USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 55
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 55
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Prof. E. H. Gibson. Leaving school at the age of nineteen, the next four years of his life were spent in general farming. On March 5, 1874, he was united in marriage with Lydia C. Williams, and to them have been born three children : Eva, (deceased), born December I, 1874, and died in 1882 ; Elmer H., born August II, 1876, and Emma C., born January 8, 1884.
In 1877 Mr. Norton purchased ninety acres of land and has since added twenty-five acres. He makes a specialty of stock raising, owning a fine herd of Jersey cattle, also the best grade of sheep. Mr. Norton is a stanch republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Greenwich, New York, and has been one of the stewards for the past ten years.
G EORGE D. HARRIS, one of the lead- ing business men of Fort Edward and the county, is a son of John F. and O. Elizabeth Harris, and was born on July 22, 1853, at On- tario, Wayne county, New York. He received his education at Fort Edward institute, and two first-class educational institutions, one of Glendale, Massachusetts, and the other of Claverack, Columbia county, this State. At twenty years of age he left school to engage with his father in the manufacture of pig iron at Fort Edward. Two years later, in 1875, he embarked in the wholesale coal business, which he conducted for some time, and then associa- ted with himself Henry W. Somers, under the firm name of George D. Harris & Co. They have a branch office at No. 22 South street, New York, and in addition to their coal busi- ness they do a general freighting business on Lake Champlain and Erie canal, giving em- ployment to a large number of boats. Mr. Harris is also interested in various other en- terprises.
On February 3, 1876, Mr. Harris wedded Marian Barkley, and they have two children : Clarence C. and A. Barkley. Mrs. Harris is a daughter of the late Hon. Alexander Barkley, who was a prominent and well known man in
the State. He was one of the presidential electors on the Lincoln and Hamlin ticket in 1860, was member of the State legislature, canal commissioner, also serving in several other important positions during his lifetime.
H ARRY L. TIDMARSH, one of the proprietors of the Friction Pully & Ma- chine Works, and one of the present trustees of the village of Sandy Hill, is a son of Wil- liam and Harriet (Wells) Tidmarsh, and was born at Wauconda, Lake county, Illinois, Oc- tober 9, 1862. His father, William Tidmarsh, was a native of Teswith, Oxfordshire, England, born in 1833, and who in 1856 emigrated to the United States. After remaining a few years in the cities of Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, he went to Wauconda, Lake county, Illi- nois, where he has ever since resided. For the first eight or ten years after coming to the United States he followed the profession of teacher of music, and being a fine musician, he served as band instructor in the great Civil war. At present he is conducting a carriage and blacksmith shop in that village.
Harry L. Tidmarsh was reared in his native village of Wauconda until seventeen years of age, receiving his education in the public schools of that place. In August, 1880, he came to the village of Sandy Hill, and learned the trade of a machinist with the firm of Wells & Van Wormer, and afterward worked at his trade in the American Steam Boiler Works at Chicago. In 1885 Mr. Tidmarsh engaged in the book and stationery business at this place, and the same year was elected town clerk. In 1886 he disposed of his book and stationery business, and engaged with the Pratt Manu- facturing company, of South Boston, in the capacity of traveling salesman. After a short time he resigned his position with the Pratt Manufacturing company, and embarked in the hotel business at Lake George, where he ran a summer resort hotel for one or two seasons. In 1888-89 he was employed in the paper mill
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
1
of Allen Brothers of this village, and in July, 1890, he, with George W: Doremus and W. W. Wells, started their present Friction Pul- ley and Machine works. All of the firm being skilled mechanics, they do an extensive busi- ness, and their volume of trade is rapidly in- creasing.
In 1879 Harry L. Tidmarsh was united in marriage to Elizabeth Bernier, daughter of George Bernier, a carriage manufacturer of Sandy Hill. Her death occurred September 8, 1890, and on October 5, 1892, Mr. Tidmarsh wedded for his second wife Catharine M. Mur- phy, of Patterson, New Jersey. They have one son : William R.
Harry L. Tidmarsh is a member of the Catholic church, a republican in politics, and is one the present trustees of the village.
A LFRED J. NEWMAN, a resident of Sandy Hill since 1885, and who has been engaged in various lines of business, is a son of John G. and Sarah (Parkins) Newman, and was born just beyond the city limits of Lon- don, England, September 26, 1852. His par- ents were natives of England, and members of the Episcopal church. The father died in August, 1893, and the mother still resides at the home of her childhood.
Alfred J. Newman was reared in the imme- diate vicinity of London until he was twelve years of age, when he was apprenticed to learn the trade of plasterer at Corydon, a place eight miles distant from his home. After com- pleting his trade he worked as a journeyman until 1870, in which year he left England to seek his fortune in the new world. Arriving at New York city he spent one year there and then came to Washington county. Here he was employed in farming for one year, when he engaged in mining iron ore, which business he followed up to 1880. In that year he bought a general mercantile store at West Fort Ann, which he conducted until December, 1884. In that year he came to Sandy Hill, and in the
following year engaged in his present success- ful restaurant business.
Mr. Newman is a republican in political opinion, and has been a member for several years of Sandy Hill Masonic Lodge, No. 372. His success is due to his own efforts, as he had neither friends, influence nor fortune with which to commence business.
On August 7, 1875, he was united in mar- riage with Elizabeth Yole, daughter of Wil- liam S. Yole of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Newman have been born three children, two sons and one daughter : William L., Morris B., and Flora.
WILLIAM W. WELLS, one of the stockholders in the Franklin Paint Com- pany, and also one of the proprietors of the Friction Pulley & Machine works, of this vil- lage, is a self-made man in the true sense of that term. He is a son of Theodore and Sarah A. (Duers) Wells, and was born in Lake county, Illinois, on February 24, 1855. He was reared in his native county, and received his education in the public schools. After leaving school he went to the city of Chicago, and accepted a position in a crockery store, where he remained three years. In 1878 he came to Sandy Hill and learned the trade of machinist with his brother, Thomas Wells, of this village, and in 1890 he, with George W. Doremus and H. E. Tidmarsh, formed a part- nership, and together started the Friction Pul- ley & Machine works, which business they are now successfully operating. They furnish em- ployment to about fifty men, and ship their machinery to all parts of the country.
William W. Wells was married, in 1881, to Hattie Smith, daughter of William Smith, of Sandy Hill. She died in 1889, leaving two children : Grace H. and Joseph W. In 1891 Mr. Wells wedded, for his second wife, Carrie, a daughter of David Hall, of the city of Chi- cago, but a native of this village. To this union was born one child, a son, named
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Harold D. Mr. Wells is a member of the Bap- tist church of the village of Sandy Hill, and in politics is a republican. The Wells family is of Scotch extraction, and John Wells, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a resident of Rhode Island. He married, and one of his sons was Theodore Wells (father), who was a native of that State, and when a young man came to Sandy Hill, New York, where he followed his trade of blacksmithing. Here he remained until about 1849, when he removed to Lake county, Illi- nois, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1882, at the age of seventy years. He was a member of the Bap- tist church of Sandy Hill, and a republican in political belief, and during his residence in Illinois was engaged in farming and black- smithing.
Mr. Wells married Sarah A. Duers, who was a native of Sandy Hill, and a consistent mem- ber of the Baptist church of that village. She died in 1863, at the age of forty-four years.
G EORGE W. DOREMUS, one of the successful young business men and a well- known manufacturer of Sandy Hill, is a son of John R. and Eleanor (Ackerman) Doremus, and was born at River Edge, Burton county, New Jersey, on the 13th of March, 1862. The name of Doremus is found in the early history of New Jersey, where the family was founded by an immigrant ancestor from France or Hol- land. John R. Doremus, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in New Jersey, where he received his education and passed his life as a farmer and dairyman. He was a republican and afterward a prohi- bitionist in politics, and died in Patterson in 1887, at seventy years of age. Mr. Doremus married Eleanor Ackerman, of Hackensack, New Jersey, who is of German descent, and was born in 1826. She is a member of the Reformed church, and has continued to reside at Patterson since the death of her husband.
George W. Doremus was reared at l'atter- son, in his native State, where he received his education in the public schools, and specially fitted himself for business pursuits by taking a thorough course in a commercial college. Leaving school he commenced his business career by becoming a clerk in the wholesale grocery house of David Levi, No. 154 Cham- bers street, New York city. He was with Mr. Levi for four years, and upon attaining his majority became a partner with him, under the firm name of David Levi & Co. This partnership continued one year. The nephews of Mr. Levi succeeded him as members of the firm. The title was changed from David Levi & Co., and succeeded by Seeman Bros. & Doremus. The latter firm continued in ex- istence until 1889, when Mr. Doremus with- drew and came to Sandy Hill, where he be- came a partner with James McCarty in the manufacture of saw mill machinery, under the firm name of McCarty & Doremus. After a year spent in that special line of manufactur- ing he purchased his partner's interest in the plant and changed it into a friction pully and machine works, associating with himself as partners W. W. Wells and H. E. Tidmarsh. The firm manufactures suction screens, patent friction pulleys, cut-off couplings, self-sharp- ening paper slitters, and special paper mill machinery. They have been successful as manufacturers and enjoy a good trade, which is steadily increasing in volume. In politics Mr. Doremus is independent.
On June 15, 1887, George W. Doremus was united in marriage with Charlotte M. Green- wood, of Patterson, New Jersey. To their union have been born two daughters : Mary S. and C. Eleanor.
H ON. ROSWELL WESTON, who served as first judge of Washington county from 1825 to 1827, was a son of Zacha- rial Weston, a Revolutionary soldier, and was born February 24, 1774. He read law
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
with Hon. John Woodsworth, of Troy, and was admitted to the bar and commenced prac- tice at Fort Edward, but soon removed to Sandy Hill, where he remained until his death, which occurred August 18, 1861. He was successful as a lawyer, firm as a judge, and when elected to the legislature in 1816 he served with credit to himself and his county. In 1801 Judge Weston married Lydia Wil- loughby, a daughter of Elijah and Mary (Gal- usha) Willoughby, of Lisbon, Connecticut.
w ILL B. TRAVIS, dealer in hardware and crockery, making a specialty of glassware, cutlery, nails, etc., at No. 5 Broad street, is one of the rising and most success- ful young business men of Whitehall. He was born at Litchfield, Medina county, Ohio, No- vember 10, 1862; received the advantages only of a common school education, and after leav- ing school worked for a while as a farm hand, when he went to Wallingford, Vermont, where he learned the miller's trade. Leaving Wall- ingford he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and there worked at his trade in the Pillsbury mills until those mills were destroyed by an explosion. He then, in 1882, returned to Whitehall, and went to work in the hardware store of his father as clerk, in which capacity he remained up to 1889, when he purchased a one-half interest in the store, and the firm name became W. D. Travis & Son. This firm existed up to August 17, 1892, when Mr. Travis bought the other half interest of his father and assumed entire control, the firm name be- ing changed from W. D. Travis & Son to W. B. Travis. Mr. Travis has succeeded, through his splendid business ability and excellent judgment, in building up a substantial trade, and has brilliant prospects in the future.
Will B. Travis was wedded in 1885 to Bula May, a daughter of A. T. Moon, of Ypsilanti, Michigan. To their marriage has been born one child, a daughter, Marjorie A. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church ; of
Whitehall Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Knights of Pythias, and is independent in politics.
Will B. Travis is the son of Walter D. and Nettie U. (Brooker) Travis. Walter D. Tra- vis is a native of Whitehall, where he was born in 1838 ; he is also a member of the Presbyte- rian church, and not a devoted partisan to any political party. In former years he was en- gaged in farming in the town of Granville, but in 1880 established the hardware stand which is now owned by his son. He at present re- sides in the village of Whitehall, where he is engaged in the ice business ; has held the office of village trustee, and was twice elected assessor of the town, an office he is now filling.
His father was Washington A. Travis, who was born at Moriah, Clinton county, New York. He removed to this county some time in the twenties, and was here engaged for many years in the transportation business. His death occurred in 1874, at the age of sixty years. The Travis family is of English de- scent. The mother of the subject of this sketch died in 1865.
UY R. CLARK, a member of one of the old and influential families of the county, was born in the village of Sandy Hill, Washington county, New York, December 7, 1858, and is a son of Guy W. and Deborah A. (Holland) Clark. He was reared in his native village, and received the rudiments of his education in Union school. Subsequently he entered Oberlin college, Ohio, and after- ward the University of Michigan. He gradu- ated from the medical department of the Ann Arbor university, but was never engaged in practice. After leaving school Mr. Clark went to New York city, and there was engaged as a broker and commission merchant in paper- makers' supplies, which he continued very successfully up to 1889, when he was forced to close out on account of combinations made by the larger concerns of this business through-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
out the country. He then returned to Sandy Hill and accepted a position as head book- keeper for the Howland Paper company, at Baker's Falls, a position he has held ever since. In 1891 Mr. Clark, associated with Samuel L. Finch, of the same village, under the firm name of Finch & Clark, engaged in the tin- ber, coal, wood and ice business. This firm also keeps a large stable of horses, and do a great deal of general hauling through the sum- mer season, and moving lumber through the winter.
Guy R. Clark, in 1881, was wedded to Ella, a daughter of Nathan Burnap, of Canajoharie, Montgomery county. He is a republican in poli- tics, and a member of the Presbyterian church.
H ORACE D. COLVIN, merchant and farmer of Kingsbury, and a successful business man, was born in the town of Day, Saratoga county, New York, February 25, 1845, and is a son of James L. and Lucinda (Doubleday) Colvin. James L. Colvin was a native of the same town, where his death oc- curred in 1874, at the age of about seventy years. His father was William Colvin, who was a native of the town of Kingsbury, and where he was for many years in the merchan- dising and lumbering business, afterward re- moving from the town of Kingsbury to Clyde, in Wayne county, where he became an exten- sive land owner, and where his death occurred. The Colvin family is of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion, and were among the first to make homes in the town of Kingsbury. During the Revo- lutionary war they were tories. Daniel Dou- bleday, the maternal grandfather of Horace D. Colvin, was a native of Connecticut, born November 17, 1773, and while yet a young man migrated from his native State and set- tled in Kingsbury, where he followed farming up to the time of his death, which occurred on July 28, 1854. He was a relative of Bene- dict Arnold, and witnessed the burning of New London, Connecticut, by that general
during the war of the Revolution. Among his children was Lucinda, who wedded James L. Colvin. She was born in the town of Kings- bury in 1807, dying in 1893, at the age of eighty-six years. The immigrant and founder of this branch of the Doubleday family in the United States, was Elisha Doubleday, wlio came from Yorkshire, England, with his two sons, Elijah and Elisha, and settled in Boston, Massachusetts. The coat of arms of the family is still in possession of the descendants. Two of the Doubledays were officers in the late Civil war, one of whom, Abner Doubleday, it is claimed, fired the first gun from Fort Sumter.
Horace D. Colvin grew to manhood in his native town, and recieved his education mainly at home. From 1861 to 1867 he was engaged in civil engineering at Hoboken, New Jersey ; in the latter year he returned home and en- gaged in farming and lumbering. In 1890 he commenced merchandising at Kingsbury, and also owns and conducts a farm.
In 1876 Mr. Colvin was married to Ellen, a daughter of Philo Ordway, of Warren county. To their union has been born seven children : Wallace, Mary, Olive, Henry, Charles, Frank and Ruth. In politics Mr. Colvin is a re- publican, and before removing from the town of Day, in Saratoga county, he held the office of trustee.
WILLIAM L. COZZENS, the lead- ing hardware merchant of Greenwich, and prominently connected with a number of other business enterprises, is a son of William F. and Elizabeth (Taft) Cozzens, and was born August 9, 1824, in the town of Easton, Wash- ington county, New York. The Cozzens family is of English extraction, and were among the carly settlers of Rhode Island, where they have resided for several generations. In that State William F. Cozzens ( father ) was born and reared, but while yet a young man he came to Greenwich (then known as Whipple City) to accept a position as foreman in the spin- ning department of the cotton factory owned
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
by his uncle, Col. William Mowry. This fac- tory was the first of the kind in the State, and the second to be operated in the United States. Mr. Cozzens was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and died here in Greenwich in 1856, aged sixty-five. He married Elizabeth Taft. By that union he had a family of eleven chil- dren, seven sons and four daughters : Earl M., deceased ; Clarissa, who married John Doyle, a pioneer lead pipe manufacturer of this State, and is now dead ; Lewis, formerly a miller at Fort Ann, but now deceased ; George F., for years a paint manufacturer of Saratoga Springs, now also dead; Thaddeus T., a miller at Whitehall; John H., present collector of the port of Newport, Rhode Island ; Olive, late wife of Charles Taft, of Saratoga Springs ; William L., the subject of this sketch : Mary E., widow of the late Byron Bennett, of New- port, Rhode Island ; Hannah, late wife of By- ron Hopkins, of the city of Brooklyn ; and Frederick W., a clerk in the store of his brother, William L., at Greenwich. Mrs. Coz- zens died in 1865, at the age of seventy-three.
William L. Cozzens received his education in the district schools and at Greenwich acad- emy, after which he learned the trade of tin- smith, and in 1845, at the age of twenty-one, enlisted in the United States navy as a mem- ber of the crew of the flag ship Cumberland, of the Mediterranean squadron, carrying sixty guns. This was the vessel that took the Ameri- can minister back to Tripoli after that govern- ment had ordered him home, and compelled them to receive him again. During the Mexi- can war the Cumberland was ordered back to American waters, but was never actively en- gaged in that struggle. In 1846 Mr. Cozzens was discharged from the navy at Boston, and soon afterward returned to his home in New York. Later he began working at his trade of tinsmith in the village of Granville, where he remained for a period of seven years. In 1853 he removed to the village of Greenwich, where he engaged in the hardware business one door above his present store. In 1861 he
purchased his present location, No. 55 Main street, where he successfully conducted the business until January 25, 1866, at which time his store was destroyed by fire. On the morn- ing of the fire Mr. Cozzens purchased the brick for his present building, which was im- mediately erected on the old site, and is twenty- eight feet front by eighty feet in depth and three stories high, with a rear building twenty- four by sixty feet. Here may be found a full line of hardware, tinware, and every article connected with that trade, and the establish- ment now does an annual business amounting to twenty thousand dollars.
On July 12, 1853, Mr. Cozzens was married to Harriet K. Moon, a daughter of Archibald Moon, a prominent carriage manufacturer of the village of Greenwich. Politically Mr. Coz- zens is a republican, but has never taken much part in local politics. He is a member of Ashlar Lodge, No. 584, Free and Accepted Masons of this village, and has served as treas- urer of his lodge since 1875. In addition to his business interests already mentioned, he is a stockholder and director in the Greenwich & Johnsonville Railroad company, and a stock- holder in the opera house and the electric light plant of Greenwich.
G EORGE E. DORR, treasurer of the Ondawa Paper Company, and who is prominently identified with the business and industrial interests of the village of Green- wich and the county, is a son of William and Jane H. (Hyde) Dorr, and was born in the town of Hebron, Washington county, New York, November 15, 1837.
William Dorr, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Weathersfield, Connecticut, where he was born December I, 1799. He migrated from his native State in 1830, and locating in this county, engaged in the general mercantile business at Hebron, and also in conducting a grocery and flour
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
store in what is now the city of Troy. In 1850 he removed to the village of Greenwich, where he resided the remaining years of his life. He was an official member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church for a number of years, and was politically a whig and afterward a re- publican. In 1832 he was united in marriage to Jane H., daughter of Benjamin Hyde, of this county. William Dorr, the progenitor of the Dorr family in Washington county, came from England in 1633, and made his first settlement at Hartford, Connecticut, but after- ward removed to Norwich, the same State, where he became one of the first settlers of the latter place. Samuel Dorr (great-grand- father), a farmer by occupation, was a native of Connecticut, and was born in 1760, He served for six years in the Revolutionary army under Washington as an "artificer." He was present when Washington signed Major Andres's death warrant, and afterward said that the " Father of our country" wept like a child while doing it. His discharge from the army was signed by Washington. Edmund Dorr (great-great-grandfather) was also a native of Connecticut.
George E. Dorr recieved his education prin- cipally in the Greenwich academy, and after leaving there he commenced business as a clerk in a store. From 1857 until 1864 he was a clerk in a bank. In 1882 he and a few other capitalists organized and incorporated the Ondawa Paper Company, with a capital stock valued at eighty thousand dollars, for the purpose of manufacturing manilla paper, located at Middle Falls, this county. At the formation of this company Mr. Dorr was made secretary and treasurer of it, and these offices he has held ever since, with Edmund H. Gib- son as president. This company does an an- nual business of about one hundred thousand dollars, and employs on an average about forty operatives.
On June 1, 1870, Mr. Dorr was united in marriage to Evelyn, a daughter of Edward G. Wilbur, of Columbia county, New York, who
twice represented his district in the State sen- ate. To this marriage was born two children : Cora L. and Walter F., the latter of whom died in 1880.
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