Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 99

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 99

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Toohey, Edward J., son of John and Bridget (Kennedy) Toohey, was born in West Troy, Albany county, N. Y., August 23, 1859. His father was one of the pioneer canal men and kept the Whitehall Packet House at the time immigrants came by way of Quebec. Mr. Toohey was eduated at the Christian Brothers' Acad-

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emy in Troy, N. Y., and in 1874 was graduated from Mason College, Terre Bonne, Province of Quebec. After leaving college he obtained a clerkship in his father's store at West Troy, where he remained until elected justice of the peace of that village in 1881, which position he now holds. He is also engaged in the real estate and insurance business. Mr. Toohey was chairman of the Board of Fire Trustees of West Troy for two years and is a member of the Young Men's Democratic Club and was its president for one term. He is president of the Young Men's Literary Association and a member of the Vestris Club of West Troy.

MacDonald, Pirie, son of George and Margaret MacDonald, was born in Chicago, Ill., January 27, 1867; in 1882 he entered the studio of Forshew in Hudson, N. Y. ; in 1889 he came to Albany and opened his present studio at the corner of Maiden Lane and Broadway. He is unquestionably one of the leading technicians of America, and as a voucher for this opinion we may mention the fact that twice (in 1884 and 1886) he was awarded the Grand Prize for portraiture by the Photographers' Asso- ciation of America; he holds seven medals from the same society and two medals from the National Photographic Society of Germany, and one that was awarded at the International Photographic Exhibition in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1886, as well as the Gold Medal for the best portrait by photography in America. Mr. MacDonald is a member of Temple Lodge No. 14, F. & A. M., and of the Albany and Albany Camera Clubs. In 1891 he married Emilie, daughter B. Van Deusen of Hudson, N. Y., and they have one daughter, Jessie.

Estes, Capt. Milo D., was born in Clayton, N. Y., September 16, 1841. His father, Capt. James B., became a sailor when twelve and a captain when eighteen and fol- lowed the lakes during much of his active life; he was master of the Niagara, Cata- ract, Ontario, Rothsay, Sylvan Stream, Pilgrim and Bon Voyage, all well known Lake Ontario steamers, and now has charge of the ferry between Ontario Beach and Somerville at the mouth of the Genesee River. Capt. Milo D. Estes after receiving a common school education at Clayton and Charlotte, became, when twelve years of age cabin boy on the steamer Niagara and later was cabin boy on the Cataract and quartermaster on the old Ontario. In September, 1862, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy as an able seaman and was assigned to the gunboat Montgomery, under Farragut, cruising in the Gulf of Mexico. After serving one year he returned home and in February, 1864, enlisted in the 3d N. Y. Cav , from which he was honorably discharged in December, 1865. Following this he was successively captain of the tug D. T. Hunt, second officer of the steamer Columbian, superintendent of the Rochester Iron Company's fleet of barges and captain of the steamers Flower City, J. F. Maynard, John Thorne, Island Belle and the St. Lawrence. The latter he suc- cessfully commanded from August, 1884, to September, 1892, making it the most popular vessel among the Thousand Islands. In the spring of 1895 he came to Al- bany as superintendent of the Albany and Troy Steamboat Company. He is a member of Genesee Falls Lodge No. 507, F. & A. M., of Rochester; also a member of Charles J. Powers Post No. 391. G. A. R., Rochester. In 1890, as captain of the St. Lawrence, he refused to lower the U. S. flag at Kingston, Canada, in order to sail an excursion in Canadian waters, an incident which brought him considerable distinc- tion.

Skillicorn, John H., M.I)., son of John and Jane (Cowell) Skillicorn, was born in

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Albany, N. Y., December 25, 1861. His parents came from the Isle of Man and belonged to a very old and respected family, his grandfather being a minister, noted for his eloquence, in the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Skillicorn attended the public schools and the Albany High School, from which institution he was gradu- ated, receiving the English prize and first honorable mention for declamation. He then attended Cornell University, where he took the medical preparatory course and where he was fitted to enter the Albany Medical College. In 1883 he was graduated from the latter institution and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, standing second in his class and receiving special honorable mention for his thesis. During his course at the Albany Medical College Dr. Skillicorn was also a student in the dispensary of the late Dr. John Swinburne. After his graduation he was connected with his alma mater for three years as prosector and also held quizzes. He then traveled extensively, studying the methods in the different hospitals, and in 1884 settled down to practice in Albany, opening an office at No. 324 Hudson avenue. where he is now located. Dr. Skillicorn is a frequent contributor to medical and scientific journals, and is a perfect linguist in German, French, Italian and Spanish. He is a member of the Albany County Medical Society, and was one of the first sur- geons in the world to advocate and operate successfully for appendicitis.

Hermans, Charles W., was born September 4, 1844, in the town of Nassau, Rens- selaer county, N. Y., and attended the district school until sixteen years of age, working on a farm during summer vacations. His parents were Daniel and Adeline (Waterbury) Hermans. In 1860 he went to Marquette, Mich., returning to Albany in the summer of 1862. On September 30 of that year he enlisted in Co. I, 99th N. Y. Vols., and served until the close of the war, being discharged from Co. A, 22d Regt .. Veteran Reserve Corps, July 11, 1865. He attended Bryant, Stratton & Folsom's Business College in the winter of 1865-66, and in the spring secured a posi- tion as bookkeeper with H. B. Silliman of Cohoes. In 1870 he was appointed a book- keeper in the Manufacturers' and Builders' Bank of New York city and filled all the positions in that bank up to paying teller. In 1889 he assisted in organizing the South End Bank of Albany, was elected its cashier and so continued during its ex- istence. He married in March, 1871, Eliza J., daughter of Ambrose C. Spencer, of Cohoes.

Bordwell, Mrs. Margaret E., is one of the oldest residents of Cohoes. She came here with her father, Francis Revell, a native of France, in 1824 from Mechanicville, where she was born in 1823. She was married in 1845 to Jacob A. Bordwell, a boss knitter in the cotton mills until his death, which occurred in 1863. He left three children: Mary Elira, wife of George Cook, of Cohoes; Esther E., widow of Professor George Gravis, late of Troy; and Charles Francis, who conducts a hotel at Detroit, Mich. Mrs. Bordwell is a well preserved lady and a personal landmark, and has in her mature years witnessed the growth of Cohoes into a city.

Pratt, Otto M., son of Edward and Emily (Field) Pratt, was born in Earlville, Madison county, N. Y., August 22, 1851. He attended the Earlville public schools and at the age of fourteen left home and for twelve years was a clerk in a general store at Poolville, Madison county, at the end of which time he removed to Albany, N. Y., and accepted a clerkship with Herrick, Freeman & Smith, boot and shoe manufacturers. He was associated with this business for twenty years, and in 1885

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became a member of the firm, when the name was changed to Smith, Pratt & Her- rick. In 1893 he resigned from this company. Mr. Pratt is now the largest bond and stockholder in, and vice-president of the Winconsin Land and Lumber Com- pany, located at and being the village of Hermansville, Mich., with office at Oshkosh, Wis., owning and operating 42,000 acres of timber lands, three large saw mills, hardwood flooring factory, 101 dwelling houses, store, market, boarding house, etc. He is also the owner and proprietor of a shoe store at Fort Edward, N. Y., and owns considerable real estate at Superior City. In 1876 he married Ida Zenobia Blanchard, daughter of Taylor Blanchard of De Ruyter, Madson county, N. Y.

Rowe, Wilhelmus, was born in the town of Westerlo January 20, 1836. Wilhelmus, his great-grandfather, came from Holland and grew to manhood in Dutchess county, N. Y. After he married he settled on a farm near ()-nes-que-thaw, in the town of New Scotland, and died at eighty-eight; his wife died at ninety; he left two sons, Conrad and Frederick. Conrad, the grandfather, was born in 1773 and died in 1848 on the farm where he was born; his wife was Sally Hoyt; they reared four sons, William, Richard, Henry and Samuel, and three daughters. Richard, the father, was born in 1808 and died in 1891, was also a farmer; his wife was Elizabeth Bogar- dns, born in the town of Berne and was the daughter of John Bogardus; they reared three sons; Wilhelmus, John and Conrad, and three daughters. Mrs. Rowe died in 1876. Wilhelmus was a cortractor and builder and in 1856 went to Winona, in the then Territory of Minnesota, afterward to Memphis, Tenn. ; he was in Tennessee at the outbreak of the Civil war and was conscripted in the rebel army, and after Beaureguard took command was detailed to guard prisoners from Corinth to Holly Springs, Miss. ; was second lieutenant in a company of Home Guards. Immediately after the fall of Memphis he made his way north, and three months afterward was drafted in the Union army, but was exempted on the grounds of having been in the rebel army. In 1866 he married Elizabeth H. Bennett, daughter of Rush- more Bennett, of Clarksville, whose father, Daniel Bennett, was born at Stone near Berkley, Glostershire, England, in 1777, and came to the United States in 1802; he married Abigail Rushmore of New Salem and settled on a farm near that village, where he died while still a young man, leaving three sons, William, Rushmore and Thomas, and one daughter. Rushmore married Emily Whitcomb, who was a daughter of Roswell Whitcomb, a preacher in the Society of Friends; his father had come from Connecticut with pack and ax when Albany county was a com- parative wilderness, to take up a farm under what was then considered the very ad- vantageous offer of the Albany patroon, Van Rensselaer; he settled in Berne. Mr. Bennett was a farmer and mill owner in Clarksville, and built the third house in that village ; he was a Republican in politics and his name appears on the first Republican county ticket, the ticket with white letters on a black ground, which gave to the Re- publican party the name of Black Republicans; he reared one son, Erasmus, and two daughters, and died in 1875; his wife in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe still reside on the Bennett homestead, a farm of 200 acres, and have three sons, Erasmus B., born in 1866, R. Burton, born in 1872, and Anson H., born in 1882.

McEwan, Walter, born in Glasgow, Scotland, came to America with his parents, John and Agnes (Lander) McEwan, in 1849 and settled in Albany. He attended the public schools and in 1860 entered the employment of the Hudson River Railroad

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office at East Albany. In 1870 he became a member of the wholesale coffee and spice firm of Baily, Ford & McEwan. March 15, 1872, he purchased his partners' interests and in 1876 moved to his present location, corner Maiden Lane and James street. He has been treasurer of the St. Andrews Society since 1884, and is a trustee of the Home Savings Bank. In 1873 he married Abby Stuart, daughter of Stuart MeKissick of Albany, and their children are Walter Stuart, Agnes Lander, Jessie Ellis, George William and Charles Bailey.

Van Schaack, John S., was born in New Scotland in 1834. John, his great-grand- father, was a native of Holland and came to America and settled in Greene county, and reared five sons. He owned a fine farm on Coxsackie flats and lived to be eighty years of age. Albert, the grandfather, was the third son, born in Greene county in 1853. He was a farmer and settled in New Scotland in 1770. His first wife was Eva Spore, by whom he had five children, two of whom grew to maturity. His second wife was Mary Ann Bradt, by whom he had nine children; all grew to maturity. He died in 1830. The father was the oldest son by his father's first wife, born in New Scotland in 1802, where he spent his life as a farmer. He was a volun- teer soldier in the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of Sackett's Harbor. His wife was Sarah Shaver, born in 1809, and daughter of John F. Shaver of Berne. They reared four children: Mary Ann, John S., Frank and Elizabeth. Mrs. Van Schaack died in 1888. John S. was reared to farm work and received his education in the common and district schools and Charlottesville Seminary, and followed farm- ing all his life up to 1888, when he retired to the village of New Salem. He has been and is now serving as justice and was postmaster during both of Cleveland's administrations. He has also filled the office of town auditor and represented his town as delegate to county conventions and at district and Assembly conventions. In 1862 he married Amanda M., daughter of Luke Gallup of Westerlo, by whom three children have been born: Albert, who is a teacher in Texas; Susan and Eli. Mrs. Van Schaack died in 1881.

McMillen, James S., was born in Schoharie county in August, 1843. Alexander, the grandfather, was a native of Scotland, born about 1775, who came to America and settled in the town of New Scotland, where he died at the age of eighty years. He was a farmer and achieved some note as a politician in his town. He reared seven sons and four daughters. Aaron, the father, was born in Albany in 1815 and died in December, 1872. He was a wheelwright by trade, which he followed for some thirty years. He moved to Grosvenor's Corners, in the town of Carlyle, Scho- harie county, where he owned and conducted a shop and was fairly successful. His wife was Margaret Ann Culens, and their children were James S., Nelson B., Helen M., and William J. The wife survives her husband and lives in Albany with her daughter. James S. received a limited education and began to care for himself at the age of fifteen, following different occupations in Guilderland and Bethlehem. In 1869 he purchased his present farm of seventy-five acres and is actively engaged in mixed husbandry. He was town auditor and is now serving his tenth year as assessor. In 1871 he was married to Hester L. Snyder, born in New Scotland and daughter of Jacob Snyder, by whom one child has been born, Franklin J., who resides at home with his father. His wife was Charlotte Hallenback. They have three children: Anson, Olive and Allen.

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Butler, William H., son of David and Laura A. (Smith) Butler, was born in Oneida, N. Y., January 21, 1860, and was graduated from the Oneida High School in 1878. He then became a freight conductor on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R., and continued in this capacity and in the depot at Albany in all ten years, when he learned the trade of clothing cutter and merchant tailor. In 1893 he established himself in the merchant tailoring business at Nos. 635 and 637 Broadway, Albany, where he has built up a large and growing trade. Mr. Butler is a member of Mount Vernon Lodge No. 3, F. & A. M., of all the Masonic bodies to and including the 33 , and of the Acacia Club. In 1880 he married Cora B., daughter of William Foster of Siloam, Madison county, N. Y., and they have one daughter, Lenora Belle.

Yerks, George W., is a descendant of Revolutionary stock, especially on the side of his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Amos Clark, a member of the Van Warts family. His parents were William H. and Mary A. (Clark) Yerks and he was born in Union- ville, Westchester county, February 4, 1843. He received his education at Claverack Academy and Fort Edward Institute, and he spent a few years in government em- ploy in New York city, and in 1867 came to Albany where he soon engaged in the wholesale fancy grocery business at No. 373 Broadway, under the firm name of Ben jamin & Yerks, whom he succeeded in January, 1877. In 1888 John J. Taaffe was admitted under the present firm name of George W. Yerks & Co. The business has grown steadily and now three stores are occupied. Mr. Yerks has been president of the Equal Rights Benefit Association since 1893 and is a trustee in the Madison Avenue Reformed church. In 1868 he married Adeline, daughter of George W. Benjamin of Albany, and of their children one daughter, Adeline Powell Yerks, is living.

Rivet, F. A. W., M. D., one of the oldest physicians of Green Island, was born at Montreal in 1847. His father was a farmer, and when about nineteen he began the study of medicine at "College Point aux Trembles" near Montreal, graduating from this institution with honors in 1871. He took a post-graduate course at McGill Col- lege. Practicing his profession at Au Sable Falls for eight years, and about the same length of time at Indian Fields, he came to Green Island in 1887. Dr. Rivet is of the eclectic school of practice. He has been health officer for a long term of years.

Tompkins, Stephen, was born in Coeymans in 1857, and is a son of Stephen and Jane (Van Derzee) Tompkins. His grandfather, Daniel C., was a son of Caleb Tompkins, who came from Dutchess county. The grandfather of Mr. Tompkins was a tanner for many years at Stephenville, and came to Coeymans Hollow in 1850, and bought the farm where Mr. Tompkins now lives. He died in 1882. He had three sons: Alfred D .. Anson, who died in infancy, and Stephen, who died in 1857, and one daughter, Margaret. Mr. Tompkins is a farmer and one of the most suc- cessful men of the town. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William S. Cole, and has two sons: William and Van Derzee.

Reinhart, H. E., though apparently not past the prime of life, is a pioneer set- tler of Cohoes, coming here in 1853 from Berne, N. Y., where he was born in 1838. He is of Dutch descent, and a son of John Reinhart, a hat manufacturer. Here he learned the machinist trade, which vocation he followed; having been associated

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with the Granite Mill of William Moore since 1886. In 1861 he married Marje Oster- hout of Cohoes, by whom he has one daughter, Elizabeth, wife of William Leroy of this place.

Kane, Hon. Nicholas T., was born in Ireland in 1846. He came to America with his parents and settled in West Troy, Albany county, in 1848, and died there Sep- tember 14, 1887. At an early age he actively entered the field of labor ; when seven- teen he enlisted in the Union army in the war of the Rebellion and served with gal- lantry and patriotism as a soldier. Returning home he rapidly rose in business until finally he formed a copartnership with his brother, Pierce Kane, and success- fully engaged in the manufacture of knit goods, at Sand Lake, Rensselaer county. About 1883 he also engaged in brewing with Daniel E. and Henry A. Conway of Troy. In 1882 he was elected town supervisor and held that office several years, be- ing at one time chairman of the board. In 1886 he was elected to represent his dis- trict in the Fiftieth Congress, a position he held at the time of his death. He was chiefly instrumental in locating the government gun factory (one of the largest in the United States) at the Watervliet Arsenal, and various other important measures re- ceived his earnest support. He was a member of Post Patrick Kane, No. 312, G. A. R .. vice president of the S. G. Gleason Hook and Ladder Company of West Troy, treasurer of the Wynantskill Knitting Company, and prominently identified with various other organizations. He was a typical self-made man, charitable, compan- ionable, public spirited, enterprising and progressive, and enjoyed universal respect and confidence. In politics he was a staunch Democrat and in every capacity he was loyal, influential and popular.

McCormic, Robert Henry, represents the sixth generation of his family in Amer- ica, in each of which the eldest son bore the name of Robert. His ancestor, Robert McCormic, born of Scotch-Irish parentage in Londonderry, Ireland, was one of the first settlers of Londonderry, N. H. ; a branch moved thence and settled the town of Londonderry, Vt. Mr. McCormic's great-grandfather, Robert, served in the Revo- lution. His father, Robert, who married Rhoda Stevens, was born in Windham, Vt., but spent most of his life in Greene county, N. Y., where, at Coxsackie, Rob- ert H. was born, October 25, 1839, being the only son, his sister being Mrs. Harriet M. Stark of Paris Texas. She has been a teacher and missionary among the Choc- taw Indians for forty-five years. Robert H. McCormic was graduated from Burr Seminary at Manchester, Vt., came to Albany in 1858 and in 1860 joined Co. B, 10th Regt. September 1, 1861, he enlisted in Co. F, 44th N. Y. Vols., Ellsworth Zouaves, rose to the post of captain and was mustered out October 14, 1864. He was with the Army of the Potomac, participated in nearly all its battles from first Bull Run, was wounded twice and still carries in his right hip a bullet received at Rappahannock Station. From 1865 to 1887 he held an important position in the Albany post-office, and since then has been engaged in life insurance business, being now connected with the Mutual Life of New York. He became a member of Lew Benedict Post No. 5. G. A. R., in 1887 and is now a member of L. O. Morris Post No. 121, and is past commander of both organizations. He has held nearly every office in the State department of the G. A. R., being assistant adjutant-general in 1894, and is also past noble grand of Clinton Lodge No. ? , I. O. O. F. January 1, 1866, he married Caro- line, daughter of Isaac Van Ness of Stuyvesant, N. Y., who died in 1875, leaving

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two children: Robert H., jr., and Grace E., graduates of the Albany High School and State Normal College respectively. In 1894 he married Louise, daughter of Ephraim House of Albany and for over twenty years a teacher in the public schools.

O'Brien, Dr. Francis J., son of Francis and Catharine (Collopy) O'Brien, was born in West Troy, June 13, 1860. He was educated in the public schools, the Troy Busi- ness College, and the New York College of Pharmacy, graduating from the latter in 1882. In 1887 he was graduated from the University of Vermont with the degree of M. D. From 1883 to 1886 he studied with the late Dr. Swinburne of Albany, N. Y. Since graduating from the Universty of Vermont he has practiced in West Troy.

Chapman, jr., Edgar T., is the eldest son of the well known and prominent Epis- copal clergyman. Edgar T. Chapman was born at West Troy in 1872, on the old homestead on the Troy and Albany road. Mr. Chapman began the study of law in 1891. He was graduated in 1894 and at once admitted to the county bar under the most favorable auspices, and began the practice of his profession in Albany. A younger brother, John K. Chapman, is now superintendent of the freight office for the N. Y. C. R. R., at West Albany.

Simpson, Anson A., was born at Hillside, N. Y., in 1842. He was the son of Ben- son Simpson, a merchant of that place, and was educated at Hudson River Institute. He began life as a clerk in a general store at Craryville. Mr. Simpson has traveled a good deal and has been engaged in many and various enterprises. In 1865 he went to the far West, and spent five years in Colorado and California as a miner, hotel keeper, fruit dealer, etc. In 1870 he drifted to Pittsburg, Pa., and traveled for a glass manufacturing company there. He then engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Kinderhook Depot, remaining there till 1885, when he came to Troy and be- came connected with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. now nominally occupying the position of inspector of signals. He is especially fertile in the line of inventions and has produced many valuable appliances, which have been adopted and are in daily use, among others, a time signal, and a life saving fender for motor cars, which possess peculiar merit and will, without doubt, come into general use.

Fonda, Douw H., son of Garrett T. B. and Rachel (Polhemus) Fonda, was born September 10, 1831, in Fonda, N. Y., which derives its name from the family. The first American ancestor was (1) Jellis Douwse Fonda, who came from Holland and was in Beverwyck as early as 1654. The line is (2) Douw Jellise Fonda, who resided at Lubberdeland (Troy) in 1676; (3) Jellis Adam Fonda, born in 1668, married a daughter of Peter Winne in 1695; (4) Douw Fonda, of Caughnawaga (now Fonda), who served in the Revolutionary war and was killed by the Indians in 1780; (5) Adam ; (6) Douw Adam Fonda, member of the Legislature, died in 1855; and (7) Garrett T. B. Fonda, who was born in Fonda in 1808. Douw H. Fonda, after completing a common school education, engaged in railroading. He was then a mere boy. When thirteen he went to New York city as clerk in a men's furnishing store, where he re- mained two years. Returning home he finally became a clerk in a general store in Rome, N. Y., and two years later engaged in railroading, being ticket agent at Pal- atine Bridge under the later Hon. Webster Wagner for four years. In September, 1853, he became teller of a bank in Canajoharie and two years later was made cash- ier, which position he held until 1865, when he came to Albany as a partner in the

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 99

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