USA > New York > Noted living Albanians and state officials. A series of biographical sketches > Part 33
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489
EDWARD WEMPLE. .
The grand secret of Mr. Wemple's success as a politician lies in his general intelligence, his fine executive abilities, and his strict integrity as a public officer. He is regarded by his party as a man true to his political principles, strong in his convictions of duty, a champion in his chosen field, an able exponent of the old Jeffersonian doctrines. As a man he is plain in his manners, affable and casily approachable, a genial companion, and highly popular with those who know him best. He has already made a record of which any Ameri- can may well be proud ; and now in the very prime of life he may look forward to the possibilities of the future with no dimmed prospects - with no misgiving heart, with no falter- ing hands.
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ZERAH S. WESTBROOK.
H ON. Zera S. Westbrook, the present deputy comp- troller of the state of New York, has an interesting and instructive history. As a state official he is at this time a temporary resident of Albany, his residence and home be- ing at Amsterdam, N. Y. His career is one which illustrates in a striking manner, the rise, progress and development of a character such as only can be found in a land of free institutions, without the aid of the wealthy, titled, so-called nobility. As will be seen in a brief review of his life, he has already exhibited those qualities which belong to true manhood.
Born at Montague, Sussex county, N. J., on the 7th of April, 1845, he spent his youthful days on a farm. His father, Severyne L. Westbrook, tilled a farm at that place. Zerah was a bright, delicate child and the delight of his parents. But he had scarcely reached the age of four years before the grave closed over his father, a useful and respected citizen ; and his mother was called upon to make renewed struggles in his behalf during the opening years of his life. His mother was Susan E., daughter of James B. Armstrong of Montague, one of the prominent citizens of Sussex county. She was an intelligent and very pious woman, and died on November 22, 1889, in the seventy-seventh year of her age,
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beloved and respected by a large circle of relatives and friends. As soon as he was old enough he was sent to the district school ; but as he grew up he was obliged to work on a farm in order to earn his bread and butter. He was a hard work- ing lad but a successful young bread-winner. At the same time he was a studious youth, and before he was seventeen years of age he devoted what little time he could spare from manual labor to his school books. Thus inured to hard, honest toil, he has never been ashamed of work, and it is no wonder that to-day, with his early trying experience, he is the true, fast friend of workingmen. In 1862, at the age of seventeen, we find him working by the month on the farm of the Hon. Isaac Bonnell of Montague.
This was a stirring and critical period in the history of our country ; the storm of civil war had burst over the land, and thousands of patriots were enlisting in the military service, and hastening to those fields of carnage, where,
" The bayonet pierces, and the sabre cleaves, And human lives are lavished everywhere, As the year closing whirls the scarlet leaves, When the stript forest bows to the bleak air, And groans."
Westbrook, young as he was, could not resist the call of his country to arms ; and leaving the farm of Mr. Bonnell, he hastened to enlist as a private in Co. "I" of the Fifteenth New Jersey volunteer infantry, under the gallant Maj .- Gen. Phil. Kearney, with whom he served in the army of the Potomac in the famous First New Jersey Brigade - a brigade which rendered such glorious services in behalf of an imper- illed government.
On his honorable discharge from Kearney's New Jersey brigade, our young soldier came home and quietly resumed
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his work on the farm. Determined to continue his studies he spent one year at the Deckertown academy and then en- tered the Connecticut Literary Institution at Suffield, where he graduated in 1866. He was now ready to choose a pro- fession, having no means to pursue a college course, and in looking over the whole field of work he was not long in se- lecting that of the law. With the same energy and decision of character that had marked his earlier history, he came to Albany and entered the law school here. Enjoying .the able instruction of its learned professors, he made rapid pro- gress in his legal studies and was graduated in 1867, when he was at once admitted to the bar by the general term then sitting in Albany. He first settled at Northampton, Fulton county, N. Y., and during his four years' stay there he se- cured a good law practice in the counties of Fulton, Hamil- ton and Saratoga. It was the sterling qualities of the young lawyer, his excellent judgment, his sound advice, his devo- tion to his profession, that crowned his labors at Northamp- ton with success and made him so popular.
While living at Northampton he married Miss Matilda F., daughter of the late Fay Smith, a merchant of that town, and settled down happily in domestic life.
In seeking a still wider field for the practice of his pro- fession, Mr. Westbrook removed to Amsterdam, Montgom- ery county, in the spring of 1871, where he was not long in establishing a large clientage, which he still retains.
Soon after he was old enough to vote, Mr. Westbrook es- poused the cause of democracy, of which he is to-day a "bright and shining light." So popular was he, without re- gard to party affiliations, that in 1873, after a two years' residence at Amsterdam, he was elected president of the vil- lage by a majority of 126 over E. D. Bronson, a wealthy
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and well-known manufacturer of the place. And the manner in which he administered the affairs of the village was so generally approved that the next year he was chosen president without opposition. But higher honors were awaiting him. In bringing before the people a strong can- didate for county judge, the democrats of Montgomery county said with one accord let us nominate young West- brook, whose professional abilities were then so widely rec- ognized, as well as his high character as a citizen. He re- ceived the nomination in 1877, and was heartily endorsed by many outside his own party lines; and when the votes for county judge were counted it was found that Mr. West- brook had a majority of 1,319 over Hon. S. P. Heath, the republican incumbent. Judge Westbrook filled the office of county judge with great satisfaction to the public during six years, and when his term was about to expire he was re- nominated in 1883, and re-elected by the magnificent ma- jority of 2,221 over Charles P. WVinegar, the republican can- didate.
It may truly be said that he made an excellent record as a fair-minded, impartial judge; and though his rulings were sometimes displeasing to defeated counsel and suitors, yet when such cases were carried to higher courts his decisions were invariably sustained.
After a constant and faithful service of ten years on the bench, Judge Westbrook resigned his office on the Ist of January, 1888, to assume his present duties as deputy comp- troller of the state, for the discharge of which he is admir- ably qualified. When Hon. Edward Wemple, the popular and judicious comptroller, entered upon his new duties on January 1, 1888, he believed that if he could secure the ser- vices of his friend Judge Westbrook as deputy he would have
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the right man in the right place, and accordingly the judge received and accepted the appointment. And it may be truly said that to his executive ability, sound judgment, and large knowledge of constitutional and statute law is due in no small degree the orderly and efficient dispatch of business in the office of the comptroller.
As a still further manifestation of the popular regard to- ward Judge Westbrook he was unanimously nominated by the democrats on September 25th, 1888, as representative in congress for the Twentieth congressional district, and the large vote that he received on election day was in keeping with his past record, evincing the high regard in which he is held by men of all political parties. The district is strongly republican but Judge Westbrook was so popular with the people and made such an energetic canvass, that he led the democratic national and state tickets nearly one thousand, and received a total of 20,665 votes, being the largest vote ever polled for a democrat in the district.
Judge Westbrook is a true friend of the farmers and the mechanics, and of all classes of workingmen, and with such he is deservedly popular. He believes in the dignity and nobility of labor, but is no admirer of wealthy, grasping monopolists, that seek to obtain undue advantage of, or op- press the people.
His past career furnishes an example worthy of imitation by the aspiring young men of our land. Deprived at the age of four years of the tender and watchful care of a father, and thrown upon his own resources, in his boyhood days he labored with his young hands on a farm, studied all he could, engaged in the military service of his country, studied law, became a judge and a deputy comptroller of the empire state before he had scarcely reached the meridian of life.
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ZERAH S. WESTBROOK.
Plain and unassuming in his manners, sincere and strong in his friendships, high and honorable in the aims of his life, he has already drawn around him hosts of friends whom he holds with a " cord that is not easily broken," who are now actively engaged in looking after his political interests, and who would rejoice in seeing him "go up higher."
DIEDRICH WILLERS, JR.
A PERSONAGE, who, by reason of his official relations at our state capitol has from time to time been an official resident of Albany, is the Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr. Born on the 3d of November, 1833, in the town of Varick, Seneca county, N. Y., he passed his youthful days amidst the rural scenes of his birthplace under the careful guidance and instruction of excellent parents. His parentage was of German origin. His father, the Rev. Diedrich Willers, D. D., was a native of Bremen, Germany, and was educated at the public schools of that city. It was a period of stirring scenes in the annals of the old world. In the early part of this cen- tury the thunders of Napoleon's cannon were shaking Europe, and large armies of different nationalities were engaged in deadly conflict. Inspired by the enthusiasm of those times Diedrich Willers, Sr., then a youth of sixteen, boldly enlisted in the army of Hanover in defense of his fatherland against the invasion of the French. Marching with the allied forces under Wellington and engaging in various conflicts with the enemy, he won his greatest military distinction in the mem- orable and decisive battle of Waterloo in 1815, where, for his bravery, he received a silver medal. His military career lasted about five years. On leaving the service he made up his mind to emigrate to America, and, accordingly, in 1819, he
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left the shores of " the fatherland," crossed the Atlantic, and safely landed at Baltimore, Md. In 1821, he completed in Pennsylvania his theological studies toward which his youthful attention had been turned before leaving his native land. Entering upon his high and sacred mission as a young man in a strange country, he became an earnest and powerful preacher of the gospel, officiating to Ger- man Reformed congregations in Seneca county, N. Y., dur- ing a period of over sixty years, commencing with April, 1821. He preached both in the German and English lan- guages, and his pastoral labors were crowned with success. He died in 1883, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, leaving a fragrant memory in the hearts of all who knew him. He received the degree of D. D., from Franklin and Marshall college, at Lancaster, Pa.
Intending to have his son, the subject of our present sketch, follow him in the ministerial calling, the father paid spec- ial attention to his moral and intellectual training - care- fully instructing him in the German language and in ancient classical literature. But the studies of the young man were considerably interrupted. To earn some money to carry on his education he was obliged to work upon a farm during the summer months, while he attended the district school in the winter. He also attended two terms at the Seneca Falls academy, and at the early age of sixteen, he began to teach school in his native place at a salary of twelve dollars a month, paying his own board out of this small sum. He con- tinued to teach at intervals until he arrived at his majority. He was indeed a hard-working, industrious, self-made young man. At the age of twenty-two he entered a printing office with a view of learning the trade, and preparing himself for a jour- nalistic career. He was a frequent contributor of political
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articles for the newspapers, but the close confinement of a compositor's life in a local printing establishment did not agree with his health, not then very robust, and he was obliged to relinquish this kind of work. Looking around for something more congenial to his tastes, he now turned his attention to the study of the law, and after reading the prin- cipal text books on the subject he attended a course of in- struction at the Albany Law school where after graduating he was admitted to the bar, but never entered upon the active duties of the profession. He seemed at last to have adopted politics as possessing still greater charms for him than the practice of the law. He early identified himself with the democratic party, for the success of which he has always since labored with great earnestness and determination of purpose. In the exciting presidential campaign of 1856, he supported James Buchanan, and in the following year he warmly ad- vocated the election of Gideon J. Tucker for secretary of this state. After his election Mr. Tucker rewarded the ser- vices of the young and rising politician by giving him a clerkship in his office. It was the commencement of his political career - a career which has been so honorable to himself and so beneficial to the public service.
He entered upon his duties as clerk in the office of the secretary of state in January, 1858. And here his high qual- ifications for the work soon became widely known and greatly appreciated. In 1860 he was reappointed by the succeeding secretary of state, David R. Floyd Jones, and under the administration of Horatio Ballard, he was still re- tained, filling the position with peculiar fitness and fidelity till the close of 1863, when Horatio Seymour, governor of the state in 1864, appointed Mr. Willers his private secretary. This was during the most trying period of the civil war, and
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his duties were very onerous and complicated. But by his large knowledge of state affairs, the experience he had al- ready gained in such work, his close and constant attention to official duty and his urbanity of manners, he soon gained the warmest friendship of the accomplished " Sage of Deer- field," who commended his services in the highest terms. On the expiration of Gov. Seymour's term of office, Mr. Willers returned to his home at Varick, and spent two or three years on his farm, invigorating his constitution by out-door exercise for further hard, mental work in the state depart- ment. In the meantime (1865) he was chosen supervisor of his native town of Varick, which office he held during two terms. As chairman of the board, he rendered valuable assistance to his town and county, in the adjustment of ac- counts growing out of the war. The most difficult matters of this nature were always laid before Mr. Willers, who straightened them out with a masterly hand.
On the election of Homer A. Nelson as secretary of state in 1867, Mr. Willers was selected as his deputy, and returning to Albany he entered upon his new duties in Jan- uary, 1868, occupying this position four years, During all this time Mr. Willers seems to have grown constantly in the estimation of the public, by his display of executive ability and a readiness to successfully grapple with and solve deep problems. He was soon to receive higher recognition at the hands of his party, and when Mr. Nelson retired from the political field in favor of his deputy, in the fall of 1871, Mr. Willers was nominated by acclamation for the office of sec- retary of state, but was defeated with the other candidates of his party, though at the same time, as an evidence of his popularity, he received the highest vote given to any candi- date on the democratic ticket.
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In 1872, Gov. Hoffman appointed him assistant paymaster- general with the rank of colonel. He was also detailed for duty in the executive chamber to examine bills passed by the legislature, and was thus employed until January, 1873, when he was chosen one of the secretaries of the constitu- tional commission then in session at Albany. On the ad- journment of this body the following March, he again visited his old and cherished homestead at Varick, spending the remainder of the year in the cultivation of his lands, and ob- taining a much needed relief from the pressing duties of political life.
In the autumn of 1873, Mr. Willers was again nominated by the democratic convention held at Utica for the office of secretary of state, and was triumphantly elected by a major- ity of more than 10,000 over the republican candidate, Hon. Francis S. Thayer of Troy, one of the most popular republi- cans of the state. On the occasion of Mr. Willers' second nomination at Utica, Gov. Seymour, who knew him so well, paid him one of the highest compliments ever bestowed upon a public servant. Rising in the convention he said: " Hav- ing known Mr. Willers for many years, having been closely associated with him in the discharge of duty, I can say that in my opinion there is no man in the state whom I could vote for, for this position, with more pleasure than I can vote for Diedrich Willers, Jr. He is not only an honorable, capable and honest man, but a faithful one. During all the time he was in that office, he was never known to be absent from his post of duty. For this office you want a man who will faithfully discharge its duties himself, and Mr. Willers is the man, of all others, to do this. It is no mere form, when we take up a man who has performed his duties at the low- est round of the ladder, and lift him to the highest. It means
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that there is true merit in the man. I have known Mr. Willers long and well, as I have already said. I knew him all through the trying time when I was governor, and of all the men surrounding me and my office, I found no man upon whom I could rely with more implicit confidence."
With his many years of experience in the workings of this office, Secretary Willers found but little trouble in conduct- ing its affairs most successfully during his term of two years, during which the state census of 1875 was taken under his direct supervision. In 1875 he declined a renomination, and in the following year made a tour in Europe, visiting many interesting and noted places, and especially his father's na- tive city of Bremen, and the battlefield of Waterloo. After an absence of three months, he returned home and again went to live on his farm. While thus living quietly among his old neighbors, he was elected to the legislature in the fall of 1877, serving for one year in the assembly. He took a great interest in the centennial celebration of General Sul- livan's Indian campaign at Waterloo in 1879, and compiled and edited a book descriptive of the same in 1880. In 1875 Mr. Willers received the degree of A. M. from Union college, and subsequently the same degree from Hamilton. The mother of Secretary Willers was a descendant of a Palatinate German family, which located at New Holland, Lancaster county, Pa., where she was born. She died in 1879, aged eighty-two years. Secretary Willers is unmarried, and at- tends the Reformed church, to which his father so long min- istered.
Mr. Willers has performed a great deal of hard brain work in the service of the state. As a tactician, an analyst, as throwing light on dark and intricate questions, as bringing order out of confusion, his powers have been remarkable as
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well as praiseworthy. He has risen to an enviable position in the broad arena of politics, and the democratic party seem still to have a claim on his time and talents as it has found him a most practical, painstaking, upright, faithful and honorable official in all his connections with the public ser- vice of the Empire state.
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AWilliam
CHAUNCEY P. WILLIAMS.
MONG the noted men of Albany Chauncey P. Williams stands in the front rank as a banker and financier. He is a native of Connecticut - a state which has furnished so many of the enterprising pioneers of our own and other states of the Union. He was born at Upper Middletown (now Cromwell), Conn., on the 5th of March, 1817, the son of Josiah and Charity Shaler Williams. His early years were spent upon his father's farm, where in summer his physical powers were trained to healthful development by the labors of the farm, and his winters occupied in mental culture at the common school. He early developed a taste for math- ematics and astronomy, and probably would have devoted his life to those sciences, but for the fact that circumstances made it imperative that he must earn his own way in the world. At the age of sixteen he accepted a clerkship with his brothers, the firm of T. S. Williams & Brothers, then en- gaged in extensive commercial business at Ithaca, N. Y. He remained at Ithaca two years, when in 1835 he was transferred to the Albany house of the same firm, then under the direction of Josiah B. Williams. In 1839 he succeeded to the business of the Albany house, which, in connection with Henry W. Sage as his partner, conducting the business of the new firm at Ithaca and elsewhere, continued through a long term of years.
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Mr. Williams' ancestry is of Welsh stock. Certain dim traditions claim for it an origin in common with that of Crom- well, lord protector of the English commonwealth. He traces it back only to Thomas Williams, whose first child, Thomas, was born at Wethersfield, Conn., March 9, 1656. When the father, Thomas, came to Wethersfield, or from whence he came, is not known. A search through the accessi- ble emigrant lists, from 1620 down to 1656, has failed to give us any information regarding him. If there is any truth in the traditions above referred to, it is hardly probable that he or his family, for several generations down from this time, would have felt proud of the relationship, or have laid claim to it with much earnestness, considering the fact that the minions of Charles II could not allow the bones of Cromwell to rest peacefully in his grave, but dug them up to hang them on Tyburn gallows ; and three of the judges who condemned Charles I were hiding incognito in the caves and mountain fastnesses of New England to escape their vengeance.
Passionately fond of his studies in youth, Mr. Williams has been a student through life. While his mind and time have been closely occupied with affairs, his leisure hours have given him opportunity to pursue a course of study which has been largely in the line of finance and practical economics. The statistics of political science, banking and finance, the currency and related topics, with the general problems of political economy, have all occupied much of his attention. Perhaps no man in our city has investigated these subjects with more careful thought, or more profound research. He has boldly expressed his views in well-chosen words on the banking system, the financial situation of our country and on gold, silver and the coinage of the silver dollar. And though his statements have met with opposition in some quarters,
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yet his arguments are well worthy of close attention by those interested in banking institutions. Mr. Williams early col- lected the leading English and American publications on banking and financial matters ; and to the study and analysis of the various assertions of many different authors in this line he has devoted a lifetime.
Mr. Williams first visited Albany in 1833, and two years later he became a permanent resident of our city. His well- known abilities as a financier were so highly appreciated that in 1861, at the commencement of the civil war, he was asked to take charge of the Albany Exchange bank, then greatly involved in financial difficulties. With such consummate wisdom, rare. ability and strict integrity did he perform his duties in this capacity, that after conducting its affairs through the trying period of the civil war, on closing its corporate existence as a state institution to become a na- tional bank in 1865, the entire capital was returned to the shareholders with fifty-four per cent of surplus earnings.
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