USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 63
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
ried a prisoner to France. His release and that of another captain were effected by exchange for the celebrated Marshal Junot, who had been captured in Egypt. A short time subsequently to this he came to America, his principal object being to secure in- demnity for the loss of another vessel that had fallen into the hands of the French through information furnished them by an American, and which vessel had been sold afterward to persons from America. He engaged General Hamilton in New York as his counsel, but failed in accomplishing the object of his visit. By General Hamilton he was prevailed upon to come to Utica and see the country. This visit was made in the year 1801, and shortly after his arrival he bought considerable land on the southern borders of the village and never returned to his native country. Forty-nine acres of the tract purchased comprised the cleared farm of Benjamin Hammond in great lot No. 95, which the latter had obtained from John Bellinger. In part it was a portion of the Holland Purchase, and other smaller parts were parchased of John Post, Richard Kim- ball, and Jonathan Evans. On his purchase Captain Hopper built a house, which he enlarged on the arrival of his family, and engaged in farming and in tanning, to neither of which pursuits had he been accustomed. He brought tanners from the East, paying them high wages, and in order to improve his land he expended his means freely in having the stumps grubbed out of the ground. Hence his projects were to some ex- tent a failure ; he also lost considerably in the Utica Glass Company. The land which he purchased, however, increased in value and later in the skillful hands of his sons be- came a handsome estate. Captain Hopper left a reputation for integrity and respecta- bility, but living a little apart from most of the other residents of the village he was not especially concerned in public affairs of his time. He died May 16, 1816. His widow married Joshua Wyman and died December 11, 1843. Their children were George J. (born in England), Elizabeth Ann, Thomas, and Mary (Mrs. Bradley and afterward Mrs. McClure). All of these excepting Thomas are deceased.
Thomas Hopper passed his boyhood days at home and obtained a good English edu- cation at the common schools and the Utica Academy. Early in life he determined to follow mercantile pursuits and at the age of twenty-six years began business in Utica as a merchant, but after about four years he gave up that occupation and turned his attention to improving and dealing in real estate, which he has followed the greater part of his life. From 1835 to 1844 he resided in New York city, where he also oper- ated in real estate. The property purchased by his father was greatly improved by him and many residences erected on it, and it now constitutes one of the finest resi- dence sections of the city. Soon after his return from New York Mr. Hopper pro- jected and against much opposition established and himself constructed the splendid system of water works for the city of Utica. He was one of the first board of nine directors and has filled the office of president for about twenty years. During that period he has refused all remuneration for his services in the company and is given the credit in the community of conferring an inestimable boon upon the inhabitants. Mr. Hopper was also one of the first to instigate the organization of the Cemetery Associa- tion, which resulted in giving the city its beautiful burial place. Here partially at his own expense he erected a splendid chapel for the comfort and convenience of those gathered on burial occasions in stormy weather.
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Charles Millar
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Following in the footsteps of his father, who was one of the first members of Trinity Church, Mr. Hopper has always identified himself with religious and kindred interests. that tend to the benefit of the community. He was treasurer of the Bishop's Fund for the diocese of Western New York for fourteen years, and is a director in the Utica National Bank and has been for many years. In politics he is a Republican, but has. never taken a very active part in that field and has declined political preferment. Mr. Hopper now looks back upon a well-spent life and is among the very few persons who- were born in Utica at the very beginning of the present century and still live here.
M ILLAR, CHARLES .-- Among the many of her adopted citizens to whom Utica is under lasting obligations for his business thrift and standing none left a more honorable record or one more worthy of emulation than Charles Millar. The enter- prises which he started and with which he was connected were among the most im- portant in the city, and will continue to grow and add to her wealth and standing. His. steady and persistent application to business brought him success. Scrupulously upright in his dealings, farsighted and comprehensive in commercial and financial condi- tions, he not only conquered fortune, but received and held the confidence of the com- munity and the sincere regard of all who knew him. He was born in Greenwich, Eng- land, March 9, 1808; received a good education in the parochial schools of London ;. married in 1833 Miss Jane Quait, who survives him; and came to this country two years later and to Utica in 1838. Here for more than half a century he was an active force in the business, social, and public life of Utica ; a thorough believer in her he had pride in her growth and beauty, and assisted to his utmost to increase and secure the. importance she has now attained.
On arriving in Utica Mr. Millar at once commenced business in the line in which he had been educated, that of master builder. He secured large and important contracts, erecting many of the most prominent of the older buildings in Utica, among which may be mentioned the court-house, Mohawk street jail, Tibbitts block, several public schools, and John Thorn's residence. From 1857 to 1860 he was the agent and manager of the Utica Screw Company. At the time he assumed charge the company was suffering from the financial depression and was virtually bankrupt, but through his efforts it. rapidly recovered and became such an important competitor that the American Screw Company, of Providence, offered to buy the stock at par, which offer, contrary to Mr. Millar's advice, was accepted by the directors. The correctness of his views was after- ward confirmed by the advance of the Providence company's stock many hundred- fold. In 1861 he became superintendent of the Utica and Black River Railroad, which office he held for six years, and laid the foundation for the future prosperity of that important road; he made many improvements in the property, among the most notable of which was the filling of the immense trestle work at Trenton, N. Y. This was a work of great magnitude, taking several years and requiring several million yards of sand and gravel. His management of the affairs of the railroad company was so energetic and characterized by such good judgment that the road was enabled to earn and pay its first dividend. He resigned his position on the railroad in 1867 to erect the Millar building
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
on Genesee street in Utica. He had purchased in 1861 the wholesale tin, plumbing, and steamfitting business which he continued to conduct up to the time of his death, and which is one of the most extensive of its kind in the United States. He admitted his son, Henry W. Millar, to full partnership in 1866, forming the firm of Charles Millar & Son, and as the business had grown rapidly, requiring better facilities and more room, he erected the above building for its use. His firm became extensive manufacturers of cheese and buttermaking apparatus and many of the appliances were of Mr. Millar's invention. This machinery was sold all over the United States, and large quantities were shipped to Europe, Australia, Canada, and South America.
September 15, 1883, Mr. and Mrs. Millar celebrated their golden wedding, and the same year the manufacture of lead pipe was commenced by his firm in Utica and was a success from the start. In 1885 the large factory and warehouse on Main street was erected for the purpose of extending this branch of the business. Soon afterward his son-in-law, John L. Murray, was admitted a member of the firm, the firm name remain- ing the same. In 1889 the firm, with the assistance of Nicholas E. Kernan, Irvin A. Williams, and William M. White, organized the Utica Pipe Foundry Company and Mr. Millar was elected its first president. Under his direction the extensive buildings were erected, and the company was about to cast its first pipe at the time of his death. He always took a deep interest in political matters. He was a strong anti-slavery man and a Free Soil Democrat, identifying himself with the Republican party from its start; he was always an earnest advocate and staunch supporter of its principles. He repre- sented the Fourth ward in the common council at the time of the incendiary fires, and was himself a sufferer from the burning of his carpenter shop on Division street. "Dad" Orcutt, one of the gang of incendiaries who was convicted, afterward confessed the crime. He was president for one term of the Utica Mechanics Association and chair- man and manager of one of their most successful fairs, which for many years were so popular.
He lived to a good old age, and was active and busy up to the last. On Saturday, February 22, 1890, he was apparently enjoying his usual health ; he spent the greater part of the day visiting his different places of business, his store, the lead pipe works, and the new pipe foundry building, at all of which he directed various matters ; return- ing home at the usual hour he spent the evening with his family. He died in his bed suddenly the next morning at 8 o'clock of heart failure.
Mr. Millar was a pleasant, agreeable, and courteous companion, loyal and devoted to his friends, and loving and kind to his family. His enterprises were uniformly success- ful; he never failed, but left a record of which his descendants may always be proud.
L' AWRENCE, LEWIS, was born in the town of Otego, Otsego County, N. Y., De- cember 21, 1806, and died on Fourth Lake, Fulton Chain, N. Y., September 8, 1886. Fifty-eight of the nearly eighty years of his life were spent in Utica, N. Y., identifying him in many ways with the growth and prosperity of the city and securing for him an honorable place among its distinguished citizens. He was of New England descent, his parents, Daniel and Penelope Lawrence, having settled in this State some years previous
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
to his birth. He was their only son, standing midway in a group of five children, two of his sisters being older and two younger than himself. All these died while Mr. Law- rence was yet a lad, leaving him to fight alone life's battle and to carve out his own fort- une and destiny. His early years, like those of most successful Americans, were spent in the country upon a farm owned by his father. But at the age of fifteen he left Otego and went to live in the town of Franklin, Delaware County. There he spent the next seven years living in the family of his employer and learning the trade of a carpenter. On reaching his majority he determined to find a larger sphere for his activity, and chose Utica, N. Y., for his future home. He came to this city in April, 1828, without acquaintance and with only $3 in his pocket. He found himself in the midst of a rapidly growing community, recognized his opportunity, and seized upon it. He at once began business upon his own account, and though without money he pushed for- ward with the confidence of a capitalist. His enterprises were successful. Friends gathered about him and within two or three years of his coming here he was an ac- knowledged leader among the builders of Utica.
About the year 1834 he became a manufacturer of and dealer in lumber, and from that time until 1865 his mills and business were extensive, requiring and bringing out the indomitable energy and good judgment which characterized his life. In the year 1865 he gave his attention to the construction of the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Val- ley Railroad, organized the company, became its president and treasurer, and in 1870 leased it to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company, and then sought rest and recreation for the first time in his life. With his son and his son's wife he spent nearly three years in travel in this country and in Europe. Returning here in 1874 he gave his time to various enterprises of business and benevolence in which he was interested, spending his winters in Florida, to which State he became much at- taclied. In politics Mr. Lawrence was a Republican and from the beginning an Abo- litionist and a temperance man. He was a staunch supporter of Senator Conklin, his neighbor and life-long friend, in whose interest he, in 1877, founded the Utica Daily Re- publican. He was a man of large benevolence and a friend always to be relied upon. He was a member of Westminster Church and its strong friend. There survive him his only son, Lewis H. Lawrence, and Charles E. Barnard and Miss A. G. L. Barnard, chil- dren of his only daughter, Mrs. Charlotte A. Barnard, wife of ex-Mayor Charles E. Bar- nard, who died April 15, 1886.
The wife of Mr. Lawrence was Miss Anna G. Skinner, daughter of Samuel and Ruth E. Skinner, of Colchester, Conn., to whom he was married January 18, 1828, and who died November 30, 1868.
W ILLIAMS, ABIJAH J., was born near Oriskany, N. Y., on the 13th of July, 1806. After a period of school study he engaged early in life at his native place, and about 1845 came to Utica, beginning business on the site where his sons have con- tinned since on Genesee and Blandina streets. There he manufactured bobbins, shut- tles, etc., for cotton and woolen-mills, and gradually built up the large trade afterward transferred to his sons. This business brought him into association with large manu- facturers throughout this region and he became a stockholder in almost all of the lead-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
ing manufacturing corporations in the cotton and woolen business. Some years previ- ous to his death he became connected with the Empire mills at Clayville and at his death owned the property in connection with his sons. He was president of the Oneida National Bank at his death and also of the Skenandoa Cotton Company. He was the largest owner of the stock of the Utica steam cotton-mill, and a director of the company, and also a director in the Mohawk Valley mill. Never taking a very active interest in politics, in which he was a Republican, he still felt a deep concern for the well-being of the city. He was elected alderman in 1849. Late in life he made several notable donations to charitable institutions. He gave $1,000 toward founding the department for old men in the Faxton Hospital and $2,000 toward the Y. M. C. A. building. Mr. Williams was a man of great industry and close application to his business, of unquestioned integrity and uprightness, and fully capable of grasping and executing large plans and usually with success. In financial and business matters of importance he was universally trusted in this community and his counsel was often sought.
Mr. Williams was married in 1825 to Mary Billington. His sons who survived him are Irvin A. and James H. A son, Norman A., died in 1879. Aras G., another son, was a resident of Brooklyn, where he was prominent in politics, and died there several years since. Mr. Williams died August 5, 1886.
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T HORN, JOHN, president of the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, was born in' Ruishton, near Taunton, Somersetshire, England, December 6, 1811. Robert Thorn, his father, was a shoemaker, and died in that place in 1844. His mother, Betty Palmer, also died at Ruishton in 1867. John Thorn's young boyhood was spent at his home, where he attended the primary school until he was nine years old. These were the meager educational opportunities that were offered him ; but he made the most of them and acquired the foundation of an education. After his school days he worked for about six years on a farm and learned the soap and candle business. At fifteen years of age he attended a higher school for about eight weeks, and then returned to the soap and candle business, which he continued until the summer of 1832, when on the 12th of July he sailed for America, the Mecca of so many ambitious young men from the mother country. After a voyage of seven weeks and three days he landed in New York city with about £25 in English money and a letter to a resident of the me- tropolis. It was not a fortunate time for a young man to arrive in America witlı no- friends and little pecuniary means, for that dreaded pestilence, the Asiatic cholera, had just made its terrible march over the Northern States and the country was still suffer- ing from its effects. Mr. Thorn's friend, therefore, advised him to not linger in New York, but to push on westward. He accordingly started for Zanesville, O., traveling from Albany to Buffalo on a canal boat, from Buffalo to Cleveland by steamboat, and from Cleveland to Zanesville by canal boat, making a journey of about two weeks. In Zanesville he met the first person he had seen in this country whom he had ever before seen. He remained there only a few weeks and then returned as far as Utica, reaching this place on the first of October. When passing through Utica on his way westward he had been favorably impressed with the village, then just being transformed into a
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
city, and he concluded to remain here; to that end he engaged his services at once to Boyd & Chamberlain, who were carrying on a small soap and candle business on Water street. Three months later, in company with Stephen Thorn (not a relative), he bought the establishment. They continued together one and a half years, when John Thorn purchased his partner's interest and conducted the manufactory until September 1, 1837, the business in the meantime having been considerably extended and the product im- proved. He then took as a partner the late Isaac Maynard, thus inaugurating a har- monious business connection which continued for many years and to the death of the latter on the 23d of February, 1885. Mr. Maynard was Mr. Thorn's brother-in-law through the marriage of the latter to Miss Mary Maynard on the 17th of September, 1833. She died April 23, 1891. The Maynard family were from Mr. Thorn's native place in England. The business of the two men, as far as it related to the soap and candle man- ufacture, was given up about the year 1880, having grown to large proportions and giving profitable returns. In the year 1840 the firm purchased of James C. Delong his wool and pelt business located on Whitesboro and Water streets, which they success- fully continued until 1870, at which time it had grown to a large and profitable traffic. In the year 1860 they associated with James S. Kirk, formerly of Utica and then of Chicago, in the establishment of a large soap and candle manufactory in the latter city. This was continued to 1880, when it was sold out to Mr. Kirk at a time when it was largely profitable and was doing a business of about $2,000,000 a year. These several undertakings constitute the actual business life of Mr. Thorn, and their uniform success and comprehensive character testify to his capacity and good judgment, which have also served him equally well in still larger fields.
In 1859 Mr. Thorn was elected a director in the old Black River and Utica Railroad Company, whose line then extended only from Utica to Boonville. The affairs of the company were then in a complicated, unprofitable, and unsatisfactory condition, and under direction of the court it was closed up and sold in 1860, Mr. Thorn buying it for the bondholders. In the following year he was elected president of the company, an office which he has held almost continually since. He immediately re-organized the company, the name being changed to the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, with capital to the amount of the bonds, about $860,000. In the failure of the first company the city of Utica lost about $250,000. Mr. Thorn continued as president until 1873, when he made one of his periodical visits to England for the benefit of his wife's health as well as his own, and was succeeded by Hon. De Witt C. West, who had been vice-president. In 1879, while Mr. Thorn was again visiting England, lie was recalled on account of the illness of Mr. West, and again assumed the office, which he did not again relinquish. The railroad work of both a practical and diplomatic character which was accomplished under Mr. Thorn's administration and largely through his efforts has been astonishing. When he first took the road in charge he began radical improvements both in the roadbed and the equipment. He accepted only $250 salary for himself, cut down all expenses to the utmost limit, and devoted the entire income of the road to its betterment. The nine trestles between Utica and Boonville were first filled, one of them requiring 700,000 yards of earth, and with other equally important changes the business of the road began to improve at once and to such an extent that on the 11th
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
of November, 1863, the stockholders were almost overwhelmed by the receipt of a two per cent. dividend -- an event that had never occurred before in the history of the road. An annual dividend of from four to six per cent. has never since been missed, and the stock has steadily advanced in value until it was leased to the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Company in 1886, when it commanded $1.20. In 1867 Mr. Thorn inaugu- rated a series of extensions by continuing the road to Lyons Falls, a distance of ten miles, still adhering to the economical and prudent measures first adopted. In 1868-69 the line was continued to Lowville, seventeen miles; in 1869-70 to Carthage; and from there to Philadelphia in 1871-72, connecting there with the Black River and Mor- ristown road, which had about seven miles constructed. That road was at once com- pleted to Morristown and leased by the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, and in 1872 the company leased the road from Carthage to Watertown (then known as the Carthage, Watertown, and Sackets Harbor Company). Two years later the line was completed to Sackets Harbor, involving under this lease about thirty miles of road. In 1874 a connection was made with the Clayton and Theresa road at Theresa Junction, sixteen miles, and that line was taken under a lease. In 1878 the system of extension was still further advanced by building from Morristown to Ogdensburg, eleven miles. In 1883 a consolidation was effected with the Black River and Morristown road and in 1886 all of these various branches, excepting the Carthage, Watertown, and Sackets Harbor (which continued under lease), were consolidated under the name of the Utica and Black River Railroad Company, comprising about 150 miles of road. On the 14th of April, 1886, this entire system was leased to the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdens- burg Company for seven per cent. on its capital stock, that company assuming all of its liabilities, the bonded indebtedness-about $2,000,000. On the 14th of March, 1891, the road passed with all of the lines of the Rome, Watertown, and Odgensburg Com- pany into control of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company.
Assuming that this development of railroad property from an insignificant, non-pro- ductive short line to a large, comprehensive, and profitable system is largely due to Mr. Thorn's energy, capacity, and labor (which none will dispute who is conversant with the facts) it is no more than just to place it among the remarkable executive achievements of the time. Mr. Thorn as well as his friends look upon this work as the crowning success of his long and active life. His business qualifications are fully recognized by his fellow citizens. He has been a director in the Utica City Bank almost from the time of its organization ; a director in the Globe Woolen Company since its organization; a di- rector for a term of years in the Utica woolen-mills; a director at present and one of the organizers of the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad Company ; a director in the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company and in the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad Company; a member of the Utica Mechanics Association ; a trustee of the Faxton Hospital, etc.
Mr. Thorn has been a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church since 1833 and a trustee for about fifty years. In politics he is a Republican, but takes only the interest of a public spirited citizen in that field.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
R OGERS, PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS, was born at Antwerp, Jefferson County, N. Y., December 30, 1824. He was the eldest child of Ralph Rogers, M.D., a native of Acworth, N. H., who removed in early life to Litchfield, Herkimer County, N. Y., and soon afterward to Watertown, Jefferson County, N. Y. Dr. Rogers received his medi- cal education in the medical college at Fairfield, N. Y., and practiced medicine at Ant- werp until 1833, when he removed to Watertown, N. Y., where he was a leading mem- ber of his profession up to the time of his decease, February 21, 1872, in the eightieth year of his age. Mr. Rogers's mother, Sarah Corse, was a native of Duxbury, Vt. She died at Watertown, N. Y., September 19, 1875, in the seventy-third year of her age.
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