Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 87

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410

USA > New York > Oswego County > Landmarks of Oswego County, New York > Part 87

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Swits Condé, who derives his name from his grandmother's brother, Henry Swits, previously mentioned, was born in Oswego county on April 24, 1844, and was grad- uated from the schools of Oswego city at the age of eighteen. In 1863 he went to Louisiana and during the succeeding four years was interested in the growing of sugar and cotton. Returning to Oswegoin 1867 he was admitted to partnership with his father under the firm name of H. S. Condé & Son, and continued in that capacity until 1874, when he succeeded to the active and permanent management of the busi- ness. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Union League Club, of the Huguenot Society, and of the Riding and Republican Clubs, all of New York city, where he has a palatial winter home. He is an enthusiast in yachting and a member of several yacht clubs. He was married in 1873 to Miss Apama I., daughter of Churchill and Sarah (Morse) Tucker, of Fulton, and has three sons and two daugh- ters. Mr. Condé's life since 1867 has been spent in developing the immense knit goods manufactory founded by his father, of which he became the responsible owner in 1874, and to which he has constantly devoted a close study of details. The plant, consisting of a four-story brick building 100 by 300 feet and a number of contributory structures, occupies one of the best water-power privileges on the Oswego River and covers an area of over three acres. It is also supplied with steam power and employs above 700 operatives. Since 1874 the business transacted has increased to upwards of $1,500,000 per annum. Mr. Condé has invented more than forty separate appli- ances which have been of practical utility, and to them is largely due the present un- excelled facilities for manufacturing the various fabrics.

BENJAMIN E. BOWEN.

THE ancestors of Dr. Benjamin E. Bowen were Richard and Ann Bowen, who emi gated from Wales in the year 1640, and settled in Rehoboth, Mass. Among their descendants were Pardon Bowen and William Bowen, both distinguished physicians at Providence, R. I., in the early part of the present century, and Jabez Bowen, LL. D., late lieutenant-governor of Rhode Island, and chancellor of Brown University.

Dr. Bowen was born on the 15th day of January, 1801, in the town of Coventry,' R. I., and was the eldest son of Stephen Bowen and Rebecca Hill. She was a direct

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

descendant from Roger Williams, the Puritan founder of the colony of Rhode Island In early life Dr. Bowen worked at farming in the summers, taught school in winters, and at the same time pursued his studies in preparation for his chosen profession. After receiving his degree, in June, 1828, he first located at Holland Patent, Oneida county, N. Y .. where he practiced his profession of physician and surgeon, with great success during seven years. In 1835 he removed to Mexico, Oswego county, N. Y., where his former success was continued, and where he attained not only a high pro- fessional position, but a prominent rank as a public-spirited citizen. He held the office of president of the Oswego County Medical Society in 1837, and again in 1851, and in 1846 became a conspicuous member of the New York State Medical Society. He held the office of postmaster at Holland Patent under President Jackson, and the same office at Mexico under President Polk. A Democrat of the old school, he was a man of decided and pronounced convictions, but when the time of the nation's peril came, he was among the first and most enthusiastic to join the ranks of those who upheld the government during the great struggle of the Rebellion. He was a leader on most of the local committees for supplying the army with men and means, and often became personally responsible for money to provide for the payment of bounties to enlisted soldiers. In 1862 he was elected to represent Oswego county in the Assem- bly by a flattering vote over both a Democratic and a Republican opponent, and during the succeeding legislative term he occupied an honorable and prominent position. In all local affairs he evinced an ardent public spirit and was ever ready to render valuable service to the town and county in which he lived. Many of the streets in the pleasant village of Mexico were laid out at his instigation and under his supervision. For more than forty years he was an active trustee of the Mexico Academy, and was many times president of the board. He was active and conspicu- ous in the erection of the present Academy edifice, upon which his name stands engraved as one of the building committee. Through his energy and persistence, with that of others, in making liberal contributions, and in the solicitatlon of funds, the Academy building was completed free from debt.

Dr. Bowen was a true gentleman of the old school. Fearless and outspoken, free from hypocrisy, his judgment upon important subjects was rapidly formed and fol- lowed by instant action. He took part in many local contests, and fought his battles with great vigor to a clear victory or an honorable defeat. He was never a com- promiser in either politics or morals. Tall and commanding in personal appearance, dignified and courtly in demeanor, he was a conspicuous figure in the community and an exemplar of business integrity and social purity.

Dr. Bowen was married on May 14, 1829, to Julia Haskin, of Pittstown, Rens- selaer county, and had but one child, Frances, who is the wife of George G. French, of Mexico. Dr. Bowen died at Mexico, on the 12th day of March, 1878.

GEORGE G. FRENCH

WAS born in Pulaski, Oswego county, N. Y., on the 20th day of August, in the year 1827. He comes of Puritan ancestry, from England, who settled in Massachusetts before the Revolution, and removed thence to Vermont, and thence to New York

BIOGRAPHICAL.

State in the counties of Jefferson and Oswego. In 1845 Mr. French attended the Mexico Academy, maintaining himself in his academic course and in acquiring his profession, by teaching a country district school, boarding around among its patrons, and by manual labor during the vacations, thus earning less than one hundred dollars during less than one-half the year, from which he paid for his board, clothing, tuition, and other necessary expenses during the remainder of the year. Ever since the close of his studies he has been a resident of the village or Mexico. In May, 1851, he was admitted to practice law in the courts of this State. He had been an earnest and persistent student, was an industrious and thorough lawyer, and soon acquired a lucrative practice in his profession. He held the office of district attorney of Oswego county from 1859 to 1863, administering its responsible duties with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the public. He however, soon withdrew from active politics and devoted his time and energies wholly to his profession. After thirty years successful practice as a lawyer, in the courts of this State and of the United States, and after being engaged in many famous and important cases, his private and per- sonal affairs required so much of his time that he withdrew from active practice as a lawyer. He was formerly proprietor of a majority of the capital stock, and with Leonard Ames of Oswego, managed for many years the affairs of the Second National Bank of that city until they finally sold their stock to the present managers of that institution. Since that time he has been proprietor of the Mexico Banking Office at Mexico, N. Y. In all of these private and public capacities Mr. French has, by his natural and acquired abilities as an attorney and a business man, by his unimpeach- able integrity, and his genial temperament, won the esteem of his fellow citizens, with whom he has come in contact.

Mr. French was married on May 3, 1853, to Frances Bowen, only daughter of the late Dr. Benjamin E. Bowen. They have three children, viz .: Julia F., the wife of Dr. George R. Metcalf of St. Paul, Minn .; Mary T., wife of Dr. Frederic W. Gardi- ner, of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; and Fred E. French, an attorney-at-law, who resides at Mexico, N. Y., but is engaged in extensive business relations in Minnesota and North Dakota, which occupy a large portion of his time.

THE FARMAN GENEALOGY.

ROSWELL FARMAN, eldest son of John and Rebecca (Chamberlain) Farman, or Foreman, as the name was formerly written, wasborn in Newbury, Vt. (then N. H.), March 20, 1765.

His father, John, was born September 16, 1739, in Maryland, and was a descendant in the fourth generation from Robert Foreman, a planter, who settled near Annapo- lis, Md., in 1674. John was a volunteer in the old French war, and served in the British army from 1756 to 1763. He came by the way of the Hudson, the Mohawk, Oneida Lake and Oswego River, to Oswego, where he was stationed a considerable time. In 1760 he descended the St. Lawrence, in the general movement upon Mon- treal, and in 1763 he went through the forest to New England, and settled and mar- ried in Newbury, Vt.

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

Roswell moved, in his early childhood, with his father to Bath, N. H., where he resided until 1803, when he came to Vernon, Oneida county, N. Y., and three years later, in 1806, to New Haven, then a part of the town of Mexico, where he resided until his death, October 17, 1839.

He was married three times. He married first Ruth Turner, by whom he had two daughters, neither of whom ever resided in New Haven. For his second wife he married Abiah Hutchins, of Bath, N. H., who died in New Haven, N. Y., September 9, 1809. By her he had five children, one daughter and four sons, all born in Bath, N. H., viz:

I. Zadok, born April 24, 1791, died at New Haven, N. Y., April 9, 1854.

II. Ruth, born July 18, 1794, married William Taylor, had five sons and one daughter, and died in New Haven in November, 1827.

III. Richard, born August 5, 1796, resided after his maturity, for some years, in Augusta, N. Y., and then in New Haven until 1838, when he removed to Lyons, Mich., where he died August 25, 1862. There are a large number of his descendants in that and other States.

IV. Mitchell Hutchins, born May 24, 1799, lived in New Haven until 1871, when he removed to Hillsdale, Mich., where he died February 1, 1873. He was twice married, but left no descendants.

V. Truman, born March 16, 1801, resided in New Haven until 1842, and died in Gelroy, Cal., February 28, 1890, aged eighty-nine years. He left two sons surviving him, and a considerable number of other descendants.

Roswell Farman's third wife was Polly Wheeler, who died in New Haven, N. Y., September 1, 1860, aged eighty-eight years. By her he had one son, George Wash- ington, born July 4, 1812, and still living in the village of New Haven.

Zadoc Farman, the oldest son of Roswell, married, March 8, 1814, Martha Dix, daughter of Charles Dix of Vernon, Oneida county, N. Y. She died in New Haven, December 23, 1863.

They had six children, two daughters and four sons, all of whom, except the eldest, a daughter, were born in the house, three-fourths of a mile west of New Haven vil- lage, now, and since the death of Mrs. Farman, owned by Charles Davis. The daughters died, one in infancy, and the other at the age of nineteen. The sons all lived to have families and were as follows:

I. Charles Dix Farman, born November 11, 1820, married in New Haven, re- moved to Gainesville, Wyoming county, N. Y., where he died January 7, 1889. He was a man of prominence in his locality, was several times supervisor of his town, and died leaving a handsome property to his three sons and a daughter.

II. Henry Farman, born March 14, 1823.

On arriving at the age of twenty-one he removed to Augusta, Oneida county, N. Y., where he still resides. Previous to that time he had taught school two winters, and afterwards he continued teaching for a number of winters and managed a farm in the summer. He has been many years a justice of the peace and general legal ad- viser of people in his section, and largely engaged in the settlement of estates of de- ceased persons. He has accumulated a large fortune for a rural section. He is, in religion, a Methodist and has given liberally for the maintenance of the educational and religious work of that denomination. He hasspent some time traveling in Europe

E. & Farman.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

and the Orient. He married Fanny Shepard, daughter of the late Hon. Riley Shep- ard of Knoxboro, N. Y., and has one son living.

III. Elbert Eli Farman (for a sketch of his life see below).

IV. Samuel Ara Farman, born December 6, 1835.

When a young man he commenced business as a merchant at Fillmore, N. Y., and was appointed postmaster at that place by President Lincoln. Soon afterwards he entered the army as a first lieutenant, in the 130th Regiment of New York Volunteer Infantry. which regiment was afterwards transferred to the cavalry service, and des- ignated as the First New York Dragoons. He served with efficiency, and for about one year was acting quartermaster of his regiment, the duties of which position he performed to the full satisfaction of his superiors, his fellow officers, and the private soldiers. After returning home he was many years a merchant at Hermitage, N. Y., and now resides at Fillmore, N. Y. He is married and has one son.

ELBERT ELI FARMAN.

ELBERT ELI FARMAN, jurist and formerly Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Cairo, and late Judge of the mixed Tribunals, or International Courts of Egypt, was born at New Haven, Oswego county, New York, April 23, 1831. On the paternal side he is descended from an old Maryland family of planters, that settled near An- napolis, in 1674; and on his maternal side from Leonard Dix, one of the original settlers of Wethersfield, Conn., and from Thomas Wells, also one of the settlers of that town (1635), and the first Colonial Treasurer of Connecticut, and afterwards, Sec- retary, Deputy Governor and Governor of that colony, and twenty-four years one of the Judges of the General Court, and the writer, and one of the enactors, in 1642, of the severe criminal statutes, that have given rise to the tradition of the existence of a. criminal code, commonly called the " Blue Laws."

Mr. Farman prepared for college at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, and gradu - ated at Amherst, Mass., in 1855, and three years later received his degree of A. M.

Immediately on leaving college he took an active part in public political discussions and soon became an effective campaign speaker, and made in the campaign of 1856 in Oswego county, and its vicinity, forty speeches for Fremont. He studied law at Warsaw, N. Y., and was admitted to practice in 1858. From 1865 to 1867 he trav- eled and studied in Europe. On his return, in January 1868, he was appointed, by Governor Fenton, District Attorney for Wyoming county, and elected for the two following terms tothe same position, serving until 1875. In March, 1876, he was ap- pointed by General Grant, Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Cairo, Egypt. He held this position until the 1st of July, 1881, when President Garfield, on the last day of his public service, on the personal recommendation of the Hon. James G. Blaine, designated him as one of the Judges of the Mixed Tribunals of Egypt. This was a life position, with a liberal salary, but he resigned in the fall of 1884, and re- turned to the United States, and took an active part in the campaign of that year. In 1880, while holding the position of Agent and Consul General, Mr. Farman and the Hon. Geo. S. Batcheller were appointed, by President Hayes, delegates, on the

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

part of the United States, to act on an international commission, instituted to revise the Judicial Codes of Egypt, for the use of the Mixed Tribunals. He was engaged in this work one year. In January, 1883, he was designated by President Arthur as a member of the International Commission, organized to determine the amounts to be paid to the people of Alexandria for damages arising from the riots, bombardment, burning and pillage of that city, in June and July, 1882. This commission examined, in eleven months, over ten thousand claims, and awarded upon them over twenty millions of dollars. During this work he continued to hold his position in the courts, generally sitting one day in a week.

Mr. Farman was our representative in Egypt during the most interesting period of of its modern history. He was in Cairo during those eventful times that led to the dethronement of the Khedive, Ismaïl Pasha, and the installation, in his place, of his son Tewfik, and, afterwards, he witnessed the riots at Alexandria, and the bombard- ment and burning of that city.

When General Grant visited Egypt Mr. Farman presented him to the Khedive, and acted as interpreter at all their interviews. He also accompanied the general on his famous voyage of the Nile.

While Consul General he sent to the department at Washington voluminous re- ports upon the agriculture, people, commerce, politics and finance of Egypt, many of which have been published. By direction of the Department of State at Washington, made at his suggestion, he negotiated with Egypt a treaty, relating to the extinction of the slave traffic in that country, and its provinces. Although this treaty was com- pleted and verbally assented to by the Egyptian government, it failed of execution on account of a sudden change of the ministry. He took, in other ways, a deep in- terest in the condition of the slaves in that country, and on his application and through his personal efforts, in their behalf, at different times, fifteen slaves were liberated by the government, on the ground of their ill treatment by their owners. He suc- cessfully conducted the negotiations for the increase of the number of American judges in the Mixed Tribunals, and the Hon. Philip H. Morgan, afterwards U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary, and Envoy Extraordinary to Mexico, was appointed to the position thus created. He also conducted the negotiations for the obelisk, and to his friendly personal relations with the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, and the members of this ministry, and his diplomatic skill, New York city is indebted for the gift of that an- cient monument.

Mr. Farman also made while in Egypt extensive collections of ancient coins, scar- abæi, bronzes, objects in porcelain, and other antiquities, which he has since classi- fied. Some of these collections are loaned to and are now on exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

In 1882 Amherst College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. On his leaving Egypt he received from the Khedive the decoration of "Grand Officer of the Imperial Order of the Medjidieh," a distinction rarely conferred.

In politics Mr. Farman has always been an ardent Republican. He is a member of the Union League Club of New York, of the Society of Sons of the Revolution, and of the New York Bar Association. He has been twice married. His first wife was Lois Parker, a niece of the eminent Presbyterian divine, the late Rev. Joel Parker D.D., of New York city.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

He married for his second wife, in 1883, Adelaide F. Frisbie, daughter of the Hon. David H. Frisbie of Galesburg. Ill., and has three children.

Since his return from Egypt he has delivered an occasional lecture, and made polit- ical speeches, but has been principally engaged in the management of his private affairs.

WILLIAM FITCH ALLEN.

WILLIAM FITCH ALLEN, oldest son of Abner Harry Allen and Cynthia Palmer, his wife, was born in the county of Windham, Conn., on July 28, 1808. His parents re- moved to Schenectady county, N. Y., in the year 1814. In 1826 he graduated at Union College, and soon afterward commenced the study of law with the Hon. John C. Wright, and finished his studies with C. M. and E. S. Lee, in the city of Roch- ester. In August, 1829, he was admitted to the bar, and in the following month began the practice of his profession in Oswego, in partnership with Hon. George Fisher, then about to take his seat in Cougress as the representative of the district, composed of the counties of Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence. Mr. Fisher retired from the practice of his profession in 1833, and in 1834 a partnership was formed by Mr. Allen and Hon. Abram P. Grant, which continued until the election of the former to the: bench of the Supreme Court in 1847. He held various village, town, and county of- fices, and for several years officiated as Supreme Court commissioner, and master and! examiner in chancery.

He served in the Legislature of this State as one of the representatives of this: county during the session of 1843 and 1844, at the first session acting as chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, and at the last as chairman of the Judiciary Com- mittee. In April, 1845, he was appointed by President Polk as attorney of the United States for the Northern District of New York, which office he resigned on taking his; seat as justice of the Supreme Court in 1847.

In May, 1847, he was elected to the office of justice of the Supreme Court, and of- ficiated in that capacity until 1863. While thus serving on the bench he was placed in nomination by the convention for the office of governor of the State of New York, but he declined the nomination, choosing to remain on the bench, which he adorned by his wisdom, learning and impartiality. In 1863 he was the candidate of the Dem- ocratic party for the office of judge of the Court of Appeals. In the following year he removed to New York city and engaged in the practice of law as counsel only, and remained in that city until his removal to Albany to enter upon the duties of comptroller, to which he was elected in November, 1867. He was re-elected to the same office in 1869. He resigned the office in July, 1870, to take the office of associ- ate judge of the Court of Appeals, to which he was chosen in May, 1870. His term in this office would have expired in December, 1878, but it was shortened by his death, which took place on June 3, 1878. He received the degree of LL.D. from Hamilton College in 1857, and from Union College in 1864.

On the day following the death of Judge of Allen. Sanford E. Church, then chief judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, read a paper upon the death of his fellow member of the court, in which he reviewed the various public stations

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

to which Judge Allen had been called, down to the time of his election as associate judge of he Court of Appeals, and concluded as follows:

"We cannot on this occasion enter into a proper consideration of the judicial char- acter and labors of the distinguished judge who but a few days since sat with us on the bench, and whose loss will be felt and deplored not by the bench and bar of the State alone, but by the whole country. The first thirty-nine volumes of Barbour's Reports contain the published opinions of Judge Allen, pronounced by him while a judge of the Supreme Court. They attest his eminent ability, the fullness of his learning, a firm, intelligent and comprehensive grasp of the most difficult questions in the law, and the wisdom which he brought to bear in adjusting a new system of prac- tice and procedure to the solution of legal controversies. The same qualities which distinguished him in the Supreme Court marked his judicial labors in the Court of Appeals. He was fertile in resource, patient and laborious in the investigation of causes, and unswerving in his adherence to his convictions. His knowledge of con- stitutional and commercial law, and his clear apprehension of their principles were especially conspicuous. Some of us have been intimately associated with him on the bench of this court since its organization, eight years ago, and others for lesser periods, and we unite in bearing testimony to his great qualities as a judge, to the facility with which he could comprehend and formulate the principles applicable to the most difficult and complicated cases, to his untiring industry and conscientious performance of his duty, and above all, to his independence of judicial judgment, and the fearless- ness with which he adhered to and enforced his conviction of right. We never knew him to be influenced in the slightest degree by any attempt to bring popular preju- dice or flattery to bear upon the judgment of the court. He was not only indepen- dent, but upright and just. He was truly a man of distinction among his contempo- raries; a distinction to be coveted, for it was reached by the qualities which exalt the character, and it took no advantage by false pretensions. Through an extended life he was an honor to his race, to his profession of the law, and to his judicial office ; and just as men are lamenting that the arbitrary provision of the Constitution would soon take him from the bench in the ripeness of his character, his talents and his powers, the Almighty Hand, in its wisdom, has removed him from earth.

His personal character was of the highest order. He took no step outside the path of a wise sobriety and exemplary rectitude. His judgments and his life were in ac- cord. He was simple and modest, He was kind in nature, affable in intercourse, of warm social impulses, sensible of the claims of his fellows, and prompt in render- ing all the dues of neighborhood. His warm and impulsive nature was held under restraint of reason, and of the religion he professed and practiced."

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 87

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410