USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
A LBERT H. BARNES, a substantial and influential citizen of Mechanicville, and the senior member of one of the largest sash and blind manufacturing firms of tlie United States, is a man whose business ability and good judgment is attested by the marked success that has attended every enterprise in which he has been engaged. He is a son of John T. and Avis (Huggett) Barnes, and was born at Heathfield, Sussex county, England, December 11, 1841. His father, John T. Barnes, was born in 1793, in Sussex county, England, where he received a common Eng- lish education, but being a man of literary talent and unusual energy, he read and studied until he became very well informed. He came in 1842 to the town of Stillwater, where lie followed his trade of shoemaker until the time of his death, which occurred in the spring of 1849. Mr. Barnes was of strong physical
268
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
build and delighted in athletic sports, in which he excelled, but at the same time was deeply interested in literature, to which he gave much study. He had projected an allegory which promised to be of merit, and while working on it fell dead, at 12 o'clock at night, from a stroke of apoplexy. He was a whig, a mem- ber of the Second Baptist church of Stillwater, and was twice married. His first wife left him two children : Caleb and Emma, who died at the age of fifteen years. For his second wife, Mr. Barnes married Avis Hug- gett, who was a daughter of Thomas Huggett, and passed away May 11, 1880, at seventy- nine years of age. By his second marriage Mr. Barnes had two sons and one daughter : Dr. John T., a physician of Washington county, New York, Albert H., and Mary J., who died at thirteen years of age.
Albert H. Barnes was brought when an in- fant, by his parents, to Saratoga county, where he received his education in the common schools and Stillwater academy. The sudden death of his father left him at an early age to do for himself and to assist his mother in maintaining the family. At fifteen years of age he left school and became an apprentice in Cornell & Ladow's sash and blind factory at Stillwater, of which he became foreman at the age of eighteen years. As foreman he gave such evidence of business ability that in 1866 the firm made him their manager at Mechanicville, where they continued oper- ations but one year. He then started as a sash and blind manufacturer upon a small scale, and after twelve months of successful experience formed a partnership with Daniel E. Ladow, under the present firm name of Barnes & Ladow. In 1885 their factory and heavy stock of material were burned, by which unfortunate occurence they suffered a loss of about ten thousand dollars; but they were not discouraged by this misfortune, and in- stantly took steps for erecting a new factory. They purchased the site of their present plant near the Union railroad station, and in three
months had sufficient buildings erected to re- sume business on a larger scale than before the fire. Year by year they have erected ad- ditional buildings until they now have one of the largest and best equipped building ma- terial plants in the United States. Their main factory building is a two-story brick, seventy by one hundred and twenty feet in dimensions, thoroughly equipped with the latest improved. machinery, which is driven by a sixty-horse power engine, while their extensive mill yards and large warehouses are between the canal and railroad. They employ seventy hands, manufacture and deal in doors, sashes, mould- ings, lath, shingles, cements and masons' ma- terials of all kinds, and are general agents for the celebrated King's Windsor cement, which has achieved such satisfactory results as a mortar, and has a hard finish for pure white walls, on account of its superiority over lime and hair mortar and owing to the fact that it is fire and water proof. They are among the largest sash and blind manufacturers in the United States, and do a yearly business of nearly two hundred thousand dollars, while an annually increasing volume of trade indicates the permanent popularity of their products. Mr. Barnes is an unswerving republican in politics. He has been a deacon and an active member of Mechanicville Baptist church since its organization twelve years ago. He is also superintendent of the Baptist Sunday school, and has always been active in every movement for the advancement of his church and of Christianity in his community. He is a member of Montgomery Lodge, No. 504, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and a member and the vice president of the New York Mutual Savings and Loan association at Mechanicville.
On December 22, 1863, Mr. Barnes was united in marriage with Augusta Ladow, daugh- ter of J. S. Ladow, of Stillwater, New York, who is the senior member of the firm of Cor- nell & Ladow. They have two children: Wil-
269
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
lard J. and Albert L. Willard J. is at pres- ent with the Edison Company of Schenec- tady, this State, in their testing department. Albert L. is now a student at the Albany Bus- iness college.
Albert H. Barnes is preëminently the builder of his own fortune. He is a man of unques- tioned integrity, liberal and kind, and in every way worthy of the confidence reposed in him by those who know him.
H ARRY P. PENDRICK, a rising young lawyer of Saratoga Springs, who has been a member of the bar since 1890, and is rapidly winning a name in his profession, is a son of Elias J. and Elizabeth (Leonard) Pendrick, and was born March 13, 1862, at Paducah, Kentucky. The family is of Scotch lineage, and was planted in New York by Joseph Pen- drick, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, who came to this country about 1825. He was a tailor by trade, and lived in the town of Wil- ton, this county. His son, Elias J. Pendrick (father), was born in the town of Wilton, De- cember 17, 1833, and while yet a young man removed to Kentucky, where he resided until 1870. He is a contractor and builder by oc- cupation, and after leaving Kentucky spent several years in Chicago, Illinois. Leaving Illinois he returned to Saratoga county, New York, and settled at Saratoga Springs. Dur- ing the civil war he served for nearly three years, being first lieutenant of Co. B, 16th Kentucky cavalry, and acting provost marshal on the staff of General Gilman. He is a re- publican in politics, and a member of L. M. Wheeler Post, No. 92, Gran'd Army of the Republic, at Saratoga Springs. In 1861 he married Elizabeth Leonard, a native of Nash- ville, Tennessee. She is a member of the Episcopal church, and is now in the fifty- fourth year of her age. They were the par- ents of four children, two sons and two daugh- ters, all of whom are now living.
Harry P. Pendrick was reared principally at
Saratoga Springs, to which village he came with his parents when only twelve years of age, and received his preparatory education in the high school, graduating with the class of 1884, after which he entered Hamilton col- lege and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1888 with honors. During his college course he was a prize speaker, a prize debater, and, at graduation, was appointed by the faculty a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society, a strictly honor society. He was also one of the under-graduate editors of the Hamilton Literary Monthly. He soon after entered the law office of Judge Houghton, of Saratoga Springs, and after due preparation was regularly admitted to the bar in Decem- ber, 1890. He at once opened a law office in Saratoga Springs, and has been actively en- gaged in the practice of his profession ever since.
Politically Mr. Pendrick is an ardent re- publican, and takes an active part in local politics. He was elected clerk of the board of supervisor in 1891, and reelected in 1892. Since 1890 Mr. Pendrick has been a member of the Royal Arcanum of Saratoga Springs. He is popular and highly respected, and his legal career promises to be successful and brilliant. He is unmarried.
S TEPHEN C. MEDBERY, cashier of the First National bank of Ballston Spa, and for nearly sixteen years treasurer of Sar- atoga county, is a worthy representative of an old Puritan family, and one of the most use- ful, enterprising and prosperous citizens of northern New York. He is a son of Stephen B. and Sarah M. (Clark) Medbery, and was born in the village of Ballston Spa, this coun- ty, March 18, 1847. His paternal great- grandfather, Nathan Medbery, was a scafaring man, who after abandoning the water removed from Rhode Island to the town of Greenfield, this county, about the close of the last century, and taking up a large tract of land, resided
270
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
thereon until his death, at an advanced age. With him came two of his brothers and his son, Stephen Medbery (grandfather), and a number of others, all of whom settled in Greenfield. Stephen Medbery was a farmer, and remained a resident of Greenfield until his death, about 1845, when in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He married Lydia Martin, and reared a family of fourteen children, among the number being Stephen B. Medbery (father), who was born in the town of Green- field in 1815, and grew to manhood there, re- ceiving his education in the common schools. In 1833 he removed to the village of Ballston Spa, of which he has ever since been a resi- dent, and engaged in the drug business, which he successfully conducted for several years. From 1849 to 1880 he was proprietor of the well-known Medbery hotel of Ballston Spa, and he still owns the building, but is now retired from active business. Politically he is a republican, with whig antecedents, and is a member and warden of Christ's Episcopal church. In 1843 he married Sarah M. Clark, a daughter of William Clark, and a native of Ballston Spa, and to their union was born a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. Mrs. Sarah M. Medbery was of English descent, and her ancestors removed to this county from Hebron, Connecticut, at an early day. She was a member of the Episcopal church, and died at her home here in 1872, aged fifty-five years.
Stephen C. Medbery was reared in his native village, receiving his preliminary in- struction in the Episcopal parish school, and completing his education in the Ballston Spa institute, the Gilmore academy of Ballston Spa, and Mount Washington collegiate insti- tute in New York city. He was graduated from the latter institution with the class of 1866, and immediately accepted a position as paying teller in the First National bank of Ballston Spa, where he remained until 1868, when he resigned and removed to St. Louis, Missouri, becoming bookkeeper in a large
wholesale stove and hollow-ware house in that city. In a short time he found the climate did not agree with his health, and within a year he returned to New York and resumed his former position in the First National bank at Ballston Spa, with which he has been con- nected ever since. In 1871 he became cashier of this leading financial institution, which place he still holds, and is also serving as county treasurer of Saratoga county, having been first appointed to this office January 24, 1879, to fill the unexpired term of James H. Wright. He has held the office continuously ever since, having been elected five times in succession. At the expiration of his present term he will have held this responsible posi- tion for a period of sixteen years. Mr. Med- bery is also vice-president and treasurer of the Ballston Electric Liglit & Power Company, and president of the J. D. Sweet Cigar Com- pany, of Ballston Spa. With distinguished ability and the strictest integrity he has uni- formly discharged the many and grave duties connected with these and other trusts, in such a manner as to give him rank with the best business men and most accomplished finan- ciers of Saratoga county or northern New York.
On December 5, 1876, Mr. Medbery was united in marriage to Mary A. Clark, youngest daughter of Col. James C. Clark, of the United States army, and Sarah A. (Betts) Clark. Colonel Clark formerly resided in the city of Troy, New York, and commanded tlie 79th United States infantry. To Mr. and Mrs. Medbery have been born four children, two sons and two daughters: Stephen Clark, jr., Neil G., Belle N. and Annie M. M.
Politically Mr. Medbery is an active repub- lican, and prominent among the local leaders of his party. From 1875 to 1890 he held the office of president or trustee of the village of Ballston Spa almost continuously, being elected alternately to each position. He has served for twelve years as a member of the board of education, during part of which
271
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
time he was president of the board. In relig- ion Mr. Medbery is an Episcopalian, and for a number of years has been vestryman of Christ's church at Ballston Spa.
JOB G. VIALL was a fine example of the thoroughgoing and successful business man, and his straightforward, active and un- pretentious life is well worthy of imitation. He was a son of Daniel and Olive (Green) Viall, and was born at Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York, May 10, 1810. He received but a practical and rather limited English edu. cation, but his own wonderfully active mind did not rest satisfied with his scant school ac- quirements, and he sought by reading, conver- sation, observation and self-study to widen the horizon of his knowledge and increase his rudimentary learning. Such success attended his efforts that in the course of a few years he became a well informed man, whose range of thought was wide and comprehensive. The activity of his mind was equaled by his great energy and persistent industry. At seven years of age he was placed in a cotton factory at Schaghticoke, this State, and his natural aptitude for business was so remarkable that he was rapidly promoted from position to po- sition, and in a few years was thoroughly ac- quainted with every process of cotton manu- facture and every detail of factory business. When he attained liis majority, in 1831, he was elected as superintendent of the Mechan- icville cotton factory of Fairbanks & Bullen. He became a large stockholder and a director in the company of Fairbanks & Bullen, and when their factory closed in 1849 Mr. Viall purchased the present site of the village of Willow Green, which he laid out as Jobville. He erected a large cotton mill, opened a store and built a large number of houses to accom- modate his employees. Success crowned his effort, and after a year of remarkable prosper- ity he was induced to part with this well pay- ing property, and become interested in the
American Linen Thread Company, of which he became a stockholder and the superinten- dent. Under his charge the company's works became paying, and their affairs were in a very flourishing and prosperous condition in 1870, when Mr. Viall resigned the superintency to embark in the real estate business, in which he was engaged until his death.
His life work ended on November 26, 1885, when his spirit passed from time to eternity. His remains rest in Ellsworth cemetery, but the character and magnitude of the work which he accomplished in life will preserve his name and memory at Mechanicville, whose prosper- ity ever had his best thoughts and earnest en- deavors.
At the time of his death Mr. Viall owned a large amount of valuable property, which he had acquired by industry, honesty and excel- lent management. He purchased the site of North Mechanicville and laid it out in lots, many of which he improved. By the building up of North Mechanicville, and the increased trade and wealth which his mill brought to the entire village, he is justly considered as one of the leading factors of Mechanicville's progress and present prosperity. He was a republican and Presbyterian, and was ever active in the interests of his party and the prosperity of his church.
On November 24, 1838, Job G. Viall mar- ried Fannie Fellows, who is a granddaughter of John Fellows, a strict Presbyterian, who was of English origin, and who came from New England to the town of Stillwater, where he owned a square mile of land and reared a family of six children: William, Ezra, Thomas, Eldula, Elizabeth, and Sarah, now dead. Wil- liam Fellows, the father of Mrs. Viall, was a prosperous business man, an exemplary mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and a Knight Templar in Free Masonry. He died in 1832, at sixty-seven years of age. He married Han- nah Eddie, a member of the New England Eddie family, and their children were: Tisdale E., Nancy McCollum, Abraham, Elizabeth J.
272
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Hodnett, William, Mrs. Fannie Viall, Maria Dyar and Daniel. To Job G. and Fannie (Fellows) Viall were born five children: Sarah L., who died in childhood ; Hannah L., wife of John Campbell ; George J., who married Maria Reed and is now a resident of New York city; and F. Jennie, wife of David F. Bontecon.
J AMES MINGAY, a retired business man of Saratoga Springs, and a director in the G. F. Harvey Company, manufactur- ing chemists of this city, is a fine type of the modern self-made man. Beginning at the foot of the ladder, ere middle life was reached he had secured a position comfortably near the top, and is now enjoying the rewards of a busy and successful career. Mr. Mingay is a native of Yarmouth, County of Norfolk, En- gland, where he was born October 9, 1844. His paternal grandfather was for a number of years a soldier under Wellington. His pa- rents, Richard and Ruth (Corp) Mingay, came to the United States in 1850, and located at Saratoga Springs, New York, where they have resided ever since. Richard Mingay (father) was born June 6, 1815, and is consequently now in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He is a republican in politics. During his active life he was a shoemaker by vocation, but for several years has led a retired life. His wife was born in Rathfarnham, Ireland, March 26, 1811, and is now well advanced in her eighty-third year. She is a member of the Episcopal church, and has lived an active and useful life. This aged couple were the parents of seven children, five sons and two daughters: Richard, Mary A., George, Eliza- beth, James, Henry M. and Richard.
James Mingay was brought from England to America by his parents when only six years of age, and was reared and educated at Sara- toga Springs, New York. In the spring of 1857, at the age of thirteen years, he left school, and became a clerk in a leading drug
store in this city, thus early identifying him- self with what was to be his principal vocation in life. He continued to occupy the position of a druggist's clerk until the spring of 1869, when, having become familiar with all depart- ments of that calling and accumulated some means, he embarked in the drug business on his own account at Saratoga Springs .. His acquaintance with the public was already large, and his reputation as a skillful and re- liable druggist was well established, so that he met with immediate success in his new ven- ture, and was soon at the head of a prosper- ous and flourishing business. Being of an energetic disposition and possessed of engag- ing manners, splendid ability, and a natural aptitude for managing the details of any en- terprise, he built up a remarkable trade, which he successfully conducted until 1889, at which time he retired. Mr. Mingay owns consider- able real estate in this city, the fruits of his own industry and enterprise. When the G. F. Harvey Company was incorporated in 1890 he was made a director in that organization, and is still officially and financially identified with its flourishing business.
On October 9, 1873, Mr. Mingay was wed- ded to Louise Hill, daughter of Benjamin Hill, of the town of Malta, Saratoga county. Politically Mr. Mingay is a republican, and has served one term as a member of the board of education, and for several years has been a member of the village board of health. On August 1, 1862, he enlisted in Co. F, 115th New York infantry, as a sergeant, and eighteen months later was transferred to the regular army as hospital steward. He served in the latter capacity until the close of the war, and is now a member of Wheeler Post, No. 92, Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member and past master of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Cryptic Council, No. 37, Royal and Select Masters. In religion he adheres to the faith of his ancestors, and is a member of tlie Episcopal church of Saratoga Springs.
273
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
H ENRY C. DATER, the well known in- surance agent and underwriter of Balls- ton Spa, is a gentleman of excellent business judgment and wide experience in the practical affairs of life. His naturally fine talents were carefully trained in youth, and have found a continuous field for their exercise and de- velopment in the various enterprises in which he has been successfully engaged. He is a son of Henry and Katie (Snyder) Dater, and was born November 13, 1844, in the town of Brunswick, Rensselaer county, New York. The Dater family trace their trans-atlantic origin to Germany, but they have been citi- zens of New York since early times, and have borne an honorable part in the development of the Empire State. Henry Dater (father) was a native of Rensselaer county, where he was reared and educated, and where he passed a long and active life. After attaining manhood he engaged in farming, and became very pros- perous, owning considerable land in the town of Brunswick, and conducting his operations on an extensive scale. He died at his home in that county in 1883, at the ripe old age of eighty-two years. In political faith he was always a stanch democrat, and in religious be- lief and church membership a Lutheran. In 1822 he married Katie Snyder, a native of Rensselaer county, and a daughter of Jacob Snyder. She was a member of the Lutheran church, and died in 1854, aged fifty-one years. To thiem was born a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters : Harriet, Jacob, Calvin, Mary and Henry C., who are living ; and Larry M., Elizabeth, Mary Christina and John, who are dead.
Henry C. Dater was reared on his father's farm in Rensselaer county, and received a good English education in the public schools there, which he supplemented by a term of study in a private institution of learning at Stillwater, this county, and a course of com- mercial training in the Poughkeepsie Business college, at Poughkeepsie, this State. Leav- ing the college at the age of twenty he went
to Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in clerking in a large mercantile house for several years, and in 1863 came to Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, where he formed a partnership with Samuel P. McChesney, under the firm name of Dater & McChesney, and embarked in the general mercantile busi- ness on his own account. This enterprise was successfully conducted for a period of five years, at the end of which time they disposed of the store on advantageous terms, and soon afterward Mr. Dater became a member of the firm . of Newton & Dater, his partner being Charles J. Newton, of Ballston Spa, and they opened out a gentlemen's furnishing store, in- cluding boots, shoes, hats and caps. After five years in this business the store was sold, an 1 Mr. Dater returned to Lansingburg, Rens- selaer county, where, in partnership with his brother, John Dater, he engaged in the man- ufacture of brick, their works being located at Troy. Under the firm name of Dater Brothers they ran the brick business for a period of three years, when they sold out, and engaged for two years in the livery business at Lansingburg. In 1878 Mr. Dater returned to Ballston Spa, and embarked in the general insurance business, in which he has ever since been successfully engaged, representing some of the oldest and best companies in existence, and doing a large and prosperous business, both in life and fire insurance. He was for several years president of the Saratoga county board of underwriters, and also served as presi- dent of the board of education for several years.
On December 7, 1869, Mr. Dater was mar- ried to Alice M. Hall, a daughter of Lucitis D. Hall, a prosperous farmer of the town of Malta, this county. She died November 29. 1882, aged thirty-three years, and leaving be- hind her an only daughter, Lena H. On Jan- uary 27, 1885, Mr. Dater wedded for his second wife Minnie E. Post, a daughter of J. Wilson Post, of New York city. She passed from earth November 16, 1892, in the forty-third year of her age.
274
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Politically Henry C. Dater has always been an ardent democrat, earnestly advocating the principles of that great political organization, and taking an active part in public affairs and local politics. He was elected by his fellow- citizens and has acceptably served as collector of the town of Milton for three years, and has also been village treasurer for a like period. By his own ability and energy he has won de- served success in life, and is justly regarded as among the most enterprising, active and useful citizens of Saratoga county. He is affable and pleasant in manner, a good con- versationalist, and always abreast of the times in everything that distinguishes the intelligent gentleman and good citizen.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.