The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 86

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098

USA > New York > Jefferson County > The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894 > Part 86

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Here, at least, is a lessson for those of our young men who complain that there is no longer an opportunity for a young man to make his way in the world.

In 1831 Mr. Greene married Susannah, youngest daughter of David Maxson, of Petersburgh, Rensselaer county, and soon

after, with an elder brother, purchased a fine farm in Brunswick, six miles distant from Troy. In the spring of 1835 Mr. Greene, having sold to his brother his interest in the Brunswick farm, removed to the town of Adams, where he had previously purchased the Francis McKee farm, on the State road, about one and three-quarter miles easterly from Adams village. Here Mr. Greene's life- work was mainly done. His farm was en- larged from time to time by the purchase of adjacent property; the land was cleared of stones and weeds; new buildings and fences were constructed, and by systematic and thorough methods in farming, it became one of the most productive and valuable farms in the town. Mr. Greene was uniformly suc- cessful as a farmer; he was always among the first to adopt new and improved labor-saving machinery. He was industrious, frugal in his habits, temperate in all things, and was a man of excellent judgment. It is, therefore, needless to add that he was able to accumu- late a handsome property.

As a neighbor, he was always a lender, and rarely, if ever, a borrower. The worthy poor found in him a steadfast friend and ready helper.

In 1871, his youngest son having died, leav- ing him alone, he leased his farm, purchased a fine property in, and removed to, Adams vil- lage.

In March, 1876, Mrs. Greene died. About two years later he married Mrs. E. E. McAl- pin, of Columbia county.

On April 6, 1886, Mr. Greene died, aged 78 years. He is survived by his late wife and two sons, David Maxson Greene and Albert Sivillian Greene, who own and manage the property left by their father.

In politics, Mr. Greene was always a Demo- crat. He was supervisor of his town and president of the village. His chief ambition was to be known as a successful farmer, a good citizen and an honorable man, and his ambition was amply gratified.

ALBERT SIVILLIAN GREENE.

THE subject of this sketch was born August 3, 1838, on the farm of his father, Joseph Langford Greene, 134 miles east of Adams village. He attended the district school at what was known as the Fox school-house, until he was 13 years of age, when he was transferred to a private school, known as the Adams Seminary. At 17 he decided to take a course in civil engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. About December 1, 1855, he passed his examination, commenced his studies and continued them until his graduation, with honors, in June, 1859.

In December, 1859, he applied to the Navy Department for permission to be examined as to his fitness for appointment to the engineer corps of the navy. In January following he was examined and was specially commended, and on February 17, 1860, received his ap-

pointment as a third assistant engineer in the U. S. Navy. He continued in the service, going through the grades of second and first assistant, and the two grades of chief engineer, that of relative rank of lieutenant commander, in which latter he was serving when retired, on August 9, 1893, having been in continuous active service for 3312 years.

As a boy, he was noted for his studious habits, rarely missing a recitation at school until his final graduation, except for a couple of weeks, when sickness prevented his attend- ance.

When a boy, he manifested a decided tasto for mechanical pursuits, building all his own wagons, sleds, traps, etc. As he grew older, he spent much of his time, when not in school, in a machine shop, where he built a complete steam engine; so that when he entered the

ALBERT SIVILLIAN GREENE, CHIEF ENGINEER U. S. NAVY.

395

ADAMS.

navy he was not only a theoretical, but also a practical engineer. During his course at the Polytechnic Institute, visits were frequently made to the larger shops and manufactories about the city, and extensive notes and draw- ings were made; in fact this formed a part of the course in which Mr. Grecne was intensely interested.

In his first examination for promotion in the navy, from third to second assistant, he was placed at the head of his class (all pro- motions at that time depending on a competi- tive examination); but some time later, owing to much dissatisfaction in the class, a commission was ordered to re-arrange the positions of the officers, and he was placed No. 6 in the class; on his next promotion, he passed through the same experience, being placed at the head of his class on his examina- tion, and later put down to No. 7 by a com- mission. At the next examination, however, he was again placed at the head of his class, which position he held until his retirement. In the course of his duty in the navy, he visited all parts of the world where ships of war go, excepting only the East India station.

On his admission to the service, he was de- tailed for, and later ordered to, the first ship fitting out for the Mediterranean squadron, which was the U. S. S. Susquehanna; but an emergency occurring which required the presence of a man-of-war in the Gulf of Mex- ico, the ship was ordered there for about four months previous to going to the Mediterran- ean.

Leaving Vera Cruz, the ship went by way of Key West and the Madeira Islands, direct to Gibraltar, arriving there early in Decem- ber, 1860. It was here that Mr. Greene first heard of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President. From Gibraltar the ship proceed- ed directly to the Italian coast, to Spezzia, which is now the great Italian dock-yard, but at that time it was the American naval station. Here the ship was quarantined for about three weeks, owing to the illness of one of her officers. After being released from quarantine, the ship sailed along the Italian coast, visiting Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, then Messina, Sicily, where a quantity of supplies for the Christians in Palestine were taken on board, and the ship sailed for Beirut, Syria, where the supplies were delivered to agents. While the ship was in this port, Chief Engi- neer Greene was one of a party of 12 officers and 50 men, to make a journey to Jerusalem, but owing to severe floods and bad weather, was unsuccessful in reaching their destina- tion, but did make a landing at the Bay of Acre, at a place called Haifa, at the foot of Mount Carmel, and visited Nazareth, Mount Tabor, the Sea of Galilee, Canal of Galilee, and all the adjacent points of interest. From this point he proceeded to Alexandria, Egypt, where he visited Cairo, the Pyramids and Suez on the Red Sea. From Alexandria they proceeded along the Barbara coast and to Valletta, Malta, and after a short stay, sailed for Messina, Sicily, reaching there early in March, 1861. During the stay in this port,

he witnessed the closing battle of the Neapolitan war, in which Garibaldi took such a prominent part-the last battle of that struggle for a united Italy independent of the Pope-the bombardment of the citadel by the Sardinian fleet, and by the Sardinian batteries, south and west of the city, and he has now in his possession a fragment of a ten inch shell which exploded at his feet while he was wit- nessing the battle.

After the capture of the citadel by the Sar- dinians, the Susquehanna sailed along the Italian coast to Naples and to Genoa, where news was received of the outbreak of the re- bellion and the firing on Sumter. On receipt of this news, it was expected that the ship would be ordered home, although the cruise was scarcely begun, and she sailed at once for Leghorn, where orders were received direct- ing the ship to return to the United States, also preliminary orders to deliver the same to the two other ships of the squadron. To ac- complish this, it was necessary for the ship to visit Naples, Messina, Malta and the City of Cagliara, on the Island of Sardinia, from which point she sailed directly to Cadiz, Spain, where coal was procured for the home voyage. The Susquehanna arrived off Sandy Hook early in June, 1861, and every pilot- boat communicated with brought conflicting orders. Finally, after laying off and on for a day. decisive orders were received to proceed to Boston. On arriving at Boston, the Cap- tain, the late G. R. Hollins, and several other officers put aside their uniforms, and, without awaiting any reply to their resignations, which they had sent in, went over the side, and were next heard of in the Confederate service.

The ship having been refitted by an increase of her armament, etc., was ordered for block- ading duty on the North Atlantic station; but when off the port of Hampton Roads, had the misfortune to break her paddle shaft, which, of course, disabled her; the wheel of the broken shaft was secured in the wheel- house, the engine adjusted, and she proceeded into that port with one wheel and one engine, and remained there two weeks, until ordered to return to Philadelphia for a new shaft.

While these repairs were being made, Mr. Greene was detached and ordered as an assist- ant in the office of the Engineer-in-Chief in the Navy Department at Washington, D. C., the president of the board that examined him having, in the meantime, been appointed En- gineer-in-Chief. Mr. Greene remained in this office, employed on the design of the ma- chinery of war ships, and on the trials of a large variety of such machinery of every class of design, and on experimental duty, until December, 1868, when he was ordered to the South Pacific Station, on board the United States steamer Nyack, and visited all the ports of the west coast from Juan Fer- nandes to Panama and the Gallapagos Islands.

It was during this cruise that the well re- membered earthquake of August, 1868, oc- curred, and his ship was the first to make the port of Arica, Peru, immediately after that

396

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

city was destroyed, when every vessel in the harbor was wrecked or swept on shore. His ship remained in this port for about two months, with steam up and everything ready to put to sea at a moment's warning. Earth- quake shocks were felt at frequent intervals, and three or four of heavy force were felt nearly every day. Just before leaving this port the ship was coaled from the wreck of the U. S. S. Wateree, which was as upright as though afloat, three-quarters of a mile in- land and four miles away from the landing. The coal was brought to the landing on mules' backs and taken on board in the ship's boats. Sufficient coal was taken on board for five days' steaming. In this earthquake, which was felt along the entire west coast of America, both North and South, the greatest force seemed to be concentrated at Arica, a city of 30,000 inhabitants, which was entirely destroyed, not a single building left standing. The custom-house, a massive structure of granite, was swept away like a paper house; the railway embankment, with tracks, cars and locomotives, were all swept out to sea as if they were without weight. This condition extended over a distance along the shore of about five miles, and two locomotives were carried out to sea a distance of a thousand yards and left standing upright on the bottom where they could be plainly seen from the ship's boats when they were being pulled ashore. Many lives were lost by falling walls and by drowning. The wife of an American naval officer, Mrs. M. L. Johnson, was killed by a falling wall. All the officers and crew serving on board the U. S. S. Fre- donia, except three who were on shore at the time, were drowned. Two little American girls, whose father and mother (named Dyer) were both drowned, were brought home by a brother officer, and were left at Watertown, New York.

In 1869 and 1870, while attached to the U. S. S. Nyack, Chief Engineer Greene par- ticipated in the Panama survey for the Isth- mus Canal, and here contracted the Isthmus fever. He returned home by way of Marquisas and the Sandwich Islands, reaching San Francisco in March, 1871.

After this cruise he remained on shore for nearly a year, when he was ordered to the U. S. S. Mahopac. After six weeks he was detached from the Mahopac and remained on waiting orders for two months, when he was ordered to the U. S. S. Nantasket, then serv- ing in the West Indies. He served on this ship for three months, visiting various ports of the West India Islands, when the ship re- turned home and he was detached and placed on "waiting orders " for three months, after which he was ordered to the U. S. S. Nipsic, serving in the West Indies; he visited many ports among the Islands during the ten or eleven months of the cruise, when the ship, being unfit for further service, was ordered home and put out of commission. When he joined the Nipsic she had been lying in port for six months, without once moving her an- chor, because she was unable to do any steam-

ing, owing to her worn-out machinery. Three days after Chief Engineer Greene joined her she got under way, and steamed almost constantly for ten months.

After being detached from the Nipsic, he was ordered to duty on the Examining Board at Washington, of which Commodore W. E. LeRoy was President; he served on this board three months, when he was detached with the highest commendation from Commodore LeRoy, and ordered to superintend govern- ment work being constructed at the Washing- ton Iron Works, Newburg, New York, which duty continued for about a year.

After about a year of this duty he was de- tatched and ordered to the U. S. S. Benicia, then in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, but as she was under orders to proceed to San Fran- cisco, Cal., he was directed to delay reporting until her arrival. This ship cruised on the Pacific coast from Puget Sound to Mexico, Central America and Panama, for a year, when all her officers and crew were transfer- red to the U. S. S. Lackawanna, and continued the cruise for a year and a half additional, at which time Chief Engineer Greene was de- tached and ordered as a member of the ex- amining board for the examination of engi- neer officers for promotion. He remained on this board for about four years, when he was detached and ordered to the U. S. S. Quinne- baug, then serving in the European squadron. He visited all the principal ports in Europe, the Mediterranean Islands, the Barbara coast, the west coast of Africa, and the Egyptian coast, also the Cape de Verde, the Canary and the Madeira Islands.

During this cruise in 1882. he was at Alex- andria, Egypt, at the time of the English at- tack upon the Egyptians, and witnessed the bombardment of that city, as well as many skirmishes with the Egyptians, in which the English were defeated. The fleet, assembled for the attack on the Egyptian forts, was probably the strongest known to modern times.

After the ending of the Egyptian war, his ship returned to Italy, by way of Smyrna, Constantinople and the Grecian Islands, and finally made an eight months' cruise on the West coast of Africa, returning by the way of England, reaching Leghorn, Italy, where extensive repairs were decided upon. While these were being made, Chief Engineer Greene was invalided home.

After a few months he reported himself ready for duty, and was ordered as a member of the examining board for the promotion of engineer officers, and continued on this duty for 212 years, when he was detached, and re- ceived various orders for a year.

He made several trials of novel machinery, including a trial of Mr. John M. Forbes' steam yacht Shearwater; trials of two Herre- shoff steamers, named Our Mary and The Lily ; he also made a trial of a patented sys- tem for the burning of crude petroleum for the production of steam in locomotive boilers, and in 1888 was ordered to the U. S. S. Mohi- can, on the North Pacific station. This ship

ADAMS.

397

was undergoing repairs when an emergency occurred, requiring the immediate presence of a war-ship at Samoa, when all the officers of the Mohican were transferred to the U. S. S. Vandalia, which sailed at once for Samoa, atopping on the way at the Sandwich Ialands for coal, and reached Samoa about the 20th of February, 1889. On the 15th of March, the great Samoan hurricane com- menced, and on the next day Chief Engineer Greene was, with others, swept overboard by the seas, (the ship having struck the rocks), and barely reached the shore alive. He was one of the first officers swept overboard, and had a life-and-death struggle in the water for more than three hours, when he finally reached the shore on a plank, in a completely exhausted condition physically, but with all his mental faculties as clear as ever. It was to this latter fact that he attributes his escape with his life, as he understood every move he made and had a reason for each action. No other person had such a serious experience at the time, or escaped after so long and desperate a struggle in the terrific seas he had to contend with. Several other officers were swept over- board from about the same place and near the same time as himself, including one who was an acknowledged athlete and an expert swim- mer, but he was drowned before he could swim 15 yards. Forty-three persons were drowned from the ship Vandalia, which num- her included the captain, the paymaster and the marine officer.

After the storm, an officer was dispatched to Aukland, New Zealand, to charter a steamer to bring the wrecked people home. After considerable difficulty they found a comfortable one, the "Rockton," of 1,500 tons, and on June 1, about 600 of those wrecked took passage in her, and in 21 days reached San Francisco. Many of the people, especially the officers, had but a scant supply of clothing, and that only such as could be procured in a tropical island, where the natives are alwaya scantily clad, and they suffered more or less when coming into a cold climate off San Francisco. As soon as the ship arrived it was necessary to procure suit- ahle clothing, and time was allowed for that purpose. The officers were led to believe, by dispatches received, that it was the intention

of the Navy Department to order all the offi- cers home at once, but other councils pre- vailed, and only two of the Vandalia's officers received such orders. Chief Engineer Greene was among those detained at San Francisco, or rather at the navy yard at Mare Island, but he was ordered home five months later. After a short time to visit his family, he was ordered as a member of a board to in- vestigate the Thompson system of electric welding. After the completion of that duty he was ordered to Chicago as inspector of ateel shafting for the Monadnock, which was completed late in June, 1890. At the request of Hon. John W. Noble, Secretary of the In- terior, Chief Engineer Greene was ordered to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to auperintend the erection of the government hot water works there. He was employed eleven months on this duty, when he was ordered to the League Island Navy Yard, where he remained about a year, during which time he was doing inspec- tion duty at Erie, Pa., for over three months, serving on the examining board and a variety of other duties until September, 1892, when he was ordered to the U. S. S. Charleston, in California. He immediately joined his ship and made the cruise around the Horn to Hampton Roads, Virginia, February, 1893, and took part in the naval review and cele- bration of that Spring.

Chief Engineer Greene is a firm believer in law and order, alike for all, for those high in authority as well as for subordinates, and in the course of his service has succeeded in having several branches of law and of wrong to himself and associates corrected, and still hoped, though on the retired list, to have other corrections made, where the plainest of laws are persistently ignored. He is a mem- ber of the military order of the Loyal Legion, and of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was retired after an examination by a board of naval surgeons, who decided that he was incapacitated for active duty from causes incident to the service; and recommended his retirement on three-quarters' pay. His home is in Adams, where he usually spends his summers, but the severity of the winter causes him to seek a more southern latitude during that season.

DAVID MAXSON GREENE,

ELDEST son of Joseph Langford and Susanna (Maxaon) Greene, was born in Brunswick, Rensselaer county, N. Y., July 8, 1832. His paternal ancestor was Surgeon John Greene, a purchaser with Roger Williams, at Provi- dence, R. I. In 1643 John Greene, with 11 othera, purchased from the Indian chief Miantonomy, of the Narragansetts, about 60 square miles of land on the weat of Narragan- aett Bay, constituting the present towns of Warwick and Coventry. The purchase price was "three hundred and sixty fathoms of wampumpeage."

His maternal ancestor, Rev. John Maxson, who was born in 1638-39, at the aite of the city of Newport, was the first white child born on Rhode Island.

In the spring of 1835, the parents of D. M. Greene removed from Brunswick to Adams, Jefferson county, and purchased the Francis McKee farm, located on the State road about 134 miles east of the village of Adams.

Here D. M. Greene grew up, working on the farm and attending school at the old Fox school-house and at Adams Seminary. In October, 1850, he entered the Rensselaer

398

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

DAVID MAXSON GREENE,

Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., where he was graduated a civil engineer, August 29, 1851; having, by reason of previous prepara- tion and hard work, completed the course of three years in a single year. At the begin- ning of the year the class numbered 24 mem- bers; of these four only were graduated. He returned to the Institute as an instructor, in October of that year.

In the following March he was appointed chairman on the enlargement of the Erie canal, and was stationed at Utica, Rome and Oriskany, on the eastern division of the canals. His first promotion (to rodman) came after 17 days' service. Soon after, he was ad- vanced to the position of assistant leveller, which position he held until the autumn of 1853, when, owing to a suspension of the en- largement, he resigned and went to Ohio, where he was employed as division engineer

on what is now the Wheeling & Lake Erie R. R. Here he participated in the completion of the

location of that road, and, on Christmas morning. 1853, he drove the last stake, in the Ohio river, opposite the city of Wheeling.

In the spring of 1854, work having been suspended here, he removed to Cherubusco, Whiteley county, Indiana, where he had charge of a division of 20 miles of what is now a portion of the Wabash R. R. In August of that year, work having been sus- pended, he returned to Adams, where, in the following January, he married Maria N., the. second daughter of the late Judge Calvin Skinner. In September, 1855, he returned to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as pro- fessor of Geodesy and Topographical Draw- ing.

In February, 1856, he was sent to West

399

ADAMS.

Point, where, as a private pupil of the late Gencral Thomas H. Neill, he completed a course in topographical engineering.

In the early spring of 1861, having been ap- pointed an engineer in the United States Navy, he resigned his professorship at Troy, and entered the government service. At this time he was offered the position of chief topographical engineer to the government of Peru at a large salary, and for a period of five years. Under the circumstances, he pre- ferred to serve his own country at a much smaller rate of compensation. Attached to the U. S. frigate Susquehanna, he partici- pated in the naval attack upon and capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet and at Port Royal, and in the naval attack upon the batteries at Sewall's Point, opposite Fortress Monroe. This latter attack was interrupted by the ap- pearance of the Confederate ram Merrimac, which forced the retirement of all the vessels engaged, and which, a few days later, was blown up by its own officers.

Aside from the engagements referred to, the Susquehanna was engaged in blockade duty on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from Chesa- peake Bay to Mobile.

In September, 1862, he was detached, in the Gulf of Mexico, and ordered to report to the superintendent of the United States Naval Academy for duty, as assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy, and as instructor in steam engineering at the Naval Academy, then located at Newport, R I., heing the first engineer officer ever ordered to duty at the Naval Academy.

He remained at the Academy until June, 1865, when, at his own request, he was de- tached, and was subsequently ordered to the Bureau of Engineering, of the Navy Depart- ment, at Washington, as assistant to the Chief of the Bureau. Here he remained until May, 1868, when, at the solicitation of the late Senator Ira Harris, he was granted leave of absence for six months, to engage as principal assistant engineer in charge of investigations in connection with plans for the extension of the Albany city waterworks.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 86

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823- Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company Number of Pages: 1098

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098