History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 118

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340


USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections > Part 118


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


and when sufficiently advanced he became a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, whence he passed to Harvard University, and was grad- uated from Jefferson Medical College, an M. D., in 1878. He then practiced one year in the Philadelphia Hospital, where he had all the advantages of a practical application of the theories to which he had been a diligent student, during the preceding years. He returned in June, 1889, to his old home and friends, in Towanda, offered his services to the good people, and has continued actively in the practice to the present time. Dr. Mercur inclines to the political faith of the grand old Republican party, and worships at the Episcopal Church; he is a member of the Sons of Revolution, and of the Medical Society of Philadelphia, and served two years as delegate to the State Medical Society. He makes his home at the family residence, with his widowed mother.


RODNEY A. MERCUR, a prominent member of the Bradford county bar, was born in Towanda, September 29, 1851, and is the eld- est son of the late Chief-Justice Ulysses and Sarah Simpson (Davis) Mercur. He was reared in his native town, and was educated at Sus- quehanna Collegiate Institute, Phillips Academy, at Exeter, N. H., and Harvard University; studied law with the late Judge Paul D. Morrow, of Towanda; was admitted to the Bradford county bar, May 3, 1875; was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit and District Courts, June 20, 1876, and to the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania, March 11, 1878. On May 29, 1877, he was commissioned Reg- ister in Bankruptcy for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and filled the office from 1875 to 1879. Mr. Mercur was associated in business with D. A. Overton, from his admission to 1879, since which time he has been in active practice alone. He was married, June 12, 1879, to Mary, daughter of James M. and Louisa (Overton) Ward, of Towanda, and has two children living, Sarah D. and Rodney A., Jr. Mr. Mercur is an active member of the Episcopal Church, of which he has served as a vestryman twelve years, and is now the junior warden and treasurer. He has represented his parish in Diocesan Convention a number of years, and was a lay deputy to the General Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Chicago in 1886, and at New York in 1889. He has always taken an active interest in politics, and was elected an alternate delegate to the National Republican Conven- tion held at Chicago in 1888; is a director, and the solicitor of the First National Bank, of Towanda, and is also a director of the James H. Hawes Manufacturing Company, the Towanda Gas Company, also the Towanda Cemetery Association, and is a member of the Union League, of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of Revolution, also a commissioner to the World's Columbian Exposition from the State of Pennsylvania.


JOHN MEREDITH, grocer, Towanda, was born at Brady's Bend, Armstrong Co., Pa., July 20, 1843, a son of Evan and Margaret (Lewis) Meredith, natives of Wales. His parents came to America in 1840, locating in Pittsburgh, and in 1861 removed to Bradford county, where his father, who had charge of the Barclay mines tracks, was accidentally killed, January 8, 1864; he had been twice married, and by


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


his first wife had one daughter, Mary (Mrs. John Bennett) ; by his second wife, Margaret Lewis, he had three children, who grew to maturity, viz .: John, Martha (Mrs. Thomas Muir) and Thomas. John Meredith, the subject of this sketch, was reared in Armstrong county, and on September 10, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, participating in the battles of Stone River, Chattanooga and many minor engagements ; he never had a furlough, and was honorably discharged at Kittanning, Pa., November 4, 1864, after three years and two months' service. In the fall of 1864 he came to Towanda, where he engaged in the grocery business, until 1872; then he entered the employ of the Cambria Iron Company as manager of their store at Henrietta, Blair Co., Pa., and filled that position two years, when he resigned, and went to Confluence, Somer- set county, where he was engaged in the drug business, and was also agent for the Adams Express Company two years. He then took charge of a store at Hopewell, Bradford county, for the Sandy Run Coal Company, until 1880, when he located in Canton, where he was elected justice of the peace, which office he resigned in May, 1883; again he came to Towanda, and held the position of night officer on the police force two years, when he resigned, and has since been engaged in the grocery business. On December 14, 1870, he married Mary E., daughter of Jane and Ann (Perry) Morley, of Johnstown, Pa., formerly of Cornwall, England, by whom he has seven children living, viz .: James E., Kate B., Charles, Margaret, Ann, Bertha and John A. Logan. Mr. Meredith is a well-known and respected citizen of Brad- ford county, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, I. O. O. F., K. of P., G. A. R. and Union Veteran Legion; he is a Republican in politics.


H. A. MERRILL was born March 22, 1849, in Litchfield township, this county, in the house where he now resides, a son of Ira and Maria C. (Wolcott) Merrill. The father, who was a farmer and a carpenter, spent a greater portion of his life in Litchfield township, and died March 31, 1878, aged sixty-nine years, eleven months and eleven days; his widow still survives him. The grandfather, Eleazer Merrill, was a native of Connecticut, and moved his family into Litchfield (on the same ground where the family residence now stands) in the year 1803, and when he had paid his teamster he found he had just one dollar left. But nothing daunted, he, with that sterling energy and ambition that characterized the pioneers of this country, set to work to provide for the wants of his family of four small children and an invalid wife, by walking three or more miles, crossing the river'in a canoe, and working by the day, carrying his provisions home on his back. So he worked his way, until he succeeded in clearing over 100 acres of the wilderness; he died April 4, 1855, at the age of eighty-two years, eight months, twenty-one days ; his wife, Nancy, died August 29, 1842, aged seventy-four years. The great-grandfather, also named Eleazer Mer- rill, died in December, 1819, aged eighty years; his wife, Rebecca, died January 3, 1827, aged eighty-five. Solomon Merrill, the grandfather's brother, died October 3, 1844, aged seventy-four; Abigal, his wife, died August 13, 1833, aged fifty-five years. In Ira Merrill's family there


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


were six children, viz .: Edwin, a farmer, of Litchfield township; Eliza C., married to B. S. Hadlock, a farmer of Athens township; Emily L., who makes her home with her brother Edwin; Ira F., who lives on the homestead; H. A., the subject of this sketch; Martha M., married to W. F. Perry, a farmer of Litchfield ; Marion, who died in infancy; Susie C., an adopted child; Mary J., also adopted, married to Alvin Pha- lin, a farmer. The subject of these lines was reared on a farm, and received his early education in the common schools. His first business on his own account was keeping a dairy. Mr. Merrill was married March 11, 1874, to Almira, daughter of Moses and Hannah (Cornell) Park. Mr. Merrill has joined the Order of the World, is a member of the Universalist Church, in politics is a Democrat, and has held the office of town clerk one year.


A. B. MIDDAUGH, proprietor of livery and Herdic line, Athens, is a native of Sullivan county, N. Y., born October 27, 1841, a son of Eli and Ellen (Decker) Middaugh, the former of whom was a con- tractor and died in 1847, in his thirty-second year, the latter died July 3, 1888, in her sixty-sixth year. Our subject, who was the elder of two children, left Sullivan county when eight years old for Tioga county, N. Y., and worked at farming and teaming, and in 1862, he went to the woods until 1863, when he went to work in a lumber mill in Will- iamsport, clerking in a store during the winter; then was employed as sawyer for Lentz & White about two years, and about fifteen years was foreman for Mr. Herdick, the extensive public-works' contractor, of Williamsport ; from there he went to Philadelphia, where he remained a short time. In the fall of 1880 he went to Washington, and was there two years, running Herdic coaches for Patts & Herdick, known as the Herdic Phaeton Company; from there he came to Athens and estab- lished the Herdic line from Athens to Waverly, in connection with which Herdic line he started a livery stable at the same time. He is also extensively engaged in the stone business, and has teams to deliver the stone from the quarries. Mr. Middaugh was married in Williams- port, in 1863, to Miss Meda, daughter of William Angle, a native of this county (she is the sixth in a family of eight children, and was born in this county in 1847). Mr. Middaugh is a member of the F. &. A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, and is a Republican.


CARROLL E. MILLER, of the firm of Miller Brothers, propri- etors of saw, planing and shingle mill, Alba, is a native of Chemung, N. Y., born June 8, 1850, a son of Phillip S. and Cynthia (Jones) Miller, natives of Delaware and Chemung counties, N. Y., respectively. Phillip S. Miller was a lumberman, and died in 1889, in his sixty-third year; his widow resides in Alba. The subject of these lines, who is the eldest in the family of three children, was reared in Chemung county, until five years of age, when the family removed to Granville township, where they resided seven years; then moved to Alba, where he received an academic education; also learned the carriage-maker's trade, and in 1869, he went to Corning, N. Y., where he worked at his trade, until the fall of 1872; thence removed to Grover, and was engineer and sawyer in a sawmill, until 1876; then returned to Alba, and engaged in business for himself. He was married in Grover, in


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


1874, to Olive E., daughter of Allen and Samantha (Rockwell) Taylor, natives of Canton township. Allen Taylor was a farmer, and died in 1889; his widow resides in Grover. Mrs. Miller, who was the third in order of birth in a family of five children, was born in Grover, March 4, 1851, and died February 13, 1890; she was a member of the Chris- tian Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller were born three children, as fol- lows: Carroll (deceased), Edith M. and Maud. Mr. Miller is a member of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321. In politics he is a Repub- lican, and has served as burgess, and several terms as member of the borough council in Alba; also several terms as school director and president of the school board.


F. W. MILLER, of the firm of Miller Brothers, Alba, was born in Granville township, this county, July 28, 1857, the second in the family of three children of Phillip S. and Cynthia (Jones) Miller. He received his education in the common schools, and served an appren- ticeship at the carriage-maker's trade with J. S. Reynolds, in Alba. He began working at his trade in 1875, and continued in same until 1881, when he became a member of the firm of Miller Brothers. He was married in Canton township, in 1878, to Sarah H., eldest daughter of Ward and Helen (Lilley) Warren, natives of this county; she was born in Canton township, May 12, 1857. Ward Warren was a farmer and died in 1881 in his fiftieth year; Mrs. Warren died in 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller was born one daughter, Lillie H. The family are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Miller is a member of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321. Politically he isa Republican, and has served as auditor and town clerk, and is a member of the borough council.


FREDRICK J. MILLER, of the firm of F. J. Miller & Son, LeRays- ville, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1839, a son of Peter Miller, who was born in the same place, in 1810, was a shoemaker by trade, and came to Honesdale, Pa., in 1841, where he followed his trade until his death, in 1858. Peter Miller married, in Germany, Elizabeth Wagner, and had one child, F. J. Our subject was educated in Hones- dale, Pa., learned his trade there, and worked fifteen years; then opened a shop in Honesdale, in 1859, which he conducted until 18-, when he went to Erie, and thence, in 1883, to Warren County; then came to LeRaysville and worked for the Northern Tier Cigar Manu- facturing Company, until April 19, 1888, when he opened his present shop in company with his son, John F., under the firm name of F. J. Miller & Son. They have been generally successful, and are doing an annual business of $5,500. Mr. Miller is a member of Lodge, No. 88, I. O. O. F., and No. 402, K. of P .; also of the G. A. R., Spalding Post, No. 33. In 1860, he married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John and Amie (Neat) Evans, and they have had ten children, as follows: Carrie, born in 1861, wife of Andrew Button ; Charles, born in 1863, died in infancy; John, born in 1864; Agnes, born in 1866; Margaret, born in 1869; Elizabeth, born in 1870; Isabel, born in 1873; Albert, born in 1875 ; Nettie, born in 1878, and William, born in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Miller and family attend the Congregational Church. John F. Miller was born in Honesdale, Pa., received a common-school education and


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


in his sixteenth year began his trade with A. S. Platt, of Warren county, this State, with whom he worked four months; then worked for a Mr. Flacke, of the same place, nine months, after which he was with the Warren Cigar Company, two years; then he went to Chicago, where he followed his trade, and in the fall of 1884, came here and worked for the Northern Tier Cigar Manufacturing Company, four years, and then went into business with his father. Mr. Miller was married, October 8, 1890, to Ella, the second of three children born to Emanuel and Corinthia (Brink) Ashton. Mr. Miller is a member of LeRaysville Lodge, No. 471, F. & A. M., and Post, No. 232, Sons of Veterans.


LOUIS J. MILLER, LeRaysville, was born October 8, 1845, in Dansville, N. Y., a son of Theodore and Elizabeth (Truman) Miller. In his father's family were seven children of whom Louis J. is the youngest. His parents were natives of Germany ; the father a cabinet- maker by trade, died in 1875, at the age of eighty; the mother died in 1870, at the age of seventy-five years. Louis J. Miller, the subject of the sketch, began life for himself when sixteen years of age by enlisting, October 23, 1861, in Company E, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, N. Y. V. I., and was in the following engagements : Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap, Bull Run, Chan- tilly, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Get- tysburg, Wilderness, Cold Harbor and the Weldon raid. At Bull Run he received a gunshot wound in the left breast, and at Cold Harbor in the left leg, but was not out of service long enough to miss any of the battles of his regiment ; he was made corporal No. 1, in 1864, which position he held until he was mustered out at Elmira, N. Y., July 29, 1865. Mr. Miller then returned to his home at Dansville, where he served a barber's apprenticeship, since which time he has been engaged in that business; nine years in Bath, N. Y., and the past seven years in LeRaysville. He married, April 25, 1875, Sarah Fronk, and the following children were born to them : Louis H., Herbert G. and Gracie B. His wife died July 10, 1889, and his three children are living with friends at Cohocton, N. Y. Mr. Miller is a Republican.


RUSSEL MILLER, farmer, Asylum township, P. O. Durell, was born June 15, 1824, in Laddsburg, Albany township, a son of Daniel and Hannah (Fowler) Miller, natives of Elizabethtown, N. J., of Ger- man and English extraction, respectively. Daniel Miller, who was a tanner, currier and shoemaker, came to this county and settled in Monroe township, about 1801, and in 1805, he removed to Laddsburg ; he was one of the valuable pioneers, and experienced many hardships, but being a man of strong nerve and unflinching resolutions, he carved his way in the wilderness to ultimate triumph; he built several saw- mills and a gristmill in that town, and became an extensive farmer. The subject of this sketch was reared to his father's vocations, and when eighteen took charge of and conducted the business from that on, and, being of the same persevering nature as his sire, made a suc- cess of life. He was married March 22, 1848, to Margaret O., daughter of Moses A. and Susan (Lawrence) Ladd, and there have been born to them five children, as follows : Alice L., born June 13, 1849, and died


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


at the age of sixteen years and six months; Newton L., born Novem- ber 10, 1854, married to Emma A. Brown; Austin R., born May 14, 1862, married to Eliza J. Benjamin ; Ettie A., born November 9, 1864, wife of Gurdon E. Delong ; Elliston E., born October 3, 1869-all being prosperous and successful farmers. Mr. Miller, with all his other ex- tensive enterprises, put up a building, and opened a general store at Laddsburg, and conducted it many years; he removed to Durell in September, 1877, and is at present the owner of a fine farm under a good state of cultivation ; he is a member of the Masonic Fraternity and the I. O. O. F .; he is a Republican, and has filled many offices of public trust, such as school director and commissioner. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been members of the Protestant Methodist Church, since before their marriage, and he has been one of the officers, and several times a delegate to the Conferences.


WILLIAM W. MILLER, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. North Rome, was born in Rome township, this county, August 11, 1833, and is a son of Hiram and Esther (Clark) Miller, the former of whom was born in New York, was a farmer, and had a family of six children, two of whom survive: William W. and a daughter, Mrs. Marcus Vancise. William W. Miller attended the district school a few terms, and at the age of nine had to make his own living and quit school. He was married at the age of twenty-four years, and from that time dates the beginning of his prosperity, which has continued to the present time. Soon after marriage he purchased his first farm, which he still owns, twelve acres of which had been " chopped," and one and one-half acres partly cleared, an old log house being the only building. He has devoted a great portion of his time tolumbering. On August 21, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment. P. V. I., but, being seized with typhoid fever, he was discharged on surgeon's cer- tificate, and returned home, where he remained but a few months, when he again enlisted, this time in Company I, One Hundred and Eighty- seventh Regiment, P. V. I., until the close of the war, being mustered out at Harrisburg with the regiment. He received a flesh-wound in the right leg from a minie ball, was in the battle of Fredericksburg, and many other minor engagements. After returning, he resumed farming and now owns 325 acres. Mr. Miller was united in wedlock, November 17, 1850, to Sarah, daughter of William L. Taylor and Sarah (Vastbinder) Taylor, by which union there are six children yet living, two being deceased, as follows: E. M., married to Rosa Johnson ; William, died in infancy; Mary, married to Godfrey Eiklor; Helen, married to George Manold, and died in 1885; A. B., married to Vernie Eiklor; Sarah, Stella, Clara. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Miller has been a member thirty-five years, and a class-leader nearly the whole time, also a steward ; is a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and is a Repub- lican. Mr. Miller is a self-made man, as he entered the wilderness with no assistance but his faithful wife, and has accumulated a fortune by his own exertions.


GEORGE B. MILLS, farmer, in Towanda township, P. O. Towanda. was born in North Towanda, this county, April 13, 1829, a son of


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


Stephen A. and Amanda (Fanning) Mills, natives of this State. His grandfather, Edward Mills, came to this county in 1808. His great- grandfather was brutally murdered by the British soldiers at Fort Griswold, Conn. George B. Mills, the subject of this sketch, was united in marriage, June 19, 1856, with Ruth J., daughter of Samuel K. Harkness, a native of Madison county, N. Y .; they have the follow- ing children : Florence A., wife of Sidney R. Smith, residing in Rome, this county; Leslie D., married to Orris Smith; Willis, married to Isabel McMurran. Mr. Mills' present home is the homestead of his father, who built the old stone house, in 1839, which was for a long time used as a hotel, and is consequently one of the historic places in the county ; he has the old farm under a fine state of cultivation, and is considered one of the principal farmers of the township. Mr. Mills has been for many years an active member of Masonic Lodge, No. 108; has been school director nearly twenty years; he is a Republican in politics, and takes an interest in the affairs of the county. Mrs. Mills and all of her children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Towanda; she has been an active worker in the Sunday- school.


SILAS MILLS, farmer, P. O. North Towanda, one of the oldest resi- dents of North Towanda, was born in Ulster township, this county, Sep- tember 12, 1808, and is a son of Edward and Lusinah (Stuart) Mills. Edward Mills was a native of Connecticut, born August 12, 1780, whose father was killed by the British in the massacre at Fort Gris- wold, when Edward was three years old. While yet a child, Edward's mother married a Mr. Smith, and moved to Delaware county, N. Y., where he was reared and married. Edward Mills settled in Ulster township, this county, in 1808, and in 1809 moved to what is now North Towanda township, and in 1814 purchased a farm, a part of which is now owned and occupied by his son, Silas, most of which he cleared and improved, and resided there for many years. In later life he removed to this place; his wife died while on a visit to Illinois, October 29, 1847, and after her death he concluded to remain in that State, and resided there until his death, which occurred in Winnebago, July 5, 1869. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an esteemed citizen. His children were as follows : Stephen A., Hannah S. (twice married ; her first husband was George K. Bingham, and her second was Cornelius Coolbaugh); Esther (also twice married ; her first husband was Erastus Pratt, and her second was Abram Huff); Silas Freeman, Dr. Edward, Garner C., and Lusinah (Mrs. Wright). Silas Mills was reared in North Towanda, received a limited education in the schools of his day, has always been a farmer, and has been a continuous resident of the old homestead since 1855. He married, February 28, 1840, Mary E., daughter of Eleazer (Rutty) Allis, of Orwell, this county, and by her he had five children, four of whom grew to maturity, viz .: Sophia (Mrs. George N. Strunk), Viletta, Marvin V. and Mary (Mrs. Charles Biles). Mr. Mills is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Republican.


AUSTIN MITCHELL, proprietor of foundry and machine shops, Troy, was born in Franklin, Delaware Co., N. Y., August 5, 1827, and


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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.


is a son of William and Mabel (Chaunay) Mitchell, who settled in Bur- lington township, this county, in 1831, where the father, who was a blacksmith by trade, resided until his death, which occurred October 4, 1847 ; the mother died April 22, 1855. Their children were Leroy, Chaunay, Austin, Eugene, Oscar and James. The subject of this sketch was reared in Burlington township, received a common-school education and learned the blacksmith and machinist trade. He worked. as a journeyman up to 1877, in which year he embarked in business for himself in Troy (whither he had come in 1847), in which he has since continued, carrying on a machine foundry and general repair shops. Mr. Mitchell was twice married, on first occasion to Samantha, daughter of Benjamin Shattuck, of Troy, and by her he has had six children : Frank, Eugene, Mary, Austin, Jr., Emma (Mrs. C. J. Bloom) and James; the second wife of Mr. Mitchell was Jane, daughter of Jobn Berry, of Gillett, Pa., and by this union there have been four children : Mary, George, Nellie and John. Mr. Mitchell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a Royal Arch Mason. Politically he is a Democrat, and has served as member of the council of Troy one term.


HON. B. B. MITCHELL, a well-known druggist of Troy, was born on a farm in Tioga county, Pa., January 14, 1839, and is a son of Richard and Harriet M. (Dartt) Mitchell, formerly of Vermont, of Scotch-Irish descent, and among the first settlers of Tioga county. Hon. B. B. Mitchell, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the schools of his native county, Lewisburg University and Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Buffalo, N. Y .; was in the employ of E. Bradford Clark, of Philadelphia, as bookkeeper, from January 1, 1859, until January 1, 1860. In the latter year he established a drug and book business in Troy, Pa., and, though a stranger and without any practical experience, succeeded in building up a prosperous business. In August, 1861, he helped recruit and organize the first cavalry company in the county, was chosen first lieutenant, and with his company joined Harlan Independent Cavalry at Philadelphia, Pa. The raising of this regiment, which was authorized by the Secretary of War, was from different States, and was to be on same footing as regulars. Gov. Curtin, however, took issue with the Secretary of Way, claiming the Pennsylvania troops; he was finally successful, and then the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry was organized, and the Troy company became Company F, in that regiment. In 1862 Lieut. Mitchell was promoted to captain, and took an active part in the cam- paign and battles of the war, until October, 1864, when he was offered a major's commission ; but having already served over the three years for which he had enlisted, and being broken in health, he declined further promotion, left the service, and returned to Troy, and, as soon as his health permitted, resumed mercantile business, which he has continued to prosecute with marked success. On May 29, 1865, he married Ellen E., only daughter of Samuel W. and A. Malvina (Davidson) Pomeroy, of Troy, by whom he had seven children, as follows: Louie P. (deceased), Josephine P., Nannie B., Samuel Pome- roy (deceased), Benjamin B., Henrietta D. (deceased), and Emma




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