Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time, Part 69

Author: Bagg, M. M. (Moses Mears), d. 1900. 4n
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 936

USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 69

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In 1824 Mr. Sayre was married to Miss Amelia Van Ranst, of New York city, and they had five children, three sons and two daughters, viz .: Charles, Anna (Mrs. Byxbe), James, Caroline, and Theodore. Mr. Sayre died April 22, 1877. Mrs. Sayre is still living.

Theodore S. Sayre enjoyed only ordinary advantages for securing an education ; he attended the city schools and boarding school at Westmoreland until he was seventeen years old, when he entered his father's store as a clerk. Three years later, in 1857, he was taken as a partner in the business and occupied that station until the death of his father; the firm name was James Sayre & Son. The location was at 119-121 Genesee street, and after the death of James Sayre the business was carried on for two years by the two brothers, Theodore and Charles. In 1879 Theodore retired and Charles con- tinued until the great fire on that square in 1884, which burned him out and he did not resume. Although Mr. Sayre's business life of twenty years in Utica was alike honorable and successful it is in public life that he has been most prominently before the community. He is a consistent Republican in politics, and as early as 1863, when he was twenty-six years old, was elected alderman of the Third ward and held the office eight years. In 1874 he was elected mayor of the city and declined a renomina- tion, but his friends insisted upon his candidacy, and without his knowledge put him in the field and he was defeated. While serving as mayor in 1874 the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners was first established, an important act for which Mayor Sayre was largely responsible. In the fall of the same year (1875) he was elected State sen- ator for this district and had the satisfaction of carrying the city by a considerable ma- jority which he had lost in the previous local election. In the Senate Mr. Sayre proved himself a prudent, conservative, and useful legislator, if not a brilliant speaker; he served on the Committee on Internal Affairs, was chairman of the Committee on Roads and Bridges, and was a member of the Committee on Salt. The interest of the local bills which came before the Senate was carefully and efficiently supported by him. Mr. Sayre was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners. and re-appointed for the full term in 1886; he has also been one of the Civil Service

MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.

Commissioners. He is a director in the City Water Works Company and held a similar station in the Utica and Black River Railroad Company until the lease of the road to the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroad Company. He is one of the advisory com- mittee of the Orphan Asylum and has faithfully watched over its affairs. He was formerly identified with the First Presbyterian Church, but now with the Memorial Presbyte- rian. To this latter church Mr. Sayre has been a most liberal and judicious benefactor. For many years there was a mission and Sabbath school in West Utica dating back to about 1848. It finally outgrew its surroundings and a building was erected on Court street, which was dedicated December 15, 1867, and the Presbyterian Church of West Utica was organized February 10, 1868. The church building sufficed for its purpose until about the year 1880, when a more commodious edifice became a necessity. A lot was secured on the corner of Court street and Sunset avenue, and Mr. Sayre erected and presented to the society the beautiful and substantial edifice now standing on that site at a cost of $30,000. It was dedicated in 1884 on the anniversary of his father's birth, and in commemoration of Mr. Sayre the name of the church was changed to the Memorial Presbyterian Church of Utica. This is one of the notable individual benefac- tions of the city and endears Mr. Sayre to a large circle of friends.

Mr. Sayre is in his nature essentially modest and retiring, but among his friends is genial and courteous always. He has never married and lives at the homestead with his sister.

L AIRD, FRANK FOSTER, A.M., M.D .- On the direct road from Rome to Trenton Falls and at the dividing line between the towns of Trenton and Floyd, Oneida County, N. Y., stands the " old Townsend homestead," the residence of William O. and Sarah A. Laird. Here on April 15, 1856, was born the subject of this sketch, the youngest of three children. The eldest, Mary, died in infancy ; the brother, William T. is now a prominent physician in Watertown, N. Y. On the paternal side he is a de- scendant of Samuel Laird, for whom Lairdsville, N. Y., was named, and whose father came from Scotland in the early history of this country. Samuel Laird was a native of New Marlboro, Berkshire County, Mass., but moved to Lairdsville in 1788 with his son, Salmon Laird, the paternal grandfather who was then seven years of age. Sam- uel Laird died May 21, 1820, leaving as a legacy to his son not only a valuable prop- erty, but also the priceless treasure of an unsullied name and a noble life. William O., father of Frank F., became a dentist. He married Sarah A. Townsend, of Floyd, N. Y., and now at the ripe old age of seventy-four is still actively engaged in the prac- tice of his profession. On the maternal side the original ancestors resided in Rainham Castle, County Norfolk, England. The great-grandfather, Nathan Townsend, came to this county from Hancock, Mass., in 1801, and was one of the original settlers of the town of Floyd. The grandfather, William Townsend, was for twenty-four years a justice of the peace who was renowned for his " having peaceably settled more quarrels than he made."

Dr. Laird's preliminary and preparatory studies were pursued at Whitestown Semi- nary, where, having entered its primary department in 1868, he was graduated in 1873. During these five years he was under almost constant tuition in elocution, his instruct-

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OK. Of Sairdo

BIOGRAPHICAL. .

ors being H. Sam Dyer and Rev. John R. Lewis, two of nature's gifted orators. A prize in declamation and one in oratory attested the high standing he attained at that institution. He entered the freshman class at Hamilton College in the fall of 1873, and during his connection therewith received the following honors: He was appointed prize speaker the first year and won the first prize in essay writing ; secured the first honorable mention in essay writing during the sophomore year; won the Hawley medal for excellence in classical studies in the junior year; and during his senior year was appointed to represent Hamilton College at the Intercollegiate Oratorical Contest at the Academy of Music, New York city, in January, 1876, and on that occasion won the second consecutive victory for his college. He was appointed prize debater, but declined the honor. He was graduated from Hamilton College in June, 1877, being the third in his class and delivering the class-day oration in connection therewith. His high standing gave him membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society of " honor men." He received the degree of A.M. in course in 1880. He pursued the study of medicine under the super- vision of his brother, Dr. W. T. Laird, of Watertown, N. Y., and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in the spring of 1880, taking the high- est general average save one (that of Prof. W. B. Van Lennep) ever obtained at that institution, and winning the position of valedictorian of his class. He began practice at Ogdensburg, N. Y., removing, however, in the fall of 1880 to Augusta, Me. The climate proving too severe he returned in the spring of 1881 to New York State, mak- ing Utica, where he still resides, his permanent home, and where he is actively engaged in the duties of general practice.

Dr. Laird has held the office of president of the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society. He was elected first vice-president of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York in 1889. He was appointed chairman of the Bureau of Materia Medica of the State Society and held that office three years. He became a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy in 1887. He holds the office of medical director of the Commercial Travelers Mutual Accident Association of America. Dr. Laird has been a frequent contributor to the medical literature of the day, his articles published in current medical journals and in the transactions of the State Society being among those embodying in an eminent degree highly practical suggestions, the following spec- ifying the more important :

1. Contributions to the department of materia medica: Analytical Studies of Hy- drastis ; Lycopus Virginicus; Guaiacum ; Ammonium Muriaticum ; Naphthalin ; and the " Physiological Action of Belladonna in its Relations to Homoeopathic Therapeutics."

2. 'Contributions to the department of clinical medicine: "The Reflex Symtoms of Phymosis ; " " Lithomia : Its Ætiological and Pathological Relations ; " " The Ætiol- ogy, Pathology, and Treatment of Diabetes Insipidus ; " "The Therapeutics of Spinal Irritation ; " " Obscure Reflex Symptoms in Chronic Diseases."

Dr. Laird possesses rare mental qualities which qualify him for attaining the highest positions in his chosen profession. His breadth of culture, quickness of perception, unusual powers of analytical study and research have already, although still at the be- ginning of a brilliant professional career, secured for him an advanced standing in the medical profession of Oneida County. In practice he is a prescriber of singular ability

MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.

and precision, his analytical powers of mind enabling him in the differentiation of rem- edies to attain success in many difficult and unpromising cases. Without having de- signed to become proficient as a specialist in one department more than another Dr. Laird has attained an acknowledged reputation as a successful obstetrician, and as par- ticularly skillful in the treatment of the diseases of children. In the application of homœopathic remedies he rejects as untenable Hahnemann's peculiar theories of im- material dosage, believing that while the doctrine of similars involves small and even infinitesimal doses its curative efficacy is circumscribed by the limit of materiality, and should always be applied in accordance with sound and well recognized principles of therapeutic action. Dr. Laird, as an earnest advocate of liberty of medical opinion and action, became deeply interested in the great legislative contest waged during the win- ter and spring of 1890 by the allopathic and homœopathic schools, the latter making an effort by means of a bill for creating a single State board of medical examiners to ob- tain legal control of, and in fact monopolize, the civil right of medical licensure.

By acquiring this power and control the representatives of the allopathic school could, and unquestionably would, make use of it as an intimidating force by which it could promote its own growth and prosperity, and also be able to exert powerful intimi- dating influences which would greatly retard the development of, and ultimately bring about the disintegration of, the homœopathic school. The homeopathic representa- tives on the other hand introduced a bill for providing separate examining and licensing boards for each school, the construction being such as to make its executive functions binding upon all schools alike; that is, embodying provisions for permitting the repre- sentatives of each school the free exercise of the civil right to examine and license the graduates from their own medical colleges. While Dr. Laird may not have participated as actively in this important canvass as some of his medical associates he exerted a very powerful personal influence in behalf of the homœopathic bill as embodying sound, safe, and conservative principles, so constructed in the form of law as to promote the inter- ests of the several schools equally.

Dr. Laird is a fluent and forcible speaker, ever ready in debate and witty repartée. He was elected as the orator on the occasion of the Masonic jubilee commemorating the freedom of the craft from debt, held in the city of Utica in April, 1890. In 1883 Dr. Laird married Miss Annie C. Taylor, daughter of ex-State Engineer the Hon. W. B. Taylor, of Utica. He has two children, a son and a daughter.

S WAN, JOSEPH ROCKWELL, was born September 10, 1842, in Columbus, O. He is the second son of the late Joseph Rockwell Swan, for many years the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the court of final resort of the State of Ohio. His mother was Hannah Ann Andrews, of Rochester, N. Y. He received his education in the schools of Columbus and at Kenyou College. Coming to Utica in 1862 he began the study of law in the office of Hon. Charles H. Doolittle and in 1863 was admitted to the bar. By his ability and industry he soon gained the confidence of Mr. Doolittle, who in 1864 made him a member of his law firm. This partnership continued until 1870, when Judge Doolittle was elected a justice of the Supreme Court of the State. Mr.

OH Darling

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Swan has continued to practice law in Utica, where he has obtained a high standing in his profession, and has the confidence and respect of the community. No lawyer of his years is more often consulted in the organization and management of large business corporations. Mr. Swan has carefully revised to the satisfaction of the bar, the county officers, and the business men of that State the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth edi- tions of that most useful book, " A Treatise on the Law relating to the Powers of Justices of the Peace of the State of Ohio," by his father, Judge Swan. He was one of the orig- inal incorporators and the first president of the People's Railroad Company of Syra- cuse, in which he still has a large interest and is its legal adviser. For a number of years he was one of the most influential managers of the New York State Lunatic Asylum and is now vice-president of the Fort Schuyler Club. In October, 1890, Mr. Swan was influential in organizing the Utica Herald Publishing Company, of which he was elected and still remains the president. His prominent characteristics are his modesty, courage, loyalty to his friends, and his personal kindness to those in whom he is interested.

Mr. Swan married, April 27, 1870, Miss Emma Mann, daughter of Hon. Charles A. Mann and Emma Bagg, of the city of Utica.

D ARLING, GEN. CHARLES W., was born in New Haven, Conn. His family is of New England origin, having intermarried with the families of Pierpont, Noyes, Chauncey, Eli, Davis, and Dana. His great-grandfather, a graduate of Yale, was Hon. Thomas Darling, an eminent jurist who resided in New Haven, Conu., and who married Abigail Noyes, granddaughter of Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven. The paternal grandfather of Gen. Charles W. was Dr. Samuel Darling, of the same city, a graduate of Yale who married Clarinda, daughter of Rev. Richard Ely, of Saybrook, Conn. His youngest son, the father of General Darling, was Rev. Charles Chauncey Darling, who was graduated at Yale College and at Princeton Theological Seminary, and having en- tered the ministry subsequently made his residence in New York. He married Ade- line E., daughter of William Dana, of Boston, and granddaughter of Gen. Robert Davis, an officer of artillery in the war of the Revolution.

The boyhood years of General Darling were devoted largely to study under the guidance of a private tutor. After matriculating at the classical and mathematical de- partment of the New York University he passed through its regular curriculum, and at the end of the course entered as clerk a mercantile house in New York. Several years later he became connected as secretary of an incorporated company under the presidency of Commodore C. K. Garrison. Shortly afterward he resigned his position to accept the presidency of a manufacturing company, with which he was associated several years. When he ceased his immediate relations with business he made his first trip to Europe to gratify those literary and artistic tastes which his active life had for- bidden. Returning from his Continental trip when the question of the possible seces- sion of the South from the Federal Union was receiving much public discussion he connected himself with the National Guard of New York, and when Hon. Edwin D. Morgan was elected governor he was appointed a member of his staff with rank of

MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.

colonel. He also identified himself with political matters and was president of one of the Republican organizations of his district. By his decision of character he united many discordant elements in the party, subdued the passions of some, deepened the love of country in the hearts of others, and preserved order frequently under difficult circumstances. When in the summer of 1863 New York became the scene of riots General Darling was called upon to perform difficult and dangerous duties, and his firm stand on that memorable occasion received the most cordial approbation of the military as well as the civil authorities. As the following letters have a historical as well as a personal signification for the first time they are given publication :

" HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION N. Y. S. N. G., NEW YORK, July 21, 1863. -

" Col. C. W. Darling,

" COLONEL :-- Having a vacancy on my staff I shall be happy to receive you as a mem- ber of my military family as volunteer aide-de-camp, you to retain your rank of colo- nel. At the same time I take occasion to express my thanks for your services during the late riot. I am, very respectfully,

" Your obedient servant, " CHARLES W. SANDFORD, Major- General." "NEW YORK, August 17, 1863.

" Col. C. W. Darling,

"COLONEL :-- It always gives me pleasure to do justice to those who are prompt in discharging the duty which they owe to their fellow citizens in resisting violence, let it come from what source it may. Your gallant and efficient efforts to put down the riot in New York, so disgraceful to the city, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of July last, entitle you to the thanks of a grateful people. I am,

" Very respectfully yours, " JOHN E. WOOL, Major- General U. S. A."

" STATE OF NEW YORK, " DEPT. OF THE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF ORDNANCE, NEW YORK, August 22, 1863.

" Col. C. W. Darling,

" COLONEL :-- I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication informing me of your instructions to the commanding officer of the Eighth Regiment to withdraw his command from the State Arsenal, and to thank you for so doing. Per- mit me to express my thanks for the energy displayed during the scenes of disorder that occurred in our city in the month of July, and to assure you that we will recall with pleasure the names of yourself and fellow'officers with whom the occasion brought us in close connection, and to whose efforts the State and this Department are much indebted. " Very respectfully yours, "W. R. FARRELL, Commissary - General of Ordnance."

" MAYOR'S OFFICE, NEW YORK, August 24, 1863.

4' Col. C. W. Darling,

" DEAR SIR :-- Accept my thanks for your energetic and efficient service on the occa- sion of the disloyal outbreak in this city on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of last month. The help of the military in subduing the riot was invaluable and among them I was pleased

BIOGRAPHICAL.

to recognize yourself as prominent for gallantry and good conduct in the performance of the duty devolving upon you. It gives me pleasure to find that General Wool, in command of the United States troops called on duty, General Sandford, commanding the First Division N. Y. S. N. G., and the Commissary-General of Ordnance have accorded to you so much eredit for the part you took on that occasion. I trust that our city may never again undergo a similar trial, but if it should I hope that we may find in the hour of need many such as yourself coming forward equally prompt, earnest, and elli- cient to perform the patriotic duty of defending government and order against treason and anarchy. With high regard,

" Very truly yours, " GEORGE OPDYKE, Mayor."

Early in 1864 Colonel Darling received the appointment of additional volunteer aid- de-camp on the staff of Maj .- Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, then in command of the Army of the James, and was assigned special duties at his temporary headquarters in New York. At this time the draft was to be enforced, when it was anticipated that new disturbances might occur, threatening the peace of the State. As it was known that the authorities had made every preparation, and 16,000 men under arms were afloat on the harbor, no attempt was made to resist the enforcement of the law. When Hon. Reuben E. Fenton was elected governor of the State of New York in 1865 Colonel Darling was recommended for the position of head of one of the military departments. His qualifications for the important trust were supported by recommendations from Major-Generals Butler, Doubleday, and Warren ; Brigadier-Generals Van Vliet, Webb, Davies, Morris, Gordon, and Granger; and twenty-one commandants of regiments and batteries in the field. A large number of influential politicians also joined in the request, among whom were the mayor of New York, the collector and surveyor of the port, the postmaster, the chairman of the Union Central Committee, and several members of Congress. This powerful influence thus brought to bear upon the administration had its effect and Colonel Darling, in view of his past business training and his reputation for order and integrity, was assigned to duty in the paymaster-general's department, which at this critical period was of the first importance. As many of the soldiers were being mustered out through the expiration of their terms of enlistment no little watch- fulness and executive ability were required to protect the interests of the brave defend- ers of their country as well as those of the government. Nearly every New York reg- iment had unsettled accounts with the Federal and State governments, and many unprincipled claim agents were following the soldiers like sleuth hounds. The pressure to which the occupant of this responsible office was subjected at this period is well illustrated by the following brief quotation from one of the New York daily papers :

" The number of claimants at the office of Colonel Darling averages about 200 daily. He is beset with land-sharks, bounty-brokers, middlemen, etc., who are trying all sorts of ways to grab a portion of the money being disbursed, but the colonel thwarts all their contrivances in the shape of offered presents, commissions, percentage, etc., and will manage affairs so that every man who is justly entitled to pay shall receive the same without drawbacks or deductions."

The drafted men in the city who furnished substitutes and who were reimbursed by the State were also notified to file their claims at this office, where they were examined and passed over to the supervisors at New York for final adjustment. The vouchers

MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.

were sent by the supervisors to the paymaster-general at Albany and the funds were transmitted from headquarters for payment to individuals. At the Union State Con- vention of the Republican party held in Syracuse, September, 1866, among the dele- gates from the city of New York was General Darling. When the roll of delegates was called it was claimed that the delegates sent from the Seventh Assembly District represented the conservative element and were hostile to the radicals who called the convention. It caused some excitement ; a recess was called, and during this recess General Darling with wise diplomacy reconciled opposing factions by resigning his seat in favor of Sinclair Tousey upon condition that his two associates should compose with him the delegation. This arrangement was acceptable to the convention and the re- nomination of Governor Fenton was thus secured beyond a doubt and made unanimous. Had this course not been adopted it has been gravely doubted whether Governor Fen- ton would have been elected for a second term. In 1866 Colonel Darling was commis- sioned as commissary-general of subsistence, which brought him into still closer rela- tions with Governor Fenton as a member of his military cabinet. This office he held until January 1, 1867, when, on the re-election of the governor, General Darling received the appointment of military engineer-in-chief of the State of New York with the rank of brigadier-general. When the administration of Governor Fenton was nearing its close General Darling applied for and obtained leave of absence to visit Europe again on a tour of instruction and pleasure.

While in England he received many courtesies; among the various invitations ex- tended to him was one from Lord Elcho to meet the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, and be present with them on a review of troops at Aldersholt. In a sub- sequent trip abroad with his wife he traveled extensively through Europe, Asia, and Africa, making the trip up the Nile, through Ethiopia and Nubia, as far as the river is navigable. During this time many articles from his pen appeared in our journals of a historical and political as well as of a social character. Having means at his command, which renders him independent of business cares, General Darling has been able to gratify to the utmost his literary and scientific tastes. Ten years of his life have been devoted to foreign travel in nearly every country on the globe, and from this broad ex- perience he has returned with a knowledge of national manners and customs and a fund of general information which has been of great value in his writings. Intensely fond of historical studies he has prosecuted his investigations in this department of learning with unusual diligence and with excellent results. His writings cover a wide range of themes, which he handles with skill, and in a way to interest both the special- ist. and the general reader. His high character, scholarly attainmenta, and distinguished public services have given him a large acquaintance with many of the public men of the day and earned for him many scientific and literary honors.

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Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time, Part 69

Author: Bagg, M. M. (Moses Mears), d. 1900. 4n Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 936

Author: Bagg, M. M. (Moses Mears), d. 1900. 4n
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 936