USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 60
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The subject of this sketch was brought up in Madison County, and started out soon in life to work out by the month, doing this for
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nearly twenty years. Fougal and thrifty, he saved his money, and in 1873 was able to buy the old home farm, where he resides to the present time. He keeps his farm and all things pertaining thereto - his buildings, his cattle and horses and tools - in fine condi- tion. He owns sixty-five acres of land, and makes a specialty of a high grade of live stock. In his religious views he is a Metho- dist, and is a constant attendant at the church in his town. Socially, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the lodge in Cazenovia. He is a good. honest Republican, and, while not receiving any preferment from the party, is faithful to the principles it teaches, always voting a straight ticket. For reasons best known to himself, and which the writer, equally with the public, has no call to inquire into, Mr. Wermuth remains a bachelor. He is not unsocial, is by no means a misanthrope; and his home is the abode of comfort and plenty. Among friends, neighbors, and fellow-citizens generally he is accorded the high considera- tion and regard he so deserves as a sound- minded man, not over-hasty in judgment, one who may be relied on to be as good as his word.
HARLES H. HITCHCOCK, a well- known farmer of Cazenovia, was born in the town of Fabius, four miles from his present residence, October 7, 1832. Jeremiah Hitchcock, father of Charles, also a farmer of the same town, though later of Smyrna, was born in 1791, and died in Goose-
ville near this place in 18544, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Crumb, was a native of Rhode Island, where she was married to Isaac Pendleton, with whom she came to Madison County. After the death of her first husband she became the wife of Jeremiah Hitchcock, to whom she bore three sons and two daugh- ters, whose record briefly is as follows: Cor- delia, widow of Thomas Russell, resides at Smyrna, Chenango County. Her husband served his country in the War of the Rebel- lion, being a private in the same company and regiment as his brother-in-law, Charles, whose name heads this sketch. Ile died in the hospital at Hilton Head, S.C., in 1864, being at that time in the prime of life. He left his widow with two sons and two dangh- ters. Fidelia, who died in Michigan, the wife of Christopher Kenyon; Daniel L., who died in Binghamton, leaving six children, four sons and two daughters ; Charles H., the sub- ject of this biographical notice; and Thomas J., who served as a private in Company D, One Hundred and Fourteenth New York In- fantry, and was wounded in the head by a rebel bullet at the battle of Winchester and reported as dead, but came home alive, and died near Ionia, Mich., in 1884, when forty- nine years old, leaving one daughter and one son.
Charles H. Hitchcock was reared on his father's farm, and received but a limited edu- cation in his youth. August 22, 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty- seventh New York Volunteer Infantry, Com-
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pany F, Captain Stone, and continued in active service for three years. He received a wound in the right hand, but otherwise escaped unscathed. His health, however, was greatly impaired in consequence of the exposure and hardships incidental to life in the field. On August 1, 1865, his duty to his country faithfully performed, he laid down his arms, and returned to the farm and home of his widowed mother at Smyrna and the peace- ful avocations of civil life. At this place she died in 1883, being then over seventy years of age, and leaving but a small estate.
In 1854 he married Olive Havens, who bore him two daughters and two sons, of whom two now survive, namely: Mary, wife of Jeremiah Hitchcock, with whom he is mak- ing his home, they being the parents of three daughters and one son; and Wallace, a farmer of the town of Madison, this county, who has one daughter and one son. De Etta died when a child of three, and John in early in- fancy. Mr. Hitchcock is a member of Hunt Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of De Ruyter. He was formerly a Democrat in his political views, but of late years has sup- ported the Republican party, voting for Har- rison for President in 1892. He is a natural mechanic, and, although he never served an apprenticeship to any trade, is an excellent carpenter, and can do anything in a mechan- ical line that he has ever undertaken. It is such men as he who form the representative citizenship of our country, and who are at once its defence in time of peril and its strength and pride in time of peace.
OHN H. BROAD, editor and proprie- tor of the Madison County Leader, was born at Lee Centre, Oneida County, January 14, 1871, of English parents, and, when a small boy, removed with his parents to Morrisville. Until he was thir- teen years old he attended the union schools, but left school with only a partial education, and entered the office of the Madison Ob- server, one of the oldest weeklies published in the State, to learn the printer's art. Dur- ing the two and a half years he was engaged on this paper he received most of his educa- tion, and during the two subsequent years was engaged in the composing-room of the Oneida Post, whence he went to New York, and ac- cepted a position in the composing-room of the New York Ledger. In the fall of 1890, with the portion of his earnings that he had saved, he purchased a one-fourth interest in the Madison County Leader, published at Morrisville by Stillman & Nash, he at that time being nineteen years of age. As soon as he became a member of the firm he took entire charge of the news and editorial col- umns, the firni being known as Stillman, Nash & Broad.
The Leader was established as a Republi- can journal by Frank Spooner and W. E. Stillman in June, 1885; and from the start it grew in popularity, and its subscription increased until it reached two thousand five hundred within the first year. About one year later Mr. Spooner withdrew from the firm; and the paper was continued by Mr. Stillman until the latter received an appoint-
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JOHN H. BROAD.
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ment in the Sub-treasury at New York in 1890, at which time he sold a one-half inter- est to F. W. Nash, who conducted the paper until Mr. Broad purchased an interest. From mismanagement and from numerous changes of proprietorship the paper had lost much of its former prestige, and its business had greatly diminished. During the next year Mr. Broad purchased the interests of Stillman & Nash, thus becoming sole proprietor. By hard work and strict attention to his duties as editor and general business manager he restored the paper to its old position in the estimation of the public; and it is now one of the best weeklies in the State, and is as influ- ential a country newspaper as can be found in Central New York. He has improved the office, and has added to its mechanical effi- ciency, until it is now a model country print- ing-office. The machinery is run by steam power, and the job presses and news press are of the latest improved style.
Mr. Broad is a practical printer, and is as much at home at the composing-rack or at the press as in the editor's chair. He occupies a leading position among the influential men of his town, and in his capacity as editor has an opportunity to lend his aid to all good influ- ences and to all projects having for their aim the moral and physical betterment of the com- munity in which he lives. That he is well qualified to fill his responsible position is attested by his past record; and all may well hope that the promise of his youth will be ful- filled by a still brighter record in later years. It is with much pleasure that the publishers
of this volime find themselves enabled to present to their readers in the accompanying portrait the features of this young and able representative of the editorial and journalistic profession.
ELLINGTON E. BARNARD, a public-spirited and useful citizen of Madison County, an enterprising tiller of the soil of the town of Sullivan, was born November 12, 1813. in the town of Lenox, N. Y., son of Friend and Ormentia (Moses) Barnard. His parents were natives of the State of Connecticut, and were both born in the year 1791. Friend Barnard came to New York State in 1798 with his father, David, who settled first in Oneida County, and from there came to Madison County when it was a comparative wilderness, and bought land, which he cleared, and, erecting his log cabin, resided here until his death, at the age of sixty.
Friend Barnard, the father of Wellington, was brought up in the town of Lenox, and married there. He was a farmer, and a great politician in the Democratic party, being a member of the Assembly in 1849, and also serving as Side Judge for two or three years. He came to the town of Sullivan, and lived on a farm which he bought in this town for thirty-five years, but spent his last days in the town of Vernon. He had a family of two daughters and one son, of whom our subject, Wellington E., and his sister Charlotte, widow of Edwin Wilder, residing in Chi-
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cago, Ill., survive. Phebe Ann, Mrs. Philip Wager, the second daughter, died at the age of fifty years. The father died at the age of seventy-two years, having been twice married. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died March 1, 1825, at the age of thirty-three years. She was an exemplary member of the Presbyterian church.
At eight years of age Wellington Barnard came to the town of Sullivan, where he grew to manhood, attending the public schools in his younger days, and finishing his education in the seminary at Cazenovia, N.Y. He re- mained at home until nearly twenty-three years of age, when January 25, 1841, he mar- ried Miss Louisa Keene, who was born July 25, 1819, in the town of Pompey, Onondaga County, and was the daughter of Samuel and Pamelia Keene. Mr. Keene was one of the practical and progressive farmers of the town of Lafayette, N.Y. He died at the age of seventy-one, in 1869; his wife, in 1858, at the age of sixty-five years. They had six children, of whom three are now living: Mrs. Barnard; Nancy, Mrs. R. M. Kimball, resid- ing in Wisconsin; Mary Ann, living with her sister.
After his marriage Mr. Barnard bought a farm of sixty-six acres in the town of Lenox, where he lived ten years, and then sold it, buying a place near Clockville, N. Y., where he stayed for four years. He afterward sold this place, and purchased a farm of three hun- dred acres in the town of Sullivan, where he remained for ten years. From here he removed to Chittenango Village, where for
eight years he engaged in business as a specu- lator; and in September of 1873 he settled on the farm of ninety acres which he now owns and occupies. This is all good, tillable soil, on which productive crops of wheat, corn, oats, hops, and hay are raised. He has also a dairy of ten head of fine cattle, some of which are of choice Durham breed. Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Barnard have had four children, of whom two are living: Charles J., who is in the wholesale business in Syracuse; and Ellen A., residing with her brother in that city. They have been deeply afflicted in loosing two daughters: Mary, at the age of twenty-four; and Emily, at thirteen years, both lovely and promising young women.
Politically, Mr. Barnard is a Democrat. He has been Assessor six years. He was Supervisor for the town of Lenox in 1854, and filled the same office for the town of Sul- livan in 1863. He takes a great interest in the political fortunes of his party. The Bar- nard family are among the oldest and most respected in Madison County. Horace Bar- nard, an uncle of our subject, was a distin- guished soldier in the War of 1812; and Pardon Barnard, another uncle, was Member of the Assembly, and Sheriff of Madison County from 1828 to 1831, a Justice of the Peace for many years, and also Supervisor. He died in 1841. Eli Barnard, another uncle, who was Collector for the town of Sul- livan, was lost in the woods near Oneida Lake, having, it was supposed, wandered south into the swamps. This happened about the year 1807. His body was found after a
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long search. Mr. and Mrs. Barnard are lib- Gal and independent in their religious views, taking the Golden Rule rather than any par- ticular church doctrines for their law of life. They reside in an attractive home, their farm ranking as fine as any in the county. Friends of good order and morality, they deservedly enjoy the esteem in which they are held by the community.
FORGE B. CRANDALL, an unwea- ried toiler in the fertile fields of Madison County, the years of whose virtuous pilgrimage already exceed fourscore, was born in Brookfield, N. Y .. February 12, 1812. His grandfather, Joseph Crandall, a farmer, was born and died in the State of Rhode Island. Henry Crandall, son of Joseph, came to Brookfield from that State, bringing with him his wife and one child. He was one of the pioneers of the town, and bought a tract of timbered land, on which he erected his dwelling-house and farm buildings. The children of Henry and Polly (Dennison) Crandall who were here reared were Polly M .. Luraney M., Esther S., Henry H., Daniel S., Joseph H., William R .. George B., and Avery C.
Our subject was educated in the district schools, and remained at his boyhood's home with his parents until the age of twenty- three, when he married Miss Sarah Burdick, daughter of Mr. Jacob Burdick, a prominent man of the town, and moved to a farm near by, where they began housekeeping, resid- ing there for about twelve years. He then
bought a place west of his present home, and struggled for some time to pay for it, but met with so many misfortunes, the greatest one being his inability, on account of the vetoing by President Van Buren of the tariff bill, to find a market for his wool, - that he was unable to do so. For two years he battled manfully with his troubles, but was finally obliged to return to the farm where he had formerly lived. There he remained for twenty years, at the end of that time yielding to the persua- sions of his father, and coming to live on the home farm, of which at his father's death he became the owner, and has since resided here.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Crandall, Lorin B. and Henry D. Lorin B. married a daughter of Stephen Clark, Miss Susan Clark, who died in August of 1893. Henry D. married Miss Lucia Pope, and has one child, Francis O.
Mr. Crandall's wife died at the age of forty years. She was a lovely Christian character, and her death was a great sorrow to her family and friends.
Although eighty-one years of age, Mr. Crandall can scarcely be considered an old man, as he is hale and hearty, and an active worker yet on his farm, attending to its whole management, his mind being as clear as in his younger days, and his judgment well ripened by long experience of life.
He is a strict and conscientious member of the Seventh-day Baptist church, having never been ashamed of professing Christian faith. A loyal citizen of the republic, he is regard-
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ful of his civil rights and duties. He follows the principles of the Republican party in voting.
Mr. Crandall is venerated and esteemed wherever known throughout the county, and no shadow has obscured or tarnished his reputation.
Mr. Crandall has been privileged to see in this marvellous age changes that seeni almost like the work of magic. From the plodding ox-team to the rush of the locomotive, from the dim tallow candle to the glare of electricity, and from the rude implements of farm work to the finished machines of to-day -all these and more have been brought about since he began to walk the earth. And he has seen the growth of the United States into a mighty nation of more than sixty-two and one-half millions of people, with a territory whose area is more than three and one-half millions of square miles.
B WELLINGTON TABER, of hon- ored memory, late worthy citizen of . Cazenovia, Madison County, N. Y., was born in this town, December 8, 1827. He and Loyal C. Taber were the only chil- dren of Clark and Mary (Gibbs) Taber, the former of whom was born in Little Compton, R.I., April 30, 1790, and the latter in Tol- land, Mass., June 1, 1796. They were mar- ried in the town of Cazenovia, February I, 1827, and began housekeeping at Taber's Mills, now known as Juddville, in the house at present owned by Albert Judd, where their two children were born. They soon pur-
chased a farm of their own, upon which they resided until death claimed them. Clark Taber was a carpenter and joiner by trade. His father, Philip Taber, a shoemaker of Little Compton, R.I., had married a Mary Gibbs, of an earlier generation than the above named; and their family contained seven children, four sons and three daughters. They came to Cazenovia about 1820, where Mr. Philip Taber died when he was well past middle life. His wife survived him many years, being ninety-three years old at the time of her death. They are now resting in Nelson Cemetery. Loyal C., the brother of B. Wellington Taber, was a member of the firm of Wood, Taber & Morse, manufacturers of horizontal engines, at Eaton, N.Y. The mother, Mary Gibbs Taber, died March 28, 1858, at sixty-two years; Clark Taber, Janu- ary 16, 1862, at seventy-two years; B. Wel- lington Taber, July 12, 1885, at the age of fifty-eight; and Loyal C. Taber, January 12, 1892, aged fifty-nine. His death occurred at his home in Syracuse. He left a widow, Mary Smith-Taber, and three sons - Wel- ling W., Loyal C., and Clanden.
H. Amanda Taber, widow of B. Welling- ton Taber, was born in Northampton, N. Y., February 1, 1828, a daughter of Lemuel and Hannah (Lyon) Ward, both of whom died when she was a small child. She was united in marriage to Mr. Taber in this town, July 23, 1848. She and her husband spent many happy years together, residing here during their entire wedded life of thirty-seven years. They lived upon their farm, four miles south
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of Cazenovia Village, until three and a half yeus before his death, when they moved into the village of Cazenovia. His trade was that of a millwright ; and he was also the owner of a farm of two hundred and forty-four acres, which is still retained in the family. Their only child is Charlotte Amanda, born May 6, 1849. She is the wife of Charles H. Perkins, son of Wilson L. and Sarah Salisbury- Perkins. He was born March 31, 1850, on the farm which he now owns, and upon which he and his wife reside. Mrs. Taber has made her home with them since the death of her husband. Charles H. Perkins was first mar- ried in 1872 to Alice Kingsley, of Hamil- ton, Madison County, who died two years after her marriage, leaving one daughter, Alice. Mr. Perkins was united to the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Taber December 2, 1879. They have lost one son, Wellington, who died August 18, 1881, aged eight months. They have a son now living, C. Taber Perkins, a bright, promising boy of eleven years. Mr. Perkins has been a practi- cal farmer since leaving school at the age of eighteen. His wife is a cultured woman and a highly competent teacher.
Mr. Perkins is a Prohibitionist from prin- ciple, and in the interests of his party and a righteous cause has had the honor of being defeated for most of the town offices, and also for the offices of Sheriff and Member of As- sembly. He has for two years been the Chairman of the County Prohibition Commit- tee, and is at the time of this writing the nominee of his party for County Treasurer.
His wife is equally enthusiastic in the tem- perance cause, and by her efforts every scholar in this district school was enrolled as a mem- ber of the Loyal Temperance Legion. She is a most earnest and successful worker in Prohibition circles, and inspires both young and old with a personal interest in the erasion of that dark stain on the history of civiliza- tion - the drink traffic. Mr. Perkins was elected at Binghamton, May 19, 1892, as delegate to the National Prohibition Conven- tion at Cincinnati, and his wife as an alter- nate, both attending. Their bright young son is an ardent little temperance man, and is a delegate to a county convention from the Loyal Temperance Legion.
ORTON A. BLISS, a prominent and influential agriculturist of Madison County, thoroughly identified with its business and industrial interests, is a val- uable resident of the town of Smithfield, which is the place of his nativity, 1843 hav- ing been the year of his birth. The Bliss family, as far as we can trace back the ances- try, were of New England origin. Ephraim Bliss, grandfather of our subject, was born in Massachusetts, and there grew to matu- rity and married. He subsequently came to Madison County, and, buying a tract of land lying in Smithfield, began to clear a farm. The soil was unbroken and heavily timbered. Wild game was abundant, and formed a large part of the subsistence of the family. Ind- | ians were numerous, and made frequent calls
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at the log cabin in which the family dwelt. He improved a good farm, and died on the old homestead, at the age of sixty-three years. To him and his wife were born five children, three boys and two girls, all of whom are now deceascd.
Lyman Bliss, son of Ephraim and father of Norton, was a native of Smithfield, having been born and rcared on the old home farm, where his death afterward took place. He assisted his father in tilling the soil and improving the farm, watching the rapid dcvel- opment of this part of the country from a sparsely inhabited forest to a populous and growing town. He was a practical and pro- gressive farmer; and, after becoming owner of the old homestead, he added more land by purchase, until he was the possessor of three hundred acres. He was very successful in raising sheep, owning sometimes three hun- dred head of merinos, and realized large profits from the sales of wool. He also carried on general farming on an cxtensive scale. He married Anna Chaffee, who, like himself, was a prominent member of the Presbyterian church. Both are now dead, he having passed away at the age of scventy-three years, and she when sixty-eight years old. They reared a family of nine children, seven sons and two daughters, six of whoni are now living. Joseph lives in Smithfield. Dr. Lyman is a physician in Michigan. Aaron lives in Sagi- naw, Mich. Marcia married Silas W. Tyler, of Saginaw, Mich. Norton A. lives in Smithfield. The Bliss Brothers, of Michi- gan, are well known. They have made a
fortune in the lumber business, and are num- bered among the influential and prominent citizens of that State. Three of the sons served in the army during the late Civil War: Leuman, now deceased, was Chaplain; Dr. Lyman served as Surgeon; and Aaron entered the Tenth New York Cavalry as First Lieu- tenant, and was afterward promoted to the rank of Captain. He has recently presented to the soldiers of Madison County a hand- some monument, which is located in Peter- boro, and was dedicated with appropriate cere- monies July 4, 1893. Mr. Lyman Bliss was a Republican, and was for many years Cap- tain of the State militia.
Norton A. Bliss, the subject of our sketch, was the youngest child born to his parents. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and received his education in the district schools of his native town and in the Peterboro Acad- emy. He remained at home, assisting his father in the labors of the farm, until he was one-and-twenty years of age. At that time he began life in earnest, purchasing a farm of ninety-five acres, on which he soon after set- tled with his bride, to whom he was married January 27, 1863, and who became the mother of two children, a son and a daughter. The maiden name of Mrs. Bliss was Sally M. Brown. She was born in Stockbridge, being a daughter of Philander M. and Cordelia (Haxton) Brown, both of whom are now de- ceased. Mr. Bliss managed this farm profit- ably for a number of years, and in 1877 sold it and bought the one he now owns and occu- pies. This farm consists of two hundred
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acres, which he has improved and cultivated industriously for many years; and it is now a valuable and productive estate. In addition to general agriculture, our subject is an ex- tensive stock-raiser, and has a fine dairy of twenty-five cows of the Holstein breed, which are exceptionally well cared for. Everything about the place is indicative of the enterprise and excellent management of the proprietor, the buildings being substantial and conven- ient, the machinery being kept in good repair; and it is hardly necessary to add that Norton A. Bliss is a thorough-going business man, prospering in all he undertakes. Politi- cally, he is a wide-awake Republican. He has served as a member of the Board of Excise. His only son, Eli J., born June 18, 1866, now carries on the home farm. The daughter, Mary W., born October 29, 1869, is the wife of John Warner, of Lenox.
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