FACTORS IN COLUMBIA COUNTY HISTORY

From

Columbia County at the End of the Century

Volume II

Published and Edited Under the Auspices of the Hudson Gazette

The Record Printing and Publishing Co.

Hudson, New York

M C M (1900)

"I - J" SURNAMES

These biographies  in Part III begin after page 132 of Volume II beginning with page 3.

Abbreviations used: p. o. = post office

Pages 328 & 329:

IRISH, Samuel L., was born at Malden Bridge, N. Y., February 12, 1831, son of William Irish, and grandson of Amos Irish.  The latter was born in 1760, and was a prominent farmer.  He purchased the Irish homestead on October 4, 1800, and was married to Deborah Steves (born in 1771).  Amos died in 1845, and his wife in 1824.  William Irish was one of Columbia county's representative farmers, and held the offices of highway commissioner and assessor for a number of years; his children were Samuel L., Mary Jane, Laura and Deborah (twins), Adelia and Amelia.  He died April 26, 1888, and his wife May 4, 1879.  Samuel L. Irish was educated in the common schools and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.  He has been engaged since leaving school in farming, and has served as assessor for three years.  He was married to Elizabeth Lape (born November 12, 1836), of Schodack, daughter of John (born in 1800), and Egie (born in 1810) Lape.  Both of the latter died in 1880.  Mr. and Mrs. Irish have had three children:  Harrie (sic) M., born in 1858;  William, died in 1862; and Mrs. Egie M. Van Alstyne.

Page 127:

JAQUINS, Reuben W., is the son of Chauncey Jaquins, a native of Great Barrington, Mass., and grandson of Jason Jaquins, who was a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolution, and died in Hudson in 1842.  Chauncey Jaquins became a resident of Hudson about 1825, and was well known as a mason and builder; his second wife was Catherine Wineger, of Westerlo, Albany county, who was the mother of Reuben W.  Reuben W. was born in Hudson, N. Y., on May 4, 1844, and was educated in the public schools of the city.  In 1866 he entered the employ of M. Parker Williams, editor and proprietor of the Gazette , where for several years he devoted his thoughts and time to newspaper work.  He then engaged in the dry goods and notion trade, which he has conducted to the present time.  Mr. Jaquins has long been a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, devoting his service to its welfare.  He is an unobtrusive man, but one whose quiet influence is felt and to whose judgment and advice questions of right and wrong may be safely submitted.  In 1868 he was united in marriage with Sarah Elizabeth Carter, who has borne him one son, George E.

Pages 127 - 129:

JENKINS, Robert, the son of Seth Jenkins, one of the founders of Hudson, N. Y., was born march 29, 1772, at Nantucket, Mass.  Early in the Revolution the whale fisheries of Nantucket, at one time the largest in the world, were broken up by the English marine, and in 1783 a number of the inhabitants of the island determined to leave and make a settlement upon the Hudson river.  The leaders of the enterprise were Seth and Thomas Jenkins, brothers, merchant princes who for many years carried on successfully every species of trade and  commerce.  They formed an association of merchants and navigators which was to consist of not more than thirty members, and in the spring of 1783 the Jenkinses left to reconnoitre the Hudson river for a new place of settlement, taking with them $100,000.  They selected Claverack Landing as the site of the future city, and purchased the lands, Thomas Jenkins signing the deeds.  In the fall of 1783 two families arrived from Nantucket, one of them, that of Seth Jenkins, consisting of his wife, Dinah Folger, four children, one of them Robert, a boy of eleven years, and Dinah Coffin, the mother of Dinah Folger.  Seth Jenkins' house was the first to be built and during its erection his family lived on the ship.  In the spring of 1784 the other proprietors followed with their families.  Nearly all were rich men and brought with them several vessels and in some cases the frames of dwellings prepared at Nantucket for erection on their arrival.  May 14, 1784, the proprietors held their first meeting at the house of Seth Jenkins, who was one of the committee appointed to lay out the streets of the town.  In 1785 he and three others were members of a committee to draft the petition to the Legislature to incorporate Hudson as a city, and he was also appointed one of the committee to go to New York and present the same to the General Assembly.  Seth Jenkins was appointed the first mayor of Hudson and enjoyed the distinction from 1785 until his death July 30, 1793.  For thirty-three years, with the exception of two years, the office of mayor was held by some member of the Jenkins family.  Seth's son, Robert Jenkins, held many positions of honor and of trust, and at the age of nineteen years was at the head of the first cotton mill in the State.  He was assessor, 1795, secretary of first Turnpike Company, 1799, supervisor, 1799 to 1802, chamberlain 1802, county treasurer, 1802-1809, alderman 1807, and mayor of Hudson ten years, 1808-1813, 1815-1820, Presidential elector 1812, and one of three on Canal Company, 1812.  He also took a prominent part in military affairs, and was major of the Fourth Regiment Columbia County Artillery in the War of 1812.  Robert Jenkins married Christian Dayton on December 19, 1793, the issue being one child, Caroline Mayor Jenkins, who was born February 20, 1803, and who married, June 29, 1825, Dr. Samuel Pomeroy White, a physician and surgeon of note.  Christian Dayton was born in Providence June 13, 1774, and was the daughter of Judge Hezekiah Dayton, son of Lieut.-Col. Isaac Dayton and one of the original proprietors of Hudson.  Robert Jenkins' house, built in 1811, has been presented by his granddaughter, Mrs. Marcellus Hartley, to the Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the Daughters  of the American Revolution.  The dedication exercises were held May 15, 1900, and were attended by many prominent guests.  The house contains a public library and reading room, an auditorium, museum, the chapter room of the society and a large dining room and kitchen.  It retains the Colonial lines and is  papered and decorated accordingly.  Robert Jenkins died November 11, 1819, in the forty-eighth year of his age.  His funeral was attended by the largest assemblage of persons ever before witnessed in Hudson on a similar occasion.  He lived an honored and useful life and was a worthy representative of a family who number among their ancestors three of the chief magistrates of Nantucket , including Thomas Macy, the hero of Whittier's poem, "The Exiles."  

Page 127:

JESSUP, John H., of Hudson, was born in Hudson, N. Y., on September 20, 1849, son of Capt. John D. and Elizabeth (Best) Jessup, and grandson of William Jessup, a native of Hampstead, N. Y., who settled in Hudson in 1820.  Capt. John D. Jessup was a lifelong mariner, engaged in whaling.  He retired from his seafaring life and died in Hudson on the 9th of November, 1859.  John H. Jessup was educated in the public schools of Hudson, and for some years was engaged in the ice trade.  In 1896 he was elected sheriff of Columbia county and served the usual three-year term, performing the duties of that office intelligently and for the public's interest.  At the expiration of his official term he entered into the meat and provision trade, in which he is engaged at the present time.  He has served as alderman two terms.  Mr. Jessup was married in 1887 to Anna Hannon, and they have one daughter, Ruth L.

Page 129:

JOHNSON, Benoni S., of Hudson, N. Y., was born in New Lebanon, N. Y., June 23, 1842.  His great-grandfather, Richard M. Johnson, was a pioneer of New Lebanon, whence he enlisted in the army in the Revolutionary War, and his grandfather, Prentice Johnson, and his father, Jason H. Johnson, were natives of that town.  The latter was a farmer all his life; his wife was Sally, daughter of Benoni Sherman; he died in 1864.  Benoni S. Johnson was educated at the Claverack Academy, and in 1869 settled in Hudson, where he engaged in the wholesale and retail coal trade, which he has followed since, and is conducting at the present time.  He served four years as commissioner of public works; is a director of the National Hudson River Bank, and vice-resident of the Harder Knitting Company.  In 1877 he was married to Annie W., daughter of the late John Stanton Gould, the well known lecturer upon agricultural topics.  They have two daughters, Hannah G. and Hilda S.   

Pages 129 & 130:

JOHNSON, Charles H., p. o. East Chatham, N. Y., was born in the town of New Lebanon, N. Y., April 6, 1849, son of William Henry Johnson, a native of the same town, born July 30, 1821, a farmer and merchant, who was married to Mary S. Gale and had these children:  Charles H., Eugene (deceased), Carrie E., born August 5, 1857, and David, born May 27, 1862.  Mr. W. H. Johnson died in 1886, and his wife Mary in 1867.  Chalres H. Johnson, after obtaining his education in the public schools, came to East Chatham in 1865 and engaged in the mercantile trade with Mr. E. G. Palmer.  He has been town collector, notary public fifteen years, and in 1890 was appointed postmaster at East Chatham and is still in office.  He was married to Hattie E. King; they had one son, Edward C., who is a clerk in his father's store, and who was married to Alice E. Bradley; they have one daughter, Gladys May, born March 18, 1899.  C. H. Johnson and his son are both members of Columbia Lodge, No. 98, F. & A. M., and the latter is assistant postmaster and was elected town collector of Chatham in 1899.

Pages 130 & 131:                                     

JOHNSON, Henry Warner, M. D., of Hudson, N. Y., was born in Stillwater, Saratoga county, N. Y., January 10, 1867, son of Rev. William M. Johnson, D. D.   The latter was a native of Washington county; for the past thirty-four years he has been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Cohoes, Albany county, N. Y.; he married Anna Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan and Maria Simpson Warner of Washington county, N. Y.  The Warner family trace their descent from soldiers in the Revolutionary army and in the War of 1812.  Dr. Henry W. Johnson received his preparatory education at Granville Military Academy in Washington county, and was graduated from Hamilton College in 1889.  Selecting the medical profession for his lifework, he entered the medical department of Union University, from which he was graduated with the usual degree in 1891.  He settled in Hudson and began a practice which has been highly satisfactory, making a specialty of throat diseases.  He is a member of the board of health, and surgeon to Company D, First Regiment, N. G. N. Y.  Dr. Johnson has earned a high standing in his profession, and as a citizen has performed with zeal those duties which devolve upon all true Americans.  In 1898 he was married to Anna Elizabeth, daughter of Robert F. and Sarah Groat.  They are the parents of one son, Robert Groat Johnson.  Robert F. Groat (deceased), was born in the town of Ghent, N. Y., August 6, 1819.  The homestead where he was born has been in possession of the Groat family for four generations.  The family came from Holland about 1720, Hendrick Groat being the ancestor of the subject of this notice and the first of the family to settle in Ghent.  His son Peter was a participant in the Revolutionary War and received therefor a pension.  He was succeeded by his son William, father of Robert F.  Robert F. Groat was educated in the common and private schools, and until 1851 devoted his time to farming.  In the year last mentioned he removed to Hudson and engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery trade, in which he continued until 1891, when he retired, with the reputation of a good business man, industrious, honest, frugal, and an exemplary citizen.  In 1852 he was married to Sarah J., daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Harder) Foland, of Oneida, Madison county, N. Y.  They had one daughter, Anna Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Henry Warner Johnson.  Mr. Groat died on November 13, 1893, leaving a record of a long life of worthy acts and upright conduct.

Page 329:

JOHNSON, Frank, was born in Hillsdale, June 2, 1857.  His father, William Leonard Johnson, was born in the town of Hillsdale in 1816 and was a farmer.  He married Emeline Sornborger, who bore him children as follows:  Ida (deceased), William (deceased), Frank, and George Q.  Mr. Johnson died in October, 1891, and his wife September 18, 1890.  Frank Johnson was educated in the public and select schools; he taught school for a number of winters and is now engaged in farming on the old homestead that has been in possession of the family for three generations.  Mr. Johnson has two children:  Mabel M., born January 18, 1866, and Leonard, born May 3, 1890.

Page 329:

JOHNSON, Quincy, of Hillsdale, was born in the town of Hillsdale, July 16, 1857, son of John Q. (born August 28, 1820) and Sarah (Latting) Johnson, who were the parents of children as follows:  Wesley R., born January 6, 1845; Jane M., born February 4, 1847; Hiram W., born January 23, 1849; Pavala, born December 12, 1850; Lillie E., born August 14, 1855; Quincy, born as given above; and Theophilus, born November 18, 1859.  John Q. Johnson died in 1884 and his widow in November, 1895.  Quincy Johnson, the subject, received a good common school education and is now engaged in farming.  He married Alvina M., daughter of Martin J. Sweet, who bore him the following children:  Grace E., born in 1880; Floyd Q., born in 1887; Harry C., born in 1890, died November 13, 1890; Florence M., born January 20, 1892; Hazel M., born May 29, 1894, and Howard G., born September 9, 1897.

Page 131:

JONES, J. Wesley, p. o. Chatham, N. Y., was born in Wappinger's Falls, N. Y., January 4, 1835.  His father was John W. Jones, a native of Dutchess county, born in 1800, and a carpenter and farmer; he settled in Chatham in 1845.  His wife was Nancy Burtis, and their children were John Wesley and Mary A.  Mr. Jones died in January, 1867, and his widow survived until 1884.  John Wesley Jones was educated in the common schools.  His entry into business life was as clerk in a mercantile house, later serving in the same capacity in Hudson; and returning thence to Chatham, he engaged in the seed business.  In 1862-63 he devoted his time to recruiting men for the army, enlisting 600 in the service.  After the close of the war he organized the Chatham Mercantile Association, of which he was president four years.  In 1870 he engaged in the insurance business, and was the organizer of the Columbia County Insurance Co., and is president of it committee.  For twenty-five years he has been president of Chatham Seminary.  Mr. Jones has been a busy man all his life, and the results of his labor have been beneficial to his town and county.  He is a man of unimpeachable integrity and extremely popular in the community where he resides.  He was married to Minnie E. Tyler and they had two children, Carrie E. and Alice M.  Mrs. Jones died in 1863, and he afterward was married to Mary J., daughter of Rev. Samuel Uterly, who has borne him three children:  Bessie L., Arthur E., and Florence M. W.

Pages 131 & 132:

JORDAN, Benjamin S., of Claverack, was born in Hillsdale, May 8, 1837, a son of Abram I. and Mary (Snyder) Jordan, one of a family of eight children, of whom five are now living.  He was educated in the district school and attended the Hudson River Institute for two years.  His health not being very good, he was sent to his uncle's in Illinois, where he attended school and helped on the farm; he remained there three years, then came back and finished his studies in the Hudson River Institute.  He helped his father on the farm and for two winters taught school.  In 1859 he went west again, taught school there and assisted on the farm until 1865, when he came east and was married December 19, of that year, to Christina Pecktel, daughter of Abram and Margaret (Miller) Pecktel.  Mr. and Mrs. Jordan are the parents of one son, DeWitt C., born September, 1866, and is now employed as cashier in one of the leading hotels in New York city.  DeWitt C. married Carrie May New of Claverack, a daughter of Edwin A. and Matilda (Nash) New.  Mr. Jordan served on the board of assessors from 1866 to 1869.

Page 132:

JOSLEN, Charles E., of Hudson, was born in Salisbury, Conn., December 22, 1836.  He is a son of Elias Joslen, through life a farmer in Salisbury, dying at the age of nearly eighty-five years, and his mother was Electa Hollister.  They were worthy people and in the town where they spent their lives were respected and esteemed for the modest virtues that go to make an honorable life.  Charles E. Joslen received a public school education and began his business career in Hudson in 1862.  In 1874 he established his present bakery and confectionery business and has carried on since that date a successful and profitable business.  Persistent industry and unflinching honesty have been rewarded in his case with that success which is a crown of honor to any man in business.  He sustains an unblemished reputation as a business man, and as a citizen none has moved on a higher plane of respectability and moral rectitude.  He has been a faithful and influential member of the Methodist Episcopal church for twenty-three years, and has served the society as steward.  He was united in marriage in 1857 with Julia M., daughter of Miles Miner.  The fruit of this union is one son, Granville M.

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