USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 17
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her husband reared nine children, of whom two, Claudius P. and the subject of this sketch, served in the army of the Union dur- ing the late war. Claudius was a member of the One Hundred and First New York Volun- teer Infantry, and was killed during an active charge at the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, by coming in contact with an unex- ploded shell. He was twenty-five years of age.
Horatio E. Chapin was in his fourteenth year when left an orphan by the death of his parents. He then went to live with Deacon Elijah Williams, a farmer, residing in the town of Eaton. Attending school in the winter season, and during the summer months assisting on the farm, he remained with Dea- con Williams until he arrived at his majority, when he began life for himself by working on the farm by the month. Continuing thus engaged until 1858, he removed to Morris- ville, where he was employed in a meat market until 1862, in October of which year he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Seventy-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry. With this regiment he went to Louisiana, and was for a time stationed at Brashear City. While engaged in duty there, he was captured by the rebels, but at once paroled. While being escorted back to the Union lines, he and a companion were taken sick. His com- panion died; and he himself barely escaped the same fate, his illness being so severe that he has never fully recovered his health. On account of disability thus caused he was hon- orably discharged in November, 1863, when
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he returned to Morrisville. In the spring of 1864 he went to Honeoye Falls, Monroe County, and became a clerk in a general store, where he stayed until the following Septem- ber, when he enlisted in the Fifteenth Engi- neer Corps, and went with that corps to Virginia, being actively engaged in that State during the remainder of the war. Immedi- ately after the evacuation of Richmond by the army of Lee, having assisted in throwing a pontoon bridge across the James River, he with the rest of the command entered that city. After the war was over, again returning to Morrisville, he kept a grocery at Canastota for a short time. In November, 1866, he formed a partnership with M. M. Chubbuck, under the firm name of Chapin & Chubbuck, and engaged in the drug business at Morris- ville. In 1867 Dr. Mead bought the interest of Mr. Chubbuck. The firm of Mead & Chapin carried on the business for a period of nearly eighteen years. At the end of this time, on account of ill health, Mr. Chapin withdrew from the firm, and has since lived retired from the active pursuits of life, enjoy- ing the society of a host of good friends and neighbors.
On November 6, 1867, Mr. Chapin married Adeline A. Hovey, who was born in the town of Eaton, Madison County, March 2, 1845, and is a daughter of Daniel T. and Ann (Crandall) Hovey. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin have one son, who is a graduate in pharmacy, and is now in the drug business on his own account in Mechanicsville, Saratoga County. An energetic young man of good natural abil-
ities, thoroughly educated for his calling, his success may confidently be predicted. Mrs. Chapin is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Chapin is one of the charter members of Tillinghast Post, No. 548, Grand Army of the Republic, and has served as Quartermaster of the Post most of the time since its organiza- tion. In politics he has always been a Re- publican, believing in that party's principles, and taking great pride in its history and achievements. Mr. and Mrs. Horatio E. Chapin, of Morrisville, have a rightful place in this "Biographical Review," as among the worthy citizens of Madison County, patriotic, public-spirited, using their influence for good.
ERRIT F. FITCH, for some time Secretary and Treasurer of the Fitch Battery and Electric Company of Oneida, which has recently been transferred to New York City parties, is a son of D. H. Fitch, a native of Cazenovia, Madison County. It was through the efforts of the last-named that the company of which his son is Secre- tary was organized. D. H. Fitch in his younger days was a telegraph operator; and, being of an inventive turn of mind, he made many improvements in telegraphic instru- ments and their use. For many years he was Superintendent of Telegraph Lines and Train Despatcher, and for some time was connected with the military telegraph supply department of Missouri. He afterward held the position of Assistant General Freight and Passenger Agent for the Brunswick & Western Rail-
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road Company in Georgia, remaining in the Southern Statcs several years. His health failing, he returned to New York, and estab- lished electrical works at Cazenovia. He married Mary J. Haws, who was the youngest living of a family of six children, he himself being the seventh child of his parents. He is now fifty-six years old, and resides in Caze- novia. He and his wife are the parents of five children, namely : Charles A., of Pater- son, N.J. ; Gerrit F .; James E .; Edith May ; and Elsie L.
Mr. D. H. Fitch has been the inventor of numerous articles of importance in the elec- trical line, among them the Perfect Battery and the Perfect Battery Excitant. The Per- Icct Battery, for open-circuit service, is a pure carbon battery, and "has more desirable qual- ities than have ever been combined in any other, among which are unequalled cleanli- ness, high and steady efficiency, low internal resistance, quick recuperation, and long dura- tion without care or renewal." The Perfect Battery Excitant is at once both an excitant and a depolarizer, which is an original feature and a step in advance of all others. With this excitant there is a powerful, soluble, de- polarizing ingredient in the solution, which is replaced whenever the solution is renewed, and without the expense of replacing ex- hausted negatives. Hence all the advantages of both an efficient depolarizing agent and a permanent or non - perishable negative. In this battery nothing but the solution and zinc are consumed by use, and they are so propor- tioned that they are consumed uniformly and
are exhausted at the same time. There is no wear on the carbon, and it lasts an indefinite length of time.
Besides the above, Mr. Fitch, Sr., is the inventor of the Chlorine Galvanic Battery and Faradic Battery. In the Chlorine Battery the spent residue, or the result of chemical ac- tion, instead of being sulphate of zinc, as in other batteries in which sulphuric acid or any of its salts are used, is the chloride of zinc, a deliquescent salt: hence there is no ten- dency to crystallize or spread above the surface of the liquid in the jar. The solution re- mains strikingly clear and clean through years of service, and it is very rarely necessary to cmpty or to clean the cells. The Faradic Battery, or Electro - medical Apparatus, for professional and family use, is constructed partly upon the Du Bois-Reymond principle, and in accordance with the latest develop- ments in electrical science. It gives direct currents of adjustable strength, and every kind and quality of Faradic currents that it is pos- sible to secure from any Faradic machine. Besides the above there are other and minor appliances to be used in connection with them, and independently of them.
Derrick H. Fitch, the grandfather of Ger- rit, was a Captain in the War of 1812. He lived to be eighty eight years old. Gerrit F. Fitch was born at Peterboro, in this county, September 12, 1868. Diligently improving his opportunities for learning, he attended public schools in Illinois, Missouri, and in New York, in this State at Cazenovia, until he was fifteen years old. After this, at an
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early age, he became engaged with his father in the electrical works at Cazenovia, making himself familiar with the details of the entire business, and assisting in the manufacture of various articles pertaining to the trade. The business being removed to Oneida, occupying a building erected by the Chamber of Com- merce, and subsequently purchased by the company, he went there in May, 1890, and was employed at first as a workman, but soon took the Secretaryship of the company.
Politically, the subject of the present sketch is a Republican, and, religiously, an Episco- palian. He is also a strong advocate of tem- perance principles and practice, and has been President of the Oneida Castle Temperance League. His education has been of the most practical nature : he has gained as much from observation as from books, and probably more. He keeps himself well informed on political, social, and other current events. Being a young man of a literary rather than a scien- tific turn of mind, his predilection is rather for letters and the power of expression than for the mechanic arts. Notwithstanding this fact, he has a good knowledge of electrical matters, and was well qualified for his posi- tion in connection with the Fitch Battery and Electric Company.
ILLIAM H. RICE, a retired farmer, living in the village of Madison, is descended from honorable pioneer ancestry. He now owns a very pleasant home, to which he has recently removed for the purpose of
giving his children a goodl education, and of living with his family in the comfort and ease which his means enable him to command. He has always been a farmer anil a successful one, having already in middle life accumulated a competency for his declining years. This result has been brought about by hard work and good management.
Baxter Rice, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, having grown to manhood in Mas- saachusetts, came to the town of Madison, Madison County, with a yoke of oxen, one horse, and a sled, in 1817, bringing with him his wife, Harmony White, and a daughter, Katharine, afterward Mrs. Homer Tucker, of Oriskany Falls. At that time he could have purchased the land now known as the Bouck- ville Flats for fifty cents per acre, but chose a hill farm in the south part of the town, on which was a log house, after a year or so erecting a framed house, the frame of which is now standing, owned by Albion W. Head. After seventy years the shingles were removed from this house by his grandson, O. H. Rice. The hill farm, much of it then being covered with woods, the resort of deer and other game, was the birthplace of the eldest son in this pioneer family, Oliver B. Rice. In the year 1819 Mr. Rice sold this farm, and removed one mile further east, still being in the same town. On farm number two were born to them five children, - Baxter, Harmony, Ade- line, Harriett, and Henry. Here Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Rice lived till all of their chil- dren, grown to manhood and womanhood, had gone from the parental home to homes of their
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own. Being now far down the declivity of life and alone, they sold the farm, and went to Oriskany Falls, from that time making their home with their son, Baxter Rice, Jr. Mrs. Rice died at the age of seventy-six, Mr. Rice some years after, at the age of eighty-eight. Farm number two is now owned by Mr. Henry Edwards.
Oliver B. Rice, the father of William, at twenty-six years of age married Mary Haz- zard, of Madison Centre; and, purchasing the farm adjoining his father's, within speaking distance, he lived on it for twenty-five years. He then sold that, and moved one mile west to the farm adjoining his birthplace, known as the Jonas Banton farm, near the Durfy school-house, on which he lived for seventeen years, thence moving to the village of Madi- son in the spring of 1884, where he lived but one year. His death occurred when he was sixty-seven years old. His widow died two years later, at the age of sixty-nine. They were among the best people in the county, and highly respected. They left two chil- dren; namely, William H. and Oliver H., both residing in the village of Madison.
William H. Rice was born February 7, 1848. Diligent and observing, he attended school as he had opportunity in his boyhood, but learned more by actual contact with the world than from books. The habits formed in early life have remained with him, and still influence his conduct. At the age of twenty- eight years he was married to Frances Hol- land, a daughter of Hamilton and Susan (Tinslar) Holland. She was one of five
children. ' Her father, who was a farmer, came from Massachusetts to this county when yet a small boy, and died at the age of seventy-eight, her mother being still living, at the age of seventy-two. After their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Rice lived one year on the old homestead, and then on a rented farm two years. They then lived in Madison Cen- tre two years, and then returned to the old home, upon which they lived one year. After living in Augusta one year, they removed to Madison Village, where Mr. Rice was en- gaged in teaming, and afterward for two years rented the farm which he now owns, having at the end of this time bought the interests of the other heirs. Upon this farm he lived until the fall of 1892, when he bought his present neat and comfortable home. Start- ing in life without means, and acquiring the competency which he now enjoys, Mr. Rice has demonstrated in a most practical manner what can be done in a country where oppor- tunity is free and equal to all. He and his wife have six children; namely, Henry B., Mary H., Susan F., Earl H., Clinton B., and Weenia B. Politically, Mr. Rice is a Re- publican, as was his father before him. He is a strong believer in the principle of pro- tection to American industries. He is no less in favor of the best and highest practical education for the young, and is giving all his children the most thorough education his means and the facilities existing will permit. This was in reality the principal reason for his leaving the farm and settling down in the village. No man knows better than does
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Mr. Rice that the perpetuity of republican institutions depends on the intelligence of the citizens, for it is only an intelligent and vigilant constituency that can hold in check the designing demagogue who will occasionally get into power.
DMOND M. REED is a resident farmer of the town of Lenox, which has been his home for fifty-nine years. His grand- father, Christopher John Martin Reed, of Saxony, came over to this country with Gen- eral Lafayette, and served seven years in the Revolutionary War. This patriot soldier died in Wallingford, Conn., at the age of eighty - two, in the year 1840. He was a farmer in moderate circumstances, his prin- cipal fortune being in children, of whom he had twelve, seven of them living to matu- rity. The maiden name of his wife was John- son. His son, William Reed, the father of our subject, was born in the town of Durham, Conn., in 1786, and died at Oneida Valley Point in 1852. He served in the War of 1812. His wife was Jane Cameron, born in Albany, N. Y., daughter of John Cameron. Her father was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and during the Revolutionary War was in the English army, in New Jersey, but deserted and espoused the cause of the patriots. His wife's family name was Farr.
Our subject's parents were married in Greene or Albany County. Edmond was the seventh of twelve children, and the third of four sons. He was born in New Haven County, Connecticut, in 1817. Of this large
family all are dead but Edmond and three sisters, namely: first, Jane, widow, whose husband, William L. Bort, was killed in the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, leaving her with seven children; second, Eliza, widow of Thomas E. Brodway, of New York City, a wealthy meat merchant, who has one son ; third, Maria, now Mrs. Edson, formerly Mrs. Randall, the mother of three sons and one daughter.
Edmond M. Reed was reared to farming and to hard labor. He had a fair education under private teachers, and continued study- ing until quite grown. He remained at home until his marriage, March 10, 1841, with Miss Henrietta Huntley, daughter of James and Nancy (Teharst) Huntley, the father a native of Connecticut, and the mother from the Mohawk Valley. Mrs. Reed was born in Manlius, N. Y., 1820. The happiness of the married life of this couple has been shadowed by the death of four sons; but they have yet four stalwart sons living, namely: William F., a farmer, has a wife and six children; Edmond M., Jr., a carpenter of Oneida, mar- ried, and has two sons; Daniel C., farms a part of the home farm, has a wife and three sons; and George V., living at home, with his wife and one son. In company with his sons, Mr. Reed does general farming, and raises some tobacco. He also runs a dairy of four- teen cows. At one time his farm was over a mile long, but from time to time he has sold large portions of it to his sons.
When Mr. Reed was a young man, in this part of the State of New York game of all
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kinds was very plentiful; and often they had to depend upon what their guns would bring down for meat for their tables. In this way they became expert marksmen; and marvel- lous, but true, are the tales told of these early Nimrods, especially of our subject. He was known far and near as a wonderful hunter, and had but few, if any, equals in those days, and in these latter years could take his place beside such celebrities as Bogardus and Dr. Carver. It is a matter of history his having killed two deer at one shot. In the winter of 1856 he killed one hundred and ten pigeons at one shot, and at another some seventy-six; but they were roosting at the time in large numbers. He was the first man who shipped game to New York City over the New York Central Railroad. In the winter of 1856, in partnership with one Leonard Baum, of New York City, he sent forty-two thousand pigeons to that city from Grafton Station, Ohio. He helped to lay the first track of the New York Central ; and his first ride on the railroad was from Albany to Schenectady, in 1835. The train consisted of an engine and one box- car ; and the engineer was conductor, fireman, brakeman, and the whole crew in himself. A very funny incident which evidenced the dif- ference in the speed between that time and now occurred on this trip. The father's gun was hanging up in the box-car, and fell out by the roadside. Edmond jumped off the train, picked it up, and jumped on again, without any slacking up or waiting for him. It could scarcely be done to-day on the same road. Mr. Reed's sons have in-
herited his remarkable skill in gunning, espe- cially George, who is at home on the farm.
Mr. Edmond M. Reed is honorably con- nected with the Masonic order, being a Master Mason. He was Justice of the Peace for four years. In politics he is a thorough and consistent Democrat. Hc holds to the doctrines of the Presbyterian church, and his children have all been brought up in that religion.
OHN HUNT, a worthy member of the Society of Friends, a public-spirited citizen of De Ruyter, was born in this town, March 1, 1826. His ancestral connec- tions, maternal and paternal, for several gen- erations have mostly worn the plain garb, spoken the "plain language," and cultivated the sterling virtues of the sect which holds so strongly to the inward promptings of the spirit. His father, William Hunt, was born in or near Cambridge, Washington County, January 30, 1801. His grandfather, James, it is thought, was born in Massachusetts, son of one of seven brothers who came from Eng- land to America in Colonial times. James Hunt emigrated from Massachusetts to Wash- ington County at an early day, and, after dwelling there some time, about the year 1813 came with his wife and family to Madison County, and bought timber land in that part of the town of De Ruyter known as Quaker Hill, induced by the solicitation of Friends in that neighborhood to stay there instead of continuing his journey to Scipio, Cayuga County, as had been his original intention.
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In 1841 Mr. Hunt went to Quaker Basin to live in the home of his son, William, where he died in February the following year. His wife's maiden name was Anna Chase. Will- iam was the fourth son, and the youngest but one of the family of eight children, the others being James, Elihu, Phineas, Mercy, Annie, Esther, and Rebecca. The last-named, the only one now living, was born in 1806. She resides in Cambridge, Washington County, N.Y.
William Hunt was thirteen years old when he came with his parents to Madison County, then sparsely peopled and only partly re- claimed from its natural wildness. Having grown to manhood and taken a wife, he bought land in Quaker Basin, and lived there from 1841 till 1866, when he sold that farm and removed to Pompey Hollow, where he con- tinued to reside until his death, February 10, 1888. He married Elizabeth Breed, daughter of Zephaniah and Hannah (Wing) Breed. She was born in Charleston, Montgomery County, February 13, 1806, and died Decem- ber 29, 1875.
John, the subject of the present sketch, was the first born of the nine children who lived to requite the carcs of this good mother. He had four sisters and four brothers, - Sarah, Lydia A., Charles, Hiram, Mary, James, Hannah, and William Edwin. His book learning was acquired in the district schools of his neighborhood : his practical knowledge of the art of husbandry was gained by long experience of work on his father's farm, where he grew to vigorous manhood. The first farm
owned by him was bought in 1867, after his second marriage, and sold two years later, when he removed to his present farm, a mile and a quarter from the village of De Ruyter. He first married September 23, 1852, Sarah Wright, who was born in De Ruyter, a daugh- ter of David and Elizabeth Wright, early settlers of that town, natives of Saratoga County. "She died July 19, 1863, leaving one daughter, Mr. Hunt's only child, Jennie M., now wife of Frank J. Connell, who has one child, Bessie S. Connell.
Mr. Hunt's second marriage was with Mrs. Sarah (Howard) Harrington, who was born in Harford, Cortland County. Her father, Sen- eca Howard, a native of Coxsackie, Columbia County, after his marriage removed to Har- ford, where he spent the remainder of his laborious life, following the trade of black- smith. His wife's maiden name was Mar- garet Cornwell. She was born in Columbia County, and died in Harford, having reared eight children, - Thomas, Mary, Burnett, Richard, William, Sarah, Alfred, and Henry. Mrs. Hunt had previously been married, at twenty years of age, to Milan Harrington, a native of Richford, Tioga County, son of Stephen and Amy (Wilcox) Harrington. Mr. Milan Harrington died October 15, 1864, at his home in the town of Richford.
Mr. Hunt has given his allegiance to the Republican party since its formation. Not covetous of the honor of office, not greedy for its gain, he is one whom his fellow-citizens like to place in positions of trust. He has served as Assessor and Highway Commis-
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sioner, and has been twice elected, 1892 and 1893, a member of the County Board of Supervisors. The more important committees of which he is a member are on Assessment Rolls and Equalization, and Justices and Con- stables. He takes an active interest in local enterprises, and is Secretary of the Quaker Basin Butter Factory.
AUL S. MAINE, a leading merchant of Perryville, N. Y., was born De- cember 13, 1847, in the town of Fenner. His parents were Asa R. and Lucy W. Maine. The family were originally from Connecticut, the grandfather, Paul R. Maine, having been born there in 1791, but moved to the town of Fenner, Madison County, in 1810, and bought a farm of three hundred acres. He accumulated considerable means, and became one of the leading farmers in the town; also Inspector of Public Schools, and a deacon in the Baptist church at Fenner Corners. Of his family of five children only two survive: Franklin P., living near North Manlius, N. Y. ; and Elon G., residing in the village of Perryville. . The grandfather died at the age of eighty, on the farm he first bought and settled upon. He voted with the Republican party.
The father of our subject, Asa R. Maine, grew to manhood in the town of Fenner, and here bought a portion of the old home farm. On this well-cultivated and beautiful place he married, reared his family of five children, and died in 1863, at the age of forty-two years.
In his religious proclivities he clung to the faith of his ancestors, and was a thorough Baptist. He was a Republican, and held many offices under the patronage of that party. For two years he was Supervisor, Justice of the Peace three terms, was Internal Revenue Assessor, and also had been Inspector of Schools and Town Clerk. In every position of trust he held Mr. Maine was eminently satisfactory and trustworthy; and, when he finally retired from active service, it was with the reputation of sterling honesty and un- impeachable rectitude. His children were: Marion A., who married Horatio K. Vedder, and lived near Little Falls, N. Y., where she died at the age of twenty-seven; Paul S .; Frank L., living in Manlius, N. Y., a lawyer and Justice of the Peace; Ida P., Mrs. Charles Dick, of Jefferson County, New York; and Nellie A., who died when eleven years of age. The mother died in 1873, aged fifty years.
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