USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 32
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The Scott family is one of the oldest and most respected families of the county, and one which can look back with pride on generations of progenitors of unsullied reputation, unde- viating integrity, and splendid energy, the kind of humanity to form a proper foundation for the "finest nation in the world."
F RANK JJ. SHERMAN, M. D., one of the popular and successful young physi- cians of Ballston Spa, and a member of the State Medical association, who is also serving as supervisor of the town of Milton, and an energetic, well educated and cultured gentle- man, is a son of Dr. Franklin A. and Mary (Clark) Sherman, and a native of Oswego county, New York, where he was born Febru- ary 2, 1858. The Shermans are one of the
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oldest families of Vermont, where it was planted in colonial times, and where Smith Sherman, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and lived all his life, dying at Castleton, that State, in 1869, at the ad- vanced age of seventy-five years. He was the first man to open and operate a marble quarry in the county of Rutland, that State, and was engaged in the marble business nearly all his life. Enterprising and progressive, he main- tained his place at the head of that industry in his section for many years, and accumu- lated a considerable fortune. The members of the Sherman family, which is quite numer- ous in that State, are nearly all interested in the marble business, and own and operate some of the largest marble quarries in Vermont.
Dr. Franklin A. Sherman, youngest son of Smith Sherman, and father of Dr. Frank J. Sherman, was born at Barre, Vermont, No- vember 9, 1828, studied medicine and was graduated from the medical department of the Castleton Medical college in 1850. He went to Sandy Hill, Washington county, New York, where he remained two years. In 1853 he re- moved to Chicago, Illinois, and for two years was successfully engaged in the practice of medicine in that city. Returning to New York in 1854, he located in Oswego county, and for a period of ten years was actively engaged in the practice of his profession in that county. In 1865 he removed to Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, and has practiced in this village ever since, being associated since 1880 with his son, Dr. Frank J. Sherman. The elder Dr. Sher- man has been a life long democrat, and for many years an active and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1852 he married Mary Clark, a daughter of Col. Almon Clark, of Sandy Hill, this State. To them was born a family of three children, one son and two daughters: Mattie G. and Mary E. Mrs. Mary Sherman died in 1880, aged fifty- two years. Since then Dr. Franklin A. Sher- man has resided with his son, and they have practiced together.
Frank J. Sherman was brought to the village of Ballston Spa by his father in 1865, when little more than four years of age, and was reared and educated here. After leaving the Ballston Spa high school, he read medicine with his father, and later matriculated at the university of Vermont, then located at Bur- lington, that State, from the medical depart- ment of which old and time-honored institu- tion he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the spring of 1880-exactly thirty years after his father had been graduated from the same department. He immediately returned to Ballston Spa and began the practice of his profession. Inheriting many of the qualities that mark the true physician, and having care- fully prepared himself for the practice of the healing art by earnest study under some of the best physicians of his day, it is not surprising that he met with early appreciation, and soon had a large and lucrative practice, which has constantly increased to the present time. He is a member of the State Medical association, and a regular reader and occasional contribu- tor to some of the best medical journals of the country, always abreast of the advancing thought of the age, and ready to avail himself of new discoveries or improved methods in the profession to which he has dedicated his life and talents.
On October 28, 1885, Dr. Sherman was united in marriage to Minnie C. Medbery, youngest daughter of Stephen B. Medbery, of the village of Ballston Spa. Following the political traditions of his family, the Doctor is a stanch democrat, though too earnestly de- voted to his profession to take much active part in political affairs. In the spring of 1892 Dr. Sherman was elected to the position of supervisor of the town of Milton, and is now discharging the duties of that office in a man- ner very satisfactory and acceptable to the general public. He is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and of Franklin Lodge, No. 90, Free and Accepted Masons, of Balls- ton Spa.
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R OBERT KELLY, an ex-supervisor of the town of Galway, Saratoga county, and a wounded Union veteran of the late civil war, is one of the leading farmers of the town of Galway, and has served efficiently for sev- eral years as president of the Galway Fire In- surance Company. He is a son of Robert, sr., and Isabella (McKindley) Kelly, and was born on the farm on which he now resides, in the town of Galway, Saratoga county, New York, June 26, 1832. He received his educa- tion in the common schools of his native town, and was engaged continuously in farming until August, 1862, when he enlisted in Co. H, 153d New York infantry, then under com- mand of Capt. George H. McGlaughlin, who afterward became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Mr. Kelly participated in all the battles and skirmishes of his regiment, and saw hard and active service under Banks in the ill-fated Red River expedition, and in the mag- nificent campaign of Sheridan in the Shenan- doah valley. He took part in seven regular engagements : Sabine Cross Roads and Pleas- ant Hill, Louisiana, April 8 and 9, 1864; Cane River Crossing and Mansura Plains, in the same State, on April 25 and May 16, of same year ; and Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and the great struggle at Cedar Creek, Virginia, Sep- tember 19 and 22 and October 19, 1864. He was wounded in the left shoulder by a rifle ball at Pleasant Hill, and in a charge at Cedar Creek was struck by a musket ball that entered his face at the left side of his nose and came out in front of his right ear. The last wound closed his active service in the field, and after remaining for seven months in the hospital at Germantown, Pennsylvania, he was honor- ably discharged on May 19, 1865, after serving two years and nine months. Returning from the army, Mr. Kelly resumed farming, from which he retired a few years ago. He owns the old homestead farm, which contains one hun- dred and twenty-eight acres of good farming, grazing and timber land, and lies about one mile south of the village of Galway. He is a
member and the adjutant of William B. Car- penter Post, No. 634, Grand Army of the Re- public, and a member and elder of the West Charlton United Presbyterian church. In pol- itics he has always supported the Republican party, and while never aspiring to any office, yet has served for three terms as supervisor of his town, and held for three years the office of president of the board of education of his vil- lage. Mr. Kelly is a director and the presi- dent of the Galway Fire Insurance Company, which was organized in 1858, and has a cap- ital of three hundred and sixty-two thousand three hundred and sixty dollars. This insur- ance company has had a very successful career, and owes considerable of its prosperity to the careful and safe policy pursued by the direc- tors and other officers of the company and Mr. Kelly, as its chief executive officer. Mr. Kelly is also a trustee and the president of the Gal- way Cemetery association. He and his wife are members of the American Bible society, and his services have been in demand for sev- eral years in every work for the improvement and prosperity of his town.
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On September 20, 1883, Mr. Kelly was united in marriage with Eliza Shaw, daughter of Robert and Lucy Shaw, prominent residents of Galway. Mr. Shaw served several terms as deputy sheriff.
The Kelly family was founded in this coun- try by William Kelly, who married Helen Major, and came from the lowlands of Scot- land to New York in 1774. In October of that year he became the pioneer settler of the town of Galway, where he settled in the woods, sheltering for a few days under a bark, brush and pole structure, made against the side of a fallen tree on the land which he purchased and afterward cleared up into a farm. He and his wife were devout and useful members of the early United Presbyterian church of Galway (now West Charlton), which they assisted in founding. They lived lives of honesty and respectability, and reared a family of thrifty, industrious and respectable children. Their
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children were: Elizabeth, who first saw the light on November 1, 1774, and was the first white child born within the town of Galway, and Robert, who was born May 25, 1786. Robert Kelly (father) was a man of fair edu- cation, was one of the successful and prosper- ous farmers of his town, and died September 2, 1853. He was a whig and a United Pres- byterian, and so lived that he honored his church and left a reputation in the world of which his descendants may be justly proud. He married Isabella McKindley, who was a daughter of John and Ann McKindley, of Gal- way, and who died December 26, 1858, when in the sixty-sixth year of her age. Their chil- dren who grew to manhood and womanhood and are still living are : Ann E., John M., of Charlton village, Saratoga county; William, and Robert, the subject of this sketch; Rob- ert and John M. being the only living mem- bers of this family.
DANIEL H. HANKS, M. D., a second cousin of Abraham Lincoln, and an ener- getic and successful physician of Ballston Lake, New York, who has served for three years as president of the Saratoga County Ec- lectic Medical society, is a son of Asa and Jemima (McClain) Hanks, and was born at Duncansburg, Schenectady county, New York, February 14, 1824. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Hanks, was a brother to Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln, the mother of the great and mighty Abraham Lincoln, the only other man who in the American roll of honor stands by the side of Washington. Thomas Hanks was a blacksmith by trade, and resided all his life in the State of Vermont. He married and had five children, three sons and two daughters, of whom were Jason, Asa and Harris. Asa Hanks, father of Dr. Hanks, was born in Hed- ford, Vermont, in 1798, and after attending the district schools, learned the trade of black- smith, which he followed until his health be- came impaired so that he could not stand the
hard labor of the shop. He then worked at shoemaking for some years before his death, which occurred August 21, 1866. He was a man of good education for his day, and at twenty-one years of age came to the town of Duncansburg, Schenectady county, New York, where he resided mostly during the remainder of his life. He was a Jacksonian democrat, and afterward a republican in politics, held several town offices and always had the cour- age of his convictions in political affairs. At twenty-three years of age he married Jemima McClain, daughter of John McClain, of Scho- harie county. Mrs. Hanks died December r7, 1880, when in the eightieth year of her age. Their children were : Mary C., wife of James March, of Wisconsin; Sarah, married Hiram Bruce, of Gloversville, New York ; Lydia A., wife of Meritt Purdy, of Rochester, NewYork; Miriam L., of Wisconsin ; Judith A., wife of Abijah Bruce ; William H. S., of Warren county; Dr. Daniel H .; and Margaret P., wife of William Hutchinson, of Rochester, this State.
Daniel H. Hanks received his education in the common schools and Johnstown academy, and read medicine with Dr. Samuel E. Tread- well, Havre de Grace, Maryland. He at- tended lectures at Lombard Street Medical college, of Baltimore, Maryland, and was graduated from the Medical college, in 1854. After obtaining his first course of lectures he went to Philadelphia, where he was engaged for one year in a drug store. From Philadel- phia he went to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, as manager of a lumbering enterprise and also was company physician. Leaving there one year later he was successively engaged in tlie practice of his profession at Glenn, Montgom- ery county, for two years; West Galway for three years and a half: Charlton for three years ; Rockford, Illinois, eight months ; Leavenworth, Kansas, one year ; Courtland. Illinois, eight months; and then at Glovers- ville, this State, a second time, for nine months. From Gloversville he came in 1872 to Ballston
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Lake, where he has been engaged ever since in the active and successful practice of his chosen profession. Dr. Hanks has been president for three years of the Saratoga County Eclectic Medical society, of which he also was censor for two years.
In 1848 Dr. Hanks married Harriet Hawks, who was a daughter of John Hawks, of Deer- field, Massachusetts, and died in 1851, leaving one child, a son, named John F. In 1864 Dr. Hanks married for his second wife, Evaline Cole, who was a daughter of Orris Cole, of Northville, Fulton county, and died in 1867, leaving two children, who are both dead. In 1874 Dr. Hanks married Ellen Stewart, daugh- ter of Duncan Stewart, of Gloversville, this State. She died August 16, 1878, and in Oc- tober, 1883, he wedded Emma White, of West Troy, New York.
Dr. Daniel H. Hanks is a republican in pol- itics, has held several town offices, and always takes an active interest in the political issues of the day. His many years of active profes- sional labor in four of the great States of the American Union has well qualified him for the intelligent and successful practice of his chosen profession.
H IRAM W. HAYS, so long connected with the management of Congress Spring at Saratoga, and now the efficient manager of the Empire Spring, is a son of Benjamin F. and Amanda (Taylor) Hays, and was born on the banks of Saratoga Lake, in the town of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New York, on the third day of June, 1837. Benjamin F. Hays was a native of Mayfield, Saratoga county, and passed his entire life in his native county, where he followed the trade of car- penter and builder. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in pol- itics was a democrat. He died in Saratoga Springs in 1889, at the age of seventy-nine years, having resided in that town since 1849. His father, Nathaniel Hays (grandfather),
was born in 1785, and was one of Saratoga county's earliest settlers. He was buried in Corinth, this county. The Hays and Taylors are of English descent. Mrs. Amanda (Tay- lor) Hays, wife of Benjamin F. Hays, was born in the town of Mayfield, Saratoga county. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and on June 29, 1855, died, at the early age of forty-five years.
Hiram W. Hays spent the most of his youth in the town of his nativity and received his early education in the common schools of that village. Leaving school he went to the city of New York in the interests of the Em- pire Spring, acting there as agent for G. W. Weston & Company, then proprietors. He remained there until 1862. On August 31st of that year he enlisted in Co. H, 77th New York infantry, and served until May 18, 1865, when he was honorably mustered out of the Federal service in Albany, New York. Dur- ing the most of the time of his service he was acting adjutant and chief clerk respectively of the draft rendezvous and Ira Harris United States general hospital, at Albany. After the war had closed he returned to Saratoga Springs to re-engage in the mineral water business, in which he has remained ever since, and indeed it has been his life business, as excepting the time of his military service he has always been connected with the great springs at Sar- atoga. His experience antedates that of any other Spring superintendent now in the busi- ness. For twenty-five years he was connected with the Congress spring, two years of which time he was general manager of Congress spring company, and for the past two years he has been manager of the Empire spring company.
On May 21, 1867, Mr. Hays was united in marriage with Alice J. Rutledge, of Albany, New York. Mrs. Hays died March 2, 1891, leaving three children: Alice May, Anna Louise and Hedera W. Their eldest daughter, Aestas G. Hays, died September 23, 1884, at the age of sixteen years.
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Hiram W. Hays is a member of the Baptist church, of which his wife was also a member. He is a member of Putnam Lodge, No. 134, Ancient Order United Workmen ; Rising Sun Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons ; Rising Sun Chapter, No. 131, Royal Arch Masons; and Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar. He is also a member of Luther M. Wheeler Post, No. 92, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is a past commander. He is a democrat and has served as a trustee of his village and excise commis- sioner of his town, and ranks among the promi- nent leading and influential citizens of Sara- toga Springs.
J AMES LEE SCOTT, a graduate of Williams college, and a prominent mem- ber of the Saratoga county bar, and who held with credit and honor for several years im- portant civil offices which he received by di- rect appointment of President Cleveland and Senator Hill, when they were the chief execu- tives of the Empire State, is a son of Judge George Gordon and Lucy Pitkin (Lee) Scott, and was born at Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, New York, January 9, 1856. He was reared and received his elementary education at his native village, and then, in 1872, entered Williams college, at Williamstown, Massa- chusetts, from which well known institution of learning he was graduated in the class of the centennial year. Leaving college he read law with his father, and then took the senior year course of the celebrated Columbia law school of New York city, from which he grad- uated with high standing in the class of 1878. Shortly after graduation from the law school he was admitted to the Saratoga county bar, in September, 1878, and then commenced the active practice of his profession at Ballston Spa, where he has a large and remunerative patronage.
On October 27, 1886, Mr. Scott was united in marriage with Nathalie Hall, daughter of
Theodore Parsons Hall, of the city of Detroit, Michigan. Their union has been blessed with one child, a son, named Brenton Hall, who was born February 1, 1890.
James L .. Scott is a strong democrat. He is one of the active and influential leaders of his party, and has been a member and the secretary for several years of the Democratic county committee, of which he was chairman for one year. In 1883 he was appointed by Governor Cleveland as a commissioner of the United States deposit fund, which position he filled efficiently until he resigned in 1886. On December 7, 1886, he was appointed by Gov- ernor Hill as· clerk of the courts of Saratoga county to fill the unexpired term of Seth Whalen, who had died. Mr. Scott entered upon the duties of this office with his usual energy and industry, and served the people very satisfactorily until January 1, 1888. His care and attention to all matters of the clerk's office rendered him popular with the public, and he retired with the respect and esteem of all who came in contact with him as a county official. In financial affairs Mr. Scott has taken some interest, and has frequently served his village in matters of finance. He is a di- rector and the vice-president of the Ballston Spa National bank, and as a financier has always advocated a conservative but safe policy.
As a lawyer Mr. Scott has been successful, and has attained high standing at the Saratoga county bar ; and although not neglecting gen- eral practice, yet has within the last few years devoted the larger part of his time to real estate and surrogate practice, in which he has achieved notable success. His practice ex- tends beyond this county, and he is frequently called as counsel in important cases in other counties. To his profession he devotes zeal and industry, and any man's cause intrusted to his hands receives careful and critical at- tention. He is assidnons in the preparation of all his business that comes into court, and relies more on the weight of evidence and a
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careful preparation to win a case than upon eloquence or oratory before the jury.
James Lee Scott is one of the class of men who never sacrifice their independence by shaping their policy to suit the opinions of any one. He is conscientious in his convic- tions, and battles fearlessly for whatever cause enlists his efforts. He blends with solid ac- quirements lighter accomplishments, and in public station and private life has ever been a true gentleman.
The Scott family traces its old world ances- try back many generations to Benjamin Scott, an English colonist in Ireland, in the reign of James I. of England. A descendant of this Benjamin Scott was George Scott (great- grandfather), who left Londonderry, Ireland, in 1773, and in the next year settled in a wil- derness portion of what is now the town of Ballston Spa, where he cleared out a large farm. During the Munroe raid in 1780 his dwelling was attacked and plundered, and he was stricken down by three tomahawk blows and left for dead, but recovered and lived to an advanced age. He married Jane Gordon,. a sister of Gen. James Gordon, and their only child, James Scott, was born on the Gordon place, in the present town of Ballston, Jan- uary 31, 1774. James Scott was a noted sur- veyor, and always resided within the town of Ballston, where he died January 18, 1857. He married Mary Botsford, a native of Derby, Connecticut, who died November 19, 1857, at eighty years of age. To their union was born, May II, 1811, an only child, Judge George Gordon Scott (father), whose long and useful life was passed in the interests of his fellow citizens and the advancement of his county. Judge Scott was graduated from Union col- lege in 1831, read law with Palmer & Good- rich, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. He then engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Ballston Spa, in which he continued successfully until his death, which occurred September 7, 1886, when he was in the sev- enty-sixty year of his age. In 1838 he was
commissioned as judge of the county courts, but resigned before the expiration of his term. He served as a member of assembly in 1856 and again in 1857, and in the latter year was elected as State Senator from the Fifteenth district. At the end of his senatorial term he declined a re-election. In 1861 he was the democratic nominee for comptroller of New York, but was defeated by Lucius Robinson, who was afterward governor of the State. While ever prominent and active in county affairs he never neglected his village and town, and was ever ready to labor in their best inter- ests. He served for twenty consecutive terms as supervisor of the town of Ballston, and was twice chairman of the board. Judge Scott was selected in 1876 to deliver the centennial historical address, which duty he very ably performed. He presided the next year at the centennial of the battle of Bemus Heights, and opened the exercises with an appropriate address. Judge Scott married Lucy Pitkin Lee, who was a daughter of Hon. Joel Lee, of Ballston Spa, and who died January 10, 1883, at sixty-nine years of age. To their union were born six children, three of whom survive, and who are : Mary G. Clark, Carrie F. McCreedy, and James Lee Scott, whose name heads this sketch.
R OBERT SWANICK, proprietor of the Congress Hall billiard room of Saratoga, Springs, is a son of James and Ann (Walsh) Swanick, and was born in County Mayo, pro- vince of Connaught, Ireland, December 10, 1843. His parents were both of Irish descent and birth, but removed to Manchester, En- gland, in 1848, and remained there until 1855, when they came to the United States, and set- tled at Saratoga Springs, where they remained until their death. His father, who died in November, 1861, at the age of sixty-six years, was a democrat in politics, a stone mason by trade, and a member of the Catholic church. Mrs. Swanick died in August, 1890, when in
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the ninetieth year of her age. She was a strict member of the Catholic church.
Robert Swanick came to Saratoga Springs with his parents when he was eleven years of age. He received his education in the com- mon schools of that place, and was engaged as clerk in a grocery store and as a bartender in a hotel until about 1870, when he engaged in the retail liquor trade. He opened the first saloon and restaurant in the new railroad place, and in 1874 assumed management of the Emmett House at Saratoga Springs, which he successfully conducted until 1877. In that year he took charge of the Congress Hall bil- liard room, which he has managed with suc- cess ever since. In connection with his work at Congress Hall he managed the French pools at the Saratoga race track for several years, and was for some time connected with the French pools at Jerome park, and with the Louisville, Kentucky, race tracks. He also managed a billiard room in the Arcade at Saratoga Springs for six years.
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