Landmarks of Orleans County, New York, Part 75

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > New York > Orleans County > Landmarks of Orleans County, New York > Part 75

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In May, 1835, Mr. Hart married Miss Loraine Field, who died February 11, 1847. October 16, 1849, he married for his second wife Miss Cornelia King, who survives him and resides in Albion village. His children were: Frances E. (Mrs. Oliver C. Day), Jennie K. (Mrs. Henry L. Smith), and Hon. E. Kirke.

HON. E. KIRKE HART.

One of the most illustrious names that ever adorned the pages of local history was that of Hon. E. Kirke Hart. For over a quarter of a century it was a synonym for business integrity, sound financial judgment, and thorough honesty. It carried a prestige of extraordinary worth into every community in Western New York as well

LANDMARKS OF ORLEANS COUNTY.

as into larger cities of the country. In political, business, and educational circles its power was conceded beyond dispute, while in private life it was love, indulgence, and tenderness personified. In all the varied relations of an eventful career it merited and retained the confidence, esteem and respect of a wide and diversified public.

Hon. E. Kirke Hart was born in the village of Albion on the 8th of April, 1841, and was the only son of Elizur and Loraine (Field) Hart. His education, received in the common schools, of his native place and in the old Albion Academy under Professors George Whiting and Oliver Morehouse, was of a practical business character, embracing a liberal range of the sciences and the English classics. At the close of his school days he spent two years, 1856-58, in Adrian, Mich., and Alton, Ill., joining at the latter place the military expedition against the Mormons under General Harvey. Returning to Albion his practical business training commenced in earnest. In February, 1860, his father, with Joseph M. Cornell, established the Orleans County Bank, the two tak- ing respectively the positions of president and cashier. Mr. Hart was made book- keeper of the new institution, and continued as such until the present Orleans County National Bank superseded it in August, 1865, when he was promoted to the post of teller. Upon the death of Elizur Hart in August, 1870, he became the principal stock- holder of the bank. Mr. Cornell was elected president and E. Kirke Hart was made cashier, which office he held until the death of the former in July, 1890, when he be- came chief executive officer, and remained in this position till his decease, February 18, 1893, after an illness covering a period of several months.

Mr. Hart directed his attention mainly to his banking interests, but he was neverthe- less identified with various other business enterprises, and was known throughout Western New York. In 1882, with George Elwanger, he founded the Rochester Post- Express, being president of the company several years, and continued one of its princi- pal owners until near the close of 1891 ; and in this connection it is worthy of note to add that he was ever generous, considerate and appreciative, never seeking to pervert the newspaper from that noble service of the public to the service of any private in- terest. He was also a director of the Niagara Falls International Bridge Company.

Mr. Hart was not a politician in the ordinary acceptance of the term, but he took a deep interest in public affairs and mingled more or less in politics. He was originally an ardent Republican, and in 1871 was nominated by that party for the Assembly, be- ing elected by a phenomenal majority. He was placed on the Assembly Committees on ways and means and on banks, and made a good record as an able legislator. In 1872 he sympathized with the Greeley or Liberal movement, and following this trend in politics was ever afterward considered a nominal Democrat. In 1876 he was placed on the Democratic ticket for representative in Congress from this (the 30th) district, composed of the counties of Orleans and Monroe, and was elected by nearly 1,000 majority, while the nominal Republican majority was 4,000 or 5,000. In Congress, where he served one term, he was made a member of the committees on banking and currency and on revision of the laws of the United States, and had for his most inti- mate associates and friends such distinguished men as S. S. Cox, Samuel J. Randall, James A. Garfield and others. His legislative career was characterized by strict fidelity to his constituents. He had no partisan passion, no political prejudices, no personal

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ambition. He put his great business experience and ability to valuable public use and generally reached sound conclusions on questions of vital importance. In fact, his political record was one of which any man might well be proud.

It was in his native village, however, with which he was prominently identified, that Mr. Hart was most esteemed. He served it in various capacities, and always with a love born of home associations. For many years he was a member of its Board of Trustees and Board of Education, holding the latter position at the time of his death. For several years he was one of the three commissioners of beautiful Mt. Albion Cemetery, where his remains repose, and whose beauty his efforts contributed to in- crease. He was largely instrumental in securing electric lights in the village, being a large stockholder and the treasurer of the company, and it was due wholly to his in- fluence and personal labors that the House of Refuge for women was located in Albion. He was a member and the first president (in 1890) of the Board of Managers of that institution, and served as such until his decease. Early in the sixties, under the minis- try of Rev. Henry Niles, Mr. Hart became a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Albion, and for many years was one of its trustees. Through the efforts of himself and his cousin, John W. Hart, both giving liberally, the erection of the present brick parsonage, one of the finest in Western New York, was made possible. To all these as well as to many other charitable and benevolent objects he gave generously of both time and means.

As a business man Mr. Hart was a model of precision and accuracy. Reticent, tena- cious, and quiet in manner, he was slow to act, but decisive, firm and immovable when his resolution was taken. He showed enthusiasm seldom, discouragement never, com- mon sense, confidence always. He possessed sound judgment and exceptional business ability. He was emphatically a man of culture and rare literary attainments, and an indefatigable collector of autographs, there being, it was said, but two collections in the world that exceeded his in completeness and value. A genuine lover of books, he ac- cumulated one of the largest private libraries in Western New York, comprising many rare and costly works and many volumes of the English classics. He was the first to sign the petition to establish the present circulating library in Albion and always took a deep interest in its welfare. Endowed with superior literary tastes he was a recog- nized authority on general literature, and was also foremost in all educational enter- prises, serving for a time as chairman of the library committee of the Board of Educa- tion. His large fortune was liberally dispensed, but always with a discriminating good sense. Eminently successful himself he inspired others with self-confidence and enthu- siasm, and unostentatiously assisted them. His sense of justice was keen and sweet, and no one knew better how to speak words of encouragement and to communicate to the unfortunate some of his own firmness. He was a man with warm attachments and faithful friendships and a nature rare for its combined strength and tenderness.

June 10, 1863, Mr. Hart married Miss Louise Sanderson of Alton, Ill., who survives him and resides in the family home on Main street in Albion. Their children, five of whom are living, were Charles E. Hart, who succeeded upon the death of his father to presidency of the Orleans County National Bank, which position he has since held; Emma Brown, a graduate of Vassar College and one of the directors of the bank, and

LANDMARKS OF ORLEANS COUNTY,

Loraine Field, at home ; E. Kirk, jr., a student at Harvard College; Louise Sanderson, at home ; and Mary Ann, who died May 3, 1875, aged four years. In his family Mr. Hart was especially revered for his many endearing and ennobling qualities of head and heart. To them he ever gave a father's boundless love and indulgence. His home was his sanctuary, the fireside his pleasure.

HON. WALLACE L'HOMMEDIEU.

AFTER the revocation of the Edict of Nantes several members of the Huguenot family, L'Hommedieu, were obliged, on account of religious persecution to flee from La Rochelle, France, and finally came to America about the year 1685. Benjamin L'Hom- medieu, one of the family, located at Southold, L. I., of whom Wallace L'Hommedieu is a descendant.

Mr. L'Hommedieu's grandfather, Mulford L'Hommedieu, a resident of Long Island, enlisted in the Revolutionary Army just prior to the battle of Long Island and served until the close of the war, thereupon going to Swanton, Franklin county, Vt., to reside, at which place his son, Henry, father of Wallace, was born January 13, 1799. Henry L'Hommedieu removed from Vermont to the town of Shelby in the spring of 1826, where he has since resided and is still living at the advanced age of ninety-five years.

Wallace L'Hommedieu was born in Shelby, Orleans county, N. Y., on the 8th day of September, 1833. He worked on his father's farm until he arrived at the age of twenty-one; gaining his education by attending the common schools and the Genesee Weslyan Seminary at Lima, N. Y. In 1862 he married Frances M. Berry a daughter of Col. John Berry of Holley, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. L'Hommedieu have five children : Avis Marion, wife of Hervey D. Jump of Sayre, Pa .; Irving, a lawyer of Medina ; John Berry, a physician of the Department of Public Corrections and Charities of the city of New York; Jessie Belle and Albert Warren.

Mr. L'Hommedieu has been a member of the Republican party since its formation in 1856, and has held several public positions in the gift of his party and in that of the people. He was one of the assessors of the town of Shelby from 1869 to 1876. In 1887 he was elected supervisor of the town of Shelby, being the first Republican elected to that position in eleven years. He was re-elected in 1888 and in 1889, de- clining a renomination in 1890. In the Board of Supervisors he was a faithful repre- sentative of his town and took an active part in the transactions of the Board.

In the fall of 1889 he became a candidate for member of Assembly and was nomi- nated for that office by the Republican County Convention on the 14th day of Septem- ber, 1889, being elected by a large majority at the succeeding election. In the Assem- bly of 1890 he was a member of the Committees on Commerce and Navigation, Banks and Excise. He was returned by his district to the Assembly of 1891, and was a mem- ber of the Committees on Banks and Excise. As assemblyman Mr. L'Hommedieu was a worthy representative and diligently cared for the interests of his constituents. He secured the passage of two general and several local and special acts.

Wallace, L'Hommedien

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Mr. L'Hommedieu is a prominent member of the first Presbyterian Church of Medina and has been a member of its Session and Board of Trustees for a long term of years ; he is also one of the Trustees of the Slater Fund of the Niagara Presbytery.

Mr. L'Hommedieu has been a farmer all of his life and resides on his farm on what is know as Maple Ridge in the town of Shelby. He also owns the farm upon which his father settled in 1826, which is near his residence, here he expects to spend the re- mainder of his days, engaged in the true husbandry of earth.

HON. MARCUS H. PHILLIPS.

FEW men in Western New York have more thoroughly identified themselves with their immediate communities than has the Hon. Marcus H. Phillips, who has been a resident of the little hamlet of Hulberton in the town of Murray since 1851. Born in Barre, Orleans county, on the 23d of January, 1829, he is the youngest son and third child of Hanford and Sally (Raymond) Phillips and the grandson of Perez Phillips, a native of Massachusetts, whose ancestors emigrated to that commonwealth from Wales, at a very date. The latter moved from Vermont to Candor, Tioga county, N. Y., in 1804, and in March, 1819, his son, Hanford Phillips, came thence to Orleans county and settled in Barre, where he cleared a farm, married, and resided until 1851, when he re- moved with his family to Hulberton and purchased the Joseph Budd homestead, which his son, Marcus H., now owns and occupies. He was born in Marlboro, Vt., and was married on February 1, 1824, to Miss Sally Raymond, daughter of John Raymond, of Barre Center. Their children were: Morgan, who died in infancy in 1826; Nancy M., born in 1826, died February 14, 1858; Marcus H .; Rhoda E. (Mrs. G. L. Le Roy), born October 30, 1830; and one who died in infancy in 1833. Mr. Phillips was a substantial farmer, a highly respected citizen, and for many years a liberal supporter and an active member, steward, class-leader, and trustee of the M. E. Church at Hulberton, where he died March 8, 1877, aged nearly eighty-one. His wife's death occurred January 5, 1870, in her sixty ninth year.

Marcus H. Phillips has been a life-long farmer. He was educated in the common schools of Barre, in the academy in Albion, and in the Caryville Collegiate Seminary at Oakfield, Genesee county, completing the usual courses and acquiring a practical knowl- edge that has ever been increased by keen observation and systematic reading. His youthful pursuits developed in him a rugged physique, while the obstacles he encoun- tered sharpened a natually brilliant intellect. He imbibed habits of economy and thrift, and improved every opportunity which promised legitimate advancement. Since 1851 he has lived on his present farm at Hulberton, to which he has largely given his atten- tion, being also interested in stone quarrying. From 1866 to 1869 he was engaged in the general mercantile trade, and during that period and previously he carried on quite an extensive produce business. In all these as well as in other directions he has been very successful.

In a political sense Mr. Phillips has been especially active, holding a number of re-

LANDMARKS OF ORLEANS COUNTY.

sponsible positions with signal ability and great credit to himself and to his town and county. He has always been a strong Republican and a recognized leader in the coun- cils of his party. In 1855 he was elected superintendent of the schools of Murray and in 1860 and again in 1863 was chosen school commissioner of Orleans county. Endowed with superior attainments he was eminently qualified to fill these offices, which he did with singular executive ability. In 1871 he was elected clerk of the county of Orleans, and for two years, 1880 and 1881, represented his Assembly district in the State Legisla- ture. In the latter capacity Mr. Phillips attained pre-eminent distinction, serving as chairman of the sub-committee of the whole and as a member of the committee on ways and means, and on other committees. His voice was frequently heard in debate and his personal influence often decided important questions. During the great fight over the election of U. S. Senators to succeed Hon. Roscoe Conklin and Hon. Thomas C. Platt in the spring and summer of 1881, he was the recognized leader of those Re- publicans who affiliated with neither the "Stalwarts" nor " Half Breeds," and to him more than any other man was due the successful breaking of a long and tedious dead- lock. He personally prepared and circulated the petitions which assembled the decid- ing conference and the final caucus, and which resulted in the election of Hon. Warner Miller and Hon. Elbridge G. Lapham. In 1887 and 1888 he was a valued member of the Republican State Committee and during President Harrison's adminis- tration was deputy collector of internal revenue. His political career has been charac- terized by constant party fealty, by unswerving integrity, by honesty of purpose, by a thorough knowledge of events, and by an honorable ambition. He is a shrewd judge of men, and in every public capacity has performed his duties to the lasting benefit of his fellow beings, inaugurating a number of public reforms which have been discussed and often adopted. As a citizen Mr. Phillips is universally respected, and in religious and educational matters is prominently identified. He is a trustee of the M. E. Church of Hulberton, to which he is a liberal contributor and an active supporter.

November 14, 1858, Mr. Phillips united in marriage with Miss Julia E., daughter of Horace Balcom,1 of Murray. They have had five children: John M., who married Grace, daughter of Judge E. R. Reynolds, of Albion, and lives in Murray ; Clara A., the wife of Arnold A. Comstock, of Carlton; M. Jennie and Arthur H., at home; and Blanch, who died in infancy in July, 1875.

1 Horace Balcom, the father of Mrs. Marcus H. Phillips, came to Murray from Hopewell, Ontario county, in :812, and selected a farm on lot 217, through which the Erie Canal was afterward con- structed. On this he settled permanently in 1816 and lived there the remainder of his life, dying April 5, 1861, aged seventy=one. His wife, whose maiden name was Sally Lyon, died December 2, 1860. Mr. Balcom was always a prominent citizen and was highly respected for his many sterling traits of character. He was for many years a justice of the peace, and a liberal supporter and an active member of the M. E. Church in Hulberton. His children were, Rosetta (Mrs. Lewis Smith), deceased ; Hiram, deceased ; John Martin, of Sparta, Mich .; Myron, of Missouri ; Mary A. (Mrs. Nelson Root), deceased ; Darwin, who resides on the old homestead ; Charles, living at Murray Station ; and Julia E. (Mrs. Marcus H. Phillips).

BIOGRAPHICAL.

WILLIAM G. SWAN.

WILLIAM G. SWAN is a native of Galway, Saratoga county, N. Y., and was born Feb- ruary 9, 1822, being the eldest of two children of whom the other, Mary J., was born February 5, 1824, and died November 14, 1839. His parents were Coddington W. and Susan (Gere) Swan, who were born in Saratoga county June 13, and July 14, 1797, respectively. In 1835 the family removed to the village of Albion, where they ever afterward resided, and where Mr. Swan, père, engaged in business as a general merchant which he followed until shortly before his death on October 10, 1843. His wife sur- vived him till February 5, 1875.

William G. Swan was educated in the schools of Albion and of Lima, Livingston county, and when about eighteen began clerking in his father's store in the village first mentioned. He was reared amid scenes of ceaseless activity and early imbibed habits of thrift and frugality. Possessing qualifications inherited from sturdy ancestry and a keen discrimination born of individual worth, he quickly availed himself of every opportunity and diligently applied both talent and skill to his daily work, in which he won and ever afterward retained the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. A few years before his father's death he assumed charge of the mercantile business in partnership with Joseph M. Cornell, under the name of Swan & Cornell, and continued about ten years, when the firm sold out and dissolved. In October, 1855, Mr. Swan was appointed superinten- dent of the Niagara Railway suspension bridge at Suspension Bridge, N. Y., a position he held continuously until October, 1893, when he permanently retired from business. During this entire period of thirty-eight years he served with rare fidelity and distin- guished ability, receiving the meritorious thanks of an appreciative corporation, and acquiring the recognition of both press and public. In the mean time, in fact from 1835, he retained his residence in Albion, building his present handsome and commodious brick house on the corner of Main street and Mt. Albion avenue in 1877.

Mr. Swan has always taken an active interest in the welfare of his town, and in all matters of general importance manifests his hearty, unqualified support. In the educa- tional and moral advancement of the community he is especially prominent, lending his personal aid and influence in furthering every gool cause. He was the first subscriber in Orleans county to the present volume, which is honored by this brief tribute to his well-spent career. Endowed with sterling characteristics of an unusual order, possessed of a personality at once marked and modest, and distinguished by attributes invaluable and rare, he has ever lived the life of a quiet, unostentatious citizen, exemplary in its unassuming simplicity. Public spirited, enterprising and benevolent, encouraging every laudable undertaking, and aiding with substantial means all charitable objects he merits the respect and esteem of a wide circle of acquaintances. In an official capacity he is not without honors deservedly conferred. He is treasurer and one of the commission- ers of Mount Albion Cemetery and treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of the Niagara Falls International Bridge Company. He is also president of the Board of Trustees of the Baptist church, of Albion, with wh.ch he has been connected for fifty - seven years, and to which he has contributed liberally of time, talent, and means.

Mr. Swan married, first, Catherine C., daughter of Lemuel C. Paine, of Albion, who

LANDMARKS OF ORLEANS COUNTY.

died September 28, 1854. October 16, 1860, he married, second, Miss Emma M. Ether- idge, of Hastings, Minn. Mrs. Swan is prominently identified with all charitable, reli- gious, and literary enterprises.

EDWIN L. WAGE. 1

EDWIN L. WAGE was born in Providence, Saratoga county, N. Y. He is the eldest of three children of William S. and Julia (Woodard) Wage, natives of Saratoga county, who moved with their family to East Gaines in 1844. In 1861 they removed to Barre, where Mrs. Wage died in October, 1865. William S. Wage subsequently came to the village of Albion, where his death occurred in April, 1884. He was always a farmer. The son, Edwin L., was raised on the farm, obtaining his preliminary education in the district schools of Gaines. In the autumn of 1853 he entered the Albion Academy, where he pursued the regular course of study during the spring and fall terms for five years, teaching, meanwhile, winters and working on the farm summers. Leaving the academy he continued in these occupations until July, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company D, 151st N. Y. Vol. Inf., being, however, elected sergeant before leaving for the front. His regiment was attached to the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. In January, 1864, he passed an examination before General Casey's board and was commissioned captain at Washington by President Lincoln, and assigned to duty in the 20th Regiment of United States Colored Troops, then stationed at New York Harbor. In March the regiment was ordered to New Orleans, and soon after its arrival he was permanently detached and appointed provost-marshal, with the rank of major, with headquarters at Carrollton, La., which position he held until August, 1865, when he resigned his commission, was honorably mustered out of service and returned to his home. He participated in all the battles and hard marches of his regiment from the time it left until his promotion, never missing a roll call during the time while they were in the field.

Returning to Albion he engaged in the fire and life insurance business for nine years. He then studied law in the office of Reynolds & Crandall, completing his course in the law school of Hamilton College, and graduating with the class of 1879. He immediately formed a partnership for the practice of his profession with the Hon. Isaac S. Signor at Albion, under the firm name of Signor & Wage, which partnership still continues. In politics he has always been a staunch Republican. In 1884 and 1885 he was clerk of the Board of Supervisors, and in 1890 supervisor of the eleventh United States Census for the Tenth District of the State of New York. At the present time he is a member of the Republican State Committee.

June 15, 1865, Mr. Wage was united in marriage to Miss Helen M. Comstock, of Carlton, N. Y. They have had two children, a daughter, Julia C., who died in 1880, aged fifteen years, and a son, Arnold Edwin Wage, aged nineteen, who is now (October, 1894) a member of the class of 1898 of the University of Rochester.

1 By W. Stanley Child.

PART III.

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Anderson, George G., was born in Gaines, March 10, 1839. He resides on the farm that was owned and occupied by his father, Nahum Anderson, and also his grandfather, Robert Anderson, who came to Gaines from Ira, Rutland county, Vt., and invested ex- tensively in real estate; he was the first judge of Orleans county, which then included Genesee county, and also served his district in the State Legislature. Judge Anderson was a man who commanded the respect and esteem of all. His family consisted of a wife and four children, who journeyed from Vermont in wagons drawn by oxen. Nahum Anderson, his son, was prominently identified with the leading interests of Gaines for many years, serving the town as supervisor several years, was a thorough and successful farmer, and died August 7, 1893, at the advanced age of eighty-four. His wife was Matilda Van Kirk, whose birthplace was Ovid, Seneca county, N. Y. They had six children, only one of whom is now living; she died June 24, 1858. In April, 1861, he was again married to Hannah Morgan, of Groton, Conn., who survives him. George G. attended the public schools in his native town, was two years at Yates Academy, after which he attended the Collegiate Institute at Rochester; his vocation has always been farmning, and the present condition of his farm speaks well for his abil- ities in that line. On December 24, 1862, he married Mary J. Sherwood, of Shelby ; their children are : Robert S., who, after graduating from Albion High School and the Buffalo Business University, began business in Olympia, Wash., where he was employed in the State auditor's office and invested in real estate both in Olympia and in Tacoma, Wash., and Howard R., who is now a student in Albion High School.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Landmarks of Orleans County, New York, Part 75

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1084