Andrew Marcellus Wait
Utica Saturday Globe, October 1900
Andrew Marcellus Wait
Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]: Andrew M. Wait, a half-century resident of Norwich, died at his home on Mitchell street, Wednesday, aged 75. He suffered a long and painful illness of rheumatism, which finally reached the heart, causing death. Mr. Wait was one of 10 children of James and Elizabeth Wait and was born at Briar Creek, in the town of Butternuts, Otsego county, February 5, 1828. His youth was spent on his father's farm. He was educated in the district schools, at Gilbertsville Academy and at Norwich Academy, where he was a schoolmate of Dan Noyes, Lew Rhodes, B. Gage Berry, James G. Thompson and other old residents of Norwich, few of whom are now living. During the winter months of the school year he taught school. It was in 1848 that he came to Norwich to reside, and had lived here continuously since. On September 15, 1850, he married Ambrosia Jane Sargeant and in 1851 he began building the house at No. 18 Mitchell street, into which he moved in August 1852, and had since made his home there. At that time there were but four houses on the street, only a field of oats between the Wait house and the old Chenango canal. In this house Mr. and Mrs. Wait passed their 50th wedding anniversary last September. Mr. Wait's experience as a teacher in Norwich began in the old district school on Fair street in 1851. He afterwards taught in the Birdsall street and Mitchell street schools, and in the evening schools of the village, and at White Store, the Union, Mt. Upton, South New Berlin and other places in Chenango and Otsego counties. As a successful educator and teacher he had no superior. His discipline was rigid and often times severe. Many of the middle aged and younger residents of this community received their early training under his tutorship. Besides being a successful teacher, he was a mechanic and builder of no mean ability and erected several dwelling houses in this village. In his early manhood he was a bridge builder on the C.R. & Q.R.R. in the then far west. During the 60s he was a clerk in the drug store of John Mitchell. The deceased is survived by his widow and two sons--Ambrose M. Wait, of this village, and John C. Wait, of New York city An adopted son, William C. Wait, is a resident of Forest, Ill. and an officer of the Wabash Railroad. One sister, Mrs. Mary Eliza Collins, formerly of Norwich, also survives. Private funeral services will be held tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon at 1:30, Rev. Robert N. Martin officiating. Burial in Mount Hope [Norwich, NY]
Ambrosia Sergeant Wait
Chenango Union, September 1909
Ambrosia Jane Sergeant Wait, widow of the late Andrew M. Wait, died at Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], September 9, 1909, aged 82 years. Funeral services were held from her late home, 18 Mitchell street Saturday, September 11. Mrs. Wait was the eldest of ten children born to John and Isabella Sergeant, of Butternuts, and South New Berlin. She was born January 30, 1827. Her paternal grandfather was Thomas Sargeant, who came form Boston and settled at South New Berlin in 1798. The Sergeant family was famous in the early history of Boston as ship and wharf owners and has had numerous illustrious statesmen, soldiers, clergymen and lawyers. Mrs. Wait traces her family through her grandfather, Thomas [Sergeant], directly to the Boston Family, and only recently published for distribution among her relatives a record of the Sergeant family. Mrs. Wait with her husband, Andrew M. Wait, attended the Norwich Academy in her girlhood and later became school teachers in Chenango and Otsego Counties. Mr. and Mrs. Wait were married in Butternuts, Otsego county, in 1850, and soon after they came to Norwich, where she has made her home continuously for nearly sixty years, on Mitchell street. When the house was built it was the last house from Broad street toward the river, and the area was one vast field of rye. Not a woman identified with public or society affairs, Mrs. Wait found her greatest joy and comfort in her home and in administering to the wants of her family and the education of her children. In this she has been all that a loving mother, devoted wife and humble Christian woman could be. She has never faltered in her life work, and to the last exhibited the greatest fortitude and cheerfulness. She had passed her 92nd birthday, and died of old age; her work was done and done well, and few have lived a more industrious life or one that accomplished more in contributing o the comforts and joys of everyday home life. Mrs. Wait is survived by two sons, Ambrose M. of Norwich, and John C. of New York city, and an adopted son, William E., of Forrest, Ill.
Judge Celora E. Martin
Chenango Union, September 1909
Judge Celora E. Martin who died Friday morning at his home in Binghamton [Broome Co., NY] after a lingering illness, was born in the town of Newport, Herkimer county, August 23, 1834. He was the son of Ellis Martin, a direct descendant of John Martin, who came to New England from Wales in 1663, and his mother was Lucretia Brayton, the only daughter of Captain Stephen Brayton, who was one of the early settlers of the town. He was educated in the common schools and in the academies at Fairfield and Holland Patent; studied law with John C. Harris of Newport, and was admitted at Oswego July 8, 1856, and in the summer of 1857 removed to Whitney's Point, Broome county. In 1867 he opened an office in Binghamton, where he had resided since 1858. In May, 1877, he was appointed by Gov. Robinson, a justice of the Supreme court for the sixth judicial district, to fill vacancy caused by the death of Judge Balcom. In the fall of that year he was nominated by both parties for the office and unanimously nominated and elected without opposition. He afterward served for some years as associate justice in the old General Term of the fourth department with Judge Hardins and Merwin. Judge Martin was elected to the Court of Appeals bench November 6, 1895, and served until 1904, when he retired under the age limit of 70 years. While on the Court of Appeals bench Judge Martin wrote the opinion in the Percy-Gray race track case in which the validity of the act permitting betting on race tracks in New York state was upheld by the Court of appeals and which was repealed two years ago by the passage of the Hart-Agnew law. Judge Martin was a member of the State Board of Bar examiners. Judge Martin was well known to the older members of the Chenango county bar, as he was often here. He was a man of great ability and was a painstaking and useful judge.
Binghamton Press, September 11, 1909
The funeral of Judge Celora E. Martin will be held at the house, 136 Oak street, at 3 o'clock Monday afternoon. It is probable that a large number of men in legal life from all parts of the State will attend the funeral. Judge Martin had three daughters, of whom one, Mrs. George C. McMurtry, died about three years ago. The other daughters who survive are: Mrs. I.T. Stoddard of Phoenix, Ariz., and Mrs. F.N Gilbert of this city. Besides his wife, Mrs. Ada Mills A. Martin, a sister, Mrs Avia L. May, and sister-in-law, Mrs. S.D. Martin, survive him, together with the following grandchildren: Celora Martin Stoddard of Phoenix, Ariz., Ralph Martin Gilbert, Marguerite Mead Gilbert, Francis Russel Gilbert, Elizabeht Blackington Gilbert, and Marial Brayton Gilbert, all of this city.
John W. Case
Chenango Union, January 4, 1883
Another of the pioneers of Chenango County has passed away. On Friday last, John W. Case, after an illness of one week, died at his residence in this village in his 80th year. He was prostrated December 23d, and died on the evening of the 29th. Mr. Case was born in the town of Kent, Conn., March 19th, 1803. When one year of age he came with his parents to Norwich, now North Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], and located on a farm on the east side of the river, opposite Plasterville. He remained with his parents until about eighteen years of age, when he left home and secured employment from a Mr. Bard, in the town of Greene. During the winter season he was employed in getting out lumber, and in the spring running it down the river. For seven years he was engaged with Mr Bard in the lumber business. From Greene he went to Albany, and for a year worked for Deacon Brayton. From Albany, about 1830, he went to New York, where he remained one year. His employers, Doyle & Co. were engaged in the wholesale grocery and produce business in the lower part of the city, owning a farm in the vicinity of what is now the Central Park, where Mr. Case worked during the summer. The next year, at the age of twenty-eight, he returned to his early home, and married Berthia, daughter of Peter Cole, of North Norwich. The first year of his married life was spent upon the old homestead. He then purchased and improved a farm about a mile east of Wood's Corners, subsequently owned and occupied by the late Samuel Pike. About the year 1840 he purchased what was known as the Kinney farm, located on the west side of the Chenango, a little over a mile south of the village of North Norwich, where his days were prosperously passed in agricultural pursuits, till his removal to this village, in the spring of 1871. While a resident of North Norwich, he was elected to the office of Coroner, and was a prominent man in that town, identified with its interests. In connection with his son Wiley, he purchased the vacant lot north of the old Bank of Chenango and constructed an elegant and substantial brick edifice, which, aside from being remunerative property, is an ornament to the town. Mr. Case was thrice married, his three wives being sisters. He married his last wife, Jane Cole, who survives him, in 1840. In addition to his widow, he leaves one daughter and five sons, all of whom reside in Norwich. In politics, up to about 1849, Mr. Case was a strong Whig, a great admirer of Henry Clay and politicians of that school. Subsequently he was an ardent Democrat of the Jeffersonian type. Mr. Case was a doting and indulgent husband and father, kind and obliging neighbor, and generous friend. He will be sadly missed in his family, and by a large circle of relatives and acquaintances, who have known him so long and so well. The funeral was largely attended on Sunday afternoon at his late residence on Sheldon Street, Rev. H.A. Delano officiating, assisted by Revs. Fox and Hayes. He was buried in the family burial grounds in the cemetery at North Norwich, four of his sons acting as bearers.
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