Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 143

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612


USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 143


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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Stappenbeck, Henry, was born in Seehausen, Prussia, Germany, December 22, 1850, and came to America in May, 1869. IIe settled in Utica and learned the busi- ness of glue manufacturing, and about 1871 established his present gluc and boiled bone manufactory. He was the first in this section to manufacture glue, and has built up a large and successful business. Within recent years he added the manu- facture of fertilizers from bone. His establishment is located in the town of Whites- boro, just outside the city limits. Mr. Stappenbeck has always taken a keen interest in local affairs and in politics is a Republican. He is a member of Lodge 242, Order of Harugari, and the Utica Maennechor, and for several years was president of Zion German Lutheran church of Utica. He married, first, Wilhelmenia Zimmerman, a native of Germany, who died about 1877, leaving two children, William and Henry. His second wife is Laura Gliffe, of Germany, and they have three children living: Emil, Joseph and Clara.


Sauer, G. Adam, born June 1, 1865, in Utica, is a son of George Sauer, a native of Bavaria, Germany, who came to America about 1862 and still lives in Utica. George Sauer has been since about 1870 engaged in the meat business in West Utica. He married Anna M. Weimer, who died July 21, 1893. They had three children : Joseph J., G. Adam, and Mary M. G. Adam Sauer was educated in the Utica pub- lic schools and Assumption Academy, and at an early age entered his father's meat market. In July, 1888, he established his present business, first on Kirkland street and in 1892 at his present location on the corner of Plant and Francis streets. Mr.


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Sauer is president of the Retail Butchers' Mutual Protective Association of Utica, and is an active Democrat. In November, 1895, he was elected alderman of the Eleventh ward. May 7, 1889, he married Anna A. Zimmerman, daughter of the late Edward Zimmerman, of Utica.


Risley, Edwin Hills, was born in the town of Madison, Madison county, N. Y., February 5, 1842, and is a son of Chauncey and Sophia (Brewer) Risley, and a descendant of Richard Risley, who emigrated from England to the Plymouth Colony in 1630, settled in Newton, and in 1635 went to Hartford, Conn., with the Hooker party. Mr. Risley's education was limited to the country schools of those times sup- plemented with an academic course of about two years. He taught school in the year 1860, and in March, 1861. began the study of law in the office of Edwin H. Lamb, of Waterville, Oneida county. In July, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the 117th New York State Volunteers and was mustered as first lieutenant of Co. D on August 13, 1862. He served with the regiment and on detached service for one year. In September, 1863, he entered the Albany Law School and was admitted to practice at Watertown, N. Y., at the October term, 1863. He began the practice of law in Sherburne, Chenango county, N. Y., in the early summer of 1864. While in the Albany Law School he was appointed captain of cavalry in the battalion being raised by Colonel Newberry, of Chicago, and was mustered out of the service on the consolidation of the battalion with other troops. He was appointed captain in the 103d N. Y. State Militia and served with that regiment till it was disbanded. In the fall of 1865 he removed from Sherburne to Hamilton N. Y., and continued the practice of law in that village until April, 1869, when he settled in Utica, where he has since resided. Mr. Risley has had an extensive practice in the trial courts and in the appellate courts of the State and is considered successful as a lawyer. During the past ten years his practice has been almost exclusively in Federal courts. involv- ing patent litigations. In 1884 he spent one year in a large machine shop to perfect his knowledge of mechanical appliances. In 1890 he organized and promoted the National Harrow Company, which controls the entire spring tooth harrow manu- facture of the United States, and is at the present time president of the company. In 1892 he promoted and organized the Standard Harrow Company with a view of consolidating into one manufacture all of the spring-tooth harrow business in the United States. He obtained options on all the business, but owing to the financial panic of 1893 only partially carried out the project. At the pres- ent time he is one of the managing directors of the Standard Harrow Company, having a large and successful manufactory in Utica. He promoted and organized the Savage Repeating Arms Company, who manufacture hammerless, smokeless- powder sporting rifles, being in this department the pioneer in the world. At present he is treasurer of the company. He organized and was director in the D. B. Smith Company, whose business was absorbed by the Standard Harrow Company. Mr. Risley is president of the New Forest Association of Utica, and for a number of years was a director in the Westmoreland Malleable Iron Company. He possesses first-class mechanical ability, good business judgment, and is interested in all the public enterprises for the benefit of the city. He is a Republican, but a relentless foe of corruption and bossism in politics. He joined the Baptist church in 1865 and has been an active and influential member of that denomination ever since.


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Maxfield, Rouse B., son of Rufus G. and Mehitable (Bennett) Maxfield, was born in the town of Ohio, Herkimer county, June 29, 1847, and received his education in the district schools and under the tutelege of his father, who was well versed in the sciences. Ost. 27, 1862, he enlisted in Co. E, 97th N. Y. Vols., joining the same com - pany in which his brother David E. had been fatally wounded at Antietam. He served until his discharge on June 15, 1865, participating in the first and second battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he wasseverely wounded in the right arm and taken prisoner. He lay in the enemy's lines during the second and third days' fight and until they retreated, and then remained with his regiment until the close of the war, being present at Hatcher's Run, Petersburg, Five Forks, and Appomattox. Returning home he resumed his studies for one year and then began teaching district school, which he continued winters until 1875. In 1875-77 he taught the Union school at Taberg, N. Y., where he served as justice of the peace. In 1882 he was clerk of the Board of Supervisors of Oneida county, and in 1883 be- came a traveling salesman. His old wound broke out at this time and on Dec. 1, 1883, his right arm was amputated, which incapacitated him for two years. In 1885 he was again clerk of the Board of Supervisors and on Jan. 1, 1886, he entered the county elerk's office un ler M. Jesse Brayton. Here he remained until Jan. 1, 1892, when he became county clerk, having been elected in the preceding November on the Republican ticket. Jan. 1, 1895, he engaged in his present business as pension attorney. He has been a notary public since about 1880, and is a member and past commander of Post Bacon, No. 53, G. A. R., and for several years its quarter-mas- ter. He is also a member and past grand of Skenandoa Lodge, No. 95, 1. O. O. F., a member and chief patriarch of Tri-Mount Encampment, and a member of Utica Lodge K. of H., Excelsior Council. K. P., Imperial Council R. A., and the Arcanum Club. He is an enthusiastic sportsman, a great lover of the rod and gun, and a pub- lie spirited citizen. Dec. 25, 1875, he married Ella M., daughter of David Moyer, of Taberg, N. Y., and they have had two children: Grace M. and Bessie M. (who died aged seven years. )


Mather, Charles W., son of Westley and Julia Ann (Keyser) Mather, and grandson of Joshua Mather, was born in the town of New Hartford, Oneida county, May 1, 1852. The family descends from Rev. Richard Mather, father of Dr. Increase Mather, oneoftheearly presidents of Harvard College. Rev. Richard camefrom Lewton, Win- wick parish, England, and settled in Boston, Mass., in 1635. Among his descendants were Cotton and Dr. Samuel Mather. Asaph Mather, of the fifth generation, was born in East Lynn, Conn., in 1753, and finally settled in 1792 at Schuyler, Herkimer county, where his son, Joshua. grew to manhood. The latter ia 1810 married Cornelia, daughter of Rev. Joseph Willis, and their children were Lucinda, Wesley, Asaph D. and Joshua, jr. Joshua Mather, jr., came to Utica in 1847 and engaged in the grocery business with Asaph D. In 1866 the firm of A. D. Mather & Co. founded the present bank of that name. A. 1). died in April, 1880, and Joshua associated with himself his nephew, Charles W. Mather, and in November, 1890, the business was incorpo- rated under the name of A. D. Mather & Co.'s Bank, with a capital of $200,000, and with Joshua Mather as president. He was also president of the Utica Belt Line Street Railroad Company. He died August 18, 1893. Wesley Mather was born January 19, 1819, came to New Hartford in 1847, and died there September 15, 1892.


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His wife died in 1855. Their children were Albert, and Lucinda (Mrs. Joseph D. Monroe), who reside on the homestead; Warren, of New Hartford; and Sarah J. (Mrs. J. F. Turner) and Charles W., of Utica. Charles W. Mather finished his edu- cation at the private school of John Williams. In 1871 he became a clerk in the banking house of A. D. Mather & Co., and rose to the post of teller. In 1880 he be- came a partner and in 1890 vice-president. On the death of his uncle in 1893 he was elected president. He has been a director and the treasurer of the U'tica Belt Line Street Railroad Company since its organization in 1886. He is a member of Faxton Lodge, No. 697, F. & A. M., Oneida Chapter R. A. M., Utica Commandery, No. 3, K. T., and Ziyara Temple Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and a charter member of the Masonic Club. August 7, 1873, he married Ida F., daughter of David J. Crane (a member of the editorial staff of the New York Tribune at the time of his death). Their children are Cornelia F., William, Maud, Ida A., Katherine A., and Richard.


Dempsey, Hon. James L, son of John and Catherine (Lyons) Dempsey, was born April 29, 1848, in Dublin, Ireland, and came to America with his parents the same year, settling first in New York city. In 1849 the family came to Utica and in 1853 moved thance to a farm in Westmoreland. In 1857 they settled in Kirkland, Oneida county, where his parents still live. John Dempsey is a farmer and mason by occu- pation. He had eight children, all of whom are living: James L., Terrence J., Thomas E., all of Clinton; John J., of the town of Kirkland; William, of Clinton ; Mary J. (Mrs. John R. Tierney), of Lairdsville, Oneida county; Anna (Mrs. John Nichols), of Utica; and Nellie (Mrs. Michael Dolan), of Albany, N. Y. James L. Dempsey was educated in the public schools of Kirkland, learned the trade of mason and builder, and for a time carried on a successful contracting business. In 1870 he became proprietor of a hotel in Clinton, his partner being Peter Blake, his brother- in-law, continuing seven years. In 1869 he commenced dealing in hops and farm produce, and has ever since continued in that business with unusual success. He has been an extensive operator in this connection, buying, handling, and shipping large quantities of hops, etc. In 1886 he was one of the organizers and first directors of the Clinton Burial Case Company, since removed to Utica. He was the prime mover and mainly instrumental in securing the location of the Clinton Canning Company in the village of Clinton, the leading manufacturing industry there. He was in business at different times with Henry McNamara, Peter Pegnim and R. J. Billing- ham. Mr. Dempsey has always taken a deep interest in the welfare and prosperity of the village of Clinton, contributing liberally of both time and means toward every worthy enterprise, and encouraging all movements promising general benefit. Public spirited, progressive, and energetic he is prominently identified with the town, and is active in furthering its moral and material interests. He is a staunch Democrat, and has been for several years an influential member of that party. In 1890 and 1891 he represented his district in the State Legislature, where, as the records show, he looked carefully after the interests of his constituents, and especially after the wel- fare of the farming and laboring classes. As member of assembly he was instru- mental in starting the movements which resulted in the selling of the old county farm and poor house at Rome for $209,000, which gave to the county the present county house and poor farm and also the Rome State Custodial Asylum, two insti- tutions of permanent local as well as general value. He has been a trustee and one


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of the water commissioners of the village of Clinton since the spring of 1893. He was also a member of the first sewer commission, and as such was instrumental in introducing the present sewerage system, resigning to become village trustee. In all matters of local improvement he has taken a conspicuous part, and has labored assiduously for the benefit of the place. May 19, 1870, he married Catharine, daughter of Michael Blake, of the town of Kirkland, and they have had eight chil- dren: John A., Francis M., Joseph W., Elizabeth Maria, James L., jr., Kate, Robert (deceased), and Rose.


Daily, Dennis L., was born in the town of Aunsville, Oneida county, January 23, 1847, and is a son of Cornelius Daily, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1804, and died January 26, 1894. Cornelius Daily came to America about 1832, landing in Quebec, Canada A few months later he became foreman on the construction of the railroad from Boston to Worcester, the first equipped steam railroad in the United States, which position he held for about six years. He then came to Rome, N. Y., by stage, and settled on an unbroken farm in the north part of Annsville, where he lived and died. He cleared the farm, which comprised 100 acres, and lived to sec the country transformed from a wilderness to a fertile section. He was one of the first settlers of that part of the town and was active in all local affairs, a Democrat in politics, and especially interested in education, serving as school trustee for many years. He was married in Ireland in 1831 to Margaret Mahoney, who died May 26. 1893, in her eighty-third year. Their children were Mary, deceased, who married Thomas Murphy, who died in the army during the civil war; Katharine Teresa, of Lynn, Mass. ; Margaret Maria, deceased; B. Amelia, of Utica, who married Lieut Wallace Mott, who died in the army; Ellen (Mrs. P. T. O'Toole), deceased; Jane of Utica; Dennis L .. of l'tica; Rose A. (widow of Martin Hinton), of Utica; and George P., who resides on the homestead in Munnsville. Dennis L. Daily was reared on the farm and educated in the common schools of Annsville. He remained on the homestead until 1877, when he entered the employ of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. In the fall of 1880 he came to Utica and in 1885 established his present grocery business in Sunset avenue. In Annsville he took an active part in local pol- itics and served two terms as town collector and one term as assessor. In Utica he has also taken an active interest in local political affairs. June 1, 1882, he married Katharine M. Sullivan of Utica, and they have six children: Cornelius Sullivan, Margaret Maria, Ellen Jane, Katharine Teresa, Mary Loretta, and George Vincent.


Prescott, D. D., was born in the town of New Hartford in 1856, son of Damel Morgan Prescott. He is the owner of the farm with which the name of Prescott has been identified over one hundred years, and which descended from father to son for many generations. His great-grandfather came here from Connecticut when his grandfather, Oliver Prescott, was but four years of age. The death of his father, Daniel Morgan Prescott, in 1805, removed from the community a beloved and ven- erable citizen ; he held the offices of assessor and collector, and was a member of the Assembly one term, and also held many important positions about the State Capitol-postmaster, sergeant-at-arms, and librarian. He married Lydia M. Bacon, of Litchfield, Herkimer county, by whom he had four sons and two daughters; and she still survives him at the age of sixty-six. D. D. Prescott, following in the foot- steps of his father, is a staunch Republican, but not an office holder. He is identi-


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fied with the Presbyterian church. In 1880 he married Stella Schooley, of Litch- field, by whom he has four children: Fannie S., Walter D., Arthur A., and Eva E.


Durfee, W. V., was born in Madison county, August 6, 1833, son of William and Ursula (Seabura) Durfee, natives of Rhode Island. W. V. Durfee has spent nearly all of his life in Sangerfield, where he has been engaged in farming. January 1, 1856, he married Maria Bush, who died June 30, 1895. Mr. Durfee is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Grange.


Weaver, Van Rensselaer, son of George F. and grandson of Henry Van R. Weav- er, was born in Deerfield, Oneida county, Jan. 21, 1855, and was reared on his father's farm. The founder of the family in Deerfield was George J. Weaver, who, in 1773, came up the Mohawk with Capt. Mark Damoth and Christan Reall and set- tled at the Corners. In 1776 the Indians drove them back and burned their improve- ments. Afterward Mr. Weaver was taken prisoner near Herkimer, carried to Que- bec and thence to England, and after more than two years exchanged. In 1784 the three men again settled at Deerfield Corners, where Mr. Weaver's grandson, George M. Weaver, jr., was the first white male child born in the town, his birth occurring Jan. 15, 1787, and his death in 1877. Van Rensselaer Weaver was educated in the Deerfield public and Utica advanced schools, and remained on the farm until 1894, maintaining also a milk route in Utica. He is a staunch Republican, has been a delegate to State and other political conventions, and for five successive years from 1880 served as supervisor of the town of Deerfield. He also held this office in 1892 and 1893. In 1894 he waselected sheriff of Onieda county for a term of three years by a majority of about 4,300, which was the second largest on the ticket. For several years he has been a trustee of the Deerfield Baptist church. Feb. 20, 1882, he married Laura A., daughter of Owen D. Owens, of Clinton, N. Y., and their children are Van Rensselaer, jr., Ralph O., Harrison, and Clarence W.


Wheeler, Russel, was born in Rome, Oneida county, N. Y., August 7. 1820, upon the farm that was purchased in 1810 by his grandfather, Lazarus Wheeler, who came as a pioneer from Glastonbury. Conn., with his eleven children, making the entire journey, and conveying his household goods as well as his family by means of ox teams. Of the eleven children of Lazarus Wheeler, the fourth, George, the father of Russel, was born in Glastonbury, February 21, 1791, and was thus nine- teen years of age when he came to this county. The original farm was afterwards divided into two portions, which were owned respectively by George and a brother Asa; and upon their death was purchased by Russel, the subject of this sketch, who held it the balance of his life, and who bequeathed it to his son, Frank E., who is the present owner. This farm for years has been widely known for the blooded stock, and especially the fine Jersey cattle that have been raised upon it. Lazarus Wheeler died upon the homestead July 2, 1851, at the age of ninety two, and George Wheeler died September 9, 1882, at the age of ninety-one. Russel Wheeler, the third son of George Wheeler, came to Utica in 1838, and entered the hardware store of John Mairs, where he remained as clerk for four years. In 1842 he became book- keeper for Joel C. Bailey, who had just purchased the Chester Dexter Foundry on Columbia street. In 1844 he, together with a son of Mr. Bailey, S. Alonzo, were taken into partnership, under the firm name of Bailey, Wheeler & Co. In 1855 Rus-


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sel Wheeler purchased the interest of Joel C. Bailey, and the firm became Wheeler & Bailey. In 1865 he bought the interest of S. Alonzo Bailey, and continued the business in his own name and without partner for twelve years. In 1877 he took his son, Frank E., into the business, and the firm name became what it is to-day, Rus- sel Wheeler & Son. They manufacture warm air furnaces, hot water and steam heaters, ranges and stoves, and employ from 150 to 200 men. Mr. Wheeler occupied many positions of trust and responsibility. He was trustee of Colgate University, and also of the Young Ladies' Seminary of Utica. He was for some years vice- president of the Utica City National Bank, was director of the Oneida National Bank and trustee of the Savings Bank of Utica. He was for many years a director and member of the Executive Committee of the Utica and Black River Railroad; was a director of the Utica Steam Cotton Mills, the Mohawk Cotton Company, the Willowvale Bleaching Company, and the Globe Woolen Company. He was an ex- tensive traveler, both in his own land and abroad. A man of unswerving integrity and exceptional judgment, he was in every way a most influential and respected citizen. August 5, 1845, he married Amanda, the eldest daughter of his partner, Joel C. Bailey, a lady who became interested in many of the charities of Utica, and who combined to a more than usual degree those attributes which make a happy, attract- ive home, and which endear one to all who are fortunate enough to be brought under their influence. She died August 29, 1884, at Saratoga Springs. They had but one child, a son, Frank E. Wheeler, who was graduated from Yale College in 1876, and who has succeeded his father in the business, as well as in many of his positions of trust. November 10, 1887, Mr. Wheeler married, second, Mrs. Katharine Kneeland Anderson, of New York, who survives him. He died in Utica, at his home on Gene- see street, January 5, 1895. Frank E. Wheeler, the son, married, April 23, 1878, Louise Vanette, daughter of Hon. Cheney Ames of Oswego.


Sheehan, John H., was born in Ireland, March 16, 1838. Having lost his parents by death he came to America when about six years of age with an elder sister and first settled in Troy, N. Y., where he attended the public schools. In 1850 he came to Utica and finished his education in the Advanced school of this city. At the age of fourteen he became an errand boy in the drug store of Uriah H. Kellogg. About four years later Mr. Kellogg was succeeded by Grove & Hamilton, with whom Mr. Sheehan remained for a short time. In 1857 he entered the employ of Dickinson, Comstock & Co., wholesale druggists and grocers, and in 1865 he was admitted as a partner. He continued in this capacity until 1868, when he formed a copartnership with his father-in-law, Peter Vidvard, who was then in the wholesale wine and spirit business at Nos. 29 and 31 John street. This firm adopted the name of Vidvard & Shee- han and continued for ten years, or until 1878. In January, 1879, Mr. Sheehan started in the wholesale and retail drug business on his own account on the site of the Oneida National Bank building, where he was burned out June 10, 1886. In 1884 he took Charles S. England (then in his employ) and Philip Sweeney as partners under the firm name of John H. Sheehan & Co., which name still continues, although Mr. Sheehan has been for several years the sole proprietor. In the fall of 1886 they es- tablished the present store in Genesee street, purchasing the site from one of the heirs of the late John Carton. Mr. Sheehan is a Democrat in politics, a successful business man, and was charity commissioner for one year, being appointed to fill the vacancy


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caused by the death of Joseph Fass. He is a member of Fort Schuyler Club and takes an active interest in the welfare of the city. September 13, 1865, he married Josephine Francis Schaler, step-daughter of Peter Vidvard, and they have six children: Dr. John P., a physician of Utica; Edward J., of the Sheehan Fruit Syrup Company, of Utica; Robert S., who died April 15, 1894, aged twenty-one; Frederick Paul, a student at Fordham College in New York city; and Josephine Catherine and Agnes Emily, students in Mrs. Piatt's Ladies' Seminary of Utica.


Dygert, George W., is a grandson of Peter Dygert, who came to Utica from Schenectady at an early day and drove stages from several years. James H., son of Peter, was born there in 1839, and has been a life-long restaurateur. His son, George W., was born in Utica, April 17, 1865, followed bookkeeping about ten years, and in the fall of 1891 succeeded his father as the proprietor of a restaurant and oyster house. He is a member of I. O. of R. M., and a charter member of the old Utica Mandolin Club, the first organization of the kind in the city. He has always taken an active part in important musical entertainments.




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