Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 99

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 744

USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 99

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industrious and useful life, and well deserves the trust reposed in him by his fellow-towns -. men.

OHN CLARK. Some of the most thriv- ing and prosperous farmers of this part of Delaware County are of foreign birth, and prominent among these stands the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this brief sketch. He was born among the rugged hills of Scotland, in Perth- shire, in the year 1850, and there received his schooling. He began to work at farming as soon as he was old enough, and remained in Scotland until 1873, when, in company with Isaac Scobie, he emigrated to the United States. From New York City they made their way to Delhi, in this county, Mr. Clark having fifteen dollars left when he arrived. Being of an energetic temperament, and willing to work at any honorable employment, he remained not long idle, and the following eight years worked for Lawyer Bell, of Delhi. The next five years Mr. Clark was employed by George Mar- vin, who gave him twenty-three dollars per month. When he began work on his farm of two hundred and forty acres, a large part of the land was covered with timber; but by continuous toil and good management he has it now well under cultivation. He has met with most excellent success in dairying and stock-raising, keeping a large flock of sheep, some four or five horses, and a fine dairy of twenty-four cows, selling the milk in New York.

On June 4, 1880, Mr. Clark married Nellie Scobie, a native of Scotland, where she lived until after the death of her father in 1872. The following year her widowed mother came to America with her four children, and, set- tling in this locality, remained a resident of the neighborhood until her death, which occurred December 27, 1891, at the age of seventy-seven years. The record of her children is as fol- lows: Isaac, a farmer, who lives in Hamden ; Annie, the wife of Peter McEwen; Nellie, the wife of Mr. Clark; and Jessie, the wife of Charles Anderson, of . West Delhi. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have become the parents of two children ; namely, Jessie R., born February 6,

1883, and David W., born December 4, 1884, both of whom have good mental powers, and are in the same classes, in the fourth grade, at school. In 1883 Mr. Clark sent for his father, John Clark, Sr., who was a weaver in Scotland, and then about seventy years old, to come to live with him in Hamden. He came, accordingly, and here lived until his death, on May 4, 1894.

The subject of this brief notice is a self- made man in every respect implied by the term, and has won an honored position in the community by his habits of industry and integ- rity. In politics he is a straight Republican, and gives his earnest support to the principles of the party. Both he and his wife are active in religious work, and are esteemed members of the Presbyterian church at DeLancey.

HARLES L. HICKS, a prominent and popular citizen of Roxbury, be- longs to one of those families which came to this country when it was still young and have grown up with it through all its stages of hardship and of progress.

His grandfather, Ambrose Hicks, moved from Nova Scotia to Rhode Island, where he stayed for a time, and then came to Delaware County, New York. So rough were the roads that the journey was a long and difficult one. Mr. Hicks came the last part of the way - from Morrisville on - through the dense virgin forests, holding to the faint trail only by following the blazed trees which the few who had gone before him had left marked. He took up one hundred acres of land, and set to work to build a log house. This was soon completed, and the next thing to be done was to clear away the heavy growth of wood in the midst of which his land lay. When he had enough of ground cleared, he proceeded to plant various crops; and then, from year to year, he widened the area of cultivation. and his wife had three children, two daugh- ters - Jessie and Polly -and one son, Ira. Mr. Hicks lived on his fine old farm, now well known as " the stone house farm, " with his son Ira till he died at the good old age of ninety. Mr. Ira Hicks bought the old farm from his father, Ambrose. Ile soon added to the origi-

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nal property three hundred and fifty acres, and so had four hundred and fifty acres of land in åll. He gave a great deal of attention, among other things, to cattle-raising. He also kept a fine dairy, and had a good trade in butter. Later he came down to Stratton Falls, and, buying ten acres of land, put up a store, and dealt in general merchandise and supplies. This proved a good move; for it supplied a growing need, and soon became a large and flourishing business, in addition to which lra Hicks also took charge of the post-office. Misfortune now came, this building being destroyed by fire. Misfortune, however, did not daunt Mr. Hicks, who soon had a new store, and was doing a larger business than ever -a business which continued until after the war in spite of the hard times which came at that period. He was much interested in military matters, and won his way to a Colo- nelcy in the New York State militia. He was a Democrat, and held the office of Super- visor of the town at one time.

Mr. Ira Hicks married Laura Chase, daugh- ter of David Chase, a progressive farmer, who had been one of the early settlers. Mr. Chase had seven other children - Sarah, Lucy, Phebe, Hiram, Calvin, William, and Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Ira Hicks had three children, namely : Samuel A. Hicks, who married Jennie R. Barnes, but is now dead; Ad- dison T. Hicks, who married Sarah Older, and lives in Stamford, having three children; and Charles L. Hicks. At the age of eighty-nine years Ira Hicks passed away, leaving a good record and an honorable name.

Mr. Charles L. Hicks was born in Roxbury, October 10, 1846. He received a good educa- tion at Delhi Academy. When he came of age, he took an interest with his father in the store. This he continued with good success and profit for many years. Mr. Hicks married Miss Mary Wilson, daughter of Robert F. and Polly (Powell) Wilson. Mr. Wilson came from Hobart to Roxbury some years ago, and lived here until his death, at the age of seventy-five. He had six children, including Mrs. Hicks -John P., Mary, Egbert, Calista, Charles M., and Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Hicks have a son, Samuel W., born April 11, 1876.

Some years ago Mr. Hieks built a large and handsome house in one of the finest locali- ties in the county. The famous Stratton Falls contribute not a little to the beauty of the place, which, with its pleasant walks and drives, its numerous shade and fruit trees, and its lawn tennis court, offers great attractions to his fashionable summer guests. Mr. Hicks is a Democrat in politics, and is a Free Mason, belonging to Cœur de Lion Lodge, No. 571, A. F. & A. M., of Roxbury. He is also a member of the Reformed church. He is known among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances as a true man and a polished gentleman, courteous, intelligent, and agree- able, and possessed of more well-merited popularity than often falls to one's lot.

OHN OLMSTEAD, Cashier of the First National Bank of Walton, be- longs to a prominent pioneer family, his aneestors on both his mother's and father's side being of good old New England stock. His grandfather, Philo Olmstead, who was a native of Ridgefield, Conn., be- eame by marriage with Phebe Gray the father of two sons and one daughter. The latter died in infancy ; while one of the sons, David Gray Olmstead, died in the prime of life at Walton, leaving a widow and one daughter. Philo Olmstead was well known throughout Connecticut as Colonel Olmstead, being a member of the State militia. He died in his seventy-sixth year, a wealthy man. His son Hiram was born at Meredith Square, Delaware County, N. Y., February 20, 1821, and educated at the district school and in the academy at Walton, afterward devoting his time to school-teaching and farming. In 1847 he married Sarah Hanford, who was born in Walton, April 15, 1827, on the old home- stead, which has descended to her from her father, Levi Hanford, and in which she still resides. Her father was a native of New Canaan, Conn., born in that town February 15, 1792, and married Cynthia Hanford, who, however, was not nearly related to him. Mrs. Olmstead has one sister now living, the wife of George S. St. John, of North Walton. (For interesting ancestral history see reminis-

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cences of William B. Hanford in another part of this volume.) Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Olm- stead reared seven children, all of whom are still living, John, the subject of this sketch, being the third child and second son.

John Olmstead was born in Walton, March 23, 1856; and, after imbibing all the learn- ing which the district school afforded, he was sent to the Walton Academy, at the same time helping his father on the farm, and later teaching school during the winter term. When twenty-two years of age, he began his business career, entering the employ of F. A. Brisack as a salesman. Appreciating his young clerk's rare business qualities, Mr. Brisack soon accepted him as a partner in the firm. May 25, 1881, Mr. Olmstead married the daughter of Mr. Brisack, Miss Emma; and they are the proud parents of two chil- dren: Edith B. Olmstead, a little miss of eleven years, who attends school and displays special talent for music; and Bertice H., who is a bright boy of eight.

In 1890 the firm of which Mr. Olmstead was a member disposed of its business, which was in a most flourishing condition; and in 1891 the First National Bank was established with a capital of fifty thousand dollars and five thousand dollars surplus, Mr. Olmstead being a stockholder and Cashier, and his father, Hiram Olmstead, a stockholder and Director. Mr. Olmstead is a Republican, is respected as a man of sterling worth and tried integrity, and has occupied the positions of Town and Corporation Clerk. He is a Con- gregationalist, while his wife is connected with the Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Olmstead reside at the pleasant home of her father, who is in frail health. Her mother died here in 1891.

USAN E. ENSLIN BAKER, a beloved resident of Hancock, Dela- ware County, was born in this place March 15, 1843, daughter of George Enslin, Jr., and his wife, Rhoda Bolton Ens- lin. Her paternal grandfather, George Ens- lin, a blacksmith by trade, worked his passage from Germany to America in order to save what money he had for a start in the New

World. He was one of the pioneers of South Canaan, Pa., where he followed his trade in connection with farming. Tom Quick, the noted Indian slayer and hunter, was a particu- lar friend of Mr. Enslin's family, with whom he made his home when not in the woods; and for a long time they had clothes and other mementos of that remarkable man.

Mr. Enslin lived to the advanced age of eighty-five years. His son, George Enslin, Jr., the father of Mrs. Baker, was born in 1794, in the town of Buckingham, Wayne County, Pa., just across the river from Han- cock. IIere he was educated, being obliged to walk five miles to school, but at an early age began to assist on the home farm. His first wife was Thankful Griffin, and his sec- ond, Rhoda Bolton, daughter of Jonathan Bolton, who came to this country from Con- necticut after the Revolutionary War. Mr. Bolton settled on the east branch of the Dela- ware River, on what is known as "Bolton's Flats " in the town of Hancock, where he was one of the early pioneers. Enlisting in the War of 1812, he was stationed at New York Harbor, and was receiving a pension for his services when he died.

Susan Enslin was educated in the district schools of Hancock, always making that place her home. In 1866 she married Augustus Lakin, son of John Lakin, of Hancock. (The genealogy of the Lakin family is given in connection with the biography of John T. Lakin.) Mr. Augustus Lakin was a lumber- man on the Delaware River, and was killed by logs falling upon him in the woods, dying the last day of the year 1880, leaving his wife a widow with two children, namely : Stead- man, who was born February 18, 1869, and died September 24, 1880; and Lucy E., who was born January 13, 1878, and is now the only living child of Mrs. Baker. On Decem- ber 2, 1883, Mrs. Susan E. Lakin married James Wellington Baker, of Gilboa, Scho- harie County, born March 29, 1837, who came to Hancock in 1866, and bought land near Hale's Eddy, where he engaged in lumbering and farming. His first wife, Mary Brown, a native of Fulton County, died here September 28, 1874, leaving two children -- Calhoun and Van Every, the former of whom died in 1883

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and the latter in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have educated two children, doing and caring for them as their own.

Mr. Baker, a Democrat in politics, was a very successful business man, and was active in town affairs, holding the position of Poor Master from 1889 to 1891 inclusive. He was an esteemed member of Shehawken Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter, A. F. & A. M., and when he died was buried with full Masonic honors. He is spoken of as a jovial, generous- hearted man, universally loved and respected. His death was a great loss to the community in which he lived, and was deeply mourned by his many friends and fellow-citizens. Mrs. Baker is noted for her charitable disposition, and is at present bringing up as her own two little children, a brother and sister, to whom she gives a happy home. Here they live con- tented with the love of so good and noble a woman, who is known to them as mother, and who is so sincerely esteemed by all.

ETUS F. SEARLES was born in Mid- dletown, Delaware County, N. Y., January 5, 1852. His early ances- tors came from England to Amer- ica, and settled in Massachusetts. Boaz Searles, his grandfather, married Mary Bel- lows, who belonged to the noted Bellows fam- ily of Vermont. They had ten children, who were born in the following order: Zetus, March 13, 1799; Lumen, September 22, 1801; Aurilla, November 10, 1802; Flowers, September 1, 1804; Hiram, July 24, 1806; Etheta, October 31, 1807; Marina, October 24, 1809; Jerry, June 17, 1810; Walter, July 27, 1813; Stillwell, January 31, 1815. Boaz Searles lived to be seventy-six years old.

The father of Mr. Zetus Searles married Miss Mary Blish, daughter of John Blish, one of the early settlers of Griffin's Corners, and one of the substantial citizens of that village. Of this union seven children were born, briefly recorded as follows: Electra, married first to Mr. S. Tompkins, second to William O. Kelly, and now living at Red Hill, has two children. Frances, married to Jason B. Caton, a carpenter in Roxbury, has six chil- dren. Elmira, married to Amos Allison,

lives in Margarettville, and has one child. Zetus F. is further spoken of below. Susan lives at home. Byron married Miss Clara Kelly, and is now a widower in Margarett- ville. Howard D. lives at home.

Zetus F. Searles married at twenty-two years of age the daughter of John and Ange- line (Fuller) Smith, both of whom are living quiet, retired lives at Kelly's Corners. Mr. Searles managed and worked the farm of his father-in-law for some years, and then bought a store, in which he is now engaged, and which is the largest mercantile establishment in the vicinity. Mr. Zetus Searles is a strong advocate of Republican principles in politics, and is a man of broad religious views, being untrammelled by petty distinctions of secta- rian creed, while he has sincere respect for "pure religion and undefiled."

He has one daughter, Lina, who was born on October 17, 1877.

OHN PETERS was born in the town of Stamford, Delaware County, N. Y., March 22, 1804, the son of Richard Peters and Susannah Halsted, who came to this county from Saratoga, and set- tled in the town of Stamford about the year 1795, on the farm recently occupied by Mr. James A. Rich, bringing all their earthly possessions in a wooden chest of primitive mould and rather heroic dimensions, which served them for years in their new home, in turn as table, tool-chest, wardrobe, and cup- board, and which was carefully preserved in the family for many years, bearing the marks of teeth and claws of many wolves, bears, and other wild animals, received during their al- most nightly visits while doing duty as a bar- ricade to their doorless cabin. It is not too much to say that the presence of some of these animals around or near their cabin during these years was almost of nightly occurrence; and the "death rate" of the item of wolves for a single season killed by Mr. Richard Peters and a neighbor, Mr. Timothy Canfield, as an occasional pastime, numbered as high as fifteen. The writer remembers a solitary cove in the woods near the Bovina line, on the old farm, pointed out by the old gentle-

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man (John Peters) many years ago as a spot where he was at one time attacked in open day by three of these half-starved creatures, he having only an axe and an old knife with which to defend himself, the conflict ending only when he had despatched the most deter- mined one and injured another, and being pretty well scratched up and done for himself.

The family of Richard Peters (whose father and grandfather both bore the same name) consisted of nine children, five sons and four daughters. Of these John was the sixth child and the youngest son. One of the social feat- ures of our country during these early years, worthy of note, was the existence of slavery throughout the Northern as well as the South- ern States. That previous to the passage of › a law about the year 1820 fixing at latitude thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes a divi - sion known as the "Compromise Line," dividing States that should henceforth be recognized as "slave" and "free," slavery existed to a limited extent in Delaware County, is a fact which doubtless many of the present generation have but imperfectly com- prehended. A considerable number of the prominent farmers, however, owned one or more slaves. One such was among the chat- tels of the Peters household - a colored girl whose name is now forgotten. Her acknowl- edged value appeared to have been estimated at from two hundred and fifty to three hun- dred dollars; and she was "swapped " around among the families of the neighborhood at about one of these prices, with nearly the same frequency and as little ceremony as the good woman of the house in our day changes her servant girl. The sequel of this particu- lar Topsy's history was that during her forced migrations she chanced to fall into hands that were reported as not being any too gentle toward her; and some of her former owners, having learned of this fact, straightway con- sulted with the good minister, the Rev. Rob- ert . Forrest, in reference to the matter. A purse was raised, a large proportion of the amount having been furnished by the preacher; and the slave girl soon became the property of the venerable Scotch divine. There being a worthy colored man in the neighborhood who had lately obtained his own freedom, and was

matrimonially inclined, the good man sought out the sable Romeo, and in course of time, with the fullest consent of all parties inter- ested, sold to him the faithful Juliet for the sum of one dollar, marrying them in the bar- gain, the couple living happily together for many years, the firm friends of their generous and saintly benefactor.

At the age of twenty-six years, July I, 1830, John Peters married Jane, daughter of William Blakely, Esq., of Kortright, N. Y., and shortly thereafter purchased of his father the Stamford homestead, the father removing shortly afterward, with the unmarried portion of his family, to Tully, Onondaga County, N. Y. There were born to John and Jane Peters four daughters and two sons: Nancy C., who became the wife of Samuel McCune; Sarah A., who died unmarried at the age of eighteen years; William B., now residing at Bloomville; Elizabeth J., wife of the late Judge D. T. Arbuckle; Susan F., wife of the Hon. Henry Davie; and John R. Peters -all of whom are living except the two first named. Although succeeding well as a farmer, the rather restless spirit of John was not to be confined to the limits of the homestead do- main; and, forming a partnership with a friend and neighbor, Mr. John Loughren (who later became the senior member of the butter firm of Loughren & Egbert, of New York City), carried on with him for many years a quite extensive and profitable business as dealers in butter, wool, etc. Later he added to this quite an extensive business in the manufacture of horse-rakes, being one of the pioneers in this industry, beginning with that marvel of labor-saving appliances, the wheel- less scratch rake, which in these progressive days would be regarded as a marvel of the man-killing art. The favorite branch of his business, however, during his early life, and that to which he devoted most of his atten- tion, was dealing in wool. In these carlier years nearly every farmer living in the towns of Andes, Bovina, Middletown, and, Stamford kept more or less sheep, many of them from two hundred to five hundred, and some as many as a thousand; and the sheep and wool industry was the most important in the county. Fulling and carding mills were as

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common as grist-mills at the present day. Every house had its spinning-wheels, and very many contained looms for weaving their yarn into cloth for family use. Buyers of wool were abundant in the county about sheep- shearing time, the latter part of May or early June; and activity meant success. Sleep on the part of local speculators during this rather brief portion of the season was a matter that was left almost out of the question ; and many were the "lots " of wool that were purchased for future delivery during the midnight and early morning hours, the good man of the house being "rattled " out of his bed, and the negotiations carried on and completed through the keyhole or open window, the purchaser having no time to wait for him to appear in his "proper person." During these years he was seldom without two or three farms on his hands, it being as much in the line of his speculative disposition to buy a drove of cows as a dairy of butter, and a farm as either, pro- viding always there was promise of quick re- turns and a fair commission ; and it might, we think, be safely said of him, as many of his early acquaintances would testify, that he possessed in a large degree a spirit of deter- mination which usually "made things go." In the year 1850, having purchased a farm in the village of Bloomville, he removed to that village, where he shortly after engaged in the mercantile business. This was the period when the gold excitement of California was at white heat; and, as an experiment, he made at different times large shipments of butter to that market. One of the methods adopted with fair success for preserving it sweet dur- ing the journey of two or more months neces- sary for its transit was that of packing the butter in small wooden kegs, holding about one gallon, identical in style with the old- fashioned oyster-kegs. These kegs were in turn packed in large casks of sixty or more gallon capacity, and the vacant spaces care- fully filled with Turk's Island salt. These weighty packages were then carted by team to Catskill, thence by water to New York, and thence around Cape Horn, crossing the equa- tor twice on their journey to the "forty- niners " in that then far-off land of gold - a venture which proved a financial success.

The advent of the hop-growing industry into Delaware County gave scope for speculation; and Mr. Peters, although well advanced in years, took his chances with the others, and, like most others who dealt in this rather treacherous commodity, met with varied experi- ences as to the result. Many of the members of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regi- ment will recall a characteristic incident which occurred during a visit made by Mr. Peters to their camp at Upton Hill, Va., dur- ing the war. It is needless to say that to many of the boys he was a welcome visitor ; and, when night came on, they succeeded in arranging for him a comfortable slceping- place in one of the tents. This, however, the old gentleman, being a good sleeper, entirely ignored; and, wrapping himself in a blanket, he took his place with "the rest of the boys," stretched at full length around the camp-fire, where he was soon sleeping soundly. The night being cool, the disposition was to un- consciously snuggle up a little closer to the embers; and toward morning the "mess " were awakened by him with the caution : "Take care there, boys! some of you are burning ! It's somebody's boots!" Then, suddenly getting out of his, he said: "Well, well! I guess it's my boots, after all! " They were both burned to a crisp - a joke which furnished sufficient fun for the rest of the night, and which no one seemed to enjoy better than himself. A pair of army "schooners " about as wide as they were long were substituted, which "did him proud " until he returned to Washington.

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York, Part 99

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 744

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 744