Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3, Part 12

Author: Anderson, George Baker
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3 > Part 12

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PETER H. BUCKLEY.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

places, last in Cleveland, Ohio, where he died in 1846, his wife dying there in April, 1896.

John Warr received his education in the Rev. John Smith's private academy in Troy, and afterwards entered the employ of R. & J. V. Bosworth, and later was with the firm of Haight & Gillespy for three years. At the age of twenty-one he and Burrows Cure bought out J. V. Bosworth and carried on the grocery business under the firm name of Cure & Warr. Two years later he purchased Mr. Cure's in- terest and continued alone until 1893. He then took in as a partner C. H. Clifton, since which time the firm has been John Warr & Co., and is such at the present time.

In 1859 Mr. Warr was married to Jane Selva, daughter of James Cross and sister of Capt. John A. Cross, for many years captain of police in Troy. His family con- sists of three daughters and two grandsons, Ralph and John Warr.

GEORGE A. STONE.

GEORGE A. STONE was born December 3, 1821, mn Greenfield, Saratoga county, N. Y. Ilis ancestors were Deacon Gregory Stone, of Watertown, Mass., and later of Cambridge, whose fourth son was Deacon Samuel Stone, who married Sarah Stearns, of Watertown, June 7, 1655; she died October 4, 1600, aged sixty five years; he died September 27, 1715. His fourth son was Joseph Stone, who married Sarah Waite, and died in 1702. His second child was Isaac Stone who was born in 1700 and was married July 24, 1722, to Elizabeth Brown, of Sudbury, and moved to Shrewsbury, Mass., about 1726 or 1727, where he was a member of the first Board of Selectmen and a lieutenant, and died April 22, 1776; his widow died in 1794, aged ninety-six. His third child, Jasper Stone, was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., April 30, 1728, and was married April 19, 1755, to Grace Goddard: he died in April, 1802; she died Octo- ber 31, 1815, aged eighty years. Jasper had a brother Nathaniel who removed to Pittsfield, Vt. Nathan Stone, fourth child of Jasper, and grandfather of George A., was born May 6, 1761, at Shrewsbury, Mass,, was graduated in 1783 and entered the army as assistant surgeon; he married Alive Knowlton, of Shrewsbury, April 24, 188, and removed to New Fane. Vt., where he practiced his profession until his death, which occurred March 19, 1839; his wife died November 14, 1865, aged mimety- six years. His son, Edson Stone, father of George A., was born August 2, 1789, at New Fane, Vt., and subsequently moved to and was a merchant in Greenfield, N. Y. ; he married Mary Wood October 18, 1810, and died January 18, 1834; she died March 17, 1843.

George A. Stone received his education in the select and public schools of Broad- albin and Lansingburgh, and afterwards was a clerk in different stores in Lansing- burgh. . Ile came to Troy in 1818 and engaged with the dry goods firm of Loekwood & Orvis as bookkeeper, In 1851 he entered the Troy City Bank as bookkeeper, and in April, 1853, was appointed cashier of the Mutual Bank, In February, 1873, he was appointed cashier of the Troy City National Bank, and on September 28, 1885, was elected president of that bank, which office he still holds.

Ile is a trustee and one of the executive committee of the Troy Savings Bank, a

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trustee of the State Street M. E. church, and was its treasurer fourteen years, and belongs to the Troy and Ionic Clubs. For twenty-five years he has been one of the governors and the treasurer of the Marshall Infirmary. Politically he was originally a Whig, but affiliated with the Republican party upon its organization and has been a staunch supporter of its principles since.

In 1842 he married Mary A. Lockwood, of Lansingburgh, and has one daughter, Mrs. Edmund Clnett, of Troy.

JEREMIAH O'CONNOR, M. D.

DR. JEREMIAH O'CONNOR was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1850, son of John and Bridget (O'Day) O'Connor. His parents came from Ireland in 1846 and settled in Troy. His father served m the war in the 91st N. Y. Vols., and died in 1867 from injuries received while in the service; his mother died in Troy in 1865.

Dr. O'Connor came to the Troy Hospital as a patient in 1865, having so badly in- jured his arm by an accident that it required amputation. He was cared for by the Sisters of the hospital, and his active, inquiring mind made him a favorite with them, and they determined to take charge of his education. Entering the Albany Medical College, he was graduated with honors in 1881. Thereafter he was ap- pointed resident physician at the Troy Hospital and filled that position until 1895, when he was compelled to resign on account of ill health. After his retirement as resident physician, he continued to reside at the hospital and rendered valuable pro- fessional services.

He was a member of the Rensselaer County Medical Society, the Medical Asso- ciation of Troy and Vicinity, the A. O. 11., the Robert Emmet Club and the Emerald Beneficial Association. In 1883 he was appointed police surgeon of Troy, and held that position at the time of his death.

Dr. ('Connor died at the Troy Hospital, October 14, 1896. In a notice of his demise the Troy Times says of him :

" Dr. O'Connor was a man of refined temperament and studious habits. Ile was jovial and his friendships were never broken. Those who knew him loved him, and his unexpected demise will cause regret. The deceased was never married. A meeting of the house staff of the hospital was held when appropriate action was taken on the death."

WALTER A. WOOD.

HON. WALTER ABBOTT WOOD was born in the town of Mason, Hillsboro county, N. II., October 23, 1815, the second son of Aaron and Rebecca (Wright) Wood, of English descent. He died at Iloosick Falls, N. Y. January 15, 1892.

When he was about one year old his parents removed to Rensselaerville, N. Y., where the boy grew to manhood. His education was obtaned in the public schools. His father was a maker of wagons and plows, and in his shop, when not attending

JEREMIAH O'CONNOR, M. D.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

school, the son assisted his father in the manufacture of the utensils named, develop- ing an innate mechanical genius to a remarkable degree, not only in the skill and taste with which he did his work, but in originality of thought and means of execu- tion.

When twenty-one years of age he went to Hoosick Falls and entered the employ of Parsons & Wilder as a blacksmith, where he labored about four years, earning the reputation of being the best workman in the manufactory. From there he went to Nashville, Tenn., and was employed in a carriage manufactory, and after a time re- turned to Hoosick Falls. Here he formed a partnership with John White, as White & Wood, and carried on the manufacture of plows and a general foundry business until the autumn of 1852, when the partnership ceased, and with J. Russell Parsons, he formed the firm of Wood & Parsons, and began the manufacture of mowing and reaping machines, under John HI. Manny's patents, the right of which for the State of New York the new firm had purchased.

This was the modest beginning of the extensive business which in its growth and development has made the names of Walter A. Wood and Hoosick Falls familiar as household words throughout both continents. The following year Mr. Parsons with- drew from the firm, and the business was continued by Mr. Wood alone. le pur- chased the Tremont cotton mills and transformed the same for his uses.

It was at this point in his career that Mr. Wood seems to have found the proper field for his genius. There was ample room for improvement in the erude Manny ma- chine, and to this improvement Mr. Wood devoted his inventive genius, with the result that he secured many patents for devices which so changed the original ma- chine that it was scarcely recognizable in the improved mower and reaper known by the name of Walter A. Wood. From a start of two machines in 1852, an annual sale of 8,000 was reached in 1865, when the business had grown to such proportions that it became necessary to organize the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Company, of which Mr. Wood was the president from its inception to the time of his death.

Without cataloguing a list of the events where the Wood machines were on exhibi- tion and triumphantly carried off the first prizes, we will leave this interesting part of the history of Mr. Wood's success with the statement that more than 1,200 differ- ent prices, including gold and silver medals, have been won by the Wood machines; perhaps the greatest triumph being at the last International Exposition at Paris, in 1880, where the new straw-band binder was exhibited, and where the space occu- pied by the Wood display exceeded that of any other firm in the agricultural machin- ery department.

Mr. Wood's latest efforts were devoted to the perfection of the straw-band and grass-twine binders, designed to replace the expensive twine binder-costing American farmers $15,000,000 annually-and which at the great trial at Joliet, 111., in 1891, proved to be thoroughly successful.

The great benefits to mankind due directly and indirectly to Mr. Wood's genius, industry and enterprise may be partially estimated from the fact that from 1852 to 1891 the output of the establishment increased from two crude machines in the first named year, to 90,000 mowers, reapers and self-binding harvesters in the latter year, and that the total production for the whole period was nearly 1,000,000 machines,

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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.

while the works in which this vast output is manufactured cover nearly forty acres of ground and give employment to nearly 2,000 workmen.

Mr. Wood won his high place as a power for good among men not alone by his mechanical gemus and business enterprise and foresight; he was in every way a noble man. His standard of duty was high and in all the relations of life he lived up to it. None realized this more than his employees, who always found him ready with sympathy, advice and material help to make their lives easier and better. As a citizen he evidenced a publie spirit and interest in the welfare of the community in which he lived, and as well in the country at large, never stinting his time or labor for the public good. He was lacking in no trait that goes to make up the thoroughly good and useful citizen.

Ile was for a number of years president of the village of Hoosick Falls, and several times president of its Board of Education. He was a director of the First National Bank of Hoosick Falls, of which he was one of the organizers. He represented his district in the 46th and 47th Congresses in the House of Representatives, where he did manly service as a Republican. He was a member and semor warden of St. Mark's Episcopal church, to which he was a most liberal contributor.

Mr. Wood was married in 1842 to Miss Bessie A., daughter of Seth Parsons, who bore him two sons, both deceased. She died in 1866, and in [868 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Warren, daughter of the Rev. George Il. Nicholls, D.D. She died January 25, 1893, and is survived by her two children, Walter A. Wood, jr., and Julia N. Wood.

THE MASTERS FAMILY.

The earliest ancestor of this family in America, Nicholas Masters, came from the Island of Guernsey in 1220 and landed at Black Rock, Conn. He married a lady by the name of Elizabeth Shelton, of Farmington, Conn. They had three children, John, Samuel and James, all farmers.

John had one son (John) and a grandson (John), a physician.

Sammel settled in Schachticoke about 1790, and had tive children : Samuel and Nicholas Shelton were two of the sons.

James, son of Nicholas first, married three times; his first wife was Miss Rogers; his second Miss Poucey ; and the third was Mrs. Hull, a widow, the mother of Gen. William Hull and grandmother of Commodore Isaac Hull, the commander of the United States frigate Constitution. James Masters removed from Woodbury, Conn., to Schaghticoke in 1782. He had five children: Nicholas, James, Shelton, Josiah, Elizabeth and Lydia.

James Shelton married for his first wife a Miss Allen; his second wife was Mrs. Cronkhite, a widow. By his first wife he had seven children.

Judge Josiah Masters, son of James, married for his first wife Miss Adams, of Litehfield, Con. ; his second wife was Lucy Hull, of Derby, Conn. ; and his third wife was Ann Smith, of Hamilton, N. Y. He represented the county of Rensselaer in the Legislature from 1997 to 1802, and was representative in Congress from his district from 1806 to 1810. For twenty-five years he was judge of the County Court.

E. SHELTON MASTERS.

FRANK A. MASTERS.

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NIe had seven children: Josiah; Samuel J., born August 1, 1801, died October 12, 1883; Augustus, born April 15, 1807, died August 26, 1881; Eunice, lanthe, Louise and Eliza, Samuel, the second son, died as above stated at Middle Falls, Washing- ton county ; he followed the sea for forty-six years, sailing as captain and traveled all over the world, making no less than ninety voyages to foreign ports-Europe, Asia, Africa and South America; he was at one time U. S. consul to British Guiana. under President Pieree, and in 1855 he was sent out in the U. S. sloop of war Fon- dalia to the Ladrone Islands, to settle an international dispute with Spain.

Elizabeth, daughter of the first named James, was married three times, first to James Mallory ; second to Dr. Jabez Hurd; and third to George Rheab. George Rheab, jr., was a captain in the U. S. army and was taken prisoner at Queenston ; he married Almira Brown, of Rupert, Vt., by whom he had two children.

Lydia, second daughter of the first named James, married Merritt Clark of Oyster River, by whom she had nine children.

Nicholas Masters, second son of James first, married Sally Phelps, of Rupert, Vt., by whom he had two chiklren: Nicholas Merritt, born in Schagh icoke, May 8, 1790, died in Greenwich, N. Y., March 28, 1872; Albert Phelps, born in Schaghticoke, December 10, 1791, died August 10, 1854; the former was the pioneer powder manu- facturer and proprietor of the Schaghtieoke Powder Mills.

Nicholas Merritt Masters married Anna T. Thomas, of Sandy Hill, N. Y., by whom he had two children, as follows: Sarah Ann, born August 23, 1816, died May 15, 1825; John T., born in Troy, March 25, 1819, died January 12, 1894.

John T. Masters married Mary Elizabeth Mowry, of Greenwich, Washington county, N. Y., September 16, 1840, by whom he had four children, as follows: Nich- olas Merritt Mowry, born August 23, 1842, died September 10, 1875; Mary Elizabeth, born August 3, 1845, died May 27, 1854; William Mowry, died September 7, 1846, aged three weeks; Leroy Mowry, born July 24, 1851, died May 5, 1868.

Nicholas Merritt Mowry Masters married, June 6, 1866, Mary Hervey, of Cincinnati, Ohio, by whom he had two children, as follows: Blanche Elizabeth, born March 21, 1867, died Mareb 10, 1869; Maude Hervey, born October 7, 1870, married Walter A. Cottrell, June 29, 1896.

Albert Phelps Masters married Sally Maria Rising, of Rupert, Vt., October 15, 1817, by whom he had four children, as follows; Edward Nicholas, born in Rupert, N't., January 8, 1821, died January 22, 1896; Josiah Rising, born in Rupert, Vt., October 11, 1818, died January 13, 1895; Marshall Merritt, born at Sehaghticoke, August 29, 1823, died November 6, 1858; Anna Maria, born in Schaghticoke, August 29, 1831, married George G. Arnold, of Troy, N. Y., December 16, 1856.

Edward Nicholas Masters married Alice Le Barnes, of Sheffield, Mass., Septem- ber 18, 1850, by whom he had eight children, as follows: William Bliss, born Febru- ary 26, 1852, died July 23, 1861 ; Alice Adelaide, born July 4, 1854; Mary Elizabeth, born December 16, 1856; Ellen Maria, born December 26. 1859, died September 4, 1861; Annie Maria, born October 5, 1862, died September 11, 1863; Edward Bhss, born February 4, 1865; John A., born May 30, 1867; and Albert Marshall, born . April 9, 1869. Edward Nicholas Masters and family removed to Montrose, Colo., in 1890.

Mary Elizabeth Masters (daughter of Edward Nicholas Masters) married Sterling Sherman, of Salem, N. Y.

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Marshall Merritt Masters (born August 29, 1823, died November 6, 1858) married Lucy Mary Benjamin, of Pittstown, N. Y., September 16, 1842, by whom he had three children, namely: Georgiana Maria, born August 30, 1844, and married Calvin B. Lockwood, of Brooklyn, N. Y., April 19, 1870; Francis Albert, born January 16, 1847; and Edward Shelton, born December 16, 18-19.

Francis Albert Masters has one son, Harold L., who was born June 6, 1887, and one daughter, Lney Benjamin, born April 10, 1886, died January 15, 1890. Ile (Francis A.) received a common school education and worked on a farm until he was twenty-one years of age and then came to Troy; he was clerk at various times at the Mansion and American hotels in Troy and the Tifft House in Buffalo, N. Y. In 1878 he became a member of the firm of Marston & Masters in the grocery and pro- vision business, and when Mr. Marston retired in 1887 the firm of Masters Bros. was formed.

Edward Shelton Masters was born in Schaghticoke, N. Y., December 16, 1849. He received his education in the public schools and worked on a farm until 1872, when he came to Troy and engaged in the coal business with E. B. Arnold, where he re- mained until 1876; he then went to Williamsburg, Kansas, where he was engaged in railroad construction and coal mining. In 1880 he returned to Troy and became a member of the firm of Marston & Masters. His first wife was Fanny L. Marston, daughter of Perrin M. Marston, of Troy to whom he was married December 31, 1877; she died July 24, 1887. Ifis present wife was Martha L. Marston, a sister of his first wife, to whom he was married April 17, 1890. His children were Helen Elizabeth, born in Williamsburg, Kansas, December 4, 1878, died in Winfield, Kansas, June 3, 1880; Robert Shelton Masters, born in Troy, N. Y., December 31, 1880, by his first wife; and Perrin M. Masters, born June 22, 1892, by his second wife.

BARENT W. STRYKER.

BARENT W. STRYKER was born on a farm in Gilboa, Sehoharie county, January 6, 1862. He was educated in the common schools and Kingston Academy, after which he taught school for some years. When principal at the Catskill Grammar Schools he resigned to take up the study of law. He studied with Judge Schoonmaker, of Kingston, and Judge Griswold, of Catskill, and was admitted to the bar in 1887, and has an office in the Times building, Troy, Mr. Stryker is an able and eloquent lawyer and not only holds a front place in the profession, but is universally regarded as one of the leading Democrats of this county. He has been president of the vil- lage of Castleton, and has been nominated by his party for senator.

Mr. Stryker's parents were Charles II, and Jane R. (Lamont) Stryker, of Schoharic county. His grandfather was Barent W. Stryker, Mr. Stryker's family originally came from Holland where they have records of fourteen generations prior to 1991. In 1652 some of them came to New York and thence to Sehoharie county. Mr. Stryker is a member of the Holland Society of New York eity, whien city, as well as Brooklyn, contains the names of his ancestors among the leading people.

October 25, 1888, he was married to Miss Mary A. Fincke, daughter of Hannibal Fincke, of Castleton, N. Y. They have three children, Katherine, Gretchen and Barent W., jr.

Sherry F. hason.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

HENRY TOWNSEND NASON.

los. HENRY TOWNSEND NASON is the son of Henry Bradford Nason, LL. D., an eminent chemist and naturalist who was for thirty-six years a professor in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, and Frances K. Townsend, the daughter of Hon. Martin I. Townsend of Troy. He was born August 13, 1865, at Troy, N. Y. He received his rudimentary education in the schools of that city. He spent two years in fitting for college at the Williston Academy in Easthampton, Mass., and then four years at Yale College where he graduated in 1886, having secured a posi- tion for scholarship of above one hundred of his class of about one hundred and forty. Ile attended the Law School of Columbia College in New York from 1886 to 1888 and graduated there. In 1888 he formed a copartnership in the practice of the law at Troy with his grandfather, Hon. Martin 1. Townsend and Hon. Wilham J. Roche, under the firm name of Townsend, Roche & Nason, and diligently pursued the duties of the profession of the law until November 3, 1896, when he was elected county judge of Rensselaer county over his opponent, Hon. James Lansing, by the flattering majority of 3,044 votes. The term of the office is six years, and for that period Mr. Nason will by the constitution be debarred from discharging the duties of a lawyer. Mr. Nason is a very close and diligent student of the law and carly attracted the attention of his associates and chents for scholarship as a lawyer, and this attraction has brought success.

CHARLES E. HICKS.

CHARLES E. Theks was born in the town of Halfmoon, Saratoga county, N. Y., June 13, 1852, and was educated in private and public schools. He entered Stevens Institute at Hoboken, N. J., and took a special course in mathematics and engineer- ing, and has practiced his chosen profession since 1873. He came to Lansingburgh in the spring of 1889 and has been corporation engineer since that date. In the spring of 1895 he formed a partnership with Charles A. Romer, of Troy, under the name of Hicks & Romer at 255 Broadway, Troy, while he retains his residence and a branch office in Lansingburgh; they are doing a successful business. His father was Will- iam and his mother was Harriet Knowlton.

Mr. Hicks was married to Frances R. Knight, of his native town, September 26, 1877; they have four children: Lulu B., W. Grant, Charles K. and Leslie E. The family attend the Baptist church; politically he is a thorough Republican. The an- cestry of his family was Welsh and English, and dates back five hundred years here and in Wales.

JOHN A. CIPPERLY.

JOHN A. Currenty was born in Brunswick, Rensselaer county, N. Y., February S. 1843. Ilis ancestry is traceable to Holland. Ilis father was Barnard J. Cipperly.

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who was also born in Brunswick, in 1996. He was the proprietor of the famous Platestown Hotel for many years, which was a great resort for noted men ; such men as Russell Sage and William A. Beach, of New York, used to summer with him. Ile died in 1869. His wife was Katherine (Burdiet) Cipperly, who was born in 1800; she was the daughter of August Burdiet, of Burnswiek; she died in 1880.

John A. Cipperly attended the common schools, entered Wilbraham Academy at Wilbraham, Mass., in 1857, left there in 1858, then attended the Pittstown Institute, then a flourishing school, until 1861, and from that time on took private instruction. He taught in the public and select schools of the county for six years. He came to Troy in 1862, and studied law with Warren & Bankers and Lottridge & Traver, and was admitted to practice in 1865. Hle formed a copartnership with Alva Traver, which was dissolved in 1872, Mr. Traver retiring to Sand Lake where he died in September, 1896. Ile then was with Judge Strait for nearly ten years. He is now conducting a large and herative general law practice in Troy. He is a member of Zion Lodge, F. & A. M., also a member of the East Side Club.

He was married to Charlotte A. Eddy, of Troy, by whom he has one son, nine years of age.

JAMES F. COWEE.

JAMES F. CowEr was born in Troy, N. Y., September 25, 1811. His father, David Cowce, was a native of Westminster, Mass., and when a young man came to Troy and took a position in the wholesale drug house of J. L. Thompson. He later became a partner in the house, which relation continued for fifty years. He was a director in the manufacturers' Bank, a trustee of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and for many years an elder in the First Presbyterian church. He died in ISSt. His mother, Mary E. (Young) Cowee, was born in Troy, where she is now living.

James F. Cowee was educated in the public and high schools of Troy and entered Williams College in the class of 1865. In 1869 he became a partner in the house of John 1. Thompson, Sons & Co. He is an elder in and trustee of the First Pres- byterian church, a trustee and the treasurer of the Young Men's Association, a mem. ber of Mt. Zion Lodge, F. N. A. M., the Troy Culb, the East Side Club, the lonic Club, and he is a director in the Manufacturers' National Bank.

In 1869 he was married to Louise Denison of Berlin, N. Y., by whom he has one son, Harvey Denison Cowec.

JOHN HUGH KNOX.

JOHN HUGH KNOW was born in Troy, N. Y., October 25, 1815. He is the son of the late John Le Grand and Elizabeth (Sigourney) Knox, prominent in Troy for many years. His father was one of the early settlers of Troy, and married for his first wife the daughter of the late Stephen Warren ; his second wife was Elizabeth Sigourney, of Hartford, Conn., whose father was one of the founders of Trinity College, Hartford, and her mother was the celebrated poetess, Lydia Huntley Sigourney ; she was de-

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Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3, Part 12

Author: Anderson, George Baker Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Anderson, George Baker
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1424