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 28
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have served with the Revolutionary army. Joshua French, son of Samuel (5) French, left Vermont with his son, Rev. Mans- field French, in 1836, and settled near Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Rev. Mansfield French was appointed hospital chaplain of United States Volunteers, July 10, 1862 ; accepted the appointment, July 29, 1862 ; was sta- tioned at Beaufort, North Carolina, New York City, and Washington, D. C., and was honorably discharged on August 4, 1865. The records of the adjutant-gen- eral's office at Washington also show that he was again mustered into the United States service, October 28, 1865, at Wash- ington, as chaplain of the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Regiment, United States Colored Infantry, and served on duty in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands at New York City, Charleston, South Carolina, and Washı- ington, D. C., until honorably discharged as chaplain, January 1, 1868, on account of his services being no longer required. For the succeeding two months, however, January I to February 29, 1868, he served as civilian agent of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in South Carolina. He left the Episcopal church for the more liberal Methodist church and became a circuit rider, evangelist and educator, prominent in the early history of Ohio. He was interested in the founding of Kenyon College, Marietta College and Wilber- force College. Later, becoming an ardent Abolitionist, he wrote and spoke in that cause. He spent considerable time in Washington and frequently talked with President Lincoln, endeavor- ing to convince him that he as President was called of God to free the slaves. On the paternal side Mr. French is descended from Elijah Rose, a soldier of the Revo- lution and member of Colonel Moseley's regiment from Granville, Massachusetts.
On the maternal side Mr. French is de- scended from many families notable in Colonial history. Among these is the Brewster family, the line going back to Rev. Nathaniel Brewster, a graduate in the first class of Harvard College, and, according to family tradition, a grandson of Elder William Brewster of the "May- flower." Mr. French's mother was Eliza- beth Hull Smith, a direct descendant of Captain Isaac Smith, a Revolutionary officer of Derby, Connecticut, whose son, Isaac, Jr., at the age of sixteen years, with his mother, Elizabeth Hull Smith, rend- ered signal service in saving the stores of the Continental army from the British. His mother was also directly descended from the Revolutionary officer, Captain Joseph Hull, grandfather of Commodore Isaac Hull of the United States frigate "Constitution," and father of General William Hull of the War of 1812. Mr. French is descended from Captain Gideon Leavenworth who, with his four sons, served in the Revolution, the youngest son, Edmund Leavenworth, great-great- grandfather of Mr. French, and for whom he is named, having entered the service as his father's camp servant at the age of eleven years. Mr. French is descended on his mother's side from Colonel Ebe- nezer Johnson, who served valiantly in the Indian and Colonial wars ; from Roger Ludlow, a Colonial lieutenant-governor of Connecticut; from Stephen Hopkins, a "Mayflower" pilgrim ; from John Bron- son, a soldier of the Pequot Indian War ; from Isaac Johnson, a Revolutionary soldier of Derby, Connecticut; from Ser- geant Edward Riggs, an officer in the Pequot War, and father of Captain Samuel Riggs, a Colonial officer; from Abraham Bassett, a Revolutionary soldier from Derby, Connecticut; from Obadiah Wheeler, a lieutenant in the Colonial forces at Milford, Connecticut; from
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Thomas Clark, mate of the "Mayflower ;" from Ensign Martin Winchell, of Wind- sor, Connecticut, a Colonial and Revolu- tionary soldier; and from Captain Wil- liam French, founder of a separate family of that name, who came to America in the ship "Defence" in 1635 and settled at Billerica, Massachusetts.
Edmund Leavenworth French was born October 12, 1870, in New York City, and was eight years of age when he re- moved to Syracuse, where his home has been down to the present time. He at- tended the public schools of that city, graduating from the high school in 1888, and entered Syracuse University with the class of 1892, becoming a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He spent two years, 1891 to 1893, at the Royal Schools of Mines, Freiberg, Saxony, Germany, making a special study of the metallurgy and chemistry of iron and steel. On his return to Syracuse he took the first employment offered, which was in newspaper work, and spent four years successively as a proofreader on the Syra- cuse "Journal," reporter on the Syracuse "Post," and telegraph editor and assist- ant city editor of the Syracuse "Stand- ard." He was also Syracuse correspond- ent for the New York "Sun," and gave promise of a brilliant career in journal- ism. In 1897 an opportunity offered to engaged in the profession for which he had fitted himself in study abroad, and he became chemist for the Sanderson Brothers Steel Company of Syracuse, with which he continued for several years. In 1902 he was made manager of the experimental department of the Crucible Steel Company of America, and three years later became sales manager of the same corporation, in its Syracuse branch. The Sanderson Brothers Works had become a part of the Crucible Steel Company of America, and in 1908 Mr.
French was made manager of this estab- lishment, becoming a director of the Crucible Steel Company of America in 1915. Thus, in a period of eighteen years, he rose from a comparatively sub- ordinate position in the steel manufac- ture to one of considerable prominence and responsibility. He is interested in other business interests in Syracuse, in- cluding the Trust & Deposit Company of Onondaga, of which he is a director; is president of the Orange Publishing Com- pany and a director of the Railway Roller Bearing Company of Syracuse. In 1914, in recognition of his work in metallurgy, he received from Syracuse University the degree of Doctor of Science. For two years, 1914 and 1915, he was a member of the Iron and Steel Standards committee of the Society of Automobile Engineers, and has been actively identified with various important advances in the art of steel making, especially in connection with special steels for automobile purposes. Mr. French is identified with numerous clubs and social organizations, including the University Club, of Syracuse ; is vice- president of the Technology Club of that city ; director of the Onondaga Country Club ; trustee of Syracuse University, be- ing secretary of the executive committee of the board; a member of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and hon- orary member of Phi Beta Kappa, Syra- cuse. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution; of the Citizens' Club of Syracuse; Central City Lodge, No. 305, Free and Accepted Masons; Chamber of Commerce; member of the official board of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of that city; Hunting and Fishing Club of the Nine Lakes (Northern Quebec), and a charter mem- ber of the Billy Sunday Business Men's Club of Syracuse. His greatest pleasure and recreation are found in fishing, and
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every summer he visits Canada to indulge in his favorite sport. He is an expert fly fisherman, and does not indulge in any other form of this sport. He has a sum- mer residence at Tully Lake Park, New York.
He married, September 23, 1896, Frances Cooper Smith, of Oswego, and they have children: Grace Mansfield, born 1897; Helen Cooper, 1899; Frances Elizabeth, 1900; Sarah Douglas, 1910; Edmund Leavenworth, Jr., 1912.
ESTABROOK, Henry Dodge, Lawyer.
Henry Dodge Estabrook brings to the practice of his profession a judicial mind, well cultivated, and with faculties inher- ited from worthy ancestors, whose name he has honored. The name of Estabrook is an old one in this country, coming from Middlesex county, England, to New England, in 1660. Joseph Estabrook, the founder of the family, entered Harvard College immediately after his arrival in New England, and graduated in 1664. Soon afterward he was ordained as a colleague of Rev. Edward Bulkeley, of Concord, Massachusetts, whom he suc- ceeded on the latter's death, in 1696. He continued pastor until his death, Septem- ber 16, 1711. Such was his character as a plain, remarkable and persuasive preacher, and a kind friend of his flock, that he was generally known as "The Apostle." He refused invitations to pre- side over churches in Boston and else- where, his only outside service being that of chaplain of the Massachusetts Legislature. He married, May 20, 1668, at Watertown, Mary, daughter of Cap- tain Hugh Mason, the Indian fighter, and his wife Esther. She was born December 18, 1640, and was the mother of six chil- dren. The third son, Samuel Estabrook,
born June 7, 1764, in Concord, graduated from Harvard College in 1696, was assist- ant to his father, and was ordained first pastor of the church at Canterbury, Con- necticut, June 13, 1711, and there served until his death, June 26, 1727. In 1718 he preached the election sermon before the Massachusetts Legislature. He mar- ried, March 3, 1713, Rebecca Hobart (same family as Hubbard), daughter of Rev. Nehemiah and Sarah (Jackson) Hobart, of Newton, Massachusetts, granddaughter of Rev. Peter Hobart, of Hingham. She survived him six months. Their eldest child, Nehemiah Estabrook, born April 1, 1715, in Canterbury, owned a farm near Mansfield Center, Connecti- cut, where he was deacon of the church and prominent in civil affairs. After 1770 he removed to Lebanon, New Hampshire. He married (second) October 18, 1744, Abigail, daughter of Deacon Experience Porter. She died at Mansfield, December 7, 1770. Their second son, Experience Estabrook, was born June 3, 1751, in Mansfield, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1776, and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. For several years he labored as a Congregational clergy- man in Western New York, and was sub- sequently successively pastor at Thorn- ton, Francestown and Meriden, New Hampshire, and died at Bath, in that State, in February, 1799. He married Jedidah Willey, of a New Hampshire family. Their eldest son, Seth Willey Estabrook, born 1785, was a farmer and miller in Alden, Erie county, New York, where he died in 1840. He married, April 19, 1812, at Lebanon, New Hampshire, Hannah, daughter of Moses and Hannah (Alden) Hebard, a descendant of John Alden of the "Mayflower." The town of Alden in New York was named for Han- nah Alden. The eldest son of Seth W. Estabrook, Experience, was born April
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30, 1813, in Lebanon, read law in Buffalo, New York, and graduated from the law school of Marshall College in 1839. In 1840 he began to practice law in Geneva, Wisconsin, and he was a delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention which framed the organic law under which that State was admitted to the Union in 1848. In 1851 he was a representative in the State Legislature, and was Attorney- General of the State in 1852. Soon after he removed to the territory of Nebraska, where he was United States District Attorney from 1854 to 1859, and was a leading lawyer of Omaha until his death. He married, April 15, 1844, in the town of Walworth, Walworth county, Wis- consin, Caroline Augusta Maxwell, daughter of Colonel James Maxwell, born August 17, 1823, in Tioga, Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Caroline Augusta Esta- brook, became the wife of Robert C. Clowry, long identified with the Western Union Telegraph Company in Omaha, later in Chicago, and finally president of the company, with headquarters in New York. The only son is the subject of the following biography.
Henry Dodge Estabrook was born October 23, 1854, in Alden, New York, and was an infant when his parents settled in Omaha, Nebraska. There he was educated in the public schools, and graduated from the law department of 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 Washington University in 1875. For twenty-one years thereafter he engaged in the practice of law at Omaha, and in 1896 removed to Chicago, where he con- tinued in practice until 1902, as a member . that year the family located in Syracuse, of the firm of Lowden, Estabrook & Davis, 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 and then located in New York City, where after serving for many years as solicitor to the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany he became a member of the law firm of Noble, Estabrook & McHarg.
Mr. Estabrook is a member of the New York State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, and is iden- tified with numerous clubs, including the Union League, Lawyers, Lotos, Metro- politan, Republican, Automobile Club of America, Ardley and Sleepy Hollow. His affiliation with the Union League and Republican clubs plainly indicates his political association with the Republican party. His home is in Tarrytown, New York.
He married, October 23, 1880, in Omaha, Clara Campbell, and they have a daughter, Blanche Deuel, born January 1, 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.
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which he completed in 1899, graduating WARD, Brig .- Gen. Thomas, 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 1911 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.
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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Natmar can Historical Society
Thomas Vand . Brigadier general WS. Army
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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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