Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 70

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 70

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Mr. Middleton was married in 1849 to Miss Lucy Ann, daughter of Ira Cummings, of Greenfield, N. H. She died August 26, 1882, leaving four children: Walter D., superintendent of the Globe Woolen Company; Ella R., wife of Dr. James G. Hunt, one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Utica; Mary, wife of Fred- erick Gebhard, of Jersey City, N. J .; and Florence, wife of Dr. Charles W. Pil- grim, superintendent of the State Hospital at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

PUBLIUS V. ROGERS.1

PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS ROGERS was born at Antwerp, Jefferson county, N. Y., Decem- ber 30, 1824. He was the eldest child of Ralph Rogers, M. D., a native of Acworth, N. H., who removed in early life to Antwerp, N. Y., and soon afterward to Water- town, Jefferson county, N. Y. Dr. Rogers received his medical education in the Medical College at Fairfield, N. Y., and practiced medicine at Antwerp until 1833, when he removed to Watertown, N. Y., where he was a leading member of his pro- fession up to the time of his decease, February 21, 1872, in the eightieth year of his age. Mr. Rogers's mother, Sarah Corse, was a native of Duxbury, Vt. She died at Watertown, N. Y., September 19, 1875, in the seventy-third year of her age.

Publius V. Rogers was a lineal descendant of Thomas Rogers, who was one of the 105 immigrants in the Mayflower. Through a grandmother he was a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens. Among his ancestors in the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay were many influential pastors and preachers. One of his ancestors was Capt. James Rogers, a vigorous Indian fighter. Captain Rogers removed to Nut- field, N. H., as Londonderry was then called. For two or three generations his family resided there until their removal to Acworth, N. H. One of his maternal ancestors was Captain Corse of the British Army. Many of the Corse family were officers and soldiers in the colonial wars. An ancestor of Mr. Rogers, Elizabeth Catlin, was the wife of James Corse, a scout. Mrs. Corse lived at Deerfield, Mass., and was captured with her daughter by the Indians. She died in captivity on her way to Canada, leaving one daughter, who married and died in Canada, and two sons. Four ancestors of Mr. Rogers served their country in the Revolutionary war. Three of them were officers of the army.

Publius V. Rogers received his elementary education in the schools of Antwerp and Watertown. One of the teachers of his boyhood at Watertown was the late Judge Charles Mason. He was afterward a student in the Watertown Academy, while the late Judge Mullen was its principal. He was prepared for college in the " Black River Literary and Religious Institute" of Watertown, under the instruction of the late Rev. Dr. James R. Boyd. He entered the sophomore class of Hamilton College in 1843 and was graduated in 1846. Among his classmates in college were the Rev. Isaac H. Brayton, afterward a lecturer in Hamilton College and a professor in the College of California; Henry P. Bristol, tutor of Hamilton College and father of Prof. George P. Bristol of Cornell University; John N. Hungerford, a member of Congress, trustee and benefactor of Hamilton College, and a prominent banker at Corning, N. Y .; Gustavus A. Kellogg, son of the late Hon. Spencer Kellogg, of Utica; Dr. Horace Lathrop, tutor in Hamilton College and long an eminent physi- cian in Cooperstown, N. Y .; Perry H. Smith, of Chicago, in memory of whose be- neficence the library building of Hamilton College is named; Alexander Spaulding, justice of the Supreme Court in New York city. Of Mr. Rogers's work in college one of his instructors writes with discrimination and emphasis: "While Mr. Rogers was one of the youngest of his class, his manliness and maturity of character were beyond his years. He was prompt and faithful at the post of duty. His mind and

1 Contributed by Rev. Anson J. Upson, D. D., chancellor of the University of the State of New York.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

attainments were well balanced, so that the outcome of his under graduate studies was a well-rounded, generous culture."

Soon after his graduation Mr. Rogers began the study of law in the office of Skin- ner & Brown at Adams, N. Y., spending an hour each day in bookkeeping at the Hungerford Bank. Afterward, he continued his legal studies in the office of Judge George C. Sherman at Watertown. During the summer of 1848 he took part in the survey of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg railroad. On the organization of the Watertown Bank and Loan Company by Judge Sherman, January 1, 1849, Mr. Rogers was placed at the head of its management as cashier. He filled this position very acceptably for some months, and in September, 1850, was appointed cashier of Fort Stanwix Bank at Rome, N, Y., and in September, 1853, cashier of the Bank of Utica. This appointment was due largely to the influence of the late Hon. Hiram Denio. In the litigation of certain cases in which the Fort Stanwix Bank was a party, Judge Denio had observed the thorough knowledge of banking and of the laws appertaining thereto which Mr. Rogers possessed. When the directors of the Bank of Utica decided to appoint a new cashier, on his recommendation Mr. Rogers was elected. The appointment of so young a man to be the principal manager of so old and influential a bank, having so large a capital and so many stockholders and customers, was a very high compliment to the ability, integrity, and trustworthiness of Mr. Rogers. Soon after entering upon his official duties the new cashier discov- ered that the capital of the bank had been impaired to the extent of one-sixth of its amount-$100,000. With the concurrence of the directors he had the courage to suspend the payment of dividends until this loss should be made good. Under his administration the capital was gradually restored to its full amount; and since its restoration the bank has paid semi-annual dividends with the regularity of the periods and has accumulated a surplus of $400,000. That Cashier Rogers fully met the expectations of the directors was shown by his election as president of the bank in 1876, as the successor to Benjamin N. Huntington, of Rome, N. Y. Throughout a long life he maintained his early reputation for financial ability and strict integ- rsty. For a continuous period of forty-two years he was cashier or president of the First National Bank of Utica. Guided by his sound judgment, and under his able administration, the bank became a permanent source of sure income to its many stockholders, and a very important factor in the business affairs of Central New York. With a mind peculiarly adapted to the banking profession, supplemented by collegiate and legal training and business experience, Mr. Rogers, in his financial work, exemplified, to a high degree, inflexible integrity, wise sagacity, persevering industry, and a keen intelligence. As a financial adviser of individuals and institu- tions his advice was frequently sought and was as highly valued as it was freely and generously given. In the business community his standing was very high and most enviable.

How widely he was identified with the business interests of Utica and Central New York will appear from a simple enumeration of the corporations with which he was influentially connected. From 1872 to 1895, when he died, he was a director and from 1875 to his death he was the treasurer of the Utica Water Works Company. From its organization to his death he was a director and vice-president of the Mo_ hawk Valley Cotton Mills. For many years he was a director in the Utica Steam

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

· Cotton Mills, the Skenandoa Cotton Company, and the Utica Willowvale Bleaching Company. For some years Mr. Rogers was also a director in the Utica Gas Light Company. In all these business relations for more than forty years it is the simple truth to say he deserved and received many tokens of respect, confidence, and friendly regard of his business acquaintances. It has been truly said of him by one who knew him well that "he was the soul of honor; he dealt fairly with every man. Such positions as he occupied required the exercise of wise judgment and often firm- ness; yet so courteous was he, and so kindly, that, while seldom receding from a position once taken, he gave no offence to rankle as the result of a necessary refusal. In all financial matters he was thoroughly informed, and his conclusions, carefully reached, were usually right, and were so accepted by those who had sought his guidance."

But the activities of Mr. Rogers's life were not limited to business affairs, numer- ous and important as were these, requiring, as they did, continuous and laborious attention; he was, besides, generous and helpful in many directions. His benefi- cence was self-sacrificing. During the Civil war he was treasurer of the Soldiers' Aid Association, which raised by subscription a large sum of money to provide for the families of those who had gone to the front. The distribution of this money in small amounts required careful attention. As treasurer of the fund to aid sufferers in Nebraska he was equally pains-taking and public spirited. As a trustee of the Utica Art Association he did much to promote the success of the fine art exhibitions which, in successive winters, gave so much enjoyment and culture to the citizens of Central New York. Mr. Rogers was actively interested in the organization of the Fort Schuyler Club, serving as one of its governors for several years, and as its president from 1889 until his decease. For many years he was a trustee of the Home for the Homeless, succeeding Judge William J. Bacon as president of that most beneficent charity. For twenty-five years Mr. Rogers was a faithful and useful trustee of the Reformed Dutch church, and was one of the committee who had charge of the erec- tion of the present edifice on Genesee street after the former house of worship, on the same site, had been destroyed by fire.

In 1881 Mr. Rogers was appointed by the governor and Senate of the State of New York one of the managers of the Utica State Hospital for the Insane, and in 1885 he was elected president of the board as the successor of the Hon. Samuel Campbell. For nearly fifteen years he served the State in this high and most responsible office. It was for him no sinecure. He visited the institution nearly every week, and through personal inspection and conversation with the superintendent and other offi- cers he gained an intimate knowledge of its condition. To the financial affairs of the Bank of Utica, or to his own business transactions, he gave no more careful at- tention. As chairman of the building committee for many years he supervised new work and extensive repairs. He was seldom or never absent from a monthly meet- ing of the managers, even when his health was endangered by his attendance. He was a model presiding officer, observant, patient, and impartial. "The aggregate of the hours thus spent in this beneficent work, without other reward than the con- sciousness of discharging honorably a public duty, would be months if they could be counted." During his service in the board the hospital was investigated several times by a legislative committee. "The investigators" were often simply profes-

BIOGRAPHICAL.

sional politicians, spoilsmen, to whom it was inconceivable that so much time and valuable service could be given to the institution, gratuitously, by managers actu- ated only by benevolence and public spirit with no selfish. ulterior purpose. They did their utmost to excite suspicion and to discredit the management. This indig- nity was very trying to a sensitive high minded gentleman like Mr. Rogers. Rather than submit to it he might have resigned his office. But conscious of the rectitude of his motives, with a high sense of duty, and exhaustless patience although by nature keenly sensitive, he could endure more than most men. "He could hear much and say little." Every investigation increased public confidence in the man- agement of the hospital. So that when Mr. Rogers appeared officially before the governor or the Legislature to present its wants, his statements were never doubted. After the death of the eminent Dr. John P. Gray, who had been the successful superintendent for thirty-five years, it was natural that changes in the management of the institution should be proposed. These proposals excited opposition. But so ready was President Rogers to recognize needful changes required by the growth of the hospital, such was his tact and good sense, and such was his acknowledged fore- sight, that serious difficulties were prevented, and the increasing needs of the insti- tution were provided for wisely.

A graduate of Hamilton College in 1846, for nearly fifty years he enjoyed the ad- vantageous results of early collegiate training. He appreciated thoroughly the ad- vantages of a collegiate education to a business man. He had no patience with those who depreciated or denied them. One day, in his office, when the writer of this article said to him that he was giving much time and anxious thought to the college, he replied, with moistened eyes: "There is not a week in which I do not realize in my business here the value of my college training. I use here the same mental processes in which I was trained there. I can never do too much for the col- lege." This appreciation and these grateful feelings made him so ready to serve the college as trustee for twenty-six years, from 1869 to 1895, and to hold the office of treasurer from 1880 to 1887. As treasurer he gave to the institution the benefit of his long financial experience and his executive ability at a time when its pecuniary affairs required special care. This he did absolutely without compensation. It was this grateful loyalty to the college which induced him, as a member of the executive committee of the trustees, to give so much of his time to its meetings held in his office. He attended to every duty and accepted every responsibility, in this connection, willingly and cheerfully. As a financial adviser his judgment was of the highest value to the college board of trust; and his membership in the board `greatly strengthened the confidence of the alumni and friends of the college in the wisdom and integrity of its management. He never forgot the friends of his youth and the associations of his college days. He did not think that such remembrances were un- manly. He never lost his interest in the Sigma Phi fraternity, of which he was a member. In the University Club of New York, of which he was a member, he found many congenial associates. It is very pleasant to his friends to remember that dur- ing the last week of his life he so greatly enjoyed the reunion of old friends at the college commencement of that year, and rejoiced with them in the assured stability of the college and in its rapidly increasing prosperity.

Mr. Rogers was too sincerely patriotic to take no interest in public affairs. He

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

was a Republican, but not a partisan. Though ready to serve the public in many ways, he would never accept political office. He greatly enjoyed foreign travel, twice spending some months abroad, but he found his highest happiness in his home and in his family. There, his sympathy, his kindness, his gentleness, and his hospi- tality were unfailing. For nothing in his public and private life was he more re- markable than for his dignified and gracious courtesy. This was his distinctive characteristic. The directors of the First National Bank of Utica knew him inti- mately for years, and their official announcement of his decease is evidently as sin- cere as it is sympathetic. In this announcement they use these tenderly significant words: " That through life he bore himself as a high-minded citizen, a cultivated gentleman, a kind neighbor, and a loyal friend, all who have ever known him do bear their sorrowing testimony."

Mr. Rogers had not enjoyed robust health for some years, yet the end of his earthly life came suddenly at the last. He died at his home in Utica, July 2, 1895. It was ordered providentially that the clergyman who had been his intimate friend since his college days, who had officiated at his marriage and in the baptism and marriage of his only son, should also be permitted to officiate in the funeral services.

September 11, 1861, Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Elizabeth J. Butler, daughter of the late Chauncey Sage Butler, of Sauquoit, N. Y. His wife survives, as does also his only son, Charles Butler Rogers, who hassucceeded his father as president of the First National Bank of Utica and as a manager of the Utica State Hospital. Charles B. Rogers was married January 31, 1894, to Miss Susan Brayton, of Utica. Mr. Rogers left also a sister, Mrs. Murray, of Watertown, N. Y., and two brothers-in-law, John Milton Butler and Charles A. Butler, and a sister in-law, Miss Henrietta Butler, of Utica.

EPHRAIM CHAMBERLAIN.

EPHRAIM CHAMBERLAIN was nearly fifty years prominently associated with the leading manufacturing interests of Utica. Coming here a friendless boy of twenty he gradually rose to the highest and most honored spheres of citizenship, and throughout a useful career enjoyed universal respect and esteem. His paternal an- cestors emigrated from England to this country about the middle of the seventeenth century and settled at what is now Biddeferd, Me. In the line of descent at least six generations have had an Ephraim among them, and through those bearing that name from the original immigrant to the subject of this memoir there has passed from generation to generation a small souvenir, which is valued by the family as a precious heirloom. Clark Chamberlain, his father, came from New England at an early day and settled in Burlington, Otsego county, whence he removed with his family about 1829 to the adjoining town of Pittsfield.

Ephraim Chamberlain was born in the town of Burlington, Otsego county, on the 2d day of January, 1825, and when about four years of age moved with his parents to Pittsfield, where he lived until 1841, attending in the mean time a common school, receiving some private tutelage, and finishing his education with an academic course of two terms. By dint of perseverance and constant application, by studying at

BIOGRAPHICAL.

night under the flickering rays of a candle, he secured a better knowledge of the ordinary English branches than many boys of the day acquired, and having com- pleted his schooling at the age of sixteen he entered upon the active duties of a business life. He first became a clerk in the country store of his uncle, Ephraim Chamberlain, at West Edmeston, Otsego county, where he remained until 1845, when he came to Utica as a clerk in the canal collector's office. He continued in that capacity until 1849, excepting one year spent in the employ of a dry goods store in the city. In February, 1849, he entered upon the duties of bookkeeper for the newly organized Utica Steam Cotton Mills of which the late Alfred Munson was the first president. This corporation had been formed in January, 1847, with Theodore S. Faxton, Silas D. Childs, Alfred Munson, Charles A. Mann, Edmund A. Graham, Andrew S. Pond, and Horatio Seymour as trustees, and the legislative act creating it took effect February 17, 1848. The first building was still unfinished when, late in the latter year, Mr. Chamberlain applied in person to President Munson for the position, and after giving his references and answering some questions left with the impression that his chances for securing it were very slight indeed because of the numerous applicants who had preceded him. But a few weeks later he was offered the place, which he accepted, thus connecting himself with a corporation with the success of which he was ever afterward associated.

In 1854 Mr. Chamberlain was appointed treasurer of the company and in 1859 be- came also its secretary, and continued in these two capacities for many years. Under his efficient management the financial affairs of the concern were conducted upon a sound and prosperous basis, and to him is largely due its long career of suc- cess. In 1882 he was elected a trustee, in 1889 the vice-president, and in January, 1890, president, which latter office he held until his death on September 17, 1895. He administered the duties of these several positions with the highest efficiency, won the entire confidence of all his associates, and made the establishment one of the most profitable of the kind in the State. His business ability was universally ac- knowledged, his integrity was rever questioned. He was a man of great force of character, enterprising, public spirited, and just, energetic, and companionable.

He was one of the incorporators and an original director of the Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills and the Utica Willowvale Bleaching Company, and became secretary and treasurer of both corporations. He was the oldest member of the board of trustees of the Utica Savings Bank, having been elected to that position in 1866; in 1875 he was elected its second vice-president, in 1888 first vice-president, and in 1889 succeeded the late Judge Bacon as president. He was also for many years a director and vice-president of the Oneida National Bank. In politics he was a lifelong Democrat. He was a member of the Common Council from the old Third ward in 1856-57 and in 1869 was elected mayor of the city of Utica, being for several years before his death the oldest living ex-mayor. His life was one of rare completeness. He possessed the highest attributes of citizenship, and proved that one born amidst humble surroundings may reach the loftiest pinnacle of usefulness and successful attainment.

Mr. Chamberlain was first married on June 20, 1850, to Emma L. Green, of New Berlin, N. Y., who died December 7, 1858. September 13, 1860, he married, sec- ond, Theresa W. Carpenter, of New York city, who with one son, Frederick G., and

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

a grandchild, Priscilla Chamberlain (born May 15, 1887), survives him. His eldest son, Frank C., died in 1885 while engaged in business in New York. Frederick G. Chamberlain was formerly secretary and assistant treasurer of the Utica Steam Cot- ton Mills and assistant treasurer of the Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills.

ADDISON C. MILLER.

ADDISON C. MILLER was the son of Dr. Sylvester Miller, and was born in Lowville, Lewis county, N. Y., November 12, 1831. He was educated in Lowville Academy and afterward read law with William Collins, and was admitted to the bar January 1, 1854. The following year he came to Utica, where he formed a law partnership with John H. Edmonds, which continued until 1872, when Mr. Edmonds retired. January 1, 1877, Frederick G. Fincke was associated as a partner, and November 1, 1887, John E. Brandegee became a member of the firm, the name being changed to Miller, Fincke & Brandegee. In November, 1892, Mr. Miller retired, except as counsel and was succeeded by his son, Charles A. Miller.

Mr. Miller was largely interested personally in the leading manufactures of the city of Utica. He was counsel for the Globe Woolen Company from its organiza- tion and a trustee from 1875. He was also a trustee of the Utica Steam Cotton Mills from 1866 until a short time before his death. He was one of the incorporators of the Mohawk Valley Mill, which was founded in 1880. He was also a stockholder in the Skenandoa Yarn Mill and the Utica Water Works Company, and a stockholder and trustee of the Utica Female Academy. He was a member of the Forest Hill Cemetery Association and one of its board of trustees for many years. From 1868 Mr. Miller had been a trustee of The Savings Bank of Utica. Stalham Williams was treasurer of this bank from 1839 until his death in 1875, when Mr. Miller was chosen treasurer, a position he held up to the time of his death. As financial adviser and counselor Mr. Miller superintended the erection of the Utica Orphan Asylum, and the funds of the institution, which, at the time of his resignation in 1888, amounted to$163,000, were alwaysentrusted to him for investment. Mr. Miller was in party faith a Republican, but was too thoroughly devoted to business affairs to be caught in the whirlpool of professional politics. He was on one occasion defeated for mayor. Mr. Miller was ever deeply interested in the welfare of his city and its institutions. In 1873 he was chosen a member of the first Board of Charities which Utica had, and in the following year he was re-elected for a full term of three years. A contem- porary said of him, " he was a man of strict integrity and honor in every way."

Mr. Miller displayed marked ability in various branches of business life during an active career of more than forty years in Utica. He was a successful lawyer and bauker, and one of the prominent manufacturers of the State. As a lawyer he was grounded in the law and practice in surrogates' courts, and many of the large estates of the county which appeared on the records of that court during the past thirty years were entrusted to his care for settlement. It is but a just tribute to his memory to say that, whether as guardian, trustee, or manager, he was as suc- cessful and conscientious in the management of the property of others as in the con-

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 70

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

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