USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 24
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 24
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and resources of the congregation. His atti- tude was at once recognized in the community as that of the self-respecting, high-minded gentleman, who bore himself in a kindly and gracious manner toward all, and rapidly made friends among all classes. In less than three years a marvelous change had taken place in the affairs of the congregation; a new and commodious brick church, with fine appoint- ments, welcomed the thankful worshippers, and an elegant parochial residence had been erected ; in all a property worth not less than twenty-five thousand dollars, with not over three thousand dollars of debt. The parish- ioners are united, happy and prosperous, and Father Donahoe claims that he has the best congregation for its size and the easiest to manage in northern New York. He has done much toward elevating the intellectual and social standard of his young people, and is ever on the alert to advance their happiness and welfare. Father Donahoe has been some- what of an extensive traveler; beside short trips to some of the western and southern States, he has made an extended trip to the West Indies, visiting among other places the old city of Santo Domingo, founded by Colum- bus in 1494, near the spot where he first touched the soil of the new world. In 1891 he made an extended tour through Europe and the East, being absent about seven months, visiting nearly all the great continental cities : Paris, Nice, Genoa, Rome, Naples, Florence, Milan, Venice, Berne, Munich, Vienna, Carls- bad, Cologne and Brussels, besides spending six weeks in Jerusalem, and among the holy places in Palestine. On his return he visited England and Ireland. Father Donahoe is a keen and appreciative observer of men and things, and looks below the surface. He is eminently a practical man, both in religious and business affairs ; a zealous priest in his own church, . broad-minded and kind in his attitude toward his fellow Christians not of his fold. He is emphatically American in all his ideas, and aims at and believes in equal rights for all.
He is a close student, and keeps himself abreast of the times in current affairs and liter- ature, and is on the right side of temperance and every moral question which affects the well being of the community. A genial and loyal friend, he sincerely detests hypocricy and dishonesty. A clear and logical thinker, an earnest and convincing speaker, he carries his hearers more by the force of the truth pre- sented than by mere dependence upon ora- tory.
HI ENRY L. MOWRY, a well-known pa- per manufacturer of Greenwich, and a prominent citizen of Washington county, is a son of William H. and Angelina ( Gifford ) Mowry ; and is a man whose achievements in the business world entitles him to rank among the leading citizens of his village.
William H. Mowry ( father) was born in the town of Greenwich, this county, in the year 1811, and died October 28, 1850, at the early age of thirty-nine years. He was a man of frail constitution, being an invalid the most of his life ; one of the original agitators of the anti-slavery question, he early became an active partisan in the cause of emancipa- tion, and his home became a resort for many fugitive slaves. Being a man of abstemious habits he was an active and zealous promoter in the temperance cause. He was one of the founders of the Congregational church of his village, and served as one of its trustees. He wedded Angelina, a daughter of Gideon Gifford, of Easton. His marriage was blessed by the birth of five children, three sons and two daughters : Jane M., widow of D. D. Haskell, of Greenwich ; Henry L. Le- roy (dead ) ; William G., of the same village ; and Mrs. Sarah G., wife of J. O. LaVake, of this place. His wife, and the mother of this subject, died on May 19, 1853, aged thirty- nine years.
William Mowry (grandfather ) was born at Slaterville, Rhode Island, but in early man- hood migrated to and settled in the village of
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Greenwich; and according to statistics he erected the first cotton mill in the State of New York, and the second one built in the United States, and which busi- ness he successfully followed the greater part of his life. After he had his mill started in successful operation he went to England, with the object in view of visiting the leading cot- ton mills of that country in order to better equip himself in making a permanent success of this new American industry ; and of which he should have the credit of being one of its pioneers and earliest promoters. Upon his arrival he was refused entrance to any of the mills, but resorted to a subterfuge in the dis- guise of a day laborer, and was admitted, gaining valuable information in the manufac- tory of cotton goods, and thus accomplished his aim. Some time afterward his mission was discovered by the English manufacturers, who it is supposed forwarded to him a box of deadly explosives, but he, with true Yankee shrewdness, did not open it in a manner that would cause any serious damage. For many years after his return to America he was suc- cessfully engaged in the manufacture of cloth, sheeting, etc. He was an old line whig, and took an active part in the political measures of his day. A prominent Mason in his time, he became the founder of the lodge of his village. He wedded Lydia Whipple, who was a member of one of the pioneer families of Greenwich. Four children were born to them : Leroy, Anna C., wife of Henry Holmes ; William H. ( father), and Mary E., who is the wife of John T. Masters.
The Mowrys are of Anglo-Saxon descent, their progenitor having early emigrated from England to the United States, and settled in Rhode Island long before the war of the Revo- lution.
Henry L. Mowry was born in the village of Greenwich, on December 13, 1837, and in which he has always resided. He attended the Phillips academy at Andover, Massachu- setts, and afterward the Williston seminary,
located at East Hampton, in the same State. In 1872, in conjunction with W. R. Hobbie, erected the Phoenix paper mill, in which they have since been engaged. The capacity of these mills is three and one-half to four tons of straw wrapping paper daily, and which re- quires sixteen hands steadily employed. Mr. Mowry is a member of the Masonic lodge of Greenwich, and of the Commandery Knights Templar of Saratoga Springs. He is a member and warden of the Episcopal church.
Henry L. Mowry, on November 19, 1879, was married to Jane F., daughter of Rev. W. WV. Dowd, now of La Junta, Colorado.
B. R. HOLCOMB, M. D., one of the leading physicians of Washington county, who served as surgeon of the 157th New York infantry during the civil war, and now has a large practice in the village of Whitehall, where he has been successfully engaged in his profession for more than a quarter of a century, is a son of Diadorus S. and Maria (Cole) Holcomb, and was born November 1, 1840, at Westport, Essex county, New York. The Holcombs trace their trans- atlantic origin back to England, but have been settled in America since early in the seven- teenth century. Diadorus Holcomb, paternal grandfather of Dr. Holcomb, was a native of New Hampshire, where he was reared and. educated. He studied medicine, and soon after beginning practice removed to Essex county, New York, settling at Westport. There he won prominence in his profession, and for many years enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. He died at Westport in 1855, at the age of eighty-three years. One of his sons was Diadorus S. Holcomb (father), who was born at Westport, New York, in the initial year of the present century. There he grew to manhood and received a superior English education. After his marriage he engaged in the hotel business, and in 1861 removed to Plattsburg, this State, where he
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became proprietor of a leading hotel, and suc- cessfully conducted that business until com- pelled to relinquish the active duties of life by the increasing infirmities of age. He died at Plattsburg, New York, in 1873, in the seventy-third year of his age. Politically he was an ardent democrat, and in religion a member of the Baptist church. In 1837 he married Maria Cole, a native of New Hamp- shire and a daughter of Stephen Cole. They reared a family of four children. Mrs. Hol- comb was a member of the Episcopal church, and died in 1883, in the seventieth year of her age.
Dr. Benjamin R. Holcomb was principally reared in the village of Champlain, Clinton county, this State, and received an academic education in the Champlain academy. After completing his English studies he began read- ing medicine with Dr. Dodge, of Rouse's Point, and finished reading with Dr. Alden March, of the city of Albany. He then en- tered the Albany Medical college, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D., in the fall of 1864. In the same autumn he was appointed assistant surgeon of the 157th New York infantry, then doing duty in the valley of Virginia, and served as such until the close of the war in 1865. In the fall of that year Dr. Holcomb located at Whitehall, where he has ever since conducted a large and success- ful general practice, which is now one of the most extensive and lucrative in the county.
Dr. Holcomb is a member of the Tri-county Medical society and of the Washington County Medical society. He is a constant reader, and endeavors at all times to keep abreast of all true progress made in the profession to which he has devoted his life. The marked success he has attained is the best commentary on the fidelity, ability and skill which he has brought into his practice of medicine, and it speaks more eloquently of his professional fitness than any words on this page could do. Politically Dr. Holcomb is an ardent demo- crat, but has never taken an active part in
politics, preferring to devote his time and at- tention to the exacting duties of his profession. He is a member of Phonix Lodge, No. 96, Free and Accepted Masons.
In 1868 Dr. Holcomb was united in mar- riage to Helen Davis, a daughter of Hon. E. E. Davis, of Whitehall, who once represented this district in the State assembly. To the Doctor and Mrs. Holcomb were born two chil- dren, one son and a daughter: Marian and George B.
H ON. WILLIAM H. TEFFT, a mem-
ber of the Washington county bar, the editor of The Whitehall Chronicle, and a law student of President Chester A. Arthur, is a son of Gardner and Sarah ( Potter) Tefft, and was born in the town of Greenwich, Washing- ton county, New York, October 6, 1833. The Tefft family is of English lineage, and the New York branch was founded by Nathan Tefft, sr., who came from Kingston, Rhode Island, to the town of Greenwich in the year 1766. His son, Nathan Tefft, born in the same town, was the father of Capt. Benjamin Tefft, who served in the second war with England. Captain Tefft was born in 1776, followed farm- ing and contracting, and died in 1846, at seventy years of age. His son, Gardner Tefft, who was a well known citizen of Greenwich, was the father of the subject of this sketch. Gardner Tefft was born in 1805, and passed away in 1888. He was a farmer, a member of the First Baptist church of Greenwich, and a whig and republican in politics. Mr. Tefft wedded Sarah Potter, a native of Greenwich, and a daughter of John Potter, whose father came from Rhode Island. Mrs. Tefft, who was born in 1814, was a consistent member of the Baptist church, and died in 1867, when in the fifty-third year of her age.
William H. Tefft at an early age entered the Troy Conference academy, of Poultney, Vermont, and after finishing his studies there and at the Greenwich academy of this State, en- tered Brown university, of Providence, Rhode
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Island, pursuing a special course at that old and famous institution of learning in the sophomore, junior, and senior years of the class of 1854. Leaving Brown university, he read law with the legal firm of Culver. Parker & Arthur, the latter of whom afterward became the twenty-first president of the United States. Mr. Tefft was admitted to the bar in 1856, and soon afterward formed a partnership with George W. Parker, one of his legal precep- tors. This firm practiced in New York city until 1861, when Mr. Tefft withdrew from the partnership, and after practicing by himself in the metropolis for four years, he came, in 1865, to Whitehall, where he has built up a large law practice. In 1866 Mr. Tefft pur- chased The Whitehall Chronicle, which he edited until the office was burned in 1870. Three years later, on January 1, 1873, he bought The Whitchall News, a small paper that had been started after the burning of the Chronicle. He enlarged the News, and soon changed its name to that of The Whitehall Chronicle. His paper is a four-page, thirty-six column weekly sheet. The Chronicle is republican in politics, and has a wide circulation. Its columns con- tain all the general news of any importance, and give the latest happenings of the county, together with everything of local interest. The Chronicle was established in 1840, and has been made a power in the county under the administration of Mr. Tefft.
In 1860 William H. Tefft married Sarah V. Cooke, a daughter of the late W. W. Cooke, of Whitehall. They have one child, a son, named Lawrence H. Tefft.
In politics Mr. Tefft is a republican. He served three years and a half as school com- missioner of Washington county, and was deputy collector of customs at the port of Whitehall during Grant and Hayes' adminis- trations. In 1873 he was elected to fill a vacancy in the New York assembly from Wash- ington county, and was again, in 1888, elected for the full term of the legislature of 1889. He is a member of Phoenix Lodge, No. 96,
Free and Accepted Masons, of Whitehall. Mr. Tefft and all the members of his family are members of Trinity Episcopal church. He has been identified with the progress of Whitehall for over a quarter of a century, and during all of his life has been energetic and persevering in every enterprise or calling in which he has been engaged.
SOLOMON W. RUSSELL, a member of the Washington County Bar and a wounded veteran officer of the army of the Potomac, and a son of Solomon W. and Zada (Totman) Russell, was born at Luzerne, Warren county, New York, July 5, 1836. His paternal grandfather, Captain Abel Rus- sell, was a native of Massachusetts, and died at Petersburgh, Rensselaer county, New York, on the 13th day of February, 1812, in the seventieth year of his age. He married Sarah Wright, who died at Salem, New York, Octo- ber 16, 1826, in the sixty-ninth year of her age, and whose ancestor, Solomon Wright, was the first judge of Bennington county, Vermont. Abel Russell, the grandfather, was the de- cendant of Richard Russell, born in Here- fordshire, England, in 1612, came to this country in 1640, was a representative in 1646, speaker of the House 1648-9, 1654, 1656 and 1658, assistant in 1659-76, and treasurer of Massachusetts from 1644 until his death, which occurred at Charlestown, Massachu- setts. Solomon W. Russell, father of the subject of this sketch, was a son of Captain Abel Russell, who was born in Petersburgh, New York, and died at Salem, New York, October 28, 1866, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was a farmer for many years in the town of Greenwich, Washington county, New York. He. was a member of the first incorporated Presbyterian church at Salem, and wedded Zada Totman, who was a native of Warren county, New York, May 2, 1832, and who died in the town of Greenwich, September 10, 1840.
Cal. S. It. Russell.
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Solomon W. Russell was reared principally on his father's farm in the town of Greenwich, and after attending the district school in North- umberland, county of Saratoga, New York city ward School No. 2, the academy at Fort Mil- ler, Rev. A. G. Cockran, principal, and at Schuylerville, the seminary at Cooperstown, Charlottesville, and the institute at Fort Ed- ward, where he finished his preparation for college. He entered Union college, but in the middle of his college course and in the sum- mer of 1861, at Salem, he raised the first com- pany of volunteers raised in that town for the war of 1861-5, Co. A, 2d New York volun- teer cavalry, which was mustered into the ser- vice of the United States in September, 1861. He was elected captain of the company, which, with the regiment, was mustered out at Wash- ington, District of Columbia, March 30, 1862. He was afterwards commissioned adjutant of the 18th New York volunteer infantry, and at the expiration of the term of service of that regiment, he was commissioned first lieuten- ant of Co. B, 49th New York volunteer in- fantry. In that regiment he was promoted successively to captain and major. He was brevetted major United States volunteers for services at the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, and was also brevetted lieutenant-colonel of United States volunteers for gallant and meri- torious services before Petersburg, and at the battle of Sailor's Creek, Virginia. Colonel Russell was honorably mustered out of the service of the United States at Buffalo, New York, in June, 1865. His entire military ser- vice was with the army of the Potomac. He belonged to the Sixth army corps. Novem- ber 7th, 1863, at the battle of Rappahannock Station, Virginia, while taking part in a charge of the earth works of the enemy, he was shot through the body as he was jumping his horse into the enemy's works, and fell to the ground insensible. He was taken from the field and to Armory Square hospital, Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, afterwards to Seminary hospital, Georgetown, and in May, 1864, 12
again reported for duty at the front, reaching the army at Spottsylvania, Virginia, and served continuously until the war closed. He has never fully recovered from the wound received at Rappahannock Station. He read law with Hon. C. L. Allen at Salem, and was ad- mitted to the bar in December, 1862. Re- turning from the war, though a great sufferer on account of his injuries received in the ser- vice, he commenced the practice of the law at Salem, in the office of Judge Allen, and he has ever since been engaged in the active and successful practice of his profession at Salem. August 16, 1866, Colonel Russell was united in marriage with Anna A. Dixon, of Warrenton, Virginia, a daughter of Lucius and Rosena Ashton Dixon. To Colonel and Mrs. Russell have been born eight children, two sons and six daughters: Solomon W., jr., Dixon P., Anna A., Rosena E., Alice F., Zada T., Mary S. and Sarah H. Anna A. Russell married Benjamin C. Haggart, teller of the Peoples' National Bank, of Salem. Solomon W. Russell, jr., is a practicing lawyer of Salem, and married Anna C. Wheeler, of New York city. Politically Colonel Russell up to the first election of President Cleve- land was a democrat, since he has become a republican. He was a delegate to the Na- tional convention of 1876, at Saint Louis, Missouri, which nominated Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, and was always a warm supporter of him. He has never held a civil salaried office. He has been president of the village of Salem and also of the school board continuously for more than twenty-five years. He is one of the trustees of Washington academy, in whose progress and prosperity he lias ever since his residence in Salem taken a deep interest. He is an Episcopalian, and has been a member of the Masonic fraternity ever since he became twenty-one years of age. He is past master of Salem Lodge, No. 391, Free and Accepted Masons, and Past High Priest of Federal Chapter, No. 10, Royal Arch Masons, and past commander of A. L. McDougal Post, No.
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570, Grand Army of the Republic. Colonel Russell has a good law practice, and is pleas- ant and genial, easily approached and com- mands the respect of all who know him.
J AMES M. ORDWAY, a well-known and respected citizen of the village of Sandy Hill, and a descendant of Revolu- tionary ancestry, is a son of James and Sarah ( Buzzle ) Ordway, and was born in .Orange county, Vermont, December 18, 1830. The Ordways are of Scotch descent, and Moses Ordway (grandfather) served in the Revolu- tionary war. His son, James Ordway, was born in New Hampshire, and removed in 1869 to this county, where he died three years later. James Ordway was a stonema- son by trade, but followed farming, and mar- ried Sarah Buzzle, whose father was a native of Massachusetts, and served as a Conti- nental soldier in the Revolutionary struggle.
James M. Ordway was reared on his father's Vermont farm, receiving but three month's schooling in each year, and assisting in farm work until he was twenty-one years of age. He chopped cord word for the first pair of boots that he ever wore, and upon attaining his majority came to Warren county, this State, where he worked for some time at lumbering, and then became a jobber in get- ting pine, hemlock and spruce lumber from the logging camps and mills into market. In this latter business he was so successful that in a few years he acquired sufficient means to purchase a farm in the town of Moreau, Sara- toga county, on which he lived until 1889. In that year Mr. Ordway came to Sandy Hill, where he owns a handsome residence, also a store building in that village, another at Fort Edward, and some valuable property at Glens Falls, besides two excellent farms in the town of Moreau, Saratoga county.
In 1862 Mr. Ordway married Mary An- drews, a daughter of David Andrews, who drove for many years one of the coaches on
the famous old stage line between Sandy Hill, Whitehall and Troy. Mr. and Mrs. Ordway have one child, a daughter, named Sarah.
James M. Ordway is a democrat in political opinion. He is energetic, reliable and in- dustrious, and has acquired a comfortable competency through his own efforts.
JOSEPH HAVILAND, a prominent farmer and blooded stock raiser, of the town of Queensbury, is a native of the town in which he now resides, and was born in Sanford Ridge, three miles north of Glens Falls, October 25, 1826. After leaving the common schools of his neighborhood his ed- ucation was supplemented by a term or two at the Glens Falls Academy. When he had come of age he engaged in farming, which he has most successfully pursued a greater portion of the time ever since. On February 5, 1849, Mr. Haviland was married to Eliza Staples, of Pawlet, Vermont, and immedi- ately afterward left the old homestead, and went to occupy a farm, known as the Harvey farm, about one mile from where he was born. Eliza Staples was a daughter of Jona- than and Sylvia Staples ( the latter a daugh- ter of Stephen Rogers), who owned a large dairy in the State of Vermont. Mr. Havi- land remained on this farm until 1859, when he purchased the farm where he now resides, known as the Reuben Newman farm. He is engaged in general farming, making a spec- ialty, to some extent, of breeding and raising superior blooded stock, and gives much of his attention to Holstein cattle. For three years Mr. Haviland served as president of the Warren County Agricultural society, in whose welfare he is deeply interested, and has been one of its chief factors.
To Mr. and Mrs. Haviland have been born four children : Willis J., born January I, 1852; Merritt E., born April 11, 1855 ; Elma S. and Emma L., twins, born April 21, 1858. Merritt E. is a graduate of Cornell
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university, in the class of 1877, studied law with Brown & Sheldon, then entered Colum- bia law school in September, 1878, and in May the following year was admitted to the bar, and is now practicing law in the city of New York; and Willis J. is a farmer on Sanford Ridge.
The progenitors of the Havilands in Amer- ica came from France, and spelled the name DeHavery. The earliest record we have of this family is that of three brothers who emi- grated from France to England, and it was agreed among them that the first of the three who discovered land from the vessel should exclaim "Haviland," which from that time became the family name. The ancestors in direct line from Joseph Haviland, the subject of this sketch, were Joseph (father ), Roger Haviland (grandfather ), the latter a son of Benjamin Haviland, who was born in 1698, and died in 1757. He was the first to settle in northern New York, and had four sons : David, Solomon, Joseph and Roger. They were all Quakers of the Orthodox faith, and have been among the most numerous and foremost of that faith in the town of Queens- bury. Benjamin Haviland ( third ) wedded Charlotte Parks, and had thirteen children : Benjamin, Roger, Thomas, Daniel, Solomon, Isaac, John, Sophia, Charlotte, Althea, Sarah, Abigail and Mary. Benjamin third was a son of Benjamin second, who was born in 1654 and died in 1724, and was the father of two other sons : John and Isaac. Benjamin Haviland first, the founder of the American . branch of the family, came from England in 1647. He was the father of five children : Benjamin, Adam, Abigail, Bathia and John. They settled in Flushing, Long Island. The father of Benjamin first was John Haviland, mayor of Bristol, England, who married Mary Knightly. The latter was a son of Christopher De Haviland, who married a daughter of King Edward the IV., of Eng- land : and he, James De Haviland, was a son of Thomas De Haviland, who became illus-
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