History of Geneva, (Ontario County) New York United States of America

Joseph Kirkland, author, was born in Geneva, N.Y., Jan. 7, 1880; son of William and Caroline Matilda (Startsbury) Kirkland. He received a common-school education and in 1850 removed to Chicago and later to central Illinois. At the outbreak of the civil war he entered the volunteer service and attained the rank of major. He returned to central Illinois in 1865, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He engaged in coal-mining for a short time in Indiana and Illinois, and while thus engaged he studied the social conditions of the miners, which subject he used in several of his books. He subsequently removed to Chicago and devoted himself to literary work. He was literary editor of the Chicago Tribune, 1889-91. He was a member of several literary societies in Chicago and New York, and was the first president of the Twentieth Century club. He published: Zury : the Meanest Man in Spring County (1887); The McVeys (1888); The Captain of Company K (1889); The Story of Chicago (with Caroline Kirkland, 2 vols., 1892-94); The Chicago Massacre of 1812 (1898); Among the Poor of Chicago (1895). "The Captain of Company K," was first published in the Detroit Free Press under the name "The Three Volunteers." It was submitted for a competition and won the first prize offered of $1600. Major Kirkland died in Chicago, Ill., April 29, 1894.

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

Charles James Folger, statesman, was born in Nantucket, Mass., April 16, 1818; son of Thomas Folger, and a descendant of John Folger, who came to America from Norwich, England, in 1630, with his son Peter, and settled in Watertown, Mass., removing to Martha's Vineyard in 1641, and to Nantucket in 1663. He removed with his parents to western New York in 1831, settling near Geneva. He was graduated at Geneva college in 1836, honor man of his class, and was admitted to the bar in Albany, N.Y., in 1830. He practised in Geneva, was justice of the peace, 1839-43; judge of the court of common pleas for Ontario county, 1844-45; master and examiner in charge, 1843-46; county judge for Ontario county, 1851-55; state senator and chairman of the judiciary committee of the senate, 1861-69; and delegate and chairman of the judiciary committee in the state constitutional convention of 1867. When he entered political life he was a disciple of Silas Wright and afterward of Martin Van Buren. In 1856 he joined the new Republican party and there after was one of its most faithful adherents. Through the influence of Senator Roscoe Conkling, his personal friend, he received from President Grant the appointment of U.S. assistant treasurer at New York in 1869. He resigned the position in 1871, having been elected associate judge of the New York court of appeals, and was made chief judge of the court by appointment of Governor Cornell in 1880, to fill the unexpired term of Sanford E. Church, deceased. He was re-elected to the bench of the New York court of appeals by a majority of 45,000 in 1880 for a full term of fourteen years, but resigned in 1881 to accept the portfolio of the U.S. treasury in the cabinet of President Arthur, which he held up to the time of his death. He was defeated in the gubernatorial election of 1882 by Grover Cleveland of Buffalo, who received a majority of nearly 200,000 votes, caused by a belief that the Republican convention had not been conducted fairly. He was a trustee of Cornell university, 1865-73; a benefactor of the library of Hobart college; and received the degree of M.A. from Hobart in 1840 and that of LL.D. in 1870. He also received the degree of LL.D. from Rutgers in 1870. He died at Geneva, N.Y., Sept. 4, 1884.

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

John Kemp Mizner, soldier, was born in Geneva, N.Y., March 2, 1837; son of Lansing B. Mizner. He was graduated at the U.S. Military academy, July 1, 1856; served in the 2d dragoons on the frontier, 1857-61; was promoted 2d lieutenant, Feb. 28, 1857; 1st lieutenant, May 9, 1861; was transferred to the 2d cavalry, Aug. 3, 1861, and served in the defenses of Washington, D.C., 1861-62. He was promoted captain, Nov. 12, 1861; was appointed colonel of the 3d Michigan cavalry, March 7, 1862; commanded the regiment in the operations against Island No. 10, resulting in its capture: participated in the Mississippi campaign and the siege of Corinth; commanded the cavalry brigade in the pursuit of the Confederates and in guarding the railroad, and had several skirmishes with the Confederate cavalry, May to September, 1862. He commanded the cavalry division, Army of the Mississippi, in the battles of Iuka and Corinth, and in the pursuit of the enemy to Ripley in October, 1862. He was brevetted major U.S.A., Oct. 4, 1862, for Corinth. He was chief of cavalry of the district of Jackson, Tenn., in 1863, and engaged in the skirmishes at Brownsville and Clifton. He was chief of cavalry of the left wing of the 16th army corps, in the operations in northern Mississippi, May to September, 1863; was brevetted lieutenant-colonel U.S. A, Jane 12, 1863, for gallantry at Panola, Miss., and commanded a brigade of cavalry, 1863-64. He operated in Missouri and Arkansas, 1864-65, and took part in the last operations against Mobile, Ala., 1865. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, March 13, 1865, for services during the war. He commanded a brigade and the post at San Antonio, Texas, and was acting assistant inspector-general on the staff of General Merritt the latter part of 1865; commanded military districts in Texas; 1866, and was mustered out of the volunteer service Feb. 12, 1866. He served on frontier duty, 1866-84, commanding important posts in New Mexico and Arizona, and the recruiting depot at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1884-86; He was promoted major and transferred to the 4th cavalry, Jan. 26, 1869; lieutenant-colonel and transferred to the 8th cavalry, Jan. 9, 1886; and commanded Fort Brown and Concho, Texas, 1886-88, and Fort Meade, Dakota, 1888-90. He was promoted colonel and transferred to the 10th cavalry, April 15, 1890; was promoted brigadier-general U.S.A., May 26, 1897, and was retired June 7, 1897. He died in Washington, D.C., Sept. 8, 1898.

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

Elizabeth Startsbury Kirkland, author, was born in Geneva, N.Y., Oct. 27, 1828; daughter of William and Caroline Matilda (Stansbury) Kirkland . She was educated in New York, and in 1874 became principal of a young ladies' school in Chicago, Ill. She is the author of: Six Little Cooks (1875); Dora's Housekeeping (1877); A Short History of France (1878); Speech and Manners (1885); A Short History of Italy (1896); A Short History of England (1896); A Short History of English Literature (1896). She died in Chicago, Ill., July 30, 1896.

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

History of Geneva, (Ontario County) New York

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