USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. > Part 60
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sagacity, and persevering industry, he has risen in a few years from comparative poverty to opulence, and is now one of the largest manufacturers in the eastern section of the State.
Born in Devonshire, England, on the 17th of February, 1823, of parents in very moderate circunstanees, he had very little adventitious aid in making a future for himself. He received a good common-school education, however, and inherited from his parents industrious habits and a ro- bust constitution. With these as his exclusive capital, he commenced the battle of life. His father and uncle were paper-makers, but he served a thorough apprenticeship with John Dewdney, one of the leading manufacturers in the west of England, learning the business in all its branches, and to his natural genius adding the skill acquired by a thorough training.
Soon after reaching his majority he married an English girl, whose prudent management and wise counsel, no doubt, contributed in no small degree to his success. He soon discovered that England failed to afford scope for his abilities, and in February, 1849, when he had reached his twenty-sixth year, he came with his young wife to this country. When he arrived on our shores he was almost penniless, but he possessed a good stock of indomitable en- ergy. He procured employment in New Jersey, where he worked about a year. From there he went to Massachu- setts, where he obtained employment in a paper-mill as an ordinary operative, continuing in that capacity about three years. Ultimately his employers discerned and appreciated his valne, and he soon found himself the responsible man- ager of one of the largest manufactories of writing-paper in the Bay State.
During several years' experience in that position, he rapidly developed the sterling qualities by which he finally won success, and before he had been ten years in this coun- try he became a partner in an extensive paper-mill. In the year 1860 he sold his business in Massachusetts, and see- ing a favorable opening at Ballston Spa, moved thither. How well time has demonstrated the wisdom of his ven- ture is shown by the fact that he is now sole proprietor of nine mills and factories, and is doing in connection there- with a business which averages about $65,000 monthly.
The mills of Mr. West are all water-power mills, situ- ated on Kayadrossera creek, and are nine in number, as follows : seven paper-mills, one cotton-factory, and one paper-bag factory. He started with the old Empire mill at Rock City Falls in 1862. In 1866 he built the Excelsior mill at Rock City Falls, at a cost, exclusive of the site, of $50,000. In 1870 he purchased the ruins of the old Pio- neer mill, at West Milton, and rebuilt it, at a cost of $75,000. In the same year he bought the ruins of the two mills in Middle Grove, and rebuilt them at a cost of $40,000. In October, 1874, he purchased the paper-mill formerly owned by Charles H. Odell, now known as the Eagle mill, at Factory Village, at a cost, including im- provements made by him, of $55,000. In August, 1875, he purchased the property formerly owned by Jonas A. Ho- vey, in the village of Ballston Spa, consisting of three cot- ton-factories, two woolen-factories, the mansion which now constitutes his residence, about forty tenements, a number
Azotic gas.
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John Whompraw
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
of barns and storehouses, and a considerable tract of land, forming one of the most picturesque portions of the village of Ballston Spa.
The principal cotton-mill, included in the above pur- chase, he still operates as a cotton-factory ; it contains six thousand two hundred and twenty-four spindles. One of the cotton-mills he changed into a first-class paper-bag factory, which has a fall of twenty feet of' water, and turns out two millions of paper bags per week, or, in round numbers, one hundred millions a year, of all sizes, for grocers' use and flour bags, the manufacturing being done entirely by ma- chinery. The product of the entire paper-mills is two hundred and thirty-four tons per month, while the whole business employs one hundred and seventy hands, besides many teams, engaged in handling the immense stock and manufactured goods.
The perfect order and system which pervade all of Mr. West's enterprises strike the observer as one of the most remarkable features of his business. If " order is heaven's first law," it is equally necessary in any great and compli- cated enterprise successfully conducted by human agency ; and of this the business of Mr. West affords a striking il- lustration. His great success is in a large measure due to his genius for organization, and the thorough order and sys- teur to which he has reduced every shop, mill, offee, and department of the immense business of which he is the ever-active and vigilant head.
In personal appearance Mr. West is a good specimen of the sturdy Briton. Though of short stature, his robust form and broad shoulders seem well able to carry the massive and well-developed head, which seems a fit reposi- tory for a brain of more than ordinary activity. Ile bears with him, however, the air and manner of one who has earned the right to take the world easy, and the geniality characterizing his intercourse with others strengthens such an impression in the mind of one who judges men by first impressions. He is a man of much earnestness of charac- ter, and a hard worker in everything he undertakes.
He has always been an ardent Republican, and enjoys a large degree of popularity in his owu district. In the fall of 1871 he was elected to the Assembly by the large majority of eleven hundred and sixty-six over William T. Odell, his Democratic competitor. In the fall of 1872 he was re-elected without opposition, no other candidate being nominated, and io the Legislature of 1873 he was the only member of the Assembly having no votes against him. In the fall of that year local issues which arose rendered him less fortunate, his majority over George A. Eusign, his Democratie opponent, being four hundred and twenty. In the fall of 1874 he was elected by a majority of seven hun- dred and nine over Benjamin H. Knapp, Democrat ; and in the fall of 1875 he was chosen by a majority of six hun- dred and one, his opponent being George A. Ensign. He was a candidate in convention for the senatorial nomina- tion against the Hon. Webster Wagner, and the coutest was conducted with such spirit that it attracted attention throughout the State, and so close was it that on the final ballot Mr. West was defeated by only one vote.
Ifis recent Assembly canvass closed, however, with a very saddening event,-the loss of a favorite son, a young man
whose future seemed more than ordinarily promising, and whose death occurred on the evening of election day.
Mr. West, in 1874, was chairmin of the committee on trade and manufactures, and member of that on public printing and public lands. In 1875 he was a member of the committees on publie printing and on trade and manu- factures ; and in 1876 he was chairman of the committee on railroads, and a member of that on expenditures of the House.
A few years ago, Mr. West associated with himself in business his son, George West, Jr., since which the firm style has been George West & Son.
JOHN W. THOMPSON.
The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, John Thompson, was of Scotch-Irish descent, his ancestors having emigrated in the early part of the last century from the north of Ireland to Londonderry, N. HI. About 1763 he settled in what is now Stillwater, where he lived until his death, which took place in 1823, in his seventy-fifth year. He was by occupation a farmer, and was endowed by nature with unusual strength of intellect. He was an active patriot during the Revolutionary struggle. In 1788 -89 he was a member of the State Assembly from the county of Albany, and upon the organization of Saratoga County received the appointment of first judge of the county courts. This position he held until 1809, when he retired by force of the constitutional limitation as to age, which was then sixty years. He was a member of the Con- stitutional Convention of 1801, and was a representative in the Sixth, Tenth, and Eleventh Congresses.
Judge Thompson's second son, James (the father of John W. Thompson), was born in Stillwater, Nov. 20, 1775, and was educated at the academy in Schenectady,-the old build- ing which until recently stood at the northwest corner of the junction of Union and Terry streets. His schoolmates , from this county were Rev. Joseph Sweetman, of Charlton ; Levi II. Palmer and James Scott, of Ballston ; and George Palmer, of Stillwater. He studied law at what is now Buell's Corners, at South Ballston, with James Emott (a son-in-law of Judge Beriah Paltuer), and subsequently known as Judge Emott, of Poughkeepsie. Daniel L. Van Antwerp, Samuel Cooke, Samuel Young, and Levi H. Palmer were his fellow-students. Upon his admission to the bar, which was about 1797, he opened an office a little south of Milton Centre, and immediately entered upon a lucrative and extensive practice. Here he remained until 1806, when he removed to what has been subsequently known as the "Judge Thompson place," two miles north- west of Ballston Spa, where he lived until his death, which took place Dec. 19, 1845. In 1818 he was commissioned first judge of the county courts, his predecessor, Salmon Child, who had succeeded his father, taking his place be- side him as one of the judges. He ably discharged the duties of this office until 1833, when he was succeeded by Samuel Young. He was one of the regents of the Univer- sity, having been appointed in 1822. He inherited the mental vigor of his father, was distinguished by great force
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of character, and wielded an extensive personal influence. He seemed to take a far greater interest in promoting the politieal fortunes of his immediate personal friends, such as Young and Cramer, than in caring for his own. As a counsellor and advocate he stood in the front rank. Dr. Nathan Thompson, of Galway, was his brother.
The subject of this sketch is the second son of Judge James Thompson. He was born at the family home- stead, in Milton, Dec. 29, 1SOS. His mother was a dangh- ter of Abel Whalen, one of the early prominent settlers of Milton. He was named from his two grandfathers. After attending the " Milton Union School," and subse- quently the Lansingburg Academy, he, in 1824. entered Union College, and was a room-mate of the late Preston King. He graduated in 1827, and the same year com- menced a law-elerkship at Ovid, Seneca county, with his uncle, William Thompson, then a prominent lawyer of western New York, and completed his elerkship with Judge Luther F. Stevens, of Seneca Falls. He was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court in January, 1831, and in a few weeks formed a law-partnership at Ballston Spa with Anson Brown, which was continued with unusual success until Mr. Brown's death, while a representative in Congress, in 1840. Upon the nomination by Governor Marey, in 1834, Mr. Thompson was appointed surrogate, and re- mained in office until 1847, when the new constitution took effeet. Probably the duties of that important office were never discharged in a more thorough, intelligent, and satis- factory manner than during his administration. He was one of the original incorporators of the Ballston Spa Bank, which was established in 1838, and is the only surviving director of the first board of directors. In 1856, upon the resignation of James M. Cook, who received the appoint- ment of superintendent of the banking department, Mr. Thompson was chosen to suceced him, and, upon the reor- ganization of the bank under the national banking law, he was continued in that position, which he still holds. During his presideney he has devoted the most of his time to the management of the institution. As a financier, he has few, if any, superiors. Having an ample fortune, he long since practically abandoned the drudgery of the law, not- withstanding he inherited the legal ability of his father. Since he was surrogate, with the exception of one term as supervisor of Milton, he has steadily resisted all overtures for political preferment. In politics his grandfather and father were of the Jeffersonian school, and Mr. Thompson has uniformly adhered to the same faith. Indeed, this family trait has deseended to his son, George L. Thomp- son, the present Democratie supervisor of Milton. The late George Thompson, of Ballston Spa, an alumnus of Union College of the class of 1822, and for many years the county treasurer, and who died in 1871, was his eldest brother.
Mr. Thompson is now a widower ; his wife, Augusta, a daughter of the late Joel Lee, of Ballston Spa, having died in 1871.
JAMES W. HORTON.
Mr. Horton was born in Ballston, Saratoga Co., N. Y., Sept. 29, 1810. He is a son of Ezekiel and Clarissa (Watson) Horton. His father was a native of Hebron,
Conn., aud settled in Ballston about the year 1795, where he died in 1843, aged sixty-seven years. His mother was a daughter of Captain Titus Watson, a captain in the Revo- lutionary war and a pioneer of Saratoga County. She was born in the town of Ballston in 1780, and died here in 1839, at the age of fifty-nine years.
The subject of this sketch received his education at the common school and academy, and came to reside at Ballston
amintorton
Spa in 1829, at the age of nineteen. He has resided here ever since. In 1840, under General Harrison's administra- tion, he was appointed postmaster of Ballston, and held the office three years, until removed by President Tyler. In 1845 he was elected clerk of Saratoga County, on the Whig tieket, and by successive elections has held the office ever since, having been eleven consecutive times elected to fill the same responsible position. He was a Whig in polities till the disintegration of that party, and has since been a Republican. He had two sons in the war for the Union, who were brave soldiers. The elder, Stephen S., was a captain in the Seventy-seventh New York Volunteers, and was wounded at the battle of Antietam. The younger, William B. Ilorton, was wounded at the second Bull Run battle, and died of his wound in Washington, D. C. His other son, James C. Horton, the eldest of the family, resides in Lawrence, Kansas, where he has held several important and responsible offices, having been a member both of the Assembly and Senate of the State.
Mr. Horton was first married, in 1836, to Abby Clark, of Ballston Spa, who died in December, 1850. His second wife was Julia E. Betts, of Troy, N. Y., to whom he was united in marriage Jan. 14, 1852.
The sons above referred to, and Clara V., now Mrs.
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
George C. Beecher, of Ballston, are his children by the first marriage. He has two daughters by his second marriage, viz., Jennie and Annie Watson Horton.
DR. SAMUEL DAVIS.
Dr. Samuel Davis was born in East Hampton, Long Island, in 1765. His father, John Davis, left England in the early part of the seventeenth century, and settled in Massachusetts, and afterwards removed to Long Island, where he was successfully engaged in farming and the manufacture of leather. Samuel, the first son by his second wife, at an early age chose the profession of medi- cine, and was distinguished as a physician and surgeon of the old school. He studied his profession with Dr. Turner, of Stonington, one of the most distinguished physicians
and surgeons of his day. After the completion of his medical course, which he did with great honor to himself, he emigrated to Schoharie Co., N. Y., where he practiced with great acceptance among the inhabitants for two years. Then Beriah Palmer and Seth C. Baldwin, two influential men of Ballston, Saratoga Co., learning from highly re- spectable men of Albany, who had become acquainted with him, of his skill and success for so young a man (being then scarcely twenty-five years of age), induced him to leave Schoharie and settle in Ballston, where, at twenty- five years of age, he re-commenced his practice and con- tinued it for fifty years. He secured not only an enviable confidence in his skill in the profession, but the respect, esteem, and confidence of the inhabitants of the county, as a man of high moral character, genial and gentlemanly in his manners, and a Christian gentleman.
TOWN OF BALLSTON.
I .- GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
THE town of Ballston is situated southwest of the geo- graphical centre of the county, and extends to the southern boundary. It consists of the so-called " Five-mile square," together with a small addition at the southern extremity. This five-mile-square tract, together with five thousand acres now constituting the south part of Charlton, was set apart to defray the expenses of the survey and partition of the Kayadrossera patent. The commissioners were Christopher Yates, John Glenn, and Thomas Palmer. An examination of these lands now will convince any one that the com- missioners made no mistake, if it was their intention to set off the most valuable portion of the patent to pay the expenses. The town is bounded north by Milton, east by Malta, south by Clifton Park and Schenectady county, west by Schenectady county and Charlton. It contains 14,979 acres of improved land, 2471 unimproved, of which 2041 are forest, the whole area being about twenty-seven and a quarter square miles. The population in 1875 was 1932. This town is described in the revised statutes of the the State, and its boundary lines defined, as follows :
" The town of Ballston shall contain all that part of said county comprehending the tract of land commonly called the five-mile square, and the west line of the same extended south to the bonnds of the county ; then along the bounds of the county to a line run from the south end of Long lake south fifty-three degrees west ; then along that line and the east shore of said lake to the south bounds of the said five-mile square."
II .- NATURAL FEATURES.
The surface of the town is gently undulating. The principal streams are the Mourning Kill and the outlet of Ballston lake. This body of water from its shape was ap- propriately called Long lake, but in later years it is more generally known by the name of the town. It is a narrow, deep, and beautiful sheet of water, and though no pleasure resorts or camp-meeting grounds have been located upon its banks, yet there are several choice sites that may hereafter aspire to rival Round lake and other favored localities. A few mill-privileges exist in the town, though now of little importance, and never of any great value.
The outlet of Ballston lake flows into Round lake, and thence through Anthony's Kill to the Hudson river at Me- chanieville, forming a beautiful chain of lakes and streams. The clearing up of the country has so diminished the amount of water in the streams that they are useless for milling purposes. The northwest part of the town is drained by the branches of Gordon's creek, that finally empties into the Kayadrossera at Ballston Spa, and west of Burnt Hills several rivulets flow southward to the valley of the Mohawk.
III .- EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Before the year 1760 there were not many places settled in the county. The old village of Saratoga was destroyed in 1745, leaving only a few scattered pioneers at Schuyler- ville. Isaac Mann was at Stillwater Mills ; there was a small hamlet at Waterford, while, perhaps, a daring adventurer or two had built cabins along the north bank of the Mo- hawk and the west bank of the Hudson. Practically, the whole county was an unbroken forest back from the two rivers.
The settlement of Ballston was just about coeval with the removal of the Connecticut colony to Stillwater and the temporary residence there of Dr. Thomas Clark's Scotch- Irish colony, who settled Salem, Washington county.
Michael McDonald and his brother Nicholas were the pioneers. They came to the western shore of Ballston lake in 1763, and located south of the ereek. The house stood near the lake, just south of Charles Wiswell's place. Sir William Johnson, on his trip to the springs in 1767, found them here, and stayed overnight with them. The MeDonalds were from Ireland. When boys, they had been enticed on board a vessel and brought to America, and then sold to pay for their involuntary passage. In their new locations they were on friendly terms with the Indians. Indeed, they came to this place on the invitation of the Indians, who assisted them in building their log house. Michael McDonald died June 29, 1823, in the 94th year of his age. On his tombstone it is recorded that " He was the first settler of Ballston."
Of Nicholas McDonald there is not so much known.
A granddaughter of one of the brothers, Mrs. Morse, is still living, and her son, Nelson Morse, resides in Ballston, between Court-house hill and the Centre.
Between 1763 and 1770 it is not known that there were any additional settlers. The MeDonalds had the country all to themselves. The purchase of four hundred acres by Eliphalet Ball was made, according to the deed, October 12, 1771. The price was only nominal,-ten shillings for the whole, and one year's service in helping to settle the coun- try. The present Presbyterian church is located upon the southwest corner of the Ball farm. The removal to this town of Mr. Ball and family was in the year before the one named in the deed.
His pioneer home was near the present house of Abram Post, at Academy hill, a little north, in the south part of the orchard. His children were three sous-Stephen, John, Flamen-and one daughter, Mary.
Jolin was a colonel in the Revolutionary army, and was in active service. He was in the relief-party, under Gen - eral Arnold, that marched to the aid of Fort Stanwix.
The daughter became the wife of General James Gordou.
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Rev. Eliphalet Ball was a third cousin of George Wash- ington. Of Stephen Ball, it is said he once assisted his father at a marriage service in a peculiar way. Having in- quired of the bridegroom whether he had ever seen any one married, and finding that he had not, Stephen told him just what to do, and said he, " Father will expect you to kiss the bride several times during the ceremony, but he won't like to tell you ; I will sit near you and touch your heel at the right time." The service just commeneed, Stephen touched the heel and a hearty smack followed. The min- ister frowned, but said nothing; but when the same thing occurred two or three times, Mr. Ball threatened to leave them half-married if that nonsense didn't stop. The poor bridegroom replied, "Stephen told me to."
George Scott was an emigrant from the north of Ireland, and settled in 1774 on what has since been well known as the Scott homestead. The house was on an eminence north- east of the present dwelling-house. His wife was the sister of General James Gordon. During the Munro Tory raid of 1780 he narrowly escaped death, being in fact struck down with a tomahawk and left for dead. His children were James Scott, born at the Gordon homestead, Jan. 31, 1774. Daughters,-Mary, became Mrs. William Marshall; Margaret, who never married ; Susan, Mrs. Daniel Starr.
James Scott was a well-known surveyor of the olden time. Ilis son, IIon. George G. Scott, is the present super- visor of Ballston, a position he has occupied for nineteen years consecutively, honoring by careful service that office, as he has the higher and more responsible positions to which he has been repeatedly called through his long and distin- guished public career.
Gen. James Gordon was a pioneer whose name is asso- ciated with the most stirring events of carly times, with the most important civil positions, town, county, State, and national. In the catalogue of public officials his name repeatedly appears. He was from County Antrim, Ireland, when a boy of seventeen or eighteen ; went back, returned, and (after being in the Indian trade at Albany) in the year 1771 or 1772, finally settled in Ballston, and located where Eugene Wiswell now lives. The Gordon house was a little southwest of the present house. He was actively in service during the Revolutionary war, and was promoted through successive grades to the rank of general. Ile was taken prisoner by the Tories in 1780, and carried to Canada. Re- moved from Quebec to the Isle of Orleans, and finding his old neighbors taken in the second raid of 1781, they effected their escape, and, after severe hardships and wellnigh starving, they reached Boston to find that peace was declared. The wife of General Gordon was the daugh- ter of Eliphalet Ball. He left one daughter, Melinda, who became Mrs. William B. Verplanck, of Fishkill. Ile dying, she married Henry Waller, of Sing Sing.
The three McCrea brothers, in Ballston, were William, who married General Gordon's sister, and settled on what is now the Henry Davis farm ; James, who lived next north on the Henry Harrison farm ; and Samuel, who settled on the present Thomas MeCarty farm.
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