USA > New York > Schuyler County > Portrait and biographical record of Seneca and Schuyler Counties, New York : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 8
USA > New York > Seneca County > Portrait and biographical record of Seneca and Schuyler Counties, New York : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 8
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The silver question precipitated a controversy between those who were in favor of the continu- ance of silver coinage and those who were op- posed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his inauguration. -
On June 2. 1886, President Cleveland married Frances, daughter of liis deceased friend and part- ner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo Bar. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two daugli- ters. In the campaign of 1888, President Cleve- land was renominated by his party, but the Republican candidate, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, was victorious. In the nominations of :892 these two candidates for the highest position in the gift of the people were again pitted against each other, and in the ensuing election President Cleveland was victorious by an overwhelming
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty-third President, is the descendant of one of the historical families of this country. The first known head of the family was Maj .- Gen. Harrison, one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and fighters. In the zenitli of Cromwell's power it be- came the duty of this Harrison to participate in the trial of Charles I., and afterward to sign the death warrant of the king. He subsequently paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 1660. His descendants came to America, and the next of the family that appears in history is Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great-grandfa- ther of the subject of this sketch, and after whom he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a mem- ber of the Continental Congress during the years 1774, 1775 and 1776, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. He tas three times elected Governor of Virginia.
Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a successful career as a soldier during the War of 1812, and with a clean record as Governor of the Northwestern Territory, was elected President of the United States in 1840. His career was cut short by death within one month after his in- auguration.
President Harrison was born at North Bend,
Hamilton County, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His life up to the time of his graduation from Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a country lad of a family of small means. His father was able to give him a good education, and nothing more. He became engaged while at college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of a female school at Oxford. After graduating, he determined to enter upon the study of law. He went to Cincinnati and there read law for two years. At the expiration of that time young Har- rison received the only inheritance of his life-his aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as a fortune, and decided to get married at once, take this money and go to some Eastern town and begin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and, with the money in his pocket, he started out with his young wife to fight for a place in the world. He decided to go to Indian- apolis, which was even at that time a town of promise. He met with slight encouragement at first, making scarcely anything the first year. He worked diligently, applying himself closely to his calling, built up ar. extensive practice and took a leading rank in the legal profession.
In 1860, Mr. Harrison was nominated for the position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- gan his experience as a stump speaker. He can.
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BENJAMIN HARRISON.
vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its Colonel. His regiment was composed of the raw- est material, but Col. Harrison employed all his time at first in mastering military tactics and drill- ing his men, and when he came to move toward the East with Sherman, his regiment was one of the best drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and for liis bravery at Peachtree Creek he was made a Brigadier-General, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most complimentary terms.
During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field, the Supreme Court declared the office of Supreme Court Reporter vacant, and another person was elected to the position. From the time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 he had taken no leave of absence, but having been nominated that year for the same office, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time made a brilliant canvass of the State, and was elected for another term. He then started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most trying attack made his way to the front in time to participate in the closing incidents of the war.
In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-election as Reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 1876 he was a candidate for Governor. Although defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him a national reputation, and he was much sought after, especially in the East, to make speeches. In 1880, as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, and was elected to the United States Senate. Here he served for six years, and was known as one of the ablest men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in that body. With the ex- piration of his senatorial term he returned to the practice of his profession, becoming the head of one of the strongest firms in the State.
The political campaign of 1888 was one of the most memorable in the history of our country. The convention which assembled in Chicago in June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief st.ind- ard-bearer of tlie Republican party was great in every particular, and on this account, and the at-
titude it assumed upon the vital questions of the day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in the campaign throughout the nation. Shortly after the nomination, delegations began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, liis home. This movement became popular, and from all sections of the country societies, clubs and delegations journeyed thither to pay their rc- spects to the distinguished statesman.
Mr. Harrison spoke daily all through the sum- mer and autumn to these visiting delegations, and so varied, masterly, and eloquent were his speechies that they at once placed him in the fore- most rank of American orators and statesmen. Elected by a handsome majority, lic served his country faithfully and well, and in 1892 was non- inated for re-election; but the people demanded a change and he was defeated by his predecessor in office, Grover Cleveland.
On account of liis eloquence as a speaker and his power as a debater, Gen. Harrison was called upon at an early age to take part in the dis- cussion of the great questions that then began to agitate the country. He was an uncompromising anti-slavery man, and was matched against some of the most eminent Democratic speakers of his State. No man who felt the touch of his blade desired to be pitted with him again. With all his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for ora- torical effect, but his words always went like bul- lets to the mark. He is purely American in his ideas, and is a splendid type of the American statesman. Gifted with quick perception, a logi- cal mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the most distinguished impromptu speakers in the nation. Many of these speeches sparkled with the rarest eloquence and contained arguments of great weight, and many of his terse statements have already become aphorisms. Original in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. During the last days of his administration Presi- dent Harrison suffered an irreparable loss in tlie death of his devoted wife, Caroline (Scott) Har- rison, a lady of many womanly charms and vir- tues. They were the parents of two children,
4
SENECA AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES
NEW YORK
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INTRODUCTORY
HE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to perpetuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age. and the duty that men of the present time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In biographical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number remaining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preservation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to preserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory have been in proportion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great ruiers. The exhumations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks was for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monuments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea-to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the extreme, give but a faint idea of the lives and character of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity; the mausoleums. monuments and statues are crumbling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelligent, undecaying. immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost unlimited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are indebted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming agcs.
The scythe of Time cuts down all; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his children or friends may erect to his memory in the cemetery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits; for the same reason we collect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone: to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.
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HON. DAVID H. EVANS.
JON. DAVID H. EVANS. In the town of Tyre, Seneca County, are many wealthy agriculturists who have done much toward - advancing its interests and are progressive in everything. Among this number we make prom- inent mention of Mr. Evans, who was born in the same house wherein lie now lives, December 7, 1837. His parents were John G. and Mary (Hess) Evans, the former of whom was born in Worcestershire, England, September 1, 1793. He was in his ninth year when the journey was made to America with his parents. John Evans, the grandfather, was a carpenter in limited circum- stances, and made his home in Peterboro, Madi- son County. N. Y., where his death occurred.
After the death of his father, John G., then a lad of fourteen years, was compelled to assist in supporting the family. He was the eldest but one, and besides his mother the household in- cluded five children. He obtained work in a glass factory in Peterboro, and there became a boss blower, receiving good pay for his services, and remaining thus employed until thirty years of age. In Peterboro he was married to his first wife, Miss Mary Mooney, by whom he be- came the father of ten children, of whom only one is now living. This lady died in the above village, and Mr. Evans was then united in mar- riage with the mother of our subject, who was a native of Albany County, N. Y. Their union
was blessed by the birth of one son, the original of this sketch.
About the year 1823 John G. Evans abandoned the business of a glass blower, and, purchasing a farm in Madison County, lived there until 1837. That year he caine to Seneca County and became the proprietor of a tract of two hundred and thir- ty-five acres, on which our subject now makes his home. This he improved in the best pos. sible manner, and here he made his home during the remainder of his life. He was a true-blue Republican after the organization of the party, and on that ticket was elected Justice of the Peace, holding the office for four years. He be- came identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Peterboro, and continued a member of that denomination until his decease, or for a period of forty-five years. He was liberal in his contributions to the support of church work, and was Class-Leader for some time. Although possessing only an ordinary education, he was a great reader and deep thinker. He lived to be eiglity-four years of age. dying July 15, 1877. His good wife preceded him to the better land, passing away November 19, 1875, and they were laid side by side in Evans' Cemetery, near our subject's home.
David H., of this sketch, was a very briglit and apt pupil during his school days, and made rapid progress in his studies. When seventeen
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farming on a tract of eighty acres, fifty of which formed part of the old homestead. His marriage occurred January 2, 1883, when Miss Mary Ma- creery became liis wife. She was the daughter of William and Margaret (Totten) Macreery, who are at present residing in Townsend, although they were living at Sugar Hill at the time of their daughter's birthi. Mrs. Webb departed this life June 6, ISS7, after nearly a year's illness, leav- ing two sons: Seth William, born on Christmas Day, 1883; and Arthur David, born February 25, ISS5.
Mr. Webb has made the most of his money by farming and stock-raising. It is said that there are but two flocks of Cheviot sheep in Schuyler County, and one of these is owned by Mr. Webb.
He also breeds horned Dorset sheep, and exhibits both breeds at the county fairs. He is a mem- ber of the Fair Association.
Ever since eighteen years of age our subject has been prominently before the public in some capacity. On attaining his majority, he was the successful candidate for the office of Inspector of Elections, which he held for three or four years, and in February, 1894, he was elected Town Supervisor. He has been very influential in the councils of the Democratic party, having attend- ed bothi county and congressional conventions, and has never missed casting liis vote since twen- ty-one years old. He is Treasurer and one of the Trustees of Sugar Hill Presbyterian Church, of which his good wife was a member.
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DIEDRICH WILLERS, D. D.
DIEDRICH WILLERS.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
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HON. DIEDRICH WILLERS.
ON. DIEDRICH WILLERS, a distin- guished figure in New York politics, and widely known as one of the leading men of the state, was born November 3, 1833, in the town of Varick, Seneca County, and passed his childhood and youth under the instruction of a father no less distinguished in his sacred calling. He was the son of Rev. Diedrich Willers, D. D., who was born in Walle, near Bremen, Germany, and who wrote his name in indelible letters upon the records of the Reformed Church in this and adjoining counties.
pocket; but he had a vastly more valuable capital in unshaken courage, a good education and a Christian character. Later he found employment as a teacher in York County, Pa.
In early life Dr. Willers made some preparation for the ministry, completing his studies in Penn- sylvania .. He entered upon his ministry in Sen- eca County, N. Y., in April, 1821, and in Octo- . ber, 1821, was ordained to the ministry of the Reformed Church of the United States, formerly known as the German Reformed. He served Christ Church at Bearytown for sixty years and eight months consecutively, and at the same time had a widely extended ministry throughout all the adjacent country. To reach his remote ap- pointments he was compelled to take long jour- neys on horseback, and it is estimated that during these sixty years lie traveled more than eighty thousand miles. He was devoted to his calling, and only retired from it when absolutely com- pelled to by his failing health.
Dr. Willers was born February 6, 1798, and entered the German army to resist the aggres- sions of Napoleon when only sixteen years of age, and served therein with marked ability. He participated in the great struggle of Waterloo, in June, 1815, and counted it a mercy of Providence that he was not killed or injured on that dread- ful day when his company and battalion were almost destroyed, his immediate company losing all but twelve privates and two non-commissioned During these years Dr. Willers bore a conspic- uous part in the history of this country. He earnestly battled against the Mormon delusion, at the time when Joseph Smith first organized in Fayette, in 1830. July 4, 1826, he preached a sermon on the semi-centennial of American Inde- pendence, and lived to assist in the centennial service of 1876. He took an active part in officers out of one hundred and twenty officers and men who entered the battle. The battalion of four hundred men was reduced to less than eighty men. He served in the army of Hanover for five years, and when discharged received a silver medal for conspicuous bravery. In 1819 he came to America, landing in Baltimore, Md., at which time he had only a few dollars in his , arousing patriotic sentiment at the outbreak of
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the Rebellion, in IS61. He was honored and be- loved by thousands of personal friends, drawn to him by the fervor of his preaching and the purity of his heart and soul, and his name is a heritage nobler than money'or lands to his children. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was received from Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, Pa. Dr. Willers died May 13, 1883, at the age of eighty-five. His wife was a descendant of a Pal- atinate German family, which located at New Holland, Lancaster County, Pa., where she was born November 28, 1797. She died November 24, 1879, aged eighty-two.
Rev. Dr. Willers and his wife had a family of eight children, of whom two died in infancy. Two sons and four daughters attained years of maturity. Margaret Amelia, who was born July 25, 1825, married Charles Bachman, of Fayette; she is still living, and has one child, Carlton W., of Rochester, N. Y. Emma C., whose birth occurred December 7, 1826, became the wife of Jolın S. Reed, of Fayette, and at her deatlı, Feb- ruary 15, 1872, left two daughters. Frances S., born June 3, 1828, married George Pontius, of Fayette, and died May 22, 1859, leaving three daughters and one son; the latter, George W. Pontius, of Seneca Falls, recently served a term as District Attorney of Seneca County. Next in order of birth is the subject of this sketch. Caro- line Lydia, the youngest daughter, was born May 21, 1836, and became the second wife of John S. Reed, of Fayette; she is still living.
Calvin Willers, who was born December 9, 1840, was the youngest child in the family. He received an academic education, and in early manhood taught for a number of years in district schools of the county. In the spring of 1867 he was elected Supervisor of Varick, and in 1868 was re-elected without opposition. In Novem- ber, 1868, he was elected Clerk of Seneca County and served a term of three years. In January, 1874, he entered upon the duties of Chief Clerk in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany (then filled by his brother), and this position lie held until his death, April 9, 1875. During the latter part of his life he studied law and, had lie lived, he would have been admitted to the Bar at
the session of court the month following his de- mise. In April, 1872, he married Miss Elizabeth Kennedy, of Covert, who, with a son. Diedrich K., and daughter, Calvina, survives.
Diedrich Willers, the subject of this sketch, was brought up by his father with the design of mak- ing him a minister. He was carefully instructed in the German language and in classical litera- ture, but his life did not conform to his father's planning. At sixteen he began to teachi school for $12 a month, out of which he had to board himself. When twenty-two years old he entered a printing-office with the expectation of becoming a journalist, but this occupation did not agree with his health, and he turned to the study of law as affording a more desirable field of labor. He was admitted to the Bar, but never prac- ticed. In politics he found his most congenial career. In the year 1856 he was a strong sup- porter of James Buchanan, and in the following year was no less active in behalf of Gideon J. Tucker, who was running as candidate for Secre- tary of State. He was elected, and his young and enthusiastic supporter was rewarded with the appointment of a clerkship at Albany. This position lie retained until 1863, when he was selected by Gov. Horatio Seymour to act as his Private Secretary. This was during the most trying period of the Civil War, and the questions and responsibilities that met him were difficult and onerous, but he discharged them with such distinguished ability that he won the warni per- sonal friendship of the "Sage of Deerfield," a friendship that he retained as long as that great statesman survived. When Governor Seymour retired from office Mr. Willers came back to Va- rick, where he remained for two years. During this period, in 1865-66, he was elected Super- visor of Varick, and officiated as Chairman of the Board, rendering valuable service in the settle- ment of accounts growing out of the Civil War.
In 1867 Mr. Willers was appointed Deputy Secretary of State by Hon. Homer A. Nelson. This position he held for four years, and met its responsibilities in so capable a manner that he was nominated for the office of Secretary of State in 1871. He failed of election, but it is recorded
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to his credit that his vote exceeded that given to any other candidate on the Democratic ticket. The next year Governor Hoffman made him As- sistant Paymaster-General, with the rank of Col- onel. The following year he was chosen one of the secretaries of the Constitutional Convention, then in session at Albany, and the same year, 1873, he was renominated as the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, being elected by more than ten thousand majority, his opponent, Mr. Thayer, being one of the most popular Republicans of the state. On the occasion of his second nomi- nation Mr. Willers received a most flattering and complimentary commendation from Governor Seymour. He was pronounced an ideal candi- date and a faithful public servant. In 1875 he was again solicited to be a candidate, but de- clined. The state census of the latter year was taken under his direction.
Mr. Willers availed himself of his freedom from public affairs to visit Europe the following year, and devoted much time to his father's birthplace and native country, and while there visited the battlefield of Waterloo. He spent some three months in this delightful way, and returned home to quietly live on his farm in the midst of his friends and neighbors, who were proud of the energy and capacity that had lifted him from obscurity into fame and honor. In 1877 he was elected to the State Legislature, serving a year in that body, and doing much hard work for the state. He has manifested rare powers in solving difficult questions and bringing order out of confu- sion. His intellectual abilities are of a high order, and have been recognized not only in a practical way in the affairs of life, but also by institutions that are purely educational. In 1875 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Union College, and at a later date the same de- gree from Hamilton College. He took an active interest in the Seneca County centennial celebra- tion, held in Waterloo in 1879, and compiled the historical account thereof, published by the Wa- terloo Library and Historical Society. He has devoted much time to historical research, and de- livered the historical address at the centennial celebration of the town of Romulus, June 13,
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