USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 23
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 23
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member of the Presbyterian church, and in her daily life exemplified the religion she pro- fessed. Her father, Alexander McLaughlin, was born and reared in the Scottish highlands, where he married. About 1820 he emigrated to America, with his family, and settled in Putnam, this county, where he passed the remainder of his days.
C URDEN E. SEELEY, the well known lawyer of Granville, who has been in practice since 1881, is a son of John I. and Avis A. (Oatman) Seeley, and a native of Hartford, this county, where he was born July 30, 1858. The family is of English descent, but have been residents of America since the revolutionary period. The paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a resident of Massachusetts, where he married an English lady, who came to this country during the Revolutionary war. Among their children was Jurden Seeley (grandfather), who was born in Connecticut in 1797, and when only four years of age was brought by his parents to Hartford, Washington county, New York, where he grew to manhood and passed the remainder of his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died here in 1836, at the early age of forty years. He married Philinda Oatman, and reared a family of twelve children. One of his sons, John I. Seeley (father), was born at Hartford, this county, in 1822, and resided here all his life. He was a prosperous farmer, and became prominent in the local affairs of this section. Politically he was a republican, and served as justice of the peace continuously for a period of twenty-eight years, beside occupying numer- ous other positions of trust and responsibility. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, which he served as steward for many years ; his death occurred in April, 1893, when he was well advanced in the seventy- first year of his age. In 1844 he married Avis A. Oatman, a danghter of Elisha Oatman, and
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native of Batavia, New York. To them were born three children. Mrs. Seeley resides with her son, Jurden E., at Granville. She has been a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and her life has been char- acterized by all the virtues of genuine Chris- tian womanhood.
Jurden E. Sceley was reared on his father's farm, and obtained his education in the pub- lic schools of Hartford. After completing his studies he taught in the public schools for two winters, working on the farm during the summer season. He then, at the age of eighteen, entered the law office of Pond, French & Brackett, at Saratoga Springs, and began preparing for the bar. On May 4, 1881, he was admitted to practice, and in September of the same year located at Granville, where he has been engaged in active general practice ever since. Soon after locating here he formed a law partnership with Levi D. Temple, who had also been admitted to the bar that year, and they conducted a legal business together for one year, when Mr. Seeley purchased his partner's interest, and Mr. Temple entered the ministry of the Baptist church. Mr. See- ley continued his legal business alone until September, 1892, when he admitted John Gil- roy, of Ritchfield Springs, New York, into partnership, under the present firm name of Seeley & Gilroy. Mr. Gilroy had studied law in Mr. Seeley's office, and has won good standing at the bar. These gentlemen have a fine general practice, and the firm is already well known. In addition to his property at Granville, Mr. Seeley also owns the old home- stead of one hundred and fifty acres of val- uable land in Hartford.
In June, 1885, Mr. Seeley was united in marriage to Cora A. Collins, a daughter of Thomas M. Collins, of Dorset, Vermont. Politically he is a stanch republican, taking an active part in local politics, and being now a member of the county committee and of the executive board. For seven years he filled the position of justice of the peace at Gran-
ville, and has held other positions of honor and emolument. He is at present clerk of the village of Granville, and is recognized as among the trusted local leaders of his party. He is a member of Sandy Hill Council, No. 587, Royal Arcanum, and sachem of Illini Tribe, No. 256, Improved Order of Red Men. For nearly ten years Mr. Seeley has been foreman of the Henry Hose Company, No. I, of Granville, and to his sagacity and ability is due much of the efficiency of that organization.
W ATSON N. SPRAGUE, president of the Battenkill Paper Mill Company, of Middle Falls, this county, is a veteran of the Civil war whose military record is unique and perhaps without a parallel. He is indus- trious and enterprising, and as a business man and manufacturer has met with great success. He is a son of Nathan and Sarah (Andrews) Sprague, and was born January 13, 1844, at Hinsdale, New Hampshire. The Spragues are of English descent, and trace their American ancestry back to three brothers who came over early in the seventeenth century. One of these brothers settled in Rhode Island, and from him was descended Governor Sprague. An- other settled in New York and became the progenitor of the large family of Spragues in this State. The third settled in Massachu- setts, and from this one is descended the sub- ject of this sketch. Old Governor Sprague of Rhode Island, was a second cousin to Wil- liam Sprague, paternal grandfather of Watson N. Sprague. William Sprague was born and reared at Templeton, Massachusetts. He was a blacksmith by trade and a member of the Baptist church. His son, Nathan Sprague (father), was also a native of Templeton, where he was born in 1803. After attaining manhood he learned the trade of shoemaker, and worked at that occupation for a number of years. In 1833 he removed to Hinsdale, New Hampshire, where he followed shoe- making and farming, owning a small farm
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upon which he resided until 1865. In the latter year he sold out, removed to Winches- ter, that State, and purchased a farm of one hundred and thirty acres. The latter part of his life was devoted wholly to agricultural pursuits, in which he became very successful, and which he continued to follow until his death in 1866, when in the sixty-third year of his age. He was a member and deacon of the Hinsdale Baptist church, and in politics was a whig, abolitionist and republican. In 1831 he married Sarah Andrews, a daughter of Elisha Andrews, of Templeton, Massachu- setts. Their union was blessed by the birth of four children, three sons and a daughter : Ellen, married Alfred Mansfield, of Keene, New Hampshire; Frank L., also a resident of Keene; Andrew T., of Middle Falls, New York; and Watson N. Mrs. Sprague died in 1869, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Watson N. Sprague was reared and educa- ted at Hinsdale, New Hampshire. After leaving school he learned the trade of wool sorter, and worked at that for a short time. On September 15, 1861, when only seventeen years of age, he enlisted in Co. F, or the Ver- mont company of the first regiment Berdan sharpshooters, and served with that organiza- tion for three years. He participated in the heroic struggles of Yorktown, Hanover Court- house, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mills, Malvern Hill, second Bull Run, Antietam, Blackburn's Ford, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Get- tysburg, Kelly's Ford, Mine Run, the Wilder- ness, Spottsylvania Courthouse, and Peters- burg. He was wounded twice, but not seri- ously. The company (F) was organized at West Randolph, Vermont, and left there Sep- tember 15, 1861, with one hundred and seven-
teen men. Exactly three years later it was mustered out at the same place, and only nine of the original members remained. Of these nine Mr. Sprague was the only one who had never missed a day's duty on account of wounds or sickness during the entire three years the company was in active service. This
record, taken all in all, is perhaps without a parallel in the history of the civil war.
After the war closed Mr. Sprague returned to New Hampshire and engaged in the sieve hoop business at Keene, that State. Three years later he removed to Marlow, New Hamp- shire, where he embarked in the lumbering business and the manufacture of shoe shanks, and followed that occupation some four years. About 1871 he returned to Keene, where he manufactured shoe shanks for two years and then transferred his operations to Boston, where he was successfully engaged in the same business for six years. In 1880 he came to Greenwich, where he began the manufacture of leather board and paper. The mills are loca- ted at Middle Falls, two miles northwest of Greenwich, and are known as the Battenkill Paper mills. The works have a capacity of six tons per day, and employ some thirty peo- ple the year round. This plant is owned by a joint stock company, of which Mr. Sprague is president. The capital invested is about eighty thousand dollars, and the annual pro- duction of goods amounts to nearly one hun- dred thousand dollars. Mr. Sprague is also a stockholder and director in the Ondawa Paper Mill Company at Middle Falls, which manu- factures manilla paper exclusively, and it may be said that to his untiring efforts is largely due the development and improvement of Middle Falls.
On March 14, 1870, Watson N. Sprague was united by marriage to Melissa M. Reed, a daughter of Edwin Reed, of Marlow, New Hampshire. To Mr. and Mrs. Sprague was born one child, a daughter named Mabel S. Politically he is an ardent republican, taking an active part in local politics, and earnestly supporting the protection policy of his party. He has served as supervisor of the town for two years, and was president of the board of supervisors for one year. He is a member of Ashland Lodge, No. 584, Free and Accepted Masons, and one of the public spirited and useful citizens of the county.
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F RANCIS M. VAN WORMER, who
served in the army of the Potomac dur- ing the late Civil war, and is now one of the principal owners of the well known Sandy Hill Iron and Brass works, was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, in 1846, and is a son of Henry F. and Jane M. (Fuller) Van Wormer. On his paternal side he is a descendant in the fourth generation from Jacob Van Wormer, a revolutionary soldier, who came from Schaghticoke, and was one of the early settlers of the town of Fort Ann. His son, Henry Van Wormer, who served in the American army at the battle of Plattsburg, was the father of Henry F. Van Wormer, who is still living at Fort Ann. Henry F. Van Wormer was born in 1812, and married Jane M. Fuller, a native of Washington county. The Van Wormers are of Dutch descent.
Francis M. Van Wormer was reared at Fort Ann until he was sixteen years of age, when he enlisted in Co. D, 123d New York volun- teers, and served as a musician until the close of the war in 1865. He participated in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Sher- man's campaign to Atlanta, march to the sea, and through the Carolinas and Johnston's surrender. One year later, in 1866, he came to Sandy Hill and soon became one of the proprietors of the Sandy Hill Iron and Brass works. These works were founded about 1860, known then as Baker's Falls Iron Ma- chine works, and after several changes they were purchased in 1874 by Mr. Van Wormer and Thomas E. Wells. They continued un- der their administration up to the commence- ment of the year 1882, when N. E. Packer and O. A. Tefft became members of the firm. In September, 1883, O. A. Tefft was succeeded by R. C. Tefft, and in a short time Messrs. Wells and Packer sold their interests to F. M. Van Wormer and R. C. Tefft, who have con- ducted the works very successfully ever since. The present buildings of the company were erected in 1882, at a short distance from the first buildings and just south of Howland
Paper Company's paper mill, and since known as the Sandy Hill Iron and Brass works. They consist of a foundry thirty by seventy-two feet in dimensions; a machine shop forty by one hundred and fifteen feet, with a wing thirty by forty feet, and a construction room fifty-two by one hundred and sixty-five feet. The buildings are all brick, being substantially built and well arranged for the business in hand with all the skill that experience could suggest. They are well lighted and illumin- ated with electric light at night, and the works are operated by water power, aggregating forty-five horse-power ; the works when run- ning full force require sixty-five men, and are equipped with every device and appliance for expeditiously executing work. The present firm, while doing a general business as machin- ists, are engaged in the manufacture of special- ties. Their main work is the making of paper machines, and two of their Harper-Fourdrinier machines are in operation close to the works, where they have given the best of satisfaction. One of their specialties is the manufacture of turbine water wheels, which are used in nearly every State in the Union. The firm of Van Wormer & Tefft manufacture paper and pulp machinery of all kinds, including fourdrinier and cylinder paper machines, paper engines, rag and jute cutters, and dusters and wet machines; also manufacture the Hercules friction clutch, together with a variety of gen- eral machinery, and have a large demand for their work on account of its durability and splendid workmanship.
In 1869 Mr. Van Wormer was married to Sarah M. Cornell, of Washington county.
Francis M. Van Wormer is a member and past commander of William M. Cullen Post, No. 587, Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, and deputy grand regent of that order for the dis- trict composed of the counties of Warren and Washington; also been identified with the village fire department for the past thirteen years, for several years president and foreman
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of the J. W. Wait Hose company, which is one of the best organizations in this part of the State. His excellent reputation as a manufacturer is due to his skill and energy and to the fact that he always adopts every new improvement in the working or style of the machines which he manufactures.
WILLIAM CRONKHITE, a promi- nent merchant of Glens Falls, and a representative of an old and honored family of Washington county, is a son of George Cronkhite and Permelia Persons, and was born in the town of Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, December 8, 1815. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, James Cronkhite, served in the war of 1812, and re- moved to the town of Queensbury, where he died at the age of fifty years. He married, and among his children by this marriage was George Cronkhite (father), who was born in the town of Greenwich in 1790, and who be- came prominent in business affairs and well known in Washington, Warren, and Saratoga counties. For a few years he owned and ran a grist mill in Sandy Hill, which he afterward removed to this village, where he resided and carried on milling for many years. He was a whig and republican in politics, and a strict member of the Presbyterian church. His death occurred in the village of Glens Falls in 1878, in his eighty-eighth year. He was united in marriage to Permelia Persons, who was a native of West Fort Ann, and whose sad death occurred in 1855, by being run over by a train at Schenectady. She was a con- sistent member of the Presbyterian church.
William Cronkhite principally grew to man- hood in Sandy Hill, where he attended school until at the age of thirteen, when he became an employee in a general merchandising store in that village, where he remained until 1837. In that year he came to Glens Falls and en- gaged in the same line, in which he continued until 1839, when he removed his stock of
goods to Salem, but in a short time sold out and went to farming just across the line from Salem, in Vermont. In 1844 Mr. Cronkhite returned to Sandy Hill, where he again branched out in the merchandising business, in which he remained successfully engaged until 1853. During his residence at Sandy Hill he served two years as town clerk, and for four years was postmaster under President Fillmore. In the fall of 1853 he came to Glens Falls, where he has since resided and is known as one of the leading merchants of the village. In the big fire that occurred at Glens Falls in 1864, Mr. Cronkhite was burned out, and in 1865 he built and had his present stand equipped and ready for occupancy. He then took his son, Henry Orville, in as a part- ner, under the title of William Cronkhite & Son, which has existed ever since, and is known as one of the most successful dry goods firms in northern New York. On November 6, 1837, William Cronkhite was married to Esther Ann Milliman, a daughter of Thomas Milliman, of Salem. To this union were born two children : Henry Orville, and Harriet, now deceased.
William Cronkhite is a Presbyterian in re- ligious faith and a republican in politics ; served one term as village trustee, but he has always been too much engrossed in his business affairs to ever accept office. His son and business partner, Henry Orville Cronkhite, was born in the village of Salem, Washington county, New York, May 4, 1839, and educated in the Glens Falls academy. At the first call for troops by the president, in 1861, he en- listed in July of that year as a private in Co. E, 22d New York volunteer regiment, and served two years. He was wounded by a piece of shell striking him in the head at the battle of Bull Run. At the expiration of his term of service he was honorably discharged at Albany and returned home. He has been a life-long republican, and has served as town clerk of Queensbury for thirteen years. At present he is a member of the board of health ;
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for eight years he was register of vital statis- tics and permit officer, and is now serving his fourth term as notary public. In 1864 Mr. Cronkhite was married to Mary A., daughter of Capt. John Bailey, who was killed in the battle of the Wilderness ; he resided in the town of Honey Creek, Warren county. To Mr. and Mrs. Cronkhite have been born four children, two living : Minnie and Helena, the latter now the wife of Elmer E. Pepper, of Glens Falls. Mr. Cronkhite is a member of Edgar M. Wing Post, 147, Grand Army of the Republic, and ranks among the useful citizens and successful merchants of his village.
JOHN F. HARRIS, a descendant of an old New England family, and retired iron manufacturer of New York, is one of the leading business men of Fort Edward. He was born at Stowe, Vermont, in 1832, and is a son of Moses and Relief ( Flanders ) Harris. The Harris family of New York is of Eng- lish origin, and traces its American ancestry back to one of four Harris brothers, who came to America, and settled respectively in New England, the Middle States, the South, and the West. From the New England brother was descended Ira Harris, of Sharon, Connecticut, who was known as one of the early railroad kings of the United States. His son, Hon. Ira Harris, so prominent in the legislature of New York since the war, was a descendant of Samuel Harris ( grandfather ), who was a native of New Hampshire, and a resident of Stowe, Vermont, where he died at eighty-nine years of age. Samuel Harris was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and a farmer by occupa- tion. He married and reared a family of eight children : Moses, James, Sarah, Har- lowe, Horace, John, Matilda and Joseph. Moses Harris (father) was born in New Hamp- shire in 1800, and died in 1878. He was an iron manufacturer, and in early life operated the first two furnaces owned by Charles C. Alger, who in that day was the iron king of the
United States. After fifteen years spent with Mr. Alger, he went to Ontario, New York, where he purchased a large tract of land, and operated an iron and charcoal furnace for some time, of which he was half owner. Hc then removed to Smytheport, Pennsylvania, and opened up iron-ore mines, which he dis- posed of a few years later to return to New York, where he died in Columbia county, Hudson city, May 12, 1871, when in the sev- enty-first year of his age. He was originally a democrat, and after the late civil war be- came a republican in politics. He was twice married. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Relief Flanders, he had five chil- dren : Samuel, who was a well-known iron manufacturer of New York and Alabama ; Loran W., who was a blast furnace operator in Missouri and New York; John F. ; Hor- ace, who was in California during the early gold excitement, and served as surgeon of the Harris light cavalry regiment, of New York, in the late civil war ; and Mary E., wife of William Daniels, a retired iron manufacturer of Missouri.
John F. Harris received his early education in the private schools of Stockbridge, Massa- chusetts, and later took a full college course in one of the leading educational institutions of that State. Leaving school he was en- gaged for some time in practical engineering, and then entered the employ of the Hudson Iron Company as manager of its furnaces, which position he held until 1856. In that year he came to Fort Edward, and assumed management of the Griswold blast furnace of that place, which he superintended until it was sold to Erastus Corning, of Albany. After the sale he went to Breaker's Island, where he was superintendent for several years of the three large blast furnaces then owned by the Troy Iron & Steel Company. Retiring from the furnace business at the close of his work at Breaker's Island, Mr. Harris turned his attention to dealing in real estate, and at the present time owns "Harris Place," a
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large and well arranged block of buildings containing a fine public hall and the offices of several of the leading manufacturing compa- nies of the county. He is a stockholder and one of the main organizers in the Fort Ed- ward furniture factory ; he owns the Appen- heimer clothing establishment, a large mill property, two stores, the old canal basin, a hotel and forty building lots. He is a demo- crat in politics, and has served as president of the village and a member of the school board for several terms; is also a member and the chairman of Fort Edward Baptist church board.
On November 20, 1852, Mr. Harris married Olive E. Carey, and to their union was born three children : George D., whose sketch ap- pears elsewhere in this volume; Della M., wife of George E. Rogers, a furniture dealer of Fort Edward; and Sarah E., who died in infancy. Mrs. Harris received her education at Walworth academy, and is a member, with her husband, of Fort Edward Baptist church. She is a daughter of Isaac and Sarah Ann Wyatt, natives of New York.
R EV. JOHN F. DONAHOE, the pas-
tor of the Catholic church at Salem, was born in Utica, New York, in 1854. The rudi- ments of his education were received in tlie public schools and at West Winfield academy. After some experience in teaching he took up the study of medicine, but not finding it con- genial to his tastes he abandoned it after one year, and entered Manhattan college, New York city, where, at the end of four years, he graduated with honor, and received the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts. On leaving college he went to Montreal, Canada, where he en- tered the Grand Seminary of Saint Sulpice of that city, and remained there three years as a theological student. He then went to Saint Mary's seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, to continue his studies for the priesthood, and at the end of two years was ordained by Cardinal
Gibbons, at the famous Jesuit college at Wood- stock, Maryland. After his ordination he did light missionary work in Baltimore for a short time, when he came to Albany, New York, and was assigned by Bishop McNierney to be assistant priest at the cathedral, where he labored assiduously for nearly a year. He was then transferred by the bishop to Rock City Falls, Saratoga county, to build up the abandoned parish at that place. This was a scattered and laborious mission field, compris- ing large portions of Saratoga, Fulton and Hamilton counties. His predecessor had been obliged to abandon the arduous under- taking some months previously, but Father Donahoe, although not in robust health, threw himself heart and soul into the work, and in a short time had brought order out of chaos. He remained in this charge less than four years, but during that time he repaired the old church at Rock City Falls, and left the congregation in a flourishing condition. In addition he founded two new congregations, built two new churches, one in Galway, Sara- toga county, and the other in Broadalbion, Fulton county. These churches were neat and well furnished, the congregations being in a growing and prosperous condition, with scarcely five hundred dollars debt on the entire property. Father Donahoe had arrangements nearly completed to build a new church at Wells, Hamilton county, also, when he was transferred to Salem in May, 1888, where he has since resided. Here he found a scattered, dispirited and dissatisfied congregation. They had an old dilapidated frame church, hardly worthy the name, in a town like Salem, cold and cheerless, standing on a beautiful but neg- lected lot, the lot being the only thing the church possessed. Rev. Father O'Sullivan had recently died in his own rented house, almost in as cheerless condition as was his church. Directly on the coming of Father Donahoe, it was evident that a master's hand was energetically at work reorgan- izing and consolidating the latent elements
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