USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 69
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
York and some other States. W. T. Sturde- van, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of New York State, a farmer by occupation, and spent many years as a citizen of Saratoga county. He married Mary Washburn and reared a family of chil- dren, one of his sons being Eli J. Sturdevan (father), who was born in this county in 1824. Here he grew to manhood, received his edu- cation, and continued to reside until twenty- five years of age. He then removed to Glens Falls, Warren county, where he remained until about 1859, when he returned to Saratoga county and settled at Corinth. Here he has resided ever since, engaged in contracting and building, to which he has devoted his entire life. He is also proprietor of a large saw mill, where much of his building material is manu- factured, and has met with gratifying success in business. Many of the best houses in this part of Saratoga county have been erected under his direction, and stand as monuments to his ability and enterprise as a builder. He is now in the seventieth year of his age. In 1855 he married Lydia Van Dusen, of Warren county, this State, by whom he had a family of two children, one son and one daughter. Mrs. Sturdevan was born in Warren county, has been a life-long member of the Presby- terian church, and is now in the sixty-seventh year of her age.
William T. Sturdevan was reared princi- pally in the village of Corinth, and received his early education in the public schools of this place. Later he entered the academy at Glens Falls, Warren county, and was grad- uated from that institution of learning in the spring of 1873. Soon afterward he accepted a situation as clerk in a leading mercantile house at Troy, this State, where he remained for nearly five years, when, finding the employ- ment too sedentary, he returned to Saratoga county and engaged in the carpenter business at Corinth with his father. He soon began contracting and building, and has successfully conducted the combined business of carpenter
and builder until the present, part of the time in partnership with his father, and later on his own account. By giving careful attention to his trade, and endeavoring at all times to do first class work, he has built up a flourishing business which for some years has paid hand- somely and is steadily increasing. He also owns an interest in the saw mill property.
On March 9, 1879, Mr. Sturdevan was wed - ded to Lizzie Davidson, a daughter of John Davidson, of the city of Troy, New York. In political sentiment the subject of this sketch is an ardent democrat, and takes an active part in politics, always giving his party a loyal support on every leading question in local and national affairs. He is a member of Corinth Lodge, No. 174, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Talehatchie Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men. Mr. Sturdevan takes rank with the best, most successful and most useful citizens of his section, and is widely known throughout Saratoga county. He is at present one of the trustees of this village.
DANIEL A. BULLARD, who has been prominently identified with the material development of Schuylerville for over a quar- ter of a century, is one of that class of men whose long career of business success and public usefulness have won for them the mer- ited respect and high esteem of their fellow citizens. He is a son of Alpheus and Han- nah (Fitch) Bullard, and was born at Schuy- lerville, New York, July 6, 1814. The Bul- lard family is of New England descent, and was founded in Massachusetts about 1630 by Benjamin Bullard, sr., whose son, Benjamin, settled ten years later, near Medway, in the " Bay State," on the north side of Bogistow Pond, where he built a two-story stone fortress, seventy feet in lengtli, for protection against the Indians. This fort answered for nearly seventy years as a refuge from Indians, and was once nearly burned by King Philip's war- riors. Benjamin Bullard's grandson wedded
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Hopestill Taft, daughter of Daniel Taft, and reared a family of children, one of whom was Alpheus Bullard, the father of the subject of this sketch. Alpheus Bullard was born at Sturbridge, Massachusetts, May 31, 1775, and in 1810 came to Schuylerville, where he was engaged for several years in the mercantile and lumber business. He afterward purchased a farm in the southern part of the town of Nor- thumberland, where he resided until his death, which occurred January 25, 1855, when he was in the eightieth year of his age. He was a man of great physical strength, good business ability and sterling integrity. He was a dem- ocrat in politics, and on January 5, 1812, mar- ried Hannah Fitch, who died March 4, 1879, at ninety-two years and six months of age. She was a great-granddaughter of Thomas Fitch, last royal governor of Connecticut. To their union were born six sons and two daugh- ters : David H., Daniel A., Edwin, Sarah A., William, Thomas, John Henry and Mary.
Daniel A. Bullard was reared at Schuyler- ville and on the farm, left the common schools at fourteen years of age, and four years later became a clerk in a store, where he remained for five years. At the end of that time, in 1837, he became a member of the Bullard & Mahew firm, which was engaged in the general mercantile business at Schuylerville for three years. He then became a member of the firm of Barker & Bullard, and was engaged for five years in constructing several sections of the Vermont Central railroad through the Green mountains. During the time he was contract- ing on that road he became well known as a man of fine executive ability and organizing power. From Vermont Mr. Bullard returned to New York, and was contractor on the con- struction of the masonry work in Washington county on the Rutland & Washington rail- road. Leaving railroad building, he was cm- ployed as superintendent of the Bald moun- tain limestone quarries in Washington county, where he remained for three years, and during his superintendency paid out six or eight thou-
sand dollars per month for wages and expenses. Resigning his position in 1855, he returned to Schuylerville, where he invested largely in property, and afterward purchased a water power flouring mill, which he remodeled and changed into his present successful paper mill. He first manufactured " news " paper, and afterward changed to book paper and card- board, which he still manufactures in large quantities. Mr. Bullard soon entered upon a remarkable career of success, and has pros- pered continuously in his various business en- terprises until the present time, when in ad- dition to his valuable village property, he owns the flouring mill on the site of General Schuy- ler's mill burned by Burgoyne, and a splendid farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Nor- thumberland, three hundred acres of choice land in Saratoga, besides the most valuable farm and water power on the Des Moines river, in the village of Rutland, Humboldt county, Iowa, and a large and well stocked cattle ranch in the northwestern part of the territory of New Mexico. He also owns a third interest .in a hundred thousand dollar paper mill at Ft. Miller, in Washington county, and a large amount of bank stock, together with profitable investments in other places. In financial af- fairs Mr. Bullard has been alike prominent and useful in his county, having purchased a controlling interest in the National bank of Schuylerville in 1881, and afterward was in- strumental in organizing the Citizens' National bank of Saratoga. He has served as presi- dent of the National bank of Schuylerville since 1881, excepting four years, when he held the presidency of the Citizens' National bank of Saratoga. In politics he always supported the Democratic party until Blaine's nomination in 1884 for the presidency, since which time he has voted the Republican ticket.
Happily endowed by nature with business ability of a high order, Daniel A. Bullard has so faithfully improved his opportunities that the experience of his long and varied life has been one of honor, usefulness and success.
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
Of clear perception, trained judgment and in- domitable perseverance, he is ever quick to act judiciously and with sagacity in an emergency. He is generous and liberal, a good friend and a kind neighbor. His rare powers of discern- ment and judgment have given him great skill in organizing extensive business enter- prises, and in handling successfully great num- bers of workmen or a large force of employees.
On October 20, 1835, Mr. Bullard married Catharine Snyder, who was a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Snyder, and died in 1839, aged twenty-two years, leaving two children : Mary E. and Henry A., who both died at an early age. After his wife's death Mr. Bullard wedded, in October, 1840, her sister, Harriet Snyder, and by his second marriage has had five children, two sons and three daughters : Edward C., Mary (deceased), Helen (dead), Helen F. and Charles M.
Cº COURTLAND ROGERS, an aged and
highly esteemed farmer of the town of Malta, who has passed a long life in agricul- tural pursuits in this county, and is tenth in direct line of descent from John Rogers, the English martyr, is the eldest son of Reuben and Susan (Somes) Rogers, and was born May 28, 1821, in the town of Malta, Saratoga county, New York. He was reared on the farm, educated in the common schools of his neighborhood, and after attaining manhood engaged in farming on his own account, and has followed that business successfully all his life. In politics he is a republican, and has been elected to a number of local offices, the duties of which he has always faithfully dis- charged, with entire acceptability to the peo- plc. He has long been a strict member of the Presbyterian church, which he served as trus- tee for a number of years, and is also a mem- ber of the Patrons of Industry.
On December 3, 1848, Mr. Rogers was united by marriage to Sarah A. Eddy, a daugh- ter of Allen F. Eddy, of the village of Half
Moon. To that union was born two daugh- ters: Florence, who married William Coon, of East Line; and Sarah A., wife of Fayette Baker, of the town of Half Moon. Mrs. Rogers died May 7, 1853, at the age of thirty years, and in 1855 Mr. Rogers married Marion McKinley, a daughter of Hugh Mckinley, of West Charlton, this county, by whom he had a family of three children, two sons and one daughter: Reuben H., now connected with the Central school supply house, a publishing firm in Chicago, Illinois; Essie J., deceased; and John G., also in the publishing business at Chicago, with the R. S. Peale Company.
The Rogers family is of English origin, and are descended from one of the sons of John Rogers, the martyr, who came to America. From him the line is traced through ten gen- erations to Courtland Rogers, the subject of this sketch. Reuben Rogers (grandfather) was born on Long Island, but spent most of his life in the town of Schodack, Rensselaer county, this State, where he was engaged in farming. He served as a soldier in the Rev- olutionary war, married Priscilla Lovell, and reared a family of ten children, four sons and six daughters. Politically he was a whig, in religion a Presbyterian, and died at the home of H. H. Rogers, a son, about 1843, aged ninety-two years. One of his four sons was Reuben Rogers (father), who was born on the old homestead, in the town of Schodack, Rensselaer county, this State, on the 7th of April, 1795. He secured an academic educa- tion, and was a farmer and surveyor. At the age of twenty-two he came to Saratoga county, settling in the town of Malta, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying in 1865, when in the sixty-ninth year of his age. In politics he was a whig and republican, and held a number of town offices, including those of school commissioner and inspector of elec- tions. In 1820 he married Susan Somes, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Somes, of Beckman, Duchess county, and to that union was born a family of six children, five sons
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and a daughter: Courtland, whose name heads this sketch; Harriet S., who became the wife of Swaim Peters, of the city of Rochester, New York; George, living at Mechanicville; David, now deceased; Reuben J. and John H., the latter also deceased. Mrs. Susan Rogers was born at Kent, this county, in 1793, was a member of the Society of Friends, and died in 1878, in the eighty-third year of her age.
ASSIUS B. THOMAS, who is now de- voting his time and attention to the man- agement and development of the Peerless Spring at Saratoga Springs, and to the mag- netic baths connected with the wonderful Mag- netic spring in that village, is a son of Felix and Hannah (Ballou) Thomas, and was born at Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York, August 17, 1848. The family is of Welsh ex- traction, but resident in New England since an early day. Seth Thomas, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Rhode Island, but while yet a young man re- moved to Washington county, New York, and settled at Queensbury. He was a lumberman by occupation, served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and resided in Washington county until his death. He married and reared a large family of children, one of whom was Felix Thomas (father), who was born at Queensbury, Washington county, this State, in 1809, and resided there until 1844, when he removed to Saratoga county, locating in the town of Greenfield, where he lived until 1850. In that year he went to Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, and was a resident of that city until 1860, when he returned to Saratoga county, and settled in the village of Saratoga Springs. Here he passed the remainder of his days, dy- ing July 23, 1888, at the advanced age of sev- enty-nine years. He was a carriage builder by trade and carried on that business success- fully at Saratoga Springs for a number of years. In politics he was independent, now voting with this party and again with that, always
supporting such men and measures as in his judgment were best fitted for office or calcu- lated to advance the public welfare. He held the position of assessor in this village for three terms, and was a member of the school board for several years. Nearly all his life he kept a weather record, being greatly interested in that subject, and was regarded as authority on all questions relating to the weather. In 1840 he wedded Hannah Ballou, a daughter of Duty Ballou, and a native of Rhode Island, who had come to this county with her parents when quite young. By this marriage he had a family of two children : Lydia A. and Cas- sius B. The mother of these children died in 1850. Her father, Duty Ballou, was born and reared in Rhode Island, but in early manhood removed to Saratoga county, New York, set- tling in the town of Greenfield, where he pur- chased land and spent the remainder of his life engaged in farming.
Cassius B. Thomas came to the village of Saratoga Springs with his parents when only twelve years of age, and has resided here ever since. He obtained a fine English education in the public schools here, and soon after leaving school became assistant postmaster of Saratoga Springs, which position he held until about 1879, when he embarked in the coal business in partnership with W. E. Brown, the firm name being Thomas & Brown. They con- ducted a successful business until 1890, when Mr. Brown sold his interest. Mr. Thomas has erected several fine residences in this vil- lage. He disposed of his interest in the coal business in September, 1892, and is now giv- ing his attention wholly to developing the Peerless spring and the magnetic baths of Saratoga Springs. The Peerless spring pro- duces a magnificent table water, and has been pronounced "one of the most remarkable fountains of mineral water ever found in this region of wonderful springs." This spring is so charged with carbonic acid gas that it sends a stream of limpid water, heavily weighted with minerals, to a distance of twenty-five feet
Engraved by J R Rice & Sons, Philada.
Mansor B. Franck
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
in the air, through a nozzle one and a quarter inches in diameter. The water is crisp and pungent, is more palatable than any other of the mineral waters of Saratoga Springs, and is rapidly becoming one of the most popular wa- ters in the village for table use. The baths of the wonderful Magnetic spring have been known and appreciated ever since the discov- ery of that spring, and since the erection of the new bath houses in 1887, hundreds and thousands of persons from all parts of the world have visited them and tested their mar- velous virtues.
In 1870 Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Sarah M. Keith, youngest daughter of Amassa Keith, of this village, and to them has been born a family of four children, two sons and two daughters: Mary, Sylvia, Harry and Cassius B., jr.
Politically Mr. Thomas is an ardent repub- lican and an active worker for his party, but has never allowed the use of his name in con- nection with a candidacy for any office. He is a director in the Citizens' National bank of Saratoga Springs, and a trustee of the athen- ium. In religious faith he is a Baptist, and for a number of years has served as a trustee of the First Baptist church of this village. He is also prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 131, Free and Accepted Masons ; Rising Sun Chapter, No. 103, Royal Arch Masons; Washington Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar ; and of the Oriental Temple of Troy.
W INSOR BROWN FRENCH, stu-
dent soldier and lawyer, of Saratoga Springs, was born July 28, 1832, in the village of Proctorsville, Vermont. His father, Luther French, was descended from an old New Hamp- shire family, one of whom was William French, the first martyr of the American revolution, who was shot by a British soldier at West- minster, a town now in Vermont, while resist-
ing their attempt to interfere with the local courts. A little marble slab marks the spot where he lies buried, on which is the following inscription : "In memory of William French, son of Nathaniel French, who was shot at Westminster, March 13, 1775." Lydia Brown, his mother, was a descendant of Roger Wil- liams, of Rhode Island fame, Mercy Wil- liams, liis only daughter, having married Samuel Winsor, the great -grandfather of Huldah Winsor, her mother, married a de- scendant of Chadd Brown, also a prominent Rhode Island man. Mr. and Mrs. French re- moved from Proctorsville to the State of New York in 1836, and settled on a farm about one mile south of Does Corners, in the town of Wilton, where they spent the remainder of their lives, the mother dying in 1846, the father in 1864. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, three of whom died in infancy - one, Courtland, at the age of seven, and Martin Luther, the eldest, was drowned at the age of twenty-one, at Casstown, Ohio, where he was pursuing his studies for the medical profession. Of this family now surviving are: Gen. Winsor B .; Walton W., physician and surgeon, resid- ing at Chattanooga, Tennessee ; Antoinette F. Osborn and Marietta F. Aldrich, both of Chi- cago, Illinois.
Gen. Winsor B. French remained at home until he became of age, where he assisted his father on the farm during the summers and at- tended the district schools in winter, with the exception of one school term at the Clinton Liberal institute. Determined to obtain a liberal education he went to the preparatory school and academy at South Woodstock, Ver- mont, where he fitted himself to enter Tuft's college, Massachusetts, in 1855. Depending largely upon his own efforts for the means to enable him to pursue his collegiate course, he taught district school and music during va- cations. These earnings, with a small loan from his father, enabled him to be graduated in 1859. He came immediately to Saratoga Springs and began the study of law, and was
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
admitted to the bar from the law office of Pond & Lester, in May, 1861.
The war of the rebellion breaking out in that year, and his friend, Judge McKean, then mem- ber of Congress, issuing his inspiring call for volunteers to rendezvous at Saratoga Springs, the young lawyer caught the enthusiasm, and at once dropped his books and proceeded to his old home in Wilton, called about him his old friends and neighbors, and soon recruited a company, of which he was chosen captain, and marched with it to camp. His soldierly qualities soon attracted the attention of Judge McKean, who had been made colonel of the regiment, and at his request Captain French resigned and accepted the position of adjutant, with the promise of early promotion to a field office, should a vacancy occur. The regiment was organized and mustered as the 77th New York State volunteers, and known as the Be- mus Heights battalion, and formed a portion of the third brigade, sixth corps, of the army of the Potomac. Adjutant French held his position through the peninsular campaign, until the army arrived at Harrison's Landing, when, July 1, 1862, on recommendation of his colonel and Generals Hancock and Davison, he was promoted to major, and immediately thereafter to lieutenant colonel, and on the 27th day of July, 1863, he was commissioned colonel of his regiment. Colonel Mckean be- ing absent on sick leave, Colonel French com- manded his regiment after his promotion from adjutant, until the battle of Cedar Creek, when, General Bidwell being killed early in the action, he succeeded to the command of and led the brigade in that memora- ble battle, and commanded it until he was mustered out, December 14, 1864. During its term of service the 77th regiment, com- manded by Colonel French, was frequently commended for its thorough discipline and gallant fighting. It led the charge at Marye's Heights, at Fredericksburg; May 3, 1864, cap- tured a portion of the 18th Mississippi regi- ment, and three guns of a battery of artillery,
for which gallantry Gen. A. P. Howe, com- manding the division, riding up immediately after the capture, said : "Noble 77th, to-day you've covered yourselves with glory." At Fort Stevens, the nearest battle to Washing- ton ever fought, this regiment with three others, Colonel French commanding, led the charge which drove Jubal Early from in front of the National capital. Battle ground ceme- tery, established near the soldiers' home on Seventh street, marks the place of the battle, and holds the remains of some who fell in the fight. The regiment is classed in Fox's mor- tuary record of the war among the best fight -. ing regiments, and the brigade to which it be- longed is credited with having lost more offi- cers actually killed in battle than any other brigade in the service. At Cedar Creek Col- onel French won "his spurs," and on the recommendation of his division and the corps commanders, was afterward promoted to brig- adier general by brevet, " for gallant and mer- itorious services on the field during the war." General French was greatly beloved by all the officers and the men of his regiment, and while in the field received from them a beautiful sword as proof of their love and respect. General French was equally fond of his " boys," and was mainly instrumental in the erection of the monument at Saratoga Springs to their memory, he having carefully kept the com- pany's savings and regimental funds, which, with its accumulations and a little more from voluntary subscriptions, constituted the fund with which the monument was erected. The regiment has also a beautiful monument, erec- ted by the State, at Gettysburg.
In April, 1865, after being mustered out, General French resumed the practice of law in partnership with Alembert Pond (in whose office he studied), which continued over twenty years, when it was dissolved by mutual con- sent, General French retiring and continuing his practice alone. He was district attorney of Saratoga county one term, and conducted the office with great ability. It was during
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his incumbency of the office that the celebrated "breach of privilege" case came up in the New York State legislature, when Judge Platt Potter and General French were brought be- fore the bar of the house for causing the ar- rest of a member of the assembly on a war- rant of artachment for disobeying a subpæna and bringing him to Saratoga county to testify in the criminal proceedings. The case is fully reported in the fifty-fifth " Barbour's Supreme Court Reports," where the arguments of the judge and district attorney ably discussed the question of the respective powers of the ju- diciary and legislative branches of the State government. He is now the senior member of the firm of French & Smith, and engaged in the active practice of the law at Saratoga Springs. General French has been since its organization the vice president, and one of its council, of the United States Mutual Accident association of New York city, now the largest accident insurance company in the world. He has been a member of the Saratoga Grand Army Post since its organization, and once its commander.
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