Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 89

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

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Returning to Oswego at the close of his term of service, he resumed teaching for two years, regretfully abandoning his desire for a collegiate education. The follow- ing six years were passed by him as bookkeeper in the Lake Ontario Bank, succeeded by six years in the same capacity for a large lumber firm. Finding himself now in circumstances that justified his engaging in business on his own account, he joined with Charles W. Smith to form the firm of Smith & Stowell, lumber dealers, which connection continued three years to 1876.

Leaving the lumber business Mr. Stowell became associated with Messrs. Cheney Ames and Coman C. Ames in the grain and milling industry, which continued three years, which brought to a close his connection with trade and manufacturing.

In politics he has always been an earnest Republican, and before the year last named had become well known in the local councils of the party, where his knowl. edge of the field and grasp of the situation when important issues were at stake, gave him deserved prominence. His official life began with three terms as school com- missioner. In the fall of 1879 he was given the nomination for the office of county clerk, was elected by a handsome majority and served three years, 1880-82. Mean · while in consonance with his natural liking and his more recent associations, he be- gan studying law in 1878 with B. F. Chase, now of the city of Chicago In the spring of 1883 he was admitted to the bar at Rochester and opened an office in Oswego. His practice was commensurate in extent with his expectations and his success gratify- ing to himself and his friends. In the fall of 1887 he was nominated and elected district attorney, in which office he served three years to the satisfaction of the bar and the people of the county; receiving a renomination, he was, in the uncertainty. that often prevails in local politics, defeated. Resuming his practice he continued until the fall of 1892 when he was further honored by his fellow citizens with the nomination and election to the office of county judge, in which he is now serving his third year, with marked favor,

The professional career of Judge Stowell is one of the seldom occurring examples of success following the beginning of an entirely new calling in middle life. He was forty years old when he began the study of the law, and it was five years later before he was admitted to practice. Within the succeeding ten years he had risen to the highest county judicial office. While this result may, perhaps, be creditable to some extent to the fact of his having rendered valuable military and political services, it

BIOGRAPHICAL.

is nevertheless true that it is far more largely due to his exceptional fitness for the office ; the qualifications acquired through the most energetic, persistent and un- flagging study, with such other fitting attributes as are his by nature. If he is not classed among the more brilliant lawyers whose greatest success is attained through eloquence before court and jury, Judge Stowell is accorded the confidence of his pro- fessional associates in his knowledge of the law, his fairness and impartiality as a judge, while as a man he is esteemed by the entire community. He is a member of the Congregational church of Oswego, and is ever found ready to turn his hand to good works.

Judge Stowell married in 1863 Melinda W. Everts, of Mexico, daughter of Fred- erick Everts. They have four children, one son and three daughters, all of whom are living.

SIDNEY SHEPARD.

SIDNEY SHEPARD was born in the village of Cobleskill, Schoharie county, N. Y., September 28, 1814, and died in the town of New Haven, Oswego county, December 26, 1893. The period of seventy-nine years between these dates covered the life of a successful man-a life replete with indomitable activity, honorable purpose, and lasting usefulness. Such a career is worthy of emulation and a fitting example for future generations.

Mr. Shepard was descended in a long and honorable line of ancestry from Ralph Shepard, Puritan, who emigrated to America from England in 1635; and on his mother's side from William Hamilton, a Scot, who came over from Glasgow in 1668. His maternal grandfather, Hosea Hamilton, was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war and a personal friend of George Washington. His own father, Jesse Shepard, a phy- sician, practiced his profession for many years in and around Cobleskill. From these ancestors young Sidney inherited a vigorous nature, a strong intellectuality, an up- right character, and a robust constitution. His earlier life was not unlike that of the average country lad of that period. His rudimentary education being necessarily limited to the common district schools, his knowledge of books was consequently meagre, but in after years he amply repaired the disadvantages of youth by syste- matic reading and extended travel. Possessing an alert and retentive memory, and being withal a close observer, he was a shrewd judge of human nature, an accom- plishment that materially aided him throughout a long, eventful life. At the early age of fourteen he found his first employment as a clerk in a hardware store in Dans- ville, N. Y., where he was quick to learn and faithful to duty. traits which character- ized him ever afterward. The liking he then and there acquired for the hardware trade, decided his vocation. After a similar experience in Rochester, he went to Bath, N. Y., in 1831, and for three years was associated in business with his brother. In 1835, while yet not twenty-one years of age, he made his first venture by purchas- ing a hardware store in that village. Honest in all transactions, energetically de- voting himself to business, resolute in a determination to make his own way, he was successful from the very beginning, and the five years there brought him a little capital.

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

But he aimed higher. In 1836 he removed to Buffalo and bought an interest in a hardware store, the oldest business house in that city, changing the firm name to Crane & Shepard. The next year he became sole owner under his own name, and soon afterward the firm of Sidney Shepard & Co. was formed. A manufactory of sheet metal ware was added, and before ten years had passed an immense business was thoroughly established. A large wholesale trade was built up, not only in Buf- falo, but in adjacent sections of the country. Mr. Shepard made several prolonged trips into the then comparatively uninhabited Western States, opening branch houses in Detroit and Milwaukee, and even carried his enterprise into the South. This was done gradually and steadily, with a purpose and zeal born of laudable ambition. In 1849 he became proprietor of the Shepard Iron Works in Buffalo, and thereafter con- stantly added to his undertakings. The firm eventually became one of the largest importers of tin plate, manufacturers of stamped metal ware, and dealers in hardware and tinners' supplies in the Union. Nor was his activity confined to these industries alone. Accumulating means, and early realizing the advantages of the electric tele- graph to merchants and others, he personally promoted several pioneer lines in the West, and became one of the largest stockholders in the Western Union Telegraph Company upon the consolidation of the earlier lines, being one of its directors until a few weeks before his death, when he resigned. He was also for many years a heavy stockholder and director in the Alabama Central, the Mobile and Ohio, and the New Jersey Central railroads, and was prominently interested in numerous other enterprises. He was frequently offered, but accepted few positions of trust, pre- ferring to concentrate his energies and means largely upon the development and maintenance of the extensive business he had founded. Yet he was, emphatically, a public spirited citizen and liberally encouraged every movement looking toward the betterment of humanity.

His success was due to a good name, a clear head, a sound judgment, an untiring energy, combined with perseverance and singleness of purpose. He possessed a rare business ability and a capacity for organization which almost amounted to gen- ius. Endowed with a faculty for keen observation, a courage equal to any emer- gency, and a strong faith in things divine, he was ever the true and noble man, the respected citizen, and the sincere Christian gentleman. For twenty-five years he was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Buffalo, to which, as well as to numerous other charitable institutions, notably the General Hospital, the Orphan Asylum, and the Home for the Friendless, of that city, he was a generous and fre- quent benefactor. In 1865 he relinquished the active management of his business, and for several years thereafter traveled with his family in foreign countries, visiting nearly every capital in Europe, besides Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Holy Land. Upon their return they settled in the spacious and handsome homestead of his wife in the village of New Haven, Oswego county, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1885 he transferred to his son Charles Sidney, now the only survivor of a family of three children, his interest in the firms of Sidney Shepard & Co. of Buffalo and C. Sidney Shepard & Co. of Chicago.

On the 12th of June, 1851, Mr. Shepard married in Buffalo Miss Elizabeth De All- gelis, daughter of Chester R. Wells (elsewhere mentioned in this volume) a lady of rare personal charms and accomplishments. Their children were Elizabeth Wells, who died at the age of ten years; Charles Sidney, and Ralph Hamilton.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Ralph Hamilton Shepard was born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, October 15, 1867, and his infant tongue first learned French and German. For eight years he spent the summers in New Haven, N. Y., and the winters in New York city or the South In 1879 he passed six months in Dresden, where he pursued his German studies in the family of Rev. Dr. Sauer and in close companionship with Counts Castel and Otto von Plessens; the next year he visited Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Roumania, and other historic places, returning to America in the autumn of 1880. He prepared for college at Oswego and Buffalo and passed his entrance examinations at Harvard in 1887, after which he again went abroad, studying German and Italian. Returning in April, 1888, he entered Har- vard University in the fall of that year and was graduated with honors in 1892, re- ceiving the appointment as one of the five commencement orators in a class of over 200 men. This selection was really a brilliant honor. The remainder of his life was mainly spent in New Haven, N. Y., where, after nine weary months of suffering, he died on August 17, 1894, in the first bloom of his manly career. Delicate in physical con- stitution, but endowed with a mind of rare conception, he evinced the instincts of a scholar and the attributes of a master. He was one of the brightest men of Harvard, and during his brief life acquired a reputation in modern literature and history and as a graceful and forcible writer. He produced many articles worthy a master's hand, covering a wide range of subjects, and but for his early death an honorable and probably a brilliant future in the world of letters was within his grasp. His most important work was a monograph on "Ralph Shepard, Puritan," in which he showed tireless research and thoroughness. This was for private circulation, and entailed the examination of numerous manuscripts and letters. Early in 1892 he was one of sixteen sterling young men to band themselves together for mental social im- provement and to re-establish Iota Charge of Theta Delta Chi, of which his was the first death that fraternal chapter was called upon to deplore. His most enduring at- tribute, however, was the sincerity of his manly Christian life, which he beautifully and appropriately expressed by a legacy of several thousand dollars to his alma mater "for the carrying on of religious work in Harvard College." Never before did a young graduate leave to that institution a similar bequest; the monument thus founded perpetuates his good name, and the example of his life should and will guide others to the same Christian service and its rewards.

CHESTER ROBBINS WELLS.

CHESTER ROBBINS WELLS was born September 8, 1799, in Hartford, Conn., and died August 9, 1867, in New Haven, Oswego county, N. Y. At the former place his ancestors had lived since the early colonial days, Thomas Welles, from whom he was directly descended and who was one of the first governors of Connecticut, having settled there after coming from England with Lord Sayles in 1636. On his mother's side he was descended from the Griswolds, and it was Mr. Wells's just pride that his great-grandmother was Mary Griswold, one of the heroines of the Revolution. He was the son of Captain Elisha Welles, who was with George Washington at Valley

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

Forge, and of his wife, Mary Griswold, born either in Hartford, or near Saybrook, Conn. After teaching for several years, and not seeming strong enough for a life of such confinement, he ventured in 1826 into what was then the comparatively unset- tled region of Northern New York, moving from Trenton, Oneida county, to New Haven. When still a young man he married Miss Hannah Le Moyne De Angelis, daughter of Judge Pascal Charles Joseph De Angelis, of Holland Patent, N. Y.

His wife's family was, on her father's side, of noble Italian and French descent, being allied by the latter to the famous Generals Iberville and Iturbide Le Moyne, who founded New Orleans, and on the other side to the well known Webbs of Rev- olutionary and pre-Revolutionary days.

His sons were William Chester and Charles; his daughter, Elizabeth De Angeles, became the wife of Sidney Shepard of Buffalo, N. Y.

He was remarkable for his sweet humility. His son-in-law, Sidney Shepard, said repeatedly that he considered him the most honest man, with the purest character, of any he had ever known, and that his children might be justly proud of such par- entage. Eminently true and lovable in all his ways, Mr. Wells won that esteem of his fellow men, which, though in a comparatively narrow circle, was a fitting tribute. to a high souled and noble minded Christian.

WILLIAM JAMES BULGER.

WILLIAM J. BULGER was born in the town of Volney, near the village of Fulton .. Oswego county, N. Y., on May 27, 1857. His father, the late Patrick Bulger. was. the son of a well-to-do farmer in the east of Ireland, and was born in Castle Comer, Queens county, on August 17, 1806. In 1844 Patrick Bulger, who was possessed of some means, came to the United States, bringing with him his wife, who was the. daughter of a prosperous neighbor in the old country. Mrs. Bulger, previous to marriage Miss Bridget Murphy, was an accomplished and cultivated lady, having a thorough education in the excellent schools of her native place, which was finished at the Dublin Seminary. She was a woman of high character, as well as fine education, and proved an inspiring and faithful help-meet to her husband in his- manly efforts to found a home and rear a family in the new world. With a keen appreciation of the advantages of the district Mr. Bulger, shortly after his arrival in America, purchased a farm in the town of Volney, where he remained for a number of years, and was regarded as one of the most prosperous farmers in that section of the State. About ten years prior to his death he disposed of his farming interests in that locality and set about to find a place to spend the remainder of his days. He: then purchased a farm, charmingly situated on the west bank of the Oswego River, about five miles distant from Oswego, which is one of the finest and most beautifully located in this section of the State, and is still owned by heirs of Mr. Bulger. Skilled in agriculture and having sufficient means át his command to enable him to carry out his ideas, Mr. Bulger conducted his farming interests successfully and added largely to his worldly possessions. His family consisted of five children, one- of whom, the eldest, died in infancy in the old country. The remaining four were.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

brought up under benign home influences, with a devoted Christian mother to super- vise their education, and with every comfort at their command. Mrs. Bulger died October 20, 1879, and was followed by her husband August 3, 1881. The four children who still survive them are the Hon. P. F. Bulger, of Utica, formerly for twelve years recorder of that city; the Hon. C. N. Bulger, who has held the office of recorder of the city of Oswego since the year 1882; Dr. Bulger, the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. M. Hennessey.

Dr. Bulger was the youngest child of his parents. In his youth he was afforded good educational advantages. After finishing the ordinary school studies he took a course at the Falley Seminary in Fulton, after which he took a course at the State Normal School in Oswego. Deciding to adopt the profession of medicine, he began medical studies under Dr. Ira L. Jones, of Minetto, N. Y., and afterwards was a pupil of the late Dr. James A. Milne, of Oswego. In 1879 he entered Long Island College Hospital at Brooklyn, and after a year of study in that splendidly equipped institution entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he remained a year, when he returned to Long Island College Hospital as the assistant of the noted anatomist, Dr. Carden L. Ford, and graduated from that institution June 15, 1882. Well qualified to begin his life work he now returned. to Oswego and entered into partnership with his former preceptor, the late Dr .. Milne, which partnership was continued until a short time prior to the latter's death: in 1886. Thorough in his attainments, a conscientious student and a close observer,. Dr. Bulger has steadily advanced to a leading position among his professional brethren, and is now recognized as the peer of any physician in Oswego, and the: most skillful surgeon in the city. His practice extends to people in all walks of life,. for the confidence reposed in his ability and skill is shared alike by the wealthy and. the humble, the learned and the unlearned. No medical man in Oswego is held in higher regard by the profession, and few, if any, hold a higher place in the public. esteem. Some of the most difficult cases which have occurred during his residence: in Oswego have been successfully treated by Dr. Bulger, and in late years cases un -. usually severe or presenting uncommon complications, are always sent to him for' treatment. His attainments are not limited to scientific subjects, but are of a broad. and comprehensive character, which befit the advanced professional man of modern times and embrace nearly all branches of polite learning.

Outside of his profession Dr. Bulger has always shown active public spirit and a desire to aid in advancing the material as well as the social welfare of his city. Be- lieving that every citizen has duties of a public character which cannot conscientiously be neglected, he has, particularly in recent years, made his influence felt in the local political field as a Democrat of enlightened views. A personal admirer of President Cleveland, and believing in the political principles that have governed his public acts, Dr. Bulger has during the past five years been a leader of that section of the Democratic party in Oswego which has adhered to the president as against the op- posing faction. For his political services he has received conspicuous recognition.

In 1892 he was nominated for the office of mayor of Oswego by the Cleveland Democrats. The strife in local politics was then at white heat, and in order to de- feat the Cleveland faction many of the opposing Democratic faction united with the Republicans and succeeded in defeating Dr. Bulger and electing a Republican F

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

mayor by a plurality of thirty-four votes. In the following year he was again nominated, and the followers of David B. Hill put up no candidate. The cam- paign was an active one and Dr. Bulger's popularity is shown in the resulting election by a majority of about 600. His administration was a successful one and gave satisfaction to the people, in spite of the fact that the Republicans and Hill Democrats in the Council combined in opposition to many measures that were necessary for the good government of the city. While holding this office Dr. Bulger was appointed by President Cleveland collector of customs for the Oswego District, and is still administering the office. In the spring of 1894 he again received the nomination for mayor and received further evidences of popularity with the people, but with two candidates against him, and the opposing Democratic faction acting as in 1892, he was defeated by a plurality of eleven (11) votes, and a Republi- can mayor elected.

Dr. Bulger and his wife are prominent in the social life of Oswego, and their hospitable home is often open to their friends. Dr. Bulger's most conspicuous per- sonal traits of character are his aggressiveness in affairs in which he is deeply inter- ested ; a rugged integrity ; and a temperament which prompts him to sociability and to meet all with whom he comes in contact upon the broad plane of humanity.

Dr. Bulger married on August 26, 1883, Miss Mary Cusick; they had one child, a boy named Charles William Bulger, who died at the age of fourteen months.

ORVILLE ROBINSON

WAS born on the 28th of October, 1801, at Richfield, Otsego county, N. Y. His par- ents emigrated from New England at the close of the Revolutionary war to the far west, and took up their abode in the wilds of Otsego county. His early years were spent amid the hardships and privations of pioneer life. The only aid he received in acquiring an education was from the scanty and precarious instruction of the com- mon school. His own energy and diligence did the rest. But in the struggles against these adverse circumstances of his youth, habits of industry and self-denial were formed and a vigor of body and mind, and a strength and firmness of character were developed, which distinguished him in after years and enabled him to outstrip, in the prizes of life, many of his contemporaries who had enjoyed the advantages of the academy and the college.

When about twenty-one years of age Mr. Robinson began the study of the law in the office of the late Veeder Greene, at Brighton, and finished his legal clerkship in the office of the late Daniel Gott, at Pompey Hill, in Onondaga county. William H. Shankland, afterwards justice of the Supreme Court for the Sixth Judicial District of New York, was his fellow student in the office of Mr. Gott, and many lawyers who have attained distinction received their legal training about the same time at Pom- pey Hill.

In 1827, at the May term of the Supreme Court held in the city of New York, Mr. Robinson was admitted to practice as an attorney of that court, and in July following he opened a law office in what is now the village of Mexico, Oswego county.

Orville Motion

BIOGRAPHICAL.

On July 7, 1827, he was married to Miss Lucretia Greene, of Richfield, a daughter of Wardwell Greene, and the sister of his first instructor in the law. Mrs. Robin- son was born February 8, 1862, in the county of Schoharie, N. Y. Her father was a native of Rhode Island and a relative of Major-General Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary memory. He was also a soldier in the war of the Revolution, was severely wounded in battle and for many years received a pension from the United States. It may also be stated that both of the grandfathers of Mr. Robinson were citizen soldiers. Both rendered active service in the so-called French war of 1755, and both, as captains of companies, shared in the struggles of the American Revolu- tiou. It might be expected that the descendants of such ancestors could not be deaf to the call of their country in her hour of danger. Age had unfitted Mr. Robinson for military service in the late civil war, but his sympathies were with the govern- ment in all lawful efforts to suppress rebellion and maintain the Union, and his con- tributions to that end were freely given. His son, Wardwell G. Robinson, however, closed his law office, took command of the 184th regiment of New York Volunteers, and continued in active service until the close of the war; he is still living in Oswego.

In the first year of Mr. Robinson's residence in Mexico he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, and in the succeeding year to that of town clerk. In 1830 he was appointed by Governor Throop surrogate of Oswego county and continued in that office eight years, having been reappointed by Governor Marcy in 1834. In 1834 and 1836 he represented the county in the Assembly, and when the county became: entitled to two members in 1837, he was again elected as one of them. In the mean! time his professional business had been increasing in extent and importance. He. had been admitted to the highest grades of his profession in the State and Federal: courts, and had attained a prominent position among the lawyers of Central New York.

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 89

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