USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : from 1700 to the present time, Volume I > Part 67
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MRS. CAROLINE STANSBURY KIRKLAND (1808-1864). A resident of Clinton in her youth, and wife of Prof. William Kirkland of Hamilton College; wrote stories and descriptions of pioneer life; also other works. A New Home, Who'll Follow ?; Western Clearings; Essay on the Life and Writings of Spenser; Per- sonal Memoirs of Washington; Garden Walks with the Poets.
MRS. FRANCES MIRIAM BERRY WHITCHER (1812-1852) ; born in Whitesboro. A popular humorist; wife of an Episcopal clergyman, settled at Elmira and later at Whitesboro. Widow Bedott Papers; Widow Spriggins; and an un-
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finished story, Mary Elmer, edited and completed with biographical sketch of the author, by MRS. MARTHA L. WHITCHER, author of Stray Leaves in the His- tory of Whitesboro.
MRS. CAROLINE M. FISHER SAWYER (1812-1864). Wife of Thomas Jeffer- son Sawyer; lived seven years at Clinton; author of translations of Hebrew poetry and German Philosophy ; in 1861 Ed. Rose of Sharon, a monthly maga- zine in the French language; and Ladies Repository. Poetry of Hebrew Tradi- tion.
MRS. EMILY CHUBBUCK JUDSON, "Fanny Forester," (1817-1854). While a teacher at Miss Sheldon's Utica Female Academy, wrote Alderbrook and other tales and verses; married Rev. Adroniram Judson, and went with him as missionary to Burmah.
The sisters, FRANCES and METTA FULLER, lived at Rome, and afterwards in Whitestown; their earliest work, a poem written in conjunction; both wrote novels and verses, and Frances became a large contributor to Bancroft's History of the Pacific States. Born in the thirties, Metta died in '85; Frances in '98. They married brothers. All Over Oregon; The New Penelope; Two Mormon Wives; The Senator's Son.
MRS. ELIZABETH JESUP EAMES. Lived in New Hartford from 1837. Poems : The Crowning of Petrach ; Cleopatra; Sonnets to Milton, Addison, Dryden, and Tasso.
MRS. MARY CLEMMER AMES (1830-1884) ; born in Utica. Poems of Life and Nature; Ten Years in Washington; Memorials of Alice and Phoebe Cary.
MRS. THEODOSIA FOSTER, "Faye Huntington," born 1838. An educator of Verona, N. Y .; has written extensively for young people. In Earnest; A Baker's Dozen; A Modern Exodus.
MRS. ISABELLA MACDONALD ALDEN, "Pansy," born 1841. Lived in New Hartford, where her husband was pastor of the Presbyterian church, 1873-6; began there the series of "Pansy Stories," embracing about 75 titles, and edited S. S. Magazine; Lesson Helps, for primary S. S. work. Esther Reid; A King's Daughter; Four Girls at Chautauqua, etc. Residence, Philadelphia.
ROSE ELIZABETH CLEVELAND (born 1846). Lives at Holland Patent; George Eliot's Poetry and Other Studies; The Long Run, a Novel.
MRS. FLORENCE MORSE KINGSLEY was the oldest child of Jonathan Bradley and Eleanor Ecob Morse. She was a very delicate but precocious child, and had thoughts far beyond her years. At the age of three she would lean against her mother's knee and say, "I want to talk an essay." It has been a source of regret that some of the quaint utterances of this child thinker were not pre-
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served. She was taught at home until her eleventh year, and thus had a solid elementary education. She could read fluently at the age of five, and at the age of seven took first prize for the perfect recitation of a long chapter from the Bible. The Bible was her daily study, and every verse was explained care- fully and accurately. Her wonderful knowledge of the Bible was due to this training. She studied at Wellesley College for two and a half years, and was for a time greatly interested in painting, teaching it for ten years. She married Rev. Charles B. Kingsley, president of Milwaukee College, and was the mother of five children before she began seriously to write. Before that time, poems, essays, papers on scientific and historical subjects, had comprised her literary work. In 1894, David Cook, of a publishing house of Chicago, offered a prize of $1,000 for a Life of Christ. It was to be clear, simple, ab- solutely historical, and no words but the words of Christ were to be attributed to him. Mrs. Kingsley wrote for this prize a book, entitled Titus, a Comrade of the Cross, and against 375 competitors won the prize. This book at once gave her name and fame. It has been published all over the world, and been translated into nineteen languages. One eminent critic pronounced it equal to Pilgrim's Progress, in purity of English. Over two million copies of this book have been sold in this country, and the sale abroad is unknown. The one other book which has gone through many editions and has attained na- tional distinction is The Transfiguration of Miss Philura. There are twelve Miss Philura Clubs on the Pacific Coast, and many in other places. Other publications are : Stephen, a Soldier of the Cross; Paul, a Herald of the Cross; The Cross Triumphant; Prisoners of the Sea; Under the Star; An Unrecorded Miracle; Lead Kindly Light; The Needle's Eye; Wings and Fetters; The Sing- ular Miss Smith; The Intellectual Miss Lamb; Gar, a Street Boy of Jerusalem; Truthful Jane; The Princess and the Plowman; Balm in Gilead; Those Queer Browns; The Resurrection of Miss Cynthia; The Glass House; And So They Were Married; Those Brewster Children; The Star of Love; To the Highest Bidder; Francesca; The Return of Caroline. Of this number seven are small books of not more than 20,000 words. The Star of Love is the life of Queen Esther.
Mrs. Kingsley is now, after repeated requests, engaged upon another Life of Christ, which is expected to be entirely unlike Titus. No one disturbs Mrs. Kingsley in the forenoon, which is the time she is at her desk. The rest of the day she devotes to her family and friends, and much out door life. She is also an efficient helper in the church of which her husband is pastor.
EDUCATORS
THOMAS HASTINGS, Doctor of Music, was born in Washington, Ct., October 15, 1784, and came to Clinton in 1797, removing from there to Utica soon after- ward. He taught and wrote music. He published the Musica Sacra, a book of sacred music, which was used extensively in churches. While a resident of Utica he led the music for a time in Trinity, and later in the First Presbyterian church, and during this period he composed some of his most popular hymns for special occasions in that church. In 1832 he removed to New York, and
JOSEPII SEIBOTII ( Musician, Composer and Organist )
E. D. BROWN, ARTIST (Painter)
JONATHAN B. MORSE, ARTIST (Landscape Painter)
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died there in 1872. While in Utica he wrote such hymns as Rock of Ages, Zion, On the Mountain Top Appearing, Ortonville, Retreat and From Every Stormy Wind that Blows. The latter hymn was composed while he was attend- ing a religious meeting at Auburn. The words were sung to a tune which he disliked, and he said to a friend that he could not endure it, and would write satisfactory music for the words. He sat down and immediately produced the tune, to which the familiar words are so frequently sung.
GEORGE WASHINGTON GALE (1789-1862) ; Union, '14; founded Manual Labor School at Whitesboro, 1835; at the head of a colonizing party of his old neigh- bors, founded the town and college of Galesburg, Ill.
GEORGE ROBERT PERKINS (1812-1876) ; Hamilton, '52; Teacher in Liberal Institute, Clinton; Prin. Utica Academy, 1838-44; Prof. and Prin. State Normal School, Albany ; Director Dudley Observatory, 1852; Regent of the University, 1862; resident of Utica continuously for more than twenty years before his death; author of a series of mathematical text books.
WILLIAM HENRY CARPENTER (born Utica, 1853) ; Cornell, Leipzig, and Frei- burg; Lecturer on N. European Lit., Cornell, 1883; Lecturer and Ass't Prof. Columbia, 1881-90; succeeded Prof. H. H. Boyesen as head of the Dept. Ger- man Languages, 1875; Grundriss der Neuislandischen Grammatik; Translation of an Icelandic poem, date A. D. 1400.
EDWARD NORTH (born 1820) ; Hamilton, '41; Prof. Greek and Latin at Ham- ilton, 1843-62; of Greek Lang. and Lit., from 1862; in constant service of fifty years has instructed 2,000 students; Necrologist since 1855.
ANSON JUDD UPSON (born 1823) ; Hamilton, '43; active as educator; held chairs of Logic, Rhetoric and Elocution at Hamilton, 1849-70; Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theol. at Auburn Theological Seminary, 1880-7; Regent of the University from 1874; Chancellor from 1892 to time of his death.
HERMANN CARL GEORGE BRANDT (born 1850) ; Hamilton, '72; Assoc. Prof. German, Johns Hopkins, 1876-82; German Grammar for Schools and Colleges; German Reader; also (with Prof. H. C. G. Jagemann), German-English and English-German Dictionary.
ARTISTS
HENRY INMAN (1801-1846) ; born in Utica. Brother of Commodore In- man; student under the artist Jarvis; excelled in portraits, but was also dis- tinguished for landscapes and miniatures. Most of his works are in England; portraits of Wordsworth, Dr. Chalmers and Maucauley ; others are in this coun- try. In the Capitol at Washington is his portrait of Chief Justice Marshall.
ERASTUS DOW PALMER, born 1817. Came to Utica a lad in 1826, and is mentioned as a resident in the directories for 1844-50; at first carpenter and
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pattern maker; afterward executed portrait busts and bas reliefs, and later ideal pieces. The Indian Girl; The White Captive; The Sleeping Peri, etc. The great gilded sheep that for thirty years adorned the Utica Steam Woolen Mill was one of Palmer's youthful creations; specimens of his finer work are also to be found in Utica. His home was for many years in Albany.
DR. HENRY HOGEBOOM worked in clay and marble in Utica, between 1850 and 1870; excelled in portraiture in intaglio.
JONATHAN BRADLEY MORSE was born in Montpelier, Vt., in 1834. His parents were of that heoric band, who, leaving all the comforts and assured ease of the East, sought a new home in the then wilderness of Ohio. They settled in Medina county, and their first homes were built of trees, felled to make a clear- ing for their crops. The Morse family came of a thinking, sturdy race. In their ranks were found farmers, soldiers, clergymen, inventors and artists. Samuel Breese Morse was the son of a brother of the great grandfather of Mr. Morse. Dr. Asa Bradley was his great grandfather on his mother's side, and was one of the most noted physicians and surgeons in Connecticut. Asa Brad- ley, Jr., fitted for college in the same class with Daniel Webster. Inheriting thus a taste for study, it naturally followed that Mr. Morse became a student himself. He graduated from Oberlin College and afterward from Auburn Theological Seminary. He was extremely versatile, being equally fine in both language and mathematics. He was invited to fill the Chair of Greek in one institution and of Mathematics in another, but declined both, disliking the monotony of teaching. During his ministry of eighteen years his health was very delicate; was a man of positive convictions and ardent temperament; was successful wherever he preached, building up the churches he served, but the soul outwore the body, and he was finally compelled to leave the ministry. He was, from boyhood, always an artist, and his physicians hoped that the outdoor work of an artist might restore his health; for a number of years he was so much improved in health that it seemed as if he might entirely recover. It was not to be, however, and his health gradually failed until 1898, when he died in Utica. He was a successful artist, and his pictures adorn some of the finest homes in America. The sea allured him, and he painted the coast from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia. He was equally successful with landscape, and here his versatile nature was most conspicuous. His skies were always true in color and drawing, and the subtle atmospheric effects of mist and rain, snow and frost, sunshine and shadow he gave to his canvases. Quiet fields, with groups of sheep or cattle, the brown glint of the trout stream, the translucent greens and shadowy depths of the forest he loved to paint. He never cared for human life in his pictures. "Nature alone," he said. One of his finest pictures was a large water color marine, which was pronounced by critics to be one of the best marine views of the year by any artist. It was the "Grand Cross" of Grand Menan at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. It is owned by a gentleman in Boston. Another was "The Old Maid's Paradise" in oil. A picture of the little cottage on the Downs of Glouscester, East Point. The place was loneliness itself-so lonely that even Elizabeth Stuart Phelps left it after
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a year. The picture was a low twilight, with a sky suppressed with color brooding over the rolling Downs, with rich russets and greens, and the sea shimmering out to the far horizon. This picture is owned in Cleveland. These are only typical of the many he painted, for he was a very rapid worker. Every picture, however, was first thought out, to the least detail, before brush was put to the canvas, and when he began to paint he knew exactly what he was aiming at.
MRS. ELEANOR ECOB MORSE was born in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1837. If she has always loved nature it is due to the fact that her father was the most ardent nature lover, and from her earliest childhood, nature and religion were her twin teachers. Mrs. Morse studied at Oberlin College, and there met her future husband, to whom she was married in 1858. Through all her busy life she managed to get some time each day to devote to art, and after a time found herself at the head of enthusiastic art classes. Her pictures began to find a ready sale, and when her husband's health failed she was able to add materially to the family income. The art of Mrs. Morse did not conflict with that of her husband; she looked at the foreground, he at the distance. Her works were in flowers, fruit, birds and still life. Lilacs were one of her specialties. A large picture of roses and still life, owned by a gentleman in Pittsburg, was good in drawing and color. Little chickens were one of her favorite studies, and so many broods of chickens were brought up in her studio, she used laughingly to declare she was a very successful hen. Mrs. Morse was identified with church work during all her life in Utica, and her regret in leaving was the breaking of many ties formed while there.
LEMUEL MAYNARD WILES (born 1826). Taught drawing in Utica Public Schools for a number of years before 1864. Director College of Fine Arts, Ingham Univ., Leroy, N. Y .; Director Art. Dept. University of Tennessee, Nash- ville. Residence, New York.
IRVING RAMSEY WILES (born Utica, 1861). Son of L. M. Wiles. Studied at Art Students' League in New York, and in Paris with Boulanger, Lefebre and Carolus Duran; portrait and figure painter, and illustrator for leading magazines. Residence, New York.
ARTHUR B. DAVIES (born Utica, 1862), of Welsh parentage. His earliest work was illustrating for The Century and St. Nicholas magazines. In his works landscape broadly treated is subsidary to the human and poetical con- ception. Residence, New York.
ACTORS
JAMES HENRY HACKETT (1800-1871). Comedian and manager; merchant in Utica, 1820-1825; made his first essay as actor in the part of "Dromio" in New York, 1826. Later made a great success in London and New York as "Falstaff," a part in which he was said to be without a rival.
Vol I-35
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JOHN A. ELLSLER (born 1822). Actor and manager. For two seasons from 1852 or 1853, associated in the management of the Utica Museum, where is now the store of Buckingham and Moak. Maggie Mitchell was in his com- pany. His wife, FANNY, took the principal woman's parts. His daughter, EFFIE, has won a reputation in "Hazel Kirke."
WILLIAM H. CRANE a native of Massachusetts. Came to Utica about 1864; was engaged by the Holman Opera Company, composed chiefly of the young members of the Holman family, with headquarters at Utica,-their programs opera bouffe; remained with them for two seasons; married in Utica.
M. EDYTH WALKER, the youngest child of a family of six, was born at Hope- well, a town near Canandaigua, N. Y. At an early age she removed with her parents, Marquis L. and Mary Purdy Walker, to Geneva, N. Y., remaining there until she was about 12 years of age, when the family came to Rome, N. Y., to live. Edyth entered the public schools at once, and graduated from the Rome Free Academy with honor in 1884. She immediately took a posi- tion in one of the Rome schools as teacher, but did not continue long at that work, for her musical talents, which had been pronounced from early childhood, called for a wider field of activity. After taking a short musical course in Boston, she accepted a position as instructor in music in the Public schools of Syracuse, at the same time singing in the Westminster Church Choir of Utica, but retaining her residence in Rome. By critics she was pronounced the finest contralto singer of her day who had ever appeared in the churches of Utica. In July, 1889, occurred the death of her mother, and the July follow- ing, she sailed for Europe to pursue her musical studies, locating at Dresden. There she took a four years' course in the Dresden Conservatory of Music. Notwithstanding the impediments she encountered, her ambition induced her to persevere until she reached the zenith of her profession. Before she returned to her native country she sang in most of the great capitols of Europe and before many of the crowned heads, and was received everywhere with the greatest favor. During the seasons of 1904-5-6, she sang in America, and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City. During her season at the Metropolitan the company was one of the strongest ever pre- sented to a New York audience, and as an illustration of the standing of Miss Walker, it is well to quote what one of the most prominent critics in one of the great New York papers said of her last entertainment: "She seemed to surpass herself last night, and there is no other person for her to surpass." The last year of her engagement in this country, she crossed the United States, singing in the principal cities, and reached San Francisco just at the time of the great earthquake. She immediately returned to New York and sailed for Europe. Up to this time Miss Walker had sung contralto parts in the great operas, but for the first time she undertook in London the great change of becoming a soprano. On this first occasion the audience consisted largely of prominent Americans then visiting in London. Her performance was a pro- nounced success, and she received an ovation from her fellow countrymen. She has since been singing the soprano roles of the leading operas in European
MRS. MARY BUSSY
ROSE ELIZABETH CLEVELAND Educator and Authoress (Sister of Grover Cleveland)
MISS JANE KELLY Preceptress of Utica Female Academy
MRS. G. R. ALDEN (Writer under the name of
MISS EDYTH WALKER
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cities. During the Coronation celebration of King George, she had an engage- ment in London. Since then she has sung in Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and at present is connected with the Hamburg (Germany) Opera Company.
HARRIETTE KEYES was born in Skaneateles, N. Y., and when quite young removed to Rome with her father, Clarence E. Keyes, who was at the time proprietor of Stanwix Hall in that city. Miss Keyes attended the public schools in Rome, and at an early age showed signs of musical talent, which were developed by Mrs. Marion E. Davison of Rome. Miss Keyes has been emi- nently successful in her musical career, having been connected with several opera companies, and at the present time, November, 1911, is leader of the famous Girl's Quartette, which has as one of its members Miss Allie Thomas, another Rome singer of marked ability. This quartette is enthusiastically received wherever it appears.
MICHAEL SOLOMON WHALLEN was born in Rome, a son of Michael C. Whal- len. Early in life he commenced a most successful stage career as singer and monologist. His ability to entertain is unique, and his funny stories and songs have caused him to be styled "The American Harry Lauder." His success has not been confined to his native country alone, as he has attained great prominence abroad.
GILES STUART BRODOCK was born in Vienna, Oneida county. While a young child his parents, Chauncey Brodock and Mary E. Perrin Brodock removed to Rome. Giles received his early education at the public schools of Rome, and in 1881 entered a Dramatic School in New York City, from which he graduated in 1883, and since that time has followed his profession. It is as a dramatic instructor of amateurs he chiefly excels, being possessed of that rare gift, the faculty of imparting his knowledge to others. At one time he conducted a dramatic school in Pittsburg. He is thought one of the best stage directors in the country, and for some time has been engaged in conducting plays in different cities in the United States.
Some of the above sketches have been taken from a valuable little book prepared by the New Century Club of Utica, entitled "Outline History of Utica and Vicinity."
BANKERS
STALHAM WILLIAMS was connected with a Utica bank longer than any other person who has ever lived in the city. He took charge of money that was deposited with John C. and Nicholas Devereux. They received deposits as individuals, and Mr. Williams had charge of these funds. When these deposits had amounted to a considerable sum of money a savings bank was organized known as the Savings Bank of Utica, and Mr. Williams became its secretary and treasurer. This was in 1839, and he retained this position up to the time of his death in 1873, when he had arrived at the age of 99 years and six months. When he reached the age of 70 years, he tendered his resignation, but the trustees refused to accept it, and he was daily at the bank until he was more
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than 90 years of age. He was a man of Puritanic habits, of high character, and took a lively interest in religious matters.
PUBLIUS V. ROGERS was born in Antwerp, N. Y., December 30, 1824. He prepared for college in the schools of Jefferson county, entered Hamilton College in 1843 and graduated in 1846. He commenced studying law at Adams, N. Y., and also was employed as bookkeeper in the Hungerford Bank of that village. He also studied law for a short time in Watertown, and for a time was employed as engineer on the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg railroad. He became cashier of the Watertown Bank and Loan Company in 1849. In 1850 he was made cashier of the Fort Stanwix Bank in Rome. September 1, 1853, he became cashier of the Bank of Utica, and was made president of that institution in 1876. He was a most successful banker, and it is no disparagement to others to say that no man has ever been connected with the banks of Utica who stood higher as a financier than Mr. Rogers. He was connected with many of the large business enterprises of Utica, was trustee of Hamilton College, and for a time its treasurer; was a manager of the Utica State Hospital; was a member of Fort Schuyler and other clubs, and had conducted his affairs in such a manner as to accumulate a fortune. At the time of his death he was a large owner of stock in the First National Bank of Utica, the successor to the Bank of Utica, and this placed his son, Charles B. Rogers, at the head of the institution, and he still holds that position.
ROBERT S. WILLIAMS was born in Utica, September 10, 1828. He was first employed in Auburn in the establishment of a bookbinder, with an understand- ing that he should have certain hours for study, but he in after years com- plained that those hours of study grew less and less until they amounted to nothing. His health failed, and he spent two years on a farm in New Hartford. In 1844 he attended school in Brooklyn, but returned to Auburn and entered the employment of Mr. Ivison, the bookbinder, in whose employ he had served before. He also attended the academy at Homer for a time, but for want of funds was obliged to give up a college course. He returned to Utica, and for a time was employed as mail agent upon the railroad between Albany and Buffalo. In 1852 he became bookkeeper in the city bank of Utica, and in 1884, entered the Oneida Bank, where, after passing through the different grades of employment, he became its president. He managed the bank with great ability, and the institution, having been changed from a state to a national bank, took high rank among the financial institutions of the city, in fact, was considered during the entire time that it was under the management of Mr. Williams one of the strongest institutions in the city. Mr. Williams was interested in many of the industries of the city, was prominent in educational and church affairs, was a man of excellent literary tastes, and spent much of his time in the magnificent library that he had devoted his life in acquiring. It is probable that he had the finest private library of any person in the county. He died, leaving a large fortune to his wife and two surviving children.
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