USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 40
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 40
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On January 31, 1854, J. Warren Gray was united in marriage to Judith Dillingham, a daughter of Stephen Dillingham, of the town of Granville. They have a family of three children, two sons and one daughter, of whom
only the sons survive : Stephen D., a furni- ture dealer and undertaker of the village of Granville, and William P., book-keeper for Norton Brothers Slate company, living at home with his father ; the daughter, Eliza, married Charles Kibling, and died in 1879.
In political faith Mr. Gray is a stanch re- publican, and for more than three years has held his present office of trustee of the village of Granville. In early life he became a mem- ber of the Society of Friends, and while con- nected with that society, in 1869, he organ- ized the first Sunday school they ever had in this village, and served as its superintendent for twelve years. In 1885 he withdrew from the society, and united with the Methodist Episcopal church of Granville, in which he is now serving as trustee and steward. He is pleasant and sociable in disposition, with a kind word for everybody, and may be justly regarded as a fine example of the old-time gen- tleman.
R. JAY WILLIAMS, senior member of the well known slate firm of Williams & Edwards, and one of the most successful and prominent slate operators in eastern New York, is a son of John and Ann (Roberts) Williams, and a native of Wales, in the north of which principality he was born April 21, 1845. His parents both came from prominent Welsh families, and both lived and died in their na- tive country-the father dying in 1859, at the age of fifty-four, and the mother in 1884, aged eighty-two. John Williams was a farmer and a member of the Episcopal church, while his wife was a member of the Congregational church. They had a family of six children, of whom only the subject of this sketch came to America.
R. Jay Williams was reared in Wales, and educated in the common schools of his native country. He remained on the farm until twenty-one years of age, when he determined to come to the United States in the hope of finding a broader field for the exercise of his
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ability than offered at home. Landing in America he settled in Pennsylvania, and spent one year in the Lehigh valley slate region. In 1867 he removed to Washington county, New York, locating at Middle Granville, where he lived for five years, after which he came to Granville, and has resided in this village ever since. After coming to this county he began working in the slate quarries, and followed that occupation for three or four years. He then opened a red slate quarry at Middle Gran- ville and began operating in slate on his own account. Two years later he transferred the base of his operations to Granville, and opened what is now known as the Brownell quarry, now owned by W. H. Hughes, just across the State line, in the town of Pawlet, Rutland county, Vermont. This proved to be one of the best sea-green slate quarries in the entire slate belt, and Mr. Williams operated it suc- cessfully for seven years, after which he sold it to Brownell Slate and Flagging Slate Com- pany, with whom he remained as superinten- dent for four years.
In 1881 Mr. Williams opened another sea- green slate quarry just east of the Brownell quarry, and operated it for about three years, after which he purchased an interest in a red slate quarry at South Granville, and also opened a black slate quarry near that place. He worked both these quarries for a year, but they proved unprofitable and he abandoned them and leased some land just south of the Brow- nell quarry, where he opened the third sea- green slate quarry, which proved unusually good. After running this alone for three years he sold an interest in it to John W. and John Edwards, and under the firm name of Williams & Edwards, they have successfully conduc- ted the business ever since. In 1890 the firm leased the James McCormick farm in the town of Wells, and opened three quarries, which they are now operating, and the slate produced there is among the best to be found.
In 1893 Mr. Williams purchased a farm of one hundred and thirty-four acres from Luther
Temple in the town of Wells. This farm, now the property of Williams & Edwards, has a fine vein of sea-green slate running through it, which will be worked when occasion requires. The firm gives employment to a large number of men, and the roofing slate they manufac- ture is known as among the best sent out from the slate regions of Vermont.
In 1871 Mr. Williams was married to Alice Baker, who died in 1875, leaving two children, only one of whom, a daughter named Edith, now survives. In 1879 Mr. Williams was mar- ried a second time, wedding Mary J. (Roberts) Jones. They have one daughter, Bertha.
Politically, Mr. Williams is a republican, and has served as trustee of his village and presi- dent of the board of water commissioners. He is a member and deacon of the Welsh Congregational church of Granville, and a member of Wilde Lodge, No. 55, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of this village. Although he started in life poor, Mr. Williams has fairly conquered success, and is now among the most substantial citizens of Washington county, and at the head of one of the largest slate firms in this section.
C HARLES RUSSELL TABER, arep-
resentative business man of the county, and breeder of thoroughbred Chester white swine and Shropshire sheep, at Maple Row Stock Farm, is a son of Horace and Tabiatha (Sheldon) Taber, and was born July 20, 1851, on the farm on which he now lives. He re- ceived his education in the district schools of the town of Easton, supplemented by a course at the Greenwich academy, where he was a classmate of John S. Lambert, one of the pres- ent judges of the supreme court of the State. When he left school he was twenty years of age, returned home and engaged in farming with his father, when in a short time he aban- doned farming and turned his attention to the glove and mitten business, traveling on the road and selling them, and continued in this
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up to 1887, relinquishing it after six years' ex- perience. His sales amounted to from seven hundred to nine hundred dollars per month. He returned home and assumed charge of his father's farm, which he had practically had charge of since fifteen years of age. Since 1890 Mr. Taber has been extensively engaged in breeding fine hogs and sheep, and has one of the best stock farms in northern New York, and is one of the most enterprising and pro- gressive farmers as well. Mr. Taber is a member of the Greenwich Baptist church, and is a charter member of the first Christian En- deavor society formed at Greenwich. Hehas been married twice : his first wife, Elmira A. Norton, on October 28, 1872, and who died March 1, 1877. He was again married on April 3, 1878, to Sarah Johnston. To this last marriage has been born one child, a son, Horace Jamies.
Shortly previous to the breaking out of the Revolutionary war Jacob Haner came from England, going to the town of Easton, where he made his permanent home, located on the farm now occupied by Ephriam Burdick, and in this town his two sons, Jacob and Cornelius, settled. Jacob Haner was the grandfather of Mrs. Taber, the grandmother of the subject of this sketch, who was a life-long resident of the town of Easton, and lived to be ninety-four years of age. The Tabers are also of English origin. John Taber (great-grandfater), the founder of the Taber family in Washington county, came from Rhode Island to the town of Easton prior to the Revolution. He was a carpenter by trade, and owned a small farm in the town. He was the father of six chil- dren : William, Martin, John, Henry (grand- father), Nancy and Hammond. Henry Taber was a farmer, and in an early day taught school. He owned and occupied the farm, now owned by Horace, and lived there for some sixty odd years. He served as school commissioner of his town, and was also sev- eral terms road commissioner. He was a whig in politics, and was a soldier in the war of
1812. He was a leading member of the Bap- tist church. His wife was Margaret Haner, by whom he had five children, all sons : James H., Horace (father), Russell, Lewis and John M. His death occurred in 1862, at the age of sixty-two years.
Charles R. Taber is widely known through- out the county as an able and successful farmer and business man, and has evinced a business capacity of high order, while his ex- cellent stock and established trade arc char- acteristics as creditable as they are indicative of further enlargement and prosperity in the future.
JAMES E. PRATT, a well known citizen of Granville, was born in the town of Paw- lett, Rutland county, Vermont, October 2, 1833, and is a son of Ervin and Caroline (El- well) Pratt. Ervin Pratt (father) was born on the same farm, in the town of Pawlet, as the subject of this sketch, and where he lived all his life. For his day he was a well educa- ted man, receiving an academical education, taught district school for several winters, and owned one square mile of land in the town of Pawlet, where he kept a dairy and owned sixty milch cows. He was a very successful farmer in his section of that State ; was a regular at- tendant and a liberal contributor to the Con- gregational church ; and in his political affilia - tion he was a republican, and a leader in the counsels of his party, representing his district twice in the Vermont legislature. In 1807, at the age of twenty-three years, he wedded Caroline, daughter of Harrison Elwell, a prom- inent farmer of Rupert, Vermont, and of New England ancestry. To their marriage were born four sons and three daughters : James E., Sarah J., Byron A. (a farmer of Pawlet, Ver- mont); Henriette C., wife of Capt. George S. Orr, of Pawlet; Quincy A., a druggist of Pawlet ; Francelia, and Minor E., the latter a sale agent of Rutland. Ervin Pratt died at his home in Pawlet, from the effect of a kick from a horse, at the age of eighty-four. His
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wife is still living in Pawlet, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.
Capt. James Pratt (grandfather) was a na- tive of Colerein, Vermont, and was among the pioneer settlers in the town of Pawlet, where he purchased a large tract of land for five shil- lings per acre, all covered with forest except- ing one-half acre, which had been cleared by his predecessor. This farm is still known as the Pratt mountain farm. He served as a captain in the Revolutionary army; a member of the Congregational church, in politics a whig, and one of the most prominent men of his day and section. He was the father of six children : Rev. Minor Pratt, a Congregational minister, who was educated at Middlebury college ; Alva, who was a deacon in the same church ; Jane, Elisha, Esther, and Ervin (father). Capt. James Pratt died in Septem- ber, 1854, in the ninety-third year of his age, and was of English extraction.
James E. Pratt grew to manhood on the farm, receiving his education in the common schools, North Hebron academy, and the Burr seminary of Manchester, Vermont. After leaving school Mr. Pratt went to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he split rails for sixteen dollars per month, and with the first fifty dol- lars he earned he bought forty acres of gov- ernment land in that State. He kept adding to the original forty acre tract until he owned one quarter of a section in that vicinity. In 1854 he, in company with Isaac Thompson, a surveyor and land agent of that county, took an extended trip through the unsettled part of that State, being for two weeks exclusively among the "Red lords of the forest." Mr. Pratt remained in Wisconsin for three years, returning home at the end of that time, where he shortly afterward married. Soon after his marriage he returned to Wisconsin, where he purchased a farm and continued to farm for seven years, when he again removed east and settled in the town of Hebron, where he en- gaged in the same occupation, his farm con- taining two hundred acres. Subsequently he
sold this farm and moved into the town of West Hebron, where he bought another and built a cheese factory, conducting both the farm and the factory for four years. In 1873 he left the farm and came to Granville to re- side, associated in partnership in the grocery business with E. B. Temple, under the firm name of Temple & Pratt, which partnership existed for four years, when he became a mem- ber of the firm of D. Rogers & Co., general merchants, of the same village. He remained as partner with this firm for fifteen years, commanding one of the most extensive trades of any firm in the eastern part of the county. In 1893 he sold his interest to Nelson G. Holis- ton, and immediately started a grocery and produce store, at 53 Main street. Mr. Pratt is a member and class leader of the Methodist Episcopal church of Granville, and one of the officers of its board, and in political opinion he is a stanch republican. Beside consider- able buildings and real estate owned by Mr. Pratt in Granville, he is a stockholder in the Granville National bank, and owns a summer cottage at Lake Saint Catharine. Mr. Pratt has great confidence in the future development and prosperity of the town in which he lives, and an article appearing in the Granville Sen- tinel, on January 12, 1894, written by him on the subject : "Have faith in your town, " shows him to be up to date and advanced in his ideas.
James E. Pratt, on March 25, 1856, was married to Phobe L., a daughter of Daniel Woodward, of North Hebron, and to their marriage has been born one daughter, Carrie, who is the wife of D. Rogers, his former part- ner in business.
JOHN H. MEALEY, head of the gen- eral mercantile firm of Mealey & Becker, and one of the popular and successful young . business men of the county, is a son of Cor- nelius and Esther (Hayden) Mealey, and was born September 13, 1859, at Fort Miller,
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Washington county, New York. The Mealeys are of Irish descent, and the family was planted in America by Cornelius Mealey (father), who was born in County Clare, Ire- land, in October, 1812, and lived there until 1834, when he crossed the Atlantic and set- tled near Ontario, dominion of Canada, where he engaged in railroad contracting, and re- sided for several years. From Canada he re- moved to North Creek, Warren county, New York, and became interested in the tannery and leather business. In 1850 he purchased a farm at Fort Miller, in the town of Fort Ed- ward, Washington county, and removed his family to this county. He followed farming until 1889, at which time he retired from all active business, and moved into the village of Greenwich, where he lived quietly and com- fortably until his death, in 1891, when in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Before com- ing to America he had taught school in Ire- land, and was a man of good education and fine natural ability. In religion he was a member of the Catholic church, and about 1852 married Esther Hayden, a member of the same church, and a daughter of Richard Hay- den, of Ireland. She came to America in 1842, and now resides in the village of Green- wich, in the sixty-second year of her age. They reared a family of four children, all sons: John H., the subject of this sketch; Corne- lius, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume ; James, and Andrew.
John H. Mealey was reared principally on his father's farm, in the town of Fort Edward, and received his education in the common schools, Fort Edward collegiate institute, and the high school at Saratoga Springs. When thirteen years of age he became clerk in a store at Fort Miller, and followed that occupation for several years. Later he taught in the district school at Fort Miller, and was afterward employed as clerk in a general store until he had attained the age of nineteen. He then accepted a position as clerk in a hotel at Saratoga Springs, where he remained three
years, after which he came to Greenwich, and for seven years occupied the position of clerk in the hotel conducted by Robert Hamilton, in this village. In February, 1886, Mr. Mealey was appointed postmaster of Greenwich, and held that office for four years, discharging his duties in a manner highly satisfactory to the general public. In 1890 he formed a partner- ship with John S. Becker, under the firm name of Mealey & Becker, and they purchased the large general store of Convery & McCracken, in the Hill block, on Main street, this village, where they have conducted a prosperous and successful business ever since. They have over twelve thousand dollars invested in the business, and their annual sales amount to more than forty thousand dollars.
On September 15, 1885, Mr. Mealey was united in marriage to Jennie E. Scully, a daughter of John Scully, of the village of Greenwich. To Mr. and Mrs. Mealey have been born two children : Ella F. and Carl E. In political sentiment Mr. Mealey is a demo- crat, and served as secretary of the democratic county committee for six years. He is a mem- ber of the Catholic church, in which faith he was reared, and a member and president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, No. 1, of Greenwich. He is also a member of the Syl- via Hook & Ladder company, of this village, with which he has been connected for twelve years, and was for some time chief of the fire department. For three years he has been a member of the Merchant's Protective associ- ation, and is a member of the executive com- mittee of the board of trade of Greenwich.
T THOMAS C. GIFFORD, of Cambridge, who, since 1868, has been extensively and successfully engaged in wool buying, operat- ing over several of the eastern States, was born in the town of Easton, Washington county, New York, September 28, 1815, and is a son of Ira and Susannah (Cornell) Gifford. Ira Gifford was a native of the town of Cam-
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bridge, born January 1, 1788, and was one of the thrifty and well-to-do farmers of the county, following that occupation during his entire life. He owned and operated a large farm in the town of Easton, where he raised im - mense lots of grain and live stock. Like many other of his neighbors, he started for the battle of Plattsburg, in 1812, but the battle had ended when he arrived. He was a great reader and a well informed man; a whig, and later a republican in politics, and filled some of the town offices. On April 6, 1813, he was joined in wedlock with Susannah, a daughter of Thomas Cornell, of the town of Easton, the latter formerly of Rhode Island, who was a blacksmith and farmer, and was elected to the legislature by the Whig party. To that union were born five sons and three daughters : Seneca W., Thomas C., Mary C. (widow of the late James Tellmadge, now of New York city), Jeddiah P., Royal C., Ira M. (dead), Sarah A. (wife of Martin Bancus, of Pitts- town, New York), and Jane (widow of George Hayner, of Schaghticoke, New York). Ira Gifford died May 12, 1867, and his wife, Feb- ruary 1, 1879 ; she was a member of the So- ciety of Friends. Elihu Gifford (grandfather), was a native of Rhode Island. The Gifford family must have been one of the very earliest to make homes in that town. He was a farmer, and a Quaker in his religious belief, and a whig in politics. He was an extensive farmer of his day, owning some three hundred acres of land, making a specialty of hog rais- ing. He took to wife Deborah Wing, by whom he had nine children, five sons and four daughters : Ira, Abigail, Hannah, Sally, Mrs. Potter, Nathan, Allen, Jeddiah and Elihu. This family of Giffords is of Welsh extraction, being among the first to emigrate to find homes in the New World.
Thomas C. Gifford received the rudiments of his education in the ordinary schools of the neighborhood, and afterward attended the Chatham Friends' boarding school in Colum- bia county, New York, and also the Westerloo
Friends' boarding school. Mr. Gifford fol- lowed farming in the town of Schaghticoke, Rensselaer county, New York, and from 1863 to 1868 was engaged in the same occupation in the town of White Creek, owning a farm at that time of one hundred and thirty-four acres in Schaghticoke, and one of four hundred acres in White Creek, and made a specialty of sheep raising. In 1868 he removed to Cambridge, where he gave his time exclusively to buying wool throughout the States of New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and has handled as high as two hundred and fifty thous- and pounds of wool annually. In later years he has become practically retired on account of his age, but still owns and oversees his farm in the town of White Creek. In addition to his farms he owns four good dwellings in the village of Cambridge. On December 5, 1837, Mr. Gifford wedded Lydia, a daughter of Be- nona Kenyon, of Schaghticoke. To their union were born three children : Augustus (dead), Edward W. and Sarah (wife of Charles Tingue, of this village). Mrs. Gifford was born February 15, 1819, and died Novem- ber 9, 1860, and was a member of the Presby- terian church. In 1861 Mr. Gifford was again married, wedding Eliza, daughter of Truman Baker, of Schaghticoke.
Thomas C. Gifford is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, holding membership in Cam- bridge Valley Lodge, No. 481, and for a number of years has been chairman of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church, of which he is a member. He is a stanch republican, having held the office of assessor of the town of White Creek for fifteen years. His last term only recently expired.
H ENRY DILLINGHAM, a retired farmer, now residing in the village of Granville, is a son of Abram and Lydia (Rogers) Dillingham, and was born in Gran- ville, in a house that formerly stood on the same ground that his present residence now
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stands, on July 17, 1833. Abram Dillingham was a native of the town of Easton, where he was born March 10, 1800, received a common school education, and afterward followed farm- ing. When a young man he removed from his native town to Granville, New York. He moved to Danby, Vermont, in 1838, where he lived two years, when he purchased a farm about one mile west of Middle Granville, of one hundred and fifty acres. In 1886 he sold this property and purchased that now owned by his son, Henry, and where his death oc- curred on March 27, 1887. In connection with farming, for many years he kept a dairy, and manufactured cheese. He was a member of the Society of Friends, politically a republi- can, and for two years was overseer of the poor of his town. By prudence and economy he accumulated considerable wealth. In 1827 he married Lydia, a daughter of Aaron Rog- ers, of Danby, Vermont, and was the father of three children: Aaron, George (died young) and Henry. Mrs. Lydia Dillingham died in 1839, and in 1841 he married her sister, Eunice, who was the widow of his brother. By his second marriage he had one child, Aaron R., who died young. Mrs. Eunice Dillingham died in 1844. He was again married, this time to Ruth Bor- don, of the town of Easton.
Stephen Dillingham (grandfather) was a Quaker in religious belief, and a native of the town of Easton, and removed from his native town to the town of Granville, where he owned a large farm of three or four hundred acres, adjoining the village of Granville. He was a whig, and afterward a republican ; he mar- ried Amy Tucker, by whom he had twelve children. He was born March 6, 1774, and died in 1859, and wedded in 1794. His wife was born in 1775 and died in 1856. The foun- der of this family in Washington county was Joshua Dillingham (great-grandfather), who settled and lived in Easton.
Henry Dillingham grew to manhood on the farm, receiving his education in the district schools and the North Granville academy, and
after completing his academical course he re- turned to the farm, at which he was very suc- cessfully engaged up to 1886, when he retired. He owns considerable property in the village, and has accumulated a competency throughi good business management, abstemious habits and economy. He is a prohibitionist in politi- cal belief, being identified formerly with the Republican party, and served one term as vil- lage trustee, and is now president of the vil- lage board of health.
On August 22, 1854, Mr. Dillingham was married to Lillys, a daughter of Russell S. Borden, of the town of Easton. To their union have been born two children : Lydia, wife of Dr. B. D. Mosher, of Granville ; and Le Moyne, who is the wife of G. Myron Allen, a miller and lumber merchant of the same town.
M ICHAEL H. O'BRIEN, A.M., LL. B., who stands in the front rank of the young and progressive lawyers of the State and who has already won success and reputa- tion, is a son of Patrick and Alice (Smith) O'Brien, and was born October 4, 1858, at Olmsteadville, in the town of Minerva, Essex county, New York. He attended the Union school of Fort Edward and the Fort Edward Collegiate institute, which latter institution he represented in the oratorical contest of the " Inter-Academic Union " at Albany in 1878, where he won the second cash prize. Carrie A. Turner, the celebrated actress, represent- ing the Albany High school in that contest for the ladies, was awarded the first cash prize. The year previous Mr. O'Brien's brother, Edward C., carried off the first cash prize. These two prizes, won by the O'Briens, were the only substantial honors ever won by the Fort Ed- ward Collegiate institute at the " Inter-Acad- emic Union contest in oratory."
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