Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 6

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

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Job was born in 1797, and during his early manhood was a farmer at Worthington, Mass. In 1819 he married Miss Susan Buck, who was born in 1800, and was of the sixth generation in descent from James Buck, of Hingham, Mass .. who at one time was town clerk of Scituate. He died in 1695. His son Isaac · married Frances -, and had a son Matthew, born in 1724, who married Elizabeth Howard. Their son Thomas married Silence Brett, and had a son Cyrus (Mrs. Bisbee's father), who was born in 1775 and died in 1860. About 1830 Job Bisbee removed to Ellicottville, Cat- taraugus Co., N. Y., with his family, and en- gaged in farming until 1864, when he went to Poughkeepsie to reside. His death occurred there March 11, 1866, his wife surviving him until April, 1881. Job Bisbee was a man of strong character and fine mental ability, and held a high place in the estcem of his asso- ciates. He was well read, much noted as a mathematician, and taught with great success

in Worthington, Mass., and in Cattaraugus county, N. Y. Although he was not a mem- ber of any Church, he was of unblemished Christian character, and his influence was al- ways powerful for good. He was especially pronounced in his views upon public questions. He and his wife reared a family of nine chil- dren, to whose education he gave careful at- tention: Otis, Alvin (a resident of Nebraska) and George (deceased) were born at the old home in Massachusetts; the others were na- tives of Cattaraugus county. Jane married Manley Fuller, and lives at Rochester, Minn. ; Mary married Dr. Edwin Kimball, of Hay- wards, Cal .; Samantha married Dr. John Veach (now deceased), formerly of Kentucky, but later of Portland, Oregon; Susan never married; Adelia is the wife of Oren Cobb, of Winthrop, Maine; and Anna married George Gifford, Esq., of Jamestown, New York.

OTIS BISBEE, one of the most successful educators of the State, and the founder and principal of Riverview Academy, was born February 14, 1822, in the town of Chester- field, Hampshire Co., Mass., and came with his parents to New York State during boy- hood. Until he was fifteen years old his schooling was limited to two or three months' attendance each year at the district school, his help being needed on the farm at other sea- sons. The country was new, much rough work having to be done, and in that he rapidly developed the independent spirit and indus- trious habit which carried him through the ex- acting duties of later years. At the age of thirteen he showed these traits by undertaking to make maple sugar by himself, and so thor- oughly in earnest was he that he made from sixty-five trees a larger proportionate amount than any one else in the neighborhood. One evening he remained at the camp until about ten o'clock, and the next morning traces of wolves following a deer were found near the place. His father was a well-informed man, and encouraged discussion while they were working about the farm, and thus the boy's mind was early stimulated to thought, and a keen desire awakened to learn the answers to the questions which remained unsolved in their often-interrupted conversations, while his read- ing in biography and history helped him to form a determination to leave his narrow life. An accident in his seventeenth year confined him to the house, thereby giving him leisure for study; so he availed himself of the oppor-

Ohs Bisbee

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tunity by preparing himself for the teacher's examination, and subsequently secured a school in a backwoods district. Then followed three years of work among strangers, in which the sorrow of being parted from the old home was only relieved by the thought that he was help- ing to pay off a debt which lay heavily upon his father. He succeeded in this, and in se- curing a small fund for himself. The next four years were spent with his uncles in Herki- mer county in dairy farming, and the last three of these were passed in the town of Fairfield, where a celebrated academy and medical college were located. While there he taught for several winters, and studied as he could at Fairfield Academy.

In 1847 he entered the sophomore class of Union College, of which Dr. Nott was then the head; but young Bisbee was not inclined to play any pranks, he did not become as well acquainted with that noted educator as some of his less steady-going companions. In 1848 he was president of the Adelphi Literary Society, and during his term the society held its semi- centennial celebration, imposing upon him the duty of welcoming back to the old walls the Alumni who gathered on that happy occasion. Mr. Bisbee left college in 1849, to teach in Mr. Charles Bartlett's school in Poughkeepsie. and on the graduation of his class he was elected to membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society. In 1850 he married Miss Frances C. Bartlett, and two years later built a house for a dwelling and school on the southwest corner of Mill and Hamilton streets, Poughkeepsie. [The house standing just south on Hamilton street, of the present building, was the school room and dormitory. ] On the death of Mr. Bartlett in 1857 he became, in company with Mr. Charles B. Warring (later the principal of Poughkeepsie Military Institute), an associ- ate principal of the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School. Mr. Warring retiring in 1862, Mr. Bisbee introduced some changes in the school, notably the military character which it after- ward retained. In 1866 he erected the build- ing known as Riverview Academy, which under his able management became one of the best institutions of its grade in the State. In 1885 Mr. Bisbee passed away, and his mantle fell upon his son, Joseph Bartlett Bisbee.

streets. In 1857, with his father, he moved to College Hill, and then began his studies and received his military instruction, which has been of untold value to him in his career as a teacher. In 1867 his father moved the school to its present quarter at Riverview. In 1876 Joseph B. Bisbee entered Amherst Col- lege, where he remained three years, till called home to assist in the school. In 1884 Amherst College recognized his work and conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.

In 1880 Mr. Bisbee married Miss Sarah M. Pangburn, of Albany, N. Y. They had one child, Elsie P. Mrs. Bisbee died March 3, 1884. In December, 1885, Mr. Bisbee mar- ried Miss Winifred Dana Wheeler, daughter of the late Francis B. Wheeler, D. D., who was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Poughkeepsie for nearly forty years. They have had three children: Francis Wheeler, who died in 1888; Joseph Bartlett Bisbee, Jr .; and Eleanor Dana. Mr. Bisbee is a member of the Masonic order, and an elder in the Pres- byterian Church.

OSEPH E. ODELL, M. A. The first Baron Odell was a count of Flanders, and Matilda, the wife of William the Con- queror, was a daughter of one of these counts, and presumably the sister of the first Baron Odell, whose title and estates were bestowed by William. These honors were conferred for distinguished military services in the conquest of England. The estate consisted of, perhaps, twenty thousand acres of land, and extended into two counties, containing within its bound- aries upward of twenty villages or small towns. The head of the Baroncy was at Odell, Bed- fordshire, England, where Odell Church and Odell Castle still stand, both of which have been erected within recent times, but are near or upon the site of the ancient fortress. Here the church and town records disclose vast numbers of inhabitants of that name from re- mote times to the present.

The direct descendants of the first Baron Odell were closely related to at least four Kings of England: William the Norman, Al- fred the Great, Edward the Second and Henry the Eighth. They were also related by blood or marriage to upward of fifty families entitled

JOSEPH BARTLETT BISBEE, principal and proprietor of Riverview Military Academy, was . to bear arms, that is, those belonging to the born in 1853 in the building now standing on gentry and nobility of England. The title from which the name was derived was be- the southwest corner of Mill and Hamilton

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

stowed in 1066, and from about 795 to the pres- ' ent time the line from father to son is unbroken, the name of not a single individual being wanting. There were many obstacles to the completion of the early part of this record, but diligent and patient research overcame them. Previous to 795, however, no record of the family line has been found, and reliance must be placed upon general historical state- ments discovered here and there, often in rare and curious forms of ancient record. Assum- ing the correctness of such authorities, there existed in the possession of the Counts of Flanders a complete and unbroken record, traced back, step by step, to Priam, King of Troy, or to about 1200 B. C.

No remnant of this alleged record has been discovered. But as such a record would nat- urally be in some French repository of ancient learning, and therefore difficult of access, it is scarcely surprising that the discovery has not been made. It is known, however, that through- out a long period the Counts of Flanders were almost or quite equal in power to the Kings of France, and that in the turbulent times of the Dark Ages they were practically kings, with a horde of dependents to do their bidding. Such families make history, and, doubtless, there were always at hand persons able and willing to write it as fast as it was ready for the pen. And astonishing as the statement, of an un- broken record back to Priam, appears at first glance; on mature reflection, there should ap- pear nothing in it more surprising than that the record should stand unbroken, as it un- questionably does, from 1066 to the present time. The keeping of a family history could not have been more difficult than it has been subsequently.

The line as traced downward includes about thirty generations from the first Baron Odell until the present time. His direct descendants of the same name are now very numerous, and of these the subject of this sketch is a represent- ative. To his efforts are due in a great degree the discovery and arrangement of the fatts necessary to furnish proof of the connection with the ancient baronial family, and he has laid under contribution legal documents, church, immigration and shipping records, public speeches and prints, and many volumes, ancient and modern. The result of these labors is a host of facts, sufficient, probably, for a large volume. As an example of the exhaust- iveness of the investigation, it has been found

that the name, during a period of about 800 years, has been authentically used under no less than forty different spellings, Wahul pre- dominating at first, and Odell now. To sum up, here is a lineage covering 3,000 years. or about ninety generations, carrying us back to what it pleases us to call the infancy of the world. During this time nations have gone to decay, languages have perished, a new world has been discovered, time and space have been annihilated by inventions, the Iliad and Bible have been written, and Christ and His religion have illumined the world! It would scarcely seem presumptuous were the Odells of this line to issue a challenge to the world to pro- duce a more ancient family record.

William Odell, the first of the family in this country, settled in Concord, Mass., about 1639, and his descendants have since occupied a prominent place in the annals of this country, three of them having been Congressmen from this State, Moses F. Odell and N. Holmes Odell, from Brooklyn, and Benjamin Odell, from Newburg. The minor posts of honor held by members of the family have been number- less. The descendants are widely scattered, being found in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, Illinois, Alabama, Minnesota, and also in Nova Scotia. They are very numerous in eastern Massachu- setts, southern Connecticut, Long Island and Westchester, Orange, and Dutchess counties, those of the latter locality being mainly off- shoots from the Odells of Westchester county. At an early date an intermarriage took place with the Bolton family, a branch of which has long been resident in Dutchess county. The Boltons worthily boast a noble and honored lineage, stretching back in unbroken line far within the luminous mists of the ancient no- bility of England. At the same time that Will- iam Odell settled at Concord there came also the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, who had been a cler- gyman in the Odell Church in England, and had married a near relative of the Odells there. Having been silenced for non-conformity, he came to a freer land, and his descendants have made the family name widely known and greatly honored, especially in the eastern States.

In 1639, at Concord, Mass., now a suburb of Boston, came William :- then in direct line William; then Isaac; then Joshua; then John; then Daniel, whose son was Joseph E. Odell, the subject of this sketch. John Odell came to Dutchess county from Westchester about

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

1795. He settled at Pleasant Plains, where for many years he was the proprietor of a coun- try store, but later removed to Beekman, where he had purchased a large farm, to which his son Daniel succeeded and where Joseph E. Odell was born April 5, 1848, the third in a family of four sons, the others being Eliphalet P., John D., and Caspar L., whose biography ap- pears elsewhere. His mother was Malinda, daughter of John LeRoy, who for a long time was proprietor of the store, flourmill, sawmill, shops of various kinds, and farm, where Frost's Mills now stand. The church at Pleasant Plains probably owes its existence to his liberality, and its later prosperity to the generous support of his children.

In 1856 Prof. Odell's parents moved to the town of Hyde Park, a mile south of Pleasant Plains church, and in 1868 to Schenectady. He attended the common schools of Beekman and Hyde Park during boyhood, and in 1867- 68 studied in the High School at Poughkeepsie under Prof. John M. Clarke. He was grad- uated from the Union Classical Institute at Schenectady in 1870, and from Union College in 1874, standing first in his class in both in- stitutions and taking the Nott Scholarship Prize of $150 offered yearly in the college to the one who should stand at the head of his class, not in one but in all studies. He re- ceived the degrees of A. B. and A. M. from Union College. While a student in the In- stitute he originated the A. Z. fraternity. of which he was the first president, and he was a member of the Psi Upsilon Society at col- lege. After graduating, he engaged in teach- ing, and was principal of the schools at Fish- kill Landing, and Scotia, N. Y., and Storm Lake, Iowa. He studied law, and was ad- mitted to the bar while at Storm Lake, and returning to the East he taught at Berwick and Academia, Penn., as principal of the academies there. In 1879 he was admitted to the bar at Brooklyn, N. Y., and practiced for a short time. He then resumed teaching, and was principal of the schools at Greenville, N. Y., and Monroe, La., and of Leslie Academy, in Poughkeepsie. For the last ten years he has been a successful private tutor at Poughkeepsie, giving thorough preparation for college to a large number of students.

Prof. Odell was married in November, 1875. to Miss Clara A. Page, of Schenectady. They have no children. F He has done some valuable literary work, having been a regular

contributor to the Poughkeepsie Hagle, and in former years having furnished numerous ar- ticles on various topics to other papers and periodicals.

He is also the author of a work on English Grammar, and one on Geometry as applied to surveying. His learned acquirements include many languages, ancient and modern; and, as to proficiency in matters purely scholastic, he has few superiors. He is remarkably efficient as a teacher, and many now successful young men can gratefully attribute the beginning of their ascent to his wise and helpful instruction and advice.

Prominent among those who have rendered assistance in collecting the above facts con- cerning the Odell family, is Mr. Rufus King. of Yonkers, N. Y., who is an experienced genealogist, whose mother was an Odell, and whose father's family, for several generations, has taken a leading place in State and National politics. There are numerous Odells whose connection with this family cannot be estab- lished with the facts at hand. Whether they are of a different origin, or are offshoots who have lost the proofs of connection with this line, seems difficult of determination.

H ON. STORM EMANS, Among the early comers from Holland to this country were the ancestors of the Emans family, so well and favorably known in this section. They came about the time of the Huguenot immigration, and located for the most part in New England, some of their descendants, how- ever, becoming pioneer settlers in Dutchess county.

There is ground for belief that James Emans, our subject's great-grandfather, was born in Dutchess county, and it is at least certain that he spent the greater part of his life in what is now the town of East Fishkill, where he obtained a grant of 137 acres of land from Madame Brett, which tract is still in the possession of the family, having never been alienated. Here James Emans followed farm- ing until his death. He and his wife reared a family of eight children, of whom the four sons-Cornelius (who died in 1849), James, John and Hendrick-all engaged in farming. Of the daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine never married; Ann was the wife of Samuel Betty, a farmer, and Margaret married John Miller, also a farmer. John Emans, our sub-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ject's grandfather, married Abby Way, and settled at the old homestead where he passed his life. Five children were born to him: Albert, who died in 1895, was a farmer in the town of Lagrange, and also engaged in freight- ing and speculating; James C. is a farmer in East Fishkill; John S. is mentioned more fully below; George (deceased) was a prominent farmer in Lagrange; and Charles W. is also an agriculturist in East Fishkill.

John S. Emans, the father of our subject, was born in 1824, and grew to manhood at the old homestead. He engaged in agricult- ure there, taking also a keen interest in public affairs and holding a prominent place in that locality. Although he was not a lawyer, his mind was of a judicial cast, and he was very often called upon to try cases and advise in legal controversies. He was a justice of ses- sions for some time, represented his town re- peatedly on the county board of supervisors, and was one of the three excise commissioners of Dutchess county. In his political views he was a Democrat, and he was elected many years ago on that ticket to the State Legisla- ture. A man of commanding influence, he left a memory which is a cherished legacy among his descendants. He married Eliza Storm, a member of an old and highly re- spected family, and a daughter of Garret Storm, of East Fishkill. The Emans family have been members of the Reformed Church from a very early period, and our subject's parents were both active and faithful adher- ents. The father died September 1, 1877, the mother on May 26, 1882. Of their five children, the first and third, Catherine and Abby C., died in early youth; Albert S. is a merchant at Gayhead, in the town of East Fishkill; and Lillian married Dr. Leslie A. Sutton.

Storm Emans, the fourth member of this family, was born at the old homestead, June 12, 1856, and after attending the neighboring district schools for some years went to Pough- keepsie for a course in Bishop's Select School, but ill health compelled him to give up his studies sooner than he intended. After leav- ing this school he learned telegraphy, and fol- lowed it five years at Matteawan, Millerton and Millbrook, operating a private line for the president of the Dutchess & Columbia rail- road. He then went to Saratoga Springs, N. Y., where he met the president of the At- lantic & Pacific Telegraph Co., and was ap-

pointed to open and take charge of the office at Newburgh; but he remained in that position only a short time, owing to the death of his father. Returning to his old home, he was chosen, in 1877, to fill his father's unexpired term as justice of the peace, and in 1881-82 -. 86-87 he served on the board of supervisors, and was chairman of various committees. In 1883 he was a member of the State Assembly. having been elected to the office in the First Assembly District of Dutchess county, and in 1890 he was appointed index clerk of that body; from 1891 to 1894 he held the office of clerk of Dutchess county. At present he is secretary and treasurer of the Mitchell Heater Co., and his time is devoted to that business and the management of his farms.

On January 26, 1881. Mr. Emans was united in marriage with Miss Alice A. Water- bury, danghter of William Waterbury, a promi- nent hardware merchant of Saratoga Springs, and they have one son, Storm Waterbury, born May 22, 1883.

E DWARD HAZEN PARKER, son of Hon. Isaac and Sarah (Ainsworth) Parker, was born in the city of Boston, Mass., in 1823.

Dr. Parker graduated from Dartmouth College in 1846, and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1848. In the same year he was appointed lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology at Bowdoin Med- ical College, and for the following nine years was editor of the "New Hampshire Medical Journal." In 1853 Dr. Parker was called to the chair of Physiology and Pathology in the New York Medical College, and associated himself in practice with Dr. Fordyce Barker in New York City. He at this time estab- lished the "New York Medical Monthly," which he continued to edit personally for many years with great ability and success. In 1854 he received the degree of A. M. from Trinity College. In 1858, as the result of overwork, Dr. Parker had serious trouble with his eyes, necessitating his removal from the city, and in the out-door life of a country practice to seek the recovery of his health. He came to Poughkeepsie, where, as a general practitioner and consultant, he practiced his profession for nearly forty years. He was elected president of the New York State Med- ical Society in 1862, and in the same year. and in the succeeding one, went to the front

Educ. H. Parkin

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

as a volunteer surgeon in the service of New York State.

The Doctor was one of the trustees of, and visiting surgeon to, St. Barnabas Hospital from its opening, until it was closed in 1887. In 1887 he was appointed visiting surgeon to Vassar Brothers' Hospital, and elected presi- dent of the medical board. Dr. Parker died November 10, 1896. He was twice married. His first wife, Sarah (Heyderk), died in 1880, leaving three daughters and one son, Dr. Harry Parker, all of whom are living. In 1883 he married Jeannie C. Wright, who with one son survives her husband.

Dr. Parker was a physician of signal com- petency and skill, and as a surgeon he had few superiors. He was a man of very fine fibre, of unusual cultivation, and of high scholarly attainments. His classical education was sound and liberal, his sympathies most acute, and he was also possessed of a fine poetical talent, which in his busy life, were less fre- quently exercised than his friends could have desired. The poem, a single verse of which is given below, was composed by Dr. Parker in 1879. It applies most fittingly to his life, which was marked through the long years of his de- votion to his work by a conspicuous purity of character, great unselfishness and self sacrifice.

" Life's race well run ; Life's work all done; Life's victory won; Now cometh rest."

- --

C HARLES WALSH, the well-known editor of the Amenia Times, is conducting this paper with signal ability and success, and holds a prominent position among the jour- nalists of Dutchess county.

Mr. Walsh was born at Futtegarh, India, March 14. 1854, but is descended from a well- known New York family of Irish ancestry. William Walsh, his paternal grandfather, was a native of Newburgh, N. Y., and in later years was president of the Bank of Newburgh; he died there in 1847.

Rev. John Johnston Walsh, the father of our subject, was born at Newburgh, Orange county, in 1820, received his classical educa- tion at Union College, class of '39, and later graduated at the Princeton Theological Semi- nary. At the age of twenty-one, he went to India as a Presbyterian missionary, and there faithfully served for twenty-eight years. On account of cataract of the eye, he returned to 3

America, where he found that it was incur- able, and subsequently for three years was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Miller- ton, N. Y. He wrote and published the ·· Martyred Missionaries, " a memorial to those massacred during the Sepoy rebellion in 1857, at which time he was on a trip to the United States to leave his children to be educated.

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 6

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