USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 66
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Mr. Jennings takes a commendable interest in local public affairs, and, while not a rabid politician or chronic office-seeker, gives his hearty support to the Republican party. He
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is a very well-read and intelligent man, acquainted with general literature, keeping himself informed of the events of the day. and with his books and newspapers spending many an hour of intellectual enjoyment. The family live in a convenient and pleasant dwelling on a well-improved farm, with excel- lent barns and other buildings. A self-help- ful man, Mr. Jennings has thriven by his own energy and industry. Whatever education his parents were able to give him was but the foundation upon which he has built until he has now a cultivated and well-stored mind, and acquits himself well in all his relations as a man and a citizen.
OHN M. GRAVES, an industrious and worthy citizen of the town of Nelson, one who has been emphatically the architect of his own fortune, was born in this town, June 1, 1836, son of John and Jane (Hammond) Graves, also natives of Nelson. Nathan Graves, paternal grandfather of John M., was born in Massachusetts, and came to Nelson in the early days, being one of its first settlers. He bought a tract of timber land and cleared it, residing there until his death. Of his large family, only one son is living, Asa Graves, who now resides in Nel- son. John Graves, son of Nathan, was a farmer in Nelson, owning seventy-five acres of land. Late in life he moved to Minnesota, where both he and his wife died, he having lived to be seventy-six years old. They had seven children, of whom five are living: John
M., the eldest; Orison, living in Nelson ; Melissa, at Nelson Flats; Lydia, who died at the age of fifteen; Sarah, living in Minne- sota; and Asa, in California. Ellen died when an infant. The parents were members of the Baptist church, and the father was a Republican in politics.
In his boyhood John M. Graves attended the district school of his village, where, as there were then no free public schools in the county, the parents had to pay so much for the tuition of each child. The times were stringent and money scarce, so that the chil- dren did not get instruction beyond the sim- plest rudiments of learning. When John was thirteen years of age, he went to work on a farm, receiving at first the paltry sum of five dollars per month. He continued hiring himself out until at about thirty years of age he began to get employment in the fall of the year on the neighboring farms with a thresh- ing machine of which he had become pos- sessed. lle did this work for twelve seasons. He was married February 1, 1866, to Miss Frances Hopkins, born in the town of Nelson. daughter of Alonzo Hopkins. Im- mediately after marriage he brought his wife to a farm of about fifty-three acres which he had previously purchased. They remained there for two years, when Mr. Graves sold it, and bought the farm of seventy-five acres on which he now resides. It is a good, produc- tive tract of land; and, though general farm- ing is carried on, the main crop is hay. He also carries on a dairy, having some very fine cattle.
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On this farm Mr. Graves has availed him - self of modern machinery and all the most approved appliances for carrying on agricult- ure, and the results have been most satis- factory. He began life dependent upon his own resources; and his success is a splendid illustration of the emoluments to be obtained by resolute, well-directed, untiring industry.
Mr. and Mrs. Graves are the parents of two children : Chauncey A., who is a druggist in Buffalo, N. Y .; and Lester H., who lives with them on the home farm. Both in religion and politics Mr. Graves is liberal and in- dependent, believing in the right and duty of every man to form his own opinions, al- ways to think before he acts, and to judge for himself what is right. Sincere and steadfast in his friendships, fearless and manly in his dealings with the world, he deservedly com- mands the respect and esteem of his neigh- bors and fellow-citizens.
OHN SAMUEL, an adopted citizen of Madison County, an industrious and influential farmer of the town of Nel- son, was born in Wales, March 12, 1824. His grandfather, Enoch Samuel, a lifelong resident of that country, a laborer, was three times married, and reared a family of twelve children, and died at the age of fifty-five years. The grandmother of John died when she was fifty-seven years old.
Our subject's parents, David and Sarah (Janes) Samuel, emigrating from Wales to America in 1851, settled first in Bridgewater,
Oneida County, N.Y., and moved from there in 1859 to the town of Nelson, where they bought a farm. They had eight children, of whom three are now living: John, the eldest ; Mary, widow of William Williams; and Mar- garet, widow of Thomas Thomas, residing in Wales. The father died in Nelson at the age of one hundred and one years and six days, and the wife lived to the age of seventy-seven years. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church in Nelson, and the vener- able old gentleman was a Republican in politics.
Our subject was educated and married in Wales, and with his wife and two children came to America in December of 1856, tak- ing passage in the good ship "Robert Kelly," commanded by Captain Barstow, whose kind- ness was unremitting in trying to mitigate the inevitable discomforts of his passengers on so long a voyage. Immediately on land- ing they went to Bridgewater, Oneida County, N.Y., remaining there for four years, and in 1860 came to the town of Nelson. Mr. Samuel started out bravely in the struggle of life, never hesitating to do any honest work that came to hand. He first chopped wood for three shillings and a half per cord, and then worked on his father's farm. Having saved a little money, he rented the farm which he was able to buy in 1862, and which he has occupied and improved ever since.
He was married August 10, 1850, to Miss Mary Bevan, daughter of Benjamin and Ann Bevan, of Wales. They have three children living: Sarah, wife of Hugh Hughes, residing
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in De Ruyter, N. Y. ; Benjamin, on the home arm; Ann, Mrs. J. E. P. Davis, of Missouri. The farm on which Mr. Samuel resides is a valuable one of one hundred and fifteen acres. with good, substantial buildings. He does general farming, making no specialty of any particular branch of agriculture or any one crop. He has been successful as a stock- raiser, and can boast of some very fine cattle.
The family are members of the Welsh Con- gregational church; and in his politics our subject is a Republican, giving that party his cordial support and hearty sympathy. Be- sides some minor offices he has held, he is now filling the position of Poor master, this being his seventh year in office. Mr. Samuel is a gentleman of integrity, popular and influen- tial in his district, and is deservedly accorded the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He has every reason as he surveys his broad acres and comfortable home to be proud of the success which he has achieved by his own hard labor.
FORGE R. WALDRON, a patriot soldier of the late war, recently de- ceased, an honored resident of Hamilton, Madison County, for more than sixty years, was born in Mechanicsville, Saratoga County, October 3, 1815, within a stone's throw of the Ellsworth monument. He was a son of Gilbert Waldron, who was born in the same county, February 11, 1778, and died at Honesdale, Pa., May 6, 1830. Reserve Wal- dron, the father of Gilbert, came from Hol- land, and was one of the three original
purchasers of Manhattan Island. Some of his descendants are large land-owners on the island at the present time, and are litigants in a suit for the establishment of a claim to a valuable estate there, to which the subject of this sketch was one of the heirs.
Gilbert Waldron was one of five sons born to Reserve Waldron and his wife. He married Margaret Grawbarger, of Saratoga County, by whom he had ten children, namely: Abram, born in 1803: Maria G., born in 1804, and married Charles L. Reese; Catherine, born in 1806, and married Jabez Lovejoy; Jane Ann, born in iSos, and married P. L. Tylor; Elizabeth, born in ISto, and married J. T. Teetor; Amelia, born in 1813, and married James Morgan ; George R., the subject of this sketch; Margaret, married a Mr. Atwater, of Chicago; Caroline, who married General Rogers, of Bath, N. Y .; and Elias, born in 1824, and drowned at the age of seventeen, while engaged in the whale-fishery. The mother of these ten children died in 1830, at the age of seventy. The father was a very active, enterprising, and successful business man, erecting many dwelling-houses and at least two dams across important rivers. That across the Hudson River at Fort Edward, Washington County, which he built with the aid of Melancthon Wheeler, was washed away, causing him a loss of one hundred thou- sand dollars. He built a dam across the Delaware River at the mouth of the Lacka- waxen River. and also about fifty houses in Rondout, N. Y., and Honesdale, l'a.
George R. Waldron, when twelve years of
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agc, was apprenticed to learn the printer's tradc, for which he had a strong inclination, having already printed a small spelling-book. Becoming a skilled and rapid workman, he easily found plenty to do, and continued to work at his trade and at the publishing of newspapers until 1883, at which time his son, George G., took his work off his hands. The first paper published by George R. Waldron was the Hamilton Courier, which was estab- lished in 1831, and which was purchased by Mr. Waldron in 1832. Mr. Waldron was onc of the Union soldiers of the War of the Rebellion, cnlisting in September, 1862, in Company E, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York Volunteer Infantry, a company which he had himself helped to raise. He was commissioned Captain by Governor Mor- gan; but, his company being consolidated with another, Captain Waldron afterward served in the ranks. After nearly one year's service he was discharged on account of an affection of the eyes, from which he continued to suffer ever after, being practically blind for the last twenty-five years of his life.
Mr. Waldron was married December 3 1835, to Mary E. Crisman, who was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1815, now, at seventy- eight years of age, after nearly sixty years of wedded life, a widow. Her father, Jesse Crisman, was murdered for his money in Wheeling, W. Va., when he was fifty years old. He left eight children, of whom but three are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Waldron buried two sons and one daughter. The chil- dren living are as follows: Margaret C., wife
of Wilson Fox, of Fultonville, N. Y .; Vic- toria, wife of Rev. Charles E. Simmons, of Worcester, Mass .; George G .; Harriet E., wife of A. L. Slawson, a printer, of Boston, Mass .; J. C., of Hamilton; Marcella, wife of A. M. Russell, also of Hamilton; and Ida P., wife of Henry Miller, of Suffield, Conn.
T HOMAS HITCHCOCK, a venerable farmer of the town of Lebanon, was born in the town of Oxford, Canada, June 2, 1808, a son of Julius Hitchcock, who was born in Connecticut, December 20, 1777. The last-named, when thirteen years old, began to learn the trades of shoemaker, tanner, and currier, at which he served an apprenticeship of three years, at the end of that time going to Canada, where he engaged in farming and in working at these trades. In March, 1812, he started in a sleigh to visit friends in New York, and while on his way happened to read in a newspaper that war would certainly be declared by the United States against Great Britain. Thereupon he returned to his home in Canada, sold off his personal effects as quickly as possible, and again started for New York, crossing the line between the United States and Canada the day before the declaration of war was promul- gated, his removal to Madison County being made with teams. Upon arriving in Madison County, he purchased a tract of land in the town of Lebanon, a few acres of which were cleared, and whereon a log cabin was already erected. Upon this farm he lived during the
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rest of his life, following agriculture and his trades, dying in 1850.
Thomas Hitchcock was four years old when his father removed from Canada to Madison County ; and it was here that he received his education, first in the district schools, then by attendance for one term at a select school in Smyrna, and afterward by attendance sev- eral terms at Lebanon Academy. When twenty-one years of age, he taught school one term. Learning the trade of shoemaking, he followed that trade, and also farming, until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he settled on the farm which he now owns and occupies, since then having devoted himself exclusively to the cultivation of the soil and the various industries therewith connected.
On April 13, 1833, he married Roxanna C. Ballard, who was born November 21, 1808, in the town of Lebanon. Her father, Daniel Ballard, a native of Salem, Mass., who was there reared and married, removed to the State of New York by means of ox-teams, and, after residing for a time in the town of Madi- son, came to the town of Lebanon, bought timbered land, erected a log house in the woods, and cleared a farm. He remained a resident of the county till his death. The maiden name of Mrs. Ballard was Ann Mil- len, she being also a native of Salem, Mass. Mrs. Hitchcock was well educated in her youth in the district schools, and from the age of eighteen she taught school a part of each year until her marriage. She is to-day one of the oldest lady residents of the county who taught school in their youth. Mr. and
Mrs. Hitchcock have lived together more than sixty years -a remarkable length of time, considering the average duration of human life.
Increasing his years by ten, how well the beloved poet's lines apply !-
" With sixty years between you and your well-kept wed- ding vow,
The Golden Age, old friends of mine, is not a fable now.
" And sweet as has life's vintage been through all your pleasant past,
Still, as at Cana's marriage feast, the best wine is the last !
" May many more of quiet years be added to your sum, And late at last, in tenderest love, the beckoning angel come."
RVING O. WRIGHT, an energetic, pros- T perous man in the prime of life, is widely and favorably known as a val- uable factor in the business and industrial interests of this part of Madison County. He is a native of the town of Smithfield, born June 18, 1851. His parents, Orson and Bas- saby (Clark) Wright, who were also born in Smithfield, died at their home in Lenox, one at the age of seventy-two years, and the other at fifty-eight years of age. Orson Wright was reared to agricultural pursuits, but on arriving at manhood learned the trade of a stone-mason, which he followed successfully at Smithfield and Lenox. He was a man much respected for his integrity and genuine worth. In politics he affiliated with the Republican party. To him and his wife were
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born a family of four children : Alzaney, who died when sixteen years of age; Caroline, who married Jesse Sipher, and resided in the town of Knox; Valnett, who married Leander Betts, and lives in Van Buren County, Michi- gan ; and Irving O.
The subject of this biography received a good common-school education, to which he has continually added by observation and reading. When fourteen years of age, he left the parental roof, and engaged in the battle of life for himself. He secured work on a farm, receiving at first only six dollars per month, and continued farming until twenty-one years of age. Desiring more remunerative employ- ment, he next started out with a pedler's stock of tinware, and for the following six years travelled on the road. He had good business talent, and prospered so well in his new occupation that, by living frugally and saving what he could of his profits, he was enabled in a few years to establish himself permanently in trade by opening a hardware store in Peterboro. This was in 1880, since which time he has pushed steadily onward. His business increased so rapidly that in 1886 he erected the building he now owns and occupies, putting in a stock of general mer- chandise valued at about ten thousand dollars. By persevering energy and excellent manage- ment he has extended his business until now he has the leading store of Peterboro, with yearly sales averaging from twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand dollars. He exhibits a large assortment of agricultural imple- ments, and is the sole agent for the cele-
brated Munnsville Plow Company, his trade extending over a circuit of many miles.
Mr. Wright was united in marriage January 17, 1877, to Mary Courtney, who was born in the town of Lenox, May 28, 1852. She is a most estimable woman, and shares with her husband the respect of their neighbors and friends. She is of Irish ancestry; re- ligiously, is a devout Catholic. Her father, Peter Courtney, was born in Ireland; while her mother, Mary Courtney, was a native of Stockbridge, Madison County. Her parents reared a family of seven children. Mr. Courtney died when fifty-three years old, his wife at the age of fifty-seven years.
Mr. Irving O. Wright is regarded as among the ablest and most influential citizens of Peterboro, and is doing his full share in up- holding and advancing the interests of his native town. In politics he is a stanch Republican.
LEON H. TONDEUR, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, is a manu- facturer and flattener of glass, and a prominent and honored resident of Canas- tota. He was born in Belgium, February 5, 1847, and is a son of Joasin Tondeur, who was a glass-cutter and foreman of a large glass works in his native country. It was of his father that the subject of this sketch learned his trade. Joasin Tondeur was a most skilful workman, industrious and eco- nomical in his habits, and acquired a large property. At his death, which occurred in 1879, when he was eighty-nine years old, he
CLEON TONDEUR.
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left a comfortable estate. Six of his children are still living, two sons and three daughters in their native land, and the subject of this sketch. All of his children had excellent opportunities for securing a good education, and all but Cleon H. availed themselves of those opportunities to the fullest extent ; and even he secured a good common-school educa- tion. His eldest sister is a physician and midwife, as was her mother before her. The mother was killed in a railroad accident in Belgium, May 31, 1860, on her way to the college commencement at which this daughter was to graduate.
Cleon H. Tondeur left his home in Bel- gium when he was eighteen years old, going thence to Sunderland, England, and engaging there as flattener in the glass works. This was in 1865; and he remained there, engaged in the works for the same company, until ISSO. On January 11, 1870, he was married to Mary Jane Cunningham, whose parents were both deceased. She has one brother and two sisters living, namely : William, of Can- astota; Margaret, widow of Joseph Johnson, living in Dunkirk, Ind .; and Elizabeth, wife of John Grant, a glass-cutter of Findlay. Ohio. In 18So Mr. Tondeur came to the United States, leaving his wife and family in England until such time as he could find a home for them in this country. He reached La Salle, Ill, on the 28th of August of that year, and worked there as flattener until Octo- ber 26, ISSI, when he removed to Ithaca, N. Y., working there some few months. While in Ithaca, he invented a process of
annealing glass, for which he received letters patent May 16, 1882. Since that time he has taken out six new patents, including one upon an oil - burner and another upon a berry basket. Upon his several inventions he has received a fair return, though, like many another of his class, he has been compelled to spend large amounts in the defence of his rights to his inventions. A late decision in his favor passed by the Court of Appeals of New York City has, however, confirmed his rights, thus ending a long-continued litiga- tion. Being a very skillful man and faithful to his employers, he has always been able to command good wages; and through this source, and from his patented articles, his income has been and is ample to meet all the necessities of life and to lay by for later years an abundant support.
On October 20, 1881, his wife and two chil- dren joined him at Durhamville, N. Y., two of their children having been buried in England. The two living are: Felix Cleon, a young man of twenty-two years, at home and in business with his father; and Barbara Honoree, a well- educated young lady of twenty, a practical housekeeper, and living at home. She also has a natural talent and taste for art, of which her work in this line gives abundant evi- dence. In politics Mr. Tondeur is a Repub- lican and a stanch supporter of his party. He has filled various offices of trust, having served as Trustee of the village of Canastota for two years, and also as a member of the Board of Water Commissioners. He is now a member of the Excise Board of the town of
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Lenox. He and his family are members of the Catholic church. His present home, which is in striking contrast with neighbor- ing houses because of its railings, colored glass in the windows, etc., he purchased in 1883 ; and it stands on one of the finest resi- dence strects in the village. The house is very attractive on account of these features, and also because of the fine front and side porch, richly ornamented and enclosed above and below with a rich variety of colored, or cathedral, glass. Every resident of Canastota knows where Mr. Tondeur, the glass manu- facturer, lives. His invention of a process for annealing and cooling glass as it comes from the furnace was a most valuable one to the business world; and this process, being quite elaborate as well as ingenious, proves that he is a man of great ability and in- genuity.
Mr. Tondeur owns a farm of twenty acres at Onionville land which is well adapted to the growing of onions and celery. This farm he purchased recently at one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. Besides this valuable piece of property, he owns stock in the Canastota Glass Works, and has glass works of his own at Freeville, Tompkins County, which he started in 1886. This is a six-blast furnace, making roof, rib, and cathedral glass, em- ploying twenty-seven hands, and is doing a prosperous and increasing business. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Tondeur is successful, not only as an employee and business man, but also as an inventor - a combination of talent as rare as it is valuable. Both he and
his wife are excellent people, and stand high in the estimation of their friends and ac- quaintances.
ILAS E. MORSE, a prosperous car- riage-maker and farmer, of New Woodstock, who has resided at this place for the past fifty-three years, was born in Wallingford, Conn., in 1824. His father, Street Hall Morse, also a native of that place, was born in 1781 ; died at Union, in the town of Cazenovia, in 1836, at the age of fifty-nine. The last-named was one of the two sons of Lyman Morse, who lived and died at Wal- lingford. In Medfield, Mass., there is a monument erected to the memory of the seven brothers, the progenitors of the family in this country, who came over from Old England to New England between the years 1635 and 1639. This is a very handsome monument, consisting of three fine marble shafts, the central one the tallest, and all mounted on one base. Upon it are given the names, ages, and deaths of each of the brothers, as follows: Samuel, born 1585; John, 1604; Anthony, 1606; William, 1608; Robert and Peter, twins; and Joseph.
Street Hall Morse, the father of our sub- ject, was a manufacturer of shooks, barrels, and so forth, and a farmer, his farm being situated on the Four Corners, near the old school-house where his son Silas took his early lessons in industry and book-lore. He was a man of large means at one time, but met with reverscs, which led to his moving to Greene, Chenango County, and a year later to
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Union, where he died in 1837, when fifty- seven years of age. About the year 1800 he married Martha Bartholomew, by whom he had nine sons and two daughters. The mother died at Delphi, January 10, 1846, at the age of fifty-six. Of these eleven children but three now survive, namely: Martha, widow of Alfred Coleman, residing near Hartford, Conn., has one son; Harvey, a farmer of Fayetteville, Onondaga County, now seventy-one years of age, has one daughter; and Silas E.
The subject of this sketch was married October 30, 1851, to Miss Sarah J. Bell, who was born in Perry, Wyoming County, April 7, 1832, and is a daughter of Ralph and Emily (Moffat) Bell, the former of Oneida County, and the latter of New Woodstock. Mr. Bell is now an octogenarian, residing at Webster City, Ia. His wife died in the vil- lage of New Woodstock in 1862, when fifty- three years of age. They left six children, two sons and four daughters, all of whom survive, with the exception of one daughter, Hattie, who married D. D. Chase, of Web- ster City, la., where she died in 1844, aged forty-six, and leaving one son. The other members of the family, with the exception of Mrs. Morse, reside in the North-west. Mr. Morse served an apprenticeship of three years at his trade of wagon and carriage making with his wife's father, Mr. Bell, from 1840 to 1844, afterward becoming his partner, and later, in 1847, succeeding to the business. He has kept his shop running constantly for the last forty-six years, and has one man in
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