USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 54
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JOSHUA PORTER, M. D., was the eld- est son of Col. Joshua Porter, and was born in 1759 at Salisbury, Connecticut. Colonel Porter was a prominent judge and legislator of Connecticut, and commanded a regiment of New England troops at the surrender of Bur- goyne. Joshua Porter was graduated from Yale college, both in the literary and medical courses, and served as a surgeon's mate in the Revolutionary war. He was taken prisoner at Long Island, was confined for some time on the notorious prison ship Jersey, and in the early part of the nineteenth century came to Saratoga Springs, where he resided until his deatlı, which occurred in 1831. Dr. Porter was for many years one of the principal phy- sicians of the Springs. He was a brother of John A. Porter of Niagara Falls, and of Gen. Peter B. Porter, who served as secretary of war under President Madison.
G EORGE P. H. TAYLOR, M. D., a
successful physician and prominent Free Mason of Stillwater, is a man of pleasing ad- dress and good conversational powers, who ranks high as a public speaker and entertain- ing writer. He is a son of George and Louisa (Pardmore) Taylor, and was born on Turk's Island, one of the West India islands, April 20, 1847. The Taylors are of English descent, and settled in Massachusetts during the colo- nial days of her history. George Taylor, the paternal grandfather of Dr. Taylor, was a lin- eal descendant of George Taylor, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and spent several years in the West Indies as a merchant and general importer. He was an Episcopa- lian, married Mary Harvey, and died in 1864, at sixty-five years of age. He had two sons : George (father), and James. George Taylor was born on Turk's Island, received a collegi- ate education, was a commission merchant for several years and served as United States vice- consul at his native island for some time. He was an accomplished man, and died at Turk's Island on July 7, 1853, aged twenty-nine years. He married Louisa Pardmore, and their chil- dren were : Dr. George P. H., Lewis, Ellen, Cecilia, William H. and Jessie. Mrs. Taylor, who died on Turk's Island in 1871, was a daughter of Capt. John Pardmore, who com- manded a British man-of-war during the war of 1812.
George P. H. Taylor, at ten years of age, by the death of his father, was compelled to do for himself. He was employed as a gen- eral store boy in various drug stores at New York, and by diligence and activity secured repeated promotions in the establishment, while during his earlier years of service as a clerk he attended an excellent night school. As he grew up to manhood he received in- creased wages as a clerk, and devoted all of his leisure time to the study of medicine. At twenty-three years of age he had made suclı proficiency in his medical studies that he was enabled to enter the medical department of the
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university of New York, from which he was graduated in the class of 1875. During his course at the university he was twice excused to serve a year as an assistant physician, once at the New York Lying-in asylum, and the second time at Bellevue Hospital, New York city. Also while at the universary, in 1871, he passed a severe and rigid examination in pharmacy and received a diploma. The next year after graduation he came to Stillwater, where he has a fine and remunerative practice.
On November 18, 1880, Dr. Taylor married Louisa Dennison, daughter of Albert and Maria (Nelson) Dennison, the former of whom was a member of the large hosiery manufacturing firm of Dennison & Co. Dr. and Mrs. Taylor have one child, a daughter, named Helen D.
In medicine, Dr. Taylor is a liberal practition- er, using those methods which he thinks best, irrespective of any particular school. He is a democrat in politics, stumped his Congressional district in 1892 for Cleveland, and has served for sixteen years as a health officer of Stillwa- ter, of whose school board he is now a mem- ber and the president. Dr. Taylor is a pleasant, congenial gentleman of remarkably fine con- versational powers, and has always been in demand since coming to Stillwater, as a pub- lic speaker and lecturer. He is unassuming in manner and dress, but no man is more keenly alive to every interest of the village or more willing to give active support to any worthy enterprise.
Dr. Taylor is a prominent Mason, being the present worshipful master of Montgomery Lodge, No. 504, Free and Accepted Masons, of Stillwater ; and a member of Montgomery Chapter, No. 257, Royal Arch Masons, and Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar. He has served six terms as master of Montgomery Lodge, and on November 16, 1891, when the Lodge celebrated its hundredth birthday, he gave by invitation, in the academy hall, a history of Montgomery Lodge. In opening Dr. Taylor said : "I propose giving a brief sketch of reminiscences of Free Ma-
sonry, from the institution of Montgomery Lodge, No. 23, in Stillwater, New York, one hundred years ago, to the present time, selected from the records of the lodge and other relia- ble sources ; and these reminiscences will not be completed without prefacing them with a resolution copied from the records of the old Congregational church of Stillwater, which, in the year of our Lord 1762, was located in New Canaan, Connecticut, as follows: 'April, A. D. 1762. At a fast appointed to know our duty in respect to this church moving to Stillwater, it was fully agreed this church should be re- moved to Stillwater, and pursuant to said agree- ment, the greater part of this church has removed to Stillwater.' Brethren, this resolu- tion of the Puritan Fathers in the land of Ca- naan, in Connecticut, subscribed by their own hands, is of double interest to the Masons of Stillwater, because many of the consecrated signatures to that resolution were also in the charter roll of Montgomery Lodge. The hands that wrote them and the tongues that around our mystic altar renewed their trust in God - have long since been resolved into their nat- ural elements, while their souls are permitted to be invisible witnesses to the deeds of the children of the Temple who gather about our sacred altar, and who, too, are hastening on- ward toward that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler ever returns. On November 16, 1791, at two o'clock in the after- noon, in the upper room of a tavern kept by Walter Broughton, opposite the parsonage of the Presbyterian church, these brethren as- sembled with a charter issued by the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, signed by Robert E. Livingstone, Grand Master ; Peter McDougal, Grand Senior Warden ; John Mey- er, Grand Junior Warden, and Montgomery Lodge, No. 23, was instituted in due and an- cient form, with the following officers and brothers: John Verner, master ; Cornelius Vandenburgh, senior warden ; Abram Living- ston, junior warden ; John Bleeker, treasurer; J. Fort Junin, secretary; Ezra St. John, senior
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master of ceremonies; William Seymour, junior deacon ; Solomon Campbell and Wil- liam T. Gleason, stewards, and Brethren Rob- ert Patrick, Jesse Patrick, William Seymour, Joseph Palmer, Wilbur Palmer, James Dick- inson, Ashabel Meacham, Warren Smith and Daniel Hale. There were added to the rolls previous to the year 1800 ninety-five members." Dr. Taylor then stated that in 1804 the num- ber of the lodge was changed from 23 to 20, and that in 1827 it purchased the property now owned by the railroad company, erected a building, the lower part of which was given free of rent as a school room. That it dona- ted part of a lot for a cemetery, and that its membership roll from 1800 to 1827 was one hundred and fifty. All the clergymen of Still- water in 1827 were members, and its records show donations to various clergymen and churches for many years previously, while the use of the lodge room was freely accorded to all the churches. He next made brief men- tion of the prominent early members, and gave in detail the history of the decline of the lodge from 1827 to 1839, when it surrendered its charter. Dr. Taylor spoke briefly of the twenty years that the lodge was dead and of its reorganization on July 16, 1860, with Rev. W. I. Heath, C. C. Hill, J. A. Quackenbush, Philip Mosher, John Buffington and I. V. W. Vandenburgh as charter members. He stated that two hundred and fifty members were added to its rolls from 1860 to 1891, and that its sev- enteen masters from 1791 to 1891 were : John Verner, Reuben Smith, Daniel Hale, Dr. Wil- liam Patrick, George Palmer, Almon Clark, Rev. W. I. Heath, Dr. W. M. Campbell, D. F. Wetsell, Philip Mosher, Lawrence Vander- mark, Eugene Wood, J. B. Newland, W. R. Palmer, Dr. G. P. H. Taylor, George H. Bunce, and W. S. Miller, some of whom served sev- eral terms. In conclusion of his splendid and well received address, Dr. Taylorsaid: " Mont- gomery Lodge has had lier trials, which only served to bring out the loyalty of her sons. Her future is bright, lier sons are loyal and
true. It is not my province to speak of the lessons which are taught by the experiences of the past. After all, the future only is ours. Bye and bye the gavel will sound to call us from labor to our eternal refreshment and the days of life will be but as memories. Our children's children will gather about our sacred altar to speak in song and story of the deeds of their forefathers. May their memories of us be indeed fragrant with deeds of mercy and kindness. We ourselves will find glorious lives in the Eternal Lodge above, taking up the joyous refrain : 'Hosanna ! Hosanna ! In the Highest ; For He is good ; His mercy en- dureth forever ! '"'
CHARLES R. CLAPP, a prominent .
young attorney of Ballston Spa, who has already made a distinguished record as a speaker and debater, is the youngest son of Russell P. and Madelia (Hale) Clapp, and was born March 5, 1867, in the village of Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, New York. The family is of English extraction, but have resided in this State since early times. Chester Clapp, paternal grandfather of Charles R., was born in Cayuga county, but while yet a young man removed to Saratoga county and settled at Ballston Spa, becoming one of the early in- habitants of that village. His wife was a daughter of William Stillwell, who for many years held the position of county clerk here, and kept the office in a log hut standing on the lot now occupied by the residence of Alva C. Dake, on Pleasant street. Chester Clapp remained a resident of this village until his death, June 15, 1890, when he had attained the remarkable age of ninety-seven years. He reared a family of six children, all of whom are now deceased. In political sentiment he was an old-line whig and republican, and in his religious convictions a Baptist of the old school. In early life he had learned the trade of wlicel- wright, and he followed that business nearly all his active life. His son, Russell P. Clapp
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(father), was born and reared in the village of Ballston Spa, and resided here until his death in 1887, when in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He was a man of fine business qualifi- cations, and for many years occupied the po- sition of secretary for the People's line of steamers running between New York city and the upper Hudson, with headquarters in New York. In 1848 he married Madelia Hale, daughter of John D. Hale, of Ballston Spa, and to them was born a family of eight chil- dren, six sons and two daughters : William H., Charles R., Mary Adella, Walter B., George F., Emma S., Robert F., and Frank B. Mrs. Clapp is a member of the Baptist church, and is now in her sixty-fifth year. Her father, John D. Hale, was a merchant of Ballston Spa, and well known to the older generation.
Charles R. Clapp grew to manhood at Balls- ton Spa, and received a superior education, attending the high school here for a number of years and then entering Colgate academy, at Hamilton, New York, from which institu- tion he was duly graduated in the spring of 1886. He immediately returned to Ballston Spa, and entering the law office of L'Amoreaux & Dake began preparing himself for the bar. In the autumn of 1887 he entered the Colgate university of Hamilton, and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1891. Returning to Ballston Spa, he resumed the study of law with Judge J. S. L'Amoreaux, of this village. He is a member of the Baptist church, and of the college society known as D. K. E. While a student in the academy at Hamilton, in 1885, he won the Ford prize in the oratorical con- test of that year, and on that account became the representative of the academy in the State oratorical contest at Fulton, New York, where he again carried off first prize. In 1888 he took the Kingsford declamation prize at Colgate university ; and in 1891 received the Clark oratorical prize at the same institution. On commencement day, June 18, 1891, he took part in the public debate arranged by the Seniors, and once more carried off first prize.
Mr. Clapp has been a close student and earnest worker, and his victories in oratory and debate have been honestly won. He is now associa- ted with Judge L'Amoreaux in the practice of law. He is a straight republican in politics, for eight months held the office of justice of the peace by appointment. He was admitted to the bar May 11, 1893, at Albany, New York, and his professional career promises to be brilliant and successful.
H ON. JOHN CRAMER, a man of in- telligence and influence, and during his life-time so prominent a figure in the political history of eastern New York that he was known as the democratic Warwick of Saratoga county, was a son of Conrad Cramer, and was born five miles south of Schuylerville, this county, May 14, 1779. He read law, was ad- mitted to the bar and practiced his profession at Waterford during the active years of his life. He was a life-long democrat, and at an . early age entered into political life. He served in the assembly in 1806, 1811 and 1841; in the State senate from 1823 to 1825; and as a Jack- sonian democrat, in the house of representa- tives of the United States from 1833 to 1837. He was a presidential elector in 1804, and voted for Clinton and Jefferson. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1821, and while ever active in the practice of his profession, yet would never accept the office of judge. He was a tower of strength to his party, helped make the political for- tunes of Marcy and Van Buren, and was the trusted friend of Polk, who often asked his advice. He died at Waterford, June 1, 1870, and left four sons and two daughters to sur- vive him. Mr. Cramer was an ardent war democrat during the dark days of 1861, and gave generously toward raising volunteers. He acquired a large fortune, but was always charitable to the poor, many of whom had rea- son to bless his memory.
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H ON. WILLIAM A. SACKETT, of Saratoga Springs, whose determined op- position to slavery while in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses of the United States will not be soon forgotten, and whose ability as a lawyer and a public speaker is recognized throughout the State, was born near Auburn, Cayuga county, New York, November 18, 1811, and is a son of William and Parthena (Patterson) Sackett, natives of Connecticut. The Sackett family is of English descent and has honorable mention in the local history of Kent, England, from which place the founder of the American branch of the family came in 1632 to Cambridge, Massachusetts. From Cambridge his son removed, in 1644, to West- field, that State, and was the father of the Sackett who, twenty years later, removed to Warren, Connecticut, and from whom was descended William Sackett, the father of the subject of this sketch. William Sackett was a native of Warren, Connecticut, and served in the Continental army during the revolu- tionary struggle, acting as quartermaster of his regiment. In 1803 he came to Cayuga county, which he left many years later to set- tle in Seneca county, where he died in 1843, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. He was a prosperous farmer, a strict member of the Presbyterian church, and a strong whig in politics. He married Parthena Patterson, a native of New Milford, Connecticut, and also a member of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Sackett, who died in 1854, when in the eighty- eighth year of her age, was a daughter of John Patterson, of Welsh descent, who followed trading with the West Indies, and was killed in 1774 in his garden by a stroke of lightning.
William A. Sackett was reared near Auburn, received his education in select schools and Aurora academy, and then read law with Judge Luther F. Stephens, of Seneca Falls, and Sandford & Kellog, of Skcneatelas. He was admitted to the bar at Utica in 1831, and practiced liis profession at Seneca Falls, Sen- eca county, until 1848, when he was elected to
Congress to represent the Seneca and Wayne district of New York. At the close of his Congressional term he came to Saratoga Springs, where he has resided ever since. He has never engaged in general practice since leaving Seneca Falls, although after coming to Saratoga Springs he continued to act for several years as counsel in the great Spike suit, which he conducted successfully to a close in the supreme court of the United States. This celebrated suit commenced in 1848 when the Burdens of Troy brought suit to recover for alleged violations of patents, claiming about eleven hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Sack- ett was employed as counsel by Corning & Co., and under the most discouraging circumstan- ces commenced a defense which he carried on with such unexpected success, that the plain- tiffs' recovery was only nominal.
William A. Sackett has been married three times, and has three living children. His third marriage was in 1876, when he wedded a daughter of the late Judge Thomas Marvin, of this county. His son, Col. William Sack- ett, commanded the 9th New York cavalry, and took an active part in all the important battles of the army of the Potomac until his death, June 9, 1864. He was killed while leading a charge by orders of General Sheri- dan at Travillan Station, Virginia. He was at the head of his regiment in the thickest of the fight at Gettysburg, and on that historic battle ground now stands a monument to tell of the bravery of Col. William Sackett and his regiment, the 9th New York cavalry.
To his general knowledge of the world Mr. Sackett has added largely by travel. In 1876 he started on his three years' tour of the world, and visited during that time every city in Eu- rope, of one hundred tlfousand or more in- habitants. He saw the famous castles, tlie beautiful palaces, and the magnificent churclics and cathedrals of Great Britain and continen- tal Europe. From sunny Italy he passed into Africa, where he visited Egypt, Algiers and Tunis and the great ruins of the Nile, and
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after ascending the Nile for a thousand miles, he turned his steps to the Holy Land. There he gazed upon Jerusalem and the Jordan, and a hundred other places of interest. Leaving Palestine he traveled through Greece and Turkey, and during his entire tour he wrote a number of interesting letters concerning his travels that were published in many of the pa- pers of this State. Mr. Sackett is a member and vestryman of Bethesda Episcopal church. He is a republican in politics, and ranks to- day as one of the ablest public speakers of the Empire State. He was originally an old-line whig, and when serving in Congress he dis- tinguished himself by his support of the bill for the admission of California as a State, and by his opposition of the extension of slavery into the territories of the United States.
C OL. GEORGE P. LAWTON, of Sar-
atoga Springs, an able and brilliant law- yer and a genial and courteous gentleman, is a son of Anthony Lawton and Mary A. (Wil- kinson) Lawton, and was born in the city of Albany, New York, August 19, 1847. Colonel Lawton is the eighth in descent from Capt. Robert Lawton, who emigrated from England and settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1632, and afterward removed to Newport, Rhode Island. This family is one of the old- est, and became one of the richest and most influential in New England, and at the time of the French occupation of Newport in the revolution occupied the highest social position, one of its members - Mary, or Polly Lawton, the aunt of Anthony Lawton - being regarded as the most beautiful woman of the colonies, as is related in Peterson's history of Rhode Island, Stone's " Our French Allies," and De- Lazun's and De Broglie's Memoirs. Anthony Lawton, the father of the subject of this sketch, removed from Rhode Island to Albany in 1846, and was a merchant in Albany and in Troy, New York, until 1876, when he retired from
business, and has since resided at the Lawton homestead in Troy, New York.
Colonel Lawton received his education in St. Paul's Parish school, Troy, New York, of which he was " Dux," or leader ; the Vermont Episcopal institute, Burlington, Vermont, of which he was offered the assistant mastership when he was not sixteen years of age ; at Wil- liams college, Massachusetts, which he entered in 1864, and from which he was graduated in 1868, having been a prize speaker sophomore year ; a philotechnian debater junior year, and graduated with an appointment as a speaker at commencement. He is a member of the Chi Psi college secret society, and a Phi Beta Kappa. After leaving college he began the study of the law in the fall of 1868, and read law with Townsend & Browne, and Beach & Smith, Troy, New York, and was admitted to prac- tice December 9, 1869, by the general term of the supreme court at Albany. He was man- aging clerk for Beach & Smith until the spring of 1871, when he formed a partnership with John Moran, which lasted until his death in 1876, when he continued the practice of the law alone until 1887, since which time, on ac- count of ill-health, Colonel Lawton has not been active in his profession, but will immedi- ately return to it. During his active career at the bar he was retained in many of the largest and most important controversies in Troy and thereabouts, and was very successful, notably in the great controversy between the citizens' association and certain politicians who had ob- tained possession of the city government, which was prosecuted in the legislature and the courts during the years 1880, 1881 and 1882, and which resulted in the relief sought. During this controversy Colonel Lawton was nomi- nated by the Republican party as their candi- date for district attorney of Rensselaer county, but was defeated. Colonel Lawton was for seven years judge advocate of the 3d Division of the National Guard, with the rank of lieu- tenant-colonel, resigning in 1889. During his incumbency he is said to have done more work
Col. George D. Lawton.
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than any other judge advocate out of New York city, having prosecuted several officers in gen- eral courts-martial, and tried in battalion courts a large number of non-commissioned officers and privates. As a lawyer Colonel Lawton has been engaged in every kind of action and proceeding, ordinary and extraordinary, ex- cept an indictment for murder, and in consti- tutional and municipal law is regarded as an authority. Since making his summer home here his permanent residence, Colonel Lawton has taken an interest in the affairs of Saratoga Springs, and in the winter of 1892 put his knowledge and experience in legislative and municipal matters at the service of the com- munity in obtaining for it a large convention hall. He initiated the last agitation for it, drew and procured the passage of most of the legislation, and was appointed a commissioner to build the building and secretary of the com- mission, and has devoted over a year of his time to the erection of that magnificent hall, now approaching completion.
On November 5, 1885, Colonel Lawton mar- ried Jeannie Lathrop, daughter of the late Daniel S. Lathrop, of Albany, an influential citizen of Albany. They have one son, Dan- iel Lathrop Lawton, six years of age. Mrs. Lawton is a highly educated and accomplished lady, and a leader in the social life of Sara- toga, both in winter and summer. Colonel and Mrs. Lawton have residences in Troy, New York, and on Clinton street, opposite Woodlawn park, Saratoga.
Colonel Lawton is a member of the Fort Orange Club, Albany, and vice-president and a manager of the Saratoga club. He was also a member of the Ionic club and the Laureate Boat club, Troy, New York, from which he resigned. He was also a member of the Troy Citizens' corps, from which he was promoted to the staff position before referred to. He is also a member of Apollo Lodge, No. 13, and Apollo Chapter, Free and Accepted Masons, of Troy, New York.
REV. FRANCIS WAYLAND was
born in Frome, England, in 1772, and came to this country in 1793. In 1821 he re- moved to Saratoga Springs, where he died in 1849. He served for several years as pastor of the First Baptist church, and was among the first promoters of the cause of temperance in Saratoga county. He married Sarah Moore, of Norwich, England, who was a woman of marked character and pleasing address. Of their children, one was the celebrated Dr. Francis Wayland, who served for twenty- eight years as president of Brown university, and attained a world-wide reputation as a thinker and writer. Dr. Wayland was not a native of this county, being born in New York city March 11, 1796. He passed his life prin- cipally at Providence, Rhode Island, where he died, September 30, 1865.
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