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 52
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The Clements of this branch date in Monroe county, New York, from 1824, when . Harris Clement came, but they trace lineal descent to James Clement, a Scotch-Irishman, who came to New Eng- land in 1730 and settled at Lancaster, Massachusetts. From James Clement sprang Harris Clement, son of John and Polly (Richardson) Clement, of Peter- sham, Massachusetts. Harris Clement was born at Petersham in 1801, died in Rochester, New York, May 13, 1873. On both the paternal and the maternal sides
he was descended from Revolutionary sires, the maternal side bearing the family name Harris. In 1824 he settled in Clark- son, Monroe county, New York, where he was a merchant for several years. He then moved to Parma, New York, and in 1864 to Rochester where he served for three years as deputy collector of the in- ternal revenue. He was a leader of the Republican party in the county, and while living at Parma served several times as supervisor, elected without opposition. He married Clarissa Tilden Pond, of Knoxboro, Oneida county, New York, who survived him exactly six years, pass- ing away on the anniversary of her hus- band's death in 1879. They were the parents of two sons, Theodore T., and Frank H., to whom this review is dedi- cated.
Frank H. Clement was born in Parma, Monroe county, New York, June 26, 1843, his birthplace the homestead farm on the Ridge road. There his youth was passed and the foundation of his character laid under the watchful care of his honored father and mother. He attended the dis- trict public school until its advantages were exhausted, then continued his studies at Parma Academy and Rochester Colle- giate Institute. He taught in the district schools for two years after completing his own school years, but kept up his own studies, being especially interested in me- chanical drawing and engineering.
In 1863 he permanently became a resi- dent of Rochester and began his business career with the steam engine building firm of D. A. Woodbury & Co. He re- mained with that company five years, ac- quiring expert knowledge of machine building and became foreman of a depart- ment. He also was a capable, talented draughtsman and possessed a valuable stock of information concerning ma- chinery, its designing and its construc- tion. In 1868 he accepted appointment as
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inspector of steam boilers for the twenty- eighth New York district, but only re- tained that post one year, resigning to become a partner of W. S. Loughbor- ough, and until Mr. Clement's health failed they conducted business as patent solicitors.
His failure of health brought a com- plete change in the plan and he decided he must abjure office work and lead a more active life. In 1871 he formed a partnership with Thomas L. Turner and as Turner & Clement they opened a small shop for machine jobbing of every kind, 110 job too small to be considered worthy of their attention. Their patronage grew and for six years the partnership con- tined. Mr. Turner then wishing to retire Mr. Clement purchased his interest and continued alone. The little shop became unable to meet the demands made upon it and as quarters were enlarged new lines of business were introduced. The manu- facture of wood working machines was added and within a few years various ma- chines in that line were being made, the demand coming from manufacturers of furniture, from pattern makers, carriage builders, car builders and other concerns using wood working machinery. In 1890 the brick plant on Lyell avenue adjoining the Erie canal was erected and the line of manufacture greatly broadened. Up to this time Mr. Clement had been sole owner and proprietor of the business, but in 1891 the responsibility became too great for one man and additional help was secured through incorporation of the Frank H. Clement Company, Mr. Clement president and manager.
Until the foundation of the corporation in 1891 Mr. Clement had been the me- chanical head of the business as well as its executive manager, the machines being built from his designs, some of them from his own patents, and had in addition to supervising their construction personally
attended to office details and correspond- ence. The amount of work he was en- abled to accomplish tells the story of his energy and capacity better than words. The company's catalogue of 1892-93 shows that he was manufacturing seventy different wood working machines that were being shipped to all parts of the United States and to foreign lands. With incorporation relief came and the various departments were placed under the care of the proper officials, Mr. Clement, however, remaining executive head and manager of the plant, the largest of its kind in the State. The Frank H. Clement Company continued a most successful career until 1897 when it was absorbed by the Ameri- can Wood Working Machinery Company, and is operated as a branch of that com- pany, Mr. Clement still a potent factor in the management and success, ranking as chief of construction.
He is a lifelong member of the Presby- terian church, his membership for twenty- two years having been with the Brick Church congregation. In 1884 he became one of the founders of the North Church congregation, his name appearing on the list of charter members. He is a ruling elder and from its foundation has been a strong pillar of support. In political faith he is a Republican. A man of warm heart and generous impulse, he has many friends, some of them dating back to his early Rochester days, now half a century past. He has borne his full share of the "bur- dens and heat of the day" and now in the evening of life the lengthening shadows warn him that "old age is an incurable disease." But the years have stolen no fire from his mind and but little vigor from the body, and "age a mature mellow- ness doth set upon the green promise of youthful heat."
Mr. Clement married (first) in 1866, Harriet E. Fielden, daughter of Armi- stead Fielden, of Brockport, New York.
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Mrs. Clement died in 1880; two of her children are yet living and residing in Rochester : Benjamin Harris Clement and Mary Genevieve Clement, residing at home. Mr. Clement married (second) in 1882, Lovisa S. Knapp, of Farmington, Pennsylvania, who prior to her marriage was a teacher in Rochester schools. The family home is No. 46 Lorimer street, Rochester.
BLOSS, William C. and Joseph B., Active Factors in Public Affairs.
Originally from Massachusetts the Bloss family located in Monroe county, New York, in 1816, the early settlers be- ing Joseph Bloss, a Revolutionary soldier, and his son, William Clough Bloss, grand- father and father of Joseph Blossom Bloss, of Rochester. The old brick tavern on East avenue, Brighton, near the railroad, still standing, was built by William Clough Bloss, who conducted it as a hotel for several years. With the onrush of the first temperance wave which swept over the United States he experienced a change of heart, emptied his stock of liquor into the canal, sold his hotel and moved to Rochester, where his son, Joseph Blossom Bloss, was born. These three generations have left a deep impress upon their times, and the life work of the last named has equalled in importance that of his honored father, William Clongh Bloss, than which no higher compliment can be paid him.
Joseph Bloss, the grandfather, marched to the war with his mother's blessings and her injunction ringing in his ears: "Joe, don't get shot in the back." He was a brave soldier and to him was entrusted the duty of carrying to General Wash- ington the news of Major Andre's capture. He came to Monroe county, New York, with his family in 1816 and died in Brigh- ton, near Rochester, in 1838.
His son, William Clough Bloss, was born in West Stockbridge, Massachu- setts, January 19, 1795. After locating in Rochester he became an ardent temper- ance advocate, represented a Rochester district in the New York Legislature and was one of the strong anti-slavery men of his day. He served during the sessions of 1845-46-47, and while a legislator offered the following amendment to the State Constitution : "Resolved, That no other proof, test or qualification shall be required of or from persons of color in relation to their exercise of the right of suffrage, than is in this constitution re- quired of or from white persons." This resolution was introduced in 1845, and was the first effort in New York State to award the colored man the ballot.
In 1838, he published the second anti- slavery paper printed in the United States, "The Rights of Man," and in the presi- dential campaign of 1856 published and circulated a map illustrating the aggres- sions of the slave power, the Southern States being shown in black and the Northern States in white. The map was widely circulated and when found in Southern mails was ordered destroyed. A copy of this valuable historical docu- ment is on file at the Rochester Historical Society, presented by Porter Farley, and a copy is owned by Harvard College do- nated by Charles Sumner, the statesman.
In addition to his valuable work for the cause of abolition, William Clough Bloss gave himself with equal enthusiasm to the cause of temperance. His home on East avenue was a hospital for the re- pentant and struggling inebriate and there the helping hand was extended in true friendship, not alone to the slave of drink but to the black slave fleeing to a haven of refuge in Canada, for the Bloss home was a station on the "underground rail- road." His deeds are recorded in bronze
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upon a monument erected to his memory in Brighton Cemetery. His death oc- curred April 18, 1863.
Mr. Bloss married Mary Blossom, a daughter of Captain Ezra Blossom, an officer of the Revolution and an early set- tler of Monroe county, New York. Cap- tain Blossom at one time owned a tract of land extending from the centre of the village of Brighton to South Goodman street in the city of Rochester.
Joseph Blossom Bloss, son of William Clough and Mary (Blossom) Bloss, was born in Rochester, New York, November 22, 1839. He obtained his early education in public school No. 14, Rochester, and Clover Street Seminary, Brighton, begin- ning his business life as errand boy in a grocery store. From that time until his retirement in 1896, Mr. Bloss was actively and successfully engaged in commercial life. He became a member of the firm of G. C. Buell & Company in 1868, a busi- ness established in 1844, and for twenty- eight years, until his retirement, was prominently connected therewith and ac- tive in its management. He was one of the contributing factors to the commer- cial greatness of his native city, and in public affairs has held with the ad- vanced thinkers on questions of political economy.
He followed in the footsteps of his hon- ored father and affiliated with the Repub- lican party, giving close and earnest study to the questions and issues of the day. His investigations have led him to the adoption of some of the tenets of Social- ism and few men have so intimate a knowledge of the great sociological, eco- nomic and political questions as he. His views have been arrived at through deep and careful study and he is ardent in their support. In 1902 he came promi- nently into the public eye by his resist- ance of an unequal and exorbitant per- sonal tax imposed by the city of Roches-
ter upon mortgages. This tax fell hardest upon persons of small means, and feeling keenly its injustice Mr. Bloss felt it his duty to resist payment, his case being made a test case of the legality of the tax. It was carried to the Supreme Court of the State of New York and a decision rendered in favor of Mr. Bloss. The Leg- islature of the State overthrew the de- cision of the court by the passage of an act, legalizing the tax, but leaving the tax to be settled by a board of apportion- ment, which was given power to remit all or any part of the taxes imposed. Dur- ing this long contest, Mr. Bloss refused to obey the orders of the court, or to answer any questions which might com- mit him to the payment of a personal tax. Although such action rendered him liable to fine and imprisonment, he maintained his position in spite of the legal penalties which, however, were never enforced. His action in this matter was rendered as a public service and by his friends was regarded as a valuable, public-spirited action. Mr. Bloss, however, is an ardent advocate of a national income tax and was on the lecture platform advocating that form of raising revenue even before William Jennings Bryan made it a tenet of his faith. He was the first man in this country to advocate an income tax which should bear equally upon every man and woman of legal age in exact proportion to their ability. In addition to his lectures on the subject, he has contributed many articles to the Metropolitan press favor- ing such a tax, also the local and western newspapers and to the foreign press.
Mr. Bloss was one of the originators of the Labor Lyceum which inaugurated the series of Sunday afternoon debates in the Common Council chamber on subjects of public policy, a series of debates which awakened a deep interest. He was one of the founders and first member of the Political Equality Club, and by voice and
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pen and by personal interest has aided the cause of Equal Suffrage for many years. He was a close friend of Susan B. An- thony, the great suffragist, and her trusted adviser. When the famous Eng- lish militant suffragist leader, Emeline Pankhurst, came to the United States, Mr. Bloss arranged for her coming to Rochester at his own expense, and later gave Rochester an opportunity to see her. And later, he also brought to this city E. Sylvia Pankhurst, her daughter, this be- ing their first visit to the United States. In the battle for equal suffrage in Eng- land as well as in the United States he has taken an active part, aiding by cor- respondence and other valuable ways. For eighteen years he has served as vice- president of the Rochester Humane So- ciety., has frequently addressed State and National conventions of the society, and has been unintermittent in his efforts to promote and increase the usefulness of this society for the prevention of all forms of cruelty.
He is a member and ex-president of the William Clough Bloss Society, composed of one hundred male and female descend- ants of early settlers of Brighton, Mon- roe county, New York. The society holds an annual meeting and banquet, the date selected being January 19, the birthday of William Clough Bloss, after whom the society is named.
The finer talent possessed by Mr. Bloss shows through every line of the poem of which he is the author, "The Morning Breath of June," a beautifully illustrated poem, dedicated to the New York City Fresh Air Fund, published by A. New- man Lockwood in 1884. Since 1863 he has been a member of the First Presby- terian Church of Rochester and has ever exerted his influence on the side of re- form, progress and moral uplift. To his study of men and economics, Mr. Bloss adds the culture of travel and judicious
reading. In 1896 he made a tour of the world, returning with enlarged visions and broadened outlook. He is held in high esteem as a business man, while his genial personality and cultured mind have gained him the friendship of a wide circle of warm friends.
Mr. Bloss married (first) in 1888, Mary Glen Hooker, who died in 1890, daughter of Henry E. Hooker, leaving an infant daughter, Mary Glen Bloss, now Mrs. Roger S. Vail, Highland Park, Illinois. He married (second) Ella Welch, of Port Hope, Canada. They are the parents of three sons, William C., Joseph B. (2), and Henry W. The family home is at No. 334 Oxford street.
A sister of Hon. William Clough Bloss, Celestia Angenette Bloss, was the author of a popular school text book, largely used in the schools throughout the United States, published in 1845. She was also the principal of Clover Street Seminary, a famous co-educational school of her day.
BAKER, Hugh Potter,
Master of Forestry, Doctor of Economics.
As dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University, Dr. Baker has reached eminent position in a profession to which too little importance has been attached in this country. Through the work of such men and the increasing necessity for conserving our national re- sources it is at last receiving at least part of the consideration its importance de- mands. Dr. Baker prepared thoroughly for the practice of forestry in college, at home and abroad, receiving his degree of Master of Forestry from Yale University and Doctor of Economics from the Uni- versity of Munich, Germany. For ten years he was continuously in the service of the National Division of Forestry, which later became the United States Forest Service, his examinations and in-
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vestigations covering the public lands in different sections of the West. Since 1912 he has been dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse Univer- sity and is an authority deferred to by forestry experts. He is a young man emi- nent in a youthful profession, is thor- oughly devoted to his chosen work and filled with zeal and enthusiasm commen- surate with the knowledge gained through careful study and long experience in the field. He is not a theorist, but is intense- ly practical, advances no propositions not established on proven demonstrated fact.
Dr. Baker is a descendant of Alexander Baker, who arrived from England at Bos- ton on the ship "Elizabeth and Ann" in 1635 with his wife Elizabeth. They lived for a time at Gloucester, Massachusetts, but later moved to Boston, where he died in 1688. Alexander and Elizabeth Baker married in 1632 and were the parents of eleven children, the line of descent being through Joshua, the sixth child.
Joshua Baker was born April 30, 1642, died December 27, 1717. About 1670 he moved to New London, Connecticut, and about 1702 to Woodbury, Connecticut. He married, September 13, 1674, Hannah, widow of Tristam Minter, who bore him nine children, of whom John was the fourth.
John Baker was born December 24, 1681, and died in 1750. He was a resident of Woodbury. The Christian name of his first wife was Comfort, his second Sarah, their surnames unknown. His daughter Mary married, March 11, 1735, Joseph Allen, and was the mother of Colonel Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame. The line of descent continues through his fourth son, Remember.
Remember Baker was born February 22, 17II, at Woodbury, Connecticut, died June 1, 1737. He moved to Arlington, Vermont, where he died aged twenty-six years. His wife, Tamar (Warner) Baker,
was an aunt of Colonel Seth Warner, one of the "Green Mountain Boys" of the Revolution, who was so closely associ- ated with other Warners and the Allens in Vermont early history. He left an only son, Remember (2), who was born shortly after his father's death.
Captain Remember (2) Baker was born in Woodbury, Connecticut, in June, 1737, and was killed by the Indians in August, 1775. As a mere boy he signalized him- self in the Colonial wars, enlisted first on September 11, 1755, and later in the Revo- lutionary War commanded the little band of Green Mountain Volunteers, which captured Crown Point from the British on May 12, 1775, two days after the cap- ture of Ticonderoga by Colonel Allen, and who finally met his death at the early age of thirty-eight in a skirmish with the Indians on Lake Champlain a few months later in the same year. At the age of six- teen he enlisted as a private in a company of provincial troops designed for the in- vasion of Canada. In 1757 his company was stationed at Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George, and during that year participated in the battles which re- sulted disastrously to the provincial troops. In 1758 he enlisted a second time in the expedition of General Abercrombie in his attempted invasion of Canada, and was a non-commissioned officer in Colo- nel Wooster's regiment, from Connecti- cut. The command consisting of 9,000 provincials and 7,000 British regulars, who moved in four divisions toward Ti- conderoga. In front of the right center division, a little band of one hundred men under command of Major Putnam, ac- companied by Lord Howe, advanced to reconnoiter the movements of the enemy. Young Baker was one of this party. They were surprised by a party of five hundred of the enemy. At the first exchange of shots, Lord Howe fell mortally wounded, Putnam and Baker and their brave men,
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with the fury of tigers, cut their way through the French ranks, charged them in the rear, and being reinforced killed three hundred of the enemy and captured one hundred and forty-three prisoners. "The intrepid courage of young Baker on this occasion gained him much applause in the army," but the renewed display of his bravery two days later, during the desperate fighting in the general engage- ment which followed, gained him no less honor. He received honorable mention in the report of the general command- ing. Remember Baker remained in the service until the close of the year 1759. The stirring events of this campaign gave him some well-earned experience of soldier life and that character for heroic bravery which he never after belied. At the close of 1759, he left the army and set- led in Arlington, Vermont, Ethan and Ira Allen, who had previously settled there, were his cousins, their mother being a sister of young Baker's father. He was for a number of years associated with Ethan Allen in the long and bitter con- troversy over the title of the settlers of Vermont to their land, held under a grant from New Hampshire, a company of New York speculators claiming the lands under a grant procured by fraud from the King of England. The settlers organized to defend their homes. Ethan Allen was, by common consent, chosen colonel and Remember Baker was elected captain of one of the five companies. He rendered valuable service to the settlers and won their respect and admiration for his cool- ness, bravery and good judgment. A re- ward was offered by the Governor of New York for the capture of Ethan Allen, Re- member Baker and two others, designated "ring leaders." Baker was on March 22, 1772, captured by a band of New Yorkers, very cruelly wounded, and was being hurried away to Albany by his captors,
when Ethan Allen and a company of set- lers pursued them on horseback, released Baker and returned him to his family. Ethan Allen, in a letter written to the New York authorities, gave a most graphic account of this transaction (Vol- ume I, "Vermont Historical Gazetteer," p. 124). The contest between the Ver- mont settlers and the New York claim- ants continued until it was suddenly arrested by the more absorbing events of the Revolution. Baker was one of the first, on the opening of that great contest, to enter the lists of the patriots. Two days before the capture of Ticonderoga, a mes- senger arrived at Colchester, where Baker had made his home, from Ethan Allen, with orders to Baker to come with his company and cooperate with Captain Warner in the capture of Crown Point. Baker at once called his company to- gether, went up the lake in boats, and on his way met and captured two boats that were escaping from Crown Point. He hastened on and he and Warner appeared before Crown Point at about the same time. The garrison, having but few men, surrendered. This was May 12, 1775, two days after Ticonderoga was captured by Ethan Allen. But the tragic end of Baker's checkered life was now near at hand. He had accompanied Allen to St. Johns at the time he took possession of that place, but soon returned to Crown Point, where he remained in charge until the arrival of Colonel Hinman's regiment. General Montgomery assumed command of the garrison and Captain Baker was detailed by Montgomery, in August, 1775, with a party of men, to go down the lake and watch the movements of the enemy. When he arrived about four miles south of the Isle Aux Naix, it being in the night, he landed in a bay and ran his boat up a small creek to secrete it. Early in the morning he passed around with his
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men to a small point beyond his boat to reconnoiter. He sat down upon the point to sharpen his flint and just then he noticed that some Indians had gotten pos- session of his boat and were approaching the point where he lay, on their way north. He placed his men behind trees, with orders not to fire until he did, and as the Indians came near, he hailed them and ordered them to return the boat or he would fire upon them, but they re- fused. He then took to a tree, raised his musket, but the flint he had sharpened hitched onto the pan and his firelock missed. Instantly one of the savages fired upon him, the shot took effect in his head and he instantly expired. The Indians made their escape with the boat, and Baker's men retreated to Crown Point. After a short time the Indians re- turned, plundered the body, cut off Baker's head, raised it upon a pole and carried it in triumph to St. Johns, where the British officers, out of humanity, bought it from the savages and buried it, and also sent to the point and buried the body. Nor did the wily savage who shot Baker long survive his triumph, for in October following he too was killed by some American soldiers, and Baker's powderhorn, with his name engraved upon it, taken from him. The trophy was presented by Captain Hutchins, into whose possession it came, to Colonel Seth Warner, Baker's old companion-in- arms, to hand over to Baker's son, as a token of rememberance of his brave and esteemed father. His was the first death of an inhabitant of Colchester, and the first life sacrificed in the cause of the Revolution in the northern military de- partments. On July 9, 1909, a monument was dedicated to Captain Remember Baker and Colonel Seth Warner on Isle La Motte by the patriotic women of Ver- mont. The eventful life of Captain Baker
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