Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York, Part 24

Author: Curtis, Gates
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1328

USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 24
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people: a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 24

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Ransom H. Gillett was born in Columbia county, N. Y., about the year 1800. He settled in Canton about the year 1823; studied law with Hon. Silas Wright, teaching at the same time to pay his expenses. Attended the St. Lawrence Academy at Potsdam and after his admis- sion to the bar formed a partnership with Aaron Hackley He was appointed postmaster of Ogdensburg in 1832, and in the fall of that year was elected to Congress and re-elected the two following terms. In the fall of 1833 he became associated with Charles G. Myers. In politics he was a Democrat and occupied a conspicuous position in his party. In 1845 he removed to Washington. In 1867 he retired from business and removed to his former home in Columbia county. He died in the city of Washington in 1877.

David M. Chapin was born on the ridge, near Ogdensburg, April 22, 1806. His grandfather was John Chapin, who settled in Ogdensburg in 1800. By determined effort and surmounting many obstacles he obtained a good education, finishing with one year in Hamilton College. Return- ing to Ogdensburg he taught a select school three years, at the same time studying law in the office of Hon. James G. Hopkins. He was admitted to practice in 1836. He was originally a Democrat, but joined the ranks of the Republican party upon its organization and was active in

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its interests. In April, 1861, he was appointed by President Lincoln collector of customs for the Oswegatchie district and held the office until 1866. While not eminent as a lawyer, Mr. Chapin enjoyed the unqualified respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.

Preston King was a member of the bar of this county, though he never engaged in active practice. He was born in Ogdensburg, Octo- ber 14, 1806. He was a graduate of Union College and studied law with Judge John Fine. In 1832 he was appointed postmaster of Ogdensburg, and in 1834 was elected to the Assembly, where he served several terms. He was an ardent Democrat and was led to take an active part in the hopeless effort of the so-called " Patriots," who invaded Canada. In 1845 he was elected to Congress and twice consecutively was re-elected. He became one of the prominent founders of the Republican party and in 1855 was elected by the new organization to the office of secretary of state. In 1857 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he held high rank. He was defeated for re-election through the Greeley movement. He was a delegate in the Baltimore Convention in 1864, and in 1865 was appointed collector of the port of New York. He died by his own hand while insane, November 12, 1865. In all of his varied public career Mr. King exhibited eminent qualifications and fully sustained his high character as a man.

John A. Vance, surrogate of St. Lawrence county, was born in Osna- bruck, Canada, on the 8th of October, 1836. His father was a native of Ireland and came to this country before the year 1820, locating in Canada, where he married Ann Hill. He was a farmer by occupa- tion. The subject of this sketch secured a good education against obstacles that would have discouraged one of less perseverance and determination. At the early age of fourteen he left home and reached St. Lawrence county, the possessor of ten shillings in money and a limited wardrobe. From the year 1850 to 1858, he was in attendance at school a part of the time, the remainder being devoted to teaching and other work which he was compelled to do to obtain means for his support and expenses. His first experience as a teacher was in Canada in 1853, for which he was paid six dollars and a half a month, and " boarded around." In 1859 he entered the law office of E. & N.

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Crary, of Potsdam, where he studied two years until the breaking out of the war Answering his country's call, he entered the service as first lieutenant in the Sixteenth New York Infantry. In the fall of 1861 he was detailed to the Signal Corps, where he served with credit to the close of his term of two years. Returning to Potsdam he renewed his studies and in 1864 was admitted to the bar. He began practice with Edward Crary, which connection continued five years. He was then elected justice of the peace and held the office eight years, con- tinuing his practice alone. In 1882 he was elected supervisor and held the office eleven years, during three of which he was chairman of the board and declined further election to the office. In 1892 he was elected surrogate of the county and is now efficiently performing the duties of that office. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a member of the Local Board of the Normal School. By persevering attention to his labors, public and private, his thorough integrity and his legal ability, Mr. Vance has won the esteem of his fellow citizens. He was married August 16, 1864, to Clarinda Daggett, of Parishville, and they have two children.

Amaziah Bailey James .- The family of this name have been and now are conspicuous in the history of St. Lawrence county. Amaziah Bailey James was born on the Ist of July, 1812, at Stephentown, Rens- selaer county, N. Y. At the age of six years he went with his father, Samuel B. James, to Western New York. At the age of fourteen years he began learning the printing trade at Batavia, N. Y, and followed that vocation for a number of years thereafter, and came to Ogdens- burg in 1831. In 1836 he married Lucia W. Ripley. To them were born two sons: Henry R. and Edward C. James. In 1832 he associated himself with others in publishing The Northern Light, an anti-Masonic weekly paper. The name of the paper was changed soon afterward to The Times and Advertiser, which became the leading Whig paper in the county. He was in 1836 captain of the Ogdensburg Artillery and afterwards was promoted to major of militia. At the time of the Patriot war in Canada he performed an important part in the capture of the famous Ballf Johnson on the river just above the village. Mr. James studied law with James G. Hopkins and was admitted to the bar in 1838. Always conspicuous in current political affairs, and with a

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character above reproach, he was elected to the Supreme Bench in 1853 and honorably and ably filled that station until 1876, when he resigned to accept his seat in Congress. In 1861 he was appointed one of the commissioners from the State of New York to the Peace Conven- tion at Washington. In politics Mr. James first acted with the anti- Masonic movement, but upon the collapse of that party he united with the Whigs and became a leader in the county. On the formation of the Republican party he heartily joined the movement and took a prominent part in its councils until his death. While serving his second term in Congress he was stricken with paralysis, and his death took place at his home on the 6th of July, 1883. Possessing all the elements of a good lawyer and an eminent jurist, he became a successful practi- tioner, rising rapidly to the head of his profession. Always studious, he acquired a fund of general knowledge in art, science, agriculture, and horticulture. He gave his support to all measures and projects calculated to build up and improve the city of his home. He was the one individual in the community who could approach every man and whom every man felt that he could approach, for the purpose of telling his troubles, always receiving counsel and services which never failed to prove beneficial. He began life a poor boy. The misfortune of poverty, however, had no discouragement for him. Nature gave him the elements of greatness, provided him with the talent to acquire and to hold, and he early earned a competence. In his death the com- munity lost a good citizen, a brave and generous man. His widow sur- vives.

Samuel H. Palmer was born in Colton, St. Lawrence county, August 12, 1837. His family is a branch of the Connecticut Palmers, originally of English extraction, whose ancestry dates back to Walter Palmer, who came to this country with John Endicott in 1620 and in 1653 set- tled at Stonington, Conn. In 1824 Mr. Palmer's parents moved to Parishville, St. Lawrence county, and later to Colton and Madrid, where the years of his boyhood were passed. He received a liberal education in the schools of this county, including the Potsdam Academy and Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, after which for two and a half years he taught the West Side Ogdensburg school. Mr. Palmer then took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1863. Soon

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after he purchased the insurance business of J. H. Fairchild, which he conducted for nine years. At the expiration of this time he sold his interests therein to A. E. Smith, and bought an interest in the St. Lawe- rence Republican and the Ogdensburg Journal, January 1, 1874. With these papers he has since been actively identified, owning over one- half the capital stock of the Republican and Journal company and occupying the position of manager and treasurer. Mr. Palmer married June 1, 1867, Mrs. Martha E. (Packard) Wright, and has had five children, four of whom are living. Mr. Palmer has served as supervisor of the town for thirteen years, and was chairman of the Board of Super- visors for three years. He has also been a member of the Board of Education of Ogdensburg, serving for many years as president of the board, has held other positions of local importance and has always been recognized as an active and influential citizen of his city and county.

Judge E. H. Neary was born in the old country in 1834 and came to the United States in 1848. He attended the schools of Og- densburg, graduating from Ogdensburg Academy in 1853. He com- menced the study of law in that year and read in the chambers of Judge James, and also with Brown & Spencer, teaching school a por- tion of the time. January 1, 1856, he became deputy county clerk of St. Lawrence county, which position he occupied for three years. He then came to Gouverneur and engaged in his profession, where he still remains. In 1860 he was appointed special county judge, serving in that capacity for sixteen years, acting also as United States commis- sioner. Notwithstanding the demands of his profession, Mr. Neary is deeply interested in all movements for the good of his town, being for many years on the Board of Trustees of the seminary. With him in his law practice he has associated his son, William Neary, a graduate of Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, class of 1885, and who was admitted to practice in 1889. He is one of the representative young men of the town, and was elected town clerk in 1893.

Gaylord T. Chaney was born in Rossie, October 31, 1864, was edu- cated in the public schools and by special tutors in Boston. He taught school, followed surveying, and studied law in the office of the late E. B. White until 1888, and started the Hermon Observer. He sold this and went West, and was admitted to the bar of Colorado in 1891. Re-

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turning to Hermon the same fall, and was admitted to the bar of this State in 1892, when he opened his present office. Mr. Chaney was elected justice of the peace in Hermon, police justice and village clerk of Hermon, when only twenty one years old, and is at present justice of sessions of St. Lawrence county. He is an enthusiastic Mason and serving his third year as master of Hermon Lodge No. 500 He married Sarah A. Partridge, and they have two children, Ceylon G. and Gertrude M.

Luther E. Wadleigh was born at Stocksboro, Vt., February 22, 1837. He was a son of Rev. Aaron Wadleigh, who was a miller and mason by trade, but on Sundays officiated as a preacher in the Methodist Church. He died in 1842 at thirty- nine years of age. The mother of Luther E., Betsey E. Cole, was a native of New Hampshire. They had five children, one of whom died when a child, and three of the family are now living: Mrs. Mary Ward, of Kansas; Willard C., a farmer of Stockholm, and Luther E. Luther was but twelve years of age when he started for himself. In a letter to our subject from Brainbridge Wadleigh, late United States senator of New Hampshire, it is found that the great-grandfather on the paternal side was a captain in the war of the Revolution, and the grandfather, Aaron W., a captain in the war of 1812, and the ancestry can be traced back to the Mayflower on that side. The education of Luther E. was limited to the common schools and a few terms at St. Lawrence Academy ; and after leaving school, which was hastened by poor health, he spent a year on the farm, and then entered the office of Dart & Tappan, where he was for four years the assistant of W. A. Dart while he was United States district attorney for the Northern District of New York, from 1861-65. In the spring of 1865 he entered Albany Law College, where he spent a year, being admitted to practice in November, 1865. He traveled through the west and ventured a settlement there, conducting an insur- ance business. He returned here in the fall of 1866 and immediately went to Hartford, where for three years he was in the employ of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company as general agent. He returned to Potsdam and began a law practice. He was for eight years a magis- trate of the town and refused a third term, giving his time to increasing his law, business. He has occupied his present office since 1870. Mr.

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Wadleigh is at present holding his third term as president of the Board of Trustees of Potsdam. He married in 1859 Hannah H., daughter of Captain R. W. Seeley, of Madrid, and they have two children : Millie A., and Ogden O., a student in his father's office, and a graduate of Normal School and Syracuse University, and now taking a year's law lectures at Ann Arbor, Mich.

John Gilbert McIntyre was born in Massena, December 1, 1839, a son of Angus Augustus McIntyre, a native of Scotland, who came to this country about 1825. His mother was a native of Vermont, who lived at Massena at the time of her marriage. The early life of our subject was spent in the town of his birth on a farm. He was educated in the district and select schools of Massena, and at the age of seven- teen he entered St. Lawrence Academy at Potsdam, graduating from that institution in 1861, and then entered Middlebury College, from which he graduated with the degree of A.B. and A.M. He taught as the principal of the academy at Northfield, Vt., one year, and then came to Potsdam to teach in the old St. Lawrence Academy as pro- fessor of mathematics for a year and one term, studying law in the mean time in the office of Judge H. L. Knowles. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and became a partner of the Hon. A. X. Parker. The firm of Parker & McIntyre existed until Mr. Parker went to Congress, since which time Mr. McIntyre has been alone. He has been president of the Board of Trustees of Potsdam, and is now trustee and secre- tary of the Local Board of the State Normal School. He married in 1869 Amelia M., daughter of the late L. H. Dunton, of Stockholm.

Norman H. Claflin was born in the town of Stockholm, April 20, 1858, a son of William, who was a native of Vermont, and settled in St. Lawrence county in 1823. He always followed farming, and died in Stockholm on his farm of 175 acres, December 10, 1871, aged sixty years. The mother of our subject, Julia A. Millington, was also a native of Vermont, who came to this State about 1830, and died November 28, 1867. They were married in 1851 and had two chil- dren : Hattie E., who married Fernando S. Wing, of Madrid, in March, 1879, and immediately moved to the west, where she died soon after. The boyhood of our subject was spent on the homestead farm. After his father's death he went to Lawrenceville, where he attended

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the academy until 1875, then going to Fort Edward, where he finished his preparatory course, entering Madison University (now Colgate) in the fall of 1877. He was a teacher in Lawrenceville Academy from the fall of 1879 till the spring of the following year. He commenced the study of law in the fall of 1876, in the office of D. L. Bugbee at Lawrenceville, and while teaching in the academy prosecuted his law study in the same office, and in the fall of 1880 entered Albany Law School, being admitted to the bar January 28, 1881, as an attorney, and admitted as counsellor at Binghamton, May 9, 1884. He began his practice in Norwood, April 1881, and June 3, formed a co-partner- ship with W. J. Fletcher, which existed until June 12, 1887, since which time Mr. Claflin has been alone. He is a Republican, and in 1883 was elected member of the Board of Education of Norwood, which office he held two years and was again elected in 1892, and is president of the present board. He was appointed assistant district attorney January I, 1888, a position he still holds, now serving his second term. He married August 1I, 1881, Helen A., daughter of Barney Whitney, superintendent of schools of Ogdensburg, and they have one child, Harry B., now in his eleventh year.

Colonel Edward C. James, second son of Hon. A. B. and Lucia (Rip- ley) James, was born in Ogdensburg in May, 1841. He attended the public schools of that place till his eighteenth year, when he entered Walnut Hill School at Geneva, N. Y., to prepare for college. The breaking out of the war, however, interrupted his plans. He entered the field for his country in August, 1861, as adjutant of the Fiftieth N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Charles B. Stuart. He served with his regiment until the spring of 1862, when, on May I, while par- ticipating in McClellan's campaign on the peninsula, he received his commission as major of the Sixtieth N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, then stationed at the Relay House, near Baltimore, Md. In July of the same year the Sixtieth became a part of the Twelfth Corps under General Banks, and took part in most of the operations of that corps during General Pope's campaign in Virginia. In August, 1862, after the bat- tles of Manassas and Chantilly, Major James was commissioned lieuten- ant colonel of the One Hundred and Sixth N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and joined his regiment at New Creek, W. Va. In September, 1862,

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he was promoted to be colonel of that regiment. He commanded his regiment through all its operations in Virginia. Upon the ad- vance of General Lee up the Shenandoah Valley, in June 1863, Colonel James was at Martinsburg, in the line of Lee's march. The Federal forces consisted of only two regiments of infantry, the One Hundred and Sixth New York and the One Hundred and Twenty- sixth Ohio, under Colonel Smith, with a West Virginia Battery and a squadron of the Ringgold Cavalry. Sunday morning, June 14, 1863, Lee's army, after its victory at Winchester, came suddenly upon Martinsburg. For the Federal forces to attempt to retire in daylight meant capture. To fight against such overwhelming odds meant, practically, annihilation. Colonel James hit upon a strategem. He threw out all but two of his infantry companies into a skirmish line of extensive front. The enemy, believing they had come upon a large force, stopped to reconnoiter. By following up his strategem with well-timed tactics, Colonel James succeeded in halting the advance of Lee's army for the entire day. At nightfall, under a furious cannon- ade from the Rebel batteries, the Federal forces escaped by the Antie- tam ford of the Potomac to Harper's Ferry, without loss. The surprise and chagrin of the Rebels was great when they discovered, too late, that they had been outwitted. The incident, however, was of greater moment than its mere recital would imply. This was a short time be- fore the battle of Gettysburg. The delay of Lee's army a whole day at Martinsburg, probably made a difference in the positions of the armies, date, and possibly in the result at Gettysburg. After the Mar- tinsburg incident Colonel James and his regiment was stationed on Maryland Heights. Upon the evacuation of Harper's Ferry, before the battle of Gettysburg, the brigade to which his regiment was attached was sent to Washington with the stores and munitions of war from Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights, amounting to millions of dollars in value. These were conveyed safely to their destination. Colonel James then returned to the field and participated in all of the operations of the Army of the Potomac subsequent to Gettysburg. In August, 1863, he was honorably discharged through disability incurred in the service and returned to his home in Ogdensburg. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law with

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Stillman Foote, esq., then surrogate of St. Lawrence county, in Jan- uary, 1864. This partnership continued until 1874. Colonel James remained in Ogdensburg seventeen years, and conducted a law business which extended over the whole State. He then removed to New York city, where he still continues to practice his profession, and has gained the reputation of being one of the most eminent advocates of that city. He is counsel for the Manhattan Railway Company and other corpora- tions, and socially is a member of several of the leading clubs of New York city. Colonel James married Sarah W. Perkins, eldest daughter of Edward H. Perkins, of Athens, Pa., November 16, 1864. His wife died December 3, 1879, leaving two daughters: Lucia and Sarah Welles. The former married Dr. Grant C. Madill, of Ogdensburg, September 6, 1893.

George Morton was born in Mallorytown, Ont., June 23, 1859. His father moved to Canada from Rhode Island about 1839. After a residence of several years there the elder Morton returned to Ogdens- burg, where he assumed charge of the old Tremont Hotel, which in 1886 was burned. After the fire he returned to Canada, settling in Belleville, Ontario. In 1870 he engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery trade. George Morton entered his father's establishment as clerk, where he remained until 1873, when he attended a full course in a commercial college. He then returned and took charge of his father's books for two years. His father then decided on having his son take a classical course and sent him to Albert University, but, unfortunately, the father shortly afterward met with business reverses which compelled George to employ part of his time in teaching to obtain the necessary funds to pay his tuition. By courage and marked ability he succeeded in both paying his way and carrying off first prize in classics, graduating with highest honors at the end of his term. In fact, so brilliant was his record that the faculty rewarded him by remitting at the end of his term a part of his tuition fees. Mr. Morton then entered the law office of J. J. B. Flint, and was admitted to practice in 1881, at Osgood Hall, Toronto. After practicing one year he removed to Ogdensburg and entered the law office of Daniel Magone, with whom he remained until that gentleman received the appointment of collector of the port of

C. D. Kellogg

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New York, since which time Mr. Morton has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession.

C. A. Kellogg was born in Massena, St. Lawrence county, November 30, 1850. After receiving an academic education he commenced, in 1874, the study of law in the office of L. C. Lang, and later in that of L. E. Wadleigh, and was admitted to the bar in 1877. In 1878 he commenced practice in Russell, St. Lawrence county, and in the fall of 1881 moved to Ogdensburg, where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1885 he was elected district attorney and re-elected in the fall of 1888. Mr. Kellogg married in 18- Flora Barnes, of Russell, and they have a son and a daughter. He is identified with all local social and benevolent institutions.

F. R. Moreland was born in Ogdensburg, January 25, 1853, of Irish-American parentage. He received an excellent education in the common schools and Ogdensburg Institute, read law with George Morris, of Ogdensburg, and was admitted to the bar in 1878. For some time Mr. Moreland was actively engaged in the practice of his profession, until 1885, when he became identified with agricultural legislation, drafting and being instrumental in having a number of the most important dairy bills passed through Congress. He was also en- gaged in delivering addresses upon these subjects in many of the States of the Union. In 1890 he again resumed the active practice of his profession in Ogdensburg. He is a life member of the New York State Dairymen's Association.

John C. Keeler, now of Canton, an attorney and counsellor at law, is a son of the late Carlos C. Keeler, of Malone, Franklin county, in this State. Mr. Keeler was educated at Franklin Academy in Malone and at Williams College in Massachusetts, being a member of the class of 1873. After leaving college he entered the law department of the St. Lawrence University at Canton, and pursued a course of study therein, until the discontinuance of that department a few months afterwards. He then studied law and was a law clerk in the office of Sawyer & Russell, in Canton, until midsummer of 1874, when he went to Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, where he was admitted to the bar in September, 1874. For a short time he was in the office of Hon. James G. Jenkins,

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Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York, Part 24

Author: Curtis, Gates Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Curtis, Gates
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1328