USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : from 1700 to the present time, Volume II > Part 45
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Mr. Millar was a man of rare business thrift and ability, and no one ever left a more honorable record or one more worthy of emulation. The enterprises which he founded and with which he was connected are among the most im- portant in Utica. His steady and persistent application to business brought him success. Serupulously upright in his dealings, far-sighted and compre- hensive in commercial and financial conditions, he conquered fortune and at the same time held the confidenee of the community and the esteem of all who knew him. For more than half a century he was an active foree in the
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business, social and public life of the city, whose interests and welfare he helped to increase and further. He was a man of the strictest integrity, progressive, public-spirited and benevolent, and gave liberally to all worthy objects. In politics he was a strong abolitionist and a free-soil democrat, and affiliated with the republicans upon the organization of that party, whose principles he ever afterward supported. He was alderman from the fourth ward for two years, at the time of the incendiary fires, and was himself a suf- ferer from the burning of his carpenter shop on Division street. He was president of the Utica Mechanics Association one term and for several years chairman and manager of their fairs, which at one time were so popular.
Mr. Millar was married in England, in 1833, to Miss Jane Quait, by whom he had nine children, four of whom are living as follows: Frances S., Julia A., Louise A. and Carrie E. The parents celebrated their golden wedding on the 15th of September, 1883. Charles Millar passed away in Utica on the 23d of February, 1890.
Henry W. Millar, whose name introduces this review, obtained his educa- tion in the public schools and in 1866 became his father's partner in the firm of Charles Millar & Son, having first spent five years in familiarizing himself with the business. The name of the firm was not changed after the death of the senior partner. The concern dealt in hardware, plumbers' supplies, etc. It was the agent for the Utica Pipe Foundry Company, in the establishment of which Henry W. Millar and his father were mainly instrumental and to the presidency of which the former succeeded after the latter's demise. To Henry W. Millar is also due the largest share of credit for the establishment of the Savage Arms Company, of which concern he was the first president. He was likewise the president of the Whitesboro Canning Company and the Sauquoit Canning Company; the first vice president of the Utica City Na- tional Bank and the Utica Trust & Deposit Company; vice president of the Utica Knitting Company; a stockholder in the First National and Oneida National Banks, Utica and Mohawk Valley Cotton Company, Shenandoah Cot- ton Company, International Heater Company, Willoughby Carriage Company, Whitestown Water Company, Wright-Dana Hardware Company, New York Central Railroad, Western Union Telegraph Company, Stradling Plumbing & Heating Company ; a director of the Utica and Mohawk Valley Railroad Company, the George Young Bakery, the Utica Paving Company and the Utica Mechanics Association; a manager and president of St. Luke's Home and Hospital, a trustec of the Soldiers Monument Association and the Forest IIill Cemetery Association and one of the managers of the Utica Chamber of Com- merce. Mr. Millar was preeminently a man of affairs and one who wielded a wide influence, and the soundness of his business judgment was such that his cooperation was continually sought in the control and management of important concerns. Enterprise, industry, thoroughness, executive ability and unfaltering integrity were recognized as his dominant characteristics.
In 1879 Mr. Millar was united in marriage to Miss Kate Wagner, of Whitesboro, by whom he had five children, four of whom are still living, namely : Florence, Eleanor, Gertrude and Charles. The wife and mother was called to her final rest on the 3d of June, 1905.
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Mr. Millar was a republican in polities and a most loyal, public-spirited citizen withholding his aid and cooperation from no movement instituted to promote the general welfare. ITis religious faith was indicated by his mem- bership in Calvary Episcopal church, in which he served as a vestryman. lle likewise belonged to the Fort Schuyler Club, the Maple Lake Club and the Yahnundahsis Golf Club. So upright and honorable was his life in all of its phases, so commendable his principles, so manly and sincere his actions, that his name is enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him in a way that time cannot obliterate.
THOMAS REDFIELD PROCTOR.
Of good Revolutionary stock, Thomas Redfield Proctor, for many years past a leading citizen of Utica, proved himself a loyal son of the Union at the time of the Civil war and performed his part valiantly in the ranks of the boys in blue. As a business man he has been highly successful and has gained gen- eral recognition in Oneida county on account of his integrity of character and clear judgment. He is a native of Vermont, born at Proctorsville, May 25, 1844, a son of Moody S. and Betsy N. (Redfield) Proctor. The great-grand- father was an officer in the Revolutionary war and the founder of Proctorsville. Some of the ancestors took part in the Boston Tea Party and many of them have been prominent in civil and commercial life.
Mr. Proctor of this review received his early education in the publie schools and was about to graduate from the English high school of Boston when he entered the United States Navy as paymaster's elerk on the ship "Brandy- wine" of the North Atlantic Squadron in 1862. Later he became admiral's secretary of the Pacific squadron aboard the ship "Lancaster." He served as secretary to Admiral Pearson and took part in the capture of the Con- federates on the steamer San Salvador, and on December 13, 1864, he re- ceived the thanks of the secretary of the navy for meritorious conduet for this service. Ile was offered the position of paymaster in the regular navy at the close of the war but declined, preferring private life. After returning home he engaged in the hotel business as proprietor of the TappanZee House at Nyack, New York. On December 1, 1869, he came to Utica which he has sinee made his home and purchased Bagg's Hotel of which he was proprietor for twenty- one years, also being proprietor of the Butterfield House in Utiea for ten years, and later of the Spring House at Richfield Springs, all of which under his man- agement were successful. He also engaged in other lines of activity and is now president of the Second National Bank of Utica and the American Hard Wall Plaster Company of Utica; vice president of the Utiea Daily Press Company ; trustee of the Utica Savings Bank and a member of the board of directors of the Utiea Trust Company, the Utiea Steam & Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills and the Utica Cemetery Association; and a trustee of the Soldiers' Monument Asso- ciation. Having early learned to assume responsibility, Mr. Proctor developed
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THOMAS R. PROCTOR
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a business discernment which has borne the test of years and the various inter- ests with which he has been identified have prospered and a number of them are now among the leading institutions in this part of the state.
On the 9th of April, 1891, Mr. Proctor was united in marriage at Utica to Miss Maria Watson Williams, a daughter of Mrs. James Watson Williams of this city. Their only son died in infancy. In politics Mr. Proctor gives his support to the republican party in which he has for many years been an active worker. Ile served as delegate to the republican national convention at Chi- cago in 1908 which nominated Taft and Sherman, and his adviec is often sought in matters pertaining to municipal, county and state politics. He is president of the board of trustees of the House of the Good Shepherd and is a life member of the New York Agricultural Association. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar. He is a life member of the New England Society of New York and a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of the Colonial Wars, the Society of the Founders and Patriots of America, the Mayflower Society, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He is also a member of a number of clubs among which are the Metropolitan, Pilgrims, Players, Army and Navy, Navy League and Republican, all of New York city, and has for ten years past been president of the Fort Schuyler Club of Utica. Thoroughly efficient in anything he undertakes, he has been successful not only in various lines of business but also in attracting friends, few men in Oneida county being as sincerely re- spected. Anything pertaining to the welfare of Utica and its beautification arouses his interest and no more practical demonstration of his deep devotion could be given than the presentation of over five hundred acres of park grounds to the city, in which he makes his home and takes his pride. Always a gener- ous contributor to worthy causes, he has never lightly regarded his responsibili- ties to those with whom he has associated and to the world at large he is by many regarded in these as in other respects as a model citizen.
W. C. J. DOOLITTLE.
W. C. J. Doolittle, a representative and successful citizen of Utica, has for the past five years served as president of the Utica Heater Company, an ex- tensive manufacturing enterprise. IIe is numbered among the worthy native sons of this city, his birth having here occurred in 1879. His father, Hon. Charles A. Doolittle, was born in Utica, on the 22d of September, 1849, and was graduated with the degree of bachelor of arts from Amherst College in 1872. In 1875, after reading law in Utica with Adams & Swan, he won the degree of bachelor of laws from Hamilton College. He was admitted to the bar at Syracuse, in 1875, and began practice as a member of the firm of Ad- ams, Swan & Doolittle. He was appointed United States commissioner of jurors by Judge Blatchford, served as mayor of Utica in 1883 and 1884, and as a director in the Oneida County Bank and an original director of the American District Telegraph Company of Utica, now the Central Telephone
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Company. He was a vestryman of St. Paul's church, Utica, and is a charter member of the Fort Schuyler Club.
W. C. J. Doolittle supplemented his preliminary education by a course of study in Ridley College, from which institution he was graduated in 1898. His first business connection was that of assistant treasurer of the Hart & Crouse Company, while a few years later he became treasurer of the New York Radiator Company. In 1906 he became president of the Utiea Heater Company, which was organized in 1900 for the manufacture of all kinds of plants for heating purposes. The officers of the concern are as follows: W. C. J. Doolittle, president ; Edward Norris, treasurer; C. E. Ilodges, viee pres- ident ; and J. W. Lynch, secretary.
In 1901, at Utica, Mr. Doolittle wedded Miss Amelia Lowery, a daughter of James L. Lowery. Their union has been blessed with five children, namely : W. C. J., Jr., John Q. A., Julia T. S., Mary Adams and Marklove Lowery.
Mr. Doolittle has resided in Utiea from his birth to the present time and has gained an extensive cirele of friends here, his genuine personal worth com- mending him to the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact.
IION. JOHN W. MANLEY.
The intricate and involved problems of politics elaim a portion of the time and thought of Hou. John W. Manley, who is now serving as assemblyman from the first Oneida distriet, his term in office to continue from 1909 until 1912. His reeord in large measure stands in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for in a com- munity where he has spent his entire life, Mr. Manley has been accorded ree- ognition of his worth and ability and has been honored with office in various connections. He was born in Whitestown, Oneida county, March 13, 1845, and is a son of Thomas and Catherine (Kileannon) Manley, both of whom were natives of Ireland. The father was born on the Emerald isle in 1811, and in 1832 eame to Oneida county, where he engaged in farming. After some time he was made foreman in the Clark mills, which position he oeeu- pied for a number of years. In 1860 he removed to Florence, where he spent his declining days and at length passed away.
John W. Manley, after acquiring such an education as was afforded farm- er's boys at Whitestown, at those times, became an employe of the Malleable Iron Works of Westmoreland, where he remained for a number of years, gain- ing comprehensive knowledge of the business. He was afterward employed for five years by the Remington Arms Company, at Ilion, New York, and then returned to Utiea. where he spent several years in the employ of Hart & Munson. He was next appointed freight agent at Water street by the Dela- ware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, which position he filled for a quarter of a century. Later he was appointed superintendent of seetion 5, of the Erie Canal, which office he held for five years, and in 1895 he was
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named clerk to the board of charities, in which position he remained for three years, when there was a change in administration and he resigned. His life has been one of activity and usefulness and his labors have been exerted in various fields. In 1909 he was elected assemblyman and is still a member of the state legislature. He informs himself thoroughly upon all vital questions which come up for discussion and never holds to an equivocal position but fear- lessly announces the cause which he espouses, laboring untiringly for its de- velopment. He is today one of the best known men in the county, having for twenty-five years or more been prominent as a political leader in democratic ranks. During that period he has continuously attended the different party conventions and was chairman of the district committee for ten years. He has been a resident of the eleventh ward of Utica for forty years, being the first voter to settle in that ward and through the entire period he has resided in the same house.
Mr. Manley has been married twice. He wedded Miss Mary Ella Dagin, a daughter of Edward Dagin, of Whitesboro, and their children are as fol- lows: Margaret T., who is now the wife of Nicholas Cullen, of Utica; Harry F., who was educated in the Francis Street and Utica Advanced schools and is now a trained nurse of Cleveland; John E., who in the acquirement of his education attended successively the Francis Street, the Utica Advanced schools and the Utica School of Commerce, was afterward with the Utica Press for twelve years and is now clerk of the canals committee, of which his father is chairman. The wife and mother, Mrs. Ella Manley, died in May, 1884, and was laid to rest in St. Agnes cemetery in Utica. Mr. Manley has since mar- ried Miss Margaret T. Donohue, a daughter of John Donohue of Utica.
Mr. Manley has for many years been a member of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic church and for sixteen years has been one of its trustees. He belongs to the Utica Chamber of Commerce, to the Knights of Columbus, the Demo- cratic Association, and for many years was a member of the Knights of Honor. He is very popular with all classes and stands high in publie regard. He is ever approachable and genial and displays ready taet at all times whether meeting friend or stranger. He is well qualified for political leadership, be- cause of certain diplomatie qualities which he possesses and moreover, his patriotic loyalty to the public good is well known.
FRED WILLARD SMITH, M. D.
Among the successful members of the medical profession of Utiea must be numbered Dr. Fred Willard Smith, who was born in Richfield Springs, Ot- sego county, New York, on the 23d of September, 1877. The parents of Dr. Smith are Willard A. and Flora C. (Hinds) Smith.
His preliminary education was acquired in the public schools of his na- tive town, after the completion of which he matriculated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York city, from which institution he was awarded the degree of doctor of medicine with the class of
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1900. After his graduation Dr. Smith took a position on the visiting staff of St. Bartholomew's Dispensary and the Northwestern Dispensary of New York city. Hle subsequently came to Utiea to become interne in the Faxton IIos- pital, following which he established an office and engaged in general prac- tice, but making a specialty of surgery. He continues to be a member of the staff of Faxton Hospital, being retained in the capacity of visiting surgeon. Ile also holds the positions of visiting surgeon to the General Hospital, visit- ing physician to the House of the Good Shepherd and assistant surgeon of the New York Central and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroads.
Dr. Smith is a member of the Oneida County Medical Society, New York State and American Medical Associations as well as the Utica Medical Library Association.
On the 15th of May, 1907, Dr. Smith and Miss Anna Augusta Crawford were united in marriage, their union being solemnized in Memphis, Tennessee, which was the home of Mrs. Smith. They have a daughter, Marian Heathman Smith, who was born April 20, 1909.
JAMES GILLESPIE HUNT, M. D.
The medical profession may safely claim an unusually brilliant and sue- cessful representative in Dr. James Gillespie Hunt, who has practiced in Utica for more than forty years and has gained a national reputation as a sanitarian. Ile was born in Litchfield, Herkimer county, New York. June 21. 1845. a son of Dr. Isaac J. and Mary (Ingersoll) Hunt, the latter of whom was a native of Herkimer county and a daughter of John Ingersoll, a farmer and manufacturer. Dr. Isaac J. Hunt and four of his brothers were physicians. He was born at Warren, Herkimer county, March 27, 1820. After graduating from Castleton (Vt.) Medical College he began practice and for nearly thirty years was a leading physician of Utica, where he died January 25, 1875. There were two sons in the family of Dr. and Mrs. Hunt, James Gillespie and Loton S., the latter of whom was born in 1852 and was admitted to the bar.
The ancestry of the Hunt family has been traced through a number of generations to Rev. George Hunt, viear of Wadenhoe, Northampton county, England, and to Rev. Robert Hunt, one of the four brothers who emigrated to America about the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Jonathan Ilunt, of the "Northampton line," who lived in the township of New London. Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut, and Northampton, Massachusetts. Among the members of the family that deserves special mention should be named Timothy Hunt, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war under General Abercrombie in the attack on Fort Ticonderoga. IIe located in Tryon county, now Florida, Montgomery county, New York. He and his family narrowly escaped with their lives from an attack by Tories and Indians, November 12, 1778. Mr. Hunt's buildings were burned and most of his stock killed, but he and his family were saved by coneealing themselves in the thick underbrush of a neighboring ravine.
الجرواد
JAMES G. HUNT
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Dr. Hunt of this review attended the district school and was graduated from the Utica Free Academy in 1865. Soon afterward he became assistant bookkeeper of the Ilion Bank at Ilion, but after a year or more accepted a position in the Utiea postoffice, where he remained until 1867. He then went to Buffalo as bookkeeper for Andrews & Whitney, proprietors of the Mansion House, with whom he remained for one year. In 1868, having decided to devote his energies to the medical profession, he began the study of medicine in his father's office, where he continued for four years. He then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, where he took courses of lectures and a course in the laboratory of analytical and applied chemistry. This was followed by a third course in Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- phia, from which he was graduated March 13, 1871. In the same year he attended a course of clinical lectures at the Philadelphia Hospital. IIe re- ceived a diploma from the Philadelphia School of Anatomy and also from the Pancoast Anatomical School and one from the Philadelphia Quiz Asso- ciation on anatomy, chemistry, surgery and obstetrics. At graduation he received a larger number of honorable mentions for clinical instruction in medicine and surgery than any of his class-mates. He began practice in Utica in 1871 and was associated with his father for three years, since which time he has practiced alone. His capacity for professional labor in almost uu- bounded and he never permits outside interests to interfere with his devotion to his duties. He fully deserves the estimation in which he is held as one of the most competent physicians of central New York.
In 1872 Dr. Hunt became a member of the Oneida County Medical Society and was elected its president in 1897. IIe is a member of the Utica Medical Library Association and was elected its president in 1886, being also elected a member of the Oneida County Microscopical Society in 1881. He is a mem- ber of the American Medical Association and was elected president of the northern branch in 1898 and 1899. In 1880 he was chosen a member of the American Public Health Association, having by this time gained a wide reputa- tion as an investigator and writer upon subjects pertaining to the preserva- tion of health. He was appointed by Governor A. B. Cornell as health com- missioner of the state board of health in 1880 and served under the administra- tion of Governor Grover Cleveland, resigning in 1885. He was one of the in- corporators of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which was organized in 1881, and is now serving as physician to that society. In 1889 he was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as surgeon of the board of United States pension examiners and was appointed to the same office December 19, 1907, by President Theodore Roosevelt. He has served as sur- geon for several of the leading railways, among which may be named the Dela- ware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad Company, and also the New York, Ontario & Western Railway Company, in which he is now serving his twenty-seventh year. For two years he was in the service as railroad surgeon of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company. In 1882 he was elected a member of the New York State Association of Rail- way Surgeons and in 1891 was elected a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, being chosen vice president of the latter organization
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in 1898. Ile also filled the office of surgeon in charge at Faxton Hospital from 1880 to 1886 and has been a member of the hospital staff since 1886. Ile was selected as member of the hospital staff of St. Luke's Hospital in 1883 and of St. Elizabeth's Ilospital in 1888. He has held the rank of first lieu- tenant in the Forty-fourth Separate Company, National Guard, and was sur- geon of that organization, being also for several years president of the Utica Citizens' Corps. He has shown a special fitness and capacity in the various duties indicated and earned the respect and esteem of all with whom he associated.
Dr. Ilunt has been an extensive contributor to the annual reports of the state board of health, one of his most important efforts in this line being his report as chairman of the committee on publie institutions in the first annual report of the state of New York for the year 1880. In this report he pre- sented the results attained at the New York State Lunatic Asylum as to venti- lation, heating, drainage and water supply. In the second annual report of the board for the year 1881 Dr. Hunt, as chairman of the committee on public institutions, presented an outline of results of personal inspection and exact inquiry into the condition and sanitary wants of schoolhouses, which attracted general attention throughout the country. His leetures to the school of nurses of St. Luke's Hospital of Utiea and Faxton Hospital for a number of years past have been very instructive and have been read by thousands of persons who are interested in the promotion of the publie health. In questions per- taining to this subject he is a recognized authority.
Politically Dr. Hunt gives his support to the republican party. He was appointed by Governor Jolin A. Dix as coroner in November, 1873, and eon- tinued in the office nearly ten years. He was also appointed health officer of the city of Utica in 1874 and served for nearly twenty years. On July 10, 1883, he passed a civil service examination for health offieer with a rating of ninety-two and nine-tenths per eent. Ile inaugurated many useful reforms in the sanitary inspection of schoolhouses and public buildings and reduced to the greatest efficiency the system of ventilation, heating, drainage and water supply. hni 1887 he was strongly urged to become a candidate for mayor of Utica and received the unanimous nomination at the convention, but on account of pressure of professional duties he felt compelled to deeline the honor. Ile was appointed by Governor Theodore Roosevelt one of the managers of the Rome State Custodian Asylum December 29, 1899.
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