USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 44
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Mr. Milligan's business capacity and integrity have conspired to throw into his care numerous estates, of which he acts as a careful custodian. He was treasurer of the Warrior Mower Company for many years, until its affairs were recently wound up; was treasurer of the Little Falls Knitting-Mill for a period, and is now treasurer of the Superior Furnace Company. He is one of the directors of the recently completed Little Falls and Dolgeville Railroad. A Republican in politics, Mr. Milligan has found little time to devote to that field of activity. He held the office of town clerk, and has received the nomination for supervisor, but in a Democratic community was defeated. In all the relations of life Mr. Milligan has exemplified an honorable citizenship. Mrs. Milligan died in 1855, leaving no children.
JOSIAH SHULL
Was born in the town of Danube, county of Herkimer, N. Y., January 5, 1820. His father was Jacob Sholl, son of Johan Jost Schol, who came from the Palatinate, Ger- many, with his parents when seventeen years of age and settled at Fort Herkimer in
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1769. He was subsequently a farmer, miller and merchant at Ephratah, N. Y., and in 1810 he removed to the town of Danube.
Mr. Shull's mother was Anna Klock, daughter of George I. Klock and granddaugh- ter of Jacob G. Klock, who was colonel in command of the Second Battalion at tle battle of Oriskany. Colonel Klock was judge of the Court of Common Pleas, mem- ber of Assembly in 1777 and State senator for the eight ensuing years. Johan Jost Scholl was also in the battle of Oriskany, ranking as ensign in Colonel Klock's con- mand.
Mr. Shull was educated in the common schools of his native town and at the Herki- mer and Fairfield Academies. He devoted himself to a course of mathematical studies, purposing to become an engineer and surveyor, which profession he subsequently practiced, in connection with other occupations. for forty-five years.
He married Sally Maria Stafford, daughter of Thomas Stafford, of Danube, January 26, 1843. Two children were born of their union, a daughter. Augusta, who married Peter H. Steele in 1863, and died in March, 1865; and a son, Winfield, who in 1866 married Libbie Benedict, daughter of Jasper M. Benedict and granddaughter of Thomas R. Benedict, of Ephratah, Fulton county. Winfield died in December, 1871, and his wife died in 1885. They left a daughter, Mabel, who in 1888 married Lincoln C. Ackler, of Ilion.
Mr. Shull has been varionsly occupied as a farmer, teacher and surveyor. In 1852 he removed to the village of Mohawk, and in 1867 purchased a farm on the westerly border of the village of Ilion. After the death of his son he retired from active farm- ing and built a house on West Main street, Ilion, where he now resides. Mrs. Shull died December 21, 1891.
He was superintendent of common schools in the town of Danube, 1846 50; deputy clerk of the Assembly, 1860; member of Assembly, 1861, and deputy clerk of the Senate, 1864-5. In February, 1871, he was chosen corresponding secretary of the New York State Dairymen's Association and Little Falls Board of Trade, which posi- tion he held until 1877, when he was chosen secretary of the New York State Dairy- men's Association, and continued to hold said office until 1891, when he was chosen president of the Association, which office he held for one year.
For the past twenty-five years Mr. Shull has been closely identified with many movements which had for their object the promotion of the agricultural interests of the State. In this connection he has been frequently called upon to deliver addresses upon agricultural topics before farmers' clubs, farmers' institutes, dairy men's associations and agricultural societies. In 1887 he organized the first dairy conference held on this continent.
At the Centennial Exposition of 1876 he was a member of the Committee of Man- agers for the exhibition of dairy products. He has taken an active part in arrang- ing the details of the dairy exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition to be held at Chicago in 1893. In October, 1892, he was appointed manager and director in charge of the New York State Dairy Exhibit at the World's Fair, which position he now oc- cupies. He also is president of the Central New York Farmers' Club.
Mr. Shull is a Free Mason, a Unitarian in religious belief, and in politics a Republi- can. In temperament and demeanor he is one of the most genial of men, and meets
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the humblest and the highest with the same innate affability and courteousness. With a mind of judicial character, he has sought to enlarge his views upon all topics of importance in public affairs, and to form just and elevated ideas upon the problems of life by intelligent and extensive reading and observation. His career and habits of life have been founded upon principles of integrity and honorable intercourse with his fellow men, which constitute good citizenship.
FRANCIS E. SPINNER.
Franeis Elias Spinner was born January 21, 1802, in the town of German Flats, at the parsonage (which was burned when he was but a week old) that stood near the center of the present village of Mohawk. His father, the Rev. John Peter Spinner, of Werbach, in the grand duchy of Baden, a highly educated Roman Catholic priest, at the age of thirty- three years became a Protestant, and married Maria Magdalena Fidelis Brument, of Lohr, in the kingdom of Bavaria, but whose ancestors were im- migrants from Normandy, in France. He was an early pastor of the Ilerkimer and Fort Herkimer Reformed churches, as elsewhere recorded.
The subject of this notice was the oldest of nine children-six sons and three daugh- ters-who all arrived at the age of majority. Francis chose to become a merchant, and for a whole year or more was employed as a elerk in the store of Maj. Michael M. Myers, a heavy dealer, who made his purchases himself in Europe. Major Myers, in 1817, failed. Thereupon the boy, at the age of sixteen, was bound out to Mr. Benne, a manufacturer and wholesale dealer in confectionery, in the city of Albany. Ilis father, two years after, on ascertaining that the son was employed as a salesman and bookkeeper, had the indentures broken and put the young man to the trade of a saddle and harness-maker, with Mr. Francis Choate, of Amsterdam, N. Y. Here for a short time, and before he was of age, he, in partnership with Mr. David De Forest, carried on that business.
Up to his going to Albany the only instruction he received was from his father in the languages, and in reading, writing, arithmetic, and English grammar at the com- mon schools in Herkimer. At Albany he had the good fortune to become acquainted with many men of enlture, who took a great interest in his welfare, and had access to Col. Peter Gansevoort's library. While at Amsterdam he became a shareholder in the circulating library of that village, and while learning his trade be read through every book contained in the library. In 1824 he removed back to his native county, and, in copartnership with Maj. Alexander W. Haekley, a merchant, again started business at Herkimer. In 1829 he was appointed deputy sheriff, and had the sole charge of the sheriff's office and of the 'county prison during the shrievalties of the Hon. John Graves and of Col. Frederick P. Bellinger, after which, in 1834, he was himself elected heriff of the county of Herkimer, thus having charge of that office for nine consecu- tive years. In the mean time he raisedl the "La Fayette Guards," and helped to or- ganize the Twenty-sixth Regiment New York State artillery. He commenced as lieu-
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tenant in 1825, and was elected to, and held, all the intermediate grades up to the rank of major-general of the third division of artillery, which latter office he resigned at the beginning of the year 1835, when lie assumed the duties of the office of sheriff.
At the end of his term of the shrievalty he was appointed commissioner for build- ing the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. In the summer of 1839 he was invited by the directors of the Mohawk Valley Bank, an institution then being organized, to take the cashiership, He accepted this invitation and removed to the village of Mohawk, the place of his birth. Subsequently he was elected president of that institution. In 1845 he was invited by the Hon. Michael Hoffman, then the naval officer of the port of New York, to serve under him as his deputy and auditor. This invitation he accepted, and held these offices for over four years, without severing his official connection with the bank at Mohawk. Up to this time he had held various minor offices, as State inspector of turnpikes, commissioner of schools, supervisor, etc. In 1854 he was elected to represent the seventh district of New York, composed of the counties of Herkimer and St. Lawrence, in the Congress of the United States. During this Congress he was a member of the Committee on Elections that had the famous contested seat from Kansas committed to its charge. He served on various special committees, among which were the one to investigate the outrage on Senator Sumner, and that famous committee of conference that agreed to disagree on the army appropriation bill. On this committee, Messrs, Orr and Campbell, of the House, and Messrs. Douglas, Sew- ard, and Tombs, of the Senate, were his associates. During the session of this Con- gress the Republican party was formed. To the next, the Thirty-fifth Congress, he was elected as a Republican by over nine thousand majority, and to the Thirty-sixth by a like majority. In the Thirty-fifth Congress he was placed on the Committee on Ac- counts. The Speaker, in a confidential interview, asked him to keep a strict watch over the actions of his Committee on Accounts, and also over the accounts of the dis- bursing officers of the House. Subsequent events proved that his fears were well grounded. In the Thirty-sixth Congress General Spinner was placed chairman of the Committee on Accounts. At the close of the last session of this Congress, in March, 1861, he was invited by Governor Chase, the then newly-appointed Secretary of the Treasury, to take the office of treasurer of the United States. His nomination to this place by President Lincoln was confirmed by the helping votes of loyal Democratic senators, among whom were Andrew Johnson, Stephen A. Douglas, and James W. Nesmith.
Mr. Spinner entered upon his duties as United States treasurer March 22, 1861, and was thenceforward found constantly at his post, keeping a strict eye upon the people's money. At the close of his service his praise was upon the lips of all the people, and they regretted to lose his services in this most responsible place. It seemed, too, like parting with an old friend ; for, though his face may not be so familiar, no signature is as well known to the American people-not even that of John Han- cock- as F. E. Spinner, written in those curious, bold letters, constituting the most unique feature of every greenback issued by the Government during his treasurer- ship. Of course an office like that of United States treasurer might open many avenues to gain, entirely apart from what are usually known as pickings, and which
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most would regard as neither dishonorable or dishonest. But, avoiding the very ap- pearance of evil. Mr. Spinner availed himself of none of these, and retired from his place with only a modest competence. Ilis death took place December 31, 1890.
CHARLES BAILEY.
This well known citizen of Little Falls was born in Hanging Heaton, Yorkshire, England, in 1830. His father was a respectable maker of boots and shoes, and never came to America. The son was favored with very little opportunity to secure an education, and like many other boys of his class, was put at work in factories at the age of nine years. It was"a woolen mill, and there he learned in three years to operate a power loom. He was faithful and industrious, and finally learned hand-loom weav- ing, and eventually had partial charge of a small eloth and woolen factory, where he remained until his twenty-seventh year. At that period he resolved to better his pros- pects in America, and accordingly immigrated. landing here in 1857. Hle had in the mean time married Ellen Senior and one child was born, Squire Bailey.
Mr. Bailey went to Little Falls and there found employment in setting Jacquard looms, for which work his long experience thoroughly fitted him. Afterwards he was employed as spinner in the Saxony Mills, then operated by S. B. Stitt. In 1862 he formed a copartnership with his brother-in-law, Jeremiah Mitchell, and they began a small business together in Little Falls. A year later they engaged in the manufacture of stocking yarn and knit goods in Oriskany, which they carried on until 1865, when their factory was burned. Returning to Little Falls the partners began the manufac- ture of shoddy, in which they continued until the organization of the Little Falls Knitting Company in 1872-3., This company originally comprised Titus Sheard, W. II. Robinson, Charles Bailey, Jeremiah Mitchell, J. J. Gilbert, Rodney Whitman, W. W. Whitman, W. M. Dorr, Edward McHenry, and Rugene Walrath. The incorporation of the company was effected with a capital stock of $60,000 with the following officers : President, Titus Sheard ; vice-president, Charles A. Girvan ; treasurer, J. J. Gilbert ; secre- tary, D. H. Burrell; manager, Charles Bailey. With this organization Mr. Bailey las been identified since that time, and it is no disparagement to his associates to say that much of its success, especially in the practical part of the business, is due to his efforts. The present officers of the company are : Charles Bailey, president; J. J. Gilbert, vice- president ; Elijah Reid, secretary and treasurer ; Squire Bailey, superintendent ; Thomas Bailey, salesman.
While Mr. Bailey is possessed of ample public spirit and always takes an active in- terest in public affairs, as far as they relate to the welfare of the community, he has not sought preferment through political or other influences. He is recognized as a man of sturdy common sense and sound judgment in all practical matters, but devoted to the business for the growth of which he is largely responsible. Ile is a direetor in the Superior Furnace Company, belongs to the Masonic Order, etc. His son, Squire Bailey, who was born in England, is a member of the Board of Village Trustees,
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and his son Thomas, born in Little Falls, is now county treasurer. These two sons, with Susie, Charles and Emma, who are deceased, were children of Mr. Bailey's first wife, who died in 1860. He married second, Ann C. Brooks, of Otsego county, by whom five children have been born, two of whom are deceased ; the others are daughters, Jennie, Emma and Nellie.
HENRY DWIGHT ALEXANDER.
Among the early settlers in Herkimer county was Henry Angustus Alexander, the father of the subject of this sketch, who came from Connecticut, and after locating for a short time at Paris, Oneida county, removed to Winfield, in this county, where he cleared and improved a farm and reared his family. His ancestors were originally from Scotland. His wife was Elizabeth Gallup, of Connecticut, whose grandfather was set- tled in that State in 1710, and her father, Nathaniel Gallup, was a Revolutionary sol- dier. Henry Augustus died in 1856, and his wife, Mrs. Alexander, died in 1842. They had four children : Martha, who married Welcome Scott, of Bridgewater, and is de- ceased ; Rachel, who married Dean Burgess, of Richfield, and afterwards of Winfield and IIerkimer, and is deceased ; Giles M .. who married Eva Clapsaddle, of the town of Columbia, and is deceased ; and the subject of this sketch, who was born in Winfield, Herkimer county, October 13, 1830. He was given an excellent education, considering his circumstances, his period in the district schools being supplemented by a course in the Clinton Liberal Institute, from which he graduated in 1849, when nineteen years old. After teaching school one winter, Mr. Alexander entered a country store, that preparatory school of so many of our excellent business men at Winfield, where he served faithfully as a clerk for two years. In 1852 he went to Ilion and began a period of three years' service as teller in the Ilion Bank, and was then called to the same po- sition in the Oneida County Bank at Utica, where he remained continuously for twelve years. In 1857 he was married to Martha Kirkland, of Ilion, N. Y. While at Utica his reputation as a careful, faithful employee, and as one whose experience amply qual-
ified him for the most responsible position as a banker had become somewhat widely known, and especially so in Central New York. The National Mohawk Valley Bank was at that time in need of a careful and prudent business manager, and Mr. Alex- ander was called to fill the office of cashier. The bank had no surplus and it became necessary to pass several dividends; but from the time when he accepted the chief executive office of the institution its affairs began to prosper, and it finally became a profitable and trusted bank, and has now a surplus of about $40,000. For a quarter of a century Mr. Alexander has given almost constant attention to the affairs of this in- stitution, watching its every detail with zealous care, winning for himself the confi- dence and esteem of his associates, and sharing in the satisfaction resulting from the merited success of the bank. The first bank building. erected in 1849, was displaced in 189I by the present handsome and substantial edifice, costing about ยง10.000, which is devoted solely to the banking business It was erected largely under direction of Mr. Alexander, and is a model of convenience and beauty.
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The confidence of the community in Mr. Alexander found expression in 1873 by his selection for the office of secretary for the Mohawk and Ilion Street Railway, and in 1887 he was chosen president of the Mohawk and Herkimer Street Railroad. He was one of the original promoters of the knit goods industry in Mohawk, and is president and treasurer of the Mohawk Valley Knitting-Mills, Limited, of Mohawk, and treas- urer of the Knitting Company of Mohawk, Limited. Outside of business relations, he held the office of treasurer of the village of Mohawk, and was its president three years. He was also president of the Board of Education six years. It is, perhaps, superfluous to add that in these several honorable and responsible positions, he has demonstrated his possession of the sterling qualities of sound judgment, sagacity, pru- dence and public spirit that must be the attributes of the progressive and respected citizen.
Mr. Alexander is a Democrat in politics, but would never accept candidacy for any public office. He is a member and vestryman of the Episcopal Church of Mohawk, the organization and support of which are largely due to his efforts. He has no children.
ALEXANDER H. BUELL.
Roswell Buell, a native of Killingworth, Conn., came to Herkimer county at an early lay and located on the site of Fairfield village. In 1795 he married Sarah Griswold, a daughter of Daniel Griswold, also a native of Killingworth, who settled at Fairfield about the year 1790. About the year 1800 Roswell Buell opened a store in Fairfield and continued mercantile business for some years. He was distinguished for his en- terprise and benevolence. He donated an acre of land to the trustees of the Fairfield Academy in 1802. on which the first academic edifice was erected. In the midst of an active and useful life he fell a victim to the prevailing epidemie in the winter of 1812- 13, at the age of forty years. Ilis affairs were somewhat involved by this sudden event, and after the settlement of his estate was effected, only a small patrimony was left to the surviving members of his family. The subject of this sketch was a son of Roswell Buell and was born on the 1 1th of July. 1801. The following brief biography is taken from Mr. Benton's History of Herkimer County and was from his personal pen :
The loss so early in life of the counsel and sustaining aid of a father, when both were so much needed, was no doubt viewed by young Buell as a severe calamity. He soon seemed to appreciate the circumstances which surrounded him, and was fully impressed with the idea that he must be the artificer of his own fame and fortune; that success could only be looked for through his own exertions. The position in which he was placed had great influence in moulding his character and developing those traits which led to his subsequent success in life as a merchant. His opportunities for an accom- plished academic education were somewhat limited by his engagements as a clerk in the store of Mr. Stephen Hallett, then one of the principal business men at Fairfield. His time at school was however well employed, and he sought to make up by diligence
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and studious application during his leisure hours, what he lost while engaged in the store of his employer.
A marked feature of young Buell's character is developed in the following facts: During the first three years of his employment with Mr. Hallett, and he commenced at the age of fourteen, he was diligent and attentive as a clerk in the store, supporting himself by his own exertions, and at the same time superintending the affairs of his widowed mother with all the efficiency of a man of matured years, and with a kindness and solicitude that carried with it a sweet and soothing solace. Nor was this all ; his sisters, orphaned like himself, were not unfrequent recipients of presents from the sur- plus of his earnings. He had become so accomplished in business, several years before he reached his majority, that he was repeatedly sent by his employer to the city of New York to purchase goods to replenish his store.
Mr. Buell, at the age of twenty-one, became a partner in business with his former employer, and at Mr Hallett's death, assumed the sole proprietorship of the business at Fairfield. He subsequently, in connection with different individuals, extended his mercantile business into the neighboring towns and villages in the county ; afterwards, giving scope to a clear and comprehensive mind, and the exertion of an excellent busi- ness talent, his commercial operations were extended to counties in this State remote from his native home; and he did not finally stop until he reached the distant shores of the Pacific Ocean ; even California was not neglected by the accomplished and success- ful Fairfield merchant. I am not aware that Mr. Buell ever thought of removing to New York, where fortunes are so rapidly made and marred in commercial pursuits. He was several time gratified and honored by the confidence of his townsmen, in elect- ing him to local offices of trust and confidence. He was a member of the Assembly from this county in 1845. This, I believe was his first appearance at Albany as a leg- islator. He was placed at the head of the important committee on banks and insur- ance companies, in a house in no respect destitute of men of talents. Although it is not usual to select the chairman of the leading committee from new members, the appointment in this instance was judicious, and the compliment well deserved. In this new and untried position, Mr. Buell sustained himself in every respect to the sat- isfaction of the house and his friends. An ardent politician of the Herkimer school, and I use this term because our neighbors in other counties charge us with being " of the strictest sect," it was his duty and his pleasure to square his official conduct to suit the feelings and opinions of his constituents.
Mr. Buell was chosen member of the Thirty-second Congress from the Seventeenth Congressional District, composed of Herkimer and Montgomery counties, at the No vember election, 1850. His competitor was a personal friend, and then the member from the district, Henry P. Alexander. The canvass was briskly conducted and adroitly managed by the contestants and their friends. The district was one in which there could not be much doubt when the whole vote was polled and party lines strictly drawn as " in olden time." He was married to Miss Harriet E. Gruman, of Clinton, Oneida county, November 9, 1840. Before taking his seat in the Congress, to which he had been elected, Mr. Buell closed his connection with most of the mercan- tile establishments in which he had been interested, over which he could not well ex-
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ercise a personal supervision. He won and enjoyed the confidence and regard not only of the business community, but of his political friends and associates. By his industry, application and unwearied exertions he accumulated a fortune, enough to satisfy the reasonable desires of an ambitious man a little removed from the commer- cial and financial emporiums of our State, where a few men are counted rich who are rated under a million of dollars, where comparisons serve only to stimulate to haz- ardous experiments and even wild and imaginary speculations. He must, of course, have been punctual in all his pecuniary engagements and prompt in all his other business relations. His surviving townsmen have cause to remember him for his public spirit, and the worthy recipients of charity never solicited his aid in vain.
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