USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907, Vol. II > Part 40
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Thomas Holmes married Tamar Harris, and their children were: Sally, who married Eldad Granger; Lucy, who became the wife of John Wheeler; John; Mary .; Rachel ; Joseph ; Lydia,
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
who married Ashael Cleveland, in Buffalo, about 1814; Abigail, who became the wife of Jonathan Slater, of Champlain, New York ; and Susan, who married Daniel Smith afore mentioned. ·
(V) William Priest Smith, born February 7, 1813, at Hounsfield, New York, died January 5, 1899. He was educated at Rodman, New York. He was at one time colonel of the old time Thirty- sixth Regiment, New York State Militia, which was composed of men from Jefferson and Lewis counties. After his marriage he removed to St. Lawrence county, engaging in the business of manufacturing lumber, and became the owner of valuable farming and timber land. He served as justice of the peace and supervisor, being chair- man of the board of supervisors. Later in life he was for three successive terms elected associate judge of the county court. In politics he was a republican from the very organization of that party, and by his voice, efforts and vote contrib- uted to its success. William P. Smith married July 9. 1843, Sarah Porter Hungerford, born April 18, 1823, who traces her ancestry to Sir Thomas Hungerford, who in 1369 purchased from Lord Burghersh. Farley Castle, county of Somer- set, England, which castle for more than three hundred years continued to be the principal seat of his descendants, down to 1686. Sir Thomas was steward for John of Ghent, Duke of Lan- caster, son of King Edward III, and in the thirty- first year of that king's reign was elected speaker of the English house of commons, being reputed to be the first person chosen to that high office. He died December 3, 1398. His son, Sir Walter, afterward Lord Hungerford, K. G., was the first to adopt the crest of a garb, or wheat-sheaf, be- tween two sickles erect, with the motto "Et Dieu Mon Appuy" (God is my support). This has since been the crest of the Hungerford family.
John Hungerford, a lineal descendant of the above named. resided at Southington, Connecticut, where he died December 24, 1787. He served with distinction in the colonial wars, holding the ranks of ensign, lieutenant and captain. He took an active part in the siege of Crown Point on Lake Champlain. His son Amasa served in the Revo- lutionary army, participating in the battle of Bennington, where he served as colonel. His son, Amasa, Jr., was the father of Sarah ( Hungerford) Smith, was enrolled as one of the "minute men" in the war of 1812. He resided in Henderson, Jeffer- son county, New York, and was a prosperous far- mer and widely known. At one time he was in- terested in ship building at Stony Point on Lake Ontario. He died December 18, 1859, aged seventy-nine years.
Mr. and Mrs. William P. Smith were attendants at the Baptist church. They had eleven children, as follows: Lois Elizabeth married William G. Brown and passed away December 10, 1882.
Amasa Daniel, Chemist and druggist of Man- chester. New Hampshire, married Josephine I. Jones on the 18th of September, 1883. Annie Eliza died February 26, 1873. Frances Sally died January 12, 1899. George William, attorney and counsellor at law of Keeseville, New York, wedded Harriet P. Wells on May 19, 1887. Jay Hunger- ford, Ph. C., manufacturing chemist, president of J. Hungerford Smith Company, resides at Roches- ter, New York. Mary Louise died March 27, 1857. Jennie Venila, of Manchester, New Hampshire, married Edgar Ellsworth Castor, May 9, 1894. Joseph Brodie, vice president and general manager of the Manchester Traction, Light & Power Com- pany, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was born April 6, 1861. Frank Robbins, manufacturing chemist of Toronto, Ontario, married Ada Mar- garet Perkins, May 6, 1903. May Lillian, of Man- chester. New Hampshire, is the youngest member of the family.
J. Hungerford Smith was born at Fine, St. Lawrence county, New York, February 20, 1855, and after obtaining a common-school education in Richville, New York, he pursued a course in the Hungerford Collegiate Institute prior to enter- ing the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1877 with the degree of Pharma- ceutical Chemist. In 1880 he entered the whole- sale and retail drug business at Ausable Forks, New York, and the enterprise proved a profitable one. His skill and interest in chemistry led him to experimenting with fruit syrups with the idea of improving the various beverages dispensed from the soda fountains, and he thus became the ori- ginator of cold process true fruit fountain syrups, now so universally used. He is the recognized authority on fruit syrups in the world and his efforts and experiments have led to a high degree of perfection. Removing to Rochester in 1890, Mr. Smith organized the J. Hungerford Smith Company and began the manufacture of "True Fruit" syrups, which are today known throughout the world. He has been the president from the beginning and the splendid success of this enter- prise, now grown to mammoth proportions, is at- tributable to his efforts. The syrups have won the highest awards at various expositions and the sale is not confined to this country but includes export trade. The company owns their elegant factory buildings on North Goodman street, having one hundred and fifteen thousand square feet floor space. The plant is splendidly equipped with everything needed to promote perfection in manu- facture, and the sales of the house more than double those of any other enterprise of the char- acter in the world.
Mr. Smith was married on the 17th of May, 1882, to Miss Jean Dawson, of Ausable Forks, Essex county. New York, a daughter of John A. Dawson. Their children, six in number, are:
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
James Hungerford, Anna Dawson, Florence (who died in infancy), Jay Elwood, Lois and Helen Hungerford.
Because of the prominence which Mr. Smith had attained as a chemist and pharmacist, he was appointed when only twenty-eight years of age one of the five members of the state board of phar- macy and served eight years. He is a republican in politics but without desire for official prefer- ment as a reward for party fealty. Deeply inter- ested in Rochester's welfare and progress, hẹ co- operates with all the progressive movements for municipal improvement instituted by the Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a member and trustee, and in other ways gives his aid and influence to the city's development.
He is vice president of Cascade Lakes Club, in Adirondack preserve, director of Masonic Temple Association and president of Masonic Club of Ro- chester, and one of the best known Masons in this state. He was raised in Richville lodge, No. 633, F. & A. M., in 1880; demitted to Frank R. Law- rence lodge, No. 797, in 1892 ; and served as wor- shipful master in 1897-8. He is a member of Hamilton chapter, No. 62; Doric council, No. 19, R. & S. M .; Monroe commandery, No. 12: and Rochester consistory, S. P. R. S., of which he is now commander in chief. He received the thirty- third degree A. A. Scottish rite September 15. 1896. He has again and again been a member of the grand lodge ; was senior grand deacon in 1898; chairman of committee on work and lectures in 1899, introducing two important additions to the monitorial work which are now a part of the ritual. He was commissioner of appeals of the grand lodge, 1905, 1906 and 1907, and has been the grand representative of the grand lodge of Canada from the grand lodge of New York since April, 1900. He is now a custodian of the work.
His interests are varied and each organization, enterprise or movement with which he becomes connected feels the stimulus of his indefatigable energy and progressive spirit. His opinions carry weight in social, fraternal and political circles and in business life he has attained a measure of suc- cess that classes him with New York's most promi- nent manufacturers.
In the Scottish rite especially, his dramatic ability has had free scope and won ready and glad acknowledgment. Many of its degrees have been illuminated by a new meaning because of his talent in adding those details which are not to be found in rituals-but in the master mind. Under his administration the rite has grown not only in numbers but its personnel has taken on a luster which shines throughout the state, judges, lawyers, clergymen and physicians have been led to give him such a support as has lifted Scottish rite Ma- sonry in one empire jurisdiction into a prominence
that has demanded and received a fitting recogni- tion.
His administration has opened the way for Masonic advancement and Masonic distinction. The lines of national boundaries have been wiped out, and Mr. Smith has received well merited honors from the official leaders in the grand lodge of Canada, bearing the title and consequent honors of grand representative. Masonry counts him one of her most highly esteemed sons and Masonry has written his name on the pages of her history in characters that time cannot fade nor years forget.
AMOS HUBBELL COBB.
Amos Hubbell Cobb, deceased, was a pioneer in the canning industry in this state and through much of his life was connected with the business, eventually purchasing a canning factory at Fair- port, of which he was owner from 1881 up to the time of his death, ten years later. In his business life he was known for his enterprise and unfalter- ing integrity and his well defined labor brought him gratifying success.
He was born in Greenville, Greene county, New York, September 28, 1840, and was a son of Tyler Perry and Catherine (Hubbell) Cobb. When ten years of age, Amos H. Cobb went to Camden, Onei- da county, New York, where he made his home with his cousin, Ezra A. Edgett, later of Newark, New York, whom he assisted in planting the first field of sweet corn ever used for canning in New York state. Camden was the seat of the origin of the canning industry in this state. Later Mr. Edgett founded the Wayne Connty Preserving Company, today the oldest established factory of that character in New York. Amos H. Cobb re- mained with his cousin until a young man, when he went to New York city, where he was connected with Kemp, Day & Company and U. H. Dndley & Company, both houses being well known in the canned goods industry. . He remained with the latter firm until 1868, when he entered the paper commission business as a member of the firm of Goodwin, Cobb & Company. They did an import business, having offices in New York and Liver- pool, England, and were the first to import soda ash into this country by steamer. In 1881 Mr. Cobb removed to Fairport, purchasing of Ezra A. Edgett the canning factory, which the latter had established in 1843 as a branch of the Wayne County Preserving Company, of Newark, New York. He operated the factory for ten years, or up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 27th of August, 1891.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
In 1864 he had married Angie Hodgman, of Fort Edward, who survives him and still resides in Fairport. Since the death of her husband the business of the Cobb Preserving Company has been carried on by Mrs. Cobb and her sons. The fam- ily numbered five children, all yet surviving, namely : Frederick D. H. Cobb, of Rochester, treas- urer and manager of the Cobb Preserving Con- pany ; George Watson, who is vice president of the Cobb Preserving Company and secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Sanitary Can Com- pany; Amos H. Cobb, of Rochester, secretary of the Cobb Preserving Company ; Clarence S. Cobb, of Fairport, also connected with the business; and Angie Cobb Shepard, the wife of Stanley Shepard of Rochester.
The sons had a splendid example in their fath- er, who was a man of enterprise, marked business discernment and of unfaltering reliability. As stated, he was connected with the development of the canning industry in New York and after going to Fairport was an important factor in its indus- trial interests. An analyzation of his life work shows the possession of many sterling traits which commended him to the confidence, trust and good will of his fellowmen.
JAMES HARRIS.
The people of Fairport and Monroe county are to be congratulated upon a character of such eleva- tion and purity of purpose and such a devotion to the highest and best interests of the state as have been exhibited in the private and public life of James Harris. Although he has reached his eighty- sixth year, he is still alert and interested in the progress going on around him. As he looks back to his own boyhood and compares the thought and life of those days with what he sees today, won- derful, almost miraculous, the change must seem. He has ever been in harmony with this spirit of advancement and yet manifests an interest therein such as few men of his years possess. Descended from Scotch ancestry, whose sterling characteris- tics he seems to have inherited, he has ever com- manded the respect and confidence of the busi- ness world and his social acquaintances and has ever been a recognized factor for good in the community in which he resides.
His paternal grandfather, William Harris, Sr .. was a man of marked ability who became a leader in public thought and action in the community in which he lived. He wedded Mary Kilpatrick, who came of a distinguished family of the high- lands of Scotland, the ancestry being traced back to the times of Wallace and Bruce. The emigra- tion to America was made in 1802 and the first
home was in a Scotch settlement established by Sir William Johnson in what was then Montgom- ery county.
William Harris, Jr., the eldest son of William and Mary (Kilpatrick) Harris, was married in April, 1806, at the age of twenty-two years, to Sallie Shoecraft, the eldest daughter of John Shoecraft, who was a patriot of the Revolutionary war, enlisting from Ulster county, New York, and serving under General Washington. After Ameri- can independence had been established he was married, in Washington county, New York, to Betsey McKee, who was also of Scotch parentage, the family, however, being prominent among the early settlers of that part of New York, whence they afterward removed to Fulton county. The year 1806 witnessed the removal of William Har- ris, Jr., and his young bride to the Genesee coun- try. They were accompanied by her father and his family, and settlements were made in what is now the town of Webster, in Monroe county. Mr. Shoecraft and his two sons were members of the State Militia at the time of the war of 1812. Intimately identified with the interests of this lo- cality from its earliest days, both families were well known and much respected. The first organ- ized school of the locality was taught by Mr. Har- ris in 1810, and he did much to promote the early intellectual development of the community. Re- moving to a farm in the town of Penfield, he there continued to reside until his death, which occurred in December, 1842. A contemporary bi- ographer has said of him, "Endowed with the at- tributes of a fine nature and gifted with an un- usual amount of intellectual ability, he was a man of rare judgment, of deep penetration and of great energy." He was often consulted on difficult prob- lems and his opinions were generally accepted as conclusive. No man stood more firmly by his hon- est convictions and yet he was never harsh in his judgment of others, nor did he ever adopt aggres- sive measures to influence another in accepting a view which he held. Any subject which he consid- ered of vital interest was a matter of close study and investigation for him until he had determined what he believed to be a correct solution of the same. He held to the Presbyterian faith in re- ligion and to the whig platform in politics. Com- munity affairs were of deep interest to him and he was a co-worker in many movements and measures which proved directly beneficial to the town. He served for several years as assessor, but was in no sense an office seeker.
Mr. and Mrs. William Harris, Jr., were the parents of eleven children, but their eldest, a son, died in early manhood and the youngest, a daugh- ter, in infancy. Of the others, Mary K. became the wife of Abner O. Osborn; Betsey M. married John M. Watson : Sallie became the wife of Albert
JAMES HARRIS.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
Raymond; William was a successful farmer and the owner of the old homestead, upon which he died in September, 1886; Martha became the wife of Hiram W. Allen; and George F. and Robert, like the above named, have passed away. The only two living are James and Peter, who are connected with the agricultural interests of Penfield.
James Harris, at the usual age, became a pupil in the district schools near his father's home and afterward enjoyed the benefit of instruction dur- ing two terms in a select school in the village of Penfield. Reading and study at home also broad- ened his knowledge and he found in his father an able teacher, for Mr. Harris was a man of wide culture and took great interest in the intellectual advancement of his children. When ninetcen years of age, therefore, James Harris had qualified for teaching and was employed as instructor in a dis- trict school. During the winter months for seven years he was thus engaged in educational work, while his summer seasons were devoted to assist- ing in the improvement of his father's farm. His standing in the community during early manhood is indicated by the fact that when he was but twenty-one years of age he was chosen for the of- fice of justice of the peace and served in that ca- pacity for four years. In later days he filled the positions of town clerk and town superintendent of schools and the cause of education has found in him a stalwart champion.
Other official service devolved upon him by his appointment, in 1843, by Governor William C. Bouck to the position of captain of a uniformed company of militia attached to the Fifty-second Regiment and later he was made major. He has always figured to a greater or less extent in those movements which tend toward progress in matc- rial, intellectual, political, social and moral lines, and his name is therefore interwoven with many of the facts which have left their impress upon the history of his community. In 1857 he was one of the incorporators of the old Penfield Seminary and throughout its existence served as a most effi- cient trustee, becoming the first president of the board and continuing in that office for about nine years. This institution was established when the public schools afforded instruction in only the lower branches of learning, but when the establish- ment of schools for instruction in the higher grades rendered the seminary no longer a necessity in the community, Mr. Harris was made a member of the committee to procure the passage of a leg- islative act authorizing the sale of the property to the Penfield graded schools.
While thus associated with different public and private interests Mr. Harris also figured in com- mercial circles, having in 1850 established a gen- eral mercantile business, which he conducted with growing success until 1857. The owner of valua-
ble farming property, he took up his abode upon what is the old homestead farm, east of the village of Penfield, on the 1st of April, 1866, and also owns two other farms in the locality, his holdings embracing two hundred and ten acres of valuable land devoted to the production of cereals and fruit. He continued to reside upon his farm until the fall of 1904, when he took up his abode in Fair- port. From this place he superintends the man- agement of his farms, which are actively conducted by his son, Charles L. At different times he has acted as administrator of many estates and has also been commissioner of the distribution of lands.
On the 1st of December, 1847, Mr. Harris was united in marriage to Miss Martha M. Pope, a daughter of William Pope, of Penfield. Mrs. Har- ris died January 1, 1880, leaving three sons and a daughter : James Darwin, now a farmer of Fair- port : Robert, who died in 1887, at the age of thirty-one years; Mary K., at home; and George H., who is the junior member of the law firm of Werner & Harris, of Rochester, and who married Miss Hattie Higbie, of Penfield, by whom he has three children : Donald, Duncan and Adair. On the 21st of February, 1883, Mr. Harris wedded Mrs. Horace P. Lewis, a widow, and a daughter of Charles Lacey, formerly of Poughkeepsie, New York. They have a son and daughter: Charles Lacey, who is a graduate of the University of Rochester and is now managing his father's farms ; and Angie K., who was graduated from the Fair- port high school in the training class and after- ward taught in the Honeoye Falls schools, while in the winter of 1907-8 she is engaged in teaching in the Fairport school.
Politically, Mr. Harris was reared in the faith of the whig party and it naturally followed that upon the dissolution of that organization he be- came a stanch republican. His stalwart patriot- ism has ever been one of his salient characteristics and whether in office or out of it, he has ever been loyal to what he has regarded as the best interests of the community and the country at large. In 1853 he was elected supervisor of Penfield by a large majority and had the honor of being elected to the office for fifteen out of the following twenty- two years. His position was by no means an equivocal one at the time of the Civil war. Stal- wart and true in his advocacy of the Union, he did everything he could to promote its interests. Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter a special town meeting was called for the purpose of adopting suitable measures and appointing a committee of public safety, Mr. Harris being chosen one of the three members of the committee. In that capac- ity he served until again elected supervisor in the spring of 1864, when the business of the commit- tee of public safety was placed entirely in his
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
hands and so continued until the close of the war and during the reconstruction period which fol- lowed. In the discharge of his duties he manifest- ed marked executive ability, keen foresight and thorough understanding of the situation, and, above all, an intense loyalty to the best interests of the country. With the co-operation of many of the leading citizens of the community he filled the town's quota without a single inhabitant being drafted, save a few who were drafted early in the war during the act conferring option of service or a payment of three hundred dollars each. His method was purely a business transaction. The call had been for one year men and the town of- fered a hounty of five hundred dollars to each volunteer. Realizing that men could be had for three years without increasing the bounties if the bonds were converted into cash, he wisely discriminated in favor of the longer term of enlistment, raised the necessary money and filled the quota with three year men to the number of sixty-three and bonds were issued to the amount of thirty-one thousand five hundred dollars, and when the war closed the state of New York, under the law equalizing bounties, paid back nearly two- thirds of this sum, or about twenty thousand dol- lars, to the town. In the management of these affairs Mr. Harris displayed splendid business abil- ity and that the people recognized and appreciated the worth of his work was shown by the fact that he was continued in the office of supervisor for several years afterward. As a member of the board and chairman of its finance committee, he was largely instrumental in promoting the law which changed the system formerly pursued in the coun- ty treasurer's office to its present status, involving not only the disposition of public moneys but of returned taxes as well. As he was the first treas- urer elected after the passage of this law he put it into operation during his three years' term, which began on the 1st of October, 1876, and when he retired in 1879 his official service closed. He has not since consented to hold public office, but yet remains a stalwart champion of all that pertains to the public good, to reform, progress and im- provement. Few men of his years manifest the interest which he displays in public life, but in spirit Mr. Harris seems yet in his prime. His is the old age which grows stronger and brighter, mentally and physically, as the years pass and gives out of its rich stores of wisdom an experience for the benefit of others. He has for many years been a member of the Baptist church and he be- longs to the Monroe County Historical Society and became a charter member of the Association of Supervisors and Ex-Supervisors of Monroe Coun- ty, being unanimously elected to its presidency at its annual meeting on the 7th of August, 1895.
The subject of this sketch has always been a sturdy American character, possessed of stalwart patriotism and has the warmest attachment to our free institutions, being ever willing to make any personal sacrifice for their elevation. The public work that he has done has largely been of a nature that has brought small pecuniary reward and yet has made extensive demands upon his time, his thought and his energies. Opportunities that some have passed by heedlessly he has noted and im- proved for the betterment of the village and the state in many ways. He is extremely modest and unostentatious in his manner and all who know him speak of him in terms of praise. In his life are the elements of greatness because of the use he has made of his talents and his opportunities, be- cause his thoughts are not self-centered but are given to the mastery of life's problems and to the fulfillment of his duties as a man in his relation to his fellowmen and as a citizen in his relation to his village, state and country.
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