Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 36

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Dutchess County > Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York > Part 36

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Jedediah Bliss, Sr., married his second wife, Miriam Hitchcock, August 19, 1748, and had by her nine children, viz : Miriam, born May 17, 1749, married Silas Bliss; Ebenezer, born January 26, 1750, married (first) Miss Nevens, and (second) Sarah Ferry: Reuben, born No- vember 3, 1751, killed in the war of the Revo- lution; Alexander, born October 11, 1753; Zenas (grandfather of Dr. Wellman), born February 3, 1756, married Mary Babcock; Martha, born December 7, 1757, married a Mr. Gridley; Isaac, born August 10, 1,60," married Welthy Butters; Jacob, born March 12, 1763, married Mary Collins, who was born

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in 1765; Naomi, born October 22, 1766, mar- ried a Mr. Kneeland.

Zenas Bliss (grandfather to Dr. Wellman) married Mary Babcock, December, 1784 (she was born August 20, 1758, and died Septem- ber 25, 1824), and had by her ten children, all born in Springfield, Mass., at the old home- stead, corner of Main and William streets. They were as follows: Horace, born Febru- ary 13, 1786, died March 26, 1844; Elisha, born November 25, 1787, died at Hartford, Conn., January 1, 1881, aged ninety-three years; Abigail and Harvey (1) (twins), born November 24, 1789 (Abigail died March 5, 1807, and Harvey (1) died December 3, 1789); Harvey (2), born March 27, 1792, died Novem- ber 23, 1869; Lucretia, born May 3, 1794, died unmarried February 26, 1844: John B., born February 17, 1797, died February 22, 1884, aged eighty-seven years; Isaac, born September 8, 1798, died March 5, 1892, aged ninety-three years; Mary (the mother of Dr. Wellman). born January 8, 1803, married Marvin Wellman, June 8, 1826, died March 10, 1877; Emeline, born February 19, 1805, died February 2, 1 806.

Of these children of Zenas and Mary Bab- cock Bliss: Horace was twice married,, and had by his first wife three children, Eliza, Mary and Emily; and by his second wife, had also three-Horace, Charles and Lucretia. Elisha married Almira Sikes, and by her had eight children-Elisha, Almira, Harriet, Frank, Edward, Richard, Mary, and Elizabeth. Har- vey married Abbie Grout, of Putney, Wind- ham Co., Vt., and by her had eight children- Edwin, Marshall, Isaac, Harvey, Emma, Laura, Sylvester and Samuel; of these, Edwin and Isaac were for many years missionaries in Armenia. John B. married Maria Parker, and had six children-Roswell, Charles, Abbie, Hiland, Sarah and Earle. Isaac married Eleanor Titus, and had seven children-Horace C., Isaac R., Elisabeth L., Eleanor M., Samuel B., Ephraim T., and Edgar. Mary married Marvin Wellman, and had seven chil- dren, as shown in the Wellman genealogy.

J JOSEPH MARTIN FAMILY. The village of Red Hook, Dutchess county, was in the earliest times a favorite point with the Dutch settlers of this region, and it boasts of one of the oldest houses in the State of New York, built for a residence by Hendrick Martin, who

crossed the ocean in 1727. On his arrival he took a lease from the Beekman patentee, and at once erected this house, which he located about one-eighth of a mile from the old New York and Albany post road, and adjacent to the present village of Red Hook. It has re- ceived alterations from time to time, but parts of the original structure still stand. In 1751 he leased other lands adjoining, from the Van- Benthuysen patentee.

When Hendrick Martin's son, Gotlob, was married, the father cut a big stake, and walk- ing across the farm drove it into the ground, remarking to the young bridegroom that it was time for him to "swarm for himself, " and upon this spot Gotlob built a plain but substantial stone house, which stands to-day. The car- penters were putting up its rafters while the Declaration of Independence was being read in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. To this house, in 1789, John Martin, son of Gotlob, brought his bride, Isabella Fulton, a relative of the famous Robert Fulton. It had been willed by Gotlob to his grandchildren, but the sons would not take it from their mother, and after her death Edward Martin, a son of John, pur- chased it for a home for his sister, who, like himself, never married. He was born Febru- ary 18, 1811, and lived beyond the ordinary limit, dying December 3, 1893. He made a fortune as a civil engineer by taking his pay in land from a railroad company he was employed by, some of which property now lies within the present boundaries of Chicago.

To John and Isabella Martin eleven chil- dren were born, viz .: Philip, Michael S., Au- gustus, Henry G., Robert, Claudius G., James, Edward, Joseph, John and Serena. Joseph Martin was born February 8, 1814, and was educated in the schools of the neighborhood. At an early age he learned the trade of tanner and currier; afterward studied law and prac- ticed until his death, November 25, 1889. He was identified with the old militia, holding all the offices, from second-lieutenant to colonel, both inclusive, in the 111th Regiment New York Militia, and he served a short time in the war of the Rebellion. On January 10, 1837, he was married to Miss Margarite S. Bar- ringer, of Red Hook, and had ten children, whose names, with dates of birth, are as fol- lows: (1) Frederick .1., December 7, 1837; (2) John D., October 21, 1840; (3) Joseph F., April 15, 1842; (4) Claudius E., March 13, 1844; (5) Augustus, October 3, 1845 (died

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April 20, 1846); (6) Gertrude A. , June 8, 1847; (7) Isabella F., May 15, 1849; (S) Elizabeth B., July 20, 1852; (9) Harriet A., January 7, 1854; (10) Sarah S., August 6, 1857.

All the boys in this family served in the Civil war, and one, John D., corporal of Com- pany B, 7th N. J. V. I., died in the army Jan- uary 3, 1862. Claudius E., at the outbreak of the Rebellion, offered himself as a recruit for a New Jersey regiment, but was refused on account of his youth, being under sixteen years of age. Returning home, however, he ob- tained his father's written consent, and went out as one of the original members of the Fifth New York Cavalry. At the organization of this regiment as a veteran regiment, he re-en- listed and served until the close of the war. He had a horse shot under him, and was wounded and captured at Orange Court House, but was re-captured by his own regiment the same day. Returning home at the close of the struggle, he settled upon a farm in Warners, Onondaga county, where he still resides. Joseph F. (or J. Fielding) enlisted at Trenton, N. J., April 20, 1861, in Company C, First N. J. Militia, for three months; re-enlisted at Tren- ton, August 27, 1861, this time in Company B, 7th N. J. V. I., for three years; again enlisted, this time at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., September 13, 1864, for one year, and October 24, 1864, was commissioned as first lieutenant in the 59th N. Y. S. V. I., and was honorably dis- charged September 14, 1865. Prior to the war he had finished his studies in Poughkeepsie, and after his return he studied law in the West, then practiced his profession in Illinois, South Dakota and New York State. While in Illi- nois he was elected justice of the peace in the town of Seward, Kendall county, and was commissioned as such by Gov. Shelby M. Cul- lom April 28, 1881. On November 15, 1884, he was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in Sully county, Dakota (now South Dakota), of which county he was elected county judge November 3, 1885. On March 3, 1889, he was admitted to practice as attor- ney and counselor at law in the United States District Court of the Territory of Dakota, at Huron (now South Dakota), and October 8, 1890, was appointed by the board of county commissioners of Sully county, South Dakota, as a member of the board of insanity. On November 16, 1892, he was admitted to prac- tice in the superior court of Dakota, at Pierre; on December 6, 1892, was admitted to

practice in the U. S. District and Circuit Courts of South Dakota, at Sioux Falls; on May 11, 1893, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State of New York at Poughkeepsie, and October 22, 1894, was ad- mitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the North Grand Division of Illinois, at Ot- tawa, Illinois.

Frederick A. Martin entered the service on the organization of the 115th N. Y. V., in Au- gust, 1862; was wounded and captured at the surrender of Harpers Ferry, September, 1862, and paroled with the surrendered garrison. At Olustee, Florida, February, 1864, he was wounded and left on the field, but escaped with the assistance of mounted officers of his regiment. For a time he was detailed in charge of commissary stores at Hilton Head, S. C., and later as inspector of the Port of Beaufort, S. C., then returning to his regiment served until the close of the war. In his youth he had learned the trade of carpenter and builder, and on returning home he en- gaged for five years in car building; then en- tered the office of the Boston & Albany R. R., remaining some twenty-five years, and he has since carried on a drug store at Ford Edward, N. Y. In October, 1865, he was married to Miss Susan L. Near, of Red Hook, and has one son, Joseph Louis, who is now in partner- ship with him. He is a member of several Masonic bodies in Albany, N. Y., including Temple Commandery No. 2, K. T., and is commander of the G. A. R. Post No. 491, Fort Edward, N. Y. Joseph Louis, his son, is also a member of various Masonic bodies, including Cyprus Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Albany, N. Y., and is also a graduate of the Albany College of Pharmacy.

Two of the daughters married, Gertrude A. and Isabella F., the former of whom is liv- ing in Bayonne, N. J., the latter in Brooklyn, N. Y. The Misses Elizabeth B., Harriet A. and Sarah S. Martin occupy an elegant resi- dence on the site of the old homestead of the Barringer family, to which their mother be- longed, and have always held a prominent place in the most refined and exclusive social circles.

W FILLIAM BOGLE, president of the Dutchess Print Works, located . at Wappingers Falls, Dutchess county, is one of the best known and most highly esteemed res- idents of the county. This extensive plant

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was established in 1832, and has been engaged in printing and dyeing cotton goods for over sixty years. Some 1, 150 hands are employed in the works, all of whom reside in or near the village, forming a goodly portion of the popu- lation. Mr. Bogle has been connected with the establishment for thirty-nine years, fifteen as its president, and it has been re-organized three times during the last twenty years in or- der to suit the times and the market.

Mr. Bogle was born near Manchester, England, September 7, 1834, a son of John Bogle, who was born in the same locality in 1799, and lived until 1880. He was a color- mixer in a cloth-printing business for sixty-five ycars. At Middleton parish church, Lan- cashire, he married Ann Brooks, a native of Ainsworth, England, and they reared a family of ten children, our subject being seventh in the order of birth. None of the family except William ever came to America. James Bogle, the father of John, was born in Scotland, whence he went to England, and in 1805 es- tablished a print works in Lancashire. He was one of the earliest master printers in that country.

Our subject lived in England until he was twenty-three years of age, and there learned the business of color-mixing with his father. On July 22, 1857, he was married to Miss Selina Hoyle, of Manchester, and on the first of August following sailed for the United States, reaching Wappingers Falls, Dutchess county, August 14, 1857. He came to that place under a contract with the Dutchess Print Works, and for nine years was employed by them as a color-mixer. He then became as- sistant superintendent, holding that position for eleven years, and on April 1, 1876, was made superintendent of the works, which of- fice he now holds. Mr. and Mrs. Bogle have three children: John, born in 1858, has charge of the cambric'department in the print works; Alice, born in 1860, is at home with her parents; and Mary, born in 1862, married John Macauley, who is an engraver in the print works. Our subject is a Republican in his po- litical views, and all the family are members of the Episcopal Church.

Mr. Bogle, as may be inferred from the foregoing sketch, holds an important place in the community. He stands high with his busi- ness associates as a man of ability, strict in- tegrity and of progressive ideas. In all the relations of life he has fulfilled his duties with

fidelity, and his enterprise and industry have brought him financial prosperity as well as the good will of his fellow men. No citizen of Wappingers Falls is more deserving of respect and esteem or more worthy a place in this volume.

A NTHONY BRIGGS (deceased) was one of the leading agriculturists of the town of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, and one of her well-to-do citizens. He was widely known and honored, and in his death Dutchess county, in whose welfare he always took a commendable interest, has lost a valued citi- zen. His integrity of character, unbounded benevolence, and never failing courtesy, made him beloved by all who had the honor of his acquaintance.

Mr. Briggs was born in the town of Pine Plains, Dutchess county, May 25, 1829, and his father, who was a son of Anthony Briggs, was also born in that town, March 25, I Soo. The family is of English lineage. The father married Clarissa Benham, who was also of English descent, and a native of New Haven, Conn., and they became the parents of three children : Elizabeth, wife of John H. Jewett, who is living retired in Poughkeepsie; Harriet, wife of Benjamin White, a farmer of Wiscon- sin ; and Anthony, subject of this sketch. The parents began house-keeping in the town of Pine Plains, on a farm, but later removed to Washington town, Dutchess county, where they reared their family.

Our subject passed the first three years of his life in his nativ : town, after which he was taken to Washington town, where he received a good education, and became a surveyor, which business he followed in early life, being three years thus employed in Wisconsin. On Febru- ary 24. 1852, Mr. Briggs was united in marriage with Miss Hannah White, who was born in the town of Washington, April 9, 1830, and is a daughter of Ethan White, who was also born there, the date of his birth being October 19, 1802. Her mother, who bore the maiden name of Myra Northrope, was born in the town of Amenia, Dutchess county, April 9, 1801, and after her marriage with Mr. White they located on a farm in the town of Washington, where they reared their seven children as fol- lows: Mary, wife of Hiram T. Beecher, a farmer of Pleasant Valley town; Benjamin, an agriculturist of Wisconsin; Abner (deceased),

Anthony Briggs

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who was a farmer of Washington town, Dutch- ess county ; Seneca, also a deceased farmer of Washington town; Catherine, wife of Edward R. Kinney, of the same town; Hannah, widow of our subject; and Davis, who operates a farm in Washington town. In politics the father was a Republican, and he and his wife be- longed to the Methodist Church; he died in 1871, she in 1868. Abner White, the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Briggs, was a native of the town of Washington, and a son of Charles White, who was a descendant of Peregrine White, the first white male child born in America. Her maternal grandfather, Benja- min Northrope, a native of Redding, Conn., was the son of Samuel Northrope, who was of English descent, and became one of the leading farmers of the town of Amenia. Both the White and Northrope families were very prom- inent in this part of the State.

For fifteen years after his marriage, Mr. Briggs engaged in farming in the town of Washington, but in 1869 he removed to the farm now owned by his widow, which com- prises 300 acres of good land. There he car- ried on general farming in connection with surveying, and was very successful in his un- dertakings. In the family were three children: Davis W., of whom special mention will presently be made; Mary E., who died at the age of three years; and HOMER E., a well- known lawyer of Poughkeepsie. Mr. Briggs was a stanch advocate of the policy pursued by the Republican party, held the office of supervisor for two terms, was justice of the peace in the town of Washington, eleven years, and five years in Pleasant Valley, ever dis- charging his duties with promptness and fidel- ity. While in Wisconsin he was elected superintendent of schools in the town of Em- pire, and after returning to Washington he taught school several months. The whole community mourns with the bereaved family the taking away of this noble-hearted and generous man, who died February 5, 1895. He was a sincere member of the Methodist Church, to which his widow also belongs.

DAVIS W. BRIGGS, the eldest son of this honored couple, was born February 24, 1853. in the town of Washington, Dutchess county, and received his education in both Washington and Pleasant Valley towns. ,He is now oper- ating the old farm in Washington, and also the homestead farm in Pleasant Valley. On October 18, 1882, he married Irene Bower, 13

who was born February 20, 1858, in Pleasant Valley, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Kirk) Bower, and four children have been born to this union: Anthony J., Mary Alida, Harold G and Norton Augustus. In politics he is a Republican. His wife is a member of the Episcopal Church of Pleasant Valley.

T RISTRAM COFFIN is a descendant of the Coffyns, of Devonshire, England. The Manor of Alwington in that county was assigned to Sir Richard Coffyn by William the Conqueror in the eleventh century. It has remained in the family ever since, and is now known as Portledge Manor. It is located on the coast near Plymouth, and contains about four thousand acres. The family mansion and one of the churches on the estate are ancient stone buildings. Many of the memorial stones of members of the family are in this old church.

Tristram Coffyn, the first of the race who settled in America, came to Massachusetts in 1642. He lived for a time in Haverhill and Newburyport, and removed to Nantucket in 1660. In company with nine others, he pur- chased the Island from the Crown and the In- dians. He was prominent among the early settlers, and became chief magistrate of the Island. He died there in 1681. His letters to Sir Edmund Andros, the English Colonial Governor of New York, are preserved in the State archives in Albany.

The accurate genealogical records existing in Nantucket, enable members of its old families to trace their lineage back to England in unbroken lines. The names of the succes- sive sires of the nine generations of the Coffin family, ancestors of Tristram Coffin, were as follows: Nicholas, Peter, Tristram (the pio- neer), John (who died at Martha's Vineyard in 1711), Peter, Tristram, Abishai (who settled in the town of Washington, Dutchess county, in 1774), Robert and Alexander H. With the exception of the last, these names are inscribed on the family monument in the burial ground of the old Friends' meeting house at Nine Partners (now Millbrook), New York.

Alexander H. Coffin, father of Tristram, died in Poughkeepsie in 1890. His wife, Jane Vincent, also died there, in 1871. They had three children: Owen Vincent Coffin, ex-Gov- ernor of Connecticut, who resides in Middle- town, in that State; Tristram; and Harriet M. Valentine (deceased ). Through his mother,

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Mr. Coffin is related to the Vincent, Fowler and Vail families of Dutchess county. Capt. Israel Vail, of the Revolutionary army, was one of his ancestors. Through his father he is connected with the Vanderburgh and Bentley families. Henry Vanderburgh, his ancestor five generations back, was one of the early settlers in Poughkeepsie. James, son of Henry Van- derburgh, who was Mr. Coffin's direct ancestor four generations removed, lived and died in the town of Beekman. He was a colonel in the Revolutionary war. Washington mentions in his journal having dined at Col. Vanderburgh's on several occasions, while the army was en- camped above the Highlands.

Tristram Coffin was born in the town of Unionvale, and attended the district school, and, later, Amenia Seminary. He left home at an early age, and was in business in New York for several years. He made a number of trips through the South and West before the war of the Rebellion. After the outbreak of the war, he studied law in the office of Joseph W. Gott, of Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y. Leaving Goshen in 1863, he entered the Albany Law School, from which he was grad- uated in 1864. He then went to Poughkeep- sie, where he was a law student in the office of the late Hon. Allard Anthony for one year before commencing practice. In 1870 he was elected district attorney of Dutchess county, and held the office for three years. In 1881 Mr. Coffin delivered the principal oration at the meeting of the representatives of the Coffin family of the United States held at Nantucket. He has been asked to compete for different public positions, and to accept office in monied and other corporations, but has invariably de- clined. For about twenty years he. devoted himself untiringly to the practice of his profes- sion in Poughkeepsie, in which he was sucess- ful from the outset. While in the midst of a lucrative practice, and in the prime of life. he surprised his clients and friends by refusing to receive any new business. For several years, although he has kept an office for the transac- tion of his duties as trustee of a number of estates, he has been absent much of the time. He remained a bachelor until 1890, when he married Miss Ida M. Gardner, a native of Michigan, and a descendant, of the eleventh generation, from Sir Thomas Gardner, of Yorkshire, England.

Mr. Coffin is a gentleman of sterling char- acter, refined tastes, an ardent lover of nature

and an enthusiastic traveler. He has seen inuch of his own country, and has made a number of trips to Europe and the East. He has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and peri- odicals, and possesses marked literary ability. He is a collector of antiques, rare books and autographs. His collection of manuscripts is especially rich in Colonial and Revolutionary letters and documents.

Mr. Coffin has an attractive country home on the Hudson, at Milton, Ulster county, where he usually spends the summer. - F. C. VALENTINE.

E DWIN JUCKETT, who was called fron this earth on the 2d of February, 1896, had spent his entire life in Dutchess county, and for many years was a leading blacksmith and wagon-maker of Stanfordville, where his death occurred. Ilis honorable upright life had secured for him the respect of all.

Mr. Juckett was born in the town of Amenia September 24, 1824, and was one of the three children of Lewis M. and Juliette (Bennett ) Juckett, the others being Stephen and Sally, both now deceased. On both the paternal and maternal sides he was of French descent, and his father, who was born in Kent, Conn., be- came a prominent farmer of the town of Amenia, Dutchess county, where Edwin passed his school days. On leaving the parental roof, in 1844, he began working for S. O. Rogers, Sr., in an axle factory at Stanfordville, and five years later bought the Daniel Young place, near that village, where he erected a house and shop, the former of which is still standing. The shop was burned in March, 1873, but he at once rebuilt, and there carried on black- smithing and wagon-making up to the time of his death-a period of almost half a century.

On October 31, 1849, Mr. Juckett was married to Miss Elsie A. Gildersleeve, dangh- ter of Joseph Gildersleeve, a woolen mann- facturer of Stanfordville. Her birth occurred April 30, 1824, and she died on March 17, 1874. In their family were five children: (1) Mary B., after graduating from D. G. Wright's private school at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., engaged in teaching until her mother's death, after which she kept house for her father, and still makes her home in Stanfordville. (2) George B., after learning the blacksmith trade with his father, followed the trade at Stanford- ville and Wassaic, in the town of Amenia, for

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several years. He then engaged in the milk business with his uncle in Brooklyn, N. Y., with whom he remained several years. Later . he studied stenography under the tuition of Prof. T. J. Ellinwood, for twenty-five years the official reporter of Henry Ward Beecher's sermons. In 1883, after completing his study of stenography, he entered the employ of Col. George Bliss, of New York City, a well-known lawyer and legal author, as his stenographer and private secretary, with whom he remained twelve years. During the year 1895, while Mr. Bliss was traveling in Europe, he was in the employ of the Grant Monument Associa- tion, under Gen. Horace Porter, president of the Association, and the present ambassador to France. During this year Gen. Porter dictated to him his . Campaigning with Grant." Upon Col. Bliss' return from Europe he again entered his employ, with whom he still remains. (3, William M., a native of the town of Stan- ford, attended school there, and began his busi- ness career as a clerk in a store at Bangall, N. Y. He then held a similar position in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., after which he became traveling salesman for his uncle, who was con- nected with the wholesale dry-goods house of Tefft, Weller & Co., of New York City. At the end of three years he left this firm to accept a position as salesman for the wholesale dry- goods house of Butler, Clapp & Co., with whom he remained seven years. He then be- came connected with the dry-goods house of E. S. Jaffray & Co., remaining with them until their failure. He is now a traveling salesman for Dunham, Buckley & Co., whole- sale dry-goods merchants at No. 340 Broadway, New York City. He married Margaret Husted, and they now make their home at Attlebury, N. Y. (4) De Witt, after following the black- smith trade for several years, then became traveling salesman for Joseph Ruppert. a wholesale hardware merchant at No. 212 Duffield street, Brooklyn, N. Y. He married Miss Elma Green, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., by whom he has had three children : Elsie A. and Lizzie B. (both deceased ), and William. He resides at No. 313 Glenmore avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. (5) Carrie E., after graduating from the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., entered the employ of Orvis Bros. & Co., bankers and brokers, of No. 44 Broad- way, New York City, as stenographer, remain- ing with them eight years. She is now the wife of George C. Trefry, and two children

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 36

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354