USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 46
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Mr. Jenne was married in 1859 to Mary MeSherry, of Lee, Mass. They have had four children, as follows: Willis P., born in Lee August 9, 1860, lives as a bachelor in Ilion ; Elmer E., born in Ilion September 23, 1863, resides in Ilion ; Eva Alice, born November 15, 1865, died December 7, 1872; George D., born October 13, 1873, lives with his parents.
FREDERICK HORTON PHILLIPS
Was born in Litttle Falls June 15, 1836. Ile was a son of John I'hillips, who was a native of England, born October 15, 1786, and came to America when young with his father, Richard Phillips, who settled in Little Falls in 1788, where the family have lived since that time. John Phillips married Fanny Hoag, a native of Bennington, Vt., who was born Angust 12, 1791. They settled in Little Falls early in the present century and there all of their children were born, as follows : Sarah Ann, born December 3, 1809, deceased ; Sophia, born September 29. 1811, deceased ; Mary A., born July 18, 1814, de- ceased ; Abigail, born April 9, 1816, living; Jolin S., born May 10, 1818, deceased ; Rich-
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
ard J., born August 28, 1821, deceased ; Charles P., born March 5, 1824, living in Syra- cuse, N. Y .; William P., born July 28, 1826, deceased ; and Frederick II., the subject of this sketch. His life was an uneventful one, but one of great usefulness and honor. Leaving school at the age of twelve years, a few years after the opening of the railroad through Little Falls, he was selected by A. W. Andrews, who had been sent there to act as stationmaster and telegraph operator, for his assistant. He readily took up the art, and was the first person in Little Falls to learn how to transmit the Morse signals by telegraph. The young man gave his best energies to his business and with the usual results, for he was regularly promoted through the various stages of railroad employment until he reached that of superintendent under Major Z. C. Priest. In this responsible position he fully met the requirements of his superiors and was ever found faithful to his trusts. Mr. Phillips was wholly devoted to the duties of his life-work, and for that reason gave little attention to public affairs ; but by his manly qualities, his integrity and his faithfulness to all of his obligations, he won the friendship and regard of his fellow citizens. His death occurred in Little Falls on the 7th of July, 1890.
Mr. Phillips married, on the 6th of October, 1869, Amanda Ackerman, of Little Falls, a daughter of Nicholas Ackerman; she still survives. They have one son, Fred C. Phillips, born August 28, 1870, and now living in Little Falls.
C. C. WITHERSTINE
Was born in Steuben, Oneida county, on April 13, 1832. An an early age he began learning the printing trade in the office of the old Herkimer County Journal at Herki- mer. In the year 1850 he acquired an interest in the establishment, and for nearly forty years was connected with the Herkimer Democrat as proprietor and editor. Dem- ocratic in politics, he, during that long period, made his paper an organ of powerful influence in the central part of the State, and occupied himself a prominent position in the couneils of that party. Although living in a county that has been uniformly Re- publican in its political complexion, Mr. Witherstine has been honored with public office by his constituents. He held the office of supervisor of the town several terms, and in 1854 was elected county treasurer, holding the office one term. His acquaint- ance throughout the county is very extensive, and he everywhere enjoys the respeet and confidence of the people. At the present time (1892) he is one of the loan com- missioners of the State. A writer of acknowledged ability, genial and courteous to all, and public-spirited in all matters connected with the welfare of the community, he has made a record of citizenship that is in every way honorable.
ALFRED DOLGE
Was born in Chemnitz, Saxony, December 22, 1848. He was educated in the public schools of Leipsic, and at the age of thirteen became apprenticed to his father, a well known piano-maker. At seventeen he left home and sailed for New Yok, where,
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after many hardships and vicissitudes, he established himself as an importer of the various materials used in piano manufacture, and in the course of time became recog- nized as the head of this business in this country. Being of an enterprising disposi- tion and thoroughly American in spirit, Mr. Dolge determined to start the domestic manufacture of felt, for which our piano manufacturers were entirely dependent upon a foreign market. His first ventures were made in Brooklyn, N. Y., after which he removed to Herkimer county (Brockett's Bridge, which name was, by unanimous con- sent of the inhabitants, later changed to Dolgeville). Mr. Dolge not only made the manufacture of felt a positive success, but his particular brand became known as the finest in the world, and at the Exhibitions of Vienna, Paris and Philadelphia obtained the highest award over all competition. In 1883 he established another entirely new industry, that of the manufacture of felt shoes, which has made his name a household word all over the United States. In developing these various industries extensive au- tomatic machines have been invented and built in his own machine shops, and Mr. Dolge was honored by a request from the Patent Department at Washington to send his models to Chicago to form part of the Government Patent Exhibit at the World's Fair as " marking a distinct advance in the art of felt manufacture." But it is in the almost phenomenal building up of the town that bears his name that Mr. Dolge most deserves public attention. Within sixteen years he has transformed a forlorn little hamlet of one hundred persons in the backwoods of the Adirondacks and eight miles from a railroad, into a prosperous and thriving village of over two thousand inhab- itants, with the best free public schools in the center of the State, where manual train- ing, foreign languages, music and domestic economy are taught in addition to the usual school courses, with large felt mills, saw and lumber mills, a cloth factory, a large piano factory, wire factory, musical instrument factory, an illustrated weekly paper (with a circulation of over 10,000 a week) and other enterprises ; with two churches, five hotels, excellent stores of all kinds, club house, large free library and a public park, which includes a magnificent water-fall, and extends over four hundred acres. The town is lighted by electricity and its sanitary condition is excellent. A railroad from Little Falls to Dolgeville has just been completed, giving it by means of the New York Central and West Shore roads direct communication with all the great commercial centers. Mr. Dolge has also attracted a large share of public attention by his system of " earning sharing " with his employees. Under this system, which includes pen- sions, free life insurance, endowment, etc., he has already paid out to his work people, or on their account, over a quarter of a million dollars.
The future of Dolgeville is assured by reason of the enterprising and public spirit of the inhabitants, the diversity of its industries, its water-fall of 5,000-horse power, its Adirondack location for manufacturing purposes and its wonderfully healthful and picturesque surroundings.
ABRAM B. STEELE.
The ancestry of the subject of this biography was English on his father's side, and German on his mother's. His father was George C. Steele, a native of Franklin county, Ohio, and a farmer by occupation. He married Rebecca Fisher, a native also of Frank,
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
lin county, Ohio. The family removed to what is now Rochelle, Ogle county, Ill., in 1839, where most of their children were born. While not a public man in any sense, George C. Steele has led a life of respectability in the community where he still resides in the enjoyment of the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He is the father of nine children, viz. : Frances, born October 10, 1810; married first Orrin Millett, and after his death, Allen Thorp and now (1892) a resident of Washington county, Kans. Calvin F., born August 8, 1842, and a resident of Fairbury, Nebr. Hannah M., born November 12, 1848, married Osborn Randall and living at Flagg, Ill. Phoebe A., born July 3, 1851, and died in 1867. William Oscar, born November 16, 1854, and died in infancy. Alice J., born August 8, 1857, married Fred Randall and is now living in Kansas. Minnie, born January 17, 1860, and married E. L. Orpnt January 17, 1878, died at Rochelle, IN .. in 1887. George W., born November 30, 1862, married Phoebe Pierce, and living in Flagg, III. Abram B., the subject, born in what is now Columbus, Ohio, January 10, 1845, while his parents were on a visit to that place.
The circumstances surrounding the early life of Abram B. Steele on the wild western prairies of Illinois were not especially propitious, although he was given opportunity to obtain an excellent education. His father began life under adverse circumstances and without much means. In seeking his western home in Illinois, he drove across the site of the present city of Chicago, where his team became hopelessly mired, and he was offered forty acres of land in what is now the heart of the great city, for his horses and wagon. His reply was, that he had started westward in quest of land that would have some value ; he spoke solely from the standpoint of the agriculturist. With a large family to rear, he succeeded in enabling them to reach manhood and womanhood equipped at least as well as he had been, for the responsibilities ot hfe. In the common schools near his father's home, Abram B. Steele laid the foundation of his education, and fol- lowed this with a course at the seminary in Rochelle, III., and a two year's scientific course in Wheaton College, finishing in 1866. Hle had long previous to that date re- solved to made the legal profession his life-work and in order to obtam means for the prosecution of his legal study, he taught school at Rochelle nine months and followed this with a few months as principal of the school at Ashton, Ill. As a teacher he was successful and doubtless might have attained an honorable station among the leading educators, but his sole ambition was to become a lawyer, although in this he was op- posed by his parents as they desired him to become a doctor or a minister rather than a lawyer. At the close of his period as a teacher ( April 8. 1867) he came to Frankfort, Herkimer county, N. Y., and entered the law office of his cousin, J. A. Steele, as a student, and acted as chore boy to pay his expenses while studying. It is a somewhat remarkable fact, and a clear indication of his industry and great capacity for work, that in just one year from that time he passed his examination and was admitted to the bar in Syracuse, N. Y., and this without ever having read a page of law before he began his study in this office, and in the class for examination with sixteen applicants, six of whom were rejected, and all of them had studied over two years. A month after his admission he formed a copartnership with his cousin in Frankfort under the firm name of J. A. & A. B. Steele. After a year's practice in Frankfort, the firm determined to seek a broader field of business and with that object in view A. B. Steele went to Lin-
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
coln, Neb., then a small but growing village. He was at once admitted to practice in that State and formed a copartnership with Seth Robinson, then attorney-general of the State, it having been arranged between Mr. Steele and his first partner that if the prospects in Lincoln were sufficiently promising, J. A. Steele would follow him west. Three months in Lincoln, where he found thirty-five lawyers in practice and only two thousand people, was a long enough period to convince Mr. Steele that his prospects there were not what he had hoped for, and he returned to Frankfort, the copartnership with J. A. Steele having been kept alive. In February, 1870, Mr. Steele removed to Herkimer, his partner remaining in Frankfort. This arrangement continued until June, 1874, when J. A. Steele also removed to the county seat, and the partnership existed until January 1, 1880, when it was dissolved. Mr. Steele remained alone until October 8, 1882, when he formed a copartnership with W. C. Prescott, which still continues.
This period of active practice by Mr. Steele has been substantially unbroken, with the exception of a few months spent in Europe in 1878, when he visited England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland and other parts of the continent, a tour ren- dered necessary by failing health. In his profession Mr. Steele has attained more than ordinary success. This is especially true in reference to his practice in courts and before juries in both criminal and civil cases. By exercise of the industry, which is a part of his natural qualifications, his keen insight into the various details of the case in hand, and his ever-present ambition to do his best for his client, he has been enabled to reach success on many occasions where circumstances seemed arrayed against him. In argu- ment and address before a jury he is always forcible, while his thorough preparation of cases and knowledge of the law have rendered him a desirable counselor and advocate, and an opponent not readily overcome. These qualifications were early recognized in this county, both in and out of the profession, and led in 1879 to his election as district attorney, and his re-election three years later. Previous to that time he had served as town clerk of Frankfort, trustee of the village of Herkimer (1887-8) and later president of the village two terms 1890-1. His career as district attorney was a somewhat not- able one and gave great satisfaction to his constituents. He was called upon to try many cases for capital crimes (during last year four of these cases were tried), among them being the famous Druse murder case, in which he displayed the qualifications be- fore mentioned in a manner reflecting great credit upon his ability as a lawyer. He convicted the only person who was ever executed in the county. While attorney for the village of Herkimer (1873-5) he secured the charter incorporating the village and conferring the authority for the expenditure of such sums for public improvements as the citizens should vote. This was accomplished against the determined opposition of
a large and influential element. He also secured the charter for the incorporation of the Ilerkimer and Mohawk Street Railway, which was the forerunner of the now in- portant system connecting the villages of Herkimer, Mohawk. Ilion and Frankfort. He was trustee of the village of Herkimer when the water works were put in and was, perhaps, the most efficient power in the successtul inauguration of that most beneficent improvement. While president of the village the electric light system was established and various other public measures of improvement were instituted. A sincere and act- ive friend of education, he has always thrown his influence in favor of the extension of
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
the school system of the village. On the occasion of the holding of the Fireman's State Convention in Herkimer in 1891. he was president of the village and acting chairman of the citizens' committee and chairman of the reception committee, and labored zeal- ously and efficiently for the great success which attended that event .. In short, Mr. Steele is a public-spirited citizen in the broadest sense, and no good cause that promises an advance of the general welfare of the community seeks his aid in vain. ITis character, his ability, and his daily life are such as to bring him the respect and esteem of all with whom he has been associated. A Republican in politics and with the ability to elo- quently and forcibly express himself upon the subjects of current political interest, it will be inferred that he might have had public office of distinction had not his tastes, inclination, and ambition confined him closely to his profession.
He is now often called as counsel by other attorneys, both in and out of Herkimer county, a fact that clearly indicates his standing among the members of the bar in Cen- tral New York.
Mr. Steele was married July 2, 1885, to Miss Franc Irwin, daughter of John Irwin, of Poland, Herkimer county. They have no children.
THE PRESCOTT FAMILY.
The ancestry of this family is traceable back to the time of Queen Elizabeth in England, when they dwelt in Standish, Lancashire. James was the name of the first, as far as known, and John Prescott, of the fourth generation from Jamies, of Standish (1564), came to Boston, Mass., in 1648, and from there to Watertown, Mass., where he settled in 1640. Among his children was a son named Jonas, who was born in Lancas- ter. Mass., in 1648, and this Jonas had a son of the same name, born in 1678, and a resident of New Hampshire. Among the children of the second Jonas was a son Eben- ezer, who was born in Groton, Mass., in 1700. He had a son, the first Oliver, who was born in Groton in 1725. Oliver had a son whom he named Oliver, who was born in 1760, in New IIampshire. He settled first in Jaffray, N. II., but in 1793, when he was thirty-three years old, he removed to what was then the western wilderness of Whitestown (now New Hartford), Oneida county, and there purchased a large farm and cleared and improved it, and it has remained the property of some of his descend- ants ever since-now just one hundred years. He married Keziah IToward before his removal to Whitestown. Among the fourteen children of this second Oliver was Oliver 3d, who was the eldest of the children and was born on the home farm January 8, 1789. He married Ruth Morgan and had ten children as follows: Elizabeth, born in 1812 : Harriet, horn in 1814: Catharine, born in 1816; Daniel M. (who was the father of William C.), born December 15, 1818; Mary, born in 1821: Amos H. (the late Judge Prescott), born in 1823; Ruth Ann, born in 1826; Phoebe, born in 1828; Oliver, born in 1831, and Abram, born in 1833. The father of these children, Oliver Pres- cott, was a man of prominence in the community where he lived and his native ability was recognized by his selection to fill important public positions. Ile held several town
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offices and in the year 1848 was elected to the State Assembly. He was a man of strong character and correct principles, and in every way a valuable citizen. His death occurred in 1872.
Of the children of Oliver Prescott 3d, Daniel M., father of William C., is a conspicu- ous member of the comminnity. He is a progressive, broad-minded man, of much more than ordinary intelligence. He has during his life given much attention to politics, was a member of the Whig party and later of the Republican, and has been honored with several public positions, the first of which was that of sergeant-at-arms of the State Senate, and afterwards was postmaster of both the Senate and Assembly. In 1863 he was elected a member of Assembly and served one term to the satisfaction of his con- stituents. He held the office of assessor for many years. July 24, 1842, he married Mary Wood, of Herkimer county, who died in 1850, and for a second wife he married Lydia Bacon in 1853. Mr. Prescott and his wife are both still living at the homestead in New Hartford, in the enjoyment of the respect of the community.
Daniel M. Prescott's children by his first wife were Harriet Fidelia, born May 15, 1843, who married Joseph Carter, and now lives at Darien, Genesee county, N. Y. ; Lucius L., born in 1846, was a member of the Third New York Light Artillery, in which he enlisted at the age of seventeen, and was killed in the service; and William C., noticed a little further on. The children of Daniel M. by his second wife were Oliver B., born April 8, 1855, and died in 1882 ; he was a farmer and lived just over the line in Herkimer county, on a part of the homestead ; Daniel Dayton, born August 7, 1856, a farmer and now living on the homestead; and Rose May, born March 12. 1871, married Wilbur J. Davies, of Litchfield, Herkimer county.
William C. Prescott, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was born December 11, 1848, in New Hartford, Oneida county, N. Y. His younger days were passed on his father's farm and in the district schools, where his naturally studious habits and a mind that readily absorbed education, enabled him to rapidly advance. Leaving the district school he studied four years in the Utica Academy and gradnated in 1867. To com- plete an already excellent education he then entered Tufts College, in Massachusetts, took the full four years' course and graduated with high honors. This was not all accom- plished without sacrifice and hard work, and a part of the means necessary to pay his expenses in college was obtained by him in teaching, a part of the time in the same school where he began his studies as a boy. While in college Mr. Prescott joined the Zeta Psi society and hegame a prominent member. In 1870 he was president of their annual convention, which was held in Easton, Pa.
Long before leaving college Mr. Prescott had determined to enter the legal profession, and soon after his graduation he came to Herkimer and began his studies in the law office of Earl, Smith & Brown. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and at once formed a partnership with Hon. Robert Earl, who was in the same year elected judge of the Court of Appeals. He then associated himself with the late Samuel Earl, and their business connection continued until 1882, when he formed the partnership with A B. Steele, which still exists under the firm name of Steele & Prescott. Mr. Pres- cott's career as a lawyer has been one of honorable effort and marked success. His as- sociation with Mr. Steele during a part of the period in which the latter served as dis-
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
trict attorney, brought him into connection with the trial of several very important cases, among thiein the murder trials of Mrs. Druse and Mondon and Richter. In these cases he made the opening addresses and shared in all the exhaustive work necessary to the successful issue of the trials. Ile is generally regarded as a safe counselor, careful and conservative in his opinions and thorough in his study of every question that comes before him. These valuable qualifications render bim a factor of importance in the large business that has been accorded to the firm of which he is a member.
Mr. Prescott is a Republican in politics ; but until quite recently le has declined to ac- cept nominations for public office. He was chosen as one of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners upon its formation in 1887, and was made chairman of the board. He was reappointed in 1888 and resigned in 1892. He was largely instrumental in raising the fund of $12,000 for the recent extension of the Adirondack and St. Lawrence Railroad, which is destined to confer great benefits on the village of Herkimer. He is a Mason of high standing and for two years held the office of worshipful master of Herkimer Lodge. In 1890 he was appointed grand marshal of the Grand Lodge and served two years.
In private life Mr. Prescott long ago won the confidence and universal respect of the community at large for his straightforward, upright and conscientious course and manly qualities. For many years he has been a member and one of the important officers of the Episcopal church, and is vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Herkimer, and has been chairman of its Board of Directors.
In the fall of 1892 Mr. Prescott was induced to accept the nomination for member of Assembly from this district and was elected by a more than average majority. He will enter the legislative halls of the State fully equipped for his duties and bearing with him the confidence of his constituents.
Mr. Prescott was married in 1876 to Frances M .. daughter of Charles B. Cotten, of New York city. They have no children.
It is proper at this point to introduce a brief record of the life of Amos H. Prescott, a brother of Daniel M., and whose name and birth have already been given. He re- ceived his education in the district schools and the Sauquoit Academy ; studied law with Hon. Volney Owen. of Mohawk, beginning in April, 1842, and was admitted in May, 1847. From that date until 1857 he was a partner with Mr. Owen. After the dissolution of the firm in the last named year he continued in practice alone at Mohawk until 1870, when he removed to Ilerkimer and resided there until his death. As a lawyer he attained prominence and as a public-spirited and progressive citizen he ranked among the foremost. He was president of the village of Mohawk three terms, and served as supervisor of the town in 1866-1867, and was chairman of the board. Hle was also brigadier-general in the National Guard. He became a member of the Native American party in politics and was conspicuous in its councils. In 1855 he received the nomination for the Assembly at their hands and was elected. In the Legislature he was placed on several important committees and performed valuable service. From that time until 1867 he gave close attention to his profession and was accorded a large practice. In 1867 he was elected county judge and surrogate by the Republicans, having joined that party soon after its organization. For sixteen years he filled the important office to which he had been chosen, winning the approbation
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