USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 28
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 28
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On February 10, 1870, Mr. Thompson was united by marriage to Cornelia Coulter, the youngest daughter of James Coulter, of the town of Jackson. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomp- son have been born two daughters : Blanche D. and Nancy C., both living at home with their parents in their handsome residence in the village of Greenwich.
č OHN T. MASTERS, who died at his home in Greenwich in 1894, was for many years a prominent citizen of northern New York, and a well known and estimable gentle- man of the old school. He was the only son of Judge Nicholas Merritt and Anna T. (Thomas) Masters, and was born March 25, 1819, in the city of Troy, New York. His paternal great- great-grandfather, Nicholas Masters, was a
native of the island of Guernsey, where he was reared and lived until after his marriage. He was a wealthy ship owner, married the daugh- ter of a Rev. Mr. Sheldon, a clergyman of the church of England, and came with his wife on his own ships to visit this country. Pleased with America, they determined to remain here, and settled in Connecticut, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Their son, Nicholas Masters (great-grandfather), was born and grew to manhood in Connecticut, but while yet a young man removed to Rens- selaer county, New York, where he engaged in farming and became a large land owner. One of his sons was Nicholas Masters (pater- nal grandfather), who also devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, and became one of the large land owners in that section. He and his brother, Judge Josiah Masters, built and operated the famous powder mills at Valley Falls, Rensselaer county, which enterprise they undertook at the personal solicitation of President Madison. Judge Josiah Masters was a very prominent man in his day, and was sent to England by President Madison on a business mission.
Judge Nicholas Masters (father), the fourth of the same name in regular line of descent, was born at Schaghticoke, Rensselaer county, in the initial year of the present century. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in due course, and became one of the most promin - ent attorneys of eastern New York. He served as master in chancery, surrogate of Rensselaer county, and member of the State assembly. He was also a member of one of the constitu- tional conventions of New York. Politically he was a democrat until 1850, when he became a republican. He owned an interest in the Schaghticoke powder mills at Valley Falls, and during the Civil war they manufactured powder exclusively for the Federal govern- ment, turning out five hundred kegs every twenty-four hours. Judge Masters was a mem- ber and the principal officer of the Presbyte- rian church of Schaghticoke for more than
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forty years. He married Anna T. Thomas, a daughter of John Thomas, of Sandy Hill, and by that union had two children, one son and a daughter : Sarah Ann, who died at the age of six years ; and John T., the subject of this sketch. Judge Masters died March 28, 1873, in the seventy-third year of his age, and his wife, who was also a member of the Presby- terian church, passed from earth July 23, 1878, aged seventy-three.
John Thomas Masters was educated at Ben- nington, Vermont, and at Union college. He then studied Jaw, but never engaged in prac- tice. He owned a large interest in the pow- der mills at Valley Falls, and for many years was president of the company which operated them. He continued the manufacture of pow- der until 1878. In 1869 Mr. Masters was ap- pointed collector of internal revenue for the fifteenth district of New York, which office he held for nine years. In August, 1878, he was appointed by President Arthur to an import- ant clerkship in the war department at Wash- ington, the duties of which he continued to discharge until 1888. He then resigned, re- turned to Greenwich, where he lived a retired life until his death, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Politically John T. Masters was a democrat until 1850, when he joined the republican ranks, and was sent as a delegate from New York to the first National convention ever held by that party. He was also a delegate to the convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for president the second time. In religion he was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and while his health permitted was al- ways active in church affairs, serving as ves- tryman and warden for many years.
In the spring of 1840 Mr. Masters was united by marriage to Mary Elizabeth Mowry, a daughter of William Mowry, of the village of Greenwich, and to them was born a family of four children : William M., Nicholas Merritt, Elizabeth and Leroy, all nów deceased. Mrs. Masters was born November 21, 1821, and
died November 11, 1882, aged sixty-one. She was a member of the Congregational church. Her father, Col. William Mowry, erected and put into operation the first cotton factory ever built in the State of New York, and the sec- ond in the United States.
J. MELVIN ADAMS, cashier of the banking house of John Hall & Co., and a financier of considerable ability and experi- ence, was born in the town of Fort Ann, Wash- ington county, New York, April 16, 1857, and is a son of John G. and Sallie M. ( McMore) Adams. The Adams family is of English de- scent, and John Adams, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a son of Jonathan Adams, a native of England, and came from New Hampshire to the northern part of the town of Fort Ann, where he resided up to the time of his death. His son, John G. Adams (father), was born in 1825, and has been en- gaged in the general mercantile business for the last thirty-eight years. He is a democrat in politics, and has been a member for many years of the Second Baptist church of Fort Ann, in which he is now serving as deacon. Mr. Adams married Sallie M. McMore, who died in 1878, at the age of forty-seven years. Mrs. Adams was a daughter of Eleazer Mc- More, a native of Connecticut, who came in early life to the town of Fort Ann, where he followed farming up to his death, in 1886, at seventy-eight years of age. Eleazer McMore was a son of Alexander McMore, a native of Ireland, and who settled in this country pre- vious to the Revolutionary war, in which he was engaged as a soldier.
J. Melvin Adams was reared in his native town, received his education at Fort Edward Collegiate institute, and taught in the district schools for two terms. In 1879 he became a clerk in the banking house of John Hall & Co., where he was promoted to his present position of cashier in 1880.
In 1893 Mr. Adams was united in marriage
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with Mina S. Belden, daughter of George Belden, of Whitehall. In the affairs of his village Mr. Adams has always taken a deep interest. For some time he has served as treasurer of the village corporation. He is a member, and past master and the present sec- retary of Mount Hope Masonic Lodge, No. 260. He also is a member of Fort Edward Chapter, No. 171. Mr. Adams, while active in business and political matters, and prom- inent in Masonic circles, yet takes a deep in- terest in church and Sunday school affairs, being a member, trustee and the treasurer of the Fort Ann Village Baptist church, of whose Sunday school he has served as superintendent for three years.
HARLES G. DAVIS is one of the leading members of the Washington county bar, and at present holding the office of special surrogate of the same county. He is a son of Nicholas and Almira (Wilcox) Davis, and was born in the town of Saratoga, Saratoga county, New York, May 27, 1847. The family from which Charles G. Davis is descended is of Welsh origin. George Davis (grandfather) was a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the family was planted in an early day, and where he grew to man- hood and received an ordinary education. He was one of the early settlers and pioneers in the town of Saratoga, having removed there soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, in 1788. He became prominent in the early affairs of his town, was a Quaker in his re- ligious principles, and died in the year 1829. The lineal ancestor of the subject of this sketch and the progenitor of the American branch of the Davis family, according to tra- ditions and the records in the possession of his descendants, came from Wales in the clos- ing years of the sixteenth century. Nicholas Davis (father) was born in Saratoga county, New York, having first seen the light of day in the town of Saratoga, in 1798, where he
died in May, 1873, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He married Almira Wilcox, who was born in the same county as her husband, in 1806, and died in November, 1874, at the age of sixty-eight years. She was a consistent and life-long member of the Methodist Episco- pal church. She was of French descent, her ancestors coming from France and landing at Quebec in the early part of the seventeenth century. By trade Nicholas Davis was a blacksmith, but in the latter part of his life he followed the pursuit of farming. A Quaker in religion, in political tenets he was a whig and ardent abolitionist, and joined the Repub- lican party soon after its birth, in 1854.
Charles G. Davis spent the early years of his life on the farm where he was born, at- tended the common schools of his neighbor- hood, and afterward entered the Connecticut Literary institute, at Hartford, Connecticut, from which he was graduated in the class of 1870. Upon leaving this literary institute, and having decided on the profession of law as his life vocation, he immediately commenced the study in the offices of Pond & French, in the village of Saratoga Springs, and subse- quently studied in the office of Judge Joseph Potter, of the village of Whitehall. Here Mr. Davis carefully prepared himself for the general practice of his profession, and was ad- mitted to the bar at Albany, New York, in January, 1876, since which time he has been in active and successful practice, engaged in many of the leading cases that have come be- fore the courts in Washington county. In 1873-74 he was deputy collector of customs at the port of Whitehall, and is now serving his second term of four years each as special surrogate of the county. Mr. Davis, previous to having held this position of honor and trust, served as justice of the peace, and sev- eral terms as police justice of Whitehall. He is an earnest republican in politics, and in every important political campaign is on the platform, advocating the principles of his party. In 1880 he married Libbie E., who is
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a daughter of A. T. Lyon, of this village. Mr. Davis is a Methodist in religion, and active in all branches of church work that pertain to good Methodism.
STEPHEN LEWIS STILLMAN, for
many years a leading dentist, and the present postmaster of the village of Green- wich, was born May 16, 1832, in the city of Newburg, New York, being the youngest of four sons born to Stephen Lewis and Sarah (Sperry) Stillman. Rev. Stephen L. Stillman (father) was a native of the village of Weath- ersfield, Connecticut, where he was born in 1795, but at the age of about twenty-two, left Connecticut and came to New York and located at Schenectady, where he was for sev- eral years engaged in gun making and the manufacture of surgical instruments. Born and reared in the Baptist faith, he at the age of about twenty-three years, joined the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and in a few years thereafter became a licensed minister in that denomination. His first work in the ministry was in the New York conference, his princi- pal appointments being in Brooklyn, New- burg, Hudson, Poughkeepsie and New Haven, Connecticut, and was subsequently transferred to the Troy conference, where he labored suc- cessfully as pastor at the following places : Garretson Station, Washington street, Albany, the North Second street church in the city of Troy, Ballston Spa, Greenwich, Waterford and Salem. Retiring from his work in the church in 1865, he died at Albany in 1869, at the age of seventy-four years. Originally a democrat he became a republican. At about the age of twenty years he wedded Sarah Sperry, of Weathersfield, Connecticut. To this marriage were born four children, all sons : H. F., who resided in Chicago and is now dead; William S., deceased, at the age of twenty years; George Henry, lives at Portsmouth, Ohio, and Dr. Stephen L.
Rev. Stillman was a native of Connecticut,
and was born in 1795. Ethan Stillman (grand- father) was a native of Connecticut, a machin- ist by trade, and a Seventh-day Baptist in re- ligion. The Stillmans are of English extrac- tion, and the name was originally Prichard. Three brothers by the latter name came to America in early colonial times on account of religious and other persecutions, and after their arrival dropped the name Prichard, and adopted that of Stillman, as a gentle and sig- nificant reminder that religious controversies, if engaged in at all, should be conducted very quietly.
Dr. Stephen L. Stillman received his edu- cation in the Jonesville academy, Saratoga county, New York, and in the schools of the city of Albany. In 1846 he began the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. Allen Clark, of Lansingburg, New York. Remaining there for one year he went to Ballston Spa, where his father then lived. In 1848 Dr. Stillman removed to Greenwich, where he has ever since resided. Here he finished his dental studies with Dr. J. B. Crosby, and with whom he was associated until the death of the latter in 1865; buying Dr. Crosby's interest in the office, Dr. Stillman has since conducted the business alone with remarkably good success. During the Civil war Dr. Stillman was a mem- ber of the war committee of the town, and ac- tive in his support in securing volunteers for the Union. For thirty years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was one of the organizers and founders of Ashlar Lodge, No. 584, of Greenwich; for ten con- secutive years he served as master of this lodge, and for two years was district deputy grand master of the thirteenth Masonic dis- trict. He is also a member of Home Chapter, No. 176, Royal Arch Masons, Schuylerville, New York; Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar, Saratoga Springs, and Oriental Temple of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Troy; and is a past grand and member of the Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was at one time a
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member of the Knights of Pythias. Reared a democrat, at the breaking out of the war he became a republican, and cast his first presi- dential vote for Lincoln in 1864, and since that time has been identified with that party. He was chairman of the Republican county committee in 1889 and 1890, in which he served for two years, and in 1891 he was ap- pointed postmaster by President Harrison at Greenwich. He is an attendant and vestry- man of the Episcopal church.
On October 20, 1888, Dr. Stillman was uni- ted in marriage to Ruth, daughter of Elisha and Cynthia McGown, of Wayne county, New York, and to them have been born one child, a son, Paul Roscoe, who is at present assist- ing his father in the business of dentistry.
G EORGE D. GETTY, the present post- master at Middle Granville, and a young man of varied business experience, is a son of Chester L. and Marilla B. (Woodward) Getty, and was born in the town of Hebron, Wash- ington county, New York, September 29, 1862. His father, Chester L. Getty, was born in the same town, where he lived all his life, follow- ing farming, and dying in 1879, at the age of fifty-six years. He was a republican in poli- tics, serving two terms as supervisor of his town, and was a man of intelligence, highly respected and honored by his neighbors. His farm contained two hundred acres of highly improved land, and he was one of the pros- perous and successful farmers of his section. The Getty family was prominent in the early settlement of the town of Hebron : as early as January 1775, we find the names of David and John Getty, among several others, peti- tioning the Colonial assembly for the privilege of electing a representative from Charlotte county. James, John any Robert Getty came from Newry, Ireland, soon after the colony under Dr. Clark settled in Salem. James settled in Salem, where the name is frequent in the early records. John, with his family,
removed to Pennsylvania and founded Gettys- burg. Robert moved into Hebron, and settled there permanently. He left four sons : Adam, Robert, John and David ; and one daughter, Jane. Two of the sons of James Getty, of Salem, came into Hebron: Ebenezer, who settled one mile south of Monroe's Meadows, and Robert, one mile northeast of Belcher. The latter afterward moved to Lansingburg. Of the family of Ebenezer there are now liv- ing, Mrs. J. S. McClelland and Mrs. J. W. Beatty. Ebenezer, jr., is deceased ; it is his grandson, John, who resides on the homestead. John, David and Ebenezer were members of the first Presbyterian congregation organized in Hebron about the year 1780. The grand- father of the subject of this sketch, James Getty, was son of Ebenezer, sr., and was born in the town of Hebron, where he resided up to his death in 1836. Marilla B. (Woodward ) Getty was a native of the same town, and a daughter of Benjamin. She resided here until her death in 1884, at the age of sixty- one years. She was a member of the Baptist church, and led a devoted Christian life.
George D. Getty remained on the farm in his native town until he arrived at the age of manhood, receiving his education in the pub- lic schools. He successfully followed the oc- cnpation of farming in that town until 1887, when he removed to the village of Granville, and embarked in the boot and shoe business. Selling out his stock in 1888, he came to Mid- dle Granville, where he purchased the general store of the C. H. Bull estate, which he ran up to 1890, when he burned out. For one year and a half after his fire he traveled for a creamery firm at Middle Granville, and on November 25, 1889, was appointed postmas- ter, and has since filled the office to the gen- eral satisfaction of the people. In addition to his other interests, he is engaged in the manufacturing business, being treasurer and director of the Carver Manufacturing Com- pany. In 1886 he wedded Helen M., who is a daughter of Edgar O. Barden, of the town
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of Wells, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Getty are the parents of two children : Ethel and G. Douglass. George D. Getty is a member of Hershall Lodge, No. 508, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hartford, this county ; he is also a member of the Illini Tribe, Independent Order of Red Men, and Sandy Hill Council of the Royal Arcanum. He is a leading re- publican of the county, and prominent in the councils of his party. He is one of nine children born to his parents, four sons and five daughters, the eight others being : Mary, the wife of Judson F. Barker; Sarah, the wife of William Fleming ; Maggie, married R. Slorah ; Adella A., James A. and Benjamin F. Two are deceased, Chester and Ann Maria.
C EORGE E. TRUMBULL, a success-
ful merchant and business man of Bald Mountain, in the town of Greenwich, and a very well known citizen of the county, is a son of George F. and Mary H. ( Sheldon) Trum- bull, and was born at the village of Rupert, Vermont, August 20, 1852. His father, George F. Trumbull, was born May 4, 1822, and was a native of the same village in Vermont. He was a well-to-do farmer of his day, owned a tract of three hundred acres of land in the vicinity of his native village, which he always kept in a high state of cultivation, and also dealt extensively in meats and potatoes. He removed to New York State in 1866, and lo- cated in the town of Greenwich, where he followed that occupation until his retirement from business, in 1880. A soldier in the war of the rebellion, enlisting in Co. B, 7th New York heavy artillery, he served as detached guard at Hart's Island, and during this time he contracted a severe case of typhoid fever, which ever afterward affected his health. For sixteen months he performed his duties as a soldier, and at the close of the war was hon- orably discharged at Hart's Island. He was a stanch republican. In 1845 he was married to Mary H., a daughter of Titus Sheldon, of
Rupert, the latter a prominent farmer and in- fluential citizen of that locality, and for thirty years a deacon in the Congregational church. Four sons and three daughters were born to their union, of whom four are living: Titus S. and George E., of Greenwich ; Arthur S., residing at Fort Miller ; and Eliza J., the wife of Thomas Wheelwright, of Harvey, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull reside in the town of Greenwich, and the latter is a member of the Congregational church. David Sheldon (maternal grandfather) was among the first to settle in the town of Rupert, and for many years held the office of county judge. He re- moved from Connecticut, where he was born. The paternal grandfather, Horace S. Trum- bull, was a farmer by occupation and a native of Vermont, and who married Dorothy Spear, by whom he had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. Both he and his wife were members of the Congregational church. His death occurred in 1856, at the age of eighty- two years. Levi Trumbull, the great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born in the State of Connecticut, was a farmer by occupation, and came of Puritan ancestry.
George E. Trumbull grew up on the farm, receiving the greater part of his education in a select school at Glens Falls, and after leav- ing this school he returned to the farm, where he remained for a short time. Soon afterward he left the farm and engaged in the carpen- ter's trade, at which he worked for two years, when he abandoned this and began dealing in produce and meats, at which he successfully continued until 1878. In the latter year he branched out into the mercantile business at Bald Mountain, where he has since lived, and has succeeded in building up a profitable trade. Here he keeps a general store, carry- ing a large stock of goods, and from 1882 up to 1888, in connection with his general mer- chandising, he was engaged in selling coal, which he abandoned in the latter year. He is half-owner in the Trout Brook farm, of two hundred and fifty-eight acres, constituting one
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of the best bodies of land and the most val- uable farm in the town. He also owns an in- terest in another farm of eighty acres in the same town, which he manages and farms him- self. Mr. Trumbull is a director in the Green- wich Town Fire Insurance Company, and is an active and influential republican of his section of the county.
On March 17, 1883, he was married to Car- oline A. Edwards, who was a daughter of Daniel Edwards and Amy Hunt. The former was an extensive farmer, and for. many years a heavy speculator in grain and potatoes ; a highly respected citizen, who died in March, 1889. To Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull have been born two children : Jennie C. and George Lee.
EROY THOMPSON, the well-known coal and produce merchant of Green- wich, who is also a director in the Greenwich & Johnsonville Railroad Company, and trus- tee of the Consolidated Electric Light & Greenwich Union Water Company, was born May 13, 1849, in the town of Easton, and is the third son of Col. Andrew and Eliza (Ste- vens) Thompson. He grew to manhood on his father's farm in that town, and obtained his education in the public schools and the Greenwich academy. Immediately after at- taining his majority Mr. Thompson went to Kansas, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Butler county, and remained in that State about fifteen months. At the end of that time his health began to fail, and he was compelled to return east. He soon afterward established himself in the city of New York, where for seven years he was successfully engaged in the wholesale produce and commission business. In 1871 Mr. Thompson returned to Washington county, and locating in the village of Greenwich he embarked in the coal and produce business in partnership with his brother, James H. Thompson (see his sketch), under the firm name of J. H. & L. Thompson. They con-
tinued the business together until 1893, when LeRoy purchased the interest of his brother, and since that time has conducted the enter- prise alone and in his own name. Prompt and careful in his dealings, Mr. Thompson has built up a large and lucrative business, and is one of the best known and most popu- lar citizens of Greenwich.
On December 7, 1881, LeRoy Thompson was united in wedlock with Ella Eddy, a daughter of Waldron Eddy, an extensive manufacturer of agricultural implements, of the village of Greenwich. To them have been born three children, one son and two daughters : LeRoy, jr., Katie Eliza and Myra.
In political faith Mr. Thompson is an ar- dent republican, well grounded in the princi- ples of his party and a firm friend to the policy of protection to American industries. He is a trustee of the Consolidated Electric Light & Greenwich Union Water Company, of Greenwich, and a director in the Greenwich & Johnsonville Railroad Company.
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