History of Ellisburg, (Jefferson County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Daniel Willard Fiske, educator, was born in Ellisburg, N.Y., Nov. 11, 1831. He descended from the Rev. John Flake of Suffolk county, England, who migrated to New England in 1637. As a boy he displayed unusual precocity in the languages, in literature and in politics. He studied at Cazenovia and at Hamilton college, leaving college in his sophomore year to study the Scandinavian language in Europe. He was a special correspondent of the New York Tribune, 1849-50, studied two years at the University of Upsala, Sweden, gave lessons and lectures on American literature, and meanwhile learned to use the Icelandic, Swedish and Danish languages with the facility of a native. He was first assistant in the Astor library, New York city, 1852-59; general secretary of the American geographical society, 1859-60, was with U.S. Minister J. L. Motley, as attach? to the American legation, Vienna, 1861-62; editor Syracuse, N.Y., Journal, 1864-66; of the Hartford, Conn., Courant, 1867; made the tour of Egypt, Palestine and Syria, 1867-68, and was professor of North European languages and chief librarian, Cornell university, 1868-83. He made a remarkable collection of Icelandic books, was a writer and lecturer on civil service reform, a member of the American social science association and a contributor to Swedish, Icelandic and German periodicals. He was a contestant in the chess tournament of 1857; edited with Paul Morphy the American Chess Monthly, 1857-60; compiled" Book of the American Chess Congress" (1859); and edited the "Ten Year Book of Cornell" (1888), and numerous bibliographical publications for the university. He also made an extended Petrarch book collection. He was married in 1880 to Jennie McGraw, who was born in Dryden, N.Y., in September, 1840; acquired her education in the schools at Canandaigua and in Westchester county, N.Y., and by several trips to Europe; and died in 1881, bequeathing the bulk of her estate to Cornell university. Her will, however, failed to be carried out. As a memorial to her mother, the daughter of John Southworth, she gave $30,000 for the building, support and maintenance of a public library in the village of Dryden, which was called the Southworth library. Professor Fiske received the degree of A.M. from Hamilton in 1856, and that of Ph.D. from the University of Upsala in 1852. In 1883 he resigned from Cornell and made his permanent residence in Florence, Italy. He made (1892-96) the largest known collection of books relating to Dante (7000 vols.) which he presented to Cornell university, and printed at Florence a series of "Bibliographical Notices." He published (1893-98) a great number of educational and other tracts intended to bring about the application of a modified Latin alphabet to the spoken Arabic dialect of Egypt and the use of the spoken language as a literary medium.

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

Marietta Holley, author was born at Ellisburg, Jefferson county, N.Y., in 1844; daughter of John Milton and Mary (Taber) Holley; granddaughter of David and Sarah (Southworth) Holley, and of Lemuel and Sarah (Brightman) Taber. She attended the district school and studied French and music under private teachers. Her early verses contributed to the local newspapers, and later to other periodicals, attracted wide attention, and she soon began to write humorous prose under the pen-name "Josiah Allen's Wife." Her books which followed attained a wide circulation and were translated into several languages. Her published works include: My Opinions and Betsey Bobbet's (1873); Samanatha at the Centennial (1877); My Wayward Pardoner (1880) ; Miss Richards' Boy (1882) ; Sweet Cicely (1885) ; The Mormon Wife, a poem (1887) ; Poems (1887) ; Miss Jones's Quiltlug (1887); Samantha at Saratoga (1887); Samantha among the Brethren (1891); Samantha on the Race-Problem (1892); Samantha at the World's Fair (1894) ; Josiah's Alarm and Abel Perry's Funueral (1895), and Samantha in Europe (1896).

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