USA > New York > Tioga County > Historical gazetter of Tioga County, New York, 1785-1888. Pt. 1 > Part 35
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In 1846, he was elected to represent the county of Tioga, in the convention of that year, to revise the constitution of the State of New York ; and, in IS50, was the Democratic candidate for con- gress in the 26th district of the State of New York, composed of the counties of Chenango, Broome and Tioga, but was defeated by Henry Bennett, of Chenango county.
In 1852, having been again selected as the Democratic candi. date for congress in the congressional district composed of the counties of Tioga, Tompkins, and Chemung, he was elected over his opponent, the Hon. Charles Cook, of Havana. He served as a member of the committees on foreign affairs, and on the District of Columbia. He stood very high in favor with the Democratic administration. He was tendered by President Pierce, but declined, the appointment of commissioner to settle the northwestern boundary'of the United States, and his name was widely canvassed for collector of the port of New York.
In 1858 he was selected as the Democratic candidate for lieu- tenant-governor of the state of New York, and was run on the ticket with Hon. Amasa J. Parker, as the Democratic candidate for governor. Both were defeated, the Democratic party being then largely in the minority in the state.
During all this period Mr. Taylor actively and successfully continued the practice of his legal profession. A studious and laborious life had made him a master of the learning of that pro- fession, and great natural acuteness of discernment and thor- oughly sound practical common sense gave him unusual accu-
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racy in the application of its principles to cases as they arose. A character of unimpeachable integrity, and a habit of candid state- ment always inspired those he addressed with confidence, and his lucid and exhaustive arguments uniformally left but little re- maining to be said after he had finished what he had to say ; so that he was always a sound, effective and successful speaker, whether in his political addresses, or his forensic efforts.
He assisted in the organization of the Bank of Tioga, which was afterwards changed to the National Union Bank, and was for many years its president. He was elected and officiated for many years as the vice-president, and afterwards as the president of the Southern Central Railroad Company.
Mrs. Taylor died November 25, 1879; since which time Mr. Taylor's own health has been so infirm as to preclude all atten- tion to any other business than such as the management of her estate and his own private property has made necessar
Frank L. Jones was born at Lisle, Broome county, N. Y., October 29, 1822, and came to Owego, in 1837. He was in the mer- cantile business, and afterwards in insurance. In February, 1868, he was appointed sheriff of Tioga county, to fill a vacancy. He was president of the village of Owego, in 1869, and postmaster from 1871 to 1879. In July, 1880, he was appointed agent and warden of Auburn State Prison, which position he held at the time of his death, which occurred at Coudersport, Pa., Novem- bei 8, 1883. While a resident of Pennsylvania, in 1852, he was elected sheriff of Potter county.
Thomas 1. Chatfield was born at Great Barrington, Mass., September 16, 1818. He was by trade a baker, and when he came to Owego, in March, 1839, he worked as a journeyman until the following October, when he commenced business on his own account. He afterward engaged in the grocery business, which he continued until a short time previous to his death, which oc- curred May 2, 1884. Mr. Chatfield was a prominent and public- spirited citizen. He served four years as village trustee, and three years as village supervisor. He was also president of the village. in 1868. In 1853, he represented Tioga county in the assembly, and was a candidate for state treasurer, in 1869. He ยท was a member of the state senate, in 1871 and IS72. He was also treasurer of the Tioga County Agricultural Society, for many years. He has one son, T. I. Chatfield, Jr., who resides in Owego.
Alanson Munger was born at Ludlow, Mass., February 5, ISO1.
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In 1827, he removed to Hamilton, N. Y., and thence to Owego, in 1840. He formed a law partnership with Stephen Strong, which continued two years. He practiced law during the re- mainder of his life with no partner. He was appointed judge of Tioga county, in February, 1843, and surrogate, in January, 1844. He was elected district attorney, in 1850, and special county judge, in 1861. He died in Owego December 31, 1877.
Charles A. Munger, a son of Alanson Munger, was born at Hamilton, N. Y., July 13, 1830. He commenced the practice of law when he was twenty-one years of age. " He held the office of justice of the peace, and was special county judge of Tioga county from 1853 to 1855, and from 1865 to 1867. He was a gen- tleman of fine culture, a contributor to the magazines, and a poet of no ordinary genius. A volume of his poems was published, in 1874, subsequent to his death, which occurred September 3, 1873.
Dr. Hiram N. Eastman was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., August 17, 1810. He graduated as a physician at Fairfield Med- ical College, in 1838, and commenced practice at Candor, in this county. In January, 1840, he removed to Owego, where he re- sided until December, 1861, when he removed to Geneva, where two years previously he had been appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Theory and Practice of Medicine, in Geneva Medical College. In August, 1870, he was appointed lecturer on Materia Medica and Hygiene at the University of Buffalo. He subse- quently removed to' Waverly, Iowa, where he remained until October, 1874, when he returned to Owego, where he died on the 14th day of October, 1879. His sons are Dr. C. C. Eastman, of the Binghamton Insane Asylum; Dr. R. W. Eastman, of Owego ; Rev. Rush Eastman, of Torresdale, Pa .; and Rev. George N. Eastman, of New York city.
Henry N. Hubbard was born at Middle Haddam, Mass , Jan- uary 18, 1809. He came to Owego in September, 1841, as a clerk for Greenly & Shapley, merchants. In May, 1843, he became a member of the firm, one of the partners retiring, and he contin- - ued in business until his death, which occurred on the 8th of May, 1883. He has one son, Henry D., who resides at Torrington, Conn.
Arba Campbell was born in Lebanon, Madison county, N. Y., March 3, 1809. When but two years of age his parents removed to Susquehanna county, Pa. When grown to manhood. he spent the summer months in buying and selling wool, and the winter in teaching school. He subsequently went to New York city,
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Charles E. Parken
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where he remained until 1842, when he removed to Owego and engaged in the wool trade, in which he was successful. To this business he added that of pulling and tanning sheep skins. At about forty years of age he became interested in farming, partic- ularly in agricultural chemistry, making many scientific experi- ments and giving much of his time and thought to it. The results of his experiments have been frequently published, and are re- markably instructive. During a sojourn abroad, Mr. Campbell visited the farms of France and England, obtaining much informa- tion from observation, which was subsequently applied to experi- ments here. Mr. Campbell owns four farms-two in Tioga county, one in Chemung county, and one in Pennsylvania, in Bradford county.
Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy was born at Apalachin, in 1829, and is the son of Benjamin Tracy, of whom mention is made in the history of the settlement of Apalachin. In early life he taught school in Owego, and afterward studied and practiced law. In November, 1853, when but twenty-four years of age, he was elected district attorney of Tioga county, and in 1856, he was re- elected over Gilbert C. Walker, who was subsequently his law part- ner and afterward governor of Virginia. The law firm of Warner, Tracy & Walker was dissolved a short time previous to the breaking out of the rebellion. In 1862, General Tracy was elected to the assembly, and in the same year he organized the 109th regiment, N.Y. vols., of which he was the colonel. He served with distinction in the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court-house, and after returning from the front was placed in command of the rebel prison camp and head- quarters for drafted men, in Elmira. At the close of the war he went to Brooklyn, where he resumed the practice of law. October 1, 1866, he was appointed United States district attorney for the eastern district of New York by President Johnson, and again January 23, 1871, by President Grant. At the end of his second term he declined reappointment and renewed his law practice, in company with his brother-in-law, General Catlin. He was a member of Plymouth church, and in the celebrated Beecher-Tilton trial was prominent among the counsel for the defence. General Tracy was appointed an associate judge of the court of appeals of this state. December 9. ISSI, in place of Judge Andrews, promoted to chief judge. At the close of his term of office he declined a renomination. He is now out of
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active politics and devoting his attention to his law practice in Brooklyn.
Hiram A. Beebe was born in the town of Bridgewater, Pa., March 1I, 1817, and learned the printer's trade in the office of the Montrose Volunteer. In January, 1843, he came to Owego and became editor of the Gasette, continuing his connection with that newspaper until September 1, 1880, with the exception of about a year, in 1846, when he resided at Westfield, Mass., where he edited the Westfield Standard. During his residence at West- field he was elected a member of the Massachusetts legislature. Mr. Beebe was president of the village of Owego, in 1852 and 1871, and postmaster nine years from May, 1853.
Ezra S. Buckbee was born, in March, 1827, three miles north of the village of Owego. He came to Owego when sixteen years of age. He was engaged in the mercantile business until his death, which occured August 10, 1883. He was supervisor of the town of Owego, in 1861, and was twice elected treasurer of Tioga county, serving from 1854 to 1860.
Charles R. Barstow was born at Great Barrington, Mass., in March, 1804, and came to the town of Nichols, in 1816. He was loan commissioner of Tioga county from 1840 to 1842. He was elected sheriff, in 1843, and member of assembly, in 1846. From 1849 to 1853, he was postmaster of Owego. In April, 1865, he was appointed a port warden of New York city, and held that office until August, 1868. He died at Big Rapids, Mich., December 10, ISSO.
Hon. William Smyth was born in County Derry, Ireland, June 19, 1819. His ancestry, both on his father's and mother's side, were among the defenders of Londonderry, strongly supporting King William, Prince of Orange, in the struggle for Protestant ascendency, which at that time caused such intense bitterness in Ireland.
The subject of this memoir, having received a thorough class- ical education, entered the Royal Academic Institute, Belfast, from which he was graduated, in 1842, having taken second honors .in the Greek and moral philosophy classes. He also spent two years in Edinburgh University. For the next three years he was engaged as a private tutor in a gentleman's family, and prepared three young men for entering Glasgow University. He was afterward employed as principal of a classical school in County Derry.
In 1847, he married Martha, eldest daughter of Daniel Stewart
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Mackay, of Moss Side, County Antrim. The same year he emi- grated to America, landing in New York the 27th of November. For a few months his time was employed in writing contribu- tions to the New York Sun and New York Observer. March 4, 1848, he visited Owego, and was engaged by the trustees of the Owego Academy as principal, entering upon his duties the 12th of April following, which position he retained until June, I854, when he resigned on account of ill health. The most successful period in the history of the Owego Academy was during his administration. The management found it necessary to add three departments, and he had engaged six assistants, having an aver- age attendance of 250 pupils.
In 1854 he purchased the Owego Advertiser, and soon there- after changed the name to the Owego Times, which name it has since retained. As a journalist Mr. Smyth occupies quite a prominent position.
In 1857, Mr. Smyth was elected school commissioner of Tioga county, and re-elected, in 1860, this time by the very large majority of 1,012 votes. The same year he was appointed village clerk; in 1863-64 he served as trustee of the village, and in 1865-67 was its president; in 1867, was appointed justice of the peace ; in 1872, he represented Tioga county in the assembly : in 1873, was appointed deputy superintendent of the state insurance department, which office he held for three years, and at the resignation of the Hon. O. W. Chapman, he became acting super- intendent, and held the office for one year, until his successor was appointed. It was during his incumbency that a rigid examination of insurance companies commenced, which resulted in the indictment of the officers of the Security Life Insurance company, of New York. Pending this examination, frauds were discovered, and Acting Superintendent Smyth energetically pressed the case, and secured the indictment and conviction of its president and vice-president, being the first instance in the history of life insurance in this state where the president of a life com- pany was convicted.
Mr. Smyth has always taken a commendable interest in the material development of the village. During the time he was its president many desirable improvements were consummated. Among other items, the first steam fire-engine was purchased during his administration. In 1862, '63, and '64, he was chief engineer of the fire department, which organization owes much of its present success to the energy and enterprise of Mr. Smyth.
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In ISSI, he was for the fourth time elected president of Owego village. During his presidency he secured a free bridge across the Susquehanna river. On the last day of his term that year, he, ably assisted by many of the most progressive citizens, suc. ceeded in raising $25,000 in cash or equivolent securities and paid that amount over to the president of the Bridge company, taking therefor a warranty-deed from the Bridge company to the Town of Owego. This removed one of the greatest obstructions to the material and numerical progress of the village. This toll bridge had existed for 50 years. The increase in travel across this bridge since it became free is at least ten fold.
William Smyth is now and he has been since its organization an active and efficient member of the Republican party. He was chairman of the Whig delegation sent to the Syracuse convention, in 1856, from Tioga county, and with Hon. John A. King, presi- dent, marched from Corinthian hall to Weiting hall where the Free Soil Democrats and anti-Slavery Whigs united, forming the Republican party whose glorious record in the State of New York need not be mentioned in this connection.
Rev. William H. King, D. D., was born in the town of Otsego. Otsego Co., N. Y., October 8, 1820. His father, William King, was a farmer. He attended school at Franklin, Delaware county, and at Madison University, from which institution he graduated as Master of Arts, in 1857. Ten years afterward the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the same institu- tion. In 1843, he commenced teaching in the academy at Wa. verly, and continued five years. While thus engaged he com- menced preaching. In 1849, he was ordained as a clergyman at Athens, Pa., and commenced his labors as pastor of the Baptist church of that place. In March, 1854, Doctor King accepted a call to Owego, and was pastor of the Baptist church of this vil- lage twenty-seven years. In 1881, he resigned the pastorate on account of poor health and declining years, and retired from active labor.
Rev. James Holwell Kidder was born and educated at Port- land, Me., and graduated at the General Theological seminary, in New York city, in the class of 1860. He was ordained deacon by Bishop George Burgess, in St. Luke's church, Portland, July 11, 1860, and priest, also by Bishop Burgess, in Christ's church, Eastport, Me., June 19, 1861. Mr. Kidder was in charge of St. Thomas's church, Camden, Me., until November, 1860; then of Christ's church, Eastport, Me., about three years, until entering
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the rectorship of St. Matthew's church at Unadilla, N. Y., 1Av 1, 1863. Five years afterward, August 1, 1868, Mr. Kidder . Rae to Owego, and has since that time been rector of St. Paul's wwurch.
Gilbert C. Walker was born at Cuba, N. Y., August 1, 1833. He came to Owego in August, 1855, and in 1858 became a mem- Ser of the law firm of Warner, Tracy & Walker. He removed ! . Chicago, in 1859, and thence to Norfolk, Va., in 1864, where he was president of the Exchange Bank of Norfolk, until 1867. In 16g he was elected governor of Virginia. In July, 1874, he was Wected to congress from the third (Richmond) district, and re- elected, in 1876. He died at Binghamton, N. Y., May 11, 1885.
General Isaac S. Catlin was born at Apalachin, in this county, July 8, 1833. He studied law in New York city, was admitted o the bar, and commenced practice in Owego. Soon afterward, .3 1859, he became a member of the law firm of Warner, Tracy Catlin. In January, 1861, he was elected president of the vil- lage, and served until June, when he entered the volunteer service of the United States, as captain of a company in the Third New York Volunteers. In the summer of 1862, upon the organization of the 109th regiment, he became its lieutenant- colonel, and was promoted to colonel upon the resignation of Colonel Tracy. In 1864, while leading the charge at Peters- burg, Va., he lost his leg by the explosion of a mine. After the war General Catlin was elected district attorney of Tioga county, werving from 1865 to 1868. He was appointed a colonel in the sorular army, and was stationed two years at Louisville, Ky. He was promoted to Brigadier-general during this period. He after- ward commenced the practice of law in Brooklyn, where he has bren twice elected district attorney of Kings county.
Charles Austin Clark was born at Guilford Center, Chenango County, N. Y., on the 28th day of May, 1833. He was the eldest son of Austin Clark, who was born at Tolland, Conn., October 15. 1799, and grandson of Gershom Clark, who was born Septem- Utr 5. 1755, and who removed from Connecticut with a large Esmily and settled at Guilford Center in October, 1814, where he And in March, 1840. Austin Clark removed with his family to the vicinity of South New Berlin, in the spring of 1835, where he resided until the spring of 1856, when he removed to the town of Berkshire, Tioga county, N. Y., where he resided until he died. April 2, 1882, having reared to manhood and womanhood five Ous and six daughters, of whom four sons and four daughters
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survive him. At an early age Charles not only manifested a de- sire to obtain an education, but very many scholarly and man !; characteristics. He was endowed with an excellent memory and in many respects gave evidence of possessing a fine order of mind. His parents desired to give him a liberal education, but unfortun- ately they were poor. With them their son had to share all the labors and disadvantages of poverty. This he did cheerfully. Not discouraged by adverse circumstances he pursued his studies zealously, and became well-known throughout the community as the brightest scholar and clearest and most independent thinker of his years. Throughout his boyhood days he attended the schools in his native county during the winter months, but dur- ing the summer it was necessary for him to work with his father on the farm.
When seventeen years of age he entered upon the labors of a teacher in a common school near Gilbertsville, Otsego county. He soon after entered the office of Dr. S. C. Gibson, of South New Berlin, and commenced the study of medicine. He was for some time a student in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and graduated from the medical department of that institution, in the spring of 1853.
He commenced the practice of medicine as a regular physician, at Berkshire, Tioga Co., N. Y., in April, 1853. On the 30th of May following, he was married to Evelyn Amelia Hodges, of Oneonta, whose family had then recently removed from Morris, Otsego Co., N. Y., where she had been reared. Having spent the summer in Berkshire, Dr. Clark was induced to move to Bainbridge, Chenango county. Here he practiced his profession for a short time, but in the spring of 1854 he was induced to take charge of a large and flourishing select school. In this enterprise he was very successful, and at the next annual town meeting he was elected superintendent of common schools, which office he continued to hold as long as he remained in Bainbridge, at the same time keeping up his select school, which remained in a flourishing condition. While residing at Bainbridge his only son, Henry Austin, was born, March 31, 1855. He is now an attor- ney, having been admitted to the bar at the general term at Binghamton, May 5, 1876. He practices his profession in com- pany with his father at Owego, where he holds a very prominent position as a member of the bar, and is conceded to have no superior in Tioga county in scholarly knowledge of the law, or ability to make application of it. In the spring of 1856, Mr.
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Clark made an engagement to teach in New Jersey. After re- maining a year in New Jersey, he returned, in the spring of 1857. to Berkshire, to which town his father had removed, in the spring of 1856. Here he engaged for three years in the mercantile busi- ness ; then he tried, successively, Richford, Marathon, and One- onta. While residing in Berkshire, his only daughter, Emily Lucretia, was born, April 16, 1859.
Having purchased a farm near Ketchumville, in the town of Newark Valley, he decided to retire from mercantile life. Ac- cordingly he went to his farm and lived upon it during the years 1864 and 1865. In early life it was his ambition to become a law- yer. Many obstacles, however, stood in his way. At length there seemed an opportunity for him to gratify his long cherished desire. Accordingly he devoted himself to the study of law for years while carrying on his business. He moved from his farm to Oneonta, early in 1866, entered the law office of General S. S. Burnside, overcoming all obstacles, was admitted at the general term in Binghamton, May 15, 1867, to practice in all the courts of the state of New York, and was subsequently admitted to prac- tice in the United States courts.
In the spring of 1867 he returned to the town of Newark Val- ley, and his energy soon secured for him a prominent position at the bar. While he resided at Newark Valley his practice ex- tended into the neighboring counties of Broome and Cortland. In 1869 he was elected supervisor of Newark Valley, and was re-elected the next year, and the year following, without opposi- tion. In the fall of 1871, he was nominated as the candidate of the Republican party, for the office of county judge, and after an exciting canvass, was elected by a majority of 822. He entered upon the duties of the office January !, 1872. and on the 29th of August, following, removed his family to Owego, where he still resides. In the fall of 1877 he was unanimously re-nominated for the same office, and re-elected by a majority of 1.256. At the close of his second term, in the fall of 1883, Judge Clark declined to be a candidate for re-nomination, and beyond any question he had proved one of the most courteous, able, correct and popular county judges and surrogates Tioga county has ever had. In the fall of 1883. Judge Clark was a prominent candidate for the nomi- nation for justice of the supreme court, and after a convention which held for five days, was barely defeated
In 1876 Judge Clark was elected an elder in the First Presby- terian church of Owego, in which church for several years he
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