Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 76

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 76

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Mr. Lamb has three children, two daughters and one son. His daughter Harriet E. married J. F. Holdridge, now living in Stockbridge, and Mary A. married J. F. Morrison, a prosperous farmer at Sherrill, Oneida county.

BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT.

AMONG the foremost educators of the last generation in the State of New York Benjamin Woodley Dwight was unquestionably one of the ablest and most success- ful. He possessed in a remarkable degree the element which, combined with other qualifications, made him a master molder and developer of the student mind. He was a man of large mind and broad education, with keen perceptibilities and the faculty of inspiring the scholars with whom he came in contact with a zeal that car- ried them resolutely into the work in hand, and over all the obstacles to success. His heart and mind and energy entered into the labor as only those can who have a natural adaptability as an instructor. Those who were so fortunate as to come un- der his instruction in school life became imbued with his enthusiasm to such a de- gree that they carried it with them out into the various walks of life. He had the reputation among them of being the "livest " teacher that ever led a class.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Mr. Dwight was born at New Haven, Conn., April 5, 1816. He graduated at Hamilton College in the class of 1835, and the same year entered the New Haven Theological Seminary to prepare for the ministry. He completed his course there in 1838 and the following year returned to Hamilton College as tutor, which position he occupied till 1842. He then went to Joliet, Ill., where by great effort he founded the Presbyterian church, remaining there two years. His desire to teach was so strong, however, that he resigned his pastorate and came east to Brooklyn, where he established Dwight's High School. This he conducted with signal success from 1846 to 1858.

Clinton was then as it is to-day an educational center, with the additional stimulus of beautiful environments, the gift of nature. Mr. Dwight decided to return to Clin- ton and establish a school. Therefore in the fall of 1858 he opened Dwight's Rural High School. His reputation as a teacher insured him success from the start, and from that time to 1863 Dwight's Rural High School was one of the leading educa- tional institutions of the State.

Prof. Dwight had in the mean while been an earnest, indefatigable worker in the field of literature, and the time found him with such an amount of this kind of work on hand, he retired from the school to devote himself to literary work. The school then passed into the hands of Prof David Holbrook.

Prof. Dwight was the author of several noted works in various fields of thought. His work on Modern Philology is one of the standard text books of the time. " Higher Christian Education," "Woman's Higher Culture " and the " True Doctrine of Divine Providence" were among the later publications. Beside these he wrote a history of the Dwight family, also one of the Strong family, the latter being that of his mother. He received the degree of Ph. D. from Columbia College. His father was Dr. Benjamin Woolsey Dwight, born at Northampton, Mass., Febrbary 10, 1780. He graduated at Yale College in 1799 and received his medical education in Philadel- phia. Physical disability, however, prevented him from actively prosecuting his professional work, so he entered into business in New Haven. He married, in 1815, Sophia Woodbridge, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Sophia (Woodbridge) Strong. They later moved to Catskill and in 1831 to Clinton. Dr. Dwight was for nineteen years treasurer of Hamilton College. He died May 18, 1850, and his wife, Sophia (Wood- bridge) Dwight, died December 3, 1861.

Prof. Dwight married Charlotte S., daughter of Townsend and Ann Norris Parish of Oyster Bay, Long Island. Mrs. Dwight was educated at Willoughby, Ohio, and was subsequently for several years principal of Ingham University at Leroy, N. Y. She is a lady of broad intellect and extensive culture. She has one daughter, Bertha Woolsey, who is at home,

WILLARD J. FRISBIE.

WILLARD JAMES FRISBIE, youngest child and only son of James and Julia A. Fris- bie, was born in the town of Camden, Oneida county, N. Y., April 14, 1848. His

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

parents were of English descent and of New England lineage, and lived in Camden for many years. His father died in 1864 and his mother April 29, 1895, aged re- spec'ively sixty-four and eighty-four. He received his education in Camden Acad- emy, and immediately after leaving that institution entered the banking-house of A. Curtiss & Carman in Camden village, where he remained about seven years, filling the positions of clerk, bookkeeper and teller. He then formed a partnership with William H. Stanfield, under the style of Frisbie & Stanfield, and engaged in the retail dry goods business in Camden, which was successfully continued from December 1, 1873, to April 1, 1884, when they sold out to C. A. & A. C. Phelps. In 1881 the firm of Frisbie & Stanfield commenced the manufacture of knit goods, and in 1883 built the factory now occupied by the Corbin Cabinet Lock Works in Canı- den village. In 1887 they purchased the old Costello tannery property and water- power on the south side of Fish Creek and converted it into a woolen-yarn mill, and in March, 1891, their entire establishment was moved to these premises. On the latter date the firm adopted its present style of the Camden Knitting Company. The third partner in the concern is Charles F. Kendall, a practical man, who has been identified with the business from the start and as an active member since 1891. The firm manufactures ladies' and children's ribbed underwear, making a specialty of ladies' combination suits, and from modest beginning has built up a trade which extends throughout the United States. About 175 operatives are employed. In 1893 the firm established a branch in Syraense, N. Y., known as the Syracuse Knit- ting Company, which manufactures large quantities of knit goods, the resident manager being Mr. Stansfield. In December, 1895, the Kendall Knitting Company was incorporated with a capital of $50,000, the board of directors being Charles F. Kendall, president; William H. Stansfield, vice-president; George A. Frisbie, seere- tary; Willard J. Frisbie, treasurer, and Charles A. Byington, resident manager. This corporation was named in honor of Mr. Kendall, and began active operations on January 1, 1896, in Utica, where the old Bailey Scotch Cap factory in Broad street, was fitted up for the purpose. The company employs about 200 hands.

Mr. Frisbie has been a life-long Republican, and for two termis served as village trustee. He is a prominent and representative business man of Camden, a liberal contributor to all local movements of a public nature, and takes a lively interest in the prosperity and welfare of his native town and village, which has always been his home. He was one of the originators in 1893 of the Camden Opera House, be- came one of its heaviest stockholders, and has continuously been a member of the board of directors.

October 18, 1870, Mr. Frisbie was married to Miss Emma S. Phelps, daughter of Albert Phelps of Camden, and they have two children: George A., a graduate of Colgate Academy, and Ruth L.

DANIEL WARDWELL.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

DANIEL WARDWELL.

THE Wardwell family in America descends from a name prominent in the early days of the Massachusetts colony and in Revolutionary times, and numbers among its members many representatives who have been conspicuous in State and Nation. William Wardwell, who was born in England in 1604, immigrated to this country with the Pilgrims and became a member of the first Congregational church of Bos- ton, which was organized in 1633. His son Urial, born in February, 1639, settled in the town of Bristol, R. I., in 1681, and married Grace Giddings, by whom he had a son John, who married Phebe, daughter of Samuel Howland, on October 11, 1541. Samuel Howland was born in Bristol, R. I., May 24, 1686, and on May 6, 1708, was married by Rev. Mr. Sparhawk to Abigail Cary. Mr. Howland's father, Jabez, born in 1649, was a very active and enterprising officer under Captain Church in King Philip's war, and in 1681, after the conquest of Mount Hope, settled in Bristol. He was a son of John Howland, who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Carver, the first governor of Massachusetts. John Howland and Governor Carver were both members of the immortal band of Pilgrims who came over in the good ship Mayflower and landed on Plymouth Rock on December 22, 1620. The children of John and Phebe (Howland) Wardwell were John, born in June, 1742, married Sally Swan; Nathaniel, born March 29, 1744; Joseph, born March 21, 1747, married Betsey May ; Phebe, born January 23, 1749, married James Smith; Susannah, born January 15, 1751, married Daniel Gladding; Mary (Mrs. Sanford Munroe and afterwards Mrs. Jonah Smith) and Elizabeth, twins, born January 6, 1753; Samuel, born April 25, 1755; Tabitha, born November 25, 1757, married Samuel Bosworth; Daniel, born March 29, 1760, died at sea; Allen Cary, born June 5, 1752; and Allen, born March 1, 1765, married Abigail Smith. Of this large family Joseph, the third, served in the General Assembly of Rhode Island in 1803. An ardent patriot during the Revolu- tion his name appears in a list of subscribers to a fund raised by the people of Bristol, R. I., for the relief of the sufferers in Boston caused by the enforcement of the Bos- ton port bill. Samuel, the eighth, was a member of the Rhode Island Assembly in 1791-93, 1793-97, 1809, and 1810, or nine years in all. Subsequent assemblymen bearing the name were Nathaniel in 1821-23, Hezekiah C. in 1849-51, and William T. C. in 1870-71 and 1875. The latter was State senator in 1872.

Samuel Wardwell, above mentioned, father of Judge Daniel Wardwell, enlisted at the age of twenty in the Rhode Island militia and served two years in the Revolu- tionary war, being taken prisoner by the British and confined in a prison ship in New York. After the war he became prominent in the military service of Rhode Island. In June, 1794, a charter was granted to the Bristol Train of Artillery, the charter members being Mr. Wardwell, William De Wolfe, Samuel V. Peck, and John Bradford, and at the first election of officers on April ?, 1796, Samuel Wardwell was chosen captain with rank in the militia of lieutenant-colonel. This company, by its charter, was made independent of all regiments; when in active service it was to be under the command of the governor of the State only. Its members, which, exclusive of officers, "must not exceed sixty-four in number," were exempted from bearing arms or doing military duty in the militia of the State. In 1797 two brass field- pieces, said to have been captured from the British at the surrender of Burgoyne,

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

were presented to the company by the State, "to be fired on all public occasions," and they are still used for the purposes specified. Col. Samuel Wardwell, under the firm name of Bourne & Wardwell, was also prominently identified with the commerce of Bristol prior to the beginning of this century. The firm owned at one time forty- two vessels and for many years carried on an extensive shipping business. The year Oneida county was formed (1798) Colonel Wardwell purchased in one body 4,000 acres of land in the town of Ellisburg (now Jefferson) then in the county of Oneida. This purchase included the site of the present village of Mannsville. In 1812 he set- tled at what is known as the "Ridge " in Rome, N. Y., where were then located a grist mill and saw mill. There he purchased 285 acres of land, tore away the old grist mill and erected a new one (on the site of the Rome water works), which stood until 1868. In 1815 he sold forty acres and the business part of the "Ridge Mills" to David Driggs, and the remainder of his land to the grandfather of the late Dr. M. Calvin West.

The children of Col. Samuel and Lydia (Wardwell) Wardwell were Nathaniel, born September 20, 1778, married Dolly Fales, and died in Ellisburg, N. Y., November 16, 1857; Nancy, born September 25, 1780, married John M. Bourne, and died at Providence, R. I., in 1856; Jonathan, born January 30, 1783, died at sea in 1805; Sarah, born January 21, 1785, married Thomas Peckham; Lydia, born September 10, 1786, married Allen Smith; Samuel, born June 14, 1788, married Hannah Monroe, and died at Mannsville, N. Y., in 1857; Mary, born November 28, 1789, married Joseph C. Wood, and died at Ellisburg, N. Y., in June, 1819; Daniel the subject of this memoir, hereafter mentioned; Henry, born July 9, 1792, was made lieutenant on board the privateer "Yankee " in October, 1814, in the war of 1812-15, and died at Havana, Cuba, in August, 1816; Abby, 1st, born September 17, 1793, died in in- fancy; Abby, 2d, born December 31, 1794, married Henry Wright; and three who died in infancy.

Hon. Daniel Wardwell was born in Bristol, R. I., May 28, 1791, was graduated from Brown University in his native State in 1811, and in 1812 removed with his father to Rome, Oneida county, where he entered the law office of Judge Joshua Hathaway, one of the pioneer lawyers of Fort Stanwix. In 1813 Mr. Wardwell be- came a student in the office of Gold & Sill, of Whitesboro; in 1814 he was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas in Jefferson county; and in January, 1815, he was admitted to the Supreme Court as attorney. In those years he was residing in Adams and Ellisburg, looking after the large landed interests and other property of his father in that part of Jefferson county. In 1816 he became a resident of Rome village, where he practiced his profession during that year and 1817. He then re- turned to Jefferson county and remained until 1821, when, in January, he was ad- mitted to the Supreme Court as counselor. Early in 1821 he opened a law office in Utica and in August was admitted as counselor to the U. S. District Court. In 1822 he took up his permanent residence in Mannsville, N. Y., where he and his brother- in-law, Major H. B. Mann, erected a large cotton factory, which was totally de- stroyed by fire in 1827, when just ready to begin operation. Its destruction entailed a loss to the owners of $10,000.

In 1824 Mr. Wardwell was appointed by Governor Yates side judge of Jefferson county, where he was elected to the Assembly in 1825, 1826, and 1827. In 1826 he

BIOGRAPHICAL.

caused considerable commotion in Albany, New York, and the river counties by in- troducing and advocating in the Assembly a resolution favoring the removal of the State capital to Utica or some other central point. In 1828 there was great political and anti-Masonic excitement in this State. Gen. Andrew Jackson was running for president, De Witt Clinton for governor, and Judge Daniel Wardwell for State sena- tor-all strong Masons high in the order. It was one of the anti-Masonic years. The State was then divided into eight districts, with four senators from each district, and one senator was elected in each district every year. The Fifth district then comprised the counties of Oneida, Jefferson, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, and Oswego. The term of Charles Dayan, of Lewis county, as senator, expired, and in 1828 Judge Daniel Wardwell and William H. Maynard, of Utica, were opposing nominees. Mr. Maynard was one of the brightest legal luminaries of the Oneida county bar; the anti-Masons endorsed him; and as Judge Wardwell was never afraid to " wear his principles on his coat sleeve," he was defeated by about 300. In return the Jefferson county congressional district elected him to Congress for three successive terms, be- ginning in 1830. He had as his colleague during his entire congressional service his first fellow law student. Hon. Samuel Beardsley, with whom he retained a warm personal and political friendship for many years, especially during Andrew Jackson's stormy administration, of which they were staunch supporters, both being warm personal friends of the president. Judge Wardwell was elected for the fourth time from Jefferson county in 1837, and that year was a member of the committee on ways and means. In 1860 he removed to Rome, where he died, universally respected, in March, 1878.

In politics Judge Wardwell was a staunch Democrat of the Jacksonian school until the division of the Democracy in 1848, when he affiliated with the " Free Soil " wing. In 1856 he was a delegate to the Pittsburg convention which nominated John C. Fre- mont for president, and ever after was as firm a Republican as he had been a Dem- ocrat in the palmy days of "Old Hickory." Judge Wardwell was not a legal advo- cate, nor did he engage to any extent in the argument of causes in courts; but he was a good, sound lawyer and a safe counselor, one whose judgment and legal advice were sought after by a large clientage and always relied upon as entirely safe to fol- low. He was widely known and esteemed, not only for his profound knowledge of the law, but also for his many attributes of head and heart. His integrity was never questioned. As a legislator he always labored conscientiously and unceasingly for the interests of his constituents and fully merited the trust and confidence which he received at their hands. He was kind, generous, and indulgent to the poor, a friend whose advice and counsel were often sought, and a man upon whom was placed the utmost reliance.

Judge Wardwell was married at Whitesboro, N. Y., on July 20, 1815, by the Rev. John Frost, to Miss Hetty Mann, daughter of Hon. Newton Mann (whose sketch ap- pears in this work). She was born at Attleboro, Mass., December 16, 1796, and died at Mannsville, N. Y., September 28, 1858. Their children were Abby Mann, born April 11, 1817, married Robert B. Doxtater, and died in 1884 (Mr. Doxtater was the first superintendent of the Rome and Watertown railroad and held that position until his election as president of the Michigan Southern railroad ; while riding over that line, attending to his duties, he was stricken with apoplexy, and died suddenly at La Porte,

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Ind., May 15, 1853, aged thirty-nine years, at the early dawn of a bright and auspicious future); Henry, born July 11, 1819, deceased; Newton Mann, born February 12, 1821, married, first, Elizabeth Jones, deceased, and second, Mrs. Antoinette (Waite) Sutton ; Samuel, born November 14, 1822, admitted to the bar in 1847, married Mary A. Stillman in 1848, and now cashier of the Farmers National Bank of Rome; Julia Doolittle, born January 13, 1828, died June 11, 1831; Charles Carroll, born December 4, 1829, died May 7, 1859; William Wilberforce, born January 15, 1834, married in January, 1860, Elizabeth W. Smith, and now a leading hardware merchant in Rome; John How- land, born December 29, 1837, married Cornelia Comstock; and Edward Herbert, born April 28, 1841 married, first, Josephine Hitchcock, of Utica, deceased, and second her sister Harriet. October 4, 1859, Judge Wardwell married for his second wife, at Adams, N. Y., Letitia W. Smith, who survives him and resides in Rome.

NEWTON MANN.

THE family of this name in America descends in an unbroken line from William Mann, youngest child of Sir Charles Mann, who was born in England in 1607. At a very early day in the history of the Massachusetts colony William Mann immi- grated to this country and settled in Cambridge, where he married, first, Mary Jarred in 1643 and, second, Alice Tiel on June 11, 1657, and where he died in 1662. Rev. Samuel Mann, his only son, was born there July 6, 1647, was grad- uated from Harvard College in 1665, and soon afterward was ordained to the min- istry and settled over the Congregational church in Wrentham, where he remained until his death, May 22, 17719. Ile is recorded as both a "learned minister and a great man," and was the paternal ancestor of Horace Mann, the celebrated New England educator, whose statue graces the State House in Boston. May 19, 1673, he married Esther Ware, of Dedham, and among their children was Samuel, jr .. who was born August 18, 1675, married Zipporah Billings, and died in 1732. Samuel Mann, jr., had thirteen children, of whom the youngest son, Dr. Bezaleel Mann, was born at Attleboro, Mass., June 15, 1724, and died there October 3, 1796; his wife, Bede Carpenter, died in 1793. Dr. Mann was an eminent physician and amassed large wealth. He was an active and influential patriot during the Revolu- tionary war, a member of the Committee of Safety, judge of the Superior Court of Attleboro, and a member of the committee to report upon the first constitution sub- mitted to the people of Massachusetts. llis children were Dr. Preston Mann, a graduate of Brown University and a skillful physician in Newport, R. I., where he entertained Washington and La Fayette during the Revolution ; Dr. J. Milton Mann, also a graduate of Brown University, a physician in Attleboro, Mass., and later in Troy, N. Y., and drowned in the Hudson River; Mary, who married Josiah Draper and was the mother of Virgil Draper, whose portrait and biography appear in this work; Dr. Herbert Mann, a graduate of Brown University, surgeon on the privateer General Arnold during the Revolutionary war, and frozen to death at sea; Newton Mann, the subject of this memoir, subsequently mentioned; and Eunice, who mar-

NEWTON MANN.

101

BIOGRAPHICAL,

ried Dr. Seth Capron, who was graduated from Brown University, studied medicine with her father, and served in the war of the Revolution.

Newton Mann was born in Attleboro, Mass., in 1770, and inherited all the noble attributes of mind and body which distinguished his scholarly ancestors. He early imbibed those underlying principles of manhood that characterize the respected citizen. His education was obtained in his native town where he remained till about 1806, when he came with Dr. Seth Capron and his family and the widow of Dr. J. Milton Mann and her children to Whitesboro, Oneida county, N. Y., for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture of cotton goods, which Dr. Capron had closely studied in New England. With Dr. Capron, Benjamin S. Walcott, Theo- dore Sill,1 and Thomas R. Gold, he at once organized a stock company and erected on Sanquoit Creek, on the site of the present New York Mills, the first cotton factory in this State. Mr. Mann was the principal stockholder. The Oriskany Woolen Mill was subsequently incorporated with a capital of $200,000 by Chief Justice Am- brose Spencer, Jovis Platt, William G. 'Tracy, Thomas R. Gold, Theodore Sill, Mr. Mann, and De Witt Clinton. This company imported large numbers of merino sheep from Spain, many of them costing as high as $600 and $1,000 each. These sheep were kept in the vicinity of the village, mainly on the opposite side of the Mohawk River, and one of their farms was called "Mount Merino." The com- pany continued business several years and prospered until the peace of 1815 opened our markets to a flood of importations Before the year 1825 Mr. Mann withdrew from both enterprises and moved with his family to Mannsville, Jefferson county, a village named from his son, Major Herbert B. Mann, who in partnership with Judge Daniel Wardwell (whose portrait and biography appear in this work) erected a large cotton mill there, which was burned in 1827, when ready to begin operation. There Newton Mann resided the remainder of his life, dying April 11, 1860, at the age of ninety years.

Mr. Mann was an old line Whig of pronounced convictions, but never sought nor accepted public office. An uncompromising Abolitionist himself he was a warm per- sonal friend of Gerrit Smith, Alvin Stewart, and other noted anti-slavery advocates, and during the great abolition movement which swept over the country prior to the Rebellion he was a powerful and an active factor. For many years he was in- timately acquainted with the " underground railroad;" his house in Mannsville be- came a noted " station," and he personally assisted in passing large numbers of slaves on to Canada. He was a devout Christian and a member of the Congrega- tional church, and throughout life manifested a lively interest in all charitable and benevolent objects, to which he liberally contributed. Kind-hearted, enterprising, and sagacious he merited and retained the confidence, respect, and esteem of his fellowmen and bore the highest reputation for honesty, integrity, and moral upright- ness. He was a good business man, a shrewd investor, and an able financier, and realized handsome profits from his various investments.

Mr. Mann was married in 1795 to Miss Abigail, daughter of Josiah Maxcey, grand- daughter of Lieut. Josiah Maxcey, of Attleboro, Mass., and sister of the Rev.

1 Theodore Sill married Eliza, daughter of Dr. J. Milton Mann, and they were the grand- parents of Edward Comstock, of Rome, whose portrait appears in this volume.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 76

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