Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 60

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374

USA > New York > Albany County > Landmarks of Albany County, New York > Part 60

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Doctor Ward received his earlier education in private schools. When fifteen he entered the freshman class of Columbia College, and after a four years' course was graduated from that institution in 1861 with third honors. He then entered the

office of that celebrated physician, Dr. Willard Parker, a close friend of the family, and in 1861 and 1862 attended a course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. But his patriotism led him to temporarily abandon student life and en- list in the war for the Union, where he united service with professional interest. In 1862 he became a medical cadet, U. S. A., and the Medical Department of George- town University in 1864 conferred upon him the degree of M. D. The two years thus spent afforded him a wide practical experience in army hospitals around Wash- ington, and enabled him to reap that reward which comes from faithfulness to duty and skill in practice. In 1863 he became Acting Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A., and soon after his graduation was commissioned by President Lincoln an Assistant Sur- geon of U. S. Volunteers. In the autumn of 1865 he returned to New York and in October embarked for Europe, where for twelve months he studied medicine and surgery in some of the largest hospitals of the Old World. Returning at the end of this period to his native city he engaged in the active practice of his profession, and was soon chosen professor of surgery in the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary. He also became attending surgeon of the Northern Dispensary, consulting surgeon of the Western Dispensary for Women and Children, visiting surgeon to the Presbyterian Hospital, and in 1872 Assistant Surgeon with the rank of captain of the 7th Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y.

In May, 1876, Doctor Ward removed to Albany, where he has since resided, and where he has won the highest reputation as a physician and surgeon and universal esteem as a citizen. Soon after his arrival he was chosen professor of surgical pathology and operative surgery in the Albany Medical College, and later professor of the theory and practice of medicine in the same institution, which position he still holds. He also became attending surgeon to the Albany and St. Peter's Hospitals. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians; a member of the Albany County Medical Society ; a permanent member and ex-president of the New York State Medical Society; secretary and treasurer of the executive committee of the State Normal College; a trustee and vice-president of the Dudley Observatory ; a a trustee of the Albany Female Academy ; ex-president of the State board of survey ; one of the civil service examiners for State medical officials; president of the Fort Orange Club; member and ex-president of the Albany Camera Club, and a member of the American Climatological Association. He was also for some time a member of the Albany board of health, and is connected with several other scientific and social organizations, including the Northwest Medical and Surgical Society, of which he was secretary in 1874-76. He is now attending physician to the Albany City Hospital and consulting physician to St. Peter's Hospital and the Albany Orphan Asylum. In 1864 he received the degree of A. M. in course from Columbia Coliege and in 1882 that of Ph. D. ex-honore from Union University.

Doctor Ward has contributed a number of articles on medicine and surgery to the leading medical journals of the country, and is an authority on many subjects akin to his profession. In 1879 he first visited the Adirondack region, and ever since then he has been enthusiastic in the development of the sanitary advantages of that vast wilderness. His investments in the Saranac Lake country have been consider- able, and as both a citizen and an officer he has addressed himself to the work of forest preservation.

In 1871 Doctor Ward was married to Miss Nina A., the accomplished daughter of William A. Wheeler of New York city, who died in October, 1883, leaving three children.

JAMES C. COVERT.

JAMES C. COVERT, proprietor of the Covert Manufacturing Company of West Troy, N. Y., was born in Seneca county, N. Y., in 1835. After receiving a substantial ed . ucation in the public schools, he devoted his attention to the harness trade and be- came a thorough practical harnessmaker and manufacturer. For a number of years he was in business in his native town after which he went South, traveling through the different Southern States, with headquarters at Nashville, Tenn., where he re- mained several years, until just before the Rebellion, when he returned North and established himself in business in Seneca county. Mr. Covert is possessed of great inventive genius, having taken out over fifty patents on his different inventions and not only has he patented valuable inventions, but has, unlike most inventors, per- sonally manufactured, introduced and established a large and lucrative business on his articles. In 1868 he patented his famous bolt harness snap, which revolutionized the snap trade throughout the United States and to-day these snaps are standard throughout the world, and they have been largely imitated. In 1873 the Covert Manufacturing Company was formed in Troy, N. Y., and in 1879 the business was removed to West Troy, Albany county, where the company erected a large estab- lishment adapted particularly to the manufacture of their goods and to which plant there has since been many large and substantial additions. The business was com- menced upon a comparatively small scale, but their goods are now recognized as being standard and are shipped to every civilized country in the world. Their goods consist of Covert's celebrated harness snaps, swivel snaps, open-eye bit, chain and trace snaps, snaps and thimbles for horse and cattle ties, abjustable web and rope halters, and rope goods, consisting of rope halters, horse and cattle ties, halter leads, weight and hitching cords, hammock ropes, lariat tethers, picket pins, and also ad- justable soldering irons, rod post hitchers and chain goods consisting of breast. halter, rein, post, trace and heel chains, hitching posts, balling irons, safety gate hooks, pant stretchers, wagon jacks, etc.

Mr. Covert is also the owner and manufacturer of the famous Dr. Bury Medicines, being the sole proprietor of the Dr. Bury Medical Company of West Troy, N. Y. These medicines consist of lung balsam, catarrh snuff and camphor ointment. These remedies were invented by an eminent French physician who used them ex- tensively and successfully in his practice, both in France and the United States. In 1889 a company was formed under the title of the Dr. Bury Medical Company, who began the extensive manufacture and sale of the Dr. Bury Remedies.

Under the skillful management of Mr. Covert the business has grown in propor- tions and the remedies are now used in all sections of the country. Mr. Covert is a careful, shrewd business man and attends strictly to business, almost every detail of which comes under his direct personal supervision. Although not a politician he has held several offices of public trust and takes a deep interest in all public improve-

ments. He was one of the commissioners intrusted with the adoption and construc- tion of the new and extensive sewerage system of the village of West Troy and was recently appointed one of the water commissioners of the city of Watervliet. He is a member and elder of the Reformed Presbyterian church and takes a prominent and active part in all its affairs and is also one of the directors of the Young Men's Christian Association. He stands very high in the Masonic fraternity, having held office in the different bodies and is Past High Priest of Hudson River Chapter, R. A. M. He is a member of the Evening Star Lodge No. 75, F. & A. M., Hudson River Chapter No. 262, R. A. M. of West Troy, N. Y. ; Bloss Council, No. 14, R. & S. M. ; Apollo Commandery, No. 15, K. T., Troy, N. Y. ; Albany Sovereign Consis- tory thirty-two degrees, A. A. R., also Oriental Temple N. M. S., of Troy, N. Y.

RUFUS H. KING.

RUFUS H. KING died in Albany, N. Y., July 9, 1867. Mr. King was a native of Ridgefield, Conn. His father was an officer in the army of the Revolution, his. name being associated in history with that of Major André as the officer to whom the British spy was delivered by his captors, and who had charge of him until he was executed.

Mr. King came to Albany in 1814, and in partnership with his brother-in-law, William McHarg, as a dry goods merchant, established a reputation for capacity and integrity which laid the foundation for enduring prosperity and ultimate fortune. He became a director in the New York State National Bank at an early day and more than twenty years ago succeeded the late Mr. Bloodgood as its president, soon after which he withdrew from his mercantile business and devoted himself to bank- ing and to the purchase and sale of stocks. He was also president of the Albany Savings Bank and the Albany Insurance Company. The marked prosperity which has attended all these institutions furnishes sufficient evidence of his financial ability.

There was not in the State a more thorough merchant and banker than Rufus H. King, or none more extensively known, esteemed and confided in. The financial officers of the State through all changes were accustomed to avail themselves of Mr. King's knowledge and judgment as to the time and character of their loans. His experience and advice, always cheerfully given, saved hundreds of thousands of dollars to the treasury.

He was a life-long intimate friend and associate of Thurlow Weed; and though not at all the politician that Mr. Weed was, they were fast friends. No man so much as Mr. King, perhaps, had to so great an extent the full confidence of Mr. Weed.

In his temperament Mr. King was particularly a man of business. He devoted himself sedulously to those occupations for which he was especially fitted; and though having many opportunities for public preferment, he avoided them with al- most morbid dislike. He was a faithful husband, a loving father, a true friend, and an upright and honest citizen. The most scrupulous integrity marked every trans- action in which he was engaged. He made hosts of friends and no enemies. Gen- erous to the last degree, he always saw the best qualities of those with whom he

ATTILIO PASQUINI.

came m contact ; and was probably incapable of nourishing such a sentiment as animosity.

Mr. King early in life married Amelia Laverty, daughter of Henry Laverty of New York city.

ATTILIO PASQUINI.

ATTLO PASQUINI, one of the leading contractors and builders of Albany, was born in the village of Nava, about one mile from the city of Lucca, Italy, on the 6th day of January, 1849. His father was also a native of Nava, while his mother's birthplace was the village of Santa Maria Colle, two and one-half miles from Lucca. Mr. Pasquini received a common school education, and at an early age learned the trade of mason in his native country. He soon sought a wider field for the exercise of those progressive qualities which have characterized his life and upon attaining his majority decided to come to America. Leaving Italy on the 3d of May, 1871, he arrived in New York city on the 7th of the following month (June), and immediately settled in Albany, where he has since resided. Here he readily found employment at his trade, which he pursued for several years.

He rapidly acquired a high reputation among both workmen and contractors, and in time became a contractor himself, a business in which he has won uniform suc- cess. He is now an extensive mason, contractor, and builder, doing work in differ- ent parts of the State. In the capital city he has erected many of the largest and finest buildings, among which may be mentioned the Harmanus Bleecker Hall, the New York State Armory, the Albany County Bank, the D. & H. C. Co.'s building, public school No. î, John H. Day's and the Bensen buildings, Our Lady of Angels Convent and remodelling its church. one of St. Agnes's School buildings on Elk street, St. Peter's Rectory, two handsome residences for Messrs. Walker and Gibson on State street, the Hudson River Telephone building, and a large number of other structures, including many dwellings of almost equal prominence. Among the numerous buildings erected by him outside the city of Albany are the Twenty-third Regiment Armory in Brooklyn, the largest in the State; power houses for the Brook- lyn City and Newtown Railroad Company of New York ; depots for the D. & H. C. Co. at Plattsburg, Mechanicsville, and Slingerlands; depots for the F., J. & G. Rail- road at Johnstown and Gloversville; and a Catholic church at Castleton, N. Y. He has also built a number of fine residences in various parts of the State; among them being Mr. Denton's at Middletown, R. C. Pruyn's at Altamont, and Charles Ellis's at Schenectady. He is now (January, 1897) erecting three large buildings for the Manhattan State Hospital on Ward's Island and a power house for the North River Electric Light and Power Company in New York city. These and others too numer- ous to mention show the energy with which Mr. Pasquini has prosecuted the busi- ness of contracting, and are monuments to his industry, enterprise, and executive ability.

He is an active member and treasurer of the Albany Republican League, a promi- nent member of the Albany Burgesses Corps and the Dongan Club, and a member and for one term president of the Italian Columbus Society. Though born and

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reared under Italy's sunny skies, in a land of caste and royalty, he is at heart a thor- ough American, a lover of personal freedom and of free institutions, and a staunch supporter of the Republican principles typified by this government. He is not only active in promoting the welfare of his countrymen wherever he finds them, but is loyal to the best interests of mankind and influential in the prosperity of the city of his residence.

On the 28th of January, 1875, Mr. Pasquini was married in Albany to Miss Magda- lena M. Hufnagel, by whom he has five children; Louis J., Attilio M., Elizabeth C., Margaret F., and Angelina M.

COL. SELDEN E. MARVIN, JR.

COL. SELDEN ERASTUS MARVIN, jr., eldest son of Gen. Selden Erastus and Katharine Langdon (Parker) Marvin, was born in the homestead of his maternal grandfather, the late Judge Amasa J. Parker, on Washington avenue, in Albany, on the 1st of December, 1869. He attended the Albany Academy and from there entered St. Paul's School at Concord, N. H., where he took quite an active interest in athletic sports. As a member of one of the football teams of that institution he received an injury which resulted in his return to Albany, where he re-entered the Albany Academy and graduated therefrom in June, 1888. He then spent one year at the Hopkinson School in Boston, and in the fall of 1889 entered Harvard University, from which he graduated in full course with the degree of A. B. in 1893. While there he was treasurer and president one year each of the University Glee Club. Upon his graduation he returned to Albany and was appointed instructor in English at the Albany Academy, and gradually increased the scope of his work there until he also taught Latin, German, and elementary subjects. At the close of the fall term in December, 1894, he resigned this position to accept at the hands of Gov. Levi P. Morton the appointment of military secretary, with the rank of colonel, on the governor's staff, the duties of which he assumed on January 1, 1895. He has ably and creditably filled this important office since that date.

Colonel Marvin is a member of the Fort Orange, Press and Country Clubs, of Albany, and for many years has been especially active and deeply interested in musical affairs, being a prominent member of the choir of All Saints Cathedral. He studied music for four years in Boston under A. R. Reed, a pupil and an intimate friend of William Shakespeare, the celebrated authority on the Italian School of Vocal Culture, of London, England.

FREDERICK EASTON.

FREDERICK EASTON is a son of the late Hon. Charles P. Easton and was born in Albany, on the corner of Clinton avenue and Chapel street, on the 5th of January, 1860. Hon. Charles P. Easton was born here October 24, 1824, and died March 3, 1885. For many years he was a leading business in Albany's great lumber district,

COL. SELDEN E. MARVIN, JR.

FREDERICK EASTON.

being the founder and head of the firm of C. P. Easton & Co. He was also a pub- lic spirited citizen who devoted himself untiringly to the educational interests of the community. In religious and charitable undertakings he was equally zealous, and an entire generation of the city's young men will recall with pleasure his dignified but genial presence, and especially his liberality and unceasing efforts in the ad- vancement of public school methods.

Frederick Easton has spent his life in the immediate neighborhood of his birth- place. He received his early education in public schools Nos. 6 and 15, and after completing the grammar course attended the Delaware Literary Institute at Frank- lin, Delaware county. On returning to Albany he associated himself in the whole- sale lumber business under the firm name of C. P. Easton & Co., his partners being his brothers William and Edward, with whom he has since continued. On the death of the father these sons succeeded to this business and have conducted it with marked ability and success, maintaining a credit and an integrity unsullied.

For nearly ten years Mr. Easton was a prominent member of Co. A, 10th Regt., now the 10th Battalion, but owing to pressing business obligations he resigned from active service and is now a member of the Old Guard Albany Zouave Cadets. He has been an active member of the Capital City Club since 1872 and is now its pres- ident. In the campaign work of this organization he served as lieutenant under Capt. A. W. Pray in 1884 and as chief of staff under Captains Albert Judson and Newcomb Cleveland in 1888 and 1892 respectively. He is also active in Masonic ci: cles, being a member of Masters Lodge, Capital City Chapter, De Witt Clinton Council, Temple Commandery, and Cyprus Shrine. He is a member of the Fort Orange Club and the Benevolent Order of Elks, and was twice elected secretary and treasurer of the Albany Board of Lumber Dealers. He was manager of the Young Men's Association for three years under President Richard L. Annesley and served as its vice-president one term. During Major Manning's term of office Mr. Easton was a member of the committee that conducted the Columbian celebration in Albany, leading the third assembly district organization. On January 22, 1895, he was ap- pointed by Governor Morton superintendent of public buildings of the State of New York, which position he now holds.

Mr. Easton is a public spirited citizen, and takes a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare and advancement of the community. In politics he has always been an ardent Republican, and his advice and counsel in party affairs are sought and valued. Enterprising, progressive, and influential, he worthily represents those sterling principles of manhood and citizenship his honored father so diligently carried out.

WILLIAM HERRICK GRIFFITH.

WILLIAM HERRICK GRIFFITH was born at Castleton-on-Hudson, Rensselaer County, N. Y., 27 January, 1866. He is descended from an illustrious and distinguished ancestry. His father, the late Edwin Henry Griffith, a Banker and a man of prom- inent position, born in Nassau, Rensselaer Co., 1 December, 1830, married early in life Mary Louisa Knowlton, daughter of George Washington and Sybil Ann (Rowe) Knowlton. He was founder of the National Bank of Castleton, to which place he E

removed in 1865, and was officially connected with that institution and prominently identified with the interests of the place until a year before his death, which occurred at Albany, N. Y., in May, 1875, upon his return from a sojourn in Denver, Colorado, whither he had gone for the improvement of his health. His father was Smith Griffith, of Nassau, N. Y., an elder in the Presbyterian Church at that place, and who held nearly all the official positions of prominence in the gift of the Town. He was born 22 February, 1793; died 18 January, 1878; his father being Major Joshua Griffith, who served with credit in the War of 1812; and his grandfather, William Griffith, a Revolutionary Soldier, who was a direct lineal descendant of Llewellyn, last King of Wales, who was beheaded by the English in 1282, and who was the son of Griffith, also King of Wales. Lemira Herrick, wife of Smith Griffith, above, and paternal grandmother of Mr. Griffith, subject of this sketch, was second in lineal descent from Colonel Rufus Herrick, an officer of the New York State Continental Line in the Revolutionary War; seventh in lineal descent from Sir William Herrick, of Leicester, London, and Beau Manor Park, England, and eighteenth in lineal descent from Eric, King of Danes. The arms which she made use of were granted to Sir William Herrick in the reign of Elizabeth and are described as follows: " Argent; a fesse vairé, or and gules."-Crest-" A bull's head couped argent, horned and eared Sable, gorged with a chaplet of roses ppr." Motto-" Virtus omnia nobili- tat."

The Griffith arms are the same as those of Griffith of the Royal House of Wales, of whom the persons of the name already mentioned in this sketch are all lineal descendants, and therefore entitled to use the arms.

Mr. Griffith's lineal paternal ancestors intermarried with the New England Colonial families of Paine, Smith, Perrin, Trask, Leonard, Avery, Denison, Stanton, Stark- weather, Lord, Thompson, Peck, Marvin and Chickering, and the Platt, Wood and Scud- der families of Long Island. Of these female lines the Paines, Perrins, Averys, Deni- sons, Stantons, Lords, Pecks, aud Platts possessed and used Coat armor which be- longed to them by descent from the original armiger. Mr. Griffith's mother, as mentioned early in this sketch, is Mary Louisa (Knowlton) Griffith. She was born at Greenbush-on-Hudson, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., 26 March, 1833, and is now living in Albany. She belongs to the Historic New England family of Knowltons, to which belonged many of the bravest soldiers and illustrious statesmen of the New World. General Nathaniel Lyon, of Missouri, was a prominent member of this family who fell in the Civil War, and whose death the nation mourned. Col. Thomas Knowl- ton, younger brother of Lieutenant Daniel Knowlton, of Connecticut, great-grand- father of Mrs. Griffith, and whom she represents in the Daughters of the Revolution, was an intimate friend of George Washington, who in lamenting his untimely death at the Battle of Harlem Heights in 1776 said: " The brave Knowlton has fallen. He would have been an honor to any country." The State of Connecticut has appre- ciated and shown honor to his memory by erecting a bronze statue of heroic size just in front of her State Capitol at Hartford. To this family also belongs Sir Charles Tupper, the last Prime Minister to Canada. The first of this name to come to America was Capt. William Knowlton, who early in the seventeenth century sailed from Ches- wick, England, with his three sons, in his own ship, and landed at Nova Scotia. One son, John, removed to Ipswich, Mass., and from him are descended the most illustrious descendants of the name. Mrs. Griffith's father was the late George Washington

Knowlton, ninth in descent from Captain William, above, and her mother, Sybil Ann (Rowe) Knowlton, now living. Mrs. Griffith's paternal and maternal ancestors intermarried with the New England Colonial families of Farnham, Burton, Ford, Russell, Pinder, Wilson, Bennett, Allen, Holt, Jewett, Sterling and Freeman, and the German Palatinate families of Rowe and Winegar. Of these lines the Farnhams, Fords, Pinders, Allens, Holts, Sterlings and Freemans possessed and used Coats-of- arms which had been used in their families for generations. Mary Louisa (Knowlton) Griffith's arms and those in use by her Knowlton ancestors for generations are regis- tered as follows in Her Majesty's College of Heraldry and Arms at London under the name "Knowlton," viz. : "Argent, a chevron gules, between three ducal coronets sable." Crest-a demi lion rampant ppr. Motto-" Vi et Virtute."

After the death of his father at Albany in 1875, Mr. Griffith (subject of this sketch) entered the Albany Academy, which he left (after also receiving private instruction from a private tutor, Rev. Charles H. W. Stocking, D. D.), to enter Yale College in the Fall of 1886. He was unable to complete the Classical Course, owing to ill health. Upon leaving College he traveled extensively throughout England, Scotland, Ger- many, Holland, Belgium, Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, making his sojourn in these countries an occasion to study continental customs. While abroad he con- tributed many articles and papers bearing upon archaeology and the life and customs of the nations of the Old World to American journalism. Many of these articles were published in American papers, chiefly the "New York Home Journal." Upon his return to Albany Mr. Griffith accepted a responsible position in the First National Bank of that city, which he occupied for six years, finally tendering his resignation as Bank Bookkeeper to embark for himself in the Fire Insurance business, in which occupation he is now actively engaged, representing the "United States Fire Insur- rance Company, of New York,' and "The Royal of Liverpool." His office is at No. 37 Maiden Lane.

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 60

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374