Landmarks of Albany County, New York online

Hutchins Greek Prize for the highest attainment in Greek, and he was one of the
contestants for the Hardy Prize for extemporaneous debate. Mr. Goold graduated
from Amherst in 1879, and at the commencement exercises represented the Greek de-
partment, having been selected for this honor by the head of the Greek department.
While at college he was elected a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and sub-
sequently a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After graduation he returned
to the Albany Academy and taught Greek and Latin until 1881, when he went
toGerman)' and studied at Heidelberg and Berlin; after the winter term at Berlin he
went south into Italy and Greece, studying the language, habits and customs of the
people. He returned to Albany in 1882 and resumed his position as professor of
Greek and German in the Albany Academy. The summer of 1887 Mr. Goold spent
in Paris, and upon his return in the fall, he assumed charge of the French depart-
ment at the Albany Academy. He has edited for Ginn & Co. of Boston, a collection
of German stories for use in teaching the language. He is now professor of Greek
and modern languages at the Albany Academy. In 1883 he received the degree of
A. M. from Amherst. He is a charter member of the Albany Chess Club. In 1883
he married Louisa W. Hunt of St. Paul, Minn., and thej' have three children, Edgar
Hunt, John Chester and Katharine Hunt.



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Silliman, Rev. George Dent, D. U., rector of Grace church, corner of CHnton
avenue and Robin street, was born at Hobart, Delaware county, N. Y., March 21!,
1841. His father was Ebenezer Silliman, who married Ann Sturgess, 1837. The
family is of Connecticut origin, from one Daniel Silliman, who settled at Holland
Hill, two miles from Fairfield, in 1658; he was from Lucca. Italy, having lived at
Geneva, Switzerland. In ancient deeds his ancestor is called Lord Claude Silli-
mandi. Among the ancestors in Connecticut is the Hon. Ebenezer Silliman, 1707, a
member of the Colonial government, and grandfather of the elder Professor Silliman
of Yale College. On both sides of the family were those who were identified with
the Revolutionary war. The rector was educated at the Delaware Academy, Delhi.
N. Y., St. Stephen's College, Annandale, and the General Theological Seminary,
New York. He was made deacon by Bishop Doane in St. Peter's, Albany, Trinity
Sunday, 1870, and ordered priest in St. Paul's, Newburgh, by Bishop Horatio Potter,
November of the same year. He was rector of St. John's church, Monticello, N. Y.,
for three years, and the beautiful stone church there was built mostly by money then
raised, as was also St. Mary's. Thompsonville. From 1873 to 187.5 he was in charge
of Trinity church, San Francisco. In 1875 he married Mary C. Warren, daughter of
William E. Warren, of Newburgh; she died December 11, 1893, leaving three chil-
dren: Mary Warren, William Warren and George Stephen Silliman. After one year
at Napa, Cal., he took charge of St. George's chapel, Newburgh, and in the fall of
1877 was called to Grace church, Middletown. The church was sadly out of repair
and during his rectorship it was put in order and adorned; froin 1881 to 1893 he was
rector of St. Mark's church, Hoosic Falls, and here, too, the church was enlarged
and embellished under his rectorship. On Trinity Sunday, 1893, he became rector
of Grace church of Albany, N. Y., where twenty-two years before on that day he
preached his first sermon after ordination. Grace church on the Sunday after
Ascension, 1897, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and the Rev. Dr. Maunsell Van
Rensselaer preached at the morning service, he being the first rector fifty years since ;
the Rev. David L. Schwartz, D. D., preached at the evening service, he being a most
devoted rector for sixteen years and gave the parish its present life and standing.
These two men have left their impression on Albany for all that is^ood. The first
service was held in an upper room on the corner of State and Lark streets ; afterward
a church was built on the corner of Lark and Washington streets, and in 1873 it was
removed to Clinton avenue and Robin street. In 1884 it was enlarged under Rev. Dr.
Schwartz, and in 1894 a guild hall was added. From the day of its foundation to the
present it has been a free church and a working parish for working people who have
every reason to be proud of the results that have come, when no large sum of money
could ever be given.

Dumary, T. Henry, was born in Troy, N. Y-, November 5. 185.5. He is a son of
Charles Dumary and Margaret Parr, whose father, Richard, came to America from
England in 1820 and was a descendant of Thomas Parr who lived to the ripe old age
of 152. Mr. Dupiary was educated in the Troy public schools, after leaving which
he went into the employ of the Albany City Iron Works and the Jagger Iron Works
of Albany, where he had charge of the outside department and where he remained
six years. He then associated himself with Anthony N. Brady in the general con-
tracting business and remamed with him for twelve years. For the past two years



335

Mr. Dumary has been a contractor of sewer and street work and has handled some
very large contracts, particularly the Beaver street sewer, the largest in Albany.
For si.\ months in 1896 Mr. Dumary did work amounting to .'ii250,000. He is a mem-
ber of Temple Lodge F. & A. M., Capital City Chapter R. A. M., Dewitt Clinton
Council R. & S. M. and is past commander of Temple Commandery. He is also a
member of all the A. & A. Rite and is presiding officer in two bodies, and has been
elected to receive the thirty-third degree at Boston, Mass., in September, ]8i)T. Mr.
Dumary is also a member of Albany Lodge B. P. O. E. He began his service as a
public servant when very young, having been from ten to thirteen years of age
unanimously elected messenger to the Troy Common Council and Board of Educa-
tion. April 37, 1880, he married Carry B. McCann, daughter of Henry McCann, a
well known civil engineer and explorer, of Hudson, N. Y., who met his death
exploring in South America. They had three children: Janette, Robert A. and
Henry.

Garfield, Henry Whiting, was born in Albany, N.Y., November 16, 1848. He is a
son of Charles Lyman Garfield. His mother was Eleanor Cole, daughter of the late
Judge John O. Cole. Mr. Garfield is a descendant of the Puritans. Three brothers,
Garfields, came to America with the earliest settlers and their offsjjring fought in the
Colonial and Revolutionary wars. The late President Garfield was a member of the '
same family. Mayor Whiting, the first mayor of Boston, was an ancestor of Mr. Gar-
field. Mr. Garfield graduated from the Albany Classical Institute and immediately ob-
tained a clerkship in the Albany City Bank. He subsequently went to the Albany
Savings Bank, where he is at present accountant. Mr. Garfield is one of the best
known amateur oarsmen and for twelve years was president of the National Asso-
ciation of Amateur Oarsmen, and for twenty-two years he has been a member of its
executive committee. He is treasurer of St. Margaret's House and the Albany
Historical and Art Society; he is also a member and chairman of the house commit-
tee of the Albany Club.

Smith, Frank J., Ph. G., son of David A. and Elizabeth (McGaghey) Smith, was
born in Albany, N. Y., September 23, 1859. Both of Mr. Smith's parents were born
in Ireland ; his father came to America from County Moneghan, in May, 1834, and
settled in Albany. In 1847 he engaged in the grocery business on the corner of
Green street and Hudson avenue, on property .owned by the Ten Eyck estate. He
remained in business there for twenty-five years and subsequently moved to the
corner of Knox and Second streets. David A. Smith is now retired after a success-
ful business career. He was well known. Frank J. Smith attended Levi Cass's
Grand Street Institute and Amos Cass's Division Street Institute; subsequently he
atteoded School No. 15 and was a member of the first class graduated from that
school. In the fall of 1872 he went to the Albany High School, but owing to ill
health remained there only three months. March 17, 1873, he went to work in the
drugstore of John De P. Townsend as boy, where he remained thirteen years, in the
mean time attending the Albany College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated
February 27, 1883, being a member of the first class graduated from that college. In
1886 Mr. Smith started in the drug business for himself at his present location. No.
277 Clinton avenue, and in addition to the drug business he has an extensive bot-
tHng establishment. He was the first to put up carbonated root beer in champagne



336

bottles; he also puts up siphons of seltzer and vichy and manufactures many patent
medicines. In 1892 he was a candidate on the Republican ticket for the office of
coroner and received a large number of votes, but was counted out. He is a mem-
ber of Ancient City Lodge No. 452, F. & A. M., and Mt. Hermon Lodge No. S8,
I. O. O. F. He is also treasurer and for ten years has been vestryman of Grace
Episcopal church. He also belongs to the Unconditional Republican Club. June 1.
1881, he married Mary E., daughter of Thomas Fazaherly, the well-known baker,
and they have two children, Edna Flavell and F. J., jr.

Campion, George A., is a native of Albany, and a son of John Campion (one of
the oldest families of the Old Colonic, as it was called), who was a member of the
first police force of Albany. His mother's maiden name was Catharine Cummer-
ford. Mr. Campion had eight brothers and three sisters; two of the brothers being
connected in a public way with the affairs of the city: Patrick H., at one time assist-
ant engineer of the fire department and later practical engineer; and Martin A.,
who at the time of his death was a detective and sergeant of the police force. Mr.
Campion received his education in St. Joseph's School and in select schools under
direction of the Catholic clergy. After finishing his schoolmg he learned the sash,
blind and cabinet business and followed that trade for four or five years, when he
went into the employ of L. & P. K. Dederick, manufacturers of agricultural imple-
ments, remaming with that firm nine years. In 1870 he started the undertaking
business at No. 772 Broadway, and in 1873, in order to obtain larger quarters for a
rapidly increasing business, he moved to his present location, No. 63 Livingston
avenue. He is a member of the Catholic Union and of St. Joseph's church, of
which his father was one of the first membens. In 1875 Mr. Campion married
Hannah Holmes of Troy, N. Y., and they have two sons, John Ebel and George A.,
jr. John E. graduated from the United States College of Embalming in 1893 and is
now associated with his father in business.

Griswold, Stephen B., son of Martin and Hannah (Smith) Griswold, was b"rn in
the town of 'Vernon, Oneida county. N.Y., July 14, 1835. He is descended from old
New England families on both the paternal and maternal sides. His grandfather,
Matthew Griswold, was one of the first settlers in Vernon, and his great-grandfather,
Phiueas Griswold of Winchester township, Litchfield county. Conn., was descended
from one of the early settlers of Connecticut who came from Warwickshire, Eng-
land, in 1725, and founded the Griswold family in America. Stephen B. Griswold,
the subject of this sketch, worked on his father's farm until 1856, and in the mean
time attended the common school and the Vernon Academy. At the age of twenty-
two he wept West and spent the year 1857 in the State of Minnesota, where he was
one of the first white settlers in Meeker county. The following winter and sprmg
he spent teaching school in Winnebago county. 111. In 1858 he returned East and
spent nearly a year at his home in Vernon, when he decided upon the legal profes-
sion, and in the fall of 1859 entered the Albany Law School, graduating in tlie
spring of the following year and was admitted to the bar. The two following years
he was a student in the law office of Lyman Tremain and Rufus W. Peckham.
After leaving the office of Tremain & Peckham, Mr. Griswold practiced law in Al-
bany and Oneida counties until 1868, when he was induced by the late Chancellor
John V. L. Pruyn to accept the position of law librarian of the State Library, which



337

position he has held continuously for the past twenty-nine years. In 1868 the num-
ber of law books in the library was 20,000; now it is 58,000. In 1863 he prepared a
subject index of the law library and a supplement thereto in 1893. which has been
pronounced by Sir Frederick Pollock of London and other eminent jurists to be the
most satisfactory law catalogue yet published. Many changes have taken place
among the officials of the library since Mr. Griswold's connection with it. Not one
of the nineteen trustees who were in office when Mr. Griswold was appointed in 1868
is now living. Mr. Griswold is a member of the First Reformed church of Albany,
and has served several terms as deacon and elder. He is a member and has held
office in the Albany County Sunday School Association, the Y. M. C. A. the Albany
City Tract and Missionary Society, and the Albany County Bible Society. In No-
vember, 1860, Mr. Griswold married Angeline E. Cornwell of Albany. They have
one son, Henry E., who has been for seventeen years sub-librarian of the State Law
Library.

McLaren, James, son of John and Margaret(Bell) McLaren, was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland, February 6, 1833. He received his education in the private schools of
Edinburgh and in 1854 came to America, settling in Albany. He worked on the
Northern Railroad as machinist for about three years and in 18^ started in the busi-
ness of manufacturing machinist, having joined in the partnership of Pynchon &
McLaren, which was succeeded in 1864 by Anthony &- McLaren. In 1876 Mr. Mc-
Laren came into the sole possession of the business and has conducted it very suc-
cessfully at No. 4T Liberty street since then. In 1874 Mr. McLaren made an e.xten-
sive trip across the o^ean. He is very active in the St. Andrew's Society and is a
member of its board of managers.

Ryan, Thomas A., M. D., son of Andrew and Margaret (O'Shea) Ryan, was born
in Hudson, N. Y., in 1864. He attended the public schools of Hudson andWn 1881
removed to Albany, N. Y., and took a course at the Albany Commercial College.
While attending that college he began the study of medicine with the late Dr. Snow.
He ne.Kt studied with Dr. Vander Veer until 1890. and continued with Dr. Mac-
Donald until 1893, when he was graduated from the Albany Medical College, re-
ceiving the degree of M.D. Dr. Ryan was president of the class of '93 and received
the Bigelow prize of 830 in gold for the best work on the nose and throat. In Sep-
tember, 1893. Dr. Ryan commenced practice at No. 47 Eagle street, where he is now
located. He is a member of the Albany County Medical Society, Albany Press Club,
and is instructor in surgery at the Albany Medical College and attending surgeon to
the out-door department of the Albany Hospital; is an e.\-meniber of New York
State National Guard, having served six years in Co. I), 10th Battalion, of Albany
count}\

Ruso, Conrad, son of Nicholas F. and Catharme J. (Mosher) Ruso, was born in
Albany, N. Y., November 7, 1848. Mr. Ruso is of French origin, his great-great
grandfather having come to America from France, in the early part of the seventeenth
century and settled in Albany county. Conrad Ruso was educated in the Albany
public schools and the Albany Business College, from which he was graduated in
1866. After leaving college, he was emploj-ed for a short time as clerk in the whole-
sale grain house of Glazier & Thacher. Subsequently he went as bookkeeper into



338

the employ of his father, N. F. Ruso, wholesale commission merchant. In 1870 he
became a partner in the business and in 1875, after the death of his father, he suc-
ceeded to the sole ownership. Mr. Ruso is a member of Temple Lodge No. 14, F. &

A. M., Capital Chy Chapter No. 242, R. A. M., Temple Commandery No. 2, K. T.,
and Cyprus Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and is also a thirty-second degree Scottish
Rite Mason. He is president of the Acacia Club. In 1870 he married Eleanor \'.,
daughter of Rev. Charles Gorse, of Newburgh, N. Y., and they have one son,
Frank G.

Slingerland, 1 >e Witt Chester, .s