Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 96

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

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444

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

JAMES B. HARRIS

WAS born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 12, 1825. When seven years of age his parents removed to Canada, arriving at Montreal in the fall of 1832, where they remained until the following spring, when they removed to the township of Dalhousie, county of Lan- ark, Ontario. His father not liking the country, went to Toronto, where he died in 1837, leaving James B., the subject of this sketch, with Mr. Charles Brown, with whom he lived until October, 1842, when he came to Jefferson county, N. Y. Up to this time he had never attended school, and he imme- diately sought a place to do chores for his board and go to school. He worked sum- mers on a farm and went to district school winters for five years, and then he attended the Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary for three terms. After leaving school he travel- led through several of the Western States, lecturing on mnemonics, a subject he had

become familiar with. From 1847 to 1854 he was captain of a boat running on the canal and river, from Oswego and Buffalo to New York.

April 24, 1854, he was married to Miss Rachel L. Emmons, of Somerville, N. Y. Five children were born to them : Agnes P., John H., Isabell J., George B. and Lydia Maria.

He farmed it for 10 years, and in 1864 moved to the village of Antwerp, where he now resides. October 19, 1865, his wife died, leaving five small children, which he kept together. July 4, 1866, he married Mrs. Levi D. Fairbanks, who assisted him nobly in bringing up the children, who were all educated at the Academy in Antwerp, and are now all good business men and women. In January, 1867, he was appointed deputy sheriff by James Johnson, and continued to discharge the duties for 12 years,

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In 1870 he purchased one-half interest in the cheese factory at Antwerp, and went in company with H. H. Bent, continuing in that business until 1880, when he was en- gaged by the Dairy Association of Eastern Ontario to instruct the cheese makers of that Province, and so continued for four years, when he went to Scotland, in the spring of 1884, to instruct the cheese makers of his native country at a salary of $10 per day for six months. At the end of the season the Scotch Dairy Association re-engaged him for the next season, at $12.50 per day, and paid his passage home and return, and presented him with a gold watch and chain, costing $250, in appreciation of his valuable services. While there he visited London, Liverpool and several other cities.

In the winter of 1884-5 he wrote the " Cheese and Butter Makers' Hand Book," and on his return to Scotland, in March, 1885, had it printed in Glasgow, and it was widely circulated among his Scotch pupils. The University of Edinburgh purchased over 200 copies, and used it as a text book in the

Agricultural Department. The visit to Scotland was attended with much good to the Scotch cheese-makers, as they had very crude implements. There was not a vat in the whole of Scotland-all using round tubs ; no curd knives, they had used the same tools in use for the past 200 years.

Before leaving for home, in 1885, he visited Belfast, Dublin and other cities in Ireland, arriving home in December. Since then he has been called to Western Ontario for two seasons to instruct the cheese-makers; and has been often called to factories in St. Law- rence, Jefferson and Lewis counties.

The perseverance of Mr. Harris in his efforts to obtain an education, is an example which may be safely followed by the young people of the present day, who have far greater facilities for learning than were obtainable in his youth, even if he had had friends and means behind him. He rose, without these advantages, to be an author and an honored citizen, and displayed an energy and a determination in a good cause, that is as commendable as unusual.

THE BENT FAMILY.

THE family of Bents in this country are all related, to a greater or less degree-more than through the common medium of Adam. It is of English extraction, and sprang from two brothers who left the mother country before the Revolution to seek their fortunes in the New World, and settled in Vermont. From this centre the scions of the family have radiated into nearly every State of the Union, being more numerous in the old Com- monwealth, New York and Illinois, and it is perfectly safe for each one bearing that name to greet the other as a relative, wherever found. The family may be said to be con- spicuous for none of its members having ever been hung or convicted of crime; at least none has ever been heard of, but no doubt some of them ought to have been. At any rate, this virtue would generally be consider- ed of a negative character. Nevertheless there have been members of the family who have worthily held positions of trust and re- sponsibility-who have possessed positive virtues. Some of them became pioneers in that great section even so recently known upon the geographies of our fathers as the Great American Desert, out of which, rich enough for an empire in itself, science, civilization and progress have wrought several productive and wealthy States.

Over this vast section, two or three de- cades ago, the solitude was unbroken, except by the shrill cry of the wolf and the rattle of a prairie "schooner," following westward the star of empire, and roaming over nothing but cactus and sage brush, but which is now dotted with thriving towns and populous cities. Two brothers, Charles and William Bent, the latter better known as Colonel

" Bill" Bent, were intimately connected with the early history of a large portion of this region, especially Colorado and New Mexico, the former State having one county named in their honor. "Bill " was the first Governor of New Mexico. He married a squaw, moved to Kansas, raising a family, out of which only one daughter married a white man, the entire family, except father, abandoning the follies and foibles of civili- zation and returning to their nomadic state. Thus again was illustrated the futility of attempts to civilize the red man, even by assimilation.

The family is now prominent in the affairs of the old Bay State. Hon. William H. Bent, of Taunton, Mass., is president of the Home Market Club, of Boston, an organiza- tion of national prominence and importance, and presided at its recent banquet in honor of ex-Speaker Reed.

The head of the family in this section was David Bent, one of the two brothers first mentioned, the great-great-grandfather of Myron H. Bent, and there being two gener- ations younger, makes seven from the origin to the present time. The grandfather, Dal- manutha Bent, came from Vermont in 1830 and settled in Philadelphia, this county, re- moving thence to Denmark, and again to Antwerp in 1848. An uncle, Hartwell H. Bent, youngest son of D. Bent, and father of Roy H. Bent, has been the most conspicuous representative of this region. He was a man of public spirit, of the strictest integrity and signal worth of character. He was active in business, having established, with many others, the cheese factory in this village, which has grown to the present

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MYRON H. BENT.

Baumert factory. He represented the town on the board of supervisors for five years, was its chairman for two terms, and was a man universally respected, was without an enemy of any description, and when he died, in 1884, at the age of 47, his funeral was of a public nature, and his loss sincerely mourned. His only brother, Hon. Curtis R. Bent, was a prominent citizen of West Union, Iowa, and a member of the Legislature.

Myron H. Bent, the author of the greater part of Antwerp's contribution to this His- tory, was born on a farm in that town, on April 22, 1865. He attended school at Ives Seminary, learned the printer's trade at 15 in the Gazette office, afterward spending a year at the Phillips Exeter Academy, N. H., one of the leading preparatory schools of the country, entering Williams College in 1885, a year ahead of his class. After a year at this institution, he became connected with the Watertown Times as Albany corres- pondent, and with the Utica Herald, and other papers at the Thousand Islands and other points. At the age of 23 he purchased the Antwerp Gazette, continuing the same until 1892.

Mr. Bent has been our main dependence in writing up Antwerp. He is a ready writer, but rather imaginative for a historian.

JAY VANRENSSELAER VANNESS.

THE late Jay Van Rensselaer Van Ness was born in Guilderland, Albany county, N. Y,. of grand old Knickerbocker parentage, in the year 1815. At the age of 27 he mar- ried Anna Maria Vrooman, of Albany, and from this union five children were born, namely : Judge A. J. Van Ness, now of Mount Sterling, Ohio; Mrs. Gladys M. Gil- lette, Mrs. Sarah Wyngert Cushman, Mrs. Frances Helen Waters and Mrs. Harriet Aris Eager, all of whom were residents of Jeffer- son county for many years. The first busi- ness venture of Mr. Van Ness was in Salis- bury, Vermont, where he joined a company for the manufacture of window glass, also carrying on a large dry goods store, in which he was very successful, and continued the business for 13 years. Finally ill-health brought him to farming in Jefferson county, near Antwerp, which occupation he followed until his death, which occurred in December, 1888. Mr. Van Ness was largely instru- mental in bringing about the construction of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Rail- road from Watertown to Potsdam Junction. He not only used his voice and pen, but was a liberal subscriber as well. He was the first station agent at Keeneville, St. Lawrence county, which position he held for nearly two years. He possessed many grand characteristics, yet was modest and unassum- ing withal, being a profound scholar and an excellent authority on all subjects. The places of such men are not easily filled.

Mrs. Cushman, one of his daughters, has been for many years a resident of Water- town, an useful member of State Street M. E. Church, and a lady respected for her in- dustry, decision of character, and charitable, home-loving disposition. Mrs.

Gillette, another daughter, has been a newspaper writer since she was 15 years of age, having been a contributor to over 30 different news- papers and publications. She taught school when 16, painted from nature at 10, and has proven herself a woman of fine literary taste and acumen. She has improved herself by travel, having visited nearly all of the States and all the larger cities of the United States. She is the author of "Facts and Fancies," published when she was in her "teens." Mrs. Gillette is a lady of refine- ment, agreeable manner and enlightened mind. Her residence is usually in New York city during the winter months, and at Thousand Island Park during the warm weather, sometimes remaining late.

In depicting the individuals who are com- memorated by biographical sketches in this History, we aim to give names and dates more prominently than traits of character. We leave very much to the imagination of the reader. Doubtless the men and women of the era from 1800 to 1865 were very much like those now in active life, who are carry- ing forward the banner of an enlarged and growing civilization.

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ANTWERP.

LUTHER H. BAILEY

WAS a man of unusual strength of character, whose very name became a synonym for in- tegrity. His career was eminently mercan- tile, and the name of Bailey was thus associ- ated, even in the infancy of the oldest of to- day. For 45 years, with an interim of only three years, he was one of Antwerp's most prominent and successful merchants.

He was born in Lowville, Lewis county, in 1816, the son of Isaiah and Mary (Horr) Bailey. He was educated at Lowville Academy, and in 1837, when 21, he came to Antwerp and engaged in mercantile business with his brother, A. J. Bailey. In or about 1855 their store was burned, and for three years Mr. Bailey, who had alone conducted the store since his brother's death, was out of

business. At this time he fully intended, and for many years afterward, to move to Minne- apolis, and with this end in view paid it a visit in 1856, in company with J. P. Ellis and John N. Green. At this time Minneapolis was not as large as Antwerp, and Mr. Bailey's brother-in-law, H. K. Joslyn, had erected a shanty, opposite St. Anthony's Falls, and afterward a frame house, upon the spot where the famous Washburn mills now stand, which was recently sold for $70,000. Mr. Joslyn located many land warrants for Mr. Bailey.

During this visit to the "Flour City," he made what terminated in a successful pur- chase, although for many years it was much of a loadstone. It was a quarter-acre lot of

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

the original plot of the city, with 66 feet front at $1,100, which was sold for $1,500 a front foot, or $99,000 in 1887.

Returning to Antwerp he engaged in busi- ness in the present store of Wait & Moore. In 1869 he erected his house, and in 1870 the brick store on the corner, retiring from busi- ness in 1882 with an ample competence.

Mr. Bailey was a staunch supporter of the cause of education, which in Antwerp never had a firmer friend. He was one of the founders-always a liberal contributor-of Ives Seminary, its treasurer for many years, and of its board of trustees a member during its entire existence, until his death. In re- ligious faith he was a Baptist, one of the last

two trustees of the Baptist Church in Ant- werp, which was sold, upon his permission, and the proceeds applied to the Soldiers' Monument fund.

Mr. Bailey was married, September 29, 1846, to Jane Church, who died in 1849, leaving one son, Janes Luther Bailey, who lived until 15 years old. In 1854 Mr. Bailey married Miss Catharine Evans, of New Bremen, Lewis county, an estimable lady of Welch parentage, who still survives him, with four children : Clark E. and Clin- ton R. Bailey, successful merchants of Winona, Minn., and Fred J. and Kate E. Bailey, of Antwerp.

ALBERT A. PITCHER.

ALBERT A. PITCHER, once of Antwerp, was a lieutenant and then captain in Com- pany C, 35th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war with that dis- tinguished regiment. Without much talent or experience in life, he was one of those whom the Civil War rescued from the oblivion that in all ages has overtaken com- mon men. Captain Pitcher is remembered in Antwerp as a harness maker. He was one of the very first to volunteer, and that of itself was a great recommendation-for the men who went into the Union army then did so from the purest motives. Bounties were then unknown. It is hard to predict what the result of Northern resistence to the slave- power would have been, had the people at the beginning fully understood the gigantic demands that would be made upon all their financial resources and upon their very

heart's blood by the exigencies of the Civil War. Be that as it may, those burthens, coming one at a time, were patiently borne, and the result was a nation free and great. After Captain Pitcher had served through the Rebellion, he emigrated to Missouri, where he was moderately successful. By an unfortunate accident he fell into a deep cistern with such force as to break both his legs. One of them had to be amputated ; he did not rally from the operation, but died in a few days after the accident.

The writer served with him in the 35th, and found him generous, confiding and ever ready to serve a friend to the utmost of his ability. Had he been educated and discip- lined in his youth, he would have developed many noble traits of character, for he had a desire for knowledge and for the great op- portunities it often brings to its possessor.

ELIJAH FULTON.

OLD age is said to be honorable, but it is chiefly so when the retrospect of its pos- sessor embraces a life of achievements and of interesting events. Such may be the back- ward look of Elijah Fulton, one of Ant- werp's oldest and most respected citizens. Commencing the great battle of life without a shilling, with only 11 months' schooling, but with indomitable energy and a never- bending will, he blazed his own way to success.

Mr. Fulton was born at West Carthage, February 14, 1811, and his remarkable memory recalls scenes in the War of 1812-14. His father, Daniel Fulton, came from Massa- chusetts, and started the first clothing works in Jefferson county, at that place. He is a descendant of Robert Fulton, the famous in- ventor, and belongs to a wood-working family, leaving home when 11 years old, to learn the trade with an uncle, Nathan Ful- ton, at Burrville, near Watertown. Having

saved 10 cents in three years, out at both elbows, and with his " good clothes " tied in a red bandana, he left the uncle to still further advance his fortunes. He stopped at an hotel on the State road, lost his 10 cents in a turkey shoot, and was given permission to sleep on a bench. Awaking at daybreak, fearfully homesick, he resolved to test the old scheme of standing a pole on end and going in the direction in which it fell. Its fortunes secured him work in Whitmore & Church's woolen mill at Great Bend, at $10 per month.

A trifling incident occurred which settled his future in Antwerp. He started for Her- mon, St. Lawrence county, upon horseback to collect (at halves) $100 in accounts for his uncle, taking maple sugar, and thereby suc- cessfully ending his first speculation. On his way, near the present residence of Frederick Stype, he met and engaged his services four years to Reuben Wilmot, pro-

ANTWERP.

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ELIJAH FULTON.

prietor of the Antwerp Carding and Clothing Works, then quite an establishment.

About 1858 his energy and sagacity were given a larger field as travelling agent for Hon. Charles B. Hoard, with whom he re- mained nearly 12 years. He was signally successful in selling engines, laying thou- sands of acres of land grants, and making collections-handling thousands without losing a dollar. He visited Denver in 1860, when it was known as Pike's Peak. It then had but one wooden building, an hotel, made from green lumber hauled 75 miles, and the cracks in the sleeping apartments were filled with paper. Mr. Fulton sat at the same table and was well acquainted with Kit Carson, the noted hunter.

Mr. Fulton bid off upon a mortgage sale, for Mr. Hoard, the township of Ceredo, W. Va., where a thriving village now

stands, surrounded by valuable coal and timber lands. He was upon the exciting theatre of Washington much of the time be- fore and during the war, and his impressions of Lincoln, Seward, Buchanan, Stephens, both of the Johnsons, Sherman, Blaine and Conkling, are vivid and entertaining.

Elijah Fulton was twice married; first in 1840 to Betsey Heald, daughter of Daniel Heald, first supervisor of the town, and she died in 1859; then, in 1865, to Lavina Ellis, sister of Hon. John D. Ellis, who died in 1886. His only daughter by his first mar- riage, Libbie, died in 1868. He represented Antwerp upon the Board of Supervisors four years, and has been president of the village. Since 1872 he has not been active in business, having obtained a comfortable for- tune as the fruit of industry and shrewd management.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

DR. IRA H. ABELL.

DR. ABELL, for many years one of the most prominent and highly esteemed physicians in Jefferson county, was born at Fairfield, Vermont, January 1, 1823, and died at Ant- werp, N. Y., from a wasting consumption, April 29, 1894. His father, Dr. Chester Abell, of Fairfield, married Miss Abigail Cor- liss Stone, of East Berkshire, Vt. He died aged 36 years, having already won high re- gard in his profession.

His son, Ira, was educated in St. Albans, Vt .; studied medicine there with Dr. Locke Chandler, and graduated from Woodstock Medical College, Woodstock, Vt. In 1851 he married Miss Caroline C. Wiggins, of Irasburgh, Vt. They had two children-a son, George Wiggins, a peculiarly gifted

child, who died in 1876, aged five years, and a daughter, now Mrs. Archibald L. Hilton. Mrs. Abell also survives her husband.

Dr. Abell's professional life covered a period of 50 years, 40 of which were spent in Antwerp, to which place he came from Vermont in 1853. He was especially inter- ested in the organization of the Jefferson County Medical Society ; served a term as its president, and was never absent from its meetings except as compelled by necessity. From 1876 to 1880 he was delegate to the State Medical Society, of which he became a permanent member. Later he was one of the founders of the State Medical Associa- ation, and for five years was a member of its executive committee. In the deliberations of

Alexander Copley

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ANTWERP.

both State bodies he was an active partici- pant, and in the County Society active and influential, expressing his views candidly, openly and forcibly, on all subjects brought before it for consideration. His papers and addresses were practical and to the point, and he was much beloved and respected by the members, not only of the Association, but by his brethren generally in the profession of medicine. Dr. Abell was a conscientious man, regarding his profession, not as a trade -a mere means of subsistence-but as a sacred trust, to be used for the benefit of his fellows. He ever exerted himself to main- tain a high standard of professional honor, abhorring all forms of quackery and pre- tense, whether practiced by members of the regular profession or not. Always desiring to give those under his care the benefit of the best and most approved methods of treat- ment, he was throughout his life a diligent

student of the science of medicine. A man of wonderful vitality and force of character, prompt, firm, cheerful and kind, his presence in the sick-room inspired hope and confi- dence. He was ever solicitous for the wel- fare and success of his juniors in the profes- sion, gladly giving them the benefit of his larger experience. Dr. Abell was a man of mark in the community where he so long resided. As a physician he was high-minded and skillful, as a citizen public-spirited, up- right and fearless at all times, and under all circumstances. He was the steadfast cham- pion of that which is right and pure-a true Christian gentleman.

Col. C. C. Abell, of the 10th New York Heavy Artillery, was the brother of Dr. Abell. There were two sisters, Mrs. Alvah J. French, of Franklin, Vt., who died in 1861, and Miss Ruth G. Abell, who resides in Antwerp.

ALEXANDER COPLEY,

THE son of a respected farmer, was born in Denmark, Lewis county, N. Y., September 10, 1805. His boyhood was spent upon his father's farm, with the exception of four years at the home of his maternal grand- father, in New Lebanon, N. Y. He gained his education chiefly from the common schools of the day. "Seated on the flat side of a pine-slab, supported by the unbarked limbs of a tree driven into a two-inch auger- hole, he studied the three "R's," reading, writing and arithmetic. Beyond this he spent one year at Lowville Academy, pay- ing his own way as janitor of the buildings. At an early age he became a clerk in the store of William K. Butterfield, at Felt's Mills, but soon changed to the store of Jason Francis, and shortly became a partner with Mr. Francis ; then bought him out, and finally sold again to Francis & Butterfield. He also became a partner with John Felt and William Coburn, in the lumber trade. After about three years his attention was called to a tract of over 400 acres of wood-land for sale in the town of Lyme, owned by parties in New York city. He had just collected funds to renew his stock of goods, but went to the city and bought the land instead of the goods, came home, closed up his affairs at Felts Mills, and on October 30, 1833, he was married to Miss Lucy Kelsey, of Cham- pion, N. Y. For a wedding trip they moved into the then dense forests of Lyme, where they fonnd a small house and barn and four acres of cleared land, and began a warfare upon the tall pines, some old stumps of which to this day remain as a memento of their toils. At the head of half a dozen choppers, Mr. Copley himself led the attack. while the young wife, alone, and with her own hands, did the indoor labors for the whole family. She started life with the idea of helping to accumulate and economize.

Before spring came, Mr. Copley had 30 acres of his pine forest cleared, burned over and ready to grow bread for his family. But while swinging the axe on those dreary winter days, his sharp foresight discerned a fortune in those wild lands, stretching out on every side of him, and ere the next sum- mer went by he had purchased 2,562 acres of the Vincent LeRay lands. He then moved to Chaumont, bought a house, store, saw- and grist-mill of William Clark, making that his future home.

Three years later he purchased a large tract of 16,961 acres of Gouverneur Morris. These lands lay in the three towns of Clay- ton, Brownville and Lyme. Later in life he added to his purchases 10,000 acres in the town of Antwerp, making nearly 35,000 in all. Thus he became the largest holder of lands lying in the bounds of the county. This large property was shrewdly managed, greatly increasing in value as the county became settled, and made him one of the wealthiest men of the county at the time of his death.

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 96

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094