History of Elmira, (Chemung County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

George Wurtz Hughes, representative, was born in Elmira, N.Y., Sept. 30, 1806. He entered the U.S. Military academy, but was not graduated. He adopted the profession of a civil engineer and was employed by the canal commissioners of the state of New York, 1829-38. He was commissioned captain of topographical engineers, U.S.A., in 1838, and was sent to Europe in 1840 to report on public works, mines and fortifications. He was chief engineer on the staff of Gen. J. E. Wool in Mexico in 1846 and on the staff of Gen. W. J. Worth, 1847. He was civil and military governor of Jalapa and Perote, Mexico, 1847-48; was brevetted major, April 18, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct at Cerro Gordo, and lieutenant-colonel, May 30,1847, for services during the war. He was chief engineer of the Panama railroad by permission of the government, 1849-50. He resigned his commission, Aug. 4, 1851; was president of the Baltimore and Susquehanna railroad, 1854-55; quarter-master-general of Maryland, 1855, and brigadier-general of militia, 1856. He represented Maryland in the 36th congress, 1859-61, and was a consulting engineer and planter at West River, Md., where he died, Sept. 3, 1870.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Thomas Perry, naval officer, was born in Elmira, N.Y., May 26, 1844; son of Guy Maxwell and Elizabeth (Taylor) Perry; grandson of Thomas Miflin and Elizabeth (Konkle) Perry and a descendant of John Konkle, the first settler of Elmira, N.Y. He was graduated from the U.S. Naval academy, September, 1865; was promoted ensign, Dec. 1, 1866; master, March 12, 1868; lieutenant, March 26, 1869; lieutenant-commander, Nov. 6, 1881; commander, Jan. 10, 1802, and captain, June 11, 1899. During the Spanish war he was in command of the Lancaster, flagship, at the base of supplies, Key West, Fla. He was naval secretary of the light-house board, 1899-1901, and April 1, 1901, was placed in command of the U.S. battleship Iowa, flagship on the Pacific station, which vessel became flagship on the South Atlantic station in 1902, being transferred from the Pacific station in February of that year.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Mark Mills Pomeroy, journalist, was born in Elmira, N.Y., Dec. 25, 1833; son of Hunt and Orlina Rebecca (White) Pomeroy, and a lineal descendant of the Pomeroy family of Devonshire, Eng. He was brought up by his maternal uncle, Seth Marvin White, a farmer and blacksmith near Elmira; attended the common schools, and in 1850 obtained employment in Corning, as an apprentice in the printing office of the Journal. In 1854 he established a printing office, and bought out an advertising paper, called the Sun, which became the Corning Democrat in 1855. In that year, removing to Athens, Pa., he started the Gazette, and the following year settled in Horicon, Dodge county, Wis., where he established the Argus, and was appointed U.S. marshal for the state. He was city editor of the Milwaukee Daily News, 1858-59, and in 1859 engaged in newspaper and political work in Washington, D.C. In 1860 he purchased the La Crosse Democrat, in which he set forth the dangers to the government from increasing the national debt, and from the corruptions in political office. In 1868 he went to New York, where be established Pomeroy's Democrat, but as it conflicted with the Tweed Ring, he removed the publication to Chicago in 1875, where he joined the Greenback movement, and served as chairman of a committee appointed by the national convention held in Chicago to organize greenback clubs. He was married in 1876, to Emma Idalia Stimson of Michigan. In 1880 he went to Colorado for his health, engaging in the practice of law, and editing The Great West. He originated a scheme for tunnelling the Rocky Mountains, organizing the Atlantic-Pacific Railway Tunnel company with a capital of $7,000,000; but after cutting for nearly a mile on each side of the mountains, he abandoned the project through failure to secure government aid. In 1887 he returned to New York city, where he conducted Pomeroy's Advance Thought, a monthly magazine, 1887-96. He is the author of: Sense (1868); Nonsense (1868); Gold Dust (1872); Brick Dust(1872); Our Saturday Night (1873); Home Harmonies (1874); Perpetual Money (1878). He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., May 30, 1896,

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Aaron Konkle Hughes, naval officer, was born in Elmira, N.Y., March 31, 1822. He entered the naval service, Oct. 20, 1838; was promoted passed midshipman, May 20, 1844; master, Dec. 19, 1852; lieutenant, Oct. 18, 1853; commander, Nov. 16, 1862; captain, Jan 19, 1871; commodore, Jan. 13, 1879: rear-admiral, March 1, 1884, and was retired March 31, 1884, on attaining the age of sixty-two years, after nineteen years' sea service and thirteen years' shore duty. He made a voyage to Puget Sound in the sloop-of-war Decatur in 1855, and defeated with his ship's crew 500 Indians in a fight on shore, Jan. 25, 1855. His service in the civil war was as commander of the Water Witch in the Gulf, 1861-62; the Mohawk in the South Atlantic, 1862-63, and the Cimmaron, 1863-64, before Charleston, S.C.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor