USA > New York > Tioga County > Historical gazetter of Tioga County, New York, 1785-1888. Pt. 1 > Part 34
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Stephen Strong was born in Connecticut, October 11, 1791, and removed with his parents to Jefferson county, N. Y., when very young. In 1814 or 1815, he came to Owego, where he at first taught school and afterward studied law. He was district attorney of Tioga county from July, 1836, to July, 1838, and was reappointed in 1844. He was appointed first judge of Tioga county April 18, 1838, and held that office until February 2, 1843. He was elected to the office of county judge, in November, 1855, and served four years. He was also the repres- entative of the 22nd district in the congress of 1845-7. He died at Waterloo, N.Y., April 5, 1866, to which place he had removed the year previous.
Stephen B. Leonard was born in New York city, April 15, 1793, and came to Owego in his youth with his father, Silas Leonard. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the American Farmer. He purchased the office, and in 1814, changed the name of the paper to The Owego Gazette, which he continued to publish until 1835, when he was elected to congress. He was re-elected in 1839. Mr. Leonard was postmaster of the village of Owego from 1816 to 1820, and from 1844 to 1849. He was a village trustee, in 1822 and 1823, and supervisor of the town in 1854 and 1856. During the administration of President Buchanan, he was a deputy United States marshal. In 1816, he established the first stage route from Owego to Bath. He had previously carried the first mail through Tioga county on horseback, in order to deliver his newspaper. He died in Owego, May S, 1876. His sons are William B. Leonard, of Brooklyn; Hermon C. Leonard, of Portland, Oregon, and George S. Leonard, of Owego.
Latham A. Burrows was born at Groton, Conn., in 1793, and was admitted to the bar of Tioga county, in 1816. From Febru- ary 14, 1821, to January 1, 1822, he was county clerk of Broome
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county, and from 1824 to 1827, inclusive, an associate judge of Tioga county. In 1827, he was elected first judge of Tioga county, being the first professional lawyer who sat upon the bench of the common pleas in this county. He was also state senator from 1824 to 1828. He commenced a general mercantile business in Owego in 1828. During his mercantile career he was president of the village from 1836 to 1839, inclusive. He subsequently re- moved to Buffalo, where he died on the 25th of September, 1855.
Colonel Amos Martin was born at Salisbury, Conn., in 1775, and removed, in 1815, to Candor, in this county, where he opened a country store. Two years later he removed to Owego, where he continued the mercantile business until his death, which occurred May 14, 1835. While engaged in the mercantile business, he was also proprietor of the hotel known as the Goodman Coffee House, from 1819 to 1823. Colonel Martin's sons are John H. Martin, of Kansas City, Mo., and. Jay H. Martin, of Tioga Center.
David Turner was a son of Abner Turner, one of the earliest settlers on the Owego creek, in the town of Tioga, three miles north of Owego village, and was born in 1800. He was engaged in the mercantile business in Owego from 1818 to 1835, most of the time with Jonathan Platt, Jr. His son, Edward Turner, re- sides at Flint, Mich.
John Carmichael was born at Johnstown, Montgomery (now Fulton) county, N. Y., August 12, 1795. He learned the trade of a jeweler and watchmaker, in Albany. He came to Owego in October, 1819. and opened a jewelery store, continuing in busi- ness until September, 1849. . He was the first collector of the vil- lage of Owego, at the time of its incorporation, in 1827, and was re-elected every year thereafter until 1834, inclusive. He was village assessor four years, and was elected treasurer of Tioga county, in 1837. He died in Owego, April 24, 1878. His sons were Charles S. and Horace Carmichael. The former is still a resident of Owego.
Ziba A. Leland was one of the early lawyers of Owego, and was born in Vermont. He came to this village and formed a law partnership with John H. Avery May 1, 1820. In April, 1822. he was appointed justice of the peace. From Owego he removed to Bath, where he was first judge of Steuben county from 1838 to IS43. He also represented that county in the assembly, in IS42 and 1843. Later in life he removed to Auburn, and thence to Saratoga, where he died.
Gurdon Hewitt was born at New London, Conn., May 5, 1790.
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He came with his parents to Oxford, N. Y., in 1796, and afterward removed to Towanda, Pa., where he engaged in the mercantile business. He became a resident of Owego in 1823. He was the first president of the Bank of Owego, and subsequently for a nuin- ber of years its cashier. Upon coming to Owego he commenced a general mercantile business in company with his brother-in-law. Jonathan Platt, Jr. A year afterward he purchased Mr. Platt's interest and continued the business alone until 1837, when he formed a partnership with John M. Greenleaf. The firm of Greenleaf & Hewitt existed until September, 1849. There after Mr. Hewitt devoted his entire attention to the banking business and the management of his large property. He died in Owego, December 24, 1871. His sons are Gurdon and Frederick C. Hewitt.
Dr. Ezekiel B. Phelps was born at Hebron, Conn., in 1800. After graduating at the New Haven Medical College, in 1824, he practiced medicine at Manchester, Conn. In September of the same year he removed to Owego, where he has since resided.
John M. Greenleaf was born at Granville, Washington county, N. Y., May 19, 1806. He came to Owego in the fall of 1826. In 1833 he entered into the mercantile business with Lyman Truman. which partnership continued three years. From 1837 to 1849 he was engaged in the same business with Gurdon Hewitt. He died in Owego, August 23, 1881. His son, Dr. J. T. Greenleaf, resides in Owego.
Ezra S. Sweet was born at New Bedford, Mass., June 3, 1796. He came to Owego in December, 1835. and commenced the prac- tice of law. He was for several years a justice of the peace, and was district attorney of Tioga county from 1838 to 1841, and from 1847 to 1851. He also represented the county in the assembly, in IS49. He died in Owego, October 16, 1869. He has one sur- viving son, Charles H. Sweet, who resides in Elmira.
Aaron P. Storrs was born at Mansfield, Conn., in 1811, and came to Owego with his uncle, Rev. Aaron Putnam, in December. 1827. In September, 1835. he engaged in the general mercantile business, and has continued in that and the hardware business, with various partners. until the present time. He is at present a mem- ber of the hardware firm of Storrs, Chatfield & Co.
Thomas Farrington was born at Delhi. Delaware county. N. Y., February 12. 175). At the age of thirteen years he was an orderly upon the staff of his father, Gen. Putnam Farrington, in the war of 1812. He graduated at Union College, in 1826, and
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came to practice law. in Owego in 1828. He represented Tioga county in the assembly in I$33 and 1840, and was appointed surro- gate of the county April 30, 1835. . He was a member of the board of trustees of the village of Owego in 1839 and 1857, and presi- dent of the village in 1850. He was appointed treasurer of the state of New York on February 7; 1842, and served until Febru - ary 3, 1845. In the latter year he was appointed adjutant-general of the state. He was re-appointed state treasurer February 2, 1846, and served until November 2, 1847. He was elected judge of Tioga county in 1859, and was twice re-elected, serving three terms of four years each. He died in Owego, December 2, 1872. His wife was a daughter of John H. Avery. His sons are Edward A., of New York, and Frank J., of St. Paul, Minn.
Dr. Ezekiel Lovejoy was born at Stratford, Conn., July 6, 1803. He studied medicine in New York city, and, after taking his degree of Doctor of Medicine, was for a time surgeon in the navy of the republic at Buenos Ayres. He came to Owego, in 1829, and was the first physician to practice Homeopathy in Owego. Dr. Lovejoy never held but one public office, that of supervisor of the town of Owego, in 1854. He died in Owego August 15, 1871.
Aaron, Lyman, and Asa H. Truman, sons of Shem Truman, of Old Canaan, Conn., were early settlers of Park Settlement, in the town of Candor-Aaron, in 1804; Lvman, in 1805; and Asa H., in 1810.
Aaron was born at Granville, Mass., July 27, 1785, and died January 13, 1823. He married Experience Park, of Connecti. cut, in 1805. She died in 1844. His sons were Lyman, Orin, Charles, Francis W., and George Truman.
Lyman Park Truman was born at Park Settlement, March 2, 1806. In 1830, he came to Owego and entered Asa HI. Truman's store as a clerk. Three years afterward he commenced the mercantile business on his own account. In May, 1836, the firm of L. Tru- man & Brothers was formed and they conducted a successful lumber and mercantile business for nearly thirty years. In this firm Mr. Truman was associated with three of his brothers, Orin, Frank, and George. In 1356, Mr. Truman became president of the Bank of Owego, and continued at the head of that institution and its successor, the First National Bank of Owego, until a short time prior to his death. During his active life Mr. Truman filled various town offices, from constable to supervisor. In 1857, he was chosen state senator from the 24th district, and was
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re-elected in 1859 and 1861. He died in Owego, March 24, 1881, leaving a large fortune as the result of his active life.
Orin Truman was born at Park Settlement, February 17, 1811, and died in Owego, September 30, IS85. He was unmarried.
Charles Truman resides at Flemingville, where he has held the office of justice of the peace for nearly thirty years. He was born November 11, 1807. His sons are Aaron, Lyman B., Elias W. and Charles F. Truman.
George Truman was born June 16, 1816, and resides in the village of Owego. He is the head of the firm of George Truman, Son & Co., and president of the First National Bank. His sons are Gilbert F., William S., and George Truman, Jr., all residents of Owego.
Francis W. Truman was born December 13, 1812, and was until recently at the head of the manufacturing firm of. Gere, Truman, Platt & Co., in Owego.
Lyman Truman was born at Granville, Mass., in 1783, and died at Park Settlement, November 2, 1822. His sons were Levi B., Stephen S., James and Benjamin L. Truman. Levi B. died May 21, 1879, at Park Settlement. Stephen S. and Benjamin L. Tru- man are residents of the village of Owego.
Asa H. Truman was born at Sparta, N. Y., February 26, 1793. He taught school at Park Settlement, and afterward, from 1816 to 1825, kept a tavern and country store at Flemingville. In the latter year he came to Owego village, where he conducted a gen- eral mercantile business until his death, which occurred Febru- ary 6, 1848. His sons were Lucius Truman, who resides at Wellsboro, Pa., William H. Truman, who lives in New York, Charles Truman and Edward D. Truman. The latter died in Dixon, Ill., June 6, 1862. Charles was lieutenant of a company of infantry during the rebellion, and was killed in battle in 1862.
William H. Bell was born six miles north of Owego village, on the West Owego creek, November 18. 1811. His father, William Bell, was a farmer. He was engaged in the lumber and mercan- tile business in Owego twenty years. He retired from active business in 1867. In IS70 he was stricken with paralysis, from the effects of which he died on the 20th of April, 1876.
Gideon O. Chase was born at Cambridge, Washington Co., N. Y., March 29, 1808, and in early life was a cabinetmaker. He came to Owego in 1832. He represented Tioga county in the assembly in 1844 and 1845. From 1846 to 1849 he was under- sheriff of the county. In May, 1848, he established the Tioga
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Liman Tomar
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treiman, which he edited until its publication was discontinued, $41 September, 1850. He was in the employ of the Erie Railway Company from 1855 to 1867, most of the time as station-agent : Smithboro, at which place he died, March 26, 1887.
Col. Nathaniel W. Davis was born at Weston, Fairfield Co., Conn., May 10, 1807. He studied law at Ithaca, and came to i wego to practice, in IS32. He was surrogate of Tioga county trom 1840 to 1844, and member of assembly in 1844 and 1863. He was also a village trustee in 1839 1842, and 1847, and president «: the village in 1859 and 1860. He was much interested in mili- tary affairs, and was for several years colonel of the 53d and 54th regiments of New York State militia. He died in Owego, July 11, 1874. His only son, Nathaniel W. Davis, Jr., is a resident of the town of Tioga.
John Mason Parker was among the earliest as well as the fore- most lawyers of the county. He was the son of John C. Parker, a prominent lawyer of Washington county, N. Y., and was born in Granville, in that county, June 14, 1805. He obtained his pre- Iminary education at Granville Academy, of which institution the distinguished teacher, Salem Town, L. L. D., was then pre- ceptor, and he graduated with the highest honors at Middlebury College. in 1828. He pursued the study of law in the office of Hon. John P. Cushman, in the city of Troy, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and soon after settled at Owego, in the practice of his profession. His thorough scholarship, his well trained and logi- wal mind, his industry and uncompromising integrity soon won : r him a foremost place at the bar, as well as the entire confi- cance and admiration of the people of the county. Marked deference was at once universally accorded to his legal opinions ty all his rivals in the profession. They were characterized by steat thoroughness of research, and the preparation of his causes by an absolute completeness that left no point unprovided for.
At all times he bore a personal character not only exempt from Irproach, but entirely above suspicion. His conversation and personal demeanor were always cultivated and refined, universally fre from anything that would have offended the most delicate and fastidious.
He was elected to represent the 27th (now 28th) congressional strict of the State of New York in the U. S. House of Repre- atatives two consecutive terms, from 1855 to 1850. In 1859 he was elected a justice of the supreme court of the state, and was . mitinued in that exalted position until his death. During the 23*
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last six years of that period he was a justice of the general term of the third department, having been so designated by Governor Hoffman. During part of his judicial service he sat as a member of the court of appeals.
In his earlier life Judge Parker was in politics a Whig, but upon the formation of the Republican party he became and there- after remained a steadfast and prominent member of that party.
As a judge he was invariably courteous to all. He heard with the utmost patience and equanimity, everything that suitors had to urge. He never impatiently interrupted-or captiously criti- cised counsel. He never availed himself of his position on the bench to demonstrate his own superiority to those who were before him. He never consciously allowed any extraneous con- siderations to bias his opinions, nor tolerated officious and irregular attempts to influence him. A temperament naturally and constitutionally nervous was subdued to equanimity by severe self control. And suitors uniformly went from the tribunal over which he presided with the conviction that their cases had been thoroughly examined and considered and fairly and honestly decided. The numerous opinions delivered by him and spread through the volumes of reports from 1859 to 1873 are, after all, his best memorial as a judge.
The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Middlebury College, in 1865. He was an active member of St. Paul's church, Owego, and at the time of his death its junior warden.
Judge Parker married for his first wife, Catherine Ann, daughter of Charles Pumpelly, of Owego. in September, 1835. She died in December, 1845, leaving four children, of whom two only now survive, Charles Edward, a prominent lawyer and now County Judge of Tioga county, and Francis Henry, who is Lieut .- Colonel of Ordnance, U. S. army. On March 1, 1854, he married for his second wife Stella A. Pumpelly, who still survives him.
On the evening of December 6. 1873, Judge Parker died of apoplexy, at his residence in Owego. He was thus called away by death in the midst of his activity and usefulness, universally esteemed and regretted.
Few men have lived to old age whose public and private course and character would bear the brightest and most search- ing light of investigation as well as that of Judge Parker. He seems to have been born with high principles and aims, with a humane and kindly nature, with refined tastes and a strong in- tellect, qualities which would have won him the confidence,
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respect and affection of any community. He will be remembered as the able and upright public man and the beloved Christian gentleman.
Hon. Charles E. Parker, the present county judge and sur- rogate of Tioga county, eldest son of John M. Parker, was born in Owego, August 25, 1836. He was educated at the Owego academy, and graduated at Hobart college, in Geneva, N. Y., in the class of 1857. Upon leaving college he studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1859. He was elected to the convention of 1867, held at" Albany, to amend the constitution of the state of New York, and with one exception was the youngest member of that body. In the fall of 1883 he was elected to the office which he now holds. As this work is being published, he is a candidate for election to the office of justice of the supreme court of the sixth judicial district. With . these exceptions he has held no political office, but has been steadily engaged in the practice of his profession in his native village.
In 1865, Judge Parker married Mary, daughter of Judge Thomas Farrington, of Owego. He has always been a Repub- lican in politics, and is a member of St. Paul's church.
As a lawyer, Judge Parker ranks among the leading members of the profession, and enjoys the thorough confidence and respect of the people of the county.
Timothy P. Patch was born at Ashburnham, Mass., December 3. 1809. He came to Owego in February. 1834, and opened a meat market. He continued in that and the grocery business until 1855. In 1860, he removed to Towanda. Pa., where he resided until his removal to Corning, N. Y., a few months previous to his death, which occurred June 30, 1882. In 1850, Mr. Patch built a three-story brick block in Lake street, in which was Patch's Hall, which at the time was the largest public hall in the village.
Joshua L. Pinney was born at Armenia, Duchess Co., N. Y., October 17, 1783. He came to Owego in June, 1835, and com- menced a drug business, which he continued in company with his sons, until his death, which occurred October 15, 1855. One of his five sons, Hammon D. Pinney, is still a resident of Owego.
Robert Cameron was born, in 1817, in Chanceford township, York Co., Pa., and came to Owego with his brother, John Cam- vron, in 1831, and entered the store of another brother, James Cameron, as a clerk. In 1840, he opened a grocery store, and
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continued in business until 1869, when he retired from active business.
George B. Goodrich was born in the town of Tioga, December 1, 1816, and came to Owego to reside, in 1831. He was, from 1837 until his death, at the head of the dry goods store of G. B. Goodrich & Co. He was also president of the Owego National Bank from the time of its establishment, until his death, which occurred Jaunary S, 1886.
Dr. Lucius H. Allen was born in Lunenburg (now Athens), Greene county, N. Y., January 31, 1796. He studied medicine in Connecticut, and graduated at Brown University, in Provi- dence, R. I., in 1820. Thereafter he resided eleven years in Buf- falo and Cherry Valley, N. Y. He removed to Berkshire, in this county, in 1830, and two years later he came to Owego, where he has ever since resided.
Andrew H. Calhoun was born in Boston, Mass., April 1, 1798. He came to Owego, in 1836, and commenced the publication of the Owego Advertiser, which he continued until April, 1853. He was clerk of the state senate, in 1848-9, and canal appraiser, in 1851-2. In 1863, he was appointed to a clerkship in the New York custom house, which position he held at the time of his death, which occurred in Brooklyn, December 17, 1874.
William F. Warner was born at Hardwick, Vt., January 18, 1819, and came to Owego, in 1834. He practiced law with Col. N. W. Davis, and was afterward a member of the law firm of Warner, Tracy & Walker. Mr. Warner was a public-spirited citizen, and was conspicuous in all movements for the advance- ment and improvement of Owego. He was clerk of the village from 1848 to 1854. He was the first president of the village elected by the people, in 1855, and was re-elected, in 1856 and IS57. He organized the Owego Gas Light Company, in 1856, of which he was president, superintendent and treasurer many years. Since September, 1871, he has been a resident of Wa- verly. At present he holds the office of special county judge of Tioga county. Mr. Warner wrote the Centennial History of Tioga County, in 1876, and was the leading spirit in organizing the centennial celebration of the battle of New Town, and the erection of a monument in commemoration of that event, in 1879.
William P. Stone was born in Stillwater, Saratoga Co., N. Y., in 1810, and came with his parents to Tioga county, in 1817, and settled near Flemingville. In 1834, he came to Owego and en-
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S. th. Parken
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saged in the mercantile business, which he continued, with vari- og- partners, until February, 1874, when he retired from active business.
Hon. John J. Taylor, for many years the most prominent Dem- ocratic politician, and one of the most prominent members of the bar of Tioga county, was born in the town of Leominster, Worcester county, Mass., April 27, 1808. His parents, John Taylor and Anne Taylor, came from Oldham, near Manchester, England.
Leaving the common school when about fourteen years of age, and pursuing the studies preparatory to entering college, at the New Ipswich academy, in New Hampshire, and the Groton academy, in Massachusetts, he entered Harvard university, Cam- bridge, from the latter academy, in 1825, at the age of seventeen. He graduated therefrom in August, 1829, in a class of over sixty members, in which were included Benjamin Curtis, afterwards justice of the supreme court of the United States, George W. Bigelow, afterwards chief justice of the supreme judicial court of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Samuel F. Smith, author of " My country, 'tis of thee," Ben- jamin F. Pierce, afterwards superintendent of the coast survey, James Freeman Clarke, William H. Channing, and others whom the people, not only of this but of other countries, have delighted to honor.
After graduating. he spent a few months in teaching, a part of the time in the high school of the Franklin Institute of Phila- Elphia.
lo 1830, he came to the city of Troy, N. Y., and passed two - Years as a law student in the office of Judge David Buel, and, after that, some months in the office of Hon. John A. Collier, at Binghamton, N. Y. From Binghamton he went to Greene, Che- mango county, where he spent two years, part of the time in the study, and a part of the time in the practice of the law.
On the last day of December, 1834, he removed to Owego, where he has ever since resided, and entered into a law partner- ship, on the ist day of January, 1835, with the late Judge Stephen "trong, which continued until August, 1838, when it was dis- solved by mutual consent.
Ou the 18th day of May, A. D., 1837, he married Miss Emily 1.vang, daughter of Mrs. Mary Anne Laning, of Owego, and the user of Mrs. Ellen H. Bicking and Mary Anne Rosette, of Phil- adelphia, and of Augustus C., Matthias H., and John C. Laning.
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By her he had only one son, John L. Taylor, who was born June 24, 1839, and who, having espoused Miss Sarah J. Reed, is now the father of a family of four children, to wit, Robert J., Emile G., Mary L., and Emily. Mr. John J. Taylor's only daughter .. Sarah, was born June 27, 1841, and having married Mr. L. Burr Pearsall, died early, leaving no issue now surviving her.
Mr. Taylor, on his arrival at Owego, speedily won his way to the first rank in the profession, among members of a numerous bar of universally conceded ability; so that his employment on one side or the other of every important case became a matter of course.
He took a leading part, as a Democrat, in the politics of the county, and was appointed by the Court of Common Pleas, in the year 1838, its district attorney. He discharged the duties of that office for five years successively, when he was compelled to resign it by the pressure of other business.
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