USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 58
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
550
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
ment, when he assumed the management of his father's mills, and was thus engaged until his death, which occurred January 2, 1851. He married Elizabeth Avery Putnam, who was born in Pawtucket, R.I., and was a daughter of the Rev. Aaron and Mary (Greene) Putnam. She now makes her home in West Newton, Mass., with her children.
Mr. and Mrs. Mott have three children living; namely, Alice Williams, Lucy Cleve- land, and Charles Earle, all of whom have received a good education, and have developed into intelligent and useful members of soci- ety. Mr. Mott's political views find expres- sion in the principles and measures of the Democratic party. He and his wife are com- municants of St. John's Episcopal Church of Oneida; and both occupy a high place in the regards of their fellow-townsfolk, as useful and upright citizens, people of sterling worth.
ERRIT SMITH, the most famous man that has ever lived in Madison Coun- ty, the man who made the village of Peterboro known hundreds and thousands of miles away as the home of a millionaire Abou Ben Adhem, was born in Utica, N.Y., March 6, 1797, second son of Peter and Elizabeth (Livingston) Smith. His paternal ancestors were Hollanders, who settled at Greenbush, Rockland County, N.Y.
His father, from whom the town of Smith- field and the village of Peterboro had their names, was a son of Gerrit P. and Wintje Lent Smith, and grandson of Petrus Smith
and wife, Annitje. Peter Smith was for a number of years in partnership with John Jacob Astor in carrying on a trade in furs with the Indians. Both young men began poor : both applied themselves closely to busi- ness with the practical wisdom that commands success. Mr. Astor invested his money in real estate in New York City; Mr. Smith, his in land in the interior of the State, where by repeated purchases he came in time to pos- sess, it is said, nearer a million than half a million acres. Having removed to Madison County, he became a Judge, and presided at the county courts. He lived on very friendly terms with the Indians, and named his eldest son for an Oneida chief, Peter Skenandoah. Of the six children of Judge Smith, only four reached maturity; and none are now living. The family left Utica for Whitesboro about the year 1802, and removed to Peterboro early in 1806, taking up their abode in the house built by the father in 1799 - a large, square mansion of wood, which, having been altered in 1855, is still occupied by his descendants. It is probable that a greater number of guests and a greater variety, embracing all sorts and conditions of men, have been entertained in this house than at any other private dwelling in America.
Leaving home in his sixteenth year, Gerrit pursued his preparatory studies at the acad- emy at Clinton, Oneida County. A hand- some youth, well endowed physically and mentally ; a social favorite, cheerful and spor- tive, but "never wild "; a faithful student - he was graduated with honors at Hamilton
GERRIT SMITH.
553
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
College, under the Presidency of Rev. Henry Davis, in 1818. The death of his mother in the same year, and his father's ensuing mental depression, led to his remaining at home and devoting himself to business in- stead of studying law.
He was not quite twenty-three years of age when he was invested by his father, who had no longer any ambition for worldly cares and activities, with the entire charge of an estate of about four hundred thousand dollars - a large fortune in those days - with debts to the amount of seventy-five thousand, the Judge himself to receive the income of one hundred and twenty-five thousand, and one- half of the remainder eventually to be distrib- uted among other heirs, nieces, and nephews of Gerrit. A gigantic task was before him, and he performed it well. Having good nat- ural abilities to begin with, he developed a wondrous capacity for business. His name stood so high in commercial circles that, when during a period of financial straitness he needed the loan of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he had but to ask and receive it of Mr. Astor - on a mortgage, to be sure, the papers whereof, through the mis- take of a clerk, not being forthcoming, in- quiry was made from the New York office, but not till after two or three weeks had gone by. Every talent intrusted to him must have doubled itself several times, as it is under- stood that on his demise property to the value of a million of dollars fell to his heirs, and that he had previously distributed in charity eight times that amount. "God gave me
money to give away," he said; and he was always giving - from fifty thousand to a hun- dred thousand dollars a year, after his wealth had accumulated to warrant that expenditure. In settling the estate after his father's death, in 1837, he was more than just to the heirs, his nieces and nephews, promptly paying them their portion according to the value of the estate at that time, and in later years at divers times distributing among them other sums, amounting in all to three hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
It would take volumes to tell of his varied activities and his munificent benefactions to individuals, to institutions and communities. As a reformer, he was especially interested in the anti-slavery and temperance movements, helping each with voice and pen and purse. His work for temperance began in 1828, and ceased only with his life. That he was about a quarter of a century in advance of his con- temporaries forty years ago in regard to the duties of women appears from a letter written by him to Susan B. Anthony, dated 1853, in which he says: "I know not why it is not as much the duty of your sex as it is of mine to establish newspapers, write books, and hold public meetings for the promotion of the cause of temperance. The current idea that modesty should hold women back from such services is all resolvable into nonsense and wickedness. . . . There is but one standard of modesty and delicacy for both men and women." "Every one," he held, "should be at entire liberty to choose an individual sphere."
554
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Elected to Congress as an independent candidate in the fifties, he served one term, made his voice heard, his influence felt, and declined a renomination. Emphatically a man who would do his own thinking and fol- low his own convictions, he worked not well in party traces. His course was often cen- sured, his motives misunderstood.
His first wife, Miss Backus, daughter of the first President of Hamilton College, hav- ing died in the year of their marriage, 1819, in 1822 he married Ann Carroll, daughter of William Fitzhugh, of Geneseo, Livingston County, N.Y. It was a true marriage: he had found a fitting mate. After more than half a century of happy wedded life, the union was broken by the sudden death of Mr. Smith, of apoplexy, while they were on a visit to a friend in New York City, December 28, 1874. Mrs. Smith survived her husband but a few months, leaving a son, Greene Smith, and a daughter, Elizabeth, Mrs. C. D. Miller.
Throughout his mature life Gerrit Smith was characterized by a deeply religious spirit. He and his wife joined the Presbyterian church; but, coming in time to dissent widely from its doctrines and practices, he took the lead in organizing in 1843 "The Church of Peterboro," for whose use in 1847 he built a chapel, in which religious services were regularly held till two years after his death, Mr. Smith himself sometimes being the preacher, and hesitating not to preach politics as often as he saw fit. He had a deep rever- ence for the Bible, and at his home held fam-
ily worship every morning, which all guests were expected to attend. Horace Greeley once spoke of him in the Tribune as, though "wrong in some of his notions," "an hon- est, brave, kind-hearted philanthropist, whose religion is not put aside with his Sunday cloak, but lasts him clear through the week."
After his school-days he was not a great reader of anything but newspapers. Of these he took and read a great many, because he wanted to live in touch with his own age. Besides writing and printing on his own press in Peterboro many pamphlets relating to ques- tions of the day, he was the author of several books, the list including "Speeches in Con- gress," 1855; "The Religion of Reason," 1864; "Nature the Base of a Free Theology," 1867; and others. His authorized biography, by Octavius B. Frothingham, published in 1878, is a careful study of his life and charac- ter, and very interesting reading. One only wishes it were fuller, contained somewhat more of homely, simple detail. The author repeats from the Nation a former utterance of Rev. Dr. Channing, describing Mr. Smith as "a man worthy of all honor for his overflow- ing munificence; for his calm, great, in- vincible moral courage; for his Christian liberality, embracing men of every sect and name; and for his deep, active, inexhaustible sympathy with the sinful, suffering, and oppressed " - words which that paper said "might well furnish an inscription for his tombstone."
It is certainly much to know that here was one who tried to follow the Master in doing
555
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
good, one who did not allow the management of a large estate, necessitating a great deal of care, to so engross his time but that he found abundant opportunity also to be about his "Father's business," trying to make the world better.
In connection with this memoir is pre- sented a portrait of Mr. Smith.
EACON DANIEL WEBSTER SKINNER, a prosperous and hon- ored citizen of Madison County, the descendant of a widely and favorably known pioneer family of Hamilton, was born in Far- mersville, Cattaraugus County. His grand- father, Captain Isaac Skinner, was a native of Connecticut, spent the earlier years of his life in that State, and served as Captain in the State militia. Coming from New England to Madison County, he bought a farm in the eastern part of Hamilton, being one of the original settlers of the town. He at once identified himself with the interests of the growing community, built up a good home- stend on the uncultivated land, and there died at the age of about fifty-five years.
Erastus Skinner, father of our subject, was born in Hamilton. He was reared to man- hood on his father's farm, attending the pio- neer school during its session. and gaining a knowledge of agriculture when at home. After his marriage he migrated to Cattaraugus County, coming overland with teams, bought a tract of timbered land in Farmersville, and immediately began improving his property,
putting up first a small frame house for the shelter of his family. He cleared quite a number of acres, and, after residing there a score of years, removed to the adjoining county, where he bought a farm of eighty acres, a part of which was afterward included in the village of Arcade, Wyoming County. Disposing of that land, he purchased a home- stead of one hundred acres, three miles east of the village of Arcade, making that his resi- dence until his death. He was a man of sterling worth, and a member of the Baptist church; while his wife was reared as a Pres- byterian. The maiden name of his wife, mother of our subject, was Eunice Willy; and she was a daughter of Jeremiah and Hannah (Staples) Willy. She was born in East Had- dam, Conn., and died in Cortland County, New York, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eggleston. She reared a family of eight children: Sarepta, the widow of Hon. O. B. Lord, resides in Hamilton; Caroline, widow of Hollis Atwater, resides in Allegan County, Michigan; Saxton; Monroe; Nelson; Adoni- jah ; Daniel W. ; and Madison. Of the sons, all but one served in the late war, Monroe having previously met with an accident which rendered him unfit for active service. Adoni- jah served in the Second United States Infan- try, and was three times wounded, at one time being left for dead on the field. The others served in New York regiments. Two of them lost their lives in the service of their country, Nelson dying from wounds received at the battle of Cold Harbor, and Madison dying in the rebel prison at Salisbury, N.C.
5.56
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
All but one (Saxton) of these brave brothers were wounded in the Rebellion.
D. W. Skinner, of whom we write, spent his youthful days on the home farm, attend- ing the district school, and, when sixteen years of age, came to Hamilton to live with his uncle, Dcacon Isaac Skinner, remaining there until he attained his majority. He had already an excellent common-school educa- tion, but, anxious for more extended knowl- edge, spent the next year at Hamilton Academy, and afterward pursued his studies in the academy at Homer. Returning to Hamilton, Mr. Skinner entered the Freshman Class of Madison University. During that year came the outbreak of the late Civil War; and on September 2, 1861, he enlisted as a Union soldier in Company C, Sixty-first New York Volunteer Infantry, and served until November 11, 1862. He was with his regi- ment in different marches and campaigns, taking an active part in all skirmishes, and at the battle of Fair Oaks, June 1, 1862, re- ceived a wound in his right shoulder, the ball entering at the front and being taken out at the back. He was sent to the hospital in Philadelphia, where he remained about three months, rejoining his regiment September 4, although his wound was not yet healed. The 17th day of the same month, while participat- ing in the battle of Antietam, Mr. Skinner's gun was hit by a bullet; but he was not injured. The regiment was subsequently sent to Harper's Ferry, and a few weeks later was ordered to Fredericksburg. During this latter march, his wound breaking out anew,
our subject was disabled from further service, and received his honorable discharge. As a soldier, he was brave and courageous, never shirking any duty, and at the time of his discharge was filling the office of Sergeant, to which he had been promoted. For some time after returning home he suffered much from his wounds, but, after obtaining relief, re- sumed his studies at the university, and received his diploma in 1865. He had al- ready resolved upon a ministerial life, and next became a student in the Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1867.
Mr. Skinner was actively engaged in his professional duties for a time, but his health, never very good, began to fail; and he reluc- tantly retired from the ministry, and returned to Hamilton, where he has since resided. He has never lost interest, however, in the dis- semination of the gospel, but as far as in his power has assisted it in every way, serving for a number of years on the Board of the Bap- tist Educational Society of New York, and has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the university for six years. He is a mem- ber of the Baptist church of Hamilton, in which he served as superintendent of the Sunday-school for fifteen years, and for the past twelve years has been Deacon of the church. Mr. Skinner has also identified him- self with the welfare of the town, and was at one time a member of the Village Board of Trustees. In politics he was formerly an ardent Republican, but is now a supporter of the Prohibition party. Socially, he is a
557
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
member of Arthur L. Brooks Post, No. 272, Grand Army of the Republic.
EV. WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE DOWNER, a noted teacher of Madison and other counties, dis- tinguished by many years of faithful service, a retired minister of the gospel, living at Caze- novia, was born December 12, 1815, in the town of Smithfield, now Fenner. He came of heroic stock, one of his ancestors having fought under William of Orange at the memo- rable battle of the Boyne. His father, Joel Downer, was born in Pownal, Vt., November 9, 1780, and came to that part of Cazenovia now known as Fenner in 1802. The father of Joel Downer was John Downer, an early settler of Pownal, Vt., and his grandfather, William Downer, a native of England, whose wife was of Holland descent. John Downer was one of the famous Green Mountain Boys who fought under General Stark in the battle of Bennington. He married Lydia Dunham, of Pownal, Vt., a daughter of Dr. Obadiah Dunham and Lucy Gillett, his wife. Dr. Dunham was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and one of the delegates from Pownal to the Dorset Convention, which took the incipient measures that led to the formation of the State of Vermont. He died in 1813, his wife in 1830, on her ninetieth birthday anniversary. One of her grand- daughters, Mrs. Lucy D. Thurber, of New York, died recently in her ninety-third year. Mr. John Downer died at seventy-two years of
age, in 1815. His wife died the same year, aged about fifty-eight.
Joel Downer was married in 1806 to Lovina Risley, a native of East Hartford, Conn., who came with her father's family to Smithfield in 1801. Her father, Stephen Risley, was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and was one of the guard at the execution of Major Andre. Mr. Downer and wife became the parents of nine children, six sons and three daughters, of whom our subject and a twin sister were fifth and sixth in order of birth. All attained maturity, with the exception of one son, who was accidentally killed in infancy. Hiram died in his twenty-fourth year, unmarried. Joel G., the eldest brother, died in Oroville, Cal., in 1867, when sixty years of age, having gone to that State in 1850. His son, Hiram K., served his coun- try faithfully in the War of the Rebellion, and was mortally wounded at the battle of the Wilderness. Joel Downer died on his farm in Fenner, where he had lived some sixty years, May 22, 1865, in his eighty-fifth year. His wife died September 17, 1866, in her eighty-first year. Six of his children taught school more or less; and four of the children - William and Mary (the twins), Luke W., and Cornelia -- are now living.
Our subject was reared to farm life, and received a fair schooling in the common schools, besides being for some little time a student at different institutions, and also adding thereto while teaching and by study at home. He began teaching in 1835, when in his twentieth year. He united with the
558
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Peterboro Baptist church April 27, 1834, commenced preaching July 5, 1836, and was ordained Christmas Day, 1840, at Three Mile Bay, Jefferson County, N.Y. In 1843-44 he was pastor of the Baptist church in Preston, Chenango County, teaching school in the winter to aid in the support of his family. His marriage took place in Fenner, February 26, 1839, to Harriet L. Fay, who had been his pupil in school. She bore him eight children, of whom five are now living, namely : Mary E., wife of Seymour Spencer, of Syracuse, who has two sons and two daugh- ters; William W., a farmer, of Chittenango; Charles E., of Syracuse, who has one son, Harry Vincent; Flora C., a young lady at home, keeping house for her father; and Henry Lincoln, named after the martyred President, who is married, and has one daugh- ter, born July 4, 1893. When the War of the Rebellion broke out, our subject enlisted at Canastota, being one of the first to enlist from the town of Fenner, but was rejected at Elmira on account of his age, he being then over forty-five. He again enlisted August 25, 1862, at Hamilton, and joined the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York Volun- teers as a private in Company F. After serving some six months, he was honorably discharged on account of physical disability resulting from over-exertion and fever. He came to his present home in April, 1863, and has since then, with the exception of some two and a half years in Chautauqua County, been numbered among the prominent and respected citizens of Cazenovia. Owing to
failing health, he has sometimes been in straitened circumstances, but since January, 1891, has been in receipt of a small pension, a material help well deserved. The home he occupies in Cazenovia was deeded to Mrs. Downer and her children by her father.
Mr. Downer has lived in seven different counties, and taught school in six counties in the State. He is a Republican in politics, and has taken some active part in local affairs, having served as School Commissioner and held various town offices. He was one of the founders of Knowlton Post, No. 160, Grand Army of the Republic, of Cazenovia, his name heading the roster. He was also Chaplain for some years, and has officiated at funerals and on memorial days on various occasions. He is well known in literary and political circles throughout this part of the State as a poet of acknowledged talent and a ready writer and speaker, as well as news- paper correspondent. On November 29, 1892, Mr. Downer suffered a severe bereave- ment in the loss of his beloved wife, who had been his faithful and devoted companion for over fifty-two years. He first made her acquaintance in 1838, when she became one of his pupils in the district in Fenner in which her parents resided. Mrs. Downer was a woman of true Christian character, having at an early age manifested an interest in religious matters, and united with the Baptist church in Fenner. We quote the following from her obituary notice: "She was the kind and faithful mother of eight children, five of whom survive. Her eldest, William Lo-
559
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
renzo, died November 10, 1862, from a wound received in the battle of Corinth, Miss. At the time her husband was with the army in Virginia, while with her four children, aged respectively fourteen, twelve, seven, and two years, she had charge of a farm of one hun- dred and twelve acres, and had also the care of her husband's parents, aged respectively eighty-two and seventy-seven years, perform- ing the great task nobly, but to the impair- ment of her naturally robust constitution. . . . Her life was one of industry and most tender care of her family, thus winning their love while promoting their welfare." An extract from a letter written by our subject two weeks after his wife's death will not be out of place in this biography: "During the War of the Rebellion Mrs. Downer manifested a patriotic interest in the preservation of the Union, and freely consented to her husband's enlistment in the army, though it entailed unwonted cares and labor upon her, which she nobly endured and performed to the best of her abil- ity. . .. She was quite reluctant to have me attend the Grand Army of the Republic Encampment at Washington, fearing it would be too fatiguing for me, and, when she finally consented to my going, charged me not to march in the grand parade. I marched with the 'boys,' however, and was glad to be able to show her on my return that it did not injure me, notwithstanding my age, this being my seventy-seventh birthday anniver- sary, my twin sister, Mrs. Lewis Johnson, being also living. Last August we began repairs on our buildings, and had made them
much more comfortable for ourselves and our farm stock; but our loved one has made a happy exchange, we trust, for the 'many man- sions' of her Heavenly Father." The letter concludes with the following verses, a sponta- neous outpouring from the heart of the be- reaved husband : -
Farewell, farewell, dear wife, adieu : To me thou hast been kind and true, And oft this sorrowing heart of mine Has beat in unison with thine.
Right well I recollect the time We two were wed in youthful prime, When each to each gave solemn vow Faithful to be from then till now.
O Death, thou hast a fearful sting ; To mortals sorrow thou dost bring; Asunder tear the ties of life Which bind the husband to his wife.
But, then, there is another view ; And Death is now a friend so true, Becomes the gate to endless joy, Where sin and sorrow ne'er annoy.
Thus may it be for us, my dear Our mortal union ended here, We meet again beyond the skies, Where no disunion can arise.
So will I live in hope, my love, Of meeting thee in heaven above ; In endless glory there to reign, Freed from all sorrow, sin, and pain.
It is with such sweet hope and Christian resignation that Mr. Downer bears his heavy loss, his faith enabling him to pierce the gloom of sorrow and see the sunshine beyond, looking to a happy reunion in that fair land where there shall be "no more death, neither
560
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
sorrow nor crying; for God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Besides preaching many sermons and writing essays on different subjects, Mr. Downer has delivered addresses on various occasions of public interest. An agricultural address delivered at Cazenovia in 1866, on the occasion of the town fair, was repeatedly published by the State Agricult- ural Society in their Transactions (1865 and 1866) and otherwise. Other addresses have been published in the county papers or in pamphlet. Of one of these last Hon. Gerrit Smith, who had known him from childhood, wrote him as follows : -
ELDER DOWNER : PETERBORO, March 31, 1872.
My old Neighbor and Friend,- I have this moment finished reading your address before our Association of Teachers. The address is good,- very good. It com- pares well with other productions of your pen, and that is praise enough to bestow upon it.
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.