James Harvey Smith
Chenango Telegraph, May 22, 1872
The following proceedings of the Directors of the Bank of Norwich attest the friendship of his associates in business. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Norwich convened on the occasion of the death of James H. Smith, late President of the said Bank, it was, on motion of Warren Newton, Cashier of the Bank.
Resolved that we learn with unfeigned sorrow of the sudden death of James H. Smith, President of this Association, from its organization in 1856. that in his death we lose a warm friend of the Bank and of its officers, one with whom we have been in friendly and intimate intercourse for sixteen years, one in whose judgment and prudence we have placed confidence, a man of firmness and integrity and whose counsels have aided largely to give to the bank whatever of success it has enjoyed. that we tender to his widow and family our sympathy in this bereavement. That, as officers of the Bank, we will close our Banking House on the day of his funeral, and in a body attend the same. That a copy of these Resolutions be sent to his widow, and furnished to the press of this town, for publication and entered upon the minutes of the bank.
Mr. Newton in offering these resolutions, said The event which has called us together should receive more than a passing notice, Sixteen years ago the business of this community seemed to a few of the citizens to require more banking facilities than then existed. Foremost among these few was the deceased. We started the Bank with thirty-nine stockholders, under the guidance of a band of men then in active life, whose business experience made them worthy of the high trust.
Jonathan Wells, who was Vice President of the Bank for over fifteen years, was removed by death in November last. Within six months the President and Vice President, who have sat in council for over fifteen years, have passed away. At our organization, and for some years subsequent thereto, there sat with us as Directors, Theodore Miller, Ansel Henry, Jonathan Wells and Charles H. Wheeler. With these men we place James H. Smith at the head of the Bank, and that position he has at all times maintained. Not charged with the more active management, he has at all times been our adviser, and we early learned not to do what Mr. Smith Pronounced unwise. As Cashier of this Bank, I have doubtless had greater freedom of intercourse with the deceased than any other man, and I cannot tell how much I shall miss him, how much we all shall miss him, in the work that lies before us.
Resolved that we learn with unfeigned sorrow of the sudden death of James H. Smith, President of this Association, from its organization in 1856. that in his death we lose a warm friend of the Bank and of its officers, one with whom we have been in friendly and intimate intercourse for sixteen years, one in whose judgment and prudence we have placed confidence, a man of firmness and integrity and whose counsels have aided largely to give to the bank whatever of success it has enjoyed. that we tender to his widow and family our sympathy in this bereavement. That, as officers of the Bank, we will close our Banking House on the day of his funeral, and in a body attend the same. That a copy of these Resolutions be sent to his widow, and furnished to the press of this town, for publication and entered upon the minutes of the bank.
Mr. Newton in offering these resolutions, said The event which has called us together should receive more than a passing notice, Sixteen years ago the business of this community seemed to a few of the citizens to require more banking facilities than then existed. Foremost among these few was the deceased. We started the Bank with thirty-nine stockholders, under the guidance of a band of men then in active life, whose business experience made them worthy of the high trust.
Jonathan Wells, who was Vice President of the Bank for over fifteen years, was removed by death in November last. Within six months the President and Vice President, who have sat in council for over fifteen years, have passed away. At our organization, and for some years subsequent thereto, there sat with us as Directors, Theodore Miller, Ansel Henry, Jonathan Wells and Charles H. Wheeler. With these men we place James H. Smith at the head of the Bank, and that position he has at all times maintained. Not charged with the more active management, he has at all times been our adviser, and we early learned not to do what Mr. Smith Pronounced unwise. As Cashier of this Bank, I have doubtless had greater freedom of intercourse with the deceased than any other man, and I cannot tell how much I shall miss him, how much we all shall miss him, in the work that lies before us.
The death comes near, very near to us all. Of our original board, the oldest and the youngest are gone. Of the eleven Directors in the first Board, five have died. Of the thirty-nine stockholders who with me signed the original Articles of Association, seventeen are dead. It seems, then, proper to adopt these Resoltuions, as the expression of our esteem for the deceased and regret at his death.
Warren Newton, Cashier, N.B. Hale, Vice President
Mr. Wells is so well known in this vicinity, that no further notice than that of his death is required to awaken a general feeling of bereavement. He was born in November, 1804, on the Buttolph farm, one mile north of this village. Thence his father removed to Preston in 1810; about 1834, Mr. Wells left a farm in Preston, and removed to this village with his wife and children, and entered into business with the late Truman Enos in the tanning and shoe business. A few years later, he purchased the forwarding house now occupied by E. Smith & Co., where he continued in business until about eighteen to twenty years ago. He has been at all times prominent in every work of improvement in our midst. He was Post Master of Norwich under Gen. Harrison; President of the Norwich Academy and Vice President and Director of the Bank of Norwich from its organization. Mr. Wells eaves two daughters surviving. His wife died a few years since, and his son died a student at Yale College, about eighteen years ago. Perhaps no man is left among us who so perfectly represents the firmly just man as did Mr. Wells. No man ever suspected him of a dishonest act. He loved honesty for its own sake and he hated any man guilty of practices not honest. He was outspoken in his opinions, and this led him to sometimes seem obstinate; but those who knew him best, knew that he was true as steel, kind, and anxious to be right. Convinced, he held his convictions firmly. Seldom are we called to note the departure of a truer, a better man, and we mistake much if the tear of sorrow does not course from may an eye at the news of his death.
Mr. Ensign was born in Sheffield, Mass., May 24d, 1792. With his father and mother and three other children, he removed to the town of Pitcher, in Chenango county, in the year 1809, then almost an unbroken wilderness. Here he lived for more than half a century, contending with the hardships and sufferings, the privations connected with the early pioneer life. He witnessed the march of civilization, beheld the forest give away to the cultivated fields, saw thriving villages take the palce of the rude huts of the first settlers. In all of this, he was not an idle spectator, but helped to accomplish it with his own hands. In 1812, at the call of his country, he enlisted in the militia of the State, under the command of Col. Daniel Root, went to the frontier, and was in the service at Black Rock and Lewiston, in the battle of Queenstown, when peace was again restored, was honorably discharged. In the year 1817, was married to Irene Farrel, of Pitcher, with whom he lived until her decease in 1865. He reared a family of eight, all of whom, save one, have arrived to years of maturity, and are now engaged in the active duties of life. One is a preacher in the M.E. Church, two are in the medical profession, and were thoroughly educated in the same, and have good reputations as successful practitioners; one is at the West, engaged in speculating; the others are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Hon. S.S. Randall, in one of his admirable letters published in the Telegraph, used these words "Mr. Ensign was one of the best, purest, and most upright men I have ever known." Nothing more truthful could have been said of him, as all will testify, who with Mr. Randall were acquainted with his character. Politically, he was a strong admirer of Jackson, to whose principles he, as he understood them, steadily adhered till the time of his death. In 1829, he was chosen one of the magistrates of his town, which office he held by re-election for a period of more than thirty years, notwithstanding the many political changes of the last twenty years. He represented his town for twenty years as its Supervisor, and was for many years identified with the educational interests of his town and county. In 1838, was appointed by the Governor, Marcy, as one of the judges of the county Courts, was reappointed, and held the office until it was abolished. He represented his county in the legislature in 1846. No other man, save one, (Judge Ebenezer Wakely) has done so much to give intellectual character to his town. Possessed of a retentive memory and sound judgement by extensive reading, he became well versed in all of the rules of the Courts, as well as in the tenets of the common law. and his advice was universally sought in matters involving legal questions by his neighbors and friends. In the social relations of life, he was no less esteemed; fully conversant with the passing events of the day, and possessing social qualities seldom surpassed, his society was a guarantee that the passing hour would be replete with pleasing instructions. In the family relation, never was one more esteemed and beloved. Although he never became identified with any church, yet his love for the instruction of the Bible, and for the society of the faithful in Christ, as manifested both in word and deed, assumes those who mourn his loss upon Earth that there will be a happy reunion in that home "Over There."
The disease which culminated in Mr. Cook's demise had exhibited itself at intervals for years and with increasing frequency during the past year, giving him great inconvenience and much distress during his late voyage to France and subsequently. Mr. Cook's mental faculties remained clear to the last, at which time all the members of his family with the exception of Mrs. Geo. Bennett, were present. the last day of his life was one of the greatest physical pain from which he found relief a few minutes before death claimed him, passing placidly away.
A.W. Cook was born in Boston in the year 1811; orphaned at five years of age and lived among relatives in New York until old enough to maintain his support when he learned the cabinet maker's trade and eventually finding his way to the piano manufacturing establishment of Nunn & Co. of New York City where he became a tuner and something of a musician.
At twenty, Mr. Cook returned to his relatives, where he was married to Miss Emiline Fairchild, who lived but a year after their marriage. He then removed to the far south following his vocation of teacher and tuner of the piano, in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee, until 1842 when he moved as far north as Kentucky, where he met and married his pupil Miss Martha S. Owsley, daughter of Harry Owsley Esq., of Lincoln county, Ky., who survives him and their first daughter, Emma. While a resident of Kentucky Mr. Cook engaged in various business enterprises in connection with his wife's father, and her brother, the late John E. Owsley, of Chicago, with whom he engaged extensively in stock farming in Central Illinois, whither they removed, Mr. Cook in 1852 with their only child Mollie. Just previous to the late war, having sold out his stock interest in Illinois, Mr. Cook embarked in a small way in merchandising, in Sangamon county with increasing volume of trade until his removal to Floyd county Iowa just 18 years ago yesterday.
It seems scarcely necessary to particularize in regard to Mr. Cook's career since his advent among us, at Spring Valley Farm, in the spring of '69. It is well known that he has done much to promote the fine stock interests of the state, he having been the first to import into Iowa, draft horses from the old world, of which his last was his ninth importation. He belonged to no society and subscribed to no creed except the one which hung near his desk in the family room "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men." Among his last words were these, "I go joyfully into the presence of my Maker." Thus passeth away a good neighbor, a good citizen, a conscientious business man.
Floyd County (Iowa) Citizen.
Mr. Cook formerly resided in Afton [Chenango Co., NY] and has many friends and relatives throughout this section.
Warren Newton, Cashier, N.B. Hale, Vice President
Jonathan Wells
Chenango Union, November 22, 1871
DIED, in this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], on the 20th inst., Jonathan Wells, Esq., aged 67 years.Mr. Wells is so well known in this vicinity, that no further notice than that of his death is required to awaken a general feeling of bereavement. He was born in November, 1804, on the Buttolph farm, one mile north of this village. Thence his father removed to Preston in 1810; about 1834, Mr. Wells left a farm in Preston, and removed to this village with his wife and children, and entered into business with the late Truman Enos in the tanning and shoe business. A few years later, he purchased the forwarding house now occupied by E. Smith & Co., where he continued in business until about eighteen to twenty years ago. He has been at all times prominent in every work of improvement in our midst. He was Post Master of Norwich under Gen. Harrison; President of the Norwich Academy and Vice President and Director of the Bank of Norwich from its organization. Mr. Wells eaves two daughters surviving. His wife died a few years since, and his son died a student at Yale College, about eighteen years ago. Perhaps no man is left among us who so perfectly represents the firmly just man as did Mr. Wells. No man ever suspected him of a dishonest act. He loved honesty for its own sake and he hated any man guilty of practices not honest. He was outspoken in his opinions, and this led him to sometimes seem obstinate; but those who knew him best, knew that he was true as steel, kind, and anxious to be right. Convinced, he held his convictions firmly. Seldom are we called to note the departure of a truer, a better man, and we mistake much if the tear of sorrow does not course from may an eye at the news of his death.
Solomon Ensign
Chenango Telegraph, May 22, 1872
DIED: In McDonough [Chenango Co., NY], May 11th, at the residence of his son, Dr. E.L. Ensign, Hon. Solomon Ensign, in the 78th year of his age.Mr. Ensign was born in Sheffield, Mass., May 24d, 1792. With his father and mother and three other children, he removed to the town of Pitcher, in Chenango county, in the year 1809, then almost an unbroken wilderness. Here he lived for more than half a century, contending with the hardships and sufferings, the privations connected with the early pioneer life. He witnessed the march of civilization, beheld the forest give away to the cultivated fields, saw thriving villages take the palce of the rude huts of the first settlers. In all of this, he was not an idle spectator, but helped to accomplish it with his own hands. In 1812, at the call of his country, he enlisted in the militia of the State, under the command of Col. Daniel Root, went to the frontier, and was in the service at Black Rock and Lewiston, in the battle of Queenstown, when peace was again restored, was honorably discharged. In the year 1817, was married to Irene Farrel, of Pitcher, with whom he lived until her decease in 1865. He reared a family of eight, all of whom, save one, have arrived to years of maturity, and are now engaged in the active duties of life. One is a preacher in the M.E. Church, two are in the medical profession, and were thoroughly educated in the same, and have good reputations as successful practitioners; one is at the West, engaged in speculating; the others are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Hon. S.S. Randall, in one of his admirable letters published in the Telegraph, used these words "Mr. Ensign was one of the best, purest, and most upright men I have ever known." Nothing more truthful could have been said of him, as all will testify, who with Mr. Randall were acquainted with his character. Politically, he was a strong admirer of Jackson, to whose principles he, as he understood them, steadily adhered till the time of his death. In 1829, he was chosen one of the magistrates of his town, which office he held by re-election for a period of more than thirty years, notwithstanding the many political changes of the last twenty years. He represented his town for twenty years as its Supervisor, and was for many years identified with the educational interests of his town and county. In 1838, was appointed by the Governor, Marcy, as one of the judges of the county Courts, was reappointed, and held the office until it was abolished. He represented his county in the legislature in 1846. No other man, save one, (Judge Ebenezer Wakely) has done so much to give intellectual character to his town. Possessed of a retentive memory and sound judgement by extensive reading, he became well versed in all of the rules of the Courts, as well as in the tenets of the common law. and his advice was universally sought in matters involving legal questions by his neighbors and friends. In the social relations of life, he was no less esteemed; fully conversant with the passing events of the day, and possessing social qualities seldom surpassed, his society was a guarantee that the passing hour would be replete with pleasing instructions. In the family relation, never was one more esteemed and beloved. Although he never became identified with any church, yet his love for the instruction of the Bible, and for the society of the faithful in Christ, as manifested both in word and deed, assumes those who mourn his loss upon Earth that there will be a happy reunion in that home "Over There."
Arnold Wells Cook
Afton Enterprise, March 4, 1887
DIED: In his 77th year, Arnold Wells Cook, at Spring Valley Farm, Saturday February 12th, 1887, at five a.m., of heart disease, aggravated by an attack of pneumonia.The disease which culminated in Mr. Cook's demise had exhibited itself at intervals for years and with increasing frequency during the past year, giving him great inconvenience and much distress during his late voyage to France and subsequently. Mr. Cook's mental faculties remained clear to the last, at which time all the members of his family with the exception of Mrs. Geo. Bennett, were present. the last day of his life was one of the greatest physical pain from which he found relief a few minutes before death claimed him, passing placidly away.
A.W. Cook was born in Boston in the year 1811; orphaned at five years of age and lived among relatives in New York until old enough to maintain his support when he learned the cabinet maker's trade and eventually finding his way to the piano manufacturing establishment of Nunn & Co. of New York City where he became a tuner and something of a musician.
At twenty, Mr. Cook returned to his relatives, where he was married to Miss Emiline Fairchild, who lived but a year after their marriage. He then removed to the far south following his vocation of teacher and tuner of the piano, in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee, until 1842 when he moved as far north as Kentucky, where he met and married his pupil Miss Martha S. Owsley, daughter of Harry Owsley Esq., of Lincoln county, Ky., who survives him and their first daughter, Emma. While a resident of Kentucky Mr. Cook engaged in various business enterprises in connection with his wife's father, and her brother, the late John E. Owsley, of Chicago, with whom he engaged extensively in stock farming in Central Illinois, whither they removed, Mr. Cook in 1852 with their only child Mollie. Just previous to the late war, having sold out his stock interest in Illinois, Mr. Cook embarked in a small way in merchandising, in Sangamon county with increasing volume of trade until his removal to Floyd county Iowa just 18 years ago yesterday.
It seems scarcely necessary to particularize in regard to Mr. Cook's career since his advent among us, at Spring Valley Farm, in the spring of '69. It is well known that he has done much to promote the fine stock interests of the state, he having been the first to import into Iowa, draft horses from the old world, of which his last was his ninth importation. He belonged to no society and subscribed to no creed except the one which hung near his desk in the family room "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men." Among his last words were these, "I go joyfully into the presence of my Maker." Thus passeth away a good neighbor, a good citizen, a conscientious business man.
Floyd County (Iowa) Citizen.
Mr. Cook formerly resided in Afton [Chenango Co., NY] and has many friends and relatives throughout this section.
No comments:
Post a Comment