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 29
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He married, October 23, 1880, in Omaha, Clara Campbell, and they have a daughter, Blanche Deuel, born January I, 1881, in Omaha, now the wife of Karl G. Roebling, of Trenton, New Jersey.
RILL, Willard A., Lawyer, Public Official.
A resident of Syracuse, New York, from his sixth year, a product of her public schools, a graduate from the law school of her great university, prominent in city politics and in fraternal life, Mr. Rill has for his adopted city all the love and devotion of a native son, for his memory recalls no other home. He is of French and German lineage, his French ancestor a soldier under Napoleon the Great, going down in defeat with his beloved commander at Waterloo.
Willard A. Rill was born in Cicero, New York, June 17, 1874, son of Adrian L. and Christine (Snavlin) Rill, the former a school teacher, residents until 1880 of Oswego county, New York. In that year the family located in Syracuse, where the son completed a course in the public schools, finishing at the high school. In 1896 he entered Columbia University, graduating with the class of 1898, after which he took a post-graduate course at Syracuse University, a course
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which he completed in 1899, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Law. He was admitted to the Onondaga county bar in October, 1899, began and has since continued in general practice in Syra- cuse, his law business extending to all State and Federal courts of the district. Mr. Rill is a Republican in politics and has ever been active and influential in the local affairs of his party. In 1909 he was elected supervisor from the Nineteenth Ward of the city of Syracuse, and in 19II was elected president of the Common Council, serving two terms, then refusing a third term. He has always given public affairs much of his time and the best of his ability. Since 1911 he has been chair- man of the Republican County Commit- tee, but has steadfastly refused the many offers made to make him party candidate for different offices. He prefers to serve his party and city in private capacity, taking the just view that the interested, thoughtful private citizen is of greater value to the State than the office seeker, ever "with an ax to grind." Mr. Rill is a power in party councils and as chair- man of the county committee wields wide influence, influence used solely to further party interests, never for his own bene- fit. He is a past master of Central City Lodge, No. 305, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, holding the office of master during the year 1910, and by virtue of his office a member of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, holding in that body membership on the committee on de- ceased brethren. In Scottish Rite Ma- sonry he has attained the thirty-second degree, belonging to Syracuse Con- sistory.
In 1902 he married Lillian G. Draw- bridge, by which marriage he has two children: Elizabeth C., born September 2, 1905, and Willard A., Jr., born August 17, 1910.
WARD, Brig .- Gen. Thomas, Army Officer, Military Instructor.
After more than forty years of service in the United States army, which in- cluded the latter half of the Civil War, Brigadier-General Thomas Ward, now a resident of Rochester, New York, can look back over a lifetime of service to his country and devotion to the Stars and Stripes. He was born at West Point, New York, March 18, 1839. It is scarcely to be wondered at that one, reared in such an atmosphere and environment as that of West Point, and who reached his young manhood in such stirring times as the years immediately preceding the Civil War, should be fired by a patriotic zeal, and should decide upon a military career. His parents were Bryan and Eliza (Henry) Ward. Bryan Ward died in 1852, at the age of fifty-two years. He had been registrar of West Point Mili- tary Academy for many years, and was succeeded by his son William, who held the office for more than fifty years. Of his children we have on record: Lieu- tenant Matthew Henry Ward, a volun- teer in the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, who was promoted at the close of the war to the Second Regular Artillery, and died soon after the close of the war from a disease contracted
while in service; Philip W. Ward, enlisted, was with Burnside's Cavalry, and died at the close of the war from exposure and disease contracted on the field ; Bryan Ward, Jr., nursed his brother, Brigadier-General Thomas Ward, through an attack of typhoid fever, contracted the disease, and died at the early age of sixteen years.
Brigadier-General Thomas Ward re- ceived a thorough and careful prepara- tory education, then entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he was graduated in 1863.
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He was commissioned second lieutenant of the First Regiment of Artillery, June II, 1863. For gallantry displayed at Cold Harbor he was brevetted first lieutenant, June 3, 1864; July 18, of the same year, he was promoted to a first lieutenancy ; March 13, 1865, he was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious service dur- ing the war, and was recommended, April 27, 1866, by General James H. Wilson, his commanding general in the field, for the brevet of major, "for bravery of the highest degree, zeal and good manage- ment, during the entire service with me and particularly during the rapid an 1 exhausting marches and fights incidental to operations against the South Side and Danville railroad, known as 'Wilson's Raid,' June 21 to July 1, 1864." In this connection the following quotation from the official records will be of interest: "Captain Ward was recommended for an additional brevet by his commanding general, for bravery, zeal and good man- agement during the rapid and exhausting marches and fights incidental to oper= ations against the South Side and Dan- ville railroads, Virginia ;" but on account of a blunder the paper was filed in the War Department without further action at the time, and the error was only dis- covered by accident twenty-three years later, as the following correspondence will show. General Wilson received a letter from the Adjutant-General's Office, War Department, under date of March 23, 1889, inviting his attention to the following endorsement :
WILMINGTON, Delaware, April 27, 1866. Respectfully forwarded. I take pleasure in saying that the conduct of Captain Ward during his entire service with me and particularly during the rapid and exhausting marches and fights in- cidental to operations against the South Side and Danville railroads was in the highest degree
commendable for bravery, zeal and good manage- ment. To my personal knowledge, the abandon- ment of his guns was entirely unavoidable and due to the utter exhaustion of his horses rather than to anything else whatever.
I take pleasure in recommending him for the brevet of captain.
(Signed) J. H. WILSON,
Captain Engineers and Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. A.
STOCKBRIDGE, Wilmington, Delaware, March 24, 1889.
My Dear Major: It gives me very great pleas- ure to say in reply to your letter of yesterday, that I of course intended to recommend you for the brevet of Major instead of Captain, when you actually held that rank in the line, and now I hasten to enclose a letter to the Adjutant General correcting as far as possible the blunder into which I fell in my endorsement of April 27, 1866.
Regretting more than I can find words to ex- press, that I should have made such a palpable mistake, and that it was not discovered and cor- rected sooner, I am,
Cordially your friend,
(Signed) JAMES H. WILSON.
WILMINGTON, Del., March 24, 1889. To the Adjutant General,
War Department, Washington, D. C .:
Sir: Referring to a certain statement made by Major (then Captain) Thomas Ward in 1866 in regard to his military history, and also to my en- dorsement thereon, dated April 27, 1866, in which I recommended Captain Ward for the brevet of Captain in the United States Army, when he held at the time that rank in the Artillery, I beg to say that my intention was to recommend him for the brevet of Major and to request that this state- ment, in justice to Major Ward, who was a most gallant and meritorious officer, be filed with the original document now in the possession of your department.
Deeply regretting that the obvious error has re- mained so long uncorrected and trusting that my request can be complied with, I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, (Signed) JAMES H. WILSON, Late Major General Volunteers and Brevet Major General, U. S. A.
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WAR DEPARTMENT, Adjutant General's Office,
April 13, 1889. The foregoing request of General Wilson has been complied with. His statement is to be filed with the original letter and Major Ward fur- nished an official copy.
(Signed) R. C. DRUM, Adjutant General.
After the Civil War, General Ward, as an officer of the regular army, was stationed at various posts, the following instances being of sufficient interest to note :
General Ward was in command of the battery encamped in Annunciation Square, New Orleans, Louisiana, from May 10 to 20, 1873, suppressing political riots, and in garrison at Jackson Bar- racks, New Orleans, until July 7, 1873. November 1, 1876, he was commissioned captain. He commanded Battery D, First Artillery, during the strikes and railroad riots from August 1 to 27, 1877, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and at Reading, Pennsylvania, from August 28 to October 24, of the same year. He was promoted to major and assistant adjutant- general, June 28, 1884; lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general, August 31, 1893; colonel and assistant adjutant- general, September 11, 1897; adjutant- general, headquarters of the army, Au- gust 25, 1900; brigadier-general, United States Army, July 22, 1902 ; and in June, 1907, he was appointed president of the board of visitors to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
In 1873-77 he was Professor of Military Science in Union College, Schenectady, New York, and that institution conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He belongs to the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Phi Alpha college fraternities ; member of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic; Metro- politan Club, at Washington, D. C .; Fort-
nightly Club of Oswego; National Geo- graphical Society; Society of American Wars; Genesee Valley Club ; and affiliated with the Masonic fraternity at Schenec- tady, while he was at Union College. He is very refined, quiet and unassuming in manner; of pleasing personality, and has won a large circle of loyal friends. He is of tall and commanding presence, well preserved, and has never used liquor of any kind.
General Ward's record as a military man reflects credit on his native State. He was on duty at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, as adjutant-general of the Department of the Columbia from 1889 to 1893, which included Alaska. During that time General Ward toured Alaska to Chilkat and took with him his two sons-the elder, who is now Major Philip R. Ward, and Thomas, Jr. Next he was stationed as adjutant-general of the Department of the Columbia, with head- quarters at Denver, 1893-96. He was on General Hancock's staff as captain, at Governor's Island, when Hancock ran for the office of President of the United States. At that time General Ward was inspector-general of the Department of the East, which took in the New England coast and as far west as Sault St. Marie, and as far south as Florida. He retired from military service in 1902, and after a short residence in Oswego, became a resident of Rochester, New York, where he has lived ever since.
General Ward married, April 20, 1870, in Oswego, New York, Katherine L. Mott, born April 17, 1851, died November II, 1914. She was a daughter of Thomas S. Mott, one of the leading politicians of New York State in his day, the right hand man of Senator Conklin, and presi- dent of the First National Bank of Oswego. General and Mrs. Ward had children: Major Philip R., was gradu-
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ated from West Point, and is now in the
Coast Artillery, commanding Fort Preble; Bessie DeWolfe, married Edwin Allen Stebbins, of Rochester ; Katherine Mott, at home ; Thomas, Jr., midshipman in the United States Navy, of whom further ; John Mott, now with Dr. Fitch, engaged in Red Cross work in France at the hospital at Yvetot; two sons who died in childhood.
Thomas Ward, Jr., was a worthy scion of his family, which has given so many brave men to the world. He was a hand- some young man, of fine military bearing, and would, no doubt, have added still more to the prestige of the family name had his career not been cut short at so early an age while in the brave discharge of his duty. Following are a few extracts and copies of letters telling graphically the story of his tragic death :
From the "Saturday Globe," Utica, New York, April 16, 1904:
The worst catastrophe in the recent history of the American Navy was that at Pensacola, Flor- ida, Wednesday, when five charges of smokeless powder exploded and killed thirty-three men, of whom five were officers, besides injuring five others, two of them fatally. A miracle alone pre- vented this accident in peaceful waters from paralleling the horror of war in Asiatic seas on the same day. Within a few feet of the second explosion was a magazine containing thousands of pounds of high explosives. Had this been ignited, the ship and her crew of six hundred would have gone to the bottom. This fortunate intervention of Providence and the heroic conduct of her commander, Captain William S. Cowles, are the two bright spots in the black record of destruction, though the noble actions of some of the other officers should not be overlooked. The after twelve-inch guns were being fired. Numerous shots had been fired and the left gun was being loaded, one section, two hundred pounds of powder, having been rammed home and the sec- ond section having cleared the hoisting car. At this instant a wind from off shore blew a portion of the flame from the muzzle back into the breech where the charge was being rammed home. This ignited the charge, there was an explosion and
some of the burning stuff dropped into the han- dling room below, whose four charges were ready to be hoisted. These exploded. The flames were soon leaping from every portion of the turret, and the fumes from the powder overcame the men who sought to extinguish them. Meanwhile, terrible scenes were witnessed in the turret and in the handling room. * * * When the bodies were finally taken from the turret and the room below, they were perfectly nude, every strip of clothing having been burned off. They were hardly recognizable. The flesh hung from their bodies in strips and would drop off when touched. The twenty-five men of the turret were found lying in a heap just under the cxit. Two separate explosions had occurred, which accounts for the position of the men. The first explosion in the turret did not cause any deaths, and every man started for the exit to get fresh air. They had just reached it when the second and more terrible explosion, directly beneath, sent the flames up through the exit through which they were en- deavoring to pass. * *
* Thomas Ward, Jr., one of the officers killed by these explosions, was twenty-one years old, and was appointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, from Utica, New York. He was graduated a little more than a year ago, and when the Missouri went into com- mission, was placed on her as one of the officers.
NAVY DEPARTMENT, Bureau of Navigation, Washington, April 14, 1904.
General Thomas Ward, U. S. Army, Oswego, N. Y .:
The President directs me to convey to you his sympathy in your bereavement in the death of your son, while in the faithful discharge of his duty.
Permit me at the same time to express my own sympathy and to assure you that you have that of the entire Navy.
(Signed)
WILLIAM H. MOODY, Secretary.
NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, June 9, 1904. To Brigadier General Thomas Ward,
United States Army :
Sir : The Department is in receipt of a report from the commanding officer of the Missouri, referring to the accident in the after turret of the vessel on April 13th last, in which it is stated that J. W. McDade, ordinary seaman, the one living witness to the occurrence said in conver- sation with Midshipman Ward's messmates, that
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when the explosion took place he remembers Midshipman Ward rushed over to the door of the twelfth magazine in which he (McDade) was at the time and gave some order about the maga- zine, but what he said he could not hear and con- sequently he made no mention of it before the court.
He further stated that at the instant the flame enveloped all and that young Ward fell and lost his life at the door of the magazine (see note).
Upon further questioning by the commanding officer, McDade stated that while he remembered Midshipman Ward rushing over to the magazine door, he did not hear what he said.
The letter concludes :
Believing the Department should know every detail officially as to how those died who lost their lives at their posts of duty, this incident shows that Midshipman Ward was himself alive to the fact of the very great danger, rushed at once, closed the magazine door and saved the ship.
I communicate this to you with sincere sympa- thy, believing that it will help to relieve your sor- row; to know your son's unhesitating faithful- ness to his duty at the cost of his life.
A copy of this letter will be placed with Mid- shipman Ward's record in the Navy Department, and another copy will be sent to the Commander- in-Chief, North American Fleet, for publication to the fleet, and to be read on the quarter deck of the United States Ship Missouri at muster.
I have the honor to remain, Your very respectfully, (Signed) WILLIAM H. MOODY, Secretary.
In 1910 the class of 1903 placed in Ban- croft Hall, Annapolis, a tablet inscribed as follows:
IN MEMORIAM To THOMAS WARD and WM. E. T. NEUMANN United States Navy Class of 1903 They died April 13, 1904, as a Result of an Explosion in the after turret of the U. S. S. Missouri during record target practice
while in the performance of duty. ERECTED BY THEIR CLASSMATES.
NOTE .- The door of the magazine was so built as to open outward and downward to the floor, turning upon a hinge at the base. Young Ward undoubtedly threw the door up, as it was reported at the time that the fingers of the man saved in the magazine were injured as the door closed upon him.
MERCER, Alfred, M. D., Physician, Philanthropist.
Alfred Mercer, M. D., late of Syracuse, New York, a son of William Mercer, who died in England in 1851, and his wife, Mary (Dobell) Mercer, who died in Eng- land in 1863, was born in High Halden, Kent, England, November 14, 1820, camne to America with his parents in 1832. and died in his ninety-fourth year, at his resi- dence, No. 324 Montgomery street, Syra- cuse, New York, August 5, 1914. His parents were almost sixty years of age when they came to this country, were imbued with the English social and busi- ness habits, and the change to America proved too great for their comfort or enjoyment. They therefore returned to England the following spring, but believ- ing that this country offered better advantages than England for an am- bitious young man, they left their youngest son, Alfred, in America with an elder brother, who had already resided here several years.
The youth spent two years at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, studied medicine in the office of Dr. John F. Whitbeck, in Lima, Livingston county, and was graduated from the Geneva Medical College in 1845. In 1846 he visited his parents in England, and devoted a few months to the study of medicine and surgery in the hospitals of London and Paris. Returning to Amer- ica in 1847, he opened an office in Mil-
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waukee, Wisconsin, but in 1848 returned to this State and practiced in Livingston and Monroe counties until 1853, when he settled permanently in Syracuse, where he became one of the best known and most trusted physicians and surgeons in the Empire State.
It was one of Dr. Mercer's pleasures to relate, and most entertainingly, his early experiences. He traveled by boat on the Erie canal when Syracuse was only a salt manufacturing locality. He spoke of the hardships which physicians of the early times were called upon to endure. Dr. Mercer was the first phy- sician in Central New York, in about 1860, to recognize the value of, and to use, the microscope as an aid to his pro- fessional work. From 1864 to 1866 he was health officer of Syracuse. Upon the removal of the Geneva Medical College to Syracuse, in 1872, when it became a department of Syracuse University, he was made a member of the faculty, in which he long occupied the chair of Minor and Clinical Surgery. In the faculty he strongly advocated higher standards in medical education. Sub- sequently he was for many years Profes- sor of State Medicine and later Emeritus Professor of State Medicine, of which chair he was the incumbent at the time of his death. From its inception for many years he was acting surgeon, and later up to the time of his death consulting sur- geon, to the Hospital of the House of the Good Shepherd. He was president of the Syracuse Board of Health from 1882 to 1889 and served as New York State Com- missioner of Health from 1884 to 1890. He was a member of both the American and British Medical associations. He was also a member of, and held various official posi- tions, in the New York State Medical Soci- ety, the Central New York Medical Asso- ciation, the Onondaga Medical Society, and the Syracuse Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Mercer was a conscientious, kind and self-sacrificing practitioner and student, cheerfully doing no little of his work without pecuniary reward. He was beloved by a host of patrons. He at- tended his first thousand cases of labor without losing a mother or child. He performed many of the major surgical operations before the days of asepsis with nearly, if not quite, as successful results as are attained to-day. He wrote and spoke often and vigorously and con- vincingly on questions of public health. He contributed his share in the struggle which resulted in bringing to Syracuse one of the best water supplies in the world, that from Skaneateles Lake. He responded with much painstaking to occasional requests to present addresses, historical and scientific, at anniversaries of medical societies or of the college. He also contributed papers to the periodical literature of his profession.
When he had rounded out his nine- tieth year, a dinner was tendered him by the medical fraternity and citizens of Syracuse, at which they vied with each other to do honor to the man who had done so much for humanity and for the people of Syracuse in particular. Letters and messages came from near and far on this occasion. Appreciation of his work was thus heartily and lovingly shown. When Dr. Mercer died, it appeared as if a personal loss had come to many a resi- dent in the city. The expressions of grief were sincere and heartfelt.
A hint as to the breadth of Dr. Mercer's thought and sympathies in politics and religion and his practical kindness of heart may be gleaned from the following provisions found in his will: "To keep green in memory the heroism of the men who rescued Jerry, men who could not look on a slave, I give six hundred dol- lars to the Onondaga Historical Associ- ation to be known as the Jerry Rescue
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Fund, the interest of which shall be used every five years to procure some person to deliver a Jerry Rescue Oration on October I. * There is one true charity, providing for helpless children." Following this is a bequest of a house and lot to the Onondaga Orphan's Home. The proceeds of the sale of this property became a nucleus of an endowment fund which has by later additions from others become a very substantial sum. He also left an envelope addressed to his son which contained shares of New York Central Railroad Company stock, with instructions for their division among Catholic orphans, Jewish orphans, and the aged women cared for by the Syra- cuse Home Association. Soon after the death of his son Fremont, the boy's money in the Onondaga County Savings Bank was given to the Onondaga Orphans' Home as a fund, the interest of which now annually buys books for the children.
Dr. Mercer married (first) in 1848, Delia, eldest daughter of Aaron Lam- phier, Esq., of Lima, New York, who died February 14, 1887, leaving a son, Dr. A. Clifford Mercer, mentioned below, and a daughter, Ina, now the wife of Professor Lepine H. Rice, of Syracuse. Dr. Mercer married (second) July 25, 1888, Mrs. Esther A. (Morehouse) Esty, of Ithaca, New York. Dr. Mercer's other children were Eliza, who died in 1855, in her fifth year; Charles Dobell, who died in 1884, in his twenty-sixth year; Fremont, who died in 1874, in his twelfth year ; and Mary, who died in 1869, in her third year.
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