Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3, Part 21

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 21

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COL. CHARLES L. MACARTHUR,

COL. CHARLES LA FAYETTE MACARTHUR was born at Claremont, N. IL., January 7, 1821. After a partial education in the district and select schools he was graduated from the Black River Institute at Watertown, N V. He was editor and proprietor of the Carthaginian at Carthage, N. Y., and then went west and became a local reporter for the Detroit Free Press. From there he went to Milwaukee, Wis , about 1813, and joined a government party as seeretary of the expedition to make a treaty with the Sioux Indians, on the upper region of the Platte River. He was the first editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel, which was the first daily paper published in Wis- consin. Ile remained in Milwaukee until 1846, when he moved to New York city and became the city editor of the New York Sun.

In September, 1817, he joined John M. Francis in the purchase of the " Troy Daily Budget." In 1851 he went to Europe and in 1856 he visited Cuba, under a secret government commission, to look into certain matters connected with the island con- sulates. He continued with the " Budget " until January 1, 1859, and on October 15. 1859, established the " Troy Daily Arena," but sold out in the spring of 1861 to go to war as quartermaster of the 2d N. Y. Vols.

Ile was in the battle of Great Bethel and went with his regiment, after the cap- ture of Norfolk, to Portsmouth and participated in its experiences until appointed by President Lincoln as captain and assistant quartermaster in the regular army. Ile served as brigade and division quartermaster, and was at the battle of Fredericks- burg, through all the battles from Fair Oaks and MeClellan's seven days' fights, in the change of base to the James River.

On leaving the army he received two brevet promotions from Governor Fenton for faithful service in the late war. In the fall of 1864 he established the " Troy News," the first Sunday newspaper outside New York city. He sold the " News" in 1866, having become one of the proprietors and echtors of the " Troy Daily Whig." March 24, 1867, he re-established the "Troy Northern Budget," as a Sunday jour-

SAMUEL O. GLEASON.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

nal. In the publication of the "Budget" he has associated with him his son, under the firm name of C. L. MacArthur & Son.

Mr. MacArthur has been an active and influential politician. He was a Free Soiler in 1848 and a Democrat up to the time of Lincoln. He was for several years a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, and a delegate to the na- tional convention of 1856 and a frequent delegate to the State conventions. He was alderman of the Second ward in 1852 and 1858, and twice for a number of years col- lector of the port of Troy. Since Lincoln's first election he has been a Republican. Hle was a member of the State Senate in 1881 and 1883, representing the 19th district. and declined a renomination. Colonel MacArthur has been a prominent officer in the organization and doings of the G. A. R., and was president of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Association.

In the later years of his life he has devoted much of his time to travel in foreign countries, and to the publication of accounts of his journeyings, which have been widely read, and have given him a high reputation as a traveler and writer. In 1896 he was appointed one of the park commissioners of Troy by Mayor Molloy, and was also one of the founders of the Citizens' Steamboat Line, of which he is director and one of the large stockholders.

SAMUEL O. GLEASON.

SAMUEL. O. GLEASON was born in Shaftsbury, Vt., in 1833. He is descended from a long line of New England ancestors who came from England to the Colony of Massachusetts and made a settlement about year 1654. Ilis great-grandfather was in the colonial wars, known as the French and Indian wars. He served with the Eng- lish forces. Both his great-grandfather and his grandfather served in the Revolt- tionary war, enlisting in a Massachusetts company and regiment from the town of Spencer, Worcester county, Mass. They bore an honorable part in that eventful Struggle for independence.

His father, Samuel Gleason, was born in Jamaica, Vt., and was a farmer and school teacher. He died in Troy, N. Y., in 1851 ; his wife, the mother of our subject. was Polly (Ober) Gleason ; she died many years ago.

Samuel O. received a common school education and came to Troy in 1850, where he elerked in the drug store of Wallace & Knickerbocker until January 1, 1856, when he purchased the drug store at 814 River street, where his store was burned in the big fire of 1862. le rebuilt and resumed business; he subsequently sold out to C. H. Bosworth in 1882. In September, 1882, he was elected cashier of the Manu- facturers National Bank of Troy, which office he has held since. He was elected treasurer of the Fire Department in 1855 or 1856, holding the office five years. In 1863 he was a candidate for county treasurer, but was defeated by Roger A. Flood. lle was appointed county treasurer in March, 1864, to fill the vacancy made by the death of Mr. Flood, and was nominated by the Democratic party for the same office in the fall of 1864, and was elected; re-elected in 1867, and again in 1870, holding the office for nearly ten years. In 1870 he had no opponent to run against him, it

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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.

being the only time that such an occurrence ever happened in the county. He was appointed fire commissioner about 1878, holding the office a little over a year, when he resigned. Ile is also a member of the Board of Water Commissioners, being appointed February 3, 1887, and has been president of the board since 1888. Mr. Gleason is one of the commissioners of the funded debts of the city of Troy, and one of the trustees of the Troy Gas Co. On April 1, 1898, he was called to the treasurer- ship of the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Co., and served in that capacity until the company dissolved in December, 1895.

Mr. Gleason is a life member of Mount Zion Lodge, F. & A. M. In 1859 he married Mary Burdick of Greenwich N. Y. She died in Troy in 1869, leaving two daughters: Carrie E., now the wife of William Henry Warren, and Mary B., at home. In poli- ties Mr. Gleason has always been a strong and influential Democrat, representing this Congressional district on the State Democratic Committee five years from 1875, and was also chairman of the Democratic County Committee about the same time. lle was one of the strong and influential supporters of Mr. Tilden for governor in 1871, and for the presidency in 1876. As a careful and conservative business man and financier, Mr. Gleason has made a most honorable and enviable record.

JEROME B. PARMENTER.

MAJOR JEROME B. PARMENTER, lawyer, soklier, editor, and literary man, was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county and State of New York, and was the youngest son of Dr. Azel F. Parmenter. He was educated at Cambridge Academy, and gradu- ated with distinction at Union College in 1857. Studied law in the office of his brothers, Roswell A. and Franklin Jay Parmenter, at 17 First street, Troy, N. Y. ; was admitted to the bar in 1859. In August, 1862, on the organization of the One Hundred Sixty-ninth Regt. N. Y. Volunteers, he became first lieutenant, was soon promoted to captain, and afterwards was placed in several responsible positions, as adjutant on Colonel Buel's staff, and on Colonel Buel's military commission as judge advocate. The 169th made a glorious record during the Rebellion. Of the nine hundred and fitteen men on the rolls at the first muster, less than one hundred wha tacenty returned home with the regiment at the close of its term of service.

In August, 1863 Major Parmenter, while leading an attacking force at the siege of Charleston, S. C., was struck down by the concussion of a shell fired by the besieged. lle was borne off the field, supposed to be mortally wounded, and taken to the hos- pital at Beanfort, S. C., where he remained for some time, and in December of that year, he was honorably discharged " on account of physical disability contracted in the service."

In 1864 he returned to Troy, and resumed the practice of the law, and became a member of the firm of Parmenter Brothers, whose chentage was among the first at the bar. But after his serious injury at the siege of Charleston, before mentioned, at certain seasons of the year, he suffered much pain therefrom, as his spine had been much injured, but he would not apply for a pension until, at last, spinal men- ingitis set in, and he was confined to his house, out of which he never came again in life. His pension did not wait the slow process of red-tape, but was granted at once,

FRANKLIN J. PARMENTER.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

one or more officers of the pension bureau having known Major Parmenter during his military service in the South.

In 1868 Mr. Parmenter, with Charles C. Clark, purchased the franchise and prop- erty of the Troy Press, and the paper was conducted by Parmenter & Clark until Mr. Clark's death in 1873. Mr. Parmenter then became the sole owner, and en- larged and improved the paper vastly in its daily and weekly editions; and being an able and ready writer, he made the Press a great favorite, and many of his political artieles were copied by all the leading journals of the country. The late Samuel J. Tilden was his warm political and personal friend. His biographical sketch of Dr. Nott, the late president of Union College, with whom Mr. Parmenter was a great favorite during his attendance at the college, attracted much attention and was copied by the New York journals. As soldier, lawyer and writer Mr. Par- menter has left a bright and honorable record; and his character as a man of ster- ling honor and integrity, and pleasing manners, endeared him to all with whom he had political, business, or social relations.

This accomplished man died at his temporary residence in Bennington, Vt., on the 26th day of April, 1891, in the fifty-fifth year of his age.

FRANKLIN JAY PARMENTER.

Tm: Parmenter family is of French origin, tracing their descent from Jehan Par- mentier, who was born at Dieppe, France, in 1-194. He was a distinguished navi- gator and author, being the first known discoverer of the Indies as far as Sumatra, where he died in 1530. His works were published in Paris the year succeeding his death. From him descended Jacques Parmentier, the celebrated painter. The founder of the American family, Robert Parmenter, was born in England in 1621, and with his wife, Leah, settled in Braintree, Mass., in 1648. Their eldest child, Joseph Parmenter, was born October 20, 1655, and lived to the age of eighty-two. Ilis son, Benjamin, was born September 9, 1682. married Hannah Bigelow of Wes- ton, Mass, and about the year tilb settled in Newport, R. 1. Their eldest son, also named Benjamin, born December 16, 1712, was the father of John Newton Parmenter, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. His son, Azel Fiske Parmenter, born in 1786, was a graduate physician, and came to this State in 1810. He did not prac- tice his profession, however, but for many years taught schools in various parts of New York State. In 1820 he married Lavinia, daughter of Roswell Ray of North- umberland, N. Y., soon afterward removing to Pittstown, where Franklin Jay Par- menter was born August 28, 1829. His mother was a most extraordinary woman. Always of delicate constitution, yet gifted with much beauty in her young woman- hood, her ambition was beyond her physical strength, and notwithstanding her strong and resolute spirit, her life went out before her hair was gray. Her son was wont to say that to his mother's industry and her practical business sagacity, he and his brothers were indebted for the greater part of their educational advantages; and that to whatever success in after years the brothers may have attained, is in a great degree attributable to that good mother's fond and solicitons incitements to their

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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.

ambition. Mr. Parmenter's mother died in 1848, and her husband died ten years later.

Franklin Jay Parmenter, after attending the district schools in his town, in 1846 entered the academy at Hoosick Falls, where he remained for about two years, teaching school during the winter seasons to help pay his expenses. In 1848 he en- tered the Troy Conference academy at Poultney, Vt., where he completed his aca- dlemical education. In April, 1849, he came to Troy and began the study of law in the office of MeConihe & Parmenter. He taught a district school in Brunswick the following winter, and in the spring of 1850 opened a select school on the corner of First and Ferry streets, Troy. At the close of 1851 he abandoned teaching, and ap- plying himself diligently to the study of his profession, was admitted to the bar May 4, 1852, and at once began practice. He was police justice of the city of Troy from 1860 to 1864, and during the rebellion contributed largely to the expense of raising the 169th New York Vols,, and made many speeches in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war. In 1869 Union college conferred upon him the degree of M. A.

Mr. Parmenter is a brilliant writer and the author of many poems. The best known, perhaps, is the " Welcome to Dickens," published by the Harpers and re- published in England with illustrations. His poem of "Troy's Centennial" was greatly admired, and is republished below. June 16, 1886, the Troy Conference academy hield its semi-annual meeting, and Mr. Parmenter was chosen as the poet of the occasion. In 1872 he married Lorenda Silliman, daughter of the late Capl. Robert D. Silliman. Their son, Frank Silliman Parmenter, is now a student in the Harvard Law school.

TROY'S CENTENNIAL-1789-1889. BY FRANK |. PARMENTER.

Where rolls the rapid Delaware to greet the Schuylkill's tide A band of hardy patriots resolved, whatever betide, That this fair land Columbus found, to which the Pilgrims fled, Should buy beneath no ty rant's tal while ?? i had blond to shed !

They fought, they won, and passed away, and on their graves the still, As mindful of such sacred dust, an hundred years has shone. Their country's harps their praise have hymned, and History's graver pen Has traced the struggle well and oft of those bold-hearted men; And as we celebrate to-day a Guy's birth, and view, With basty glance, her mighty strides a busy Century through, Our hearts turn back to those true souls that sowed for us to reap, And their bequest of Liberty in grateful memory keep!

And other men, and nearer friends crowd on the scene to-day: The Founders of our City that so lately passed away, Whose vigorous brain impelled the power that, like Uranus' son, Struck with a hundred-handed force till victory was won, And " Vanderheyden's Ferry " that had grown a strong-limbed boy, Received the manly toga, and the classic name of Troy; . A name the blind old harper sang throughout the Isles of fireece. A City war can't terrify although her paths are peace!

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

Of these gray Sires to whom we owe so great a debt, a few As they were stepping Heavenward, ourselves and children knew: A Tibbiis with his stalwart form worn more by toil than age, Once only, and while Death looked on, I saw that reverend Sage ! Like him, the Warren brothers left their impress all around. And we beheld with grateful hearts their footprints on the ground; Nor does it bring less joy to us of the observant Muse To see their children's children stand in the ancestral shoes. The Lanes, the Vails, the Hlarts unite in equal zeal with these, And like her ancient prototype our lofty City rose; That upon old Scamander's bank and this by Hudson's side. As wide apart in time and place, their fame may be as wide; Though let us hope that our's shall not beneath the sword expire; As for its ally, we have shown we gather strength from fire !

But let us pause to look around and mark what change is here Where scarcely stops the cradle's rock before we call the bier: - Along the shores of you bright stream that rolls his percent tide Whilom, the red Mohican in his bark canoe did glide; And where the cunning Scotchman's wheel in ponderous round is whirted, In aid of Labor's handicraft the Pequoit yell was heard; And all along our eastern bonnds and where the Poestenkill, 'To turn the spindles of the town, leaps roaring down the hill, The Indian camp-tires burned; and there, beside the brawling stream, The dusky brave his maiden wooed beneath pale Dian's beam; They did not tarry long with us, but they have left behind The most euphonious names of all that History ean tind; Tomhannock, Mohawk, Wompeconck, and Schaghticoke are known; Bad taste has blotted others ont to substitute his own.

Our thoughts come back to later times, and with a jovous pride, Hail Fulton's genius panting up the noble Hudson's lide! No son of ours, but yet we feel an interest in his tame. And every town the tide-waves wash should bless his saered name ! See yonder toiling Ferry boat, two horses on each side, Sore struggling under thong and oath to cross the heaving tide. Lo, what a change! a trim-buint craft Boats gracefully and free; A Silliman applied the steam where " Bronny's" power was, "life" And on the glorious river's breast where crawled the sloop so slow. Dependent on the fittul threese whether she stand of go, The rapid steamers hatten with the products of our town, With busy men, and women tair, sail swiftly up and down; Vil on our streets the Iumbering stage no longer shocks the sight, And Gas and Electricity have put whale-off to flight.

To Marse who loosed the Lightning's tongue, and him whose telephone Can send to distant ears the voice, to both our debt we own; Yet to our own home enterprise the stirring Century through, More than from any other sunree our present strength is due. One instance must suffice to show how Trojans override All obstacles that come athwart their profit of their pride: Three stout young Trojans (two of whom are now returned to play, Though Robinson is vigorous still) felt much inelined one day, To stroll through Boston Commons, but the Mountain barred their way ! Opposed by such tremendous power what could our three friends do? Turn back ? . They seized the pick and spade and tore the mountain through, Went on their course, surveyed " The Hub," seenred what freight they could. And then returned ; but Weed and Vail sleep now in green Oak wood !

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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.

Trade and our Manufactories are seldom idle here, Except when Labor, wrong or right, " gets up upon his car." Throws by his tools, suspends his craft, and forming some compact, Rejoiced if he and Capital both suffer from the act ! "This strange a twain that God ordained to journey hand in hand Can find no common ground whereon with equal rights to stand !

We must not boast too much to-day, though pride may tinge the theme And vanity close whisper us to let the Eagle scream; And so my Muse with humble brow forbears to sing or say Yon mountain could not stop our march not conflagrations stav; But modesty, methinks, may urge, nor startle him who hears, That not a city in the State within these hundred years, Has taken longer strides, and shown what enterprise can do, Vided by thoughttnl band and brain, with future weal in view, 'Than this, the City of our love, that sits on Hudson's shore, Whose furnaces and workshops ring with labor's ceaseless roar, And where to Toil and Capital she opens wide her door.

Where so much virtue can be found within our City's bounds, If one should find a fault or two, it should not call for frowns ; Most rules have their exception, and the virtues I have named Cannot be dimmed by censure, nor blush when justly blamed ; So now if my censorious Muse, in tune a little out With her glad song that's gone before shall sing to you about A few sad evils that exist, but easy to remove,

She hopes you'll heed the censure mild and cordially approve : You'll own it is a sore reproach that seventy thousand dwell Within a city that contains not one first-class hotel ! Those that we have are fairly kept, but surely cannot vic With mamy in less wealthy towns that stand reproachful by ! And then we need a cable road, an inclined plane at least, So that our pent-up citizens will people the broad East That lies in sunlight, sweet and vast, and smiling with good will, And singing in her healthful voice, " Wise men, come over the Hill ! And build upon our lovely plain, the first to greet the sun, And watch the touring Poestenkill his boisterous journey run !"

Besides, we've not a breathing spot to free the lungs of Toil. Where Han ma find a quick teliet and Pleasure stroll white , Where Beauty with her winning face may trip along to see. Isit she saw him not), her lover sighing by the tree ; Where Age may hold his crutch, and sit beneath the thieful shade And take a little grateful rest before his grave is made ; And where the heaviest tax-payer may lind relief from care. Nor think his purse too highly faxed for all his comforts there Do l'assume too much, my friends, when L'express belief, That ere these blessings come to us the time will be but brief; Sherry, our Man of Koss, has not the only heart that beats With philanthropie sentiment upon our crowded streets ; A thousand others just as strong but in the pulse less fast Only require some time for thought before the die in cast.

But I must close ; the Century ends, and here must end my sony : Time fails, or I would sing of more will be remembered long ; It but remains for me to hope the next one hundred years May bring to those shall fill our place, more joy and fewer tears !

H. O. INGALLS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

HARRY O. INGALLS.

ILARRY O. INGALLS was born at the city of Troy, N. Y., March 15, 1870, where he still resides with his parents. O. F. Ingalls, his father, came from the village of Hartford, Washington county, N. Y., when a young man in the year 1860, and with his brother, T. E. Ingalls, entered into the flour and produce business, and has since that time been one of the wholesale merchants of Troy in that line. Ilis mother is Mary E. (Hale) Ingalls, formerly of Hartford, N. Y. Horace II. Ingalls, the grand- father of Harry O. Ingalls, is a farmer and although ninety-one years of age is yet very active at his home in North Granville, Washington county, and still attends regularly and punctually to his affairs.

Harry O. is one of a family of four brothers. He received a publie school educa- tion, and perfected himself in the higher courses of study under private instruction. After serving a clerkship as a student at law in the offices of Smith & Wellington, he entered the law department of Union University, the Albany Law School, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1893. Hle was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counselor at law at the General Term of the Supreme Court held at Saratoga Springs in September, 1893, since which time he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession with offices in the Keenan building.

lle is identified with the Republican Club of Troy, and was a member of the executive committee of that organization for the years 1892-93. Hle is also a mem- ber of the Trojan Ilook and Ladder Company of the Troy Fire Department. In March, 1896, he was elected attorney to the Board of Supervisors of Rensselacı county. It was during his term as such attorney that the defaleation of George Il. Morrison, county treasurer, was discovered. After an investigation by the finance committee of the Board of Supervisors, he brought several actions for the county of Rensselaer to recover the amount embezzled by Morrison, which was about $250, 000. Those actions are now pending in the Supreme Court.

PART III.

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Speirs, James, born in Scotland, September 9, 1832, is a son of Allen and Jean (Dunlap) Speirs, both born in Seotland, where they lived and died. He was reared as a weaver and educated in the common schools. He came to Paterson, N. J., and began working in Adams's mosquito net mill and was there until 1869, when the mill burned and Mr. Speirs went to Pine Meadow, Conn., and engaged in a mill manufacturing hammoek cloth; after about fifteen months he went to New York city in the employ of James C. Thompson, now of Valley Falls, and engaged in the manufacture of mosquito netting for eight years; in 1877 he came to Valley Falls as general manager in a cotton mill for four years and in 1881 built the hotel he now oeeupies. Mr. Speirs was married in 1865 in Paterson, N. J., to Catherine Finley, born in Seotland and daughter of William Finley of Seotland. Mr. Speirs is a Re- publican in politics and was school eolleetor about seven years. He is a member of Vietor Lodge No. 680, F. & A. M. ; he was a member of the Chapter Lodge in Seotland. He is also a member of Columbian Lodge No. 689, 1. O. O. F. In 1887 he built a large town hall known as Speirs Hall. In this hall the First Baptist church originated November, 1891, and it was used by that ehureh two and a half years. Mr. Speirs and wife attend and support the Baptist ehureh.

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Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3, Part 21

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