USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 37
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 37
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On June 11, 1890, Mr. Cole was again happily married, wedding Helen Wood, a daughter of John D. Wood, of Fair Haven, Vermont.
In his political affiliations Mr. Cole has al- ways been republican, casting his first vote for that party, and taking an active part in the various campaigns which have marked its progress, but has never permitted the use of his name for any office. From his youth Mr. Cole has had deep religious convictions, and wherever he has lived has taken an active in- terest in the religious well-being of the com)- munity.
JAMES ADAMS, a prominent business man and boat-builder of Whitehall, is a son of James and Kittie (Wall) Adams, and is a native of Gastonbury, Somersetshire, England, where he was born June 16, 1828.
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James Adams (father) was born in London, and on July 9, 1830, came to the United States and located at Westhaven, Vermont, about one mile from the village of Whitehall, where he resided up to his death in 1887, aged ninety- three years. He bought this farm upon his arrival, on which he always resided, engaged in general farming ; a democrat in his political affiliation, and served for several years as jus- tice of the peace of Westhaven. He wedded Kittie Wall, who was a native of Walton, in Somersetshire, and died at eighty-four years of age.
James Adams grew up on the farm at West- haven, where he attended the district school. Remaining on the farm until he became of age, when he went to Whitehall and began learning the trade of ship-carpenter, at which he worked for two years, when he and his brother, Henry Adams, engaged in the boat- building business, under the firm name of J. & H. Adams. The style of this firm existed up to 1871, when another brother, George Adams, was taken in, and the firm name was succeeded by J. & H. Adams & Company, which continued to 1884, when Henry Adams withdrew, and the firm name changed to J. & G. Adams, which lasted up to 1890, when George Adams died.
Since 1890 Mr. Adams has carried on his business alone, and manufactures canal boats exclusively, and has completed over one hun- dred of these boats, and gives employment to from five to seventeen men steadily.
In 1852 Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Charlotte L., an adapted daughter of John Bennett, of Whitehall. To them have been born three daughters and two sons, one now living : Ida S., the wife of M. J. Brown, who is teller and director in the old National bank at Whitehall ; Roderick M., wedded Bertha I. Beckwith; Willie Eugene, who died in 1879, aged eight years ; Gertrude W. and Es- ther Lee, living at home.
James Adams is a member of Whitehall Lodge, No. 5, Independent Order Odd Fel-
lows, and of Whitehall Encampment, No. 68. He is a democrat in politics, and served as assessor and trustee of the village of White- hall, and has been a resident and more or less prominently identified with the industral pros- perity of Whitehall since 1850, and with the temperance cause for forty-five years, having belonged to three secret temperance societies.
H ENRY A. HOWARD, an able lawyer, who enjoys the popular distinction of be- ing one of the leading lawyers in northern New York, and a resident of the village of Glens Falls, was born in the village of Wind- sor, Windsor county, Vermont, February 18, 1845. He is a son of Ralph and Adelia A. (Weaver) Howard. Ralph Howard was a na- tive of Windsor, where he resided until his death, in 1887, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. By occupation he followed tailoring, but spent the latter years of his life in retire- ment. His father was an officer in the Revo- lutionary war, captured at Quebec, by the British, and died there while in captivity ; he was also a native of Windsor, Vermont. The paternal great-grandfather of Henry A. How- ard was a native of England, who emigrated to this country and settled in Vermont in tlie early settling of that State.
Ralph Howard wedded Adelia Weaver, who was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, and whose death occurred in 1860. Her father was Andrus Weaver, and a native of the State of New York. Henry A. Howard's maternal great-grandfather, Aaron Hoesing- ton, lived to the remarkable age of one hun- dred and twenty years, and won the distinc- tion of having killed two Indian chiefs in his day.
Henry A. Howard remained in his native village until he had reached manhood, gradu- ating from the Windsor High school, and in 1861 entered the Kimball academy, at Meri- den, New Hampshire, being admitted to the senior classical department, from which he
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was duly graduated at the end of six months. In 1862 he entered the Norwich university, at Norwich, Vermont, and was graduated from that institution in 1865. In 1864, with thir- teen of his fellow students of the university, enlisted in Co. G, 60th Massachusetts regi- ment, as high privates, and served as such until they were honorably discharged, at Bos- ton, in December of the same year.
Leaving college, Mr. Howard became a student at law in the office of J. M. Edmin- - ster, at Windsor, Vermont, and in 1866 he en- tered the Albany Law school, and graduated from that well known institution in the class of 1867. One of his fellow graduates was Governor William McKinley, of Ohio. Soon after receiving his diploma to practice law, in 1867, Mr. Howard located at Glens Falls, and for one year was in the office of Judge Brown. From that time to the present he has remained at Glens Falls, in the active practice of his profession, commanding one of the most lu- crative law businesses in Warren county. He owns one of the largest and most valuable law libraries in northern New York.
Henry A. Howard is a stanch democrat, and wields considerable influence in the councils of his party, and has twice been elected to the office of district attorney, filling the office most acceptably to the people for a period of six years. During his incumbency he secured over one hundred convictions, failing in but one prosecution in all that time, discharging his duties in such a manner as to add to his high reputation for ability and uprightness.
Making, while in office, one of the best records as district attorney in the State ; he never had a jury to disagree during his entire terms of six years, and secured more convic- tions than any other man who ever filled the office, in the same length of time. He is one of the directors of the Merchants' National bank. In 1875 he was married to Mary E., a daughter of Samuel Robins, of Boston, Massachusetts, who was a granddaughter of Joseph Buckingham, the founder of the Bos-
ton Courier. The only brother of Mr. How- ard, Kenrick R. Howard, served as a soldier in the famous Vermont brigade, and was at all the principal battles of the Army of the Potomac. He, with thirty others from Wind- sor, Vermont, enlisted, and of the entire num- ber who enlisted, but two returned home, he and one other.
JOSEPH B. MCCORMICK, one of the
young and rising lawyers of Washington county and the upper Hudson valley, is a son of James and Catherine (Keating) McCormick, and was born in the town of Fort Ann, Wash- ington county, New York, March 3, 1863. James McCormick is a native of and came from Ireland when sixteen years of age. Catherine Keating, his mother, was a native of Hamp- shire county, Massachusetts, from whence the family removed to Fort Ann, where he re- mained until 1865. In that year he came to Granville and engaged in the blacksmith busi- ness, which he followed until 1883, when he removed to his present farm in the town of Wells, Rutland county, Vermont. His farm, which is in the neighborhood of three miles from Granville, contains several valuable slate quarries that are actively operated by parties who pay Mr. McCormick a handsome yearly royalty. He also owns some valuable prop- erty at Granville. He is a man of liberal views and has been for many years a republican in politics. Mr. McCormick was born in 1828, and married Catherine Keating, who died in 1886, at fifty-six years of age.
Joseph B. McCormick was reared in the vil- lage of Granville, and received his education in the public schools and Cook academy of Havana, New York. Leaving the academy he entered the Spencerian Business college of Cleveland, Ohio, and took the full course of that institution. Having thus thoroughly qualified himself he turned his attention to the study of law. He read with the late Judge Royal C. Betts, of Granville, was admitted to
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the Washington county bar May 4, 1888, and since then has been engaged in the active prac- tice of his profession in the courts of his na- tive county, and is in active practice in all the courts of the State of Vermont, and in Janu- ary, 1894, was admitted to practice in the United States court. He is a democrat in his political opinion, and although independent in local politics, yet he does not take any active part in politics in county, State or national contests. In 1892 he was honored with the democratic nomination for district attorney of Washington county, and while polling a very handsome vote, yet went down with the rest of ticket under the republican majority which has prevailed in the county for many years. Mr. McCormick is unmarried. He has been a member for some time of Illini Tribe, Im- proved Order of Red Men, and was one of its charter members.
As a citizen Mr. McCormick is respected, and as a lawyer has taken his place in the front rank of the legal profession in the county. He has a large practice ; is clear, logical and prac- tical in handling his cases, and is well deserv- ing of the high reputation he has acquired as a safe counsellor and successful lawyer.
W ILL E. LAWRENCE, one of the leading architects of northern New York, is a son of Oscar and Jane E. (Barnes) Lawrence, and was born at Westport, Essex county, New York, February 9, 1850. Oscar Lawrence was a native of Middlebury, Ver- mont, wedded Jane E. Barnes, who was a native of Westport, where she now resides.
Will E. Lawrence, at the age of seven years, was apprenticed to a well-to-do farmer of Canton, in St. Lawrence county, where he remained until he was twenty-two years of age. He attended the common schools, and at the Canton academy. In 1872 he wedded Estine A., daughter of William C. Wait, of the town of Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, and remained on the farm one
year after his marriage. In March, 1873, he went to Marshall county, Kansas, where he passed an examination before the county board of education and received a first grade certificate to teach school. He immediately began teaching in that county, where he taught for fifteen months, teaching in a Catholic neighborhood. In September, 1874, he returned to Canton, where he attended the Canton academy with the object in view of better preparing himself for teaching. Soon after leaving the academy he entered the St. Lawrence university, but being short of funds he applied for and accepted the principalship of the Morley graded school, and at the same time kept up his studies in the university. Before his school closed, however, he had to give it up on account of ill health, which compelled him to seek outdoor work, taking up the carpenter trade, and in the fall of 1875 removed to the village of Potsdam, and there worked at his trade till the spring of 1880, when he was promoted to the position of superintendent, by his employer, in the erec- tion of an elegant residence in the village of Morley. At the completion of this contract he was induced by his employer, George B. Swan, to enter the office of G. B. Schellenger to learn architecture, at Ogdensburg, and in April, 1881, was advised by his friends to move to Glens Falls, where he has since re- sided. He at first worked at his trade as carpenter, up to the spring of 1882, when he engaged with D. W. Sherman in remodeling the Marion House at Lake George. In the same year he accepted a position with Hiram Krum, one of the leading contractors of this section, with whom he remained as an em- ploye for two years, at the end of which time he entered into partnership with Mr. Krum, which lasted for three years. During this time this firm built some of the finest resi- dences found on the upper Hudson ; among the number are those of W. E. Spier, D. J. Finch and Walter Rogers, and the Presby- terian church. Mr. Lawrence had the entire
James M. White.
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management of the building of the residences of W. E. Spier and Walter Rogers. This firm dissolved in the spring of 1887 ; since this time Mr. Lawrence has been engaged in the contracting and building business alone, or rather up to the spring of 1893, and from that time to this he has solely confined him - self to architectural work. In the years 1890 and 1891 Mr. Lawrence was engaged in run- ning a sash, door and blind factory, on Ridge street, this village, associated with Herbert Van Derwerker, remaining with him for one year, when he purchased the latter's interest. Mr. Lawrence also designed and erected the residences of State treasurer A. B. Colvin, H. S. Crittenden, Frank Taft, and the present residence of Clinton Clothier ; and also built the Union school building number two, later designed Union school buildings at South Glens Falls, and Caldwell on Lake George.
Will E. Lawrence is a republican in his political belief, was town auditor of the village for two years, 1887-88, and was a member of the board of education, to which he was elected in 1887, and served efficiently for three years. He has served as chairman of the republican village committee, and as a delegate to county, senatorial and State con- ventions. He is a member of Glens Falls Masonic Lodge and secretary of Glens Star Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star.
JAMES HYLAR WHITE, a successful
business man and member of the firm of Joubert & White, manufacturers of the famous Glens Falls Buckboard, at Glens Falls, was born in the town of Corinth, Saratoga county, New York, June 28, 1836. He is a son of James Madison White and Charlotte Willie. The former was a native of Rhode Island, and wedded the latter, who was of Saratoga county. James M. White removed with his father into Saratoga county, and was for many years em- ployed in farming, lumbering, and merchan- dising in the village of Corinth, and for a 17a
short time kept a hotel there. In 1850 he re- moved to Glens Falls, where he kept hotel, and later on he for several years conducted the half-way road house midway between Glens Falls and Lake George. He was a Univer- salist in his religious belief, republican in politics, and filled the town offices of school commissioner and supervisor of Corinth. His death occurred in 1872 in Glens Falls, at the age of sixty-two years. His father was Isaiah White, also a native of Rhode Island, who re- moved with his family to Saratoga county, where he died. Prior to his coming to this State he was engaged in the woolen manufac- turing business, but the remainder of his life, after his arrival in Saratoga county, was spent on the farm. He lived to be ninety-two years of age, was descended from Pemroys White, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620.
Mrs. Charlotte White was born in Saratoga county, New York. She died in 1883, aged seventy-five years.
James H. White was principally reared in Glens Falls, where he attended the common schools. Leaving school he commenced learning carriage building with his brother- in-law, Edward Joubert, and remained with him until 1864. In that year Mr. White and Mr. Joubert formed their pres- ent partnership, which was at the time of this formation conducted on a very small scale, but it is due to the fine business abil- ity of each member of this firm that they have gradually, year by year, built up their present immense and prosperous business. Since 1865 they have been conducting their business at their present stand, adding to their buildings as their trade increased, until now their factory is four stories high, with a fifty-foot front and one hundred and fifty feet deep. In 1880 they received a patent on their "Glens Falls Buckboard," the manufacture of which they have made a specialty of ever since, and is sold to the most wealthy and prominent people throughout the United States and to many of the nobility of the old world.
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This popular vehicle was on exhibition at the mid-winter fair at San Francisco, and wherever introduced it becomes a favorite on account of its durability and beauty of con- struction and splendid workmanship. The firm of Joubert & White employ in the manu- facturing of these carts, thirty to thirty five men throughout the year in filling orders for these buckboards that pour in on them from every section of this country and many of the fashionable centers of Europe.
In 1861 he was wedded to Susan M. Smith, of Glens Falls. To Mr. and Mrs. White have been born two children, a son and a daughter: J. Beecher, who is a graduate of the Glens Falls academy, and after leaving the academy spent two years as a student in the Homeo- pathic Medical college in the city of New York. At the end of the two years he had to abandon the further study of medicine on account of ill health, and took a position in his father's carriage factory. In January, 1894, he was appointed superintendent of public docu- ments at Albany for a term of two years, which position he now acceptably fills. Char- lotte A. is also a graduate of the Glens Falls academy and the La Salle seminary at Auburn- dale, Massachusetts. She is now studying vocal and instrumental music, German and French, at Paris, France. Mr. White has frequently been solicited to accept public office, which he has always refused to do, pre- ferring to devote his entire attention to his various business interests. He is a Mason, being a member of Glens Falls Lodge, No. 121, and with the other members of his family he is a member of the Presbyterian church.
R UFUS R. DAVIS, a democratic presi- dential elector in 1892, and a prominent and successful young lawyer of the county, was born in the village of Whitehall, September 7, 1857, and is the son of Oscar F. and Charlotte T. (Rowe) Davis. . [See sketch of father, O. F. Davis, on another page.]
A Rufus R. Davis was brought up in his native village, attending the public schools and later the Granville seminary, from which he was graduated in 1877. Leaving school, he began reading law with his father and was admitted to the bar in 1881, since which time he has been actively engaged in the practice with his father, under the firm name of O. F. & R. R. Davis. This firm has a good general law prac- tice and a splendid law library. R. R. Davis is an active and influential democrat of his sec- tion, and for the past five years, or since 1889, he has filled the office of supervisor of his town most acceptably to the business men of both parties, and is consequently a hard man to de- feat for office. In the general election of 1892, he was chosen by the State democracy as one of the Cleveland electors. Mr. Davis is a man of good business qualifications and has a bril- liant future as a lawyer, and enjoys the confi- dence and esteem of all who know him.
A NDREW G. HAINES, the youngest of the three Haines brothers, builders of street railways, telephone lines and like enter- prises, and now a citizen of Sandy Hill, was born on what is known as the Merritt farm, near Medusa, Green county, New York, Jan- uary 10, 1863. When about two years of age his parents removed to Coxsackie, New York, where he received his education in the public and private schools .. On account of failing health in 1879, his father gave up active busi- ness, and went to reside at Sandy Hill, where he died in June, 1881. Andrew then joined his brothers in New York, and the brother- hood thus completed was made the firm which afterward gained public recognition as a signal success. In April, 1881, Mr. Haines sailed for Mexico with his eldest brother, David, who was the general manager of the Mexican Tel- ephone company, of the Republic of Mexico, and of which his brother, John, was presi- dent. Mr. Haines remained in Mexico some four years, when he returned to New York and
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again joined his brothers in the railroad busi- ness. While the Haines brothers were build- ing the Newburg Street railroad, in 1887, John D. Haines, the second eldest of the brothers, died at the United States hotel, on January 8 of that year. He had contracted a severe cold while superintending the con- struction of the railway, resulting in pleuro- pneumonia, and finally in death. Mr. Haines, while in Mexico, in addition to his telephone business, held the position of administrator general of La Compania Telegrafica Y. While there the government of Mexico became so interested in him that they gave him exclu- sive concessions and subsides, and placed at his disposal, free of any expense, two hun- dred workmen to carry out his plans ; and on its completion he was honored with one of the grandest celebrations. In 1887 he became manager of the Cayuga Lake Park resort, which he managed successfully for a few years, which was among the leading summer resorts of the country, and at the same time, although but twenty-four years of age, he was vice- president of three prominent railroads; in fact the carly life of this young man would afford a veritable romance. While acting as general superintendent of the Seneca Falls and Water- loo railroad, he won the confidence of the business community and traveling public. Few people seemed to realize the magnitude of the carrying out of this project, and giving to that part of the country a resort that has all the attractions of a Manhattan beach or Coney Island.
The Lochmede Weekly paper, published at Winter Park, Florida, said, in regard to the first train over the Orlando & Winter Park railway, on the 25th of July, 1888 : " Every- thing passed off satisfactorily, with Col. A.G. Haines, vice-president of the company, in charge. Mr. Haines, while still a young man, has had a history that very few men ever have. Before he reached his majority he was at the head of the entire telephone system of Mex- ico, Central America and the West Indies.
More concessions were granted him, including the work of two hundred men free, than were ever granted a foreigner in Mexico. He is a restless, energetic worker, and we look for a prompt completion of the Orlando & Winter Park railway, and hope for the same of the Orlando & Lake Jesup railroad." The Cox- sackie News, of March 26, 1887, gives a page to the history of the Haines family, with cuts of all the Haines brothers. The head lines were : " Home talent abroad -The remark- able history of a family of Coxsackie boys who went out into the world and made them- selves famous-The most extensive street and short line railroad builders in the world - a most unexampled exhibition of enterprise and pluck." Hon. Charles D. Haines, who is now a member of congress from the nineteenth district, was one of the originators of the Glens Falls, Sandy Hill and Fort Edward street railway company, having a controlling interest, and was elected president of the Winooski and Burlington Railway company. He is now serving his first term in congress, where he took a prominent part from the start.
Andrew G. Haines was married to Mamie L., daughter of Captain Merchant, of Savan- nah, Georgia. His father was David T. Haines, who died at Sandy Hill in 1881, having been born in Albany county, New York, July 28, 1820.
S AMUEL LEROY FINCH, a repre- sentative of an old and honored family of Sandy Hill and Glens Falls, was born in the village of Sandy Hill on August 21, 1859, and is a son of Edwin A. and Harriet (Cooper) Finch. His father, Edwin A. Finch, is a na- tive of the town of Kingsbury, and is at pres- ent residing in Sandy Hill, at the age of sixty- three years. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In political opinion he is a democrat and for many years held the offices of constable and street commissioner ;
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and for a long time was engaged in the ice business. He wedded Harriet Cooper, a na- tive of the town of Kingsbury, who was a daughter of John H. and Lavinna (Parks) Cooper, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Edwin A. Finch's father was Samuel Finch, and his mother Zilpha (Colvin) Finch.
Samuel Leroy Finch was reared in his native village, receiving his education in the Union school, and soon after leaving school he started in the ice business and teaming, which he has very successfully continued at ever since. In 1891 he took into partnership Guy R. Clark, under the firm name of Finch & Clark, and conducted business in the same channel up to 1893, when they added, in connection with their ice and teaming, coal and wood, keeping twenty-two horses, and their sales have steadily grown until the pres- ent, becoming one of the leading firms in these lines in the vicinity of Sandy Hill.
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