Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 79

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194

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With great firmness of character he analyzes questions as they arise, and when he becomes thoroughly acquainted with the subject, is not easily swayed from his posi- tion, and requires good ground ere he changes his opinions. He is, nevertheless, strong in his friendship, warm-hearted and generous, and a man whose intercourse with his fellows is marked by unselfishness and that uniformity of action that inspires confidence in and friendship for him.

Mr. Van Vleet was married on the 19th of October, 1880, to Ada Belle Lacy, only daughter of the late John C. Lacy, of Dryden, whose biography immediately pre-

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cedes this. In the social life of Ithaca, Mr. aud Mrs. Van Vleet occupy a prominent place, and their circle of friends is a large one.

BRADFORD ALMY.

BRADFORD ALMY, the present county judge and surrogate of Tompkins county, was born in the town of Enfield, this county, February 10, 1845. He comes of an honor- able ancestry which is traceable far into the past. His father, also named Bradford, was born in Ithaca, October 19, 1819, and died January 12, 1892. His chief occupa- tion wasfarming, aud while not a public man, he was somewhat prominent in the community and was accorded the full respect of all. He was personally opposed to the acceptance of public preferment, but finally accepted the office of highway com- missioner after being twice elected against his wishes. He was also a captain in the militia in the town of Enfield until the repeal of the old militia law. His wife was Marietta Cronk, who was born in the town of Ulysses. Her father was of Prus- sian descent and came to Tompkins county from Connecticut. Her mother's name was Gould, of Stratford, Conn.

The grandfather of Bradford Almy (the subject) was a native of Newport, R. I., where he was born in 1776. He was an early pioneer westward, and first bought 1,800 acres of land in the township of Brokenstraw, Bradford county, Pa., but a little later came to Covert, Seneca county, where other members of his family had settled. There was patriotic blood in his veins, and in 1812 he enlisted, served honorably, and was twice wounded at Lundy's Lane. In the then primitive con- dition of surgery, the bullets could not be removed from his body, though he passed much time in hospitals and suffered several operations. He died in Ithaca, at No 53 North Aurora street, in May, 1823, while his son, the father of Judge Almy, was a child. On the male side the Almys were of Quaker descent, and came from William Almy, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1630. Through the wife of the grandfather of the subject, whose name was Paddock, the family is descended from William Bradford.

The children of Bradford Almy and Marietta Cronk were: Bradford, the subject ; William M., who now owns and occupies the homestead in Enfield; Eliza A., now the wife of Arthur W. Hawkes, an attorney at Snohomish, Washington; Henry C., and Erastus C., both of Jacksonville, Tompkins county ; Cora M., wife of John Wixon, a farmer of Covert.

Bradford Almy, the subject, was educated primarily in the common schools and the Ithaca Academy. Leaving school he taught a short time in Ithaca village, suc- ceeding which he was several years principal of the largest school in Auburn, N. Y. While thus engaged he studied under private tutors at the Theological Seminary in Auburn, and thus obtained the course of education usually received in our colleges. Mr. Almy had, long before the conclusion of his studies and this period of teaching, resolved upon the profession of law as his life-work, and with that object in view, began law study while still engaged in teaching at Auburn. Beginning in 1870, he gave his whole time to the study of his profession and was admitted to the bar in . Elmira on the 10th of May, 1872. In the following year he began practice in Ithaca.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

The ancestors of Judge Almy were Abolitionists, his father a Whig and he him- self has always been an unwavering Republican, as would naturally follow. His natural tastes have led him to take an active part in the affairs of his party, while his devotion to its principles has been, and is, sincere and uncompromising. At about the beginning of his practice he was appointed a justice of the peace and was afterwards elected to the same office, which he resigned at the end of three years. From that time he continued the general practice of law, meeting with a flattering degree of success until his elevation to the bench. During this period he served sev- eral years on the Republican County Committee and a part of the time was its chairman. In November, 1891, he was elected to the office of county judge and sur- rogate of Tompkins county for the term of six years.

Judge Almy is deeply interested in the cause of education, especially in the tech- nical and manual features that have been introduced in comparatively recent years, He is a firm believer in the theory that through the intermingling of text book study with manual training lies the future best welfare of the young.

Judge Almy is a member of Hobasco Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons; also of St. Augustine Commandery, and of Damascus Temple, of Rochester.

Judge Almy was married on the 20th of July, 1876, to Fanny E. Vant, daughter of John and Mary Vant, of Ithaca. John Vant is a native of England, came to this country when six years old, and during most of his life conducted mercantile business in Albany. His wife was Mary Reynolds, of Burlington, Vt. Bradford and Fanny E. Almy have one daughter, Mabel C., born July 20, 1877, now attending the Ithaca High School.

HIRAM CORSON.

PROFESSOR HIRAM CORSON was born in Philadelphia on the 6th of November, 1828. Up to the age of fifteen he was carefully educated at home by his parents. His father, who was an able mathematician, kept him at mathematical studies, and when he went to the classical and mathematical school, of which the Rev. Dr. Samuel Aaron was principal, in Norristown, Pa., he was far in advance of all students of his age in mathematics, the study of which he continued, and completed the extended course there pursued. At this school and at the classical school of which the Rev. Dr. Anspach was principal, in Montgomery county, Penn., he gave the larger portion of his time, for nearly five years, to the study of Latin and Greek, reading extensively of the literatures of these languages and the opera omnia of several authors. In the fall of 1849 he went to Washington, and was, during the following winter, connected with the reporting corps in the United States Senate. He was, also, for a while, pri- vate secretary to Lewis Cass. In the following summer he became connected with the library of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, then in charge of the accom- plished scholar and bibliographer, Prof. Charles C. Jewett, under whose guidance, and in the preparation of the catalogues of the library of Congress and of the Smith- sonian Institution, in accordance with the plan originated by Professor Jewett, for the stercotyping of a general alphabetical catalogue of the libraries of the United States, he made a careful study of bibliography and the management of libraries.

LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

He assisted Professor Jewett in the preparation of his "Notices of Public Libraries in the United States," which was printed by order of Congress in 1851. This work was prepared in pursuance of a scheme to make the Smithsonian Institution a center of bibliographical knowledge.

Professor Jewett's plan, above referred to, was for stereotyping catalogues by separate movable titles. This plan was presented in a paper published in the fifth annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, together with the report of the commissioners, to whom the plan was referred for examination. It was proved to be entirely practicable, and far more economical than any other that had been devised.

A serious disagreement which occurred between Professor Jewett and the secretary of the Smithsonian, Prof. Joseph Henry, resulted in the removal of Professor Jewett from his position, and the grand catalogue scheme, the realization of which would have proved a great service to learning, was unfortunately abandoned.

During the six or seven years of his connection with the Smithsonian Institution, Professor Corson attended all the courses of literary and of scientific lectures given by the distinguished scholars and scientists who were engaged by the institution at that time. He also made, with the abundant material at his command, an extended study of English, French and German literatures. In September, 1854, he married, in Boston, Miss Caroline Rollin, a native of Paris, a lady who had been highly edu- cated in France and Germany, and who has, during her whole married life, done ex- tensive literary work, in the way of translations from French and German, and in original contributions to periodical literature, In 1859 Professor Corson removed with his family to Philadelphia, where he devoted himself, for the six following years, to lecturing on English literature and kindred subjects, in the Ladies' Semin- aries of the city and elsewhere. During these years he also prepared students in Latin and Greek and mathematics for admission to the University of Pennsylvania. For three of those years he had his own lecture room in the city, where, in addition to his outside lectures and teaching, he lectured twice a week for twenty-five weeks each year to audiences composed of the most cultivated people of the city. He was also an active member during this time of the "Shakespeare Society of Phila- delphia."

In 1864 he received from the College of New Jersey the degree of Master of Arts.

In March, 1865, he was elected Professor of Moral Science, History and Rhetoric in Girard College, Philadelphia, and was, ex officio, vice-president of the college. By reason of its too onerous duties, he resigned this position in August of the following year, having accepted the professorship, offered him by Dr. Henry Barnard, the newly elected president, of rhetoric and English literature, in St. John's College, Annapolis. During his connection with St. John's, literary study in the college attained to an unusual prominence.

In 1870 he was elected Professor of Rhetoric, Oratory, and English Literature, in the Cornell University. Since the beginning of the academic year, 1890, '91, his professorship has been confined to English literature, a new and distinct chair having been established of English philology and rhetoric.

Professor Corson has contributed extensively to various journals and reviews arti- cles connected with his line of study, the titles of which alone would occupy more space than can be given in this notice, and has published the following works:

BIOGRAPHICAL.

'Chaucer's Legende of Goode Women, with an introduction and notes glossarial and critical,' 1863: 'An Elocutionary Manual: with an introductory essay on the study of literature, and on vocal culture as indispensable to an æsthetic appreciation of poetry,' 1864; ' Address on the occasion of his induction as Professor of Moral Science, History, and Rhetoric, in Girard College, March 29, 1865;' a revised edition of 'Jaudon's English Orthographical Expositor, 1866,' published for the use of the Southern freedmen; a separate edition of the above 'Essay on the study of literature, and on vocal culture, etc., 1867;' 'The Satires of Juvenal, with a literal interlineal translation, 1868;' 'Handbook of Anglo-Saxon and Early English, 1871;' ' Syllabus of a course of lectures on the English language and literature, 1873;' a 2d enlarged edition, 1876; ' Jottings on the text of Hamlet (First Folio versus "Cam- bridge " edition), 1874;' 'The University of the Future: an address delivered before the alumni of St. John's College, July 7th, 1875;' ' The claims of literary culture: an address before the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, September 27, 1875; "The Idea of Personality and of Art as an agency of Personality, as en- bodied in Browning's poetry' (a paper read at the 8th mecting of the London Browning Society, June 23, 1882, and published in the Society's Papers, Part III, 1882); 'The Two Voices and A Dream of Fair Women, by Lord Tennyson; with a biographical and general introduction, and explanatory and critical notes. 1882;' ' Response to the toast, " The True Scholar," made at the 6th annual dinner of the N. Y. Alumni Association of Cornell University, March 31, 1886;' ' An Introduction to the study of Robert Browning's poetry, 1886;' of this work the poet wrote, 'Let it remain as an assurance to younger poets that after fifty years' work unattended by any conspicuous recognition, an over-payment may be made, if there is such an- other munificent appreciator as I have been permitted to find; in which case let them, even if more deserving, be equally gratified.' This work has been the most exten- sively used of all the numerous works on Browning's poetry which have been pub- lished since the founding of the Browning Society of London. 'An Introduction to the study of Shakespeare, 1889;' this is an introduction to the study of the Plays as plays. .

The work called forth immediately on its publication the most favorable notices from leading journals, literary magazines, and reviews, in the United States, England and Germany, evincing a general sense of the need of a higher study of the dram- atist than the merely textual study pursued in the schools. . A Primer of English Verse, chiefly in its æsthetic and organic character, 1892.' In this work but little attention is given to the mere mechanics of verse; it introduces the student to the higher study of verse as an inseparable, organic element of poetic expression. It has been extensively used in schools and colleges, and has given a new direction to an important line of literary study-important as conducting to the informing life of poetical productions.

Professor Corson was among the earliest engaged lecturers at the Peabody Insti- tute, in Baltimore. In January, 1868, he gave a course of lectures there on the poetry of Milton to large audiences. During the many years of his connection with the Cornell University (at the time of the writing of this article, twenty-four), he has been in demand as a lecturer and reader; and when his university duties have per- mitted, he has accepted invitations to lecture and read in various cities and towns of

LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

the country. In June, 1877, he read before the New Shakespeare Society, in University College, London, a paper on the development of Shakespeare's verse as a chronological test. He has been a vice-president of the society for a number of years. In 1878, in consideration of his literary services, St. John's College conferred 'upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In June, 1882, he read a paper on Personality, and Art as an agency of Personality, before the Browning Society of London, in University College, of which the poet wrote to Dr. Furnivall, the founder of the society : " If your society had produced nothing more than Professor Corson's paper, I should feel abundantly grateful.'

Professor Corson has been instrumental in establishing and guiding a large num- ber of Browning clubs in different parts of the country, and has carried on an exten- sive correspondence with Browning students. He has probably done more to pro- mote the study of the poet than any one else in the country. He had conducted a club in the university, and had lectured on Browning in various places for some years before the London Browning Society was formed, in 1881. Up to that time the general reader had hardly looked into the poet's works, which had the undeserved reputation of being ' wilfully obscure, unconscientiously careless and preversely harsh.' Their quickening power has, of late years, been experienced' by thousands, and thousands are indebted to Professor Corson for their introduction to this power.

In the winter terms of 1883, '84, and '85, he lectured at the Johns Hopkins University, having been appointed fór a period of three years lecturer on English literature. The first course comprised ten lectures, five on the æsthetics of English verse and five on the poetic ideals of the nineteenth century, as exhibited in the poetry of Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning; the second comprised twenty lectures on the poetry and drama of the Restoration period, and on the subsequent drama to Sheridan, inclusive; the third, twenty lectures on Shakespeare. Of the last course, President Gilman, in his annual report, 1885, says: " Professor Corson, whose instructions during two preceding winters had exercised a marked influence in this community, gave twenty lectures upon Shakespeare in January, February, and March. After two introductory discourses, he discussed ten of the principal plays, namely, Romeo and Juliet, King John, Much Ado about Nothing, Hamlet, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Winter's Tale, and Cym- beline. It was the speaker's purpose, as he stated it, "to represent the poet's early, middle, and late work, and, along with a presentation of the organic structure of the plays selected, to indicate Shakespeare's progress in the creation of character, to contrast his portrayal of character with that of Ben Jonson and other contemporary dramatists, in a word to present the plays on the human side rather than on the scholastic. So large a number of persons desired to hear Professor Corson and Mr. Gosse [who gave a course of six lectures on the rise of classical poetry in England from Shakespeare to Pope], that the authorities of the Peabody Institute kindly opened one of their large halls to the university, and these lectures were therefore announced as under the auspices of both foundations."

BIOGRAPHICAL.

MARTIN BESEMER, M. D.

DR. MARTIN BESEMER was born in Dryden on the 14th of July, 1848. He has al- ways been a very busy man, and has not devoted time to investigate his family tree as thoroughly as might be; he considers his ancestors as valuable, only that from them he has a heredity of the medical " diathesis." His mother was Joannah Hutch- inson, youngest daughter of Dr. Silas Hutchinson, one of the earliest settlers and earliest physicians in the county. Somewhere are yet preserved the antiquated sad- dle bags and poisonous mixtures of the "old fashioned " doctor, which he carried on his horseback trips; often going beyond Owego on one hand, and to Aurora and even to Auburn on the other. Dr. Silas's father was Dr. James Hutchinson, whose name is among the fifty subscribers to Cullen's "Practice," printed in 1781. On the other side Dr. Besemer starts his genealogy, like all good Americans, from the first settlers in this country. This was J. J. Besemer, a tanner from Central Germany, who set- tled about 1765 in Albany. Like all good emigrants he reared a large family and died. His son, John Besemer, married a Miss Van Steemburgh, who lived at the time of the Revolution in the one house in Kingston that was not leveled to the ground by the British. Their son, Josiah Besemer, the doctor's father, departed from the shores of the Hudson, and after some wandering came to live on the borders of Dryden and Caroline.

Dr. Martin Bescmer has thus a good heredity toward acquiring the medical art and combines the elements of German industry, Dutch thoughtfulness, and Puritan idealism. His early schooling was at the Ithaca Academy, then a more ambitious institution than now, and with Howard Mead, now Judge Mead, and Will Halsey, now of Halsey Brothers, Chicago, kept bachelor's hall, and graduated in the course of civil engineering.

His intentions as to life were yet vague, and the following winter he studied in the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie. Meanwhile he had read some medical works, and after leaving Poughkeepsie spent about two years in surveying and in reading mathematics and medicine .. In 1867, at the age of twenty, he came to a set- tled conviction and married, choosing Miss Emma Wolcott, one of the daughters of Squire Wolcott, of Mott's Corners.

For the five or six years following he devoted his energies to farining and in still further preparing for the study of medicine, which he has always claimed was a hereditary impulse, and could not be gainsaid. In 1873 he entered the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College, and graduated in 1875, being prosector and demon- strator of anatomy the last year, and capturing the Sander's obstetric prize.

From 1875 to 1885 he was engaged in the practice of medicine in Mott's Corners, now called Brookton, and in 1885 came to Ithaca, where he has since lived. Thus the doctor has been in active practice nineteen years, part of it full of the hardships of a country practice, but latterly a life that is less arduous. Through all the intrica- cies of a large practice he keeps a cool, mathematical head, always hurried, but still collected, always finding more to do of necessity or charity than he has time for, yet compelling himself to regular hours for everything.

In 1891 the doctor was elected to the Board of Censors of the Cleveland Homoco- pathic Hospital College, and in 1893 was chosen alumnus trustee of the Cleveland

LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

Medical College. He is a member of the Central New York Society and of the Amer- ican Institute of Homoœpathy.

Dr. Besemer has one son following in his footsteps as nearly as may be. He graduated from Cornell University in 1889, at the age of nineteen; from the New, York City University Medical College in 1891; from the Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College in 1892. He is now associated with his father in the practice of medicine, making pathology and microscopic diagnosis a special study and work, with the intention of making a specialty of surgery.

SAMUEL A. SEABRING, M.D.

SAMUEL AUGUSTUS SEABRING, M.D., was born in the town of Newfield, Tompkins county, on the 14th of March, 1846. He was a son of Cornelius H. and Susan J. (Jackson) Seabring. Cornelius H. Seabring was also a native of Newfield, a respected farmer of that town, and son of Samuel, who came with his father (whose name was Cornelius) from Pennsylvania, as one of the early settlers of Newfield. Susan J. Jackson was born in Newfield, Tompkins connty, in 1818, her parents, Eldad and Olive Lawrence, having removed there from Meredith, Delaware county, in 1810. Besides Samuel Augustus, Cornelius had a daughter by his first marriage, who is deceased, and a living daughter by his second marriage.

The early education of Samuel Augustus Seabring was obtained at the district schools and continued in the well known seminaries of Lima and Cazenovia. At the close of his educational period he began teaching in Newfield. He afterwards taught in the town of Enfield, and for two years was principal of the Trumansburgh Union School. At the end of this period he began his professional studies in the Michigan University Medical College at Ann Harbor, and later on attended the Long Island College Hospital, from which he graduated in 1871. He then entered upon his pro- fessional career in his native town, where he continued until his death.

On the 3d of January, 1872, Dr. Seabring was married to Margaret Cora Kinney, daughter of J. O. Kinney, a well known citizen of Westmoreland, Oneida county, a son of John Kinney, one of the early settlers of that county. The professional career of Dr. Seabring extended over a period of twenty years, and was an eminently suc- cessful one in every respect. His natural qualifications, as well as his acquired attri- butes as a physician, were such as to insure that success which usually follows earn- estness of purpose and personal adaptability to any calling. Tender hearted, modest, gentle with the suffering, and with that clear headed judgment which enables the physician to successfully diagnose disease, he won not only a large circle of business, but a wide circle of friends, who placed in him the utmost confidence and felt for him the utmost regard.

Dr. Seabring was not only a successful practitioner; his interest in public affairs was ever broad and active, and his desire to benefit his fellows was unselfish and con- tinuous. A Democrat in politics, living in a town containing a large majority of Re- publicans, his fellow citizens evinced their confidence in him by electing him to the office of supervisor of his town in 1888, by the narrow majority of fifteen votes. In

S.A. Soaking

BIOGRAPHICAL.

the following year he was again chosen to the same office by the increased majority of seventy votes, to be succeeded in 1890 by a majority of 128. Again nominated in 1891 he received a majority of 155, notwithstanding the fact that the Republicans placed in nomination one of their most prominent men and made a determined effort to procure his election. Dr. Seabring was not a politician in the ordinary sense of the word. He would not descend to any of the customary methods to secure prefer- ment; his strength lay in his clearly expressed intention of serving his fellow citizens to the best of his ability and according to the dictates of his own conscience, without reference to consequences to himself. His judgment in public affairs was excellent, and he never lacked courage to act upon his convictions; while his fidelity inspired confidence in others.

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Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 79

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194