Landmarks of Albany County, New York online

he also took a thorough course of lectures at the Albany Law School, from which he
was graduated in 1880, taking the degree of LL.B. The five years he spent with
Smith, Moak & Buchanan were years of deep study, rare intellectual pleasure, and
lasting profit, upon which he will always look back with pride and satisfaction.

After leaving the law school Mr. Mj-ers began for himself the general practice of
the law, and succeeded in establishing an excellent reputation as a thorough, pains-
taking lawyer, a safe, candid, and conscientious legal adviser. His specialty in the
law department has been in investigating, and expounding cases pertaining to Surro-
gate's Court, and to the law and practice of voluntary assignments; and in this field
he has been uniformly and eminently successful. One of his earlier and most mem-
orable efforts was in connection with the contested will case of the late J. H. Hidley,
of Albany, in which §90,000 were involved. Hundreds of other cases of less note he
has carried to a speedy and satisfactory issue and settlement on his part. He has
likewise gained wide distinction as counsel for the Accident Insurance Company of
North America, settling many hundred claims. Mr. Myers now devotes his attention
to office practice, and to the management and care of large estates, for which he is
.admirably adapted and perfectly responsible. He has been and is now the executor
and administrator of vast es;ates involving many hundred thousand dollars. Like
his father, he is himself a large owner of real estate and has inherited from the
old stock a thorough knowledge of the same, hence he is often called upon and his
judgment requested in the investment of moneys and of estates.

In 1887 Mr. Myers made a second tour abroad, combining pleasure with study.
He remained six months in Europe, visiting most all places of interest from the
borders of Russia to the French coast and from the Adriatic to the North Sea. He
possesses a vigorous constitution, a most active temperament, and a quick, elastic
step, and is ever attentive to business demands. He belongs to no societies, clubs,
nor organizations except the Masonic order. He has an utter aversion to politics
and political life, and has declined various offers of trust and responsibility in this
line, even refusing a directorship in one of the city's leading banks, in which he was
a heavy stockholder.

Mr. Myers is a close student of human nature, a keen observer of men, a born
financier, and though comparative young in years his advice on men and affairs has
lieen and is constantly sought by many prominent merchants and bankers. He is
ready in conversation, and has a friendly, social, benevolent nature, with a just sense



16

of what is right, and an integrity that is unimpeachable. His word is as good as
his bond. His love of books is a marked feature of his busy, useful career. Besides
possessing an excellent law library he has gathered around him one of the largest
and finest miscellaneous collections of books in the city, His taste runs in the di-
rection of rich, rare, standard volumes and choice editions, and in the calmer hours
of his life he finds a world of pleasure in poring over his literary treasures ; for
reading and study is his life from which he would not be debarred. He is not only
a well read lawyer, but thoroughly posted on all general historical, biographical,
literary, and scientific topics.

In 1888 Mr. Myers was married to Miss Pauline Fisher, an estimable and accom-
plished young lady of Logansport, Ind., and their pleasant home at No. 12 First
street, Albany, is the center of true domestic happiness and hospitality. They have
one son, Daniel Herman Myers, who was born March 16, 1889.



JAMES BLUNN.

J.\MKS Bi.iNN, who with his brothers, Thomas and WilHam, was the builder of
many of the older brick buildings of West Troy, is a son of Charles Blunn, a
central figure in the early development of West Troy. He is a mason, having
acquired the trade in his native country, England, where he was born in Warwick-
shire in 1823. He came to West Troy in 1847, where his father had been located for
nineteen years. He was in partnership with his brothers until their death, even in
their abstinence from tobacco and intoxicants. Mr. Blunn built the Watervliet Ar-
senal, his brothers William and Thomas being his partners. In early life he was a
maker of gelatine, working for the proprietors of what is now known as " Coxe's Gela-
tine," ofwhich George Nelson was the original manufacturer. Mr. Blunn has been
married three times, and has four daughters, one of whom is Mrs. J. C. Covert, sr. , of
this place; one Mrs. F. W. Covert, of this place; the other is Mrs. Eugene Linn of.
East Troy; the youngest daughter, Caroline I., by his present wife, who was Kdith
Shackelton, niece of the late Robert Inwood of Troy.



FRANK BROWN.

Fkank Brow-N is a resident of Cohoes since 1859, and is now retired from active
business life, an aged and respected citizen. He was a self-made man, full of energy
and courage. He obtained an ordinary school education in Prussia, where he was
born in 1824, and there learned the spinner's trade. On coming to America in 1856
he followed his trade and in 1860 came here, opening a cotton batting shop, continu-
ing in the business for ten years. In 1869 he bought the Miller House block, the
hotel in which he conducted for seven years. Though a Democrat he is very liberal
in his political view.s. His wife was Alice Longtree, of English birth, who died in 1864,
leaving one son, Francis W. Brown, born in 1863. He is a noble young man and
held in high respect by all who know him ; he lives with his father and has charge of




tUWARD MCCREARY



tlic ical estate iuterests. November -1, l.S()5, Mr. Hnnvn niarned Miss Magdalena
Ficistohs, of Canton, Ohio. He is a director of the Manufacturers Bank of Cohoes,
and a member of the German Catholic church.



EDWARD McCREARY.

EiAvAKh McCuE.iRv, president of the Albany County Board of Supervisors, is a
Kei)ublicau, and represents the Fifth ward of the city of Cohoes in that body. He
was born in Malone, Franklin county, N. Y. , September 15, 1847. Five years later
he moved with his parents to Cohoes. He was educated in the public schools of that
city. In 1862 he entered the Cohoes Iron Foundry and Machine Shop as an appren-
tice. A year later he went to Scranton and served his time as a machinist. He
returned to Cohoes in 186fi and entered the machine shops of the Harmony Cotton
Mills. Soon after he engaged with his brother, the iate John McCreary, in the man-
ufacture of Pin Napping and Brushing Machinery. Mr. McCreary is the patentee of
several valuable pieces of knitting machinery and an automatic fender for electric
cars. His father was overseer of the spinning department in the Ogden Mills, was a
soldier of the 54th N. Y. Regt., and was killed during the war. Mr. McCreary is
interested in military matters and was for many years captain of the well known
Adams Zouaves. He is a member of Cohoes Lodge No. 116, F. & A. M., and presi-
dent of the John McCreary Steamer Co.



GEN. ROBERT SHAW OLIVER.

Gkn. Kokekt Shaw Oliver was born in Boston, Mass., September 13, 1847. He
always evinced great interest in military affairs; his education tending to develop
his natural taste. He received a thorough training in the Military School of Mal-
borugh Churchill at Sing Sing, N. Y., and went directly from it into the volunteer
service, receiving a commission as second-lieutenant in the 5th Massachusetts Cav-
alry, September 37, 1864. Although but seventeen years of age he was almost
immediately placed in command of his troop, and was in his first action within two
weeks after receiving his commission. While serving before Petersburg he was
selected by General Cole to be his aide-de-camp and appointed A. D. C. Cavalry
Brigade, 3d Division, 25th Army Corps. On September 3. 1865, he|was appointed
by General Clark to be assistant adjutant general of the Third Division, 25th Army
Corps, then serving in Texas after the close of the war. On the recommendation
of his superior officers he was commissioned second-lieutenant, 17th U. S. Infantry,
February 23, 1866, and after a short service in New York harbor was again ordered
to Texas with his regiment as acting adjutant, and later received his promotion as
first lieutenant 26th Infantry. At his own request he was transferred to the 8th U.
S. Cavalry, and appointed first lieutenant of that regiment May 7, 1867, and ordered
to the Pacific Coast, where he served for three years in California, Oregon and
Arizona in the various Indian wars at that time, and was promoted captain October



31. 1869. After leaving the army lie returned to the East and moved from Boston
to Albany. Becoming interested in the development of the National Guard he ac-
cepted the colonelcy of the 10th Regt., August 25, 1873, assistant adjutant-general,
9th Brigade, July 11, 1878: brigadier-general and inspecto' -general of the State of
New York, January 1, 1880; brigadier-general, 5th Brigade, January 10, 1883; briga-
dier-general, 3d Brigade, December 30, 1890. a position which he still holds, an
almost unbroken line of service for thirty-four years.

In social and civil life General Oliver has long been prominent in the city of Al-
bany, where he has resided many years. He became a civil service commissioner of
the city in 1894 and a police commissioner in 1895, and in promoting the welfare of
the municipality he is active and persevering. He was president of the Mutual Boat
Club, the Albany Tennis and Republican Unconditional Clubs, and the National
I^awn Tennis Association ; and is first vice-president of the Albany Vigilance League ;
and a member of the Fort Orange Club, the Press Club, the Albany Club, the Country
Club, the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Association of the
Army of the Potomac, and the Cavalry Association, and governor of Albany Chapter
No. 1, Order of Patriots and Founders of America. In business he is associated
with Rathbone, Sard & Co. , one of the largest stove manufacturing concerns in the
United States.



GEN. SELDEN E. MARVIN.

Gen. Seldkn Erastus Marvin is a son of Hon. Richard Pratt and Isabella (New-
land) Marvin and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 30,
1835. He is a lineal descendant of Reinold Marvin, a native of England, who came
to America with his family and his brother Matthew in 1635, and settled first in
Hartford, Conn., afterward in Farmington, and finally in Saybrook, where he died
in 1662. Lieut. Reinold Marvin, son of Reinold, was born in 1634, settled in Lyme,
Conn., and was one of the committee to divide the town of Saybrook in 1665. He

died in 1676. His first wife was Jemima Belcher and his second wife Sarah .

Reinold Marvin, of Lyme, .son of Lieutenant Reinold, was born in 1669, was a rep-
resentative to the General Court from 1701 to 1728, and died in 1737. He married,

first, Phebe , and second, in 1708, Martha Waterman. He had a son, Deacon

Reinold Marvin, who was born about 1701, married, first, in 1725, Mrs. Sarah Lay,
and second, in 1746, Mrs. Mary Kellogg, and died in 1761. Dan Marvin, son of Deacon
Reinold, both of Lyme, Conn., was born in 1731, married in 1762 Mehitable Selden,
and died in 1776. Selden Marvin, the son of Dan,' was the first of the family to
settle in Chautauqua county, N. Y. He was born in 1773 and died in 1832. In 1798
he married Charlotte Pratt, of Saybrook, Conn. ; his second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth
Vandenburg. Hon. Richard Pratt Marvin, son of Selden by his first marriage, was
born in 1803, and held several offices of trust and honor. He was member of as-
sembly in 1835. represented his district in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Con-
gresses; and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1846, under which
he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court, an ofiice he filled with great credit
and dignity for nearly twenty-five years. He died in January, 1892, widely respected
and honored. In 1834 he married Isabella Newland.



19

Cell. Seidell E. Marvin was educated in the public schools and academy of James-
town. N. v., and at Profes.sor Russell's private school in New Haven, Conn. He
then became bookkeeper and teller in the Chautauqua County Bank, in his native
town, and remained there until 1802, serving the last three years as cashier. In
July, 1862. he was appointed adjutant of the 112th N. Y. Vols, and on the 17th of
that month was mustered into the United States service. He served in that capacity
and as assistant adjutant-general of Foster's Brigade, with the Army of Southern
Virginia, through the Peninsular and Charleston campaigns, until September, 1863,
when he was appointed additional paymaster U, S. Volunteers and was assigned
to duty in the Army of the Potomac. He filled this position till December 27. 1864.
when he resigned to accept the post of paymaster-general of the State of New York on
the staff of Gov. Reuben E. Fenton. Upon Governor Fenton's re-election General
Marvin was appointed adjutant-general of the New York State Militia. As paymaster-
general he had. in the execution of the laws for the reimbursement of bounties paid
by the localities in the State to fill quotas established by the general government, and
for the equalization of the excess of years on calls for troops prior to the last call of
December. 1864. a difficult and arduous task. The sura required and paid for this pur-
pose was §27,000.000. and its disbursement necessitated the exercise of a careful, dis-
criminating judgment to protect the interests of the State and render full justice to the
several localities. As adjutant-general he inaugurated and carried into practical effect
reforms in the National Guard which were greatly needed, and which, with subsequent
reforms instituted by his successors, have placed this splendid body of citizen sol-
diery upon a firm and efficient foundation for every service that may be required of
it. During his service in these capacities he maintained his residence in Albany.
After his term of adjutant-general expired he engaged in banking in New York
city, being a member of the firm of Morgan, Keen & Marvin until the spring of
1873, when they dissolved. His chief operation as a banker in the metropolis was
the placing of Northern Pacific securities on the market, in which he was eminently
successful. On January 1. 1874, he went to Troy, N. Y., as the representative of
Erastus Coming's interest in the iron and steel business carried on by the firm of
John A. Griswold & Co., and while there organized the Albany and Rensselaer Iron
and Steel Company on March 1. 1875. This corporation was a consolidation of the
establishments of John A. Griswold & Co. and the Albany Iron Works, and General
Marvin was elected a director and the secretary and treasurer. On September 1.
1885. this concern was succeeded by the Troy Steel and Iron Company, which went
into the hands of a receiver in 1893. General Marvin continued as director, secre-
tary, and treasurer of the company until its business was closed up November 1.
1895. On June 17 of that year he was appointed receiver of the Perry Stove Com-
pany of Albany, which position he still holds.

As a business man of recognized ability General Marvin has long been actively
an