Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 77

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

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Adrian Martense Cornell, the subject of this sketch, was born in the town of LaGrange, Dutchess county, April 1, 1818. His early life was spent there on the home farm and in attending school. At the age of twenty-five years he left home and bought a farm in the town of Clinton, and engaged in farming. In the fall of 1841 he was married to Miss Melissa Diamond, who was born in Lagrange, and who was a daughter of Henry Diamond. Of this marriage two children were born: Margaret Jane, who married George K. Brand, and Henry, an insurance agent in New York City.

In the spring of 1864 Mr. Cornell gave up farming, after an experience of twenty-three years, as his health began to fail, and came to Poughkeepsie, where, in 1873, he engaged in the dry-grocery business, carrying a stock of tea, coffee, spices, etc., in which he has con- tinued for twenty-two years. For twenty-one of these he has been located at 2273 Main street. He is an enterprising citizen, a con- scientious business man, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Cornell departed this life in 1871.

Cornelius Cornell, the father of our sub- ject, was born on Long Island, and his parents moved to Lagrange when he was seven years old. He married Miss Deborah Van Kleeck, a native of Lagrange, and a daughter of Peter Van Kleeck. Her father died forty years ago, and her mother twenty-five years ago. Mr. Cornell spent his life in farming, and was said to have been the best farmer and to have had the best farm in the town of Lagrange.

Peter Cornell, grandfather of our subject, was born on Long Island He married Miss Mary Mesoole, and six children were born to thein: Cornelius. Isaac, Jane, Eliza, Sarah and Margaret. Mr. Cornell was in the gro- cery business at Flat Bush, L. I., where they were kept prisoners at the time of the Revolu- tionary war. After the war was over he moved with his family to Lagrange, and

bought a farm of 400 acres, on which he lived the rest of his life. He owned a number of slaves, which he freed after going to Lagrange. He was an elder in the old Dutch Church, and was much respected in the community.

Gideon Cornell, the great-grandfather, who was born in France. etcigrated to America, re- siding in Long Island until the opening of the Revolutionary war, when he moved to Bucks county, Penn., where he died. He came to America in the year 1736.

W ILLIAM C. ALBRO. The Albro fam- ily, of which this well-known resident of Pokeepsie is a worthy representative in this generation, has a notable history, as will be seen by the following chronological record:

(I) John Albro, born in England in 1617. died December 14, 1712, at Portsmouth, R. I. ; married Mrs. Dorothy Potter, widow of Nathaniel Potter.

1634. Embarked on ship " Francis" from Ipswich, England, under care of William Freeborn, landing at Boston.

1638. Went with Freeborn to the Colony of Rhode Island.

1644. Served as corporal in the Colonial militia, rising successively to lieutenant, captain and major.

1649. Was chosen to view cattle; was clerk of weights and measures, and member of the town council. 1660. Was commissioner and member of the com- mittee to receive contributions for agents in England.

1666. Appointed with two others, to take areas of highways and driftways not set off.

1670. With three others, loaned the Colony seven pounds on account of town of Portsmouth.

1671. Elected assistant in some public office.

1676. With three others. was the committee for the care and disposal of a barrel of powder for the supply of Portsmouth; also with others, was a commissioner to order watch and ward of the Island during King Philip's war; also a member of a court martial at Newport to try certain Indians.

1677. Committee with others in the matter of injur- jous and illegal acts of Connecticut.

1679. One of a committee to draw up a letter to the King, giving account of the Territory of Mount Hope, and of the late war with the Indians; also appointed with one other to lay out the western line of the Colony.

1685. Major John Albro, assistant and coroner, sun- moned a jury in the case of an Indian found dead in Clay Pit Lands, the verdict being " That said Indian, being much distempered with drink, was bewildered, and by the extremity of cold lost his life."

1686. Member of Sir Edmund Andros' council, and present at its first meeting in Boston, December 30, 1686. 1697. Allowed twenty shillings for going to Boston.

1:10. By his will, dated December 28, proved 21;, le divided a considerable amount of real and personal property among his sons and daughters, and their chil- dren. He was buried in his own orchard. His children were: Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary, JOHN and Susannah.

(II)-John Albro, born 16-, died De- cember 4, 1724. He married Mary Stokes in

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1693. 1677-He was among those who were granted 5,000 acres of land, to be called East Greenwich. 1687-He was fined 6s. Sd. for refusing to take oath as a grand juror. 1720

His will proved, December 14, 1724, left a good estate, both real and personal. His chil- dren were: JOHN, Mary, Sarah and Samuel. (III)-John Albro, born August 23, 1694, died 17 -. He married Abigail Ballou in 1713. In 1717 became a Freeman. In 1739, moved from Portsmouth to New Kingston. Some of his children subsequently going to Exeter. His children were: John, SAMUEL, Mary, Maturin, Sarah and Peter.

IV)-Samuel Albro, born October 10, 1716, died in 1767. He married Alice - He went from N. Kingston to Exeter, where he passed the rest of his days. His widow died in 1787. He was an elder in the Baptist Church at Exeter. His children were: Alice, Thomas, SAMUEL, Martin and Waite.

(\')-Samuel Albro, born October 12, 1749, died in 1816. He married Patience Bull. He migrated from Exeter to the Clove Valley, about eighteen miles east from Pokeepsie, N. Y. He returned to Rhode Island for a wife, who was a descendant of Henry Bull, Colonial Governor of Rhode Island in 1685- 1686. He introduced an apple called the Rhode Island Greening into Duchess county, where it thrived and became very popular, and is still a marketable winter apple. His chil- dren were: THOMAS, Samuel, Waite, Alice and Hannah.

(VI)-Thomas Albro, born May 9, 1779, died September 24, 1852. He married Ever Tice. He lived a very uneventful life, never moving from the farming section in which he was born. Was elected a constable at one time, which seems to have satisfied his polit- ical ambition. His children were: Joseph, Samuel, John, Louisa, Catherine, William, and Philo and ZENO twins).

(\'HI)-Zeno Albro, born June 10, 1809, died November 25, 1883. He married Mary A. Clark in 1847. He lived in many different places in New York and Pennsylvania; he was a man of thorough integrity, and much trusted by other men. He did not seem to inherit a taste for farming, but cast about for opportuni- ties to buy and sell horses, cattle, carriages, merchandise and real estate, in most of which transactions he showed shrewdess and good judgment. At one time he owned a farm upon which the present City of Scranton, Pennsyl-

vania, is in part built. His children were: WILLIAM C., Louise (deceased,, John P., Mary E., and Merlin.

(VIII)-William Clark Albro, born August 16, 1848, married Theodora Rogers, Novem- ber 3, 1875. He attended Wesleyan Acad- emy, at Wilbraham, Mass .. and Cornell Uni- versity and Columbia College Law School, then under the management of Theodore W. Dwight, receiving at the latter institution the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1874, and has since resided at Pokeepsie engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. He enjoys a general practice, and has been executor or administrator of several im- portant estates. Since 1891 he has been a member of the Pokeepsie board of education, and is deeply interested in the public schools. His children were: Florence, who died in in- fancy, and Edna Clark, who, after completing a course at Lyndon Hall School at Pokeepsie, entered Vassar College in 1895.

R EV. JOHN B. WESTON, D. D., Presi- dent of the Christian Biblical Institute at Stanfordville, Dutchess Co., N. Y., was born in Somerset county, Maine, July 6, 1821, the son of Stephen and Rebecca Weston.

His grandparents, Stephen and Martha Weston, were among the earliest members of the Christian Church in that part of Maine, and his parents belonged to the same denomi- nation, his grandfather and father both being deacons. In his fourteenth year the subject of our sketch was converted, and baptized, and united with the same Church. Reared upon a farmi, his earher years were spent in hard work, to which he is indebted, however, for the habits of industry which have made his life fruitful. His opportunities for schooling were meagre, but he learned easily, and by faithful use of such advantages as he had, and im- proving his leisure moments at home, he made unusual progress in study, standing high in ordinary branches, and gaining a thorough knowledge of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, surveying and navigation by private study, with his father's aid. At seventeen he began teach- ing school in winters; and from eighteen to twenty-two, at other seasons of the year, he attended the Academy at Bloomfield, Maine, when he could be spared from the farm work, making the equivalent about four terms in all.

A. B. Weston

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In this time he prepared for college in Latin and Greek, and gained proficiency in French and other advanced branches of a college course; but his means would not permit him to go to college at that time. He attended the first Sunday-school organized in his native place, and at sixteen years of age he became a teacher of a class. At about the same age he assisted in organizing the Young People's Total Abstinence Society, the first society pledged to total abstinence that he had ever known, and was one of its first officers. He has from that time taken an active interest in Temperance work. From the time of his conversion, and especially from his seventeenth year, he was interested in all religious work, and had a strong impression that it was his duty to enter the ministry, though his natural timidity made him shrink from the work. This conviction became so urgent that in 1843, before he was twenty-two, he united with the Maine Central Christian Conference, and was approved as a licentiate. In August of that year he accepted a call to a small church in West Newbury, Mass. In 1844 he was ordained, and con- tinued to minister to his first charge until 1846, spending some time in Boston, however, in the study of Hebrew with Dr. Eli Noyes, and of elocution with James E. Murdoch, the tragedian. In 1846 he was called to be office editor and publishing agent of the "Herald of Gospel Liberty," then published at Exeter, N. H. After seven months there he moved with it to Newburyport, Mass., and in the fol- lowing year he accepted a call to the Christian Church at Skowhegan, Maine, where he preached three years. He was married in 1849 to his first wife, Miss Nancy McDonald, who proved to him a true helper.

In 1850 he was a delegate to, and one of the vice-presidents of, the Christian Convention, held at Marion, N. Y., where the denomina- tion determined to establish Antioch College. Early in 1852, he became pastor of the Chris- tian Church in Portland, Me., and remained until October, 1853, when, to fulfill his long- delayed wish for a collegiate education, he en- tered the first class in Antioch College, of Yel- low Springs, Ohio, of which Hon. Horace Mann was president, graduating in 1857. At the end of his third year he was invited by President Mann to take the position of Princi- pal of the Preparatory Department ; but he de- clined, accepting the appointment, however, after his graduation, when it was again ten- 1 27

dered. During the war the entire responsibil- ity of the College was on his shoulders. At the close he became professor of Greek, remaining until 1881, making twenty-eight years at An- tioch. In October, ISSI, he was elected Pres- ident of the Christian Biblical Institute, as suc- cessor to Dr. Austin Craig, and assumed the position January 1, 1882. During the fifteen years in which he has held this position the Institute has had a steady growth and improve- ment. The endowment funds have been more than quadrupled; two resident professors and one non-resident professor have been added to the Faculty; the courses of study have been re- organized. and the standard of requirements raised. Students have gone out every year from the school, who are doing valuable service and holding important positions as ministers of the Gospel. Besides being the President of the school and giving daily lectures, he has done other professorial work usually devolving upon several Chairs. Since 1891 he has also been the Treasurer of the Institute, and the oversight of the property and the management of its funds have been in his hands, and important improvements have been made in the buildings and grounds. Both these positions he still holds, and now (1897) at the age of seventy- six, he is in vigorous health, and actively dis- charging the multiplied duties of his positions.

Dr. Weston's first wife died in May, 1858, and in June, 1860, he married a classmate, Miss Achsah E. Waite, of Chicago, who has been his assistant at Stanfordville, as she was at Antioch. He has never been athletic, but has always enjoyed good health, and had great capacity for endurance. During his forty-three years of school work he has never once missed meeting his classes on account of his own health, and never has called in a physician to see him, except on the occasion of a single ac- cident. Possessing rare intellectual ability, united with practical judgment and force of character, he could have made his way in any sphere of life; and his unswerving devotion to the interests of the Christian Church, local and general, has made him a helpful influence in many of her most important enterprises.

S TEPHEN HOLMES IRELAND (de- ceased) was one of the leading and pro- gressive agriculturists of the town of Clinton, Dutchess county, where his entire life was passed, his birth occurring there October 7.

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February 3, 1781; Elizabeth, October 4, 1782; Jeremiah, June 1, 1784; Thomas, December 15, 1785; Milton (2), September 7, 1787 ; Deb- orah, November 15, 1789; Rachel, April 23, 1791; and Catherine, July 31, 1793. Of this family Elizabeth Cushing was a native of Dutchess county, and on June 5, 1803, she became the wife of Ebenezer Stevens, who was born in Dutchess county, April 4, 1776, and died in 1843; her death occurred Decem- ber 22, 1840. In their family were six chil- dren, namely: Maria T., born October 30, 1 804, married Benjamin K. Delevan; Herman, born May 12, 1806, married Miss Lucy Beid- ing; Elizabeth A., born October 16, 1808, was the mother of our subject: Catherine, born June 26, 1810, was married October 11, 1831, to John R. Preston; William, born August 26, 1821, was married in June, 1842, to Miss .Mary E. Ross; and Ebenezer, born July 27, 1824, was married in 1845 to Miss Sarah K. Beldon.

To John M. Ketcham and his estimable wife were born nine children, as follows : (1) William S. was born, reared and educated at Dover Plains, and on reaching manhood he married Miss Emily Titus, daughter of Judge Titus, of the town of Washington, Dutchess county ; he always took an active part in poli- " tics, as a stanch Democrat, and held several local offices, among them that of supervisor of the town of Dover. (2) John H. was also born in Dover Plains. (3) Maria L. married William R. Butts. (4) George W. is next in order in birth. (5) James C. and (6) Ebenezer both died at the age of six years. (7) Eliza- beth C. married Romine Waterbury. (8) James C. married Miss Alice F. Meeker. (9) Morris married Miss Rosie H. Lowery, of Washington, D. C. The father of this family died June 17, 1853, the mother on December 21, 1888.

George W. Ketcham, whose name intro- duces this memoir, was born in the town of Dover, Dutchess Co., N. Y., in 1838, and re- ceived an excellent education at Brown Uni- versity, Providence, R. I., where he graduated in 1860. He then engaged in the marble busi- ness at Dover Plains, and also conducted a large farm near the village ; but most of his attention was devoted to the former. Like his brothers, he has always taken a deep interest in political affairs, and has served as super- visor of his native town. Through his busi- ness he has not only promoted his own in-

terests, but has aided in the advancement and welfare of his town and county. He stands high in financial circles, and is exceedingly popular with all classes of citizens. Generous and strictly conscientious and upright in all his dealings, his career is one that he can look back upon with just and pardonable pride.

On February 20, 1867, George W. Ketcham married Miss Elizabeth A. Schofield, of Brock- ville, Canada, in which city her father, Augustus Schofield, was engaged in merchandising. Her grandfather, Dr. Peter Schofield, was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., where he married Miss Deborah Cushing ; but a few years after the birth of their first child they removed to Canada, where he followed his profession. Four children were born to them : Augustus, Milton, Elizabeth and Herman. Augustus Schofield was born at Pawling, Dutchess county, and was four years old when taken by his pa- rents to Canada, where he was educated in the public schools. After laying aside his text books he commenced merchandising in Brock- ville, and successfully conducted his store for a number of years ; he was also United States consul at Brockville some twelve years. He married Miss Electa Breckenridge, daughter of David Breckenridge, an officer in the British army, who for his services had been granted considerable valuable farming land in Canada. Three children were born of this union : Will- iam H. (deceased); Elizabeth, who died at the age of seven years, and Elizabeth A., the wife. of our subject.

W ILLIAM D. BUDD, a prominent man- ufacturer and speculator of Dutchess Junction, Dutchess county, has been for many years a leading worker in the development of that locality, having participated in some of the most important constructions and enter- prises undertaken there. He is a native of Phillipstown, Putnam county, the youngest son of William and Elizabeth Haight Budd, the other children being Martha, Hannah, Jane, Mary, John and Underhill.

During his childhood his parents removed to Matteawan, and his education was acquired in the public schools of that town. He began to display his business ability at an carly age by speculating in real estate, improved and unimproved, and also engaged in the wood business. In 1848 and 1849 he assisted in the construction of the Hudson River railroad,

I. D. Budd.

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and was one of the first men to ride on cars from Fishkill to New Hamburg, or "Old Troy," as it was then called. This was the season of the great cholera epidemic, and was marked also by the loss of the steamer " Em- pire," and the drowning of many of her pas- sengers and crew. The coroner, who was called to hold an inquest on the bodies, died of cholera before he had completed the task. In 1868, the same year in which ground was broken for the construction of the N. D. & C. R. R., Mr. Budd began the manufacture of brick, in partnership with Charles Griggs, whose interest he purchased four years later for $12,000. He continued the business alone for some time, and then sold a share in it to the Terry Brothers, the partnership then formed lasting six years, when the business was put up for sale at auction. Mr. Budd bought in the plant, and for the last eighteen years has carried on the business alone. The yards are located upon a tract of twenty-six acres of land originally bought from the railroad, and have recently been enlarged and much im- proved. He has always continued his real- estate speculations more or less, and is still interested in some important transactions in that line. He has taken part at times in vari- ous other business enterprises, and was for many years a trustee of the Fishkill Landing Savings Bank.

Mr. Budd married Miss Ann Rogers, a daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Scott) Rogers, and they have two children, Lizzie Kate, and Ella. The family attend the Meth- odist Church, and Mr. and Mrs. Budd have always shown an active interest in whatever concerned the welfare and advancement of the town. They have a pleasant home at Dutchess Junction. In early manhood Mr. Budd was a Democrat in politics, later becoming a Whig, and in 1860 he cast his ballot for Abraham Lin- coln, since which time he hasgiven his support to the Republican party. He held the office of collector for his town for three years-1858, 1859, and about 1877-and has been trustee of the schools of Matteawan, his interest in improved educational advantages being shown by his able discharge of the duties of that position.

C HARLES F. SEGELKEN, the efficient manager of the Western Union Telegraph office at Dover Plains, Dutchess county, is one of the leading residents of that town. He is a

native of Germany, and was born in 1835, in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, where his family had been prominent for many genera- tions. His grandfather, Herman Segelken, was a highly educated man, and held the posi- tion of captain of a vessel. He married, and reared a family of four children: Mary; Ann; Theresa; and Herman, our subject's father. Herman Segelken, too, was born in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany, and after re- ceiving a liberal education became a grain mer- chant and hotel keeper. His wife was Cath- erine S. Luhrs, also a native of Germany, and our subject was the eldest of their three chil- dren; Heinrich died in infancy; and Herman was the third.

Our subject enjoyed excellent educational advantages in his youth, and in 1854, at the age of eighteen, he came to the United States to seek his fortune. His first employment was in New York City, where he remained five years, and he then entered the service of the old American Telegraph Company, first as battery- man and then as lineman. In 1861 he was sent to Dover Plains as a line repairer and in 1864, having learned the art of telegraphy, he was appointed operator, and assistant agent of the Harlem road. In the following year he was appointed agent by J. C. Buckhouse, su- perintendent, and later was made the manager of the western office at that place, under Geo. B. Prescott, superintendent. He takes an ac- tive part in local affairs, and is well liked wher- ever he is known. In politics he is an ardent Republican, and he has served as health officer of the town. He is prominent in Masonic cir- cles, and is a charter member of Dover Lodge No. 666, which was organized in 1867, and he has held the office of secretary for twenty-six years.

In 1866, Mr. Segelken inarried Miss Jean- nette L. Talladay, a descendant of one of the old families of the town of Dover, and four children have blessed their union: Herman, born December 15, 1866; Charles F., Jr., August 19, 1879; George W., September 16, 1882; and Harrison, June 13, 1884. All are living except George W., who died in 1883.

Isaac Talladay, the grandfather of Mrs. Segelken, was born and educated in the town of Dover, where he engaged in agriculture. He married Miss Martha Griffin, and had eight children: Isaac; Jacob, who died in childhood; Seneca; John; Neilson, father of Mrs. Segel- ken; Alex; and Martha. Neilson Talladay

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was also a native of Dover, where he carried on carpentering. He married Miss Elizabeth Colby, the daughter of a prominent farmer of the same town. and had five children: Phæbe; Jeannette L. Mrs. Segelken): Mary: Elizabeth; and Frank, a sketch of whom appears else- where.

R EV. JOSHUA COLLINS. a well-known retired minister of the Presbyterian Church, has been for nearly twenty years a resident of Wappingers Falls, where his quiet but earnest and effective work in various move- ments tending to moral and intellectual prog- ress is a recognized influence for good.

He was born in the town of Pleasant Val- ley, Dutchess county, July 10, 1814, and his ancestry on both sides was of English origin. His paternal grandfather, Joshua Collins (for whom he was named , was a native of Rhode Island, but settled in Dutchess county in early manhood. He married Mary White, who was also of English descent. and reared a family of six children : Martin W., our subject's father; Oliver, a leading resident of Pleasant Valley, a school teacher by occupation, and for many years a Justice of the Peace: Joshua, a farmer in Illinois: Gideon, a farmer in Franklin county, N. Y .; Martha, who married Mr. Viele, a farmer in the town of Lagrange, and Susan, the wife of Caleb Angeline, a business man of Poughkeepsie.

Martin W. Collins was born at the old homestead in the town of Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, and lived there until his marriage to Anna Foreman, a daughter of Isaac Foreman, a prominent agriculturist of Pleas- ant Valley. The early ancestors of this fam- ily also came from England. Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Collins settled upon a farm in Pleasant Valley, and he became one of the leading men of that locality, taking great inter- est in the work of the Democratic party, and other public movements, holding the office of Alms House Keeper. and Justice of the Peace for many years. He and his wife were Presby- terians in faith. He died in 1876, and Mrs. Collins survived him ten years. The subject of this sketch was the eldest of their four children: Isaac is a well-kmown resident of Poughkeepsie, where his son, Martin Collins, is also attaining to a prominent place; Mary Ann married William Gurney, a business man of New York City, but both are now deceased, and Rhoda lives at Wappingers Falls.

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 77

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