USA > New York > Tompkins County > Dryden > The centennial history of the town of Dryden. 1797-1897 > Part 22
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Mrs. Van Vleet has recently given a beautiful tribute to the memory of her father and mother by placing in the tower of the Southworth Library building a clock, which has already been mentioned. The accuracy and precision of Mr. Lacy, in all of his course of life in the
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past, is well symbolized by this time-piece, which is so located as to guide and regulate in Dryden village the affairs of men in the future. Mrs. Van Vleet is also devoting some of her thoughts and leisure time to the improvement of the little farm in Dryden village, upon which her father was born ninety years ago, planting it with nut-bearing trees and orchards, and grading and laying out avenues and walks in such a manner as to stimulate and develop the taste for the beau- tiful, which she is thus disposed to cultivate in connection with the memory of her parents.
CHAPTER LI.
ANDREW ALBRIGHT.
The biography of the subject of this chapter affords a typical instance of the young man, born and reared in the country, who is destined, in the eternal fitness of things, to become a prominent factor in the busi- ness life and interests of the great cities of our country. As in all ages the masses of people, congregated together to form the great cen- ters of commerce and manufacture, draw their sustenance from the sparsely settled rural districts, so the great aggregations of people which form our metropolitan cities are continually drawing their most enterprising leaders in commerce, manufacture, and government, from the sons of the humble but industrious farmers of the country towns.
The parents of Andrew, Elisha and Elizabeth B. (Smith) Albright, were natives of New Jersey, and were married there about the year 1818. Elisha had, a year or two before, been to Dryden, where he worked as a lad for his older brother-in-law, John Hiles, in the saw- mill which the latter then operated at the foot of Dryden Lake. Their oldest son, Jacob, was born at Belvidere, N. J., September 4, 1819, and, when he was four months old, they came to seek their fortunes in the new country of Western New York. They brought themselves and all their possessions-which then consisted of a few house-keeping articles and sixty dollars in specie-not upon the traditional ox-sled of other pioneers, but in a one-horse wagon, in which they drove all the way from Belvidere to Dryden. They first took up their abode in a log house then located upon the now vacant knoll nearly opposite the Dryden Woolen Mill, on Main street in Dryden village, and afterwards lived in a plank house which Elisha built on a farm now owned by S. C. Fulkerson, in the north part of the town, where Aaron was born January 7, 1823. Again moving, they settled at one time on Fall
Audio Allright,
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AARON ALBRIGHT.
Creek near the Oliver Cady farm, and at another, near the residence of Elliott E. Fortner, where Andrew was born, June 23, 1831; until finally in 1832, having accumulated some property in spite of his fre- quent changes of location, he purchased of Selden Marvin his home- stead farm three fourths of a mile north from " Dryden Four Corners." Here he reared his family of eleven children and developed from what was almost a wilderness one of the best farms in Tompkins county. The writer recalls the fact of seeing, in his childhood, about the year 1850, Elisha, then a tall, muscular man, surrounded by his sturdy sons, going out to the fields like a small army of giants to do the hay- ing with scythes and hand rakes in the old-fashioned way. The time of his prosperity had then come and his productions were not confined to the bare necessities of life. His farm was noted for the fruit as well as the grain and butter which it produced. A strain of the Win- ter Steele apple grown to perfection in his orchards in great abun- dance had a local reputation. Although "stronghanded," in his latter years by the aid of his sons, labor saving devices were not disregarded and a home-developed water power was ingeniously made use of on the farm to do the threshing.
Being among the younger children, Andrew had the advantage of a fair common school education and remained upon the farm until he was of age. He then began to develop tendencies looking beyond the drudgery of a farmer's life. His inventive turn of mind was first di- rected to a patent wagon brake, which came to naught. One day, while driving, the thought of the use of hard rubber for harness trim- mings, for which only leather had been used up to that time, occurred to him and he resolved to apply himself to the development of that subject. He was told by experts in the use of rubber that his idea was impracticable and that it was impossible to make use of rubber in that way, but, like all true inventors, he was not to be easily discour- aged, and, concentrating all the energies of his resolute nature upon that subject, he finally demonstrated his success in achieving the de- sired result.
It is a well known fact that most true inventors lack the ability to reap the rewards of their own inventions, but here is where Albright differed from the generality of his class. As soon as his invention was made known, such experts as had ridiculed his designs as visionary were now ready to contest his title to the discovery. Suits had to be commenced and maintained in the U. S. courts, to sustain and protect his patent, or it would have availed him nothing. Mr. Albright was without pecuniary means at his disposal, while his rivals were con-
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nected with wealthy corporations. But here was the opportunity of his life. As Shakespeare puts it,-
" There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. "
In this emergency Mr. Albright called upon his father for help to sustain him. The old gentleman, who had acquired what little he possessed in the most laborious manner, and who had some doubt as to the final success of his son's enterprise, at first hesitated, but the necessity of this aid was so imperatively presented by the son, whose whole future depended upon it, that the father and older brothers at length lent their aid. The suits were decided in Albright's favor and the crisis of his life was successfully passed. Let not visionary young men be encouraged by this to embark their means in hazardous ad- ventures. As the result has proved, Mr. Albright, when he applied for the aid of his family, was not about to try an experiment, but he was demonstrating a practical certainty. His success, from that time on, from a business point of view, has been without material interrup- tion and he is now numbered among the most wealthy and successful manufacturers of the cities which cluster around the "Greater New York. "
The merits of his invention, which was not a mere accident, but the result of thorongh study combined with native genius of high order, are fully attested by one of the Goodyear brothers, who first discov- ered the process of vulcanizing rubber, and who wrote of Mr. Albright that he deserved "more credit than any licensee that has ever taken up any branch of the hard rubber business."
After his business success had become an accomplished fact, Mr. Albright was allured into politics and not only was he nominated for Congress, when, against great odds, he failed by only a small majority, but he was, several times afterwards, prominently brought forward as a candidate for governor of his state, and, had he consented to use the means commonly adopted in New Jersey, as well as in too many other places, to secure the election, his nomination, as well as election, would have been assured.
But the same resolute characteristics which carried him to success in his business career, firmly opposed all inducements to secure the nomination by any but honorable means, and the prize therefore fell to those who were less scrupulous in this regard. Like Henry Clay, who would "rather be right than be president, " he preferred to for- sake political ambition rather than be governor with the loss of his
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AARON ALBRIGHT.
integrity as a man. Since that time he has occupied a position in pol- ities above party lines, taking broad views of his own which have con- trolled his actions.
Unlike many men of fortune, since his days of prosperity have come to him, Mr. Albright has made liberal use of his means for his own comfort and for the public good. When the people of Dryden village were about determining to put in a system of water-works, he donated to them a beautiful fountain to adorn the common in his native town as a memorial for his father and mother. When the new log cabin was recently suggested as a feature of the Dryden Centennial Celebra- tion, he sent in without solicitation, his check for thirteen dollars, to represent the thirteen members of his father's family in that enter- prise.
Some of the marked traits of character of Mr. Albright are those which distinguish most self-made men of note. A strong and rugged constitution, developed by work on the farm, and life-long habits of temperance and regularity have enabled him to give untiring, personal attention to his business. His contact with men in all walks of life, and his custom of finding out all about every point involved, have giv- en him an unusual knowledge of human nature, which has been of great value in the numerous negotiations and contracts in which he has been engaged, and has kept him from making many bad bargains. Although not trained as a mechanic, he has fine mechanical instinct, and quickly appreciates and understands machinery ; and he has sug- gested a large number of improvements in the machines and processes of his factories.
His extensive litigation in the United States Circuit and Supreme courts, both as complainant and defendant, has given him a much bet- ter knowledge of the leading principles of the patent laws, evidence, and equity than one usually finds among laymen ; and his less exper- ienced friends among manufacturers often consult him on questions relating to the construction and extent of patent claims. His own ex- perience of an inventor's troubles in perfecting an invention, getting his patent, and then sustaining it against infringers, has made him a close sympathizer with other inventors ; and he has many times fur- nished lawyers' services and other substantial aid in developing their inventions and protecting their rights. Nothing in his life affords him more pleasure than the recollection that he has given such help to many deserving inventors.
While always ready to stand up for his rights, he is willing to give consideration to the wisdom and expediency of compromise where
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
there appear to be conflicting rights. Gifted with persuasive speech, he has exceptional facility in conducting a negotiation. Swift in judg- ment and action, he does not waste time in over-consideration or need- less delay. To many his manner, at times, is bluff, and, like all strong men, he is apt to appear too down-right and positive. But his em- ployees, many of whom have been with him over twenty years, know that his heart is in the right place, and have a warm regard for him. He has never had a "strike," and he has never closed his factory, even when the recent hard times entailed loss by keeping it open. He preferred to suffer loss rather than to distress his faithful working men by shutting down.
These are some of the traits of character which have enabled the farmer boy of Dryden to become one of the truly useful leading men of his day, giving employment for many years to hundreds of men, and have made him one of the foremost citizens and widest known manu- facturers of Newark, the Birmingham of America. In the eyes of prac- tical men, one such citizen is worth more to the country than a hun- dred brilliant politicians. The inventor and manufacturer, he who produces in field or factory, is the citizen who chiefly adds to the wealth, prosperity, and happiness of the community in which he lives.
In October, 1878, Mr. Albright married, at Dryden village, Mrs. Al- mira D. Strong, widow of P. B. Strong, a soldier in the War of the Rebellion who died in the service. Two children, a son and a daugh- ter, both now married, are the result of this union and both reside near their parents at Newark, N. J. A fine picture of the beautiful home of Andrew Albright has recently been presented to and now hangs in the Southworth Library at Dryden.
CHAPTER LII.
OTHER DRYDEN MEN OF NOTE.
In this chapter, which was not contemplated in the original concep- tion of this work, we seek to give short biographical sketches of a dozen men whose lives are to some extent connected with the town of Dryden, which has at some time claimed all of them as her citizens, but who in the main have made their fortunes elsewhere. All have, in one way or another, become worthy of notice here, and our regret is that we have not the time to extend the list to one hundred instead of a dozen, for the larger number mentioned could easily be selected from those citizens who have gone out from Dryden and made them-
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SMITH ROBERTSON.
selves somewhat distinguished for their achievements. We consider ourselves fortunate in being able to head the list with the likeness of one of the sons of Capt. George Robertson, the so-called "Fa- ther of the Town."
SMITH ROBERTSON. :
SMITH ROBERT- SON was born at the old home- stead on the Bridle Road May 1st, 1814, and is therefore now upwards of eighty - four years of age. He was a pupil and afterwards a teacher in the Octagonal School-house District, besides being a student at Ithaca, where he lived with his older broth- er, Thomas, when the latter was sheriff of the county, in 1828-31, and
afterwards at Cortland Academy. In 1843 he graduated from Un- ion College, and in the fall of that year he became superintendent of schools of this county, in the performance of the duties of which office he traveled from district to district, almost always on foot, throughout his territory. Having afterwards settled down to farm life with his brother, Mott J., on the old farm, he was made the first mar- shall and the second president of the Dryden Agricultural Society, organized in 1856, and under his management and direction the foun-
15
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
dations of the future prosperity of the society were laid. Through his instigation the first temporary grounds were given up, the present site was purchased and the main building, somewhat typical in form of the Octagonal School-house of his home district, was constructed. In 1858 he was elected sheriff of Tompkins county, and in 1860 it was he who conveyed his prisoner, the notorious Ruloff, to Auburn, to evade the threats of an angry mob of citizens, who were determined to lynch him. This act, which was very severely criticised at the time, com- mends itself to the sober second-thoughts of all, and doubtless saved the county from a disgraceful exhibition of lawlessness and barbarity. In 1864, under the appointment of an old school-mate, Orrin S. Wood, he superintended the construction and reconstruction of the North- western Telegraph lines in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the upper pen- insula of Michigan, after which he was appointed land agent of Cor- nell University, at Eau Claire, Wis., a position which he still holds.
Mr. Robertson is justified in making a hobby of physical culture, and is fully able to illustrate in his own life the reality and value of the theories to which he holds upon this subject. Although an octo- genarian, he prides himself upon being as active and spry as a boy, and, with his straight figure and erect form, his appearance is that of a man not over sixty years of age. He attributes his health and ap- parent youth to temperate habits, regular and abundant exercise and a buoyant disposition, which often avail much in successfully combat- ting the effects of the infirmities of age. He was one of the leading personalities at our Centennial celebration, an account of which follows this chapter.
WILLIAM MARVIN was born at Fairfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., April 14, 1808. In the first year of his infancy his parents re- moved to Dryden, as already mentioned in Chapter XXIII. He and his older brother, Richard, were therefore brought up as Dryden boys, on the farm afterwards and still owned by the Albright family, north of the village. Both worked on the farm and attended the Dryden village district school, and William, who now lives at Skaneateles, ninety years of age, is one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, of Dry- den boys now living. As we have seen, his father moved to Chautau- qua county in 1832, where he and his second wife and an older son died in the same year, leaving a number of small children. It de- volved upon William to look after these smaller children, which he did with paternal care and mature judgment. He had already com- menced the study of law by himself, and in 1833 was admitted to prac- tice and immediately opened an office at Phelps, Ontario county, where
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WILLIAM MARVIN.
his abilities were soon manifested. In 1835 professional business called him to the territory of Florida. Here he made the acquaint- ance of some persons, upon whose recommendation he was appointed, by President Andrew Jackson, U. S. district attorney for the southern district of Florida. Very few, if any, other men are living to-day who were ap- pointed to of- fice by An- drew Jackson, over sixty years ago. He then re- moved to Key West. He was a member of the first con- stitutional convention of Florida in 18- 39 and in the same year he was appointed by President Van Buren judge of the Superior Court of the district. In 1847 he be- came U. S. WILLIAM MARVIN. district judge, an office which
he held until 1863, when his health, impaired by the long residence in a hot climate, influenced his return to the North. He had, although a staunch Democrat, strenuously opposed the secession movement and continued to hold his court at Key West in the trying times of the War of the Rebellion, when the duties of his office were very arduous.
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
At the close of the war he was appointed, by President Andrew John- son, Provisional Governor of the state of Florida, and, as such, took part in the reconstruction of the state government. He was elected to the United States Senate by the new State Legislature, but, being a Democrat in principle as well as in name, he, as well as his state, could not at once accept negro suffrage, and his credentials as United States Senator were, therefore, never accepted. Unlike the notorious carpet-baggers of those times, who were willing to do anything to se- cure and retain office, his political career, but not his stable consist- ence as a man, came to an end.
Governor Marvin has been twice married, first to Harriet Newell Foote, at Cooperstown, N. Y., by whom he has an only child, a daugh- ter, wife of Marshall I. Luddington, Quartermaster General, United States Army. His second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Jewett, of Skan- eateles, N. Y., whom he married in 1867, since which time he has made Skaneateles his home.
He has always been a great reader and has published several books, one being a law book treating of the law of wreck and salvage, a subject which came before him frequently when district judge, and which he treated in such a way that his publication has become a work of stand- ard authority upon that subject. He has also, in later years, written a work upon the authenticity of the Four Gospels, in answer to an in- fidel work attacking the evidence of their commonly accepted origin, which seems to be so fairly and logically written as to be unanswer- able.
Mr. Marvin still takes great interest in public affairs and in the lo- cal concerns of his present home village, having been president of the library association of Skaneateles for upwards of fifteen years, and, a few years ago, president of the village. In politics he has been a life- long Democrat ; in religion an Episcopalian. The valuable aid which he has given the writer in the compilation of this work is acknowl- edged in the Preface.
RICHARD PRATT MARVIN was born at Fairfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., Dec. 23, 1803. He was therefore about six years of age when his parents removed with him to Dryden, where he was brought up and lived on the Albright farm until he was nineteen years of age. By teaching district schools, he enabled himself to study law and was admitted to practice in 1829, when he settled in Jamestown, Chau- tauqua county, which was afterwards his home. Mr. Marvin's ability as a lawyer soon developed and, in 1836, he was elected a mem- ber of Congress from his district and was re-elected, holding that
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RICHARD PRATT MARVIN.
office for four years. In 1847 he was made judge of the Supreme Court, a position which he held for twenty-five years consecutively, administering its duties with marked ability. At one time in sentenc- ing a man convicted of murder he urged him to prepare for death, us- ing the following language : "I greatly fear, sir, that you have not al- ways prayed. Although I have never made any profession of peculiar piety, I have ever believed- since I have grown to man's estate and re- flected upon the nature of mind and reason-in the great effica- cy of prayer. If a mother teach- es her child to repeat the beau- tiful prayers of infancy, and if the child con- tinues this habit of appealing to God for guid- ance in this vale of tears, it will have a sacred influence, and if he should pass on to riper years it will make him RICHARD PRATT MARVIN. a wiser and bet-
ter man." When we consider that these words were spoken by a son of Selden Marvin, whose prayers in the pioneer Methodist meet- ings in the school-house could be heard throughout half the extent of the village, as we have seen in Chapter XXXIII, we must concede that, in this instance at least, the religious habits of the father were not lost in their effects upon his children.
In 1834 Richard Marvin married Isabella Newland, of Albany, by whom he had eight children. She died in 1872 and he, after crowning
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
his career of active life with a season of travel in Europe, died at Jamestown, in 1892, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years.
His children who still survive him include General Selden E. Mar- vin, of Albany, N. Y .; Robert N. Marvin, of Jamestown, N. Y .; Richard P. Marvin, of Akron, Ohio; Sarah Jane Hall, of Jamestown, N. Y., and Mary M. Goodrich, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
THOMAS J. MCELHENY, of Ithaca, is one of our former townsmen, whose accompanying likeness, it is needless to say, will be quickly rec-
THOMAS J. MC'ELHENY.
ognized by our readers. He was born in Dryden, June 3, 1824, be- ing the second of the seven chil- dren of James McElheny, one of the pioneers of Dryden, from New Jersey, who was an early jus- tice of the peace and an inn-keep- er of the town. From his exem- plary habits and high moral and religions charac- ter as a man, one would hardly sus- pect that, at one time, Thomas served as bar- tender at the Varna Hotel. He also taught
school and served as school superintendent, after which he was en- gaged in mercantile business in Dryden village prior to 1861. He then, as a member of the war committee of the town, gave his time and energies almost exclusively to the work of supplying soldiers from the town of Dryden, and of caring for them and their families during the dark hours of the Rebellion. We have said something
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ORRIN S. WOOD.
in the preceding pages of his performance of these ardnous duties, and much more might truthfully and properly be said upon this subject. In the year 1865 he was elected from Dryden to the office of county clerk and, in 1868, was re-elected to the same position from Ithaca, being the first to be elected to that office for a second term. His natural taste for neatness and order in all matters committed to his charge made him especially qualified to manage and improve the de- tails of the county clerk's office, where his services are still appreciat- ed in his capacity as deputy to our present popular county clerk, L. H. Van Kirk.
Although a pronounced partisan in politics, Mr. McElheny is every- where recognized as an exemplary, consistent, public-spirited man, whose sympathies and judgment are always found upon the side of justice and humanity. His happy faculty of relating anecdotes makes his company always enjoyable, and it has always seemed to the writer that Mr. McElheny should, before his decease, write an account of the experiences of his lifetime, which, if written with the ability which he displays in narrating them, would always be interesting.
Mr. McElheny has been twice married, first at Dryden, in 1853, to Ada Taber, who died in 1871. By her he had three children, two of whom, Mrs. Mary Young, of Wellsboro, Pa., and Mrs. Edna Good- win, of Trumansburg, now survive. In 1875 he married, for his pres- ent wife, Mrs. Drake, a danghter of the Rev. V. M. Coryell, of Waver- ly, N. Y.
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