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 30
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Charles Rufus Skinner was brought up on his father's farm, attended the district school in his native town until his six- teenth year, after which he accepted the position of teacher in a neighboring school, assisted in the work of the post office at Watertown, New York, and in various other ways obtained sufficient capital to enable him to pursue his educa- tion further. He became a student in the Clinton Liberal Institute, and later in the Mexico Academy, New York, from which he was graduated in 1866, the valedictor- ian of his class, and during the following year he acted as teacher in the same institution. In December, 1867, he went to New York City and took charge of the agency of the Walter A. Wood Mowing
and Reaping Machine Company, but re- mained only three years, his father being in such ill health that he was obliged to return home to manage the farm. In 1870 he became a resident of Watertown, New York, and until 1874 was part owner, business manager and city editor of the Watertown "Daily Times and Reformer." He was a member of the Board of Educa- tion of Watertown from, 1875 to 1884; member of the New York Assembly from 1876 to 1881 from Jefferson county, dur- ing which time he served as chairman of the committee on public printing and railroads, and as member of the commit- tees on cities, insurance, internal affairs, etc. In 1877 he introduced and pushed to its passage the bill prohibiting frequent changes in text-books in schools, and in 1879 introduced a bill to reduce legislative expenses, and an amendment to the con- stitution to bring about biennial sessions of the Legislature. This resolution passed one Legislature, but in the follow- ing year was defeated in the Senate. This proposition was favored by Gov- ernor Cornell in his message of 1882, and urged by Governor Black in 1898. In 1879-80 Mr. Skinner was active in advo- cating the anti-discrimination freight bill, and the measure for five-cent fares on the New York elevated railroads. In 1878 he served on a special committee of the Assembly to consider and report on the State normal schools. He was a member of the Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses, 1881-85, representing Jeffer- son, Lewis and Herkimer counties, where he was instrumental in securing the re- duction of letter postage from three to two cents, was the author of the bill providing for the special delivery system and the passage of the law giving letter carriers a vacation. He opposed the Chinese restrictive act, urging in a power- ful speech that the United States was
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bound to keep the terms of the treaty made with China ; made speeches in favor of prompt action to suppress polygamy, and against the Morrison tariff bill in 1883, and was active in all debates on post office questions. In 1884 he was appointed on the board of visitors at West Point with General Rosecrans, Colonel Waring and others. In 1885, after his term in Congress expired, he edited the Watertown "Daily Repub- lican" and served in that capacity until January, 1886, and then for a short time was city editor of the Watertown "Daily Times." He was Deputy State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction from 1886 to 1892 ; supervisor of teachers' institutes and training classes from 1892 to 1895; State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion from April 7, 1895, to 1904, and was elected president of the National Educa- tion Association at its meeting in Buffalo in 1896. Dr. Skinner's administration as Superintendent of Public Instruction re- vealed a marked enthusiasm in the cause of popular education, a sincere devotion to its interests and forceful methods of promoting them. He was zealous in up- holding the integrity of his department against all assaults upon it and consist- ently advocated the placing of all tax- supported schools within its control. A few of the significant events of his tenure was the proposal of an educational quali- fication for school commissioners (not perfected) ; the fixing of the statutory school age at from five to eighteen years ; the observance, in 1895, of the centennial of the law establishing common schools ; the act of 1895 requiring the display of the "Stars and Stripes" upon the school- houses of the State; the commemoration of the one hundredth birthday, May 14, 1895, of the great educator, Horace Mann ; the judicial decision in the Water- vliet case, affirming the power of the
State to compel a municipality, or school district, to provide and maintain ade- quate educational facilities, and forbid- ding teachers to wear sectarian dress in schools; the satisfactory execution of the compulsory education law, enacted in 1894; and the enlargement of the num- ber of State scholarships in Cornell Uni- versity from 128 to 150, to conform to the apportionment of assembly dis- tricts under the constitution of 1894. While State Superintendent, Dr. Skin- ner made educational visits and ad- dresses in every county of the State, and in many neighboring States. He served as assistant appraiser of the port of New York from 1906 to 1911; was librarian of the New York Assembly, 1914; and since 1915 has been legislative librarian in charge of a library formed by the consolidation of the Senate and As- sembly libraries.
Dr. Skinner is a life member of the New York State Press Association, and has frequently been delegated to repre- sent it in the meetings of the National Editorial Association. He has been a member of the Fort Orange Club of Albany, the Republican Club of New York City, the Union League of Brooklyn and the Thousand Island Club of Alex- andria Bay. He was a trustee of St. Lawrence University and of the Albany Home School for the Deaf. He received the degrees: Master of Arts from Hamil- ton College, 1889; Doctor of Laws from Colgate University, 1895; Doctor of Literature from Tufts College, 1901. He is the author of: "Commercial Advan- tages of Watertown, New York," 1876; "New York Question Book," 1890; "Arbor Day Manual," 1891 ; "Manual of Patriotism for the Schools of New York," 1900; and "The Bright Side," 1909.
Dr. Skinner married, October 16, 1873, at Watertown, New York, Elizabeth
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Baldwin, daughter of David W. and Laura (Merriman) Baldwin, of Water- town. Seven children have been added to his household, four sons and three daughters. Three sons and one daughter are living: Harold Baldwin and Charles Rufus, Jr., are connected with the New York Edison Company ; Albert Merriman is an architect in Watertown; Alice died in 1882; Bessie, in 1889; a son died in infancy; Elizabeth was married in Sep- tember, 1915, to Lieutenant Dana Palmer, of the Third United States In- fantry.
HILL, David Jayne,
Educator, Diplomat, Historian.
David Jayne Hill, distinguished as edu- cator, accomplished as diplomat, brilliant as orator and illustrious as author, was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, June 10, 1850, son of the Rev. Daniel T. and Lydia Ann (Thompson) Hill, grandson of Isaac Hill, whose ancestors came from England about 1640.
David Jayne Hill acquired his prelim- inary education in the public schools of his native town, and this knowledge was supplemented by a course at the Univer- sity of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (now Bucknell) from which he was graduated in 1874, with the degree of A. B., receiv- ing the degree of A. M. from the same institution in 1877. Succeeding courses of study in the universities of Berlin and Paris, he became an instructor in Ancient Languages at Bucknell University ; was Crozer Professor of Rhetoric there from 1877 until 1879; and president of the uni- versity from 1879 until 1888, attaining this position before he was thirty years of age. Therein, he was eminently suc- cessful in increasing the resources, at- tracting students, advancing the prestige of the institution, and securing for him-
self a place among the leading educators of the land. In 1888, he was called to the presidency and the Burbank chair of In- tellectual and Moral Philosophy in the University of Rochester, as successor to Dr. Anderson.
Dr. Hill's administration of this office was especially able and noteworthy. To wide knowledge and a signal faculty of imparting it, constraining the esteem of students, he added a gracious personality, winning their affection; and, on the ad- ministrative side, kept the affairs of the institution in excellent order ; while out- side of his official duties, he gained a splendid reputation as a public speaker. A master of his themes and of the Eng- lish tongue, his addresses were compact, in clear and telling phrase, chaste and sparkling in wit. A reference to one of these is pertinent as relative to his future career. In the presidential campaign of 1892, William Mckinley spoke at a Re- publican meeting and was banqueted at the leading social club in Rochester, the principal speech at the latter gathering, aside from that of the guest of honor, being made by Dr. Hill, whose thought- ful and graceful remarks greatly im- pressed the coming president of five years later, initiated a cordial friendship be- tween the two, and was not without bear- ing upon the invitation to the university president to accept the second place in the State Department when Mckinley had the opportunity to recognize Hill's ability as a publicist.
Even before his Rochester residence, Dr. Hill had established a national repu- tation as an author. He published his "Elements of Rhetoric" in 1877, the "Science of Rhetoric" in 1886, and the "Elements of Psychology" in 1886-all extensively adopted as text books in schools and colleges, and, by the way, quite remunerative to the author in
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royalties. His "Life of Washington Irving" appeared in 1877 and that of William Cullen Bryant in 1878-con- densed, but admirable and appreciative, biographies of each. While still in Rochester, he published "Social Influence of Christianity" (1888), "Principles and Fallacies of Socialism" (1888) and "Genetic Philosophy" (1893), In 1896, he resigned as president of the university, in- tending to pursue historical studies abroad. His departure was keenly re- gretted, not only by the authorities and students, but by the community which he had served in all good works as a citi- zen, and especially by its social and lettered classes to whom he had become endeared. Retaining his legal residence in Rochester, he spent nearly three years mainly in Paris and Berlin in the study of philosophy and public law, laying the foundation for the elaborate volumes re- lating thereto, which he published sub- sequently.
He was recalled to this country, Octo- ber 1, 1898, when President Mckinley appointed him First Assistant Secretary of State to succeed John B. Moore, and while in the State Department he also served as Professor of European Diplo- macy in the School of Comparative Juris- prudence and Diplomacy at Washington, D. C., from 1899 until 1903. He was then commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Switzerland from 1903 to 1905; to the Netherlands from 1905 until 1908; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Germany from 1908 until 1911. He became a member of the Permanent Administrative Council of the Hague Tribunal, and delegate to the Second Peace Conference at the Hague, 1907. Of his diplomatic service it is needless to speak; it was enlightened in full degree, and faithful to the coun- try's interests, held in high esteem by the
representatives of all nations and the courts to which he was accredited, and abounding in kindly offices to his fellow countrymen, visiting the various em- bassies.
His pen still busy, he gave to the press "A Primer of Finance;" "The Concep- tion and Realization of Neutrality" (1902); "Life and Work of Hugo Gro- tius" (1902); and "The Contemporary Development of Diplomacy" (1904). In 1905 he issued the first volume of his great work, "A History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Eu- rope," entitling it "The Struggle for Uni- versal Empire;" the second volume, "The Establishment of Territorial Sover- eignty," followed in 1906; and the third, "The Diplomacy of the Age of Absolut- ism," in 1914. "World Organization as Affected by the Nature of the Modern State," (translated into German and French) appeared in 1911. Since his re- turn to America, with temporary abode in Washington about two years, Dr. Hill has written many articles on political and governmental topics for leading maga- zines, and has frequently been heard from the platform upon the same. In the Re- publican primaries of the State in 1914, his name was presented for United States Senator, and, although abroad at the time and without organized effort in his behalf, he received a flattering vote there- for, particularly in Western New York. He has recently published "The People's Government" (1915), and "Americanism : What It Is" (1916); and is preparing a volume on "International Readjust- ments."
He was elected a fellow of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science in 1895; he is a member of the American Philosophical Society, Ameri- can Society of International Law, Ameri- can Academy of Political and Social Sci -- ence, American Historical Association,
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and is president of the National Associ- ation for Constitutional Government. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and vice grand commander of the Society of American Wars. He is also a member of the following clubs : Authors, Century (New York), Metro- politan, Cosmos (Washington) and "Pun- dit" and Browning (Rochester). He has been honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Colgate (1883), University of Pennsylvania (1902) and Union (1902), and Docteur es Lettres, University of Switzerland (1900). He married Juliet Lewis Packer, of Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, June 3, 1886.
ROBERTS, Ellis H., Journalist, Statesman, Scholar.
No intelligent account of the settle- ment and progress of Oneida county and Central New York can fail to note the contributions thereto made by the thrifty and adventurous Welshmen who were among the pioneers of the region. Their incoming dates from 1798, when a com- pany of about a dozen of the race took up land in the town of Steuben from Colonel Walker, the representative of Baron von Steuben of Revolutionary fame, to whom a large domain had been bestowed by a grateful people. Others followed until the towns of Steuben and Remsen be- came practically Welsh communities, and retain that character to a considerable extent to this day. Welsh settlements were founded in Deerfield, Rome, Plain- field, Nelson, and Waterville, and the Welsh population of Utica continued to increase. The Welsh strain is one of the strongest in the population of that city, foremost in its business and professional life, and its high moral tone is due, in large measure, to Welsh inspirations.
Ellis Henry Rogers, long a molder of the thought of Central New York, politi-
cally and socially, is of this sturdy stock. His ancestors were pioneers of progress in the old country and uncompromising non-comformists-courageous and inde- pendent. Michael Jones, of Bala, of kindred on the paternal side, had prob- ably more to do than any of his contem- poraries in the educational and political awakening of Wales in the last century. Roberts, Tyddynddeen and Thomas, of Bangor, noted clergymen, were of the same stock. On the maternal side, Ellis descends from the Williams, who re- sided on the shores of Bala Lake, as ten- ants of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. A member of the family was the Rev. John Williams, a pastor at Sheffield, England, and a divine of national reputation. In the British parliament, to-day, are a num- ber of Mr. Roberts's relations, some of whom visited him in Washington when he was Treasurer of the United States. His father, Watkin, came to this country in 1816, while the building of the Erie canal was proceeding. He was a stone mason and worked upon this mammoth enterprise. His mother, Gwen (Wil- liams) Roberts, followed her husband, with four chldren, two years later, and the family settled in Utica, where Ellis Henry was born September 30, 1827. The father died in 1831 and the struggle of the widowed mother and fatherless chil- dren to maintain an existence in a strange land was a severe one, but, by pluck and grit, they all attained honorable and suc- cessful positions in life.
Ellis Henry's preliminary education was pursued in the elementary schools and the Free Academy of his native city ; and he entered Yale College in the fall of 1846, from which he was graduated in the class of 1850, a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, having held ex- cellent rank as a scholar throughout the course, receiving prizes for English com- position and winning the Bristed scholar-
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ship for proficiency in the classics and mathematics. He was advanced to the master's degree three years later; and for marked erudition, was laureated Doc- tor of Laws by Hamilton in 1869, and by his alma mater in 1884. He was principal of the Utica Academy and also teacher of Latin in the Utica Female Seminary, 1850-51. He married, June 29, 1851, Elizabeth Morris, of the same goodly Welsh lineage-a helpful consort for over fifty years, dying in July, 1903.
His college training inclined him to jour- nalism and he accepted, in 1851, the editor- ship of the Utica "Morning Herald," then at the outset of its notable and cogent ca- reer, which he retained until 1893, also securing in it a controlling proprietary in- terest. Dr. Roberts assumed the editorial chair at a time when government policies of the utmost moment, including vital moral issues, were at stake, almost coincidently with the birth of the Republican party, of which he was to become an earnest cham- pion. He was equipped with superior scholarship, especially well versed in the history of the Republic and with the polit- ical and economical problems pressing for solution. As a writer, he soon ob- tained wide recognition for his wealth of knowledge, the precision of his thought and the force and lucidity of its expres- sion, and above all for the sincerity of his convictions. The "Herald," under the di- rection of Dr. Roberts, gained an exten- sive patronage and materially inspired and controlled public opinion, not alone in Central but also in Northern New York, in the latter section especially be- coming the Republican oracle and having well-nigh a monopoly of circulation, which the Syracuse press, quite as acces- sible to it as the "Herald," vainly con- tested. It is to be added that the "Her- ald" was also quite as distinguished for enterprise as a news gatherer as for au- thority in its editorial columns, rendering
it for years the leading journal of its locality in all respects. It prominently supported the administration of Lincoln in all measures for subduing the rebellion against the Union, and Dr. Roberts, with loyalty and love for the martyred Presi- dent, as a delegate to the Republican Na- tional Convention in 1864, enthusiastical- ly favored his renomination; and when the lines were drawn between congres- sional and executive policies of recon- struction, he was found arrayed with the congressional leaders, even to urging the impeachment of President Johnson.
Dr. Roberts was elected to the As- sembly of 1867, and took a conspicuous and persuasive part in its deliberations, especially in effecting the promotion to the United States Senate of his then friend and neighbor, Roscoe Conkling, who had by a service of four terms, as a representative in Congress, established his standing as an ornate and virile ora- tor; and, as State Senator Andrew D. White said, on seconding Conkling's re- nomination in the Republican legislative caucus, New York needed a voice in the Federal Senate. The voice, indeed, did much for Conkling, but it were to ques- tion historical verity to doubt that Ellis H. Roberts did far more by his personal appeals to produce the desired result than Conkling's most eloquent forensic utter- ances. Roberts was indefatigable in his efforts, not only by articles in the "Her- ald," but by enlisting nearly the entire press of the interior in Conkling's behalf, by standing for the Assembly, at Conk- ling's instance, and by his industrious can- vass among his colleagues in that body. The estrangement between the two that occurred subsequently need not here be detailed. It is sufficient to say, in the can- did review, that the principal fault there- for is not to be imputed to Roberts. In 1868, Roberts again appeared as a dele- gate in the Republican National Conven-
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tion and united in the nomination of Gen- eral Grant for the presidency.
In 1870, Roberts was elected from the Twenty-first (Oneida) District a Repre- sentative in the Forty-second Congress ; and, in 1872, was reelected to the Forty- third. He spoke in the House as occa- sion demanded, always with full informa- tion and decided effect, in clear, vigorous English, particularly upon economic and financial measures, in the discussion of which he had already shown himself an authority in his editorials and other writ- ings.
Since his retirement from Congress, Dr. Roberts has not held elective office, but has forcibly and ably vindicated Republican principles and policies. He favored, with some hesitation, the re- election of Grant in 1872, and the nomi- nation of Hayes in 1876, but strenuously combatted a third term for Grant in 1880, acting with that element of his party which secured the nomination of Garfield and, in the State, opposing the return of Conkling and Platt to the United States Senate after their resignation therefrom. Dr. Roberts was a staunch champion of Blaine in the presidential canvass of 1884 and cordially supported Harrison in that of 1888. He was appointed by the latter to the important position of Assistant Treasurer in New York, of the United States, and served throughout Harrison's administration. He was president of the Franklin National Bank of New York City from 1893 until 1897, when he was designated by President Mckinley as Treasurer of the United States, continu- ing as such until 1905, when he retired from public life at the age of seventy- eight years, having filled with eminent ability the various offices of honor and responsibility that had been reposed in him. Interested in the cause of higher education, he wrote much on the subject,
and was trustee of Hamilton College from 1872 until 1900.
Outside of his journalistic and official duties, Dr. Roberts has been a prolific writer upon historical and financial themes, and also has deserved promi- nence as a public speaker. He has de- livered courses of lectures at Cornell Uni- versity and Hamilton College, and ad- dresses before the American Bankers' and several State banking associations, and the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science; and has been in constant request as a political orator in the successive presidential canvasses with which he was concerned, on notable his- torical occasions, and as an "after dinner" speaker. He is the author of "Govern- ment Reserve, Especially the American System" (1884), an enlightened exposi- tion of the subject ; and of "The Planting and Growth of the Empire State" (1887). Although an abridgment rather than an exhaustive review, and necessarily trust- ing considerably to secondary rather than original sources, this latter work holds a leading place among histories of New York, revealing its author as diligent in research, philosophical in treatment, en- gaging in style and impartial in tone. Dr. Roberts is still (July, 1916) living in Utica, in hale old age, with faculties un- impaired and, at times, contributing valu- able articles to the press.
CHOATE, Joseph Hodges, Jurist, Orator, Diplomat.
The splendid gifts of mind and person that Joseph Hodges Choate has displayed conspicuously in his long career at the bar and in high official place are meas- urably due to his lineage. He comes of sturdy, intelligent Puritan stock, char- acterized almost uniformly by physical longevity and by signal concentration
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and versatility of thought with its effec- tive expression.
The founder of the American family was John Choate, a native of England, who came in 1643 to Massachusetts Bay while Winthrop was still Governor of the colony, settled at Chebacco (now Essex) and was admitted a freeman in 1667. From him and his wife, Anne, to whom he was married in 1660, the line of de- scent runs through their son, Thomas (1671-1745) first of the family in the an- cestral estate-Hog or Choate Island- and representative in the General Court (1723-25) and his wife, Mary (Varney) Choate; through their son, Francis (1701-77), farmer, church elder and friend of George Whitefield, and his wife, Hannah (Perkins) Choate; through their son, William (1730-85), who was a sea captain, and his wife, Mary (Giddings) Choate; through their son, George (1762- 1826) representative for Ipswich, 1814- 17, and Essex, 1819, and his wife, Susanna, daughter of Judge Stephen Choate, of Ipswich; to Dr. George Choate, the father of Joseph Hodges Choate. In collateral branches also the family has been worthy and often dis- tinguished, Rufus Choate, a cousin of Dr. George Choate, with his magnetic speech, being supremely famous. Dr. George Choate (1796-1880) was a native of Essex, a graduate of Harvard College (1818), a prominent and skillful phy- sician, and a representative in the Gen- eral Court for several years. He married Margaret Manning, a daughter of Gama- liel Hodges, descended from the immi- grant of 1630 and of a family honorable in Massachusetts annals; and to them Joseph Hodges Choate was born in Salem, January 24, 1832. In the mater- nal line Mr. Choate traces his lineage to Philip English, the first great merchant of Salem.
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