USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 65
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On December 26, 1881, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Julia Haff, seventh daughter of Schuyler Haff, of the village of Peru, Clinton county, New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born a family of four children, one son and three daughters: Frances, Kate, Lena, and Harold V.
In his political affiliations Mr. Smith has always been an ardent republican, and takes
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an active part in local politics. He is a mem- ber of Saratoga Lodge, No. 15, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his legal career promises to be exceptionally successful and brilliant.
HARLES H. STURGES, a member of the Saratoga county bar, and who has achieved unusual success in counsel practice, is a son of William and Charlotta (Sherman) Sturges, and was born at Pittstown, Rensse- laer county, New York, May 22, 1846. At eight years of age he came to Saratoga Springs, where he received his education in the com- mon schools and the high school. His first employment in life for himself was serving as a superintendent of a tannery. After six years' service in that position, the tannery was destroyed by fire, and he turned his attention to the mercantile business, in which he con- tinued successfully until 1880. In that year he entered the office of the surrogate's court, which position he held until 1886. Having read law while serving as clerk, he was admit- ted to the bar, and upon resigning his clerk- ship in 1886, he opened an office at Saratoga Springs, where he has been engaged in active practice ever since. He does a large counsel business, ranking as one of the leading law- yers of the county in that branch of the legal profession, although not neglecting his gen- eral practice, which is good.
In 1866 Mr. Sturges married Florence S. Hartwell, who died in 1878. Four years after her death, in 1882, he wedded Emma A. Deal, of Saratoga Springs, and by his second mar- riage has two children : Harold A. and Ray- mond.
Charles H. Sturges in political affairs has always supported the Republican party, and advocated its cardinal principles. He served as superintendent of public works from 1881 to 1886. He is a member of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons ; Rising Sun Chapter, No. 131, Royal Arch Masons ; Cryptic Council, No. 37, Royal and
Select Masters; and Washington Command- ery, No. 33, Knights Templar, of which he has been prelate for the last fifteen years.
The Sturges family were early residents of Connecticut, where Reuben Sturges (grand- father) was born and reared. Reuben Stur- ges came to Rensselaer county, where he died. Of his children, one was William Sturges, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was a tailor by trade, and came from Rensselaer to Saratoga county, where he became a resident of the village of Saratoga Springs, at which place he died November 5, 1865, aged fifty- six years. He followed tailoring and farming during the active years of his life. He was one among the early republicans of eastern New York, and remained a firm supporter of the Republican party until his death. Mr. Sturges married Charlotta Sherman, of Rens- selaer county. They reared a family of chil- dren. Mrs. Sturges lived to be three score and ten years of age, and passed away in 1883 at her home at Saratoga Springs.
W ILLIAM W. WORDEN, the popu- lar proprietor of the Worden house in Saratoga Springs, was born in Saratoga county, and grew to manhood on his father's farm. He served three years during the war of the rebellion, enlisting as a private in Co. C, 77th regiment New York volunteers, was wounded at the battle of the wilderness, and at the end of his service was a lieutenant of his company. After the war Mr. Worden located in Saratoga Springs, and engaged in the lumber and plan- ing mill business, and furnished most of the doors, sash and blinds for the large hotels of Saratoga Springs. In 1883 his planing mill was burned, and in 1885 he opened his pres- ent hotel, known as the Worden hotel. Mr. Worden personally manages his hotel, and its fine reputation is owing entirely to his efforts.
William W. Worden is a republican in pol- itics, and takes an active interest in the affairs of his party, and in the fall of 1891 he was
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elected sheriff of Saratoga county, which office he now holds. He was one of the presiden- tial electors on the Garfield ticket in 1880. He is also a prominent secret society man, be- ing a member of the Rising Sun Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Rising Sun Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Washington Command- ery, Knights Templar ; and Oriental Temple, of Troy.
C OL. WILLIAM M. SEARING, one of the two oldest members of the Saratoga county bar, and who commanded the famous 30th New York infantry in several of the hard- est battles of the late civil war, is a son of Richard and Hannah ( Stanley) Searing, and was born about one mile from Saratoga Springs, in the town of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New York, December 1, 1821. He was reared on the farm, received his education principally in select schools in the State of Vermont, and at eighteen years of age com- menced the study of law. He read with Judge L. F. Warren and Judge William Hays, of- Saratoga Springs, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession, as his health would permit, until the opening of the late great civil war. He responded to Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand men, and assisted Col. Edward Frisbey to organize the 30th New York infantry, of which he was elected and commissioned as major. In 1862 he was made lieutenant colonel, and in Aug- ust, 1863, at the second battle of Bull Run, the colonel was killed, and Lieutenant Colonel Searing was promoted on the battle-field to the rank of colonel. He commanded the reg- iment at the battles of South Mountain, when it only numbered one hundred and ten effect- ive men; Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chan- cellorsville. The regiment was ordered home at the expiration of its term of service, and was honorably mustered out of the Federal service at Albany, June 18, 1863. Colonel Searing was actively engaged in every battle
in which his regiment participated, and at second Bull Run had his horse shot under him, whereby he received injuries of his leg and hip from his steed falling on him that still affect him. After being honorably discharged, Colonel Searing returned to Saratoga Springs, where he has been engaged in the successful practice of his profession ever since. For the last fifteen years he has served as government claim attorney, and the duties of that position are of such a character now as to take up the greater part of his time.
In 1844 Colonel Searing married Caroline M. Huling, daughter of Beekman Huling, of Saratoga Springs. To their union have been born six children, five sons and one daughter: Beekman H., who married Sarah J. Jenner, and is one of the most active business men of Saratoga Springs; William M., jr., who wed- ded Harriet A. Carpenter, and was engaged in the commission business in Philadelphia at the time of his death, in 1886, when he was in the thirtieth year of his age; Rev. Richard C., an Episcopal minister; Edward J., Samuel S., and Caroline M.
In politics Colonel Searing is a straight re- publican. He has served as assessor and po- lice justice of his village, and has always been active in the true interests of his party. He is commander of James B. McKean Post, No. 498, Grand Army of the Republic; has served for twenty-seven years as a vestryman of the Episcopal church, of whose Sunday school he was superintendent for several terms, and is president of the board of trustees of the Home of the Good Shepherd.
The Searings are of English descent, and came to Massachusetts soon after the Puritans. They settled near Newburyport, in that State, and some of them removed to Rhode Island, where Samuel Searing (grandfather) was born and reared. Samuel Searing and several others of Quaker parentage and faith left Rhode Island on account of religious ostra- cism in the community where they resided, and settled at Hempstead, Long Island,
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
There Samuel Searing married Sarah Pear- sall. In 1778 he came to Saratoga Springs and settled one mile west of the High Rock spring, on a farm on which he died. His children were: Richard, Nathaniel, Gilbert, Samuel, Margaret, and Sarah. Samuel, jr., settled at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the two daughters married brothers, John and Ziba Taylor. The eldest son, Richard (father), was born at Hempstead, Long Island, and came with his father to Saratoga Springs. After attaining his majority he went into the woods and cleared out what is now known as the old Stewart farm. In addition to farming he was also engaged in the lumbering busi- ness, in which he was very successful. Late in life he removed to his Bear Swamp farm, on which he died June 21, 1857, aged seventy- two years. He was a Jacksonian democrat in politics, and had filled several town offices. He married Elizabeth Thunder, who died and left five children: Clinton, Courtland, Betsey, Laura, and Martha. For his second wife Mr. Searing wedded Hannah March, widow of William March, and daughter of Samuel Stan- ley, by whom he had three children: Sarah, wife of James Ingersol; Hannah, and Col. William M. Mrs. Hannah ( Stanley) Searing, who died at seventy-two years of age, was born at Jeffrey, near the base of the old Grand Monadnock mountain, in New Hampshire. Her people, the Stanleys, are of English de- scent, and were among the pioneer settlers of Jeffrey.
H IRAM PALMER, the second oldest merchant in years of business of Sara- toga Springs, who is noted for industry, econ- omy, and good citizenship, is a son of Bealy and Catherine (Boyce) Palmer, and was born in the town of Charlton, Saratoga county, New York, August 27, 1825. He was reared on the farm, received his education in the early common schools of his neighborhood, and en- gaged in farming, which he followed until he was thirty-two years of age. In the meantime
he had purchased a farm in the town of Wil- ton, which he sold in 1857, and during the next year came to Saratoga Springs, where he immediately embarked in his present success- ful grocery business. His store is at No. 461 on Broadway street. - It is a large and well arranged establishment, carefully fitted up and filled with an excellent stock of choice staple and fancy groceries. His facilities for trans- acting business are unusually good, and he executes all orders promptly and in a satisfac- tory manner. By strict attention to the wants of his customers, and a straightforward system of honorable dealing, Mr. Palmer has secured a large and permanent patronage. He is a democrat in politics, and a useful member of the First Presbyterian church of Saratoga Springs. He is a pleasant and courteous gen- tleman of unblemished integrity, and has been very successful in his undertakings in business life. Wise in his investments, he has accu- mulated a competency sufficient to render him comfortable through his remaining years of life.
In 1863 Mr. Palmer married Belva M. Scott, of the town of Elmore, Vermont, and who died in April, 1857. To their union were born three children: Charles Sumner and Willie, who both died in infancy, and Albert W., who is now engaged in the grocery business with his father.
Among the early settlers of New York were the Palmers, who are of English origin. One member of the family was the paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, who came to Saratoga county, where he was variously engaged until his deatlı. He married, and of the children born to them in the town of Wil- ton, one was Bealy Palmer (father), who never left his native county, although hundreds from New York, during his early life, joined the great westward tide to the northwest territory. He was born in 1782 at Does' Corners. then known as Palmerstown, on account of several members of the Palmer family having settled near its site at an early day. He learned the
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trade of shoemaker, at which he worked for many years prior to his death, in the town of Charlton, in February, 1838 .. He was an old- line whig politically. He was drafted to serve in the war of 1812, but was never mustered into the United States service on account of physical disability. Mr. Palmer married Cath- erine Boyce, of German descent.
OUIS HENRI JANVRIN, a descend-
ant of the old and well known Janvrin family of France, and who as the popular pro- prietor of leading and representative hotels in Troy, Saratoga Springs and New York city, and Montreal, Canada, was widely and favor- ably known to the traveling public as a cour- teous gentleman and a thorough business man, was a son of Joseph E. and Joanna (Colcord) Janvrin, and was born at Exeter, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, Octo- ber 2, 1841. He received his education in the public schools of his native village, which he left at eighteen years of age to accept a posi- tion as a clerk in a wholesale pickle and pre- serve house in Boston, Massachusetts, where he remained for seven years, and then went from the New England metropolis to become a clerk in the Fifth Avenue hotel in New York city. Here he spent seven years, and in that time acquired the practical experience which became the foundation of his wonderfully suc- cessful hotel career that commenced in 1874, when he and Hiram Tompkins, William Gage and Mr. Perry, opened the United States ho- tel at Saratoga Springs. Under Mr. Janvrin's personal management this magnificent six- story hotel of nearly a thousand rooms became almost as renowned as the great watering place itself. Six years after coming to Sara- toga, he opened (1880) the noted Troy house of Troy, this State, and shortly afterward be- came proprietor of the splendid Windsor ho- tel of Montreal, Canada, and the celebrated and elegantly appointed Albemarle hotel of Fifth avenue, New York city. Mr. Janvrin
threw his entire energies into the management of his fine hotels and soon brought up their internal arrangements to the highest standard of comfort and elegance. He spared no pains or expense, and rendered his hotels strictly first-class in every respect as representative city houses ; but the great labor necessary to accomplish this highly gratifying result was too much even for Mr. Janvrin's great powers of endurance and wonderful energy, and in 1884 he was compelled on account of ill health to dispose of all of his hotels, except the Al- bemarle hotel, which he will rent until he is sufficiently recovered to resume charge of it. He owns some very valuable property at Sar- atoga Springs, where he has a beautiful home on Broadway street.
In 1867 Mr. Janvrin married Mary C. Bry- ant, of Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Janvrin have three children : Joseph E., Louis Henri, jr., and Marie H.
In politics Mr. Janvrin was a democrat. He was a member of Bethesda Episcopal church, and ranked high as an energetic and enter- prising business man of good executive ability and fine organizing power.
Louis Henri Janvrin was a lineal descend- ant of Jean Janvrin and his wife, Elizabeth (Leconsteur) Janvrin, who lived in the Isle of Jersey, which at that time belonged to France. Their son, Jean Janvrin, being a seafaring man, sailed for many years between ports of Europe and America, carrying merchandise in his vessels. On August 6, 1696, he sailed from Lisbon, Portugal, on his first voyage to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as commander of his own ship, the "Four Friends." The "log " of this and subsequent voyages is now in the possession of the heirs of Jefferson Jan- vrin, of Rockingham county, New Hampshire. Capt. Jean Janvrin built a wharf for himself at Portsmouth, as he found the wharf already there not sufficient for loading and unloading his cargoes. On September 12, 1706, he mar- ried Elizabeth Knight, of Portsmouth. They had four children, two sons and two daugh-
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
ters : John, George, Mollie and Betsey. Cap- tain Janvrin was a man of ability and educa- tion, and possessed a very fine property at the time of his death, which occurred suddenly at Lisbon, Portugal, when he was on a voyage to that country. From Captain Janvrin have descended all the Janvrins in this country, and one of his descendants was Joseph E. Janvrin (father), who was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1801, and died at Exeter in the same State, in 1886. He passed his life from boyhood at Exeter, where he was engaged for many years in the general mercantile business. He was a member of the Baptist church, and a republican in politics, and had held the most important offices of his town and village. He married Joanna Colcord.
ROBERT CHARLES MCEWEN,
M.D., who has served alike with distinc- tion in the armies of the United States and Great Britain, is a prominent and leading physi- cian and surgeon of Saratoga Springs, and Saratoga county. He is a son of Robert D. and Sarah Ann (Hedden) McEwen, and was born at Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York, October 15, 1833. He was principally reared in New York city, where he was a pupil for nine years of the celebrated William Forest, A. M., whose school for boys was at that time regarded as one of the best in New York. Having made thorough preparation under Professor Forest for a collegiate course, he entered Williams college, of Williamstown, Massachusetts, at the early age of sixteen years, and was graduated from that time- honored institution of learning in the class of 1853. Leaving college he determined upon medicine as a life vocation, and read with Dr. N. B. Ives, of New Haven, Connecticut, where he took his first course of lectures in Yale Medical college. From New Haven he went to New York city, where he pursued special medical studies in the office of Profes- sor J. M. Smith, and then entered the famous
college of Physicians and Surgeons, from ·which he was graduated with high standing in the class of 1856. During the next year he applied himself assiduously to widening out and increasing his medical knowledge, and with such satisfactory results that on October I, 1857, he passed successfully a strict and rigid examination by the medical board of Bellevue college, and upon its recommenda- tion he was appointed by the governors of the alms house, as a junior house physician at Bellevue. He was soon promoted on the ground of activity and efficiency to the position of senior assistant and house physician. After eighteen months residence, during which time he had discharged his duties so satisfactorily, he received the diploma of the hospital and purposed to visit Europe and Africa. He visited Europe and then went to south Africa, where he received and held for some time a commission as a surgeon in her Majesty's ser- vice. Leaving the English forces he visited the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1860 returned to Connecticut, where, at the urgent solicita- tion of his friends, he practiced at Stratford, that State, until August 16, 1862. On that day he accepted a commission as assistant surgeon of the Seventeenth Connecticut in- fantry, but soon became acting surgeon and served as such up to September, 1863, when he was compelled to resign on account of ill health. Returning home he slowly recruited his health and practiced for three years in New York city. He then came to Saratoga Springs, where he has built up a very fine and extensive practice.
Dr. McEwen married Caroline Armstrong, who died in 1864, leaving one child, a daugli- ter named Jennie L. Three years after lier death Dr. McEwen, on June 10, 1867, wedded Sarah E. Watrous, and by his second mar- riage has one child, a daughter, named Nel- lie D.
Dr. McEwen is a republican in politics and an Episcopalian in religion, being a member and warden of Bethesda Episcopal church.
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He is a member and past eminent commander of Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar, besides being prominent in several other organizations. He is the surgeon of St. Christina home, and vice president of the New York StateMedical association; served one term as president of the Saratoga County Medical so- ciety, and is a member of the New York County Medical society. In May, 1883, Dr. McEwen was commissioned as captain of the 22d Sep- arate company of the National Guard of New York. To his skill as a commander, and to his ability and tact as a disciplinarian, are due the excellent and unsurpassed efficiency and envied and far-reaching reputation of the corps. It was principally through his efforts that Sar- atoga's beautiful and substantial armory was built. He labored zealously and persistently for an armory, and was before three succes- sive legislatures before his efforts were crowned with success. The first bill passed was vetoed by the governor, but the second passed suc- cessfully in 1889 and contained an appropria- tion of forty-two thousand dollars. The county gave the lot, which is worth ten thousand dol- lars, and to-day Saratoga Springs has the largest company armory in the State. One who is a competent authority on the history of the county, writing of Dr. McEwen, says : " He is a popular commander, a skilled physi- cian, a cultured gentleman, and a true friend."
The McEwens are of Scotch descent, and Judge Charles McEwen, the paternal grand- father of Dr. Charles McEwen, was a native of Connecticut, where his family had resided for several generations at Stratford, having originally come from Scotland to Amboy, New Jersey. Judge McEwen was an eminent judge of New York city. His son, Robert D. McEwen, was born in the old family residence which still stands, and at an early age went to New York city, where he was a clerk for a short time. He afterward embarked in the mercantile business at Bainbridge, this State, which he followed until 1834, when he returned to New York city, where he died in 1872, at
sixty-four years of age. He was a republican and an Episcopalian, and married Sarah Ann Hedden, who was a consistent member of the Episcopal church, and died in 1870, when in the fifty-sixth year of her age. She was a daughter of Judge Josiah Hedden, a distin- guished jurist of New York city.
H ILAND CARPENTER, the proprie- etor of the Saratoga shirt factory, owes his present high business standing and great manufacturing success entirely to his own un- ceasing efforts, as he began his career with absolutely nothing but his own indomitable energy and good strong hands. He is a son of Andrew P. and Eliza (Wright) Carpenter, and was born at Pownal, Bennington county, Vermont, November 20, 1857. Andrew P. Carpenter was a native of Pownal, and was at one time a large woolen manufacturer at that place, but his business was ruined by a disas- trous fire. He was a member of the Congre- gational church, and in politics, from early manhood, had supported the Republican party. He died in 1877, in the State of Iowa, where he had gone in quest of health. Mr. Carpenter married Eliza Wright, a native of Pownal, Vermont. She was a member of the Congregational church, and died in 1865. Andrew P. Carpenter was a son of Reynolds Carpenter (grandfather), a native of Rhode Island, where the Carpenters were among the earliest settlers. Early in life, however, Rey- nolds Carpenter removed to Vermont and set- tled in Pownal, where for many years he was engaged in farming and speculating.
Hiland Carpenter was reared in his native place until he was twelve years of age, when he went to North Hoosick, Rensselaer county, and there he resided until 1891. In 1872 he commenced working for himself at ten dollars a month and his board. In a few months he saved money for a course in Troy Business college, and after graduation from that insti- tution he accepted a position as book-keeper
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in North Hoosick, where he remained until 1876, when he resigned to engage in the gen- eral mercantile business. In a few years, in connection with his mercantile business, he engaged profitably in the manufacture of land plaster. At the same time he started a shirt factory on a very small scale, running but two machines. As time went on his shirt trade continued to grow, until in 1891 it had out- grown the town to such an extent that suffi- cient employees could not be found in the vil- lage, and necessitated a removal of the fac- tory to a place with better facilities for prose- cuting his rapidly increasing business. Sara- toga Springs offered the necessary advantages, and in June of that year Mr. Carpenter estab- lished his present factory there. This factory is a large two-story brick structure with suffi- cient space to accommodate four hundred workpeople, though he has as yet but em- ployed two hundred hands. His trade is in- creasing rapidly, and already he is in need of more employees than he can obtain. As it is he furnishes light employment at fair wages to many of the girls and young women of Sara- toga Springs and the surrounding country who care to work in the factory.
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