole estate measured four miles by sixteen, and Grandfather Wattles's part of it was a mile from the present town of Franklin. When he first came hither, Surveyor Wattles was on horseback, and had to follow the water- courses as his only guide. It was an un- known country, full of Indians; but they were not hostile to the new-comer, who made a treaty with them, though not without the plentiful aid of whiskey. They knew him well, and trusted him; and, when his log house was built, with its bark roof and doors of split log, they often stayed over night within its shelter. At the outset there were no white settlers in the neighborhood. The nearest mill was at Schoharie, forty miles away. For meat they had game from the for- est and fish from the stream; and their bread was mostly johnny-cake, made of maize, or Indian corn. For a long time he held the office of Judge. As such he helped organize the county, and was the first member elected
from it to the State Assembly. The Judge's first wife died in early life, of small-pox. His second wife was Betsy Butts, of Sidney ; and his first child, Mrs. Betsy Dewey, en- joyed the distinction of being the first white child born in the county after the Revolution. The old gentleman was a stanch Presbyterian, and spent his last years in Sidney, where he died in 1837, at the good, square age of eighty-five. He had raised a large family, all of whom lived to grow up, though only two survived him. Their names were: Caroline, Sluman, John, Simon, Sally, Betsy, Chand- ler, Nathaniel.
Of these children the youngest, Nathaniel, was born in Franklin, and married Emily Birdsall, of Otego. He combined the two professions of agriculture and theology, being both an able farmer and a good Baptist preacher. Always of studious habits, he ob- tained a good education for his day. His last years were passed on the farm at East Sidney, where he died at the age of seventy-five; but his wife died at forty-five. They brought into the world six boys and a daughter, all but one of whom are still living. The eldest, Sluman L. Wattles, named for his grand- father, is the subject of this sketch. Caro- line is the wife of William Dewey, of Sidney Centre. Walter Wattles is a Sidney farmer. Gilbert Wattles is at Minneapolis, Minn. Homer Wattles lives in McHenry, Il1. Edwin Wattles is in Sidney. Their brother Russell died in the prime of life, aged only thirty-five.
Mr. Sluman L. Wattles grew to manhood in East Sidney, attending the district school, and then studying at Trenton Academy. Though he followed farming as his life work, he was always a great student, poring over his books almost unaided, but to such good pur- pose that at the age of eighteen, in the year 1834, he could teach school, and continued so doing for ten successive winters, always re- turning to the farm in summer. Soon after reaching his majority, in 1837, he was ap- pointed Superintendent of Schools for the town of Sidney. In 1846, at the age of thirty, he was created Justice of Peace, and held the office for nearly a quarter-century. In fact, during nearly all his adult life
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he has held one or another public position, having been Supervisor five years. He was also a Notary Public; and this led him into much legal business, in addition to agricul- ture.
On the second day of the year 1847, at the age of thirty-one, he was married to Wealthy Ann Porter, a native of Conway, Franklin County, Mass., where she was born October 18, 1824, the daughter of George R. and Elizabeth (Chauncey) Porter, who was a kins- woman of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, an officer of great service to the States in the War of 1812. G. R. Porter was a native of Nova Scotia, and belonged to an old family. In his early days he came to Sidney, where he farmed until his death. He was the father of five children, four of whom have lived to ad- vanced age. Of these children Mrs. Wattles
is the eldest. Mary Ann Porter is the widow of Rinaldo Southwick, and lives in Boston with her son. William Porter carries on the home farm. Elizabeth Porter is the wife of Isaac De Cou, and makes her home in Harrison County, Iowa. George Porter, named for his father, died in babyhood. The Porters were Baptists, and in this religious faith Mrs. Wat- tles continues. Her husband, however, is a liberal, belonging to no church. When he sold his farm and came to Sidney Centre in 1846, there was no village here; and he wit- nessed the erection of every house in the place. They have but one child, Kate, born in Sidney, March 21, 1855, and married to Eugene Hanford, a Walton lawyer.
In politics Mr. Wattles is a Democrat. He is a leading man in town affairs, a large owner of real estate, and Vice-President of the Sidney National Bank. He is a genial, cheerful, and popular gentleman, who rarely goes beyond the boundaries of his native town; and his wife is a born lady, given to hospitality.
"Agriculture engenders good sense, and good sense of an excellent kind." This say- ing of a French author fits the career of Mr. Wattles, who would perhaps add, with the English poet, Alexander Pope : -
For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight : His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.
WELD ROBERTS, one of the ex- tensive agriculturists of Delaware County, was born in Bragg Hollow, in Middletown, April 30, 1838, being a son of Joshua F. and Hulda (Weld) Roberts, and grandson of David Weld and of Ira Roberts.
David Weld, the maternal grandfather, settled in Delaware County in the early days, when the country was still wild and mostly inhabited by the bear, wild-cat, deer, and other wild animals. Afterward he went West, and died there. Ira Roberts, the pater- nal grandfather, came with his wife, whose maiden name was Baker, from their native place, Putnam County, in 1815, and settled in Bragg Hollow. His farm here consisted of one hundred acres of land that had been some- what already improved. About six months after entering upon his undertaking he died in his new home, leaving his wife with eight children, one of them being Joshua F. Mrs. Roberts lived to be about eighty years old.
D. Weld Roberts, son of Joshua F., was educated at the district school, and afterward turned his attention to the work on his father's farm till he was about twenty-eight years old. Then he was married to Miss Elizabeth Mead, daughter of John T. and Rachel (Keater) Mead. John T. Mead was a son of David and Elizabeth (Ballard) Mead. His father was a Baptist minister, a laborious and earnest man, devoted to the spiritual welfare of the people he endeavored to serve. John T. Mead had a district-school education; and, when of age, he bought of Orvy Stevenson a farm of one hundred and ten acres, where he lived for six- teen years, adding new buildings, and improv- ing the place by degrees. But, concluding after a while to sell out, he bought the Thomas and Harry Keater place, and there lived about fourteen years. Then, circumstances seeming to call for a change, he went to Roxbury, bought a house there, and settled down for some time. Still later he moved over to Batavia Kill, where he remained till his death, which occurred at the age of eighty-five years. John T. Mead was a Republican, and it is related of him that he never missed putting in a vote.
Rachel Keater, wife of John T. Mead, was
GEORGE ADEE.
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a daughter of Joseph and Polly (White) Keater. Joseph Keater was born in Kingston, a son of Cornelius Keater. He was also one of the pioneers, and took his part in subduing the wilderness. He settled on the Batavia Kill, and bought the farm of Daniel Keater composed of about three hundred acres, but sold one-half of the land. He has cleared the remainder, and has now lived on the place forty-eight years. His wife is now seventy- four years old. They have had eight chil- dren - Mary, Mehitable, Elizabeth, Rachel, Deborah, Thomas, Harry, and Chauncy. Thomas and Harry built the first store in the Kill, and were very successful in conducting it, considering the limitations of those days.
Mr. and Mrs. D. Weld Roberts have two children. George, the elder son, born January 29, 1868, married Miss Peace Hubbel; and they live at the parental home. The other son, Nelson J., born April 7, 1874, is a car- penter by trade. D. Weld Roberts bought a farm of two hundred and sixty acres in Bragg Hollow. After selling it to his father, he purchased other land, and continued to add more and more, till now he has a spacious tract of cultivated land covering fully three hundred acres. He has built a very large barn, which is in size sixty-four by sixty-six feet, twenty- six feet of this being an overshot. Mr. Roberts has a herd of forty cows, mostly Alderneys; also a flock of over eighty sheep, with poultry and other accessories of a prosper- ous farm. Mr. Roberts is a Democrat in his political opinions. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
EORGE ADEE, a well-known lawyer residing on Main Street, Delhi, N. Y., was born January 25, 1834, in Bovina, Delaware County. His father, Stephen B., was a native of the same town, born there June 14, 1801, and was the son of Samuel Adee, who was the son of Jonathan, who died about the commencement of the Revolutionary War. Jonathan had two sons and three daughters ; namely, Samuel, Phœbe, Sarah, Rebecca, and Jonathan. Their father was John, who had four sons and one daughter ; namely, Jonathan, William, Daniel, John, and
Hannah. John Adee was a weaver in early life, and moved from Providence, R.I., to Rye in or before 1729, and engaged in farm- ing and real estate operations. He died in 1784, having lived in America most of his life, his native country being England, where he was born, and from whence he came to America with his family in the early part of the eighteenth century. - The family werc of French extraction, dating back to Count Adee, whose ancestral home was at Cler- mont, forty miles from Paris. The second brother of the Viscount was contemporary with the celebrated Mary, Queen of Scots, and accompanied that unfortunate queen when she left France to take her place on the throne of Scotland. One branch of the family moved to Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England; and their monuments may be seen to this day, bearing the family coat of arms.
" ADEE COAT OF ARMS FROM
" BIGLAND'S HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE, "1791.
" Arms of Adee of Cirencester in Glouces- tershire, England, namely :-
"Three crosses, points downward, one in pale and two in saltier, encircled with a coronet.
"In the south cross-aisle of the church of Holyrood, parish of Ampney, in the hun- dred of Crowther and Menter and in the deanery of Fairford, two miles from Air- mouth, there is a monument with a Latin in- scription recording the death of Mary, wife of Smithin Adee, Esquire, who died on the 10th of July, 1729; and on it are these arms, namely : -
"Three crosses, points downward, one in
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pale and two in saltier, encircled with a coronet.
"The family arms of Adee of Aberdeen- shire, Scotland, descended from the second brother of the Viscount Adee, who came over to Scotland from France in the suit of Mary, the Queen Mother, with the motto on scroll : "'Crux Mihi Grata Quies.'
"(The cross to me is joyful rest. )"
CRUX
The Adee coat of arms was brought to America by John Adee about two hundred ycars ago.
Samucl Adee, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a boy only ten years of age at the outbreak of hostilities with the mother country. The Tory boys would whip him while on his way to and from school on ac- count of his patriotism, but it only made him more enthusiastic. He moved to the town of Bovina with his family in April, 1793, being one of the first settlers in the town. His brother Jonathan settled near Reynoldsville, Tompkins County, N. Y., about the same time. Samuel was an energetic man in all that he undertook. Settling in the midst of a dense forest, the piercing scream of the panther, the sullen growl of the bear, the sharp bark of the wolf, were ever and anon heard, kept back at night by large fires kin- dled for that purpose. In three days he erected a log house, which in the course of seven or eight years gave way to a fine frame dwelling; while a large frame barn, with some
seventy-five acres of cultivated land, attested his enterprise and perseverance. His wife was Sarah Bloomer, of White Plains, where she lived in the troubled times of the Revolu- tion, when the country was scoured alternately by the redcoats and the patriot soldiers of Washington. They were married soon after peace was restored, and reared a large family of children to be useful and worthy members of the community. They were members of the Baptist church, old school. He would go fifteen miles on foot to a church a little east of Harpersfield Centre, and his wife on horse- back, to attend divine service. He died in October, 1828, and his wife in March, 1843. Their children's names were as follows : Joshua, Elizabeth, Ann, Jonathan, Deborah, Darius, Esther, and Stephen B.
The latter, inheriting his father's energetic nature, remained on the old homestead, and occupied himself with its cultivation and im- provement. He erected a fine house in 1839, and subsequently new barns. In 1831 he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth D. Ludington, a lineal descendant of Lady Jane Pinckney, a daughter of Sir John Pinckney, England's historic law- yer and Earl of Derby. His son, Thomas Pinckney, came to America in 1687, accom- panied by his sister Jane; and he was com- missioned Governor of the Carolinas. Jane married Mr. Fowler; and their daughter Jane married Thomas Foster; and their daughter, Mary, married Joseph Northrup; and their daughter, Jane, married Henry Ludington ; and their daughter, Elizabeth D., married Stephen B. Adee, father and mother of George Adee. They were members of the Baptist church, old school. Henry Ludington's father, Samuel, and five brothers served under Washington during the Revolutionary War, and one was a Colonel on his staff. The father of the six Ludingtons was an Englishman, born in Liv- erpool, and had been an officer in the English navy. He moved to America with his family at an early date, and settled at the place in Putnam County that bore his name. Their patriotism made them famous for the part they all took in gaining our independence. Samuel marched with the troops from New York, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va. He moved
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