Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 82

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review
Number of Pages: 1256

USA > New York > Wyoming County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 82
USA > New York > Livingston County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 82

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In the summer of 1862 Governor Morgan authorized Mr. Harrington to raise a company of volunteers. Nine days after receiving his credentials he reported at Camp Portage with

borgiavi. od saxi nl te wel to visite odi moved but notdreng did

evbude wist eid antning stidV/ 104

to nott forti sofibo aff o mad sff .maishiomA ofni

199: deq vififsod Jo yfs fradist of as wtow

Rob ods lo aponeribong odt lo proxib puotoibui

588

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

the first full company of the new regiment, which was mustered as Company D, One Hun- dred and Thirty-sixth Regiment, New York Volunteers; and he was commissioned Cap- tain. Only three captains of the regiment, of whom he was one, were present for duty November 9; and Company D, which left New York ninety-four strong, had only forty - five men present for duty in December, 1862. After Fredericksburg the regiment moved up the Rappahannock from Falmouth, and did picket duty at Bank's Ford. The armies faced each other with the river between. Plans and preliminary dispositions were made, and batteries placed in position for a general attack at this point. Rain came, and the mud prevented an advance. The bloody repulse of December 15 was followed by the bloodless failure of January 22. Then came the change of commanders, so frequent in the first years of the war; and Burnside gave place to Hooker. The Army of the Potomac went into winter quarters, and was inactive till May, 1863. Captain Harrington tendered his resignation, received an honorable discharge, and came home with the purpose of entering another branch of the service. Circumstances afterward rendered this impracticable.

September 16, 1862, Mr. Harrington mar- ried Martha Barnett, of Warsaw, a graduate of Elmira Female College in the class of 1861. She had no children, and died October 4, 1871, at the age of thirty-two. He married Sarah Alice Earle, eldest daughter of the late Justus Edward Earle, of New York, in that city, May 20, 1874. They have three chil- dren - Earle, George, and Alice.

Mr. Harrington was admitted to the bar in Buffalo, May 4, 1864. He soon gained a prac- tice, which became varied and exacting in time. Sheriff Davis, whose term ended 1871, said Mr. Harrington paid him more fees than any other lawyer. From 1865 to 1880 he labored industriously in his profession; and he has carried on a general practice in State and national courts for thirty years, though it has not engrossed his effort. A considerable practice in bankruptcy, under the act of 1867, came to him. He has shown a preference for equity practice, the system by which "posi-

tive law is construed, and rational law made." "I don't care for equity, I want to know the law," said a litigious client who sought his advice. In his early practice a client in an important case said, "You haven't told what you want me to swear to." "I want you to tell the truth, if it be possible for a man who can make that infamous suggestion," was the indignant reply. He once said the language of Seward was not inappropriate to himself : "I knew I was to support myself by the prac- tice of law. I liked the study of law; but only necessity reconciled me to the toleration of the technicalities of the practice, to the jealousies and contentions of the courts. Nevertheless I resigned myself to the practice with so much cheerfulness that my disinclina- tion was never suspected." Patience, tenac- ity, and industry lead to careful trial of his cases; and his mastery of language insures clear and forcible statement of law and fact to court and jury. His intellectual methods exact closer study of the principles which underlie cases than of the precedents that illustrate them. Discrimination in the selec- tion of authorities cited and appreciation of the issues are evident in his briefs. Facts are stated precisely and authorities fairly con- sidered. He does not mistake exaggeration for strong statement, nor try to win his case by misrepresenting an opponent's, realizing that, while argument cannot make a weak case strong, a clear, incisive, logical presentation may be effective when a clumsy argument would bring sure defeat.

Desultory rather than systematic, Mr. Har- rington's reading covers a wide range. It may be doubted whether much good results from prescribed courses of reading. Assimi- lation and growth come with interest. Read- ing as a task bears little fruit. With opportunity the hungry mind selects appropri- ate food. The first book he owned, aside from school books, was Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. At sixteen he bought two vol- umes, then book by book, for reference or study, as opportunity or need came, until he gathered two thousand volumes, as tools for use. The titles and dates of purchase tell the story of selection, range, and growth.

wat weil Carolin hate abouttattoo at wol gers - Fromigos wom po

i model of How i limps tot sies J'hob !"

ni ansilo & ositout virtu ald at wwirbs Atomtext only to animations Sendt vinO cocina

both bit proibido on bed ade

IT With gold Sind YouT HANGI LOS wHIG

589

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

This collection of "infinite riches in a little room " includes selections from the best literature in many departments - samples of healthy growth of broad and varied literary fields, without their noxious products. Occa- sional addresses, editorial writing on ques- tions of the hour, discussion of topics of public interest, have in part satisfied the duty, appreciated by the right-minded citizen, of using his powers to promote the general weal. In an article published some years ago he says the well-conducted newspaper "never meddles with a public abuse unless it is fla- grant, and is always ready to plead the cause of any class in the community which is unable to get a hearing for substantial grievance."

The removal of the county site (1878) and the building of the Rochester and State Line Railroad (1872-79) were questions of local importance. Warsaw bonded for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to secure the road, and the Board of Supervisors passed a reso- lution in the interest of removal. The Hon. E. C. Holt, an able writer, brilliant and ver- satile, and others had advocated removal of the county buildings and business from Warsaw, in several newspapers from week to week. At the solicitation of prominent citizens Mr. Harrington helped settle both these ques- tions. Two newspapers issued extras filled chiefly with his articles in opposition to the threatened removal. He addressed a meeting of the commissioners of the bonded towns at Warsaw, April 16, 1872, and as chairman of the committee drafted and reported resolu- tions, which were unanimously adopted. The third resolution says, "The Rochester and State Line Railway promises to become . . . essentially a trunk line, with varied and im- portant connections, creating wealth in the country it traverses by developing resources hitherto insignificant because merely local." The action of this committee contributed to the revival of activity which followed in this public work, and assured its ultimate com- pletion.

In the summer of 1879 he contributed to the Rochester Union and Advertiser a series of articles signed "Taxpayer," criticising the "management, broken promises, and violated

obligations" of this corporation, and urging enforcement of the contract for completing the road. In one of these articles he said, "It is singular, in an enterprise of this character, involving the expenditure of millions of money, that, from the beginning of the work of building a hundred miles and more of rail- way until to-day, through seven years of ex- penditure and agitation, no exhibit has ever been made showing the disposition of the vast sums of money put into the hands of the corporation that was nominally building this railway." In 1886 Mr. Harrington contrib- uted to the Wyoming County Times an article in which he said: "The question of the water supply of Warsaw has now assumed such mag- nitude, and its requirements are so diversified and imperious, that the people of Warsaw should control it. The village should own its water-works." Municipal ownership of the water-works was adopted by a large majority of the popular vote a few years later.

At the close of the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic held in Den- ver, July, 1883, as one of the guests of the State of Colorado Mr. Harrington partici- pated in a five days' excursion over the Rocky Mountains. As the member from New York and its chairman, he prepared and presented on behalf of the committee a series of resolu- tions, which were unanimously adopted and widely published. His tact and felicity as an after-dinner speaker on patriotic, literary, so- ciety, and anniversary occasions have received marked recognition. A gentleman who had attended public dinners on three continents once spoke of Mr. Harrington as one of the best toast-masters he had ever met. We name some of his lectures, orations, and occa- sional addresses: "American Literature: Its Achievement and Promise" (1856); "The Imagination: Its Place in Actual Life"; "The Many and the Few - Men and Their Rulers " (1858); "The Golden Opportunity for Young Men," Independence Day oration (1880); "What to Read and How to Read it " (1882); "The Heart of the Rocky Moun- tains " (1885); "The Significance of Memorial Day " (1886); "The Cost of the War to pre- serve the Union " (1887); "Asa Burr Merrill,

W/ moil Repairand' box zoniblind vimos

BOBgaraqeqawon ovT .anoij

03 bostifindnos ottimosoo aids to noitos odT aids wi bowoflot doble rivijos lo fsvivront ods

sulh yagok add to smell ouff : : (1886) / 01- bstudiugros od, et81' to istina edf ml rinoo Sjømitlu air bowers bon altow .sildu

590

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

the Loyal Volunteer," an anniversary oration (1889). In 1883 he was one of the speakers at the annual dinner of Amherst alumni in New York, and he has frequently spoken at fraternity banquets of college men. First delivered before a literary society, the lecture on Imagination was repeated before a pop- ular audience by request of a committee of citizens, and afterward delivered frequently. The Hon. F. F. Fargo said in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser of Mr. Harrington's oration July 4, 1880: " His effort was in every respect worthy of the occasion. The address was pleasing, hopeful, instructive, and elo- quent." Said the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle : " An adequate report of this able address cannot be given in brief space. Its true place is in the hearts of the people who heard it, and there it surely shall do its work." The Western New Yorker said: "His speech was a splendid effort, and deserved the generous applause it received. . . . It was lis- tened to attentively throughout." The Times said, "His remarks were almost entirely im- promptu, and they were eloquently spoken and enthusiastically received."

An editorial notice of the lecture on "The Heart of the Rocky Mountains," which was delivered in Warsaw four times, by request of audiences who had listened to it, said, "It was rich in suggestion, clear and exact in statement of altitudes, population, industries, and possibilities, told by one who possessed the rare faculty of clothing excellent ideas and sound opinions in the choicest and most entertaining language." An editorial notice of his Memorial address in 1887 said it was "more eloquent, interesting, and suggestive than is often heard on such an occasion, and was thoroughly appreciated by the large audi- ence, as was attested by the fact of his being called out the second time, in response to which he made a brief but brilliant supple- mentary speech." President Gates, of Am- herst, said of the oration on Asa Burr Merrill that it was a "most fitting and patriotic ad- dress." Mr. Merrill, editor of the New York World, a brother of Captain Merrill, styled it a "very thoughtful, appreciative, and eloquent address." The Hon. Noah Davis said he

"read this address with great pleasure. It is an eloquent and just tribute to the memory of Captain Merrill, whose brilliant and gallant service it depicts in touching words. What it incidentally says of modern modes of educa- tion meets my hearty approval." Dr. Ward, editor of the New York Independent, said, " I like what it says of the new South." The Albany Law Journal gave it a leading edito- rial. Mr. Proctor, author of "The Bench and Bar," said, "It abounds in learned historical illustrations, and contains a well-reasoned critique on the manner in which the cavalry arm of the service was treated by politicians during the early years of the late Rebellion." Sketches of the character and career of his law preceptor, Thayer, his pastor, Dudley, his physician, Palmer, his personal and business associate, Farman, his young acquaintance, Merrill, are instances of the generous, dis- criminating, and candid tributes he has paid to worthy friends. Looking backward, he may fairly say of these that he has written no line he need wish to blot.

Invited to deliver the address at Warsaw on Memorial Day, 1872, Mr. Harrington availed himself of that opportunity to urge the erection of a monument for the soldiers of Wyoming County. The presentation was timely. Resolutions drawn by him were adopted, an organization was effected, and preliminary work was soon begun. As chair- man of the executive committee, he appealed to the people, on the platform and in resolu- tions, reports, and addresses; and the monu- ment is a grand expression in bronze and granite of the popular estimate of the service it commemorates. Mr. Harrington attended the Grand Army of the Republic Convention held in New York, October 13, 1882, at which the Veterans' Rights Union was organ- ized. He addressed the convention at length, said "discreet counsels should prevail," and that "in the Post and at the encampment par- tisan politics have no place." As chairman of the committee, he prepared a preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted by the convention. Among them was the famous resolution declaring for preference, "equal capacity being assumed," to Union vet-

VARIVAR JADIHTAXDOIS

Bom bow sentado sr nienotsigo banos

591

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

erans in official appointments. The statutes of New York have since been modified to accord with the spirit of these resolutions.

He took an early interest in politics. A boy of nine, he was heard discussing the tariff with a juvenile Whig in the village hotel; and he went seven miles to hear Martin Grover, then famous as "the ragged lawyer," tell why Henry Clay was not fit to be Presi- dent. Then the Free Soil movement pushed revenue questions to the background. Young Harrington's study of economic science began in college. With Wayland as a text-book and Adam Smith an authority, his early impres- sions were along free trade lines. The politi- cal strife of that time was attractive to young men, and he took eager part. On one occa- sion, in the campaign of 1860, from a plat- form fronting a public square, in the blaze of a thousand "wide-awake " torches, he pre- sented the aims and the political ideals of en- thusiastic young men of that day, when ideals controlled men and parties. As the speaker stepped down, a venerable Republican, who had come into the new party from the Aboli- tionists, grasped his hand, saying, with tears on his cheeks, "God bless you, young man, that's heavenly." He spoke for Folger in the city of New York in 1882. He did not join the political brigands who struck the Repub- lican candidate to hit another, and led the way to the revenue legislation miscalled tariff reform.

The campaign of 1892 interested him deeply. His early impressions on economics had been corrected by study and observation, and he was now a believer in the Ameri- can system of protection to our industries. His letters and extracts from his political addresses were widely published in leading Republican journals. A veteran who has spoken eloquently in every campaign since 1860 wrote: "I have just finished reading Mr. Harrington's second letter on the issues involved in this campaign. It is a full, fair, and forcible presentation of the issues in controversy between the parties, and en- tirely unanswerable." General Sheridan re- ferred to it in characteristic language as "a strong letter." Commissioner Tanner car-

ried the letter to Secretary Tracey at the Navy Department, said it was worth votes in New York, and it should appear prominently in the New York Tribune. It filled a column of that newspaper October 29. In publish- ing this letter, the Albany Evening Journal called attention to the "pointed and strong answer to a letter from the league secretary by Augustus Harrington, the well-known law- yer." The Buffalo Express said : " Some time ago the Express printed a letter from Augus- tus Harrington, of Warsaw, in reply to a cam- paign document. . .. The letter attracted wide attention, and was warmly commended by Republicans. The secretary of the league answered him, and Mr. Harrington's answer is herewith printed." The Hon. Charles E. Fitch said of this letter: "Brilliant in rhetoric, it is patriotic in sentiment. I

am sure it will do great good, and it should have the widest circulation." In this letter Mr. Harrington said: "It may not be out of place to say that, so far as I am a politician, I am an amateur, not a professional. I have addressed my fellow-citizens on the political issues many times, never for reward, either money or office. . .. Personally, I expect as many favors from Cleveland as from Harrison. To me these men stand for the principles they represent. The party is stronger than any man. Mr. Cleveland's personality has little to do with the vital question of the hour. He cannot control the men who have seized the reins." The Troy Daily Times said, "In an admirable address, 'A Last Word to Re- publican Voters,' Augustus Harrington makes several strong points which citizens should consider weil in deciding how to cast their ballots next Tuesday." Though interested in political questions, Mr. Harrington has never been a party spoilsman or camp-follower. He has done what he could for good government and healthy public sentiment. He has not refused to vote because politics are base, nor indorsed corrupt practice on the plea that it will help the party. He once said: "Honesty is an element of character, as controlling one day or time as another. I have no faith in the honesty of a man who is unscrupulous in politics, in the piety that shines Sunday and

IMS

mon of aulim novos Snow edf ban [' od of th fon ety vil) ywo

Urmondlowfreds of anoifromp simavon

worgini elins aid viriontas nis dime miobA

ci pisupa bildug & gridnont frtol he to afnobi footflor ott bas emrin dt botnsa anthony nos nost bolloitaos fod/. odt mort yang won ads offit praos

" samoy quoy agold bod albuds ald to

592

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

passes under eclipse the rest of the week, or in the patriotism that is dormant until it scents an office." In 1858 Governor Morgan appointed him Commissioner for loaning the United States Deposit Fund in Wyoming County, and he performed the duties of this office creditably during his term. Public duties with him have been incidental and un- sought. He has never been a candidate for office, nor shrunk from any duty which his relations to society imposed. When a young man, he was nominated by acclamation for Commissioner of Schools. He declined this "unsolicited compliment " of nomination to an office which he said he must decline should he receive an election. The Democratic Atlas said, "We are sorry for this because, in the language of the New Yorker, 'the nomina- tion was one eminently fit to be made.'"

Not yet sixty years old, Mr. Harrington has been successful as teacher, as editor, in af- fairs, and has practised a laborious profession for a generation. His writings would fill vol- umes. Education, temperance, good morals, find a friend in him. Travel has given him a large acquaintance throughout the country. He has never had the tobacco, opium, or drink habit. With a good physique, he stands six feet eleven inches, and weighs one hundred and seventy pounds. A trained and modu- lated voice, with clear enunciation, enables a large audience to hear him out or in doors. He is at ease on the platform, a practised speaker both with and without preparation. Plutarch's phrase about the trophies that roused Themistocles quickens ardent youth. When Lieutenant Stoneman went from West Point to his regiment, he met a family in the West that he had known in boyhood. The uniform he wore touched young Schofield, and the ambition then born unfolded into the ca- reer of the soldier who is at the head of the army. Example is suggestive and inspiring. A rising teacher said that Mr. Harrington's advice and example led him to enter Yale. Other young men have been so urged and stimulated. A growing attorney who was a student in his office, now gaining prominence as a corporation lawyer, said recently that Mr. Harrington was the best pleader he knew.

His commencement oration asserted the need of earnestness and positive belief, and gave the keynote of his life. He has kept in touch with the best social impulse, with the spirit that animates the faithful citizen, with the life that fills a duty or a need, and does not measure ordinary men by the standard of the individual here and there who has claim as a warrior, as a statesman, or as a hero. Whether it fills a page in the history of the nation, of the race, or of the neighborhood, the significance of any life is in its character. In place of formal analysis, we copy here from a careful sketch prepared by another, and printed some years ago : -

"Mr. Harrington learns with great rapidity, especially by observation, and never allows anything to escape his attention that comes within his range. .. . He is somewhat re- markable in his ability to remember persons, and to recognize anything which has once secured his attention. . . . He has good con- versational ability and no hesitation generally for words. He has self-respect, independence of mind, and more than ordinary decision. . .. He is kind, obliging, liberal; and he cannot bear to see the weak, helpless, and in- nocent abused. ... He loves the truth, has no fellowship with injustice and wrong, and is determined to do what he considers right at any sacrifice. He cannot bear disorder, is decidedly disposed to have everything where it belongs, . . . has a lively and vivid imagi- nation and excellent taste, a happy talent for comparison, readily detects resemblances or discrepancies, can illustrate, analyze, and per- ceive analogies or the want of them, has ex- cellent powers of generalization and superior critical ability, is anxious to know the cause of phenomena that attract his attention, has a deep, original mind and superior judg- ment."

J SAMUEL JOHNSON, an attorney- at-law and counsellor in the village of Warsaw, was born in Centrefield, On- tario County, N. Y., October 28, 1840. His grandfather, Isaac Johnson, was a New England farmer in good circumstances, the

donne at food and off slif ent to stoned odf

[ gnimegVI ni u

593

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

date of whose death is uncertain. His widow, who lived to a great age, died in Auburn. The children of the grandparents were: Fran- cis, Horace C., Hiram, Clarissa, and Amelia.

Hiram Johnson, the father of the subject of this biography, was born in the State of Con- necticut in 1800. Though not college-bred, he was a man of scholarly attainments, and made quite a notable reputation as a civil engineer and surveyor. He surveyed and laid out the course of one of the earliest railroads in Ohio; and his work was esteemed of a very superior quality, and has stood the test of comparison with many of more modern con- struction. After his marriage in 1839 he lived near Canadoga, in Ontario, until 1840, when he went to Farmersville, where he took charge of a farm of three hundred and sixty- five acres, besides a smaller tract covering ninety acres. Having sustained some heavy financial losses through the banking establish- ment in Canadoga, he went into the country for some years, hoping by retrenching his ex- penses to somewhat retrieve his impaired fort- unes. He was most successful as a farmer; and, after moving to Warsaw in 1857, he for eight years gave up the active cares of busi- ness life. In 1865 he took his family to Powersville, Ohio, where they lived in great retirement. Mr. Johnson's first wife was Miss Jane Slade, the daughter of a sailor. She died in 1869, in the sixty-sixth year of her age, leaving five children - Frank H., living in Warsaw; J. Samuel, of whom this is a record; Eliza, the wife of George H. King, of Marion, Ind., the mother of three children; Ellen, the wife of W. F. Wilson, a machine manufacturer of Chicago, and the mother of one daughter; Edgar H., a manu- facturer of meat compounds and extracts in Marion, Ind., and a member of a company having a monopoly of the business in this country. He has a son and a daughter. Mr. Hiram Johnson was married a second time, and was a widower at the time of his death, in 1875.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 82

Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Number of Pages: 1256

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review
Number of Pages: 1256