USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 54
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TOWN OF OWEGO.
chosen to fill he always acquitted himself with credit to those whom he represented. The late marble firm of Haywood & Bald- win was formed in 1888, and, after the death of the senior mem- ber, Harry C. Haywood succeeded to the business, both in Owego and Waverly. Mr. Haywood, their father, was married in 1854. with Hannah Kneeland, of Proctorville, Vt., of this marriage four children were born, viz : Myron, who died in infancy ; Arthur, who died at twenty ; Harry Clinton, present proprietor of the business and successor to his father, and Alma Lucelia Haywood, of Owego, Harry Clinton Haywood was born in Owego, Septem- ber 13, 1862. He was educated at the free academy and began work in his father's shop in 1879 where he learned thoroughly the trade of marble cutting and finishing. On March 27, 1890, he mar- ried E. Lena, daughter of Samuel Goodrich. They have two children.
SIDNEY WELLES THOMPSON, M. D., son of Clarence A. and Dorinda E. (Truman) Thompson, was born February 10, 1873. Mrs. Thomp- son is a daughter of the late Lyman Truman. She was born in 1843. Sidney Welles Thompson received his early education in the public schools of Owego and later graduated with the class of '92 from Riverview military academy, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The next year Mr. Thompson was instructor on military tactics and in the primary school branches at the same institution. In the fall of 1893 he entered the New York University of Medicine in New York city, graduating from that place in the spring of 1896 with the degree of M. D. Since then Mr. Thompson has successfully practiced medicine in his native village. He is a member of the Tioga County Medical Society, of Sa-Sa-Na-Loft tribe of I. O. R. M., also of Tioga Lodge, No. 335, I. O. O. F.
LYMAN TRUMAN was one of the early settlers in the town of Candor. He came from Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in 1808, was a carpenter and farmer, and died in this county Nov. 2, 1822. His wife was Lucy Barlow, who bore him eight children. They were Levi, who lived and died in Candor ; Sybil, who married William Stone; Leroy, who died young ; James, who died in
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Candor at the age of sixty years ; Stephen, who died in California ; Eliza, who married Frederick Weed and died in 1865 ; John, who died young, and Benjamin L. Truman, a merchant in the village of Owego. Benjamin L. Truman was born June 23, 1822, and was brought up by his mother on the farm in Candor. He was early put to work and when a young man began business as a lumber- man. He was afterward in a grocery store in Owego, then lived for a time in Missouri, from which place he returned to Owego. In 1848 the old firm of Truman & Buckbee was formed and con- tinued to 1852, when the senior partner retired. In 1860 S. S. & B. L. Truman began a general dry goods and grocery business and continued until 1867, when Mr. Truman sold out. He then engaged two years in butter and wool business and in 1869 moved to Missouri, where he remained until 1874, returning to engage in hay business four years, and in 1878 established the grocery now owned by him on Front street. Although in his business life Mr. Truman has seen many changes and vicissitudes, he has nevertheless been successful and is to-day regarded as a safe and prudent business man. In 1852 he was married with Maria Dean, by whom he had one child, born 1858 and died in 1865. His wife died May 30, 1882, and on February 28, 1884, Mr. Truman was married with Saphronia Long.
DANIEL DODGE came from Schoharie county in the year 1825 and settled on a farm in the town of Owego opposite Apalachin, the same formerly owned and occupied by Joseph Gaskill. He was a good and successful farmer and a man well respected throughout the town. His children were Samuel, who lived for a time in Tioga, but who died in the west ; Edmund, who lived and died in Owego ; Mary Ann, who married Henry Griffin and died in Owego; Moses, who died in Campville ; Lorinda, who married Dr. Chapin and is now dead ; Alfred, for many years a farmer in Owego but now retired from active work and a resident of the village ; Joel, who died in California ; Ellen, who married John Pearsall and now lives in Buffalo ; Elizabeth, now living in New York, and Phoebe, now dead. After the death of his first wife Daniel Dodge again married, of which union nine children were born, six of whom
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grew to maturity. They were Benjamin, now in Union ; Amos, now in New York city ; Catharine, who married Charles Woughter and lives in Union ; James, now in Washington ; Caroline, wife of William Cole of Union, and John, now living in New York city.
SAMUEL SMITH was a native of Rhinebeck, N. Y., born about the year 1820. When a young man he went to Newburgh and learned the tailor trade and worked on the bench until failing health com- pelled him to abandon that pursuit. He then learned the trade of hatter and in 1849 started west intending to locate at Elmira, but on arriving at Owego was prevailed upon by business men to take up his residence in the village. With him were his wife and daughter. From that time he is identified with local interests, except for a period of about two years, during which he lived at his old home on the Hudson. His first shop was on the site of the present Tioga National bank and was burned in the great fire of 1849. He was in business in Owego until the time of his death in January, 1891. His wife died two years later. Their children were Mary A., (who died in 1891) wife of Eugene B. Burdick, and James L., of Owego. The latter was born in Newburgh in 1854, and was brought up in a store as clerk. At the age of twenty-one he began keeping books and was so employed for about eight years. In 1890 he purchased the City Steam Laundry in Owego which he has since conducted and he has enjoyed a liberal share of public patronage. In 1876 Mr. Smith married with Flora Luce. They have one child.
GEORGE W. BARTON was born in Binghamton, June 10, 1826, and died in Owego, July 1, 1893. His father was James Barton, un- der sheriff of Broome county during the period of its early history. At the age of thirteen George went to Richford to learn the trade of cigar making with Bayette & Ayers, but ill health soon compelled his return to Binghamton where he worked in a bakery about two years. He was then apprenticed to learn cigar making with one Dewitt. He afterward went to New York, thence re- moved to Newark Valley and began the manufacture of cigars with Charles Wilson. Two or three years later he moved to Ithaca
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
and continued business until the summer of 1865 when he came to Owego and with Aaron Ogden formed the well known firm of Ogden & Barton, manufacturers, jobbers and dealers in cigars and tobaccos. The building occupied by the firm was burned in April, 1868, after which they temporarily used the old Baptist church edifice, on the Brant block site. This structure was also burned and the firm then occupied a building on the east side on Lake street, north of the present postoffice. Here the partnership was dissolved, after which Mr. Barton continued in business alone until the time of his death. He was an earnest and ardent repub- lican ; was commissioner of excise in 1875, and supervisor in 1883 and 1884. His wife was Catharine M. Muzzy, whom he married May 1, 1849. By her he had four children ; George W. Jr., cigar manufacturer of Owego ; James H., a farmer at Newark Valley, Watson A., and Eugene F., partners in business under the firm name of G. W. Barton's sons. His first wife died, after which Mr. Barton married second Helen Chamberlain of Newark Valley. Of this marriage three children were born ; Catharine, who died in childhood ; William E., living in Kansas City, Mo., and Fred, a resident of Owego.
EBENEZER HIBBARD came from Norwich, Conn., in 1825, and was a farmer in the town of Owego, his dwelling stood not far from the site of the now called Dean tannery. Mr. Hibbard had been an old school teacher, and had taught from an arithmetic of his own preparation, all printed and written by his own hand. In this county he was a farmer, and at death his body was buried in the Presbyterian church yard. He had three children, of whom Ralph alone came with the family to Owego. Ralph Hibbard was born in Norwich, Conn., and was a trooper or cavalryman, in the U. S. service during the war of 1812-15, and after his death his widow drew a pension on account of his service. In this county Mr. Hibbard was a farmer. His wife was Jemima Maynard, and by her he had three children ; Ralph, Jr., of Owego; Maria, who mar- ried with Dwight Curtis, and Charles, who lives in Granville, Mich. Ralph Hibbard, Jr., was born October 12, 1818, and when old enough was apprenticed to and learned the cabinet maker's trade
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TOWN OF OWEGO.
His shop was on Park street, in Owego, and he was known in local business circles for many years ; and he was also known as a thoroughly honest man, a good citizen, and one who always made his own way in life. He is remembered as having been a good singer and was always heard in the choir of St. Paul's church. His wife was Elizabeth Sweet, of Owego, by whom he had three children ; Frances, who married with James E. Jones ; Jane, who died in infancy, and George R. Hibbard, a merchant of Owego. Ralph Hibbard, Jr., died September 7, 1892. George R. Hibbard was born in Owego in 1858, and was educated at the free academy. He began business in 1884 as successor to George Sweet, general crockery dealer, and is now one of the business men of the county seat. On February 4, 1885, Mr. Hibbard married Jessie M. Pierce, daughter of H. G. Pierce, of Waverly. They have one child.
JOHN SWEET was one of the old families of Owego, and was a lumberman living for a time on Big Island in the early history of the region. He had five children, viz : Elizabeth, who married with Ralph Hibbard ; George, a former merchant of Owego but now deceased ; Ambrose, who was drowned ; John, a merchant on North avenue, and Maria, who died in infancy.
. JAMES E. JONES, who has lived in Owego since 1857, was born in Newark Valley, February 1, 1841, and was the son of James Jones, an early resident of that town. When less than seven- teen years old James E. started out to make his own way in life. He came to Owego and for a year was employed in a wagon shop, but was afterward in the Erie bridge shops and the Lehigh Valley shops, and was there employed for a period of twenty years. Then for five years he worked at pattern making, and in 1883, in company with B. C. Springsteen, he started a plan- ing mill in the old Sackett soap works building. After two years Mr. Jones succeeded to the business, and with the exception of a short time has since been sole proprietor. His shop employs from five to ten men, and produces a superior quality of interior and exterior wood finishing. The affairs of business occupy Mr. Jones' whole attention and he finds but little time to engage in local pol-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
itics. On November 4, 1874, James E. Jones was married with Frances Hibbard. They have one child, Miss Flora A. Hibbard.
A. CHASE THOMPSON, founder and active manager of the Stan- dard Butter Co., of Owego, one of the largest industries of its kind in the world, was a native of Tompkins county, born in the year 1844. He came to Owego in 1865, from which time to 1888 he was in the dry-goods business, but he had also been in the produce business for a number of years. In the spring of 1888, in company with George Truman, Jr., Mr. Thompson began the manufacture of a superior grade of butter, and, as the product met with ready sale in New York high-class hotels and restaurants, the business was increased to very large proportions, the present annual out- put being 3,000,000 pounds. However, the history of this enter- prise is so fully written in the village chapter that not more than a passing allusion to it is necessary in this place. In 1868 A. Chase Thompson was married with Sarah F., the daughter of George Truman, of Owego, they have two children.
LYMAN DURPHY, born March 14, 1792, came from Pittsfield, Mass., about the year 1814, and settled in Berkshire. Later on he moved to Newark Valley (1828), and thence to Michigan in 1854, and afterward lived and died in Ottowa county. His children were Henry C., Lyman D., Lois Angeline, Emily Peck, and Mary Ann, all of whom removed to Michigan except Lyman D. He was born in Berkshire, October 2, 1819, and when old enough learned the millwright trade, and also became a good workman in general mechanics. His connection with the Erie railroad began in 1850, and for the next twenty-five years he was both bridge builder and inspector, working his way up from foreman to division builder or inspector. He retired about 1875 and has since lived in com- fortable enjoyment of the benefits of a life of industry and per- severance. He lives in Owego and is the owner of some good property in the village. On October 22, 1844, Lyman D. Durphy was married with Mary Elvira Blackman, of Candor, daughter of Abraham. They have had three children : Harvey Dwight Dur- phy, who died in St. Louis, November 20, 1892 ; Adelaide Elvira
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Durphy, wife of Frederick N. Sackett ; and Alice Carrie Durphy, wife of Henry D. Beach, of Bridgeport, Conn. The children of Abraham and Sally Jewett Blackman were William Greenleaf, Melinda Jewett (wife of Henry Durphy), Mary E. (wife of Lyman D. Durphy), Rhoda (who married with Daniel Joslin), Sarah Jane (who married William Phelps), Ann Eliza (who married with Rev. John A. Phelps), Roxie Amelia, and Augusta, who married with Roxie Pike. Abraham Blackman died December 13, 1869.
EZEKIEL JEWETT was one of the pioneers of Berkshire, though the date of his settlement in town is now unknown. His wife was Sarah Blackman, of another of the old families of the town. Their children were Harris, Sally (who married Abraham Blackman). Asahel, Melinda, Mary, Barker, Harris, Orrin E., and Harriet (who married Marshall Allen), Ezekiel Jewett, born July 24, 1810, went to Michigan in 1859, and became wealthy as a lumberman. He died March 21, 1897, (87 years old) and was buried in Owego.
PATRICK LEAHY, whose recent death was a serious loss to the mercantile interests in Owego, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1833. At the age of fourteen he came to the United States with his uncle and went to Wisconsin, but after less than two years' residence in that state came to Owego (in 1853) where he had friends. He was employed in the Erie freight depot five years and afterward became clerk to the firm of Thurston & Bishop, then with Mr. Bishop, later with D. G. Taylor. About 1876 the grocery firm of Leahy & Dean was formed and began business on North avenue. Later they removed to the corner of the avenue and Main street where they did business five or six years more, and where Mr. Leahy finally succeeded and became sole proprie- tor. He continued the business alone for about ten years, when his son James J. Leahy, became his partner. Mr. Leahy was twice married. His first wife was Ann Tierney by whom he had five children, all of whom are now living. His second wife was Eliza Reading, who bore him one child. Mr. Leahy was always a firm democrat but took no active part in politics. His time was devot- ed to business affairs and. the result has been the accumulation of
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
a good property and as well gaining an excellent standing among the business men of the county seat.
FRANCIS SPORER, senior member of the firm of Sporer, Carlson and Berry, and who has been known in business circles in Owego since 1857, was born at Wurms on the Rhine, March 28, 1837, being one of a family of five children of Joseph Sporer. The father was a cabinet-maker and Francis was kept at work in his shop when not at school, but at the age of seventeen our young man left Germany to avoid enforced service in the army. He came to New York where he found employment for a time but soon went to Elmira and thence to Owego in May, 1857. He worked for the firm of E. Hosford & Co, in a shop on Front street and also at Camp's furnace. Later he was with Norton & Deland, but in the spring of 1861 the war drove that firm out of business, after which the firm of Sporer & Carlson, piano makers, was formed. Mr. Norton acquired an interest and the firm became H. Norton & Co. The senior member died in 1864 and soon after- ward the firm of Sporer, Carlson & Berry was organized, and have been in active and successful operation from that to the present time, and is now the oldest business firm in the village. In Owego Francis Sporer is regarded as one of the substantial and reliable business men, and an earnest republican but not a seeker after polit- ical office. He was, however, one term village trustee. On November 3, 1878, Mr. Sporer was married with Emma, the adopted daughter of Nathaniel Burton. Four children have been born of that marriage.
WATSON L. HOSKINS, better known, however, in Tioga county as Captain Hoskins, was born in Simmsbury, Conn., January 22, 1830, and was the third of eight children in the family of Norton and Candace Hoskins. Watson was brought up on a farmi till he was 17, then, in September, 1847, came to Owego, and for the next two years peddled notions and light merchandise all through this region. In 1849 Matson's store was robbed, and our young man's goods were also taken, and he was thereby stripped of all his assets save a limited amount of cash. He next bought a jew-
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TOWN OF OWEGO.
eler's "kit " and began work, but from 1849 to 1852 was clerk in Mr. Matson's store, then went to Erie. Pa., where he was in the jewelry and notion business four years. Returning to Owego, Mr. Hoskins sold goods on the road two years, and in 1858 bought out and succeeded Mr. Matson. From that to the present time he has been identified with local mercantile interests, and is now one of the oldest merchants in the village. In 1861 he began underwrit- ing and has built up an extensive insurance business in the county. However in 1862, herecruited 120 men in eight days for Co. C., 137th N. Y. Infantry. He was commissioned captain and served at the front until February, 1863, when he resigned and came home to resume charge of his mercantile business which, in the meantime, had been intrusted to his brother. In local political circles Capt. Hoskins is well known although he has not sought paying office ; nor has he sought any office, but has nevertheless been member of the board of education many years, and was its president twelve years ; was village supervisor two years. He is also a member of St. Paul's church, and was warden and vestryman 27 years, until he declined to further serve. In 1853 Watson L. Hoskins was married with Frances, daughter of Atwood Allen, of Tioga. Five children have been born to them, only one of whom is now living, Marie Louise, wife of Horace F. King.
THOMAS PERT is remembered in connection with the milling industry in this county, in which he was engaged for many years. He was the son of Thomas Pert, senior, and brother to Rev. Luther Bascom Pert, and was a native of Spencer. His business life began as clerk for Charles Chatfield, at Painted Post, but later on he became his partner and was with him several years. Mr. Pert came to Owego in 1856 and was a miller, but afterward moved to Waverly and bought a mill. After this mill was burned he returned to Owego, resumed milling, but in 1878 became express messenger between Owego and Auburn. Still later he was transferred to the D., L. & W., running between Owego and Ithaca. He was thus employed at the time of his death, October 20, 1893. In 1853 Mr. Pert was married with Mary E. Chatfield, a native of Great Barrington, Mass. Their children
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were Fred Chatfield Pert, who died January 28, 1896, and Willis Ives Pert, of Owego. Willis I. Pert married with Fannie A. Babcock, of Windham, Penna. Fred C. Pert married with Ida Cornick. He was survived by his wife and two children now living-Mary E. and Marguerite B. Pert.
ELLERY COLBY was born near Litchfield, Conn., May the 8th, 1845. His parents were Lucius H. and Rosette (Perkins) Colby, and his grandparents, John and Annis Colby, were of Goshen, Conn. Lucius H. Colby was a prosperous farmer and raiser of blooded stock, and of influence in the community in which he re- sided. He was an ingenious man of an inventive turn of mind, and as an illustration of this it may be worthy of mention that having purchased one of the first mowing machines sold in that section, he tound upon trial that it was a very crude affair and worked heavily ; so the following winter he set to work to im- prove it. This he did, by so changing the mechanism as to add another wheel to the machine, which greatly improved it, and thus constructed what was probably the first two wheel mowing ma- chine ever built. Letters patent on various inventions were also granted to him. About 1848 he removed with his family to Scipio in Cayuga county, where he continued his former occupation of farmer and stock-breeder. Four years later he again changed his place of residence, this time to Groton, in Tompkins county. He was the father of a large family of children (twelve in all), and when Ellery was nine years of age he went to live with his father's brother, in Fabius, Onondaga county, and here he remained till he was twenty-two years of age. This uncle was the owner of two hotels as well as about 1,300 acres of land. An energetic man him- self, he believed in keeping those around him busy, so young Colby's boyhood was not spent in idleness ; upon the other hand he wrought early and late, and at one time had charge and super- vision of the entire 1,300 acres. At the age of twenty-two Mr. Colby returned to Groton, and soon afterward married Miss Hattie E. Cornwall and engaged in the business of farming, which he continued till 1875, when having secured two different patents per- taining to bridge structure, he abandoned agricultural pursuits and
W. A.Fer gu! 109 8 03
Ellery Colby
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devoted his entire time to bridge building. This may be said to have been the pivotal point in Mr. Colby's career. He had in- herited his father's mechanical genius and that he possesses that quality in a remarkable degree is best shown by the fact that with- out special schooling or training he entered a field where he was brought into direct competition with scientific men and graduates of our best polytechnic schools and succeeded from the beginning. He had taken out two patents, one on bridge trusses and one on pile foundations, and these patents were the basis of his entry into constructive bridge work. He organized the Groton Bridge Co., and was its president. He began at once to take orders and build bridges over water ways, etc., and his improved methods soon began to attract attention in various parts of the country. Among the more notable bridges built by Mr. Colby may be mentioned the iron bridge across the Potomac river at Washington, D. C., (extension of Pennsylvania avenue). He also built for the United States gov- ernment the first iron pier ever constructed, the one at Fortress Monroe. Mr. Colby's business in bridge building and other struc- tural iron work has reached a half million dollars worth per year. In 1891 Mr. Colby sold out his interests in the Groton Bridge Co., and coming to Owego established the Owego Bridge Co., of which he is now president. The business has been successful from the start, and now ranks as one of the leading industries of Owego. Mr. Colby has been for many years a F. & A. M. (K. T.), is a mem- ber of the Congregational church, and in politics a republican. He has but one son, Ray, who is associated with him in business. He has been too busy to take much active part in political or official matters, and the only offices he ever held were president of the village of Groton when he lived there, and he is now one of the trustees of Owego. Mr. Colby is entitled to much credit for what he has accomplished in life under the conditions that existed. He never attended school after he was fourteen years of age, and when he took up bridge building he set to work to master the theoretical as well as the practical features of the work, and to such good purpose that he is now an authority on that branch of engineer- ing. He is a genial, courteous gentleman and a man highly re- spected in his community.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
EPHRAIM H. HOUSE was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, October 21, 1833. He was brought up on a farm, and at the age of twenty-one years learned the carpenter's trade. He came to New York state about 1855 and was employed in the car depart- ment of the New York and Erie railroad, both at Hornellsville and Port Jervis. He came to Owego in April, 1857, and took charge of the car-repair shop of the company, but in 1860 went into the bridge shop and was foreman until 1877. In 1877 he left the service of the company and began the coal business, which is now carried on by the firm of House & Co. He is also extensively en- gaged in farming, and is the owner of excellent farming lands in the vicinity of the county seat. As must be seen from what is here stated, Mr. House has been a successful business man, and one whose success has been wholly due to his own personal effort. He is a firm democrat, and was a trustee of the village in 1868, 1869, 1873, 1883, and 1884, and president in 1874. He was also chief engineer of the Owego fire department in 1873 and 1874. Mr. House was married with Kate E. Brown. They have three chil- dren ; Elnora, wife of Edward H. Miller ; Frances, wife of Robert K. Mackey, and Edward H. House, a physician living at Mount Pleasant, Jowa.
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