USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 48
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In 1862 Mr. Chalmers was united in mar- riage with Maria Smith, daughter of Archi- bald Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers have two children : Agnes and Cornelia H.
William Chalmers is of Scotch descent, and his father, Matthew Chalmers, was born March 3, 1778, in Ayrshire, an agricultural, mining, manufacturing and maritime county in the west of Scotland that borders on the Firth of Clyde. Matthew Chalmers left his native land in 1803, and came to America, where he spent the next five years visiting various por- tions of the country, with a view of finding a place to suit him for his future home. Com- ing to this county in 1808, he was favorably impressed with the country in the town of Galway, and purchased the farm there now owned by his son, the subject of this sketch. He was a man of prudence and sincerity, was distinguished by amiability, simplicity and firmness of character, and honored by his membership the United Presbyterian church, of which he served as a trustee for many years. He died December 10, 1863, in the eighty- sixth year of his age. Mr. Chalmers, on April 3, 1809, married Agnes Clark, who was a daughter of Thomas Clark, of the town of Charlton, and who lived to reach her seventy- eighth year, dying December 29, 1868. Their children are: Thomas C .; Jane T., wife of John Bunyan ; Mary M., married to William Alexander : Julia A., wife of Theodore Smith, of Charlton; and William, whose name ap- pears at the head of this sketch.
T TIMOTHY T. SMITH, the popular agent of the National Express Company at Ballston Spa, who has been connected with the express business for nearly fifteen years, is a son of Charles W. and Mary (Tripp) Smith, and was born in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga county, New York, January 12, 1856. The family to which he belongs is of Holland descent, but its members have been citizens of this State since early times. Tunis N.
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Smith, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Columbia county, this State, where he grew to manhood and spent a long and active life, engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, dying at his home in that county about 1864, aged nearly eighty-four years. He married Mary Van Ness, and reared a family of eight children, among whom was Charles W. Smith (father), who was born on the old homestead in Columbia county in 1824, and was reared and educated there. In 1851 he married Mary Tripp, a daughter of Timothy Tripp, of Saratoga county, and about 1848 removed to this county, and settled in the town of Stillwater. There he remained, engaged in farming, until 1864, when he came to the town of Ballston, where he purchased the farm on which he still resides, being now (1893) in his sixty-ninth year. In politics he is a stanch republican, but has never taken any very active part in public affairs. By his marriage to Mary Tripp he had a family of four children.
Mrs. Smith (mother) is now in her sixty- third year, and still very active for a woman of her age.
Timothy T. Smith was reared on his father's farm, and received his education in the public schools and at a private school in Ballston. After completing his studies he accepted a position as clerk in a general mercantile house in the village of Ballston Spa, with which he remained until 1874, when he entered the em- ploy of the National Express Company as a messenger, running between New York city and Montreal, Canada. This position he held for a period of fourteen years, traveling on an average fifteen hundred miles every week. In February, 1892, Mr. Smith was made agent for the National Express Company at Balls- ton Spa, and has acceptably occupied that re- sponsible position ever since. He is prompt and efficient in his business methods, genial and obliging in disposition, and has become very popular with the general public.
On the 8th of June, 1887, Mr. Smith was
married to Minnie Esmond, eldest daughter of M. J. Esmond, of Ballston Spa. In his political affiliations he has always been repub- lican, and though never taking an active part in politics, keeps well posted on public affairs, and loyally supports the party of his choice on all general issues. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Ballston Spa, and takes an active part in supporting its va- rious interests.
N EWTON C. HARRIS, M. D., an ac- tive and successful physician and sur- geon of thirty years' experience, is one who receives the respect of his professional breth- ren and the confidence of the community in which he resides at Schuylerville. He is a son of William N. and Lydia (Livermore) Harris, and was born at Townsend, Windham county, Vermont, May 12, 1833. He received his education in the public and high schools of Townsend, and took his professional course at Albany Medical college, from which he was graduated on December 22, 1857. Immedi- ately after graduation he came to New York and settled at Lake, in Washington county, where he practiced until 1861. In that year he came to Schuylerville, where he soon built up a good general and surgical practice that has grown in size and importance ever since. He is a member of Washington County Med- ical society, and watches carefully the progress of his profession. During the early part of the late war Dr. Harris was appointed as sur- geon of a New York volunteer regiment, but did not accept, and two years later, in 1864, his affairs were such as to allow him to receive the appointment of assistant surgeon of the 155th regiment of New York volunteers, with which he remained until discharged at Hart's island, New York, July, 1865. Dr. Harris makes a specialty of surgery, and his thirty years' suc- cessful practice in that field is an enviable record of which he may be justly proud. In treating dislocations and fractures he has
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always secured such favorable results (with the exception of two cases) as to give him almost a. State reputation. In politics Dr. Harris is a. Lincoln republican, and an out and out Samuel J. Tilden democrat. He is a member of the Congregational church of Townsend, Vermont, and Stephen S. Onley Post, No. 253, Grand Army of the Republic.
On November 12, 1861, Dr. Harris married Nancy G. Chase, daughter of Charles and . Mary Chase, of Bellows Falls, Vermont. Dr. and Mrs. Harris have three children : Charles N., commercial traveler; Edwin S., who was graduated from Union college in the class of 1886, and is now superintendent of the public schools of Catskill, this State; and Mabel L., a teacher in the public schools of Saratoga Springs. Dr. Harris is a zealous worker in all local matters that tend to the advancement and interest of his locality. He also mani- fested a great interest in the early history of his own village and locality, and took a lead- ing part in erecting permanent monuments of iron and stone to mark the many spots in and near the village of Schuylerville, which have been made wet by the blood of the early set- tlers of that locality in the three early wars with Canada and England.
Of the few Scotch families that settled in Massachusetts prior to the present century, one was the Harris family. Many of its de- scendants scattered westward through the Bay State, and one was Ebenezer Harris (grand- father), of the town of Gill, Franklin county, of that State, who afterward removed to Townsend, in the Green Mountain State, where he followed milling. He married Lucy Wilder, and his children were: Ebenezer, Lucinda Flint, Sally Harris, Mitty Ann Holland, Lucy Kimball, Oliver, William N., Chester, the youngest son; Keziah Kimball, Phillis Kim- ball, Persis Biglow. William N. (father) was born in 1793, in Massachusetts, and died in Vermont, December 29, 1868. He was a farmer and carpenter, was intelligent and en- ergetic, possessed good mechanical power, and
was a fine musician, always serving as leader of his church choir. He was a whig and a Congregationalist, and married Lydia Liver- more, who passed away March 9, 1854, at fifty-nine years of age. They had a family of five sons and six daughters : Harriet, Maria S. Church, William M., Norman W., Fanny L., Clarissa M. Ware, Edwin D., Ellen L. Wood, Dr. Newton C. (subject), Emily V., and George W.
ISAAC BEDELL, one of the well known and wealthy farmers of Waterford town- ship, who for many years has been identified with the progressive agriculture of the county, is a son of Moses and Jane Ann (Frost) Be- dell, and was born November 29, 1832, in the town of Waterford, Saratoga county. The family has since early colonial days been resi- dent in the State of New York, where a num- ber of its members have risen to local prom- inence. Joseph Bedell, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Duchess county, this State, but shortly after attaining manhood he removed to Rensselaer county, where he engaged in agricultural pur- suits and spent the remainder of a long and active life, dying at his home there in 1844, at the advanced age of seventy-four years. He married Phebe Morhouse and reared a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters. One of his sons was Moses Bedell (father), who was born in 1807, in the town of Schodac, Rensselaer county, and was reared and edu- cated there, but while yet a young man came to Saratoga county and settled in the town of Waterford. In the town and village of Water- ford he spent nearly all his life, dying in the latter place August 1, 1874, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. For a number of years he was engaged in the hotel, coal and mercantile business in that village, and owned several fine farms in the town of Waterford, buying and selling farms for a number of years. Po- litically he was a democrat, and it was during
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his service as president of the village of Wa- terford that the corner stone of the present commodious town hall was laid. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian, and regularly at- tended and contributed to the support of that church. In 1830 he married Jane Ann Frost, a daughter of Tastles Frost, of the town of Half Moon, this county, and to them were born children. She died in 1837, at the early age of twenty-seven years, having been born October 3, 18II.
Isaac Bedell was principally reared on his father's farm in the town of Waterford, and obtained his education in the public schools of his neighborhood. He assisted his father on the farm and in the coal and mercantile busi- ness until 1862, when he engaged in farming on his own account, and has devoted his time mainly to agricultural pursuits ever since. His home farm contains one hundred and seventy- eight acres, located two and a half miles from the village of Waterford, and is in a fine state of cultivation and excellently improved.
On February 23, 1862, Mr. Bedell was mar- ried to Jane Van Veighton, daughter of John Van Veighton, of the town of Half Moon, this county. Politically he is independent, and has never sought office nor engaged actively in politics, being contented to perform the or- dinary duties of good citizenship, and leave to others the vexations which grow alike from the pursuit or possession of public position. He is a member of Clinton Lodge, No. 140, Free and Accepted Masons, and being in in- dependent circumstances, is inclined to take life easy and thus escape many of the troubles which some men appear always ready to meet half way.
IRVING W. WISWALL, now resident of Ballston Spa, and a young and promis- ing lawyer of Saratoga county, is a son of Capt. Henry and Eunice A. (Rymph) Wis- wall, and was born at Fort Miller, Washington county, New York, January 26, 1859. Capt.
Henry Wiswall was a native of Herkimer county, New York, who for thirty years lived the life of a sailor in various capacities, the last twenty years of which time he was cap- tain of a steamer running between Liverpool and New York. Leaving the ocean he retired to a farm in Washington county, where he resided until 1864, when he removed to the town of Milton, Saratoga county. There he purchased a large farm, on which he resided until his death, July 27, 1882, when he was in the seventy-third year of his age. He was an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics was a republican. His second wife, Eunice (Rymph) Wiswall, is a native of Herkimer county, New York, and now resides in the town of Milton, this county. She is of Welsh extraction and was born in 1824. An account of Captain Wiswall's life and ances- try can be seen also in the biography of Eu- gene Wiswall, another son, and half-brother to the subject of this sketch, which appears in this volume. The Wiswalls are of Welsh extraction, the family emigrating from Wales to this country in 1760.
Irving W. Wiswall grew to years of man- hood on his father's farm, and after completing his academic course entered Union college, from which he was graduated in the class of 1881. After graduation he took a course of lectures at the Albany Law school, then read law with James W. Verbeck, of Ballston Spa, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1883. He then went west and remained until Janu- ary, 1885, when he returned and opened a law office at Ballston Spa, where he has continued successfully ever since in the general practice of his chosen profession.
On July 21, 1886, Mr. Wiswall married Libby Rowley, who was a daughter of Sey- mour Rowley, and died in one month after their marriage. On September 21, 1892, he wedded Effie B. Winne, daughter of David HI. Winne, of Ballston Spa.
Irving W. Wiswall is a vestryman and the treasurer of Christ's Episcopal church, and a
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charter member and the vice-president of the Utopian club, a well known social organiza- tion of Ballston Spa. Politically, he is a re- publican. Personally, Mr. Wiswall is very popular, and ranks as one of the representa- tive young professional men of his county.
JOHN A. MOORE, M. D., a popular successful physician of Saratoga Springs, and a second cousin of Thomas Moore, Ire- land's world-renowned poet, is a son of John and Margaret (Clare) Moore, and was born at Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New York, October 4, 1854. John Moore is a na- tive of Queens county, province of Leinster, Ireland, and in 1849 came to Saratoga county. He now resides at Bacon Hill and has retired from active business life. He is a carriage builder by trade, a democrat in politics, and a Catholic in religion. He served three years during the late civil war as a private in the 77th New York infantry. Descended from the old Moore family of Ireland, he is a cousin of Thomas Moore, the great Irish poet. John Moore wedded Margaret Clare, who was born in Queens county, and died in Saratoga county, May, 1862, at twenty-eight years of age.
John A. Moore was reared principally at Bacon Hill, and received his education in the common schools and Ft. Edward institute of Washington county, then a famous educational school. At the end of his school days he made choice of medicine as a life pursuit, and became a medical student in the office of Dr. C. J. Peets, of Granville, Washington county, with whom he read for three years. He then entered the office of Prof. A. Vander- veer, M.D., and later the Albany Medical col- lege, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1880. After graduation he re- turned to Bacon Hill, and practiced until 1885, in which year he went to Europe, where he spent two years in the leading hospitals of Germany, Austria and Bohemia. By this
course he secured a practical knowledge of the treatment of diseases by the most eminent physicians of the old world, and specially fit- ted himself for the successful treatment of complicated cases. Returning from Europe to Bacon Hill, Dr. Moore continued there until 1889, when he came to Saratoga Springs, as a wider field for the practice of his chosen profession. He has secured a fine and re- munerative practice. He is assistant surgeon and first lieutenant of the 22d separate com- pany, New York State National Guard, Sara- toga citizens' corps, and has become justly popular both as a physician and a citizen.
On November 1, 1876, Dr. Moore was united in marriage with Rose E. Rourke, daughter of Richard Rourke, of Washington county. Dr. and Mrs. Moore have three children, one son and two daughters : Margaret, Mollie and Daniel Webster.
Dr. Moore is a republican in politics, and has always been a member of the Catholic church. As a physician he commands the re- spect of his professional brethren as well by his skill as his uniform courtesy ; but more than all he enjoys the entire confidence of his patients, who always receive constant, kind and devoted attention at his hands. In social life he is always genial and open. Interesting and pleasing in conversation and warm and sincere in his friendships, he enjoys the re- spect and good will of all who know him.
C. W. MAYHEW, a cousin of David R. Locke, or "Petroleum V. Nasby," and the president of Victory Manufacturing Com- pany, is a descendant of two of the old and distinguished families of England. He is the son of Abiah and Joanna (Locke) Mayhew, and was born at Austerlitz, Columbia county, New York, December 7, 1812. Among those Indian missionaries who came from England in a few years after the Mayflower was moored in Plymouth Bay, was Thomas Mayhew, the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this
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John ar Moore, M.D.
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sketch. Thomas Mayhew came to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1642, and in that year be- came the patentee and governor of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Elizabeth islands. He founded Edgartown, on Martha's Vine- yard, in 1642, and assisted his son, Thomas, in converting the Indians until the death of the latter, when he took up the entire work, although seventy years of age, and carried it forward successfully for twenty three years. He died at the ripe old age of ninety-three years. His son, Thomas (2), was the father of Thomas (3), whose son, Zephaniah May- hew (grandfather), was born at Martha's Vine- yard, now Cottage City, Massachusetts, where he passed his life. He married Polite Wads- worth, and his children were: Abiah, Lucinda and Jerusha. Abiah Mayhew (father), was born at Martha's Vineyard, September 14, 1774, and removed to Columbia county, where he died May 1, 1850, aged seventy-six years. He was a builder and contractor by occupation and a member and deacon of the Presbyterian church, in which heal ways took an active part. He was a whig in politics, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. Mayhew married Joanna Locke, and their children were : George, C. W., Emily Osborne, David P., Caroline Dickerman, and Elizabeth Hig- gins. Mrs. Mayhew, who died July 16, 1864, aged eighty-six years, was a daughter of John Locke and an aunt to the celebrated David R. Locke or "Petroleum. V. Nasby." One acquainted with the history of the Locke fam- ily, of which Mrs. Mayhew was a member, says: "The name of Locke was known in England as early as 880, during the time of King Alfred the Great, and it is probable, judging from the prominence of the name at that time, as greatness could not be achieved in a single day, that the name was distin- guished in English history earlier than this. Sir William Locke was knighted and granted large estates by King Henry VII. Sir Wil- liam Locke had charge of the King's com- mercial affairs at home and abroad, and was
employed afterward by Queen Anne Bolyn to privately gather the epistles, gospels and psalms from beyond the sea. From the ear- liest history the name has been prominently identified.with all the great events and per- sonages of the time and country. At a less remote time and crossing the ocean, we find the Lockes filling high and honored positions in the colonies. A notable figure of special prominence being Samuel Locke, D. D., president of Harvard college. Coming further down the line, Joshua Locke took a promin- ent part in the French and Indian war, serv- ing with General Braddock."
C. W. Mayhew received his education in the schools of his native village, and after- wards became a clerk in a store, where he remained for six years. At the end of that time, in 1838, he opened a store in Troy, which he left one year later to engage in the general mercantile business at Schuylerville, where he remained four years. He then dis- posed of his stock of goods to become book- keeper and paymaster of the Victory Manu- facturing Company, of Victory Mills, which position he held for fourteen years, when he was made manager of the mills and served efficiently as such until 1880, when he resigned to retire from the more active duties of life. He is the only living charter member of the company, and since his retirement as manager has held the offices of trustee and secretary, and has been president for several years.
On January 12, 1841, Mr. Mayhew married Maria De Reidder, daughter of Col. Walter De Reidder, of French extraction and a rev- olutionary officer, who wedded Alida Van Denburgh. Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew had two children : Catharine A., wife of Alvin R. Car- penter ; and Florence Wadsworth, who died in 1853.
In political opinion Mr. Mayhew is a demo- crat. He is a member of the Dutch Reformed church, in which he has served acceptably as a deacon and elder for many years. He has always been interested in the financial affairs
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of his village, and served for five years as president of the National Bank of Schuyler- ville. He gives considerable personal atten- tion to the Victory Mills plant, which consists of two cotton mills and requires about seven hundred hands, male and female, to operate them.
C. W. Mayhew is a self-made man in the true sense of the word, and has won his way in life from a humble clerkship to an honora- ble, important and responsible position in the business world.
ROF. ALEXANDER FALCONER,
superintendent of the public schools of Waterford, who served with distinction dur- ing the civil war, and has won deserved repu- tation as a successful educator, is a son of Charles and Marion (McKay) Falconer, and was born on the Isle of Sky, Scotland, Octo- ber 20, 1846. His parents are both natives of Scotland, and emigrated to the United States in 1852, settling at Holley, Orleans county, New York, where they still reside. Charles Falconer is a prosperous farmer, and an intel- ligent, genial old gentleman, being now in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Politically he is a stanch republican, and a member and ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. He is greatly respected by the people among whom the greater part of his life has been spent, and is favorably known all over his county. His wife, by whom he has had a fam- ily of seven children, is also a member of the Presbyterian church, and is now well advanced in the seventy-fifth year of her age.
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Alexander Falconer was brought to America by his parents when a young child, and was principally reared on his father's farm in Or- leans county, receiving his primary education in the public schools and afterward graduating from the Holley academy of that county. Later he took special courses in the languages, and became a fine linguist. In November, 1863, he enlisted in Co. C, 22d New York
cavalry, and served until August, 1865. He participated in the battles of Cedar Creek and Winchester, and in all the engagements of the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. After the war was over and he had been honorably dis- charged from the service, he returned to New York, and again entering the school room, completed his education. In 1870 he began teaching in the common schools of the State. His first graded school was taught at Kendall, Orleans county, where he occupied the posi- tion of principal of the school for three years. In 1886 Mr. Falconer came to Stillwater, this county, as principal of the high school, and served as superintendent of the grades in that school for six years. On August 24, 1892, he was elected superintendent of the public schools of Waterford, which position he is still holding. In his administration of the school affairs of this place he has met with excellent success, as he has elsewhere, and is known as among the foremost educators of northern New York.
On January 1, 1876, Professor Falconer was united in marriage to Inez V. Coleman, eldest daughter of Simeon D. Coleman, of Claren- don, Orleans county. To them have been born three children, two sons and a daughter : Gertrude L., Charles C. and Harold F.
In personal appearance Professor Falconer is tall and commanding, with firm mouth and chin. He is positive in his convictions and ideas concerning life and its duties, and the proper training of the young, though this seeming austerity does not detract from his active interest in all with whom he associates, nor prevent him from being very popular among both young and old acquaintances. Among his pupils have been a number of young men and women who are already win- ning prominent places in the social, business and political affairs of New York, and noth- ing affords him greater pleasure than to see and hear of their success and prosperity. In political sentiment he is a stanch republican, and for many years has been an active and
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