USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 67
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
employment in some of the mills of that city and assisted in putting up and starting the machinery of two new mills there. A little later he put up and started machinery in a new mill at Warren, R. I., and immediately afterward performed a like service in the first Wamsutta mills. These various mills were new and modern in all of their features, and his experience with them gave Mr. Wiley practical advantages which few young men possessed at that time and rendered him thoroughly competent for the con- struction and management of a cotton-mill.
In the spring of 1852 the trustees of the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills prevailed upon Mr. Wiley to come here and superintend their mills, which at that time contained about 7,000 spindles. This number was gradually increased to 15,000 in 1856, and as the mills under Mr. Wiley's management were proving successful it was decided in 1868 to build mill number two and equip it with 15,000 spindles. This mill was planned and built by Mr. Wiley and began operations in 1869. The thorough, intelligent, and effi- cient management of Mr. Wiley and the care and skill of the trustees and managers had now changed the former unprofitable conditions of the manufacture to a larger and better product with comparatively less expense, and the reputation of the goods was established as first-class, commanding a ready sale and profitable returns. In 1880-81 the number one mill was remodeled and enlarged to contain 25,000 spindles, the plans for which changes were made by Mr. Wiley. The success of these mills led to the con- struction of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills (under substantially the same direction), which were planned by A. D. Lockwood associated with Mr. Wiley and erected wholly under supervision of the latter. These mills began work in 1882. In 1881-82 the plans of the Skenandoa Yarn-Mill were prepared under Mr. Wiley's direction and Isaac R. Scott was engaged to take charge of its construction and management. Under his ju- dicious and efficient administration the mill has been doubled in its capacity. In addi- tion to all these responsible undertakings Mr. Wiley was associated with the late Hon. George W. Chadwick in arranging and constructing the Willowvale Bleachery in New Hartford, which is well known for the excellence of its productions.
The foregoing record covers a period of forty years of practical work in his line in the city of Utica, which has been one of uninterrupted success, and it may be said here with entire propriety that very few men in the country, and none in this vicinity, stand higher in all matters pertaining to the manufacture of cotton cloth than Mr. Wiley. He is at the present time vice-president and superintendent of the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills ; superintendent of the Mohawk Valley Cotton-Mills ; a director in the Skenandoa Yarn- Mill; president of the Willowvale Bleachery; was a member of Grace Church vestry twenty years and one of the building committee in charge of the erection of the present church edifice; was chairman of the building committee and took an active part in the con- stuction of the Utica Opera House and of the St. Luke's Home and Hospital ; and has been trustee of the latter institution from its beginning. Mr. Wiley is now engaged in remod- eling the Utica Steam Cotton-Mills and when finished they will contain 55,000 spindles. He is trustee of the Masonic Home and Asylum fund to be devoted to the erection of a fine building for a Masonic Home and School in Utica. He is a Democrat in politics, but has never given more attention to that interest than is demanded of every public spirited citizen.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
In 1857 Mr. Wiley was married to Miss Anna E. Thorn, daughter of Stephen Thorn, of Utica. They had one daughter, Sarah T. Wiley, now the wife of William B. Lane, M.D., of Brooklyn, N. Y. Anna E. Wiley died November 16, 1877. In 1880 Mr. Wiley married Helen A. Taft, of Worcester, Mass., who died August 2, 1891.
W HITE, WILLIAM MANSFIELD, president of the Second National Bank of Utica, is a direct descendant of Hugh White, the pioneer of Whitestown who traced his lineage to Elder John White, who landed from the good ship Lyon, at Bos- ton, on the 16th of September, 1632, coming from Clemsford, the county seat of Essex County, England. His father was the Hon. Hugh White, who represented the Saratoga district in Congress from 1846 to 1852, a graduate of Hamilton in 1823, and a law stu- dent with Gov. John A. Dix in New York in the office of Col. Charles G. Haines. Being a practical man his knowledge of geology enabled him to discover a mine of hy- draulic cement at Chittenango, Madison County, and he at once began the manufacture. Prior to this time all water-lime had been imported. He afterward discovered larger deposits near Kingston and developed the Rosendale cement works, furnishing large quantities for the Croton aqueduct. His brother, Canvass White, was one of the earliest and ablest engineers of the Erie Canal, and afterward was employed by the State of Pennsylvania on the construction of the Union, the Lehigh, and the Delaware and Rar- itan Canals. He was a man of whom Henry Clay said, when an engineer was being sought for the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal : " Get Canvass White ; no man is more competent, no man more capable ; and while your faith in his ability and fidelity increases your friendship will grow into affection." Mr. White's mother was Maria Mills Mansfield, of Kent, Conn. On the mother's side of the Mills family the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, the first missionary, is the best known representative.
William M. White was born in Waterford, Saratoga County, N. Y., July 8, 1833. At the age of twelve years he was sent to the Galway Academy, then under the charge of Prof. Charles Durkee. In the fall of 1846 he was sent to the military school of Professor Kinsley, at West Point, where the drill of body and mind was most thorough and the morale of the school high toned and religious. Here he spent three years, and some time after he entered the sophomore class of Hamilton College, graduating in 1854. During his college course his vacations were spent on Sweet Briar Farm in the town of Ossian, Livingston County, N. Y., belonging to his father and which afterward became his own, and where he resided for thirty years. An enthusiast in agriculture he was active in local societies and in the State Agricultural Society, and was its presi- dent in 1884. In politics Mr. White is a Republican, having cast his first vote for Fremont. He has always been active and loyal to the party of freedom and progress. In the world of finance he believes in the wisdom of one measure of value, the recognized standard of the world, gold. In religion he is a member of the Episcopal Church, and has been honored by that body as warden, member of the standing committee of the diocese, and delegate to the triennial convention of the church and to the general council. He has also acted as a lay-reader by appointment of the bishop and is the president of St. Luke's Home and Hospital.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
On the 22d day of January, 1863, he was married to Miss Anna Maria Pierrepont, daughter of Hon. William C. Pierrepont, of Pierrepont Manor, N. Y., by the Rt. Rev. Bishop De Lancey. Eleven children blessed this union, of whom six were sons : Hugh, a business man în Utica; William Pierrepont, a graduate of Columbia Law School, admitted to the bar ; Hubert Lawrence, a student of law at Cornell University ; and De Lancy Pierrepont, Charles Carroll, and John Dolbeare, who are attending the public schools. Mrs. White died in Utica on the 22d day of September, 1884, and was burried at Pierrepont Manor. Mr. White removed to Utica on the 1st of September, 1882, and resided for three years in the old Johnson mansion at 234 Genesee street. In the spring of 1885 he purchased of . O. B. Mattison his present residence opposite Dakin street.
Mr. White was elected a director in the Second National Bank in January, 1889, with- out his knowledge. The sudden and unlooked-for death of his friend, its president, Edward S. Brayton, and the death of the cashier, George R. Thomas, together with the illness of the vice-president, William B. Jackson, necessitated immediate action and the Board of Directors unanimously elected Mr. White president and Henry Roberts vice- president. The looked-for cashier was found in David A. Avery, of Cooperstown, and since July 1, 1887, the bank has recovered the losses of the past and has been uniformly successful and prosperous. Dividends have been resumed and confidence fully re- stored, so that its stock is eagerly sought as a safe and permanent investment.
Mr. White is a director in the Jefferson County National Bank and has been a di- rector in the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad Company since 1871. He is vice-president of the Utica Pipe Foundry Company, organized in 1889, and a di- rector in the Bleecker Street Railroad Company, and for a number of years has had the care of the large estate of his father-in-law, the late William C. Pierrepont.
W JOOD, HENRY J., was born in Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y., July 19, 1829. His father was Clark Wood, who came from Washington County, N. Y., and was one of the very early settlers of the town of Kirkland, where he was a respected farmer. He died there on the 6th of June, 1869. His wife was Amanda Jones, daughter of Nehemiah Jones, of Westmoreland, who died April 30, 1855. Of the large family of children there are now living, besides Henry J., Clark and Charles Wood, both residents of Utica, and Mrs. Mary E Myrick, of Clinton, N. Y. Henry J. Wood obtained his education at the Clinton district schools and the grammar school, supplemented by one year of study in the Clinton Liberal Institute. In the year 1845, when he was sixteen years old, he began his business career by taking a clerkship with Beardsley & Rossiter, grocers, of Little Falls. After two years of faithful service there he spent one year in a country store in Frankfort, N. Y., and in 1848 accepted a similar position at New York Mills, where he remained until 1850. At this time, having had five years of mer- cantile experience, in which he had become conversant with nearly all kinds of goods and learned what constituted good business methods, Mr. Wood came to Utica as a clerk in the old and well known dry goods house of James Dutton. Here he spent three years acquiring valuable knowledge in that particular line of trade, and at the end of
H
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
that time entered the establishment of R. V. Yates, manufacturer and jobber of clothing, a business in which he was to find his future occupation and attain remarkable success. Two years later, in 1855, Mr. Wood began business on his own account by the purchase of his employer's establishment. Into the conduct of the concern he immediately put new vigor and inaugurated advanced methods of business, which rendered it more pop- ular and consequently more profitable than it had previously been. For twenty years Mr. Wood conducted the establishment, constantly increasing its output and the repu- tation of its goods, and winning the good will and esteem of all with whom he came in contact, from his humblest employee to his largest customer. In 1874 preparations were made to receive his son, Charles H. Wood, as a partner in this business. In August of that year, however, his son died at the early age of twenty-two years. The death of his son and only child alienated his taste from further mercantile pursuits. In 1875 Mr. Wood sold his business to Rockwell & White at a time when his annual sales had reached about $400,000, and retired wholly from active pursuits in the full enjoyment of the respect of the community.
Such is a brief record of the active life of one of the foremost business men of Utica. Naturally of a retiring and reserved temperament Mr. Wood has found his greatest pleasure in his home and among his intimate friends, and in the natural satisfaction that follows devotion to business wherein he found unusual material success, while at the same time these characteristics and the habits thus formed drew him away from public life and prevented his acceptance of public station which he might have had and which he would have honored. In politics he is a Republican, but never sought preferment in that field ; he has, however, been called to other positions of trust of a more private character. He acted as trustee of the Faxton Hospital for several years and down to two years ago ; has been prominently connected with the administration of the affairs of the Forest Hill Cemetery as one of its Board of Trustees and its vice- president for the last three years. In 1888 Mr. Wood assumed active control of the finances of the Cemetery Association and has conducted them on the same successful basis that has characterized his private concerns. At that time he found the association laboring un- der a floating indebtedness of $20,000 and a bonded indebtedness of $7,000. In thirty days the entire floating indebtedness was extinguished by subscriptions secured by his personal solicitation, and before the close of the following year the revenues of the asso- ciation had been so well managed that the bonded indebtedness was paid and it became free from debt. Not content with this achievement he continued with untiring energy to create a surplus fund, which now amounts to $7,000. Another monument to the dis- interested and restless activity of Mr. Wood's character is found in the improvement of Highland avenue leading from Genesee street to the Forest Hill Cemetery. This avenue was formerly almost impassable in the rainy seasons. He solicited funds by means of which the entire roadway was regraded and macadamized, and it now offers a smooth, handsome drive at all times. He is also a director of the Utica Water Works Company, and in that capacity has recently introduced an improvement which is of the utmost importance to consumers of the water. This is what is styled an aerating foun- tain and was devised by Mr. Wood, who had noticed the improved quality of artesian well water in Florida by its fall of several feet in the open air. It consists of a number
Eng. by F.G. Kernan, N.Y.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
of pipes laid in the bottom of the reservoir from which a large number of smaller pipes extend several feet above the surface of the water. The water coming into the reser- voir is forced through these fountain pipes in small columns forty feet into the air and falls back in spray, thus thoroughly oxygenizing it. This is believed to be the only arrangement of the kind in this country, and is considered a valuable hygienic im- provement.
Mr. Wood was married in the year 1850 to Susan Homer, who died on the 3d day of May, 1891.
S EYMOUR, GEORGE, M.D., was born in De Ruyter, Madison County, N. Y., on the 5th of October, 1839, during the temporary residence of his parents at that place. The ancestors of Dr. Seymour on his father's side were from Normandy and settled in New England. His grandfather was Silas Seymour, who was born in the State of Connecticut and died in West Winfield, N. Y .; he was a farmer by occupation. His grandmother was Hannah (Tompkins) Seymour, also a native of Connecticut. She was a woman of strong character and useful life.
The father of Dr. Seymour, David Tompkins Seymour, was the fourth child of Silas and Hannah (Tompkins) Seymour and was born in West Winfield, N. Y., on March 11, 1813. Just before the birth of George the family removed to De Ruyter and remained there about two years, during which the son was born, as above stated. David T. Sey- mour married Hannah Dodge, daughter of Amasa Dodge, of West Winfield, on the 15th of November, 1835. She is still living at Pulaski, Oswego County, N. Y. The family returned to West Winfield from De Ruyter and remained there seven years, when they removed to Oswego County, where Mr. Seymour died October 5, 1888. He was a farmer, a carpenter and joiner, and an excellent mechanic. He followed the latter occupation for many years and was a leader in the business in the section where he lived. George Seymour attended the district school of his neighborhood until he was fifteen years old. He was born with a natural desire for the acquirement of knowledge, and so assiduously did he exercise that desire that at the age of seventeen years he was competent to teach. He accordingly spent five years in alternate attendance at the academies in Pulaski and Mexico, in the same county, and in teaching. He closed his academic studies at Mexico in 1859, when he was twenty years old. After about a year of ill health he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. F. S. Low, of Pu- laski, but taught every month of one of the years of his study (1863-64) in the State of Ohio, at the same time pursuing his studies evenings and during his leisure hours. In 1862 . he began attending lectures at the Medical College of the University of the city of New York, and followed them until his graduation from that institution in March, 1865, fully imbued with a love for his profession and a determination to advance in its ranks as far as his natural and acquired powers would permit. The war of the Rebellion was then nearing its close and, like many other young physicians, Dr. Seymour turned his atten- tion at once toward the battlefields, where none ever waited for practice. He went out as acting assistant surgeon and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac ; but, as is well known, the war ended soon after he reached the scene of his. expected duties and he returned to Pulaski after three months of service. There he began practice at
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
first with Dr. Low and afterward alone for the remainder of four years. At the end of that period he succeeded Dr. J. N. Lyman, at Mannsville, Jefferson County, and practiced there six years. He then went to New York city and spent one and a half years, during which he took a post-graduate course in the institution from which he had graduated. In February, 1877, Dr. Seymour came to Utica and has since that time been in constant practice of his profession. In the city of Utica his success has been pro- nounced and steadily increasing, and he now enjoys a practice which commands his en- tire time and energies. This success must, in his case, be largely attributed to persistent
hard work which he has for twenty-seven years given to his profession, combined with an unusual degree of self-reliance and natural qualifications for the treatment of the sick. To enlightened judgment he adds watchfulness and care, kindness of demeanor, and a spirit of sympathy which wins the confidence of his employers and fixes his hold upon them as their family friend and adviser. In the ordinary walks of life and outside of his profession Dr. Seymour has gained the unqualified respect and esteem of his fellow citizens.
Dr. Seymour has been honored by his professional brethren in various ways which indicate their appreciation of his attainments. He was sent as a delegate to the State Medical Society in 1881 and made a permanent member in 1884 ; was made a member of the Oneida County Medical Society in 1877; was one of the incorporators of the Utica Medical Library Association and has always been an active member; served two years soon after his arrival in Utica in the Maternity Department of St. Elizabeth's Hospital; was for five years regular visiting physican in the Faxton Hospital, and re- signed in 1890 on account of his private practice; has been for twelve years one of the physicans of St. Luke's Hospital, sustaining an active relation as visiting and consulting physician and lecturer on obstetrics to the school for nurses connected therewith; has contributed largely to the literature of his profession in valuable papers to the State and county societies and to medical publications. At the alumni dinner of the University of the city of New York, held in 1891, he was called upon to respond to the toast " The Alumni," when he made a capital address that was warmly received by all who heard it. Dr. Seymour has no specialty in his profession, but has given a large share of his time and attention to gynecology, in which branch he has achieved flattering success.
Dr. Seymour was first married on the 21st of June, 1866, to Lydia Winegar, of Cent- ral Square, Oswego County, and they had one daughter, Anna. His wife died Janu- ary 11, 1870. He subsequently married (second) Mrs. Sarah B. Kinney, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Shepherd, of Mannsville, Jefferson County, N. Y.
B UTLER, JOHN MILTON, was born in Sauquoit, Oneida County, N. Y., on the 9th of July, 1827. John Milton's father is Chauncey S. Butler, who was also born in Sauquoit and has passed his long life as a farmer and a civil engineer. He is a man of excellent character and in early days was prominent in military affairs, being a colonel of a regiment of horse which had a high reputation. He still lives at his native place at the age of eighty-nine years. His wife, the mother of John Milton, was Betsey Mosher, of Willowvale, and is deceased.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
John M. Butler had the advantages of a collegiate education, and after spending his youth in the district schools entered Hamilton College in 1844 and graduated with credit in the class of '48. His first business experience was as a partner of S. A. Millard, at Clayville, N. Y., in the manufacture of farmers' tools. This connection began in 1850 and continued only two years, when the precarious condition of Mr. Butler's health compelled him to abandon the undertaking and seek restoration in travel, and he accord- ingly passed the following year in the South. Returning with restored health he was solicited to come to Utica as book-keeper in the Oneida County Bank, which he did in 1853. In the following year he was made teller and in the succeeding year cashier, which position he filled for thirty-two years until 1887, when he was elected president of the institution and still holds that office. The year 1853, the date of the organiza- tion of the Oneida County Bank, was not a very auspicious time for the launching of a financial institution, for three years later saw a panic such as has not since been expe- rienced, and many banks which were accounted strong went down in the crisis. But under the prudent management of Mr. Butler and his associates this institution weath- ered the storm safely, and most of the detail and a large share of the general manage- ment of the bank have since that time fallen directly upon Mr. Butler's shoulders. The dissension that early arose among the directors soon disappeared and Mr. Butler applied a firm, conservative hand to the conduct of the institution, which has enabled it since the beginning of his administration to accumulate a surplus of $250,000 on a capital of $125,000, and has always made larger dividends than most banks.
The Oneida County Bank did not pass into the national system with the many others that did adopt that course, chiefly because it had been uniformly successful as it was, leading a number of the directors to favor its remaining a State bank, although Mr. But- ler favored the change. Few financial institutions in the interior of the State have a better standing at the present time than this one.
In politics Mr. Butler is a Republican, but he has always persistently declined any active labor in that field and refused all offers of official position ; it has been his policy and belief that a man in his position should give his whole time and energies to the bank of which he is manager and carefully watch over its interests. Mr. Butler's life is an excellent example of faithfulness to his duty, and he has met with a degree of success that gives himself and his friends the right to look upon his record with complacent sat- isfaction. Mr. Butler has never married.
P IXLEY, HENRY DAVID, was born at Kirkland, Oneida County, N. Y., Septem- ber 5, 1831. His ancestors came from England in 1661, and an old map of Had- ley, Mass., bears the name of William Pixley. Two of the family, David Pixley, a colonel, and Benjamin, a private, were in the Revolutionary army. Noah Pixley, one of the family who settled in Southampton, Mass., was scalped by the Indians in 1748. Mr. Pixley's grandfather was David Pixley, who left Stratford, now Bridgeport, Conn., where his father owned a mill, and came to Oneida County, settling on a farm in Kirk- land in 1798. He was a man of broad views and enterprising and bold in business operations. He built at Kirkland the first stage-house west of Bagg's Hotel in about
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
1805-06, and in 1811 organized the Manchester Manufacturing Company for making cotton goods, the mill being established on his farm. He died at Kirkland in May, 1840. His sons were William, David, Isaac, and Charles Pixley. David, the father of Henry D., inherited the stage-house, which he continued to keep until its day of usefulness was passed with the building of the railroad. He also acquired the factory property and acted as its president and manager, and carried on a mercantile business at the same time. He died at Kirkland, July 5, 1885.
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