USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 55
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C EORGE F. HARVEY, president of the corporation known as "The G. F. Harvey Company," of Saratoga Springs, and founder of their immense business, is a Ver- mont Yankee of clear head and large heart, whose remarkable career carries inspiration and encouragement for every brainy boy in this country. It is everywhere accepted as a truism that brains and energy properly com- pounded produce success, and in the subject of this sketch is presented a brilliant example of the result of that law when it has done its perfect work. Mr. Harvey is the youngest child of Thomas and Polly (Blanchard) Har- vey, and was born August 22, 1843, on their farm in Washington county, Vermont. The family from which he is descended was of Scotch-English blood, and was planted in America in colonial times. Thomas Harvey (father) was a native of New Hampshire, but removed to Vermont in early manhood, be- coming one of the early settlers of Washington county, that State. He was a mason by trade, and died at his home in Woodbury, Vermont,
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in 1871, aged four score and six years. In religion the elder Harvey was a member of the Christian church, and politically a whig and republican. By his marriage with Polly Blanchard he was the father of sixteen chil- dren, the youngest of whom was George F., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Polly Har- vey was born at Cabot, Vermont, was a mem- of the Christian church, and died in 1863, in the sixty-fifth year of her age.
George F. Harvey grew to manhood at Woodbury, Vermont, building up a strong constitution in the pure air and wholesome surroundings of that village, and adding to the sturdy independence inherited from his Scotch ancestry, that indefinable strength of character which is the usual inheritance of men reared in a mountainous country. Dur- ing boyhood he attended the village school in winter and worked on his father's farm in summer. In this way he secured a good com- mon school education, and remained on the Vermont farm until 1870, when he went to Wisconsin and embarked in the general mer- cantile business at Plover, that State, where . he remained for five years. During that time he handled a good many drugs and medicines. His practical mind was soon impressed with the fact that small druggists labored under many disadvantages. It was impossible to keep a full line of medicaments, those seldom called for deteriorated on the shelves, small lots cost more in proportion, and were often impure or inferior. People had to pay high prices for what they got, frequently could not get what they wanted, and what they did get was often of little real worth. This set him to thinking. He talked with physicians and druggists, figured on prices, and made up his mind that there existed a necessity for such an establishment as he has since created at Saratoga Springs. He disposed of his busi- ness in the west and came back to New York city, where he studied the art of compounding pills under the private instruction of a Ger- man pharmacist, who had brought over the
best machinery then known for that purpose, but which experience has since enabled Mr. Harvey to improve upon by inventions of his own. In 1875 he came to Saratoga Springs and began in a modest way what has developed into one of the most important industries of Saratoga county or eastern New York. For a time he conducted the enterprise alone, manufacturing pills and extracts for druggists and physicians. Going into the business with all his native energy, and the determination of an enthusiast who knows he has found his mission, Mr. Harvey devoted several years of close application, careful planning and genuine hard work, to laying broad and deep the found- ations of what his Yankee shrewdness and keen business insight told him was bound to be a positive and permanent success. Nor was he disappointed. Little by little the knowledge of his enterprise extended and his patronage began to double and treble in volume. He put a number of shrewd young men on the road to represent his establish- ment, and increased rather than relaxed his efforts to build up the business. In March, 1889, he formed a partnership with S. A. Rich- ard, a wealthy business man of Saratoga Springs, and under the firm name of G. F. Harvey & Co. they conducted the enterprise for one year, when it had so increased in im- portance that a general stock company was formed, under the style of "The G. F. Har- vey Company," with a capital of a quarter mil- lion dollars, for the purpose of carrying on and still further increasing this business. In 1889 they had built a new brick three-story and basement laboratory on Waterbury street just above Van Dam, on the Adirondack rail- road, and fitted up four large rooms on Broad- way as offices and salesrooms. In 1892 they erected an addition to the laboratory, sixty- five by eighty-five feet in dimensions and three stories high. This gives the company one of the largest and finest laboratories in this State. They manufacture some five hundred different kinds of pills alone, besides vast quantities of
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granules, tablet triturates, compressed tablets, hypodermic tablets, fluid extracts, compound fluids, tinctures, syrups and elixirs. They also carry a large line of surgical instruments, buggy cases, plasters and physicians' supplies. This immense business gives physicians the advantages of wholesale rates on pure drugs, and greater accuracy in their mixing than could possibly be secured by the mortar and pestle. In the form of coated pills, cased in glass bottles, these drugs retain their virtues indefinitely and are much more convenient than a portable pharmacy. Beside, there is no danger of waste or breakage, and the pa- tient runs no risk of injury from sleepy pre- scription clerks or raw apprentices dealing out murderous doses by mistake.
At the present time not less than seventeen thousand physicians are using the productions of "The G. F. Harvey Company" in their regular practice, and millions of people use their pills every year, their sales extending over all parts of the United States and Can- ada. The company now employs seven men as book-keepers and ten ladies as book-keep- ers and stenographers. Their factory furnishes employment to one hundred persons the year round, and forty-five carefully selected and bright young salesmen are constantly on the road, taking orders where these medicines are known or introducing them into new territory. The company manufactures no so called pat- ent medicines- all its products being made from standard formula and warranted to be absolutely pure and accurately compounded.
On August 5, 1873, Mr. Harvey was united by marriage to Francelia K. Kimball, daughter of Orson Kimball, of Cabot, Vermont. To Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have been born one child, a daughter named Adena, now living with her parents in their home at Saratoga Springs. Mrs. Harvey was educated in the State Normal school at Johnson, Vermont, and is a lady of fine mental endowments and many rare qualities of lieart and character. Mr. Harvey is a republican or protectionist in
politics, and a member and deacon of the Congregational church at Saratoga Springs. He is a man of generous impulse, and has done much to assist and encourage those less fortunate than himself, but avoids all ostenta- tion in the matter of benevolent giving, pre- ferring to follow that old scriptural maxim which says, " Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." Although greatly at- tached to the home of his adoption, and proud of the brilliant record of the old Empire State, Mr. Harvey still cherishes a deep love for his native Commonwealth, and every summer takes a vacation among the green hills of Vermont, where he owns a fine farm, and where he en- joys great benefit from the free mountain air, and much satisfaction in the pleasant mem- ories associated with his old home and early friends.
M ME. FREIDERIKE REIDESEL,
whose full name was Freiderike Charlotte Luise (Mason) Reidesel, was a woman of beauty, refinement, fortitude and bravery, and underwent the privations of war and the dan- gers of battle to accompany her husband, Baron Reidesel, through the Burgoyne cam- paign. She was a daughter of the Prussian minister, Mason, and was born in Branden- burgh, Germany, in 1746. In 1762 she mar- ried Baron Adolph Reidesel, who was born in Hesse, June 3, 1738, and died January 6, 1800, in Brunswick. Baron Reidesel was com- missioned major-general, and commanded the four thousand Brunswick troops attached to Burgoyne's army. By a forced march through the woods he saved Burgoyne at the first Sar- atoga battle, and then advised a retreat to Canada, which would have saved the British army, but his counsel was not heeded. He was an able military commander, and after Burgoyne's surrender returned to Germany, where he was made a lieutenant general in 1787. His wife, Mme. Reidesel, accompanied him through all his campaigns, and died at
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Berlin, March 29, 1808. Her letters during the Burgoyne campaign to her mother, were published by her son-in-law, Count Reuss, and throw much light on the British movements in 1777 in the upper Hudson valley.
JUDGE JAMES A. BURNHAM, po-
lice justice of the village of Ballston Spa since 1888, and a successful practicing attor- ney at this bar since 1878, is a son of Return J. and Elizabeth (Jones) Burnham, and a native of the village of Ballston Spa, where he was born July 23, 1848. The family being in very mod- erate circumstances, young Burnham went to work in James M. Cook's cotton mills here when only ten years of age, and after three years in that occupation entered the employ of John Castle, a dealer in poultry, with whom he re- mained until his twentieth year. All the school- ing he received was obtained in six short win- ter terms of the public school, but upon this foundation, by studying of evenings, reading extensively and always thinking out to a solu- tion any question that perplexed him, he built up a general education which has served every purpose in practical life, and enabled him to acquit himself with credit in the various posi- tions of responsibility to which he has been called. He early formed good habits, and has never used liquor or tobacco in any form. At the age of twenty he went to Poughkeepsie, New York, and took a course of training in Eastman's Business college, from which he was graduated in 1869, and immediately became bookkeeper for a large mercantile establish- ment in New York city. He remained in the metropolis for three years, and then return- ing to Ballston Spa, was engaged in the county clerk's office for a short time, after which he accepted a position as bookkeeper for the lum- ber firm of Barber & Baker, of this village, and remained with them until the dissolution of that firm, when he was appointed to settle up their affairs, and attended to that business in the law office of Quackenbush & Whalen in
this village. He soon afterward began the study of law with these gentlemen, and was admitted to practice in 1878. In that year he opened an office at Ballston Spa for the prac- tice of law, and has ever since been contin- uously engaged in the duties of his profession. Beginning with the traditional nil in the clien- tage of young lawyers, he has steadily pushed his way toward the front, and now enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He now owns some valuable real estate in this village, and has rendered valuable aid to his brothers and sisters, all of whom now own their own homes through his assistance. He was elected jus- tice of the peace, and served one term in that office. In 1888 he was elected to the position of police justice of Ballston Spa, and is still acceptably discharging the duties of that re- sponsible official post. During his adminis- tration of police affairs the criminal business has been reduced two-thirds, and burglary and arson, which had flourished for years, has been effectually broken up.
On July 23, 1877, Judge Burnham was united by marriage to Mary G. Curtis, a daughter of H. L. Curtis, of the village of Ballston Spa. To Mr. and Mrs. Burnham has been born one child, a son, named James A., jr., whose na- tal day was March 1, 1881.
In his political affiliations Judge Burnham has always been a republican, and is active and influential in the local councils of his party. He has filled a number of the offices of his town, and was largely instrumental in having the village incorporated. He is a member of Kayaderosseras Lodge, No. 270, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Hermon Lodge, No. 90, Knights of Pythias ; Home Lodge, No. 135, Ancient Order of United Workmen; Waconia Tribe, No. 179, Improved Order of Red Men ; and Ballston Spa Castle, No. 3, Knights of the Golden Eagle.
The Burnham family is of Scotch-English extraction, and tradition says was first planted in America by three brothers of that name, who came over during the Colonial period and
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
settled in southwestern Vermont. Nathaniel Burnham, paternal grandfather of Judge Burn- ham, was a native of Vermont, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. At the close of that conflict he removed to Washington county, New York, and settled in Saratoga county in 1835. He was a millwright by occupation, and worked at his trade in this county for a number of years, dying in the village of Balls- ton Spa in 1854, at the age of seventy years. He married Hannah Wilson, and reared a family of six children, one of his sons being Return J. Burnham (father), who was born in Washington county in 1821, and has been a resident of the village of Ballston Spa for the last sixty-eight years. In early manhood he learned the trade of carpenter, and followed that occupation here until about 1875, when the increasing infirmities of age and disabili- ties received in the civil war compelled him to retire from active business. He is now well advanced in his seventy-third year. In 1863 he enlisted in Co. F, 13th New York Heavy artillery, and served until the close of the civil war. In politics he is a republican, and for many years has been a strict member of the Methodist Episcopal church. On July 24, 1845, he married Elizabeth Jones, a daughter of Aaron Jones, of Schoharie county, this State, and to their union was born a family of ten children, six of whom still survive : Henry W., who enlisted with his father in Co. F, 13th New York Heavy artillery, in 1863, served until the war ended, and now resides at Balls- ton Spa, New York ; James A., the subject of this sketch ; Nathaniel J., Arthur W., Return J., jr., and Carrie P., all residing at Ballston Spa, New York. The deceased were Lina, Lelah, George F. and Louis G. Mrs. Eliza- beth Burnham, the mother of this family, was born in Schoharie county, this State, in 1827, and is consequently in the sixty-sixth year of her age. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and her life, although passed principally in the seclusion of her own liome, has exemplified the virtues of noble Christian'
womanhood, and won for her the respect and esteem of all who know her and the pro- foundest love of her children.
R EUBEN M. BILLINGS, jr., who is now successfully engaged in the grocery business at Corinth, this county, is a son of Reuben M. and Patience (Young) Billings, and was born at Salisbury, Herkimer county, New York, December 18, 1860. His paternal great-grandfather was an Englishman, who came to this country when a young man, set- tled in Vermont, and afterward served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war under Gen. Benedict Arnold. He underwent the hard- ships and privations common to the struggling patriots of that period, and was present at the surrender of General Burgoyne after the battle of Saratoga. One of his sons was Elkanah Billings (grandfather), who was born and reared in Vermont, but in middle life removed to Ontario, Canada, where he died in 1861, at the age of eighty-two years. He married Elizabeth Mott, a daughter of Reuben Mott, of Brockville, and reared a family of seven children. His son, Reuben M. Billings, sr., (father), was born at Brockwell, Ontario, Can- ada, in 1825, and grew to manhood in that country. In 1858 he came to the United States and located in this State, where he soon afterward married, and in 1866 removed to Saratoga county, settling in the town of Cor- inth. He was a farmer by occupation, and with the exception of two or three years, re- sided in this town from 1866 to the time of his death, February 16, 1893, when in the sixty- eighth year of his age. Politically he was a republican, and in 1860 married Patience Young, a daughter of Alanson Young, of the town of Corinth, this county, and to their union was born a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters: Reuben M., Al- phonso C., Clara E., Katie M., Lillie M., Jennie C. and Edith E. Mrs. Patience Bil- lings was born in the town of Corinthi October
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
13, 1841, and is consequently now in the fifty- second year of her age. She is a member of the Baptist church, and resides on the old homestead in this town. Her father, Alanson Young (maternal grandfather), was also a native of the town of Corinth, and passed his life here engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died April, 1887, at the advanced age of sev- enty-two years. In politics he was a democrat, and for many years a strict member of the Baptist church. The Youngs are of English extraction and were among the early settlers in the town of Corinth.
Reuben M. Billings was reared on the pa- ternal acres in this town, and received a su- perior English education in the common schools and at the Corinth high school, from which latter he was graduated. He remained on this farm, engaged in farm labors and in working in a saw mill until 1890, when he embarked in the grocery business in the vil- lage of Corinth. Being energetic and enter- prising, and endowed with a capacity for man- aging details and a disposition to please his customers, he has been remarkably successful in business, and has built up a large and pros- perous establishment.
On March 1, 1887, Mr. Billings wedded Louise Cowles, eldest daughter of Howard Cowles, of the village of Corinth. Both are members of the Baptist church here, and Mr. Billings is also a member of Corinth Lodge, No. 174, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In his political affiliations he is a republican, always giving his party an earnest support on leading questions in both National and State politics. He was elected clerk of the town of Corinth, and served one term in that office with great acceptability.
H ON. WILLIAM L. F. WARREN,
who was an able lawyer, and served as judge of the court of common pleas from 1845 to 1848, was born in Troy, New York, Febru- ary 4, 1793. He was graduated from Union
college in 1814. He then came to Saratoga Springs, read law with Judge Cowen, and was admitted to the bar. He served as dis- trict attorney from 1819 to 1836, was master in chancery, injunction and taxing master from 1824 to 1848, and served with ability as judge of the court of common pleas from 1845 to 1848. Judge Warren was a democratic presidential elector in 1848, but after the late civil war supported the Republican party. He was a man of fine presence, genial, patient and forbearing, and ranked high as a jury pleader and an authority on land titles. Judge Warren aided largely in originating the Sar- atoga & Whitehall railroad, and in founding the Schenectady and Saratoga Springs banks. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and died May 23, 1875, at seventy-eight years of age.
R OGER H. STAPLES, postmaster at Wilton during the Harrison administra- tion, and one of the most successful and en- terprising young business men of that place, is a son of Abram and Lydia (Haviland) Sta- ples, and a native of Glens Falls, Warren county, New York, where he was born May I, 1860. The family is of remote English ori- gin, but were settled in America long prior to the Revolutionary war. From Rhode Island the ancestors of the present Staples removed to Massachusetts, and from that State came to Vermont, where, in the town of Dorset, Abram Staples (father) was born in 1826. He grew to manhood in his native State, but while yet a young man removed to Glens Falls, New York, where he resided until 1866, when he came to Saratoga county and settled at Wilton, where he has lived ever since. He has devoted his life principally to agricultural pursuits, in which he has been prosperous and successful, and is now in independent circumstances. In politics he is a republican, and during his more active years took a deep interest in political affairs. In 1850 he mar-
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
ried Lydia Haviland, a daughter of Roger Haviland, of Glens Falls, Warren county, this State, and by this union had a family of five chil- dren, three sons and two daughters : Hannah; Mary, wife of L. B. King ; Abram De Witt(dead); Roger H .; Ella Ida, and Edward Clarence (deceased.) Mrs. Lydia Staples is now in the sixty-fifth year of her age, and for many years has been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wilton.
Roger H. Staples was reared principally on his father's farm, in the town of Wilton, this county, and received a good common school education here, after which he took a course of training at the Glens Falls academy, in Warren county. He then engaged in teach- ing, but after having taught three terms in the district school, he joined a company of Bohemian glass blowers and spent three years traveling with them in all parts of the country. Returning to Saratoga county, he formed a partnership with S. B. King, under the style of King & Staples, and embarked in the general mercantile business in the village of Wilton. This firm did business until Febru- ary, 1888, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Sta- ples continued the general mercantile business on his own account, which he has successfully conducted from that time to the present. He has a handsome store and carries a fine stock of goods, while his trade has constantly in- creased until it is now important and lucra- tive.
On June 12th, 1884, Mr. Staples was mar- ried to Kitty Myers, daughter of Francis and Catharine Myers, of the village of Wilton. She died in 1889, leaving one daughter, Kath- arine, and on March 18, 1891, he was again married, wedding Kittie A. Lincoln, a daugh- ter of John D. Lincoln, of the town of Green- field, this county. (See sketch of Harry M. Lincoln in this volume.) Mr. Staples is a re- publican in politics and takes an active interest in local affairs. He has served his people as town clerk for a period of four years, and was supervisor of the town of Wilton for three
years. Early in President Harrison's admin- istration Mr. Staples was appointed postmas- ter at Wilton, and has occupied that position very acceptably to the present time (1893). In religion he is a follower of John Wesley, and for a number of years has served as trus- tee of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wil- ton village. Personally he is very popular, and has succeeded remarkably well in business.
Kittie A. Lincoln, second wife of Roger H. Staples, died April 24, 1893, leaving one daughter.
C HARLES SCOTT McKNIGHT, jr.,
M. D., the only son of Charles Scott McKnight, of New York city, was born in New York, March 26, 1854. He was educated for a physician, and graduated from the college of physicians and surgeons (medical depart- ment of Columbia college) in 1877, and entered upon the practice of medicine and surgery in the city of New York. Later he became asso- ciated with the late Dr. Charles F. Stillman, of Plainfield, New Jersey, one of the most successful and well known physicians of that State. In 1883 he was obliged to relinquish his practice on account of illness, and after sev- eral years spent in search of health he located in Saratoga Springs in 1887. The healthful climate of that village induced him to make it his permanent residence. Dr. McKnight married Katharine DuBois Lounsbery, daugh- ter of Hon. William Lounsbery, of Kingston New York, and through her mother a descen- dant of one of the old Huguenot families of that section. The Mcknight, or MacKnight family is of Scottish origin, and was first rep- resented in this country by Rev. Charles Mc- Knight, a Presbyterian clergyman, who came to America in the year 1740, and settled in New Jersey. He was for many years pastor of the church of Allentown and Cranbery, and inl 1757 was appointed a trustee of Princeton college, then called " Nassau Hall." His two sons were both prominent in the revolution,
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especially the elder, Charles McKnight, M. D., whose abilities were such that he was ap- pointed to the post of senior surgeon of the flying hospital, and afterward served as sur- geon and physician-general of the revolution- ary army, being at that time only thirty years of age. At the close of the war he settled in New York city, became a member of the So- ciety of the Cincinnati, and was professor of surgery and anatomy in Columbia college. He married the only daughter of Gen. John Morin Scott, of New York city, a zealous patriot of the revolution and a prominent lawyer of that period, a member of the "Sons of Liberty," delegate to the continental Congress, and for several years secretary of the State of New York. Dr. Charles McKnight was the great- grandfather of the present Dr. Charles Scott McKnight, who is thus the fourth generation of physicians bearing the family name, his grandfather having also been a prominent phy- sician in New York, and his father only being prevented from practicing the profession for which he was educated by losing his hearing at an early age.
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