History of Schenectady, (Schenectady County) New York United States of America

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Local History Notes:

SCHENECTADY, a county in the E. part of New York, has an area of about 190 square miles. It is intersected by the Mohawk river, by which and its tributaries, with the head branches of Norman's kill, it is chiefly drained. These streams afford some water-power. The surface is generally uneven, and in the S. part hilly. The alluvial flats along the Mohawk are very fertile; and on the uplands the soil is usually a light sandy loam. Indian corn, oats, potatoes, and grass are the staples. In 1850 this county produced 116,413 bushels of corn; 331,027 of oats; 138,285 of potatoes; 24,269 tons of hay, and 509,970 pounds of butter. There were 3 flour and grist mills, 4 iron founderies, 1 cotton mill, 1 carpet factory, 36 manufactories of brooms, 2 of cement, 1 of steam engines, 3 of hats, and 2 tanneries. It contained 28 churches, 2 newspaper offices; 3609 pupils attending public schools, and 230 attending academies or other schools. This county is traversed by the Erie canal, and by several railroads named in the ensuing article. Organized in 1809, having previously formed part of Albany county. Capital, Schenectady. Population, 20,554.

Biographies:

Eliphalet Nott Potter, educator, was born in Schenectady, N.Y., Sept. 20, 1836; son of the Rev. Alonzo and Maria (Nott) Potter. He was educated at the Protestant Episcopal academy of Philadelphia, Pa., and St. James's college, Md., and graduated from Union college in 1861. He attended the Berkeley divinity school, Middletown, Conn.; was admitted to the diaconate, June 22, 1862, at Troy, N.Y., appointed to missionary duty in the Lehigh valley, Pa., and in charge of the Church of the Nativity, South Bethlehem, Pa., 1862-69. He served during the civil war as chaplain under his brother, General Robert B. Potter ; was ordained priest in the Church of the Holy Communion, New York city, March 19, 1865; and was secretary of the board of trustees and professor of ethics at Lehigh university, 1866-71, serving also as associate rector of St. Paul's church, Troy, N.Y., 1869-71. He married, April 28, 1870, Helen, daughter of Joseph Wiltsie and Mary (Wolf) Fuller, of Troy. He succeeded Charles A. Aiken as president of Union college in 1871, being inaugurated June 26, 1872, and under his presidency the college assumed organic relations with the Albany Law school, the Dudley observatory, and the Albany medical college, becoming Union university in 1873. He resigned the presidency of the university in 1884, being made its chancellor, and on June 25, 1884, was elected bishop of Nebraska, which office he declined, accepting a pending election as president of Hobart college, which position he filled, 1884-97. He was also president of the Cosmopolitan university (a correspondence university), 1892-1901. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Union college in 1869, and by Columbia in 1871; LL.D. by Williams college in 1880; D.C.L. by Trinity college, Toronto, and by the University of the South in 1889, and L.H.D. by St. Stephen's college, Annandale, N.Y., in 1895, having been a trustee of the latter college, 1872-86. He is the author of: Three Witnesses to the Truth of Religion; memoirs of Dr. Tayler Lewis and Dr. Isaac Jackson; and Washington, a Model in his Library and Life. He died in the city of Mexico, Feb. 6, 1901.

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

James Chatham Duane, soldier, was born in Schenectady, N.Y., June 30, 1824; son of James Duane; grandson of James C. Duane; and great-grandson of Judge James Duane, the first mayor of New York city, and Mary Livingston, his wife. He was graduated from Union college in 1844 and from the U.S. military academy in 1848, standing third in a class of thirty-eight. He served there with a company of sappers, miners and pontoniers, 1848-54; and as assistant instructor of practical military engineering, 1852-54; was assistant engineer in building Fort Trumbull, Conn., in 1849, and Fort Carroll, Md., 1854-56; lighthouse engineer of the New York district, 1856-58; on the Utah expedition in command of the engineering company in 1858; and as inspector of practical military engineering and in command of the suppers, miners and pontoniers at the Military academy, 1858-61. He commanded an engineer company guarding the national capitol, 1861, and later in the same year was at Fort Pickens, Fla. He was promoted captain Aug. 6, 1861; organized the engineer battalion and engineer equipage, army of the Potomac, 1861-62; was detached to bridge the Potomac at Harper's Ferry in February, 1862; commanded the engineer battalion in the siege of Yorktown, April, 1862; took part in the battle of Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862, and in the subsequent operations of the campaign in the construction of roads, field works and bridges, particularly in building the bridge 2000 feet long over the Chickahominy, Aug. 12-14, 1862. As chief engineer of the army of the Potomac, he took part in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. He was promoted major March 3, 1863, was chief engineer of the department of the South, and engaged in the attack on Fort McAllister, Ga., and in the operations against Charleston, S.C. From July, 1863, to June, 1865, he was chief engineer of the army of the Potomac. On July 6, 1864, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and on March 13, 1865, was brevetted brigadier-general. He was in command of the post of Willett's Point, and was superintending engineer of the fort, 1865-68. He was appointed superintending engineer of defences in Maine and New Hampshire, and on June 10, 1883, was promoted colonel. He was engineer in charge of the 1st, 2d and 3d lighthouse districts and president of the board of engineers in New York city, having in charge the subject of harbor defence there and elsewhere. In 1870-71, while engineer of the 1st lighthouse district, he made a series of elaborate experiments on the transmission of sound in its application to fog signalling, which received marked attention from scientists. He was made chief of engineers, with the rank of brigadier-general, Oct. 4, 1886, and was retired, June 30, 1888. In August, 1888, he was appointed a member of the board of aqueduct commissioners of New York city and was elected president of the board at their first meeting. He was an honorary member of the American society of civil engineers, 1886-97. He was married in 1850 to Harriet W., daughter of Capt. Henry Brewerton, U.S.A. Their son, James Duane, became assistant civil engineer in charge of the water mains of New York city, and died in that city, Jan. 12, 1899. General Duane is the author of: Manual for Engineer Troops, and joint author of Organization of the Bridge Equipage of the U.S. Army (1870). He died in New York city, Nov. 8, 1897.

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

Kate Waterman Hamilton, author, was born in Schenectady, N.Y., Nov. 12, 1841; daughter of Farwell and Ruth (Cady) Hamilton, granddaughter of Peter and Anne Cady and of Joseph and Persis Hamilton, and a descendant of ---- Hamilton, of Scotch ancestry, born (probably) in Ireland, who came to America in 1718, and settled in Worcester county, Mass. Her ancestors on both sides were patriots in the Revolutionary war. She was educated in Steubenville, Ohio, and resided for some time in New Jersey and also in Massachusetts and settled in Bloomington, Ill., about 1870. Many of her articles and stories appeared under the pen-name "Fleeta." She is the author of Sunday-school books: Chinks of Clannyford; Greycliffe; Brave Heart; Blue Umbrella; Old Brown House; The Shadow of the Rock; Norah Weil; Frederick Gordon; Wood, Hay and Stubble; The Hand with the Keys; Thanksgiving Ann, and other missionary leaflets, all published before 1880; and novels: Rachel's Share of the Road (1882) and The Parson's Proxy (1896). She also contributed to magazines and newspapers.

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

John Broadhead Beck, physician, was born at Schenectady, N.Y., Sept. 18, 1794; son of Caleb Beck and brother of Theodoric Romeyn Beck. He was educated by his uncle, John B. Romeyn, a Dutch Reformed clergyman, and was graduated at Columbia college in 1813. He studied medicine and established himself in practice in New York city, taking high rank in his profession. He was for seven years editor-in-chief of the New York Medical and Physical Journal, and occupied, at different times from 1826 to 1851, the chairs of materia medica, botany and medical jurisprudence in the N.Y. college of physicians and surgeons. He was for ten years physician of the N.Y. hospital. His most important writings are: "Medical Essays" (1845); "Infant Therapeutics" (1849), and "Historical Sketch of the State of Medicine in the Colonies" (1850). He assisted his brother in the preparation of "Medical Jurisprudence" (1823), a work that became a standard authority. He died at Rhinebeck, N.Y., April 9, 1851.

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