Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II, Part 26

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > New York > Onondaga County > Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II > Part 26

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General Sniper never lost his ardor in military matters, and kept it warm by mem- bership and official station in various organizations. He was long commander of the Central City Veterans, and was prominent in the Veterans' League, the Grand Army

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

of the Republic, and also in the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows, the A. O. U. W., etc. He was a member of the Loyal League Military Order of the United States, and president of the German-American Republican Club. The General Sniper Camp Sons of Veterans, No. 166, was named for him.

General Sniper's native ability, sound judgment, and good common sense con- spired to bring him into prominence in political councils, especially as a representa- tive of the leading German element of the city's population. In 1870 he was elected to the Legislature, where his three years' record for sensible legislation and incor- ruptibility added to his already high standing as a public servant. In 1876 he ac- cepted the position of deputy in the county clerk's office, and in 1882 was elected county clerk, holding the office three years, making a record of nine years in civil office. The responsible duties were discharged by him with fidelity and ability. In addition to the public duties just alluded to, General Sniper was connected in a busi- ness capacity with the Rock Spring Brewery, and from 1873 to 1876 was deputy col- lector of Internal Review. In 1887-88 he was vice-president of the Hinckel Brewing Company of Albany, N. Y.

In whatever station he occupied he was accorded the good will and friendship of all with whom he came in personal contact. With his own countrymen he was ex- tremely popular and in a broad sense enjoyed their confidence and esteem.

General Sniper was married in 1863 to Miss Catharine Miller. The issue of this marriage was two children -- a son and a daughter.

On March 29, 1894, the anniversary of the bloody battle of Quaker Road where he distinguished himself by personal bravery, General Sniper died suddenly, after but a few hours' illness. His unexpected demise threw the whole community, especially those to whom he had become endeared in military and business relations, into a state of earnest sorrow. His funeral obsequies were impressive in the extreme, and were exceptional in the concourse in attendance.

WILLIAM MARVIN.

JUDGE WILLIAM MARVIN was born in Fairfield, Herkimer county, April 14, 1808. He was a son of Selden Marvin, son of Dan, son of Reinold, son of Reniold, Lyme's captain, of Lyme, Conn. Selden Marvin married Charlotte Pratt, of Saybrook, Conn. Judge William's parents moved to Dryden, Tompkins county, N. Y., during his in- fancy. There he grew up on a farm, went to school in the winter, and worked on the farm during the summer. He studied law and was admitted to practice in the courts of the State in 1833. Immediately after being admitted he opened an office in Phelps, Ontario county, and soon acquired a good standing among the distin- guished lawyers of that county, among others John C. Spencer, Mark H. Sibley, and Jared Wilson.

In 1835 professional business called him to Florida, then a territory. Here he made the acquaintance of Joseph White, who was then the delegate in Congress, and Charles Downing, a leading lawyer of St. Augustine, and on their recommendation he was appointed by President Jackson to the office of United States district attorney for the southern district of Florida. There are probably not half a dozen other men

BIOGRAPHICAL.

living to-day who hold a commission signed by President Andrew Jackson. Judge Marvin accepted the appointment, and removed to the Island of Key West, Florida. In 1839 he was elected a delegate to represent the counties of Monroe and Dade in the first Constitutional Convention, held at St. Joseph, in Florida. It is believed that he is to-day the only surviving member of that convention, which was com- posed of about seventy delegates. In the same year he was appointed by Presi- dent Van Buren to be judge of the Superior Court of the district, Judge Webb, his predecessor in that office, having resigned to accept the office of secretary of state under President Lamar in the Lone Star State of Texas. In 1845, the terri- tory of Florida having become a State, the Legislature elected Mr. Marvin to the office of circuit court judge, which office he declined, but accepted the office of United States district judge in 1847. He held this office till 1863, when he resigned the judgeship on account of impaired health, induced by over work and long resi- dence in a hot climate. The business of the court over which he presided consisted largely in the determination of questions of salvage and other questions growing out of the numerous shipwrecks, which were constantly occurring among the islands and reefs around the southern point of Florida. In the discharge of his official duties he acquired an extensive knowledge of international and maritime law, and in 1858 he published a Treatise on the Law of Wreck and Salvage, which to-day is cited in the courts of the United States, England, and on the continent of Europe, as a work of high merit. In January, 1860, Judge Marvin, without resigning the office of judge, became a candidate for election as delegate to the State Convention, which had been called to be held at Tallahassee, to consider the question of the secession of the State from the Union. Although a Democrat in politics all his life he took decided ground against the secession movement, and did everything in his power to prevent Florida from seceding. He remained quietly at home, discharging his official duties as best he could. The marshal of the district, the district attorney, the clerk of his court, and many of his intimate friends joined the seceders. The last three months of President Buchanan's administration and the first month of President Lincoln's was a period of intense mental agony and suffering on the part of the judge, for dur- ing all this time, lover of the Union as he was, it was impossible for him to form any opinion as to whether the government at Washington would recognize the secession movement and let the Southern States go their way or not. His suspense was re- lieved only when Sumter was fired upon and war actually commenced. A few days after that event martial law was declared on the island by authority of the presi- dent. The rebel flags were pulled down from the houses, and many of the leading rebels made their escape to the mainland. The judge's person and court were now protected by the military and naval authorities. He immediately removed the clerk of his court and appointed a loyal man in his place. The government ap- pointed a new marshal and district attorney. His court was now again in a condi- tion to transact business, and it very soon became a very important and valuable agency in maintaining the blockade of the ports and coasts of the rebel States. The geographical position of Judge Marvin's court made it a convenient point for the navy men to send all vessels captured by them to his court for adjudication. He de- cided a great many prize cases, many of which are leading decisions. The judge re- signed in the third year of the war on account of poor health, and removed to his native State. In 1865, the war being then over, he was appointed by President John-

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

son provisional governor to assist the people of Florida to reconstruct their State government ; he went to Tallahassee and took upon himself the duties of the office. He called together a State Convention to make a new constitution, and found the members of the convention generally quite willing to adopt a provision in the con- stitution abolishing slavery, but they were quite as unwilling to give the negro the elective franchise, or the right to testify in courts of justice in every case where a white mian was concerned. The farthest he could get the convention to go in this direc- tion was to provide in the constitution that the Legislature should pass no law dis- criminating in any way between the two races. This gave to the negroes protection for their civil rights, and at the same time the constitution withheld from them the political right of voting. Florida was at this time in a condition of great poverty and distress. Martial law everywhere prevailed. Their leading men were imprisoned and threatened with prosecutions for treason, and a general feeling of hopelessness everywhere existed. Their slaves had been declared free by the military authorities, but what ideas they were likely to entertain concerning their freedom was quite problematical. Under these circumstances the governor felt it his duty to make sev- eral speeches to large numbers of the recently emancipated slaves. On one of these occasions when he was addressing 600 or 700 of them, assembled in Madison, an old man with hair as white as snow approached the place where the speaker stood and, interrupting him, said: "Massa, I wishes to ask you one question." "What is that, my good old man?" responded the governor. "Ask on." "I wish to ask you who is to take care of me in my old age-you tell me that I am now free, and must take care of myself ?" It occurred at once to the mind of the governor that there was no system of poor laws in the State; hitherto the white poor had been cared for by charity, and masters had provided for the wants of their sick and needy slaves. The governor replied: "Why, the good Lord has taken care of you thus far, all the days of your life, and He will not now forsake you in your old age." "Yes, yes," replied the old man; "I know de good Lord is very good; but, massa he take care of me; he give me food and clothes, and when I am sick he gets the doctor, and now you tell me that he no more do that, and that I must take care of myself," and the old man with a sad and sorrowful look, turned and walked away. The negro population in the South did not generally receive the news of their emancipation with any degree of joy or exultation ; to very many of them it brought sorrow and sadness, for they were distressed beyond measure. They knew not how they were to get a living or provide for themselves; they were generally as helpless as children.

The Legislature elected the governor to the Senate of the United States, but his credentials were laid on the table and never acted upon by the Senate, that body, together with the House of Representatives, having, under the leadership of Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, adopted the policy of not allowing the seceded States to be represented in Congress until those States had given to the negro population in their constitutions the elective franchise. The Congress, in pursuance of such policy, passed laws providing for the reconstruction of governments in the seceded States, based on the negro as well as the white vote,

Judge Marvin and his political friends did not believe in giving such franchise to the recently emancipated slave; he therefore ceased to take any further active inter- est in the political affairs of Florida, and so withdrew from public life.

Judge Marvin has been twice married; his first wife, Harriet Newell Foote, whom he

N. B. SULLIVAN, M. D.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

married in 1846, was a daughter of Judge Elisha Foote, of Cooperstown, N. Y. By this marriage he had an only child, a daughter, who married Col. Marshall Ludington, U.S A. Judge Marvin married for his second wife, in 1867, Mrs. Elizabeth Riddle Jewett, daughter of John Riddle, of New Castle, Del., and widow of the late William Jew- ett, of Skaneateles, N. Y. This marriage led to his settling down in that village, where he resides in comfort, and in health and vigor at the present day, 1896. In his retirement from a more active public life he has by no means ceased to feel a deep interest in public affairs and to take an active interest in the local affairs of his village. He served as president of the village one year, often presides at public meetings, and votes at every election. The Democrats of Onondaga county adopted him as their candidate for the senate in 18-, and again for the Constitutional Con- vention in 1894.

In politics Judge Marvin is a Democrat, in religion a Catholic, and an Episcopalian in his church relations. He was, with others, very active in securing a public library for the village and town, and has been for fifteen years last past the president of the library association. He has always been a great reader, not only of works relating to his profession, but also ecclesiastical history and theology. In 1885 he published a volume entitled the "Authorship of the Four Gospels." In this work he treats of the external evidences of their genuineness more in the character of a jurist than of a theologian.

NAPOLEON B. SULLIVAN, M. D.

DR. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE SULLIVAN, of Memphis, was born in the town of Ly- sander, Onondaga county, N. Y., March 2, 1829. His professional life has been spent in Plainville in the town of Lysander and at Memphis, his present residence. Dr. Sullivan was one of a family of eleven children, he being the tenth in order of birth. The family comprised five sons and six daughters. Richard Sullivan, father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Washington county, N. Y., where he was born in 1791. He came to the town of Lysander about 1810, being one of the earliest settlers in that part of the county. He at once engaged in agriculture, doing much toward the development of that industry in the vicinity and also towards the building up and extending the various other interests of the town.

Mr. Sullivan had barely become settled in his new home when the war of 1812 broke out. He volunteered his services and was given a commission as captain. He served with distinction during the war and after that closed returned to his occupa- tion and business at home.

During his whole life he took a lively interest in military affairs, and for years during the early tinies had charge of the military training which took place on the flats just east of where Memphis is now situated. He was a grandson of General Sullivan of Revolutionary war fame. For generations they had been a race of soldiers and so Richard Sullivan naturally inherited the instincts and qualities neces- sary to make a great soldier.

In 1836 Mr. Sullivan sold his interests in Lysander and went to Illinois with the view of locating there permanently, but not finding the surroundings and opportuni-

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

ties what he had looked for he soon returned to this State, settling in Seneca county. There he again became interested in agriculture, which he conducted successfully for many years. He was actively identified with the growth and development of that county. In his earlier life he was a member of the Free Soil party, but later be- came a Whig and finally a Republican, when that party was organized. While a resident of the town of Tyre, Seneca county, he served almost continuously as justice of the peace and for some time represented his town in the Board of Super- visors.

While yet in Washington county Mr. Sullivan married Nancy Faulkner, who was also a native of that county. She possessed the same sterling qualities of mind and character as did her husband and these coupled with her energy and industry con- tributed greatly to the success which crowned their combined efforts. She died in Seneca county in 1849.

At the age of eighteen Napoleon B. Sullivan decided to fit himself for the medical profession. So in view of this he took a course at the Clyde Academy and after- wards began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. B. B. Schenck of Plainville. After spending some time with Dr. Schenck he entered the Geneva Medical College, from which he graduated two years later. Upon the completion of his course Dr. Sullivan returned to Plainville and entered upon the practice of medicine with his former preceptor, Dr. Schenck. After the lapse of three years Dr. Schenck retired, leaving the practice in Dr. Sullivan's hands. He continued the business till 1860, being the leading physician in that part of Onondaga county. He then decided to remove to Memphis (then Canton), which he did that year, and from that time to the present he has continued in the practice of his profession at that place.

Dr. Sullivan was educated as a "regular school" physician, but just prior to his removal to Memphis he had been drawn into close observation of the efficacy of the Homoeopathic system of treatment, and the many remarkable cures resulting front it induced him to give it a thorough and careful study, finally leading to his adoption of the principles in his practice. So that when he settled in Memphis it was as a physician of the new school. Each year of experience has added to and strength- ened his faith in the correctness and value of the system of homoeopathy. Dr. Sullivan has been a lifelong Republican in his political faith, and while he has been active and earnest he has never sought political office. However, in 1862 he was appointed by the governor of the State as commissioner to aid in perfecting the enrollment of all persons liable to military duty. He was also deputy postmaster under President Taylor, and at another time was appointed by the county surrogate as administrator to settle estates of intestate persons. Dr. Sullivan is a member of the County Medical Society and actively interested in its progress and growth. He is still a close student and wide reader of the best literature outside of that pub- lished in the interest of medicine.

He married in 1855 Theresa M. Betts, daughter of Alanson and Susan Betts. She died on October 21, 1886. They had two children, one son and one daughter. Emma married Samuel A. Brown of Elbridge, and are now residents of Syracuse. Warren Faulkner, the son, married Myrtle E. Reynolds of Van Buren. They are also residents of Syracuse.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

EDWARD B. JUDSON.

HON. EDWARD B. JUDSON, of old New England ancestry and Connecticut parent- age, was born in Coxsackie, N. Y., January 11, 1813, and received the rudiments of a business training as clerk in the banking house of his mother's brother, Ralph Barker, in his native town. When twenty-two he engaged with his brother. W. A. Judson, in manufacturing lumber at Constantia, Oswego county, and subsequently the two carried on a lumber commission business in Albany for about twenty years. At Constantia he also engaged in the manufacture of iron, and when twenty-four he was elected to the Assembly, serving in the sessions of 1839 and 1841, and being chairman of the committees on cities and villages and the State Lunatic Asylum. In 1849 he came to Syracuse, where he has ever since resided, and in 1850 became one of the or- ganizers and the first vice-pres- ident of the Merchants' Bank. Two years later he was elected an original director and the first cashier of the Salt Springs Bank. In 1857 he resigned to aid in organizing the Lake Ontario Bank of Oswego, of which he became cashier and chief exec- utive officer. This institution was remarkable for the char- acter and position of its stock- holders, among whom were John A. Stevens, president; C. H. Russell, vice-president ; Henry F. Vail, cashier of the Bank of Commerce, New York city ; Erastus Corning and H. H. Martin, president and cashier of the Albany City Bank ; Rufus H. King and J. H. Van Ant- EDWARD B. JUDSON. werp, president and cashier of the State Bank, of Albany; J. B. Plumb, president of the Bank of Interior, Albany ; Hamilton White, Horace White, John D. Norton, and Thomas B. Fitch, pre- sidents respectively of the Onondaga County Bank, the Bank of Syracuse, the Mer- chants' Bank, and the Mechanics' Bank, all of Syracuse; G. B. Rich, president of the Bank of Attica, Buffalo; Luther Wright, president of Luther Wright's Bank, Oswego; and Thurlow Weed, John L. Schoolcraft, David Hamilton, John Knower, Frederick T. Carrington, George Geddes, and William A. Judson.

When the Federal government, in 1863, perfected and carried into operation the present national banking system Mr. Judson's experience and counsel were souglit by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, who invited him and a few other prominent bankers of the country to Washington for this purpose. At the request of

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

the secretary, Mr. Judson, immediately after his return, organized the First National Bank of Syracuse, which stands as No. 6 in the archives at the nation's capital, and which he has ever since served as president. He was for eleven years, after 1864, chairman of the executive committee of the National Banking Association, and for about eighteen years interested in the manufacture of glass, being for some time president of the Syracuse Glass Company. He was one of the first two vice-presi- dents of the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, which was organized in 1869: has served as trustee of the Metropolitan Trust Company of New York city since its organization; in 1870 was one of the incorporators and the first treasurer of the Syra- cuse Northern Railroad; was for several years a director in the Syracuse and Oswego Railroad; was formerly a director in the New York Central Railroad Company, Bank of Syracuse, and American Express Company ; and is a trustee and vice-president of Wells College at Aurora, treasurer of St. Joseph's Hospital, trustee of the Old Ladies' Home, and president of board of trustees of May Memorial church. He is one of the oldest bankers in the State, and still guides the affairs of the institution which he was instrumental in founding. He is, or has been, interested in various business enterprises, including the Salt Springs Solar Salt Company, which he assisted in or- ganizing, and has served ever since as a director, and has always taken a keen inter- est in the growth and welfare of the city.

Mr. Judson has had little time or inclination for political life since his early mem- bership of the Legislature, but in 1868 he allowed his name to be presented as a can- didate for presidential elector, and was defeated, that being the year Governor Hoffman was elected.

October 15, 1846, Mr. Judson married Miss Sarah, daughter of Coddington B. Will- iams, of Syracuse, and they have one son, Edward B. Judson, jr., a man of enter- prise and thorough business qualifications.

DAVID M. TOTMAN, M. D.

DAVID MAYDOLE TOTMAN, M. D., is a son of Edsel S. and Anna M. (Maydole) Tot- man and was born in Freetown, Cortland county, N. Y., October 18, 1848. He was graduated from Norwich Academy in 1868, and in the following autumn entered Yale College, from which he received the degree of B.A. in 1872, being a member of Alpha Delta Phi during his collegiate course. Afterward he taught special branches in Norwich Academy at Norwich, N. Y., where he also studied medicine for two years in the office of Dr. H. K. Bellows. He was graduated from the Medical Col- lege of Syracuse University in 1876, and for five years thereafter served as house physician and surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital, establishing at the same time a pri- vate practice, which he has developed in a substantial and permanent way.

Dr. Totman has been prominently connected with the Syracuse Medical College since 1876, when he was appointed instructor of physiology. He held that position until 1886, when he received the appointment of lecturer on clinical surgery. The next year he was made professor of clinical surgery and in 1893 was elected registrar of the college, and still holds both positions. He was health officer of the city of Syr- acuse from 1889 to 1891 and from 1892 to 1895, and has been surgeon of the fire de-

David M. Jatuan

BIOGRAPHICAL.

partment since 1894 and of St. Joseph's Hospital since 1882. Dr. Totmun has not only discharged the duties of these various stations with faithfulness and ability, but has maintained a constantly increasing private practice, winning the respect and confidence of his associates, his patients, and the public. He has also contributed many valuable articles on medicine and surgery to the leading journals of the country. He is a member of the American Academy of Medicine, the Central New York Medical Association, the Syracuse Academy of Medicine, and the New York State and Onondaga County Medical Societies, and has served the latter as secre- tary four years and as president one year.

May 18, 1881 Dr. Totman was married to Miss Mary Emily, daughter of Oscar W. Johnson, of Fredonia, Chautauqua county, N. Y. They have had four children : Emily M., Margaret L., Katharine M. (deceased), and Clara J.

FLORINCE O. DONOHUE, M. D.

FLORINCE O. DONOHUE, M. D., ex-president of the State Board of Health, was born in Syracuse on October 8, 1850, and as a lad attended the public schools of the city. When he had reached the age of nine years his parents removed to the town of Onondaga, where he went to school winters aud worked on the farm summers until 1869, after which he spent two years in Onondaga Academy and one year at Cazenovia Seminary, alternating with terms of teaching at Navarino and Onondaga Hill. Being endow- ed with mental qualifications of ex- ceptional strength and activity, and possessing scholarly attributes of a high order, he had by this time thoroughly equipped himself for college and also earned sufficient money to pay his own way, and hav- ing decided upon medicine as a pro- fession he entered the medical de partment of Syracuse University in 1874 and remained two years, living in the mean time with Dr. W. W. Porter, under whose able tutelage he supplemented his studies with FLORINCE O. DONOIILE, M. D. hard work. In 1876 he entered Long Island College Hospital and was graduated therefrom in 1877 with high honors. Since then he has been in constant practice in Syracuse, where he has won unusual success and wide professional recognition both at home and abroad.

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Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II, Part 26

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston History Company Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1094