Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II, Part 56

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 56

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FAMILY SKETCHES.

from St. John's Academy in 1885, spent one year in St. Joseph's College in Buffalo, entered Manhattan College of New York city, from which he was graduated as A. B. in 1889. Ile was graduated in medicine from the Syracuse Medical College, June 9, 1892, began the practice of his profession at Perryville, N. Y., and in May, 1894, opened an office in Syracuse. He is a member of the Syracuse Academy of Medicine.

Edwards, Amos S., M.D., Syracuse, son of Jerome B. and Susan (Gifford) Ed- wards and grandson of Samuel Edwards, who settled in Manlius at a very early day and died there about 1835, was born in Lyndon, in the town of Dewitt, Oct. 23, 1842, Samuel Edwards was a wealthy man and a large land owner, owning at one time about 1 000 acres in what is now the Eighth ward of Syracuse. Jerome B. Edwards was a farmer. a commissioned officer in the old State militia, and ched in Dewitt in 1848, aged 39 years. His children were Sarah E. (Mrs. Hilton R. Rouse), of Cort- land; Samuel J., who died of yellow fever at Newbern, N. C., in 1864, while com- missary of subsistence in the army; Valentine G., a clothing merchant of Philadel- phia, Pa, ; Dr. Amos S. and Dr. George A., of Syracuse; and Mary E. (Mrs. Samuel J. Hubbard), of Joplin, Mo. His mother, Mrs. Susan Edwards, died in July, 1891, aged 81 years. Dr. Amos S. Edwards was educated in the district schools of Dewitt and the academy at Fayetteville, and is an alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy, N. H. He was graduated in medicine from the College of Medicine, Syracuse Uni- versity, in 874, and has practiced in this city ever since. He is a member of the Syracuse Academy of Medicine, of the Onondaga County Medical Society, of which he has been vice-president, of the New York State Medical Association, and of the American Medical Association. He was city physician for two years, has been phy- sician of the First ward for the past fourteen years, and was twice appointed a mem- ber of the Board of Pension Examining Surgeons under Cleveland's administra- tion, being president of the present board. He is a 33d degree Mason, has passed nearly all the chairs in that fraternity, was commander of Central City Commandery for two years, second lieutenant commander of the Council of Deliberation during a similar period, and is now the grand representative of the Grand Commandery of North Dakota. Having held nearly all the offices in the Scottish Rite bodies, he is now first lieutenant commander of the Consistory and sovereign prince grand master of the Council. April 20, 1875, Dr. Edwards married Elva L., daughter of Gardner and Helen M. Stanton, and granddaughter of Rufus Stanton, an early and promi- nent family of Syracuse They have had one son, Harry Stanton, born Oct. 28, 1877.

Egan, Thomas W., has resided in Syracuse since 1862, when he came from Bruree, County Limerick, Ireland, where he was born July 26, 1846. He finished his education at Bryant & Stratton's Business College in the old Malcolm building in this city, but his general knowledge was obtained in the practical school of experience, which has equipped him so thoroughly for a business life. He arrived in Syracuse with about 85 in money, but with good health, temperate habits, indomitable native energy, and shrewd foresight he has, by his own personal efforts, accumulated a competency. He is emphatically a self-made man. He began as a clerk and man ager for Lucius Brigham, restaurateur, with whom he remained through the war, when he engaged as second clerk for O. E. Allen, proprietor of the Syracuse House, where he continued twenty months. In 1867 he purchased a wine and spirit store

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

near the old depot in Vanderbilt Square, which he condueted one and one-half years. In 1868 he bought the northeast corner lot at the junction of Seymour and Niagara streets and engaged in the grocery and meat business in partnership with James Butler, the present county clerk, under the firm name of Egan & Butler. Eighteen months later the firm dissolved and since then Mr. Egan has conducted the business alone, being the oldest merchant in Syracuse in his line in continuous trade. In 1878 he replaced the old frame building he had previously occupied with his present hand- some brick structure. Mr. Egan was recording secretary of St. Vincent de Paul's Society for three years, was treasurer of Division 1, A. O. H., for two years, and was the first elected member of Branch 50, C.M.B.A,, of which he is the present chan- cellor and formerly treasurer, vice-president, and president. He is also a member and ex-trustee of the C.B.L., and was one of the first members and organizers of St. Lucy's church, which has always had his earnest and liberal support. From youth up he has always been a staunch Republican and for a long time an active worker for the success of his party, serving it as committeeman many times. May 26, 1870, he married Mary A , daughter of John and a sister of John J. Lynch, of Syracuse. John Lynch came from Ireland and settled in this city about 1820, where his widow still resides at the age of ninety years. Mr. and Mrs. Egan have had eight children : Thomas W., jr., Martha Ellen, Rose Frances, Seymour Joseph, Alice May, Gertrude Lucy, John Munchin, and Agnes Geraldine.

Fuller, Truman K., Syracuse, was born in Vesper, Onondaga Co., May 20, 1834. His father, Joel Fuller, came to that village about 1830 and died there Dec. 31, 1841. Reared on a farm and at the village school until he was fourteen, he then went to Cortland Academy, at Homer, N. Y. ; and after three years' preparation he entered Union College under the presidency of Dr. Nott, and bore away the Nott scholarship on the first examination. He graduated at New York Central College, in 1855, and in 1859 received the honorary degree of M.A. from Union College. He began teach- ing at the age of sixteen and continued until the breaking out of the Civil war. After graduating he became the first principal of the Fayetteville Union School, where he remained four terms, and was then appointed professor of classics and mathematics in the Port Byron Free School and Academy, of which he soon became principal, a position he held until Aug., 1861. He then laid down the ruler and donned the sword. In four days he raised a company in the northern part of Cayuga Co. for the 75th N. Y. Vols., was elected captain, and served until Nov., 1863, being on detached service from June, 1862. He was first appointed provost marshal of General Weitzel's Brigade; and after the occupation of the La Fourche district by the Federal troops, he was made a military-civic provost marshal and provost judge of the conquered district, with headquarters at Thibodeauxville, La., and shortly after was appointed by General Butler a member of his somewhat famous Sequestra- tion Commission of the Gulf department. On the arrival of General Banks Mr. Fuller was transferred by him to the quartermaster's department and placed in charge of the general stores for the Department of the Gulf, with headquarters at New Orleans, where he remained until the siege of Port Hudson, when he took the field in the quartermaster's service and had command of the supply trains of the army. There he lost his health, and after three weeks in the hospital in_New Orleans he was sent north on sick leave, and was honorably discharged from the service in

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Nov., 1863. From Dec., 1863, to Aug., 1864, he was a broker in New York city and a member of the open board. He then went to Rouseville, Pa., on Oil Creek, and established an express line from Oil City to Rouseville, Plummer, and Pithole, and also engaged in oil speculation, being one of the organizers of the Sugar Creek Oil Co. Selling out he returned to Syracuse in Feb., 1866, and entered the law office of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy, being admitted to the bar in October of that year. He began the practice of his profession in Syracuse, and in May, 1867, formed a partnership with Judge Bartlett, now of the Court of Appeals, which continued for one year. July 4, 1868, Judge Bartlett having gone to New York, Mr. Fuller asso- ciated himself with Hon. Irving G. Vann, and during the twelve years they were to- gether Judges McLennan and Ross were students in their office. Later he was a member of the firm of Fuller, Brown & Garfield, of Fuller & Kellogg, of Fuller, Kellogg & Fuller, of Fuller, Fuller & Cook, of T. K. & L. E. Fuller, and for four years past of Fuller & Glen. Mr. Fuller was president of the village of Danforth five years and president of its Board of Education two years. lle married, first, in 1854, M. Lavilla Darrow, of Vesper, and of their five children two are living: Louis E., of Rochester, and Mrs. Osborn, of Port Byron. His second wife, whom he mar- ried in Dec., 1881, was Mrs. Francesca C. Hall, of Fayetteville, with whom he is still living.

Green, Douglas Norval, Syracuse .- This branch of the Green family in America descends from John Green, who came from England and settled in Rhode Island in 1639. Benjamin Green, one of his lineal descendants, served in the Revolutionary war, while Dr. Henry Green, grandfather of Douglas N., who was an assistant sur- geon in the war of 1812, moved with his family to Pennsylvania in 1815, and acquired a wide reputation as a physician and public speaker. Norval Douglas Green, son of Dr. Henry, was born in Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y., Sept. 1, 1808, and now lives in Waverly, Pa. He held several local offices, being the second burgess (mayor) of Providence, which is now part of Scranton, justice of the peace, postmaster, and borough treasurer. He married, first, Ann Eliza Vanghn, by whom he had six children, all deceased; his second wife was Charlotte, daughter of Capt. Albert Felts, of Lackawanna, Pa., who was born Dec. 8, 1810, and died Nov. 14, 1884, and of their three children only Douglas N. is living. Douglas N. Green was born in Ilyde Park, Luzerne Co. (now Scranton, Lackawanna Co.), Pa., Oct. 8, 1844, and prepared for college at Madison Academy at Waverly, but being early trained to commercial pursuits decided to abandon collegiate education and enter upon a business career. He enlisted in the army and after the expiration of his term of service in 1863 he be- came connected with the coal department of the D., L. & W. R. R. Co. at Scranton, where he remained until April, 1869. Since then he has been identified with the coal interests of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. On June 1, 1890, he formed a partnership with Edward J. Millspaugh, of Utica, as Millspaugh & Green. They are sales agents for the D. & H. Canal Co.'s coal throughout the greater part of New York State and part of Canada, with offices at Syracuse, Utica, and Rochester. Mr. Green was three times elected without opposition to the City Council of Scranton, served one term as president of the select branch, and was a member of the Board of Health of that city for two years. He was married, Oct. 21, 1869, to Miss Emma C., daughter of Joseph J. Posten, of Scranton, and they had three children, one only

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

surviving, Joseph Douglas, born Feb. 3, 1874, and a graduate of Princeton College, class of '95.

Gallup, Hon. William H., Syracuse, was born in Marcellus, May 27, 1858. His father, George Gallup, came from England to America in 1850, at the age of seven- teen, and settled in Marcellus, where he was long a teasel merchant. He died Feb. 1, 1882, and his wife's death occurred Jan. 20, 1884. George Gallup was a citizen highly respected, influential and esteemed, and possessed sterling principles of head and heart which his children inherited. William H. was educated in the schools of his native town, read law with Judge Vann in Syracuse, and was graduated and ad- mitted from the Albany Law School in June, 1879. After practicing his profession three years in Marcellus, he succeeded to his father's business, which he still carries on. He was elected member of assembly in 1888 and 1889, his plurality in '89 being 2,015, the largest ever given to any candidate in that district. In 1892 he came to Syracuse and organized the Syracuse Improvement Co., with a capital of $120,000, and has since been its secretary, treasurer and general manager, making it emphatically successful. Sept. 2, 1880, he married Emma Sweet of Marcellus, and has two children, Mary and Bessie.

Gifford, Sidney Brooks, Syracuse, born in that city, Sept. 9, 1836, is a son of Luther Gifford, an architect and builder, who came to this city from Harwich, Mass., in 1830, and died here in 1847. He had five children, of whom four are living, viz. : Sidney B., Mrs. Emily F. Field, and Edwin L., of Syracuse, and Mrs. Augusta G. Minard, of Chicago. Sidney B. Gifford was a student in the old Syracuse Academy for four years, and at the age of thirteen became a messenger in the telegraph office in Syracuse. Later he was operator and manager of the office at Canajoharie in 1851-2, and in May of the latter year went to Auburn in the same capacity. In the fall of 1852 he went to New York as an operator, and in the spring of 1853 was made operator and manager at Sandy Hook, N. J., of the Marine line which had just been established for the purpose of reporting the arrival of vessels. Returning to New York the same year he held his old position until 1854, when he returned to Syracuse, where he has ever since resided. He soon became chief operator and afterwards circuit manager in charge of the wires between Albany and Buffalo. Upon the consolidation of the local companies in 1864, by which the Western Union obtained control of nearly the entire telegraph system of the State, Mr. Gifford was appointed one of the district superintendents in charge of all the lines north of the Erie Railroad to Lake Ontario and from Oswego to Whitehall, which position he still holds. This district has been extended until it now includes lines in Pennsylvania and Canada. Mr. Gifford is one of the oldest officials con- nected with the great Western Union service. He has seen the local system ex- pand from an insignificant line to a vast network of wires running out from the city in every direction, and no man is more thoroughly conversant with the intricacies and detail of telegraphy. His district now contains over 30,000 miles of lines and about 600 offices. Mr. Gifford has been actively interested in Sabbath school work, is a member of the Park Presbyterian church, and for several years from Feb., 1860, was general secretary of the Syracuse Y.M.C.A.

Graves, Maurice A., Syracuse, born in Westmoreland, N. Y., April 23, 1846, came

FAMILY SKETCHES.

to Syracuse in Sept., 1865. He was the bookkeeper of the old Fourth National Bank and for the wholesale tea and coffee house of F. H. Loomis for three years each, and afterwards occupied other responsible positions. In 1875 he accepted the post of bookkeeper for John Crouse & Co. and six months later was made cashier, a position he held until the death of D. Edgar Crouse, on Nov. 10, 1892, by whom he was appointed one of the executors to settle his immense estate, which business he has since been engaged in. Prior to this, however, he closed up the estate of the late John Crouse. Mr Graves has been active in other than business connections. Sept. 8, 1862, he enlisted in Co. I, 81st N. Y. Vols., from which he was transferred to the same company in the 10th Veteran Reserve Corps in Jan., 1865, being stationed in Washington during the last year of the war, where he was a member of President Lincoln's body guard. He was present at the grand review, took an active part in the memorable scenes attending the assassination, and has in his possession the drum which sounded the call for the first troops on that occasion. He was honorably discharged July 26, 1865, and has since spent his life in Syracuse. He was a deacon, and trustee of the Dutch Reformed church on James street for many years, and for some time was engaged in Sunday school mission work on Rose Hill. He was one of the organizers and for about six years a trustee of the Westminster church, of which he has been an elder for the past nine years and is now serving his twelfth year as superintendent of the Sunday school. "He is a member of the Citizens' Club, of Root Post, G. A. R., and of Syracuse Lodge No. 501, F. & A. M. In Jan., 1872, he married Miss Christina, daughter of Philetus Reed, of Syracuse, and they have three children: Nathan R., Alice R., and Helen B.

Glismann, John C., Syracuse, was born in the city of Hamburg, Germany, of Ger- man parentage, Oct. 12, 1865, and came to Utica, N. Y., at the age of five years. He received his education in the public schools and at the Utica Business College, and on April 30, 1885, he came to Syracuse to accept a position as bookkeeper for the Goodyear Rubber House, which he has ever since held. He is a Republican in poli- tics, and is actively identified with several important organizations. He was a char- ter member of the old Syracuse Amateur Club, being its first secretary and serving as such two years, and is a member of Syracuse Division, No. 7, Uniformed Rank Knights of Pythias. Oct. 25, 1890, he married Miss Etta Louisa Browne, a native of Clay, Onondaga Co., and has two children: Marvin Browne, born Feb. 5, 1893, and George Le Roy, born Oct. 15, 1894.

Hamilton, Walter Wessel, Syracuse .- Half way between Syracuse and Jamesville, about one-half mile from the plank road, is a hilly wheat and dairy farm formerly known as Forest Hill, and owned by Wessel B. Van Wagenen, whose wife, Lamira, was the eldest daughter of Jacob and Eleanor (Van Vleck) Nottingham, who came here by "line boat" from Ulster county in the spring of 1833. Mr. Nottingham pur- chased three farms in the towns of Dewitt and Salina, one of 100 acres from Cor- nelius Brevier, another of seventy-five acres adjoining from John Bowring, and a third of seventy-five acres in what was then called " the swamp." In the spring of 1834 Mr. Van Wagenen came with his wife and four children in a "tent-wagon" from Ulster county and bought 150 acres of land in the "town and county of Onon- daga " from Adamn Knox, and ten acres more from a Mr. Daniels. There they reared thirteen children, nine of whom are living. An honest, upright man, Elder Van

ONONDAGA'S CENTENNIAL.

Wagenen, as he was called from his office in the Dutch Reformed church on James street in Syracuse, was ably assisted by his thrifty wife in paying for his farm, which, after their decease, was sold to Davidson Brothers for dairying purposes. Numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren are their descendants in the city and county, and have linked " the good old Dutch name" with those of other hon- ored residents. One of these is the Hamilton family. William Hamilton was born in Vermont, Feb. 5, 1797, and Nov. 19, 1820, married Sylvia Hapgood, who was born in Barre, Mass., July 4, 1801, and who died at Oneida Community, N. Y., Jan. 6, 1867. They came to Syracuse from Cortland Co., in 1836. His death occurred in Attica, N. Y., Sept. 12, 1845. He was a contractor and builder and was engaged in con- structing many of the earlier buildings in the city. Chauncey Hamilton, his son, was born in Vermont, Aug. 18, 1825, and came with his parents from Cortland Co., to Syracuse in 1836. Feb. 1, 1849, he married Lamira M., daughter of Wessel B. and Lamira (Nottingham) Van Wagenen, and was accidentally killed in this city Feb. 11, 1893. His wife, who survives him and resides in Syracuse, was born in Marbletown, N. Y., Oct. 11, 1830, and came to Onondaga Co. with her parents in the spring of 1834. Chauncey Hamilton first apprenticed himself to the printer's trade under Vivus W. Smith, in the office of the Western State Journal, working at the case with Hon. Carroll E. Smith. After several years he abandoned the printing business and learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed the remainder of his life. He was employed upon many of the finer residences of the city, notably the Yates Castle and the old Milton S. Price homestead, which occupied the site of Dey Brothers & Co.'s present store. In 1860 he joined Plymouth Congregational church, and for several years served as a member of its choir, and as librarian, secretary and a teacher of its Sunday school. He was a charter member of and always active in the old Frank- lin Institute, and was well posted upon current topics and general literature. He had three children : Rev. Frank Hamilton, of Summit Station, N. Y .; Mrs. Rev. A. C. Furguson, of Saratoga Springs, N. Y .; and Walter W. Hamilton, of Syracuse. Walter Wessel Hamilton, the youngest of the family of Chauncey Hamilton, was born in this city, Dec. 6, 1863, and was married on Nov. 25, 1885, to Mrs. S. Adelle North. He entered the U. S. postal service as a substitute letter carrier in Syracuse in Sept., 1883, and is now assistant superintendent of carriers.

Hyde, Horton A., Syracuse, a brother of Salem Hyde (q. v.), is a son of Elisha H., a farmer, and was born near the village of Westbury, Cayuga Co., Feb. 3, 1849. He attended the district schools of his native town, and at the age of sixteen moved with his parents to Granby, Oswego Co., and finished his education at Falley Semi- nary in Fulton. When eighteen he came to Syracuse as clerk for Richardson & Mowatt, dry goods dealers, but six months later accepted a similar position with Ash & Cole, gentlemen's furnishers. After one year in the retail store of D. McCarthy & Co., he entered the employ of Fowler & Lyon, wholesale milliners, as traveling salesman, and later held the same positions with S. Bronner & Co., and with H. Barnard's Sons, and Klock Brothers, of Utica, but during all this time his home was in Syracuse. His extensive experience as a commercial traveler induced him, in 1881, to embark in business for himself, which he did by first establishing a whole- sale millinery store, to which a retail department was added two years later, and both of which he has successfully continued Dec. 31, 1871, he married Ella E. daughter of John L. Walrath, of Syracuse. Mr. Walrath died here in June, 1871.

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Hall, Charles C., Syracuse, the senior member of the firm of Hall & McChesney. was born in Ellington, Conn., June 6, 1836, and is a son of Prof. John Hall, who was one of the earliest educators in New England, a tutor in Yale College, and the author of a number of reading and rhetoric text books in general use several years ago. L. W. Hall, a brother of Charles C., came to Syracuse in 1841 and engaged in business as a bookseller, in which he continued for many years. He also published a number of books on education, became a prominent lawyer, was elected district attorney, and founded the Syracuse Chilled Plow Co., of which he was president until his death, which occurred in 1881. He was a brilliant orator and a well known stump speaker, and an active member of several organizations. He was one of the first booksellers in Syracuse, and associated with him for a short time were his brothers William Maxwell, Frederic, and Francis, the latter now vice-president of the Chilled Plow Works. Eight sons of Prof. John Hall were booksellers. Charles C. Hall went to Elmira, N. Y., in 1852, but in 1856 returned to Connecticut and engaged in teach-

ing school in his native town. He again removed to Elmira in 1858 and engaged in the book business with his brothers Frederic and Robert. In 1876 he went to Cali- fornia, where he remained about three years, and in 1878 he settled permanently in Syracuse, where he engaged in manufacturing and publishing the Graves Printed Index. In Jan., 1881, he formed a partnership with Albert E. McChesney, under the firm name of Hall & McChesney, and prosecuted the business on a larger scale. This is the leading firm of its kind in America, and they sell more indexes than all other houses combined. The business has been established solely through the merits of the work. More than 10,000 different styles have been made, with a specialty of insurance and bank indexes and records for county officials, and the idea has always obtained that quality should come before price. Mr. Hall is a member of Plymouth church, and is active in all public matters. He was married in 1872 to Mary Corbitt, of San Francisco, Cal., and they have five children: Theresa C., Frederic F., Alfred R., J. Edward, and Mary.

McChesney, Albert E., Syracuse, was born in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer Co., N.Y., April 17, 1848, and moved to Syracuse with his parents, Francis and Mary A. (Betts) McChesney, in 1858, where his father died in 1876, aged 68, and where his mother now resides at the age of 88. He was graduated from the Syracuse High School in 1864, and after completing a course in Ames Business College became a bookkeeper for Murphy & McCarthy, hardware dealers, with whom he remained six years. He was then with the Williams Mower and Reaper Co. for three years and with J. & F. B. Garrett until 1881, when the firm of Hall & McChesney was organized (sce sketch of Charles C. Hall). He is a member and trustee of Park Presbyterian church and one of the board of managers of the Y. M. C. A., and of the Business Men's Associa- tion. He is active in business circles, is recognized as a thorough business man, and no little credit is due to his shrewd management in making the firm the foremost blank book manufacturers in the United States. April 24, 1873, he married Adeline M., daughter of Charles C. Downing, of Syracuse, and their children are Edith D., a student of Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and Howard H.

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Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II, Part 56

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