USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 38
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The subject of this sketch at the time of his mother's death, which occurred when he was nine years old, was thrown as a waif upon the mercies of a heartless world - thenceforth destined to carve out his own career, working as a chore- boy wherever he could get a job of work and receiving such chance advant- ages as were to be obtained by an irregular attendance upon the public schools until he was sixteen years of age, when for two winters he became a teacher him- self. He all this time lived in and about Warsaw. When eighteen years of age (1850) he moved to West Poultney, Vt., where he entered the Troy Conference Academy, where he remained for a year, and at the same time commenced and prosecuted the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Wm. H. Miller, a young physician of promise and ability, who had then but recently settled there, and who afterward completed his life work at Sandy Hill, N. Y., where he died about the year 1873. In 1852 he entered Castleton Medical College, from whence he graduated at the end of a second term, 4th of November, 1853. He was married soon after to Lizana Hotchkiss, daughter of Captain Hiram Hotchkiss, of Hampton, Washington county. He embarked in the practice of medicine in Hampton, where he remained until about the year 1858 when he moved to Granville (Bishop's Corners), and resumed the general practice of his profession. At the breaking out of the Rebellion, moved by the same patriotic impulses which actuated so many of the brave and daring spirits of the North, he tendered his services and was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Ninth N. Y. Cavalry, June 25th, 1862. His command was attached to Siegel's celebrated corps, then operating in front of the defenses of Washing- ton, and was in action at the battle of Cedar Mountain and the second battle of Bull Run. The ensuing fall Siegel's command was turned over to the Army of the Potomac, and constituted the Eleventh Corps under the command of General O. O. Howard. During this period, preceding Burnside's famous "mud march, " the Ninth Cavalry was detached and incorporated with other regiments of that arm of the service into the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac under the command of Major General George Stoneman. During this period the battle of Chancellorsville occurred, in which this brigade was a participant, acting as provost guard, the remainder of the corps being detached on a raid to the rear of the rebel lines. General Stoneman was superseded soon afterward by Major General Alfred Pleasanton, under whose leadership the subject of this sketch was promoted to the position of surgeon, and trans-
B. G. STREETER, M. D
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ferred to the Fourth N. Y. Cavalry in the same brigade. On the 9th of June, 1863, the entire corps was ordered to make a reconnaissance in force across the Rappahannock from the vicinity of Stafford C. H., and in discharging that duty struck the right flank of the rebel army under General Lee at Brandy Station, where a severe all-day action occurred, resulting in being driven back across the Rappahannock, two heavy skirmishes having taken place previously at Beverly's and Kelly's Fords. From opposite Brandy Station-the two armies moving in parallel lines down the Shenandoah Valley, and a spur of the Blue Ridge-the corps was ordered to make a reconnaissance through Ashby's Gap to determine the enemy's strength and location; here at Aldie on the 17th the corps encountered a division of Jeb Stuart's cavalry and had a severe engage- ment in which the colonel, Louis P. Di Cesnola, was wounded and taken pris- oner. The rebels were driven through and beyond Middleburg on the Little Valley Pike where they remained until the 19th, the interval being devoted to bringing up the supplies and caring for the wounded; then moving forward en- countered the enemy again a little beyond the town where another severe action took place, resulting in again driving the enemy. On the 21st another encounter took place at Upperville, which resulted in the dispersion of the enemy in the direction of their main army. During these various actions, casualties to the number of several hundred occurred which kept the medical force in general, and Dr. Streeter in particular, in active employment, engaged in amputations and superintending the removal of the wounded. Here it was definitely ascertained that the enemy had determined upon invading the Union territory, and the cavalry corps, acting as an army of observation, retired slowly before the enemy's advance until the famous battle-field of Gettysburg was reached, when the division of General Gregg, in which the Fourth N. Y. Cavalry was included, was stationed to guard the right flank of the Union army and protect the immense trains of supplies and stores in the rear. After the defeat of the rebels at Gettysburg this division was dispatched in pursuit of the re- treating army, with the rear guard of which they had an active engagement at Falling Waters. From this time forth Dr. Streeter's regiment participated in all the active movements of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac until the close of the campaign and then went into winter quarters at Cul- pepper Court House. In the following May, 1864, the Army of the Potomac, being under the leadership of General Grant, and the command of the cavalry having been transferred to General Sheridan, this force crossed the Rapidan at Germania Ford and participated in the series of engagements known in history as the battle of the Wilderness. After the action of Todd's Tavern (one of the series), Dr. Streeter was ordered to take a large ambulance train of wounded and medical supplies and establish a hospital for the care of the wounded and sick of the cavalry corps, numbering about 2,000. Of this he had charge from two to three weeks, his time being fully occupied in the cares and duties de-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
volving upon so important a responsibility. At the end of this period the hos- pital was broken up and the sick and wounded placed on transports and sent to Washington, the doctor being ordered to rejoin his regiment, which he found stationed at Whitehouse Landing. Crossing the James River with his regiment, he remained with the Army of the Potomac until Washington was again threat- ened by the invasion of Early from the valley, when two divisions of the cav- alry (including the doctor's brigade) were dispatched to the relief of the national capital, under the command of General Sheridan, whose name is now a household word in every hamlet of the North. The enemy speedily retired up the valley followed sharply by Sheridan's troopers, and in a sanguinary en- gagement at Newton, something like 200 men being wounded, the doctor was ordered to remove the disabled and wounded to Winchester and thence to Washington so soon as the railroad, which had been torn up by the vicissitudes of war, was reconstructed, he was afterward ordered to rejoin his regiment. In this attempt, after having discharged the duty assigned him, he was cap- tured by Mosby's guerilla band near Kernstown, four miles above Winchester. He was sent to Richmond and confined in Libby prison for twelve days, and was finally released through the kindness and intervention of Captain Semple, of the rebel army and inspector of rebel prisons, who had previously, when wounded and a prisoner, received many kindnesses and attentions at the hands of the doctor, and through his agency and instrumentality the latter was re- leased unconditionally and sent forward to the Union lines, reaching his regi- ment at Charleston Heights on the 12th of September, 1864. Here the doctor resigned his commission as regimental surgeon to accept the position of acting staff-surgeon of the U. S. army, having a commission from the general gov- ernment, and was at once assigned to duty as surgeon-in-chief of Powell's Di- vision of Cavalry, in the cavalry corps of the Shenandoah Valley. On the 15th of November following (1864) he was assigned to duty as medical director of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Shenandoah; on the 10th of January following he was assigned to duty as medical director of the Army of the Shenandoah, in which capacity he served until July Ist, 1865, when he with the army was mustered out by general orders, and he returned to his home at Granville, where he remained in practice until April Ist, 1867, when he re- moved to Glens Falls. He has been elected coroner two terms, and served as trustee of School District No. 2 from 1872 to 1881, when, upon the consolida- tion of five of the village districts into the Union Free School No. I, of Glens Falls, he was elected one of the board of directors, and holds that position at the present time. The doctor feels justly proud of his relations to our public schools, and has, during his extended term of service, proved an energetic, faithful, and efficient officer. Upon the organization in January last, in Glens Falls, of a board for the examination of pension claimants, he was appointed a member and elected treasurer of the same, positions which he now holds. In
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
his profession, the doctor has earned a wide-spread reputation as a skillful sur- geon and successful practitioner of medicine. He is still in the prime and vigor of an active manhood, and gives promise of many coming years of activity and usefulness.
Godfrey R. Martine, son of James J. Martine, of Caldwell, Warren county, was born in the city of Troy, N. Y., on the 27th day of April, 1837. He came to Warren county when a lad of eight years and received his general education principally at the Warrensburgh Academy under different instructors, notably among whom was O. E. Babcock, afterwards General Babcock, conspicuous for his connection with General Grant. The subject of this sketch pursued his Latin course under the direction of Rev. R. C. Clapp, of Chestertown, and attended the Normal School in Albany, receiving a teacher's State certificate. He afterwards taught in several of the towns of Warren county and was for a few terms principal of the Warrensburgh Academy. He then entered the medical department of the University of Vermont for the study of his chosen profession, in which he continued until he graduated in June, 1862. Imme- diately after graduating he returned to Warren county and commenced the practice of medicine in Warrensburgh, afterward in Johnsburgh, and has prac- ticed more or less in all the towns of Warren county and in all the adjoining counties. In 1882 he removed to Glens Falls, where he has attained an en- viable position in his profession.
Dr. Martine was married on the 9th of September, 1869, to Mary Woodward, of Warrensburgh, a lady of well-known attainments and refinement. They have one child, Byron A. Martine, born April 8, 1883. Politically, Dr. Mar- tine has been a life-long Democrat, and in 1866 he was the nominee of that party for county school commissioner. He represented the town of Johnsburgh on the Board of Supervisors from 1866 to 1870 inclusive. In the fall of 1869 he was elected Member of the Assembly. In these positions of trust his ex- cellent natural and acquired qualifications and unflinching integrity enabled him to discharge his duties to the eminent satisfaction of his constituents.
It may not be out of place here to state that the present popularity of the grand and beautiful Blue Mountain Lake region is due almost solely to the fore- sight and energetic efforts of Dr. Martine. In the year 1875, when that section wasan unknown wilderness, he purchased the site and erected the Blue Mountain Lake House, a splendidly located hotel, accommodating 250 guests, inclusive of ten or twelve cottages which have been gradually added to the grounds. Roads were opened and this famous region has become one of, if not the most popu- lar resort in the great Adirondack wilderness. It is to-day acknowledged by those best able to judge, that Dr. Martine's perseverance and faith in this en- terprise were the means of saving the Adirondack Railroad from an early de- cline. The lasting benefits thus conferred upon the people of that section and the public at large, can never be properly estimated.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Dr. Martine is a Fellow of the New York State Medical Association, and one of its original members; has been president of the Warren County Medi- cal Society ; member of the American Medical Association, to which he has been several times elected delegate, and is now secretary of the Pension Board of Examining Surgeons, at Glens Falls. With the exception of a short term of volunteer service in the hospital at Annapolis, Md., during the War of the Rebellion, Dr. Martine's labors in the medical profession, now extending over more than a quarter of a century, have been confined to Warren county and its surroundings, and his record throughout this whole section is that of a faithful and reliable physician.
Dr. Fletcher Ransom came to Glens Falls in the year 1824. His office was in a framed building, subsequently occupied by Billy J. Clark as a drug store, which stood on the site now occupied by Albert Vermillia as a meat- market. He was born in West Townshend, Windhanı county, Vt., in the year 1801, and graduated at the Vermont Medical School at Castleton, Vt., a short time previous to his removal to Glens Falls. He married the daughter of John Noyce, esq., of Putney, Vt., who died about the year 1849 at their home in Michigan. In 1830, according to the supervisors' record, he was allowed a claim for treating paupers. Dr. Ransom was an enthusiast in his profession, and shortly gathered about him a number of young, ardent and aspiring stu- dents of medicine. In furthering their purposes, and in perfecting his own knowledge of anatomy, it is stated that he sent below for subjects for dissection and practiced his anatomical researches, in company with his students, as op- portunity presented. As this became gradually known to the public it met with popular disfavor and dislike. Whether owing to this or other causes is not known to the writer, but at all events he suddenly decided to remove from the place, and in the spring of 1835 he, in company with A. T. Prouty and Colonel Fred Curtenius, removed to Kalamazoo, Mich., where it is understood he abandoned the practice of his profession, and settled down to a farmer's life and all its peaceful, prosperous, and uneventful details, until the time of his death, which took place on the 2d of June, 1867.
Truman Barney Hicks was born in the town of Sunderland, Bennington county, Vt., on the 8th of January, 1785. He was the son of Simeon and Molly (Barney) Hicks. Simeon Hicks was a soldier in the War of the Revolu- tion and with that galaxy of Vermont patriots present in action at the battle of Bennington.
Dr. Hicks's educational advantages were only such as could be obtained in the very common schools of a border settlement. He attended lectures and graduated at the Medical College at Fairfield, N. Y. One of the professors of this institution was named Westch Willoughby, for whom he formed so warm
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and durable a friendship as in later years to name for him his youngest son. In 1810 he commenced practice at Wilton, Saratoga county, N. Y. His first wife was a Miss Barbara Hays, of Rutland, Vt., by whom he had three chil - dren, two sons and one daughter. From Wilton he moved to Hadley in the same county, and later on to Luzerne, where he resided for many years. Here he married for his second wife, Charlotte B., daughter of Judge Jeremy Rock- well, of Hadley. By her he had one son, already referred to in a preceding paragraph. Dr. Hicks was a man of unusual ability, good judgment and fair attainments. He was a rugged, manly type of the hardy Green Mountain Boys, such as Ethan Allen, Remember Baker, and Seth Warner, of Revolu- tionary memory, and of whom his father was another kindred spirit. Jovial and rollicking, self-reliant, ready for any emergency, he had many fast and warm friends and but few foes. In his practice he had few equals in this sec- tion of country. He was often called either in counsel or for professional ser- vices for distances of thirty or forty miles, and in his prime his activity and endurance were something wonderful. From Luzerne Dr. Hicks removed to Caldwell at the head of Lake George where he passed the remainder of his days. In the course of his life he filled many positions of honor and trust. He served seven months in the American army in the last war with England, was commissioner of highways, colonel of militia, associate judge of the Warren County Court of Common Pleas, coroner in the year 1827, and member of As- sembly for Warren county in the years 1828 and 1835. In 1846 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Regents of the University of the State of New York. In 1847 he was elected a permanent member of the State Medical Society, in which body he had for many years represented the county of Warren.
He died at Caldwell, Warren county, N. Y., on the 16th of September, 1848, after an illness of about two weeks' duration. His remains were removed to the town of Wilton, Saratoga county, N. Y., for burial.
Marshall S. Littlefield was born in the year 1804, in the town of Arling- ton, Vt. He was the son of Simeon and Lydia Littlefield. His early educa- tion was acquired in the common schools of his native town. He studied med- icine with his father, who was also a physician of considerable note and ability, and had an extended ride through the rough mountainous region which envi- roned his home. After passing through two or three courses of lectures at the Vermont Medical College at Castleton, the subject of this memoir received his diploma from that institution in due course. He at first located at Caven- dish, Vt., where he embarked in practice and remained about two years. At the end of this period he returned to Arlington and married a Miss Hoyt, and remained in practice there until her death, which occurred in something less than two years. In 1830 he removed to the hamlet known as Pattin's Mills in
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
the north part of the town of Kingsbury. Here he speedily became popular and built up an extensive and lucrative practice. During his sojourn at this point he joined the Methodist Church, of which he remained a consistent and exemplary member to the day of his death. In 1838 he removed to Glens Falls and opened an office for the practice of medicine. In the fall of the same year he was united in marriage with Miss Catharine Buckbee, formerly of Clin- ton, Duchess county, N. Y. He continued in the flood-tide of remunerative and successful practice up to within a few days of his demise. He was a kind and indulgent husband and father. Genial, sunny, and self-possessed in the sick-room, always well dressed, neat, cleanly and tidy in his personal appear- ance, his general air and manner were prepossessing and assuring to his pa- tients and friends, who looked up to him as an oracle. He died of typhoid fever, but notwithstanding the deadly contagion working in his system and slowly sapping the fountains of life, he bravely kept at his professional duties up to within five days of the time of his death, and retained his mental facul- ties nearly to the last. On his gravestone is the following inscription : "Dr. Marshall S. Littlefield, died Nov. 20, 1863, aged 59 years." He was buried after the formula and ritual of the Masonic fraternity.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
The First Lodge of Free Masons in Warren County - Glens Falls Chapter - Warrensburgh Lodge - Odd Fellows - Horicon Lodge No. 305 - Horicon Lodge No. 349 - Riverside Encamp- ment - Other Lodges.
W ARREN county has been represented by the ancient and honorable Order of Free and Accepted Masons since early in the century, a Chap- ter having been formed in Glens Falls four years before Warren county was organized. Since that date lodges have been instituted elsewhere in the county, the following account of which has been kindly furnished for this work by T. S. Ketchum, esq., of Glens Falls : -
Glens Falls Chapter No. 55 Royal Arch Masons. - On the 29th of April, 1809, Ezra Ames, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of New York, granted a dispensation to John A. Ferris, Israel P. Baldwin and Hanmer Palmer to hold a Mark Lodge at Queensbury. under the name of Felicity Mark Lodge. This body kept its organization until February 6th, 1817, when the same Grand High Priest recommended to the Grand Chapter that a warrant be issued to Asahel Clark, Charles White
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SECRET SOCIETIES.
and Warren F. Hitchcock to hold a chapter at Glens Falls under the name of Glens Falls Chapter No. 55. This was done by the Grand Chapter on the same day, and the charter issued at that time now hangs in the rooms of the Chapter at Glens Falls. The following list gives the names of the different ones who held the office of High Priest in the years indicated: 1819-20, Royal Leavens; 1821, Charles White; 1822, Asahel Clark; 1823-24, James White; 1825, James Hay; 1826-27, James White; 1828, Henry G. Brown ; 1829, James White; from 1830 to 1854, no record whatever exists.
On the 21st of March, 1855, John S. Perry, Grand High Priest, granted a dispensation to A. C. Tiffany, Enoch Ellis and Samuel Ranger to re-organize the Chapter under the same name, and numbered 154. 1856, 1857, 1858, A. C. Tiffany ; 1859, F. J. J. Kerney ; 1860, 1861, 1862, M. R. Peck; 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, G. T. Lewis; 1867, E. R. Lake; 1868, Jos. Mead; 1869, 1870, M. R. Peck; 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, J. S. Garrett; 1875 1876, T. S. Ketchum; 1877, W. H. Van Cott; 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, T. S. Ketch- um ; 1883-84, C. H. Hitchcock ; 1885, W. S. Whitney.
On the 6th of February, 1861, Dr. M. R. Peck, then High Priest, secured the passage of a resolution in the Grand Chapter, changing the number from 154 to the original number 55.
In 1864 the Chapter was burned out in the great conflagration of May 3 Ist, losing many valuable records and nearly all of its paraphernalia. In 1874 the Chapter inaugurated a movement by which the different Masonic bodies secured the lease of the present Masonic Hall in Sherman building on Glen street, which is claimed to be one of the most convenient, pleasant and finely furnished lodge rooms in the State outside of the large cities. This body has among its members some of the most prominent men in town and is in a flourishing condition,
Warrensburgh Lodge. - This lodge, known as Warrensburgh Lodge No. 425, was instituted August 27th, 1857, with the following as charter mem- bers : - Lewis Persons, Pelatiah Richards Benjamin P. Burhans, Joseph Rus- sell, Asa Crandall, M. Nelson Dickinson, John A. Russell, Hiram McNutt, J. G. McNutt.
The first officers of the lodge were as follows: - Lewis Persons, W. M .; Hiram McNutt, S. W .; John A. Russell, J. W .; Asa Crandall, treasurer ; Ed- gar W. Burhans, secretary ; M. N. Dickinson, S. D .; Alfred Emerson, J. D. ; C. R. Hawley, chaplain ; J. C. Heath, tiler.
The officers for the year 1884-85 are as follows : - John G. Smith, W. M .; Albert H. Thomas, S. W .; Lester C. Dickinson, J. W .; Alexander T. Pasko, treasurer ; Thomas H. Crandall, secretary; Daniel B. Howard, S. D .; Louis Weinman, J. D .; Frederick Loveland, Thomas J. Smith, M. of C .; Miles Thomas, chaplain ; F. O. Burhans, marshall; M. N. Dickinson, Miles Thomas, Louis Charette, trustees; M. N. Dickinson, N. J. Sharp, O. F. Hammond, standing committee; Eleazer Herrick, organist; Alexander Smith, tiler.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
ODD FELLOWS.
The first lodge of Odd Fellows in Warren county was Horicon Lodge No. 305, which was instituted July 20th, 1847, with George W. Vanderhuyden, E. C. Hall, Walter Geer, jr., Robert R. Tearse, William R. Locke, Albert Ver- millia, A. W. Holden and Stewart Brown as members. The lodge continued in successful working for nearly twenty years, but suspended during the late war.
The new Horicon Lodge No. 349 began work under dispensation Febru- ary 19th, 1873, and its charter was granted on the 2 Ist of August of the same year. The charter members were Stephen Starbuck, M. M. Taft, C. C. La Point, Franklin Winship, Andrew Lennox, L. T. Bullard, Sanford Duel, and Seymour Hawks. The first officers were as follows : Andrew Lennox, N. G., C. C. La Point, V. G .; Seymour Hawks, secretary ; M. Hughes, P. S .; Stephen Starbuck, treasurer.
The present officers of the lodge are as follows : Sanford Martindale, N. G .; Frederick Chambers, V. G .; George W. Capron, recording secretary ; E. H. Gates, financial secretary ; A. Bloats, warden ; M. G. Crannell, conductor ; John Hill, inside guardian ; J. R. Kee, treasurer.
Riverside Encampment No. 62 .- This encampment was originally located at Sandy Hill, but in 1874 steps were taken looking to its removal to Glens Falls. This measure was finally accomplished and the first meeting here was. held November 8th, 1875. Since that date the encampment has continued in a flourishing condition. Following are the present officers : J. P. Wilcox, chief patriarch ; M. J. Crannell, senior warden ; E. H. Gates, junior warden ; Willard Monroe, high priest ; Frederick Chambers, scribe ; N. L. Nelson, treasurer ; R. Hopkins, inside sentinel.
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