USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 26
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 26
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in the years 1873, 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1887. His course as a town officer having been so satisfactory to all parties. led to his nomina- tion by the Democratic party of his district for the assembly. Strong within his own party, and popular with the general masses, he carried Washington county, which has always been one of the great republican strong- holds of the State, by a handsome vote, over- coming the average three thousand majority given to the other nominees on the republican ticket. Mr. Sheldon served very creditably in the general assembly of New York in the session of 1887-88, and then withdrew in a large measure from politics to give needed attention to his business affairs, although he is still active in the interests of the Democratic party, and in any political emergency is always found at the front, working for the success and supremacy of the party of Jackson and Cleveland.
Nathan Sheldon, the founder of the Sheldon family in this county, was a native of Dutchess county, and in early life removed to the town of Fort Ann, where he died at an advanced age. He served in the second war with Eng- land for independence. His son, Uriah Shel- don (father), was born December 23, 1799, in the town of Fort Ann, where he died June 23, 1836, when in the thirty-seventh year of his age. He was a Jacksonian democrat and a powder manufacturer, and married Calista Spicer, who was born July 3, 1801, and passed away August 15, 1854. The Sheldon family is of English lineage, and possesses many of the commendable traits of that powerful race.
R EV. ERASTUS WENTWORTH,
D. D., a prominent minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, was a son of Erastus and Esther (States) Wentworth, and was born at Stonington, Connecticut, August 5, 1813. He was of Dutch and Pilgrim ancestry, a grad- uate of Wesleyan university, and in 1841 be- came a Methodist clergyman. He was presi-
dent of McKendree college in 1846, acted as professor of natural sciences in Dickenson col- lege in 1850, and served as a missionary in China from 1858 to 1862. From 1862 until his death in 1886, he was engaged largely in ministerial duties, his last charge being at Fort Edward. He received his degree of D. D. from Allegheny college in 1858.
Dr. Wentworth in 1839 married Mary Alex- ander, who was a daughter of Seth Alexander, of De Kalb, New York, and died in 1852. Two years later he wedded Anna M. Lewis, a daughter of Joseph Lewis, a lawyer of West Chester, Pennsylvania. He afterward mar- ried Phebe E. Potter, of Dutchess county, New York.
Dr. Wentworth died at Sandy Hill, May 25, 1886, when in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a man of varied attainments, a fine preacher, a well known newspaper corre- spondent and editor, and a man whose amount of information was encyclopædic.
DAVID O. BRIGGS, who has achieved considerable success in the business world, is a native of Steuben county, New York. He was early in life brought to Fort Ann by his parents, where he grew up, and attended the common schools of that village. On leaving school he went to Rutland county, Vermont, where he worked on a farm for four years, at the end of which time he returned to the village of Fort Ann, where he engaged in canal boating, at which he also continued for four years. In March, 1848, while blast- ing in rock on the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company railroad, near this village, he met with the sad accident of losing both arms by the premature explosion in the rock. In 1849 he engaged in the grocery business, but in 1857, however, he returned to canal boating on his own account, which he followed very . successfully up to 1864. In that year he en- gaged in the grocery business, which he has since followed, and for the last seven or eight
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years, in addition to his mercantile duties, he has been in the employ of the State, running the repair boat on the Champlain canal. In 1856 Mr. Briggs was married to Fannie. Chestnut, daughter of Thomas Chestnut, the latter being a native of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Briggs have been born seven chil- dren, two sons and five daughters : Sarah J., present wife of Abner Scott, of Fort Ann ; Carrie E., now the widow of Cornelius Gor- man; Frank W., Harriett L., Julia E., mar- ried to Claude, Bailey ; Mary A. and David O. They have also five sons deceased. Mr. Briggs is a democrat in his political affilia- tions, and for many years has served as town collector.
David O. Briggs is a son of Daniel and Sarah ( Hall ) Briggs. His father was a na- tive of the town of Hartford, having been born in 1794, and died in Fort Ann, at the age of forty-six, in 1840. He was a democrat in politics, and followed the occupation of farming. His father, Jeremy, was born in Rutland county, Vermont, and became one of the early settlers of the town of Hartford, where he died, aged sixty-nine years. The Briggs family are of Scotch and English origin. Sarah Hall Briggs was also a native of Rutland county, Vermont, who died at the age of fifty-eight, in 1855.
H ARRY S. BLACKFAN, M. D., who
is a physician by inheritance as well as the right of adoption, as both his father and grandfather and several other members of the family have been disciples of Esculapius. He is a son of Edward Blackfan and Susan W. Trego, and was born in Orion, Henry county, Illinois, June 13, 1857. His father was a na- tive of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was a graduate of the medical department of the university of Pennsylvania, and he with his brother Benjamin, who was also a practicing physician, when young men went west, locating in Henry county, Illinois, where they became
early settlers of that section. Dr. Edward Blackfan died at Orion in 1866, at the age of forty-seven years. His father was Joseph Blackfan, a physician by profession, who was a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine in Philadelphia for many years ; his death occurred at the age of eighty years. His father was a relative of William Penn, coming from Lancashire, England, and was a Quaker in religion. The mother of the subject of this sketch, Susan W. Trego, is a native of Pennsylvania, and now residing at Orion.
Harry S. Blackfan grew to manhood in his native village, receiving his primary education in the high school of that village. In 1879 he came to Washington county and com- menced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. D. H. Chase, of Cambridge, and was graduated from the Eclectic Medical college of Cincinnati in 1885, and in the same year located at Shushan, where he has succeeded in building up a substantial practice. He is a member of the New York State Eclectic Medical society. At the beautiful little sum- mer resort, Lake Lauderdale, two miles from the village of Shushan, Dr. Blackfan owns a summer hotel, where he spends his summer months. He was married in 1880 to Estella L., who is a daughter of D. A. Chase, of Cambridge. To Dr. and Mrs. Blackfan have been born three children : Hallie M., Kenneth D., and Harry C. Dr. Blackfan is a member of the United Presbyterian church of his vil- lage, and Cambridge Valley Lodge, No. 481, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a republican.
M YRON D. INGALSBE, the well known and successful merchant of Fort Ann, was born in the town of Hartford, Wash- ington county, New York, July 1, 1846, and is a son of David Ingalsbe and Emily E. May- nard. The Ingalsbe family were among the first to settle in the town of Hartford, which was founded by Aaron and Eber Ingalsbe,
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two young unmarried men who came from Massachusetts in 1782, and settled on lot 87. lIere they built a shanty near where A. Gil- christ's now stands ; went back to Massachu- setts in the fall, but returned the next spring. Eber removed to the north, but Aaron married Polly Hicks, of Granville, by whom he had ten children, his sons being : James, Silas, Belas, Aaron, Reuben, Levi, Elias and Lewis. James was born in July, 1789, and had four sons : Milo, Royal, Homer and James L., who became prominent citizens of that town. David Ingalsbe was a native of the town of Hartford, but removed to the town of Gran- ville, where he died in August, 1880, aged sixty years. He was a member of the Baptist church, a republican in political sentiment, and a farmer by occupation ; he resided in the town of Granville about fifteen years prev- ious to his death. He was a son of Zachariah Ingalsbe, who was also born in the town of Hartford, where he died at the age of seventy- five years ; a cooper by trade, and was a sol- dier in the war of 1812. Emily E. Maynard, also a native of Hartford, dying at the age of sixty-seven years, in 1886, and was a member of the Baptist church.
Myron D. Ingalsbe remained on the farm in his native town until he arrived at the age of thirteen, when he removed with his parents to the town of Granville. He received a com- mon school education and continued to farm until he had arrived at the age of twenty-one years, when he engaged as a clerk in general stores at Truthville and Granville, where he re- mained three years. Then he formed a part- nership with Isaac Finch, under the firm name of Finch & Ingalsbe, who did a general mer- chandising business at Fort Ann for one year, when Mr. Ingalsbe sold his interests and the following fall took a position as bookkeeper in O. G. How's sash and door factory, of the same village. Here he remained until the next year, in the fall of which he engaged as partner with H. C. Clements in the same line of business, the title of the firm being H. C.
Clements, Ingalsbe & Co. This firm did busi- ness for three years, when Mr. Ingalsbe again sold his interest, and, in 1879, opened out at his present stand, which is a grocery and meat market, where he carries on a successful and prosperous trade. In addition he handles ice during the summer season and owns ten acres of land inside the corporation of Fort Ann, . which he farms. In 1871 Mr. Ingalsbe was married to Mary S., daughter of Harvey Oat- man, of the town of Hartford. To Mr. and Mrs. Ingalsbe have been born four children, Harvey D., Densy A., Julia E. and Emily D. He is a republican in politics and a popular business man, who commands the esteem and respect of all who come in contact with him.
E RNEST A. GREENOUGH, captain of the 9th separate company of the Na- tional Guard, State of New York, was born in the village of Whitehall, Washington county, New York, June 11, 1864. Here he grew up, attending the public schools, and later on en- tered the North Granville Military academy, and after leaving this institution was in the employ of contractors on public works in the capacity of book-keeper, superintendent, etc., up to 1888. In that year he engaged in the piano business, in which he has been exten- sively engaged ever since. On January 10, 1881, Captain Greenough enlisted as a private in the 9th separate company, and since then has gone through all the grades of promotion of this company, and on May 12, 1893, was elected captain, and is now serving in that office. This company was organized April 27, 1876, and is one of the efficient and well dis- ciplined companies of the State. In June. 1891, he was married to Frances S. Allen, a daughter of Hannibal Allen, of Whitehall. Captain Greenough is a member of the Epis- copal church, and a democrat in political opin- ion, and takes an active part in politics.
Capt. Ernest A. Greenough is a son of J. Henry and Mary L. (Allen) Greenough, the
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former having been born in this village on February 4, 1830, and has resided in his native village ever since, engaged in the carriage making business. He is a member of the Episcopal church, and Phœnix Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, a democrat in his po- litical sentiment, and is now holding the office of village assessor. His father was James Greenough, who was a native of Lebanon, New Hampshire, coming to this village in 1829, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1884, aged eighty-four years. He was a Jacksonian democrat, served as trustee ' and poor master of the village, and was for many years engaged in the carriage manufac- turing business. He was a descendant of an old New England family. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Wells, Ver- mont, April 1, 1832, and died December 16, 1892. She was a devoted member of the Episcopal church of Whitehall.
C CHARLES HUGHES was born Febru- ary 27, 1822. In 1837 he began the study of law in the office of H. B. Northup, at Sandy Hill, New York. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1845. In 1852 he was elected to Congress. In 1857 he was elected clerk of the court of appeals. In 1862 he took an active part in raising and organizing the famous Washington county regiment, 123d New York volunteers. Ill health prevented his taking command of the regiment and going to the field. In 1863 he was appointed provost marshal, and was in command at the time of the July (1863) riots in Troy. The mob, wisely for themselves, left his office alone. They knew he was prepared for them.
In 1877 he was elected senator of the State of New York. He filled all public offices with ability and with great credit. On April 26, 1850, the law firm of Hughes & Northup was formed. Charles Hughes and Lyman H. Northup composed the firm. That firm ex- isted until the death of Mr. Hughes, August
10, 1887, a period of more than thirty-seven years.
Mr. Hughes was the advocate and trial member of the firm. He was an able advocate and a great orator. He had a wonderful knowledge of human nature, and rarely erred in his judgment of a juror. He was engaged in nearly every important case, civil and crim- inal, in the county for nearly a quarter of a century. His summing up in the Billings murder trial, in the Willett murder trial, and in the Clements bank case were marvels of eloquence. No poor man ever applied to him for professional aid and was refused for his poverty. His was a genial nature. The world would be better were there more men like Charles Hughes.
H ON. JOHN H. DERBY, ex-state sen- ator and manufacturer of Sandy Hill, is the only child born to George F. Derby and Jane F. Howland ( see sketch of Amasa How- land ). The former was a son of John Derby, who was born in the town of Hebron, this county, in 1787, and belonged to the Massa- chusetts family of Derbys, whose progenitors came to the new world in about the year 1700; he died early in life. George F. Derby was a native of Glens Falls, and was born in 1817; he was a railway contractor, and died in 1873. He wedded Jane How- land, a sister of Amasa Howland, of Sandy Hill, and whose death occurred in 1871.
John H. Derby was born at Sandy Hill, Washington county, New York, June 20, 1845, and there grew to manhood. At the age of sixteen Mr. Derby, accompanied by his father, went to western New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where his father was called as a railway contractor. His splendid business talent had already begun to develop itself, and he proved a ready and valuable as- sistant to his father ; also as clerk employed by the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company, with which his father was for a
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time connected. In 1873, after an absence of twelve years, Mr. Derby returned to Sandy Hill, then at the age of twenty-eight, and has ever since resided here. The firm of Howland & Co. was formed to succeed How- land & Miller, and consisted of Amasa How- land, L. M. Howland and John H. Derby, and continued to 1892, when it was succeeded by the Howland Paper Co. But this by no means measures the limit of his usefulness or the extent of the trust reposed in him. There is hardly an interest in the thriving village of Sandy Hill with which John H. Derby is not connected. Perhaps first in im- portance as affecting the higher welfare of the place may be mentioned the schools of his native place. Sandy Hill, with its popu- lation of three thousand or more progressive and enterprising people, takes great pride in its public schools. It has an excellent system, including a high school, from which graduates may pass directly to college. Its scholars are housed in four well-equipped buildings, and a force of about twenty capable teachers is under the control of the board of education. This system has not been the growth of a day. It represents the result of intelligent, well-directed effort, inspired by the laudable ambition to provide the best and most prac- tical education for the children, with a view to developing useful, honorable man- and wo- manhood. In this work Mr. Derby has borne a leading part, for he has been for fifteen years a member of the school board, and is now its vice-president. For three years in succession he was elected supervisor of the town of Kingsbury. The first year the demo- crats nominated a candidate against him, but the following year he had the field to himself, and the last time was again returned with practically no opposition. The last year his colleagues in the Washington county board of supervisors attested their appreciation of his worth when he was made chairman. When the Sandy Hill Power Company was organized Mr. Derby was chosen its president, an office
he still retains ; he is also a director and sec- retary of the Howland Paper Co., director of Spring Brook Water Co., and the Electric Light Co. Of course financial interests also enlist Mr. Derby's support, and are benefited by his counsel, and the First National bank of Sandy Hill numbers him among its most active and efficient directors. He has been for years a communicant of the Presbyterian church, and a short time ago was ordained as an elder, the highest honor to which a layman can attain in that denomination. He is a charter member and treasurer of the Royal Arcanum council of Sandy Hill, organized twelve years ago, and stands high in this suc- cessful benevolent order, having been for seven years a member of the grand council for the State, and for five years one of the fi- nance committee of that body. Politically Mr. Derby has been an earnest republican, and besides filling the offices above enumer- ated he has twice been a delegate to the re- publican State conventions.
He was married at Meadville, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1870, to Margaret F. Steuart. To that union three children have been born : Archibald F., Anna Louise and John H., jr.
John H. Derby was elected State senator from the sixteenth senatorial district, com- posed of the counties of Rensselaer and Washington.
H IRAM SHIPMAN, an expert mine in- spector and a man who has extensively traveled over two continents, was born in the village of Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, March 8, 1834. He is descended from English and Dutch ancestry, and is a son of Hiram Shipman and Mary Anne T. Bush, the former a native of Vermont, having been born in the vicinity of Montpelier, and was of Eng- lish origin. He was a tanner by trade, and built and operated the first tannery in Fort Ann. This tannery stood across the canal where the house of Myron Ingalsbe stands,
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but was removed soon after the canal was completed to the location where the present one is now situated. He afterward became a member of the firm of Pike & Shipman, en- gaged in tanning and shoe making, where he continued until his death. He died in 1847. His wife was Mary Anne T. Bush, who was a native of Fort Ann. She was of Holland- Dutch descent. The name Bush was Angla- cised from Ter Bosch, the original way of spelling the name. She was a daughter of Lemuel T. Bush, who came to Fort Ann, and was engaged in farming. Hiram Shipman, by his marriage to Mary Anne T. Bush, had two children: Margaret, who married the Rev. Wallace Sawyer, and now resides at Milford, Ohio, and Hiram.
Hiram Shipman, jr., was left an orphan at the age of fourteen, when his father died, his mother having preceded his father to the grave when he was only three years of age. In the winter of 1850 Mr. Shipman went to White- hall, where he attended school, and in the following summer went into the forwarding office as an employee of Nathan Jillson. In the spring of 1852 he went to California by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, paying a fare of two hundred and fifty dollars, taking second cabin passage on this side of the Isth- mus, and steerage on the other until he reached San Francisco. After arriving at San Fran- cisco he worked in a mine near that city for three years, when he returned east, but soon recrossed the continent to California and ac- cepted work in the same mine. For a short time Mr. Shipman served as one of Lincoln's body guards. In 1861 he went to Honduras and engaged in mining and coffee growing, but was soon compelled to leave that section on account of a severe attack of the Panama fever. In 1862, leaving St. Louis, he went by the way of the Missouri river to Fort Ben- ton, thence to Walla Walla, a distance of eight hunered miles, traveling on mule back, and from there to Boise City, where he was en- gaged in mining until the close of the war.
In 1865 he visited New York, returning to California by the way of the Isthmus, where he again engaged in mining, the last mine he owned and operated being the Clip mine, of Arizona.
In 1884, having sold his interests in mining, he returned to his native village of Fort Ann, where he was married to Mrs. Sarah Dewey Pike, by whom he has had one daughter : Mary Bush Shipman. On August 13, 1886, Mr. Shipman sailed for Rio Janeiro in the in- terest of a New York syndicate for the pur- pose of inspecting their mines, located in the interior of South America. He traveled from San Paulo, about twelve hundred miles to the head waters of the Tocantine river, in the golden diamond region. This journey he made mostly on mule back, which required three months to complete the trip.
Mr. Shipman, beside receiving the rudi- ments of a good common school education, attended the school of mines in the city of San Francisco. In the business world Mr. Shipman has been successful, possessed of a handsome competency, and now living a quiet and retired life, but for several years past has been in poor health. His wife was a daughter of Thaddeus N. Dewey, of Fort Ann. She was the widow of Silas P. Pike, a lawyer of Fort Ann, by whom she had one son, John M. Mr. Shipman's father's and mother's deaths occurred on the following dates respectively, February 27, 1847, aged fifty-two years ; Oc- tober 4, 1836. The latter was born in 1804.
AMALAEL JENKINS, a prominent inventor and a man of diversified business and legal attainments, was born on the farm where he now resides, in the town of Queens- bury, Warren county, New York, December 5, 1824. He is the son of Palmer B. Jenkins and Louisa Brayton. The former was born in Dutchess county, New York, in 1792, and removed to the town of Queensbury in 1795 with his father, Simon Jenkins, who was born
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in Rhode Island, and of Welsh descent. He was born on November 11, 1760, died June 9, 1831, and removed to this town in the same year as his son, Palmer B., in 1795. from Dutchess county. He became one of the thrifty and successful farmers of Warren county, and married Sarah Carey, who was of the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, and had two nieces, Phœbe and Alice Carey, who be- came quite famous as poetesses in the State of Pennsylvania. Palmer B. Jenkins was, dur- ing his active business career, engaged in farming and lumbering, which he successfully followed until his death, March 26, 1877. A successful business man and popular and well liked by his neighbors. He was a member of the Universalist church, a democrat in his political opinion, and acceptably filled a number of the town offices, among the num- ber being that of justice of the peace, and was a soldier in the battle of Plattsburg dur- ing the war of 1812.
The progenitors and founders of this branch of the Jenkins family in this country, were three brothers, who came over from Wales in the early part of the eighteenth century and set- tled on Nantucket island. One of these broth- ers afterward migrated to this State and set- tled in Dutchess county, and from him the subject of this sketch is descended. Gamalael Jenkins is the eighth in direct line from the immigrant who settled in Dutchess county. His mother was a native of the town of Queens- bury, and was a daughter of John Brayton, who was one of the pioneer settlers of that town, and was a fariner by occupation, a dea- con in the Baptist church, and was of Irish extraction. Mrs. Jenkins (mother) was a member of the Universalist church, and died in 1886, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.
Gamalael Jenkins grew to manhood on the farm on which he now resides, receiving his education in ordinary schools of. the neighbor- hood, supplemented by a term at a select school, and one term at the. State Normal
school at Albany. Leaving school he was for two years engaged in merchandising in the village of Queensbury, at the end of which time he relinquished this and began farming and lumbering, owning a saw mill, and has been more or less engaged in the manufacture of lumber ever since. From 1857 to 1861 Mr. Jenkins was engaged in the making of hubs, spokes and felloes, and is at present, in addi- tion to his saw mill, conducting a grist mill ; he also owns and resides upon the old home- stead, which contains one hundred acres of pleasantly situated and well improved land .. On March 28, 1893, Mr. Jenkins patented his automatic car coupler, which does away with the old fashioned link motion coupler, and is destined to become in general use by all the great railroad systems of the civilized world ; he has patents from Canada also. In regard to this important patent, we quote from the Glens Falls Star :
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