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 25
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(No. 1). This boat was of the largest class of that day, and was propelled by two low-pres- sure beam-engines. The following spring, the steamboat owners of Buffalo, N. Y., urged him to locate in business in their city. He removed from New York to Buffalo, where he continued to reside from June 30th, IS53, until the time of his death. He became prominently identified with the construction of machinery for lake steamers, making a specialty of steam boilers. With fortune varying with the vicissitudes of the times, he continued in the business until a few years before his death, when he retired from active life, with an ample competence. He died August 28th, 1867, universally respected and_ esteemed for his high integrity, unassuming worth, and many generous and genial quali- ties.
Newman, William H. H., second son of John Newman, was born in New York City, February 8th, 1826. Removed thence to Buffalo, N. Y., where he has resided since June 30th, 1833. Early in life he entered the office of his father's iron-works, soon be- came prominent in the business, and con- tinued associated with it while his father re- mained in active life, a portion of the time having an interest in the business. Was mar- ried October 2d, 1849, to Jerusha A., daugh- ter of IIon. Latham A. Burrows, of same city.
Ilaving some time previously secured fav- orable connections for supplying some lead- ing goods, in the year 1858 he opened a store on Main street, corner of Dayton, for the sale of iron, metals, belting, etc., supplying railroads, machine-shops, engineers, and others, with goods required by them : a business to which his experience as to the wants of such customers had fitted him.
With energy, by close attention to busi- ness, and strict adherence to a few plain but pointed rules or maxims, which marked and characterized all his business life, with rigid promptness, accuracy, and thoroughness, he was enabled to build up a business of goodly proportions, of value to the interests of the city, and ultimately attain to a position of independence and prominence among the urerchants and business men of Buffalo.
Hle has been successful in all of his busi- ness pursuits, from a rare combination of in- dustry and judgment, and has gained the confidence and respect of the whole com- munity, by at all times exhibiting a rectitude of character which never wavered from a proper direction. He has done much, and all honorably ; and now, dwelling in the affluence and honor gained by his industry and talents, he can look upon the past un- sullied career with conscious pride and satis- faction.
Noxon, B. Davis, the subject of this sketch, son of Dr. Robert Noxon, of Pough- keepsie, N. Y., was born in that city April 2 Ist, 1788, of a family highly respected in itself and in its numerous connections, long settled in the eastern part of the State. He received a good academic education, and afterward pursued the study of the law in the office of Philo Ruggles, a lawyer of reputation. Having been admitted to the bar, he com- menced practice at Marcellus, in Onondaga County. Hle soon after married Miss Sully Ann Van Kleeck, daughter of Teunis Van Kleeck, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, who became the mother of twelve children, eight of whom still survive. After a few years' residence at Marcellus, Mr. Noxon removed to Onon- daga Hill, then the county-seat. Though the bar of Onondaga County then embraced
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among its members not a few lawyers of un- common ability and learning, Mr. Noxon carly acquired a prominent position. In 1829, he removed to Syracuse. Here he resided until his death, May 13th, 1869.
Mr. Noxon possessed legal talents of the highest order. He was quick to seize the points of a case, and bold and fearless in presenting them to the court or jury. In the examination of witnesses, his skill was unsur- passed. His mind was logical, and he reasoned clearly and closely. Before he settled in Syracuse, he had already achieved a high reputation throughout Central New York, and for thirty or forty years he stood at the head of its bar, the peer of the most brilliant lawyers in the State. No name of the time is oftener found on the pages of the law reports. His integrity, moderation, and liberality are attested by the fact that, al- though for many years enjoying the most ex- tensive and important practice in Central New York, he retired with a competence only.
For many years, he wielded great public influence in the central part of the State, and his name was influential in State and na- tional politics. He was attached to the Whig party, and, from conviction, acted with it as long as it existed. After its dissolution, he voted with the Democratic party. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In his family relations he was most happy, a kind husband and father. Being widely known and greatly respected, the an- nouncement of his death elicited marked ex- pressions of sorrow. The bar of Onondaga County appointed one of the most distin- guished of their number, the Honorable Charles B. Sedgwick, to prepare and deliver before them, and a large concourse of citi- zens which the occasion brought together, a eulogy of the deceased. Many other emi-
nent jurists and judges in all parts of the State were invited to, and did unite in testi- fying to his extraordinary qualities as a law. yer and a man. We cannot better close this brief sketch of Mr. Noxon's character, than by quoting from one or two of these ad- dresses.
Said Mr. Sedgwick, in his oration, after re- ferring to Mr. Noxon's earlier career :
" The nisi prius courts were held by the judges of the Supreme Court -- the giants of the profession - the elder Spencer, Kent, Platt, Van Ness, Livingston, Tompkins, and Yates. Lawyers of the highest reputation, from all parts of the State --- Van Vechten, Elisha Williams, Emmett, Daniel Cady, Mar- tin Van Buren - were constant attendants upon our courts. These were the men with whom the young lawyers of that day were to measure their strength, and such the tribunals which were to decide where victory was to be awarded ; and among such lawyers, Mr. Noxon was conspicuous. In knowledge of this branch of the law, in careful preparation, in the acumen necessary to mark every nice distinction, in the skill requisite to detect and expose fraud and perjury, in boldness, tact, pertinacity, in his hard logic for the court, and his skilful appeals to juries, he was in the front rank of his profession." . . .
The Honorable William F. Allen, of the Court of Appeals, writing to the same public meeting, said o. Mr. Noxon :
" He was a great man, and worthy of all admiration. He was strong in his native good sense and sound judgment; strong in the knowledge of the law, in the rudiments and principles of which he was .' thoroughly rooted and grounded ;' strong in his knowl- edge of human nature, and his ability and tact in the use of that knowledge; strong in his self-reliance, strong in his affections and
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J. C. Osgood
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social ties, drawing to himself, with cords of love, respect, and affection, all who came to know him; strong in his love of right and justice, truth and equity."
Many like estimates of him are contained in the letters and addresses of other eminent men, in the memorial published by the bar of Onondaga County, intended to perpetuate the memory of the honored dead.
Osgood, Hon. Jason C., was born in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, N.Y., November 16th, 1804. At an early age, his father moved to Madison County, where he purchased a mill, and here Mr. Osgood's me- chanical ingenuity was first .. developed in the many little improvements he devised, and added to the machinery in the mill. His ambition was to be a mechanic and an inven. tor, and it was during the year 1833 that he obtained his first patent for a horse-hair pick- ing and curling machine which produced a revolution in that branch of industry. About this time, he moved to Virginia, and engaged in the performance of contract work on pub- lic improvements. In 1838, he obtained the patent for a dumping and tilting wagon; the invention was afterward applied to freight cars. In 1846, Mr. Osgood moved to Troy, N. Y., where he afterward resided until his death, which occurred April 27th, 1875. Pre- vious to his removal there, he, in connection with Daniel Carmichael, of Brooklyn, ob- tained a contract for deepening some of the State canals, during which time his fertile me- chanical brain invented the celebrated Os- good dredging-machine, by which his name became famous and world-wide. In I855, he constructed the " double-dredger," with a well-hole for depositing its excavations.
The " rock-breaker" was invented and pat- ened by him in 1351, while dredging the
Mississippi River at Des Moines Rapids. As there were many rocks to break, necessity for its work prompted and suggested the in- vention. One of these machines moved 10,000 yards of rock on that river, and made his name almost as famous as the dredger. In 1862, Mr. Osgood invented the canal dredger with an endless chain, so constructed that it was very easy to regulate the depth the dredge should work. His last invention of note was the "ditcher," perfected in 1870, and could be worked either by horse or steam power. As intimated, he was connected with many public works and improvements, in which employment many of the ideas of . his invention were perfected. . Among the most important works in which he was en- gaged were deepening the State canals, dredg- ing the Chesapeake Bay, dredging Charleston harbor, S. C., digging the canal through the Dismal Swamp, dredging the Mississippi, Missouri, and San Juan Rivers, and improv- ing the Hudson River. Mr. Osgood was in- terested in politics, only so far as to desire the furtherance of the best interests of the city of his adoption. In 1852, he was elected a member of the State Assembly. In 1857, he was again elected ; also in 1871. He was a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners of Troy, serving from May Ist, 1861, until December 31st, 1868. He refused all other honors, though tendered him many times. He was a shrewd, careful, and successful bus- iness manager, and possessed a powerful brain and active mind. He was truly a self-made man-one of that class who not only gave us a country, but assured its wonderful progress and prosperity. Mr. J. C. Osgood not only possessed genius for mechanical achievement, but the qualities of noble manhood. He felt kindly to all; cherished no revenges. His i judgment was anchored to the rock of integ-
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rity ; genial in companionship, loving and lib- eral. A true representative of American nobility, he went to his grave crowned with the honor of a well-spent life.
Ovens, Robert, was born August 12th, 1815, in the village of Stow, Scotland, twen- ty-four miles distant from Edinburgh, and early in life learnt his trade in the vicinity of his birthplace. On the first of January, 1833; he was joined in wedlock to Miss Jeanet Dickson, and in the following April left with his wife for America. He having faith in the future of Western New York, came immedi- ately to Buffalo, and after one year's stay in that locality moved to Dunkirk, though only to stay eighteen months, and, finding he had a preference for the first city of his adoption, returned to Buffalo and took charge of the bakery and confectioner shop of Mr. Atkins, remaining with him until Mr. A. sold out his business, when he accepted the same po- sition under Mr. Spencer, where he continued till 1848, when his ambition for promoting himself prompted him to commence in a small way for himself, which he did on Seneca street, just below the present site of the post- office, which he occupied twenty-four years, In 1866, he, in company with his son, W. S. Ovens, bought out their present location and business, Nos. 55 and 57 Ellicott street, from D. B. Fuller, together with his entire aerated bread machinery, continuing to operate his old store on Seneca street as a branch till 1872, when they concentrated all their business under the present roof. This move was ne- cessitated by the fact that their business had so steadily increased the old place was much too small, which indeed proved their new quarters -- for they have built and enlarged till the factory now occupies from Nos. 59 to 67 Ellicott street, and is one of the best bak-
eries and cracker manufactories extant, fitted up with all the latest and best improved ma- chinery, including one of Vicker's celebrated mixing, breaking, and cutting machines. From a small beginning the business gradu- ally increased till they consumed as high as eighty barrels of flour daily, and the goods they make find a market in most of the larger cities of the country. This has been accom- plished by strict personal attention to business, which for some years was shared by his wife, who daily attended to the wants of their cus- tomers by personally attending to the Seneca street store. At the age when most men re- tire from active business, Mr. Ovens remains hale, vigorous, laborious, intelligent, and ge- nial, the same benevolent friend to the needy and industrious he has been for the last forty years, still emphatically showing his faith by his works.
Park, Paul, was born in Canada, in 1814, and is the son of S. and II. Park, and is one of a family of nine. At the age of twelve he lost his father. Had the benefit of com- mon-schools only. After finishing his educa- tion, and until 1840, was in the employ of various houses as clerk, etc., at which time he joined in partnership with two others and built a gang-mill on Grand River, Ontario, which business and partnership proved an unhappy one, the result being that Mr. Park was left with but little means.
But he bought another mill, mostly on credit, fitted it up and operated it till 1855, when he moved to Buffalo, where he engaged in the lumber business, which he has carried on successfully for more than twenty-one years. Though now well along in years, he is still engaged in active business, and enjoys the respect of the community in which he lives.
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Parks, Salmon A., was born at Moreau, present he has the honor to be president of the village of Glen's Falls. Saratoga County, N. Y., February 22d, 1827. Ilis father's ancestry, back to his great grand- father, were settlers in this county before the Perry, John Strong, of Albany, N. Y., was born at Farmington, Ct., December 17th, 1815. His paternal ancestors were Perrys, Lords, and Leavenworths; maternal ances- tors, the Treadwells and Pomeroys. Revolution, and his mother was formerly froni Great Barrington, Mass. His parents moved to Sandy Hill, Washington County, when the subject of this sketch was only six years old, where he remained twenty years. In early Mr. Perry had only the advantages of a common-school education till the age of four- teen ; afterward he was a clerk in Hartford, Ct , for one year, and subsequently for thir- teen years in the old house of the Webbs in Albany. life he was engaged rafting and sawing lum- ber, at which he continued three or four years, receiving his education during the winter months. In April, 1846, he first entered a paper-mill at Baker's Falls, and commenced to work at the bottom rung of the ladder. He embarked in the manufacture of stoves, under the firm of Treadwell & Perry, in 1843, and has been indefatigable in the im- provement of stoves and furnaces to an ex- tent not surpassed by any others. Industry, system, order, and exactness are among his leading traits. He strives to act upon the principle that " what is worth doing at all is worth doing well." By close attention to business, he soon found promotion, and gradually did he pass through every department in the manufacture of paper, till he thoroughly and practically mastered every branch. In 1852, he was married to Miss Harriet A. Hewitt, of Saratoga County, by whom he has had seven children. For one year after this eventful step, he continued to work as journeyman, when, being am- He was one of the founders of the Na- tional Stove Association, and for several years its first President; also the first Presi- dent of the National Patent Association. bitious and desiring to better his and his fam- ily's position, he, in 1853, moved to West Milton, where he associated his knowledge with the capital of others, and commenced The firm of Perry & Co., of which he is the senior partner, are largely engaged in the manufacture of stoves, which find a market in nearly every State and Territory of the Union, as well as in many foreign countries. This firm have three 'arge foundries in Albany, and have lately contracted for the labor of 900 convicts in the State Prison at Sing Sing, N. Y. manufacturing news paper. In 1860, the firm changed to the Pioneer Paper Company. where he remained interested until 1865, when he sold his interest and joined hands with Hon. George West at Rock City Falls, This partnership continued until 1872, when he moved to Glen's Falls, where he has since resided. Here he became interested in the Glen's Falls Paper Company, assuming the Pierce, R. V., M.D .- Every nation owes its peculiar character, its prosperity-in brief, every thing that distinguishes it as an individual nation -- to the few men belonging to it who have the courage to step beyond sole superintendency of the works, which turn out about one hundred tons of news paper per month, shipped principally to New York and Brooklyn papers. As a man and citizen he stands deservedly high, and at | the boundaries prescribed by partisanship,
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professional tradition, or social customs. In professional no less than in political life, there occasionally arise men who burst the fetters of conventionalism, indignantly reject- ing the arbitrary limits imposed upon their activity, and step boldly forward into new fields of enterprise. We call these men self- made. The nation claims them as her proud- est ornaments-the men upon whom she can rely, in peace for her glory, in war for her succor. Of this class of men the medical profession has furnished a distinguished ex- ample in the successful and justly celebrated physician, Dr. R. V.Pierce, of Buffalo, N. Y., and any history treating of the industries of the Empire State would be incomplete without a sketch of his useful life and earnest work. We regret that space will not permit a more detailed account of his early history and parentage, our limits allowing only a brief survey of his life and the herculean la- bors which his indefatigable industry has en- abled him to accomplish. His ancestors were among the early settlers of Massachu- setts, but soon after the Revolution they re- moved to Central New York. Ray Vaughn Pierce was born August 6th, 1840, at Stark, Herkimer County. While an infant, his par- ents removed to Venango County, Pa. He early developed a marked aptitude and love for study and scientific research, which fore- shadowed his useful and active life. Select- ing the medical profession for his life-work. at the age of eighteen he entered into the diligent study of the healing art. Four years later, he graduated with the highest honors. having ranked as one of the most brilliant and earnest students. Thus specially edu- cated for the profession which he so eminently adorns, he early supplemented his studies by extensive and original research in its several departments. He brought to his chosen work
acute perceptive and reflective powers, and that indomitable energy that neither shrinks at obstacles nor yields to circumstance.
As indicated by the accompanying steel portrait, in physique Dr. Pierce is an ideal type of American manhood. Of medium stature, robust, his appearance is character- ized by a healthful, vigorous vitality, while the full, lofty brow, and handsomely-cut fea- tures, are indicative of that comprehensive mental power and remarkable business sa- gacity which have combined to place him among the distinguished men of the age.
Whoever is, to a great extent, dependent upon others for the execution of labor, must possess, in no ordinary degree, the power of reading character, that he may be enabled to select as his agents men of sound integrity as well as ability. Whether this faculty be intuitive, or acquired by ex- perience and the study of physiognomy and phrenology, or partly intuitive and partly ac- quired, to those who know him the fact is obvious that Dr. Pierce possesses it in an ex- traordinary degree, reading character at a glance, and seldom erring in his first impres- sion. This faculty is a rare endowment, and cannot be too highly prized. It has been said, and we think not unwisely, that the greatest blemish on President Grant's admin- istration was due to the non-possession of this faculty by the chief magistrate. On the contrary, the princely Stewart possessed it in an eminent degree. Like the latter, the ex- ercise of this invaluable faculty has enabled Dr. Pierce to secure the most efficient and honorable men as his assistants and subordi- nates. He is thus enabled to labor thorough - ly and successfully in several departments, while his reputation is fully and honorably sustained by the excellence. of the work ac- complished.
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Another characteristic prominently dis- played by the subject of this sketch is an in- tensely energetic disposition, which he has reduced by rigid practice to a firm habit of thoroughly accomplishing every undertaking. He believes, and his practice is in strict con- formity with his conviction, that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. Although enjoying an extensive and lucrative practice at Titusville, Pa., the inherent energy and honesty of the man would not permit him to pursue the narrow routine of practice pre- scribed by the " school." If there were er- rors in its methods of practice, he desired to abandon them. If the other schools possessed advantages over his own, he wished to intro- duce them into his own practice, regardless of the proscription of his "school." He carefully investigated foreign methods of practice, and by original researches in materia medica, discovered the remedies which have made his name a cherished household word in American homes. Assured of their un- paralleled efficacy in the diseases for which he compounded them, he naturally conceived the idea of extending his practice-of making it world-wide. To realize this ambitious pro- ject, Dr. Pierce removed, in 1867, to Buffalo, N. Y., and there established the World's Dis- pensary, for the treatment of chronic diseases --- the greatest institution of its kind in the world, and, in many respects, the only one.
Dr. Pierce possesses, in an eminent degree, that rare executive talent which can thor- oughly systematize and reduce the most extensive and complex business, even in its minutest details, to perfect order. This fact is apparent (to every person who visits the World's Dispensary, passes through its several departments, and observes the great diversity of duties being performed by more than two hundred employés, yet every thing being
done with the regularity of clockwork. He cannot fail to perceive that its manager is richly endowed with that comprehensive executive talent which enables him to conduct with ease and success those vast branches of industry which are almost infinite in detail. This fact can only be fully appreciated after a visit to his far-famed Dispensary. Entering the printing department, the visitor will see twelve large steam presses, which are kept constantly run- ning throughout the entire year on pamphlet literature for gratuitous distribution. These pamphlets are issued in many languages, and scattered broadcast throughout the civilized world. In the bindery department, are four folding-machines, doing the work of a hun- dred expert hand-folders ; and also machinery for stitching, trimming, and otherwise facili- tating the work. In the publishing depart- ment, we find an extensive and complicated business carried on through a thousand agents, by whom Dr. Pierce's large and pop- ular work, "The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser," is represented throughout the United States. The successful conduct of the agency department alone requires thorough organization and careful manage- ment. In the advertising department, the visitor sees a large number of clerks busily engaged in receiving and assorting the four thousand newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, in which the proprietor advertises, carefully recording each insertion as well as omission of the notices. All advertisements are contracted for through written and special agreement with publishers. All publishers failing to insert the notices according to the terms of the contract are promptly notified and required to make good such omissions. In the pharmaceutical department, where the proprietary or Family Medicines are prepared, every process is conducted in a strictly scien-
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