USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 70
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ERMAN PALMER, a useful and highly respected citizen of Brook- field, N.Y., a veteran of the late war, was born in this town April 11, 1846. In early life Sheffel Palmer, grandfather of Herman, moved from his birthplace in Ston- ington, Conn., and settled in Sherburne, Chenango County, N. Y., where he spent the remainder of his days. Herman's father grew up on the home farm, and was trained to agri- cultural pursuits. He afterward moved to Otselic, Chenango County, and from there to
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Brookfield, where he purchased a farm and resided permanently.
He married Adelia Moore; and they reared five children: Herman, the eldest; Devilla; Elmer; Ella; Ora. Both parents died on the home farm near North Brookfield.
Herman Palmer received all the advantages of a good education in the public schools, and remained at home assisting on the farm until twenty-one years of age. He then learned the carpenter's trade with J. Hart. and worked for him two years, going from there to his Uncle Sardis Palmer's home, where he stayed three years. He then took up farming again, renting a place where he lived for eleven years, buying it at the end of that time, and since making it his home. He married Laura M. Brown, daughter of Nelson Brown, whose family dates back to the very first settlement of Brookfield. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer reared four children; namely, Gladys E., Glamis, Lawrence A., and Mott. Mrs. Laura M. Brown Palmer died in 1885, and Mr. Palmer married for his second wife Miss Julia M. Jordan. To this marriage three children have been born - Shirrell, William. and Lillian.
Mr. Herman Palmer served during the Civil War, and is a member of the Searle Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the Grangers, and has been a Deacon in the Baptist church for twenty-five years. His sympathies and study of politics have led him to give his support to the Republican party. He has been Tax Collector for one year and Assessor for three
terms, which has made a service of nine years in that position. Mr. Palmer is an active worker in the cause of religion and in the public affairs of his town, ready to do his part, and in everything that will in any way promote the material, moral, and spiritual improvement of the community.
ILLIAM R. ROWLANDS, M.A., Treasurer of Colgate University, an efficient worker in the cause of education, was born near Hamilton in the town of Madison, January 23, 1853. William O. Rowlands, father of William R., was born in Wales in 1805, and in 1840 came to the United States, bringing with him his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Parker. He and his family settled in the town of Eaton, where they lived some eight years, and then moved to the town of Madison, purchasing a farm upon which they lived nearly forty years. In 1885 they moved to the village of Hamilton, purchasing a home, in which Mr. Rowlands died August 27. 1891, aged eighty-six, having remained a strong, healthy man up to the beginning of his last illness of eight weeks. His widow, who was born in Montgomery-shire, Wales, survives at the age of eighty-four years, and still resides at Hamilton.
William R. Rowlands spent his boyhood and youth on the home farm just outside the village of llamilton, and was educated in the schools of that place, graduating from the commercial department of the seminary in 1868, from the high school in 1870, and
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finally from the university in 1874, from which he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1879. After his graduation in 1874 he was engaged one year as an accountant for a firm in New York City, and in the fall of 1875 became Assistant Principal of Medina Academy and Professor of Mathematics, which position he filled one year. Being chosen Principal of the high school of Hamilton in 1876, he filled the position for four years, during which period the average attendance was higher than it had ever been before; and his last graduating class, that of 1880, of thirty-one members, was larger than any pre- vious graduating class during the history of the school.
During 1881-82 Professor Rowlands took a post-graduate course at Yale University, and was for some timc assistant to Professor Ben- jamin Silliman of that university. Mrs. Rowlands accompanied him, and pursued a course at the Yale Art School. From 1882 to 1889 he was engaged in business in Utica, erecting during that time the Rowlands Office Building, which has elevator service, and is one of the best buildings in Utica. Dur- ing four of those years he was President of the Young Men's Christian Association, a member of the Board of Trustees, and was Chairman of the Building Committee that erected the Association's building, at a cost of one hundred and ten thousand dollars. He was also Chairinan of the committees which built the Park Baptist Church, and later of the committee which built the Im- manuel Baptist Church, Utica, N.Y. He
likewise served as Chairman of the Citizens' Committee, whose work resulted in the pav- ing of Rutger Street with asphaltum, and led to the general introduction of that kind of pavement in the city of Utica -a highly appreciated improvement. In 1889 Mr. Row- lands removed to Hamilton, his native place, being elected Treasurer of Colgate Univer- sity, which position he has filled since in a most capable and acceptable manner. He is the resident member of the Building Commit- tee for the new Colgate Gymnasium now being erected. This university is one of the best of the many excellent institutions of learning in the State of New York, having an endowment of nearly two million dollars and holding property to the amount of two million two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
On August 15, 1877, Mr. Rowlands mar- ried Miss Helen A. Underhill, of Medina, N. Y., who was the first graduate of Cook Academy, Havana, N.Y., being the only member of her class, that of 1874. She died January 21, 1878, aged twenty-two. Mr. Rowlands married the second time March 25, 1880, Miss Agnes Grant, of Greene, N.Y., by whom he has had five children, namely : Agnes Augusta, who died March 12, 1892, aged ten and a half years; Mary Jane, seven years old; William Harrison, five; and Agnes Genevieve and Florence Augusta, twins, three years old. Mr. and Mrs. Row- lands are domiciled in a beautiful and sightly house recently erected adjacent to the uni- versity campus. In 1887 he was active Presi- dent of the National Fraternity of the Delta
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Upsilon College Societies. For the past six years he has been a member of the State Com- mittee of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation. From this brief relation of a few of the prominent events of the life of Mr. Row- lands it is clear that in him the university has a most valuable officer, the general com- munity a very worthy member, and the State of New York a good and useful citizen.
R OYAL WOODWORTH, a retired farmer, now living in the village of Peterboro, has been a resident of Madison County ever since his birth, which took place in Smithfield, January 30, 1818. During the many years he has been here he has been prominently identified with the development of the agricultural resources of the place, and has made for himself a worthy all with whom he has come in contact. He is of New England origin, being a grandson of Ichabod Woodworth, a native of Massachu- setts, who emigrated from there to New York, and became a pioneer of Lenox in the very early days of its settlement. The land was then mostly in its primitive condition, with now and then a clearing in the woods. Mr. Ichabod Woodworth first erected a log house, into which he moved with his family, then began cultivating a few acres, keeping the larder supplied with the products of the earth or the game to be found in the forest. He lived there several years, but spent his de- clining days in Fenner, where he died at the
advanced age of eighty years. In politics he was a Whig. His wite, who proved an able helpmeet, preceded him to the better land, dying at the age of sixty-five years. They reared a family of seven children, all of whom are now deceased.
Ephraim Woodworth, father of Royal, was born in Smithfield, and there grew to man- hood. He received the education commonly given to pioneer's sons, and assisted his father in redeeming a farm from the wilder- ness, living to see the primeval forest con- verted into smiling fields, rich with growing grain. In this gradual development he took an active part, aiding the growth of the town- ship while improving his own homestead, which was situated in the towns of Fenner and Smithfield. When a young man, he mar- ried Alice Hill, who bore well her share of the burdens of life; and to them were born our subject being the only one now living. Both parents spent their last years in Smith- field, the father dying at the ripe old age of eighty-three years, while the mother departed this life when sixty-five years old. He was a firm supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.
record, winning the respect and good will of | four children, all of whom grew to maturity,
Royal Woodworth was reared and educated in the town of Smithfield, attending the pub- lic schools and assisting his father in the labors of the farm. Deciding to devote him- self to agriculture, he bought the old home farm when twenty-three years of age, and began life in earnest. Endowed with a good stock of energy, enterprise, and youthful
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vigor, he succeeded in his efforts, and added to his landed estate until his homestead eom- prised one hundred and twenty acres of arable land, all under good cultivation, which he devoted to general farming, stoek-raising, and dairying, having twenty-seven fine cows of mixed breed.
Mr. Woodworth was united in marriage in 1839 with Cynthia Jane Sanders, a native of Smithfield, a daughter of Aaron and Cynthia Sanders, by whom he had three children : Morris, who resides on the old farm; Eliza, wife of Adelbert Rich, of Smithfield; and Mary, wife of Daniel Campbell, of Smith- field. Mrs. Woodworth's parents were among the original settlers of Smithfield, where they improved a farm, on which they spent the remainder of their lives, dying one at the age of seventy years and the other at sixty. Mr. Sanders was a Whig in polities. Having sold his farm to his son Morris in 1870, Mr. and Mrs. Woodworth are spending the sunset of life in their pleasant village home, sur- rounded by all necessary comforts, and enjoy- ing to the utmost the fruits of their earlier years of toil. Mr. Woodworth is pleasant and social, a just man and good neighbor, and politically is a strong Demoerat.
RED W. BARRETT, one of Madison County's prospering agrieulturists, re- siding in the town of Fenner, N. Y., was born Mareh 30, 1824, in the town of Smithfield, son of William P. and Electa (Sopher) Bar- rett. Jacob Barrett, the father of William,
was born in Connecticut, and migrated with his family to Smithfield, N.Y., being one of its early settlers. He was a wagon-maker by trade, and died, at the age of seventy-five, in Fenner Corners, Madison County. Of his six children none is now living. William P. Barrett, who was also a wagon-maker, came with his father to the town of Smith- field, settling in the village of Peterboro, where he resided a short time, later living in what is ealled Mile Strip. He finally settled in Fenner, where he ran a saw-mill for some years. While in Smithfield, he married Miss Eleeta Sopher, by whom he had six ehildren. The three now living are: Fred W., the eld- est ; G. F. Barrett, of Fenner; and Hiley Jane, of Syracuse. The father died on the home farm at the age of seventy-five years, and the mother when she reached the age of seventy.
When the family eame to the town of Fen- ner, Fred W. Barrett was but seven years of age; and he has since continued to reside here. He was educated at the distriet sehool, and learned to work in his father's saw-mill while yet a boy. He worked out for a short time for Colonel John Needham, receiving seven dollars a month. At twenty-eight years of age he made his first purchase of land, consisting of twenty and a half aeres in the town of Fenner, adding to it from time to time until he had seventy aeres. He after- ward sold this farm, and bought the one of one hundred and fifty acres where he now lives, which is as handsome a place as any in the vieinity. He raises hay, barley, and eorn
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with great success, and deals largely in sheep and cattle. Besides the usual farm buildings, he has a feed-mill, slaughter-house, and re- pair-shop.
He was married at the age of twenty-four to Thankful S. Wilber, who was a daughter of Willard Wilber, one of the early settlers of Fenner. Her father, a farmer, lived to be about eighty years of age, and is survived by three of his four children. To Mr. and Mrs. Fred W. Barrett five sons have been born, of whom four are living: Willard W., of the town of Hamilton; Harvey M., resid- ing at home; Frank O., at Fort Atkinson, Wis .; Clarence A., in Oak Park, Ill. Mr. Barrett is a thorough-going Republican; has been Collector of the town and Constable one year each, and for fourteen years has been Railroad Commissioner. Honest, whole- souled, liberal, actively interested in what- ever pertains to the welfare of the community, he may well be set down as one of the best and most useful citizens of the town. His actions are guided by true manly principles, and he is an esteemed member of his social circle.
RS. ADELONE (WILBER) BLODGETT, one of the oldest na- tives of Madison County now liv- ing, an esteemed resident of Cazenovia, was born in the town of Nelson, May 18, ISI1. A woman of many virtues, the surviving help- mate of one of the most successful and enter- prising farmers of this vicinity, she bears as lightly as may be the burden of more than
fourscore years. Few can tell so much as she of the history of the county. Her mind still preserves the memory of her early years, when railroads had not been dreamed of, and when farm produce was drawn to a distant market with ox-teams, when the means of life were nearly all wrested from the soil, and when carding, spinning, and weaving were familiar industries of every well - ordered household.
Richard Wilber, father of Mrs. Blodgett. was born in July, 1770, in Massachusetts, where he grew to manhood, and whence, accompanied by his newly wedded wife, he emigrated in 1795 to Madison County, mak- ing the journey with oxen. They were among the earliest settlers in what is now the town of Nelson, then a thickly wooded wil- derness. No moments were lost in felling trees and putting up a log cabin, which they moved into in a few days' time, although it was yet without floor, chimney, or permanent door. Crusoe and his man Friday were not more favored with solitude. Did they yearn for social intercourse with their kind, they could have it by stepping over to their nearest neighbors on the one hand, three miles away, or by tripping through the forest by the guid- ance of blazed trees seven miles in another direction. Howling wolves sought to in- trude, but were not made welcome. The woodman could not afford to spare the trees, which but cumbered the soil needed for culti- vation. There being no market for timber, huge piles of trunks and branches were burned to clear the land. As the years went on,
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improvements were made in the clearing: the log house gave place to frame buildings. Here Mr. Wilber made his home until his death, October 24, 1842. The maiden name of Mrs. Wilber was Rhoda Miller. She was born in Massachusetts, January 20, 1775, and died February II, 1861. Of the nine chil- dren of this family of hardy pioneers that grew to maturity, Adelone, Mrs. Blodgett, is the only one now living.
Adelone Wilber remained at the home of her birth till her marriage, at the age of . twenty years, to Arba Blodgett. Her hus- band, a native of Smithfield, was born March 20. 1807. Ozem Blodgett, father of Arba, came from Massachusetts, supposed to have been the State of his birth, to Madison County, and was a pioneer in the town of Eaton. After remaining there a few years, he removed to Smithfield, and from thence to Nelson, where he died May 17, 1835. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ander- son, died in Smithfield in January, 1862. Arba Blodgett was bred to the life of a farmer. Beginning in his tender years as chore-boy at home, staying with his parents till his marriage, he gained a practical ac- quaintance with the varied details of farm management.
Intelligent and enterprising, Mr. Blodgett became one of the most successful agricultu- rists of Madison County. His specialty was dairy farming, and more particularly cheese- making, to which he early turned his atten- tion. In 1862 he built at Peterboro the first cheese factory in Madison County. In 1866,
selling his estate in Smithfield, he bought a farm on the west shore of Cazenovia Lake, and there made his home for a period. Be- coming now well advanced in years, and wish- ing to retire from active labors, he sold this place and bought a home in Cazenovia, where he lived till his death. in September, 1891, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. A man of industry and integrity, who had thriven by his own exertions, one who was well disposed toward his fellow-men, he was much respected. Five children of Mr. and Mrs. Blodgett grew to maturity - Rhoda, Mary, Sarah, Ludum, and Amelia Velnett. Mrs. Blodgett has nineteen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren now living to com- fort her declining years.
F. BLANDING, a retired farmer, liv- ing in the village of Brookfield, Madi-
son County, was born in Exeter Hollow, Otsego County, N. Y., March 22, 1820. His paternal grandfather and his father, both named Franklin, were natives of the Eastern States, but moved to New York State, and settled in Otsego County. The father was reared to the trade of shoemaking, and for many years went from house to house, making shoes, but after a while had a shop in North Brookfield, and later in East Hamilton, at which place he resided until his death, at the age of sixty-eight years. He married Miss Nancy Holbrook, of Swanzey, N.H .; and they reared a large family of children - Joseph, Eliza, Lucina, Nancy, E. F., Will-
MARY L. BONNEY RAMBAUT.
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iam, Jefferson, Oscar, Susan, Adolphus, Mary, Amanda, and Freeman. Of these, only three are now living - Oscar, Adolphus, and our subject. The mother died at the age of seventy-two years.
The early life of E. F. Blanding was with- out any special incident, marked only by his taking the usual education of the public schools of his district and remaining at home until the age of twenty-one, when he made his introduction to the sterner duties of life and its lessons. He first went to North Brookfield, N. Y., and worked out by the month. By industry and hard labor he soon acquired enough money to buy a farm for himself. On this place he lived, and erected the buildings necessary for carrying on the farm. After some years of residence here he sold it, but in the following year bought it back, and lived on the place until 1885, when he again sold it, and moved to the village of Brookfield, where he has resided ever since, practically retired from business. When twenty-two years of age, he married Miss Louisa Forbes; and to them were born three children - namely, Nancy, Lovell, and Bru- nette. Lovell married Miss Imogene Hills, and died in 1885, having had one child, Lynn. Nancy, who married Albertus Lovejoy, re- sides in Madison, N. Y., and has four children - Nina, Frank, Monterville, and Charlotte. Brunette married David Foster, of Brookfield, and has two children, May and Cora. Mrs. Blanding died in February of 1890, and the widow of Lovell Blanding now presides over the home of her father-in-law.
Mr. Blanding is an earnest follower of the principles of the Democratic party, thorough- going in his support. While deeply inter- ested in the political questions of the day, on which he keeps himself well informed, Mr. Blanding is by no means obtrusive in his opinions or a seeker for office. Ile does his duty at the polls; and he allows every man the right to his own ideas, believing that every one should vote as his best judgment directs. He has been considerably interested in the Masonic Order, and is a member of Sanger Lodge, No. 129, A. F. & A. M., of Waterville, N. Y. He is prominently con- nected with the Universalist church, to which he gives valuable aid. A popular and highly respected citizen, Mr. Blanding has won his good name by a long life of usefulness and integrity.
RS. MARY L. BONNEY - RAM- BAUT, after having for more than half a century honorably filled the position of a teacher, most of her work having been in the line of the higher education of women, is now living in retirement, with its accompanying cheer of friendship and books, in her native town of Ilamilton, Madison County, N. Y., where she was born June 8, 1816. She may be said to have inherited a talent for teaching, as her mother was thus engaged for years. Mary L. Bonney received at home a true Christian training, and with increase of years came moral and spiritual development. After four years as a pupil in the Hamilton schools she entered the Troy
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Seminary, and graduated in 1834. This semi- nary at that time was the highest institution for young ladies in this country. After her graduation Miss Bonney was successfully en- gaged as a teacher in various places until the year 1850, when, in company with Miss Har- riett A. Dillaye, she founded the Chestnut Street Seminary, of Philadelphia, Pa., and was actively and earnestly engaged in the work of this school for thirty-three years.
In 1883 the school was removed to the ele- gant and spacious country seat of Jay Cooke, near Philadelphia, under the name of " Ogontz School for Young Ladies." Miss Bonney re- mained in the school in active service for five years after its removal.
In 1879 from transactions in Congress Miss Bonney's sympathies and conscience were aroused in behalf of the Indians of the United States. She accumulated facts in regard to their treatment, which, together with her con- victions of personal responsibility, she com- municated to her friend, Mrs. Amelia S. Quinton. Thus was begun the work which is recorded in the history of the Woman's Na- tional Indian Association. (See "Woman's Work in America," edited by Annie Nathan Meyer.)
The Association has been assured of its influence in securing the passage of the. Dawes Severalty Bill, in advanced educa- tional and mission work, in securing to Ind- ians equality before the law. To-day it has various departments of work - missionary, home-building, educational, libraries, hos- pitals, and so forth - each department having
at its head an able chairman, pressing its work with vigor. A report published in 1893, entitled "Our Work: What? How? Why?" shows the scope and methods of the Associa- tion at the present time. Its President is Mrs. A. S. Quinton; Honorary President, Mrs. Mary L. Bonney-Rambaut.
In 1888 Miss Bonney retired from Ogontz School, and was married in London, England, where she had gone as a delegate to the World's Missionary Conference, to Rev. Thomas Rambaut, D.D., LL.D., a devoted friend for many years, who was himself a prominent educator, and was also a delegate to the conference. Dr. Rambaut died in Hamilton, N.Y., in 1890. Mrs. Mary L. Bonney-Rambaut now resides with her brother, Benjamin F. Bonney (of whom see sketch and portrait on preceding pages) in Hamilton, quite at home in the congenial atmosphere of the refined and cultured circles of this edu- cational centre. She is deeply interested in the religious, moral, and social movements of this progressive age, and, as her strength and means permit, is ever ready to contribute to their advance.
The presentation, with this sketch, of the portrait of Mrs. Rambaut, will meet with the hearty appreciation of all who know her, and will add to the value of this work in the eyes of its readers.
UGENE B. ROBIE, proprietor of a grist- mill in the village of Eaton, was born October 8, 1862, in the town of Eaton, a son of George W. and Emily (Brown) Robie.
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George W. Robie was born in Vermont, and came from that State to Madison County, New York, when a growing lad, with his father, Jonathan Robie, who settled with his family in Georgetown early in this century. Mr. Jonathan Robie and his wife each lived to be about seventy-five years old. Of the ten children reared by them, only two now survive.
George W. Robie continued to reside in Georgetown with his father for a number of years after coming to this State, in the mean time securing a good education and learning the trade of a millwright. On leaving the parental roof, he began life for himself by working at his trade, going to the town of Eaton and erecting the grist-mill at Pierce's Mills. After remaining in this place a num- ber of years, he removed to the village of Eaton, and while residing there was elected by his Republican friends Superintendent of the Poor - a position which he held nine years. During the later years of his life he and his son, Eugene B., were partners in the grist-mill at Eaton. He was always an ac- tive, honest, industrious man, and highly es- teemed by all who knew him. His death occurred April 23, 1891, in the village of Eaton. His wife, who was born in 1833, died October 30, 1890. They reared a family of four children, all of whom are still living, namely: George L., teller in a bank at Morrisville; Eugene B .; Addie, wife of LeRoy Bonney, of Syracuse; and William, who resides in the village of Eaton.
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