USA > New York > Comley's history of the state of New York, embracing a general review of her agricultural and mineralogical resources, her manufacturing industries, trade and commerce, together with a description of her great metropolis, from its settlement by the Dutch, in 1609 > Part 19
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Two years before leaving Frankfort, Mr. E., in company with W. Northup, started the gro- cery and provision business, previous to whichi he had been a clerk with Mr. Northup and other parties, besides teaching school part of one year. In 1844, Mr. Ethridge moved to Rome, N. Y., to start a branch business, and the partnership ot Northup & Ethridge con- tinued until the winter of 1856, when fire con- sumed the whole of their premises : after this, this firm was dissolved, and the subject of this sketch commenced again for himself, run- ning the business for three years successfully, when he gave a former clerk, A. P. Tuller, an interest in the business. In 1862 and 1863,
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Mr. Ethridge built their present building, es- pecially adapted for the wholesale grocery and provision business, a fine brick building, : covering an area of 42 feet front by 144 deep, running from Dominick street back to the Erie Canal. The building is fitted up with every convenience, includ- ing a steam elevator, for handling their goods cheaply and with dispatch ; and their annual sales reach about one million dollars. The firm is now Ethridge, Tuller & Co., and is among the heaviest and most re- spectable firms in Central New York. Mr. E., by his close attention to business, good judgment, and honorable dealing, has won the confidence, respect, and esteem of all who know him.
Eustaphieve, Alexander A., was born in Boston, Mass., March 25th, 1812; his father being for a long time well known as the Russian Consul-General to the United States. The subject of this sketch received his education mainly in the city of his birth, during which period he attended the Boston Latin School four years. His first business ex- perience was in George Douglas & Co.'s com- mission house, New York City. In 1830, he moved to Detroit, and accepted the position of teller in the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank. : In 1832, he moved to Buffalo, and accepted a similar position in the Bank of Buffalo; in 1834, was teller in the Commercial Bank of . Buffalo ; and after that, held various positions --- of trust in banks as teller and cashier, until 1842, when he moved to New York and Ferguson, A. W., was born in Spring. field, Otsego County, N. Y., May 13th, 1819. In early life he received only a com- mon-school education, after which he was for four years apprenticed to the trade of saddle went into the commission business ; though in 1847 returned to Buffalo, and was appointed secretary of the Buffalo Mutual Insurance Company, which he occupied until 1863, when he took up the insurance agency business with : and harness maker. In ISto, he moved to HI. C. Walker, they remaining as partners till ; Jefferson County, and commenced working at 6
1877, when H. C. Walker retired. The busi- ness is now conducted by A. A. Eustaphieve, who has always proved himself a capable and thorough business man.
Farthing, George, was born in Somerset- shire, England, April 21st, 1831, and removed to Buffalo with his parents during 1835. His father has been dead twenty-five years, and his mother twenty years, and both are buried in Niagara County, N. Y.
The subject of this sketch commenced busi- ness for himself in IS49, feeding cattle at Clark's distillery, and later at Tonawanda. At the commencement of the war, he, together with his brother James, began the distilling business at Tonawanda ; three years later they were burned out ; after which, George removed to Buffalo, and did business in cattle-yards with his brother Thomas Farthing. In 1872, they bought out Moore's distillery, which they are now running successfully in connec- tion with cattle-trade, malt house, etc .; the style of the firm being George and Thomas Farthing, the latter attending to the cattle de- partment of the business. George Farthing was married in April, 1850, to Miss Matilda Kelly, the issue of which has been eight chil- dren, seven of whom are living.
Mr. Farthing has always proved himself a capable business man, and under his able management has, from a small beginning, placed himself high in the community in which he lives.
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his trade as a journeyman, continuing for eighteen months, when he commenced busi- ness for himself in a very small way, doing a more or less successful business for three or four years, during which time he was married to Miss Electa Francis, by whom he has had four children; two only survive. In 1848, he, stimulated by ambition to benefit his po- sition, moved to Malone, N. Y., and opened a saddlery and harness store, which proved very successful until 1860, when he disposed of his business that he might give his whole time and attention to hop-growing, a branch of agriculture he started in 1850 with a very few acres of land ; little by little has he added to his first possessions, until he now has under culture one hundred and fifteen acres of the finest hops, and his productions are as well known throughout our country among the brewers as " household words." This en- viable reputation he has achieved by proper care of the details of hop-raising, watching their progress, and giving them every atten- tion, to insure for his products nothing but first quality ; and generally his crops are en- gaged by the best brewers in the country long before picking time, so anxious are they to secure what they know to be the great essential ingredient for the production of the finest ales. His hop-yard, during the growth of the crop, presents pictures of agri- cultural perfection, each vine receiving such care and treatment as to secure good and permanent results ; and in this has he ever been successful, and when others have found themselves with short and blighted crops, his kilns have been full and his customers happy.
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In 1854, he was elected to the State As- seinbly, a position he filled with dignity and honor. In 1853, he was elected and served a four years term as justice of the peace. He, feeling a pride in the future welfare of the
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home of his adoption, became one of the or- ganizers of the Malone Hotel Company, which built the Ferguson House, and he is a one half owner of the property, by far the handsomest block in Malone. Fully intend- ing to pass his life in this beautiful town, he erected the finest residence in Northern New York. It is built of Milwaukee brick, and is fitted up inside with all modern con- veniences to the ends of happiness and com- fort. The woodwork throughout the house is of beautiful black-walnut and ash (native wood), highly polished, fit for the require- ments and luxury of royalty itself. Mr. Fer- guson owes his success in life to close appli- cation to the details of his business, by which, together with his natural business habits, he has amassed a large fortune. Though he has been frugal, he has never been parsimonious in his manner of life, and with a liberal hand has he dispensed his charities. Without injuring any one, he has accomplished much, and as a citizen and man he deserves the esteem of posterity.
Field, Joseph, the subject of this brief sketch, was born in Taunton, Mass., March 29th, 1787. When seventeen years of age, he partially served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, but followed the occupa- tion only a short time. At the age of twenty-one, he married Miss Lydia Glover, of Dorchester, Mass. Of this his only marriage, he has had five daughters, three of whom survive-Mrs. Eliza A. Staunton, Mrs. Caroline Ely, and Mrs. Almira Beers. Of the remaining two, one died in infancy, the other, Mrs. Emeline Cobb, died a few months since.
From Dorchester he removed to Walpole, New Hampshire, where he remained for several years. But having a great desire to
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visit the western and south-western parts of the United States, he, while here, explored much of the southern and south-western parts of our country, visiting New Orleans twice, once having had the fever of the country while there. He also visited most of the cities south, and nearly all the inland cities from Pittsburg to St. Louis-travel- ling most of the way on horseback and by boats on rivers, this being the only way of journeying of that time.
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with the government agent, went to Green Bay on horseback, the party finding their way by " blased trees," and camping at night in the forest. This journey resulted in a purchase of some lands by Mr. Field, and in his prospecting in the West, which he was anxious to do, that he might judge of the extent and state of the country, which was then called " The Great West ;" and though impressed with its prospective great- ness, it did not wean him from his interests in Rochester.
After these travels, having great faith of the future of Western New York, he re- Leaving the auction and commission business after about four years, he entered into the milling business, operating for the : first two years in the "Genesee Falls Mills," at the brink of the "High Falls," were then known as the " Palmer Cleveland Mills." In this first enterprise he was suc- cessful, though occupants before and after him were not as much so. moved in 1827 to Rochester, and soon after entered into the auction and cominis- sion business with Derick Sibley. Added to this, the firm engaged in the buying and selling real estate, and purchased one on the east side of the river. The mills hundred acres or more of land adjoining the city on the west, buying Town Lot No 63, which lay on both sides of Genesee street and along the line of Buffalo street. This land they cut up into city lots, laid From this beginning he came to the west side, and opened business on the lower, or Brown's Race, making a flouring mill out of what had been a woollen mill ; and after- ward he built the upper mill on that race. Here he continued business until he sold out and withdrew, continuing altogether as a merchant miller about fifteen years ; and it is believed that at the time of his retiring, he was one of the few who had continued to be prosperous in that business which has engaged so many men and so much capital from the beginning of Rochester. out streets, made maps, etc. This purchase was called the "Sibley and Field Tract." They erected the once famous and large (for those times) stone building on the corner of Buffalo and Genesee streets, called " The Bull's Head," which was opened and occupied for several years as a hotel. On this purchase, also, they reserved on Gene- see street a lot of ten acres, called " The College Square," dedicating its use, as a gift, to any parties who should take it and put up educational buildings in accordance with the views of the donors. It was ney- er so taken, and after twenty years it re- verted back to the original owners.
Mr. Field was one of the originators of the " Rochester City Bank," was its president for many years, and at its close. His mind next turned to railroad interests, he being connected with the old Tonawanda Rail- road west, which was afterward built from
During this time, Mr. Field attended a government sale of lands at Green Bay. He procured a horse at Chicago -- then a small, insignificant village -- and in company , Batavia to Buffalo. He was Superintendent
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of Construction, and afterward President of the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, which now is part of New York Central. Being thoroughly interested in steam high- ways, he turned his attention to roads west of Buffalo, and was a member of the meet- ing at Fredonia that first advocated a Lake Shore road, which was afterward built. He was also more or less interested in all the railroads from Buffalo to Chicago, and was a Director of the first Board after the consolidation of the roads which now form the New York Central.
In this connection it may be stated that, less than two years ago, he attended the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- road in Cleveland, Ohio, and was made chairman of that meeting, though then nearly ninety years of age !
Having always an interest in the city where he lived, he consented, in former years, to be a candidate for Mayor of Ro- chester, was elected, and served with honor and efficiency one term; but respectfully declined the second nomination, though pressed to accept it by many citizens.
He has also been a large owner of real estate in Rochester, and only five years ago erected a fine large block of stores on State street, corner of Market.
The subject of this short sketch is now · in the gist year of his age, and-as will be seen by the accompanying engraving-is still vigorous and well-preserved for a man of his years. He has already passed the age allotted to man, and in the course of a long and active business life, has been brought in contact with very many men of wealth and mind, of the best standing and business capacity in the different enterprises of life. This has led him through numerous
transactions, requiring labor, caution, and energy, as well as executive ability ; and it may be added as a marvel, exceptionally strange, that he has been successful in all his varied pursuits, never having been forced to succumb to financial embarrass- ments.
It may be said too, with perfect truth, that there is not a word of reproach against his good name-nothing to sully his honor or character --- nothing to dim the lustre of his life, now so near its close. And when his spirit shall calmly and hopefully glide from earth into the great unknown beyond, his honored name will not be forgotten as one of those efficient pioneers who helped to lay the foundations of civil and religious society in Rochester and Western New York, and who did their work so well. April, IS77.
Forman, Joshua, was born at Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N. Y., September 6th. 1777. His parents were Joseph and Hannah Forman, who previous to the Revo- lution resided in the city of New York. Upon the breaking out of the war and the approach of the British to that city, Mir. Joseph Forman with his family retired to Pleasant Valley, where the subject of this sketch was born. At an early age he evinced a strong desire for learning, in which he was encouraged by his friends. In the fall of 1793; he entered Union College at Schenec- tady, and in due time graduated with honor. Directly after his .collegiate course was com- pleted, he entered the law office of Peter W. Radcliffe, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, where he remained about two years. He then went to the city of New York, and completed his lawy studies in the office of Samuel Miles Hopkins. Esq. Soon after the close of his ---
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professional course, he was married to Miss Margaret Alexander, a daughter of the Hon. Boyd Alexander, M.P. for Glasgow, Scot- land. In the spring of 1800, Mr. Forman removed to Onondaga Hollow, and opened a law office, where he began early to manifest his public spirit and enterprise. By his integrity and straightforward course in the practice of his profession, he soon became distinguished as a lawyer, and by his talents and gentlemanly deportment became familiarly known throughout the country. In 1803, William H. Sabin joined him as a partner in the practice of the law. In ISoy, he was elected to the legislature, where he became prominent as the first pro- jector of the Erie Canal. In 1813, he was ap- pointed Judge of the Onondaga County Com- mon Pleas Court, a station he filled with credit and ability ten years. In 1807, he erected the first grist-mill on the Oswego River, which greatly facilitated the settlement of that region. In ISos, he founded the cele- brated Plaster Company at Camillus. In 1821, Judge Forman obtained the passage of a law authorizing the lowering of Onondaga Lake, and subsequently the lake was lowered about two feet, draining the unwholesome marshes and improving the lands about the lakę. In 1822, he embarked in salt man- ufacturing, introducing the manufacture of solar salt. Judge Forman was emphatically the founder of the city of Syracuse. He laid out the centre of the city in 1818, and moved to that place in the year 1819, where he per- sisted in his efforts until he had laid the broad and deep foundations of this flourish- ing city. After his work was accomplished, he in 1826 removed to New Jersey, near New Brunswick, where he superintended the opening and working of a copper mine. Soon after his departure, the State of New
York became sadly deranged in its financial affairs. . The banking system was extremely defective. At this crisis Judge Forman came forward with a plan for relief. At the request of Mr. Van Buren, then Governor, he spent the winter at Albany, drew up and perfected his bill, which was the Safety Fund act passed that winter. In 1829-30, Judge Forman and others bought from the State of North Carolina some 300,000 acres of land in Ruthfordton and other counties. He took up his residence at the village of Ruth- fordton, where he made great improvements, besides improving the mental and moral con- dition of the inhabitants. In 1831, after an absence of five years, Judge Forman visited Onondaga, where he received a public din- ner tendered by all the leading gentlemen of Syracuse. He was welcomed with unquali fied demonstrations of joy and respect. On his return to his home in North Carolina, while his health permitted, his business was principally that of making sales of the lands he had purchased. After visiting Syracuse once more in 1346, he retired to his mountain home, where he looked back upon a well- spent life, much of which was devoted to the service of his country, without regret. He died at the village of Ruthfordton, August 4th, 1848, and his remains were removed to Syracuse, where they rest in the beautiful rural cemetery, Oakwood.
For a fuller account of Judge Forman, see Clark's " Onondaga," " The Leavenworth Genealogy," and "Hosack's " Life of De Witt Clinton."
Francis, John M., editor of the Troy Times, was born March 7th, 1823. His father was a native of Wales, and a man of extensive reading and great force of character. In 1798, he emigrated to the
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United States, and settled near Utica, from whence he removed to Prattsburg, Steuben County, then almost a wilderness region, and became one of the pioneers of West- ern New York. Here he engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits, and here the son, John M., was born. Young Francis enjoyed in his early years the limited advantages of the district-school, and was permitted to spend one winter at the village academy --- this last privilege constituting all the academic instruc- tion he ever received. At the age of fourteen years, he became an apprentice to the trade of a printer, in the office of the Ontario Mes- senger, published at Canandaigua, Thistown was then the seat of considerable political in- fluence, and the young apprentice soon be- came not only an interested observer of events as they occurred, but a close student of political economy and a patient listener at the earnest discussions which took place between the many distinguished men of the village. At the age of nineteen, having completed his apprenticeship, he removed to Palmyra, in Wayne County, and began his first experi- ence as an editorial writer in the columns of the Wayne Sentinel. In 1845, he became the associate editor of the Rochester Daily Adver- tiser, and in 1846 took up his residence in Troy, where he connected himself with the Troy Budget as its editor, and subsequently as one of its proprietors. In the Hunker and Barnburner campaigns which succeeded, he distinguished himself as an advocate of free soil, free speech, and free men. He was the first editor to establish the home or city department-a feature which has since become so prominent in all journals. Brief connections with the Troy Whig and Post ensued; and in 1852 Mr. Francis began his great life-work in establishing his present
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journal -- THE TROY DAILY TIMES-a paper of pre-eminent enterprise, ability, and influ- ence, and which has been correspondingly successful in the material elements of pros- perity. From 1852 to 1856, Mr. Francis was city clerk of Troy ; in 1867, he was elected from the district composed of Rensselaer and Washington counties, to serve in the conven- tion to revise the constitution of New York State. While in that body, he delivered one speech evincing elaborate preparation (upon the government of cities), and took part in several debates. In 1869, he travelled ex- tensively in Europe, and in 1871 was ap- pointed United States Minister to Greece by .President Grant. He made a popular and able representative abroad; and his resigna- tion, two years later, was accepted with reluc- tance by the government. In 1875-6, Mr. Francis made a tour of the globe, writing a series of letters for his paper descriptive of his travels and of the foreign countries he visited, which were widely read and extensively copied by the press. As the editor of THE TIMES, Mr. Francis has a national reputation. Few men are so well versed in public affairs or wield a readier and more skillul pen. His observations abroad, combined with his ex- tensive reading, have enriched his mind, and given him broad and comprehensive views of subjects as they arise and require treatment at bis hands. He is practically a self-made man ; and being still in the prime of life, with mental powers increasing rather than dimin- ishing, of a strong and robust constitution, and a judgment upon men and things that rarely errs, it may be predicted of him that. both as a journalist and as a public man. he can, if he shall choose, make for himself a conspicuous and honorable figure in the his- tory of the times.
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Frear, William H., was born in Coxsackie, N. Y., March 29th, 1841. His parents were in somewhat straitened cir- cumstances, but they afforded William fair educational advantages, which he zealously improved. He secured a situation in a coun- try store in his native village when sixteen years of age, and at the expiration of two years of faithful clerkship, entered into the service of John Flagg, then the leading merchant of Troy, N. Y. Young Frear continued a sales- man in Mr. Flagg's store for six years, during which period he mastered every detail of the dry goods trade, developed astonishing apti- tude for business, and won the unlimited con- fidence of his employer. In 1865, the am- bitious subject of this sketch, restive under the restraints incident to a subordinate posi- tion, took the few hundred dollars he had saved from his earnings by an economy ap- proaching hardship, and embarked in mer- cantile life as the partner of Mr. Haverly. under the firm name of Haverly & Frear. They opened a small store in an unfavorable location; but the extraordinary energy of Mr. Frear bore fruit in sales aggregating $300,- ooo during the three years' existence of the firm. In 1868, the firm of Haverly & Frear changed into Flagg, Haverly & Frear, with Mr. Frear as the managing partner; and the three rented the most central store in Troy, situated in the Cannon Place building. Mr. Haverly retired in 1869; in the following year a large cloak, shawl, and suit apartment was added; and in 1$74 Mr. Frear became the sole proprietor --- a distinction he still main- tains. As a practical illustration of the re- markable augmentation of his transactions since that time, it is only necessary to men- tion that he added a contiguous store to his dry goods house in April, 1875, and still another one, with an entrance on an adjoin-
ing street, just one year later. Mr. Frear now controls a corps of fifty of the most ex- pert clerks in the city, all of whom are the fast friends of their employer. His annual sales approximate a million dollars, and it is no exaggeration to say that his mammoth place of business is the head centre of trade in Northern New York. In that entire sec- tion of the State there is no name seen or spoken so often as that of Frear. The ad- vertising columns of the newspapers teem with flaring announcements of Frear's bar- gains ; ferry-boats, street cars, ice-wagons, fences, bill-boards, stages, cards, circulars, posters, transparencies, and a multiplying army of patrons, unite in one grand chorus to proclaim Frear's low prices; tremendous piles of dress-goods lining the sidewalk, and reaching heavenward, give ocular demonstra- tions of the magnitude of Frear's stock; lavish liberality and praiseworthy public-spir- itedness tell the story of Frear's flattering financial foundation ; and yet the busiest, most unassuming and genial man in Frear's famous store, is William H. Frear. His un- daunted genius, prodigious enterprise, and brilliant success compel universal admira- tion. He has no bad habits to block the pathway of prosperity, and his life presents to the struggling youth a striking example of what brains, self-denial, honesty, and enter- prise may accomplish. Although he has yet to reach the meridian of his career, William H. Frear is, to-day, the most powerful name in commercial circles north of the city of New York.
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