USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3 > Part 20
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"I may be permitted to say, in closing, that the life and labors of John M. Francis present to my mind one of the most attractive and instructive subjeets which one can contemplate. Industry, conscientiousness, absolute fidelity to duty, and a pref- erence for a high plane of moral condnet have been conspicuous traits of lus character. They were the adequate guarantee of the eminent success that erowned his efforts, and of the tribute of esteem that is paid to him by all who enjoy the privilege of his acquaintance. 'Not he alone,' said the Roman moralist, 'serves the state who pre- sides in the public councils, or administers affairs of peace or war ; but he who by earnest advocation cares for the education and elevation of the people and thus in a private station is filling a publie office.' This is the present station in life of the father and founder of the Troy Times."
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
John M. Francis was born at Prattsburgh, N. Y., March 6, 1823. He was next to the youngest of his father's thirteen children, and early started out to make his own way in the world. The advantages of education accessible tohim were very limited. but he found his training in that " college of journalism," the printing office, to which his taste strongly inclined him. Serving an apprenticeship on the Ontario Messen- ger at Canandaigua, N. Y., to which place he had gone in 1838 without pecuniary means, and reinforced by the dauntless will which was to carry him to success, he soon won recognition as a forcible writer, and in 1843 was engaged for editorial work on the Palmyra Sentinel. Subsequently he was associated for a period with the late Iliram Bumphrey in the editorship of the Rochester Daily Advertiser. In 1846 he went to Troy and became chief editor of the Northern Budget, then one of the leading Democratic journals of the State, of which he also became a joint owner. invested with full editorial control. At this period occurred the memorable split of the Democratic party into the " Barnburner" and " Hunker " factions. Mr. Francis, with his ardent love of liberty and justice, heartily espoused the Barnburner or Free Soil side, and his advocacy of its principles was characterized by the vigor which he has ever displayed in the expression of his convictions. In 1849 he sold his interest in the Budget, and for a short time was connected with the O'Reiley telegraph en- terprise, but later resumed journalistic work under a brief engagement on the Troy Daily Whig, a morning newspaper.
On the 25th of June, 1851, was founded the Troy Daily Times, which has become the prondest monnment to his enterprise. It was a small affair compared with its present dimensions, but it had in it the germ of a sure and healthy growth. Mr. Francis started out to make it first of all a new's paper, and that has been its unfail- ing characteristic ever since. It required the most arduous toil, unremitting self- sacrifice and wonderful endurance to successfully carry on the work, but all necessary qualities were combined in John M. Francis. What the Times is now, in its forty- sixth year, and the maturity of its powers, Mr. Francis has made it-a live, enter- prising, clean and popular paper, enjoying a reputation for excellence unsurpassed by any of its contemporaries.
Mr. Francis became a member of the Republican party at its birth, and has ever sitee laboted consistently and faithfully for its principles Under his guidance the They Times has been and is one of the ablest and most miluential exponents of Republicamsm in the country. But in his fidelity to party there has been no ser- vility by Mr. Francis. He has been loyal to his own convictions at all times, and has not hesitated to express his views even when they were contrary to those of his political associates. this consels have ever been on the side of right and justice, and he has never sacrificed his principles to expediency. These are the qualities which have made him and his paper powerful agencies for public good.
lligh political honors, though unsought, have come to ME. Francis. In 1867-8 he was a member of the New York State Constitutional Convention, and served in that body with conspicuous ability. In May, 1871, President Grant appointed him United States minister to Greece, and he accepted the trust and discharged its responsi- bilities with marked capacity and to the great satisfaction of his government, for three years. After tendering his resignation he made a tour of the world, accom- panied by Mrs. Francis. President Garfield had chosen Mr. Francis for the mis-
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sion to Belgium, but the pistol of Guiteau prevented the carrying out of the plan. President Arthur, however, appointed him minister to Portugal, and in 18Si he was promoted to be envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Austria-Ilungary with a residence at Vienna.
In 1893 the Republican state convention without his knowledge nominated Mr. Francis as one of the candidates for delegates-at-large to the constitutional convention which the law required to be held the following year. The Republican nominees were elected, and Mr. Franeis received the largest number of votes cast for any del- egate to the constitutional convention. When that body met at Albany in May, 1891, Mr. Francis, owing to his previous service of like character, was given impor- tant committee assignments. Ile was made chairman of the Committee on Preamble and Bill of Rights, had second place on the Committee on Cities, and was a member of the Committee on Civil Service. This all involved work of a very exacting kind, and Mr. Francis labored most industriously and indefatigably in committee and on the floor, making numerous speeches and putting forth earnest and effective effort in the support of some of the most important amendments which were adopted by the convention and subsequently ratified by the people, and are now embodied in the revised State constitution.
An act which became a law March 26, 1895, incorporated the Trustees of Scenic and Historie Places and Objects, and named a number of prominent citizens of the State and their associates and successors as such trustees. The list of trustees in- cluded William 11. Webb, John M. Francis, Andrew H. Green, Chauncey M. Depew. Horace Porter, Benjamin F. Tracy; John Hudson Peck, and other well known gen- tlemen. April 6, 1895, the trustees met in New York for organizaton. Andrew 11. Green was chosen president and John M. Francis first vice-president. The organi- zation as then effected has since remained intact and the trustees have done much valuable work in preserving and perpetuating objects and places of historic and scenie interest.
Mr. Francis, although fond of travel and absent more or less from his editorial desk, may be considered as " m the harness" and still is the controlling power in the conduet of the Troy Times. Associated with him, under the firm name of J. M. Framers & Son, is his only son, Charles S. Francis, upon whom is devolved the man- agement of the paper.
JAMES LANSING.
JAMES LANSING, of Troy, N. Y., was born at Decatur, Otsego county, N. Y., May 9, 1834, and resided there with his parents for abont twenty years. Just before at- taining his majority he went to Mississippi, loeating at North Mount Pleasant. Soon afterward he became a school teacher there, and later at Macon, Tenn., his work in that profession covering a period of eight years. While at the latter place he married Miss Sarah A. Richardson, of Poultney, Vt., who returned with him and assisted him in the school in his charge. While he was engaged in teach- ing he began the study of law, pursuing his research evenings. Later on he re- turned to New York State and entered the Albany Law School, from which he
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JAMES LANSING.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
graduated in 1861. He then removed to Troy and began the practice of his chosen profession. Ile remained a few months in the office of Warren & Banker, soon re- ceiving the appointment of clerk to the Surrogate's Court under Hon. Moses Warren, then surrogate of Rensselaer county. Three years later he formed a copartnership with Hon. Robert II. MeClellan, which continued for fourteen years. On the disso- lution of that firm he practiced law alone for several years until he associated with him William P. Cantwell, jr. Upon the death of the latter John B. Holmes was ad- mitted to partnership, which still exists. Mr. Lansing has been a successful lawyer and has long enjoyed a large practice. His reputation as an accurate, painstaking and critical lawyer, not only in the courts of original jurisdiction, but in the appel- late courts of this State, was established soon after his admission to the bar, and this position gained by close and careful study aided by capacity of a high order, he has maintained for more than a quarter of a century. Ile has been connected with many of the most important litigations in civil cases that have occurred in this county during that period.
In 1891 Mr. Lansing was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, upon the occasion of his presentation of an argument in a case then pending in that court, upon the motion of Hon. William M. Evarts, then United States senator from this State.
In 1889 Mr. Lansing was elected surrogate of Rensselaer county and held that office for a term of six years. Ile was a candidate for re-election in 1895 and, though defeated, ran ahead of his ticket by a large number of votes. In 1896 he was a candidate for the office of county judge, but the county was carried by the Republicans by a large majority and Mr. Lansing's opponent was therefore elected. Upon his retirement from the office of surrogate the Troy Times spoke of his life and services as follows:
"The Times, which aided in Mr. Comstock's election, endeavors to be fair to political opponents. It is simple justice to say, therefore, that the retiring surro- gate, Hon. James Lansing, has presided for six years with admirable dignity and fairness. Ilis decisions and opinions, always sustained by the higher courts, have added to his reputation as a lawyer, while his courtesy has increased the personal esteem in winch he is held.
" Mr. Lansing's ancestors came from Holland early in the seventeenth century (16til) and settled in Albany. He was born and bred on a farm in Otsego county, spent some years of his carly manhood as a teacher, and at the time he entered upon his duties as surrogate had long been a prominent member of the bar of this county.
" Mr. Lansing's industry is shown in the plan which he has followed of writing exhaustive opinions in the more important cases which have come before him. Many of these opinions have been published, and, though coming from an inferior tribunal as Surrogate's Courts are designated, they have been extensively cited as authoritative in legal publications, notably such prominent ones as the latest edition of Bliss's Annotated Code of Civil Procedure and of Redfield's Law and Practice in Surrogate's Courts.
" During his term of office Mr. Lansing has observed some abuses incident to the established procedure in dealing with decedent's estates; and for his successful efforts to remedy some of them he has earned the gratitude of the people not only
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of this county but of the entire State. We call attention especially to certain amend- ments to the Code of Civil Procedure which at his suggestion were enacted by the Legislature of 1895. Heretofore the surrogate had (as he still has, except by con- sent of parties), no power to pass upon disputed claims. Such claims must either become the subjects of regular actions in the Courts, or else were sent to a referee --- this was the practice favored by the statutes. The result was that the expense of litigation would often be quite out of proportion to the amount in dispute, and as a choice of evils it was not infrequent to pay unjust demands in full or in part, rather than subject estates to the expense and delay of references, The amendments spoken of were a substitute for the reference, the submission of claims to the sur- rogate to be determined by him, upon the judicial settlement of executors' or admin- istrators' accounts, and make it to the interest of both parties to consent to such sub- mission. This preserves all the good features of the former practice, since the sur- rogate still has it in his power to appoint a referee whenever he deems it advisable ; while at the same time it enables him to decide the smaller cases himself, and to sumimarily dispose of a legion of groundless claims. Both the economy and justice of this legislation are apparent, and its adoption is primarily due to Surrogate Lan sing, who prepared the bill and watched its progress through the Legislature.
"As Mr. Lansing retires to devote his entire time to his extensive private practice, we feel sure that the people of the county will unite with the Times in extending him God speed."
Mr. Lansing is in religion a Presbyterian, and has for many years been president of the Board of Trustees of the church of which he is a member. lle is also a trustee of the Albany Law School.
In politics Mr. Lansing is a staunch Democrat. lle has been the father of eight children, six of whom are now living. Mrs. Lansing died April 7, 1895.
GEORGE WEIDMAN DAW.
GEORGE WEIDMAN DAW, son of Peter Ferris Daw, a prominent lawyer and public other of Cohoes, Albany county, was born in Cohoes, N. Y., May 24, 1855 attended the public schools of his native place and of Albany, and was graduated from the Albany High School. His father's death prevented him from securing, as he had intended, a college edneation, and in 1877 he entered the offices of Smith, Fursman & Cowen of Troy, as a student at law. He was admitted to the bar in 1880 and immediately began the practice of his profession. In 1882 he formed a copartnership with Eugene 1. Peltier, which continued until 1890, since which time he has prac- ticed alone. He was attorney for the Excise Board of Troy from 1883 to 1886, was one of the organizers of the Rensselaer Union (now the Troy Republican) Club, and was an organizer of the People's Bank of Lansingburgh, of which he is a director. He is also a director in the R. T. French Company of Rochester, N. Y., and was acting chairman of the Rensselaer County Republican Committee during the Blaine campaign of 1884, having seventeen uniformed clubs under his charge. lle is a member of the Troy Club, was the originator and is a director of the Riverside Club of Lansingburgh, is a vestryman of Trinity church, Lansingburgh, and is prom-
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GEORGE W. DAW.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
inently identified with several other local organizations. While in Southern Califor- nia in 1887 he plotted and laid ont the now thriving village of Vernondale. His paternal ancestors were French Huguenots, who, m the latter part of the seventeenth century, came with other religions refugees to New Rochelle, New York. He was married on May 10, 1882, to his cousin, Miss E. Eugenia, only daughter of Daniel Weidman, of Albany, and they have had two children: Ellen Elmina and Georgena. Both Mr. and Mrs. Daw are descendants of Capt. George Denison, a noted officer in the Indian Wars of Connecticut, whose wife was Lady Boradail, an English lady of rank. His father, William Denison, came to America in 1631, in the good ship Lion, with his wife Margaret and three sons, Daniel, Edward and George. Captain George, after the death of his first wife, returned to England, served under Cromwell in the army of the Parliament, was wounded at Nasby, was nursed at the home of John Boradail by his daughter Ann, whom he married, and returned to Roxbury, Mass., and finally set- ted in Stonington, Conn:, where he has been described as " the Miles Standish of the settlement." Mr. Daw's grandmother was Esther, the third chikl of Daniel and Elizabeth Deuison; Daniel was the second child of Daniel, jr., (and Esther), who was the ninth child of Daniel (and Mary), who was the fifth child of Captain John (and Phebe), who was the first child of Captain George (and Lady Anm. Esther Denison was born in 1976, married Miner Waklen at Pawlet, Vt., and moved to Berne, Albany county, N. Y., where Mr. Daw's mother was born.
WILLIAM T. SHYNE.
OCCUPYING a prominent position among the largest and best equipped livery, boarding and sales stables in Eastern New York, is that of W'm. T. Shyne, of 22, 24 and 26 State street, Troy. This stable having been in existence about thirty years has a first-class reputation for efficient service and liberal business methods, which has developed for it a very large patronage. The premises occupied are comprised in a two story building 100x125 feet in dimensions, which is furnished, with spacious stalls, commotions carriage rooms, harness rooms and office, well lighted and ventilated and supplied with every modern convenience for the transac- tion of business. Mr. Shyne is an experienced horseman and gives his personal attention to all operations of the business. His horses are all safe and free drivers and nowhere else in Troy can be obtained more stylish and attractive turnonts, which include wagons, single and double carriages, coaches and coupes; victorias, ve., are provided for funerals, weddings, theatres, shopping and calling.
The service is prompt, attentive and reliable. This stable offers unsurpassed accommodation for boarding horses, and the greatest care and attention is given to both horses and carriages belonging to private parties. The community is to be congratulated upon the accession of so valuable and well conducted an establishment as this one, and its future success and influence may be confidently predicted, as it has mereased to enormous proportions under the management of its preseut pro- prietor.
W. T. Shyne, son of Win. Shyne, was born at Brunswick, Rensselaer county; he received a public school and business college education, assisting his father on his farm,
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and other business in the meantime. At an early age he managed one of the meat wagons; later he was transferred to the milk ronte, which work he continued until it became one of the most extensive in the city of Troy In 1894 he purchased the livery stable formerly ocenpied by J. B. Clark, which establishment is a successful factor of the trade accommodations of this city. He is a member of Robert Emmet Association, B. P. O., Elks, No. 141, and the Troy Democratic Club.
FRANK S. BLACK.
HON, FRANK S. Bisek was born March 8, 1858, in Limingtou, York county, Me. Ilis father was Jacob Black, a respected farmer of that community, who died in 1882. Frank S. Black was one of the eleven children born to Jacob Black and his wife, Charlotte B. Black, and he received only those advantages which fall to the lot of a son of a poor New England farmer. From his early youth he was thrown upon his own resources. Beginning with hard manual labor on a farm, and afterward teach- ing school and earning his way through college, he gradually made his way upward. Early in his youth he made up his mind to become a lawyer. He taught his first school when he was but seventeen years of age, and in the following year, with the money thus earned, together with the money secured by working on a farm, he en- tered Dartmouth college at Hanover, N. H., with the class of 1875, at the age of eighteen years. He had prepared for college partly through his own exertions and partly through Lebanon academy. in his native county, but his preparation had been indifferent, and he found the greatest difficulty in keeping abreast with his fellow-classmen. To make the burden worse, he was compelled to provide himself with the necessities of life. How pluckily he combatted his troubles is shown by the fact that during his junior year he attended the college session eleven weeks only, the re- mainder of the time being occupied in teaching. He taught every year he was in college, and during the summer months, when the schools were closed, he was em- ployed on his father's farm. But despite the obstacles in his path, he was one of the editors of the college magazine, twice was chosen prize speaker and had the distinc- tion of being an honor man at commencement.
Immediately after being graduated from college Mr. Black went to Johnstown, N. Y., where he began the study of law. As far as he knew, he had not a friend in all New York State. In Johnstown he entered the law firm of Wells, Dudley & Keck. The necessity of gaining a livelihood forced him to accept the management of the Johnstown Journal, then under the proprietorship of W. M. Ireland. Mr. Black con- ducted this paper for several months, when he came to Troy. In Troy he became a reporter on the Troy Whig, then under the proprietorship of Alexander Kirk- patrick of Lansingburgh, but after a few months he entered the registry department of the Troy post-office as clerk. At the age of twenty-two he resumed the study of law in the office of Robertson & Foster, and in 1879, four years after his graduation from college, he was admitted to the bar. In the following year Mr. Black, with Albert Smith and George B. Wellington, formed the firm of Smith, Wellington & Black. A year later he retired from the firm and from that time forth practiced alone.
J. H. OSTERHOUT.
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BIOGRAPHICAL,
One of Mr. Black's rules as a lawyer has been never to conduct the trial of a erim- inal ease, and once only has he appeared in a divorce trial, and then only at the most earnest solicitation of a woman whom he believed to be the victim of persecu- tion. He was a stranger to all criminal proceedings until the tragedy on election day in March, 1894, when his services at the inquest into the death of Robert Ross. who was murdered by Bartholomew Shea at the polls, made him a conspicuous figure. He also was conusel for the special Senate committee which investigated the government of the city of Troy. Mr. Black was attorney for the receivers of the Troy Steel and Iron company and prepared the papers in the proceedings which effected the receivership. lle also acted in the same capacity in connection with the affairs of the Gilbert Car company, and he has been interested either as counsel or attorney in many of the most important legal actions in Troy and vicinity for sev- eral years.
Up to the year 1894 Mr. Black had not been conspicuous in political affairs, although in 1888 and again in 1892 he took the stump in behalf of the national Re- publican nominees. He had never held nor sought political office, although he had been his party's choice for about every office in its gift in Rensselaer county. In the fall of 1894 he became the Republican candidate for member of Congress from his district by the unanimous vote of the Congressional convention, and was elected over Charles D. Haines, who was a candidate for re-election, by a plurality of 3, 440. His career so recently begun in Washington made him the acknowledged leader of the Republican party in Rensselaer county. At the Republican State convention held in Saratoga Springs August 26, 1896, he received the nomination for the gover - norship, after aspirited, but manly and honorable contest. At the election held No- vember 3 following he was elected governor of the Empire State by a majority of 212,992, larger than ever before had been given to any candidate of any party in the State.
In speaking of Mr. Black's characteristics the Troy Times, on the day of his nom- ination for the governorship, said:
" Mr. Black is essentially a home man. He finds his greatest pleasure with his family, with whom he spends a month of each year in seeking recreation out of the city. Every year he visits his native county, in which he takes much pride as being one of the counties winch compose the district in Congress which Speaker Reed rep- resents. Mr. Black enjoys a legal practice second to none in this locality As a member of the bar his integrity, sincerity and ability have won him a standing of mich prominence."
Mr. Black was married in 1879 to Miss Lois B. Hamlin of Provincetown, Mass. They have had three children, but only one, Arthur, a boy sixteen years old, survives,
JOSEPH II. OSTERHOUT.
JOSEPHJI. OSTERHOUT was born in Warsink, Ulster county, N. Y., September 9, 1845. He was educated in the public schools and Monticello Academy. He left his father's farm at the age of sixteen, and was a clerk in a dry goods store eleven years. He then came to Troy, N. Y., where he has conducted a shirt factory for
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twenty years, first in company with George W. Chapman for three years. At his death he bought the entire plant, and has done a prosperous business, employing six hundred people in the factory and surrounding villages. November 21, 1882, he married Elizabeth O. Vosburg, of Troy, N. Y. They have two sons, Eugene V. and J. Gordon. Mr. Osterhout's father, Joseph, was born at Stone Ridge, Ulster county, N. Y., in the year 18244; he was a farmer by occupation. He married Rachael Dol- son, of Greenfield, of his native county. They had three children: Joseph Il., Eugene 1., and Mary. Mr. Osterhout died in 1893, and his wife in 1855. Mrs. Osterhout's father, Allen J. Vosburg, was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., in 1823. June 2, 1845, he married Susan Grant, of Glenville, Schenectady county. They had seven children: Mary, Elizabeth, A. Leslie (who died in infancy), Fannie, A. Leslie, Martha, and Charles. Fannie and Martha are also dead. Mr. Vosburg died August 27, 1885. Mr. Osterhout purchased Fernwood farm in 1888. for a country seat and home, and for the purpose of breeding first-class blooded horses, such as Hambletonian, Wilkes and Electioncer.
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