USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 43
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In January, 1881, Dr. Palmer was united in marriage to Nellie J. Like, eldest daughter of Peter J. Like, of the city of Albany. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two children, one son and a daughter : William H. and Edna.
The father of Dr. Palmer, Arnold Palmer, is a representative of an old Massachusetts family, and was born at North Adams, that State, in 1838. He was reared and educated in the old Bay State, and after leaving school learned the machinist trade. Possessing great mechanical ingenuity, he was soon distin- guished for his skill in working out new com- binations in machinery, and his ready power of devising new methods for producing re- quired mechanical results. In 1874, he moved to Ilion, Herkimer county, New York, and entered the employ of the Remingtons, with whom he remained for a number of years, engaged in perfecting their inventions. In 1882 Mr. Palmer retired from active business, and has since been living quietly in his home at Ilion. He is a democrat in politics, and in 1856 married Amanda Read, who was born in the State of Connecticut in 1836. Their union was blessed by a family of two children, one son and one daughter. Mrs. Amanda Palmer is still living and in good health, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. Her father, Garner Read, was a native of Connec- ticut, and a prosperous farmer of Stafford Springs, that State, and died about 1876, aged eighty-seven years. He was a member of the first Chapter of Royal Arch Masons or-
ganized in Ohio, in which State he resided for some years. Mr. Read's father was born in England, and became a wealthy merchant, ship owner and sea captain. He and his sons owned several vessels, with which they traded between this country and foreign ports, their crews being principally composed of slaves from the New England colonies. From one of these trading expeditions Captain Read never returned, and as nothing was ever learned of his fate, it is presumed that he was either wrecked and lost on some foreign coast, or fell into the hands of pirates who infested the high seas in those early days. Dr. Pal- mer's maternal great-grandfather, Heath, was of Scotch descent, and rendered distinguished service to the American cause during the Rev- olutionary war, as a major general in the Con- tinental army.
M ALLORY D. SCHOONMAKER,
one of the founders and proprietors of the great Ludlow Valve works at Troy, New York, is the architect of his own fortunes, and has always been active in the development and prosperity of his village and county. De- scended from a sturdy stock, and inheriting the enduring qualities of honor, honesty and energy, he has pursued a career of unusual usefulness and material success. Mallory D. Schoonmaker is a son of Peter and Sally M. (Dunning) Schoonmaker, and was born in the town of Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York, August 16, 1828. Among the old and highly respected Dutch families of Duchess county was the Schoonmaker family. One of its members was Jacob Schoonmaker, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Jacob Schoonmaker was a prosperous farmer, and came to Saratoga county before the com- mencement of the present century. He mar- ried Katrina Fero, and their son, Peter Schoon- maker (father), was born in Greenfield, Sep- tember 22, 1801, and died in the city of Troy, November 21, 1870. In early life Peter Schoon
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maker settled at Stillwater, where he was en- gaged successfully as a furniture dealer until 1850, when he embarked in the general mer- cantile business, which he followed up to 1857, at which time he retired from active business life. He wedded Sally M. Dunning, who was born in Greenfield, May 7, 1801, and passed away in Stillwater, September 13, 1869, when in her sixty-ninth year. Mrs. Schoonmaker was a daughter of James Dunning, a well-to- do farmer of the town of Greenfield. Peter Schoonmaker and Sallie M., his wife, were both faithful and devoted members of Still- water Presbyterian church for over forty years, Mr. Schoonmaker serving as ruling elder for thirty years. They were church members whose memory any society might be proud to honor, as they were Christians who adorned the religion they professed.
Mallory D. Schoonmaker was reared at Stillwater, and after fitting himself for college was compelled to give up a collegiate course on account of ill health. He afterward turned his attention to the general mercantile busi- ness, which he followed until 1861, when from overwork and a severe bronchial trouble he was obliged to retire from business until 1866. In that year Mr. Schoonmaker and H. G. Ludlow organized the Ludlow Valve Manu- facturing Company, with the latter as presi- dent and the former as treasurer. The com- pany has been very successful from the start, when it opened with but two lathes, until its present business is now the largest of its kind in the world. Mr. Schoonmaker was largely in- strumental in securing the wonderful success of the company, and in March, 1892, severed his active connection with the management, although he still retains a financial interest in the corporation. He is also interested in several other important business enterprises. He was a director for a time of the Manufac- turers' National bank of Troy, but the duties of liis large and constantly increasing business requiring his entire time, lie resigned his di- rectorship, after several years of service. Mr.
Schoonmaker has for many years been a mem- ber of and a ruling elder in the First Presby- terian church of Waterford, New York. He has a beautiful home at Waterford, where he is honored and respected by all who know him, on account of his sterling qualities as a man and his honorable business career.
On July 10, 1856, Mr. Schoonmaker was most happily united in marriage with Matilda Platt, of Waterford, who died November 6, 1888, at fifty-nine years of age.
In politics Mr. Schoonmaker is a republi- can, but, while always interested in the suc- cess of his party, his business interests have been such as to demand his entire time, and thus prevent his taking any active part in po- litical affairs. He is a man of fine personal appearance and pleasing manners, easily ap- proachable and ever hospitable and charitable. He is a good citizen as well as a successful business man, and has faithfully discharged all the duties of the various stations in life which he has been called to fill. Mr. Schoon- maker has ever been generous in aiding char- itable and philanthropic objects, and one of the grandest works of his life was the erection, in 1892, of the handsome Presbyterian church edifice in Stillwater as a memorial to his parents.
This beautiful memorial church was dedi- cated with appropriate and impressive cere- monies on October 13, 1892. Delegations were present from Troy, Waterford, Lansing- burg, Cohoes, New York and Buffalo, and after the delivery of the fine dedication ser- mon by Dr. Johnson, the formal presentation of the deed was made by Mr. Schoonmaker. He spoke feelingly of the old church and its departed members, and concluded by saying : " And now, friends, with hearts warmed by recollections of the past, and of all the way in which our Lord has led us, permit mne to call your attention to a sentence on the tablet at your left, ' This church is erected to the glory of God,' and while as indicated in the follow- ing sentence, it is in sacred and loving mem-
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ory of my father and mother, it will fall far short of the object for which it has been erected if, while it adds to your comfort and convenience, it fails to call out that sincere love and grati- tude to Him to whose worship it is dedicated to-day, which will find expression through all the days to come in your renewed, sincere and unreserved dedication of your hearts to Him who alone can make this house a blessing ' to you and to your children after you. As I now hand to your representative a deed of this property I will ask you to consider the gift as from Him who is the giver of all our good, and that I am only acting as His steward. Accepting it, you assume all the responsibility which stewardship implies. Ever bear in mind that you are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, among them our sainted ones, who to-day may be nearer to us than we think, and who, rejoicing with us, beckon us on to higher and holier living. May our remembrance of them to-day, and above all, the gracious fulfillment of God's promises to them and a grateful sense of His bountiful goodness to us, prompt to that faith -. ful consecration to Him of all that we have and all that we are, and to that holy living in the days to come which will insure His gra- cious presence with you and yours, and will make this house glorious because of his abid- ing presence with you, His people."
Monuments of granite and iron are raised in honor of men who have been conspicuous or have wrought for good in the world, but they are those who, in life, build their own monuments of ability and worth, and Schoon- maker Memorial Presbyterian church will be an enduring monument to the noble philan- thropy and Christian charity of Mallory D. Schoonmaker.
D AVID H. NOONAN, proprietor of the Noonan hotel at Saratoga Springs, and a well known contractor and builder of that vil- lage, is a son of Daniel and Catharine (Kain)
Noonan, and a native of Troy, New York, where he was born May 18, 1854. He was reared and educated at Troy, and resided in that city until 1876, when he came to Saratoga county, arriving at Saratoga Springs on the day of A. T. Stewart's death -April 11th. After leaving school he learned the trades of bricklayer and plasterer in Troy, and spent the year 1875 working at his trade in various parts of Canada. Some two months after com- ing to Saratoga Springs, he formed a partner- ship, June 12, 1876, with John T. Sweeney of this village, and engaged in the saloon busi- ness. They continued in this line together for seven years, and in 1878 Mr. Noonan with- drew from the saloon and embarked in the hotel business at No. 12 Lake avenue, which he has successfully conducted ever since. For the past five years he has also been en- gaged in contracting and building. He was one of the contractors who erected the fine armory building at Saratoga Springs-one of the handsomest structures in the village - and also No. I school building.
On New Year day, 1878, Mr. Noonan was married to Annie Casey, a daughter of Martin Casey, of Saratoga Springs, and to their union have been born seven children, four sons and three daughters. The four who are living are Mamie, David, Joseph Anglum and Ama Regina.
Politically Mr. Noonan is a democrat, and has always been active in support of his party. He served from 1884 to 1887 on the board of excise, is now a commissioner of Village hall, and has three times been a delegate to the State conventions of his party. He is a mem- ber of the Catholic church and president of the State liquor dealer's association, beside being president of the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians at Saratoga Springs, and a member of the Jeffersonian club. He has the agency for the celebrated pure cream rye whisky. He was elected as a member of the board of water commissioners to serve for a term of five years, commencing May 1, 1893.
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The Noonans are of direct Irish lineage, both the father and mother of David H. Noonan being natives of County Cork, Ireland. While yet a young man the father, Daniel Noonan, left the Emerald Isle and made his way to America. After arriving in this country he traveled through the west, being employed for a time as a conductor on various railroads in that section. Later he located in Chicago and became a contractor and builder. At the close of the civil war he removed to New York and settled at Troy, where he was engaged in rail- roading, serving there as night switchman for the Hudson River Railroad Company for a period of nine years. He died while still in their employ, in 1881, aged fifty-six years. In religion he was a Catholic and in politics a stanch democrat. His widow died at Troy, July 19, 1890, in her sixty-third year. She also was a member of the Catholic church. They had a family of three children : Mary, David H. and Mrs. F. F. Anglum.
H' ENRY A. WERNER, a member of the Werner Brewing and H. H. Werner Malt Medicine companies, whose products are sold extensively in the New England States and along the New York and Canadian line, is a son of Reinhold and Mary (Kaesin- ger) Werner, and was born in the city of Al- bany, Albany county, New York, October 12, 1854. His paternal grandfather, Melchoir Werner, was a native of Bavaria, Germany. His son, Reinhold Werner (father), was born in Bavaria, and came to Albany in 1847, and remained at Albany until 1855, when he re- moved to near Clifton Park, where he started the Half Moon brewery. He conducted the brewing business up to 1880, when he admit- ted his son, Henry A. Werner, the subject of this sketch, to partnership with him. The firm then continued as R. Werner & Son for nearly eight years, until the death of Mr. R. Werner, on December 28, 1887, when he ad- mitted his brother, Harold J., the firm name
being changed to R. Werner's Sons. The new firm ran two years, and on January 1, 1890, sold their plant to a joint stock company that was incorporated October 23, 1890, under the present name of the Werner Brewing Company. Mr. Werner removed in 1890, from Clifton Park to Mechanicville, where he built the present large ale brewery of the Werner Brewing Company, which attached a lager brewery to it in 1892. Mr. R. Werner died at sixty years of age. He was a man of good business ability and tact, was a republi- can in politics during the latter part of his life, and married Mary Kaesinger, by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter: Amelie, wife of Lewis F. Smith, who was formerly engaged in the hotel busi- ness at Clifton Park ; Henry A. (subject), and Harold J., now treasurer and secretary of the Werner Malt Medicine Company. Mrs. Werner is a native of Hessian, and resides in Mechanicville.
Henry A. Werner was reared principally in Saratoga county, received a good English ed- ucation, and at an early age engaged in the brewing business with his father. He was successively a member of the brewing firms of R. Werner & Son and R. Werner's Sons, and then became a large stockholder in and treasurer and manager of the present Werner Brewing Company, whose lager beer and ale plant is one of the largest brewing plants in the United States outside of the great cities. This plant is situated on Viall avenue, at Me- chanicville, and the main building, a four and three story structure, is seventy-two by eighty- five feet in dimensions, in which are two brew- eries-the one for lager beer and the other for ale. All necessary out-buildings are provided, and the breweries are bothi equipped with the latest and most improved machinery. Their products of beer and ale are much sought for in nearly all the villages of New England and throughout the northern part of the State on account of their purity, strengthi and superi- ority. The entire plant has a capacity of
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sixty thousand barrels per year, and from the present increasing trade of the company will have to be enlarged before many years, to meet the future demand. In addition to this great brewing business, Mr. Werner is a mem- ber of the Werner Malt Medicine Company, which has an organized capital of twenty-five thousand dollars and operates a large manu- facturing establishment at Clifton Park. Their medicines are extensively sold in the United States and Europe, and have ready sale at home in nearly all the cities and villages of the State.
Mr. Werner is neither a politician nor an aspirant for office. He served three success- ive terms as excise commissioner of the town of Half Moon, serving from 1880 to 1889, and then declined to be a candidate for that or any other position, in order to give the time that was required of him for his various business enterprises. He is a man of good business qualifications and has had the practical experi- ence necessary to make each of his two great enterprises an assured success in the future.
JOHN H. MORRIS, a young and prom- ising lawyer of Saratoga Springs, and a member of the bar of this county since 1891, is a son of Daniel and Bridget (Foley) Morris, and was born in the village of Saratoga Springs, this county, May 31, 1865. His father and mother are both natives of Waterford, Ireland, where they were reared and lived until 1859, when they left the Emerald Isle to seek a new home on this side of the Atlantic. Landing at New York city in the autumn of that year, they soon made their way to Saratoga county and settled at Saratoga Springs, where they have ever since resided. In politics Daniel Morris is a democrat, in religion a member of St. Peter's Catholic church, and has been em- ployed most of the time as a laborer since coming to this village. For twelve years he worked on the Adirondack railroad, and has been a member of several Catholic societies
connected with his church. He is now in the sixty-sixth year of his age, while his wife is in her fifty-eighth year, and is also a member of St. Peter's Catholic church. They have had a family of four children, three sons and one daughter.
John H. Morris grew to manhood in his na- tive village of Saratoga Springs, received a superior English education in her public schools, and has always resided within her corporate limits. After leaving school he be- came a newspaper reporter and spent several seasons in that position, studying human na- ture in all its phases and acquiring much val- uable information on general and special topics. On September 12, 1884, he accepted a position as clerk or assistant secretary of the board of education of the village of Saratoga Springs, and rendered such efficient service that he was retained in that office for a period of five years, October 1, 1889, he entered the law office of Hon. T. F. Hamilton, of Saratoga Springs, and ex-district attorney of Saratoga county, as clerk and law student, and for nearly two years applied himself unceas- ingly to the acquisition of legal knowledge, being admitted to the bar of Saratoga county May 8, 1891, at the May general term in Al- bany. Since that time he has filled the posi- tion of managing clerk in Mr. Hamilton's office, in addition to attending to some law practice on his own account. While assistant secretary of the board of education Mr. Morris was also assistant librarian in the Union Free School library here, and then as now was an earnest student, endeavoring to make himself master ยท of every form of knowledge that came within his reach. Beginning with a stern determina- tion to prepare himself for usefulness in the world, and backed by integrity of character and wonderful steadfastness of purpose, he has already won a goodly measure of success, and his career promises to be one of useful- ness and honorable distinction.
In religion Mr. Morris adheres to the faith of his father, and is a member of St. Peter's
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Catholic church, and has been a teacher for several years past in the Sunday school con- nected with that church. He is also a mem- ber and an officer of several social and relig- ious organizations. Politically he is a demo- crat, but takes no active interest in politics, and although young in years, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him, and has a host of friends who confidently pre- dict for him a brilliant future in his chosen profession.
G EORGE H. REEVES, practical painter and decorator, and dealer in art- ists' material and painters' supplies of all kinds, at Nos. 13 and 15 Philadelphia street, Saratoga Springs, is a son of George and Mariah (Worsley) Reeves, and was born Aug- ust 29, 1829, at Sandhurst, county of Kent, England. He was reared in his native town, received a good practical education in the common schools, and after leaving school learned the business of a painter, which he followed in England until 1848. In the spring of that year he came to the United States for the purpose of building up his shat- tered health, which had been declining for some years, and was so pleased with the country that within a few months of his ar- rival he had decided to locate at Saratoga Springs, where he has resided ever since, with the exception of about five years spent in New York city. After coming here he en- gaged in contracting in the line of his busi- ness, and at one time or another during the years from 1848 to 1863, most of the large residences and public buildings of Saratoga Springs were painted under his superinten- dence. In 1863 he started a paint store here in connection with his painting business, and it has prospered to such an extent as to require nearly all his attention at the present time. Mr. Reeves has a long lease of the large double store at Nos. 13 and 15 Philadelphia street, this city, where he carries a large and
complete stock of all kinds of art goods and house painters' supplies, including English and American pure leads, linseed oil, varn- ishes, French window plate glass, ground and figured glass, and a full supply of artists' materials. For a time he kept wall papers of every grade, but no longer deals in paper .: His career has been characterized by energy and enterprise, and he now finds himself in comfortable circumstances and at the head of an important and flourishing business, built up by careful attention to the needs of customers and considerable hard work.
On December 5, 1851, Mr. Reeves was mar- ried to Matilda Hall, daughter of George Hall, formerly of England, but at that time a resi- dent of Saratoga Springs. They had one daughter, Elizabeth Mariah, who died August 4, 1863, aged ten years and six months, and have reared and educated an adopted daugh- ter, Bertha Eugenia. Mr. Reeves is a mem- ber and trustee of the Second Presbyterian church, and a member of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Young Men's Christian association of Sara- toga Springs. In his political affiliations he is a republican.
The parents of Mr. Reeves were both na- tives of Kent county, England, and members of the Baptist church. The father was a general merchant atheandhurst, and died in England in 1844, aged forty-five years. A few years later his widow married Thomas Reeves, and they came to the United States in 1853, locating in New York city, where they resided for several years, and then removed to De- troit, Michigan. There Mrs. Reeves died in 1871, and in that city her second husband, Thomas Reeves, is still living.
JUDGE WILLIAM HAY, who is en- titled to a prominent place in the history of Saratoga Springs, was a son of James and Katy (McVicker) Hay, and was born in Cam- bridge, Washington county, September 10,
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1793. He read law, was admitted to the bar, served as a lieutenant in the war of 1812, edited the Warren Patriot in 1819, and in 1823 represented Warren county in the assembly. In 1840 he removed to Saratoga Springs, where he resided until his death, which oc- curred February 12, 1870. Judge Hay was a man of remarkable memory, extensive read- ing and extraordinary research. He had col- lected and classified a large amount of histor- ical matter with a view to publishing a history of Saratoga county, but his labors in that direction were brought to a sudden close by the hand of death.
W ILLIAM S. BALCH, for two decades proprietor of the Columbian hotel at Saratoga Springs, and later one of the most successful conductors on the Delaware & Hud- son Canal Company railroad and Rensselaer & Saratoga railway, but who is now conducting a popular and fashionable boarding house in this city, is the "youngest " son of Timothy and Annie (Whitman) Balch, and was born at Plattsburg, Clinton county, New York, Octo- ber 22, 1813. He traces his ancestry back to John Balch, who came over from England in 1623, and upon the formation of the Massa- chusetts Bay colony, irag528, became a mem- ber of that colony and settled in Massachu- setts. John Balch was a sea captain, and lived a seafaring life for many years previous to settling in this country. Ebenezer Balch, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a goldsmith by trade, a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and died in that State in 1844, aged eighty-four years. His son, Timothy Balch (father), was born at Weathers- field, Connecticut, in 1794, where he grew to manhood and lived until after his marriage. He then removed to Plattsburg, Clinton county, New York, where he continued to reside until his death in 1868, at the advanced age of seventy-four years. He was a carpenter by
vocation, and in politics a whig and republi- can. In later life he abandoned his trade for the more congenial pursuit of farming, and owned and operated an excellent farm near Plattsburg. At the age of nineteen he mar- ried Annie Whitman, a daughter of John Whitman, of West Hartford, Connecticut. She died at her home in New York in 1845, at the age of seventy-one years, leaving a fam- ily of eight children. The Whitmans are also of English descent, and are an old and prom- inent family. A genealogy of the family has been compiled and published, tracing the line back for many generations. The American branch was founded by John Whitman, who came from England in 1638, and was among the earliest settlers in Massachusetts. From him have descended the now numerous family of Whitmans, scattered in various parts of the United States.
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