Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3, Part 9

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 9

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Since joining the Troy Conference in 1854, Rev. Mr. Griffin has been actively en- gaged in his professional duties. He has been a trustee of Troy Conference and also of Troy Conference Academy since its organization. In 1895 the New Orleans University conferred upon him the degree of D. D.

In 1856 he married Laura A. Wells, of Cairo, Greene county, N. Y. They have two sons: J. Wesley Griffin, of Chicago, and T. Almern Griffin, a lawyer of Greenbush, N. Y. Their eldest daughter was Mrs. W. B. Mooers, of Plattsburg, who died in 1880. Their youngest daughter is Dr. Jennie Il. Griffin, a graduate of Ann Arbor and Cleveland Medical Colleges, now practicing in Troy. Their second daughter is Sarah E. Griffin.

M. ARTHUR WHEELER, M. D.

DR. M. ARTHUR WHEELER was born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer county, N. Y., June 18, 1861. His father was Michael Wheeler, who died June 18, 1871; his mother, Ilannah C. (Snyder) Wheeler, died in September, 1873.

M. Arthur Wheeler received his education in the Boys' Academy at Albany, and at Ilartwick Seminary in Otsego county. He studied medicine with Dr. Clappsaddle for one year, and for two years with Dr. W. 11. Hall. Two years later he entered the Albany Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1884, and immediately began practice in Troy, locating on Pawling avenue where he still remains. He isa member of the New York State Medical Society, the Rensselaer County Medical Society, and the Medical Association of Troy and Vicinity. He is a member of Apollo Lodge, F. & A. M., Apollo Chapter, Bloss Council, Apollo Commandery, Oriental Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Silver Brook Lodge, 1. O. O. F., of

M. ARTHUR WHEELER, M. D.

عدد

DANIEL H. AYERS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

which he is past grand; he is interested in temperance work and for six terms served as chief templar of the East Side Lodge No. 207, I. O. G. T., and is a member of the Grand Lodge of the State. He was appointed physician and surgeon for the Rens- selaer county almshouse January 1, 1896,

March 22, 1888, he was married to Ella F. Hastings, of Troy, by whom he has two sons and three daughters: Arthur H., Ruth S., Colonel C., Ethel M. and Elsie L.

PHILIP H. HICKS.

PHILIP II. ILICKS was born in Columbia county, N. Y., in 1832. Ilis earliest an- cestors in this country came from England in 1821. He is the son of Philip R. ITieks, a physician of Livingston, Columbia county, who was supervisor for several terms; he died in 1852. Ilis mother, Mary (Hood) Hicks, died in March, 1896, aged ninety-seven years. Mr. Hicks received an academie education and came to Troy in 1852, and was for a number of years in the railroad business. He then bought out the bakery business of his brother in Catskill, N. Y., where he remained for about two years, when he came to Troy and bought the bakery where he is now. 'The name of the firm is P. II. Ilieks & Son, King street, and they run a general bakery business. Ile is a member of Apollo Lodge and Chapter. In 1869 he mar- ried Elizabeth Iler, of Troy, N. Y., by whom he has had one son, W. II. Hicks, who is in partnership with his father, and one daughter, Lillian M.

DANIEL H. AYERS.

DANIEL II. AYERS was born in Ulysses, Tompkins county, N. Y., May 18, 1848. His father, Daniel B. Ayers, was born in Bergen, N. J., and removed to Ulysses when but seven years of age with his parents, Richard and Mary (Jeffry) Ayers. lle was a farmer, and died December 11, 1860; his wife, the mother of Daniel 11., was Harriett (Hollister) Ayers, born in Burnt Hills, Saratoga county, N. Y., and died September 1, 1892.

The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools, Trumansburgh Academy, and the high school at Marshall, Mich., where he was prepared for college with the view of attending the University of Michigan, but changing his mind, entered Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, where he graduated, then be- came a elerk in a hardware store in Ithaca, N. Y. Subsequently he went to Tru- mansburgh, N. Y., and there engaged in the hardware business with Jared S. Halsey ; after nine years he sold out his interest to Mr. Halsey. Then with the view of taking up the insurance business he became connected with the Syracuse General Ageney of the New York Life Insurance Co. In 1882 he went to Schenectady as general agent of the company, and four months later moved his headquarters to Troy, where he looks after the interests of that company in ten counties.

While in Trumansburgh he was village treasurer for a number of years, being active in local politics. He is an elder in the First Presbyterian church of Troy, and

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assistant superintendent of the Sunday school. He belongs to King Solomon's Lodge No. 91, F2. & A. M., Apollo Chapter No. 18, R. A. M., Bloss Council No. HJ, R. & S. M., Apollo Commandery No. 15, K. T., of which he is eminent commander, Delta Lodge of Perfection, A. A Rite, the Albany Sovereign Consistory, S. P. R. S., and Oriental Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., thus having attained the thirty second degree in Masonry. He is a member of the Citizens' Association, the Good Government Club, the Ionic Club, and the Vocal Society and Choral Club of Troy. In politics he is a Republican.

On the 10th of January, 1883, he married Martha Conde, of West Troy, N. Y. ; they had one son, now deceased.

Mr. Ayers, though not having graduated from college, continued his studies during his leisure hours, principally in literature and general science. He is a gentleman of scholarly tastes and decided literary ability. His reading covers a wide range. In this way he not only keeps fully informed as to the current questions of the day, but has made himself famihar with the productions of the best minds of the present time and earlier periods. He is an occasional contributor to the press, and has the gift of fluent and effective expression. Various poems which he has published in the Troy Times and other periodicals under a nom de plume attest his capacity for graceful versification.

ELI HANCOX.

ELI HANCOX was born in England in 1838, where he learned the blacksmith trade. He came to the United States in 1863 and settled in Troy, where he worked at his trade with John Hollinger. In 1865 J. B. Carr established the American Chain Cable Works. They manufactured the first large cham cable made in this country, which was used at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The firm was incorporated in 1896, under the title of the J. B. Carr Co., of which Mr. Hancox is vice-president.

Mr. Hancox was elected alderman of the Thirteenth ward in the fall of 1895. Ile is a member of Apollo Lodge, F. & A. M , Apollo Chapter, and of the Republican Club.

Ile was married to Sarah Jane Morrison, of Troy, by whom four children have been born: William, who married Mary Jane Bissell; Belle, the wife of Edward Petty; Hattie and Charles.

P. ROMER CHAPMAN.

P. ROMER CHAPMAN was born in Putnam county, N. Y., August 11, 1856, and is a son of James and Catharine Chapman. James was born in Putnam county in 1812, was a son of Silas and Hannah Chapman, and was engaged in the coal and later in the lumber trade; he married Catharine, daughter of Peter and Catharine Romer, of his native place, by whom he had nine children who reached maturity; he died in April, 1893.

ELI HANCOX.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

P. R. Chapman was educated in the public schools, at the Peekskill Military Acad- emy and under private tutelage. He read law with Il. HI. Hustis, afterwards with Edward Wells, of Peekskill, and was graduated from the Albany Law School in 1879. He began practice in Peekskill, remaining there until 1881, when he came to Lansingburgh, where he has since practiced with success. He was appointed village attorney in 1896.

In June, 1883, he married Carrie A., daughter of William and Eliza J. Lansing, of Lansingburgh. They have two children: Wilham Lansing, and an adopted daugh- ter, Ruth.

Mr. Chapman is a past master of Phoenix Lodge No. 58, F. & A. M., and a mem- ber of Bloss Council No. 19, and Apollo Commandery No. 15, K. T. His family is of Dutch and English descent.

RANSEN GARDENIER.

RANSEN GARDENIER was born in the town of Schodack, N. Y., October 26, 1838. His people were farmers, and he resided on the farm until he was sixteen years of age, and received a liberal education at the old Schodack Academy. After complet- ing his schooling, he taught school for a year and seven months, when he went into the mercantile trade as a clerk in 1852. In 1859 he went to Georgia and clerked in a store until 1861, when the war feeling in the South became so obnoxious to him as a loyal Unionist that he returned North. He then went into the employ of Mr. Horace W. Peaslee as clerk and remained with him until 18 6, when he went back to his father's farm.

He shortly afterwards embarked in the mercantile business at Valatie and re- mained there until 1876. In the spring of 1877 he went into the freighting business at Schodack Landing with W. Il. Schermerhorn, who died in 1893, and whose sons now represent his interest in the concern. They do an extensive freighting business, carrying about 60,000 tons annually, and in addition conduct a mercantile enterprise and deal in coal, etc., and have a large trade in ice, owning two ice houses on the river. He has always been a staunch Republican, but never aspired to political honors. Ile was, however, while a resident of the town of Kinderhook, Columbia county, N. Y., induced to become his party's candidate for the office of supervisor in 1873, to which office he was elected by a large majority, being the first Republican representative from the town of Kinderhook in the Board of Supervisors in about twenty years. He was persistently urged to accept a renomination, but refused, preferring to remain in the ranks of civil life and give his attention to his own busi- ness.

Since 1879 he has been a resident of Schodaek Landing, and has been by his party considered an available candidate for positions of honor and trust, and frequently urged to accept such nominations, but steadily refused to enter into political life. Mr. Gardenier is one of the leading men of Schodack.

In 1865 he married Annis L. Peck of Onondaga county, N. Y. They have five children living as follows: William I., Charles L., Howard T., Mrs. Mary T. O'Con- nor and Annis M. Gardenier; John Peek died in 1869 at the age of four, and Ransen

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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.

A. died in 1890 at the age of twenty years. Mr. Gardenier's parents were John A. and Sarah (La Due) Gardenier; the grandfather was Andrew S. Gardenier.

MOSES T. CLOUGH.

MOSES T. CLOUGH was born in Hopkinton, N. H., November 22, 1814. He is the son of Phinehas Clough, who was born in the same town in the year 1783, the grand- father, James Clough, having come from Massachusetts and being one of the early settlers of the old town. Phinehas Clough, the father, died in July, 1866, at the age of nearly eighty-three years. In early life he learned the trade of a carpenter, aban- doned it in middle life and became a farmer on the old homestead, devoting him- self ahnost entirely to farming and town business, being for many years one of the selectmen of the town, two years representative to the General Court, or State Legislature. Ile was also a member of the constitutional convention of the State of New Hampshire, and nearly all of his life engaged in the settlement of estates, act- ing as guardian, executor and administrator down to almost the time of his deccase. He was always the intimate personal and political friend of ex-President Franklin Pierce, who was his lawyer, and also of Matthew Harvey, governor of the State. He married Judith Currier, of Warner, N. II., and at his death left him surviving four sons: Willard, Moses T., Daniel and Stephen, and one daughter, Maria J., the wife of Ozni Pearson, of the city of Troy, N. Y.

Moses T. Clough, the subject of this sketch, commenced his classical studies with one John O. Ballard, who for many years was a well known and distinguished teacher of a select, private and high school of that town; afterwards attended the academy there, and at the age of fifteen years entered Dartmouth College, graduating in the year 1834 in the same elass with ex-Gov. Moody Currier and Judge Daniel Clark of Manchester, N. 11., and Richard B. Kimball, the well-known writer and author. At the expiration of his college life and in pursuance of a prior determina- tion to come to the State of New York and study law, he entered the office of Eliph- det Pearson, at Ticonderoga, N. Y. Soon after this Mr. l'ourson removed from that place and Mr. Clough went into the office of James J. Stevens, a brother of the dis- tinguished lawyers, Samuel and Cyrus Stevens, of the city of Albany, N. Y., where he finished his studies and was admitted to the bar in 1838. In 1844, at the age of thirty years, he was appointed district attorney of the county of Essex and held that office for more than six years, having been at the expiration of his term of appoint- ment in 1847 nominated and elected as a Democrat in that ever strong Whig and Republican county. At the formation of the Republican party in that county he was urged to take the nomination for that office again, but declined, being always a Dem- ocrat and having no sympathy with the new movement. Ile was postmaster at Tieonderoga under the administration of President Polk, also a master in chancery and Supreme Court commissioner; also supervisor and assessor of his town and a candidate of his party for judge and member of assembly, but defeated by the almost always overwhelming majority of the Republican party, both in that town and county. Ile continued there in a very successful practice until the year 1857, when he removed to the city of Troy, N. Y., where he now resides (1896) and is in the full

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

practice of his profession at the age of eighty-one; he, with ex Governor Currier of New Hampshire and the Rev. Wm. Symmes Coggin of Boxford, Massachusetts, who sat side by side in the recitation rooms in them college days, being the only survivors of the class of 15%1, Mr. Clough has never married,

REV. JAMES G. PHILLIPS

Ra.v. JAMis G. Pani irs was born on the farm be now owns in the town of Peters- burgh in 1822. His great-grandfather, Thomas Phillips, was a native of England, and one of four brothers ('thomas, Samuel, Christopher and Peter) who came to America abont 1720. Thomas married Anna Blinn. Hi., grandfather, also Thomas, was born in Rhode Island in 1752. He settled in the town of Petersburgh on the farm now owned and occupied by James Ch, immediately after the Revolutionary war and there spent his remaining days. He reared two sons and ten daughters, and died in 1991. The father of Rev. James G. was the third Thomas, and was born in Petersburgh on the homestead in 1992; in course of time he came into possession of the farm and there spent his whole life. Ihis wife was, Mary Green, who was born in Rhode Island, a daughter of Mansir Green, a native of Coventry, P. I., a Revo- lutionary soldier who settled in Petersburgh in 1777. Thomas Phillips and wife (parents of James G ) had fourteen children, of whom seven sons and five daughter. reached maturity. He died at the age of seventy-mne years, and his wife survived lum four years.

James G. Phillips was edneated in the common schools and attended the Troy Conference Academy three teuns, but was prevented from graduating by illness He graduated from the four years' course of study in the Troy Conference and was ordained elder by Bishop Janes in Albany in June, 151. During Ins four year ; course of study be served as pastor of the M. E. church at Hoosick Fah, one year, of the M. E. church at Hyde Park, Vt., two years, and one year was pastor of the M. I .. church at Winooski, V't.

After his ordination he was pastor of the M. E. church at Milton two year, of the

(X Y) church of you, and of Breadals and MayBold two years, when he was placed with the superanimated, and retired to the Leme trad which he pachatel from the other heir, and there he has resided, cultivating the farm, which contains. 151 acres.

A few years after his return to the homestead he united with the Baptist church, and since then has served as supply to the Petersburgh Baptist church, sometune .. for a year at a time; He is also clerk of the church. In 151 Le married Julia N. Hinkley, a native of Wilton, Saratoga county, N. Y., and a daughter of Philip and Esther (North) Hinkley. Their children are Clark S. Charles, I. and Mr. Loni .a Jones of Williamstown, Mass,

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LEMUEL BRINTNALL.

LEMUEL BRINTNALI, the second son of Thomas and Lucy Bullard Brintnall, was born in Sudbury, Mass., May 10, 1782. He removed to Troy, N. Y. in 1804, and was married to Rebecca Covell, daughter of Silas Covell, of Troy, in May, 1810. lle re- mained a resident of Troy nearly allof his life, and was in active mercantile business in that city for about fifty years. Before the city wasincorporated he was for a num- ber of years a magistrate for the village of Troy and county of Rensselaer, being annually appointed to such position by the governor. He had three sons and three daughters; the sons were Olney Winser, Charles Edward (Colonel Brintnall), and Silas Covell; the daughters were Mrs. James L. Bliss, Mrs. Robert L. Fairchild and Mrs. B. C. Bostwick. He died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Bostwick, at Morris- ania, N. Y., on the 22d day of January, 1864, in the cighty-second year of his age, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery at Troy.

COLONEL CHARLES E. BRINTNALL.

CHARLES EDWARD BRINTNALL was born in the village of Hoosick Falls, Rensselaer county, State of New York, on the 25th day of June, 1812, and was a son of Lemuel and Rebecca Covell Brintnall, of Troy, N. Y. He was of the sixth generation in direct descent from Thomas and Esther Brintnall, who came to Boston, Mass., from England about 1660, and in the fifth generation from Captain Thomas Brintnall of Sudbury, Mass., who was an officer in the army during the colonial wars, and who married Hannah, daughter of Major Simon Willard, who was a prominent officer in command of colonial troops at the time of King Philip's war. Paul Brintnall, son of Captain Thomas Britnall and great-grandfather of Colonel Brintnall, lived at Sudbury, Mass., and was a member of the General Assembly, and his son Thomas, grand- father of Colonel Brintnall, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and was with Montgomery at Quebec and afterwards with the American army at Saratoga.

Colonel Brintnall, the subject of this sketch, lived in Troy, N. Y., most of his life. In 1835, when twenty-three years old he resided in New York city and was a men- ber of the New York Volunteer Fire Department at the time of the great fire that de- stroyed all the lower part of the city, in December of that year, when he lost every- thing by the burning of his residence and place of business, except his fireman's uni- form. After the fire in New York he removed to Toledo, Ohio, and was one of the first settlers of that place. He was there engaged in the hardware business. Hle was the first chief engineer of the Toledo Fire Department and captain of the first military company organized in that city. In 1838 the city of Toledo was almost totally destroyed by fire and he again lost all his worldly possessions. Hle then re- turned to Troy where he ever afterwards resided.

In 1852 he was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law, and con- tinued in the practice of his profession (except during his service in the army at the time of the Civil war) until his death in 1877. Colonel Brintnall was connected with the military nearly all of his life. He was first commissioned a captain by Governor

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COL. CHARLES E. BRINTNALL.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

William L. Marcy in the National Guard of the State of New York, October 1, 1831, when but twenty-two years old, commanding a company attached to the Fifth Reg- iment of Infantry and located at Troy. While a resident of Toledo, Ohio, in 1836, 1837 and 1838, he organized and commanded the first military company of that place and part of the National Guard of the State of Ohio, and known as the Toledo Guards, and which company he continued to command until he left the State. On his return to Troy in 1839, he became a member of the famous Troy Citizens Corps, and on April 30, 1815, he was elected by the company and commissioned by Gov. Silas Wright, first lieutenant of the Corps, which position he continued to hold until he was commissioned captain of the Troy City Artillery, the 3d day of June, 1846. This company volunteered for the Mexican war on the 15th of June, 1816, and was attached to the Ith Regiment of U. S. Volunteer Infantry, but was never called into active service. Captain Brintnall remained in command of the Artillery until September 6, 1856, when he resigned. On the 19th of July, 1859, he was commissioned as lieuten- ant-colonel and assigned to the command of the 24th Regiment National Guard of New York, which position he held for one year, when he again resigned on account of business interests.

On the breaking out of the Civil war in 1861, he opened a recruiting office on the 17th of April of that year, and in less than five days raised and organized a company for the war and it was immediately accepted; he was at once elected captain, and this company, afterwards known as Company B, 30th New York Volunteers, was the first company recruited for that regiment. On the organization of the regiment. Edward Frisbie, of Albany, who was afterwards killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run, in September, 1862, was elected colonel and Captain Brintnall, lieutenant- colonel, and was commissioned as such by Governor Morgan on the 20th of June, 1861, and the regiment left for Washington on the 27th of that month. The regiment remained in camp at Brightwood, D. C., and at Humter's Chapel, Virginia, until the following spring. In the winter of 1862 Colonel Brintnall was ordered to take com- mand of a fort on Upton's Hill, Va., and while superintending the construction of the fort and the mounting of some heavy siege guns, he was badly injured, and in consequence of such injury he was compelled to resign, and was honorably discharged from the service by order of General MeClellan, on the 11th of March 1862, when he returned to Troy. After a year's illness, on partially recovering his health, he re- sumed his practice as a lawyer and continued such practice until his death in 183.

From ISIS to 1817 he was a member of the Common Council of the city of Troy. and for seven years he was a justice of the Justice's Court of the city (from 1848 to 1855); he was also for several years police justice, being annually appointed by the Common Council for that position. Ile was at different times associated in the practice of the law with George R. Davis, jr., Gilbert Robertson, jr., and Messrs. Holmes & Disbrow.

Colonel Brintnall was married September 28, 1886, to Miss Sarah A. Seymour, daughter of Horace Kellogg Seymour, of West Hartford, Conn. They had three sons, Charles, William and George, but one of whom is now living, Charles S. Brint- nall, a lawyer, residing at Troy, N. Y.

Colonel Brintnall died at his residence in Lansingburgh, February 9, 1877, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

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CHARLES CLEMINSHAW.

CHARLES CHEMINSHAW was born in Albany in July, 1833. His parents moved to Troy when he was but a child and he has lived here since. He left school at ten years of age and went to work for Hosea Leach in the lamp and fluid business. Ile took up the manufacture of soda-water when seventeen years of age, with a capital of one hundred dollars borrowed money, in connection with a young man named Mosley. After about three years he purchased Mosley's interest and continued in the business for about thirty years, thereby accumulating a comfortable fortune. Dur- ing that time he became connected with the Troy City Railroad Company, was elected vice-president June 10, 1876, and subsequently elected president of the con- pany June 14, 1887. Under his management the road has been greatly enlarged and prospered, and its franchise privileges extended.

Ile is a director of the Troy City Bank, and a few years ago was made vice-presi- dent, which position he still holds; he belongs to Apollo Lodge, F. & A. M., of which he was treasurer twenty-three years, also was one of the original organizers of the Masonie Hall Association, and connected with the building of the temple, and has attained to the thirty-second degree in Masonry; he was formerly president of the Ionic Club.

Mr. Cleminshaw was married to Mary Jane Wood, April 29, 1854; she died June 10, 1864; of that union were born two children, Charles G. and Charlotte Louise, wife of C. E. Hall, of New York city. His second wife was Mary Jane Holbrook, to whom he was married on July 19, 1865; they have one son, William II., a resident of Cleveland, Ohio.

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Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 2 - 3, Part 9

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