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 23
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to Poughkeepsie, and proceeded to locate the track to Albany, when failing health and other circumstances led him to make a trip to Europe. This enabled him to examine the finest works of engineering in England and on the continent, and he then returned and made New York his residence.
Mr. Jervis was subsequently engaged on the Michigan Southern, and also the Rock Island road, and passed six years in this new field. In 1858, being then sixty-three, he re- turned to Rome, and determined to spend his days amid the scenes of his boyhood. His na- tural activity, however, made a quiet life dis- tasteful ; hence he accepted, in 1861, the office of superintendent and engineer of the Pitts- burg and Fort Wayne road. This concern had been running down so long that its stock sold at 8, and, indeed, it had gone into the hands of the bondholders. It had been teu years in operation, but its managers did not understand its needs and exigencies. They had no practical knowledge of railroading. After it had been two years under its new superintendent, a dividend of ten per cent was made. The value of Mr. Jervis's ser- vices to this road, for which he received $6000 a year, has been estimated at a mil- lion. In 1866, Mr. Jervis built his present stately mansion, and having passed so many years of hard labor, he felt the need of re- cruiting his health. The Fort Wayne road "had been leased to the Pennsylvania Central. and the latter retained him as consulting en- gineer, an office which he still holds.
Johnson, Samuel, was born February 9th, 1835, in the town of Shelby, Orleans County, N. Y. His father was a farmer and a weaver of fancy linens, and his mother also a weaver. They came from the North of Ireland. His grandparents were Scotch.
When the subject of this sketch was only seven years old, he lost his father. The first work done by him was binding bobbins ; assisting his brothers, who were manufacturers of threshing-machines; and attending winter school ; which occupied his time until about fourteen years of age. About this time, he assumed the management of his mother's farm. When twenty, he bought a farm ad- joining his mother's, purchasing the most ap- proved farming implements, and even these he found defective, but with his mechanical ingenuity made several improvements, besides inventing new labor-saving machinery. Among these was a " self-rake," which he attached to the Ketchum reaper, manufac- tured by R. L. Howard, of Buffalo. The success of this rake at once attracted the at- tention of Mr. Howard, who made Mr. John- son an offer that induced him to sell his farm and enter the factory at Buffalo, where he was engaged making improvements on his machine, and inventing others that are now celebrated in all grain-growing countries. In 1864, he left Buffalo and commenced to license others to use his machines and " self- rake," moving to Syracuse, where two fac- tories adopted his inventions. In 1867, he formed a copartnership with James S. Thayer, and commenced to manufacture the reapers and mowers of his invention, the firm being S. Johnson & Co. In 1868, he bought a fac- tory at Brockport, N. Y., taking B. E. Hunt- ley in as partner, when the firm changed to Johnson, Huntley & Co. Here the business increased so fast that, in 1870, they formed a stock company under the name of the John- son Harvester Company, and the business continued to increase so rapidly that, at the close of the harvest season of 1874, the shop had grown in capacity to 10,000 machines per annum, from a capacity of 500 in 1868.
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The business of licensing bad also grown to 40,000 machines annually ; when Mr. John- son resigned the presidency of the company to give his sole attention to making improve- ments, collecting royalties, and studying the German and French languages to better enable him to converse with the users of his improvements in Europe, where the demand for his machines exceeded 12,000 annually. The result of his observation and inquiries in Europe induced him to invent two machines especially adapted to the wants of farmers in the different sections in Europe : these were eagerly adopted by European manufacturers ; and the consequence is, that at the present writing eight tenths of the machines built in the United States, Canada, and Europe for self-raking use his improvements. This suc- cess is the result of well-directed energy, to- gether with his fertile mechanical brain. By an industry that has never wavered, by an integrity that is unimpeachable, he has gained reputation, position, and wealth. If the youth of the rising generation would go and do likewise, they would in time achieve what he has done.
Judson, Edward B .- This well-known banker and financier was born January 1th, 1814, at Coxsackie, Greene County, N. Y. His father, William Judson, formerly from Woodbury, Ct., being an intelligent man of the old New England school, early incul- cated in the minds of his children that love of industry, economy, and integrity which are still characteristics of New England training, and which qualities the son, E. B., inherited in a marked degree, his career and conduct being guided and governed by them in all the relations of life. His mother, Esther Barker, was a member of one of the old fam- 1
ilies of Branford. Ct., and a lady of intelli-
gence and superior qualities. His earliest business training was in the banking office of his uncle at Coxsackie, Ralph Barker, who had been associated with Erastus Corning in the Albany City Bank. When twenty-two, he began the manufacture of lumber at Con- stantia, Oswego County, and soon afterwards engaged in the manufacture of iron. Twenty- five years ago, he became interested in the manufacture of salt, and in 1864-5, added to his business the manufacture of glass. In all these branches he is still interested. For a period of twenty years he was connected with his brother, William A., in the lumber commission business at Albany. In 1845, he was married to Miss Sarah Williams, daughter of Coddington B. Williams, of Syracuse. It was not to be sup- posed that a man of Mr. Judson's ability and popularity should not receive from the public some testimonial of respect and confidence. In 1839-41, he represented the county of Oswego in the State Legislature. As a mem- ber of that body, he served as chairman of the Committee on Cities and Villages, and as chairman of the select Committee on the State Lunatic Asylum. In 1868, he was ap- pointed a presidential elector for the State of New York. As a banker and financier he is widely known and esteemed. He acted as chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Banking Association from 1864 to 1875. Associated with him in this position were Thomas Coleman, P. C. Calhoun, Charles B. Hall, George F. Baker, J. S. Norris, W F. Coolbaugh, John W. Ellis, Fred W. Crownenbold, and F. B. Loomis. Mr. Judson took a leading part in organizing the Lake Ontario Bank of Oswego. This institution was appropriately styled a Bankers' Bank, as among its stockholders were John 1. Stevenson, President, and C. II. Russell Vice-President of the Bank of Commerce,
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அம்-என்பர்த்தி எப்படி சம்பாதிரி தீதும் நியாசி .
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New York; Erastus Corning, President, and H. H. Martin, Cashier of the Albany City Bank ; Rufus H. King, President, and J. H. Van Antwerp, Cashier of the State Bank of Albany ; J. B. Plumb, President of the Bank of the Interior, Albany ; Hamilton White, Presi- dent of the Onondaga County Bank; Horace White, President of the Bank of Syracuse ; John D. Norton, President of the Merchants' Bank, and Thomas B. Fitch, President of the Mechanics' Bank, Syracuse; G. B. Rich, President of the Bank of Attica, Buffalo ; and Luther Wright, President of Luther Wright's Bank, Oswego. Included in its list of stock- holders were also Thurlow Weed, John L. Schoolcraft, David Hamilton, John Knower, John Crouse, F. T. Carrington, George Ged- des, and William A. Judson. James Piatt, one of the purest men in the State, was made President, and Mr. Judson was made the financial officer, remaining at Oswego until, at the request of Secretary Chase, he organ- ized the First National Bank of Syracuse, of which institution be is still the president. This bank is the sixth in the list of our national banking institutions. Mr. Judson was at one period Vice-President of the Mer- chants' Bank of Syracuse; Cashier of the Salt Springs Bank of Syracuse, for over six years ; a Director and Vice-President of the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, and a director in the New York Central Railroad Company. He is now, and has been for many years, a director in the Ameri- can Express Company; was one of the directors of the State Bank of Syracuse and the Syracuse National Bank, and is now President of the Syracuse Glass Company. He is also a member of the Board of Trus- tees of Wells College. Mr. Judson's business career has been a notably successful one, and presents a fine illustration of what well-direct-
ed energy, industry, resolution, and integrity may accomplish. To such men our country owes lasting obligations for their labors in developing its resources, and contributing to its prosperity and power.
Judson, J. D., was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in 1811. His parents moved there when the place was a wilderness. They were among the earliest settlers of Northern New York, and doubtless had to endure the hardships incident to that early period, when the only ambition of the pioneer was to convert his new farm in the forest into a comfortable home, and to raise and educate his young family to habits of industry, econ- omy, and integrity. Such a life, though full of hardship, is well calculated to rear up men and women able to fight the battle of life successfully. The subject of this sketch was raised on his father's farm, receiving during the winter season the advantages of the com- mon schools of that locality by walking eight miles each way through the woods, While yet quite young he lost his father, after which he moved to Ogdensburg, where he continued schooling. Afterwards, through the kindness of his elder brother, David C. Judson, he went to the academy at Potsdam, where he finished his education, after which he returned to Ogdensburg and entered the store of G. N. Seymour as clerk, where he remained six years, and never lost but three days from business during the whole time. In June, 1831, he entered his brother's Og- densburg Bank, organized the year before, and since that time he has been engaged in the banking business. Commencing as clerk, he has filled every position to that of presi- dent, which he now is, of Judson's Bank, started in 1853, though he has many other business interests, and owes his success to
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close attention to his own affairs, which have so claimed his whole time that we may say he has never been out of his native State. He has done much, and all honorably. In the community in which he lives he enjoys the confidence of all who know him.
Kelly, J. B., was born at Goshen, Litch- field County, Ct., August 6th, 1830. His father and grandfather were both born in New Haven County, Ct., and the latter was a soldier of distinction in the Revolution- ary war. The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools and academy of his native town, graduating from the last-named institution when seventeen. During this time, he worked most summers, helping his father, who was both tanner and farmer, though, when his schooling was fin- ished, he commenced clerking in a country store. Here he continued eight years, when he commenced in a small way for himself. This lasted one year, when he received a proposition from William H. Imlay, of Hart- ford, to go to Michigan and take charge of his manufacturing interests, with an offer of an interest. This he declined until he had tried his adaptability. At the expiration of six months, he returned to Hartford, and consummated a partnership, dating from the beginning of their connection, and which continued until Mr. Imlay's death, which oc- curred in 1858. Since then Mr. Kelly has continued the same business, enlarging it yearly, until they now manufacture twenty- five million feet of lumber annually, which is cut from his own pine lands. In 1861, the requirements of his great and growing trade compelled him to find a location to dispose of his lumber, so he moved to Alba- ny, N. Y., where he has since resided. and is now among the largest dealers in the district.
In manners he is affable and genial, and his disposition frank and generous. In business matters he has always been prompt, and bas never allowed his engagements to be unful- filled or postponed.
Kellogg, John .- Whoever achieves for- tune and social position by his own efforts, and preserves at the same time an unblem- ished reputation, is a credit to any commu- nity, and is a safe example and guide to suc- ceeding generations. John Kellogg was born at West Galway, Fulton County, N. Y., December 17th, 1826. He received a com- mon-school education only, and at the early age of fifteen commenced working for his father, who was a manufacturer of linseed-oil. He continued in his employ, paying strict at- tention to the details of the business, until his father's death, which occurred in 1848, when he continued the business in partnership with his brother. In 1851, they bought their pres- ent works at Amsterdam. Two years later, his brother died. The business, however, was assuming such large proportions, Mr. Kellogg found it necessary to have a partner. He then received Mr. James H. Miller into the business, who is still associated with him. Their business has so increased that they now have a capacity to consume 1000 bushels of seed per diem, most of which they import from the East Indies. Their works are among the largest in this country. In 1850, Mr. Kellogg was married to Miss Olive Davis, of Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y., by whom he has had four children, his eldest son being a partner of the present firm of Kelloggs & Miller. In 1863, Mr. J. Kellogg was elected president of the village, and the succeeding year was elected member of the State Assem- bly, and served his term during the session of 1864. He is also a director of the Farmers'
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National Bank of Amsterdam. Thus we see the business career of Mr. Kellogg has been most prosperous. His business talents, his industry and energy, would have made him successful in any sphere. Mr. Kellogg has reached a position in the business world which must satisfy all his aspirations. He is the senior partner of the well-known house of Kelloggs & Miller. His name has an influ- ence in business, political, and social circles, the result of successful enterprise and exalted merit. Though he has amassed a fortune sufficient to supply all the luxuries which even a devotee of pleasure might require, he still pursues his usual routine of business hab- its, with nearly the same ardor which charac- terized him in early years, and his remarkable diligence furnishes a salutary example to the young members of his establishment.
Kelsey, George W., was born on Long Island, May 18th, 1808. His father, Daniel, was also born on the island. In the early days of George W. Kelsey, he received only a common-school education, which received at- tention partly at his birthplace and partly in New York City, to which place his parents moved when the subject of this sketch was nine years old. At the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed to the business of merchant tailoring. After serving faithfully for four years, he bought out his time. Until 1833, he was engaged in various occupations, but at this date he moved to Buffalo, and com- menced mercantile business for himself, at which place he remained four years. In 1837, he returned to New York, remaining only a short time, when he moved to West Virginia. From there he moved to Muscatine, Iowa, where he bought a farm and attended closely to the details of this honorable pursuit for some time, leaving it in IS40, when the chol-
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era made its appearance in that section, al- most depopulating it. He therefore sold his farm, returned to New York, and engaged in the real estate business. In i$53, he moved to Williamsburg, now part of Brooklyn, where he has since continued in the same pursuit of real estate dealer. This, like all other ventures Mr. Kelsey has engaged in, proved prosperous from the fact it has had his personal attention. By his business ca- pacity, his integrity and successful manage- ment, Mr. Kelsey has always held the respect of those whom he has encountered in his business operations; and his high moral worth connected with his business capacity, has given him influence and position in the place of his birth. As a fitting tribute to the confidence bestowed on him, he was in 1861 elected to the first vice-presidency of the Dime Savings Bank, a position he held and filled with distinction till 1874, when Mr. Din- gey retiring, he was elected president, which office he still holds. In 1828, on the 20th of September, Mr. Kelsey was joined in wedlock to Miss Eliza, daughter of Edward Snow, Esq., of New York City, by whom he has had four children. At an age when most people retire from active business, Mr. Kelsey re- mains hale, vigorous, laborious, intelligent, and genial, the same benevolent friend to the poor and industrious he has been for the last forty years, still emphatically showing his faith by his works.
Leavenworth, Elias Warner, was bom December 20th, 1803, at Canaan, Columbia County, N. Y. When three years of age, his father and family removed to Great Barrington, Mass. In early life, he re- ceived all the advantage of mental training, graduating from Yale College in 1824. This same year he began the study of law with
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William Cullen Bryant, who was then prac- tising at Great Barrington. One year later, he entered the law school at Litchfield, Ct. In January, 1827, he was there admitted to practise in all the courts in Connecticut. In November, 1827, he left Great Barrington, and moved to Syracuse, N. Y., where, in February, 1828, he was admitted in the Com- mon Pleas as attorney and counsellor; two years later, in the Supreme Court at Albany, as an attorney, and, in 1833, as counsellor.
In 1850, he abandoned his profession en- tirely, on account of the loss of his voice by severe bronchitis. Rest and care for two or three years fully restored him. Other pursuits having in the mean time engaged his attention, he never again returned to the practice of law. In January, 1832, he was appointed lieutenant of artillery in the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment of infantry, and promoted to captain the same year. In 1834, he was appointed lieu- tenant-colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regi- ment of artillery, and in 1835, received the appointment of colonel of the same regi- ment. In 1836, he was appointed brigadier- general of the Seventh Brigade of artillery. In 1837-8-9 and 1840, he was president of the village, going out in the spring of 1841. In 1839, he was elected supervisor of the old town of Salina, and was re-elected in 1840. In 1846-7, he was again president of the village. In the spring of 1849, he was elect- ed mayor of the city, and in the fall of the same year, was elected a member of the Legislature to represent the city district.
In the fall of 1853, he was nominated for the office of Secretary of State almost with- out opposition, and elected. On the 4th day of January, 1855, he was elected a corre- sponding member of the American Historical and Geographical Society of the City of New
York, and also the same year of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society of Boston. In the fall of 1856, he was again elected to the Legislature to represent the city district ; he was chairman of the Com- mittee on Canals and a member of the Com- mittee on Banks, also chairman of the Select Committee of one from each judicial district, on the equalization of the State tax. In the spring of 1859, he was again elected mayor of the city. In the winter of 1860, by an act of the Legislature, he was appointed one of the Board of Quarantine Commissioners, was on its organization chosen its president, and spent most of the following summer in New York and on Staten Island, in the dis- charge of its duties. In the summer of the same year, he was chosen President of the Republican State Convention, assembled at Syracuse, to select delegates to the National Convention, then soon to assemble at Chi- cago. On the 5th of February, 1861, he was chosen by the Legislature, in joint ballot, one of the Regents of the University. In the month of March in the same year, he was nominated by the President of the United States, and confirmed by the Senate, as the Commissioner on the part of the United States, under the Convention with New Gre- nada, acting as such until the commission expired in 1862. In the spring of 1865, he was President of the Board of Com- missioners appointed by the Governor, with consent of the Senate, to locate the State Asylum for the Blind, and in the fall of the same year, was appointed by the Governor a trustee of the State Asylum for Idiots, and in 1866, was reappointed. In 1867, he was appointed by the Legislature a member of a Board of Commissioners for the further im- provement and repair of the State Armory at Syracuse, and in May, 1868, was appointed
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by the Legislature a member of a Board of Commissioners (of which he was the presi- dent) to establish a system of sewerage for the city of Syracuse.
At the annual commencement of Hamil- ton College in June, 1872, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
On the 22d of November, 1872, he was appointed by the Governor and Senate one of the thirty-two commissioners selected to amend the Constitution of the State. In the fall of 1874, Mr. Leavenworth was elected by the Republican party to the Forty-fourth Congress, where he served on the Committee of Civil Service Reform, Committee of Ex- penses of Secretary of State's office, and on the special Select Committee to investigate the charges preferred against Judges Wylie and Humphreys.
When in the Legislature of 1850, he, as Chairman of a Select Committee appointed on his motion for that purpose, drew, re- ported, and carried the bill for the preserva- tion of Washington's Headquarters at New- burg.
When Secretary of State, he also drew the Bill (Laws of 1867, chap. 951) for the ap- pointment of a Board of Commissioners of Public Charities. On the 31st of January, 1855, it was introduced into the Senate by the Hon. Mark Spencer (Journal of 1855, p. 174). It resulted in appointing a Committee of Ex- amination. For their report, see Senate Doc. 1857, vol. 1, No. 8.
On the recommendation of Governor Fen- ton, in his annual message in 1867, the sub- ject was again brought before the Legislature. General L. furnished the House Committee, at their request, with a copy of his original bill, which is substantially the bill passed that year, and which he drew and furnished to Mr. Spencer in 1855.
In the Legislature of 1857, as Chairman of a Select Committee of one from each judi- cial district, on the equalization of the State tax, appointed on his motion, he drew and reported the bill, which was passed in 1859 (chap. 312, p. 702, etc.), entitled “ An Act to Equalize the State Tax among the several counties of this State." The bill failed in 1857, only on account of his ill- health and absence.
He is now, and has been for many years, in the following positions : President of the Syracuse Savings Bank, Syracuse City Water Works, Syracuse Gas Light Company, Oak- wood Cemetery, Historical Society of Central New York, New England Society of the City of Syracuse, Secretary and Treasurer of the Cape Cod Coarse Salt Company, Trustee of the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum, Syracuse Home Association, First Presbyte- rian Church, State Asylum for Idiots, Direc- tor in the Syracuse Northern Railroad, Syra- cuse, Phoenix and Oswego Railroad, and Re- gent of the University of the State of New York, a life position.
He was joined in wedlock June 2Ist, 1833; to Mary Elizabeth Forman, third child of Joshua Forman and Margaret P. Alexander. Mr. Leavenworth is now in the seventy- fourth year of his age. He has been a stir- ring, practical man, both in his public and private life, and his good constitution being still vigorous and unenfeebled, and his fine intellect ripened by experience, he would do honor to any official function in the gift of his country.
Lee, John A., was born at Tinmouth, Vermont, in 1804. When seven years of age, moved to Washington County, N. Y .; nine years later, he moved to Westport, Essex County, N. Y. ; in 1824, was married to Miss
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