at college.
In the fall of 1853 Mr. Young removed to
Poughkeepsie, which has since been his home.
He has a beautiful residence at No. 98 South
Hamilton street, with fine grounds filled with
flowers, and every comfort and luxury attaina-
ble. Here, with no cares of business to annoy
him, he is passing the evening of his life in
peace and happiness, his only sorrow being the
loss of his beloved wife, who passed from
earth January 9, 1890. She was a member of
the Reformed Church (as is also Mr. Young),
and was a most estimable woman.
Mr. Young held various positions of honor
and trust, having been a trustee of \'assar Col-
lege forten years; vice-president and director of
the Farmers' and Manufacturers' Bank for sev-
eral years; trustee of the Savings Bank; presi-
dent of the cemetery board; and president of
the board of water works for three years. He
was one of the committee who drafted a new
charter for the city of Poughkeepsie, and has
always taken an active interest in its growth
and prosperity. He is a man of sterling integ-
rity, and has frequently been made executor of
large estates. In every relation of life Mr.
Young has borne an unblemished reputation,
and his worth as a man and a citizen is well
known and thoroughly appreciated, not only by
the public generally, but by a host of warm
personal friends.
REUBEN WILEY (deceased). During the
__ Civil war, the subject of this sketch, then
in the prime of his manhood, offered himself
to the Union cause. Enlisting in the Eighth
226
COMMEMORATIVE DIOORAPHWAL RECORD.
N. Y. H. A., he served with the quiet heroism
of the true soldier until death came to him in
the midst of the hard-fought struggle before
Petersburg, June i6, 1864.
Mr. Wile_v was of Scotch descent, his
great-grandfather, Hugh Wylie, being the first
ancestor to come to America. .Arriving in early
manhood, he located in the town of Clinton,
Dutchess county, where he became the owner
of a farm of 300 acres near Clinton Hollow.
He married Mary Hall, and had two children:
Reuben and Mary. Reuben Wiley's son, John
Wiley, our subject's father, was born and edu-
cated there, and also engaged in fanning in
mature years. He married Sarah Allen, and
eight children were born of this union: En-
sign (deceased), Allen, Reuben (our subject),
Mary Jane, Hannah M. , Martin (who served
as a soldier in the 150th N. Y. V. I.), and
William and Adeline (both deceased).
Reuben Wiley was born at the old home-
stead July 17, 1827, and received his early edu-
cation in the neighboring schools. At the age
of seventeen he went to Saratoga and engaged
in a general mercantile business, later moving
to New York City, where he went into the
commission business on Washington street.
W'hile there he married Miss Mary T. Adee, a
native of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county.
Of this marriage two children were born:
Samuel, now a resident of Fairbury, Neb.,
and S.Mv.^H -A., who was married October 13,
1875, in the town of Clinton, to John W.
Dutcher, a son of Lotan Dutcher and Eliza
(Doughty) Dutcher, of Lagrange. He was
educated at Clinton Hollow and Pleasant
Plains, later engaging in farming, and is now
one of the agriculturists of his vicinity. After
their marriage they lived in the town of Clin-
ton for two years, when they moved to the
town of Washington, remaining there twelve
years. In 1889 they returned to Clinton Hol-
low, where they have since resided. They
have two children: Reuben W. and Lotan IL
In politics Mr. Dutcher is a Republican.
RTHUR FRANCIS HOAG, M. D., a
prominent physician of Millerton, is a
native of the town of Northeast, Dutchess
county, born November 1 1 , 1856. His family
is of English origin.
William P. Hoag, our subject's father, was
born in the town of Pine Plains, Dutchess
county, in 18 19, and received a good literary
education. He was of a scientific turn of
mind, and while he was always an interested
reader on general subjects, he made a special
study of geology. Until 1873 he was a farmer
in the town of Northeast, whence he removed
to Wabasha, Minn., where for some years he
conducted a storage elevator for grain, later
going to Cass county. North Dakota, and en-
gaging in farming. He married Mar}' Jane Sim-
mons, daughter of John Simmons, a wealthy
farmer of near Chatham, Columbia county,
N. Y., and had four sons: William Edward,
born May 4, 1852, now a traveling salesman;
Arthur Francis, our subject; Robert Henry,
born November 22, 1858, a commission mer-
chant of Minneapolis; and Charles Simmons,
born November 25, i860, a farmer at Nor-
cross, Minn. On his removal to the West,
Mr. Hoag was accompanied by all of his fam-
ily except our subject, and since 1890 has made
his home with his son in Minneapolis. He has
always been a Republican, but has never
sought or held office. In religious belief he is
a Quaker, and has by his upright and consist-
ent life commanded the esteem of his asso-
ciates.
Dr. Hoag received an excellent education
in his youth, studying the English branches,
and also the classics with Rev. A. H. Seeley,
of Smithfield, Dutchess county. At the age of
seventeen he entered the office of Dr. Sidney
Stillman, of Millerton, as a medical student,
where he remained three years, making a spe-
cialty of surgery. In 1876 he entered the med-
ical department of Columbia College, and was
graduated in 1879, having taken special work
in anatomy and surgery in addition to the pre-
scribed course. He took clinics with Dr.
Sands, and did a great deal of hospital work.
On August 16, 1876, he returned to Millerton
and formed a partnership with Dr. Stillman,
which continued three years, since which time
he has practiced alone. His preparation for
his work has been most thorough, and he is no
less painstaking in his practice, and as a result
he has a large business extending throughout
the northeastern part of the county. He holds
in a high degree the confidence of the commu-
nity, and has been health officer of the town of
Northeast and the village of Millerton for about
ten years, being elected on the Republican
ticket. He is also medical examiner for eight
life insurance companies; he is a member of
the State Medical Society and the County Med-
ical Society. The Doctor is a liberal-minded
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
227
man, and holds to the simple and tolerant
Quaker faith in which he was reared. So-
cially, he is a member of Webatuck Lodge No.
4S0, F. & A. M., in which he has held various
offices. He takes an active interest in local
affairs, and is now a member of the board of
education.
In 1 88 1 Dr. Hoag was married to Miss
Jessie L. Wheeler, daughter of the late Nor-
man Wheeler, of the town of Northeast, and
they have two sons: Arthur Edmond and
William Harvey.
GEORGE W. CONKLIN (deceased). A
life so strongly marked by worthy ambi-
tion and well-directed energy as that of the
subject of this brief memoir, cannot fail to
con\'ey to every reader a practical lesson which
they would do well to heed. Although of good
family, Mr. Conklin's chief inheritance con-
sisted of the vigorous mentality and upright
character upon which his success was based.
His ancestors were among the early settlers of
Putnam Valley, Putnam county, and his par-
ents, William and Phcebe (Sirrine) Conklin,
resided upon the old Conklin homestead north
of Oscawana Lake, where on January 3, 1828,
our subject was born.
Mr. Conklin was educated in the schools
near his home, and had no other advantages;
but, being fond of books, he supplemented his
common-school education by extensive read-
ing, and became a man of broad information.
As a student of human nature, he enjoyed fic-
tion, and Dickens' works were his especial
favorites. He was phenomenally successful in
business. When seventeen years of age he
went to Maryland to get out ship timber, and
immediately after arriving there he was recog-
nized as a young man of good ability, and was
put in charge of a gang of men who were en-
gaged in that work. He remained there until
1850, when he was married to Miss Elizabeth
Jenkins, of Phillipstown, Putnam county. He
then gave his attention to building bridges on
the Hudson River railroad, having charge of a
gang of men on the extension from Poughkeep-
sie north, and was in the employ of the road
until the last year of the Civil war. He went
to Port Royal in March, 1865, returning in
July of that year, and then entered the em-
ply of the government in the navy yards at
Brooklyn. He laid tracks, and was the gen-
eral overseer during his stay of four years.
There he became acquainted with R. G. Pack-
ard, and later he formed a partnership with
him in the dredging business. This was an
extensive enterprise, and he was quite success-
ful, continuing for twenty-six years at least.
After leaving the navy yard Mr. Packard and
Mr. Conklin went with Morris & Cumings;
but after a while Mr. Packard went into busi-
ness for himself, and Mr. Conklin accompanied
him, and continued in the business until within
three years of his death, which occurred May
8, 1893. He helped in the making of dredg-
ing machinery, and in all the different branches
of the business, having a natural talent for
mechanics. By nature he was energetic and
forceful, and would have been successful in
anything.
In his political faith Mr. Conklin was a
strong Republican, but he was not especiallj'
active in party work. For some time he was
a member of the fire department at Pough-
keepsie, Cataract Company No. 4, and be-
came an exempt fireman. In religion he was
was a Methodist.
Mr. Conklin had a pleasant home and a
charming family. His wife was a daughter of
David and Ann (Stevens) Jenkins, of Phillips-
town, Putnam county. Six children blessed
their union: (11 George L., born November
14, 1852, is a machinist, and has been in the
dredging business. He married Miss May
Pickert, and has three children: May Eliza-
beth, George Wesley and L. Clyde. {2) Lillie
J. is married to William Saltford, an English-
man, and a florist by occupation. They have
two sons: W. Arthur and George C. (3)
Minnie C. married William Seeholzer, of Mid-
dletown. N. Y. , proprietor of the R. R. res-
taurant, and has one daughter, Helen C. (4)
Lizzie M. is at home. (5) Josephine and (6)
Carrie died in infancy.
Mrs. Conklin is the granddaughter of Joel
Jenkins, a native of Maine, who was a soldier
in the Revolutionary war. He and two broth-
ers were among the first to enlist in that strug-
gle, and the three were engaged in the first
battles. One brother was shot in one of the
earl}' engagements, but Joel Jenkins and other
brother served throughout the war, and after
its close he settled south of the Croft's church,
in the town of Phillipstown. The Jenkins
fann'ly of that place are descended from him.
He married Elizabeth Garrison, and had the
following children: David, Mrs. Conklin's fa-
ther; Polly, who married Daniel Bishop; Sarah
228
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
(Mrs. Masters); Isaac, who lived at Garrison;
Abram, the fifth in order of birth; Hannah
("Mrs. Curry); Susan, wife of James Croft;
James; and Ann, who married Mr. Jennings.
HENRY E. ALLISON. M. D., medical
superintendent of the Matteawan State
Hospital, at Matteawan, was born December
I, 185 I, at Concord, N. H., a son of William
H. and Catherine (Anderson) Allison.
He received his preliminary education at
the public schools of his native city, later at-
tending Kimball Union Academy at Meriden,
N. H., where he graduated in 1871. In the
fall of the same year he entered the classical
department of Dartmouth College. He was
elected president of the class in his Senior
year, and graduated with honors in 1875.
Among his classmates was Gov. Frank S.
Black, of New York. After graduation, in
the fall, he taught the high school of Hills-
borough Bridge, N. H., and during the follow-
ing year attended the full course of Tectures
and instruction at Dartmouth Medical Col-
lege. In June, 1878, he received the degree
of M. D. at Dartmouth, and in August com-
menced the practice of his profession in the
capacity of an assistant physician at the Wil-
lard Asylum, in the town of Ovid, N. Y. , an
institution then containing some twelve hun-
dred patients. Here he remained in charge of
various medical departments of the service
until March, 1883, when he resigned, although
strong inducements were offered him to re-
main. After pursuing a post-graduate course
at the New York Polyclinic, he commenced
the general practice of medicine at ^^'aterloo,
Seneca Co., N. Y., where he remained some
fourteen months, meeting with excellent suc-
cess. During this time (1883-84) he served
as town physician. At the urgent request of
the board of trustees of the Wiliard Asylum,
he returned in 1884 to that institution as first
assistant physician, passing the State Civil Serv-
ice examinationfor that position held in New
York City. On July 1, 1889, he was ap-
pointed medical superintendent of the State
Asylum for Insane Criminals at Auburn, Ca-
yuga Co., N. Y., an institution at that time
containing two hundred and nineteen patients.
By virtue of this office he also became, by
statute, a member of the commission created
by the Legislature to erect a new asylum for
insane criminals which was founded at .Mat-
teawan, Dutchess county, and to which, upon its
completion, the inmates of the old Auburn
asylum were transferred April 25, 1S92. This
new institution is now known as the Matteawan
State Hospital, of which Dr. Allison is the med-
ical superintendent and treasurer. The total cost
of the buildings and grounds was in the neigh-
borhood of $900,000; the hospital has accom-
modations for five hundred and fifty patients.
Dr. Allison became a member of the Seneca
County Medical Society in 1879, and was
elected president of the society in 1S86; was
also president of the Seneca County Medical
Association. He is a member of the Dutchess
County Medical Society, the Newburgh Bay
Medical Society, and of the American Medico-
Psychological Association, and an honorary
member of La Soci^te de Medecine Mentale,
of Belgium.
Dr. Allison has published the following pa-
pers and monographs: "A Case of Multiple
Tubercular Tumor of the Brain " [New York
Medical Record, August, 1882]; "Cerebral
Lesions in the Chronic Insane" [Alienist and
Neurologist, July, 1885]; "Moral and Indus-
trial Management of the Insane " [Alienist and
Neurologist, April, 18S6]; "Mental Changes
Resulting from the Separate Fracture of Both
Thighs" [American Journal of Insanity, July,
1886]; "Notes in a Case of Chronic Insanity"
[American Journal of Insanity, April, 1887];
"An Historical Sketch of Seneca County Med-
ical Society" [Press of Brandow & Speed, Al-
bany. 1887]; "On a General System of Report-
ing Autopsies in American Asylums for the In-
sane" [Read before the Association of Medical
Superintendents of American Institutions for
the Insane, Newport, R. I., June, 1SS9; Amer-
ican Journal of Insanit}', October, 1889]; a
short contribution to " De La Responsibilite
Attenuee." by Henry Thierry, Paris, 1891; "On
Motives Which Govern the Criminal Acts of
the Insane" [Read before the Association of
Medical Superintendents of .American Institu-
tions for the Insane, Washington, D. C, May,
1892; American Journal of Insanity, October,
1 892] ; â– â– The Insane Criminal " [The Summary,
December, 1S92]; " Insanity Among Criminals"
[Read before the American Medico-Psycho-
logical Association, Philadelphia, Penn., May,
1894; American Journal of Insanity, July,
1894; Criminal Law Magazine and Reporter,
Vol. 16, 1894]; "On the Care of the Crimi-
nal Insane in the State of New York " [Read
at the annual meeting of the Trustees and Su-
i^i
Lx^^ - cr*-^ ^
COMMEMOBATIVE BIOGBAJ'SICAZ RECORD.
-OOQ
perintendents of the State Hospitals of New
York, Matteawan. October, 1S94: Conglomer-
ate, October, 1894]; ••Some Relations of
Crime to Insanity and States of Mental En-
feeblement" [Read at the annual meeting of
the American Medical Association, Atlanta.
Ga., May, 1896: Journal of the American Med-
ical Association, September, 1896]; ••Simple
Melancholia and its Treatment " [Read at
Newburgh Bay Medical Society: Medical Rec-
ord, January, 1897]; four annual reports of
the "State Asylum for Insane Criminals," 1889.
'90, "91, '92; four annual reports of the "Mat-
teawan State Hospital, â– â– 1893, '94, '95, '96.
In addition, although not seeking the work, he
has been frequently called upon to testify as an
expert medical witness in various important
trials before the courts.
On Octobers. 1884, Dr. Allison was married
to Miss .\nna M. De Puy, daughter of Lewis
and Sabina E. (Schoonmaker) De Puy. of
Kingston, N. Y., and four children, as follows,
have come to brighten their home: Catherine
De Puy, Elizabeth Shand. William Henry and
Anna. On February 24. 1889, at Ovid. N. Y.,
he united with the Presbyterian Church, and
is now a member and an elder of the First Re-
formed Dutch Church at Fishkill Landing, N.
Y. ; socially, he is a member of Union Lodge,
No. 114, F. & A. M.; of Dartmouth College
Association of New York, and of the Associa-
tion of the Alumni of Dartmouth College.
the courts of the State where the plea of in-
sanity' arises as a defense for crime. Such
persons are committed to its custody
the continuance of their mental disease. The
population again rapidly increased at Mattea-
wan. until, within four years from its opening
on the new site, the hospital was filled to more
than its utmost capacity. The desirability of
separating the convicted from the unconvicted
inmates had long been recognized, and it was
recommended that this end should be accom-
plished by providing a hospital in connection
with one of the State Prisons, to be built by
1, convict labor, and for the purpose of caring
onlv for the convict insane. Gov. Morton in
his annual message approved the project, and
an appropriation for this purpose was made
at the legislative session of 1896. Complete
plans for the new Institution, designed when
finished to accommodate six hundred inmates,
were prepared by Dr. Allison, and the buildings
are now under construction. The change will
relieve the Matteawan State Hospital of an un-
desirable class of patients, and enable the hos-
pital to expand along lines more favorable to
its proper development and growth.
T/ic Matteaivan State Hospital was origi-
nally established at Auburn, in 1855, and
opened for the reception of patients in Febru-
ary, 1859. Next to Utica it is the oldest of
the State hospitals for the insane. Designed
at first for the care of insane convicts, its
scope has been gradually enlarged until it now
provides for all classes of insane criminals, and
occupies a position of highest iiiiportance
among the hospitals of the State. Its growth
at .\uburn was not rapid, but the buildings be-
came overcrowded in the course of years, finally
rendering it necessary to erect a new institu-
tion upon a larger scale and a more convenient
site; and Matteawan, in the Hudson River
\'alley, was selected. Modern buildings, com-
plete in every detail, were erected there, and
the new asylum opened in April, 1S92. Its
name was subsequently changed from the State
Asylum lor Insane Criminals to the Matteawan
State Hospital. It receives patients not only
from penal institutions, but also all cases from
I
CORNELL, M. D., a prominent
X phvsician of Wappingers Falls, Dutchess
county, was born in Defreestville, Rensselear
Co.. N. Y.. April 26. 1851, the son of Rev.
William A. and Helen M. (Wyckoffl Cornell.
Peter Cornell, the great-grandfather of our
subject, was born April i, 1756, and married
Maria Meserole, who was born October 22,
1758. and their family comprised nine children
as follows: Cornelius, born in 1781, was a
farmer in Lagrange; Isaac (i) died in infancy;
Isaac (2) was the grandfather of our subject;
Sarah married a Mr. Van Valen; Jane married
Matthew Luyster; Margaret died unmarried:
Maria and Cornelius died in infancy; Eliza-
beth, born in 1790, married Oliver Todd.
Peter Cornell and his wife were members of
the Reformed Dutch Church. Of this family,
Isaac married Miss Hoffman, a native of Dutch-
ess county, and they settled on a farm in La-
grange, where they reared their seven children,
to wit: Peter M.. a farmer in the town of
Lagrange; William .\., father of our subject;
Frederick, a farmer in Kansas; Margaret mar-
ried to Darius Howland; and Mary, Elizabeth
and Isabella.
William .\. Cornell, father of Isaac M.,
230
OOMMEMORA TIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
grew to manhood on his father's farm, and
after completing a common-school education
entered Rutgers College, at New Brunswick,
N. J., where he prepared himself for the min-
istry. During the better part of his life he was
a preacher in the Reformed Church, but his
health becoming impaired he returned to the
farm at Lagrange, where he died August i8,
J876. During his ministry he was pastor of
the churches at Athens and Blooming Grove,
N. Y. , or Defreestville, as it is now called.
About 1853 he gave up regular work, but
preached occasionally until the time of his
death. On April 12, 1843, he married Miss.
Helen M., daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth
Wyckoff, the former of whom was a native of
New Brunswick, N. J.; the family was of old
Holland stock. Of this union six children
were born: Elizabeth W., who married
Thomas B. Burnett, of Orange, N. J. ; Helen,
who died in infancy; Sarah I^. , who married
James Y. Luyster, of New Hackensack, N. Y.;
Isaac M., our subject; William A., who mar-
ried Bertha Schultz, and lives at Sioux Falls,
S. Dak.; and Jacob W., assistant treasurer of
the Wappingers Savings Bank, who married
Emma Stockholm, and resides in Wappin-
gers Falls.
The subject of this sketch was brought up
on his father's farm in Lagrange, and attended
the district school until he was fifteen years of
age. Subsecjuently he became a student in
the Carey and Pelham Institute, Poughkeep-
sie, N. Y., and then began the study of med-
icine with Dr. S. S. Greene, of Lagrangeville.
In 1873 he entered the Medical Department of
the University of New York, and graduated
therefrom m the class of 'yj. After his grad-
uation Dr. Cornell went to Buffalo, N. Y. , and
for some time practiced with his old precep-
tor; then resided at New Hamburg, N. Y. ,
and in the spring of 1878 settled at Wap-
pingers Falls, where he has since made his
home. The Doctor stands high with his pro-
fessional brethren, and has been very success-
ful in his calling. He has secured the confi-
dence of the public, and has made many
friends by his genial manners and kindly dis-
position. His practice is one of the largest in
the vicinity.
On October 30, 1878, Dr. Cornell was
married to Miss Kate E. Dorland, a sister of
C. P. Dorland, the county surrogate. She
died July 29, 18S0, and June 6, -1883, the
Doctor was married to Elizabeth W., a
daughter of Joseph D. Harcourt. a sketch of
whom will be found on anotfier page. Mar-
tense H., born December 26, 1884, is the
only child of this union. In his political
views, the Doctor is a Republican. From
1883 to 1886 he was health officer of the town
of Wappinger, and in 1878 was appointed to
the same office for the town of Poughkeepsie.
He has been a member of the Dutchess County
Medical Society since 1878; is a trustee of the
Wappingers Savings Bank; belongs to Wap-
pingers Lodge No. 671, F. & A. M., at Wap-
pingers Falls, to Poughkeepsie Chapter No.
172, R. A. M., and PougkheepsieCommandery
No. 43, K. T. In all respects he is one of the
leading citizens of W'appingers Falls.
WILLIAM MORGAN LEE, one of the
prominent attorneys of Poughkeepsie,
Dutchess county, is a member of a family
which has long held a leading position in this
locality.
Darius Lee, his father, was born July 28,
1794, in East Fishkill, and in early manhood
moved to Poughkeepsie, where he became
identified with several important business enter-
prises, a general store, a carriage factory, and
a hotel at Arlington. He was one of the
founders of Heading M. E. Church, was for
many years a class leader and local preacher,
and he held for a long time the office of justice
of the peace in the town of Poughkeepsie. He
married for his second wife Naomi Odell, who
was born July 28, 1812, a native of Putnam
county, and they had seven children, of whom
our subject is the eldest; the others were:
Kate, a successful teacher in the public schools