USA > New York > Tompkins County > Dryden > The centennial history of the town of Dryden. 1797-1897 > Part 23
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ORRIN S. WOOD, born December 14, 1817, at Sherburne, N. Y., now a resident of Rosebank, Staten Island, though eighty years of age, is still hale and hearty. The fourth of the eleven children of Benjamin and Mary (Bonesteel) Wood, he was the oldest brother of the late Mrs. Ezra Cornell. Being a few years his senior, she, a girl of much personal charm and force of character, was almost his self-appointed guardian through all his early years. Retiring, peace-loving, and thoughtful, he early became the victim of the cruel jokes of his brother next younger, who was exactly his opposite. This circumstance, as much as any other, fitted him to battle with the difficulties which he had to meet on his road to worldly success. He is believed to have accumulated, perhaps, the greatest wealth of any person raised in Dry- den. After living with his parents a short time at Sherburne and elsewhere, he came with them, early in 1819, to become a resident of Dryden, at the small, old house, recently demolished, east of the Cady homestead, on the Bridle Road; and, two years later, in the then wilderness, now known as Woodlawn, two miles west from Etna.
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
He and Smith Robertson pursued their education together, at the "Eight-Square Brick School-House," and at the Ithaca and Homer Academies, and thus formed a lifelong friendship. Quitting school early on account of the call by the State for his practical knowledge of advanced mathematics, Mr. Wood began work in the new Canal Sys- tem, and as a civil engineer aided many years in its construction. When that work ceased, in the early forties, he engaged with Hon. Ezra Cornell in the opening of the first line of telegraph, between Washington and Baltimore, built by the congressional appropriation for the Morse system.
He is the lucky owner of the certifi- cate from Prof. S. F. B. Morse, to the ef- fect that he was the first operator taught by Morse to operate his telegraph, and opened his first tele- graph office at Wash- ington ; thus he was the first telegraph operator in the world. Pushing northward and west- ward, with the open- ing of that system, ORRIN S. WOOD. he was appointed to complete and open the New York, Albany and Buffalo Division. When the two terminal offices were opened, he acted as superin- tendent for a short time and then resigned in favor of Hon. Ezra Cornell. Livingston & Wells were then the sole owners of what later became, and now is, the American Express Company. They had appointed Mr. Wood to build, develop, and superintend the great Canadian telegraph system, at such a liberal salary that, with his thrift, he was enabled to save three-quarters of it; this became the foundation of his present great fortune. The longest and best portions of his life were spent in this service. Cautious invest-
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OTIS E. WOOD.
ments in the profitable holdings of this system made possible his great wealth.
Persistently loyal to his belief in the right, he found himself, at the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, a contributor of five hun- dred dollars, as the foundation of the war bounty fund of his home town of Dryden, and the few brave fellows that are left of the first company sent out by the town of Dryden will remember his money as the first to be devoted to that purpose. Mr. Wood married Miss Julia A. Forbes, who became the mother of his two children now surviving. She was the sister of the wife of Minister of Finance Holton. Dis- gusted with the hostile Canadian sentiment towards our country dur- ing the war, he sold out all his Canadian property at advantageous prices and returned to the States for a residence.
Just at this time, he, with a friend or two, was enabled to invest his already large wealth in the purchase of the entire Morse Telegraph System of Wisconsin and Minnesota, which, though widespread, was at that time weak. His friend Smith Robertson was placed in charge of the system, which, a very few years later, rebuilt, greatly extended, and improved, was sold to the Western Union Telegraph company at many times its cost, thereby greatly increasing his wealth. Shortly afterwards the development of the Staten Island ferries and the Rapid Transit Railway made an opening for most of his large fortune; and this was just before that enterprise was required as a New York ter- minal of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, from which he realized a greatly increased fortune.
Having removed to New York city when he made great investments there, he located at Rosebank, adjacent to Fort Wadsworth, on Staten Island, on the shore of the lower bay, in the beautiful home which he still occupies. Kind and indulgent to the needy, he numbers among his benefactions an endowment of fifty thousand dollars to Smith In- firmary, situated near his home. He is now president of the board of managers of the institution.
Though still entirely competent to transact a regular business, he has passed it over to his only son, H. Holton Wood, of Brookline, Massachusetts, who was recently a member of the Connecticut Legis- lature, and to his only daughter, Mrs. Mary Wood Sutherland, who is the wife of a prominent young physician of Montreal. Mr. Wood is thus spending the evening twilight of a useful, successful life in quiet retirement.
OTIS E. WOOD, a Dryden lad reared on a farm, was born at Wood- lawn, near Etna, N. Y., the son of Benjamin and Mary (Bonesteel)
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
Wood, who were also the parents of Orrin S. Wood and Mrs. Ezra Cornell. After a good school training, mainly at the "Eight-Square Brick School-House," under the immediate direction of Smith Robert- son, the first college graduate and first school superintendent of Dry- den birth, he, then fourteen years old, went out with Mr. Ezra Cornell, in 1846, to assist in building the new Morse telegraph system. At the very opening of the first line from New York he was attached to the Buffalo office. Shortly afterwards, he was promoted to New York, and not long after that was placed in charge at the Buffalo office-at that time, though only fifty years ago, far- ther west than any other telegraph of- fice in the country. The most notable feature of his con- nection with that wonderful service consists in his hav- ing been identified with perhaps the greatest change in its working since its inception and popu- lar adoption ; name- ly, the discovery of a way of reading by sound. Late in 1846 OTIS E. WOOD. George B. Prescott, Esq., the first Western Union Electrician, in the first book devoted to the history and science of telegraphy, speaks of his accomplish- ment in these words : " The first time we saw any one read in this manner, was in the winter of 1846-7, in New York, by Mr. Otis E. Wood, at Harlem Bridge. No trick of legerdemain has ever been able to excite so much interest in our mind as this." Being obliged to give up this position on account of illness, he, after partially recover- ing, resumed the early purpose of his life, the completion of a college course. He studied in the academies at Ithaca and Aurora, and at the latter he taught for two years the lower Latin and Greek classics. Driven from this purpose by ill health, he resumed work under the tel- egraph system and was appointed superintendent of the New York, Al-
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OTIS E. WOOD.
bany and Buffalo line, so much before he became of age that, accord- ing to The Telegraph Age, he still holds the world's record of hav- ing been the youngest superintendent ever appointed to the service. His charge included over five hundred miles of the most important line then in operation.
The year after the opening of the direct railway from Syracuse to Rochester, he, while building its first telegraph line, was again com- pelled to flee to country life by his great enemy, ill health. During this interval he married Miss Olive A., the oldest sister of Col. George H. Houtz, of Etna, with whose family he carried on, for a long time, the business of merchandise and milling at that place.
We cannot in the brief space afforded us undertake to detail Mr. Wood's connection with the construction of the old Ithaca & Cortland Railroad, accomplished through his assistance, under great diffi- culties, and resulting in the present efficient Elmira & Cortland Branch of the Lehigh Valley, affording to the town of Dryden excellent rail- way facilities. The village of Freeville is also specially indebted to the devoted and efficient efforts of Mr. Wood in laying the foundation for its present prosperity. He is now the secretary and practical originator as well as business manager of the Cooperative Fire Insur- ance Co., whose principal office is at Ithaca, but whose business ex- tends into ten counties and comprehends in its risks and basis of its revenue ten millions of property.
He is identified with every attempt at local improvement. He was the earliest investigator of electric power and light for Ithaca, and was the organizer and first president of the Ithaca Street Railway Company. He was also the first secretary of the Dryden Agricultural Society. He also built the line of telegraph between Dryden and Etna, in order to accept the management of the north and south line through Dryden township; and it was under his superintendency that all of the scattered highway lines through Dryden and Groton town- ships were rebuilt along the railways of Dryden township, and are now a part of the telegraph system of the Lehigh Valley Railway.
Abhorrent of office holding, Mr. Wood is retiring, even socially, al- ways busy with progressive problems of business. While not an in- ventor, he is an organizer. Lacking in selfishness, he has never yet made his fortune ; but his busy life will "round up" with such rela- tions to business enterprises, of many of which he has been the pio- neer, as will make him richer in spirit than most men who amass great fortunes.
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
JOHN MILLER is another Dryden man whom we shall mention, whose parents, Archibald Miller and his wife, Isabel (McKellar), emigrat- ed, in the year 1836, from Tighnabruich, Argylshire, Scotland, locat- ing in what is known as the South Hill neighborhood of the town of Dryden. The passage was then an experience of six weeks on the ocean instead of being made, as it is now, in as many days. They were of the Scotch Presbyterian or- thodox stock, not- ed for their indus- try and integrity, and died in Dry- den in the years 1890 and 1877 re- spectively. Their children include Miss Jeannette Miller, Mrs. Da- vid Chatfield, and Mrs. Geo. Cole, of Dryden; Archi- bald Miller, Jr., of Eagle Grove, Ia .; and John Miller, ex-governor of North Dakota, now of Duluth, Minn., who de- serves from us special mention in this chapter, and whose portrait is JOHN MILLER. here given. He
was born in Dryden, October 29, 1843, and received a common school and academic education, completed at the old Dryden Seminary.
In 1861 he commenced business as a clerk for J. W. Dwight & Co., with whom he became a co-partner in 1864. A few years afterwards, with David E. Bower, he purchased the entire interest of J. W. Dwight & Co., forming the firm of Bower & Miller, which continued business at Dryden until 1891. He was one of the originators and first stock- holders of the Dwight Farm & Land Co., which was organized in 1879,
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SAMUEL D. HALLIDAY.
and he went to Dakota soon after to assist in the construction of the first buildings upon the lands of the company.
In the year 1882, he was made the general superintendent of the company, a position which he held until his resignation in 1896, when he organized The John Miller Co., at Duluth, Minn., for the purpose of engaging in the grain-commission business at that point, of which lat- ter company he is now the president and general manager.
In 1888 he was elected, as a Republican, to the Territorial Council of the territory of Dakota, and, upon the admission of the state of North Dakota, he was nominated and elected as its first Governor, for the term ending July 1, 1891, declining to be a candidate for re-elec- tion.
Much important legislation of necessity was passed upon by the governor during this beginning of the state government. A scheme of transplanting the Louisiana Lottery system to North Dakota, which had then found some favor, was effectually opposed and shut out by Gov. Miller, whose ancestry and training were not of the character suited to tolerate gambling in any of its forms. The state prohibition law of Dakota was also enacted during his term. An offer by his friends to support him for United States Senator was declined, during this time, the acceptance of which would have created a vacancy in the office of governor, and this he did not feel at liberty to do.
In 1882 he married Miss Addie Tucker, of Dryden, and their pres- ent residence is at Duluth, Minnesota.
SAMUEL D. HALLIDAY was born in the town of Dryden, near the Ith- aca line, January 7, 1847, and although, since maturity, his home has usually been in Ithaca, where he now has an elegant residence half way up the East Hill, he has resided upon the old homestead in this town some portion of the time during the past few years. He was educated in the district schools until the age of fourteen, when he entered the Ithaca Academy, where he prepared for college. In the fall of 1866 he entered the Sophomore Class of Hamilton College. The succeeding year he taught in the Ithaca Academy and, upon the opening of Cornell University in 1868, he entered the Junior Class, graduating in 1870. Then followed two years of preparation for the bar, to which he was admitted in 1872. Alhough in politics a firm Democrat and hence in this county at a great disadvantage in the dis- tribution of political honors, in the year 1873 he was elected and served as district attorney and, in 1876 and 1878, he represented Tompkins county in the Assembly at Albany, since which time, except that he was the candidate of his party for State Senator, he has taken
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
no part in politics as a candidate for office, but has frequently been a delegate to state and national conventions.
In June, 1874, Mr. Halliday was chosen trustee of Cornell Univer- sity by the alumni, a position which he held for ten years. He is now a trustee elected by the trustees themselves and, in more recent
years, he has taken a promi- nent part in the management of the affairs of that great insti- tution. Since the death of H. W. Sage he has been the chair- man of the Man- aging Board, a position of great responsibility and trust, in- volving the lead- ership in the conduct of the business affairs of the Universi- ty. For nearly twenty-five years Mr. Halliday has been acknowl- edged as the leading lawyer of the Tompkins County Bar, not
SAMUEL D. HALLIDAY.
in any particular branch of the profession alone, but as an "all around " lawyer. His connection with the Cornell University lit- igation, which, of itself, has been very prominent during the past few years, has formed only a small part of his extensive practice.
GEORGE B. DAVIS was born in the town of Dryden in 1840. He at- tended the common schools and, from the village of McLean, went to the Homer Academy, and later to the New York Central College at McGrawville. He graduated from the Columbian College Law School,
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GEORGE B. DAVIS.
Washington, D. C., taking the degree of L. L. B., in 1869. Like most of the self-made men in this part of the country, he taught school at intervals during his college days, and by this means, was able to pay his own expenses. He was engaged in teaching in the city of Syracuse, during the war, and, in the last year of the great conflict, served in the United States Military Telegraph Department under General Eckert. At the close of the war, he was ap- pointed to a clerk- ship in the De- partment of the Interior at Wash- ington. It was during this time that he pursued his legal studies, and his location at Washington gave him an op- portunity of be- coming familiar with public af- fairs, as well as legal proceedings in the higher courts. 1
GEORGE B. DAVIS.
He commenced practice in Itha- ca, in 1876, and, for four years, was associated with Mr. S. D.
Halliday. He has built up for himself a large and lucrative practice, and now stands as one of the prominent members of the Ithaca Bar.
Perhaps the most important victory, and the one which has ex- tended his reputation as a lawyer of ability beyond the confines of this state, was in the celebrated Barber case. Great ability was shown by Mr. Davis in the conduct of this noted case, involving an immense amount of research and study, in which he was successful in estab- lishing the theory upon which the defense was conducted.
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
Mr. Davis has never held office, although his party has honored him at different times, by naming him for county judge, supervisor, etc. He was offered by Gov. Hill the appointment of county clerk, upon the death of Phillip Partenheimer, which office Mr. Davis declined, since he felt that he could not sacrifice his large practice for the posi- tion. Mr. Davis is a graceful and fluent speaker, and has been in great demand in political campaigns and on other occasions.
He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and for ser- eral years was a member of the Grand Lodge of the state, wherein he performed good service toward paying off the Masonic debt and estab- lishing the Masonic Home at Utica. He is also a very active member of the Unitarian church of Ithaca, and has delivered several lectures in the popular course which that church has established.
Since 1872, Mr. Davis has affiliated with the Democratic party, and has given considerable time and attention to its success. He has been prominent in the county and state conventions, and very active in the anti-Hill campaign in 1892, and is a non-resident member of the Re- form Club and of the Sound Money Club of New York City.
Mr. Davis has a wife and two grown-up daughters, and lives in a pleasant home on East State Street in Ithaca. Socially, he is friendly and agreeable and, though a member of several social clubs, he takes the great- est pleasure in the delights of his home circle.
JOHN D. BENTON was born in our neigh- boring town of Virgil, April 2, 1842, and was, at one time, in partnership with Pet- er Mineah, proprietor of the old hotel in Dryden village. He lived on the farm in Virgil, receiving a common school ed- ucation, until the death of his father in 1856, after which he attended the Cort- landville school for one year and then en- gaged in the hotel-keeping business at JOHN D. BENTON. Virgil, Dryden, and Cortland, until 1868. Like many boys who are early left without a father's care and guidance, he, in early life, neglected his opportun- ities, but, unlike the most of them, he had sense enough to see his mistake before it was too late and strength of character enough to profit by his experience. When twenty-six years of age he com- menced the study of law with Duell & Foster, at Cortland, and, from
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DR. FRANCIS J. CHENEY.
1871 to 1874, he held the office of sheriff of Cortland county, his man- ly figure, and gentlemanly bearing, as well as his good common sense, well adapting him to perform the duties of that office.
He afterwards attended the Albany Law School, graduating in 1876 and, going west, commenced the practice of law at Fargo, Dakota Ter- ritory, in 1878. He was sheriff of Cass county, Dakota, in 1887 and 1888; state treasurer under Gov. Church; nominee for Congress in 1890; and, in 1892, he lacked but one vote of being elected to the United States Senate, from North Dakota. Since going to Dakota, Mr. Benton has been actively engaged in the practice of law, together with large farming and banking interests in that section.
In politics he is a Democrat and has always represented the best el- ement of his party, everywhere opposing dishonesty and corruption in political, as well as in business affairs.
We have already taken the liberty, in a previous chapter, to refer to his ability to remember and to relate the humorous anecdotes of Dry- den village, in which capacity he has no superior.
DR. FRANCIS J. CHENEY, now principal of the Cortland Normal School, resided in Dryden village for seven years, during which time he was principal of the Dryden Union School, and, at the same time, studied law and was admitted as an attorney and counselor of the Su- preme Court of this state. He was born in Warren, Pa., June 5, 1848. At six years of age, he removed with his parents to Cattaraugus coun- ty, N. Y. His father was a farmer, and the son lived on the farm until twenty-one years of age, working at farm work during the sum - mer and going to school in winter. By dint of perseverance he thus prepared for college, teaching several terms in the district school, in the meantime.
In 1868 he entered Genesee college and graduated at the head of his class, taking the degree of A. B. in 1872, with the first class sent out after the above-named institution was merged into Syracuse Universi- ty. In the spring of 1872, before graduation, he was elected to the chair of mathematics in the Northern New York Conference Seminary, at Antwerp. He remained in this position for two terms, when he was called to the principalship of Dryden Union School, where he re- mained for seven years.
Just as he was making arrangements to go west to engage in the practice of law he received a letter from the Kingston Board of Educa- tion, in which he was invited to become the principal of the Kingston Free Academy. The inducements held out by the Kingston board were such that he abandoned the project of going west and accepted
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
the invitation. He remained in this position until he had completed a term of service ten years in length for the Kingston people.
In 1885 he reaped the benefit, in culture, of an extended tour of Eu- rope, visiting England, Scotland, Germany and Switzerland. In 1889 he took the degree of A. M. and Ph. D., upon examination in the School of History at Syracuse University. He has twice been elected to the presidency of the Associated Academic Princi- pals of the state. After serving the Board of Regents as State Inspect- or of Academies, Dr. Cheney was appointed princi- pal of the State Normal and Training School at Cortland, N. Y., Aug. 5tlı, 18- 91, which posi- tion he still holds. During his administra- tion of this school the old building has been com- pletely renovated and a large and substantial addi- tion made, doub- DR. FRANCIS J. CHENEY. ling the capacity of the building; the attendance of the Normal department has in- creased from 384 to more than 600; and it is now the second largest Normal school in the state, ranking among the first in thoroughness and efficiency. Its graduates are in constant demand because of the careful and thorough training which they get in preparation for their work.
In March, 1896, Dr. Cheney suffered the most terrible bereavement that can befall a man, in the death of his estimable wife, Lydia H.
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WARREN W. TYLER.
Cheney, whom a large circle of friends in Dryden had learned to high- ly regard.
WARREN W. TYLER was born about three miles east of Dryden vil- lage, on a farm which is now owned by Eugene Northrup, and lived there until about eighteen years old, having worked on the farm the greater part of the time up to this date, when, with his father's family, he moved into the village of Dryden. His fa- ther, Moses Ty- ler, was born in Virgil in 1809, on the farm now owned by Ernest Lewis, which is bounded on one side by the east line of the town of Dryden. His grandfather, Oli- ver, was an early pioneer of Virgil and a brother of another Moses Tyler, who was a pioneer in the north-east section of Dryden. His mother was Mary Vandenburgh, his grandmother be- ing the second WARREN W. TYLER. wife of Selden Marvin, whom the latter married in Truxton, Cortland county, and who formerly came from Saratoga county, in this state.
The first day's work he ever did away from home was for a neigh- bor, gathering turnips and beets to be used in feeding stock during the winter. Although only a lad about ten years old, he worked from daylight till dark, for which he received twelve and one-half cents per day, and in payment, the good lady of the house where he worked made his first suit of clothes from new cloth. Before this he had been
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HISTORY OF DRYDEN.
wearing the cast-off clothing of his older brothers, and he was very proud of this, his first new suit.
After moving to Dryden village, his time was occupied for two or three years in various occupations, including in summer farming and cattle-driving, attendance at school for a short time when possible, and teaching school in the winter. In 1864 he entered the employ- ment of Sears & Spear, in the general merchandise business, and re- mained with them for three years, receiving as a salary for the first year four dollars per week, boarding himself. In 1867 he entered the employment of Dodge & Hebard, of Williamsport, Pa., in the lumber business, and remained in the employment of the Dodge interest for eleven years. In 1878 he started in the wholesale lumber business in Buffalo, and, from that time to 1891, was engaged in the lumber and shipping business. At that time he sold out his lumber business to his brothers, and retired from active business for six years, living in California during that period. Returning to Buffalo in 1897, he joined his brothers again, conducting business on a large scale, and they are now handling about forty million feet of lumber per year.
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