USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 68
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Henry David Pixley was educated at the Clinton Liberal Institute and was in classes with Leland Stanford. Leaving the school in 1850 he began work as clerk in his father's store and cotton factory. His father gave him a one-half interest in the mercantile business on his twenty-first birthday in 1852, under the firm name of D. Pixley & Son, which was dissolved in 1858. From that time until 1860 he lived on the homestead. In the year last named he went to New York city and was occupied two and a half years in a jobbing house, dealing in hats, caps, and furnishing goods, and the same length of time with another firm which dealt in cloths also. There he learned the details of the trade and the excellent business methods which have so well served him since. In 1864 he came to Utica and traveled for the large clothing manufacturing establishment of C. A. Yates & Co. He had in earlier years well fitted himself for this work by more or less traveling with the cotton goods manufactured at Kirkland, and his success was marked. In 1870 he organized the firm of Owen, Pixley & Co., consisting of Philip Owen, John Owen, and himself, for the manufacture and sale of ready-made clothing, succeeding P. V. Kellogg & Co. on Franklin Square. The firm soon had the largest business in that line in Utica, and also established branches in Western cities. One year later they re- moved to the Ballou block, where Mr. Pixley has remained ever since. The firm of Owen, Pixley & Co. continued about thirteen years, when it was dissolved, Mr. Pixley continuing alone. He removed the establishment to the other end of the same block (its present location) in 1884 and in 1887 took his son as partner. The career of this manufacturing and jobbing house has been one of uninterrupted and gratifying success, very much of which is due to Mr. Pixley's personal labors and business skill. Since 1887 the firm name has been H. D. Pixley & Son, and they have branches with which they are directly connected in Fort Wayne, Ind .; Terre Haute, Ind .; Bloomington, Dan- ville, and Rockford, Ill .; Kansas City, Mo .; Sioux City and Cedar Rapids, Ia .; Sioux Falls, Dak .; Janesville and Oshkosh, Wis .; and a New York office at 338 Broadway. Mr. Pixley has also given much attention to other enterprises of importance. When the cotton factory above mentioned was burned he purchased the site and still retains his interest in the estate of his father, consisting of a homestead farm and store. That locality is underlaid with great quantities of valuable iron ore, in which he has firm faith. In 1872-73 he organized a stock company for the erection of a blast furnace, in which several very prominent men took an interest. The details of the working cf this enterprise need not be followed here, though its success has been sufficient to indi- cate the good judgment of its founder. Mr. Pixley is not now and has not been for several years connected with the furnace. The past season he organized a creamery company for the manufacture of fine butter. The buildings are nearly complete, and the capacity is 1,'200 cows.
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It is a source of especial pride with Mr. Pixley that he is so prominently connected with the Commercial Travelers Mutual Accident Association, which has its headquarters in this city. This association was organized and incorporated in March, 1883. It is an offshoot of the Commercial Travelers Life Associations of the United States. When the organization of the association in question was agitated Mr. Pixley was called upon and requested to accept its presidency, which he finally did. His administration of the responsible office has been prudent, sagacious, and successful in the broadest sense. The association now has 10,000 members, and they get insurance at less than one-half the cost of most other companies organized for a like purpose. Mr. Pixley's valuable serv- ices are recognized by the members of the association in the fact that he has not been allowed to retire from the office to the present time. In the business community of Utica Mr. Pixley occupies an honorable position, and in the welfare and prosperity of the city he takes a proper interest.
UNT, DR. JAMES G .- The ancestry of Dr. James G. Hunt is traced backward through several generations to the Rev. Robert Hunt, who was one of four brothers who emigrated from England to this country about the beginning of the seven- teenth century, and settled in the township of New London, Conn. Among his sons was Timothy Hunt, who afterward located in Tryon County (now Florida, Montgom- ery County), N. Y., and died there. During the days of the Revolution Timothy Hunt and his family were among the sufferers by the Tories and Indians, under the leader- ship of William Butler and Joseph Brant, a Mohawk sachem. On the morning of November 12, 1778, after they had accomplished the destruction of Cherry Valley and the surrounding country, they did not stop until they had reached the settlement of Chuctenunde Creek in the town of Florida. His buildings were burned and most of his stock was killed, while the balance escaped to the forest. Timothy Hunt and his family were saved by concealing themselves in a ravine near by, closely filled with elders, willows, and thick underbrush. His wife was Susana Vermilia, who was of French descent. Timothy Hunt had a son Isaac, who was born in Florida, Montgomery County. He was one of ten children, five sons and five daughters, and married Polly Kinney, of Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y.
Rev. Robert Hunt, 2d, was a son of this Isaac and the grandfather of Dr. James G. He was born in Florida, Montgomery County, November 25, 1792, was one of twelve children, and married Margaret Johnson, of Columbia, Herkimer County, N. Y. He began preaching in the Freewill Baptist denomination as soon as he reached manhood, first in Warren, Herkimer County, and afterward at Columbia, Schuyler Lake, Whit- mantown, and Southville, and in 1852 removed to Troy, Ohio, where he remained one year. The next twelve years were passed at China, Wyoming County, N. Y., where his health failed and he thereafter made his home at Hudson, Mich. In 1871 he came with his son, Dr. Isaac J. Hunt, to Utica, where he died December 7, 1872, at the age of eighty. The Rev. Robert Hunt had ten children, five of whom were sons, and all of them became physicians. One of these, Isaac J., the father of James G., was born in Warren, Herkimer County, N. Y., March 27, 1820. He married Mary Ingersoll,
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daughter of John Ingersoll, a farmer and manufacturer of Ilion, Herkimer County, N. Y. He was a successful physician and practiced his profession for nearly thirty years in the city of Utica. He was a graduate of the Castleton Medical College in Vermont. His death occurred January 25, 1875.
James G. Hunt was born in Litchfield, Herkimer County, N. Y., on the 21st of June, 1845. His boyhood experience was not materially different from that of a large major- ity of American youths, though he was fortunate in being able to devote nearly the whole of his early years to study. Beginning with the district school he continued on until he graduated at the Utica Free Academy at a comparatively early age and began preparation in his father's office for the profession which was to be his life work, and he may be said to have grown up surrounded by the atmosphere of the medical profession. After about four years of industrious study under the careful instruction of his father he entered the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, where he took two courses of lectures and a course in the laboratory of analytical and applied chemistry. These were followed by a third course in the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, from which he graduated on the 13th of March, 1871. Returning to Utica he entered immediately into practice in association with his father. This partnership continued until 1874, since which time Dr. Hunt has conducted his large practice alone, and he has met with an unusual degree of success. In attempting to note the elements of this success it may, perhaps, be justly said that they consist chiefly in his thorough knowledge of his profession, gained by persistent and judicious study, supplemented by constant reading of the later developments that have been recorded throughout the range of medical literature, coupled with a temperament and manner which happily fit him for his work. His capacity for professional labor is almost unbounded and he never spares his energies in his devotion to his duties.
Dr. Hunt's professional standing, as well as the position he occupies in the com- munity, may be judged to a certain extent by the various calls that have been made upon him to stations of honor and responsibility. He is a member of the Delta Phi Society, Iota Chapter, of the University of Michigan, 1869, and of the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Association, 1871; was made a member of the Oneida County Medical Society on October 7, 1872; is a member of the Utica Medical Library Association and was its president in 1886; was elected a member of the Oneida County Microscopical Society on June 19,1881; is a member of the American Medical Association, the New York State Medical Association, and was chosen a member of the American Public Health As- sociation on December 7, 1880; was appointed by Gov. A. B. Cornell a member of the State Board of Health from 1880 to 1885; is physician to and one of the incorporators of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, organized February 1, 1881; is a life member and a trustee of the Utica Mechanics Association ; was appointed surgeon of the Board of United States Pension Examiners on March 30, 1889 ; was made a trustee of the Utica Female Academy on February 6, 1888; and is a director of the Globe Woolen-Mills. Dr. Hunt has also taken a deep interest in fraternal organizations and is prominent as a Mason, having taken the 32º, and is an Odd Fellow. It is much to his professional credit that he was chosen a surgeon for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company in 1885, and is acting in that capacity at the present time ;
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also the New York, Ontario, and Western Railroad and of the New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railroad from 1886 to 1889. He has also filled the post of surgeon in the Fax- ton Hospital (1880-86), St. Luke's Hospital (1883 to the present time), and St. Eliza- beth's Hospital (1888 to the present date). He holds the rank of first lieutenant in the Forty-fourth Separate Company National Guard and is assistant surgeon in that military organization, and was president of the Utica Citizens Corps in 1886, '87, and '88. It is just to say that in all of these various positions Dr. Hunt has shown his fitness and capacity for the capable discharge of their duties and earned the respect and esteem of those with whom he had been associated.
In politics Dr. Hunt is a Republican, and was appointed coroner by Gov. John A. Dix to fill vacancy in November, 1873, and continued in the office nearly ten years. On the 12th of June, 1874, he was appointed health officer of the city and still holds the office. In 1887 he was strongly urged for the mayoralty of the city and received the unanimous nomination at the convention, but for personal reasons he was compelled to decline the honor.
On the 28th of January, 1874, Dr. Hunt was married to Ella R. Middleton, daughter of Robert Middleton, of Utica. They have four children, Gertrude May, Mabel Lillian, Robert Middleton, and Ella Louisa.
M ATHER, JOSHUA, was born at Schuyler, Herkimer County, N. Y., February 21, 1825, where his boyhood and youth were passed on his father's farm and at the local school. The Mathers are one of the pioneer families of the Mohawk Valley and a branch of one of the most remarkable families of the sturdy early settlers of New England. Rev. Richard Mather, the father of Dr. Increase Mather, one of the early presidents of Harvard College, came from Lewton, Winwick Parish, Toxteth Park, England, and settled at Boston, Mass., in 1635. No brighter names stand in Massa- chusetts's early history than those of his immediate descendants, Dr. Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, Dr. Samuel Mather, and others of the family who were instrumental not only in shaping the institutions and character of the Commonwealth, but in giving tone to the liberal sentiments that finally culminated in the adoption of the principle of self-government.
Asaph Mather, of the fifth generation of Rev. Richard Mather's descendants, born at East Lyme, Conn., in 1753, emigrated first to Rockingham, Vt., and afterward became one of the pioneers of the Mohawk Valley, settling at a point afterward known as Schuyler in Herkimer County in 1792. Joshua, his son, there grew up to manhood and became a most respected and influential member of the community, which for over fifty consecutive years elected him its justice of the peace and supervisor. In 1810 he mar- ried Miss Cornelia Willis, daughter of Rev. Joseph Willis, an earnest and influential minister in the Methodist Church. The children of this marriage were Lucinda, Wes- ley, Asaph D., and Joshua, the youngest. In 1847 the latter came to live in Utica, en- gaging in partnership with his older brother, Asaph D. Mather, in a grocery business at the corner of Genesee and Bleecker streets, The two brothers were possessed of unusual business and financial tact and foresight. Success and wealth came to them
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rapidly. During the war of the Rebellion they were prominent among the compara- tively few business men who placed unbounded faith in the ultimate triumph of the Union cause, in its permanency and the stability of its credit, subscribing liberally to the discredited securities which the nation was obliged to issue, and unflinchingly hold- ing them and buying more when in the darkest hours of the nation's peril frightened investors, discouraged speculators, and weak-kneed patriots were throwing them over at any price they could get. At the successful termination of the war the brothers found themselves rich men.
In 1866 the grocery business was given up and in the same location they opened a private bank under the name of A. D. Mather & Co. The firm soon became the cor- respondents of and engaged in large financial enterprises with some of the great bank- ing concerns of New York and Philadelphia, and were known as one of the most reli- able and enterprising private banking houses in rural New York. On the death of A. D. Mather in April, 1880, Joshua Mather associated in the banking business with him- self Charles W. Mather, a nephew who had for several years previous to that time been connected with the firm ; the partnership still retained the old firm name of A. D. Mather & Co.
Among the many local enterprises with which Mr. Mather has been connected, and upon which he has left the imprint of his strong and energetic individuality, is the street railroad system of Utica. In 1887, when that system was almost useless to the city, made up as it was of a few dilapidated, slow-moving horse cars traversing our principal streets once each half hour, its finances in a hopeless state of bankruptcy, A. D. Mather & Co. obtained control of the stock of the Utica Belt Line Railroad and Joshua Mather became its president. Under his administration the old City Street Railroad was leased and consolidated, the main track on Genesee street doubled, branches built to the new and growing parts of the city and to important suburban districts, an equipment furnished worthy of so large and important a road, broken down horses exchanged for electricity as a motive power, and cars run at frequent in- tervals. The finances of the company were rehabilitated and the road placed on a pay- ing basis. After the road had been made one of the most perfect and useful street railroad systems in this country in January, 1890, the control of the stock having been sold to a syndicate of New York capitalists, Mr. Mather resigned his position as presi- dent. Mr. Mather has ever been most loyal toward the city of Utica and enthusiastic and liberal in everything that concerned its growth and progress, and has given of his money, his time, and his energies to the building up of its industries and its charities and to the improvement of its physical condition. He pays a larger amount of city taxes than any other citizen ; while others were seeking more attractive fields in the West and elsewhere for rapid increase of their capital his unlimited faith in the growth and future of Utica and his loyalty to her interests have led him to invest his surplus from time to time in Utica real estate, until he is now the largest holder of real estate in the city.
In November, 1890, the private banking firm of A. D. Mather & Co. was merged into A. D. Mather & Co.'s Bank, a corporate concern under the banking laws of the State of New York with a capital stock of $200,000, of which Joshua Mather is pres-
Eng by E & Williams & bro MY
Sim Jiwasley
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ident and Charles W. Mather vice-president. The banking house of this concern is still located at the corner of Genesee and Bleecker streets, where the two brothers Mather began their grocery business in 1847.
L INDSLEY, SMITH M .- The family of which Smith M. Lindsley is a member, and its ancestors and various branches, have always been identified with the history of Sullivan County, N. Y. Mr. Lindsley's grandfather, Eliud Lindsley, was one of the pioneer settlers of that region and was a man of marked characteristics. The local his- tories contain detailed accounts of his sturdy and honorable character and of the man- ner in which he impressed his views and the example of his staunch integrity and upright life upon the people who settled in that county. It is also a branch of this fam- ily from which sprang the several noted college presidents and professors who have been so conspicuous in the educational history of the State of Tennesee. His father is Rufus B. Lindsley, of Monticello, N. Y., where he still resides. He lives, as he always has, a modest, quiet life as a farmer and general stock dealer, enjoying the respect of his townsmen. His mother was the daughter of Smith Weed, who was also an early and prominent resident of Sullivan County, and a member of the Weed family of which the famous Smith M. Weed, of Clinton County, is a member.
Smith M. Lindsley was born in Monticello, N. Y., in 1847. He received an excellent English and classical education at the then noted academy of his native place, and grad- uated therefrom as valedictorian of his class. He afterward continued his studies at the Wyoming Seminary and College in Pennsylvania, and was a member of the faculty of that institution for one year. He had long before determined upon the profession of law as his life work, and previous to his leaving the college had begun its study. From Wyoming he went to Wilkesbarre in the same State, where he continued the study of the law through one year and down to 1869, when he removed to Utica and entered the office of ex-Senator Francis Kernan. There he finished his legal studies and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He immediately entered upon practice in this city, where his natural and acquired qualifications for his profession soon gave him a large measure of success. He had, too, at the same time so early gained the confidence of the citizens of Utica in both his ability and his integrity that in 1872 he was elected to the office of city attorney by the Democrats, with which party he has always been identified. In that campaign every other candidate on the Democratic ticket, with one exception, was defeated. His service in that office was so entirely satisfactory to the community that he was re-elected by a largely increased majority. Meanwhile his private practice had greatly advanced and it now made such demands upon his time and energies that he declined a third nomination. He had now won the broad confidence of many of the leading business men of the city and his business became correspondingly lucrative and extensive, while at the same time his rapidly extending reputation as a brilliant and successful court lawyer and pleader brought him into connection with many prominent cases where large interests and intricate legal questions were involved.
In 1884 Mr. Lindsley was unanimously nominated by a joint convention of citizens representing both political parties for the office of mayor of Utica; but long before this
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he had become fixed in his determination to give all his energies and time to the prac- tice of his chosen profession, and with that end in view to accept no offer of political preferment however flattering it might be; he therefore declined this high and excep- tional honor. He has since that time had many flattering inducements to enter the political field as a candidate for important positions, but he has uniformly and persist- ently refused. In his later practice Mr. Lindsley has achieved conspicuous success and counts a large number of the best and most substantial business men of Utica and its vicinity among his clients. He has also a large consulting clientage; but it is as a law- yer at trials and in the argument of appeals that he has attained his greatest promi- nence. His success is reflected in a continually increasing business. He is the stand- ing counsel and attorney of a number of insurance companies and has had especial success in that branch of legal effort. It is not out of place to mention his successful defence of the Utica Observer, which he conducted in the noted Van Auken libel case in 1891, which attracted attention throughout the country, and for which he was highly complimented by the legal profession, the press, and others throughout the State. Mr. Lindsley is continually retained by other attorneys as advisory counsel and for the trial of cases and the argument of appeals ; and he has been selected by the attorney-general to act for the State in important affairs.
It has been said of Mr. Lindsley by one who has known him intimately from the beginning of his career that " he has acquired his present conspicuous position at the bar by being an almost tireless worker. He sharpened his natural abilities by fearless contests with the ablest among those older in the profession when he began. When he enters court with a case not one atom or item of preparation is wanting. Every fact is marshaled and weighed, and in his mind is placed where it belongs and where it will be most effective." In another and a different direction it is flattering to Mr. Lind- sley's capacity for practical business and financial undertakings that he was in 1885 chosen president of the First National Bank of Chittenango, an office which he still suc- cessfully administers.
Mr. Lindsley is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and an active and prominent member of other well known organizations of a social and benevolent character. In 1887 and the two years next succeeding he served as supreme regent or chief executive officer of the Royal Arcanum, one of the principal fraternal benefit or insurance societies of the country. He managed its business of collecting and disbursing several millions of dol- lars, and in the line of his profession successfully solved many intricate legal problems involved in the adjustment and payment of death claims and losses. He infused vigor into every department of the organization, so that its later growth has been almost phe- nomenal, numbering now about 130,000 members. As the official head of this organiz- ation he was called to many parts of the country, and thereby he acquired a very wide and extended acquaintance in many States. Socially and in the every-day affairs of life Mr. Lindsley is a popular and respected gentleman, admired for his manly independence and adherence to the principles of living which he believes right, and holding the warm regard of many friends for his excellent qualities.
In 1873 Mr. Lindsley married Dorlissa, daughter of John W. Johnston, a well known and prominent lawyer of Sullivan County. They have one daughter.
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S AYRE, THEODORE SHELDON, was born in the city of Utica, at the same place where he now lives, on the 25th of April, 1837. His father was James Sayre, a native of Milton, Saratoga County, N. Y., born in 1799, and came to Utica in 1817. James Sayre was a man of upright character, good business qualifications, and in early years was quite conspicuous among the public spirited citizens of the place. He was at first employed in the store of John H. Handy, afterward became a partner, and on the death of Mr. Handy assumed the whole business. Down to the year 1852 he had several partners, and also in 1837 joined in the firm of Townsend, Sayre & Clark for carrying on trade in New York city ; this continued until 1852. From that time on- ward to his retirement he conducted his business with his sons, Charles and Theodore. He took a deep interest in public affairs, but sought no office and held none but that of alderman in 1834. He was director in the United States Branch Bank and for a short time in the Ontario Branch and for many years in the Oneida National, of which he was president at his decease. He was director of the Black River Railroad from its re-organization and for many years was a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church. He was also for a time the prudent and judicious head of the Cemetery Association.
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