USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 42
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 42
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Zoeth Eldridge (grandfather) was a native of England, came to this county and resided in Tolland county, Connecticut, and was a farmer and lumberman by occupation ; was twice married, and the father of eleven chil-
dren. The Eldridge family is of English ex- traction, and the founders of the American branch of the family were three brothers, who came to this country from England, and lo- cated at Boston ; one remained there, one went into Connecticut, and the other went on board a whaling vessel and never returned.
Ahira Eldridge grew to manhood on the farm, and received his education in the com- mon schools. His life was spent upon the farm, up to the year 1884, when he sold it and removed to the village of Cambridge, where for three years he was engaged in selling west- ern mortgages. At the end of this time he started in the plumbing business, in which he has been very successfully engaged since. For some years he acted as first sergeant of the old State militia.
Ahira Eldridge, on November 8, 1848, wed- ded Rhoda, daughter of Elery Staples, of Danby, Vermont. To this union have been born three children : Jane, wife of Volney Kinyon, of Nebraska; Mary I. and Grace A. (the latter who died young). The death of Mrs. Eldridge occurred in March, 1863. On January 20, 1873, Mr. Eldridge was again married to Carrie, daughter of Dr. D. Wood- ward, of Castleton, Vermont.
M ARTIN D. HUBBARD, deceased, was one of Cambridge's most public spir- ited and useful citizens. During his life he was as much identified with the industrial de- velopment of that village, and moral and re- ligious progress, probably as any other man. He was born at Salem, Washington county, New York, in September, 1814, and was a son of Jonathan and Ellis (Archer) Hubbard. The family is one of the pioneer ones in the vicin- ity of Salem, as Jonathan Hubbard (father), was born in that town, January 2, 1784, where he followed farming and lumbering, carrying on quite an extensive business for that day. In politics he was a member of the Democratic party, and served in the war of 1812; his wife
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was Ellis Archer, by whom he had eight chil- dren : Anna Eliza (died unmarried), Martin D., James (now residing in Michigan), Julia (twin of James), Sarah (late wife of John Dob- bin of Salem), Margaret (widow of Thomas Oviatt), John (dead), Frances Parmelia, wife of William P. Robertson. Jonathan Hub- bard died July 9, 1870, and his wife passed away April 15, 1864, being born March 17, 1786.
Dr. John Hubbard, grandfather, who was a native of the village of Shushan, in the town of Salem, was twice married, and was the father of fourteen children, having three by his first wife : John, Daniel and Polly ; and eleven by his second wife, a Miss Moore : Jonathan, Hugh, Lyman, Sallie, Eli, Betsey, Julia Ann, Rebecca, Darwin, Jabez and Peter.
Martin D. Hubbard was a self-educated man, having once said that he never attended school over three months in all, which was mainly due to the fact of his father needing him in his lumber work. Heafterward worked on a farm in this county a few years, when at the end of that time he went to Hartford, Connecticut, and became an employe of a man by the name of Goodrich, who was then a very extensive general merchant of that place, where he re- mained as a salesman in his mercantile estab- lishment for a number of years. In about 1844, having perfect confidence in his honesty and business integrity, Mr. Goodrich sent him to Cambridge to buy wool. Being pleased with this section of the country, he concluded to make it his home, and soon afterward en- gaged in business for himself in that village. In 1853 he erected his general storehouse. He erected his opera house in 1878. It was here he carried on a general mercantile busi- ness, dealing in all kinds of produce, wool, etc., commanding one of the most extensive mercantile trades in the county, and in addition to that conducted an extensive lumber yard. In 1874 he gave up his mercantile. interests, and devoted his attention mostly to his lum- ber business. The fact of his having the con-
fidence of his neighbors and the business men generally of Cambridge and vicinity, is at- tested by his having been chosen president of the Cambridge Valley National bank, in which capacity he served a number of years. He al- ways lent a helping hand to any legitimate public enterprise. He was an official mem- ber and a liberal contributor to the life and advancement of the Presbyterian church for a long series of years.
Mr. Hubbard was twice married : first, on May 10, 1847, to Sophia B., a daughter of Thomas Rice, of Cambridge; one child was born to this marriage: Sophia R., who died at the age of three years and seven months. Mrs. Hubbard died December 2, 1849, and on October 19, 1853, he wedded the elder sister of his first wife, Mary N. Rice, who still sur- vives. Thomas Rice, father of Mrs. Hubbard, was born at Millington, Connecticut ; was one of the early settlers of the town of White Creek, removing thence with his parents when at the tender age of about six months. He followed the occupation of farming all his life, owning two hundred acres of land. His wife was Selina, daughter of Ebenezer Billings, of the town of Jackson. To that marriage were born Mrs. Mary N. Hubbard, Mrs. Sophia Billings Hubbard, George and Henry. Thomas Rice was born July 27, 1795; died February 8, 1859, and was a son of Roswell Rice, who was a native of Connecticut, came to the town of White Creek in about 1797, where he be- came a farmer and a highly respected citizen. His first wife was Mary Nye, to whom he was married March 22, 1792, and had one child, a son : Thomas Rice. Mrs. Mary Rice died January 10, 1796, and in January, 1797, he married Phœbe Niles. The children of this marriage were : Polly, Roswell J., died in in- fancy; Roswell (2), Phæbe, Jerome H., and Eliza M. The Rice's trace their ancestry back to the landing of the Mayflower in 1620.
Mrs. Mary N. Hubbard is a very competent business manager, and owns considerable val- uable property in the village of Cambridge,
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and believes in the emancipation of women, and is consequently an active partisan in be- half of the woman's suffrage movement. She is a member of the Equality Club of this vil- lage, and one of the Equality executives. She was a delegate to the convention held in Brooklyn in November, 1893, and was also a delegate to the National convention convened at Washington, District of Columbia, Febru- ary 15, 1894.
CHARLES H. VAN NESS, a success-
ful lawyer and business man of the vil- lage of Greenwich, is a son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Hinchman) Van Ness, and was born in the town of Greenwich, March 4, 1859. His father, Matthew Van Ness, is a native of Waterford, Saratoga county, New York, and was born May 5, 1818, and has followed the occupation of farming during the greater part of his life, coming to the town of Greenwich in 1849, where at the present time he owns a farm of seventy-nine acres. He is a republi- can in politics and a member of the Dutch Re- formed church. In 1849 he married Elizabeth, a daughter of Obediah Hinchnian, of Rhine- beck, Dutchess county. To their marriage were born three children, two daughters now deceased, and Charles H. Hendrick Van Ness, (grandfather) was born at Waterford, New York, followed farming, and was a member of the Dutch Reformed church. He was a son of Abraham Van Ness, also a native of Water- ford, and who also followed the occupation of farming. The Van Ness family is of Holland descent. Three brothers emigrated from their native country during the early settling of northern New York, one of whom located in Saratoga county and the other two settled in New Jersey.
Charles H. Van Ness received the rudiments of his education in the Union school, after- ward read law, and then entered the law de- partment of Columbia college and was gradu- ated from that institution in 1880. He imme-
diately commenced practice in his native village and has continued in it with a consider- able degree of success ever since. For twelve years Mr. Van Ness was treasurer of the Greenwich & Johnsonville railroad, and was at the time of his appointment the youngest rail- road official in the State. He is also agent for some of the leading insurance companies of the country : The Fire Association of Phila- delphia, American of New York city, Orient of Hartford, Springfield Fire and Marine, London and Lancashire, also the Commercial Union of England, the Sun of the same coun- try, and Caledonia of Scotland. He is a re- publican in political opinion, and a member of the Reformed church.
On September 14, 1887, Mr. Van Ness was united in marriage with Anna H., daughter of John Woodruff of Newark, New Jersey. To their marriage have been born two children : Hendrick and Anneke.
H OMER B. BATES is a son of Henry H. and Eunice S. (Bascom) Bates, and was born March 27, 1845, at East Windsor, Con- necticut. James Bates settled at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1669, latterly living at Middle- town, in the same State. His children were : John, Nathaniel, Jacob and David. David (great-grandfather) removed to Granville, Mas- sachusetts, and reared a family of eight chil- dren. Nathaniel Bates had a son Nathaniel, who was a lawyer by profession and prominent at the bar at Westfield, Massachusetts. Isaac C., son of Jacob Bates, became a prominent lawyer, representative and senator in congress from the State of Massachusetts. David Ward Bates (grandfather), son of David Bates, was a farmer by occupation, who resided in the vi- cinity of Granville, Massachusetts. He mar- ried Susan Howard and had seven children : Eliza A., Mary A., Harris Ward, Harriet S., Augustus S., Almira C. and Henry Howard, all of whom were born in Granville, Massa- chusetts, excepting Henry H., who was a na-
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tive of Benson, Vermont, where he was born No- vember 23, 1808. H. W. Bates was a pioneer collar and shirt manufacturer in the city of Troy, New York. Rev. Henry H. Bates, the youngest son, was an Episcopal clergyman. He became an Episcopalian while at Union college, Schen- ectady ; studied theology at the general Theo- logical seminary of New York, and afterward became rector of the Episcopal church at Blandford, Massachusetts, remaining with that charge for four years, thence to Warehouse Point, Connecticut, where he labored eight years; he then removed to Tariffville, that State, remaining six years, at the end of which time he removed to Glens Falls, New York, and had charge of the Episcopal church of that place for three years. At the breaking out of the war,in 1861, he entered the army as chap- lain of the 22d New York volunteer regiment, going out for one year, at the end of which time he asked permission from his congrega- tion to remain one year longer, which was granted him. At the second battle of Bull Run he was taken prisoner, and was afterward released by the confederate General Wilcox. Returning home at the end of two years, he, with his family, removed to Oak Hill, Green county, New York, where after four years ser- vice in the ministry at that place his death oc- curred, which was on January 14, 1868. He was a member of the Republican party and of the Glens Falls Lodge, No. 121, of Masons. On March 17, 1840, he wedded Eunice S. Bas- com, who was born at Orwell, Vermont, De- cember 18, 1811. They were the parents of the following children : Henry Bascom, Homer Bryant and Mary Maria. Henry Bascom served in the 2d Massachusetts cavalry in the late Civil war, is now residing in New York city, and is in the employ of the New York and Boston Chemical and Dye Works company.
Homer Bryant Bates was principally edu- cated in the old Glens Falls academy ; leaving school at the age of sixteen or seventeen, he entered E. E. Safford's store, at Glens Falls, as a clerk, and after the great fire of that vil- 19a
lage in 1864, he engaged with the Jointa Lime company of that village. He is at present in charge of the lime business at Bald Mountain, New York, having been in the employ of this company since 1865, acting as the company's cashier up to the time of his removing to Bald Mountain in 1872. Since then he has filled the office of secretary and superintendent of the Bald Mountain Lime company, making from one hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty barrels per day, employing about thirty men and two boats to deliver lime, prin- cipally to New York city. He also handles coal, powder, dynamite and building material in connection with his lime interest. Mr. Bates is a republican, and has served as supervisor of the town of Greenwich, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and also a member and vestryman of Saint Paul's Episcopal church of Greenwich.
September 1, 1869, Mr. Bates wedded Rosa- mond A. Davis, and has three children : Helen Gertrude, Henry H. and Mary Louise. Mrs. Bates died December 19, 1890, in the forty- eigthth year of her age. On December 28, 1891, Mr. Bates was married to Fannie J. McNeil. Eunice Samantha Bascom Bates (mother), was a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Bascom, who came to this country, probably from England, about the year 1634, and located at Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1639 he removed to Windsor, Connecticut, thence to Northampton, Massachusetts, where his death occurred May 9, 1682. Dorus Bascom, maternal grandfather of Mr. Bates, was born at Northfield, Massachusetts, De- cember 19, 1774; married Chloe Hulburd, March 11, 1800 ; his death occurred August 26, 1841; his wife, October 1, 1851. They had nine children: Thankful, wife of Horace Cobb ; Priscilla Elvira, wife of Linus Wilcox ; Clar- inda, wife of Samuel Howard, of Benson, Ver- mont ; Emily, wife of William R. Sanford ; Oliver ; Hulburd ; Eunice S., wife of Rev. Henry Howard Bates: Dorus, William Frank- lin, and Samuel H.
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GRENVILLE MELLEN INGALSBE
was born in the southern part of the town . of Hartford, New York, on the 26th day of July, 1846. He was the only child of Milo and Laura C. Ingalsbe, nee Chapin. He received instruc- tion until he was fourteen at home, from his father, afterward attending the district school four winters, and for one fall term he was a pupil at a select school. During one year, 1864-65, he was a student at the Fort Edward Collegiate institute. In 1866 he entered Union college as an eclectic student, classed with the juniors in the class of 1868, and remained one year. In 1870 the college granted him the bachelor's degree, and three years later its de- gree of master of arts was conferred upon him.
In the fall of 1867 he assumed charge of the Argyle academy, at Argyle, New York, and was its principal for three years. Until his retirement from the teachers' field, his sum- mers and vacations were invariably spent upon the farm, engaged in the active duties of farm life, for which he developed and still holds a great affection.
In the fall of 1870 he began the study of law in the office of Hughes & Northup, at Sandy Hill, New York, where he remained a year. He then entered the Harvard Law school, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and after an attend- ance of one year he passed the examinations upon the subjects of the entire course, and received from Harvard university, in June, 1872, the degree of LL. B.
He then became managing clerk for Hughes & Northup ; was admitted to the bar in 1874, and in 1875 opened a law office in Sandy Hill, where he has ever since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession.
For four years, 1874-8, he was the secretary of the Washington County Agricultural society, and since that time has been an advisory mem- ber of its board of managers. In 1877 he was appointed a justice of the peace for the town of Kingsbury. Afterward, by successive elec- tions, he held the office over eight years, and then retired because of its interference with
his professional work. For three years, 1875- 78, he was the supervisor of his town. In 1878 he was the chairman of the county board of supervisors. A't the expiration of his third term as supervisor, he declined a unanimous re-election, and has since held no elective office.
Though taking an active part in local poli- tics, he has persistently refused to allow the use of his name as a candidate for district or county offices. In 1874 he was elected village clerk of Sandy Hill. In 1875 the office be- came appointive, and by successive appoint- ments he held the position, with the exception of a single year, until March, 1894, when he resigned, that he might thenceforth devote himself exclusively to his profession ; to his various business interests, including the man- agement of the farm homestead, at Hartford," and to study along certain lines which have always been so attractive to him, that amid the duties of an exacting profession, he has always preserved the mental poise of a student, and many of the habits of a recluse. On Sep- tember 20, 1876, Mr. Ingalsbe was married to Franc E. Groesbeck, at "Pine Avenue," the home of her stepfather, Mr. Amasa How- land, of Sandy Hill, New York. Miss Groes- beck was daughter of Nathaniel Barnett Groes- beck, of Fort Ann, deceased, and Lydia A. Groesbeck, nee Kingsley. She is a graduate of the Temple Grove seminary, Saratoga Springs, and was a teacher in the Sandy Hill Union Free school. They have one child, Grenville Howland, born November 8, 1878.
Mr. Ingalsbe is not a member of any church, but in the absence of a Congregational church at Sandy Hill, has been connected with the Presbyterian society, of which he was a trustee for nineteen years, resigning in 1893. In poli- tics he has always been and is a republican, except that in 1872 he espoused the Liberal Republican cause. He is not a partisan to the extent of placing party above country, or claim- ing that his party can do no wrong.
At present Mr. Ingalsbe is a director and the secretary of the "Spring Brook Water Com-
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pany," of the " Sandy Hill Electric Light and Power Company," and of the "Sandy Hill Power Company ; " a director of the National Bank of Sandy Hill, and of the Glens Falls, Sandy Hill & Fort Edward Street Railway Company ; a trustee of the Glens Falls acad- emy ; an advisory director of the Washington County Agricultural society, and a member of the executive committee of the New York State Bar association. He is a life member of the New York State Agricultural society, and a member of the Union College Alumni associ- ation, the Harvard Law School association, the American Bar association, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and of various other similar societies.
JOHN CIPPERLEY, M. D., one of the well-known physicians and citizens of Greenwich, is a son of Abraham and Maria (Chase) Cipperley and was born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer county, New York, September 29, 1830. The name is of German origin, and the founders of the family in this country were Bernhard and his three sons, religious refu- gees from the Palatinate on the river Rhine, who came over in 1710, settling in Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, New York, where many of his descendants, also in Rensselaer county, reside. He was the chief founder of the First Lutheran church of that place. The old German spelling of the name was Ziperlin. Henry Cipperley (great-grandfather), who was a grandson of the immigrant Bernhard, fought at the battle of Saratoga and witnessed Bur- goyne's surrender. A relative of his, who was an officer in the war of the Revolution, was shot from his horse, by the enemy, who were lying in ambush. George Cipperley (grandfather) was a prominent man of his day, understanding the German and English languages, and served as justice of the peace and supervisor of his town. He was promi- nent in the affairs of his neighborhood, a mem- ber and trustee of the Lutheran church, and
was popular and well liked by his neighbors. His wife was Polly Coon, a daughter of Abram Coon ; the latter fought through the entire war of the Revolution. By this marriage George Cipperley was the father of seventeen children : Henry, Abraham, Adam, George, Hiram, Jacob, Michael, Catharine, Regina, Maria, Hannah, Elizabeth, Louisa, Elmira, Savena, Clarissa, and all of wliom grew to man and womanhood.
George Cipperley died November 4, 1847, in the seventy-third year of his age.
Abraham Cipperley, who was the greater part of his life engaged in the occupation of farming, died where the subject of this sketch now resides ; but was engaged in his early life in the manufacture of cloth at West Sand Lake. In his political belief he was a demo- crat, and served as assessor of Sand Lake and took an active interest in the public affairs of the village ; was also a member, deacon and trustee of the Lutheran church. He married Maria Chase and had two children : Dr. John and Henry. Abraham Cipperley died April 14, 1892, having been born in 1803.
Dr. John Cipperley received his elementary education in the district schools of West Sand Lake and in a select school taught at West Sand Lake, and afterward attended the Willis- ton seminary, located in Massachusetts, and subsequently entered and took a course at the Albany State Normal school. Selecting the profession of medicine as his life's work, he accordingly became a student under Dr. P. H. Thomas, and after taking the required course of study, he graduated at Albany Medical col- lege in 1856. He began the practice in the vicinity of Greenwich, where he has practiced for twenty-five years. At present Dr. Cipper- ley is a member of the Washington County Medical society. He is a member of Ashlar Lodge, No. 584, Free and Accepted Masons, and is also member of the Methodist Episco- pal church. He is joint owner and member of the firm of Cipperley and Hegeman's grist mill, saw mill and plaster mills, located in
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Middle Falls, including a number of tenement houses and four acres of ground in the same village. He has been for a number of years · engaged in the manufacture of cement, at Middle Falls. He is a prohibitionist and takes an active part in the interests of his party.
In 1859 Dr. Cipperley was wedded to Sa- lina Hegeman. To their marriage have been born seven children : William H., born June, 1860, and resides at Greenwich; Maria L., Abraham L., Augusta, Fred, Eddie, who died at the age of sixteen years, and one who died in infancy.
D ENNIS J. SULLIVAN, a resident of Sandy Hill, and a member of the Wash- ington county bar, is a son of John and Cath- arine (O'Brien) Sullivan, and was born in the town of Horicon, Warren county, New York, April 2, 1857. John Sullivan was born and reared in County Kerry, Ireland, where he re- ceived his education, and was variously en- gaged until he was thirty years of age. He then, in July, 1850, came to the United States, and after spending about nine years in the town of Horicon, became a resident of this county, when he purchased his present farm in the town of Fort Ann, where he has been engaged ever since in farming and stock rais- ing. He is a member of the Catholic church, and a republican in politics, and has held sev- eral town offices since his coming to Fort Ann. After arriving in this country he wedded Catharine O'Brien, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1827, and is a member of the Catholic church.
Dennis J. Sullivan received his education in the public schools and Glens Falls academy. Completing his studies at the latter institution in 1874, he taught school, and in 1875 he en- tered the law office of the late Hon. U.G. Paris, and after completing the required course of reading, was admitted to the bar of the State of New York, at the November term of 1878. Since his admission to the bar Mr. Sullivan
has been engaged in the general practice at Sandy Hill. He is energetic and active, en- joys a good practice, and ranks as a safe coun- selor. He is a republican in politics, and has been clerk of the board of education of his town for ten years successively.
Mr. Sullivan has also served as justice of the peace continuously for nine years. He is also village clerk.
APT. EMMETT JJ. GRAY, a mem-
ber of the milling firm of Witherbee & Gray, of Whitehall, and who has served as captain in the National Guard of Vermont, and is now first lieutenant of the 9th separate company, National Guard of the State of New York, is a son of Enoch and Helen M. (Ar- nold) Gray, and was born at Glens Falls, New York, December 7, 1865. The Grays are of Scotch ancestry, and were among the pioneers of the town of Hadley, Saratoga county, where several generations of the family have lived. In that town the paternal grandfather of Capt. Gray, Asahel Gray, was born and reared. After attaining manhood he engaged in farm- ing in his native town, where he followed that occupation successfully until his retirement from all active business. He then removed to the village of Glens Falls, where he died about 1881, aged seventy-nine years. He married Hanna Heath and reared a family of six children, one of his sons being Enoch Gray (father), who was born in the old Gray homestead in the town of Hadley in 1832. In his earlier years he was engaged in the clothing business at Glens Falls, but the lat- ter part of his life was devoted to specu- lating. In 1857 he removed to Glens Falls and continued to reside in that village until his death in 1884, when in the fifty-second year of his age. He wasa member of the Baptist church at Glens Falls and a republican in poli- tics. In 1854, at the age of twenty-two years, he married Helen M. Arnold, a native of the town of Wilton, Saratoga county, and a daugh-
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