USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 72
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Dr. Laird pursued the study of medicine under the supervision of his brother, Dr. William T. Laird, one of the leading physicians of Watertown, N. Y., and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College at Philadelphia in 1880, taking the
FF. Laires
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
highest general average save one (that of Prof. W. B. Van Lennep) ever obtained at that institution, and winning the position of valedictorian of his class. He imme- diately began the practice of his profession in Ogdensburg, N. Y., but in the follow- ing autumn located in Augusta, Me. There the climate proved too severe, and in the spring of 1881 he removed to Utica, where he has ever since resided. Dr. Laird very soon won a foremost place among the medical men of the city and rapidly built up an extensive practice. He has been uniformly successful and to-day ranks with the leading practitioners of homoeopathy in Central New York. As a citizen he is widely respected, enterprising and progressive, and manifests a keen interest in the welfare of the community.
He is medical director of the Commercial Travelers Mutual Accident Association of America, and of the Homoeopathic Hospital; is a member and ex-president of the Oneida County Homoeopathic Medical Society, was elected first vice-president of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York in 1889 and served by ap- pointment as chairman of its Bureau of Materia Medica for three years. He be came a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy in 1887. He is a fluent speaker, always ready in debate, and was orator on the occasion of the Masonic Jubilee held in Utica in April, 1890.
Dr. Laird is a successful general practitioner and particularly skillful in treating the diseases of children, in which he has wide experience. In the application of homoeopathic remedies he rejects Hahnemann's theories of immaterial dosage, believing that the curative efficacy of a drug is confined to the limit of materiality.
He has been a frequent contributor to current medical journals and transactions of articles of great value, which have attracted considerable attention and favorable comment. Among his contributions to the department of Materia Medica are " Physiological Action of Belladonna in its Relations to Homoeopathic Therapeutics," " Analytical Studies of Hydrastis," "Lycopus Virginicus," "Guaiacum," " Ammo- nium Muriaticum," and "Naphthalin." His contributions to the department of Clinical Medicine include " The Reflex Symptoms of Phymosis," "The Aetiology, Pathology, and Treatment of Diabetes Insipidus," " Lithaemia, Its Aetiological and Pathological Relations," "The Therapeutics of Spinal Irritation," and " Obscure Reflex Symptoms in Chronic Diseases."
In 1883 Dr. Laird married Miss Annie C., daughter of the late Hon. W. B. Tay- or, of Utica. ex-State engineer. She died May 21, 1895, leaving two children, Frank T. and Mary Louise. June 23, 1896, he married for his second wife Miss Ella M. Pixlee, of Seattle, Wash.
GEORGE M. STUDOR.
GEORGE M. STUDOR was born in Hawkinsville, town of Boonville, Oneida county, January 23, 1857. Jacob Studor, his father, came from Germany in 1852, and settled in the above place. He engaged in the lumber business and continued in that line for the succeeding seven years. Like most thrifty, industrious Germans Mr. Studor made his labor in the lumber country result profitably to him, so that at the end of that time he had accumulated considerable of a nucleus for a start in business in
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the New World. He also had the courage then to move farther north to White Lake and buy a farm in the then almost wholly undeveloped North Woods. He cleared and improved there one of the finest pieces of farm realty in the northern part of the State. He became one of the foremost citizens of that part of Oneida county, being identified with every movement looking to the improvement and building up of the community. He was one of those who founded the German Lutheran church at White Lake Corners, and throughout his life was one of its most liberal supporters. His family, for a time, made up a good part of its congregation. Mr. Studor pros- pered in his agricultural pursuit, becoming one of the leading men financially as well as religiously and socially. His wife was Elizabeth Snider, also of German birth. 'They had six children, namely, Philip, Lena, Henry, Elizabeth, Sarah and George M., the subject of this sketch. Mr. Studor died in 1887 and his wife in 1885.
George M. Studor was educated at the district school and at the Poughkeepsie Business College. At the age of twenty six he began business on his own account by purchasing a large farm at White Lake Corners. Besides this he has since carried on the livery business in connection with the farm, both the business enterprises having proved successful in no ordinary degree. Mr. Studor is an ardent Republican and is always active in advancing the party's best interest. Few conventions or councils have been held in the past ten years in which Mr. Studor has not been a factor. In 1892 he was chosen by Speaker Husted as his private messenger, a posi- tion he was well qualified to fill.
In 1892 Mr. Studor married Helen, daughter of James Goodrich of Lewis county, N. Y. They have one of the finest residences in the northern part of the State.
RUFUS P. BIRDSEYE.
THE Birdseye family in America had its origin in the person of John Birdseye, who came from England to Stratford, Fairfield county, Conn., in the early days of that colony. He finally removed to Middlefield, Conn., and died in 1694, aged seventy- four, leaving two children, John, jr., and Joanna. His wife was Phillippa, daughter of Rev. Henry Smith, of Weathersfield, Conn. John Birdseye, jr., was born in Strat- ford March 28, 1641, married Phebe, daughter of William Wilcoxson, December 11, 1669, and died January 9, 1697. Joseph, their fifth child, was born February 22, 1681, married Sarah, daughter of Ambrose Thompson, and died June 25, 1757. Their children were Dinah, Joseph, and Rev. Nathan. Rev. Nathan Birdseye was born on Lord's day, at noon, August 8, 1714, married Dorothy, daughter of Rev. Thomas Hawley, of Ridgefield, Conn., April 17, 1739, and died January 28, 1817, aged 103 years, five months, and nine days. His wife's death occurred September 21, 1807, at the age of eighty-eight. Ezra Birdseye, their fifth child, was born in Stratford, Conn., January 28, 1749, married Phebe Curtis, and died December 28, 1832. Their third child was Ezra, jr., who was born at Stratford, May 19, 1773, married Lovina, daughter of Joseph and Anna (Clement) Martin, of Martinsburg, Lewis county, N. Y., April 14, 1797, and died in Trenton, Oneida county, November 5, 1830. He was probably the first to manufacture silk hats in Trenton, and successfully carried on that business there during his active life. His hfth child, Joseph Birdseye, was born
BIOGRAPHICAL.
in that village September 17, 1813, and learned and followed his father's trade. In 1833 he came to Utica, where he subsequently settled with his family, where he man- ufactured hats and caps for many years for the wholesale trade, and where he died March 30, 1887. He was married August 30, 1839, to Helen E., daughter of Asa and Theodocia Pomeroy, who survives at the age of seventy-nine.
Rufus Pomeroy Birdseye, only son and child of Joseph and Helen E. (Pomeroy) Birdseye, was born in Trenton, Oneida county, August 17, 1842, and came with his parents to Utica, where he spent his youth attending the public schools and academy of the city. Leaving the academy, where he had shown great proficiency in mathe- matics and the English branches, he went to New York and entered the canal trans- portation office. Two years later he returned to Utica and became bookkeeper for R. V. Yates & Son, wholesale clothiers, and subsequently held similar positions with H. J. Wood & Co. and Oatley Brothers. Afterwards he was bookkeeper for Rey- nolds Brothers, shoe manufacturers, for a time, and in April, 1871, entered the Sav- ings Bank of Utica in the same capacity. Here he has risen by promotion to teller, to assistant treasurer April 30, 1879, to secretary of the board of trustees |July 31, 1889, and treasurer in charge December 26, 1894, and still holds the last two named positions. He was elected a trustee of the bank in 1888 and has since been a valued member of the board. Mr. Birdseye has been connected with the bank a little more than twenty-five years, and during that period he has established a reputation for being one of the ablest financiers in Central New York. Under his thorough and efficient management as treasurer this old institution, chartered in 1839, has never been in a better condition nor exerted a wider usefulness in the community.
Mr. Birdseye is a prominent member of the Fort Schnyler, Arcanum, and Masonic Clubs and the First Presbyterian church of Utica. Heis a 32 Mason, holding mem- bership in Oriental Lodge, No. 224, F. & A. M., and the Scottish Rite bodies, and in politics is a staunch Republican. He takes a lively interest in public affairs and in the progress and welfare of the community, and liberally encourages all worthy and benevolent enterprises.
On April 9, 1867, Mr. Birdseye was married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of James F. and Eunice (Wendell) Crosby, of Albany, N. Y. They have two sons, both born in Utica, viz. : James Crosby Birdseye, born October 29, 1869, and Philip Wendell Birdseye, born April 5, 1874.
JOHN C. HIEBER.
JOHN C. HIEBER, senior member of the firm of John C. Hieber & Co., the leading wholesale dry goods dealers of Utica, was born in Bopfingen, Wurtemberg, Ger- many, December 23, 1837, and received a good practical education in the national schools of his native country. In June, 1852, when a boy of but fourteen years of age, he came to America to seek a wider field for the exercise of those talents which subsequently formed the chief elements of his business career. He was thoroughly imbued with the fundamental ideas of liberty and freedom, with ambition, progress and advancement, and with characteristic energy turned his hand to the first employ- ment that was offered. He went to Johnstown, N. Y., and worked at dressing buck-
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skins for about one year. In 1853 he came to Utica and for three years was en- ployed as a clerk in the retail grocery store of A. D. Mather & Co. These occupa- tions enabled him to become acquainted with customs and habits in the land of his adoption, and also to develop that patriotic spirit which has ever since been a pre- dominating factor in his commercial and other relations. In 1856 he returned to Johnstown and learned the trade of glove-cutting which he followed there during the next four years. He returned to Utica in 1860 and became a salesman in the dry goods house of E. T. Manning & Co., the predecessors of Hugh Glenn & Co., with whom he continued until 1864. In these various capacities Mr. Hieber developed a rare business ability and won the entire confidence of his employers and associates. At the same time he gained a wide experience and a thorough knowledge of business affairs which combined to form the proper base for the career upon which he was now to enter.
In 1864 Mr. Hieber, in partnership with William Gries, under the firm name of William Gries & Co., engaged in the retail dry goods trade in Utica, This name was changed in 1867 to Gries & Hieber, and in 1869 Mr. Hicber purchased his partner's interest. He then formed a copartnership with John A. Roberts, under the style of John C. Hieber & Co., and continued the business until 1871, when the firm sold out. A reorganization was then effected under the name of Hieber, Roberts & Jones and at once engaged in the wholesale dry goods trade, which proved a success from the start. In 1874 Mr. Hieber purchased the interests of his partners and thus became sole owner; soon afterwards, however, he formed a partnership with David E. Williams and William O. Hewitt under the name of John C. Hieber & Co. This continued until 1881 when Mr. Hieber again became sole proprietor of the constantly growing business.
In 1882 the present firm of John C. Hieber & Co. was organized, the individual partners being Mr. Hieber, David E. Williams, J. Frank Day and Isaac O. Roberts.
Mr. Hieber's business career covers a period of thirty-four years, all of it being spent in Utica. Coming to this country a stranger, without money or friends, but with great energy, courage and laudable ambition, he has by his own efforts forged ahead and stands to-day among the foremost merchants of the State. He is pre- eminently a self-made man. His success is due chiefly to indefatigable idustry, in- domitable perseverance, close attention to details and great executive ability. By practicing economy he was enabled to start in business for himself at a time when others endowed with less foresight would have been content to work for nominal salaries. He had carefully studied human nature and the elements of business affairs and with characteristic zeal had grasped those principles of trade which invariably lead to successful ends. As a retail dealer he met the needs of the public with commendable enterprise, and in this capacity added to his already large experi- ence. In the wholesale line he found a wider field for the exercise of his business ability, his native energy and his enterprising spirit. To him was mainly due the success attained during the earlier years of the firm, and to him is almost wholly due the building up and continuance of the largest and most complete dry goods estab- lishment not only in Utica and Oneida coanty, but in Central New York.
In 1893 he built the present handsome and commodious brick block on Main street for the exclusive use of the business.
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Mr. Hieber has always taken a keen interest in public affairs and in the prosperity of the city, but his extensive business interests have never admitted of his accepting political office. He is public-spirited and progressive, and above all patriotic, and is one of the foremost citizens of Utica. He is a member and for several years has been a trustee of the English Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and is also a well-known Mason, holding membership in Oriental Lodge F. & A. M. and Oneida Chapter R. A. M. He is also a charter member of the Business Men's Exchange of Utica.
On September 22, 1862, Mr. Hieber was married to Miss Barbara Neeger, daugh- ter of George Neeger, of Marcy, Oneida county. This union has been blessed with nine children, of whom six are living, Theodore W., Eugene A., George M., Lena, Flora E., and Matilda C. Theodore W., and Eugene A. are associated with their father in the business.
LADD J. LEWIS.
LADD JOHN LEWIS was born in the town of Orangeville, Wyoming county, N. Y., December 22, 1845, and is the third child and eldest son of Jolin L. and Lois (Squier) Lewis, natives of Rhode Island and this State respectively. Members of the Lewis family were somewhat prominent in the Revolutionary war, one of whom was a member of General Washington's staff, and have always borne active parts in local affairs. The lineage dates back to 1661, when John Lewis settled in Westerly, R. I., coming there presumably (which is quite well verified) from Wales via Boston and Newport. The line is as follows: 1 John, 2 Samuel, 3 Jonathan, 4 Jonathan, 5 Jonathan, 6 Moses, 7 John Ladd, and 8 Ladd John. John Ladd Lewis (7) was born in Exeter, R. I., May 1, 1811, in the same house in which was born his father and grandfather. This historic homestead was built about 1740 by his great-grand. father, Jonathan Lewis, of the fourth generation in America, and is still standing and occupied as a residence. John L. died January 24, 1889, in Johnsonsburg, Wyom- ing county, N. Y., having been a resident of that town (Orangeville), except one year, since 1818. His wife Lois, born near Fosterville, Cayuga county, August 27, 1819, was a daughter of Gurdon and Dolly (Foster) Squier, and is living in Warsaw. N. Y. Jonathan Foster, father of Dolly (Foster) Squier, fought at Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary war, while her husband, Gurdon Squier, served, prior to their mar- riage, in the war of 1812, being taken prisoner by the British at Queenston with General Scott, carried to Quebec, and exchanged. Dolly (Foster) Squier lived to be almost ninety-nine years of age. She was three times married, Lois (Squier) Lewis being a daughter by the second marriage. John L. and Lois Lewis had six chil- dren, all of whom attained maturity, married, and had families.
Ladd J. Lewis spent his boyhood and youth on the parental farm, helping his father during the summer months and attending the district school during the win- ters. The homestead was small, and when he had reached the age of fifteen the younger sons were old enough to render such assistance as was necessary to carry on the place. He therefore sought and obtained employment by the month, and for four summers worked for farmers in the neighborhood. His winters were spent in school, one term being passed in Genesee Seminary at Alexander, N. Y. Before
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reaching the age of eighteen he began teaching school and continued during three winter terms. When twenty, being desirous of a practical business education, he entered Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and was graduated therefrom in 1865. Early in the year 1866 he became shipping clerk and assistant bookkeeper for S. A. Millard & Co., manufacturers of agricultural implements at Clayville, Oneida county, with whom he remained until the fall of 1869.
Mr. Lewis then moved to Grand Rapids, Mich., and accepted a position as cashier and bookkeeper for Henry S. Smith, a manufacturer of agricultural implements, with whom he was admitted to partnership in 1873 under the firm name of Henry S. Smith & Co. Mr. Lewis early became identified with the school interests of that city and in 1876 was elected in a strong Democratic ward, a member of the Board of Education, consisting of seventeen members including the mayor. He was asso- ciated with that body for six years, or three successive terms, and for two years served as its president. While officiating in that capacity he twice refused the nomi- nation for mayor of the city and once declined an election to the State Assembly. These honors, coming as they did entirely unsought, aud when he was but thirty-one years of age, well illustrate Mr. Lewis's high standing in the community and the esteem and confidence in which he was held by his fellow citizens. He had won the respect of not only the adherents of his own party, the Republican, but of his political opponents as well, and was conspicuous for his impartiality, honesty, integrity, and uprightness.
In 1884 Mr. Lewis sold out his business interests in Grand Rapids and removed to New Hartford, Oneida county, where he has since resided. Here he had purchased an interest in and in the fall of 1883 became one of the incorporators of what is now the Utica Tool Company,1 located at Washington Mills, and from that time until the present has served either as its treasurer or secretary, holding now the latter office. Here he has become prominently identified with the town, of which he was elected supervisor March 3, 1896. Prior to this he served for six years as a member of the Board of Education of the village of New Hartford. He is a member of Amicable Lodge, No. 664, F. & A. M., of Washington Mills, of Imperial Council, No. 70, R. A., of Utica, and of the New Hartford Presbyterian church. Mr. Lewis is a generous promoter of every project having the welfare and advancement of the community at heart and is actively interested in town and public affairs. For several years he has been engaged in preparing a genealogy of his family and after much research has traced the lineage back to 1661, as previously mentioned. He has a large amount of valuable matter relating to the subject which he expects soon to have published.
Mr. Lewis was married on September 22, 1870, to Miss Alice M., daughter of Sam- uel S. and Samantha Bailey (Gill) Eldridge, of Warsaw, Wyoming county, and they have had six children: Ladd J., jr., Nellie L., Alice Louise, and Frances E., who are living, and Helen L., and Eldridge E., deceased.
1 A sketch of this industry appears in the article devoted to Charles H. Philo, which see.
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EDWARD CURRAN.
EDWARD CURRAN, a life-long citizen of Utica, was not only a prominent business man, but a public benefactor whose memory will forever illuminate local annals and shed its wholesome influence upon coming generations. His paternal grandfather, Henry Curran, was born in Millnisgay, Ireland, the youngest child of Dennis and Ann (Weldon) Curran, and was reared and bred a tanner. About 1780 he married Ann Kelly in his native village, and some years later emigrated to America, pur- chasing an unbroken farm in Williamstown, Oswego county, N. Y., and settling thereon about the year 1800. There his son Edward, father of the subject of this memoir, was born November 10, 1803. The country then was an almost unbroken wilderness, and after several years of persistent toil and no little adversity incident to frontier life the family removed to Lansingburg, N. Y., where during the next years their fortunes were retrieved. Thence they returned to the original farm in Williamstown, where the pioneer Henry died August 20, 1860, aged nearly 100. He was a member of the Methodist church and lived a consistent Christian gentleman. He had ten children, of whom Edward, sr., was the youngest. The latter learned the trade of tanner and currier in Waterford, Saratoga county, and when nineteen came to Utica as foreman in charge of the large tannery of David P. Hoyt. where he remained several years. In 1829 he formed a co-partnership with Hon. Alrick Hub- bell and commenced business for himself. The firm of Hubbell & Curran continued successfully as dealers in hides and leather until March 1, 1855, when Mr. Curran purchased his partner's interest and carried on the establishment until his deatlı on June 27, 1856. Edward Curran sr., married first, Amanda Minerva Hamilton Bart- lett, daughter of Robert and Esther (Reed) Bartlett, who was born in Boston, Mass., January 13, 1807, and who died in Utica December 31, 1837. They had five children : Celia Frances, born April 26, 1829; Charles Carroll, born October 9, 1830, died Sep- tember 9, 1858; Amanda Maria, born February 1, 1833, died November 13, 1838: Edward, the subject of this sketch; and Horatio Bartlett, born October 2, 1837. Mr. Curran married, second, May 7, 1839, Mary, daughter of George and Chloe (Sweeting) Langford, and a native of Westmoreland, Oneida county. Their children were George Langford, born March 10, 1840, of Utica; Henry Hast- ings, born September 27, 1841, who left Hamilton college in 1861 to enlist in the 146th N. Y. Vols., was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and was killed at the battle of the Wilderness May 5, 1864; Philip Clinton, born June 28, 1843, who in August, 1861, after completing his sophomore year in college, enlisted as sergeant in Co. B, 146th N. V. Vols., was discharged on account of ill health March 11, 1863, and died in Utica December 17, 1877; Mary Langford, born March 9, 1846; and John Elliott, born May 25, 1848, who became a magazine writer of considerable note, and died in Englewood, N. J., May 18, 1890.
Edward Curran, the fourth of the five children of Edward and Amanda M. H. (Bartlett) Curran, was born in Utica, N. Y., February 25, 1835, his father's home at that time being on Main street, near the site of the present New York Central depot. His education was obtained in the advanced school and academy of the city, at the De Lancey Institute in Hampton, and at the Ellington (Conn.) Academy. On leaving the latter institution he entered Hamilton College, from which he was graduated
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with high honors, and with membership in Alpha Delta Phi, in 1856. It was his in- tention to enter the ministry, for which he was peculiarly fitted by nature, but the death of his father immediately after his graduation materially changed his plans. The old hide and leather business founded by Edward, sr., in 1829 was at this time carried on under the firm name of Curran & Son, the junior partner being Charles C. Upon his father sdeath Mr. Curran went into the store, forming the firm of Edward Curran's Sons, a name that has ever since been retained. After the death of Charles C. in 1858 another brother, George L., succeeded him and still continues the business. The house has always handled hides, leather and shoemakers' findings. It is one of the oldest and best known in the State, and among the most interesting landmarks of the city. Its business operations have from the first extended not only through- out New York, but into adjoining States and the West, and to the various details Mr. Curran brought an intimate knowledge, rare executive ability, and great energy. In his dealings he won universal confidence and respect, and was always regarded as a man of the strictest integrity and uprightness of purpose.
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