USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 30
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Hiram Tompkins was reared on a farm, re- ceived his education in the district schools, and came with his father to the town of Gal-
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way, where he became a clerk in a country store at the early age of seventeen years. After having acquired some little experience as a clerk, he went to Ballston Spa, at which place he was engaged as a clerk in various mer- cantile establishments up to 1848. In that year he accepted the position of book-keeper in the old United States hotel of Saratoga Springs, where he remained until the burning of that hotel in 1865. He then went to New York city, and was engaged in the livery busi- ness until 1872, when he returned to Saratoga Springs, where he became a member of the firm of Ainsworth, Tompkins & Perry. In 1874 they erected their present imposing and magnificent United States hotel, which is rec- ognized as one of the great hotels of the world, and is now conducted by Messrs. Tompkins, Gage & Perry. Mr. Tompkins is by natural business ability and years of valuable experi- ence well qualified, and thoroughly understands the successful operation of a great hotel.
In 1857 Mr. Tompkins was united in mar- riage with Laurentine Chamberlin, daughter of George O. Chamberlin of this county.
The United States hotel, of which Mr. Tomp- kins is one of the proprietors, is a magnificent five-story brick structure, with a mansard roof, fronting three hundred feet on Broadway and nine hundred on Division street. It covers several acres of ground, and the main building encloses a large and beautiful court, which is really a fine lawn, adorned with flower beds and fountains. This great hotel has nearly one thousand rooms beside its palatial parlors, superb dining halls, and splendid ball room. It was erected at a cost of over one million dollars, and is known as one of the most ele- gant and aristocratic summer resorts of the world. Thousands of dollars are expended annually upon its improvement, and since the early days of its history when William H. Van- derbilt made it his favorite summer resort, it has been patronized by the millionaires of the land and the most influential families of the United States.
W ILLIAM AUGUSTUS BEACH,
deceased, who held high rank among the able and distinguished lawyers of the United States, was born at Ballston Spa, this county, and was a son of Miles and Cynthia (Warren) Beach, the former of whom was re- lated to Judge Thompson, of the United States supreme court. His grandfather, Zerah Beach, served under Washington at Valley Forge, and his mother, Cynthia (War- ren) Beach, was a sister of Judge Warren and a relative of General Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. William A. Beach read law with his uncle, Judge Warren, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and practiced in Saratoga county until 1815, when he went to the city of Troy. After twenty years there he re- moved to New York city. Mr. Beach was prominently engaged in several of the most important cases that have ever been tried in the United States supreme court.
J. N. RAMSDILL is the popular and prosperous proprietor of the well-known Kenmore hotel at Saratoga Springs. This is a large three-story brick edifice, located at the corner of Broadway and Van Dam streets, and will accommodate one hundred guests. It is open the year round, and is first-class in every respect. The building was erected by Mr. Ramsdill in 1886, and under his superior man- agement has become one of the best known and most popular hotels at this world-re- nowned watering place. Previous to his erec- tion of the Kenmore, Mr. Ramsdill was for a number of years proprietor of the Holden house on Broadway, and his acquaintance with the traveling public, including many of the famous men of the two continents, is quite extensive. He is the ideal landlord, an- ticipating and supplying every want of his numerous guests, thus rendering the Kenmore a home-like and delightful hotel that fully de- serves the immense popularity it enjoys.
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
GOL. WILLIAM THOMPSON
ROCKWOOD is a gentleman who has proved himself as brave and daring in times of war as he is retiring and modest in times of peace. After an active career in the army he rendered efficient service as a government official, and then entering commercial life, scored a brilliant success in the busy marts of Chicago, so that ere reaching middle age he has crowded his life with achievements that might well reflect credit on the active career of a man of four score years. Colonel Rock- wood is the eldest son of Dr. E. H. and Eliza (Thompson) Rockwood, and was born at Newark, Wayne county, New York, January 17, 1837. The Rockwoods are an old English family, and the founder of the American branch came over in 1635 from Rockwood manor, a large landed estate near the city of London, and settled in Massachusetts. Rockwood manor, the ancestral home, was granted by the king of England to one of the early Rock- woods, in recognition of services rendered to the crown, and has remained in the family for many generations.
Dr. E. H. Rockwood (father) was born in Bridport, Addison county, Vermont, in 1808, and in July, 1834, was united in marriage to Eliza Thompson, eldest daughter of Judge Amos Thompson, of Poultney, Vermont. To them was born a family of two children, one son and one daughter, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. Judge Thompson (maternal grandfather) was chief justice of the court of Rutland county, Vermont, and served in the legislature of that State contin- uously for a long period of years. Among the pleasant reminiscences regarding this family is one to the effect that they materially assisted and encouraged Horace Greeley when he was a boy and earnestly struggling to secure a foothold in the world - a kindness Mr. Greeley never forgot, even after he became the leading journalist and one of the chief figures in the history of his generation.
Col. William Thompson Rockwood was prin-
cipally reared in his native village of Newark, and devoted his early years to study in the public schools of that place. He was a quick student and made rapid progress. When eighteen years of age he entered the university at Rochester, New York, and took a full col- legiate course, being graduated from that well known institution in the class of 1858. At that time the south presented excellent oppor- tunities for educational work, and soon after graduation Colonel Rockwood opened an academy at Americus, Sumter county, Georgia. The growth of this institution was phenome- nal, and its proprietor was completing arrange- ments for its enlargement and equipment with a large corps of experienced teachers, when the civil war occurred and paralyzed every en- terprise in that State.
Colonel Rockwood was already a member of a military organization in Georgia, and be- ing ordered to march with it to aid in the con- templated capture of the United States forts on the sea board, he promptly refused, and immediately departed for the north, leaving his educational enterprise to disintegrate and be forgotten in the wild clash of arms that en- sued. While teaching, Mr. Rockwood had applied himself to the study of law, and leav- ing Georgia in February, 1861, he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he continued his legal studies, and in July, 1862, was duly admitted to the bar in that city. He had only fairly entered on the practice of his profession when the Sioux Indians, taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the south, and the conse- quent removal of troops from Minnesota, en- gaged in a general uprising all along the fron- tier, massacreing the defenseless settlers and their families with all the barbarity known to savage warfare. The governor of the State having called for volunteers to aid in quelling the Indians, Colonel Rockwood raised a full company in the city of St. Paul in about ten days, and with that and another company which had been placed under his command, proceeded up the Minnesota river, under orders
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from the governor. They succeeded in cap- turing thirteen Winnebago chiefs, which Col- onel Rockwood caused to be detained, and which the government afterward held as hos- tages for the future good behavior of their tribes-a most effective policy. Returning to Fort Snelling, Colonel Rockwood and his command were mustered into the service of the United States, and after being armed and equipped as cavalry, proceeded along the shores of the Mississippi and to the northwest, near Red river, where for a time he maintained a daily patrol for the purpose of preventing the Sioux warriors from securing the Chippe- was as allies in their gigantic outbreak. He also served as escort to Governor Ramsey, United States treaty commissioner and after- ward secretary of war, in effecting the impor- tant treaty of 1862 with the Red Lake Indians. After erecting a stockade fort in northwestern Minnesota to serve as a link in the chain of frontier defenses, Colonel Rockwood was or- dered with his command to join a detachment sent over the plains to cross the Missouri and carry on an aggressive warfare against the Sioux Indians who had been driven out of Minnesota the previous year by General Sib ley. Gen. Alfred Sully, the noted Indian fighter, was placed in command of this expe- dition, and the battles which ensued were among the fiercest ever fought on this conti- nent, and have long ago passed into the history of Indian warfare in America. In them Col- onel Rockwood and his command bore a con- spicuous part, and did their duty bravely, as becomes the true soldier. After the complete subjugation of the Sioux Indians, the detach- ment returned to Fort Ridgely, on the Minne- sota frontier, where they arrived in the midst of a blinding snow storm, in November, 1864, after an active service of more than two years against the Indians of the northwest. In a short time they were transferred to Fort Snell- ing, six miles from St. Paul, and there received orders to proceed south immediately and re- port for active duty in the great civil war still
raging. On arriving at Murfreesboro, Ten- nessee, Colonel Rockwood was detached from his command and appointed judge advocate of a military commission, organized by act of congress, and continued to discharge the duties of that position until the commission was dis- solved, after the defeat of General Hood at Nashville. Among the members of that com- mission was Colonel Thomas C. Boone, a grandson of Daniel Boone, the famous Ken- tucky pioneer.
The civil war having ended by the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, Colonel Rock- wood received his discharge from the army April 18, 1865, and soon afterward accepted a position in the treasury department at Wash- ington, being assigned to the fourth auditor's office. Later he became corresponding secre- tary to Hon. Hugh McCulloch, secretary of the treasury, and held that position until De- cember, 1865. He was then made special in- spector of customs for the district of North Carolina, and entrusted with the responsible duty of reorganizing the customs revenue de- partment of that State. This important task he successfully completed in the brief period of four months, and in April, 1866, received the appointment of general special agent for the United States treasury department.
On June 5, 1867, Colonel Rockwood was united in marriage to Emily Nash, youngest daughter of Hon. Alfred B. Nash, of the city of Troy, New York, and immediately settled in Chicago, Illinois. At her home in that city Mrs. Rockwood died August 17, 1871, leaving behind her an only son, Nash Rockwood, who is now a law student and correspondent for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Saratoga Springs.
After locating in Chicago, Colonel Rock- wood remained in the service of the govern- ment as general deputy and assistant collector of customs in that city. In 1867 he was offered the collectorship of internal revenue for that district, but declined it to embark in the whole- sale drug business with a friend in Chicago. His firm was first Mears & Rockwood, and
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later Rockwood & Blocki, and their establish- ment was located on one of the most prominent corners on Lake street in that city. Going into the drug trade with the energy and enter- prise which has always characterized him, he soon had a large and widely extended business built up, and at the time of the great Chicago fire, in 1871, the firm ranked among the lead- ing wholesale drug houses of the west.
In the spring of 1873, Colonel Rockwood came to Saratoga Springs, accompanying his father, who was at that time a confirmed in- valid, and believed that the waters and climate of this village would greatly improve his im- paired health. Liking the people and the place, Colonel Rockwood remained, and has ever since been an active, useful and honored citizen. He has invested largely in Saratoga real estate, and it was solely through his efforts that the Kensington hotel, one of the most successful of the summer hotels, was planned and erected. He was one of the organizers of the Citizen's National bank of Saratoga Springs, of which he has been a director ever since, and of which he is now vice-president. He was elected president of the board of aud- itors of Saratoga Springs in 1891, and is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. At the recent centennial celebration in New York, Colonel Rockwood was complimented by the governor of Minnesota, Hon. William R. Merriam, with an appointment as member of his staff during the ceremonies attending the civic and military parades in that city. While possessed of sound judgment and great firmness, Colonel Rock- wood is unassuming in a marked degree. He is affable in manner, handsome in appearance, and said to be an early riser and of abstemious habits. He is now apparently in the very primc of perfect manhood. Although he has been very successful in business, he is by no means a gentleman of elegant leisure, but re- taining the vim and vigor of carly manhood, devotes his energies still to carrying forward the many enterprises in which he is interested.
JOSEPH H. ALEXANDER, now serv-
ing his second term as superintendent of the poor in Saratoga county, is a substantial and prosperous farmer, who has been a justice of the peace in this county for nearly fifteen years, and has filled other positions of trust and responsibility. He is a son of William H. and Abby J. (Sherwood) Alexander, and was born in the town of Charlton, Saratoga county, New York, December 2, 1832. His paternal grandfather, William H. Alexander, was a native of Scotland, but in early man- hood came to the United States, together with three brothers-John, Thomas and Alexander -and settled in New York. John and Thomas became residents of the town of Galway, Sar- atoga county, but William H. and Alexander settled in Schenectady county, where in part- nership they were engaged for a number of years in running a hotel and grist mill. They also controlled the toll bridge locally known as Alexander's bridge, and William H. died at his home there, when only thirty-three years of age. He married Nancy Babcock, a native of Albany, this State, who at the time of her death was in the ninety-seventh year of her age. One of their sons was William H. Alex- ander (father), who was born at Alexander's bridge, Schenectady county, this State, in 18@9, but came to Saratoga county with his uncle, John Alexander, when only five years of age, and was reared and educated in this county. He lived in the town of Galway for eleven years and then removed to the town of Charlton, where he engaged in farming, tan- ning and shoemaking. He was active and energetic in business, and became quite pros- perous. His death occurred in 1880, at the home of his son, Joseph H. Alexander, in West Charlton, at which time he was in the seventy- first year of his age. While he was not a member of any church, he was a regular at- tendant and libcral contributor to the churches of his neighborhood. Politically he was a whig and republican, and in 1830 he married Abby J. Sherwood, a daughter of Joel Sher-
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wood, who had removed to this county from Connecticut. Mrs. Alexander was born in this county, and died in 1871, aged sixty years.
Joseph H. Alexander grew to manhood on his father's farm, accustomed to farm labor in the summer season and attending the public school in winter. After leaving the common school he completed his studies in the old Princeton academy, in Schenectady county, and then taught for several winters, while en- gaged in farming during the summer season. He has always maintained his connection with agricultural pursuits, and now owns two ex- cellent farms, located in the town of Charlton, which he purchased more than a quarter of a century ago. These farms he greatly improved by the erection of new buildings, and enriched by improved methods of cultivation, until they are among the most valuable farm property in this part of the county. In addition to his farm operations, which he conducted on an extensive scale, Mr. Alexander was also largely engaged at times in live stock dealing, in which he was very successful, being a good judge of fine stock.
In the fall of 1888, Mr. Alexander was elected on the republican ticket to the office of super- intendent of the county poor, being the first man to occupy that position after the change from a board of three superintendents. He discharged his duties so efficiently, and with such manifest ability and good judgment, that in the fall of 1891 he was again elected to this office, and at the close of his present term will have held this position continuously for a period of six years. The county infirm- ary, over which he exercises control, is located in the town of Milton, adjoining the corporate limits of Ballston Spa. While a resident of Charlton Mr. Alexander served as a justice of the peace for nearly sixteen years, resigning that office in his fourth consecutive term when he was elected as superintendent of the county poor. He has also served as tax collector of his town, and has always taken an active in- terest in public affairs and local politics. He
is a member of the Presbyterian church at Ballston Spa.
On December 3, 1856, Mr. Alexander united in marriage with Alma Crothers, a daughter of Robert Crothers, a prosperous farmer of the town of Charlton, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Alexander was born a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters : Har- riet, now the wife of William J. Hayes, a farmer residing in the town of Charlton ; Wil- liam Sherwood, also a resident of Charlton ; Frank J., now employed as a clerk in a large dry goods house in the city of Denver, Col- orado; Minnie, married B. F. Bulkley and now resides at Southport, Connecticut ; Rob- ert C., clerking in the store with his brother at Denver ; Sarah J. and John, living at home with their parents.
J EREMIAH HIUSTED, one of the sub-
stantial business men and valued citizens of Waterford, is the son of Jeremiah and Eliz- abeth (Weeks) Husted, and is one of ten chil- dren. He was born in Ballston, Saratoga county, New York, June 26, 1829. The Hus- teds are of good old English stock, though since the time of David Husted, great-grand- father to the subject of this sketch, they have been natives of the United States. David Husted was a farmer of Duchess county, and died there. His son, Reuben, having grown up and married there, removed his family to Saratoga county in 1805; he located in the town of Ballston, and there followed the occu- pation of farming, a business which he followed until his death in 1850, when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-seven years. Jere- miah Husted, his son and father of our subject, was born in Duchess county, but came to Balls- ton with his parents when but a child, and passed the remainder of his life in Saratoga county. During the war of 1812, America's second struggle with England, he was drafted into the service, hired a substitute, but did not serve ; he, like his father, was a farmer all his
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
life ; politically he affiliated with the republi- cans. His death occurred at Clifton Park, Saratoga county, when he was full of years, having reached the unusual age of eighty-nine years. Mr. Husted's maternal great-grand- father, James Weeks, was a native of Horse Neck, Westchester county, New York, but when a young man located in Saratoga county, and there he died in the town of Malta, at the age of ninety-six. He was one of the earliest settlers of the county. His son, Daniel Weeks, was born in Malta ; he was a large farmer, and was well and favorably known over the entire county; he was considered a very wealthy man in those days, before men began to accumulate the colossal fortunes of the present day. He died in Clifton Park in 1860, aged eighty-six years. Elizabeth Weeks Husted, his daugh- ter, was born at Malta ; she died in 1888, when she was eighty-eight years of age. The Weeks family is also of English descent.
Jeremiah Husted grew up on his father's farm in Ballston, and received his education in the common schools, but not having any particular taste for farming, he, after leaving school, learned the trade of tanning and the boot and shoe business thoroughly in the town of Ballston. At the age of twenty-five he en- gaged in the mercantile business, in which he continued at Jonesville and East Line, Sara- toga county, during ten years, at the expiration of which time he acceptsd a position as a trav eling salesman for a wholesale grocery house of New York city. He traveled for this house for five years, and then accepted a position in another house, this time in Albany, which he filled for fifteen years. His twenty years ser- vice in the grocery business as a salesman is unique in at least one particular, that is : he, during that entire length of time, did not lose a single day's pay; in those twenty years, his own estimate is, that he sold three million dollars worth of goods, - certainly a most cred- itable record -an average yearly sale of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Since 1883 Mr. Husted has been in the life insurance
business, beside which he has been interested in other enterprises. Since 1863 he has re- sided in Waterford.
In 1850 he was united in marriage with Melissa, daughter of Joseph S. Wood, of Clifton Park, Saratoga county. They have two daughters, both married : Mary E. is the wife of Charles L. Catlin, and resides at Water- ford; Martha A. is married to F. P. Smith, of Worcester, Massachusetts.
Both Mr. Husted and his wife have been life-long members of the Baptist church, in which for twenty-five years he has been a dea- con. He is a member of the Clinton Lodge, No. 140, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Waterford Chapter, No. 169, Royal Arch Masons. Mr. Husted is a stanch democrat, and has been active in the interests of his party ; he has served as president of the vil- lage and supervisor of the town of Waterford. In 1891 he received the democratic nomina- tion for the assembly, and made an excellent race, but the republican majority is too great in Saratoga county to allow of the election of a democratic candidate. It is pleasant to be the head of a goodly family, and this con- sciousness, as well as the other good things of life, Mr. Husted can enjoy in abundance, for beside his daughters, he has his grandchildren, their four sons, in whom he takes a loving pride. They are : Eddie E. Catlin, J. Wood Smith, Harry P. Smith and Clarence S. Smith. Personally Jeremiah Husted is a pleasant gen- tleman, an earnest Christian, and an invaluable citizen, enjoying in the love of his family and the esteem of his neighbors, the legitimate fruits of a well spent life.
C EORGE W. MANCIUS, one of the leading and influential citizens of Sara- toga county, and a decendant of one of the old and honored families of the State, is a son of Capt. Jacob and Jane Ann (Barber) Mancius, and was born in the city of Albany, New York, February 21, 1822. He fitted for his collegi-
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ate course at Albany academy, and then en- tered Clarenceville Episcopal college, of Lower Canada, from which he was graduated in 1838. Leaving college he read medicine with Dr. Edward McComb, of Cedar Keys, Florida, United States army, and then attended lectures for some time at Sturdevesant Medical college, New York city, but on account of ill health was compelled to relinquish his course before grad- uation. Afterward he engaged in the drug business at Albany, and in 1845 removed to Stillwater, where he conducted a drug store for ten years. At the end of that time he returned to Albany, where he had a fine drug establish- ment, which he finally disposed of in 1869. In the meantime his aunt, Catherine (VanDer- heiden) Mancius, who was a daughter of the celebrated Dr. Jacob VanDerheiden, had left him the splendid farm near Stillwater, on which he now resides, and he retired from ac- tive city business life about 1872 to give his time and attention to the management of the farm thus willed him and to other of his real estate interests in Albany, New York. His aunt was a woman of liberality and gen- erous impulses, and left twenty-five thousand. dollars for the erection of the present Episco pal church of Stillwater, New York, a fine structure and a splendid monument to her Christian faith and zeal. Mr. Mancius is act- ive in all religious, political or social matters of his village, of which he is a leading and in- fluential citizen. He is a democrat in politics and cast his first presidential vote in 1844 for James K. Polk, the "Young Hickory of the Democracy."
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