Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 92

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

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shippers and forwarders. He was next employed in the office of the tobacco factory of Benjamin Payn, which he left to go to Westfield, Mass., returning to Greenbush in November, 1871, where he entered the employ of Charles R. Knowles, then, as now, a large fire insurance manager of several companies for New York State with headquarters at Albany. In 1874, after eight months spent in travel in the Western and Southwestern States, he associated himself with E. J. Knowles, who had been appointed manager for the State for the Western Assurance Company of Canada. In 1878 the firm of Knowles & Russell was formed for the transaction of the fire in- surance business locally and this connection continued until January 1, 1897, when the firm dissolved and Mr. Russell took over the entire business. He has represented a large number of companies and has built up a very large and profitable business. Mr. Russell is also connected with various business enterprises in Albany and Green- bush. He is a past master of Greenbush Lodge No. 337, F. & A. M., past high priest of Greenbush Chapter No. 274, R. A. M., companion of De Witt Council No. 22, R. & S. M., and a member of Temple Commandery No. 2. K. T. He is a trustee of the Albany County Savings Bank, the Albany Camera Club and the Greenbush Meth - odist Episcopal church and was trustee for the Fourth ward two terms and president of the village one term, declining a renomination. In 1875 he married Phebe A. Hermance, a descendant of the old Columbia Dutch settlers. They have two chil- dren: Mabel A. and Clarence H. Mr. Russell has resided for twenty-two years at No. 14 Third street, Greenbush; he has also a summer cottage at Vischer's Ferry, on the Mohawk.

Scherer, Hon. Robert G., was born in Albany, March 20, 1861, his father being George Scherer, a prominent merchant well known for his extensive influence among his German fellow citizens and his activity in all matters pertaining to their interests. Mr. Scherer entered the public schools and was also for some time under the instruc- tion of Prof. Carl Meyer; he also received a thorough business education. He en- tered the law office of Messrs. Paddock, Draper & Chester (composed of Recorder Wilham S. Paddock, Andrew S. Draper, now president of the Illinois State Univer- sity, and Judge Alden Chester) and remained as a clerk during the existence of the firm. After taking a course at Cornell University, he entered Columbia Law School. On his admission to the bar he formed a partnership with John F. Montignani, which continued several years ; he is now senior member of the law firm of Scherer & Downs. Mr. Scherer has been connected with many important litigations, among which may be mentioned the McPherson Collateral Tax Matter (104 N. Y., 306), decided ulti- mately by the Court of Appeals, which became the leading case on the subject ; he was also counsel in the noted case People vs. Gilson (109 N. Y., 389), in which the Court of Appeals unanimously sustained Mr. Scherer's views. His management of the Milwain $20,000 bond robbery and his conduct of the Greer Will cases to a suc- cessfull issue are well known. The Bender Will Case and the extensive assignments of Ward and Byrnes, Nelson, Lyon, and Sullivan & Ehlers are among others of im- portance ; he was also connected with the Appell impeachment proceedings before the judiciary committee of the Assembly in 1895 and secured the acquittal of Judge Appell. In politics Mr. Scherer has always been a Republican, and in 1889 made a creditable run for surrogate. From 1885 to 1889 he was a member of the Board of Public Instruction and introduced many reforms in the school system. He was a

member of the State Legislature in 1896 and 1897; in 1896 he served on the judiciary committee and the committee on codes, and in 1897 was chairman of the judiciary committee. Mr. Scherer is a member of the Fort Orange Club and of the committee on law reform of the State Bar Association. In 1883 he married Anna, daughter of James T. Story of Albany, and they have one daughter, Grace M.

Tucker, Willis G., M. D., son of the late Luther Tucker, editor and agricultural writer, was born in Albany October 31, 1849. He was educated at the Albany Academy, graduating in 1866 read medicine with the late Prof. James H. Armsby, and was graduated from the Albany Medical College in 1870. During this period he devoted much of his time to the study of chemistry and other natural sciences. In 1871 he was appointed assistant professor of chemistry in the A bany Medical College, and in 1874 and 1875 lectured on materia medica also. When the faculty was re- organized in 1876 he became professor of inorganic and analytical chemistry, and in 1887 the department of toxicology was also assigned to him. In 1882 he was made registrar of the college, which position he still holds. Since 1874 Dr. Tucker has been lecturer on chemistry at St. Agnes School, and at different times professor of chemistry at the Albany Academy, the Albany Female Academy, and from 1876 to 1887 in the Albany High School. In 1881 he was largely instrumental in founding the Albany College of Pharmacy, a department of Union University, and has served it as professor of chemistry and as secretary and president of its faculty. In 1881 he was appointed one of the public analysts to the State Board of Health, and since 1891 has been director of the laboratory of the board. He was one of the originators of the Alumni Association of the Albany Medical College in 1874 and has ever since been its secretary. He is a fellow of the Chemical Society of London and is a mem- ber of various scientific societies in this country.

Whitbeck, Dr. Ansel McK., was born in Columbia county, N. Y., February 16, 1836. His father was Dr. Volkert Whitbeck, for sixty-two years a physician in Hud- son, N. Y., and his mother, Caroline Rockfeller. Dr. Whitbeck's ancestors were Holland-Dutch, who came to America during the early colonization and who played an important part in the American Revolution. Dr. Whitbeck attended the Hudson Academy, from which he was graduated in 1854 and then went to Rochester, N. Y., where he studied medicine for a year. Upon returning to Hudson he engaged in the drug business continuing the study of medicine with his father, and subsequently after attending a course of lectures at Bellevue Hospital, New York city, he received in 1859 a practitioner's certificate from the Board of Censors of Columbia county. He practiced in Hudson until 1881 when he removed to Albany, where he has since practiced most of the time, still, however, retaining an office in Hudson1. He was examining surgeon during the war and has been city physician and jail physician at Hudson. In 1855 he married Sarah Edmonds Frary, daughter of Jonathan Frary and niece of Dr. Frary of Hudson. She died in 1860, and in 1863 he married Eme- line Ellis of Coxsackie, N. Y., by whom he had two children: Ansel E. and Emma Louise.

Williams, Chauncey P., son of Josiah and Charity (Shaler) Williams, was born in Upper Middletown (now Cromwell), Conn., March 5, 1817. He spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, attending school only in the winters, and showed a deci- ded liking for mathematics and astronomy. At the age of sixteen he went as a

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clerk in the employ of his brothers, T. S. Williams & Bros., who were engaged in commercial business at Ithaca, N. Y. In 1835 he was transferred to the Albany house of the firm, then under the direction of Josiah B. Williams. In 1839, with Henry W. Sage as his partner, he succeeded to the business of the Albany house, also conducting the business at Ithaca and elsewhere. This partnership continued through a long term of years. Mr. Williams was a student along lines of finance and practical economics and wrote much on our banking systems and coinage. In 1861, at the commencement of the Civil war, he was asked to take charge of the Al- bany Exchange Bank, and he met with such success that when the bank closed its corporate existence asa State institution to become a National bank in 1865, the entire capital was returned to the shareholders with fifty-four per cent. of the surplus earn- ings. During the Civil war his bank was made the agent of the Treasury in dis- tributing the loans of the government to the people. He continued as the financial officer of the National Albany Exchange Bank, first as cashier and later as president, during its entire corporate existence of twenty years, from 1865 to 1885. When the bank closed after having declared regular semi-annual dividends, its whole capital, with ninety-seven per cent. of surplus earnings was restored to its shareholders. In 1885 the bank was reorganized as the National Exchange Bank of Albany and Mr. Williams was elected its president. In 1887 he withdrew from the bank and up to the time of his death had charge of the business of the Albany Exchange Savings Bank. Mr. Williams was elected alderman of his ward in 1849. The winter of 1875-76 he spent in England, France and Italy, studying the banking system of those countries. From 1842 to 1857 he was the repeated candidate of the old Liberal party for Congress from the Albany district. In 1868 he published a "Review of the Financial Situation of Our Country." In 1875 he read a paper before the Albany Institute on "Money, True or False," and in 1886 another paper on "Gold, Silver and the Coinage of the Silver Dollar." In 1878 he contributed to the Albany Jour- nal a series of papers on "The Greenback Question." October 13, 1887, he deliv- ered before the American Bankers' Association at Pittsburgh, Pa., an address on the National Bank and State Taxation. In 1842 he married Martha A. Hough of Whitestown, N. Y., and they had two sons: Frederick S., who died September 9, 1870, and Chauncey P., jr., who married Emma McClure, daughter of the late Archibald McClure of Albany, and three daughters, one of whom died in March, 1877, one the wife of Robert C. Pruyn, president of the National Commercial Bank, the other the wife of Timothy S. Williams, formerly private secretary to ex-Governor Flower. Mr. C. P. Williams died May 30, 1894, while on a pleasure excursion in the North Woods.

Wands, James M., was born on the farm he now owns in 1844. The first of the Wands to come to America were Ebenzer and John ; they were Scotch Highlanders, and were weavers by trade. They enlisted in the English army and came to Canada to take part in the French and English war, having enlisted as volunteers; they served their time and upon their discharge started as pioneers through the woods of New York to Albany, and finally located in New Scotland in 1762. Robert, the grandfather of the subject, was the son of John, the pioneer. He was a prosper- ous farmer in the town of New Scotland, owning the farm upon which James Wands now lives. He reared a large family and lived to be over eighty years of age.

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Ebenezer, the father of Mr. Wands, is now a resident of Chippewa Falls, Wis., and was born on his father's homestead farm in New Scotland in 1811, the third of six children; he is a farmer; in 1890 he removed to Wisconsin where he owned property, and has since resided there; he was twice married; his first wife was Nancy MeBride, and their children were Robert, who died March, 1896; Sarah, Alex, died in 1888, Ralph, James M., Albert and Alfred (twins), Jennie and Emma. Of these five of the sons were soldiers in the war of the Rebellion. Mrs. Wands died in 1854 and his second wife was Harriet, daughter of Everett Walley of New Scot- land, by whom he has had five children: Solomon, who died when a young man ; Burnside, who died when he was ten years old; Rufus P., William and Kate L. His wife died in 1884. James M. Wands went to Voorheesville when eight years old to live with an uncle, James McElroy, who was a nursery man. When eighteen he enlisted as a volunteer in Co. D, 113th N. Y. Infantry, under Captain McCul- lough ; the regiment was later changed to the 7th Heavy Artillery ; he served until the close of the war. His regiment participated in the battles of Spottsylvania, Wilderness and Seven Days Before Richmond ; the first year he was stationed near Washington in defense of that city. In the spring of 1864 he was promoted from non-commissioned officer to second lieutenant. He was also in the battle of Appo- mattox. He returned to Albany July 4, 1865, and was engaged for ten years as a foreman for Col. James Hendrick on his farm. In 1885 he purchased the homestead of his father, consisting of eighty-eight acres of farm land upon which he does gen- eral farming. He pays special attention to fruit culture, and also takes pride in breeding high class stock. In 1867 he married Miss Martha Decker of Columbia county, a daughter of Francis and Lucinda (Petri) Decker.

Stock, Bernard, was born in Bavaria, Germany, September 1, 1844. After attend- ing the public schools he was apprenticed to the tailoring trade in Frankfort-on- Maine. In 1861 he went to London, Eng., to improve himself in his trade until 1871, then came to America, and after spending a short time in New York came to Albany and took a position as cutter for Walter F. Hurcomb, where he remained eight years, after which he removed to Toronto, Canada, and was manager and cut- ter for Score & Son, King street, eighteen months, then returned to Albany to suc- ceed W. F. Hurcomb in his business under the firm name of Lyman & Stock. Since the death of Lyman he has continued the business at 65 North Pearl street under the name of Bernard Stock.

Wright. Charles W., was born in the town of Berne, January 21, 1844. Samuel Wright, his great-grandfather, was the first of the family to settle in Berne; he was born in 1758 and died January 9, 1831. Richard Wright, the grandfather, was born in Berne, January 28, 1793, where he was a lifelong farmer. His wife was Lydia Vincent. Joshua B., the father of Charles Wright, was born March 28, 1816, where he also was a farmer, coming into possession of his father's homestead of 100 acres. He filled the office for some years of commissioner of highways, etc. His wife, Lucretia Wright, was born in Berne in 1820, and was a daughter of James Wright. Their children were Wesley, Charles W. and Richard (who died when five years of age). Joshua R died in 1878 and his wife in 1894. Charles W. Wright grew to manhood on his father's farm and attended the common schools of his district and a term at the Knox Academy, and made such progress in his studies that before he

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was seventeen years of age he was himself a teacher of a school, which he followed winters until August 25, 1864, when he enlisted in Co. L, 3d N. Y. Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. He was in several skirmishes and raids in Vir- ginia and North Carolina, and the winter of 1864-65 he was detailed as orderly at the provost marshal's quarters. Soon after his return home he purchased a farm and followed farming summers and teaching winters, until he had taught in all twenty-two terms. During those years he dealt to a considerable extent in clover seed and since then his farming has occupied most of his attention, his farm consist- ing of seventy acres. Mr. Wright has from time to time filled the office of inspector of elections, tax collector two terms, town auditor, and is now filling the office of deputy sheriff. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Berne Lodge, the Grand Army of the Republic, Post Charles Mccullough No. 645 of West Berne, of which he was one of the charter members and of which he is senior vice-commander; he has also filled the office of adjutant and junior vice. In 1865 he married Elmira Powell, a native of Greene county, N. Y., and daughter of Peter H. and Lucinda (Crandall) Powell. They have one child, Helen, who married Melville C. Crocker, and has two children: Minnie and Stanley.

Mackey, Samuel, son of William J. and Eliza (Park) Mackey, was born in the North of Ireland, December 14, 1846, and came to this country with his parents, set- tling in Albany, where he attended the public schools, also the old Lawson School on Clinton avenue. In 1861 he became a clerk in the grocery store owned by Samuel Pruyn and run by J. M. F. Lightbody, and later as a tally boy in the lumber district ; he was subsequently employed in the Winne & Northrup planing mill until Septem- ber, 1864, when he left and settled in Troy, N. Y., engaging as a clerk for Smith & Campbell in the grocery business. April 3, 1865, he enlisted in Troy in Co. H, 192d Regiment N. Y. V. ; he was mustered out as sergeant at Cumberland, Md., October 2, 1865, and returning home, was engaged as a clerk for Smith & Campbell of Troy until the spring of 1871, when he engaged in the retail grocery business in Troy, buying the store of Israel Bickford; he sold out his grocery business in 1873 and be- came a member of the wholesale fruit and commission firm of Bosworth, Mackey & Co., of New York city, and in 1874 re-engaged in the grocery business in Troy, ex- cept one year when he traveled for J. T. Wilson & Co., wholesale grocers of New York city. In October. 1877, he became a traveling salesman for P. V. Fort, Son & Co., wholesale dealers in fancy groceries and fruits of Albany, and September 1, 1885, was admitted to partnership, the firm name becoming P. V. Fort, Sons & Co., which on September 1, 1889, was changed to C. N. Fort & Co. August 24, 1895, Mr. Mackey with- drew and formed a copartnership with Mr. Lewis G. Palmer in the wholesale grocery business, under the firm name of Mackey & Palmer. He is a 32 Mason, being a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite bodies of Albany-Apollo Lodge No. 13, Apollo Chapter No. 48, Bloss Council No. 14 of Troy, and Temple Commandery No. 2 and Cypress Temple of Albany ; he is also a member of Lew Benedict Post No. 121, G. A. R. September 20, 1871, he married Jennie A. Cary of Troy, and they have one daughter, Elizabeth A.

Moak, James Nelson, was born on the farm he now owns in 1843. Col. Joseph Moak, his grandfather, was a native of New Scotland, and was born probably about the year 1783; he was a farmer by vocation, and a soldier in the war of 1812; he

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owned the farm now owned by James N. ; his wife was Arianna Taylor, daughter of Robert Taylor, a native of Ireland; their children were Robert, Jane, Frances Rachel, Eve Ann, Catharine, Harriet and John T .; he died March 28, 1848, aged about sixty-five, and his wife died in 1830. Robert Moak, the father, spent his en- tire life on the farm, to which he added forty acres; his wife was Mary McMillen. daughter of Alex. McMillen ; their children were John M., Joseph A., William Henry (who died at eighteen), Harriet and James N. ; he was one of the organizers of the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, and one of the first trustees; he died in 1891, and his wife in 1865. James N. Moak has spent his life thus far on the homestead farm, except- ing two years spent in Albany in the shoe business. He attended the common schools and the Knox and Gallupville Academies. In 1868 he went to Albany, re- turning two years later to the farm, which he took charge of and worked on shares with his father, who deeded him the farm to take effect on the latter's death. Mr. Moak has developed a fine stone quarry of excellent building stone. In 1865 he was married to Miss Mary J. Gallup, born in Gallupville, N. Y., by whom he has had two children: Charles G. and Kittie L. Charles G. is married and in the employ of the National Express Company, of Jersey City, and has one child, Clara.

Schultes, J. B., was born in Albany county, March 16, 1840, and is a son of Paul and Anna E. (Bogardus) Schultes, born in Berne and a son of Adam, a son of one of the earliest settlers of the town of Berne, where he and the grandfather of J. B. died. The father has been a farmer and a saw mill man. He died in 1886, and his wife died in 1890. J. B. was reared on a farm and educated in Berne. He located in Rensselaerville and engaged in the saw and cider mill business. In 1866 he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth E. Snyder of Berne, and has one son, Arthur, who was educated in Rensselaerville.

Slausen, Edwin .-- Tryansel Slausen, born in Albany county, N. Y., 1803, was a son of Eliphalet Slauson, who was one of the early settlers of Westerlo and there died. Tryansel Slauson was a farmer and spent his life in Westerlo and Rensselaer- ville, N. Y., where he was a lifelong Democrat. He married Mary Ten Eyck of Albany, and they had a family of twelve children, five now living: Caroline B., widow of Martin Bell, lives on the homestead ; Hannah M. Palmer of Greene county, N. Y., William, on the homestead, who married Anna Louisa Haines and has one daughter; Mary E., widow of William Finch; Lewis, who lives in Illinois, who mar- ried Wilhelmina Houghton, and has three daughters; Edwin, born in Westerlo, 1841, and educated in the common schools, is a farmer, and he and his brother William own the homestead of 100 acres. He is a Democrat in politics and was excise com- missioner.

Smith, Charles W., son of Cornelius and Phebe (Clute) Smith, was born in Rock- wood, Fulton county, March 4. 1849, and came with the family to Albany in 1856. His father was associated with Alfred Van Santvoord in the steamboat business for twenty years, and from 1876 until his death, in 1887, was a heavy dealer in ice. He was one of the original directors in the Albany County Bank and a trustee of the First Baptist church for a number of years. After the death of his first wife in 1879 he married Helen M. Sherwood, who survives. Charles W. Smith was educated at public school No. 8, the Boys' Academy. Cass's Grand Street Institute and the Albany Business College, and for two years was purser on the steamer Mary Powell,

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from Rondout to New York. After three years as bookkeeper for the Albany County Savings Bank he became associated with his father in the ice business and on the latter's death succeeded him. In 1892 he was one of the organizers of the Hudson Valley Ice Company; he became its president in 1893, but resigned in 1894 in order to take the office of secretary, which had become vacant, and at the last an- nual election held January 5, 1897, was re-elected to the office of president. This company was incorporated in March, 1892, with a a capital of $50,000 and is three times larger than any similar concern in Albany, harvesting about 40,000 tons of ice annually. In 1880 Mr. Smith married Rebecca L., daughter of Shuball Kelly of Guilderland, Albany county. He has a summer residence about five miles from Al- bany on the Great Western Turnpike where he resides about five months in the year. The rest of the year he spends in the city.

Stitt, James O., is a native of the town of Rensselaerville, Albany county, born in 1856. Lovett, the grandfather, was born in the town of Rensselaerville about 1770. John J., the father, was born in the town of Rensselaerville in 1814. He always owned and conducted a farm, but was an architect and builder by trade, to which he devoted most of his attention. He had a wide reputation as a church builder, having to his credit twenty-eight churches and numerous other buildings. In 1860 he removed to the town of Windham, Greene county, where he was prominently connected with the political affairs of his town, filling the offices of supervisor and assessor and many minor offices. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, Lodge No. 529. His first wife was Miranda Head, by whom four children were born: Rozella, Ransom, Sarah, who died when eight years of age, and Salina. His second wife was Lodema Head, a sister of his first wife, and their children were James O. and Eunice. He died August 19, 1886, and his wife died February 13, 1895. Mr. Stitt received his education in the common schools of his town and worked on his father's farm until fourteen years of age, when his father took him and taught him the builder's trade. He worked with his father from that time, except one year, until he was twenty-three years of age. November 24, 1879, he was married to Annie E., born in the town of Windham, Greene county, and daughter of Patrick Murray. In 1880 he began for himself by engaging in the hotel business at Indian Fields, in the town of Coeymans, where he remained for eight years. In 1888 he rented the hotel in Altamont, and two years later purchased it. Since then he has made many essential improvements on his hotel. Mr. Stitt is a man especially adapted for the hotel business, and his genial disposition and years of experience have taught him what is required to make it pleasant for the patrons of his house. In 1895 he was a delegate to the State Democratic Convention held in Syracuse and of the sixteen years he has been in the business in Albany county, thirteen of them he has been delegate to the county conventions.

Settle, Theodore, was born in the village of Berne, February 24, 1846. The great- grandfather of Theodore Settle migrated to America from Berne, Switzerland, and was one of the pioneer settlers in the town of Berne (now Knox). Jacob Settle, the grandfather of Theodore, was a native of the town of Knox. He was a harness- maker by trade, which he followed throughout his active life. His last years were spent in the villege of Berne. He married a Miss Hochstrasser, and they had five children. The father of Theodore Settle, Jacob Settle, jr., was born in the town of

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 92

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