USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 57
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Stephen Wood is of English lineage, and his paternal grandfather, Joseph Wood, came from England to Staten Island, which he soon left to settle in Duchess county, which then was his place of residence as long as he lived. Joseph Wood married, and of his children were: Joseph, John, Thomas I. and Mary. Thomas I. Wood (father) was a farmer, and left his native county of Duchess to settle first near Stillwater and then at Lansingburg, in Rensselaer county, where he died June 6, 1844, aged seventy-four years. Mr. Wood was a democrat, and wedded Hester Helicker. To their union were born twelve children, five sons and seven daughters : Deborah Weather- wax, John, Abraham, Jane Leach, Elizabeth
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Peak, Hiram, Stephen (subject), Sarah Glea- son, Margaret Wilcox, Diana Wicks, Joseph, and Hester Chase. Mrs. Hester Wood was a daughter of Harmon Helicker, a native of Germany, who came to Staten Island, Rich- mond county. She passed away October 8, 1851, at sixty-one years of age, at Lansing- burg.
J OHN A. KATHAN, an energetic, suc- cessful and influential business man of Hadley, who during the last twenty-five years has held most creditably several county and numerous town and village offices, is a son of Ranslow S. and Sarah (Thair) Kathan, and was born in the town of Day, Saratoga county, New York, July 24, 1838. His maternal grand- father, Isaac N. Thair, was of Irish and Scotch- Irish descent, and came from Vermont to Ful- ton county, this State, which he soon left to settle in the town of Day, where he purchased a farm on which he lived until his death, in 1852, at eighty-five years of age. His pater- nal grandfather had five sons, all born in Ver- mont : Williard, Daniel, Charles, Luke and Ranslow S. They all lived to be four score years of age, and all became residents of this county, except Charles, who settled in War- ren county. Ranslow S. (father), the young- est son, was born in Vermont, and in 1818 came to the town of Day, where he followed farming most successfully for over sixty years. He was a republican in politics, and a mem- ber of the Christian church, in whose interests he had been active for many years before his death. He died in 1890, when in the eighty- second year of his age. He was a steady, in- dustrious and thoroughgoing man, and wedded Sarah Thair, a daughter of Isaac N. Thair, then of Broadalban, Fulton county, New York. Mrs. Kathan, who has been a consist- ent member of the Christian church for many years, is now in the eighty-fifth year of hier age, and still resides on the home farm, in the town of Day. Mr. and Mrs. Kathan were the
parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters.
John A. Kathan was reared on the home farm, received his education in the common schools, and after teaching three winter terms of school, went to Canada at twenty-one years of age. There he was engaged in the lumber business for two years, and then returned home to get married and engage in farming and lumbering. At the end of nine years he left his farm in Day, and in 1866, opened a hotel at Conklingville, which he disposed of in 1870 to come to Hadley. Here he purchased a hotel which he conducted successfully for sev- enteen years. Quitting the hotel business in 1887, he has been variously engaged since then, though not very actively, in several en- terprises in the county.
Politically Mr. Kathan is a republican, and has ever been active in the support of the fun- damental principles of his party. He served for years as trustee of his village, twenty years as constable, several years as assessor, was supervisor in 1872, 1873, 1879 and 1882, be- sides holding other town offices. In 1887 he was elected superintendent of the poor of Sar- atoga county, and served most acceptably his term of three years in that office. He also served twenty-one years as deputy sheriff, and at the present time is now serving on his sec- ond term as justice of the peace, besides hold- ing the office of assessor, to which he was elected in 1892. Prominent and useful as a public official, he is also called upon by his party for frequent service which is always heartily and efficiently rendered. He has re- peatedly served as a member of the Republi- can county committee, and is always consulted in the village, town and county councils of his party. Mr. Katlıan is a regular attendant of church, and although not a member of any, yet contributes liberally to the support of all the churches. He is a member of Corinth Lodge, No. 63, Free and Accepted Masons, Conkling Lodge, No. 45, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Cascade Lodge, No. 76,
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Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Kathan owns two good farms, aggregating two hundred acres, in the town of Day, both of which are finely located for agricultural pur- poses. He is a man of fine personal appear- ance, whose integrity and usefulness has won him the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.
On July 4, 1857, Mr. Kathan was united in marriage with Kezia L. Rice, daughter of Amos Rice, of the town of Hadley. To their union have been born ten children : John C., Schuyler R., Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin F., Roscoe C., Minnie, Nettie L. and Josie B. (Libbie and Willard Hamlin, deceased).
C APT. AMBROSE C. HICKOK, who
comes of a family distinguished for lon- gevity, saw active service in our great civil war, and has since been prominently connec- ted with the business interests of Saratoga county. He is a son of Edmund E. and Al- amoth (Clother) Hickok, and was born in the house where he now resides, near Corinth, Saratoga county, New York, on the 18th of February, 1841. The Hickoks of America are descended from an old English family, and have been resident in this country since early in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Three brothers of the name then came over from England to Massachusetts, one of whom was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. This immigrant's son, James Hickok (grandfather), was born at Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1745, but while yet a young man removed to Lansingburg, New York, and resided at the latter place until his death in 1825, at the ripe old age of eighty years. He served as an officer during the Revolutionary war, undergoing all the hardships and priva- tions incident to that terrible conflict, and afterward engaged in merchandising at Lan- singburg, where he became quite prosperous and wealthy. For many years he conducted an extensive business, sending large quanti-
ties of provisions and produce to New York city on sloops and boats of various kinds. He married, and reared a family of six children, three sons and three daughters, one of his sons being Edmund E. Hickok (father), who was born at Lansingburg, Rensselaer county, this State, in 1802. There he grew to manhood, and received the best education afforded by the schools of that early day. When twenty- four years of age he removed to Saratoga county, and purchased a farm near where Cor- inth now stands, settled and resided thereon until his death in 1877, at which time he had reached the advanced age of seventy-five years. In political opinion he was a whig and repub- lican, and held a number of local offices, in- cluding the position of town clerk. He was a man of firm convictions, but kindly in dis- position, and held the esteem of all who knew him. He wedded Alamoth Clother, a native of the town of Corinth, and to them was born a family of five sons and one daughter : Eliza- beth A .; James E., Norman F., Salmon H., who was in Libby prison six months, and came home and died in 1865, his death being caused by starvation while in prison. He enlisted in Co. C, 44th New York State volunteers, in August, 1861 ; Ambrose C. and Henry H. Four sons are still living in this immediate neighborhood. Mrs. Alamoth Hickok was born in the initial year of the present century, was a life-long member of the Methodist Epis- copal church or Wesleyan Methodist church, and in her early life exemplified the graces of true Christian womanhood. She died at her home here in October, 1884, aged eighty-four years. Her father, Salmon Clother (maternal grandfather), was a native of Canaan, Con- nect cut, and removed to this county in early manhood, about 1778, settling on Mt. Mac- Gregor, within half a mile of where the Grant cottage now stands. There he continued to reside until his death in 1853, when he had at- tained the good old age of seventy-nine years. He was a farmer and hunter, and passionately fond of his violin, on which he was an excel-
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lent player. His wife, whose maiden name was Miriam Smith, was also a native of Ca- naan, Connecticut, and lived to be ninety-three years of age. The Clothers are of English extraction, and trace their ancestry back to the time of the Mayflower.
Ambrose C. Hickok was reared on the farm where he now resides, and received his edu- cation in the village schools of Corinth. After completing his studies he remained on the farm until 1862, teaching in the district schools during the winter season. In July, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Co. F, 115th New York infantry, and served until the close of the civil war, being discharged at Washington, with the rank of sergeant, in 1865. He took part in many a hotly contested field during the war, and participated in several of the leading battles of that gigantic conflict, but came out unscathed. After being mustered out of ser- vice he returned to New York, and in partner- ship with James Dayton, under the firm name of Dayton & Hickok, engaged in the general mercantile business at Corinth, which busi- ness they successfully conducted from 1865 to 1868. In 1866 Mr. Hickok organized a mili- tary company here of National Guards of the State of New York, of which he was chosen captain, and served as such until the company was mustered out in 1868. In 1868 he en- gaged in railroad construction, doing all kinds of construction, from earth work to finished bridges. He continued this business for sev- eral years, and then engaged in farming until 1890, when he became superintendent of river work for the Hudson River Paper & Pulp Company of Corinth, which position he now holds, though still residing on his farm, adjoining the village.
On May 1, 1873, Captain Hickok was mar- ried to Frances H. Mallery, a daughter of Uriah Mallery, of the town of Corinth, this county. To them have been born a family of three children, one son and two daughters : Grace M., Mary C. and A. Leroy.
Politically Captain Hickok is an ardent re
publican, always taking an active part in lo- cal affairs, and has served as commissioner of highways, overseer of the poor, justice of the peace, coroner, and in other local offices. He is a member, an active organizer and first com- mander of Philip Rice Post, No. 290, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was com- mander for six years.
W ILLIAM H. HODGMAN, M. D.,
who now ranks with the most successful and skillful physicians and surgeons of north- ern New York, is a son of John B. and Eliza (Phinney) Hodgman, and was born November 21, 1852, in the house where he now resides, at Saratoga Springs, New York. He was reared and educated in his native village, and in 1870 began reading medicine with Dr. C. S. Grant, a prominent physician of this city. Later he matriculated at the college of phy- sicians and surgeons in New York city, and after a thorough course of study was graduated from that prominent institution in February, 1873. He then served for a time in the char- ity hospital on Blackwell Island, but in 1875 returned to Saratoga Springs and opened an office for the practice of his profession. Be- ing gifted by nature with an active mind and many of the qualities pertaining to the ideal physician, and having carefully prepared him- self for the duties of his calling by earnest study and practical training under some of the most eminent men in the profession, it was not surprising that Dr. Hodgman met with immediate success, and soon had a large and lucrative practice. But he was not graduated and did not begin practice with the idea that he knew it all. On the contrary, he remained and still is an earnest student of the healing. art, keeping in touch with the leaders of his profession, and alive to every new thought or improved method suggested by the experience of the medical world. To this end he early became an active member of the New York State Medical association, and is a constant
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
reader and frequent contributor to some of the leading medical journals of the United States. In surgery Dr. Hodgman is accounted partic- ularly skillful, and is perhaps one of the best surgeons at Saratoga Springs. He is the present health officer of the village, and has served nine years in that capacity, seven of which have been in succession. His practice, which has steadily increased, is now perhaps equal to any in Saratoga county, and extends over a wide area outside the city, as well as fairly covering the corporate limits. He is rapidly winning reputation as one of the lead- ing physicians and surgeons of northern New York.
In the autumn of 1887 Dr. Hodgman was united by marriage to Gertrude M. Varney, eldest daughter of Louis Varney, of Saratoga Springs. (See his sketch on another page of this work.) The Doctor and Mrs. Hodgman have one child, a daughter named Gertrude E., now in her third year.
In his political affiliations Dr. Hodgman has always been a republican, but has been too thoroughly devoted to his profession to take much active part in politics. He has served three years as water commissioner of Saratoga Springs, and is a member of the Gun club and other local organizations of the village.
Dr. Hodgman has traveled extensively in this country and Europe, and still makes it a point to take an invigorating trip for health and pleasure every year. He has visited Cal- ifornia and all important places on the Pacific slope, also Florida, and personally inspected the historic scenes and attractive points of in- terest in many European countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and France.
The family of which Dr. Hodgman is such a distinguished member is of original Swiss extraction, but was planted in America in early colonial times. For several generations they resided among the green mountains and quiet valleys of Vermont, so like the hills and vales surrounding the original home of the family in Switzerland. In the State of Vermont, so
famed for the sturdy manhood of her indepen- dent sons, John Hodgman, paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born, reared and educated. There, too, he married, wedding a daughter of Reuben Buell, of that State, but soon afterward removed to New York, becoming one of the early settlers in the village of Saratoga Springs, this county. He was a democrat in politics and a black- smith by vocation, and being industrious, en- terprising, and possessed of good business ability, he became quite prosperous, and did much toward building up, developing and im- proving his section of the village. He reared a family of three children, two sons and one daughter, was an active and useful man in his day, and had the highest esteem of all who knew him. His death occurred September 13, 1870, when in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His widow, Mrs. Lylphia Hodgman, a native of Vermont, still survives him, being now in her ninety-sixth year. Their eldest son, John B. Hodgman (father), was born in the village of Saratoga Springs in 1823, where he grew to manhood and received a good com- mon school education. After leaving school he learned the blacksmith trade with his father, and has made that the principal business of his life. Although now in his sixty-ninth year, he still insists on working at his trade, and is a man of wonderful activity for his age. He is a member and elder of the First Presby- terian church of Saratoga Springs, a man of spotless integrity of character, and an old time gentleman. In politics he was a democrat up to the time of Lincoln's first campaign for the presidency, when he identified himself with the Republican party, and has ever since been an ardent supporter of that political organ- ization. In 1846 he married Eliza Phinney, a daughter of Jason Phinney, of Massachu- setts, and to their union was born a family of three children, all sons : Henry, who died at two and one-half years of age ; William H., and John E.
Mrs. Eliza Hodgman was born in Orange,
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
Massachusetts, on February 6, 1816, and died March 31, 1890. She was a devoted member of the First Presbyterian church of this vil- lage for more than half a century. During the course of her long and somewhat eventful experience, she fully demonstrated in her life the divine power of the religion she professed, and exemplified all the distinguishing virtues of true womanhood.
R EUBEN BRITTON is an excellent representative of the best class of Sara- toga county farmers, and a striking example of a self-made man, whose career has done him credit and honor. He is a son of William and Jane (Carey) Britton, and was born at Clarksville, Albany county, New York, January 27, 1821. The Brittons are of English descent and are among the older families of New En- gland. They settled at an early day in Con- necticut, where, at Springfield, Gilbert Britton (grandfather) was born and reared. Gilbert Britton was a farmer by occupation, settling in Albany county, this State, where he served as sheriff for eighteen years. He died at seventy-five years of age. He was a whig politically, served as a soldier in the war of 1812, at Sackett's Harbor, and married and had five children, three sons and two daugh- ters : William, Lottie Wagoner, Benjamin, Hannah Hagadorn and Adoniram. William Britton (father) was born in 1799 and died in 1869. He took up land on one of the old Patroon estates and passed through the sea- sons of unrest and uncertainty brought about by the anti-rent troubles that agitated eastern New York for so many years. He was a suc- cessful farmer and a man of considerable means, and transferred his allegiance from the Whig party when it went down before the weight of public opinion to its successor, the Republican party, whose principles he sup- ported as long as he lived. He was a very pious man, had been a member of the Dutch Reformed church for many years, and wedded
Jane Carey, who is still living at the age of ninety-three years. Their union was blessed with six children, four sons and two daugh- ters : Reuben, Kate J. Brake, Perrin, Julia A. Widowman and Levi. Of these children all are dead except Reuben and Julia A. Mrs. Britton was a daughter of Martin and Maria (Griffin) Carey, who were natives of Connec- ticut.
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Rueben Britton attended the early schools of the first half of the present century, and while yet a boy commenced life for himself as a wood chopper, at thirty-one cents per cord. He was variously employed for several years, and then with his accumulated small earnings purchased a farm of one hundred acres, in the town of Stillwater, to which he added by successive purchases until he had one of the finest tracts of farming land in that part of the county. By economy, industry and good management he has secured such profitable returns from his agricultural operations and investments in several business enterprises, that he to-day owns six splendid farms in Saratoga and Washington counties, aggrega- ting one thousand acres of land. These farms were formerly known as the Wiley, Husted, Rowley, and Vandenburg Hill farms. Mr. Britton is one of the largest tax payers of his county, and his real estate and personal prop- erty have been estimated to be worth nearly one hundred thousand dollars. He is one who has never neglected small opportunities, and from their proper employment has often won success of an enduring character, while others waited for great occasions that never came, and thus signally failed in life. He has made the daily occurrences of life the real opportunities for success, and while not aim- ing at brilliant achievement, yet has won posi- tion and wealth by purpose and persistent industry. Mr. Britton is a republican politi- cally, and has been a member for many years of the First Presbyterian church.
On October 24, 1839, Mr. Britton married Elizabeth Van Nye, daughter of Henry and
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
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Chloe (Holmes) Van Nye, of Albany county. To Mr. and Mrs. Britton have been born nine- teen children : Ellen Van Naten ; William R., served in the late war, married Caroline Blis- sard, and owns two farms; Susan Bunce; John R., who served in the 77th New York infantry and lost an arm at Winchester; Jane A. and Adelia, who are both dead ; Mary E. McDer- mott; Emily Brewster; Reuben, jr., who married Anna Parker, and after her death wedded Carrie Hammerer, and now resides in Washington county ; Levi, deceased ; Almira Brown ; Thomas B., married Anna Tompkins and lives at Meriden, Connecticut ; Melvina, wife of William Davenport, of Rensselaer county ; Julia Ann; Adaline, wife of Caxton Groosebeck ; and four others who died in in- fancy. Mrs. Elizabeth Britton died Septem- ber 3, 1881, aged sixty years, and Mr. Britton on January 27, 1891, wedded Anna Roic, of Hoosic Falls. All of Mr. Britton's children are members of church, eleven are Presbyter- ians and one, William R., is a Baptist.
J OHN H. WESTCOT, the Nestor of busi- ness at the county capital, whose active career covers a period of fifty-one years, is a son of Reuben and Phebe H. (Howard) West- cot, and a native of the village of Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, New York, where he was born September 20, 1823. Here he grew to manhood, and received a good practical education in the common schools. At the age of fourteen he entered his father's store as clerk and salesman, and remained in that ca- pacity until 1844, when he became a partner in the business, under the firm name of R. Westcot & Son. This partnership existed until his father's death in 1862, when Mr. Westcot succeeded to the business, which he has successfully conducted in his own name since that time. As early as 1848 the gen- eral mercantile business was discontinued and the drug business substituted, and for many years Mr. Westcot's drug store has been one
of the leading institutions of Ballston Spa. For more than half a century he has occupied the present store room, and in addition to his drug business has conducted a large coal yard here since 1858. He can justly lay claim to being one of the oldest business men, not only of Ballston Spa, but of the entire county of Saratoga, for few indeed of the men who were connected with affairs in this county when he began his career are left among her people, and fewer still are now connected with her vast business interests.
For nearly fifty years Mr. Westcot has kept a diary, in which he has entered a record of the weather, particularly of storms, high water and any unusual phenomena, and also the dates of deaths, marriages and other impor- tant happenings in the village and surround- ing country. So complete has been his record, and so tenacious his memory, that he is now regarded as authority on all these subjects, and whenever a question arises or information is wanted on these matters an appeal is at once made to Mr. Westcot, and his statement is generally accepted as final. His records would prove of inestimable value to any local historian.
On May 10, 1853, Mr. Westcot was wedded to Harriet M. Collamer, a daughter of Warren Collamer, a prosperous farmer of the town of Malta, this county. To this union was born a family of three children, two sons and a daughter : Frances J., now the widow of Richard H. Kline ; Reuben W. and Herbert C.
Politically Mr. Westcot was a whig until the organization of the republicans in 1856, when he became attached to that party, and » has ever since given it an ardent support. He has frequently been called on to fill official positions, and has served in a number of the town and village offices. In religion he is an Episcopalian, and for many years has served as warden of Christ Episcopal church of Balls- ton Spa. He is also a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 90, Free and Accepted Masons ; Warren Chapter, No. 23, Royal Arch Masons ;
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar, and of the Oriental Temple of Troy.
The Westcot family is of English descent, and was planted in America by Stukeley West- cot, paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who came over from England about 1740, and landed at Newport, Rhode Island, from which place he soon afterward removed to Connecticut. His son, Joseph Westcot (grandfather), was born at Stoning- ton, Connecticut, in 1755, and after attaining manhood removed to New York, settling first at Stephentown, Rensselaer county, where he lived for a number of years. In 1791 he was commissioned lieutenant of a company of militia in that county, and the following year was commissioned captain of the same com- pany. Tradition states that he was a man of great strength and wonderful activity. He removed to Ballston Spa, this county, in 1793, and died at his home in this village in 1795, at the early age of forty years. He .married Priscilla Hewitt, and had a family of four children, of whom Reuben Westcot (father) was born at Stephentown, Rensselaer county, this State, in 1791, and came with his parents to this village when only two years of age. Here he grew up, received his education, and engaging in mercantile pursuits remained until 1823. Having prospered in worldly affairs, and desiring a wider field for the exercise of his business ability, at the age of thirty-two he removed to New York city and embarked in the wholesale dry goods business in that metropolis. He was engaged in business there until 1835, when he returned to Ballston Spa, and resuming the mercantile business here, continued it successfully until his death in 1862, at which time he had attained the ad- vanced age of seventy-one years. During the war of 1812 he served as a captain in the American army, and acquitted himself with honor and distinction. He was a member of the Episcopal church and served as vestryman for a number of years. In politics he was an old-line whig until the advent of the Repub-
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