Table of Contents
The following 10 biographical sketches were extracted from the Geographical gazetteer of Jefferson county, N.Y., 1685-1890.
Albert G. Glass
Albert G. Glass, son of Lorenzo and Sophia (Greenley) Glass, was born in Watertown in 1840, and was reared upon a farm. He married Alzina K., daughter of Samuel and Lucretia (Green) Crosby, in 1861, by whom he has had children as follows: Virgil A., born in 1867, died in 1872; Rosa E; Henry C., born in 1873; and Rena A., born in 1880. Mr. Glass came to this town in the spring of 1866, and engaged in mercantile pursuits at Adams Center in the spring of 1884. He enlisted in Co. B, 10th N. Y. Vols., and served to the close of the war.
Luftus J. Landon
Luftus J. Landon, son of Luftus S. and Charlotte (Smith) Landon, was born in Ellisburgh. He learned the wool-carding and cloth-dressing trades, at which he worked several years. He kept hotel five years, then learned the blacksmiths’ trade, and in 1867 removed to Adams and engaged in that business, which he continues. He also kept the institute boarding-house two years. He married Hannah, daughter of William and Eliza Roach, in 1867, by whom he has three children, viz.: Charlotte A., William S., and Bessie A. Mr. Landon is foreman of the Star Hose Company.
Lorenzo Green
Lorenzo Green, son of Ethan and Mary (Chase) Green, was born in Brookfield, Madison County, in 1805. He was reared upon a farm, and when young removed to Pinckney, Lewis County, and about 1847 located in Adams. He married Aurilla, daughter of William and Betsey (Randall) Jones, by whom he had nine children, viz.: Coralin (Mrs. Heman White), of Adams; Eleanor, of Adams Center; Matilda E. (Mrs. Charles A. Green), of Adams; Homer, who died in Adams Center in 1884; Lucy, who married Elijah Crandall, of Nebraska; Philo, who resides in Nebraska; Jason, who died young; Celestine, of Adams Center; and Denio, of Watertown.
Elihu Allen
Elihu Allen, son of Joseph, was born in Pierrepont Manor, N. Y., in 1806. He was a blacksmith by trade. He married Almira, daughter of George and Angeline (Betts) Andrus, by whom he had three sons, viz.: George, of Buffalo, N. Y.; William J., of Adams; and Edward B., who was born in 1849 and died in 1884. William J., born October 16, 1845, learned the printers’ trade with Dwight & Eddy, publishers of the Jefferson County News, of Adams. He worked on the Watertown Reformer for a while, and in 1868 in the office of Northern Temperance Journal, where he remained about two years. In 1870 he purchased a half interest in the business and entered into partnership with A. B. Delong, and subsequently with S. W. Hatch. In 1879 he became sole owner and has since published the Jefferson County Journal. He married Alice Dee, daughter of A. D. and Rhoda (Warner) Killy, February 4, 1874, and they have three daughters, viz.: Dora May, born September 29, 1879; Edna Frances, born January 16, 1880;and Mabel Alice, born March 7, 1886.
Asa B. Prentice
Asa B. Prentice, son of Allen and Elvira (Babcock) Prentice, was born in Cattaraugus County, N. Y., July 29, 1838. He was reared upon a farm and graduated from Albion (Wis.) Academy in 1861. He taught in this academy several years and served as superintendent of schools in Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1862-63. He engaged in ministerial work and was ordained as a Seventh Day Baptist clergyman in 1864. He married Marion W., daughter of George S. Green, in 1865, and in 1868 became pastor of the Seventh Day Baptist Church at Adams Center, where he has continued his labors. He has had two sons and two daughters, viz.: Lucy A. (Mrs. A. T. Stillman), of Scott, N. Y.; Mary L., who died in childhood; Henry W., who was born in 1873; and Alfred C., born in 1875. Mr. Prentice married for his second wife Mary A., daughter of Ira and Nancy (Perry) Green, of Verona, in 1877.
Abner L. Ramsdell
Abner L. Ramsdell, son of Moses and Maria (Lapham) Ramsdell, was born in Oneida County in 1805. He followed the occupation of blacksmith. He married Lucinda, daughter of Ezra and Nancy (Ballou) Healy, in 1828, and they had six sons and two daughters, of whom Erwin F. was born in Ellisburgh in 1840, and was educated in the schools of this town. He studied law with A. Maxon, was admitted to the bar in 1870, and in 1871 entered into partnership with Paul C. Maxon. He was special county judge from 1878 to 1887, and is now (1889) secretary of the local board of health, and resides on Grove street in Adams village. Mr. Ramsdell married Anna, daughter of Dr. Lyman and Julia (Arthur) Buckley, in 1864, by whom he has a daughter, Mary, born, August 29, 1866, who graduated from Adams Collegiate Institute, and is now a landscape painter and teacher.
Hiram Taylor
Hiram Taylor, from Galway, N. Y. was one of the early settlers of Ellisburgh, where he took up lands at Taylor Settlement and engaged in farming. He married Jerusha Hinman, and they had five sons and four daughters, of whom Newton Albert, and Cyrus are deceased; Joseph resides in Adams; Frederick in California; Adaline married F. Ransom, of Colorado Springs; Mary A. married William Grout, of Fort Wyne, Ind., Cornelia married A. G. Place and lives in Oswego County; Fanny married Hiram Allen, of Pierrepont Manor. Cyrus Taylor was born in Ellisburgh in 1815. He was an exemplary Christian, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and died in Adams in 1875. He was a tanner by trade. He married Amanda, daughter of Nathaniel Atridge, and they had five children, namely: Helen M. (widow of M. V. Barney), of Colorado; Don G., of Vermont; Angie Rose (Mrs. Hiram Lanphere), of Valley Falls; De Elbert, of Adams; and Emma, who married Albert Frith and died at the age of 21 years. De Elbert Taylor was born October 26, 1846, was reared upon a farm, attended Belleville Union Academy, and subsequently taught school. He married Medora A., daughter of Daniel and Elvira (Loomis) Boomer, October 13, 1869, and they have a son, Herbert, born September 4, 1870. Mr. Taylor located in Adams in 1872.
Alvin Parmlee
Alvin Parmlee was born in 1804, and when young removed to Springfield, N. Y. He studied for the ministry and in 1833 began his labors as a Presbyterian clergyman. In 1851 he came to Jefferson County, where he died in 1869. He married Violetta, daughter of William and Jerusha (Parmlee) Hamilton, in 1826, who bore him three sons and nine daughters, of whom there are now living Anna E. (Mrs. L. B. Woodward), of Adams, and Sarah H. (Mrs. De Voe), Alvin H., and Alice C. (Mrs. H. Reynolds) of New York. Anna E. was educated at Springfield Female Seminary. She engaged in teaching in Middlefield, Otsego County, in 1842, and there remained 10 years. She was preceptress of Jefferson County Institute, at Watertown, four years, and at Aurora four years. She then taught in Mannsville, and in 1870 became a teacher in Hungerford Collegiate Institute, where she has since been engaged. She married L. B. Woodward, in 1859, by whom she had two sons and two daughters, viz.: William H., of New York, and Hattie E., Alice V., and Willard, of whom the last two named reside in Adams with their mother.
Orlo B. Rhodes
Orlo B. Rhodes, son of Schuyler and Amanda M. (Sherman) Rhodes, was born in Scriba, Oswego County, January 14, 1849. He was reared upon a farm, prepared for college in the Oswego High school, and graduated from Brown University in the class of 1870, and the same year became vice-principal of Hungerford Collegiate Institute, with Prof. A. B. Watkins, principal. He continued in this capacity until 1876, when he became joint principal, which position he held until 1878. He then engaged in teaching in Morgan Park, Ill., and in the fall of 1882 returned to Adams and became principal of Adams Collegiate Institute, which position he now holds. He married Alice G., daughter of Simeon and Mary O. (Rice) Osborne, in 1873, and she died June 5, 1884. He has a daughter, Alice Bertha, born in 1884. Mr. Rhodes resides at the institute.
Christopher Huson
Christopher Huson, son of John and Sibyl (Weatherbee) Huson, was born in Oriskany, N. Y., in 1801. He married Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Waldo, by whom he had four sons and six daughters, of whom there are now living Isaiah A., of Jersey City, N. Y.; Arthur B. and J. Burt, of Adams; and Emma C. (Mrs. Atwood W. Ecla), of Michigan. Mr. Huson located in the town of Lorraine in 1826. Arthur B. Huson was born in 1835, and was reared upon a farm. He married Martha A., daughter of Daniel B., and Annette (Ingalls) Lockwood, in 1872. Their son, Dan B., was born in 1874, and a daughter, Laura A., in 1879. Mr. Huson purchased the Lockwood (formerly Totman) House, in Adams, in 1872, and kept the same until 1877, when he bought the brick hotel, now the Huson House, corner Main and Railroad streets, which he now occupies. Mrs. Huson died in 1889.
Source: Child, Hamilton. Geographical gazetteer of Jefferson county, N.Y., 1685-1890, part one, p. 239-241. Syracuse, N.Y.: The Syracuse journal company, printers and binders. 1890.