Oswego County New York Biographies, Surnames G-M

Transcribed by Jeffrey Tooley

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Oswego County New York Biographies extracted from Landmarks of Oswego County, by John C. Churchill, LL.D., 1895.

GOODWIN, GEORGE H.

GEORGE H. GOODWIN was born in Mexico, Oswego county, N. Y., on December 5, 1834. His family is of English descent, and he is the youngest of four children, and the only survivor. His brothers were J. Austin Goodwin, Joseph C. Goodwin and Henry G. Goodwin, His ancestors on both sides were of New England stock, and of sturdy stuff, both intellectually and morally. His father, Calvin Goodwin, and his mother,' Emily Hinkley, were born in Mansfield, Conn., and came to Mexico in 1828. The former died in 1869 at the age of sixty-eight years, and the latter died in 1845 at the age of forty-three years. His grandfather, the Rev. Jonathan Goodwin, was a widely known and universally respected minister of the gospel. He preached for nearly forty years in Connecticut, and was the founder and first pastor of the Baptist church in Mexico village.

The subject of this sketch was educated at the Mexico Academy. He early began the study of law with ex-Judge Cyrus Whitney, and finished his legal’studies in the offices of Orville Robinson and James Noxon. In 1856 he graduated from the Department of Law of the Albany University, and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years. He practiced his profession in Oswego county and in California, and for a number of years applied himself closely to the profession but was afterward more or less diverted from the law by reason of ill healthand the cares devolving upon him in the settlement of some extensive estates, and has of late given more time to business and literature than to his profession. Mr. Goodwin has been largely identified with the growth and prosperity of Mexico, and few men in the county have a more extended acquaintance or are possessed of warmer friends.

Mr. Goodwin formerly took an active interest in politics and often refused offers of political advancement. His local popularity has been attested on numerous occasions by the positions of trust which have been given him. He was chairman of the Democratic County Committee many years, and very frequently represented his party in its State conventions. He was president of Mexico village in 1879, and was chosen supervisor^ of the town of Mexico in 1888, though the town was more than two to one Republican at that time. He is the only Democrat, with a single exception, that has been elected as supervisor of the town of Mexico during the past thirty-nine years.

Mr. Goodwin has been an extensive traveler on both continents. In 1882 he visited Ireland, England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Holland, of wdiich countries he had previously acquired a broad general knowledge from books and conversation. In 1889 he made another more extended tour in the east, in the course of which he ascended the Nile in Egypt, and afterwards visited Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and many islands of the Mediterranean. He has also traversed almost every portion of North America. In writing, as well as in speech, Mr. Goodwin is a master of the English language, with a style clear, lucid, terse, and fluent. While abroad he wrote a long series of very interesting letters, which were published in the local papers, and widely copied by the press of the State.

In 1883 Mr. Goodwin was united in marriage with Adelaide E. Alfred, daughter of Charles L. Webb, of Mexico. She died April 14, 1884, at the age of thirty-six years. Their only child, Mabel A., died September 29, 1884.

HIGGINS, JOHN D.

JOHN D. HIGGINS. In the second generation back, John D. Higgins descended from Bradley Higgins, who was born in Norwalk, Conn., in 1793 and died April 30, 1885, at Mexico, Oswego county. He was married in early life in New York city to Maria de la Montanye. In 1835 he removed to the northern part of the town of Richland, Oswego county, having successively conducted mercantile stores in New York city, Richfield, and Plainfield, a nearby place. He carried on farming for eight or nine years in Richland and then moved into the village of Mexico, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a life-long and ardent Democrat and a highly respected citizen, and died at the advanced age of ninety-two years. His oldest surviving son, John B. Higgins, was born in New York city July 17, 1822, and moved to Mexico with his father in the early forties. Educated at Mexico Academy, he studied law in Mexico with Orla H. Whitney, beginning in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1846; began practice in Mexico and was for a few years associated with Luke D. Smith. George G. French and T. W. Skinner were students in his office, and the former was subsequently his partner for a few years. In 1856 he removed to Oswego and has continued in practice there since. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Higgins has been active in his party and influential in its measures. In 1850 he was elected district attorney and served one term. After settling in Oswego he w r as appointed deputy collector of customs under Orville Robinson, whom he succeeded as collector in 1857, under James Buchanan. In 1874 he was elected recorder of Oswego for a term of four years. Mr. Higgins was married in 1850 to Mary A. Dauby, a native of Oswego county, daughter of Alexander J. Dauby. There were two children: Dr. Frederick M. Higgins, of Bozeman, Mont., the elder, and John D. Higgins, the subject, who was born in Oswego city June 9, 1858. His education was obtained in the public schools, the High School and the State Normal School of his native city.

Having determined to follow the law as a profession he entered the office of Rhodes & Richardson in 1877 and in 1880 was admitted to the bar. He remained in the same office in the employ of the firm until February, 1882, when the firm was dissolved by the death of Mr. Richardson. On the 1st of March of that year, the firm of Rhodes, Coon & Higgins was formed, composed of Charles Rhodes, S. M. Coon and John D. Higgins. This firm continued in business until March' 4, 1890, when it was dissolved by the withdrawal of Mr. Rhodes therefrom and the firm of Coon & Higgins was formed, which continued until September 1, 1891. He early took an interest in local politics, departing from the precedent fixed by his father and grandfather and affiliated with the Republican party. In 1887 he was elected city attorney and served one term. On June 6, 1889, Mr. Higgins was married to Virginia M. Kingsford, only daughter of Thomson and Virginia J. Kingsford of Oswego. Previous to the dissolution of the law firm of Coon & Higgins in September, 1891, before mentioned, Mr. Higgins was chosen a director in The Oswego Starch Factory, T. Kingsford & Son, and soon thereafter abandoned his law practice and associated himself actively with the business of that company. In the spring of 1894, he was elected to the office of mayor of the city of Oswego after a heated campaign, in which office he has not failed to uphold the principles which have always governed his public acts, nor flinched from what he believed to be his duty, in the promotion of the common good of the community.

HUNTINGTON, EDWIN L.

EDWIN L. HUNTINGTON was born in Mexico, N. Y., July 8, 1839, and was the fourth child of a family of eight children. He was of English stock on his father’s side, while his mothers ancestors were of Scotch origin.

His grandfather, Caleb Huntington, was born October 4, 1770, in Sharon, Conn., and married Sarah Joyce in 1795. She died September 13, 1823. He died at Mexico, N. Y., October 1, 1839.

His father, Edwin Huntington, was born in Otsego county, June 1, 1805, and came to Mexico in 1829. He married Mary C. Gregory in 1831 and she died July 6, 1834. In 1835 he married Lucy A. Gregory who died in 1851. In 1853 he married Mary E. Hewett who died in 1881.

The children of Edwin Huntington Were as follows: Marion, Mary H., Lester B., Edwin L., Sarah H., Lewis J., Harriet E. and Helen. Three of his daughters are still living, Mrs. M. H. Thorpe and Mrs. S. H. Howard in Michigan and Mrs. Helen McMullen in Mexico. Lewis J. Huntington, his third son, enlisted in Battery L, 9th Artillery, in March, 1864, and died in Washington July 9, 1864, at the age of eighteen, of fever contracted in the Wilderness campaign.

The subject of this sketch was educated in his native town and finished his studies at Mexico Academy in 1856. He lived for two years in Wisconsin and Michigan.

In 1861 when the tidings of the assault on Sumter flew over the land Mr. Huntington was one of the first to leave his business and his home to defend the principles which had found such deep root in his heart. From first to last he was in the thickest of the conflict and has good reason to be proud of his war record. Waiting for no bounties he volunteered as a private soldier and went with the first regiment which left the county. Entering the ranks as a private he was afterwards promoted as corporal and then as captain.

In April, 1861, he enlisted in Capt. Payne's Co. B, 24th N. Y. Infantry, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Corps. The 24th Regiment was one of the regiments which composed the famous “Iron Brigade.” Mr. Huntington was at the front during almost the entire war and took part in the following engagements during the years 1861-62-63:

Bailey’s Cross Roads, July 25th; Falls Church, October 8th; Falmouth, April 17th; Massaponax, August 6th; Rappahannock River, August 22d; Sulphur Springs, August 26th; Gainsville, August 28th; Groveton, August 29th; Bull Run, August 30th; Little River Turnpike, September 1st; South Mountain, September 14th; Antietam, September 17th; Fredericksburg, December 14th and 15th; Pollock’s Mill Creek, April 29th ; Chancellorsville, May 2d and 3d.

At Chancellorsville Mr. Huntington was the only private in Co. B that escaped injury, all the others engaged in the battle being either killed or wounded. He was slightly wounded at Fredericksburg and honorably discharged and mustered out May 29, 1863.

Mr. Huntington re-enlisted in 1863 as 2d lieutenant in Capt. Frank Sinclair’s Battery L, 9th N. Y. Artillery, for three years and was promoted as captain July 6, 1865. He served in 2d Brigade 3d Division, 6th Army Corps, and participated in the following engagements during the years 1864 and 1865:

Cold Harbor, May 31st to June 12th; Assault on Petersburg, June 15th to 19th; Weldon Railroad, June 21st to 23d; Washington, July 12th to 13th; Charlestown, August 21st; Summit Point, August 29; Winchester, September 19; Near Cedar Creek, October 9th; Strasburg, October 14th ; Cedar Creek, October 19th ; Bunker Hill, October 26th ; Assault on Petersburg works, March 25th; Fall of Petersburg, April 2d; Sailor’s Creek, April 6th: Appomatox C. H., April 9th.

He was slightly wounded at Cedar Creek and was honorably discharged September 29, 1865. Since the close of the war he has devoted most of his time to the drug trade in Mexico. In June, 1870, he organized a company to be attached to the 48th Regiment of National Guards of the State of New York, which was known as the Huntington Guards. He was the captain of the company for twelve years. It was composed largely of veterans and was reputed to be one of the finest companies of the regiment. This company was called into service of the State several times, the most notable occasion being at the time of the railroad riots commencing at Hornellsville and extending over other parts of the State.

In 1880 Mr. Huntington was unanimously nominated at the Republican County Convention as sheriff on first ballot, an event which never before occurred in connection with that position in Oswego county politics. He was elected by an unusually large majority. In 1894 he was elected supervisor of the town of Mexico for two years. For eight years he has held the position of commander of the Melzer Richards Post No. 367 of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Camp of the Sons of Veterans of Mexico bears his name. He always manifested a deep interest in village improvements and to his means and energy the people are largely indebted for the Mexico Electric Lighting System. He was also very active with others in the raising of funds for the erection of the beautiful monument now standing in the Mexico cemetery to the memory of the brave men who enlisted from that town during the war of the Rebellion.

In 1868 Mr. Huntington was married to Florence A. Allen and they have two children, Edith L., now Mrs. Clinton E. Avery of Mexico, and Lulu Adelle. His wife died in 1888 and in 1891 he married Mary A. Tudo.

Mr Huntington has held many positions of trust and always filled them with honor to himself and credit to the community. Reliable in his pledges, true to his friends, he possesses independence of character to do what he thinks to be right. In whatever position he has been placed, the public have always evinced entire confidence in his ability and integrity.

HUNTINGTON, SYLVANUS C.

JUDGE SYLVANUS C. HUNTINGTON was sixth in direct descent from Simon Huntington of Norwich, England, who, in 1633, died on board the ship that was bearing him and his family to America. His widow, Margaret (Baret) Huntington, and their four children — the first Huntingtons in the colonies — dwelt for a time in Massachusetts, but in 1660 Simon, the youngest son, moved to Norwich, Conn., and in that vicinity nis descendants lived for more than a century. There Joseph Huntington was born in 1778. In 1807 he married Hannah Convers, and engaged in farming in Orange and later in West Charleston, Vermont, where he died in 1857, a man of commanding presence and physical prowess. There Sylvanus Convers, the sixth of their eight children, was born April 14, 1820.

Of strong constitution and vigorous in body and mind, he early determined to get a liberal education, and buying his time from his father, supported himself during his whole term of study, first at Brownington Academy, Vt., and afterwards at Oberlin and Dartmouth Colleges, graduating at Dartmouth in 1845. He then studied law with McCarty and Watson of Pulaski, N. Y., being drawn thither by Miss Hannah M. Warner, of Sandy Creek, a classmate at Oberlin, whose ambition, so like his own, led her to make her way, by a fortnight’s journey on horseback, by canal boat and stage to the only college where women could receive the same classical education as men. After their marriage in February, 1846, they went to Tennessee, where he was private tutor in President Jackson’s family at “ The Hermitage,” and she a governess in the family of Mrs. Nicholson, President Jackson’s adopted daughter. Returning in 1847, he was admitted to the bar, and practiced for two years at Belleville, N. Y., whence in 1849 they moved to Pulaski. There he continued in active practice until 1894, alone until 1882, and after that in partnership with his only son. He served as county judge of Oswego county for four years, beginning January 1, 1856, and in 1865 was elected district attorney, but resigned soon after his health not being equal to the strain of that and his other work.

Alone in a country village, he devoted himself with great energy to the law in all its branches, and soon became thoroughly equipped in its principles and practice in the courts of the State and Nation, and for more than thirty years was conceded by all to be a leader of the county bar. His great mental and physical strength and indomitable will enabled him to perform the vast amount of labor which his reputation as a trial lawyer and as a counsel, and his devotion to the interests of his clients brought him. Probably his well trained intellect was at its best in the study and argument of questions of law before the appellate courts, yet most will remember him as a successful criminal lawyer, but one of the sixteen, indicted for murder, whom he defended, having suffered the death penalty. The ability and persistency for almost six years displayed in the defense of that one, Nathan Orlando Greenfield, a poor farmer of Orwell, N. Y., charged with wife murder, and his lavish expenditure of time, strength and money, added more to his fame than the other fifteen. Three jury trials, occupying in all eleven weeks, four arguments on appeal and numerous applications to the governor did not bring success. The power of public opinion, the skillful preparation of the evidence by ex-District Attorney Lamoree, and the masterly conduct of the prosecution at the third trial by William C. (afterwards ChiefJudge) Ruger, secured a conviction, which the highest court sustained. Judge Huntington’s belief in Greenfield’s innocence became to him a certainty, when, as stated by Judge Churchill, at the meeting of the Oswego County Bar in April, 1894; Greenfield before the third trial refused to plead guilty to murder in the second degree, because by so doing he would admit thdt he killed his wife. And the feeling that a great wrong had been done contributed as much to Judge Huntington’s sorrow at the final execution of the sentence as did the failure of the labor of years. One of the results of Judge Huntington’s labors in that case was Chapter 182 of the Laws of 1876, which provided that persons jointly indicted for crime could testify for each other, thus making Greenfield’s mother a competent witness for him.

Judge Huntington’s mind was well formed and trained for grasping legal principles and solving legal problems. Its most distinguishing qualities were strength, keenness of insight, and the power of generalization. He always sought the broad principles which lie at the foundation of all things, and valued details only as they showed the way to or illustrated those principles. He believed in an order of things in which God works by eternal and unchanging laws, and his reverence for the Infinite One and his expression of himself in the universe was unbounded.

Throughout his life he added to his professional labors careful reading of the classics, and critical and thorough study of the sciences, the higher mathematics, philosophy and history. His ardent love for the masterpieces of poetry, his wide reading and most vivid imagination kept his own inner life fresh and beautiful with the thoughts of all the ages. He was gentle as well as strong, and his affections formed a large part of his home life, while his genial nature made him to all a most welcome companion. He never oppressed or tyrannized over any one. In all his relations with his fellowmen his principle of conduct was, “All have an equal right to live their own lives without dictation from others.”

His first wife was seventh in direct descent from Andrew Warner, who came from Wales to America about 1630, and lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She was the third child of Andrew Warner, jr., and Elizabeth Clark (Young) Warner, who moved from Vernon Centre to Sandy Creek in 1836. Her literary tastes and love of study, especially of the laws and ways of nature, continued throughout her life, which was ended by pneumonia May 23, 1888.

On December 24, 1890, Judge Huntington married Emily L., daughter of Lovina (Warner) and Benjamin Snow, and widow of Hon. James W. Fenton, of Pulaski. Endowed with rare personal qualities, she made his last years a happiness for him and therefore a beautiful remembrance for herself. She survives him and now resides with a married daughter in New York city. Judge Huntington left two children by his first marriage, Miss Metelill Huntington, now engaged in literary work in Philadelphia, and S. C. Huntington, jr. , of Pulaski, both graduates from Oberlin College.

Judge Huntington’s fine inherited plxysique and strong will carried him to a good old age in spite of his immense labors. After repeated attacks of the “grippe,” the last few years of his life showed constantly decreasing vitality, though no loss of mental power. He died on March 2, 1894, “full of years and of honors,”

HUNTINGTON, SYLVANUS CONVERS, JR.

SYLVANUS CONVERS HUNTINGTON, JR., only son of Judge S. C. and Hannah M. Warner Huntington, was born June 12, 1857. His home has always been at Pulaski, where he prepared for college in the class of 1871. In 1872 he entered the Freshman class at Oberlin College, graduating at the head of the class of 1876. He then taught classics at Pulaski Academy one year and Greek at Oberlin the next, and had begun a post-graduate course in languages at Yale, when his father persuaded him to begin the study of the law in his office. Admitted to the bar in January, 1882, he at once became junior partner in the firm of S. C. Huntington & Son, of Pulaski, which continued until his father’s death in March, 1894. Since then he has practiced law at Pulaski, first alone, and lately with F. G. Whitney.

Mr. Huntington was married November 1, 1883, to Ellen Douglas, only daughter of Rev. James and Mary J. Douglas, of Pulaski, and with his wife and their three sons, lives in the homestead so long occupied by his father.

HUTCHINSON, WILLIAM B.

WILLIAM B. HUTCHINSON was born in Pepperell, Worcester county, Mass., July 4, 1806 He received a district school education in his native town. In early life he worked at the painter’s trade in various cities in the New England States. In 1883 he was united in marriage, to Amelia, daughter of Azariah Haskin, of Pittstown, Rensselaer county, N. Y. They resided in Poughkeepsie two years, then went to Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y. , and in 1837 removed to Mexico, Oswego county, where he purchased a large farm. His agricultural ability soon developed, and in a short time he was known as a successful and scientific farmer. Energetic, honest, and upright in every business transaction, and possessed of a remarkably cheerful and social disposition, he took a great interest in everything that tended to the welfare and prosperity of his adopted town. He was greatly interested in educational matters, and did much to bring the school at Colosse up to the. high standard which it had during his residence in Oswego county. He was an organizer of the Colosse Debating Society, for the culture of the young people of the vicinity. Mr. Hutchinson took a leading part in the politics of his town and county, being , an old time Democrat, but joined the Republican party at its formation. From the time Horace Greeley was nominated for the presidency he voted the Democratic ticket. Another fact, of which his children are justly proud, is the interest he always manifested in the cause of temperance. His popularity in this way made him a prominent man all through his life, which ended May 26, 1889, at the age of eighty-three years. His wife survived him two years. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson were the parents of five children: Harriet F. Driggs, of Decorah, Iowa (deceased); Lucy G. Calkins, of Erie, Pa. ; Ellen J. Joyce, of North Syracuse, N. Y.; Lydia A. De Lancey, of Binghamton, N. Y.; and Charles D., who died at the age of sixteen. Mr. Hutchinson spent the last fifteen years of his life with his daughter, Mrs. Joyce, in the town of Cicero, Onondaga county, N. Y.

KING, DON A.

DON A. KING. The ancestry of the subject of this sketch is directly traceable back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when John King, father of the original settler in this country, was secretary for Ireland to that famous ruler of England. A son of John, named Edward, was a classmate of John Milton, was drowned later in the Irish Sea, and is commemorated by Milton in the poem of Lycidas. John, the ancestor of the family in this country, came from England and settled in Northampton, Mass., in 1645. He was from Northamptonshire, England.

Don A. King, son of Henry and Betsey (Allen) King, was born in Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, on March 27, 1820. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Allen, esq., the first settler at Bear Creek (now Pierrepont Manor). His father, Henry King, came from Southampton, Mass., in 1806. Don A. King graduated with honor from Union College in 1844, in the same class with Professor Joy, of Columbia College, Gov. A. H. Rice, William H. H. Moore, James C. Duane, U. S. A., and Generals Frederick and Howard Townsend, of Albany. After graduating he began the study of law with a Mr. Blake, at Cold Spring, on the Hudson River, opposite West Point, and finished with Hon. A. Z. McCarty, of Pulaski, in 1847. On September 22, of that year, he was admitted to the bar at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In 1848 he formed a co-partnership with Mr. McCarty, which continued until 1855, in which year he was appointed a director of Pulaski Bank, an office which he filled until the dissolution of the institution. Upon the organization of R. L. Ingersoll & Co.’s Bank, he became a partner and acted as attorney for the institution until 1876.

Mr. King is a man of large intellectual capacity, and of broad and progressive impulses, which have impelled him to take a deep interest in educational matters and public affairs generally. In the founding of the Pulaski Academy he was one of the first energetic actors, was one of the incorporators of the institution, and has contributed largely towards its prosperity.

In 1848 Mr. King married Mary, daughter of Thomas C. Baker of Pulaski, and they have four children, viz.: Ella M., widow of the late Rev. J. H. Wright; Katha_ rine D., wife of J. L. Hutcheps; Charles B., and Sarah F., now preceptress of Pulaski Academy. Charles B. is a graduate of Union College, is an attorney, and now resides in Peoria, Ill.

KINGSFORD, THOMAS

THOMAS KINGSFORD. To the subject of this sketch, as to but few men, has it been given to have his name become a household word in nearly every land. Associated forever with the separation of starch from ripe Indian Corn, the name of Kingsford will go into history, as that of a benefactor of the race. The history of the Kingsford family dates back, it is said, to the time of King John, the Usurper, who, having murdered young Arthur, and for this, and his oppressive exactions, drawn upon himself the bitter hatred of his English subjects, was flying before the triumphant banners of the French invader; coming late one night to the brink of a rapid stream, with no means of passage at hand, he was borne over on the shoulders of a stalwart subject, to whom, thereafter, in those days of new and quaint surnames, clung the well fitting title of “The King’s Ford.” In 1767 we find the family ensconced among the sunny meadows of Kent. Here on January 9, 1767, was born George Kingsford, who married, at twenty-two, on January 18, 1789, Mary Love, also of Kent, and two years his senior (born at Headcorn, Kent, February 4, 1765). Thomas, the son of this union, early forced to seek his own support and to aid his widowed mother, left the parental roof at the age of seventeen, and merged his life in that of the great city of London. He embarked in business as a baker, which he followed with varying success for about five years. Near the close of this period, at the age of twenty-two, he mar. ried (on January 6, 1818), Ann Thomson, a native of the maritime borough of Deal. Leaving London about this time, Mr. Kingsford obtained employment in a Chemical Works, where he developed a remarkable genius for chemical research. Failing health drove him from this employment, and he resumed his former occupation of baker. Overtaken by financial reverses, he was forced to return for a time to Canterbury, a former residence, but leaving there after a brief period, he went to Headcorn, Kent, where he opened a school and conducted it six or seven years. But the growing necessity of providing for his increasing family, obliged Mr. Kingsford to abandon this pursuit, and he turned wistful eyes to America. After much thought, he decided to emigrate. Leaving his faithful wife in charge of the school at Headcorn, he sailed from London in 1831, and landed in New York on December 12 of that year. After a trying winter with but partial employment, and that at scant wages, he sought and obtained, in April, 1832, a position in the starch factory of William Colgate & Co. at Harsimus, Bergen county, N. J. This firm was one of the largest in that manufacture, which was then in its infancy in this country. In America in 1832 starch-makers were using principally wheat as the raw material, and vainly endeavoring to meet the ever growing demand for this commodity. Amid such conditions, Mr. Kingsford at the age of thirty-three, came to the consideration of the starch problem. A year or more of service, faithfully rendered, proved to his employers his value, and his wages were increased to a sum, which enabled him in 1833 to send to England for his family. Mr. Kingsford now devoted himself for some years to the mastery of the details of his business, and a study of the conditions upon which its success depended. He early became convinced that there must be sought in new directions, a raw material capable of yielding starch in sufficient quantities to meet the demand wffiich was now fast outrunning the limited supply. His observant mind noted the quality of the American Maize or Indian Corn and he suggested to his employers the practicability of extracting starch from it. But they w T ere manufacturing from wheat and were satisfied. No one had yet succeeded in extracting starch from Indian Corn, and they did not care to experiment. He conferred with other starch makers, but stood alone in his views. He talked with his associates of his theories, and like many another seeker after light along untrodden paths, was met with incredulity, often with ridicule. But his was not a nature to be easily turned from its purpose. So strongly did he become impressed with the possibility of improvement, that he resolved to proceed with investigations on his own account. In the year 1841 he began his experiments; bringing to the subject, together with his acquired practical experience, the chemical knowdedge gained so many years before in England, and which now proved of great benefit.'The story of his studies and researches, his repeated failures, the difficulties he encountered, and his ultimate success, reads like a romance ; and can only be appreciated by those wffio have heard from his own lips, the recital of the incidents of that eventful year. The jewel of success seemed to hang just beyond his grasp. But he was not a man to be discouraged by failures. With increased concentration his resolute mind set itself to the mastery of the problem before him, and he pursued his investigation. But success was near at hand. Throwing one day, into a tub containing a mixture of lye and corn pulp, a solution of lime in which he had unsuccessfully treated some corn for starch, he devoted several days following to racking his brain for new processes. On desiring later to again use the tub, he was about to empty it, when he discovered on the bottom a quantity of beautiful clear white starch perfectly separated. He had now clearly demonstrated that starch could be produced from ripe Indian Corn, and he rejoiced in his achievement. It was always a treat to hear Mr. Kingsford tell, with a twinkle in his eye, of submitting to his employers his first sample of starch from ripe corn. They had denied his premises, failed to admit his conclusions, and had looked upon him as a dreamer and an enthusiast. But* as so often happens, the dreamer had made his vision a practical reality. Here was the evidence not to be confuted. They were compelled to admit that he had succeeded ; that starch from Indian Corn was an accomplished fact, and that Mr. Kingsford had fairly won the right to rank as a great discoverer. He now threw himself with enthusiasm into experiments for perfecting the new product, and arranging for its manufacture on a large scale ; and in the year 1842 he succeeded in preparing a quantity suitable for the market. The great superiority of the new starch was immediately recognized, and it sprung at once to popular favor. So great was the demand from manufacturers of textile fabrics and the trade generally, for the new and better product, that Mr. Kingsford soon resolved to engage in the manufacture on his own account. Accordingly in 1846 he severed his connection with the firm of William Colgate & Co., and formed with his son, Thomson Kingsford,who had assisted him in all of his experiments, the firm of T. Kingsford & Son. A small starch factory was now built at Bergen, N. J., but within one short year, the young industry had outgrown its cramped accommodations, and enlargement became an imperative necessity. In the fall of 1847, Mr. Kingsford and his son were approached by capitalists from Auburn, N. Y. , who were desirous of being associated in the manufacture and introduction of Corn Starch to the world. They made overtures for the investment of ample capital, to provide for the growing necessities of the new business. These proposals being accepted, it was decided at the same time, to remove to a point where the raw material, Indian Corn, would be more accessible, pure water, a necessity in the processes, most abundant, and facilities for the shipment of the product more ample. These conditions, most fully met in the City of Oswego, N. Y. , decided them to locate at this point. A stock company with a capital of $50,000 was formed in 1848, under the State manufacturing laws, having the corporate name of “The Oswego Starch Factory,” and with this company the firm of T. Kingsford & Son entered into a contract for the manufacture and sale of the starch. A commodious factory was built on the bank of the Varick Canal just west of the Oswego River, and not far from its entrance into Lake Ontario. From this time on the growth and development of the business was phenomenal, scrupulous care being taken that not a pound of starch which failed to reach the highest standard of purity should leave the establishment. Beginning with sixty-five workmen in 1848, the output of starch for the next year was 1,827,126 pounds. This had increased five years later to an average annual production of above 8,000,000 pounds. This rapid growth made necessary not only additional buildings, but radical improvements in machinery and appliances. In these the mechanical and inventive genius of the son, Thomson Kingsford, was brought into requisition, and the protection of the patent office was sought again and again for inventions, the control of which could be effectually secured. Still the business grew ; in 1859, eleven years after the location of the business at Oswego, the odtput of the factories had increased to an annual average of 7,000,000 pounds, and “Oswego” and the “Kingsfords” were fast gaining a national reputation as names connected with an indispensable, yet pure, perfect, and plentiful household necessity.

The five or six years succeeding 1859 covered the era of depression, caused by the late civil war, in manufactures in which large quantities of starch had previously been utilized; but still the annual average output of the Oswego Starch Factory continually increased. New avenues of use were constantly opening for their product, and the manufacturers w T ere kept increasingly busy in supplying the demand. Starch had come to be employed, not merely in the manufacture of textile fabrics, or the making of paper, but was finding a wide consumption in confectionery, baking, paint-making, and a multitude of minor industries. For these and for the laundry, The Kingsford’s Oswego Starch was increasingly sought, at home and abroad; and the sales during this period mounted rapidly upward, to a figure exceeding 10,000,000 pounds yearly. The “ Corn Starch,” “Prepared Corn,” or “Corn Flour,” as it was named in different countries, which had been introduced in 1850 by the Oswego firm of T. Kingsford & Son, had now won its way to universal favor as a pure, perfect, wholesome and nutritious article of diet, and was fast supplanting arrow root, sago, tapioca, and similar farinaceous foods in the popular estimation. These most gratifying results had been wholly reached by the perfection of the product, the fame of which had now become well nigh worldwide. The phenomenal success of the business stimulated competition. Other manufacturers, following in the wake of this pioneer firm, were investing ample capital, erecting buildings and buying costly machinery in the effort to attain a similar success. In the twenty years from 1850 to 1870 the number of starch factories in the country had grown to 195, and the capital invested in this business was in 1870 $2,741,675. Compelled to meet continually in new and ever changing forms, the rivalry of the trade and the claims of other manufacturers, unceasing vigilance was exercised by the Kingsfords in maintaining the recognized superiority of their product; so that “as good as Kingsford’s” became the argument of their competitors in pushing their own inferior wares.

The corporation, “ The Oswego Starch Factory,” lent its willing aid, augmented by large wealth, to maintain the prestige of the institution, and the business grew apace in spite of increasing and fierce competition. No backward step was ever taken from the position at first assumed and steadily maintained by T. Kingsford & Son, of being the originators and the leading manufacturers in the world of starch from ripe Indian Corn. The official seal of public and popular appreciation of Mr. Kingsford’s great discovery has been put upon it again and again by the great Industrial Exhibitions of the world. Beginning with the great London Exhibition of 1851, down to the present time, whenever the products of the Oswego Starch Factory have been placed on exhibition in competition, by the Kingsfords, they have never failed to receive the highest award and commendation, under the most minute scrutiny of the world’s first experts, a record rarely gained, and one which speaks volumes for their purity and worth.

Thomas Kingsford was a man who clearly recognized the truth that a business to be successful must be a system of mutual services. The operatives were treated with fairness and good will, their interests consulted, their opinions and suggestions sought, their pleasure and comfort made a matter of thoughtful consideration. Such treatment on the part of the employer, had its fruitage in the cordial relations which always existed between Mr. Kingsford and his employees. Strikes and contentions were unknown in the business, and the utmost quiet, regularity, and kindly feeling ever prevailed throughout the whole establishment.

Mr. Kingsford’s uprightness and business ability were recognized by the citizens of Oswego soon after he took up his abode with them, and his co-operation was sought in many public and associated movements. In 1856 Mr. Kingsford, with four others, established the Marine Bank of Oswego, of which Mr. Elias Root was the president, and Mr. Kingsford the vice-president. In 1864 Mr. Kingsford in company with substantially the same parties organized the First National Bank and he was its first president.

Mr. Kingsford never cultivated the arts of political life, but he embraced heartily, as a true patriot, the principles of the Republican party, and sustained the war measures of the administration in its efforts to preserve the Union. In 1864 he was one of the Presidential electors who cast the vote of the Empire State in favor of Abraham Lincoln.

Mr. Kingsford’s religious character, the result of early training by his pious mother, was decided and active. An ardent Baptist, he early identified himself with Baptist history in New Jersey, and was a prominent organizer of the first Baptist church built in Harsimus, now Jersey City. Soon after removing to Oswego he connected himself with the First Baptist Church in East Oswego, at that time under the ministrations of Rev. Isaac Butterfield. The increase of population on the opposite side of the river led to the organization in 1852 of the West Baptist Church by forty-two members, dismissed from the parent church for that purpose, in which movement Mr. Kingsford took an active interest. Mr. Kingsford was the first treasurer of the new church, and subsequently one of its leading deacons. Mr. Kingsford gave with a liberal hand both to his church and to other charitable institutions. Ever ready to assist those less fortunate than himself, he never turned a deaf ear to any proper appeal to his sympathies. His manners were unassuming, and he did not embarrass the recipients of his bounty by a word or look. At his death, which occurred at his home in Oswego on November 28, 1869, and which was universally mourned, he left an example of exalted success attained by singleness of aim, well directed application, and undeviating rectitude. His unfailing kindness had made all his friends, and he left no enemy to begrudge his well earned prosperity. Mr. Kingsford had four children — one son and three daughters, by his first wife, who died in 1884, soon after her arrival in America, his son Thomson being now the sole surviving child.

As an inventor and discoverer the name of Thomas Kingsford will ever be associated with a great industry, and will live in history as that of a benefactor of the human race. Dying, he has left a “foot-print on the sands of time,” which will not soon be effaced. Of him, as of another great man, it may be said: “It was his misfortane (if indeed it be one) to be born poor. It was his merit by industry and perseverance to acquire wealth. It was his misfortune to be without friends in his early struggles to aid him by their means or their counsel. It was his merit to win them in troops in his maturer age by a Christian character that challenged all scrutiny.”

KINGSFORD, THOMSON

THOMSON KINGSFORD, the present head of the firm of T. Kingsford & Son, was born at Headcorn, in Kent, England, April 4, 1828, one of four children of a family whose ancestry is traceable back to the days of the early English kings. His earlier years, until the age of five, were passed in his native place, where his mother was maintaining a school founded by her husband, who, in 1881 had sailed for America to seek the opportunity for bettering his own condition and of educating his family, which seemed to be denied to him in his native land. Locating in the spring of 1882, in Harsimus, Bergen county, N. J., where he had secured employment in the starch factory of Messrs. William Colgate & Co., the elder Kingsford was enabled during the following year to send to England for his family. Thus it was that Thomson brought to the environment of the congenial air and institutions of America, those characteristic traits which its untrammeled freedom was so well suited to foster and develop. The excellent schools and academy of Harsimus, laid for him the foundation of a thorough practical education ; and at the age of fourteen he entered as apprentice the business of machinist and draughtsman. During the first year of this apprenticeship, he constructed a perfect working steam engine of some six horse power, which was the first power used-by his father in the then newly discovered process of extracting starch from ripe Indian corn. At the age of eighteen years, the American Institute awarded him its diploma for the best mechanical drawing, a high honor when his age and the exclusive character of that Exhibition are taken into account. It was in this year (1846) that his father, having severed his connection with the starch firm of William Colgate & Co., took into partnership his son Thomson, who had been a deeply interested participant in all of his father’s researches and experiments, and had rendered direct and efficient aid in their prosecution, and with him, organized, for the manufacture of starch from corn, the firm of T. Kingsford & Son, now so widely known as the largest manufacturers in the world in their peculiar line.

Thomson was therefore especially fitted, both by a knowledge of the needs and his thorough mechanical training, to supply the necessary machinery and many laborsaving devices for the factory which the firm erected at Bergen, N. J. In the spring of 1848, the young business having crowded itself out of its New Jersey quarters by its rapid increase, the machinery was taken down and removed to Oswego, N. Y., where it served to form a nucleus for the establishment which has since made Oswego famous the world over, as the center of the starch making industry. The steady and remarkable growth of the business in its new location, and the new uses and adaptations of the product in manufactures and the arts, which were constantly arising, necessitated continual improvements in appliances and treatment to suit various demands, in supplying which the inventive talent of Thomson Kingsford was often useful. For twenty years the business life of father and son were interwoven, and an effect produced which probably would not have been accomplished by either single handed. Neither knew any limit to his energy and perseverance, and having concert of tastes and views, the efforts of one supplemented those of the other.

As the years of the father increased, the management devolved more and more upon the son, and at the death of his father in 1869, Thomson Kingsford found himself at the head of one of the largest manufacturing establishments in the country. The sixty-five workmen of 1848 had been increased more than tenfold. The capital, from $50,000 had been augmented to $500,000. That the high quality of the product was maintained under the administration of Thomson Kingsford is evidenced by the fact that in 1876 the superior merits of the Kingsford’ s Oswego Starch, which had steadily held the first place in all public exhibitions where the manufacturers had put it in competition, was clearly recognized by the report of the judges for awards of the Centennial Commission at Philadelphia, in which they paid tribute to the superior character of the exhibit shown, recognized the Kingsfords as “originators of starch from Indian corn.” Mr. Kingsford maintains a constant and unremitting oversight over all manipulations of the starch. He is familiar with all the countless ramifications of the business and nothing escapes his eye. He is personally acquainted with every employee, and his relations with his subordinates are of the most cordial and helpful nature. He aims to be the friend of each, and in this, unconsciously makes each a friend.

Mr. Kingsford’s ability as a financier and manager, has received recognition both at home and abroad in his appointment to positions of honor, trust and confidence. He is a trustee of Colgate University at Hamilton, N. Y., and also of Wells College at Aurora, N. Y., president of the corporation, The Oswego Starch Factory, and chairman of its executive committee; a director, and subsequently vice-president of the National Marine Bank of Oswego; an active participant in the organization of The First National Bank; a promoter, with his father, of the Oswego Water Works Company; a director of the Oswego Gas Light Company; a trustee and one of the original incorporators of the Home for the Homeless, a local charity of widespread influence, originated by the ladies of Oswego in 1879. Mr. Kingsford also now carries on a number of individual enterprises among which are a box shop and planing mill, which supplies the boxes for The Oswego Starch Factory; a machine shop and foundry, and a “department store,” one of the largest in this section of the State.

Mr. Kingsford’s influence has been frequently recognized in the councils of the Republican party in this State. He was a member of the Convention of 1879 in Saratoga Springs which nominated Gov. Cornell, and again three years later, in 1882, a member of the Convention which in the same place nominated the Hon. Charles J. Folger to the same office.

Mr. Kingsford was, with his father, one of the founders of the West Baptist Church of Oswego, which has left its deep impress upon the community.

Mr. Kingsford married, July 1, 1851, Virginia J., daughter of Augustus and Mary Pettibone of Oswego. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kingsford ; Thomas Pettibone Kingsford, born December 24, 1858; now associated in business with his father, and perpetuating the firm name of T. Kingsford & Son, and a daughter, Virginia M. Kingsford, now the wife of the Hon. John D. Higgins, one of the trustees of The Oswego Starch Factory, and at present mayor of the city of Oswego.

Mr. Kingsford is a public spirited citizen, a great manufacturer, a financier of comprehensive views and executive force; a kind employer, a strong friend with a helping hand, and a philanthropist of deep seated religious principle.

KINGSFORD, THOMAS PETTIBONE

THOMAS PETTIBONE KINGSFORD, Eldest child and only son of Thomson and Virginia J. (Pettibone) Kingsford, was born in the city of Oswego on December 24, 1858. He attended the schools of his native city, after which in 1876 he entered Madison (now Colgate) University, at Hamilton, Madison county, N. Y. Closing his studies there in the spring of 1880, at the age of twenty-one years, he was immediately called into the business of The Oswego Starch Factory, and for the past fifteen years he has worked in harmony with the policy that has always governed the conduct of the several branches of manufacture and trade founded by his grandfather and his father, in unceasing efforts to maintain the high character of their product, and in that fairness and liberality towards the employees which seldom fails to secure their loyal service. He was elected to the office of vice-president of The Oswego Starch Factory in June, 1894.

Mr. Kingsford is a Republican in politics, but his exacting business relations prevent him from giving to public affairs more than the performance of the duties of good citizenship. On February 7, 1882, Mr. Kingsford was married to Jennie E. Schuyler, daughter of Harvey Schuyler of Little Falls, Herkimer county, N. Y. They have one child, Thomson, born July 27, 1888.

LOOMIS FAMILY

LOOMIS FAMILY. “ Faithful and freeborn Englishmen and good Christians, constrained to forsake their dearest home, their friends and kindred; whom nothing but the wide ocean and the savage deserts of America could hide and shelter from the fury of the bishops.” JOHN MILTON.

Such the epitaph due the forerunners of the Loomis family in America, illustrated in each succeeding generation, but in no one member more clearly defined than in Alanson (1806-1874) or carrying more fragrant strength than in Abial Theodore (18?1-1878)

The first of the familv in this country was Joseph Loomis, a Puritan, who, born in 1590, was a woollen draper at Braintree, Essex, England, and through religious persecutions during the reign of Charles I left his native land, with wife and eight children (five boys), took passage upon the ship “ Susan and Ellen ” and was landed at Boston on July 17, 1638. The close of that year found the family at Windsor, Conn. The passing years disclosed its members doing their full share of duty in the New World, God-fearing, patriotic, fervent; helpful in church and all good works; participating in the French and Indian wars (Wait Loomis was in the Ohio campaign under General Harmar) ; in the Revolution (in which Ichabod and Daniel served in Capt. John Hill’s company under Gen’l Israel Putnam; and in which at least two members gave up their lives — Elijah and Remembrance, both in Captain Beebe’s company of Colonel Bradley’s regiment, were captured at Fort Washington and died upon the prison ship) ; striking stalwart blows in the war of 1812, and again in the Great Rebellion (in which Loyd A. lost his life, and Alanson R. and James H. served until its close).

Before 1770 several scions of the family settled in Litchfield county and became a recognized force in church and town. In 1797 Asher Loomis was a tanner at Winsted in that county. Captain Abial Loomis followed the same business and shortly after returning from the war of 1812-14 he bought the Dudley tannery at Winsted and removed to the house adjoining, wherein he died in 1818 leaving his widow with five young children, Alanson aged thirteen, the eldest The story of the struggles and trials of this young lad and his brothers, and the success which they earned, would be one from which the young men of to-day might well take lessons. Alanson Loomis continued in business in the town of his birth until 1847, and won for himself not alone a competence but name unsullied, a character untarnished, a reputation for generous kindness and Christian sympathy which is still remembered and cherished with tender love though he has not been known as a citizen of that community for nearly half a century. When he removed to Fulton, Oswego county, N. Y., in 1847, he embarked in the tannery business with his brother Lewis E. and Mr. George Salmon. He continued m it either alone or in partnership until near the close of the war when he retired from business, selling out to Mr. George Falley. As was written of him “In every good work he was a foremost doer. In anti-slavery times, from first to last he was the consistent friend of the down-trodden and oppressed.” (Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith were his friends). “ His hand, and not an empty hand, was always outstretched to aid and assist the needy. In the temperance reform he was prompt and active. Indeed, there was no good work but received his countenance and .no deserving enterprise but he extended to it substantial help. Fulton never knew a worthier citizen nor one who has done more for its prosperity.” He died at Mattoon, 111., July 22, 1874, and his remains were brought back to Fulton for interment, being met by a committee of citizens. At a public meeting held on the 24th the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That we have learned with unfeigned sorrow and regret of the recent sudden demise of Alanson Loomis, for many years and until quite recently, a resident of our village.

Resolved, That it is due to the sterling qualities of the deceased, his public spirit, his unostentatious generosity and his high moral worth, that we, his old neighbors and friends, should pay this last tribute of respect and affection, and hold up his example to the rising generation.

Resolved, That in the decease of Alanson Loomis, the village of Fulton mourns one of her oldest and most respected citizens, the poor an ever generous friend, the cause of temperance, morality and Christianity an ardent supporter, and his family an ever kind and indulgent parent.

Resolved, That in token of our respect and affection for the deceased we attend his funeral in a body.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to the family and that the village papers be requested to publish. Signed, M. L. Lee, George M. Case, W. G. Gage. A. Hanna, H. C. Howe.

Mr. Loomis never accepted public office; he did, however, serve as school trustee and was mainly instrumental in the erection of the present academy during his term. He was twice married but survived both companions. His first wife, Polly Richards (1803-1862) of Winsted, Conn., left five children, Calista M. (married Marshall Lewis and bore several children of wffiom but one, Calista M. now survives) ; Abial Theodore; Alanson R. (married Antoinette Francisco of Cleveland, O., and had two children, Edward J and Alanson); Julia Coe (married her cousin William A. Brown and died without living issue); and James Holly. By his second wife, Annette Voris (1832-1872) of Akron, Ohio, he had one child, Myra Belle (now Mrs. Edward Thomas of South Evanston, 111.)

Abial Theodore Loomis of the eighth generation in the line of Joseph Loomis, was born at Winsted, Conn., December 30, 1831, and there resided until 1847, when he came to Fulton with his father. In boyhood he was an active wide-awake lad and in early manhood a bright and promising scholar. Having completed his studies at Falley Seminary he entered Rensselaer Institute at Troy and began his preparatory course for college, Gen. Albert L. Lee being his room-mate. While there he had the misfortune to shoot away a portion of a finger, which became a painful sore, and, combined with overstudy, threw him into a fever which obliged him to discontinue his college course, and which indeed seems to have been the beginning of his long years of sickness and suffering. Upon recovery from his sickness he in company with Mr. Marshall Lewis opened a leather store at Geneva, N. Y., and was in trade there several years when he sold out and came to Fulton again and became partner with his father in the tannery. In this he retained connection until 1864. For quite a number of years he was interested in various business ventures including a shoe store, a grocery store, bedstead and table factory, with brickyards at Fulton and Norwich, N. Y. , but through the great strain of his physical ailments, which frequently confined him to his bed for months at a time, he was unable to give enough personal attention to their conduct, with the result that heavy losses ensued. In search of health, nearly always accompanied by his devoted wife, he traveled much and visited many parts of this country and England, but never secured any permanent relief from the fell disease which caused his death October 16, 1878.

Mr. Loomis was an ardent admirer of Speculative Masonry and gave much time to the study of its laws and rituals. Oswego county has produced very few men who were better workers in the different grades. He belonged to Hiram Lodge No. 144, F. & A. M., and served as wor. master. He was high priest of Fulton Chapter No. 167, R. A. M.; T. I. master of Fulton Council of R. & S. M. during its career; and al§o performed more or less work as a Knight Templar attached to Central City Commandery K. T. of Syracuse.

Of Puritan descent he naturally was attached to the Presbyterian church and associations. although anything good and true had ever his warmest co-operation and support. He was an earnest Christian gentleman and of him it may be and oft has been said, “the world was better by his having lived in it.”

When twenty-three years old he was married to Valonia H. Rosebrook of Oswego county, by whom he had two children, C. Mella (now Mrs. Henry Baldrey and the mother of Lona P., A. A. Loomis, and Haynsworth), and H. May (now Mrs. E. U. Howland and the mother of Mella I.)

LOW, FRANK S. M.D.

DR. FRANK S. LOW, was born in the town of Shrewsbury, Rutland county, Vt., March 31, 1828, being the fourth child of a family of seven children born to Joel B. Low and Anna Webber.

Joel B. Low was the son of Samuel Low and Abigail Bacon, who moved from Barry, Mass., and settled in the wilderness of Vermont.

Samuel Low was the son of Francis Low, who was born at Cape Ann, Mass., in 1720.

The stories told to the doctor by his grandfather Samuel, of the adventures and hardships undergone in the struggle for existence during the first few years of his residence in the wilderness, would read much more like fiction than a formidable fact. But Samuel, whose father was one of the early settlers of Massachusetts and who was himself a soldier in the war for our independence, was of true Puritan stock, and with his good wife, Abigail Bacon, overcame all obstacles and reared a family of eight children. He died in 1837.

Joel B. Low, the father of Dr. Frank S. Low, was the seventh child of the above mentioned Samuel Low and Abigail Bacon. He was born in 1795 in a log house covered with spruce bark, and was the first child born in the town of Shrewsbury, where he lived until 1847, when he moved to Castleton, Vt., for the purpose of better educating his children. He lived in Castleton until 1853, when he came to Williamstown, N. Y. , from where he removed to Pulaski, N. Y., in 1855, where he lived until his death in 1875.

He was for several years elected justice of the peace while living m Shrewsbury, and was the captain of a militia company, and when volunteers were called for to defend our northern border in the war of 1812, he with several other members of the company volunteered and marched to the defense of Plattsburgh. In politics he was always a Democrat. He was a millwright by trade and with his brother, Samuel, went on horseback from Vermont to the place where Rochester, N. Y., now is and built a saw mill, the first mill on Genesee Falls.

Dr. Low’s mother was the daughter of William Webber and Hannah Barney, both of Puritan stock, coming from Rhode Island, and settling in Shrewsbury about the same time that Samuel Low did.

Dr. Low was one of a family of three boys and four girls, all of whom, excepting the doctor, have been dead for several years.

He spent his early life on his father’s farm, attending the district school during the winter. Being a great reader, he availed himself of the benefits of a circulating library (a common thing in New England towns), composed largely of works on ancient and modern history and biographies of eminent men, acquiring a kind of education that proved of great service to him in after years. He also attended a few terms at Castleton Seminary, then quite a noted school, where the Hon. John C. Churchill, now of Oswego, was one of his instructors.

The first book the doctor ever read aloud was Weems’s Life of Washington. This he read to his grandfather by the side of an old fashioned fireplace and by the light of a tallow candle.

The stories told by his grandfather of the war of the Revolution and by his father of the war of 1812 made a lasting impression on his mind, creating great love and, veneration for his country and its defenders.

In 1847 he commenced the study of medicine at Castleton Medical College, Vt. , under the instruction of the whole faculty, among whom was Dr. Middleton Goldsmith,. Dr. Thomas Markoe, and Corydon L. Ford, all of whom became very eminent in the profession. The college being in the town of his residence, the doctor was enabled tb> attend two courses of lectures of sixteen weeks each for three years, which at that, time was something unusual. He graduated June 19, 1850, and immediately settled', in Williamstown, Oswego county, N. Y., where he entered into a large and laborious, practice, in which he continued until 1855, when he removed to Pulaski, where he has continued in active practice ever since, and as an all around general practitioner has probably seen a larger number and greater variety of cases than most physicians.

His opinion and counsel have always been in demand both locally and abroad, by the laity and his professional brethren. His honesty and charity are proverbial while his genial, cheerful manners have won him a host of friends.

The doctor married February 6, 1850, Jane H. Graves, daughter of Jesse Graves, and Sarah Wheeler, of Castleton, Vt. She proved a true woman, a loving mother and an affectionate wife. She died March 17, 1860, leaving four children: Frank W., who, after embarking in commercial pursuits took a course of lectures at the dental department of the University of New York, and is now a prominent and successful dentist of Buffalo, N. Y.; Addison S., who graduated from the medical department, of the University of New York, practiced in Pulaski, N. Y., and Steamboatrock, Iowa,, from where he removed to Watertown, N. Y., where he remained until the time of his death, January 17, 1892; Kate N., now the wife of Frank E. Averill, who is a graduate of the School of Mines of Columbia College and a skillful electrician of Buffalo, N. Y.; Jesse B. , a graduate from the medical department of Howard University, Washington, D. C., and now a successful practitioner in Watertown, N. Y.

October 8, 1860, the doctor married Helen L. Fifield, of Salem, N. Y., the daughter of Francis Fifield and Mary Graves. She had one child that died in infancy, and died January 27, 1871, a noble woman beloved by all.

February 8, 1872, the doctor again married, this time Mrs. Mary F. Woods, widow of Wait T. Woods, also a daughter of Francis Fifield and Mary Graves. She is the ideal of true womanhood, the fondest of mothers and best of wives. She has borne him one child, Charles E., who is now pursuing a course in medicine at the medical department of the University of Buffalo.

In politics the doctor is a staunch Democrat, and although living in a county of an average Republican majority of 8,300, he was in 1875 elected sheriff of the county by 800 majority. In 1863 he was elected on a union ticket as a War Democrat to the office of coroner. During the Rebellion he was zealous in aiding the northern cause and in raising troops. He was three times offered the surgeonship of different regiments, but owing to his family of small children he was unable to accept. He has also been trustee of Pulaski Academy, as a member of the Board of Education, and has served several terms as trustee and president of the village. He was active in securing a village water system and the first president of the Board of Water Commissioners.

He was the first Mason raised in Pulaski Lodge, F. & A. M., arid was for two years master of the same, and is now a member of Pulaski Chapter No. 135 R. A. M. He was last year appointed chief inspector of the second division of New York on the State Board of Health. He is a member and ex-president of the Oswego County Medical Society, a member of the Central New York Medical Association, a permanent member of the New York State Medical Society, of which at its last meeting he was elected vice-president.

McCAFFREY, HENRY D.

HENRY D. McCAFFREY was born on Island Noah, Canada (on Lake Champlain), June 14, 1841, son of Charles, born in the city and county of Armagh, Ireland, who died in Centerville, Canada, aged seventy-nine, and was buried with Masonic honors. He was a life-long Mason. Mary (Davis) McCaffrey, his wife, was born in Bath, England, and died in Centerville, Canada, aged seventy-two years. The father was in the British service, connected with the Engineer Department at the time of our subject’s birth. The latter first attended a military school at Kingston, Ontario. He came to Oswego county, N. Y., when quite a young boy, worked at different vocations, and attended school, when possible, during the winter months. At the breaking ont of the war in 1861, he enlisted in the 12th Regiment, New York Volunteers. After the Military Telegraph Corps was organized he entered that department, and served in the line of construction of telegraphs during the war, and has since been, and is now, connected with telegraph and telephone construction. He has been connected with all the chief lines of the United States during their construction. He crossed the continent during the sixties, and is well versed in the geographical lay of the country, having built lines over the United States territories and British America. In 1870 he came East to accept a position with the N. Y. O. & W. R. R. Co. as general lineman, having full charge of the lines between New York and Oswego.

In 1873 he married Mary A. Fitzsimmons, and their children now living are Ida M., born August 5, 1875; Cora A., Laura E., Henry R., Frederick J., and Walter C.

Mr. McCaffrey commenced constructing in a small way in 1879, and has worked his way up ‘to be one of the largest and most successful contractors in telegraph and telephone construction in America.

In 1883 and 1884 he represented the first ward of the city of Oswego as alderman, and was elected mayor in March, 1888, by the Republicans. In his administration of these city offices he gave general satisfaction to his constituents. He is intimately connected with all the charitable institutions of Oswego, and is now a trustee of the Oswego City Hospital, the Oswego Orphan Asylum, the Oswego County Savings Bank, and is a director of the Oswego Gaslight Company, and the Oswego Casket Company. The family are all members of Christ Episcopal Church, in which Mr. McCaffrey has served several years as vestryman. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he is a thirty-second degree Mason, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. McCaffrey is now (1895) engaged in buying telegraph poles in Canada, and supplies the various telegraph and telephone companies in that country and the United States.

MANWAREN, EARNEST M. M., D.

EARNEST M. MANWAREN, M. D. This well-known eclectic physician of Oswego is a son of Dr. James U. Manwaren, and was born in New Haven, Oswego county, on September 20, 1852. Removing at an early age with his parents to the city of Utica, he was there given excellent 'educational advantages, and attended and graduated from the Select School of Prof. Williams. He soon afterward went to Saginaw, Mich., and there attended and graduated from the Commercial College of Prof. Tillinghast. He was still young and from the time he left this school until he was twenty years old he had charge of the news business on the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad.

At the close of this period, in 1873, he found himself in such circumstances that he was able to carry out his earlier formed intention, and he returned to Mexico, Oswego county, whither his father had in the mean time removed, and began the study of medicine under his father’s guidance. This period of study was followed by his attendance at lectures in the Eclectic Medical College in New York city, from which institution he graduated in 1878. Returning to Mexico he began Ms professional practice in association with his father where he remained until the spring of 1881. He then removed to New Haven, Oswego county, and succeeded to the practice of Dr. G. W. Whittaker.

The death” of Dr. James A. Milne took place in Oswego in 1886 and left a vacancy which Dr. Manwaren was invited to fill, and he accordingly removed to the city where he soon acquired a large and reputable practice which he continues at the present time. Dr. Manwaren is qualified by nature and byhis earnest and persistent study and reading to successfully fill the honorable professional position accorded him in Oswego, while his rare social qualifications, genial and equable temperament and unfailing courtesy have given him his well deserved popularity outside of his profession. Prompt to act, and yet gentle in the sick room, sympathetic with every form of distress, he wins that feeling of confidence and affection from his patients which always constitutes an important curative element. Among his professional brethren Dr. Manwaren is accorded the respect and esteem everywhere due to “the good physician.” This is clearly indicated by his having been honored with various offices in societies more or less closely related to his profession. He was president of the Oswego County Eclectic Medical Society in 1885, of which he is now a leading member. He has also held the same office in the Central New York Eclectic Medical Society and the New York State Eclectic Medical Society, is a member of the National Eclectic Medical Society, and has taken an active part in the proceedings in each of these organizations. He has also held the chair of Lecturer on Physiology and Hygiene in the college from which he graduated in New York city.

Dr. Manwaren is now and has been since 1898 a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, which is under the control of the State Board of Regents, and is secretary of the board.

He is conspicuously identified with Free Masonry and has been honored with several eminent positions in that order; has held the office of master of Oswego Lodge No 127 ; has been high priest of Lake Ontario Chapter No. 165, R. A. M. ; and is a member of Lake Ontario Commandery No. 82, K. T. ; and of Damascus Temple A. A. O. N. M. S., Rochester.

Dr. Manwaren is not active in politics, but as far as practicable fulfills the duties of good citizenship in the ranks of the Republican party. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Oswego and one of its Board of Trustees.

He has been a prolific contributor to medical literature, especially to the Chicago Medical Times, the New York Medical Tribune, and the Eclectic Medical Journal, of Cincinnati. In these and other publications his communications are received with marked favor.

On May 14, 1879, Dr. Manwaren was married to Emma L. Thomas, daughter of Almeron Thomas, of Mexico, N. Y., and they have two children, a son and a daughter.

MOTT, John T.

John T. Mott, son of Thomas S. Mott, was born in Hamilton, Madison county N. Y., on October 11, 1848. He was given unlimited opportunity to obtain a liberal education, and after attending the Oswego schools (whither his father had removed in 1851) he was sent to the Walnut Hill School in Geneva, N. Y., and graduated from Union College in the class of 1868.

Under the circumstances surrounding his father’s life at that time it was almost inevitable that the young man would enter upon a business career, even if his tastes had dictated otherwise. This, however, was not the case, for the same qualities with which nature had endowed his father, were, to a large extent, transmitted to the son. They gave him the capacity to attack and successfully prosecute large business undertakings and a natural liking for the stirring activities associated with modern commerce. His father’s sight had already tegun to fail when he left college, but in this emergency he found in his son a devoted and efficient aid. Immediately after graduating he entered the First National Bank of Owsego, of which his father was the principal owner and the president, filled for a time a clerkship, and in 1869 was made a member of the Board of Directors. Two years later, in 1871, he was chosen vice-president, which office he held twenty years During this period he was conspicuous in the direction of the affairs of the bank. With the rapid growth of his father’s commercial interest and the construction and purchase of his large fleet of lake vessels before described, and the contemporaneous failure of his father’s sight, the responsible duties connected with the large grain and shipping interest devolved very largely upon the son. He proved equal to the burden and exhibited the ability to direct large business operations with success. He continued in the practical management of the fleet of vessels and the shipping interests down to 1887, when his father retired from the shipping business, at the same time faithfully co-operating for the advancement of his father’s other numerous undertakings and acting in the boards of direction in several organizations in which they were jointly interested.

With the death of Thomas S. Mott in 1891 further responsibilities devolved upon his son. He was promptly chosen to the office of president of the First National Bank, which position he has since filled, perpetuating in all respects the former policy of the institution and rendering it an important fact6r in the business life of Oswego. In 1891 he was chosen president of the Oswego Water Works Company, and still holds the position. In 1891 he was made vice-president and treasurer of the Oswego Gas Light Company, was elected secretary and treasurer of the Home Electric Light Company, all of which positions he now fills to the entire satisfaction of his business associates. In 1892 he was chosen vice-president of the Niagara Falls and Clifton Suspension Bridge Company, and still holds the office.

It will be seen by the foregoing brief statements that although scarcely in middle life, John T. Mott is in a broad sense a man of affairs. As such he enjoys the unlimited confidence and respect of his fellow citizens. Prompt and outspoken in his decisions on all business questions, unfailing in that business courtesy which makes a man accessible to all and places the humblest at his ease, a quick and accurate judge of human nature, and a hater of sham and trickery of every kind, Mr. Mott is an exemplar of what is admirable in the modern American business man and citizen. He is active in politics, believing that good citizenship demands it of every man. The Republican party finds in him an earnest supporter, and, though he never asks and never accepted strictly political office, his services are well understood and widely recognized. As chairman of the Republican District Committee since 1880 he has given generously of his time and means to the advancement of the political measures which he believed were most contributory to the welfare of the State. He is now a member of the Republican State Committee for the 24th District. From 1880 to 1883 inclusive he held the post of aid-de-camp with rank of colonel on the staff of Governor Alonzo B. Cornell, giving him his well-known military title.

Mr. Mott is prominent in club life; is a member of the Fortnightly and the City Clubs of Oswego; of the University and Sigma Phi Clubs of New York city; of the Syracuse Club; of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto; the Rochester Yacht Club; the Sodus Bay Yacht Club, and a member and commodore of Oswego Yacht Club.

Mr. Mott was married on October 30, 1873, to Alice J. Wright, daughter of Luther Wright, who was long one of the prominent citizens of Oswego. They have one son, Luther Wright Mott.

MOTT, THOMAS SMITH

THOMAS SMITH MOTT. Among the names of men who have contributed in a large degree to the growth and prosperity of Oswego, none stands out with more prominence or with a brighter lustre than that of Thos. S. Mott. In many respects his career was a remarkable one; in some respects it was astonishing. From the smallest of beginnings and by the sheer force of his natural and acquired qualifications, he rose to a position of opulence and power; and when it is understood that during about one-third of his comparatively short life, and during its period of greatest activity and heaviest responsibility, he was almost wholly deprived of sight, his career becomes more than remarkable and teaches lessons of fortitude, patience, energy and uprightness that possess inestimable value to the living.

Thomas Smith Mott was born in Hamilton, Madison county, N. Y., on December 15, 1826. His father, Smith Mott, was a native of Bridgewater, Oneida county, N. Y., whence he removed to Hamilton in 1826 and there became a prominent and influential merchant. He married Lucinda Rattoone, of Lansingburg, N. Y., born in September, 1806, and died in February, 1827. She was a descendant of an old and honorable family of that place.

The ancestry of the family on the mother’s side is traceable to Maj. Thomas Brown, a Revolutionary officer, who was great-grandfather of the subject. On the male side the family was of Quaker origin.

Thomas S. Mott was enabled to acquire a good business education in the then famous Nine Partners Quaker Boarding School at Washington, Dutchess county, N. Y. , and in the Hamilton Academy. He inherited from his father the characteristics that prompted him to engage in business pursuits and made him successful therein. Leaving school he entered his father’s store as clerk and there laid the foundation of a broad knowledge of business principles, strict devotion to his duties and thorough-going, industious habits, which characterized his after life. In 1847 at the age of twenty years he engaged in mercantile trade on his own account in Hamilton and was unusually successful. In the days of Oswego’s brightest commercial prospects, desiring to enter a broader field of operations, he removed hither in 1851 and engaged actively in general mercantile and shipping busines. Well equipped with a knowledge of correct and honorable business methods and the ability to judge accurately of men and their motives, and with a character already standing upon the solid foundation of integrity and fairness to all with whom he came in contact, he soon became a leader in the business life of his adopted city. During the twenty years succeeding his arrival in Oswego the city saw her greatest commercial prosperity. Grain came down from the West in immense quantities, the wheels of scores of great mills turned ceaselessly and the harbor was white with the sails of outgoing and incoming vessels. In the buying and shipping of grain and other commodities Mr. Mott assumed a leading position, and ere long gained the distinction of handling more grain than any other person in the city. The building of vessels for the growing commerce was also a great industry, and he early turned hisenergies in that direction. Vessel after vessel was built by him ; Bermuda, Bahama, Thos. S. Mott, Henry Fitzhugh, J. E. Gilmore, Norwegian, Jamaica, Florida, Nevada, John T. Mott, Havana, Nassau, Atlanta, and the Pulaski followed each other from the stocks in rapid succession. He also purchased the S. J. Plolley, the S. H. Lathrop, the Ostrich, and the James Navagh, altogether constituting one of the largest and finest fleets on the great lakes, and giving him a reputation that extended from tide-water to the Rocky Mountains.

While carrying forward these extensive operations, Mr. Mott never lost sight of the material welfare of Oswego, and every measure that promised advantage to the city received his hearty and efficient co-operation or financial support. The First Nationl Bank was organized in 1864; a year after he became its chief stockholder and its president, a position which he held until death, giving him the record of having been longer president of a bank than any other man who lived in Oswego. This bank was conducted not alone for his own personal gain but upon those principles of liberality towards the business public which have ever characterized its operations. So, also, when further development of the water works system of Oswego became desirable, he assumed an active interest in the work, purchased a majority of the stock and was made president in 1883; he continued to devote his time and energy to the improvement of the system, and the old and inadequate facilities for extinguishing fires, the conditions of which had cost Oswego so dearly, were soon superseded under his energetic direction by extension of larger mains and new and more effective machinery which gave the community the present unsurpassed water supply.

Besides his business connections, thus briefly described, Mr. Mott was a liberal investor in other industries and manufactories of the city, Next to Mr. Kingsford he was the largest local owner of Starch Factory Stock, and other industries depended more or less upon his means and his wise counsel for their prosperity. Nor was he less solicitous for the educational and moral welfare of the community. He was several years a member of the Local Board of the Oswego Normal School, and showed a deep interest in the promotion of other educational facilities of the city. He was a regular attendant of Christ Episcopal Church, which often benefited by his generosity.

That beneficent institution, the Oswego City Hospital, found in Mr. Mott its most generous supporter. He donated the lot upon which the building was erected, and afterwards contributed most generously to its support.

In early life Mr. Mott was a Democrat in politics, but after the formation of the Republican party he became one of its leading members in Northern New York. During the period of the Nation’s peril in civil war the government received from him the most loyal support in time, energy and means, and the heroic men who fought the battles of the Union found in him a practical sympathizer and a generous friend. He was a personal friend of General Grant and an intimate friend and admirer of Roscoe Conkling. When this great leader was in adversity, no man gave him more unqualified fealty than Mr. Mott. It was inevitable that a man possessed of Mr. Mott’s characteristics his aggressiveness against all wrong and corruption, his power to control men and influence them towards his own political views, his broad knowledge of current events should become a leader in local politics as far as he would consent to assume such an attitude. His influence became powerful in this field and was freely exerted for the advancement of those whom he believed to be worthy never for his own. His unyielding integrity was carried into politics as it was into his business relations, and the masses as well as politicians had confidence in him. If he gave a man his promise to aid him to political preferment, that man knew what to expect and usually attained his desired object. Never accepting office himself, he efficiently performed the duties of good citizenship, the general good his only incentive.

More than thirty years prior to his death, Mr. Mott’s sight began to fail, and during twenty years of his active life he was practically blind. Such an affliction would have caused many to abandon all business and give way to despondency; but he was made of sterner stuff, and until the last continued to carry on his business operations and to wield his influence in the political field, when he could distinguish those with whom he came in immediate contact by their voices only. This fact indicates one of the mo.st prominent traits in his character indomitable will and determination never to submit to adverse circumstances. He was, however, hopeful and saw the brightest side of life; otherwise he must surely have faltered under his great deprivation. Hence his career in his later years furnished a remarkable example of persistence in the activities of life under an affliction that would have appalled most men.

Socially, Mr. Mott was amiable, courteous, serene in temperament and a thoroughly democratic American. To him, it mattered little what was a man’s station in life if he was honest and upright. Weakness he might tolerate and often he aided in raising such to a higher level ; but the deliberate wrong-doer found little consideration at his hands. The aspiring young man of business, the lowly and the suffering, found his door always open and his heart responsive. No one knows, or ever will know, the innumerable occasions where his generous bounties were tendered to the needy, and it is not, therefore, remarkable that his death left a void not easily filled.

In July, 1847, Mr. Mott was married to Miss Sarah De Wolf, sister of Delos De Wolf, a former prominent citizen of Oswego and a local leader in the Democratic party. They had three children — Col. John T. Mott, of Oswego, Mrs. Ward, wife of Maj. Thomas Ward of the U. S. Army, and Elliott B. Mott of Oswego.

Mr. Mott’s death took place on September 13, 1891, at his home in Oswego. His useful and honorable life was memorialized in resolutions of respect and esteem by the various organizations and institutions with which he was connected; among them the First National Bank of Oswego, the Oswego Water Works Company, the Local Board of the Normal School at Oswego, the Oswego Gaslight Company, the vestry of Christ Church and the Oswego City Hospital.

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