USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 45
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Mr. Stafford is a member of the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, and is politically affiliated with the Republican party, but does not care to hold any office. In the handsome home erected by Mr. Stafford in 1889 he and his wife enjoy comfort amid pleasant sur- roundings. They are among the leaders in social life in Canastota, their fine residence being an attractive centre for the brightest and most cultured people. An enterprising and industrious man, Mr. Stafford deserves the wealth and prosperity which he has attained.
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A. CLARK, a well-known farmer of Brookfield, a leading member of the First Baptist Church, steadfast in the faith, having a good report of them which are without, was born in Bridgewater, Oneida County, N. Y., October 15, 1843.
The father of our subject was about four-
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teen years of age when the death of his father, who formerly lived in Plainfield, N. Y., obliged him to set to work to assist in supporting the whole family, which he did with great credit to himself, and to the grati- fication of his friends. Ilis opportunities for education were limited to a few winter terms of the district school. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, but turned his attention also to various other callings, achieving quite a fine reputation both as an auctioneer and as a veterinary surgeon. He married Miss Nancy A. Carpenter, who was of Connecticut parentage. Their children were: Savannah M .; Orange J .; O. A., our subject; Rosa D .; Charles C .; Francis E .; William J .; Cora A .; and Minnie A. After his mar- riage the father first lived in Plainfield, but later removed to Bridgewater, where he re- mained for over thirty years on the farm he there purchased. He subsequently bought a smaller place in the town of Bridgewater, where he and his wife died.
O. A. Clark remained at home with his parents during his boyhood and youth, acquir- ing an education in the public schools of his town and assisting in the farm work. When he attained the years of manhood, he went out to work by the month on a farm. After con- tinuing this for two years, he married, and purchased a farm in the town of Bridgewater, and resided on it for two years. From Bridgewater he went to Sangerfield, N. Y., for one year, and then bought a farm in the town of Paris, which he sold after occupying it four years, and bought one in Sangerfield. Stay-
ing there also four years, he again sold his homestead, and went this time to Marshall. At the end of a year he bought back his old Sangerfield farm, which is still owned by him, lived on it a second term of four years, and then bought the farm in Brookfield, where he has now made his home for eleven years, having by persistent industry brought it into the front rank among the excellent farms known in the county. He has built a fine residence, and here, with his estimable wife and family, enjoys the domestic comforts which he has richly earned. At the age of twenty-three years Mr. Clark married Miss Mary A. Spencer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albertus M. Spencer. Her paternal grand- father, Job Spencer, came to Sangerfield, one of the earliest pioneers, when the country was new, and bought a large tract of land for an ox-yoke. He died in 1858. Mrs. Clark's parents are both living, her father at the age of seventy-five, her mother sixty-five years old. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were blessed with a family of four children - O. Arthur, Harlo R., Lettie A., and Herbert L. But the angel of death visited this happy household, and took from them their youngest child, Herbert, a winsome pet of three years, whom earthly aid could not avail to save.
"There fell upon the house a sudden gloom, A shadow on those features fair and thin; And softly from the hushed and darkened room Two angels issued where but one went in."
The parents sorrowed, but not without hope and the sustaining power of religion. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have long been active and val-
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ued members of the First Baptist Church of Brookfield.
Their son, O. Arthur Clark, was graduated from Brookfield Union School in 1887, and at the age of eighteen years commenced teaching. Having taught a number of terms, he decided to study medicine, and entered the Baltimore Medical College. He is now taking his third course of lectures in that school, and expects to graduate in April, 1894, and begin the practice of medicine. He has not yet decided where. He ranks among the brightest students in the college. His family take just pride in this young man.
All three of these children - namely, O. Arthur, Harlo R., and Lettie A. - were con- verted under the age of twelve years, and united with the First Baptist Church of Brookfield, of which, at the ages now of twenty-five, twenty, and eighteen years, they remain consistent members.
The two younger children still reside at home with their parents. All three have held offices in the church and Sunday-school at different times, and have always been faith- ful members and workers in the church and Sunday-school since they were old enough to attend Sunday-school and church.
Mr. Clark has been assistant superintend- ent of the Sunday-school, and has served on the Pulpit Committee for several years. He is now one of the Trustees of the church prop- erty. Mrs. Clark was also for many years a devoted worker in the Sunday-school, and in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
In the midst of her usefulness she was stricken with illness, and has not been able of late to be an active participator in the church affairs; but the influence of her char- acter and her deeply religious spirit, and of the good works she has done, is still potent. In political questions Mr. Clark is heartily in favor of the Republican party, and gives his support to its principles; but he is also a strong advocate for temperance, and is deeply interested in the promotion of this cause.
PHRAIM BERRY was born in Brook- field, N.Y., February 18, 1811, the son of Ephraim and Lydia (Wheaton) Berry. Ephraim Berry, Sr., left Pomfret, Conn., his native place, to seek a home in the State of New York, and upon reach- ing here secured a tract of one hundred and seventy acres of virgin land, and was one of the first settlers of the place called Sanger- field. He, with his brother John, built a log house, and soon developed a fine farm, mak- ing a comfortable home. He had married Miss Lydia Wheaton in Pomfret, and brought her and two children, Content and Saxton, with him when he came. They afterward had four more children - Lovina, Lydia, Ephraim, Jr., and Ruth. The father died when his son was only three years old. After the death of her first husband in Sangerfield the mother married a Mr. Henry Beebe. They reared one son, Ezra, and later removed to Stockwell Settlement, N.Y., where they died.
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Our subject was reared on the farm, and remained there until his thirty-third year. At that time he married Miss Electa House, who died at the end of their first year of mar- ried life, leaving one child, named Alice. He next married Miss Sarah Seabury, and shortly after went to Cook County, Illinois, and there lived for nine years on a farm, where his second wife died. Later he came East, and married August 16, 1849, Olivia Read. Removing to St. Charles, Kane County, Ill., he entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, husband of his sister Lydia, in the hardware business, which con- tinued for two or three years. When he closed out his business in the West, he re- turned to Madison County, New York, and bought a farm in Brookfield, N. Y., of Mr. Miller, which adjoined the one on which he now lives. He remained on the first-men- tioned farm for six years, and at the end of that time bought the farm of his cousin, Darius Beebe, making it his home unto this day.
Mrs. Berry comes from an old and distin- guished family of these parts. Her father, Lemuel Read, was but four years of age when his father, Daniel Read, came with his wife, Hester Leffingwell, and two children, from Connecticut to Madison County, making the journey with an ox-team. They settled on a tract of land near the present farm of the subject, and resided there until their death. Lemuel Read remained on his father's farm, carrying on the trade of wheelwright, making spinning-wheels and reels, continuing this |
work until his death, at the age of seventy- five years. Ile married Sarah, daughter of John and Mollie Clark, from Exeter, Kent County, R. I., by whom he had five children - Elmina, Olivia (Mrs. Berry), Walworth, Tirzah, and Oracy. Mrs. Read died at the age of seventy-nine.
Mr. and Mrs. Berry reared five children ; namely, Sarah, Susan, Nellie, Lola, and Hattie. Alice, the child by the first wife, married Mr. Lester Thayer, now deceased, and has five children - Ephraim E., Clay, Lynn, Electa, and Wayne. Sarah married De Villo Fitch, but is now a widow. Nellie married Louis Parkhurst, of Boonville, Oneida County, N.Y. Lola married Arthur Thayer, had one child, Edith, and died at the age of twenty-two years. The son-in-law, Parkhurst, carries on the farm, residing at the homestead with his wife and two children : Emogene, an intelligent young lady of seven- teen; and Ephraim. Mr. Parkhurst is a young man of ability and perseverance, con- ducting the affairs of the farm in an energetic and practical manner. Hle is truly a son to Mr. Berry, aiding him greatly in the manage- ment of all his business, and is regarded by this venerable gentleman with warm paternal affection. The youngest daughter, Hattie, remains at home with her parents, who are in feeble health, and is untiring in her filial attentions - a stay and a comfort in their advancing years.
Mr. Berry is a member of the Methodist church, and votes the Republican ticket, although his people were all Democrats. He
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became a Republican when he went out to Illinois, and was for many years an Assessor there. He is now the last one of this well- known and worthy family. This venerable couple have literally seen the "wilderness blossom like a rose," and in their lives have witnessed the growth of a small settlement into the present large community. Mr. Berry is now enjoying the results of his early years of industry, energy, sagacity, and economy. He is surrounded by a loving and intelligent family, and it can be well said of him that
" He wears the marks of many years well spent, Of virtue, truth well tried, and wise experience."
ILLIAM STRINGER. In the an- nals of Madison County no name stands higher on the list of its benefactors than that of the late William Stringer. He was one of the enterprising and self-made men of the county, who contributed so materi- ally to its present prosperity. He was born in Eaton, March 1, 1815, being a son of William W. and Elizabeth (Underwood) Stringer, both natives of Ireland. His pa- rents emigrated to the United States with their family in 1809, and settled in that part of the town of Eaton known as Crow Hill, buying a tract of land ere it had been re- deemed from the wilderness. At that time Indians were numerous, and wild animals and game of all kinds inhabited the forest. He toiled unceasingly, and cleared a farm, where he spent his last days, dying at the age of sixty-four years. His widow lived to
be seventy-six years old, and died at the home of one of her sons. Both were members of the Episcopal church. They reared eight children, of whom three are now living: William, our subject; Alice, who is the wife of Henry Clark, of Hamilton; and Charles, who lives in Lebanon. During the Irish Rebellion Mr. Stringer was an officer in the army, and received a severe wound.
William Stringer, the subject of this brief history, was reared and educated in the town of Eaton, where he attended the district school. His father having a large family of children to support, and our subject being among the older ones, he was sent out to labor when a lad of ten years, working at first on a farm for five dollars per month, his wages being given to his parents each month until he was twenty - one years old. Not being satisfied with the life of a farmer, he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, working for Nelson Cook and George Kirk- land, receiving thirteen dollars per month, and continued in that occupation for fifteen years. Mr. Stringer moved to Munnsville March 6, 1837, that day being also the date of his marriage to Mrs. Louisa Sherman Barr. She was the widow of Robert Barr, by whom she had one child - Robert Sherman Barr. Their wedded life was of short duration, Mrs. Stringer dying November 16, 1845. She bore her husband one child, William Henry Stringer, who was born September 22, 1839. He grew to manhood in the home of his father, and, when a call for volunteers was made to quell the late Rebellion, responded,
WILLIAM STRINGER.
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enlisting in 1862 as a private in Bates's Battery, being afterward promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He participated in many of the battles and skirmishes, being present at the surrender of General Lee, and was honor- ably discharged at the close of the war. He was a man of excellent character, a good citi- zen, and influential in town affairs, serving acceptably as Supervisor two terms; and his death, which occurred in August, 1887, was a loss to the community.
The second marriage of Mr. Stringer took place May 27, 1848, when he wedded Adaline J. Shepard, who was born in Verona, Oneida County, March 14, 1821. Her parents, Aaron and Sylvia Shepard, were from Berk- shire County, Massachusetts. They owned a farm in Oneida County, and there lived to an advanced age, both dying on the same day, at the ages of eighty-six and eighty-two years respectively. They were worthy people, much respected for their many excellent per- sonal traits of character, and were both es- teemed members of the Universalist church. In politics Mr. Shepard was identified with the Whigs. They reared a family of three sons and five daughters, six of whom survive: George, who lives in Nebraska; Jane, Mrs. Johnson, who lives in Wisconsin; Ann, Mrs. Brooks, who is a resident of Chicago; Ada- line, Mrs. Stringer; Caroline, Mrs. Adams, who lives in Madison, Wis. ; and Henrietta. Mrs. Pardee, who lives in Vernon, Oneida County. Of the children born to our subject and his second wife, two only are living. Sylvia L., who was born in Munnsville, Sep-
tember 6, 1849, married Samuel A. Maxon, of Oneida, and has three children - William, Lynn, and Bessie. Charles, who was born in Munnsville, March 7, 1854, married Flora E. Merrell, and has a son and daughter - Henry J. and Sylvia Esther.
After giving up his trade as carpenter, Mr. Stringer engaged in the manufacture of sashes, doors, and blinds, and carried on a successful business for several years. In 1857 the firm of Holmes, Stringer & Co. was organized for the manufacture of agricultural implements. Beginning in a small way, the growth of the business was steady and satis- factory, the number of ploughs made the first year having been about fifty; and, with the growing demand for them, as they have be- come known throughout the country, the number has been gradually increased, until one thousand per year will scarcely supply the market. In addition to the Munnsville plough, which was founded by Mr. Stringer, the firm also manufactured cultivators, evap- orating and hop stoves, employing from twenty to twenty-five men during the year. In January, 1890, Mr. Stringer sold out his share of the business to his son ; and the busi- ness was continued under the firm name of Stringer, Dexter & Co. until August 17, 1892, when the son sold his interest, and the _proprietors incorporated under the name of the Munnsville Plow Company, which firm still continues.
Mr. Stringer was highly honored and re- spected by his employees, who regarded him as their friend, his counsel and advice being
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freely given and as readily taken; and to his assistance many of his men are indebted for the comfortable homes they own and occupy. During the half - century and more that he resided in Munnsville he was intimately identified with its every interest, encouraging and promoting each beneficial plan for its advancement; and to him is largely due the present status of that prosperous village. His influence was felt in every department ; and his death, which took place September 5, 1893, was deeply regretted by the community. He served as Supervisor two years, and as Railroad Commissioner for twenty years. Politically, he was a strong Republican, and ever sustained the principles of that party. Religiously, he was a firm believer in the doctrines of the Universalist church, toward the support of which he contributed liberally. A portrait of Mr. Stringer is presented on an accompanying page, and forms a fitting ad- junct to this brief memoir.
DMUND ADAMS, a highly intelligent farmer of the town of Sullivan, skilled in the art of surveying, was born here July 24, 1840, son of Vespasian and Ca- lista (Dewey) Adams. His paternal grand- father, John Adams, who was born at Troy, N. Y., November 12, 1782, received from De Witt Clinton an appointment as Pub- lic Surveyor. He came to the town of Sulli- van in 1802 on a hunting expedition, and killed a great number of otters, which paid all the expenses of his trip by the sale of the
skins. So pleased was he with this country, to which he had been led by the fact that his father, Elisha Adams, had been made owner of Lot 55 for military services rendered in the Revolutionary War, that he moved to it and became a permanent settler in the year 1806. This was new land, which was all a wild forest. There were no roads and no mills near; and the manner of getting meal was to pound the corn in a hollowed stump. Fish abounded in great numbers. Salmon trout was a daily ration, and could be caught in Chittenango Creek with the hands. Deer and other game were plenty; but any one going on a hunt for them ran the risk of encountering bears and wolves, with the pos- sibility of meeting a savage Indian. Still, this latter chance was not, after all, so peril- ous, because, as a general thing, the Indians were friendly. They had not yet met the hordes of rapacious white people who after- ward treated them so unjustly, and consid- ered the few white settlers scattered around as some favorite children of the Great Spirit, and, when they came with their little presents of game to the log houses, warmed themselves at the firesides, and often spent the night. Lot 55, on which John and his brother Der- rick settled, was conveyed to the latter about 1820; and John purchased Lots 48 and 49, three miles south, and the present farm of Edmund.
The grandfather owned a farm of two hun- dred and fifty acres. He lived there until his death with his wife, Miss Theodosia Barnes, whom he married near Manlius Vil-
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lage, May 16, 1808. He died at the age of seventy-five years; his widow, some years after, at the same age. They had a family of six children, two of whom are living, namely : Mrs. Susan G. Cook, in Syracuse; and Mrs. Betsey C. Adams, in the town of Sullivan. Their mother was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. For many years Mr. John Adams was a Justice of the Peace. He was a Democrat in politics. James Adams, son of John, succeeded to the estate on his father's death, in 1856. James remained a bachelor. He died in 1886, sixty-five years old. Be- sides being a model man and a most progres- sive farmer, he succeeded to his father's pro- fession, and was a most competent engineer and surveyor. The parents of our subject were both born and reared in the town of Sul- livan. The father was a farmer, and owned land in his native town. He was twice mar- ried, and had one son by each marriage. Ed- mund Adams is the eldest. His brother James is a farmer, residing in Wisconsin. Vespasian Adams died at the age of twenty- six years, and his first wife was but twenty- two years of age at her death. They were Methodists in belief, and Mr. Adams was a Democrat in politics.
Edmund Adams grew to manhood in the town of Sullivan, attending the district schools there, and graduating from the semi- nary at Cazenovia in 1862. After that he went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor for one year. He married in 1865 Miss Helen A. Wild, one of his classmates of Cazenovia Seminary, a daughter of Allen
Wild, who owned farms in Otsego and Dela- ware Counties, and was a very prominent man of his day. Mr. Wild was born in the year 1811, and is connected with some of the best families of the country, having been closely related to Vice-President Wheeler. He now resides with his son-in-law, our subject, in whose home his wife died in 1892, at the age of eighty-three years.
After his marriage Edmund Adams worked on shares for sixteen years his uncle James's farm, formerly his grandfather's, and in 1875 bought a part of it. He now owns one hun- dred acres of the old homestead, on which he does general farming, having made valuable improvements in the matter of buildings and variety of stock. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Adams, namely: Kate, wife of Rev. Charles Bassett, a Methodist minister of New Jersey - she was also a graduate of Cazenovia Seminary, ranking the highest in the class of 1886, winning the Wendall Scholarship medal, and being chosen Preceptress of the De Ruyter Institute; Robert B., born in 1873, now in Syracuse University; and Caryl, born May 17, 1882.
Mr. Adams is well read, a man of quick and clear understanding. He has a tasteful home, and is very comfortably provided with this world's goods. Just and liberal in his dealings with his fellow-men, he is blessed with a sagacity which has prevented him from falling a prey to speculative advent- urers, while by steady application and good management he has attained his present pros-
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perity. In his politics he is a stanch Repub- lican, and he and his wife are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Besides farming, Edmund Adams served an apprenticeship, both with his grandfather and uncle James, as a surveyor, and since the death of the latter has had an extensive prac- tice in both Madison and Onondaga Counties. Almost a century covers the practice of these three men, who have been most prominent in all the legal contests pertaining to real estate in the towns of Sullivan and Manlius. Mr. Adams boasts, honestly and with pride, that no court has ever yet changed a line nor altered a peg that an Adams set.
AMES W. MARSHALL is a gentle- man of means and position, who is able, after a life of industry and toil, to live in a well-appointed home, and enjoy, in an atmosphere of good books, pleasant friends, and a cheerful fireside, the fruits of his years of labor. He was born in the town of Eaton, Madison County, N. Y., November 26, 1820. His father, John Marshall, was born in County Wicklow, Ireland; but, according to information which is considered reliable, the family was of English ancestry. He was reared and married in his native land, and emigrated with his family to America about the year 1808. During the voyage a great misfortune befell him in the death of his wife; and he had the additional grief of seeing her body committed to the deep. He located at Pratt's Hollow, where he followed
his trade, tailoring, and was a resident of the county until his death, at the age of eighty years. His second wife was Miss Jane Connor, and she was the mother of James W. Her birthplace was in County Wicklow, Ire- land; and she was but nine years old when she came to America with her parents, her father being James Connor, and her mother's maiden name was Nailor. She died in 1828.
The subject of this personal narrative com- menced to earn his own living when very young, working out by the month in his boy- hood days, and, when sixteen years old, re- ceived five dollars and fifty cents and his board per month. Still, out of this meagre salary he began to save and economize, which practice he followed until, in his thirty-second year, he was able to purchase a farm in the town of Eaton. In 1888 he sold the place to his son, removed to Oneida, and bought an elegant residence on Main Street, where he now lives. After having settled on his farm in 1852, Mr. Marshall, finding that "it is not good for man to live alone," sought a wife, and made a happy selection in Miss Susanna Tackaberry, who was born in the town of Eaton, daughter of James and Anna (Belton) Tackaberry, natives of Wicklow, Ireland, and residents of the town of Eaton. Mrs. Marshall died in July, 1885; and in May, 1889, Mr. Marshall married his present amiable wife, Mrs. Jane Forrester. Mr. Mar- shall has four children living, namely: Anna L., now Mrs. Fred Stringer; Fred W., who married Miss Ada Potter, and whose two children are Franklin James and Fred Burton ;
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