USA > New York > Suffolk County > Portrait and biographical record of Suffolk county (Long Island) New York, Pt. 2 > Part 36
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Our subject was married May 24, 1876, to Miss Camilla A. Wood, of this place, and daugh- ter of Albert A. and Margaret Wood. To this marriage there have been born six children. of whom the oldest, Charles S., is a student in the Huntington High School. The others are Mary S., James A., Harry T., Camilla V., and Ken- neth L. Mr. Mott is a stalwart Republican. and has served as Justice of the Peace, having been appointed to fill a two years' vacancy when he first engaged in business. He has been Tax Col- lector for two years, has acted as Notary Public and has been active in local politics. In the Metli- odist Episcopal Church, of which he is a Trustee, he has been Assistant Sunday-school Superin- tendent and is President of the Epworth League of Northport. He is Treasurer of the Northport Water Works Company, and is Second Vice- President of the Bedell Mortgage Loan and Trust Company of Denver, Colo., which has a capital of $100,000. Generally speaking, our subject is one of the representative business men of the place, bright, active, capable, and has been very successful in his business enterprises.
G EORGE W. WHEELER, the leading liveryman in Northport, was born May 16, 1836, in Smithtown, and was the youngest in the family of seven children born to Henry and Ruth (Bryant) Wheeler, both natives of this county. His father was a farmer. a mason and a contractor, and was quite successful in life. Hle belonged to the state militia. The mother,
who is also deceased, was a member of the Pres- byterian Church.
Our subject spent his early life on the farm, and when he attained his majority, the place fell to liim by inheritance, and here he continued to till the soil until he was thirty-three. He then sold the property, and coming to this village July 20, 1868, engaged. in the livery business, which has been his occupation to the present time. In De- cember, 1861, he married Miss Gloriana C. Lewis, who died in January, 1869, leaving one son, who died at the age of twenty. His second wife was Miss Catharine K. Robinson, and to this union there was one child born, Mary A., who is now at- tending college in Brooklyn.
In politics Mr. Wheeler is independent. Soci- ally he has been a member of lodge No. 695. F. & A. M., at Northport for a number of years. He is Past Master, and is regarded as a good and faithful member by all the craft. Personally he has a large circle of friends and stands high in the community. He can look back over a long and active life, and while he can see many things to regret, yet taking it all in all, he can congratulate himself that his life has been so full of the good things of pleasure and profit, and that he has been so really and truly successful in the best sense. So his friends feel, and his neighbors speak highly of his character, integrity and public spirit.
J AMES W. DAVIS. In this restless, uneasy generation, with its life tides surging from the east to the west, and from the north to the south, striking out in new directions and re- tracing old paths, it is a pleasure to write of a life that has run along for seventy-three years in the same locality. The work of to-day needs the lesson of permanence that such a life can teach. We are lacking stability, and are too easily car- ried away by every wind of fancy. What value, then, must there be for the thoughtful and re- fecting mind in the spectacle of a man whose long and busy life flows on in the same great channel from childhood to manhood and to old
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age, whose neighbors in his old age are his school boy friends, and who is endeared to the com- munity by years filled with the most sacred ex- periences! Its written annals may seem poor and bare, devoid of adventure and stirring scenes in many lands, but the thoughtful eye can read between the lines the story of a world tragedy, it may be, in the story of a birth, a marriage, and the fulness of years.
The gentleman whose name appears above, a resident of the town of Brook Haven, was born on the old farm where he now resides, August 4. 1822. He was married in the year 1861, to Miss Martha Hutchinson, and is the father of five chil- dren, of whom Eliza U. is the oldest. The other children bear the names of James, Howard, Leo N. and Victor F. Our subject was reared on the farm, attended the district school and Miller's Place Academy, and when he had reached the age of twenty-five, took charge of the farm. He is now the owner of the old homestead, and is engaged in the business of general farming, which he finds both profitable and satisfactory. He is a Democrat, and is well regarded by his neighbors.
The farm upon which Mr. Davis resides was first setttled by his great-great-grandfather, and has always been in the possession of the family. His forefathers have been farmers, one after the other, and in this part of Long Island they have been in their day prominent and influential people.
G EORGE CONKLIN HENDRICKSON, a prominent attorney and Justice of the Peace in the village of Huntington, was born at Melville (formerly Sweet Hollow), in the town of Huntington, March 1, 1854. His father, Joseph N., was born in the town of Hempstead, Queens County, and has been in the boot and shoe business all his active life, having a store in this village at present. The paternal grandfather, George, was also a native of the town of Hemp- stead, and a farmer by occupation. The mother of our subject, Naomi Rogers, was born at Mel-
ville, being a daugliter of Platt Rogers, and died when George C. was but a year and a half okl. He has one brother, Alonzo Platt, who is a hard- ware merchant in this village.
Mr. Hendrickson graduated at the Hunting- ton Union High School in the spring of 1871, and in the fall of the same year entered Princeton College. His father, being a man of limited means, worked his own way through school. He was a fine musician and was able to earn con- siderable money in that way. At the end of his sophomore year in Princeton he took up the study of law. In 1873 he entered the law department of Columbia College, from which he graduated May 12, 1875. During this time he was a law student in the office of Benjamin W. Downing, District Attorney of Queens County.
After Mr. Hendrickson graduated from the law school he entered the office of Judge Thomas Young, where he spent two years. He then opened an office on his own account, and has been one of the most successful lawyers of the county. He has served six years on the Board of Education, and is now serving his twelfth con- secutive year as Justice of the Peace, having been elected twice as the regular nominee of the Dem- ocratic party, and the last time there was no op- position, which of itself tells of the great and gen- eral satisfaction he has given in this position. When he was first elected, he was the youngest man ever chosen as Justice in the town of Hunt- ington. He is an able advocate and a just judge.
Mr. Hendrickson and Miss Mary Brewster Wood were united in marriage October 13, 1875. She is a daughter of Edwin Wood, a contractor of this village. They have one child, Clifford Wood, born July 26, 1877, and now a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. Our subject is a member of the American Legion of Honor, and is a prominent Mason, being for four years Master of Jeptha Lodge No. 492, of Huntington. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, of which he is organist, and in which his wife is a choir singer. While he is a Democrat. he is liberal in his polit- ical views, and exercises a large influence in local affairs.
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ELBERT ARTHUR.
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E LBERT ARTHUR, a retired business man of the town of Huntington, was born De- cember 20, 1829, on the same farm which he now owns and occupies, and was the only child of Joshua and Mary (Chichester) Arthur. The father was a native of the island, and was born at what was called Fresh Pond. His entire life was spent as a farmer, and he died in his fiftieth year. He served in the State Militia and was a member of the Presbyterian Church. His parents were Eliphalet and Bridget (Scudder) Arthur, the former of whom was a native of this county, and purchased the farm on which our subject now re- sides. At the time of his death he was about sev- enty years of age.
When one year and a half old our subject was bereft of a mother's care. She was a native of Northport, and died from scarlet fever at the early age of twenty-three. The bereaved husband and father did not marry again until eighteen years after, and his second wife died within a year after her marriage. The father and son lived together until the father's death, when all the family prop- erty passed to our subject.
Mr. Arthur had good opportunities for school- ing as'a boy, and he improved them, so that he was fairly well educated and entirely competent to take care of his own affairs. When his father died he took the homestead and carried it on for a time, and then leased about one hundred acres on East Beach Sand Pit. Here he had a very fine quality of sand, of limitless quantity, and con- clucted a long and profitable business for thirty- five years, when he sold out his plant to Godfrey & Jones, who are now conducting it.
June 19, 1855, our subject was married to Miss Margaret A. Skidmore, a daughter of Joel and Mary (Arthur) Skidmore, who died January 14, 1801, leaving one son. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church and took an active part in all its work. Her son, John, born October 14, 1857, on the old homestead, still resides there, and is in partnership with his father. September 18, 1870, he was married to Miss Anna M. Bryant, who was a resident of Sunken Meadow.
Mr. Arthur is a Democrat in politics, and was nominated and elected by that party as Super-
visor. For a second term he was endorsed by both parties for that position, but declined a third term on account of poor health in his family. He was Assessor of the town several years ago, was Excise Commissioner, and has served on the county committee. His son was also nominated for Supervisor, but was defeated by a small vote. Father and son are members of Lodge No. 695, F. & A. M., at Northport, and the son was Master of that lodge for four years.
Our subject is not a member of any church, but contributes to the support of all worthy ob- jects and enterprises. He now owns about one hundred and fifty acres of land, and has a beauti- ful home, one of the finest houses in the county. It is built on a high bluff, overlooking Long Island Sound on the north, and Northport Har- bor on the west. Mr. Arthur is one of the leading men of the town, and has a wide circle of friends.
C APT. HENRY B. MERRELL, who is a resident of Greenport, was born in Nor- walk, Conn., February 16, 1824. His father, Valentine Merrell, was born in West Hart- ford, Conn., in 1783, and during the War of 1812 was First Lieutenant in the Light Artillery, sta- tioned at Southold, L. I., but he saw no active ser- vice. He and his brother, Marvin, were the patentees of the first sugar drips made in this country. They also had a pottery near Greenport, where their products were made and thence shipped to New York. Our subject's father was killed in a railroad accident in 1853. He was one of four brothers, the eldest being Timothy, who was a doctor. Marvin was, as before mentioned, his business partner, and Orson was a seafaring man.
The Merrell family was founded in America in 1633 or 1634. their progenitor in this country coming from England. Gen. Lewis Merrell, of the United States Army, is a relative of our sub- ject. Captain Merrell's mother, who, prior to her marriage, was Miss Lydia Sisson, was born on Plum Island, and died in 1851. She was the
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mother of six boys and five girls, of whom four are now living. Jason was a potter by trade. Val- entine, who was a hatter at Norwalk, Conn., par- took of the religious fanaticism of Joseph Smith, but never went to Salt Lake City, remaining in Norwalk until his death. Mary A. joined the Mormons and became the wife of Orson Pratt, one of the original twelve Mormon Apostles. Al- bert, also a hatter by trade, accepted the Mormon faith and went with Brigham Young to Salt Lake City, where he died.
Captain Merrell had but little opportunity for education. He never went to school but nine months after he was twelve years of age, and at thirteen he sailed as cook on the sloop "Lady Washington," and in 1848 was commander of a sloop that sailed in the lumber trade. In 1849 he shipped for California, being mate of the bark on which he sailed. He was interested financially in the cargo, and after it was disposed of went into the mines, where he remained about eight months, and accumulated a snug little sum of money. He started for home via Nicaragua.
After his return from the western coast our subject continued on the high seas. He became the owner of the sloop "Caroline." When the war broke out in 1861 .he bought an interest in the schooner "J. H. Burnett," and put it into commis- sion in the transport business for the Govern- ment. After the war he was owner and master of several vessels for seven years, and commanded the yacht "Sea Witch." He was master of the yacht "Viking," afterward owned by Colonel Loomis, of Chicago, and as its commander he spent two years on Lake Michigan, and then Colonel Loomis sent him into eastern waters.
In his fifty-eight years of active sea-faring life, our subject has had many interesting experiences. From 1840 to 1848 he made five voyages on whaling expeditions, and has thrice circumnavi- gated the world. He has spent much time in the South Atlantic Ocean and has made six trips to the Sandwich Islands. It is rather remarkable that, during such a long sea-faring career, he has never been shipwrecked.
Captain Merrell was united in marriage, July 2, 1846, with Miss Emily E., daughter of Harry
Beebe, a prosperous farmer and sea-faring man, and sister of Henry Beebe, who is owner and master of a boat. Three children were born to subject and his wife, namely: Mary E., who mar- ried Jolin L. Terry, the ship builder, and is now deceased; Henrietta, the wife of E. Olin Corwin, Cashier of the People's National Bank of Green- port, and Clarence P., a carpenter and builder in Greenport. Our subject built the pleasant home in which he lives in 1844.
Captain Merrell relates that when, as a boy, he determined to go to sea, his dear Christian mother was greatly opposed to the step, urging that it was a careless hazardous life, and that his associ- ations would probably cause him to become pro- fane and irreverent. He therefore promised her that he would abstain from swearing, the use of liquor and tobacco, and he has never caused her a moment of regret for the consent she then gave, for during the nearly three score years that he has been a sea-faring man he has never for a moment thought of breaking one of the sacred promises made that Christian mother. In 1848 he joined the Methodist Church, and has been a Trustee and Steward for many years:
B ENJAMIN KING MULFORD was born in Orient, August 14, 1820, and is a de- scendant, on the paternal side, of English ancestors. His father, Elisha, was born in East Hampton, L. I., January 8, 1788, and was a farmer by occupation, which he followed in Suf- folk County until his death here, August 4, 1867, at the age of seventy-nine. The grandfather and great-grandfather of our subject were also named Elisha, and both died in this county.
The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Fannie Terry, was born in the town of Riverhead, November 8, 1790, and died December 9, 1873. Her father, John C. Terry, was a native of this county, born February 8, 1744, and died in the town of Riverhead in Sep- tember, 1823. Our subject is next to the young-
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est among four children, the others being: Fan- nie L., who married Charles F. Read, and is now deceased; Betsey A., who became the second wife of Charles F. Read, and E. Hampton, de- ceased.
A lifelong resident of Orient, our subject has made farming his sole occupation, and in it he has been successful. Politically he has been an advo- cate of Republican principles ever since the or- ganization of that party, and always casts his bal- lot in support of its men and measures. He was united in marriage, at Greenport, November 6, 1845, with Miss Sarah D. Bowditch, who was born on Shelter Island, August 20, 1824. She is the only child of John B. and Sarah M. (Conk- ling) Bowditch, natives of the same place as her- self. Her father died some time during the '50s, and her mother, who was born in 1802, died at the age of twenty-two. Mr. and Mrs. Mulford became the parents of three children, namely: Fannie T., wife of H. Dwight Beebe; Ernest L., who died July 5, 1876, at the age of twenty-six, and Addie E., who is the wife of Edward Webb Latham.
R EV. RICHARD S. MOTT. For a number of years the name of Mr. Mott has been inseparably linked with the religious his- tory of Suffolk County, whose annals bear testi- mony to the integrity of his character and the up- rightness of his career. In addition to looking after the spiritual welfare of his fellowmen, he is devoting much of his attention to tilling the soil in this county, and has an extensive milk and cream dairy of twenty-five cows, supplying the hotels and ice-cream factory at Babylon. He has resided in this section all his life, and was born on the old home place, May 17, 1851.
The Mott family is an old and prominent one here, our subject's grandfather, Richard Mott, being the first one to settle in this section. He was born in Queens County, February I, 1785, and had but $30 when he came here. He spent the remainder of his days clearing and ini- proving his farm, and became a substantial and
respected citizen. He married Miss Phoebe Van Nostrand, and by her had five children, the father of our subject, Jackson Mott, being the young- est. The eldest, Mary, born October 22, 1811, married Ezra Ketchan; Benjamin, born April 6, 1814, died in infancy ; Rachel, born June 2, 1816, died in infancy: Elizabeth, born October 2, 1820, married John Whitson, and died, leaving two children. The mother of these children was born April 9, 1790, and died November 22, 1880. The father died August 25, 1845.
The father of our subject was born on the home place September 5, 1825, and on the IIth of October, 1848, he married Miss Susan Bayless, who was born March 17, 1830. He was not quite twenty-one when his father died, and he was willed the home place, with the understanding that he should pay the other heirs $800 apiece. This he soon succeeded in doing, and afterward added more land to the original tract, until he now owns one hundred and seventy-five acres, one hundred acres of which is in a high state of cultivation. In politics he was first a Whig, but later he became a Republican. He is still living and in the enjoyment of comparatively good health.
The boyhood days of Richard S. Mott were spent on the farm, and in addition to the educa- tion received in the country schools he entered the Huntington Union Free School when about fifteen years old, attending two years. Returning to the farm, he being the only child, he has re- sided there since. On the 12th of June, 1872, he inarried Miss Ruth D. Post, a native of Farming- dale, L. I., born January 5, 1851. She is the daughter of Alanson and Martha (Vansise) Post. the latter deceased. Her father, who has married a second time, is still living and resides in Brook- lyn. To his first union were born these children: Saralı Elizabetlı, Ruth D., Alice, Elbert Q., Lo11- ise, Wilson E., and Evie.
In his political views Richard Mott was in ear- lier life a Republican, and is now a Prohibitionist. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Melville, and has served as Trustee. Steward, and Superintendent for sixteen years. He was licensed by the Presiding Elder as an Ex-
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
hortor, and later as a local preacher, and is now serving on his third year. He served as Trustee of School District No. 15, towns of Huntington and Babylon, for many years, and has taken much interest in having good schools. For many years he served as Overseer of Highways. His marriage has been blessed by the birth of four children: Susie E., born September 11, 1873, died July 18, 1888; William J., born August 15, 1875, received a good country school education, and in addition attended two years at Huntington Union Free School, and six months at Brown's Business College, in Brooklyn; Gussie V., born July 21, 1879, is a student in the ninth grade at Farmingdale, and is considered quite a skillful musician, and A. Floyd was born August 31, 1883.
J I OHN HOLMES. It is well said that the best in every line of business is the cheap- est, and nowhere is this any more strikingly true than in the field of plumbing and general house construction: No establishment in plumb- ing and sanitary engineering enjoys a more hon- orable standing than the house of John Holmes, situated on Main Street, Bay Shore. He has a business well established here that covers all kinds of tin, copper and sheet-iron working, a general stove and furnace outfitting, and every variety of heating, lighting, roofing and plumb- ing-in fact anything that has to do with the hardware of a home is in his line.
Mr. Holmes has resided in Bay Shore only for the past eight years, coming here from Sayville. Before locating at that point he was in business on Third Avenue, in New York City, for twelve years, and it will be seen that he is thus giving to this village and its interests the best years of his life. His father, Thomas Holmes, was an Englishman, and is now deceased, as is the mother. There are three sons. now living, of whom Henry, the eldest, is in Islip, Robert at Sayville, and John at Bay Shore.
Mr. Holmes was born in England, March 14, 1840, and left that country when fourteen years ci age, having already begun to learn his trade. He continued to work at it in New York City, and while quite young became a master hand in its many lines. He was naturally of an ingenious turn of mind, and very soon became a capable mechanic, and for fifteen years was a workman of skill in that city. Then he located at Sayville, and very soon appeared in this village. He is without doubt up to his trade in all its details, but over and above that he is an inventor of many practical and paying mechanical devices. He was the first to perfect common kerosene heating oil stoves and is now at work on a device for the street cleaning of New York that promises to supersede all other kinds of mechanical instru- mentalities for the cleaning of the streets of a great city.
Our subject has also developed literary ability and has a poetical faculty that has found effusion in compositions which have been highly praised by critics of recognized ability. While Horace Greeley was editor of the New York "Tribune," his articles appeared frequently in that paper, covering not only topics of poetical and senti- mental interest. but touching in a sound, practical way the great and burning questions of the time. His productions have appeared in many other papers also.
Mr. Holmes was married to Maria Lowton, of London, England, in 1864, and of this marriage there are eight children living, some of whom display not a little of their father's genius and in- tellectual ability. While in New York he was active in the politics of the Fourth Ward, and was a Democrat in the time of Fernando Wood, but is now working with the Republican party. A book entitled "Local and National Poets of America," issued in 1890, contains his portrait, and samples of his verse. While in the metropolis he had a good business, and was reaping the rich rewards of character and ability, he was yet com- pelled to move on account of the effects of the climate upon his health. In the years that he has been on Long Island he has quite recovered his physical tone, and is now a man of marked
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EDWARD DODD, M. D.
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physique, fine bearing, full chested, and much given to athletic enjoyment, excelling in the man- agement of boxing gloves, and in all recreations requiring skill, strength and quickness.
E DWARD DODD, M. D., a well known physician of North Babylon, was born near where he now lives, August 4, 1839. being the son of James E. and Mary E. (Pettit) Dodd. The Dodd family have been residents of the island almost from the beginning of the century. Edward Dodd, grandfather of our subject, came to this county about the year 1805, and here mar- ried Eliza Seaman. He was one of the officers of the brig, "Governor Tompkins," and was sent in as prize master of the English brig "Henry." As the "Tompkins" was lost at sea and nothing was ever heard of it, those who brought in the prize "Henry" divided among themselves the prize money, which gave Officer Dodd a hand- some outfit for the struggles of the world. Sub- sequently he left the service, settling in Babylon, and took government contract to carry the mails between Brooklyn and Sag Harbor. He also put up a hotel at Babylon as a convenient half-way house. He made extensive investments in land, and died quite well to do. One child was born of his marriage, James, the father of the subject of this sketch.
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