USA > New York > Onondaga County > Pompey > Re-union of the sons and daughters of the old town of Pompey > Part 30
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In 1841, Mr. Fargo removed to Auburn, to accept the freight agency of the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Com- pany, then just completed, and in 1842, he resigned this po- sition to accept that of messenger for Pomroy & Co., who had established an express line between Albany and Buffalo. At this time, the rails were laid to Batavia, and express packages were carried by stage from Batavia to Buffalo, un- til the completion of the Buffalo and Attica Railroad. Af- ter a year's experience as a messenger, Mr. Fargo was ap- pointed agent for the company at Buffalo, to which city he removed in November, 1843. The Express business was in its infancy then, but Mr. Fargo recognized in it the ele- ments of indefinite growth and expansion. In January, 1844, in company with Mr. Henry Wells and Mr. Daniel Dunning, he organized an Express Line from Buffalo to De- troit, by way of Cleveland, under the firm name of Wells & Co. The capital these partners possessed, was principally industry, energy and determination. The one who was able to borrow $200 on a short note was regarded by the firm as a financial success. At this time, the only railroads west of Buffalo was the one in Ohio, from Sandusky City to Mon- roeville, and the one in Michigan from Detroit to Ypsilanti. These expressmen employed the steamers on the lakes in the season of navigation, and stages and express wagons in winter. They did not do a very heavy business, but it was a growing one, and they pushed it forward as rapidly as practicable. They extended the line to Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and St. Louis and westward to Galena.
After a year's experience, Mr. Dunning withdrew from
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the partnership, and, in 1846, Mr. Henry Wells sold his in- terest to Mr. William A. Livingston, and the firm name was changed to Livingston & Fargo. About this time, Mr. Wells removed to New York, Mr. Livingston came to Buf- falo, aud Mr. Fargo was located in Detroit, where he re- mained about one year, returning to Buffalo in 1848, when Mr. Livingston took up his residence in Cincinnati.
The express business west of Buffalo was managed in this way until March, 1850, when the American Express Company was organized, consolidating the interests of Johnston Livingston and Henry Wells and the firm of Livingston, Wells & Co., proprietors of the line between New York and Buffalo; those of Butterfield, Wasson & Co., proprietors of a rival line between these cities, and those of Livingston & Fargo, who owned the lines west of Buffalo. Henry Wells was the first president, and William G. Fargo the first secretary; these positions were held by these gentle- men respectively, until the consolidation with the Merchants' Union Express Company, in December 1868, when Mr. Fargo was elected the president and remains such. This company has a capital of $18,000,000; maintains two thou- sand and seven hundred offices and gives employment to more than five thousand men, of whom six hundred are messengers.
At the time the western lines were established, the whole number of offices, between New York and the most remote western station, did not exceed thirty, and the number of men employed, from seventy-five to one hundred. This simple statement illustrates the growth of the express busi- ness, and is of itself proof of the energy, executive ability and the perfect system of the gentlemen who have made it the magnificent success it is.
In 1851, Mr. Fargo, Henry Wells and their associates or- ganized a company, under the firm name of Wells, Fargo & Co., and commenced to do an express business, between New York and San Francisco by way of the Isthmus, and
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to operate interior lines on the Pacific coast. This enter- prise proved successful, and was continued over this route until the completion of the Union and Central Pacific rail- roads, when the water was abandoned for the rail, and the management of the company transferred to San Francisco. While the control was in New York, Mr. Fargo was direc- tor and vice-president, and he still continues a director. This company has a capital, of $5,000,000, and is doing a lucrative and constantly increasing business.
In 1857, the several express companies in the United States, were requested by the government to make proposals for the transportation of the mail overland from St. Louis, by way of what was known as the Southern route, through El Paso, Texas, Fort Yuma and San Diego, to San Fran- cisco. A contract having been made, the companies organ- ized for this service under the name of the Overland Mail Company. The mails were carried by this route until the outbreak of the rebellion. The company had been at large expense for outfit, the construction of roads, the sinking of wells, and the erection of buildings, all of which was a total loss. The government ordered the company upon the mid- dle route, substantially that of the present railroad, and a new contract was made for daily service, for the sum of $1,000,000 a year. At this price, however, it was not re- munerative. The government paid in greenbacks and the company was compelled to pay all its expenses in gold. The business was done at a great risk. Property to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars was destroyed, and many murders committed by the Indians. The company could not protect life or treasure, the passenger business ceased almost entirely, and when the company disbanded upon the com- pletion of the Pacific Railroad, it had lost directly and in- directly fully, $10;000,000, and for this investment its stock- holders have never received a dollar.
Mr. Fargo was for some time a director and vice-presi- dent of the New York Central Railroad Company; was con- nected with and a large contributor to the enterprise of the
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Northern Pacific Railroad, and for several years a director. He is now a director of the Buffalo, New York and Phila- delphia Railroad Company, and is largely interested in the Buffalo Coal Company, and the MeKean and Buffalo Rail- road Company, all of which are enterprises undertaken to advance the manufacturing interests of Buffalo. Mr. Fargo is also a stockholder in several of the large manufacturing establishments of Buffalo, and thoroughly identified with the growth and progress of the city of his residence.
Mr. Fargo was Mayor of Buffalo for four years, from 1862 to 1866, and distinguished himself for his courtesy, impar- tiality and executive ability. He has been a large and con- stant contributor to charitable, religious and, in fact, all public enterprises. He is a man of remarkable decision of character, an instinctive judge of men with the rare power of organization and control, and of unflinching resoluteness and determination. His success has been in no sense acci- dental. He has trod with a purpose all the rounds of the ladder of his fortune, and at no step has the faintest breath of suspicion attached to his integrity.
Jerome F. Fargo, now a resident of Buffalo, led as a child the life of all his brothers. He worked on a farm in the summers, attended school in the winters, until he was four- teen years of age, when he hired out to a farmer with the understanding that he was to remain until he became twell- ty-one. Farm-life, however, did not agree with his health, and, in 1835, he engaged as a clerk in Curtis' store on Pom- pey Hill. In 1836, he found employment in the grocery store of Polley & Goetchius, at Syracuse, where he remained a few months, and then hired to John Stone, as an appren- tice to the baker's trade. He remained here until 1838, when he removed to Weedsport, and engaged as a journey- man baker with Peter Sampson. After a years service in this capacity, he was clerk in the grocery and dry goods store of Baylis & Mills, in whose employ he remained some- thing more than a year. Then in company with William G. Fargo, he commenced business in Weedsport as a mer-
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chant and baker. Upon the termination of this partner- ship, he continued the bakery until 1841, when he removed. to Auburn, in the employ of the Auburn and Syracuse Rail- road Company. For two years he acted as local freight conductor, and ran the first through freight train from Ro- chester to Albany without transfer, in the winter of 1846. In 1847, he was promoted to a passenger conductorship; re- moved to Syracuse in 1849, and had charge of the train from Auburn to Syracuse, and, upon the consolidation of the Au- burn and Syracuse and Auburn and Rochester railroads, continued in this capacity until the organization of the New York Central Railroad Company. He served the Central road until June, 1856, when he removed to Buffalo. He was one of the proprietors of the Corn Dock Elevator, had charge of its construction and was engaged in its management until its destruction by fire in 1865. For five years, he was one of the lessees of the City Elevator, and continued in this business until the Spring of 1872. In July of the year fol- lowing, he was appointed to the position of superintendent of the real estate and personal property of the American Express company on all the lines west of Buffalo, which po- sition he still holds.
On the first of July, 1839, he married Miss Hannah Wat- son, of Weedsport, N. Y. They have been the parents of seven children, of whom only two are living. George W. Fargo, of Buffalo, and a daughter named Bessie.
Rufus Fargo died at the age of two years, and his remains lie in the cemetery at Pompey Hill.
Chancellor L. Fargo learned the trade of a carriage maker, at Auburn, N. Y. He conducted that business for about five years at Watervale, and subsequently engaged in the Express business. His first wife was Phobe Williams, a daughter of Nathan Williams, of Pompey, who died soon after marriage, and his second wife Rebecca Winchester. He died while a resident of Manlius, and was buried at Watervale. Three sons survive him, Samuel W., of Au- burn; Orrin, of Buffalo, and Fayette, of Chicago, IlI.
Clay, Coaack & Co. Buffalo, N.Y.
yoursa
Glay, Cowack & Co. Buffalo, N.Y.
MRS. WILLIAM C. FARGO.
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Sarah Ann Fargo, married Harvey S. Reed, a brother of Col. Ralph T. Reed, late of Watervale. They reside at De- troit, Mich., and have two children, Charles F., and Fannie, who reside with their parents.
Maryette Fargo, married Samuel P. Wormley, formerly of Ontario County, but now a resident of Marshall, Michi- gan. They have three sons -- Frank, George and James.
James C. Fargo came to Buffalo, as clerk in the office of Wells & Co's Express, in 1844, and advancing step by step in the Express business, now occupies one of the most re- sponsible positions in connection with the American Ex- press Company. He was made agent of the company in De- troit, in 1848, and was afterwards agent and manager of the lines which center at Chicago. He remained; here until 1866, when he removed to New York city, to accept the po- sition of General Superintendent and Manager of all the business of the company, which he still holds, to the satis- faction of all parties. He is, also, President of The Mer- chants' Despatch Transportation Company, an organization which has a capital of $3,000,000, and owns and operates more than three thousand freight cars. IIe is, also, one of the directors of the National Express Company. He has mastered the Express business as thoroughly as any man in . the country, and possesses in a marked degree the family characteristics of energy, promptness and decision.
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James married Fannie Stuart, of Battle Creek, Mich., and his family consists of three children-William and James, now students in Williams College, and Anna.
Charles Fargo commenced his express education in the Detroit office under the charge of his brother James, and worked his way steadily up. After several years of expe- rience in the Detroit office, he was appointed agent at Tole- do. When James C. was transferred to Chicago, Charles took his place at Detroit, and upon the transfer of James to New York, he removed to Chicago, where he still resides, holding the important position of Assistant General Super-
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intendent of the Western Division of the American Express Company, and, also, that of director in the company.
He married Mary Jane Bradford, of Cooperstown, N. Y. They have four children-Irene, Livingston, Ada and Flor- ence.
It should be said of the brothers James C., and Charles, that they have grown up in the Express business, and have given it their close and undivided attention. In its general scope and in the most minute details, they are equally at home. They deserve and have won the confidence and re- spect of all the Express managers in the country, as gentle- men of marked ability and conspicuous exactness and trust- worthiness. Their relations with the railroad companies and other transportation lines extend over a period of nearly thirty years, and they are probably acquainted with a greater number of railroad officials and business men in the coun- try, than any other two men of their years. To these broth- ers may justly be given a large share of credit for the per- feet organization and successful working of the American Express Company.
Thomas B. Fargo, married Miss Lou Winfield. They re- side in Detroit, Michigan, and have one daughter.
Emeline Fargo, married Frederick Deese, of Syracuse, who was for fourteen years passenger conductor on the New York Central Railroad, and is now engaged in the Express business. They have two daughters, who reside with their parents.
Willett II. Fargo died at Decatur, Ill., on Monday, Feb. 14th, and was buried in Detroit. He married Emeline Caldwell, of Chapinville, N. Y. They have nochildren.
Mortimer H. Fargo, the youngest son, married Mary Drake, of Painsville, Ohio. He is now agent for the Ameri- can Express Company, at Green Bay, Wisconsin, where his father nearly sixty years ago guarded the construction of a fort to protect the pioneers of civilization. During the
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summer of 1875, the veteran Fargo, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years, visited his son at Green Bay.
This is a hasty and condensed biography of a family that, as much as any other from Pompey, has been and is identi- fied with the growth and progress of the present century.
THE VAN BROCKLIN FAMILY.
Nicholas Van Brocklin, late of Pompey, although not a pioneer, resided in Pompey over fifty years, and mostly re- claimed the land on which he settled in 1821. He was born May 26th, 1786, in Johnstown, Montgomery county, N. Y .. at a place called Sammon's Hollow, about four miles west of the village of Johnstown. A brief mention of his ancestors will show that his father's name was Gilbert Van Brocklin, and he had three brothers, Malachi, Nicholas and Harpet, all of them patriots in the revolutionary war, and engaged in the cruel contest which occurred in that eventful period, upon the borders of civilization, with the remorseless tories and Indians. One of the brothers, Nicholas, was taken pris- oner by the tories and Indians, transported into the wil- derness and was never heard of more. This vicinity was the theatre of the operations of Brant and the Johnsons whose baronial mansion was near Johnstown.
The grand-father of the subject of this sketch, emigrated from Holland about the year 1730, with two brothers and a sister. The names of two of the brothers were Nicholas and Alexander, the other is thought to have been Harpet and the sister Barbara. Only two of the brothers who came from Holland were married and from them have sprung probably all the Van Brocklins in the United States. The maternal ancestry of Mr. Van Brocklin was Scotch and his mother's ancestral name was Wilson.
In early life he was surrounded by a settlement remarka - ble for its independence and patriotism, including the Sam- mons, the Fondas, the Vedders and others of revolutionary
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fame. The political contests in the early days of the Repub- lic waged in his native county, which but a few years before had been the witness of a ferocious savage warfare by pat- riots on the one hand and tories and Indians on the other, made a lasting impression on his mind and closely allied him to that party which opposed the Federalist, and always through the subsequent years of his life, he was a zealous supporter of the Democratic party.
At about the age of twenty-four he married Margaret, a daughter of John and Mary Shields, who with their family one son and seven daughters emigrated from Ireland about the year 1800. Mrs. John Shield's maiden name was Mary White and three of her brothers were Presbyterian minis- ters. Mr. Shields first landed in Delaware, but soon came north to Montgomery county, and in 1820 to Pompey, where he resided till his death. Of his children, Mary married a Mr. Newkirk and after his death a Mr. Dawson. Jane mar- ried Bela Farr, late of Norwich, N. Y.
Isabella married Jeremiah Van Epps, late of Homer, N.Y. Martha married James Gilmore, late of Manlius, N. Y. Elizabeth married a Mr. Frazier and her husband died soon after, and she ever after lived with her sister Sarah, who married Henry Barber a son of Elihu mentioned on another page of this volume. Patrick Shields, the only son, married Mrs. Sherwood a widow of one of the Pompey pioneers, and lived near Delphi in Pompey, till his death. As before stated Margaret married Nicholas Van Brocklin. From these seven sisters have sprung a numerous progeny and among them were several men of influence and eminent ability. Among them may be noted Hon. Joseph Farr, late of Norwalk, Ohio, James Farr, late of New York, Drs. James and John Gilmore of Nunda, N. Y. Mrs. Van Brocklin was a remarkable natural mathematician, being prompt and accurate in mental computation of all the business trans- actions of her husband, often correcting the errors of mer- chants who used pen and paper. Mr. Van Brocklin was a farmer but always evinced a lively interest in public affairs.
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Their children in the order of ther ages were Gilbert, Jane, Ann, Eliza B., John S., James W., Margaret, Martha and William White. The first six were born in Johnstown, and the two youngest in Pompey. When they moved to Pom- pey in 1821, they first located on a farm near Elihu Barber, but soon disposed of this and purchased of Robert Camp- bell the farm next east of where Grace Greenwood was born. Here they lived till the day of their death. Mrs. Van Brocklin died Aug. 29, 1855, at the age of sixty-eight. Nicholas Van Brocklin died March 1st, 1872, in the 86th year of his age, never having used eye glasses and having read the bible five times through the last five years of his life. His son John Shields, and two of his daughters Eliza B., and Martha still reside on the old homestead.
Gilbert engaged in agricultural pursuits at first, and sub- sequently became a successful occulist. He married Emma Withey, of Port Byron. While on a journey from Buffalo, where he resided, he died in Chicago in 1853. Jane Ann married John King, a farmer of Pompey, and they reside near what is known as the block school house. An only living daughter, Mary, lives with her parents. Their only son David owns and occupies the Asa HI. Wells farm near Pompey Hill. Margaret Van Brocklin died at the age of three years, soon after her parents came to Pompey.
James W. is a carpenter and joiner, and has built many dwellings in Pompey. In 1844 he married Tirza Tiffany, by whom he has six children, Mary, Julia, Wm. H., James, Charles and Frank. The first three are married. He owns and occupies the Bennet farm near Pompey Hill.
Wm. W., the youngest, worked his way through college, graduating at Hamilton, in the class of 1850. He taught school several years, commencing at Port Byron, N. Y., at the age of sixteen. Subsequently he taught in Fabius, Pompey and Syracuse. Studied law in the office of Gardner and Burdick, and was admitted to practice in 1853. Since that time he has followed law and farming, and now is the only resident lawyer of Pompey, owning and occupying the
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Daniel Gott residence at Pompey Hill, which he purchased of Robert Ellis in 1874. He married in 1850, Lucy Aylworth, a grand-daughter of Rev. Jas. P. Aylworth, and daughter of Hon. O. Aylworth, late of Fabius. They have no children living.
DAVID WILLIAMS.
The subject of this notice was born in Halifax, July 16th, 1782, and when nine years old came to Pompey. At the age of twenty-one, he married Mary Eastman, who was born July 4th, 1782. The day after their marriage Mr. Wil- liams killed a bear. With the exception of five years they have ever since their marriage resided in Pompey, till last fall, (1875,) when Mr. Williams died at the advanced age of ninety-three. He was a farmer and lived about a mile and a half north of Watervale. Mrs. Williams' father, Timothy Eastman, served seven years in the war of the revolution. Mrs. Williams is still living with her son, Hiram D., on the old homestead. One other son Horace resides in Michigan, and these constitute all that remain of the family. Two brothers of David also early came to Pompey, and settled on and near the corners where Egbert Avery now resides. They too, were farmers and remained residents of Pompey, till their death. One of them was Nathan, the father-in-law of Hon. Wm. G. Fargo, and the other was Daniel. They all bore the reputation of honest, upright citizens.
ASA WELLS.
Asa Wells was born in Colchester, Conn., Aug. 6th, 1774. In the spring of 1803, he came to Pompey and built a log house at Pompey Hill, on the place occupied by the late Daniel March at the time of his death. In 1807, he located east of Pompey Hill on the farm east of and adjoining the Daniel Wood farm. Here also he erected a log house in a small clearing in the woods. So small was the clearing that it was necessary to remove his children and wife from the
ENDICOTT & CO ! ITH N \
Asa Wells
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house in falling the large trees. Mr. Wells was an excellent mathematician and practical surveyor. He with a corps of assistants laid out the road running north from the Academy to Manlius, and being no house on the way they camped out at night. He assisted the Senior Geddes in surveying for the Oswego canal. His father being an officer in service during the whole period of the revolutionary war, he inher- ited a military ambition, and for many years was an officer in the militia. When Sacket's Harbor was threatened by the British, he being then a captain of militia, his whole company volunteered to go if he would lead them, which he did. Afterwards he held the office of colonel of the militia for several years. In the civil service he held various important trusts. Was for a long time a Justice of the Peace, repre- sented his town in the Board of Supervisors, was member of the State Assembly, and Judge of the County Court. He died in February, 1859, at the age of 79 years.
Chlo Hyde Wells, wife of Asa Wells, died in January, 1872, aged 923 years, retaining her faculties to the last.
Their children now living are Mrs. J. B. Pitkin of Oswe- go, Mrs. J. F. Ostrander, now of Mantorville, Minnesota, who was for many years a teacher in the schools of Pompey, Mrs. Morris Beard of Pompey, Levi Wells of Pompey, who has been for 32 years a Justice of the Peace. He also represent- ed the town of Pompey for eighteen years in the Board of Supervisors, and became a living encyclopedia of the records of the Board. He was an honest, faithful and efficient offi- cer. Like his father he was a practical surveyor.
Dr. Lucien B. Wells, of Utica, N. Y., was an early con- vert to the principles and practice of Homeopathy. He has been an active pioneer in the advancement of that system of medicine and in 1870 was chosen President of the Homao- pathic State Medical Society. Since writing the above sketch, Levi Wells has gone to join his aged parents across the river of death upon the land of Immortality. He died March 31st, 1872, in the triumph of the christian's faith. In
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his death the community lost a citizen of the highest type of integrity and virtue, and the loss was sincerely mourned by all.
HENRY SEYMOUR,
Was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1781. He was a son of Major Moses Seymour of that place, who was an offi- cer in the army of the revolution, and for many years a member of the Legislature of that State; and who died in 1827, at the age of 84.
Major Seymour had five children, namely, one daughter, Mrs. Marsh, of Litchfield, (who lived to be 94 years of age,) and four sons, Horatio Seymour, of Middlebury, Vermont, United States Senator, from 1821 to 1833, Ozias Seymour, of Litchfield, sheriff of Litchfield county, Moses Seymour a lawyer, who also resided at Litchfield, Epaphro Seymour, of Brattleboro, Vermont, President of the Brattleboro Bank, and Henry Seymour, the subject of this notice.
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