USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York : with historical notes on its various towns > Part 86
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S OLOMON AUGUSTUS PARKS, a
lineal descendent of one of the first set- tlers in the town of Moreau, and a director in the Glens Falls Paper Mill Company, which owes much of its present prosperity to his wonderful energy and unusual business saga- city, is the eldest son of Barzilla and Susan Maria (Burgett) Parks, and a native of the town of Moreau, Saratoga county, New York, where he was born February 22, 1827. The
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S. a. Farkas, Osyr
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Parks family were among the earliest, if not actually the first settlers in what is now the town of Moreau, coming here from Salisbury, Connecticut, sometime between 1756 and 1766, when Elijah Parks and several of his sons, some of them already married, purchased eight hundred acres of land at South Glens Falls, whereon they built dwelling houses and a saw mill. Early in the summer of 1776 the Tories and Indians attacked the house of Elijah Parks, known as the " Old Castle, " and in the fight that followed, the owner of the house and his son Elisha were both killed, and the other sons with their wives and chil- dren only escaped by flight. That raid broke up the Parks settlement, and the survivors removed within the protection of Fort Ed- ward, only returning to take possession of their lands in Moreau after all danger was passed. Of Elijah Parks' sons one was Daniel, the father of Solomon, who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Solomon Parks was born in the town of Half Moon, on the present site of the village of Waterford, and when he was only two months old, about 1765, his father removed his family to what was then known as Wing's Falls, but is now Glens Falls, where he built the first mill ever erected in that vicinity. The town was then a howl- ing wilderness, and it required constant ap- plication to force a living from the soil, and clear away the primeval forest that covered the fair fields where waving grain and com- fortable homes now meet the eye. At South Glens Falls, Barzilla Parks (father) was born, and was reared on the farm at that place. In a few years after his marriage, he located at Sandy Hill, Warren county, this State, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying January 4, 1866, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He married Susan M. Burgett, and to them was born a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters : Susan J., Solomon Augustus, John H., died in infancy; Julia A., married a Mr. Kilmer ; Susan M. B., Hon. Daniel E., now judge of the courts in Denver,
Colorado; Lydia A. and Daniel (twins), Maria, Sarah H., and Charles, the three latter de- ceased in childhood. Barzilla Parks never took an active part in public affairs. He was a man of good education, and passed most of his life in teaching, but cared little for money and was never very successful in a financial way. So it happened at his death, while the subject of this sketch was still young, the re- sponsibility of maintaing the family fell upon the shoulders of the eldest son.
Solomon Augustus Parks was taken from this county to Sandy Hill, Warren county, by his parents, when only six years of age, and received a limited common school education in the night schools of that place, being en- gaged during the day in logging on the river. He followed that occupation for some time after leaving school, cutting wood during the winter and working on the river during the summer. Later he secured a position on the river as attendant at a ferry, at a salary of five dollars a month, which was afterward increased to ten and fifteen dollars. He then worked three years in a saw mill, and in 1846 entered the employ of Howland, Harvey & Company, paper manufacturers, at Sandy Hill, where he remained seven years, and pretty thoroughly mastered the details of the business in all its various departments. He afterward worked in various paper mills, and later became sup- erintendent and manager of Rock City Paper mills, where he remained some years, and then accepted a position as machine tender for Manning, Peckham & Howland, paper makers, of the city of Troy, this State. There he was married February 12, 1852, to Harriet A. Hew- itt, and on February 15, assumed the position of machine tender in the paper mills of Wail & Allen, at Sandy Hill, Warren county. In 1860 he purchased a third interest in the paper mill at West Milton, Saratoga county, the firm be- ing afterward known as the Pioneer Paper Company. Here he remained in successful business until 1872, when he came to Glens Falls, and purchased a fourth interest in the
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Glens Falls Paper Company, whose mill had been built in 1865, but whose business had been dragging, and up to that time had never paid a cent in dividends, and also had an in- debtedness of thirty-three thousand dollars. Mr. Parks was immediately made a trustec of the company, and given full control of its busi- ness. He began to systematically untangle its affairs, and at the end of two years had paid off the entire indebtedness and declared a div- idend of ten per cent. on the capital stock. In a short time thereafter the dividend aver- aged thirty per cent. per annum. This posi- tion Mr. Parks held until he asked to be re- lieved, and to his indefatigable efforts is justly attributable the early success of the Glens Falls Paper Company, and also in a large measure the present enormous dimensions of the same business, now known as the Glens Falls Paper Mill Company, which, with its two mammoth plants, at Glens Falls and Fort Edward, constitutes one of the largest paper- making industries in the world. The estab- lishment at Fort Edward was erected and put into operation in 1892, and consists of two mills, one running two machines and the other four large machines, and aggregating a daily output of seventy tons of first-class news- paper. The Glens Falls mill makes fifty tons daily, so that the combined production aggre- gates one hundred and twenty tons of paper per day. Since his retirement from the active management of the paper mill, Mr. Parks has been a director and large stockholder in the company, and still takes an active interest in this successful business.
In his political tenets Mr. Parks has always been democratic, but has never taken any active part in politics. He was elected and served one term as president of the village of Glens Falls, and is a prominent member of the Glens Falls Baptist church. His fine resi- dence is on Park street, and although nearly three score and ten years of age he is still hale and active, and in affluent circumstances is enjoying the happy retirement so nobly earned
by a long career of earnest and successful labor. Mr. Parks has always been regular in his habits, using neither tobacco nor spiritu- ous liquors of any kind. He is of a cheerful disposition, good natured under the most try- ing circumstances, and his remarkable rise from the lowest to almost the highest rounds of the ladder of financial success is due mainly to industry and perseverance, guided by a clear head and a healthy body.
On February 12, 1852, Mr. Parks was united in marriage to Harriet A. Hewitt, by whom he had seven children, three sons and four daughters : Fred H., a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this volume ; Ella K., who wedded a Mr. Wilson, a sash and blind manu- facturer of Mt. Vernon, New York; George H .; Hattie Hitchcock, deceased in early woman- hood; Lee, living with his father and super- intending the paper mill ; Julia A., married a Mr. West, of this village ; and Ruth M., wife of Fred S. Stanley, a lumber dealer at Perry, Oregon. Mrs. Harriet A. Stanley died June 27, 1881, and February 19, 1885, Mr. Parks was wedded to Mrs. Viletta Snediker, nee Marshall.
C EORGE EATON, who for fifteen years has been successfully engaged in the gen- eral mercantile business at Rexford Flats, this county, where he served as postmaster under President Cleveland's first administration and is now assistant postmaster, is the youngest son of Bradley and Abby (Cook) Eaton, and was born in the town of New Lisbon, Otsego county, New York, July 3, 1836. The Eatons are of German descent, and are old residents of that county, where the family was planted soon after the Revolutionary war. Bradley Eaton (father) was a native of Otsego county, where he grew to manhood and was educated. He was a clothier and also owned and culti- vated a farm. Politically he was a democrat, and married Abby Cook, by whom he had a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters, only five of whom are now living :
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James, Elma, wife of Nathan Johnson, of Ot- sego county; Charlotte, Harriet, now the widow of Wheeler Bradley, of Schenectady ; and George, the subject of this sketch.
George Eaton passed his boyhood days on his father's farm in Otsego county, engaged in the usual duties that fall to the lot of farmer's sons, and obtained a good practical education in the public schools of New Lisbon. After leaving school he engaged in farming in the town of New Lisbon, Otsego county, where he remained until 1873, when he removed to Saratoga county and purchased a farm in the town of Clifton Park. Here he continued his farming operations with great success until some fifteen years ago, when he disposed of his farm property and embarked in the mer- cantile business at Rexford Flats, where he has resided ever since. He now has a good business and keeps a fine stock of general merchandise, which is sold at lowest prices.
In 1858 Mr. Eaton was married to Sarah Smith, a daughter of Jeremiah Smith, a pros- perous farmer of the town of Clifton Park. Mr. and Mrs. Eaton are the parents of three children, two sons and a daughter: George, jr., Minnie, now the wife of Ezra Bates, a farmer residing in the town of Ballston; and Arthur B.
In political sentiment Mr. Eaton is a demo- crat, and served as postmaster at Rexford Flats under Cleveland's first administration. He is now serving as assistant postmaster, and is a member of Mohawk Lodge, No. 55, In- dependent Order of Good Templars.
C HARLES R. RULISON, a well known
citizen of Saratoga county, and the ener- getic and accommodating proprietor of one of the leading hotels at Round Lake, one of the most healthful and world renowned summer resorts of America, is a son of Warren and Margaret (Jones) Rulison, and was born at the village of Half Moon, Saratoga county, New York, September 25, 1840. His grandfather, John Rulison, was a farmer of the Mohawk
valley. He was an industrious and prosper- ous man. His son, Warren Rulison, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1818, in Herkimer county, which he left fifty-five years ago to settle at Half Moon, where he has resided ever since. He is a harness maker by trade, and carried on quite a large harness making establishment at Half Moon for forty- two years after becoming resident of that vil- lage. Mr. Rulison has been a consistent and useful member of the Methodist Episcopal church for more that half a century, and is the founder of Crescent Methodist church. He is a republican in politics, and served as town clerk for fourteen years, and as postmaster of Half Moon for nine years. In 1840 Mr. Rul- ison wedded Margaret Jones, daughter of Rob- ert Jones, of Herkimer county. They have four children, two sons and two daughters : Margaret, wife of Lewis Green ; Martha, who married Charles Sweat ; Charles R. (subject), and Benjamin L.
Charles R. Rulison was reared in his native village, received a good English education at Half Moon, and then engaged in the mercan- tile business, which he followed continuously for twenty-two years : first at Bemus Heights for six years, and then established the first store at Round Lake, which he conducted un- til 1892, when he retired from merchandising in order to give more attention to a hotel that he had purchased some years previous, and to the coal, hay and straw business in which he had embarked in 1886.
Charles R. Rulison's present hotel has been increased in size from year to year until it now ranks as one of the large and leading hotels of Round Lake. Its appointments are in keeping with the requirements of the times, while its patronage has steadily grown with the great increase of guests who seek the lake for the enjoyment of its peaceful beauty and quiet, in addition to being benefited by the health-restoring climate and life-giving waters of the place.
In 1866 Mr. Rulison married Lydia H.
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Pearce, a daughter of Abram B.Pearce, of the town of Clifton Park. Mr. and Mrs. Rulison have one child, a daughter, named Minnie Etta.
In politics Mr. Rulison has always been a republican. He has ever and at all times sup- ported his party with zeal and energy, and served as deputy sheriff of Saratoga county for a period of twelve years. He is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 90, Free and Accep- ted Masons, of Ballston Spa; Warren Chap- ter, No. 32, Royal Arch Masons; Apollo Com- mandery, No. 33, Knights Templar ; and Or- iental Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Troy. Mr. Rulison is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Round Lake, of which he is a trustee, and of which his wife and daughter are also members. He is popular as a landlord, energetic as a business man, and highly respected as a citizen.
R ICHARD P. BLOSS, resident .engin- eer of the Hudson River Pulp & Paper Company, at Palmer Falls, this county, is a son of Dr. Jabez P. and Catharine (Van- Schaics) Bloss, and was born October II, 1859, in the city of Burlington, Iowa. He was reared and educated at Troy, New York, to which place his parents removed when he was only one year of age. After completing his English studies he entered the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, and was graduated from that well known scientific school in the spring of 1881. He then went to Austin, Nevada, as a mining engineer, and remained one year in charge of a silver mine at that place. In March, 1883, he returned to New York as res- ident engineer for the Hudson River Pulp & Paper Company, of the village of Palmer Falls, this county, and has held that position ever since.
In 1883 Mr. Bloss was united in marriage to Elizabeth Peard, a daughter of William L. Peard, of the city of Troy, New York. They have one son, Richard P. Bloss, jr.
Politically Mr. Bloss is an ardent republi-
can, and is now serving as a member of the board of school trustees. Both he and his wife are members of the Episcopal church at Palmer Falls. They reside in a handsome residence erected by Mr. Bloss in 1891, and are very popular in society and among all who know them. Mr. Bloss is a scientific civil en- gineer of rare attainments, and has already won considerable reputation in his profession.
The Bloss family is of English origin, but have been residents of the United States for several generations. They are most numer- ous in New England, where several of the name have won local distinction in various lines of endeavor. Richard P. Bloss (grandfather), for whom the subject of this sketch was named, was one of the earliest homeopathic physi- cians in New England, and became quite prom- inent, both in his native State of Vermont and at Troy, New York, in which city he conduc- ted a successful practice for nearly forty years. He began practice in the pioneer days of that school of medicine, when many people were greatly prejudiced against what they consid- ered an unwarranted innovation in the healing art, and to his ability and skill in practicing and popularizing the new methods may be at- tributed much of the success which afterward attended the introduction of homeopathy in this part of the country. He remained in ac- tive practice at Troy until his death in 1867, at which time he was well advanced in the seventy-third year of his age. Dr. Richard P. Bloss was a native of Royalton, Vermont. He married, and reared a family of children, one of his sons being Dr. Jabez P. Bloss (father), who was born at Royalton, Vermont, but reared and educated principally in the city of Troy, this State. He studied medicine with his father, and married Catharine Van Schaics, a native of Millertown, New York (who is of Dutch descent, and has been a life-long mem- ber of the Episcopal church), and in 1855 re- moved to Iowa, in which State he resided and practiced medicine until 1860. In that year he returned to Troy, New York, and in that
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
city entered on a large and successful prac- tice, which he has continued to the present time - a period now covering more than the third of a century. Dr. Bloss regularly at- tends and contributes to the Episcopal church, of which his wife is a devoted member. In politics he is a republican, but his pride is in his profession, to which he has devoted all his active life, and in which he has won success and an honorable standing that may well be en- vied.
S TEPHEN THORN, the pioneer of po-
tato raising on a large scale in Saratoga county, is a self-made man, who began life at the foot of the ladder of fortune and has raised himself to the summit of prosperity. He is a son of William and Silva (Bryant) Thorn, and was born in the town of Saratoga, Saratoga county, New York, August 18, 1816. The Thorn family is of Dutch lineage and trace their transatlantic ancestry to Holland, where the name of Thorn is to be met with in the early history of that once famous sea shore republic and land of commercial supremacy. John Thorn, the paternal grandfather of Ste- phen Thorn, was a native and farmer of Dutch- ess county, and came to the town of Saratoga, where he married and reared a family of four sons and five daughters : Jacob, Stephen, Jos- eph, William, Betsey Nelson, Mary Judson, Phebe Slocum, Margaret Dillingham and Sal- · lie Smith. William Thorn (father) was a whig and Quaker, and lived to be seventy-four years of age. He owned a farm of one hundred and seventy acres, and was a hard working and industrious man. He wedded Silva Bry- ant, and they were the parents of nine chil- dren : Bryant, William, Joseph, John, James, Stephen, Hannah, Sarah Smith and Caroline.
Stephen Thorn was reared in his native town, where he received his education in the district schools. While yet a boy his father met with severe losses, and he was thus com- pelled to do for himself at an early age. He worked by the day for surrounding farmers,
and when able to do a man's work, became a farm hand, working by the month. He carefully saved his wages and soon leased a farm, which he tilled for eighteen years. By industry and economy at the end of that time, in 1859, he had acquired means sufficient to purchase his present home farm of two hun- dred acres. This farm, which is well watered, he soon improved and brought into the high state of cultivation for which it is noted. Patient, prudent, energetic and economic, Mr. Thorn met with the usual success on this farm, and in a few years ranked with the sub- stantial farmers of his town. In 1876 he purchased an adjoining farm of one hundred and eighty acres, which he soon brought up to his high standard of improvement and cultiva- tion, and shortly afterward purchased his present interest in a valuable farm of one hun- dred and seventy acres of land in the town of Northumberland. As he increased the acreage of his land he also branched out in other lines of business besides grain raising, and became the first man in the county to raise potatoes on a large scale, while he embarked largely in stock feeding and dealing in horses. Of late years Mr. Thorn has confined himself to farm- ing, and the supervision of his farms requires about all the time that he devotes to business. Through life he has encountered many difficul- ties, but habits of punctuality in meeting en- gagements, and determined energy in the performance of duty, with peculiar business ability and judicious management, has always enabled him to surmount every obstacle most successfully and with great credit to himself. In politics he is a republican, but has never been an aspirant for office or political prefer- ment.
Stephen Thorn was united in marriage with Mary Billings, and to their union were born a family of children : Emma Deyoe, Augusta, who married Seward Winney, and is now dead; Howard, who died at fourteen years of age : Otis B., married a Miss Schofield, and is in the insurance business at South Glens Falls ;
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and a son, who married Elizabeth Pennington and resides at Schuylerville, where he is en- gaged in business.
M ORGAN B. MOE, a descendant of two of the old families of the town of Sara- toga, and a comfortably situated farmer of near Schuylerville, is a son of Michael and Anna (Morgan) Moe, and was born on the farm on which he now resides, in the town of Saratoga, Saratoga county, New York, Octo- ber 22, 1820. He received his education in the early schools of his boyhood days, and then attended Troy Business college. After this he engaged in farming, which he has fol- lowed profitably ever since, on the Moe home- stead farm, which he owns and which has been in the possession of the Morgan family and its descendants for four generations. This farm was one of the first improvements made in the town, and contains one hundred acres of excellent land. Mr. Moe also owns one hundred and eighteen acres of good farming land in another part of the town. He is a republican in politics, and a member of the Reformed church, and has acquired a com- fortable competency as the substantial results of a life of industry, temperance and careful management.
Morgan B. Moe married Eliza Ann Dela- ware, a daughter of John Delaware, and who died April 22, 1884, leaving two children : Alice, born March 11, 1857, married Charles H. Cramer, and died April 23, 1881 ; and Elijah M., born November 1, 1859. Mrs. Moe and her daughter, Mrs. Cramer, died but one day apart, and their funerals occurred on the same day.
The Moe family is of French lineage, and its immigrant ancestor settled in the town of Half Moon, where one of his descendants, Abraham Moe (great-grandfather), was born. Abraham Moe came to the town of Saratoga, where he was an early settler in the section where he located. He served as town clerk from 1792 to 1818, and died, leaving several
children, one of whom was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Michael Moe (father) was a farmer, as were his father and grandfather before him. He married Anna Morgan, and to their union were born two children: Morgan B. (subject), and Anna M., who married Jacob Osborn, a merchant of Schuylerville. Mrs. Moe was a sister to Capt. Daniel Morgan, a prominent Free Mason of the State. Mrs. Moe's paternal grandfather, Daniel Morgan, purchased for one thousand pounds, the farm on which his grandson, the subject of this sketch, now resides, and was a man of prominence and usefulness in his day.
J JAMES MEALEY, one of the prosper- ous business men of Schuylerville and Saratoga county, is a son of Cornelius and Esther (Hayden) Mealey, and was born at Ft. Miller, Washington county, New York, Sep- tember 15, 1857. Cornelius Mealey was a na- tive of County Clare, Ireland, which he left in 1832 to settle at Ft. Miller, Washington county, where lie followed farming for several years. At the end of that time he removed to Greenwich, in the same county, where he re- sided until his death, which occurred in Octo- ber, 1891, when in the ninetieth year of his age. He was a democrat in politics, and a member of the Catholic church, in whose faith he was reared. He married Esther Hayden, who was born in Ireland, and now resides in Washington county. To Mr. and Mrs. Mealey were born four children : James, John, Cor- nelius and Andrew.
James Mealey received his education in the public schools of Ft. Edward in his native county, and commenced life for himself at seventeen years of age as a clerk in a general mercantile establishment at Schuylerville, where he remained for six years. After this he was successively engaged with the general mercantile firm of McRae & Hannum and with H. H. McRae, until 1889. In February of that year he purchased Mr. McRae's estab-
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OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
lishment and stock of goods, and is now one of the leading merchants of Saratoga county. His large and well equipped general mercan- tile establishment carries a heavy and carefully selected stock of goods, and he makes a spe- cialty of dry goods, carpets, boots and shoes, and has an extensive and remunerative patron- age.
On September 6, 1881, Mr. Mealey was united in marriage with Julia Mccullough, a daughter of John McCullough, a native of Victory Mills. To Mr. and Mrs. Mealey have been born three children, one son and two daughters : Esther, Frank and Mary.
James Mealey is a member of the Catholic church, and Division No. 5, Ancient Order of Hibernians. He is a democrat in politics, al- ways takes an active part in political affairs, and has served his town as clerk and his vil- lage as a supervisor.
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