county courts October 30th, 1800, and held the office nearly five years, and probably as long as his political friends had the bestowment of patronage. He died at a somewhat advanced age, leaving no male descendants in this county. His only son emigrated to Alabama with his family in 1819, and died there. I believe Judge Bowen also died in Alabama, but I am not certain of this fact. Thus the name of one of the earliest and most enterprising pioneers of the northern part of the county has become extinct, but a memorial of his active and zealous efforts to make the "desert blossom as the rose" still remains.

DAN CHAPMAN

Was a native of the state of Connecticut. He came into the county at an early period after its erection, and settled on the Stone ridge, Herkimer village, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits, but the ledger balances showing a deficit, he abandoned the weights and measures of merchandising, and betook himself to those of the legal profession. He must have been admitted to the bar previous to May, 1804; his name does not appear on the roll of attorneys commencing at that date. He was appointed surrogate of the county March 23d, 1803, superseded in 1807 by an adverse council of appointment, reappointed in 1808, and held the office until November, 1816. He seems to have escaped some of the political vicissitudes of the times during his last period, that appear to have been visited upon the sheriff and county clerk. The federal party held the appointing power of the state in 1810 and 1813, and if political conformity preserved to him the seals of probate and administration, Mr. Chapman must have been exceedingly adroit and flexible. He quit the profession about the year 1820, and removed to Oneida county. He again returned to this county, and after remaining here a short time removed to Montgomery county, where he died a few years since at a very advanced age. He was a subaltern

officer in the revolutionary army, and enjoyed the gratuity of his country in his old age, which softened and assuaged the "ills that life is heir to." He was not successful in accumulating wealth, although his life was morally and religiously irreproachable.

ATWATER COOK

Was born in the town of Salisbury, in this county, December 17, 1795, of parents in moderate circumstances in life, who were of English or Anglo-Saxon extraction. His father lived to attain a pretty advanced old age.

Like most young men of that day, Mr. Cook's education was limited to the course of instruction taught in the country schools of that time, but he was endowed with a strong and vigorous mind, a sound and discriminating judgment, and much practical good sense. He experienced some of the vicissitudes of life and the "charms of its varieties" were not unknown to him at the commencement of his career of manhood. He resolved, by just and laudable efforts, to overcome all obstacles to the attainment of a reasonable competence and the enjoyment of the confidence and good will of his fellow citizens. He early turned his attention to the dairy, and was among the first of our farmers who abandoned grain-growing and resorted to grazing. His exclusive attention was not given to agriculture. At different periods of his life he was engaged in mechanical and mercantile pursuits.

Mr. Cook was many years one of the justices of the peace of his town; the duties of the office he discharged with ability and satisfaction to the people. He also held other town offices of confidence and trust, and exerted, when he chose, no inconsiderable influence among his fellow citizens. When in the prime of life, he bestowed considerable attention, by reading and study, to the cultivation of a sound and vigorous understanding. At the general election in

1830, he was chosen one of the members of assembly for the county. Nicholas Lawyer, of Danube, and Olmsted Hough, of Schuyler, were his colleagues. Mr. Cook was an attentive and industrious member of the house during the session of 1831, and was active and efficient in his exertions to promote the interests of his constituents in regard to local legislation, and especially in removing the alien dead weight which had many years pressed so heavily upon the village of Little Falls.

Although not trained to public debating, he spoke several times during the session on important subjects before the house, and was listened to with great attention. He was much respected, and his familiar acquaintance with the internal local affairs of towns and counties, made him a useful member. In 1839, Mr. Cook and Benjamin Carver, represented the county in the assembly. This time his party was in a political minority in the house.

It may truly be said of Mr. Cook, he possessed a mind of considerable conservative tendencies, still he was a man of progress. He lived in a progressive age, and belonged to a progressive race, and he failed not to meet the exigencies of the day and the hour when action was called for. He was among the first in the town of Salisbury to initiate the temperance movement, and he continued, through life, to give the cause his warmest advocacy and most hearty support. He was equally active, prompt and devoted to every movement which would tend to ameliorate the condition of his race, or promote the welfare and best interests of the community where he lived.

Mr. Cook's health was quite infirm during the latter years of his life, and he suffered much and acutely, from severe sickness; neverthelesss, his death was sudden, and unexpected to his friends at a distance. He died at his family residence, in Salisbury, February 14th, 1853. He was then the oldest male inhabitant, born in the town. By industry, strict application to business, and a watchful providence of

his yearly gains, he had accumulated a competence of wealth, for all human purposes, which he left to be enjoyed by his family.

WILLIAM H. COOK

Was a native of this state, and came into Norway, in the fall of 1792, from Dutchess county. He settled a short distance westerly of Norway village, where he devoted himself to farming and merchandising, pretty extensively, and if I have not been misinformed, made some effort at the milling business, which did not in the end amount to much, in the way of increasing his wealth. He was appointed sheriff of the county, March 17th, 1802, and was annually thereafter appointed, until 1806; when he was left out of commission but was again appointed sheriff, in 1807, and held the office one year longer. This ended his official career in this county, and it might have been well for him if he had never tasted office.

He

Mr. Cook was in the battle of Tippecanoe, fought on the night of the 6th of November, 1811, between a small American force, under Gen. Harrison, and a numerous body of north-western Indians. He died at Vincennes, Indiana. Jabez Fox, a native of Connecticut, came into this county about the year 1810, married a daughter of Mr. Cook. was admitted as an attorney, at the Herkimer county common pleas, in January, 1813. Mr. Fox pursued his profession a few years at Herkimer, and then removed to Little Falls, in 1818, or about that period. He was elected county clerk, under the then new constitution, at the general election, in 1822, to hold for the term of three years, from the 1st day of January following. He died at Herkimer, in January 1825, at the age of 35 years.

DOCTOR RUFUS CRAIN

Was a native of Western, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and the second son in a family of ten children.

His

father, Isaac Crain, was born in Coventry, Connecticut, and his mother, whose maiden name was Putnam, and a near relation of Gen. Israel Putnam, was also a native of Western. His early education was entirely sufficient to enable him to study and practice the medical profession with much success. He studied under the direction of Dr. Ross, of Colerain, Mass., who is spoken of as an eminent and successful practitioner, and after completing his course, formed a connection in business with his late tutor, which terminated when he came to this state in 1790.

His first object was to fix himself at Cooperstown, Otsego county, but passing through Warren on the route to his place of destination, being pleased with the country and the inhabitants, and finding many of them from New England, he changed his determination and seated himself in Warren, which at that time was destitute of a physician. Here he devoted himself to his profession with the characteristic zeal and assiduity of a young New Englander, and in a few years found himself enjoying the rich fruition of an extended and lucrative business. His position in a country town containing as good lands as any in the county, enabled him to engage in agricultural pursuits, which he prosecuted with success in connection with his professional business, which received his chief attention, to nearly the close of his life. Doctor Crain came into the state early in life and formed a connection by marriage with an influential family of the town in which he died. He was one of the early patrons of the Medical college at Fairfield, and devoted himself earnestly and efficiently to its success. He, like hundreds of others who left the then over populated and not very prolific soil of New England, near the close of the last century, had determined to try his fortune in Western New York, as then called, and he came, as he once told me when we were riding together from Herkimer to Little Falls, resolved on success. "Yes, sir," said he, in reply to a remark of mine, "a young man with a good profession and a fair share of talents, need not fail, he can not fail in a new country, if he is prudent,