Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 75

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 75

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

to seek a more genial climate. He sailed soon after for St. Augustine, Florida, where he died within a month after his arrival. His remains were returned to New Jersey and lie buried in the church yard at Princeton, where his family resided at the time of his death.

Mr. White was personally popular with all who were favored with his acquaint- ance. General Bernard, a French engineer in the service of the United States, re- marked of him, "that as a civil engineer he had no superior; his genius and inge- nuity were of a surprising magnitude; his mild and gentle ways, his sweet and amiable temper, his modest and retiring manners," won universal respect and con- fidence. When the project of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was first set on foot and an engineer was wanted for its construction, Henry Clay said: "Get Canvass White; no man is more competent ; no man more capable; and while your faith in his ability and fidelity increases, your friendship will grow into affection." Mr. White, in his day, stood at the head of American canal engineers, and his strength lay in his cool, practical judgment. The comprehensive nature of his mind, through which, at a glance, he grasped the salient points of a subject, and his systematic habit of arranging details, enabled him to accomplish an extraordinary amount of professional work. In stature he was five feet nine and one-half inches, and weighed from 145 to 165 pounds. The most prominent and striking feature in the general contour of his person was an unmistakable impress of genius, modesty and amia- bility.

WILLIAM CLARK YOUNG.

It seems rather strange to chronicle that another grandson of the pioneer White should have been as instrumental in the development of the railroads of the State of New York and adjoining States as Canvass White was instrumental in developing the canals of the State. In fact William C. Young, born November 25, 1799, and a son of Mary Stone White, a daughter of Hugh White, the pioneer, and who married John Young, the founder of Youngstown, has been as instrumental as any man in the State in the practical development of railroading. He received his education in Whitestown, at- taining some knowledge of Latin, geometry and surveying, aside from the ordinary schooling of the period. At sixteen years of age he was assistant surveyor of the Is- lands of Lake Ontario for the State of New York ; the next year a rod man locating the Erie Canal and participating in the ceremony of "ground breaking" for the work at Rome July 4th, 1817 ; the next year he was a cadet at West Point in a class of 125 mem- bers, and graduated No. twelve in his class in 1822. After four years given to army life he resigned June 30th, 1826, and engaged in superintending the locating and constructing of railroads in New York State. In 1831 while making the survey of the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, Mr. Young proposed and practically intro- duced the present system of supporting car rails on the road bed, and introduced the use of cross ties in lieu of the stone blocks and foundations which formerly sustained the strip of railroad iron in place ; the advantages gained by this method in ex- pediting the work and lessening the cost of construction were so obvious that its general adoption was immediate and constituted a marked advance in the his- tory of railroad construction. He was subsequently appointed chief engineer of construction and superintendent of the Utica & Schenectady Road, which

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

he completed after sixteen years of unremitting toil. In 1849 he was made chief engineer of the Hudson River Railroad, which ran between Albany and New York city, and although the original surveys had been made by a man of no less prominence than J. B. Jervis, and on Mr. Jervis' retirement from the position of chief engineer, he had enjoined upon the management that under no cir- cumstances should the line of road be altered. nevertheless the ability, energy and common sense of Mr. Young, together with the estimates showing a less cost, en- abled Mr. Young to re-survey and re-locate two-thirds of the road. On the com- pletion of the road in October, 1851, Mr. Young was elected president of the Hudson River Railroad Co. He resigned the position the following January, as his profes- sional duties in out door work were more to his taste than the confinements of rout- ine work in the office. He had already spent twenty-one years of his life (from 1831 to 1852) in locating and constructing the three roads above mentioned, aggregating in length about 250 miles. In 1852 he was called upon by the president of the Panama Railroad Company to complete that road across the Isthmus of Panama, which he undertook and while there nearly died of the fever, so had to withdraw from the Isthmus. In 1855 Mr. Young had charge of the western branch of the New York & Western Railroad from Rochester to Buffalo, some 200 miles of road, and a monthly disbursement of $150,000, which he continued in charge of for about two years and then resigned. There were numerous other important railroad surveys with which William C. Young was connected, and it must be taken into considera- tion that in his connection with the building of the Hudson River Railroad from New York to Albany, it was looked upon in his day as the most foolish venture pos- sible, as it was in direct competition with the Hudson River the entire distance, the theory being, that railroads might pay in countries where it was impossible to operate canals, but they never could pay in direct competition with water ways. Mr. Young, speaking of his cousin, Canvass White, said: "On his return from England he brought with him the instruments for laying out canals, the plans and the design for the canal boats and became the most practical man in canal making ; and with Judge Wright co-operated in making much of the Erie Canal." It is fairly evident fron the work of these two men, that one was as instrumental in the developing the water ways of the State as the other in developing the steam power of the State. Mr. Young died in December, 1894, having been for four years prior to his death the oldest living graduate of West Point, and entitled by reason thereof to deliver the annual address.

PHILO WHITE.

Another grandson of Hugh White, the pioneer, was Philo White, who was the son of Philo White, son of the pioneer. He was born in Whitestown June 23, 1796, and after attaining his early education at Whitestown Seminary, and having spent some years in a printing office in Utica, he removed to North Carolina in 1820, where he located at Salisbury, Rowan county, and became the editor of the Western Caro- linian, which he conducted until 1830, when he was appointed U. S. Navy agent for the Pacific station. Returning home in 1834, he established the North Carolina Standard at Raleigh, and was elected State printer. Philo White removed to Wis- consin at an early period of its territorial existence and fixed his residence at Racine.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

He was the editor of several newspapers at different periods. In 1847 he was chosen one of the Council of the Territorial Legislature, and in the following year was elected to the Senate of the State Legislature. As chairman of the Committee of Education he shared largely in devising the present system of public instruction in that State. At a later period he acted in the founding of Racine College under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal church of that diocese. In 1852 he was chosen one of the presidential electors of Wisconsin. In 1849 Mr. White was ap- pointed United States consul to the Hanseatic republic of Hamburg, and resided there for one or two years. In 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce United States minister to Ecuador in South America, and in the autumn of that year went with his family to Quito, the scene of his diplomatic duties; receiving from the president the highest office in his gift, which is literally true, as the geographical location of Quito in the Andes is 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and there is no other city of national government that is conducted at such a high altitude. Mr. White was of medium height, 5 feet, 7 inches, and slight build; remarkably active in his habits; his conversation somewhat rapid, but gracefully intoned and full of pleasant recollections and acute observations. Mr. White returned to Whitestown in 1858, and in 1860 donated to the town the original plot of ground which was donated by his grandfather, Hugh White, as a site for a court house and public green, which through some technicality of the original deed had reverted to the heirs; and the citizens in addition to accepting the gift placed in the hall an oil portrait of Philo White He died in Whitestown, February 15, 1883, at the age of eighty-six years.

FORTUNE C. WHITE.

Another grandson of Hugh White, the pioneer, was Hon. Fortune Clark White, son of Col. Daniel Clark White. He was born in Whitestown, N. Y., July 10, 1787. He was a prominent lawyer in the county of Oneida, having studied law in the office of Judge Jonas Platt, and for nearly half a century maintained a prominent position in the most brilliant bar west of Albany at that day. He was elected the first chief judge of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Oneida county from 1837 to 1843, and attained a high reputation as a jurist and an able expounder of the law.

Endowed with a commanding presence and a proclivity for marshal display, he was a member of the New York State militia, serving in two campaigns in the war with Great Britain in 1812, being in command of a company at Sackett's Harbor in 1813, and aide-de-camp to General Collins in 1814. He was twice a member of the Legislature. He died at Whitestown August 27, 1866, leaving four sons and one daughter.

WILLIAM MANSFIELD WHITE.

William Mansfield White, son of Hon. Hugh White and Maria Mills Mansfield White, and a great-grandson of Judge Hugh White, the founder of Whitestown, was born in Waterford, Saratoga county, N. Y., July 8, 1833. He was a worthy representative of the Whitestown pioneer, and bore with distinction the ennobling

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

characteristics of his race. When twelve years of age he was sent to Galway Academy, then under the charge of Prof. Charles Durkee, a leading educator at that time. In the autumn of 1846 he entered the Military School of Professor Kinsley at West Point, where he spent three years. There the drill of body and mind was most thorough, and the morals of the school elevating and religious. Soon after leaving that institution he entered the Sophomore class of Hamilton Col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1854.

His father owned Sweet Briar Farm in the town of Ossian, Livingston county, N. Y., and here Mr. White spent his vacations and resided during his early married life. Mr. White was married on January 22, 1863, to Anna Maria, daughter of the late William Constable Pierrepont, of Pierrepont Manor, N. Y., the ceremony being performed by the Rt. Rev. Bishop De Lancey. She died in Utica, on September 22, 1884. Mr. White came to Utica on the 1st of September, 1882, chiefly to give his large family the benefit of the excellent educational advantages to be had in this section where his ancestors had figured prominently through a period from its earliest settlement, and near which a part of his boyhood had been spent at Hamil- ton College. It is a rather curious coincidence that Mr. White in coming to Utica in September, 1882, with his five sons and five daughters, arrived ninety-eight years after the original settlement of Whitestown by Hugh White, the pioneer, who arrived June 5, 1784, with his five sons. It was but a very short time after Mr. White took up his residence in Utica, that he was looked upon as one of her leading citizens, and as the most charitable man in Utica. His magnificent physique was a fitting covering for the noble and generous heart it contained. His nature was that of our highest idea of a nobleman, a man too ennobling to even allow a dishonest thought to enter his mind, and whose sympathy with those afflicted with earthly troubles was so great that if an idea of their needing assistance reached him he did not wait to be asked, but went out of his way to give it without the asking. People quickly came to know him as a broad-minded, progressive, generous and noble man, vigorous and sound in body; he became identified with various local busi ness interests, and became a guiding spirit in each and all. In January, 1889, he was elected without his knowledge a director in the Second National Bank, and on the death of its president, Edward S. Brayton, he was unanimously elected to the presidency, a position he held during the remainder of his life. Under his management the present handsome block, which is one of the finest banking buildings in Central New York, was built in 1893 and 1894, Mr. White being the leading member of the building committee. He was vice-president and one of the organizers of the Utica Pipe Foundry; a director in the Utica and Mohawk Street Railroad Company ; a director in the Jefferson County National Bank of Watertown ; and from 1871 until his death a director in the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad Company, being one of the oldest officers of that corporation. After the death of his father-in-law, the late William C. Pierrepont, as one of the executors of the Pierrepont estate, he had the active charge and management of this large landed property in Northern New York. He was an active member of the Oneida His- torical Society, and for several years served as its first vice-president. When the village of Whitestown celebrated its Centennial anniversary, June 5, 1884, he was selected to preside, and aided in erecting a monument on the village green to com- memorate the event.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

In politics Mr. White was an ardent Republican, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont for president, and for some time was a prominent political factor in the southern tier of counties during his residence at Sweet Briar Farm. He never de- sired public office, however, but frequently acted as a delegate to State and other conventions of his party.

He was pre-eminently the leading layman of the Episcopal church of Central and Western New York, and for thirty years served as delegate to diocesan conventions, and for fifteen years attended the general councils. He was warden of Trinity church, Canaseraga, and at Zion church, Pierrepont Manor, succeeded his father-in- law as warden there. On coming to Utica he was chosen vestryman of Grace church, and upon the death of Lucius C. Childs, became warden in his place. He was a member of the standing committee of the Central New York Diocese, and was appointed lay reader by Bishop Huntington. At one time he was a trustee of Hobart College. He was president of the New York State Agricultural Society; and ex officio trustee of Cornell University. He was a liberal supporter and for several years president, of St. Luke's Home and Hospital, and in the spring of 1895 was ap- pointed one of the managers of the Utica State Hospital. He was also a director of the Utica Female Seminary; president of the Utica Country Club; also a member and for three years one of the board of managers of the Fort Schuyler Club. In all of these positions he served with great credit and ability, and won the respect and confidence of every one with whom he came in contact.

He was the soul of honor, frank, generous, kind and courteous, hospitable and benevolent, and a friend and promoter of charities, hospitals, churches, educational and business enterprises. He was pre-eminently a model citizen, public spirited, enterprising and successful, and enjoyed a wide acquaintance and a host of warm friends. In his own home, however, he found his chief enjoyment, and it was his devotion to his family which was perhaps the strongest trait of Mr. White's charac- ter. His care of his children, his interest in their welfare, the indelible impress of his cheerful nature and his constant utterances imbuing them with the purest sense of manhood. He loved freedom and progress, and in all the affairs of life he attained a degree of success and perfection that is seldom equaled. He died on the 2d of January, 1896, survived by his eleven children, six being sons and five daughters. The oldest, Hugh, now the active manager of the Pierrepont landed estate in Northern New York, and a director of the Utica Pipe Foundry; William Pierrepont, a graduate of the Utica Free Academy and of the Columbia Law School, a practicing attorney in Utica, a director of the Second National Bank, recording secretary of the Oneida Historical Society, secretary of the Fort Schuyler Club, and secretary of the Oneida County League for Good Roads; Anna Maria; H. Lawrence, a director and assistant superintendent of the Utica Drop Forge and Tool Company; Florilla Mansfield; Mary Pierrepont; Cornelia But- ler; Isabel; De Lancey Pierrepont; Charles Carroll; and John Dolbeare; the last four of whom are at schools preparatory for college.

Mr. White was of a commanding and perhaps austere appearance, being fully six feet in height, with very broad shoulders, and weighing 250 pounds. His hair was brown and his eye blue, and he always wore a smooth face.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

EDWIN A. HARVEY.

EDWIN AUGUSTUS HIARVEY was the only child of Ambrose and Sophronia (Brace) Harvey and was born in the town of Vienna, Oneida county, January 27, 1842. He descended from an old Connecticut family whose members for several generations were honored citizens of East Haddam, and from a family which has furnished gov- ernors of the States of Wisconsin, Kansas and New Hampshire, a general of the U. S. army, and several justices of State Supreme Court. Thomas and Jane (Hunger- ford) Harvey lived and died in East Haddam. Their fourth child was Robert, who was born there December 26, 1731, and who had by his wife Rachel a son Jonathan, born January 28, 1761, who enlisted in the Revolutionary army at the age of sixteen, rose to the rank of a sergeant and afterwards became a Baptist minister. Jonathan married Fannah Burdick and had children as follows: Jonathan, jr., born December 18, 1793; Sylvanus, born June 17, 1795; Sila born October 15, 1798; Elnathan, born May 9, 1801; Asa, born April 30, 1803; Ambrose, born October 30, 1805; Robert, born April 16, 1809; and Morris, born July 20, 1810. Of these Jonathan, jr., Elnathan, Robert and Ambrose came to the town of Vienna when young men and spent the remainder of their lives as farmers in Oneida county. Ambrose Harvey was a native of Frankfort, N. Y., and died in Camden, Oneida county, February 18, 1876. July 15, 1840, he married Sophronia, daughter of Rial Brace, an early settler from Connecticut on Preston Hill in the town of Camden. She was born here February 16, 1810, and died January 16, 1886.

Edwin A. Harvey was reared on his father's farm in Vienna, and spent his sum- mers in agricultural pursuits and his winters in attending the district school. In these alternating occupations he acquired not only a robust physique and a sturdy constitution, but habits of thrift and a fund of practical knowledge which proved in- dispensable in after life.

These elements, combined with inherited characteristics of a high order, enabled him to engage in business enterprises of more than ordinary importance. He left school at the age of eleven years, but remained on the farm until he was fifteen, with the exception of a short period spent in the employ of Rev. Elijah Gaylord, at that time a manufacturer of hand rakes in Camden.

From that time and until 1864 he was engaged in various occupations, including three years in a shingle mill. In 1864 he came to Camden and with L. S. Sanford engaged in the produce and grocery business. Twelve months later he purchased Mr. Sanford's interest and successfully continued the business alone until 1894, when he sold out and retired to private life, largely on account of ill health.

To his stock of groceries Mr. Harvey soon added a complete line of drugs and combined the two with success and profit. Mr. Harvey was a licensed pharmacist and during one year was elected president of the Oneida County Druggists' Association. Mr. Harvey started in business with comparatively no capital, but by industry and careful management he succeeded in accumulating a competency. He was emphati- cally a self-made man. From a farmer's boy with limited advantages he became one of the largest real estate owners in Camden, and several handsome blocks and dwellings, mainly erected by him, are the result of his enterprise.

In politics he was an ardent Democrat, but his varied business interests generally

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HARRISON LAMB.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

prevented him from accepting public office, though often urged to do so by his fellow- citizens. Locally, however, his public spirit led him into several positions of honor. He was for eight terms a trustee of the village of Camden and for several years a valuable member of the Board of Education. He was for four years a mem- ber of the Board of Water Commissioners and during the whole of that period acted as treasurer of the board.

He was also for a number of years treasurer of the village and for some time was a trustee of the M. E. church, of which he became a member in 1872. He was at one time actively engaged in the manufacture of canned goods in Camden, being a member of the firms of Harvey & Newland and Harvey & Godrey.

He was a prominent member of Philanthropic Lodge, No. 164, F. & A. M., and for fourteen years was its treasurer.

He was also for a number of years a trustee of the Camden Cemetery Association. Mr. Harvey was elected vice-president of the First National Bank of Camden Jan- uary 12, 1885, to which office he was annually re-elected and filled at the time of his death. In the welfare and prosperity of the village, in educational, religious, and all moral movements, Mr. Harvey always took a deep and frequently an active interest.

He was public spirited, enterprising, and liberally encouraged every worthy project. As a citizen he took a just pride in the advancement of the community, and as a large property owner he generously supported those enterprises which promise the largest amount of good. His loyalty to home interests was most commendable. He died in Camden, July 6, 1896. The Utica Daily Press of July 7, said of him: "Mr. Harvey was a man of the strictest integrity and honesty, of a kind and generous dis- position, as many who have received substantial aid from him in their necessity will remember. To those in his employ he was firm, but courteous, and he always treated them as though they were his equals and deserving of his respect. To his family he was the kindest of husbands and most affectionate of fathers. He was of a jovial disposition and an interesting conversationalist."

Mr. Harvey was married on the 30th of March, 1861, to Miss Caroline P., daughter of Artemus and Parthenia (Cain) Peck, of Camden, and they had five children: Clara Augusta (Mrs. William I. Stoddard), Mary Sophironia (Mrs. Selden L. Hard- ing), Edwin Clinton (a law student with Jones, Townsend & Rudd, of Utica), Mil- dred Edwina, and Chester Danforth, all residents of Camden.

HARRISON LAMB.

HARRISON LAMB Was a son of Silas Lamb, who came from Massachusetts in 1812. He resided for a short period in Otsego county, but finding the prospect there unin- viting he concluded to push on further west. By means of the mode of travel of those days he made his way to Stockbridge, Madison county, where he settled and engaged at farming until 1836. He was a pioneer in the town of Stockbridge and

()UR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

was one of the foremost citizens in developing and aiding in the progress of his adopted town and county. He was descended from English stock and his imme- diate ancestors had resided a sufficient time in New England to endow him with traits of industry and frugality, and these coupled with good management con- tributed to his success in his chosen field of work. In 1836 Mr. Lamb removed to Scriba, Oswego county, where he lived until his death in 1857.

He married Lucene Pratt, also a native of Massachusetts, who shared his hard- ships and devoted her energy to the bringing forth a successful result. She died on the same day as did her husband, and they went to their final rest in the same grave. Harrison Lamb, the subject of portrait, was the fifth child in a family of ten, and was born in 1813. He received his education at the common schools of Stockbridge, and when his school days being ended he apprenticed himself to a clothier, of whom he learned the trade of cloth making. After learning his trade Mr. Lamb engaged in the business of cloth manufacture at Saloam, Madison, and continued in that line until he was thirty years of age. He then bought a farm in his native town which he carried on with marked success until 1880. At that time he retired from active work and removed to Oneida Castle, where he now resides. While a resident of Madison county Mr. Lamb was prominent and earnest in all matters pertaining to the advancement and improvement of his town and county. He has always been held in the highest esteem by all who have had his acquaintance. Mr. Lamb has been married three times, his third and pres- ent wife being a native of Lenox, Madison county, where she was born in 1829. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Fox. She married a Mr. Bridge, who died some years prior to her marriage to Mr. Lamb in 1880.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 75

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