USA > New York > Jefferson County > Genealogical and family history of the county of Jefferson, New York, Volume II > Part 31
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CAPTAIN FRANK KENDALL. Among the well known pilots of the St. Lawrence river may he mentioned Captain Frank Ken- dall, one of the Kendall brothers, born on Grindstone Island, in the St. Lawrence river, October 21, 1858. A full account of the history of this family precedes this sketch.
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Captain Frank Kendall is indebted to the common school system for the educational privileges he enjoyed during his boyhood. After completing his studies he accompanied his father on trips in the var- ious vessels in which he was employed, and thereby gained a thorough knowledge of seafaring lite. At the age of twenty-one he passed an examination as a pilot, and for a number of years afterward was em- ployed in that capacity on vessels of the Folger line, and for several years thereafter was captain of some of the finest yachts on the river. He possesses an intimate knowledge of all the intricate channels of the river. and during his career gained an enviable reputation as a safe and conservative pilot. He is a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Red Men, in which he is a charter member, and has held a number of offices, and Pilots' Association, Harbor No. 67. Clayton, New York.
On May 12, 1888, Captain Kendall married Adelaide Birdsall, born in Fenton. Michigan, daughter of Maurice and Jane (Bailey ). Birdsall. Maurice Birdsall was a son of James Birdsall, who was sur- rogate of Chenango county, New York: member of the fourteenth congress representing the Fifteenth New York District; and member of assembly in 1827. He married Rizpah Steere, born in Gloucester, Rhode Island, her ancestors having been residents of that state, and twelve children were the issue of this union, two of whom are living at the present time ( 1904) : Mrs. Elizabeth Henry, and Mrs. Rizpah Kellogg, residents of San Francisco, California. James Birdsall died in the town of Flint, Michigan, aged about eighty years, and his wife died at the age of seventy-eight. Maurice Birdsall was born in Nor- wich. Chenango county, New York, and upon attaining young man- hood went west, with a brother and engaged in mercantile pursuits. His death occurred in the sixty-second year of his age. His wife, Jane ( Bailey ) Birdsall, who is living at the present time ( 1904), aged seventy-one years, was born in Fishkill Landing, New York, a daugh- ter of Abraham Bailey, and Susan Larned. They soon went to Michi- gan where they are remembered as pioneer farmers of Genesee county. Maurice and Jane ( Bailey ) Birdsall were the parents of eight children of whom six are living in California, and one in Heidelberg, Germany. Of these is Adelaide, aforementioned as the wife of Captain Frank Kendall living in Clayton. New York.
Captain Kendall and his wife have traveled extensively through- ut the United States and Canada, visiting all the principal places of
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note and interest, thereby gaining an extensive amount of knowledge and information which cannot be obtained in any other manner. Mrs. Kendall also spent the greater part of a year traveling in Japan.
CAPTAIN CHARLES H. KENDALL, of Clayton, New York, was born in that town. February 4. 1863, a sen of Captain Aldridge Stetson and Zuba (Gotham) Kendall. He is a man of keen discrim- ination, sound judgment, executive ability and excellent management, and in the vocation which he chose for his life-work, that of pilot, suc- cess depends so entirely upon individual merit that when one has at- tained a position of prominence, as has Captain Charles H. Kendall. it is an unmistakable evidence of ability, natural and acquired.
He received a practical education in the schools of Clayton, and at an early age began sailing with his father, whose period of service as pilot was probably not exceeded in length by any other on the St. Law- rence or the Great Lakes. With this experienced teacher he learned the shoals of the river and also its intricate channels, and when quite young assumed charge of his first steamer, the "T. R. Proctor," run- ning from Schuyler to Richfield Springs. He then came to Clayton with the Thousand Island Steamboat Company as a wheelman under Captain M. D. Estus, remaining in that capacity for three years. The following three years he filled a similar position with Captain C. W. Reese, after which he was with Captain Miller on the steamer "Empire State" for one year. At the expiration of this period of time he ac- cepted a position as captain on the " Jessie Bain." remaining four years, and was then captain of the famous steamer " Islander " for four years, his term of service in this company extending over a period of fourteen years. He then accepted a position on the private yacht "Venice." owned by Lyman Smith, of " Smith-Premier " typewriter fame, re- maining one year. His next position was with Alfred Costello as cap- tain of his private yacht " Jule," which position he accepted in 1901 and has retained up to the present time ( 1904). Captain Kendall is a member of the following organizations: Free and Accepted Masons, of Clayton : Order of Maccabees; Improved Order of Red Men, in which he held office: Tribe of Ben Hur, in which he held a number of offices ; Modern Woodmen of America, in which he held offices; and Harbor No. 67, American Association of Masters and Pilots, of Clayton. He attends the services of the Baptist church. His political affiliations are with the Republican party.
On August 6, 1895, Captain Kendall married Sarah J. Potter. and
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two children have been born to them: William Horace and Adelaide Maryen Kendall. Mrs. Captain Kendall was born on Grindstone Island, daughter of Orlando and Eleanor ( Miller) Potter. Orlando Potter is a son of Dr. William and Elizabeth ( Bushnell) Potter, the former named having been born in Oneida county, New York, where he practiced his profession, and in Gananoque for over fifty years, and died on Grindstone Island at the age of eighty-five years, and the latter was a native of Herkimer county. Dr. William and Elizabeth ( Bush- nell ) Potter were the parents of the following named children: Or- lando, Dr. William, Dr. Hanley, Augustus, Albert. and Julia, who was drowned at the age of fourteen years. Mrs. Potter, the mother of these children, died in 1871. Orlando Potter, father of Mrs. Captain Kendall, was born in Gananoque, Canada, acquired his education in the schools of that town, and resided there until he attained his majority. He then came to Grindstone Island, purchased a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, and has since devoted his attention to agricultural pur- suits. He married Eleanor Miller, born in Corsican, Canada, daughter of Martin Miller, who was born in Franklin county, New York, was a carpenter and contractor for a number of years, went to California in the early history of gold mining, and after spending three years there returned east and followed carpentering and contracting in connection with running vessels on the Great Lakes, taking grain, etc., to all points. Later he settled on Grindstone Island, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. Miller was the father of three children : George H .. Sarah Jane, and Eleanor, who became the wife of Orlando Potter.
DR. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, a successful physician and surgeon of Carthage, is a native of this state, born February 24, 1868, in Martinsburg, Lewis county. His great grandfather, Joseph Adams, came from England, and was for a short time a resident of Champion, Jefferson county, where he engaged in farming. He married in this country and lived in various localities, dying on Long Island.
William, son of Joseph Adams, married Hannah Gates, a native of Windsor. Vermont, a daughter of Abraham and (Rumry) Gates. He died at Genesee, New York, in 1825, being about thirty years of age at the time.
William, son of William and Hannah (Gates) Adams, was born August 23, 1824, in Champion. After the death of his father he re-
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turned to that town with his mother. His education was completed at Lowville Academy, and he engaged in teaching at an early age, and also in surveying in Lewis county. His mother married - Graves, and went to live at Martinsburg, where the son made headquarters for some time. During the civil war he was in the employ of Sydney Syl- vester, who operated a sawmill and store at Martinsburg, and during his residence there he served six years as school commissioner. Being an in- telligent reader and having an active brain, he was often employed in literary work, and edited several local histories. His "Directory of Lewis County" is the only work of its kind there, and was quite recently pub- lished. Mr. Adams has been an enthusiastic Republican since the in- ception of the party, and has always wielded considerable influence in its local councils. He was captain of state militia, in the Thirty-sixth Regiment, Sixteenth Brigade, Fourth Division, his commission bearing date July 20, 1850, and signed by Washington Hunt, governor, and L. Ward Smith, adjutant general.
Mr. Adams was thrice married. His first wife, Ann L. Bingham, was born in October, 1824, in West Martinsburg, and died April, 1865. She left a son, Isaac Bingham Adams, now proprietor of a stove and tin store in Rome, New York. The second wife, Mary johnston, was of Scotch-Irish descent on the paternal side, and of Irish maternity. She was left an orphan in early youth, and was reared in Highmarket, Lewis county. She died in September, 1876. Mr. Adams afterward married Ida Dugas, who was born in St. Johns, Province of Quebec, a daughter of Leon and Aurelia ( Holmes) Dugas. The last-named was a daughter of Benjamin and Mary Louise (de Palteault ) Holmes, of English and Canadian birth, the latter's father having come from France to Canada. Leon Dugas was a son of Pierre and Anna ( Aeillat ) Du- gas. Peter (or Pierre ) Dugas was a son of Jacques Dugas, who reached the remarkable age of one hundred and eleven years, nine months and eleven days.
. Charles Francis, son of William and Mary ( Johnston) Adams, re- ceived a high-school education. He came to Carthage when nineteen years old, becoming a clerk in the grocery store of L. D. Thompson, where he continued three years. His inclination led him to the study of medicine, and he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, of New York, from which he was graduated in 1893. He began practice at Carthage, and has steadily grown in public favor through his continued success in both medicine and surgery. He engages in general family
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practice, but has a special fondness for surgery, and is employed as surgeon by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, in charge of cases in his neighborhood. Dr. Adams is a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, and keeps abreast of progress in the healing art. He is a past master oi Carthage Lodge No. 158. of the Masonic order, and a member of Carthage Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He affiliates also with Carthage Lodge No. 365, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, and Court No. 1580, Improved Order of Foresters, in which he is a charter member, and of which he has been court physician from its organization. He is a Republican in principle, but has never devoted attention to politics. However, he was con- strained by the urgency of friends to accept the office of president of the village, to which he was elected by a handsome majority in a close political struggle in the spring of 1904. Of genial and easy manners and possessing high skill in his profession. Dr. Adams is deservedly pop- ular with all classes of his townsmen and with his fellows of the med- ical fraternity.
He was married, September 4, 1895, to Miss Edith Farrar, daugh- ter of Harvey D. Farrar. of West Carthage ( see Farrar). One son was born to Dr. and Mrs. Adams, September 21, 1897, and is named William Darwin.
EDWARD M. GATES, of Watertown, New York, who has con- tributed in the highest degree to the advancement of the commercial and financial interests of the city through liis active participation in business and public affairs, is a native of the state, born in Lewis county, in February, 1843.
Mr. Gates was five years of age when his parents removed to Water- town, where he was reared and educated in the public school. At an early age he entered the employ of A. M. Ultey, with whom he re- mained for ten years in the capacity of clerk, and it was while thus em- gaged that he acquired those habits of business and discriminating observation which served him so well in the career upon which he was soon to enter. While with Mr. Utley he practiced a strict economy, and saved a neat little sum, with which he opened a dry goods store in San Francisco, Califorma, in 1861, when only eighteen years old. Not- withstanding his extreme youth, he conducted this business with grat- ifying success for three years, and in 1864 disposed of it and re- turned to Watertown. For four years he carried on a grocery business
Jim 6. Ahrens
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on Court street, which he relinquished in 1873 to form the firm of Gates & Spratt, and founded a hardware business, which was success- fully prosecuted for seventeen years. Meantime and afterward he en- gaged in numerous large enterprises to which he devoted his excellent abilities, and which in large degree became successful through his effort. Among these were the Jefferson County Bank and the Watertown Spring Wagon Company, in both of which he is a large stockholder and director. He was also one of the leading promoters of the Water- town Street Railway Company.
Mr. Gates, in various public positions of honor and trust, has ren- dered services of great value to the community. In 1869 he was elected city clerk, and he was afterward called to other important posts, in all of which he acquitted himself most creditably and usefully. In 1872 he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue under the United States treasury department. In 1882 he was appointed postmaster by President Arthur and was removed by President Cleveland. His dis- missal involved no reflection upon his personal or official character or conduct, but was made under the policy of the administration, which sought to fill every available position with its own political friends Mr. Gates was reappointed postmaster in 1890 by President Harrison. It was during this term of office that Mr. Gates rendered to the com- munity a service of great magnitude, in securing from congress an ap- propriation of $75.000 for the erection of a postoffice building. The edifice was completed in 1893, and is known as one of the most beautiful specimens of architecture in northern New York, and for usefulness not to be excelled by any governmental building of its class in the country. Mr. Gates is a Republican in politics, and is one of the most influential figures in the councils of his party in the state.
JOHN C. THOMPSON. The magnitude of the operations of John C. Thompson, secretary and treasurer of the New York Air Brake Company, with offices at 66 Broadway, New York city, entitles him to rank among the captains of industry. In common with many of them, he was early thrown on his own resources and gained his commanding position by sheer force of native talent. He is descended from early American ancestors, and inherited their sturdy character, signalized by industry and strict integrity.
(I) Jacobus Shumiman settled on Three Mile river, near New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1720-1. His wife, Antje Terhoun, was a
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daughter of Albert Terhoun, of Flatbush. Long Island. He was a schoolmaster and voorleser, and was admitted to the church at Three Mile river, April 15, 1720. His children were: Anne. Jacoba, Mar- garet. John, Ferdinand, Jacob and Albertus.
(II) Jacoba, daughter of Jacobus and Antje Shuurman, baptized February 2, 1724, died before 1760. She was admitted to the church November 9, 1750, being then the wife of Archibald Thompson. The latter was of Scotch ancestry and probably Scotch by birth, and be- longed to Perth-Amboy, but no trace of his forebears or date of birth can be found. His children were: John, George, Anna and Jacob.
(III) Captain John Thompson, eldest child of Archibald and Jacoba (Shuurman) Thompson, was married, June 30, 1760, to Jane, daughter of Pieter and Antje (De Riemeer) Strycker. Both he and his wife were members of the church October 2, 1772. In 1767 he was the only navigator between Amboy and New York, and in 1775 com- manded a packet making regular trips between those points. He was first lieutenant of John Lyle's Company, Third Regiment of Middlesex County, in the revolutionary war, and was one of the British captives confined in the infamous Sugar House prison in New York. His chil- dren, all born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, were: Peter, Margaret, Archibald, Jane, John, Anne, Elizabeth, Isaac, George and Philip.
(IV) Dr. John Thompson, fifth child and third son of Captain John and Antje ( Strycker ) Thompson, was baptized July 23, 1775, and died July II, 1850. He was married, April 13, 1798, to Mary Lyell, daughter of Thomas Lyell, a sea captain and descended from a settler at Perth Amboy in 1097. She died in February, 1853, aged sev- enty-eight years and four months. Dr. Thompson graduated from Queen's College in 1794, and in 1798 occupied lands belonging to his father's estate at Aalplatz, Schenectady county.
(V) Thomas Lyell Thompson, son of Dr. John and Mary (Ly- ell) Thompson, was born March 20, 1799, near Schenectady, where he died in 1851. He served as postmaster of that city, and was a useful and respected citizen. His wife, Helen, was a daughter of Daniel Coolidge, a banker and prominent man of Poughkeepsie, whose mother was a mem- ber of the noted Van Rensselaer family, one of the most distinguished in Albany and extensive owners of lands in the Hudson river valley. Daniel Coolidge is said to have built the first brick house in Pough- keepsie, New York.
(VI) John C. Thompson, son of Thomas L. and Helen ( Coolidge)
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Thompson, was born at Schenectady, New York, April 15, 1845, and his father died when he was only six years old. As a young man he attended a private school at Ridgefield, Connecticut, but at the age of twelve he went to work in a general store in Freehold, New Jersey, where he worked from four o'clock in the morning until eleven at night for fifty dollars a year and board. He had similar employment in New York city and elsewhere until 1861, when, at the age of sixteen, he took a position in Cooper's large general merchandise establishment in Wa- tertown. The concern was doing a business of half a million dollars a year, and he kept the books, changing them from single to double en- try. He was there only fourteen months, but so well was his employer pleased with his work that his pay was advanced several times. When he left Watertown, Mr. Thompson went to West Virginia, where he began work for a salt and coal mine company at sinall pay. But he was a remarkable boy, and at nineteen was made superintendent of the works at a salary of five thousand dollars a year. His ambition. how- ever, urged him on, and he took a position with a Cincinnati commis- sion house, following which he made a venture for himself in the whole- sale grocery business at Mobile, where he made and lost a fortune in two years. His next attempt was in the insurance business. He became manager of the Continental Life Insurance Company in the territory ex- tending from Georgia to Texas, and in five years he wrote policies to the amount of fifteen million dollars. He then was given charge of the company's interests in the western states, but the concern failed in 1875, and he entered the employ of the Northwestern Mutual Life In- surance Company, New York state being his field for a year and a half. Thereafter until 188s he was manager of the Union Mutual Life In- surance Company for Massachusetts, with headquarters in Boston. The Eames Vacuum Brake Company had been organized in 1876, but it had been badly managed. and in 1884 its affairs were at a low ebb. Mr. Thompson saw the possibilities of the enterprise and bought a controll- ing interest in the concern, later changed to the New York Air Brake Company. Under his management all the buildings now in use at the Watertown plant have been erected. Fifteen hundred men are em- ployed at Watertown, and the company operates a large plant in Russia. Their goods are in use all over the world wherever railroads are known. He is connected socially with the Lawyers' Club of New York, the New York Athletic Club and is a member of St. Bartholomew church, New York city.
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Mr. Thompson married Julia Boyer, whose father, Joseph Boyer, born in France, was a lawyer and at one time private secretary to Joseph Bonaparte, as well as to La Ray de Chaumault, who owned large tracts of land in northern New York.
W. W. HAWES. The Johnston family is numbered among the most prominent pioneer families of Jefferson county and was established here in 1812 by William Johnston, who was born in Lower Canada in 1782. He was a lover of liberty, and was always deeply interested in every movement which tended to secure freedom for the people from oppressive governmental rule. He came to the United States in 1812, settling in Jefferson county at about the time of the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain, becoming an employe of the United States government and rendering valuable service upon the frontier dur- ing the continuance of hostilities. He was afterward connected with another military movement which appears now most curious and inex- cusable. It was a popular effort on the part of American citizens on the northern frontier to overthrow the government of Canada by an unwarranted invasion of the frontier towns. This movement took place in 1837. William Johnston, who became an intimate friend of William Lyon McKensie, a leader of the Reform party in Canada, was also prominent in that party. He became the recognized patriotic com- mander of the people who desired that Canada should be freed from British rule, and he and a band of followers fortified themselves on one of the Thousand Islands, within the Jefferson county boundary line. His intrepid daughter, Kate (or Katherine) Johnston, held communi- cation with them and furnished them with provisions and supplies. It was at that time that Johnston issued the following curious manifesto, which is probably the only instance in which an outlaw ever dared to leclare war from his place of hiding, against a friendly nation :
"I. William Johnston, a natural born citizen of Upper Canada, do hereby declare that i hold a commission in the Patriot service as com- mander-in-chief of the naval forces and flotilla. I commanded the ex- pedition that captured and destroyed the 'Sir Robert Peel.' The men under my command in that expedition were nearly all natural born Eng- lish subjects. The exceptions were volunteers. My headquarters are on an island in the St. Lawrence, without the line of the jurisdiction of the United States, at a place named by me Fort Wallace. 1 am well acquainted with the boundary line, and know which of the islands do and which do not belong to the United States. Before I located my
My W. Hawes
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headquarters I referred to the decisions of the commissioner mnade at Utica, under the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent. I know the num- ber of the island, and know that by the division of the commissions it is British territory. I yet hold possession of the station and act under orders. The object of my movement is the independence of the Can- adas. I am not at war with the commerce or the property of the United States.
" Signed this roth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
"WILLIAM JOHNSTON."
It is unnecessary to state that William Johnston and his followers put forth effort that was of little avail, yet they were prompted by patriotic motives and an earnest love of liberty. His daughter Kate. after the war was over, was given by her friends, in recognition of the aid which she rendered. a fine canoe. four feet long, and a beautiful ebony paddle, with a silver plate on it, as a token of the esteem of the givers, and these are now in possession of her son, W. W. Hawes.
William Johnston was married to Miss Ann Randolph, who was born in 1784, and they were the parents of seven children: James J .; Maria, who became the wife of a Mr. Reed, of Detroit, Michigan: Na- poleon B .: John; Katherine, or Kate, before mentioned, and who be- came the wife of Charles L. Hawes : Stephen D., of Clayton, New York; and William J.
Of this family John Johnston was born in Watertown, New York, in 1816, and his education was acquired at Sackets Harbor. In 1834 he became a resident of Clayton. He was then eighteen years of age, poor but ambitious, and he scorned no labor that would yield him an honest living. In the early days he was frequently employed to row a boat for a dollar per day, and he soon demonstrated that he was worthy of the public confidence and public trust, and that he was capable in business life. His industry and economy at length brought him capital that enabled him to engage in business on his own account about the time he attained his majority, and he established a little store at the foot of James street, in Clayton. In the rear of the building was the steamship wharf. over which crossed the passenger and freight traffic of the town. thus making the situation a most desirable one for business purposes. In this mercantile enterprise Mr. Johnston was very success- ful. His worth and ability were also recognized by his fellow citizens, who called him to public office, and in every public trust he was found faithful and loyal to the best interests of the community. He served
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