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. 3 > Part 17
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Mr. Nottingham married, October 26, 1881, Eloise Holden, a daughter of Eras- tus F. Holden, one of the organizers of the firm of Holden Brothers, coal mer- chants, later Holden & Sons. Mr. Holden occupied a prominent place in the coal trade, and had one of the largest concerns in Central New York.
WILKINSON, John, Antomobile Expert and Inventor.
John Wilkinson, the efficient chief engi- neer in the automobile works of H. H. Franklin Company and an inventor of more than local note, was born February
II, 1868, in Syracuse, and is a representa- tive of one of the oldest and best known families of Onondaga county. His great- grandfather in the paternal line was John Wilkinson, who served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and being captured was incarcerated on the Jersey prison ship which has figured largely on the pages of history. He came to Skaneateles in 1795 from Rhode Island and since that date the family has been well-known in Onondaga county, its representatives in the succeeding generations taking an ac- tive part in the substantial development and upbuilding of this portion of the State. John Wilkinson, the grandfather, was born in Skaneateles, September 30, 1798, over a century ago. At one time he was president of the old Syracuse & Utica railroad, and also of the Michigan Central Railroad Company. He gave to Syracuse its name and was the first post- master of the city. He donated to the New York Central Railroad Company the tract of land between Geddes and West street and Fayette street and the Erie canal for their shops and yard. As a pro- motor of railroad interests and in various other ways his life work proved of the greatest value to the county and he may well be numbered among its founders and promotors, for he aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which its present prosperity and progress rests. J. Forman Wilkinson, father of John Wil- kinson, of this review, served as a soldier in the Civil War with the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Infantry. He married Louisa Raynor, and to them were born five children : Mrs. R. S. Bowen; Theo- dore K. Wilkinson; Mrs. N. J. Black- wood, whose husband is a member of the navy with the rank of major; Forman Wilkinson, and John Wilkinson, whose name introduces this review.
John Wilkinson was educated in the Syracuse High School and in Cornell
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University, being graduated on the com- pletion of the mechanical engineer's course in 1899. He entered business life as a machinist with R. C. Stearns & Company of Syracuse, with whom he re- mained for about three months, when he engaged with Henry R. Worthington, of Brooklyn, New York. He filled that position for a year, after which he be- came a draughtsman with the Solvay Company, with which he continued for four years. He was then a designer for the Syracuse Cycle Company for about four years, and during the succeeding two years devoted his time largely to experimenting with automobiles. Dur- ing the past five years he has been chief engineer with the H. H. Franklin Com- pany in their automobile works and has filled the position with great efficiency. Mr. Wilkinson is the inventor of the Franklin automobile and the promotor and veteran builder of the same. He is now one of the directors and owns a large interest in the business.
On April 23, 1896, Mr. Wilkinson was married to Edith Belden, who was born September 24, 1869, and was the third child of Mead and Gertrude (Woolston) Belden. Her father was a brother of J. J. and A. C. Belden. The sisters of the family are: Mrs. Andrew S. White, a resident of Syracuse, and Mrs. Henry Wigglesworth, a resident of Garden City, New York. Mrs. Wilkinson was edu- cated in the Keeble School of Syracuse and in Ogontz, Pennsylvania. By her marriage she has become the mother of two daughters and a son: Helen, born April 5, 1897; Anne Belden, born Octo- ber 9, 1900; and John Belden, February 13, 1905.
In politics Mr. Wilkinson is independ- ent, casting his ballot without regard for party tides. He belongs to the Unitarian church, and is a member of the Psi Up- silon, a college fraternity. He greatly
enjoys athletics and manly out-door sports and belongs to a number of dif- ferent clubs. He is regarded as a worthy scion of his race and creditable represen- tative of a prominent and honored pio- neer family. As such he deserves men- tion in this volume, while his personal worth and his business acomplishments also entitle him to recognition as one who merits the esteem, respect and good will of his fellow men.
ANDREWS, Charles,
Lawyer, Former Chief Justice.
Charles Andrews, late Chief Justice of the New York State Court of Appeals, and for many years a leading attorney of Syracuse, was born May 27, 1827, at New York Mills, in the town of Whitestown, Oneida county, New York. After an at- tendance upon the common schools near his birthplace, he was a student at the Oneida Conference Seminary, at Caze- novia, New York. Determining to adopt the profession of the law, he began his studies with Sedgwick & Outwater, a leading firm of Syracuse, and pursued his studies with such diligence that he was admitted to the bar in January, 1849, in his twenty-second year. The city of Syracuse was at that time a station of considerable importance on the Erie Canal, the chief means of transportation, and was especially favored by commerce as the junction point of the Oswego Canal with the Erie. The city at that time numbered several other able attorneys among its inhabitants, and here he found such competition as to spur him to his best efforts. In 1851 he formed an asso- ciation in the practice of law with Charles B. Sedgwick, under the style of Sedgwick & Andrews, and four years later Mr. George M. Kennedy was admitted to the firm, which now became Sedgwick, An- drews & Kennedy. This firm handled
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much of the most important litigation in its time, and was ranked among the ablest in the State.
In 1853 Mr. Andrews was elected dis- trict attorney for a period of three years, and in 1861-62, and again in 1868, he was mayor of the city. He was very active, in association with other leading citizens, in securing the location of Syracuse Uni- versity in his home city, and for many years he was a trustee of that institution. During his first terms as mayor, in the early years of the Civil War, he had many puzzling tasks to perform, and among other movements to which he strongly contributed was that of securing recruits for the Union army. In 1867 he was elected a delegate-at-large to the State Constitutional Convention, which body reconstructed the Court of Appeals, and in 1870 Mr. Andrews became a candidate for judge of that court, and was elected May 17 of that year, taking his place on the bench, July I. In 1881 he was desig- nated by Governor Cornell as chief judge to succeed Judge Folger, who then re- tired. At the election soon after ensu- ing Judge Andrews was the candidate on the Republican ticket for chief judge, but was defeated. He was, however, reëlect- ed for another term of fourteen years as a judge of the court in 1884, being the can- didate of both the leading parties of the State, and in 1892 he was elected chief judge, continuing to hold that position until his retirement under the constitu- tional age limit, December 31, 1897. At this time Judge Andrews was in full pos- session of all his powers, and by the oper- ation of the age limit, the courts of the State were deprived of his most able serv- ices. His interest in the affairs of his native county has not been lessened by his retirement, and he still exerts a most influential power in the State. While not actively pursuing the practice of law, he is often retained as counsel to others. His
natural judicial bent, his industry and thorough knowledge of the law contrib- uted greatly to his usefulness upon the bench, and is still of great service to the community. Judge Andrews is fond of outdoor life, and has always found his recreation in fishing and other diversions which lead to the woods, fields and streams. He received the honorary de- gree of Doctor of Laws from Hamilton College, Columbia, Yale and Syracuse universities. He has made many able addresses on various occasions in the in- terest of progress and human welfare. He has long been a useful member of the Episcopal church, and is universally esteemed by the people of Syracuse for his high character, intellectual attain- ments and long and valuable services to the State.
BRADLEY, Christopher Columbus, Jr., Manufacturer, Public Official.
A man of serious aims, broad views on all questions, and shrewd business opin- ions, is to be found in the person of Chris- topher Columbus Bradley, of Syracuse, president of the firm of C. C. Bradley & Son, manufacturers of power hammers, forges and carriage shaft couplers. He is genial and courteous on all occasions, and his accurate estimate of men has enabled him to fill the many responsible branches of his business with assistants who thor- oughly understand the nature of the work they are called upon to perform, and conduct in the most masterly man- ner the numerous details connected with it. Mr. Bradley gives his whole soul to whatever he undertakes, and allows none of the many interests entrusted to his care to suffer for want of close and able attention. As a citizen he is universally esteemed, and in every relation of life he has shown himself to be a man of the highest principles. In his private life as
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well as in his business capacity, Mr. Bradley is a man of indefatigable energy and ambition. In other words, he is a man whose power of concentration has been developed to a remarkable degree.
The Bradley family is an old one in this country, and traces back to England, the name being also spelled Bradlee. The earliest mention in England of the name of Bradley is in the year 1183, at the feast of St. Cuthbert, in Lent, when the Lord Hugh, Bishop of Durham, caused to be described all the revenues of his bishop- ric. In 1437 there is mention made of Bradleys, of Bradley. The name seems to have applied to places in England at a comparatively early date. The Bradleys of Acworth are the first who had their arms and pedigree preserved, and that by a visitation of the County of York by Wil- liam Dugdale, Norroy King of Arms, 1665-66. The arms are: Or, a fess azure, between three buckles gules. They are proved by the visitation of Berkshire. A number of Bradleys are found among the early settlers of New England, and as the same names are often repeated, they prob- ably had a common ancestor.
The American ancestry of this branch of the Bradley family can be traced to William Bradley, who came from Old England to New Haven, Connecticut, in July, 1637. His son, Daniel Bradley, of New Haven, Connecticut, died about the year 1705, aged sixty-eight years. His son, Deacon Daniel Bradley, of Hamden, died in February, 1773, in the sixty-sev- enth year of his age. His son, Captain Jesse Bradley, was born May 4, 1736, died July 26, 1812. He served with honor in the Revolutionary War. He removed to the State of New York from Lee, Massa- chusetts. His wife, Mamre Bradley, born May 2, 1738, bore him the following named children: Esther, born November 17, 1753, died May 24, 1776; Jared, born August 25, 1760; Eli, born May 3, 1762;
Jesse, born December 22, 1765; Mamre, born December 22, 1765; Joseph, born October 19, 1767; Lydia, born September 4, 1769, died February II, 1773; William, born August 1, 1771; Lewis, born June 28, 1773 ; Lydia, born September 28, 1775 ; Daniel, born March 4, 1779. The line of descent is carried through the youngest son, Daniel Bradley, who married Pa- tience -, born March 4, 1780, and their children were: Christopher Colum- bus, mentioned below; Marilla, born April 16, 1802; Daniel, born August 23, 1804; Joseph I. B., born March 1, 1806; Hannah, born April 12, 1808; David, born November 8, 1811; Mary, born August II, 1813; Esther, born May 23, 1817; Lemi, born June 12, 1822.
Christopher Columbus Bradley, born December 6, 1800, died January 3, 1872. He was a resident of Groton, New York, and from that town removed to Syracuse, New York, in 1822. He established the first foundry in Syracuse. The business prospered, and was an important factor in the growth and development of the town, and Mr. Bradley became one of the most important figures in the community. In 1855 he removed from the "Old City Foundry" to the corner of Marcellus and Wyoming streets, and took his sons, Waterman Chapman and Christopher Columbus, Jr., into partnership with him under the firm name of C. C. Bradley & Sons. Among a number of public offices filled by him were those of village trustee and county treasurer. He married Hul- dah Gilbert, born December 28, 1802, died June 15, 1889, and their children were: I. Daniel Carr, born August 12, 1827, died June 20, 1867. 2. George Willett, born April 8, 1830, died February 20, 1882; he was appointed captain and assistant quar- termaster in a New York regiment in 1862, served until September, 1864, when he was made chief quartermaster of the Tenth Army Corps under General Bir-
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ney ; he earned recognition from General Grant and was soon promoted to the rank of colonel; he remained in the service until 1866, and was then transferred to the regular army, where he filled various important positions in military circles until his death. 3. Waterman Chapman, born January 9, 1832, who was a mem- ber of the firm of C. C. Bradley & Sons. 4. Christopher Columbus, mentioned be- low. 5. Sarah E., born February 23, 1841. 6. Rowland G., born April 28, 1843, died August 10, 1847.
Christopher Columbus Bradley, Jr., was born in Syracuse, New York, March 6, 1834. The public schools of his native town furnished him with a substantial and practical education, and from his earliest years his spare time was spent in the foundry established by his father. In this manner he acquired a practical knowledge of the details of the industry, which was of great benefit to him when, at the age of seventeen years, he became associated with his father in the busi- ness. He and his brother, Waterman Chapman, were admitted to the firm as partners, the style of the firm being changed to C. C. Bradley & Sons. W. C. Bradley subsequently withdrew from the firm, and the business was continued as C. C. Bradley & Son, until the death of the elder Bradley, when it was again changed, this time to Bradley & Company, and continued thus until 1896, when the present firm of C. C. Bradley & Son was organized for the manufacture of carriage shaft couplers. The present members of the firm are: C. C. Bradley, Sr., president ; Cora M. Bradley, vice-president ; C. C. Bradley, Jr., secretary and treasurer. An- other firm, for the manufacture of power hammers and forges, was organized in 1894 as the Bradley Company, with officers as follows: C. C. Bradley, Sr., president ; C. C. Bradley, Jr., vice-president ; W. C. Bradley, secretary and treasurer ; Calvin
S. Bunnell, assistant treasurer. When W. C. Bradley died in 1902, this second com- pany was merged into the firm of C. C. Bradley & Son. Mr. Bradley has always given his staunch and consistent support to the Republican party, but he has had but little time to spare from his numerous and responsible business interests. How- ever, yielding to repeated solicitation, he served as alderman of the Fifth Ward during the administration of Mayor Frank Carroll. He is a life member of the New York State Agricultural Society, the Century Club, the Citizens' Club, the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Bradley married, January 28, 1857, Emma Pelton, daughter of Robert M. Pelton, a tanner of Syracuse. Mrs. Brad- ley is a charter member of the Fourth Presbyterian Church. Children : I. Hattie L., who became the wife of Ed- ward R. Woodle, of Chicago. 2. Cora M., member of the firm of Bradley Com- pany. 3. Christopher Columbus, also member of Bradley & Company ; he was born January 26, 1873 ; married, April 12, 1899, Elizabeth Goodwin, of Kane, Penn- sylvania ; children: Charles Goodwin, born July 5, 1901, and Christopher Co- lumbus, born January 20, 1909.
LUDINGTON, James S., Lawyer, Public Official.
The efforts of James S. Ludington, known for many years as one of the ablest and most distinguished lawyers of Onon- daga county, New York, have proved of the greatest value to his fellow citizens as well as to himself. He has shaped his career along worthy lines, and his talents have been discerningly directed along well defined channels of endeavor. He is a man of distinct and forceful individual- ity, of marked sagacity, of undaunted enterprise, and in manner he is genial, courteous and approachable. His career
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is such as to warrant the trust and con- fidence of the public and his activity in legal circles forms no unimportant chap- ter in the history of the State. The public is rarely mistaken in its estimation of a man, and were Mr. Ludington not most worthy, he could not have gained the eminent position he has so long held in legal, public and social life, without any abatement of his popularity. By his own persistent and legitimate labors he has won for himself a name whose luster future years will most surely augment.
Mr. Ludington's sterling qualities have been transmitted to him by a distin- guished ancestry, among which we find: William Ludington, who became a resi- dent of Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1642, and died there in 1662. Comfort Ludington, another member of the family, of Rambout Precinct, Dutchess county, New York, who affixed his name to the "Revolutionary Pledge," signed by the freeholders of that county in the spring of 1775; following the outbreak of hos- tilities he served as captain in Colonel Jacob Swartwout's regiment of Ulster county, New York, in 1775, and in 1776 commanded a company of the Fourth New York Foot. Again the family was represented in military service by Zalmon Ludington, who served as a soldier in the War of 1812; his distinguished sons were : Major-General Marshall I. Ludington, who was placed on the retired list at his own request in 1903; Hagan Z. Luding- ton, who served in the Civil War as cap- tain in the Eighty-fifth Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteers; Horace, who served in the same struggle as major and sur- geon of the One Hundredth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; and Elisha H., who also served in the Civil War, as cap- tain in the Seventeenth Regiment United States Infantry, and was subsequently major and brevet colonel, inspector-
general's department, United States army.
James S. Ludington, son of George W. Ludington, was born in Parish, Oswego county, New York, January 25, 1858. He was educated at the academies in Mexico and Pulaski, being graduated from the latter in 1877, when he at once took up the study of law in Syracuse, New York, in the office of Ludington & DeCamp, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1880. He commenced the active practice of his profession in Vinton, Iowa, in the spring of 1880, but soon returned to Oswego county, where he was engaged in practice in Parish and Phoenix until April, 1893, when he removed to Syra- cuse, since which time he has been promi- nently identified with the law and polit- ical affairs in that city. He has had as partners at various times, Jay B. Kline, B. J. Shove, Daniel Y. Salmon, J. J. Kennelly, M. L. McCarthy, and at the present time the firm is Ludington, Hay- den & Setright. During his residence in Oswego county, Mr. Ludington served as school commissioner for the Second District for a period of three years, com- mencing in 1884, and in that campaign only fourteen votes were cast against him in his home town of Parish. He was elected alderman from the Fourth Ward in Syracuse in the fall of 1897. Since liv- ing in Syracuse, Mr. Ludington has been active in behalf of his party, and has fre- quently spoken for its nominees. In 1899 he was appointed assistant corporation counsel by Mayor James K. McGuire, and served in that capacity two years. In the fall of 1911 he was the candidate of the Democratic party for the office of mayor of Syracuse. He is a member of Republican Lodge, No. 325 Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of Parish ; Oswego River Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Phoenix, New York; Modern Woodmen of Amer-
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ica; Onondaga County Bar Association ; Masonic Temple Club ; and the City Club.
Mr. Ludington married, in June, 1884, Kate M., daugliter of C. W. Woods, of Pulaski, New York, and they have one ,son : George W. Mr. Ludington is essen- tially cosmopolitan in his ideas, a man of the people in the fullest sense, and a rep- resentative type of that strong American manhood which commands and retains respect by reason of inherent merit, sound sense and correct conduct. He has so impressed his individuality upon his fel- lowmen wherever his lot has been cast, as to win their highest esteem and become a strong and influential power in leading them to high and noble things. Measured by the accepted standard of excellence his career has been eminently honorable and useful, and his life fraught with great good to humanity and to the world.
SMITH, Wing R.,
Leading Cattle Importer and Breeder.
Wing R. Smith, a highly respected citizen of Syracuse, is a lineal descendant of the Rev. Nehemiah Smith, who came to America from England in 1630, and located in Nantic, Connecticut, where his farm is still owned by his posterity.
William Brown Smith, father of Wing R. Smith, was born in Brighton, Monroe county, New York, March 2, 1815, son of Job C. and Esther (Brown) Smith. His mother died at the time of his birth, and he was placed in the care of Mrs. Jere- miah Maples, of West Walworth, New York, where he remained until 1828, when his foster father died, his foster mother having died some six years previously. His own father had married again and moved to Ohio. William B. Smith then learned the trade of cabinetmaking, under Joshua Hicks, of Walworth, and after his death continued with his son, Levi J. Hicks, in the shop and on the farm.
When twenty-one years of age he pos- sessed a trade, a set of tools, good cloth- ing, and one hundred dollars in money. After a canal trip to Buffalo and lake trip to Sandusky, Ohio, he paid his first visit to his father, and returning he entered the cabinet shop of James Jenner, of Palmyra, New York, and soon became a foreman, and four years later had laid up a thousand dollars. He then entered into mercantile business in Walworth with his brother-in-law, T. G. Yeomans, which connection continued for some time. About 1844 Mr. Smith came to Syracuse and purchased an interest in a small nursery of about five acres, of Alanson Thorp, on West Genesee street. The business increased under various part- ners, and finally Mr. Smith became sole owner. In 1868 Edward A. Powell, his son-in-law, became his partner, and soon after live stock interests were added, from which was developed the celebrated "Lakeside Stock Farm." In 1877 Wing R. and Judson W. Smith entered the firm under the style of Smiths & Powell, and in 1885 Anthony Lamb became a partner under the name of Smiths, Powell & Lamb. Later the Smiths & Powell Com- pany was incorporated with William Brown Smith, president; Edward A. Powell, vice-president ; Wing R. Smith, secretary ; and W. Judson Smith, treas- urer. Prior to this the nursery business had become of paramount importance, while considerable attention was given to flowers and hot house plants, the florist branch being conducted under the name of P. R. Quinlan & Company. Shortly after the death of Mr. Smith, which occurred at his home in West Genesee street, Syracuse, March 10, 1896, the busi- ness was given up and the lands were partitioned off, each member of the cor- poration holding and cultivating in their own name parts of the original farm. Mr. Smith, Sr., was also largely interested in
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real estate. He served as school commis- sioner several terms, president of the board one year; was president of Oak- wood Cemetery, vice-president of the Syracuse Savings Bank, director in the Salt Springs National Bank and old Syra- cuse Water Company, treasurer of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America, counselor of the Old Ladies' Home, and trustee of May Memorial Church and president of the board.
Mr. Smith married (first) Lucy, daugh- ter of Gilbert Yeomans, of Walworth. He married (second) Augusta Maria, daughter of Silas and Keziah (Hallock) Boardman, of Westerlo, Albany county, New York, whose family of three sons and six daughters grew to maturity and all lived long and useful lives; Silas died at age of ninety-five, Adeline at age of ninety-three, Lucy at age of eighty- nine, and Augusta at age of eighty-seven years. Silas Boardman descended from the early English settlers, the "Bormans" of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and from whence have descended the Boardman family known throughout the United States in professional and business life as men of character and integrity and as women of pure and moral life, choosing to be home makers rather than seeking for name and fame outside of the home.
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