USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 58
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lican party, when he became an ardent sup- porter of its principles and ever afterward remained an earnest advocate of its policy. He married Phebe H. Howard, a daughter of John Howard, and a native of the town of Milton, this county. She was born March 23, 1798, and died at her home in New York city, February 2, 1834. Her parents came to Saratoga county at an early day from Duchess county, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. West- cot was born a family of six children, two sons and four daughters : John H., Joseph E., Sarah M., Hannah M., Elizabeth B. and Fran- ces B. Of this family only four now survive, John H., Joseph E., Sarah M. and Frances B.
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C EORGE S. ANDREWS, D. D. S., of
Saratoga Springs, the descendant of an old and time-honored family of the State, is a son of James Madison and Rosanna (Brown) Andrews, and was born in the house in which he now resides, February 19, 1861. James M. Andrews was born in the town of Milton, August 14, 1810. He came of pure English stock, being descended in the sixth generation from John Andrews, who emigrated to America from Essex county, England, and settled at Farmington, Connecticut, in 1640. He had the rugged frame and ruddy complexion of his ancestors, being in personal appearance a fine specimen of the typical English squire, just as he possessed their somewhat brusque but hearty and genuine ways. His father, Jason Andrews, who lived to be ninety years old, served in the Continental army during the revolution, and was an aid on the staff of Gen- eral Sullivan. Mr. Andrews was justly proud of his patriotic ancestry, and although the country had no need of his military services during the years of his early manhood or mid- dle age, he was intensely patriotic and active in the sanitary commission during the war of the rebellion. The martial spirit of his fathers was none the less inherited by him and transmit- ted to liis desendants, his son, Capt. James M.
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2
Andrews, jr., being one of the earliest volun- teers in the Union army, and his grandson of the same name being now a cadet at the West Point Military academy. About the time he reached his majority he came to Saratoga Springs, and after reading law with Judge W. L. F. Warren, was admitted to the bar. In the time of Governor Seymour he was ap- pointed master of chancery under Chancellor Walworth. In 1840 he married Rosanna Brown, whose father, Hon. John Brown, had been one of the early settlers of Port Hope, Canada, where he had large holdings of real estate, and which he represented in the Canadian Parliament. After his marriage Mr. Andrews spent considerable time in Can- ada, but returning each summer to Saratoga Springs, where he had established a summer home and where he and Mrs. Andrews exer- cised a boundless hospitality. In 1855, after the death of his father-in-law, they made this home their permanent residence, so that their children might have the benefit of an Ameri- can up-bringing, as they would be American citizens. Here his large real estate interests demanded such attention on his part that he virtually abandoned the practice of law, in or- der to give close and intelligent supervision to his various commercial enterprises. He al- ways took great interest in politics, but was never an office-seeker ; was originally an old- line whig in his party affiliations, and became one of the earliest abolitionists in the State of New York. The only time he ever allowed his name to be used for an office. other than of a strictly local character, was as a nominee for Congress once on the abolitionist ticket. He was an active and well-known agent of the famous under-ground railroad, and helped many a poor slave on his way to Canada, and after the war he was a straight republican. He died January 8, 1890, at the age of eighty years, much to the grief of a large circle of friends. "In his religious faith he was a Presbyterian, and for about forty years had been a member of the First Presbyterian
church of this village. His charities were on a very extended scale, but he was in this, as in all other things, averse to publicity. He had large dealings with the poor, having with- out question a larger number of them for ten- ants than any other man who ever lived in Saratoga, and his account books show not only his leniency in his dealings with them, but an absolute donation of rents which would in the aggregate make a comfortable fortune for any man. He was wonderfully fortunate in his domestic relations, the wife of his youth, who survives him, being a lady of unusual intelli- gence and refinement and great strength and beauty of character. His was a model home, the abode of perpetual love and peace, and where was at all times dispensed a most gra- cious and generous hospitality. It was of the old-fashioned kind that we read about, but seldom see in these days, hearty, generous and without parade. Mr. Andrews left three children living : Capt. James M. Andrews, Mrs. Clarence E. Breckenridge, of Maywood, New Jersey, and Dr. George S. Andrews; and three grandchildren : Cadet James M. An- drews and Miss Rosa Andrews, children of Capt. James M. Andrews, and Clarence E. Breckenridge, jr., son of Mrs. Breckenridge. In parting with this venerable citizen Saratoga has sustained a great loss and his family have universal sympathy in their bereavement."
George S. Andrews was reared at Saratoga Springs and received his education in the schools of that place and in an excellent pri- vate school at Mechanicville. Leaving school he entered the Pennsylvania college of dental surgery at Philadelphia, from which well known institution he was graduated in the class of 1883. In that year he returned to Saratoga Springs, where he practiced for nearly twelve months, and then went to New York and was associated with Dr. L. F. Sheffield, one of that city's prominent dentists. He re- mained there for two years, after which he re- turned to Saratoga and still continues to make his home there, though not now practicing
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his profession. In his political faith he is a stanch republican.
On June 30, 1891, Dr. Andrews was united in marriage with Lillian K. Ford, daughter of S. V. R. Ford, of Saratoga Springs.
EDWARD B. HUNTER, a man of business ability and high standing at Stillwater, and a descendant of an old and worthy New England family, is the only son and youngest child of Andrew and Malinda (Hodgman) Hunter, and was born at the vil- lage of Stillwater, Saratoga county, New York, December 2, 1848. He attended the public schools and the Stillwater High school, and then took a full course at Bloomfield institute of Bloomfield, New Jersey. Leaving school he became a clerk in the store of A. D. Tucker of Stillwater, afterward served in the same capacity for four years at Waterford, for John Lewis, and then returned to Stillwater, where he was in the employ of Lyman Smith for some time. He then became foreman in the finishing department of the hosiery mill of E. B. Skinner & Co., in which position he served until 1889. In that year he established a hard- ware establishment on Main street, which he has conducted most successfully ever since. Mr. Hunter is a republican in politics, but on questions of local interest supports the candi- date whose views are in accord with his own opinions.
On November 25, 1873, Mr. Hunter mar- ried Elizabeth F. Moore, daughter of Henry and Hannah ( Luther) Moore of Stillwater. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have one child, Ce- celia F.
The immigrant ancestor of the Hunter family came at an early day in the history of the thirteen colonies to Connecticut from the north of Ireland. A lineal descendant of his was Samuel Hunter (great-grandfather), who came to near Stillwater, where he died De- cember II, 1831, at sixty-nine years of age. He married Mary Campbell, who passed away
August, 1831, at sixty-four years of age. She was a daughter of Robert Campbell, and a granddaughter of Rev. Robert Campbell, a Congregationalist minister, who held the first religious services at Stillwater, and together with his son, Rev. Robert Campbell, jr., served as pastors at the " Old Yellow Meeting House" for over forty years. To Samuel and Mary (Campbell) Hunter were born four children : Samuel, jr., John, Esther Montgomery and Nancy Fellows. Samuel Hunter (grandfather) married in 1794, and one of his sons was Andrew Hunter (father), who was born in 1797, in the town of Stillwater, and died in the village on June 1, 1868. Andrew Hunter, although of but common school education, was a man of intelligence, reading and excel- lent judgment, and was frequently sought by his neighbors for advice and legal counsel. He held the confidence and commanded the respect of all who knew him. Mr. Hunter in early life followed farming, and then removed to the village of Stillwater, where he was in the hotel business up to 1863. He was a democrat in politics and served for twelve years as deputy sheriff, being in office when John Walsh was executed in February, 1834, for the murder of Aaron Case. He also was supervisor and assessor of his town, in which positions, as well as deputy sheriff, he ren- dered efficient service and gave good satis- faction. He was a strong Presbyterian, ever contributing largely to that church, but never neglecting to aid any church needing assist- ance. Mr. Hunter wedded Malinda Hodg- man, whose father, Isaac Hodgman, was a resident of Stillwater. Mrs. Hunter was an intelligent and charitable woman and a prom- inent and active member of the Presbyterian church, and died June 11, 1880, at Saratoga, at sixty-nine years of age. To Andrew and Malinda ( Hodgman) Hunter were born three children, one son and two daughters : Frances M. Gardner, Mary C. Newland and Edward B., whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
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G EORGE HENRY PALMER, a well respected citizen of the town of Moreau, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and the foreman of a part of the extensive saw mill plant of D. W. Sherman, of Feeder Dam, is a son of Peter H. and Elizabeth L. (Pratt) Palmer, and was born at Warrenburg, Warren county, New York, July 20, 1846. His pater- nal great-grandfather, Jared Palmer, was a native of England, and came to New York prior to the Revolutionary war, and served as an American soldier in the Burgoyne cam- paign. He settled in the town of Moreau, in Saratoga county, but afterward removed to Athol, now Wolf Creek, Warren county, where he died in 1832, at seventy-three years of age. He was a farmer and merchant, and operated several saw mills. He married and had nine chil- dren: Jesse, Joseph, David, Asa, Delia and Ly- dia. Jesse Palmer (grandfather) was born in 1785, and died in 1853, at sixty-eight years of age. He was engaged in milling and merchan- dising, supported the Democratic party, and married Catherine Hilton, by whom he had eleven children: Richard, Jared, Mary A., Peter H .; David, Jane Stire, Joseph, Hiram, Caroline, Delia and John. Peter H. Palmer (father) was born in the town of Wilton, August 22, 1814, learned millwrighting, and spent twelve years in Michigan, after which he, in 1848, set- tled at Feeder Dam, this county, where he has been engaged ever since as a millwright on the largest saw mills of the place. He is a re- publican and a Baptist, and married for his first wife, Minerva A. Wheeler, who died August 11, 1842, and left two children : Law- rence D. and Jubal H. Mr. Palmer wedded for his second wife, Elizabeth L. Pratt, who passed away May 23, 1885, at sixty-four years of age. By his second marriage Mr. Palmer had three children : Minerva A. Denton, who died August 26, 1872; George H., subject; and Myra, who died June 20, 1869.
George H. Palmer attended the common schools, and at sixteen years of age became sawyer for A. Sherman at his saw mill at
Feeder Dam, and so continued for several years under several successive proprietors. He has been for the last twenty years foreman of a part of the large mills of D. W. Sherman, employing one hundred and twenty-five men in the various departments. The pay roll of the mills is nine hundred dollars per week. Mr. Palmer is a carpenter by trade. He owns a house and lot in South Glens Falls, and a small but valuable farm of forty acres of land, on which he now resides. He is a republican, and has served as collector of the town of Moreau, and is chairman of the town commit- tee. He is a member of lodge, chapter, coun- cil and commandery in Free Masonry, and has attained to the high rank of thirty-second de- gree Scottish Rite Masons.
On September 29, 1870, Mr. Palmer mar- ried Nellie S. Northup, daughter of John H. and Elvira (Eldridge) Northup. To their union have been born five children: Myra E. Addie E., Carrie L., John H. and William H.
E UGENE A. ANDRUS, the well known manager of the Saratoga detective agency of Saratoga Springs, who has been connected with the detective business for over twenty years in Saratoga Springs, New York, and for several years made a specialty of working upon murder cases in different parts of New York State, and had entire charge of the strike at Congressman George West's mills in 1887, at Ballston, New York, and also had charge of the railroad strike at Albany in August, 1890, as far as the Delaware & Hudson Canal Com- pany's railroad was concerned or interested, was born October 13, 1847, at Lebanon, Mad- ison county, New York, and was the youngest son of John B. and Frances R. (Freeman) Andrus, the former a native of Madison county, New York, and the latter born at Richfield Springs, Herkimer county, this State. When one year old he was taken by his par- ents from the town of Lebanon to the town of Madison, settling on the old Tuller hill farm,
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the highest elevation in the county, where he grew to manhood, reciving his education in the Hamilton select private school, which he reg- ularly attended from the age of thirteen until he had passed his seventeenth birthday. He then began teaching in the common schools, and three years later became interested in some patent rights and went on the road to manage their sale. After being thus engaged for two or three years he concluded to aban- don that business and learn the carpenter trade. November 10, 1871, he came to Sara- toga Springs, where he worked at his trade of carpenter and joiner for three years, and then began operating with a patent roofing paint, with which he painted nearly all the principal buildings of Saratoga Springs.
For nearly seventeen years Mr. Andrus has been acting as detective for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company's railroad, as its chief detective, and is at present thus employed. He has worked up a large number of cases which resulted in conviction, and the sentences of men who have been sent to the penitentia- ries and State prisons through his efforts ag- gregate over two thousand years. On May 31, 1885, while searching a man at Saratoga Police station, whom he had arrested at the railroad yard, Mr. Andrus was shot three times by the prisoner through both legs and one hand, who was shot in return by the detective through the body, while the officer was down and the prisoner standing over him with re- volver in hand. He was afterward tried and sentenced to the Clinton county State prison for a term of ten years, but died from the ef- fects of his wound about a year afterward in the Auburn prison hospital, where he had been transferred.
On the 23d of November, 1869, Mr. Andrus was united in marriage to Ann G. Gould, a daughter of Henry Gould, of Cooperstown, this State, by the Rev. Dr. C. W. Smith, at Amsterdam, New York, and their union was blessed by the birth of one child, a son, named Charles B., who was born March 3, 1871, in
Amsterdam, New York, and is now a law stu- dent at Saratoga Springs, New York. He passed the law student's course from the high school at Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1890.
Detective Andrus has been a member of Saratoga Lodge, No. 15, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, for more than eighteen years, and is also a member of Morning Star En- campment, No. 64, at Saratoga. He was one of the charter members of Empire Lodge, No. 74, Knights of Pythias, has been a member of High Rock Council, No. 652, Royal Arcanum, of Saratoga Springs, New York, since 1881, and in political sentiment is an ardent repub- lican.
The Andrus family is of Scotch extraction, but have long been residents of this country. The name is said to have been originally spelled Anderson. Elisha Andrus, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a hatter by trade, and lived on the old Mad- ison turnpike, where for many years he fash- ioned the tiles worn by the gentry in that sec- tion, and was widely known as " the hatter of Madison county." He was born and reared there, near the place where he passed his life, and married Nancy Patterson, a Quakeress from Philadelphia, by whom he had a family of two sons. His son, John B. Andrus (father), was born in that county, August 12, 1822, was a farmer by occupation, and died October 15, 1889, aged sixty-seven years. He married Frances R. Freeman, a daughter of Thomas Freeman, and to them was born a family of two sons, of whom Eugene A. was the young- est, and John Watson the eldest, who died of diphtheria, January 30, 1860. Thomas Free- man (maternal grandfather), was a native of New Jersey, but soon after marriage removed to New York and settled at Richfield Springs, Otsego county, where he died at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. His wife, Nancy Freeman, lived to be ninety-six. Mrs. Frances R. Andrus (mother) now occupies the old homestead at Richfield Springs, and is in the seventieth year of her age. Her family is
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among the oldest in New England, and is now quite numerous and somewhat distinguished for its longevity. The only Andrus' now known to be living of this family connection are the subject of this sketch and his son Charles B.
r IERSON C. CURTIS, M.D., who has
been in successful practice at Round Lake, this county, since 1884, is a son of Al- bert S. and Maria (Betts) Curtis, and was born in the town of Ballston, Saratoga county, New York, January 13, 1856. The Curtis family was early planted in Connecticut, from whence came Sherman Curtis (grandfather), who set- tled in the town of Ballston about eighty years ago. Here he spent the remainder of his life engaged in farming, dying about 1858, at the age of sixty-six. Politically he was a whig, held a number of local offices, and was for many years a member of the Masonic order. His son, Albert S. Curtis (father), was born on the old homestead in the town of Ballston Spa, in 1883, and grew up there, receiving a good practical education in the public schools. He became a farmer and surveyor, and spent many years in these combined occupations, and still owns a fine farm of one hundred acres, which he cultivated until recently, when he retired from farming, but still gives some attention to surveying. In politics he is a stanch re- publican, and has held the office of town clerk for a number of years. In 1853 he married Maria Betts, a daughter of Morehouse Betts, a prosperous farmer of the town of Ballston, and by this marriage had a family of three children, two sons and a daughter : Harriet, now the wife of Dr. Zell Baldwin, of Law- rence, Michigan ; Pierson C., the subject of this sketch; and Orville, who is now a phy- sician in the Albany hospital.
P. C. Curtis was principally reared on the farm in the town of Ballston Spa, this county, and completed his education at the Fort Ed- ward institute. He then entered the office of Dr. F. B. Sulliff, at that time of Burnt Hills,
Saratoga county, but now of Sacramento, Cal- ifornia, and began the study of medicine. Later he pursued his medical studies with Dr. A. Van Derveer, of Albany, and afterward en- tered the Albany Medical college, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1884. Dr. Curtis has since taken a post-grad- uate course in New York city. Soon after his graduation Dr. Curtis located at Round Lake, this county, where he has ever since resided, engaged in the practice of his profession.
Dr. Curtis is an active member of the New York State Medical association, and of the Medical society of Troy. He is also a mem- ber of Franklin Lodge, No. 90, Free and Ac- cepted Masons; Warren Chapter, No. 23, Royal Arch Masons, of Ballston Spa; and of Apollo Commandery, No. 13, Knights Tem- plar, of Troy. Politically he is a stanch re- publican, and gives his party a uniform and loyal support on nearly every question now en- gaging public attention. On June 23, 1886, Dr. Curtis was united in marriage to Mary Niles, a daughter of the late George W. Niles, of Hoosic, Rensselaer county, who is an in- telligent, educated and cultivated lady, and is very popular in the social circles she adorns.
R ICHARD BRACE is one of the young representative and self-made business men of the village of Corinth and Saratoga county. He was born October 19, 1860, at Horicon, Warren county, New York, and re- ceived a good common school education in the schools of his native village. On leaving school he became employed as a farm hand for about three years, when he turned his at- tention to logging and lumbering, in which he continued to work for five years. Next he located at Chestertown, Warren county, where for four years he ran a butcher business, and in connection owned and managed a livery stable. These interests he sold in January, 1891, and in August, of the same year, he, with his partner, Julius Kimball, purchased
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the hardware and furniture business of the Rhodes Brothers, and William Ide & Co., which they consolidated into one store, and by hard work and good management have suc- ceeded in building up a fine and paying busi- ness. They carry most everything found in a first-class hardware and furniture store, and their capital stock is about six thousand dol- lars. Their main building is sixty-seven by twenty-eight feet in dimensions.
In politics Mr. Brace is a democrat, and has always been active in the service of his party at the polls, although he has never as- pired to any political office. He is a member of the Episcopal church, Chester Lodge, No. 514, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Good Templars at Corinth.
Richard Brace was married June 1, 1892, to Cora E., a daughter of Abram and Ellen (Monroe) Bennett.
THEODORE COMSTOCK, a member of the general mercantile firm of Theo- dore Comstock & Son, of South Glens Falls, and a man well versed in law, who does a large amount of legal business, is a son of George and Martha (Mosher) Comstock, and was born in the town of Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York, May 5, 1838. He attended the common schools of his native town, and then was engaged in farming with his father until he became of age, when he was given full charge of the farm, which he retained up to 1880. In that year he came to South Glens Falls, where he purchased his present prop- erty, and since 1882 has been engaged in the general mercantile business. After leaving school and assuming management of his fath- er's farm, Mr. Comstock took up the study of law, in which he became proficient, but hav- ing taken a distaste for some of the work and methods of the upper courts, he abandoned the idea of making the legal profession his life vocation, and turned his attention to otlier pursuits. While a resident of the town of
Greenfield he served as a justice of the peace for several years, and did considerable legal work in the line of conveyancing and settling up estates. While serving as a justice he had but few cases appealed and never had one of his decisions reversed. Before leaving Greenfield he did considerable business in the orphans and surrogate courts, and since com- ing to South Glens Falls he is constantly called upon to do conveyancing, settle up estates and attend to many other kinds of legal business before the justices of the peace and in the orphan and surrogate courts. Mr. Comstock is a republican in politics, and while formerly active in political affairs, yet of late years, although manifesting a proper interest in men and measures politically, still will not allow his name to be used in connection with any office, preferring no higher title or prouder distinction than that of an American citizen.
On July 11, 1860, Mr. Comstock married Lydia Bristol, who died the 9th of April of the next year. Three years later, on Novem- ber 3, 1864, Mr. Comstock wedded Lois Camp, and to their union have been born two children : Fred A., who married Rena Sweet, daughter of S. Mott and Maria (Thompson) Sweet, and is a member of the mercantile firm of Theo- dore Comstock & Son; and Lois, who died July 24, 1877, at six years of age. Mrs. Lois (Camp) Comstock is a daughter of Warren and Mercy (Edmunds) Camp; the former, who died in September, 1868, aged fifty years, was a son of Job Camp, a native of Vermont, who married in that State, and came to Glens Falls, where he reared a family of nine children : Warren, James, Job, Royal, Orlando, Charles, William, Mercy, Susan and Edna. Mrs. Comstock's motlier, Mercy (Ed- munds) Camp, who died June 16, 1850, at Thirty years of age, was a daughter of James Edmunds, of English descent. He was a wlig and Methodist, and came to the town of Moreau, where lie died on his farm, April 11, 1876, aged seventy-six years. Mr. Edmunds married Lois Barrett, and their children were :
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