USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 45
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Mr. Buell died at Washington eity on the 3ist of January, 1853, after a brief and painful illness, in the fifty-second year of his age. The House of Representatives passed the usual resolution of condolence; and while a monument in the Congres- sional burying ground commemorates his official connection with that eminent body of American statesmen and his death, his mortal remains, distinguished by a suitable memorial, have found a final resting place in the grounds of Trinity church, Fairfield. His wife and three children survived him.
WILLIAM F. LANSING.
It was not long after the Pilgrims planted their resolute colony at Plymouthi, and before the little settlement of Holland Dutch had made much progress near the head- waters of the Hudson river, that the first immigrant ancestor of William F. Lansing, who was a Hollander, came over and settled at Albany. His name was Gerrit Lan- -ing, and the year of his arrival in America was 1630. The line of descent from him to the father of William F., is as follows: Gerrit I, Gerrit 2, Jacob 3, Gerrit Jacob 1, Sanders 5, Abraham Ten Eyek 6, Samuel Stewart 7, who was the father of the subject.
Sanders Lansing, the great-grandfather of William F., was the first of the family to settle in what is now Herkimer county. IIe was born June 17, 1766, and his father's family became a distinguished one. His brother John was chief justice of the Supreme Court, chancellor, etc. Sanders Lansing married a daughter of Abraham Ten Eyck. He was a distinguished lawyer and was appointed register in chancery upon the pro- motion of his brother. He came to Little Falls in 1820, and had charge of several land agencies and in 1821 was appointed judge, which office he held until after 1828, the date of his last appointment. He was a man of lofty character and exceptional abihty. His death oceurred in the town of Manheim September 19, 1850.
Abraham Ten Eyck Lansing, son of Sanders and grandfather of William F., was a prosperous merchant of Albany previous to his removal to Herkimer county. The family homestead was made a few miles below Little Falls, in the town of Manheim, where the settlement was made in 1827, and where Abraham Ten Eyck Lansing died. His children were Samuel Stewart Lansing (father of the subject), Dr. Edward San-
i
Gian Causing.
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ders Lansing, now of New Jersey, Congressman Frederick Lansing, of Watertown. N. Y. Samuel Stewart Lansing was born at Waterford, N. Y, at the residence of Ins grandfather, Gen. Samuel Stewart, December 12, 1823, and was brought to Herki- mer county when three years old, to live with his grandfather. On the 26th of Octo- ber, 1854, he was married to Catharine Fox, a daughter of Capt. Jacob Eacker Fox, of the town of Danube. Her grandmother was a daughter of Judge Jacob Eacker, of Revolutionary fame. It was Capt. George J. Eacker, a son of Judge Jacob, who fought a duel with Philip Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, and slew him, on account of an insult relating to a Fourth of July oration delivered by Eacker, upon the invi- tation of the mayor and common council of the city of New York. Samuel Stewart Lansing died in the ancestral brick residence in Little Falls, built by Sanders Lansing, on the 17th of July, 1891. This building is among thie oldest in Little Falls, has always been in possession of the family, and is still occupied by the widow of Samanel Stewart Lansing and her son, the subject of this sketch. The children of Samuel Stewart and Catharine (Fox) Lansing were Jacob Fox Lansing, who died at eleven years of age ; Edward Ten Eyck Lansing, now a resident of Little Falls, and William F. The latter was born in the town of Manheim, Herkimer oounty, N. Y., on the 29th of July, 1856. After attendance in the district school until he was twelve years old, he studied four years in the Little Falls Academy and followed this with two years in a prepara- tory school connected with Union College in Schenectady and graduated from the lat- ter with the degree of A. B. in 1878. During his senior year he studied law and after graduation pursned the same study with Hon. Austin A. Yates, of Schenectady. In 1879 he entered the law office of Judge Rollin H. Smith, of Little Falls. In the spring of 1880 he was the recipient of the degree of LL. B. from Hamilton College and in 1881 of the degree of A. M. from Union College. He was admitted to the bar at general term in the spring of 1880. In the fall of the same year he went to New York city and for two years was associated with Treadwell Cleveland, of the firm of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, of 52 Wall street. In the year 1883 his somewhat adventurous temperament led him to Colorado where he spent two years in stock raising. Return- ing to Little Falls he opened a law office and practiced two years to the spring of 1886, when he joined with Edwin J Nelson in the knit goods industry at Middleville, Her- kimer county. The cares of the estate of his grandfather and father now devolved upon him and demanded his return to Little Falls and the devotion of a large share of his time. The partnership at Middleville was accordingly dissolved on the 1st of Oc- tober, 1890. In 1891 he organized the Little Falls Electric Light and Power Company and has since that time filled the position of secretary, treasurer and manager.
Such is a concise record of the professional and business career of Mr. Lansing. It is proper to state that in its various connections and relations he has maintained the reputation for intelligence, industry and integrity which constitutes useful and honor- able citizenship. Still a young man, he occupies a station of importance in the busi- ness and social life of Little Falls. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs, not from selfish ambition, for he has always declined proffered preferment in the political field, though active in the success of the Democratic party, of which he is a member. He has evinced a deep interest in military matters and believes that the
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regular soldiery of the State and nation should in some degree represent their great- ness and honor. From January 1st to September 12, 1888, he acted as colonel and aid on the staff of Gov. David B. Ilill, and was promoted from that post to brigadier-gen- eral and quartermaster-general of the State; he retired from this honorable office on the Ist of January, 1892. Mr. Lansing is prominently connected with social life in the metropolis of the State and is a member of the Elks, the Reform club, and of the United Service Club of New York city. A position in which he feels a natural pride is his membership in the Sons of the American Revolution of the State and of the United States, for which he was able to qualify through the long line of ancestors above described, as well as through eight other male ancestors in the direct lines, who were prominent in the great struggle for American Independence. A man of unusually pleasing address, alive to all of the important projects and events of the day, and pos- sessed of broad and intelligent information upon public affairs of interest, General Lansing enjoys the esteem and friendship of the community in which he lives.
ISAAC SMALL.
Among the early immigrants to this country from Germany, who settled in the central part of the State of New York, was Jacob Small. He located in the town of Herkimer and bore a conspicuous part in the early trials of the settlers in the Mohawk valley through the savage warfare of the Indians and the perfidy of the tories. Mr. Small joined the Revolutionary army, rose to the rank of captain, and finally met a sad death a few days after the declaration of peace, and after his return to his home. l'arties of prowling Indians lingered in the valley and committed depredations after the war was officially closed, and one of these came upon Mr. Small near his home and de- liberately shot him. The tragic incident is one of the saddest recorded and constitutes a memorable part of the long struggle for freedom in America, as it was related to this vicinity.
Among the children of Jacob Small was a son who was also named Jacob, who was born in Herkimer. He married Hannah Potter, daughter of William Potter. He was a farmer and died in that town at an advanced age. Mr. Small was the father of eight children, as follows: Jacob, William, John, Isaac, Eli, Cynthia, Daniel and Darius. Of these all are dead excepting Darius, and Isaac, the subject of this sketch.
Isaac Small was born in the town of Herkimer on the 11th of November, 1805. After attending the district school and working on his father's farm, he began clerking for James Byers, who was one of the early merchants of Herkimer village. Ile re- mained in that store one year and then began business for himself as a country mer- chant. For fourteen years he successfully conducted a store, when he formed a part- nership with his brother William and Esek H. Williams and invested his accumulated capital with them in the wholesale grocery trade at 52 Front street, New York city. The firm was a strong one and in its successful conduct the excellent business habits and knowledge of Isaac Small were a powerful factor. Especially was this true of
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the management of the finances of the firm and in that sagacity which enabled him to foresee the proper course to follow in large transactions. The business was continued with increasing and gratifying success for six years, when the firm was dissolved and Mr. Small returned to Little Falls and purchased a dry goods store ; but wisely con- cluding that the competency already acquired by him was sufficient for the future, he retired from active business (1850) after one year, and has since that time given snch attention as he has been able to the management of his private affairs and the direc- tion of some speculations in which he was engaged. A painful rheumatic disease has for many years kept him confined to his home a large share of the time; but he hears this deprivation with that cheerful philosophy which is a part of his nature. In Little Falls Mr. Small is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. He was the chief organizer of the Little Falls National Bank and has since been one of its directors. A Democrat in politics, he has never accepted office other than to serve as trustee of the village. Genial and courteous in his intercourse with others, possessed of a kind heart and sympathetic nature, Mr. Small passses his declining years in the secure en- joyment of the friendship of a large circle and the respect of the whole community. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and active in promoting its welfare. He was married in 1828 to Susan Knapp, of Utica. She died in March. 1873. They have had six children-Hannah, married Luke Usher, president of the National Bank of Potsdam, N. Y .; George, deceased young ; Ella, died young ; Evalyn, married Capt. L. A. Beardsley, of the U. S. Navy, and living in South Carolina; and Frederick I. Small, a successful attorney of Little Falls; Louise, died in 1876.
PHILO REMINGTON.
The story of the inception and development of the great industries founded in Ilion by Eliphalet Remington and perpetuated by his sons, Philo, Samuel, and Eliphalet, jr., has been told in detail in the preceding history of the village of Ilion. On that ac- count this sketch of Philo Remington may be principally confined to his personal life. He was born on the 31st of October, 1816, and died on the 4th of April, 1889, at Silver Springs, Florida, whither he had gone in quest of better health.
Philo Remington's business career was intimately associated with the manufacture of fire arms, sewing machines and agricultural implements by the famous firm of which he was a moving spirit and in many respects the head. Founded by his father on his home farm a few miles south of the site of the village, the industry grew apace be- tween the years 1817 and 1830, when it was removed to Ilion where the elder Rem- ington had purchased a large tract of land of John A. Clapsaddle. The settlement then comprised only seven dwellings, two storehouses and a school-house. The little hamlet took the name of " Remington's Corners," which was afterwards changed, as related in the history of Ilion village in this work. The business grew in its new loea- tion and in 1861, Eliphalet Remington died leaving as a heritage a good name and a well-established industry. From that time until 1865 few great industries in this
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country were more prosperous or attracted more extended attention than that of the Remingtons in Ilion. In the year last mentioned the works were incorporated, with Philo Remington as president ; Samuel Remington, vice-president, and Eliphalet Rem- ington, secretary and treasurer. The business was marvellously successful for many years, and embraced the establishment of the manufacture of agricultural implements, sewing machines and finally of typewriters, all of which industries are still in existence and a great source of growth and prosperity in Ilion, but all in other hands than those of the men who built them up. It was in the year 1866 that the combination of cir- cumstances and conditions which has been explained, brought down the great house in financial disaster.
During all of this varied career-in the development and final height of prosperity, as well as in the days of adversity which followed,-Philo Remington remained the same unostentatious, gentle-inannered, unselfish, honorable Christian man that he had always been. For nearly fifty years he was a conspicuous figure in Ilion through his connection with the great industry, but in all that time he never acted or spoke in any manner to aggrandize himself, or to gain fame or authority, or wealth. His modesty was proverbial, and equaled only by his unselfishness. His thoughts while the great factories were being built and equipped were given fully as much to the benefits likely to be conferred upon thousands of needy workmen, as to what would possibly accrue therefrom to himself and his brothers. While his business sagacity was unquestioned and his prudence and wisdom remarkable, these attributes were so tempered by kindli- ness, gentleness and unselfishness, that his character was made a remarkable one thereby.
In politics Mr. Remington was a Republican, but he had a decided distaste for active partisan methods and never sought or accepted public office. If it can be said that a man of his temperament had a hobby, it was the advancement of the temperance cause. It was his most earnest desire that the village of Ilion should be practically free from the vice of intemperance, and that the cause at large should be promoted. To this end he gave much time and liberal means. And so gentle and forbearing was his nature that he could throw his influence strongly against such an evil and make less of enmity than most reformers. He was emphatically the friend of humanity and ever in full sympathy with the oppressed and suffering.
A memorial service was held in the opera house at Ilion a few days after his death, which was largely attended, a part of the exercises consisting of the preparation and reading of a series of resolutions eulogistic of the deceased, as follows :
Whereas, by the death of our esteemed citizen, Philo Remington, the village of Ilion has lost a wise counselor and a life-long friend; therefore, be it
Resolved, that we, the citizens of this place, by these resolutions bear a fitting testi- mony to the high and noble character of the deceased.
Resolved, that his consistent and exemplary Christian deportment and philanthropic nature ; his generous, humane and democratic spirit towards the people with whom he lived as a citizen ; that the marked desire for justice which controlled his actions in the distinguished and responsible duties he was called upon, by circumstances and by the expressions of his fellow citizens, to perform ; and that his manly qualities have endeared him to the people of this place, and be it further,
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Resolved, that we recognize his eminent and sincere services as a leader in the in- dustry and prosperity of this village, for to him more than others is its thrift due.
Mr. Remington was an active and honored member of the Methodist church, and the official board met and adopted a series of resolutions expressing their estimate of Mr. Remington's character and their appreciation of his Christian work. From these resolutions it is fitting to make the following extract :
" That while we make record of our sense of personal loss in the death of our brother, and would fain mingle our tears and our sorrows with those of his immediate family and friends, we yet counsel for ourselves an humble recognition of the Divine Father who thus with severe stroke and in love and for wise purposes adds another to the countless hosts composing the church triumphant above. That we do but voice the general sentiment of the membership of our large society in making recognition of Brother Remington as one of the earliest adherents of the llion church; one who aided in its planting and cultivated it in its growth; who, as president of the board of trustees for many years, and in other relations as well, not only devised broad plans and gave wise counsel for the help of his associates year by year, but who in seasons of emergency was ever ready to assume the heaviest burdens of personal labor and to make the largest contributions to the general good. That, while in memory we shall henceforth think of Brother Remington as a central figure among us for many years, passing and repassing before our eyes with quiet step and modest demeanor ; as a man of kindly, sympathetic and generous nature; a man who long commanded the defer- ence of a leader in every line of educational, moral and religious improvement, by rea- son of the quiet forces of his own nature, rather than by an aggressive, ostentatious exercise of power; a man not without faults, but whose virtues shone more brightly because multiplied and strengthened and illumined by Christian faith, and hope and love ; while in retrospect we shall revere his memory for these things, we shall yet turn our eyes with chastened gaze and see in him a good man gone to his rest, a faithful Chris- tian pilgrim at the end of his toilsome journey, a redeemed soul at the gates of the eternal city listening to the rapturous welcome, "enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
In the year 1841 Mr. Remington married Caroline A. Lathrop, of Syracuse. Their children are Ida R., now wife of W. C. Squire; and Ella, wife of H. C. Furman, of New York city.
ELIPHALET REMINGTON
(Who has been mentioned as a son of the elder Eliphalet Remington), was born in the town of Litchfield November 12, 1828. After receiving a moderate education he early became interested in the new work established by his father. In the up-build- ing of that great industry he was an important factor, as above recounted, the growth of which is fully described in the history of the village of Ilion in earlier pages of this work. Mr. Remington was connected with the works founded by his father until 1886, and is still a resident of Ilion. In 1854 Mr. Remington was married to Miss Catherine M. Stevens ; they have had three children, as follows: Philo, now a resident of Ilion ;
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Mrs. W. J. Calder, of Harrisburg, Pa .; and Mrs. T. E. Patterson, of Philadelphia. In personal character Mr. Remington is a man of the purest principles in the broadest sense of the term. His integrity has never been questioned, while his innate kindness of heart and his broad and unostentatious charity are acknowledged by all who have the pleasure of his friendship.
WILLIAM K. JENNE
Was born in Lenox, Mass., on the 14th of January, 1837. He is a son of Siloam S. Jenne, who was a native of Grantham, N. H., where he was boro July 26, 1809. Tracing the ancestors of this family farther back we find that the father of Siloam S. Jenne was Thomas Jenne, who was born in New Bedford, Mass., January 11, 1773, that his father was James, who was also born in New Bedford on the 14th of August, 1744, and that his father was Isaac, who was of Welsh parentage and came to this country from England or Wales somewhere about 1720. Siloam S. Jenne died in Pittsfield, Mass., March 1, 1892. His wife was Amelia P. Root, and their marriage took place November 26, 1829. She died at Lenox, Mass., January 27, 1892. They had four children, as follows: A daughter, who died in infancy; Mary A., mar- ried Albert Rideout, of Lee, Mass., and now living in Holyoke, Mass .; William K., and Frances, who died unmarried. Siloam S. Jenne was an ingenious and versatil mechanic. He spent a few of his early years as a school teacher, and afterwards worked at various times as a carpenter and builder, millwright, a wagonmaker and ir. the manufacture of special machinery. In the latter capacity he assisted Prof. Lyman in making a sixteen-foot telescope ; he also built a set of machinery for a bookbinding establishment which contamed special devices of his own invention, among them being one of the earliest machines for cutting out and making envelopes. As a wagonmaker he also used several labor-saving machines of his own invention and manufacture.
William K. Jenne secured his education in the common schools, after which he spent a year or two on a farm ; but he was born with a strong predilection for mechanics and entered a machine shop for the purpose of learning that trade, where he continued three years ; this was in Lee, Mass. He advanced rapidly and laid the foundation of the rare mechanical skill which became of so much importance to him in after years. He continued for a time working at his trade in Massachusetts, finally in the employ- ment of Plaisted & Whitehouse, of Holyoke. In 1861 that firm secured a large contract with the Remingtons, for the manufacture of certain parts of fire arms, and Mr. Jenne was sent on to llion as a skilled mechanic for the manufacture of the fine and accurate tools necessary in the business. He remained with that firm until they fulfilled their contract, when Mr. Jenne was promoted virtually to the position before occupied by them, and was given a contract for the manufacture of the Eliot pistol. Long before this time he had become known in the great works as a mechanic of un- usual skill and possessed of inventive talent of a high order. Before the time when the sale of the Eliot pistol declined, Thomas Halligan brought to the Remingtons his inven- tion of a sewing machine for heavy work on leather and using a waxed thread. The
M.K. Jemu
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Remingtons made arrangements to aid him in perfecting his device and placing it in process of manufacture, and delegated Mr. Jenne to work with Mr. Halligan on the machine. Before it was fully completed Mr. Halligan was killed by the cars and work on the machine was perforce brought to a close ; but it proved to be the opening wedge for the establishment by the Remingtons of sewing machine manufacture, which later became a very important part of their great industry. In the development of the Remington sewing machine and in the later execution of a considerable amount of con- tract work in that department, Mr. Jenne was prominent. While thus engaged in 1873, and under the superintendeney of J. M. Clough, James Densmore and G. W. N. Yost brought to the Remingtons the first crude type writer to negotiate for its manu- facture. This event opened a new field in mechanical work in which Mr. Jenne has ever since found congenial and profitable employment, and which called forth his highest quahfications as a workman and inventor. To those who are conversant with the subject, it is known that the task of developing and perfecting the typewriter until it would meet the exacting requirements of a perfect writing machine was one full of perplexing disappointments, trials of new devices, overcoming apparently impossible mechanical problems, and the invention of new appliances to accomplish certain ends. In all of this work Mr, Jenne has been the moving spirit and it is not too much to say at this time that he has been more largely instrumental in making the Remington type- writer what it is to-day than any other person. The first machine was constructed by Mr. Jenne and Mr. Clough together, and from that one two others were built as sam- ples ; on these Mr. Jenne did most of the work, and they were pronounced satisfactory ; but Mr. Jenne made still another one embra ing various improvements and from that one somie 1,500 or 2,000 were built and placed on the market. Since that time the changes in the machine have been constant and numerous, and Mr. Jenne has been in charge of their manufacture and substantially dictated as to what should and what should not be done in reference to their construction.
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