USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3 > Part 13
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JAMES F. COWEE.
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scended from the celebrated Sigourneys, of Huguenot descent, who settled in Boston at an early day. The mother of John L. G. Knox was Mary Cannon, a daughter of Le Grand Cannon, an early settler of Troy. By his second marriage John 1. G. Knox had six children; those living are Charles Sigourney, John I. and James Carter. John L. G. Knox died August 21, 1879, and his wife Elizabeth, May 25, 1885. Charles S, and James C. are head masters of St. Paul's School at Concord, N. II.
John II. Knox graduated from Churchill's Military Academy at Sing Sing, N. Y., in 1869, after which he entered the hardware house of Hannibal Green at Troy where he remained six years, and for a number of years was a salesman for Roy & Co. of West Troy. He went into the insurance and real estate business in 1878, and in 1888 formed a partnership with Mr. Mead, under the firm name of Knox & Mead, which is one of the most extensive houses of the kind in Troy. . It embraces the fol- lowing munerons lines of insurance; fire, life, plate glass, accident, steam boilers, profits, indemnity, tornado, employers' liability, public liability, use and occupancy, and rent insurance.
He belongs to the Troy Club, was one of the organizers of the Laureate Boat Club, and was formerly one of the managers of the Young Men's Association, a member of the Arba Read Steamer Co. ; for a number of years he was a trustee of the Fire Department, and for the past thirty-five years has been prominently identified with the best musical interests of the city. He has been solo basso at St. Paul's, which is his mother church, of St. John's church, and is at present a solo basso at the Church of the Holy Cross. He is one of the founders of the Troy Vocal Society and is at present vice-president of the same. In politics he is a Democrat.
He married Maria Talmadge Farnsworth of Troy, N. Y., September 8, 1878; her grandfather on the maternal side was General Talmadge who at one time was on General Washington's staff; and her great-grandfather was William Floyd, of Long Island, N. Y., prominently identified with the carly history of this country and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. To Mr. and Mrs. Knox have been born two children Elizabeth Sigourney and John Floyd.
S. S. STEVENS.
S. S. Sivens was born in Warwick, Mass., in 1829, son of Nathaniel and Nancy (Stoughton) Stevens, a lumberman, tanner and farmer; his paternal grandfather was one of the minutemen of the Revolutionary war. Mr. Stevens served an appren- ticeship at machine tool work in Worcester, Mass, and for several years was engaged in building and putting up paper mill machinery at Hartford, Conn. He came to North Hoosick in 1869 and purchased an interest in the old factory and became its general manager.
He is the senior member of the firm of Stevens & Thompson, paper manufactu- rers at North Hoosick, and of the Walloomsae Paper Co at Walloomsac; these are among the largest paper mills in the county. Mr. Stevens is himself an expert ma- chinist and has made several important inventions in connection with the manufac- ture of paper, for which he holds letters patent. He has recently completed and put in operation a double roll beating and mixing engine, for which he has applied for a
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patent; the improvement in this engine is considered by experts to be a most valu- able addition to the mechanical appliances for making paper.
Mr. Stevens was married in November, 1857, to Marcia M. Lamberton, of Ware, Mass. ; she is the daughter of Gideon and Lucina (Fuller) Lamberton, farmers, an old family of Scotch descent who had lived many years in that section. Gideon Lamberton lived to the age of ninety three. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have four chil- dren: Mrs. Anna S. Carpenter, Mrs. Lois Cobden, Frank 12 and Fred L. Stevens. In 1873 Mr. Stevens built a palatial home on the hill at North Hoosick.
WILLIAM L. HALL.
WILLIAM LORD HALL, was born in Simsbury, Conn., June 7, 1838. His father, Joseph Nelson Hall, was born in 1809 in Somers, Conn. ; he was of English hneage ; for many years a farmer in Simsbury, afterwards moving to Windsor, Conn., where he died in 1849. His wife was Wealthy Ann (Lord) Hall, born in East Windsor, Conn., August 12, 1812, and is now living in Enfield, Conn. They had a family of three children, of whom William Lord Hall and Mrs. Adelaide D. Woodward are the only ones living.
William L. Hall received a common school and academic education, and when fourteen years of age went to work as a clerk in Windsor, Conn. He came to Troy in 1878 and entered the concern of Miller & Bingham, having a working interest in the firm, and in 1884 he became a member of the firm of Miller, Hall & Hartwell. This firm is one of the most extensive shirt and collar manufacturers in this country. Mr. Hall is a director in the Central National Bank, and in politics is a Republican.
In 1886 he married Lucia Helen Cady, of Bennington. Vt., a daughter of Lewis and Lney (Vaughn) Cady. Mr. and Mrs. Hall attend St. John's Episcopal church of Troy.
DAVID L. SEYMOUR.
DAVID LOWREY SEYMOUR, an eminent lawyer of Rensselaer county, and conspien - ous during the last generation in State and National politics, was born in Wethers- field, Conn., December 2, 1808. His parents, Ashbel Seymour and Mary Lowrey, were descendants of families identified with the settlement and growth of the com- monwealth. The original ancestor of the Seymours, Richard Seymour of Essex- shire, came to Hartford from the Bay Colony in 1635, and was a prominent co-ope- rator with the pious and earnest Hooker in the settlement of the three towns, Hart- ford, Wethersfield and Windsor, which for a period constituted a little State. From this Richard are descended nearly all bearing the name in the United States, a progeny including sevaral governors and members of congress, and a very large number of representatives distinguished in the various fields of theology, law or medicine.
David Lowrey Seymour, after a careful preparation in the local schools, entered
WILLIAM L. HALL.
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Vale College. His powers of application were exceptional, and his mental faculties well developed even as a boy. One of his fellow collegians, still living, in the ses- sion of the State Constitutional Convention of 1867, during the proceedings sng- gested by the death of Mr. Seymour, alluded as follows to the youthful promise of the deceased: "It was well understood that so far as David L. Seymour was con- cerned, in his class he stood pre-eminent as a mathematician, and equal in all other respects in learning with his associates. It was then predicted of him, and talked of among the faculty and students, that life and health being spared to him, his mark would be undoubtedly made in the world." At the graduation of the class in 1596, the prediction of professors and classmates was already vindicated in anticipation, Seymour being given the salutatory, the second honor at Commencement. For at considerable period antecedent to graduation in his academic course, young Sey- mour had selected the legal profession for his life's pursuit. Very soon after receiv- ing his degree, he entered upon his new studies as a member of the Yale Law School, which then, under the principal direction of Hons. David Daggett and Sam- uel J. Hitchcock, two of the most eminent jurists of New England in that day, en . joyed a high reputation throughout the country. In 1828, while still pursuing luis professional course, he was honored by an appointment as tutor from his alma mater, which he accepted, performing his duties for two collegiate years, besides attending the lectures and joining in the forensic exercises of the law school.
In 1830, having finished the law course, and received the most cordial commenda- tion of his instructors, he was admitted to the bar after an exceptionally satisfactory examination and prepared to enter upon an active practice. At that time the com- paratively fresh fields for New England enterprise and talent in Northern and Con- tral New York were attracting general attention, many families having gone from the Connecticut River towns, to the larger and richer territories of the Hudson and Mohawk. The rising village of Troy, then promising to control the head waters of the former river, and monopolize the trade of the whole region as far as the St. Lawrence and the lakes, was especially favored in the regard of adventurous spirits, several of its conspicuous citizens-and notably the Gales and Buells-having origi- nally come from Killingworth and other old towns in the Connecticut Valley. Sey- mour, carefully weighing the reports from various parts of the country, determined to commence his professional career in Troy.
In June, 1830, he found hunself started in business, entering the office of the llon. John P. Cushman, one of the most able and popular counsel of that day in the State. The first two years of his experience, though not altogether desolate so far as pat- ronage was concerned, were especially valuable in the familiarity with the rules and modes of practice they tanght, and the strength they imparted, under associa- tion so favorable to a well poised and equipped intellectual temperament. At the end of this period, Mr. Cushman, justly appreciating the honest aspirations and fine parts of the young lawyer, and requiring a junior, offered him a partnership. So flattering and advantageous a proffer was gladly accepted, and the firm of Cushman & Seymour was formed. From this date Seymour's professional snecess was as- sured.
The firm as originally constituted lasted for many years, until the death of the senior partner, in fact. The local bar at this time comprised a large number of ex- cellent lawyers, including such names as David Buell, jr , Isane MeConihe, Hiram P.
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ITunt, Daniel Hall, Thomas Clowes, and Archibald Bull. In this brilliant coterie Seymour at once was accorded a rank unprecedented for so youthful an advocate. llis thorough knowledge of the old English law, of which he was an ardent and de- voted lover, found him a great favorite with the scholars of the profession, while his cultivated oratory, and clear, incisive rhetoric, secured for him an unusual popu- larity on the rostrum, or before a jury. During the earlier years of their partner- ship, the senior partner was charged with the presentation of all cases of intrinsic importance, but very soon after their association, that experienced advocate had made the discovery that for the preparation of a cause he could fully rely upon the excellent judgment, exact method, and ripe erudition of his younger brother. This was true to the degree that, after a short experience of his associate's thoroughmess in all respects, Mr. Cushman, the leader of the Rensselaer bar, and surpassed by but few in the ranks of jurisprudence of the State, rarely looked at a cause before going into Court, trusting fearlessly to its perfect preparation at the hands of his faithful and indefatigable junior.
Besides, and notwithstanding his devotion to his profession. Mr. Seymour was greatly interested in the politics of the day. The breadth and largeness of his phi- losophy naturally predisposed him to a study of publie questions, whether involy- ing political or social economy. In sympathy his conservative tobe of mind allied him with the Democratic party of the period. Soon after his establishment in Troy his persuasive and logical eloquence, in occasional addresses at public meetings, en- listed the favor of the local politicians, and in 1535 he was urged to accept a non- ination to the Assembly. His candidacy was successful, and his service both on the floor and in committee was so satisfactory to his constituents that a renomination was proffered the succeeding year. Declining a second election, he accepted the office of master in chancery thereupon proffered by the governor, and performed its duties for several years.
In 1812 he was persuaded to re-enter the political field. The Democratic party of the district desiring to pit its utmost popular representative against a very strong candidate of the opposition, tendered to him the nomination for Congress. This nomination was, after careful consideration, accepted by Mr. Seymour, and he went muito the canvas. After a contest of unusual warmth, he was handsomely returned. In December, 1218, at the age of forty years, he took his seat as a member of the Twenty eighth Congress. The tarif question was at that date the principal topic of agitation, and Mr. Seymour's position as a prominent member of the Committee of Ways and Means, to which the bill was referred, made imperative his declaration of policy. In this instance his essential integrity of sentiment and strong individuality was demonstrated in a marked manner. Not satisfied with the views of his asso- ciates of either party on the committee, and unwilling to endorse the free trade dicta of the Democracy, or the protective and almost prohibitory theories of the Whigs, he made a distinet and independent report, embodying his own views in favor of a discriminating system, that would have encouraged industry, while not crushing out the commercial interests.
During this session the annexation of Texas was likewise a theme of grave dis- cussion. Mr. Seymour developed a kindred individuality in his treatment of this question, opposing the measures contemplated by the joint resolution of Congress as infringing upon constitutional reservations, but finally voting in favor of the
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amended bill as it came from the Senate. Mr. Seymour was chairman of the Com- mittee on Revolutionary Clams, and the author of the bill of January, 1844, extend- ing the scope of the pension laws in a manner to embrace many meritorious cases previously unprovided for.
In the fall of 18H, at the expiration of his first term, he was agam the candidate of his party, but through the action of the Anti-Rent faction, which threw this suffrage for his opponent, was defeated. A third nomination, however, in 1850, was successful, the agrarian agitation having been extinguished and the district again returning him by a handsome majority. In this canvass not a few of his Whig friends and neighbors forgot their allegiance to their own party, giving their votes to Mr. Seymour in generous recognition of his support in Congress of the industrial progress of the country. In the Thirty-second Congress Mr. Seymour's influence was greatly felt on many questions of national importance. The majority of the House of Representatives acknowledged him as one of its wisest and most reliable leaders, and many measures of legislation lost their extreme partisan porpose through his essentially patriotic and constitutional prevision. The position of chair- man of the Committee on Connerce, a body numbering among its members Alexan- der 11. Stephens, Andrew johnson, and William Niken, was a universal endorse - ment of his very varied knowledge of affairs and broad statesmanship. During the first session he again demonstrated his independence of party dogmatism by report- ing a bill appropriating several millions of dollars for the improvement of rivers and harbors, which was signed by the president, thus adopting the liberal and fostering policy of the Whigs, rather than the ultra restrictiveness of the Democrats. In the second session, in response to a general demand from State Legislatures and Boards of Trade for a reciprocal system of free trade between the United States and British Provinces, his committee framed the original report which served as a basis for a subsequent treaty and laws for reciprocal trade. He was also ma nly instrumental in securing the passage of the first enactment requiring a rigid inspection of steam boilers, and providing the guaranties of safety on ship-board, since elaborated under the title of " Navigation Laws" into a thorough system of protection against the dangers of traver npon water.
Retiring from the active political field after his second term at Washington, he returned with mereased Jest to the pursuit of his much loved profession. His past- nership with Mr. Cushman having some time previously expired, he formed a new connection with llon. George Van Santvoord, with when he was associated until 1860. Mr. Van Santvoord at this time became the recipient of official honors which interfered with the devotion of his entire time to the business of the partnership. and the firm was dissolved. Judge Ingalls was next associated with Inm in his law office, under the firm name of Seymour & Ingalls, a connection which lasted until the junior member was called to the bench, after which Mr. Seymour continued with a younger member of the bar, Mr. Charles E. Patterson, a partnership that lasted imtil his death. The law offices of which he was the head, after his retirement from Congress were among the first in Northern New York for the aggregate of their business, and the importance of their causes, and under the tuition of the accomp- lished lawyers thus associated were developed many of the ablest members of the profession now practicing in Rensselaer and Albany counties.
Mr. Seymour's professional career was a success beyond that of most men, and he
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was often called upon to contend with the best and most powerful minds in the State, while many of the weighty causes in which he was engaged were of that superior prominence which will make them always stand as established precedents in the re- ports of his State. Among the noted causes in which he was engaged stands prom- inent a suit involving rights under a patented invention, and known to all the bar of Northern New York as the " Spike Case." For nearly thirty years this case had occupied the attention of the Courts, and for the last twenty years of his life did he, as their leading counsel, so well guard the interests in that case, of his clients Messrs. Corning, Winslow and Homer, that it is regarded among the profession that by his efforts they were saved from what seemed inevitable disaster and the payment of ruinous damages. In 1866 Mr. Seymour received the degree of LL. D. from Hamil- ton College.
In April, 1867, he was nominated as a delegate at large by the Democratic State Convention, to the convention called to revise the State Constitution, and was elected in the canvass which followed a month after. His participation in the labors of the convention was marked by the same integrity of purpose, and unpartisan spirit, that had distinguished his professional and legislative career. Ilis very last public effort was an exhaustive argument upon a question affecting the State Canal system, in which he dissented from the majority report of his committee.
In the latter part of September, he went to his country seat at Lanesboro, Mass., proposing a few days' freedom from official and other effort which had per- ceptibly worn down his general vitality. Shortly after his arrival, he was prostrated by a severe attack of a disease from which he had previously suffered. Ilis illness lasted for sixteen days, at the end of which period, having endured prolonged and extreme agonies in a spirit of calm and trusting resignation, relief came in that mortal slumber, which to the Christian sufferer is the prelude to immortal joys.
Mr. Seymour's death was the occasion of universal gloom in the city of which he had been for so many years a most honored and useful resident. The bar, the press, the community, without regard to party, sincerely mourned the loss of a citizen, whose talent, integrity, unselfishness and publie spirit had alike been unimpeach- able. At a formal meeting of the legal profession, eloquent addresses from the lips of his surviving brothers in jurisprudence, commemorated in cheerfulencomiums the virtues and ability of the deceased. He was buried on the loth of October from St. Paul's church. On the leth of November, the Constitutional Convention reassembled after its recess; llon. Martin 1. Townsend announced the death of his colleague from Troy in an elaborate oration, and was followed by Hons. Amasa J. Parker, Henry C. Murphy, James Brooks, Thomas J. Alvord, John M. Francis, and other prominent members of that body.
This sketch cannot be better concluded than in the words uttered on that occasion by the Hon. Erastus Brooks; " I can say and all who knew him will bear witness to the truth of what I say, that he was in all respects a true Christian gentleman, and not only a member of the church, but an ornament of the church which he represented and of which he was a member. He has left that behind him which is better than all the wealth which he left, and that is the reputation of an honest man and a faith- ful public servant. In the largest and highest sense he was what may be called a statesman, because he comprehended the necessities of the country, and that the duties of a publie man are not merely to the constituents which he immediately rep-
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resented, but to the State at large. Ile was a patriot, too, in its largest sense, as has been said, because he has not only loved his country with sincerity but served it with the highest devotion. Ile recalls to me those lines of Pope, in uttering which I will conclude the brief remarks I have to make:
" 'Statesman, yel friend to truth; of sont sincere: In action faithful, and in honor clear; Who broke no promise, served no private end, Who gained no title, and who lost no friend!"
DAVID S. HASBROUCK.
DAVID SCHOONMAKER HASBROUCK was born in Kondont June 16, 1850. He comes of the Huguenot and Holland Dutch stock with which Ulster county was originally settled, Ins ancestors having located there in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury. Most of his boyhood was spent upon a farm, and he had very meagre educa- tional advantages-limited to spasmodie attendance at a rural district school. In his early 'teens he secured employment at clerical work in Rondout. Having a little spare time he utilized it in furnishing news items to local papers. In 1870 he became connected with the Rondout Freeman, then published weekly, and when the Daily Morning Freeman was started the following year he was assigned to the night editorship. He filled this position for three years. Afterward the Freeman was transformed into an evening paper and he served respectively as city editor and managing editor. In October, 1878, he came to Troy and assumed the duties of news editor on the Daily Times, iater was general editorial writer and literary edi- tor, and on the death of William E. Kisselburgh in 1887 was appointed managing editor, which post he still ocenpies.
JOHN JOHNSON.
Jons Joursson, managing editor of the Troy Press, was born in Westford, Otsego county, N. Y., January 22, 1851, and is the son of William and Zada Johnson. His parents soon removed to Exeter, N. Y., and from there to Columbus, Chenango county, where he helped his father on a farm until sixteen years of age. Then he became an apprentice in the office of the Chenango Union at Norwich, N. Y., where he remained upwards of three years. Afterwards he worked for a short time as a printer at Utica, Sherburne, Greenwich and Saratoga. In 1874 he founded the Schuylerville Standard, but soon sold it. He then secured a position on the Troy Whig as reporter, but after a few months was employed by the Troy Times, where he remained about four years as reporter, news editor and city editor respectively. In 1879 he established the Saratoga Eagle and edited that paper for ten years, run- ning a job printing office in connection therewith. In December, 1888, he was en- gaged by the Troy Press, where he has since remained. His editorial conduct of that paper has been instrumental in elevating it from a comparatively obscure pub-
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ication to a position among the foremost in the country. Mr. Johnson married Em- ma J. Harrington of Saratoga in 1877, and has one daughter, Edna.
HENRY O'R. TUCKER.
HENRY O'REILLY TUCKER was born at Palmyra, N. Y. After receiving a common school education he learned the printer's trade in the office of the Wayne Sentinel, published by his father, Pomeroy Tucker. At the age of fifteen years he removed to Troy and accepted a position as bookkeeper in the counting-room of the Troy Daily Times. In September, 1863, he purchased a quarter interest in that establish- ment and in May, 1869, became a half owner. In 1882 he retired from the news- paper business and after a year's recreation, engaged in the manufacture of clothing in Utica, N. Y., in which business he continued for five years under the firm name of Tucker, Calder & Co. In December, 1888, he seenred a controlling interest in the Troy Daily Press, since which time he has been publisher. The Troy Times under his business management was remarkably prosperous. After he assumed control of the Troy Press it quickly found a place among the leading successful Democratic papers of the country.
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