USA > New York > Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preeminent in their own and many other states, Vol. 2 > Part 24
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ator from Vermont, and a great friend of Daniel Webster, who considered him the best lawyer in New England in his day; Rt. Rev. George Franklin Seymour, late Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Spring- field, Illinois; and the late Professor Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale. William H. Seymour's ancestors on both sides of the family have been noted for their lon- gevity for some generations. Major Moses Seymour, uncle of Mr. Seymour, was honored for gallant service in the War of the Revolution.
John Seymour, born about 1640, son of Richard Seymour, the immigrant, married Mary, daughter of John and Margaret (Smith) Watson, and their eldest child was John Seymour, born June 12, 1666, in Norwalk. He was a distinguished man, member of the General Assembly, and held various town offices. He married, December 19, 1693, Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant Robert and Susanna (Treat) Webster, the latter a daughter of Hon. Richard Treat, of Wethersfield. Robert Webster was a son of Governor John Webster, of Connecticut. The seventh son of John (2) and Elizabeth (Webster) Seymour, was Moses Seymour, born Feb- ruary 17, 1711, in Hartford, where he passed his life, and died September 24, 1795. He married Rachel Goodwin, bap- tized January 22, 1716, in Hartford, died July 23, 1763, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Coles) Goodwin, great-grand- daughter of Ozias Goodwin, ancestor of the large family of that name. Ozias Goodwin was born in 1596, in Essex county, England, and married there Mary, daughter of Robert Woodward, of Brain- tree, Essex. Ozias Goodwin's house, in February, 1640, was on the highway lead- ing from Seth Grant's to Centinal Hill, on what is now Trumbull street, near Church street, Hartford. Later he re- moved to the lot on the highway from the mill to the old ox pasture. He was one of
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the company that signed an agreement, in 1659, to remove to Hadley, Massachu- setts, but did not go. He died in the spring of 1683. His second son, Nathaniel Goodwin, born about 1637, was admitted freeman in 1662, and was one of the townsmen of Hartford in 1682. He mar- ried (first) Sarah Coles, of Hatfield, Mas- sachusetts, formerly of Farmington, Con- necticut. Their eldest child was Na- thaniel Goodwin, born July, 1665, ensign of the North Company, of Hartford, weaver by occupation, died March 12, 1746. He married (second) September 14, 1699, Sarah, daughter of John Easton, born November 15, 1675, died January 2, 1740. One of their fourteen children was Rachel Goodwin, wife of Moses Seymour. She was the mother of Major Moses and Captain Samuel Seymour, of the Revolu- tionary War.
Captain Samuel Seymour, son of Moses and Rachel (Goodwin) Seymour, was born January 21, 1754, in Hartford, and died November 14, 1837, at Lichfield, Con- necticut. After the Revolution he settled at Litchfield, where he was associated with his brother, Major Moses Seymour, in the manufacture of hats. He married, in Litchfield, June 20, 1788, Rebecca Osborn, born October II, 1763, died July 17, 1843, daughter of John and Lois (Peck) Osborn. They had children : Har- riet, born March 24, 1789; James, April 20, 1791 ; Charles, March 13, 1793; a son, born March 13, died September 30, 1794, unnamed; Clarissa, January 23, 1800 ; and William H., mentioned below.
William H. Seymour was born in Litch- field, Connecticut, July 15, 1802, and died at Brockport, New York, October 6, 1903, having lived for almost one hundred and one and a quarter years. Until the age of sixteen years he lived in his native town, and there acquired his education, and the commencement of his business training. He then went to Clarkson, Genesee
county, New York, to become a clerk in the store which had been established there by his brother, James. The business was removed to Brockport, in 1823, and after James Seymour, who was the first sheriff of Monroe county, had removed to Roch- ester, William H. Seymour remained as proprietor of the store at Brockport, a general mercantile establishment, and to it added the purchase and shipment of grain. During the administration of President Jackson, the post office was located in his store and he had charge of it. The manifold duties of these combined enterprises requiring expert assistance, Mr. Seymour had at various times as partners, Joseph Ganson and then Hol- lister Lathrop. D. S. Morgan was ad- mited to partnership prior to 1844, and about one year after the association with Mr. Morgan was formed, these two gentlemen and Thomas Roby, a brother- in-law of Mr. Seymour, established a foundry for the manufacture of stoves and other castings. This was the nucleus of a business which later achieved inter- national reputation. In 1847, while still a member of the firm, Mr. Roby died, and the business was then carried on by Mr. Seymour and Mr. Morgan. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century reap- ing machines had been manufactured in a desultory fashion, but there had been no regular production of this intensely useful and practical machine until 1846, when the first one hundred machines of this kind were constructed by Seymour, Mor- gan & Company for Cyrus H. McCor- mick. Shortly before this time Mr. Sey- mour had been told that when Mr. Mc- Cormick was in Washington getting a patent on the seat on his machines, he was informed by D. Burroughs that his brother-in-law, Mr. Backus, of Backus, Fitch & Company, of Brockport, would most likely manufacture his reaper for him. In the preceding fall, he also
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learned Mr. McCormick had brought his reaper to Backus, Fitch & Company and had it tried in cutting wheat. It had no seat for the raker, who walked behind and raked off the sheaf. In the succeed- ing winter Mr. McCormick brought his patterns for castings to Backus, Fitch & Company, but as they could only make a small number he called on Seymour, Morgan & Company, then engaged in the manufacture of stoves, and they agreed to make for the harvest of 1846 one hun- dred of these reapers, which had a seat for the raker. Mr. Jenner made the patterns for the castings, Mr. McCormick directing in the construction of his first machine, as he brought no machine to the firm to serve as a pattern. During the next year they made two hundred reapers for Mr. McCormick, but feeling that they could not agree to pay his patent fee of thirty dollars on each ma- chine, they subsequently began the manu- facture of a reaper brought out by George F. Barnett, which they believed did not infringe on Mr. Cormick's patent. They built three hundred that year and were sued by Mr. McCormick, so they aban- doned that invention and commenced the manufacture of reapers after plans per- fected by Mr. Seymour, the new machine being know as The New Yorker. Mr. Seymour obtained a patent on this and had manufactured five hundred of them when he was restrained by an injunction granted to Mr. McCormick by Judge Nelson, of the United States Court, Mr. McCormick contesting the right of any other manufacturer to place reapers upon the market. However, it is an indisputa- ble fact that the firm of Seymour, Morgan & Company was the first to manufacture reapers reguarly in this country. In Feb- ruary, 1857, Mr. Seymour disposed of his interests in his patents on his reaper, yet reserved his rights as far as they might
be necessary in the manufacture of self- raking reapers, to D. S. Morgan for his interest in a farm in Hamlin. Until 1875 he remained at the head of the iron foundry enterprise, then withdrew and devoted his time and attention to the manufacture and sale of lumber, in asso- ciation with his son Henry W., until 1882, when he withdrew from all active share in business enterprises.
From that time he lived retired at Brockport, the only interruptions being occasional journeys with one or the other of his children. In 1883, accompanied by his children, he traveled for a period of five months, the countries visited being Great Britain, Germany, Italy and France. In 1888 he paid another visit to England, this time in the company of a daughter and son-in-law. In 1893 he spent a con- siderable time at the World's Exposition at Chicago, but after 1895 he preferred the quiet and rest of his own home, and no longer took any trips of note. In recognition of the importance of his work in establishing one of the great industries of this country, the National Association of Agricultural Implement and Vehicle Manufacturers elected him as an honorary member of their organization in 1900. Upon the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of his birth the whole town of Brockport made holiday. The church bells pealed a greeting in strokes of ten from each tower thus numbering the hun- dred years; the flag was raised on the town hall in his honor, and neighbors and friends decorated their homes in honor of the event ; friends came from far and near to offer their heartfelt congratulations, and a delegation was sent from his native town, Litchfield, which he had been in the habit of visiting from time to time. A century plant was one of the choice and appropriate gifts among the many which were tendered, and a centerpiece for the
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table was composed of one hundred Sweet Williams, bordered with Rosemary "for remembrance." At the reception held in the afternoon all classes and all ages were represented, for during his long and use- ful life he had ever had a warm heart for the poor, the infirm and for children, and all were accounted his friends. One of his old workmen said on that occasion : "I worked for you steady, Sir, for forty. years, and I always got my pay;" while a friend and neighbor said: "In all the years Mr. Seymour has lived here no one ever could say a word against him. His name stood for absolute integrity." A remarkable feature was the trustworthi- ness of the memory of Mr. Seymour. Al- though he was but ten years of age at the time of the outbreak of the War of 1812, he remembered incidents and scenes of that time vividly, and his powers of description made his reminiscences very entertaining. For many years he had spent considerable time in reading, and his apt and correct quotations aroused the comments of all who heard him. Billiards and whist were also favorite forms of entertainment with Mr. Sey- mour.
Mr. Seymour married, April 16, 1833, Narcissa Pixley, of Columbia county, New York, and of their five children, the following named attained maturity : Hon. Henry W., who died in Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, leaving a widow and one daughter, Helen; Helen, who mar- ried W. B. Sylvester; James H., unmar- ried, whose home is at Sault de Sainte Marie, Michigan. Mr. Seymour kept fully abreast of the times and in touch with the best thoughts of the day, down to his latest years. To whatever he undertook he gave his whole attention, and he was a loyal friend and a genial, kindly gentle- man.
JUDSON, Edward B., Hon.,
Authority on Banking Matters.
To acquire distinction or great pros- perity in the business pursuits which give to the country its financial strength and credit requires ability of the highest order. This fact is apparent to all who tread the busy thoroughfares of the business world. Ordinarily merit may attain a respectable position and enjoy a moderate compe- tence, but to rise to one of the first places of monetary credit and power can only be the fortune of a rarely gifted personage. Eminent business talent is a combination of high mental and moral attributes. It is not simple energy and industry; there must be sound judgment, breadth of ca- pacity, rapidity of thought, justice and firmness, the foresight to perceive the course of the drifting tides of business and the will and ability to control them, and, withal, a collection of minor but im- portant qualities to regulate the details of the pursuits which engage attention. The subject of this memoir, the Hon. Edward B. Judson, late of Syracuse, affords an exemplificaton of this talent and in the theater of his operations he achieved a reputation which placed him among the first of the distinguished business men of New York State.
Hon. Edward B. Judson, of Connecticut parentage and old New England ancestry, was born in Coxsackie, New York, Janu- ary II, 1813, and died at his home in Syra- cuse, New York, January 15, 1902. He had celebrated his eighty-ninth birthday the Saturday prior to his death, and the day before his death was at his desk in the bank, which he had served so faith- fully as its president for almost thirty- nine years. His education was an excel- lent one, both in his refined home and in the schools which he attended, and he be- came well equipped for the active busi-
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ness of life. His first position in business life was as a clerk in the banking house of his uncle, Ralph Barker, in Coxsackie, and there he gained the valuable experi- ence which so well fitted him to cope with the responsibilities of his later life. About the year 1835 he decided to establish him- self in business independently, and ac- cordingly associated himself with his brother, W. A. Judson, in the manufac- ture of lumber at Constantia, Oswego county, New York; later they conducted a lumber commission business in Albany, New York, for a period of twenty years. This one interest was not, however, suf- ficient for the energy and ambition of Mr. Judson, so that he also engaged in the manufacture of iron at Constantia, and while he was a resident of that town, at the age of twenty-six years, represented his district in the General Assembly dur- ing the sessions of 1839-41, the commu- nity having honored him with election to this office, and during his incumbency of it he served as chairman of the committee on cities and villages and the State Luna- tic Asylum.
In 1849 Mr. Judson took up his resi- dence in the city of Syracuse, and from that time until his death that city felt the beneficial influence of his varied activities. He had been living in it but a year when he became one of the organizers and the first vice-president of the Mer- chants' Bank, and was ever afterward an authority in banking matters. When the Salt Spring Bank was organized in 1852, Mr. Judson was elected a member of its first board of directors, was the first cashier of the institution, and was actively identified with its control until 1857. In that year he resigned from these respon- sibilities in order to lend his assistance to the organization of the Lake Ontario Bank of Oswego, of which he became cashier and chief executive officer. This institution was remarkable for the char-
acter and high position of its stockholders, among whom were: John A. Stevens, president ; C. H. Russell, vice-president ; Henry F. Vail, cashier of the Bank of Commerce, New York City; Erastus Corning and H. H. Martin, president and cashier of the Albany City Bank; Rufus H. King and J. H. Van Antwerp, presi- dent and cashier of the State Bank of Albany; J. B. Plumb, president of the Bank of Interior, Albany; Hamilton White, Horace White, John D. Norton and Thomas B. Fitch, presidents respec- tively of the Onondaga County Bank, the Bank of Syracuse, the Merchants' Bank and the Mechanics' Bank, all of Syracuse; G. B. Rich, president of the Bank of Attica, Buffalo; Luther Wright, president of Luther Wright's Bank, Oswego; and Thurlow Weed, John L. Schoolcraft, David Hamilton, John Knower, Frederick T. Carrington, George Geddes and William A. Judson.
In 1863, during the troublous times of the Civil War, Mr. Judson was called to Washington by the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, then secretary of the treasury, who sought his counsel as to what might be best accomplished in making necessary changes and regulations in the banking laws of the country. When Mr. Judson returned to Syracuse, at the request of Mr. Chase, he organized the First Na- tional Bank of Syracuse, which is re- corded as No. 6 in the archives at Wash- ington. So safe and conservative was the policy on which this institution was or- ganized that it remained firm and stead- fast during financial panics which innu- merable other banks were unable to with- stand. Mr. Judson was chosen chairman of the executive committee of the Na- tional Banking Association in 1864, and was the incumbent of this office eleven consecutive years; he was one of the first two vice-presidents of the Trust and De- posit Company of Onondaga, a corpora-
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tion founded in 1869. He was one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Trust Company of New York City, and became a member of its first board of trustees. He was one of the organizers of the American Express Company, and was a member of its board of directors and of its finance committee until his son, Ed- ward B. Judson, Jr., took his place about the year 1890. He was actively connected with a number of other business enter- prises of equal importance, one of which was the Syracuse Glass Company, of which he was president for a time, and with which he was connected for a period of eighteen years. Another field of his activity was in railroad matters. He was one of the incorporators in 1870, and be- came the first treasurer of the Syracuse Northern Railroad Company; for some years was a member of the board of di- rectors of the Syracuse & Oswego Rail- road Company, and for a time was a member of the directorates of the New York Central Railroad Company and the Bank of Syracuse. He assisted in the organization of the Salt Springs Solar Coarse Salt Company, and was one of its directors from that time until his death. He gave his consistent and unvarying support to the Republican party, but was never desirous, after coming to Syracuse, of holding public office ; the only excep- tion he made to this rule was in 1868, when he allowed his name to be used as a nominee for the office of presidential elector. Charitable and philanthropic to a degree, Mr. Judson was identified with every project in the city which had for its object the assistance of those less fortu- nately circumstanced. He was a trustee of the Old Ladies' Home, and treasurer of St. Joseph's Hospital. His religious affiliation was with the May Memorial Church, in which he served as president of the board of trustees. As a trustee and vice-president of Wells College, at
Aurora, New York, he greatly furthered the interests of that institution, and he held official position in a number of other organizations.
Mr. Judson married, October 15, 1846, Sarah Williams, a daughter of Codding- ton B. Williams, of Syracuse. They had only one child who lived beyond infancy, Edward B., of whom further.
Edward B. Judson, Jr., was born in Syracuse, New York, December 21, 1854, died in that city, January 16, 1910, from an attack of pneumonia after an illness of but two days. As a youth he attended the school conducted by Dr. Isaac Bridg- man, in Syracuse, and after being gradu- ated from this institution of learning, en- tered the employ of the Syracuse Glass Company, of which his father was presi- dent. Three years later he became the senior partner in the firm of Judson & Ryder, engaged in the manufacture of matches, in West Water street. When they sold this concern to the Diamond Match Company Mr. Judson became asso- ciated with his father in the Salt Springs Solar Coarse Salt Company. and also de- voted a portion of his time and attention to the building of the Grape Street Car Line, which was being constructed by the Seventh and Eleventh Ward Railroad Company. Mr. Judson was elected a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank in 1881, and upon the retirement of Mr. John Crouse in 1888, was elected to the vice-presidency, and thereafter devoted the greater part of his time to the interests of the bank, and upon the death of his father in 1902, he succeeded to the presidency of this insti- tution. He was also from 1890 to the time of his death a member of the board of directors of the American Express Company and of the Metropolitan Trust Company of New York. In addition to this position he was, at the time of his sudden death, president of the Onondaga
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Pottery Company and the Salt Springs Solar Coarse Salt Company, and vice- president of Pass & Seymour. During the twenty-nine years that Mr. Judson was identified with the First National Bank of Syracuse he had come to be widely recognized as a sound, progressive banker, a business man of unswerving in- tegrity, good judgment and enterprising spirit, and, like his father, as generous as he was modest in his benefactions.
Mr. Judson married, May 27, 1886, Har- riet, daughter of Rev. Joachim Elmendorf, D. D., and Sarah Bull, his wife, and they were the parents of one child, Esther Judson, who married, February 8, 1911, James Douglas Morgan, M. D., of Mon- treal, Canada.
JENKINS, Arthur,
Prominent in Journalistic Work.
Not too often can be repeated the life history of one who lived so honorable and useful a life and who attained to such dis- tinction as did the late Arthur Jenkins, president and general manager of "The Syracuse Herald," Syracuse, New York. His character was one of signal strength of purpose and lofty aim. To him noth- ing was hard or impossible. Well dis- ciplined in mind, maintaining a vantage point from which life presented itself in correct proportions, judicial in his attitude toward both men and measures, guided and guarded by the most inviolable prin- ciples of integrity and honesty, simple and unostentatious in his self-respecting and tolerant individuality, such a man could not prove other than a force for good in whatever relation of life he might have been placed. His character was the posi- tive expression of a strong nature and his strength was as his number of days. The record of his life finds a place in the generic history of the State, and in this compilation it is necessary only to note
briefly the salient points of his life's his- tory. It is useless to add that both the community and the State were honored by his active life and splendid achieve- ments, and that he stood as an honored member of a group of men whose in- fluence in civil and economic affairs was of a most beneficent order.
David Jenkins, father of Arthur Jen- kins, came from Coventry, England, in the early part of the decade beginning with the year 1840. He married Emma Brearley, an English girl, then living in Canada.
Arthur Jenkins was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1851, and died at West Baden, Indiana, November 8, 1903, in the prime of life. He was a very young child when his family removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in the public schools of that city he was educated until he had reached the age of fourteen years. This brief education was, however, supple- mented throughout his life by unusually keen powers of observation and a remark- ably retentive memory. His first business position was that of messenger for a firm of commission merchants in Milwaukee, but the ambitious lad was not satisfied with a position of this kind, and it was not long before he became identified in a business capacity with the First National Bank of Milwaukee, a position he left in order to enter the employ of the whole- sale drug house of Bosworth & Sons. He was but little more than sixteen years of age when he entered into the profession with which he was so successfully identi- fied until his early death. He obtained a position in the press room of Starr & Sons, Printers, and felt then that he had formed a connection with what was to be- come his life work. It was not long be- fore he found employment in the com- posing room of "The Milwaukee Daily News," and there he not only completed his training as a practical printer, but
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gained an insight into the details con- nected with newspaper work. For several years Mr. Jenkins then worked as a jour- neyman printer, but as he was very desir- ous of seeing something of the world, he followed his chosen vocation in various places, and in the course of following this mode of life was employed at Chicago, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin ; and work- ed his way through Illinois and the Ohio Valley to Pittsburgh, and the oil regions, finally locating in Syracuse, New York, early in the year 1871. Although so young, he had so well utilized his time that the desire for change and novelty had worn off, and he felt ready to make a permanent home for himself. This he proceeded to do in Syracuse, where he was engaged for some years in journal- istic work, notably with the editorial end and also with the managerial department of a newspaper, and having made many friends, felt emboldened to establish him- self independently in the newspaper world. January 15, 1877, saw the practical com- mencement of this plan, in the first issue of "The Evening Herald," which, as Mr. Jenkins was destitute of capital, but de- termined in purpose, he borrowed on mortgage and the newspaper was begun with the sum of two hundred and sixty- five dollars. So successful was the begin- ning of this enterprise that in June of the following year Mr. Jenkins organized the Herald Company, of which he became the president and general manager. Bold though this step appeared to be, proofs were soon forthcoming that it had not been a rash one, for the sound business judgment and strong executive ability of Mr. Jenkins overcame all difficulties and placed the enterprise on a firm basis from the start. The course of "The Evening Herald" has been a steadily upward one, and it is the leading daily newspaper of Syracuse and Central New York and is an
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