USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 42
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ELI M. POWELL, of Waterford, who has a record of honorable effort in various lines of business extending through nearly a quarter of a century, and in that time has been unusually successful in every enterprise in which he has been engaged, is a son of Mor- ton C. and Mary (Hall) Powell, and was born at Waterford, in Saratoga county, New York, April 19, 1847. He was reared at his native village and received his education in the pub- lic schools and Jonesville academy, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1863. After graduation he became a clerk in the general mercantile store of E. G. Munson, where he remained for several years. Leaving Mr. Munson he became a partner with his father in tanning and in dealing in hides and skins, under the present firm name of M. C. Powell & Son. In a few years they dropped tanning, and in 1880, in addition to dealing in hides and skins, they engaged in the general
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insurance business, which they have con- ducted successfully ever since. They also are agents at Waterford for the Troy Gas Com- pany. Their principal business at the present time is insurance. In the insurance field they have had an honorable and useful career of twelve years, and have so well conducted their operations as to win abundant success. They represent able and safe fire insurance com- panies that are well known on account of their enterprising, yet conservative policy. Mr. Powell and his father transact an insurance business that is widely extended in its field of operations, and bring to bear on their work a wide range of practical experience. Mr. Pow- ell, by his wise and honorable management, has made his firm highly popular and very successful. His office is at 47 Broad street. He ranks high as an active and enterprising business man of sound judgment and excellent administrative capacity. In politics Mr. Pow- ell is a stanch republican. He has served two terms as trustee and four terms as president of his village, and in March, 1892, was elected as supervisor of the town of Waterford, which office he has filled up to the present time, and is president of the board of health. He is a member of the Waterford Presbyterian church, of whose Sunday school he has been librarian for the last twenty years. Affable and pleas- ant he stands well in his community and has a wide circle of friends.
Eli M. Powell is a descendant in the fourth generation from Elisha Powell, of Welsh de- scent, who, in 1790, came from his native State of Vermont, and settled in the town of Milton, where he resided until his death. His son, William Harry Powell (grandfather), was born in 1792, and was in the general mercantile business at Milton Hill at the time of his death, in July, 1836. Of his sons, one was Morton C. Powell (father), who removed in 1831 to Waterford, where he has resided ever since, and has been successively engaged in the tanning and in the general insurance busi- ness. He is now the senior member of the
well known insurance firm of M. C. Powell & Son, and although in the seventy-ninth year of his age still gives considerable attention to his various business enterprises. Mr. Powell wedded Mary Hall, who is a daughter of Ben- jamin Hall, of the town of Half Moon, and was born September 29, 1820. They have four children living : Mary C., Edward H., Frank A., and Eli M., whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
DANIEL EDDY, a descendant of the old and substantial Eddy family of Sara- toga county, and one of the reliable and en- terprising business men of Saratoga Springs, is a son of Daniel D. and Mary Ann (Col- lamer) Eddy, and was born in the town of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New York, April 23, 1840. He traces the ancestry of his family back to two brothers, Samuel and John Eddy, who came from Cranbrook, England, in the year 1630, on the ship Handmaid, and landed at Plymouth, then but a hamlet of a few .
scattering houses. From one of these broth- ers was descended John Eddy (grandfather), who came from Duchess county in 1807, and settled at what is now known as Eddy's Cor- ners, in the town of Saratoga Springs. He kept there the Half-Way tavern, which was so named on account of the place being half way from Saratoga Springs to Saratoga lake. He owned nearly a thousand acres of land, a part of which laid near Saratoga Springs, and on which was laid out the present Saratoga race track. He was an active business man and a useful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in the spring of 1858, at seventy-eight years of age. He was a dem- ocrat until 1856, and after that supported the Republican party. He married Margaret Miller, and their son, Daniel D. Eddy (father), was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1813. Daniel D. Eddy was reared in his na- tive town, in which he resided until 1863, when hs removed to Jackson county, Michigan,
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where he died September 1, 1882, aged sev- enty years. Mr. Eddy was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in political affairs always supported the Democratic party. He was a farmer, and at one time owned the old homestead, which he sold to his brother, John W. Eddy; before removing to Michigan. He married Mary Ann Collamer, who was a native of this county, and died in October, 1889, at seventy years of age. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and her father, Hiram Collamer, passed his life as a farmer in his native town of Malta, where his father, Warren Collamer, had set- tled at an early day and lived to be ninety- six years of age. The Collamer family is of Scotch descent and has been long resident of New York.
Daniel Eddy was reared in his native town, and received his education in the public schools. Leaving school he taught one year and then learned the trade of miller, at which he worked for twelve years. At the end of that time, in 1873, he came to Saratoga Springs, and engaged in his present prosper- ous flour, grain and feed business. He com- menced on a small scale and steadily built up his business to its present large proportions. His well equipped business establishment is at No. 9, on Caroline street. He has lately erected, on Spring avenue, a grain elevator, with a storage capacity of ten thousand bush- els of grain and two hundred tons of hay and straw. Mr. Eddy handles a large amount of grain, keeps the finest brands of flour, and has constantly on hand a heavy stock of the different kinds of feed. His large patronage is not confined to his native village, as he con- stantly receives orders from other villages and the surrounding country. He is a man of ability and energy, has had many years of valuable practical experience in his line of business, and is prompt and reliable in all of his commercial transactions. In addition to his regular business Mr. Eddy gives some at tention to fancy poultry and improved and
blooded stock. He is a member of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons; and Bethesda Episcopal church, of which he is a vestryman and of whose choir his three sons are members. He is a democrat in political opinion, and was town clerk for eiglit years, besides serving seven .years as a member of the board of education. He has acquired some valuable village prop- erty, and is deservedly held in esteem alike as a business man and a useful citizen.
On April 7, 1864, Mr. Eddy married Harriet P. Ramsdale, of the town of Malta, and their union has been blessed with three children : William Daniel, born May 6, 1867; John Crawford, born November 16, 1869; and Harry Augustus, born August 19, 1881. Mrs. Eddy, who has been a member for many years of Bethesda Episcopal church, is a daughter of William Ramsdale, who has resided for the last twenty-five years in Orleans county, and is a member of the old Ramsdale family of this county. William Ramsdale is of Irish-Ger- man descent, and was born in 1811. His grandfather, Kimball Ramsdale, served in the Revolutionary war, and his wife, Mrs. Rams- dale, walked from Connecticut to Saratoga county and brought her three small children with her. One of these children was William Ramsdale, sr., who was the grandfather of Mrs. Eddy, and enlisted in a company in 1815, which reached a dangerous portion of the northern frontier in time to learn that the war of 1812 had closed.
GAPT. LOUIS O. GOETCHIUS, M.
D., a prominent member of the medical profession in northern New York, who has been in successful practice at Saratoga Springs since 1881, is a son of James and Camilla Hyatt (Lent) Goetchius, and was born at Peekskill-on- the-Hudson May 1, 1840. The family is of Ger- man origin, and was planted in America by Peter Goetchius, (paternal grandfather) who was born and educated in Germany, where he studied
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medicine, and was graduated from the lead- ing medical college at Heidelburg. Soon after graduation he went to France, and through prominent friends of his family in that country secured an introduction to the Marquis de LaFayette, and was engaged as surgeon in one of the regiments then preparing to come to America to assist the colonies in their strug- gle for independence. In that capacity he came over with LaFayette, and as such rend- ered valuable aid to the American cause. After the war closed and independence was secured Dr. Goetchius remained in America, and received a large land grant in Westches- ter county, New York, in recognition of the services he had rendered his adopted country. In that county he passed the remainder of his life, engaged in the practice of his profession, until weight of years interfered with his nat- ural activity. He died about 1830, at a good old age. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed church, which he served as an elder for the third of a century. His pocket-book, still containing some of the old Continental money, and one of his chairs have descended as heirlooms in the family, and are now in possession of his grandson, the subject of this sketch He married in Westchester county, and reared a large family, one of his sons be- ing Dr. James Goetchius (father), who was born and reared in that county, and after re- ceiving a good education studied medicine with his father, and later went to Germany, where he completed his medical studies, and was graduated from the same college in Heid- elberg that had furnished his father's diploma a generation before. Returning to New York he engaged in practice at Peekskill, and for many years was one of the most successful physicians of that part of the State. He re- mained in active practice until a short time previous to his death, when he retired and re- moved to Oswego, where he owned some prop- erty, and where he died on March 14, 1857, aged sixty-one years. Politically he was an ardent whig, and in religion was a member
and elder of the Dutch Reformed church. In 1823 he married Eliza Lent, and had a family of four children : John H., Samuel, Mary A. and James W. In 1836 he married Camilla Hyatt Lent, a daughter of Capt. John A. Lent, of Peekskill, by whom he had a family of four children, three sons and a daughter : David R., Louis O., George A. and Martha E. Of these children by both marriages : David R. enlisted as a private at the beginning of the civil war, and was dis- charged at its close as colonel of his regi- ment, and now resides at Peekskill ; John H. also served with distinction in the civil war, and died in 1877; James W. is a practicing physician and druggist at Poughkeepsie, this State ; George A., a mechanic and cabinet maker, resides in Michigan ; Louis O., is the subject of this sketch ; Mary A. married David Barton, and died in Peekskill in 1891; and Martha, is now the wife of Henry S. Purdy, a teacher at Brewster, this State. Mrs. Goet- chius was of Holland extraction, a native of Peekskill, and a life-long member of the Dutch Reformed church. She died in the fall of 1882, when she had almost reached the close of her seventy-second year. Her father, Capt. John A. Lent, served as an officer in the Rev- olutionary war, and was also in the war of 1812. He lived to be nearly a centenarian, and for a number of years prior to his death was in receipt of a pension for his military services.
Louis O. Goetchius was reared at Peeks- kill-on-the-Hudson, receiving his education at the public schools and from a private tutor. At the age of twenty-two he enlisted, August 9, 1862, as a private, in Co. H., 110th New York infantry, but upon the organization of the company was elected corporal, and later was brevetted captain, and placed in command of a company of foragers. He was wounded during the siege of Fort Hudson, Louisiana, and on June 14, 1863, while leading an ad- vance, was captured by the Confederates, and held a prisoner of war for twenty-five days.
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He participated in a number of general en- gagements and many skirmishes, and was fin- ally discharged at Baton Rouge hospital in February, 1864. He had early determined on the profession of medicine as his life work, and returning to New York, began preparing himself for its duties. He read medicine for a time with Drs. Westbrook and Gillett, and later matriculated in the medical department of the American university of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and after an extended course of study was duly graduated from that institution in 1875, with the degree of M. D. Dr. Goet- chius soon afterward located at Oswego, this State, where he practiced for a time with good success, but in the spring of 1881 he removed to Saratoga Springs, this county, and has ever since been continuously engaged here in the general practice of his profession, which he adorns by his learning, skill and manly character. Inheriting from his father and grandfather many of the natural qualifica- tions of the true physician, he has cultivated his ability and trained his powers by close study and large practice until he now ranks with the best qualified and most success- ful physicians of northern New York. He has served as president and is now secre- tary of the Saratoga District Medical society, and is a member of the New York State Ec- lectic Medical society and the National Ec- lectic Medical association. He is also serving as a member of the State board for the exam- ination of medical students.
On April 4, 1865, Dr. Goetchius was married to Esther C. Post, a daughter of Abraham Post, of Oswego, New York. She comes of an old family, whose members have taken part "in all the wars of this country, from the Revo- lution to the late civil war. To the Doctor and Mrs. Goetchius have been born four chil- dren, one son and three daughters: Charles L., a printer, is married and living at Balls- ton Spa ; and Carrie E., Mary C. and Millic L. are living at home with their parents.
Lodge, No. 422, Free and Accepted Masons, of Oswego, and Saratoga Lodge, No. 15, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, of Saratoga Springs. He is also a member of Morning Star Encampment, No. 64, Independent Order of Odd Fe'lows, and the Rebekah Degree Lodge, No. 85, of this village ; and of Luther M. Wheeler Post, No. 92, Grand Army of the Republic, also of Saratoga Springs.
C EORGE M. CRIPPEN, head of the large dry goods and carpet establishment of George M. Crippen & Co., at Saratoga Springs, and a distinguished example of the self-made men of this country, is a son of Thomas M. and Alvira (Eastwood) Crippen, and was born November 1, 1854, at Glens Falls, Warren county, New York. The Crip- pens are of Scotch extraction, but the family has been resident in this State for several generations. Thomas M. Crippen ( father) was a native of Glens Falls, born in 1815, and died April 11, 1885, aged seventy years. In 1837 he married Alvira Eastwood, daughter of Martin Eastwood, of Warren county, and to their union has been born a family of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest. Mrs. Alvira E. Crippen died in 1867, in the forty-seventh year of her age.
George M. Crippen was reared at Glens Falls, and obtained his education in the public schools and in the academy of his native vil- lage. After the death of his mother he be- came a member of the family of his aunt, Mrs. Olivia M. Morgan, his mother's sister, and at an early age entered the large general store of Coolidge, Lee & Co., of Glens Falls, as errand boy. He remained with that firm for a period of seven years, during which his brightness, ability and promptness in the dis- charge of every duty caused him to be pro- moted from place to place until he was made chief clerk in their dry goods department. Resigning that position in the fall of 1874. the
Dr. Goetchius is a member of Frontier City > year following he came to Saratoga Springs,
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this county, and although only twenty years of age, embarked at once in the dry goods and carpet business in this city. Being of an en- ergetic and enterprising disposition, and hav- ing been brought up in the mercantile busi- ness so that he understood it in all its details, it was not long until his enterprise swept out into the broad sea of popular success, and he now carries at his elegant store, No. 456 Broad- way, the largest stock of dry goods and carpets to be found in Saratoga county, occupying four floors of space, comprising eight thousand feet of salesroom, and employing ten clerks the year round, and as many as twenty-five at certain seasons of the year. Thus, ere reach- ing middle life, Mr. Crippen has by his own remarkable business ability and indefatigable energy succeeded in placing himself at the head of one of the most prosperous mercantile establishments of Saratoga county, although he began life a poor boy, and at first worked for a salary of fifteen dollars a month and boarded himself. What inspiration this suc- cessful career furnishes for the earnest youth who finds himself without means, but with a clear head and strong hands, together with an honorable ambition to achieve success in life, and make himself useful in his day and gen- eration.
In connection with his mercantile business Mr. Crippen has dealt for some years in real estate, and now owns considerable valuable property of that kind in this city, as well as valuable property in Duluth, Minnesota. He takes an active interest in every enterprise cal- culated to advance the material prosperity of Saratoga Springs, and has served as treasurer of the village board of trade.
In October, 1879, Mr. Crippen was united in marriage with Kate M. Baker, a daughter of Benjamin Baker, of Greenwood, McHenry county, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Crippen have been born five children. Two sons and a daughter are now living. The first two died in infancy, and Laurence A. and Mildred are now in school.
Ever since locating at Saratoga Springs Mr. Crippen has been a member of the First Baptist church here, in which he is serving as trustee and treasurer, beside being the super- intendent of the large and interesting Sunday school connected with this church. Politi- cally he is a stanch republican, but too thor- oughly devoted to business pursuits to take much active part in politics. He has always manifested a deep interest in popular educa- tion, and has served for four years as a mem- ber of the board of education, and has been chairman of the educational board of finance for three years. During that time the board has erected three large, handsome and com- modious school houses in the village, at a cost of over seventy-five thousand dollars. Alike in every relation of life, whether in the suc- cessful management of his own private busi- ness or the punctilious discharge of every duty in official station, Mr. Crippen has dem- onstrated the possession of extraordinary busi- ness ability, and a capacity for managing de- tails which is little less than marvelous.
E LIAS H. PETERS, the present popu- lar and efficient surrogate of Saratoga county, is a gentleman of fine legal attain- ments and much general knowledge, who has been a member of the bar for thirty years, and is widely known throughout eastern New York. He is a son of Thomas M. and Julia A. (Haight) Peters, and was born November 22, 1841, in the town of Clifton Park, Sara- toga county, New York. The Peters family is of English lineage, and trace their Ameri- can ancestry back to Hugh Peters, great- great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who was a native of England, but came to this country and settled in New York in colo- nial times. He died in the town of Clifton Park, this county, where his son, the great- grandfather of Elias H. Peters, also passed his life and died. Samuel Peters (grandfather) was born in this county about 1740, and was
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a farmer by vocation, as his ancestors had been. He was an active man in his day, and died at his home at Clifton Park, about 1825, at an advanced age. Among his sons was Thomas M. Peters (father), who was born in the town of Clifton Park, January 25, 1813, and died there in 1852, at the early age of thirty-nine years. He was a prosperous farmer, and a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he was an old- line whig, and stood so high in his commu- nity that he was elected a justice of the peace soon after his twenty-first birthday, and hell that important office continuously until the time of his death. In 1834 he married Julia A. Haight, a daughter of Elias Haight, by whom he had a family of three children, two sons and one daughter, Thomas D., Elias H. and Margaret A.
Mrs. Peters was a native of Columbia county, this State, a devoted and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died September 25, 1890, in the eighty- second year of her age.
Elias H. Peters was reared on the old home- stead, in the town of Clifton Park, this county, attended the schools of his neighborhood, and completed his academic education by courses of study in the academies of Jones- ville, this county, and Poultney, Vermont. Leaving school at the age of eighteen, he en- tered the law office of J. A. Shondy, then of Saratoga Springs, but now a practicing law- yer in New York city, and was regularly ad- mitted to the bar of this county in the spring of 1863. He at once opened an office in this village, and has been successfully engaged in conducting a large law business here ever since. In 1877 he was elected surrogate, of Saratoga county, and has acceptably filled that important position to the present time. Politically Mr. Peters is a stanch republican, and an active worker in behalf of his party's interests. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Saratoga Springs, and a liberal supporter of its various interests.
On December 10, 1868, Mr. Peters was united by marriage to Abba J. Carpenter, a daughter of John A. Carpenter, of this city, and to them have been born two children, both daughters : Julia A. and Jane B., both living at home with their parents.
F FRANK A. PALMER, M. D., the
leading surgeon of Mechanicville, and already a prominent physician of western New York, is a gentleman who numbers among his ancestors several men who distinguished them- selves in various lines of endeavor. Dr. Pal- mer is a son of Arnold and Amanda (Read) Palmer, and a native of Lee, Berkshire coun- ty, Massachusetts, where he was born Novem- ber 27, 1858, and in which State he remained until his fifteenth year. His education was obtained in the common schools of Massa- chusetts, and at the Ilion Academy, Ilion, Herkimer county, New York. After finishing his studies in the latter institution, he began reading medicine with Dr. Eugene Draper, of the same place, and later became a student in the offices of Drs. Hailes & Swinburne, of Albany, New York. In 1879 he matriculated at the Albany medical college, and was grad- uated from that excellent institution in March, 1882, with the degree of M. D. For a short time he practiced in the city of Albany, but in the spring of 1883 he located at Mechan- icville, this county, and here opened an office for the practice of his profession. Dr. Pal- mer for more than ten years has conducted a large general practice at Mechanicville. It is in the line of surgery, however, that the doc- tor has won his greatest reputation. His reputation as a skillful surgeon extends over most of western New York. He is now the official surgeon of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company's railroad, also of the Fitch- burg Railroad Company, and of the brother- hood of locomotive engineers, brotherhood of locomotive firemen, and brotherhood of train- nien.
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Dr. Palmer is a member of the Union Med- ical association, the State Medical association, and the National Medical association, and takes an active interest in the proceedings of these organizations. He frequently contrib- utes to the various medical journals of the country. The doctor is a Royal Arch Mason, and past chancellor of Garfield Lodge, No. 216, Knights of Pythias. He is also a mem- ber of Half Moon Lodge, No. 492, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
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