History of Sherburne, (Chenango County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Alfred Guthrie, engineer, was born in Sherburne, N.Y., April 1, 1805; son of Dr. Samuel Guthrie, the discoverer of chloroform. He studied medicine and chemistry with his father and practised medicine at Sacket Harbor, N.Y., for ten years when he took up the study of mechanical engineering. He removed to Chicago, Ill., in 1846. The hydraulic works of the Illinois and Michigan canal were designed and constructed by him and besides supplying the canal with water from Lake Michigan he utilized the surplus power in conveying the sewage of Chicago to the canal and thence to the Mississippi river. He studied the cause of the frequent steamboat explosions of 1851 and his research resulted in the passage of the U.S. steamboat inspection act, drawn by him and passed by congress through his personal efforts in 1852. His brother Edwin, also a physician, born Dec. 11, 1806, was a resident of Iowa and gave to Guthrie county its name. He was captain of Iowa volunteers in Mexico, 1846-47, was wounded at Pass la Hoya and died at Castle Perote, Mexico, July 20, 1847, Alfred died at Chicago, Ill., Aug. 17, 1882.

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

William Pitt Lynde, representative, was born in Sherburne, N.Y., Dec. 16, 1817; son of Tilly and Elizabeth (Warner) Lynde, both natives of Massachusetts, who settled in Sherburne in 1800. Tilly Lynde was a member of the assembly seven years and a state senator six years. William P. Lynde was a student at Hamilton college, 1834-36, and was graduated from Yale, valedictorian, A.B., 1838; A.M., 1841. He attended the law department of the University of the City of New York, 1838-39, and Harvard Law school, 1839-41; was admitted to the bar in New York city in 1841, and practised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Territory. He was married in 1841 to Mary E., daughter of Dr. Azariah Blanchard of Truxton, N.Y. He was attorney-general of Wisconsin Territory, 1844-45; U.S. district attorney for the district of Wisconsin, 1845-47, and upon the admission of the state into the Union in 1847, he was its Democratic representative in the 30th congress, 1847-49. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the supreme court bench in 1840; mayor of Milwaukee, 1860-62; state representative, 1866-68; state senator, 1868-69, and a representative in the 44th and 45th congresses, 1875-79. He died in Milwaukee, Wis., Dec. 18, 1885.

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

Hubert Anson Newton, mathematician, was born in Sherburne, N.Y., March 19, 1830; son of William and Lois (Butler) Newton, and a descendant of Thomas Newton, a carpenter, who settled in Fairfield, Conn., as early as 1639. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1850, A.M., 1853, studied mathematics, 1851-53, and was a tutor in mathematics at Yale, where he was in charge of the chair of mathematics during the illness and after the death of Prof. Arthur D. Stanley, 1853-55, succeeding to the chair after one year's study at Paris. He was married, April 14, 1859, to Anna C., daughter of the Rev. Joseph C. Stiles. He directed his earlier years to special studies in modern higher geometry, but later devoted himself to the problems of meteoric astronomy. Through his investigation the stream of meteors was connected with the comet of 1866 as soon as the orbit of that comet was completed. He was regarded as one of the highest authorities on meteors in the world. In 1864 he introduced into the arithmetics of the United States a table of the metric system of weights and measures. He was an original member of the National Academy of Sciences; a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, and of the Royal Philosophical Society of Edinburgh; president of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences; vice-president in 1875, and president in 1885 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a member of various other societies, and director of the Yale university observatory, 1882-84. He received the degree LL.D. from the University of Michigan in 1868, and was awarded the Lawrence-Smith medal by the National Academy of Sciences for his study of meteoric bodies. He was an associate editor of the American Journal of Science; published in 1864 a memoir upon the sporadic meteors; contributed to cyclop?dies, and his scientific papers were published in the Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences and in the American Journal of Sciences. He died in New Haven, Conn., Aug. 12, 1896.

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