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 pre?minent in their own and many other states. V.6 > Part 23
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Mary, 1632; John, August 6, 1635; Eliza- beth, April 5, 1639, died young. ' Simon (2) Stone, son of Simon (1) Stone, was born in 1631, in Boxted, England, died February 27, 1708. He and his brother John divided the real estate left by their father, Simon, keeping the homestead for his home. He was deacon of the church, and held various public offices. For sev- eral years he served as selectman, and was town clerk for ten years. From 1678 to 1684, inclusive, he was representative to the General Court, and in 1686-89-90 one of the original proprietors of Groton, Massachusetts. In 1662 he owned an eighteen acre right in Groton, increasing his holding there in 1670 to more than eighty-seven acres, although he may not have lived there. He married Mary Whipple, daughter of Elder John Whip- ple, an early settler of Ipswich, Massa- chusetts. She was born in 1634, died June 2, 1720. Children: Simon, men- tioned below; John, mentioned below; Matthew, born February 16, 1660; Na- thaniel, February 22, 1662, died same year ; Ebenezer, February 27, 1663 ; Mary, 1665; Nathaniel, 1667; Elizabeth, Octo- ber 9, 1670; David, October 19, 1672; Susanna, November 4, 1675; Jonathan, December 26, 1677. Simon (3) Stone, son of Simon (2) Stone, born September 8, 1656, settled in Groton, Massachusetts, as early as 1694. His son, Simon (4), born about 1690, married Sarah Farns- worth. He lived in Groton and Harvard, Massachusetts. The records of Groton are very imperfect, and do not note all the births there. John Stone, son of Simon (2) Stone, was born July 23, 1658, in Watertown, and settled in Groton. He . had a son, James Stone, born there Janu- ary 23, 1701, whose son, James Stone, born in 1724, in Groton, married Deborah Nutting, and was probably the father of Philip Stone, born 1751. Philip Stone, of Groton, was the first permanent settler
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in the town of Bridport, Addison county, Vermont, in 1772. There he married, November 25, 1773, a Miss Ward, of Addison, Vermont. They were the par- ents of Isaac Stone, who lived in Brid- port until 1825, and soon after removed to Mexico, Oswego county, New York. He married, in Vermont, January 20, 1815, Lydia Hurlbut, born February I, 1796, in Sudbury, Vermont, daughter of Samuel and Jerusha (Higgins) Hurlbut, natives respectively of Chatham and Had- dam, Connecticut, descended from Thom- as Hurlbut, who was a soldier under Lion Gardiner in the settlement at Saybrook, Connecticut. Isaac Stone was a farmer and a shoemaker, and died in Mexico, New York, November 4, 1848. He had twelve children, of whom the eldest son and second child was Samuel Hurlbut Stone, born March 6, 1818, in Bridport, Vermont. He was a merchant in Mexico, in association with his brother, Benjamin Sage Stone, and was a prominent citizen of that town, filling various offices. He was executor of the will of Peter Chand- ler, of that town, and died there January 20, 1887. He married, June 12, 1844, Rhoda A. Butterfield, daughter of Luke and Sophronia (Kellogg) Butterfield, of Mexico. Their second son and child is the subject of this sketch.
Charles Luke Stone was born April 2, 1848, in Mexico, where he grew up and received his primary education. He graduated with the degree of A. B. at Hamilton College in 1871, and subse- quently received from this institution the degrees of A. M. and LL. B. He engaged in practice of law at Syracuse, New York, where he has continued to the present time, and has attained a commanding position at the bar. Since 1878 he has been attorney for the Onondaga County Savings Bank, was city counsel from 1887 to 1889, and counsel to the Syracuse Water Board and Department from 1889
to 1906. Since 1898 he has been a referee in bankruptcy, and is a trustee, attorney and director of the Onondaga County Savings Bank, and New Process Raw Hide Company. He is and has been at the head of the law firms of Stone, Gan- non & Petit; Stone & Petit, and now of Stone & Stone. He is a member of the Onondaga County Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Sons of the American Revolution, and the college fra- ternity Phi Beta Kappa. He is or has been also associated with several clubs, including the Century, Citizens' and Uni- versity clubs of Syracuse. In religion a Presbyterian, in politics a Republican, he exerts a large influence in political coun- cils.
He married at College Hill, Clinton, New York, 1872, Zilla Buttrick Sackett, daughter of William A. and Charlotte (Buttrick) Sackett. Children : Char- lotte S., MacDougall, Harold and Rhoda Zilla Palmer.
CLARKE, Charles J.,
Clerk of Supreme Court.
Mr. Clarke is a descendant of Scotch and Irish ancestry, and was born Febru- ary 24, 1864, in the city of New York. His father, Thomas W. Clarke, was a noted secret service man in the employ of the United States government during the Civil War, and was also connected with the navy. He lost his life at the battle of Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865. His mother was a member of the Scott family of Dublin, Ireland, daughter of Thomas Scott, who was queen's counsel for the city of Dublin for about forty-five years, having previously earned credit by gal- lantry in the Spanish War. He was a relative of William Smith O'Brien, the Irish patriot.
Charles J. Clarke received his educa- tion in the common schools, and started
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out in life at the age of fifteen years as a night messenger boy, at a salary of eight dollars a month, working from 8 P. M. until 7 A. M. After two years of this service he became an apprentice to the moulding trade, becoming a skilled iron moulder, and continued in that occu- pation until he attained his majority. At this time he started out on the road, sell- ing iron goods, and thus continued until 1900, when he was appointed to a minor clerkship in the Onondaga county clerk's office. From this humble beginning he won steady promotion, and in time be- came deputy county clerk, in charge of the Court of Records. In 1908 he was advanced to the position of clerk of the Supreme Court, having received the unanimous endorsement of the judiciary of the fifth district of the Supreme Court. When the present Court of Claims was organized by the Republican administra- tion, the chief clerkship was offered to him without any solicitation on his be- half, but was declined. It was his duty to make all the arrangements for the famous Barnes vs. Roosevelt trial, held in Onondaga county in April and May, 1915. Mr. Clarke is a collector of bric-a-brac and old mahogany furniture, and has a large and rare collection of pictures, num- bering nearly two hundred and fifty of all kinds. His spare time is devoted to a sixty-five acre farm, located in Oswego county, New York, on which he has erected all necessary farm buildings by his own hands, thus demonstrating a na- tural mechanical skill, as he never re- ceived any training as a carpenter. It has always been the custom of Onondaga county to give the county clerks two terms, and after the expiration of the present term of his superior, by common consent the succession will fall to Mr. Clarke. He is a member of all the Ameri- can Rite Masonic bodies and also a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason ; mem-
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Maccabees, Knights of Pythias, Citizens' Club, and secretary of the Onon- daga County Men's League for Woman's Suffrage.
He married, June 12, 1889, M. Belle Herrick, a resident of Syracuse, and one of the descendants of the Von Steinbergh family of Albany and Syracuse, noted in the Revolutionary annals of the State. They are the parents of two sons, Charles J., Jr., and Scott H. Clarke.
CLAPP, Edward Everett,
Financier, Real Estate Operator.
The surname Clapp or Clap had its origin in the proper or personal name of Osgod Clapa, a Danish noble of the court of King Canute (1007-1036). The site of his country place was known as Clapham, County Surrey. The ancient seat of the family in England is at Salcombe, in Devonshire, where important estates were owned for many centuries by this family. Coat-of-arms of this branch : First and fourth, three battle axes; sec- ond, sable a griffin passant argent; third, sable an eagle with two heads displayed with a border engrailed argent. A coat- of-arms in common use by the Clapp family in England and America is: Vaire gules and argent a quarter azure charged with the sun or. Crest: A pike naiant proper. Motto: Fais ce que dois advienne que pourra.
The American family is descended from six immigrants, Edward and Cap- tain Roger, sons of William Clapp, and John, Nicholas, Thomas and Ambrose, sons of Nicholas Clapp, of Venn Ottery, Devonshire, England. The fathers, Wil- liam and Nicholas, were brothers. All came to Dorchester, Massachusetts, May 30, 1630, and formed one of the most prominent and influential families of that town. William Clapp, of the ancient
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Devonshire family, lived at Salcombe Regis, Devonshire. Captain Roger Clapp, son of William Clapp, was born in Sal- combe Regis, Devonshire, England, April 6, 1609, and died in Boston, February 2, 1691, whither he had removed in 1686. He sailed from Plymouth on the ship "Mary and John" for New England, March 20, 1630, arriving at Nantasket, May 30, of the same year. He was a proprietor, and was admitted a freeman, May 4, 1634. At the first regular organi- zation of the militia in 1644, he was made lieutenant of the Dorchester company and later was made captain. In August, 1665, he was appointed by the General Court commander of Fort Independence in Boston harbor, which position he held for twenty years, or until he was seventy- seven, when he retired to his residence in Boston, and died there in his eighty- second year. He was also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was one of the founders of the Dorchester church and a member for sixty years. He married, November 6, 1633, Johanna, daughter of Thomas Ford, of Dorchester, England. Their son, Preserved Clapp, born November 23, 1643, died September 20, 1720, lived in Dor- chester until he was about twenty years old, when he removed to Northampton and became one of the leading citizens there. He was captain of the militia, ruling elder of the church, and deputy to the General Court. He married Sarah, daughter of Major Benjamin Newberry, of Windsor, Connecticut, and their son, Captain Roger (2) Clapp, was born May 24, 1684, and died January 9, 1762. He lived in Northampton, was a captain in the militia, and representative to the General Court. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Bartlett, born Octo- ber 27, 1687, died August 9, 1767. Their fifth son, Supply Clapp, was born 1721, in Northampton, died October II, 1784.
He was a soldier in the French and In- dian War, 1755, a sergeant in the regi- ment of Colonel Seth Pomeroy, and was taken prisoner at Lake George, in the capture of which fort that regiment took an important part. His name was on the sick list returned by Thomas Williams, surgeon, November 23, 1755. He was also in the expedition to Crown Point, Captain Elisha Hawley's company. He married (second) December 30, 1756, Sarah Lyman. Their eldest child, Supply (2) Clapp, was born February 22, 1767, and died June 20, 1800. His first wife was Lucretia, daughter of Deacon Mar- tin Clark, of Westhampton. Justice Clapp, eldest child of Supply (2) and Lucretia (Clark) Clapp, was born August 26, 1795, and died October 15, 1849, in Becket, Massachusetts. He married, June 3, 1823, Lucretia Clark, daughter of Julius Clark, fifth descendant from Lieutenant William Clark. She was born January 26, 1802, and died May 14, 1840.
Edward Everett Clapp, son of Justice and Lucretia (Clark) Clapp, was born January 5, 1838, in Holyoke, Massachu- setts. His mother died when he was two years old, and his father when he was eleven. At the age of fifteen he came to Newburg, New York, and attended the Newburg Academy under Professor Reed, living with his brother, George M. In April, 1861, he sailed for China with the purpose of seeing more of the world and securing a suitable business opening. He found his opportunity in the cotton trade in China, where, owing to the Civil War in America, cotton was in demand for export to supply the cotton mills of Eng- land and other countries. In 1875, after spending most of the intervening years abroad, he established an insurance agency in Albany, New York, represent- ing twelve fire insurance companies, one life, and the Fidelity & Casualty Com- pany of New York, and enjoyed from the
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outset an excellent patronage. In 1881 the president of the Fidelity & Casualty Company persuaded him to sell his Al- bany business and devote his entire atten- tion to the New York business of that company. His firm, E. E. Clapp & Com- pany, consists of Mr. E. E. Clapp and Mr. Edward Griffith, under the firm name of E. E. Clapp & Company. They are man- agers of the disability department of the Fidelity & Casualty Company for New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and for many years have been first in the amount of business written among the general agents of the entire world. In 1911 this firm paid the Fidelity & Casualty Company over $1,- 450,000. In the special field of disability and accident insurance, Mr. Clapp is rec- ognized as one of the foremost author- ities in this country. He has taken a leading part in the development of this form of insurance from its inception. In politics Mr. Clapp is a Republican of some prominence. In religion he is an Episcopalian. He is a thirty-second de- gree Mason, a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, the Union League Club, the Down Town Association, the Republican Club, the Peace Society, and the Economic Club of New York, also the Essex County Country Club, the New England Society of Orange, and the So- ciety of Colonial Wars of New Jersey. His home is in East Orange, New Jersey.
Mr. Clapp married, while in the United States, in April, 1864, Eliza Brooks Town- send, born June 29, 1838, daughter of William Townsend, a descendant of Henry Townsend, who in 1661 settled in Oyster Bay, New York; his brother, John Townsend, received in 1645 from Grovernor Keift a patent for the town of Flushing, and Henry remained there with him until 1661. After his marriage Mr. Clapp returned to China, taking his wife with him. Child: Annie Brooks, born
April 28, 1866, married Robert Henry Hillis, and has one child, Edward Clapp Hillis, born November 24, 1908.
HOLMES, Daniel,
Pioneer Lawyer.
Daniel Holmes, now living retired, was the pioneer lawyer of Brockport and for many years a prominent attorney of the Monroe county bar. He is a native of West Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, born September II, 1828, and is a son of Daniel and Susan (Hale-Stuart) Holmes, natives of Massachusetts, who, removing westward about 1812, settled in Ontario county, New York, where they cast in their lot with those who were re- claiming a frontier district for agricul- tural uses. The father served his country as a soldier in the War of 1812 and participated in the battle of Buffalo. The. maternal ancestry of Mr. Holmes was represented in the Revolutionary War, the grandfather, Thomas Hale, being a drummer boy at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Daniel Holmes was reared at Allens- hill, New York, his father being proprie- tor of a hotel at that place for a number of years. After mastering the elementary branches of learning he prepared for col- lege at the Brockport Collegiate Institute and received his university training at Yale, which he entered in 1846. He is numbered among the alumni of 1848, hav- ing been graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently in 1853 he received from the University of Rochester the degree of Master of Arts, and in the fall of the same year was ad- mitted to the bar, for which he had pre- viously prepared. He immediately be- gan the practice of his profession in Brockport, where he has resided continu- ously since, having been in practice here for more than a half century. He was.
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the pioneer lawyer of the town and his ability enabled him always to maintain a place in the foremost ranks of its legal fraternity. In recent years, however, he has retired from active practice to enjoy well earned ease.
In early manhood Daniel Holmes was united in marriage to Mary J. Hawes, of Brookfield, Massachusetts, of whom ex- tended mention is made in following pages. Theirs was an ideal relation, their mutual love and confidence increasing year by year as they met together the joys and sorrows, the adversity and pros- perity, the disappointments and the pleas- ures which checker the careers of all. Closer grew their friendship as time went by, the desire of each being always for the best interests and happiness of the other, but on October 6, 1907, they were separated through the death of Mrs. Holmes.
Mr. Holmes still continues to reside in Brockport, where for many years he has figured prominently in community affairs. For thirty years he served as justice of the peace of Brockport, his decisions be- ing strictly fair and impartial, so that he "won golden opinions from all sorts of people." He was also clerk of the village for twenty years and in community affairs was actively and helpfully interested, be- ing secretary and treasurer of the State Normal School at Brockport, for many years.
Mr. Holmes is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, belonging to Monroe Lodge, No. 173, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of which he is a past mas- ter. He also belongs to Daniel Holmes Chapter, No. 294, Royal Arch Masons, and to Monroe Commandery, No. 12, Knights Templar, of Rochester. He is senior warden of St. Luke's Church at Brockport. He is also a member of the Empire State Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and a member of
the New York State Bar Association. He is one of the oldest attorneys of Monroe county and while his professional career gained him rank with the leading lawyers of Brockport he has also been well known because of his activity in connection with the interests bearing upon the general welfare of society and the upbuilding and improvement of the community.
HOLMES, Mrs. Mary J., Favorite Author.
With one exception the works of no American novelist have been so widely read as those of Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, and Brockport was proud to number her among its citizens, but while her name was a household word throughout the length and breadth of this land, in her home town she was loved for personal traits of character that endeared her to all with whom she came in contact. She was the wife of Daniel Holmes, whose sketch precedes this. In her maidenhood she was Mary J. Hawes, of Brookfield, Massachusetts, a daughter of Preston Hawes, a man of rare mentality, while from her mother she inherited a love of poetry and of fine arts. When but three years of age she began to attend school, studied grammar at the age of six, and began teaching school when but thirteen years old. Her first article was published when she was only fifteen years old. Very early in life she manifested rare ability for story telling, entertaining her young companions with tales of her own invention. Her precocity has been borne out by the work of her later years, for there is perhaps no American author whose works are more widely read than those of Mrs. Mary J. Holmes.
Over two million copies of her books have been published and the demand for all of them continues. The annual sale amounts to thousands of copies and no
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better proof of their merit and popu- larity could be given. A list of her pub- lished works includes the following: "Tempest and Sunshine," "English Or- phans," "Homestead on Hillside," "Lena Rivers," "Meadow Brook," "Dora Deane," "Cousin Maude," "Marian Grey," "Dark- ness and Daylight," "Hugh Worthing- ton," "Cameron Pride," "Rose Mather," "Ethelyn's Mistake," "Millbank," "Edna Browning," "West Lawn," "Edith Lyle," "Mildred," "Daisy Thornton," "Forrest House," "Chateau d'Or," "Madeline," "Queenie Hetherton," "Christmas Sto- ries," "Bessie's Fortune," "Gretchen," "Marguerite," "Dr. Hathern's Daugh- ters," "Mrs. Hallam's Companion," "Paul Ralston," "The Tracy Diamonds," "The Cromptons," "The Merivale Banks," "Rena's Experiment," and "The Aban- doned Farm." As an author she had a most happy career, with none of the trials which fall to the lot of so many writers, and her publishers have always been her friends. G. W. Carlton and later Dilling- ham had charge of the sale of her books. Her first novel, "Tempest and Sunshine," was published in 1854 and since that time her writings have been constantly on the market. With the possible exception of Mrs. Stowe, no American woman has reaped so large profits from her copy- rights, some of her books having attained a sale of fifty thousand copies.
In commenting on this, the Brockport "Republic" said :
Her success as an author is said by some to be the result of her power of description; others assert it was her naturalness, her clear concise English and the faculty to hold the reader's sym- pathy from the beginning to the end; others at- tribute it to the fact that there was nothing in her works but what was pure and elevating. We who know her best, feel that all this has made her the successful writer that she was.
Mrs. Holmes was deeply interested in benevolent works in Brockport and in
those organizations which promote cul- ture, charity and patriotism. She was president of the Brockport Union Char- itable Society and vice-regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was indefatigable in the founding and sustaining of a free reading room and did everything in her power to promote knowledge and culture among the young people, of whom she was particularly fond. She often talked to them concern- ing art and foreign travel, on which sub- jects she was well versed, she and her husband having made various trips abroad, visiting the noted art centers of the Old World. As a hostess she was charmingly gracious and hospitable, hav- ing the ready tact that enabled her to make all guests feel at home. Her be- nevolence was also one of her strongly marked characteristics. In early life she made it her plan to give one-tenth of her income to charity and this she did ever afterward. St. Luke's Episcopal Church, of which she was a member, is greatly in- debted to her for its prosperous condition. Her charitable work, however, was done quietly and few people knew the great amount of good she did. She cared not for public recognition of her benevolence, content in the consciousness of having aided a fellow traveler on life's journey. While she had thousands of admirers throughout the country, in her home town where she was best known she was much loved by the people among whom her daily life was passed.
The summer of 1907 was spent by Mr. and Mrs. Holmes at Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, and while on the return trip Mrs. Holmes became ill. After improv- ing to a slight degree she insisted on con- tinuing the journey but lived for only a brief period after she reached Brockport, passing away on October 6, 1907. Per- haps no better testimonial of the regard in which she was held in Brockport can
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be given than by quoting from a local paper, which said:
During the many years of Mrs. Holmes' resi- dence in Brockport her influence for good has been constant and unvarying, and every enter- prise that made for the welfare of the village received her most hearty sanction and support. With charity toward all, with malice toward none, she moved among us the very embodiment of gracious kindness. And so, in thousands of ways her death will prove an inestimable loss to this community, and to-day nearly every house- hold is shadowed by a personal grief. She went to her death wearing the white rose of a blame- less life. The world is the poorer for her going.
MATHEWS, John Alexander, Scientist, Man of Affairs.
John Alexander Mathews, Sc. D., Ph. D., is not a native son of New York but was born in the old college town of Washington, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1872. His father, William Johnston Mathews, was a prosperous merchant who died in 1874, leaving a widow, Frances Sage Pelletreau Mathews, and four young chil- dren. Shortly afterward the family re- moved to Wisconsin and for seven years lived upon a farm. When the older chil- dren were ready for college preparation, they returned to Washington and John A. attended public and high school, then preparatory school and later entered Washington and Jefferson College, gradu- ating with honors in 1893, with the de- gree of B. Sc. He later received the de- gree of M. Sc., and in 1902 received the first award of the degree of Doctor of Science, causa honoris, ever conferred by his alma mater. During college days he worked for various newspapers and upon graduation thought seriously of continu- ing newspaper work. Armed with letters of introduction he assailed every news- paper office in Pittsburgh, but receiving no encouragement and no job. A week later he enrolled at Columbia University
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