USA > New York > Genealogical and family history of central New York : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the building of a nation, Volume I > Part 9
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(VI) Lyman, son of Abijah (2) Sessions, was born April 7. 1793. He was justice of the peace, selectman and member of the legis- lature. He was a farmer, merchant and manu- facttirer by occupation. He married, January 16, 1823, Marcia, daughter of Captain Robert and Anna ( Sessions) Panl. Children: 1. Jo- anna Dana, born December 1, 1826, died June IO, 1875. 2. Marcia Paul, May 13, 1831, died
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1890; married Closson M. Stone; children ; Fred ; Helen, deceased ; Grace ; May, and Fran- ces MI. 3. Gilman Lyman, mentioned below.
(VII) Gilman Lyman, son of Lyman Ses- sions, was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, February 14, 1833, died July 8, 1900. His early life was spent upon the farm of his father at Woodstock, in the town of Union, Connecti- cut, and his early education was in the district schools. His studies preparatory for college were at Monson Academy and Williston Semi- nary, Massachusetts. He entered Dartmouth College in the year 1849, and was graduated in 1853. After leaving college he taught school for several terms in New England, and was for a short time an instructor in Latin and Greek at a boys' school in Washington, D. C. In the year 1855 he located at Binghamton, Broome county, New York, and engaged in the study of law in the office of Hon. Daniel F. Dickinson, and was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor in the state of New York, at a general term of the supreme court, held at the village of Delhi, Delaware county, in July, 1856, and soon thereafter he com- menced the practice of his profession at Bing- hamton. He was a law partner of George Bartlett, who died in 1870, and after that date became a partner of Daniel S. Richards, which partnership continued for a period of about seven years.
During a period of several years, commenc- ing about 1862, Mr. Sessions' health became impaired and he spent several years in change and travel, visiting the principal cities and health resorts of Europe, and, in about the year 1869, he returned to Binghamton, re- sumed his practice and was busily engaged as a practicing attorney for a period of more than twenty-five years from that time. He attained honor and distinction in his profession and gave much attention to literary matters, writing many papers on public and historical questions and doing considerable in poetry and verse. Ilis private library of general works was one of the most complete in the city of Binghamton.
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In politics he maintained his independence, although usually voting with the Republican party. He never sought public office, yet was keenly interested in public affairs. During the latter years of his practice, partly on ac- count of lack of perfect health and partly on count of preferment, he gave up the practice of active litigation for the more pleasant branch
of a lawyer's business, such as examination of titles, general consultation, probate court busi- ness and the management of large trusts and estates. For a period of many years he was a trustee and vice-president of the Bingham- ton Savings Bank and its general counsel ; also a director and officer of the Susquehanna Val- ley Bank, which offices he held up to the time of his death.
On November 22, 1866, he married Eliza Bartlett, born July 20, 1835, died October 16, 1904, daughter of Robert S. and Dorcas MI. Bartlett. Dorcas M. Bartlett was born April 14, 1812, daughter of Colonel Loring Bart- lett and granddaughter of Sylvanus Bartlett. The children of Robert S. and Dorcas M. Bartlett were Eliza, mentioned above; John Stephens Bartlett, born December 15, 1838; James Henry Bartlett, born February 15, 1841 ; George Loring Bartlett, born November 15. 1852; Georgianna Bartlett, twin sister of George Loring, married Oliver W. Sears.
(VIII) George Dana, son of Gilman Lyman Sessions, was born in Binghamton, New York, May 6, 1877. He attended the public schools there and graduated from the Binghamton high school in 1895. He entered Hamilton College in the fall of that year, and was graduated in the class of 1899. After completing his college course he studied law in his father's office and in the law office of Theodore R. Tuthill, at Binghamton, and also in the New York Law School. He was admitted to the bar, Noveni- ber 20, 1901, and immediately thereafter began the practice of his profession in Binghamton. In politics he is a Republican. He is a men- ber of several clubs, an officer of the Bingham- ton Country Club, and of Otseningo Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, at Binghamton.
He married, June 27, 1903, Margaret Emma. daughter of Mrs. Margaret Clark, of Tomp- kinsville, Staten Island, New York. They have two children, Gilman Lyman Sessions and Margaret Clark Sessions, both born on July 6, 1904. Mr. Sessions still resides in the home built by his father, in 1876, on Court street, in Binghamton, and his children were born in the same, house in which he was.
Among the representative fam- CURTISS ilies of Central New York. whose members, by dint of per- severance and energy have risen to a com- manding place in the professional world, should be mentioned the Curtiss family, represented
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by the eminent United States district attorney, and compiler of the great work, "Protection and Prosperity." George B. Curtis's, of Bing- hamton, New York, who was born at Mt. Morris, Livingston county, New York, Sep- tember 16, 1852.
He traces his line through George to Rozell Curtiss, who was the son of Samuel Curtiss, an English sea captain, and the founder of the family in this country. The early history of the different branches of this family is too well known to need repetition here ; suffice to say that among them was William Curtiss. who came to New England in the ship "Lion," in 1632, and settled in Boston, later in Rox- bury, Massachusetts; Richard, William and John, who settled in Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1643, and a number of others who were among the pioneer families of the New World.
(1) Rozell Curtiss, mentioned above as the son of Samuel, was born about 1785, in Royal- ton, Vermont. He later removed to Livings- ton county, New York, to the town of Mt. Morris, and took a prominent part in the af- fairs of that section. He was a farmer, and, as were many of the early pioneers who clear- ed the new country, also engaged to quite an extent in lumbering. A man of a considerable intelligence, with a knowledge of surveying. which profession he followed to a certain ex- tent, he also took a prominent part in the mili- tary affairs of the state. rising through the various ranks to that of brigadier-general, which office he held for some years. He spent his life, after coming to New York state, in Mt. Morris, where he died and is buried.
He married Rachel French, born in New Hampshire, in 1802, died at Marengo, Illinois, in 1892. When a child of twelve years she travelled from New Hampshire to Livingston county, New York, with her brother, making the journey on horseback in the middle of win- ter. Children : 1. George, of further mention. 2. John, married Sophrona Marsh; children : Olive. Frank, John, May, Samuel and Irene. 3. Frank S., attended Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Oberlin College, graduating at the latter. He settled in Chicago, where he was admitted to the bar in 1860-61. He enlisted in the Union army, as first lieutenant of the Fifteenth Illinois Volunteer Regiment. and, after serving about a year, resigned and reënlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty- seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, of which
he became major and later colonel, and was in command when the war closed. After the war he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was attorney for the Missouri Pacific Rail- road until his death, in 1898. He married Mattie Pope, of Ohio. Children: Leroy and Lillian. 4. Ira R., attended college at Antioch, Ohio, and Union ( New York) College, grad- uating from the latter in 1859 or 1860. He located at Marengo, Illinois, where he became a well-known lawyer and banker, and still re- sides. He married Josephine Dayton, no issue.
(III) George, son of Rozell and Rachel ( French) Curtiss, was born about 1819; died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 2, 1863. He followed agricultural pursuits, removing to Illinois in 1856, settling in McHenry county, near Marengo, where he remained until 1861, when he enlisted in the Union army, serving in the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Regi- ment. Illinois Volunteer Infantry. This regi- ment formed a part of the army under Gen- eral Grant. at Vicksburg. He died shortly be- fore the surrender of General Pemberton, and was buried at the foot of a great cottonwood tree, standing near the river bank. In 1867 Colonel Frank S. Curtiss visited the spot to remove the remains to a northern burying- ground, but found the river had encroached and carried away the tree and immediate vicin- ity. George Curtiss married Huldah Hart Boughton, daughter of Harry and Elizabeth (Gordon) Boughton (according to Boughton genealogy) (data says Huldah Hart Boughton, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Hart) Boughton ). Huldah Boughton was the daugh- ter of Harry, son of Hezekiah (2), son of Hezekiah (1), son of Eleazer, son of John (2) and Sarah (Greggorie) Boughton. John (2) was the third child of John Boughton (I), son (as is supposed) of Count Nicholas Boughton. John (I) was a Huguenot. who fled from France to England, thence to America, landing at Boston, Massachusetts, in December, 1635. from the barque "Assurance." He married (first) Joan Turney, lived in Boston and Watertown, Massachusetts ; was an early set- tler at Hartford and Norwalk, Connecticut : representative to the general court of Connecti- cut, and served in many responsible capacities at Norwalk, where his wife died. He married (second), January 1, 1656, Abigail Marvin : married (third). 1673. Mrs. Mary Stevenson. John Boughton (2) was a son of second wife.
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Huldah ( Boughton ) Curtiss died on the farm, at Marengo, Illinois, in 1873, having survived her husband ten years.
Children : 1. William Henry, born 1849, died at Marengo, Illinois, December, 1905 ; he was a veterinary surgeon. 2. George Boughton, of further mention. 3. Rozell Morgan, born 1856, studied medicine, and is a practicing physician of Marengo, Illinois; married (first ) Sarah Sears: died without issue; (second) Adela Stull ; child, Hulda Elizabeth. 4. Ira Oliver, educated at Oberlin ( Ohio) College ; prepared for the practice of law, was admitted to the bar, and located at Aberdeen, South Dakota ; was elected state senator in 1908, reëlected in 1910 ; married, no issue.
( IV) George Boughton, son of George and Huldah ( Boughton ) Curtiss, was born at Mt. Morris, Livingston county, New York, Sep- tember 16, 1852. His early life was spent on the farm, near Marengo, where his parents removed when he was four years old. He was educated in the public schools and at Marengo Academy. In the spring of 1875 he entered the Northwestern Business College, Madison. Wisconsin, being graduated in the following September. During the following winter he tanght a private school and a class in penman- ship. In April. 1876, he came to Binghamton, New York, where for four years he was in- structor in penmanship and bookkeeping, at Lowell's Business College. He had, as a young man, been ambitious to become a lawyer, and bent all his energy in this direction. During this period he read law, and with Professor Magoris, of the high school, also took a spe- cial scientific course. He pursued legal studies under Hotchkiss & Millard, of Binghamton. also with A. D. Wales. During the general term of the supreme court, held at Ithaca, in May, 1880, he passed the required examina- tions, and was admitted to the bar. In 1880 he opened a law office in Binghamton. In a very short time he began to attract attention for his marked ability. . Although a perfect stranger in the city of Binghamton, he rose rapidly to a prominent position at the bar. His first case before the superior court was the de- fense of Victoria Scott, a colored girl, charged with the crime of murder. The case was ably prosecuted by David HI. Carver, the then dis- trict attorney of Broome county, assisted by Alexander Cummings as counsel, yet so skill- ful was the defense by Mr. Curtiss that, after a remarkable trial lasting one week, his client
was only convicted of manslaughter in the fourth degree, and sentenced to eighteen months in prison. This case attracted a vast amount of favorable comment from the press, and in the fall of that year, 1883, Mr. Curtiss was nominated for district attorney of Broome county, and, as a result of the favorable im- pression which he had made upon both the press and the public, was elected to this office. He served three years, and, in 1886, was again elected, serving till 1889-two terms of three years each. During this entire time he never drew a defective indictment, and, in addition to all of the other business connected with: this office, he conducted one hundred and twenty criminal prosecutions, and although all were ably defended by the best legal talent, he was successful in nearly every case; in fact, but twelve were decided against him. In 1886 he formed a partnership with Taylor L. Arms. the firm being known as Arms & Curtiss. This continued till 1889, when Mr. Arms was elect- ed county judge and surrogate, and the part- nership was dissolved. From 1892 to 1896 he was associated with W. W. Newell as part- ner. In 1900 he was appointed by President McKinley, United States district attorney, and has been reappointed successively by Presi- dents Roosevelt and Taft; his present term will expire in 1913. January 1, 1901, he again formed a partnership with Judge Taylor L. Arms and Thomas J. Keenan, under the firm name of Curtiss, Arms & Keenan. The firm con- tinted a successful career until 1908, when it was dissolved by the death of Judge Arms. Theodore Tuthill was then admitted as the junior partner, and as Curtiss, Keenan & Tut- hill, the firm still continues.
For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Curtiss has appeared in the most important trials in Broome county, during which time he has been called upon to cope with the ablest lawyers in southern New York, and in all cases his adroitness, legal acumen, and thorough knowledge of the law have been readily recog- mized by his opponents. During all his public career, first as prosecutor for the county and later as United States district attorney, he has proved a valuable official, doing his duty fear- lessly. His actions have commanded the at- tention of the leading jurists in the United States courts, and upon each appointment by the President, he has received many flattering letters from the judges and others. He stands high in the legal fraternity, and holds the re-
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spect of all. His practice is very large, and his career is one that he can review with satisfac- tion.
But it is not only as a great lawyer that Mr. Curtiss has achieved distinction, but in a far wider scope as a speaker and writer on the subject of the tariff. For thirty years he has devoted all of his leisure time to a close study of this great subject, and, in 1896, he published his first work upon this subject, under the title, "Protection and Prosperity," an account of the tariff legislation and its effect in Europe and America. Introduction written by Will- iam Mckinley and Thomas B. Reed. Mr. Mckinley says in his introduction :
The value of such an exhaustive work to students comes from the fact that the author shows in the logical order pursued the economic conditions which suggested and brought into existence protective prin- ciples and has given the historical origin of the essential principles. While writing from the pro- tective standpoint there is no indication of any hobby or new scheme of political economy. The apparent endeavor is to show what the experience of business men and the practices of nations have proven to be wise, just and beneficient; that the principles of pro- tection had their origin with the institution of society and governments, and are a necessary part of that policy under which civilization has advanced.
Speaker Reed says in his introduction :
The book which Mr. Curtiss has written is unlike any other which has been presented on the subject in its method of treatment, and in the width of range. * * * The calm and careful history in this book of the protection system in England which pre- ceded the Cobden movement, and the history of the Cobden movement itself will go far to rectify the false ideas which have been so long prevalent, and if it contained nothing else will be worth all the book will cost and all the trouble of understanding the story therein narrated. * * * This book is also the story of how the nations discovered that the best way to be protected and prosperous was not to leave things alone but to use their brains and make things better. * * * This book gives the history of experi- ments tried all over the world of the two systems and the results which have followed. It teaches what the facts teach and nothing more. It does not teach that this law or that law, this rate or that rate, is essential to national success; for rates change with circumstances and laws with conditions ; but it teaches that protection whether it be at one rate or another, whether it be by one law or another, so long as it is protection it is the sole essential.
It contains eight hundred and sixty-four pages and embraces a history of the tariff question of all nations from the earliest time to 1895. On account of the importance of the silver question which was injected into the
campaign of 1896, entirely supplanting the tariff question as a political issue, only about fifteen hundred copies of "Protection and Pros- perity" were sold, about four hundred of which were sold in England. Upon Lord Masham's ( who was president of the Fair Trade League of England ) attention being called to the work, he voluntarily sent a circular to all of the lords and members of parliament, in which he said that "It was by far the most important and comprehensive work ever published." Pro- fessor Gunton, reviewing the work in Gunton's Magasine of American Economics and Political Science, said :
The work itself has elements of breadth, perma- nence and endurance reaching not only far beyond any presidential campaign and beyond the limits of any single country, but beyond also the popularity or permanence of any particular form of govern- mental institutions or type of national civilization. For neither in Europe nor America has there ever been furnished in a single purely historical work the materials for so exhaustive a study or for so suc- cessful a mastering of the Tariff Question in all its details.
The part of the work devoted to the British tariff policy far exceeds in exhaustiveness and value the writings of any Englishman and even of Sir Archi- bald Alison, an achievement to which we had not thought any American would be equal.
Of Mr. Curtiss we may say he has found enough to compel every statesman, publicist, economist and historian who desires to say anything bearing on the tariff question, to carefully study the question over again. It will not do not to know the new matter here brought to light.
The above are selected from scores of a similar nature written by the most learned men not only of the United States but of England as well, each and all of whom admit that it is by far the most exhaustive work ever publish- ed upon this or any kindred subject, and is the only complete consecutive history of the tariff from a protective standpoint ever written up to the date of its publication.
On account of urgency of friends who de- sired that the work appear in the campaign of 1896, which at that time it was thought would be fought on the tariff question, the work was published before Mr. Curtiss' plan had been entirely worked out, and the history of the United States prior to 1860 was greatly abbre- viated. Since that time Mr. Curtiss has been carrying out his original decision, and will soon bring out a new edition contained in two volumes, the first to be devoted entirely to the tariff question in foreign countries, the second volume to the United States. The latter volume
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will contain a carefully written account of the industrial life and development of the Amer- ican colonists from the earliest time to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the most complete and exhaustive history of the tariff legislation from 1789 to 1860 that has been written. The data pertaining to the his- tory of all nations will also be brought down to the present time.
Mr. Curtiss has always been an ardent sup- porter of the Republican party, and while political preferment has ever been within his reach, he has declined all such except his pro- fessional appointments. He has spent much time in the selection of a library of the choicest literature, comprising works upon a large num- ber of subjects, among which are over one thousand volumes and four hundred pamphlets upon the tariff question, this exceeding any private collection in the United States, in faet. any public collection, except that of the Con- gressional Library, at Washington.
Mr. Curtiss married, May 7, 1888, Mary D., daughter of Calvin and Elizabeth Bliss, of Lisle, Broome county, New York. Of this marriage two children have been born: Eliza- beth Hulda, August 1, 1890; Isabella Bliss, June 22, 1894.
DARROW Sergeant George Darrow, the first of the family in this coun- try, settled at New London, Connecticut, about 1675, and died there, in 1704. He married, about 1678, Mary, widow of George Sharswood, and she died in 1698. He married ( second), August 10, 1702, Eliza- beth Marshall, of Hartford. The children were: Christopher, baptized at New London, December 1, 1678; George. October 17. 1680; Nicholas, May 20, 1683; Jane, April 17, 1692. (1) Richard Darrow, probably nephew of George Darrow, was born in May, 1682, and was, according to family tradition, of Welsh descent. He resided first in New London, and later located at East Haven, Connecticut, on an island that separates the town from Bran- ford and is still called Darrow's Island. After- ward he removed to the center of the town, where he died March 19. 1775, aged ninety- two years, ten months. lle married Sarah Shepard. Children, born at East Haven : Rich- ard, May, 1711 : John, June, 1713; John, Octo- ber 24, 1716; Ebenezer, mentioned below.
(II) Ebenezer, son of Richard Darrow, the only child to grow to maturity, was born in
1719, at East Haven. He married Lydia Aus- tin. 1n 1760 they moved to Plymouth, Con- necticut. He was a shoemaker by trade and also a farmer. Children, born at East Haven : Ebenezer, March, 1743; Abigail, July 29, 1745, married ( first ) - - Johnson, of West Haven, and ( seeond ) - - Bishop : Jemima, February or July 9, 1748, married Benjamin Barnes ; Asa, mentioned below ; Titus, July or September 15, 1753, soldier in the revolution, married, in 1778, Anna Hill; Eunice, married John Warren : Lydia, born 1759.
( 1]1) Asa, son of Ebenezer Darrow, was born at East Haven, May 22, 1750. He learn- ed his father's trade as shoemaker, and follow- ed it. He died in Plymouth, Connecticut, No- vember 16, 1821. He married Lydia Bartholo- mew. Children, born at Plymouth: Martha, July 15. 1775, married David Roice : Lydia, December 13, 1778, married J. Horton ; Lucy, March 12, 1781, married Ebenezer French ; Asa, mentioned below : Andrew S., March 3. 1785, married ( first ) Nancy Adkins, who died May 16, 1815, and ( second) Phoebe Woodin ; Rosella, March 19, 1787, married John Brad- ley ; Freelove, September 17, 1789; Jania. May 12, 1792.
(IV) Asa (2), son of Asa (1) Darrow. was born January 11, 1783. He was a farmer and shoemaker. He married Clarissa Bireh- ard and settled at Farmington, Connecticut. Children : John : Asa B., mentioned below ; Clarissa, Maria, George and Charles.
(V) Asa B., son of Asa (2) Darrow, mar- ried Sarah Garner. Among their children was Ralph Samuel, mentioned below.
(VI) Ralph Samuel, son of Asa B. Dar- row, was born September 18, 1840, in Con- necticut, died at Binghamton, New York, De- cember 13, 1889. He came to Binghamton with his parents when he was six years old. and was educated there in the public schools, academy and business college. He was em- ployed for a time as clerk by the firm of Pres- ton & Sears, and afterwards in the bank of Judge Phelps. In partnership with David Hogg, he engaged in the hay, grain and feed business in Binghamton. After a few years the firm was dissolved and the business was continued by Mr. Darrow as long as he lived. with abundant and substantial success. He was a member of the board of education of Bing- hamton for several years. In politics he was a Republican. In religion he was a prominent Methodist and for a number of years was
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superintendent of the Sunday school and also on the official board of the Methodist church up to his death.
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