Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 81

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 81

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Early in 1864 Colonel Darling received the appointment of additional volunteer

OW. Darling.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

aid-de-camp on the staff of Maj .- Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, then in command of the Army of the James, and was assigned special duties at his temporary headquarters in New York. At this time the draft was to be enforced. As it was known that the authorities had made every preparation, and 16,000 men under arms were afloat in the harbor, no attempt was made to resist the enforcement of the law. When Hon. Reuben E. Fenton was elected governor of the State in 1865 Colonel Darling was recommended for the position of head of one of the military departments. His qualifications for the important trust were supported by recommendations from Major-Generals Butler, Doubleday and Warren; Brigadier-Generals Van Vliet, Webb, Davies, Morris, Gordon, and Granger; and twenty-one commandants of reg- iments and batteries in the field. A large number of influential politicians also joined in the request, among whom were the mayor of New York, the collector and surveyor of the port, the postmaster, the chairman of the Union Central Committee, and several members of Congress. This powerful influence had its effect, and Col- onel Darling, in view of his past business training and his reputation for order and integrity, was assigned to duty in the paymaster general's department, which at this critical period was of the first importance. As many of the soldiers were being mustered out, through the expiration of their terms of enlistment, no little watchful- ness and executive ability were required to protect the interests of the brave de- fenders of their country, as well as those of the government.

At the Union State Convention of the Republican party, held in Syracuse, Septem- ber, 1866, among the delegates from the city of New York was General Darling. When the roll of delegates was called, it was claimed that the delegates sent from the Seventh Assembly District represented the conservative element and were hostile to the radicais who called the convention. It caused some excitement : a recess was called, and during this recess General Darling with wise diplomacy reconciled op- posing factions by resigning his seat in favor of Sinclair Tousey upon condition that his two associates should compose with him the delegation. This arrangement was acceptable to the convention and the renomination of Governor Fenton was thus secured beyond a doubt and made unanimous. In 1866 Colonel Darling was com . missioned as commissary-general of subsistence, which brought him into still closer relations with Governor Fenton as a member of his military cabinet. This office he held until January 1, 1867, when, on the re-election of thegovernor, General Darling received the appointment of military engineer-in-chief of the State of New York with the rank of brigadier general. When the administration of Governor Fenton was nearing its close General Darling applied for and obtained leave of absence to visit Europe again on a tour of instruction and pleasure. While in England he re- ceived many courtesies; among the various invitations extended to him was one from Lord Elcho to meet the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, and be present with them on a review of troops at Aldershot. In a subsequent trip abroad with his wife he traveled extensively through Europe, Asia, and Africa, making the trip up the Nile, through Ethiopia and Nubia, as far as the river is navigable. Dur- ing this time many articles from his pen, of a historical and political character, appeared in our various magazines and newspapers.

Having means at his command, which renders him independent of business cares, General Darling has been able to gratify to the utmost his literary and scientific

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tastes. Ten years of his life have been devoted to foreign travel in nearly every country of the globe, and from this broad experience he has returned with a knowl- edge of national manners and customs and a fund of general information which has been of great value in his writings. Intensely fond of historical studies he has pros- ecuted his investigations in this department of learning with unusual diligence and with excellent results. His writings cover a wide range of themes, which he handles with skill. and in a way to interest both the specialist and the general reader. His high character, scholarly attainments, and distinguished public services, have given him a large acquaintance with many of the public men of the day and earned for him many scientific and literary honors.

His active interest in public affairs, and his prominent connection with some of the most stirring events happening in his time, have necessarily made him to a certain extent a conspicuous figure among his fellow citizens, by whom he is held in universal esteem. Notwithstanding the fact that he has persistently held aloof from politics, preferring the more congenial pursuits of literature and historical research, he has several times been asked to become a candidate for municipal positions, but while appreciating the honor he has declined all political preferment. Ilis work is per- formed quietly among his books, from which he feels that nothing save the gravest condition of public affairs can separate him. For several years he held the office of president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Utica, his present adopted home, and he is now one of its directors. Those who are familiar with the past struggles of that association for life, concede that he carried it through the most critical period of its history. As a result of those arduous undertakings, an elegant structure has been erected for the Utica Young Men's Christian Association, by its friends, and the building is considered one of the most conspicuous ornaments of the city. General Darling was also a member of the State Executive Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations, and on the expiration of his term of office in 1888, he was elected one of its trustees. His interest in religious matters, however, is not confined to affairs with this department of Christian work. He is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Utica. Through his connection with the Oneida Historical Society he has cultivated his taste for historical studies, and his literary productions are numerous. He never writes for pecuniary compensation, and the elegant mon- ographs, brochures, essays, excerpta, etc., which he frequently sends out, are printed for private distribution.

On the 21st of December, 1857, General Darling married Angeline E., second daughter of Jacob A. Robertson, a wealthy and highly respected citizen of New York. His father was Archibald Robertson, the Scotch artist who painted from life the celebrated miniatures on ivory of General and Martha Washington, during the time when he was sojourning as a guest in the family of the " First President." His brothers were Andrew J., Alexander H. (who at the time of his decease was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York), and Anthony L. Robertson, surrogate of New York in 1848, and chief justice of the Superior Court in 1860-69. A sister of these brothers married Henry Winslow, founder of the banking house bearing his name. Another sister married Robert N. Tinson of England and well known as a resident of New York city. General Darling has no children to inherit the honor of a good name, but his foudness for the little ones makes him always a favorite with them.

BIOGRAPHICAL. 135

General Darling was also a member of the advisory council of the World's Con- gress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition on historical literature. This congress was authorized and supported by the Exposition corporation for the pur- pose of bringing about a series of conventions of the leaders, at home and abroad, in the various departments of human progress during the Exposition season of 1893. It was approved and recognized by the government of the United States, and its general announcement was sent to foreign governments by the Department of State. An appropriation on account of its expenses was made by an act of Congress.

General Darling is a hereditary member of the general society of Colonial Wars, S. N. Y., by right of his descent from John Haynes, governor of Massachusetts in 1635. and of Connecticut in 1639, and every alternate year thereafter until 1654, when he died.

He is also a "Son of the Revolution " by reason of his being a great-grandson of Major Robert Davis, of the artillery under General Washington. He is a member of the American Historical Association, Honorary Fellow of the Society of Science, Letters, and Art, London, England; associate member of the Victoria Institute ; honorary mem- ber of the Chautauqua Society of History and Natural Science, New York; Waterloo Historical Society, New York; New Jersey Historical Society; Alabama Historical Society; Mississippi Historical Society; Iowa Historical Society ; Alaska Historical Society ; Pioneer and Historical Society of Lansing, Mich. ; Historical Society Univer- sity, Miss .; Historical Societies at Rochester, N. Y. ; and at Charlestown, W. Va. ; corresponding member of the American Ethnological Society; Academy of Anthrop- ology ; American Numismatic and Archæological Society; Buffalo Historical Society ; Mohawk Valley Ilistorical Society, and the Cayuga County Historical So- ciety, all of New York. In the State of Maine he is in the same manner connected with the Bangor Historical Society; in New Hampshire, with the Historical Society of Concord; in Vermont with the Middlebury Historical Society. In Massachusetts, with the New England Historic Genealogical Society; the Dedham Historical So- ciety ; the Old Colony Historical Society ; and the Ipswich Historical Society. In Rhode Island, with the Newport Historical Society. In Connecticut, with the Connecticut Historical Society ; the New Haven Colony Historical Society; the Fairfield County Historical Society; and the Saugatuck Historical Society. In Ohio with the State Archæological and Historical Society; and the Western Reserve Historical Society. In Pennsylvania with the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society; the Linnean His- torical and Scientific Society; and the Wyoming Geological and Historical Society. In New Jersey, with the Burlington County Lyceum of History and Natural Science. In North Carolina with the Historical Society of Chapel Hill. In Indiana, with the Geological and Historical Society at Indianapolis. In Maryland, with the Historical Society of Baltimore. In Virginia, with the Historical Society at Richmond. In Georgia, with the Historical Society at Savannah. In Tennessee, with the Histori- cal Society at Nashville. In Wisconsin, with the Historical Society at Madison. In Minnesota, with the Historical Society at St. Paul. In Kansas, with the Historical So- ciety at Topeka. In Nebraska, with the Historical Society at Lincoln. In California, with the Geographical Society of the Pacific, at San Francisco; the Historical Society of Southern California; and the Historical Society at San Francisco. In Canada, with the Quebec Literary and Historical Society. In South Carolina, with the Historical

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Society at Charleston. In Washington, with the Historical Societies at Tacoma, Walla Walla. He is a life member of the Oneida Historical Society, at Utica, N. Y., and its corresponding secretary; and honorary secretary, at Utica, of the Egypt Exploration Fund, of London, England.

DR. SETH CAPRON.

DR. SETH CAPRON, eldest son of Elisha, was born in Attleboro, Mass., September 23, 1762. Banfield Capron, his great-grandfather. was the first of the name in America. In the year 1614 he and three boy schoolmates, about fourteen years of age, agreed among themselves to leave their home and friends in England and seek their fortune in the New World. Finding a vessel about to sail they concealed themselves in the hold, with food enough for a few days. On the fourth day out they were discovered, but allowed to continue the voyage. They landed in Boston. Banfield Capron died in Attleboro, Mass, August 20, 1752, aged ninety-two years. Of his twelve children Jonathan, father of Elisha and grandfather of Dr. Seth, was the sixth.

Dr. Seth Capron was too young when the Revolutionary war broke out to be drafted and too short in stature to pass inspection. At the time of the country's greatest peril, it is known that in order to pass at muster, he managed to ele- vate himself on his toes, and so enlisted in defense of his country at the age of nineteen. Shortly afterward he was at the siege of Newport, attached to General La Fayette's corps of light infantry. It was there he first heard the musie of artillery and where a cannon ball aimed at the general grazed the top of his head. Dr. Ca- pron took part in the battle of White Plains and was then transferred to headquarters at West Point, N. Y., as a non-commissioned officer under Washington. There he served during the remainder of the war, commanding the barge that conveyed the " Father of his country " to Elizabethtown Point, and was the last man to receive the general's benediction.

Immediately after returning home he began the study of medicine with Dr. Beza- leel Mann, an eminent physician of his day, and whose daughter, Eunice Mann, he afterwards married. In due time he entered upon his profession, first at Cumber- land, R. I. In 1806 he removed with his wife and four sons to Oneida county, N. Y., and located at Whitesboro, at that time a small village three miles west of Utica. He traveled across the country in his own conveyance, then an almost unbroken wilderness of 500 miles with here and there a settlement. Whitestown was at that time the Gem of the West, being composed for the most part of families of rare cul- ture and refinement. There by diligent attention to his profession he acquired a competency. At the same time he took great interest in the establishment of manu- factories on a permanent basis, considering it indispensable to the prosperity of the nation. The formation of the first company and the building of the first factory met with much opposition. It was branded as visionary and ruinous, and would have discouraged most men, but he was endowed with remarkable foresight and in- domitable energy and perseverance. To these qualities must be ascribed the suc-

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SETH CAPRON, M. D.

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cessful effort of building the first cotton and woolen factories in the State of New York.

In 1823 Dr. Capron removed to Walden, Orange county, N. Y., and built up the cotton and woolen interests in that now flourishing town. He was the originator of the scheme which resulted in the building of the cotton and woolen mills there, and was for some time the superintendent and manager.

Dr. Capron died in Walden, N. Y., on Friday, September 4, 1835, agen seventy - four. The following lines on his death were written by Mrs. Sophia Cooke:

" Dust unto dust," and to his God, Earth has resigned the trust He gave; Yet memory shrines the burial sod, And marks it at the good man's grave.

And mourn we o'er that buried one; Oh! take the gath'ring clouds of care, And fling them round life's setting sun, And lose them in the glory there.

Glory, that needs no storied pen For one who never asked for fame, Yet winning from his fellow men The glory of an honest name.

Go learn it at the cottage hearth, And in the peace that hovers there; And when night lifts the thoughts from earth, "Tis breathed in blessing and in prayer.

For one who sought the erring soul, And led it from guilt's darkened road,

Winning the tempted from his bow! Back to himself-his home-his God.

And yet with such simplicity Of heart, was action bound the while, That children fondly climb his knee To meet a welcome and a smile.

And when they heard his voice no more, In little bands I've seen them come And point the stranger to his door And whisper, " That was once his home."

He lived till age had crowned with snows His brow, yet like the Syrian hill

Amid the waste of life hie rose, And verdure clasped his bosom still.

Hedied as died the forest tree, Round which the deathless ivy twined,

Scathed by the stroke, Mortality, Yet foliaged with immortal mind.

The following is from a periodical of that day:

" The name of Dr. Seth Capron will be identified with the history of cotton and woolen manufacturers in the State of New York. He was a man of great integrity and moral wortli, and uncommon ardor, enterprise, and industry. His open, manly, and conciliating and determined conduct enabled him to triumph over obstacles that would have discouraged most men. Indefatigable in promoting sound morals among his fellow citizens he was a leader in the temperance cause, the first to ban- ish brandy and wine from his sideboard. His mild persuasive manners and the honesty and goodness of his purposes were manifest in all his conduct, and the uni- form correctness of his example gave him a wonderful influence over the villagers. Obedience followed his will as if he had been invested with absolute power, and the village of Walden will long mourn for him as for a father."

Dr. Capron's wife was Miss Eunice Mann, a sister of Newton Mann, esq. whose portrait and biographical sketch appear in this volume. Their sons were Newton, John, Dr. Seth, jr., and Gen. Horace Capron. The latter was at one time United States commissioner of agriculture, and was afterwards employed by the Japanese government in the same capacity, where he served for five years. All are dead. One daughter survives, Mrs. Louise Kirwan Capron Thiers, of Milwaukee, Wis., and who is one of the twelve daughters of soldiers of the Revolution who are members of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

ABIJAH JEWEL WILLIAMS.

ABIJAH JEWEL WILLIAMS, the subject of this memoir, was a lineal descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of the commonwealth of Rhode Island in 1636, and a grandson of David Williams, who was born in Berlin, Conn., in 1744, and died at Clinton, Oneida county, N. Y., in 1838. David Williams married Mindwell Sage, who was born in Berlin, Conn., and who died March 9, 1818. Their son, Levi Will- iams, father of Abijah J., was born in Connecticut, on October 6, 1775, and died in Oriskany, N. Y., October 30, 1857. On October 21, 1800, Levi married Chloe Wilk- inson, who was born in Connecticut on November 3, 1783, and who died at Oriskany, N. Y., January 3, 1864. About the year of their marriage (1800) Levi and Chloe (Wilk- inson) Williams moved to Oneida county, N. Y., and settled on a farm on the Whitesboro hills, between Whitesboro and Oriskany. Thence they moved to Manchester, now Kirkland, in the same county, and from there to Coleman's Mills, on the Oriskany hills, where Abijah Jewell Williams was born July 13, 1805. Some years afterward Levi re. moved with his family to the village of Oriskany, where he and his wife resided un- til their deaths in 1857 and 1864, respectively. The family inherited in a marked de- gree the ennobling characteristics of native New Englanders, and implanted in the communities where they resided an enduring standard of civilization. They exerted a wholesome influence in the early history of this section, bore with fortitude and exemplary courage the hardships of pioneer life, and left a name untarnished in the annals of Oneida county, and a name of which their descendants may well be proud.

Abijah Jewel Williams received such educational advantages as the district schools of his day afforded, and early in life devoted himself to business pursuits. While at Oriskany, and when quite young, he engaged in the manufacture of cotton and woolen factory supplies, such as reeds, shuttles bobbins, spools, twine and wire harness, and gradually built up a large and prosperous business, which increased so rapidly that he finally concluded to move to Utica. The city was then springing into prominence as a manufacturing center and offered advantages which Mr. Will- iams was quick to comprehend. In April, 1841, he exchanged his house and lot in Oriskany with Ezekiel Bacon (father of the late Judge William J. Bacon) for the store No. 215 Genesee street, Utica, and the shop in its rear on Church lane (which was torn down in 1889 by his son, Irvin A. Williams, who erected on the site his present fine, large, five-story brick block fronting on Blandina street). He then (April, 1841) moved his family and machine works to Utica and increased his busi- ness largely by adding to it several new branches, notably card clothing, used in factories. About this time he invented and was granted a patent for a new wire heddle, which superseded all other heddles, and which is now used all over the world in cotton and woolen mills. He also received a patent for the very ingenious machine which makes this heddle. He added to his business a large machine shop, in which all of the first looms were built for the Utica Steam Cotton Mills. Some considerable time before his death he transferred this business to his sons, James H. and Norman A. Williams, and engaged in other lines of industry.

Mr. Williams's business had brought him into association with large manufacturers throughout the different States. He became interested in almost all of the leading cotton and woolen manufacturing corporations in Utica and vicinity, and was a

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large stockholder in them. He was one of the first promoters and locaters of the Utica Steam Cotton Mills, a director from the time of its organization to his death, July 27, 1886, a period of over thirty years, and the largest stockholder, owning nearly one-sixth of the stock of the company. He was the first to advocate the manufacturing of yarn and the building of the Skenandoa Cotton Mills in Utica, was one of the largest stockholders, and was president of the company from the time it was organized to the time of his death. He was also one of the first promoters, vice- president, and a director of the Willowvale Bleaching Company from its organiza- tion to the date of his death. He was for nine years president of the Oneida Na- tional Bank and a director for more than twenty years to the time of his death. He advocated and was one of the first : „subscribe for stock to build the Utica and Black River Railroad and was one of its first directors, holding the office until his decease. He was the first chairman of the committee of organizers and a director of the Utica and Chenango Valley Railroad, and was connected for several years up to 1860 with the Utica Globe Woolen Company, being one of its directors and president. In 1860 he sold his interest in the Utica Globe Woolen Company and with two other capital- ists purchased the Empire Mills at Clayville, N. Y, which had been laying idle for many years. They started the mills with the old machinery and began to mannfac- ture entirely army overcoatings. After the war they put in new machinery and ran the mills on fine cassimeres and worsteds and other goods, which obtained a ready sale. A short time afterward he bought out his two partners and associated with him in the company his four sons, Aras G. Williams, Irvin A. Williams, James H. Williams, and Norman A. Williams. Before his death two of his sons, Aras G. and Norman A. Williams, died. After his death Irvin A. and James H. Williams were the only directors remaining, Irvin A. Williams being its president.

Abijah J. Williams was a man of great industry, of unquestioned integrity and uprightness of character, and was fully capable of grasping and executing large plans, nsually with success. He always gave close personal application to business. Because of his long and successful business career, his business qualifications, and his sound judgment on financial and commercial matters of importance, his counsel was often songht in the companies with which he was connected and to whose pros- perity he contributed so materially. Public spirited, enterprising, and benevolent he took a just pride in the city's advancement and was thoroughly identified with its every interest. In politics he belonged to the old Whig party and was always a high tariff advocate. In later years he affiliated with the Republicans, but never took a very active part in political affairs. In 1849 he was elected the first alderman from "Cornhill," which composed a portion of the Fourth ward, and which is now the Seventh, Tenth, and Twelfth wards of Utica. He felt a deep interest in the welfare of the city and contributed largely to it and its charitable institutions. In military matters he also won honors, becoming a colonel in the old State organization. He was one of the eight body guard selected from the State militia to escort General La Fayette from near the Oriskany battle-ground to Whitesboro when that distin- guished veteran visited this country in 1825, the year the Erie Canal was opened.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 81

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