USA > New York > Biographical sketches of the state officers and members of the legislature of the state of New York in 1862 and '63 > Part 19
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Mr. Dow is a native of Plainfield, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, and is fifty-four years of age. He received a good business education in the free schools of New England, and has passed his life chiefly as a merchant. He has held the office of Commissioner of Excise in Cattaraugus county, where he now resides, since 1857, and was Supervisor of his town during the years 1851, '53, '56, '57, '58, '59 and '62. In politics he has been a Democrat, always unyieldingly attached to the principles and policy of that party, but at the break- ing out of the rebellion abandoned his partisan predi- lections and joined the late Union movement, receiving his nomination and election to the Assembly as a repre- sentative of that party.
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JOSEPH C. DOUGHTY.
MR. DOUGHTY is one of the most quiet, careful, consistent and reliable men in either branch of the Legislature, to which qualities he combines every attribute of a perfect gentleman. No one has excelled him during the winter in a faithful and conscientious discharge of their legislative duties, and it is universally conceded that his district has not sent as good a representative to the Assembly for many years.
Mr. Doughty is a native of the town of Beekman, Dutchess county, N. Y., and is fifty-four years of age. After receiving a good business education, he turned his atten- tion to merchandising, and has for some years been one of the most extensive and successful commission merchants in the city of Poughkeepsie, where he resides. Although having no taste for politics, devoting himself exclusively to a quiet discharge of his duties as a careful business man, he held the office of Supervisor, in his native town, two years, and was elected to the Assembly by upwards of three hundred majority, in a district hitherto strongly Republican. Originally he was a Whig, of the Clay and Webster school, and supported Mr. Fillmore for the Presi- dency in 1856. Subsequently, however, his strong con- servative views led him into the ranks of the Democracy, with whom he has since generally acted, believing that the restoration of the Union is more likely to be attained through the success of Democratic measures than those of any other political party.
Mr. Doughty is a man of family, and is personally, as
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well as politically, one of the most popular men in the county of Dutchess.
LEMUEL DURFEE.
MR. DURFEE is a native of the town of Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y., and is sixty-one years of age. His father's family came from Rhode Island, and his mother's from Massachusetts. He received a limited English education, and is now engaged in farming, which has been his chief occupation through life. He is strictly a business man, having no taste for party politics, but during the past quarter of a century has held almost every office in the gift of the people of his town and county. His early poli- tical teachings were all obtained in the Clay and Webster school, but when the old Whig party abandoned its organi- zation, he joined the Republicans. He was elected to the Assembly as a straight Republican, and has exhibited traits of character which qualify him well for the position he occupies. In the social circle he is affable and courteous, and by his uniform kindness and good will toward all with whom he comes in contact, makes friends wherever he goes.
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CHARLES T. DURYEA.
MR. DURYEA is the Member from the First Assembly district in Queens county. He was born on the 20th day of August, 1832, in the town of Brookhaven, Suf- folk county, N. Y., and is thirty-five years of age. He is of German extraction, and his parents are still living.
Mr. Duryea is a very large man, being six feet and one inch in height, and large in proportion, weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds. He is a very affiable and pleasant companion, easy of access, and a warm friend. He received a common school education, and entered upon the business of life as a farmer, which pursuit still occupies his attention. In politics, he was an American, but after the demise of that organization he joined the Democrats, and by them was elected a Member of the Assembly of 1863. He is a good, sub- stantial member, attends faithfully to his duties, and does good service for his constituents. At home he is a man of very considerable influence, a prominent and active man in his town, and greatly respected for his in- tegrity and high sense of honor. He was married on the 17th day of March, 1858, to Miss Mary Ann Smith.
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LUTHER S. DUTCHER.
MR. DUTCHER was born in the town of Dover, Dutchess county, N. Y., and is of Dutch extraction. His father and mother are both dead ; the former was sixty- seven, and the latter was eighty-six years of age. His education was obtained at the common schools, and was adapted to the calling he had selected for his future life, that of merchant and manufacturer. He has served as Justice of the Peace several years; and was elected Member of Assembly in the fall of 1862, running against his cousin, John B. Dutcher, who was the Republican candidate, and a Member of the Assembly the preceding year. The contest was a very close one, and until the official canvass was made, it was not known which Dutcher had been successful. His majority was thirty- one.
Mr. Dutcher is a very quiet man, of good character and habits, and fair ability. He makes no show in the House,-his inclination leading him rather to an unos- tentatious discharge of his duty, than to a vain display of pretended acquirements unsuited to his occupation. He is a straight-out Democrat and adheres to his party under any and all circumstances, never swerving from the beaten path in which he has trodden since the days of his youth. He was married on the 1st day of De- cember, 1833, to Miss Amelia A. Giddings, and though formerly a Quaker, attends the Baptist Church.
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PEREZ H. FIELD.
MR. FIELD was a member of the House in 1861, and during the session of that year served on the Committee on Banks - a position which he again holds in the present Assembly. Although one of the most quiet men in the Legislature of that year, he showed himself an excellent representative, and his constituents have exhibited a just appreciation of their real interests by sending him to Albany again. Politically, he is a staunch Republican of Whig antecedents, but he is essentially conservative on all the great questions of the day, and was one of those in the House in 1861 who supported the proposition to send Peace Commissioners to Washington in compliance with the Virginia resolutions, to avert, if possible, the calamity of the civil war which is now fast destroying the country and which might then have been averted.
Mr. Field is a native of the town of Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y., and is forty-two years of age. His an- cestors settled in Massachusetts, and he is probably of English descent. After receiving a good, practical busi- ness education, he engaged in mercantile pursuits, which have always since been his chief occupation. His posi- tion in the village of Geneva, where he resides, is that of a gentleman of intelligence and superior business capacity, and he brings with him to the discharge of his legislative duties the experience of a successful business career. He is unmarried, and the high order of social qualities which he possesses makes him troops of friends everywhere.
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THOMAS C. FIELDS.
MR. FIELDS is a native of St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and was born November 9, 1825. He is of Irish descent. He received his education at Delhi Academy, Delaware county, in reference to the study of law, and having fitted himself for the profession, was admitted to the bar, and located in the city of New York, where he still resides. He has filled the office of Public Ad- ministrator of New York, and is one of the Central Park Commissioners.
Mr. Field is a Democrat of the straitest sect, and is an earnest advocate of the measures and principles of that party. He is a ready speaker, of good voice, very vehement in his action, and, when excited, fierce and loud in the expression of indignation or wrath. Generally, he is a good debater ; and although a warm partisan, is a man of genial feelings and seems to be as courteous and familiar with his political opponents as with his friends, but is often untrue to both. He was elected to the Legislature of 1863, and is a prominent leader of his party in the Assembly. In all strictly party. measures, he is the man to gather in the forces and see that every member is on hand. In the excited contest for Speaker, he took a very active part; and when the Republicans brought forward the name of Mr. CALLICOT, both parties having failed to break the tie on the regular candidates, his indignation broke forth in tones, both loud and deep, and the vials of his wrath were poured on the head of that devoted gentleman. During the few days that intervened between the introduction of Mr.
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Callicot as the Republican candidate, and his election to the Speakership, Mr. Fields led the column of attack ; and if he did not utterly annihilate the newly adopted candidate, it was from no lack of vigor on the part of the assailant. The public and private character of the re- cusant Democrat was bared to the public gaze, and he was denounced in unmeasured terms as a renegade and traitor.
Since the organization of the House, Mr. Fields has preferred charges of corruption against the Speaker, over his own signature and on his own responsibility. These have been referred to a Select Committee of In- vestigation, who will, undoubtedly, thoroughly sift the matter and report thereon. If found guilty, the Speaker, as a citizen and a public man, will be forever disgraced ; if honorably acquitted, as all good citizens hope that he will be, he will come out the brighter for the hard rub- bing he has endured.
Mr. Fields has, also, waged a relentless war upon many others holding official station, wrongfully attack- ing their private characters, and charging them with a criminal disposition to deplete the public treasury ; but he should not forget that "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones," and that his own official career in the city of New York will not safely bear investigation.
Mr. Fields was married to Miss Annie E. Smith, in the city of New York, in 1847. He attends no particu- lar Church.
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FRANCIS B. FISHER.
MR. FISHER is an indefatigable working man, and has gained an enviable reputation in the House for fairness, uprightness and honesty. Though a good speaker, he is not prone to occupy much of the time of the Assem- bly in the discussion of extraneous subjects, but con- tents himself with brief and comprehensive statements of his views on the various measures introduced, leaving a record of his acts, rather than his words, as evidence of his zeal and industry in behalf of his constituents. In the Legislature of 1862 he distinguished himself for his bold and successful championship of the rights of the Press ; and, though it might be said that his private interests were, to some extent, involved in the success of the bill then pending, yet he represented the views of the entire Press of the State-an interest of vast magnitude, not only to publishers, but to the people themselves. The public Press is the guardian of Liber- ty, and whatever advances its interests conduces to the happiness and prosperity of the people. It should, therefore, be fostered by the State as a matter of policy, as it is used to enlighten and instruct the masses, and thereby promote the public welfare.
Mr. Fisher is thirty years old, and has had the advan- tage of a good academic education. He is a practical printer, and has for several years conducted and pub- lished the Chenango American, of which he is the proprietor. He early joined the American party, and continued its zealous defender and advocate as long as
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it had an existence. Before the last Presidential contest came on, or rather before any candidates were regularly nominated, he raised the name of Daniel S. Dickinson for President, and urged his claims for that high office. As neither branch of the Democracy, however, pre- sented the name of that gentleman, he went into the canvas in favor of John C. Breckinridge, who was sig- nally defeated. On the breaking out of the war he fell in with the People's movement, and aided in the elec- tion of the Union State ticket in the fall of 1861. He served in the Assembly in 1862, and was re-elected, and is again a Member in 1863. He is a man of fair ability and of undoubted integrity.
BENJAMIN H. FLETCHER.
One of the best appearing men in the House is MR. FLETCHER, of Niagara. He is about forty-eight years of age, and entirely a self-made man. He emanated from that great hive of enterprising, vigorous, and self-reliant speci- mens of human nature, known as New England. Born in Addison county, Vermont, like Horace Greeley and Judge Douglas, who hailed from the same quarter, he went forth at nineteen years of age to seek his fortune. And, like Greeley, he first tried the city of New York, but not as suc- cessful as the former there, he moved up the river as far as Poughkeepsie, where a friend assures us he knew him, in 1835, working for twelve dollars and a half a month. We next hear of him selling goods at Ticonderoga, whence,
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after a few years, he returned to his former home in Ver- mont. But not satisfied with his experience of the world. he next turns his face westward, and finally fetches up at Painsville, Ohio; where he continues in successful busi- ness until his final settlement at Lockport, in this State, in December, 1843, where he has since continued to reside. Mr. Fletcher is a distiller; and the extent of his business may be judged of from the fact that he uses about a thou- sand bushels of corn and rye a week, or fifty thousand bushels a year. He is evidently a person of decision, and is pronounced an excellent business man. Politically, he is a Democrat, and comes legitimately by it-since his father was one of the few from the Federal State of Vermont who shouldered his musket and flew to the rescue of Plattsburgh, when it was assailed by the British in the war of 1812. He has been Supervisor of Lockport, holding the position two or three terms; and has also been Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of that place for a number of years, and the popularity acquired by him in this position may account for his election to the last Assembly, as well as the present, by a large majority in both instances, in what had before been a strong Republican district.
Mr. Fletcher has his second wife, and is a vestryman in the Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member.
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CORNELIUS FLYNN.
MR. FLYNN is a native of Wales, and is now a resident of the first district in the city of New York, which he repre- sents in the Assembly. He is of Irish descent, and is twenty-eight years of age. As a boy he was poor, strug- gling hard to obtain an education, but by industry and per- severance has made up in active life what he lost in the schools. He is an active and industrious young man, and is successfully engaged in business as a boatman. All his political teachings were obtained at the feet of such men as Gov. Seymour, John A. Dix, Elijah F. Purdy, and many others of that class, and his attachment to the Democratic party has always been firm and consistent. His social qua- lities give him considerable personal popularity among those who know him best.
DAVID V. FREEMAN.
MR. FREEMAN is one of the most clever and agreea- ble young gentlemen in the House. His career in that body has not been boisterous, but he has discharged his duties in a manner that has secured him the good opinion of all his legislative associates.
Mr. Freeman is a native of Bellville, Essex county, New Jersey, and is forty years of age. He is engaged in business in the city of New York as an importer, and has been quite successful in all his undertakings. In
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politics he is a Democrat, of the more conservative stamp, and takes quite an active part in the politics of the Metropolitan city. He was the candidate of his party for the Assembly against two opponents, one representing the Union movement and the other the Republican party, but was triumphantly elected over both by a plurality of upwards of one thousand votes. His great personal strength makes him a strong oppo- nent whenever before the people, and he generally runs far in advance of his ticket. He has made many friends at Albany during the winter, and serves his constituents diligently and faithfully.
THEODORE FREAN.
MR. FREAN was born in Charleston, S. C., in 1822, and is of Irish descent on the paternal side. He came to the city of New York in 1834, where he received an education in the public schools. In 1839 he removed to Staten Island; and at the age of twenty-one, was elected a Justice of the Peace and Town Clerk, in the town of Stapleton, the place of his residence. The former of these offices he held thirteen years, and the latter four years. After his election as Justice, he studied law. Being a prominent and active man in his town, he has filled nearly all the town offices with great satisfaction to the people. He was a member of the Board of Health on Staten Island a few years ago which declared the Quarantine buildings a nuisance, and which
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occasioned so much excitement at the time, that the military were called out to protect the property and keep the peace. He has always taken a deep interest in free schools in his community ; and was the first asso- ciate Justice under the present Constitution, in Rich- mond county, which position he has held several terms. In 1859 he was appointed U. S. Consul at Belfast, Ire- land, where he remained until 1861. He was appointed U. S. Storekeeper at Quarantine by Collector Redfield of New York ; and on the incoming of Schell, who took Redfield's place, he was transferred to that city as an Assistant Storekeeper. In all his multifarious employ- ments he has acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of the Government and the people.
The father of Mrs. Frean was prominent in the Mili- tary Department of South Carolina, during his residence in the Palmetto State. He died on Staten Island in 1857 at the age of seventy. His mother, whose maiden name was Ann Eliza Haws, is still living at an advanced age.
On the breaking out of the rebellion, his cousin, Thomas Frean, was Surveyor-General of South Caro- lina. But, notwithstanding his antecedents, the sub- ject of this sketch has always been true, loyal and patriotic. He took an active part in the enlistment of soldiers for the war, and was an enrolling officer of his town. He was also one of the Senatorial Committee designated by Governor Morgan to superintend the war movements, and as such discharged his duty with great zeal and efficiency. In politics he is a Democrat of the Jefferson stamp.
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Mr. Frean was married in 1848 to Miss Amanda A. Lozier, who is of French extraction. He attends the Episcopalian Church.
FRANCIS R. GILBERT.
MR. GILBERT is one of those attentive and efficient men who labor assiduously to serve those who honor him with their confidence and their suffrage. He not only works faithfully, but intelligently, and is justly regarded as one of the most useful and reliable men in the House. Although a good speaker, he never rises to debate a question unless he has something to say. Frank and generous in charac- ter, and kind and affable in his manner, he makes warm friends wherever he goes, and enjoys a high degree of per- sonal popularity at home, where he is best known.
Mr. Gilbert was born in the town of Stamford, Delaware county, N. Y., and is thirty-one years of age. His parents were both born in this State. After receiving an academi- cal education, he turned his attention to the study of the law, and is now a successful practitioner at the bar in his native town and county, where he resides. He has always been a firm and unyielding Democrat of the old-fashioned National Conservative stamp, and was elected by upwards of three hundred majority over the Hon. Daniel Water- bury, his Republican opponent, who had represented the district in the Assembly during the two preceding years. He is always unsparing in his denunciation of " Nigger.
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heads," by whom he is sometimes denominated a " Copper- head."
Mr. Gilbert is a widower, and enjoys a high social posi- tion where he resides.
WILLIAM GILLESPIE.
This gentleman is one of the most useful men in the House, and probably does more to keep up the regular routine of business than any other member. He allows no innovation upon the rules ; and when an attempt is made to introduce business out of the regular order, his ringing " I object" is heard in every part of the hall, and instantly "order reigns in Warsaw." It requires some nerve to interpose and effectually frustrate the scheme of a fellow-member, to get his particular bill ahead, and MR. GILLESPIE is just the man to do it. He has the requisite amount of firmness and decision in his composition, and he is not slow to act when occasion requires it. He does not do this in a captious or un- worthy spirit, but simply as a matter of duty, that all may have an equal chance, and no undue preference be given to impatient or unscrupulous members who con- sult their own convenience rather than the public good. He is, moreover, one of the most courteous and oblig- ing members in the House, and is ever ready to afford " aid and comfort " to his associates, when he can do so without infringing upon the rights of others.
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Mr. Gillespie was born in the city of New York on the 6th of November, 1802, and is now sixty years of age. He is of Irish extraction on his paternal and Dutch on his maternal side. His parents removed from the city in 1812, a period when its business interests were paralyzed by the war with England, and located in the town of Bethel, Sullivan county, where his father died in 1849, at the age of seventy-two. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary Van Riper, died in 1840, also seventy-two years old. He was educated in the common schools of the State, and has followed the business of farming the greatest part of his life. He has also engaged in hotel keeping, and has been a practical surveyor the last twenty years, and now follows that business. He is a man of note in his town, and has filled the office of Justice of the Peace twelve years, besides having been honored with several other town offices. He has also been County Superintendent of the Poor, and in the fall of 1862 was elected Member of the Assembly, which office he now fills with great credit to himself and beneficially to his constituents and the State.
Mr. Gillespie has always been a Democrat. He was married in 1825 to Miss Elvira Hurd, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
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WILLIAM C. GOVER.
MR. GOVER was born in the city of Philadelphia, in 1818, and when about nine years old removed, with his parents, to the city of New York, where he has ever since resided. His father, George W. A. Gover, served in the war of 1812, and was stationed at Fort Hamil- ton, Long Island. He was a native of the city of Lon- don, England, and died in 1832. His mother was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland.
At the age of fourteen, by the death of his father, the responsibility of providing for the support of his mother and two younger children devolved upon young Gover; and from that time he has been unremitting in his efforts to discharge these duties with fidelity, and has met with the most gratifying success. His means of education, under the circumstances, were necessarily very limited ; nevertheless, by intense application, un- wearied industry and perseverance, he has acquired a good fund of knowledge, and is one of the most intelli- gent and reliable gentlemen in the neighborhood in which he resides.
Mr. Gover was a Sergeant of Police previous to July 3, 1857, when, as he avers, he was fraudulently dis- missed by the Board of Police Commissioners, and has since then passed most of his time in an editorial capa- city. In politics he has always been a Democrat, of the Adamantine Jeffersonian School, and has exercised a good deal of influence among the better class of New York politicians. When the rebellion broke out, and
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within three days after the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter, he entered the Government service as a Captain in the Twenty-fifth Regiment of New York Volunteers, and was soon afterwards appointed Assist- ant Provost Marshal at Alexandria, having his head- quarters at the Marshall House, where the lamented and intrepid Ellsworth was killed. He was actively engaged in the service one year.
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