USA > New York > Saratoga County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Saratoga County, New York > Part 57
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Mr. Newell married Phoebe Ter Bush, who died in 1894, and he has two sons: John Augustus of Portland, Oregon, and George R. of Min- neapolis, Minn., and had two daughters: Lillian Stone Newell, who resides with her father, and Alice R. (who married Mr. Henry Tyler Johnson). She died April 12, 1882, leaving one son, George Newell Johnson.
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HIRAM NEWELL.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
JAMES B. MCKEAN.
HON. JAMES BEDELL MCKEAN, an able lawyer and the man who raised the One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment and went out as its colonel, was born at Hoosick, Rensselaer county, N. Y., August 5, 1821, a son of Rev. Andrew and Catharine (Bedell) Mckean. When he was an infant the family removed to this county, settling on the battlefield of Saratoga. After residing for some time in the town of Saratoga they removed to a farm in Halfmoon, near and southeast of Round Lake.
James B. McKean was educated in the common schools, and by in- dividual reading. He taught several terms in the district schools of the vicinity, and was also, for a time, one of the professors in Jonesville Academy, and when but twenty-one years old was elected town super- intendent of common schools for Halfmoon. While still a young man he was elected colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment of New York State Militia and commanded that regiment for some years. He read law in the office of Bullard & Cramer at Waterford, and in 1847 was admitted. He began practice at Ballston, but in 1851 removed to Saratoga Springs.
His service in the Civil war is elsewhere noticed in this work. In the fall of 1854 he was nominated for county judge by a Republican convention held at Ballston Spa, believed to have been the first Repub- lican convention held in this State. He was elected and served four years. In 1858 the Republicans of the Fifteenth district elected him to Congress, and re-elected him in 1860.
In the spring of 1865 President Lincoln sent him to Spanish America to exchange the ratification of a treaty with the government of Hon- duras. Afterwards he was tendered the appointment as consul to San Domingo, which, however, he declined. In 1870 President Grant ap- pointed him chief justice of the Superior Court of Utah Territory, a position which he held for five years. For a number of years subse- quent he engaged in private practice in Salt Lake City.
HENRY WALTON.
HENRY WALTON was born in the city of New York, October 8, 1768, and when an infant was sent to England to be educated. In his twen-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
tieth year he returned to New York and began the study of law with Aaron Burr. In 1790 he went to Ballston and erected a house on the " Delevan Farm." During his residence in Ballston he officiated as surrogate from 1794 to 1808. Subsequently he resided in Albany where he erected "Pine Grove," which afterwards became the residence of Reuben Hyde Walworth.
In 1816 he came to the village of Saratoga Springs and took posses- sion of real estate descended to him from his father and uncle Gerard. In a few years he became one of the largest landholders in the place, his possessions including all the present village except that portion ly- ing south of Congress street and the mineral fountains. He built a beautiful residence, which he named " Woodlawn," and excavated and tubed many of the springs. During the early years of his residence in Saratoga Springs he was associated in legal partnership with Mr. Leavett. He is described as having been a man of fine physique and of courtly and dignified mien, but easily approached and of great liberality and kindness. He died in New York city September 15, 1844, aged seventy- six years.
CHARLES MASON DAVISON.
CHARLES MASON DAVISON is a native of Saratoga Springs, and was educated at Union University, graduating from there in 1874, with the degree of LL.B. While attending the university he also read law with Hon. J. R. Putnam, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1874. Immediately after his admission he began the practice of his profession in Saratoga Springs, and in 1877 was elected justice of the peace, re- taining that office until 1881. In 1884 he was appointed a commissioner of the United States Circuit Court for the northern district of New York, a position he has held with distinction from that time up to the present; in 1887 he was elected a member of the board of education and was president of the board during the year 1891, and re-elected president in 1898, still serving in that capacity. In 1896 Mr. Davi- son was appointed a member of the committee of international arbi- tration of the New York State Bar Association, and as secretary of said committee, he assisted in formulating the treaty made by Presi- dent Cleveland to secure international arbitration. He was the suc- cessful attorney in the famous case of Pompey vs. the village of Sara-
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CHARLES M. DAVISON.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
toga Springs, which settled the law of the liability of municipal cor- porations to the traveling public.
On June 21, 1883, Mr. Davison married Jeannie, daughter of Col. A. L. McDougall of Salem, Washington county, N. Y. Mr. Davison's parents were John M. and Sarah (Walworth) Davison. John M. was a native of Vermont and came to Saratoga Springs in his boyhood. He was appointed register in chancery and resided in Albany until 1848, when he returned to Saratoga Springs; he was also president of the Saratoga and Whitehall Railroad, now the Delaware and Hudson Rail- road. His wife was a daughter of Chancellor Walworth, one of the best known and ablest jurists the State has ever produced. The Da- visons are of English descent and trace their line back to the days of Egbert, the first king of England. Mr. Davison is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, and of the Sons of the American Revolution.
OLIVER L. BARBOUR.
THROUGH the work of bright and earnest men the Saratoga county bar gained a State and national reputation, and none is more entitled to rank with the foremost of its intellectual giants than the subject of this brief notice.
Oliver L. Barbour was born in Washington county, N. Y., in 1811, and removed to Saratoga Springs when a youth. He was a relative of Reuben Hyde Walworth, and as the "Chancellor's " confidential clerk gained a wide and thorough knowledge of law. He rose to em- inence, principally through the authorship of legal treatises, all of which hold high rank, having been commended by Chief Justice Story, the American jurist, and other authorities of repute.
He wrote the following treatises: "Equity Digest, Embracing Eng- lish, Irish and American Reports" in four volumes, "Collyer on Part- nerships," "Chitty on Bills," "A Treatise on Criminal Law," "A Treatise on the Law of Set-off," "A Treatise on the Court of Chan- cery " in two volumes, "Reports of Cases decided in the Court of Chancery " in three volumes, "Reports of Cases decided in the Su- preme Court of the State of New York" in eighteen volumes, and re- visions of his "Chancery Practice " and " Equity Practice." Hamilton College conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
WILLIAM HENRY McKITTRICK.
CAPT. WILLIAM HENRY MCKITTRICK, a gallant soldier and good citi- zen of Saratoga county, in whose honor Ballston Spa Post No. 46, G. A. R., is named, was born in Granville, Washington county, N. Y., October 22, 1829, a son of Bernard and Ann (Ewing) McKittrick. Bernard McKittrick was a native of England and came to America in the early twenties. For a short time he was located in Quebec, Canada, thence removing to Granville, Washington county, where his son Will- iam Henry was born, and subsequently to Ballston, Saratoga county, where he became a prominent citizen, living to the advanced age of eighty years. He was a hatter by trade, but for many years was en- gaged in the retail confectionery trade. He served the town as col . lector in 1851, 1854, 1857, 1859 to 1863, 1865, and from 1868 to 1877.
During his early boyhood the subject of this notice worked about his father's store and attended the common schools. He seemed, however, to have inherited a military spirit, for at the extremely early age of seventeen years he enlisted in the United States army to serve through the Mexican war. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was among the first to volunteer, and went out as captain of Company C, 115th Regi- ment N. Y. Vols. He was a man of intense devotion to duty and a stern disciplinarian, but withal so humane and considerate of those under his command that he won the love and respect of all. Captain McKittrick gave his life for his country. He was killed at the battle of Fort Gilmer, on the north side of the James river near Richmond, while leading his company in a gallant charge against masked batteries of the enemy.
Captain McKittrick was a Free and Accepted Mason and a member of the Episcopal church of Ballston Spa. For a number of years he held a position of trust in the county clerk's office. He married Caro- line Holmes, a daughter of Hugh Holmes, and two children were born to them : William H. and Mary J. William H. is extensively engaged in cattle raising at Bakersfield, California. He married Mary L., daughter of Major-General William R. Shafter. William Holmes Mc- Kittrick's name will go down in history, for as a captain on the staff of General Shafter during the late war with Spain, he raised the first American flag at Santiago, July 17, 1898.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
WILLIAM J. REDMOND.
WILLIAM J. REDMOND, who died at Ballston Spa, March 9, 1893, was one of the self-made men of Saratoga county. He was born at Chat- ham, N. Y., and came to Ballston in 1874, with no capital save a fund of inexhaustible energy, perseverance, and indomitable will power. He soon placed himself among the foremost business men of the place, and his death in the prime of a useful life was a blow to the entire business community. Mr. Redmond was engaged in many enterprises, all of which contributed in a measure to the prosperity of the village. With Thomas Kelsey he erected the Opera House block, which adds much to the architecture of the village.
He married, in 1881, Mary J. McKittrick, daughter of Capt. William Henry and Caroline (Holmes) McKittrick. Of their union are four children: Caroline, John McKittrick, Bernard Holmes and Mary Shafter.
BERNARD J. MCDONOUGH.
REV. BERNARD J. MCDONOUGH, the able and popular pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church at Ballston Spa, and an earnest and learned Christian gentleman, is a son of James and Catherine (Lynch) Mc- Donough, and was born in the city of Albany, N. Y., July 6, 1840. His father was a native of the city of Dublin, Ireland, who came to the United States when only twelve years of age and located at Utica, N. Y. In 1826 he removed to Albany, the State capital, and resided in that city until his death, November 12, 1883, when in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was a master painter by occupation and a large contractor in his line. As such he painted the Catholic cathedral at Albany when it was built, and executed many other contracts for the painting and decorating of large buildings. Politically he was a Dem- ocrat and in religion a member of the Catholic church. In 1832 he married Catherine Lynch, a daughter of Thomas Lynch, of Albany, N. Y., by whom he had a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters. Mrs. McDonough died at her home in Albany, August 7, 1892, aged seventy-five years. Her father, Thomas Lynch, was a na- tive of Donegal, Ireland, and the family came to the United States by the way of Quebec, Canada. They first located at Fairhaven, Vt., be-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
ing among the first Irish settlers of that section, and after a few years removed to Albany, N. Y.
Rev. Bernard J. McDonough was educated at the Albany Academy, St. Charles College, Baltimore, and Niagara University, at Niagara Falls, N. Y. He was ordained at St. Michael's Seminary, Pittsburg, Pa., Fri- day, July 29, 1870, by Bishop Tobias Mullen, of Erie, that State, his bishop, R. Rev. John J. Conroy, of Albany, being called to Rome on official business. His first active work was done as assistant to Father Howard, at Ilion, N. Y., where he remained for two years. Early in 1873 he went to Camillus, Onondaga county, N. Y., as pastor of St. Joseph's church, where he also had charge of the Jordan mission, and enlarged the present handsome church. He remained at Camillus for three years and six months, engaged in earnest and active work in behalf of his people, with whom he became very popular and in 1879 removed to Marcellus, same county, where he became the pastor of St. Francis church, and also had charge of the Otisco mission. In that charge he labored successfully until October 6, 1878, when he came to Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, as pastor of St. Mary's church, where he has since remained. After coming here, in addition to his other pastorate, he had charge of the Charlton mission until it was attached to the mis- sion of Galway in 1885, and also of the South Ballston mission, which is still under his care. When Father McDonough took charge of St. Mary's church he found the parish in debt for the old church property, and immediately began systematic efforts to pay off the debt and arrange for the erection of a large and better church edifice. During the second year of his pastorate he purchased the present site of St. Mary's church at a cost of ten thousand and five hundred dollars, and in the spring of 1893 began the erection of a handsome church building of modern design, which has cost fifty thousand dollars. The spiritual necessities of his people have been carefully looked after and the con- gregation of St. Mary's church has more than doubled since he took charge. He is a courteous and scholarly gentleman, a fine theologian and an active and energetic pastor, who has labored faithfully and with good success for the mental and moral advancement of his congrega- tion. His popularity is not confined to the limits of his own church, but extends among all classes of people in Ballston Spa and the sur- rounding territory, where he has labored and is well known.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
JOHN HENRY DE RIDDER.
JOHN HENRY DE RIDDER, a prominent citizen and financier of Sara- toga Springs, was born in Easton, Washington county, N. Y., a son of Henry and Catherine Ann (Schermerhorn) De Ridder. On both sides he descends from Holland Dutch stock, his mother having been a mem- ber of the well known family of Schermerhorns of Rensselaer county, N. Y., while his father was an old resident of Washington county. Mr. De Ridder was educated in the common schools and at Williston Sem- inary, East Hampton, Mass. All of his business life has been passed in the employ and direction of financial institutions. He entered the Bank of Old Saratoga in 1864 when it was a State bank. In July, 1865, the institution was reorganized under the title of the National Bank of Schuylerville and Mr. De Ridder held the position of teller until 1877 when he became cashier. In 1881, in connection with others, Mr. De Ridder organized the Citizens National Bank of Saratoga Springs, be- coming a director and also cashier, which position he resigned in Jan- uary, 1882. In September, 1891, he again became a director of this bank and in January, 1892, was elected cashier, a trust in which he still continues. While a resident of Schuylerville Mr. De Ridder held many positions of public trust in the town and village government. He served as supervisor several terms (chairman of the the board one year), as trustee of the village and president of the board of education. For over twenty-five years he was an official member of the Schuylerville Dutch Reformed church, and served the society for twenty-two con- secutive years as superintendent of the Sunday school. As previously stated Mr. De Ridder is of Holland Dutch extraction, being a lineal descendant of Evert De Ridder, a Hollander who settled in Albany prior to 1688. He is a member of the Holland Society of New York.
He married, February 26, 1868, Miss Marie T. Hannum, daughter of Nathan O. and Jane G. (Tinker) Hannum, and a member of an old New England family of Puritan origin. Their children are three: Isa- bella Graham, wife of George H. Ames of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Mary Han- num, and John Howard of Saratoga Springs. Politically Mr. De Ridder is a Democrat. He is secretary and treasurer of the Schuylerville Bridge Company and holds a similar position in the S. E. G. Rawson Company of Saratoga Springs. His career is a remarkably good illustration of the success that can be attained by industry, enterprise and the strict- est integrity.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
WILLIAM J. DELANEY.
WILLIAM J. DELANEY, son of James and Margaret (Fitzpatrick) De- laney, was born in the town of Greenfield, this county, August 31, 1864. His father was a native of Queens county, Ireland, and em- igrated to America in 1851. He settled first in Saratoga Springs where he worked at his trade (carpenter) for a number of years. Dur- ing the latter years of his life he resided in Greenfield where he was engaged in farming. He died December 11, 1898, in the seventy- seventh year of his age, honored and respected by all who had known him.
William J. Delaney was educated in the Saratoga Springs High School and at Cornell University from which he was graduated LL. B. with the class of 1890. During the latter portion of his course in the High School and throughout his entire college course Mr. Delaney taught in the common schools of Saratoga county. He was admitted to the Saratoga bar in December, 1890, and began practice in Saratoga Springs, forming a law partnership with Charles M. Davison under the firm name of Davison & Delaney. In October, 1897, the firm be- came Davison, Delaney & Phillips, by the admission of Mr. Phillips, and so continued until November 1, 1898, when Mr. Delaney withdrew. He has since practiced alone at No. 11 Ainsworth Place.
Mr. Delaney is a staunch Democrat in politics and was a candidate for member of assembly in 1895, but was unable to overcome the great Republican majority of the district. In March, 1898, he was elected police justice of the village of Saratoga Springs, in which capacity he is still serving. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias; first grand knight of Saratoga Council, Knights of Columbus; and a member of the I.O. R.M., of which he is past sachem and district deputy of his district. He is also a member of the Jeffersonian Club of Sara- toga Springs. Mr. Delaney is one of the incorporators of the Red Men's Home Association of the State of New York, whose purpose is the erection of a home at Saratoga Springs for members of the I. O. R. M.
JOHN CRAMER.
HON. JOHN CRAMER, " The Democratic Warwick of Saratoga County," was for years a power in Democratic politics of the State and Nation.
WILLIAM J. DELANEY.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
He was a son of Conrad Cramer and was born five miles south of Schuy- lerville, May 14, 1779. He chose law as his profession, and about 1800, after his admission to the bar, opened an office at Waterford, where he resided all his life. At an early age he entered political life. He served in the Assembly in 1806, 1811, and 1841; in the State Senate from 1823 to 1825, and as a Jackson Democrat, in the House of Rep- resentatives of the United States from 1833 to 1837. In 1804 he was a presidential elector and voted for Clinton and Jefferson. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1821.
For many years he was the trusted friend of Polk, who trusted im- plicitly in his judgment and whom he aided in his canvass for the Speakership of the House. He also helped to make the political for- tunes of Marcy and Van Buren, and brought forward Samuel Young as a candidate for governor. He was a natural leader, and had "bossism" been brought to the state of perfection which now exists, would have been the accepted as well as the nominal leader of his party in this State for nearly fifty years. Mr. Cramer was an ardent War Democrat. "He headed a subscription in the town of Waterford with the sum of $1,000 to aid in raising volunteers for the war. When the company from that town was organized under Captain Yates, and marched for the camp at North Troy, John Cramer, on foot, marched at the head of the column, although then upwards of eighty-two years old." Mr. Cramer amassed a large fortune, which he left to his surviving children, four sons and two daughters. He was a man of large generosity and gave freely of his wealth to the poor.
JOHN W. HOWE.
JOHN W. HOWE, general manager of the Daily and Weekly Saratogian, was born September 8, 1849, at Fortsville, in the township of Moreau, Saratoga county, N. Y., a son of Thomas C. and Lurena (Betts) Howe. The family is of English origin and its representatives were early set- tlers in America. Peter Howe, paternal grandfather of John W. Howe, was born in the town of Ballston but lived for many years in the town of Moreau where he died at an advanced age.
Their son, Thomas C. Howe, was born in Ballston in 1817 and re- sided all his life in Saratoga county. When a young man he learned the carpenter's trade and was also for a period of about seven years en-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
gaged in manufacturing builders' supplies at South Glens Falls. The greater portion of his active life, however, was devoted to agriculture. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Society when a mere boy and all through life held strictly to the teachings of his sect. In politics he was a Whig and Republican and for over twenty years was a justice of the peace in the town of Moreau. He died June 2, 1876, in the fifty- ninth year of his age, honored and respected.
John W. Howe was educated in the common schools of the town of Moreau and village of South Glens Falls. When in his eighteenth year he engaged in the milling business at Fortsville, being a member of the firm of Howe & Griswold. As an individual enterprise he also con- ducted a general store there, giving early evidence of a business ability that has since been appreciated in wider fields. During his residence at Fortsville he served as postmaster three terms. In 1880 he disposed of his milling interest, and two years later the stock in trade and good will of his general mercantile business, removing to Saratoga Springs to take a position as manager and cashier in the office of the Saratoga Journal, a daily and weekly newspaper published by Col. David F. Ritchie, with whom he remained about five years. At the end of this period he became business manager and secretary of the Saratoga Union, a daily and weekly, for the establishment of which, he, in asso- ciation with others, had formed a joint stock company. After a period of two years the paper was sold to Spencer, Trask & Co. Mr. Howe then engaged in the retail clothing business at No. 466 Broadway, forming a copartnership with Ervin Palmer under the firm name of Howe & Palmer. Owing to the business depression of 1892-93 the en- terprise was unsuccessful, and in May, 1894, Mr. Howe organized the Saratoga Press Association to publish a daily and weekly newspaper- The Saratoga Press-of which he became general manager. The en- terprise proved a signal success and in the following year was merged into the Daily and Weekly Saratogian. Mr. Howe became general manager of the Saratogian which position he still fills. It is no idle compliment to say that under Mr. Howe's management this paper, the leading journal of the county, has not only largely increased its circulation, but its influence as well.
In politics Mr. Howe has always been a staunch Republican and for years has been one of the recognized leader in the county. He served as president of the Veterans' and Citizens' League of Saratoga Springs for five years, and as a member of the Republican County
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Committec for a period of six years. In 1894 he was nominated for president of the village, but after one of the most exciting and closely contested elections ever known in this section was defeated by a close majority. As a prominent member of the dominant political party and as manager of the leading newspaper in the county Mr. Howe has wielded a substantial influence. He is a man who combines to a re- markable extent the qualities of energy, enterprise and ability.
Mr. Howe married, in June, 1877, Miss Lucy A. Ryan, daughter of George Ryan of Moreau, who died April 20, 1898. Their children are three daughters: Elizabeth M., Mabel I. and Ethel L.
RANSOM COOK.
RANSOM COOK, son of Joseph and Mary Ann (Tolman) Cook, was born in Wallingford, New Haven county, Conn., November 8, 1794. His parents removed to Saratoga County when he was a youth of seven years, and he learned the trade of furniture manufacturer in his father's shop. He early evinced a mechanical ability of high order and when but twelve years of age manufactured electrical machines for several physicians of the county, which were considered remarkable as the work of so young a boy. When nineteen years of age he went into business for himself as a furniture manufacturer, and in 1827-28 erect- ed an extensive shop on South Broadway. This shop was fitted with a quantity of improved machinery, the first of the kind known in the vil- lage. Mr. Cook devoted a considerable part of his time to the man- ufacture of scientific apparatus, which he not only used in his private researches, but sold to colleges and other public institutions, for he was a scientist of considerable repute. He obtained fifteen patents on vari- ous devices.
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