USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 52
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until 1843, when he removed to New York and settled in the town of Luzerne, Warren county, where he lived for a few years, and then purchased a farm in the town of Hadley, Saratoga county, upon which he continued to reside until his death in 1881, at the advanced age of seventy-four years. He was a pros- perous farmer, a stanch democrat in politics, and married Mary Spalding, by whom he had a family of three children, all of whom were born in Vermont. Their son, Seymour Wood- ard (father), was born in 1829, and in 1843, at the age of fourteen, accompanied his pa- rents to Warren county, New York, and later to Saratoga county, where he has resided ever since, except one year spent in the State of Iowa. During the last five years he has been a resident of the village of Hadley, and previous to that time had resided on a farm in the town of Hadley. He is now engaged in the grocery, undertaking and agricultural machin- ery business, and is still quite active though in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Politically he has been a democrat all his life, and has served as assessor at Hadley and occupied other positions of trust and responsibility. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in 1849 married Jemima Cran- nell, a daughter of Elijah Crannell, of the town of Hadley, by whom he was the father · of three sons: Merrick B., Arthur J. and Purley S. Mrs. Woodard was born in the town of Hadley, is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and now in the sixty-fifth year of her age.
Arthur J. Woodard was reared on the farm until he had attained his seventeenth year, since which time he has always resided in the village of Hadley. His education was obtained in the public schools of this county, and after leaving the farm he served an apprenticeship at cabinet making, at which business he worked for a period of five years, and then abandoned it on account of his health. He soon after began work as a carpenter, and fol- lowed that occupation until the spring of
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1883, at which time he embarked in the fur- niture and undertaking business, and conducted that enterprise for some four years. He then disposed of the business, which one year later was repurchased by his father, and since that time he has been acting as agent for his father in conducting the undertaking branch of the latter's business, and latterly as agent and manager in all departments.
On January 14, 1873, Arthur J. Woodard was married to Helen R. Allen, a daughter of George W. Allen, of Corinth, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Woodard has been born a family of three children, only two of whom are now living : George S., now (1893) in his eighteenth year, and Grover A., born August II, 1885.
In his political affiliations Mr. Woodard is an ardent democrat, and is now serving his seventh year as school trustee at Hadley. During that time he has done much for the schools of this village, and is entitled to pub- lic recognition of his services. He is a mem- ber of Corinth Lodge, No. 174, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of North Hudson Lodge, No. 63, Order of Pente.
C HAUNCEY DICKENSON BULL,
M. D., of Stillwater, one of the oldest and most highly respected physicians of the State of New York, and a lineal descendant from one of the old and titled families of En- gland, is a son of Dr. John D. and Lydia (Lawrence) Bull, and was born at the village of North East, in the town of North East, Duchess county, New York, February 18, 1803. The Bull family is one of the few English families of America that can trace back its ancestry to one of the noble houses of En- gland, and establish its claim of descent from the English nobility. In the colonial days of the Empire State the Bull family was founded in Rhode Island and Hartford, Connecticut, by Daniel Bull and five brothers, who came from England between 1600 and 1700. A de-
scendant of his was Daniel Bull (grandfather), who was born August 11, 1734. On June 17, 1756, he married Susanna Dickenson, who was born July 9, 1735, and about two years later removed to North East, in Duchess county. They had a family of ten children, of whom were : Rahamah, born February 11, 1758 ; Hannah, April 2, 1760; Dr. John D., March 9, 1762 ; Horace, June II, 1764 ; Susannah, July 6, 1766; Charlotte, December 11, 1768 ; James, June 9, 1773; Sally, July 29, 1775 ; Polly, April 28, 1788. Dr. John D. Bull (father) was reared and educated in Duchess county, and practiced medicine until his death, which occurred October 30, 1843, at Stillwater, this county. He married Lydia Lawrence in Duchess county, and they had five children : Loretta, born January 7, 1789; Charlotte, August 22, 1791 ; Sally, February 26, 1795 ; Betsey, June 16, 1799 ; and Dr. Chauncey D. Bull, February 18, 1803.
Chauncey D. Bull was reared and educated in his native county, and after reading medi- cine with his father, entered Fairfield Medi- cal college, from which he was graduated with high standing on January 21, 1827. Soon after graduation he entered upon the active duties of his profession at Fort Ann, Washington county, where he soon built up a good prac- tice, which he retained until he left, three years later, to become a resident of Schuyler- ville, at which place he practiced successfully for five years. He then came to Stillwater, where his successful professional labors have spanned nearly half a century of time. He has always enjoyed a large and remunerative practice, the result of his medical ability and skill. In his profession Dr. Bull has always been in the front rank, and although now ad- vanced in years, yet takes active interest in the medical progress of the country, being still a working member of the Saratoga County and New York State medical societies.
Dr. Bull has married three times. He mar- ried Almira Newland, of Stillwater, whom that fell destroyer, consumption, soon removed
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from earth. He married for his second wife Louise Johnson, who also died from consump- tion, October 13, 1857, and on October 21, 1863, he wedded Mary Crapo, of Albany, this State, who still remains to bless his home. By his second marriage Dr. Bull had three children : John Platt Bull, who died Decem- ber 2, 1848 ; Elizabeth A. Bull, (who married Lawrence Van De Mark, and died November 27, 1879, leaving two children : Louise J. Van De Mark and Chauncey Bull Van De Mark); and Charles D. Bull, now a successful lumber merchant of Chicago.
In politics Dr. Bull is a democrat. He is an elder in the Presbyterian church, and his long life has been one of uprightness and in- tegrity, as well as one of professional useful- ness.
Dr. C. D. Bull died March 16, 1893, aged ninety years and one month.
L T. COM. ANTOINE DE REILHE
McNAIR, U. S. N., is a brave and distinguished naval officer of the late civil war, whose meritorious services along the south Atlantic coast, in confronting the Mer- rimac and other Confederate rams, and in the attack on Fort Sumter, and the capture of Fort Fisher, won him rapid promotion from midshipman through the successive grades to the rank of lieutenant commander. He is a son of Antoine de Reilhe and Elvina (John- son) McNair, and was born in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, September 15, 1839. The McNair family was one of the Scotch Cov- enanter families of Scotland, that in 1719 constituted the first ship load of that wonder- ful, relf-reliant people that came to what is now the United States. They sought a land where they would be free from religious per- secution, and could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. The McNairs settled in the vicinity of Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, and half a century later, when the long smouldering embers of discon-
tent and dissatisfaction burst out into the kindling flames of revolt and revolution, Lt. David McNair, a membr of this pioneer Mc- Nair family, drew his sword in the cause of the Thirteen Colonies. He was an officer in the Pennsylvania line and crossed the Dela- ware with Washington, to fall mortally wounded at the battle of Trenton. He mar- ried a Miss Stewart, who, after his death, took their son, Alexander, to Wilkensburg, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Alexander McNair was born in 1774, in what is now Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and died in St. Louis, Missouri, March 18, 1826. He served in the whisky insurrection and in sev- eral Indian campaigns, and in 1799 became an ensign in the United States army, and in 1804 removed to St. Louis. He served as colonel of the "Missouri Rangers," in the war of 1812, and when Missouri became a State (1821), he was elected as its first gov- ernor. He served as governor from 1821 to 1824. With Mr. Choteau and Mr. John Ca- banné, organized the Missouri (now American) Fur Company, whose patriotic object was to prevent the Hudson Bay Company from se- curing the fur trade along and west of the Rocky Mountains. Governor McNair mar- ried Margarette de Reilhe, the daughter of a French nobleman, and their eldest son, Lt. Antoine de Reilhe McNair (father), entered the United States army and was crippled for life by a severe wound received in the Black Hawk war (1832). His two brothers, Alex- ander and LaFayette, fell in the Mexican war. Lieutenant McNair died in St. Louis in 1871, at sixty-two years of age. He married Elvina Johnson, who was a member of the same old Georgia Johnson family as the celebrated Hershel V. Johnson, of that State. Mrs. McNair died in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1843, and left one child, the subject of this sketch.
Antoine de Reilhe McNair was reared in Louisiana and Missouri, and was appointed from the latter State, on September 22, 1856, as acting midshipman to the United States
Lt. Com. a. D. R.M.n. l.S.l.
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Naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland, from which he was one of the twenty-five only that were graduated in 1860, out of a class of one hundred. He served on the sloop of war Preble in 1857, and on the sloop of war Ply- mouth in 1859, and on June 15, 1860, was promoted to midshipman. He then served on the sloop of war Seminole from July, 1860, to July 1, 1862, and during that time was principally engaged as follows: On gen- eral duty (Brazil and South America) from July, 1860, to July, 1861 ; blockade duty off Charleston harbor, August and September, 1861 ; in the Potomac river, attacking the Confederate batteries at Freestone Point and Evansport, Virginia, September and October ; battle of Port Royal, splinter wound in hand, November 7; boat service in the sounds of South Carolina and Georgia, November and December ; boat and other operations inciden- tal to the cutting off of Fort Pulaski, January, February and March, 1862; expedition to Fernandina, Florida, and attack on Skiddeway battery, March; Hampton Roads, in front of rebel ram Merrimac and consorts, March, April and May ; and attack on Sewell's Point battery and capture of Norfolk, May, 1862.
Antoine de R. McNair was made master in August, 1861, was promoted to lieutenant July, 1862, and served on the sloop of war Powhatan from July, 1862, to June, 1864, during which time lie was engaged principally as follows : General service at the front, July, 1862, to April, 1863 ; attack on Fort Sumter and defenses of Charleston, April, 1863 ; capture of Morris Island batteries, where he was slightly wounded in the head, July, 1863; attack on Charleston, September 8, 1863 ; and service in West Indies, convoying United States mail steamers and searching for the Florida and Alabama, from October, 1863, to June, 1864.
From June to August, 1864, Lieutenant Mc Nair commanded the United States Steamer Gemsbock, in the West Indies, and then re- turned to the Powhatan, on which he served
until October, 1864. He was then transferred to the frigate New Ironsides, on which he served from October, 1864, to April, 1865, and during that time was engaged principally as follows: First battle of Fort Fisher, De- cember 24 and 25, 1864; capture of Fort Fisher and defenses of Cape Fear river, bat- tles of January 13, 14 and 15, 1865 ; and in front of Confederate rams, in James river, in February and March, 1865, and surrender of Richmond, Virginia. He served on the steamer Chicopee, of the Atlantic squadron, from May, 1865, to July, 1866, when he was promoted for meritorious services in the late war to the rank of lieutenant commander. He was instructor at the United States naval academy during 1866-7, and then returned to active service in the navy.
Lieutenant Commander McNair served on the frigate Minnesota, in 1867-68 ; flag ship Contocook, West India squadron, 1868 ; frig- ate Franklin, European squadron, 1869, and was off duty on sick leave in 1870. In 1871 he returned to duty, and during that year served as inspector of supplies at Norfolk navy yard, but the next year was compelled by the impaired state of his health to appear before the retiring board for retirement, and accordingly was retired October 26, 1872, for "incapacity from an injury received in the line of duty while serving in 1868 on board the United States Steamer Contotook, in the West Indies."
On December 13, 1871, Commander McNair was united in marriage with Frances Clarke, daughter of Benedict Clarke, of Saratoga Springs. To their union have been born two children : Frederick Park and Jessie.
Since retiring from the navy, Commander McNair has resided at Saratoga Springs. He still keeps up his interest in naval affairs, and after coming to Saratoga Springs spent four years at Harvard university, where he took one of the post graduate courses of that cele- brated institution, and devoted his time chiefly to scientific studies relating to geology, the
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geology of the sea-floor, and deep sea meas- urements. He is a member of the Pennsyl- vania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and of Luther M. Wheeler Post, No. 92, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a strong democrat in politics, and has entered upon his second term as a member of the board of education.
For four generations members of the McNair family have served with distinction in the army of the United States, and Commander Antoine de Reilhe McNair is its worthy rep- resentative in the navy. Commander McNair is a fluent and interesting talker, not only concerning naval affairs, but upon all the cur- rent issues of the day. He is a pleasant and courteous gentleman, of the old school, dis- tinguished alike for his high sense of honor and generous hospitality, as well as his mili- tary ability and efficient naval service.
H ARRY CROCKER, the leading con- tractor and builder of Saratoga Springs, is one of that class of business men so essen- tial to the material prosperity of any county, and so useful in its commercial development. He is a son of Benjamin and Harriet (Clark) Crocker, and was born in Dorsetshire, one of the southern counties of England, August 12, 1840. His parents were natives of Dorset- shire, where the Crocker and Clark families have been resident for many generations. Benjamin Crocker was a carpenter by trade, and removed, in 1845, to London, where he died in the year 1873, at sixty-five years of age. He married Harriet Clark, who was a daugh- ter of John W. Clark, and passed away Janu- ary, 1871, when in the sixtieth year of her age. Mr. and Mrs. Crocker were the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters.
Harry Crocker grew to manhood in London, where he received a good English education, and then served an apprenticeship of five years to the trade of carpenter. In a short time after completing his trade he engaged in
building and contracting, which he followed continuously up to 1870, when he left the world's metropolis to become a resident of New York city. His stay there was short, and after serving for one year in the employ of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, he sought to better his fortunes by traveling northward in the Hudson river valley. After working at several places he came, in 1872, to Saratoga Springs, where he was foreman on the contract and building work of Daniel Main for six years. At the end of that time, in 1878, he engaged upon a small scale in building and contract- ing, and year by year has steadily widened out the field of his operations until his trade has now assumed such large proportions as to make him the largest contractor and builder of his village, and one of the leading business men of the county.
In 1867 Mr. Crocker was united in marriage with Eliza Hall, a daughter of John Hall, and a native of Somersetshire, England. Their union has been blessed with three children : Bertha, Lilian and Mabel.
In addition to his present contracting busi- ness Mr. Crocker has established large lumber yards, which he keeps heavily stocked for the accommodation of his many patrons. He has erected some very handsome buildings at Sar- atoga Springs, among which are: the public school buildings, Nos. I and 3, the Second Presbyterian church, and several beautiful residences. He is now building Convention hall, which, when finished, will be one of the finest halls in the United States. He employs a large number of men and is amply prepared to execute upon short notice any kind of work in his line of business. He brings to bear on his work a wide range of practical experience, and enjoys a large and influential patronage. Mr. Crocker is a democrat from principle, has always been an active worker for the success of his party, and served his village as assessor for four years. He is a member of Bethesda Episcopal church; Hathorn Lodge, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows; Putnam
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Lodge, No. 134, Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a prominent Mason of the Upper Hudson valley, and has been for sev- eral years a member of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons ; Rising Sun Chapter, No. 131, Royal Arch Masons ; Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar ; and Oriental Temple of the Mystic Shrine, of Troy. Mr. Crocker has had ample experience in his line of business and is worthy of the large measure of success that has at- tended his well-directed efforts.
N EIL GILMOUR, of Ballston Spa, Sar- atoga county, New York, was born at Paisley, Scotland, in 1840. He received in his native land a thorough training for college ; but he had neither been gifted with rich birth nor favored with propitious circumstances, and found himself, through lack of means, unable to prosecute the expensive collegiate course in Scotland. He determined, therefore, to embark for America, and in 1856, at the age of sixteen, he came to this country, and the same year entered Union college as a fresh- man. Here he remained throughout the entire course of four years, enjoying the instruc- tion of such men as Dr. Nott, Dr. Hickok, Dr. Lewis, and others, and in 1860 gradu- ated among the three or four highest in a class of over a hundred gathered from all parts of the country.
Mr. Gilmour worked his way through col- lege, as he has through all the success of his life, by his own resolute efforts. Indeed, in the best sense of the word, he is peculiarly a self-made man, his education and every other attainment being due to his steady purpose and persistent determination. He provided himself with the means of paying his college expenses, not by going away at intervals to teach, but by keeping a college book store, so that he was scarcely absent a week during the whole course. Upon graduating, in 1860, he taught for a year in the academy at Corning,
Steuben county. Thence he proceeded to Ballston Spa, where he was engaged for several years as a teacher. At the same time he prosecuted the study of law, and after careful preparation and admission to the bar, entered upon the successful practice of the profession, in which he was engaged for some years. Mr. Gilmour has always taken an ac- tive part in politics, frequently stumping the State in advocating the principles of the Re- publican party. He was twice elected school commissioner in the southern assembly dis- trict of Saratoga county. In 1874 he was elected by joint ballot of the legislature to the office of State superintendent of public in- struction for a term of three years. He was re-elected in 1877 and again in 1880, being the youngest man, and the only one of foreign birth, who has held that office. The legisla- ture of 1883 being against him politically, a democrat was elected as his successor. On his retirement from this office he received from President Arthur a government appointment in the territory of Dakota, and lived in Bis- marck for two years. Being a strong lover of his adopted State, he resigned his position and returned to Ballston Spa, where he now lives. Six years ago the Atna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, appointed him their manager for the State of New York, whichi position he still holds, discharging its duties with that ability and enterprise for which he has long been noted.
R EV. JOHN T. EMMETT, O. S. A., pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church at Waterford, this county, is a son of Matthias and Hannora (Rogers) Emmett, and was born in the town of Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York, February 13, 1854. He is of direct Irish descent, both his parents being natives of the Emerald Isle, his father born in County Westmeath and his mother in County Clare. They both came to America in 1848, were mar- ried in this country soon after their arrival,
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and purchasing a farm near Johnsonville, Rens- selaer county, New York, engaged in farming. There they reared a family of four children, and resided until October 27, 1891, when Mrs. Emmett was removed from her family by death. Mr. Emmett still lives on the old farm, being now in his seventy-eighth year. He has been industrious and prosperous, and is now in independent circumstances. Politically he has always been an adherent of the old Democratic party, and in religion a strict mem- ber of St. Manico's Catholic church of John- sonville. His wife was a member of the same church, and was an intelligent and devoted Christian woman.
John T. Emmett was principally reared on the paternal acres in Rensselaer county, and received a good education, having attended Vilnova college two years and six months, and was then received into the novitiate order, where he spent four years more engaged in earnest study. At the end of that time, De- cember 2, 1882, he was ordained priest by the late Bishop Shanaban, of Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania. Soon after his ordination he was sent as assistant to the church of Our Mother of Consolation, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He remained with that church until July, 1886, when he was transferred by his ecclesiastical superiors to St. Augustine church, Philadelphia, and served as assistant pastor and procurator of that church for a pe- riod of four years. In August, 1890, he was made pastor of St. Mary's church at Water- ford, New York, which charge he has held ever since. This church was erected in 1847 by Rev. Dr. Farley, and now has a total mem- bership of sixteen hundred and fifty. In 1858 the Augustinian fathers took charge of St. Mary's church, and its first pastor under their jurisdiction was Rev. George A. Meagher, O.S. A., who served the charge from 1858 to 1860. He was succeeded by Rev. Edward Mullen, O.S.A., who held the pastorate for one year, and then gave place to Rev. Michael J. Col- lins, O.S.A., who remained in charge from 1861
to 1876. The fourth pastor was Rev. J. H. Dever, O.S.A., who remained two years, dur- ing which time he purchased the lot on which to erect a parish house. He was succeeded by Rev. D. D. Regan, O.S. A., who remained about two years, and built the present commo- dious parsonage. He was succeeded by Rev. J. P. Gilmour, who held that charge until Aug- ust, 1890, when the present popular pastor be- came officially associated with this prosperous and growing church. Father Emmett has made a number of needed improvements in the church and parsonage buildings since he took charge of the congregation, and paid off a considerable amount of the church debt. He has proved to be an efficient, careful, able and successful pastor, has accomplished much in the interests of his people, and won de- served popularity in the village of Waterford. While he is a man of fine education and has met with gratifying success as a pastor, he is also very modest, and of quiet, retiring dispo- sition.
ROLAND HENSHALL STUBBS, M.
D., a prominent physician and well re- spected citizen of Waterford, and a worthy descendant of the old, distinguished and titled Houghton family of England, is a son of Rev. Alfred and Emilia (Houghton) Stubbs, and was born in New Brunswick, Middlesex county, New Jersey, April 30, 1855. He was reared in New Brunswick, and received his education in Rutgers college of that city, from which well known institution of learning he was graduated in 1874. He then read medicine with the celebrated Dr. Clifford Morrow, of New Brunswick, and entered the medical de- partment of the university of New York, from which he was graduated in March, 1877. In January of the following year he came to Wa- terford, where he has successfully practiced his chosen profession ever since. He is a gen- eral practitioner, and has most of the practice of his friend, the late Dr. Philip T. Heartt. Dr.
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