Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 71

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 71

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А.С.Чини.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

duct of his own affairs. Mr. Miller died in Utica on the 18th of December, 1894, widely esteemed and respected.

April 29, 1863, Mr. Miller married Miss Cynthia J. Brayton, daughter of Hervey Brayton, of Rome. His wife and one son, George H., died in 1890. He left surviv- ing three children: Charles A., Howard C., and Theodora, also a sister, Mrs. Mary L. Wood, all of Utica.

CHARLES H. PHILO.

CHARLES HENRY PHILO, son of Elisha and Phoebe (Newell) Philo, was born in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer county, N. Y., October 3, 1845, and is a lineal descend- ant of John Fillow, a French Huguenot and a colonial settler of Connecticut before 1700. Elisha R. was born in Genesee county, N. Y., October 23, 1812, and died at West Frankfort, Herkimer county, November 9, 1864. His wife, Phoebe, a native of Frankfort, died in Washington Mills, Oneida county, in 1884, aged sixty-eight. Her father, Edward Newell, was a soldier of the War of 1812, and her mother died in Utica, N. Y., at the great age of 103.

Charles H. Philo is the fourth in a family of nine children, all of whom are living, and was educated in the district schools and at Whitestown Seminary. His father was for many years engeged in canal boating and it was but natural that the subject of this sketch should first seek that employment. When only eleven years of age he began active canal life, which he followed summers until his father's death in 1864. · Afterward he was engaged in boating alone until 1872, when he sold his boats and moved to the town of New Hartford, Oneida county, where purchased a farm and stone quarry. Three years later he sold the farm and purchased the old stone store at Washington Mills, where he carried on a successful general mercantiie business for eight years. Meanwhile he bought his present farm of 120 acres in the south east corner of the town, where he has twenty acres of hops and also conducts a large dairy business.

In 1885 Mr. Philo purchased an interest in the Utica Tool Company, located at Washington Mills, and has since been connected with that successful enterprise, being now the treasurer. This business was founded at Unadilla Forks, N. Y., by Henry H. Babcock, in 1840, when he began the manufacture of hoes by hand on an anvil. Later Charles B. Brown and others became interested with him under the firm name of Babcock, Brown & Co. In 1865 the concern was moved to Washington Mills in the town of New Hartford, Oneida county, where the works were enlarged and forks and rakes added to the production. In 1871 Porter S. Huntley and Mr. Babcock, under the firm name of Huntley & Babcock, became the sole owners and continued the business until 1883, when the Huntley & Babcock Agricultural Com- pany, Lmtd., was incorporated. This name was changed to the Lewis & Babcock manufacturing Company in 1887 and that to the present Utica Tool Company in 1892. The works cover an area of ten acres and employ from seventy-five to 100 skilled mechanics, while the mechanical appliances and equipment of the factory are such as to insure rapid and perfect production, which is shipped throughout the United States and to all parts of the world. The Utica Tool Company

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

has a world-wide reputation as manufacturers of the best grades of coke, coal, oyster, manure, spading, barley, hay and stone forks; planters', cotton, street, mortar, field, onion, weeding, meadow, sprouting and cultivator hoes; turf edgers, walk cleaners, ice chisels, coal, garden and lawn rakes, potato hooks, manure drags, clam hooks, corn knives, floral sets, garden cultivators, hollow tine forks, self- closing fruit and vegetable supports, etc. The active management of the company's affairs is under Charles H. Philo and Ladd J. Lewis, treasurer and secretary respect- ively, and both representative and influential business men.

Mr. Pbilo is an active Republican, and has held the office of town clerk of New Hartford, was for six years postmaster at Washington Mills, and for two years served the town as supervisor. For several years he has been a valued member of the Board of Equalization for the county. In all these capacities he has distinguished himself for his thorough business management and executive skill and ability. He is public-spirited, enterprising. and progressive, and takes a keen interest in the welfare of the community. No worthy object escapes his liberal support and encouragement. He is a member of Amicable Lodge, No. 664, F. & A. M., and of the M. E. church, both of Washington Mills.

Mr. Philo was first married in December, 1869, to Miss Lina, daughter of Nathaniel Hulser, of Frankfort, N. Y., who was drowned in the Hudson River by falling over- board from his canal boat in June, 1871. She left a daughter who died in infancy soon afterward. In September, 1873, he married, second, Miss Mary J., daughter of Nicholas and Mary Ann (Sterling) Staring of Frankfort, and they have six children : Lena E., Lotta R., Virgie E., James C., Grace A., and Addie S.

ROBERT J. HELMER.

ROBERT J. HELMER was born in the town of Boonville, Oneida county, N. Y., May 13, 1847. He was a son of Adam Helmer, one of the oldest residents of the town. His farm stretched over a wide area of the southern part of the town, being one of the best developed valuable farms in the northern part of Oneida county. He was one of Oneida county's prosperous agriculturists, from which he accumulated a large estate. His wife was Catherine Bargey of Frankfort, Herkimer County, N. Y. They had two sons, George H. and Robert J., the subject of this sketch. Mr. Adam Helmer died in 1884 and his wife in 1890. George H., the son, also died in 1881. The Helmers originally came from Germany, and were frugal, industrious, and upright in character. Jacob Helmer, the father of Adam, came from Herkimer county (where Adam was born), into Oneida county in the earliest days of its settlement, giv- ing many years of his life to improving the land. Robert J. was educated at the Whitesboro Seminary and Fairfield Military Institute. The next two years were spent in teaching in the town of Boonville. Then with Benjamin Beynon he entered into business at Alder Creek, conducting a general store. This busi- ness connection continued ten or twelve years when the death of Mr. Beynon terminated the copartnership. Mr. Helmer bought the interest of his partner and carried on the business in the same place for the next five years. At that time,

BIOGRAPHICAL.

1886, he built a larger store better adapted to his largely increased trade. From that time forth Mr. Helmer was recognized as one of the leading merchants of the northern part of the county. He was conservative, careful and withal conscien- tious and straightforward in business affairs. At the time of his death in May 8, 1896, he was engaged in several lines of business in connection with the other line. The saw mill at Alder Creek was one of the adjunct enterprises which he conducted with marked success.

Although Mr. Helmer had never been an office holder he was always one of the staunchest and, at the same time influential, members of the Democratic party. He devoted much time to advancing its interest in the town and county.

In 1875 Mr. Helmer married Sophia L., daughter of John T. and Mary (Owens) Jones, of the town of Steuben. Mrs. Helmer was one of eight children, five of whom are now living. Ellen, Louisa, Ann and Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Helmer have had one son, George Cleveland, and one daughter, Maude Louise, who is a graduate of the Boonville High school.

ARTHUR D. LEE.

ARTHUR D. Lee is one of the men of Westmoreland who has made his own way successfully in a material sense, but has been active and influential in the general advancement of his town's best interests. When a young man he learned the car- penter's trade, serving his apprenticeship with R. E. Lee, at that time one of the lead- ing contractors and builders of Rome, N. Y. This service continued through a period of three years, at the end of which time the subject of this sketch returned to his native place where he has continued more or less actively in building and car- penter work since. He was born in Bartlett, Oneida county, January 25, 1845, and received his early education at the common school, supplementing this with a course at the Whitestown Seminary. The Lees are among the oldest and most conspicuous residents in Westmoreland. Nathan Lee, grandfather of Arthur D, came from Connecticut in 1806 and settled in the town and engaged in farming till his death, which occurred in 1845. The early records of the town show that he was one of the most important factors in the permanent advancement of the community.

Isaac B. Lee, his son, born in 1819, is the father of Arthur D. Lee, and has also been identified with the agricultural industry of Westmoreland. He now owns the old homestead which Nathan Lee bought at the time of his coming here in 1806. He married Harriet Lay, of Rome, who died in 1885. They had three sons, of whom Arthur D. is the oldest. The others are Newell D., now living in Westmore- land, and Damon A., a resident of Alabama.

Rowland Lay, grandfather of these three named and father of their mother, was one of the hotel men of note in the early history of the county. He, during the period of the Erie canal construction, kept a hotel near Stanwix, where from time to time he entertained many men of high social and official standing. He also at one time owned all of the land upon which the city of Saratoga is now situated. They have all been people of upright character, industry and successful financiers.

Arthur D. Lee has always been an ardent Republican who has devoted a consider-

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

able time to the party's interest in the town and county. This service has been recognized and appreciated by the citizens, for he has been honored with several im- portant political trusts. He was for several years made a member of the county committee, and for two years represented his town in the Board of Super- visors. While there Mr. Lee was one of the most zealous members in watching and caring for the interest of his constituents. In 1895 he was made chairman of the judiciary committee, and was on the committee on footing the assessment roll, and on that of the county buildings, State loans, and ratio and apportionment, besides that of coroners and physicians.

Mr. Lee married Nettie C., daughter of Samuel A. and Jane (Richardson) Isbell of of Westmoreland. Mr. Isbell was for many years extensively engaged in contract- ing in the town of Westmoreland and surrounding towns. He built a saw mill at Bartlett, and carried on a large lumber trade, using a good part of the manufactured product in the construction of work under his own supervision. During the years he was also directing a part of his energies to farming, with the success which always follows intelligent, industrious effort. He accumulated a large estate, yet devoted a considerable amount to charities, and aids to deserving people. They had three daughters, of whom Mrs. Lee was the second. The others were Hattie P., who died at the age of nineteen, and Jessie I., who married Mr. Joseph Burrell of Westmoreland. Mr. Isbell died in 1893 and his wife in 1885. In the matter of societies Mr. Lee has given his whole interest to the Masonic fraternity, in which order he is active and influential.

Mr. Lee has one son, Warren Isbell Lee, who is a student at Hamilton College.

JOSIAH PERRY.

JOSIAH PERRY, the eldest of five sons of Rev. Owen F. and Jane (Powell) Perry, was born in Remsen, Oneida county, N. Y., March 22, 1851. His father, a native of North Wales, Great Britain, came to America in 1847, and for about forty years was the beloved pastor of the Baptist church at Bardwell near Remsen. He still lives in the village of Remsen. The mother was a daughter of John and Nancy Powell, early settlers of the town of Trenton, Oneida county, coming from Connecticut stock. Their children, besides the subject of this sketch, were Newton Perry, who died in Kansas in 1887; Rev. George Powell Perry, pastor of a flourishing Baptist church in Provi- dence, R. I .; Lincoln Perry, a successful merchant in Boonville, N. Y. ; and John O. Perry, of Utica.

Josiah Perry spent his boyhood on his father's farm and in attending the district schools at Remsen. In these two spheres he received a thorough rudimentary train- ing, and both acquired and inherited those thrifty traits of character which distin- guish the successful man. He subsequently spent one term at Fairfield Seminary, afterwards attended the State Normal School at Cortland, also Madison (now Colgate) University, and after completing his education taught school for a time. In 1874 he entered the office of Risley, Stoddard & Matteson, of Utica, as a student at law, and was admitted to the bar at the Utica General Term in 1877. The same year he began the active practice of his profession in Utica, where he has since resided. In

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

1881 he became the junior member of the law firm of Risley, Brown, Quinn & Perry, and thus continued until Mr. Brown was appointed State Dairy Commissioner and Mr. Quinn removed to New York city, when the firm name was changed to Risley & Perry. This copartnership was dissolved in February, 1892, and Mr. Perry has since practiced alone.

Mr. Perry has been for several years a prominent and influential factor in the Re- publican party of Oneida county. He is an orator of ability, a pleasing, forcible speaker, and on the platform commands the closest attention. In 1886 he was the Republican candidate for district attorney of the county of Oneida, and was defeated by only seventy-five votes. He was corporation counsel of the city of Utica in 1891 and 1893, and in this capacity rendered valuable services to the public. He is a careful and conscientious student. and as a lawyer is one of the strongest advocates of the Utica bar. His defense of the Chinaman, Fong Yon, charged with murder in the first degree, gave him celebrity as a skilled criminal lawyer, while his connection with many other noted trials has given him a wide reputation. He is a member of Faxton Lodge, F. & A. M., of Skenandoah Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Impe- rial Council, R. A., and of the Arcanum Club. He is also a prominent member of the Cymrogyddion Society, an organization for the promotion of Welsh literature and music which conducts the famous "Eisteddfod" held at Utica every New Year's

Mr. Perry was married first in November, 1878, to Miss Ella Williams, daughter of Hugh Williams, of Utica, who died in November, 1883, leaving one daughter, Edith. In December, 1888, he married for his second wife Miss Nellie Gaylord, daughter of ex-sheriff Lewis Gaylord, of Rome, and they have one son, Josiah Gaylord Perry, born August 4, 1895.

GEORGE RALPH.

GEORGE RALPH was the only son of George and Harriet (Cooper) Ralph, and was born in Schenectady, N. Y., on the 11th of November, 1826. His mother died in his native town and in 1839 he came to Utica. He received a common school education, and early developed those sterling traits of character which marked his after life and made him the successful man of affairs. His first venture in business was in Bing- hamton, N. Y. In 1859 he removed to Elmira and engaged in brewing ale as a member of the firm of Bevier, Briggs & Co. These enterprises gave him a valuable experience and also proved successful in a financial way. In 1862 he returned to Utica and with his father founded the Columbia Street Brewery, which was after- ward consolidated with the Oneida Brewery, then owned by Stephen Thorn and Francis Midlam, the building being erected in 1832. The new firm was styled Ralph, Midlam & Co., and in 1874 was succeeded by George Ralph, jr., & Co., the company consisting of Mr. Ralph's three sons, Dr. William L., George Frederick and Henry J. This name was retained until 1886, when the Oneida Brewing Company was incorporated with Mr. Ralph as president, George Frederick Ralph, as treasurer and manager, and Henry J. Ralph, as secretary. Mr. Ralph remained at the head of the concern until his death on February 2, 1889, when he was succeeded as president by

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

his son, Dr. William L., who has since served in that capacity. The business man- agement has been most ably administered by George Frederick Ralph, who still holds the above named offices, and also that of secretary. Henry J. Ralph withdrew from the company in 1889.

Mr. Ralph was one of the best known brewers in the country, having been engaged in the business upwards of forty years. He was highly esteemed and respected by his contemporaries and served as president of the Oneida County Brewers' Associa- tion from its organization until his death. He was a man of great force of character, energetic, prompt, and enterprising, and forcibly impressed his strong personality upon every project with which he was connected. He was possessed of rare business ability, was exact in every detail of his work, and persevered until he was successful. The predominating traits of his character were his unswerving integrity, truthful- ness and candor. He abhorred hypocrisy, duplicity, and deceit in every form, and by his honesty and straightforwardness commanded the respect and confidence of the community in an unusual degree. His frequent charities were always unostenta- tious. He was long a member of the Utica club, and his loyalty to friends made his friendship something more than a name.

In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Ralph was especially prominent. He was one of the oldest members of Utica Lodge No. 47, F. & A. M., and was its master in 1869-70. He was also a member and in 1871 high priest of Oneida Chapter, R. A. M., a mem- ber of Utica Commandery No. 3, K. T., and a charter member of Yahnundahsis Lodge of Perfection, A. & A. S. R. He was a prominent member of Oneida Lodge No. 70, I. O. O. F., and of Tri-Mount Encampment, and occupied all the chairs and impor- tant positions in the order. Mr. Ralph took an active interest in these fraternal organizations, and especially in the location of the Masonic Home in Utica, to which he was one of the largest contributors. He was interested also in the advancement of the city, and by his enterprise aided materially in its general welfare. He was a lifelong Democrat, but eschewed politics, as he had no taste nor desire for public life, yet in all matters pertaining to municipal government he gave a loyal citizen's support for the good of a common cause. He was often urged to accept political office, but invariably declined, preferring to give his attention mainly to his large business interests.

Mr. Ralph was married in 1850 to Miss Mary Catharine Wells, of Holland Patent, Oneida county, who with their three sons previously mentioned survives him. She is descended from an old and respected Connecticut family. Dr. William L. Ralph, their eldest son, was born in Holland Patent, June 19, 1851; George Frederick, the second son, was born in Holland Patent on May 29, 1853; and Henry J., the third son, in Elmira, N. Y., May 30, 1861. All three live in Utica. George F. was mar- ried April 14, 1875, to Miss Cornelia Marion, daughter of Sylvester Wallace and Cornelia Augusta (Chevalier) Barnes, and has three children: Cornelia Chevalier, George Arthur, and Wilbur Booth.

PHILIP MCGUIRE.

PHILIP MCGUIRE, of Forestport, Oneida county, died Octobor 15, 1894. There was no man in Forestport and few in the county, in fact, who had more thoroughly im-

BIOGRAPHICAL.

pressed the community with their character and usefulness His life of unusual suc- cess had been so gradually developed that he had grown to be a marked business man without ostentatious demonstration or slow in the conduct of his large and varied business affairs. Philip McGuire began life a poor young man, with nothing but his own merits as a resource. He possessed honesty, ambition and strong capa- bilities which, against many obstacles won for him more than an ordinary achieve- ment of success.

He came from Ireland to this country at twenty years of age and engaged at farm work at Johnstown, N. Y., for about two years. He then went to Hawkinsville, town of Boonville, where he served two years as a laborer in a tannery. This was followed by a year's experience in lumbering at Lyon's Falls, N. Y. It was immedi- ately after this experience that Mr. McGuire settled permanently in Forestport and entered into the lumber business, at first on a moderate scale. This was about 1863. He was born February 2, 1837, and was therefore about twenty-six years old when he began his business career at Forestport. For the first three years his line of in- dustry was confined mostly to the getting out of bark and logs. Later in 1866 he began getting out spars, which were shipped by canal to New York and sold for ship masts and similar uses. This proved to be profitable business and was contin- ued during his life.

In addition to this he, in 1874, built the grist mill on the east side of the river at Forestport, which he conducted in connection with a large feed store. At the end of three years he sold the mill to W. R. Stanburgh, and in 1881 built another on the west side of the river. This latter mill he conducted till 1886 when he sold it to George Farley.

Soon after this Mr. McGuire built near the village a large wood pulp mill, which proved to be one of the stable manufacturing industries of the town. This property was sold in 1896. In 1890 Mr. McGuire built a cheese factory at Forestport which he operated until his death. In 1892 he purchased a tannery at Bardwelltown in the town of Remsen, which he also operated until the time of his death.

Besides attending to these many enterprises he yet found time to accept in 1889 the contract for building the State dam on the Black River above Forestport. This involved the expenditure of over $45,000. In the mean while he built and put in ope- ration a large hub factory, the mill owned since 1893 by the Forestport Lumber Com- pany. These various industries furnished employment to a large force of men and contributed in a large degree to the prosperity of Forestport and vicinity. His various lumber interests grew to such an extent that at the time of his death he owned 50,000 acres of timber land, extending many miles northi from Forestport. And aside from these Mr. McGuire derived great pleasure from carrying on his large farm of 300 acres, lying adjacent to the village. On this farm he kept as many as 125 cows and twenty-five horses, with large numbers of stock fatted for the market. It was his large capacity to carry on at the same time the many different business enterprises that brought his marked success and made him more valuable to the community in which he lived. He was always an earnest Republican and took a keen interest in the party's success. He never sought office because his mind and time were occupied with business affairs.

In 1864 Mr. McGuire married Mary A. Coughlin, daughter of John and Catherine

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Coughlin, of the town of Boonville. Mrs. Coughlin died in 1891; Mr. Coughlin is still living.

Mr. and Mrs. McGuire have had seven children: Anna, Catherine, Mary, Frank, Grace, Frances, and Bertha. Anna died in 1882. Frank was educated at Manhat- tan College, and Mary, Grace, and Frances are graduates of St. Peter's Academy, Rome, N. Y.

FRANK F. LAIRD, M. D.

THIS gentleman, one of the foremost homoeopathic physicians of Utica, was born on the farm known as the " Old Townsend Homestead," situated between the towns of Trenton and Floyd, Oneida county, April 15, 1856, being the youngest child of William O. and Sarah A. Laird. He is a great-grandson of Samuel Laird, for whom Lairdsville, N. Y., was named, and whose father came from Scotland to New Eng- land in the early history of this country. Samuel Laird was a native of New Marl- boro, Berkshire county, Mass., but moved to Lairdsville in 1788 with his son Salmon, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, then seven years of age and there died May 21, 1820. William O. Laird, son of Salmon and father of Dr. Frank F., became a dentist, married Sarah A. Townsend, of Floyd, Oneida county, and at the advanced age of seventy-eight is still actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. The doctor's maternal ancestors originally resided in Rainham Castle, County Norfolk, England. His great-grandfather, Nathan Townsend, came to Oneida county from Hancock, Mass., in 1801, and was one of the first settlers in the town of Floyd, where his son William was for twenty-four years a justice of the peace, renowned for "having peaceably settled more quarrels than he made."

Dr. Laird inherited the sturdy characteristics and native energy of his New Eng- land ancestry, and during his boyhood life on the farm acquired those habits of thrift, frugality, and activity which mark the successful man. He pursued his pre- paratory studies at Whitestown Seminary, where he completed the course in 1873. While in that institution he took constant tuition in elocution under H. Sam Dyer and Rev. John R. Lewis, and won prizes in declamation and oratory which distin- guished him as a thorough scholar, talented and ambitious. In the fall of 1873 he entered the Freshman class of Hamilton College, where, during the course, he was appointed first-year prize speaker and won the first prize in essay-writing; secured the first honorable mention in essay-writing during the Sophomore year; won the Hawley medal for excellence in classical studies in the Junior year; and in the Senior year was appointed to represent Hamilton at the Inter-Collegiate Oratorical contest held in the Academy of Music, New York city, in January, 1876, winning the second consecutive victory for his college. He was graduated in June, 1877, being the third in his class, with membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society of "honor-men," and delivering the class-day oration. He received the degree of A. M. in course from Hamilton College in 1880.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 71

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