USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 54
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
In politics Mr. Gilbert was a Republican; but although earnest in his advocacy of the principles of this party and zealous for their success, he never himself sought pub- lic office, and the only position of an elective nature for which he ever allowed himself to be presented was that of member of the village Board of Education, and in that ca- pacity he served for several years, displaying the same interest, energy and judgment in the cause of education which distinguished him in the other relations of life. The salient points in his character were his clear judgments of men and affairs, his integrity and his unwavering decision when persuaded that he was right. His friendship was steadfast and earnest ; his acts of charity and benevolence were many and generous.
Mr. Gilbert was married in April, 1857, to Elizabeth Rust, of Little Falls, daughter of Nelson Rust. (Vide biography of Nelson Rust herein.) He was survived by Mrs. Gilbert and three children, one son. Nelson Rust, having died in infancy, J. Judson and Nelson Rust Gilbert and Mrs. D. E. Knowlton.
NELSON RUST.
Nelson Rust was born at Kent, Litchfield county, Conn., on the 17th of March, 1801, and died at Little Falls, N. Y., on the 14th of August, 1876. He was descended from New England stock, the first of the family to settle in this country having been Ilenry Rust, who, in company with a number of families from llingham, Norfolk county, England, came to the then infant colony of Massachusetts in 1635, and founded the town of Hingham, near Boston. After a residence of a few years at Hingham, Henry Rust removed to Boston, of which place he was a resident until his death in 1684. His descendants spread through the New England colonies as this territory was developed and settled, and at the outbreak of the Revolution, Levi Rust, a descendant in the fifth generation from Henry, was a citizen of Connecticut, and served as lieutenant in one of the regiments raised in his State. His son, Roswell Rust, born in 1774, was a farmer at Kent, Connecticut, where he married Eleanor Booth, in 1799. The second son of this marriage was Nelson Rust, who, by the death of his father in 1816, followed shortly by that of his mother in 1819, was left an orphan at eighteen and thrown largely upon his own resources for his support.
In addition to his farm, his father had owned a small tannery at Kent, and, ac- quainted with this business, Mr. Rust determined to follow it as a means of livelihood. In order to perfect himself in the details, he spent several months at Quebec and at New Haven, studying the processes of tanning as carried on at those places. Early in the 20's he determined to settle in Troy, N. Y., and there he formed a partnership in the grocery and hardware business with Paul Wetherbee, whose daughter Eluthera he married on the 25th of September, 1827.
Growing dissatisfied with his business in Troy, he decided to resume his trade of tanning, and coming to Herkimer county, he spent some time in investigating the best location for a tannery, residing for some months in Herkimer, and in Stratford, in which latter town he subsequently established a branch of his business. Eventually he determined upon Little Falls as the most favorable site, and soon after his arrival there
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in 1831, he established himself on North Ann street, near Main, where he carried on his business for about three years, when finding his building too small for the develop- ment of his business, he removed his plant to East Mill street, at the point where the establishment of J. S. Barnett & Brother now stands. Here he continued the manu- facture of leather until shortly before his death, the sale of his tannery and leather store on Second street to Gilbert & Weeks occurring forty years to a day from the time he commenced business ou that site. For some years, during his location on Mill street, Stephen Brown was associated with him as a partner, a relation which was terminated by Mr. Brown's death.
In politics Mr. Rust was an ardent member of the Whig party, and later a no less ardent believer in the doctrines of its successor, the Republican party. Caring little for political preferment, the only office he ever held was that of president of the village during the year 1851.
At the time of his death Mr. Rust was a member of the Presbyterian church, and had been closely connected with and a trustee of that society for several years before he became a member.
The personal characteristics of Mr. Rust were well stated at the time of his death as follows: "Mr. Rust was one of our best known, most highly esteemed, and most influential citizens. His faithfulness as a friend has almost passed into a proverb, his ready kindness to the poor and suffering was ever a marked characteristic of his daily life. His sympathies were largely enlisted toward any good work of whose merits he became convinced. He was a thoroughly honest and a very successful business man. No one dare question his word or impugn his motives; his judgment was remarkably reliable, and his business intercourse during forty years was marked by very many pleasant friendships, and characterized hy a stern devotion to truth and uprightness which commanded the respect of even those who were never privileged to share his intimate acquaintance."
Mr. Rust was the father of seven children, four of whom survived him : Mrs. Eliza- beth Gilbert, Mrs. Barry Van Vechten, Miss Helen Rust, and Mrs. Charles Lynds Petree, all of Little Falls.
DWIGHT D. WARNE,
Senior member of the firm of D. D. and F. L. Warne, owners and managers of Fairfield Seminary and Military Academy. The remarkable prosperity that Old Fairfield Sem- inary enjoys naturally calls the attention of not only every alumnus and friend of the school, but every citizen of the country interested in the education of the rising gener- ation, to the men whose untiring efforts have revived interest in, secured support, and established this old institution of learning upon a permanent basis.
Prof. D. D. Warne, whose portrait we present, was born at East Varick, Seneca county, N. Y., November 26, 1855. His mother was a Parker, the name of a Quaker family prominent in the early history of Cayuga county, and before her marriage had achieved remarkable success as a teacher in her own and adjoining counties. From his
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IHISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
mother he lauerited that necessary qualification in a teacher which we call tact, love for the profession of teaching, and intense enthusiasm, al of which are among his marked characteristics. The Warnes were among the first settlers of Monmouth county, New Jersey. Later members of the family, particularly the grandfather of the present sketch, moved to Seneca county, thi- State, and nearly all the members of the family have been successful wagon manufacturers, Professors D. D and F. L. being the only members who have not followed this business, and even they were required by their father to learn the business during vacations while pursuing their preparatory studies. From his father he learned his habits of tireless industry and practical methods of busi- ness. His mother was his principal teacher until he entered the public school of his native place. Later on he was for a long time a private pupil of Prof. Warren Mann, now of Potsdam Normal School. Many other prominent educators instructed him in various lines of educational work.
Having early decided to follow the profession of teaching, he entered the Normal School at Albany, and graduated first in a class of thirty-six. In the Fall of '76 he was called to the principalship of the new union school at Williamson, N. Y., where he re- mained four years. Dr. A. G. Austin, then president of the Board of Education, and late lecturer in St. Louis Medical College, writes that Prof. Warne brought the school to a high degree of prosperity, and that his methods of instruction were superior to those of any other principal in that section.
At the beginning of his second year at Wilhanson he married Miss Vida E. Brown, of Ontario, N. Y., his first assistant teacher in the school.
Receiving a call from the president of the Board of Education at Richville, St. Law- rence county, he accepted. The school was sadly demoralized when he went there, but during the two years of his administration he nobly worked in school and out, brought the school to a high standard, and made himself well known as a popular in- structor throughout the entire assembly district, Ilermon, in an adjoining town, having erected a very fine new school building, persuaded him, through the efforts of Senator D. S. Lynde, to become principal of its school. Here he remained three years, and became known throughout a large portion of the State as one of the most successful school organizers, canvassers and managers in the State. His salary, at SI,200 a year, was more than paid by the non-residents in his room alone. During his stay in St. Lawrence county he put into successful operation plans which he had been maturing for a long time for the organization and successful operation of Town Teachers' Associ- ations. lie visited nearly every portion of the county in order to awaken interest among the district school teachers and make those meetings which were held every month a success. In this connection IIon. A. X. Parker, John A. Haig and G. A. Lewis, the last two sehool commissioners, speak of him as an educator of character, integrity, and capacity, and one who labors with untiring zeal in the cause of education. In the class room he is without a superior. Thoroughly and practically educated, pos- sessed of tact in discipline in management, a ready and easy conversationalist, with years of experience in instructing large classes, he imbnes his students with his own industry, energy and ambition. His specialty is the preparation of students for the profession of teaching. More than fifteen hundred teachers in this State have received
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instruction in methods from him. Commendations, which are before us as we write, and written by some of our best known educators, speak of him as one of the best posted and most successful instructors of teachers' classes in the State.
Outside of his profession he is a genial, clever and interesting companion, a fluent talker, with pleasing address, and a man of considerable magnitude and attractiveness. He readily wins the confidence of those around him, and is a very proper and desirable person to instruct the youth of the present day.
He is a member of Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. & A. M., and for a long time was secretary. He was one of the charter members of Williamson Lodge, No. 270, A. O. U. W., and was the first Master Workman of that lodge. When in Western New York he gave much time and attention to lodge work, and at one time was one of the dis- trict deputies of the A. O. U. W.
To close this sketch without giving to our readers a brief announcement of what Prof. Warne has done and is doing to place "Old Fairfield" back in line-topmost among the best academies and preparatory schools in the State, would be not only a great injustice to him, but to the thousands who once received mental training at this in- stitution, and who still retain pleasant memories of their youthful days spent there, and who read with untold delight of its prosperity and successful prospects for the future.
Over ninety years ago, in the spring of 1803, was established Fairfield Academy, and for twenty years it flourished without competition, and for many years there were few institutions of like character in the State. At the close of the Civil War and about ten years thereafter the attendance from abroad commenced and continued to wane, and the residents of Fairfield saw failure succeed failure until it was thought impossible to maintain the institution much longer. The buildings gradually became dilapidated, and the beauty and attractiveness of those onre loved halls were transformed into bar- ren, desolate and unsightly pictures.
This is what Prof. Warne found in 1885 when he took hold of the work of reviving interest in and securing support for Fairfield Seminary.
Before he had accepted the principalship of Fairfield Seminary he and his brother, F L. Warne, had visited several localities in this and other States in search of a desir- able school that could be rented or bought. He found several desirable pieces of property with the oue exception that the villages in which the property was situated were either unhealthy or contained places of demoralizing resort. They selected Fair- beld for the following [reasons: Because it contains no such places of resort. The situation of the school is one of the most beautiful in the State, being entirely rural, in a very small, quiet village. The grounds are ample and the buildings cover the most ground of any seminary buildings in the State. It is conceded that Fairfield Seminary for more than eighty years has occupied a place of usefulness second to none among educational institutions of like grade in this country. Its literary societies, incorpo- rated under the laws of the State, have for years ranked with those of the colleges of the State. Every alumnus of the school is loyal to its interests. These were the prin- cipal reasons why they selected Fairfield. How well they have succeeded is plainly told in the unsurpassed equipments and remarkable prosperity of the institution con- ducted to-day both as a seminary and a military academy.
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542
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
WARNER MILLER.
It is impossible to give within the limits of this article a complete and satisfactory sketch of the life and public services of a distinguished citizen of Herkimer, whose private and public life has been alike creditable to himself and to the county of his adoption. Fully told, with appropriate quotations from his public utterances on great vital questions, it would fill this volume.
Warner Miller is a descendant in the fifth generation of John Miller, who came to this country from Germany about 1680, and located in Westchester county. He left four sons and four daughters. The land was divided among the sons, who were James, Abram, Elijah and Anthony. Warner Miller's descent is from the last two sons, Martha. the second daughter of Elijah, marrying William, the eldest son of Anthony- and their seventh son was Hiram, who was Warner Miller's father.
Elijah Miller was a lieutenant in the Continental Army, and was killed early in the Revolutionary War together with two of his sons. His widow. Ann Fisher Miller, was left in charge of five children. Her farm house stood a little north of the village of White Plains, and became Washington's headquarters while he was operating in that locality. Her farm buildings were used for hospital purposes, and her farm was cov- ered with tents. A chronicler has said: "In the life of Mrs. Ann Fisher Miller, American Liberty and White Plains Methodism are closely allied. In her house Washington land his plans for the success of the American arms, and also here Method- ism was first preached in White Plains."
The younger children of William and Martha Miller were born after their removal to Rensselaer county, a mile from Johnsonville, where Millertown, now known as North Pittstown, was named for the family. Hiram Miller, the father of Warner, was born here, where he remained until some time after his marriage in 1832, then removing to Oswego. One of Warner Miller's granduncles, Abraham, a licensed ex- horter of the Methodist church, was for twelve years a representative of Westchester county in the New York Legislature. Loyal to the faith of bus forefathers, Mr. Miller remains a strong figure in the Methodist church, and was a notable participant as a lay delegate at the World's General Conference in New York in May, 1888.
Hiram Miller's wife was Mary Ann Warner, of Salisbury, Conn., from one of the sturdy Revolutionary families of that State. In her youth she came to Millertown, and there found her future husband, with whom she enjoyed a happy union for forty-eight years. In 1837 they removed to Hannibal, Oswego county, where they took a large farm. Here their son Warner was born Angust 12, 1838. The following year they returned to their former home at Millertown, where they remained for a few years, afterwards locating on a farm near Northville, Fulton county. Here Warner Miller grew to manhood, working on the farm in the summer, and attending school in the winter. In their dechning years they came, by his invitation, to Herkimer to pass the remainder of their lives. The father was struck by a railroad train in Herkimer and killedl in January, 1882. The mother died in 1880.
Warner Miller's parents gave the'r only surviving child better advantages for learning than the children of most farmers of that day. He attended a select school a few miles from home until he had a fair knowledge of arithmetic, physiology and book-keeping,
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and at fourteen his father sent him to an academy at Charlotteville, whose principal was the late Rev. Mr. Flack. Then he determined to go to college, and for this he was obliged to earn most of the money himself. It is said to have been the desire and purpose of his parents to educate their son for the ministry, but the plan was not approved by him, whose tastes seemed to point to other fields of usefulness and honor. At sixteen his father gave him fourteen dollars and a silver watch, with which he set out to " seek his fortune." He left his farm home in New York, and in a little frame school house near New Brunswick, New Jersey, taught his first school at a salary of thirty-seven dollars a month, which was his first independent venture in life. He fol- lowed the profession of teaching for a few years, studying meanwhile to prepare him- self for college. He entered Union College in 1856, worked his own way through that institution, graduating with honor in 1860. After graduation, he taught Latin and Greek in Fort Edward Institute for a year, but the times were not such as to tempt men of his temperament to scholastic pursuits.
The Civil War was on, and in October, 1861, he joined Company I of the Fifthi New York Cavalry as a private soldier. He was soon made sergeant-major of his regiment, and as a drill-master showed huis fitness by learning the three books of United States Cavalry Tactics by heart. His regiment went with General Banks into the Shenandoah valley, and it was at Winchester, after Stonewall Jackson's victory, that he was captured by the rebels, while lying in the hospital suffering with an attack of typhoid fever. He was paroled. The United States government at that time refused to exchange prisoners, and he was compelled to take his discharge on June 7, 1862. Six months later he made an unsuccessful attempt to re-enter the army. No option being left him, he returned to the vocations of peace. Mr. Miller's personal interest in the welfare of the common soldier, strengthened by knowledge of the hardships endured on the field and in the hospital, has kept him in active association with old comrades, and he is a member of the Aaron Helmer Post of the G. A. R., of Herkimer. It also made bim, when in Congress, a successful advocate of bills to increase the pensions of soldiers and to otherwise promote their interests.
Shut out from military service, he gave little further thought to Greek roots and Latin syntax, but started out to make his fortune. He secured a position in a paper mill at Fort Edward, soon mastered the method of manufacture, and worked his way to the foremanship. From the first he saw how crude were the processes, and he dreamed of the possibihties. He was sent by his employers, as an expert, to Belgium to supervise the construction and operation of a paper mill to manufacture straw paper by a new process. While engaged in this enterprise his attention was attracted to the use of wood as an ingredient in paper. He immediately grasped the fact that this was the discovery destined to revolutionize paper-making. He returned home to develop the idea. Having no means of his own, he interested friends to join him in the organ- ization of a company for the experiment of pulp-making. There were innumerable obstacles in the way. He has often spoken of those days when he stood on the brink of his great success, as the darkest in his whole career. Paper makers did not take kindly to the new discovery. Their first experiments with it were crude and unsatis- factory. They were sure that wood pulp would never make paper ; they refused to
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
use it, and the company saw its product thrown back into its storehouses, an unmarket- able article. It needed such an emergency to test Warner Miller. Unshaken and sanguine, he was more determined than ever. His own experiments had convinced him that a satisfactory paper could be made of which at least seventy-five per cent. was wood pulp, and at such a price as would compel manufacturers to use the new ingredient in self-defense. So a paper mill was added to the pulp manufactory, and he quickly demonstrated the absolute correctness of his theory. Success came at once, as he knew it must, and thus began the era of cheap paper, and to Warner Miller belongs the credit. For a time his political opponents were accustomed to apply to him the epithet " Wood Pulp." Mr. Miller never resented this, but in public addresses and other- wise alluded to it as his only title to nobility. The process has revolutionized journal- ism, and has done more than any other one invention to make possible the tremendous increase in the publication of successful newspapers.
Mr. Miller early showed his natural aptitude for politics. For many years he was chairman of the Republican county committee of Herkimer county, and repeatedly demonstrated his skill as a political organizer. His first appearance in public life was as a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1872, at Philadelphia, which renominated President Grant. In 1873 he was elected to represent Herkimer county in the Assembly, and was his own successor in that body the following year. Here lie was brought into close association with many of the men who have since been poten- tial in the affairs of state, and among them made his mark as a man of self-poise, cool judgment and great industry. IIe served on the insurance committee in the Assembly of 1874. and on the ways and means and canal committees in 1875.
It was throngh his efforts that the first law was passed in this State, providing for compulsory education. In 1878 he was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress by the Re- publicans of the Twenty-Second Congressional District, then composed of the counties of Herkimer, Jefferson and Lewis. In 1880 he was re-elected, and his majorities in both contests demonstrated his strength and popularity among those farming counties. In the House of Representatives he served on the committee on militia. He devoted himself faithfully to the duties of his office, making few speeches, but studying eare- fully the methods of legislation and the principles underlying it, and constantly grow- ing in influence and popularity.
Mr. Miller had hardly entered upon his second term as representative in Congress in 188I, before the complications arose which led to the resignations of Senators Conkling and Platt, and the long dead-lock in the Legislature at Albany. He was at once suggested by many of his friends as an admirable candidate for United States Senator to fill one of the vacancies. He received many complimentary votes in the early days of that struggle which began in May and continued two months. It ended July 16, 1891,-the most memorable pohtical contest in the State-in the choice of Mr. Miller for the long term in place of Senator Platt, followed a few days later by the election of his colleague in Congress, Elbridge G. Lapham.
The people soon found that a man had been chosen to represent them in the United States Senate fully equal to the requirements of the imperial State, and who was des- tined to occupy a position in that body altogether worthy of the great Commonwealth
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whose interests he considered with quiek intelligence and ceaseless industry. The study and observation of all these years of preparation were now brought promptly and effectively into requisition upon this broader field. The deliberation and careful methods of the Senate were in keeping with the mental habits and tastes of Mr. Miller, and his voice was soon heard on many of the vital questions then pending in Congress. He rose steadily to the rank of a skillful and effective debater, and in the estimation of his colleagues and friends. He proved what had been claimed for him, that he was a faithful, conseientious, able and industrious representative of the greatest State in the Union, and he steadily won honors for himself and his State. That veteran legislator, Senator Sherman, of Ohio, onee said of Mr. Miller and of his work and influence in the Senate : "He is one of our ablest senators. Judged by that crucial test, the power "to produce results, he is one of the strongest men we have. You notice that when "he undertakes a thing, it is very apt to be carried. He has represented New York "right along with courage and great ability, as questions have come up in which she had "stake. Both in the committee room and in the Senate, he presents a subjeet with "force and clearness. In his relations with senators he shows good judgment and good " feeling, and does not weaken his influence by the friction of unnecessary personal "antagonism." The lamented Senator John A. Logan, who became his trusted friend, remarked to a colleague during the great debate on the tariff in 1882, that he had learned not only to let Warner Miller alone, but to follow his vote on any question that concerned the tariff.
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