USA > New York > Franklin County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 2 > Part 4
USA > New York > Jefferson County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 2 > Part 4
USA > New York > Lewis County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 2 > Part 4
USA > New York > Oswego County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 2 > Part 4
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 2 > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
On Aug. 4, 1914, Mr. Gray was united in marriage with Miss Ruth Goldthwaite, who died Sept. 26, 1930. She is buried in Brookside Cemetery, Watertown. She was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and the
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daughter of William W. and Emma A. (Peterson) Goldthwaite, who were natives of New York, both now deceased. They are buried at Great Bend, N. Y. To Bernard A. and Ruth (Goldthwaite) Gray was born a daughter, Jane, born April 1, 1917.
Politically, Mr. Gray is a Republican. He holds membership in St. Pat- rick's Catholic Church, and belongs to the Kiwanis Club, past president; Black River Valley Club, president during 1928-29; Jefferson County Golf Club; and Chamber of Commerce. He was chairman of Group No. 4, New York Bankers Association in 1928, and belongs to the Jefferson County Bar Association.
Charles Austin Phelps .- A prominent attorney of Watertown, Mr. Phelps is also widely known as a far-sighted business man, being iden- tified with the publishing business in this city as president of the Standard Publishing Company. He holds a place of sincere regard in the general esteem, his legal activities having been centered in this city and county from the beginning of his career.
Mr. Phelps was born at Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County, Sept. 28, 1879, the son of Austin A. and Frances (Gilmore) Phelps. Mr. Austin A. Phelps was president of the First National Bank, of Dexter, N. Y. He and his wife are both deceased and are buried in Sackets Harbor. The latter died Sept. 1, 1931.
Charles Austin Phelps attended the public schools, and Union Academy, and was graduated from the Law School of Cornell University in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Upon his admission to the bar in 1901, Mr. Phelps established himself in practice in Watertown under his own name, but in 1906 formed a partnership with Edward N. Smith, who is now justice of the Supreme Court, and he continued thus until Mr. Smith was elevated to the bench in 1923. Mr. Phelps, engaged in general practice, is a member of the Jefferson County and New York Bar Asso- ciations. As mentioned above, he is also president of the Standard Pub- lishing Company, of Watertown, and a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank, of Dexter.
In 1912 Mr. Phelps married Miss Helen MacIntosh, of Perth, Ontario, Canada.
A Republican in his political views, Mr. Phelps is a representative citizen in all movements for the good of the community, and he has served on the aldermanic board. During the World War he was active in the drives and Liberty Loan and Red Cross interests, and served also as a member of the local Draft Board. Fraternally, he is affiliated with
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Watertown Lodge No. 49, F. & A. M .; Watertown Chapter, No. 59, R. A. M .; Watertown Commandery No. 11, K. T .; Media Temple; and B. P. O. Elks No. 496. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, Lincoln League, Black River Valley Club, of which he is president, and Jefferson County Golf Club. He is also a director of the Northern New York Trust Com- pany of Watertown. In June of 1931 he became one of the trustees of the house of the Good Samaritan.
Mr. and Mrs. Phelps are prominent members of Trinity Episcopal Church, Watertown.
Roswell Silas George .- When a family retains its sturdy abilities, its high traditions and commercial success, throughout succeeding gen- erations, then indeed it is a valued asset to the State. Remarkable in this particular is the family of George in Watertown, than which no name is known more prominently and favorably in the city. The family of George were pioneers to Jefferson County, settling there over a century ago, people of English ancestry whose progressiveness and energy helped to build up the industrial life of Northern New York. Carrying on the fam- ily traditions of industry and integrity is Roswell S. George, one of Wa- tertown's leading merchants, manufacturers and attorneys for more than two decades. His professional activities, devoted chiefly to corporation and estate law, have been very successful, and in this respect have been equalled by his commercial activities. These, since 1915, have been with the firm of James R. Miller Company, manufacturers and retailers of men's and boys' clothing, one of the largest and widely known houses of its kind in Northern New York. Mr. George is its president since 1923. Previous to that date he was its secretary and has contributed no small share to its steady growth and continued prosperity. His energy and ex- ecutive ability have been valuable assets to his firm and have made him known widely in the clothing business throughout the Empire State.
Roswell S. George was born in Watertown, New York, Oct. 31, 1878, the older son of Silas Levi Jr., and Kate (Grafton) George, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this history. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town, whence he entered St. Paul's School in Concord, N. H., and then Cornell University where he graduated in 1901 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. That same year he was ad- mitted to the New York State bar. He went to New York City, where, until 1909, he was actively associated with the firm of Flower & Com- pany, started in 1878 by his great-uncles, Governor Roswell P. and An- son R. Flower, Wall Street financiers. In November, 1901, he married
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Miss Isabel Phelps Miller, the daughter of Colonel James R. Miller of Watertown, and in 1903, when the James R. Miller Company was incor- porated the young Mr. George, the son-in-law, became its secretary and legal adviser.
The James R. Miller Company, manufacturers and retail sellers of men's and boys' clothing, was established by Colonel Miller in 1868. When in 35 years later it was incorporated (1903) Colonel Miller became its president, George B. Phelps, vice president, and Sherman H. Davenport, treasurer, and Roswell S. George, secretary and legal adviser. It is the same firm of which today he is president. Meanwhile, Mr. George con- tinued his residence in New York City, specializing in estate and corpora- tion law and maintaining his connections with the firm of Flower & Com- pany. At the death of Colonel Miller in 1909, George B. Phelps was ele- vated to the position of president and Roswell S. George was appointed trustee for the entire Miller estate which descended in trust to Mrs. George and their children.
In 1909 Mr. George became connected with a project for the develop- ment of a large tract on the west coast of Mexico in the State of Senora, and as eastern representative of this firm spent the greater part of each year in the Southwest. John Hays Hammond was the controlling finan- cier, but repeated revolutions in Mexico put an end to these activities and he returned to New York. In 1915 the Miller estate interests demanded all of his time, so he came to Watertown and has since remained there. At that time he was vice president and secretary of the company. Upon the death of George B. Phelps in 1923, Roswell S. George became presi- dent of the James R. Miller Company, and its active head. This concern occupies three floors, covering some 30,000 square feet, and employs be- tween 40 and 50 people. Its products are known and distributed through- out the entire United States.
In the years since his return to Watertown, Mr. George has continued the practice of his profession, specializing in corporation law and legal matters connected with the management of estates. His legal abilities and keen financial acumen have extended his interests to large financial circles. He is a director of the Watertown National Bank; trustee of the Henry Keep Home, and vice president and treasurer of that institution for many years; he was president for two years of the New York State Retail Clothiers' Association, and has been vice president of the National Retail Clothiers since 1925. For two terms he was city councilman of Watertown, but he has refused all public offices since then. During the World War he was chairman of the Government Loan Association and War Savings Commission for city and county. He is a member of the Ben- evolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 496, of the Chamber of Com-
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merce, of Watertown; of the Jefferson County Automobile Club, the Black River Valley Club, the Kiwanis Club, and the Cornell Club of New York. Inheriting from his father, a famous sportsman and fisherman, love of outdoor sports and activities, he is prominent in many country clubs. Among those in which he holds membership are: the Jefferson County Golf Club, the Crescent Yacht Club, Lakeside Country Club, the Thousand Island Yacht Club, and the Thousand Island Country Club. He is a mem- ber of the Cornell Chapter of the Chi Psi Fraternity, and of the Chi Psi Club of New York City. He attends the Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church in Watertown.
Roswell S. George married, at Watertown, Nov. 26, 1901, Isabel Phelps Miller, daughter of Colonel James R. Miller. Having no children of their own they reared John Miller, a child of Mrs. George's brother.
Charles W. Valentine, president of the Bagley & Sewall Company, of Watertown, manufacturer, inventor, and for more than 40 years promi- nently and actively identified with various large corporations in an execu- tive and engineering capacity, was born at Millville, N. J., April 5, 1872. He is the son of L. P. and Lelia (Brandriff) Valentine, the ancestry on both sides being of early American families. L. P. Valentine was for a number of years associated with the Whitall & Tatum Company, of Mill- ville, N. J.
Charles W. Valentine was educated in the public schools of Millville, supplemented by a course at Purdue University, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1898. His first occupation was during his college career, being identified for five years with the Jeansville Iron Works, of Jeansville, Pa., working in their machine shop and drafting rooms. Later, after his graduation from col- lege, he was with the Foos Gas Engine Company, of Springfield, Ohio, as engineer of tests, for a period of six months. He then went to Chicago with the Borden & Sellick Company, and sold gas engines in competition with Fairbanks, Morse & Company, being in charge of the gas engine department, where he remained for a period of one year. He then came to Watertown in 1899, with the New York Air Brake Company as mechan- ical engineer, and remained in that capacity until 1904. About a year and one-half of that time was spent in Russia in the development of the Russian plant. In 1904 Mr. Valentine became associated with the Bagley & Sewall Company, of Watertown, being placed in charge of the manufac- turing end of the business, and for 27 years he has been prominently and actively identified with its great growth and development, being promoted
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from time to time, first as general superintendent for a number of years, after which he took charge of the engineering department as vice presi- dent, in charge of engineering, and on Sept. 21, 1927, he was elected presi- dent of the company shortly after the death of Stewart D. Lansing, its former executive, and he holds that position at the present time.
Mr. Valentine has been successful in securing a dozen or more patents pertaining to paper making machinery, all of which are assigned to the Bagley & Sewall Company, and are in universal use throughout the world. He is a director of the Watertown National Bank, and was president of the Lake Shore Electric Company, an organization for distributing electricity to the town of Henderson, N. Y., and adjacent country, until it was merged with the Adams Electric Company, and he is now vice president of that concern.
In 1903 Mr. Valentine married Miss Edith Sewall, the daughter of Edmund P. and Catherine (Smith) Sewall, natives of Watertown, and Monroe, Mich., respectively. Both are deceased and are buried in Water- town. He was prominently identified with the manufacturing interests of the city and was one of the founders of the Bagley & Sewall Company.
Mr. Valentine is past president of the House of the Good Samaritan Hospital, Watertown, and belongs to the Black River Valley Club, and Jef- ferson County Golf Club. He is a vestryman of Trinity Church, of Water- town, and is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, National Association of Manufacturers, Watertown Chamber of Com- merce, and Sigma Chi fraternity.
During the World War Mr. Valentine served as chairman of the Jef- ferson County Committee of the Red Cross, and also had charge of the Manufacturers Committee in connection with the various Liberty Loan drives.
Politically, Mr. Valentine is a Republican. He lives at 137 Mullin Street, Watertown, and has a summer home at Henderson Harbor, N. Y. His hobbies are fishing, sailing, golf and motoring.
David Foster Phillips, of Watertown, has been identified with the paper industry practically his entire life, and is secretary of the Brownville Board Company, of Brownville, N. Y. He was born at Antwerp, Jefferson County, Oct. 12, 1866, the son of William D. and Emmaretta V. (Foster) Phillips.
William D. Phillips and his wife were natives of Jefferson County. He was born at Lyme, and engaged in general farming until his death in 1921. He was a Civil War veteran, having served as a sergeant in the
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Tenth New York Heavy Artillery. He was a well known resident of this section of the State. His wife, born at Theresa, died in 1914.
D. Foster Phillips attended the public schools and Ives Seminary, and took a special course in business training. Most of his business career has been spent in the paper mills. For a number of years he was secre- tary of the Newton Falls Paper Company, and left that concern in 1911 to become identified with the Brownville Board Company. In 1915 Mr. Phillips was elected secretary of the company and still serves in that capacity. This concern, with which J. Munson Gamble is prominently identified, is one of the most important business enterprises in Brownville.
In 1890 Mr. Phillips married Miss Addie M. Bullis, of Plessis, Jefferson County, the daughter of Rev. Peter and Cynthia (McCrea) Bullis. They have two children: Crandall F., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this history; and Rhetta A.
Fraternally, Mr. Phillips is affiliated with Watertown Lodge No. 49, F. & A. M .; Watertown Chapter No. 59, R. A. M .; Watertown Command- ery K. T. No. 11; and Media Temple. He is a Republican and a member and trustee of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Watertown.
Silas Levi George, Jr .- Among those men who made their mark in the social and industrial life of Watertown, none is more prominently, nor indeed more pleasantly remembered than Silas Levi George, Jr., financier, art connoisseur, sportsman. Although a man of large affairs and a highly successful jeweler (in point of view of actual mercantile connections he was Watertown's oldest merchant), yet it is not for his commercial ac- tivities alone that Mr. George is remembered and beloved. He was a friendly man and an interesting one who enjoyed life thoroughly especially the companionship of his fellow-man. He entered with interest into the affairs of his home town for over 50 years and throughout all that time he was a valuable citizen. Mr. George began his career early. He was only 14 years old when he came from Theresa to enter a dry goods store in Watertown. It was not long after this that he became connected with the jewelry store of his uncles, Anson R. and Roswell P. Flower, the latter becoming Governor of New York State. He ultimately became owner and proprietor of this store, building up a considerable fortune and extending his enterprises into broader fields of finance. He became an authority on diamonds and rubies and his store became one of the treasure centers of the State, with an art collection not only of jewels but of valuable paint- ings, and original statuary, as well as articles of gold and silver and the finest of bric-a-brac.
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Silas L. George, Jr., came of the finest of the pioneer stock of Jeffer- son County. He was born in the village of Theresa, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1852, the son of Silas Levi and Caroline (Flower) George. Both father and mother were of English ancestry. The father, Silas L. George, Sr., was born in the town of Lorraine. The original George family came to Jeffer- son County over 100 years ago and, like so many early settlers, sought out the hill country in order to escape the ague and fever of the lowlands. This fact accounts for the early settlement of Lorraine. It explains why so many pioneers passed over the rich flat meadow country nearer the lake where the soil was black and fertile and sought the rocky farms higher up. Unable to make a living on the barren, rocky soil, many of them left the hill farm country of Lorraine and the George family was one of these. They migrated down to Theresa where Silas L. George, Sr., met and married Caroline Flower, daughter of Nathan Monroe Flower. The Flowers were another Theresa family of exceptionally fine qualities. Caroline (Flower) George traces her ancestry back to Normandy at the time of William the Conquerer. She was a sister of Colonel George W. Flower, the first mayor of the city of Watertown, of the late Governor Roswell P. Flower, and Anson R. Flower, heads of the old Wall Street firm of Flower and Company, made immortal as well as wealthy by their coup on the stock exchange with the Brooklyn Rapid Transit System, which gave them control of the road and saved it. Silas L. George, Jr., of Watertown was on the most friendly terms with all three of these uncles. It was from R. P. and A. R. Flower that he bought the jewelry store with which he was connected from 1868, when at the age of 16 he entered it as an apprentice, until his death in 1926 in his 74th year. Mr. George was the youngest of three sons born to his mother and father. John S., the eldest, was a wealthy real estate and mine owner of Milwaukee, Wis. Nathan M., was a prosperous citizen of Danbury, Conn., and died there a few years ago, the father of Mrs. Harold W. Conde, and Mrs. Edward S. Lansing, of Watertown.
Silas L. George, Sr., was a merchant of Theresa. His youngest son, Silas L., Jr., attended the common schools of Theresa in winter and worked in his father's store in summer until at the age of 14 he left school and came to Watertown as clerk in the dry goods store of Hoffman & Weinberg. He remained there for only a little more than a year when, in 1868, he became an apprentice in the jewelry establishment of his uncles, the late Roswell P. and Anson R. Flower. The original jewelry business of which this store was an outgrowth had been established about a century ago, in the early half of the nineteenth century, by William Harrison Sigourney, who had, in turn, learned the business through his apprenticeship to the late Calvin Guiteau, a talented and artistic French-
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man. After he had been ten years in the employ of his uncles, young Silas L. George bought the business and became proprietor of the store, an office which he held with ever increasing distinction until the time of his death.
During his life time Mr. George gathered together one of the finest collections of cut and uncut diamonds and rubies outside of New York City. He became a connoisseur of precious stones and objects of art. In the basement of his store he had fitted up an art gallery and hung there valuable paintings, original and copies of famous masterpieces as well as a number of excellent pieces of statuary in bronze, marble and alabas- ter. His stock was valued at more than $100,000. He was regarded as an authority on diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and precious stones in gen- eral, and was often consulted in regard to them by experts from all over the State. His store was a jewelry center for his own particular section of the State and he issued an annual catalogue and did an extensive mail order business in jewels, gold and silver, and fine bric-a-brac. But Mr. George's interests were not limited to the jewelry business. For more than 40 years he was secretary of the Henry Keep Home, an office he as- sumed at the request of Mrs. Keep when she built the memorial to her husband. The board of trustees of the Henry Keep Fund, of which Mr. George was secretary, controlled also the Paddock Arcade, a revenue pro- ducer for the Home, the management of the Flower Building, in Arsenal Street and until 1916, the custody of the old American Building leased that year to F. W. Woolworth for 99 years. In these negotiations Silas L. George played a large part. In 1889 he became a stockholder in the old Watertown Gas Company; in 1896 he became its secretary and when it became later the Watertown Gas Light Company and was merged with the Northern New York Utilities, Inc., Mr. George continued as a member of the board of directors. He was also vice president and a member of the board of trustees of the Watertown Savings Bank; he was a charter member of the Watertown Chamber of Commerce and for many years one of its directors. Deeply interested in out-door sports, he was inter- nationally known as the donor of the Silas L. George cup, a valuable silver trophy competed for each year by the small Class R sailing yachts of the United States and Canada. This has long been a championship trophy and the race for it is now a classic. Fishing was one of his favorite sports. Above all he loved trout fishing, and there were few mountain streams in New York State which he had not whipped for this gamey fish. Lake trout, muscalonge and black bass were also among his favorites and up until the very summer before his death he spent much time in Sackett's Harbor, where he kept a motor boat during the black bass season.
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Fraternally, Mr. George was a member of Watertown Lodge No. 49, F. & A. M .; of Watertown Chapter, No. 59, R. A. M .; of Watertown Com- mandery No. 11, K. T., and Media Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In addition he was affiliated with the old Corona Lodge, No. 705, I. O. O. Fellows. He was a member of the Rotary Club since its organization and attended its meetings regularly. With his family he attended Trinity Episcopal Church.
Silas L. George, Jr., married, in Watertown, Kate Grafton, daughter of the late Dr. John Gilbert Grafton, a native of London, a graduate of Oxford and one of the most distinguished surgeons of New York state. For many years Watertown was the seat of his practice. Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. George: Roswell S. and John Gilbert.
A. Raymond Cornwall is one of the prominent members of the Jeffer- son County bar, engaged in practice at Watertown, with offices in the Woolworth Building. He was born at Alexandria Bay, N. Y., April 30, 1883, the son of Andrew Calhoun and Julia (Fuller) Cornwall.
The Cornwall family came to the United States from England and settled on the present site of Portland, Conn., in the 17th century, Wil- liam Cornwall being the first member of the family to come to the United States.
Andrew Calhoun Cornwall was born at Poultneyville, Wayne County, N. Y., Jan. 2, 1844. He became a prominent merchant of Alexandria Bay, where he carried on a business which was established by his father, and he was also a director of the National Bank & Loan Company, of Water- town, and a trustee of the Watertown Savings Bank. He was affiliated with Alexandria Lodge, F. & A. M. No. 297; Theresa Chapter, R. A. M. No. 149; Watertown Commandery, K. T. No. 11; and Media Temple. Mr. Cornwall was married on July 1, 1869, to Julia Fuller, and their children were: Bertha, married S. H. Countryman; Bessie, married H. Fred Ingel- hart; Fuller F .; A. Raymond, the subject of this sketch; and Mary.
Andrew Calhoun Cornwall was the son of Hon. Andrew and Mary C. (Calhoun) Cornwall. He was born at Poultneyville, N. Y., March 25, 1814, and died Sept. 1, 1900. About 1846 he settled at Alexandria Bay, N. Y., where he became associated in business with Lyman Walton. The latter died in 1853 and at that time Mr. Cornwall continued the business with John F. Walton until April 1, 1877. Mr. Cornwall was a Democrat and held the office of postmaster of Alexandria Bay from 1857 until 1861. He also was supervisor from 1852 until 1856, and served on the War Committee during 1861-65. It was in 1867 that he was elected as a mem-
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ber of the New York State Legislature. He was married in January, 1843, to Mary C. Calhoun, who died Aug. 13, 1890.
A. Raymond Cornwall received his early education in the public schools of Alexandria Bay, N. Y., and is a graduate of Cascadilla Preparatory School. He received the degree of LL. B. from Cornell University in 1905, and immediately engaged in private practice in Watertown. At the present time he is general counsel for the Eastern Greyhound Lines.
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