USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 43
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 43
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
ter of Zibra Arnold. Mrs. Gray is a member of the Baptist church and now resides in the village of Glens Falls, in the sixtieth year of her age.
Emmett J. Gray was reared in his native village, and obtained an academic education in the Glens Falls academy. After leaving school he entered the large clothing store of the Rochester Clothing company, at Glens Falls, where he remained for more than two years, and was then sent as manager of the same firm's extensive clothing house in Rut- land, Vermont. For a period of nearly three years he successfully conducted the large clothing trade of the Rochester company at Rutland, but in 1890 resigned his position, and coming to Whitehall, formed a partnership with R. M. Witherbee, his father-in-law, and engaged in the milling business. Under the firm name of Witherbee & Gray, these gen- tlemen have continued to do a large and lucra- tive business here ever since, operating one of the largest, best equipped and best paying grist mills in Washington county.
On the 26th of November, 1890, Captain Gray was united in marriage to Minnie E. Witherbee, a daughter of R. M. Witherbee, his present partner in business, and an old resi- dent of Whitehall. To that union has been been born two sons : R. Gerald and Howard E.
There appears to have been a strong mili- tary element in the character of Captain Gray from his earliest years, nor is this to be won- dercd at when it is remembered. that he was reared amid the dying echoes of the Civil war, while all classes were yet familiar with the chief aspects of that struggle and its results were everywhere being discussed. On Febru- ary 11, 1884, Mr. Gray, while yet in his nine- teenth year, became a member of the 18th separate company of the National Gnards of the State of New York, at Glens Falls. On June 6 of the next year, he was made corpo- ral, and was promoted to be second lieutenant January 2, 1888. On March 21, 1889, he re- ceived a full and honorable discharge from the
National Guard of this State, and on February II, 1890, was commissioned captain of Co. A, of the National Guard of the State of Ver- mont, at Rutland, where he then resided. This commission he resigned on September 15 of the same year, upon his removal to Whitehall. Here he again connected himself with the National Guard of New York, and on October 13, 1893, was made first lieutenant of the 9th separate company at Whitehall, which rank he still holds. He is a member and trustec of the Baptist church of Whitehall, and a mem- ber of Center Lodge, No. 34, Free and Ac- ceptcd Masons, of Rutland, Vermont. In politics Captain Gray is an ardent republican and takes an active interest in local political affairs.
F LBERT C. VAUGHAN, the present postmaster of Fort Ann, and a Union soldier during the great Civil war, was born at Massena, St. Lawrence county, New York, September 4, 1845. He is a son of John and Almira (Hovey) Vaughan, and was reared at Plattsburg, New York, where he received his education in the public schools of that place. He left school in 1861, at sixteen years of age, to enlist in Co. H, 60th New York volun- teers, in which he served out his term of en- listment, two years and nine months. He then re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, and served until August 25, 1865, when he was honorably mustered out of the service at Ogdensburg, New York. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, and received another slight wound at Lookout Mountain. Returning home from the army he soon left northern New York, came and settled at Fort Ann, where he has continued to reside ever since. From 1865 to 1877 he was engaged in boating on the Champlain canal. At the end of that time he was ap- pointed deputy sheriff of Washington county, which position he held for eight years. Since then he has been engaged in various lines of business and different speculative enterprises.
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On June 4, 1889, Mr. Vaughan was commis- sioned by President Harrison as postmaster of, and is the present incumbent of that office, at Fort Ann.
On May 6, 1868, Albert C. Vaughan was united in marriage with Elsie M. Vaughan, daughter of Washington Vaughan, of Fort Ann.
In political opinion Mr. Vaughan is a pro- nounced republican, and is a trustee of his village, and a member of its board of educa- tion. He has been a member of Mount Hope Lodge, No. 260, Free and Accepted Masons, since 1868, and is the organizer of Lowe Washburn Post, No. 335, Grand Army of the Republic, and has filled all the offices of this post. In political and business affairs at Fort Ann, Mr. Vaughan has been active for over a quarter of a century.
The Vaughans are of English descent, and Benjamin Vaughan (grandfather) was one of three brothers who came from Rhode Island to northern New York when the country was largely a wilderness. Benjamin Vaughan served as a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war, and afterward removed to Plattsburg, New York, where he lived to reach a ripe old age. His son, John Vaughan, was born at Plattsburg, in Clinton county, and died there on February 9, 1891, at seventy-eight years of age. He was a shoe- maker by trade, and had been a consistent member of the Baptist church for many years previous to his death. He married Almira Hovey, a resident of his native town, and who still survives, at the age of eighty-one years.
F RANKLIN FISHLER, editor and proprietor of the Whitehall Times, and a gentleman who has had much experience in metropolitan journalism and wields a vigorous and trenchant pen, is a son of George W. and Sarah (Sofield) Fishler, and was born at Wellsburg, Chemung county, New York, Jan- uary 9, 1860. He comes of the sturdy Ger-
man race, which has borne such a conspicuous part in the settlement and development of this country. His paternal great-grandfather, George Fishler, was born and reared in the Fatherland, which he left about the middle of the eighteenth century, to find a new home in the western world. He settled in Pennsyl- vania, where he passed the remainder of his life, and died at an advanced age. Among his sons was George Fishler (grandfather), born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1797, and a carpenter by occupation, who, after attaining manhood, removed to Chemung county, New York, and settled at Wellsburg, where he resided until his death, June 15, 1887, when in the ninetieth year of his age. He married and reared a family of five children, one of his sons being George W. Fishler (father), who was born in Wallpack township, Sussex county, New Jersey, August 22, 1827, and now resides in the city of Elmira, Che- mung county, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He is a republican in politics, a con- tractor and builder by occupation, and has resided in Elmira since 1870. In 1854 he married Sarah Sofield, a native of Wellsboro, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John Benjamin Sofield. To them was born a family of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is next to the youngest. Frank- lin Fishler was reared principally in the city of Elmira, New York, and after passing through the public schools there, was graduated from the free academy of Elmira in the spring of 1878. After careful preparation he began teaching in the latter institution, where he re- mained for one year, and then entered the law office of Senator David B. Hill, at Elmira, for the purpose of preparing himself for the bar. Senator Hill was then principal propri- etor of the Elmira Daily Gazette, and soon after Mr. Fishler entered his law office a va- cancy occurred in the counting room of that paper, and Mr. Hill offered the place to his young law student. Having already become interested and having had some experience in
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the newspaper business, Mr. Fishler gladly accepted the position, and the tripod secured an ornament originally intended for the bar. Entering upon his new duties with the en- thusiasm which characterized a born jour- nalist, it was not long until Mr. Fishler had worked himself up to the position of city edi- tor of the Gazette, a place he acceptably filled for more than two years and until the paper was consolidated with the Elmira Free Press, under the name of the Elmira Gazette and Free Press. Upon this consolidation I. M. Gregory became editor of the paper and Mr. Fishler was given the same position · he form- erly occupied on the Gazette. One year later Mr. Gregory resigned and removed to New York city, to accept his present position on the well-known humorous paper, Judge, and Mr. Fishler was then made managing editor by Senator Hill, and did all the campaign work on the Gazette and Free Press during 1884. When Lieutenant Governor Dorsh- eimer became proprietor of the New York Star, and made it a great National democratic paper, Mr. Fishler went to New York city and became a city reporter for that journal. After six months he was assigned to city hall, and for one year carefully looked after all matters concerning municipal politics. He was then given charge of the Brooklyn depart- ment of the paper, which he ably conducted for a year and a half, making a total service of three years on that great metropolitan daily.
On September 15, 1888, Mr. Fishler pur- chased his present paper, the Whitehall Times. This is a six-column quarto, issued every Thursday, and devoted to local and general news and to the advocacy of democratic prin- ciples and policy in both national and local affairs. It was established in 1823, and during the seventy years of its existence has always - adhered with unflinching courage and noted ability to the great cause of popular govern- ment, as represented by the party of Jefferson and Jackson. It now has one of the largest circulations of any paper in this county, and
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ranks with the ablest and best democratic journals in northern New York. Much of its recent popularity and growth is due to the able management, both in the editorial and business offices, which characterizes the ad- ministration of the present proprietor.
On July 25, 1884, Mr. Fishler was united in marriage to Ellinor J. Smyth, a daughter of Hon. William Smyth, of Owego, New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Fishler have been born two children, one son a daughter : Bennett Hill and Dorothy Smyth. As has been intimated, Mr. Fishler is an ardent democrat in politics and among the most trusted leaders of his party. His keen intellect and ready pen con- stitute a power well known to political friends and foes, neither of whom are perhaps in- clined to underestimate its effects during a campaign. He is a trustee of the Presby- terian church at Whitehall, and a member of Phoenix Lodge, No. 96, Free and Accepted Masons. For three years he has been serv- ing as collector of canal statistics, to which place he was appointed by Superintendent Shanahan.
H ON. WILLIAM McDONALD, to whom Glens Falls owes much of its busi- ness prosperity, was born at New Milford, Con- necticut, February 29, 1784, and was a son of Doctor and Mary (Sanford) McDonald. He received a good education, was a fine pen- man, and soon became a prominent merchant at Glens Falls. He served three terms in the legislature, secured his first election over a strong Clintonian candidate by his personal popularity, and secured the survey and appro- priation for the Glens Falls feeder to the canal. He was an Episcopalian, and a Mason, and served for many years as president of the old Commercial bank.
William McDonald did much to advance the material interests of his village, and died September 11, 1870, at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
J AMES LAW, a prominent and retired farmer of the town of Salem, was born in the town in which he now resides, Washington county, New York, January 11, 1827, and is a son of John T. and Catharine (Reid) Law. The Law family has long been resident of this town and prominent in its affairs and industrial and moral progress. John T. Law (father), was born in the town in the year 1793, where he spent his l fe engaged in the occu- pation of farming up to time of his death, which occurred in 1878, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. For many years he was a leading and honored member of the United Presbyterian church in the village of Shushan, and was for many years a leading elder in that denomination. In political opinion he was a member of the Whig party and afterward a republican. Alexander B. Law, a brother, was born in the town of Salem in 1811. He was an intelligent and well-to-do farmer of his section ; prominent in politics of his county, serving for thirty years as justice of the peace, and for nine consecutive years, including the years of the Civil war, he served with great credit as supervisor of his town, and afterward was elected and served two terms as a member of the State assembly, where he took a lead- ing part in the measures that came before that body. He died with the smallpox dur- ing the time that epidemic swept through this section of the county in 1881, at the age of seventy years.
Thomas Law (grandfather) was a native of Ireland, and while yet a child emigrated with his father, John Law, to this country and set- tled in the town of Salem as early as 1770. John Law was also a native Irishman, and be- came one of the pioneer settlers of the town of Salem, where he tilled the soil and carried on general farming until his death. John T. Law (father) wedded Catharine Reid, who was a native of the town of Argyle; born in the year 1794, and died in 1876, at the age of eighty-two years. She was a daughter of John Reid, a member of the United Presbyte-
rian church, and was of Scotch descent. Two brothers of John T. Law are worthy of men- tion on these pages : Robert T. and Thomas, both of whom became successful farmers and well respected citizens of the community in which they lived. Robert T. was the eldest of the children born, whose death occurred in 1880, aged eighty-eight years; and Thomas, who was born in 1802, and died in 1872 ..
James Law has always resided in his native town and has become one of the town's most influential and successful farmers and business men. His education was received in the or- dinary district schools of the neighborhood, which has since been supplemented by read- ing and self study. After arriving at the age of manhood Mr. Law engaged in farming on his own account, which he carried on suc- cessfully up to 1888, since which time he has been practically retired from all active busi- ness, having accumulated a sufficient compe- tency that will enable him to live the remain- ing years of his life in ease and comfort. He still owns the old homestead farm, containing three hundred acres, which constitutes one of the best improved and most valuable farms of the town. He has never been married. His sister Ellen resides with him. He has for many years been a member of the United Presbyterian church of Shushan, and is now filling the offices of elder and trustee.
D ANIEL D. WOODARD, president of the National bank of Granville, and a financier of marked ability and of conservative tendencies, is a son of Daniel and Marian (McNitt) Woodard, and was born in the town of Hebron, this county, January 7, 1854. The Woodards are of Scotch extraction, and the family were among the early settlers of Wash- ington county. Daniel Woodard, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of the town of Hebron, a farmer by occupation, and spent a long and active life in agricultural pursuits in that town. He was
U
VIEW OF THE ALTARS IN SAINT ALFONSUS' CHURCH AT GLENS FALLS
VIEW OF THE ALTAR IN SAINT MARY'S CHURCH AT GLENS FALLS.
Ren Joseph S. Etheir
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very successful, and some time previous to his death retired from active business and removed to the village of Granville, where he died about 1880, at an advanced age. His son, Daniel Woodard (father), was born on the old homestead in the town of Hebron, in 1823, where he grew to manhood and received a good English education. He then began farm- ing, and in 1855 removed to Salem, where he resided for twenty years, engaged in farming and other business enterprises. He became 'vice-president of the First National bank of Salem, and retained that position until 1875, when he removed to Granville and organized the Granville National bank. Of this institu- tion he was made president and served as such until his death in 1887, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He was a clear headed, practical and successful business man, and as a finan- cier ranked with the ablest in northern New York. Politically he was a republican and protectionist, and earnestly supported the general policy of his party, and especially every measure calculated to afford protection to American industries.
In 1845 he married Marian McNitt, a native of Salem and a daughter of James McNitt. To them was born a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters. Mrs. Woodard is a member of the Baptist church, and now resides in the village of Granville, in the sixty-eighth year of her age.
Daniel D. Woodard was reared partly at Sa- lem and partly in the village of Granville, where he obtained an excellent English edu- cation in the public schools. At the age of fif- teen he left school to embark in the general mercantile business at West Hebron, and atter four years, at the age of nineteen, he removed to Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in the dry goods business as a clerk, salesman and manager, until 1875. In that year he returned to Granville to assume the duties of teller in the National bank of Granville, and has been connected with this institution ever since. In 1878 he was made cashier of the bank, and in
1890 was elected president, which position he has ever since occupied, administering its af- fairs with distinguished ability. The bank has a capital stock of one hundred thousand dol- lars, a surplus of twenty-five thousand, and its total resources amount to four hundred thous- and dollars. Its affairs have been conducted in a judicious and conservative manner, free from entangling alliances with speculative movements, and as a consequence it now stands as one of the safest and most trusted financial institutions of the county.
On January 28, 1879, Mr. Woodard was united in marriage to Elizabeth W. Westcott, a daughter of James H. Westcott, of Saratoga, New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Woodard have been born three children, one son and two daughters : Ethel W., Alan J. and Madelinc E., all living at home with their parents in their handsome residence, in the village of Granville. In political faith Mr. Woodard is a stanch republican, and in religion a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Gran- ville, which he is now serving as steward.
R EV. JOSEPH S. ETHIER, the able and popular pastor of the Saint Alfonsus French Catholic church, of Glens Falls, where he has labored most zealously and with much success since 1891, was born at Saint Eustache, Province of Quebec, Canada, on May 11, 1842. His father was Noel Etienne Ethier, who was for over forty years director of the Catholic church choir at Saint Eustache, who succeeded his father, Joseph Ethier, who had occupied the same position for fifty years, and the place is now filled by Daniel Ethier, a brother of the subject of this sketch. Noel E. Ethier married Margarite Gooselin, a native of the Province of Quebec, and who resides at present at Glens Falls, in her seventy- ninth year. The family to which she belongs is noted for its longevity. She had seven brothers and sisters, none of whom died under ninty years of age ; four lived to be over
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one hundred, and another lived to be one hundred and eight years of age. The founder of this family in Canada came from Limoges, France, over two hundred years ago, and set- tled at Repentiguy and Mascouche, Canada; his name was Leonard Ethier, who was born in 1641, at Limoges, France, and came to Montreal in 1670, and was for many years surgeon in the French army. His son, Réné Ethier, who died in 1752, was also a surgeon. One of his sons, Joseph, who was born in 1708, and wedded Catharine Lanzon in 1760, was a surgeon also. One of his sons was Mone Ethier, who was the grandfather of Father Ethier, and was born April 11, 1745, and died in 1827. During the war of 1812 he served as captain in the State milita. He was after- ward made prisoner and sent to Albany, thence to New York and Philadelphia, where he was released. After he volunteered his ser- vices and joined our armies he was natural- ized and became a citizen of this country. He was one of Bonaparte's gallant soldiers, and was with that renowned and ill-fated general at the battle of Waterloo. He was also by profession a surgeon.
John H. Ethier, a cousin of the subject of this sketch, was captured while fighting for the Union in the late Civil war, and died while in prison.
Rev. Father Ethier grew to manhood in his native place, and was educated for the minis- try at Saint Therese college, and in 1867 was ordained to the priesthood in Montreal by Bishop I. Bourget. For five years Father Ethier was professor in his Alma Mater, and at the end of that time he began his minis- terial labors at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, as pastor at Acadiaville L'Ardoise's French Cath- olic church, where he remained for fourteen years. In 1884 he came to Whitehall, where he assumed charge of (N-D)òes Victoires con- gregation, and remained there for a period of eight years, when in 1891 he was transferred to his present charge, where he has assiduously looked after the spiritual welfare of three hun-
dred and fifty families. Since Father Ethier's short pastorage at Glens Falls, he has com- pleted his present fine church edifice, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars. The main altar, a full page view of which can be seen in this work, and the two side altars were manufac- tured in Holland, at a cost of six thousand dol- lars, being especially made to exhibit at the the Columbian fair, Chicago, where they were awarded first prize. Had it not been with this object in view on the part of the manufacturers, the altar would not have cost less than fifteen thousand dollars. A description of Saint Al- phonsus' church being appropriate, we will speak of it briefly here : The sanctuary of the church was completed according to the origi- nal plans. A curved oak wainscoating eight feet high runs entirely around it, the design being very elaborate and artistic in execution. Twenty-four stalls in polished oak are provided for the altar boys on either side, and a massive brass hand rail in front of eight of them lends an added effect. In the top of the wainscoat- ing a number of incandescent lamps are placed a short distance apart, and the ground glass globes shed a soft and mellow light. There are three altars. On the left is the altar dedi- cated to the Virgin Mary, which was presented to the church by the ladies of the Altar so- ciety. The general design is very handsome. It is built of oak around an alcove in the wall, on the back of which is an oil painting repre- senting Notre Dame de Lourdes. On a high covered oak pedestal in this niche stands the statue of the Virgin and the child, flanked on either side by tall candelabra. On the right of this altar is a statue of Saint Louis, pre- sented by Louis Bayle. On the other side of the church is the altar of Saint Anne, which was presented to the church by the elderly ladies of the parish. In style and architecture it is a duplicate of the other. The oil paint- ing in the alcove represents the presentation to the temple, and a statue of Saint Anne fills the niche. On the left is a statue of Saint Stanislaus of Koska, presented by Miss Lizzie
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Bayle. The main altar is a thing of beauty and a work of art. It is large and massive, and weighs about six tons. A solid foundation of masonry had to be built in the cellar to sup- port it. The tomb or base of this altar was made in Europe, and was on exhibition at the World's fair, where it took the first premium. It is rectangular in form, being ten feet long and six feet wide. The design of the front is es- pecially striking. From a marble base rise four Corinthian pillars of Mexican onyx, the base, plinth and capital in gilt, supporting the top of the altar, a solid block of marble six inches thick, the beveled edge of which is or- namented by a chevron. Between the pillars are three panels of Belgium white stone, on which are sculptured. in bas-relief important events in the lives of the three most prominent figures of the Old Testament. The first shows Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice ; the second represents Moses and the shower of manna in the desert ; the third shows Aaron serving the paschal feast just before leaving Egypt. These panels are all emblematic of the eucharist, and the work of one of the lead- ing artists in this line in Europe.
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