USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 21
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 21
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Oliver Underwood, sr., lived to be eighty- four years of age. His son, Christopher, was born September 6, 1814, in the town of Mill- bury, Widsor county, Vermont, and has been engaged in the lumbering business all his life, residing with his father up to the time of his
marriage, when he removed, in 1847, to the village of Fort Edward, where he accepted em- ployment with the firm of Underwood & Brad- ley, with whom he continued until the break- ing out of the late Civil war. On August 27, 1862, he enlisted in the 169th New York vol- unteer regiment, Co. E, and served two years and four months, doing duty mostly in Florida, and was at the siege of Charleston, and after- ward, on account of ill health, was confined in the hospital and was discharged from the service at Washington, District of Columbia. He was in the Atlanta campaign, Harrison's Landing, and did duty along the coast. After the close of the war, he returned to New York and was for five years engaged in farming in Fulton county, at the end of which time he returned to Fort Edward, where he now re- sides.
A NDRUS DEARSTYNE, a well known and prosperous resident of Sandy Hill, who has spent a lifetime on the saw mills of eastern New York, and is an expert in lumber making machinery, is a son of John and Hannah (Van Vorst) Dearstyne, and a native of the town of Greenbush, Rensselaer county, New York, where he was born on the 25th of Sep- tember, 1822. The family is of German ex- traction, but have been natives of New York since early times. John Dearstyne (father) was born and reared in Greene county, this State, but while yet a young man removed to Rensse- laer county, where he spent the remainder of his life and died in 1827, aged fifty-six years. He was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in pol- itics, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He married Hannah Van Vorst, of the county of Rensselaer, and to them was born a family of nine children. Mrs. Dearstyne was born in the town of Greenbush, Rensselaer county, this State, in 1789, and died in 1870, when well advanced in the eighty-first year of her age.
Andrus Dearstyne grew to manhood in his native town of Greenbush, and obtained his education in the common schools. When
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twenty-one years of age he began work for a saw mill firm, taking charge of all work outside of the mill. From that day to the present he has been connected with the saw mill and lumber business, generally as foreman or superintend- ent of some part of the work. In 1852 he came to Sandy Hill, and began work in the saw mill owned by Orson Richards. In one capacity or another he remained in the employ of Mr. Rich- ards for a period of twenty-six years, during part of which time he had entire charge of the mills at Sandy Hill. Since that time Mr. Dearstyne has worked for a number of lumbering firms on the saw mills in and around Sandy Hill.
On April 2, 1861, Mr. Dearstyne was united in marriage to Mary J. Downs, a daughter of David Downs, of West Haven, Vermont. To this union was born one child, a daughter named Florence E., now living at home with her par- ents in Sandy Hill. Politically Mr. Dearstyne is a democrat ; a member of the Royal Arcanum, and is esteemed very highly as a gentleman and a citizen. He owns considerable real estate in Sandy Hill, and has always taken an interest in matters concerning the public welfare.
R OWLAND S. BULLOCK, a success- ful business man and a highly respected cit- izen of the village of Granville, is a son of Smith R. and Eunice (Duel) Bullock, and was born in the village of North Hartford, Washington county, New York, December 20, 1838. The family comes of sturdy English stock, and the American branch, which was transplanted in the new world, has been characterized by those substantial traits for which the name has been honored for centuries in England. Elkanah Bullock, the founder of the family in Washington county, who was a native of Connecticut, coming, in early life, to this county, where he followed agricultural pur- suits until his death. He married and raised a family of eleven children. One of his sons was Smith R. Bullock, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch. He was a native of the
town of Hartford, this county, during the first decade of the present century. He was reared on the farm, and at the age of thirty-four years he removed to the town of Granville, where he followed the same occupation dur- ing the remaining active years of his life. His death occurred in 1875, when well advanced in the sixty-fifth year of his age. In his politi- cal opinion he was a whig and a republican, and married Eunice Duel, who was born in the town of South Granville, and was also one of eleven children born to her parents .- Mrs. Eunice Bullock (mother) was born on the same day, month and year that records the birth of her husband, and whose death oc- curred in 1863, in the fifty-third year of her age.
Rowland S. Bullock grew to manhood on his father's farm, receiving his education in the ordinary district schools of the neighbor- hood, and afterward followed farming until 1882, when he retired from all active business pursuits, and removed to the village of Gran- ville. In 1865 he was wedded to Frances Lee, of South Granville, and has one child, a daughter, Stella.
In political opinion Mr. Bullock is a stanch republican. He is a stockholder of the First National bank, and owns a farm of one hun- dred and fifty acres immediately across the State line, in Vermont, and located on this farm are two slate quarries that have been suc- cessfully operated by him for a number of years. Mr. Bullock has won success in business life by his energy, prudence and good judgment, and has an enviable standing in the community in which he lives.
H ON. HIRAM SISSON, a successful produce dealer and trader and a well known business man of Eagle Bridge, is a son of Ira and Betsy M. (Hill) Sisson, and was born in the town of White Creek, at the place where he now resides, on December 11, 1829. Ira Sisson (father) was a native of the town of Hoosick,
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Rensselaer county, and was born on April 21, 1799. He received a good common school edu- cation, and early came into the town of White Creek, this county, and commenced farming, his original farm containing only twenty-nine acres, but kept adding on to this tract, by his industry and good judgment, until he owned one hundred and five acres, constituting one of the best farms of its size in the town. He be- came successful, and at his death had consider- able money at interest. Politically he was a whig and later a republican, and in about 1825 he married Betsy M., a daughter of Thomas Hill, a farmer of the town of Hoosick. To this union were born two sons and three daughters: Thomas H., who died in 1837, at the age of ten years ; Hiram, whose name heads this sketch ; Sarah M., the widow of the late Isaac Durfee, of the town of Cambridge ; Julia A. and Mary J. Sisson. Ira Sisson's death occured March 12, 1872 ; his wife followed him March 14, 1877, and who was born in 1806. She was a mem- ber of the Baptist church.
Gideon Sisson (grandfather) was a native of the State of Rhode Island, removing when a boy, with his father, to the town of Hoosick, and there he afterward became one of the thrifty farmers of that section. He took to wife Anna Cornell, of Washington county, and by whom he had thirteen children: Willard ; Abner ; Leonard ; William ; Ira ; Ann (who became the wife of Joseph Wallace, of the town of White Creek) ; Ruby (who became the wife of Jerome B. Mosher, of the same town) ; Eliza (who became the wife of Thomas Mapes of the town of Hoosick); Benjaman, and Prudence (who became the wife of Philip Henington, of Hoosick) ; Willard, and one other.
Gideon Sisson's father was born in Rhode Island, and became one of the pioneers of Hoo- sick, Rensselaer county, where he lived and died following the occupation of a farmer. This family of Sissons are of Puritan stock.
Hiram Sisson was reared upon the farm and after leaving the district schools of the neigh- borhood he became a pupil at the Greenwich
academy, and after taking the required course of study in that institution he returned to the farm in the town of White Creek, where he was engaged in general farming up to the year 1879. In connection with farming, in the year 1862, he dealt in coal, lumber, grain, wool, pork, flax, and did a general merchandising business at Buskirk's Bridge. In 1879 he removed from his farm to the village of Eagle Bridge, where he still carries on the same business, dealing in all articles above named, excepting flax, and handles produce of all kind, doing a business of about $30,000 annually. In 1879 he turned his entire attention in this channel, turning the management of his farm over to his son, Walter M. Sisson. In politics Mr. Sisson is a leading republican of his section of the county. He served six terms as supervisor of the town of White Creek ; in 1867-8-9 and 1877-8-9, and was chairman of the board in 1869. In 1879 he was elected to the State assembly, and re- elected in 1880, and as a member of that body took an active and influential part in its pro- ceedings.
On September 2, 1851, he was united in mar- riage with Mary E., daughter of Pardon Mosley, a farmer of the town of Hoosick, Rensselaer county. To this marriage were born three children : Emily J., wife of Edgar B. Chase, a farmer of the town of Cambridge; Walter M., who wedded Mary, daughter of D. Wait, of the town of Easton ; and Frances L. (dead), who was the wife of F. D. Mosher. Mrs. Mary E. Sisson died April 24, 1893, having been born January 26, 1830.
SYLVANUS H. KENYON, one of the many successful business men of Sandy Hill, is a gentleman who commenced life with little, but now controls large and diversified business interests. He is general manager of the Kenyon Lumber company, one of the larg- est lumber firms in northern New York, and is descended of a family who, for several gen- erations back, on both sides, have been prom-
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inently identified in the lumber and saw mill business. He is a son of Hiram Kenyon and Hannalı A. Griffin, and was born in the town of Chester, Warren county, New York, No- vember 14, 1834. Hiram Kenyon was a native of the same county, born in the town of Lu- zerne, where he grew to manhood and received the rudiments of a common school education. During his whole life he was engaged in the lumber business, and in 1842 located in the town of Monroe, just across the Hudson from Sandy Hill, in Saratoga county, where he owned and operated a saw mill. Here he suc- cessfully conducted a lumber business, manu- facturing lumber and boating it across the river to the Glens Falls feeder of the Cham- plain canal, whence it was shipped to market. In 1846 he removed his plant to this village, where he was not long in building up a pros- perous trade, and where he continued to re- side until his death in 1884, at the age of sev- enty-five years. From 1852 to 1872, the year he retired from all active business, covering a period of twenty busy and successful years, he was the leading lumber dealer at Sandy Hill. He owned extensive tracts of timber land in the northern counties ; a member of the Presbyterian church, a democrat in his political principles, and filled the office of supervisor of his town some two or three terms. He was a man well liked and highly respected in the community, and commanded general recognition as a successful business man, and for having performed all the duties of good citizenship. His early business ad- vantages were very limited, remaining at home until he had arrived at the age of twenty years, when he paid his father one hundred dollars for the remaining one year, when he went to work at fourteen dollars per month. William Kenyon, the grandfather of the subject, was a native of the State of Rhode Island, having migrated from there and settled in Warren county, New York. He was a farmer by occu- pation, owned and conducted a small saw mill, and died in that county. The Kenyons trace
their ancestry back to Scotland, but for many generations have resided in this country. Han- nah A. (Griffin) Kenyon resides in the village of Sandy Hill, born in the town of Queens- bury, Warren county, and was a daughter of Jonathan Griffin, who was a native of Rhode Island, removing to the town of Queensbury in an early day, where he farmed, owned a saw mill, and died. Mrs. Kenyon is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Sylvanus H. Kenyon has been a resident of Sandy Hill since 1846. Here he attended the common schools, and afterward Glens Falls academy and a seminary at Poultney, Vermont, where he remained until 1853. Leaving school he assisted his father in his lumber business, where he remained until 1853. In 1855 he was taken in as partner with his father, and the firm was then known by the title of Kenyon. Robinson & Company. This firm continued business up to 1872, when Mr. Robinson died, and the partnership was dissolved. In the same year this plant was purchased by Mr. Kenyon and William B. Baldwin, and the firm name became Kenyon & Baldwin, and so con- tinued until January 1, 1894, when it was formed into a stock company, under the name of Ken- yon Lumber Company, with a paid-up capital of $200,000, of which Mr. Kenyon is general manager. This business has steadily grown and extended, and is at present one of the largest and most favorably known lumber firms in this section of the State. In connection with keeping a large supply of all kinds of lumber, they conduct the excelsior steam, saw, planing and moulding mills, where they man- ufacture pine, spruce and hemlock lumber and lath ; also make a specialty in doors, sash and blinds, window and door frames.
In addition to his lumber interests, Mr. Kenyon is vice president and manager of the Sandy Hill Power Company, which is a pulp mill, having a capacity of about four thousand dry tons of pulp yearly, and employs forty hands.
Sylvanus H. Kenyon, in 1860, was wedded
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to Josephine McFarland, who was a daughter of Joseph McFarland, of Sandy Hill. Two children have been born to this union, one son and a daughter : William M. and Anna A. In his political sentiment Mr. Kenyon has always been a stanch democrat, and while his town has always been strongly republican, he has twice filled the office of supervisor, and for twenty-five years has served as treasurer of the Union school, in whose welfare he takes a deep interest. The father of Mrs. Kenyon, Joseph McFarland, was born in the town of Luzerne, Warren county. Mr. McFarland came to Sandy Hill in 1848, and was engaged in the lumber and planing mill business for many years. His death occurred at the age of fifty-nine years, in December, 1871. A democrat, prominent in politics, he was for many years, while residing at Sandy Hill, superintendent of the Champlain canal.
JAMES M. RIDER, a well known and highly respected citizen of the village of Coila, was born in the town of Salem, Wash- ington county, New York, November 28, 1827, and is a son of Zerah and Sarah (Coggswill) Rider. The family of Riders is an early set- tled one in this county, as Zerah Rider, we find, was born in the same town in 1799. His education, for that early day, was above the average, writing an elegant hand, and a man possessing good general information. Reared on the farm he followed farming for a few years, when he gave it up and turned his at- tention to auctioneering, and later he was en- gaged in buying and selling stock and pro- duce. In 1836 he removed to the town of Cambridge, where he resided the remainder of his life. He wedded Sarah, a daughter of Clark Coggswill, a native of Newport, Rhode Island. To them were born seven children, all of whom received a good education. He was a member of the Cambridge Baptist church, and died in 1868 ; his wife preceded him to the grave in 1854, at the age of fifty-
six years, and was a member of the Epis- copal church. The names of their children are : Zerah, a prominent farmer of the town of Cambridge ; George W., of Providence, Rhode Island, who died in 1882 ; James M. and George W., were twins ; Henry and Elizabeth also twins ; Henry M., has been at the head of the machinery department of the appraiser's office at the port of New York for several years; Elizabeth, the widow of William Mason, of Cambridge ; Phœbe A., died in 1863. Zerah Rider (grandfather) was one of the early school teachers of the county, and a native of Con- necticut. He came into the county in about 1795, and located at Camden, in the town of Salem, where he carried on farming quite ex- tensively, also run a dairy and taught school. Jared Spark, the American historian and bio- grapher, and president of Harvard college at one time, was one of his pupils. He was a man of splendid ability, public spirited, and highly esteemed in the community in which he lived. He married in Connecticut, and was the father of the following children : Zerah, Hiram, Sarah, who married B. W. Walkley, a merchant of Cambridge ; Phæbe, who be- came the wife of A. Webb, of the same town, and Mary, who became the wife of Calvin Skinner, a prosperous farmer of the town of Cambridge. Zerah Rider (father) died in 1810. The family was of English extraction, and among the pioneer settlers of Connecticut.
James M. Rider received his education at the common schools, most of which was received under the tutelage of Regina Arthur, who was a sister of the late President Arthur, whose father at that time was pastor of the Baptist church at Greenwich, New York. After leav- ing school Mr. Rider was apprenticed to Mer- rit Lumis, of Cambridge, to learn the trade of painting, and in 1848 he went to New York city, where he found employment with Boot- man & Smith, who were then the most exten- sive steamboat painters of the city. He re- mained with them for three years, and this firm made him manager of their works, which po-
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sition he held for about seventeen years. Dur- ing the Civil war they painted a number of war ships, among the number being the " Monitor." On account of ill health in 1865, Mr. Rider was forced to relinquish his work here, and for the next five years was not regu- larly employed in any business. Having re- gained sufficient health, in 1870 he engaged in the same line of work on his own account, conducting quite an extensive and prosperous business up to 1884, when his health again failed him and he was forced to retire from ac- tive business. In the same year he located in the village of Coila, where he has ever since lived a retired life. He was an old line whig and is now a republican, and takes an active interest in his party's success. On February 13, 1853, he wedded Susan C., a daughter of Samuel W. Allen, a farmer of Connecticut, and had born to their marriage one son, who is now deceased.
Benjamin Rider, a brother of the subject of this sketch, not above mentioned, was born in 1844, and died at Jacksonville, Florida, in 1871. He was a graduate of Cooper's insti- tute, of New York city, and afterward became professor of penmanship in some of the lead- ing colleges.
JUDGE LYMAN HALL NORTHUP,
one of the oldest and best known practi- tioners at the Washington county bar, is a na- tive of the town Hebron, Washington county, New York, and was born December 18, 1821. He is a son of John H. and Anna (Wells) Northup, who were natives respectively of Rhode Island and Saint Lawrence county, New York.
John H. Northup settled in this county in 1773, and followed the occupation of farming, and died in the town of Hebron in 1834.
Judge Northup never attended any college and had the advantages of none but the com- mon schools, working on the farm until he had reached the age of twenty-one years, and going
to school a few months in the winter. At the age of about twenty-one he received an injury which incapacitated him for physical labor, which was principally the reason for his taking up the study of law. He became a student at law in the law office of his brother, H. B. Northup, and was admitted to practice in De- cember, 1847, and in April, 1850, formed a part- nership with Hon. Chas. Hughs, which lasted until the latter's death in August, 1887. From 1888 to 1892 Judge Northup was associated with the firm of Young & Kellogg, as senior counsel. Since 1892 he has been engaged in practice alone. Under the tutelage of Judge Northup there have probably more young men been prepared for admission to the bar to prac- tice law than under any other lawyer in North- ern New York.
In 1843 he wedded Eliza Hall, of this county. Her death occured in 1884, and in the follow- ing year Judge Northup married for his second wife Mrs. Lydia A. M. Lewis. Judge Northup has always been public spirited and identified with every movement for good as far as his means would allow. A man in whose integrity and sincerity the public have the utmost con- fidence, further eulogy would be irrelevant.
OHN AKIN FERRISS, a prominent
and successful business man of Glens Falls, was a son of Edward and Mary (Akin) Ferriss, and a grandson of Reed Ferriss, who came from Great Britain to Dutchess county about 1750.
John Akin Ferriss was born at the Oblong, in Dutchess county, October 17, 1772, and after learning the trade of hatter, removed about 1794 to Glens Falls, where he died Sep- tember 8, 1840. He was a man of push and energy, and did much in building up the vil- lage during its early years, while he also con- tributed to its development in a later period. He served as the first postmaster of the village, was an influential politician, and commanded the respect of all who knew him.
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H ON. WILLIAM M. CAMERON,
who was a member of the State assem- bly of New York in 1890, and a prominent lawyer of Glen Falls, is a son of William J. and Jane (Gallup) Cameron, and was born in the town of Thurman, Warren county, New York, July 27, 1859. William J. Cameron is also a native of the same town, where he was born in 1824, and at present resides, engaged in farming. He is a democrat in politics and very acceptably filled the office of supervisor of his town for three terms.
Duncan Cameron (grandfather) was born in the parish of Blair, County Perth, Scotland, who emigrated prior to the breaking out of the Revo- lutionary war to the United States, and settled in Warren county. He followed farming and contracting up to the time of his death, in 1832. A member of the Presbyterian church, he also affiliated with the Democratic party and served three terms as a member of the assembly, his district being composed of Washington and Warren counties. His services as a law maker were so acceptable to the people, that the Dem- ocratic party made him their candidate for the State senate, but on the morning of the elec- tion, in 1832, his death occurred. His father was John Cameron, who did not leave his native Scotland for America until a few years after his son had arrived. Duncan Cameron wedded a Miss Griffin, whose father, John Griffin, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
William J. Cameron married Jane Gallup, who was born in Warren county, and is still living.
Hon. William Marshall Cameron grew to manhood on a farm in his native town, where he remained until he was eighteen years of age and received his education in the Warrensburg and Glens Falls academies. . Leaving school he became a student in the law office of Judge A. D. Wait, of Fort Edward, and finished his studies with Judge Urias G. and C. R. Paris, of Sandy Hill. He was admitted to the bar in 1884, and remained with Judge Paris and son in the practice till in March, 1885, when
he located in the village of Glens Falls, where he has been actively engaged in the work of his profession ever since. On May 1, 1886, Mr. Cameron formed a law partnership with Thomas W. McArthur, the title of the firm being Cameron & McArthur, who have a large general practice and is one of the well known legal firms of the county. Mr. Cameron was married December 23, 1884, to Elizabeth A., a daughter of Charles H. and Delila A. Pasco, of the town of Thurman. Her death occurred on July 1, 1893. Mr. Cameron is connected with several of the leading secret societies : member of Senate Lodge, No. 456, Free and Accepted Masons ; Glens Falls Chapter, No. 55 ; Washington Commandery, No. 33, of Sara- toga Springs, and the Oriental Temple of Troy. Also Horicon Lodge, No. 349, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a past grand of this order, and member of Chepontuc Tribe of Red Men, No. 139, of which he was the first man to take a degree in this order in the county ; he is also a member of Laphen Hose company, No. 3, and the Social Club of Glens Falls.
Mr. Cameron's political career began in 1887, when he was defeated by J. Freeman Wells, for school commissioner of the county by only seventy-five votes. In 1890 he was the nom- inee of the Democratic party and was elected supervisor of his town, which contains the vil- lage of Glens Falls, the metropolis of the county, over James W. Morgan, by five hun- dred and eighty-five majority, and in the fall of the same year was elected to the assembly from Warren county by a majority of three hundred and thirty-nine over A. Willard Hitch- cock, of the same town. In the fall of the fol- lowing year he was defeated for the same office by Howard Conkling(nephew of Roscoe Conkling), by 33 votes ; the county giving Fassett, republican nominee for Governor in the same election, 1200 majority. Mr. Cam- eron while a member of the assembly served on the judiciary committee, also on the pub- lic lands and forrestry committees. He has
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