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 72
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Mr. Bowman has done his banking and general business at the village of Glens Falls, where he is widely known and greatly respected. He is and for years has been a director in the Glens Falls National Bank. For thirty-two years he has done all his hide and leather business with one house, the well- known one of Field, Converse & Co., of Boston, and its successor, Allen, Field & Lawrence. All his business dealings have been characterized by prompt- ness and strict integrity.
Hard work, persistent attention to his own affairs and uncompromising hon- esty, added to an intelligent aptitude for business have made Mr. Bowman's success in life well marked and deserved. His upright, sterling character com- mands for him the entire confidence of all who know him. Always averse to ostentatious display, he has accomplished many charitable and beneficent ends in a quiet way. The remains of his grand-parents, parents and brother, are buried in the cemetery at East Clarendon, Vt. Mr. Bowman has erected a stately monument over the place of their interment and made the spot a pleas- ant one by tasteful improvements.
In 1849 he married Jennie E. Gates, daughter of Franklin Gates, of War- ren, Herkimer county, N. Y., and the youngest of seven sisters. This marriage proved a wise and fortunate one. Mr. Bowman found in his wife a companion who excelled in every womanly virtue. Possessed of rare judgment and the most estimable traits of character, she made the home over which she presided a model one. Mr. Bowman recognizes that a large measure of the success that has come to him is due to the faithful endeavors and wise counsel of her whom he chose for a life companion. Her influence extended beyond the home circle and they are many who have been made better and happier by her example and kindly assistance. She made a large number of friends and attached them to herself by the strongest ties. In religious faith she was an Episcopalian and was a member of the society of that denomination at Glens Falls.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowman two daughters, Addie, who died in early infancy, and Ella H., who lived until just reaching young womanhood. Growing up as an only child, she naturally had the full affection of her parents. She was of a more than usually sweet and affectionate disposition and naturally gentle and refined in manner. The fondness of her parents was reciprocated and she found her highest enjoyment in their company. Altogether this house- hold was exceptionally happy in its membership and surroundings. Mr. Bowman's business kept him closely at home and his domestic tastes rendered him peculiarly appreciative of his pleasant home and family. But these dearest associations were destined to be rudely broken.
In June, 1879, the peace and joy of these parents gave way to the deepest grief when they were called upon to bid a final earthly farewell to their beloved daughter Ella. In this trying hour of bereavement the Christian encourage- ment and faith of the wife and mother yielded strong support to the sorrowful husband and father. This comfort was not long accorded him. After a few short months and in January, 1880, the death of his faithful and devoted wife left Mr. Bowman alone to bear what seemed an insupportable grief.
The remains of wife and daughter were taken to Vermont for interment, and in the early summer following Mrs. Bowman's death, Mr. Bowman com- menced at Cuttingsville, in his native county of Rutland, the building of a magnificent tribute to the memory of his loved ones. He enlarged and beau- tified Laurel Glen Cemetery amd erected there a stately mausoleum. The struc- ture is of Vermont granite, the interior stone being the finest Rutland marble. The whole is characterized by solidity and elegance which unite to make it one of the grandest, as it is one of the costliest, tombs in existence.
Near the tomb is an extensive green-house built and equipped in the most approved manner and liberally stocked with choice and rare plants.
In plain view of the mausoleum Mr. Bowman has erected a beautiful sum- mer residence. He has made walks, set out shade trees and otherwise embel- lished the grounds at and around the cemetery and his residence. Thousands of people from neighboring and distant States have visited this spot, now made famous in monumental grandeur by the munificence of Mr. Bowman.
OLONEL BENJAMIN PECK BURHANS. - Colonel Burhans was born C near Rensselaerville, Albany county, N. Y., October 9th, 1798. His mother was Clarissa and his father John C. Burhans, he being their eldest child. He received an academical education at Litchfield, Conn., and soon after, at the age of sixteen, entered the store of Whittlesey & Co., general merchants, in Greene county, N. Y. A little later he was employed as clerk with Palen & Co., in the same county, extensive manufacturers of sole leather. He soon became a partner in the firm, which continued until about the year 1831, when the firm was dissolved and Mr. Burhans formed the firm of Burhans & Town- send, at Palenville, Ulster county, N. Y.
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BENJAMIN PECK BURHANS.
In 1824 he was married to Rebecca Wickes, whom he survived many years; they had six children, four of whom are living.
In March, 1836, Colonel Burhans disposed of his property in Ulster county and came to Warrensburgh, Warren county, N. Y. Here he purchased the interest of Mr. Quackenbush in the leather manufactory of Quackenbush & Gray, his partner being General Thomas S. Gray; the firm style was Burhans & Gray. In 1854 he transferred one. third of his interest in this tannery to his son, Frederick O. Burhans, and in 1860 they took General Gray's remaining interest and formed the firm of B. P. Burhans & Son, which continued to the time of the former's death.
Notwithstanding Colonel Burhans's aversion for the official honors which make the chief aspiration of many men and the ambition of many lives, he has a few times been forced out of his persisted-in adherence to a strictly private, business life. He was at one time Colonel of the Third Regiment of Rifles N. Y. S. M., in the days of its glory and efficiency. He was nominated for Mem- ber of Assembly in 1838, and although defeated with his party then, he was elected in 1842. He was also the Democratic nominee for Member of Con- gress in 1862. He was a lifelong Democrat, quietly but always and certainly acting with that party. He was at the time of his death and for many years had been the president of the Glens Falls National Bank.
Strict attention to his extensive business - to a business of which he had made himself the master and with which he had from his youth been familiar- gave him an estate unusual to this region. He was one of the wealthiest men in Northern New York, and every dollar of his fortune was his own by honor- able right and legitimate acquisition. No man has been made poor or unhappy by his gain. In business life he made friends of all who had dealings with him. Invariably pleasant, prompt and courteous, and especially so to his employees, many of whom have been in his employ for over thirty years. A leading fea- ture of Colonel Burhans's character was his complete mastery of himself. Under any and all circumstances he was always cool, collected, reasonable. Those who have known him in his own hospitable home - met him socially at his own fireside - have the largest appreciation of his large and generous heart, his genial sociability, his undemonstrative yet hearty manhood.
He was public spirited, loved his adopted village and contributed to all de- sirable improvements. The Episcopal "Church of the Holy Cross " at War- rensburgh, a beautiful edifice of stone, is largely indebted to his generous gifts for its erection and present maintenance. He was elected senior warden at the formation of the parish in 1864, and was confirmed at the consecration of the church in 1866. "His works do follow him," and "being dead he yet speaketh."
At the time of his death he was, as stated, president of the Glens Falls Na- tional Bank, a position he had filled since the bank was founded, in 1851.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
The board of directors passed a series of eulogistic resolutions, from which the following is an extract : -
Resolved, That the whole history of this bank has been intimately identified with the prudence, sagacity, inflexible integrity, financial ability and large bus- iness experience which its lamented chief officer has brought to the councils of its directors. He was ever ready to give the weight of his influence and for- tune, if necessary, to preserve the highest standard of reputation and credit for this corporation, and his active watchfulness over its interests for nearly twenty- five years slackened only with the physical ability to maintain it. By personal endowment and dignity of manner he was eminently fitted to preside. By his genial spirit, friendly disposition, courtesy and Christian graces he won and re- tained the affectionate regard and esteem of hosts of people of all classes, who will long mourn his departure from among them.
Colonel Burhans died on the 16th day of July, 1875 ; his wife having died May 16th, 1863. The surviving children are as follows: Julia, married Wil- liam B. Isham, of New York, a leather dealer, and member of an old Ulster county family. Frederick Osborne, who still carries on the business at War- rensburgh. Sarah Hine Burhans, now living on the homstead; and Charles Hiram, living in Warrensburgh.
Those of the children who are deceased were Mary P., who married Gen- eral Samuel T. Richards, and died in 1864. Clarissa Amelia, died in 1844.
APTAIN M. N. DICKINSON .- Myron Nelson Dickinson was born in C the town of Bolton, Warren county, N. Y., on the 14th day of August, 1829. His father, John Dickinson, came to Bolton with his parents from Duchess county when about six months old, in February, 1800. His mother, Lucy Winter, was born in Shutesbury, Mass., August 10th, 1795, and came with her parents to Bolton in 1802. M. N. Dickinson's grandfather, the pio- neer, was also named John Dickinson, and bore arms in the Revolutionary War. The name of his mother's father was Jesse Winter. M. N. Dickinson's boy- hood was passed in Bolton until he reached his twentieth year, his surroundings, circumstances and school advantages not differing materially from that of other young men of that period. When twenty years old he visited Western New York, Pennsylvania and finally the State of Iowa. The straitened circumstances of his parents left him without anticipation of any aid from them in beginning his career ; he felt that he must depend solely upon his own powers and ambition for success in life. While in Allegany county, N. Y., and Bellefonte and Snow Shoe, Center county, Pa., he learned the millwright's trade, which he followed until the close of 1857. During this period (in 1854) he returned home from Pennsylvania, and in 1855 went to Maquoketa, Iowa, where he continued working at his trade. In the winter of 1855-56 he saw the necessity of a more thorough education in order to rise above his humble circumstances, and
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M. N. DICKINSON.
accordingly, although then twenty-six years of age, attended the State Nor- mal School in Albany, N. Y., a full term.
In the year 1857 Mr. Dickinson built the saw-mill at Warrensburgh, N. Y., and during that fall and winter he selected his home in that place. The same fall he was elected to the office of school commissioner of Warren county, being the first candidate elected to that office, his predecessors having been ap- pointed ; that office he held until the close of 1860, when he engaged in mer- cantile business, and was appointed postmaster at Warrensburgh in the suc- ceeding spring.
Now came the sounds of oncoming war from the misguided South and Mr. Dickinson was not the man to sit idly at home when his country needed strong arms for her defense. Resigning his position as postmaster in February, 1862, he enlisted in the 118th Regiment, whose gallant services are chronicled in these pages. His enlistment dated from July 16th, 1862, and he aided mate- rially in recruiting Company G, to the second lieutenancy of which he was im- mediately appointed. On the 20th of January, 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant of the company, and shared the campaigning of the regiment until December of that year, when he was detailed in the "department of negro affairs south of the James River," with headquarters at Norfolk, Va. He re- mained on duty there until October 17th, 1864. For a portion of this period he was ordered to Bermuda Hundreds by Captain O. Brown, to take charge of quartermaster's stores and hospital transportation. He returned to his regi- ment October 17th, and on the 25th was placed in command of the Ninety- second Regiment, N. Y. V., which participated in the battle of Charles City Road, Va. (near the Fair Oaks battle-field), on the 27th of October. In this engagement he received a canister shot an inch and a quarter in diameter and weighing a quarter of a pound, in his right shoulder ; the shot was subsequently cut out near the spine. He was left on the field for dead, taken prisoner and confined in Libby Prison until February 21st, 1865, when he was paroled. Returning northward to Annapolis, Md., he was there declared exchanged and returned to his regiment in April following. For gallant and meritorious ser- vices he was brevetted captain.
The war ended and Captain Dickinson resigned in May, 1865, and re- turned home to engage in the hardware business in Warrensburgh, the first es- tablishment in this line in the place. He was reappointed postmaster January 26th, 1866, and retained the office until August 5th, 1885. In 1871 he retired from the hardware trade, and took up the book and stationery business, which he successfully conducted until November, 1881, when he formed a co-partner- ship with A. H. Thomas, under the firm name of A. H. Thomas & Co., which still continues. Mr. Dickinson's life, though not a long one, will be seen to have been a busy one. He has, moreover, always taken an active interest in politics, for which field he possesses excellent natural qualifications. These are
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
well understood and have been repeatedly recognized by his fellow citizens. He has on several occasions represented the county in Senatorial, Congress- ional and State Conventions, and in the fall of 1885 was elected delegate to the State Convention recently held in Saratoga. He has frequently declined the request of his party to represent the county in the Assembly of the State and other positions of honor and trust in the county. It need scarcely be said that he is a Republican at all times and in all places. In the various positions he has held, as well as in his every day relations, he has shown a degree of abil- ity and those manly and straightforward attitudes that have won him the respect and esteem of all who know him. He has, by industry, economy and abstemi- ous habits acquired a limited competency and may look forward to many years of usefulness. He espouses every project that has a tendency to promote the best interests of the town, giving material aid when necessary to success. His benevolence, though marked, is never ostentatious ; while he dispenses with lib- eral hand of his means to alleviate the sufferings of the worthy poor, he re- jects with firmness the supplications of the wandering beggar. Captain Dick- inson was married on the Ist of July, 1858, to Betsey Coolidge, of Bolton, who is connected with the prominent Glens Falls families of that name. They have two living children - Lester Coolidge Dickinson, born August 25th, 1860, now editor and proprietor of the Warrensburgh News, and a graduate of Union College, class of 1881, and Grace Cordelia Dickinson, born April 5th, 1870.
J OSEPH HAVILAND, 2d. - The father of the subject of this sketch was also named Joseph Haviland, and was born in the town of Queensbury, near the feeder dam, on the 12th day of September, 1793. He was married to Lydia Sisson May 3d, 1814. She was a daughter of Nathaniel Sisson, who was of New Bedford, Mass., and of English ancestry. In the spring of 1826 he purchased his farm on Sanford Ridge, where he lived until his death, November 26th, 1875. He was one of the most extensive and successful farmers of the town, acquired ample means and invested largely in farming lands near his home. He was the father of three children, Daniel S., Joseph and Lydia Ann. His long life was one which reflected only the most honor- able traits of character and deeds worthy of an honest man.
The original ancestors of the Havilands were from France, the name in that country being De Havery. . The earliest records are of three brothers, who emigrated from France to England, having previously agreed that the first one of the three who discovered land from the vessel should exclaim " Haviland," which afterwards became the family name. The ancestors of Joseph Haviland, 2d, are traced backward as follows :-
Roger Haviland, father of Joseph, Ist, and grandfather of the subject of this notice, was a son of Benjamin Haviland, 3d. The latter was born in 1698
1
JOSEPH HAVILAND.
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JOSEPH HAVILAND, 2D.
and died in 1757 at the age of fifty-nine years. He was the first of the name to settle in this section, and had four sons, David, Solomon, Joseph and Roger. They were all Quakers of the orthodox faith, and have been among the foremost and most numerous of that denomination in the town of Queens- bury.
Benjamin Haviland, 3d, was born in 1698 and died in 1757 at the age of fifty-nine years; his wife was Charlotte Parks, and they had thirteen chil- dren, seven sons and six daughters, as follows: Benjamin, Roger, Thomas, Daniel, Solomon, Isaac, John, Sophia, Charlotte, Althea, Sarah, Abigail and Mary.
Benjamin Haviland, 2d, was born in 1654 and died in 1724, aged seventy years. He had three sons, Benjamin 3d, John and Isaac.
Benjamin Haviland, Ist, was born in 1623, and emigrated from England in 1647. His wife, Abigail, gave birth to five children, as follows: Benjamin 2d, Adam, Abigail, Bathia and John. They settled in Flushing, Long Island.
Benjamin Haviland, father of Benjamin Ist, was a son of John Haviland, mayor of Bristol, England, and married Mary Knightly. His father was Christopher De Haviland, who married a daughter of John Mason, esq. His father was James De Haviland, esq., who married a daughter of King Edward the IV. His father was Thomas De Haviland, who was distinguished at the recovery of Mount Orgal, Jersey.
The grandfather of the subject of this notice married Hannah Wing, daugh- ter of Edward Wing, who was a son of Daniel J., and born July 10th, 1687 ; he died in Glens Falls at an advanced age ; his occupation was that of saddler and harnessmaker. Daniel Wing, jr., was son of Daniel Ist, and was born November 28th, 1664; died in March, 1790. Daniel, Ist, was the oldest son of John and Deborah (Batchelder) Wing, of Sandwich, Mass., and came with his father from England early in 1600. The late Abraham Wing, of Glens Falls, and Daniel Wing, of Fort Edward (father of Halsey R. Wing, of Glens Falls, all now deceased), were sons of Abraham and grandsons of Abraham Ist, who came to Glens Falls from Duchess county ; the latter was a brother of Edward, father of Hannah, as above stated. This shows the connection of Joseph Haviland's grandmother, and consequently of himself, with Abraham Wing, the pioneer of the Queensbury patent.
Joseph Haviland, 2d, was born October 25th, 1826, on Sanford Ridge, about three miles north from Glens Falls. His education was confined to what he could by diligence acquire at the common school and the Glens Falls Academy. His school days ended when he was about twenty-one years old, his last instructor having been Leroy R. Satterlee. He immediately engaged in farming, which has constituted the greater part of his life work. He was married on the 5th of February, 1849, to Eliza Staples, of Pawlet, Vermont, and left the homestead to occupy a farm about a mile from where he was born,
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
and known as the Harvey farm. Eliza Staples was the daughter of Jonathan and Sylvia Staples (the latter a daughter of Stephen Rogers), who were noted for their energy and success as managers of a large dairy in the State of Ver- mont. Mr. Haviland was on this farm until 1859, when he purchased the farm that he now owns and occupies, known as the Reuben Newman farm from the fact that it was deeded to Israel Newman, father of Reuben, in 1799. Mr. Haviland's title came through Daniel Newman, son of Reuben. As we have intimated, the whole of Mr. Haviland's life has been given up to agriculture, in whichi occupation he has reached the most unqualified success.
He is now the owner of three hundred and eighty-five acres of land in three valuable farms, including the old homestead of his father. He has made some- thing of a specialty of breeding and raising superior blooded stock, and is at present giving much of his attention to Holstein cattle. He has held all of the offices in the Warren County Agricultural Society and was president for three years. In his daily walk he has gained the good will and esteem of his fellow-townsmen.
Mr. and Mrs. Haviland have four children, namely, Willis J., born January Ist, 1852 ; Merritt E., born April 11th, 1855; and two daughters, twins, Elma S. and Emma L., born April 21st, 1858. The latter was married February 26th, 1885, to J. Corwin Jacks, of Batavia, N. Y. Willis J. Haviland now lives on what is known as the Sanford farm, on Sanford Ridge, which was one of the earliest settled farms in the town. He married Belle Andrews, whose mother was Sarah Jane Wing, daughter of Richard Wing, a cousin of Halsey R. Wing, on the 22d of February, 1876; they have two children, J. Bernard and Wing Harrold. Mr. Haviland is one of the successful farmers of the town. The second son, Merritt E., is a graduate of Cornell University (June, 1877), studied law with Brown & Sheldon, and entered the Columbia Law School in September, 1878 ; left it in May, 1879, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1879, as attorney and counselor. He is now in practice in New York city.
A BRAHAM WING .- The subject of this sketch was the youngest of seven children, and was born in Glens Falls on the 17th of August, 1791. His mother, Polly McKie, was nearly related to the family of that name in the eastern part of Washington county. His father, Abram, was the youngest son of Abraham Wing, the pioneer, a sketch of whose career is given else- where. The settlement, which in the slow progress of years has expanded to the proportions of a large and populous village, was originally known by the name of Wing's Falls, a name which has a better claim to our speech than the one it bears.
With such scant facilities as the sparsely settled country then afforded, Mr. Wing succeeded in acquiring the elements of a sound business education, which served him through a long and busy life in the management of a vast
ABRAHAM WING.
ALITTLE PHILA
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ABRAHAM WING.
and complicated business, and the widely extended relations of a large and continually increasing estate.
Among his first ventures was a co-partnership with the late Josiah L. Arms, in the mercantile business at Emerson's Corners in the town of Wilton, Saratoga county, New York. He was afterwards, at various times and for a series of years, associated in different business enterprises with the leading men of the place ; such names as Walter Geer, jr., George Sanford, William McDonald, and others gone before, but whose thrift, enterprise, and energy have left their impress upon our local affairs and contributed largely to the growth and pros- perity of our village. With the opening up of the Northern Canal, and the construction of the Glens Falls Feeder, a rare opportunity presented for utiliz- ing the resources of the neighborhood and county. Mr. Wing had the forecast and judgment requisite for improving the golden chance, by bringing to market the splendid pines with which the great Brant Lake tract abounded. This rich and extensive lumber region, previously operated by the Fox Brothers, Alanson and Norman, had come into possession of parties in Troy, who, in casting about for some one to manage the business, were referred to Mr. Wing as the most suitable and competent person in all this region for the undertak- ing. To his sagacity and clear sighted judgment do we owe the present sys- tem of river-driving and booming which annually replenishes our mills, furnishes employment to a vast array of labor, and which has substantially helped in building up our village to its present urban proportions. When he first took hold of the Brant Lake property, the cry here was that the lumber- ing business was finished.
The plains of Queensbury, to the foot of the West Mountain, had been stripped and denuded of the towering white and majestic yellow pines which once stretched their massive boles in rich profusion from the Pitcher Place to the Round Pond of the Oneida. The magnificent water power of our falls was looked upon as next to worthless, and certainly not warranting the outlay required in the erection of such costly mills as now adorn our water front. No one dreamed that the forest of the far northern wilderness would ever become tributary to our industries. No sooner, however, had Mr. Wing taken hold of this enterprise, than a new impulse was given to the whole lumber business of the Hudson River and its affluents. The obstructions in the outlet of Brant Lake were removed, a dam and sluice way were constructed and a new field of labor was inaugurated. The novel sight was witnessed of sluicing and driving the pine logs of that wilderness region, and its wealth has been poured down the breast of the majestic Hudson, building up colossal fortunes and giv- ing impetus and vitality to a thousand ceaseless industries. From a trusted business agent Mr. Wing speedily became a partner, and ultimately sole pro- prietor of this and other large lumber interests. About the year 1853 he dis- posed of his business and retired from the more active pursuits of life. He
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