USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 32
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After his marriage Mr. Ladd took up his
residence in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, where he was employed as a clerk for two years in the hardware store of Wells & Austin. In 1875 he bought the one-hundred- acre farm he now owns and occupies, of which small grain and hay are the main crops. It is an excellent farm, and, with its good, sub- stantial buildings, as attractive and well ordered as any place in the neighborhood. He has a fine dairy of sixteen head of grade Holstein and other cattle. As a result of industry and enterprise, his farm has come to be classed among the most valuable in the town. To his wife, who has been in every sense a true and loving helpmate, materially assisting him in his labors, he owes much of his present prosperity. They are the happy parents of two children, namely: William C., born in 1874; and Anna E., in 1879 - both of whom are at home.
Mr. Ladd in politics is an old and tried member of the Republican party, and one of its most active adherents. Thoroughly American in his views, this love for his coun- try comes directly to him by years of hered- ity; for, as far as he can trace, his ancestors were ever lovers of the cause of freedom, and in the early struggle of the colonies shed their blood for the independence of the nation. He is not, nor has he ever been, an aspirant for public office, but does his duty at the polls simply for his loyalty as a citizen. He and his wife are devout members of the Baptist church, and few in the congregation are more highly esteemed for their religious principles and the exalted aims which animate
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their daily lives than they are. In the fra- ternal orders Mr. Ladd is a member of Chit- tenango Lodge, No. 196, A. O. U. W .; and both he and his wife are members of Chitte- nango Grange, No. 688, P. of H., also mem- bers of Onondaga County Pomona Grange.
UGENE BROWN. The manufacture of butter and checse has increased enor- mously during the past thirty years. This is owing doubtless in a great measure to the growth of cities, which is in itself an indi- cation of the increasing wealth of the coun- try. Wealthy people arc able to supply themselves, not only with the necessaries of life, but also with such luxuries as their tastes require. The processes of making both these articles have been much improved since the war, and better cheese and better butter are the results. Hence their manu- facture and sale have come to be a very profitable branch of business. Of the many engaged in it in Madison County one of the most successful is the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Eugene Brown was born May 5, 1842, in the town of Eaton. He is a son of John H. and Elmina (Tuckerman) Brown. John H. Brown was a son of Chad Brown, a native of Massachusetts, who, desiring to better his fortunes, emigrated from his native State to the State of New York, and was among the first settlers of the town of Eaton, where he followed farming the rest of his life. John H. Brown, also a native of Massachusetts, was a farmer and a dealer in cattle, and was
also for some years engaged in the manufact- ure of woollen goods. He reared a family of cleven children, six of whom are still liv- ing, namely: Healy, of Priceville, Madison County ; Albert, of the village of Eaton; Jay, of Auburn, N.Y .; Eugene; Noble, of West Eaton; and Frank, living in Eaton. Mr. Brown, the elder, died at the age of eighty- two years, his wife having died previously, at the age of sixty.
Eugene Brown was educated in the town of Eaton, and remained at home until he was nineteen years of age. About this time or a little later, animated by patriotic zeal, he enlisted, September 3, 1862, in Company D, One Hundred and Fourteenth New York Vol- unteer Infantry, under Captain Henry B. Morse, and served through the rest of the war, being honorably discharged in June, 1865. Though he participated in a number of battles, he was not injured until the battle of Port Hudson, in which he received a severe wound, from the effects of which he has never fully recovered. From the time of his dis- charge up to 1871 he was variously employed. In that year he became engaged in the manu- facture of cheese and butter, which he still carries on with unusual success. At first his business was not of large proportions; but in 1892 he made three hundred and fifty thou- sand pounds of cheese and seventy thousand pounds of butter. For the year 1893 the business will exceed that amount, the daily receipts of milk for this summer being twenty-nine thousand pounds.
In 1869 Mr. Brown married Delia A.
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Brown, a native of the town of Eaton, and a daughter of Adon and Rosanna (Tuckerman) Brown, both of whom are still living, and are mentioned more fully in the biographical sketch of George A. Brown elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had one child, Elma E., born in 1874, and died of consumption, July 31, 1893. Mr. Brown is a member of A. A. Morse Post, No. 268, Grand Army of the Republic, and of Lodge No. 356, A. O. U. W. In politics he is a Democrat, caring not for office. He is a straightforward business man, and commands the respect and confidence of his neighbors to an unusual degree.
ROFESSOR NOAH P. GLIDDEN, deceased, formerly a resident of Oneida, and well known throughout a large part of the State of New York, was a son of Leonard Glidden, who was born near Augusta, Me., and was a farmer by occupa- tion. Mr. Leonard Glidden was an indus- trious and worthy citizen, and died when forty-five years of age. He and his wife were the parents of eleven children, all now de- ceased, Noah P. being the fourth in order of age.
The subject of this brief biography was born on the farm in Maine, and during his youth remained there, working and attending school as he had opportunity. His inclina- tion and tastes were not in the line of farm- ing; and, having supplemented his common- school education by an academical course, he
removed, when of age, to the State of New York, settling first at Hamilton. Being nat- urally inclined to music and having had the advantage of instruction from the celebrated Dr. Lowell Mason, of Massachusetts, he en- gaged in teaching music at Hamilton, and was much more than ordinarily successful in that profession, having both a natural and acquired ability of high order. It did not take long for his fame to spread abroad; and he taught music in Syracuse, Utica, Albany, and in various other towns and cities of the State. When about twenty-four years of age, he mar- ried Margaret Manuel, a native of Wales, who still lives in Oneida. She belongs to a healthy and vigorous family, and one of con- siderable longevity, her father, David Man- uel, having lived to be eighty-one years old, and her mother, Margaret, to be sixty-seven. Mrs. Glidden has one sister, Ruth, now living with her in her pleasant home on Main Street.
Dr. O. A. Glidden, only son of Professor and Mrs. Glidden, a prominent dental surgeon of Syracuse, N. Y., married Miss Mary E. Page, a native of Batavia, N. Y., and has four children, all of whom stand high in the art of music, both vocal and instrumental. They are: Ruth, now Mrs. M. R. Dunton, of Rut- land, Vt., a well-known vocalist; Pauline, now Mrs. E. P. Chapman, Jr., of Oneida, one of the best known and most skilful cornetists in this country, her music having been en- cored at a number of the prominent concert halls in New York City; Mabel, a violinist ; and Margaret, a pianist - living at home with their parents. The other child of Professor
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and Mrs. Glidden is a daughter, Emma, wife of William B. Sweet, a farmer of Elbridge, Onondaga County, N. Y., and mother of six children - Margaret, Cyrus, Florence, Wal- ter (deceased), Shirley Paulina, and Ruth.
Noah P. Glidden was politically a Republi- can until about 1886, from which time he was an earnest Prohibitionist. Religiously, he was a Baptist. He died December 18, 1891. Few men under the same conditions and sur- rounded by the same circumstances attain to the high position held by the subject of this sketch at the time of his death. He readily adapted himself to the musical tastes and desires of the people, but at the same time always insisted upon a higher standard, and constantly strove to educate them up to that standard. Believing in the importance of right methods and the formation of correct habits of study and practice, his influence among those with whom he came in contact was always for good. True music, according to his idea of that noble art, is in its high- est form an expression of the emotional soul, and links the human with the divine in man. It must, according to his idea, when properly pursued exert an elevating and refining influ- ence, and thus tend to develop a civilization not yet realized, in the course of time pro- ducing such an effect upon mankind, espe- cially if pursued in connection with other arts, as poetry and painting and sculpture, that cruelty and all unkindness will be ban- ished from the earth. It would be well for the world if it had more of such teachers as Professor Glidden.
HARLES G. CLARK is one of the numerous representatives of pioneer families still living in Madison County who have attained a ripe old age. He has been for many years a successful farmer and a well-known citizen of the town of Eaton, in which town he was born, Feb- ruary 14, 1818, a son of Samuel Clark and his wife Clarissa, both of whom were natives of Vermont. Samuel Clark was a son of James Clark, also a native of the Green Mountain State, a patriot farmer, who fought in the Revolutionary War, bravely performing his part in establishing the independence of the United States, for which service to his fellow-men due honor is paid to his memory. He died in his native State, when a very old man.
Samuel Clark was born June 29, 1776, and about 1810 removed with his family, consist- ing of his wife and two children, to Madison County, making the entire journey with teams, that being then the only way to travel across the country. Settling near the village of Eaton on new land which was covered with timber, he erected a log house in the woods, cleared up his land, cultivated his farm, and lived upon it many years. During the early part of his residence in Madison County Indians still inhabited the country, and the woods were well filled with various kinds of game. For many years after their arrival in this county the family of Mr. Clark, like the families of the other pioneers, were all dressed in homespun clothing, store clothes being, when first introduced, quite a luxury.
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Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Clark reared a family of four sons and four daughters, who arrived at mature years, only two of whom still sur- vive, namely: Charles G., the subject of this sketch; and Giles L., who resides on the old home farm one mile south of the village of Eaton, upon which Samuel Clark and his wife both died, the former at the age of eighty- five, the latter at seventy-nine years. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics Mr. Clark was a Republican.
Charles G. Clark was educated first in the district schools, and afterward at Cazenovia Seminary. Remaining at home until he was twenty-one years of age, he then began work- ing in a woollen factory situated near the village of Eaton, and was thus engaged four years, at the end of which time he took charge of his father's farm, which he managed with ability and success. In 1846 he married Mary Fuller, a native of Massachusetts, and a daughter of Daniel and Lovisa Fuller. Mr. Clark and his wife have reared a family of three children, namely: Charles F. Clark, M.D., of Omaha, Neb .; Clement L., a rail- road conductor, living at Omaha, Neb .; and John S., a druggist of the same city. Mr. Clark owns a fine farm of one hundred and forty acres one mile west of the village of Eaton, but has resided in that village since 1876. Mrs. Clark died in 1886, at the age of sixty-two years. She was a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Clark is a Methodist in religion, and in politics a Republican. While never having been an office-seeker, he
has been honored by his fellow-citizens by election to the office of Overseer of the Poor, serving in that capacity during the years 1885 and 1886.
ON. EDWARD LOOMIS, M.D., a 01 widely known citizen of Oneida, held in much respect for profes- sional skill, for his active interest in matters pertaining to the public good, and for sterling traits of character, one of the early Abolition- ists, was born in Westmoreland, Oneida County, November 8, 1806. While his re- mote ancestors were English, his father, Erastus Loomis, and his grandfather, Nathan- iel Loomis, were natives of Connecticut, where they lived until 1796. In that year the elder Loomis, a shoemaker by trade, accompanied by his wife and children, came to New York, making the journey overland with two pairs of oxen and a horse, bringing provisions, and cooking and camping by the way. Oneida was then included in Herkimer County, and Whitestown and New Hartford were small villages, while Utica had not yet begun to exist. There was no post-office be- tween Whitestown and Cazenovia. Postage- stamps had not come into use, and twelve and a half cents were charged for the delivery of each letter. Buying a tract of land in this wooded wilderness, Nathaniel Loomis built a small log house for immediate occupancy, and proceeded by the usual process of cutting and burning to clear the land for cultivation. In the course of time the primitive log struct- ure was replaced by more elaborate buildings
EDWARD LOOMIS.
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better adapted to the needs of the household; and here the parents made their home during the remainder of their lives.
Erastus Loomis, a youth of nineteen at the time of the family removal, was far from robust, and unable to do much hard labor, although bred to farm work. There was a newspaper printed at Whitestown; and he car- ried the mail and papers from Whitestown to Cazenovia, a distance of thirty miles, making the trip on horseback, and delivering them along the route. This was just prior to his erection of a paper mill in the town of West- moreland, the first one built west of Troy; and he was engaged in the manufacture of paper until he reached the age of sixty years, when he sold the mill, and, going back to the old homestead, which in the mean time he had acquired by purchase, again turned his attention to farming. Here he died at the age of seventy-seven years. He married Lucy Demming, a native of Massachusetts, and daughter of Jonathan Demming. She became the mother of five children - Clark D., James B., Edward, Henry, and Lucy A.
Edward Loomis received a district-school education. At the ages of nineteen and twenty years he taught school during the winter season, and the rest of the year worked on the farm. Soon after attaining his major- ity he began the study of medicine at Manlius Four Corners, now Fayetteville. He was graduated from Fairfield College in 1830, and directly entered on the duties of his profes- sion at Lowell. After a few months in that village he removed to Westmoreland, where
he was in active practice until 1862, when he joined the United States army, as Surgeon of the One Hundred and Seventeenth New York Infantry. Indefatigable in the dis- charge of his duties, while holding this posi- tion he examined fully three-fourths of the men in the regiment. In May, 1863, he resigned his commission, and, returning to New York, on the roth of June settled in Oneida. Mainly to his philanthropic fore- sight and business enterprise was due the organization in 1866 of the Oneida Savings Bank, which, like other similar institutions honestly conducted, has proved of great bene- fit to the community in promoting habits of economy and thrift. He continues to fill the responsible position of Treasurer, to which he was elected in the beginning.
Dr. Loomis married in 1831 Charlotte Buell, who was born in Westmoreland, a daughter of Benjamin Buell. Some time after her death, December 13, 1843, he mar- ried for his second wife Miss A. Jane Meeker, a native of Fairfield, Conn., and born Decem- ber 11, 1812. He has had eight children, four by each marriage, all now deceased. He has five grand-daughters living. A Whig in his early manhood, the Doctor cast his first Presidential vote for John Quincy Adams. Early impressed with the iniquities of the slave-holding system, he became an ardent Abolitionist, and was for many years a co- worker of Gerrit Smith and other prominent anti-slavery agitators. His experience as a delegate to the Utica convention that was broken up by a mob and adjourned to Peter-
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boro shows that in those days it took menl with strong convictions of duty and with something of the martyr spirit to espouse an unpopular cause, however just. The Doctor and a companion started from Vernon to drive to Peterboro to attend the convention. The object of their journey being known to people who did not approve of it, they were fre- quently hooted at along the route, and at length found their course obstructed by a pole placed across the road about ten inches from the ground. Driving over this without much difficulty, they were pursued by a shower of rotten eggs, with which their car- riage was soon besmeared. Nothing daunted, they kept on their way, and took part in the proceedings of the convention, their ardor in the good cause not in the least cooled by this sort of treatment. The Doctor never cleansed his carriage, but drove over the country in the pursuit of his duties as a physician, carrying without fear the colors that had been given him by his enemies. Safe to say, no one of those early agitators lived to regret the part he took in arousing public sentiment against the perpetuation of African slavery in America. Happy those who, having put their hands to the plough, looked not back till the field was furrowed, the good seed sown, and Freedom's harvest assured.
The subject of this sketch was one of the organizers of the Republican party, and has continued a stanch supporter of its principles. He served as a Member of the Assembly in 1858 and 1859, and has since acceptably filled
various public offices of trust. The Doctor is a fine example of what true manhood, temper- ate habits, and upright character can impart to a man. This brief record of his life, accompanied by his portrait, showing him at the age of fourscore, will be appreciated by his many friends.
ENRY K. NASH, a prosperous business man of De Ruyter, a dealer in lumber, flour, and feed, was born in Truxton, Cortland County, N. Y., October 24, 1842. His father, Thomas Nash, was born in Lincklaen, Chenango County. His grandfather Joseph Nash, born in North Castle, Westchester County, October 28, 1776, was a son of an elder Thomas, a native of Rye, Westchester County, whose father, one James Nash, coming from England to America a young man, having an income of eight hun- dred pounds from an entailed estate, had mar- ried a Mrs. Furman, and settled in that town.
Thomas Nash, the elder, was a hatter, who spent his time mostly on custom work. He married Sarah Sniffin, and somewhat later in life removed to Columbia County, where he died. Joseph, son of Thomas, learned his father's trade, and followed it a few . years. He married in Columbia County Annie Tripp, daughter of Israel and Sarah (Reynolds) Tripp, who was born in Dutchess County. In 18II he moved his family with team to Che- nango County, and bought a tract of land in what is now Lincklaen, a part of it in Madison County, a few acres of it being cleared and
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containing a set of log buildings. After a few years of life in the log house the family moved into a new and commodious frame dwelling. Here he died in his sixty-ninth year, having lived to see teeming harvest fields, smiling villages, and flourishing towns take the place of the forest-covered wilderness of his early days.
Of the six children reared in this pioneer family - Lewis, Thomas, Susan, Stephen, Artemas, and Edmund - Lewis is the only survivor at the present time. Thomas, the father of the subject of the present sketch, learned the trade of wagon-making, and later that of carpenter, at which he worked many years in the town of Lincklaen. He removed to De Ruyter some years prior to his death in that town. He married Elinor King, a native of Cuyler, Cortland County, daughter of Stephen and Margaret King, by whom he had three children - Henry K., George H., and Anna, the first-named being the only one now living.
Henry K. Nash began his studies in the district school, and finished them at De Ruy- ter Institute. His school-days over, he found employment first in a cheese-box factory, and later at the carpenter's trade. In 1865, at the age of twenty-one, he went to Niles, Mich., where he was employed about a year and a half in a lumber-mill. Returning to New York, he worked in Pitcher, Chenango County, three years and a half. Thence com- ing to De Ruyter, he followed the trade of carpenter till 1887, when he purchased the lumber-yard and feed-mills where he has since
continued, doing a thriving business. In 1863 he married Almeda Simonds, daughter of Samuel and Sally Simonds, who was born in Eaton, Madison County, September 18, 1843. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their home is childless.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Nash is too much engaged in business to crave the cares of office; yet he has been recently elected Town Clerk. He is a member of De Ruyter Lodge, No. 692, A. F. & A. M., and De Ruyter Lodge, No. 222, A. O. U. W., and of the Royal Templars of the same place.
AMES CHANCELLOR NEW is one of the oldest residents of Canastota, N. Y., having lived on his present farm for nearly forty years. His birthplace was in Ghent, Columbia County, N. Y., the date being May 7, 1821. His father, Elias New, was a native of the same county, born in 1776, and died in 1847. The grandfather, Jacob P. New, emigrated from Holland, and settled in Columbia County in the early years of its settlement. There were four sons and five daughters in the family, of whom Elias was one of the youngest. Jacob P. New was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and died in Columbia County at a very advanced age.
Elias New, the father of our subject, married Miss Ann Ostrander, of Columbia County, daughter of Wilhelmus Ostrander, whose ancestors were early New Englanders. The death of Mr. New left his widow with ten living children, two daughters and eight
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sons, of whom our subject is the ninth child and youngest son. She soon moved to Madi- son County, and resided henceforth near Chit- tenango with her daughter, Mrs. P. W. Smith. Dying there at the age of seventy-three, in 1850, she was buried beside her husband in the old cemetery at Claverack, Columbia County, N.Y.
The sons of this large family were all farm- ers; and all spent their lives in Columbia County, with the exception of James, who shortly after his father's death went to Wampsville, where he worked on rented land. He had been reared to farm life and labor, receiving but a limited district-school educa- tion. For some years in his early life he was in the stock business, marketing cattle and sheep in the New York City markets. He was married in the town where he now resides, October 10, 1854, to Elizabeth Huyck, of Kinderhook, Columbia County, N. Y., daughter of Jacob P. and Maria (Harder) Huyck. Mr. and Mrs. New have resided all their wedded life on their farm of about one hundred acres, which he bought in 1853, paying fifty dollars per acre. There were poor buildings and few appliances on it at that time; but Mr. New set to work and built his present beautiful home, with conven- ient barns, stables, and sheds, and all the modern improvements which serve to make farm life to-day so much less irksome and more attractive than in the olden time.
One daughter and four sons have been born to this excellent couple; namely, Edwin James, Augusta Maria, Frank Ellsworth,
Clarence Huyck, and William S. Edwin is connected with the railroad at Canastota, is married, but has no children. Augusta, un- married, resides at home. Frank is engaged in railroad business at Grand Rapids, Mich., and is married. Clarence, unmarried, is en- gaged as a printer at Niagara Falls. Will- iam S., single, lives at home on the farm. While none of them are college graduates, they have all received excellent education, and are well-informed, intellectual members of society. Mr. New and wife and the most of his children are members and supporters of the Presbyterian church of Canastota, of which Mr. New is an elder and an active worker in the affairs of the church. Polit- ically, Mr. New is a Democrat, the candi- dates of that political party always finding in him a warm advocate and steadfast adher- ent. In their long lives in Canastota Mr. and Mrs. New have shown themselves true Christian people and admirable neighbors, and their sterling qualities have endeared them to their fellow-citizens.
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