USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 76
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Charles S. Seaman was educated in the old academy in his native village, and found his first employment after leaving school in the grocery of Geo. W. Frost, where he soon acquired a good general knowledge of correct business methods. His father was the owner of a near-by farm, and the young man afterwards worked on that to some extent, and then engaged in the livery.
After his father's death in 1887 he assumed the management of the business, and has since successfully conducted it.
Mr. Seaman is a Republican in polities, and has been an active worker in the party. Social and courteous with all, he early became very popular with his fellow citizens, and in 1893 received the nomination for sheriff of the county. He was elected by a flattering majority, and now holds the office, for which he is peculiarly adapted.
Mr. Seaman is a member of Fidelity Lodge, F. and A. M., Eagle Chapter, St. Augustine Commandery, and Damascus Temple of the Mystie Shrine. He has been
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
a member of the Republican County Committee, and chairman of the City Committee at times. He is a member of Ithaca Lodge, I. O. O. F .; Cascadilla Lodge K. of P., and Taughannock Tribe I. O. R. M.
Mr. Seaman married, in 1875, Gussie C. Space, of Basking Ridge, N. J.
MYRON N. TOMPKINS.
THIS brilliant and successful member of the Tompkins county bar was born in the town of Newfield, Tompkins county, on the 3d of October, 1859; he is, therefore, one of the younger members of the profession in this county.
The grandfather of Mr. Tompkins was Nathaniel, a native of Hudson county. N. Y., and one of the pioneers of Newfield. His son, Bradford R. Tompkins, was born in Newfield, where he has passed most of his life and still lives, a respected citizen. Bradford R. Tompkins married Rachel Bloom, a descendant of the early pioneers of that name; she is deceased. They had three children, all of whom are living.
Myron N. Tompkins received his education in the common schools, supplemented with two years in Cornell University. He had early determined to follow the pro- fession of the law, and had read extensively before he left the university, and to such good purpose that after less than one year in the Albany Law School, from the fall of 1879, to May, 1880, he was admitted to the bar. He was then thoroughly equipped as far as mere education goes, for his life work, and it was not long before the re- sults of his study were supplemented by the still more valuable acquirements to be secured only in the field of active practice.
After his admission Mr. Tompkins came at once to Ithaca and began practice as a partner of the late Merritt King. After a few years this connection ceased, and since that time he has been associated with several different persons. He is now in the enjoyment of a volume of legal business that commands his entire energies. Mr. Tompkins is adapted by nature for a successful lawyer; and his natural traits are emphasized and made more readily available by the habits of his life. His early formed determination that whatever success he might be able to attain should be founded upon integrity and honorable action towards those who placed their interests in his hands, has never been deviated from; while his persistent industry and untiring energy continually drive him to the accomplishment of a vast amount of business. He has been connected with several important litigations, among others the Cornell chlorine case and the Ezra Cornell estate contest.
Mr. Tompkins is an active Republican in politics, and has been highly honored by his constituents. He was chairman of the County Committee one year, and was the first recorder of the city from 1887 to 1890, succeeding D. F. Van Vleet. He was city attorney from 1891 to 1893, and has been attorney for the Pavement Commission since its creation.
Mr. Tompkins was married on February 15, 1883, to Ada B. Kellogg, of Newfield. They have one son and one daughter.
Vyrout Pumpkins
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
JAMES L. BAKER.
PROMINENT among the younger members of the bar of Tompkins county is James L. Baker. Mr. Baker is descended from one of the earliest pioneers of the western part of the town of Ithaca. This pioneer was James Baker, great-grandfather of James L. Among his children was Lawrence Baker, who had a son named Jeremiah Mulford Baker, who was the father of James L. The mother of the latter was Mary J. Helms, of Montgomery, Orange county, N. Y. There was a family of six chil- dren, all but one of whom are living; four of them are sons.
James L. Baker was born in Montgomery, Orange county, on the 2d of February, 1847. Six years of his life were passed in his native town, when in 1853 his father removed to Enfield, Tompkins county, and purchased a farm of William Jewett, which has ever since remained as the homestead and still remains in possession of members of the family. His father died in October, 1882, and his mother in August, 1883.
James L. Baker attended the common schools until he was eighteen years of age, when he entered the Ithaca Academy and there continued his studies until he was twenty-one, teaching a part of each year to earn the needed money to pay the ex- pense of his cducation. He first taught in the oil region of Pennsylvania, and after that in districts in this county. He had early determined upon law as his life work and began his studies in the office of Beers & Howard. He was an ardent and ear- nest student and was admitted to the bar on the 9th of February, 1871, having pre- vious to that date entered the Albany Law School from which he graduated after his admission to practice, in May, 1871. Mr. Baker is one of that large and honorable class of professional and business men who was forced to rely upon his own efforts to reach the goal which his ambition desired. As before noted, a large part of the expenses of his education, both in school and as a lawyer, he provided for himself. When he graduated from the law school he found himself in debt. Returning to the office of Beers & Howard he continued reading until January 1, 1872, when he opened an office in Ithaca. He has ever since practiced alone, with the exception of inter- vals when he employed a salaried partner. This last mentioned fact is an indica- tion of one of Mr. Baker's strongest traits of character-self-reliance. While his practice has been of a general character, it has been and now is, very large, and has embraced cases of importance ; but he has never felt impelled to share the respon- sibilities of his business with others. He has a modest and justifiable confidence in his own ability to safely represent the interests of his clients; and it is perfectly proper to state that his success has warranted his course of action. He holds the reputation of his profession high and is ever watchful of his own good repute. His industry is untiring and he never spares himself in the preparation of the cases entrusted to him. It is therefore not a marvel that he has been unusually successful in building up a large practice.
Mr. Baker is a consistent Republican in politics. He was chosen village attorney for the last time before the organization of the city government, and was the first city attorney. He has also been special county judge and was a prominent can- didate for the office of county judge in 1891.
Mr. Baker is a conspicuous member of the Order of Knights of Pythias, which he entered in 1874, having been a member of Cascadilla Lodge since that time. He is a past grand chancellor of the State of New York, and past supreme representative.
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
Mr. Baker was married in 1878 to Annie M. Cooper, of Trumansburg, formerly of South Danby, daughter of Alanson Cooper, one of the old and most respected residents of that town.
DEXTER HUBBARD MARSH.
AMONG the pioneers of Groton village was the father of D. H. Marslı. His name was Lucius H. Marsh, and his wife was Huldah Finney. He had a farm just outside of the village and later in life also operated the grist mill one mile north of the village. He subsequently engaged in the mercantile business in the village with Martin S. Delano, in which he continued until 1858. He was a man of excellent character, good ability and enjoyed the respect of the community. He was the father of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest. Theeldest was Eugene A. Marsh, now postmaster of Groton, and formerly for six years was deputy county clerk of Tompkins county. The next son was Hiram C. Marsh, of the firm of Hiram C. Marsh & Son, extensive job printers of Chicago. The fourth child is a daughter, Creusa J. Marsh, who married Dr. L. A. Barber, of Auburn, and is deceased.
Dexter H. Marsh was born August 16, 1840. He received his education in the Groton Academy, and early evincing a taste for mercantile business, he entered his father's store, where he rapidly made himself entirely familiar with the best business methods. In 1858 he succeeded his father in trade, and successfully conducted the store seven years. At the end of that period he sold out his stock to his brothers, E. A. & H. C. Marsh, and in association with Charles Perrigo, organized the First National Bank of Groton, Mr. Perrigo being elected president, and Mr. Marsh, cashier. For twenty-five years Mr. Marsh successfully and honorably con- ducted the institution, Mr. Perrigo remaining nominally as president, but the larger share of the burden of responsibilty resting upon Mr. Marsh. The capital of the bank is $100,000, and it now has a surplus of $50,000. On the 14th of January, 1890, he was elected president and now fills that office.
Mr. Marsh is a man of resources and with mind broad enough to comprehend the management of varied interests; and during the period of his connection with the bank he has become prominently identified with various projects. He was foremost in organizing the Crandall Typewriter Company, and the Groton Carriage Company, of both of which he is president and both being successful industries. He is also a director in the Groton Bridge Company ; secretary and treasurer of the Dwight Farm Land Company, and a member of the manufacturing firm of N. R. Streeter & Co., of Groton. In most of these companies he was the chief promoter and organizer and is now the largest stockholder. He has been a director in the Southern Central Railroad twenty-five years. In all of these active relations Mr. Marsh has secured the confi- dence and respect of his associates.
He is essentially a self-made man, having begun his business career with but small means, consisting of his earnings during the period of his early clerkship in the store. In politics he has been active in the Republican party, but has always declined to be its candidate for office. He has always been actively interested in temperance and
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
church work, being one of the officers of the Congregational church. and at one time superintendent of the Sunday school. He has been a member of the church thirty- three years.
Mr. Marsh was married on December 3, 1862, to Welthea M. Backus, of Groton. They have two children living-Florence Lillian, wife of Frank J. Tanner, treasurer of the Typewriter Company; and Carrie S. Marsh; a son was born to them in 1871, but died in infancy.
ALONZO B. CORNELL.
FEW counties, of the same relative importance in population, have, during their civil history, exerted greater influence in the public counsels and administration of the State of New York than Tompkins county. Its domain was first reclaimed from aboriginal control by settlers under the leadership of the distinguished State engineer and surveyor, General Simeon De Witt, who had selected it as his future home on account of its romantic scenery and its natural strategic location, affording the most advantageous point of union between the Susquehanna River and Lake Ontario.
Under such auspices men of education, energy, and enterprise were induced to come from the older counties bordering the Hudson River, and from other States, to cast their fortunes into the early development of the county. They established and maintained a superior system of local education, and, as a natural result, their de- scendants have proved to be worthy representatives of an honored ancestry. One of the most conspicuous of the native sons of Tompkins county is Alonzo B. Cornell, the twenty-fifth governor of the State of New York, who was born at Ithaca, Janu- uary 22, 1832.
Governor Cornell was the oldest son of the eminent philanthropist, the Honorable Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, who was associated with Professor S. F. B. Morse in the original development of the Magnetic Telegraph in America. Educated at the Ithaca Academy until the age of fourteen, when he became a telegraph oper- ator, young Cornell entered upon the activities and responsibilities of a business career, in which he soon became conspicuous for success and rapid promotion, and early attained an enviable position in the telegraphic profession.
After more than twenty years of active experience in all of the various grades of telegraph service, from that of operator to general superintendent, Governor Cornell was in 1868 elected a director of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and has been re-elected to that position at twenty-five successive annual elections by the stock - holders of that great corporation. For more than twenty years he has been a mem- ber of the Executive Committee and for the past twelve years chairman of the Law Committee. From 1870 to 1877 he was the senior vice-president, and during the year 1875 was designated by the directors as acting president, and discharged the onerous duties of that position during the prolonged absence of President Orton in Europe. Mr. Cornell was an early promoter of and for many years controlled the management of the Gold & Stock 'Telegraph Company, the American District Tele- graph Company, and the American Railway Electric Light Company.
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
Having in 1861 acquired by purchase the line of steamboats on Cayuga Lake, Mr. Cornell assumed the personal management of that valuable property. He instituted many improvements to the great satisfaction of the traveling public. Under his liberal and intelligent direction the prosperity of the enterprise rapidly increased until he parted with its control by sale at a largely advanced price. Mr. Cornell was for several years an officer of the Tompkins County Bank at Ithaca, and in 1864 he united with several personal friends in organizing the First National Bank of Ithaca. He was the first cashier and subsequently vice-president, and for more than twenty- five years was one of the directors of that successful financial institution. He has been a trustee of the Cornell Library at Ithaca from its first organization, and for the past twenty years has been the president of its Board of Trustees. He has been a trustee of Cornell University from its foundation in 1865, and has given much valuable service to the administration and development of that great institution of learning.
While pursuing a life of ceaseless activity in business affairs, Mr. Cornell found time to devote much attention to political interests. He became affiliated with the Republican party upon its original formation, and has ever since exerted an impor- tant influence in its counsels both local and general. He was elected chairman of the Tompkins County Republican Committee in 1858, and served in that capacity until 1866, when he became a member of the New York Republican State Commit- tee, of which he was elected chairman in 1870, and served continuously until he was nominated for governor of New York in 1879. He rendered valuable service to his party in affecting its reorganization in 1870-71, and his management of the Republi- can campaign in 1872, which resulted in the triumphant re-election of President Grant, won for him eminent repute as a sagacious and effective political organizer. The results of that exciting and important canvass were largely credited to the wise and vigorous measures undertaken and sustained under his inspiration and leader- ship. His services were generously acknowledged by many of the leading Republi- cans of the United States, who united in tendering him a magnificent souvenir testi- monial which is one of his most valued possessions. He was one of the New York State delegates-at-large to the Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 1880, and was also a meniber of the National Republican Executive Committee from 1876 to 1880, and he has been a member of the Union League Club of New York since 1867.
As the supervisor of his native town of Ithaca in 1864 and '65, Mr. Cornell began official life and discharged the onerous duties incident to the closing years of the civil war in such manner as to command the grateful appreciation of his constituents of all political predilections. In 1868 he was selected by the Legislature as one of the first Board of New Capitol Commissioners, and the same year he was nominated for the office of lieutenant-governor by the Republican State Convention, but the Republican ticket of that year was defeated by the outrageous naturalization frauds perpetrated by Tammany politicians in New York and adjacent counties.
Upon the accession of General Grant to the presidency in 1869, he appointed Mr. Cornell to the important position of surveyor of customs for the port of New York. He soon discovered the existence of an extensive conspiracy between customs officials and dishonest importers to defraud the government of its revenue, and was soon brought into active conflict with the conspirators. The penalties resulting from his
ALUNZO B. CORNELL.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
energetic enforcement of the revenue laws were quite unprecedented in the entire history of the nation. In 1870 President Grant nominated Mr. Cornell for assistant treasurer of the United States at New York, but he promptly declined the appoint- ment, preferring to continue the important work of customs reform which he had so successfully begun and carried forward. He continued to discharge the duties of surveyor with marked success until December, 1872, when he tendered his resigna- tion to the secretary of the treasury to accept a seat in the New York Legislature.
At the annual election in 1872 Mr. Cornell was elected Member of the New York State Assembly from the Eleventh Assembly District of New York city, and upon the organization of that body he was chosen speaker by acclamation in the Republi- can caucus of ninety-six members. This unusual distinction was conferred upon him despite the fact that he had never before been a member of a legislative body, while nearly a dozen members of long experience had been earnestly supported by their friends as competitors for the position. It was considered a well merited tribute to his efficient services in the great campaign just closed, and he achieved still higher honor by the marked success of his service as speaker of the Assembly. Few men have won equal repute as presiding officers even after many years' experience.
Declining a proffered re-election to the Assembly in 1873, Mr. Cornell resumed active duty as vice-president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and devoted himself to the service of that corporation until February, 1877, when he was again called into the federal service by President Grant, by whom he was appointed naval officer of customs for the port of New York. After the accession of Mr. Hayes as president, he called upon Mr. Cornell to resign the chairmanship of the New York Republican State Committee, as the condition of remaining naval officer. This he regarded as an invasion of his civil rights, and declined to comply with the presi- dent's request, whereupon a successor was nominated, who was rejected by the Senate by a very decided majority, thus vindicating Mr. Cornell's position of inde- pendence from presidential dictation.
Shortly after the adjournment of Congress in 1878, Mr. Hayes suspended the col- lector and naval officer of New York for alleged interference in political affairs, and appointed successors, who were finally confirmed after a heated controversy in the Senate. That this action was not approved by the great body of Republicans was singularly demonstrated by the fact that at the subsequent elections Mr. Cornell was elected governor of New York, and Mr. Arthur was chosen vice-president of the United States.
The Republican nomination for governor of New York in 1879 was earnestly con- vassed by the friends of several strong candidates, but Mr. Cornell proved to be sufficiently the favorite to command a majority vote of the delegates in convention, and was therefore nominated on the first ballot. The political campaign was vigor- ously contested and resulted in the election of Mr. Cornell to the governorship by a majority of more than forty thousand over Governor Lucius Robinson, who was the Democratic candidate nominated for re-election.
Inaugurated governor January 1, 1880, Governor Cornell urged upon the Legisla- ture the importance of reformation in the State revenue laws, and under his admin- istration laws were projected and enacted which have very largely increased the revenues of the State. He recommended the eligibility of women as school officers and approved a bill providing that women should both vote at school meetings and
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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
render public service as school officers. He brought the State Prisons up to a self- supporting basis and conducted them upon thorough business principles, free from all political influence or dictation. He abstained from the abuse of the pardoning power, which had often been a discredit of preceding administrations. His appoint- ments to office were noted for fitness for duty required, and it is gratifying to record that no scandal ever resulted from any appointment made by him in the conduct of the executive office.
The most prominent characteristic of Governor Cornell's administration was the sturdy and independent exercise of the veto power. Friends and foes admitted the resolute and impartial hand with which he protected the public interest from spoli- ation; special legislation sought for selfish private interest was firmly resisted and improvident appropriations were ruthlessly vetoed. The National Guard was re- duced in numbers by disbanding inefficient organizations and the remainder com- pactly organized into a strong and effective body. A State camp of instruction was established, and under the influence of the new regime the citizen soldiery of New York has become noted for the superiority of its appearance and discipline.
The scandalous condition of many of the county jails and poor-houses was vividly portrayed by Governor Cornell in his successive annual messages to the Legislature and the deplorable situation of helpless debtors imprisoned in the New York county jail for trifling amounts of indebtedness was vigorously denounced by his trenchant pen Under pressure of his urgent recommendation the Legislature created the State Railway commission which has rendered effective service in the regulation and elevation of the important public interests under its jurisdiction.
The establishment of the New York State Board of Health, which was accomplished pursuant to enactment of law in the first year of Governor Cornell's administration, has proved to be one of the most important and beneficent steps in the progress of the State toward a better and higher civilization. By this simple instrumentality the majesty and power of the people are rendered available for the prompt and effective remedy of local evils which the neglect of ignorant and inefficient town officials too often permitted to become dangerous to the public health. Thus disease and death have been driven from many an humble cottage by the strong arm of the State.
For more than thirty years there had been continued agitation for the repeal of the usury law, which had generally resulted in a drawn battle in the Legislature. In his annual message in 1882, Governor Cornell recommended a form of modification of the usury law which commanded the approval of public sentiment so entirely that / the law was amended in conformity with his suggestion by the unanimous action of both Houses of the Legislature. The result of this modification of the old law has been extremely favorable to borrowers, and has done more to equalize the importance of New York with London, as a monetary center, than any other event in our history.
Contrary to the general custom of his predecessors in the executive office, Gov- ernor Cornell confined his annual messages to the discussion of State affairs only, carefully avoiding any reference to federal politics. He took this eourse in the be- lief that all of his influence was due to the people of the State who had entrusted him with their great commission, and that it was his duty to devote himself exclusively to their service, leaving federal affairs to be cared for by the representatives in either branch of Congress, who had been especially seleeted for that purpose.
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