USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 90
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father of Brazillia Banker was Thorn Banker, a pioneer of Kortright, who married Phœbe Rowe, whose ancestors were among the first to
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settle in New York. Brazillia Banker was a participant in the anti-rent war, and during the exciting times of that period was a firm supporter of the popular side. He died at a good old age at Franklin.
Elbridge Dougherty is engaged in farming and operating a dairy, having sixty acres of land under cultivation. He and his wife have two children : Claude E., born February 18, 1879, who lives at home and attends school in Masonville; and John B., who was born May 22, 1891. Mr. Dougherty is universally re- spected throughout the town where he is a resident, and his success in life testifies to his upright, industrious manhood.
AMES E. HASTINGS, one of the fore- most stock dealers and farmers in Bovina, is a grandson of John Hastings, a pioneer in this country, who came to Bovina in 1799. At this time the region of woodland near the village was infested by deer, wolves, bears, and panthers; and the Colonial farmer who chose this section of New York for his habitation must be also a hunter. The nearest market was seventy miles distant, at Catskill; and here the doughty settlers car- ried their skins and game, which were ex- changed for household goods and family supplies.
John Hastings lived, after the primitive fashion of the day, in severe simplicity. On Sundays he would walk to the little meet- ing-house at Kortright barefooted, with his shoes slung over his shoulder, in order to keep them clean and save shoe-leather. The near- est mill was at Kortright six miles away ; and the journeys thither and back were formidable, and even dangerous, through the lonely roads, where the cry of the panther or wolf might suddenly smite the ear of the belated traveller, who sometimes found it a ride for life to get back within the sheltered precincts of his own home. There were four descendants of John Hastings left to hand down the name to future generations, of whom James, the father of the James of this memoir, is the only survivor.
James the father was born in 1797, and mar- ried Elizabeth Elliott. Their son, James E., grew up on the old farm, and was educated in
the district school and the Delhi Academy. He has paid great attention to stock-raising, and owns a large number of full-blooded Jer- seys, all registered, thirty-six of which are kept for dairy use, averaging in 1893 about three hundred pounds of butter each. The capacious barn, lately completed at a cost of three thousand five hundred dollars, measures fifty feet by sixty feet, and seventy feet in height to the vane on the cupola, has a bridge- way seventeen by twenty-four feet, with a wing thirty-two feet by thirty-six feet, and can accommodate sixty head of cattle. But it is in the dairy that Mr. Hastings's chief interests are centred; and the golden butter, the deli- cious cheeses, the pure milk and thick cream of the Hastings dairy, have a wide reputation.
In 1884, on January 15, James E. Hastings was joined in holy wedlock to Ellen Cunning- ham, a native of Ulster County. Four chil- dren have blessed their union - Elizabeth E., Charles H., William J., and Emma D. All are still at home beneath the paternal shel- ter. The worldly affairs of life have not ab- sorbed the attention of this successful man to the exclusion of spiritual concerns, for both he and his wife are in the communion of the United Presbyterian church. He is an advo- cate of Republican principles, and as a mon- eyed man, as well as an individual intelligent force, wields weighty influence in matters of public interest.
ON. MARVIN D. WHEELER, In- spector-in-Chief of Post-offices of the United States, is a native of Hancock, Delaware County, N. Y. His father, Marvin Wheeler, was the son of Frederick Wheeler, whose native place was New London, Conn. The family is of Welsh origin. Frederick Wheeler with several brothers, athletic and brave men, came to the Delaware Valley in 1795, being the first set- tlers on Partridge Island, now part of the town of Hancock. Frederick was married in New London to Mary Comstock, by whom he had four children, Marvin being the youngest. The others were Royal, Polly, and Corinda.
Marvin was born in 1804. At an early age he became acquainted with farm work, and
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also assisted his father in lumbering, later starting out for himself as a merchant and general trader. He was thrifty and far- sighted, qualities to which he owed much of his success in life. He became an extensive land-owner, and for years was Postmaster in Hancock. Originally counted with the Whigs, he became a Republican on the formation of that party. He married Emily Edick, daugh- ter of Conrad and Elizabeth Edick, of Deposit. Conrad Edick was born at German Flats, Her- kimer County. He entered the patriot army during the Revolutionary War, and was in active service much of the time until its close. His native village being burned in 1779 by a party of Tories and Indians under command of the infamous Brant, Mr. Edick moved with his step-father to Stone Arabia, Montgomery County ; and later, in the winter of 1781, they removed to Greenbush near Albany. Mr. Edick was one of the force raised to avenge the Wyoming and Cherry Valley massacres. He took part in several engagements in which the enemy were repulsed with considerable loss. In the spring of 1781 he again enlisted for nine months' service, and went to Fort Plain, where he was employed as military ex- press, and was often with scouting parties detached for dangerous service. In Octo- ber, 1781, a large force of British, Tories, and Indians, under Walter Butler, attacked Johnstown, destroyed property, and killed many of the settlers. An expedition set out from Fort Rensselaer, under command of Colonel Willett, to avenge this massacre, Conrad Edick being numbered among the troops. They pursued the retreating foe and overtook them at Canada Creek, about Novem- ber 1, when a fierce battle ensued, the advan- tage being with the attacking force.
Mr. Edick was twice married. By his first marriage, to a Miss Whitaker, of Sanford, he had three children, as follows: Phebe, Jacob C., and Elizabeth. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Sneeden, and by her he had six children : Margaret ; Roxanna ; Sally; Emily, born February 22, 1808, who became Mrs. Marvin Wheeler; Jane M. ; and Rachel P. In 1787 Mr. Edick settled about two miles below Deposit ; but later, in 1801, he removed to Deposit village, where he died at an ad-
vanced age. He was greatly respected, and was a prominent member of the Masonic Order. During the anti-Masonic agitation secret meetings were often held in his house; and his Masonic apron is still preserved at the home of his descendant, Marvin D. Wheeler.
The five children of Marvin and Emily (Edick) Wheeler were : Frederick M. ; DeWitt C. ; Evelyn Susan; and Marvin Duane, whose name appears at the head of this sketch. The two elder brothers are deceased. Frederick married Elizabeth Bull, of Milford, Conn., and had three children. Marvin D. Wheeler attended the schools of his native town, and later entered the military academy at Sing- Sing. After graduation he returned to Han- cock, and, like his brothers, entered into busi- ness with his father. Early regarded by his fellow-townsmen as a young man of great promise, he served as Supervisor, and held other positions of trust, fulfilling his public duties to the entire satisfaction of the com- munity. His advancement was rapid, and his fame soon extended beyond the limits of his native town. In the first year of President Harrison's administration he was appointed Inspector of the New York Post-office, and shortly afterward was made Inspector-General of Post-offices of the United States, which position he still holds under President Cleve- land.
J ACOB LAWRENCE is a worthy repre- sentative of the mercantile interests of the village of Hobart, where he is an extensive dealer in gentlemen's cloth- ing and furnishing goods, including a general and complete assortment of articles usually found in a store of this kind. He was born January 7, 1853, in Christburg, East Prussia, the residence of his parents, Abram and Lena
(Freundlich) Lawrence, or Laurenes. In
1 889 the father, a well-to-do merchant, accom- panied by his wife, came to America. Three years later his death occurred in Omaha, Neb., followed the next year by that of his wife in the same city. The four children born to them are all living, and with the exception of the eldest son, the subject of this sketch, are residents of Trinidad, Col.,
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the following being their names: Mrs. Sarah Elliyon, Max Lawrence, and Mrs. Sophia Bargman.
Jacob Lawrence received a fine education under the excellent school system of Germany. From his father he became acquainted with the mercantile business, and, while yet a young man, emigrated to this country, landing in New York City on the Fourth of July, 1871. He there engaged as a travelling sales- man for two years. In 1874 Mr. Lawrence established a dry-goods store in the village of Delhi, where he remained about a year and a half. In 1876 he opened his present place in Hobart, putting in a full stock of goods, and has since conducted a flourishing business. He is widely known as an able and honorable business man, courteous and attentive to the wants of his customers, keeping a well-fur- nished and attractive store.
Mr. Lawrence was united in marriage Octo- ber 5, 1882, to Miss Laura Grant, a native of Stamford, being the daughter of the late Alex- ander Grant and his wife, Valencia Grant.
Mr. Grant was a farmer of Stamford, and his widow still resides on the home farm. One child has blessed this union, a son named Amazia J. Lawrence. In politics Mr. Law- rence is a sound Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 289, A. F. & A. M. He is liberal in his religious views, while Mrs. Lawrence is a communicant of the Epis- copal church.
YMAN B. PALMER, a highly respected and well-to-do citizen of the town of Tompkins, was born February 28, 1815, at Delhi, son of Abel Palmer, a native of Canton, Litchfield County, Conn. The father of Abel Palmer came with his parents when young to Andes, Delaware County, where he went into the carpentering business, and built some of the first frame houses in that section of the country. lle married a member of the Peck family, of Con- necticut. From Andes he moved with his family to Delhi, where he died.
Abel Palmer was born in 1772. From boy- hood he showed marked vocal ability ; and he
taught singing-school for a long time, but eventually leased a piece of land, where he carried on farming, also following the trade of carpenter and millwright. He married Mary Saunders, a native of Connecticut, whose family were noted for their bravery and daring in the Revolutionary War. Abel Palmer first settled in Andes, but later in life moved to Delhi, where he purchased a farm, and resided there until his death, in 1855, when eighty- two years of age. His wife had died nineteen years previous to this, having had a family of eight children - Betsey, Saunders, Margaret, Lydia, Castle, Erbin, Abel, and Lyman B.
Lyman B. Palmer received his education at the district schools of Delhi, and until sixteen years old assisted his father on the farm. He then started for himself in life, doing car- pentering and lumbering until he reached his twenty-first year, when he went South, working in Georgia and the Carolinas, erecting mills. During the late war he was engaged on govern- ment works for a few years. In 1851 he bought from the heirs of his first wife's family ninety-four acres of land, upon which he now resides, also holding the title to four hundred and ninety acres in Georgia.
Mr. Palmer has been twice married, first, in 1836, to Lucy Carpenter, daughter of John Carpenter, a native of Vermont ; and by this marriage there were two children : Mary Jane, who married Henry Marks, of Chicago, Ill. ; and Nancy M., who married Norman J. Harris, of Hart, Oceana County, Mich. Mr. Palmer married for his second wife, in 1866, Renna A. Butler, who was born in the town of Wal- ton in 1826, daughter of John, Jr., and Ruana (Berry) Butler. John Butler, the grandfather of Mrs. Palmer, was born in England, and came to this country when a young man, set- tling in Connecticut, where he followed the trade of shoemaker. All of his sympathies were with the American people, and during the Revolutionary War he assisted on this side. Three of his brothers were numbered among the British forces, and during an engagement John Butler shot one of them three times without recognizing his victim. He married Martha Eells, of Canaan, Conn. ; and in 1809 he, with his wife, bought land in Walton, where he engaged in farming. John Butler,
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Jr., followed his father in the shoemaking business until his death, at the old homestead, when sixty-three years of age. He was the father of nine children. Mrs. Palmer's sister Harriet married George W. Finch, of Tomp- kins, and still resides in that town.
Lyman B. Palmer has been a voter in four different States- New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina. He first voted with the Whigs; and, when the change was made in the two parties, he became an Inde- pendent, voting generally, however, with the Democratic party. While in the South, he met and talked with many prominent men, in- cluding Jefferson Davis; Alexander Stephens ; Governor Crawford, of Georgia; and Robert Toombs. Mr. Palmer is one of the substantial citizens of Tompkins, is still hale and vigor- ous, and continues to look after his extensive business interests.
EORGE GLADSTONE, a noted farmer in Bovina Centre, was born in the town of Andes on September 19,
1843. There are numerous Gladstones in the county, among them Dr. James A. Gladstone ; and all trace their lineage to a common an- cestor, Robert Gladstone.
Grandfather Robert was a Scotch emigrant from Roxburghshire, who in 1817 began clear- ing the Bovina farm now belonging to Andrew G. Thomson. He was a hard-working and successful citizen, and a member of the United Presbyterian church. His wife died young ; but he lived to be some eighty years old, dying in 1858, having been born about the period of the American Revolution. Robert Gladstone had six boys and one girl; and his son, Robert Osborne Gladstone, is now living in Andes. The list of Grandfather Robert Gladstone's other children, deceased, is as follows: William Gladstone, who married Catherine Renwick; John Gladstone, who married Isabella Elliott, and had twelve chil- dren; Thomas Gladstone, who married Mar- garet Bigger, and had four boys and two girls ; Walter Gladstone; James Gladstone; Viola Gladstone; and Robert Gladstone, Jr., who married Jane Miller, and had six children.
Walter Gladstone, who married Isabella
Elizabeth Bigger, was born in Scotland on the very last day of the year 1810, before the family removed to the United States; and his wife was also born among the Scotia hills, but four years later, in July, 1814. Walter was a life-long farmer, and came to this country when little more than a boy. As soon as possible he bought land midway between the centres of Andes and Bovina, and there resided till in 1858, when he was nearly fifty years old, he sold the place, in order to make a new settlement in Gladstone Hollow, a locality named after his family. There he owned a hundred and fifty acres, which he began to develop in the best way; but his hopes were blasted by his death only two years later, in 1860, just before the outbreak of the Civil War. His wife lived till 1869, dying at the age of fifty-five; and both belonged to the Andes United Presbyterian church. They had six boys and five girls, of whom only two, Robert and William, have passed from earth. Margaret Gladstone is now in Walton, the widow of Romaine Palmer, of Andes, her husband having been killed while in the dis- charge of his duty as a member of Company E, in the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regi- ment of New York Volunteers. John Andrew Gladstone lives in Andes. The next son is George, of whom more anon. Thomas is an Andes farmer. Ann married P. S. Doig, of Walton. Walter, named for the father, has a farm in Andes. Elizabeth lives unmarried in Walton. Her sister Isabella is an Andes school-mistress. Another sister, Janet Glad- stone, has a home with her brother Tom in Andes.
George Gladstone grew up in Andes, attend- ing the district school, and going to the academy one term. On reaching his majority, he began working out by the month -for F. C. Armstrong two seasons, and Walter A. Doig one season. So saving was he of his scant earnings that in 1868, on the 8th of January, he was able to take upon himself family responsibilities, and became the hus- band of Helen Strangeway, a Bovina girl, daughter of Christopher Strangeway, of whose family further facts may be found in our sketch of A. T. Strangeway. In 1868 George Glad- stone bought the estate where he still lives.
WILLIAM H. FORMAN.
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At first he had only a hundred acres, but the land has been more than doubled by the addi- tion of the Gillis farm. As is almost univer- sally the case in this Scotch-American region, special attention is given by the owner to the dairy, supplied with milk from thirty fine Jersey cattle, each of which yields upward of two hundred and fifty pounds of butter every year, prepared for market in buildings arranged according to the latest ideas.
Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone have brought up their four sons in the United Presbyterian church. The eldest, James Walter Gladstone, born in 1869, is a farmer in the same town. His brothers, Christopher Strangeway, born in 1871, Robert Elliott, born in 1874, and Will- iam Armstrong, born in 1876, are at home on the farm. In politics their father is a Repub- lican, and his family form the centre of a wide-awake circle of friends. Well has it been said by that searching essayist, E. P. Whipple : "Grit is the grain of character. It may generally be described as heroism ma- terialized - spirit and will thrust into heart, brain, and backbone, so as to form part of the physical substance of the man." Such an opinion is well borne out in the Gladstone posterity, and one can hardly speak the name without being reminded by it of that British statesman rightly known as the Grand Old Man.
RS. E. J. WADE, of Walton, widow of the late Charles B. Wade, who died in Binghamton, N. Y., May 10, 1873, is a lady greatly es- teemed for her excellent traits of character. She was born in New York City, and comes of good New England stock on both sides, her parents, Andrew and Mary (Patterson) Sey- mour, having been of Connecticut birth, her father a native of New Canaan, and her mother of Stonington. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Seymour, was born in Connecticut, in 1756, and in 1774 was united in marriage to Anna Whitney, in the town of Norwalk, now New Canaan. They remained in the State of their nativity until after the birth of their twelve children, seven of whom were daugh- ters, and in 1803, accompanied by their entire
family, came to Walton, where they afterward resided. Their children all married and be- came heads of families, excepting one son ; and their descendants are numbered among the useful and valued citizens of the place. They made the removal from Connecticut with wagons, a part of the family riding on horse- back. Like other pioneers, they followed a path marked by blazed trees." The country was then in an almost primitive condition, and they accomplished their share in opening it up for the advance of civilization.
Charles B. Wade was born and reared to manhood in New York City, and was a son of Elias Wade, Jr., who was one of the firm of Grinnell, Minton & Co., extensive shippers to foreign ports. His union with Miss Seymour was solemnized in 1852; and three years later they removed to Walton, buying the fine large house on the corner of Delaware and Townsend Streets, which is now used as business prop- erty, his widow having removed to her present desirable home in 1891. Mr. Wade engaged in a successful mercantile business in this vil- lage, and was for many years a member of the firm of Gay, Eels & Wade, the leading mer- chants of the place, having an extensive trade throughout this part of Delaware County. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wade, two of whom died in infancy. The five living children are: William D. ; Lizzie, wife of John R. Launt, who has one son, Rae C. Launt, a youth of fourteen years; Charles E., who married Grace Lapsley, of Springfield, Mo. ; Seymour B. ; and Alfred L. Mr. Wade was a man of good business capacity, and was prominent in local affairs. For a while he served as Supervisor, and in politics was an uncompromising Democrat, loyally sustaining the principles of that party. Socially, he was an important member of the Masonic frater- nity, being a Mason of high degree, and filling different chairs in the society.
ILLIAM H. FORMAN is a substan- tial farmer of the town of Stam- ford, Delaware County. N. Y. His grandfather, Henry Forman, was born in Dutchess County, August 19, 1787, and mar- ried March 6, 1808, Miss Mary Bishop, who
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was born July 19, 1787. Henry Forman was a farmer, and also a blacksmith of Stamford, having learned the latter trade in Bloomville when a mere boy. After his marriage he re- moved to Stamford, where he was one of the first settlers, and where he died November 29, 1868, his wife's death having occurred April 5, 1867. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics a Whig. H was an energetic and industrious man, and with the assistance of his sons cleared and cultivated the farm in Stamford. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Forman were the parents of five children, two of whom still live, namely : Alexander, the father of the subject of this sketch, and his sister Harriet Benson, widow of Simon Benson, residing in Erie, Pa.
Alexander Forman was born August 18, 1815, in Stamford, where he was educated in the district schools, and later adopted a farmer's life. October 3, 1843, he married Ann White, who was born in Bloomville, April 27, 1820, a daughter of Shadrach and Mary (Upham) White. The father of Mrs. Alexander Forman was born in South Hamp- ton, L. I., September 20, 1779, and his wife in Massachusetts, February 25, 1783, their marriage occurring May 8, 1805. He was a tanner and currier, and in the pioneer days of Bloomville moved to that village, where he died November 6, 1866, and his wife January 24, 1858. She was a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. He was liberal in religious matters, and a stanch Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Forman are still liv- ing and enjoying good health in their home in Bloomville, passing the evening of their lives in the peace and prosperity deserved by the faithful.
William H. Forman, the only child of Alex- ander and Ann (White) Forman, was born in Stamford, September 24, 1844, receiving his early education in the schools of this town, and later attending the Andes Academy. He then gave his attention to farming, and lived at his parents' home until thirty years of age. He was married on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1874, to Miss Jennie McDonald, who was born in Stamford, where her father, Alexander McDonald was an early settler. Mrs. Jennie Forman died while yet young; and her hus-
band was again married November 6, 1889, his present wife being Julia Foote, daughter of Charles Foote, a farmer and carpenter of Har- persfield.
Mr. Forman inherited from his grandfather one-half the old homestead, but is now the possessor of the whole property. He also man- ages his father's farm, and has, in all, three hundred and forty acres of land under his con- trol, making him one of the principal farmers of the town. He keeps fifty grade Jersey cows, and makes excellent butter. Mr. For- man is a Republican, but in no way prominent in politics, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He also belongs to the Ma- sonic fraternity, being a member of the Delhi Lodge, No. 439, A. F. & A. M. An intelli- gent, industrious, and upright citizen, he is deservedly held in high esteem.
Mr. Forman is further represented in this volume by a portrait, which his friends will easily recognize.
ARL S. LAKIN, son of William G. Lakin, was born April 15, 1836, in Hancock, Delaware County. The progenitors of the Lakin family in America were among the early Puritan settlers who made their home on the rugged coast of New Eng- land, where they might live free from persecu- tion. A branch of the family settled in Vermont ; and shortly after the Revolutionary War three brothers, named Jonas, Joel, and Jonathan, came to Delaware County and settled on Partridge Island.
Mr. Earl S. Lakin has followed the river as a steersman, and since he was fifteen years old has scarcely missed a season's run. He has one hundred and sixty-two acres of land at Fish's Eddy, and this he cultivates in connec- tion with his lumbering business. He has always taken great interest in local history; and from him have been obtained many of the interesting facts concerning the early days of the town, as they were told him by his grand- mother, Prudence Parks. Lakin. The history of the family is given at length in another part of this volume in connection with the biog- raphy of his brother, James W. Lakin.
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